Underneath all of those uncertainties of life
is Jesus. And you do not have to be defeated
on a single score. No matter what those difficulties
are, no matter how deep those waters, they'll
never overflow. You'll never have to go down
in defeat. Never. As long as your faith in God
and in his word and his promises is still intact,
he'll hear the cry of your heart. You and I are
not only conquerors, we're more than conquerors.
through Christ Jesus, who loves us. Well, today
again, for a few minutes, we're going to continue
our heart -to -heart talk regarding the 13th
chapter of 1 Corinthians. And I would like to
do nothing better than to just spend an entire
week just talking to you about the wonderful
deep... in this one chapter. Again, I say that
you and I cannot understand the 14th chapter
of 1 Corinthians until after we have a clear
understanding of this 13th chapter. Oh, I know.
Somebody says, Catherine Kuhlman, are you going
to go into the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians?
I certainly am. Because the 14th chapter is the
basic chapter on tongues. And you cannot understand
the 14th chapter until, first of all, you have
a clear understanding of this wonderful chapter
on love. First of all, I'm going to do something
today because I feel it is vitally important.
I know that in this 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians,
there's a verse that literally hundreds of ministers
use, and it's quoted very often by those who
do not believe in speaking in an unknown tongue.
is the only scripture that they can use to back
up their theology that we are no longer to see
the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in the speaking
in an unknown tongue. Right now, I want to go
on record as saying that I am as Pentecostal
as the Word of God. I'm not as Pentecostal as
some people are Pentecostal. Not in that sense.
I'm as Pentecostal as they were in the early
church. I'm as Pentecostal as the word of God.
Somebody says, what a letdown. Catherine Kuhlman,
I thought you were sane and sensible. Reserved.
My friend, the Holy Spirit is always sane and
sensible. And anything that he does, I can accept.
And I must accept the speaking in an unknown
tongue because the Bible teaches it. It's there.
It's in the Word of God. I could not tell you
that I believed in the Word and that I believed
everything that God's Word said and then turn
around and say that I do not believe. in the
speaking in an unknown tongue. I'll go one step
further since we've been discussing this thing
and I will probably be saying something more
about it as we enter into the 14th chapter of
1 Corinthians in the future. This is it. I do
not believe that everyone who speaks in an unknown
tongue has received the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. There are those who have spoken in tongues
who have not been filled with the Holy Spirit.
I just do that in for good measure because somebody
will be writing and asking me the question anyway,
so I'll just save you that trouble and answer
it right now. But back again to this verse, and
it's the eighth verse. Verse of the 13th chapter
of 1 Corinthians. Love never faileth. Oh, that's
great. That's great. Sometimes I think that we
should not dwell so much on the 14th chapter
as the 13th chapter. Sometimes I think we get
our minds so filled with tongues that we have
forgotten Jesus. We forget the importance of
love. And love is the greatest force in the world
today. Love never faileth. You can depend on
it. Never. Love never faileth. But whether there
be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there
be tongues, they shall cease. Now, somebody says,
I've caught you in a contradiction. It says right
there, plainly, that whether there be tongues,
they shall cease. Sure, I know. That's the reason
I want to talk about that today. But when shall
they cease? That's the big question. They did
not cease when the 120 were filled. in the upper
room. They did not cease at the house of Cornelius.
They did not cease with Peter and Paul and with
those in the early church. Tongues will cease.
There's coming a day when men and women will
no longer be filled with the Holy Spirit. There's
coming an hour when literally the last person
will be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And that
hour will come when the Holy Spirit leaves this
old earth. You see, we speak much of the day
of Pentecost and thousands of churches. observe
the day of Pentecost. But the day of Pentecost
did not cease in the upper room. The day of Pentecost
did not cease when the 120 were filled with the
Holy Ghost. We are still living in the day of
Pentecost. Oh, glorious fact. If only something
could happen that God could open our understanding
to the day and the hour in which we are living.
If somehow you could just get that glorious spiritual
vision of that which is ours, yours and mine.
Everything that they received in the early church.
All the gifts, all the fruits of the Spirit,
all the manifestations of the Spirit are ours
today because the day of Pentecost has not come
to a close. The day of Pentecost will not come
to an end until the Holy Spirit who ushered in
the day of Pentecost, leaves. And he leaves when
we have the great catching up. That's what the
great catching up is. The Holy Spirit will leave
in exactly the same way that Jesus left. When
his feet left the Mount of Olives and they saw
him ascend in bodily form, so also the day is
coming when the Holy Spirit will leave. He too
will go back from whence he came. Only when the
Holy Spirit leaves, he will not go alone. He
will take the church, that glorious body of believers,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, with him.
It will be at that time that... tongues will
cease. For after that, there will be no longer
tongues, the interpretation of tongues. There
will no longer be the gifts and the fruits of
the Spirit. There will no longer be the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, the fullness of the Holy
Spirit. For he will have left. And he will have
taken with him this wonderful, glorious body
of Christ. And the gift that Jesus gave to the
church will be taken up when the church goes.
And the coming of the Holy Spirit was the gift
that Jesus gave to the church. Oh, if only those
who stand behind the pulpits, if only those who
have been called to preach the gospel. And there
are literally thousands of wonderful channels
through whom the Holy Spirit wants to work. And
there are literally... Thousands of these men
who are hungry for more of God. I know they've
written to me. They've talked with me. And if
only they could realize that the greatest gift
of that Jesus left the church was the Holy Spirit.
Love is something that you do. You cannot help.
giving when you love enough. It just goes hand
in hand. That's why when you consecrate yourself
and you give yourself completely unto Him, the
first thing that you want to do is to give. When
He baptizes you with His love, just automatically,
Just spontaneously, you'll give. Jesus knew the
secret to the power in his ministry. For remember
again that when Jesus walked this old earth,
when he was here in the flesh, he knew, the Father
knew, the Holy Ghost knew, that as one being
in the flesh, He was as much man as though he
were not God, even though in reality he was the
very son of the living God. Yet, having taken
upon himself the form of man in the flesh, he
was as much man as though he were not God. How
else could he be a righteous judge? How else?
else could he judge man sincerely and righteously
if he had not known what it was like to have
been tempted? Had he never had all the feelings,
all the emotions that you and I have in our everyday
life? He could not be a righteous judge. He could
not judge us unless he had experienced the same
emotions. How often you've heard me say that
no person can give to another more than he has
experienced. I can only give to that one in their
hour of sorrow, in that hour when they're going
through the deep waters and their heart is broken,
I can only give to them that which I have experienced.
I know what it's like to stand before an open
grave. I know what it's like to come back. Home
from the cemetery, and that which had been a
home is just an empty house. And those feelings
are just as real to me this moment as that afternoon
that I returned from that little cemetery, Concordia,
Missouri, and we left Papa out there. That's
the reason. I can help another in their hour
of sorrow. It isn't what I say. It's what I can
give to them through my love for them. And sincere
love comes through. I don't care what you say.
I don't care what you say. His love. Sincere
love comes through and you cannot counterfeit
it. It isn't what one says. It doesn't necessarily
have to be what one does. It's what you feel.
And it's just. And one of these days, beloved,
you and I are going to fully realize all that
could have been ours if only we had fully known.
For the secret of the power in the ministry of
Jesus was the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. He
was his glorious strengthener. Those great healings
during the ministry of Jesus was the power of
the Holy Ghost. In that hour of temptation, who
was his strengthener? The Holy Spirit. That is
the reason that just before Jesus went away,
the greatest words that he could have spoken
were in those words when he told us, and ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come
upon you. In other words, knowing that love was
something that one does, and you can't love without
giving. Jesus wanted to give his own, his church,
the greatest gift possible. And knowing what
the Holy Spirit had done for him, and knowing
the power of the Holy Spirit, and knowing that
there could be no defeat in the Holy Spirit,
he looked up and said, Dearly beloved, Those
whom I love more than life itself. And he'd given
proof of it. I give you the gift of the Holy
Spirit. And ye shall receive power. The same
power that's manifested in my ministry, in my
life. I give you that gift. And he gave his church
the gift of the Holy Spirit. But there are thousands
and thousands who have not appropriated, who
have not accepted this wonderful gift. And you
never force a gift on anyone. What are you doing
with that gift? Pastor, what are you doing with
that gift? Little lady, what are you doing with
that gift? What is the church doing with that
gift? Many will not recognize it. Others are
turning their back on the gift. Still others
are refusing the gift. And yet, that gift is
That gift is for the church as long as the church
is in existence and as long as the Holy Spirit
is in the world. Yes, there is coming a day,
beloved, when no longer there will be prophecies.
There's coming a day when tongues shall cease.
They'll no longer be speaking in an unknown tongue.
And whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish
away. Mm -hmm. When will that day be? Why, beloved,
read the rest of that chapter. when we stand
in his glorious presence, when that which is
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall
be done away. That, my friend, is the word of
God. And... I personally want all that he has
for me. I shall not limit him. I shall not be
satisfied with his second best.