Just to be clear as to where I stand in regards to my faith in Jesus Christ, when a person comes to & believe in Jesus Christ, they are filled to such a point as Jesus promised; that they would hunger and thirst no more to be filled ( John 6:35 ) and thus they are complete in Christ, after having received Him. Colossians 2:5-10 Our always being filled with the Spirit is a testimony that we are a new creature in Christ Jesus as born again and thus sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise like new wineskin able to hold the new wine for ever so we can testify that Jesus Christ is our Savior because we are saved. Matthew 9:17
Saved believers that seek another filling to be able ministers should not preach to that ( 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ) because there is no more filling with the Spirit ( 1 Corinthians 12:13 ) and no other hope of our calling to be filled. Ephesians 4:4-6
2 Corinthians 3:1Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2 Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
No minister need an extra commendation or an extra filling of the Spirit to be an able minster of how he or she was saved.
So I agree with you that one that does not speak in tongues, that does not mean they are not Spirit-filled, BUT just as we do not need tongues to validate that we are Spirit-filled, saved believers do not need a second filling to validate them to be an able minister of Jesus Christ of Whom we believe.
Elders can anoint a saved believer will oil, but that is all they are anointing with because saved believers already have Him as promised by faith in Jesus Christ.
TJ, I'm with you on almost everything you say, especially about Isa 8:19, but the elders in Antioch
laid hands on Barnabas and Saul for ministry Acts 13:2, 3, notice they were so doing in obeying the command of the Holy Spirit for the particular ministry He had chosen for them in the Body of Christ and later Paul would exhort young Timothy to not neglect the gift the Holy Spirit had given him through prophecy and by the
laying on of hands of the elders 1 Tim 4:14, Paul also instructed Timothy to not
lay hands on a novice 1 Tim 5:22.
So it seems the Holy Spirit does tell us there
is something more than the indwelling we receive when born again, personally, I look at it this way, ...when I was born again,
I received the Holy Spirit, ...when it was clear to the elders in my church the call of the Holy Spirit on my life, they laid hands on me and the Holy Spirit received
me, ...what did
I receive from this filling, baptism or whatever anyone wants to call it,
faith, I was filled with faith, ...the Lord called me here and I was to come on a one way ticket (impossible for a non-French citizen), without any documents that would allow me to stay longer than three months as a tourist and without any financial aid from my church or friends, when the Lord gave me these conditions I was filled with wonder as to how it could happen and believe me I tried my best to help Him, all to no avail, there were some in my church that doubted His call on my life and sometimes I allowed their doubt to settle on me, this went on for almost a year from when He called me to the day before I left, ...the day the elders laid hands on me for this missionary trip, all doubt and wonder instantly vanished and I was sure, I knew deep in my soul the Father would accomplish what He had told me to do, all that was required of me was to step out in faith and trust Him with the rest, I was stopped at the SFO check-in counter, but He opened the door, I was detained at the FAA'A Airport French Immigration, but He opened the door, I hit the shores without a penny in my pocket, but He fed me and housed me (unlike His son I have always had a place to lay my head, even if it was only a bench in the employees lunch room), and I lived here for 3 1/2 years without any official papers, questioned twice by French Immigration during that time and then He told me to go to a particular church on the sister island of where I was living and that day He introduced me to His Eve for me, ...incidentally, she had been praying for 12 years for an American husband that played an instrument and loved working with children, ...that's me and with this marriage I became a Naturalized French citizen, they can't deport me now.
You see bro, I
did receive something from the Holy Spirit that day hands were laid on me, ...because I have lived a daily life of faith in Father providing for me, I'm considered a freak, or a monster by most of the church, ...because of my faith, like James says,
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Jas 2:18
Like I said, the day I was born again
I got the Holy Spirit, the day hands were laid on me the
Holy Spirit got me!
Blessings,
Gene
