School

This is coal. 50 years coal has been used in our country to generate the lion's share of electricity for our homes, businesses, and industry. This electricity has provided us with power for lighting, heating, cooling, cooking, washing, communicating, entertaining—well, you get the idea. Simply stated, electricity is essential in providing for the many needs and amenities we enjoy in America.

Here at this power plant, every few days a string of coal cars arrive, packed with coal from out of state. When the coal arrives, it drops through the bottom of each car into this unloading station. From here, it travels by conveyor belt, where it is piled and sized for processing. The coal is then moved to a mill station where it is ground into a fine powder and used as fuel to fire a huge furnace chamber, heating it to over 1,000°. Here in the chamber, water courses through a grid of boiler piping and is superheated to create an intense steam. The steam is then piped into a large turbine engine where the pressure from the steam rotates the mechanical turbine, turning the electrical generator. As the generator spins, molecules move and charge, creating electricity. That electricity is then transferred to the switchyard just outside the plant where it's distributed to a number of substations throughout the region and then onto homes and businesses, supplying them with power.

What most people don't realize is that this process is constantly ongoing, creating power every day, 24/7, 365 days a year. But it all starts here with a lump of coal.

When you think about it, the process for generating electrical power has many similarities to the process we must all follow as Christians for having spiritual power. When we receive Christ at the moment of salvation, we become a new creation. The Holy Spirit indwells our being and resides in us, and at that moment we're given a great resource. But like any resource, if it's going to be helpful, it's got to be processed and put to use. Take this lump of coal—it's of little value if I just stand here and hold it. But if you process it and put it to use, it can be a great tool. As we've seen, it's the same for us as believers. If we have the Holy Spirit inside us and we never tap into his power, we miss a great opportunity to do more and reach the full potential God offers us beyond our own gifts and talents. Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

These final words of our Savior describe a powerful experience that we as Pentecostals hold dear. It's described in many ways in the Bible, but Jesus and others called it the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He also called it the promise of the Father. One of the things we need to realize is that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is for every Christian. In the book of Acts, on the day of Pentecost, the Bible says that they were all filled with the Spirit. Peter told the crowd on that day that that promise was for you, for your children, and for all who are far off, even as many as the Lord himself shall call. Friend, Peter was talking about us—all of us who are in Christ Jesus—those then, even those of us now, and those that are to come. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate experience that follows salvation. It is not a requirement for salvation, but it is a benefit that every member of the body of Christ can enjoy. So the Holy Spirit baptism is not a requirement of salvation for the non-Christian, but it is an empowering experience for the Christian so that they can be supernaturally equipped. The book of Acts demonstrates a very clear-cut pattern: The Holy Spirit baptism occurs only after someone has truly accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Now, the Holy Spirit is present during this process, for he is the convicting agent that draws someone to Jesus and baptizes him into Christ. But there is another experience that is different than and subsequent to salvation, and that's where the power of the Holy Spirit is so very real. With that experience comes intimacy, where we want to live a righteous, holy life, and also there comes a power to witness.

One of the things I've learned in being here at this plant is that creating power is really a noisy business. The fire stokes, the pressure builds, the turbine whines, the generator rumbles. Believe me, it's noisy, but it's all part of the process. Isn't that just like the Spirit? The historical record of the book of Acts shows that the baptism is always accompanied by speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. On the day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Spirit and spoke in other tongues or languages as the Spirit enabled them. This recurring sign of Acts is the initial physical evidence of the Holy Spirit and a sign that one has been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Think about it this way: When you purchase something at a store and the clerk gives you a receipt, the receipt is not the purchase; it's only proof of the transaction. Tongues is not the baptism; it is just an indication, proof that the transaction has occurred. Everyone who is baptized in the Spirit should expect to speak in tongues as the Spirit enables them.

To me personally, I view the baptism much like this furnace chamber here at the plant, or for that matter, like a steam kettle on a stove. When the water gets hot and begins to boil, there's no containing it; it's going to be released, and with it will come a sound. So it is with our spirit. When we approach God in brokenness, with a heart full of love for God and our mouths filled with thankfulness for his wonderful gift of salvation, there'll come a point when we're full and our spirit cannot be contained. It may not make sense to our human understanding, but it does to God—that's what matters. It's not about us; it's about God and our need to worship and give our highest expression of praise to him.

Let me share with you my own experience. I was saved at the age of six, and immediately I began to pray to be filled with the Spirit. I'd been taught by scripture and heard from my dad and other preachers that there was a special power that would be available to me to help me live out my life as a Christian and also to share my faith with my friends. Now today, they tell us there are more than 600 million Pentecostals on planet Earth, but it didn't seem that way in the little town where I was raised in Southeast Texas, and it didn't seem to be too cool to be a Pentecostal. So Daddy kept telling me, "You can have this inner strength, and you can have this power to witness." So I would seek for the baptism in the Holy Spirit; I would pray in every prayer service, but I just didn't seem to break through. I could not seem to receive with the evidence that they said I should have.

Now my problem was pretty simple to solve, as it turns out, but what you have to understand is the Holy Spirit is a gift that the Father wants to give you. The thing is, you have to receive. You know what my problem was? I wouldn't open my mouth. I mean, literally, I somehow had this feeling that if I spoke, if I opened my mouth, if I cooperated, that it would be me speaking and not the Holy Spirit. Well, He has to use your mouth and your vocal cords. And so I was clenching my teeth, and I can't even speak in English with my teeth clenched, much less, less, less, less, less, less, less speaking in a heavenly prayer language. I'd been seeking for about a maybe a year and a half, and I was in a service, and my dad had come to pray with me, and he was sitting beside me, and I just crying, and I was really moved, and the presence of God was so strong, and I was needing a handkerchief, and I knew that Dad always carried one in his pocket. So I turned around and tapped him on the shoulder and I said, "Daddy, that's what I was trying to say; let me have your handkerchief." Well, guess what? I opened my mouth, and when I opened my mouth, that's all the freedom I needed. The Holy Spirit was so powerfully real; I began to speak in my heavenly prayer language, and I've never been the same for all of these years.

Now I know what it's like to have a prayer language that builds me up in my faith, a power that gives me power to witness to friends and others, and an intimacy with the Holy Spirit where I can pray in a language that maybe I don't understand, but I'm praying, and I'm ministering. I'm even talking about things that, even though I don't know it in my mind, God is helping me pray for needs of others. And there's no higher form of communion or communication than praying in the Spirit. Now, out of this baptism process, we're empowered beyond our own capabilities; we're virtually immersed in the Spirit of God, in His presence. Human timidness is gone, and we are filled with confidence to share the Gospel. There's this desire to live a holy life, to be more Christlike, to live beyond our capabilities. There's a desire to read the Word; there's a desire to be a greater disciple; and there's this desire to help others. We hear a lot in our culture about being supersized—we're literally supercharged with the mind of the Spirit and the Spirit of Christ. And so at that point, we're able to empty ourselves in serving others, why? So we can win them. It's not just about tongues; it's about winning the lost. That's why we preach about it so much; that's why we speak it.

I want you to remember one thing: The Holy Spirit baptism is not just a one-time event; it is a continuous process. It's not just a goal but a gateway to a fuller life, to a greater life of service. The Apostle Paul says, "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be ye filled with the Spirit." That word in the original means to be filled and refilled and keep being filled. Why? So we can be filled and serve others and expend ourselves and then be filled again and serve others and expend ourselves. As that filling comes, we keep letting it flow out—that's the process, a cycle of ministry.

I want to mention an old energy resource that's being harnessed to provide power for our country; it's called wind energy. There's an interesting thing about wind as an energy resource: It's free for the taking; it is renewable, and it can never be diminished. If that doesn't sound like the Holy Spirit, what does? The same wind that was felt and heard in the upper room on the day of Pentecost is available to us today. The question is, are you open to it? What you may not realize is that the wind generators can be locked down, and the blades will not turn, no matter how forceful the wind blows. So you can have an unlimited supply of wind, and the blades will not turn. It is the same as with a new believer or any believer who resists the Holy Spirit and does not avail himself to the power of that Spirit. And so the choice is ours: Are we going to be a resource for the power that God has promised us, or are we going to block it out? The Bible says, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." It's your choice, you see. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to help us live beyond our human abilities. The day we accepted Christ, we were given a great opportunity—the power of His Spirit unleashed through baptism in our lives, with power to live, to serve, and to win others for all eternity. Friends, let's not squander it. I don't know about you, but my prayer is, Lord, send the wind.