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'An Independent Baptist Church' The Holy Spirit We believe the Holy
Spirit is God, the third person of the trinity. (Acts 5:3, 4) He is a SPIRIT, and
a SPIRIT does not have a body of flesh and bones, (Luke 24:39) but He is a
person in the sense that He can be GRIEVED (Eph. 4:30) when we as believers
behave improperly as Christians. We
believe that John 16:13 is a very crucial verse regarding the Holy Spirit and
it says that the Holy Spirit will never draw attention to Himself, but will
always give preeminence to the Son, Jesus Christ! We believe that any church that gives preeminence to the Holy
Spirit and His spiritual gifts such as tongues, healing, etc. is WRONG to do
so! The Holy Spirit
plays many important roles in our life and in many ways could be considered our
‘best friend’. He convicts us of our
sin, (John 16:7-11) performs the act of REGENERATION in which we become BORN
AGAIN…and receive our NEW NATURE (Titus 3:5) as the Holy Spirit comes to
INDWELL us when we trust Christ as Savior. (1 Cor. 6:19) At the moment of
salvation, the Holy Spirit BAPTIZES us into the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:13)
This Spirit Baptism must not be confused with water baptism, which is an
ordinance we are to DO after we’re saved.
It is not some ‘Second Blessing’ that happens sometime subsequent to
salvation as some teach; rather it happens one time…at the moment were saved…never
to happen again. That is why nowhere in
the Bible does Jesus or the Epistles instruct us to be BAPTIZED WITH THE HOLY
SPIRIT…because it happens automatically when we’re born again! This SPIRIT BAPTISM must not be confused
with the FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (Eph. 5:18) which can and should happen
over and over again… repeatedly…in the life of the believer. This FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT simply means
that we ALLOW the Holy Spirit to work through us to do the Lord’s work! When we’re filled with the Holy Spirit we
will have a more Christ-like character (Gal. 5:22-23); our life will show more
of an attitude of thanksgiving, praise, and humble submissiveness. (Eph.
5:19-22) The main thing we
will see when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit is a Holy boldness and
EFFECTIVENESS to witness to others and win them to Christ. We will serve the Lord with POWER and see
effective results! How can we be filled
with the Holy Spirit? Simply ask Him to
fill us, be obedient to the Word of God and obey it, deal with any sin in our
life, and begin trying to talk to others about the Lord and trying to win them
to Christ! It is as simple as
that. Among the Holy Spirit’s other
duties… He GUIDES us to Truth (John 16:13) and helps us to understand the Bible
(1 John 2:20-22); He helps us PRAY when we don’t know what to say. (Romans
8:16-20) The Holy Spirit helps us grow as we study the Bible to become more
like Jesus during our lifetime. The
Holy Spirit SEALS us until the Day of Redemption…guaranteeing that the believer
who is once saved…will be always saved and Eternally secure. (Eph. 1:13; 4:30)
The Holy Spirit bestows SPIRITUAL GIFTS to us to enable us to serve the Lord
during this lifetime. (Romans 12:6-8) The Holy Spirit also RESTRAINS evil from
the world and is withholding the Antichrist right now from coming onto the
world scene! (2 Thess. 2:1-6) Believers can
GRIEVE the Holy Spirit when we are disobedient and sin morally, and we have
discord with other believers with bitterness and unforgiving for petty reasons.
(Eph. 4:30) We can also QUENCH the Holy Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19) to the point
that the Holy Spirit just can’t accomplish anything thru us of eternal
significance if we don’t serve the Lord with the opportunities He gives us,
especially if we are disqualified because of sin in our life as a Christian! |