Examples Of People Filled Series

Title: Baptism of the Holy Spirit

“Examples of People Filled”

Text: Acts 1:8

I want to spend the next few weeks on a subject that has become neglected amongst Pentecostal churches. It is a subject and doctrine that we were founded upon. I want to spend some extensive time on “The Baptism of the Holy Ghost.” Some of you may wonder why I spend so much of my time preaching series. It would be very egotistical of me to think that because you hear a message once, you will always remember it. I am not that good of a preacher. So, I preach series to help you understand a subject and to get it deep within our hearts.

Every message should have one goal in mind. We learned this in homiletics class. Well this series has two goals in mind. First, that every one that is not filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues will be before this series is over. The next goal is to have every believer that does have the Holy Ghost receive a deeper revelation of what that Holy Ghost will do for you. This is the most powerful subject that we could ever preach because if you truly receive what I will give you over the next few weeks it will change your life.

I am not going to give an altar call for the baptism of the Holy Ghost because we receive the Holy Ghost by faith. Faith comes from hearing the Word. I want to be sure you hear the Word and increase your faith and are ready to receive when that time comes. It may be against our religious customs, but I believe this is what the Lord wants me to do. So, those that have never received the baptism, you need to be here every service this message is preached, even if that means coming out on a Sunday night when you normally don’t. You need to hear this Word.

We used to say that we are a Pentecostal church and be so proud of that fact, but I am not so much proud that we are Pentecostal as I am that we are Spirit filled. North America is filled with dead, dried up, Pentecostal churches. I don’t care if we are Pentecostal, however, I do care that we are Spirit filled. You can be Pentecostal and still be dead, but you can’t be Spirit-filled and be dead. It is impossible.

I will stop rambling and get on with the message. The infilling of the Holy Ghost should be our pattern today. I have heard some people say that the Holy Ghost is not preached on often enough. I agree 100%. However, there is a whole Bible to preach and if you give me enough years as your Pastor I will attempt to preach the whole Bible and nothing but the Bible. This morning I want to take a journey through the book of Acts and find some different instances where people were filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. In order to do this series justice, we must start at the beginning.

Just before Jesus ascends to heaven we see this great scene:

Acts 1:4-5; “And, being assembled together with them, (Jesus) commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”

We see a little later what happened on the day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:1-4; ¶ “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

We learn from the day of Pentecost that speaking with other tongues is the initial sign of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost. We see this in several other instances that we are going to cover this morning as well. After the day of Pentecost, the disciples did great exploits for the kingdom. They saw souls saved, bodies healed, people raised from the dead. Amazing! I want to go over some different instances throughout the book of Acts where we see believers receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost.

I. BELIEVERS FILLED IN SAMARIA

The events in the book of Acts cover a number of years. Eight years after the day of Pentecost we see Philip carrying the gospel to the people of Samaria.