INTRODUCTION

The church of our day is diverse. It is comprised of numerous groups and organizations, denominations and individuals, each one purporting to “have the truth”. At times we seem to be fighting and arguing with each other and there are certain people who appear to specialize in tearing others apart and “exposing them”.

Problems, foolish behaviour and excesses certainly exist and they may always be like that until Jesus returns—but the genuine also exists. Our “problem” is being able to tell the difference, but this should be relatively easy. There are several ways to ascertain the truth. God has given us His word and Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth and always reveals truth.

Jesus told us that He is the way, the truth and the life, saying:
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27

He also stated that we can hear other voices, adding that we can learn to tell the difference and flee from the false.

We can therefore hear His voice and be able to discern the difference. If that is not so, then Jesus is a liar, but He is not. The devil is the liar.

Jesus also told us in John’s gospel that He would send the Holy Spirit to us for several specific purposes, namely to teach us truth, to guide us and lead us, to reveal Jesus to us and to reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. If we refuse to accept that vital part of His ministry, we are in a form of unbelief and are cheating ourselves of understanding truth.

In those portions of scripture, Jesus had been addressing the religious leaders, or the Pharisees.
They were “expert theologians”, but devoid of understanding, or what we could call “revelation” and He chastized them for their attitudes.

When we speak of “revelation” today, many religious folk are shocked, thinking that we are advocating something new, or adding to scripture, but that is not so. See Revelation 22:17-19, 2 Timothy 2:14-26, 3:1-7, 16-17. It simply means that we have not “seen it yet”.

For example, after His resurrection, the Lord met two of His apostles on the road to Emmaus. They were having a heated theological debate, but did not recognize Him. It was only after “opening up” scripture to them that they saw Him.

Paul spoke of this in Ephesians 2:15-23, 3:1-6, 14-21 and when he shared his testimony in Philippians 3.

By endless debates and arguments, people who do not know God may never come to know Him.

Many people know about God but do not have the intimacy of relationship that He desires. That word know in the original is ginosko and it refers to the deepest and most intimate form of relationship any two individuals can possess and enjoy. It is the kind of relationship seen in Genesis where Adam “knew”his wife.

It is one thing to believe in God but now know Him. James 2:19 states that the devils can do that.

It is becoming increasingly evident that many people are turning away from “the church”. In most instances Instead of seeing The Church that Jesus said He would build, they see division and argument, differences in opinions on how to worship, how to live in a manner that pleases God, legalism, formalism, pomp and ceremony, man made traditions—but never come to the truth.

The problem is that the people who ever attend a church, never read a bible and do not know anything about God avoid “Christianity” completely. If heaven and hell are real, which I believe to be true and the salvation experience when one meets the Lord Jesus Christ is real, which I also believe to be true, the theological debates and opinions that exist can in essence lead to an eternity in hell in a Christ-less existence.

Rather than fight each other as Christians, it would be better to present the Gospel message, to follow the example set by John the baptist who pointed to Jesus and stood aside for Him, declaring that He was the lamb of God!

Speaking of the Lamb of God, the book of Revelation is all about the Lord Jesus Christ. It contains history and prophecy that has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled and will be fulfilled.

My presentations are all designed to point others to Christ. They may often seem to contradict the accepted “norm” and thus seem controversial to religious minded people, but are aimed at stimulating individual and personal study of God’s word, changing mindsets and instill a hunger for more of God in the realities of life.

This presentation hopefully does that for you and creates a hunger for more. I shall commence with a personal testimony.

Robert

ANOTHER COMFORTER

Jesus said:

If you love me, you will keep my commands; and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforting Counselor like me, the Spirit of Truth, to be with you forever. The world cannot receive him, because it neither sees nor knows him. You know him, because he is staying with you and will be united with you. John 14:15-17 emphasis mine

I have told you these things while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Ruach HaKodesh, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything; that is, he will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:25-26

When the Counselor comes, whom I will send you from the Father—the Spirit of Truth, who keeps going out from the Father—he will testify on my behalf. John 15:26

The movie The Passion of the Christ similarly touches me, as do many others, despite the way Hollywood sometimes twists the truth for the spectacle sake. I guess I am just an old “softie” when it comes to such things, but getting back to my childhood church, I wept because of frustration. My frustration was due to unanswered questions. I was told that God never changes which is true. I was told that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and that is true. I was told that the bible is the inspired word of God—in the original language—does not alter in any way and does precisely what God said it would do. That also it true.

I was taught about Jesus’ ministry on the earth and marvelled at the miracles He performed, but when I put them all together, it was evident that something was missing.

Where was God? Was He somewhere millions of miles away? Where were the followers of Christ—those apostles and disciples I read of in the bible? If nothing has changed as I had been taught, where are they?

I felt like Elisha who cried out, “Where is the God of Elijah”?

RECEIVE THE SPIRIT

There are times when a group of people gather and one person says something to another with the instruction to pass it on. The next person hears that and passes it on and the process continues to the last person. During this process, the message can be altered. By the Timothy aspersion when one hears the message it may be vastly different to the original. This has often happened in the church.

This is why we must rightly divide God’s word , a topic discussed elsewhere.

Jesus appeared to the disciples in John chapter twenty and said something very interesting. 
We need to understand that there were more than twelve. In Luke 10, Jesus appointed an additional 70. In John 6:66, many of Jesus’ followers left Him but we do not know the number.
On the Day of Pentecost 120 followers including His mother were gathered in the Upper Room.
Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 15:6 that more than five hundred brethren saw Jesus. 

If we then look at receiving the spirit, we should look carefully at this. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples.

In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the talmidim were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans, Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, “Shalom aleikhem!” Having greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side.
The talmidim were overjoyed to see the Lord. “Shalom aleikhem!” Yeshua repeated. “Just as the Father sent me, I myself am also sending you.” Having said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Ruach HaKodesh! John 20:22 

Jesus always spoke truth. If He said that they would receive the Holy Spirit, they received the Holy Spirit.

Shortly after, He told them to go to Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit to come.

If they received the Holy Spirit before, why would He tell them to wait until the Holy Spirit came?

The answer must be that the former was a spiritual regeneration—the new birth as Jesus discussed with Nicodemus in John 3.

Previously, He had sent the disciples out on temporary assignments to do the same things He did, but now they were to take over His work after His return to heaven. This second experience was the enabling or the empowerment for ministry.

God always appointed men and anointed them with the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purpose. In Exodus 25, God commanded Moses to build the Tabernacle, giving strict instructions to build it according to His set pattern and not deviate from it.

Jesus is similarly building His Church and has a precise pattern we should follow. That is another topic in itself better covered elsewhere.

God appointed two men named Bezaleel and Aholiab who were filled with the Spirit to do the work in Exodus 31.

Before Jesus started His earthly ministry, He was anointed by the Holy Spirit.

There is a definite principle or pattern involved.

He is called Christ, but this is not His Surname. It is a title! The word Christ is Christos, which is taken from the word Chriō.

It means Anointed. He is the Anointed One and came in and with that anointing and did not enter public ministry until the Spirit of God came upon Him! Luke chapter four says that He was Full of the Holy Spirit who had anointed Him for ministry and came in the power of that anointing to start preaching.

Surely, if it was so important for Him, we should also rely on the same anointing and I say that because the Holy Ghost has not changed and the word of God has not changed.

People’s needs are still the same today, so the answers are the same. Modern day technology can help us in the natural realm, but the ministry aspect has not altered. Jesus the Anointed one came in His anointing and did the things in His ministry that we marvel about by virtue of that anointing. We cannot function properly without it. We are called “Christ-ones” and if this is true then substitute the word Christ for Anointed. That means we are supposed to be the “Anointed-ones”.

The anointing is designed to set people free and bring joy and peace into their lives. That is what Isaiah said and what Jesus preached on in His first sermon.

The Spirit of Adonai Elohim is upon me, because Adonai has anointed me to announce good news to the poor. 
He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted; to proclaim freedom to the captives, to let out into light those bound in the dark; to proclaim the year of the favor of Adonai and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, yes, provide for those in Tziyon who mourn, giving them garlands instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a cloak of praise instead of a heavy spirit, so that they will be called oaks of righteousness planted by Adonai, in which he takes pride. They will rebuild the ancient ruins, restore sites long destroyed; they will renew the ruined cities, destroyed many generations ago. 
Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, foreigners plow your land and tend your vines;
but you will be called cohanim of Adonai, spoken of as ministers to our God. Isaiah 61:1-6

Jesus knew that these men needed what He had on a permanent basis, so set the disciples up to qualify for this anointing to come upon them also. We need it too. The Old Testament priests were anointed for ministry, but the anointing oil could never be applied directly to the flesh. The blood had to be applied first! None of us are any different. The blood has to be applied first, before the anointing can come and this is precisely what Jesus did. People say that this was only for the disciples, but it was not restricted to the twelve.

Luke 10 says that there were 70 others, thus making 82 disciples. We also know that many of His disciples left him from John’s account in John 6:66.

When they all went out on temporary assignments, every one of them came back with glowing reports, but that was before Pentecost and thus temporary.

120 people were in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost including Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Some historians say that this prayer meeting could have started with up to 500 people!

MY PERSONAL PENTECOST

The first Sunday morning I went to my new church with new friends, the Holy Spirit was present! A man sitting to my left stood up and spoke in a very forceful manner in a language I never understood then sat down. Another man to my right stood up and spoke equally as powerfully in English and sat down. The atmosphere was electric. I had absolutely no idea of what had happened, but had enough sense to realize something—that was God and I wanted it! Little did I realize that this was a joint operation of two of the Gifts of the Spirit according to Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth.
One was the Gift of tongues and the other was the gift of interpretation of tongues. 

At no time was there anything out of order, weird behaviour or excess with people out of control. They operated in strict accord with bible instruction and it was great! I will deal with these things elsewhere.

In my secular career at that time, I had to visit the regional headquarters of a large denominational group a few days later. I knew nothing and was very immature and still excited about what I had witnessed in church. I shared my testimony with the people there. It just happened to be the annual conference of all the pastors in the region and yours truly went in there like a lamb to the slaughter, blissfully thinking that they must all be like my newfound friends. As I shared, I left the talking in tongues part until last and then every conceivable adverse comment was hitting me from everywhere. They told me that such things were not for today; that they had passed away; they were of the devil and so on and the barrage was intense.

On reflection, they became so very angry, I now realize that this was a spiritual attack, motivated by the devil. It is strange that religious people often become agitated when anyone else speaks of the Holy Spirit, especially with regard speaking in tongues and the gifts of the Spirit. Why?

I left there reeling in shock wondering what had happened and shaken to the core of my being. I started to wonder if I had gotten mixed up with some strange sect and that my new church was one some kind of weird cult. Those pastors really upset me and in desperate plight, I cried to God for help. I asked the Lord to reveal the truth to me.

If anyone is really seeking truth, God promises in many places to reveal the truth to us. All we have to do is listen without prejudice or bias and be open to His voice. Jesus told us that His sheep hear His voice, so if you profess to be one of His sheep, then you should be able to have a two-way conversation with Him... regularly!

Obviously we can train ourselves to listen more closely as we mature in Christ, but God is always there and has promised to never leave us like orphans and to reveal Himself to us. John 14 touches on that.

I approached Him without any preconceived ideas or religious mindsets.

I wanted to know the truth and Truth Himself answered me in His Word!

Always go to the word of God. 

There are times when man will fail us. There are times when a religious spirit will try to lie to us, but if it is there in ink on the pages of His Word, you can determine for yourself what is true and what is not, because (if you are genuine about it) the Holy Spirit will do His job just as Jesus promised and guide you and teach you and lead you in all the truth. See John 14:26; 16:13-15. I picked up my bible and it fell open at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1. It read:

Now concerning spiritual gifts Robert, I do not want you to be ignorant.

I saw my own name there, not the word brethren as Paul actually wrote.

Almost before I finished praying, God had answered me. He assured me that all was well and that my new experience was good and valid and in fact should be the norm for all believers. This was the first time God spoke to me from His Word and it is now a way of life for me, getting better every day.

By this time, I had embarked on weekly bible study evenings with the man who became my spiritual mentor. We were going through the major topics of the bible as part of my growing process in the Lord and this is a good thing. It laid a foundation for my whole Christian life and I treasure those days. We had finished the evening’s study and had supper and as he was preparing to leave the Holy Spirit fell on me just as we see happening in the book of Acts. That was in 1968!
He put his belongings back on the table, laid his hands on me and started to pray, telling me to receive the Holy Ghost.

I burst out speaking in fluent languages, flowing seamlessly from one language to another. It was effortless and it was glorious. He eventually left, but I just kept going, kneeling on my kitchen floor for four hours, speaking fluently.

I knew nothing about this thing then and asked the Lord, “I am getting tired. Can I stop now?”

I did not know that we are in full control of our faculties.

What happened to me was my personal Pentecost and it was just like the things that happened to the early Christians in the book of Acts. It is my firm conviction, based on scripture and from experience, that all believers should receive the Holy Ghost in some way at some time in their experience.

The way it happens may vary of course because we are all different, but there are common denominators we could weigh up and should consider.

Please look with me at what happened on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 1 and 2. Luke opens the account as follows:

Dear Theophilos:
In the first book, I wrote about everything Yeshua set out to do and teach, until the day when, after giving instructions through the Ruach HaKodesh to the emissaries whom he had chosen, he was taken up into heaven.
After his death he showed himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. During a period of forty days they saw him, and he spoke with them about the Kingdom of God. Acts 1:1-3

The KJV says that Jesus "began" to do. If this means what we think, there is a part of His work that is still continuing.

He was talking about the kingdom of God, which is far more than people realize.

This kingdom is both present and future.

It is within us as believers and it is a physical place where we shall spend the rest of eternity with Him.

It is also a governmental system in which He is the ultimate authority. In other words, He has a system or a set and precise way of doing things.

Jesus was teaching them about the way God does things, then continued as if in the same breath telling them to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the promised Holy Spirit to come.

They were thinking in the natural and asked Him about restoring the earthly kingdom of Israel, but He told them not to be concerned about such matters, focus only on what He wanted and to wait for the Holy Spirit. He was speaking about receiving power and of them being witnesses around the world. The Greek word for power is Dynamis.

It talks about ability, abundance, might, strength, miraculous power and force! The word dynamite comes from this word. He told them to spread the gospel message—but told them to first wait until they received the ability to do so.

Prior to that, He sent them on temporary assignments after training and they often returned with glowing reports of what had happened, but now—after His resurrection, He was about to return to Heaven and send the Spirit of God here to equip us to continue His work on the earth.

If we truly believe that we are to Be His witnesses and to “Go Ye” and successfully fulfill His assignment, then it is evident that we must have the abilities to do so! In plain English we cannot do supernatural work with natural abilities.

BIBLICAL ACCOUNTS

The following lists share from early church experiences what happened to those believers and reveals the principle that still applies today. The word of God has not altered and what happened to people in the bible is recorded forever as examples for us.

I hope that by you reach the end of this page, you will want everything that God is offering you.

Full of faith AND the Holy Ghost

The early church started to experience difficulties and problems because the Greek believers and the Hebrew believers were not being treated equally regarding distribution of food and practical matters.
An administrative problem was emerging because widows were not being properly cared for.
The pastors were getting bogged down in doing the administrative work of the church and neglecting the necessity of spending time with God and the word. They were doing all the chores. There is a place for this but not here! Not in this way! 

It is similar to what happened to Moses.
He was wearing himself out by trying to handle things that others could do and Jethro rightly confronted him about it. He told Moses to appoint qualified leaders to deal with the daily routine matters and free himself to wait on God. If there were problems that those people could not handle, they could pass those on to Moses so he could hear from God about it.

The apostles at the time told the church to find seven men who met the criteria, so that they could appoint them to handle things. They were Their requirements were men who had an honest report, who were wise—and who were full of the Holy Ghost!

Around this time, when the number of talmidim was growing, the Greek-speaking Jews began complaining against those who spoke Hebrew that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

So the Twelve called a general meeting of the talmidim and said, “It isn’t appropriate that we should neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among yourselves who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom.
We will appoint them to be in charge of this important matter, but we ourselves will give our full attention to praying and to serving the Word.”
What they said was agreeable to the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Ruach HaKodesh, Philip, Prochoros, Nikanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas, who was a proselyte from Antioch. They presented these men to the emissaries, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
So the word of God continued to spread. The number of talmidim in Yerushalayim increased rapidly, and a large crowd of cohanim were becoming obedient to the faith. Acts 6:1-7 (emphasis mine).

How could they tell if there is no evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit?

They were full of faith and were wise, but also had to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There had to be something extraordinary—something by which they could assess those men.

There are many skilled, wise and honest people around. We do not need supernatural help to know that, but how can we tell the difference between those who are full of the Holy Ghost and those who are not?

If it was merely some kind of “feeling” that is often stated, one must ask how can a “feeling” be ascertained?

If we cannot see the Holy Ghost, or assess His presence tangibly, how would anyone be capable of measuring or determining His presence in their lives?

It certainly could not be by the good deeds those men did in the natural realm, because there are many other people who may or may not even be Christians who are charitable, kind, generous, loving etceteraand are to be commended for such activities.

The people chose the men who met such criteria—by something that stood them apart from others, one of whom was Philip.

He was a man full of faith and was wise and full of the Holy Ghost. 

How could they tell that?

What is more interesting is that these men were not one of the twelve apostles Jesus chose from many of his followers, or the 70 other disciples in Luke ten.

Perhaps they were in the upper room on the day of Pentecost. Perhaps they were part of the 500 believers who saw Jesus after His resurrection. They may have been one of those 3000 people saved that day. God knows, but I share this to illustrate that they too had something tangibly recognizable.

Stephen was full of faith and power and did great miracles amongst the people (see Acts 6:8), so he also had something!

They recognized that "something".

GIVE ME THAT POWER

Now Philip went down to a city in Shomron and was proclaiming the Messiah to them; and the crowds were paying close attention to what Philip said, as they heard and saw the miraculous signs he was doing. For many people were having unclean spirits driven out of them, shrieking; also many paralytics and crippled persons were being healed; so that there was great joy in that city. Acts 8:5-8

Philip went to Samaria and preached Christ to them. He did not major on prophecy or any of the topics with which we can so easily be preoccupied, yet the people gave heed to what he said and tangibly witnessed many miracles that occurred though his ministry. 

Evil spirits were cast out and many miracles of healing occurred and great joy was in the city. One of the by-products of the anointing is joy!

There was a man called Simon there who was a sorcerer, using Mageuō that we know as magic or sorcery and bewitched or astounded the people so much some became insane and most were simply amazed beyond understanding.
The word used to describe that is Existēmi.

He had “power” before Philip came preaching Jesus.

Now there was a certain man called Shim‘on, who formerly was practising magic in the city and astonishing the people of Shomeron, claiming to be someone great, to whom they all were giving heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This one is the power of Elohim, which is great.”
And they were giving heed to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic.
And when they believed Philip as he brought the Good News about the reign of Elohim and the Name of Jeshua Messiah, both men and women were immersed.
And Shim‘on himself also believed. And when he was immersed he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which took place. Acts 8:9–13

Simon became a follower of Jesus and was baptized as a believer.

He witnessed all the miracles that occurred during Philip’s ministry—but he never reacted to them.

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard about what Philip had been doing, they sent Peter and John and they did so for a specific purpose. 

Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: Acts 8:14-15.

These people had already heard the word of God and were born again.

They were all baptized as believers and the Holy Spirit had brought new life to them and seen miracles—but something was lacking and the disciples knew it!

They sent Peter and John to them for one specific purpose and one only!

It was to help them receive the Holy Ghost! We read that they laid their hands on the new Christians AND… they received the Holy Ghost! Why go into such detail if this is not important.

When Peter and John laid their hands on the believers, they received the Holy Spirit but they had already received the Holy Spirit in regeneration as had Simon. He was a man who had previously wielded magical powers and became born again but did not react to the miracles Philip did—but when two strangers came into town, he wanted what they had. He did not want what Philip had.

He had not yet reacted so he must have witnessed something extraordinary.

Something had to have happened that, although not specifically spelled out in the book, evoked such a response.
And when 

Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. Acts 8:18-19.

He wanted That Power, but what was it that he witnessed and how would he know that when he prayed like them something extraordinary would happen?

He was accustomed to things out of the usual. This was so extraordinary and evidently powerful that he had to have it.

Peter said to him: 

Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Acts 8:20-21.

Please look at the word Matter that Peter used. It is Logos!

It means word or sayings.

The power Simon craved was expressed by words. It was sayings or speech!

What else but speaking in tongues because speaking in other tongues is indeed a supernatural phenomenon and it happened to them!

THE GENTILES ALSO?

In Acts ten, Peter was speaking at the home of a man called Cornelius who was a devout, God-fearing man who prayed much and gave a lot of money away to help others.

These things may be good and noble and highly commendable, but do not qualify anyone for the blessing of the Lord. 

Everything He offers including our salvation is a free and lavish gift.

Unfortunately, he was not born again and God wanted him! Men alone can preach the gospel. Angels can go on assignments, deliver messages and give direction, but they cannot preach the salvation message. We have to do that, so the Lord sent Peter to him. Whilst he was in prayer, he received a vision. They are remarkable things.

The angels told him to send for Peter, advising him where he could be located. Peter was dispatched at the same time and went to the man’s house where he started preaching Jesus, making no mention whatever about the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues etectera when the Holy Ghost suddenly fell on them. How do we know that He did?

While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that ON THE GENTILES ALSO was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Acts 10:44-48  (emphasis mine)

Three totally separate and distinctly different things happened.

• They were saved.
• They were then filled who the Holy Spirit
• They were then baptized in water as believers.

Please notice that they knew that the Holy Spirit had come on them because they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.

This is one of the benefits of speaking in tongues. It is not gibberish and self-seeking at all and certainly not restricted to a few people in one place of the bible!

Many times people who do not understand this or want to believe call it gibberish and cannot be understood. Whilst some people may stutter and sound weird, Paul clearly states that we can and do speak in the tongues of men AND of angels. 

The person speaking may do so in a language that he or she has not learned, or in the language that angels speak. It is certainly “unknown” to them then.

What is not accepted by those who oppose this is that we do the speaking.

The Holy Spirit grants the ability to do so and Paul said that we can speak “unto God” (1 Corinthians 14:2). 

Additionally, those who deny the validity of this ability, do not realize that there is a difference between our “devotional tongue” that needs “no interpretation” and the vocal “gift of tongues” that does. We discuss this in the page devoted to the gifts of the Spirit.

Anyone who states that the genuine believer is deceived or is speaking devilish words is blaspheming the Holy Spirit and needs to repent quickly.

Peter then realized that God wants everyone involved. He wants all men to be saved and complete in every way, including being filled with the Spirit!

SINCE YE BELIEVED?

While Apollos was in Corinth, Sha’ul completed his travels through the inland country and arrived at Ephesus, where he found a few talmidim. He asked them, “Did you receive the Ruach HaKodesh when you came to trust?” “No,” they said to him, “we have never even heard that there is such a thing as the Ruach HaKodesh.”
“In that case,” he said, “into what were you immersed?” “The immersion of Yochanan,” they answered. Sha’ul said, “Yochanan practiced an immersion in connection with turning from sin to God; but he told the people to put their trust in the one who would come after him, that is, in Yeshua.”
On hearing this, they were immersed into the name of the Lord Yeshua;
and when Sha’ul placed his hands on them, the Ruach HaKodesh came upon them; so that they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. In all, there were about twelve of these men. Acts 19:1–7

These twelve men were believers, so they had been born of the Spirit.

They had not yet been baptized (immersed) as believers and were then baptized.

They knew nothing about the holy Spirit.

Paul then laid his hands one each of them and they received the Holy Spirit—because they started speaking in tongues.

The bible is very specific when describing this event, saying that 12 men were involved. If we count the original group of people mentioned in Acts 1:13-14 where it lists them by name and also mentions Mary, the mother of Jesus, there were now at least 132 people who spoke with other tongues. Mary did too! 

Once more we see that the debate that this experience was or is only for a select few simply does not have credibility.

RECEIVING THE SPIRIT TODAY

As I touched on earlier in my brief testimony, I had a religious background, but knew nothing other than my denomination’s ordinances and beliefs. I could recite the Apostle’s Creed and say the prayers from the prayer book, but really knew nothing about the Holy Spirit.

I did not realize that He is a person—the third person of the Trinity and that we can grieve Him.

After meeting the Lord, I embarked on weekly bible studies with a man from my newfound church who started teaching me the foundational basics. Nothing was mentioned about the Holy Spirit from a doctrinal perspective. My mentor had finished a study and was getting ready to leave, thanking me for the evening whilst asking if he could return next week.

Suddenly, the Holy Spirit “fell on me”, just as seen in the bible. I started to speak in tongues. I spoke fluently in several distinct languages.

My friend had a Chinese background and he later told me that I was declaring how wonderful God was in a dialect that he recognized, but did not recognize the others.

At a later time, after starting to attend my new church, a married couple approached me after service.

The woman was amazed, saying that they had been sitting behind me and she overheard me talking to God in fluent classical Greek, saying how great and wonderful He is. . She was a second generation Australian/Greek understood what I had been saying.

I could continue with more personal examples, but this illustrates what Paul described in his letter to the church at Corinth.

One of the prevailing problems often witnessed is that people concentrate on “tongues”. Some want to “get tongues” whilst others vehemently oppose “tongues”.

We do not ask for tongues! We seek to receive the HOLY SPIRIT and from what I have learned and experience, when that happens most people speak in other tongues.

As it is when we speak in the natural, we use our own vocal chords and lungs when we talk using our own mouths as we speak the words.

It is like that when we speak in tongues. The Holy Spirit does not do the talking—we do!

When the Holy Spirit comes in this manner we can only speak one language at a time and we can choose to do so.

We can choose to speak in our own native language or choose to speak in other tongues. The Holy Spirit does not “take over” and we are in full control of everything as we speak.

There is a law of physics that is in operation in almost everything we experience in everyday life. It is the law of equal and opposite reaction, stating To every action, there is an appropriate corresponding reaction. When air is blown into a toy balloon it stores energy in the balloon. When released, the stored energy in the balloon is expelled. That is the action. The reaction causes the balloon to fly around the air in circles! That is the reaction.

A jet engine works on similar principles. There are other illustrations I could use, but this gives the idea.

When someone receives the Holy Spirit, that is the kind of action of which I spoke.

The “action” is when the Holy Spirit “comes upon us” and the reaction is speaking in tongues. There is no mystical effort, method or formula to employ. Physical feelings and emotions have nothing to do with it, because it is a faith thing. Sometimes we might experience some kind of physical sensation, but this is not what is at stake. In fact, looking for manifestations can lead to problems!

You cannot conjure it up or try to force the issue. There are no set formulas, methods or procedures to follow because it is the Holy Spirit who does the enabling.

There are no time constraints involved because all the “tarrying” has already been done. The Holy Spirit has come. All one has to do is receive him.

If you want the Holy Spirit, ask Him to become real to you the way Jesus said and to do what Jesus said He would do. Invite Him in. Get hungry and thirsty for more of what you already have in God and keep asking. You can do this in private or in a public meeting. It does not matter.

I believe that as we are all different and the methodology may differ.

Many people say that we can receive the Holy Spirit or be baptized in the Spirit and not speak in tongues, but from what I have gleaned from scriptural accounts, that is not necessarily so. The scriptural accounts say otherwise.

Some people are concerned about stuttering or sounding foolish, but this is not an issue. If at first, only a few words are said, use them and a fluent language should follow. Do not think for a moment that you may receive “something else”. Jesus told us in Luke 11:9-13 that a genuine seeker will receive the Holy Spirit and nothing else.

I encourage you to seek the Lord about this and ask...

CONCLUSION

I must bring this to a close now knowing that I have merely scratched the surface. Please prayerfully weigh up what I have shared and ask God to show you the truth. If you are real about that at least, He will show you things. Be prepared if necessary to change what is necessary.

I had to do that. I had to cast aside mind-sets, tradition, ceremony and culture. I had to reconsider all of my childhood training and good parental upbringing (we had a great family life) and weigh it up against scripture.

When jet aircraft fly fast enough, a natural phenomenon occurs. The air is compressed so much that it forms what is like an invisible barrier. When pressing on the aircraft can break through that barrier and when it does, two sonic booms are heard that can be powerful enough to shake buildings and break windows. It is called THE SOUND BARRIER!

Dear friend… break the Sound Barrier! Press through and into a new dimension in God. There is so much He has for us all that we simply cannot ignore or discount them.

My life has been enriched and blessed. I am now better equipped as a husband and as a minister of the gospel and my relationship with God is a truly wonderful thing to enjoy.

I hope you find what I have found and move into the things that God has prepared for you.

I pray for you the way Paul prayed-

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, — since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened — so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength. This power he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And God put all things under Christ’s feet, and he gave him to the church as head over all things. Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:15-23.

May He grant you out of the rich treasury of His glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the [Holy] Spirit [Himself indwelling your innermost being and personality]. May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell (settle down, abide, make His permanent home) in your hearts! May you be rooted deep in love and founded securely on love, That you may have the power and be strong to apprehend and grasp with all the saints [God's devoted people, the experience of that love] what is the breadth and length and height and depth [of it]; [That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]! Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]— To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it). Ephesians 3:16-21.