My Walk with Christ
An ordinary guy on a supernatural journey.
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The Rock San Diego – 5/31/09 – The Invisible Man Initiation: Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Posted on June 29th, 2009 No commentsToday we are continuing our study of the Holy Spirit and the vital role that He plays in our lives and our salvation.
If you don’t have the Holy Spirit you are living in ‘head knowledge’ and not living with the power of God.God is the Creator of all things, including the plan for our lives and our salvation. Jesus executed the contract for our salvation by dying on the cross and the Holy Spirit is the active manager of that contract. Today we “plunge” (pun intended) into a study of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
1. Baptism means to immerse or plunge.Consume yourself with God – make it your primary focus. It’s not about “God, do something to me and just make me right” it’s about “what are you going to do to pursue God?” (reading the Bible, praying, saying the right things, etc)God created many symbols in the Bible, one of which is the submersion under water, which represents the passing from death into life. As Jesus died and rose from the dead, when you accept Him as Savior, you are to be baptized – laid down in water (as in dying) and then rising up again, fresh, new and reborn.
2. All are baptized with the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation.God has unique experiences in store for each believer. But, never will your experiences contradict the Bible – never – but they will be different from other’s experiences. Some of those experiences are painful.For by the Sprit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews of Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)The Holy Spirit blesses all believers, regardless of background or past actions. When you accept Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit, and will continue to receive the Spirit as you change to fit God’s purpose.
3. Holy Spirit baptism empowers you to be a witness.The reason for the Holy Spirit is Acts 1:8 – You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you shall be witnesses…It’s not about you, it’s about Christ. We are each a witness to Him in different ways. Expecting an ‘ability’ is a form of pride. Your gift(s) is between you and God.Embrace your uniqueness. A diamond in a dark room has no bling. We are all cut in a unique way. Our job is to reflect God in our own unique way.Today’s lesson plan listed several people from the Bible and the results of their being filled with the Spirit. Here are a few:a. Paul received the Holy Spirit in Acts 9:17 and the scales fell from his eyes.b. Stephen in Acts 6:10 received the Holy Spirit and began preaching. When he received the Spirit again in Acts 7:55, he actually saw God.c. The believers gathered at the Jewish Pentecost received the Spirit in Acts 2 and they began to speak tongues.Being baptized in the Holy Spirit doesn’t necessarily mean that you will suddenly be able to speak tongues, heal the lame or walk on water. But simply being a witness for Christ – telling others about Him and how He has changed your life – is a sign of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.…simply being a witness for Christ – telling others about Him and how He has changed your life – is a sign of being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
4. Holy Spirit baptism should be an ongoing process.Ask God to fill you all the time – seek Him day in and day out. Don’t create just a religious habit.Do you eat only one meal a day? Do you only drink at only one point in the evening? Your body is in need of substance all day, just as your soul is in need of the Spirit all the time. Miles pointed out that when you surrender to Him, your growth and transformation is a process. Usually the mental and social changes take place first: people with whom you associate, ways in which you spend your time, etc. As you grow and mature, other things in your life begin to change as well, such as your willingness to tithe part of your income to the church for the furtherance of the ministry.
5. Holy Spirit baptism is not a result of you getting more of the Holy Spirit, but of the Holy Spirit getting more of you.You get all of Him – the problem may be, He isn’t getting all of you.The last part of you that gets saved is usually in your wallet. Usually what happens is a person gives God more of his/her life in stages. Fear keeps people from trusting God with their whole being. They may be afraid of what may ask of them. They may think he’ll take their fun away – He won’t take your fun away, but it will be fun you don’t need to be paranoid about.God has a plan and a purpose for your life, and this purpose is not to make your life rainbows and lollipops. There is work involved. God wants you to reach your potential, but that requires discipline.Is the saving of your soul worth it?Perhaps the better question is: what if you’re the only one that can reach another person to save him or her? -
Amazing Facts – Bible Study session 9 (Baptism)
Posted on November 10th, 2008 No comments- It represents changing teams – you’ve changed masters and kingdoms
- It’s the marriage ceremony between you and Jesus
- The gift of the Holy Spirit is received by baptism
- It’s essential
- It is not what ‘washes away sin’
- Jesus was baptized to ‘fill all righteousness’ – to give credit to those who cannot or know not
- Emersion is the only Biblical method of baptism
- If you take away the true nature of the symbols of the Bible, you lose the meaning they represent
- You want your old nature buried
- God does not judge us for our ignorance
- Before you marry the Lord, you have to stop dating the devil
- Must be willing to walk in a new life – should not serve sin – no longer a slave to sin
- You want to know what you’re getting into, but not wait until you know everything, because you never will
- God judges babies by their innocence
- When your child is old enough to be lost, they’re old enough to be saved – if they can have their own relationship (prayer, Bible study, etc), then baptism is relevant for them
- Baptism means responsibility to the body of Christ (the church)
- Everything that Christ experienced at His baptism, God wants you to experience (Matthew 3:16)
- Heavens were opened – granted access to heaven
- Saw the Spirit of God – claim it by faith
- Peace enters into your life
- Hear a voice in heaven – God’s voice will become more clear
- Now adopted as a son of God
- God is well pleased with you
- Began a life of ministry and started a journey to the cross
- Devil tempted Him – now a threat to him
- Baptism doesn’t:
- Change the heart
- Make you feel better – faith comes first
- Remove temptation
- Guarantee salvation
- Reasons for re-baptism:
- Not baptized Biblically (by immersion)
- Back-sliding
- Person comes into a whole new understanding of Christ
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Called to baptism
Posted on November 6th, 2008 No commentsWhile studying the Rock San Diego sermon (wait section), a series of events led me to give up on watching what was turning out to be a great learning experience. I took that to mean, that God feels that I had seen enough the time being. I took that as a sign that I was to follow what was being taught and Wait for the Lord in prayer. I said “I love you Jesus” over and over and over, and as my thoughts dispersed, I sat waiting. This is the dialog that ensued:
MichaelYes, Lord?I love youI know Lord, I love you too.(tears filled my eyes and my head bowed down uncontrollably)
I want you to do something for meAnything LordI want you to kill…(I started to get worried here about what was coming – I was in disbelief that this is where He was headed)
I want you to kill yourselfTerror filled me, but then I realized that Jesus would not mean He wanted me to take my own life.
What do you mean Lord?Then I had a clue what He was asking for – baptism
Do you mean baptism, Lord?YesI will do as you command.