The God who created us and saved us from our sins also has a plan for us to live an abundant life (John 10:10). At Audacity Malaysia, we believe that in order to live the holy and fruitful lives that God intends for us, we need to be baptised in water and be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to use spiritual gifts, including speaking in tongues.
Water baptism is one of the most fundamental acts of obedience by a Christian. It is an outward demonstration of our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. Undergoing the water of baptism is a public declaration of the yielding of our lives to God.
Water baptism symbolises the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The water is symbolic of a grave. As we are immersed into the water, we declare our relationship with Jesus; our old self dies and is buried just as Jesus died and was buried. It symbolises us being set free from the guilt of our past sin and shame. As we come out of the water, we rise to a new life just as Jesus rose to life again.
We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. — Romans 6:4, NIV
While water baptism does not save us, it is an important evidence that we have been saved and set free. It is a significant public declaration that we make to God and others of our faith in the saving grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We no longer consider our life to be our own, rather we live now for the purpose and glory of God.
While water baptism confirms our faith in Christ, the baptism of the Holy Spirit empowers us for the life and ministry that God calls us to. It is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit is being filled with the Holy Spirit.
We believe that the initial evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues, that is having a supernatural prayer language. The Holy Spirit enables us to pray in the Spirit through praying in tongues (Romans 8:26-27). But the prayer language is just the beginning of the many spiritual gifts that God desires for us to have. The Holy Spirit has many spiritual gifts that he wants to impart to the people of God (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).
The Bible tells us that it is Jesus himself who baptises us with the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist declared, “I baptise you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Luke 3:16, NIV).
It is the Son of God himself who baptises the people of God with the Spirit of God for empowerment. Jesus himself said he will ask the Father to give the Holy Spirit to be with us and in us (John 14:16-17). And just before he ascended into heaven, he told the disciple to stay in Jerusalem because not long after his ascension, they will be baptised in the Holy Spirit. Ten days after the ascension, on the day of Pentecost, the first group of disciples were baptised with the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4)!
It was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that gave both the disciples and now us the enabling power of God to do the greater works that Jesus talked about (John 14:12). When we are baptised in the Holy Spirit, we have the revelation and knowledge of Jesus (John 16:13-15). We will be led by the Holy Spirit and be empowered to bear spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-26), and to live above sin (Romans 8:13).
It is critically important for us to obey the command of our Lord to be water baptised as a public confession of our faith (Matthew 28:19). And it is not possible for us to live the victorious Christian life that God has ordained for us without being filled with the Holy Spirit. Hence, let us all make sure that we do as God has commanded us and receive all that God has for us through the power of the Holy Spirit!
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you”.
John 14:16-17, NIV