05-30-2023

TAKING A LOOK AT ALL THE BAPTISMS

 

Now this may sound like a very strange title for a teaching but, believe me, this is what God told me to do.  He told me that many of His beloved children who have gotten into their older years often just get into a habit pattern of thinking like this - “You know, it just doesn’t make much difference to me about all the baptisms for this, and for that, and none of it is going to have an effect on my life - I just don’t care.  All I want to do is  feel good, get rid of the pain, and make it to the end of my life without too many more problems.”

 

Now that may not be you - but the Lord told me that there is a great deal of confusion about baptisms and He wanted me to just make it all simple to understand.  He also told me to use some of my own experiences in this realm - because people learn the easiest from hearing the personal testimonies of others.

 

So - here we go!!!  John the Baptist was the first one who began to baptize people.  I’m sure you all know about him but he was a very important man.  Everything about him was unique.  His birth was miraculous and his life was unique.  You can read about him in the first part of each one of the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

 

John the Baptist had an assignment from the Lord.  We don’t know the details of his childhood, but we do know that God had a job for him to do and John knew all about it.  Not only did he know but he yielded to the Lord.  In the most simple way to understand it, his calling was to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah.  John knew that the Messiah was miraculously born in his own family who lived in a different location than he did - But he did not have a personal family relationship with Him.  John preached ‘The Baptism of Repentance’ and told people that they needed to realize that they had done wrong things and they needed to turn to God and be sorry for their wrong words, actions, thoughts, and everything else.  He also made mention of the fact that One was coming Who was going to change their lives completely.  He let them know that he wasn’t the Messiah - but the Messiah was coming and he (John) was preparing the way.

 

He preached close to water and called them into the water, where he baptized them AS A MEMORABLE ACTION ON THEIR PART TO TURN TOWARD GOD.  JESUS EVEN SHOWED HIS APPROVAL OF JOHN’S MINISTRY OF BAPTISM BY BEING BAPTIZED HIMSELF BY HIM.  Of course, Jesus didn’t need to repent - He was without sin - But I believe He wanted everyone to know that John was following the directions he had received from the Lord.  

 

He had a huge impact on the people in that part of the world - preparing the way for the Messiah.

 

NOW - when Jesus started His preaching and His miracle-working ministry, He began to show by both His words and His miraculous healings that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, sent from Heaven to save the human beings who would believe and receive his salvation.  Now listen to this verse - John 1:12 - “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”  He did not baptize.  He hadn’t taken the sin of the human beings yet.  He preached - He taught - He did miracles - healings, people raised from the dead - thousands of people fed from what started as a few little loaves and fishes, and on and on.

 

Now, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, and then His return to Heaven, His disciples began to obey what Jesus had told them to do.  Then, the miraculous  Day of Pentecost came.  I know you’ve read about that in the book of Acts.   I want to read a part of a sentence from Peter’s great message that he preached that day.  It’s Acts 2:38 - “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.”  Then in Acts 2:41 it says this, “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”

 

Of course there are many other verses about new believers being baptized in water but we’d be here all day reading them.  This makes it clear that when someone BELIEVES IN HIS HEART THAT JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, TOOK ALL THE SIN, AND SAYS WITH THEIR MOUTH THAT THEY BELIEVE, THAT PERSON SHOULD BE WATER BAPTIZED AS AN ACTION TO SHOW THAT THEY BELIEVE IN JESUS AS THEIR SAVIOR.  

 

Now I want to share my testimony in this realm with you - God said to!  I was raised in a home where going to the Baptist church on Sundays was the norm.  My Daddy went with us sometimes but not all the time.  If we were going to Sunday School, he didn’t go - because he couldn’t read well and he was afraid that someone would ask him to read something.  {He had to quit school in the third grade to sweep the floors in a little store close to them, to make money for his baby sister to have milk and baby food.}  

 

I was 13, and I went to a Sunday School class - and there was a huge picture on the wall (I always sat so I could face it) - and it was Jesus knocking on the door to come into your life.  This one Sunday, we had a guest speaker and our S. S. teacher asked us if we’d like to sit with her during the service - so we did.  It was a powerful message to receive salvation.  I wanted to go forward (several others were going also) but I was so afraid to be up there in front of people.  The S. S. teacher said she would go with us.  So I did!!!!  I believed in my heart and said with my mouth that I believed.  I was truly born again!  BUT - now I had a huge thing to conquer.  I was going to be baptized the next Sunday - I had not learned to swim and the idea of having my head put under the water absolutely terrified me.  I spent the next week doing a lot of praying.  First of all, I had already learned that if God wanted you to do something, you had to TRUST AND OBEY, NO MATTER WHAT!!  I told the Lord that I was afraid but that I knew this was part of His plan - so I was going to do it and I asked Him to help me.  What a week that was for me!

 

Sunday came - time to be baptized - we had baptismal gowns on and we were all in a long line.  My knees were shaking and knocking together so loud that others could hear it.  It was so embarrassing.  Finally, it was my turn to go down the steps of the baptismal tank.  I started down, and Dr. Edwards, my pastor, reached up and took hold of my hand - and IMMEDIATELY, ALL THE SHAKING STOPPED!  HE TURNED ME AROUND AND PUT ME BACKWARDS INTO THE WATER AND BROUGHT ME BACK UP - AND I WAS STILL ALIVE!!!!!  I remember that day like it was yesterday and it was 73 years ago.  You can understand why water baptism was such an important part of my life coming to Jesus.  That week - I learned to pray - really pray - and to trust Him completely.  So at 13 years old, I really, really knew that God cares, that He answers prayer, that He knows me personally, and wants to help me - and that I have to yield the right-of-way to Him.

 

I want to encourage anyone in here who has been truly born again but never water baptized to just yield the right-of-way to Jesus and BE WATER BAPTIZED AS A FOLLOWER OF JESUS FOR ALL THE WORLD TO KNOW.  I personally believe that the Lord really wants us all to do that, as believers, not for God’s benefit - but for ours.  It is helpful to our Christian lives to obey Him.

 

Now the word “baptize” is used many, many times in the Word and it would take us hours and hours to go through all of them.  I’m just going to mention a few more that give insight to us.  First, is Romans 6:3-4 - “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death. 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.”

 

I believe those two verses just give us a picture to help us understand.  When we believed that Jesus had taken our sin and paid the price for us, and we said it with our mouths, and then, yielded to being water baptized, it was a picture for us to always remember.  When we went into that water, it was a picture of being buried with Jesus and then when we were brought up out of the water, it was a picture of us being resurrected with Him.

 

Now, I’ve known some who were baptized when they were babies and, therefore, never felt like they needed to be baptized again.  Well, that’s a personal decision for each person.  I always tell people that I suggest that you spend some time in His Word about baptism and talk to the Lord about it.  It’s between you and Him.

 

Now I want to talk about the other type of baptism, which the Word talks a lot about and that is THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.  It’s kind of a delicate subject for some people - and, if that’s you, believe me truly - I REALLY DO UNDERSTAND.  I’m going to start this off by telling you my story.

 

As you know, I was raised in the Baptist church.  When I met and married my husband, I thought he was already a Christian.   However, one month, to the day, we were at my husband’s best friend’s house for dinner  (he was his best man at our wedding) and they went into another room for a long time and when they came out - HE WAS BORN AGAIN!  Now, he was truly a new creature in Christ Jesus.  He had a dramatic encounter with the Lord.  Over the next few weeks, he would preach to a tree if he didn’t have a person to preach to.  He went through everything he owned and threw away any and every thing that he thought was unapproved by the Lord.  Those first 4 or 5 years, we had our two children, and we went to church and to Bible studies, and, by the time our children were 5 and 6, we went to Bible School in Canada for a year - then to Colorado and he was a Bible School student there and then graduated.  By the time he graduated, he was pastoring our first church - and then we got asked to come to pastor another church, which was a lot bigger, and had a parsonage for us to live in - in Indian Hills, Colorado.  By this time it was in the 70’s.  It was non-denominational and was in the lower mountains, closer to Denver.  Things were going well.

 

Now - let me say, that our marriage was a good one.  I know this is hard for some people to understand, but we had a really, really good relationship with one another - we were best friends.  We just enjoyed doing everything together.  We never argued with one another.  We always tried to make life good for each other.

 

Now - these were the days of the Charismatic Renewal (as it was called in Colorado) and people from all kinds of denominations were meeting in homes together practically every night of the week.  Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodist, Episcopal, and on and on - all gathering together.  We had heard about it but we didn’t want anything to do with it.  This went on several weeks - then a man at our church began to talk to my husband and told him that he had been going to a home meeting and that it was just wonderful - and he invited him to go with him.  At first he kinda’ nicely said ‘No’ - and the guy kept on and on and on.  Jerry, my husband, began to talk to me about it and tried to talk me into going.  I told Him, “Absolutely Not!”  I had been taught that all that stuff went out with the Apostles when they died and wasn’t for us today.  I was so hurt and frustrated that he was trying to talk me into it.  WE HAD NEVER HAD AN ARGUMENT LIKE THIS BEFORE.  IT WAS HORRIBLE. Finally, my husband gave in to the guy and continued to try to talk me into going with him.  I said NO.  He was hurt - and I was hurt.  I felt like he was letting go of our belief system and it worried me.  

 

So - he went without me - with the guy to the meeting.  I was so mad at him.  We had never had a situation like this before.  I decided that I would go to bed before he came home and I would act like I was asleep, even if I wasn’t.  So that’s what I did.  He came home - I acted like I was asleep.  He stayed up for awhile and then came to bed.  

 

The next morning, he got up first (which was the custom) and he went into the kitchen and brought my coffee to me and set it on the table by my side of the bed (which was the custom - every morning).  I opened my eyes and thanked him, which was the custom - and he said, “I GOT BAPTIZED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT LAST NIGHT - DO YOU WANT TO HEAR ME SPEAK IN TONGUES?”  I yelled, “No.”  But he did anyway.

 

Oh Boy - I thought our wonderful life was falling apart!

We spent some time talking that morning and he told me about the wonderful meeting he had been to - with loving and kind Christians.  He begged me to go with him.  He told me they weren’t weird and they wouldn’t do anything weird - that I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable.  He went on over to his office in the church - and, of course, the kids had gone to school. I had the house to myself - and as I sat there in my kitchen, I talked to the Lord and asked Him if I had been wrong.  I asked Him to forgive me for my bad attitude, and, as I prayed, I felt a softening taking place in my heart.  I really can’t explain it.

 

When he came back to the house for lunch, I told him that I would go with him.  There was still a battle going on inside me - even though I had softened about going.  As we were driving to the home, I told him that I would like for him to park as close to the house as possible because if any of those people put their hands on my head and began to speak gibberish over me, I was ‘outa there’!  

 

We didn’t realize that we were a little bit late (which was not common for us - we were always on time) and as we walked in the door - people were sitting in chairs and sofas, and all over the floor in the living room - and a lady was playing the guitar - and they were all singing in the Spirit.  It was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard.  I just was overwhelmed with peace and love - I can’t explain it.  Two people got up from their chairs and had us sit where they had been.  Over the next 2 -3 hours, I had never, never been in such an enviornment

flooded with love in my life.  Everybody was loving and kind and respectful.  Nobody did or said anything to me that made me uncomfortable.  

 

When we left that meeting, I had a completely different attitude than what I had before.  I began to understand that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit was kinda’ like an immersion into the spirit realm - that it was for our good - to help and assist us through our lives and open us up to the spiritual part of the life that God had wanted for us all along.  I began to understand that ‘speaking in tongues’ wasn’t a ridiculous thing and it hadn’t ended when the apostles died.  Instead, it was a way to pray in the spirit realm when you don’t really know how to pray for a person or a situation.  I learned that sometimes God would have someone speak a message in tongues and it would be interpreted by someone else, but that was only just a part of what it really was all about.

 

We went home, went to bed, and the next morning, after I got my kids off to school, and my husband went to his office, I was sitting in my kitchen by myself.  I got down on my knees, right there in my kitchen, and I said something like this - “Lord, I’m so sorry - I was wrong - I had misunderstood - I realize that THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOUR GIFT TO ME TO HELP ME WITH MY LIFE - THAT IT REALLY IS REAL - IT’S A BLESSING TO HELP ME - I AM ASKING NOW, HERE ALL BY MYSELF, JUST YOU AND ME JESUS - BAPTIZE ME IN YOUR HOLY SPIRIT, THE THIRD PERSON OF THE GODHEAD.  I BELIEVE IT AND I RECEIVE IT RIGHT NOW.”

 

Then I said, “I’m going to open my mouth, so please give me this prayer language called ‘tongues’ - I’m ready Lord.”  I opened my mouth and began to speak.  I had absolutely no idea (in my mind) what I was saying but I had this overwhelming peace coming over me and I just sat there on the floor of my kitchen for a long time, speaking in this new language that I didn’t understand - but with a peace that I had never experienced before.

 

It was truly a whole new and very powerful moment of my life.  Our lives were changed that day.  We were in one accord with each other and with the Lord.  I began to see things and understand things that had been hidden to me before.  It was a whole new world for this former little Baptist girl.

 

I want to read a portion of Scripture that I really identified with.  It’s Acts 19:1-6 - “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.  And finding some disciples, he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’  So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’  And he said to them, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’  So they said, ‘Into John’s baptism.’  Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.  And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

 

Now - I want to read 2 other verses.  This is something that John the Baptist said after Jesus had come to him and John had baptized Him.  It’s John 1:33-34 - “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water, said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.’”

 

There are many more Scriptures that talk about this Baptism of the Holy Spirit but we’d be here all day.  I just want to tell you that I fought against it with every thing I had, believing that I was following what the Lord wanted me to do - but, when I finally gave in and, took what I could see was written in the Word of God and with what I could see, hear, and feel from the Christians in that room that night, I made one of the most important decisions of my life.  My prayer life changed.  I want to share some portions of Scripture that have absolutely come alive to me and have helped me to pray and then see some miraculous answers.  

 

The first is Romans 8:26-27 - “Like the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

 

When I sit down to pray for a precious family member, (or anyone, for that matter) my little peanut brain (as Andrew Wommack sometimes says) doesn’t know exactly how to pray.  We don’t really know what is truly going on in the heart of another person.  So I say, “Lord, I don’t really know how to pray in this situation - but You do - so I’m going to pray in the Spirit for awhile for this precious person.  I know that You will help me to pray the perfect will of God.”  Then, I start praying in the Spirit.  Sometimes, it’s just a little while - other times it’s a long time.  BUT - I HAVE SEEN SUCH MIRACULOUS THINGS HAPPEN AS A RESULT OF PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.  I HAVE SEEN GOD’S PERFECT WILL COME TO PASS IN THE LIVES OF PEOPLE - AS WELL AS IN MY OWN LIFE.

 

Now - there are many verses - but this is just one of them - It’s Jude 20 - “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”  Oh how I love that verse!  There have been many, many times in my life when I was just devastated by something that was going on - or I was hurt by something - or times when I just kinda’ felt down but didn’t even know why - and many other things - that I have just decided to spend some time praying in the Spirit.  AND - every single time, I quote that verse - and after awhile, although nothing has changed in the situation, I am encouraged, walking in love, and in the light of the Word!  I’ve ‘been built up on my most holy faith’!  What a verse!  What an amazing God we serve, Who has given us His AMAZING WORD!

 

Now I want to share something that the Lord has shown me regarding the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.  First I want to read Acts 1:4-5 -  “And being assembled together with them, He (Jesus) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which’, He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”  Now verse 8 - “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 Sammaria, and to the end of the earth.”  THEN JESUS WENT UP TO HEAVEN.

 

Now I want to read these verses from the Day of Pentecost - 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.”  Now verse 6 - “And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together,  and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language.”  

 

Now I want to read a verse - 1 Corinthians 13:1 - “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”  Now the whole chapter of 1 Cor. 13 is about LOVE - THE GOD KIND OF LOVE - but in this verse, he is referring to someone who speaks in tongues like they did on the Day of Pentecost, and all those people heard in their own languages - or someone who is PRAYING or GIVING A PROPHETIC MESSAGE THAT NEEDS TO BE INTERPRETED - IN TONGUES - BUT THAT PERSON IS NOT WALKING IN LOVE!   

 

It makes it clear that there are two kinds of tongues possible through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

 

Some say, ‘praying in tongues,’ and some say, ‘praying in the Spirit.  They mean the same thing.  On the Day of Pentecost, people heard those believers preaching to them in their own language.  That’s the TONGUES OF MEN.  But, when I pray in tongues, I’m not praying in the tongues of men - but in the tongues of angels.  I’m praying to the Lord - and the Holy Spirit, who knows all things (my heart and the heart of the person I’m praying for) helps me to pray the perfect will of God as it says in Romans 8:26-27, which I read earlier.

 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, which I fought against terribly, really changed my life in the realm of prayer.  I had answers to prayer before - but never like after receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit - not only for me and my family - but for lots of other people - and it has opened me up to the Love of God like nothing before.  My relationship with the Lord has been deeper, & closer than ever before and the Lord has shown me things and revealed things to me, even things that I have been thinking about but had never prayed about with my understanding - only in the Spirit (or tongues).  

 

And - that - brothers and sisters - is, IN AS SIMPLE WAY AS POSSIBLE, ABOUT THE BAPTISMS.

 

I don’t proclaim to be a know-it-all in this realm but I do know what God has shown me, what I have experienced, and I know that He wants all of His children to walk in all the light that He, Himself, has provided for us.   We’re all unique - our backgrounds are different - family life is different - religion experiences are different - and our personalities are different.  But God knows each one of us in our uniqueness and LOVES US WITH HIS AGAPE - OR THE GOD-KIND OF LOVE.  He knows me inside and out and He knows you inside and out.  

 

Only He knows why He wanted me to teach on this today.  He loves us!

 

Scriptures used for this lesson

John 1:12

Acts 2:38 & 41

Romans 6:3-4

Acts 19:1-6

John 1:33-34

Romans 8:26-27

Jude 20

Acts 1:4-5 & 8

Acts 2:4-6

1 Corinthians 13:1