The Purging Fire of the Holy Spirit [Audio]
Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash
By Tom Shanklin
For weeks Susan had thought we were going to visit a very special church leader named Bishop Sutton. In fact we were on our way to visit Pastors Dave and Jenny Dickerson and the lively congregation of the Bishop Sutton Community Church in Bishop Sutton, Somerset, South England.
We had a wonderful time of worship and both Susan and I shared the Word with these hungry souls. As I have everywhere I have gone on this trip, I preached on John’s announcement about Jesus’ ministry:
“I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Matthew 3:11 MEV)
Enjoy the fire! We need to repent, but the fire can do what repentance alone will not accomplish. Jesus’ ministry went beyond the ministry of John. Through the blood of the cross and the fire of the Holy Spirit, we can expect to be changed, in Jesus name.
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