Baptism In The Holy Spirit, It's Time

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