In this sermon, Kathy Coleman speaks about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and emphasizes the colorful personality of the Holy Spirit. She encourages listeners to come out of spiritual bondage and experience the freedom and joy that comes with the Holy Spirit. Coleman warns against trying to confine the Holy Spirit to our own ideas and beliefs, as he cannot be contained or controlled. She also mentions the phenomenon of holy laughter, which she describes as a laughter of freedom and liberty. Overall, the sermon emphasizes the transformative power of the Holy Spirit and the importance of surrendering to his guidance.

Welcome to From the Pulpit, each week we bring you a different message from some of history's greatest speakers in the Christian faith, and powerful sermons from modern preachers too. This week we have Kathy Coleman with her message, Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Do you know the Holy Spirit is a colorful personality? Oh, that Holy Spirit is so colorful. I've learned that a long time ago. I'm having the time of my life. I'm working like a dog, but I enjoy every minute of it. Oh, He's so colorful. He has a sense of humor. I know that He does. And there's joy. It's glorious. It is wonderful. And it's so exciting. There's never a dull moment. Never. I didn't know this morning that I was going to speak on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Someone came up with the question about speaking in an unknown tongue. And I said, well, I'll tell you what I'll do. In this seminar, before I leave, I'll speak on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then I'll answer that question. He said, when? And so, we're answering the question this morning. And I want to say to you, please, homiletics has nothing to do with you ministers. Remember, I'm really not a preacher. Not really. Not really. That's the reason when you say you don't believe in women preachers, I don't either. I don't either. A woman preacher. And I don't think anyone ever considers me a preacher. When you think about Katharine Kuhlman, I don't believe anyone ever thinks of me as a woman preacher. Not really. Not really. I never think of myself as a woman preacher. Never. Nobody ever refers to me as Reverend Kuhlman. Oh, that's the funniest thing. You never think of me in that light, do you? Never. And I don't think of myself in that light as a woman preacher. And you don't think I am, because I can't preach. Or that I know that I'm somebody who loves the Lord with all my heart. I just love the Lord. It's so wonderful. And so again today, if you come here expecting to hear a sermon, forget all about homoerotics. I don't even know what it means. I'm just here talking to you about the Lord and my own personal experiences. And as I talk to you about my own personal experiences, and the Word of God, all that I ask of you to do is to sit there with an open heart and open mind. No matter what your preconceived ideas have been, all that I ask of you for the next hour is to just sit there with an open heart and open mind. Your theology may be changed. And the biggest person in the world is that somebody who will say, I was wrong. I was wrong. Maybe you're like the Jewish gentleman, a very influential, perhaps one of the most influential, Jewish gentleman in the city of Portland, Oregon. A Mr. Stern, Jerome Stern. Began watching our telecast. Very influential. He was influential in raising all the money for the new, beautiful synagogue in Portland, Oregon. Everybody knows Jerome Stern. Began watching our telecast. And then he flew to Pittsburgh. He and his wife were on their way to New York. He was in the service. After the service, he spent hours talking to me about the Messiah. And then he came to the Shrine of the Atonement in Los Angeles. And this is something that he said. After that, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that Jesus is the true Messiah. Those were the most pitiful things. He has three children. The oldest child is his son. A son, seventeen, eighteen years of age. And he said to me, Miss Goldman, I see it. I see it all now. I know that Jesus is the true Messiah. But the hardest thing for me to do right now is to call my children in, is to look in the face of my oldest son and remember they're taught to believe, to respect the word of their parent. And in accepting this wonderful experience, I'm going to have to say to my son, Son, your father was wrong all these years. Your father was wrong all of these years. I taught you that when Jesus came in the flesh, he was not the true Messiah. I have to tell you now that I was wrong. He was the very Son of the Living God. Sit there with an open heart. I pray, wonderful Jesus, please, somehow take every person in this place, every minister in this place, every church leader in this place, and just kind of turn them upside down for one hour until we shake all of our preconceived ideas out and then turn us right side up again and let the Holy Spirit speak to our hearts, I pray. As little children we come, willing to be taught. For Jesus' sake we ask this. Amen. The wonderful Holy Spirit is a person. Remember, he has all the attributes of personality. You must consider this before you'll understand the work of the Holy Spirit. Before I begin on the work of the Holy Spirit, remember something. Never forget it. It is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, you and I may differ on all the doctrinal truths. You may not see eye to eye with me when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit. You may not see eye to eye with me when it comes to divine healing. You may not see eye to eye with me when it comes to the great catching up the wrath of the church. The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you've had that new birth experience, if you've been born again, and you've been born into this body of Christ, then you're my brother and my sister. Please, you must understand that. Please understand it. There are literally millions of God's precious children who lived and died, who were not baptized with the Holy Spirit, but they're in heaven today. We have the Word and we must stay with the Word. How many understand? Put your hands. And don't let anyone tell you that you have to be filled with the Holy Spirit. This wonderful experience, the baptism with the Holy Spirit, one of the most beautiful, the greatest thing that can come into your life after you've been born again. It follows, this experience follows one's salvation, one's conversion. Know that. Therefore, I must make a very clear deal. The baptism with the Holy Spirit has nothing to do whatsoever with your salvation. If you've been born again, I repeat it to make it very clear, that new birth experience where literally all things have passed away and you have become a new creature in Christ Jesus. That's the most important experience of any individual's life. And the baptism with the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with your salvation. All right, the Holy Spirit person must recognize this. For He has intellect, emotion, will, all the attributes that characterize personality. Oh, you don't know what you're missing. Whenever you think of the Holy Spirit as just an influence, oh, please, when you think of the Holy Spirit as just a mystery, you don't know what you're missing. You don't know. There's something about Him when you get acquainted with Him. When you get acquainted with Him, He becomes a very living part of you, a vital part of you. You've just started to live. Just started. And the Holy Spirit is not a new personality just having come upon the scene. Sometimes I think in the last days when thousands of Roman Catholics are just becoming acquainted with the Holy Spirit, when literally thousands of our denomination church people, hundreds of our ministers are just coming into the light of the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit. We get the idea that the Holy Spirit is just a new personality having come on the scene. He's not a new personality. He's not. He was there at the time of creation. All three persons were there. And the Spirit of God moved upon the waters. And whenever a word speaks of the Spirit of God, it's the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament saints knew of the power of the Holy Spirit. All Moses knew of the power of the Holy Ghost. Read it there in Numbers. Read it. And when the Seventy were chosen, it's in the eleventh chapter of Numbers, when the Seventy were chosen to help Moses, in the sovereignty of God, God had not only filled Moses with the Holy Spirit, but He also came upon the Seventy to work with him. In the building of the tabernacle, God, in His sovereignty, came upon those who helped to build the tabernacle. Gideon knew the Holy Spirit. How do you think, when you read the Old Testament, in the power that was on some of these Old Testament saints, what was it? The secret was the power of the Ghost. But in the Old Testament, it was the sovereignty of God. Not all of the Old Testament saints were filled with the Holy Ghost. Remember that. Whenever they were filled with the Holy Spirit, it was the sovereignty of God. Joseph was filled with the Holy Spirit. And Pharaoh recognized the power of the Holy Spirit upon Joseph. He was no stranger to the Old Testament saints. Read your Bible again in the light of this. It will be most revealing. And that's what I said yesterday. There's such a difference between religion and Christianity. Christianity is revealing, and the Holy Spirit is the great revealer. The Old Testament prophets knew the power of the Holy Ghost. If we were to call the Old Testament prophets here in this auditorium this morning, they could bear witness to the very power of the one of whom I am speaking. But always it was the sovereignty of God. Know that. David knew. How well David knew of the person of the Holy Spirit. David had received this wonderful experience. I would like to know what they called it then. I don't think they called it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I don't think they did. They only knew it was the Holy Spirit. That's the reason, David, the saddest cry we have in the world of God is the cry of David. He cried, Get not thy Holy Spirit from me. Get not thy Holy Spirit from me. The same Holy Spirit that you know, the same Holy Spirit whose presence is here this very hour. Pray to that prayer ten thousand times. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Samson knew, that's the reason, the word. He wished not that the Spirit had departed from him. He wished not that the Holy Spirit had departed from him. It was the power of the Holy Ghost, the power of the Holy Spirit, in the life of Samson. The Holy Spirit had departed, and he tried to get up and shake himself as other times. And I've seen it over and over and over again, and you've seen it. And that's the tragedy. You can say the same words. You can go through the same action. But then the Holy Spirit is no longer there. When the Holy Spirit no longer does the shaking, we have fanaticism, and we have manifestations of the flesh. That, my friends, is what brings me reproach on the Holy Spirit. You see, I love him so much, I couldn't do without him. I couldn't do without the Holy Spirit. I couldn't. I'm the most ordinary person in the world. Is there a woman living today who's more ordinary than the one who's standing before you now? I know from whence I've come. I know. I know from whence I have come. A little crossroads of a town in Concordia, Missouri. I'm the most unlikely person the whole world of God would use. I know. I know. Power in this ministry, I know better than anyone else. I know that I have nothing to do with the power of the Holy Spirit when this wonderful power in person comes upon men and women and they're slain. I know that I have nothing to do with it. When men and women are so wonderfully healed by the power of God, I know better than anyone else living that I have nothing to do with it. I'm absolutely dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the reason I can hear the cry of David when he said, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. David knew the secret of his power. And I do not want anyone to bring a reproach on this person who means everything in the world to me. He's precious. He's holy. I can never put into audible words. There are no words in the human vocabulary. Because it is a heavenly language, you can't tell it. You can't tell it. What this wonderful Holy Spirit means to me, this fellowship that I have with Him, this communion that I have with Him, they almost have a sense of perfectedness. And I don't want anyone to bring a reproach on this one who means so much to me. Don't bring a reproach on the Holy Spirit, please, I beg of you. I beg of you, please. So much reproach has been brought on the Holy Spirit. Such fanaticism is a result of either ignorance and spiritual ignorance. It's such a disastrous thing. Never, never act contrary to the Word of God. Never. If your actions are contrary to the Word of God, if you cannot back up your action with the Word of God, then there's something wrong someplace with your experience. In other cases, the thing that brings such reproach on this wonderful person, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the same thing of Samson. He risked not that the Spirit had departed. And when they try to shake themselves, and the flesh enters into it, and there's nothing more revolting or disgusting than the shaking and the manifestations of the flesh after that the Holy Spirit has departed. I don't care what you experienced twenty-five years ago. I don't care what you experienced fifteen years ago. Oh, you say, fifteen years ago I was wonderfully, wonderfully filled with the Holy Spirit. It was glorious. And then you relate the experience that you had. It was so new to you. And you walked in the light. And this explodes. The Holy Spirit came in. It was glorious. But my friend, let me ask you, what do you have today? Today, today, today. Some of you who were filled with the Holy Spirit twenty years ago, ten years ago, eight years ago, today you're as wired up as last year's corn shacks. And yet you're still trying to go through the same motions. You're still trying to go through the same demonstrations. The same thing. But you say, I was baptized with the Holy Spirit back there. Remember something. I too received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. But there's never a time when I'm in a great miracle service but what I receive, a fresh baptism with the Holy Spirit. A fresh baptism. A fresh baptism. A fresh baptism. Now, when it comes to conversion, remember, when it comes to the conversion baptism, my friend, is a definite experience. It's a definite transaction. That is it. You're born again. There's a wonderful new birth experience when you become a new creature in Christ Jesus. An heir of God, an adjoined heir with Christ Jesus. And the mighty Creator becomes your heavenly Father. You're born into the body of Christ. That's a definite transaction. I belong. He's my heavenly Father. I'm His by adoption. And I know to whom I belong. But when it comes to the Holy Spirit, it's something that's constant, this fellowship. This fellowship, this constant communion. And if you're trying to measure up to some experience that you receive the way back there and you say, I got it. I got it. I got it. No. It's a daily communion with Him. Daily. Daily. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. All the ministers in this place. Have you stood before your people with an anointing? And did you feel that anointing from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? There's so under the anointing, my brother, that literally your ears hear what He is speaking through your mouth. Under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, I stood there. And He's taught me as He has spoken through my lips and my ears have heard. And I knew it wasn't Catherine Coleman. I knew. I knew it wasn't Catherine Coleman. If you only knew me a little better, you would understand why I'm so sold on the Holy Spirit. I'm so sold on the Holy Spirit, I do not know how better to say it to you. I'm so sold on the Holy Ghost. It just becomes words. The choice of words that you speak, my brother. So far as the intellect is concerned, it's a masterpiece. But how many were saved? That was the result. Was there a supernatural manifestation? Wherever you find the Holy Ghost, wherever you find the presence of the Holy Spirit, there will always be the supernatural. Always. Know that. And the supernatural does not come through a great organization. Sometimes I think we've organized ourselves the best. I mean that. Sometimes I think we're so organized that the Holy Spirit can't get in. He can't work. It will be the greatest day that the church has ever known. When the church gets to the place where it no longer is completely dependent on organization. Yeah. The Holy Spirit must have freedom. The Holy Spirit must have liberty. And wherever you find the Holy Spirit, you know. I'm going to say something, and I hope that I'm not misconstrued. I hope I'm not. What I'm about to say. I've never seen more holy laughter. I'll get to that in a few minutes, but I want to throw this in. I have never, I've never, in all of these years, have seen more holy laughter. And there is such a thing as holy laughter. And in miracle services. Holy laughter. That's the reason I tell you that this woman is such a colorful personality. I'm so glad I had sense enough never to write a book on theology. On doctrine. I'm so glad I've been pressed and pressed by different publishers who come from New York City. And they've asked me to write a book on doctrine. Well, I'll tell you, that's one smart thing I did. Because you see, had I written a book on doctrine, about six months later, I'd have to call them all in and say, I made a mistake. That's right. Because as you watch the Holy Spirit work, as you watch Him work, He's so colorful. But He isn't always the same, not really. You can't put Him in a certain category and then put a fence around Him. And that's exactly what we're trying to do in some of our little circles. We're trying to fence Him in. We're trying to put a fence around the Holy Spirit. And keep Him in this fence because it's our idea. And you believe it thus and so, and it isn't long before He jumps a fence, and all that you've got is a fence. And He's gone. And He's gone. So, do you pray the cross for people? They're dead sure that nothing would ever happen in a First Methodist Church such as you saw last night. Your theology has thrown you that if you were not filled with the Holy Spirit in assembly of God's church, then you didn't get it. How many know I'm right? Keep your hands down. And you say, come to my church. Come on, come on. You'll get it. You'll get it. You'll get it. Come on to my church. You'll get it. You'll get it. Come on. You'll never be filled in the First Methodist Church. You'll never receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the First Baptist Church. Never. Never. You'll never see the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Never. In the denominational churches. The Bible doesn't say that. And there you are in your own little circle. We have him. We got him. And you Methodists, look out, look out. In these days you may awaken to find out that you are the one from whom he has departed. Amen. He's bigger than denominational lines. The Holy Spirit is greater than man's idea. The Holy Ghost is greater than our own preconceived ideas. Know that. When he's so powerful, Jesus knew. I think of that over and over again. Who knew the Holy Spirit better than Jesus? Who? He'd been with him from the beginning of time. Jesus knew him. Jesus knew his power. And the Holy Ghost is the power of the Trinity. Knowing the power of the Ghost is Jesus, William. Before Jesus ever offered himself to the Father to be given, he first of all offered himself through the Holy Spirit to be given. For he knew his power. I'm not talking about something that is just mediocre. I'm coming back again to this whole laughter. It's happening. But you want to know something? I see it so much among those in Catholicism who are just coming into the light of the Holy Spirit. We've had so much of the Holy laughter recently. I watch this. Like I told you this, all that I know about the Holy Spirit is I see him and watch him. And watch him. And you get to know him. You watch his personality. You know what pleases him. You know what grieves him. You just know instantly. Because you know you're in the presence of someone that you know so well and you know when they're grieved. You know when they're happy. You know when they're pleased. I follow him there carefully. Sometimes I think he's allowed this wonderful Holy laughter to come through from some of these precious folk because they have been released from the bondage they were in. This bondage, this bondage, this bondage. You're no longer under bondage when the Holy Spirit comes in. This bondage that men and women are living in. I pray to God you come from out of that bondage. Come out from that bondage. Some of you are bound in spiritual darkness. Some of you are bound by some organization. Literally bound. Your heart cries. Everything within you cries out. Your heart cries out. You're hungry. You're hungry. But the bondage that you're in, this terrific bondage, you're bound by people. You're bound by organization. You're bound by those in higher authority than you are. Many of you in Catholicism, you've been bound so long. Some of you have been bound by sin so long. Sometimes I think this wonderful Holy laughter that we see, it's glorious if you've never heard it. It's different. It's different than any laughter. It's different. It's the laughter of freedom. It's the laughter of liberty. But everything is in good taste. When the Holy Spirit does it, and always remember this, if you never again hear me speak to you in a heart-to-heart talk regarding this person, the Holy Spirit, he is never unseemly in his actions. Never. Never. If it's revolting, it's not the Holy Spirit. Know that. Know that. If it's revolting, it is not the Holy Spirit. If it's obnoxious, it's not the Holy Spirit. It's the flesh. When it's holy laughter, it's something that's contagious. It's something that's beautiful. It's something that's wonderful. But everything the Holy Spirit does, I have such high regard for him. I've never known him to ever manifest himself in a revolting way. It's perfection. It's perfection. And I know there are things that happen in the flesh and labeled as the Holy Spirit. It cannot be the Holy Spirit, for it's contrary to his personality and his beauty and his loveliness. Open our understandings, please. Flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but to my Father which is in heaven. Open our understanding. Let him that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith. But remember, it is the sovereignty of God when the Holy Spirit came upon the Old Testament saints. But that was changed after Jesus came. Jesus knew the secret of the power. Those miracles you read are the miracles. When you read the miracles in the New Testament, it was the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that being in the flesh he could not perform miracles, and yet he knew there would have to be the manifestation of the supernatural power of God. That was in essence when he said to them, If you want to believe all that I say that I am, then believe me for the very work's sake. And he knew that there would have to be the supernatural power of God, or they would never accept him. And that was the reason he offered himself first to the Holy Spirit. And he said, If you'll come, you'll be with me. If you'll manifest the supernatural power of the Father through me, I'll go because I'll need that manifestation, I'll need it. And Jesus understood every time there was a miracle. Jesus understood. He understood perfectly well to the Holy Spirit. And those miracles did not begin until after Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism. And God spoke. And in that hour the Holy Spirit came upon him as a dog. Then, before he went away, he told about the Holy Spirit. He told him he would come. He'd get there in time. He'll teach you all things. He'll guide you. I'd give anything in the world if I could stay with you longer. He took all of these scriptures.