Receiving the Holy Spirit Is Just the Beginning
The Holy Spirit is a Gift
.
Joining a church is not a
prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit. Jesus spoke of the promise of the
Holy Ghost to the Church — the Body of Christ. He said, "...ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost..." Peter told the people that the promise of
the Holy Spirit was given to as many as believed. The Holy Spirit is a person -
receiving Him is more than just an experience. When you receive the Holy Spirit,
a Divine Personality, He comes to live in you, to dwell in you, and to make His
home in you - we should be conscious of His indwelling Presence at every waking
moment. You can experience His indwelling Presence, every single day.
Written
by Kenneth E. Hagin
Denominational
Differences Don't Matter
I preached a meeting in a denominational church in Texas once where 95 percent
of the church received the infilling of the Holy Ghost and spoke with other
tongues.
It was a glorious
service filled with thrilling testimonies, and the service had that warm glow
to it like Pentecostal services of years ago.
It was wonderful
and refreshing to be a part of what God was doing during the Charismatic
Movement. And I'm glad I am a part of what He is doing today!
We should share
this wonderful experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit with everyone
who is hungry for God.
For example, if
someone fell overboard and I had a lifesaver, I wouldn't ask him what church he
belonged to before I threw him the lifesaver!
And if he didn't belong to my church, I wouldn't refuse to throw him the lifesaver either!
If people are drowning, they need help. If people are lost, they need
salvation.
And if Christians
are hungry for a deeper walk with God, they don't have to become a member of
any particular church before they can be filled with the Holy Spirit!
The Holy Spirit is
a Gift. We should just get believers who are hungry for more of God filled with
the Spirit.
And, thank God, we
are doing that.
Of course, we
should always encourage believers who are not members of a local body to join a
good church and become faithful members, so they can grow in their Christian
walk.
But joining a
church is not a prerequisite to receiving the Holy Spirit.
In just four
services of a local chapter of a Full Gospel group, I once saw 143 people
filled with the Holy Ghost.
That's a real
revival in itself, isn't it?
And some folks
think God is not on the move! Thank God, He is. It is not what you think the
Bible says that counts.
And it's not what
someone told you the Bible says. It is what you know for yourself about God's
Word that counts.
And God will confirm
His Word with signs following.
The Holy Spirit:
God's Promise to You
“For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized by
the Holy Ghost not many days hence... 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.” - (Acts 1:5,8)
“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see
and hear.” - (Acts 2:32-33)
Notice that in Acts 1:5 and 8 Jesus spoke of the promise of the
Holy Ghost to the Church — the Body of Christ. He said, "...ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost..." (Acts 1:5).
And in Acts chapter 2, we see the fulfillment of that promise: "...
he [Jesus] hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (verse 33).
Then in Acts
2:38-39, Peter told the people that the promise of the Holy Spirit was given to
as many as believed:
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of
you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For THE promise is unto you, and to your children,
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call [in
other words, those who are born again].”
The Holy Spirit Is a Person
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as a Person in John 14:16: "...I
will pray the Father, and he [the Father] shall give you another Comforter,
that HE [the Comforter, the Holy Spirit] may abide with you forever."
The Holy Spirit is
a Person.
In other words,
when we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive Him, the third Person of the
Godhead, not an "it."
Jesus said, "... that he may abide with
you forever" (John 14:16).
Some people say it like this: "I received the
baptism."
But they didn't receive the baptism; they received the Holy
Spirit. Sometimes folks say, "I am filled with the baptism."
But they are not filled
with the baptism; they are not even filled with the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That is not a
scriptural statement.
No, they are filled
with the Holy Spirit Himself — the third Person of the Godhead.
Receiving the Holy
Ghost is more than just an experience.
When you receive
the Holy Ghost, a Divine Personality, He comes to live in you, to dwell in you,
and to make His home in you!
Receiving the Holy
Spirit Is Just the Beginning
Also, we must not be so concerned with the outward initial experience that we
miss the reality of the indwelling Presence of the Holy Ghost.
If we have been
filled with the Holy Ghost, we should be conscious of His indwelling Presence
at every waking moment.
We shouldn't have
to look back to some experience that we had at an altar years ago as our only
contact with this Divine Person — the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit
should become more real to us every single day!
I received the
infilling of the Holy Ghost more than 55 years ago. When I first received the
Holy Spirit, I spoke in tongues for an hour and a half, and I sang three songs
in tongues.
But that experience
was the least part of all these years of being filled with the Holy Spirit,
because that initial experience was just the beginning.
If the Holy Ghost
is living in you, you can have scriptural experiences with God and in His Word
every day.
You don't have just
one experience and that's the end of it.
No, when you
receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, a Divine Personality — the Holy Spirit —
comes to live within you!
You can experience
His indwelling Presence, every single day.
Hallelujah!
Source: Holy Spirit Study
by Kenneth E. Hagin.
Kenneth
E. Hagin
Web
site: RHEMA
Rev.
Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the
"father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are
filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life
and the lives of others.
Rev.
Hagin was born on Aug. 20, 1917, in McKinney, Texas, a son of the late Lillie
Viola Drake Hagin and Jess Hagin.
Rev.
Hagin was sickly as a child, suffering from a deformed heart and an incurable
blood disease. He was not expected to live and became bedfast at age 15. In
April 1933 during a dramatic conversion experience, he reported dying three
times in 10 minutes, each time seeing the horrors of hell and then returning to
life.
In
August of 1934, Rev. Hagin was miraculously healed, raised off a deathbed by
the power of God and the revelation of faith in God's Word. Two years later, he
preached his first sermon as pastor of a small community church in Roland,
Texas.
In
1937, Rev. Hagin was baptized in the Holy Spirit and began ministering in
Pentecostal churches. During the next 12 years he pastored five churches in
Texas: in the cities of Tom Bean, Farmersville (twice), Talco, Greggton, and
Van. In 1949, he began an itinerant ministry as a Bible teacher and evangelist.
During
the next 14 years, Jesus appeared to Rev. Hagin eight times in visions that
changed the course of his ministry. In 1966, he moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where
he opened a ministry office. That same year, he taught for the first time on
radio—on KSKY in Dallas. In 1967, he began a regular radio broadcast that
continues today as Faith Seminar of the Air. Teaching by his son, Rev. Kenneth
W. Hagin, is also heard on the program.
In
1968, Rev. Hagin published the first issues of The Word of Faith magazine,
which now has a monthly circulation of more than 250,000. The publishing
outreach he founded, Faith Library Publications, has circulated more than 65
million copies of books by Rev. Hagin, Rev. Hagin Jr., and several other
authors worldwide. Faith Library Publications also has produced more than 9
million audio teaching tapes and CDs.
Other
outreaches of Kenneth Hagin Ministries include RHEMA Praise, a weekly television
broadcast hosted by Rev. and Mrs. Kenneth W. Hagin; RHEMA Correspondence Bible
School; RHEMA Alumni Association; RHEMA Ministerial Association International;
RHEMA Supportive Ministries Association; the RHEMA Prayer and Healing Center;
and a prison ministry.
In
1974, Rev. Hagin founded RHEMA Bible Training Center USA and in 1976 moved the
school and ministry offices to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where they remain. To
date, RHEMA Bible Training Center USA has 23,000 alumni, and RHEMA Bible
Training Centers have opened in 13 other nations: Austria, Brazil, Colombia,
Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Romania, Samoa, Singapore, South Africa,
and Thailand. Together, the 14 schools have more than 28,000 graduates
worldwide.
RHEMA
Bible Church, pastored by Rev. Hagin Jr., began holding services in October of
1985 on the RHEMA campus in Broken Arrow and has since grown to become a
thriving congregation with more than 8,000 members.
Rev.
Hagin's daughter and son-in-law, Pat Harrison and the late Doyle
"Buddy" Harrison, founded Harrison House Publishers in 1975 and Faith
Christian Fellowship International Church in 1977. Both organizations are based
in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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