In this podcast, Carl focuses on the baptism of the Holy Spirit outpouring, as evidenced in Acts 10 and Acts 19. He highlights how the Gentiles, like Cornelius and his household, received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues, as initial evidence of this spiritual baptism. He emphasizes the baptism of the Holy Spirit is distinct from salvation and serves to empower believers for effective ministry (Acts 1:8). He addresses common objections to speaking in tongues, including the idea that tongues are ‘of the devil’ or ‘have passed away’. Finally, the benefits of praying in tongues, such as edification and spiritual growth, are explored, as we study this powerful gift. Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, we’re talking about the power of God, remember? This is part three. And we’re talking today about the Gentiles receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 10 verses 44 through 46. And don’t forget there was evidence of that, and that evidence was tongues, and they were magnifying God. Now, Peter had visited the house of Cornelius, okay? And he’d given this long speech including about how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil for God was with him. Then he talked about how God was raising up Jesus on the third day, and for all people salvation would come through Christ, not just the Jew. And so Peter visited the uncircumcised Cornelius’s house. And then what happened surprised even Peter because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the baptism came upon Cornelius and his household, and they prayed in tongues and magnified God. Friend, that’s another evidence of the baptism with tongues. Again, what is the evidence of you being spirit-filled? Can you show biblical evidence? Can you show tongues or prophecy? Etc, etc. Now, let’s talk as well about Acts chapter 19 verses 1 through 7. This is an example where the Apostle Paul administers the baptism of the Holy Ghost to the Ephesians by the laying on of hands.
The Ephesians were neither saved nor had they heard of the promise of the Father. So let’s read it together. Verse 1, “And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as even heard of this Holy Ghost. And he said to them, Unto what then were you baptized? And they said unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
And all men were about 12, not 12 years of age, there were about 12 men there, okay? So there’s some key takeaways from this. Now the first thing that it says in verse 2 here is, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Now I personally don’t like the way that is worded because I’ve talked in previous sessions how the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit indwells the believer when we’re saved, right? What he’s talking about is this second dispensation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, or better known as the gift of the Holy Spirit. A better way of saying it would be, Have you been baptized with the Spirit of God? Have you received the promise of the Father? Have you got power from on high? But saying, Have you received the Holy Ghost? It’s not the best way to understand it in our modern vernacular because it can cause some confusion, okay? Because we know the Holy Spirit indwells us when we’re saved. But in this case, they weren’t even saved. Let’s read on. So he asked the question, Well, who were you baptized by? They said, John. So these people weren’t even saved. They were baptized unto repentance by John’s baptism, right? Then Paul preached the Gospel to them and they received Christ Jesus. It says they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. So they received Jesus. And after that, because they were already saved, Paul laid hands on them and the Holy Ghost came upon them.
It didn’t say the Holy Ghost came within them. It said it came upon them. That’s because they were just saved. The Holy Spirit was already within them. Then it came upon them in this second outpouring. And that’s another falling down, coming upon of the Spirit, amen? And the evidence of being Spirit-filled here was tongues and prophecy, one of the rare instances where both are mentioned. So may I remind you, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, the outpouring of power from on high, this has nothing to do with salvation whatsoever. It is a second additional outpouring of God’s Spirit for ministerial service. You can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and go to heaven. You do not need to be baptized with the evidence of speaking in tongues to make it to heaven, friend. No, okay? Let’s just draw the line right there. Okay, so let’s talk about some of the common objections to speaking in tongues. Well, the first thing people say is tongues are of the devil. No, if this were true, every bar, strip joint, brothel, pub, casino, or disco would be administering tongues and no one’s talking about tongues at those places, friend. I’ve been to some of those places. I was a sinner before I gave my heart to Jesus and the call of pastorship came upon me. Tongues are not of the devil. In fact, it’s blasphemous to say that tongues are of the devil because blasphemy by definition is to attribute the works of God to the devil and vice versa. According to Jesus, this sin will not be forgiven.
It talks about it in Mark chapter three, verse 29. Remember, the scribes accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub. Oh, you’re just casting out demons by the power of the devil. That makes no sense whatsoever. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. Okay, the devil’s not fighting himself. So Jesus clearly was doing it by the power of God and that upset them because they really saw the manifestation of power in person and so they had no rebuttal for that, okay? So tongues are not of the devil, friend, and it’s very serious to say they are. The next thing people say are that tongues have passed away. No, no, they haven’t. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 13:8. It says, charity or love never fails, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away with. Now, I jumped down to a few verses further down, but Paul was saying we prophesy in part, we know in part, etc. We don’t have the full picture. But, friend, let me ask you this. If tongues have ceased, then knowledge should also have passed away at the same time. And, friend, knowledge hasn’t passed away. Prophecies, they haven’t failed. People are still prophesying today.
Sure, there may be some inaccuracies in some cases. Yeah, we can talk about that. Not everybody’s perfect. We are imperfect vessels, certainly. We prophesy in part and know in part. But the bottom line is the fact that we have the Bible in our hands, we have knowledge at our disposal, and knowledge has not passed away. The perfect in this verse is Jesus Christ and His coming again at the rapture. The perfect is not the Bible itself, okay? It’s Jesus. Not only was the perfect sacrifice, Hebrews 9:14, He was the perfect gift, James 1:17. When He returns, that’s Jesus, in the rapture, there’ll be no need for this knowledge or prophecies in heaven. They’ll all fail, right? Love will still exist, obviously, right, if God is love. But there won’t be the need for these prophecies and tongues and stuff, basically because we’re in heaven. And, friend, we don’t know theologically fully what is going to occur in heaven. We have some inklings of it. Okay? Now, the next objection is typically the Apostle Paul just didn’t pray in tongues, and he wrote two-thirds of the New Testament, Paul didn’t pray in tongues, so I don’t need to. Unfortunately, friend, that is incorrect.
I’m reading from 1 Corinthians 14:18. It says, “I thank my God, (this is Paul speaking, right), to the Corinthians, I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.” Now, Paul was rebuking the Corinthians for their expressive display of praying in tongues and not interpreting, and he was making some corrections, because these people had such enthusiasm for the gifts of the Spirit. But he was actually correcting them, saying, I speak in tongues more than you all, dudes. I mean, I speak in tongues more than everybody here, okay? And how was Paul able to receive so many revelations by the Spirit of God? He boasted that he prayed in tongues or the Spirit more than anyone. And I firmly believe because he did this, he was speaking mysteries to God and getting downloads and revelations from the throne. Now, don’t forget that Paul received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, this second additional outpouring of God’s Spirit in Acts chapter 9 verse 17. Many people don’t really consider that. Let’s read that verse. So Ananias went and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road has sent me so that you might regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. I like that wording, friend. Filled with the Holy Spirit to overflowing. The ‘rivers of living water.’
Remember John chapter 7, 37 through 39? We talked about it in previous broadcasts, right? Rivers of living water overflowing, being filled. And then Paul, who was recently converted on the road to Damascus and was blind until Ananias laid hands on him, he was now full of the Holy Spirit. Now the next objection is tongues have passed away when the apostle died. Friend, we are part of the same church as the apostles and the disciples and the 70. Nothing is passed away. It is only because people have stopped believing. It is the unbelief of man that has prevented, constrained, or restrained God’s manifestation in this earth. Mark 9:23 says, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.” Jesus is saying your belief system can come into play. If pastors and evangelists and the five fold ministry offices do not believe in tongues or prophesying or moving in the gifts or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it’s not going to be evident in their services.It’s not going to be evident in their churches because they have chosen not to believe or they’re just simply ignorant, having no knowledge of the gift or the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the first place. They just don’t know any better. Okay, they’re going to heaven. Everything’s fine in that regard, but they haven’t received that additional measure of power we’re talking about.
Remember in Nazareth, Jesus could do no mighty works in his own hometown because of the people’s unbelief, save he laid his hands on a few. In other words, our belief system can really constrain God. And friend, that is why we need to increase our faith. Faith comes by hearing, right? We build up on our most holy faith by praying in the Holy Ghost. All right, we start praising God and worshiping God and change our perspective, et cetera. I’m throwing you a few bones here. But friend, your faith is precious in the sight of God. And you only need as much as a mustard seed to get going in the direction of faith to appropriate what you are believing God for. Amen. Now let’s just talk about some of the many benefits of being spirit filled or being baptized with the Holy Spirit. And we talked about the two evidences of being spirit filled, one of which is tongues. Tongues, which is your personal prayer life and prophesying. But what are the benefits of praying in tongues? Well, let’s talk about it. I can think of six right out of the gate. The first one is tongues edifies you. Now that word edifies means to build up, right? We think of edifice, right? Oh, look at that edifice over there. It was built brick by brick, stone by stone, one on top of another.
This is the building up process that occurs when you pray in tongues. Okay, it’s mentioned in First Corinthians chapter 14, verse four edify means to build up. Other translations say, and I’m going to quote a few here, builds himself up, helps himself grow, is strengthened personally, says that in the NLT. The Weymouth translation says does good to himself and also improves himself. And so friend, you know, we can’t always wait on other people for words of prophecy to be encouraged, right? It says that when you prophesy, you’re encouraging somebody else up, you’re comforting them, you’re edifying them, you’re encouraging them, right? We don’t always, we can’t just pick up the phone and say, give me a word, I want to be encouraged.
Friend, one of the benefits of praying in tongues is that you can edify yourself without the need for prophecy, without the need for somebody else to edify you in a public setting or a private setting. You have the capacity to build yourself up and that’s a wonderful gift. Brother Hagen used to say praying in tongues charges your spirit like a battery charger charges a battery. You’re charging yourself up, right? It’s that word dunamis again in Acts 1:8, the dunamis power. It’s where we get the word dynamo, dynamite. We’re charging ourself up when we pray in the Holy Ghost. And it should also be noted that whenever the term praying in the spirit is mentioned in scripture like Ephesians 6-18, it’s talking about praying in tongues. It’s talking about the unknown tongue, spiritual, heavenly language. And friend, that unlocks so many more scriptures when you know that. And we’ll talk more about this tomorrow, friend, we’re just touching the surface. Until tomorrow, good night, God bless and remember to spread the good news.
Title: The Power of God: Part 3
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-power-of-god-part-2/
https://www.kcm.org/watch/tv-broadcast/greater-one-you?m=37191
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Six frequently asked questions:
1. What happened when the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit in Acts 10?
In Acts 10:44–46, the Holy Spirit was poured out on Cornelius and his household while Peter was preaching. They spoke in tongues and magnified God, demonstrating that the baptism of the Holy Spirit was for Gentiles as well as Jews.
2. What is the biblical evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
The consistent biblical evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts is ‘speaking with tongues,’ and in some cases ‘prophecy.’ These manifestations confirm that the Spirit has come upon the believer with ‘power from on high.’ In the five instances of the Holy Spirit baptism outpouring, in the Book of Acts, tongues are mentioned in at least three instances and inferred elsewhere.
3. What does Acts 19 teach about receiving the Holy Spirit after believing?
Acts 19 shows that the disciples in Ephesus first received salvation through Jesus Christ and then received the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. When the Spirit came upon them, they spoke in tongues and prophesied, thereby proving the spiritual baptism was a separate encounter to salvation.
4. Is the baptism of the Holy Spirit required for salvation?
No, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is not required for salvation. Salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate, post-salvation experience given for empowerment and ministerial service.
5. Have tongues and spiritual gifts passed away?
No, tongues and spiritual gifts have not passed away. What might have passed away is faith to operate in said, gifts. Scripture teaches that these gifts remain until “that which is perfect” has come, which refers to the return of Jesus Christ, not the bible itself. Since knowledge and prophecy still exist, tongues have not ceased, nor will they cease until Christ’s return.
6. What are the benefits of praying in tongues?
Praying in tongues edifies and strengthens the believer spiritually. It builds up faith, helps believers pray beyond their natural understanding, and charges the spirit-man with God’s power, enabling sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and powerful manifestations of God’s presence.
