Amazing Partner, Amazing People, part 4

Now let’s look and seek the explanation we need to know and that we need to make known.
 

The Purpose of the Spirit-filled Life

Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Two purposes are found there: “Be my witnesses” – speaking of who we are; and “Witnesses in Jerusalem…” – what we are to do. 
 

The Precedents for the Spirit-filled Life

It is important to watch what happened when the Holy Spirit worked in and through those He filled because it sets the precedents for the ways He wants to work in and through us.

Let me just give you some Scripture references to look at later Acts 2:4, Acts 8:14-19, Acts 19:44-48 and Acts 19:6-7. As I have said in the past, what we learn from these passages about precedents is; First, Baptism in the Holy Spirit is for every believer and secondly, every one of the people that were “filled with the Spirit,” spoke in tongues as a result. 

As a pastor (and a fourth-generation Pentecostal), it is frustrating for me that one of the most needed empowerments of the Holy Spirit is so often misunderstood, misused, and misrepresented. Because of all the confusion and abuses over the use of the Spiritual language, many have chosen to forfeit this incredibly needed dimension the Holy Spirit brings to the believer’s life. 

I encourage you to read all of 1 Corinthians 14 later, but let me reference a few verses now as we consider two foundational facts about speaking in tongues. First, the essence of speaking in tongues is Prayer and Praise (see 1 Corinthians 14:2,14,16). On the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), what did all the people of other languages say about those who were speaking in tongues? “We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues.” And you can also read Romans 8:26-27, as it tells how the Spirit enables us to pray.

Continued tomorrow