In a nutshell: How do we receive the Spirit? Do we receive all there is to receive when we are born again? Is there a second filling? Are there more fillings than that?! What is baptism in the Spirit and why is it important? What am I missing out on if I haven’t had this experience? How can I be filled?
My story
I came to faith in Jesus at an early age, and grew up in a church that was beginning to experience greater spiritual freedom. A growing number of people in the church had experienced “baptism in the Spirit,” and this was changing everything.
By the time I was 10 I had a great desire to speak in tongues. I didn’t really understand what it meant to be filled with the Spirit, but speaking in tongues seemed to be the thing. At the Downs Bible Week, in 1980, I was desperately asking God to give me the gift of tongues. This didn’t happen, but one night, as we sang Jesus We Enthrone You, something changed in me. When I got home the immediate obvious effect was a greater freedom in worship, and I also found myself speaking in tongues!
The Spirit at Gateway
In any of our church meetings there are people with a wide range of experience of the Spirit:
• There are some who are not believers at all, but are looking in. These people need the Spirit to spark new life in them.
• There are some who are ‘charismatic’ because the church is; but haven’t really ever experienced the power of the Spirit themselves. These people need to have a power encounter.
• There are some who are confused, maybe, like me as a child, thinking this Holy Spirit stuff is just about whether or not you speak in tongues. These people need to come into a greater understanding of what the Spirit works in us.
• There are some who are fearful and need to be released into a confident freedom in the Spirit.
• And there are some who have encountered God in the past… but it is the distant past. These people need to have a fresh encounter with God.
We want everyone at Gateway to experience God’s Empowering Presence!
No Spirit = No Church
Acts 1:4-5; 2:1-18, 32-33
The New Testament church was born through a powerful experience of the Spirit. It was a powerful, bold community that pulsated with the life of the Holy Spirit! In the first ever Finding Your Place Course Peter explained at the outset that God’s intention for the church was a place where the Holy Spirit is welcome to have His way. Right up front, Peter said that things like tongues, prophecy, dreams and visions were to be part and parcel of church life. And the book of Acts records repeated instances of people being filled with, and operating in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The presence is the thing!
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
At Gateway this means:
• We believe in the ministry and gifts of the Holy Spirit
• We believe in the importance of each believer being filled with the Holy Spirit
• We believe the Spirit empowers and equips us for service
What is baptism in the Spirit?
Being filled with the Spirit is not just a warm feeling, but a promise of power, because the Spirit is God and God is powerful! This filling results in a release of spiritual gifts, which God gives us for the building up of his Church.
The New Testament uses a number of different terms to describe this empowering:
John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now (Acts 1:5)
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you (Acts 1:8)
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:4)
Even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy (Acts 2:18)
Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearingì "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." (Acts 2:33-39)
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)
Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." (Acts 9:17)
While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, "Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" (Acts 10:44-47)
What this demonstrates is that the terminology that we use to describe this experience is not so important as the experience itself!
What does baptism in the Spirit achieve?
Assurance: It means we feel the truth of what has happened to us:
It is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22)
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:15-17)
Outward expression: Whenever someone is drenched in the Spirit in the book of Acts there is always some kind of vocal response – whether it is speaking in tongues, or prophesying or preaching. The Spirit brings us into a freedom which causes us to open our mouths!
When does baptism in the Spirit happen?
This kind of encounter with God should be part of the normal order of salvation. In the book of Acts new believers were always filled with the Spirit, but there was variety in when this happened…
The Samaritans (Acts 8:4-25): Philip preached to them; they believed; were baptised in water; but did not receive the Spirit until Peter and John came and laid hands on them.
Saul (Acts 9:1-22): Encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus; then Ananias laid hands on him to receive the Spirit; then he was baptised in water.
House of Cornelius (Acts 10): They were filled with the Spirit even before they had had time to confess their faith; then baptized in water.
The Ephesians (Acts 19:1-6): They believed the message; then baptized in water; then they received the Spirit.
Clearly there was no strict pattern in the order of events, but there was an expectation that all who responded in faith would be plunged in water and the Spirit. Conversion, baptism in water and baptism in the Spirit should all happen close together. We have made the process longer than it was in Acts!
Can I be a Christian but not baptized in the Spirit?
It is not possible to be a Christian without the action of the Spirit. It is the Spirit who enables us to come into spiritual life. But it is possible to be a Christian and not know the power of the Spirit in your life. This was true of the disciples before the day of Pentecost; of the Samaritans before Peter and John prayed for them; of Paul before Ananias prayed for him; and of many believers today…
How can I be baptized in the Spirit?
The first thing is to respond in faith to Jesus!
Having believed, we need to continue in faith. In order to receive there needs to be belief that this is the promise of the Father to all who believe. Believe that this experience is for you personally. Believe that God has not excluded you from his promise. Then, have an expectation of experience. God loves to move in response to faith, and if you have no expectation, you are unlikely to have an experience.
Although not always the case, the Spirit is normally given by the laying on of hands by another Spirit filled believer. God loves to work through the members of his body and having someone lay hands on us demonstrates that we are open to receive the gift of God.
Finally, ask! Jesus said, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink (John 7:37). So get asking and get drinking!
Keep on being filled
Do not get drunk in wine… but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)
This is an imperative – we are to keep on doing it!
Being filled with the Spirit is not a one-off event. Like a sailing boat we can turn our sails to catch the breeze, or let the sails down and just drift in the current. Too often we can fail to keep our sails trimmed, and cease to live a Spirit empowered life. But instead of drifting, we are to be a church where the evidence of the Spirit is as clear as when people drink too much wine!
Keep on being filled!
Application Questions
• What is your experience of the Spirit?
• Where do you need to know a greater empowering and equipping from God?
• What will be the differences between a church which “keeps on being filled” and one that just drifts in the current?
• What are the dangers of being charismatic in style, but not in genuine experience?
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