Acts 19:6 doesn't say, "And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on
them; and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied, and felt like they thought they ought to."
Acts 10:45 and 46 don't say that Cornelius and his household spoke with tongues and
magnified God, and felt like they thought they ought to.
Acts 8:15 doesn't say that Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans, and they received the
Holy Ghost, and felt like they thought they ought to.
In fact, there is nothing in any of these scriptures about how the believers felt. If it were
important how you felt, the Bible would have said so.
The important thing is not what you did or didn't feel when you received the Holy Spirit. The
important thing is what you did; you believed you received and you yielded to the Holy Spirit
and spoke in other tongues. In each of these instances I just mentioned, believers "spoke with
tongues." And if you spoke with tongues, then you received the Holy Spirit too.
It doesn't matter how good you felt, if you didn't speak with tongues, you didn't receive the Holy
Spirit because speaking in tongues is the Bible evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In
other words, when you are filled with the Spirit, you will speak in tongues.
I was preaching in Oregon once, and in the meeting a number of folks came forward to receive
the Holy Ghost, so I laid hands on them. I went down the line laying hands on folks, and every
one of them received the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues until I came to the last woman.
I laid hands on this woman and the Holy Spirit came on her, but she didn't begin speaking with
tongues. Therefore, she hadn't received the infilling of the Holy Spirit; she didn't speak with
tongues that night, but she jumped up and began to shout and dance a little jig for joy. A
woman sitting nearby said, "That's the way I like to see them get it."
I said, "But she hasn't received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. These other folks have, but she
hasn't." You see, this woman who was sitting nearby assumed that because the woman was
shouting and dancing, she had received the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
In another one of my meetings, a man in the church came forward to receive the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. I laid hands on him and he began to speak in tongues. He spoke in tongues for
fifteen minutes while I laid hands on others to receive.
Then I went back to him and said, "Brother, the Lord reveals to me that there is a thought in
your mind that is hindering you from accepting the fact that you have received the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit told me that you have always thought that when you got the Holy Spirit, you
would jump or dance or run andjust have a 'high time."'
He said, "Yes, that is exactly what I have always thought."
I said, "Well, if you want to run, go ahead. It's all right with me. Or if you want to jump, go
ahead. But whether you run or jump or not, you have received the Holy Spirit."
"But if you ever see me shout," this man said, "it will have to be God."