Jesus Baptises in The Holy Spirit | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

Teaching a little bit on some fundamentals today, but it's

a it's a it's some fundamentals which I think and

I believe. Sometimes it's not always taught. But I want

to just lay down. I'm going to be talking a

lot about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but before

I even get there, I want to talk about the

full Gospel. Okay, I'm going to give you. I'm going

to paint a picture, the picture of I believe, and

I hope it's going to be each and everyone of

our journey, because all of us are on a journey.

If you think that by becoming a believer we have

already arrived, I've got news for you, and you'll only

just begun. That is the reality of it. Sometimes we think, Okay,

it is thirty I became Christian. I see Christian.

That's it.

Life is going to be smooth sailing all the way.

If only it was like that, But it's not. You know,

your journey only just begun, and like any long journey,

I pray that we are prepared for it. That means

we've got to make sure that we are well equipped,

well stocked. I mean when I travel to soon I

Siput and we drive for hours into the jungle, we

don't go with half a tank of fuel. We definitely

try not to go with any vehicle that is electric based,

because there's nothing to charge inside the jungle. You know,

lots of patrols and as Jerry kirs, because we've got

to prepare with all the available resources. And that's what

I want us to also realize that as we begin

our journey, and some of you may have been on

this journey long enough or a long time, but very

important for us to always be prepared for the journey ahere.

So I want us to see that picture because if

you don't see that picture, then you might not catch

everything that I'm trying to share. But this is what

I want us to catch. So the question I always

get is what is the good news? What is the gospel?

What is it that we've witness to people? What do

we share?

And I don't know.

Sometimes we share it in a very simplistic way. And

if you share it so simplistically, I can just go

on and tell people you better believe in Jesus not,

you're going to burn in hell. And sometimes that is

the simplistic way of sharing the Gospel. It's almost like

sharing it as an insurance policy for heaven and make

it easy believe in Jesus.

If not, we doom.

You know, you will produce the fear of Hell in people,

which is not a bad thing. I'm not saying it's

a bad thing because really in today's day and age,

we don't really preach, talk and teach about hell much.

But if you don't believe in hell as a believer,

as a Christian, and something is also fundamentally not right.

I think as Christians as believers, if you believe in heaven,

you have to believe in hell. If you believe in God,

you have to believe in the devil as well. You

cannot just brought that out of your knowledge, but this

is the reality of it. It can produce a fear

of hell, but not necessarily the fear of the Lord.

What we need in still in every believer is the

fear of the Lord, because that is essentially the beginning

of all wisdom. And so we know when Jesus came

to the earth, it was to reign over it as

a new kingdom. He stepped into this world. He came

two thousand years ago. Sometimes we think, what's the big deal,

what did Jesus do? He didn't really impact if you

think about it, the mining Jesus stepped foot into this world.

He changed time.

It came from a bees to ad. You know how

significant that is. Someone if he was just merely a

human or a bloke who walked this earth two thousand

years ago, was he actually any one of us? Are

we actually able to change time? To split time into two?

But he did that, and Jesus came. When he came,

he came to in a way, re establish Heaven on earth.

That was his purpose. That's why we always and in

the scriptures and in the Gospel, you always hear them

talking about the Kingdom of heaven.

The Kingdom of Heaven is here.

It's times we want the kingdom or yeah, what kingdom

still looks like the world that we live in, what

you're talking about, it looks the same. You know, I've

got kings and I've got no princes, and I've got

all these different rulers and principalities in this world. Now,

what has Jesus essentially is established? Well, look at it

this way. When Jesus came, he brought with him the

kingdom of heaven, because we know he is Jesus, our king,

and he ruse and reign over heaven. That's the reality

of it. He has re established it here on earth.

And it's not just something that we cannot experience, because

sometimes when we think about it or we will experience

the fullness of Jesus's kingdom or heaven eventually when we die.

That is the only time in which we will know

the realities of all the good things that Jesus has

told us about. But I choose to believe that Jesus,

when he came two thousand years ago, has already established it,

which means, yes, we acknowledge it has started, it has

been inaugurated. That mister, kingdom is now and here you

can experience it. Has it been fully consumated, Has it

been fully established, fully completed? Not yet, because the scriptures

tell us that one day he will return again to

complete the work that he has begun. But that does

not mean that we cannot experience Heaven on earth. And

this is what I want us to understand. Sometimes when

we read the scriptures, it always talks about everlasting life.

We love it.

No eternal and everlasting life. That is the promise that

we have in Christ Jesus, you will have eternal and

everlasting life. But when you think of eternal and everlasting life,

you are looking at it in the afterlife, after the

life in which you live in this world. But the

scriptures actually also talk about abundant life. Abundant life, and

abundant life is something in which I believe we can

experience even right now. That's why I believe us. It's

how we carry our faith in our lives, how we

walk with it, how we journey we've God because you know,

I've met people who have absolutely nothing but years. God

is in their lives, and there is joy in their lives,

and there is just the simplest faith, hope and love

that allows them to smile and love and praise God

day after day after day, even though their circumstances may

seem far worse than what I have ever experienced or

gone through. And sometimes I wonder, what is this? It's

either the cuckoo they cuckoo, or but it's a real joy.

You are able to sense a real joy in a

person's life because that is a person who understands what

abundant life. It's a person who understands that I can

appropriate all the resources of God into my life and

apply it and live in a way how God wants

us to live our lives. Blessed are those who are

continuously happy in the Lord, despite persecution, despite hardship. Right,

and so I want us to know that eternal life,

the abundant life that God has promised us in scripture,

is something in which it can be gain here and now.

It's not something in which we only look forward to

at the end of the road. Heaven on earth can

be experienced now, not just something we wait for in

the final future. So to be part of Jesus's kingdom,

we must therefore be follow us of Jesus. That's something

that is so important. And to be a follower of Jesus,

we need to be saved by Jesus first again. In Bahasa,

we call him Juru Salamad, which means he is our savior.

He is the one that comes to save us. But

sometimes we are always crutching. I hate I wonder what

is He's saving us from because I'm still going through

all the different challenges in life That's why a lot

of people get frustrated.

Also because they are.

Like no change, so still the same one felt the

nice experience on me in one of the conferences, Ah

saying nice songs. No, but until and unless we know

what Jesus came to save us from, it will mean

nothing to us. And so what do you think Jesus

came to save you from? And you want to shout

out besides those who have really heard it this morning,

what did Jesus come to save us from sin?

He came to save us from sin. You know why

is it so difficult.

It's so difficult even for us to acknowledge that we

are sinners. It's one of the hardest things to do.

Why because of pride and prejudice. This is just how

life works. None of us would like to say that, yes,

I'm a sinner, like it's not something that is natural.

But the truth is Jesus came to save us from

sin so that we can be reconcile with God the

Father and not separated from him. It is sin that

separated us from God. And therefore salvation or being safe

simply means that we are being salvaged from sin. Think

of a big landfill. Okay, a landfill is a place

where we patrol garbage. Okay, technically all of us, all

of us have got sin in our lives. All of

us have got garbage in our lives.

But you know, there are people who.

Walk through the landfills and pick things up which they

believe they can still up cycle or recycle or do

something basically to salvage it, so that there is use

and there is purpose. And that is what the scriptures

have always been telling us. All of us are made

in the image of God. It is sin that has

broken that image somehow. But yet yet God wants to

salvage us. He wants to save us again. He wants

to salvage us from sin. And so that is what

it means. Salvation is being salvaged from sins, rather than

just being saved from hell.

Science we always think save from hell God insurance. You know.

That's why I say when you when you preach it

in a very simple way, you think that I'm safe from.

Guarantee no hell.

But the letter being saved from hell is actually the

result of the former, is the result of being salvaged

from sin. That ultimately we will be saved from hell.

But this is the biggest problem that we all have

as humans. The thing is, many of us want to

be saved from hell, but few want to be saved

from their sin. It's the truth is in all of us,

it's in need. In fact, most want to enjoy the

pleasures of sin and escape the penalty. That's what we

all hope to do, is like, so fun, let me

see how to fool circumvent all our lives.

That's why I do that.

So all the time, no signs, traffic jam and you're

trying to find the easiest way out, know and then,

but that is not how it should be. If you

study the scriptures, you know, right from the beginning the apostles,

when they shared and when they taught, they were very

concerned to make sure that the hearers, those who hear

what they're trying to share, realize that they should get

on the way, not just arrive at a destination. You

are moving on a journey. And the way it tells

us how to live righteously beginning from now, not just

tells us that look, just believe crazy and then no problem,

you won't go to hell. It's not that they went

through steps with the earliest believers, guiding them, teaching them,

encouraging them. And the encouragement is always so that they

focus on life, not just at what happens at death.

Sometimes that's how we preach, and that's how we share,

and people forget that a big part of our life

is actually living it, not waiting for it to end.

That's the reality of it. And this is the reason

why the beginning of salvation is always looked upon as

a journey leading us to being saved from sin. Ultimately,

we will all be saved from sin. But it takes

certain steps, and these are the steps in which I

want to show us and encourage us. You know, it

takes repentance, it takes faith. I believe, it takes baptism

in water. I believe it takes being baptized by Jesus

in the Holy Spirit. Where do I get this is

in Hebrews chapter six. You can see some of these

steps that have been laid down, and this will give

us the best start for our journey in.

Life for Christ.

That's how I look at it, and I pray and

I believe this is how scriptures have painted it, and

so it is important for us. Salvation always begins with repentance.

Repentance is basically admitting that we have been on the

wrong path and we want to turn around and get

on the right path. Repentance is different from regret. Regret

is you feel sorry for yourself. Repentance is different from remorse.

Remorses you feel sorry for someone else that you have

maybe harm or did something against. Repentance is you feel

sorry towards God. How many of us actually feel sorry

for wronging God. Many of us take God for granted

more than anything else. But true repentance is when we

actually say God, I'm sorry enough to stop doing what

hurts you. It's not the easiest thing. You think about it,

because what is the thing that hurts God the most?

Sin? If I tell you what constitutes as.

Sin, you'll be very worried or Laziness constitutes as sin,

and angry thought constitutes as sin. Last, even though I'm

not doing anything with my hands and my other organs,

just with my eyes constitutes as sin. All of us

are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God.

That is the reality of it. When we repent, and

true repentance tells us that we will be sorry enough

to stop doing what is not right in God's eyes,

and so repentance is an important step of salvation. The

other process in salvation is faith, because the Scripture tells

us that we are all saved by grace true faith.

We are not saved by faith. Sometimes we think because

we believe we are safe. No, we are actually saved

by God's grace. It is God's grace and only his

grace upon our lives that we are safe. Nothing we

can do, but it is true faith. So what we

need to sort of do is to believe, and that

is very, very important faith. And this is where I'm

gonna take a little bit of time to explain some things.

Faith is composed of three faces. To a certain extent,

is expressed in the past, is expressed in the present,

is expressed in the future. Why do I say that?

When you think about it, the word faith and faithfulness

in the Scripture are the same word.

I can't remember what is it in.

Greek, It's be still pastic or something along those lines.

Faith and faith ful the size. You wonder, why are

they the same way? Because they actually could know the

same meaning. You have to have faith, You have to

be faithful all the way to the end. To be

faithful without faith doesn't make sense. So ultimately what this

tells me is faith is in operation all the time,

is continuous. Whosoever who believes in Christ shall not perish,

but have everlasting life. That means that you can actually

stop believing at any point of time, because it's a

continuous faith whosoever who believes and continues to believe. And

so you have to look at your faith as comprising

of a continuous movement. And the Jews, the way they

think of timeline is always lineal, and it's always moving

forward when it's not sircaitious, it's going forward past, present,

and future.

And so by.

Faith all of us have been saved from the penalty

of sin. That's what Scripture tells us in Romans chapter six,

verse twenty three. That is what the term justification means.

We are justified by faith. That means by faith, when

we believe we are actually made right, we are declared right.

The word justification is a legal term in the court

of law. When the word is used, it is essentially

to mean that this person is made right. Whatever that

he did is right, and he has justified it.

Uh.

You know, I shared with the early morning service in

the Bible. For some of the pitchmes in Papua New Guinea,

it's called the language that they speak. It's called Pigeon English.

It's basically truncated English or English in a short form

and simple form and justified. They don't have the big

word justify. How to explain justified to people with limited English.

It is actually translated as Jesus when he says, Jesus

justifies you, Jesus, he looks at me and he says,

I'm all right. Isn't that the most beautiful thing to hear?

When Jesus looks at us and he says.

You are all right? And that happens by faith.

By faith, we are saved from the penalty of sin,

because how many of you all know what the penalty

of sin is. The penalty of sin is death. By faith,

we are being saved from the power of sin. You'll

realize that that the power of sin is at work

in our lives because we live in this big, dirty world,

and this world that somehow there's princes and principalities of

evil that continues to govern this world, and that is

the reality of it.

The power of sin is still working in our lives.

Sometimes we think I became Christianity, Well I've still got

all this temptation in life. I thought everything would be smooth,

saying how many are if you actually experience that, You've

got a lot of heaven in your life right now,

Maybe you're a ready in heaven.

But the reality for.

All of us is we are still walking this world

and it is still going to be by faith that

we are being saved from the power of sin. That

is what the word sanctification means. We are being sanctified

by faith. The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, which basically

just means day by day helping us to be separated

from sin. Do you know it's the spirit of God

that continues to convict our hearts to tell us don't

do that. Sometimes no, we want to do all the

wrong things. But there is God's spirit at work in

our lives, and that is something that is so important

because ultimately, by faith, we will be saved from the

presence of sin. Because you realize this, even an ounce

of sin, the most little tiny bit of sin in

your life, leads to death. Ultimately, there can be no

sin in God because He is blameless and spotless. And

so sometimes we think, how is that ever going to happen?

And this is what I'm telling you, It will happen

by faith that you believe. Jesus has already justified you,

made you right, He is sanctifying you, He is getting

you ready to ultimately be able to experience the full

glory of God. If you cannot see and picture and

understand that Jesus can work in your life, you will

always doubt your salvation because in you you'll be wondering.

I don't think I can ever change.

But if we remain the same, we will never end

up being where God wants us to be. We cannot

remain the same. And the only way to not remain

the same is when we believe that Jesus has given

us a new life. That's why every believer who is

new in the faith is called a born again believer.

You are birthed again, you are new, You're no longer

all everything that you go to. Our talk about what

the baptism is about saying goodbye to the old. What

a baptism is saying goodbye to your own life. As

I come up, I'm a new person. That's why it's

so important for us to go through this step, this

other salvation process in which God rescues us human beings

from sin that is in our lives, saves us from

the penalty, saves us from the power of sin that

is at work, saves us from the presence of sin.

That means, by faith we are we were, actually we are,

and we will be safe because God will help us

to overcome by God's grace.

Through our faith. Does that make sense?

And this is why a follower of Jesus is an

individual who firstly repents towards God, the father of their sins,

and then he believes he has faith in Jesus Christ

because again we are safe by God's grace true faith,

and then the follow of Christ continues to make a

vow of obedience to Christ to go through what the baptism.

Sometimes we think is that really necessary?

Why not?

Is my question? If Jesus went through it, do you

think it's just a simple act that carries no weight

and no meaning. There is something that is very powerful

when we obey Christ. That is why the commission that

is given in Matthew chapter twenty eight, it says, go

therefore and make this disciples. How do you make disciples

by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit, and then you teach them

the ways of the Lord. It is actually a commandment,

but a lot of us take it as it's not

the most important thing in our Christian work, or our

Christian life or our Christian journey.

Why is it not important?

It is my question, because it is basically an act

of obedience, and when we say yes, Lord, it is

going to be my absolute privilege to be baptized. That's

why I've never been to a baptism service where the

person who shares is not grateful to God for saving

him or her. When they share their testimonies, it's powerful

because they truly know that they were they were not worthy,

but year God found them worthy to save them, to

extend a hand to help me. So don't stop, don't

stop just repenting and believing, continue on to go down

that path to be what a baptized is powerful. And

then I also believe that we need to receive the

Holy Spirit through Jesus the baptizer. This is the way

for us to be set free from sins. This is

what I'm going to be talking and teaching a little

bit more in a short whiles time. But we can

be baptized by Jesus in holy spirit. That's what the

scripture tells us. Basically, what I'm trying to pain for

us to see is that the entire Trinity is actually

at work in our salvation, God the Father. We are

repenting towards him, Jesus. We are actually believing in what

he has done. If you don't believe that Jesus went

to the cross, then there's no faith. Actually, if you

think Jesus was just a blog who walk the earth

two thousand years ago and then he died, and then

I'm not too sure whether he was resurrected or not,

which was all the stories that everyone tries to remove

both his humanity and his divinity. You take away any

part of who Jesus was, Entirely the gospel falls. But

the truth is Jesus is God and Jesus is man.

He is fully God and he's fully man. He's not

half half of each fully god fully men. And he

operated and functioned in amazing roles that really completed the

whole Gospel. And so the entire trinity. Eventually we need

to receive the spirit because it is the spirit that

Jesus promises us. So the process can be found in

the scriptures. Many of us, when discussing what it means

to be saved, we have this tendency of always seeking

what is the minimum? Tell me the minimum to be safe.

That's all I want to do, because as long as

I gain admission into Heaven outing settled, it is sorted.

But why do we want to find the easiest way? No,

many of us actually stop at repenting and believing. That's

why we have actually many followers of Christ who haven't

even gone through water baptism, which I tell them you

must do. You know, in the Middle East, in places

where going to water baptism is actually something that can

cause them to die for their faith, because it is

literally them saying I believe it is a public declaration

of their faith. In a way, if we don't want

to go to water baptism, someone can actually say that,

are you afraid to confess that you believe in Jesus?

Are you denying Christ? It's almost like that. But I'm

not here to put anyone down. Really, No, I want

to encourage us to not just seek for the minimum,

but to know and to realize that it's not just

an insurance against hell. I don't just want to have

this feeling of assurance that I'm going to heaven. What

we want to do is very important. We need to

accept Jesus not just as our savior. A lot of

us know we want only to accept Jesus as our

savior to make us write, Jesus, I want you to

make me right, because that's what you said you did

on the cross, and because I'm right enough. But we

need to also accept him as Lord Lord. Jesus, you

are not just my savior. You are my lord Lord.

Means it's not just we get him to accept us

as right, but we are to live right for him.

It's two different things.

A lot of us don't mind Jesus as our savior,

but when it's time for us to call him lord lord,

it's not the easiest sometimes for us to actually acknowledge that. Basically,

many of us want to trust him without obeying him,

but it's trust and obey. They are a dichoto me

that goes together trust and obey, Trust and obey. Here

is where I want to challenge us. Instead of just

knowing and fulfilling the minimum admission to heaven. Why don't

we endeavor to discover the maximum acceptance of a saved

life here on earth, because that is the only way

in which we will experience heaven on earth the fullness

of the Gospel in us as we live our lives.

That means we choose to trust Him and obey His teachings.

If we genuinely want to follow Jesus, we would seek

the maximum resources available in God to live a righteous

life because we are going to need it to live

an obedient life. It's so difficult right to be obedient,

to follow after God's face. It's not impossible. That is

what I want us to know. It is made possible.

So don't sit down hear what I have to say

and say, oh, whatever Elder is teaching and preaching is impossible.

I will never be able to achieve that. No, you

are already there. You are all I believe. If you

repent and believe, you're on your way. But what I'm

saying is, don't stop, keep going. Don't just stop and

repenting and believe, because sometimes we like to draw the example.

It's all that is needed.

That was what the thief on the cross hanging next

to Jesus needed to be in paradise with him, but

his life ended on that day. And like I said,

if you repent it and you really believe in Jesus

and then you die. Now I believe you are in paradise.

But if you have a whole life orheat of you,

would you just stop there? At the basic minimum? No,

continue to carry out these steps of obedience, because this

is what Christ taught us to do. He says, don't

just repent, don't just believe. He also gave us some ordinances.

He told us go go and be water baptized. It

is a command. He didn't stop there. He also told

us look, desire to be filled with the Holy spirit.

Because the scriptures record that Jesus wants to baptize us

in holy spirit. Do you know it is Jesus that

baptizes us in holy spirit? That's recorded in Mark chapter one,

verse eight. In metthew chapter three, it also says this,

And this is John the Baptist saying, I baptize with

water those who repent of their sins and turn to God.

But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am,

so much greater that I'm not worthy even to be

his slave. And carry his sandals. He will baptize you

with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Not just in

Mark and Matthew. In Luke chapter three, it says someone

is coming soon who is greater than I am. Again,

this is John the Baptist, so much greater that I'm

not even worthy to be his slave, and untie the

straps of his sandals.

He will baptize you.

With the Holy Spirit and with fire. In John chapter one,

it says the one on whom you see the spirit

descend and rest is the one who will baptize with.

The Holy Spirit.

That Jesus is the one that baptizes with holy spirit.

So what does it mean when we read the gospels

and all of them recorded that Jesus will baptize his

followers in holy spirit. Let's understand this a little bit more,

because it's where I want to bring us. This is

an area of our birding process into this journey sometimes

gets a little bit stuck or stock, depending on how

you look at it. You see, the word Christ means

anointed one, okay, And that's why Jesus when he announced

himself in the Gospels, he quoted Isaiah chapter sixty one,

verse one. We say the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord

is upon me. For the Lord has anointed me to

bring the good news to the poor. He has sent

me to comfort the broken hearted and to proclaim that

captives will be released and prisoners will be free.

For it was so important.

To the Gospel that the one anointed by the spirit

would then anoyed others. This is the only way in

which Jesus was able to multiply his ministry through his followers.

He passed on the blessing that he first received the anointing.

And that's why Jesus said in John chapter fourteen, I

tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will

do the same works I have done, and even greater works,

because I am going to be with the Father. And

you're wondering, what's he talking about. What he says is

going to be with the Father, but we will still

do greater works. Who are we going to depend He

didn't stop there, because he says this, if you love me,

obey my commandments, obedience, and I will ask the Father

and he will give you another advocate who will never

leave you.

Amen.

Hallelujah, we have today with us the advocate. The other word,

I believe in Greek and I may be right. Thing

it's called paraclectos, that is the term that is given

for the Holy Spirit, and basically an advocate. Again, I

go into the law sometimes because I'm a trained lawyer.

But what does an advocate do.

An advocate actually stands next to you as you stand trial,

defends you. That is what that advocate does, and Jesus

is also doing. It is just that he can't be

beside you right now because where is Jesus. He sated

at the right hand of the Father. But you know

he's also advocating for you because whenever you do something wrong,

he shows Father, God, Father, God, the other hands that

bought the sins of the world, that bought Rachel's sins.

I took it upon myself, so forget her past, forget

her sins because she believes in me. That is what

Jesus is doing on our behalf. He is also interceeding

next to the Father, but he's not here with us

because he says he will live with us to advocate

the Holy Spirit. And this is also the reason why

the apostles Peter, John and Paul. If you read the

scriptures in the Book of Acts they will not content

with a response to the Gospel until the Holy Spirit

was received in the lives of the followers of Christ.

You see some of these records. X Chapter eight. I'll

read some way to you again.

I'm okay if you don't want to take what I

have to say, but go back and read the scriptures

on your own, and I believe the Holy Spirit will

help you understand the scriptures as well. But in X

Chapter eight, fourteen to seventeen says is when the apostles

in Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had accepted

God's message, they sent Peter and John there. As soon

as they arrived, they prayed for these new believers to

receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had not yet

come upon any of them, for they had only been

baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter

and John laid their hands upon these believers, and they

received the Holy Spirit. Okay, that's X Chapter eight, X

Chapter nineteen, verses one to six.

It says this. While Apollos was.

In Corinth, he traveled through the interior regions until he

reached Ephesus on the coast, where he found several believers

did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe, He

asked them. No, they replied, we haven't even heard that

there is a Holy Spirit. Then what baptism did you experience,

he asked, and they replied, the baptism of John. Paul said,

John's baptism called for repentance from but John himself told

the people to believe in the one who would come later,

meaning Jesus. As soon as they heard this, they were

baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when

Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came

on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied.

You see, the early apostles will only contend that the

believers had experienced the fullness of the Gospel when they

were convinced that Jesus had baptized the believers in Holy Spirit.

Why do I say that, because they asked questions that

was very obvious. One, you know the Holy Spirit, And

I don't think they were asking rhetorical questions that may

no need to answer. And no, they were asking is

either you know or you don't know. That means you

can actually tell whether the person knows the Holy Spirit

or don't know the Holy Spirit. It's something that is

obvious and evident. That means when Jesus baptizes in Holy Spirit,

what he is essentially giving to believe believers is the

gift of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit.

So what is spirit baptism? Okay, Firstly, the Holy Spirit

was a gift promised by Jesus himself both before his

death you see it in John chapter seven and even

after his resurrection in x chapter one. Jesus promised the

Holy Spirit. It was not something that was made up

or no one knew what was going to happen. In fact,

Jesus was only repeating promises already made by God the Father,

true the prophets of Israel. You see records of the

Holy Spirit or the coming of the Holy Spirit in Joel,

you see it in Ezekiel, you see in Isaiah. Okay,

there's a lot to quote, but I won't quote all

them all. But trust me is there. If not, don't

believe me, go and read the scriptures. I want to

encourage you all to do that. The gift of the

Holy Spirit is a grace gift. That's where we get

the term carries matter and sometimes the word charismatic, which

sometimes we don't like, but it's a grace give. It

means it is given to us because of God's mercy,

not because of our merriat. None of us here are

marriage just enough to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is God's grace that we have the Holy Spirit

in our lives. That means this gift cannot be earned.

That means this gift cannot be bargain. That means this

gift cannot be worked for. And like any other gift,

there's only one way in which it can come into

our lives.

If I give Master Daniels something, what must he do?

He must receive And that tells you that the Holy

Spirit can only be received. You can't work for it.

You can't earn the Holy Spirit in your life. You

can only receive the Holy Spirit, which also then tells

us that you can also refuse the Holy Spirit, which

is what we do sometimes sometimes subconsciously, sometimes because we

think or maybe due to certain teachings or understanding, we

think that the Holy Spirit no longer is operating in

the way that he should be operating, like we read

in scriptures. This is where I pray and I want

to encourage us go back to the scriptures because the

most amazing thing for me as a believer was the

reception of the Holy Spirit. Because I don't know how

to put this sometimes, you know, when you talk about faith,

it's hard to explain it in words. But yere, the

Holy Spirit is the only person in the God hete

that I have with me, because that's what the scripture

also tells us. That means the Holy Spirit is actually

the most real thing for us believers, because he is

here with us. But yet we have turned the Holy

sp into this figment of our imagination, which is so

difficult to fully understand because his Spirit. But no, I

believe the Holy Spirit is here with us. Why we

need to receive the Holy Spirit. That's why until reception

takes place, the relationship with the Spirit would probably be

similar to what it is with the earliest disciples. The

earliest disciples, they had the Holy Spirit with them. That's

why they were convicted of sin. That's why they were

also repenting and they also were believing. But it's different

to have the Holy Spirit with us as opposed to

the Holy Spirit in us. There is a difference. And

you see if we look at the early Church. Example,

spirit baptism is the gift which the followers of Jesus received.

They received.

Moreover, it was a definite gift received at the definite time.

That means it was something that was tangible, something that

you can experience. And I only share this because that

is my experience as well. It's not something that is vague,

which they felt at different times, or they can't really

pinpoint a time. It was a definite fact concerning which

they could name the time and the place. This can

actually be seen in Pentecosts. That's why in x chapter two,

when the Spirit came at Pentecosts, they knew. They knew

after the Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given to many others,

but there was always a time and a place at

which each convert received the gift. And this is why

it was natural for Paul to ask the man in Ephesus,

just not when we read ex Chapter nineteen, did you

receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? He wouldn't ask

a question like that unless he sort of can tell

that they heaven.

Received the Holy Spirit life right.

He asked a definite question, expecting an equally definite answer,

and he expected Christians to know the Holy Spirit, to

know whether they had received him, and to know when

they have received him. Furthermore, Jesus himself received the Spirit

with visible and audible accompaniments.

This is Jesus.

Remember in Matthew chapter three, it says after his baptism,

as Jesus came up out of the water, the heavens

were open, and he saw the Spirit of God descending

like a derth and settling on him, and a voice

from heaven said, this is my dearly loved son.

Who brings me great joy.

Jesus's reception of the Holy Spirit is true, the form

of a dearth and a voice from heaven. It was

not something that we don't know when it took place,

how it took place. But we could see and we

could hear it. That's why is recorded in the scriptures.

Now we come to the question that a lot of

people ask about being baptized in the Holy Spirit. What

is the evidence to show the Spirit has been received?

And is that the only exclusive evidence is the question

that many have asked. You see, on one hand, the

only sign that is mentioned on every occasion when the

evidence is described is actually the gift of speaking. In

another language. Tongues is the other word that sometimes is used.

I know sometimes people don't like the word tongues, but

it is in the scripture. On the other hand, there

also happened to be other manifestations listed praise. On one

occasion we see that in X Chapter ten, when Cornelius

received the Holy Spirit, there was praise that accompanied and tongues.

And then the other one that we see in X

chapter nineteen is prophecy. Okay, these are sound of the

obvious you see on the basis of scripture. Therefore, I

would say I would say that tongues and languages could

always be the evidence of spirit baptism.

I won't just say it should always be the.

Only evidence, but more likely than not, because it is

evident on every occasion, it could always be. What is

certain is there will be clear evidence that means tongues.

For me, is usually one of the most obvious things.

Though I have to say, praising and prophesying is not

very subtle. Also, have you ever met someone who, despite

of the circumstances, everything is always praise the Lord, Praise

the Lord, and the person is genuinely praising the Lord. Man,

you know, I believe that person is filled baptized in

Holy Spirit.

Because it takes.

Really the spirit of God that lives in you for

you to be able to say, praise the Lord, prays

the Lord when your house is on fire, when your

bank account is zilch. But yet when you meet them,

they're praising the Lord. I think I will be quite

assured that this person is filled with the Holy Spirit.

In fact, this person will be assured himself or herself.

So in other words, what I'm trying to say is this,

we will know it when the Holy Spirit feels us

and dwells in us. It's not just something that we

think or we guess or because the Scriptures says, yeah,

I believe, or we pray the prayer A Lord feel

us and then I.

Feel there, you will know.

That's all I want to leave us with, because I

want you to be assured that the Holy Spirit is

in you. And if from the reading of the scriptures

you realize that you have not desired or you have

not ever wanted the Holy Spirit, because it comes with

some of these things which I don't know whether it

is the right thing or not. I pray that every

believer experiences the fullness of the Good News of Jesus Christ,

which means we must be clearly convinced from scripture and

our own experience about the need to receive the spirit,

in addition to repentance, in addition to faith, in addition

to what a baptism desire the Spirit of God in

our lives, desire for Jesus to baptize us in Holy Spirit.

And this is why those who have experienced the full

Gospel must be wholehearted in praying for others and all

of us who have experienced it, and you know it,

because it's not just something that happened without you knowing

that you have been feeled and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

Spirit feel then desire for others to get the true

the laying on of your hands as you pray for them,

because it is ultimately the Lord Jesus who baptizes his

disciples in Holy Spirit. So we are actually praying that

Jesus you baptize your disciples, your followers in Holy Spirit.

That is what it is about baptism. Whatter baptism is

known as believers baptism. That means you cannot be a

non believer and go.

To water baptism. That is the reality of it.

And that's why I mean sometimes I know this may

be a bit controversial for churches that have baby baptism

because you're wondering, No, I will wonder, how is that

a believer?

But that's why they have.

Something in a subsequent years called confirmation in most of

these churches, because they need to make sure that whatever

that we thought is confirmed. When the baby is a

little baby. Uh has to be mixed, it has to

be established. Liar, I know, you know it's believers baptism.

And that's why I believe that we baptize. I mean,

we don't baptize babies. We baptize believers who confess that

they are followers of Christ.

Same thing.

If we are followers of Christ, we will desire the

Holy Spirit. Because I want to encourage all of us.

The Holy Spirit is the most real person of the

God here in our lives. I pray you will walk

daily with the Holy Spirit. Many people have asked, what

if nothing happens when I pray? Even though I pray

full of faith, I desire, I want it. Then in

Luke chapter eleven, it says this go on asking, go

on seeking, go on knocking. And this is not just

the way in which we pray. You know, pray persistently, Yes,

pray persistently. But actually in this scripture it actually singles

out because it goes on to say, if you sinful

people 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. That means this scripture

is not just for us to persistently pray and desire

for whatever our heart once or whatever we our flesh desires. Well, No,

it's actually quite specific to constantly seeking, persistently seeking for

the Holy Spirit to feel us. So it is an

encouragement to believe us to pray persistently for the gift

of the Holy Spirit, a gift which is not true

our merriat by truly by God's grace and mercy. When

someone wants something badly enough, you usually will hang on

to it. And the Spirit does not force his power

on anyone, but with their cooperation enables them to say

and to do supernatural things. We need to cooperate because again,

the posture when it comes to the feeling of the

Holy Spirit in our lives is a posture of reception.

You are receiving instead of a posture of.

I doubt. I don't think so. I don't think this

is If it's anything.

I hope to help you all see that we should

welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives to feel us,

so that we can then be released to do all

that God wants us to do effectively. The Holy Spirit

in our lives enables us, empowers us to really do

things effectively for the glory of His kingdom. When we

start to voluntarily overflow the gifts of the Spirit in

our lives, you think about it, words of wisdom, words

of encouragement, and faith.

Prophecy. What do you think all these gifts are for?

All these gifts are for the edification of the body.

That means it's for the building of the church, the

building of one another.

It is not for selfish purposes and reason even tongues. Yes,

for self edification. But when you are edified, what do

you think you would do? Do you think you will

just go into a shell and stay there forever in

a self edified state. No, if you are edified, you

will go and you will witness Jesus to the ends

of the earth. And the hardest thing, actually, if you

ask me, is to witness in Samaria. That's the reality

of it. And so I'm almost done. The bank can

come up. If we do not receive the Holy Spirit,

we are in a vulnerable and dangerous state, simply because

God's power and God's purity they are essential to a

lean walk through this very dirty world that we live in.

All of us know this world is. It's full of rubbish.

Everywhere we go. The newspapers are reporting all the wrongs

in this world. I read the newspaper and my heart breaks.

And that's why we have to balance it up with

the good news, really the scriptures, because there is always

a way out. And to sum it all up, do

you know that Christianity is the only religion which puts

justification before sanctification.

What that means is this.

In all other religions, followers have to perfect themselves before

being accepted. That's why they keep doing the right thing.

I need to do this, I need to do that.

I need to do because every time I do, I

earn brownie points. And once I get brownie points, hopefully

my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, and on the

balance of the scale, I'll be accepted in heaven.

That's how other religions function. I kill you not.

You can study the theology. But Christianity is different because

our God accepts us as we are in order to

help us become who we ought to be. It's different,

and who we ought to be. We can never be

by ourselves, that is the reality of it, who we

ought to be. We can be with the Spirit of

God living in us, not just convicting us of sin,

not just helping us, reminding us, but really taking over

your mind, taking over your lips, taking over your tongue,

and just doing the things which are supernatural. Remember, these

Christians need to be constantly reminded of the need.

To grow and mature.

And we grow and mature when we walk in the spirit.

That's how we continue to grow in our faith. And

so I want to encourage all of us don't stop

where you are, especially if you feel that there is

still something lacking in your lives, because I want you

to know the Holy Spirit. I'm not saying that God

the Father is not real. I'm not saying that Jesus

is knowing. They are so.

Real as well, but.

Physically they are in heaven and I am here on earth.

So if we want to experience the true presence of

God in our lives. It's the Holy Spirit that lives

in us. Let's stand hallelujah.

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hit for you. God bless