Howdy, hope you're doing good. This talk works
with the prior talk on tongues from 1 Corinthians
14. The title of this one is, Why Are You Following
Jesus? And that's a little bit misleading. The
title is a little misleading. It's really about
tongues and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and
some of the motivations behind that. That's going
to continue tomorrow in part two, so I hope you
enjoy this. Also, we're still going to do the
Stambaugh Auditorium bootleg, and it's just really
rough sound. I'm working on it, and it's taking
a lot of time to get it. doable. So please keep
me in prayer. And the David Verzelli, it turns
out it's going to be about 50 podcasts, all on
the Book of Daniel. We're going to do Book of
Daniel from beginning to end. And that one, I
might even put one of those up to today. Okay,
there you go. Well, here's Catherine, and God
bless you. Have a great day. Given us something.
Do you know that the greatest miracles of God
have not necessarily to do with the physical
life? That's right. I would not minimize the
healing of the sick body for anything in the
world. I too am just as thrilled as you are.
And we see the manifestation of God's power in
the healing of... these sick bodies. But such
miracles as the healing of the deaf, such wonderful
miracles as the healing of cancer and the healing
of arthritis and other marvelous works, they're
wonderful. They're thrilling. But they appeal
to the natural man. arouse unusual attention
because these are things that we can see. The
natural man desires to hear, see, feel, and consequently
the spectacular has a wonderful fascination for
him. There's one reason why if you know anything
about this ministry at all and if you watch this
ministry, We do everything in the world to keep
away from the spectacular. Everything. To keep
away from being spectacular. And you don't have
to advertise the things of God, the things of
the Holy Spirit. But these wonderful miracles
of physical life. as the healing of the blind
and the loosening of limbs, the opening of ears,
appeal to natural man and arouse unusual attention.
They are spectacular in themselves. It excites
a sense of wonder. It excites his sense of amazement
and leads him to delight and rejoice in that
unusual manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Now,
this condition is not only common today where
the Lord is pouring out His Spirit in working
miracles. But it was also true in the days of
Jesus. And the same effect was produced then.
Because the people got their eyes upon the...
Things seem. You will remember the feeding of
the 5 ,000 as given the word of God, sure as
from the very first lessons that we have in Sunday
school. Ask any child who goes to Sunday school
about the feeding of the 5 ,000. It was wonderful.
The next day off, After the miracle in which
he fed 5 ,000, the crowd continued to follow
the Lord. Had one been standing on the side and
had watched the crowd as they continued to follow
Jesus the next day after he had fed them, one
would have said in one's heart, well, oh, they're
hungry for Jesus. They're hungry for the Spirit.
Spiritual now. But were they? What was the motive?
Every man, everyone has a motive for everything
that he does. There's a motive behind every action.
You may not think so. In some of the things that
you do, you may not acknowledge the fact that
you have a motive for having done those things.
But we all have a motive for everything we do.
What was the motive in this crowd following Jesus
the second day after he had fed them? Was it
because of the intense hunger for God and the
seeking of life? Were they starving in their
heart and longing for the bread of heaven? Not
at all. Jesus knows human nature. He knew human
nature then. He knew what was in their heart.
He discerned their hearts. And knowing the human
desire merely to want the things that would appeal
to their physical being, we built them. And I
give you the scripture. Jesus answered them and
said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek
me not because ye saw the miracles, but because
ye did eat of the loaves and were filled. You're
following me for the loaves and the fishes. And
there are folk who are still following Jesus
today for the loaves and the fishes. Hmm? What
do... I get out of this. Jesus said, labor not
for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat
which endureth unto everlasting life. Let us
not deceive ourselves. The fact that thousands
press their way to the scene of miracles is no
sign that they're hungry for God. Would the...
God they were. When the miracle fails to lead
one past the satisfaction of human hunger, physical
relief, and does not bring them in touch with
the bread of life, it has lost its purpose. Can
you be just as thrilled with Jesus whether he
heals you or not? Do you love him just this much?
Whether your physical body is healed by divine
power? You do not proposition Jesus by saying,
if you will heal me, then I will follow you.
No, ma 'am, it doesn't work like that. If you
can look up and say, Dear Jesus, whether you
heal me or not, I'll follow you. I'll love you
just as much with or without the healing. Why
are you following him? Let me ask you honestly.
Let me just put it to you straight. Why are you
a Christian? Why have you chosen to follow Jesus?
What is your motive in following the Lord Jesus
Christ? Let's go a little further. Christ saw
the frailty of the flesh and the tendency to
rejoice in power. when it moved upon the natural
and wrought signs and deliverances unusual and
marvelous. Therefore, he sought to lift their
vision, to bring them into another realm where
they might witness and rejoice in miracles of
moral and spiritual value. That's why he speaks
as he does in the 10th chapter of Luke. Read
it. It's a familiar portion of the Word of God.
The 19th and the 20th verses. Behold, I give
unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions
and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing
shall by any means hurt you. Now just pause a
minute. that wonderful power that he gave unto
them. I give you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.
Now, of course, there have been those who have
been completely fanatical when it has come to
this thing. You know, There's a difference between
faith and presumption. And it's presumption to
go out and deliberately pick up a rattlesnake
and challenge God to keep that rattlesnake from
biting you. That's presumption. And yet there
have been those who have brought a reproach on
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd been
fanatical. And it's folk like that who hurt the
gospel. And they literally picked up something
harmful and then challenged God, presumed on
God's mercy, his power. They deserved to be bitten.
They were foolhardy. But I believe with every
atom of my being that if I was in India and I
had done everything in my own power for protection,
that God will keep me. How often I have thought
at the close of a busy day, I wonder how near
I came to danger. I wonder how near I came to
tragedy this day. And the angel of the Lord was
there to protect me, to keep me. Had you ever
thought of that? You and I will live and die
never knowing what great protection was given
us by the angel of the Lord. We didn't know it,
but God gave us that protection and he'll...
Give us that protection when we're living in
the center of His will. Now, go a little further.
He said, I give you this wonderful power to tread
on serpents and scorpions and over all the power
of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means
hurt you. Don't stop there. Keep on going. Notwithstanding,
in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject
unto you, but rather rejoice because your names
are written in heaven. Oh, he said, sure. do
have a reason for rejoicing in this great power
that I've given unto you. It's divine power.
It's divine protection. But don't become spiritually
proud over the thing. Rejoice because your names
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Rejoice
because you are an heir of God. Because you belong
to him. Because you're children of the king.
Because you're Christians. Human nature is strange,
isn't it? I know. When it comes to the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, oh, I still say that we need
some good old -fashioned teaching when it comes
to the things of the Holy Ghost. I believe in
the baptism of the Holy Spirit with all of my
heart. You know that I do. I believe in that
good old -fashioned Pentecostal experience. And
I want the whole world to know that I'm just
as Pentecostal as the Word of God. I'm not as
Pentecostal as some fanatical Pentecostals are.
I'm as Pentecostal as they were in the upper
room. I'm as Pentecostal as they were in the
early church. That's right. I believe in the
speaking in an unknown tongue. I have to because
it's scripture. But you know, the amazing thing
is that for many, the thing about the baptism
of the Holy Spirit is the fact that they have
spoken in an unknown tongue and they rejoice
over that more anything about this spiritual
experience. They talk about it more than anything
else. They're constantly talking about the fact
that they have spoken in an unknown tongue. They
greet you with the question, have you spoken
in an unknown tongue? Or perhaps the first reading
would be, I spoke in an unknown tongue. These
are not the things to boast of. You see, again,
this thing appeals to the natural, to man's senses.
This appeals to his amazement and his wonderment.
thing that we should rejoice about is the fact
that the Holy Spirit has come into this tabernacle,
into this vessel of clay, this wonderful power
of the Trinity, and he has given us power for
service and that he makes Jesus more real to
us. And we should rejoice in the fact that the
Holy Spirit magnifies Jesus and glorifies Jesus
through these lives of ours. That's it. The fact
that power was given to the Seventy to triumph
over disease and over sickness was truly wonderful.
It was divine. But to triumph over man's nature,
his sin, his moral condition, was more lasting.
Even the sick, whom Christ healed, had to die
at last. We thrill over these miracles of healing,
but sooner or later, each one of us is going
to have to die. That's somebody who was so wonderfully
healed of cancer, that was thrilling. But just
because they were healed of cancer doesn't mean
that they are now immune from all sickness and
all disease. The day is going to have to come
when they're going to die. They may not die that
thing from which they were healed, but we're
going to die. Even those who were healed during
the ministry of Jesus had to die at last. a miracle
upon the physical or natural plane is after all
fleeting and vanishes but not so in the realm
of the spirit the miracle wrought every time
a soul is born again Or when God by His Spirit
triumphs over the old creation and brings a trusting
heart into a fuller realization of the divine
life is lasting. It endures to the ages to come
through all eternity. That's the reason I have
said to you a... thousand times that the greatest
miracle in the whole world is not the physical
healing of the body, but the spiritual healing
of the soul. To rejoice in the fact that God
has touched my physical body and wrought a miracle
is one thing, but to know that my name is written
in the Lamb's Book of Life and that I was born
of God is far greater. And it's just like that.
Again we come back to that wonderful experience
of having been filled with the Spirit. And I
pray to God that each of you We'll have this
wonderful experience because it's a gift that
God has given to his church. And if you've been
born again, if you are a member of his body,
whether you're Catholic or Protestant, this is
a part of your inheritance. But the greatest
thing of this wonderful experience that we call
the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or being filled
with the Spirit, is not the fact that you spoke
in an unknown tongue, but that in His tender
mercy, as you did yield yourself unto Him. Think
what this means. Think what it means. the holy
spirit sealing that which you yielded unto him
that he takes up his abode in the human body
that he has come into this temple of clay and
made it a holy thing a tabernacle through which
he works and moves, using you as a vessel through
which he magnifies and glorifies Jesus. And ye
shall receive power. After that, the Holy Ghost
is come upon you. and ye shall be witnesses.
There is a responsibility with this glorious
experience. It's much more, so much more than
speaking in an unknown tongue. And yet this is
the thing that appeals to man's senses, his wonderment.
No, beloved. Rejoice not that the spirits are
subject unto you, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in heaven. Father, I pray
the Holy Spirit shall make the simple message
real to hearts for Jesus' sake. Amen.