Our goal is to reflect the same belief system the apostles exhibited. Their historical behavior for church planting and preaching is reflected in the historical book of Acts, which shows Jesus' resurrection and the beginning of the Church in Acts 2 with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem.
Jesus said in Acts 1:8 that the gospel would begin in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. The book of Acts reflects the historical spread of Jesus’ prophetical statement. Salvation started on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, then spread to Samaria in Acts 8, where they received the Holy Spirit when Peter and John laid hands on them after they had believed and were baptized in Jesus’ Name. Phillip, the evangelist that first preached faith in Samaria, called for Peter and John to come to Samaria to pray with them to receive the Spirit, and in faith, they laid hands on them and prayed, and those who were prayed for received the Holy Spirit.
Acts 10 shows the Apostles beginning to preach to the “Uttermost part of the earth!” Peter gets a vision from heaven three times of unclean meats being let down by a sheet and hears the Lord command, “Rise, Peter, Slay and eat!” Peter rejects it each time, referring to Jewish traditions and the law which forbade them from eating such meats. The Lord tells him, “What I have cleansed, call thou not unclean,” and the Lord says to go with those who have gathered at the gate. At that moment, men from Cornelius’ house, a gentile soldier of Rome, came calling, saying their master had seen a vision telling him to call for Peter. Peter and some men from the Joppa church traveled to Corneliu’s house in another city with the gentiles. Upon arrival, they find the house full of Corneliu’s’ relatives and friends, and they tell Peter how the angel told them to reach out to him; they wanted to hear what he had to say. Peter understands that God opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles and began preaching Jesus. In the middle of his sermon, the Holy Spirit fell into the room, and Peter and the men from Joppa heard them speaking in tongues. Peter said these men received the Holy Spirit just like we did, referring to the men from Joppa, and he used that to justify baptizing them all in Jesus’ name, which he did immediately. Peter was called before the Jerusalem Church leaders to answer why he was at a Gentile’s house. Peter rehearsed the events that led him to preach in a Gentile home, and God filled them with the Spirit, evidenced by speaking in an unlearned language. The other Apostles and leaders acknowledged God had opened the door to the gentiles for salvation. Paul carried the same passion for people receiving the Holy Spirit in his ministry.
In Acts 19, on his missionary journey, he met some Jewish believers baptized by John the Baptist. He asked them if they had received the Holy Ghost since they believed. They replied that they had not heard about receiving the Holy Spirit, so he asked them how they had been baptized. They replied, “John had baptized us,” so Paul preached Jesus unto them, and they asked to be baptized in Jesus’ name. When Paul had completed baptizing the men, he laid his hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, just like the others the apostles had preached to earlier. We believe this experience in and through Christ still happens in people who think and reach the Lord in faith. After infilling the Spirit, the Spirit bestows gifts of the Spirit on believers. Paul wrote about this in 1 Cor. 14. This infilling of the spirit enables a believer to pray in an unknown tongue, which benefits your heart, and to have the gift of tongues and interpretation as well, which is for the benefit of the church body.
The church was born on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, as recorded in Acts chapter 2. Acts 2:38 - Peter preached to the crowd gathered by the interest in the Spirit being poured out in Acts 2:1-4. Their hearts were moved by his sermon after the demonstration of men and women receiving the Holy Spirit because they heard them speaking in tongues. When they asked, "what shall we do?" Peter preached they should "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." and that "The promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call." in verse 39. This baptismal formula of being baptized in Jesus' name was used in Acts 8, 10, and 19. Paul referenced being baptized in Jesus' name as well to the Corinthian church. ACts 4:12