"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:" (Matthew 3:11).

Today is a great Christian celebration, even like the birth of Christ. Today is Pentecost Sunday where we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit should never be taken lightly. Jesus said in Mark 3:28 - 30 "Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit."

At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus, and His birth into our life. The next celebration is Easter where we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and also His resurrection into our lives. At Pentecost we remember the outpouring of His Holy Spirit, also in us.

Christmas, Easter and Pentecost must not just be memorial services of remembrance, but it must be alive and real in our lives. If we only remember it as happening in the past then it has no meaning. We celebrate because of what He has done in our lives personally. If Jesus hasn't been born in your life it is meaningless to remember His birth 2000 years ago.

His birth, death, resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit must be daily active and real in our lives.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. Jesus said of those who are lukewarm in Rev 3:16, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."

We read in Romans 8:9b, "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His."

If I ask you if you're baptised with water, you won't doubt. You know whether you've been baptised with water or not. So you must be sure that the Holy Spirit is with you, and that you have been baptised with the Holy Spirit.

If you should take a rock from the Tugela river, and you split it, it is dust-dry inside. The water cannot penetrate it. But if you put that same rock inside a hot fire, the fire will penetrate it and it will even become white hot inside. The fire penetrates right through.

Having the fire of the Holy Spirit penetrating you means He has changed and filled every part of you, your hands, feet, eyes, tongue etc. Has His fire penetrated you, from the crown of your head to the sole of your feet?

Dr Edwin Orr once called a Dutch Reformed minister and a Baptist to the front and asked them who of them used the most water when they baptised. It sounded like a foolish question, but then he said that although the one uses little water and the other much, it is a pity that neither of them baptise the tongue. There are both baptised Baptists and baptised Dutch Reformed people that slander and speak evil with their tongues. A tongue not under the control of the Holy Spirit is a fire from hell.

It was said of John Fletcher that he never spoke anything unnecessary or spoke about other people and gossiped about them.

A person filled with the Holy Spirit have one goal and work together for God's kingdom, from whatever race or language.

Before I was filled with the Holy Spirit I was completely independent and worked independently, doing everything alone. But when I was filled with the Holy Spirit I wanted to work together with God's children, and do things with His Body. I enjoyed fellowship with God's children.

So too we see Paul always wanted to see the brethren, strengthen them and be strengthened by them.

One finds worldly Christians also find a type of unity together, but worldliness is written all over them and that's what unites them, the world and its pleasures.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2).

"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: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call." (Joel 2:28-32).

Before I got married, in the early days of the mission, I read these verses and those in Isaiah 40 and took it literally that God would pour out His Spirit upon my descendants. I was shocked for I wasn't even married at that time.

The Holy Spirit that He puts into us is His badge of identity. The Holy Spirit doesn't lie. If you tell lies you have satan as your father for he is a liar and the father of liars. A person filled with the Spirit of God doesn't say sorry but doesn't mean it. We need people filled with the Spirit of God marked by His identity.

The final day of the Lord is coming, and for all things you've done you will come into judgement.

We also read that those who call on the Name of the Lord shall be saved. You too can call on the Name of the Lord and be saved.

It's wonderful that God said that He will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh and didn't differentiate between nations and cultures. Don't think that you are left out of God's plan. Trust in God and be filled with His Spirit as He commands and see what He will do.