• tonyllewellyn@hotsermons.com

HotSermons

educate equip enable

Topical Bible Studies: Holy Spirit Baptism PDF

Topical Bible Studies: Holy Spirit Baptism

About This Bible Study on Holy Spirit Baptism

Some churches teach that once you have been born again, you've received everything that you'll ever need in your Christian walk. Yet the Bible talks about a further separate experience call the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is God's empowering for His people so that they can be effective witnesses for Him.

This Bible Study examines the Pentecostal experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit Baptism

What is the baptism with the Holy Spirit?

Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

The baptism with the Holy Spirit is God's empowering for all believers so that they can be effective witnesses to the life of Jesus within them.

Is the baptism with the Holy Spirit the same as the new birth?

Let's look at Phillip's preaching to the Samaritans:

Acts 8:5 Phillip preached Christ to the Samaritans.

Acts 8:6 The Samaritans paid attention to Phillip's preaching.

Acts 8:12 The Samaritans believed Phillip's preaching regarding the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus.

Acts 8:12 As a result of their faith in Christ, the Samaritans were baptised in water.

Acts 8:14 The Samaritans received God's Word. See also 1 Pet 1:23-25.

Clearly, the Samaritans had been born again, but they still had not had the Holy Spirit come upon them. (Acts 8:15-16)

This demonstrates that, even though the new birth and the baptism with the Holy Spirit may well take place at the same time (as with Cornelius and his household in Acts 10), it is in fact a separate and subsequent experience.

Who can baptise with the Holy Spirit?

John the Baptist said, "I indeed baptise 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 baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Mat 3:11)

He was speaking of Jesus.

Even though people can pray for us to be baptised with the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the actual Baptiser with the Holy Spirit.

How can a person be baptised with the Holy Spirit?

Gal 3:2-9 As with all of God's blessings, the baptism with the Holy Spirit is received through faith.

What is the evidence of being baptised with the Holy Spirit?

Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

There are two evidences of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

Unfortunately, the first is often ignored by some churches, and the second is ignored by others.

The first is an immediate evidence called speaking in tongues.

There will be more on this topic in another study, but for now let's take a brief look at the instances in the book of Acts where people were filled with the Holy Spirit.

There are five instances in Acts where people were filled with the Spirit.

Acts 2:4 There were about 120 (Acts 1:15) gathered together who were filled with the Holy Spirit and all of them spoke in tongues.

Acts 9:17 A disciple named Ananias prays for a new believer called Saul to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul was later known as Paul and also spoke in tongues (1 Cor 14:18).

Acts 10:44-47 Cornelius and his relatives and close friends (Acts 10:24) all spoke in tongues when they were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:1-6 Twelve men at Ephesus are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues (as well as prophesying).

Acts 8:17-20 The Samaritans are filled with the Holy Spirit. Scripture does not say what happened, but Simon the sorcerer was so impressed that he offered to buy the ability to impart the Holy Spirit. What did Simon see? It could not have been the ability to heal or do miracles as Simon had already seen Phillip perform these (Acts 8:6-7). It could not have been the experience of joy as he had already seen that too (Acts 8:8). It is reasonable to assume that it was the same evidence that occurred in all the other instances of Holy Spirit baptism in the Book of Acts - speaking in tongues.

The second evidence is a long term one - being a witness to Christ.

Jesus said, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

Note that Jesus did not say, "You shall witness".

Although this may be an important part of being a witness, being a witness is far more than that.

The Holy Spirit enables us to live the kind of live that is evidence of the indwelling Christ.

Is being filled with the Holy Spirit a one-time experience?

Eph 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

In the original Greek language, the words "be filled" are in a special tense which implies continuous action.

The best way to translate it would be "keep being filled with the Spirit".

In other words, it's an ongoing experience.

Is the baptism with the Holy Spirit for today?

Acts 2:38-39 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one 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. (39) For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call."

The gift of the Holy Spirit is for "all who are afar off".

If you like these Topical Bible Studies, don't forget to check out our Expository Bible Studies too.

Please ensure that you read the Copyright notice before accessing this site.

Please note that all Scripture quotations, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New King James Version ®.
© 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.