A lovely story about someone who was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues.
Hi. Welcome to today's Little Lesson, and thank you so very much for joining me. If
you are a regular viewer, you know that we've been spending some time now exploring the very
biblical and very important topic of speaking in other tongues and the baptism in the Holy Spirit.
And if you are just watching this video and this is the first one you've watched in this series,
I would encourage you to stop and go find the first one and watch all of them before you watch
this one, because we've been laying a foundation, endeavoring to build your faith so that you too
can receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
And it's just been so lovely just to go back into the Word of God and see what the Bible actually
says about this. The Bible is the pure source. It's like going upstream all the way to the
source where the water is flowing from the spring into the little stream before it heads downstream
and gets polluted by the factories along the big rivers and so forth. And that's what's happened
to this topic. A lot of theologians have dumped their theology onto the pure and simple truths
of the Word of God and really messed it up. And unfortunately, they've just educated themselves
right out of any faith, any pure, simple, childlike faith in what the Bible says.
So when theologians tell you that speaking in tongues is not for today, well,
they're wrong. When they tell you it's of the devil, they're wrong about that.
Okay. Jesus said, "One of the signs that will follow the believers is that they
will speak in tongues." And we're currently working our way through the Book of Acts,
looking at every instance where somebody was filled with the Holy Spirit or baptized
in the Holy Spirit or spoke in tongues and so forth. This is no obscure subject in the Bible.
So the last time we were together, we were looking at Acts chapter 10,
where God divinely connected the Apostle Peter, who at the time was up in Joppa
in Israel, and a guy by the name of Cornelius, a Gentile down in Caesarea. And I've actually been
to both those places myself. I've been blessed to go to the ruins of Caesarea.
I've been to Joppa as well. Actually, today it's called Jaffa. And if you've ever eaten
a Jaffa orange, that's where Jaffa oranges were developed. That's why they're named Jaffa oranges.
But in any case, there's Cornelius seeking the Lord in Caesarea. Peter's having a vision up in
Joppa. And God puts them together. And we read this story in Acts chapter 10. We didn't
read the entire story, but you can read it for yourself, and you probably know it.
And as Peter is preaching the gospel to these hungry Gentiles, the Holy Spirit falls upon them.
And all of the Jewish believers who are there with Peter on this mission are amazed because the gift
of the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon the Gentiles. And I should say the dirty, immoral,
we-don't-have-anything-to-do-with-them Gentiles.
Remember, if you're keeping the story, when Peter went to Jerusalem, he was called on the carpet
for eating with Gentiles. And so he tells them, "Well,
I was divinely led by God to go see these people, and I wasn't the one.
I didn't even pray for them to be saved or to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. I mean, God just
sovereignly did this. So how can you guys argue with God?" So he persuaded everybody in Jerusalem
that God was reaching out to the Gentiles now. So this is a great, great, great story.
Anyways, in our last lesson, I was pointing out the fact that God baptized those
Gentile believers within seconds of them believing in Jesus, because Peter just got to that point in
his sermon where he said, "Everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of their sins."
And they were primed and ready, and they believed in Jesus instantly. And then God
poured out his Holy Spirit upon them, and all the Jewish believers knew they were
baptized in the Holy Spirit for one reason, because they heard them speaking in other tongues,
just like it happened to them about nine years earlier on the day of Pentecost. Okay?
So I was mentioning this in our last lesson. I said, "Is it possible
to be baptized in the Holy Spirit simultaneously as when you are born again?"
Well, apparently it is in some cases. And I mentioned that I've seen that happen under my
ministry over the years. So I'm going to tell you one story about one person that I know,
still know him today, who was baptized in my Spirit within minutes of being born again.
I was preaching at a church in Bellaire, Ohio, just a small church. I think it was a Sunday
night, and I don't know how many people were there, maybe 30 people or something,
just kind of a small storefront church, but lovely people. And I don't even remember what my sermon
was about, but at the time end of my sermon, I gave an invitation, an altar call, for anybody
who wanted to give their life to Jesus and be born again, to receive the forgiveness of their sins.
And then as I gave that invitation, then I gave a second invitation. I said, "Now,
and if you're already a Christian and you'd like to be baptized in the Holy Spirit with
the evidence of speaking in tongues, I'd like to pray for you as well." I had everyone bowing
their heads and closing their eyes. And I was counting hands as we have learned to do.
And only one person lifted their hand for salvation. And I think about
five or six people lifted their hand to want prayer to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.
So I invited them all forward and split them into two groups. And I made the five or six or
so people who wanted to be baptized in the Holy Spirit kind of wait, and I led the one
person who wanted to receive Jesus in a prayer of salvation. And I asked him the questions.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ and that he has died for your sins? And are you ready to
make him Lord of your life and turn from your sin? Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
And I said, "Okay, let's pray." And so I led him in a prayer,
repeat this prayer after me. And he prayed. And I said, "Okay, well, that's great. Now
if you really believed, you are really born again." I said, "So you just stand over here,
and I'm going to now minister to these other folks who already were Christians and who want to be
baptized in the Holy Spirit." And he said, "Well, I'd like to receive the Holy Spirit too." And of
course, I knew that he was born again. He had the Holy Spirit living in him already, but remember,
we've been talking about what the Bible talks about, an experience subsequent to salvation.
And I said, "Oh, no, you probably need to just wait awhile. Probably there's a class at this
church that you could take and learn more about it. That way your faith can grow and
so forth." And he said, "I'm ready right now know." And so I quizzed him further,
and I could tell his faith was strong, and that's the key ingredient. You have to believe.
So I said, "Okay, come on over here with this group." And I gave them a little instruction.
I asked them the simple question, "Are you a believer in Jesus?" They all said,
"Yes, we're all believers in Jesus." Well, that's the only prerequisite.
I said, "Do you believe it's God's will for you to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak in
tongues?" Oh yes, they all believed that. And I think my sermon might have been on that subject,
so that's why they probably had some pretty strong faith in that regard.
And so I said, "Okay. And so I'm going to lay my hands upon you. And as I
touch you, that's the moment we're going to believe that we receive,
because that's what Jesus taught. Whatever you do desire when you pray, believe that you receive.
Don't believe you're going to receive. Believe you receive when you pray." So I said,
"As soon as I touch your hand," that's kind of the moment to release faith, I said,
"I want you to receive the Holy Spirit and open your mouth and just begin to speak out
in whatever wants to come out, because God's going to help you speak in a new language."
So I did that one-by-one, and they all started speaking in tongues, as I recall.
And then I got to this brand new Christian. He's only been a Christian for just
minutes by that time. And he closed his eyes. And I said, "In the name of Jesus,
receive the Holy Spirit." He didn't hesitate one second. Didn't stutter for any length of time.
Just opened his mouth and began fluently speaking in a language he had never, ever learned.
Now I've seen this hundreds and I guess thousands of times, so it's not any surprise to me.
But I thought, "There. Praise the Lord. A young believer,
he's qualified." You don't have to be in some state of spiritual superiority or something like
that. No, just cleansed by the blood of Jesus and believing. And he received. It was glorious. And
that guy today, his name is Mike, he eventually went to Bible school and got married and then
pastored a church, I think up in Montana, for a while and spent some time overseas for awhile.
And then eventually, I heard about a church that was looking for a pastor in West Virginia.
That was something like 20 or 30 years ago, I think. And he and his wife went down there
and tried out, and they elected him to be the pastor. He's still the pastor today. And the Lord
has given him a beautiful ministry there, he and his wife. We're still friends, and the Lord has
used him over in the Baltic nations in Europe and so forth to preach and teach over there.
And it all just started by a sermon by yours truly. Again, not that I'm anything at all.
But never underestimate the power of one sermon if it's based on the word of God. Never underestimate
what could happen with one sermon. And so he was born again, baptized in the Holy Spirit,
speaking in other tongues, all within minutes. And think of all the fruit that has come forth
from just that one sermon, that one person. Who knows what's happened to the other people
who were baptized in the Holy Spirit that night? Okay. You can't get enough of the Holy Spirit.
All right. We're way over time here for today. Thank you for joining me. I think on our next
Little Lesson, I'm going to tell you another story about a friend who was baptized in the
Holy Spirit. It didn't happen quite so fast for him, and I'll teach you a little bit about
the faith that's necessary to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So you don't want to miss
that one. All right, great.
If you've never been to our website, davidservant.com
or davidservant.org, why don't you check us out? Cruise over there. Navigate over there. And you'll
find just tons and tons of information that we've been compiling there for years
to help you grow spiritually. All right. Until next time, may the Lord bless you.