Today we are going to begin our final four weeks in this series by starting to examine the baptism of the Holy Spirit. To do that rightly we have to see that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not simply an experience that we have it is entering into a relationship of great intimacy, humility and accountability with God Himself. The Holy Spirit is God. When Jesus said in John 14:6 that He would ask the Father and the Father would send us “another helper” it meant that the One the Father sent would be exactly like Jesus. He would possess the same character, the same purpose, the same love, the same desire and the same humility. The Holy Spirit is exactly like Jesus and Jesus is exactly like the Father, the Godhead possesses and lives in perfect unity. James 1:17 says that there is no shadow of turning in God, this means that He is not simply three in one as we try to explain, but He is Himself one in heart, in mind, in purpose, in power and in desire. The first thing we have to understand is that to be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be baptized in who He is or we can never truly be baptized in what He does. For the last couple of weeks we have talked about the two things that Jesus promised the first believers would happen to them when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, they would be clothed in power and they would become witnesses. For many of us, these are the two things we think of when we consider the baptism of the Holy Spirit but I don’t believe that about the first believers. They had walked with Jesus, the apostles had basically lived with Him. They saw more than His power and they saw more than His witness of the Father, they saw His character. They saw how He lived, they saw His joy, His peace and His hope; they saw how He truly loved the unlovable, prayed for His enemies and humbled Himself, trusting His Father to defend and vindicate Him when He was falsely accused. The first believers didn’t want to do the things that Jesus did unless and until they became who Jesus was. Power without character always corrupts but character that is prepared for power always points to the source and shares what has been given. The baptism of the Holy Spirit does clothe us in power and it does make us into witnesses but the true purpose of this baptism is to transform us in character because until we are longing to be like Jesus in character we are not rightly able to live like Jesus in our actions. We were meant to continue the work of Christ on earth but we can’t continue His work if we don’t live in His character. This morning I want to concentrate on Jesus’ final command to the disciples in the book of Luke, their final preparation to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and I pray that we will begin to see that this is also our preparation to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, we must choose to tarry. The truth is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit creates three specific things: unity in the church, glory to Jesus and redemption for the lost; those are three eternal things that only happen in this temporary world when those being baptized in the Spirit are willing to learn to tarry so that this work can happen in them before they try to see it happen through them.