Paul found believers at Ephesus that had never heard of the Holy Spirit. Instead of leaving them with their previous experience, he took them into a deeper experience.
Acts 19:1-7, “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is. Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve of them in all.”
John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ. His purpose was to prepare the way for Christ in the hearts of those who would believe in the forthcoming Messiah. His message was a simple message. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”
Young’s Literal Translation says, “and saying, Reform, for come nigh hath the reign of the heavens,”
Repent means to change direction from going away from God to going toward God. It involves the mind as well as the will and the heart. Young says ‘reform’. Repentance is a reformation. A reforming of the mind, will and heart toward God and away from the evil one. This is not something that we can do on our own. We need the help of the Holy Spirit.
The Kingdom of Heaven is where God dwells. It was once interconnected with the Earth when Adam and Eve were living in obedience to their Creator. Young says the ‘reign of the heavens’ have come nigh or near. The Kingdom of Heaven will be connected with the New Earth when Jesus Christ returns to rule the New Earth with His Holiness and Righteousness. When we pray, “Thy Kingdom come” this is what we are asking. Jesus brought the Kingdom with Him so we can experience a small taste of it now.
John’s message was that when Jesus arrived the Kingdom of God had also arrived. Therefore everyone needed to reform their ways by asking for forgiveness for their sins, and start living in ways to please their Creator. The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17) The Kingdom of God or of Heaven arrived with Jesus and is available to those who believe in Him as their Lord and Savior today. Jesus promised us power when His Holy Spirit would come upon us; power to resist the evil and do the good.
It seems that Apollos had baptized these 12 disciples at Ephesus into John’s Baptism as this is what he understood as truth. But when Paul comes along, who had a personal experience with the Lord on the Road to Damascus, this aspect of truth needed further revealing. Paul says they needed to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.
I find that many believers today have been baptized into ‘”‘John’s Baptism”. They have some aspect of truth. What they have is good, but what they lack is a personal one on one relationship with the living God, who had manifested Himself to us in Jesus Christ. That one on one relationship comes through experiencing the power of His Holy Spirit touching our lives.
Many today would reduce the Holy Spirit to a force. Biblically the ancient concept of “ruah” or spirit was seen as a “charismatic breath of wind” that signaled the presence of the divine. The Old Testament people saw God’s Spirit more in terms of a breath. It would come upon a person, like Samson, give him supernatural strength for a situation and then depart. Jesus said the Holy Spirit would abide with us forever.
The Holy Spirit is like cool running water that quenches our thirst. A rushing wind that drives big ships. A peace loving dove which is easily disturbed. A roaring fire that warms on a cold night. A soothing oil that heals the soul. God’s Holy Spirit is a force, powerful, loving, peaceful, healing, intelligent, holy, and penetrating. The Holy Spirit is all of these and more, but it cannot be reduced to just a force, just love, just glory, just light, or just energy.
God’s Spirit “speaks” to believers. He intercedes and prays for us. He testifies to the truth. He witnesses to who Jesus is. He leads us in the way we should walk. The Holy Spirit can be lied to, insulted, blasphemed, and grieved by our words and sinful behavior.
These are not characteristics of a force….the Holy Spirit is alive! He as the Holy Spirit of God is a “relationship” to be entered into!
The Holy Spirit is no angel or mystical being that the New Age Movement has conjured up, floating around somewhere. God’s Holy Spirit is eternal, everywhere present, all-knowing and Lord. He is the person of God! He desires to dwell in our hearts.
Moses prayed, “Show me your ways Lord.” (Exodus 33:13) We can learn to know the “ways” of the Holy Spirit, just as we learn the ways of our friends, children and spouse. God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform, and there are “times of refreshing” that will come from His Presence.
I Corinthians 3:16-17 says, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy and that temple you are.”
You and I as believers in Christ as the only true God and as the only way to eternal life have the Holy Spirit living in us. We have become the temples of God’s Holy Spirit. We just need to release the Holy Spirit into our lives. We release the Spirit of God by praying, reading His Word, resisting evil, doing right, and revering God as our Creator and respecting others as belonging to God and above all “seeking” Him.
The Hebrews understood God in how they experienced Him in their daily lives. For example, He delivered them from Egypt so the Passover is very important to the Jews today.
Have you experienced God freeing you, saving you, delivering you, providing for you, guiding you?
Do you have a relationship with the Holy Spirit?
Your experiences with God are how you “know” who God is!
Many go through the motions of going to church, getting baptized, paying tithes, follow Christ’s teachings, try to avoid sin, pray, get involved in charity organizations, which all are good; but there is so much more! We don’t need to join a club, or fall in love with a denomination to realize our self-worth and feel like we are saved. What we need is a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit of God who is revealed through Jesus Christ in our hearts!
John’s baptism was to point to Jesus. Apollos baptized his disciples into John’s baptism, but they never got to Jesus. Paul said Jesus is the one we are to have the personal experience with. He baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus and they “felt” a supernatural power from the Holy Spirit touch their bodies, minds, hearts and even their tongues.
My first dream/vision
I was an assistant pastor to a small congregation of around 100 people back in the early years of my ministry. The pastor was leaving to go to a bigger church and the church was to vote in a new pastor. My name and another preacher were on the ballot. I felt that God wanted me to pastor this church. The Pastor told me that he thought I would get the vote.
I didn’t know that he had already talked to the congregation and persuaded them to vote for the other preacher. When I found this out, it crushed me and caused me to doubt every preacher I came into contact with after that. It was devastating experience for a young preacher.
Without knowing what the pastor had done, I spent time in prayer the night before the church was to vote. I prayed intensely for God’s will to be done, and tried to persuade God to give me a sign to confirm whether I would be voted in or not. He didn’t answer the way I thought He would, or asked for.
Instead He gave me a dream/vision. I call it both because it happened in my sleep but I also experienced part of it when I woke up during the dream.
I saw myself in an army barracks alone. All the other army cots had their green blankets tucked in tight and smooth, but mine. I was on my cot wrestling with an unseen being. I had my hands fastened on what would be his arms and I was trying to throw him off of me as he was on top of me on the cot trying to smother me. I could see myself and this invisible being go from side to side of the cot, and almost fall off before going back the other way. When we went over the side, my head was hanging down and I could see the doors to the army barracks and as I was noticing these doors, which were white and large swinging double doors, I saw them open inward and Jesus float into the barracks right past my bed and head. While I had my head hanging over the side of the bed, I turned to look and follow Him to see where He was going or had went, and then He was floating back past me out the double doors. He was clothed in a white flowing garment of radiant light and His face glowed with bright light so that I could not make out His features, other than that He was smiling at me, and He had hair to His shoulders, and His arms and hands were extended out in front of Him toward me. He was bathed in glorious bright light. Then the doors closed and He was gone and I woke up.
When I woke up, I found that the power of God was so strong in the room that I couldn’t move, and as I opened my eyes I saw that there was a bright beam of light shining from behind my head beside my bed going out through the bedroom door into the hall and shining on the banister railing around the stairs. When I turned to look behind me as in the dream, the light went out, and I found that I could move my body, and I heard the Lord say these words to me.
“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” Joshua 1:9
I have been privileged to have several dynamic visitations from the Lord and His Holy Spirit through the years that have served as an anchor to my faith in Him as God and my coming King. While I have lost faith in organizations, prosperity preachers and double standard believers, my faith in Jesus Christ has always stayed with me.
David cried for God to create in him a clean heart and renew in him a steadfast spirit. He asked God not to cast him away from His Presence and not to remove His Holy Spirit from him. (Psalm 51:10-11)
This needs to be our cry daily. I cannot control what others do, or won’t do. But God can influence them through the Holy Spirit and His holy angels to do what is right and to resist the wrong.
I can control my tongue, and the actions of my body and the thoughts of my mind, through the Power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to each one who believes in Him as their God, as I yield myself to Him, which I don’t always do as a human. Christians are saved not perfect.
God is not far from any of us, “if” we “feel” after Him. We need to quit feeling after the church, the pastor, the TV preacher, the organization, the denomination, the social club within the local church, the acceptance of others, and we need to make a passionate effort to feel after God through the Power of His Holy Spirit. Only a personal relationship with His Spirit will keep us in whatever trials and tribulations we may face in the remaining days of our life here on earth.
Nothing can separate us from the Love of God through the power of His Holy Spirit ‘If” we “feel” after Him on a daily basis surrendering our will to His and humbly asking for His divine help in every situation we face.
All things are possible with God! No demon can stand before the power of the Name and Spirit of Jesus Christ.
God is a Spirit and He is Holy and no one will stand in His presence without the covering of the Blood of Jesus Christ. No one will overcome the flesh, the world, the evil one, the trials of this life without being endued with Power from on high through the Holy Spirit!
Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you lay His Spirit aside for the human spirit of your local group? It is time to awake and ask for a new release of His Presence in your daily life.
In the Presence of the Lord is fullness of joy and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Prayer
Lord Jesus you chose Peter, James and John and brought them to the mountaintop. You revealed your Glory to them. I ask that you reveal your Glory to me and allow me to be close to you. I want to know you in a deep and personal way. I want to experience rebirth in my life. Jesus fill me with your Holy Spirit and change me into your likeness day by day, week by week, year by year until you come for me and I shall experience you fully in all of your Glory. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.