And Father, just now, lay that strengthening
hand on that someone who needs that added faith.
Just now, make your presence real to that one
who's going in the deep water. For we are not
only conquerors, we are more than conquerors
in all things through Christ who loved us. And
not one of us needs ever to be down in defeat.
Thanks. Amen. I left you yesterday. in a heart
-to -heart talk about something that I felt I
had to talk to you about because, as I told you
at the beginning of our talk, that there's never
a week but when somebody asks the same question.
Is it necessary to have the baptism of the Holy
Spirit to go up in the rapture? And I still contend.
And I say it very boldly that the next great
world event will be the rapture of the church,
the great catching up, when literally this great
body of believers will be caught up to meet Christ
in the air. Now this is the question. Will only
those who have been baptized in the Spirit, only
those who have been filled with the Spirit, receive
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, be those who
will be caught up in the air to meet the Lord?
That's the question. It's just that simple. Who
are going to be taken? And in that heart -to
-heart talk yesterday, I gave you the work of
the Holy Spirit as Jesus gave it in the Word.
All I did yesterday was to quote the Word of
God. And the very last thing that Jesus talked
about before he went away was the work of the
Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. And
ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
has come upon you. And he... answered the question
as to why is one to be filled with the Spirit?
What will be the result of having been filled
with the Spirit? And ye shall be witnesses unto
me. And the Holy Spirit is given the believer
for power for service. All right? Then we went
to the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians that
talks about this great event, the rapture of
the church. Again, I read to you the word of
God. Read with me, if you will, please, the 16th
verse, the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ
shall rise first. It makes it very plain. Don't
add anything to this. Take it just as it is in
the word of God. It does not say that the dead
in Christ and those who were filled with the
Holy Spirit. No. The dead in Christ. In other
words, every saint of God, every man, every woman
from the very first Adam who died in Christ.
That means the new birth experience. They were
born again. They accepted Jesus as the very son
of the living God. Their sins were forgiven.
They died in Christ. And every Christian listening
to me knows what that means. The dead in Christ.
And there are thousands who died in Christ who
knew nothing. about being filled with Spirit.
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord again. It says nothing. regarding the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. I believe with
every atom of my being, if the baptism with the
Holy Spirit was required for those of us who
are now living to be caught up in the air to
meet the Lord, there would have been a very definite
statement regarding it right here. because nothing
more will be required of us to meet the Lord
in the air than those who died in Christ. Say,
for instance, in exactly five minutes, we'd had
the great catching up, the raptures of church.
Five minutes ago, A saint of God died. Now watch.
That one would be in the first resurrection.
She will have died in Christ. She was not filled
with the Holy Spirit. The scripture plainly teaches
that because she died in Christ, that when the
trump of the Lord shall sound, she would be resurrected
immediately. Then, five minutes later, this glorious
experience, then we which are alive and remain
shall be called up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Why would
it be required of... One to be filled with the
Spirit, to have the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
and the other's not. It's not consistent. Don't
put things in the Scripture that are not there.
Now let me give you another portion of the Word
of God. It's familiar. It's very familiar to
all of you. It's... Jesus talking to Martha at
the time of the death of Lazarus. And the amazing
thing is, he's talking about exactly the very
same thing that is mentioned right here in the
fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians. Exactly the
same thing. And he's talking to Martha. And this
is what Jesus said himself. I am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. He talked about
the same thing that is spoken of here in the
fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. To Martha, he says,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
That's the resurrected saints. But don't stop.
And whosoever liveth is alive when I come back.
whosoever liveth. Pause. Go back again to 1 Thessalonians.
Then we which are alive and remain. That's us.
Jesus says to Martha, and whosoever liveth is
alive when I come back and believeth in me. shall
never die. He didn't add any more. He didn't
take anything away. In other words, the saints
who died and those who are living at the time
of the great catching up, there's one represent.
and he that believeth in me. It is the blood
that maketh an atonement for the soul. It's the
blood. It's the blood. The blood of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. All right, let's go a little
bit deeper into this thing as to who are to be
taken. There are some that claim that all, the
entire church, are to pass through the tribulation.
There are others that say that all, the entire
church, will be caught out before the tribulation.
There are those that claim that only the waiting
and the watching saints shall be caught out before
the tribulation and that the rest must pass through
their great time of suffering. Now, I want you
to see something. Please stay with the Word of
God. I know. that in Hebrews, the ninth chapter,
the 28th verse, says, unto them that look for
him shall he appear the second time without sin
unto salvation. Now, while this might apply to
the living when he appears, it certainly does
not apply to the dead, for there are tens and
thousands, of saints of God who died, who never
heard of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or at least they never grasp its meaning, and
who therefore never watched, never waited, never
looked for His coming. But surely they are in
Christ, and they died in Christ. The Bible says
they will. When they have the great rapture,
they will be raised again. Paul does not say
here in the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians
that it will be the dead who watched, the dead
who waited, the dead who looked for, and those
who are alive and watched and waited. and look
for his appearing, that shall be caught out.
But the dead in Christ, and we who are alive
and remain. And Jesus made it very clear to Martha,
and whosoever is alive liveth at that time. and
believeth in me shall never die, shall never
taste of death. Then remember something else.
This body of Christ, oh, we need some good sound
teaching on the body of Christ. It's so glorious.
It's so wonderful. For as the body is one and
has many members, and all the members of that
one body being many are one body, so also is
Christ. For by one Spirit are we all, A -double
-L, baptized into one body. If you are born again,
you are born into this wonderful body of Christ
and you do not separate the body of Christ. You
don't. One body. All members of that one body.
all baptized into one body. Sure. Therefore,
to be born again makes you a part of Christ's
body. And I cannot for the life of me conceive
of Christ's body being divided, part of it remaining
in the grave. Part of it raised in the glory.
Part of it left to pass to the tribulation. Part
of it changed and caught up to meet him in the
air. The church, the bride of Christ. I can,
after the life of me, conceive of a divided bride.
Here goes the bride to meet her bridegroom. Can
you... honestly now? Conceive of a divided bride?
No, of course not. It isn't logical. It isn't
reasonable. The bride of Christ is not divided.
It is one body. And when the bride of Christ
goes out to meet the bridegroom, it is not a
divided bride. It's those who had been born again.
For it is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul. It's just like that. Oh, it's so
simple. It is so simple. The bride couldn't be
divided. It just is impossible. Now remember
again. He always speaks of his saints. He's coming
for his saints. Then he returns with the saints.
Not divided saints. Now, don't you think for
one minute that in any way I am minimizing the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. I am not. Believe
me. Deals say it is in the plan of Jesus, in
the will of God. It is part of your inheritance
as a Christian to receive this glorious experience.
Oh, how I believe in the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. I believe in that experience. I have
experienced the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
He is the... power in my life. He is the controlling
factor. He is the power in my body. He is the
secret of the fruits of this ministry. I could
not witness as I do without the power of the
Holy Spirit. The baptism with the Holy Spirit.
There are those who say the greatest miracle
of this entire ministry is Catherine Kuhlman
herself. But I know from whence cometh that power.
That miracle is none other than the power of
the Holy Spirit. I am not minimizing this wonderful
experience or the person of the Holy Spirit.
What I am saying to you is that when it comes
to entering into the presence of Jesus, when
it comes to gaining entrance into heaven, there
is just one requisite, the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son. It is the blood that maketh an atonement
for the soul. God bless you.