Part 1 - I've Got the Holy Spirit, But I Don't Speak in Tongues - Don't Bug Me!

“I received the Holy Spirit when I became a Christian, if I have the Holy Spirit then why do I need to receive him again?”

“Even though I received the Holy Spirit when I became a Christian; I do believe in a secondary experience, or I asked the Holy Spirit come into my life, but I don't believe that tongues needs to be part of that experience.”

“I do believe in a secondary experience of receiving the Holy Spirit into my life called the “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” and some people to receive tongues, but I don't believe that everybody needs to receive “specking in tongues,” and that many people receive other gifts of the Spirit instead of “tongues.” Tongues are good, but not everybody gets them, and not everybody needs them.”

The above three statements are common things that I hear from Christians in the body of Christ today. These statements are not all-inclusive, and I'm sure there are many more variations of people's ideas and theories, as to how the Holy Spirit is in operation in the church and his people today. While I do admit that there is some level of segmented truth in each of these three statements above, I believe it's important that we as Christians look to the Bible with sincerity and openness, to see what the Bible actually has to say about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

There is been a tremendous outpouring of the Spirit, and of salvation in the last 15 years within the body of Christ, and large numbers, and masses of people have come into the kingdom of God through accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The Bible declares that there is more rejoicing in heaven over one soul that comes into the kingdom then over all the saved people that are already in the kingdom. I truly believe this, and my spirit rejoices exceedingly that this spirit of harvest and evangelism has spread over the body of Christ and/or the world in this past decade and that multiplied thousands even into millions are entering the kingdom of God and the body of Christ.

The “great commission” of Jesus to His disciples, found in the last chapter of the Gospel of Matthew chapter 28, verses 19 and 20 states, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." One of the things you may notice as you read this, is that Jesus said not only to go, but to teach (KJV) or make disciples of all nations. We can see from that that Jesus meant something beyond just bringing people into the kingdom, but to take them not only into the kingdom - but to teach them –  to teach them what? He goes on the next verse to say, "teaching them to observe “all things” whatsoever I have commanded you." It becomes apparent from that verse, that Jesus wants us to move into salvation, and then into the fullness of the kingdom of God; not to leave people just inside the doors of heaven, but to teach them to observe everything, or all things that Jesus taught.  That was the “great commission” – to teach them all things, not just to make “converts” – but to take those converts on into the fullness of all that Jesus taught.

While this book can in no way encompass all the things that Jesus taught, we will endeavor to focus on one main teaching that Jesus did speak about with incredible emphasis; and that is Jesus’ teaching on the Holy Spirit and his relationship to the church and the individual believer.

Many pastors and theologians teach today that the church was born on the day of Pentecost, and while I agree with that in theory, sometimes it clouds the issue about the Holy Spirit, because if the Holy Spirit was poured out, into the church just one time, on the day of Pentecost  - the day that the church was supposedly born, then we only have one experience and that is – being born again -  entering the church and receiving the Holy Spirit at that same moment, just like they did on the day of Pentecost.  Let's take a closer look at that.

How does one become a Christian and enter the "church?" In Matthew chapter 16:13 - 18, Jesus talking to his disciples, he says "who do men say that I, the Son of Man am? So they said, ‘some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘but who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered and said, ‘you are the Christ, the son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Now without going completely into this, and tearing it completely down, let us focus simply what Jesus said to Peter; After Peter said “you are the Christ the son of the living God;” Jesus said to Peter, “ you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” There are many today that believe that Peter himself was the rock upon which Jesus was going to build his church, however, when reading this in the original Greek, it becomes very plain that this is not actually what Jesus was saying at all. The name Peter comes from the Greek word “Petros” – which means small stone. The word for “rock” in this same passage comes from the Greek word “Petra” which means large-stone. If we read it that way, then Jesus answer to Peter actually reads like this, "and Peter you are a small stone, but upon this large rock, I will build my church." Now, if Peter is the small stone, then what is the large rock that Jesus is building his church on? The large rock that Jesus is building his church upon is the rock of Peter's confession in the previous verse that “Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God.”

That may seem like a lot of splitting of hairs, but it becomes an important first foundation to understanding how the church is built, who the church is, and how you enter the church or the body of Christ. As we stated above, entering the body of Christ or the church happens when someone realizes who Jesus is and confesses him as Savior and Lord, the Son of the living God. Just to be sure that that is the truth, let's go further into the New Testament to the book of Romans chapter 10. Starting at Romans chapter 10 verse 9, we read, "that if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." And again in verse 13, "for whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." Notice again, that even in the book of Romans, that it is the “confession of Jesus as Lord,” and believing it in your heart that causes a man or woman to be born again oe “saved.” Isn't that exactly the same as thing that Jesus said to Peter in Matthew chapter 16:18?

Just to be sure, let's go to the book of Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16 is about the adventures of Paul and Silas in the town of Philippi, and how they were thrown into jail for preaching the gospel there, and how subsequently when they sang praises to God at midnight, the prison doors were open but they did not run away. Instead, they went to the home of the Philippian jailor. After spending time with him and his family, he asked them directly in verse 30, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Their direct response in verse 31 was, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your household." So we see one more time, that simply to believe on the name of Jesus Christ, and to “confess him as Lord,” is what causes someone to become “born again,”  to become a Christian or to become part of the church -  the body of Christ.  All of these terms mean basically the same thing, and describe “becoming a Christian.”

We have taken the time to lay this foundation, so that we can clearly distinguish what it means to become a Christian, so that we can clearly distinguish when the church could have possibly been started or come into existence, so that it may become clear that the church was NOT necessarily born on the day of Pentecost, but that it came into being at the resurrection of Jesus. One quick side note, the reason I say that the resurrection of Jesus, as opposed to the moment when someone might “realize” that Jesus was the Christ (Like Peter did – or others at that time may have), is that before Jesus paid the price for our sins with his blood, no one could be “born again” or become a Christian. This is because even though someone of those “pre – cross” days might recognized Jesus as the Messiah or the Christ, the price had not yet been paid, and the way to salvation through Jesus Christ was not yet open. After the resurrection, the price for salvation had been paid; the way to God was opened through Jesus Christ, and anyone who believed in him and received him as Lord could be born again.

In the gospel of John chapter 20, verse 17, Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalena, as she sees him outside the empty tomb and says, "do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and say to them; I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God." This was the first time Jesus had ever spoken any words like this to his disciples. He plainly declared to Mary that his Father was now her Father, and that his God, was now her God.  And, he called his disciples “brothers.” Just a few verses later, on the very same day Jesus appears to his disciples in verses 19 - 23. In verse 21, Jesus says to them, "peace to you: as the Father has sent me, I also send you." Verse 22 says, "and when he had said this, he breathed on them and said unto them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit." So the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the day that Jesus was resurrected from the dead; were they born again that day?  Yes! Did the “church” begin that day? Yes!

 The gospel of John also tells us in chapter 14 verse 17, that the “world” – or the unborn again person – cannot receive the Holy Spirit. John 14:16, 17, "and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that he may abide with you for ever - even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." Again, we can see from these verses, that the world cannot receive the Spirit of truth – the Holy Spirit. We also see, that up to this point, the Holy Spirit had been with the disciples, but Jesus promise to them was that from now on, he would be in them.

In John chapter 20, when Jesus appeared to his disciples, He commissioned them, and then breathed on them and said, “Receive  the Holy Spirit.”  That, my friends was the moment that the church was actually born! Why is it important that this be the time that the Church was born and not the Day of Pentecost? Because, if the church was born on the day that Christ was resurrected, and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time, the day that Jesus came out of the tomb, then, why 40 days later does Jesus tell his disciples in the book of Acts chapter 1 verse 4, "and, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, you have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence."

But I thought that they had already received the Holy Spirit? Is it possible that Jesus meant a secondary experience in the Holy Spirit? Had they not been born-again the day that Jesus appeared to them after coming out of the tomb? Had they not received the Holy Spirit when he said to them directly, “receive ye the Holy Spirit" and breathed on them? These are all important questions, questions we need answers to, that we might rightly understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives today, and that we might receive the fullness of everything that God wants for us as his children in Christ Jesus.