Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Here with what the Bible has to say about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, next on Abounding Grace.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Abounding Grace online at aboundinggraceradio.com. We are very excited about today's program as we return to our series, Be the Church. As we'll discover in a moment, the baptism of the Holy Spirit helps us to be the church. It's only by the power of God that we're capable of such things.

Pastor Ed Taylor has observed three experiences or relationships we can have with the Holy Spirit and we'll see what those are momentarily. Here he is now in Acts chapter 1.

Pastor Ed Taylor: You can think of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a power that comes through surrender and it comes from God. We know the Holy Spirit is not a what, he's a who. He's a person. You have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not just introduced here. Jesus said he gave a promise previously. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is mentioned other places in the scriptures. Jesus is the one that taught on such things, so did John the Baptist.

You can just jot these down or I'll read them to you. Matthew chapter 3, verse 11, John says, "I'm going to baptize you with water unto repentance," but then he says Jesus will come and he will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire.

In Luke chapter 24, verse 49, Jesus promised the Father to those men he was walking on the road with and he says, "You will be endued with power from on high." John chapter 1, verse 33, John again says, speaking of Jesus, "This is the one that's going to baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

Now with that in mind, I want you to turn over to John chapter 14. Because it's such a debatable topic, I want to show you in the Bible where it is. I want to show you what the Bible has to say about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

There are three experiences or relationships that you and I can have with the Holy Spirit as a person. Three various relationships, just like with people in our lives. You think of the different relationships you can have with a person in your life.

A person can be your friend and at the same time can be your dad, and at the same time can be your boss. You can have three experiences with a person. You can have your wife be your best friend, she's your wife, but she's also your boss. You can have three different experiences with people. You can have many different experiences and relationships with people. Are you guys with me so far?

Okay, so now you can have three relationships with the Holy Spirit. Let me show you what I mean. John chapter 14, I just want to see if you guys are awake. You guys with me? Who wants the baptism of the Holy Spirit right now? Yeah, good. Okay, well I'm not done yet, so hold on. You need to wait not many minutes from now.

Verse 14, chapter 14. "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever."

Jesus, who is this helper? Verse 17. "Even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you."

So here we have in this section two of the three relationships a person can have with the Holy Spirit. The first one, and the way we're going to look at it, is through the Greek words, the Greek prepositions.

So experience number one is there at the end of verse 17. Circle the word "with" and write next to it the Greek word "para," P-A-R-A, para. This is the "with" experience of the Holy Spirit. Every single human being, saved and unsaved, has the "with" experience with the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is in the world drawing a person to God. Before I became a Christian, the Holy Spirit was with me. The Holy Spirit makes us restless and hungry for the things of God. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and brings a person to an understanding of their need for forgiveness of sins and salvation.

Often it's referred to as this pull from God, a tugging to repent and get right with God. Everyone listening to my voice has experienced the para. Some of you experience the para right now. You are not saved and the tugging of the Holy Spirit's happening in your life right now, convicting you of sin.

The second relationship there is at the end of verse 17, it's the word "in," I-N. See that? Circle it. It's the Greek word "en," E-N, very similar. This is the "in" experience. This is going to happen with this group of believers in just a few chapters in John chapter 20.

We're going to read in a moment how Jesus breathes on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. They don't have that now. Jesus says, "You're going to have it, you don't have it now." Because when you receive the Holy Spirit, you then are born again. The Spirit of God comes into, in a person, not with a person, but now in a person.

Imagine that, you and I have the Holy Spirit in us right now. When I committed my life to Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit came into me to dwell permanently in my life, to seal me for all eternity, to be the downpayment for my future glory. The Spirit of God in us and we became, imagine this, we became the temple of the Holy Spirit.

That's what the Bible says. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19, he says, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" Unbelievable, the work of the Spirit in our lives. Every born again believer has the Spirit of God in them.

Which brings us to the third experience back in Acts. So come back to me with Acts chapter 1. I'm going to show you one more preposition that Jesus uses to describe your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Verse 8, chapter 1. "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."

Circle that word "upon." It's the Greek word "epi," E-P-I. And this is the "upon" experience of the Holy Spirit that is described as being baptized by the Holy Spirit, fully submerged into the presence, person, and power of the Holy Spirit.

This is promised to people that already have the Spirit of God in them, according to John chapter 14. This is where the Holy Spirit comes upon the believer for empowerment and service. Circle that word in verse 8, "You shall receive power." Circle that word "power" and right next to it "dunamos," D-U-N-A-M-O-S. Different variations in the Greek depending on how it's used.

But you, that word may sound a little familiar to you, it's where we get our English word "dynamite," dynamite. And many a pastor through the years, I think even I did in the early years, used that word to describe this is the kind of power the Holy Spirit wants to give you, the dynamite power of God.

I don't like that illustration anymore because dynamite is destructive, it causes chaos. It's powerful for sure, and I do think it's an accurate illustration of dynamic power. But instead of dynamite today, I like the word "dynamic."

As a matter of fact, if you look up the word, it also even speaks of making a person capable. Think about this. The power of the Holy Spirit comes upon a person that was incapable and after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, God makes them capable.

Capable for what? To be witnesses. Not to go witnessing, but to be a bona fide witness. You know what we've been saying throughout the years? I think it's even up on the screen. What I've been saying these last two years at least, it's been the pattern of our church, but at least the last two years, the power of the Holy Spirit helps you to be the church.

The world's going to be the world. They're going to act like the world, sound like the world, and do things against Christ and against God. That is the world. But only you can be the church. You go, "But it's so hard to be the church." No, the baptism of the Holy Spirit makes you capable. It gives you power you don't currently have, the Spirit of God working in you.

Let me show you another one. Turn over to John chapter 7. Listen to how Jesus describes this relationship you have with the Holy Spirit. John chapter 7, I love this passage of scripture because it always takes me back to Israel. I always reserve this one for me. I love this one. It's on the teaching steps just outside the walls of the old city.

We're up high, you can look down and you can see into the old city. Down we know the Pool of Siloam is down there because a couple days earlier, if you walk through Hezekiah's tunnel and you walk through the whole tunnel where they came together, you end up in the Pool of Siloam.

That's where you end, where we all gather together in the Pool of Siloam and the Pool of Siloam is very important because during the feast that's referenced here in John chapter 7, every day of the feast, a priest would go down with a large container to the Pool of Siloam. He would fill that container up, he would bring it back, come up through the teaching steps, and he would pour it out near the altar as an example of the great and wonderful work of God and the power of God and his presence in their lives.

But on the eighth day, he wouldn't bring anything. He would bring an empty container because it's completed and it's over and God has satisfied the people there. And that's on that eighth day without water that Jesus says this. Notice with me verse 37.

It says on that last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me as the scripture has said," listen, "out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."

Don't you want rivers of living water to come out of you? Don't you want to be so saturated in the Holy Spirit that what you say, what you think, what you do reflects the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?

You don't want just a drop. You don't want just like, you know, to have somebody splash your face. You have the ability today, you and I have the ability day by day to have the Spirit of God flowing so powerfully in us that he comes out of us in abundant torrents of living water.

And you know as well as I do, we don't live every day like that, or every week. Some of you for months. Life gets hard and challenging. Things come our way where as much as we know this, they sap our very strength. These living torrents of living water, you go, "But Ed, what does that mean?" Jesus said it in verse 39. He said he's speaking to us about the Spirit, the powerful work of the Spirit in our lives.

Turn over to John chapter 20. Jesus is at the end. This is after his resurrection but it's before this time in Acts. Listen to what he says. He's gathered together in verse 19, chapter 20, he's on the first day of the week, the doors are shut. Jesus comes in, tells them, "Peace be with you."

This is the disciples, they're gathered together. It says because they're fearing the Jews. Verse 20, when he had said this, he showed his hands and his side and his disciples were glad and they saw the Lord. And Jesus said again, "Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, I send you."

And then notice what he says. He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." So what just happened to these disciples? They received the Holy Spirit. It's a pop quiz. What just happened to the disciples here? They received the Holy Spirit.

What experience did they just receive? The "in" experience. This is in John 14, he says you don't have the "in" experience, but you will. Where did it happen? John chapter 20.

Many of these people in John 20 are with Jesus now 40 days later in Acts chapter 1. And those that have received the "in" experience, Jesus is telling them there's one more. Don't leave Jerusalem. You could even say today, don't leave this sanctuary, don't turn off the radio, don't click off your online stream until you receive the promise of the Father.

That is his will for your life, to take your life from a dull, uneventful, what you may even describe as boring religious activity to the highest levels where the streams of living water saturate your life, saturate your life. Being saved but then willing to surrender are two different things.

The difference between the two could be as wide as night and day. So many believers today are tired, burned out, feel like they're ill-equipped, or how about this word, incapable of serving God. But you just haven't received the power. You haven't acknowledged the power. You haven't been living in the power of God.

You're saved, you received the "in" experience, but not yet the "upon" experience. You might be like Peter. You can jot it down in John chapter 21. Before the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you know what Peter wants to do? He's so caught up with everything, he wants to go back fishing. "You know, it's already over, all our hopes and dreams are over. I'm just going to go back fishing."

And other people followed him because he was such a dynamic leader. Unfortunately, he gets all this attention for his mistakes, but his leadership was far greater than his mistakes. He was a major leader, people followed him. When he went back to work, he'd go, "I guess I'll just go back to my former life. It was a great ride with the Messiah. It was a great ride with Jesus, but I'm going to go back fishing."

And I know that so many make the same decision. You just go back, regular routine, just like you wake up, take a shower, brush your teeth, go to work, come home, regular routine, regular routine. There's no dynamic of surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Churches are like that too. You know, churches love, even in the book of Acts before the baptism of the Holy Spirit when they choose another apostle, it's just all routine. "Let's cast some lots. Here's what the Bible says. Let's take this into our own hands. Oh, we found two guys." Like they were the only two people in the whole world that could take the place of Judas. "But oh, we found two guys, and let's just cast lots and see which one it is."

You know, churches do the same thing today. They got planning committees and committees for this and committees for that and task force. They're always talking about doing things, but never doing them in the power of the Holy Spirit.

But something happens in Acts chapter 2 that changes everything. Peter, please read ahead. Read through chapter 1, 2, 3, go all the way to 4 at least and see a different man. Peter's not fishing anymore, he's preaching.

What happened? This is the guy in John 21, "Let's go fishing, it's already over." And now in Acts chapter 2, he off the top of his head preaches a message that takes about, I don't know, three minutes to read and 3,000 people get saved.

When he went fishing, no fish got saved. They got caught, but they didn't get saved. But something happened. Read what happened in Acts chapter 2. You want to know what happened? I'll tell you what happened. The baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon that man and changed Peter forever.

I think of my own life. I was saved in February and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in September of that same year. And what I did as a born again believer, I believe in February I was truly born again, delivered from many things that were captivating me. Immediately drugs and alcohol no longer became a part of my life and other behaviors began to change.

But I'll tell you what didn't change. What didn't change was my prideful arrogance that, "Oh, you know what, Christianity is just going to be another tool to help me live a better life." That's how I approached it. I mean, I loved God and I loved Bible study and I read and I prayed, but my attitude was this: I think that Jesus is going to help me be a better man. I think Jesus is going to help me be a better—and I approached it that way.

So much so, this is my—you want to know an insight, you want to know what Marie had to deal with? This is how it was, this is how it went. I remember reading Ephesians for the first time about the role of the wife. And I remember reading it like it was yesterday. I remember I have this photographic memory. I was like, "This is amazing. Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord."

It was so amazing. I said, "Marie, we got to have lunch. I want to talk to you about what I found in the Bible." And we did. She was at work, I took her out to lunch, her favorite restaurant. I said, "This is it. This is the way it's always supposed to be."

And of course, you know, I don't remember what she said. My memory is so fuzzy right there. But I do know this: by September she was ready to leave me again. She had already many years before as unbelievers, we were off and on. We were married, she's ready to divorce me then. She's ready to leave me again in September.

Same buddy invited me to church, popped back into my life. He says, "Ed, you need to come to this men's retreat." And I'm like, "What's a men's retreat? And a men's conference?" "Okay, I'll go." Again, he didn't know how messed up my life was.

I go to this men's conference. Pastor Raul Ries was the pastor that put it on and he came up to the podium at his session and he broke down convulsively weeping before he taught. And it blew my mind. I'm like, "What is going on here?" The only other man that I had seen cry like that in my life was my dad when he picked me up from jail and he just looked at me and went, "What a sad state of affairs my son has got himself in." And he cried for me then.

So now I'm seeing another man cry. And then as he composes himself, he says, "You know, he just all the sin in this room and all the broken—" and he just started laying into us as men. I'm like, "Yes, yes, that's me. I don't know what to do. That's why I'm here."

And then he gave a very brief study of what I did right now about the power and baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I'm like, "That is what I need. I lack power and surrender in my life."

And I prayed with him. And there were no fireworks in my life, there were no, you know, I didn't speak in tongues in that moment, I didn't start prophesying. I just by faith believed a man that taught the Bible. You're going to see that throughout the book of Acts too. The Bible is taught, it's received, God works.

That's how it is. The Bible is taught, you go, "Oh, Ed, what are you doing in this church? Every day, all you do is teach the Bible, teach the Bible." Yes, that's my responsibility. You know what your responsibility is? Receive it. Jot down notes, take it in. You want to know why? Because as I get to teach it, you get to receive it, the Spirit of God activates it in your life.

And then things change, life's changed. And by the way, you know, baptism of the Holy Spirit radically changed my life. And what, Marie and I are 32 and a half years married by the power of God, by the grace of God.

It's a powerful testimony in my life. I could live those years, I believe I was born again, I loved Jesus, I believe the Spirit of God was in me, I was understanding the Bible, my life was changing. I just lacked surrender. I lacked being submerged in the spirit. I was doing it Ed's way.

So much so I would read Ed into the Bible. You know why we have so much counseling here? People read themselves into the Bible instead of letting the Bible change them. They change the Bible.

"Well, you know, here's the answer." "No, no, you don't understand." "No, actually you don't understand." This is the answer, right here. This is what it says. Pray over it and do it. "No, no, you don't get—" "No, you don't get." And that is, that's a summary of every counseling session.

"No, you don't understand." "No, you don't understand." That's our problem. When we don't understand, we go our own way. That's our problem. That's your problem and that's my problem. And so I invite you today to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to Abounding Grace with Pastor Ed Taylor. You can hear this message again online at aboundinggraceradio.com or listen through our app. Search for Ed Taylor in the App Store or Google Play.

Pastor Ed, as you were talking about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, a question came to mind. Is this a one-time for all-time experience, or is it something we can ask for on a continual basis as needed?

Pastor Ed Taylor: Larry, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a singular event in the life of the believer. You can see that on the Day of Pentecost. It happened and it was the promise. They moved forward, empowered, and they did exactly what God said they would, Jesus said they would do. They would be witnesses immediately in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. It's a one-time event.

If you haven't, if you can't pinpoint it, I would encourage you just like in Luke chapter 11, just ask. The Father wants to give the Holy Spirit to those who ask. Luke 11:11, 12, 13 in that section, read it. It'll be really encouraging for you.

What is continual is that filling of the Holy Spirit. That continually yielding, filling, repenting, walking, running, submitting, obeying. All the activity that we have as believers is in the spirit. Baptism once, filling many, many, many, many thousands of times throughout our lives. Let the Lord use you in great ways with his power.

Guest (Male): Thanks again, Pastor Ed. Well, maybe you're looking for a good book to go through. Here in the month of March, we've picked out an excellent one written by Tim LaHaye and Bob Phillips.

It's titled Anger is a Choice and it provides counsel and exercises to help us better understand the causes of anger, how to control it, and how lack of control affects us physically and spiritually. We'll send you a copy when you support Abounding Grace with a gift of $25 or more.

Just call, ask for Anger is a Choice. Our number is 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. You can also order online at calvaryco.store.

Abounding Grace is made possible through the generous support of our listeners. And as we continue to deliver God's word one verse at a time, we're looking to our listeners for help. Together, we can reach people with the love and truth of Christ and make a difference in these last days.

To make a secure donation, drop by aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.