(Spirit-Filled Life) Part 3: A Baptism of Power — Zac Poonen

The Holy Spirit Is Central to Christianity

You know, some people may feel that any study on the Holy Spirit is just a theological study. Now, I want to tell you that the Holy Spirit is not an optional extra in the Christian life. But for many Christians, unfortunately, it is like that.

It's like, you know, having a dessert or an ice cream at the end of the meal. Well, it's optional. You don't have to have it. You can still say you had your lunch or dinner, even if you didn't eat the ice cream.

But the Holy Spirit is not like that. It's absolutely central. The person of the Holy Spirit is absolutely central. Consider this. There would have been no Christianity on the earth today, even if Jesus had died and risen up from the dead, if there was no baptism in the Holy Spirit that the apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost.

Have you thought about that? Because after Jesus rose up from the dead, He found the apostles sitting in a closed room. He came and appeared before them. Not only appeared before them, He breathed on them.

You read that in John chapter 20. He breathed on them and said, received the Holy Spirit. Yeah, I believe that something happened. I don't want to get into doctrine here. But my understanding is they experienced something.

You see, they were living in pre-Pentecost days, so we don't know exactly what happened. But applying it to my life, I say, what can I learn from it? Because I know that after having, you know, when Jesus breathed on them in John 20 verse 22 and said, receive the Holy Spirit, there's no word that came from Jesus' mouth that ever fell to the ground and wasted.

I can't imagine that Jesus breathed on them and nothing happened. Because I know thousands of years earlier, the same Jesus breathed on a pile of mud and He became Adam, a living soul. The same Jesus, as the second person of the Trinity, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, breathed on Adam.

Something happened. I can't imagine that nothing would have happened when God breathed on that pile of mud way back in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. So, this is the, that was the first creation where Jesus breathed on Adam.

This is the new creation. He breathes. Received the Holy Spirit. Something happened. There was an operation of the Holy Spirit there. And whether it was true for them or not, I see it like this, that it is something like they're being born again.

But they were not filled with the Holy Spirit. But even though they saw the risen Lord, Imagine, you had seen Jesus, supposing you were there, and you'd seen Jesus crucified, killed, buried. And you've given up all hope.

And then three days later, He walks into your room. If you put yourself in the place of these people and picture, Boy, what a shock they'd have got. He's alive. You know, that's why we should sing those songs with such excitement.

My Jesus is alive. I thought of that. How would I be singing it if I were singing it for the first time after three days? My Jesus is alive. Excited, the Lord breathes on them, the Holy Spirit, and you think every problem is solved.

But, we read that eight days later, they were still sitting in a closed room. It didn't seem to have made any difference, as far as that part is concerned. And I see a lot of born-again people like that.

They're really born-again. I don't question they're born-again. But they're sitting inside a closed room. And again, the Lord comes and shows Himself. And then He tells them, you know, what you have experienced is not enough.

You must wait. And you will be baptized, Acts 1, verse 5, with the Holy Spirit, not many days. Acts 1, verse 5. Wait in Jerusalem, you'll be baptized, not many days from now, in the Holy Spirit and fire.

In the Holy Spirit, not many days from now. Now, if they were of the mind to argue theologically, they could have said, but Lord, a few days ago you breathed on us. We received the Holy Spirit. What is this you're now saying?

Mercy on the Holy Spirit. This is the argument that's going on in the minds of so many Christians. And the devil will make them live their whole life arguing theology, and never experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's exactly what he wants. Do you see how they were wise not to argue about theology? Lord, what happened when you breathed on us? You mean we didn't receive? What is this you're telling us now to wait?

They said, Lord, we don't have to understand these things and explain these things in our mind. We see that even after you breathed on us, we were still scared. We were still sitting inside that room.

So obviously there's something more that we need to experience before we can go out and reach the world for Christ. So whatever it is, whether our theology is right or wrong, we certainly need power. And I want to do what you say, Lord.

I want to wait. So they waited. And they were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Now just think, if all those twelve disciples had said, No, no, no, we got the Holy Spirit. Jesus breathed on us. I mean, is there anything greater than Jesus breathing on us?

That's it. We don't have to wait. There would have been no Christianity on earth today. If they had made the mistake of arguing about theology and terminology, thank God they didn't. And I want to encourage you, my brothers and sisters, don't waste your time arguing about theology and terminology.

I'm not saying it's not important. I'm saying you can get all your answers right and miss out on God's best. And there are a lot of other people who may not have the right answers who get God's best. Have you ever thought about this?

Scripture, Theology, and Dependence on the Spirit

Just think about what I'm saying now. From the day of Pentecost, for about 1400 years, 1400 years, most Christians never had a Bible in their home. It's only after printing was discovered, 14, 1500s, that people started printing a Bible, and you could afford to have a Bible in your home.

The old parchments written by hand were so expensive. How many poor Christians could afford it? Can you imagine how Christians met for 1500 years in many homes where the preacher never had a Bible and the people sitting in the congregation never had a Bible?

Can you picture having a meeting like that? Why didn't God allow printing to be discovered 100 years before Christ? You think that would have been difficult for God? So that everybody could have a printed Bible from day one.

Why has He allowed some manuscripts to be found from days prior to Christ, but we don't have a single manuscript of the original writings of the apostles? There's a purpose in all this. I have studied the Bible for nearly 50 years now, more than any other book in the world.

I've spent my life studying it, but I say, it's more important to depend on the Holy Spirit. There's a great danger of people arguing about verses of scripture when what they need to do is depend on the Holy Spirit.

Now the reason I mention this is, you see, today because we have the luxury of having the Bible in so many languages and concordances, concordances and all are only about 150 years old. There weren't much of that more than a couple of hundred years ago.

So even if people wanted to find a verse, they wouldn't know where it was, even after the printing of the Bible. So how could people convince one another two, three hundred years ago when there were no concordances?

Today we have the luxury of concordances, we have got computers where we can search and find out a verse, and we have the luxury of being able to argue about theology and terminology and all the time we have powerless Christians.

So if you can understand the spirit of what I'm saying, you know that I believe theology is important because I spent my life studying the scriptures. It's important. I'm not asking you to neglect the Bible.

But don't make the study of the Bible so important that you neglect the Holy Spirit. That's my point. It's the Holy Spirit who gives us light on His Word. And the central thing for the early Christians was not the Bible.

They didn't have one. It was not even the death of Christ. Try and see how many times in the New Testament the apostles called themselves, we are witnesses of the death of Christ. Never. You know what they said?

They said we are witnesses of His resurrection. They spoke more about the resurrection than about the crucifixion. Today most Christians speak more about the crucifixion than about the resurrection. How many pictures we have seen of Christ hanging on the cross?

There are crucifixes all over the world. There are paintings in different houses of Christ hanging on the cross. How many paintings have you seen of Christ coming out of the grave alive? That's not the type of thing people want to think much about.

That's the reason for the powerlessness of today's Christianity. Do you know our main calling in life is not to be a witness of Christ's crucifixion as much as of His resurrection. Because the resurrection includes the crucifixion.

Whereas if you just speak about the crucifixion, you may not include the resurrection. People talk a lot about the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ has become almost like a magic mantra, magic words by which we drive out the devil.

I've heard all types of superstitious things people say. The blood of Jesus sprinkled the blood of Jesus over this compound. The blood of Jesus is not going to be sprinkled over some building. It's not an Old Testament tabernacle over which the blood of bulls and goats was sprinkled.

The blood of Jesus is only sprinkled over to cleanse our conscience from dead works. So many unscriptural expressions. That's why I say if you read the New Testament, you'll see the apostles emphasize the resurrection.

Christ is alive more than Christ died. Christ died but He's alive. That's the main thing. Now I want to ask you brothers and sisters when you witness to others. Do you only speak about that Christ died for your sins?

Or do you tell him that this Jesus is alive today? And His life is manifested in us through the Holy Spirit. That's the point. This resurrection life is to be manifested in us through the Holy Spirit.

A Direct Connection with Christ

How do I know that Jesus is alive? Well, I can say the Bible says that. I can say I meet so many Christians around me who seem to believe it. But what if one day all the Christians in the world discovered that Jesus was not alive?

And all of them gave up their faith. Would you still hold on to your faith when everybody else has given up theirs? I hope so. I remember once in my church I said to the people in my church. I said, I want you fellows to have a connection with Jesus.

Initially, you'll have your connection with Jesus through me because I'm your spiritual father. But it's like little children, you know. In the beginning, they are dependent on their mother and father.

But gradually, they stand on their own feet. They learn to feed themselves. And the time comes when they even set up their own home. They live on their own. So it should be like that in our church as well.

In the beginning, naturally, you're dependent on the one who's brought you to Christ. But very quickly, we want our children to be independent. So I told them, I want you to know the truths of God. Initially, you get it second hand from me.

But I want you to take those second hand truths and take it before God and make it first hand. Otherwise, you won't really get the full benefit of it. I mean, you must make it so first hand that supposing one day, this is what I told them.

If I stand in this church and say, well, brothers, you know, I've sort of changed my mind on this whole doctrine of victory over sin. I don't think we can really have victory. You should turn around to me and say, well, that's great, Brother Zach.

We'll pray for you. But we still believe in victory over sin. That's what you should tell me. That means just because I lost faith, you don't lose yours. Your connection is with Christ. It must be so connected to Christ that your faith is independent of mine.

Even though I may have led you into it in the beginning. This is how it should be in a true church. You must not be so dependent on a leader that you have no direct connection with Christ. We are put into little groups called local churches.

But none of that hinders us from having a direct connection with Christ. See, for example, we can look at supposing this arm is a picture of a local church. This arm has got many parts in it. There are muscles, there are tendons, there are joints, there are fingers.

And this is all part of this arm. This is one local church and this is another local church. But these fingers, even though they are a part of this arm and they have to move with this arm every time the arm moves.

Yet they all have an individual connection with the head. They can move on their own. Even without the arm lifting, it can move on its own. And not only that, even the little nails have got a connection with the head.

I mean, if somebody were to pull out your nails and that's the way they used to torture people. Your head feels it and you feel it pretty much. There is a direct connection. Even the nails have got a connection with the head.

The smallest little member in the body of Christ must have a connection with Christ. And at the same time, you know, you are part of a body. If the arm is moving up, these fingers can't say, Hey, I haven't got a leading from the head, I am going to stay right down here.

You just move with the arm because you are made part of that arm. This is the mistake a lot of people haven't understood. I mentioned that when we were doing the study on the body of Christ in our last conference in March.

How we have two connections. One is with the local church and the other is directly to the head. Slavery is where this arm has no connection with the head except with the local church. That's all. That's not God's will.

We must be a part of a local. And then independence is where these arms sort of says, I don't want to have any connection with this. I just want to have a direct connection with that. Both are wrong. And all this is possible through the Holy Spirit.

God wants us to have a direct connection with Him. And the Holy Spirit is the one who makes this connection with Jesus alive. And that's why, it's because of the gift of the Holy Spirit, that we read this wonderful word in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 11.

Hebrews 8, 11 it says, They shall not teach everyone his neighbor or his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all shall know Me from the least to the greatest. Least, little nail, to the greatest, the shoulder or whatever it is.

Or the smallest child and the oldest, most mature saint. All shall know the Lord personally. It's not that the oldest saint has to tell the new believer that your knowledge of the Lord is to be through Me.

There's a lot of this going on today. Where pastors are finding God's will for people. Telling them what to do. They call it prophecy. It's tragic. It's making another mediator between us and Christ. The Roman Catholics teach that.

You can't go to Christ directly. You have to go through Mary. Now Protestants don't teach it. But unfortunately they practice it. Where you can't know God's will unless you go through the pastor. I'll tell you that if I had a choice I'd rather choose Mary than any pastor.

Because Mary at least I knew she was a godly woman. But this pastor I don't know how he's living in private. But thank God I don't have to choose Mary or the pastor. I can go directly to Jesus. And all of us can have a direct connection with Christ.

All shall know Me from the least to the greatest. In the world they say from the greatest to the least. But you know in scripture everything is right side up. Not upside down. Right side up. In the world everything is upside down.

From the least to the greatest. That's how it is in God's kingdom. So every one of us can know the Lord personally. And that is through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That's why I say there'd be no Christianity on this earth.

If it were not for the infilling of the Holy Spirit. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They didn't argue theology and terminology with Jesus. They said Lord we can't understand it all. But we wait for you.

Reading Scripture with an Open Heart

I have met people. You know it's very easy to speak about these things to people in the villages. Who are not so educated. And very often who come from non-Christian backgrounds. It's very difficult to teach truths.

To people who have already come from years of a Christian background. You know to get them out of that fixation in their mind. Certain theology. I find it so much easier to speak to a Hindu who has accepted Christ.

I mean the difference is like trying to build a building. On a plot of land where there is another old building. Then you got to first demolish the old building. Pull it all out from the foundation and then put the new building.

But if you go to an empty plot of ground. It's so easy. So I find it so much easier to speak about the baptism and the power of the Holy Spirit. To people who don't have a prejudice due to previous ideas from their so called Christian culture.

People who know nothing. Who come straight to the Bible. And I've often told Christians. Try and read the New Testament as if you've never read it before. It'll really open your eyes to some things that you've never seen before.

Imagine that you're reading it for the first time. This is the first time you're reading that verse. First time you're reading that verse. Just go through the New Testament like that and see what happens to you.

You may get some revelations which you never had before. Because you come to it with a preconceived. Yeah that's what it means. I know what it means. Well you don't know what it means. Let the Holy Spirit show you something there.

This is what I'm only telling you what I've tried to do. And as I've come to the word of God like that. And love the Holy Spirit. I've seen the most amazing things in scripture. Many times when I've shared these truths with other people.

They say, boy brother Zach I didn't even know it was there. I was reading it all the time. I didn't even see it. Why didn't you see it? Because you had this fixation. You had already got a mold of your previous theology.

And you poured scripture into it. And it came out that shape every time. It's like these cookie cutters. It all comes out the same shape. But if you come to the scripture with an open mind. You may discover some things wonderful.

The same things I discovered. So I believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important for us to know that Jesus is alive. How did the early Christians all say in 100 AD or 200 AD. When there was nobody alive who had actually seen Jesus risen from the dead.

That was Christianity in 200 AD. None of them had seen Jesus physically alive. They had no written Bible in those days. In their hands. There was letters of Paul were here and there. Few copies were there.

That's about it. How did these people know that Jesus was alive? Which verse did they quote? They didn't have any verse to quote. They didn't have a copy of the gospels. How did they know Jesus was alive?

They were so dependent on the Holy Spirit. I feel that is the dependence on the Holy Spirit. That's gone away from a lot of Christians today. Again, understand me properly. Because their dependence has become on the printed word.

And that's why they spend all that time arguing about whether King James Version is right or some other version is right. Imagine arguing about something like this. It's the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, if you were to ask Israel, people in Israel, Can you tell me in one word, what is unique about you people?

They would have said, the law. Everyone would have said that. We have the law of God. The Ten Commandments and God's laws which makes us unique among all the people of the earth. And that was true. Now in the same way, if people were to ask you, what makes you Christians unique?

What would your answer be? What has replaced the law today? The Old Testament was the law. What is the replacement? What is it that has replaced the law today? Moses went up to the mountain, came down with the law.

Jesus went up to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit. You see the exact parallel. This is what should be unique. The Holy Spirit of God has come into me and filled my life. He's made Jesus real to me. Jesus is alive.

I mean, I don't care if all 7 billion people in the world today stop believing. It makes no difference to me. I don't care if all the people in my church go off and leave me. It makes no difference. The Holy Spirit has made Christ real.

If people take away the Bible from me, maybe lock me up in a prison for preaching the gospel. It makes no difference. I don't need a Bible. I have the Holy Spirit. That is the fundamental requirement for true Christianity.

The Neglected Presence of the Holy Spirit

That's why I say the Holy Spirit is not an optional extra. But the central person that should be uppermost when we think of Christianity. The second person of the Trinity came to earth and most people didn't even know he was there.

They ignored him. For 33 years he was in Nazareth and most people didn't even know he was there. The Almighty God had come in human form. And imagine, so many people didn't even know he was there in their midst, walking around there.

I sometimes think the Holy Spirit is like that. The third person of the Trinity has come to the world and most people don't even know he is there. Most people don't even think about it. Can you imagine living in Nazareth and not even realizing that Jesus was living one block away from your house?

You didn't even know that. Don't you think you'd feel terrible if after 30 years you discovered, Hey, that was Jesus. That was the Son of God living there. It's exactly the same with the third person of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

I believe that if the Holy Spirit left the earth today, most churches would continue exactly as they are continuing today. They still have their weekly services. They would still say, Lord, as two or three are gathered together in your name, you are here and we thank you.

And nothing would change. Because most things that go on in Christendom today don't need the Holy Spirit at all. They just need some clever preachers who sat down on Saturday and read a few books and heard a few tapes and prepared a message and came up and presented it on Sunday morning.

They don't need the Holy Spirit for that. Let the Holy Spirit come and go. We'll continue with our services. We can sing our songs. We've got music leaders. We don't need the Holy Spirit to lead the music.

No, no. We've got instruments. We've got all types of things nowadays. This is the tragedy. And mission work would go on because we're getting enough money for missions. Why do you need the Holy Spirit?

There's enough missions. There's enough money for missions. Everything. 98 or 99 of Christian work would go on even if the Holy Spirit went away from the earth. How is that possible? Doesn't it show how little dependence there is on the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is what brings us into fellowship with God. He's the living connection between me and God. It's like you would know if the electricity went off here. It happens sometimes in Bangalore where I live.

In the middle of a sermon, suddenly the electricity goes. And I tell you, everybody in the room knows it. Would you know if the Holy Spirit left? Would you know if the Holy Spirit left a preacher? His anointing is gone.

Tragically not. That's the tragedy today. Because we have not honored the Holy Spirit. We've heard that verse. It's true. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. And some people have said that means the Holy Spirit will never talk about the Holy Spirit.

You read Romans chapter 8. Was that written by the Holy Spirit? It's full of references to the Holy Spirit. There are more references to the Holy Spirit in Romans 8 than to Jesus. So we have misunderstood that verse when we read that the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ.

The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. That's why we need to know what ministry the Holy Spirit can come and do in us. Paul tells the Ephesian Christians, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's so important. You never read a word saying, be filled with Jesus. There's no such verse in scripture. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. It's so important, the third person of the Trinity. Why is it there's so much bondage in Christendom?

I'll tell you. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is liberty. 2 Corinthians 3, 17. Liberty comes, freedom from sin, freedom from being enslaved to religious dictators and cult leaders and all this type of stuff.

Authoritative pastors and everything comes through being open to the Holy Spirit. If you don't have the Holy Spirit, you're not filled with the Holy Spirit, you'll be enslaved to some religious leader.

And Christendom is full of it. I'm talking about evangelical churches where we have strong leaders who control people, make them dependent on them. And those poor people respect this man even if he's a carnal, worldly man living in sin.

And they listen to his boring sermons Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, not even questioning, is the Holy Spirit here? Is the Holy Spirit anointing this preacher who's getting up in the pulpit? They don't even question it.

It's a ritual. They come to the meeting, listen to that boring sermon and go home. You ask your children, how many children would keep watching a boring television program even for a second day? They wouldn't.

They've got more sense. But Christians don't. They go Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, listen to all these boring sermons and never even question, is the Holy Spirit working in our church or not? If they questioned it, I tell you they'd fall on their face and repent and seek God and say, Lord, pour out your spirit upon us.

Testing Genuine Spiritual Ministry

Something is missing here. You know when the electricity would go off in our churches because electricity is very irregular in many parts of India. We immediately know it if it's at night. And immediately people are looking around for candles or lamps or something.

You need it because we can't read now. I can't read my Bible and somebody will come and put a torch on my table because they know I can't read now. How many people feel like that when the Holy Spirit is not there?

How many people feel they need a light when they're reading the Bible? How many people feel every time, you know, we are taught as Christians, you must begin your day by reading the Bible. Good. But how many of you turn on the light when you read the Bible?

I mean the Holy Spirit. I mean if you go and say, Lord, I won't be able to read a thing here if I don't have the light of the Holy Spirit. I'm just trying to show you how so much of Christianity moves along, even among the so-called Pentecostal, charismatic, so-called spirit-filled.

I don't believe they are spirit-filled. They call themselves, but I don't believe it. I've had all the experiences they have and I'll tell you a lot of it is counterfeit, what they have. Because I can see the distinction between the genuine and the counterfeit.

The genuine glorifies Christ. The genuine does not exalt a man. The genuine does not promote the collection of money. That's why I say it's counterfeit. The genuine will not, you know, draw attention to an individual.

And the genuine will speak more about spiritual healing than physical healing. That's why I know it's counterfeit. So, even in the people who claim to have all these gifts and all that, there's a lot of deception.

The Holy Spirit can go away and I tell you, healing meetings will continue. People who speak in tongues will still continue to speak in tongues, even though the Holy Spirit has departed. How is that possible?

So, you need to ask yourself, has your background or the theology or terminology that you have used hindered you from coming into the fullness of life that God wants to bring you into through the Holy Spirit?

Has the devil made this sound so complicated that you say, boy, I never will be able to understand this. You don't need to understand, brother, sister. You need to have a thirst. Lord, I want the life of Jesus in me.

That's what we need more than anything else. Lord, I'm not living the way I should be living in my home with my wife and children. I'm not bringing up my children in godly ways the way I should. I don't have the anointing and power of the Holy Spirit in whatever ministry God has called me to fulfill, whether as a mother or as a preacher or as an evangelist, whatever it is.

If you find a lack of power, a lack of boldness, Lord, there's something wrong. If you find yourself constantly in financial difficulties, I don't believe that Jesus in his carpentry business was constantly having financial difficulties.

I can't imagine that. He wasn't the richest carpenter in Nazareth, certainly not, because he helped so many poor people. How could he become the richest carpenter in Nazareth? But I don't think that God expects us to live.

I don't believe Jesus was in debt for one single day of his life. He was open to whatever the Father told him. And he wouldn't buy things he didn't need. He wouldn't spend lavishly such that he had to get into debt.

I find many Christians are not careful about these things. So, I want to encourage all of you to be more open to the Holy Spirit because it solves not only our spiritual problems but many practical problems in our life.

I mean, I've never been in debt for a single day in my Christian life. By the grace of God, the Holy Spirit taught me not to buy what I can't afford. Okay, if I can't afford that, live more simply. And when I can afford it, I buy it.

Very simple things, you know, the Holy Spirit's leading is not only for spiritual things. God has placed us on earth. We are not only spirits. We are spirit, soul and body. God knows that we have to work to earn our living.

God knows we've got to educate our children. We've got to feed our children, clothe our children. God knows we need to have a house to live in. We need food to eat. He knows all that. And the Holy Spirit's interested in every single area of our life.

Understanding Baptism in the Holy Spirit

So, as I said, avoiding the terminology and the theology. For example, the word baptism in the Holy Spirit. A lot of people have a little problem with that expression. And the reason is because the word baptize is not an English word.

And if I were to use some Indian word here in the pulpit, you wouldn't know what it meant. It's the same way in the original Greek, the word is baptizo. Today, for Christians, the word baptism has become an English word.

But can you think back the first time when the Bible was translated? People had never heard the word baptism before. It is not used. It is not used in, I mean, the average person who has not heard about Christianity knows nothing about the word baptism.

And then, this word baptize was being translated. I've heard the story that when the King James Version was translated, King James, whatever it was, number one or six or something, told all the translators.

He gave them a number of rules. And one of the rules was, don't disturb existing church traditions. Because I want to keep on good terms with these priests. Otherwise, I'll lose my head. So, it was like that in those days in England.

So, these people were godly people who translated. And they came to the word baptize, which they knew is a Greek word, which means immerse. It's a very simple Greek word, which is used in common Greek, means immerse people.

But how could they translate it as immerse? When nobody was immersing anybody in the Anglican Church. They were sprinkling water on a baby's head and calling it baptism. But they couldn't honestly translate it as christen them, because that would be wrong.

So, they did a very clever thing. They just used the same word and made it an English word. And put it into the Bible, King James Version. The version a lot of people think is God's original truth. Baptize.

And the first people who got that, they read the King James Version. They said, baptize. Never heard that word before. Or the Christians were baptized. Oh, that must be what they do in our churches, right?

Sprinkle the children. That's how it started. So, when you talk about baptism in the Holy Spirit, it's the same confusion today. What does it mean to be baptized in the Holy Spirit? People think of some experience, some tingling sensation.

They've heard testimonies. Baptism means immersed. Are you immersed in the Holy Spirit? Is that simpler? It was simpler for me when I translated that word. You shall be immersed in the Holy Spirit, not many days from now.

Jesus is the one who immerses you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Now, we understand what it is to be immersed in the fire. John said, I immerse you in water, but He will immerse you in fire. Put you right in the middle of the fire.

Like that burning bush that was on fire. I understand it better rather than this word baptism. So many people get taken up with theology and terminology and miss out on the blessing. Now, the reason I'm explaining this is so that you don't miss out on what God wants you to have.