Transcript of a published conference session by Billy Cole, transcribed from YouTube. An attributed primary source — not Acts 2:38 Life doctrine text.
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Summary
Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.
The subject announced, and four texts in Acts read standing
- After his opening praise and a prophetic word to Bill Cisco — something Cisco has been wrestling with in the Spirit: do it, and God will give the foundation and the base for it — Cole announces his subject plainly: not how to receive the Holy Ghost, but the ministry of helping people receive it. How to help people receive the Holy Ghost.
- Pastor Anthony has testified that between forty and fifty received the Holy Ghost here Sunday; of the only two people in the building who did not have it and did not receive it, one was filled this morning — a hard nut to crack, a military man who came in in his uniform and started telling Cole what he thought. Cole said, "Shut up. Sit down. You don't know what you're doing" — and three minutes later he was talking in tongues. Cole qualifies it at once: in thirty-seven years of helping people receive the Holy Ghost, that is only the third time he has ever said such a thing; it was the right thing at the right time for that man, and done at the wrong time to the wrong person it would be wrong.
- Standing, he reads the four Acts accounts in one block: Pentecost itself (Acts 2:1-4), Samaria (Acts 8:14-17), the household at Caesarea (Acts 10:44-47), and Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-6) — the places where the Bible shows how people received the Holy Ghost and what happened when they did. Inside the reading he pauses on Acts 2's "all with one accord" to rebuke the business talked in altar services, preachers worst of all, while someone nearby is wrestling to pray a seeker through.
Scriptures: Acts 2:1-4; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 10:44-47; Acts 19:1-6
The Word as the basis; revival and its harvest
- He will let the word of God be the basis for the concepts he presents, rather than tradition. True revival brings repentance, causes people to quit their sin, brings the power of God to heal the sick, and fills men, women, children, and young people with the baptism of the Holy Ghost; in his own ministry the last couple of years have probably brought more miraculous healings than all the rest of it put together, and he is proud of the young preachers who will accept nothing less than an Acts of the Apostles ministry.
- Before there can be a great downpour of the Holy Ghost, you have to find a harvest; you cannot reap a harvest that does not exist, and there have to be empty vessels. He tells of a pastor who announced, "Brother Cole's here tonight — fifty is going to get the Holy Ghost," in a building holding forty-five people, fifteen of them without the Holy Ghost: the fifteen got it, but fifty could not, because fifty were not there. A first-time receiver has always had something planted and watered in them somewhere first; it does not just happen.
- A neighboring pastor, baptizing many and needing help that they might receive the Holy Ghost, persuaded him out of his one rest day for a single day's rally, Brother Hall going with him. The sanctuary seated only 300, so some 600 people met in the gymnasium; Cole preached twelve minutes — "You don't pray people through after preaching an hour and a half" — over a hundred came to the altar, and God filled 99 of them with the Holy Ghost in that one service, fifty miles from where he pastors.
Qualifications of the helper: burden, faith, and method
- First, a very sincere burden and compassion for the person. Nothing hinders an altar service more than someone who has the Holy Ghost and is indifferent: a seeker who does not have it "can't affect nothing" — we can override a thousand of them — but one indifferent person who claims the Holy Ghost is hard to override. Yesterday he told the stand-on-one-foot, hand-in-pocket helpers that they could help most by getting their coats, getting in their cars, and going home; nobody went. It is not necessary to be a preacher; some of the most qualified people are lay people who have never preached a sermon.
- Faith that they are going to receive the Holy Ghost. Faith is transmitted like a radio signal, and doubt is transmitted in exactly the same way: a doubter who has paid no attention will run down the aisle when he hears the shout, stick his ear in to check whether they really got it, and the tongues stop — he said nothing, but his spirit was transmitted. Faith is practiced like anything else, like tongues and interpretation, until you learn what God will do in a given circumstance; then take hold of it and do not waver. To the man filled this morning, who began by saying he was full of fear and did not believe it would happen, Cole declared his own faith and set the terms: thirty minutes, because he was going out to hear Mickey Mangun — "when you walk out of here, you're going to be talking in tongues." You cannot project faith you do not have, and you should walk away from an altar astounded if the seeker did not receive.
- And there must be a method. In Indonesia, on the island of Sulawesi, a presbyter told him a lady evangelist had come through eighteen years before and over 200 were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; they now had ten preachers, and none of them — presbyter included — had the Holy Ghost or knew how to receive it. That week they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and missionaries in from Indonesia just recently report more than 10,000 filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized in Jesus' name on that one island. They needed a method; they needed to know how to do it.
Traditions to take a new look at
- His teaching notes are dated 1966 — that piece of paper is twenty-five years old — and since coming home from the mission field he has met the schoolroom challenge of "show and tell": demonstrate here at home what he had been reporting from overseas. Some of what we do is American tradition, not Bible tradition.
- Posture is one: on the day of Pentecost they received the Holy Ghost where they were sitting, and at Caesarea the Holy Ghost fell on them while Peter yet spoke. A man at a camp meeting received down on his knees — "Fine. Nothing wrong with that. But you got it Methodist style"; it was not Peter's way or Paul's (Cole lays it, to laughter, on John Wesley). Kneeling or sitting makes no difference.
- Physical exercise is no substitute for faith. At that camp meeting four men worked on the kneeling seeker: one with a death grip on his left wrist, leaping and shouting in his ear; one behind him massaging him up and down; one on the other side shouting into his other ear; one in front with hands on top of his head pressing down — and, believe it or not, the man got the Holy Ghost. At a general conference where about a hundred received in one night (Winford Black had gathered the revivalists to do something different), one group of about twelve men had a single man between them, throwing him from one to another, until one hit him in the back with his fist and he started talking in tongues. "You know what has happened? The devil has stolen our faith, and we have substituted physical exercise for faith."
- Our faith is also limited: if one or two receive, we had a great service; but let fifty receive, and we wonder if it was the real thing. Of a service where 67 received, a good friend of Cole's said, "It couldn't be God — it was too easy." That man would have had a nervous breakdown on the day of Pentecost, when 3,000 got it in one day; Cole believes with all his heart that he is going to see 3,000 get the Holy Ghost in one service.
Repentance on God's terms, not ours — Wheeling
- Another demand to drop: we not only demand repentance, we demand that it happen at our altar — and people who have already repented, sitting in the congregation, are not going to come and do it again for us. They are not going to do it, and their repentance counts.
- Founding the work in Wheeling, West Virginia — a mission in a house eighteen feet wide and fifty long, a platform so small he fell off it backwards the first time he preached on it, a meeting with Lee Stoneking in which 67 received the Holy Ghost from a start of twenty members — Cole finished preaching and asked, with no music at all, "Is there anyone here that desires the Holy Ghost?" A registered nurse, there three Sunday mornings and at her first Sunday-night service, stepped up onto the one-step platform, came right to him, and asked, "What do you want me to do?" He laid his hand on her and said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost" — and she began speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance.
- That inspired the faith of a seventeen-year-old boy, who came up and received the Holy Ghost; then his brother, fifteen, came up and got the Holy Ghost. After the service a visiting young couple from one of our finest churches asked, "Brother Cole, don't you believe in repentance?" Pressed, the wife said it: "But I like to see them cry." "You see, young lady, this service was not designed to entertain you." Many pastors are forced by their saints to entertain them, and a people entertained all their lives cannot suddenly be stopped — they have to be weaned off it, or you will clear the pews.
"Did you receive the Holy Ghost?" — tell them what God has done
- When real revival is on, people receive who do not know Genesis from Revelation, and they will not know what has happened to them — like a newborn in the hospital nursery, who would not answer if you took it in your hands and asked, "Baby, are you born?" Someone in the church eighteen years will know; someone there eighteen minutes will not. Cole's practice: ask them, "Did you speak words or sentences that you could not understand?"; have a saint who witnessed it — at least two witnesses, the pastor above all — confirm, "Yes, I heard them speak with tongues"; then read them the tenth chapter of Acts and explain what has happened, as Peter did: "For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God… Can any man forbid water, that these should be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost?" He told those people they had got the Holy Ghost.
- In his first home mission, Sister Smith — an elderly lady, troubled in spirit over a shell-shocked son, who had fallen and sprained her ankle and was practically carried to church on a chair — was the first person not only in that church but in that county, of any denomination, to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. She was healed in the same moment, up walking the floor, hugging everybody who would let her, talking in tongues for thirty minutes. Then Cole asked her, as he had been taught to ask, "Sister Smith, did you receive the Holy Ghost?" She said, "I don't know." He stole her joy as quick as you could snap your finger: you do not have joy because you have the Holy Ghost; you have joy because you believe you have the Holy Ghost.
- The brother filled this morning spoke in tongues for a long time and then said, "I'm not satisfied." Cole answered him out of his own year: "I traveled last year pastoring a church that grew from 200 members — Spirit-filled, baptized members — to 400 in one year, traveled 200,000 miles, preached in 33 districts and four continents, and Pastor Anthony Mangun told me last night I wasn't doing enough. How in the name of God can you be a member of the Pentecostals of Alexandria and ever be satisfied?" He had to claim what he had already received so the joy could come: "Did you speak with tongues?" "Oh yes, I spoke clearly with tongues." "Then according to the word of God, God has filled you with the Holy Ghost" — and he started dancing.
Scriptures: Acts 10:44-47
"I'm not satisfied" — the evidence is tongues, not falling
- Out in California with Brother Price — eleven nights of Holy Ghost rallies, a night in each section, 181 people receiving the baptism — Cole had them sit on chairs in Sacramento, which "just blew the UPC's mind." Eight received in that service, among them a sister (Whitmore) who spoke in tongues so fluently; when the others were told to stand, she would not stand. "Did you not speak words and sentences you couldn't understand?" "Oh yes." "Then why didn't you stand?" "Because I am not satisfied" — because sister so-and-so had said that when you get the real thing, it'll knock you down.
- Cole had taught that service to relax — hands raised open rather than arms strained and teeth gritted, because all of that resists the Holy Ghost (he survived the flack over the word "relax" too). He had them worship again, and with her speaking in tongues he said, "Now tighten your fist real tight" — and the moment she tightened it, out of the chair she went and hit the floor: "That's it! That's it!" Before, she was letting the power flow through her; the moment she resisted it, it knocked her down. Now brag about being knocked down, he says. The Bible does not say you will be knocked down; the Bible says you shall speak with other tongues. And be careful about saying of those who talk in tongues that they haven't got the real thing, lest you blaspheme the Holy Ghost — when people come into our ranks from the Assemblies of God and the Church of God, the moment they are baptized we accept their Holy Ghost; they do not get another one.
- Neither may we demand one kind of emotional demonstration from everyone. What will you do when a surgeon receives — a man taught that the minute his hand shakes he is finished, that his emotions must be under total control? Do not expect him to act like a hillbilly preacher. Brother Kilgore tells of just such a doctor who made an appointment, came with his wife to the office, said, "We have repented," stood there, and both of them received the Holy Ghost as hands were laid on them. Cole himself has never run and never danced — his own church dances from the first verse of the first song, and he has made them keep their eyes open doing it — yet he has the Holy Ghost and is ready for the coming of the Lord. "You reproduce after your own kind": the preacher who complained he had nothing but dingbats in his church was told why. If we are going to see a variety of people receive, we will have to tolerate different kinds of emotions.
Listen — the seeker may already have it
- We get around a seeker, close our eyes, and pray ourselves off into some ninth heaven; asked "Have they spoke with tongues yet?", the honest answer is often "I don't know." Put your ear down to their mouth — that is how you hear them; that is the great revelation. People speak with tongues for twenty minutes, in five different languages, while their helpers have not heard it, and it is hard to get some of them to stop long enough to listen without feeling you are killing the Spirit. Cole shook a girl working with a seeker — he does not do it often — "I command you, listen." "She has been speaking for twenty minutes. Where have you been?"
- When they begin to cool off, we begin, "Now, sister, come on — let him come in." But he has been in for twenty minutes; urging someone who has already received to receive makes a chronic seeker of them: you put a doubt in their mind that they have not received, and for the next twenty years they will seek God for something different from what they already have, which they cannot get. The joy does not come when you get the Holy Ghost; the joy comes when you believe you've got it.
- He tells the true story he read in a newspaper, regretted a thousand times not clipping: a dying woman left her family an unusual, ugly stone — "Someday you may find out this is of value; don't throw it away." They hated it, tried it for a paperweight, kept it only for mother's sake, and at last had it checked: it was an uncut diamond worth a million and a half dollars. They did not get their joy when they got the diamond; they got it when they realized what they had. That, he says, is why we sing "Sweeter as the years go by" — you learn what you have.
How to pray with a seeker
- Don't put your hands on people too quickly; wait until the anointing comes upon them. You do not lay hands on people to bring the anointing — not for the Holy Ghost, and not for the sick. Someone grabs your coat in the altar and says, "Come pray for this one": if it were God's will for you to pray for them, you would already be over there; a hand laid at man's insistence on someone not ready, and then taken off, introduces doubt — "Brother Cole doesn't believe I'm going to get it." In Charleston his people are taught that believers pray for each other: those wanting healing come and stand in front, the elders stand with them, and believers come and lay hands on — "that's when ninety percent of our people receive the Holy Ghost, right there."
- When you feel the anointing, and faith comes into your heart that they are going to receive, lay your hand upon them — properly, not like you think they've got leprosy; there is a transmission when the hand is placed on the head in the proper way and with faith, as the apostles laid hands and they received. Say to them, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and expect them to receive it. And do not take your hand off until they do: your attention span is about two minutes and you want to pray for fifteen people, but the moment you take your hand off, you have introduced doubt.
- Be enthusiastic. Do not let his earlier descriptions intimidate you out of enthusiasm — we will not pound them, rub them, or beat them, and we will work on not clapping till we burst their eardrums — but there is a very close relationship between enthusiasm and faith: people who really believe God is going to do something get excited, and a real pious, reserved church should be asked how many got the Holy Ghost last year. Keep your eyes open and your ears alert while you work with them; the minute God starts answering your prayer, start shouting about it — "That's it. You're doing good." And when they start speaking with tongues, do not tell them to say hallelujah: if they are speaking in tongues, say they are speaking in tongues — they do not know what they are doing, fresh in off the street.
- Give your voice: you cannot speak with tongues unless you are willing to speak. "And they began to speak with tongues" — the Spirit gave the utterance, but they spoke. And once they speak, tell them they are speaking with tongues and to continue: the real thing can be stopped by choice. Cole says he could begin speaking with tongues this very instant and stop when he pleased, and it would be real — not because he has any great measure of the Holy Ghost, but because he has learned how to submit. People who speak with tongues easily do not have more Holy Ghost; they have learned how to yield — so encourage the seeker to keep speaking.
Four instructions to the seeker — worship, not begging
- The instructions, quickly: you have to repent — no one gets the Holy Ghost who has not repented — but assuming they have repented: first, desire with all your heart; second, get your attention right on Jesus Christ ("I have seen thousands receive the Holy Ghost, but I have never ever given one single person the Holy Ghost — it's not mine to give"; do not get your mind on the helper; a childlike way to hold the attention is to visualize the Lord); third, have faith that God is going to give you the Holy Ghost; and fourth, because of your faith, worship the Lord — the Holy Ghost comes in worship.
- You can say hallelujah — the highest word in our vocabulary to praise God — and beg at the same time, and begging will not work. Recently it was Christmas, and gifts were exchanged: if Pastor Anthony had given Cole a new Bible, wrapped beautifully with ribbon and his name on it, would Cole have fallen on his knees screaming at the top of his lungs, "Give me that gift"? That is exactly what we have done to God for centuries; we humiliate God with our screaming and begging at the altar, and He cannot and will not respond to it. He responds to repentance and faith. God will not give you the Holy Ghost just because you want it: "You must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Then he shows them how to say hallelujah as praise rather than begging — say it like that three times and you will feel goosebumps all over you.
- Desiring with all your heart, your attention on Jesus Christ, faith that He is going to give you the Holy Ghost, and worship because of your faith: doing these four things, you will feel an invisible power come near to you — that is the presence of God, and God is not a teaser; when He comes near, it means He is going to give you the Holy Ghost. As you praise Him, your tongue wants to speak words, sentences, sounds you cannot understand: do not add words to it — forget saying hallelujah, keep giving your voice, and let the Lord form the words; He will begin to praise Himself in a language you never learned in school. That is speaking in other tongues. "Everything I've taught you today is based in this book; it's going to cross swords with a lot of tradition, but it's not going to cross with this book. God bless you in Jesus' name."
Scriptures: Hebrews 11:6
Scripture index: Acts 2:1-4; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 10:44-47; Acts 19:1-6; Hebrews 11:6.
Transcript
I'm going to tell you a little bit about how to praise God. If you like it, I will be pleased. If you don't like it, I'm not going to quit. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. I want you to turn in your Bibles to the book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 2. Oh, I appreciate hearing that voice. Amen. Glad you're here, Robert. I love you. Wait a minute. Bill Cisco, there's been something that you've been wrestling with in the spirit that you've been wanting to do in the name of the Lord. The Lord just spoke to me to tell you to do it and that God will give you the foundation and the base in which to do it. And God will help you. God will help you to do the burden of your heart. All right. Acts chapter 2 beginning with verse one. I'm going to talk today about the ministry of helping people receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Would that please you? All right. How to help people receive the Holy Ghost. Brother, Pastor Anthony has testified that there was between 40 and 50 received the Holy Ghost here Sunday. I can only think of two people in the entire building that didn't have the Holy Ghost that didn't receive it. One of them received it this morning. Praise God. He was a hard nut to crack. He was also military. Yeah, brother. He didn't take good command. Brother Baker, he was military. Came in in his uniform this morning and he started telling me what he thought. I said, "Shut up. Sit down. You don't know what you're doing." And I do. And 3 minutes later, he was talking in tongues. Now, let me qualify that. I've been helping people receive the Holy Ghost for 37 years. And that's only the third time I've ever said something like that in my life. That is not something you say every day to everybody. But it was right for him. It was right for him. The right thing at the right time. If you do that at the wrong time, the wrong person, Acts chapter 2, beginning with verse one. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord. That's where we miss it so many times. said, "It's it's uncanning the stuff that we talk about during an altar service." In my Holy Ghost rallies, I almost hate for preachers to show up because they talk their business while I'm over here wrestling, trying to pray people through the Holy Ghost. And you'll get do it right in the altar. Y'all think you can take this today? And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them the utterance. Chapter 8 verse 14. Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands
on them and they received the Holy Ghost. Chapter 10 and verse 44. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because it on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. and chapter 19 and verse 1. And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corenth, Paul having passed through the upper coast, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples. He said unto them, "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" And they said unto him, "We have not so much as heard where there be any Holy Ghost." And he said unto them, "Unto them, what were you baptized?" And they said unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John barely baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues and prophesied, and all the men were about 12. Would you worship the Lord with me? I worship you, Lord Jesus, and I adore you, Almighty God. I praise you. I worship you. I honor you. I glorify and magnify your matchless holy name. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I worship you. I thank you Lord Jesus. Glory to thy name. Almighty God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord Jesus. God bless you. And you may be seated. If you will allow me, I'm going to let the word of God be the basis for the concepts that I present here today rather than what might be our tradition. We're having great revival. throughout the land and I believe it's going to intensify. And when there is true revival, it brings repentance. Yes, sir. When there is true revival, it causes people to quit their sin. When there is true revival, it brings the power of God to heal the sick. Amen. When there is true revival, men and women are filled and children and young people are filled with the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And we are experiencing more and more revival all the time. We're seeing more healings than we've ever seen before. In my own ministry, in the last couple of years, I probably have seen more miraculous healings than all the rest of my ministry put together. God is intensifying in these days just before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so many are taking a hold of this. I am especially proud of our young men and our young preachers that are so hungry for God. They're not going to accept anything except an Acts of the Apostles ministry. We're going to have it. We are going to have it. Praise God. We're not going to accept anything less than that. And I'm happy about it. Praise the Lord. I want to talk to you a little bit about this ministry of helping people receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. There are great downpours of the Holy Ghost. Very, very possible. Just recently, a neighboring pastor of mine, uh, Brother Hall, who's here today, would you stand, Brother Hall? Went with me to this meeting. And the pastor called and said, "Brother Cole, we're baptizing a lot of people in Jesus' name, and we need help that they might receive the Holy Ghost." And I said, "Well, I don't have but one day off, and it's my rest day." And I'm trying to do what Sister Mickey Man
taught this morning, having a rest day. He said, "Well, one day is all I need." Well, he persuaded. So, we went for a Holy Ghost rally. His sanctuary would only seat 300 people. And they were having such a move of the Holy Ghost, move of God, of repentance and baptism that they had moved into their gymnasium. There was probably 600 people present in that service. I preach for 12 minutes. 12 minutes. You don't pray people through after preaching an hour and a half. Saints will love it. But the people that you're looking at and wanting to help, you lose them. And out of courtesy, they've stayed the last hour with you. I preached 12 minutes, gave an altar call, and over 100 people came to the altar, and God filled 99 of them with the Holy Ghost in that one single service. Amen. That didn't happen in Africa or Asia. That happened 50 miles from where I pastor. Now, before there can be a great downpour of the Holy Ghost, you have to find a harvest. You cannot reap a harvest that does not exist. I don't care who you are. If there's only three people in the building that hadn't got the Holy Ghost, I got news for you. 10's not going to get it. I don't care who you are. I went to a church one time, and I don't say this in ridicule, but just to make a point. The pastor had faith in me, obviously, and he got so excited, he said, "Brother Cole's here tonight. 50 is going to get the Holy Ghost. There's only 45 people in the building. That's not faith. That's absolute nonsense. Is this what you need? Is this okay? There was 15 there that didn't have it. They got it. But we didn't have 50. Get it? because there wasn't 50 there that needed it. That seems so elementary, but you can't imagine how often we overlooked it. It's amazing what people get in the pull pit and say before you come to the pull pit and set the stage for you that is so totally ridiculous. Before there could be a harvest, somebody's got to plant, sew, water. That's right. If you have someone receive the Holy Ghost the very first time they ever come to a Pentecostal service, I promise you someplace somewhere, somebody has planted something in those people's hearts. It don't just happen just like you snap your finger with someone that's never heard a message, never been taught, never been instructed, never been prayed over. It just don't happen. There has to be that planting and watering before you can reap the harvest. Praise God. There's got to be empty vessels. Let me talk a little bit. I'm just going to hit the high points. Is that all right? Cuz I know you're tired. You've sat here for 5 hours already. God bless you. I've never seen such a bunch of hungry people in all my life. And God's going to fill God's going to fill your hunger. God's going to satisfy the hunger of your heart. But I want to be reasonable and just touch these points. Let me talk about the qualifications of a person who is going to have the ministry of praying people through to the Holy Ghost. First of all, you have to have a very s sincere burden for that person. That's right.
One of the things I said yesterday morning when we went to pray for the people and it wasn't wasn't necessary here but I said it anyhow cuz I usually say it. And I said now when we were ready to pray all these folks was up here standing. We didn't have room hardly at all but we had them filled up here. I said, "Now you folks that while we tar here and while we pray, you that's going to stand on one foot with one hand in your pocket and say, "Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Praise God. Thank you, Jesus. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah." I said, "I want you to help us." And this is the way you can help us. Go get your coat, get in your car, and go home. Nobody went. Praise the Lord. But there is absolutely nothing that hinders an altar service more than someone that has the Holy Ghost. Now, if you don't have the Holy Ghost, you can't affect nothing. We can override a thousand of you. That's right. But one single person that has the Holy Ghost, we have a hard time overriding one single person who claims the Holy Ghost and who is indifferent. And there must be that tremendous compassion and burden in order to be qualified to pray people through to the Holy Ghost. It's not necessary to be a preacher. Some of the most qualified people we have are lay people that's never ever preached a sermon. Praise God. Amen. Just to have that burden and the zeal for it. Thirdly, it's important to have faith that they're going to receive the Holy Ghost. This brother that came in this morning, Brother Hall, went in with me to pray with him. And after he started speaking with tongues, why we invited quite a few to come in and shout with us. But we went in and this man was saying when we began to instruct him and he said, "I I I am so full of fear. I I just I don't believe this is going to happen." I said to him, "I believe it's going to happen." Amen. So you quit worrying about what you believe. It's going to happen. you, sir. And I've only got 30 minutes to do this cuz I'm going out there to hear that speaker. I'm going to hear Sister Mangan, Mickey Mangan this morning. And I've only got 30 minutes. And I'm going to walk out of here. And you're going to walk out of here. And when you walk out of here, you're going to be talking in tongues. Now, you cannot fake faith. Now, if I didn't really feel that, I was standing there lying to that guy. But I wasn't lying. Amen. I knew he was going to get the Holy Ghost. And you cannot project faith if you don't have it. And faith is like a radio signal. Yes, sir. You transmit it. You transmit faith like a radio signal. and you transmit doubt in exactly the same way. Now, let me prove it. Have you ever been working around the altar and someone comes through speaking in other tongues and the joy of the Lord is upon them and they're just speaking in tongues and sister so so and so or brother so and so is way in the back and he is a doubter. He's paid no attention, no no interest whatsoever, but here's the shout and here's the victory. So he runs down the aisle to check them out, to see if they really got it or not. See if they got the real thing or not and see if they're really speaking with tongues. And the minute he gets up there and sticks his ear in, that person stops speaking with tongues. I'll tell you why. He has transmitted doubt. didn't say a word, but his spirit was transmitted. And faith is transmitted in exactly the same way. When you're praying with someone, it's important that you believe they are going to receive the Holy Ghost.
Now, they may not they may not even be repented. And you can't receive the Holy Ghost unless you repented of your sins. They may not receive it. But you should walk away from that person totally astounded if they didn't get it. If you are shocked when they get it, it wasn't your faith that did it. Somebody else had faith. Praise the Lord. So far so good. But we have to be able to transmit that faith and you do that with practice. That's right. You practice faith just the same as you practice anything else. Just as tongues and interpretation must be practiced in order for you to be be honed in to where you do it cleverly and and and and don't miss it. The same way you practice faith, you learn, you learn to know what God will do in a given circumstance. And God won't do just anything in a given circumstance. You have to be able to determine what God will do in a given circumstance. And then take a hold of that and don't let your faith waver and you transmit that faith to a seeker. Praise God. And then of course there is a need for a method. If I had plenty of time, I would give you many, many examples of where that was true. Let me give you one brief example. I remember going to Indonesia many years ago and and when I got to the island of Sloacei, they had sent a letter asking for me to come. And when I got to that island, they the prespit stepped forward and he said to me, "A lady evangelist came through this island 18 years ago and over 200 of us were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We now have 10 preachers. None of us have the Holy Ghost. I am the prespit." He was not a member of the United Pentecostal Church, but I am the prespitter. I do not have the Holy Ghost. Our members do not have the Holy Ghost. We do not know how to receive it. Well, that week they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Just the other day, missionaries was in from Indonesia, and I asked them, "How many constituents and members do we have in Sertoina now?" And he said, "More than 10,000 are filled with the Holy Ghost and baptized in Jesus' name." in that one single island. They needed a method. They needed to know how to do it. And that's what I'm trying to help you to do today is to give you some thoughts on how to do it. Let me talk about real quickly about some of the things that we need to take a new look at the New Testament about. Amen. We have so many traditions. When I came home, brother Baker mentioned about show and tell. When I came home from the mission field, I was of times telling the congregations of things that was happening overseas. And the pastors came to me and said, "We've got a new thing here that they do in school, show and tell." In other words, they was wanting me to demonstrate here at home some of the things that I was talking about that was happening overseas. Well, now believe me, that's quite a challenge because a few years ago in particular, we had some traditions, sir. That were American traditions and not Bible traditions. How about Richardson? That's right. Ain't that right? Now, maybe you wanted something new today. Well, my notes. I was just looking here to see when I wrote them. 1966 I wrote these notes. That's 25 years ago. That piece of paper is 25 years old, but it's still in the book. Is that all right? I came home and they wanted me to travel, you know, and see some of these things happen. Well, I hadn't been home very long till I went to a camp meeting and there was a man. I seen him get the Holy Ghost. He spake with other tongues and the joy of the Lord came upon him and this is the way he got it. He was down on his knees like this. Now, I don't know who started that.
All right. It sure wasn't the Apostle Peter. Well, I'm getting two or three amens. I don't care whether you say amen or not. I'm going to tell you the truth today. It wasn't the Apostle Paul. I think it was John. John Wesley. Time to laugh. Bilico on the day of Pentecost. I read it to you. They received the Holy Ghost where they were sitting. Amen. And while the apostle yet spake to them, the Holy Ghost fell upon them which heard the word. Amen. Someone said, "Well, brother Cole, I got the Holy Ghost kneeling at an altar." Fine. Nothing wrong with that. But you got it Methodist style. Praise the Lord. No difference. You kneeling, setting, whatever. Am I going to survive this? You going to make it. Okay. You know, I'd hate for someone to collect my credentials. And there was four men around this guy and all four of them wanted to help him get the Holy Ghost. One of them had a hold of his left wrist in an absolute death grip. It's a wonder that poor man's hand hadn't withered and died. And with his right hand, he had a hold of his left elbow and he was leaping and shouting, "Hallelujah!" and he would nearly tear that poor man's arm right out of his shoulder. But he wanted to help him get the Holy Ghost. And then there was another brother. And by the way, this is not a parable. It really happened just like I'm telling it. There was another brother behind him and he wanted to help him get the Holy Ghost. And you talking about a massage? He was rubbing him up and down. I don't know what the poor man would have done if he'd have been ticklish. I don't know if he was putting him in joint or out of joint, but I'm telling you, he was different than he was when he came. And then there was a fourth one on the other side of him. He wanted to help, too. And he was giving him this right in his ear. And the poor man's head was probably going just like this. And the fourth one was in front of him, had his hands on top of his head, giving him this. It's a wonder he hadn't broke his neck. Believe it or not, that guy got the Holy Ghost. You remember you you all some of you remember brother Winford Black? He preached at the general conference. The eagle has landed. Yeah, that's what he preached. And he got together with some of the revivalists and he says, "Let's do something different and have somebody get the Holy Ghost in general conference. And and there was about a hundred got the Holy Ghost that night. But I I seen one group of men. There was about 12 men had this one guy. Honest to God, I'm not making this up. They had one man in between them and they were throwing him one to the other. And one of them got so excited by the Cisco, he hit him in the back with his fist and he started talking in tongues. You know what I think he was thinking? If I don't start speaking with tongues, they're going to kill me. You know what has happened? The devil has stolen our faith. And we have
substituted physical exercise for faith. And physical exercise is no substitute for faith. Have faith in God. And God will pour out his spirit. Hallelujah. Praise the name of the Lord. God will do it. Another problem is our faith is we have faith but it's limited. If one or two gets the Holy Ghost in the service, I we had a great service. But you let 50 get it. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. I wonder if it was a real thing. That's right. That's right. Don't none of you raise your hands, but how many of you doubted that 40 or 50 got it here Sunday? Don't raise your hands. I remember preaching a service one time. A lot of preachers showed up and 67 received the Holy Ghost in that service. And one of them, good friend of mine, I love him very much. He's tried my love a couple of times. I overheard him say to somebody, "It couldn't be God. It was too easy." Hey, that poor man would have had a nervous breakdown on the day of Pentecost. That's right. When 3,000 got it in one day. Praise the Lord. I haven't seen it yet, but I believe with all my heart. I'm going to see 3,000 get the Holy Ghost in one service. I believe it with all my heart. I believe I'm going to see it. Praise God. Hallelujah. So our faith is limited. Amen. Another problem we have is that we demand. Not only we do we demand repentance, but you've got to repent at our altar or your repentance don't count. And when people come in and sit down in your congregation and they have already repented and you demand them to come to your altar and repent, they ain't going to do it. That's good. They're not going to do it. They're not going to do it. All right. Amen. Remember one time when I was founding the work in Wheeling, West Virginia. It's the northern part of West Virginia and we were having revival. Brother Lee Stone King came in those days and boy we had a time. We started out with 20 members. 20 members and 67 got the Holy Ghost in that one meeting. He wanted to do what I was doing. I said, "Oh, no." I said, "The preachers will suffocate you to death because you're too young." So, we developed a whole new method. He's still using it today. I bulldozed my way through. Some of you tried to suffocate me, but I'm still breathing. That's right. All right. And that night, I had a little platform. You wouldn't believe. It was only one. We was starting in this mission. See, it was in a house 18 ft wide, 50 ft long. And my little platform was so small that the first time I preached on it, I fell off of it backwards. That's the truth. And but this time we' had several get the Holy Ghost. And so I finished preaching. I said, "Is there anyone here that desires the Holy Ghost?" No music. No music. Those folks that got the Holy Ghost last yesterday, Sunday, no music, not in the altar
call. We are so totally dependent on emotion. Unfortunately, many of us cannot separate emotion and power. I wish I had a long time to talk about that. I said, "Anyone need the Holy Ghost?" And a a lady that was a registered nurse came forward. I intended for her to come and stand in front of the pulpit, but she didn't do it. Platform was only one step high. She stepped up on the platform and came right up to me and said, "What do you want me to do?" And I laid my hand on her and I said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." All right. her first time she'd been in Sunday night service. She'd been there three Sunday mornings. And she just began speaking with other tongues as the spirit of God give the utterance. That inspired the faith of a 17-year-old boy. He came up, bam, he got the Holy Ghost on the other side. And then his brother, 15, came up and got the Holy Ghost. There was a young couple there, beautiful young couple, married that come from one of our most finest churches. Won't tell you who where it was, but they had come just came by as visiting. And after the service, this little couple came to me and said, "Brother Cole, don't you believe in repentance?" I said, "Well, sure. Why? Why did you ask?" She said, "Well, those people came out and got the Holy Ghost." I said, "Well, do you believe that someone can receive the Holy Ghost without repenting?" She said, "Absolutely not." I said, "Well, what's your problem then? She said, "But I like to see them cry." I said, "Oh, I see." You see, young lady, this service was not designed to entertain you. And many of our pastors are forced by the saints to entertain them. Now, you can't just suddenly be entertaining all your life and then suddenly stop. You have to wean them saints off of that or you'll clear the pews. Amen. Another thing we do is we ask, "Did you receive the Holy Ghost?" Now, when you're having real revival, you're going to have people get the Holy Ghost that doesn't know Genesis from Revelation. that owes absolutely nothing. I was in a service one time and quite a few got the Holy Ghost and I was helping them to understand what had happened to them. And this one sister that didn't get the Holy Ghost, she said, "I don't have to have anybody tell me to get the Holy Ghost." I said, "Of course not, woman. You've been in the womb of the church for 18 years. You'll know when you get it. She'd been Terry 18 years and the Holy Ghost revealed that to me. But if you've only been there 18 minutes, you're not going to know what's going on. If some people would do their new babies the way they do their new converts when their grandpa, grandma or mom or dad, they'd go to the nursery in the hospital and when the nurse would hold the baby up, you'd take it in your hands and say, "Baby, are you born?" Yeah. And because the baby wouldn't even pay any attention to you, you'd say, "He's not born." Let me tell you something. Let me tell you something. If you're a mama and you just had a baby and you don't know it, you're dumb.
And if you've been around this church for 10 years and someone starts talking in tongues and you don't know they got the Holy Ghost, you're dumb. But what we do, what do we do? They stand there and talk in tongues for half an hour, an hour in five different languages. And then we all stand and wait and come on, say it. And just because they don't say, "I got the Holy Ghost," we all go home believing they didn't get it. That is dumb. That's right. Am I doing okay? What do you do? Turn to the 10th chapter of Acts and read. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. And Peter said, "Can any man forbid water that these should be baptized who have received the Holy Ghost?" He said it. He told those people they got the Holy Ghost. I know I'm working on a holy cow right now, but I intend to kill it before Jesus comes. I remember when I first did my very first home mission, we had a breakthrough. 16 Methodist people got baptized. Hallelujah. And that first month of revival and then we had three of them received the Holy Ghost. And the first one was Sister Smith, an elderly lady. She had a son that had been shell shocked in the military. and he would run away from home and she was terribly troubled about him and in her troubled spirit she fell and sprained her ankle and we practically carried her to church. But God chose to fill her with the Holy Ghost that night and that was the very first person not only in that church but in that county to ever receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost of any denomination. That was the first one. Amen. And she was healed. Her ankle was healed. We practic We had carried her in on a chair. And she was up walking the floor. She is hugging everybody that would let her hug them and talking in tongues. And this went on for 30 minutes all over the church. And when she got through, I said to her, "Sister Smith, I'd been taught to do this. You see, Sister Smith, did you receive the Holy Ghost?" And she said, "I don't know." I stole her joy just as quick as you could snap your finger. She did not have one ounce of joy. Joy. You do not have joy because you have the Holy Ghost. You have joy because you believe you have the Holy Ghost. Amen. That's why some people have joy that don't have the Holy Ghost cuz they believe they got it. Joy comes as a result of believing you have God's spirit living inside of you. And when you convince them or put a doubt in their mind, whether they have it or not, the joy is instantly instantly gone. Amen. I must hurry. I must hurry. There's a lot of stuff. Boy, here's a sacred cow. We hear him talk in tongues. Talk in tongues and the joy of the Lord. And we asked them, this is what I usually ask. Did you speak words or sentences that you could not understand? And they say yes. Then I'll turn to a saint of God who has witnessed and who understands our language. We do have our own language. Did you hear them speak with
tongues? Oh yes, I heard them speak with tongues. Then I would read to them the 10th chapter of Acts and explain to them what has happened to them. But there's always somebody that will say, "I am not satisfied." Oh yeah. That brother said that to me this morning after talking in tongues for a long time. He said to me, "I'm not satisfied." I said, "How in the name of God can you be a member of the Pentecostals of Alexandria and ever be satisfied? I said, I traveled last year pastoring a church that grew from 200 members, spiritfilled, baptized, spiritfilled members to 400 spiritfilled baptized members in one year. And I traveled 200,000 miles. I preached in 33 districts and four continents. And Pastor Anthony Mangan got up there last night and told me I wasn't doing enough to get with it. I said, "How in the name of God are you going to be a member of this church and ever be satisfied?" No way. But you do have to claim what you've already received so that the joy of the Lord can come. I said, "Did you speak with tongues?" He said, "Oh yes, I spoke clearly with tongues." I said, "Then according to the word of God, God has filled you with the Holy Ghost." And he started dancing. The joy of the Lord came upon him. Praise be the name of the Lord. I remember out in I love to go and work with Brother Price out in California. He's one of my favorite people. And I preach in his church at least once a year. Every time I can get a free ticket. He don't want to pay my airfare. So every time I can slip one in on somebody, Brother Combmes or somebody else, I preach for brother Price, too. Anyhow, I was out there for Holy Ghost rallies once. We did 11 nights and one night in each section and 181 people received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And I remember in Sacramento in those days I used to have them sit on chairs. Boy, that just blew the UPC's mind. Just blew them away. You talking about miracles? I never lost my credentials. There's a few of them wanted them, but they didn't get them. And I had them sit on chairs. See? And they've been eight received the Holy Ghost, including this sister. I believe her name was right here. It is Whitmore. Sister Whitmar, she spoke in tongues so fluently and all of that. And so I stopped them all. I used to get a lot of flack for that, too. But what's the use of letting people go in the wrong direction 50 m an hour? If they're going the wrong way, stop. Make just a little adjustment. Go again. Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen. I wasn't trying to control the Holy Ghost. Trying to follow the Holy Ghost, trying to be sensitive to these people's problems and needs. And so I said to the convert, "Did you speak words or sentences that you could not understand?" Yes. And I asked those that was witnessing, "It's good to always have at least two witnesses." It's good for the pastor to witness. It's good for the pastor to hear them speak with tongues so he'll have confidence in their experience. Right. Very important. Not always possible, but very important. And so I would have them witness. Did you hear? Yes. Two or three witnesses for each one of them. I said, "All right, you would stand." And seven of them stood. This sister that I had heard myself did not stand. And I said to Sister Whitmore, "Did you not speak words and sentences?
You couldn't." Oh yes. Just as soon as we started p worshiping God, I I I don't know what I said. It was just all kind of things I said. I said, "Well, why didn't you stand?" She said, "Because I am not satisfied." I said, "Oh, I see. You are not satisfied." I said, "Why?" She said, and she knew the answer. She said, "Because sister so and so said, when you get the real thing, it'll knock you down." Obviously, sister had been knocked down when she got the Holy Ghost. I said, "Oh, I see." I said, "Let's all worship the Lord again and all you folks talk in tongues again." Brother Price laughs about it till this day because he was standing right behind her and he heard what I said to her. And she put up her hands, you know, and she just started speaking with tongues. And I had taught them to relax. You know, we teach people put your hands up like this and your arms get so tired that all you can think about is my god, my arms hurt. But if they'll put their hands up like this, they don't get tired. And I had taught them to open your hands. Some people grit their teeth. All of that resists the Holy Ghost. It really does resist the Holy Ghost. And so I taught him to relax. You can't imagine the flack I got over using the word relax. I survived that, too. I told them to relax. And so I said to her, she was talking in tongues. I said, "Now tighten your fist real tight." And boy, she tightened her fist and she was talking in tongues. And when she tightened her fist, out of that chair she went and hit the floor. Just bam. Just like that. She said, "That's it. That's it. That's it." You see, all she had to do was resist the power and it knocked her down. Before she was letting the power flow through her, but the moment she resisted it, it knocked her down. Now brag about being knocked down. Hallelujah. The Bible doesn't say that you'll be knocked down. The Bible says that you shall speak with other tongues. And there's some of us saying they may talk in tongues, but they haven't got the real thing. I warn you, be careful lest you blasphe the Holy Ghost. That's right. And how many people has come into our ranks from the assemblies of God and the church of God? And the moment they got baptized, we accepted their Holy Ghost. And they did not get another Holy Ghost. Well, I'm not getting too many amens out of that, but it's the truth anyhow. Well, they got some phonies out there. Hey, we got some phonies in the UPC, too. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Am I going to survive this? You going to make Oh, I love this. We demand a great demonstration of emotion or we don't accept. What are you going to do when a surgeon receives the Holy Ghost and he has been taught that the minute his hand shakes he is dead and done? He has taught that the minute that he becomes emotional and his emotions are not under total control, he is finished as a surgeon. Don't expect him to act like me. That is just a hillbilly.
And until you learn that concept, you're not going to have nothing but converts like me. My church is full of hillbillies. How about, brother? Because I'm one. You reproduce after your own kind. One preacher told me, he said, "I don't have nothing but ding bats in my church." And I said, I said, "Sir, I can tell you why. You reproduce after your own kind. Brother Kilgore, you remember that doctor getting the Holy Ghost in your church when he come in your office and made an appointment with you said I come after service I believe said my wife and I are ready for the Holy Ghost. What do you want us to do? I heard brother Kilgore telling this story at a church dedication and he said well the thought that went through my mind if Billy Cole was here he'd say sit down and give him a few instructions. He said, "But I wasn't quite ready for that." So I told him to stand. And they said went on to say, "We have repented." And he laid hands upon him and pow both of them got the Holy Ghost. Is that the way it was? They both got the Holy Ghost. If we're going to see a variety of people that we're not used to working with get the Holy Ghost, we're going to have to start tolerating different kinds of emotions. I want to tell you, preacher something. You guys that are teaching and preaching, unless you dance and run, you haven't got the Holy Ghost. I'm going to tell you something. You don't know what you're talking about. Now, I pastor I have never preached in a church that's more running and dancing than the one I pastor. I don't know why they do it. I've never done it. I guess cuz Brother Hall does. Are they the dancing? The first verse? No. There is a church that's more Brother Libbyy's church is more dancing than mine. But he'd be the only one that I know of. They the first song, the first verse. Here they go. I've made them run the same way. And I made them keep their eyes open. Don't want no head-on collisions. Somebody get knocked out in our church, they'd put it on the front page of the newspaper. Dance. My lord, they dance. Well, I don't do that. But I got the Holy Ghost. You know what I do? And I feel something inside. I've never run and I've never danced. I've got friends that when they feel the power of God, they give it something like this. They go, "Hey, I have never felt that in my life." I told the Lord one day, I said, "God, why don't you do that to me just once for fun? Hey, but I got the Holy Ghost. I'm ready for the coming of the Lord. Praise God. I need to hurry on. That's good. Another thing is that we get around the altar and we start working with somebody and everybody say, "Brother Cole is teaching." Brother Cole is not ridiculing. I I I hope you really mean that. I I'm not ridiculing the people of God. I'm trying to teach. But we get around and and and get to praying with someone and we get off into some ninth heaven somewhere and we're praying with someone to get the Holy Ghost. We close our eyes and we pray. It's been so many times I've come
by and I've said to the people around them, "Have they spoke with tongues yet?" I don't know. I don't know. Praise God. Hallelujah. And you put your ear down to their mouth. That's how you hear them. Great revelation. You put your ear down to their mouth. And I say they're speaking with tongues. And you cannot believe how hard it is to get some people to stop what they're doing long enough to get them to listen. They think you're going to kill the spirit. Unpardonable sin. I say, "Listen, I shook a girl the other day. I don't do that very often. I shook it." I said, "I command you, listen." And you'd have thought I was committing the unpardonable sin to get her out of some cloud where she was at praying with a secret. I said, "Listen." He said, "Well, she's speaking with John." I said, "She has been for 20 minutes. Where have you been?" Now, here's the problem. Someone speaks with tongues for 20 minutes in five different languages, four different continents, and we haven't heard it. And then they start cooling off a little bit. And when they start cooling off, we start cooling off a little bit. And we say, "Now, sister, come on, sister. Let him come in. Hey, dummy. He's been in for 20 minutes." And when you start saying to someone that's already talked in tongues, already received the Holy Ghost, come on now, let him come in. You're creating a chronic seeker. You're putting doubt in their mind that they have not received the Holy Ghost. So, for the next 20 years, they're going to seek God for something different than they've already got, and they can't get it. Praise the Lord. Time to laugh, Billy Cole. When does the joy come? The joy comes when you believe you've got the Holy Ghost. Not when you get it. When you believe you got it, that's when the joy comes. This is a true story. I don't know why in the world I didn't cut it out of the newspaper and keep it. I have regretted it a thousand times, but it's a true story that I read in newspaper. A woman was dying and she left an unusual looking stone with her family and she said, "Someday you may find out that this is of value. Don't throw it away." But it was an ugly thing. And do you read that story? I did. All right. And they kept that stone just simply because mom said keep it. They hated it. They tried to use it for a paper weight or something on the desk and they just hated it. It was an ugly thing. And one day they just said, "We're so tired of this thing. I wish we could throw it away." But just because of what mom said, let's have it checked out. And it turned out to be a one and a half million dollar diamond. It just had never been cut. Guess when they got their joy. They didn't get it when they got the diamond. They got it when they realized what they had. And many times people get the Holy Ghost and don't know what they've got. That's right. And that's the reason why we sing sweeter as the years go by because you learn what you have. Learn what you have. How do you pray with a seeker? Let me go through this real quickly. First of all, don't put your hands on people too quickly. Wait until the anointing comes upon them. Don't put your hand You don't put your hands on people to bring the anointing. Now, we've done that even for praying for the sick. We pray for every Tom, Dick, and Harry. Every time that every Tom, Dick, and Harry ask us to do it. They'll come and grab you by the coat. you're working the altar and you're an experienced professional and you're working the altar and somebody will come up and grab you by the coke and say, "Come over here and pray for someone." Now, if it was the will of God for me to pray for them, I'd
already be over there doing it. Leave me alone. Let me be led of God. Because when I go and lay my hands upon someone and they are not ready and when I take my hands off, I introduce doubt. Brother Cole doesn't believe I'm going to get it. Amen. But if you'll let me go when I feel anointed of the Lord to go. If you'll let me pray for your sicknesses. When I feel I have authority over your sicknesses. But you make me see. You get mad at me if I don't do it. So you grab my coat and here I go. And you all do the same thing. Right. That's right. Well, how are we going to quit? You're going to start weaning the saints off of this stuff. Carefully teaching them. There's not a member in the church in Charleston that would get angry with me if I didn't lay hands upon them and pray for them when they're sick. It just wouldn't occur to them to walk up to me and ask me to pray for them because of the way they've been taught. Amen. Amen. Amen. First of all, I've taught the church that they pray for each other. Scripture says that believers, they shall lay hands on the sick. And they shall recover. So we have all the elders to come and stand in the front. They come and they want healed. They want healing. They come and stand. And then I ask for believers to come. Lay your hands on. That's when 90% of our people receive the Holy Ghost. Right there. Right there. Amen. But when you're anointed, you lay your hand on when you realize that they are anointed. When faith comes into your heart that they're going to receive the Holy Ghost, lay your hand upon them. And don't lay your hand upon someone like you think they got leprosy or something. Amen. Excuse me. That's no way to lay your hand on somebody. I don't know how to explain it, but there is a transmission when the hand is placed upon the head in the proper way. The apostles went there and laid their hands upon them and they received the Holy Ghost. But it must be done properly. It must be done with faith. That's right. And when you lay your hand upon him, tell him, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." Amen. And expect them to receive it. Expect them to receive it. And don't take your hand off of them till they do receive it. You lay your hand. Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Faith comes up in their heart. And you get tired. And because your attention span is about 2 minutes, you're going to hang in the altar, but you've at least got to pray for 15 different people. or you just can't keep your attention there, you leave them and go to someone else. And the moment you take your hand off, you introduce doubt. They may be able to overcome it, but anyhow, you have introduced doubt. So when you lay your hand, keep it there until they receive the Holy Ghost. Amen. Is this all right? Be enthusiastic. Don't let me what I did here about getting down on my knees and and jerking and rubbing and all that. Don't let me intimidate you to the point that you won't be enthusiast. There's a very close relationship between enthusiasm and faith. That's right. Very close. Every time you got someone in your congregation that will not get enthused, do you know why they don't get enthused? Because they don't believe anything's going to happen. That's right. People that really believe that God's going to do something get excited. We're not going to pound them. We're not going to rub them. We're not going to beat them. We're not going to clap our hands till we burst their eardrums. At least we'll work on that. But we do get excited anytime there's a church that's real pious, real reserved, never get excited. They tell you this is the way it ought to be. Ask them how many got the Holy Ghost last year.
They ain't going to have a good report. They may think they know, but they don't know. Any church that's praying a lot of people through the Holy Ghost is an enthusiastic church. There is a closer relationship between enthusiasm and faith. So we have to be enthusiastic. Keep your eyes open while you're working with him and your ears alert. Pay attention to what's happening. And the minute that God starts answering your prayer, start shouting about it. Start praising the Lord about it. Say to them when they're doing the right thing, that's it. You're doing good. And when they start speaking with tongues, don't tell them to say hallelujah. You can't imagine how many people's talking in tongues and somebody will say, "Say hallelujah." What for? They're already speaking in tonesues. What are you supposed to say? That is speaking in tongues. And that is not I don't care what you've been taught. That is not the unpardonable sin. If they are speaking in tongues and you've got enough sense to know they're speaking in tonesues, there is nothing wrong with saying you are speaking with tongues. They don't know what they're doing. If they've just come in off of you're having great revival and just come off the street, they don't know what they're doing. Now, if they've been in your Sunday school for 2 years, they know everything. They even know about the 10% tax. They know everything. Say, you're doing good. That's it. Give your voice. Give your voice. You must speak. This is not the way to get the Holy Ghost. I'm not ridiculing. You won't speak with tongues doing that. You have got to speak. And the Holy Ghost fell upon them. Amen. And they began to speak with tongues. They spoke with tongues. Spirit gave the utterance. But they spoke. You cannot speak with tongues unless you're willing to speak. You have got to speak. Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. Once they speak with tonesues, tell them they're speaking with tonesues and say continue to do that. You can stop the real thing. I don't care if you are speaking with tonesues as the spirit of God give the utterance. If you decide you want to stop it, you can stop it. Not because I have any great measure of the Holy Ghost, but because I have learned how to yield to God. People who speak with tongues easily, that does not mean they have more Holy Ghost. That means they have learned how to submit. And I have learned how to submit. And I'm not going to do it. But I could just start speaking with tongues this very instant and it would be real. And I can stop it when I please. And it is real. Amen. You can stop speaking with tongues even though it is the real thing. So you have to keep speaking. encourage them to keep speaking. Is that all right? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. The instructions. Let me go through them real quickly. First of all, desire with all first of all, you know, you got to repent. You can't get the Holy Ghost if you haven't repented. But assuming they've repented, desire with all your heart. And you can talk about that five seconds or you can talk about it a whole hour depending on what they need. Number two, get your attention right on Jesus Christ. I have seen thousands receive the Holy Ghost, but I have never ever give one single person the Holy Ghost. It's not mine to give. I cannot give it. So don't get your mind on me or anybody else. Get your mind right on Jesus Christ. And a childlike way to do that is just to visualize the Lord. Well, I don't know what he looks like. Your opinion is just as good as mine. Visualize. It helps you hold your attention. Thirdly, have faith that God is going to give you the Holy Ghost. Of times, I'll say when you come in this
building, you did not have it. I believe that when you turn and walk out of here, you're going to walk out of the air of the Holy Ghost. And if you can convince them to feel the same way, they will receive the Holy Ghost. And fourthly, because of your faith, I want you to worship the Lord. The Holy Ghost comes in worship. I love you, Jesus. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Now everybody say, "Brother Cole is teaching." Brother Cole is not ridiculing. Let me show you how to say the highest word in our vocabulary to praise God is hallelujah. Is that right? Not not another higher word, but I'm going to show you how to say hallelujah and beg. You cannot receive the Holy Ghost while you're begging. It's amazing what we put God through. Recently we had Christmas and I would assume that at least some of you exchanged Christmas gifts. What if I'd have been with Pastor Anthony over Christmas and he'd have got me a new Bible and put all beautiful wrapping paper on it and ribbon on it, put my name on it and I seen it and I would have fell down on my knees and start screaming at the top of my lungs. Oh, Pastor Anthony, give me that gift. Give me that gift. You thought, "My God, he's went crazy." And that's exactly what we do to God and have done it for centuries. We humiliate God with our screaming and begging at the altar. God cannot respond to it and will not respond to it. He responds to faith to repentance and faith. He responds to repentance and faith. Do you know that you can say the highest word in our vocabulary to praise God and beg? I'm going to show you how to do it. Now remember, I'm not ridiculing. Everybody say, "He's not ridiculing." He's teaching. Here's how you say hallelujah and beg. That's begging and it will not work. That is the most hilarious waste of spiritual energy that you can possibly do. Won't work. Won't move God. Amen. God will not give you the Holy Ghost just because you want it. He'll give it to you when you believe you're going to get it. All right. He cannot. You must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Let me show you how to say hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, you say hallelujah like that about three times, you're going to feel goosebumps all over you. In my case, that's millions of them. Desiring with all your heart, getting your attention right on Jesus Christ, having faith, he's going to give you the Holy Ghost. And because of your faith, worship. And when you're doing these four things, you'll feel an invisible power come near to you. That is the presence of God. And God is not a teaser. When he comes near to you, that means he's going to give you the Holy Ghost. Praise the Lord. When you feel that power and uncction, anointing, whatever you want to call it, that then you in your heart, you're believing this is it. And as you're praising the Lord, your tongue, and please don't add words to what I'm saying. Be fair to me. Amen. And when you feel that you're praising the Lord and suddenly your tongue wants to speak words or sentences and sounds that you cannot understand. You must continue to give your voice. Forget about saying hallelujah or praise the Lord. Let the Lord form the words and he will begin to praise himself in a language that you've never learned in school. And that's what we call speaking in other
tongues. Praise the Lord. Everything I've taught you today is based in this book. It's going to cross swords with a lot of tradition, but it's not going to cross with this book. God bless you in Jesus name.
Scripture references as spoken: Acts 2:1-4; Acts 8:14-17; Acts 10:44-47; Acts 19:1-6; Hebrews 11:6.