In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the overwhelming love of God and the impossibility of containing it. He describes how when people praise and worship God, they are joined to Him in a deep and intimate way. The preacher also mentions the need for a new body to fully experience and contain this love. He refers to a conference where the presence of God was palpable and shares a personal anecdote about the physical and mental exhaustion that can come from being in God's presence. The sermon also references the book of Revelation, highlighting the importance of recognizing Jesus as the beginning and the end.

I want to talk to you tonight about the beginning. Genesis chapter one, verse one. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void, but darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness, and God called the light day. And the darkness he called night, and the evening and the morning were the first day. Hallelujah. I suppose you counted how many times the word God came in those verses, did you? In the beginning, God. Praise his wonderful name. It's a marvelous thing, beloved, that there always has to be a beginning. God. Really, this is the tragedy with so many people's lives, because they think the beginning is conversion, but the beginning is God. And nobody has begun until they've let God be the beginning. This is one of the real tragedies of lives, something, beloved, that I think we can investigate in the Bible for an hour or so, and then I trust that God will show us the importance, the all-importance, of this right beginning. Amen. This tremendous truth of the beginning, as you will know, is brought out to us in the New Testament as well. I want to turn to the last book of the Bible. And right at the beginning of the last book of the Bible, we have this same truth brought to us. Jesus has died and risen again. He is the one who has appeared to John on Patmos, and he is giving John the great revelation that by the grace of God has come down to us, in which we rejoice, I trust, although we don't understand everything about it, there are some things that are so plain that he would have to be thrice dead who never saw them. And one of the things that the Lord reveals to us is this, that John has the revelation of the risen Christ. And he says this in verse 8, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come, the Almighty. Praise God. That's the feature of the Almighty. He's the beginning, he's the end, he is, he was, he is to come. Praise God. What a tremendous thing. John says in verse 17, When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Beloved, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible, of course, recording these great truths brings us to the fact that there has to be a great beginning even where God is concerned. And the trouble with so many of us is that we don't get these beginnings right. It really is the trouble with most people that are having aberrations in their Christian life. They haven't got the beginnings right. They haven't understood what it's all about. The old man is an inveterate worker and a great believer. You must remember that old Adam is a very religious person. He walked in the garden with God. He knows how to behave himself. Old Adam. Of course, he was new Adam then when he walked with the Lord. But he hasn't forgotten his religious parents. And he knows what to believe. He knows what's right and what's wrong. He knows all about that. And he can be a very religious fellow inside. And therefore, because he's a believer in many things he doesn't often come to the place where he makes the correct beginning. If he told you the truth he would say, in the beginning of God. But under the deceptive influence of the devil he rather makes us try to believe that in the beginning it's me. It is I. Oh Bellamy, what a deception this is. Did you realise that as it was in the beginning it always has to be God. Holy God. Let's take one more look into the New Testament, shall we? This time in the Colossians. In the first chapter we read something wonderful about our Lord Jesus Christ. It says that in verse 15 of the first chapter it says that he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn of every creature for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things and by him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence Oh beloved you will know if you refer back to John's gospel now and we'd better do it seeing that we're looking at a series of scriptures if we turn to John chapter 1 we're told that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word was made flesh 14th verse and tabernacled among us the beginning was made flesh in the beginning was the Word the Logos the Word the Logos was made flesh Hallelujah the beginning was made flesh this is a marvelous thing beloved so that we should understand what the beginning in flesh really is and we've got a very crude and rough idea of what the beginnings of Christian or spiritual life really are it's Jesus Hallelujah it's Him it's God in the beginning it's always Him why did he die? so that he should be the beginning in that realm he always must be first he is the first and he is the last so beloved do we need to see and by God's grace it's written for us plain enough and experience teaches us this too that he is the only beginning and so many make false starts because they don't see that Jesus Christ is the beginning I wonder if you do really see this we can see this say if we pick up our Bibles this time we'll go back into the old prophet Isaiah I suppose that you love the prophet Isaiah especially the last 40 chapters or the last chapters beginning at verse chapter 40 where God is coming in a marvellous manner he has had to say so many things prophecies of destruction of this words against that place this nation something else like that terrible things God has had to say mind you he has foretold the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ as we've been singing about him twice tonight in that first hymn from the red book wonderful birth to a manger he came and latterly out of this blue book that masterly poem on the birth of the Lord Jesus by the master of poetry in this realm and it's wonderful to see this that this is inscribed in the book of Isaiah that parallel with the great denunciations that have to be made parallel with the prophecies of doom that must come against ingrained implacable imbeterate sinners and nations that will not by any means change their ways or have God changed them so the great prophecies have to continue but side by side with it we have the great story of the birth of Jesus Christ you see you've traced it through haven't you you know the chapters in which to find them don't you chapter 7 chapter 9 yes that's right chapter 11 and away we go on the development of the life have you ever done this start in chapter 7 that a virgin shall conceive and you go through the development of the life it's all there as the Lord grows up through the young man have you ever done this this is what you've got Bibles for you must do this and you will see this thing and then the chapter that the books the book unfolds and the chapters come one after another until you get to chapter 40 and then God's got a further revelation to make he's moved into the era of the Holy Ghost first Jesus then all about him then comfort ye comfort ye my people speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished God you see now Calvary in the move is behind though we have to have the great descriptive chapter of 53 yet in the great move of God now the blessed spirit is coming hallelujah the great word of comfort is introduced the marvelous comforter and God is moving on into those great times when there's going to be an outpouring of the spirit and this the Lord is making more and more plain to us alright and then and I hope you've noticed this blessed consistency in the Bible it really is a very very wonderful book God takes up words like this in line with the great teaching of him being the beginning keep silent chapter 41 before me oh islands and let the people renew their strengths let them come near let them speak let us come near together to judgment who raised up the righteous man from the east called him to his foot gave the nations before him made him rule over kings he gave them as dust to his sword and as driven stubble to his bow he pursued them past safely even by the way that he had not gone with his feet who hath wrought and done it calling the generations from the beginning I the Lord the first and the last I am he who's he been talking about who's this righteous man from the east well if you pick up your map in the back there of your Bible I hope you've got one you'll find that the city of Ur of the Chaldees is right dead east from the land of Israel and it's Abraham he's talking about he called Abraham he said I did this I began it you see this is you see in Genesis 1 you have God beginning in creation you have the record of Abraham of Adam how God made this man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the very breath of life and then we have the story of the great desolations because of sin so God nothing daunted I'm the first I'm the last the word having gone forth out of his mouth his heart being made up from all eternity he calls the man right down there from the central citadel of witchcraft and black magic and devil worship the lowest of the low you might say God calls this man Abraham and out he comes hallelujah he's the righteous man from the east he was righteous because he believed God he was righteous because he stepped out on God don't think you're righteous just because you believe God in the sense of I just believe in but I'm going to stick tight when Abraham believed God he was a moving man and he was moving in his faith it's moving faith that's the real thing not sitting down holding tight kind of faith Abraham if you read it back there in Genesis he was a man that was already moving to God God said now come out here come on he called him again you see it always comes with the call of God so he gets up in the middle of the night I expect it was it was all dark and out he goes he's walking he's walking with the Lord and God says you leave there that's fine please read your Bible carefully lest you imply something to people who are going to remain static just believers please read this very understandingly when you read your Bible lest doctrinally you preach something that isn't right experimentally beloved he called him and God started again you see I'm the first he says I'm the last I'm the beginning the devil thought he'd got God the devil thought he'd ruined God's handiwork but there's a there's a handiwork of God that the devil can't touch there's a beginning of God in lives in his grace that the devil can't touch praise the name of the Lord and Isaiah he starts this thing and he continues to unfold it and he speaks more about this in another chapter here then he starts with the great beginning in chapter 41 and then we come to chapter 44 and in the 44th chapter having told us about the righteous man I don't know whether you are one of these righteous people that you really let God begin in your heart I want to come back to that a little more plainly and fully a little later whether you really let God begin that that the one of the tragedies of our modern thought or approach to these things is that we will persist in just preaching imputed righteousness and it's so true it's so absolutely true it's so fundamentally true it's like old Spurgeon once said about people he said talking about a church he said it's so sound it's sound asleep that's one of Spurgeon's great sayings these people they're sound absolutely sound sound asleep that's the trouble with them all you see we believe in these great fundamental things of imputed righteousness but imputed righteousness as far as God was concerned was only a means to an end and the ending view was to impart righteousness to you and make you righteous not just think you are by closing his eyes about your sin and imputing something over to you that's a lot of nonsense imputed righteousness must lead to imparted righteousness unless you're still a sinner and God imparts righteousness to us and he declares and makes us righteous praise God this is the great glory of our Lord Jesus Christ this is the wonder of it that he is so righteous he so overcame sin by his own righteousness you must see this that Jesus Christ wasn't some sort of dead lamb upon which God laid sin and your mind is thinking back to a Jewish altar he was a living, overcoming, gloriously almighty being that could take sin and destroy it you understand that it wasn't a passive doing or something like this we seek to illustrate it so much we say he took sin and he put it on him and that was that there was nothing passive about it it was the almighty God coming up against a fallen, terrible nature an infiltration from the devil the working of a power from the pit from below you are from below he said beneath, I am from above this is what he said in John chapter 8 you see this great working principle this destroying, damning thing and Jesus Christ came into the world lived his perfect life showed himself fit to be a redeemer took that sin while yet alive in all his glorious manhood suffering at the extreme end where suffering can be born and taking it and destroying it by the overcoming nature of his power and of his love do you see this that's what Jesus Christ did the active power of God destroyed the active power of Satan hallelujah that's right and he imparts this to you and to me a great destructive power as well as a great life power how can you describe this thing where can you find the words how can the human mind embrace it this thing that God has done it's in the realm of faith you can't think it out you have to come to a place where exhausted almost at the end of your tether with your mind going round in circles and your sin just beating you you have to come to the place where you fall down and say Lord I believe that's it that's what it's designed for to get you in such a muddle and get you up in such a corner and make you know that you're no good and your brains are no good and your theology is not much better that's right and he gets you into a corner and at last you're in a state where you're ready to let God do something for you that's why so many people God has to let them go 40, 50, 60 years till at last they prove to themselves and everybody else has got an eye to see that they're just in a big enough muddle to go straight down to hell and live a deluded existence forever out of your mind out of your true self given over how can you explain it beloved the reverse of death is so wonderfully true that in our right mind and given over entirely to God we can live with him his marvellous eternal life hallelujah you know of course that hell is God's madhouse where he puts everybody that's been too mad to come to him that's what it is they don't really know what madness is you can ask any doctor so they don't know what it is something's gone wrong in their mind so you know I mean by human standards what we consider insanity or what we consider is insanity you know beloved but God has defined it for us I don't want to stay on that now the whole glorious truth beloved is that that God imparts this marvellous righteousness and we become men and women of righteousness what's the next point when you come to this place where you really have come on to justification by faith well here's the next one let's have a look in chapter 44 first one yet now O Jacob my servant and Israel whom I have chosen thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb which will help thee fear not O Jacob my servant and thou whom I have chosen for I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine offspring and they shall spring up as among the grass as willows by the water courses one shall say I am the Lord and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and surname himself by the name of Israel thus saith the Lord the King of Israel and his redeemer the Lord of hosts I am the first connected with the outpouring of the spirit this great beginning I am the first I am the last I want to ask you beloved when did Jesus Christ begin to be your righteousness not your sin when did he begin to be your righteousness so that you are just full of and everybody sees it and knows it the righteousness of God this is what the Bible is all about he said he hath made him Jesus to be sin for us you know sin that we might be made the righteousness of God you and me made the righteousness of God the righteousness of God not the righteousness of Christians however you may attempt to describe it the righteousness of God are you the righteousness of God or are you the sinfulness of the devil what are you to be the righteousness of God hallelujah oh this impartation of God's own self these marvelous things of his own character and nature these are our salvation they are not just our beliefs they are the giving of God oh praise God has this ever sunk into you has it ever sunk into you you see people just won't let Jesus Christ be the beginning in their lives they don't even see where it is Jesus Christ has to come I mean they hear these evangelical terms these marvelous phrases that we use and they're bible based God alone knows himself how wonderfully bible based they are and we talk about we say let Jesus Christ you know we quote Revelation 3 20 behold I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in and sup with him and he with me he that overcometh and away he goes I will get to sit with me in my throne even as I overcame and sat down with my father in his throne and we open up this blessed thing to us but what do you mean when you say let him come in when he says he's knocking at the door what door is he knocking at where does he want to go where to have I to receive him how must I receive him now my beloved if you read again Revelation chapter 1 this is what you find he says I'm the beginning I'm the beginning did you realize and if you realize this tonight if God only just gives you to see this and you act on it beloved you will find your life of sinning will cease he's the beginning in other words he's got to be the beginning in you you've got to let him into the place where your thoughts begin you've got to let him into the place where your desires begin where you start to think your thoughts he's got to be the beginning not you he's got to come in where you lust your lusts he's got to be the beginning he's got to come there where your affections start that's where he's got to come he's got to be the beginning he's the beginning when he's the beginning there you'll begin you'll begin righteously properly you won't be reaching out through some miasmic darkness groping to see the light to find the truth believing in Jesus afar off it'll all be here the creator's come in in the beginning God and he's going to newly create your thought life your appetite life you live by your appetite life you're either a beast or a decent person by your appetite life he's coming there we won't desire drugs anymore you won't desire to fight and squabble anymore you won't desire to do it he's got to come into the beginnings you won't desire to be proud anymore you won't desire to be served you won't desire to take offence you won't desire that hallelujah he comes into the beginnings you haven't realised it that's where he's coming if you don't receive Jesus Christ as the beginning you'll flounder about in your own rottenness and call yourself Christian that's the tragedy and you'll wait to go to some convention where they preach full salvation and you'll go out the front and consecrate yourself and you'll think you've come into something ten twenty years gone by waiting for some right word to drop into you because you haven't seen that Jesus Christ is the word he's the word in the beginnings the word hallelujah and the word is God because God is not like human beings he doesn't talk a lot of trivialities and crap jokes when he speaks his word he speaks himself it is him him he doesn't talk a word except it be his life and his spirit that's why his word is spirit and life to you because he talks his spirit he talks his life he talks himself he doesn't go in for bad image and empty exchanges he doesn't go in for cheap talk he in the beginning is the word you see God's tied himself to that he didn't have to tie himself to it he's naturally that but in putting it in print he's bound to act according to what he says and he cannot change from it hallelujah and unless you see that he's got to be the beginning he's got to be the beginning in your sexual life he's got to be the beginning in everything he's got to be the beginning in everything everything's got to come to the beginnings he is life originally you were patterned on him he is your life that was the life that was lost the devil became the beginning the devil became the beginning because he spoke his spirit and his life into Eve and into Adam he's the beginning but Jesus Christ has got to be seen as the new beginning I'm the beginning he said I'm the beginning God's written this book to tell us that the devil isn't the beginning he's written to tell us this book that our mothers and fathers aren't the beginning he's written to tell us he's written this book so that we can see that he's the beginning hallelujah and he came on that blessed cross beloved and that word was made flesh simply for taking all things that had logged up in the flesh for thousands of years and he hung the cross and in one mighty offering to God, bless God it was just about a tick in all eternity because it didn't take long he just dealt with it like that and he says he's the firstborn from the dead the beginning that in every realm he might have the preeminence hallelujah the devil's got nothing on God hallelujah Jesus Christ is the new beginning he's the new beginning and when we talk about receiving Jesus Christ that's where he's got to come where your thoughts start where your imaginations spring that's the beginning that's you, you aren't that lump of flesh don't you think you are you might be pretty or ugly someone might think you're wonderful or might think you're terrible but that's not you that's only a means of the expression of you and how you live yourself don't you and he's got to come in there and be the beginning he's got to be the beginning of your tears if you cry he's got to be the beginning of your laughter if you laugh he's got to be the beginning of your joy he's got to be the beginning of everything hallelujah did you know, had you a clue what it was all about did you see that to which God had called you did you see did you know do you know what it's all about how can I a sinner come to know it's worth we sang about Jesus how can I Jesus, Jesus Jesus loved me in my shame all the joy all the wonder of that precious name you see beloved this is where people have all missed it and this is when we talk about the heart, this is what it's all about when you say you let Jesus into your heart you've got to let Jesus in there you've got to open your secrets you've got to open your secrets you may hide them from your nearest and your dearest in the flesh but you mustn't do that with God you haven't just got to open up your treasure house or your charnel house of sin and confession and say Lord just forgive me you've got to do more than that you've got to let him come right in it is self abdication it is you getting out, it is you coming to the complete understanding that you step off the throne and you come out of the control room and you've got no buttons at your fingertips because you're not in an electronic age you're in something that's far more powerful you're in the age of the spirit hallelujah you see, you remember what it says here in that 41st chapter, it goes like this, it says who hath wrought, we read it in verse 4 and done it, calling the generations, do you see what he said the generations calling the generations from the beginning the generations calling generations calling generations how many generations have we removed from Abraham in the flesh he called you when he called Abraham it's all on this call if you don't hear the call you die eternally it's the call that breaks into your death it's the allure of Jesus bless him he'll forgive you, he'll do all sorts of things for you but somehow how there has to be a blessed allure about Jesus himself his personality, his glorious qualities, there has to be something about him that charms you for which you leave everything and everybody, it doesn't matter yourself chiefly the devil and everybody else, you've got to be drawn by his charms, you can hear it it comes out, it's breathing through the scriptures, everywhere you turn if you have an eye just see it's there, hear the virgins will you in the song of Solomon, draw me draw me, it's no time to force me Lord, draw me I can't be driven hallelujah, it's the devil that drives but there's something about this charming man from heaven, this glory of God made manifest in the flesh, this something that rises up and draws me, draws me draws me, I'll leave everything for him everybody, this is the whole thing, hallelujah he's calling the generations from the very beginning he's calling them he's got to be there right in, right there, it's no good you just trying to make him a sort of an escape hatch, it's no good to quote Archibald Chambers again trying to make him a moral lavatory, to get rid of your filth it's him if you don't see that he's the man he's the first he's the last, if you don't see that he is you, and he's got to be you, but he can't be a second hand you he's got to come in and be first he's got to be in the beginning and you've never begun until this has happened God's begun with you, done lots of things for you but you've never begun until this has happened amen you see then of course you can pass on to this great tremendous thing that Isaiah is putting out here he says I'm the first I'm the last, oh Isaiah you go and tell all these people where they are, that there's another comforter you tell them that their warfare's accomplished you tell them and talk directly to their heart and tell them this I'm going to pour water in the thirsty I'm going to send floods floods on the dry ground that's what I'm going to do floods do you believe that hey the flooded life the flooded life are you flooded hey well that's why you have to have a beginning when a river begins it's never a flood it starts as a spring oh when the floods come, when God pours the water the second, if you like, the second great flood, you know when he opened the windows of heaven in Noah's day do you know what it was for, it did two things it saved those that were in the ark, and it utterly destroyed the depravity and the fleshiness and the rottenness isn't that so that's why when the raven came out of the ark, it never came back because it could rest on the floating death and could eat the death the flesh of dead men and dead animals, but the dove couldn't, he just went he couldn't rest on the flesh on death, so he went out and came back again so he let him out again a few days later ah he didn't settle on the dead flesh he settled on the oil tree and he brought back the squig of olive in his mouth this blessed dove glory, glory be to the name of the lord it is a marvelous thing and when old Noah touched down, he touched down on a mountain hallelujah he touched on a mountain praise god hallelujah he said I am going to send floods floods floods cascading outpouring flooding spreading coming through the water courses spreading out over the dry and thirsty land, this is the conception that god has he hasn't got a mean narrow little thing in his mind if you're a river, you're too narrow for god you've got to be a flood your life's got to be flooded, flooded there aren't many people who are living in a flood not many do you know many people, there is absolutely flooding through them, perhaps you don't like flooding do you like flooding flooded that's what that word is in Romans 5 time where we spoke about the holy ghost for the love of god is flooding our hearts by the holy ghost which he's given unto us flooding are you a flooded person you know when the flood comes it not only just covers the ground it covers the little hills it covers the trees it covers everything, it covers the high mountains when the flood comes hallelujah and you're still floating on it are you there really there aye he said I'm the first I'm the last I'm going to pour water on him that's thirsty and floods upon the dried ground and that's the time when he said your sons and your daughters are going to spring up praise god, that's what everybody's wanting there's a parent in this room yes they've got unsaved children but that's the very thing they want I'm the lord don't you that's what you want don't you praise god I'm the lord amen perhaps if they see mummy and daddy flooded they will become the lord yeah perhaps they will it seems to be a pattern it's see we're living in an age beloved when young people are no longer settling in the old ways I suppose you realise this it's no good you sticking back in your old sort of presbyterian background and plodding on any more than it was any good me setting you back in the brethren background and trying to plod on that, that, hallelujah I tell you we're moving into the days with the outpourings of the spirit and your young people will very soon size you up it's when they see your flooded glory, when Jesus has not only been the beginning in you but he's just about captured everything of you and your whole humanity and your whole life is just one vast expression continuous day and night week in and week out and year in and year out of the love and glory of God when we were praising God a little earlier you know and hearts were really beginning to rejoice in God my mind went back, I don't know what you know the mind's a very funny thing at least mine is, I suppose you've discovered it does all kinds of things and my mind went back to a certain conference I was in years ago now and it was at that famous place called Cliff, you may have heard of it and we were the Lord was there the saints of God were just about rejoicing I mean what was happening here tonight was sort of a whisper, you get this multiplied about 10 or 15 times this company of people and they were all there rejoicing in God and at the back you could always tell they sit at the back you know these people and this person said this person told me afterwards well known in the right circles editor of a certain magazine which I won't mention had come along and was sitting and was observing you see and there were some of these young people just about lost in God oh praise God you know it's marvellous when songs erupt and they erupt pure what comes out of you when you erupt when you blow your top what comes out go on, be honest you'd better be when they erupt and it's love and glory praise it goes on and on and on I thought it might tonight I thought well I shall preach tonight Lord I didn't promise him that, that's what I was thinking I didn't think then oh my God praise God and this went on for a whole week you see and at the end of the week this person said well some of these young people are going to come down to work with a bump when they get home this person said I said do you really think so well yes that's what's going to happen to them you know you see and came back next year and glory to God these young people you see and this person said I discovered that what they got was what I needed you can have it do you want it oh yes I was there when it was received hallelujah and the transformation praise God the transformation when at last their heart realizes that Jesus Christ is the beginning he's the beginning of it all now I ask you a question when after Calvary he died and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself and went down to into the grave and rose again where did he go after that where did he go after that did he go out in some desert sit alone in a cave and suck his toes in misery what did he do he went back there hallelujah you ought to really know what he means by being baptized or filled with you can use what phrase you like you can read this in John chapter 17 will read in John chapter 17 this is my really favorite passage about what the true baptism of the spirit really is there's a lot of queer ideas about what the baptism of the spirit is I suppose you've heard that I'm supposed to have some queer ones well this is one of my queer ones one of my queer ideas if you think it's queer let's read John chapter 17 not all of it, I'd love to but Jesus is praying to his father and you know when you're praying and you're an honest person everything that you are comes out and this is what he says in the middle of verse 11 holy father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we the word our isn't in greek as we while I was with them in the world I kept them in thy name those that thou gavest me I've kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled and now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy he's joy he's going on to his father keep them father just keep them I'm coming to thee when I come there the joy, just imagine the joy in heaven when Jesus came back with the scars of Calvary on him can you imagine all the cherubim and the cherubim gathered round father, well his father would rush out to a prodigal son in the story of Jesus and kiss him kiss him and kiss him, this is the force of the greek word not just kissed him, kissed him and kissed him kissed him and kissed him no end to it, the kisses, hallelujah that's the force of the greek kept on kissing him and he was trying to make his little apologetic speech but it kissed it all away kissed it all away hallelujah well think when the son came home that it made it possible for the son to tell the story of the prodigal son, think when he came home, the victor, the glory the joy, everybody sang, I tell you if old Bunyan could write about all the trumpets playing for him on the other side of Jordan he got Jordan wrong by the way Jordan is the way to enter the promised land not die, the whole glorious thing beloved poor old Bunyan made one or two mistakes that was a bad plan still we understand what he meant he just kissed him oh sick of it his joy his joy going home to his father and father wrapping him up in his arms, can you imagine the almighty father gathering him up, his lamb his son, his equal he still is equal though he bore the sin of the world he done father the greatest I was going to say good turn that could ever be done in me, you choose my name, but what can you say how can you explain it father wanted sin gone he said no just keep them keep them lord that they may be one as we are, that couldn't happen until they were baptised in the spirit you have to be baptised into one, he was thinking about Pentecost keep them that they may be one now I've come to you oh hallelujah this is the greatest factor in the baptism in the spirit, this is the greatest factor, it's your experience of the wonder the sublime gathering up, the carrying away, the glory of the reception of the Christ the wonder of the satisfied heart of God some people think it's just an enabling to have power, especially to speak tongues or something God forgive us God forgive us these cheese pairing analytical approaches glory be to have you ever known it have you ever known it it's your right, it's your heritage the bursting forth of eternal love, the flooding of the conscious being with love and how can you be the same, how can you contain it, how can you hold back your praises when you've been released genuinely by God when they praise and praise and worship and fall down before him ceaselessly day and night and you're joined to this in the home going in the gathering in the bosoming of the Father how can you it is impossible to contain floods you're being fit you're being made ready to dwell in that forever that's why you've got to have a new body this one wouldn't contain it it's all simple it's as straight forward as ABC I can see this find my body, I mean sometimes I go through meeting after meeting if I have about three a day and I don't know what in between and I must confess I drop into bed at night and sometimes I don't know whether to turn on the stomach or turn on the back and my wife thinks I snore sometimes but that you've got to have a body to get used to it how can you keep on preaching three four times a day, you see but when we get there we're going to be glorying glorying, glorying hallelujah we'll understand your finite mind will begin to comprehend something you'll never cease praising you have discovery upon discovery, you know when you have a discovery I know once we remember when we were out in India I said Amen Jack said what's that I said oh God just show me something do it now hallelujah I was supposed to be being quiet he's very nice to travel with, he's very polite he leaves you alone with God and all that and he apologises if he comes in the room when you're sharing one little cubby hole together and I just said hallelujah praise God hallelujah I was only a little sick and I'm going to go on like that I'm so small, I'm so tiny my mind is going to be fully illumined with the original light, I'm going to see it, I'm being got ready for it, the baptism and the spirit is my entree to this, it's my introduction it isn't just an ability to speak in tongues I could do that all night, but what's that except the release of something inside me that needs to be released God loves to release me for the sake of releasing me because he loves me let him let him talk about what's the use of it and what isn't the use of it let them natter away until they drop into their graves, no matter about them he loves to release me he just loves me, he loves you absolutely loves you sets you free from your tired and tiring old workings of your mind and enables you to go in spirit guided worship where you're polite enough to take your hand off yourself and let Jesus lead you trustfully like a baby not in mere repetition of about ten words like a needle stuck in the groove of a gramophone record but in the wondrous release of the rising springs and the flowing rivers and a personality and a mind that's flooded by the Lord and the lovingness of Jesus is impinged upon your heart and the treasures in the earth and vessel and you can adore him like those that fall around his throne, they in a better place but scarce in a better state for they've not been redeemed hallelujah you're loving him do you know what Peter called this? do you know what Peter called it? Acts chapter 10 Bible's a marvellous book I love the Bible if it wasn't for idolatry I'd kiss it I don't worship the book but it's there in Acts chapter 10 although sorry it's Acts 11, it's the commentary on Acts chapter 10, Peter's second edition of the event that's right in Acts chapter 11 he's commenting on what took place in Cornelius' household in this 11th chapter he says the spirit bade me go verse 12 with nothing doubting moreover these six accompanied me and we entered into the man's house and he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house which stood and said unto him send men to Joppa and call for Simon who surveys Peter who shall tell thee words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved and as I began to speak the Holy Ghost fell on them and as on us at the beginning there it is Pentecost was the beginning Hallelujah was the beginning have you had a beginning? have you had a beginning like that? Oh fell on them as on us at the beginning it was so what they called it the beginning in the beginning God in the beginning the world in the beginning the Holy Ghost Father Son and Holy Ghost in the beginning God as on us at the beginning oh glory he stood I imagine with his mouth open this time not to pour out but to drink it this wonder of the outpouring of the Holy Ghost upon the Gentiles he said what was I that I could withstand God he was making a beginning with the Gentiles Hallelujah how did he make a beginning with the Gentiles by a preacher preaching no by pouring the Holy Ghost on them mark it mark it that's how he began by setting up a bible school no by pouring out the Holy Ghost they had a beginning glory other things might follow afterwards but in the beginning God was a beginning have you ever had a beginning like that have you ever had a beginning like that let's go back to Isaiah this time in the 48th chapter I'm taking the three references to this great truth in Isaiah one in chapter 41 the other one in chapter 44 and there's one in chapter 48 here God is speaking to a people who've known his glory and lost it and this is what he says hearken unto me in verse 12 O Jacob and this tray of my corn I am he I am the first I also am the last he's speaking to these people verse 1 hear ye this O house of Jacob which are called by my name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Judah which swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousness for they call themselves the Holy City stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of hosts is in his name I have declared the former things from the beginning and they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them I did them suddenly and they came to pass because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is as an iron sinew and thy brow brass have you ever been called stubborn this is another description of it I have even from the beginning declared it to thee because it came before it came to pass I showed thee lest thou shouldst say mine eyes hath done them my grave and image my molten image hath commanded them thou'st heard see all this will not ye declare it I've showed thee new things from this time even hidden things thou didst not know them they are created now now not from the beginning even before the day when thou heardest them not lest thou shouldst say behold I knew them yea thou heardest not yea thou knewest not yea from that time that thine ear was not open for I knew that thou would steal very treacherously and was called a transgressor from the womb for my name's sake will I defer my name and for my praise will I refrain from thee I won't cut thee off behold I've refined thee but not with silver I've chosen thee in the firmness of affliction for mine own sake even for mine own sake will I do it for how should my name be polluted but I will not give my glory unto another hearken unto me O Jacob Israel my call I am he I am the first I also am the last stubborn you've fought against God you've fought against truth have you obstinate won't yield listen he says I'm not going to write you off I love you I called him I called this man from Devil Tree I called him from being right out there this man had to cross right across the Arabian Peninsula right across in a dead straight line he came over the mountains he came he came went in hallelujah listen beloved we're dealing with a God that calls the things that are not as though they are and he wants to carry right through in your life I want to tell you this he's been refining you but not with silver he didn't put you in a pot and boil you up till the scum came to the surface he didn't do that I've not refined you with silver he says but I have refined you I called you you didn't know me and he says this I'm the beginning if you stop trying to hatch out your own plans if you stop trying to work your own way if you stop trying to think this out if you stop trying to do this and that and the other please stop it I'm the beginning don't insult thy God don't think that you can add anything don't think you can do anything please don't please don't don't build yourself up in your own strength harder and harder with your heart get more brassy with your brow and the sinews of your neck will become like oak trees if you keep on bow yourself to the Lord let him be the beginning let him be the beginning don't think that you can decorate God or add anything to him just let him come and be wonderfully all in all to you it's not too late for you to make the new beginning it's not too late for you to allow God to be God to you you haven't gone too far and his hand is upon you he calls you he calls generations he hasn't changed bless him he'll pour water on you beloved if you're thirsty he'll pour the floods on the dry ground he'll do it he'll do it will you let him will you let him well when when will you let him do you know it's possible for you to sit in this meeting tonight and God start pouring out his floods of the spirit and everybody else get filled and you miss it did you know that did you know it's possible here's the man who says Lord I want everything that you've got I want everything you just pour it out Lord Jesus who went to heaven you went to heaven for this Lord pour out the floods glory Israel was a barren dry hard land he hadn't been able to get his seed into the ground at all his marvelous sower twelve men and one of those the devil and all of them running away at the time of his crucifixion he got nothing nothing the ground was hard hearts were like granite puffed up in their old pride foreheads like brass necks stronger than the mountain see and he went up to heaven he was sitting in the heavens from there he got another skin he got up there he poured out the floods he poured the water on him he was thirsty thirsty enough to stay ten days there waiting on the Lord for the unknown so far as they were concerned the floods glory floods it all came beloved this is God's answer this is the beginning this is it has it begun in you? do you want it to begin in you? are you flooded? absolutely flooded do you want to be flooded? will you believe it? will you cooperate? they were found cooperative under their pentacles a hundred and twenty of them they're always cooperative disposed wanting how about you? come on let's pray you've got to come right into the beginnings he's got to be the new spring he's got to be everything