INTRODUCTION
"…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…" Acts 1:8 (NIV)
THOMAS TRASK:
When I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, as a young man, I can tell you it radically changed my life. I must confess that I had difficulty living for Jesus, victoriously, until I received this Baptism. The Scripture says, "And ye shall receive power to be." I want to dwell on that for just a moment. The purpose of the Baptism is to endue a person with power to be. Not just to say, but to be a witness, to live out the Christian life.
Part 1: PURPOSE
RANDY HURST:
I recently heard an interesting statistic on the radio … that 95 percent of all sport utility vehicles … like this one … are never taken off the road. These vehicles are designed for a purpose for which they’re rarely if ever used.
Not long ago I was visiting missionary Scott Hanson in Tanzania, East Africa. Now Scott knows what a four-wheel drive is for!
Our Lord promised the Holy Spirit baptism to equip us to be witnesses. A believer who has experienced that power and is not sharing Jesus is like this four-wheel drive vehicle that is never taken off the road.
Recently I had the privilege of talking with members of the Commission on Evangelism … hearing their insights concerning the purpose … and the power of the Holy Spirit baptism.
ISAAC CANALES:
I think that when Jesus said, "You will be witnesses," I don’t think that it was something He meant, and this will be something that will come out of your mouth only. But, that He meant, and this is something that will come out of your hands, your feet, your heart, your mind, your mouth, your eyes—this is going to be a way of life.
RAY BERRYHILL:
The baptism of the Holy Spirit certainly affects us in church, but that’s not why He gave us the Baptism. It wasn’t just for Sunday or just for Friday night service or Wednesday night service. It’s for us to live this thing every day. And when I begin to live it every day then it affects every part of my life – it doesn’t only affect my worship – it affects the way I talk to other people.
RANDY VALIMONT:
When I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I became a lot more sensitive…to sin. I became a lot more sensitive to things I said. I was sitting with someone just two days ago and was impressed through the word of knowledge to share something. And I simply said, you know this may or may not be right, but I feel impressed to share this. And tears began to roll down his eyes and he said how did you know I was praying about that this morning? Well, that’s the Holy Spirit, that’s how He operates through us on a daily basis. He makes us more sensitive to what the will of God is and how to go about doing things.
JEFF BRAWNER:
One of the ways I know that I’m full of the Holy Spirit is the priorities of my life change. There are passions that I have that are God’s passions for my life. And a fullness of the Holy Spirit will bring an incredible heart after God’s heart. That’s what He fills me with, the heart of God, the desire of God. Again many times I think we focus on the power aspect. Power for what? Power for a purpose.
ROUNDTABLE
MARIA KHALEEL:
The Holy Spirit is God’s agent in bringing creative order. You also see the Holy Spirit anointing the workmen and the craftsmen on the Temple. He’s anointing them for purpose, to do something, anointing the prophets for purpose to speak forth His Word.
TIM ENLOE:
In the Old Testament, He just came upon a few here and there to accomplish great tasks, but in the new and better covenant now, with the Temple curtain torn in two and the Holy of Holies opened up, we have free access, and now each one—Jesus promised every believer could receive the promise of the Father. So now every one of us has the potential for that anointing for purpose to be upon our lives.
"Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name in all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you’re clothed with power from on high" Luke 24:46-49 (NASB)
RANDY HURST:
"And he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name in all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.’" But then he says, "You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending forth the promise of my father upon you. But you are to stay in the city until you’re clothed with power from on high."
Now, you’d think the thing to do is to get on with it. That big a task, let’s start now. He says "No. Wait." Remember the American Express commercial? "Don’t leave home without it." I think that’s about exactly what Jesus was saying.
Now, I don’t know how more essential you can see Jesus defined the fullness of the Spirit to be than that.
MARIA KHALEEL:
You can make it to heaven without the baptism in the Holy Ghost. The reason we need the baptism in the Holy Ghost is to live on earth till we make it to heaven.
RANDY HURST:
When you see God’s relationship with the people in the Old Testament, it’s like God with His people. He was with them in the cloud and the fire. But then when Jesus became flesh, God’s in the midst of His people. He came down. He’s among us. But then when it comes to the Holy Spirit after the Day of Pentecost—talk about intimacy—then it’s God in His people. That’s what Jesus said. "He’s going to be in you."
SCOTT ERICKSON:
This is something from God that He’s given for everybody to be able to be empowered and strengthened through the presence and the provision, and His divine power in our lives.
DANNY DUVALL:
I went to two Christians, believers, strong Christian men in our church who had been baptized in the Holy Spirit in the last two years, and I told these gentlemen, "I need your help." I said, "Answer this question. What difference has the baptism of the Holy Spirit made in your life?" And one of the gentlemen told the story how he flew out to Charlotte for a business meeting, and his boss said, "Oh, I’m sorry that the meeting’s fallen through. It was just a mistake. You didn’t need to come." Well, he went to have lunch, and at lunch, he met a lady, and he shared his faith, he prayed with her, and he came back rejoicing that this wasted trip became a supernatural event.
TIM ENLOE:
I believe every believer is hungry for more intimacy with God and for more of the power of God to win their family, to win their neighbors, and to minister the things of Christ.
RANDY HURST:
In dealing with people concerning personal evangelism for many years, I have heard many people think that most Christians are apathetic about sharing their faith. I don’t believe that’s true. Most believers that I know really want to share Jesus, but the thing that holds them back is not that they don’t care. It’s that they’re not confident. They think the burden is on them, that their job is to convince an unbeliever to become a Christian, and they don’t understand that that’s not our responsibility. That’s the Holy Spirit’s work. Jesus promised He will convince the world of sin. Your job’s to be a witness, not a prosecuting attorney. You’re there to tell the story.
MARIA KHALEEL:
On the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was first outpoured, I believe it’s important for us to understand that as a beginning and not as an end, because so many times today, we treat receiving the baptism in the Holy Ghost as an end, as a goal to be obtained, and then that’s it.
SCOTT ERICKSON:
And on that day, the Holy Spirit revealed, I think, His nature as One who longs for the salvation of the people of the earth.
RANDY HURST:
The Day of Pentecost was the commencement of the mission. The mission started from that day. And you look at our own heritage in our Fellowship, back, going back to 1914, there were two General Councils in 1914: the one in Hot Springs, Arkansas, where it was initially formed; and then they had a second one the same year in Stone Church in Chicago. They unanimously adopted this resolution in Chicago. They said, "We commit ourselves and the Movement to Him—speaking of Jesus—for the greatest evangelization the world has ever seen." The greatest evangelization the world has ever seen? How could they say that? I think it was because in faith, they responded in obedience to the Word in two things: the command. Jesus didn’t say, "Go into a portion of the world you select as an achievable objective." He said, "Go into all the world." And the second was they took seriously the promise that He would give the empowerment to do it.
JEFF BRAWNER:
I don’t want to dream my dreams, I want God’s dreams, because God’s dreams are eternal. God’s dreams are always about people, and I will know that I am full of the Holy Spirit and I know that the fullness of the Holy Spirit in my life, and evidence of it, is an incredible passion for people … an urgency about people.
RAY BERRYHILL:
After I got saved and after I got filled, the witness of God became evident in my life — not just by what I said, but by how I lived. And it was nothing for me to lead people to Jesus… in the alley, on the street corner, in the stair well at my job - everywhere I went and it — people of different races and ethnicities. It didn’t matter, I’d tell them about Jesus — and they got saved.
ISAAC CANALES:
And He is transforming that world through us—through His people, through those who proclaim, through those that are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are there to transform the environment at Baker’s Square, at Applebee’s.
JEFF BRAWNER:
One of the things the Holy Spirit does is He quickens to our mind people that God is working on – God’s agenda. To pray that morning "God, today it’s not about the job that I’m doing, it’s about the purpose You have for my life, and the people that I am going to run into today that I may not never see again."
RAY BERRYHILL:
That’s the biggest difference that the Holy Ghost has made in my life. It’s enabled me to be a bridge for others to become more like Jesus.
