Initial Evidence

Tithe

“I have held many things in my hand, and have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God’s hands that I still possess.” – Martin Luther

Proverbs 11:28 (NKJV) He who trusts in his riches will fall, But the righteous will flourish like foliage.

Why does the righteous flourish? Because he’s not trusting in his own riches, he’s trusting in God. Put your trust in Him.

“Generosity will set you free from the control of money and from the fear of lack.” - Mark Hankins

D.L. Moody said this about the Holy Spirit…

“How easy it is to work for God when we are filled with His Spirit! His service is so sweet, so delightful; He is not a hard master. People talk about their being overworked and breaking down. It is not so. It is [over-worry] and care that wears people out. Why do so many workers break down? Not from overwork, but because there has been friction of the machinery; there hasn’t been enough of the oil of the Spirit. Great engines have their machinery so arranged that where there is friction there is oil dropping on it all the time. It is a good thing for Christians to have plenty of oil.” – D.L. Moody

What is the Initial Evidence of Being Filled with the Holy Spirit?

Speaking in Tongues

Acts 2:1–4 NKJV

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.

One key to studying the Bible is the law of first mention: you can oftentimes get a good idea of what the Bible is talking about when you go back to the first place it’s mentioned, because it will set the standard for other times. For times’ sake, we won’t go further into these examples at this time, but there are five instances in the book of Acts where believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in other tongues

Acts 2:1–4 (NKJV)

Acts 8

Here we see Philip the evangelist preaching Jesus to the Samaritans. Afterward, Peter and John were sent to baptize them with the Holy Spirit. Simon, a sorcerer, saw the miracles of Philip and did not desire what he had. But when he saw the evidence of believers filled with the Holy Spirit, he wanted what they had and was willing to pay for it.

What did Simon see?

It had to have been the evidence: the people speaking in tongues

Acts 2:33 NKJV

33 Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.

Saul in Acts 9

This doesn’t say specifically that he spoke in tongues, yet it also doesn’t say he didn’t, as the pattern has been shown to be.

in 1 Cor. 4:18 we see that Paul spoke in tongues more than the entire Corinthian church, who spoke in tongues a lot! When did that begin? It would have been according to the pattern laid out in Acts 2: he was filled and began to speak in tongues

Acts 10:44-46

Cornelius’ household

Acts 19:1-6

Born-again believers who were born again and walking in the light they had, but they didn’t know there was a Holy Spirit!

They were filled and spoke in tongues

Another Helper

John 14:15–17 NKJV

15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Another like Jesus

Jesus is the Word made flesh — Holy Spirit is the revealer of the Word in us and with us

John 14:26 NKJV

26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Holy Spirit is our teacher, the revealer of truth, and the One Who reminds us of all Jesus said

Jesus is the Word made flesh; Holy Spirit is the Word in us

Why Tongues? Getting to know Holy Spirit

Without a relationship with the Holy Spirit, we will try to live from the source of yesterday, yesteryear, or yester-decade. A relationship is a living thing, full of life and newness. To be constantly being filled with the Holy Spirit is to know Him, to love Him, and to walk with Him intimately in day-to-day life, through your everyday work, obligations, and details. Don’t fit Him into your life, make Him your life. Live with a constant understanding that He is not only beside you, He is in you, He loves you, and He is always desiring to speak to you and reveal His goodness to you. When we understand by revelation that He is a divine person, we will long to do life with Him, and we will constantly be seeking re-fills and being re-filled.

Holy Spirit has a divine personality

He can be grieved

Ephesians 4:30 NKJV

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Any circumstances or actions contrary to God’s perfect plan for our lives will grieve Holy Spirit, but specifically these things that are listed:

Ephesians 4:25–31 NKJV

Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

He can be stifled, offended, restrained

1 Thessalonians 5:19 NKJV

Do not quench the Spirit.

Holy Spirit does not force Himself upon us. We stifle Him through unbelief and rebellion to what He has to say - His abundant power is limited to what we allow Him to do in our lives, and none of us have reached a point to where He is able to flow unlimited in our lives, although that’s the desired end

He has a voice

Hebrews 3:7–9 NKJV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years.

His voice is His Word

His voice is the inward witness — His Spirit bearing witness with our spirits (Romans 8:16

Romans 8:16 NKJV

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

He can be insulted

Hebrews 10:29 NKJV

Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

He has desire

James 4:5 (TPT) Does the Scripture mean nothing to you that says, “The Spirit that God breathed into our hearts is a jealous Lover who intensely desires to have more and more of us”?

You will never find the power of God isolated from the spoken word of God

1 John 5:7–8 (NKJV)

For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

The Holy Spirit and the Word work in close fellowship with each other - where you find the Word at work, the Holy Spirit is there. Where you find the Blood of Jesus applied, the Holy Spirit is there. Where you find the Holy Spirit at work, the Blood of Jesus and the Word are there.

“The Word was spoken so it could be written, and it was written so it could be spoken.” - Mark Hankins

Ephesians 5:25–26 NKJV

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

The action of speaking is consistent with the personality and character of Holy Spirit, from the beginning to now

Holy Spirit has always come upon people to say and to do.

What happened when the Holy Spirit came upon people in the Old Testament?

Holy Spirit in Creation

Genesis 1:2-3 (AMPC) The earth was without form and an empty waste, and darkness was upon the face of the very great deep. The Spirit of God was moving (hovering, brooding) over the face of the waters. [3] And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.

We can see that Holy Spirit, Who is the power of God, was present but not active until the Word was spoken

You will never find the power of God at work where the Word of God was never spoken

Or, you will never find a time when God did something without saying it first

Numbers to Joel

Numbers 11:17 (NKJV)

Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone.

Numbers 11:25–29 (NKJV)

Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.

But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!”

Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

Moses prophesied of the day we are living in: a day in which all who are born again can be filled with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, and prophesy

Numbers 24:2–10 (NKJV)

And Balaam raised his eyes, and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes; and the Spirit of God came upon him.

Then he took up his oracle and said:

“The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor,

The utterance of the man whose eyes are opened,

The utterance of him who hears the words of God,

Who sees the vision of the Almighty,

Who falls down, with eyes wide open:

“How lovely are your tents, O Jacob!

Your dwellings, O Israel!

Like valleys that stretch out,

Like gardens by the riverside,

Like aloes planted by the Lord,

Like cedars beside the waters.

He shall pour water from his buckets,

And his seed shall be in many waters.

“His king shall be higher than Agag,

And his kingdom shall be exalted.

“God brings him out of Egypt;

He has strength like a wild ox;

He shall consume the nations, his enemies;

He shall break their bones

And pierce them with his arrows.

‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’

“Blessed is he who blesses you,

And cursed is he who curses you.”

Then Balak’s anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times!

Even more incredible than God speaking through a donkey is God speaking through a heathen prophet!

1 Samuel 10:6 (NKJV)

Then the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you [Saul], and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man.

1 Samuel 10:10 (NKJV)

When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.

Notice, when the Spirit of God came upon Saul, he not only prophesied, but even his character was changed, as if he was another man

When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, He will begin the process of transforming you into who you never thought you could be.

There’s nothing the Blood can’t change about you except the color of your eyes and the length of your nose! - Mark Hankins

1 Samuel 19:20–23 (NKJV)

Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also. Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is at Sechu. So he asked, and said, “Where are Samuel and David?”

And someone said, “Indeed they are at Naioth in Ramah.” So he went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God was upon him also, and he went on and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah.

1 Chronicles 12:18 (KJV 1900)

Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said,

Thine are we, David,

And on thy side, thou son of Jesse:

Peace, peace be unto thee,

And peace be to thine helpers;

For thy God helpeth thee.

Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

2 Chronicles 15:1–2 (NKJV)

Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him: “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

2 Chronicles 20:14–18 (NKJV)

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.

2 Chronicles 24:20 (NKJV)

Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ”

Isaiah 61:1a (NKJV)

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor...

Ezekiel 11:5 (NKJV)

Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and said to me, “Speak! ‘Thus says the Lord: “Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

Joel 2:28 KJV 1900

28 And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions:

This was fulfilled in Acts

Acts 2:1–8 (NKJV)

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.

And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?

Your voice is the instrument God has chosen to use to establish His kingdom upon this earth

1 Corinthians 1:21 NKJV

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

2 Corinthians 4:13 NKJV

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak,

As born-again, Spirit-filled believers, speaking in tongues is invaluable: it is an arena in which we can pray, praise, and speak to God while saying only His will and speaking only faith-filled words