RE: ///The first baptism is a baptism into Christ the second baptism is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.Thought amd comments welcomed...///some questions that many of these sanctification disscussions has had me pondering is : Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit something separate from simply being filled with the Holy Spirit ? Are their not different times in our Christian walk that we experience different degrees of being filled ?Can we experience being filled with the Holy Spirit but not yet have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit ?
bearmaster wrote ///Good discussion and good food for thought and meditation. I thank the posters for their contributions and good spirit on this thread. ///Amen, brother
Quote: Can we experience being filled with the Holy Spirit but not yet have experienced the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?Well you have to define what the Baptism of the Holy is supposed to accomplish in the believer.Quote: some questions that many of these sanctification discussions has had me pondering is : Is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit something separate from simply being filled with the Holy Spirit ? You see when I read 1 Cor 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way, it is says to me that there is something more.The Corinthian church in my eyes like the church that I know today, we operate in the gifts of the Spirit but there are some terrible sins being practiced in that same church.But lets consider the fruits of the Spirit as well Gal 5: 22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.What Paul was saying to the Corinthians was desire the gifts of the Spirit but the more excellent way is having the Fruits of the Spirit. The questions then we must as ourselves is there a vast ocean of love if our heart for God and the people of this world or is something you hold back on and don’t obey God on, are there some people in this world that we would eradicate from off the face of this earth if you had the power to do so?Are you overflowing with Joy or do the cares of the world hinder our joy, are we good and faithful in all things. Are we gentle do we sometimes get angry, are people wary of us as your prone to outburst of anger, do you kick your dog in a temper sometimes, do we give curt responses to people. If we say yes to any of the points I mention then I think we are still under the law. What do I mean we haven’t been brought fully to Christ or maybe the better way to say it Christ has not been fully formed in us and there remains a work of the Holy Spirit in us to cleanse and sanctify us in a deeper way and the law is the way we are convicted of need of that work.That’s my thoughts and the questions I ask myself…
_________________Colin Murray
Artesian wells are created when water under pressure is given an outlet.The only way for any believer to have "rivers of living water flowing out of their inner most being" is not only to have been filled at one time, but to continue being filled.The continued filling of the Spirit is the source of the constant overflowing Jesus spoke of. As we are continually being filled with the Spirit, others around us will experience the outflowing of the living water we ourselves are being filled with.The inner reservoir not only has to be filled once, but must continue to receive a constant flow in to maintain a continual flow out. The true evidence that a believer has been and is being filled with the Holy Spirit is the living water others around them are being blessed by.makrothumia
_________________Alan and Dina Martin
I have thought the baptism of the Spirit to be a one time event and the filling of the Holy Spirit to be an ongoing reality in the believer. It is interesting Paul exhorts us to be filled with the Holy Spirit on a continual basis. Not to be rebaptized in Him. Just my thoughts for reflection.Bear.
PP do the Anabaptist make any mention of the Holy Spirit in their writings? Just courious.Bear.