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Baptized With The Holy Spirit And Fire – Part 1 – Tim Laughlin
“I indeed baptize you with water unto 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 fire.” Matthew 3:11
The beginning of a new and living way had begun with the advent of Jesus, the Son of the living God stepping out on to His mission field to make disciples and to build His church of living stones. The old way was to be done away with and new wine was about to be poured out into a totally new wineskin. No more temple, ritual or dead man-made religion, the Holy Spirit was going to reside from now on in the hearts of men who are washed with the Savior’s own blood and purified with the very fire of Heaven!
His kingdom had come and His will was being done on earth as it was in Heaven. God came down clothed in flesh to cleanse mankind from the generational curse of Adam with His own blood to set the captives free once and for all from the bondage of sin! The world was about to be turned upside down and the entire religious landscape would change from a dry and lifeless ritual to a vibrant living breathing temple of human beings filled with the Spirit of God! Unbelievable to many, impossible to the established religious leaders, but life changing to the poor and needy of the world, a Savior had come from Heaven to set them free, deliver and heal them, and even raise their dead!
I don’t think we can grasp the full understanding of what Jesus did when He came to earth as a God-King to rule the world because we are so infected with religion and sometimes I think people believe this old, old story is just a fable or a fairy tale for children because if we really believed that Jesus died, was buried and rose again to give us life eternal we would act like Him! The assembly of the saints of God are now the same as their Lord, they have been resurrected from their fleshly graves, delivered by the power of God, washed in His blood and empowered with His Spirit to do the greater works that will continue His kingdom on earth until He returns!
The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death, Light has dawned. Matthew 4:16
THE TEMPLE OF GOD IS NO LONGER A PLACE TO GO
“Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matthew 24:2
When Jesus was dying on the cross, the angels of God were tearing the veil of separation in two in the temple to signify that man no longer needed a fleshly priest to go before the Most High. The old priesthood was done away with along with it’s rituals, traditions and laws and man was free to go before the throne of God by grace alone. When Jesus told the disciples that there would not be one stone upon another He meant that the whole religious system was coming down and a new and living way was about to be established in Him!
Man was the new temple made of flesh and blood and the Spirit of God would dwell in them, building a house with living breathing organic material that would ultimately become His body. A spiritual man was created by the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He arose He became the Head and we became His body in the earth, an exact replica of Him, empowered with His Spirit and commissioned to do the greater works that He said we would do. What we have today is a cheap imitation, demonically inspired to seduce man back under the bondage of the old priesthood, complete with temple, priest, (Senior Pastor) and rules, regulations and laws. This is why the modern day consumer driven, event-motivated, pastor ruled churches are dead and lifeless, because Jesus destroyed this system 2000 years ago!
The most powerful assembly of believers that ever lived upon the earth, filled with the Spirit of the living God and free from the bondage of religion, turned the world upside down, seeing thousands saved and delivered without the aid of Bibles, leaders, (the apostles didn’t lead, they prayed and interceded for the saints) deacons, (deacons didn’t come along for years) pews, buildings and media to distract them, and all they left was transformed new creations in Christ! There are no Cathedrals to see, no monuments to men or ancient artifacts to be amazed by, just the story of a Savior and His body of believers who changed the world by His Spirit. Sadly, today the only signs we see in front of the millions of man-made temples are the time and temperature.
Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your spirit, which are God’s. I Corinthians 6:19,20
YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER
“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 ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
I am convinced that if Jesus had built a building and named it the First Church of the Firstborn Pentecostal Assembly of New Creations in Christ that that’s all Christianity would have today, a dead and lifeless monument to a dead Savior, a museum of man’s accomplishments and the memory of a potted plant instead of a living vineyard of the Lord of Hosts!
Jesus built a building of flesh, men and women sold out, blood bought and filled with power, sent to give testimony of His resurrection and preach the gospel of the kingdom around the world. The kingdom of God is not static, it is a living breathing organic vineyard that cannot be contained, boxed in or potted. Jesus is continuing His ministry upon the earth through us, walking about in His living stones while all the while millions sit in darkness in man-made temples of wood, hay and stubble, rotting away in a lifeless ritual of good intentions, always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth! This is the reason for all the hype and promotion that these modern day CEO’S of “Mega Mania” are desperate for, to fill these temples of doom with nice clean white middle class tithers to pay their bulging overhead and pay their six-figure incomes. It doesn’t matter that they are lost, it only matters that they show up and give and if they put on a good enough show they will eventually join up and stay in their comfortable little sheep pens, get counted, die and have a nice funeral!
If you are tired of this nonsense and the fact that the church of the living God is being mocked and scorned because of the wolves and devils, false profits and charlatans, then do this: shake off the dust and bonds of man-made religion and escape into the arms of the Savior who will bring you into the true fellowship of His sheepfold. The truth will make you free and making Jesus the Head, Master and Lord of your life will deliver you and allow you to ask to be filled with His glorious Spirit and become a true follower of Christ! The body of Christ was not meant to sit in a pew and die, you were meant to exercise your gift by becoming involved in His harvest, making disciples and build the kingdom according to His divine specifications. This is God’s will for His blood bought saints!
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? (Satan) Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God. And they shall be My people.” Therefore, “Come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.” II Corinthians 6:14-18
Baptized With The Holy Spirit And Fire, Part 2
When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all (together) with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Acts 2:1,2
Jesus created a new man from the living stones He picked up on His journey to the cross and He trained them and sent them to wait on the promise of His Spirit to be poured out from Heaven into His newly created body! The miracle of the new birth was being displayed in the disciples of Christ in that they had become His physical presence in the earth, a supernatural divinely inspired body made up of believers submitted to His mission and vision to establish the kingdom of God.
God’s original vision was for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply by giving birth to a multitude of people to fill the earth and replicate the nature of the Most High throughout the world. All was going according to plan until Satan entered the garden of Eden and seduced the first family by his craftiness! Mankind fell into sin and it would be thousands of years before God would create another divine being to rule His kingdom with a race of supernatural children created in His image and filled with His Spirit. God stepped out into the world in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ to create a divine family, born from above, set free from the bondage of sin and death and immersed in His Holy Spirit.
When a person is born again he is recreated by supernatural means and the Holy Spirit enters him giving him new life to become a Christ-like being endowed with the power and attributes of his Creator. In other words God created a new Adam in the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and a new woman, His body of blood washed followers, or the Bride of Christ. God would become the husband and we as His body would become His wife to procreate divine supernatural children to fulfill His vision of the kingdom of Heaven in the earth! This time Satan wouldn’t be allowed to destroy this new supernatural family although he tried time after time, but to no avail. The scripture was fulfilled, His kingdom has come, on earth, as it is in Heaven!
So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. I Corinthians 15:42-44
THE LAST ADAM
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life giving Spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. I Corinthians 15:45,46
All of mankind is born in the likeness of Adam, inheriting his generational curse of sin, iniquity and disease. In order for God to set man free from the curse of sin He sent Jesus, the Last Adam born without sin to become the perfect sacrifice to shed His blood and wash away the effects of sin forever. This supreme act of divine sacrifice gave all of mankind the benefit of receiving forgiveness of sins and allowed entrance into the very kingdom of God.
This is why man must be born again of the Spirit to be able to have his sins cleansed supernaturally by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! No more good works or deeds, no more human agency to confess one’s sin, no more temple with ritual and rote, only mercy that allows grace to enable us by faith access to the throne of the Most High God. Being born from above is hard for many to fathom because it involves a supernatural transformation to take place in the very soul of man recreating him from a man of dust to a supernatural being made in the image of God.
Thousands of years of religious tradition and ritual washed away in a matter of hours by the blood of Jesus, the Last Adam, who gave up His life so that we in turn could receive new life and become a new race of worshipers recreated in His image and filled with His Spirit and destined to continue His ministry of reconciliation as ambassadors of His kingdom! We have been given the stewardship of knowing and sowing the mysteries of the kingdom of God throughout the earth, to those who have eyes to see. Born from above and made in the image of God we are sons and daughters of the Most High sent to make disciples of the Lord Jesus and populate the earth with His Holy seed. It just doesn’t get any better than this!
The first man was of the earth, made of dust: the second Man is the Lord from Heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. I Corinthians 15:47-49
THE NEW MAN
Put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24
We are the “New Man,” the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth created to represent His presence, power and divine works to all of mankind! We have been endowed with His Holy Spirit to testify and to perform miracles, signs and wonders to validate His existence and to make exact replicas of Him further spreading the living vine of His body throughout the earth. An organic living Christ in us, walking as He walked, touching lives, casting out devils, healing the sick and raising the dead, all the while preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
Open your eyes and see the mystery of the kingdom of God which is Christ in you! The body of Christ, blood bought believers, in the unity of the faith joined together to make one new man, a living breathing expression of the Lord Jesus Christ! Open your ears and hear the Word of the living God that we are Him in the earth, not a place or a building but a body, living breathing stones containing the very presence of the Holy Spirit. The temple of the Lord is in us, we are His dwelling place to represent to a lost and dying, sin-sick world that there is a God who loves them and has given up His life to shed His blood for them to set them free! We are the light and glory of His divine presence to shine brightly as His ambassadors of true peace in a dark and hopeless world in need of the Savior’s love, mercy, grace and forgiveness.
Shake off the chains of a dead and lifeless religion of ritual and repetition and be filled with His Spirit so that you can attain your destiny for Him and fulfill the ministry he has given you to accomplish during your stay upon the earth. Repent of allowing your mind to be blinded by the traditions of man-made religious dead works and come out and be separate from that which is unclean! Open your heart to the things of God, seek Him with all of your heart and receive that which He has for you. Don’t be satisfied with stale bread from hireling preachers with greedy motives to hold you captive to their little kingdoms of flesh, but instead even expose their deeds and be delivered! You are the very wife of the Lamb of God, the bride of Christ, created for good works and called to conceive spiritual children with the divine nature and character of God, for this is His will for His people! Amen!
He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in Heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. Colossians 1:13-18
BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE PART – 3
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. I Corinthians 10:1-4
There is a supernatural progression that must take place in the lives of every believer beginning with the “Born again” experience whereas a person acknowledges his sin to God, asks for forgiveness of sin and repents by turning away and surrenders up his will to the control of Holy Spirit. Jesus said that a man must be born again to enter the kingdom of God and once this is accomplished he must be baptized in water following the example of the Christ being crucified, buried and resurrected as a new creation!
As the above referenced scripture states concerning the children of Israel being delivered from Egypt, a type and shadow of being washed in the blood of the Lamb and set free from the bondage of sin and the world by signs and wonders, they were then led down to the Red Sea by the Holy Spirit and baptized, and upon their emergence on the other side they were delivered from their enemies, a type of deliverance from the powers of darkness. Crucified to the world and sin, buried with Christ into death and raised immortal into eternal glory, and then baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is our example to follow just as the children of Israel followed Moses example being a type and shadow of the coming Messiah.
Jesus began His earthly ministry by being baptized by John the Baptist symbolizing His subsequent death, burial and resurrection as our example to follow in His steps. Upon receiving baptism the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him as a dove immersing Him with power from on high as His Father proclaimed that this was indeed His beloved Son in whom He was well pleased, just as He is with us! Next, as the children of Israel proceeded into the wilderness to be tested, so the Christ, Son of the living God was about to be tempted by the devil in the wilderness signifying our own journey through the maze of temptation. Born again, baptized into death, baptized with the Holy Spirit, tested by fiery trials and equipped for service, each believer must experience this supernatural transformation in order to become sons and daughters of God, serving Him in His kingdom.
Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Romans 6:4-8
BORN FROM ABOVE
If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:9,10
The famous “Sinners prayer” originated from this scripture which was actually taken from Deuteronomy 30:14-20 that speaks of giving one’s life totally to God in obedience and devotion forever. To confess the Lord Jesus is to confess that He is truly your Lord, the master and controller of your life. Just to confess His name as Lord but not surrender your will to Him is futility and will render you absolutely nothing in respect to salvation. There is not a specific prayer that will save you as if it were a magical potion that would transform you by saying it, it is a covenant oath as in a marriage ceremony that specifies that you are giving your life up to the control of another in obedience and surrender forever!
First of all no one can be saved unless the Holy Spirit is drawing him and just because a preacher asks you to walk an isle and mutter a prayer doesn’t mean you are saved. Salvation is necessary to wash you from your sin that you inherited from Adam and must be accomplished in order to convert you from a sinner to a saint. Upon being convicted that you have sinned against a holy God you must cry out for mercy and by faith confess your sins and be willing to turn away from them in order to receive His grace and mercy. Once a sinner repents the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will supernaturally cleanse him from all unrighteousness thus allowing him entrance to eternal life by conveying him directly into the kingdom of God. To be born again is to renounce the world, flesh and the devil, confess your sins before God, repent and receive by faith His forgiveness transforming you into a new creation!
Once you have been born again you need to be baptized in water and then baptized with His Holy Spirit, if you have no evidence of a salvation experience then cry out to God for mercy and confess your sins before Him and surrender your heart into His hands to lead you into His kingdom. One cannot enter or even see the kingdom unless he becomes born of His Spirit because it is a supernatural transition from a man born of flesh to a man born again as a new creation spiritual being who is to be conformed to His image. No one will enter by being good or doing good deeds and your salvation cannot be obtained by any means other than a total surrender of your will and a cleansing of your sins by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!
For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
RECEIVING THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Luke 11:13
In 1980 I gave my life to Jesus and He immediately delivered me from years of alcoholism, drug addiction and forgave all of my sins, all in one night. The next morning I discovered my vocabulary had also been changed and my foul mouth cleansed from cursing. Amazing grace had turned this wretch of a sinner into a saint over night by washing me in His blood and opening my eyes to see the very kingdom of God!
Everything in my life changed as I was given a Bible by a friend and wandered into a local church and began to learn about God and what He had just done in me. Within a few months I had heard about the baptism with the Holy Spirit and began to seek exactly what that meant and how I could obtain it. It wasn’t long before I was in Indiana with my pastor at a revival in a Baptist church that the Spirit of God had invaded because of four elderly ladies that had been praying for a visitation from above and so it came with supernatural power. Signs, wonders, miraculous healing and deliverance were taking place throughout the church when one night people began to weep uncontrollably and I immediately went to the altar when a golden cloud of God’s Holy Spirit began to descend upon the congregation and everything fell silent.
Laying prostrate on the altar weeping and worshiping God and praising Him was all that I could do, when all of a sudden it wasn’t me praying anymore, it was Holy Spirit praying through me and it was the most glorious experience of my entire life as the power of Heaven was poured out in me, I was being immersed from on high. I couldn’t move and thought that if the Spirit didn’t lift from my body that I would die, and what a glorious death it would have been. Finally things began to return to normal and the Holy Spirit lifted and the peace of God was so thick in that sanctuary that you could cut it with a knife. No one spoke, they just sat in His presence as He met with His people and poured out His glory on them changing many forever! I left the next day a changed man and in the weeks to come I felt a love for people I never had as well as a boldness to share and a new hunger for His word. It wasn’t long while praying that I began to speak in tongues and I knew I had received the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Repent and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38
Your servant in Christ, Tim Laughlin
http://www.restorationtrainingcenter.orgIf this message has stirred your spirit and you have been seeking this glorious experience, then do this: ask God to cleanse you with His blood and forgive all of your sin, then ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and immerse you with power from on high. Let go of all earthly ties, forgive everyone that comes to mind and by faith believe and receive His power and His Holy Spirit baptism, I promise you will never be the same! If after reading this message you have been baptized with His Holy Spirit, let us know by contacting us on our website so that we can rejoice with you and pray for you to become a powerful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ!
Baptized With The Holy Spirit And Fire, Part 4
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him. “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” Luke 4:1-4
Upon your Holy Spirit baptism you need to be prepared to follow Jesus into the wilderness and be able to overcome by enduring all the temptations and trials that He suffered when the devil tempted Him. This is the reason we are to be filled with Holy Spirit power, in order to be able to extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one, and believe me they will come upon you just as they came upon Jesus! We would do well to take a hard look at the walk that Jesus walked and learn to conquer the powers of darkness that will be sent against everyone who is sold out for Christ!
In the above mentioned passage of scripture you will notice that Jesus wasn’t tempted until He became hungry. The devil will not attempt to attack you when you are strong, only when you are in a weakened state of mind or weary in body will he take the opportunity to strike. Observe the lion or most predators in their quest for food, they don’t jump on the head water buffalo or the strongest in the herd, no, they are patient and wait for the stragglers, or the sick, or very young, and then they attack with deadly force quickly overcoming their prey. Satan is the master of disaster when it comes to tempting the believer and from the garden of Eden up until now he has brought down some mighty men of God, so beware and be on the offensive as he will surely come to you to test what you are made of just as he has with every other born again, Spirit filled saint that has ever stepped on to the battlefield of true Christianity!
The first temptation that the devil tried on Jesus was not with food as we would think because He was coming off a forty day fast and He was hungry and obviously weakened by the experience as anyone would be. No, Satan had the audacity to ask Him “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” If You are the Son of God! Was there any doubt that this Man Jesus, King of kings, Lord of lords, Savior of all of mankind, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoken to by God, His Father from above in an audible voice was not the One? Of course, Jesus knew exactly who He was as all believers need to know who they are in Christ because the devil will use this scheme more than once to take you out of the battle just as he tried to do with Jesus, but resist him firm in your faith just as Jesus did and use the Word of God against him and he will flee!
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. I Peter 5:6-9
BEWARE OF THE SNARE
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. “Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” Luke 4:5-7
The devil has taken out multitudes with this scheme and in today’s church the temptation to be a success in the world and be healthy, wealthy and wise has seduced millions of unsuspecting sheep who follow their false shepherds wherever they lead them! Everywhere you look today in media, TV and the internet they are promoting the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the deadly and seductive boastful pride of life. Self-help gurus and as the late David Wilkerson used to call them, “Pillow prophets” have led God’s people astray with the perverted and dangerous gospel of the all seeing I, or in other words, the worship of self!
Jesus said if anyone wished to be His disciple, they had to be willing to deny themselves, take up their cross ( a cruel instrument of death) and follow Him without the promise of a home or wealth or even the promise of keeping oneself from martyrdom, of which many suffered at the hands of violent men. Many a sold-out believer succumbed to a horrible fate because they chose to love not their life even unto death. Satan hates the word, self-denial because it denies him from controlling our lives with the promise of selfish ambition, pride and greed of which fuel his passion to destroy us.
Satan tempted Jesus with all the world had to offer, authority, power, wealth and influence if He would only bow down and worship him, the problem being, Jesus already possessed these and the truth of the matter was the fact that the devil didn’t, but only lied to gain an advantage. We would do well to follow Jesus as He defeated the devil by taking up His own God given authority and power to defeat him as we have also as born again Spirit filled saints been given to overcome the powers of darkness. A friend once said, “Deceived folks don’t know that they are deceived,” a very valuable word to the wise, don’t be deceived!
For to this you were called because Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth;” who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. I Peter 2:21-23
FALSE SIGNS AND WONDERS
Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. “For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over You, to keep You,’ “and ‘In their hands they shall bear You up, lest you dash Your foot against a stone.’ ” Luke 4:9-11
Satan’s most dangerous tactic, the use of God’s word and false signs and wonders to seduce, pervert and to deceive the unsuspecting saint. If Jesus had fallen for this demonic scheme and jumped off the pinnacle of the temple where hundreds, maybe even thousands would have been watching He would have created a firestorm of frenzied new believers ready to join up and immediately Jerusalem would have had a mega church full of uncommitted thrill seekers like we have today.
In the past twenty or so years millions have been deceived by the rise of false prophets displaying false signs and wonders such as the appearance of gold dust and angel feathers, female angels appearing and people barking and acting like animals, uncontrollable laughing and other grotesque manifestations brought on by demonic activity, not discerned by an unsuspecting crowd of spiritual babies who want to be entertained. True signs, wonders and miracles such as healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and the use of true prophetic utterance should be common place to the born again believer anointed with the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are not Christmas presents to be opened only on Sunday to entertain a complacent company of pew sitters, they are a supernatural arsenal of divinely powerful weapons to be used to defeat the enemies of God and to make true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Jesus passed the test in the wilderness against the most powerful and deadly force in the universe, the devil, fallen arch angel, former son of God, raised in Heaven and trained in the art of subterfuge and camouflage, but you, born again Spirit filled saint of the Most High God have been given power and the anointing to defeat even the most vile demonic forces! The same power and authority that Jesus used in the wilderness has been given to us to not only defeat the powers of darkness but to do the greater works that Jesus promised we would do in His name. So, what are you waiting for, an engraved invitation, if so, you already have one, because He has inscribed you on the palms of His hands, you belong to Him and He has called you into service in the kingdom of God, the greatest appointment anyone on earth can receive.
For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works. II Corinthians 11:13-15
BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND FIRE – PART 5
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind. To set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18,19
If you have been born again, washed in the Savior’s blood, filled with the baptism of His Holy Spirit, then this is your mission statement! As followers of the Lord Jesus Christ we are as He is in the world, His mission is our mission and that is to bring His redemptive power to a lost and dying world by the preaching of the good news of the gospel. We are all called to preach, teach, cast out devils, heal the sick and even raise the dead and we were never meant to just fill a pew and sit there till we die, we are all called into the kingdom work of the Most High God, the greatest commission the world has ever seen!
Jesus told His disciples to go, not stay and rot away, He didn’t train them to sit and listen, He poured His very life into them for over three years, expecting them to be as He was in the earth and that is His plan for us. His intention for His church of the firstborn was never meant to be a potted plant, it was always intended to be a living vine that would spread across the earth bearing clusters of glorious fruit for God, replicating His divine nature in a harvest of newly born sons and daughters to fill His kingdom! Today’s generation of all about me spectators just sit on the sidelines and read or listen to some stirring story about someone else that was willing to give all for Christ and jump out of the religious box of modern day consumer driven, event motivated, Sundays only, so-called Christianity.
The modern day SPD (Senior Program Director) or Senior Pastor, a title the Bible doesn’t even contain will stand in judgment for not training and equipping new converts for the ministry of Jesus. By standing in the Headship of Christ and dominating people with religious rules and regulations and not allowing Jesus to be Lord of the assembly only continues to breed a complacent company of dead and lifeless church members whose only spiritual life comes by showing up once a week to hear what wonderful things pastor has dreamed up for them to do, and it is a stench in the nostrils of God!
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; “they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover.” Mark 16:15
GREATER WORKS
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in His Son. ‘If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:12-15
There is a war of words stirring in the body of Christ at large pertaining to the use of the gifts of the Spirit and the power of God. It seems that a well known Bible teacher has stated that the gifts of Holy Spirit have passed away and that the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches are involved in the practice of creating “Strange Fire,” something that is also a well known belief throughout the main-line denominational churches of the world. If this is true and you choose to believe it, then the gospel of Christ was only written for a few and then passed away forever and is absolutely worthless to us today as it is just a history lesson reserved for the libraries of antiquity.
My answer to all of this is: nonsense! The glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ according to Romans 1:16 is the power of God for salvation, a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit to transform a lost man into a new creation to be endowed with power from on high and to replicate the entire ministry of Jesus in the earth! I don’t guess I got the memo on this 35 years ago when God saved me, filled me and allowed me to cast out demons by the thousands, see the sick healed, the dead raised, and experience the gifts and the power of God to transform a multitude of lives. Oh well, sorry, but Jesus didn’t waste His breath or His Word on just a few, nor did He only give His power to the apostles, He freely gave the experience of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit to all who are born again and ask for it! He also promised in His Word that we would do greater works than He, hard to believe, yes, but absolutely true and solely given to all who would take Him at His Word and believe!
Jesus said to us all who believe, “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified.” Can I just tell you, whatever covers a lot of ground and to those who literally take the Lord Jesus Christ at His word, signs and wonders will abound, people’s lives will be changed and the power of God will be poured out from on high and all the world will know that there is a God and He is still on the throne of power forever and ever! I don’t care what people think and I don’t pay attention to those who refuse to believe the truth of God’s holy Word and take it to heart because the world is spinning out of control and there are many lost who need the redemptive power of Christ to transform them into new creations to build up His body in the earth and to replicate His divine nature in all who would dare to believe!
“And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever. “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” John 14:16,17
YOU SHALL RECEIVE POWER
“You shall receive power (dynamite) 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
I can’t imagine Jesus sending the Holy Spirit down on 120 sold out believers only to jump start the church and then have their spiritual batteries drained only to become what we have today in most cases: a dead and lifeless assembly of spectators! Jesus said we would receive power to be a witness, someone who can testify about what he has seen, not only of what has transpired in his own life but in the lives of others touched by the power and presence of God! Witnessing is not just handing someone a tract and then lead them down the Roman road to mutter a prayer, it is the testimony of the witness telling of how the power of God changed his life.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that the power of God has passed away as well as the gifts of the Spirit, and the apostolic call of God on the life of the believer. If you are stuck in an assembly of dead unbelieving weekend warriors who never seem to get passed the church coffee shop, get out, because they will try to put out your fire because you are making them look bad! Jesus has saved you, washed you in His own blood, filled you with His Spirit for a purpose and His plan for your life will be hindered if you let people drag you down into their little sheep pens of doom and gloom. The sons and daughters of God are led by His Holy Spirit to bring about the redemptive process to a lost and dying world by preaching His un-compromised gospel of salvation and restoration.
You are called to go and to make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not to follow the dictates of some church program director who will only lead you to fulfill his vision for his ministry, or to pad his pockets and promote his plan that will hold you in bondage forever. Either Jesus is your Lord or something, or someone else is, and you have to choose who you are going to serve. Everyone who walks with God has to choose the path he will take, the narrow road, that will cost you everything, or the broad road that will allow you to live for yourself and fit in with the religious crowd of complacent spectators that will ultimately put out the fire of God in you! My prayer for those who read these messages is for them to take to heart what the Spirit is saying in these last days to those who will sell out for Jesus, shake off the chains of religious dead works and come out and serve the living God for His kingdom purposes!
“All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
Your servant in Christ, Tim Laughlin
http://www.restorationtrainingcenter.org
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