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The Holy Spirit's Promise Fulfilled

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(Acts 2:2-3)

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

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Jesus died on the cross, and he was resurrected. And after this event happened, Jesus stayed in this world for 40 more days. He discussed about the things that his disciples must do on the coming days ahead.

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Before Jesus went back to the kingdom of heaven, he gave a very important promise to his disciples which stated, "Not too long from now, the Holy Spirit will come to this world as my replacement. If you receive the Holy Spirit, you will have power and you will do an amazing work of sharing me to the whole world."

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Jesus left these words to his disciples and he ascended into heaven in front of all the disciples. The disciples watched Jesus until he was gone into the clouds.

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While the disciples were staring blankly at the sky, two angels came down from heaven and said to the disciples, "Everyone, why are you staring blankly at the sky? This same Jesus, who went up into heaven in front of you, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." Upon hearing these words, the disciples received great strength.

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The disciples who followed Jesus, the brothers of Jesus, and the other people who followed Him gathered in one place, a big upper room, and they started to pray. About 120 people gathered and prayed.

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The people who gathered there believed the promised words of Jesus and they waited. They believed that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit in replacement of Him and they prayed with all their strength and eagerness. It was about 10 days after Jesus went to the kingdom of heaven.

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Even that day, the people who gathered in the upper room did not stop praying. But suddenly, a strange thing started to happen. In the upper room where they gathered, a sound of a very strong blowing wind was heard and in a short while, the room was filled with that sound.

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The more surprising thing is that, a shape of burning fire appeared and it sat on the top of each person who was praying. The room was completely filled with an unknown power. Those people who experienced this felt that a new power arose inside of them and they felt that their fear was gone.

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Just like the promise of Jesus, the Holy Spirit came to that place. The Holy Spirit came to the heart of each person and made them strong. The Holy Spirit gave them a brave heart like when Jesus stayed with them and a heart without fear.

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The people who received the Holy Spirit went out of the upper room to tell about Jesus. Right away they started to preach about Jesus to the people they met. The people gathered to listen to the words they told.

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There were people who came from different lands. Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. The people who received the Holy Spirit were able to speak a totally new language and the people who were listening understood the words that they were hearing for the languages that was used by the preachers were the same languages that the people who came from different countries spoke.

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The people started to become in a commotion. "Look! The people who are talking, aren't they people of Galilee? But we hear them speaking the language of the provinces where we live. How could this happen?"

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In order for these people to preach Jesus, the Holy Spirit made them speak a new language. This was really an amazing thing. That day, upon hearing the words they preached, many people believed in Jesus.

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Those people who received the Holy Spirit in their hearts experienced many amazing things. The Holy Spirit helped them preach the gospel of Jesus with bravery. In order for us to preach about Jesus well, the Holy Spirit helps us in many different ways as well.

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Jesus went to heaven and the Holy Spirit who came to this world did not leave and even now, the Holy Spirit is with us. If we pray for the Holy Spirit to come to our hearts, the Holy Spirit will always come. The Holy Spirit will make our hearts strong and will help us preach the teachings of Jesus. So we should always pray and we should live with the assurance that the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. And I hope you will work hard to become a person with good faith to hear clearly the words that the Holy Spirit is telling us inside of our hearts.