(kriss;39042)
Upon belief and repentance you are baptisted in the holy spiritWater is only symbolic of washing away of sin in the living waters of Jesus Christremember the thief on the cross who was told Christ would see him in heaven that very day he believed and repented and was baptised by the Holy Spirit
We need to make a distinction between two uses of the Holy Spirit. There is both the Holy Spirit IN and ON as used in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.In the OT the spirit fell upon the person. It was short term. It was for power. An example of this is when the HS came upon Saul and her prophesied or Samson when he tore down the pillars and killed the Philistines. (see Isaiah 44:3, Judges 14: 5 - 6, 17 - 21, 1 Samuel 11: 6, 10: 10, 16: 13, Numbers 11: 25, Numbers 24: 2, 2 Chronicles 20: 14 - 15, 2 Kings 6 : 17, Genesis 41: 38, Exodus 31: 3).In the NT there is a new usage. The HS came to dwell in a person. Jesus had the Spirit in him from birth (Luke 1: 35, 2: 49 - 52), but the HS fell upon him when he was baptized (Mark 1: 10). This was for power. It began his ministry (Mark 1: 12, 21, 23, 29 -30). In Luke 4: 18 - 19, Jesus says, "
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."See also Matthew 12: 28 and John 5: 19. Jesus was God, but he set aside his divinity to become like us. The power that he had came from God the Father and the power was in the Holy Spirit. This is not to diminish who Jesus is but rather is a testimony to the length that he would go through to give us salvation. He was fully human and felt pain and weakness. Through him God can identify with us. He knows our weakness and our struggle. Jesus gives credit to the Father and to the Holy Spirit rather than take it for his own.Jesus promised that we would not be left as orphans. See Luke 24: 46 - 49, Acts 1: 4 - 8, The apostles received the HS in John 20: 21 - 23 when Jesus breathed it into them, but he warns them that they should not begin to minister until they have received a second blessing. The HS would fall on them for empowerment. We see this happening to Peter at Pentecost in Acts 2: 14 and we see that he becomes bold and starts to act differently afterwards. This is well after Jesus breathed the Spirit into them.Repeatedly in Acts we see the work of the HS, giving power, from it whisking Philip away, empowering Stephen, to already baptized believers receiving the baptism of the HS (Acts 8: 15 - 17, Acts 19: 1 - 7).The promise of Jesus to his disciples was radical. He said this:
John 14: 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
That is mind boggling considering what Jesus did. This is a testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit.All Christians have the Holy Spirit IN them. This is the justifying work of the Holy Spirit. However, we can ask for more. This gives us the power that we need for ministry, to carry out Jesus' work in his place according to the Great Commission. In this last case, the Holy Spirit comes ON us as needed.In the OT the Spirit fell upon select people. However, in the NT, ANYONE can have this blessing. It is there for the asking. Joel 2: 28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.John 14: 15 " If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16 And I will ask the Father, and
he will give you another Counselor to be with you
forever— 17
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore,
but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that
I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."He continues: 25 "All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor,
the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you all things and
will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.Jesus' promises are true. We have the Holy Spirit in us. He links us to Jesus, reminding us of all he did and said. He guarantees our salvation (Ephesians 1: 14). However amazing this is, Jesus promised even more. He says that we can do whatever he did and more. He gave each of us gifts and the Holy Spirit can give us whatever power we need to persevere and further God's work in this life. Some people believe that this empowerment was just for the early church, but Jesus used the word "forever". If we choose to believe in the power of the Holy Spirit we can see miracles today.Throughout Acts the words baptism in or of the Holy Spirit are used as a distinct and separate act to water baptism and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In some cases it preceded water baptism and in some cases it followed it.To not believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit is to not believe in the words of Jesus and to rest on his promises. It isn't necessary for everyone to actually be baptized in the Spirit. It is not a salvation issue as some churches teach. There is only one work of grace and it was sufficient to give us salvation. However, if we want to be used by God to do his work then we have at our disposal the power of the Holy Spirit. This is there for the asking. All we need to do is to step out in confidence and obedience as Peter did. Like Peter we may be afraid. I don't think that he thought, "What will happen if I open my mouth and the words fail me when he first spoke to large crowds or what will happen if the lame man was not healed in Acts 3?" I prefer to think that he just trusted in God and as always God supplied what was needed.We can do things under our own power or we can do it under God's power. That is the choice. When we do it under the power of the Holy Spirit then our work will bear fruit. When we do it on our own we will only be a shadow of what we can be with God at our side.