Yield To the Holy Spirit To Know Calvary Love

Yield To the Holy Spirit To Know Calvary Love

by Tommy Tyson

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

In the first epistle of John, we’re told to try the spirits, the many spirits at work in the world. And the Spirit that attests to Jesus coming in the flesh is the Holy Spirit. Then Jesus tells us concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit, “In that day you’ll know that I am in the Father, and He is in Me, and I am in you.” For He said, the Spirit will not speak of Himself, but will take that which is Mine, He said, and reveal it to you. “For all things are Mine.”

And then on the last day of the great feast in Jerusalem, Jesus took a pitcher of water and poured the water out in the streets of Jerusalem and said to all the people gathered around, “Let him that is athirst come unto Me, and I will give him the drink, that out of his belly or innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” This He spake concerning the Holy Spirit. Then in the letter to the church at Rome, we’re told these words, that it is as many as are led by the Spirit of God that are the sons of God. Now what these and many other scriptures are teaching is the fact that there’s only one power that is great enough to make Jesus known. I cannot make Jesus known to you. You cannot make Jesus known to me within yourself or within myself. He is so wonderful and so glorious there’s only one who is great enough to make Him known. And that is the Holy Spirit. And as we learn to yield to the Spirit, Jesus Christ is made known. And He’s made known to us. And He’s made known within us. And He’s made known through us. And He’s made known after us. And as us. And that’s why the scriptures put so much emphasis on the utter necessity of being born of, filled with, led by, the Holy Spirit.

So that the resurrected Lord Jesus can share all that He is with all that we are. Now, this sharing, in terms of the life of the Spirit, is a marriage. There again is why the Bible puts so much emphasis on marriage. The Bible begins with a marriage. God performed that first marriage in the first garden. The New Testament ministry of Jesus begins with a marriage in Cana of Galilee. The last symbol of the consummation of the age is the marriage supper of the Lamb. Life in the Spirit is a marriage. By the Spirit, He weds our humanity, our natural faculties. He weds the all of us to the all of Jesus. Mind of His mind, spirit of His spirit, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. And He is not to finish with us until we have been conformed to His likeness, even our vile bodies, taking on the likeness of His own glorious body. You see, that’s the life of the Spirit. That’s the movement that we’re in now, is having the Holy Spirit wed us to the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And this takes place on a moment by moment, day by day, here a little, there a little, line upon line, precept, as we move along. And we are born of not what we claim to believe.

We are born of what we receive and give. That’s why Wayne is so much right on when he talks about good theology being released through music. There ain’t no love at all without a song. And life sings in the Spirit. See, a song is not just the word. The song is the word that the music. And the Bible says to us, you know, it’s wonderful if you take the Bible and what it says. The Bible doesn’t say worship me.

The Bible says worship God. The Bible says Jesus is Lord. And the Bible says the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive. I believe the Bible is so holy that only the Holy Spirit can make it alive. And to sit around in our natural dogmatic minds and try to figure out the Bible, there’s what it says, it says right here.

No, if you really see what it says, put it to music. Let it sing through you. Let it move through you. And let me get the living word through the rhythm of your life. Glory to God. Then we don’t have to beat people over the head trying to get them to believe what we believe. It’s wonderful when the word comes alive in our experience of the Spirit. Yielding ourselves and the Spirit flows. The Spirit makes us flexible. Any person who’s learning to move in the Spirit becomes amenable, he becomes, or she becomes, flexible, and we become fluid. You don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. Old wineskins are brittle and they will break. It takes new wineskins for new wine. Now I learned from a friend of mine who lived in Jerusalem a great deal, because when I read that scripture I thought that every time it meant that you had to go out and kill a new animal and get a new wineskin. But I discovered that often new wineskins are old wineskins that even have cracked, can become brittle, but they have been remade through soaking them in oil.

And you can just rub the oil into them over a period of time and old wineskins become new. Hallelujah. Are you soaking? If you soak you won’t have to crack. It’s wonderful indeed. Just to learn to live in the Spirit and flow with the Spirit. Now there’s some very down to earth basic things I want to say about this. And one is that the Holy Spirit has already been given. We need to have no apprehension or anxiety about God giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is already given. He is given to every human being. God has poured out of His Spirit upon all flesh. That is an accomplished fact. It’s just as much an accomplished fact as the birth of Jesus, the death of Jesus, or the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. The Holy Spirit has already been given and He’s given without respect to persons. He’s poured out upon all flesh. And that means you. The Holy Spirit is more willing to come and live within us than we are to have Him come and live. The Holy Spirit is more willing to fill us than we are to get empty.

You never have to worry about the Holy Spirit filling anyone who’s willing to be empty. Now He, I haven’t found Him wanting to compete with us. As long as we want to be filled with something else, chances are He won’t work to fill us with Himself.

But you don’t have to worry about being filled with the Holy Spirit if you’re willing to get at the feet of Jesus and empty yourself. And say, “Jesus, I want to be empty of everything unlike You so I can be filled with everything that’s like You.” Now in the church language that’s called confession and repentance.

It’s just emptying yourself of everything unlike Jesus. Every kind of attitude that you think isn’t good enough to be of the Lord, be willing to give it up. Every thought process that somehow doesn’t lend itself to kingdom thinking, be willing to give it up. Those acts and deeds in your life that somehow don’t make you think of Jesus, be willing to give it up. And as you just empty yourself there at the feet of Jesus, it’s like emptying your lungs of air. Could you imagine having to fight with the atmosphere to fill your lungs? If you learned anybody teaches breathing, teaches us that the real key is not to breathe so deeply as it is to empty your lungs. And if you exhale deeply enough, you don’t have to worry about inhaling.

Boy, you just empty yourself good, and the atmospheric pressure around you will just rush in on you. And it’s that wonderful with the Holy Spirit. And so as we empty ourselves in any area of our life, release our plans, give up our way of thinking, and you know, this is wonderful. And we’re discovering this about prayer, aren’t we? For such a long time, I thought prayer was informing God what I thought.

You know, and really trying to get Him to do the work that I thought ought to be done. I’d bring this person before the Lord and I’d lay it all out and tell Him, you know, right down the line, every quirk she had.

All her failures, all her faults, and His sometimes. You know? And boy, I’d get the Lord informed. And then when I got through, I want God to really work for me. So when I got through telling Him everything, I’d say, “This I ask for Jesus’ sake.”

Oh boy, isn’t that trying to con heaven? That’s not praying in the name of Jesus. You don’t pray in Jesus’ name apart from His nature. Name and nature are same in scriptures. And to pray in the name of Jesus is to pray in the nature of Jesus. So if I’m to pray for you in the name of Jesus, it’s not just to come and, you know, just inflict God with my fragmented thoughts. But it’s to come before the Lord and say, “Lord, I have some thoughts about John.

“Rather than trying to tell You what they are though, Lord, I’m willing to give them up to get Your thoughts. How do You see my husband this morning, Jesus? I’m willing to forget everything I want to tell You about him.”

Now, that’s quite a confession, isn’t it? Now, if you aren’t willing to do that, let me tell you how wonderful he is. If you aren’t willing to do that, just say, “Lord Jesus, I’ve got some thoughts that I really love. They’re pet thoughts. I beat him over the head with them all the time.

“Something within me wants to hang on to them, but I believe they’ll hurt me too. In spite of me, would You get rid of them?” And it’s wonderful. And just say to Him, “Lord, if You can give me a thought concerning my husband better than the one I have, I’ll take it.”

And it’s wonderful. I’m serious about that. It’s that simple. It is that down to earth. And if you’ll be willing to start identifying with the mind of Jesus, willing to see people the way Jesus Christ sees them. Now, chances are His mind is so much bigger than our mind that He can’t give us the whole thing at one shot. But we can start and begin to grow, can’t we? And we can start seeing one another in the light of Jesus more and more and more. And so that my real prayer in the name of Jesus is as I identify with His thought and His will concerning you and transmit that thought. Transmit that word. Transmit that will to you. Prayer is not changing God’s will or changing God’s mind. Prayer is discovering God’s mind and will and transmitting that God praying. It is just great when we begin to see that. And we become co-laborers with God moving in the Spirit. And this dawns on me more and more as I move along in the Spirit. And every once in a while I have to chuckle. Because I don’t know when I stop trying to change people in my prayer life, but I seldom ask the Lord to change anybody anymore unless they ask me to pray that way.

A lot of times people tell me, “Pray for so-and-so, that he’ll straighten out.” Well, I’ll look at you and love you, but I won’t pray that prayer. I mean, what right do you have to ask me to straighten out your husband?

If you get straightened out, he’ll be alright in your eyes. It’s wonderful. But if we’ll stop really fighting God about changing people, and as we get identified with Him and start thinking His thoughts, the miracle happens. We’re changed. Because you become born to that which you receive and give. Now I’ve discovered that there is life, there’s power, and yet there is real concretion, holy objectivity, in the love of God. Moving in love, I’ve discovered, brings us to the place where we must know the difference between love and sentimentality.

Love, I have been so identified with human emotion in my understanding of love that it’s been very difficult for me to move out of sentimentality into an objectivity concerning the love of God. But the more you move in the power of the Spirit, the more the Holy Spirit will root and ground you in love. Now let me show you just a few differences.

Sentimentality just cannot bear for a person to make the mistakes that it made. Any of you have children that are about to make the same mistakes you made? Now if this really tears you up and you are so afraid they’re going to do some of the things you did and get by with them.

Chances are you’re praying in sentimentality. But if you love the love of God enough to be like the father of the prodigal, now that’s real love, where the father allows the boy to take his blessings, to take his inheritance and go to the pig country with him, and never follow him there begging and pleading, never sent anybody after him begging and pleading, but really trusting the boy to have enough sense that when he hit the bottom of the bucket he’d see his father’s face and come home. Now that to me is a great act of love. I first began to learn this with Harold Hill. How were you doing this morning? There you are. I first learned this with Harold Hill. We were praying for an old boy that had a drinking problem, and Harold laid hands on him at his request, and I heard Harold say, “Lord, I pray that he’ll get the drunkest he’s ever gotten and the sickest he’s ever gotten as quick as possible. Amen.”

And I thought, how hard hearted can you get? And you know, I questioned Hal about that. And Hal said, “Tommy, when this boy hits the bottom, he’s going to know it’s not for him.” And of course any of us who attended AA, we know that’s sort of the first step, isn’t it? I came to the place where I had to admit I had a problem I couldn’t handle. Boy, that makes you a first class candidate. But that’s not just in the alcoholic department. That’s in any department of life. As long as your son or daughter feel like they’re the cock of the roost and they can get you out of the way so they can run the universe, I have enough holy love to let them learn and somehow just keep loving enough that they’ll learn as quickly as possible. But this calls for the work of the Holy Spirit, especially if it keeps you from self pity. Isn’t it amazing how we get bogged down with our own family filled with pity? I knew at least, I’m just having to confess this morning, the children, when they really act like me and respond to Jesus, I just am so proud of them. But when they start act like their mother, everything within me emotionally begins to get down within and gnaw at me. I’m apologetic concerning them. I sort of want people to think that Saint Tommy. And look at him, keep on loving Jesus in spite of his children.

Isn’t that a mess? Just a tragic mess. Until we break through that time of sentimentality and realize that we’re having to do with the Holy Spirit who’s everywhere present. And wherever your child is, the Lord is there. You know, I hear people talk about running from God. But where are you going?

If I make my bed at the bottom of the sea, is there any? Where are you going to run from God? Have you learned, Lord Jesus, he may be in the pig pen, but You’re there. I don’t have to run. You’re there. And I can just trust You. And let Jesus Christ work through the laws of good and bad to show that person that good is better than bad. Now, love has that kind of objectivity to it. Love is not uptight in the face of a human need. Love gives a person enough room to learn. Now, let me put this in another way. I am concerned about our educational system. I really am. I think our educational system is in need of a lot that it doesn’t have. But I have a lot of Christian friends who want to build an educational system where they feed the child every answer that he needs, spoon-fed, and especially the scriptural answer. Open your mouth. John 3:16.

And somehow, we want to make sure that child has that scriptural pablum forced right down him. And I want to tell you, I doubt that any person is really moving in an educational way until they learn to question and even question the truth. And I think the Lord of the universe has enough love for us to let us ask questions.

And I thank God that love is not threatened in the face of a question. And though I… Understand me. I’m not pushing for pagan philosophy. I’m pushing for Christian education. But Christian education, to me, gives a person some liberties to examine his own thought life that he might come to some understanding for himself rather than just accepting second-handed truth.

See, and that’s why I think in Christian community, there must be freedom for difference of thought. There must be difference for… freedom for difference of thought in Christian community. It doesn’t mean that you’re less than me as a Christian because your politics might be a little different from mine. There just may be room in the kingdom for a Republican.

There may be room in the kingdom for a liberal Democrat. There may be a room in the kingdom for someone who is really geared to social justice. And there may be room in the kingdom for those who are geared to tightening the reins. And I even have to say there’s room in the kingdom for those who think we ought to increase the military budget. That’s about the height to my imagination this morning.

I can’t see that. But I have to say even those who want to increase military budget, I can’t say there’s not room in the kingdom for you. But I think there’s room in the kingdom for those of us who are praying that those who make the budget of our land will somehow be more concerned about human need in terms of service than we are bullets.

But you see, there again, I keep reading, and yet I find those of us who are Christian wanting to write one another off. Because we don’t give each other that freedom to think through, to learn. This is a price God is paying. And let me show you one of the weapons of the enemy. It is dealing with time. The enemy will sell you, if you’re conscientious enough, consecrated enough, the enemy will sell you that you’re about to run out of time. And when you do, it’ll be the worst thing that’s ever happened. Well, I want to tell you, we’re dealing with the God of the universe who makes time. And if He runs out of it, He’ll make Him some more.

And you don’t ever have to worry about God’s timetable. God can do more in the twinkling of an eye than we can do in a million years. And whenever you get that deep down within you, God, a good rule of thumb is, don’t.

Wait. Wait, I say, on the Lord, and He will strengthen thine heart. For they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They’ll mount up as on wings of eagles. They’ll run and not be weary. They’ll walk and not faint. Wait, I say, on the Lord. And I’m saying living in the Spirit and learning to move in the Spirit of holy love has a waiting to it where we give each other time to learn. Not time to reject God. I’m not talking about rejection of the Lord, but I’m talking about time to learn in the family of God, as children and the Spirit of God. Realizing that we learn through these experiences how to come to a place that is before God making the contribution that we can make according to our own individuality and peculiarity. Another thing about love is that it has this objectivity that releases each other into the arms of God and keeps us released. Yes, keeps us released. But another thing about this holy love is that it’s more willing to suffer than it is to inflict suffering.

Holy love is more willing to suffer than it is to inflict suffering. I know that I really love you when I think of you with your needs regardless of what they might be, and instead of whipping you, I feel the pains of your infirmities in my own soul. When I can really begin to feel, and isn’t that what we have in Jesus? We have a great high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And God reveals this in Calvary, that He’d rather suffer for us than to let us suffer. And Jesus prays, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” And He saved us who could not save Himself, because surely He bore our sickness and He bore our sins on the tree, and by His stripes we’re healed. Now that’s the kind of person we represent. Moving in the Holy Spirit is not a spirit of condemnation and neither is it a spirit of sentimentality. It’s a spirit of release, but also He is a spirit of compassionate concern where we had rather hurt than to inflict injury. And I thank God for letting us all get to that place, especially concerning the body of Christ. I’m concerned there’s a great movement of the Holy Spirit at work in the world today.

There’s a great renewal in the church of Jesus Christ today. But in the midst of this, these little things that divide us, not because they’re insignificant, they’re not insignificant, please don’t misunderstand me. All I’m saying is a person may not have been given enough of the grace of God to have the wisdom that I have.

I’d wait on the Lord. I’d wait on the Lord. And so learning to realize that that person is more important than anything else before Jesus. And so that I have that kind of compassionate concern that would not reject in terms of learning to live in the Spirit. And another thing that I’m learning about this is that in the Holy Spirit He is willing, quite willing, for us to accept the fruit of His labor. And He is not at all uptight or fearful about who gets the credit. Isn’t it amazing? Have you ever noticed how the Lord answers prayer and so often answered it in such a way that nobody really knew it was God for sure? I’ve said to the Lord so many times, “Lord, if I were You, Lord, if I were You, I’d answer prayer in such a way that people have to give me the credit. I mean, after all, You’ve done the work, it’s Your glory, it’s Your power, it’s Your wonder, it’s Your love.” And Lord, I know it just like yesterday. Look, we got the, I just didn’t have the best time yesterday. Got to Montgomery, Alabama, late Sunday afternoon and it was cold, it was freezing. Sunday night got down to 17 right there in Montgomery, and the weather forecast was that it would not get up to freezing yesterday, and the winds were whipping around the place. Well, a group of us CFOers got together Sunday night. One of them said, “Well, the temperature has dropped about 37 degrees in just a few hours. And if it can drop that much in a few hours, it can go up that much in a few hours.”

We just sort of released it to the Lord and thanked Him for it. But, you know, you can’t prove these things, can you? But yesterday morning, there that sun was shining so beautifully and bright. The wind had subsided completely. There wasn’t a ripple. And by noontime, it must have been in the 60s. There I sat basking in front of the Capitol. Out on that platform. Just as comfortable as could be. Just beautiful. And I sat there praising the Lord. And I wanted to get that mic and say, “Hey, look what God has done.” But the governor beat me to it.

He thanked the Lord for the weather. But you can’t prove that. It’s just wonderful how God works. And we think, well, I’ll have to see it before I read it. Well, look, you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it. You’re looking right at it. You know? And I say, “Lord, why do You do it that way?” And the thought just comes back within me: “Son, I’m not uptight about who gets credit. I’d rather see the fruit of My labors. That’s what I’m concerned about. Is seeing the fruit of My labors. Rather than running around trying to protect My credit. If you own everything in the universe, why do you have to be uptight about your credit?”

You know? You know? It’s just wonderful. And so God has ordained us that we should go and bring forth fruit. And that our fruit should remain. And it’s that kind of love about us. You know, sure. With Wayne, they’re like our children. Wayne and Ruth Cotton. I mean, I may not look that old. I’ll grant you. But… Francis and I are just about old enough to be Ruth Cotton and Wayne’s parents. And I feel like I feel by my son. In a lot of ways. And yet, don’t brag on his sermon too much to me.

I know that that’s the natural side of me. That’s not the Lord. The Lord and the new man in me rejoices. I hope… And seriously, I hope he preached the best sermon you ever heard last night. See? That doesn’t take a thing away from me. Because the better he preaches, and the more you believe what he preached, if he preached the gospel, the more you’re going to love me.

See? It’s wonderful. In that wonderful fruit bearing, we don’t have to be uptight about who gets the credit. It’s that one… And look, when I began to see this about the gifts of the Spirit, you know how it was when we began to break in, don’t you? Some person had a gift of healing. “How do you know?” “Well, my hand got real hard.”

Well, that may be a circulation problem. You know? Anyway, this person had the gift of healing. This person had the gift of prophecy. This person had the gift of tongues. This person had the gift of interpretation. And boy, there we were displaying our gifts. But haven’t we heard? We’re baptized by one Spirit into one body. And like members of the body, all of us belong. And what belongs to one member belongs to all. And so if a Grace Munsey stands up here and teaches with great words of wisdom, why should I do anything but thank God? Because that’s my ministry too. I’m one with her. And so it’s just, you know, the Lord blessing me and ministering through Grace by me. And I can sit right there and just lend my life to the Lord. “Lord, use me this morning to make Grace the best teacher she’s ever been.” Glory to God. And you sit out there and you think, oh, that Grace really teaches. Well, you don’t know it’s me teaching too, do you?

It’s that way about me. You know, yeah. My goodness, you can’t preach without folks giving themselves to you in the Lord. You can’t… It’s all these gifts that come. It’s not because my brother Oral Roberts has a gift of supernatural faith working through him so much. That’s my ministry too. My goodness. And what’s here is his mind. And he knows it. And he’d give it all to me if I wouldn’t ask him. He’s already tried to do it without me asking him. I’m serious. He tried to give me a house right there on the campus. Let me live there. And he said, “I’ll even keep you on salary if you’ll stay.” Just amazing, that precious man. But people who move in the Spirit, you’ll discover… Look at Glenn Clark. The camps were birthed through Glenn. I don’t know any other human being that’s ever tried to take credit for a CFO. Glenn Clark, though there were many others involved, Glenn was the old boy God used to birth Camps Farthest Out. But when they began to get to the place where they were getting so many camps that Glenn couldn’t go to them all, and it began to circle not only states but other countries as well, Glenn realized that the camps had been blessed of God so much that administratively something had to be done.

And I was in the council ring when Glenn prayed through on this and announced it. That the Lord had let him know that he was to give the camps to the campers. And that every camp was to be autonomous through its own council ring. And Glenn Clark just gave the camps right back to the campers. And began to let all kinds of things get in.

Look, I mean, the metaphysical world just in flooding. Some of us on the other side, boy, did we get uptight. Some of them went to Brother Rufus once. Said, “Brother Rufus, what are we going to do about Glenn? He’s letting metaphysical people get old accounting.” Brother Rufus, you know, I don’t know of anybody more Jesus-centered than Rufus Moseley. Brother Rufus, hallelujah, and praise the Lord and went to Jesus about it. Well, he said, “Glenn is wonderfully open. In fact, he’s opened up the camp so much that he’s even let Jesus in.”

Don’t you see, if I’m in the truth, there is nothing that will show up error more than to be exposed in the light of truth. There’s nothing that will show up the spirit of the devil more than being contrasted to the Holy Spirit. There’s nothing that will show up selfishness and greed more than to get into the presence of generosity.

I know this is the thing that really began to break me through. I was deeply prejudiced. One time, I thought I was an egghead. Can you imagine? I just have to admit my own limitations at times. But I’m still impressed with genius. I love people with good minds. Well, Rufus Moseley had a good mind. He was, you know, two PhDs, Harvard and Heidelberg. Peabody, the president Peabody told me that he was considered one of the brightest stars that ever came through Peabody. A political science professor and all, just a genius. He had the pedigree. I was majoring in philosophy when I first met Brother Rufus. Well, I couldn’t mention anything philosophy that he didn’t already know. Just and would rejoice with me in it, every little philosophical insight. All these German philosophers, Rufus would just grab the string, unrolled, unlined, the whole ball of wax philosophically, just beautifully. And yet, you get him in a church and all he talked about, you know, was Jesus and Holy Ghost, and shouted and danced and, you know, flipped his arms and just turned you off.

I mean, I was Methodist. It wasn’t even United Methodist then. And I, you know, young seminarian that wanted to be respectable. And here was an educated man acting like a fool. I wanted what he wanted but I didn’t want the way he got it. And I didn’t want to act the way he acted. And so I was in great conflict. But one Sunday afternoon I was visiting in a parsonage where Rufus was staying, and we were sitting there in the living room talking, and the knock came on the door. And I answered the door and it was some scout workers coming around for old clothes. And when they told me what they were, I laughed at them. I said, “Scouts, you don’t know parsonage very well. You don’t get old clothes and parsonage, you bring them. Scouts.”

See, I grew up in a preacher’s home. And so I laughed and they started leaving. Brother Rufus said and heard me, he said, “Tommy, tell them, wait just a minute.” Now he was wearing a suit. Only suit he had. He went upstairs to his room and came down wearing a sweater and shirt and a pair of slacks and gave his suit to the Boy Scouts, including the vest.

The Lord said, man, ask him for a coat, give him his vest also. And thank them for taking it. Now I want to tell you, in the light of that kind of expression, my reserve was broken. I was deeply convicted and I knew I had seen a demonstration of the Holy Spirit. And though I still had a few intellectual questions, my heart was open, and Rufus from that moment became my minister, and I’ve never, never been able to thank the Lord Jesus enough. Now, in the light of a gracious expression of love, you see, this is the genius behind St. Paul. St. Paul, I think, is one of the sharpest minds that the human language has ever written about. I think he has to go down in any man’s book as intellectually superior.

Though I know a lot of my friends who have questions about some of his points of view. But, nonetheless, I think he was an outstanding intellectual giant. But have you heard him? He said to this pagan culture, “I come not to you with the enticing words of man’s wisdom.”

I mean, it’s alright for me to say that. I couldn’t if I wanted too much. But for an intellectual giant not to depend on his knowledge and his great logic, well, what did he say he did? “I came to you, I came to you,” he said, “in the demonstration of the power of Jesus Christ.”

Didn’t Jesus come that way? Have you noticed most New Testament preaching? Most New Testament preaching takes place after the fact. I try to preach in order to get things to happen. Most New Testament preaching is explaining what happened because somebody acted like a Christian.

The act, the demonstration of Calvary love is expressed maybe in healing someone, maybe in casting out a devil, maybe in raising someone from the dead, or maybe in having visions, or being transported by the Spirit, or some other great act of power. And as a result, you know, what about these things? Like on the day of Pentecost, they didn’t run out and say, “Hey, we speak in tongues, why don’t you?”

Now, they came out of that upper room into the streets, and they were praising God and magnifying the Lord, and the miracle was that people were gathered there from all parts of the world. And they marveled and said, “Are not these ignorant fishermen? How is it then that we each hear them in our own language?”

That God had demonstrated His ability to speak the language of the people. And do you know, that sometimes is an act of Calvary love, is to learn to speak the language of the people. Wasn’t that what Frank Laubach’s ministry was all about? That giant intellect, going as a missionary, felt so proud. You see, he’d been offered a professorship, and he turned that down. And he said, “God, I want to go where I need it most.” And just on the basis of dedication, ended up with the knowledge. How says, you know, if you don’t have direct guidance, just pry the pup. Isn’t that what you said? I act like it. So Frank, you know, he acted like it. Jesus, you meet needs. I want to go to where I need it most. Ended up with the Maui. I mean, the Maui’s. And there, you know, a whole year, nothing had happened. Nobody even listened to him much. Then he went up on Signal Mountain to have it out with the Lord. Lord. I tell you, you won’t take things out. The Lord’s the one to take them out with.

If you learn to be honest with God, you won’t have to tell the truth so much to everybody else. Boy, what do you say to people that say, “Let me tell you the truth”? I invariably say, as long as you’re in that spirit, don’t.

Most people can stand a lot more love than they can truth. Don’t dare tell the truth until you’ve got enough Spirit. But anyway, Frank went up on the mountain to have it out with the Lord. And he let the Lord know. “Now, I gave up everything to come out here.” And the Lord came back to Frank and said, “Frank, you don’t love these people.” “What do You mean, don’t love them? I’m giving up every privilege I’ve had to serve them.” “Frank, you don’t love them. You haven’t listened to one of them.”

And for the next several months, including going back home from that mountaintop, Frank Laubach saw some of their native priests and said, “Will you teach me what you know?” They thought they had a convert. But in teaching, being taught, he learned their language and learned it in such a way that he could write it for them and taught them. And I want to tell you that not only literally is the literacy program of God and it’s an act of Calvary love to learn another person’s language, but that’s true spiritually. And we are living in an age where we need to learn to know what each other is saying.

A few months ago, a beautiful young bride came to me crying. She was upset and she said, “My husband told me that I wasn’t attractive and that I was repulsive in his eyes.” I mean, you know, how does a young bride take a message like that? And if you took that for what it said, you might as well go home and pack your bag and go back to mama.

But the Lord gave me presence of mind. And I said, “Let’s really interpret and see if we can figure out what he was saying. Has he been working hard lately?” “Yes. Night and day, he’s burning oil over taxes.”

“And he comes home depleted?” “Yes. He sure does. How did you know?” “Well,” I said, “I believe the Lord is wanting to teach you something. Here’s your husband with a new bride. And he knows you’re gung-ho and ready for love. And he’s tired and worn out. And that would kill his pride to say, ‘I’m not the man of the hour.’

“I mean, boy, what that does to your ego. So he has to let you know you’re not the one he desires to cover his fear of being inadequate because he’s tired.” I said, “I haven’t got a thing to do with you. It’s his own tiredness.” Just like when your wife sometimes will get a headache. I haven’t got a thing to do with you.

You know, it’s amazing. I mean, this is right in the home where there are fights, you know, all the time. Every time, she’s got a headache. Well, maybe she’s got a headache, but it doesn’t mean that you’re the headache. So don’t act like you are. You know, so we need interpretation. We need to learn to speak each other’s language. And that’s the kind of Calvary love I see in Jesus. That’s what God has done for us. That’s what God has done for us. God is, I mean, Jesus is God spelling Himself out in our language.

Now, this story you remember. I was in Australia two years ago this time of year. And we had a great time. In fact, some of my friends are back over there right now, including Francis MacNutt. But we had the best time. It was wonderful. But we had several meetings, but one was a big crusade conference out in the fairground. And on a Thursday night, Francis MacNutt and I shared the program together. Well, Francis spoke. And after he spoke, there was really not much to do except act like an evangelist and have an altar call.

So I just gave the altar call. And we had a wonderful prayer time. But we were still praying for people and all of that. And there was great reconciliation going on. And there were three young teenage boys standing out in front of the platform. And they, when a motion, I came over and he said, “Mr. Tyson, would you pray for our friend here?” So I jumped down off the platform, came around, and I said, “What’s wrong with your friend?” And one of them said, “He’s deaf.”

And I said, “How long has he been deaf?” “Well, since he’s about nine years old.” And then the other one spoke up and said, “But he knows Jesus.” I said, he loves Jesus. “So will you pray for him to be healed?” And I said, “If he’s deaf, how do you know he knows Jesus?” I said, he loves Jesus. And one of them said, “Because, Mr. Tyson, when we met Jesus, we learned sign language so we could witness to him.”

When I met Jesus, I learned sign language. I hope you get that message. Glory to God. I learned sign language so I could witness to him. Well, I knew the miracle had happened. And so I reached out and just, Oral Roberts style, I clapped my hands on him. And you know, sometimes Oral said, “Oh.”

But I didn’t do that. I just put hands on him and prayed. But I knew the miracle had happened. And I finished praying. And I said to him, “Which ear is it you can’t hear?” He said, “I can’t hear in either ear.”

And I said, “And how long has it been this way?” He said, “Since I was nine.” And this is a memory you don’t get away from. Is that boy’s face when it dawned on him the miracle had happened? Oh, look. He hugged one boy and he hugged the other boy and he tried to hug all three of us.

I mean, he was just jumping all over the place. And then he said, “Let’s go tell my folks.” Well, all the aisles were filled with people who prayed with one another. And those old boys ran across those pews. Right on across, out of that conference hall. And they got to the other side, and this is the last time I saw them. As they started out, they turned around and waved at me as they took off. But that boy’s face shining in my heart with the words, “When I met Jesus, I learned sign language so I could tell him.” Becomes a real symbol of living in the Spirit. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.