Holy Spirit and Power #3

Holy Spirit Power Overview

In this third installment of the Holy Spirit and Power series, Dr. William Owen of New Testament Church delivers a foundational teaching on the distinct experiences of being born again and being baptized in the Holy Spirit. Drawing from John 20:19-22, Acts 1:4-9, and Luke 24:49, Dr. Owen carefully distinguishes between the Holy Spirit breathing new life into believers at salvation and the subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit that clothes and empowers them for witness. He explains that Jesus Christ alone is the baptizer in the Holy Spirit, and that this empowerment — described by the Greek word dunamis, meaning explosive, superhuman power — equips believers to advance the kingdom of God through signs, wonders, and bold proclamation. Dr. Owen draws on his extensive international ministry experience, recounting dramatic miraculous healings including a man raised from excruciating physical trauma and bones restored on medical x-rays. He challenges the Western church’s spiritual complacency by contrasting it with the fire and necessity-driven faith found in developing nations. He also addresses common misconceptions about tongues, intercession, prophetic gifts, and how God intentionally leaves evidence of His power in the earth and in the lives of Spirit-filled believers.

Holy Spirit Power Outline

• 0:00:00 – Welcome and Opening Prayer: The pastor welcomes the congregation and those tuning in by radio and online, inviting all to fix their eyes on God’s love and prepare to receive from His Word.
• 0:12:00 – Worship, Offering, and Announcements: The congregation enters worship, receives the tithes and offering with teaching on sowing bountifully, and hears announcements about upcoming revival meetings and community outreach.
• 0:32:00 – Introduction to the Series and Jesus the Baptizer: Dr. Owen recaps the Holy Spirit and Power series, establishing that Jesus Christ is the sole baptizer in the Holy Spirit — distinct from water baptism performed by people.
• 0:45:00 – Two Separate Experiences: Born Again vs. Baptized in the Spirit: Using John 20:19-22 and Acts 1:4-8, Dr. Owen demonstrates that receiving the Holy Spirit at new birth and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are two distinct, sequential experiences.
• 0:58:00 – Dunamis: The Power of the Holy Spirit Explained: Dr. Owen unpacks the Greek word dunamis, comparing it to the unstoppable power of the Roman army, and describes how this superhuman energy produces extraordinary, unparalleled results for believers.
• 1:08:00 – Evidence, Miracles, and International Ministry Stories: Powerful testimonies of healings — including a minister restored after a devastating accident and bones healed with no medical trace — illustrate the tangible evidence of the Holy Spirit’s power.
• 1:20:00 – Tongues, Prophecy, and the Purpose of Spiritual Gifts: Dr. Owen distinguishes between the gift of tongues as a message from God requiring interpretation and praying in tongues as the recreated spirit speaking divine mysteries directly to God.
• 1:30:00 – Evidence in Creation: The Flood and Fault Lines: Drawing from Psalms 24:1-2, 33:7, and Genesis 7:11-12, Dr. Owen connects God’s pattern of leaving physical evidence in creation to His call for Spirit-filled believers to be living evidence of His power.
• 1:38:00 – A Call to Embrace the Power of God: Dr. Owen closes with a passionate exhortation for believers to stop fearing God’s power, embrace the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and become conduits of divine evidence in a world that desperately needs God.

Scripture References

John 20:19-22, Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-9, Genesis 2:6, Genesis 7:11-12, Psalms 24:1-2, Psalms 33:7, Psalms 136:6, Deuteronomy 8:11-15

Key Takeaways

• Jesus Christ is the only one who can baptize believers in the Holy Spirit — this is a core and distinct function of His ministry that no person or denomination can replicate.
• Being born again and being baptized in the Holy Spirit are two separate experiences: the first brings new life within, while the second clothes and empowers the believer for witness and ministry.
• The Greek word dunamis describes the power given at the baptism of the Holy Spirit as a superhuman, explosive energy that advances through every opposition and produces extraordinary results.
• God intentionally leaves evidence of His work — in creation through fault lines and the Grand Canyon, and in believers through miracles, healings, tongues, and transformed lives.
• Praying in tongues is the recreated spirit speaking divine mysteries directly to God, producing perfect prayer that builds the believer up even when the mind does not understand the words.
• Fear of God’s power is rooted in misinformation and keeps believers from the fullness of what God desires to do through them in a world that desperately needs His supernatural intervention.
• The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a luxury for spiritual elites but a necessary empowerment for every believer called to be a witness to Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.

Holy Spirit Power Notes

Jesus Alone Baptizes in the Holy Spirit

One of the most critical foundations Dr. Owen lays in this message is the exclusive role of Jesus Christ as the baptizer in the Holy Spirit. While any believer can baptize another person in water, only Jesus can immerse a person in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist made this clear when he said the one coming after him would baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. This is not a minor doctrinal footnote but a third and essential dimension of Christ’s ministry — alongside His role as Redeemer and Lord — that every believer is meant to experience personally and fully.

Two Experiences One Believer Must Receive

Dr. Owen draws a precise biblical distinction between the moment a person is born again and the subsequent experience of Spirit baptism. Using John 20:19-22, he shows that the apostles received the Holy Spirit on resurrection day when Jesus breathed on them — the Greek word emphyso, the same used in Genesis when God breathed life into Adam. Yet forty days later, Jesus still commanded them to wait in Jerusalem for a separate promise: to be clothed with power from on high. This enduement, from the Greek word meaning to slip on a garment and sink into it, is a distinct and tangible experience that changes how the Spirit works through a believer.

Dunamis Power That Leaves No Opposition Standing

The word Jesus used when promising the Spirit’s arrival is dunamis, from which English derives the word dynamite. Dr. Owen explains this is no ordinary power — it is a superhuman energy that produces phenomenal, extraordinary, and unparalleled results. He draws a compelling parallel to the Roman army, which advanced through any opposition without sustaining casualties. This is the same power God wants flowing through every Spirit-baptized believer: not to make them impressive, but to make them effective witnesses who display God’s goodness and authority in a world that has run out of human solutions.

Miracles That Silence Every Doubt

Among the most powerful moments in this message are Dr. Owen’s firsthand accounts of healings witnessed across the world. A minister struck by a semi-truck, his skull and bones crushed, was brought to a meeting in agony and left completely healed. The following day, his doctor confirmed through x-rays that not only were all broken bones restored, but a fracture from twenty years prior showed no trace of ever having occurred. These are not secondhand stories but testimonies that Dr. Owen has witnessed and documented, offered to ground the theology of the Holy Spirit’s power in real, verifiable, and life-altering experience.

Tongues Prophecy and the Pattern of Evidence

Dr. Owen carefully explains the difference between the gift of tongues, which is a message from God to the congregation requiring interpretation, and the prayer language of tongues, which is the believer’s spirit speaking divine mysteries directly to God. He also connects God’s design to always leave evidence — from fault lines and the Grand Canyon as proof of Noah’s flood, to healed bodies and prophetic fulfillment as proof of the Spirit’s work — to Jesus’s declaration that Spirit-baptized believers will be His witnesses, living evidence of His resurrection power throughout the earth.

Embracing Power Without Fear

Dr. Owen closes with a direct pastoral challenge: too many Western Christians are afraid of God’s power while being unbothered by the demonic bondage afflicting the people around them. He recounts a young man who prayed for the healing of a bent-over elder, saw an immediate miracle, then quietly retreated in fear. The diagnosis was clear — misinformation had taught him to be wary of the very gift God designed for his effectiveness. The call is simple and urgent: stop pulling back from what God is pouring out, and instead become the conduit of His power that this generation so desperately needs.

Frequently Asked Questions