THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
(LESSON FOUR)
INTRODUCITION: Acts 2:1-11; I Corinthians 14:14-15; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20
In last week’s message we had three points. They are as follows: 1. Speaking in tongues is a real language; 2. Speaking in tongues is the language of the Spirit (a heavenly language); 3. Speaking in tongues is an extremely valuable language. I covered point one and most of point two. Today, I will cover the rest of point two and all of point three. Our focus will be on the truth that speaking in tongues is a language of the spirit and is also a very valuable language.
I. REVIEW:
Let’s begin with a review of what we have covered in previous lessons. Keep in mind that our goal is to teach about and to learn how to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In order to effectively do that it is important to understand the fundamentals about the Holy Spirit. So in lesson one, we answered the question, “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” 1. He is God, 2. He is a person, 3. And He reveals the things of both the Father and the Son. In lesson two we taught on the three baptisms found in the New Testament. They are as follows: 1.The Baptism of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit supernaturally places a believer into the Body of Christ or in Christ (Salvation); 2.The baptism in water which is performed by a disciple or believer in Christ (The sign and seal of salvation); 3.The baptism in the Holy Spirit where Jesus baptizes believers in the Holy Spirit (The power to live out our salvation). Then as stated above we taught on the baptism in the Holy Spirit—specifically speaking in tongues that accompanies the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It should be said here that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is what truly opens the door for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray.
I. Speaking in tongues is a language of the spirit. We will begin with the scripture in I Corinthians 14:14-15 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.”
The Apostle Paul is making it clear that he prayed in tongues or in a spiritual language and he also prayed in the language that he understood. He did the same when it came to singing. For those denominations that say speaking in tongues is not for today, or that speaking in tongues is of the devil, they should be very careful about what they are saying and teaching others. If the greatest Apostle who has ever lived prayed and sang in the language of the spirit (speaking in tongues) why wouldn’t I? Why would I take some modern day theologian’s word above that of the Apostle Paul? And not only is it the Apostle Paul’s word, it is the Word of God!
Now for those who say, but if I don’t “feel it,” then I shouldn’t do it. Allow me to ask you a very simple question. Do you always “feel it” when you pray in English? Of course you don’t. But I bet you still pray! Likewise, I pray in the Spirit whether I “feel it” or not. And why wouldn’t I pray with my spirit? My spirit has been completely redeemed through being born again when I was baptized into Christ at salvation. My mind is in the process of being transformed, and one day my body will be transformed when it is made like the body of the resurrected Christ, but my spirit is fully redeemed right now! So why would I just pray with my imperfect mind when I can pray with a perfected spirit? Dear friends, please hear me here. Praying in the spirit is more than just having a “spiritual experience.” You have the privilege of praying in the language of the Spirit, in the language of heaven itself! The language of the Spirit is the language that is in perfect harmony with God’s Kingdom. Maybe one reason we are not seeing more answers to prayer is because we are not praying in the spirit as we should! Forget about having to feel it. Begin acting in faith and start using your tongue to pray and sing in the language of the spirit. You do it by faith. Open your mouth and speak with your spirit. Forget about how it sounds. And you don’t have to understand it to do it. I don’t have to understand everything about how my truck works, but I still get in it, start it and drive it. Begin where you are. Once you do, you will discover that what begins as a mustard seed will become a large tree of blessing! You will become “fluent” in the language of heaven!
II. And that brings me to point three from our last message: Speaking in tongues is a valuable language.
1. First let’s look at Jude 20, “But you dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Praying in the Holy Spirit is a valuable language because it builds our faith. It makes us strong in the Lord, strong in our faith as believers. How could it not? When you are praying in a heavenly language, one of the things that is going on is that you are being made stronger spiritually! The Greek word for “building” means to “edify.” So when you pray in the Spirit, you are edifying yourself. So it begs the question: why would anyone tell you or teach you not to speak in tongues? And how could speaking in tongues be of the devil when it is building you up spiritually in your most holy faith? And with that, here is my last point.
2. Ephesians 6:18, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. . .”
Did you know that praying in the Spirit is a big part of our spiritual armor in our warfare against the devil and his kingdom? It is just as important as the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit!
Let me say it plainly: praying in the Spirit is a way that we defeat the enemy of our souls! How exactly does that happen? I’m not really sure, but I know it to be true. Obviously, when we pray in the Spirit, we are praying perfectly; we are praying exactly what needs to be prayed at that moment. There are so many examples I could give you of how praying in the Spirit has been a blessing to me. And I believe that there were many times that victories were won and evil and bad things were averted when I prayed in the Spirit—things I will likely not know of until I get to heaven! And how many times have I received “the peace that passes understanding” when I stopped praying in English and began praying in the Spirit? How valuable is that? Priceless!
CONCLUSION
What is our conclusion then? First, being baptized in the Spirit and praying in tongues is not only a language of the Spirit that is available to every believer, but it is also a language that is incredibly valuable to every believer. Secondly, being baptized in the Spirit by Jesus will open the door to spiritual dimensions in God that we cannot know any other way. The way to the gifts of the Holy Spirit is through the door of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And third, if you are willing to take a step of faith, Jesus is ready to baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
APPLICATION
1. Have you been saved? Have you experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit into Jesus? If not, you can do so today.
2. Have you been baptized in water? If not, I’ll be glad to meet with you and set up a time to baptize you in water.
3. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? If not, why not ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Then when you are in your alone time, quiet time, or prayer time, take a step of faith, and as Jesus baptizes you in the Spirit, begin speaking in the language of heaven. If you have been baptized in the Spirit, but you have stopped speaking in the language of the Spirit, why not take a step of faith and begin again praying and speaking the language of the heaven? The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event. Rather, it should be a regular part of your journey with the Lord. That’s what scripture teaches.
Let’s pray.
THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
(LESSON FOUR)
INTRODUCITION: Acts 2:1-11; I Corinthians 14:14-15; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20
In last week’s message we had three points. They are as follows: 1. Speaking in tongues is a real language; 2. Speaking in tongues is the language of the Spirit (a heavenly language); 3. Speaking in tongues is an extremely valuable language. I covered point one and most of point two. Today, I will cover the rest of point two and all of point three. Our focus will be on the truth that speaking in tongues is a language of the spirit and is also a very valuable language.
I. REVIEW:
Let’s begin with a review of what we have covered in previous lessons. Keep in mind that our goal is to teach about and to learn how to move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In order to effectively do that it is important to understand the fundamentals about the Holy Spirit. So in lesson one, we answered the question, “Who Is the Holy Spirit?” 1. He is God, 2. He is a person, 3. And He reveals the things of both the Father and the Son. In lesson two we taught on the three baptisms found in the New Testament. They are as follows: 1.The Baptism of the Holy Spirit where the Holy Spirit supernaturally places a believer into the Body of Christ or in Christ (Salvation); 2.The baptism in water which is performed by a disciple or believer in Christ (The sign and seal of salvation); 3.The baptism in the Holy Spirit where Jesus baptizes believers in the Holy Spirit (The power to live out our salvation). Then as stated above we taught on the baptism in the Holy Spirit—specifically speaking in tongues that accompanies the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It should be said here that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is what truly opens the door for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Let’s pray.
I. Speaking in tongues is a language of the spirit. We will begin with the scripture in I Corinthians 14:14-15 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. So what shall I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my understanding; I will sing with my spirit, but I will also sing with my understanding.”
The Apostle Paul is making it clear that he prayed in tongues or in a spiritual language and he also prayed in the language that he understood. He did the same when it came to singing. For those denominations that say speaking in tongues is not for today, or that speaking in tongues is of the devil, they should be very careful about what they are saying and teaching others. If the greatest Apostle who has ever lived prayed and sang in the language of the spirit (speaking in tongues) why wouldn’t I? Why would I take some modern day theologian’s word above that of the Apostle Paul? And not only is it the Apostle Paul’s word, it is the Word of God!
Now for those who say, but if I don’t “feel it,” then I shouldn’t do it. Allow me to ask you a very simple question. Do you always “feel it” when you pray in English? Of course you don’t. But I bet you still pray! Likewise, I pray in the Spirit whether I “feel it” or not. And why wouldn’t I pray with my spirit? My spirit has been completely redeemed through being born again when I was baptized into Christ at salvation. My mind is in the process of being transformed, and one day my body will be transformed when it is made like the body of the resurrected Christ, but my spirit is fully redeemed right now! So why would I just pray with my imperfect mind when I can pray with a perfected spirit? Dear friends, please hear me here. Praying in the spirit is more than just having a “spiritual experience.” You have the privilege of praying in the language of the Spirit, in the language of heaven itself! The language of the Spirit is the language that is in perfect harmony with God’s Kingdom. Maybe one reason we are not seeing more answers to prayer is because we are not praying in the spirit as we should! Forget about having to feel it. Begin acting in faith and start using your tongue to pray and sing in the language of the spirit. You do it by faith. Open your mouth and speak with your spirit. Forget about how it sounds. And you don’t have to understand it to do it. I don’t have to understand everything about how my truck works, but I still get in it, start it and drive it. Begin where you are. Once you do, you will discover that what begins as a mustard seed will become a large tree of blessing! You will become “fluent” in the language of heaven!
II. And that brings me to point three from our last message: Speaking in tongues is a valuable language.
1. First let’s look at Jude 20, “But you dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”
Praying in the Holy Spirit is a valuable language because it builds our faith. It makes us strong in the Lord, strong in our faith as believers. How could it not? When you are praying in a heavenly language, one of the things that is going on is that you are being made stronger spiritually! The Greek word for “building” means to “edify.” So when you pray in the Spirit, you are edifying yourself. So it begs the question: why would anyone tell you or teach you not to speak in tongues? And how could speaking in tongues be of the devil when it is building you up spiritually in your most holy faith? And with that, here is my last point.
2. Ephesians 6:18, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. . .”
Did you know that praying in the Spirit is a big part of our spiritual armor in our warfare against the devil and his kingdom? It is just as important as the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit!
Let me say it plainly: praying in the Spirit is a way that we defeat the enemy of our souls! How exactly does that happen? I’m not really sure, but I know it to be true. Obviously, when we pray in the Spirit, we are praying perfectly; we are praying exactly what needs to be prayed at that moment. There are so many examples I could give you of how praying in the Spirit has been a blessing to me. And I believe that there were many times that victories were won and evil and bad things were averted when I prayed in the Spirit—things I will likely not know of until I get to heaven! And how many times have I received “the peace that passes understanding” when I stopped praying in English and began praying in the Spirit? How valuable is that? Priceless!
CONCLUSION
What is our conclusion then? First, being baptized in the Spirit and praying in tongues is not only a language of the Spirit that is available to every believer, but it is also a language that is incredibly valuable to every believer. Secondly, being baptized in the Spirit by Jesus will open the door to spiritual dimensions in God that we cannot know any other way. The way to the gifts of the Holy Spirit is through the door of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And third, if you are willing to take a step of faith, Jesus is ready to baptize you in the Holy Spirit.
APPLICATION
1. Have you been saved? Have you experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit into Jesus? If not, you can do so today.
2. Have you been baptized in water? If not, I’ll be glad to meet with you and set up a time to baptize you in water.
3. Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? If not, why not ask Jesus to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. Then when you are in your alone time, quiet time, or prayer time, take a step of faith, and as Jesus baptizes you in the Spirit, begin speaking in the language of heaven. If you have been baptized in the Spirit, but you have stopped speaking in the language of the Spirit, why not take a step of faith and begin again praying and speaking the language of the heaven? The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a one-time event. Rather, it should be a regular part of your journey with the Lord. That’s what scripture teaches.
Let’s pray.
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