"True Evidence of the Holy Spirit Tongues or Love?" Kathryn Kuhlman Gifts of the Spirit talk 3 of 13

The other morning, in picking up my personal mail here at the Carlton House, the desk clerk handed me a most imposing -looking envelope. It was marked United States Senate. The letter had been sent airmail. Upon opening the envelope, I found out that it had been written by... the senator's wife. The letter was beautifully written. She has been listening to our radio broadcast. She asks a question, though, that I feel that I want to answer her question. In doing so, I may answer your question also. Because it is a most important question. Let me read just a paragraph or two of her letter. I missed your exposition of the tongues movement. I should so like to know your belief on this. These people seem to feel that they have something which the rest of us lack. If it is of the Lord, Why should I feel so embarrassed, so disgusted, when I hear someone speaking in tongues? In the hospital, a group of them visited me, and it was most embarrassing. One woman, whom I know, looked down her nose at me because I do not speak in tongues. She teaches a Sunday school class, is very, very active in religious things, prayer groups, etc. But she believes that while doing this work for the Lord, she can live exactly as she pleases, do exactly as she pleases, because her belief in Christ and her speaking in tongues sets her apart. from gods thou shalt not. I do not mean to condemn someone for something that I do not understand or have not experienced. But please help me, Ms. Komen, in answering my question. I miss your views on this subject because of maddening static and interference. some months ago when you preached on the Holy Spirit. The Senator's wife signs her full name, gives her full address. You know, I sincerely believe that the lack of teaching on this subject is one reason why so much reproach has been brought on the most beautiful experience that can happen to one who has been born again. I want to first of all set you very straight on something and follow me very carefully. I do not know whether I'll be able to give the full answer to the Senator's wife in just as one broadcast. So I ask you please to follow me because I shall speak as simply as though I were speaking to a child. I feel that teaching on the subject of the Holy Spirit, good sound doctrinal teaching regarding this experience of being filled with the Spirit, good sound teaching as to the speaking in an unknown tongue is needed this hour. You know... It's so hard to cope with ignorance. And you'll find ignorance in every phase of life, always. Those in the medical profession will agree with me that there's ignorance among those in the medical profession. Take the profession of law. Not a lawyer, but what will agree with me that even in his profession, There is ignorance. But I believe that in any profession, even though there's ignorance there, it is most appalling and most detrimental when you find ignorance when it comes to the things spiritual and the things of God. Because it brings such reproach. shh, on the Lord Jesus Christ, on his word, on God the Father, and especially on the Holy Spirit, the mighty third person. ignorance has brought such reproach on something that is so beautiful, so wonderful, so real, so vitally important to Every child of God. Therefore, I'm going to take you step by step. And please, as we begin our little heart -to -heart talk on this subject, will you just sit there with an open mind? That's all that I ask of you. Will you please just now turn yourself upside down and shake yourself from all preconceived ideas? and sit there with an open mind, an open heart, open to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. I find some folk who are so set in their ideas, so set in what they believe, that if an angel were to come all the way from glory to earth, and try to teach them, they would disregard the teaching of an angel and would still hold to their own belief. We're going to take the word of God. Beloved, no person can take issue with God's word. That's the highest authority in heaven and earth. Regardless of what you have been taught by man, regardless of the theology of the organization that you belong to, regardless of what your pastor has taught you or your priest has taught you or what your neighbors have said, if it's... Contrary to what God's Word says, remember God's Word is always right. There can be no question about it. All that I ask of you as we begin these heart -to -heart talks on this vital subject is that you allow your mind to be open to the Word of God. And in answering the question asked by the senator's wife, I'm going to begin with something that may seem to you to be very remote. And yet, here is really the answer. Turn, if you will, please, to the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. Oh, but somebody says, Miss Gorman. What has that to do with Acts 2 -4? Everything is the same person. I want you to become acquainted with this wonderful person of the Holy Spirit. And remember, he is a person. All that some people think of whenever you speak of the Holy Spirit is just one thing, tongues. Speaking in tongues, you just mention the Holy Spirit. And invariably, there's only one thought that enters their mind. Tongues. They have never become acquainted with the power of the Trinity. the person of the Holy Spirit. Let's see what he is really like. I want you to, first of all, get acquainted with the ministry of the gifts that he gives. He gives wonderful gifts. But I want you to see the ministry of the gifts. I want you to see the fruits of the Spirit. Let me read it to you. Oh, you know what that 13th chapter, 1 Corinthians, involved. You know. But just sit there with an open heart as I read it to you under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gifts of prophecy, watch it. Is there a gift more coveted than the gift of prophecy or the gift of the word of knowledge? or the gift of the word of wisdom? Is there anything that we could covet more than these gifts? And yet, watch this. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I can remove mountains and have not... Love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Now watch. Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself, is not huffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, and thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth. But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part. But them shall I know, even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. I have just given you, from the word of God, the fruits of the Spirit. The fruits... of the Holy Spirit. He gives gifts. Marvelous gifts. And may I remind you again that the nine gifts that we speak of as nine gifts of the Spirit are only a part of the gifts that he gives to God's children. They are only an example. Don't limit him when it comes to his giving of gifts. But as truly as He gives gifts, there will be certain roots from these gifts. There are certain roots of the Spirit. There are certain evidences by which we know. The fact which one possesses is real, is genuine. By their fruits, ye shall know them. By their lives, ye shall know them. By their deeds, we shall know them. You see? The experience is personal. Whatever experience we receive from the Lord, when it comes to the new birth experience, it is an experience between the master and the individual. The actual transaction is not seen by even the one who may be standing very near to that one. It's an individual, a personal transaction. But... There will be an outward evidence of that which has taken place internally by that one's actions, by the life that he lives. By this shall all men know that you have been born again. There will be the outward manifestation, and there'll be no doubt whatsoever as to whether or not that... one has been born again in exactly the same way when it comes to one who's been healed of the spirit. That wonderful experience is something that's individual. When literally the Holy Spirit comes into that body and takes that body and makes it his temper. temple of the holy spirit the most sacred the most wonderful experience and believe me it's vitally important to every born again christian i believe with all of my heart and being filled with the spirit call it the baptism of the spirit i believe in it and every christian should start possessing his possessions in the spirit. But watch something. There will be no doubt as to whether or not that one has literally been filled with the spirit, has actually received the fullness of the spirit because there will be evidences of that experience. evidences, outward evidences of that one having yielded their body as the temple of the Holy Spirit. This 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians gives us definitely these outward evidences. that we are to expect from the life of one who has been filled with the Spirit. Oh, my friend, there's much more than speaking in an unknown tongue. Paul begins in that very first part. By saying, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And a lot of folks are sounding off. But there's no power. There's no fruit. It's just noise. All right. Let's analyze the fruit of the spirit. Love suffereth love. There goes the impatience. Love is kind. There's no room for... Unkindness. Love endeth not. Watch it. There goes jealousy. There goes jealousy, my friend. Where you find jealousy in a life and jealousy in the heart. You're not going to find the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. Watch it. And sometimes I think one of the most prevalent sins among Christians is the sin of jealousy. And yet when it comes to the fruit of the Spirit, love envieth not. Love vaunteth not. itself. Boasting. Is not puffed up. There goes pride. Does not behave unseemly. Seeketh not its own. Is not provoked. Taketh no account of evil. There goes backbiting and malice. Beareth all things, no more complaining. Believeth all things, no more mistrust. Hopeth all things. There goes anxiety, worry, despondency. Hear it. For me to live is Christ, and Christ is love, and that's the real evidence when one has the Holy Spirit in his life.