“Peter Replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  And you will receive the Holy Spirit.”I think when most of us read this we focus on the repent and be baptized part of this verse.  Repentance is so important and it is something that we can read about all throughout the Bible.  God is always calling His people to repentance  and sometimes they repented and other times that did not.  In the case of Sodom of Gomorrah, they were a wicked people and they refused to repent.  God sent fire down to destroy the towns.  However, when God sent Jonah to Ninevah to tell them they needed to repent they did and God saved them.  Did you know that Jonah was angry at God for saving Ninevah.  We read in Jonah 4:1-2 “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.  And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is it not this what I have said when I was yet in my country?  That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”  Jonah ran from the Lord when the Lord asked him to go Ninevah.  I had always thought he ran from the Lord because he was afraid of the people in Ninevah.  However, this verse says that he ran because he knew God would have mercy on them, and he didn’t want them to be saved.I feel like this is a somewhat common thing for us to do.  Maybe not running from the Lord, but definitely wishing that people get what they deserve.  Have you ever wished that someone got what they deserved?  Have you ever seen a car speed by you, or weave in and out of traffic and think to yourself, “I hope their is a cop ahead.”?  Or you see someone cut in line and hope that someone noticed and that they get kicked out of the line?  Why do we do this?  Why do we wish ill on other people?  Maybe you are thinking that you are justified in thinking that you want the driver to get pulled over because you want them to learn their lesson and drive better.  But, what if they did get pulled over and they just got a warning would you be ok with that?Sometimes we can do this with our kids as well.  Jonah felt that these people needed to be punished and he knew that God would have mercy on them.  Sometimes we can default to the thinking that when our children do something wrong when they need to be punished, and maybe that is true sometimes.  But, do we take the time to think about the situation first?  Do we even consider giving them mercy?  Sometimes our children need our mercy.  Sometimes they messed up, did something they weren’t supposed to do and they know it was wrong.  They are truly sorry and they learned a lesson from it.  Times like these are times when we should consider mercy.  Sometimes we think our kids will only learn if we punish them, however, I think they can learn a lot from mercy as well.  As I said earlier, we tend to focus on the first part of this verse, Repent and be baptized.  However, I wonder how many of you also think of the ending of the verse?  How many of you truly know what it means?  The verse ends with “and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”  I am not sure that everyone, or even most people, know how powerful a statement that is.  Did you know that the power of the Holy Spirit is what raised Jesus from the dead?  Did you know that same power resides in you?  Romans 8:11 "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”When you are baptized you are baptized in the name of Jesus Christ   This means that when you are baptized you receive the Holy Spirit.  If you are Catholic, then you receive the Holy Spirit again when you are confirmed.  This is all amazing to me.  The power that raised Jesus from the dead, lives in me.  I just can’t get over that.  I think if we all knew the power that we had through the Holy Spirit, and then used that power for good, the world wouldn’t know what was going on.  Jesus said in John 14:12-14 “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the son. If you ask anything of me in my name I will do it.”Did you catch that?  Jesus said we will do greater works than Him if we believe.  This is only possible because of the Holy Spirit.  We have the Holy Spirit inside of us, we just need to call on Him.   We need to believe in Jesus and believe when He tells us that He sent us the Holy Spirit to guide us.  The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead.  That same spirit lives in you.  What are you going to do with it?  Are you going to just sit around and let all that power pass you by, or are you going to use your new found power for good?  Who do you know that could use some extra blessings?  I am sure that I have talked before about how important repentance is and yet this will likely not be the last time you hear me talk about it.  Repentance is so important for so many reasons.  This verse just mentions one of the many, if you repent and are baptized you will receive the Holy Spirit.  Now, after talking for a bit about how awesome the Holy Spirit is, wouldn’t you do anything to be close to Him?Most, if not all, of you listening already have the Holy Spirit inside of you.  Call upon Him and you will see how powerful He is.  Don’t be afraid to talk with Him and ask Him for things.  That is why God sent Him to us, to help us.  Anything that happens as a result of the Holy Spirit glorifies God.  Jesus is with the Father, so when we ask the God for things in Jesus’ name, the Holy Spirit comes through for us and the results glorify the Lord.  It is a win win for everyone.  One of the easiest prayers to remember, and yet one of the most powerful is, “Come Holy Spirit come.”  When you ask, God answers.  Anytime you are in need of a little assistance, or even a lot of assistance, pray “come Holy Spirit come.”  I truly feel you will be surprised at all the ways He comes through for you.  Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord I ask that you send the Holy Spirit to everyone listening to this podcast. Lord we ask that you open our eyes to how the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. Lord we ask that you remind us to call on the Holy Spirit when we forget. Lord we are so very thankful that you sent down the Holy Spirit to guide us in your ways.  Lord help us to see the places in our life where we need to repent and then give us the courage to do so. We want to receive the Holy Spirit Lord Jesus we are open to it. Lord God you are amazing we are so very thankful for all you do for us.  We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and then Jesus is holy name amen.