Author: Hank

Welcome to Hank’s Place

We’ve been answering the question, “How do I get this baptism of the Holy Spirit?”

We’ve seen the promise of the Holy Spirit fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. For Jewish believers. Then, in Acts 10 the Spirit fell, in the same way, reports Peter, upon Gentiles: Cornelius, his family and close friends. The people with an inside track to God, ie, the Jews, and the heathens, the pagans. Eternal life in the power of the Holy Spirit is for everyone, my dear friend.

Luke 11 tells us to ASK for the Holy Spirit. Jesus promises us that our heavenly Father will NOT DISAPPOINT us – hallelujah! There’s another way you may receive this Holy Spirit, this power from on high as Jesus called Him.
We find it in Acts 8. In Samaria people were believing in Jesus! The early church leaders knew the importance of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and sent Peter and John to them, to these mixed race, mixed religion, halfbreed people! Verse 17 says they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Through the laying on of hands. Did you get that? Laying on of hands.

We find the laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit again in Acts 19 when Paul encounters a dozen disciples in Ephesus. Verse 2 says, “And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” First Paul brings them up to date about the Lord Jesus Christ, and verse 5 says when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.

That is true today, friends. While many may know something about the Holy Spirit, kind of, sort of, not many have experienced Him! This baptism, this promise of the Father is for you!

Receive and grow in the gifts of the Spirit, the charisma, the grace of our Lord. Yes, receive ALL God has to give you my friend! You won’t just barely make it through this life; you will thrive. I dare say, you will— COME ALIVE!

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Is the baptism in the Holy Spirit for you? Of course! “So, how do I get this baptism?” you may ask. Well, listen to this–

Lu 11:9 “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.” What promises! From the one in whom ALL of God’s promise are YES and AMEN—so be it! Jesus goes on to give the example of earthly fathers giving good things to their children when asked and says in vs 13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Have faith in God; God, your Heavenly Father, who does NOT disappoint. ASK HIM!

A pastor friend told me his testimony. He was a student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, center for Reformed Presbyterian theology. He loved Jesus and wanted more of Him. He kept asking for more, and as he worshiped at his bedside, songs of praise rose effortlessly from his lips – in other languages. He spoke and sang in tongues without realizing what had happened. In fact, he went with great expectation with his classmates when a professor led them on a field trip to a Charismatic meeting, to experience first hand these theologically ignorant, emotion led, dumb bunnies of Christians as they supposedly experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in their midst.

Yes, they were more than ready to mock, laugh, and destroy their silly arguments for the Holy Spirit. In the meeting, can you imagine the devastating shock when my friend realized that he was one of them! He added the rest of his time in the seminary was a battleground of attacks against him and the Holy Spirit.

Dear friend, the Holy Spirit has been poured out since Pentecost. Take advantage of the PROMISE of the Father. Desire, as my pastor friend did. Desire more of God. Take some time to worship and receive all He has to give you.

Why bother? My friend! My friend! When the Holy Spirit is moving through you, you will speak and act with the boldness of the early disciples, the world will be turned upside-down, and multitudes will— COME ALIVE!

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Is the baptism in the Holy Spirit for you? Of course! Trying to make it as a Christian in this life without the supernatural help of God, is well, not only a struggle, but unnecessary.

What might that supernatural help look like? Let me share with you a little recollection from the 1970’s. The Charismatic Movement was ongoing. My wife and I were born again and baptized in the Holy Spirit in a little Baptist church in Oakmont PA near Pittsburgh. You heard me, a Baptist church!

Inside were Baptists – baptized in the Holy Spirit. Roman Catholics who wanted more of the Spirit. Protestants who wanted life in the Spirit. All sorts of folk!

A Scripture come to mind about that time: Ro 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” God’s kingdom is not rule keeping; it’s being right with God through His gift of righteousness, it’s peace with God and one another through the blood of Jesus. It’s joy in rejoicing in the love of God toward us.

People in that little church were joyous! They were looking to Jesus! Smiles everywhere! Hugs! Love! Acceptance! Forgiveness. Each one encouraging another. Sharing the love of God. Folks testifying of God’s working in their lives—each week. A person, or several, might give a prophecy. There was singing in the spirit with perhaps angelic choruses were joining in. Who cared about the time? There was such a sense of the presence of the Living God in our midst that it was difficult to leave!

Salvations? Baptisms? All-the-time! Healings and miraculous healings everywhere. And demons were being cast out as the oppressed were delivered. There was freedom in Christ!

You had no doubt God was alive and well when He spoke to you personally. When He gave you spiritual gifts to help others, like a word of knowledge or wisdom or prophecy. Or gifts of healing, or miracles. Those who resisted and ridiculed the Spirit’s working publicly one week might be found worshiping God next to you the following Sunday. Incredible! Such a sense of the Holy Spirit about to do something GOOD.

And I share this with you because I truly believe we are entering such a time once again; a time when, by the power of the Holy Spirit, multitudes will— COME ALIVE!

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I’ve been sharing that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a real, distinct event in Scripture, and that it is current and valid for every believer—like YOU. Jesus told the disciples to wait, until they were clothed with power from on high. Lu 24:49. Wait—because there was more in store than God’s promised Spirit of Adoption and being grafted into His family as a son of Abraham. Yes! God wanted His Church equipped in POWER – Dunamis – explosive POWER!

This ‘power from on high’ fell on the day of Pentecost. He, the Holy Spirit, is here; we do not need to tarry as they did. In Acts 8 we see half-breeds, mongrels, semi-Jews included as Peter and John went to Samaria to ensure that the new believers there got the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That’s how important it is, dear friends!

But God’s plan for His family includes even more Spirit empowered people! Those totally outside the Covenant! That revelation begins in Acts 10, with the Roman Centurion Cornelius, his family and close friends. There’s tons of material in Acts 10, but keeping on our point, Cornelius is told by an angel in a vision to call for Peter who is in Joppa. Peter was staying with a Jewish tanner. Tanners were unclean due to the tanning process. Yet there was Peter…. While there, Peter has a vision of a sheet filled with all sorts of unclean beasts, and Peter hears the words, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.”

Peter goes with Cornelius’ servants to Cornelius’ home, begins sharing the gospel, and BOOM! the Holy Spirit falls and those GENTILES – those unclean beasts – the unholy – the common – the non-covenant people—begin speaking in tongues and glorifying God. It was astonishing! Magnificent! It was GOD, declaring heaven’s doors are open wide to WHOSOEVER—in an undeniable fashion! Ha! Peter gets called on the carpet back in Jerusalem. His defense: who can deny inclusion to “those who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did.” This issue is a big one however.

In Acts 15 a council is convened in Jerusalem because the devout Jewish Christians had trouble grasping this incredible truth: God is not a respecter of persons—but ANYONE, anywhere, who believes in Him is welcome. Peter settles things by referring to the Cornelius incident.

Dear friend, if you have been on the fence: believe, receive Jesus as Savior. If you have been on the fence regarding the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I invite you to come off that fence and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Don’t you see, GOD is inviting YOU today – to Come Alive!

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Did you know John the Baptist is recorded in each Gospel as saying there was One coming after him who would baptize in the Holy Spirit? 4 times! 4 times! Must be important, don’t you think? Just listen….

In Acts 8:15-17, Peter and John were sent by the church leaders down to the new believers in Samaria, to pray for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It says they laid their hands on them and the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit. A professional magician named Simon was so impressed that he offered them $$ to have the same authority; think about how impressive that must have been!

On Pentecost a few years earlier, only Jews and proselytes were baptized in the Holy Spirit. But now the Good News was being shared even with Samaritans.

So who were the Samaritans? Samaria was capitol of the Northern Kingdom, begun by Jeroboam following Solomon’s death. 1 Ki 11-12. It was capital of the 10 tribes. Jeroboam made 2 golden calves for the people to include in their worship. Ahab built a temple to Baal there. Genuine worship became a memory. In 721BC Sargon of the Assyrians conquered them and carried off 27,290 inhabitants, replacing them with conquered foreigners – who brought along their gods. So Samaria was a mixed race of people, mongrels, with a heathen core. You might say they were very low on the Jewish totem pole, try: at the bottom. Racist? Yes indeed.

But these ‘inferior people’ as far as the Judaean Jews were concerned, were hearing the Gospel and believing it! And truly amazing: the leadership in Jerusalem, upon hearing this, actually SENT Peter and John down to them to get the Holy Spirit baptism! It was so important that the Jewish church leaders sent apostles to them, overcoming all the centuries of antagonism, to be sure they were filled with the HS. Today I invite you to grasp this truth: God does not care about your breeding or background: He wants you born again, part of His family, and filled with power from on high. So why delay – be filled today – and COME ALIVE!

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Hey Christian! Remember how Jesus was encouraging us in John 14? He was going away, but He would send us a Helper – our Enabler – the Holy Spirit. With us. In us. Teaching/leading/guiding us into GOD stuff!

After His resurrection, Jesus said something mysterious. It’s in Luke 24:49, “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 2 things. “The Promise of my Father,” the fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham—sending the Spirit of Adoption, that we would become sons of Abraham, and sons of God, heirs of God Himself.

But then there is this “power from on high stuff.” Things can get confusing: but let’s keep it simple. Two feasts, Passover and Pentecost. Passover foreshadowing our being born again as righteous children of God, separated from the world, transferred into God’s kingdom. Pentecost: foreshadowing our Holy Spirit baptism, when the power of God comes upon us. And we are clothed with power from on high, as Jesus promised!

In John 20:22, Jesus breaths upon the disciples, saying, “receive the Holy Spirit!”  They were born again. So when did they get the power from on high? Pentecost. Ah, Pentecost—see Acts 2. Tongues of FIRE appeared upon the believers in the Upper Room. They spoke in known and unknown tongues, glorifying God. “This is that” declares Peter – the fulfilling of the words not of God to Abraham, but of the prophet Joel – the Spirit of the Living God outpoured upon the earth for whosoever would believe and receive! The power from on high: to witness of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit in many ways, before the coming Day of the Lord.

Passover, and Pentecost! Having trouble with your witness in these dark tumultuous times? Maybe you need to experience your Pentecost. With the Holy Spirit within and the Holy Spirit upon you, my friend, there is no doubt that others will say: you—have COME ALIVE!

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I’ve great news for you today if you are a Christian. Perhaps you have been told, “Now that you have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, now you need to live for Him, live the Christian life, have a Christian lifestyle.”

Well, the Good News is: YOU CAN’T! Try it and you WILL fail—guaranteed. The only One who can live the Christian life is Christ Jesus! But weren’t the early believers at Antioch the first to be called “Christians?” TRUE – it is found in Acts 11:26.

“Christians” means ‘little anointed ones’ – did you get that? Keyword: anointed. They were anointed of the Holy Spirit. They had the Spirit of God within them and the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon them. Like Paul says to us in Romans (Ro 6:11), they were counting themselves dead to sin and alive to God. Alive in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s anointing.

YOU don’t live the Christian life: The Anointed One lives His life through you! Receive new life in the Spirit – it’s what God has intended. Why else would Jesus call the Holy Spirit our “Helper” and “Enabler” in John 14:16 & 26? Why else would He tell His followers not to attempt any ministry until the coming of the Holy Spirit – Acts 1:4-8?

Our part? BELIEVE Jesus’ words. Many folk believe they got all the Holy Spirit they’ll ever get when they were born again. Hmmm. Then explain to me why there is the Jewish feast of Passover – a shadow of Jesus rescuing us from our sins, and Pentecost – a shadow of when the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon the earth for all to receive?

This fact speaks strongly to me that there is something more than being born again; something to help you— COME ALIVE!

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Struggling to keep some New Year Resolutions? That’s not surprising – the flesh is weak no matter how willing our spirits may be. But HEY, I have some GOOD NEWS for you: we live by FAITH, not by the resolutions we have made!

More GOOD NEWS: faith is a REST; not a performance test, endurance race, or contest. Just check out Heb 4. The author tells us that God has prepared a REST for us. He reminds us that the ancient Israelites heard His voice, but were disobedient to it. They refused to BELIEVE what God told them and instead acted on their own. So sad, for they all perished apart from Joshua and Caleb! He tells us to believe God’s word, His promises (which are all “Yea and Amen” 2 Cor 1:20) and enter the rest prepared for us. What rest? From our own labors of trying to make a great life happen and gain eternal life at the end.

Understand, God’s rest has nothing to do with taking a break from work and activities. It has everything to do with trusting God. What has God said? What has He promised YOU? He gave Abraham promises of blessing. And why? Because He was GOD and He said so. Abraham’s role? BELIEVE God would keep His word. REST from trying to make it happen, and trust God to do what God had promised.

Faith is not YOU doing YOUR BEST so that God cannot help but reward you. Rather, it is YOU having FAITH in GOD’S BEST: His Son Jesus! Our Savior, sin bearer, healer, restorer, provider, and fulfiller of every dream God has given us.

Believe, for instance, that Jesus is your righteousness importer. You are as righteous before the Father as Jesus Christ is. You are, if you believe on Jesus as your Savior. Check out 2 Cor 5:21. If you believe, you’ll stop trying to prove yourself worthy before God. You will simply receive HIS righteousness. Peace will flood your soul. You will enter His rest—you will have COME ALIVE!

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Welcome to Hank’s Place There’s more to John 3 than :16

John 3:16 is truly awesome! The Gospel in a verse. But did you know the verses that sandwich it are also awesome? Yes! In John 3 Jesus is speaking to the Pharisee, Nicodemus. Jesus admonishes him – if you stumble over my words, Jesus tells him, when I’m speaking earthly things, what will you do when I share with you heavenly truths? Then Jesus unloads blockbuster spiritual truths on Nicodemus!

In verses :14 & :15, Jesus says that Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness and in the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up. In Moses’ day, there was a time when serpents were biting and killing the grumbling, rebellious, hard-hearted Israelites. BUT – if a bitten Israelite would look to the serpent that Moses had placed upon a staff, he would not die, but be healed. Sin was the issue. Could the Israelite see his sin – in the form of that serpent – upon that pole? If he did, he got healed! Faith! And God’s mercies!

It’s the same with us today, my friend. If we can see Jesus bearing OUR sin upon Calvary’s cross, then we too will be healed from our sin and enter eternal life! This truth is stated in :15 and repeated in :16 – it is super important!

More of the sandwich – in :17 Jesus tells Nicodemus that God sent His son to SAVE us, not to judge us, and if we believe in Jesus we are not judged.

Ominously, Jesus then goes on to say he who does NOT believe in Him has been judged already. Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. God is not their judge, but they have judged themselves, choosing the darkness and evil over the Light of the world.

God does not send people to Hell; they judge themselves. And send themselves to the destination created for the devil and his angelic followers. O my friend! Help others to see Jesus bearing their sin to Calvary – that they may not die – but COME ALIVE!

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Soon people the world over will be celebrating the New Year 2018. Oh wow. Deja vue all over again. And again. And again. Last year’s New Year’s Resolution lists? Pull them out – let’s use them – they didn’t last very long. We’ll try harder this time. More determination. Persistence. Fortitude. Resolve. THIS YEAR we’ll keep them, right?

Who are we kidding? You and I both know how doomed this is! Doing things by the power of human ability is so limited—to our ability. Well, don’t be depressed my friend, but consider the power of GOD.

Paul tells us in 2 Cor 5:17 if we are IN Christ then we have been transformed into NEW CREATIONS, the old things HAVE passed away; NEW THINGS HAVE COME! Paul declares there is a new way of living: in Christ, in the grace of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit – by faith.

The best New Year’s resolution? RESOLVING to believe this and ALL that God says concerning us! How about we reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God – 
Ro 6:11? How about the words of Paul in Gal 2:20 our own confession: “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave up His life for me.”

As Paul did:
– let’s see our old man, on that cross with Jesus; dead
– let’s see ourselves under the Lordship of Jesus, not controlled by our own desires
– and let’s see Jesus alive within us, and us trusting Him with our own lives.

Reality from God’s viewpoint declares we ARE heirs of GOD; adopted into His family; with the full rights and privileges of His own son! May God’s reality become YOUR REALITY in 2018—after all, 2018 is a wonderful year to COME ALIVE! Happy New Year!

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