SPIRIT BAPTIZED – SPIRIT LED
When Paul went to Corinth determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, it was a turning point. Paul had got hold of truth that was going to make his ministry more effective than it had ever been.
- As he lived and preached Christ crucified, the Spirit moved.
The same thing happened in Galatia. As Paul portrayed Jesus as crucified, the Spirit moved. The reason for this is that the Cross of Christ always has an impact. Always!
No doubt our Lord's death on the cross had its greatest impact on the unseen realm of spirit. A victory of such awesome proportions that
- the earthquake and the opening of the graves,
- the torn veil of the temple,
- were like ripples on the surface after an explosion three miles deep.
We have no conception of the magnitude of the changes which took place in heaven, and in hell, when the Lamb of God bowed His head and died. One day we will know. But the death of Jesus on the cross also has an impact far greater than we can imagine on this world of flesh and blood. There are miracles waiting to occur today as a direct consequence of the death of Jesus.
- Changes in our lives.
- Healings in our minds and spirits.
There is a River of Life which flows on earth as a result of the death of Jesus.
And so the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, is announced in every one of the four gospels as the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.
"I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire..." Matthew 3:11
Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and had a leather girdle around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
Mark 1:6-8
As the people were in expectation, and all men questioned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he were the Christ, John answered them all, "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."
Luke 3:15-16
"I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'" John 1:33
Perhaps most of us have at one time or another had the experience of receiving the Spirit. We have tasted the fulfillment of the promise that Jesus will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. And if you haven't tasted what it means to be baptized in the Spirit, know for sure that you can have this.
"For the promise is to you and to your children and to all that are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." Acts 2:39
Receiving the Holy Spirit is easy enough. Everyone who asks receives. But receiving the Holy Spirit is only the beginning. The Spirit is given to bring us into a life-time of increase in the will of God. Yet so many of us have settled for only that first taste.
A friend sends you a carpet sample, one foot square. "If you like it" he says, "let me know and I'll carpet your whole house." Instead of telling him how much you like it and letting him carpet your house, you take the sample and tack it in the middle of the living room. "Isn't it beautiful! It really adds something! See, I have 'the baptism!'"
Perhaps you avoid having your house carpeted because you know that you will have to do some cooperating. You'll have to move furniture out of the way, carry things, eliminate the clutter. i.e., you'll have to work with the Holy Spirit if He is to really inhabit your life.
... in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:4
Who walks? We walk. The Spirit guides, but we cooperate!
They spoke as the Spirit gave them utterance. Acts 2:4
The Spirit didn't speak, they spoke. The Spirit gave utterance. There was cooperation.
For our baptism of the Spirit to really flood our lives and keep us going year after year, drawing us into God's very heart and inspiring our daily walk, there are some things we have to do in four areas.
1. Our mind.
2. Our body.
3. Our spirit.
4. Our life in this world.
1. Our mind. Set our mind on the Spirit.
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:5-6
Your mind has the choice of what it's going to think about and where it's going to dwell. Even your obsessions are more your choice than you think.
...those who live according to the flesh
set their minds on the things of the flesh...
To set the mind on the flesh is death. In this case the mind remains fixed where Satan put it back in the garden...
- the lust of the flesh,
- the lust of the eye,
- the pride of life.
Hence you find your mind only taking interest in things that incite greed, vanity, lust, anger,
fear. All day long that's where your mind is. That's where you are. If this is going to change we have to deliberately set our minds on the Spirit of God.
Three times a day Daniel left his work, went to his house, opened one of the windows in his upper chamber facing west toward Jerusalem, got down on his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God.
What was Daniel doing? Setting his mind on God. Making sure he didn't get sucked into the godless mind of the atmosphere around him.
So we set our minds on the Spirit who is with us, in us, close to us, to help us. Jesus has given us a Counselor to be with us forever. But to be counseled our minds have to be on Him.
- To set the mind on the flesh is death.
- To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
2. Our body. By the Spirit we need to mortify the deeds of the body.
...for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. Romans 8:13
There's nothing wrong with enjoying our food. But it's so easy to become caught up in food. How good it is or how bad it is. Physical love between a husband and wife is God-ordained and holy. Yet how easy it is for them to be depressed by their lack of fulfillment in this area. Or perhaps obsessed with the dream that ultimate fulfillment lies here.
If our bodies are ever to function as temples of the Holy Spirit we have to let the Spirit help us put to death anything coming from our bodies that's trying to rule us. Anything! We have to let the Spirit teach us how to bring our bodies under control.
By the power of the Holy Spirit,
- we bring our cravings under the authority of God,
- we end our sulking and self-pity, our frustrations, and get on top of them.
And to our amazement we begin to experience life which no bodily satisfaction could ever provide.
3. Our spirit. We need to let the Holy Spirit teach us to pray.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:26-27
Before the Spirit came I was all alone in my prayers. Helpless, confused. Often discouraged to the point of almost total unbelief. But now the Spirit has come into me. What's He doing in me? He's praying, interceding to God for me within my own heart. All I have to do is,
- pray along with Him,
- yield to Him.
Pray as the Spirit gives you utterance, whether it's,
- in sighs,
- or moans,
- or songs,
- or words,
- or tongues. Pray in the Spirit. If you don't know how, the Spirit will help you. Pray as
the Spirit gives you utterance.
4. Our life in this world. By the Spirit, move out among people as a witness to the living Christ.
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.
Acts 1:8
When believers cling to each other and never move out among men as witnesses, it's doubtful whether they are walking in the Spirit.
The purpose of all that goes on in the assembly is so that we can go out among people charged with the presence of God as witnesses.
- You don't light a lamp and put it under a bushel.
- You put it where it can be seen.
- You don't put salt on salt.
- You put it on the steak and potatoes.
There is to be a deliberate mingling with the people of this world, a going forth among people who have no sense of God at all, as witnesses of the living Christ.
"You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth."
"This gospel of the kingdom will be preached
throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations then the end will come."
When the Spirit starts moving you out --- go!
We can expect more and more activity of the Spirit among us in the coming days. But for the work of the Spirit among us to do us any good we have to cooperate, we have to translate it into a walk, a life.
The Spirit will take care of His part.
Our part is to set our minds on the Spirit.
- By the Spirit ... to put to death the deeds of our old self-centered life.
- By the Spirit ... to pray.
- By the Spirit ... to go forth and be witnesses to the living Christ.