For This Purpose #4

For this Purpose #4

Continuing the study on our purpose in Life, is very exciting when we began to see it experientially. God had much more in store for us than we can imagine. “Eye hath not seen nor ear heard or mind conceived what God has in store for those who love Him. [1 Cor. 3:9]. Do you love Him --- with your whole heart?

We were studying the awesome day of Pentecost, the experience that is available for all of us who have received Jesus as our savior. The Word said to the disciples, Christians, “this promise is for you and your children and all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. [Acts 3 :38-39] Last week we saw this baptism, the engulfing, submerging in the Holy Spirit prophesied in the Old Testament “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon handmaids in those days I will pour out my spirit and I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth”, [ Joel 3:28-30]. This prophecy was introduced on the day of Pentecost “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which ye now see and hear” [Acts 3:33]. Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” [Acts 3:38-39].

As you can see, I enlarged and darkened the and, in that passage, to make a point. And, is a conjunction, so that means if a person repents and is baptized in water, there is more, there are two happenings available here. Then Jesus, for them, can become their baptizer of the Holy Ghost. That is why baptisms [plural] are talked about in Hebrews 6:2. God does things many times in threes. John speaks of the Baptism with water, the baptism with the Holy Ghost and the baptism with Fire.

Now here in Acts 3, the fire in verse 11 is different than the fire in verse 12. That is another whole teaching. The reason these three baptisms are most times not utilized, is that the Church as a whole does not teach what the word says about them. What we don’t know, we don’t seek after. “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is comes upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth” [Acts.1:8]. Now I ask you, who wouldn’t want the power of The Holy Ghost, who wouldn’t want to witness to others about Jesus--- if they are really born again. Who wouldn’t want the information of Jesus to be spread throughout the uttermost part of the earth? We are not going to get this by hearing a message once a week on Sunday morning. “So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” [Rom.10:17]. After all these years of study, I believe that is hearing and hearing and hearing the word. The word says seek and you shall find. The word seek in that place means “to beat a path”, in order to become a minister and a witness, we beat a path. “For this purpose.”