In this session, Carl contrasts a “well” with “rivers” of living water, teaching from the Gospel of John (7:37–38), regarding an additional outpouring of power beyond salvation i.e., the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Distinct from conversion and water baptism, this spiritual infilling—promised by Jesus and foretold by John the Baptist—was fulfilled at Pentecost and is for all ‘afar off’ (Acts 2:39). Carl maintains that speaking in tongues is the primary biblical evidence of this Spirit baptism, citing multiple instances in Acts, and is available to all believers regardless of their denomination. Join Carl now for an opportunity to be empowered, ‘from on High.’
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, we’re continuing our message on the power of God. This is part two. And yesterday I talked at closing about a difference between a well of living water and rivers of living water. Remember, a well flows very little. A river is a torrent. But it’s not just a river. It’s rivers. Friend, the rivers of living water are associated with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, the gift of the Holy Spirit. There are synonymous terms in the New Testament that describe this wonderful and additional outpouring of power that is available to all those who believe. But you say, Pastor, you know what? I’m in a Methodist church. I’m in a Baptist church. I’m a Presbyterian. God bless you. We’re all saved and going to heaven. Amen. The outpouring I’m talking about, this additional power, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, being Spirit filled, has nothing to do with salvation whatsoever. You can have authority and go to heaven and die and never move in the full manifestation of this power. Or instead of being offended by that message and saying, you know what? If it was in the Bible, my pastor would preach it. No, not necessarily.
Your pastor may never have heard this message. He may not have knowledge concerning the outpouring that is available. And he doesn’t preach it to his congregants because, quite frankly, he’s never been exposed to this teaching. Friend, the truth is the truth is the truth, regardless of denomination. You have a choice today. I’m presenting material to you and you’re thinking, oh, I don’t really want to do that. That kind of freaks me out. It’s a little bit weird to be Spirit filled and all this supernatural stuff. And isn’t that tied to that tongues business? Friend, we’re going to talk about that because there’s a lot of common objections and there’s a fear associated with the supernatural and there’s a fear associated with the unknown. But I’m telling you the truth. I’m telling you scripture. I’m telling you Bible. None of this is of my own origin. I’m giving you the word. In John 7 verses 37 through 38, it says in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And this, friend, is talking about the outpouring in Acts chapter two, also the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues and in some cases prophecy in the book of Acts. Now, remember John the Baptist in the River Jordan in Matthew chapter three, verse 11. He said, I, that’s talking about John, indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. But he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
Friend, John the Baptist said that Jesus is going to baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And that baptism occurred, friends, in Acts chapter two, Acts chapter eight, Acts chapter 10, Acts chapter 19, various baptisms of the Holy Spirit. And we’re going to talk about some of those. There’s one baptism and many fillings. But like I said yesterday, all Christians have a measure of authority and power. We’re not saying that they don’t. But there is an additional measure of authority available for those who receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus told those who were already bestowed with authority and power in Mark 16, 17 and Luke 10, 19 and Luke chapter 10. He talked about the 70 having power, right? He’d already granted power and authority to them. But he said in Luke 24, verse 49, and behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but wait in Jerusalem until you be endued, wait for it, with power from on high. Friend, have you received the promise of the father? Do you move in the power from on high? If so, what evidence can you offer to prove it? Now, there are six baptisms mentioned in Scripture.
There’s John’s baptism in water, right? Then there’s Christ’s baptism in water. And in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 10, it talks about baptism unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. And then number four, Christian baptism, right? Numerous references. Then baptism into Christ in his body, spoken of in Romans 6, 1 Corinthians 12, Galatians 3 and Colossians 2. You could say the baptism into Christ is another way of being saved. However, the final baptism is the baptism in the Holy Spirit and fire, an additional encounter with God’s Spirit post salvation, mentioned of Matthew 20, Mark 1, Mark 10, Luke 3, John 1, John 7, Acts 1, Acts 11, Acts 10, Acts 8, Acts 19. Oh, it is abundant in Scripture. The baptism of the Holy Spirit and many denominational people listening to me now are like, I’ve never even heard this. Why doesn’t my pastor talk about this? I don’t know, friend. Maybe he hasn’t been exposed to it. Maybe he doesn’t want to believe it. Maybe he chooses to ignore it. There could be a plethora of reasons. But friend, you’re no longer ignorant. Hosea 4, 6, my people perish for a lack of knowledge, right? You’re no longer ignorant concerning this wonderful gift that the Father desires to give you. Now, there are four baptisms available for the believer. You can be baptized into Christ at repentance at the new birth, talking about one baptism in Ephesians 4, 5. It’s the only baptism that instantaneously saves our spirit man from eternal death into eternal life. Amen. Thank you, Jesus.
Then there’s water baptism, a command after one is saved, a command of our Lord, not requisite for salvation, I might add. That is a false teaching, and we’ll cover that at another time. But it is most definitely a command, and it is symbolic of your death, burial, and resurrection. As you enter into the water, you’re dying with Christ, and then you are raised in newness of life as you are raised up out of that water. It is very important that you be water baptized. It is a command, and I’ve witnessed down the years that people who have not been baptized in water as adults have actually struggled in their spiritual walk. So we are certainly not downplaying water baptism. No. Then there’s spirit baptism, the one we’re talking about today, the endowment of power for ministerial service. It’s for other people. It’s not for you. There’s wonderful benefits of being baptized in the Spirit no doubt, and I’m going to talk about that as well. And it can take place before water baptism or after it. It doesn’t have to be a sequence of order. Okay, I’ve got to be water baptized, and then I have to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. No. It is preferred that you be water baptized first, and then be spirit baptized. But you can be baptized in the Holy Spirit without being water baptized, and it talks about that in Acts chapter 10 verses 44 through 48. In my own experience, when I was water baptized in Lakewood Church in 1999, in fact June 27th, I went under the water and came up, and my lips started stammering.
They literally started to lose control, and I’m like, it’s not very cold in here. I don’t know why I’m stammering my lips, but we were then shown the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Scripture and offered this baptism, and a young Chinese man laid hands on my stomach, and as soon as he did, I felt the anointing and power of God go right into me, and I felt a presence that was powerful, and he motioned his hand upwards as he prayed in the Holy Spirit towards my mouth, and as soon as his hand hit my mouth, I prayed in a supernatural heavenly language of which I, you know, had no understanding of. It literally came out of me, friend, and this was scriptural baptism of the Holy Spirit, and it’s so powerful, friend. My wife’s going to give a testimony also about her baptism, and it’s so, so powerful. Then there’s the baptism unto death, which is an ongoing choice in Romans 6. We choose not to yield our members unto sin, but choose to die with Christ, and die to sin, and yield our members unto righteousness instead of sin.
Friend, have you considered your death? Are you dead yet? How can a dead man sin, okay? We need to die to the flesh, not to self. We need to die to the flesh. So the Holy Spirit is the agent who baptizes us into Christ and his body. It says that in 1 Corinthians 12 13, and then Christ is the agent who baptizes us in the Holy Spirit, and the minister is the agent who baptizes you in water. So there’s different agents for different baptisms, but there are no secret agents in the kingdom, amen? We’re all openly talking about Jesus. So let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Let’s talk about the outpouring of God’s power from on high. The day of Pentecost arrived 50 days after Jesus said for them to wait in Jerusalem. 50 days, of course, is symbolic of Jubilee, a time of celebration, and it was a command from Jesus to wait. And then in Acts chapter 2 verse 1 through 4, we actually see the day of Pentecost, and I’m going to read that for you now.
And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all in one accord and in one place, amen? Showing that the Honda is the choice of car for the disciples. The Honda Accord, really bad joke. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Friend, what was the evidence of this outpouring? It was tongues. Yep, tongues is the evidence of being spirit-filled. You know, people will say, I’m spirit-filled. I’ll say, well, where’s the evidence? What is the evidence you can provide of being spirit-filled? Because it is a myth amongst denominational teaching, and even charismatic movements that you can be spirit-filled without praying in tongues. No, not true. That’s not scriptural. Not scriptural. There are five instances in the New Testament of the Holy Spirit outpouring, and in three of which tongues is mentioned as the evidence, and inferred in the other two places. Also prophecy. Prophecy also is mentioned, I believe, twice. So tongues and prophecy are mentioned as evidences of being spirit-filled, or evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, or evidence of the promise of the Father, or evidence of power from on high, or evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Friend, I’m saying it so many different ways, because Scripture gives several descriptions of the same outpouring. I’m going to say it until you get it, and we’ll get into divers tongues, right? I mean, in this outpouring, you had the Medes speaking the supernatural language of tongues, but the Elamites could understand them, and the Mesopotamians were speaking in a heavenly language, and the Judeans could understand them, and the Cappadocians could understand those from Pontus, and Asia, and vice versa, etc. We’ll get into it. This is divers tongues. This is speaking a supernatural language, but it is a language not understood by the speaker, but known by the listener, okay? So someone was supernaturally speaking in a language that they didn’t understand with their own mind, but it supernaturally made sense to the hearer.
So this was an initial divers tongue outpouring that occurred in Acts chapter 2, which is quite rare. I haven’t seen divers tongues myself that commonly, but certainly there are many testimonies of that still today, and it is still a gift that is in manifestation, amen? Then we talk about the Gentiles receiving salvation, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter 10, a very exciting outpouring in verses 44 through 46, and we will cover this tomorrow, friend. It’s really when Peter actually visited the house of Cornelius, and the Holy Ghost fell on him, amen? And there was a manifestation of tongues there also, and we’ll get into that, but friend, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire are synonymous. There isn’t a separate baptism of fire. The baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost are one and the same, and available to you should you choose to believe today for this outpouring. Tomorrow we will continue our study of the power of God, and the fact that it is available today, and how it is administered to people today. So please stay tuned, my friend.
Title: The Power of God: Part 2
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-power-of-god-part-1/
https://www.apostolicfaith.org/doctrinal-and-historical/the-baptism-of-the-holy-ghost-in-depth
Related keyword searches:
Baptism of the Holy Spirit
Rivers of living water
Power from on high
Promise of the Father
Spirit-filled believer
Pentecost Acts chapter 2
Speaking in tongues biblical
Holy Ghost and fire
Gifts of the Holy Spirit today
Six frequently asked questions:
1. What is the difference between a well of living water and rivers of living water?
The well of living water refers to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit received at salvation, which provides eternal life for the believer. Rivers of living water describe an additional outpouring of the Holy Spirit—known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit—that flows out of the believer with power to minister to others.
2. Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit necessary for salvation?
No, the baptism of the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation comes through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a post-salvation experience that empowers believers for ministry, witness, and spiritual service.
3. Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit only for Pentecostals or certain denominations?
No, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for all believers regardless of denomination. Scripture teaches that this outpouring is available to anyone who believes, whether they are Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, or otherwise. Truth is not limited by denominational lines.
4. What does the Bible say is the evidence of being baptized in the Holy Spirit?
In the book of Acts, the consistent evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, and in some cases prophecy. Tongues are either explicitly mentioned or clearly inferred in every New Testament account of the Holy Spirit being poured out.
5. Can a believer have authority without being baptized in the Holy Spirit?
Yes, all believers have a measure of authority through their position in Christ and the use of Jesus’ name. However, Scripture shows there is an additional measure of power available through the baptism of the Holy Spirit that enables believers to operate more fully in that authority.
6. Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire a separate experience from the Holy Spirit baptism?
No, the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire are not separate experiences. They describe the same outpouring of God’s Spirit, first fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost and still available today to believers who desire to receive power from on high.
