Part 3 What Meaneth This

June 02, 2019

Pastor White

The Crowd on the day of Pentecost were perplexed when they heard the 120 (Spirit Filled) Disciples praising God in the Languages of the foreigners visiting in Jerusalem for the feast. Holy Spirit had not only filled the town with the sound of a Hurricane or Tornado, Sent Tongues of Fire from heaven upon the believers in the upper room, but now He had given them the foreign languages of men and Angels with which to glorify and worship Jesus. The promise of the Father that Jesus had told His disciples about, would be poured out on those who waited and tarried until they would receive the Holy Spirit into their lives in Pentecostal Fulness. Jesus had told them that the Spirit that had empowered them to witness and serve the King, would not only be "with" them, but would be "in" them. There was definitely an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that John said Jesus would bring upon all who believed. This outward (with) baptism/anointing, would come into them and "fill" them with His Presence. From that moment on, the Pentecostal Experience would no longer be called just an anointing or Baptism, but would be referred to as the Infilling of the Holy Spirit. 33 years after this day of Pentecostal outpouring, Paul would ask the Christians in Ephesus if they had RECEIVED (in not on) the Holy Spirit since they believed. Their answer was that they had not even heard about the Holy Spirit. However we know that they could not have even been saved unless the Holy Spirit had baptized them into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13). The anointing of the Holy Spirit, the "with" of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is present for every one who comes into the body of Christ. However the Holy Spirit that was "With" them had not come "into" them until Paul explained, laid hands on them and they were "received" and were "filled" with the Spirit and began to speak with Other Tongues just as on the day of Pentecost, just as had happened in Samaria, when Simon the sorcerer tried to buy this Matter/"Logos" (speaking in other tongues) that was evidenced when the believers were filled, or just as it was in Cornelius' home when the disciples heard them all speaking in tongues as Peter preached about Jesus. In every case in Acts, when believers were baptized or anointed with Holy Spirit and they "received/ were filled" with the Spirit, they all spoke with Tongues as the Spirit gave them the utterance. This sermon is a celebration of this initial gift of Glossolalia (praying, worshiping, singing, speaking in tongues). Why does this seemingly strange gift hold such importance and how do we receive or become filled with Holy Spirit?