Before I make the following statement, let me preface it by saying that I am not a physician and have no expertise in the medical field. I am Billy Burns and there are no medical credentials attached to my name. With that being established, here is my statement – one of the greatest problems in today’s church is that those within the church have a hearing problem. This hearing problem shouldn’t be taken lightly because it is literally at an epidemic level in all 31 flavors of Baskin-Robbins Christianity!
This hearing epidemic might be news to you but it really isn’t something that just arrived on the scene. If you take the time to read the first seven verses of Acts 19, you can find a classic example of what I am sharing. You will recall in this passage Paul arriving in Ephesus and speaking to believers who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. (Did you catch that? They had a hearing problem.) Then, just three verses later, we read that after hearing Paul teach, everything changed. When the unheard heard, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they began to speak with other tongues and prophesy. It all began with them hearing.
Let me come back to my opening statement about the hearing problem within the church. I contend that the sole reason that those in our homes, ministries, and churches have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues echoes the same reason as those in Acts 19. They simply haven’t heard. Vickie and I see this story replicated over and over again as we travel and minister our Holy Spirit Rallies. As we open the Word and share in the services what God has to say about the necessity of every believer being baptized in the Holy Spirit, people (many hearing this message for the first time) respond and are gloriously baptized. It all happens once they hear.
In case you missed this truth because of its simplicity, here it is one more time. If you want to see people baptized in the Holy Spirit, teach/preach/share → people hear → people respond → the Holy Spirit comes upon them → people are baptized in the Holy Spirit. Or, even simpler, hear → here → believe → receive!
So, I exhort you to “preach the Word” (2 Timothy 4:2) because the “entrance of thy words giveth light” (Psalm 119:130) so that once again it can be said, “the Holy Ghost came on them” (Acts 19:6).
Yes, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear and heed My words.”
Hearing must be important because Jesus uses that phrase 8 times in Revelation. But, even more importantly, they must have something to hear. Ron, you know so well that the Person and work of the Holy Spirit is unknown to much of today’s church. This message isn’t being preached or taught or demonstrated. I’m so thankful that God is allowing us to carry this message to His body!