Christian Foundations (14): The Baptism in the Holy Spirit (1)

The word BAPTISE means IMMERSE. There are 3 foundational Christian BAPTISMS: (1) Baptism into Christ, (2) Baptism into Water, and (3) Baptism into the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). Although we received the Spirit WITHIN at salvation, we also need to receive the Spirit UPON to empower us to be a witness (the Baptism in the Spirit). The PURPOSE of this Baptism is to RECEIVE POWER to fulfil the great commission. After salvation, the next step is to embrace Christ's mission, and surrender our soul and body to God to receive His supernatural power to be His witness. This fulfils of the 2nd part of the Blessing of Abraham: “I will (1) BLESS you (salvation), and (2) you will be a (channel of) BLESSING (to others)” (Gen 12:2). This 2-fold BLESSING of the new creation follows the same pattern as man’s original creation (see Genesis 1:27, 2:7 and Genesis 1:28). Likewise, (1) God first BLESSES us with His Spirit WITHIN (at our New Birth), then (2) He wants to BLESS (empower) us to be a BLESSING by His Spirit UPON, so we can go forth and multiply ourselves by fulfilling the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-18, Matt 28:18-20). He promised to give us the POWER of the SPIRIT to do that (Luke 24:48-49, Acts 1:8). This Baptism is God’s empowerment (blessing) upon us to be a blessing, to communicate His life and blessing to others through the Gospel. God released and communicated the BLESSING by speaking WORDS of life (Genesis 1:28). Likewise, having received His power through this Baptism, we transmit the BLESSING of the SPIRIT to others through our WORDS. As in physical multiplication, we MULTIPLY ourselves spiritually by the transmission of blessing (life) through the SOWING of SEED (God's words). God wants us to be filled with His Spirit (Eph 5:18), for we can't (1) live the Christian life, and (2) be a witness in our own strength. This Baptism is God’s POWER upon us for the PURPOSE of fulfilling God’s mission for our life, that is centred on the great commission. There is a 2-fold RECEIVING of the SPIRIT, as seen in Acts: We receive