THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
In John 14:15-31 Jesus tells his disciples that when he leaves, he will ask the Heavenly Father to send the Counselor to them forever. He said the Spirit of truth - Counselor - Holy Spirit will be with them and be in them. The world will not know know him or accept him. He will teach his disciples all things, and will remind them of everything Jesus said to them.
In John 16:5-15 Jesus goes on to tell them that, “the Counselor will also convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
Then in Matthew 3:11c-12 it says that John the Baptist said, “He (Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering the wheat into his barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
In John 20:22 before Jesus ascended to sit at the right hand of the Heavenly Father and before Pentecost, Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone their sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”
In I Corinthians 12:7-11 we see where the Holy Spirit gives special abilities to the disciples for the common good of the church. I believe that for every need in the church God will supply the ability to take care of that need. Some of them are; knowledge, wisdom, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, ability to distinguish between spirits, and speaking in different kinds of tongues as he determines. He also helps the Christian to be set free of the carnal nature and become more Christ-like. (Romans 7:4,5 & 8:1-17) He helps us to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus’ character in ever increasing waves of glory. (II Cor 3:18 & Col 1:27 & Gal 5:22,23)
The Holy Spirit can baptize a Christian at the time of their coming to Jesus as we see in Acts 10:44-46. Peter was preaching to some Gentiles and without laying of hands the Holy Spirit came upon them. But in Acts 8:14-17 we see that after becoming a Christian, hands were placed upon them and they received the Holy Spirit in power.
When a person becomes a Christian the Holy Spirit comes within that person. (Jn 14:17 & Rom 8:11), Jesus comes within them. (Jn 14:20) and the Heavenly Father too. (Jn 14:23) But the Second blessing or Baptism of the Holy Spirit is something different where the Christian becomes endued or gifted to serve Jesus and help the church. Because of a Christian’s free will, this is something that they must want for themselves. God will not make anyone serve Jesus if they do not want to. It is an honor reserved for those who seek it. A person can desire it from their heart or just ask for it in prayer. It can come with an obvious demonstration such as speaking in a different tongue. This tongue can be a different language that was not learned by the person. An example of this was a person I heard about in Hong Kong when I visited a church there. They told me of a person that was praying at the altar in their prayer language and someone in the congregation recognized it from China. While the person didn’t know what they were saying, the other person knew exactly what was said and they even had perfect punctuation and dialect. Other cases may not be a known language. If tongues are used in a public form, I Cor 14:27,28 tells us that it should be interpreted. Sometimes the person speaking in tongues will do it or someone else might. I believe that God can give the gift of interpretation or understanding to a person’s ears.
Some say that the gifts or the empowerment by the Holy Spirit is not given by God today, but these very people are very quick to believe that their pastor has the gift of prophecy or exhortation. The thing we need to remember is that God gives the Holy Spirit to help the church be all it can be for Jesus and to glorify Jesus. So with this in mind, why wouldn't God want today’s church to be empowered as well?
If you are a Christian and would like to serve Jesus and help his church, all you have to do is ask the Holy Spirit to empower you and he will. It may or may not be speaking in tongues. You may have the give of encouragement or helps. You may serve Jesus by washing dishes after a potluck meal. You may help out in the office or clean up the building. Whatever it may be you will find great satisfaction and enjoyment in doing it, because you will be doing it for Jesus. Just because you have a gift from the Holy Spirit doesn’t mean you will loose your self control. In fact just the opposite is true. You are accountable to use it properly, and this certainly includes speaking in tongues as we see in I Cor 14:1-40.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, thank you for setting us free of our carnal nature, helping us to become more Christ-like and empowering us to serve Jesus by helping the church to be all Jesus would want it to be. We love you Holy Spirit. Have your way with us. We ask this in Jesus’ name.
