A Word from Pastor Dennis – July 26, 2020

37. On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty, come to Me and drink. 38. Whoever believes in Me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39. By this He meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. (John 7: 37-39)

What We Should Know

We all know a great deal about water baptism. We all know that after we come to faith in Jesus Christ that we need to experience water baptism. Water baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace. It is an outward testimony that the Lord has rescued you, redeemed you and now you are a new creation in Christ.

We know that because that is what the Bible tells us. The importance of water baptism is recorded in the Gospels. It is also recorded that our Lord and Savior (Jesus Christ) was baptized in the water by John. He was not baptized because He needed to repent of His sins but as an example of what He wanted us to do. Jesus experienced the same walk that He wants all of us to experience.

Then, there is the baptism that John prophesied about and Jesus participated in and the Disciples received on the Day of Pentecost. It is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus said in John 14: 12-14 “12. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in Me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask Me for anything in My name and I will do it.

Now, what Jesus was saying was that after He went back to Heaven, He would send the Holy Spirit in His fullness. He says this over and over in the Gospels, most notably in John chapters 14-17. It would be the baptism of the Holy Spirit that would give the Disciples and us today the peace, the authority and the enabling power to do amazing and wonderful things.

The baptism of the Spirit is an immersion of the Spirit. It is similar to what happens when immersed in water only the immersion is in the Holy Spirit. 

Thus, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent in Jesus’ place to all believers so the grace and power of God would always live among us and within us.