What Is Speaking in Other Tongues?

What is speaking in other tongues? Is it biblical? Is it for today? Should you speak in tongues? Learn more in this Little Lessons series with Bible teacher David Servant!

What Is Speaking in Other Tongues? (Part 1

What is speaking in other tongues?

We’re going to begin a discussion today about a very biblical topic, the topic of speaking in other tongues, and it’s sad that it’s a bit controversial within the body of Christ, within the larger church world. It really shouldn’t be because it’s certainly a biblical subject. Jesus talked about the believers speaking in tongues and throughout the Book of Acts on a number of occasions, we read about believers speaking in other tongues, and Paul devotes a couple of chapters that have a lot to say about speaking in tongues in his first letter to the Corinthians. And so, it’s not like it’s a obscure subject in the New Testament. It’s there and you can’t escape it.

It fills a predominant place in the early chapters of the Book of Acts and we’re going to take a look at some of those passages when all of the apostles with the exception, of course, Judas, spoke in other tongues. And not only them, but scores of other believers who are present on the day of Pentecost. I think there was about 120 altogether, the Bible says, “and the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them,” and they all spoke in other tongues. And so, when modern “theologians”, and I’m going to put quotation marks on either side of that word, “theologian” and modern “ministers”. And I think I’ve put some quotation marks around their names as well, belittle or mock, make fun of, or speak disparagingly of speaking in tongues, you’re making fun of Peter and John and James and Matthew, all the writers, authors of the New Testament. You’re making fun of those guys because they spoke in tongues, so nobody should making fun of speaking in tongues. All right, whether you speak in tongues or not.

All right. And I’m going to ask for your grace and your open-mindedness, because this is a topic that does sometimes ignite some negative passion. And people get upset about it and they talk about the haves and the have nots and how the Christians who speak in tongues think they’re superior to those who don’t speak in tongues and all this kind of stuff that really is just peripheral. And really not worth even talking about because we have the Bible and Christians, that’s our book. That’s the book where we’re all saying, “We believe this. We’re a Bible believing church. We’re a Bible believing denomination, but we’re opposed to anyone who speaks in other tongues.” Well then, that’s kind of a contradiction because you say you’re a Bible believing church, but you’re opposed to anyone who speaks in tongues, so you’re opposed to all the guys who wrote the New Testament that you claim that you believe. Okay, so, it is sad. It is sad, but I’m believing better things for you just because you’re watching this.

The mockers and so forth, they won’t even have watched it, or if they do, they’re taking notes so they can refute it and so forth and God bless them. It’s very clear from the Bible, nobody can refute this, that there’s a connection between speaking in tongues and the Holy spirit. And in fact, even more specific than that, there’s a clear connection between speaking in tongues and Christians initially being baptized or filled with the Holy spirit. Those two, you find those two things together. It’s a component of the Holy Spirit’s work in the lives of believers.

And so, any professing believers says, “I don’t want the Holy Spirit working in my life.” Well, how could you be a Christian if you don’t want the Holy Spirit working in your life? That’s what being a Christian is, is the Holy Spirit working in your life. We should all want as much of the Holy Spirit as we can possibly get. And they’ll be taking notes and putting comments to refute what I just said. Because it’s, “Oh, you’re treating the Holy Spirit like it’s some kind of quantitative thing.” The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He, not it, is God. He is a person, but the Bible describes the Holy Spirit in quantitative terms and in fluid terms to help us to understand his working. And again, of course, there’s tons of mystery to this. We’re never going to totally grasp it with our peanut brains, but we can read the Bible.

And the Bible says, “God poured out his spirit.” That’s quantitative, isn’t it. That’s using language of fluidity and liquid poured out. And when the Bible says, “People were filled with the Holy spirit,” that’s quantitative, isn’t it? They were filled. They were empty, but they were filled with the Holy Spirit. Do I understand all that? No. Nobody does, Jesus one time spoke about how those who believe in him, out of their inner most being would flow rivers of living water. And then, John in his commentary, I think this is John chapter seven. He said, “This he spoke of the Spirit who those who believe in were to receive.” So, Jesus himself spoke of the Holy Spirit in using fluid, liquid verbiage. And so, out of their inner most being self, flow rivers of living water. Flowing. All right. And this John said he spoke of the spirit. So, how that all works, I don’t understand nobody does, but this is all biblical.

All right. So, if you’ve been born again, the Holy Spirit’s already been working in your life. If you’re truly born again, the Holy Spirit drew you to Christ, convicted you of your sin, helped you in your faith and your genuine repentance. Okay. Holy Spirit is active, beginning, from start to finish. And the Bible talks about being born of the Spirit. That’s another way of talking about the new birth, regeneration. When our spirit man, the person who lives on the inside of this body, is regenerated, revitalized, goes from a state of spiritual death, to a state of spiritual life, and the Holy Spirit comes to in dwell you at that moment. So, if you’re a believer in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. And if you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in you, you, you don’t belong to Christ. Paul said that in Romans, chapter eight, I believe. If you don’t have the spirit of Christ, you don’t belong to Him. So, everyone who’s truly believed in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is in them.

But, it’s very clear from scripture that there are subsequent experiences beyond just the new birth that involve the Holy Spirit. Bible speaks about being baptized in the Holy Spirit filled with the spirit and so on and so forth. Okay. So, this is just the introduction, but speaking in tongues in the Bible is connected with the Holy Spirit. And so, anybody who is in favor of the work of the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t be opposed to speaking in other tongues and exploring what the Bible has to say about it. And that’s what we’re going to do in our next few little lessons.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you richly.

What Is Speaking in Other Tongues? (Part 2)

What is speaking in other tongues? Part two.

On our last Little Lesson, we began to talk about what the Bible says about speaking in other tongues. And if you didn’t see that video, please stop wherever you’re at right now and go back and view that one, because we’re going to build Little Lesson by Little Lesson and cover a lot of ground. This is going to be a significant series of Little Lessons, and you don’t want to miss a single one if you’re interested in this subject of speaking in other tongues, a thoroughly biblical subject, and an experience that has been enjoyed and experienced by literally millions, and tens of millions, of Christians currently living on the earth. Okay? And I say that to kind of pique your interest a little bit to think, “Well, maybe this is something that I could experience.” And who wouldn’t want to experience anything that’s biblical and that God has for His children? Who wouldn’t? You’d have to be out of your mind.

It’s interesting that the folks who fight the speaking in tongues … Those of us who are trying to help people to understand more about it and actually promote the idea that it’s not just something for the apostolic age, but it’s something for today, those that are vocally opposed to it, the preachers and the ministers and the theologians, if you can get them in an unguarded moment and ask them, “Have you ever prayed to speak in tongues?” And 95% of them will say, “Yes.” It shows they desired it. They desired to experience something supernatural like speaking in other tongues, speaking in a language that they had never learned whereby they could pray and praise God and intercede, but it didn’t happen to them. And so then they make the conclusion, well, it’s not for today, or it’s not for every believer, or they’ll find Bible verses to support their positions. And we’ll look at all those Bible verses that they use to support their positions and look at them in the light of the entire Bible, not just yanking verses out of their context.

So what is speaking in tongues? Speaking in tongues is speaking in a unknown language, a language that you haven’t learned or studied. It’s supernatural, and I’m not making this up. On the day of Pentecost when the original apostles and about a hundred other believers all spoke in tongues, they were speaking all kinds of different languages, praising God in languages that they never learned. And people who were in Jerusalem for that feast from all over the Mediterranean world, rushed together and heard all of these 120 or so believers speaking in their languages, and they were astounded by it. So, that’s what speaking in tongues is. It’s speaking in a language by the power of the Holy Spirit that you didn’t learn. The Holy Spirit supernaturally gives you the utterance.

And I’m one of those tens of millions of Christians who experienced speaking in tongues. It happened to me back in 1976, and I would venture to say that hardly a day has gone by since then when I haven’t spoken in other tongues during my private prayer life, or just when I’m out walking or driving or something. It’s a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful gift that anyone who’s experienced it, and who’s a Christian, of course, you can only experience it if you are a Christian, they would want to share it, like I’m doing right now. They want other Christians to know about it and to receive that blessing because it’s such a huge, huge blessing.

All right, so let’s start by looking at the Bible. Let’s look at what Jesus said. It is recorded in the last chapter of Mark’s gospel that Jesus mentioned speaking in other tongues. And I’m going to, first of all, read you a very familiar verse that you’ve probably heard quoted Lord knows how many times in your Christian life, if you’ve been a Christian for very long. This is Mark 16 and verse number 15, “He,” that’s Jesus, “said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.'” You never hear that those verses are somehow controversial, do you? No, you don’t. Those are hallmark verses of evangelicals and those who … anyone who believes the Bible. You don’t have to be an evangelical to believe the Bible. “Go into all the word, preach the …” You got to believe. You got to be baptized if you’re going to be saved, and if you don’t believe you’re, you’re condemned.

Now, the very next verse, the very next verse fits right into this one, because he’s talking about, if you believe, you’ll be saved. If you don’t believe, you’ll be condemned. And the very next verse, he says, “These signs will accompany those who have believed.” And so here’s what to look for if you’re looking for the believers, according to the head of the church, Jesus Christ. God in the flesh spoke these words.

Now, because of what he said, there are theologians who try to say, “Well, there are some manuscripts that don’t contain,” because remember, nobody has the original gospel of Mark. We just have copies, and copies of copies, and translations that go back a long time. But in some of those ancient manuscripts, you can’t find the next verse. But in lots of them, you can, and that’s why it’s included in every Bible. If you’ve got a Bible, these verses are in here. Now they might have a little asterisk or a little number of saying, “Some of the older manuscripts don’t contain these verses,” but there’ll be there.

“And these signs,” Jesus said, “will accompany those who have believed.” Here goes. “In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues.” Well, there it is. There it is. Jesus, the head of the church, the one who … All Christians say, “We believe in him that he’s the son of God and he never lies, and he died for our sins and he’s coming again. And he’s the great judge of the living and dead, and one day he’ll be ruling and reigning.” That person said, “One of the signs that will follow believers is that they will speak in new tongues.” So I’d say it’s worth our examination, wouldn’t you?

Now, every believer has the authority to cast out demons in Jesus’s name, right? It’s not something that’s just unique to a few. He said, “They will pick up serpents. And if they drink any deadly poison, it won’t hurt them. And they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” Okay. So there’s five signs.

Now, two of them, the picking up the serpents, and if they drink a deadly poison, we don’t find examples of those in the New Testament. We do find believers casting out demons. We do find them speaking in tongues in the Book of Acts. Now, we do find people being healed as hands are laid upon them. In fact, James wrote in his general epistle and he said, “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them anoint him with oil.” That’s a little different version of laying on of hands, but still a point of contact and touch. And Jesus said, “They’ll lay hands on the sick and they’ll recover,” so every believer, this is a sign that can follow them.

Now, the picking up serpents, we don’t have any example of the believers having snake handling services in the Book of Acts, because that would be testing God, right, and people that do that get bitten sometimes and they die sometimes and it’s nonsense. But we do find near the end of the Book of Acts, Paul, one time being bitten by a poisonous, deadly viper on the Island of Malta, and he just shakes it off in the fire and he suffers no harm. So that’s probably more of what the Lord was talking about there, not having snake handling services, but if, just like in the next thing he says, “if they drank any deadly poison,” not that we’re drinking strychnine to prove that we have faith, but if someone tries to poison us …

I think that the general gist of those things is that these people are going to be supernaturally protected from harm that others try to inflict upon them. We do see that in the Book of Acts. God delivers people. Now, not every time does He deliver people, but many times He delivers His people, so for what it’s worth. But we’re talking in this Little Lesson series about speaking in other tongues, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking about the other five signs that are, Jesus said, would follow believers. It’s just it’s undeniable that Jesus said, “believers.” If you’re looking for believers, look for the people who … one of the five things you should look for, is there speaking in other tongues?

Okay, so it’s biblical. Don’t get mad at me. I’m just reading from the Bible, okay? Don’t get mad at me. I love you. That’s why I’m talking about this because I want to see you blessed, and I want to see God’s kingdom expand. And we all know, everybody agrees about this, that the Holy Spirit is the one who helps us to expand the kingdom. Right? Right. You know, we should all want, myself included, and I do want more of the Holy Spirit’s work in us and through us, and I’m interested in any way possible that I could get more of the Holy Spirit.

Okay. We’re out of time for today. Thank you so very much for joining. We’re going to talk about this more on the next Little Lesson, so don’t miss it. And if you are a Christian, but you don’t speak in tongues, if you’re spiritually hungry, I’m going to help you. And you’re going to experience a miracle, a miracle that’s going to be ongoing every day for the rest of your life. It’s wonderful. It’s absolutely wonderful, and I so much want you to be blessed in that regard, so don’t get mad at me. Open your heart, open your mind. I’m not trying to win a theological argument. I’m trying to get you blessed and more fruitful in whatever God has for you to do, and the Holy Spirit will help you more.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

What does speaking in tongues sound like?

What does speaking in other tongues sound like?

In our previous two little lessons, we started talking about the biblical topic of speaking in other tongues, a very biblical topic. Jesus talked about it. Paul talked about it in one of his epistles. It’s all through the Book of Acts, and so something worth our study. We’ve already begun to look at this in our previous two little lessons so if you just happened upon this little lesson, you really would be better off if you see the first two, because we’re building on a foundation here, okay. So you can go ahead and watch this. I can’t stop you; can’t reach to that camera and make you do anything, but I’m just telling you, because I love you. And I want you to experience God’s best and we’ve laid a foundation.

So now, I want to talk about today. What speaking in tongues sounds like. Well, speaking in tongues … speaking in other tongues in the Bible is the Holy Spirit given ability to speak in a language and I’ll just keep it that. Speak a language so it could be praying, speaking to God in a language you’ve never learned, or there’s another use of tongues according to scripture and we’ll study this a little bit down the road, where it’s not so much prayer as it is more like prophecy, where God is speaking through an individual in tongues and it’s interpreted. Okay. So that’s down the road, hang in there. But speaking in tongues, it’s supernatural. When Theologians say that speaking in tongues, that’s like our great professors who studied Latin and learned Hebrew and Greek.

If you’re listening to those guys, just turn the channel. They don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. In the Bible, the people that spoke in tongues, it wasn’t people that studied Latin and Hebrew and professors at seminaries; linguists. No, no. On the day of Pentecost, all the apostles and about 120 people spoke in other tongues. And then same thing happened other places in the Book of Acts, right? And it didn’t say on the day of Pentecost, they all went to college for four years and learned how to speak Hebrew, no. They all suddenly started speaking in languages they had never learned. They didn’t know what they were saying, but others who rushed to the place where they were the upper room, heard them speaking in their languages and they realized that these men and women were praising God. And speaking of his mighty deeds, that’s biblical speaking in tongues.

So what does speaking in tongues sound like? Well, it sounds like someone’s speaking a language. If you don’t understand English, for example, if you’re watching this right now, you haven’t got a clue what I’m saying, and I’m speaking in a language that you don’t understand, you can just tell it’s a language, but you don’t know what I’m saying. Right now, you don’t know what I’m … you don’t know that I’m saying that you don’t know what I’m saying. So speaking tongues is just people speaking in another language.

Now, how many languages are there in the world? Well, there’s the major languages, we all know that. English is the most broadly spoken language in the world, but I think more people speak Chinese than English because there’s so many Chinese people. One out of every five people in the world is Chinese.

And then of course there are multiple languages that are widespread. Spanish spoken throughout Latin America. And then you have a Russian of course, spoken throughout Russia and all the former Soviet Union countries. And you’ve just got so many other languages. I mean, there are literally thousands of languages in the world today, but some of them are spoken by just a very small number of people. And they’re actually many cases dying languages. So it’s really interesting, the whole study of linguistics.

Speaking tongues might not only be speaking in an unknown language that’s on the earth today. It could be speaking in a human language of the past because there are dead languages and Paul in his famous passage in 1 Corinthians 13 said, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,” he said. So it’s within the realm of possibilities that speaking in tongues could include angelic languages.

All right. So once you have spoken in tongues, and again, this is only for Christians. You have to be a born again believer in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit has to empower you; give you that ability. You just can’t do it yourself. Once you’ve done it once, then you can do it any time thereafter and you can use it as a regular part of your prayer life as supernatural, Holy Spirit, given prayer. And I absolutely love it. I spend time just about every morning, praying in other tongues and most the time I do not know what I’m saying.

All right. So let me just give an example just in case you’ve never heard anyone speak in tongues and I’m going to speak in tongues and you can listen along and see what you think, okay? (speaking in tongues)

Now, you notice that I started when I wanted to, and I stopped when I wanted to. That’s thoroughly biblical, not in this little lesson, but in a future little lesson in this series, I’ll show you in the Bible where that’s thoroughly biblical. The apostle Paul made it very clear that when he spoke in tongues, it was up to him. He started when he wanted to, he stopped when he wanted just like you do in your known language. You probably didn’t understand anything I said, but you probably recognize that, “Oh, that sounds like a pretty authentic language.” Some people say, “Well, you’re just making that up.” Well, I don’t think so. I don’t think so.

If I was going to make up a language, I think the best I could do would be ooga, booga, wooga, tooga, something like that, but that’s not really a convincing language. I just made that up. But what I was doing previously for that 30 or 45 seconds or so, that was speaking in other tongues. I don’t know what I said. The utterance did not come out of my head. It came out of … Bible talks about the utterance comes out of your spirit and we can pray with our minds, in my case that’d be English because I only speak English, but we can also pray with the spirit. What I just did … And I might also add that I don’t know what language that was.

And since 1976, when I first spoke in tongues, I’ve spoken in many different languages, not the one you just heard. I’ve spoken in actually in Japanese three times to the degree that people who were with me in prayer meetings while I was praying in that language, heard me speak Japanese and told me what I said in Japanese. Okay. That’s supernatural. I said one time in Japanese, “You are so good.” See, I was praising God. One time I said in Japanese, “Thank you very much.” I don’t know how to say either one of those. Right now, if someone held a gun to my head and said, say “You are so good, thank you very much” in Japanese, I would have to say, “Shoot me.” But I have said those things in Japanese. One time, I said in Japanese, according to the person who understood some Japanese who heard me praying, “Come quickly, come quickly. I am waiting.” Well, that’s pretty scriptural, right? Praying for Jesus to come quickly. I’m waiting for Jesus.

This is thirdly biblical. And this is not just something for a minority of Christians or some kind of elite Christian or some kind of people that reach some kind of spiritual status with God. No sir, no ma’am, this is a gift. And if you’ll stick with me over the next little lessons, I’m going to do my best to look at the scripture and explain it in light of what I know and what I’ve experienced and so forth. And I’ll tell you how you can receive this gift and experience the blessing of it too. And your language is not going to be the same language that I got. God’s got a lot of languages.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

What is the connection between Speaking in Tongues and the Holy Spirit?

What is the connection between speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit?

I hope you’ve also seen the three previous Little Lessons because we started talking about speaking in other tongues, a very biblical subject. If you are just jumping in here in the middle, well, I just advise you to stop where you’re at and try to find the other three videos that precede this one, and watch those first, because we’re building Little Lesson by Little Lesson.

So I want to talk about the connection between speaking in tongues and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He, not it, is God, and who wouldn’t want to get closer to the Holy Spirit? Anyone who’s a Christian, they’ve already experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in being born again. The new birth, being regenerated, born of the Spirit, Jesus said. That’s the work of the Spirit, and anyone who has believed in Jesus, they’ve been born of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit indwells them.

But that’s not the only experience that the Lord wants us to enjoy. There are subsequent in fillings or baptisms in the Holy Spirit that we can read about in the book of Acts. And Paul wrote to the Ephesians and he said, “Be filled with the Spirit.” Well, if they already were filled, he wouldn’t have ever said to them be filled. And in fact, in the Greek, the verb tense is something that we really don’t have in English. It says something more equivalent to be being filled with the Holy Spirit. And so it just implies an ongoing, never ending process of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And he goes on to say speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.

Those are ways that we get subsequent fillings of the Spirit by ministering to the Lord in worship and prayer. And he inhabits the praises of his people. And that’s an indication that we’re being filled with the Holy Spirit, when you enter into God’s presence and worship and praise him and sing out hymns, and those spontaneous songs that come forth from your heart, true expressions of love for God, worshiping him in spirit and in truth. As Jesus said, you get some filling of the Holy Spirit with that. And everyone who’s experienced that knows what I’m talking about. All right.

So what’s the connection between the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues? Well, it’s fairly safe to say, although we have to have some caution, that speaking in tongues is one of the initial evidences of being filled or could say being baptized in the Holy Spirit. And we’re going to look at some scriptures today and in future lessons that will bear that out.

But let’s go to the Bible. What do you say? And again, my motivation is pure love for you. So if you’re a theologian who’s watching this and you’re just getting hot around the ears and you just can’t wait to get to your class so you can refute it in front of your seminarians, just look at yourself in the mirror and say you’re in need of another dip, because why get mad over the Bible, over something that is thoroughly biblical and get angry at someone like me, who’s trying to help you experience all that God has for you. So don’t get mad.

So we jump out of the gospels into the book of Acts and Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke, wrote the book of Acts. And he writes to this guy named Theophilus, which a lot of folks think is just representative of any hungry soul. The name Theophilus, Theo, God, Philo, phylo, whatever, love. So it means lover of God. And Luke writes the first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach. The implication is that Jesus… now I’m going to talk about the things that Jesus continued to do and teach through his church by the power of the Holy Spirit, until the day when he was taken up into heaven after he had, by the Holy Spirit, given orders to the apostles whom he had chosen.

So Jesus is the head of the church. He doesn’t give suggestions. He doesn’t really ask us to do anything. He gives orders. He gives commandments. It always irks me when I hear preachers say that Jesus is asking us to… no, no, no, Jesus doesn’t ask anyone to do anything. He commands them. He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And he gave orders, Luke wrote, to the apostles, and listen to the order that he gave him and see if it has any application to you or application to the church, in general.

To these he presented himself alive after his suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Wouldn’t you like to know everything that Jesus said during those 40 days? I sure would. But Luke was led by the Holy Spirit, really to highlight only one thing basically, we could say, that Jesus said during those 40 days. And so no doubt, Luke highlighted what he felt was supremely important, above all else, of all the orders, of all the revelation, of all the instruction, of all the information that Jesus imparted during those times, those many times that he presented himself alive to his apostles over those 40 days. Luke thought here’s one thing that’s more important than anything else.

Gathering them together, Jesus commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. So this is a commandment. He’s not asking. He’s commanding. Don’t leave Jerusalem until. So there will be a time you should leave. But until that time, stay in Jerusalem. He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, which he said, you heard of from me. This is something I’ve already talked to you about, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

And that wasn’t an exaggeration. It was just a few days later. He spoke to them over a period of 40 days. And the day of Pentecost would have come 50 days or so after Passover. So maybe just 6 to 10 days from then. But you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. So not many days from now.

And, of course, he told them that when they received the Holy spirit, that they would then be his witnesses. So it was very clear. The Holy Spirit was going to help them to do the job that he wanted them to do. And that was to spread the gospel. For anyone today to think that we don’t need the Holy Spirit, as much as those guys needed the Holy Spirit to do what God wants us to do, you’d have to be very foolish to think something that silly. To think that, well, these guys needed the Holy Spirit, baptism, but we don’t. You can’t be serious. That would be prideful.

John, Peter, James, Matthew, they needed the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but we don’t know. No, no. Jesus said this is so important. Luke said this was the most important thing that Jesus said to them. Don’t leave Jerusalem until you’ve been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

So we’re out of time and we’ll have to pick up right here next time, but it just gets better and better and better. Loving this. And I hope you’ll stick with me because there are going to be a lot of you watching who right now, you’re a Christian, you’re hungry for more of the Holy Spirit. And you’re going to receive a blessing from the Holy Spirit and you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and you’ll have the accompanying sign of speaking in a language you’ve never learned. Something you can use every day in your personal prayer life.

Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

What does Speaking in Tongues have to do with Getting the Gospel to the Whole World?

What does speaking in tongues have to do with getting the gospel to the whole world?

This will be the fifth in this series. And I hope so much that you’ve already viewed the first four because we are building on a foundation.

And we left off in our last little lesson, we were there in the first chapter of Acts, reading Jesus’s orders to the apostles. Specifically, he appeared to them over a period of 40 days. After his resurrection, he appeared to them many times, according to Luke, speaking to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. And I would have loved to heard all that Jesus shared with the apostles. But Luke was led by the Spirit to highlight just one major thing that Jesus conveyed to them during those 40 days. And that was, he had commanded them not to leave Jerusalem. But to wait. And wait for what? To wait to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And, of course, they wondered, what’s going to happen out of that. Jesus, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel? Because they knew enough about the prophecies in the Old Testament, to know that one day God was going to restore Israel to a place of prominence in the world. And Jesus himself will be ruling and reigning over the entire world from Jerusalem. And it’s not hard to find that in the prophets. So they’re thinking that’s the next thing. But Jesus, of course said, hey, it’s not for you to know the times or the epochs which my Father has fixed by His authority. But He said, “you will receive power,” He said, “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;” so that was the key. That was what Jesus felt was most important.

You need power and you’re going to receive power from the Holy Spirit, and the consequence of receiving that power. Because what would that power do? Will you be able to leap over tall buildings and lift boulders? No, that’s not physical power, but something in the spiritual realm. And He said, I’m reading from Acts 1:8, “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

And so, no theologian, no preacher or teacher could argue with this. No Christian could argue this. This is as plain and simple, as clear as could be. Jesus didn’t think that any of his apostles, whom he had personally trained for three-and-a-half years were ready for the task set before them. His will, for them to take the gospel first to Jerusalem, then to Judea and Samaria, working North and South, as it were. And then, to the uttermost, the most remote places in the world. You have got to be endued with power from on high. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And I’m just quoting him, verbatim, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” All contained there in the first chapter of Acts. So it’s just as simple as it can be.

And can we admit, isn’t that really a problem that the modern church has? So little power, power of the Holy Spirit. If you take away the work of the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts, you’re left with virtually nothing. In fact, if you took away the power of the Holy Spirit, the book of Acts, you and I wouldn’t even be Christians. We would have never heard the gospel. Because Christianity would have died after a very short time, persecuted out of existence and forgotten in the dust of history. But because of the Holy Spirit’s power, working through those early apostles, and the gifts of the Spirit that were bestowed upon them, worked through them, the miracles, the signs, the wonders, the casting out of demons, and healings, and all these things that we read about in book of Acts, that’s what propelled the church on to expansion and success. And what got the attention of people to listen to the gospel and take the message seriously. And that’s what’s missing in so many sectors of Christianity today.

And the answer is the Holy Spirit. He’s the one who gives the gifts. He’s the one that empowers. Right? Right. And so, when large segments of the church are opposed to anything beyond just being born again, being saved… Do you think that the apostles were saved at this point in time? Do you think that if they would have died, they would have gone to heaven? I think we can be reasonably certain that they knew the Lord. They walked with Jesus for three-and-a-half-years. He told them that they were saved and assured them that they knew him. So if they would have died, they would have gone to heaven. They were saved. But Jesus said, there’s something else that you need, you need to be clothed with the Holy Spirit’s power here. That’s what you need.

That’s the most important thing at this juncture in divine history. So we heed that message. And I asked at the beginning of this little lesson, well, what does speaking in tongues have to do with getting the gospel to the whole world? Well, what Jesus promised came to pass, they waited in Jerusalem. They didn’t leave Jerusalem until the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit fell upon that place, where they all were. And they all began speaking in other tongues. That was the initial sign of the fact that they had been clothed with power from on high.

And interestingly enough, that sign of speaking in tongues is so interesting. Because what’s the purpose of this power? It’s to take the gospel to every tribe, every tongue. Take it to the remotest parts of the earth. And I’m going to clothe you with power. And the initial sign that you’re going to experience is, all of you, 120 of you, are going to be speaking in various languages of people all over the Mediterranean world, and I guess even beyond. And that’s what happened on the day of Pentecost. They’re all speaking these languages of the mighty deeds of God, God. And again, that was just the evidence, an initial sign. But the point of the whole thing was, is now you’re clothed with the power that you need to fulfill what I want you to do, in taking the gospel to the whole world.

So the big thing really isn’t speaking in tongues. The biggest thing is being baptized in the Holy Spirit and being clothed with his power. But tongues accompanies that. And nothing’s changed, nothing’s changed. And speaking in tongues has existed from that point onward, yes. The church as a whole has waned and ebbed and flowed. But there’s always been this remnant that seeks God. And I happen to be living in a city, the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where back in… I guess it was the 1970s, when some people began seeking God at a Catholic University or Duquesne University. And several of those people, I don’t even know if they were just regular laypeople or priests, were baptized in the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other tongues. And that was the beginning of what was called the charismatic renewal. It went, ultimately, all of the world. And there’s fruit from it to this day.

And people say, well, those charismatics, they’re a bunch of flakes. Well, you’re right, to some degree, some of the flakiness people within the church world are charismatics. Because they’ve abandoned the word of God for their experiences. And they don’t have integrity. They’re money grabbers and they’re phoneys. But that doesn’t discount what we’re reading in the Bible right now. And the real experience. Amen.

So we’ll read more in Acts on our next lesson because we’re out of time. But we’re going to read about that experience on the day of Pentecost. And then, we’ll read subsequent experience. Because the book of Acts, we find more than one time when new believers, who are young believers, were baptized in the Holy Spirit or filled with Holy Spirit. And they spoke in tongues and nothing’s changed. I’m telling you nothing has changed. And there are millions and tens of millions of Christians around the world who have had that exact same experience. I’m one of them. You could be one of them. The only thing that stands in your way is, what’s going on up here. And that’s what I’m trying to show you, what the word of God actually says. You just need to believe it.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you richly.

Where do Pentecostals get their name from?

From where did the Pentecostals get their name? Hi, and welcome to today’s Little Lesson. Thank you very much for joining once again. We are currently in a series of lessons all about speaking in other tongues. And I covered five lessons so far. This will be the sixth. And I ask at the beginning of this Little Lesson, where did the Pentecostals get their name? Well, if you didn’t know the answer to that, we’re about to find out the answer today as we read in Acts chapter two about the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was sent to fall on the apostles as well as scores of other early believers as they were waiting for him to come according to the promise of Jesus Christ.

And that’s where the Pentecostals got their name. Because on the day of Pentecost is the day the Holy Spirit fell on those early disciples and we could say in one sense that the church was born. And what characterizes the Pentecostals as being distinct amongst everyone else in the body of Christ who are non-Pentecostals, is that the Pentecostals would hold to the idea, the biblical idea, that there’s an experience with the Holy Spirit that is subsequent to being born again, called either being baptized in the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Holy Spirit. And both of those phrases are biblical phrases.

And it was on that Pentecostal day when everybody in the early church was a Pentecostal because they were all speaking in tongues. And if you would have asked any of them that day, on the day of Pentecost, any of those 120 people, “Is there an experience that is subsequent to salvation?” they would have said, “Absolutely, yes. We’ve just experienced it. We’re all speaking in other tongues of the mighty deeds of God.”

Now some theologians, of course, will say, “Well, that was a one-time experience just to mark the beginning of the church. And we shouldn’t expect that afterwards.” Well, that’s an interesting thought, but it doesn’t hold any water because you have the same thing happening in other places in the book of Acts. And again, theologians are always trying to come up with reasons why you and I shouldn’t expect God to do for us what he did for the apostles, bless their hearts. These guys who are peddling unbelief and robbing people of blessing and robbing the whole world of blessing, really. Because, clearly, this event is what catalyzed the church to then explode in the spreading of the gospel all over the world.

And the Pentecostal movement, which began in California on Azusa Street in the early 1900s, had a similar effect. It spread all over the world. And you can find Pentecostals everywhere these days. I mean, it just birthed missionaries and apostles, and they went everywhere. And it’s still happening today, still happening today, because those Pentecostals continue to preach the gospel. And then after people are born again, they lay hands upon them and pray that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. And they expect that those people will have the confirming evidence of speaking in tongues. And millions, tens of millions of people have had that experience. And not just in Africa and Asia. Here in the United States. I don’t know if there has been millions, but goodness, you take the Pentecostal dominations that would hold to this. Like for example, the Assemblies of God, or the Foursquare denomination, or all the charismatic churches that are kind of like a subbranch of Pentecostalism.

And so when people say to me that speaking in tongues ceased with the apostles, I always tell them, “You got to me a little bit too late.” Because I spoke in tongues for the first time in 1976 when some Pentecostals laid their hands upon me and prayed for me. And I found myself speaking a million miles a minute in some Asian language. I thought at the time it was Vietnamese because I had heard some Vietnamese people talking and chattering one time and what I was saying sounded a lot like what they were saying, but I didn’t know for sure.

And so speaking in tongues has not ceased. There are millions of people, Christian believers, who would tell you it’s not ceased. We’re experiencing the exact same thing they experienced in the book of Acts. Now, but of course, if you believe those theologians instead of believing the Bible, well, you’ll be robbed of the blessing because you have to have faith. That’s very obvious. You have to believe. The disciples believed Jesus. So they waited in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. And at Pentecost, the Pentecostals were born.

So let’s get back to our specific biblical study of Acts chapter two. So they’re waiting, as Jesus commanded them, for power from the Holy Spirit. And then they’re going to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to those parts of the earth. So Acts chapter two, verse number one. “When the day of Pentecost had come…” That was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, seven weeks after Passover, “… they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise, like a violent rushing wind. And it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire, distributing themselves. And they rested on each one of them.” So this was super-duper natural. “And they were all…” Here’s the phrase, “…filled with the Holy Spirit…” And then what’s the next thing? “… and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

So if you’re opposed to speaking in tongues, then you’re opposed to what we just read here in the book of Acts. You say, “Well, I’m not opposed to the book of Acts. I’m just opposed to do it today.” On what basis? On what basis are you opposed today? Because tens of millions of Christians have experienced this. How are you going to explain that? You think they’re all just making it up? You think like some people say they’re all demon possessed? Well, you better be very, very careful when you start attributing the work of the Holy Spirit, people supernaturally praising God in other languages, and you’re saying that’s the work of the devil. You’re borderline blasphemy of the Holy Spirit when your heart is that hard. I pray that your heart is not that hard. But there have been some whose hearts are that hard. They the attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to the devil. Not a good idea.

I have spoken in Japanese on three occasions in tongues. Didn’t know what I was saying. Other people translated it who understood some Japanese. And in every case, I was thanking or praising God. And you’re going to say that’s the devil in me? I’m possessed by a demon? Now, I’ve experienced exactly what they experienced. Speaking in tongues. I’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit and I began to speak in tongues. I spoke in tongues. I spoke in tongues. See, I did the speaking, using my mouth, and it’s by my volition, but the Holy Spirit gives the utterance, but I do the speaking. And I’ll stop and pause right there. And I want to talk about this more in our next Little Lesson. But that’s a key element in understanding what’s important about being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

When we pray for people, I have prayed for hundreds and hundreds of people over the years and watched them be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in other tongues. Hundreds, maybe more than a thousand. But I haven’t been actually counting with a clicker. And the only thing that hinders them, sometimes, temporarily, is if they wait for the Holy Spirit to force them by uncontrollably… They can’t control it. They think uncontrollably the Holy Spirit’s going to force me, make my mouth move, make my tongue move, use my vocal chords, and I will not be able to control it because it will be the Holy Spirit. And that’s a stumbling block because that’s what people mistakenly think. But that’s not biblical at all. It’s not biblical at all here in Acts. And we’ll read later on in First Corinthians 14, it’s not biblical at all.

You have a part to play in speaking in tongues. You are the one who does the speaking. It’s your mouth, your lips, your tongue, your vocal chords, and your willingness to yield to the Holy Spirit. And as soon as we can get people to see that, that you shouldn’t be waiting around for the Holy Spirit to force you to speak in tongues, you need to have faith, believing that you receive when you pray. That’s what Christ said. Whatever you desire, you desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, believe you receive. When? When you feel it? No. Believe you receive when you pray. So you pray and you ask God. And then you have faith. And by faith, you begin to speak. And as you speak, the Holy Spirit gives you the utterance. He provides the language. He provides the language. But you have to be the one who speaks.

And don’t let that hinder you. Many times, I’ve found if I can just get people to see that, then poof, like a light bulb goes off in their mind. They go, “Oh my goodness. I’ve been waiting around for the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit’s been waiting around for me.” Which I think is probably true on a lot of levels for us followers of Jesus who are stumbling along so many times. You must speak. And so if you prayed, and most everyone who is against what I’m saying has prayed, and they’ve asked God. They’ll say something like, “God, if it’s your will, please let me speak in tongues.” And then they wait. And of course they prayed in unbelief because they said, “If it’s your will,” when clearly we have the word of God on it. And then secondly, they’re expecting the Holy Spirit to do what the Holy Spirit’s expecting them to do. “You speak. I’ll…” the Holy Spirit, “… will provide the utterance.” And that’s why you didn’t speak in tongues. That’s the primary reason I’ve seen. Because people, they expect the Holy Spirit to do what the Holy Spirit expects them to do.

When I spoke in tongues for you in that fourth video that I made, you notice I started and I stopped when I wanted to. I was fully conscious of speaking those syllables, just like I’m conscious right now of speaking the syllables that I’m speaking to you in English. But in this case, I know what I’m saying when I speak to you in English. When I spoke in tongues during that fourth video that I made on this subject, on this series, I didn’t know what I was saying. So if you didn’t see that one, go back and watch all of them.

All right, we’ll pick up right here in our next Little Lesson. Don’t miss it.
Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

Why the Church needs More Power from the Holy Spirit

Why the church needs more power from the Holy Spirit.

We have been talking on our little lessons about speaking in other tongues, which we’ve seen from just a few scriptures, and what we’re going to look at more is an initial evidence. It was an initial evidence, the initial evidence for 120 people on the day of Pentecost, when they were waiting for Jesus’ promise to come true, that they would be clothed with power from on high, and then they would be as witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. And I’ve talked about this. This will actually be, I think, the seventh little lesson on this topic. And my goal, of course, is for every viewer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

If you’d not watch the other six or so that we’ve done, please, do pause and go back and watch those because we’ve laid quite a foundation. And currently, we’re looking at the initial outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church in Jerusalem, when 120 souls, 120 believers, were baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit, and they all spoke in other languages. And isn’t it interesting? Jesus had said originally to them, “Don’t leave Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit and you’ll be clothed with power from on high. And then you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth.”

So, how long did it take before they were baptized in the Holy Spirit that they were being witnesses in Jerusalem? Well, it didn’t take very long at all because the Holy Spirit not only fell upon them and gave them the ability to speak in tongues, but those in Jerusalem, for the feast of Pentecost, who had gathered from all over the Mediterranean world, heard the sound of the mighty rushing wind and so forth. And apparently, saw the… Perhaps, I’m not sure if they did, if they saw the tongues of fire that rested upon them, or if it’s just the Christians who saw that.

But nevertheless, they rushed together, and they heard everyone speaking in their own languages. These are visitors from all over the Mediterranean world, hearing people praise God. And you know the result. Peter gets up and preaches the gospel to them and thousands get saved in one day. Well, I don’t know about you, but that excites me. And if you take out the power of the Holy Spirit from that Bible story, you have nothing. No salvations, no revival, no one even hearing the gospel, and no one preaching the gospel.

I mean, the disciples were in the upper room and they were praying, but there’s no preaching going on. There’s no one being saved. There’s no revival. But as soon as they’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, God gathers a crowd for them, and Peter and the rest of the apostles get up and start preaching, and thousands of people are saved. Thousands of people, in one day. So, let’s read about it, okay? And focus on that in this little lesson and see how it applies to me and to you.

Now, there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. So, almost seems like he’s saying that these folks living in Jerusalem at that time were not just from the Mediterranean world, but beyond. I don’t know, but when this sound occurred, they heard the mighty rushing wind, they came together and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished saying, “Why, are not all those who are speaking Galileans?”

So, they’re up from Galilee down here in Jerusalem, up there around the Sea of Galilee. And these are just kind of backwards folks here in Jerusalem. They’re not world travelers. They’re not linguists. They’re not great scholars, learned people. But we hear them. How is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes, and Elamites. Well, Elam would be the modern-day nation of Iran, and residents of Mesopotamia and Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia. That’d be in modern-day Turkey. Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya, around the Cyrene, so we’re in North Africa. And visitors from Rome, all the way from Italy. Visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs.

We hear them in our own tongues, speaking of the mighty deeds of God. And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying one to another, “What does this mean?” So, speaking in tongues was like part of the sign, to the unbelievers. Caught their attention. Yet, even within the Pentecostal ranks today and the Charismatic ranks, we’re like putting our light under a bushel. We don’t want to tell anyone that we speak in tongues, or let them hear us speak in tongues, or tell them our testimony about how we spoke in tongues, and speak in tongues every day, because they’ll think we’re weird.

Well, that’s what they thought back in that day. Some of them did anyways. What does this mean? So, there were those who were sincere and perplexed about this sign, but others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.” Now, what a stupid observation that was. Yeah, that’s what people do when they get drunk. They speak fluently of the mighty deeds of God in languages they never learned. Is that what you notice when people get drunk? You walk past a bar down in the height of your town? Is that what they’re all doing in there? They’re all speaking in languages that they’ve never learned and praising God?

No, that’s a stupid observation by people who can’t explain it. And so, what I’m suggesting is that you, dear Christian, seek the Lord so that you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in other tongues. And then don’t hide it under a bushel. Tell people, even though some will think you’re crazy. Tell them that you’ve experienced a miracle. You’re speaking, you speak in a language that you never learned. Fluently. It is absolutely incredible. And we should be a little more bold about this. What do we got to lose?

People already think you’re crazy if you’re a believer in Jesus. But it’s hard to deny a bonafide miracle, and every single Christian can experience this. That’s biblical, and it’s also confirmed by the experience of tens of millions of Christians around the world. Now, no doubt some theologian, or someone’s going to write in a comment, “Oh, you’re wrong. The Bible says, do all speak in tongues?” And the obvious answer to that rhetorical question is no. But if you’re going to base your theology on one verse, and ignore the context of that verse, and then ignore the broader context, like what we just read in Acts and we’re going to be reading further, as we continue our study in the coming little lessons.

You’re going to base your theology on one verse? That’s your business. But every theologian, every true pastor each will tell you, it’s a mistake to base your theology on one verse, because you could be misunderstanding it. And clearly, when Paul is saying, ask that question, “do all speak in tongues,” he’s not talking about what we’re reading here because on the day of Pentecost, guess what? They all did speak in tongues. We just read it. They all spoke. It wasn’t a single one among those 120 who didn’t speak in tongues. Everyone spoke in tongues.

So, when Paul says, “do all speak in tongues,” read the context and figure out what he means by that. Well, what he means by that, read it, he says, “Are all apostles?” Well, the answer to that obviously, is no. Only a few within the body of Christ are called to be apostles, sent ones to take the gospel and plant. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No, not all have those various callings and gifts. And one of those special callings, along with apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, working on miracles that Paul lists there. He talks about, “Do all speak in other tongues?” He’s talking about the ministry of speaking in tongues, where we’ll be talking about that later, where it’s very similar to prophecy, where a person by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit speaks out in tongues. And there’s an accompanying gift of the interpretation of tongues, and not all have that, because that operates as the spirit wills.

But this, what we’re reading about right here, we’re going to read about it in First Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14, where Paul makes it very clear, praying in tongues or speaking in tongues as a part of your devotional life is not as the spirit wills, it’s as you or I will. Sure. Paul said it very plainly. “I will pray with the spirit. I will pray with the mind. I will sing with the spirit. I will sing with the mind.” That’s as he willed it. But he very plainly said that the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and including tongues and interpretations, that works as the Spirit wills. You can’t just drum that up.

And that’s one mistake we see sometimes in Pentecostal and Charismatic churches. Someone yells out or speaks out publicly, and it’s not a message in tongues that’s accompanied by the gift of interpretation. That gift is someone just speaking out in tongues, like these folks did on the day of Pentecost, and like they did in the Corinthian church, the same thing. They had trouble, people speaking out in tongues, but there was no interpretation. Well, if it was the real gift of speaking in tongues, why would God give someone the ability to speak in tongues, a message for the church from God, and not give someone else the interpretation, the gift of interpretation, or give that same person the interpretation?

It wouldn’t make any sense at all, would it? No, it wouldn’t make any sense at all. So, these people in Corinth were speaking out in tongues, but not the ministry of tongues that’s designed to edify the whole church through the accompanying gift of interpretation. No, they’re just speaking out in what Charismatics and Pentecostals often refer to as their prayer language, for which your mind is unfruitful, Paul said, most of the time. You don’t know what you’re saying.

Okay, well, we’re out of time for this little lesson. Thank you so much for joining me. Much, much, much more to come. Okay? And keep listening. My goal is to build your faith, so that you can pray in faith and know exactly what to expect. If you’re a believer in Jesus, this is something that belongs to you, and you should and need to experience it. It’s a huge enhancement to your spiritual life. And who knows what else God might give you or do through you after you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit? You’re going to have more power than you had before. Because that’s clearly the main component here of why God wants us to be filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Can you be a witness for Jesus apart from the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?

Can you be a witness for Jesus apart from the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

If you are a regular viewer you know we’re currently in the middle of a series about speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, not an obscure subject in the New Testament. We’ve already done seven of the lessons and we probably have at least seven more to go in this series so there’s a lot to learn and a lot of scripture that we can look at and we will look at, I think all of it or most of it anyways. And if you’ve missed those first seven little lessons on this subject I would recommend that you go back and view those before you view this one. Okay. It would just be for your greater benefit.

Now, the question we want to address in this lesson is can you be a witness for Jesus apart from the baptism in the Holy Spirit? And it goes without saying, it’s irrefutable, that Jesus considered that there’s no way that his apostles, the 11 guys, now Judas defected of course but the 11 men whom he personally trained and discipled for three and a half years he believed it was imperative that they be clothed with power from on high, that they be baptized in the Holy Spirit before they attempted to be his witnesses on the scale that he wanted them to be his witnesses. Because that’s what he said, we’ve looked at that scripture a couple of times already in these little lessons on this subject.

Jesus told them, “Don’t leave Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high. Wait, not many that days from now God’s going to pour out his Holy Spirit.” And so they did, they waited there in Jerusalem. They were all Galileans but temporarily they stayed in Jerusalem. Not just the 11 apostles but also 109 other devoted believers were there in the upper room on the day of Pentecost about 50 days after the Passover, after Jesus was crucified. They were there when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them. And it was, many theologians say, the birth of the church.

Now nobody can disagree about what I’ve just said that Jesus felt it was necessary for them to stay in Jerusalem and wait to be clothed with power. But some theologians will say that nowadays when someone’s born again that’s all the Holy Spirit that they’re ever going to receive. You’re baptized and the Holy Spirit at that point in time when you’re born again and don’t be praying for any subsequent experiences. Well, when I examine the word of God on that question I can’t come to that conclusion. I think we’d all agree that the 11 apostles and most likely the 109 other devout believers who were there on the day of Pentecost they were already saved prior to being baptized in the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. If they had died they would have gone to heaven. So that shows that it’s possible at least to be saved, to have eternal life and to not be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Now you could still argue well were they born again prior to the day of Pentecost and is that really what happened on the day of Pentecost that they were born again. I’m not going to go into that right now but nobody can argue that Jesus believed this and this is the subject I want to talk about. It was imperative that the apostles be clothed with power by the power of the Holy Spirit. And these are men trained personally by Jesus for three and a half years. These men who had gone out and actually preached and actually been used by God in miracles but Jesus believed you need to be clothed with power from on high at this point in time. And he said, “And then, then you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the other most parts of the earth.”

And goodness, just what Jesus said, came to pass on the day of Pentecost when they were all together in one place the Holy Spirit fell upon them and they all began speaking in tongues. And then shortly thereafter, Peter and the other apostles are preaching the gospel to the crowd that has gathered because of the violent rushing wind that they heard there, the supernatural experience there. And then they hear when speaking of the mighty deeds of God in their own languages, these are people who are living in Jerusalem from all over the Mediterranean world and scores of languages they heard these apostles speaking in even though none of them knew what they were saying. They were all Galileans and they only spoke one or two languages probably.

So just as Jesus said, the Holy Spirit empowered those guys to be amazing witnesses. Being clothed with that power and that supernatural element of the mighty rushing wind and hearing them all speaking in tongues drew the crowd, got the interest of all those visitors in Jerusalem and that then gave them the opportunity to preach the gospel. And Peter is preaching with absolute boldness and quoting scriptures and so forth and then 3000 people get saved on that day, the day that the Holy Spirit came on them to help them to be Jesus’ witnesses. Well, I’d say it worked pretty good wouldn’t you say so?

Okay. So to answer our question of course you can share the gospel or proclaim the gospel without the experience of the apostles and the 109 other believers experienced, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Of course, Christians are doing that all over the world right now. They’ve been doing it for centuries. But do we have God’s best in that? I mean, wouldn’t we all agree that if there was more power available from the Holy Spirit that’d be good to get it? If there was something that would help you to be a better witness don’t we all agree that why would you not want that?

And so, I think that amongst in Pentecostal and Charismatic circles that hold to that distinctive doctrine that there is a subsequent experience with the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I think many of them have missed the real point of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They focus on the speaking in tongues which is a component, it’s wonderful, it’s an element, it’s a blessing. But the real purpose of the baptism Holy Spirit is to empower people to be witnesses for Jesus and who could argue that that wouldn’t be a wonderful thing?

I mentioned this in a previous lesson, I don’t know if I did a good enough job in really explaining it but remember Jesus said, “Stay in Jerusalem,” not until you speak in tongues. He said, “Stay in Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high.” And he didn’t say stay in Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high and then you’ll speak in tongues. He said, “Stay in Jerusalem until you’re clothed with power from on high and then you’ll be my witnesses.” See the speaking in tongues is really just a peripheral thing. The main thing is to be his witnesses because that’s the most important thing. And we get all focused on the tongues because of that.

And it’s interesting that the sign that accompanied the clothing of power to be a witness, the sign of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost and any other time anyone spoke in tongues, it’s a divine reminder that God wants us to be involved in his great commission and to reach people of different tribes and tongues and ethnicities. Every time a Pentecostal or a Charismatic believer who speaks in tongues and prays in tongues they should be thinking, “Wait a second now. There’s a symbolism behind this too. It’s not just the ability to speak in tongues or pray in tongues to God the father but it’s a reminder that God loves people who are not like me who speak a different language than me whom he wants to hear the gospel, who he wants to bring into his kingdom.” Amen. Amen.

So that’s often overlooked in Charismatic and in Pentecostal circles. So, to come all the way around now and to answer that question. Well, you can be a witness for Jesus but you can be a better witness for Jesus if you’re clothed with power from on high and you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit who was given for one reason is to help you be a witness. All right. And look, what’s different between most of the modern church today and the church of the book of Acts can’t we just all agree that the major difference, and there are probably more than one that we could enumerate here but the major difference is the modern church so lacks the power of the Holy Spirit.

But here’s the thing, anytime people are filled with the Holy Spirit or baptize with the Holy Spirit and then they have the initial evidence of speaking in tongues generally what follows is an expansion of the kingdom and a furtherance of the gospel. I mean, if you study the Azusa Street Revival which was the beginning of modern day Pentecostalism around the turn of the century happened in Azusa Street I believe in Los Angeles, California the result from that was kingdom be expanded all over the world. Pentecostal missionaries were called everywhere and they proclaimed the gospel. And then secondarily, they proclaimed that you could be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And then they laid hands upon people to be baptized with the Spirit. Those people spoke in tongues, they were empowered to be witnesses and that kept it going, multiplying by the power of God. So, it wasn’t some man’s system or organization, it was the Holy Spirit and Jesus is glorified in that.

So who wouldn’t want more gifts of the Spirit and more miracles and more manifestation of the Holy Spirit? I don’t care if you’re Pentecostal, Charismatic or what, if you just love God you’re not going to debate with me on this that it’d be wonderful if we could live in the book of Acts. Well, I personally am persuaded that we can but if we resist the Holy Spirit and resist the plain teaching of the word of God and say, “Speaking in tongues is for the early church and all those miracles are for the early church and so we don’t as the Bible tells us to do covet the gifts of the Spirit.” And if we say, “No, we’re never going to pray for anyone to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Even though Jesus Christ himself said, I’m quoting Jesus now, “If you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

So, Jesus believed that people who can look to God and say, “You’re my father,” which that’s people who are born again. There’s no one who can say that God is their spiritual father except those who are born of the Spirit. They are the children of God. And Jesus believed the children of God if you be evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him. Jesus believed it was okay and proper and right for believers, children of God, to be asking the father for the Holy Spirit.

Okay, well, that’s food for thought in this little lesson. All right. And we’ve got much more to cover. My goal is by the end of this you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in a language you’ve never learned. And once you do it once well then it can be a part of your everyday devotional life and who knows what else God might have for you. We’re way out of time but I’m sorry I get excited about this because it’s so wonderful. The Holy Spirit is God’s best gift to his children absolutely beyond the new birth but then he offers that to everybody. But to his children his best gift is the Holy Spirit. Okay. If you’ve never been to davidservant.org please check us out there. That’s where we’ve got a couple of decades of compiled teaching and written articles and books and video links and so forth and it’s all there for your spiritual edification.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Is it will of God For You to be Baptized in the Holy Spirit?

Is it the will of God for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit?

We want to continue the current series on speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This will be the ninth Little Lesson. We’ve laid quite a foundation, and we’ve got quite a long ways to go. But I was thinking to myself, prior to filming this Little Lesson, as I review some of the former ones so that I can know exactly what I’ve said so far, these could be the most important Little Lessons that I’ve ever done. And that’s no exaggeration, no exaggeration. Because if I can succeed in opening the minds and hearts of Christians to the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues, I know it will revolutionize their spiritual lives and it will make a huge difference for all eternity.

One of the key verses we’ve been honing in on, on the last couple of Little Lessons, is the fact that Jesus told the men whom he had been training for three and a half years, that they shouldn’t leave Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high. And then, and only then would they succeed at being his witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the uttermost parts here. And that has been the testimony throughout all of church history, in the book of Acts, as well as every time thereafter. When Christians testify of having been baptized in the Holy Spirit, what inevitably follows is a spreading of the gospel and an advancement of the kingdom. Because that’s one of the Holy Spirit’s primary jobs, is to help us to succeed in spreading the gospel and making disciples. And for us to think that we can do it without his help, we’re fooling ourselves. And that’s why the church is so weak and that’s why “Christians” and I’m going to put those quotes up here now, many of those folks are absolutely no different than the non-Christian population.

Why? Because they haven’t really been born again, they’ve heard unanointed preaching and are teaching explanation of some aspect of the gospel. There’s no Holy Spirit unction to help the preacher. There’s no proof that what they’re saying is true. There are certainly no gifts of the Holy Spirit or evidence of the supernatural power of God. There’s really very little, if any, conviction by the Holy Spirit, because we’re not even preaching a true gospel. That’s another subject in itself. But what we’re getting is converts, people who joined the church and think, “I’m on the way to heaven,” but they’re not. Followers of Christ are not disciples of Christ. They have no interest in being baptized in the Holy Spirit, witnessing… They’re just phony Christians. But I’m not speaking in these Little Lessons to the phony Christians, I’m speaking to the spiritually hungry people. The ones that Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst…” Now he said, “For righteousness.”

But doesn’t the Holy Spirit fit in there somewhere? He’s the Holy Spirit, right? And so if we get more of the Holy Spirit, it’s not going to make us a less holy or less righteous in how we live our lives, right? Right. Okay. So lots to say on this topic, and I just hope that you’re following along. And I’m leading up to the fact that I’m going to give you enough information that you can pray with absolute certainty, that you’ll be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. And if I can succeed at that, the ramifications can be fantastic. I read at least one of the comments to the second video I did on this. A brother wrote and said, “Hey, David, I want to thank you for being faithful to this word.” He said, “You laid hands on me.” I think he said something like in 1983 or something and, “I was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke the tongues.” And he said, “I’ve spoken in tongues every day since then.” It was the early 1980s when it happened, I don’t know the exact year.

But that brother today, I happened to know this for a fact, he’s serving right now, as we speak as a missionary in Kenya, preaching the gospel and winning people to Jesus and discipling them and helping them to follow the Holy Spirit in their lives. See, so just bike by being faithful to the truth, not being ashamed of the Bible, not being ashamed of being labeled a wacko, Pentecost or something, there’s a missionary in Kenya. And that’s just one of the examples of the fruit that has been forthcoming. And so not only do I want you, if you’re a believer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, but I want to help you be able to minister that same experience to other believers. And the sky is the limit, as far as the fruit. And when you get the Holy Spirit, you get more than just speaking in tongues. Oh my goodness, you get more. So on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the apostles received the Holy Spirit and they were anointed to preach the gospel.

There was Holy Spirit conviction. Peter was quoting from Joel about, “This is what God promised in the last days. He’d pour out his Spirit upon all flesh.” So what you’re seeing is a manifestation of the Spirit here and inspired utterance. It’s like prophecy. It’s not… Well, it was like prophecy in one sense. Everyone was speaking in tongues, supernaturally, prophetically, right? And although they may not have understood what they were saying, everyone who gathered from around Jerusalem who heard the mighty rushing wind, heard them speaking of the mighty deeds of God. So it was in essence, prophecy. Not prophecy in the strictest sense, but prophecy in certainly one sense, the more I think about it here. Okay. So let’s keep on reading. I got to get through Acts 2, because I want to get to all the other places in the book of acts, where it talks about people receiving the Holy Spirit, people who were already born again. But something happen to them subsequent to salvation, and they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. And supernatural things happened, like speaking in tongues.

This is in the Bible, so we got to get to those, but I just want to continue on and finish up in Acts 2. So Peter preaches this very convicting sermon to all those who were gathered. Some were mocking saying that they’re all drunk, but others were perplexed and sincere and wondering, this is supernatural. And so it says, when they heard Peter’s preaching, “They were pierced to the heart.” I like that, the Holy Spirit is able to do that. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostle brethren, “What shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent.” I love it. I love it. What happened to that word in the gospel today? The very first word of Peter’s instruction of what to do was, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.” And look at this, “And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” So in his first sermon, Peter is talking about how it’s essential for these people, who haven’t even yet made the step of repentance and baptism, that they too needed to receive the Holy Spirit.

That he had said, “What you’re seeing right now, this is the Holy Spirit.” So I guarantee you, Peter wasn’t saying, “Well, you’ll all receive the Holy Spirit, but don’t expect to speak in tongues. No, no, no. That’s just unique for this group.” And the people that heard that, I mean, they just heard a sermon that starts off that, “In the last days, I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind, and you’re going to see these signs and wonders and one of them is going to be prophecy. And you’re hearing us all prophesied by the power of the Holy Spirit right now. And so if you repent, if you are baptized, if you believe, you too will receive the Holy Spirit, just like we are receiving the Holy Spirit.” And so, although the scripture doesn’t record the 3000 being baptized in the Holy Spirit, it does record them, mentioned that they were baptized. They’re all expecting the very same thing that they witnessed that happened to Peter and the other apostles and the 120 on that day. Because Peter is telling that, and he doesn’t stop there.

He says, “For the promise…” What promise? The promise he’d just been reading in Joel, that in the last days, I’ll pour out my Spirit upon who? All mankind, this is not for a super duper elite spiritual group of just 120 Christians. This is for every Christian who believes. The pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh. And it’s going to happen one day. That’s just the beginning of the fulfillment on the day of Pentecost. He says, “For the promise of the Holy Spirit…” That’s the subject. “The promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off and as many as the Lord, our God shall call to himself.” So he’s just referring to points in his sermon. He said that Joel said, “Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams.”

This is an all manifestation of the Holy Spirit being poured out. Peter says, “This promise, this promise that we’ve just read about in Joel is a promise to you and of course, to your children, because that’s what Joel talked about. This is going to happen to your children.” I love it. I love it. See, so the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for every Christian, not just the Pentecostals. No, not just for some group of super… It’s for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And so I encourage you, as we close this Little Lesson, study Acts 2. And then join with me on our future Little Lessons, as we look in Acts 8 and Acts 9 and Acts 10 and Acts 19 and 1 Corinthians 12 and 1 Corinthians 13 and 14. There’s a lot of stuff about speaking in other tongues in the New Testament and it ought to be brought back up to its place of prominence in today’s church.

That I’m sorry to say to you, even the Pentecostals and the charismatics as it were, are hiding their light under a bushel these days and not mentioning these things as much as they did at one time, because they had just tried to be more accepted. May God have mercy on us and may we repent of being ashamed of the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Amen.

Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

More Proof that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to Salvation

More proof that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is subsequent to salvation.

If you’re a regular viewer, you know that we’ve been studying speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A thoroughly biblical subject, and we’ve made a lot of progress. This will actually be the 10th little lesson. I hope that if you’re tuning in for the first time, you just pause and go back and watch the other nine, and that way you’ll get the foundation that we’ve laid to this point. But for those who are regular listeners, you know that we’re currently in the book of Acts. We’re looking at every example now where the Bible talks about Christians receiving the Holy Spirit and either being baptized in the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Holy Spirit. These phrases are synonymous phrases. And we looked, of course, in the day of Pentecost, everybody’s spoke in tongues amongst the 120. And nobody can argue that their baptism in the Holy Spirit was subsequent to salvation.

Now, some theologians will tell us that, well, that was a unique experience for the early Church to birth the Church and we shouldn’t expect that to happen from that point onward. I suppose that could be an argument worth listening to if there were not other examples of the same or similar things happening throughout the book of Acts, and the fact that it’s also mentioned in the epistles at least in 1 Corinthians. So we’re trying to do a thorough and honest job here, not a tricking through taking verses out of their context, or by coming up with a human explanations that don’t hold weight against the Scripture. I, for one, am not ashamed of the Holy Spirit, and I’m not ashamed of speaking in other tongues because it’s thoroughly biblical. Every author of the New Testament spoke in other tongues. All right. And tens of millions of Christians around the world today speak in tongues as a regular part of their prayers and their prayer to the Lord. We’re going to go today to Acts chapter 8. This would be the second instance that refers to Christians receiving or being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

It occurs after the persecution that arose in the early Church in relation to the martyrdom of Stephen. You recall that Saul of Tarsus was a major player in the persecution of those early Christians. And subsequently, Christians scattered from Jerusalem. We begin reading in Acts chapter 8 and verse number 4. “Therefore those who had been scattered went about preaching the Word.” How about that? Why don’t more Christians preach the Word? Why are so many Christians silent about their faith? Well, one very plausible reason could be that they’re not baptized in the Holy Spirit. And that’s really the important thing. Speaking in tongues is a part of it, but the important part is being a witness and having other people hear the gospel. Well, all of these early Christians who on the Day of Pentecost, 120 of them were baptized in Holy Spirit. Peter promised the 3,000 who were born again on the day of Pentecost that if they would repent and if they would believe in Jesus, they too would receive the promise of the Holy Spirit and so would their children.

So this is a church that’s activated by the Holy Spirit and not just by some kind of intellectual understanding. Well, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and he began proclaiming Christ to them. Phillip is later identified as an evangelist. “And the crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard him and saw the signs which he was performing.” He was baptized in the Holy Spirit and he had gifts of the Spirit operating through his evangelistic ministry. He wasn’t just trying to persuade people by human arguments. No. Like the apostle Paul said, “I don’t let your faith resting in the wisdom of men, I want your faith resting in the power of God.” Well, what were those signs and wonders that Phillip was performing? “In the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice.” Jesus said … we read this in this series, one of the signs that will follow believers is that they will cast out demons. That was the very first thing of the five signs that Jesus listed in Mark chapter 16.

We need this to return to the Church of Jesus Christ. “And many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city.” Wouldn’t you have loved to have been there? Wouldn’t you have loved to see that happen in your city? That’s not going to happen apart from the power of the Holy Spirit. And if the Church in your city is resistant to the basic stuff that I’m teaching … Nothing to do with me, I’m just talking about what the Bible says. So clearly, what is the pattern that God has laid down for the Church? The Church is a Spirit-empowered body of believers. That’s why they’re effective in evangelizing and spreading the gospel, making disciples. Now, the story then begins to focus on one interesting convert here. We have to read this in order to understand the part about folks being baptized in the Holy Spirit. So let’s get the context. “Now, there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria.” This guy has got supernatural power, but it’s from the dark side, demonic supernatural power.

He’s got the attention of the people of Samaria with his magic arts and he’s claiming to be someone great. “They all from the smallest to greatest were giving attention to him saying, ‘This man is what is called the great power of God.'” That’s Simon. We call him Simon the magician. But he wasn’t just a sleight of hand type guy. Maybe he had an element of illusion, but he’s got something else going on. He’s got everybody in Samaria convinced that he’s operating by the power of God, the great power of God. Now, imagine if any of the modern day evangelists who have no power, no supernatural power. No casting out demons, no paralyze and lame people healing, unlike Phillip who went down [inaudible 00:07:07]. Imagine that any of those had come to Samaria and preached the gospel, they’d have been laughed and scorned. They’d have gone off with no results whatsoever because the supernatural power of Simon the magician would have been greater than what the evangelist would have had, what the proclaimer of the gospel would have had. And you see really, the people are attracted to the supernatural. That gets their attention.

There still is that element of the supernatural within the demonic supernatural today in witchcraft and all of this stuff, and people are drawn to it because they can’t explain it. Whereas the Church says, “Well, miracles have ceased. That was just for the apostolic case, so don’t expect that from us.” The angels must be weeping over that kind of theology. It says, “And they were giving him attention because he had a long time astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized men and women.” Now, why did they convert? Because Phillip had more power than Simon the magician had, and he was someone who had the power of the Holy Spirit evident in his ministry backing up his message. Get this. This is fantastic. “Even Simon himself believed.” So he saw things he’d never seen before. He wasn’t getting lame paralyzed people healed under his magic arts. Demons weren’t coming out of people, more likely they were going into people, or speaking through people.

But he wasn’t getting them delivered, so he saw, “There’s a bigger power than what I’ve experienced. So Simon himself believed and he was baptized. So we’ve got all these new converts down in Samaria. They’re believers according to the Bible and they’re baptized according to the Bible. Phillip would not have baptized them, had they not professed faith in Christ and he’d been persuaded that they were genuine believers in Christ. Again, “Even Simon himself believed that after being baptized, he continued on with Philip. As he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he …” The guy who was amazing other people, “… he was constantly amazed.” And because we’re out of time as we have to stop today, I wish we didn’t have to stop because the rest of the story is what I really want to get to. But we’ll get to it on our next little lesson, just with a very quick review about the context. It’s so important to get the context. Simon and all the Samaritans were believers, baptized believers. But Peter and John came down for a specific reason from Jerusalem to Samaria. What was the reason?

So that they could be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Wow. Does that fit into your theology? Well, if it doesn’t, it will the next time we get together.

Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

Were Peter and John Pentecostals?

Were Peter and John Pentecostals?

We are now in the middle of a series of lessons on speaking in other tongues, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. My goal in all of this is to get you, and I’m talking to believers in Jesus Christ now, you, baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues, and I’m not ashamed. And I’m doing it not through human argument, but just by looking at what the scripture says. Today, we’re going to read a story that we started in our last lesson about Peter and John, who had the same goal that I have, that I’ve just announced to you.

What’s my goal? My goal is to get you baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. Peter and John, we’re going to read their story, they traveled from Jerusalem to Samaria for the exact same purpose. That’s right. It’s explicit. No one can deny it. No theologian, no preacher, no minister, no pastor. Nobody can deny that what the Bible plainly says, that the express purpose of Peter and John traveling from Jerusalem to Judea was to get new believers, people who had already believed in Jesus, people who had already been baptized in water, to get them baptized in the Holy Spirit. And so Peter and John believed that just because you’re born again, that’s not the end of your experiences with the Holy Spirit. Just because you’re born of the spirit, just because you’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that’s not the end. There’s still something wonderful for you. It’s called being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And when I asked at the beginning of this Little Lesson, were Peter and John Pentecostals, I’m saying that a little bit tongue-in-cheek. There was no such things as a Pentecostal back in the days of Peter and John. But the Pentecostals do distinctly believe that there’s an experience subsequent to salvation, and it’s referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and we’re going to read about it today. So if you didn’t watch the last Little Lesson, at least I hope you watch that one before you watch this one because we got the context last time about Philip preaching in Samaria, and the Sumerians giving heed to his gospel because they saw the signs and the wonders, and they believed, and they were baptized. And this guy who was a big shot down in Samaria, who had been doing all kinds of magic and stuff, but by demonic, satanic power, he himself believed, and he himself was baptized, and he was following Peter and John wherever they went because he was constantly amazed, it said in Acts, Chapter 8, and it looks like around verse number 13.

All right, so we’re going to start in verse number 14. Now when the apostles, well, who are the apostles? We know who the apostles are. When the apostles in Jerusalem, all the apostles who were still up there in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God. So there’s debating this. These were not people who were unsaved and needed to be saved. They believed according to the Book of Acts, they were baptized according to the Book of Acts, and now we read that they had received the word of God and all the apostles heard about it. And so what did all the apostles do? Again, these are the big shots. These are the guys who were with Jesus for three and a half years.

They sent them Peter and John. So all the apostles sent Peter and John from Jerusalem to Samaria, who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Wow! Does that fit your theology? Do you believe that it’s right to pray for people who have been born again, baptized in water, who have received the word of God according to apostolic testimony? Do you believe it’s right or wrong to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit? If you believe it’s wrong, that’s contradictory to what we just read in the Bible that you claim to believe. Okay?

This is actually impossible to refute. There’s no theologian who can say Peter and John didn’t come down to Samaria to pray for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. There’s no theologian who can say these people weren’t already born-again believers in Jesus who were baptized in the water and who had received the word of God.

So to try to make this story fit standard North American theology, it’s impossible. It doesn’t fit! Because standard evangelical North American theology says that when you’re born again, that’s it. You’ve got the Holy Spirit in you and don’t ask for anything more. Peter and John didn’t believe that, nor did any of the apostles in Jerusalem. So I’m going to stick with them myself, and I’m going to pattern my ministry after their example, not after some seminary professor who doesn’t have any faith in the most basic, clear description like this, that we just read in Acts, Chapter 8.

To make it even more clear, the apostle Paul says too, about these new believers, speaking about the Holy Spirit, for He, that would be He, the Holy Spirit, this is verse 16, had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So again, it affirms that they’ve been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, but the Holy Spirit hasn’t yet fallen upon them. That’s why the apostles sent Peter and John down to pray for them, pray for them that the Holy Spirit might fall upon these believers. It’s so simple, only a theologian could miss it. Only a theologian could miss this.

So what happens next? Verse 17. Then they, that’s Peter and John, began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. So what they came for, it worked. They did it! These people who’d previously not received the Holy Spirit, were receiving the Holy Spirit. And how do you think they knew that they had received the Holy Spirit? The same way they knew that just not too long ago on the day of Pentecost, they, Peter and John and all the rest of the apostles, had received the Holy Spirit. They heard them speaking in other tongues. Now you say, well, but the Bible doesn’t say that. Well, okay, I’ll grant you that the Bible doesn’t say explicitly right here that they spoke in tongues, but let’s keep on reading because that’s the only logical conclusion.

We keep reading now. When Simon saw that the spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostle’s hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Well, clearly, Simon saw something that he was willing to pay for. And if all he saw was just the disciples laying hands upon the believers and saying receive the Holy Spirit, and there was no manifestation whatsoever of anything supernatural, why would Simon want to buy that? There’d be no reason. Now remember, Simon himself was kind of a miraculous guy prior to his conversion. We read about this on our last Little Lesson. You can read it yourself if you didn’t watch that Little Lesson. In Acts, Chapter 8 he was a magician, not just a slight of hand magician, but a guy that was delving into the demonic, satanic realm, and astounding people in some area with his magic arts. But he saw the miracles that Philip was doing, the casting out of demons, the lame and the paralyzed who had been healed, and he repented and he believed, and he was baptized. And he began following Philip wherever he was going because he was astounded, as God worked through Philip.

And now, so he’s seen demons cast out. He’s seen lame and paralyzed people walking and rejoicing. He’s seen some pretty astounding things, the ministry of Philip. And of course he’s seen miracles through his own life, not ministry, but his magic arts prior to his salvation. So why is he trying to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit? Because he saw something super-duper-natural occur when Peter and John laid his hands upon those new believers. They were receiving the Holy Spirit, and obviously they were speaking in other tongues. And so here we have then, the second instance in the Book of Acts of people receiving the Holy Spirit. In this case, just like on the day of Pentecost, it was subsequent to salvation. And on the day of Pentecost, everybody who received the Holy Spirit spoke in tongues. In this case, everyone that Peter and John, those young believers, they received the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t explicitly say here that they spoke in tongues, but it’s obvious that something supernatural happened and it wasn’t demons coming out. It wasn’t lame and paralyzed people being healed. What else could it have been other than speaking in other tongues? And if you read after some of the early church fathers, they agree with that because that’s what was passed down through church history. And so there you have it. Okay.

So I challenge you today to believe the Bible. And you perhaps are just like those believers in Samaria. You’ve received the word of God. You believe in Jesus, your sins have been forgiven. You’ve been baptized in water. Well, there’s something else for you, being baptized in the Holy Spirit. You say, “Well, how will that happen to me?” Well, someone can lay hands upon you, but that’s not absolutely necessary and I’ll talk about that in a future Little Lesson in this series.

Till next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

The Apostle Paul’s Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The Apostle Paul’s baptism in the Holy Spirit.

We’re going to continue in this Little Lesson our current series on speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a thoroughly biblical subject. And today and probably in our next lesson, we’re going to look specifically at the example of the Apostle Paul. We know that the Apostle Paul, the guy who the Holy Spirit used, the Lord used to write two thirds of the New Testament I guess, somewhere in that vicinity. He was a Pentecostal by modern definitions.

He said to the Corinthians in one place, “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” And those Corinthians, they were a tongue talking bunch. He wrote a couple chapters addressing some of their mistakes in regard to speaking in tongues. So Paul said, “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” Well, he did not take a dim view of speaking in tongues. He had a very high view of speaking in tongues, and obviously he spoke in tongues rather frequently. To say, “I speak in tongues more than all of you,” there in Corinth because they were speaking in tongues quite a bit.

So when people make fun of people that speak in tongues, and again, I understand when those who are not Christians make fun of it and just think it’s all foolishness. But when prophesive Christians make fun of speaking in tongues and speak disparagingly of those of us who are trying to maintain a biblical stance on this very important topic, it’s got to be grievance to the Holy Spirit. Again, the Apostle Paul spoke in other tongues, and he did it a lot. Okay, so who amongst Christ followers wouldn’t want to speak in other tongues? I just can’t imagine that anyone would be opposed to it on any grounds whatsoever. Certainly there’s no biblical grounds. And if there are allegeable grounds, I intend to get to those alleged biblical grounds and look at those instances in the context of all of the New Testament.

In any case, last time in our Little Lesson we were looking in Acts chapter eight. There are actually five instances in the book of Acts where scripture speaks about people being filled with the Holy Spirit or being baptized in the Holy Spirit in an initial experience with the Holy Spirit that in most cases is subsequent to their salvation.

The last time we looked at Acts chapter eight, remember when Phillip went down to Samaria and he’s preaching Christ to them. That they believed his good news and they were being baptized, men and women alike, and then when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John who came down to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. These are people who have been born again, believing in Jesus, baptized in water, but the apostles in Jerusalem said, “There’s something else you need. You need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. So we’re going to send Peter and John down there and they’re going to pray for you that you might be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And sure enough when Peter and John did that, they were filled.

And although it didn’t say there that they spoke in tongues, we discussed that at length because Simon, also a new believer himself, a former magician trying to buy the power to impart the Holy Spirit. So obviously he was seeing something very supernatural.

If you missed any of the previous videos on this series, go back and view them. It’ll help you more as we continue in this one.

So now we’re going to jump to the third instance in the book of Acts where it talks about somebody being filled with the Holy Spirit in an initial experience but after their salvation. And they guy, no other than the Apostle Paul. When we meet him here in Acts chapter nine, he’s not the Apostle Paul. He’s Saul of Tarsus, chief persecutor of the church. But God has a plan for him.

On the road to Damascus, he’s got their papers with him to arrest Christians in Damascus, and he’s struck down by a blinding light. He hears an audible voice, and all the people that are traveling with him also hear the voice, and the voice says, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And Saul responds, listen closely now, this is Acts chapter nine in verse number four, “Who are you, Lord?” He recognized that whoever it was, this was the Lord speaking. I mean, again, struck down by a blinding light, knocked down, and hearing an audible voice. Who else can that be but God himself, right?

So, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord says, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.” Now let me ask you a question. Do you think that Paul, Saul of Tarsus, became a believer? He didn’t have to pray about it very long at this point and time. He’s hearing the audible voice of God saying, “I’m Jesus. You’re persecuting me. You’re on the wrong side of history here, buddy, and it’s time for you to get on the right course.” Paul later said he was shown mercy because he acted ignorantly in his unbelief. So God had astounding mercy on the chief persecutor of the church.

So he said, “I’m Jesus whom you’re persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.” Well, there’s the test right there if Saul of Tarsus became a believer because believers obey, especially when they’re hearing the audible voice of God. So does Saul say, “Well, no, this is just a hallucination. I must’ve eaten too much pizza last night.” Oh, no, no, no, no. He goes to Damascus and he waits there, and he waits there to be told what to do.

By the way, his eyes were open, but the Bible says he couldn’t see anything. He was blind. So they had to lead him by the hand into Damascus. I’m reading from Acts chapter nine, verse number nine. He was there three days without sight and neither ate nor drank. Okay. So I fasted for longer than four days before, but I always drank water. It’s actually dangerous not to drink some liquids longer than three days. You get so dehydrated. But he had an experience with the Lord, and he wasn’t about to do anything that the Lord didn’t tell him explicitly to do. He’s a believer in Jesus Christ at this point and time. Anyone who says that Saul was not a believer in Jesus, they must have jello for brains because, I mean, how could he not be a believer in Jesus Christ at this point and time?

And as we read this story further, we’ll see even more evidence, incontrovertible evidence that Saul of Tarsus at this point and time was a believer, and he was a believer during all those three days as he waited for the instructions of what he should do next. He’s waiting literally on the Lord.

So we are going to read in our read in our next Little Lesson the story of when God sent a guy by the name of Ananias to lay hands upon him, and it’s at that time that Saul of Tarsus received or is filled with the Holy Spirit. So I’m going to base my theology on the Bible. I don’t care what anybody says. They say, “Well, when you’re born again, you got all the Holy Spirit you’re going to get. There’s nothing more after that.” Well, if you’d asked Saul of Tarsus that around this time in his life, he’d say, “I’d have to disagree with you on that because I was a believer in Jesus Christ for three whole days and understanding now more what happened to me, I was born again because I believed in Jesus. I was saved. My sins were forgiven. But three days later God sent a guy to me that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

All right. Anyways, the evidence is mounting, and the whole purpose of this, not that we care so much about the Apostle Paul. He’s dead and gone up in Heaven for 2000 years almost now. I’m concerned about you. Yeah, that’s why you’re watching this video I suppose because you have a spiritual hunger. You’re not satisfied with where you’re at or what you have. You want more, and I’m going help you because the word of God builds faith into us. Amen.

Until the next time, may the Lord continue to bless you.

Was the Apostle Paul Baptized in the Holy Spirit subsequent to his salvation?

Was the apostle Paul baptized in the Holy Spirit subsequent to his salvation?

We’re continuing our series on the speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And I think this is, goodness, maybe our 10th Little Lesson on this subject. If you’ve missed the previous ones, it would be best if you would go back and find the other ones on YouTube, because we’ve laid a lot of foundation. And the whole reason I’m doing this is the same reason that the apostles sent Peter and John down to Samaria after they responded to the preaching of the gospel by Phillip the evangelist. The Bible says that the apostles, all the original apostles, except for Judas, of course… Matthias was selected to be his replacement… all of the apostles in Jerusalem said, “Here’s something very important for the new believers in Samaria. They need to be filled or baptized in the Holy Spirit.”

And so they sent no one less than Peter and John down for the express purpose that they would be baptized in the Holy Spirit, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and they laid their hands upon them and they were. And so when people say that when you’re born again, that’s the sum total of all the experience that you might have with the Holy Spirit, well, obviously the apostles didn’t believe that. Peter and John didn’t believe that, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone down to Samaria. So currently, in relation to our very last Little Lesson… we’re in Acts chapter nine now. We’re looking at the third of five instances where somebody was filled with the Holy Spirit or baptized in the Holy Spirit.

And in this case, it was Saul of Tarsus. In this case, he was already born again. When you believe in Jesus, you’re born again. Everybody who knows anything about the Bible knows that. Saul of Tarsus believed in Jesus when he asked, “Who are you Lord, that I’m persecuting?” And he said, “I’m Jesus whom you’re persecuting, but get up and go into Damascus and wait there for instructions.” And so he obeyed his Lord. He was a believer. How could he not have been a believer after being struck down the road to Damascus and hearing the audible voice of God? Come on, and then being led as a blind man into Samaria.

He’s waiting there in Samaria. I’m going to pick up the store where we left off last time. He doesn’t eat or drink anything for three days. He’s waiting there. And now in verse number 10 of Acts chapter nine, there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. Oh, I’d love to follow a rabbit trail right there, because we have this false dichotomy in so many Christian circles today that you can be a Christian but not be a disciple. That’s ludicrous, unbiblical. If you’re not a disciple of Christ, you’re not a believer in Christ. Every true believer of Christ is a disciple of Christ. If you’re not a disciple of Christ, you don’t really believe in him. That was my rabbit trail.

And the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he said, “Here I am Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”

Now this is, of course, a truncated version. Luke can’t tell us every single detail in the book of Acts. We don’t know perhaps everything that the Lord said in this vision to Ananias. In fact, we get a hint later on that the Lord definitely said at least a little bit more as to the purpose of why he needs to go to Ananias.

Now I don’t understand why God just didn’t do it himself. Why does he have to send somebody to lay hands upon Saul of Tarsus so that he can receive his sight. God knocked him down on the road to Damascus without anybody’s help. He didn’t send Ananias, say “Go out there to road to Damascus and touch Saul and he’ll be struck down.” No, God did all that by himself. God can do anything by himself. But for some reason he wanted to use Ananias in this case.

And Ananias, even though he’s having a vision of the Lord, he has a little objection. But Ananias answered, “Lord. I’ve heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints at Jerusalem. And here, he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. So, Lord, I don’t want to show myself to this guy who’s out. He’s liable to put me in handcuffs.” Obviously God didn’t tell Ananias all the details of how this guy, Saul, just got knocked down and so forth. So Ananias had some objections, but listen, what the Lord says to him. I love this.

But the Lord said to him “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine. And what specifically? To bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel.” All that came to pass over the next few decades of Saul’s life. And you will follow as minister in the book of Acts. At the end, he’s talking to kings. At the end, you’ll get the actual story, but he’s there in Rome to make an appeal before Caesar himself. Wow.

And then God said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.” That’s another story, too, but let’s keep with the topic, verse 17. So Ananias departed and he entered the house. He found the street called Straight and found that house of Judas then, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul.” Now I suppose you can say that he was saying that fellow Jewish brother. But God has just told Ananias that this man is a chosen instrument of his to bear his name before the Gentiles, kings and the sons of Israel. And he’s going to suffer for the name of Jesus.

Surely Ananias believed this guy’s saved, this guy is a born again believer. He’s a brother, not just a Jewish brother. He’s a brother in Christ and he’s had a dramatic transformation. Now he was coming here to put the brethren in prison, but he’s turned into a brother himself. And so there’s that reassurance when Ananias tracks him down, and he says, Brother Saul, brother Saul.” So one more proof that three days earlier, Saul of Tarsus became a born again believer in Jesus Christ. You with me? “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming has sent me so that you may regain your sight.”

We already knew that was going to happen, didn’t we, because that’s what Luke told us that Lord said to Ananias in that vision. But here’s something that the Lord told Ananias in that vision that Luke didn’t record initially. “So that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” There it is, just like happened in Acts chapter eight, just one chapter before this, when Peter and John came down to the believers in Samaria to pray for them to lay hands upon them, that they might be filled with Holy Spirit. Now God is sending Ananias to lay hands upon Saul that first of all that his eyes might be opened. He wouldn’t be blinded anymore, and so that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit. So there was at least two purposes in the Lord sending Ananias to Saul. Get your sight back, be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Subsequent by three days to his salvation. So once again, once again, if we’re going to go by the Bible and not go by what some folks believe or teach, go by the Bible, being filled with the Holy Spirit was subsequent to salvation. And so it can and should be with you if you are a believer in Jesus, like Ananias and like Saul of Tarsus. Amen. I’m trying to build your faith to receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. If you’re born again, you already have the Holy Spirit in you, no doubt about that. No doubt about that. But this is a subsequent filling of the Holy Spirit.

And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized and he took food and he was strengthened. So it actually doesn’t tell us the instance of Ananias laying his hands upon him and him being filled with the Holy Spirit. Luke just didn’t record it. I kind of wish he would have, but if Luke had recorded everything that happened, the book of Acts would be an encyclopedia.

Now we’ve established beyond any doubt whatsoever that Saul’s, the apostle Paul’s, experience was a baptism in the Holy Spirit three days after he was born again, just like in Acts chapter eight, the Samarian Christians baptized by the Holy Spirit filled with the Holy Spirit after salvation, just like on the day of Pentecost, same thing. They were all believers, believing in Jesus, had eternal life and their baptism in the Holy Spirit was subsequent to their salvation.

Did Saul speak in tongues? Well, it doesn’t say right here that he spoke in tongues, but we know that he spoke in tongues sooner or later because he himself testified in First Corinthians chapter 14, “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” I think it’s around verse number 12 of First Corinthians chapter 14. Look it up for yourself and see. So Paul was a tongue talking guy. He was a Pentecostal. But back in those days, you didn’t have Pentecostals because all the Christians were Pentecostals. So they didn’t have to come up with a special term for those people.

All right. All right. Well, I hope you’re learning something. Hope your faith is growing. At any point in time in the series, you can pray and ask God to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and with the evidence of speaking in tongues, and he will answer your prayer. But I still got more to say on this. We’ve got two other instances in the book of Acts to look at and their faith. Then we have to go to First Corinthians 14.

So we’re going to be spending some time on this. I’d like to hear from you. You can say something in the comments, or you can send us a message in some way and let us know that you prayed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and you have received and spoken in tongues. That’ll make me glad.

All right, until next time, may the Lord continue to bless you.

The Holy Spirit falls in Joppa

The Holy Spirit falls in Joppa.

I’d like to continue in this little lesson with our current series on the baptism and the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues, a thoroughly biblical subject. And this is gone on for quite a few weeks now, and we still have many scriptures to cover because we’re looking at what the Bible has to say on the subject. And it’s only by hearing what the Bible says that your mind is renewed and your faith will consequently be built to the point where you, if you are a believer in Jesus, can get to that place where you can by faith receive the most wonderful gift that God has for his children: the baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

And this is an experience that’s received by faith and so you have to have doubts removed, and many people have been just inoculated against the truth, because they’ve heard so many things that are negative on this subject that it’s not for today, or it’s not for everybody or that it’s of the Devil or something like that. And so they can’t have faith to receive. They don’t have any faith to receive, because they don’t believe that it is God’s will for them. So I’m trying to undo all that. Sometimes I think my job is not so much teaching as it is unteaching. That’s how it feels sometimes.

Hey, we just got a communication from one of our beloved viewers here just yesterday. I’m going to read it to you because this encouraged me and it should encourage you as well. I don’t know if it’s a man or a woman. I’m just going to imagine that it’s a woman, but I’m not sure. But she says, “Thank you. Last night, I sang in tongues first, not talked, but it was more natural and I didn’t overthink it that way.” So she was just saying it was easier for her to begin to speak by singing in other tongues than it was talking or speaking without a melody in other tongues. And I’ll mention something about that in a minute.

She said, “It’s amazing!” And I agree. It is amazing. It’s a miracle. She said, “I have watched all of the series so far,” so she’s watched everything that I’m encouraging you to watch if you haven’t watched it, if you’re just cutting into this one. “I’ve watched all of the series so far and it gave me the confidence, because my whole life I was told it was evil.” Well, here’s somebody going to church all their life and hearing messages that speaking in tongues is evil. Oh Lord. What a sad state of affairs when you go to church and hear this speaking in tongues is evil or wrong, or of the Devil. Everyone who wrote the New Testament spoke in tongues. The Apostle Paul said, “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” He was thankful that he spoke in tongues. He didn’t say it was evil.

She said, “Nothing evil about it. So much joy.” Amen. When you get the Holy Spirit, more of the Holy Spirit. Again, if you’re born again, you already have all the Spirit in you. This is a baptism or a filling of the Holy Spirit. “So much joy.” Then she says twice, “Thank you. Thank you. I’ve been forever blessed by your help. Glory to God.” And amen. I’m going to give the glory to God, because it’s nothing I did except I just share the word of God, but it’s the word of God and it’s the will of God, and it’s the power of God, and it is God, because the Holy Spirit is God. So who wouldn’t want more of God? If you’re a Christian, I mean, who wouldn’t want more of God?

So this is for you, this is why I encourage you to go back, and if you haven’t watched the first, I think, 11 or 12 videos, go back and watch them. Get your faith built up. Okay? And we want to continue building your faith in this little lesson so that you too can receive the baptism and the Holy Spirit. You’ll find it’s a joyous thing. It’s a wonderful thing.

And she’s going to find that now that she’s been baptized in the Spirit and she’s sung in other tongues, she’ll be able to sing in tongues anytime she wants to from then on. And if she cuts out the melody, she’ll be able to speak in tongues as well, any time she wants to, because that’s how it works. This is the experience of millions of Christians throughout Christian history and on the earth right now. Right now, there’s millions and millions of Christians that know exactly what she’s experiencing, because they’ve experienced it as well.

And the Apostle Paul said it. He said, “What’s the outcome?” He said, “I will pray with my mind and I’ll pray with the Spirit.” If you read it in context, he’s talking about praying in tongues. “I’ll sing with my mind,” he said, “and I’ll sing in the Spirit.” Singing in other tongues. This is in First Corinthians 14. We’ll cover that down the road.

Okay. So now we’re going to break back into the Book of Acts. We’re looking at all five instances in the Book of Acts where it talks about someone being baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, we’re asking two questions on every occasion that we read about. Was the experience subsequent to salvation? Because somebody will say that, once you’re born again, that’s it. And secondly, was there any manifestation, like speaking in other tongues, that occurred? Because when people say, “Well, we shouldn’t expect that…” “Well, we’re looking with the Bible,” I say.

And so far we’ve looked at Acts 2, Acts 9 and Acts 9. And in all three of those chapters, there’s been stuff about relevant things about speaking in tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I’m not going to review right now anyways, but we’re now we’re going to go to Acts Chapter 10, the story of when the first Gentiles heard the Gospel. And you know the story. I’m not going to take time to go through that story again, but you can read the whole thing in Acts Chapter 10.

And Peter is divinely led to go down to Joppa there on the coast of Israel to preach the Gospel. And he’s never preached the Gospel to any Gentiles before. It took a vision from God to get Peter to get down there and preach the Gospel. And Cornelius, the guy who did the household work, Peter [inaudible 00:06:49] to go. He’s had this vision. I might start reading in Acts 10, verse number 30. Cornelius said… Now, this is what he’s saying when Peter shows up at his door. “Four days ago to this hour, I was praying in my house during the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in shining garments.” Sounds like an angel.

“And he said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms have been remembered before God.'” So he was a Gentile who was seeking God. “And he said, ‘Therefore, send to Joppa. Invite Simon, who is also called Peter, to come to you. He is staying at the House of Simon the tanner by the sea. So I sent for you immediately and you have been kind enough to come.'” What a polite guy. “‘Now, then, we’re all here present before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.'”

So they’re waiting. This is a divine appointment for Peter to share the Gospel with Cornelius and all of his household, so his family, and I think he had some servants and so forth. So we’re not going to have time to finish the story on today’s lesson. We’ll pick up in the next lesson. But, “Opening his mouth, Peter said, ‘I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation, the man who fears him and does what is right is welcomed to him.'” We could preach a sermon on that.

“‘The word which he sent to the sons of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ, and he said he is the Lord of all. You yourselves know the thing which took place throughout all Judea, starting from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed. You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all these things he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They also put him to death by hanging him on a cross. God raised him up again on the third day and granted that he became visible, not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God, that is, to us who ate and drank with him after he Rose from the dead. And he ordered us to preach to the people and solemnly to testify that this is the one who has been appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead. Of him, all the prophets bear witness that through him, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sin.'”

So Peter has done a fine, fine job of preaching the Gospel right there, and he’s told these Gentiles how they can have their sins forgiven. They only have to believe in Jesus. And I want to tell you, this was a prime group. They were waiting for the good news. And so they didn’t wait one second to believe. They believed instantly, and God went right to work. Now we’re going to have to wait until the next little lesson to see what happened, but God poured out his Holy Spirit upon them, and we’ll see where they were speaking in other tongues. Peter said, just like we did back in the day of Pentecost about, I think it was nine years earlier or something. All right. So we’ve gone a little bit over our time for today so I’m going to have to stop there. It’s a cliffhanger here.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit at the same time you’re Born Again?

Can you be baptized in the Holy Spirit at the same time you’re born again?

We’re continuing our current series on the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues. I hope you’ve watched all the previous videos because we’re just going through what the Bible has to say. And right now we’re in the middle of one of those stories in scripture where the Holy Spirit fell on people and they spoke in other tongues. And that’s what we’re talking about, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues.

So I wish we could have finished this on our last little lesson because it’s in Acts chapter 10. I believe that the chronology, Bible chronologers who try to figure out when all these things happened, for example, in the book of Acts. We know approximately when Jesus died, and so forth, and when the day of Pentecost was it, so as they trace it all out, Acts chapter 10, when Simon Peter is divinely led to go down to Joppa to preach the gospel to the first group of Gentiles who would hear the gospel, a guy by the name of Cornelius and his household there in Joppa, it was nine or 10 years after the day of Pentecost.

So when people say, for example, that, well, this baptism of the Holy Spirit thing and the speaking in tongues experience, that was just for the apostles. Well, wait a second, nine or 10 years later, here’s Peter, one of the apostles, who spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost. Now he’s preaching the gospel to Gentiles in Joppa, and they’re speaking in tongues and Peter testifies. It’s just like what happened to us. So when people say, “Well, it’s just for the early church.” Well, wait, how early? Just for the first 10 years? Well, guess what, we’re going to read another story that dates after this at least a decade where people speak in tongues. It’s all through beginning to end in the book of Acts.

And it’s for today, praise the Lord. And I say that without shame or apology, that’s what the biblical record indicates so clearly. So Peter is preaching the gospel to these people who are primed. Cornelius has had an angel tell him, “Go get Peter. He’s going to tell you how you can be saved.” And so they’re all waiting. They’re just hanging on his words to find out how they can have their sins forgiven. And we read, on our last lesson, Peter’s sermon to them. And he gets to a point in his sermon where he’s talking about Jesus, and his miracles, and that he was crucified, and he was raised from the dead, and he commissioned Peter and the apostles to go and preach the gospel.

And then he says, about Jesus, “Of him all the prophets bear witness that through his name, everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.” That’s Acts 10 and verse number 43. And so now they know. Now Cornelius and his entire household know, well, the way that we can have our sins forgiven is believing in Jesus. They’ve got the gospel. And I love this story so much because I love reading about people that are hungry for God. So many times we share the gospel with people who aren’t interested in it at all, and they don’t care about their sins being forgiven. But if people were wise, that’d be the main thing on their mind. How do I get my sins forgiven?

And Cornelius, he was a guy who prayed regularly, and a guy who gave to the poor, gave alms to the poor. And he’s following his conscience as best as he can. And so the Lord leads Peter. Here’s a guy with an open heart. Let’s go tell him how his sins can be forgiven.

So here’s where it gets cool in Acts 10:44. While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell. Folks, beloved the viewer, according to the Bible sometimes the Holy Spirit falls on people. And when he falls things happen. He doesn’t just fall and nobody knows it. How could God come upon you and nothing change? That’s a crazy thought isn’t it? The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. Now, what do you think they did? Well, you know what they did. They just believed. They believed everything Peter said, in fact, in his sermon Peter says, “You know this stuff. You know about how we went about doing good and healing all those… You heard about his miracles, went about doing good, healing all those oppressed by the devil.” Acts 10:38. Jesus didn’t do these things under a bushel.

Jesus was famous as far as the news would travel, and his ministry was predominately kept amongst the Jews. Sometimes he ministered some Gentiles, but the Gentiles heard about it. How can the eyes of the blind be opened and crippled people walk and the news not spread? So they knew it. And Peter reminds them, “You’ve heard of all this stuff.”

So he says, “If you would just believe in him, your sins will be forgiven.” What did they do? They immediately… They were instant believers, instant believers. And so God responds. And the Holy Spirit falls upon everyone who’s listening to the message and listen to what the commentary of Luke is. All the circumcised believers, that’s the Jewish believers, who came with Peter were amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles. These are people that the Jews generally had no dealings with, avoided at all costs. These are the dirty, sinful, immoral, ungodly Gentiles.

And they had no conception that Jesus died… They should have some conception because Jesus said it, but it just hadn’t sunk in that Jesus died for everybody. And how did they know that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles? Here’s how they knew, verse 46:4, because they were hearing them speaking with tongues and exalting God. That’s how they knew. Then Peter answered, “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did. Can he?” That was a rhetorical question. Well, we got to baptize these people. I mean, they’re saved, and they’ve got the Holy Spirit, and he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. And then they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Well, of course they wanted to know more and grow in their faith and their understanding all about Jesus and how they could please him. Okay, so in this case they spoke in tongues. It’s irrefutable. Nobody, no theologian, no pastor, no preacher, no teacher, no TV guy, no seminary guy, nobody can say anything but that. They spoke in tongues nine or 10 years after the day of Pentecost.

Now, some theologians, I read one guy years ago, who said, “Well, this was unique. This was unique. It happened because, on the day of Pentecost, God was confirming it to the Jews that he loved them. And then, now, this is a unique now too, God is confirming it to the Gentiles that he loves them and they can also be saved.” But you know, in his nasal commentary he never quoted one scripture because you can’t find a New Testament that says, “Well, this was unique. This was God’s unique sign at this time to the Jews then to the Gentiles.” And by the way, we’re going to come to another scripture in Acts chapter 19, where it’s 20-some odd years later after the Pentecost. And once again, God’s doing the same thing, people are being baptized in the spirit, speaking about it. And it’s not some unique first time thing for the Gentiles or for the Jews. It’s for every Christian.

Okay. Now, was their baptism in Holy Spirit subsequent to their salvation? Well, only by seconds, only by seconds. And I’ve had cases where I’ve seen that happen in my own ministry, where very hungry, receptive, believers are baptized in the Holy Spirit, not days, not weeks, not months, but within minutes of their salvation. And I think in my next lesson, I’ll start it off by telling you a story about one of those people because I’ve never forgotten it. It happened, goodness, probably about 40 years ago. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Until next time, may the Lord continue to bless you.

A lovely Story About Someone who was Baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in Other Tongues

A lovely story about someone who was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues.

We’ve been spending some time now exploring the very biblical and very important topic of speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

And if you are just watching this video and this is the first one you’ve watched in this series, I would encourage you to stop and go find the first one and watch all of them before you watch this one, because we’ve been laying a foundation, endeavoring to build your faith so that you too can receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

And it’s just been so lovely just to go back into the Word of God and see what the Bible actually says about this. The Bible is the pure source. It’s like going upstream all the way to the source where the water is flowing from the spring into the little stream before it heads downstream and gets polluted by the factories along the big rivers and so forth. And that’s what’s happened to this topic. A lot of theologians have dumped their theology onto the pure and simple truths of the Word of God and really messed it up. And unfortunately, they’ve just educated themselves right out of any faith, any pure, simple, childlike faith in what the Bible says.

So when theologians tell you that speaking in tongues is not for today, well, they’re wrong. When they tell you it’s of the devil, they’re wrong about that. Okay. Jesus said, “One of the signs that will follow the believers is that they will speak in tongues.” And we’re currently working our way through the Book of Acts, looking at every instance where somebody was filled with the Holy Spirit or baptized in the Holy Spirit or spoke in tongues and so forth. This is no obscure subject in the Bible.

So the last time we were together, we were looking at Acts chapter 10, where God divinely connected the Apostle Peter, who at the time was up in Joppa in Israel, and a guy by the name of Cornelius, a Gentile down in Caesarea. And I’ve actually been to both those places myself. I’ve been blessed to go to the ruins of Caesarea. I’ve been to Joppa as well. Actually, today it’s called Jaffa. And if you’ve ever eaten a Jaffa orange, that’s where Jaffa oranges were developed. That’s why they’re named Jaffa oranges.

But in any case, there’s Cornelius seeking the Lord in Caesarea. Peter’s having a vision up in Joppa. And God puts them together. And we read this story in Acts chapter 10. We didn’t read the entire story, but you can read it for yourself, and you probably know it. And as Peter is preaching the gospel to these hungry Gentiles, the Holy Spirit falls upon them. And all of the Jewish believers who are there with Peter on this mission are amazed because the gift of the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Gentiles. And I should say the dirty, immoral, we-don’t-have-anything-to-do-with-them Gentiles.

Remember, if you’re keeping the story, when Peter went to Jerusalem, he was called on the carpet for eating with Gentiles. And so he tells them, “Well, I was divinely led by God to go see these people, and I wasn’t the one. I didn’t even pray for them to be saved or to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I mean, God just sovereignly did this. So how can you guys argue with God?” So he persuaded everybody in Jerusalem that God was reaching out to the Gentiles now. So this is a great, great, great story.

Anyways, in our last lesson, I was pointing out the fact that God baptized those Gentile believers within seconds of them believing in Jesus, because Peter just got to that point in his sermon where he said, “Everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of their sins.” And they were primed and ready, and they believed in Jesus instantly. And then God poured out his Holy Spirit upon them, and all the Jewish believers knew they were baptized in the Holy Spirit for one reason, because they heard them speaking in other tongues, just like it happened to them about nine years earlier on the day of Pentecost. Okay?

So I was mentioning this in our last lesson. I said, “Is it possible to be baptized in the Holy Spirit simultaneously as when you are born again?” Well, apparently it is in some cases. And I mentioned that I’ve seen that happen under my ministry over the years. So I’m going to tell you one story about one person that I know, still know him today, who was baptized in my Spirit within minutes of being born again.

I was preaching at a church in Bellaire, Ohio, just a small church. I think it was a Sunday night, and I don’t know how many people were there, maybe 30 people or something, just kind of a small storefront church, but lovely people. And I don’t even remember what my sermon was about, but at the time end of my sermon, I gave an invitation, an altar call, for anybody who wanted to give their life to Jesus and be born again, to receive the forgiveness of their sins.

And then as I gave that invitation, then I gave a second invitation. I said, “Now, and if you’re already a Christian and you’d like to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, I’d like to pray for you as well.” I had everyone bowing their heads and closing their eyes. And I was counting hands as we have learned to do. And only one person lifted their hand for salvation. And I think about five or six people lifted their hand to want prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

So I invited them all forward and split them into two groups. And I made the five or six or so people who wanted to be baptized in the Holy Spirit kind of wait, and I led the one person who wanted to receive Jesus in a prayer of salvation. And I asked him the questions. Do you believe in Jesus Christ and that he has died for your sins? And are you ready to make him Lord of your life and turn from your sin? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

And I said, “Okay, let’s pray.” And so I led him in a prayer, repeat this prayer after me. And he prayed. And I said, “Okay, well, that’s great. Now if you really believed, you are really born again.” I said, “So you just stand over here, and I’m going to now minister to these other folks who already were Christians and who want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Well, I’d like to receive the Holy Spirit too.” And of course, I knew that he was born again. He had the Holy Spirit living in him already, but remember, we’ve been talking about what the Bible talks about, an experience subsequent to salvation.

And I said, “Oh, no, you probably need to just wait awhile. Probably there’s a class at this church that you could take and learn more about it. That way your faith can grow and so forth.” And he said, “I’m ready right now know.” And so I quizzed him further, and I could tell his faith was strong, and that’s the key ingredient. You have to believe.

So I said, “Okay, come on over here with this group.” And I gave them a little instruction. I asked them the simple question, “Are you a believer in Jesus?” They all said, “Yes, we’re all believers in Jesus.” Well, that’s the only prerequisite. I said, “Do you believe it’s God’s will for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues?” Oh yes, they all believed that. And I think my sermon might have been on that subject, so that’s why they probably had some pretty strong faith in that regard.

And so I said, “Okay. And so I’m going to lay my hands upon you. And as I touch you, that’s the moment we’re going to believe that we receive, because that’s what Jesus taught. Whatever you do desire when you pray, believe that you receive. Don’t believe you’re going to receive. Believe you receive when you pray.” So I said, “As soon as I touch your hand,” that’s kind of the moment to release faith, I said, “I want you to receive the Holy Spirit and open your mouth and just begin to speak out in whatever wants to come out, because God’s going to help you speak in a new language.”

So I did that one-by-one, and they all started speaking in tongues, as I recall. And then I got to this brand new Christian. He’s only been a Christian for just minutes by that time. And he closed his eyes. And I said, “In the name of Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit.” He didn’t hesitate one second. Didn’t stutter for any length of time. Just opened his mouth and began fluently speaking in a language he had never, ever learned.

Now I’ve seen this hundreds and I guess thousands of times, so it’s not any surprise to me. But I thought, “There. Praise the Lord. A young believer, he’s qualified.” You don’t have to be in some state of spiritual superiority or something like that. No, just cleansed by the blood of Jesus and believing. And he received. It was glorious. And that guy today, his name is Mike, he eventually went to Bible school and got married and then pastored a church, I think up in Montana, for a while and spent some time overseas for awhile.

And then eventually, I heard about a church that was looking for a pastor in West Virginia. That was something like 20 or 30 years ago, I think. And he and his wife went down there and tried out, and they elected him to be the pastor. He’s still the pastor today. And the Lord has given him a beautiful ministry there, he and his wife. We’re still friends, and the Lord has used him over in the Baltic nations in Europe and so forth to preach and teach over there.

And it all just started by a sermon by yours truly. Again, not that I’m anything at all. But never underestimate the power of one sermon if it’s based on the word of God. Never underestimate what could happen with one sermon. And so he was born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in other tongues, all within minutes. And think of all the fruit that has come forth from just that one sermon, that one person. Who knows what’s happened to the other people who were baptized in the Holy Spirit that night? Okay. You can’t get enough of the Holy Spirit.

All right. We’re way over time here for today. Thank you for joining me. I think on our next Little Lesson, I’m going to tell you another story about a friend who was baptized in the Holy Spirit. It didn’t happen quite so fast for him, and I’ll teach you a little bit about the faith that’s necessary to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So you don’t want to miss that one.

All right. Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Another Lovely Story About Someone Who was Baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in Other Tongues

Another lovely story about someone who was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues.

This is a special edition of Little Lessons because I’m out of my bedroom office where I usually am and I’ve navigated here down to the first floor of my house. This is the room we call the sun porch because it’s got windows on three sides, which you can see two of those sides. Lovely room, you kind of feel like you’re outside here.

But anyways, if you’re a regular viewer, you know we’ve been talking about speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I’m starting to get some communications from some of our viewers who say, “I received. I’ve prayed and I’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit and I’m speaking in tongues.” I think I’ll read one of those ones to you tomorrow that was kind of inspiring or not tomorrow, but our next Little Lesson. It was inspiring to me.

But we’ve been working our way through the Book of Acts and looking now at we’re in Acts chapter 10. We’re not going to actually go there today, but I’m kind of making reference to that story of when the Gentiles. Brand new, brand new baby Christians. They’ve just believed and God pours out his Holy Spirit upon them and within seconds of being born again, they’re baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. The point of that is so as far as we’re concerned today, is that it proves that you don’t have to reach a state of super duper spirituality before you can receive what I’ve been trying to get all of my viewers to receive. These folks were Gentiles. This is acts chapter 10 in Caesarea. Peter comes down from Joppa, preaches the gospel and they believe and within seconds of them believing in Jesus, God causes the Holy Spirit to fall upon them and they are baptized in the Holy Spirit and they’re speaking in other tongues.

When the devil tells you, “Well, this can’t be for you because you’re just not holy enough.” Well, the way you get holy is by being cleansed and forgiven of your sins through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now I recognize that as Christians, we need to strive to obey the Lord, but when you blow it, you can get forgiveness just as easily as you got it initially, confess your sin and he forgives you and cleanses you from all unrighteousness. Don’t let the devil talk you out of it for that reason.

And anyways, I told you a story in our last lesson about a friend of mine, who this was almost 40 years ago, who was baptized in the Holy Spirit within minutes of being born again at a church service where I was preaching in Ohio and today he’s a pastor and he’s been in the ministry for decades.

I’m going to tell you another story that happened even before that. This was 40 years ago and this happened actually about 10 feet from where I’m sitting right now, because this house where I currently live, my mom and dad purchased this house when I was five years old. I’m 62 now. 57 years ago, my mom and dad bought this house and then my wife and I bought it from them about 20 or so years ago. And they lived with us until they went to Heaven. But I was teaching a Bible study one summer for high school and college students here in the living room, which is just 10 feet from me, right over here. I think there were 15 or 20 young people there and I was a young person myself.

I was just in my early twenties and I taught a lesson on the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Just teaching some of the things that I’ve been sharing with you over the last, I don’t know, 14 or 15 or so Little Lessons here, but I just did it in one message. I might’ve spent 45 minutes to an hour showing them all the scriptures, trying to build their faith, to convince them that this is something that they could receive. And when I was done, I asked them to all bow their heads and I prayed to the Lord and then I said, “I want to give all of you an invitation. I’d love to pray for you tonight if you’d like to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. The only requirement is that you be a Christian already and that you believe. That’s it.” And so I said, “If you’d like me to pray for you tonight, just raise your hand.”

Well, only one person of that 15 or 20 young people raised their hand. And so after I was done, I said, “Okay, well thank you so much.” We all opened our eyes. And I said, “Only one person has lifted their hand, this young man named Don.” And I said, “I’m going to take him down in the basement of the house here and I’ll pray for him there.” I had a reason for doing that. Because see, they didn’t believe they were all full of doubt. And sometimes Jesus, before he got ready to minister to people like healing them or something, he flushed everybody else out because he wanted to get the unbelief out of the room because that unbelief just dampens the atmosphere. It hinders you. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. If you doubt the word of God, you’re not getting points, I’m just telling you. You’re not getting points, but God’s merciful. But when the disciples doubted, you read the stories where they were doubting, Jesus wasn’t happy, was he? He was a little bit ticked off when people didn’t trust him. It’s insulting to God when we don’t trust him.

But anyways, but God is still merciful. I took Don down in the basement and I give him a little instruction, just like I always would have done. And I said, “Now I’m going to pray for you. We’re going to receive the Holy Spirit. Believe we receive. Let me pray. The moment I touch my hand on your forehead, that’s the moment I want you to release your faith and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and just open your mouth and begin to speak in tongues.” He said, “Sure. Okay.” And we were just sitting in chairs across from each other. I prayed a prayer. And I said, “Now Don, in the name of Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit.” And I laid my hand on top of his head just as a point of contact because I don’t have anything. There’s no electricity going on in my hand.

And I never forget. He was kind of tightening up his face and tightening up his mouth and his eyes and he just kind of, he must’ve done that for about 20 seconds and he goes, “I don’t, I just, I don’t have anything.” And I said, “Oh no, no. Again, you have to have the faith here. You have to. You’re going to have to use your own mouth. You can’t wait for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s a gentleman he’s not going to force you. You might feel some unction, something, but whether you feel anything or not, you just have to have the faith so let’s pray again.” Same thing. I prayed. I said, “Now Don, in Jesus’ name receive the Holy Spirit.” And I touched his forehead and same thing. He kind of gritted up his teeth and his eyes and fist, he just, he was a really into it.

And then, but after about 30 seconds, he just went, just in kind of a desperate exasperation. “I’m just not getting it.” and I said, and I’m thinking of all those people upstairs who were just waiting to see if this is real. And I’m thinking if I don’t get this guy to speak in tongues, this is the end of my ministry. I just go get a job somewhere and forget about being in the ministry because I’m a failure. A lot was riding on Don succeeding to be baptized the Holy Spirit.

I tried to hide my desperation that I said, “Look Don, I prayed for plenty of people and you’re no different. God loves you.” I said, “But you can’t keep your mouth shut. You’re going to have to least have enough faith like Peter. Peter, God, didn’t transport him out of the boat and force him to walk. He had to step out of the boat. There’s a human side to all this. You have to step out of the boat and begin to walk and then God will keep you up on top of the water. You got to open your mouth and you just do something with your mouth and your vocal cords and begin to speak and as you have the faith, God will give you the utterance and you will be speaking in other tongues.” And I said, “Now let me pray for you one more time. And this time I don’t want the clenched up face, open your mouth.”

You better open your mouth. And so he goes, “Okay, okay.” And I could tell that there was a spark there this time that looks like we’re going to make it this time. “In the name of Jesus, Don receive the Holy Spirit.” And I touched him and he opened his mouth and started speaking out fluently in a new language at the top of his lungs. And I knew everybody upstairs could hear it through that floor right over there. I was like, all right, yay, God. And then Don, after about five minutes of yelling in tongues, he starts singing in tongues at the top of his lungs. And Don has a great singing voice and he just belted it out. I’m just going, “Thank you, Jesus.” Because I knew they could all hear it upstairs. We both prayed in tongues for a while. And then I said, “Well, let’s stop. Now that it’s happened to you, you can do this any time you want to.”

And so we came upstairs and I tried to hide my pride. But I felt so good and they were all wanting to ask him about it and they did. And he talked about it and I could tell we were penetrating now some of that unbelief and all those folks kept coming back to my Bible study and by the end of the summer, I would take them down in the basement, maybe by twos, by threes, by ones, by the end of the summer, every single one of them, if my memory serves me correctly, every single one of them was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. And I still know Don to this day, he’s an old high school friend. And in fact, he’s on the board of the Ministry of Heaven’s family. He’s a dentist in Oklahoma. Went to dental school and all and as most dentist hopefully do. And he’s a great blessing and the Lord used him in many lovely ways, been on mission trips and medical mission trips, different parts of Latin America.

Never underestimate, I’m telling you again, the power of one sermon based on the word of God. Now, you can give these sermons that are these self help sermons that you see sometimes on TV and yeah, people get a little blessing, but I’m talking about God’s word. When you share God’s word and people believe it, miracles can happen. And that night a miracle happened. Another miracle. And many nights after that, as we had that weekly Bible study, miracles happened as people, as Christians were baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.

I hope that what you can get from this is that all it takes is faith and, “Faith without works or faith without corresponding actions,” James said, “is dead.” You have to act upon your faith. And so if you believe you receive the Holy Spirit when you pray and you’re expecting that you’ll be speaking in tongues, you need to cooperate and speak. And you’ll always be doing the speaking, but the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you the utterance, but you have to speak. And we’ll study this further when we get to First Corinthians 12 and 14 to show you that it’s not the Holy Spirit forcing anybody to do something. It’s us cooperating with the Holy Spirit, which isn’t that kind of how all of life works? Is the Holy Spirit forcing food into you? Or do you actually have to put a fork into your carrots and put them in your mouth?

Well, it’s a miracle, the carrots are a miracle, your mouth is a miracle, your whole digestive system is a miracle. It’s miraculous how God takes carrots nourishes and makes cells out of those carrots in your body. But it’s not any less miraculous if you spear them with your fork and put them in your mouth, not any less miraculous. We have our little teeny tiny part to play. God’s the miracle person and he does what we cannot do. And this is how it is with the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.

But this is lovely. When that happens to you, then it gives you insights into how faith actually works. It can just open up a whole new vista of a spiritual dynamic when you receive this miracle.

Till next time, may the Lord bless you richly.

The Importance of Faith to be Baptized in the Holy Spirit

The importance of faith to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Hi, welcome to today’s little lesson, and thank you so very much for joining me. All of our regular viewers know that we’ve been on a… It seems like a long series, but it’s worth spending time on, about speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In the last two of the lessons, I’ve been telling you stories about people whom I’ve prayed for, who’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit, spoke in other tongues. Over the years, if I had been counting them, I’m sure it would be at least in the hundreds, maybe in the thousands. And I never get tired of it. I never ever get tired of it. I never get tired of praying in other tongues, because once you’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit and you have initially spoken in tongues, then you find that you can do it anytime you want. The Holy Spirit’s always there within you, ready to give you the utterance.

And that’s thoroughly biblical. On the day of Pentecost, it says that those 120 that have gathered there in the upper room, it says, “They began to speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit gave them the utterance.” The Holy Spirit doesn’t do the talking. No, sir. No, ma’am. You must do the talking, the speaking. It’s your mouth, your tongue, your vocal cords, your teeth, whatever you use to speak. But the Holy Spirit is the one who gives you the utterance to be able to speak in a language that you’ve never learned. And I mentioned in our last lesson, and this is kind of what I want to develop in this little lesson, the importance. This is just a fundamental, this is so important that in order to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have to believe. You have to have faith.

If you’re saying, “Lord, if it’s your will, please baptize me in the Holy Spirit,” can I tell you what’s going to happen? It’s his will, but you won’t get it, because you doubt, see. You have to have faith. And if you doubt, and if you reveal your doubt by saying, “Well, Lord, if it’s your will.” So, what you’re saying is, “Oh, Lord, I don’t know whether you want to baptize me in the Holy Spirit or not.” And so, how could you have faith then to be baptized in the Holy Spirit if you’re not sure it’s God’s will for you? All you can do then is hope. But faith, the author of Hebrews said, is the assurance of things hoped for. Right? Faith and hope are not the same. Hope always leaves room for the possibility that what you want, you may not get. Faith is assurance. It goes beyond hope. I’m certain that I’m going to receive this.

And in fact, Jesus took it one step further. He said, “Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive it, and you shall have it.” So, Jesus said we have to get beyond believing we’re going to receive it, and we have to believe we receive it when we pray.

So, I’ve told you a couple of stories about people that I prayed for. In the last lesson, I told you a story about a guy that I had to pray for him three times. Not that it took three times for God to finally hear our prayers, it took three times before my friend, whom I was praying for, to exercise his faith. And had he done that the first time we prayed, we wouldn’t have had to pray three times. Okay? There’s nothing wrong with praying three times, but just recognize that the first two, if you didn’t receive the first two times, it’s because you had unbelief.

And people get mad about this. I feel so sorry for those people. Can I just say it honestly but with compassion? If you get mad about this, that shows that you need to adjust. Okay? There could be a little pride sneaking in there. And so, we need to humble ourselves, and admit that if it’s not working, it’s not God’s fault. God’s perfect. We are not.

And then the apostles, Jesus’ closest friends, sometimes they doubted. Remember, Peter doubted. He was walking on the water, and by faith. But when he looked at the wind and the waves, then he doubted, and that’s when he began to sink. And Jesus said to him, “Why did you doubt?” I think later on when they got in the boat, put him back in the boat. But notice, Jesus still had mercy on him, but he was still correcting him. When the disciples failed to cast out a demon, Jesus said, “Oh, this unbelieving and perverse generation. How long am I going to put up with you? Bring the kid to me.” Because the apostles had tried and failed. And one time they prayed, “Lord”… They asked, “Lord, increase our faith.” He said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could be moving mountains, guys.” So, the fault’s not up in heaven, the fault’s down here on earth. We need to correct ourselves.

Now, you have to believe it’s God’s will. That’s why I’m doing all these lessons. And if you haven’t watched them all, if you’re just watching this one, and this is the first one you’ve watched, well, go back, and let your mind be transformed, by the word of God, by all those promises that will build your faith until you get to that place where you can pray with assurance, “Lord, I know it’s your will for me to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and so I pray now expecting to receive right now. I believe I receive when I pray, not someday, right now.” And when you do that, and you act upon your faith, you do something with your mouth and your vocal cords, doesn’t have to be much, but you’re going to have to move them.

Now, in the third little lesson that I did on this, I demonstrated speaking in tongues. I’ll do it again, just for the sake of showing you how. I’m the one who’s speaking. I am totally conscious of my mouth moving and making sounds. I don’t know what I’m saying. It’s the utterance. The language is not coming from my brain. I never learned this language. It comes out of my spirit. So, here it goes.

(speaking in tongues).

That’s speaking in tongues. I don’t know what I said. I wish I did. And the cool thing is, I know it’s not coming out of my brain, because… For example, I’ve tested this. I found if I’m reading a book or let’s just say I’m reading the Bible, and my wife walks in the room and she starts conversing with me. I can’t do two things at once. I can’t be carrying on a conversation with her, and at the same time reading, continuing to read and understanding. I got to close the book or put the book down and focus on her. I can’t do that. Or for example, I can’t read the Bible and at the same time, recite multiplication tables, because my mind can’t do those two things at the same time. I’ve got to either recite the multiplication tables and not be reading and comprehending, or vice versa.

But I found that I can be reading the Bible and praying in tongues fluently, continually because I’m not using my mind to speak. I’m using my mind to read and comprehend. This utterance comes from the Holy Spirit out of my spirit. And the beautiful thing about this… There’s so many beautiful things about this, and this is why I want you to have it. And I’m not ashamed, and I’ll never be ashamed. Because this is biblical, no matter what any preacher says. One of the beautiful things is that it teaches you something about faith, because when you receive an instant miracle, and all of a sudden, you’re speaking in a language you’ve never learned, oh, my goodness. One person who has been watching these videos just wrote to me and said, “Oh, there’s so much…” She prayed and received. She said, “There’s so much joy in this.”

And it is. It is wonderful. When you receive a miracle, you realize, oh, my goodness, this is how it works. You have to pray with faith. And the Bible has been saying this all along. Jesus said, “Whatever you desire when you pray, believe you receive.” Jesus said in Matthew 21, 22, or 23, 24. It’s in there somewhere. “Everything you ask in prayer, believing you shall receive.” I think that’s Matthew 21, 22. Everything you ask in prayer, what? Believing you shall receive. So, you have to believe. So many times, Jesus said to people whom he healed, “Your faith has healed you.” And so, if they wouldn’t have had faith, they wouldn’t have been healed. I know that’s hard for some proud people to accept. A lot of preachers don’t like to hear anyone say that, but it’s the truth.

And James said, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously without reproach, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being an unstable man.” See, James said, if you don’t have faith, you can’t expect to receive anything from the Lord. But you won’t expect it because you don’t want faith. The people that have faith, oh, my goodness. God loves it, for some reason. Because they’re not insulting him. When we don’t believe him, it’s insulting to God, because he can’t lie.

All right. So, I said all this to say, before you’re going to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, you have to have faith. You have to believe it’s God’s will. That’s why, what I found, and this will be a little lesson for all of you who want to help other people see the Holy Spirit. Ask them two questions before you pray. “Do you believe…” Well, ask them three questions. “Are you a believer in Jesus Christ? Have you been born again?” Because they have to… You don’t want to pray for someone who hasn’t been born again.

Number two, “Do you believe it’s God’s will for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues?” Listen, if they say, “Well, I don’t know,” don’t pray for them. They’re not ready. Or if they say, “Well, I sure hope so,” don’t pray for them. They’re not ready. Only pray for them if they say yes. And without hesitation. Yes, because it’s in the Bible.

And then ask them the third question. “When I lay my hands upon you, will you speak in tongues?” That’s the real test. Because if they really believe it, as they just said a second ago, then the answer to the next question is yes. God keeps his word. But if they say, “Oh, man, I’m really hoping I’ll speak in tongues,” don’t pray for them. Say, “Oh, you’re not ready.” You got to go from hope to faith.

So, soak yourself in all these promises from the word of God, and come back to me when you’re ready, when you know, when you believe that you’re going to speak in tongues when we pray. And of course, you don’t need anyone to lay hands upon you or pray for you. You can go straight to God. But sometimes, it helps people to feel like somebody’s praying for them, and someone who has confidence. And of course, one who’s ministering the Holy Spirit can encourage the one who wants to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

But your faith is contagious. Faith is contagious. Remember those four guys that lowered their friend through the roof? The Bible says, Jesus looked up and he saw their faith. They were all believers. They were all encouraging their friend. “Let’s get you to Jesus. If we get you to Jesus, you’re going to be healed.” They all believed. I like believing friends, people that encourage me to have faith.

So, when you ask them those questions and they say yes to all of them, you don’t have to wait another second. You can say, “In Jesus’ name, receive the Holy Spirit” and lay your hand upon them, and they’ll be speaking in tongues, just like that. Because they’ll open their mouth. They’ll have so much faith that they’ll have so much expectation that they’re expecting right then to speak in tongues. And so, of course, they’re going to… and… out is going to come, speaking in tongues.

Okay. All right. We’re going to get back into the word of God in our next little lesson, talk more about these things. I think we’ll go to Acts chapter 19, and look at another case where believers, thoroughly saved, but they had not yet been baptized in the Holy Spirit, and they got baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Little Lessons Viewers are being Baptized in the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues

The little lessons viewers are being baptized in the Holy Spirit and they’re speaking in tongues

We have been spending some weeks now on a specific topic, biblical topics speaking in other tongues, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And I know this is not the most important thing in the Bible. Believing in Jesus Christ as the son of God and making him your Lord is the most important thing in the Bible, but this is right up there near the top. God’s greatest gift to the world is Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross for our sins. But God’s greatest gift to His children. Those who have believed in Jesus is the Holy Spirit. And He gives the Holy spirit to everyone who believes in Jesus. If you’re born again, you’re born of the spirit you have in you– The Holy Spirit.

Jesus said that, “Whoever believes in Him there’ll be a well of water within him springing up to everlasting or eternal life. But he also spoke in another place about the Holy Spirit being akin to rivers of living water flowing from your innermost being. So that’s kind of contrast. I think it’s in John 4, where Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit in us being a well of water springing up to eternal life. So just imagine a bubbling spring. That’s a nice, nice thought. But then He said in John 7, “Whoever believes in me”, as the scripture said, “From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water”. And then John goes on to comment this. He spoke of the spirit. So, there’s no doubt about that. He was speaking of the spirit and the water is symbolic of the spirit.

But in this case, it’s not just a little spring bubbling up. It’s rivers of living water flowing out of your innermost being. See, that’s the purpose of this second experience with the Holy Spirit. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we go from the spring to the rivers. We’ll look at that more closely, once we finish our study in the book of Acts here, but speaking of the rivers of living water, I just got a communication from one of our beloved viewers. He tells us his name.,– It’s Mark. So God bless you Mark for writing to us. And he writes, I’m quoting from his letter verbatim now. “It has been a little over a week since I praying in tons as a result of watching these videos”. That’s great to hear! So you haven’t just been wasting my time here.

There are some of you who believe and are receiving and there’s going to be a whole lot more before we’re done. He said, “I know that praying in tongues is real, because now I’m praying with power”. The word power is in all caps “POWER!”. And that exclamation point. Now, I don’t know, how he actually knows that it could be just that he’s getting this wonderful feeling of power because when you do pray in tongues, you’re conscious of the fact that, wow! This, transcends my ability. This is the Holy Spirit, giving me utterances, perfect prayer, perfect praise to God. How could that not be powerful? But he’s feeling it here. And then he says, look at that ” Great changes are taking place”. And then he puts in capital letters, “DELIVERANCES exclamation point!

Now, I don’t know if he’s talking about deliverances for himself where maybe being delivered of, old habits or something, or he’s praying for other people and they’re being delivered of stuff. And I don’t know, what’s all wrapped up in his use of that term “Deliverances” because that can have different connotations. We could talk about just deliverance from, habits, or thoughts or emotions, bad emotions or could be deliverance from demons. Oh, that is scriptural. There are demons and people need to be delivered from them. But he said this now, “Before I pray in tongues, I always ask the Holy spirit to give utterance, to pray through me”. Well, I can tell you, Mark, you don’t have to even ask that, that happens automatically. Whenever you pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit’s going to give you the utterance and then, he says, “I thank him for praying through me”.

Well, that’s great! It’s good to be thankful for everything the Lord does for us and through us. And then he says, “Whenever I have a specific request”, so he’s got something in his mind that he wants to pray about. He says this, this is interesting — I thought. “I always ask the Holy spirit to pray through me, for that request”. And then he says, and “he does” capital D-O-E-S. “He does”, exclamation point, “in tongues”, exclamation point. “May God richly bless you”. He says to me, so that’s interesting because he’s saying I have a request in my mind something that I want to pray about. And so I asked the Holy spirit to help me to pray for that situation. Well, can you think of any reason why God wouldn’t answer that prayer? And you just say, now Lord there’s a situation that I’m concerned about, and I don’t know how to pray,– In fact that’s scriptural.

“We don’t know how to pray as we are”, that’s in Romans 8, isn’t it. “We don’t know how to pray as well, but the Holy Spirit helps us”, Paul said in Romans 8. So he’s saying, “I asked the Holy Spirit to help me”. And then, you know, for this request. And then he prays in tongues and he’s trusting that the Holy Spirit is answering his prayer as he’s praying it’s about whatever he asked to pray about. And I don’t see anything wrong with that. Uh, there’s a bit of mystery here, but, I can’t imagine that God would be displeased with that. I find myself that’s a practice of my own. If I have something, you know, a situation I’m praying about, “I pray with my mind,” as Paul said in the 1 Corinthians 14, in my case, it’s English. That’s my only language I know.

And then I realized to myself, yeah, there’s all kinds of factors that I’m unaware of here. Whatever it is I’m praying about. So I find myself then switching over and praying for a while in tongues and people that have done this for a long time, they’ll even tell you about times where they have felt that all of a sudden the Spirit is burdening them to pray about something and they get a burden of prayer and they pray through that burden until they feel a release from that burden. And so they feel, you know, somewhere in other than that the Holy spirit is using them. Now, I don’t even know why God needs us to pray. That’s beyond my peanut brain, but I’m not gonna stop praying because I don’t understand why he needs us to pray. But there’s lots of stories that have been told that I’ve heard over the years of people that were led to pray.

And they had some sense of what they were praying about the person or the situation. And later on, they found out maybe weeks or even months later that on that very day. And that very time they were praying and had a sense, they were praying for a certain person or a certain situation, that person or that situation was going on, right as they were praying. You know. So what a beautiful ministry that you could have a prayer ministry saying, “Lord, I just want to be a vessel of prayer and I can pray in other tongues”. And how could that, how could you, how could you be making a mistake praying in tongues? Paul said, “Pray without ceasing”. And this is I think incorporate and yet, I don’t know how you could pray in any literal sense without ceasing, without being able to pray in tongues.

And Paul said, “I thank God. I pray in tongues more than you all”. He spoke that to the Corinthian bunch who are really into tongues. So, Paul valued it very much And I encourage you to pray in tongues. Once this happened to you, the first time, you’ll see that it can happen to you anytime. You can do it anytime thereafter. Alright. So anyways, Little Lesson’s viewers are responding, in faith, the word that I’ve been sharing from the Bible and it’s working they’re praying to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and they are, are speaking in tongues just before I filmed this video, I got an email from some dear friends up in Canada and they said, I’m so glad you’re talking about this because this is something we’ve been longing for in our lives for a long time.

And they’re just wonderful people. Like I don’t even think about it without tearing up a little bit, cause there’s such a wonderful people. And I think, “Oh my goodness, I’m so happy that they will soon be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in other tongues”. And I’m so happy for you, even though I can’t see you. Uh, but if you’ll just, if you haven’t watched all the lessons, just go back and watch them. I’m not sure which one we’re on now. I’m thinking it’s like 16 or 17 or something, but, um, just go back, find them on YouTube, at David Servant’s channel . And watch them all. And if you have questions after you watch them, then, you know, send us your questions. I’ll do my best to answer if I can. Okay, well, goodness gracious.

We’re out of time for today, I intended to get into another place in the book of Acts, where we have another incident of people being baptized in the Spirit. This is a really interesting one. So we’ll do it at our next Little Lesson until then.

Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you.

25 Years After Pentecost, people are still being Baptized in the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues

25 years after Pentecost, people are still being baptized in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues.

We’re talking about speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and our beloved viewers are listening. Their faith is growing and some of them are already praying and receiving this most wonderful, wonderful experience. I’m telling you, there’s nothing like it. And once you’ve prayed in tongues, you’re a changed person because it’s a miracle and you realize God’s using me to pray in a language that I’ve never ever learned, and it’s perfect prayer, and it’s Holy Spirit inspired prayer. It helps you to walk closer to God after this has happened to you because you’re just more conscious of His presence.

And if you make it a discipline where every day during your devotional time, you spend some time praying in tongues and throughout the day. You’re driving in your car and you’re all by yourself. You shouldn’t be doing it out in public where people think you’re a nut, but when you’re by yourself, you can talk to the Lord in other tongues just real quietly, or you can do it real loud if nobody can hear you. It’s just absolutely wonderful. If I had one wish that I can make come true, well, the first wish would be the whole world would believe in Jesus, but the second wish would be that every believer would be baptized in the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. And don’t get me wrong, the Holy Spirit’s got a lot more to offer than speaking in tongues.

I mean, there’s the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit that are listed there in 1 Corinthians 12. But this is the door. This is where it starts being clothed with power from on high. That’s what Jesus said to His disciples. Wait in Jerusalem. Don’t leave. Don’t try to do anything until you’re clothed with power from on high. And then, then, you’ll be my witnesses. Right? So, that’s another benefit that comes with more of the Holy Spirit. We’re a better witness than we were before. Oh, it’s just marvelous. So, I’m glad you’re listening. I’m glad you’re spiritually hungry. If this is the first video you’re watching, stop, go watch the other ones, and make sure you get it all.

Okay. So, now today we’re going to be in Acts 19, and Bible scholars who try to figure this stuff out say that what you and I are about to read from Acts 19 occurred somewhere between 25 and maybe 28 years after the day of Pentecost. Okay? So, Jesus ascended to heaven 25 years earlier. And on the day of Pentecost, they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. They spoke in tongues. And we’ve looked at several instances over the course of reading through parts of the book of Acts where the same thing happened. Acts 8, Acts 9, Acts 10, and now Acts 19. 25, at least, maybe 28, maybe a little more years after the day of Pentecost.

Now, listen closely. Try to just forget what they told you and just be open to the pure, simple Word of God. Okay? Because you have just as much right to read the Bible as any theologian. And the Bible was not written for theologians. Right? The book of Acts was written by Luke and he wrote it to a guy named Theophilus, which many people think wasn’t even a real person. He just represents anyone who’s hungry for God because Theophilus, that actually means lover of God.

So, if you’re a lover of God, this was written for you. And the book of Acts wasn’t written so that we can reminisce about the good old days and how wonderful it would have been to live back then. It was to show us the pattern, the pattern for the church. All right. Are you ready? Acts 19:1. It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and he came to Ephesus. He eventually wrote a letter to the Ephesians but this was before that. And he found some disciples. So, he’s located some people, Luke calls them disciples here and he said to them, he asked these disciples… Listen to this question and how revealing it is. Paul, the apostle Paul, the guy that wrote two-thirds of the New Testament asked this theological question of these disciples. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Now, think about that question, what that reveals.

Paul, talking to some people he just met, who Luke calls them disciples, he asked the question, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Now, that shows clearly that Paul believed that you could believe in Jesus but not have received the Holy Spirit. Now, we never would want to put all our eggs in one basket. We would never want to say this verse is the sum total of all theology. No, God gave us the whole Bible. So, there’s plenty other scriptures that show us that everyone who believes in Jesus is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They’re born of the Spirit. But we’re going to see here, as we keep reading, that Paul is talking about the second experience that should commonly occur for every born again Christian. And that is, he calls it here, receiving the Holy Spirit. He assumed they received Jesus, but did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed. Now, listen to their answer. And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

So, this is completely foreign to them. We wouldn’t even know about the Holy Spirit. Who’s that? What’s that? You asked us if we received the Holy Spirit. We haven’t even heard there is a Holy Spirit. So, obviously, they didn’t receive him because they didn’t even know it was possible to receive him. And so then more clarity is coming as the conversation goes. So, Paul says, he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So, obviously, although Luke didn’t record it, in their initial conversation here, they had said they had been baptized. He knew that they were baptized and he was assuming that they were baptized in Christian baptism, which, again, I’m not going to fight about this, but they’ve been baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so that seems like maybe that’s why Paul is asking them, “You never heard there’s a Holy Spirit, but you’ve said you got baptized in water.” Well, if you were baptized in the water, he’d have said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” because that’s what it says in Matthew 20:28, when Jesus said, “Go into all the world, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit.”

And so there’s a little confusion here. And so to answer his question, “Into what then were you baptized?” they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Oh, the light bulb goes off for Paul. You’re baptized, but you never received baptism, a Christian baptism. You go all the way back to John the Baptist. You repented of your sins and he baptized you, and that’s all the further you’ve ever gone in at least 25 years actually… Excuse me. It could have been as many as 30 years ago, these guys were baptized by John and whatever they got from John, it stuck. They’re trying to follow God, but they didn’t know the rest of the story. Oh my goodness.

So, Paul begins to explain. “Okay, I got it now. You’re baptized. You weren’t baptized in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit because you’re baptized by John.” So, he said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him.” And that is what John did. Right? And then Paul goes on, “That is in Jesus.” So, they didn’t stick around long enough to get that message from John. So, look at this. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So, Paul said, “Hey, good that you got baptized by John. But Jesus said you’re supposed to be baptized in a Christian baptism.” And it says here they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, which some people take that verse and say, “You see? They didn’t baptize the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit. They baptize in the name of Jesus.”

I’m not going to fight about that. When I baptize people, I always baptize them in the name of the Father and the name of the Son and the name of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of Jesus. I just make sure I get it all covered. All right. Now, we’re out of time. What a cliffhanger this is, but we’ll pick up here in our next Little Lesson and you’ll see what happens next. But these are people who, again, Paul said, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” It’s irrefutable that Paul believed that one could believe but not… Believe in Jesus because that’s what he assumed at first, because he knew they were baptized disciples. Paul believed you could be a baptized disciple of Jesus but not yet have received the Holy Spirit. There’s no arguing with that because that’s what his question reveals. Okay.

Until then, may the Lord bless you richly.

The Holy Spirit falls in Ephesus

The Holy Spirit falls in Ephesus.

We’re doing a series on speaking in other tongues and the baptism and the Holy spirit. And we’ve been doing this for weeks now, laying a foundation, and our viewers are having their faith growing in all this. Their knowledge, first of all, is increasing. Their understanding is increasing. And consequently, their faith is growing. And some are praying with faith and receiving what the Bible calls the baptism in the Holy Spirit and they’re speaking in other tongues and they’re quite excited about it. I’ve read a couple of their testimonies already to you as we’ve been going through this series.

So in our last little lesson, we left off in Acts chapter 19. 25 to as much as 28 years after the day of Pentecost, Paul is on one of his missionary journeys again and he’s separated from Apollos. Apollos is at Corinth. Paul’s traveling now through Ephesus. Excuse me. And he finds some disciples there and there’s little confusion because he thinks they’re disciples of Jesus, but he finds out that, “Oh my goodness, no, you were baptized but under the preaching of John the Baptist and you’ve never heard the rest of the story, what happened after John.”

So Paul thought there was something missing, something wrong because he asked them this question. This is in Acts chapter 19 in verse number two, these disciples, he said, “Did you receive the Holy spirit when you believed?” So he’s assuming that they believed in Jesus, but he’s wondering if they received the Holy Spirit. So that shows that Paul believed that there was experienced subsequent to salvation or believing in Jesus, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Well, they were clueless. They said, “We didn’t even hear there was a Holy Spirit.”

John says, “Well, how did you get baptized then?” And they said, “We were baptized by John the Baptist.” Paul realizes, “Oh my goodness, these guys are living 30 years in the past. We’ve got to bring them up to date.” And he says, “Hey, John baptized with the baptism of repentance telling everyone to believe in the one who was coming that is Jesus.” So they’re right on with the program. So if they didn’t believe in Jesus prior to this moment when they’re talking to Paul, they now have become believers in Jesus. You can be sure of that because the next verse we read that Paul baptizes them in water. Even though that they were baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan river, now they’re getting Christian baptism and Paul would have never baptized them if they hadn’t made a convincing profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Right? Right.

And when they did that, of course, they were born of the spirit. So the Holy Spirit did it work in their spirit. And I think there’s plenty of evidence to indicate in the Bible that they were then indwelt by the Holy Spirit. There was the well of water springing up to eternal life. We’ll look at that in future little lessons, but now comes a very interesting part of this story. So as soon as Paul has baptized them in water, these are new believers, it says, “And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them.” Huh?

See? Subsequent to their salvation within perhaps minutes. But subsequent. Paul didn’t say, “Okay, you’ve got everything there is to get now. Nothing more. Go in peace. Be warmed and be filled.” No. He said, “Okay, now you’re born again. And now we need to get you clothed with power from on high. You’ve got the Holy Spirit indwelling you. Now we need the Holy Spirit upon you. We need those rivers of living water flowing out of you,” John chapter seven. And so he lays his hands upon them so that they would receive the second experience, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

And when he does lay his hands upon them, they start… It says they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. These Ephesians got something even more than speaking in tongues at that time. One of the nine gifts of the spirit began to operate through them and they began to prophesize. So they get inspired utterance in other tongues, and they get inspired utterance in their known language, prophesy.

And then Luke says in verse number seven, “There were in all about 12 men.” So that’s the start of the church at Ephesus. The church in Ephesus started with 12 tongue talkers, 12 Pentecostals. Boy. I know that’s hard for anti-tongues fundamentalists to swallow, but it’s irrefutable from the Bible. And why there’s opposition against speaking in other tongues is totally beyond me especially by churches that claim to be Bible believing churches. We believe the Bible, but we won’t let that speaking in tongues stuff around here.” Well, you don’t believe the Bible. You don’t believe that part anyways, what we just read?

“Well, that was for the early church only,” some say. Well, I’m sorry, but millions of millions of Christians, tens of millions of Christians around the world today have experienced exactly what these folks in Ephesus experienced. And I’m one of them and some of our viewers are newly baptized in the Holy Spirit and they’re speaking in tongues and I’ve read their testimonies to you as we’ve been going through these lessons.

All right? All right. So this is good stuff. And don’t get mad, get glad. Okay? Listen you old dried up prune, you can be baptized in the Holy Spirit and you won’t hate people like me anymore. God will set you free in a million ways. All right? And I’m telling you what? God is so good. He’s so mercifully. He baptizes old prunes in the Holy Spirit if they believe in Jesus, if they’re believing prunes and if they’ll believe that it’s God’s will for them to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

So you notice in this story, there’s no intimation that Paul said, “Well, this is for some of you and not for all of you,” because we know that Paul later wrote to the Corinthians, “Do all speak in tongues?” And the obvious answer to that rhetorical question is no, not all speak in tongues. Now we’ll cover that when we get to it in 1st Corinthians. But you notice that in this case, all spoke in tongues just like on the day of Pentecost, all spoke in tongues. It’s not just something for a few.

Now, you say, “Well, then how come Paul said do all speak in tongues?” Well, because Paul wasn’t talking about specifically what we’re just reading about here. Paul was talking about ministries. Ministries. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Do all speak in tongues? No. Well, there’s actually a ministry that it involves speaking in tongues, but it’s not what we’re reading here in Ephesians chapter 19 or in Acts chapter two or other places in acts where it talks about people were baptized in the Holy spirit and spoke in tongues. Okay? There’s different usages of tongues.

Paul talks in 1st Corinthians about how when I pray in tongues, my mind is unfruitful. If there’s no interpretation, I should keep quiet in church. But there’s clearly a gift of the spirit called various kinds of tongues, which is always accompanied by the gift of interpretation. See? So that’s a public ministry of tongues. What we’re reading about here is not. This is a private devotional gift for the most part. You’re not supposed to do it publicly. Primarily, you’re supposed to do it privately because there’s no interpretation and your mind is unfruitful. You don’t know what you’re saying.

But if God’s called you to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher, or someone who has the ministry of tongues, you’ll be giving messages in tongues to groups of Christians and it will be accompanied by the interpretation so everyone will know what was said because Paul said, “If you just speak in tongues, no one knows what you’re saying. What good is that for anybody else except for you? You’re only edifying yourself. You’re not edifying anybody else.” So in this case, you see all these folks receive the Holy Spirit because that was the first question Paul asked them. Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? He was a Pentecostal, I guess.

And when he finds out they hadn’t even been baptized in Christian baptism, he takes care of that. And then he goes back to the real thing. I asked you, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit? You didn’t even know there was a Holy Spirit. Well, now we’re going to help you see the Holy Spirit. I’m going to lay my hands upon you. You’re already born again. You’re already saved. If you died right now, you’d go to heaven. But now we want the rivers of living water flowing out from your innermost being. You need more of the Holy Spirit than just what you got when you’re born again. So now you’re going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, baptized in Holy Spirit, and it’s evidenced by outcome speaking in other tongues.

All right? You got it. I made it just biblical here. Biblical. And I read a theologian one time who wrote a book against what I’m talking about here. And he had all his explanations, but no basis in the Bible whatsoever. And I feel sorry for him misleading all of those people who believed what he wrote. Robbed them of God’s greatest blessing for his children, the baptism in the Holy spirit. And not only do you get blessed, but then you become more of a blessing. Then you can pray with the help of the Holy Spirit in a deeper way and you will find other things happen in your life once you’re baptized with the spirit to make you a bigger blessing.

So when people preach against what I’m talking about right here over these last weeks on little lessons, you’re not only robbing people of blessing to be baptized, but you’re robbing them of being a blessing to a greater degree by virtue of the fact that they’d be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You don’t want to do that. You don’t want to do that. And I know God’s merciful, but He sends people like me to try to stir you up a little bit and maybe shake something out of you or shake something into you that you’ll start taking seriously what the Bible has been saying all along.

All right. So keep watching. And again, if you haven’t watched all of them, watch them all and your faith will grow. And then when you’re baptized in Holy Spirit, you speak in tongues, please let me know. All right? Okay. A lot more to say on this subject.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

The final Verdict on the Book of Acts regarding the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

The final verdict on the Book of Acts in regard to the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

We’ve just completed a survey of the Book of Acts, every place we could find something relevant to the topic. And we found actually five places in total where the historical record that Luke recorded for us in the Book of Acts says something about people being baptized in the Holy Spirit or filled with the Holy Spirit, of the Holy Spirit falling upon a group of people, and any place we found mention of speaking in tongues. And we found actually a total of five places. They are in Acts Two, Acts Eight, Nine, and 10, and Acts 19.

And in this Little Lesson, I want you to just review them to try to determine if there’s a consistent pattern in what we’re seeing, because I don’t believe that the Book of Acts was recorded so we could all think about how wonderful it would have been to live back in that day, but we can never ever experience what they experienced in our day. No, I think it’s recorded for us by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to help us always know what is the pattern for Jesus building his church, and he builds his church by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s quite evident in the Book of Acts. You take out the Holy Spirit and his work for the Book of Acts and you’ve got nothing really of any significance left. And if there’s anything that the modern church needs more than anything else, besides actually a return to a biblical Gospel, we need the power of the Holy Spirit.

So as we looked at these five instances in the Book of Acts, we were looking for little indications that would help us understand the pattern that we should expect for ourselves today. Was the baptism in the Holy Spirit that we read about in these chapters, did it happen simultaneous with salvation? When people believed in Jesus, did they get all that they could possibly get of the Holy Spirit at that moment, or were there instances where the baptism in the Holy Spirit was subsequent to salvation? And was there speaking in tongues mentioned as the initial evidence in these various cases? And if there was, did just a few speak in tongues or did all speak in tongues? And so by looking at this survey if the Book of Acts, it’s going to help us to know what is God’s will for us? And then, of course, that’s the whole of this series, is to build faith in you so that you can receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, like I have received and like tens of millions of other Christians have received.

Okay, so let’s go through the survey very, very quickly, but not rushing. Acts Chapter Two, on the Day of Pentecost, 120 people were in the upper room. The Holy Spirit came upon them. They had these manifestations of tongues of fire sound like a mighty rushing wind, and so forth. That’s unique for that instance. But there was speaking in tongues, and everybody, there’s no indication that only a few, only a small percentage of this. No, it seems to indicate that all 120 spoke in tongues. So the initial evidence for there, baptism in the Holy Spirit for 120 people was that they spoke in tongues. And was their experience subsequent to salvation? Well, yes, of course. All those 120 people, had they died prior to the Day of Pentecost, they would have gone to heaven. So they were saved. Now, I think, just to be fair, they couldn’t have been baptized in the Holy Spirit simultaneous with their salvation, because it wasn’t till the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. Okay, so in all fairness to the actual record.

So then we went to Acts Chapter Eight when, after the great persecution that arose in connection with Stephen, Phillip later is called an Evangelist, goes down to the Samaria, preaches the Gospel to them in Samaria, and this is a little bit of a missionary activity here because these are not just straight, strict, pure bred Jews, and so forth. But many people are responding when they see these miracles that are done by the Holy Spirit through Philip. We read, and this was really a crystal clear scripture that, when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, and so there’s proof. They had received it. They actually had been baptized in water, and there was no doubt they were safe. Phillip would have never baptized them had they not made an authentic profession of faith in Jesus Christ. But when the Apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John down to them, two preeminent Apostles to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.

So the baptism in the Holy Spirit was subsequent to salvation by days, weeks, maybe even months for the Christians in Samaria, the new Christians there. Did they speak in tongues? It doesn’t say they spoke in tongues, but Simon the magician, remember this one, he saw something fantastic happening when Peter and John were laying hands upon people and they were being baptized in the Holy Spirit. He had already seen great joy. He had already seen many miracles, demons being cast out of people, already seen paralyzed and lame people walking according to the record in the Book of Acts. So what he saw it must have been fantastic, because he tried to buy the power to be able to do what Peter and John did, and they, of course, rebuked him for it. So some of the early church fathers, they’re writing’s say, “What was it that Simon saw?” He saw them and heard them speaking in tongues.

So it doesn’t emphatically say they spoke in tongues, but something very supernatural was happening. It’s safe to assume that it was speaking in tongues. And, again, it was subsequent to salvation, and no indication that just some, all. Acts Chapter Nine, Saul on the road to Damascus, a big persecutor of the church. He’s knocked down on the road to Damascus. And you know the story. He’s blinded. He’s led into Damascus. He’s told to wait there, and then eventually God sends one of his servants, Ananias, to go and lay hands upon him that Paul, Saul, might receive his sight and that he might also receive the Holy Spirit, according to Ananias’ own testimony. And so there’s no doubt that Saul was saved prior to Ananias getting there to lay hands upon him to receive his sight. Because on the road to Damascus, he was knocked down by the Lord. “Who are you, Lord, that I am persecuting?” “I am Jesus.”

Well, I think that probably Saul believed in Jesus from that point onward, and he obeyed his new Lord and went to Damascus. There’s no way he wasn’t a Christian at that point in time and didn’t believe in Jesus. Come on. So it was three days after he was born again that Saul, later Paul, was baptized in the Holy Spirit. Doesn’t say Luke didn’t record that he spoke in tongues right there, but we all know that Paul the Apostle was a tongue talker. He told the Corinthians, “I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all.” And did all speak in tongues? Well, there’s only one guy. Yes, all did. Paul did. Acts Chapter 10, when Cornelius’ household receives the Gospel from Peter, who comes down from Joppa by divine direction. And as he’s preaching the Gospel, the Holy Spirit falls upon them. So, in this case, was their baptism in the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation? Doesn’t seem like it was. It seems like it was simultaneous, or if not simultaneous, within a second of them being born again.

Now, understand, the Jewish believers and Peter who were there, they had a hard enough time believing that Gentiles could be saved. This was the first time. And they would have never, ever laid their hands upon these guys and prayed for these guys to be baptized in the Spirit. God did it sovereignly. Was there speaking in tongues? Yes, that’s how all the Jewish believers knew that they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, because they heard them speaking in other tongues. And Peter said, “How could we refuse water in baptism for these folks that have received the Holy Spirit just like we did years ago on the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem?” I think it was nine years earlier. So, subsequent to salvation? No, but did they speak in tongues. Yes. Was it all or just a few? It seems like it was all. And then finally Acts Chapter 19, Paul is on his missionary journey up up in Ephesus. He comes across some disciples. This is pretty recent in our little lessons.

And you remember the story, he asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” Obviously, Paul believed that it was subsequent to salvation. And after he then led them to the Lord, in a sense, and baptized them in Christian baptism, then, then after they’re saved and have made a profession of faith in Christ, then he lays his hands upon them and they all start speaking in tongues. So it was their baptism in the Holy Spirit was subsequent to their salvation. They spoke in tongues and it wasn’t just a few of them, it was all 12 men. And there you have all the evidence. Now, there are theologians who try to tell us, bless their hearts, that, “The Book of Acts is not a theological book, but it’s just a historical record for us. It’s not a pattern for the church and we shouldn’t try to build any doctrines from the Book of Acts. Oh no, it’s just a historical rendition. But if we want theology, we should go into the Epistles and such.”

Well, where is that in the Bible? Where does it say anywhere in the Bible that the Book of Acts is just a historical record, that we shouldn’t build any theology from the Book of Acts? Oh my goodness. Come on. This is so easy only a theologian could miss it. This is so obvious only a theologian could miss it. There are words of Christ in the Book of Acts that you won’t find anywhere else in the Gospels or in the Epistles. That’s right. In one of the sermons of one of the Apostles, he said, remember the Lord told us, “It’s more blessed to give than receive.” That’s only in the Book of Acts. “But we don’t want to pattern or anything after the Book of Acts because it’s just a book of history and not theology.” No, no, no, sir. You’re wrong, and you need to get a Christian life, because just because you’re a theologian doesn’t mean you’re a Christian.

Okay, so I have come to the conclusion that if you’re going to have a New Testament experience, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit at some point in time after you’re born again, unless God sovereignly baptizes you in the Holy Spirit within a second of when you were born again, like he did to the folks in Samaria. But that was an exception, not the rule. The general pattern we see the Book of Acts is baptism in the Holy Spirit subsequent to salvation, initial evidence, evidence that pervades all of these. Now, again, some had unique things. On the Day of Pentecost, they saw tongues of fire. They heard a mighty rushing wind. In Ephesus, they not only spoke in tongues, they prophesied. But the consistent thing throughout all of them is speaking in other tongues. So that’s the initial evidence that you could have faith to expect. And is it just for a few or does the Book of Acts indicate that it’s for everyone who believes, every believer? The Book of Acts confirms it’s for everybody. It’s not just for a few.

And you say, “Yeah, but the Bible says, ‘Do all speak in tongues?'” And the answer is, obviously, no. Yes, I know that we’re going to come to that eventually. I have briefly touched on that in the past, but you don’t want to build your theology on one little scripture. That’s a rule. Build your theology on the entire revelation. That’s why I’ve just looked at all five examples in the Book of Acts. So hopefully, your faith is growing. If you haven’t already been baptized in the Holy Spirit, well, why don’t you pray and ask God and faith and believe you receive when you pray and open your mouth, expecting that the Lord will give you the utterance by the power of the Holy Spirit and start speaking in other tongues? We’re getting reports from our viewers that that’s exactly what some of them are doing. And there’s a lot more to come.

All right. I’m happy. I hope you’re happy. And don’t quit. Don’t give up. Don’t lose any hope. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Stick with us and keep watching these lessons.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you richly.

You have the Well of Water, but do you have the Rivers of Living Water?

You have the well of water, but do you have the rivers of living water?

We’re in the midst of a series of lessons on the biblical topic of speaking in other tongues, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And my, my, my, has it been fun. And it’s been so nice to hear from a number of our viewers that they’ve been listening, and faith has grown in their hearts, and they’ve prayed, and they’ve been baptized in the Holy Spirit. They’re now speaking in tongues every day and loving every minute of it. And if it hasn’t happened to you yet, this could be your day. It’s just a matter of your faith getting to the point where you’re convinced it is the will of God and you desire it.

And then believing that you receive when you pray, as Jesus taught us to do. Now, in today’s lesson I want to just consider two things that Jesus said. They’re both found only in the Gospel of John. Both about the Holy Spirit. And I want to show you, this is one more indication, and I would never just take these couple of verses and build my total theology on them. But these two passages that we’re going to look at, I think add weight and evidence to what I’ve been persuaded of and trying to persuade you of all along here, is that there is a second experience subsequent to salvation, and it could be referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the infilling of the Holy Spirit. The initial evidence for that is speaking in other tongues. It doesn’t matter what denomination you are, what church you go to.

If you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, this is for you. You don’t have to be a charismatic or a Pentecostal. In fact, I’d kind of almost encouraged you not to be a charismatic, because there’s so much goofiness in charismatic circles. Okay, Lord have mercy. John chapter four, and this is the very familiar story, when Jesus was talking to the woman at the Well of Samaria. We’ve been looking at Samaria lately here in the Book of Acts. But Jesus asked her for a drink, because the disciples have gone into the city to buy food. And she’s a little bit taken back by the fact that he, a Jew, was asking her, even speaking to her, a Samaritan woman.

Because as we read the commentary in John’s Gospel in chapter four and verse number nine or so, it is Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him. And he would have given you living water.” Jesus is speaking in somewhat cryptic terms at this point in time, but he’s trying to grab her interest. She doesn’t get it at first. She said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with. And the well is deep, where then do you get that living water?”

You are not greater than our father. Jacob, are you who gave us this well, et cetera, et cetera. And so Jesus responds and he says, “Everyone who drinks of this water. This water in Jacob’s well, will thirst again. But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst. But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” And so, again, I’m sure she was scratching her head to some degree, as he’s saying these things. But you know the rest of the story, how Jesus supernaturally knows that she’s had five husbands and so forth. And gets her attention, and she becomes like an evangelist there in Samaria. But here’s what I want to focus on. Jesus promised, I can give you living water.

You’ll never thirst. Well, he obviously wasn’t talking literally about literal water. He’s talking about something spiritual here. Living water. And if you drink it, you’ll never thirst. Well, that means it fills a spiritual hunger for you. That once it’s filled, you never have to have that hunger ever again. And that water, it’s akin to a well of water. And it has something to do with eternal life. Getting eternal life. The water that I give him will become in him a well. So you become a well. And water is within you, and it springs up to eternal life. I’m not claiming to understand everything that Jesus is trying to convey in that or all the spiritual significance. But I think it’s very clear, he’s talking about the Holy Spirit, symbolized by water. And if you believe in him, drink of his water as it were, your spiritual thirst is satisfied.

You’ve found what you’ve been looking for all your life. It’s the answer to everything. And you get eternal life. And so you have this deposit of Holy Spirit in you that gives you eternal life. There’s probably other ways of looking at it. But that’s the basic message here. Okay? Now, it doesn’t actually say here that Jesus was speaking of the Holy Spirit. But now we’re going to go just three chapters later in John chapter seven. This is when Jesus travels up to Jerusalem during the annual feast of booths. When all the Jews make these little huts and live in them for a little while. We read in John 7:37. Now on the last day, the great the day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, “If anyone is thirsty…” Well, here’s that thirsty theme again. It reminds me of what Jesus said to that woman at the well.

“If anyone is thirsty, let them come to me and drink.” Jesus is offering some kind of water. Obviously not physical, literal water, but something symbolized by water. He, who believes in me, as the scripture said from his inner most beings shall flow rivers of living water. Now, this is different than what Jesus said to the women at the well. To her, he’s talked about a well of water within you springing up. Bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep. Springing up. Bloop, bloop, bloop. I should say bloop. Springing up to eternal life. But this time he talks about from your innermost being. You drink from Jesus, something, because you’re thirsty. And then the consequences, the result is out of your inner most being flow rivers of living water. This is a little different picture than the little spring of water. Now, in this case, it’s very clear because John gives the commentary. But this, he spoke of the spirit.

So there’s no doubt now, in John seven at least, the water represents the spirit. Whom those who believed in him were to receive. For the spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. I think it’s safe to say, because the similarities between John four, Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well. And what Jesus said in John chapter seven, as it’s recorded there. Again, both times he talked about being thirsty and drinking of water that he gives. John, in chapter seven, says, he’s talking about the spirit. Well, what else could he have been talking about in John chapter four? Comes in you a well of water, springing up to eternal life. Here’s my thoughts as we wind this down. I’m inclined to believe that in John chapter four, Jesus was talking about being born again. Being born of the spirit.

Everyone who believes in Jesus, the Holy Spirit comes to live and dwell inside that person who believes. You get eternal life. It’s wonderful. It’s for your primary benefit, for your own personal benefit primarily. But in John chapter seven, Jesus was talking about something a little different than that. Same Holy Spirit, but a different work of the Holy Spirit. I think he’s talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. A different experience than being born of the spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, different experience than being just in dwelt by the spirit when you’re born again.

And this is not primarily for your benefit, it’s actually primarily for the benefit of others, because it’s symbolized here, by rivers of living water flowing out from your inner most being. Well, that’s pretty exciting, isn’t it? Okay. So if you want to be a blessing, if you want to serve others, administer to others, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’d seem like this would be a good place to start. Get a drink of that water from Jesus and get those rivers start flowing.

And one of those rivers is the river of tongues, speaking in other tongues. It is wonderful. All right. I only brought all this up just to show you, here’s one more indication in scripture. Because the scripture is consistent in its testimony along these lines. There is an experience subsequent to salvation. It is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the rivers of living water flowing out from you.

After I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, that’s when I started feeling those rivers. I can only say that all the fruit that has come forth from my life, that’s when I was… Certainly, after I felt called to ministry. But all the fruit in my life, anything that’s good and lasting anyways, because I’ve had a few Ishmael’s here and there. But all the blessings to other people have been… It all started when I was baptized in the Holy Spirits and those rivers started flowing.

And those rivers have flown all over the world now. I’m trusting that there’s going to be more rivers flowing, but not just for me, but for you. The more rivers we can get flowing, the better here. Right? Okay. Okay. Believe, and receive, and pray and ask the Lord, “Please, baptize me in the Holy Spirit, because I want rivers of living water flowing from me.” And then say, “I believe it.” Because it’s clearly your will. We just read it in John chapter seven. It’s your promise. And so I believe, I receive as I pray. Because that’s what Jesus said to do. Don’t believe you’re going to receive, believe you receive when you pray, Mark 11:23 and 24. And then have faith. Step out in the water, open your mouth and let it flow. Begin to speak in another language. You will be conscious that you are speaking.

The Holy Spirit doesn’t make you, doesn’t force you. He gives you the utterance. You do the speaking. Okay. When that happens, let me know. Okay. And I won’t tell anybody else too.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

Proof Positive That God Wants to give you His Holy Spirit

Proof positive that Jesus wants to give you his Holy Spirit.

Those of you who are regular viewers know that we have been embarking on a series about speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And this will actually be our 23rd little lesson in the series. So I don’t think we’ve ever gone longer in any series than this. We’ve got hours and hours of teaching now. And if you’ve missed the first 22 lessons, it would be great if you’d go back and find the first one, then work your way in this direction so that you’re caught up with the rest of us. And also so that your faith is founded in all of the scriptures that we’ve already looked at so closely. And today I want to look at another very relevant scripture to this topic, words spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

He is the authority. He is the head of the church, he’s he in charge of the body of Christ, and so I’m going to stick with Jesus, even if Jesus contradicts what any theologian, past, present, or future tells me. Any preacher, any pastor, it doesn’t make any difference. Jesus has the final word on every topic. And I found a scripture in Luke’s gospel that if you have any doubts whatsoever, if there is an experience with the Holy Spirit that is subsequent to salvation, because as I’ve said over and over again in this series, if you’re born again, you’ve had an initial experience with the Holy Spirit. Sure, you’re born of the spirit, you’re in dwelt by the spirit. Jesus compared it to a well of water springing up to eternal life. That’s what he told the woman at the well of Samaria. “If you ask of me, I’ll give you living water.”

We’ve covered all that in the past. And so I’m not going to go into it again, but if you have any doubts whether it’s right or appropriate for someone who’s already born of the spirit, already in dwelt by the spirit to ask God for another experience with the Holy Spirit, which the Bible calls being baptized in the Holy Spirit or being filled with the Holy Spirit. If you have ever had any doubts about that and you shouldn’t by now, if you’re following this series, because we’ve looked at the historical record of the Book of Acts, and we’ve seen the experiences of the early church and how they clearly believe that there was a second experience that followed being born of the spirit, called being baptized in the Holy Spirit. If you still have doubts, I’ve got a scripture for you that should erase any doubt today. And it’s found in Luke chapter 11 and verse number 13. But before I read that verse, I want to read another verse that’s similar to it that Jesus said something very similar at a different time. It was actually during the sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. So let’s read that first.

This is from Matthew seven and verse number 11. Jesus said to his disciples who were listening that day, “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.” Now let’s just pause right there and think about Jesus’ logic. Or maybe a better way to say it would be Jesus’ progression of persuasion, progression of thought here. “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.” So even evil people who are basically bad people, even terribly rotten people give gifts to their children. They have that much virtue in them, at least that much. So that’s the comparison.

If you Jesus, speaking to his disciples now, the people who decided to follow him. “If you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.” Now, listen, “how much more will your father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him.” What a fantastic promise and what a beautiful faith builder that verse is, because it helps us to understand how good God is. I love giving gifts to my children. All my children are grown and married and have their own children. I still love giving gifts to my children and now to my grandchildren, because I love them. I’m their father, I’m their grandfather. And so Jesus is saying, you understand that, well, God, who’s not evil at all, who’s perfect in purity and love. How much more will he give good gifts to those who ask him? So all we need to determine is, what kind of good gifts is he talking about there?

All right, well, Jesus said something very similar as recorded in Luke’s gospel. And this is the verse I really wanted us to look at in today’s little lesson, Luke 11 and verse number 13. Listen to this one now. This was spoken on a different occasion, but Jesus borrowed some of the same progression of persuasion. “If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” So instead of saying, give good gifts, he said, give the Holy Spirit. So clearly Jesus believes that the Holy Spirit is a good gift that the father desires to give to his children. And what is so undeniably obvious in this verse is that it, once again affirms the idea that there is a second experience with the Holy Spirit beyond just being born again, because this is a promise to God’s children.

How much more will your heavenly father? Well, God is not the heavenly father of those who are not born again. Oh my goodness, no. Spiritually speaking, those who are not born again, they have Satan as their spiritual father. At one time, Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, you are of your father, the devil. He was a liar from the beginning. And so are you guys. And so only those who have believed in Jesus, repented of their sins and been born again, can honestly say and claim that God is their spiritual father. So this is a promise to those who have already made that step. God is already their spiritual father. They’re already born again. We know they’re already born of the spirit and in dwelt by the spirit, but here’s a promise to those people. “If you being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

That’s a promise only applies to Christians, those who have already been born of the spirit. And apparently according to Jesus, in spite of what any theologian or other preacher or teacher might tell you, apparently Jesus believes it’s right, appropriate, biblical for Christians to ask their heavenly father for the Holy Spirit. And there you have it. It’s inescapable, it’s irrefutable, it’s there in black and white, or if you’ve got a red letter edition of the Bible, it’s there in red and white, the very words of Jesus Christ. And so this entire series of lessons, my primary motivation of course, is to persuade you that it is God’s will for you as a born again believer to then be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And the biblical record and evidence shows us that the initial sign that will accompany that, the biblical sign, is speaking in other tongues.

So there you have it. And of course, this is just one little 10 minute little lesson. We’ve, again, covered quite a few hours of teaching on this already. So this is just one more snippet, but it’s a snippet that adds to the preponderance of the biblical evidence of what is God’s will in this matter. Okay. So hopefully, if you weren’t persuaded until today, now you’ve been persuaded.

In our next couple of lessons, we’re going to look into what Paul said in First Corinthians about speaking in tongues and how it ought to be utilized properly within church gatherings and the difference between receiving the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues and something that’s similar to that, but yet distinct from that. And that is one of the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit called various kinds of tongues, which always, if it’s the true gift, always has the accompanying gift of the interpretation of tongues.

All right. So we’ll look into that and see what Paul has to say. Thank you so very much for joining me.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.