THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
THIS MORNING I WANT TO TALK WITH YOU ABOUT GOD’S EMPOWERING PRESENCE Some of the thoughts I will Share were inspired by Dr. George Wood
AS a Pentecostal… I believe that the Holy Spirit Empowers US
1. deepening our worship to the lord by giving us a language of praise which we have not learned
2. Power in our Christian Witness –
Personally – As A Pentecostal Christian I did not have that knowledge in my Brain before I had that experience in my SOUL
What I’m telling you is that The Baptism in the HS is a crisis event
Like Salvation the Baptism does not comes by osmoses or by degrees.
It comes as an event.
It comes as an experience.
And I had this experience nearly simultaneously to my conversion
And I had no Idea what was going on doctrinally
As I have studied I have discovered that we as Pentecostals are sometimes judged for our experiences
We are accused of having an experience and then running to the Bible to validate our experience.
They are suggesting that "if we were a biblical person we would get the scripture first and then have the experience"
But we are actually in good company.
Peter did exactly that same thing in Acts 10
Peter was on his house top praying when he had an experience – a vision of a sheet being lowered with unclean animals. – he was told to take and eat. Peter so no lord I can’t eat they are unclean..
The experience was so overwhelming that he agreed – and the Spirit used that as a bridge to send Peter to Cornelius’s house.
Whats amazing about that experience is that Jesus had explicitly tought that it is not the things that go in a man that make him unclean, but what comes out of Him.
- Mark 7:19
For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")
Jesus had established the doctrine, but PETER had not yet had the experience
It was not till he had an experience that he was able to go back and find that it was backed up by the Word
It’s ok to have an experience that you don’t understand
As long as it is ultimately backed up by God’s word
If it is not backed up by God’s word we need to be willing to re-define our experience or reject our experience
For example
I absolutely have no time for the propagate a doctrine that would suggest a Christian can be possessed by an evil Spirit
There is not a SHRED of scriptural evidence for the experience.
My heart cannot go where the scripture don’t go
because God’s Spirit and God’s word always agree
In spite of someone experience I have to redefine their experience before I will redefine the scripture.
BUT WHEN THERE IS EVIDENCE WE NEED TO TAKE THAT AND DEAL WITH IT SERIOUSLY
As in the case of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
There are many who have had the experience and there is solid foundational doctrine to base the experience on…
This morning I want to look at 4 biblical terms that describe the Pentecostal Experience.
They are synonymous…
1. THE BAPTISM IN THE SPIRIT
Acts 1:5
For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."
Acts 11:16
Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ’John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
With, in , by means of….
Both these statements by Jesus take place sequentially after
John 20:22
And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
When they received the Holy Spirit they received NEW LIFE
So, Jesus is telling the disciples who have already received the Spirit that they would be Baptized in the Spirit
So, there is a distinction between the presence of the Spirit in our lives in Regeneration and the Presence of the spirit in our lives for empowerment.
There is often a confusion between what Jesus says in the book of acts and what Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:13
1 Cor. 12:13
For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Many will take this verse and say this is the Baptism in the Spirit
That the Baptism in the Spirit is the same as regeneration
That there is no other blessing
No other empowerment
No other work necessary
The problem with that view is that it ignores John 20:22 and Acts 1:5
Which teaches the following pattern for our spiritual WALK
Saved – baptized in the holy ghost
1 Cor. 12 teaches us about regeneration – the picture is of the Spirit baptizing us into the Body of Christ
Acts 1:5 teaches us about Pentecostal Empowerment - the picture is of Jesus baptizing us into the Holy Spirit.
Matthew 3:11
"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
Salvation he is in YOU – You are Baptized by the HS into the BODY
Baptism you are in HIM - You are Baptized by Jesus (Mystically) into the life of the Spirit.
That’s the first Biblical term “Baptism in the Spirit”
2. THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER
Luke 24:49
I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
Acts 1:4
On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: "Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.
When my father made me a promise when I was a child it was something to look forward to
The one promise that the Father makes to us in the NT is the Promise of the Holy Spirit
On the Day of Pentecost the promise was fulfilled
Acts 2:33
Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.
The promise of the Father is HERE NOW.
Notice
The promise of the father is not some sort of mystical blessing
It is something both seen and heard…
When the day of Pentecost came what was seen and heard…
a. a bunch of drunks
b. tongues and prophecy
These men are not drunk with wine
Peter stood up to prophecy
They spoke in tongues and the Spirit gave them utterance
They were speaking about the greatness of God
They spoke out loudly, clearly wand with excitement
They were making some noise…
the Promise of the father gives us the ability to boldly utter forth good news
And authority and power to declare our faith to others.
No holding back
The Promise of the father sets us free from our shyness so we can tell others
Acts 2:39
The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."
3. THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT
Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 8:20 Simon wanted to by the gift of God with money
Peter answered: "May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!
A gift with out payment
Free
4. FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
Acts 4:31
After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Ephes. 5:18
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.
The proportion of the filling of the Spirit is dependent upon our capacity
There were some who had a greater capacity.
On the day of Pentecost only one stood up to preach to the multitudes
The other 119 did other things…
Some powerful and some not
We can expand
The Spirit is infinite
When we have been filled we can be filled again.
Interestingly, whenever the term “Be filled with the Spirit” occurs it is inevitably associated with some crisis.
When Steven is being stoned he is filled with the Spirit -
So - to be filled with the Spirit describes the ongoing work of the Spirit as well as the initial event call the Baptism in the Spirit.
Paul on his first missionary Journey.
On his first stop
Encounters a man names Bar Jesus – Acts 13:7
Who is opposed to him
So Paul rebukes him and causes blindness to come on HIM Bar-Jesus
When it happens the Bible tells us
“Paul – Filled with the Holy Spirit”
Had he been full of the Spirit before then
Yes
But he had never faces a situation like this before and that new situation produced in Him a greater capacity to Be Filled with the Spirit
The initial experience of being filled with the Spirit
Is an initial experience
It is not the end
It is the beginning
It is a gateway or doorway to more and more of the Life of the Spirit in you.
Some people look at it like a merit badge…
Of Pentecostal respectability
That allows us to be a member of the club
We have perverted the purpose and meaning of what it means to be filled with the Baptism in the Holy Ghost.
We should not say “I have arrived”
-CUZ we have only just begun…
The Baptism is an initial experience.
To lead us through a gateway of experience with God
To give us boldness where we never had boldness before
To give us power and authority in our life and witness
In the NT we are never told to know the Spirit
We are told to know Christ
Instead we are told to receive the Spirit
To be filled with the Spirit
The reason is
True knowledge of the Spirit comes only through a relationship of our heart and mind with the Holy Spirit
The HS comes not where people are hungry for religion or doctrine
But where people are hungry for
More of the word
More of God’s presence
More of God’s promises
More of god’s will
All throughout history
