The Holy Spirit Baptism is an area where people are either bickering over, weird with, or just not sure about.
I know where my Pastor stands on the subject, I know where my “group” of church folk seem to stand on it, but when I began preaching, the Lord really challenged me to know for myself so that I could effectively communicate it to people who were genuinely curious and wanted to know. So I threw out almost all of what I knew and started again from square one. I got rid of all of my assumptions and built this thing brick by brick, precept upon precept. This is the overview of what I’ve concluded.
I see these guys (disciples) in the Bible that rolled with Jesus for three and a half years. They were constantly tripping up, putting their foot in their mouths, and just spiritually dull for the most part. But they were in training. Then I can’t help but notice a huge transition. They went from knuckleheads that got some results in prayer to powerhouses. They go from missing opportunity after opportunity to seizing every moment. Some examples of these missed opportunities were when they were in the boat in Mark 4. They were full of fear and woke Jesus up. But after Jesus stilled that storm, it’s clear. He basically says, “Where’s YOUR faith?” and NOT “Oh ye of little faith…I told you that we’d eventually find the address we were looking for”. It was more, “Why didn’t YOU guys step up and do it?” But they were like spectators at a dunk contest. They were reacting like, “No he didn’t just do a 360 reverse dunk!” (i.e. Look at this guy who even the wind and the sea obey!).
I see the same type of situation take place in Mark 11 when Jesus cursed that fig tree. That next day, Peter saw it and basically said, “Whoa my! That thing is dead from the root up!” and Jesus looked at those guys and said, “Guys…ANYONE can do this with faith in God by realizing the power of their words and just not doubting. ANYBODY, guys”. They were slowly getting it.
Peter really started to get it when he walked on water for a split second. It’s like you can hear Jesus’ tone when Peter said, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to do it, too”. Jesus pretty much said, “Then step right on out there, Peter! Come right on out and do the impossible. I’m telling you you can!” Peter was growing up spiritually. It was as if Jesus was trying to get those guys (and us) from being these guys that were so enamored and blown away by everything He did while viewing them all from the sideline over to guys that were empowered to do the very same things! That IS His intent. (Not that we aren’t still blown away by God).
When He told them to make disciples of all nations, His intent was to make somewhat of clones of Himself, Jesus Christ look-alikes, reproductions of Himself. He was limited in that He couldn’t be at two places at once. He was only one man. He looked out and saw people stumbling over each other lining up to get fed and healed. He looked at that pitiful crowd and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. It was as if He was saying, “Guys, this is a huge, never-ending task and I can’t possibly touch everyone of these people.” So what’s the very next thing that He does? He called the twelve and gave THEM power to do exactly what He was doing (Matthew 9:35-10:8). That IS His intent. That was His little two-folded ministry (and then some). Yeah, He was helping the masses, but what He was really doing was training up those guys and eventually getting them talking, acting, doing and performing those miracles for those people in need…to turn over His ministry to them (& on down the line to you and me).
Now zoom out with me (mapquest) to the bigger picture. In John 14-17, He really has a good sit-down with these guys and basically tells them that the days of hand’s-on training is coming to an end. It’s cool because He never gave them the coaches speech of how you can do it on your own…no way. That wasn’t His intent, either. But it was that “I’m going away and it’s better or expedient that I go. Why? So that He can send that precious Holy Ghost and get IN them & work THROUGH them. Pretty phenomenal! It was better because He could now be in more places than one at the same time through His Spirit. (Jn 16:7) Brilliant! He said that since He went to the Father and the Holy Ghost would come, that they would do the same works that He did and even greater than He did (Jn 14:12)! How? Because He was coming at this hurting world that needed the Kingdom through many other people and many different angles. Now WE reign in His stead (2 Cor 5:20) and are His hands, feet, mouthpiece, etc in the earth (Eph 5:30). We Christians are everywhere now. And where we are (2 or more), there He is (Mt 18:20).
So now that we are getting the picture and purpose of it all, let’s get to the point. He told them just before ascending to the Father to WAIT for the promise of the Holy Ghost (Lk 24:49). “Wait for what I laid out for you guys that night (Jn 14-17). And DON’T you dare try to go out and be my witnesses UNTIL you get endued with power from on high (the baptism of the Holy Ghost). John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Ghost shortly (Acts 1:5-8) and once that happens, you’re gonna receive power.” And we see that happen in Acts 2. Then we see those guys get a hold of this power like no other time! They were bold! They preached, taught, AND healed! They were little Jesus’s (Act 11:26). The world called them Christians because of the fruit they produced…the same type of results that Jesus was getting.
The Holy Spirit Baptism was God’s way or doorway into that next level…that purpose He had for the disciples and mankind (you and me today). Man’s ascent into God and God’s descent into man was through the Holy Ghost. It wasn’t (& isn’t) an automatic thing once people got born again. This was a tough scenario for me for a while. I got so many great friends from many different denominations. But what became the final straws for me were these two:
1) In Acts 8:5-17, we see Philip going to Samaria and doing some evangelism the way it’s supposed to be done. John Wimber calls it “power evangelism” because it’s illumination PLUS illustration. The people heard the Word AND saw the miracles. Then they believed and were baptized. They were born again. They had trusted in Jesus as their Lord & Savior and then got water baptized shortly afterwards. In verses 14-17, I really became convinced that it doesn’t automatically happen. Once the towns people got born again, THEN they called for Peter & John to pay a visit so that these people might receive the Holy Ghost. Verse 16 mentions how it hadn’t happened yet, but once Peter & John showed up, they laid hands on them and it happened. It was a miraculous thing because we see Simon now coveting this gift. Bottom line, it clearly wasn’t automatic.
2) In my own life, I came to Jesus at 15 but it wasn’t until I prayed to receive the Holy Ghost in ’99 that I got on fire for God. Before that, reading the Bible was like doing tough math homework. Some of the stuff I could get, but it was really hard reading. Since receiving the Holy Spirit, I feel like everything got turned up about 10 notches. I can’t read the Bible without getting beautiful revelation like it’s coming right from the throne room. I can quote hundreds of Scriptures and remember them supernaturally, yet I still can’t remember stuff my wife tells me. I have a boldness I’ve never had since then. I speak, pray, and sing in tongues and build myself up in my most holy faith (Jude 20). I have seen people healed. I even saw a person who was dead and got about 5 shocks from a defibrillator rise up seconds after I stretched out my hand and said, “Get up in the name of Jesus”! I have flowed in the Word of Knowledge and the Word of Wisdom while preaching. I have flowed in prophecy at times. I have realized that it was the power and baptism of the Holy Ghost that was the beginning of it all. I was endued with POWER from on high and I have seen results. When I preach on this, I have seen people that have been in church for years but were never truly convinced or have experienced this. But one day a brother told me of how he was at a meeting that I spoke at. I had invited guys to receive and he was one of them. He said his life had been totally transformed. What a reminder to NOT leave out this important subject. If Jesus told us that we won’t really be effective without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, then we should really get hungry to know what He means, get it forever settled in our hearts, and then make sure that we obey it. I’m glad I did.
And one last thing. Please remember that the Holy Spirit Baptism isn’t some formula, the Holy Spirit is a person. It was an experience that is ongoing…until forever.