Open our understandings, please. Flesh and blood
hath not revealed this unto thee, but to my Father,
which is in heaven. Open our understanding. Let
him that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith. But remember, it was the sovereignty of
God when the heart Holy Spirit came upon the
Old Testament saints, but that was changed after
Jesus came. Jesus knew the secret of his power.
Those miracles you read are the miracles. When
you read the miracles in the New Testament, it
was the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew
that being in the flesh, he could not perform
miracles. And yet he knew there would have to
be the manifestation of the supernatural power
of God. That's the reason in essence when he
said to them, if you won't believe all that I
say that I am, then believe me for the very work's
sake. And he knew that there would have to be
the supernatural power of God. Or they would
never accept him. And that was the reason he
offered himself first to the Holy Spirit. And
he said, if you'll come, if you'll be with me,
if you'll manifest the supernatural power of
the Father through me, I'll go because I'll need
that manifestation. I'll need it. And Jesus understood
every time there was a miracle. Jesus understood.
He understood perfectly well it was the Holy
Spirit. And those miracles did not begin until
after Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism.
And God spoke. And in that hour, the Holy Spirit
came upon him as a dove. Then, before he went
away, he told about the Holy Spirit. He told
him he would come. Read it there in John. He'll
teach you all things. He'll guide you. I'd give
anything in the world if I could stay with you
longer and take all of these scriptures. But
when you read your scripture now in the light
of that which I've been teaching you, light and
light will come. He will glorify me. And always
remember, that the Holy Spirit will always glorify
Jesus. Always. Jesus said he would. And the Holy
Spirit always magnifies. That's the reason I
say to you sometimes we get so involved with
our own ideas. There are those who run such a
hobby on the Holy Spirit that they have forgotten
all about Jesus. they have forgotten all about
Jesus. And Jesus made it very definite that the
Holy Spirit will magnify and glorify me. It's
still Jesus. But just before he went away wanting
to give his church, now whenever I speak of the
church, I'm talking about this body of believers
because there is only one who can say, my church.
Only one. When you say my church, you talk about
the denomination to which you belong. But the
one who could really say my church was Jesus,
this glorious body of believers. And every person,
whether they be Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant,
whoever that one may be, when they have this
wonderful new birth experience, they are automatically
born into this body of beliefs. Mine. These that
thou hast given unto me, Jesus said when he talked
to the Father. There is literally this kinship,
this relationship. We are a part of him and he
is the head of this wonderful body of believers.
In this holy sanctuary this morning, it makes
no difference who you are. And I dare say that
we have practically every denomination represented
here. It makes no difference. where you have
the church membership, if you have had that new
birth experience, then you are my brother and
my sister. And we are a member of this great
body of believers, this body of Christ. But remember,
before he went away, he wanted to give to this
body of believers. the greatest gift that he
could possibly give. The Holy Spirit had been
so faithful to him. The Holy Spirit had come
through every time. The Holy Spirit had been
so faithful. He depended on him. We had not let
him down. And so, knowing he was going to go
away, he said, it's expedient for you that I
go away. I have to go away, for I'm soon to take
the position of great high priest, ever living
to make intercession for you. And that's the
reason not one of us needs ever be defeated.
Not one. There isn't one of his children that
needs ever go down in defeat for one second.
Not one second. I don't care what the temptation
is. I don't care. Not one of us need ever go
down in defeat. We have a great high priest.
We have one who ever liveth to make intercession
for us. And he'll be right there to give you
the strength to come through victoriously. So
he says, I'll give you the gift. Now remember,
he came upon only a few in the Old Testament.
But now, now it was different. Now. And ye shall
receive a power. And he's talking to his own.
His own. His own. Members of this great body.
You cannot limit it just to the few in the upper
room. You cannot limit it to the 120. For he
was not speaking to just the 120. And he made
it known. The Holy Spirit made it known to whom
this glorious power was to come upon. He made
it known to the lips of Peter. To you. To this
generation. to the generation that follows and
the generation after that and the generation
after that. Even to that hour in the First Methodist
Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This promise is unto
you and your children and your children's children
and their children. And he included me. You dare
not limit the Holy Spirit to just the early church.
You dare not limit to this wonderful experience
to just 120. And ye shall receive power. What
power? The same power that was manifested in
his life and ministry. The same. Manifestation.
After that, the Holy Ghost is come upon you.
And the greatest gift that Jesus could possibly
give to his church was the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It's a part of your inheritance. It's yours.
It's a part of your inheritance. You don't know
what you're missing. You don't know what you've
been missing all this time. You don't know. You
don't know. It's a glorious experience. It's
a marvelous experience. But you say to this woman,
how is one filled with the Holy Spirit? It's
so simple. It's like that about everything when
it comes to the spiritual things. Healing is
so simple. There's some hard thing he'd asked
us to do. It's so simple that most folk miss
it. Now we come to the thing of tongues and the
experience. First of all, let me answer this
as simply as I can. How is one filled with the
Holy Spirit? He is with you, the scripture says,
but he shall be in you. The Holy Spirit is with
every Christian. If you're born again, the Holy
Spirit is with you. He was even with you before
you were born again because it's the Holy Spirit
who convicts the sinner of sin and of judgment.
The Holy Spirit is the mighty convicting power.
Know that. If only you could realize the importance
of the Holy Spirit. He is the convicting power.
No man comes to the Lord of himself. If you're
convicted, that is the Holy Spirit. He is with
every Christian. If you're born again, He is
with you. He's with every child of God. But when
it comes to this experience, but he shall be
in you. In. In. In. That makes a mighty close.
In you. Here. But how? Let me give you a simple
illustration that I possibly can. When we're
born again. Let's say, for instance, our heart
has four wounds in it. You want to know something?
I don't think we could take it all at once. You
know it? I really don't. Do you really want to
know how powerful is the Holy Spirit? Do you
really want to know? That's the reason when it
comes to the slaying power of the Holy Spirit.
And there are those who witness to the fact that
it was like a bowl of electricity. Do you know
what you're dealing with? Something greater than
any electricity. These old physical bodies of
ours can just take so much. They're not geared
for all this power. You understand? That's the
reason no man can look upon the face of God and
live. All that Moses saw was the hinder part.
That's the reason I know that God has a body.
He's more than something ethereal. He's more
than spirit. Moses literally saw. God is more
than just spirit. Oh, I'd like to spend the next
hour just on that, but I can't do it. But remember,
the four rooms of our hearts and at the time
of salvation, we think we've given him everything.
We think we have. And we open, as it were, one
room of our heart and say, come in, Lord Jesus.
Come in. And he comes in. We're born again. But
there's something about the next day, you know.
It's a light. It's something that's constant.
It's glorious. It's a definite transaction. That
new birth experience is a definite transaction.
The songwriter had it when he wrote the words
in the first stanza, some of self and some of
thee. Then the next verse, less of self and more
of thee. And then, none of self I can't put it
better. None of self. But all of these. None
of self. And it's the hardest thing in the world
sometimes, I think, is for men and women to die.
To die. None of self. None of self. none of self,
but all thee. But remember, he comes in as you
worship and adore Jesus, for Jesus said he'd
magnify me. And you get exactly what you seek
for. And many a person has sought tongues. tongues
you cannot show to me from the word of God you
cannot no theologian can show me and prove to
me in the word of God that you and I were ever
commanded to seek tongues and I believe in the
speaking in an unknown tongue I believe in it
with every atom of my being. Don't you dare go
out of here. Don't you dare. I'll pray conviction
on you that you won't sleep. And no sleeping
pill will help you out. Don't you dare. I believe
in the speaking in an unknown tongue. I've got
to believe it. It's here. In the house of Cornelius,
I believe. But they were at no time commanded
to seek them. Never. Repel himself. They were
seeking the Holy Spirit. In the upper room is
120. They were seeking him, the Holy Spirit.
And in the final analysis, my friend, when you
talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it's
still just more of Jesus and more and more and
more and more and more and more of Jesus. And
what, my friend, is the speaking in an unknown
tongue if you do not have the power of the Holy
Ghost and the love of Jesus? I'll go back to
that in just a second. If you seek tongues and
you're not scriptural, you're absolutely not
scriptural. If you get down on your knees and
pray for tongues, you're not scriptural. You're
not scriptural. You seek more of Jesus. And the
Holy Spirit comes in through praise. and adoration.
You worship Jesus. He will glorify me. And when
you get to the place where you love Jesus with
all of your heart, it's so easy to die to self
when you have Jesus, when you love Jesus. It
isn't a matter of struggling. It's so easy when
you love Jesus enough to surrender to Jesus.
And you love him and you adore him. And the Holy
Spirit comes in. And he will announce his own
incoming. It isn't that you seek any evidence.
You don't seek the evidence. The evidence will
come. And you don't have to seek the evidence.
The evidence will come. How many understand?
Put up a hand. And the greater of the two evidences
is the power that's manifested in your life.
For Jesus himself said, and he shall receive
power. Don't let us put words. in the mouth of
Jesus. Don't go contrary to the teaching of the
Master. His last words. He knew human nature
so well. And ye shall receive power after that
Holy Ghost has come upon you. And the greatest
evidence of having been filled with the Holy
Spirit will be the fruit of the Spirit. Yeah?
I'm gonna tell you something. When you plant
a peach tree, and if that's a genuine peach tree,
you're not gonna get crab apples. And remember
something else. Noise is in power. Yeah. I had
an old Model T Ford one time. First car I rode.
Oh, man. I'm going to tell you something. It's
that old Ford. If noise had been power, that
would have been the most powerful thing that
ever was on the road. Back in Idaho. Love is
the only thing. I think I got it for $35. It's
all I could afford. But say you die one of Tinker
Wilkerson's new imperials.