Category: Partnering with the Spirit

Failure to be continually filled with the Spirit (Acts 2:1-4 NIV)  When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. {2} Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. {3} They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. {4} All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Verse four of this passage uses the Greek tense called an ingressive aorist. That means that the event described was a one-time entry into an on-going experience. (Eph 5:18 NIV)  Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead,…

Baptism of the Holy Spirit not a once-for-all experience We have already noted that the expressions "baptized in the Holy Spirit" and "filled with the Holy Spirit" are interchangeable (Acts 1:8; 2:4). The following passages prove that being filled with the Spirit is not an once-in-a-lifetime experience. It continues to occur in a believer’s life when the believer calls on God for empowerment. Three instances in the Book of Acts bear this out. First, Peter experienced a fresh enablement of the Spirit when he and John were brought before the religious authorities following the healing of the lame man at the temple gate. When they were challenged as to the power by which the miracle was performed, Luke records: "Then Peter, filled [literally, having been filled] with the Holy Spirit,…

Manifestations (Jer 23:9 NIV)  Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words. (Rev 1:17 NIV)  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. (2 Chr 5:13-14 NIV)  The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with…

Are tongues the initial evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit? Evidences pointing to tongues being the initial evidence Tongues were obviously significantly associated with the Holy Spirit's initializing of the believer into the new covenant of Christ, as illustrated at Pentecost (Acts 2) and in Cornelius’ home (Acts 10), and also probably in Samaria (Acts 8) and Ephesus (Acts 19). (Acts 2:4 NIV)  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Acts 10:45-46 NIV)  The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. {46} For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, (Acts 19:6 NIV) …

Why baptism of the Holy Spirit and conversion are separate events. The baptizer is different. (1 Cor 12:13 NIV)  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. “Scripture makes it clear there is an experience [at conversion] in which the Holy Spirit baptizes believers into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13), and there is the [subsequent] experience in which Christ baptizes believers in the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11). These cannot refer to the same experience since the agent who does the baptizing and the element into which the candidate is baptized are different in each case” Non-Charismatics response The words “by one Spirit” should be better translated “in one Spirit”. In…