2 Stories "Ice Tea" & "Come Out of the Upper Room" Kathryn Kuhlman Baptism of the Holy Spirit

Today you and I are going to have another one of those good heart -to -heart talks. Some of that good, old -fashioned Missouri cornbread. But instead of talking about cornbread, we're going to talk a minute about iced tea. Now this may seem strange to you, But I'm going to confess something. When I was a kid, so far as I was concerned, the most wonderful thing in the world was iced tea. Oh, we didn't have Coca -Cola and squirt and all the stuff that kids have today. But iced tea. I remember the very first time. that I ever had iced tea. Aunt Belle's house. Oh, Aunt Belle was always up on everything. Anything that was first in Kansas City, Aunt Belle always had it in that little country town of Elma, Missouri. Before we ever had iced tea in Joe Kuhlman's house in Concordia, Aunt Belle had it in Elma. But you could be dead sure that Emma Kuhlman had it the next day after her sister Belle had it on Sunday for the big Sunday dinner. Well, sir, and it was a great day when Mama made iced tea. And I watched her show. I can see that Lipton box now. I know exactly what it looked like then. Exactly. I was thrilled when Papa brought it home from the grocery store and Mama got out the big earthen crock. And I watched her do it. Then she would take some out of the box and then she would pour hot water on it. I watched. Then she put the plate on top of the earthen crock. Well, sir, one day Mama wasn't home, and I thought, this is the day when I'm going to get all the iced tea I want. Oh, I remember my excitement. I remember, and I thought, if a little was so good, think how much better a whole lot would be. I can remember just as though it was its very hour. emptied it completely into the earthen crock. I boiled the water exactly the way Mama did it. And then I poured it on the tea. I took the same plate and put it on top to cover it up. Well, sir, I waited and I waited and... I waited, and after a while, I took the plate off. But I declare it didn't look like it was supposed to look. I did what Mama did. I took the strainer and poured it through the strainer into a pitcher. It was still black. I kept adding water. I added water. I continued to add water until I had every cooking utensil we had full of iced tea. I get so much iced tea. I'll tell you if you won't tell anybody else. Don't you dare tell anybody else. I remember taking those cooking utensils over to Mrs. Sage Harna next door neighbor. I took a big pot of iced tea, this awful looking stuff. I had to get rid of it. I had to do something with it. Took it over to Mrs. Petring to this day, yet I don't know what they thought. And I said, oh, would you like some nice iced tea? Because I had to keep filling these cooking utensils. I didn't dare pour any of this iced tea out. And I had to have the utensils back to refill them again. It was the worst mess you ever saw in your whole life. I had given iced tea to everybody in the neighborhood and still something was wrong with it. It wasn't right. You want to know why? Because I had not read the directions. I was too little to read. I didn't know you had to follow directions. And because I had not read the directions, because I was too young to read, I had made a mess of something that could have been very wonderful had I read the directions. We need to stop and read the directions. Common sense and the rule of the word should always be the guide of the spirit -filled life. Know that. I'm going to repeat it. Common sense and the rule of the word. The Word of God should always be the guide of the Spirit -filled life. And there are thousands of God's precious children sincere. Oh, don't you dare doubt their sincerity. Don't you dare. I would not for one minute doubt their absolute sincerity. But... They have not stopped long enough to read the directions. They have not stopped long enough to study the rule of the word. And because they are not reading the directions, and because they are not following the rule of the word, they're bringing a reproach on something that's very wonderful. That's very delectable. Something that is very precious. Consider something. There are two things that we need to ask ourselves regarding this glorious experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And remember something at the very outset. There isn't a person living this very hour. who's more sold on the person of the Holy Spirit. There is no one living this very hour who believes more in that wonderful Pentecostal experience of being filled with the Spirit. I believe in that Upper Room experience. I believe in the baptism with the Holy Spirit with every atom of my being. Know that. But I still contend that we need to follow the rule of the word. Two questions. Is this to the edification of the church? Is that which I am? doing with this wonderful experience? To the edification of the church. Am I using this experience to the salvation of souls? Just ask those two questions. One can always tell the genuine from the counterfeit. By this. That which is of the spirit, will bear the stamp of spirit -empowered soul winning. Sometimes I think that we're using this wonderful experience, this precious experience, for everything else except soul winning. I'll be very frank with you. I do not know whether it's out of habit. I do not know whether it's because of lack of teaching. But there's something I'm very frank to tell you that I've gotten to the place where I almost resent it. When I see two brethren shaking hands, and I'm talking about brethren in the spirit, shaking hands, and the first thing that one will say, well, God, have you spoken in tongues? A two women meeting. I'm talking about two women, God's precious children. I'm talking about men and women in the spirit. And they'll say, well, it's so nice to see you, God bless you. Have you spoken in tongues? It'll be a great... for the Pentecostal movement. It'll be a great day for brethren in the Lord when we can shake hands and have as our first desire to know how many souls have you won to the Lord Jesus Christ this week. When you can shake the hand as a spirit -filled person, of another spirit -filled person, clasp that hand in holy Christian love and say, God bless you, Frank. How many souls did you win to the Lord today? God bless you, Bill. Who did you bring the Lord Jesus Christ this week? Uh -huh. Do you know what I'm talking about? Sometimes... I think there are thousands of God's precious spirit -filled men and women who have never left the upper room. Never. You were still in the upper room. Do you want to know something? If the 120 had stayed in the upper room... Jerusalem never would have been shaken by the power of God if the 120 had stayed in the upper room. The 3 ,000 would never have been brought to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ under the anointing of the Holy Spirit as he took the tongue of Peter and used it for his glory. Had they stayed in the upper room, 5 ,000 never would have been added to the church in one day. Do you understand what I'm talking about? I'm talking to somebody right now who has never gotten out of the upper room. You're still there. Oh, it's glorious. One of these days, Peter, one of these days, John, is going to describe to us in person exactly what happened in that upper room. It was wonderful. Me thinks they should like to have stayed there the rest of their lives. Like Reverend Mr. Shaw said, and he's very frank to say, the very first time he went down on the power of God, sat on his back on the platform of Carnegie Auditorium here in Pittsburgh. this precious Presbyterian minister, so hungry for spiritual things, so dry spiritually. He said, I was just going through one of those dry runs in my ministry. The very first time the power of God went through his body and he fell prostrate on the floor, the first time he had ever felt the power of the Holy Spirit, There forever. And me thinks that those in the upper room would have liked to have stayed there. But there was something they had to do. The upper room experience was for a purpose. Not to continue in the spiritual picnic. Not to just continue in the upper room. But they were filled, equipped with power for a purpose. And you see the fulfillment of that purpose as they left the upper room, going out to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ under the anointing and the power of the Holy Spirit. Sure. You know, I was thinking the other morning, and it was early in the morning, it was very early, of that wonderful experience. that Peter, James, and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration. How often I have more or less relived it with them. Oh, think of the thrill of suddenly beholding Jesus transfigured before their very eyes. Suddenly, to be looking upon Moses. And Moses and Elijah did not appear to them just in spirit. They recognized Moses. They recognized Elijah. They knew immediately upon whose body they were looking. They were there. Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah. talking with him, that was Jesus. And in his excitement, this glorious ecstasy, Peter was just carried away. Oh, he said, let's stay here forever. How can we keep them here forever? This is so wonderful. Please, I don't want this to ever pass from me. And in his excitement, he said to Jesus, oh Lord, it's so good for us to be here. If thou wilt, let us here build three tabernacles, one for thee and one for Moses and one for Elijah. And then if we build these three tabernacles, then we can have a Mount of Transfiguration forever, you know. Oh, I can't. Peter was so charmed. He was so delighted with this blessing. and the glory of what he was seeing. No wonder he never wanted it to leave. But I'll tell you something. Read a little further down in the same chapter, and you'll see Jesus leading the group of three disciples down the edge of the cliff. You'll see him... leading them down to the multitudes of hungry, needy, sin -ridden souls in the valley below. The very first one they meet is the man with the epileptic son. Yeah? Mm -hmm. They're down there, beloved. They're down there in the valley, hungry for the word of everlasting life. Thank God for the Mount of Transfiguration. But Peter and James and John were not to stay there. They were to come down into the valley where they could help. Men and women. I thank my God for the upper room experience. I thank my God for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Would it not for that, one would be sent forth as a soldier without a sword, a lamp without oil, a lamp without a flame. I thank my God. God for the power of the Holy Spirit, that glorious experience when one is equipped with power for service. But as surely as Peter, James, and John were not to stay on the Mount of Transfiguration, but were led down by the Savior into the valley below give to others the bread of everlasting life, so surely are you and I to come out of the upper room and give to others that which we have experienced. No. As long as you stay in the upper room, you're not giving forth the word. to somebody else. Today, my friend, remember that upper room experience was to equip you for powerful service, and there is no greater service than leading men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My brother, as I shake your hand, let me ask you, How many souls have you won to the Lord since your upper room experience?