Dear Church

“….until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49)

Everybody is into “power” these days. Business people have “power lunches,” teenagers want “power cars,” governments want to know how to deal with “super powers,” banks want to be the most “powerful” banks in the world, the Olympics are all about “power sports.” There are “power brokers,” “power saws,” nuclear power,” “powerful computers,” etc. We even talk about God being “all powerful,” but one subject that is largely ignored in many Christian circles is the “gift of POWER” that God has made available, called the Baptism of the Holy Spirit!

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the gateway to experiencing the “supernatural power” of God.

The believers with three and a half years of close association with Jesus, being exposed to His teaching and preaching, seeing firsthand the power encounters that brought notable healings, the miraculous, and the eviction of demons, and witnessing the close relationship of Jesus with the Heavenly Father and Holy Spirit, were changed to a certain extent but not sufficient enough for them to serve His purpose without His earthly presence.

Jesus emphatically told them, “And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:48-49)

That baptism came on the day of Pentecost. “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4).

The early church was able to stand strong in the face of severe persecution, demonic infestations within and outside the church and preached the Gospel everywhere they went because they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, apart from the filling of the Spirit when they accepted Christ.

Their ministry is a fulfillment of the Promise of Jesus to them in Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

They were enabled to minister in power, serve in power and to walk in power!

I encourage every one of us to desire to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and be thrust into the realm of the supernatural by availing ourselves to receive the supernatural gift of speaking in tongues.

Blessings,

Pastor Ong and Pastor Nancy