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G.W. North

George Walter North (1913 - 2003). British evangelist, author, and founder of New Covenant fellowships, born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Converted at 15 during a 1928 tent meeting, he trained at Elim Bible College and began preaching in Kent. Ordained in the Elim Pentecostal Church, he pastored in Kent and Bradford, later leading a revivalist ministry in Liverpool during the 1960s. By 1968, he established house fellowships in England, emphasizing one baptism in the Holy Spirit, detailed in his book One Baptism (1971). North traveled globally, preaching in Malawi, Australia, and the U.S., impacting thousands with his focus on heart purity and New Creation theology. Married with one daughter, Judith Raistrick, who chronicled his life in The Story of G.W. North, he ministered into his 80s. His sermons, available at gwnorth.net, stress spiritual transformation over institutional religion, influencing Pentecostal and charismatic movements worldwide.
Sermon Summary
G.W. North emphasizes that both the physical creation and the spiritual new birth occur simultaneously through the combined work of water and the Spirit. He illustrates that just as the Spirit of God was present during creation, so too is it essential for the new creation in Christ, which he refers to as Baptismal Regeneration. North argues that this regeneration is a continuation of God's original method, where the outward baptism symbolizes the inward spiritual transformation. He highlights the distinction between the first birth and the new birth, underscoring the necessity of spiritual rebirth for eternal life. Ultimately, the sermon calls believers to recognize the profound connection between physical and spiritual realities in God's redemptive plan.
By Water and the Spirit
Let us take note that in the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth there was no such thing as 'baptism' in water first, to be followed later by a second experience of Baptism in Spirit — the whole happened synchronously. One word was spoken, one will expressed, one power was demonstrated with one result; water and Spirit were combined in one act of baptism. Moses tells us that when God spoke His creative word, the Spirit of God was already moving (fluttering, brooding) upon the face of the water. It was utterly impossible for the earth to appear from out of the water without it also at that exact moment being in the Spirit. We see then that Creation was by water and Spirit. So also, Jesus says, is New Birth. It is plain to behold that as in the beginning that 'new creation' was brought into being by a kind of baptismal generation, so is it also now. In the present, eternal New Creation, all is and can only be by the true baptismal regeneration. Whether it be Birth or New Birth, Creation or New Creation, all is by Baptismal Generation. The outward, material and physical is but the visible demonstration, parable, or picture of the inward, spiritual and real; God Himself has not changed, nor has He changed His method. However, because by the Gospel we are brought out of the old into the New, we speak of God's present work as Baptismal Regeneration. The prefix 're' distinguishes the eternal condition from the temporal, the new birth from the first birth, spiritual life from natural life and the holy from the sinful which all men by first birth inherit.
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George Walter North (1913 - 2003). British evangelist, author, and founder of New Covenant fellowships, born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Converted at 15 during a 1928 tent meeting, he trained at Elim Bible College and began preaching in Kent. Ordained in the Elim Pentecostal Church, he pastored in Kent and Bradford, later leading a revivalist ministry in Liverpool during the 1960s. By 1968, he established house fellowships in England, emphasizing one baptism in the Holy Spirit, detailed in his book One Baptism (1971). North traveled globally, preaching in Malawi, Australia, and the U.S., impacting thousands with his focus on heart purity and New Creation theology. Married with one daughter, Judith Raistrick, who chronicled his life in The Story of G.W. North, he ministered into his 80s. His sermons, available at gwnorth.net, stress spiritual transformation over institutional religion, influencing Pentecostal and charismatic movements worldwide.