Amen.  Hallelujah.  First Corinthians, Chapter 12, the ministry and power of the Holy Spirit that we’ve been talking about.  The promise of the Father, as Jesus refers to it, is so vital to prepare us in these last days to endue us, the Scripture says, with power from on high that operates from within the church in a way that’s unique and separate from the way that the Holy Spirit manifests Himself as He dwells in each and every one of us as believers, especially following the baptism, or we refer sometimes to the infilling of the Holy Spirit.  We’ve said it before and we’ll continue to speak; it’s a subsequent work to our abiding in the Spirit and the Spirit abiding in us that takes place at regeneration; okay?  As a subsequent work, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is different, and follows in sequence, our regeneration.  You can’t be filled with the Holy Spirit without having first been regenerated.  When you hear of people speaking in tongues and it happens in different cultures and different sects around the world, you’ll know that those are always false tongues, satanic, occultic tongues.  Anybody speaking in tongues that is not regenerated is being moved by satanic power; okay?  These are the things that make very clear this great promise of the Father that’s been given to each and every one of us.

We saw that the Holy Spirit was obtained through prayer.  We pray and ask the Father for the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus and He will impart that gift to us; amen?  “If ye then, being carnal, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that…?” (Luke 11:13).  Say it.  We need to ask; we need to believe God.  We’re not asking for tongues; we’re asking for the Holy Spirit to come in His fulness into our lives; amen?  The tongues are a consequence of that filling and they are the initial physical evidence of that infilling.  People will say, “Love, that’s one of the proofs that the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us.”  No, that’s the fruit of the Spirit.  We see that all of the fruit of the Spirit are manifestations of our regeneration, the abiding Spirit, and the fulness of the Holy Spirit within each and every one of us.  So yes, they are indicators that we are Spirit-baptized, but the initial physical evidence is speaking in tongues.  I think we have that clear; amen?  Somebody will say, “Well, do you really have to speak in tongues?”  Yes, you do.  It is clear.

I think it’s great, as we see the prophesy from Joel, and we see the declaration from John the Baptist.  There’s one coming after me that’s greater than I am.  “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” (Luke 3:16).  Amen?  Those are not two separate works.  There is not a baptism in the Holy Ghost and a baptism in fire.  There is one baptism, the initial physical evidence is speaking in tongues.  The empowering, the fruit, all of these other things are subsequent to and indicators of the fact that we are an empowered people, that we are a Spirit-filled people.  As we’ve seen often that after the persecution had come upon the church and they had gathered together and they were seeking God for a boldness to speak His Word, it says, “And they were filled with the Holy Ghost.”  That means that if you’ve been filled once, you don’t just say, “Well, that’s it.”  How many of you realize that we need to stir up that gift that’s in us?  They were all filled again and that speaking forth in the power of the Spirit in languages that have not been learned, to give thanks well, to edify ourselves, to pray according to the will of God.  Those are the things that this great promise and gift bring to us as individuals.  Jesus is the baptizer.  We go to the Father in prayer in the name of Jesus and He will baptize you, praise God.  That’s a fact.  It’s yours.  Take it by faith, take it by faith.