Should You Expect Tongues Immediately After Baptism?
Praise Jesus today guys. I want to make a short message just about being filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit baptism and speaking in tongues. Now, some people really are deceived by this, or rather they have a misunderstanding, not a misunderstanding that leads to sin, but a misunderstanding that leads them to confusion and then just to be sad and discouraged, because their view is that as soon as they are baptized in water and come out of that water that they will be speaking in a tongue and on top of that, some of these people think that they have to be baptized by the right guy, and they think that there’s kind of a magic or a supernatural in the man that baptizes them and in the act of being baptized alone. And that is just not true. If you put your faith in men and if you put your faith in baptism itself you’re going to be really discouraged because you are going to come out of that water and you’re not going to be speaking in a tongue, and you are going to be thinking, “What happened? Was I not genuine? Was the man who baptized me not genuine? Was the water not special enough?” and I see this happen… Here’s the thing, in short, you WILL speak in tongues when you are baptized, but it’s not cookie cutter. Christians think everything is going to happen in this “cookie cutter” (all the same) way; first you believe, you have faith, you hear the Holy Spirit, you’re baptized, and then you come out of the water and you speak in tongues, you are a new creation… For me it didn’t happen exactly like that. For me when I received the Holy Spirit, just like it says in Joel, I had dreams and visions. The prophet Joel said that the old men would have dreams and the young men would have visons. I had both dreams and visions. And I did start speaking in tongues, but the tongues that I started speaking in first was of the Lord for me to speak to my church. The Lord wanted me to speak to people IN MY CHURCH about His truth and that had to happen in my native tongue. They wouldn’t have understood anything if I spoke in an angelic prayer language. So, I went out and I spoke to all my friends, my neighbors, I was getting on Facebook and I was sending people letters, telling them about TRUE repentance. That was my new tongue. When we really come to Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit and we are baptized then we do speak in a new tongue, but let’s talk about what that new tongue is. That new tongue is the new language that comes from the Holy Spirit to you to speak FOR THE GLORY OF GOD, whether it is a prayer langue, an unknown language or a known language, but supernatural in that it is coming from the Holy Spirit to rebuke, to chastise, to discipline, to correct, to lead people into the TRUTH OF GOD. It is supernatural but not necessarily a tongue that people will not understand. It might be. It may be a prayer language, but it may also be like how mine was when I repented and that was to correct the church, to speak the truth to people that they may also come out and repent in these times. It’s not a “cookie cutter” formula that you just are baptized in water and then you come out immediately and you are speaking in an angelic tongue, it’s not like that. We need to make sure that we are really submitted to the Holy Spirit and not putting our own ideas, our own formulas on God and thinking that He has to do it the way WE imagine. The Pentecostal church is the worst at that. They think that everything has to happen to their idea in church before THEIR alter. They think they lay hands on people, that they have to get better, they have to receive a tongue… Baptism and that water represents DYING to yourself, it represents DEATH. There is nothing special about the death of the water. What is special is that Jesus is giving you NEW LIFE, He is becoming your Teacher. And what is awesome is that you are laying your life down before Him and He is going to change you and make you into that person that HE wants you to be. But you can’t twist God’s arm and make Him make you speak in tongues in a way that you have seen others do. You cannot make Him give you the spiritual gifts that you have seen others have. You can’t make Him give you a dream or make Him give you a vision. You have to wait upon the Lord because HE truly is the Master and we are the servants. And we cannot manipulate and force the Master to do ANYTHING for us. We have to humble ourselves before the Master and just believe Him, trust Him, have faith in Him, that He will lead us and guide us and give us all the spiritual gifts that we need in time. But are we being faithful with what He has given us? If we have a bit of faith, are we being faithful with what we know we need to do to be faithful to GOD? Do we trust Him? When we know we need to get out of a certain area to repent, to apologize, are we being faithful to repent of the things we need to repent of and to apologize to the people who we have wronged? Are we being faithful to the things that we KNOW we need to do, or are we just looking for things that we perceive that will be supernatural to the world and then upset at God because He didn’t act according to our will? We need to make sure that we are just truly humble before the Lord and doing the things that HE calls us to do. It’s not a formula, every single person is unique and different. But we do need to be baptized in water. We do need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to go from death to life. And we need to speak in our new tongue. The gift of the Holy Spirit is not for a select few people. The gift of the Holy Spirit is for ALL who will believe on the name of Jesus Christ, who will REPENT and who want the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It’s FOR YOU! The power of the Holy Spirit is for YOU. He is alive. The Holy Spirit will guide you. He is our Teacher. Will you receive the Holy Spirit? Will you let Him guide you the way that HE knows is best for you? Or will you just go around like many of the Christians who want to see a sign and a wonder and they are really trying to control God to do it the way THEY want? maybe to impress themselves, maybe to impress the world, maybe they have watched other Christians and they want to mimic them. With the Holy Spirit He’s not like that. He is unique, He is a different Spirit, unlike any other spirit in this world. He is supernatural, but He will be YOUR guide He will be YOUR Teacher, you won’t be His teacher. So, will you humble before Him and start learning from the Spirit of GOD in SPIRIT and in TRUTH? Will you listen with the ears of your conscience in the bottom of your soul? Or will you try to control God and be His teacher and tell HIM how things are done? May the grace of Jesus be with you.
