Quin Sherrer - The Beginners Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit

2011 Quin Sherrer and Ruthanne Garlock

Published by Chosen Books
11400 Hampshire Avenue South
Bloomington, Minnesota 55438
chosenbooks.com

Chosen Books is a division of
Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
www.bakerpublishinggroup.com

Chosen edition published 2014

ISBN 978-1-4412-6869-3

Previously published by Regal Books in 2011

First edition published by Servant Publications in 2002.

Ebook edition originally created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Other versions used are:

KJVKing James Version. Authorized King James Version.

NKJVScripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

NASBScripture taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

NLTScripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The personal stories that appear in this book are true, but names of some individuals have been changed to protect their privacy.

Contents

I (Quin) thank the Lord Jesus for sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in His believers after He returned to heaven.

I will be forever grateful to the Reverend Forrest Mobley, an Episcopal priest in Destin, Florida, who lovingly encouraged me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit back in the early 1970s. In obedience to the Lord, Forrest had allowed the late Reverend Dennis Bennett to pray for him and his wife, Nancy, to receive the Holy Spirit three years earliera risky action for a mainline minister in those days. Today, almost four decades later, he remains my spiritual advisor, and our families live a few miles apart.

I am also grateful for John Sherrill, whose book They Speak with Other Tongues helped me understand the gift of the Holy Spirit, and for John and Elizabeths role in my writing career as I studied under them the year following my encounter with the Holy Spirit.

I (Ruthanne) give thanks to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit, His comforting presence and all the ways this amazing gift enriches my life.

I acknowledge the late Reverends John and Lydia Stubblefield, my childhood pastors in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who mentored me in the ways of the Holy Spirit and inspired me with a determination to serve the Lord with my whole heart and never to turn back.

I also express appreciation for Jeri Livingston, the now-retired evangelists wife who prayed with me the night I received the Holy Spirit some 60 years ago.

Both of us honor the memory of our late husbands, LeRoy Sherrer and John Garlock, our best friends and faithful prayer supporters. They always encouraged us in the writing and ministry endeavors we worked on before they went to heaven, where they now see everything with perfect clarity (1 Cor. 13:12, NLT).

We are grateful for our special friends at Servant and Regal publishers who have helped and encouraged us over the many years we have been writing. Their vision and commitment to Christian publishing have brought enlightenment and blessing to multitudes.

Thanks also to the men and women who were willing to share their stories with you, our readers, in the hope that your lives may also be touched by the Holy Spirit.

I was thrilled to be attending the wedding of Nan and Joe in a stone chapel overlooking the breathtaking snow-capped Colorado mountains near Vail. The ceremony was an answer to the prayers our family had prayed for Nan, now in her late thirties, who had waited many years for a Christian husband.

As they exchanged vows, my thoughts drifted back to a night eight years earlier when Nan had been a guest in our home. One Wednesday night she went with us to a service at our small interdenominational church. Since shed been raised in a strict denominational setting, our style of worship seemed a bit strange to her, then our pastor taught about receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Later, as we sat around our dining table that night, snacking, she plied us with questions:

Wasnt I filled with the Holy Spirit when I accepted Christ as a child?

Why do I need another experience?

What will the Holy Spirit do for mewill I know God better?

Do I have to speak in tongues?

On and on the questions went. I answered as best I could while encouraging her to continue the seeking process she had begun. Nan began attending our church regularly, no longer considering our services strange. Many times, I saw her face light up with the joy of the Lord as we sang praises to Him. I dont know whether she ever prayed to receive the Holy Spirit, but she did become comfortable worshipping with Spirit-filled people. At her wedding, at the request of the bride and groom, the minister invited anyone present who did not know Jesus personally to accept Him right then and there.

In the years that followed, as I tried to explain to many other Nans the benefits of receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I dreamed of writing a book for beginners on this topic. I even wrote out a two-page handout to give to those who asked me similar questions.

When our friends at Servant asked Ruthanne and me to write The Beginners Guide to Receiving the Holy Spirit, we jumped at the opportunity. I remembered my own experience, many years before, when Id had a multitude of doubts and questions, just like Nans.

We were in the middle of writing this book when, on September 11, 2001, terrorist suicide pilots destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and struck the U.S. Pentagon. The horror of the attack and the huge loss of life left Americans numb with shock. In the following days and weeks, our nation turned to God, led by our president. The Holy Spirit was present, even in the midst of the tragedy, ministering to people in all walks of life. We heard many stories of Gods protection, direction and comfort, both during the crisis and beyond.

For instance, AnneMarie, my friend who lives in New York, had spent 20 years trying to get her neighbor to accept the Lord. She showered her with kindness, holiday gifts and backyard fence talks. On the night of September 11, with AnneMarie present, not only did this neighbor accept the Lord, but she also received the baptism of the Holy Spiritall in the same evening!

Just a few weeks after the attack, I was scheduled to teach a seminar on prayer at a large church on the West Coast. Before September 11, I wouldnt have said that we were a praying church, the leader told me plainly. But now were open for the Holy Spirit to teach us how to pray. On a Friday nightan evening when church members usually attended sports eventsthe place was packed with people who had come for a two-hour session on how to pray.