In this episode, Greg outlines the diverse spiritual fires that began spreading out into the world from Jerusalem after the amazing, Christ-designed-and-executed outpouring of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire: fires of devotion, of light, of rapidly spreading faith, and so forth. Was this New Testament fire something new? Or was it like previous fires manifest during the period of Law? Was it "strange fire"? Or was it the same fire that burned in the bush which Moses gazed upon and to which, captivated with wonder, he drew near? Was it the same fire that was enveloped by the cloudy pillar Israel followed in the wilderness? Or was it the very "consuming fire" of God himself? Whatever it was, it created an unrelenting intense zealousness in the apostles and the rest of the 120 who were filled by it. Download, listen, and learn. Then live what you learn!

In that upper room two millennia ago, the mighty Holy Spirit fell on the church with strange-yet-dynamically-productive tongues of fire. As a result, when those first believers exited that famous ecclesiastical birthing chamber, they burst out into the world on fire! It is indisputable that the source of that unquenchable spiritual burning was the "Baptism with the Holy Spirit." What is this experience? Why don't we hear more about it? Does it occur when we are water baptized? Or born-again? Or when we go through confirmation as a youth? Or receive the elements of the Lord's Supper? In this episode, Greg answers these and other crucial questions. It's time for the church of Jesus Christ worldwide to awake. Will we awake, as the first Christians did, filled with spiritual fire? Or merely a pile of old, cold, religious ashes? Listen, and make up your own mind.

Jesus, John the Baptist, and Luke (Acts) heavily emphasize the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. It appears at the beginning of Church history (Acts 2), continues throughout Luke's record of the church's first thirty years, and was valued and ministered by the apostle Paul. Yet, strangely, many evangelical and liturgical Protestant organizations ignore or oppose the experience. Greg uses scripture to establish the fact that both Father and Son promised true believers could, and should, receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The artesian well (Gihon, or gusher) of the Spirit's "living water" (John 4:10-14). Or the "rivers of living water" Jesus promised on the last day of the Sukkot Festival (John 7:37-39). If the Father and Son are for this experience, why should any of us be against it? An enemy has done this. Let us rise above this opposition, study this special Baptism, pray for full insight, and prepare to receive this second blessing!

In John 14:21, 23, Jesus established that if we love Him we will obey His teachings. All of them! If we are selective in our obedience—obeying some of His teachings but rejecting others—our love is lacking. True devotion to Christ accepts everything of Him, from Him, and by Him. Greg shows by scripture that the "tongues of fire" at Pentecost were connected with the "Baptism with the Holy Spirit." In all four gospels, John the Baptist emphatically identifies Jesus as the Baptizer with the Holy Spirit. Every experience of this crucial infilling, heavily emphasized in Acts (chs. 2, 8, 9, 10, 19), was Christ's personal work. How may we be sure? He, and no one else, is the Baptizer with the Spirit! If we reject this life-changing experience, we will answer directly to Him for doing so at the Judgment Seat. No excuse will excuse us: Christ and His Word have spoken on this subject. Plainly. Repeatedly. And all for our good! If we have not received this Spirit-baptism, we should at the least respectfully study it until we are ready to receive it. For our full empowerment, the church's growth, and Christ's glory.

Greg continues teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and tongues of fire that appeared at the birth of the church on Pentecost Day. Did Jesus promise or prophesy any of the things that occurred during that dramatic and dynamic experience? Were the tongues of fire a divine sign of things to come or a passing anomaly? And more importantly, were the things that occurred in the Upper Room linked to the risen Christ? Or were they simply things that His followers experienced, yet had no direct connection to Him? Greg answers these questions, and more, in this episode, and reminds us of this vital maxim: we exclude Jesus' opinion on any revelation, doctrine, or practice at our own peril!

The birth of the church of Jesus Christ on Pentecost Day, as recorded in Acts 2, was accompanied by some admittedly strange phenomena – the sound of a rushing tornado, visible flames of fire over the heads of the 120 believers present, and speaking in strange, unknown languages. Why did these things happen? Were they of God? Of Men? Of Satan? Had those present previously received the Holy Spirit? If so, when and where did they receive Him, and how much? And what does this historical account tell us about our Christian walk today? In this first episode, Greg shares the first 3 of 8 biblical facts about the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the strange "tongues of fire." What you learn may just change your understanding of Pentecost – and your life!

In this episode, Greg points out that the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, which warns us to be ready for Jesus' appearing, is followed immediately by the Parable of the Talents, which warns us of what we will experience at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Is this rapture-judgment order coincidental or intentional? Greg believes the latter. He proposes that Jesus' sudden appearing to retrieve His bride church (the Rapture) - because it is a divine decision rendered (or judgment) as to who is ready and who is not - is in a sense the first part, or preliminary phase of the Judgment Seat of Christ. Jesus' promise to bring rewards with Him at His appearing (Rev. 22:12) confirms that the Judgment Seat will indeed occur just after the church is taken to heaven. Are you ready?

In this episode, Greg explores three other New Testament passages in which Christ, as in His Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids, pointed out the possibility of spiritually unprepared Christians being left behind when He appears. He also addresses the question sometimes posed by Christians who dislike the concept of a partial rapture, "Does a Christian have to be perfect to be taken in the rapture?" The answer, of course, is no! But although we do not have to be sinlessly perfect for Christ to take us, we must be serious about our walk with God and, more precisely, about preparation for Jesus soon coming.