The Holy Spirit as Comforter

...is one of the Times Square Church pulpit series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing, World Challenge, Post Office Box 260, Lindale, Texas, 75771, or by calling 903-963-8626.

None of these messages are copyrighted, and you are welcome to make copies for free distribution to friends. If you love me, keep my commandments, Jesus said. I will pray the Father.

He shall give you another comforter, that he may stay or abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless.

I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless. Holy Spirit, we're hungry.

We're desperately hungry to know you, the work, the ministry of the Holy Spirit in us. Jesus, you sent the Holy Ghost to abide with us. It's imperative that we know what his ministry in us is.

We can no longer live in ignorance of the work and the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Holy Spirit, I'm hungry to know what you're doing in my heart. I'm hungry to know what you're doing.

Having been sent to me, having lived in my heart, I want to acknowledge you. Holy Spirit, I acknowledge you now for an anointing. The anointing that abides is the Holy Ghost, is the Holy Spirit.

We're beginning to see more and more as the pastors unburden our hearts to this congregation. We're learning more of the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, thank you for bringing us to a closer image, a closer revelation of who you are.

We acknowledge you tonight. Open our eyes, Holy Spirit. We know that you're here to reveal Jesus to us.

Come, Holy Spirit. We invite you, I invite you to use my body and my lips and speak the revelation of truth about yourself in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let me try to go over very simply what I've been trying to share with you about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been over-complicated. We really haven't known what it means to walk in the Spirit.

If you call, we told you that walking in the Spirit is simply letting the Holy Spirit do in us what God has called him to do. That God sent him to this earth with an eternal purpose. That eternal purpose is simply this, to bring a bride to the bridegroom.

To preserve and keep and sustain the bride. To present a chaste virgin to Jesus at the marriage supper of the Lamb. That's his eternal purpose.

He'll never be swerved from it. Everything he does in us is in keeping with that eternal purpose. Furthermore, everything has to line up with that purpose.

Everything that is disassociated with that purpose ends up in error. We learned last Sunday night that he's our keeper. And he keeps us by convicting us of sins so that the devil can't get his hands on us.

He keeps us in love with Jesus by showing us all the glorious promises and the inheritance that waits for us. I don't think that's complicated. I ask you again, what is it to walk in the Spirit? It's simply letting the Holy Spirit do in us what he's been called to do.

That's simple enough, isn't it? Little by little, we've learned also that we can pray to the Holy Spirit. We can talk to the Holy Spirit. That he's just as real in the spirit world as we are in the flesh world.

And tonight, I want to speak to you about another aspect of the ministry and mission of the Holy Spirit. I tell you folks, I have been totally consumed with the searching and the seeking after the work of the Holy Spirit. Because we call ourselves a Holy Ghost people.

We talk about living in a Holy Ghost dispensation, a Holy Ghost age. But so little has been known about him. We've neglected him.

He lives here. We don't talk to him. We're learning to.

But he's been the most neglected of the Godhead and yet he's the one who lives here. Jesus is a man who's been glorified. He's in heaven.

The Holy Ghost lives here on this planet Earth. Where does he live? He lives right here. Something I've learned about the Holy Spirit in the last few weeks that's really blessed me about him.

It's something we all need to know. He doesn't talk about himself. He doesn't talk about himself.

Here's what the scripture says. When he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself.

But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, Jesus said.

He, the Holy Ghost, will glorify me. When he comes to a meeting like this, it's to glorify Jesus. When he stirs us and moves us, it's to glorify Jesus.

For he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you. Folks, when I got hungry to know more about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In fact, I got to studying.

I got all my Puritan books out. I studied Owens and Sibbes and Mannington and I could name a whole bunch of them. Folks, I have read volumes.

There's some very deep things written about the Holy Spirit. And I thought, well, I'll go and find out who he is. I'll learn all about his nature and about him being a paraclete.

I want to know the Hebrew meaning and I want to know the Greek meaning. If it takes me seven days a week, every waking hour, the Holy Ghost has stirred me to dig into his nature or rather to understand him. So I read and I read and the more I read, the less edified I was and the less I understood until it dawned on me.

Wait a minute. The only thing that you can understand is what the Holy Spirit himself reveals. The book is dead unless the Holy Spirit reveals.

This letter can kill you. It's death without the Holy Spirit bringing life to it. And I realized the Holy Ghost doesn't talk about himself.

How does he edify something he doesn't want to talk about? See, he doesn't want you to study his nature. He wants you to study his mission, why he's here. You don't have to know about me.

You don't have to know about the paraclete. You don't have to know about all of this Hebrew, Greek meaning of my name or my personality. All you need to know that I am of the Godhead and that I am the spirit of Christ.

I am the spirit of Jesus. He is one man who left now. He came down upon the whole.

He has been poured out upon the world, the very spirit of Jesus. Jesus said, if you see me, you've seen the Father. And he said, I will come to you.

He's come to us through the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit does not want to be the object of our study concerning who he is. He wants us, though, to be totally familiar with what he's called to do.

And that we're free to do. That is what he blesses. And he'll bless you tonight in the hearing of the word.

If you really want to know why God sent him to your heart. Do you believe he lives in your heart? All right. I want you to follow me closely, please.

The messages I've been preaching last three weeks really are not about who the spirit is, but it's really about Jesus. How the Holy Spirit has been sent to make him known in real hearts by bringing to our remembrance everything Jesus said. That's his mission.

Now, Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And when he said that, he was standing before his disciples.

He gathered on the Mount of Trent at the Mount of Translation. He's about to leave. And he looks over this sorrowful lot.

The Bible says their hearts were sorrowful. They were sorrowing. Because, you see, their sole source of comfort was to be taken from them.

Jesus was their only guide. He was their only comfort, their only hope, their only teacher. And now he's leaving.

And they were sorrowing at heart. And I know Jesus knew their mind and they were thinking, surely, what do we do now? He told us to go and preach the gospel to all the world. He said, we're to preach his name.

Where's the authority? Who's going with us? He is God the flesh. And they were saying, God's been taken from us. This is God.

Now, you have to understand the thinking of these disciples at the time. They said, we've staked our life on this man. This is all we know.

And when Jesus saw that, he said, look, I'm not leaving you comfortless. I'm going to come again. But I'm coming in another form.

See, I'm one man. I can stay with you here. But he said, there's going to be a great harvest.

And I want to live and abide in all of you. All who believe in me. I don't think the disciples understood it.

I don't think they comprehended it at all. Until Pentecost came. I don't think they fully comprehended.

Jesus was looking at them and said, now look, I'm not going to leave you to the wolves. I'm not going to leave you to the clutches of the devil. Jesus knew what they were going to face.

He saw the tribulation coming. He knew that some of them would die at the stake. He knew they would be persecuted around the world.

They would have their goods stolen from them. And they would be cast in prison, mocked and ridiculed for his name. But he said, I'm not going to leave you powerless.

I'm not going to leave you helpless. I'm coming to you. Something glorious is going to happen.

And they didn't understand that. In other words, I'll not turn you over to the clutches of the devil. He said, I'm going to my father.

But I will pray the father. And he shall give you another comforter. That he may abide with you forever.

And he shall live with you. And he shall be in you. Glory be to God.

I don't know if you and I have even tried to understand it. Folks, aren't you beginning to hunger to know who this is who lives in you? Aren't you beginning to hunger and thirst and say, Holy Spirit, I've neglected you long enough. I want to know.

I want to know this power that is inherited in me through your Spirit. Now, who is the Holy Spirit sent to? You say, well, he's sent to the whole world. Doesn't the Bible say, in the last days, his Spirit will be poured out upon all flesh? Alright, listen to me closely, please.

The Holy Spirit is sent to the world, to the ungodly, for one corporate purpose. And that only. To convince and convict of sin.

When he, the Holy Ghost, has come, he will convict the world of sin. Because they believe not in me. And of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more.

And of judgment, because the Prince of the world is judged. And what he was saying, when the Holy Spirit comes to the world, he's going to convict of the sin of unbelief. He's going to reveal that that's the root sin.

That when you disbelieve in me, you have no object for faith anymore. And the Holy Spirit was going to unveil this great truth. That the one predominant sin, out of which all other sins are birthed, is unbelief in the person of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.

Secondly, he said the Holy Spirit's going to convict the world of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more. And what he was saying, he looked out over those disciples who were going to see him translated. And here's the message, I hope you understand it.

He said, you're going to be a testimony to something the world doesn't understand. But the Holy Ghost is going to make real through you. He said, they call me a wine-bibber, this is the essence of it.

They call me a wine-bibber, they're going to call me an imposter. You're going to hear the Jew mock me, and they won't even mention my name. My name will be accursed in their lips.

They'll say, I'm an imposter. But how do they justify the fact that I'm taken into heaven by the Father? The Father wouldn't take an unholy imposter to glory. And you're going to see me go.

And that's going to be the testimony of the Holy Ghost, of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more. And you can tell the whole world, how can he be an imposter? How can he be a liar? Because he was taken by the Father into his own bosom. He had to be a holy, righteous man, or God would not have translated him.

And of judgment, and he was saying the Holy Ghost was going to tell the whole world there's freedom, because the power of Satan was broken at the cross. He was going, he wanted that message known to the world, and that is the work of the Holy Spirit to the world. But, the Holy Spirit is not living in the whole world.

There are people who say there's some of the Holy Ghost in everybody. Everybody's got a light in them. And eventually, as that light brightens, you begin to see Christ in his glory.

Not so. Here it is very clearly, he's living at this moment only in those who are truly born again, who walk by faith in the finished work of the cross. Only in the true believer does the Holy Spirit abide.

And by the way, there are many, I'll show you before the message is over, many that are Christians who do not have the Holy Spirit living in them. They have had the work, the convincing, convicting work of the Holy Spirit, but they've not had the abiding presence of the Holy Ghost. Now, the sending of the Holy Spirit to this earth is a very personal matter.

I tell you, this has gripped my heart, it has absolutely overwhelmed me. The Holy Spirit is dealing with me because, you see, we have this idea in our mind that the Holy Spirit is like some kind of mystical ether that's sprayed on the whole earth, like a holy smoke. You know, God just poof! This ether, this beautiful divine ether, this soothing, soft ether, just fills the whole world.

You just breathe it in. No, folks, the Holy Spirit's a person. He has a personality, he has a mind, he has ears.

Now, that's not a human, you don't picture it in a human form. But he hears, he talks. My argument with the Lord's been this.

When I read that the disciples and the apostles prayed and the Holy Ghost said this and the Holy Ghost said that, I said, Lord, if you ever talk to any man who's ever lived since the cross, if the Holy Ghost has talked to anybody, he's going to talk to me. I have that right. If you talk to anybody, Holy Ghost, you're going to talk to me.

And the Holy Ghost said, I will if you'll realize how personal I am to you. I've not been sent to the whole... You see, we believe the Holy Ghost has been sent to the world. We have a harder time believing he's been sent to us as individuals, that he's mine.

Because, you see, the first thing the Holy Ghost does when he comes is to show you how personal this thing is between you and God and Jesus. He personalizes it. He brings it down to such intimacy.

First thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes, he begins to make you cry, Abba, Father. Now, that's taken from oriental custom during Christ's time. When an adoptee father adopted a child, that child was not even permitted to call him father.

He was only a father. But when the papers were sealed and signed, the tutor brought the child to the father. The papers were shown.

The child that was being adopted was presented, and the tutor said, Now, go to him, embrace him, and say, Abba, which means my. That's all he did. Abba means mine.

My father. And so the adopted child looks at the papers, holds it there, and now he can say, He's not a father, he's my father. He's mine.

Folks, that's the work of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to show you. That's why the first thing he does, he comes in, he says, Cry, Father. You are no longer an orphan.

Those papers were signed and sealed. You've been adopted by the Father. You are a child of God.

And I am the Holy Spirit, and I've come to show you that, and I've come to show you how much you're loved by the Heavenly Father. He adopted you. He wouldn't have adopted you unless he loved you.

And he adopted you when you were wild, and you were worldly, and you were sinful and rebellious, but he wanted you because he loved you. No good thing in you, but out of all those that he could have chosen, he chose you. Think of the millions going to hell in New York, and God chose you.

Not only did he choose you, he adopted you. He signed and sealed the papers by the Holy Spirit, and then he sent the Holy Spirit to tutor you, and to bring you to him, and say, Embrace him and call him yours. Abba, Father.

And that cry is not one of agony, it's of joy, because the Holy Ghost said, Your father's wealthy. Your father's the wealthiest man in the whole universe. You've got resources.

You're an heir to everything that his son died for. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not a sad cry.

Cry, Abba, Father. No, it's a cry of joy. Why is it that we have Christians running around like they're orphans? Running around so sad and dejected like they were poverty stricken.

I'm not talking just about physical money. I'm talking about the lack of spiritual joy and victory. And when he's come, he will... I'm sorry.

You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The spirit itself bearing witness with our spirits that we're the children of God, heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Have you seen your papers yet? Right here. This is the seal that says, I have been adopted by the Heavenly Father.

Hallelujah. The Holy Spirit's been sent to us in what I call a love mission. And that's to comfort the bride in the absence of Christ, the bridegroom.

Until we get to him, the Holy Ghost has been sent to comfort us, to make our journey so comfortable that we'll not turn to anyone or anything else. Do you know the Lord is so concerned about bringing you to glory? God the Father is so concerned about getting you to the married supper, clean and holy and pure and distracted from this world, that he sent the Holy Ghost to abide in you, to keep the devil's hands off of you. Saying, this is my property, and I'm sending my very spirit to keep you.

In that spirit of adoption. That gives you liberty when you pray. You go to him and say, I'm going to my Father.

He loves me. This is the mission. I can boil down the ministry of comfort to two sentences.

And I want you to get this. Holy Spirit just exploded this in my spirit this week. I said, Lord, how do you comfort? Holy Spirit, how do you comfort me? Now, of course you know what comfort means.

It means to soothe in a time of pain or grief. Or one who eases pain and sorrow. One who brings relief.

One who consoles and encourages. But I like this Greek meaning of comfort. One who lays you down in a warm bed in safety.

One who lays you down in a cold night. He lays you down in a nice soft bed without a worry in your head. How do you accomplish that in me, Holy Spirit? I've heard all my life, you're a comforter.

How do you comfort me? I'm in trouble, I've got problems and difficulties in my life. You can say that to me. Holy Spirit, how do you comfort me? Two sentences.

Here's what he'll tell you. You are loved and you are leaving. Now, I want you to, just so you remember, say that with me.

I am loved and I am leaving. Again, I am loved and I am leaving. Now, I want you to listen very, very closely.

Because this is just burning in my heart. It just touched my heart. By calling him the comforter, God was giving an infallible prediction.

That was an infallible prediction, just naming him comforter. That there was going to be a lot of discomfort. You don't need a comforter unless you're discomfortable.

Uncomfortable. He knew there was going to be a lot of hurt and pain in the body of Jesus Christ. And naming him is an infallible, eternal prediction.

That we were going to need comfort. Why is it that it always comes Sunday night, Bob? Just hold steady. Hold steady.

Let's not chase rabbits. You see, the Holy Spirit is not a passive, weak influence. That's where the church has missed it.

We've thought of him as some passive, if we need him, we'll go to him. No, he's not weak. He's not passive.

He's not an influence. He's a reality. He has a personality.

And he lives with you with all the power of God inherent in his being. And that's why you can say, greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. And it's an absolute affront to God.

It's an affront to the Holy Spirit to go day after day and week after week, living as if we were powerless and helpless and orphans. It's an affront to the Holy Ghost. We go about fretting as if the Holy Spirit living in us is off on some journey, like he's in Chicago tonight.

I've got to face it by myself. Holy Ghost never takes a journey. He's come to live.

He's come to abide. Here's the Holy Spirit. He said, we glory in tribulation, knowing it works patience, and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us.

There it is. That's the mission of the Holy Spirit as Comforter. He's been sent to shed abroad in our hearts.

In other words, to outpour. The New American Standard said to be poured out in every nook and cranny of our being. That means that when you're in trouble, when you're in the daytime when persecution comes, when your heart is aching because you don't know which way to turn, that's when you must allow.

This is what it means to walk in the Spirit. Let him do what he's been sent to do. Just stop and say, Holy Spirit, what do you have to say about this? Stop in the middle of your day, businessman, worker, wherever, whatever you may be.

Just stop. Go to the restroom if you have to. If that's the only place you can get along.

Put your head on your desk. Say, Holy Spirit, this is above me. I'm being harassed.

I don't know which way to turn. What do you have to say about this? You're all worked up inside, and you need the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And he abides.

You think you're going to sit by and do nothing when he was there at the creation of the earth? Do you think that he's going to stand by when he was there when your parts were numbered before you were born? Do you think he's going to stand by when he's been there stirring and moving? Somebody in the choir said, we're talking about the Holy Spirit, and she said, oh, that's who's been after me. That's who's been bringing me in. Yes, it's been the Holy Spirit.

You stop and say, Holy Spirit, what do you have to say about this? Do you have any word? And I'll tell you what the Holy Spirit's going to say. Yes, I do. Stop and take a big drink of the love of Jesus.

He's come to love you. You are loved. It says, when in tribulation, God's trying to work patience in you, first of all.

And don't be ashamed, because the love of God is being shed abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to you. The Holy Ghost is shedding. He's pouring out love.

Will you receive it? Will you receive the love? He's going to tell you something else. He's saying, by the way, your bags are packed, and you're not here for very long, so why get worked up over all of this? Because five minutes into eternity, you won't remember any of this. It's all going to be over.

You're leaving. You're gone. You're not like the rest around here.

You've got an appointment, eternal purpose, and I'm here to see it through. Glory be to God. I didn't say that.

The Holy Ghost said it. The Bible says that. You know, the legalist can't accept that.

The legalist is like this. The legal person loves to be convicted. He lives under conviction.

Now, in this pulpit, we've been preaching that a righteous person loves to be reproved. Not for the sake of reproof, but because the more you're reproved and deal with your sin, the happier you become. The more joy you get.

It's just that simple. You want joy? Get rid of the sin. Because the truly repentant heart is the joyful heart.

And we've been praying, and we've been saying from this pulpit over and over again, there's going to be a lot of reproof in this pulpit if you're godly, you'll love it. But there are some people who keep saying, beat me, Lord, beat me, beat me. They're almost sadistic Christians.

Listen to me, please. They don't say that in so many words. But I noticed in my mailing list, if I start preaching, I have a lot, probably 400,000 people or so on a mailing list.

And when I thunder, boy, I get the biggest mail you ever saw. When I start preaching the sweetness and the love of Jesus, I get letters saying, you're not preaching the truth anymore. It's almost if I'm not reproving, I'm not preaching the gospel.

But see, the legalist has never understood the love of God. Never understood that he's my Father. Never allowed the Holy Spirit to minister that to his soul.

He allows the Holy Spirit to minister conviction, but he will not allow the Holy Spirit to bathe him in the love of God. It reminds me of, I think I've said it once in this pulpit, my beloved daughter Bonnie, who's fighting cancer with the help of the Holy Spirit right now. And I probably, the worst moment of grief I've had in my relationship with her, this is after she's married and two children.

She was suffering and tears rolled down her cheeks. She said, oh daddy, when I think about going to heaven, and I look back over my life and I failed you so much. I never really was quite what you wanted me to be, was I? I was always letting you down.

Oh, that cut me. Because it wasn't true. It wasn't true at all.

I said, Bonnie, where did you get that idea? I realized she lived with this concept since she was about 12 years old, that she displeased me. That she could never make me happy, that she was always kind of the black sheep, that she was always letting me down. I said, honey, you've got it all wrong.

I've never seen you that way. I've always loved you. You've always been a jewel in my eyes, along with Debbie.

Both of you. I've never seen you or Debbie that way, ever. I've loved you.

I've seen nothing but the goodness. I've seen the love that you have for people, that spirit of joy, your giving. I've not seen that part of you.

And we have Christians live like that, as though they're an orphan child and never can please God. They're always saying, God, I'll never please you. I'll never be what I'm supposed to be in your sight.

And that's a front to the Holy Ghost. That hurts God as much as it hurt me. It hurts Him.

Because you're not seeing the work of the Holy Spirit to comfort your heart, and He comforts you with the knowledge that you are loved, that you were adopted by Him, and that the Holy Ghost is there to see you through your troubles and your problems. And you can try to shake the Holy Ghost off, but He'll come to you and He'll say, This is the end of side one. You may now turn the tape over to side two.

I had a young pastor this past week tell me an experience he had, and it really related to what I'm saying. He got so hungry for God. He just got so enraptured with Jesus.

He went to conventions and seminars just to reach out to the Lord. He wanted to soak it in. And I'll tell you what, when you get hungry, and you're really hungry for Jesus, watch out, the enemy is going to try to give you a substitute.

He's going to try to jump in there and mimic the voice of the Holy Ghost. But if you're sincere, God will bring you out, always. He was at a meeting, hungry, and he was praying desperately, and he heard a still small voice.

And this still small voice said, If you really want to know the Lord, or worse than this effect, if you really want to know God with all your heart, you've got to do two things. You've got to pray two hours a day, and you have to eat so many calories, and no more, each day. A legalistic spirit had moved in.

If you really want to please God, you've got to pray so many hours a day, you've got to eat certain foods, and only so much, and count your calories, and don't move from it. He was under terrible bondage. It nearly destroyed him.

Terrible, terrible bondage. You don't mind if I tell you, it's my friend visiting, Brother Lafont from North Carolina, right here on the platform. And I'd asked him before the service about that again.

And I was thinking about that, Jim, and God's given him glorious liberty, glorious freedom, because the Holy Ghost exposed that as a lie. How many of you sitting here are under some kind of legalistic thing? You got hungry for God, and you heard a little voice that said, well, you have to do this, you have to do that. And you've been robbed of the love of God.

You come to church, Times Square Church, and you sit with bondage and fear, like Bonnie did all those years, thinking you've never pleased the Father, that He's displeased with you, you've got dirty hands, you're the black sheep, or the white sheep, whatever you are. And, uh, you know my heart. But you don't know how to say my Father, Abba Father.

God take that from you tonight. That's not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has come not to condemn you, He came to condemn the world.

He came to show you you're adopted. He came to show you how much you're loved. If you're going to walk in the Spirit, you're going to let Him do what God sent Him to do, to comfort you with this knowledge that you are loved and that you're leaving, and that you keep this always in mind, why should I get worked up? Why should anything affect me? Because I'm going to be here for such a short time.

Folks, if you live another 20, 30, 40 years, what is that compared to eternity? That is just a whiff of smoke. That's a vapor. I know, I'm 61 now, and it's getting, the vapor's getting thinner all the time.

Because the love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. Hallelujah. Isaiah said, and boy, this blessed me when I saw it the other day, this just blessed my heart.

Isaiah said, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. As one whose mother comforted, this is Isaiah 66, 13, as one whom his mother comforted, so will I comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. Now, Isaiah was writing to a stubborn people.

In fact, they were so rebellious, the prophet had just said, you're going on forwardly in your own way, in your own hearts. You're doing your own thing. How many teachers would stick with a student who gets rebellious and doesn't want to learn? Not very long.

How long would a counselor stay with a counselee who would not take advice, who would not listen, and still goes on forwardly in their own way? Not many. But you see, God comes with the prophet Isaiah and gives this message, even to this rebellious people. He said, as one whose mother is loving him, I'm going to love you as a mother loves a child.

Now, you can't understand this if you're thinking of some of these wild mothers in New York or elsewhere that abandon their children. I was in a restaurant the other day, and the owner's a Christian. He said, see that there was a young lady, probably in her late 30s, attractive young lady, and he said, you see that woman? She's got four children, and she just told us she's leaving them and her husband, because she said, I put in my time, and now it's my time to take care of myself and do my own thing.

She just goes, pack up and leave her children and her husband. Four children! How do you walk away from four children? How do you walk away from a husband? How do you walk away from anybody if you're married? I don't understand that at all. But the point is, the prophet takes the best image we have of true love on earth, and that's a mother's love for a child.

A true, godly mother for a child. You see, a mother doesn't give up. How many times I've picked up the New York newspapers, and I have seen pictures of mothers going into courtrooms with their sons indicted for murder.

And that mother sits there while all the evidence piled up, and she cries, and she weeps, and she hurts inside. She stands by faithfully as he stands before the judge, and here's the pronouncement guilty. She tears, her heart is tearing apart.

She watches him being led away, and he turns and waves one time to the mother, and she throws him a kiss. You know, that's not the end. She still doesn't give up on that boy, because we have mothers.

I know of one mother in this choir, goes to a boy in upstate New York, she gets on the bus and takes her all day. And she gets on that bus, and I know the hardship involved, the money and the time. And she goes up to that prison, or she did, I think the boy's out of prison now, but she went up there to that prison so many weeks just to visit with that boy, and look him in the eye and say, I still love you.

Even though he's indicted, even though he's a criminal, that mother held on. And this is what the Holy Spirit really wants you to know, like one whom his mother comforteth. Think of a mother's love for a child who doesn't give up.

Just that kind of love, I'm going to comfort you by saying that's the kind of love the Father has for you. And the Spirit will say, I've been sent to keep you, not to let you go. I've been sent to show you how much you're loved, and no matter what you do, no matter how low you go, no matter how hard you run, no matter how dirty or lost you feel, the Holy Spirit's going to say, you can't shake me off, because my Father has his eye on you, my Father adopted you, and I don't care what you do, I don't care where you go, I don't care how far you run, I don't know how low, I don't care how low you sink, I've been sent, I've been sent to tell you he still loves you, and I'm not going to let you go, I'm going to hound you with love, I'm going to keep after you, and folks that is what the Holy Ghost has been called, the Hound of Heaven.

Dad, Mom, that boy, if he's ever known Jesus, ever touched the Lord, when he's a boy in Sunday school or anywhere else, I want you to know the Holy Spirit is still trailing, the Holy Spirit is on his track. Others may get lost, your boy's not going to get lost, because the Holy Ghost knows right where he is. The Holy Ghost knows where your daughter is.

Backslider, if you're here, you've tried to run from the Holy Ghost, you can't run from him. He said if you tried to go to the heavens, he'd find you. You tried to make your bed in the hell, in hell, he'd find you.

Hallelujah. He couldn't tell you he still, the Father still loves you. Now, there's positively no comfort outside of the Holy Ghost, there's none.

The Bible says the world doesn't know him. I'll tell you what, I see people all over the United States running from counselor, to psychologist, to friends, to priests, to books, to tapes, to lectures, to seminars, group sessions, and you know how much comfort they get? Not enough to last them to get home. And that all comes back again.

It comes in, why? Because there's no other source of comfort outside of the Holy Ghost, that's why you need the Holy Ghost living in you. Hallelujah. He hath, who hath loved us, and given us everlasting comfort and good hope through grace.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound or overflow in love through the power of the Holy Ghost. That you may abound, that you may overflow in the love of God through the Holy Ghost who abides in you. Isn't it something to be so loved? And to be leaving? Think about it.

I'll tell you how that blesses me in prayer. I don't go to prayer condemned because I know my sins are under the blood. I know the Holy Ghost will give me strength to walk in His holiness and His righteousness.

And I walk into His presence and I say, Holy Ghost, I know you're in the whole world, but you're mine. God, you created the whole world, but you were my Father. Jesus, you died for the whole world, but you're my Savior.

Make it personal. Let the Holy Ghost be personal to you. Hallelujah.

Now, not every believer can be comforted because not every believer has yet received the Holy Ghost. Not all believers have the Holy Ghost abiding in them. Now listen closely, please.

I'm not going to preach much longer, but you must hear this. Paul goes to Ephesus and meets 12 disciples, 12 believers who'd been baptized in John's baptism in water and that's a baptism of repentance for sin. They were truly repentant.

They were preaching Christ. They were believers in Jesus. And the Scripture says, and Paul said to them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? Now, the New American Standard says, when you believed, but that makes no difference whatsoever because the fact is, it's suffice to say that they were believers.

They believed in Jesus Christ. They were preaching Christ. They had truly repented and been baptized in the baptism of repentance by John's baptism.

Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed? And they said to him, this is Acts 19, chapter 1-7, don't turn, just listen. They said to him, we've not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. A lot of people have heard the term, but I ask you, have you received the Holy Ghost since or when you believed? You see, the Holy Ghost was working in you to bring you to Christ.

That is the work of the Holy Spirit. No one can be saved without the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting and convincing of sin and drawing you. But that's another thing to have him dwelling and living in you.

It's an entirely different thing. Have you received the Holy Ghost since or when you believed? Is he abiding in you? And they said, we haven't even heard if there be any Holy Ghost. And they were baptized in water into Christ, and then when they came out of the water, Paul laid hands on them, and the Scripture said the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

Now let me tell you in closing, the Holy Ghost is given only to those who ask the Father for him. Here it is. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Ghost to them that ask him? Have you been asking for the Holy Ghost? I, oh, I tell you what, I thank God for the Holy Ghost, but I keep saying, Lord, I want more of your revelation.

Holy Spirit, I want more of the revelation. I want to know more of your work and ministry in and through me. For everyone that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and he that knocks, it shall be opened.

Now, the Holy Ghost never comes in the back door. He comes right in the front door. And I tell you, first thing he does is knock down your pride and your decorum.

Oh, we got a lot of people don't know what to wash in the Jordan. They want to go to a nice, clean river and wash. A lot of people don't like to come to Times Square Church because, you see, the Holy Ghost is doing a whole lot of work here.

And when the Holy Ghost is doing a lot of work, there's a lot of manifestation. When he's stirring and working, someone told my grandpa, he said, don't you know that when they built the temple, there wasn't a sound of a hammer? He said, yeah, you should have been there when they were blowing out the rocks. You should have been there on the mountain when they're blowing out the granite.

And you see, God's blowing out the granite. God's working on the rocks. He's chiseling.

He's working. And there are going to be some manifestations of the Holy Spirit. And every time the Holy Spirit came down in the book of Acts, something happened.

The day of Pentecost, what happened? Mighty rushing wind filled the house. I don't think anybody's hair was standing anywhere but on edge. I believe it blew every hairdo away.

All those nice primp ladies. The house shook. Just like it does here at Times Square Church when we get blessed.

You know, when the Holy Ghost came down in the house of Cornelius, the Spirit fell upon them. You know, that's not an attack, but he banged. I mean, he fell.

He came on them. That hit me today. Hit me.

Fell on me. That's not a quiet entrance. And when he fell on them, they spake with tongues and magnified God.

They were all shouting and praising the Lord. At Ephesus, the Holy Ghost came upon them. They spake with heavenly languages and they prophesied.

You can't be proud and receive the Holy Ghost. That doesn't mean any going to do anything silly to you. Holy Ghost doesn't do silly things.

I've seen people in meetings supposed to be in the Holy Ghost and falling over and some lady fell and cut her head. All they do is knock you around and cut you up. Now, a lot of manifestations are pure flesh, nothing but flesh.

And you can always tell flesh because it wants to be seen. It always takes the prominent place. That's why I think you really I'm not going to say it.

I'm going to pass on. Because I don't want to take anything away from what the Holy Spirit's trying to say here today. It's so very, very vital and important.

I do know that when the Holy Ghost came on me, when I was ten, I think ten, eight to ten years of age, I was a boy, just a child at Camp Meaton, when the Holy Ghost, now I believed in Lord, trusted Him, but I'd never been possessed by the Holy Ghost. He'd never come to live in me. Boy, He came.

He's in the sawdust and the straw at Camp Meaton. I'll tell you, when the Holy Ghost came on me, I did it all. I prophesied.

I spoke in a heavenly language. I glorified God. I was drunk for three hours.

I was literally drunk in the wine of heaven. I didn't know where I was. I didn't care where I was.

I was so wrapped up in Jesus. Folks, when the Holy Ghost comes, you get so enraptured with Jesus. You don't care if anybody sees what you're doing.

You'll shout His praises. You'll glorify His name. You won't care because you'll be drunk with the wine of Jesus.

The wine of glory. Hallelujah. Sometimes I wish I was as open to the Holy Spirit as Brother Charles is.

He gets on his Holy Ghost bicycle so many times. And I wonder if the Holy Ghost didn't say, David, if you weren't so proud now, or if you weren't so, you know, worried about what people think, you'd probably be doing the same thing. No, you don't have to manifest all the time.

But something's going to happen. People are going to know the Holy Ghost is going to come and take over you. He's not going to just slip in quietly.

He's going to let you know He's there. So don't seek His sign. We've got so many people say, well, I spoke with tongues so I've got the Holy Ghost.

I know a lot of people speak in tongues and live like devils. I pray in tongues every day of my life. When it came to me, I spoke with tongues.

But you see, there are many evidences. They glorified God. They magnified God.

If you're not praying in tongues, you can magnify God. You can praise the Lord. You can say, Jesus, come and so rapture my heart.

Holy Spirit, come and possess me. Be my comfort. Be my guide.

And when you pray that the Father send Him to you, you pray in faith. Because if you don't pray in faith, you're not going to get anything from God, the Bible says. You pray in faith.

And I know you receive the Holy Ghost because the Bible said you would. He'll send you the Holy Ghost to live in you, and when He does, He'll manifest Jesus. You'll become a Jesus fanatic, more than you are now.

If you thought you're Jesus fanatic before, wait till you get full of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah. Once more, before I close, I'm loved.

Say it. I'm loved. I'm leaving.

I'm leaving. Now stand, please. Where's the Holy Ghost? What's walking in the Spirit? Letting Him do what He's been called to do in me.

Hallelujah. He's called to manifest and reveal the love of God in your heart. I want everybody in this house to slip your pride.

Pull the plug and let it go down a drain. Just pull the plug and let it go all the way down a drain. I don't care if you go to this church or not.

I don't care if you're high church Episcopalian. And I mean this with all my heart. The Bible said I would met everywhere lift holy hands.

Your hands are made holy by Jesus' blood. I want you by faith to believe He's finished that work. Raise your hands right now, and I want you to thank God for loving you right now.

Thank God. Let the Holy Spirit, let the Holy Spirit reveal how much you're loved right now. God's not mad at you.

God loves you. God loves you, and He's going to deal with your sin tonight in love. He'll deal with your sin in love.

Hallelujah. Lord, you're loving us. I am loved.

I am Abba Father, Abba Father, my Father. My Father loves me. My Father loves me.

Glory be to God. Holy Spirit, thank you for coming. Baptize everyone who needs you.

Baptize everyone who needs the Holy Ghost tonight. Pour out your Spirit, O God, upon all who need you. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Glory be to God. We glorify your name.

We magnify Jesus. We exalt Christ, our Lord, through the Holy Spirit. The love of God shed abroad in our hearts.

Hallelujah. We glorify and magnify your name. We worship you, Holy Spirit.

We worship you, Jesus. We worship you, Father. Worship Him.

Let's praise Him. Just worship Him. Lord, we worship you.

We give you praise tonight. You are worthy of our love. You are worthy of our praise.

Worthy, worthy, worthy is our Lord. Holy Spirit, Holy, Holy Spirit, abide with us. We talk to you.

We're Holy Spirit, come. He can baptize you right where you're standing. He can baptize you right now.

Just love Him. Hallelujah. Pray, Holy Ghost, Father, send the Holy Ghost to me.

Give me the Holy Ghost. Give us the Holy Ghost. Give us the Holy Spirit.

Give us the Holy Spirit of God. This is the conclusion of the tape.