04.08. Are You Filled With the Holy Spirit?

Let me ask you this question, again. Are you filled with the Holy Ghost in the Bible sense? Do you really believe you have what Bible Christians had? Do you have what John the Baptist had when he was filled with the Holy Ghost so that much people of Israel turned to the Lord their God? Do you have what Barnabas had? He was a good man, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, and people were added to the Lord as a result of Barnabas’ ministry. Do you have that? Do you have what dying Stephen had? He was full of the Holy Ghost and faith. Multitudes of men and women believed. Do you have, I ask, what these Bible preachers and Bible laymen and Bible women had? Do you have the fullness of the Holy Ghost? "Daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" (Acts 5:42). And the power; why, it spread like wildfire. And Jerusalem was turned "upside down." That is what they said, "Ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine" and that Paul "turned the world upside down." I wonder, do you fill Jerusalem with your doctrine and turn the world upside down as they did?

We would not need to do so much advertising if we had a little more to advertise. We would not have to work so hard to get a crowd if we had anything to give the crowd when they came. Do you believe that? Our trouble primarily is with the people of God; our sinful carelessness, our powerlessness. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" Jesus said (Mat 5:13). Do you have saving power in you? Then what good are you as salt? "Ye are the light of the world." But if your light does not shine to sinners, what good is it? Do you see that? I wonder whether or not you are satisfied to go on never filled with the Holy Ghost? Are you?

How many can say, "Brother Rice, in the month of October," -- that is just one month past now -- "within the last thirty days I thank God I have won at least one soul"? Let me see your hand. I want to help you now. We are not bragging. All right. Now how many can say, "Brother Rice, sometime in the year 1945, I have won a soul"? Let me see your hand. Some of you have. But some of you have not had power to win one soul this year. How many can say, "I haven’t won souls this year, but sometime in my life I have won at least one soul"? How many here have at least some time in your life taken the Bible and shown somebody how to be saved, and gotten them saved? How many have walked with someone down the aisle, have gotten them to trust the Saviour and confess Him? How many have led someone to Jesus? How many in your life ever did that? Hold your hand high just a minute. Thank you.

Now I want you to see several things. The first thing is that there are probably more than half of this crowd who never were filled enough with the Holy Spirit in the Bible sense to win even one soul by their own testimonies. And here is another thing. Many of you who did win a soul one time have not won one in a year’s time. Now that means that you have lost some freshness, some power, some blessing that you once had. You need to be filled with the Holy Spirit anew, don’t you? Some of you have won souls in the year, but you have not done it in thirty days. God help you! What is wrong when a Christian cannot win one soul in a month’s time? It must be you are not filled with the Holy Ghost!

How many preachers are present? God bless you, you are my friends. I will not make it embarrassing for you. Now let me ask you something: Preachers, haven’t you felt this -- I have some time or another -- haven’t you sometimes felt a holy breath of God on you? These are evangelical preachers. These are men who believe the Bible. These are soul-winning preachers. You preachers know what it is to have the breath of God upon you. You knew when you had it. You knew when the power was there, when souls were converted, when there was fruit to your ministry. You have known that, haven’t you? How many of you can say, "Brother Rice, bless God, I do know I have had that sometime or another"? I say humbly, I know I have. Let me say this now for all of us. How many will say, "Brother Rice, I want to confess that now I do not have the fullness of blessing I ought to have. I am not filled with the Holy Ghost as Bible Christians were. I do not have the power I ought to have, that God could give me if I paid the price"? Will you say, "I want to confess that"? Most of us here ought to. Would you say, "I want to confess that though I have had God’s blessing and great power sometimes, I feel I ought to confess I do not have now the fullness of God’s power on me as I ought to have, and I need to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit"? Lot me see your hand. I am holding mine. God bless you.

Now how are you going to get it? I would go home and I would say, "Lord, I am going to search my heart and have a house cleaning. First, I am going to set out to do the will of God about soul winning." That is the main thing Jesus died for. That is the main thing the Great Commission is for. After you are saved, that is the thing God wants you to do more than He wants anything else in the world. I would say, "I will give myself to do the will of God, I will get ready for it, I will clean house, and I will be surrendered to it. I will!" I would do that and set out to be what He wanted me to be in soul winning and I would say, "By God’s grace, I am going to wait on God until I am filled with the Holy Spirit’s power." My people, if you do not listen to me now, we have two of the saddest weeks before us we have ever spent. We have heartsickness and failure and shame to face if we do not have the power of God on us. Now you hear me. Don’t anybody here believe that is a thing for one preacher to have and that everybody else may be seat warmers and hangers-on. Don’t believe the cup may overflow and you may get a little splashed on you. At Pentecost "they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost." That is the Bible pattern. It is not just for one preacher, not just for one man. "And they were ALL filled with the Holy Ghost" -- that is the pattern in Acts 4:31 . Do you see that? God has commanded that for you as much as He commanded it for me. It took as much of the blood of Christ to keep you out of Hell as it did for me. God commands you to be filled with the Holy Spirit just as He does me. If we do not have the power of God, we are going into that big auditorium Sunday with small crowds, with mediocre services, and with few results. If we do not have the power of God, an anointment from Heaven, we will come here with a crowd that dwindles and wanes, with boredom in the air, and defeat upon us. Do you see what I mean? We ought to wait on God, then. Do you want the power of God enough to wait on Him, to clean house, to surrender to His perfect will, to get things out of the way, and then wait and plead with God until His anointing comes upon you, until His breath comes upon you, until you get power for soul winning?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could go to that boy of yours and talk to him and he would be all broken and would come when you say come? If you could go to your brother, or your business partner, or somebody you know, and they would be broken up and the Spirit of God would cut them to the heart as it did in Bible times when Spirit-filled Christians talked to sinners, wouldn’t that be wonderful? Do you want a Bible revival? You cannot have it without Bible power, the power of the Holy Ghost? That is what we need. God forgive me that I have not preached more about it. God forgive me that I have not sought more of His power and fullness. God forgive me that I have not put the emphasis all the time where the Bible puts it; that the people who had revivals were filled with the Holy Ghost. People who won souls were filled with the Holy Ghost. We can have this power too. But we will have to come the same way, with the same wholehearted obedience, with the dying of self day by day, and then waiting on God for His power as much as is necessary. "Tarry until . . ." "Tarry until" what? Ten days ? No! No! "Tarry until ye be endued." That is it. "Tarry until ye be endued with power."

D. L. Moody said he waited two years. I know I have had some anointing, but again and again I need a new fresh breath of God on me. I want you to pray for me.