Category: Holy Spirit (Page 3 of 3)

The Baptism in the Holy Spirit

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A sermon by John G. Lake  in 1921.

Listen to the sermon (32 min, 43Mb) - read by Stephen Bankart.

John G. LakeThe Baptism of the Holy Ghost is the greatest event in Christian history. Greater than the Crucifixion, of greater import than the Resurrection, greater than the Ascension, greater than the glorification. It was the end and finality of Crucifixion and Resurrection, Ascension and glorification.

If Jesus Christ had been crucified, and there had been no resurrection, His death would have been without avail, in so far as the salvation of mankind is concerned. Or if He had risen from the grave in resurrection, and failed to reach the throne of God, and receive from the Father the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the purpose for which He died, and for which He arose, would have been missed.

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Blocked by the Holy Spirit

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Listen to the voice recording of this essay

How to make day-to-day decisions in difficult times?

How is the Christian to make day-to-day decisions in difficult times? We do live in difficult times. As Christians we are more than often confronted with situations in which we really do not have all the answers and guidelines. And Satan tries to make this world and the Church of God a stinking swamp.

Stay in an intimate relationship with God

Of course, first and foremost, the relationship between a Christian and God must be intact and fresh. Since God and his nature is our guide, we need to keep in contact with Him. There are basic moral and spiritual principles rooted in the nature of God, to which those in a right relationship with Him must conform their thoughts, words, and deeds. This provides resources for both the daily grind and the emergency situations. For these difficult situations we must try to stay prayed-up for such times.

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I am a pastor: please help me with ‘theology’

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Is theology important? I mean to say: Is it important to discuss theological matters or to study theology? Is theology of any concern to pastors in today’s world?

I have heard people commenting: “I am only a pastor or I am only a Christian and I am not practicing theology.” Sometimes the impression is created that you are a more God-orientated Christian when you are NOT practicing theology. This confuses me for, as a pastor, I am serious about God and doing His will.

Theology

Forgive me for attempting to discuss such a rich topic as theology in this short post. The word theology comes from two words: “Theos” (God) and “logos” (word), which means “words of God” or “talking about God”.

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The Spirit World of Africa

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The African spirit world is one area that has been, for a long time, neglected or overlooked by the traditional (western) Christian theology with disastrous effects (Pomerville 1985:77). Even though the African worldview is akin to that world of New Testament times (see Malina et al 1996:14; Mugambi 1989:56g).

The Holy Spirit – A subdued Person

Equally overlooked in western (traditional) theology is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the individual and the community of faith. Menzies (1979:69) shows that until Reformation the doctrine of pneumatology developed only in terms of the essential being of the third person of the trinity.

Even in contemporary mission theology, the absence of the Holy Spirit is conspicuous. Melvin Hodges, a classical Pentecostal missiologist, describes the silence on the Holy Spirit as a neglect of an indispensable qualification for missions – the endowment of Pentecostal power (Hodges 1977:149). He links the relative success of Pentecostal missions directly with the place that Pentecostal give to the Holy Spirit – a place similar to that which New Testament believers gave to the Holy Spirit.

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Seminar on the Holy Spirit 2013

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Auckland Park Theological Seminary hosted a one-day seminar on the Holy Spirit on the 9th of October 2013.

In Acts 19:2 Paul asked newly converted Christians in Ephesus if they have received the baptism in the Holy Spirit when they became born again. They replied that they have not even heard of the baptism in the Holy Sprit. This was only a few years after the coming of the Holy Spirit as described in Acts 2. The baptism in the Holy Spirit was such an extraordinary event and was an integral part of the great mission to evangelise to the whole world; yet only a few years later Paul found newly converted Christians who had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. It seems unbelievable that such an important truth of the gospel could be excluded?

When looking at the history of the church we see that for more than 1700 years there was almost no recording of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. In modern times, the first recording of a person baptised in the Holy Spirit was in the early 1900’s, resulting in the 1906 Azusa Street revival under the preaching of an African American preacher, William Seymour. Christians from different ethnical groups, economic status, ages and gender, worshipped the Lord together. By 1980, Pentecostals had grown to be the largest and fastest growing family of congregations in the world.

What is the present situation regarding the Holy Spirit in Pentecostal theology?

Do Pentecostals have a different experience with God that influences their perception about God?

Downloads

The speakers’ presentations are available in both text and audio formats for your convenience:

Prof K de Smidt:
The Holy Spirit empowers God’s community to be people of God’s new world – a New Testament study.
Prof WJ Hattingh:
Ministry of the Holy Spirit: God’s truth exceedingly great and exceedingly close.
Dr A Khathide:
The Holy Spirit versus the spirits in Africa.
Prof FP Möller:
The manifestation and operation of God’s Spirit in regeneration and baptism in the Holy Spirit.
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