There are two dimensions that God wants us to understand. One is personal prayer, and the other is the operation of the gifts, so what I'm going to do is first of all talk about the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Speaking in Tongues. I'll be focussing on the personal devotional gift every believer can receive. Then we will move, and we will look at the ministry gift or the manifestation of speaking in tongues with interpretation.
We saw that list in 1 Corinthians 12:7, and one on the list of the Gifts of the Spirit was: Speaking in diverse tongues with interpretation.
But what I want to do, because some people aren't baptised in the spirit, I want to help you in this session. Anyone at the end of this session who is not baptised in the spirit, we want to pray with you so you get filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, and have the devotional tongue. Then we'll do some exercises speaking in tongues, but also I want to help you understand about Tongues and Interpretations which go together.
So this first part we will talk just about being baptised in the Holy Spirit, filled with spirit, speaking in tongues - what it is and how to get it.
Firstly I want to share with you something that Jesus did and taught; I won't teach you all the scriptures on it, just enough for you to get an outline.
Jesus made it very clear, when He was about to depart from this earth, that He would leave another comforter, the Holy Spirit. He made it very clear He was going to give them a person. The Holy Spirit would be released to them.
He said in John 14: “You've seen Him with you. Soon He will be in you”. So Jesus made a promise, before His death on the cross, that the disciples would receive the Holy Spirit. He's the spirit of truth, He's the comforter; He will guide them into truth, He will reveal things to come, He'll reveal Jesus. He said: “I'm not going to leave you alone”.
So in John 14, He tells us: “I will not leave you alone, I will send you another comforter, the Holy Spirit. He's been with you, but now He will be in you” - very, very important. Now following from there, we know Jesus died and rose from the dead, and then He appeared to His disciples. We're going to read and pick it up from there and we're going to look at some things Jesus did and said. So in John 20:21-22. He said, as He appeared to the disciples, “He said: Peace to you! As my Father sent Me, even I send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said: receive the Holy Ghost”.
He breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Ghost”.
Now I want you to understand that He didn't just blow on them - He actually imparted. Just as God breathed into Adam the breath of life, Jesus imparted into the disciples His Holy Spirit.
He released into them the spirit of God - at that point they were born again. He breathed on them, and said: “Receive (or ‘take into yourself’) the Holy Spirit”.
What He did was, He imparted from His spirit. It's from His spirit - from the depths of His being = He released what He was unauthorised to release.
He released the Holy Spirit to come into people, so He went [releases one long breath] like that, and then something happened - there was impartation; they received an impartation - the Holy Spirit came into them.
That's what impartation is - something is imparted. Something, that someone has - they release it to someone else.
Jesus said in John 7:37, He said: “out of your belly will flow rivers of living water” - and He was speaking about the Holy Spirit. So God wants you to have a flow from your spirit, but first you've got to be born again. So at this point the disciples were born again.
Now I want to share with you two other scriptures. One is found in Luke 24:49, and Jesus again appears to the disciples and He said: “Behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you”.
Notice that He's already breathed into them the Holy Spirit. Now He says something else: “the promise of the Father”.
He said: “I send to you the promise of the Father upon you. Wait in Jerusalem until you be clothed with power from on high”.
So He's already breathed into them, and they're born again. Now He's saying: “wait until you be clothed with power from on high”.
Acts 1:4 – “Being assembled together with them, He commanded them they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father”.
Now they're born again, He's saying: there's something else to wait for - for John baptised you with water, but you will be baptised in the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.