Read Matthew 3:11
Read Acts 1:4-5 & 2:1-4
• Today we are going to finish our 3 week series on the topic of baptism.
• Two weeks ago we started this series in preparation of our water baptism service which took place last week.
• Baptism, is probably one of my favorite topics in the Bible, because of the life changing effects of all three types of baptism
• For those of you who were not here, in this series we have discussed that there are three different types of baptisms mentioned in
the Bible.
• The first baptism mentioned in scripture is the Baptism into the Family of God or Body of Christ.
• This occurs the moment we chose to surrender our lives to Jesus Christ, and accept Him as our Savior.
• Now most of us know this as our day of salvation, but the Bible calls it a form of baptism.
• In this baptism we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the Body of Christ, therefore Jesus lives in us.
• How many of you know this is the first and perhaps most important type of baptism you need to experience, as it seals your soul
for Heaven, AMEN?
• Then the second type of baptism we discussed last week was water baptism.
• In this type of baptism, a minister or vessel of God baptizes you into water, which symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
• But as we saw last week in His Word, the Bible says if we joined with Christ in death,
• We will also take on His likeness in the resurrection.
• So we determined that through water baptism we are baptized into the identity of Christ.
• For those of you who were baptized last week, you took on the identity of Christ.
• We acknowledged that this type of baptism was so important because our image or our identities outside of Him are worthless,
• But the identity of Jesus Christ is a life changing identity, able to change the world, and of course change us.
• So we get to live with Jesus alive in us, and we get to live with Jesus identity upon us,
• And how many of you know that if God stopped right there, that’s a pretty blessed life, AMEN?
• But how many of you know that Jesus didn’t stop there???
• How many of you are glad that Jesus didn’t stop there???
• This week we are going to discuss the third type of baptism that the Bible talks about, the Baptism With the Holy Spirit.
• In this baptism, Jesus Christ Himself baptizes us with or into the Holy Spirit.
• Now let’s bring this into context, because it’s important to understand what we are saying here.
• Jesus Himself was baptized with the Holy Spirit by the Father, and now He baptizes each of us with the Holy Spirit.
• If we can understand why Jesus needed this baptism, it helps us realize the importance of Holy Spirit baptism in our own lives.
• Understand that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit upon coming out of the waters of baptism at the hands of John the Baptist.
• And John said this was the sign that He was looking for, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Man and remained,
• Then He would know that this was the Christ, or the anointed one.
• So in order to understand this we have to understand the identity of Jesus Christ.
• And this is so important, so for those of you who may be confused by this, let me try to clarify quickly.
• Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary, who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit.
• Therefore Jesus was the Son of God, how many of you understand that Jesus was the Son of God.
• Now if you understand that the Man Jesus who walked this earth was the Son of God,
• Can you also understand that Jesus is still God Himself?
• Please keep in mind that the Bible describes God as a Spirit, but God thought enough of us that He sent a piece of Himself,
• In the form of a Man (another words, God put on flesh), and came to this earth.
• So when Jesus walked this earth as a man, He was both 100% Man, and yet He was still 100% God.
• He was a man because He had flesh, and a body, and a heartbeat, and was born of a woman.
• But He was God, because the Bible says all things were created through Him,
• And how many of you know that the Bible says in the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth, AMEN?
• Ok, so we will dive more into the depth of the Godhead another time, but it’s important to know that Jesus as God had power,
• However, by putting on the corruptible flesh to become a man, He also had limitations
• How many of you know that as men and women, as people we have limitations, amen?
• Ok, so Jesus had a pretty big task at hand, and in His limited flesh He was not going to be able to get it done, EVEN AS GOD.
• So being God, Jesus did not have to get saved, or be baptized into the Body, because He was or is that body, AMEN
• But He did have to take on the identity of God (Like we do during water baptism)
• And once He put on the identity of God through water baptism, the devil, hell, and Jesus’s followers all recognized Him as the Son
of God.
• But when Jesus came out of the waters of baptism something else occurred.
• We are told that the Holy Spirit descended upon Him and remained.
• When Jesus came out of the waters of baptism, He not only needed the identity of God,
• But He would need something else to complete His ministry and mission here on this earth.
• Jesus needed the Power of God to accomplish what was necessary in the years to come.
• And so Jesus, in the limited flesh, was baptized with the Holy Spirit of God, in preparation for the things to come.
• Now let me be very clear, Jesus was the first to walk in such power, but was not designed to be the last.
• Do you remember what Jesus told His disciples as He was performing miracles - In John 14:12 He said,
• ‘I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works that these he will do, because I go to My
Father’
• He would go on two verses later to say, ‘If you love Me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you
another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees
Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.’
• Folks I am a student of the gospel, and believe me I don’t make this stuff up, it’s in the Word of God, but let me ask you this,
• If Jesus being God in the flesh, still needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit for His ministry,
• And Jesus said, greater works than these, you will do.
• Doesn’t it stand to reason that you and I also need to be filled with this same Holy Spirit?
• And let me ask you one more question, if you are not walking in the power of God right now,
• And Jesus says, here is the way to have it, Wouldn’t you want that power living in you???
• Folks, come on, listen to me I’m not some religious Pentecostal fanatic.
• I grew up in the southern Baptist church, where the Holy Ghost was just something we mentioned during the doxology and during
water baptism services.
• As a matter of fact, when I was first introduced to the doctrine of being baptized in the Holy Spirit,
• I approached my Southern Baptist pastor looking for help in debunking this foolishness that I had heard about,
• I said give me some scripture to read to better understand how to tell others that this baptism of the Holy Spirit is blasphemy,
• And do you know what He said, He told me to ignore it, and not to bring it up again.
• I spent the next 2-3 years of my life studying scripture and praying for revelation on the subject,
• All so that I could prove that this doctrine was absolutely false.
• But in the process of trying to prove that it was wrong, do you know what happened???
• Take a guess, the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was proven to be not only true, but part of God’s perfect plan for my
life, and your life, and all our lives as believers.
• And do you know what I realized, I found out that the power of God was not something people could easily explain away,
• But because it made them very uncomfortable (and for no other reason), they simply said, just ignore it.
• So today I want to spend a few minutes explaining this third baptismal experience, and my hope is that you will begin to spend
every day of your life seeking after the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
• So that you too can have the power of God that Jesus had while He walked this earth, and that His disciples experienced on the
day of Pentecost.
• So I am going to touch on three questions this morning as we examine the Holy Spirit Baptism.
• 1) The first thing we will examine is WHY DO WE NEED IT?
• 2) The second thing we will examine is, why is ‘speaking in tongues’ so often mentioned when discussing Holy Spirit baptism?
• 3) We will examine How we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and what happens next?
• Now listen, I know this makes some of us a bit uncomfortable, but just stay with me this morning.
• If you disagree with me when we are done today, that’s ok, but don’t disagree with me just because you’re uncomfortable with the
Spirit manifesting itself in you or others.
• If you are going to disagree with me, then do so because you think I’m wrong, and that is ok.
• We will still worship together, and we will still be brothers and sisters in Christ,
• But How many of you want more Jesus, more of the Holy Spirit, more of the power of God in your life, AMEN???
• --
• Ok, so first question - Why do we need the Holy Spirit Baptism???
• We have already touched on this a bit earlier on, but anytime you want to look into something in the Bible,
• There is no greater example than Jesus Christ Himself, AMEN?
• So what did Jesus do while He walked on this earth during His ministry???
• He went through the villages healing the sick, cleansing those with leprosy, casting out demons, and even raising the dead.
• What part of Jesus do you think was able to do those things? Was it Jesus the Man or Jesus the God?
• Yeah it was God, and notice we have zero examples in the Bible about Jesus doing these things PRIOR to His baptism
• And as we discussed earlier, Jesus was not just baptized into the identity of the Son of God,
• He was also baptized with the Holy Spirit, as the Bible says, when He came out of the water,
• John the Baptist said, ‘I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him’
• Then it says ‘He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him,
this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God’
• So first we acknowledged in the past two weeks that in the first baptism the Holy Spirit baptizes us into the Body of Christ
• In the Second baptism the man of God baptizes us into the identity of Christ,
• And in the third baptism JESUS baptizes us with the Holy Spirit.
• So we know it is a separate experience than water baptism and salvation, and if we look at the life of Jesus we also find out what
it’s for.’
• When Jesus was baptized with the Holy Spirit He was equipped with the POWER OF GOD.
• When you and I are baptized with the Holy Spirit WE are being baptized WITH the POWER OF GOD. -- THE HOLY SPIRIT IS
THE POWER OF GOD!!!
• Oh come on somebody, how many of you could use some of the power of God in your life???
• You and I were designed to walk in power – and I know a lot of spirit filled believers who walk in the power of God daily.
• But when we say we don’t need the Holy Ghost baptism we are telling God, we don’t WANT or NEED your power.
• I’ll take that one step further, when we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and refuse to exercise His power, we are wasting the
POWER OF GOD.
• We had better move on, or I will get stuck there on a soap box for the rest of the service.
• So Jesus received the power of God & performed miracles & healings upon being baptized with the Holy Spirit
• But that’s not the only thing Jesus was baptized with the Holy Ghost for.
• What else did Jesus do after He was baptized with the Holy Spirit???
• He preached to people the good news of the Kingdom of God.
• Folks, He did that through the power of the Holy Spirit – on the day of Pentecost when Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, He
preached with power and boldness, and MANY were added to the church that day.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit not only gives us the power to heal and perform miracles, but it gives us the power to boldly and
clearly proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
• And that good news message is that the King of Heaven has come to take back His rightful seat in the throneroom of our lives,
and we don’t have to reign in weakness anymore.
• And through Him, we can live a life of righteousness without fear and without doubt, because He is fully in control. --
• So He baptized us for power and for boldness, but there was one more thing that Jesus received through His Holy Spirit baptism
• He received The ability to endure this world – Jesus faced some of the most tragically trying times in the history of mankind,
especially at the end of this life
• And in His last hours in the garden, He even prayed, if it is possible let this cup of suffering pass from me
• But by the power of the Holy Spirit He said, nevertheless THY WILL BE DONE.
• Folks, sometimes in life we will face some tough things, and can I share something with you,
• It’s only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to endure these things, and yet rejoice while we are still going through
them
• We all know those who have turned their backs on God during trying times, but we also know those who remain joyful even in the
midst of tragedy
• Folks, that’s the power that comes when the Holy Ghost fills your life
• If you thank God for the power of the Holy Spirit, give the Lord a Big AMEN this morning…
• --
• The second question we said we would touch on is WHY TONGUES???
• When we talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, we often say the evidence of this baptism is speaking in tongues. (An unknown
heavenly or angelic language that we didn’t learn, and in many cases don’t understand)
• We say this for several reasons, most notably that in Acts chapter 2 when we are told the followers were filled with the Holy Spirit,
they spoke with other tongues.
• Now it’s important to note without getting into a whole other sermon series today that there are three types of manifestations of
speaking in tongues in the Bible
• On the day of Pentecost they did speak with tongues, and we are told that the people from different countries understood them as
if they were speaking their own language.
• Now that means that God either allowed them to speak an earthly tongue they didn’t know, or that they were speaking with a
heavenly tongue, and the people miraculously understood it in their own native languages.
• Either way, this was a miracle occurring when they received the Holy Spirit
• There are two other manifestations or uses of tongues mentioned in the Bible.
• Paul said that one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit was the ability to speak with prophetic tongues.
• This is like when someone speaks an unknown tongue in the church during a service, and then it is followed up by an
interpretation or a prophetic word.
• But the third type of tongue we read about in the Bible is in Romans chapter 8 when it says this:
• ‘Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself
makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the
Spirit is, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for
good to those who love God’
• This is a heavenly prayer language, that I believe is available to all believers, as a means of the Spirit of God interceding in our
prayer when we don’t know what needs to be prayed for.
• And I also believe it is one of the greatest personal gifts that God has ever given us.
• Now it is also commonly believed to be evidence of Holy Spirit Baptisms because of scriptural references as well as most personal
experiences that when you receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit,
• The evidence that you have been baptized is that you will speak with tongues.
• Now I also believe that the EVIDENCE that you have been baptized is that you now speak with other tongues. (even though I
think it’s simply a gift we are afforded when we get filled with the Holy Spirit)
• Even though some people disagree with me, and that’s fine. I would just add that whether you believe it necessary to speak in
tongues as evidence of the Holy Spirit baptism or not,
• I wish for everyone’s sake that they would speak with tongues, because it is a gift of intimacy that we share with God.
• It’s giving Him control in our prayer life, even when we don’t know what the need is or outcome will be.
• Now I will also add that I know people that have been filled with the Holy Spirit (as it is evident in their walk and their spiritual
abilities) who refuse to allow the Holy Spirit to speak through them.
• It’s sad, as they are holding God back, but I know people who are filled, and yet don’t speak with tongues. (In my opinion that is
evidence being withheld, but another story for another day)
• Let me give a personal testimony on the importance of speaking with new tongues in my opinion, and then I will move on to the
final point for the sake of time.
• When I was younger (before I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit) I found myself in a situation where I was being used by God
as a vessel of prayer, in an intense situation.
• As I was doing so, and I was in intense intercessory prayer for this person, I began to speak in a language that I didn’t understand.
• At the same time I felt an intense power come upon me, and frankly a heavy burden lift away from me.
• A few moments later the person I was praying for seemed to experience what I could only explain at the time as a supernatural
recovery.
• A couple of days went by, and I thought so much about the situation, and I found myself sitting in prayer and asking God
forgiveness for speaking in the unknown tongue, because it must have been demonic (in my mind at least)
• Eventually months and months later while laying at an altar just telling Jesus how much I loved Him
• I would again speak with tongues, and realized I was filled with the Holy Spirit, and frankly I have prayed in tongues nearly every
day since for the past 12 years or so.
• But fast forward to about 1-1/2 yrs or so ago, and I was in a deep place of intimate prayer, and God brought me back to that day
when I was praying for that person, when spoke with that unknown tongue.
• And this is the Word God gave me, ‘He said, Larry on that day I filled you with my Holy Spirit’, and a few days later you asked me
to basically take it away’
• He showed me that the enemy had fooled me into believing that it wasn’t a gift from God, and that’s why I wouldn’t walk in it again
for nearly 8 months.
• In this time of intimate revelation I asked God, why did you choose to fill me with the spirit that day of all times? I wasn’t even
asking for it…
• And God’s response was, because whether you realize it or not, you were in the process of casting a demon out of that person,
• And you didn’t have the power to do so on your own. So I gave you My words to speak and My power to deliver them.
• Folks, I didn’t believe in demons, until God began to use me to cast them out.
• I didn’t really believe in speaking in tongues, until I spoke in them
• I didn’t believe in being slain in the Holy Spirit, until the power of God knocked me on my butt one day.
• I say all of that to say this – Most people are not afraid or against being filled with the Holy Spirit – It’s the manifestations or things
that visually happen next that freaks them out.
• But you can’t ask Jesus to fill you with His power, and then ask Him to do it in such a way that makes you and everyone else
around you more comfortable.
• --
• Let’s move on to the last question before we close: HOW DO I RECEIVE THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND THEN
WHAT?
• I am going to be very vague here because I have seen this happen so many different ways.
• But frankly you receive it by simply asking for it – and I am not going to tell you that you will receive it the first time you pray for it,
because for some reason some get it right away,
• And others have to pray through for a while in order to get filled up, as a matter of fact, I know a man who prayed for over a year to
get filled.
• But when He did, it was well worth the wait, and God has since used Him mightily to advance His Kingdom.
• The baptism with the Holy Spirit is not something you have to understand completely, but something you just have to desire and
ask for, and position yourself to receive.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is when you are baptized in, or covered in, or filled with the Holy Spirit of God.
• And when you are, it’s like walking with Jesus every single day for the rest of your life.
• But then what??? Once I receive it, what happens next??? – Simple, do what Jesus did – pray for power that heals the sick, casts
out demons, cleanses lepers, & raises the dead,
• The power that boldly proclaims the good news of Jesus, and helps us to rejoice always and to overcome every situation.
• Most of you today have been baptized into the Body of Christ – Some of you have been baptized by water into the identity of
Jesus Christ – And some of you have even experienced the baptism with the Holy Spirit
• My question today is – for those of you who have been baptized in H.S. and those of you who haven’t, are you walking in the
power of God???
• Because when enough of us again acknowledge and receive the baptism of power, not only will our personal lives never be the
same again,
• But as a body of Christ, we will position ourselves to experience a great revival of people coming to Jesus Christ.
• Is a river of living water flowing through you??? I don’t care if you believe in a baptism of fire,
• And frankly I don’t care if you believe in speaking with new tongues – neither did I (until I did)
• But what I care about is that each and every one of us live to experience a new life where we are BAPTIZED WITH THE POWER
that only comes from THE KING OF GLORY!!!
• (WOULD YOU STAND PLEASE IN PRESENCE OF GOD)
