Bro. Tobin: Holy Ghost Baptism: Settle For Nothing Less
Acts 1,4-6, 7; Heb. 6,1-2; Is. 6; Rom. 8,1-2; 1Cor.14,21-22; Jer. 15,4f; Lk 3,15-16; Jn 7,37; 14,16
September 2009 Lyndon Full Gospel AG
Prayer: Psalm 29,7: "The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire." May His
voice come upon you in fire today, in Jesus name.
Intro
I'm going to preach about Holy Ghost Baptism today. This will provide
interested folks with the convicting love and witness to minister to the vast
majority of Christians and non Christians who either don't accept baptism
in the Holy Ghost, or know anything about it.
This subject riles me up, convicts me- the fact Christ shed his blood to
make good on God's promise to give us a new Spirit and heart (Hb. 9-12, Ez.36,27).
It cost Jesus His life, and yet we largely ignore God's greatest life
changing gift. It also riles that I'm giving my life to God and his people,
through the grace of baptism in the Spirit, and wasn't really effective or
allowed by God to minister until I got it, and yet at every turn, scriptures very
simple and momentous promise to everybody (Acts 2,39) goes unheeded. And
we have to lay it out again and again, a doctrine that after 2000 years should be
second nature.
And perhaps we in the Pentecostal movement have been worn down by this
resistance to this supreme gift, despite the fact that we know in our heart of
hearts that this baptism is the closest thing to eternal security that any man will
ever have. Doesn't it rile you up that Christ died to give us the Holy Ghost, yet
about this very thing that gives us the power to speak up, we stay so silent!
I don't preach this with a critical Spirit. I say this as a man who would still be
living in the state of sin, not the state of redemption save for this better
baptism. Am I overstating the matter? Well then how did you conquer sin dear
reader? When you got your water baptism? When you decided not to do the
things you didn't want to do, but still did them, and not just occasionally like Paul?
As for me, God living in me by Baptism in the Spirit killed the power of my
sin nature and established a new nature. I can and still do sin, nothing major
I hope, but it's harder now, after baptism in the Spirit, to get off track than
stay on track. And as a matter of testimony, I'm more than a conqueror,
after baptism in the Spirit. But if you can say this without God fully living in
you, and without getting all superspiritual and religious, and clangy gonglike,
then bully for you. Jesus promised us more, because he knew we needed more.
And it riles my Pastoral feathers that so few people want to share the
good news of baptism in the Holy Ghost. It's become rare to hear anyone
anywhere preach about baptism in the Holy Ghost, or if so so faintly that it doesn't
seem very important at all.
It's vitally important as to the dynamics and vision of mission and to personal
sanctification and guidance. In hundreds of ways (he will teach us all things) it is
worth having and keeping. As to the latter just like Saul lost his anointing- we
Pentecostals can lose ours- so by God we should have this stuff on the tip of our
tongues, for our own benefit (our own testimony) and those who have never
experienced God in this way.
Why is it that so few folks speak up for Pentecost today? I think we know the
answer in our spirit man- because it comes at the price of changing our lives and
following God more closely so as to receive the Spirit. Thus, many pastors and even
folks in Pentecostal churches won't preach it or teach it, because it makes people
who don't have it uncomfortable. And then they might not come to church. And then
the church budget might go down, the love of money being the root of all evil.
Can We Persevere Without It?
The Lord put it to me this way. "The need and the reality of baptism in the
Holy Ghost in these trying days is so much more important than the amount
of 'success' any of my churches has." John 3,5: "Unless one is born of water and
the Spirit, he is unable to enter the kingdom of God."
Now if that's God's heart- though none may follow, follow- come on
dear Pentecostal brothers and sisters- we can do a better job at explaining
what we have experienced. And I hope this sermon-teaching helps.
Moreover, how are we going to know if we are being presented other Christs, other
gospels, and other spirits unless we are operating under the Spirit if Christ, the one
Corinth first received: "But I am afraid that, just as the snake with his cunning seduced
Eve, your minds may be led stray from single-minded devotion to Christ. Because any
chance comer has only to preach a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you
have only to receive a spirit different from the one you received, or a gospel different
from the one you accepted- and you put up with that only too willingly." 2Cor.11,3-4;
Rev. 18,4-5; Rev. 21,8.
Fundamental Doctrine
And then there's the difficulty that as soon as we hear the word “baptism,”
which means to be submerged, many folks recoil and say "Oh no, no doctrine
for us", in that “doctrine” to us moderns has become almost a dirty word.
Well the bible is full of doctrines, and yes we and have run people off with
a too doctrinaire approach, but we can also run them off by not teaching much,
or not teaching the best stuff.
Baptism doctrine has come to mean disagreements- but let's be fair to God and
His word- before we just do and say what we want, we do our bible homework and
see what the word says, especially about such fundamentals as baptisms. The
word of God deserves more respect than to throw out foundational doctrines within it.
And make no mistake baptism in the Holy Ghost for all Christians is a core and
foundational doctrine of the Christian church. It's not just for us Pentecostals. And
it's not our Pentecostal baptism, our promise to each other, it's God's baptism,
God's promise to all of us. The disciples were commanded face to face by the risen
Jesus, while eating with him. Acts 1,4: “While at table with them, he had told them
not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for what the Father had promised...”
Please turn to Hebrews 6,1-2. which shows us that Holy Ghost Baptism
is a fundamental or foundational Christian doctrine: “Let us leave behind then all
the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to it's completion, without going
over the fundamental doctrines again: the turning away from dead actions
[repentance], faith in God [cling to God], the teaching about baptisms [plural]
and the laying on of hands [for this baptism], about the resurrection of the dead and
eternal judgment. This, God willing, is what we propose to do.”
So the author of Hebrews wanted to go further, basically into Christ's better
priesthood and sacrifice, beyond the fundamental simple initial doctrines of
the faith, of which water baptisms (John's "repent the messiah is coming" baptism,
Jesus' disciples "repent He is the one" baptism, and the post resurrectional water
baptism done by the Apostles "in Jesus name") and Jesus' Holy Ghost Baptism
are included. Yet we have allowed Satan to make it complicated and divisive.
Baptism in the Holy Ghost is neither. It is God's remedy to actually relieve us from
our bondage in sin, the way and means of God for us to actually get free and stay free.
God didn't promise us freedom and then not give us the means to enjoy it. What kind of
God would that be?
Baptism in the Holy Ghost is a distinct experience, whether after or before
water baptism, pursuant to all out faith in Jesus. Water baptism, resurrectional-
"Jesus is Lord and messiah baptism," per Acts 2,38-39 and Acts 19,6 is always vitally
linked to Baptism in the Holy Ghost, and these two taken together with repentance
and usually public faith profession, constitute the one saving rebirth, the unified
saving swoop, of Christian initiation. History has proven that if we allow them to
be separated, Holy Ghost baptism is given short shrift, and is made into a side
show doctrine.
Holy Ghost baptism is the actual means of the actual remission of our sins. It is God
Spirit come down into us in us attesting that he doesn't call our sins to mind (Hebrews
10,15; cf 9,22). It is our cry of rest and joy and a clean conscience unto our ever
living God after our hearts, all that we are, have been sprinkled from heaven and
made free by his blood (Hebrews 10,22 and 9,14).
It is also the blood and water of the pierced Jesus on Calvary (Jn19,35) still sending
down his Spiritual blood which still mercifully flows, upon all who seek it, even Israel
who will look upon Him one day with faith (v.37, fulfilling Zc.12,10). This blood is not
physical, but heavenly "purifying blood which pleads more eloquently than Abel's
[earthly blood dries up or is washed off]." Hebrews 12,24
This Spiritual blood we receive as a consuming fire from heaven in Baptism of the Holy
Ghost, which actually take away our sins. So plead the heavenly blood for Baptism in
the Holy Ghost and have your sins remitted. "He saved us not by works of rightousness
which we have done but according to His compassion, through the washing of rebirth, and
renewal by the Set-apart Spirit, which he poured out on us through Jesus Christ our
Savior." (Titus 3,5-6, Institute of Scripture Research Version)
It is also God's way of replacing the law of our flesh with a new law, a new
governing principle, that of the Spirit. It's how the new law of grace gets written in us.
Romans 8,1-2: "Thus, condemnation will never come to those who are in Christ's
Jesus, because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free
from the law of sin and death."
Claiming or assuming, as many now do, that we are thusly and fully set free at mere
water baptism and or at profession contradicts scripture and experience and has
effectively hindered God from making us fully anointed followers of Christ. This is to
grieve the Spirit of God (Ep. 4,30) and risk the unity of the body and it's readiness for
judgement. For the only way to be so anointed, so fully "Christian", is from the inside
out, by baptism in the holy Ghost, which gives the power to live and act, as God and
His word guides.
Unlimited Revelation After this Memorable Event
Death and hell is the limit of the law of sin of the flesh, but the law of the Spirit,
that rules after baptism in the Holy Ghost, results in unlimited life (revelation,
understanding, knowledge, etc ) now and unlimited eternal life, because the Spirit
of God is unlimited, the arm of God's Spirit is not too short, or incapable of teaching
us all things and helping us actually to do what we can't do on our own strength.
Holy Ghost Baptism is a great event in our life. Like our first bike, or
first car. Or first falling in love, like a wedding day, your first kid being born.
An event we remember. The folks on the day of Pentecost never would forget the
tongues of fire that enabled them to speak other languages, that gave Peter, the
coward and denier of Christ, the power to go prophesy in the Temple. It's a once in
a lifetime celebration of joy and relief that decisively and experientially moves us out
from under the law of sin and death and sets us actually free, to live under the new rule
of the Spirit.
Better And Definitive and More Necessary Baptism
Yet water baptism and or profession have been accepted as the new birth (but John 3,5,
and Acts 2,38, Acts 18-19 and many more), unscripturally separated from the born
again experience and thus good enough for church work.
But at Luke 3,15-16 John the first baptizer speaks of Jesus as the second
baptizer who has a better baptism: “A feeling of expectancy had grown among
the people, who were beginning to wonder whether John might be the Christ,
so John declared [doctrine] before them all, “I baptize you with water, but
someone is coming, who is more powerful than me, and I am not fit to undo
the straps of his sandals; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”
Sometimes it even happened that folks got Holy Ghost baptism, like Cornelius in
Acts 10,47 and his whole house, before they even had water baptism. But note, as
always the two baptisms, are still connected. “Could anyone refuse the water baptism
[the lesser thing that symbolizes the greater thing] to these people, now that they
have received the Holy Ghost just as we have?"
And John's prophecy came true 10 days after Jesus ascended, on the day of
Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover and Exodus, the resurrection, of Jesus.
These scriptures and many more prove that baptism in the Spirit is not only more
important than water baptism, but is the best part of the one fell swoop of the
initial salvation experience.
At Acts 2,38 we also hear that this gift of the Spirit is the unmistakable, ever
present, eternal will of God. This revelation comes when Jews in Jerusalem on
the day of Pentecost, see and hear their fellow Christian Jews speaking
other foreign languages- they want this power, this joy, this victory over sin. They
had seen water baptisms of sorts (self administered), "miqveh" since Leviticus11,36.
And God fearing gentiles in Jesus' day got immersed to become part of their people.
Thus, their eagerness in asking the apostles “what do we do?” is not about getting
ritually clean one more time, but baptized in the Spirit clean, and powerful, as befitted
this new time of refreshing, of hastening unto God, of the messianic reign, and the
messiah soon returning (Acts 3,19; Is. 28).
“You must repent, Peter answered, and every one of you must be baptized in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the
Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you [the Jews and per Joel 2,28 and
for all flesh] and your children. And for all those who are far away [us non Jews],
for all those the Lord is calling to himself.”
Has Jesus stopped calling people to himself? Well then neither has He stopped
Holy Ghost baptizing.
120 received the Spirit on Pentecost. 3000 new folks got water baptized, because
they had seen and heard God's language miracle, God's confirmation of God's
expression of the fullness of earthly salvation, because they had seen what a person
looked like after being baptized with the Holy Ghost. More alive, more handsome, or
more pretty, more fully human again, not to mention useful for the mission of the
redeemer and the kingdom of God.
The onlookers heard the gift of an unleashed tongue, heard the new power to
express the salvation of God, real gift from the messiah Jesus, Acts 2,4! They had
heard the rival and hateful tongues of Babel made right. They wanted in on all this
peace and love and power, this better baptism.
The Cat of Babel No Longer Has Our Tongue- God has it!
Especially us taciturn Yankees we need to learn the power of this unleashed tongue,
need to learn to express ourselves, and the gospel, and most of us need Holy
Ghost baptism to do that.
I've seen construction workers, illiterate and always cutting up get baptized in the
Holy Ghost and they learn to read and become reverent. Because they received
Baptism in the Holy Ghost. I knew a very successful man from New Mexico, learned
how to read and write, after he got baptized in the Holy Ghost. Then He devoured
the word, as the Holy Ghost taught him to devour it, teaching him all things.
Cure for Self Righteousness And Self Satisfaction
Why is the Christian church appear so crippled by it's own self righteous hypocrisy
and blind to it's ills? Because we have largely rejected baptism in the Spirit, and don't
know the voice of God. Why do we come off so self righteous? Because we claim to be
chosen people but we haven't chosen to receive and operate under God's chosen gift,
Him alive in us, and thus we are left with our own "good" ideas and "try try try".
1Cor.5,6-8, in the context of grave sin in the comunity, reminds us that God calls us
to a higher standard against sin that can only be met by the newness of Holy Ghost
Baptism: "Your self satisfaction is ill founded. Do you not realise that only a little yeast
leavens the whole batch of dough? Throw out the old yeast [law of sin] so that you can
be the fresh dough, unleavened as you are [under law of Spirit]. For our Passover has
been sacrificed, that is Christ; let us keep the feast, then, with none of the old yeast
and no leavening of evil and wickedness, but only the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth."
Our God isn't cruel in his demmands. At the price of His blood, He has given us the
means to live his demmanding unleavened standards, His Spirit, which allows no
room for self rightousness and self satisfaction.
Why Don't We Know About it?
Acts 19 is about the first Christians in Ephesus, a most pagan town, filled with
idolatry, Paul's biggest cross, subject of 1 and 2Timothy, third largest city in the
Roman Empire. It was so full of paganism that the first Christians there didn't even
know about the Holy Ghost. They were word believers sure, yet they had no knowledge
and no experience of, and made no claim to have the Holy Ghost, by profession or
prior water baptism, or any other way, until they were told about it and wanted for it for
themselves.
Paul goes there and sees how dead they were and asks at vs. 2-6: “'Did you receive
the Holy Spirit when you became believers?' [Remember Paul personally knew that this
could happen before any water baptism at all, per Acts 9,17-18] They answered, 'No,
we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit [contrast Ananias
specifically telling Paul that this was God's first intent for him was to to receive the
Spirit, v17]. He asked, 'Then how were you baptized? [Paul knows the baptisms cannot
be separated] And they answered 'with John's baptism.' Paul said, 'John's baptism was
a baptism of repentance [an act of faith pointing to Jesus as messiah]; but he insisted
that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him- namely Jesus.
When they heard this, they were water baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus
[because this was related to the better baptism]]. And the moment Paul laid hands on
them the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they began to speak with tongues
[praise tongues] and to prophesy.” Notice that the Spirit comes on them not with the
water, but when Paul lays on his hands, and they are conciously seeking the Baptism.
We read the bible with the bible, which links all water baptisms to the definitive
baptism in the Spirit. How can we be any part of letting this simple truth slip away?
Saved?
This is the Ephesian state of so many Christians, “saved” as we all loosely say,
but not aware about the very real experience of Holy Ghost immersion, and thus
demonstrating little evidence of the radical change from our old nature to our
new nature.
Some folks even insist "we're saved" while still primarily manifesting the law of
sin, and of course the unfaithful are astute enough to see this. No this was not
God's plan for our witness; his plan was we would actually be new and improved.
Baptism in the Holy Ghost may not be required for salvation, although
some folks cogently teach that it is (byonespirit.com), but experientially
it is the closest assurance we will ever get to salvation this side of judgment.
Some even say “I know I'm saved. I repented and professed faith when
I was 18." Well good, but who told you you were saved? It's sounds to me
like you told yourself, or someone else told you? That's our blessed assurance-
our own human assurance?
No, our best assurances come from God, of which baptism in the Holy Ghost is the
most particular and liberating (cf Bro. Lary Hale; byonespirit.com/tonguesnewbirth.
htm. p. 4). Acts 15,8: "And God, who can read everyone's heart, showed his approval
of them [the gentiles, Cornelius et al] by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he did
to us." Confidence is good, but God's approval, God's witness is better.
Some folks say "the word tells me I'm saved." Romans 10,13: For "whomever calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved." But a word such as this is great and hopeful
and part of the whole word, which includes baptism in the Holy Ghost, which was part
of the lived life of every local church, Hebrews 6,1-2 above.
Yes, the word is perfect, but we aren't. We don't always read it right, especially after
the 1600 years of church history when Holy Ghost baptism was largely quenched, and
then for the last 100 years marginalized.
And similarly, we are not perfect judges about our own salvation either
and what it takes to be saved. Paul said "my conscience is clean, but that
doesn't mean I am without sin."
The word also says at Proverbs 28,26: "He who trusts in his own heart is a
fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered."
Jer. 17,9: "No man can truly judge the human heart." Let alone his own heart. And if
we can't judge even our own hearts, how can we say with 100% certainty "I'm saved."
No, let God say it when he baptizes us with the Holy Ghost, and then we follow Christ,
and preserve our sanctification, witness until death. And then our "I'm saved" carries
more weight. We're not against confidfence!
"Well I just know I'm saved!" Well the word says to all of us "Not everyone who
says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom. And likewise and to be fair, 1Cor.13,1ff
("If I have....[whatever gift]... without love [also a gift] I have nothing"), suggests
that tongues is best seen as evidence of full rebirth, not necessarily fitness for
salvation thereafter.
Dear people- Holy Ghost baptism is for our comfort and strength, not for disputes.
I'd suggest we all seek Holy Ghost baptism, get Spirit filled, seek the higher gifts,
stay always repentant, and faith out our salvation with fear and trembling, because
the voice that tells us we are certainly saved might be a lying religious spirit.
"Spirit Led" and "Spirit Filled" Confusing
Now let me go deeper into even more imprecise language. It's hard to communicate
with folks as it is, then we use all this imprecise language in the body of Christ. Such
as "I'm, or we're 'Spirit filled' or 'Spirit led.' ” I used to think that meant folks had
received baptism in the Holy Ghost. But apparently it doesn't. It's often what we say
when we are more or less sure we have heard from God (and we may well have,
praise God). But how can anyone be consistantly "Spirit led" or "Spirit Filled", if he or
she is not baptized with the Spirit? Does God make telephone calls to the spirit led?
But- bear with me- what if we aren't near the phone, or forgot our cell? No, Jesus
wants to baptize us in the Holy Ghost so he can reach us in case we are not paying
attention to his long distance calls.
I love all my brother and sister Christians, (I love Mormons too, read more under
Hard Questions), but I've heard enough vague talk about being “Spirit led” and
"Spirit filled" to last me a life time. We feel this and we feel that, and thus we feel
this and that is the leading of God.
Please dear brothers and sisters let's all jump into the deep end of the pool and
seek the second baptism and say "I'm baptized in the Holy Ghost." Tell me,
beloved, after you have learned his voice what He said, not where you feel or you
think God is leading you. Get baptized and tell us what he said and where he's
leading you.
And how can we hear his voice, clearly and consistantly if we are not baptized in
the Holy Ghost?
You might not get it right away, but the word says "Blessed [right now] are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall have their fill."
Actually put God first, actually repent, actually ask with an actual mustard seed
faith, get delivered if need be, and it will happen, probably within ten days. But
whatever the time period of your tarrying, one day you will get it.
There were "Spirit filled" and and "Spirit led" folks under the old law, occasionally
led by God, but you and I exist under a better dispensation, whose earthly benefit
culminated with Holy Ghost baptism. Or did Christ die to just give us a temporary
innoculation from sin? What kind of God is that? Or did his blood not gain us the
Spirit? Unless we drink his blood and eat His flesh- not physically- unless we go the
whole way Spiritually, unless we enjoy the fruits of the accepted blood sacrifice we
have no life in us.
Hebrews 9,15: This [blood sacrifice which releases the Spirit down] makes him the
mediator of a new covenant, so that now that a death has occurred to redeem the
sins of committed under an earlier covenant, those who have been called to an eternal
inheritance may receive the promise." And of course the promise comes to man not
as a theology, but as an experience of fire coming into us.
There's a direct connection- precious payment made for precious promise received,
which is baptism in the Holy Ghost.
“Spirit filled” and “Spirit led” invite imprecision and confusion. Let's stick to the
words of Jesus himself. To Luke 3,16 and Joel 2,28-32: are you baptized in the
Holy Ghost? Have you been baptized by fire that burns away the deathly measure
of every man's fleshiness?
Do you operate under the new law of the Spirit or are you still yoked up in the law
of sin?
Has there been any evidence of it by either praise tongues, or languages, or
fruits of the Spirit, or using other gifts unselfishly that you are a new creature?
It's not water baptism that makes us new creatures, it's when when we become one
in fact, when in fact our sin nature is replaced with a new nature, and that happens by
all out faith and baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Our Justification Is Not Separate from Baptism in The Holy Ghost
It's not the water that makes all things new, that births me again, that makes me live
as a new creature, it is the justification by way of faith, which is designed to lead to
baptism in the Spirit. Hebrews 10.14 "By virtue of that one single offering, he has
achieved the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified. The Holy Ghost attests to
this." God attests to this, this holiness in us, comes out, this justification in us attests
to what God can do for a once fallen man.
Holy Ghost baptism is connected to our justification as Christians. It is the
means by which sin and slavery of sin is taken out of our lives. This is what it
means to be born again (both by water and Spirit per John 3,5). And the only way
to live a new life and the fullness of the gospel consistantly is to get baptized in
the Holy Ghost and know God for yourself. Justification does not stop at profession,
as if we once got the brass ring on the merry go round, and now have heavenly life
insurance, it stops when we habitually stop sinning and living after the flesh and
instead live with the Spirit of God as proven by how we habitually live.
Romans 8,9-13, which is built on Paul's pastoral concern over professing Roman
Christians living according to their fallen nature, is clear on the matter of justication:
"You, however, live not according to your natural inclinations, but by the spirit, since the
Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does not have the Spirit of
Christ [a question of fact as to lifestyle, and God's witness] does not belong to him."
V.10 continues: "But when Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit
is alive because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from
the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will
give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you." Oh my- how can any
"Christian" hear this verse, that God is speaking today, and not seek baptism in the
Spirit.
Our justification is likewise there to be seen from the perseverng witness of
our lives. 2Corinthians 5,17: “So for anyone who is in Christ [had his
old nature redeemed] there is a new creation: the old order is gone and the and a new
being is there to see.” In other words, our flesh has been reconciled and made subject
to our Spirit. And that is our testimony-it's there to see.
Our Life of Faith Is About Witness
Without baptism in the Holy Ghost, this reconciliation is just so much theology and
argument, it often isn't there to see, the new creature has not manifested, become
what it was meant to be all along. No amount of bible knowledge can substitute for
baptism in the Spirit.
I'm not trusting on once in awhile being led by God. I need more than that. We are all
bucking and braying Jacobs (rocks that need oil!) and we need more than pre-disaster
prevention. Are you willing to settle for a once in awhile connection to God? No! Well
then get all God promised.
Wisdom Choices Best Made After Baptism in Holy Ghost
Holy Ghost Baptism is not a funny inside feeling that could be our human spirit or our
flesh. No the Holy Ghost is also sharper than a two edged sword. It is not just a fuzzy
feeling. It's not tuning in God just when I feel like it.Some say God's word is enough
for all decisions. How about when it takes wisdom- "those who are not against us are
for us," or "those those who are against us" are against us?
How about when there's five good biblical choices for our church's vision,
but we need discernment as to one?
How about when someone says "I know God loves me." Have you heard him say
that? He most certainly does- did you hear it from him, or someone else? Why and
how would you follow the commands of a person whose voice you have never heard?
Have you recognized the voice that draws you near? (Bernard Smith) Well get baptized
in the Spirit and you'll hear him and you'll know his voice, gentle, firm, consoling....
Friends don't settle for anything less- get baptized in the Holy Ghost andprophesy,
speak in God's name, speak foreign languages, speak in tongues, heal the sick,
cast out demons.
It alone can generate the the courage of faith that moves mountains, to utter
prophecies, to boldness, to action, to the power of spreading the gospel. “Spirit led”
doesn't cut it. Reciting bible stories doesn't cut. Trotting out our favorite scriptures
and arguing like little school boys doesn't cut it.
Holy Ghost Baptism is God burning the flesh and sin and sickness out of us. We
have to want it. We have to seek it, wait and tarry and travail for ten days, or ten
years for it, if necessary.
Personal Testimony
Here's some of my story. I was in a “prayer group” for a year, slain in
the Spirit time after time. I let any old folk “pray over me,” “pray over me,”
“pray over me.” It was a season of great growth and lots of church charismania
and apparent foolishness, prior to being put into full ministry, but God can still
work in this, for awhile anyway. Now all this "slain in the Spirit" and "pray over
me" doesn't mean I was baptized in the Holy Ghost. It set the stage, it was
my hunger and thirst, as inspird by God, that prepared God's way.
Now with all this prayer and anticipation, I was healed in five different ways, prophesied
over, fussed over, padded on the head, had more words of knowledge than I could
remember. Told how special I was. Many of us have been there, or will go through this
season.
But this didn't mean I was baptized in the Holy Ghost. No one need lose heart-
it took Smith Wigglesworth, the great Yorkshire Plumber and Pentecostal Pioneer
many years of insisting and waiting.
But we all know it when it happens. Could happen right away at water baptism, all
of a sudden, or it could take years of repentance and deliverance. We have to make
enough room for God in our inner man, before we get baptized in the Holy Ghost. But
mostly we have to want it! To seek it- to refuse to settle for anything less!
Stay in Jerusalem, until you have received the promise.
I have had some faith daughters along the way. And I pastored them “Don't
get married without love.” And they all agreed “who would marry money,
for security?” People do it all the time! Just as we church folk accept the same
old same old "Spirit led" but not Spirit baptized.
The church is like a woman the bible says- and the Spirit is saying to the church:
"don't settle for anything less, souls depend on it." Yet we don't hear nary a peep
about it!
Church without baptism in the Holy Ghost is like dating and marriage without love.
There's a whole lot missing.
Ater the this initial season was over, I was on my knees, alone in a chapel and I had a
vision of the two sides of my brain (the left rational and right emotional) uniting in fire
with my heart. And I saw this new unity as a fire vision in my minds eye. I was
fundamentally healed in that my body, soul, mind, and spirit, and emotions, and
memories were now integrated with my heart, and God now lived inside of me, and his
words and his praise could come out. I was actually born again, not by claiming a
new nature, but receiving a new nature.
This Holy Ghost Baptism in one moment of time gave me more knowledge and
wisdom and joy and power than my 25 years of formal studies to date. And since
then it has given more by way of life and consolation than any honor or blessing
any human being could bestow.
Eight Definitions
I'm preaching what Holy Ghost Baptism is and why it's important today. What it is
and it's importance become same thing. If we know what it is, we will realize it's
importance.
1. Baptism in the Holy Ghost is a purification (sanctification and thus part
of justification) and healing from the wages of sin by an infilling of God
that leads to faith courage to do the Mission.
Please turn to Isaiah 6 and the sending of Isaiah, which is one of the old
testament typologies for baptism in the Spirit. The Lord gave me this, so I'll
use it. It's simple to understand.
This story includes the same fire of God, as baptism in the Holy Ghost (Acts 2,3-4).
The word says our God is a consuming fire, and thus God wants to burn away our fleshly,
untrained, unruly tongue and consume the sin out of it, and out of us. And God does this
by baptism in the Holy Ghost. And this consuming fire prepares us for mission, just like Isaiah
was prepared.
Before Isaiah was sent out by God to prophesy, an angel took a burning
bit of coal from the heavenly altar and touched his lips- purified him, burned
away his guilt [verse 7]- healed him, and gave him courage. Yes courage!
As Gene Scott always said "faith is 90% courage and 10% trust." When the
fire of God touches us, we are purified, healed- the effects of sin are
progressively undone- and we are courageously empowered to speak
and act for God.
So Isaiah has his Holy Ghost baptism so to speak, and he says “here I am
send me." (v. 9) ”Now I'm willing to prophesy, to tell the people what's
wrong: "Go and say to this people, 'Listen and listen but never understand!
Look and Look but never perceive! Make this people's heart coarse, and make
their ears dull, shut their eyes tight [life without baptism in the Spirit]], or they
will use their eyes to see, use their ears to hear, use their heart to understand,
and turn [to God] and be healed.' ” [life with baptism in the Holy Ghost]
Baptism in the Holy Ghost is totally turning to God, getting touched so deeply
by the fire of God that our eyes see, our ears hear, and our heart understands
what is going on around us. A total turning to God, to his presence and getting
healed.
It can happen anywhere. Isaiah had it in the likely at a Temple coronation
ceremony. You could get it lying in bed, half asleep. You could get it listening
to sermons on the web. In church, while being prayed for- wherever you
most genuinely seek God, go there and ask, and you shall receive.
Us men often take longer to get baptized in the Spirit and it's because we
refuse to surrender our selves to stuff we can't understand with our minds.
(That's why getting "slain in the spirit" is good first step for us men, it
knocks us on our backside).
It purifies and unifies and humbles and edifies all the faculties of our
humanity. It is the burning purification, the healing of the guilt and shame
caused by sin, and the courage to speak up and do the faith. Most of us need
this type purification-healing-faith courage before we will ever spread the gospel.
See Zechariah 13,8b-9: "two thirds will be cut off, and the other third left. I shall
pass this third through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, test them as
gold is tested." (cf Isaiah 6,13, regarding Jerusalem as a tithe of seed, further
winnowed, unto Holy seed)
See also Zechariah 2,8-9: "Jerusalem is to remain unwalled because of the great
number of men and cattle inside. For I the Lord shall be a wall of fire all around
her and I shall be the glory within her."
We always remember from Acts that everything about holy Ghost baptism is
said pursuant to powerful witness and purification for the mission of salvation, not
pursuant to gifts for individuals. Acts 1,7: “It is not for you to know times and
seasons that the Father has decided by his own authority but you will receive the
Holy Spirit which will come on you and then you will be my witnesses, not only in
Jerusalem but throughout Judea and Samaria and indeed to earth's remotest
end.” So Holy Ghost baptism is the purification and healing from all the various
effects of sin that empowers us to do the mission.
2. Romans 8,1-2, as mentioned above. It's how the new law of grace, of the
Holy Ghost gets written in us. It's God's correction and sanctification of our
wayward humanity. It is the fulfillment of God's eternal desire and promise of
Ezekiel 36,25-28: "I shall pour clean water over you [that flowed out of his
side] and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your filth and of
all your foul idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in
you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a
heart of flesh instead. I shall put my spirit in you, and make you keep my
laws, and respect and practise my judgements."
Collossians 2,11: expresses the new law of grace being implanted in us by using
baptismal language that derives from Immersion in the Spirit just as much as from
Immersion in water, as once again we see how vitally connected the two are: "In
him you have been circumcized, with a circumcision performed, not by human hands,
but by the complete stripping of your natural self. This is circumcision according to
Christ." The complete stripping and implantation of a new heart requires both water and
Spirit baptism.
3. Baptism in the Holy Ghost is to have the very life of God flowing into and
out of us, even when the whole rest of the world is a desert. Please turn to
John 7,37-38: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who
believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, 'From his heart shall flow
streams of living water.' v39 He was speaking of the Spirit which those who
believed in him were to receive [something more]; for there was no Spirit as
yet because Jesus had not been glorified.”
How do we a get a heart that flows with the very life of God, that flow with
the gifts of God, the gifts are the rivers plural? Get baptized in the Holy Ghost!
I'm not preaching the gifts today, but baptzed in the Holy Ghost people
minister God's Spirit and God's gifts. How can we even speak of discerning
gifts if folks haven't received the power baptism that is the source of the gifts
themselves?
Get baptized in the Spirit and spread the gospel. Stop talking about
claiming gifts and turf and get the baptism that began the mission of Christ.
We also need to stop confusing new folks with all sorts of goofy and complicated
and niggling and copy cat techniques, and endless preparations. Instead we
do the gospel now, after the now of Pentecost. There's no flow to ministry that
doesn't flow from the now of Holy Ghost Baptism.
4. Baptism in the Spirit is the sign of the new covenant (cf bro. Lary,
byonespirit.com) . Every covenant of God has it's sign of obedience. The
sign comes after the time of proving.
The sign after Noah's obedience was the rainbow (Genesis 9,13-14).
For Abraham the sign was circumcision (Gn.17,11). He didn't know about
the promise of the Spirit, but He did see God via fire brazier ratifying
(Gen,15,17ff), unifying the two sides of the sacrifice-covenant, man's
side and God's side.
The sign of Sinai covenant was again circumcision and the tablets,
because the people wanted a law more than to go into the full fiery
presence of God (Exodus 19,13,18). They were afraid to go up the
mountain.
Now a sign is God's confirmation, God telling us that we are right
with him, that we are keeping our side of the deal. You see the sign you
remember the deal. Not us telling God we are right with him. Him telling us.
The sign of Christianity is to have a circumsized heart, a heart loosed
by the fire of the the Holy Ghost! Thus, Colossians 2,11: “In him you have
been circumcized [a Spiritual or faith circumcision]” not an external liberation
but an internal liberation of heart that allows you to have the very life of
God in you and practice that very life of God.” And a circumcized heart, a
rendered heart is praises God with the fire of the Holy Ghost.
See also 1Cor.14,21-22: "In the law it is written: 'With men of other tongues
and other lips I will speak to this people [fulfilling Is. 28,11,]; and yet,
for all that, they will not hear Me,' says the Lord. Therefore, tongues are a
sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers....." See Also Mark 16,17:
"These are the signs that will be associated with believers; in my name they
will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues; they will pick up snakes
in their hands and be unharmed should they drink a deadly poison; they will
lay hands on the sick who will recover."
When God offers a covenant man first demonstrates his obedience before the
full blessings of the covenant are seen, before the sign is given by God,
before the full covenant is enjoyed.
For example, Abraham had to leave Haran (Gen. 12,4) and go to Canaan,
from Iraq to Israel so to speak. He had to build an altar in Shechem, then
move and do the same in Bethel. Then and only then came the covenant
ceremony, walking through the split sacrifice, then came the future sign of
God's fire- there it is again- passing through the sacrifice.
Genesis 15,17 “When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a
smoking fire pot [just like Isaiah 6) and a flaming torch passing between the
animal's pieces [just like day of Pentecost]. "That day Yahweh made a covenant
with Abraham!” Then came the lesser sign of circumcision, of faith obedience
(Gn.17,10).
Noah had to build the ark. Get in it, take the clean animals before the flood
came (Gen. 7). He had to send out the dove twice (symbol of the
people and God's Spirit) to look for safe home (Gen 8,7). These acts of
faith obedience also included building an altar first things first, and present
burnt offerings (8,20). Then and only then came the sign of blessing, the
declaration of salvation by God, not by man, then came the fullness of the
covenant (9,14). Then never again would come the floodwaters of judgment.
With Moses, Israel had to in curse in faith the Egyptians, had to come out of
Egypt in faith, had to stand at the base of the mountain. The mosaic covenant
had the tablets and the circumcision, as signs. Signs and promises never to
be forgotten!
God's signs are no small thing. Remember Moses after he was called
back to Egypt, after his impetuous assault on the Egyptian, but he embarks on
his mission having failed to circumcize his son (another pastor's kid close
to God slipping through the cracks), failed to keep Abrahamic covenant.
Exodus 4,24 says the Lord tried to kill him- for failing to honor God's sign
of man's obedience. And Moses is temporarily so clueless, his wife
had to do it! Then and only then could he go back and liberate the people
and receive the law covenant.
Note that in Abraham's covenant and at Sinai God there was God right there
in the fire, but because folks weren't ready for the fire, had to settle for lesser
signs- circumcision and the tablets! There was fire on the mountain- but more
fear than fire in the people, so the sign of fire would have to await the Christ.
Who are we to turn down the fire sign of God's best covenant?
We Christians, because of Christ's obedience, don't have to settle for
lesser signs and lesser covenants, we can have a circumcised heart, a heart
with the flesh burned out of it. We receive this after living by putting God first,
hungering and thirsting, by following Christ, by living with great faith.
We recieve the same fire that Jeremiah had in contradistinction to the
people pleasing prophets Jeremiah 5,14c: "now I shall make my [God's]
words a fire in your mouth and make this [stubborn] people wood for
the fire to devour."
We breath the same fire as the two witnesses to Israel breath fire.
Revelation 11,5: "Fire comes from their mouths and consumes their
enemies if anyone tries to harm them; ..... v.6 they have the power to lock
up the sky .... they have the power to turn water into blood..."
In other words, the baptism in the Holy Ghost is a sign of great power
and boldness to be exercised by all manner of miracles and prohesy,
by everybody now.
5. Thus, we can say with scripture that the sign and power of Holy
Ghost baptism is a reward for faithful obedience to God:
Acts 5,29-33 (context is Apostles busted out of Sanahedrin jail by
God and now in in obedience to Spirit go back to preaching at Temple
to the disobedient Sanhandrin): "Obedience to God comes before obedience
to men. It was the God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, whom you
executed by hanging on a tree. By his own right hand God has raised him
up to be leader and Savior, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins
through him to Israel. We are witnesses to this, we and the Holy Spirit
who God has given to those who obey him. This so infuriated them that
they wanted to put them to death."
"To those who fully obey him." The Sanhedrin want to put them to death
because Peter is saying "we have been more obedient than you all, and
that our obedience has given us something you don't have yet, the Spirit of
God inside us, the promise of the father, a sign of favor, a sign of the
new way God deals with all Israel. So get it and get with it!
All out obedient faith leads to Baptism in the Holy Ghost and all out fearless
witness, thus Holy Ghost Baptism is a reward for those who want to
witness like Peter and the Apostles. We are not competing to be "better"
Christians when we talk of reward here, we are simply insisting by faith to
receive all God promised.
"Why haven't I got the Holy Ghost yet you ask?" How about anger,
unforgiveness, lack of faith, double mindedness, superficial love of
the word? How about a time of radical obedience to God? But more than
anything- Don't settle for anything less!
6. Holy Spirit baptism is and always will be the best means of unity,
and peace and communication within the body of Christ. A nation has
unity in it's constitution, in it's laws, in it's language. But the people of
God, the has a better principle than exterior laws, or manners, or customs
that change from nation to nation or culture to culture, or even state to
state. That better principle is the unity and life of the Spirit of God.1Cor.12,13:
“We were baptized into one body in a single Spirit, Jews as well as
Greeks, slaves as well as free men, and we were all given the same
Spirit to drink.”
We all were immersed in the same Spirit, thus we all have the same “stuff”
the same richness, the same sign in us, the same Spirit overflowing, inside us,
praise God.
The only way to have a single Spirit in a single body of faithers is to be
baptized in the Holy Ghost- that was the whole point of the Christian
Pentecost- we could be one in higher humanity, one in spirit to sprit
through the one Holy Spirit. One in fact, one so we could communicate all
of us with each other, and communicate the gospel, despite national origen.
No more Babel, each people group and individual crowing his own song
and building his own ziggurat tower.
I used to think as a young lawyer and a would be politician that I could
bring unity by mere force of human communication, but I learned that
was ridiculous. Folks in politics or Wall Street and court rooms have no
interest in unity, they have only an interest in getting all they can for
their side.
In churches there has to be a different means of communication and
keeping score than customs and self interest, and our piece of the pie,
and the only means that suits the body of Christ for this unity and
communion unto mission is Jesus' baptism.
That's the lesson of Pentecost, and all human and church history.
There are fights in churches about everything- doctrine, custom, turf, styles,
collars, dress, 'the pastor doesn't like me' - the only valid way to maintain
unity and to grow up, let alone even communicate rationally not to mention
supernaturally, is when folks get baptized in the Holy Ghost and then
submit themselves to what the Holy Ghost is saying. Otherwise our churches
are towers of babel, mine is taller than yours.
And there is no unity if half a church believes in Holy Ghost Baptism and
hearing the voice of God and half insists on the immutable law of custom. How
do we communicate when one person is operating on the new law of the One
Spirit and another on the law of sin and death, no matter how cleverly disguised?
Jn 17,22-23 makes this same point this way: “I have given them the glory
[holy Ghost] you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. With me in
them and you in me, may they be so perfected in unity that the world will
recognize that it was you who sent me and that you have loved them as you
loved me.”
Show me the unity in a church, the communication, show me the
love, and the only way I can figure to keep these things alive on a consistent
basis is through the standard of Holy Ghost Baptism and Holy Ghost discerment.
I think of my Faith Mom who keeps unity in the entire body of Christ,
speaks up and communicates and loves in good times and bad, and has
enough love to love people even when they are a real pain in the neck.
How does she do it? How does she trust all on all God's promises? By having
read the word? Not only that- by baptism in the Holy Ghost that makes
the promises of the the word real for her and come true for her.
Take an even larger and more detached view at the body of Christ.
Look at all the divisions- isn't it interesting what a small percentage of
the body of Christ believes in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, maybe 10-20%.
Only ten to twenty percent realizes that the Spirit is the very means to unity
and communication and love in the body of Christ. Isn't amazing that this
foundational doctrine could be stolen, and we know by whom, from the
mainstream body of Christ! Stolen we understand, but ridiculed, and hidden by
our own kind?
7. Holy Ghost baptism is our consecration as Temples of the Holy Ghost
(1Cor.6,19) and our ordination into the universal priesthood of Christ. 1Pt2,9:
"But you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to
be a personal possession to sing the praises of God..."
Perhaps the greatest revelation us Pentecostals experience is that our God is
always proving who He is and what He does for us, proving by means of His word
and His Spirit that his promises and blessings do come true and are truly "Yes"
and "Amen." So when His word says we are "Temples" and "priests," His Spirit is
ready and able to consecrate us Temples and ordain us priests, if we have the
faith to receive the Spiritual realities that make the promises in His word come true.
In other words, without Spiritual proof, and without due respect for the Presence of
God, that proves God's word, Christianity can become so much fleshly quibbling about
justwords, and claims, and argumentative theologizing. Whereas the Word says and
the Spirit proves "They shall know us by our love." And by the fruits of the Spirit. In
other words, they shall know us by our witness, from the inside out.
As to our consecration as temples and ordination as priests we turn to Exodus 29,
42-46 (after seven day ordination ceremony of priests, in context of twice daily
burnt offerings of lambs, think Jesus' fiery baptism on cross), God promises what
His Spirit will back up: "For there [at the Temple] I will meet with you, and there
I will speak [Think Tongues] with you [Hebrew plural] I will meet with the
Israelites, and it shall be sanctfied by MY Presence. I will sanctify the Tent of
Meeting and The Altar, and I will consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as
priests. And I shall live with the Israelites and be their God, and they will know
that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them out of Egypt to live among them:
I, Yahweh their God."
Note well that God is zealous that he gets credit for what only his fiery speaking
presence can do: ordain priests and consecrate Temples. It's not primarily what man
says over other men, or places- though that can be important too- but more important
is what God does, and as we shall see clearly from the same Temple consecration,
priestly ordination according to Levitcus 9.
But first we need to internalize in our spirits that God actually proves His promises, like
He proved he was their delivorer out of Egypt, that yes His Spirit makes his promises
real. Specifically, we become priests and Temples, it happens to us by baptism in the
Spirit.
Here in the Tent God by his presence agrees to meet with all the Israelites not just
Moses. It was always God's intent to make all his people priests, not just the
Levites, all his personal possession fit to represent him (Exodus 19,5-6: "kingdom of
priests, Holy Nation", but people at Sinai per Ex. 19,13 were not ready). And He does
this by the fiery baptism in the Holy Ghost (Lk3,16, making us acceptable "burnt
offerings," per context of Ex.29,42ff) through the consecratory tongues of fire that
settle upon upon each of us (Acts 2,3, God is no respector of persons).
Knowing this was a type of priestly and Temple consecration both the leading apostles
Peter (to Samaria Acts 8,17) and Paul (to Ephesus Acts 19, 5-6) went out of their way
to ensure folks got this baptism. And they did so by the laying on of hands, the same
gesture as priestly ordination (Nm. 8,11).
Before ordination the Levites had to be purified (Numbers 8,5-25. Is.6). Likewise in
baptism in the Spirit all that is outside the camp, unholy, in each of us is burned
away, by faith in Jesus' work at Calvary, outside the camp (Ex.29,14. Hb. 13,11)
so the (Spiritual) blood, the ever living heavenly blood (Hb.12,24; 10,22), always
flowing, along with the fire can consecrate us priests and temples (1Cor,6,19).
This same Hebrew typology for this is found at Leviticus 9,4;6;23-24, which
further explains Exodus 29,43, (God's presence consecrates Temple and the
priests, and "speaks" amidst burnt offerings, cf Jewish Study Bible, 2004, Oxford,
178) whereby the ordination ceremony ends with God's fiery presence consuming
the already burning offering and the fat parts on the altar, a miraclous event
seen and experienced by all. His fiery presence, not all the prior sacrifices,
both consecrated the tent, and the priests. Our God is a consuming fire!
These passages prophesy the universal priesthood of Christ and that we would
all be temples by Baptism in the Holy Ghost.
Leviticus 9,23 is an amazing prophecy of Acts 2,3: "Then they [Aaron and Moses]
came out together [out of the Temple] and the glory of Yahweh appeared to the
entire people [the entire future priesthood, like at Pentecost]: a flame lept out
from Yahweh's presence [from inside the Tent] and consumed the burnt offering
and fat on the altar [outside the Tent, thus proving consecration of the Temple,
and God's desire to come out of Temple and into the people per Ex.19,6,13]. At
this sight the entire people shouted for joy and fell on their faces [the posture for
ordination]."
This is a prophecy of Pentecost- God pouring out His Spirit, Him moving outside His
ordinary domain, now fulfilled by the original Christian Pentecost and the resulting
birth-consecration- of the new faith-body-Temple of Christ and the ordination of it's
new priesthood in Christ, all finally made fit- by the fire- to announce his wondrous
deeds (Acts 2,17;1Pt.2,9 Joel 3,1-5). Who wouldn't want this?
These are important passages. They clearly show that the goal of sacrifice
is to draw or keep God's actual presence (a question of fact that God will gladly
prove). And thereby receive his actual consecration-ordination, not just demmand
or assume, or theologize about it, but to actually experience-receive it, and or keep
it. Keeping God's presence- is important because Ezekiel 9-11 proves it can be lost
from any temple. Let alone never be received!
The stakes are high here- actual consecration and fitting service. I don't want to be
among the folks that just honors God with all the talky talky of babylonian churchianity.
Not knowing how poor, blind and naked I am comapred with the Lord's standards of gold
refined in the fire. I want to be fit to wear rich white linen, and have anointed eyes that
see (cf Rev.3,17-18).
If we are all priests (1Pt2,9), his personal possession (holy like Him), then there has
to be some sort of fitting ordination-consecration by God, that actually makes us like
him. There also has to be a fitting or clean temple (1Pt.2,5 and 1Cor.6,19), where
God's presence and life, can actually be found (especially after the Jerusalem Temple
was destroyed in 70AD). And there has to be living and unblemished sacrifices, living
offerings (Romans 12,1,), offered to God just as Levites of old were when they were
ordained (Nm. 8,13).
All this- consecration and ordination and offering oursleves- is proved by these
scriptures and the experience of Holy Ghost Baptism by God's people. God gets the
glory for proving He is our God by offering His full presence to us all, but we do our
part. We must ask, seek and receive our Baptism in the Holy Spirit.
8. Holy Ghost baptism is the full experience God as our comforter and advocate.
You know when you were a kid and you thought the bogey man was under the bed,
you had to be comforted. Well we grow up and we still need that comfort. John 14,
15-16: “If you love me you will keep my commandments. I shall ask the father, and
He will give you another comforter to be with you forever, the Spirit of truth.”
There is so much desolation and isolation and loneliness and want of love in
this world among folks, even Christians. God has all this comfort to give,
but because folks are not baptized in the Holy Ghost we run to the next
church meeting, to next wind of doctrine, run to the next self help book,
to anyone for the next life decision. Oh my- enough of us running around making
the world safe for our idea of churchianity.
You want help? You want more? You want better? Get baptized in the Holy Ghost! Get
your comfort, that nobody else can give. You will never be without comfort again.
Look at the book of Psalms, most of which was written by David a man desperate and
desolate but God broke into his life as His comforter, how more so for us who were
promised the Holy Ghost for ever, constantly and forever.
That's my message- don't settle for anything else.
The new law of the Spirit is a better law, and defines a better covenant.
We can't enjoy the freedom and power of the new covenant of Christ
until we are baptized in the Holy Ghost.
We have our baptism in the Holy Ghost at the cost of Jesus' precious blood.
Forget about the gifts for a moment, and your role in church.
Forget all the things that man has made of religion and called good. Forget all
that stuff- and come to your senses.
Come to your Baptism in the Holy Ghost. the greatest gift this side of heaven or kingdom come.
Salvation is more than a ticket to heaven.
God living in me now is more precious than life itself. Not I who live but Christ
who lives in me.
All this is a long way from an innoculation, but if you really want it,
it's about ten days away. Amen.