Baptism of the Holy Spirit
I was thinking of ways to start the blog post. Couldn’t really think of a “cool” or “fun” way to start off. So I would just like to thank you lot for clicking on this blog post!
WELCOME TO ANOTHER fireBRANDS BLOG POST!!
If you’re one of our faithful readers, you would probably know that our youth service starts off with icebreakers on the 2nd and 4th week of every month. This week was no different. We had our very own “cili padi”, Charity Loh to lead us in the icebreaking session. (If you don’t know what is a cili padi, here’s the link to a Wikipedia page all about cili padi)
Our dear cili padi introduced a game often played in Forge life group. Forgers call it the orange game. Well there weren’t any oranges, so tennis balls were used instead. The game is actually quite simple and fun. 2 “volunteers” are placed in the middle while everyone else are seated in a circle with their hands behind their backs. A tennis ball is then pass around through the back of the people in the circle. The 2 tributes would have to locate where the tennis balls are. Whoever is caught having the ball will switch places with the person in the middle.
After a time of fun and games came the time for intimacy with God. Worship was led by Benz (the one holding the acoustic guitar) and prayer was led by Jonathan (the one seating down at the most left)
We were asked to pray for
- exam candidates
- Zika virus
- Malaysia
The night was continued by the sermon! Oh wait… there seems to be a picture of Josh… I wonder why… OH YA! It’s time for announcements!
Announcement is the Media Team is recruiting!! (contact Isaac Huang)
Alright, now it’s time for the reason why you clicked on this blog post. It’s time for the message! Pastor Shamala spoke the word of God that week. This week’s message is more of a bible study kind of style. So be prepared to see tonnes of bible verses. The message was titled
«Baptism of the Holy Spirit»
John 3 speaks about being born again in the Holy Spirit. But this is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Baptism means to be deep/emmerse yourself in something. Therefore, baptism of the Holy Spirit is emmersing ourselves in the Holy Spirit. Baptism of the Holy Spirit is the promise of God to us. In John 16, Jesus tells his disciples about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Again in Acts 1, after the ressurection of Jesus, He tells his disciples to stay in Jerusalem to wait for the Holy Spirit. In Acts 2, we can read about the very first experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We also read that the Holy Spirit is not exclusively for certain people but is for everyone. We are reassured again in Acts 10 when we see that not only the Jews but the Gentiles also experienced and received the gift of the Holy Spirit.
One would wonder if the having the Holy Spirit brings any good or bad to us. In Luke 11:11, we know that our Heavenly Father will not give us an evil spirit. When one is baptised in the Holy Spirit, one would start to pray in tongues. Praying in tongues is a way of the Holy Spirit guiding us to pray as stated in Romans 8:26.
You may not know it, but we have a spritual armor of God. The armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a weapon that can be used against evil. This can be found in Ephisians 6:13.
Pastor Shamala ended by having an alter call for those who wished to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
Alright you lot, this is the end of the blog post. If you guys wish to read more, you guys can click on fireBRANDS down below. Don’t forget to follow us on Medium for more blog posts like this and also check out our Facebook and Instagram page. Suddenly fell like I’m a YouTuber XD.
photos were taken by Isaac Huang
