Baptised with the Holy Spirit

Some evangelicals take issue with the Pentecostal/Charismatic assertion that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is an experience distinct from and subsequent to salvation, because they notice that many of the functions of the Spirit which Jesus mentioned when He discussed the promised Holy Spirit with His disciples before His death are functions which the Holy Spirit does in all believers even before many of them ever experience the power or gifts of the Spirit.

Before His death, Jesus indeed talked to His disciples in general terms about the promised Holy Spirit who was to come. But that doesn't mean Jesus on that occasion said everything there is to say about the Holy Spirit.

For example, He didn't on that occasion mention that believers would speak in new tongues - but He did mention that after His resurrection.

Neither did He on that occasion go into detail regarding the fact that the apostles would not experience all there was to experience about the Holy Spirit all at once.

For example, it so happened that the apostles received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them after His resurrection before His ascension - but they weren't baptised with the Holy Spirit until after Jesus' ascension and glorification. 

So the Holy Spirit is the promise of the Father given to all who believe - yet in our experience of the gift of the Holy Spirit all of us do not necessarily unwrap every component of that gift on one occasion.

For example, I received Christ and was born of the Spirit on December 16, 1979 - then I was baptised with the Spirit, received power to be a witness, and spoke with another tongue a few months later on March 22 March 1980. Then I was baptised in water about a month after that on April 25. 

The change in me the night I was baptised with the Holy Spirit was as dramatic as the change in me the night I was born again of the Spirit. But that didn't mean I didn't have the Holy Spirit at all before I was baptised in the Spirit - it just meant I didn't experience all there was to experience with the Holy Spirit all on the same night.

But some do. For example I know a woman who went to a church for the first time, got born again of the Spirit, baptised in water, baptised in the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues - all on the same night. 

The fact that Paul asked some believers at Ephesus whether they received the Spirit when they believed, shows that it's possible to experience or not experience the baptism with the Holy Spirit at the moment you first believe.

Regardless of how your denomination defines things - go ahead and experience all there is to be experienced of the Holy Spirit. 

The promise is for you, and your children and for all who are afar off - even as many as the Lord our God shall call.