Now watch. Though I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels and have not love, I am become
a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophecy, understand all the
mysteries, read it, that 13th chapter. of 1 Corinthians.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the
poor, though I gave my body to be burned and
have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Now,
if you want to know whether one has really been
filled with Holy Spirit, There will be the evidence
of the fruit. There will be the evidence. Love
suffereth long. Always patient. And is kind.
Can your experience measure up with this? Endeth
not. Sometimes I think we have more jealousies
in our assemblies and in our churches than any
place else in the world. The sin of jealousy
is so prevalent. And it's the first sin that
we have any record of whatsoever. That's what
caused an angel to fall and become sick. Bonteth
not itself. Is not puffed up. I'm going to stop
right there and say something. You do not have
the fruits of the Spirit. Watch this. If you
have spiritual pride, you say, I have been filled.
This gets me more than almost anything else.
Somebody comes along and said, Oh, Ms. Gomez,
so nice meeting you. I want you to know that
I've been filled with the Holy Spirit. I've had
the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I have all the
gifts of the Spirit. And the more they talk,
the more puffed up. I feel like taking a pin
and just puncture the balloon. And I get away
from that one so fast. Because, beloved, the
greatest of all Christian graces is humility.
And if you have received the baptism of the Holy
Spirit, remember, one of the fruits of the Spirit
is humility. And some folks, after they think
that they've been filled with the Holy Spirit,
you can't... Touch them with a 10 -foot pole,
they're so proud. Everybody else is on a lower
level because they have received the baptism
of the Holy Spirit. How many understand? Put
up a hand. I'll go a step further when it comes
to, and I'd like to take this whole thing, I'll
go a step further when it comes to not only the
fruits, but the gifts of the Spirit. If you have
really received one or more of the gifts of the
Spirit, you're not going to boast of it. You're
not going to talk about it. Because these things
are so sacred. These things are so sacred. They're
so wonderful. It's like a beautiful jewel. It's
precious. It's precious. You got it so well.
No one will ever hear Catherine cool. ever admit
that she has been given any gift to the Spirit.
I would no more than anything in the world. I
would no more. I would no more stand before an
audience or even speak privately of any gift
to the Spirit the Holy Spirit has ever given
me. It's a gift. A responsibility that goes with
it. And you got it. carefully in your God's gathering.
And He gives you a reward for what the Holy Spirit
has done and has given. I beg of you, if there's
one in this place who's going around boasting
of some gift of the Spirit, be careful. Be very
careful how you use it. Be very careful. It's
a sacred trust. It's something so precious you
don't talk about. Much as I've said this morning
may be absolutely contrary to your theology.
I'm not going to speak on tongues. There shall
be no doubt in your mind. I believe in the speaking
in an unknown tongue. But when the Holy Spirit
does the speaking, it's going to be beautiful.
Wonderful. And he speaks perfectly. He speaks
perfectly. Sometimes, in some of the actions
of the fever, you would almost get the idea that
the Holy Spirit was illiterate. He's not an imbecile.
The one through whom Jesus... offered himself
to be cured. Perfect wisdom, perfect knowledge,
perfect in all things. And when he speaks, he'll
speak beautifully. I'll tell you my first experience
when I was young. I was so young. not more than
16 years of age in Joliet, Illinois. And the
things that I've been talking to you about this
morning was so new to me. I knew nothing about
the nothing. And all that I knew when I first
started out in the ministry was just salvation.
I knew nothing more. Nothing. I knew nothing
more. I only knew that I'd been born again. That's
all. And you do not give to anyone else any more
than what you've experienced. It was astounding.
One night, I'd given an altar call. My personal
work, I wasn't too wise in it. I practically
locked the door, and if there was an unsaved
person there, they didn't get out until I had
them down on their knees. I pounded the devil
right out of them. The Lord didn't do it. I did
it for him. Oh, so unwise. I'd given the altar
call. And then the services ended. There were
still about three or four who were still kneeling.
This was my first experience. I was sitting back
with Isabel Drake's mother. Practically all the
lights were turned out. I was saving electricity.
Isabel Drake, a schoolteacher who would commute
from Joliet, Illinois. into Chicago a very fine
young lady was kneeling at the altar for salvation
and I was sitting there quietly talking with
her mother and suddenly Isabel Drake put back
her head and the most beautiful singing the most
Beautiful singing. As clean as a bell. It was
beautiful. I never hear an opera singer. I never.
When they hit those C's. I never. It was so deeply
moved and affected. That's been years ago. It
was perfect. I think I know a little bit of what
the music is going to be like in heaven. Remember,
when the Holy Spirit does it, it's perfection.
There's never a wrong note. It's never flat.
It's never sharp. When the Holy Spirit does it,
it's perfection. And a mother grabbed my hand.
She says, my daughter can't even carry a tune.
That's not my daughter singing. That's not my
daughter singing. And her face shone like an
angel. And as she sang, oh, the perfection of
it. She was glorifying and magnifying Jesus.
And this continued for about five minutes. I
thought it was it. I heard the singing of the
Holy Spirit. My mother had never heard me preach
it. If you only knew Mama. If you only knew Mama.
Mama has died since. Mama had never heard me
preach. The very first time was when she came
to Denver, Colorado. I've got to believe in the
speaking in a non -tongue. I've got to believe.
But what I'm trying to say to you when he does
it. It'll be perfection. It'll be perfection.
Everything the Holy Spirit does is perfection.
And after I finished preaching, I said, now there's
a prayer room back here. And I thought, oh, what'll
Mama think? What'll Mama think? And I'd been
preaching on the power of the Holy Spirit. I
don't think Mama understood one thing that I
said. I don't think she did. Mama knew nothing
about the Holy Spirit. Mama was Methodist. She
didn't know too much about the new birth experience.
I had to just slip back in the prayer room, and
I'll go back with you. And so they came. When
I walked off of that platform, Mama was just
sitting there. She didn't come. She didn't know
what it was all about. After about 15 minutes,
the door of the prayer room opened. There must
have been about a hundred or so more kneeling
there praying. Everyone with their heads down.
And I saw Mama come through that door. She only
knew my mom. You can't appreciate this. You could
not have convinced my mama. Spiritual things.
She was so set in a way. If the Methodists didn't
believe it, then it wasn't so. It wasn't so.
Her father, my grandfather, was so Methodist
that when he died, he would have staked life
that only Methodists would be in heaven. I've
often thought since, think what a surprise that
Grandpa Walkenhurst got. And Mama knelt down.
She hadn't been on her knees very long. I slowly
walked over to her. Everybody was praying. And
I laid my hands on her. She's such a quiet woman.
When I touched her, my mama began to speak in
a heavenly language. Mama never knew there was
such a thing. My mama did not know there was
such a thing as speaking in an unknown tongue.
She didn't know it. She had never read it. She
had never heard it. She had no light on it. She
was not seeking for it. Explain these things,
who can? Who can? And my mother began speaking
just as softly and fluidly. It was glorious.
I have to believe in speaking in an unknown tongue.
I have to, I have to. I have no choice. Would
you open your eyes? She took my hands and hers
for the first time. ever approved me being in
the work that I was in. I just took both of my
hands in hers and she said, Catherine, preach
it that others might receive what I have just
received. You want to know something? My mother
did not sleep. For three days and two nights.
But I did not sleep. So great was the joy of
the Lord upon her. She couldn't sleep. She couldn't
sleep. There was no sleep in her. She couldn't
destroy. The next morning, they came to say the
joy. It's a joy. It's something. Who can explain
it? There are no words in the human vocabulary.
You know it. You know it. You know it. My mother
was never the same again. Never. The next day,
there was no sleep. This joy. I had a new mama.
My mama was a new person. This love that radiated
from her, this love. Nobody had to prompt her.
Nobody had to teach her. This joy, this love,
this love. And my mother never, never, never,
never again was the same. My own experience.
When I died, and I told you last night, I came
to the place of a dead end street when I gave
him body, soul, and spirit. I gave him body,
soul, and spirit. And he came in, and he spoke
through lips of clay. It was not Catherine Kuhlman,
but it was when I gave him myself, all of me,
all. All of me. All of me. It's so natural. It's
so simple. You do not have to seek the manifestation.
You just surrender to him and he does the rest.
You know not how to pray or what to ask for.
It's the Holy Spirit's over here in Romans. This
is precious. I wish I had an entire hour on this.
Likewise, the Spirit also help with our infirmities.
For we know not what we should pray for as we
ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what
is in the mind of the Spirit because he maketh
intercession. He maketh intercession for the
saints according to the will of God. You say,
have you ever spoken in tongues since? There
are times when in my ignorance, my lack of knowledge,
I know not how to pray. And a dear old brother
McCloud, when I was so young and he was in his
80s, took my hand in his ears and said, never
get out of the will of God, girl. And I didn't
know what he was talking about. I know now. My
own nature. is to be impulsive. But when it comes
to the things of God, I'm so slow to move. I'm
so afraid of getting out of the will of God.
I'm so afraid of getting out of His will. I wouldn't
get out of the will of God for anything in the
world. And there are times I don't know. I don't
know how to pray. I don't know. I come and stand
there in that moment of crisis and I don't know.
And I look up and always remember, when you get
to the place where you have no will of your own,
you cannot miss the will of God. It's not an
easy place to get. That's the reason why when
you come to those places you rush over to your
neighbors and you rush over to somebody else
and you want them to say what you want to hear.
There is a place when you call and this is where
the speaking in an unknown tongue comes in my
life. I know now and remember something. The
Holy Spirit is not given for our own pleasure
and our own enjoyment. It is not. The Holy Spirit
is given for service. It is not for our own pleasure.
You're misusing the Holy Spirit. You're misusing
this wonderful person if you're using him for
your own pleasure. A little spiritual picnic
when you get together with some of the saints
of God. You're misappropriating the power of
the Holy Ghost. But there is a time when you
know not how to pray. But there is one who knows
the perfect will of God. And he never works separate
and apart from the Father. He never works separate
and apart from Jesus. He has perfect knowledge
as to the will of God. And when I get to the
place, I have no will of my own. And I throw
my stuff. upon the person who dwells within.
And he comes before the throne and he makes intercession
for me. And he speaks for me. And I can never
miss the God, for he knows his will and talks
to the Father for me.