In this final broadcast of the series, Carl reiterates the importance of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit following salvation for ministerial efficacy, citing Acts chapter 19 and the practices of the early church. He discusses the six benefits of praying in tongues: edification, faith increase, speaking mysteries to God, intercession, continual prayer, and refreshment for the soul. Carl challenges common misconceptions about tongues and highlights their global significance, with the latest statistics regarding the Pentecostal movement worldwide. Join Carl now…
Here is a complete transcript of the broadcast (below)…
Friend, this is part four and the final broadcast for the power of God. I hope you’ve been listening intently and enjoyed our sessions so far. You know, as I was wrapping up the last session, the Holy Spirit reminded me I didn’t share something. In Acts chapter 19 verses 1 through 7, when the Apostle Paul was administering the baptism of the Holy Ghost to the Ephesians by the laying on of hands, remember, there was something that he said that was very interesting. Paul said, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Now, that means there’s an expectation from the Apostle Paul that once you’re saved, you should then be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked the question, hey, have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, in that instance, they had only believed unto John’s baptism, right? They weren’t even saved. They somehow were removed from the area of the River Jordan and went north into the Turkish area, potentially. Or John’s baptism was preached in that vicinity. We don’t really know, but the bottom line is, friend, Paul had an expectation that you should receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the promise of the Father or the power from on high or the gift of the Holy Ghost after your salvation. It is something that he would administer.
You know, having studied the first century apostles, usually what they would do is they would preach to somebody, they would receive Christ, they’d take them to a river, they’d baptize them immediately, so that’s symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection. Then they’d lay hands on them that they might receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and then, if necessary, they would cast demons out of the new proselyte. And so that was usually the the full meal deal, I guess you could call it. The ‘full-monty’ all wrapped into one. Salvation, water baptism, spirit filling, and deliverance all in one day. Now, friend, that’s the way to do it. But seemingly in the West, we’ve ended up being quite disjointed in the way we do things. We might get saved, and three years later we might think about water baptism, and ten years later we might come across the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and, you know, we may need some deliverance along the way. But it all seems to be quite disjointed, and the actual truth has been dispersed between different denominations.
Some focus more on baptism, some focus more on tongues and prophecy like us, like Pentecostals or Charismatics. Some talk more about the grace of God, and there’s different focuses that different denominations have, but ideally, we shouldn’t have these denominations. We don’t go to Baptist heaven, we don’t go to Pentecostal heaven, we go to heaven, period, because we’re Christians, amen? And so, the truth needs to be preached in all denominations, all the truth in all denominations. So, friend, I have an expectation for you that if you come to one of our services, you may receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. That’s how it’s correctly administered. Now, can somebody receive it without the laying on of hands? Sure, it’s possible. In fact, recently one of my wife’s friends from Thailand contacted us and said that while she was praising and worshiping God in her known tongue, right, the Thai language, all a sudden she started speaking in this heavenly language. It just came upon her, and she didn’t know what it was. She had no scripture at all, she had no understanding, but she just said something took over me and I started praying in a heavenly language or a language I didn’t know, and wow, that was God just doing his thing, amen? She became spirit filled as she was worshiping and praising God. I’ve heard other people say that they’ve received it while they’re driving the vehicle. I’ve heard other people say I was singing and praising God in the shower, and I received the baptism of the Holy Spirit then. So, I’m not going to put God in a box, friend, but I’m telling you the orthodox way of receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost is by the laying on of hands, and should you desire it, I would be honored to pray for you. And friend, even since we started our little church down there, Denver House of Prayer, we’ve had several people receive this baptism. In fact, we weren’t even preaching on the topic, and it started to manifest, and they desired it. So, God is doing a work, amen? So, let’s go back to the six benefits of praying in tongues.
We talked about tongues edifying us, right? And then I said Brother Hagan said that praying in tongues charges your spirit like a battery charger charges a battery, and so we need the capacity to build ourselves up, and that’s what tongues offers in 1 Corinthians 14:4. But in Jude 20, it talks about building up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. And so, you can build up your faith by praying in the Spirit. That’s another synonymous term for praying in tongues. So, faith comes by hearing, but it’s built up when you pray in the Holy Ghost, amen? Now in 1 Corinthians 14:2, it says, ‘for he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God. For no man understands him, how be it in the speaks mysteries,’ friend. Number three, when you’re praying in tongues, you’re speaking mysteries to God. Whoa, how powerful. That Greek word is mysterion. And if you look it up, it really means secrets. You’re praying secret things to the Father, and he is sharing secret things with you. And notice it says, no man understands him. So, when we’re praying in this heavenly language, it’s not an earthly language, and my mind has no understanding, because it’s unknown to me, but my spirit man understands it, and so does God. And friend, there’s no greater pleasure than speaking mysteries to God. And during this time, I have seen things that are to come in my life. You know, charismatics would often joke, you need to lay track when you’re praying in the Holy Ghost. You need to lay some track for your life, otherwise the train that is your life would come off the rails. Now, all joking aside, it’s an analogy here that you need to pray your future through. And this aspect of prayer is really focusing upon the fourth point I’d like to make, which is praying in tongues helps us intercede for ourselves and others.
And this can be found in Romans chapter 8 verses 26 through 28. Now this is a passage that is quite often misinterpreted, and I’ve talked about it in previous broadcasts. And I’m going to read it for you now, starting in verse 26. “Likewise, the Spirit also helps our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. Now that’s talking about praying in tongues, friend. The groanings that cannot be uttered in articulate speech. And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” Who is the he? That is the Holy Spirit. He’s making intercession for the saints according to the will of God as we pray in the Spirit. And then, once we’ve done that, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Only then, when we have prayed in the Spirit and made these groanings, okay, and when we’re in intercession with groanings, that is when all things work together for good, right? It keeps your flesh under. When you focus on the things of the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
And that is what praying in the Spirit offers. You know, people say, well, you know, God causes all things to work together for good. No, no he doesn’t. No, he doesn’t. Sudden destruction, sudden accidents, they don’t work together for good. Cancer doesn’t work together for good. God didn’t send cancer in the first place or disease. There are many things that have devastated families. And sure, God helped them recover, but he didn’t send the calamity, friend. He didn’t send the temptation. He didn’t send the trial. Now, testing certainly is godly, but that’s the only tea there that is godly. And we’ve got to be very careful what we attribute to God and make sure that we don’t attribute the works of the devil to him, friend. Some people have said some horrible things about God saying that, oh, well, you know, he took sister Sue early because he needed another angel in heaven and all this religious pap that is very unscriptural. And so, as you can tell, I’m a little bit fired up about that. But anyway, number five on the benefits of praying in tongues. It enables us to pray always in the Spirit. Now, right at the end of Ephesians 6 is talking about the armor of God. The only offensive weapons we have are the word of God and praying in the Spirit or prayer in general. These are offensive weapons and praying always in the Spirit. Friend, in English, okay, I can only last 10 minutes.
I can quote as many scriptures as possible. That’s great. But friend, you can’t pray always in a known tongue. You’re going to run out of ideas here. But you can pray literally nonstop and endlessly in the Holy Ghost. And this is a very, very powerful thing, friend. I will just demonstrate it right now. Praying in the Spirit is this. It comes right out of my spirit. You say, Pastor, that sounds like gibberish. Listen, it’s from my spirit. It’s not gibberish. I’m praying mysteries. I’m being built up. I’m building up my most holy faith. I could be interceding for myself or somebody else, and I can carry on like that for hours. And sometimes, as the Lord leads, I will be able to interpret my own tongue. And that is a rare thing. That doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes it does. And it is a tremendous, tremendous blessing. Now, number six, praying in the Spirit brings rest and refreshing to our soul. Now, they’ll say, you know, tongues aren’t in the Old Testament. And it’s true. No prophet, priest, or king ever prayed in tongues in the Old Testament. That is the truth. However, its fore-coming was foretold in Isaiah chapter 28, verse 11, where it says, “for with stammering lips and another tongue, he will speak to this people.” That’s talking about God, right? To whom he said, this is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing, yet they would not hear. Friend, when I am dry and dusty, and that flesh is starting to get agitated, I’m getting a little grouchy. I start to go in the Spirit, friend, because there’s a rest and refreshing that comes with praying in the Holy Ghost.
It calms your emotions also. And again, builds yourself up, speaking mysteries to God, edifies you. Oh, there’s so many benefits, friend. And right now, only a quarter of Christians on the planet have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and the evidence of speaking in tongues. But that proportion of Christians is increasing. In other words, of the number of Christians in the world, more of them, as time progresses, are getting this second outpouring. And let me share some statistics with you right now along those lines. We’ve discussed that tongues are the initial evidence, and that there is no other scriptural evidence other than prophecy of being Spirit-filled. But according to Wheaton College and their blog called Everyday Theology, they say there are 631 million Pentecostals in 2014 who do pray in tongues. And at the current rate, by 2025, there will be 800 million people worldwide who will call themselves Pentecostal. And again, if we include the charismatic bucket, that could be a lot more, okay? Possibly approaching a billion. These are estimates.
But friend, oh, it’s such a blessing to have that second outpouring. It’s interesting to note that two-thirds of Pentecostals are in the developed world and is currently the fastest-growing sector of the Protestant Church. And I believe that because there’s an excitement to this when God is empowering you to minister and speak mysteries, etc. Classic Pentecostalism only accounts for 4% of North American churches and only 2% of Europe. Yet, in the undeveloped world, it is exploding. Friend, this is a topic that can go on and on and on. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, nurses, builders, carpenters, actors, all pray in tongues. It’s not an exclusive club for those with hairy feet and who handle snakes. No, friend, that is a total misnomer. Friend, email me with a question, or go to our website to find out where we are, and we could administer this wonderful gift for you.
Title: The Power of God (Part 4)
https://carljosephministries.com/podcast/the-power-of-god-part-3/
https://www.gotquestions.org/power-of-God.html
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Six frequently asked questions:
1. Why did Paul ask, “Have you received the Holy Spirit since you believed?” (Acts 19:2)
Paul’s question shows there was an expectation in the early church that believers would receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit after salvation. This was understood as a distinct and separate experience from salvation—aka, ‘the promise of the Father’ and ‘power from on high’—not salvation itself.
2. What was the normal pattern of discipleship in the first-century church?
The early apostles typically followed a clear pattern: salvation, immediate water baptism, laying on of hands for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and deliverance as needed—all often on the same day. This “full gospel” approach emphasized completeness of God’s full manifestation of salvation, power and deliverance, for transformation into newness of life.
3. Is the laying on of hands the only way to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
While Scripture shows the laying on of hands as the orthodox method, God is not limited to one method. People have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit while worshiping, praying, driving, or spending time alone with God, demonstrating that the Spirit moves as ‘He wills it,’ yet the ‘laying on of hands’ is the primary means of receiving this heavenly gift.
4. How does praying in tongues build faith and edify the believer?
Praying in tongues edifies the believer by building them up spiritually (1 Corinthians 14:4). Jude 20 teaches that praying in the Holy Ghost builds up one’s ‘most holy faith’, strengthening the inner person beyond what natural prayer alone can achieve. The word and the Spirit are a powerful combination to overcome any and every obstacle in life.
5. What does it mean to “pray mysteries” when praying in tongues?
When believers pray in tongues, they speak mysteries to God (1 Corinthians 14:2). These are divine secrets communicated Spirit-to-spirit, bypassing the natural mind, allowing believers to pray according to God’s will even when they lack the understanding to do so. Some aspects of prayer will always remain mysterious in this lifetime.
6. How does praying in the Spirit bring rest, refreshing, and victory over the flesh?
Praying in the Spirit brings spiritual rest and refreshing, as foretold in Isaiah 28:11–12. This refreshing was not made available to the Old Testament Saints but is reserved for the church only. Praying in the Spirit helps believers intercede according to God’s perfect will (Romans 8:26–28), keeps the flesh subdued, calms emotions, and enables continuous prayer beyond natural limitations.
