Fruits:
Every one of us is tasked with bearing much fruit. Once a soul has come to Christ and has been adopted into God’s family, they are expected to demonstrate that they are who they say they are. Christians are expected to behave like Christ followers. Jesus said that is how God receives glory: when we bear much fruit (Jn 15:8). John said that the time of accountability has come and that the axe to cut down the trees has been placed on the root of every tree. The Bible speaks metaphorically of trees as men. Jesus healed a blind man who saw men as trees when he spat on his eyes and then touched him (Mk 8:23-25). One of the fruits that believers are to display is the fruit of repentance, and this begins with baptism of water. After a believer is baptised with water, a second baptism occurs, and that is with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Matthew 3:10-12
10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
11 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:
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Now, the baptism of the Holy Spirit immerses the believer into the body and equips him with power for the ministry. The manifestation of speaking tongues and other gifts becomes evident in a believer (Acts 2:4). But John said that after Jesus came, he was going to baptise the believers with the Holy Spirit and fire. What was he referring to with fire? The fire John was referring to in this context was purification. The scriptures tell us that God will deal with the believer to purify him just as silver and gold are purified (Za 13:9). Fire is a symbol of God’s presence (Ex 3:2). It is also a symbol of divine judgement, as when God sent fire and brimstone unto Sodom and Gomorrah. And as a symbol of the power of the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, the disciples found themselves speaking in tongues.
There are four forms of energy that fire releases: 1. Thermal energy, which is heat released. 2. Light energy, which is visible light emitted. 3. Kinetic energy, which is produced by gases that produce flames. 4. Chemical energy, which maintains the flame burning. The energy released from the baptism of the Holy Spirit does not allow us to become shut off. The Prophet Jeremiah said that if he kept his mouth shut, a fire would light up inside him (Jer. 20:9). The disciples felt the fire after the resurrection while they were on their way to Emmaus, where it burnt inside their hearts as Jesus spoke the scriptures to them (Lk 24:32). The fire of the Holy Spirit cannot be quenched.
John 15:8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
Mark 8:23-25
23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. 24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. 25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
Acts 2:4
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Zachariah 13:9
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.
Exodus 3:2
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Jeremiah 20:9
9 Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
Luke 24:32
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?