TEACHING

Pat Robertson on the Holy Spirit

PatRobertson.com - The question has been asked, "How do I get the baptism of the Holy Spirit? What is it, and how do I get it?"

Before Jesus left, He said to his disciples, "You tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." And He said, "You will receive power after that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And then you will be my witnesses, in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and to the utter-most parts of the earth."

The first thing is power. Now, there are two kinds of power. Jesus said, "I have all power in heaven and earth given unto me. That is a Greek word, exousia, that means authority.

The other power comes from the word that means dynamite. This is resident power. This other is authority like the president has authority to push a button and incinerate half of the earth. But you will receive resident power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you. He was speaking to people who would already receive the Holy Spirit.

Now, there is, if you will, an indwelling Spirit and an outpoured Spirit. When you receive Jesus, you say, "Jesus is in my heart." What you really are saying is that the Spirit of God is joined with your spirit. And that is the indwelling Spirit that has come within you.

The indwelling Spirit reproduces the life of Jesus, and we have so-called fruit of the
Spirit -- love, joy, peace, longsuffering, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, et cetera. The fruit of the Spirit.

But there is also, the outpoured Spirit, which is what the baptism is. This is the outpoured Spirit. And this is the Spirit, if you will for power, where Jesus said, "You tarry in Jerusalem until you get it." The outpoured is what we call the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now let me give you an example. If I had a glass of water and I drank the water, I would say I have water in me. When you come to the Lord, the Holy Spirit takes you and puts
you into Jesus. And the Spirit of God comes within you and reproduces the life of Jesus. This is a life-long process that takes place. Fruit grows slowly and gradually.

But I'm here standing possibly 14 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Were I to go down to the shores of Virginia Beach and get into the water, before long, the water would be up to my knees and then up to my waist and then up to my neck, and before long, I would be underneath the water. I would be baptized, immersed in the water.

Now it's me in relation to water, but the difference is incredible in terms of the dimension between a glass of water inside of you and you being in the middle of the water.

Now the Holy Spirit takes you and puts you into Jesus when you come to Him. "Nobody can come to Me, except the Father draws him." And who draws him is the Holy Spirit. He convicts the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He brings conviction in our heart that we need Jesus and He takes us and leads us to Jesus.

And in terms of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the baptizer. He places you into the Holy Spirit's power. Jesus, is the baptizer in the Spirit . And you seek Him. You don't seek the Spirit. You seek the Lord and ask for His power, and He places you into the Holy Spirit.

When you have received this, there is an anointing for the manifestations of the Spirit.
We use the term gifts. But it is actually manifestations where there are nine manifestations having to do with utterance, having to do with revelation and having to do with power. This is the result of the outpoured spirit.

So how do you get it? You ask Jesus, and you surrender, and you believe, and you receive.