Why Are You Following Jesus? Kathryn Kuhlman Part 1

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.