Doctrine of Baptisms

Baptism with the Holy Spirit

Mark 1:7-8 “And he preached, saying, "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
John 1:32-33 “And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.”
Acts 1:4-5 “And being assembled together with them, He(Jesus) commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
Acts 1:8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh who believes in Jesus Christ. It is where one is endued with power from on high to witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ (Joel 2:28-29, Acts 1:4-5,8, Luke 24:49). Jesus told all of His followers immediately before His Ascension, that they should “wait for the Promise of the Father, He was speaking of being baptized with the Holy Spirit. If the Scriptures tell us that the Spirit is poured upon us and we are baptized with the Spirit, then it makes sense to say that baptism here means pouring upon. Doesn’t it?
Isa 44:3b “I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring;”
Joel 2:28-29 "And it shall come to pass afterward That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.
Acts 2:17-18 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.”

You must accept Jesus Christ as your Savior before you can experience the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. This experience is separate and apart from the initial salvation experience, and is always received after you are saved. However, John the Baptist was “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb”(Luke 1:15). While it is certainly true that the Holy Spirit came into your heart and life the moment of your salvation, still, He now wishes to endue you with power from on high so that these signs will follow you;
1. casting out demons in the name of Jesus;
2. speaking with new tongues;
3. interpretation of tongues
4. word of wisdom,
5. word of knowledge
6. discernment of spirits
7. gift of faith
8. gift of prophesy
9. working of miracles
10. not being harmed by serpents, poison or any deadly thing and
11. gift of healing, that is, to lay your hands on the sick for them to recover” (Mark 16:16-18 and 1 Corin 12:4-11).

After you saved, you are to ask the Lord to baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in Luke 11:13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”. The Holy Spirit Baptism is for all. Anyone and everyone who is saved should be baptized with the Holy Spirit. There are no exceptions (Joel 2:28-29).  When the Lord Jesus baptizes you with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit gives you diverse gifts as He wills and also guides you in all truth (John 16:7-15). The manifestation of any of the signs or gifts listed above is proof that you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness and enables us to bear fruits such as love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Romans 8:26 and Gal 5:22) so avail yourself to the Holy Spirit and don’t grieve Him. After you have been baptized with the Holy Spirit, you are to understand that the Spirit works within you according to your faith in the cross of Christ. In other words, what Jesus did at the cross provides the parameter in which the Holy Spirit works. Consequently, you as a believer are to walk according to the Spirit at all times (Romans 8:1-2). No one merits or deserves this type of baptism. It is a gift. Peter spoke of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). All believers are commanded by Christ to receive this gift (Acts 1:4-5).  There is nothing in the Bible that suggests that this awesome indwelling power of the Holy Spirit has been declared unavailable in our day. We know there are literally millions of committed, effective, fruitful Christians who give all the credit of their effectiveness to the experience of having been baptized with the Holy Spirit.

“For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," And, "This is the refreshing"; Yet they would not hear.” Isa 28:11-12

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit was given to specific people for specific tasks at a specific point and taken away so it wasn’t permanent nor universal. Due to this, after David sinned, he cried that the Holy Spirit shouldn’t be taken from him (Psalm 51:11). But in Joel 2:28-29, Joel prophesied a time when all who believed shall receive the Holy Spirit. So in Acts 2:14-18, Peter quoted Joel saying that it had been fulfilled that day. John the Baptist acknowledged that Jesus is mightier than him and can baptize with the Holy Spirit, a function which only God performs as the Bible says. A man cannot baptize another man with the Holy Spirit. A man can only pray to Jesus to baptize another man with the Holy Spirit. This occurred in Acts 19:6 when Paul prayed to God and laid his hands on the people, the Holy Spirit fell on them. Also in Acts 10:44-46, the Holy Spirit fell on the house of Cornelius when Peter was speaking to them.