The Gospel of God

Food for Thought [David Vine]

Isaiah

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit; a personal reflection.

For some time now I have been wanting to write about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I have delayed putting pen to paper – actually, fingers to keyboard – not really knowing how best to tackle the project.

Then I came up with the idea of sharing my story and using that to introduce the subject of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

I need however to share some caveats before I start.

First of all, I am not a theologian. I love the Bible but I have had no formal training in Hebrew, Greek, hermeneutics, and exegesis etc. I have never been to Bible school or done any kind of formal study of Scripture. In many ways I wish I had done some of these things, or been in a position where I could have had an opportunity to. However, the direction of my life turned out differently.

Secondly, I do not want to portray my experience as the definitive one for when we talk about the baptism with the Holy Spirit. That is why I have entitled this article “a personal reflection”. Nonetheless my testimony has been significantly linked with my understanding and experience of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

I have charted my course through life and key events and people for my readers to discover some of the key themes that will relate to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. I may not necessarily note them all, or underline for my readers every association, but I think many threads can be discovered.

Thirdly, as part of my personal journey I wanted to share some of the richness of church life that I personally enjoyed and immensely benefitted from. I do not think my experience was in any way unique, but rather it was reflective of much life and blessing in many assemblies and communities of the Lord’s people at that time. So, if there are occasions where I have expressed disappointment with church life, they must be set against a backdrop of many positive things. This is not intended in any way to be a criticism. It is my own story and my observations and conclusions.

Lastly, I wanted to preserve some of my impressions and memories of my life, especially in my formative years, in case they may be of interest to my family and also to others following behind. As my memory begins to fail me, it seemed important to me to record these things. It makes me so grateful to the Lord for His blessing upon me, all the days of my life. I will be including people whose names will mean nothing to most readers – if anyone even gets to read it at all! However, these names and events remembered have come flooding back to me that I wanted to record them. As I have said above, this is not because I think I am anyone special, or have any right to be listened to, but rather to give glory to the Lord and to acknowledge His goodness to me.

I want to start with my parents.

Dad and Mum – John Phillips Vine and Edith Irene (Amos) Vine – were a massive influence on my life. They were both brought up in the Open (Plymouth) Brethren movement.

Dad was an only child and his father was one of the founder members of Edgmond Hall, the church where my family worshipped. His wife, Ruby, my best grandma, was great fun and always supported my sister and I in giving us games, and exciting things to play with every birthday and Christmas.

Mum had one brother, Alan, who became my dad’s best friend at school. He married Hazel and they had three children, Myrtle, Jenny and Philip with whom we were quite close. It was no surprise that Dad and Mum married with Dad and Alan being such great friends, sharing games like football, hockey, cricket etc. During the war they were evacuated and Mum asked if she could go to the same family as her brother, so the three of them were a proper unit.

Mum’s dad was a Christian Colporteur. His job was to travel around selling Bibles and Christian literature. He later had a Christian bookshop in our town, Eastbourne, on the south coast. I can remember going up to the first floor of his shop and seeing walls of second hand books. I would have loved to have developed my relationship with grandad but it was not to be. I am sure though that I got my love of books from him. Grandad died when I was in my early teens and I have often thought how great it would have been to have spent more time with him.

Our whole lives, Dad and Mum, my younger sister Joy, and I, were all devoted to the life and work of the church.

We had a large church with about 150 to 200 “in fellowship” I suppose. It was known as the Brethren Cathedral of the South Coast. There were famous ministries associated with Edgmond Hall. This included Eric Hutchings Hour of Revival, an evangelistic style of outreach, along the lines of the great crusades by Billy Graham and others. He also had a radio studio in town that broadcast for many years. He and his wife lived just a couple of streets from where we grew up.

A few steps from us in the opposite direction was Ransome Cooper and his wife. He had come from New Zealand and been involved in ministering among a group of new churches allied with the Brethren as I recall. My parents revered him and his name will appear later in my story.

My parents were close friends of Dick and Betty Saunders who ran The Way to Life Crusade, based in Hailsham, a few miles out from Eastbourne. This was similar to Eric Hutchings’s ministry, involving tent crusades and daily radio ministry.

Dr Frederick Tatford was an elderly, distinguished man who was the editor of the Prophetic Witness magazine. This was a magazine devoted to the exposition of the second coming of Christ and with a very strong Pre-Millennium Rapture emphasis. He was the Director of the Atomic Energy Association. He had a son, Brian, who went abroad to France to be a missionary there and to raise up churches. When I was in Hazebrouck last I saw a book on Brian Tatford and the work he had begun in France which it seems was geographically close to the Hazebrouck church.

An even older man who visited frequently was Harold St John. I know little about him, except he was revered. His daughter was Patricia St John, a missionary in Algeria, I think. If not there, then definitely elsewhere in North Africa. She later found fame as a children’s author writing such books as “Treasures in the snow”, “Tanglewood Secret” and a book of short stories that we used to read to our children as they were going to bed. Other titles escape me.

Just a short walk down the road from the church building was the UK headquarters of The Slavic Gospel Association. This was a ministry to people and churches behind the Iron Curtain at the time.

Bob Summers was a lovely man, and I think I am right in saying, he was a board member of The Wycliffe Bible Translators.

So, you will see what an active, evangelistic, missionary minded church we were part of.

The daily life of the church consumed us as a family. And I have to say I loved it!

Because of our doctrinal emphasis we were separated from the world. We were not allowed TV, to visit cinemas, play games on a Sunday etc. The church programme filled the gaps! I would attend six services on a Sunday as I grew up in my teens.

There was Boy Covenanters at 10, Breaking of bread, main meeting at 11, an interdenominational Boys Bible class in town at 2, pre evening service prayer meeting at 6, evening service at 6:30, either outreach in the summer, or youth fellowship at 8. In the summer there was an open air and tract distribution in the surrounding villages at 6:30 and an open-air service on the sea front promenade at 8, after the hotels emptied for their evening walk. There would often be crowds listening and it was there I played trumpet with my friends who also had trumpets, trombone, accordions and a saxophone. It was there I first preached as well. My great friends Nick and Nigel Prentice both played trumpet and we would often play together as a trumpet trio, especially around Christmas time in the hotels etc. Nick and Nigel will appear later in my story.

In the months of May and September special outreaches were arranged for the pensioners who came to Eastbourne on their holidays. Nick Prentice’s dad, an elder of the church alongside my father and several others, organised for the local council to bus the people up to the church from their hotels for an hour’s evening meeting. We would sing the old, familiar hymns, have testimonies, choir pieces and then a short evangelistic word. This continued for years until the council stopped the events, being unable to continue to provide the necessary bus transport. Many people responded over the years and many of them returned year by year. It was one of the most successful outreaches I have ever witnessed.

The church was also keenly involved in missionary work overseas. There were two annual missionary conferences in the church, the second being for the ladies of the church. My father and mother both had years when they organised these conferences as missionary secretaries, drawing on people from all around the world when they were on home leave. Often my parents would provide hospitality for them. There was one couple, Ian and Brenda McCulloch who were serving in Argentina and a single lady called Irene Wade who was in Brazil. These were sent out from Edgmond Hall.

My mother kept an autograph style book in which she asked every missionary who came to our home to write in it. John 3:16 in the language of the people group where they worked.

There was a rich supply of ministering brothers in the meeting. Much ministry was open and spontaneous, especially on the Sunday morning meetings. Teaching meetings shared with prayer times were arranged for midweek. Annual conferences were arranged for study of key subjects by itinerate speakers, especially on the second coming, the tabernacle including a scale model, and other such themes. I was “encouraged” to attend the midweek meeting regularly from about the age of thirteen or so. Prior to that there had been a children’s meeting during the week that drew large numbers.

Dad was the “starter” for the Sunday morning meetings. The old organ that had to be pumped up by foot pedals to produce sounds was not used on a Sunday morning for the breaking of bread service as it was considered to be too worldly. Instead when a hymn was requested my dad would start the singing by humming out the start! An organ was however allowed in the rear hall for other meetings which I always struggled to understand as there seemed to be two rules applying! After a few years an electronic organ was purchased and used for all the main meetings.

Games evenings and walks for the youth fellowship on the beach, the Downs etc, were all great fun, especially for one like me who was so sporty and energetic.

I also took part in the Young Sowers League. This was a study of books in the New Testament involving reading and writing out answers to questions and quoting the Bible reference. There were different levels of reward, leading up to a New Testament, then a Bible and lastly a Topical Bible Concordance. This took me years to complete but I managed to in 1965, aged fourteen.

Junior school was marvellous! We had four houses; Scot (red), Shackleton (blue), Rhodes (yellow) and Livingston (green). All of these men were explorers that captured the minds of young men with a sense of exploration and fascination. I was honoured to be Captain of Livingston. School experience was incredibly diverse, active in all sports, and numerous extra curricula activities including musicals, flower shows, etc. I loved it all! When I left for grammar school, I had the honour of being presented with a gift to the boy who had contributed most to the school during the course of his time there. It was a copy of the recently produced New English Bible. My name was added to the Honour’s board in gold letters in the hall, eventually being destroyed, I think, when the school relocated to a different area of town.

This life style fitted around a demanding school setting. Eastbourne Grammar school arranged for the top one third of pupils to complete their O levels as they were called then in four years rather than then five. This meant, at that time, that students might get good marks for their University entrance but might need to upgrade one or two subjects to secure their place. The third year in the sixth form enabled us to continue study of perhaps, just one subject, and use much of our time to make a contribution to the school by way of leadership and other responsibilities. I was House Captain and Deputy Head Boy that year.

So, life was very full. I look back now and am amazed at just how full it was on so many levels!

Family life with my sister Joy, and our cousins, was fun and we realised later just how fortunate we were living under the Downs in a house looking out over the town as far away as Dungeness Power Station, about forty miles on a clear day.

Sundays were always special. My parents ran an open home on a Sunday for any girls who had nowhere to go to. They could come to our home for a meal, fellowship and a sing around the piano. There were two teacher training colleges for girls in town, some of whom came regularly, and often nurses from the local hospital, including some from abroad, in particular, Austria.

My mother told me that my first response to the Lord was on 24^th August 1958 when I was seven. Apparently, a preacher had been sharing about the second coming of Jesus and I was not certain if I was ready for His return. My mother led me to the Lord and told me how I could receive him. I was then presented with a framed quote of

Revelation 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hear my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”,

written in beautiful calligraphy style letters by Mr Ransome Cooper, previously mentioned.

I was baptised in water by immersion as my faith grew. I think I was fourteen at the time. It was around this time that I became conscious of the working of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I had sincerely believed and had been baptised but I was acutely aware of struggles in my walk with the Lord. I had outbursts of temper, unclean thoughts, and unsure of my experience of the Lord. I also was aware of a desire to worship and to know the Lord much more intimately. At this point I am so grateful for the friends I had around me. There was a boy at school who was a prefect, an amazing sportsman representing the county in football and cricket, and yet had an open testimony of knowing Jesus and sharing about him fearlessly. I was so challenged by his life. I found out he came from an Elim Pentecostal church. That gave me a few problems, because when post used to come through my parents’ letterbox from ministries that referred to the Holy Spirit or miracles, and healings etc, they would immediately bin them.

I also remember a time with Nigel Prentice when he started to talk with me about things that were going on in his heart. He and Nick were both significantly older than me. I was around fifteen, Nigel would have been eighteen or nineteen, and Nick twenty-one or so. Nigel had told me of a meeting that was happening in Chard in Somerset where he had been with another friend and he had come back transformed. He was naturally a very shy quiet man, but now he was talking all the time about things God was showing him in Scripture etc. He testified to having been baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Another man – Neil - who was a friend of Nigel’s was a school teacher in town whose life had been turned upside down following a visit to Chard.

A further piece of the jigsaw for me was when I was invited to go to a conference at Capel Bible College, near Dorking in Surrey, the headquarters of the Elim Pentecostal Church, representing Eastbourne Youth for Christ. I think I was fifteen at the time. There I heard ministry from Denis Clark from South Africa and Campbell McAlpine from Scotland speaking about being baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Amazing as Edgmond Hall had been for me as a child growing up, I had never heard, as far as I can remember, the person of the Holy Spirit ever being mentioned. We had had ministry covering a wide variety of subjects but nothing on the person or work of the Holy Spirit. Looking back on it, it really seems quite unusual, and also concerning.

I think it was Watchman Nee, who on visiting the Brethren in the UK, remarked that “they had lots of light but little life.” This might have been a generalisation but it undoubtedly was true for many.

Soon after the opportunity at Capel I also accompanied Nick and Nigel to Chard to see what was happening there. The vibrancy of the worship was electric with songs being sung over and over again. The meetings had begun in a farmhouse owned by Uncle Sid and Auntie Mill Purse. The Lord had poured out His Spirit on them and people were being drawn from all over the UK and many from Scandinavia. There had been healings and remarkable things happening.

Another emphasis in those days, which were mid to late 60’s, was the association between the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. Such a phenomenon polarised people and was potentially divisive in the way it was presented to many.

Nationally too, little was ever heard of the Holy Spirit. It was in the mid 60s that there was a move of God among Church of England churches and ministers. These were headed up by Rev Michael Harper, who founded The Fountain Trust, Rev David Watson in York, Rev David McInnes and others. Mrs Jean Darnell was a key figure also, having a gift of healing.

Outside of Anglicanism there were many from a Brethren background who were testifying to an experience of the Holy Spirit. These tended to link together initially, but soon became independent of denominational ties and started a new wave of churches. Our own church network has roots in these links.

Arising out of a new freedom of worship came a new hymnology. Dale Garrat from New Zealand brought new songs of Scripture verses put to music.

My heart was now set on course to discover what all these things coming together meant for me. I started reading every book I could find on the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and stories of the outpouring of the Spirit on communities etc. Eventually I gave up as they all seemed to be contradictory. I decide I would not read anymore and just concentrate on reading the book of Acts principally and then the rest of the New Testament.

Around this time, I had an accident causing me to lose my front tooth and risking the possibility of playing the trumpet again.

I also had a football injury resulting in me being told that I should not play contact sports again, so my enthusiasm for football was shattered too!

My life was being constrained by the hand of the Lord.

I also heard the Lord speak very clearly to me one year around this same period of time. It was during the church annual missionary conference. Mr Charles Marsh, a friend of my parents from Pakistan, was the speaker, and he preached on

John 20:21 “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you”.

I knew immediately that the Lord was calling me to some kind of ministry, although I didn’t know how that would work out, or what it would look like.

Regarding the Holy Spirit, I think the assembly took the view, along with other Brethren churches, that one receives the Spirit at “conversion”. This receiving seems to happen “automatically”. In other words, when one believes, the Holy Spirit comes but there may be no conscious experience of Him. However, because the Bible states the Spirit comes with conversion then it must be the case for all.

Conversion is a term used to describe an individual’s coming to faith. The word is used in Acts 15:3 when Paul passed through an area and described

“the conversion of the Gentiles there”.

A similar word occurs in Luke 22:32 when Jesus says to Peter

“when you are converted, strengthen your brethren”.

There are many references to “conversion” being translated “turning”, “turnabout”, turn again”, “to bring back” etc.

Usually an individual coming to personal faith in Christ would be described in terms of them “being converted”, “giving their life to Jesus” or “inviting Jesus into their heart”. Conversion seems to be related to repentance which means a change of mind. It is this change of mind that results in a true conversion, a turning to God from idols as in

1 Thessalonians 1:9 “how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God”.

Conversion however is not the same as regeneration. A person may have an experience where they have a change of mind and come to an understanding of their need of a Saviour. This does not necessarily however bring a person into new life, where there is an inward working of the Spirit of God resulting in a person becoming a new man or woman.

It seems to me that the book of Acts supports a clear and definite experience of men and women receiving the Spirit in the context of the Biblical word, “believe”. In other words, men and women should believe to the receiving of the Spirit, as described in the verses following.

“In Him (Christ) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” Ephesians 1:13.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” John 1:12.

Jesus said “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”. John 7:37,38.

There is undoubtedly truth in using these terms and I began to understand that it is important to use the correct Biblical language in the correct context if we are going to know the right Biblical experience.

So, I was hungry for reality. I felt a hypocrite although I was not knowingly living a lie. I just realised that my experience, and the experience of the church life I witnessed, did not seem to match up with what the New Testament exhibited.

This stage of my life lasted for approximately nine months. I kept praying and seeking the Lord to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. I knew it was the Holy Spirit I needed but I couldn’t seem to find Him for myself. I kept on asking and asking to be filled with the Spirit and also to have the gift of tongues which I saw then as a key part of life in the Spirit.

It was after this time that the Lord spoke to me from

Luke 11:9-13.

“So, I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?

Or, if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

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!”

Immediately I found faith in my heart! I had asked. I had kept on asking, knocking, seeking!

I knew that God was a true Father and because I had asked, He would give me the Spirit. Straight away I was aware that He had come. I had been on my knees alone in my bedroom and without any dramatic accompanists I had an inward awareness of His presence that was unlike anything I had experienced before. It was a new awareness of God.

About a week later, again, all alone in my bedroom, I began to speak in tongues. I found this to be a wonderful release, as I was able to worship the Lord in an altogether different level of experience. Speaking in tongues – a language unknown to the speaker – arises in the spirit of a person and because it is not understood in the mind it enables one to experience a deeper level of communion and liberty in prayer and love.

Similar experiences had been had by my friend Nigel Prentice and a few others. We used to go up into country, often on Sunday afternoon to pray and worship and move in tongues together. It was a wonderful albeit it short period in my life.

There was also a meeting held in Eastbourne in the home of Barrie and Gretel Guy, who owned a hotel on the sea front. I used to go there on my little Vesper, a small motorbike given to me by my Uncle Alan. These too were wonderful meetings as we had such expectancy discovering new things of God.

With the coming of the Spirit to me there were some things that I immediately knew. I knew God had come to me. I knew I was a new creature in Christ. I knew my friends were not just friends but were true brothers and sisters. I recognised the power of evil. One a Saturday night I was volunteering at the Christian coffee bar in town (the same building that was my grandfather’s Bible bookshop previously) when three young adults came in and they started to talk to me. I remember they had been up on the Downs above Eastbourne and had been messing about with Ouija boards, and other demonic activities and were scared out of their lives. I remember talking to them and praying with them, etc, never having had any experience with that sort of wrong power or demonic activity previously. Intuitively I knew what was needed etc.

These were the things that I believe the Holy Spirit taught me, just like the promises in John’s gospel where John describes the activities of the Spirit when He comes.

I did however, have some nagging thoughts that troubled me. All the people I had been exposed to presented the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a second blessing after conversion, or being born again. I found this to be in conflict with what I read in the New Testament. I was not convinced. I did not voice this to anyone but I kept it hidden away in my heart.

I had many questions.

How was it possible to receive the Spirit at conversion but need to have a second experience later?

As the Spirit is God, and also a distinct Person, how can He have a greater or lesser part? How can He be received in part only?

I was even called to speak to an elderly man who was a leader of another church in town that was an Exclusive Brethren Assembly. He quizzed me for some time about my experience and theological understanding. I was 17 at the time! I don’t really know what his motivation was but the experience was quite daunting!

There was however a serious problem brewing in my heart. That was to do with my parents.

I knew that Dad and Mum would not understand what had happened to me so I decided not to tell them but to allow the changes in my life to speak to them. That was the case for three months.

Then came the biggest crisis of my life to date.

It was around this time that the eldership at Edgmond Hall received two letters from missionaries they supported and had sent out from the church. Both Ian and Brenda McCullough with their children, working in Argentina, and Irene Wade working in Brazil, independently wrote to tell the eldership that they had been baptised with the Holy Spirit and had started speaking in tongues. The elders met, discussed the matter and then made a statement in the church. They basically said that they did not believe in the validity of their experience, that the gifts of the Spirit had passed away and that what had happened to them was of the devil. As a result, they cut them off from all assembly support, including financial support.

I think there were about six, maybe eight, elders appointed in the assembly then. One of the was Mr Willie Prentice, Nick and Nigel’s father, and another of them was my own father. I immediately knew that I could no longer keep my own experience private. Dad had been part of that fateful decision involving missionaries thousands of miles away, so I told them about what had happened to me, in their own house. I knew that it would be a massive dilemma for my father being party to such a statement but then discovering what had been going on in my own life.

I remember the pain and difficulty of those days. My parents did not know how to handle me. There was silence in our relationships. They did not seek to ask me questions or enquire about how things had happened to me, or where Dad stood in relationship to the decisions that the elders had made and me etc. I had always been very close to my mother but the strains now were intolerable.

Many years later, after I was sorting out my parent’s affairs after they had died, I found a couple of letters from Mr Ransome Cooper, who I have referred to previously. They were addressed to my parents, who obviously had written to him, now back in New Zealand, for his advice as to what to do with me! He (mis) quoted, or (mis) applied, the scripture in

1 Corinthians 11:10,11 “when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I would put away childish things”.

He told my parents that what had happened to me was just a childish passing phase!

He was clearly, like all Brethren churches in those days, a cessationist. In other words, they believed that the gifts of the Spirit stopped when the canon of Scripture was completed along with apostolic ministry which established the early church.

Willie Prentice testified to the change in his son before the elders and he opened his heart to seek God for more. He already had wider links with churches and ministries beyond those from Brethren circles, and he arranged monthly interdenominational meetings bringing in new and wonderful men including Arthur Wallis, George Tarleton, Uncle Sid Purse and many others.

I must add that Mum did speak to me many years later about my experience when we were married and living in the Longcroft, that although she could not see the same thing for herself, she could not deny what God had done in my life.

I am not sure what was the outcome of these events for the missionaries. I know Ian McCulloch returned to the UK sometime later and led a work in Emsworth. I never heard again regarding any news of Irene Wade.

As these events were unfolding, I was applying for University and to study medicine in particular. A family friend had a son studying medicine at Liverpool and he told me that Liverpool was one of the best medical schools outside of London. (Well he would wouldn’t he!). On that basis I applied and put Liverpool as my first choice. I got an offer of a place but needed to take the extra year in the sixth form to obtain the grades I needed. Remarkably I came to Liverpool, never having visited the city before, or knowing anyone there, except this lad from around the corner who was several years ahead of me and who I never saw again to my knowledge!

It was with tremendous excitement that I arrived in Liverpool determined to find a church where people were moving in the Holy Spirit and all His gifts etc. It was as if I had been held back for many months desperately wanting to find a new church and experience true church community! When I left Eastbourne to start a fresh phase in my life I felt as though I was like a bullet being fired out of a gun – an incredible sense of excitement and anticipation.

Before arriving in Liverpool, I had asked the Lord a very specific prayer request. I asked Him to give me a friend who was a medic, from a similar background to me, and one who had experienced the Holy Spirit as I had. On the first morning of Freshers week I met Adrian Murray at the CU stall and we had a brief conversation. I knew immediately that Adrian was the answer to my prayer and the friend God had given me. We made an arrangement for him to come to my room for us to chat over coffee. I got out the books I had brought with me and put them on my book shelf. Authors like Watchman Nee, Elisabeth Elliot, Hudson Taylor etc were there. I soon discovered that Adrian had come from a Brethren background in Cumbria, was a year ahead of me studying medicine, and had had an experience of the Holy Spirit the previous year – very close to the time I had as well! He had started going to a house fellowship and could take me along with him. He lived in the neighbouring hall of residence to me.

He took me to the “House” – a church meeting in a large house which was a new experience for me and a subject I will return to.

I found out from Adrian that the Lord had been moving in the CU the previous year and that Lynda Hutchison (later Cheung) in particular had been praying in the “House” for God to move among the University students. It seemed that I was part of that prayer and that move of God.

I met up most nights with Adrian to pray after we had finished our work. During the next twelve months or so, I guess, we saw the Lord do remarkable things. We saw students getting saved, filled with the Spirit, moving in love together etc. It was exciting to get mail from the CU mail box asking us to go and pray with another student to receive the Spirit during a lunch hour and so forth.

So many people were affected in those early years, with many attending the “House”, but also others going to Belvidere Baptist Church, just along the road from the “House”. Although this church took a strongly reformed position theologically and therefore was not very supportive or comfortable with the “House” there was such love in the CU that the bonds we shared enabled us to keep unity together.

They were truly amazing days with friendships and bonds that have continued all our lives, and with many in one form of ministry or another.

Adrian was CU President the first year I arrived and I was asked to be President the next year. Because of my close relationship with Adrian, and the group in the CU involved with other churches, particularly Belividere Baptist, I declined the invitation, in order to maintain unity. I was then elected for the following year, which was my last, as I moved into clinical studies and completed my three years of involvement.

Those days remain among the most exciting of my life. I learned so much regarding prayer, ministry, unity, and it was a privilege to be part of so many people’s lives.

During my first year at Liverpool I attended an afternoon meeting at the “House”. This was to allow people from other churches to go without them missing the morning service in their own churches. As much as I enjoyed being at the “House” I decided to go to a Brethren church on my own. My motivation was to show respect to my parents. I did not want to give the impression that I was kicking over the traces as it were, and abandoning the Brethren at the first opportunity. I then committed myself to the “House” at the start of my second year.

The “House” was dynamic when I started going in 1969. It had begun some years previously when Rev. Norman Meeten had resigned from the Anglican ministry and a handful of your men had started meeting with him.

Some of the characteristics I recall include plural eldership with four men all able to minister; Norman Meeten, Mr Moffat, David Wetherly and Dick Hussey. Other men were added over time, including Fred Tomlinson and John Valentine, and later still Paul Evans and Len Grates.

There was an intensity to the worship, with frequent operations of the gifts of the Spirit, much spontaneity, and an emphasis on men and ministry, with almost a competition among them to speak.

A new hymnal was refreshing for me with many of Charles Wesley’s hymns sung (known as the Blue Book) as well as from the Redemptional Hymnal (known as the Red Book).

There was a strong emphasis on ministry, and the impartation of holiness as people publicly responded. The new birth was preached very frequently along with many invitations to get right with God, receive the word, etc, people being expected to respond.

There was a strong sense of belonging and a great atmosphere of love.

From the beginning of the church there had also been a strong emphasis on missionary work with large numbers moving abroad, often in pioneering situations.

There were some tensions. Virtually all the students wanted just to be part of the life of the church, limited as that was due to our university studies and work. We had no other specific desires. We did find out much later however, that other non-university people in the church were intimidated by us, and as a consequence, found it difficult to relate to us!

I loved the church, but again, I was getting a nagging concern about the doctrinal emphasis.

I had moved from the “automatic” type of understanding from my early Brethren years to a second blessing position. As I have already stated earlier, I was never really comfortable with that position and certainly did not take well to the emphasis on the initial evidence position. This you will remember is the doctrine that states speaking in tongues is the first indication that a person has been filled with the Spirit. I could not see that in Scripture.

Now I was hearing, that unless you had had an experience of the Holy Spirit, you were not born again. Because new birth was preached frequently, and because it didn’t match up too clearly with the way new birth was preached in the Brethren, I came to a crisis of understanding again.

I began to doubt if I had been born again. Eventually I got to such a state that I could not let the matter go, so I contacted Norman Meeten. He came to see me, talked things through with me, reassured me and from then on, my mind was at peace. I still wrestled with the doctrinal emphases but in a more detached way.

One key passage of Scripture at that time was the account in the book of Acts of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentile household.

It is obviously important as Luke, the author of Acts, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, devotes three long chapters to the event.

Acts 10 is a record of Cornelius and his encounter with Peter leading to the outpouring of the Spirit. Acts 11 tells of Peter sharing all the details back in Judea with the other apostles and brothers. Acts 15 reports about the big council discussion in Jerusalem that was authoritative for the early church going forward.

In the light of these things, it is very instructive for us to see the number of words, phrases and descriptions that are related to key doctrines of Scripture and the gospel.

So, let us note them:

Acts 10:2 Cornelius was a devout, God-fearing man, who always prayed and gave generously of his substance – but clearly one who did not know the gospel, Jesus or the Holy Spirit.

Verses 5-8 He was obedient to the words of the angel.

Verses 34 There is no partiality with God.

Verse 35 In the Old Covenant God accepts those who fear Him and work righteousness.

Verses 36-43 Jesus Christ is Lord of all, anointed with the Holy Spirit to heal, deliver the oppressed, be crucified, resurrected, and commissioned followers to preach in the light of God who is the Judge of all.

Verses 44,45 The pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 46 Speaking in tongues.

Verses 47,48 Baptism in water.

Acts 11:17 The Holy Spirit is described as God’s gift to them on believing.

Verse 18 Repentance to life.

Acts 15:8,9 Purification of their hearts by faith.

Verse 11 We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as them.

All the elements underlined here are significant to the full expression of the gospel. The account features them in a climatic, all-inclusive event that marked the work of God commencing among the Gentiles.

(It is beyond the scope of this article to enlarge upon each of these elements. Some further reading can be found in my earlier article, “God’s Gospel”).

This may represent the “highest” way that God worked in those early days, initially in an all-Jewish context, but from this time forward, in a mixed church of Jews and Gentiles. Maybe it took such a climactic event to bridge the gap between Jews and Gentiles.

This of course, is reinforced by the great personal changes that the apostle Peter experienced in the visions of the clean and unclean animals that God took him through. Such a revelation of God to him was necessary to shake him out of his deep prejudice of the Jews being the only chosen people of God, but now that claim was being made by the Gentiles too, previously only thought of as “dogs.”

It is a revelation to our hearts today of how deeply our own prejudices can be held, even after a Pentecostal experience of the kind that Peter had known.

Let us now consider some other Scriptures concerning this great subject.

I think it is really significant that the phrase “baptism in, or with, the Spirit” is recorded in all four gospels and in the first chapter of the book of Acts. (It is well said that the book of the Acts is better described as the Acts of the Holy Spirit rather than the Acts of the Apostles.)

For the rest of this article, I will keep to the phrase “baptism with the Holy Spirit” rather than “in the Holy Spirit”. I believe both to be true with subtleties of emphasis.

In each manuscript the baptism with the Holy Spirit is described as being the main work that Jesus Christ came to do on the earth.

This is a truly staggering statement to make.

That is why this subject is so vital for us to know and experience as the Lord’s people. In view of its importance, it is possible that the enemy of our souls has been active in causing confusion and blinding eyes to such truth.

In each case the Scripture links the ministry of John Baptist with Christ’s ministry of baptism with the Holy Spirit. John is the promised fore runner of Christ, as told prophetically in Malachi, the last writing of the Old Covenant (Testament) era. Following John’s message there was a four-hundred-year silence with no speaking of God to His people. When John Baptist appears on the scene, he makes a dramatic entrance wearing rough clothing, a strange diet and with a strong call to repentance before the long-longed for Messiah would come.

What an entrance! What an impact!

No wonder many went out to him in the wilderness, were baptised in water by him, and became his disciples. He had a message of repentance but he also pointed forward to the greater One than he who was coming. The greater person and therefore the greater message.

Here are the Scriptures:

“I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry, He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 3:11,12

“There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and lose.

I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Mark 1:7,8

“I indeed baptized you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Luke 3:16,17

“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.

And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”

John 1:33,34

“And being assembled together with them, He 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 1:4,5

It is truly remarkable that these statements written of Jesus Christ are all so consistently the same. When you realise that they were written by four different men at different times and from different perspectives.

Matthew was a Jew, versed in Old Testament Scripture and language so he is a link man between the Old and the New Covenant. This explains the many quotations from the Old Testament that Matthew uses.

Mark was a Jew too and possibly close to Peter. His is a very compact gospel, only concerning himself with a limited number of key events, and few teachings or parables.

Luke however was a Gentile and a historian. He was also a doctor. He tells us why he wrote his gospel – he wanted to record in accurate detail a as much as possible of the activities and teachings of Christ.

John wrote his gospel towards the end of his long life and states clearly in it a lot of detail not recorded in the other gospels. His gospel comes from a completely different perspective and we will examine some of this later.

Each reference to Christ’s forthcoming ministry, or mission, contained the word and idea of baptism.

Even Jesus submitted Himself to water baptism by John Baptist, not because He needed to confess sin or anything like that, but to identify with it as a requirement and necessary act for true believers. We are told that when Jesus had been baptised

“He came up from the water”, Matthew 3:16.

This indicates that the rite of baptism was enacted by repentant believers going down into the water of the river Jordan, being immersed, and then rising out of the water again.

A similar incident is recorded in Acts 8:36. In this passage there is the remarkable account of the conversion of the Ethiopian Chancellor of the Exchequer, who miraculously meets Philip while he was reading a prophetic chapter of the Old Testament. Philip opens his understanding of what he is reading and the man believes. Not only that but he realises that he needs to be baptised. They come across water and he asks Philip,

“See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptised? Philip and the man then “went down into the water” so he could be baptised. Clearly there was sufficient water for him to be immersed in.

Christian water baptism is an act of obedience and faith. It is also an amazing picture, or visual aid. The person being baptised must be an adult believer and able to confess that Jesus Christ is their Saviour and Lord. They are depicting in their baptism that they have died to their old, former life, were going down into the water as a picture of their watery grave, and rising out of the water depicting their new resurrection life in Christ.

Although water baptism is important for the believer in the New Covenant, it is superseded by baptism with the Spirit. John Baptist said this himself. His whole message was that One was going to come after him who would be a greater Man with a greater ministry. Just as Jesus Christ was the greater Man, so baptism with the Holy Spirit was the greater message.

There are only sparse references to baptism in the Old Testament. In that context it would largely be used to describe washing, or ritual cleansing. People asked John Baptist

“Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”, John 1:25.

It seems that the ritual of baptism was associated with the coming of some key figure, even the Messiah. John Baptist quickly distanced himself from that connection and immediately pointed away to the One to come, of which he was the forerunner.

So, we have seen in a number of ways that baptism with the Holy Spirit is the key ministry of Jesus Christ and the experience that we are to know.

Let us now explore further what baptism with the Holy Spirit means.

It is very instructive for us to note that baptism in Scripture is always associated with death and resurrection.

We have already noted that John Baptist chose the Jordan river to be the base of his ministry. People had to go out to him there. There they were seen repenting of their sins.

The Jordan was associated with death in the Old Testament as well, notably when Elijah and Elisha crossed over it. There Elijah died in type or figure, although in fact God took him up to heaven in a fiery chariot and he was never seen again. He was the man of “death” but Elisha was the man of resurrection and he moved into a new dimension of life and ministry through a double portion of the Spirit upon him. This is all recorded for us in 2 Kings 2.

There is another key event in the life of the people of God which is a pre-figurement of baptism. After God had miraculously delivered the His people from Egypt following the Passover meal, they came to a crisis at the Red Sea. It was in front of them and the chasing Egyptian army were behind them. They were trapped. However, the Lord did a miracle and a way through the Sea appeared allowing all the people to pass over in their march through to the land God had given them. In that act Moses was clearly seen to be the leader God had raised up to take the people through to their possessions in the new land.

Paul uses this experience as a picture of baptism.

“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, (a picture of the Spirit), all passed through the sea (a picture of death and resurrection), all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, (immersed into Christ) all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. (Christ their life).” 1 Corinthians 10:1-4.

Even further back in the history of the people of God is the record of God sending a world-wide flood as His judgement upon the wickedness of man (kind). We read what Peter wrote:

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,

By whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

Who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.

There is also an antitype which now saves us – baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers, having been made subject to Him.” 1 Peter 3:18-22.

These pictures, or types as they have come to be called, wonderfully show us so much of the meaning of Christ’s great ministry to deal with men and women by baptism with the Holy Spirit.

There are very few occasions in the New Testament where the Greek word “bapto” appears. This means to dip and it is used in a small number of verses, mainly around the partaking of the last supper that Jesus shared with His disciples. Let us note two occasions.

Firstly, in John 13:26 we read:

“Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”

It also is used in Luke 16:24 about the story of the beggar Lazarus:

“The he cried and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.”

In this second reference it is interesting to see that the word “bapto” was used. It was used to describe a quick dip, a very brief contact with something, the tip of a finger in Lazarus’s case.

Perhaps the word “bapto” is used so that we can see the difference here by contrast. “Baptizo” is the word almost universally used. This word would be used when describing the drawing of water by dipping of one vessel into another, a common picture then of everyday life in Israel. Perhaps two other pictures will help us most.

Firstly, it was used to describe the act of dyeing a garment. Ladies would take a white piece of muslin cloth, and soak it in the dyeing agent, perhaps the greatly valuable purple dye, referred to in the story of Lydia in Acts 16:14. It would be left for many hours and when the lady returned to it the cloth would be entirely purple in colour. The cloth then had been completely altered and the dye had thoroughly been absorbed into the cloth forever altering it.

A second common use of the word “baptizo” would be in cooking. Vegetables would often be blanched. That is, they would be plunged into hot water by dipping them in a pan, quickly withdrawing them. A process we might describe by the word “bapto.”

However, a more wonderful meal would be achieved if the whole cooking process with all the ingredients were marinated over a long period of time, allowing for all the various and contrasting flavours to be appreciated. This would be “baptizo”.

This is an amazing picture of Spirit baptism. When a believer turns to the Lord and believes he/she is immersed into the Lord, into His death, burial and resurrection. He is utterly and completely changed. This is not a quick dip, this is an eternal re-constitution.

I think the following definition for “baptizo” from Kenneth Wuest is very clear and helpful when considering this great subject.

Kenneth Wuest in his writing in Romans in the Greek New Testament p96:

“Baptizo means the introduction or placing of a person or thing into a new environment or into union with something else so as to alter its condition or its relationship to its previous environment or condition.”

Developing this thought Wuest gives us more insight by the use of the word in Romans 6. The passage is detailed in its exposition but a valuable help to our understanding of the chapter.

He goes on to say regarding its usage in Romans 6:4

“It refers to the act of God introducing a believing sinner into vital union with Jesus Christ, in order that that believer might have the power of his sinful nature broken and the divine nature implanted through his identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, thus altering the condition and relationship of that sinner with regard to his previous state and environment, bringing him into a new environment, the kingdom of God. God placed us in Christ when He died so that we might share His death and thus come into the benefits of that identification with Him, namely, be separated from the evil nature as part of the salvation He gives us when we believe. We were placed in a new environment, Christ. The old one was the First Adam in whom as our federal head we were made sinners and came under condemnation. In our new environment in Christ we have righteousness and life. Our condition is changed from that of a sinner to that of a saint.”

But we were not only placed in Christ by God the Holy Spirit in order that we might share His death and thus be separated from the evil nature, but we were placed in Him in order that we might share His resurrection and thus have divine life imparted to us. This Paul tells us in the words, “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” The newness of life here does not refer to a new quality of experience or conduct but to a new quality of life imparted to the individual.

Romans 6 does not deal with the Christian’s experience or behaviour. Paul treats that in chapters 12-16. In this chapter the key word is machinery, the mechanics of the Spirit-filled life being Paul’s subject. The newness of life here refers, not to a new kind of life the believer is to live, but to a new source of ethical and spiritual energy imparted to him by God by which he is enabled to live the life to which Paul exhorts in Romans 12-16. “Walk is peripateo, “to order one’s behaviour, to conduct one’s self.” The word “should” (AV) throws us off the track. There is no moral obligation imposed here. We have a purpose clause in the subjunctive mode introduced by the purpose particle hina. That is, we shared Christ’s resurrection in order that we may order our behaviour in the power of a new life imparted.”

What a marvellous life we are brought into by baptism with the Holy Spirit! How essential it is for all of us to know and experience it.

I would now like to consider some pastoral considerations related to this subject that we have been exploring together.

Firstly, I have already expressed my personal disappointment that the language of the Bible describing this experience has largely disappeared from current usage. I think this would be true of many words, or expressions related to our salvation that have been “dumbed-down” over successive decades. (Please look at my earlier writing entitled God’s Gospel, where some of these words are considered.)

Perhaps differing Bible versions have been a factor as well-meaning scholars attempt to make the language of the Bible more accessible to modern day readers. No criticism is intended but merely observations made. In fact, it is a small number of these that are guilty of dropping the words, or phrases.

The danger of allowing words to go from our current usage of them does however have potentially serious consequences. What we are taught, good or bad, will affect the way we live. Our experience of God will be largely limited to our understanding of His word. Therefore, His word needs to be reliably accessible to us.

It seems that in most cases the text is there but the preaching of it is so often absent. I realise that that is a generalisation, but the observations have been made over my lifetime and are not limited to a few isolated churches, or movements, but through observing, reading and in other ways I have arrived at that conclusion. I wonder if we, in our movement over the last forty years or so, have also been guilty of drifting away from a declaration of its truth.

Having stated that, it must be said that preaching a doctrine, or a line, or an emphasis, or a truth, is to miss the point entirely. While it is important to be grounded in doctrinal truth, we are not saved by the truth. We are saved by a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can have the purist understanding of truth but be far from the life of God in our living. Indeed, this is one of the tragedies of our day that men and women can be rehearsed in the finer details of doctrinal truth but demonstrate little of its power in their daily lives.

For instance, in the great chapter on love in 1 Corinthians 13 Paul makes that point. One can be familiar with spiritual experiences, being able to speak with tongues, move in prophecy, have great demonstrations of miraculous faith, etc but be without love. In such cases one profits nothing.

It is so sad when there is a great gap between what is understood in the mind, where doctrines are expressed so coherently, yet there is a yawning chasm between that on the one hand and a marked deficit of Christian experience and behaviour on the other.

It behoves us all to make sure that in our preaching there is a clear call to an application of the truth presented. We are also encouraged to admonish one another in our walk together. That is to be bold enough to share with one another at a level that our struggles, sin and failures can be acknowledged. It is too easy to cover up these failures and shortcomings. Where this has happened with brothers in ministry, or sisters in influential relationships, it is especially important that there should also be transparency, repentance and accountability with friends and the church.

I want to turn to a related theme. Not only should our understanding of the baptism with the Holy Spirit be a definite experience, we have also seen that the most important aspect of it is to introduce us to Christ. He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. A sad result of men and women seeking to be baptised with the Holy Spirit is that they can seek the experience rather than the Person behind the experience. This can be quite a subtle shift, often without the person being aware of such a shift. It is not wrong to seek to have an experience of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, without an experience of Him we will not be able to fully know all that God has got for us to enjoy and live in.

At this point perhaps it is worth us going back to the beginning of each of the four gospels and to see what is associated with the baptism with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Both Matthew and Mark make a clear connection with the winnowing fan and with fire. There is a picture here of the Lord purifying His people. Fire burns up dross. The fan sweeps the threshing floor clean. In chapter one of John’s gospel the Lord is first declared as being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and only afterwards that He is the One who baptises with the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Holy Spirit into a life is a powerful work of grace, bringing purity and holiness. Examination of our intentions and motives is part of God’s way with us. He will not fill us with His Spirit if our hearts are not right. That is not to say we have to be holy before we can experience the baptism with the Holy Spirit. We need the baptism with the Holy Spirit to make us holy! However, our hearts have to be desiring God for His sake as well as for our sakes. We must be consumed with desire to be all that He wants us to be and all that is able to make us to be.

So, let’s, be careful not to chase and follow experiences, but rather to give all that we have to follow Christ until our souls are deeply satisfied in Him.

I want to turn now to one of the most difficult pastoral matters I have found over the forty plus years I have been involved in pastoral ministry.

I have known many people over those years who struggled to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit. They are dear people. They seem to know the Lord. They seem sincere and genuine. They respond readily to the preached word and often will make an outward response as an indication of their desire to receive from the Lord. And yet so often, nothing seems to happen.

I examined my heart often. Had my ministry been Christ -centred? Or had I been guilty of preaching merely an experience? Were their motives clear? Was there any unconfessed sin in their hearts? Was the presentation of the message clearly delivered? Was my heart pure in the process?

So many questions!

I recognised in my own ministry that I would consciously withdraw from preaching the baptism with the Holy Spirit because I would find it difficult to help the people who were going to be distressed because they had “failed” to receive what they wanted.

Slowly I have come to see that we are more than we know!

I recognise that for those who have sincerely believed, trusted the Lord, been baptised in water perhaps, responded to many messages etc, that they are more than they know. I have almost turned 360 degrees in what I am presenting here now. The Brethren you will remember believed the Holy Spirit was imparted when a believer trusted in the Lord. It happened as an automatic thing.

I am not necessarily saying that. What I do now recognise however, is that if a person believes the gospel presented in the power of the Holy Spirit to them, then he or she will receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a consequence of that belief. He or she will have more at that point than they know.

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians in 1:17 he did not ask that they should have greater experiences, or new truth revealed to them. He prayed that their eyes would be opened to see at a deeper level all that they currently had seen, received and known.

“Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,

do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of your calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

and what is the exceeding greatness of His power

toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power

which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at the right hand in the heavenly places,

far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, abut also in that which is to come

and He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all thing to the church,

which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all”. Ephesians 1:15-23.

The secret must lie to some extent in the manner of the preaching. If there is an expectation of the work of the Holy Spirit in the preached word then that is what people will encounter. This is not just an automatic matter. This is the word preached in faith that believers will recognise and respond to.

“So, then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”. Romans 10:17”.

A different concept that I felt helped by is the thought of the baptism with the Holy Spirit as being like a door. Jesus Himself said of course that He was the door. That means He, or in my consideration here now, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, is like a door. He, Jesus, is the way in. The experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is also the way in.

I believe it is very important to preach the baptism with the Holy Spirit as a true beginning in people’s lives. It is a true door. Therefore, in the life of the local church there should be regular presentations of the way in, the door. (It would be equally true to use other words or concepts here e.g. new birth. The point is that people need to hear the gospel in all its fulness regularly).

However, the majority of people in our churches will also need other food to build them up. That is, they need the truth of Scripture regularly expounded to feed them.

So there has to be a balance found between presenting the door, the way in, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and all other truth representing “the whole counsel of God”.

This will result in progressive growth, both in terms of believers being fed and nurtured on the one hand, and new people being brought in by the baptism with the Holy Spirt on the other.

One further and important thought about the door. The door is a means to get into the house. It is very important as a means of entrance. One of the secrets about entering in is actually more about the house and rooms to be entered that the door itself. The bigger and better the house in many ways reduces the importance of the door. If we are visiting a beautiful, or Stately home for instance, while we need to know a little about where to get in, we are much more thinking of the house itself. The thought is much more taken up with visions of beauty, wonderful furniture, magnificent ceilings etc.

The application here for the preacher, or anyone who wishes to draw people to Christ is to make much of the house! Make much of Christ! Share the wonders of His person. Present Him in all his glory and grace! The more people are drawn to Him, the easier it is for them to find the way in! The greatness of the house helps to put the role and place of the door in its context. We won’t get stuck at the door all the time the delights of the house are presented.

So, there it is!

A little bit of me and I trust a lot more of Him!

David Vine

February 2021

The Gospel of God

Food for Thought [David Vine]

Isaiah