John R. Rice Quotes of the Week

 The Saviour did not have the Holy Spirit come upon Him just as an ecstasy, a matter of His own personal enjoyment. I am sure His heart was glad. I am sure He was pleased to hear the Father's voice from Heaven commending Him. But that voice from Heaven was chiefly for the onlookers. That visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit, like a dove lighting upon Him, was for John the Baptist and for others who saw it. Jesus surely knew, without the outward sign, that the Spirit of God came upon Him and that the Father was pleased with Him. I do not say that there is no joy in the fullness of the Holy Spirit....There is always joy in being in the center of God's will, in having God's power, in doing His Work, and in seeing the blessed fruit of His Gospel. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pgs. 71-72]

By God's grace, I will not give up a thing that is promised to New Testament Christians! If some teach baptism essential to salvation, I will not go with them but I will still teach people to be baptized as Jesus and Paul did. If some make the lord's Supper into a mass, and put forgiveness in the hands of a priest, I will not go with them, but I will still teach Christians that Jesus said, "This do in remembrance of me." I cannot throw away part of the Bible because somebody has misinterpreted it! Si I cannot, I must not, turn my back upon the marvelous teaching of Pentecost, that Christians must be filled with the Holy Spirit if they are to do the work of God acceptably, even though some have gone to fanatical extremes concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pgs. 89-90]

It is immediately clear that John the Baptist, Zacharias, Elisabeth and the Lord Jesus were filled with the Holy Ghost just as people were filled with the Holy Ghost in the book of Acts. And in every case they began to witness with power, the enduement of power from on high. They began their soul-winning efforts with supernatural help from God. That is what the fullness of the Spirit brings! To be filled with the Spirit means to be empowered for witnessing. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pgs. 132-133]

You may claim to be "sanctified," but if you do not have soul-winning power you are not filled with the Holy Spirit! Oh, be satisfied with nothing less than the power of God to help you win souls! For to be Spirit-filled means, always, empowered witnessing. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 140]

Joel had foretold, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that "in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . ." And again, "And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." Now Peter says, by divine inspiration, that Joel's prophecy is fulfilled at least in part. Here are the people filled with the Holy Spirit, as Joel said, and they prophesy!

So when people preached the gospel and witnessed for Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, they were prophesying. It is only incidental that some of them prophesied in foreign languages. But the important thing is that they did prophesy, that is, they spoke for Christ by divine revelation and by divine enabling, and this was called prophesying, and it came, we are told, as a result of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon Christian people. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 178]

Prophecy is sometimes foretelling the future and sometimes not, but it is always a supernatural message given in the power of the Holy Spirit. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 191]

Prophecy does not mean simply preaching. It means a witness, whether public or private, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the fullness of the Spirit; a message that God has particularly given for the ones who hear. It may be a foretelling of the future, or it may not foretell the future. But always it gives a message from God to those present, and gives it in the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. - John R. Rice [The Power of Pentecost, pg. 191-192]