Rev. Rene Autry

Praise the Name of Jesus!  He is the mighty Provider.  2 Peter 1:3 says it, "According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue."  Salvation is God's greatest provision for mankind.  Jesus said, "You must be born again."  John 3:5-7 

 And Romans 8:9 tells us, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."  We receive a measure of the Holy Spirit when He takes up residence in our spirits at salvation.  However, there is a greater measure of His Spirit.  And this is received in the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  If you need strength to live the Christian life, the baptism in the Holy Spirit will really help you.  Seek to have it today.  The baptism in the Holy Spirit is Jesus' creation.

Some people have misused the terms "filled with the Holy Spirit" and "the infilling of the Holy Spirit" to mean salvation.  This is NOT true!  Don't let the enemy trick you.

In Acts 1:4-5 Jesus said, "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith He, ye have heard of Me.  For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence."  Jesus created the term "baptized with the Holy Spirit."  The people that He was talking to were already saved and were His disciples. They had already believed on Christ and had received the Holy Spirit in John 20:22 when Jesus said, "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." In Acts 1:8, Jesus said, "But ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the Earth."

Then in Acts 2, those same people who were part of the 120 in the upper room, were baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost.  Mary, Jesus' mother, was one of those people.  If Mary and Jesus' disciples needed to be baptized in the Holy Spirit, so do we!

Many spiritual experiences exist that we can have in God through the Holy Spirit, but tongues is the first evidence of the baptism in the Spirit according to the scriptures.  Tongues is a valid Bible experience and is not weird or strange.  I speak in tongues on a daily basis.  It's a blessing in my life.

Paul said in I Corinthians 15:39 not to forbid people to speak in tongues.  Forbidding tongues is against the command Paul gave.

Here are some the purposes of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit:

greater boldness

strength

greater anointing in worship and ability to worship

increased interest in spiritual things

power in the Holy Spirit

being used in the gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in I Corinthians 12.

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a second definite work of grace given as a gift from our precious Lord Jesus to saved people.  This is the spiritual baptism of strength -  strength to live the life that Jesus wants His people to live in this Earth. 

I received salvation as a child, but at 21, I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.   You are going to LOVE being baptized in the Holy Spirit.

How to receive:  pray and believe.  Go to a Spirit-filled church and ask the pastor to minister to you.  Call first, because there are many churches today who are pretending to be "Spirit-filled."  So watch out!