BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT -- IT’S TIME
Pastor Bryan Strickland
ACTS 1:4-8
INTRODUCTION
Before Jesus left the earth, before He ascended bodily into the
heavens, Jesus instructed His disciples, He instructed the believers, to
tarry, or to wait in Jerusalem until they had been endued, with power.
Jesus said, "John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized in
the Holy Spirit not many days from now." What is Jesus talking about?
Verse 8 elaborates even further, READ VS. 8
Jesus wants , His church to seek after, to wait for, to receive the promise
of the Father, Which is the endowment of power, the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
The early Church would be facing a pagan world that would resist them and try to silence their witness and Jesus knew they needed the power of the Spirit. He knew the religious world of the Jews would persecute them and He wanted them to have the power to stand,
power to speak the truth in love, power to withstand the persecution that He knew they would face.
I’m preaching this message today because I believe that if the church ever needed a fresh touch of the real fire, a fresh anointing, a fresh endowment of power, it is the days in which we are currently living.
We need to hear Jesus speak to us today as He says, "you shall be
baptized.....and you shall receive power!"
I believe God still wants a church that still believes in the full
gospel, a church that is hungry for and longing for the move of the Holy
Spirit in the singing, the anointing in the preaching, the power at the altars.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but you are looking at one
pastor that does not lean on the flesh, I depend on the Holy Spirit to help
me stand and proclaim the Word. I depend on the Holy Spirit to pastor
and to worship and to witness. You are looking at one pastor who is not
ashamed to say I have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire!
Make no mistake, I am a Pentecostal Preacher. I’m not ashamed,
I believe in the move and the manifestation of the Spirit in our services.
I believe in speaking in, praying in, praising in, and singing in a heavenly language that the Spirit gives us to utter as He fills our being with His presence.
We are a church that will yield to the move of the Spirit, a church that will let
the gifts of the Spirit flow, a church that bears the fruit of the
Spirit, a church that will come to altars and let the Spirit move up and
down the avenues of their souls. Oh! If we could just catch the
Pentecostal fire one more time before the return of Jesus, this place
would be packed out!
People are bored with dead dry formalistic, traditionalistic, and
legalistic religion. People are bored of coming to church dry and
leaving dry, of coming sick and leaving sick, of coming empty and
leaving empty. If we could only be what we claim to be, if we could
really be Pentecostal like the early church was Pentecostal, we’ll come
down out of the upper room, out and into the work-a-day world and turn
the city upside down.
I’m not talking about a denomination, as long as you are willing to let Pentecost be reborn in your Christian walk.
Are you willing to let the fire of God burn upon the altars of your soul?
Are you willing to yield to the move of the Spirit of the Living God?
Because if we are ready to let God move, God is ready to move!
If we ever hope to see the Spirit of God move again as He did in days
of old, then it’s time to do four things.
1) It is time to stop being deceived,
2) it is time to retrieve,
3) it is time to believe, and
4) it is time to receive.
I. TIME TO STOP BEING DECEIVED
Satan is a deceiver, he is a liar and the father of lies, and he knows
he can’t stop the Spirit from moving, so he tries to deceive us and
cause us to fail to receive the promise of the Heavenly Father. But I
am here to declare to you today that it is time for the church to stop
being deceived. It’s time we go back to the Word and hear the truth for
the truth will set us free, the truth will liberate the church and allow
us be plunged into the person of the Holy Spirit.
A. We will not be deceived by false teaching against the manifestations
of the Holy Spirit.
There are some religious groups who have fought long and hard against
the Pentecostal movement because we found a pearl of great price and we
sold everything we had and bought the field.
These early Pentecostals were rejected and ridiculed by the formal religious denominations of the day. But once they had tasted of the Spirit, once they had
been filled with the Spirit, once they had been healed and spoke in other tongues,
there was no turning back.
Still, Satan has deceived millions of Christians and robbed them of the
blessing that God desires to pour out upon all flesh.
Don’t be deceived by misguided teaching against the Baptism in the Holy
Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues.
II. IT IS TIME TO RETRIEVE
Jesus told the parable of the woman who lost a silver coin. He said
she swept and cleaned the house until she found it. And when she found
it she called her friends and said, "Rejoice with me; for I have found
the piece which I had lost!" (Luke. 15:9). That’s the way it is with
Pentecostals, we want the world to come and rejoice with us; a part of
the Christian experience had been lost in the church, but at the turn of
the century it was found and we rejoice and worship in the freedom of
the Spirit for where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
A. It’s time to retrieve the biblical teaching of the initial evidence
of speaking with other tongues when one is baptized in the Holy Spirit.
There are some Pentecostal churches that have grown by non-Pentecostals
coming to enjoy the worship and freedom But as the church grows some Pentecostal churches are bowing to the pressure of crowd not to emphasize the teaching of initial evidence. But the only thing that will happen is that as Pentecostal churches become less and less Pentecostal, they lose the very power and appeal that made them grow in the first
place. Before long the big church loses its fire and dies in a dead heap of cold and lifeless ashes.
It’s time to retrieve the biblical model of the Baptism in the Holy
Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in other tongues. It’s not
time to teach that it is the last evidence, or the only evidence, but
that it is the first, or initial, evidence that the believer has been
baptized, plunged into the Holy Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost they all spoke in other tongues as the Spirit
gave the utterance. When Peter preached to the household of Cornelius
the Christian Jews knew they had been filled with the Holy Spirit, "for
they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God." When Paul laid
hands on John’s disciples, "the Holy Spirit came upon them and they
spoke in tongues..."
Some said, "Why is tongues the initial evidence? Couldn’t it be
something else? NO in Every place, but two.
B. It’s time to retrieve the teaching of holiness as a prerequisite to
the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
There has been a gross neglect in many Pentecostal churches on the
teaching of sanctification, of holiness and righteousness. While being
Pentecostal has become popular in our day, teaching and preaching on
living a sanctified life is as unpopular as it has ever been.
We live in a time now when people want the Spirit, but they don’t want to
surrender their life to God. They want the power, but they don’t want
to place their life before mirror of the Word and examine themselves. I
hear a lot of people talking about wanting the anointing who don’t want
to make sacrifices. But I still believe the Holy Spirit is looking for
clean vessels to fill. The anointing is a witness to a sanctified life.
The Church of God was part of the holiness movement years before we became Pentecostal and the day we forsake our holiness roots is the day we cease being Pentecostal.
It’s time to retrieve the teaching that "without holiness, no man shall see the
Lord."
III. IT IS TIME TO BELIEVE
Some are asking, "Why don’t we see God move like we used too?" And the
answer is very simple, we don’t believe like we used to. If we want to
be a Pentecostal church, it is time to believe for a Pentecostal outpouring. If we want to see people healed at the altars, it’s time to believe that they will be healed. If we want to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit it is time to pray and lay hands on them and believe
that God will do what He has promised in His Word to do.
A. We can believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit because it was
prophesied by John the Baptist. He said, "I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance, but there cometh one after me who shoes I am not
worthy to unloose, He shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire."
(Lk. 3:16)
B. We can believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit because it was
promised by Jesus. He said, "you shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit
not many days from now." (Ac. 1:5)
C. We can believe in the baptism in the Holy Spirit because it was
practiced by the Early Church. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully
come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there
came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all
the house where they were sitting. and there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance." (Ac. 2:1-4)
IV. IT IS TIME TO RECEIVE
Joel prophesied, "In the last day, saith the Lord, I will pour out of
my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy...." These are the last days, these are the days of Pentecost,
these are the days when the church needs the power of the Holy Spirit.
It is time to receive all that God has for us because we are going to
need all the armor, all the gifts that He has for the church, all the
fruit in our lives, all the power that is available. It is time for us
to be what we say we are. If we are Pentecostal, then let’s be
Pentecostal or let’s change the sign.
It’s time to stop quenching the Spirit through our unbelief. It’s time
to stop resisting the work of the Spirit in our life. It’s time open up
the windows of our soul and say, "Come in Holy Ghost and fill me afresh
with your sweet anointing!" It’s time to clap our hands and shout unto
God with the voice of triumph, it’s time to dance for joy, it’s time to
rejoice, it’s time to stop living on yesterdays blessings and let God do
a new work in us and in this church! It is time to receive!
