Christian Fellowship Community Group
A safe place for Christians who Love Jesus Christ to meet and ask for prayer and share scriptures from the bible. We value the posting of Christian music, poems, stories and also personal testimonies. Please let us know your needs, concerns and have some fun getting to know each other. We treat each other with respect.
THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT
With the new birth, man receives the first fruits of the Spirit, peace with God and as a result, assurance of salvation. With the baptism of the Spirit, on the other hand, he receives power and an equipping for the ministry in the Church, and because all believers are called to serve others, all are in need of the baptism of the Spirit. The mother who ought to lead her children to the Saviour, the simple factory worker who ought to bear witness at his work to save souls for Jesus, need it the same way, as the preacher from the pulpit or the fellowship leader or helper in the children's service or any co-worker in the kingdom of God.
Without this equipping, their ministry will be perfunctory and weak, unsatisfying for them and their listeners, without bearing the abiding fruit, God desires. One will often get the impression that such a ministry is just empty drivel. There are quite are few prattlers in the kingdom of God. But God can even use weak prattle to save souls and bear fruit; there are many who already feel sometimes the power of the Spirit in their ministry of the Gospel and are blessed to a certain extent. However, they won't produce the God-desired fruit, without the equipping from above, the lack of which makes them responsible, though; for only the Holy Spirit is able to open hearts, to convict of sin, to create faith and give the right words and present the truth to souls in a way that is easily understood. In doing so the Holy Spirit uses our natural talents and intellect and puts them into His service; but He adds abilities, we don't have by nature. He not only heightens our natural talents, but grants us the supernatural gifts of grace, and therein lies the special significance of the baptism of the Spirit for our ministry in the kingdom.
How some preachers have to struggle until they have put together a sermon, learned it by heart and presented it to the congregation. How much time and energy is spent in the process, with the result of incomprehensible sermons that go over the heads of people.
Just recently a woman told me, that she does not know what her pastor wants to say with his sermons, and a man from the same fellowship decided not to go to church anymore, because he could nothing edifying take home with him.
It is different, on the other hand, when the minister works in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is then not imprisoned in the man's spirit anymore, but has taken possession of their intellect and thinking, so that the thoughts come easily with wonderful clarity and the minister has just to express what the Spirit offers; the preaching will then be a joy instead of a nerve-racking burden.
Such sermons or conversations are then readily grasped by the listeners, and some will probably say: "This sermon was exactly what I needed today."
And how some struggle in vain to convince someone in private conservations of the Gospel-truth, while the spirit-filled person pricks the conscience of the other, possibly with just a few words, that cut to the heart and leaves them no peace, until they have surrendered to the Lord. Long expositions are not always necessary, but a single sentence can sometimes achieve more than a hundreds of sermons have before.
(by Christian Roeckle)
With the new birth, man receives the first fruits of the Spirit, peace with God and as a result, assurance of salvation. With the baptism of the Spirit, on the other hand, he receives power and an equipping for the ministry in the Church, and because all believers are called to serve others, all are in need of the baptism of the Spirit. The mother who ought to lead her children to the Saviour, the simple factory worker who ought to bear witness at his work to save souls for Jesus, need it the same way, as the preacher from the pulpit or the fellowship leader or helper in the children's service or any co-worker in the kingdom of God.
Without this equipping, their ministry will be perfunctory and weak, unsatisfying for them and their listeners, without bearing the abiding fruit, God desires. One will often get the impression that such a ministry is just empty drivel. There are quite are few prattlers in the kingdom of God. But God can even use weak prattle to save souls and bear fruit; there are many who already feel sometimes the power of the Spirit in their ministry of the Gospel and are blessed to a certain extent. However, they won't produce the God-desired fruit, without the equipping from above, the lack of which makes them responsible, though; for only the Holy Spirit is able to open hearts, to convict of sin, to create faith and give the right words and present the truth to souls in a way that is easily understood. In doing so the Holy Spirit uses our natural talents and intellect and puts them into His service; but He adds abilities, we don't have by nature. He not only heightens our natural talents, but grants us the supernatural gifts of grace, and therein lies the special significance of the baptism of the Spirit for our ministry in the kingdom.
How some preachers have to struggle until they have put together a sermon, learned it by heart and presented it to the congregation. How much time and energy is spent in the process, with the result of incomprehensible sermons that go over the heads of people.
Just recently a woman told me, that she does not know what her pastor wants to say with his sermons, and a man from the same fellowship decided not to go to church anymore, because he could nothing edifying take home with him.
It is different, on the other hand, when the minister works in the power of the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit is then not imprisoned in the man's spirit anymore, but has taken possession of their intellect and thinking, so that the thoughts come easily with wonderful clarity and the minister has just to express what the Spirit offers; the preaching will then be a joy instead of a nerve-racking burden.
Such sermons or conversations are then readily grasped by the listeners, and some will probably say: "This sermon was exactly what I needed today."
And how some struggle in vain to convince someone in private conservations of the Gospel-truth, while the spirit-filled person pricks the conscience of the other, possibly with just a few words, that cut to the heart and leaves them no peace, until they have surrendered to the Lord. Long expositions are not always necessary, but a single sentence can sometimes achieve more than a hundreds of sermons have before.
(by Christian Roeckle)
In these days, the World needs to hear the Gospel with power and conviction... we can not do this in our own strength...it takes the power of the Holy Spirit !