<TITLE>20. Par 229-240</TITLE>L-229   Just like Moses. He could teach the Egyptians wisdom. He was the smartest man in the land, but he had to go to the conference with God. And no man has a right to claim to be a Christian, no woman, no child, no preacher, especially, until he himself has come upon that sacred sands where he met God. All the theologians in the world, all the infidels in the world, can't explain that away from him. He was there. It happened. It happened to him. He knows where he stands.
There, they went to the Day of Pentecost.

L-230 And we didn't see a--a... Now, I'm not... I'm just making an expression. We don't see it there, where the bishop come up the road with his satchel in his hand, and he said, "Now, I have been sent of the Lord. I want to lay hands upon you brethren and send you out." That's the 1963 version of it, the bishop and his staff.

L-231 Well, we think of them. Let's just take it with due regards to our Catholic friends. Let's say there come a priest up the road, with the last rites, so-called. "Lick out your tongue and take the wafer, and I'll drink the wine. And then you'll be a member." If that would have been, it would have been at the first place.

L-232 God is infinite. His decision is just like it was in the garden of Eden. He, His first decision, settles it.

L-233   Well, what did they do? They waited, and they waited, and they wasn't satisfied. They waited, until, "There came a sound from Heaven like a rushing mighty wind. It filled all the house where they were setting. Cloven tongues set upon them, like Fire. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and begin to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance."

L-234 A bunch of cowards that was afraid of evangelism, a bunch of cowards that was afraid to face the dignity and the celebrity of the city and the religious critics, was out in the street, testifying, "This is That." That was God's decision.

L-235 A few days after that, the Samaritans. Philip had went down and preached to them and baptized them in the Name of Jesus Christ, though the Holy Ghost hadn't fallen upon none of them yet. So, they sent up to Peter and brought him down. They know they had great joy. They was happy and rejoicing, and they had had a great time. And they had had great healings and everything.

L-236 Now, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, Methodist brethren, listen. Healing isn't it. Joy isn't it. It's the experience. It's the Holy Spirit, Christ Himself, coming into you, as a Person.

L-237   They sent up and got Peter and John who came down and laid their hands upon them, and the Holy Ghost came on them. In Acts 10:49 we find that Peter, while he was speaking to the Gentiles, "While Peter yet spake these Words, the Holy Ghost fell on them that heard It. For they heard them speak in tongues, and magnify God. And Peter said, 'Can we forbid water, seeing these has--has received the Holy Ghost like we did at the beginning?'"

L-238 Paul, talking to a bunch of Baptists, in Acts 19, passed through the upper coast of Ephesus. He finds certain disciples. They were happy. They had a great Baptist preacher there, by the name of Apollos. And he was a converted lawyer. And he said, "He was proving by the Bible, that Jesus was the Christ."

L-239   And Aquila and Priscilla, tentmakers with Paul, said, "Our brother Paul is in prison down there." Ain't that some place for a preacher to be? He was in prison because he cast the Devil out of a fortuneteller. And he said, "He, he's in prison, but he'll visit us pretty soon, and he'll explain the Word of God to you, more perfect."

L-240 And they were having a good time, like all good Baptists do, shouting, praising God, having healings, and signs, and so forth.


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