January 2, 2015

 

 

We left off in this series the week before Christmas talking about baptisms, and specifically the baptism of fire. I'd like to wrap that up today and then try to move on to the fourth item in the list of foundations that Paul makes reference to in Hebrews 6 -- the laying on of hands. As a refresher, however, let's revisit Hebrews 6:1-3, and then continue from there.

 

Hebrews 6:1-3, RAC Translation & Amplification: Therefore, and as a consequence, it is critically important that we forsake [what Jesus has already eradicated from existence] the beginnings and commencement of the [initiating] Word of the Anointed One and His Anointing (Jesus Christ),

 

Let us move forward energetically to the place of completion and consummation; not laying down [or setting in front of you as a continual requirement] the legalistic requirement to repent, and re-do your thought processes concerning the old, dead works and requirements of the Law [as though it were necessary in order to attain redemption from past sins or iniquities], under the guise that this builds faith in and toward God, the line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept instruction in the purification processes in baptisms, the necessity of laying on of hands (for impartation or conveyance of power), [the foundational truth that Jesus provides] resurrection from the dead and cancelation of the curse of death, and — finally — the understanding and revelation of the judgment and decrees that exist throughout the eternity of the eternities.

And this is what we will be enabled to do conditional upon God’s transfer of authority, granting license and liberty to move past these foundations.

We left off in Part 7 talking about the things that Paul experienced, the overcoming processes worked in him through persecution, through tribulation -- through the fire -- as Holy Spirit worked in him the character and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything we see recorded in these passages from Paul’s letters to the Corinthians came in the midst of his total, unreserved, unabashed responsiveness to the direction of Holy Spirit. The fire that bathed Paul allowed him to lay the same foundations and patterns for growth and development in believers that we walk in today!

 

The impartations he left behind him produced a global Ekklesia that saw growth patterns in Rome alone exceeding 50,000 new believers — believers who gladly and willingly went to the fires, the lions and the gladiators in the “games” that cost them their lives.

THAT, folks, can only come when there is a genuine impartation of the life of Jesus Christ in people. Where there is the baptism of fire, there is true revelation! Before we move on, let’s finish the discussion from Paul’s letter to Timothy where we began this discussion a couple weeks ago.

 

The Baptism of Fire produces testing — testing of the word in a practical dimension. It takes away the theoretical and replaces theory, academia and supposition with experience; and that kind of experience is never subject to the whims, the ideas, the wants, the “hope-so’s” and the deviations in doctrine that are the by-product of theory.

 

Paul admonishes Timothy to be a “tried and tested laborer who has no fear of being examined” or challenged by wily, deceitful men (and women) with their clever arguments designed to water down the truth so as to escape the fire of the Word, necessary to produce the living, demonstrable life of the Lord Jesus Christ in us.

 

He phrases his description of these religious arguments as advancing ungodliness which produces a “gangrene pasture” — a source of spiritual, physical and emotional poison.

 

Consider what the infiltration of these watered-down doctrines has done to the body of Christ. We have had century after century after century of wanna-be representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God who name the name but have no power to back up what they preach.

 

It’s been OK to have pastors and missionaries, but woe be unto you if you promote apostles and prophets! There has been a brand of grace preached which allows people to continue on in their sin because “love covers a multitude of sins” and God’s grace takes care of everything!

 

How did the Day of Pentecost manifest to the believers who were all gathered together “homothumadon”?

 

[There’s a 64-dollar Greek word for you! Our English translations say that the 120 were gathered together “in one accord,” but the Greek word used in the original text — homothumadon — is a contraction of homou: at the same place and at the same time, unanimously, and thumos: great passion, breathing hard, breathing with fire.]

 

What took place was a literal demonstration with the flame of fire that appeared in their midst and the individual tongues of fire that sat upon each of them. What it produced was fire from their lips in the form of tongues: other languages that they had never previously learned — and with those tongues “of men and of angels” went forth the tongues of fire that set the world ablaze with the Gospel.

The Azusa Street Revival at the turn of the 20th Century produced the same kinds of manifestations. There was a flame of fire that appeared over the building where William Seymour was preaching. It was a fire that the local fire department couldn’t put out despite their best efforts — one that left the Los Angeles Fire Department in utter consternation and immediately grabbed the attention of the news media! It produced a couple of generations of people who personally set the religious world on fire.

 

I shared with you three weeks ago my grandparents’ experience in 1921 when their farmhouse was filled with the sound of the “rushing mighty wind” (my Grandmother called it the sound of a tornado), a large flame of fire appeared in the middle of the room above the gathered people who were praying, broke into little tongues of fire and set down on the heads of each person. Every person in the room experienced the “tongue” of fire and began to speak in other tongues — languages they had never before learned or heard.

That event produced a series of events and a generation of people whose changed lives — and the power and authority of the Kingdom that went with them — produced an expansion of the Kingdom of God that is still being felt today.

 

From 1957 through 1960, a flame of fire and a column of light that reached into Heaven appeared over the church building I helped my father build as we saw an extension of Acts 2 repeated, resulting — as I shared last week — a move of God and an outpouring of Holy Spirit with people speaking in tongues from eastern Siberia through arctic Alaska, across arctic Canada and into Greenland.

Let me address one last point to consider before we take a different look at this baptism of fire.

 

In every instance where we see Holy Spirit baptism, we see speaking in tongues. The grand entrance of Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was with tongues of fire. That was not just symbolism, it marked a singular change for a people in fire — and a people with whom the fire of God would bring change to the world: salvation, and everything that goes with it!

 

Now, consider something that Peter writes to the body of Christ at large.

 

I Peter 4:12-13, NASB: Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

Here’s another application of the same terminology that Paul uses in his letter to Timothy — this time Peter is using it. Peter uses the kind of descriptive words which come out of the refining of precious metals. Where we see the phrase in the NASB, “fiery ordeal” (“fiery trial” KJV), the Greek word is purosis: literally meaning, to smelt, to heat to the place of conflagration as a test of purity.

For the past century and a half, the body of Christ has been plagued with a teaching on escaping what is erroneously referred to as “tribulation” and being snatched out before things get too hot here on earth. Those who have believed and propagated this doctrine have placed themselves in direct opposition and conflict with something that is absolutely necessary in order for Jesus to have a holy and purified Bride — a Bride who, like Jesus, has “learned through the things {she) has suffered.”

Take a quick look at how Paul describes what Jesus went through as our “pattern Son.”

 

Hebrews 5:8-9, KJV: Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.

 

Let’s see if we can amplify and clarify this a bit more.

Though He were [the] Son, yet He learned compliance and attentive listening by means of those things He experienced [in the testing and trial ]; and being finished — made whole and complete [through that testing] — He became the author — that One who caused and brought about the access to — salvation, deliverance, wholeness, safety, health and prosperity throughout the eternity of the eternities. Hebrews 5:8-9 (RAC Translation & Amplification):

OK? Does that help?

 

This baptism of fire is not strange in the least! Jesus went through it before us so that we would have this as our pattern, and know that if we are going to become obedient to Him as the firstborn Son (who Himself was totally obedient to Father), the baptism of fire is something we must all embrace and run towards rather than run from.

Holy Spirit’s Baptism of Fire is NOT for our undoing or our destruction, it is for our deliverance from everything which impedes and obstructs our relationship with the Lord. It is to prepare us for the kind of rulership that awaits — and that rulership is not in “the sweet bye and bye,” it is for the here and now.

 

We have been designed to rule and reign. We have been designed for dominion. We have a destiny as kings and priests. Our role as priests, of course is as intercessors for those who are yet to come into the Kingdom, and for those who have awaiting them the same kind of testing and preparation we are currently experiencing.

Here’s how Paul describes this in writing to Timothy.

 

II Timothy 2:4-7, KJV: No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

 

We’ve been chosen and called by Father. We have been chosen and called by the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in a series of processes designed and prepared for us by Holy Spirit, Who is our Paraklete, our comforter (in the midst of this preparation), our “drill sergeant,” and the One who knows just how hot the fires must be in order that we be fully prepared, tested and tried.

And that brings us back to Paul's instruction to Timothy.

 

Be instantly responsive to the Lord, making yourself available to Him in the midst of the crucible, a tried and tested laborer who has no fear of being examined – one who, by virtue of God’s testing and the time spent in the crucible with Him, knows the proven Word of Truth. II Timothy 2:15 (RAC Translation & Amplification)

This is God’s testing! This is Holy Spirit’s testing!

 

Our time in the crucible, our time in this baptism of fire — this trial by fire — brings us to the place where we KNOW the PROVEN WORD OF TRUTH! It is no theory to us. It is no religious doctrine.

 

The tongues of fire have a deliberate and specific purpose in our lives. Our immersion into the fires of Holy Spirit baptism rids us of everything which slants the Word to our comfort and wishes. Once we have been there, once we have experienced the fire and the testing and trial that goes with it, we don’t have to guess at what the Word means or try to make that which has been written fit our understanding: we fit into the Word Himself, and what He says and directs.

 

I once said to the Lord, “Whatever you have to do to me, through me, or in me in order for your best to be worked in my life, do it! Even if you have to hit me upside the head with a 2 X 4, do it, Lord!”

 

Ouch! I meant it and still do to this day, and I would not trade a minute of the fire for what He has worked in my life. The fire may not be done, but I won’t run from it!

 

Looks like we'll have to wait until next week to deal with the foundation we refer to as "the laying on of hands." See you then.

Next Monday, January 5^th, the prayer calls will resume our normal schedule. Once again, the number to call for healing is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#. To get into the queue for prayer, when Randy opens the call up for everyone, hit *6-1 on your keypad. Let us minister to your need for healing!

 

 

Blessings on you!