What is it? How does one get Baptized by the Holy Spirit?
ACTS 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from JERUSALEM, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
ACTS 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in JERUSALEM, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now not only is God a living God and a Spirit, but Jesus was fully human and fully God and He said He would come back to them as Spirit also.
JOHN 1:33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which BAPTIZETH with the Holy Ghost.
JOHN 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I WILL COME TO YOU.
JOHN 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another COMFORTER, that he may abide with you for ever;
JOHN 14:26 But the COMFORTER, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
JOHN 15:26 But when the COMFORTER is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
JOHN 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the COMFORTER will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
It is very clear now that Jesus Christ is the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, which is God. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are 3 persons, yet the same, and all God. The disciples were given a command, to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the power, which is the Holy Spirit, The Spirit of Truth, The Spirit of Jesus Christ.
RO 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that RAISED up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that RAISED up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
1 CO 6:14 And God hath both RAISED up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.
We do see clearly that we need His Spirit to dwell in us and to raise us up to be with the Lord. The question now brought before us is: How does the Holy Spirit get into us? And, is it truly necessary to have the Holy Spirit in us to be saved? I will show you the answer to those questions in just a bit. Now many people teach about salvation and sadly many people are not taught it all. Thus those of us who are Christians are called to spread the Gospel, or the "Good News" about the salvation of Christ Jesus. The problem is that there seems to be many different teachings out there. Now my main focus on this teaching is the Holy Spirit and His impact on salvation. It is my intent with this teaching to show anyone who reads this that the truth about salvation and or getting "Saved" must include the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many teach salvation without the need for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You would have to admit that if there were a war going on between good and evil, that the evil one would not want people to know the truth or the whole truth about salvation and that deceiving people would be top priority for the devil and his ranks. The more versions of the supposed truth out there, the harder it would be for the real truth to stand out. I think maybe the devil thinks like that, and sadly enough, his lies have deceived way too many. But with the verses in scripture, the truth can be seen easily, and just like Jesus did, the devil was sent on his way when Jesus used scripture to thwart off his lies. We need to do the same. One thing that I will attest to. You will need to read all of these scriptures that I am quoting for yourself. You will need to read the entire bible for yourself and you will need to have the knowledge of scriptures for yourself so that in times of trouble, you will not be duped be the devil. So here are reasons and truths I wish to share with you. And here are some very popular verses that are quoted and taught on as a single thing that you need to do to be saved. But what I hope you realize is that All these scriptures are true and every single verse is profitable for doctrine, especially for the teachings of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as you read these, think about doctrines and teachings that you have heard around just one of these scriptures.
We are saved by grace
EPH 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
We are saved by Faith
2TI 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We are saved by Believing
RO 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
We are saved by Hope
RO 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
We are saved by confessing
RO 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth CONFESSION is made unto salvation.
We are saved by calling on the Lord
RO 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
We are saved by repenting
2CO 7:10 For godly SORROW worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the SORROW of the world worketh death.
We are saved by following doctrine
1TI 4:16 Take heed unto thyself, and unto the DOCTRINE; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
We are saved by knowing the Holy Scriptures and Faith in them
2TI 3:15 And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto SALVATION through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
We are saved by the Mercy of God
TIT 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his MERCY he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
We are saved by obedience
HEB 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that OBEY him;
So which is it? What are we saved by? How are we saved? Do we have to do anything at all? Can't we just believe? Say a prayer? Exactly! Now you can see why there are so many versions of salvation out there that the devil uses to confuse those who are seeking the truth. Let me ask you another question. If back in Jesus' day, or the Apostles day when they were preaching the gospel of Salvation, there weren't really too many variations of the truth out there yet. But even if there were just a few, how would an ordinary person know which version of the salvation gospel to believe? The disciples preached the gospel of truth and God backed them up with POWER confirming the true word in which they preached!
Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and CONFIRMING the word with signs following. Amen. The scriptures you just read are all true, however each one of them was never designed to be an exclusive doctrine. All the words of the bible are a marriage. God is Love. The words in His bible are Love. And just like a marriage there needs to be Love. They just don't coexist; they are literally married to each other in the Love of God.
How can we be saved without the Grace of God? We can't. Precept upon Precept, upon Precept is what we are taught.
ISA 28:10 For PRECEPT must be upon PRECEPT, PRECEPT upon PRECEPT; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: Precept number 1 - Without the Grace and Mercy of God we could not even begin to be saved, there would be zero ways. Precept number 2 - Now that there is a way, we need to believe in that way, and Jesus is that way. Precept number 3. We need faith and hope, God chose to use faith. Next we need to repent and be obedient. And so you can see that rather than taking all of those scriptures and making only one of them the way to salvation, they all need to be adhered to. So where does the Holy Spirit come in?
Well we need to look at just a few more scriptures to finally prove this point.
Mark 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
So now look at this scripture, this one says in order to be SAVED, we need to believe AND be Baptized. Should we throw this one out? Or,
should we add it to the list? Incorporate it with all the others? Yes! I will tell you that in order to be Baptized, you need to believe!
Believe - this is a word that is often talked about, but rarely explained. What does it mean to fully believe? Hint: There will be action
involved where you actually do things, it is not something that just happens in your mind only. And that is where alot of people have come
short. Just Believe and you will be saved they say. But their version of "Believe" is not correct, had no action behind it.
Ok, on with the lesson, We now know we need to Believe and be baptized, along with ALL the other things we have stated already. But you
will NOT be SAVED without the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Yes you heard correctly. Flat out not getting saved, not going to heaven.
RO 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the SPIRIT, if so be that the SPIRIT of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the SPIRIT of Christ, he is none of his.
Whether you are saved by grace, saved by believing in Jesus, saved by faith, hope and the mercy of God which are very much ALL true, you cannot ignore the rest of the scriptures. In Romans 8:9 it is clear that without the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you are not of Christ. So the importance now rests on the question, how does the Spirit of God dwell in us?
Some people teach that the moment you believe, you automatically receive the gift of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Just like that, at that very instance. But that reasoning would not include this scripture:
AC 19:2 He said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
EPH 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
And then there is this proof.
AC 8:13 Then SIMON himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. Now the above scripture states that Simon "believed" and states "when he was baptized" this must be a different baptism not the Holy Ghost Baptism and he received it after he believed, not at the instance of believing, Because later Simon tries to buy the power. Why would he try to buy the power if he already had it? Later when Peter and John arrived they prayed that the new believers would receive the Holy Spirit. So Simon could not have been given that gift as of yet as verse 16 states. But he was a believer and did not have the Holy Spirit.
AC 8:14-17 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
AC 8:18 And when SIMON saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
I have to now ask you this. If Simon SAW SOMETHING that he wanted to pay money for when Peter and John were laying hands on people and baptizing them with the Holy Spirit, what do you think he saw? Well we don't know what exactly, but he saw something, something that he wanted desperately and to pay for it and that something was evidence of the power of the Holy Ghost. When someone says that they have been baptized with the Holy Ghost, ask them what it felt like, ask them what powerful thing happened? Anyone who could not answer that very specifically may have been deceived into thinking they have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit but in fact they may not. We should also know them by their fruits. The fruit of the Holy Spirit should be evident, however Simon could not have seen their immediate fruit, he had to have seen some indwelling power. Fruit will surely be noticed later. People will change dramatically, they will have a fervency about the truth and the word, they will be on fire! The Holy Spirit will show them of things to come. The bible says signs and wonders will follow those who believe. And below we see some very important scriptures in John 14.
JOHN 14:12-23
12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;
17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23Jesus answered and said unto him, if a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
If we Love God, then we will be obedient to His commands, upon which the Lord gives us the promise that He and His Father will dwell in us and will MANIFEST Himself to us. The Father and Jesus will make their abode with those who Love Him. This is very clear. Now there is a verse that states, "Lay hands on no man suddenly". The Disciples layed hands on believers in the beginning to impart into them the gift of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But in every case the people receiving the baptism were believers, were obedient and Loved God. That is why we are not to lay hands on anyone suddenly to impart this gift because the Holy Spirit cannot go into those who do not Love God and who are not obedient to God. So with that said, how do we get this very important, seal of the Holy Spirit in us?
The answer is in scripture. Above we just read to be obedient and to Love God and He will then dwell in us. At what moment does this happen? For each person it is different. It could happen soon after you believe or it could take quite a while. It could happen in many different ways this MANIFESTATION Jesus spoke of. We also need to remember all the past scriptures about salvation, like Believing, Faith, Hope, Call upon God, Repenting, etc...but there is one other very HUGE THING WE CAN DO that God commanded us to do. In Luke Chapter 11, one of the followers asked Jesus, How should we pray? And for many of us, we should know that Jesus gave us a prayer that we call, the Lord's Prayer. Most of us can recite it, and depending on which version of the holy bible you have, we know to ask for forgiveness of trespasses or debts and to forgive others of their trespasses or debts. But do you know what Jesus tells us to pray for after He gives us the Lord's Prayer? In the very same dialogue Jesus gives us an important parable and then a command. If it is included in the "Teach us to pray" scriptures, then why have so many people not prayed for what Jesus tells us to in Luke 11?
Luke 11
1And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3Give us day by day our daily bread.
4And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
Jesus tells us in these verses in Luke 11 to ASK FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT, and to be PERSISTANT (importunity) with your asking. You also need to BELIEVE you are going to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit when you pray and ask for it. If you are not being obedient to God, would you have confidence in your asking? Probably not. If you were a disobedient child, would you go to your Dad and ask him for 50 dollars to go to the fair honestly believing that you would actually get the 50 bucks? No, you would be thinking, uh uh, I am not even going to ask, because I know I have been bad and I know what dad is going to say. But if you had been obedient and doing your chores, and had been getting good grades and helping around the house, what would your confidence level be at that time? Exactly. Our walk with God is about getting rid of the flesh slowly becoming like Jesus and that does not happen overnight. It is a process. Just like Precept upon Precept is with our learning of scripture, we also become cleaner as we continue our walk with God. Each person will not have the same amount of faith or belief as another, and so each of our walks are different as God leads us. There really is a lot more to this. This is just the basics of what God has taught us. But ask yourself some more questions like, Why do we not see a powerful church today? Why do we not see the truth being preached and acted out like we see in the book of Acts? If signs and wonders WILL follow those who believe, why don't we see them more often following so called "believers"? If Paul said he didn't come preaching with words of wisdom of man but in power, then where is the POWER of the church? The answer is...........The Holy Spirit! Now please do beware, the devil is out there trying to fake the true power of God so we will be duped. You need to be sharpening your sword and in the word always to be able to have the discernment you need to fight the enemy. I pray this teaching will assist you in receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit which is promised to us by God. It is the seal of approval and redemption from God.
EPH 1:13
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were SEALED with that Holy Spirit of promise,
2CO 1:22
Who hath also SEALED us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
If you have ever purchase a home, there is something called EARNEST money. It is a good faith promise of what your intentions are by putting down EARNEST money. It is clear and serious that you do indeed plan on redeeming and paying the rest of the full purchase price. And that is exactly what Jesus is telling us. He is giving us his down payment, his EARNEST money in the form of His Holy Spirit, and HE is SEALING US with that promise so that we know that we know that HE will come and fully purchase the rest when He returns.
EPH 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are SEALED unto the day of redemption.
And what a glorious day that is going to be! Now I can't tell you or anyone that they for sure can do this and this and receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I can't give you a specific recipe to follow and then say, that will do it. You have to walk this out with God. He is a loving caring God and He has given us His promise of this. Ask He says. Be obedient He says. Love Him He says. You will need to get into His Word and walk out your salvation, it even says with fear and trembling! It says in the Bible that signs and wonders will follow those who believe, you would be changed dramatically. You would have fruit. You would suffer persecution. EXAMINE YOURSELVES He says. Please do this. Examine yourselves to see if you truly have Christ living inside of you. Without Him, His Holy Spirit, you are none of His. Why would He have us ASK for it, if we receive it automatically? The disciples didn't. When I asked God and then waited for it, I knew I was going to get it, I just didn't know when. I continued in faith waiting, and just thinking, okay, any day now, pretty soon, and then, about 50 days after I asked, I received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and it was Supernaturally AMAZING! It was the most powerful experience of my life. And when that happened, I felt power, I felt a power come into me and the hand of God upon me and I felt love like I had never experienced. I will never forget it! And that experience is awaiting every Christian and is promised to every Christian! But you don't just get it without Loving God and that means obedience. It may sound like a works doctrine but I have cited all the scripture above in this teaching as proof. You cannot deny the truth. You can come into agreement with it, or not. But ultimately when you examine yourself, as commanded in the bible, you will see these things I am saying are true and they will happen as the Lord has promised. I leave you now with 2 last things, 2 more litmus tests if you will about the topic of examining yourself. Other than signs following you, supernatural gifts being given to you and you being persecuted because of your boldness to share Christ with anyone and everyone, it says in the Bible that we are either gathering with Christ or scattering. Gathering is an action word, it's a verb. Are you Gathering...actively? Because if you are not, then.... and 2nd, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. If that is true, which it is, then what do you talk about mostly? What do you talk about with your co-workers mostly? What do you talk about with your friends and family? Well, you talk about what you love and care about. Ask yourself this, Do I talk about God the most to my friends and family and to others that I know? If the answer is No, and the answer is sports, or fishing or soap operas, or kids, or job issues, then how could God be number one in your heart? God is supposed to be number 1, is He? If not, repent, then make Him number 1 in your heart today. God Bless you and I pray that this teaching helps you to examine yourself and find the truth! If you have a testimony to share about your Holy Spirit Baptism, will you please share your testimony with me. If this teaching has helped you in anyway, will you share it with me? Will you then share it with others for the GLORY OF GOD? Please email me,
Michael Flipp
All for His glory and none other, In Jesus Name, Amen
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