II. Baptism in the Holy Spirit
a. it was a declaration of John the Baptist about Christ—Matt. 3:11- Jesus would baptize people in the Holy Spirit and with fire. It isn’t the baptism of the H.S. but in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the one who is baptizing.
b. It is the promise of the Father—Acts 2:16-21 Peter declared Pentecost to be the fulfillment of the prophesy of Joel, that in the last days there would be a pouring out of the Spirit on all flesh. Some call this the latter rain.
c. Water baptism starts a life with Christ, the Baptism in the Holy Spirit starts a walk in the Spirit, a life in the Spirit.
d. It is a powerful work—Acts 1:8—ye shall receive power—to do miracles, to be witnesses, to live holy lives. Luke 24:49-endued with power from on high. God wants to be so active in our life, He wants to help us in our walk with God.
e. It is a desirable things to operate in the Spirit of God—I Corinthians 14:1- sometimes people avoid a Pentecostal church because they think they will have the Holy Spirit forced upon them, but we learn through scripture, the Holy Spirit is as gentle as a dove. You must desire the Holy Spirit controlled life, He leads, the devil drives. Demonic spirits drive people.
f. John 16:13-14 Another very important work of the Holy Ghost is that He is the Spirit of Truth. The Word of God is spiritually discerned, you cannot receive it from a carnal mind. He convinces the world of sin, this is what we call conviction of the Holy Spirit. He bears witness to Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit always draws to Christ, that is why in the moving of the Holy Spirit, many people get saved.
g. The Holy Spirit prays through us—Romans 8:26-27 this is called intercession—when we know not what to pray, the Holy Spirit does.
Sometimes people will wake up in the middle of the night and feel impress to pray, if this happens to me, it has to be God, cause nothing wakes me up, not even a tornado.
h. Tongues is an outward sign of an inward work—Acts 2:4—initial physical evidence. When someone is saved they receive the Holy Spirit, no man calls Jesus Lord, except by the Spirit—( I Cor. 12:3 ) So we don’t teach that you have to speak in tongues to have the Holy Spirit working in your life. But the sign of that working, the physical witness, is speaking in tongues.
i. Corporately, tongues and interpretation edifies the church, along with prophesy, tongues individually edifies the believer. I Corinthians 12:6-11, 14:1-20 Being used in the Holy Spirit should draw, not repel, everything in the Spirit must be done decently and in order.
j. Everything should operate out of love—I Corinthians 12:31—over the years, gifts have been abused in many ways.
· Gifts taking precedent over praise and worship, and the word.
· People of inconsistency in their lives, coming in with words of God, the two don’t mix.
· Over abundance of gifts, under abundance of fruit—if a church operates in spiritual gifts, there must be fruit, if there is no fruit, then the gifts are not valid.
· Every spirit is to be tried, whether it is from God. Not everyone who cries Lord, Lord will be saved.
· By two or by three---this simply means, the church doesn’t need all day services with personal prophesies and words, in neglect of the Word of God being preached.
· It is better to remain silent, then to give messages in tongues where there are no interpretation. If you give the message, if no one else interprets, you should be the interpreter of that message.
Close: as I have traveled over the years, going through many towns, it is amazing to see many times the Pentecostal churches seem to be making the littlest impact on their communities. It shouldn’t be this way, but because the Holy Spirit gifts have been abused, and no correction has ever been done, many people have left the church. Or just as bad, because of abuses, many churches have all but ceased in the operations of the Holy Spirit. I pray, we will all be open to the moving of the Spirit, but we will all operate in love, and in order.
