Receiving God's Spirit and Victory — Charles Simpson

My background is a Baptist background. Now that doesn't mean as much up here. You have Baptists up here. I saw some raise their hands and. But you have a lot of Methodists and a lot of Catholics a lot of different things.

But where I was raised The only church in town was a Baptist Church. I Knew there were other folks in the world, but I didn't think there were so many of them. The same group taught school taught Sunday school.

We just moved it from one building to another. You almost had to be a Baptist to vote. That's the way I always thought about it. Now you just have to you just have to try to understand this Willie knows He's from down.

There's a lot of Baptists. There's a saying down there if you're not a Baptist somebody's been fooling with you. Well My background goes way back Baptist great-grandfather. Grandfather was a Baptist deacon for 40 years in Chambers County up near Lafayette, Alabama and He was sheriff up there for a number of years ran a mercantile store and my father is a Baptist preacher for well, I suppose 40 years and I was born in a Baptist hospital.

Went to a Baptist seminary two Baptist colleges. Married a Baptist girl, of course and so forth. So my understanding was pretty Baptist. I wouldn't say I was prejudiced, but I did see things kind of one-sided now to me.

That was that was as much much a part of my culture. As farming is in an agrarian society as industry is an industrial section. That was just part of it. I grew up going to church my father began a pastorate in a suburban area of Mobile, Alabama 30 years ago this year and he's still there by the grace of God and I was raised in a this little town.

I joined the church when I was 12 years old and Got involved in religion like many of you did because it's the cultural thing to do. It's what we do. I Remember I had memorized in our vacation Bible school a number of scriptures I'd learned John 3 16 Acts 16 31 Romans 3 23 Romans 6 23 and all those verses about salvation faith 10th chapter of Romans and I could give them back and an invitation was given and Some of my friends stepped out and I just impulsively went with them and after the service was over my father questioned all the inquirers and I was able to give all the right answers.

Because I had it in my heart. I learned the scripture. But nothing had really happened to my life. It took me a few months to find that out. But I began to realize as I heard more preaching the Bible says if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.

Old things pass away and all things become new. Well, I wasn't a new creature. I had not been as I heard my Episcopalian brother share and others here. I had not been born again, you know, and we preach being born again.

From Religious Knowledge to Spiritual Regeneration

You can preach being born again and not be born again. See you can have the doctrine of the new birth and not have a new birth and I could explain the doctrine of the new Birth, but I've not been changed.

That's something that happens by faith by trust in the Lord Jesus and I had academically said yes to everything my father believed and Preached but I had not given my life over to it. There's a lot of difference between religion and reality and the crux of the matter is is when you begin to act on what you Say you believe then you've ceased from merely being religious and you've entered into faith.

I wasn't risking anything to join that church. It didn't take any faith. In fact, it would have taken faith for me in that community not to join it. I was simply going along with what everybody did. But I began to discover that that nothing to really happen and down south.

We have what you might call hellfire preachers. We don't have as many as we used to. But we used to have a lot of hellfire preaching. My father called for an evangelist and if a man can't really turn loose don't get started in a fundamentalist Baptist Church.

They'll sleep on you. You've got to be able to really Abraham Lincoln said he liked to hear a man preach like he's fighting a hive of bees and that's the way this man preached. He preached about hell like he had just gotten back then.

He came from Texas. My dad sent over there and he was a friend and he was a long tall raring preacher and my father's short in the pulpit short and this man would lean way over the pulpit like he couldn't get close enough to you and By the time he dropped his long arm over that short pulpit and his finger looked about 18 to 3 feet long.

And dropped that right down on your nose. You knew he was talking about you. He did everything but call my address and his favorite message was on church members that don't know Jesus and Brother, I couldn't miss it.

I mean, I'd Shift places in the building, but it still landed right the same place. So one night after the meeting He asked for everybody that was concerned about the soul to raise their hand and I did.

I didn't mean to I just he said Lord bless you and I really wondered who the Lord was going to bless and I realized it was me. That I had raised my hand. I had no premeditation of doing it. And so after the service I went up to him.

I said, well, I guess you saw me raise my hand. He said I did that. What are you going to do about it? I said well, I want to be saved. You know, there's nothing more miserable in the world than living a lie and the more The more fundamental that lie is the more miserable you are.

The more pharisaical you the more dogmatic you are if you're not true to your dogma the greater your guilt. And he I thank God all the condemnation that probably he did leave in the hearts of many people he did it sincerely and he preached the gospel as he knew it and He did know how to tell a man to find Jesus.

We went in the office. He repeated those verses I'd learned but Something had happened in my heart. I was ready. You won't get more from God than you're ready for. Jesus is a gentleman and He waits till you see your need before he gives you the answer.

But I was ready and I knelt down by that little straw bottom chair and Asked the Lord to come into my heart and he did. I Wish I had time tonight or perhaps if it were relevant I would Share what happened, but I really got on fire for the Lord.

The Holy Spirit was there. 30 people were converted in that meeting in that small rural church. I Told all my friends on the ball team about Jesus many of them maybe most of them Accepted the Lord as their Savior.

I Thought this is the greatest thing that ever happened and it was. And I thought I surely will never let my flame burn low. Read my Bible religiously with devotion prayed regularly. But you know the pressures of youth even then were fantastic now.

I Really have a burden for young people. We really ought to pray for them every day. There are two people I think two groups we ought to pray for more than anybody else. We ought to pray for our youth and we ought to pray for our government every day.

It's a great need in both areas because they're under tremendous pressure and there are many sincere people in both areas that are seeking the will of God. Well, the pressure got to me the pressure of popularity and so forth sports whatnot.

The Pressure of Youth and the Need for the Holy Spirit

And God began to deal with me now. You see if you're not taught about the reality the power of the Holy Spirit and you need it. You're in a miserable state of existence. I knew about the Holy Spirit from my conversion experience.

I knew what ought to be living because of the preaching that was going on but I wasn't able to measure up and I was getting colder and colder and colder all the time and I was getting afraid and we badgers don't believe in backsliding, but we practice a lot of it and I was Practicing some of it.

I began to pick up the habits of the world now nowadays. It's the hip look. Street people look in those days of the hood. Look some of you might remember the ducktails and you know the the peg pants and you know the gangster type and Pink shirts and of course pink shirts don't mean that now, but then they did we had to strike down Willie doesn't have his own tonight and Starts a white box, but I won't get into that anyway, but that was the thing see and And Well, I'm glad hallelujah that you can look good and still be a believer and be bright.

But I didn't know that then and I thought the no chrome look was it that's what a Christian ought to look like. But I couldn't stand that so I blossomed out and then picked up king-sized to go with it.

And and you never thought I'd had an experience with the Lord. And God began to deal with me now if you know Jesus and you're a Baptist and this is true of some other groups. And you know, you're not living what you ought to live and there's a revival meeting going on.

What you're probably gonna do is rededicate your life. Now if you're like me you're going to. I hated to see another service come because I was always under such guilt and under such Condemnation that if anybody could bring a little devotional I'd have to rededicate my life.

I mean I was just ready. I was a candidate if the decisions what they look for. I was a candidate. You could have service anytime. I was ready. I needed it. I'd need it before the next one, too. I was like one fellow said he wore his rededicator out before he could get the Holy Spirit.

Well. And I went through this. And I knew I was living wrong and my father didn't have to be a prophet to know it. He lived with me you see and when he'd preach there I was. I mean if nobody else got it, I got it.

So I Said Lord, you know, you must be dealing with me. I've rededicated and that lasts all Tuesday and The only thing I knew if you were saved he had it all. So you had to either God was dealing with you to be a preacher or foreign missionary.

I said that foreign missionary business is out. I'm gonna try being a preacher if that doesn't work. I'll backslide. I just can't be a foreign missionary. Well, it was hard for me to say yes to God for that because I'd always said last thing I'd be as a preacher and Some folks think that that came to pass anyway.

But I just I can't be there. I Revered my father, but he looked like he was made out of different kind of stuff and it was pretty obvious. You know people tell preachers kids from their earliest years and you should never do this, but everybody does it.

I have to and they do it. I try to shield him from it. But they say oh, you're gonna be like your daddy when you get big see well by the time I was 12 I pretty well convinced them. I wasn't gonna ever be like my daddy.

I made it a point and so I had a lot to get over when God began to deal with me. And so I said, all right, I'll be a preacher. But you know that isn't really what God had in mind at that time. God wanted to introduce me to the Holy Spirit and A a personal life with the Lord and a deeper relationship.

But I struggled and God accepted that struggle and since I dedicated my life to be a preacher I figured the thing I've got to do is get educated. I was taught to worship at the idol of intellect like many people have been taught in our generation wonderful as education is.

It will not substitute for spiritual regeneration and spiritual power. And education is only as good as the fact that's lodged in your mind. And so I went off to the school. I went to a university in a neighboring state enrolled in the School of Philosophy and Theology and our Professor was a member of the American Academy of Philosophers and Theologians.

My Sunday school theology wasn't ready for the barrage that I got. He was fluent in five languages born in another country a Master of modern and ancient philosophy and he could speak more doubt in one language Than most folks couldn't five and he was proficient in five.

When he got through with me, the only thing I knew to do is take up boxing. I just couldn't and I thought of his picture every time I hit that bag. I couldn't. I'd go home and throw my book up against the wall.

He denied everything my father believed somehow I knew my father was right, but that guy had all the answers. Besides that he had a drinking problem. I won't go into that. He was also a minister. He ran into a cow.

Under the influence. We had a little joke about whether the cow was in the road or he was in the pasture anyway. It's no wonder to me a lot of our kids drop out brother. It's amazing to me some of them hang on that's amazing.

Well, I changed schools this time. I went to a Baptist school. And I thought well, this will be better. Now. My father was a spiritual preacher more spiritual than the average preacher I believe and this is one of the reasons I had problem because I had heard a level of Spirituality that was above what I was experiencing in my own life and this left me in a contradiction.

I went to this Baptist school and they did better. I think they taught the word more but I worked and so I didn't have any time for fellowship. And I wasn't. I just wasn't a happy young man. I think the best piece of advice I got in a meat market.

I was a butcher part-time and Worked in that trade for a number of years while I was studying and it was a Friday night in Birmingham in a section. That's oh, I suppose 100 Negro and I was raised in a section not quite that high.

But I suppose 50 60 percent and I had worked among black people all my life. And so I was quite secure there. They asked me to take this job. I did and it was a busy Friday night and It was busy. We had meat cases lined up longer than the width of this room.

And there were about four or five butchers and we were staying so busy. We didn't want to do is about eight or nine o 'clock we were trying to get out, but the store was just packed and I was working hand over fist and there was a real heavyset lady came in the front and she was very happy.

I knew the minute she walked in the door. That's gonna have trouble with her because she wanted to talk and fellowship and I wanted to get out and I knew I had that Innate feeling she was gonna make it to me before she got out of that store.

Well, she laughed at the cashier. She's the kind of person that that when they're happy like they're happy. You're miserable if you're not happy like they're happy and the happier she got the more miserable I got.

I was miserable. Anyway, I was just looking for an excuse to get more miserable. Well, she came around, you know. And she got to my place at the counter and she was laughing wanting to talk and I didn't want to be ugly to her.

But I wanted to hurry and she said you knew around here, aren't you? I said, yes, I'm new and I kept moving the meat out, you know, and she said you go to school. I said, yes, I go to school. She's what you studying.

I said I'm studying to be a preacher and she laughed big you could hear all over the store laughing. She said studying to be a preacher, she said boy, you don't study to be an old preacher either you is or you ain't.

I guess I don't remember anything. I learned that year, but I'll never forget that. Well, what I did was change schools again at the end of that year. I went to another Baptist school now in the meantime, I was asked to preach this little Baptist Church in Mobile Baptist don't have to be a certain age or a certain degree in school if they're asked to take a pulpit and they meet an Examining counsel they can be ordained and that was my case.

Ministry, Seminary, and the Limits of Institutional Learning

I was about 20 years of age and I was between my sophomore and junior year and I was invited to speak at this church and again and again and it did and so I transferred my school to a nearby school commuted about a hundred miles and Well, I was flattered that they asked me but it wasn't the church wasn't in the best of shape actually the associational missionary director Called me up and he said there's a church.

It doesn't have a preacher and I said and would you preach. I Said well, I'll be glad to he said actually said they're not in too good a shape. I said well, that's all right he said really they can't afford a preacher and I got the message right away.

And so I said that's all right. I'll preach anyway so we they were bankrupt and I was too we started off together and But there were about 35 People that want you know, I'd rather have 35 people that know they need help than 3 ,500 that feel self-sufficient.

And they were in trouble. I knew they were in trouble and I'd I knew I couldn't help them. So we just prayed now. I still had the hood. Look still smoke. King size. You can imagine why I didn't get too many great opportunities, but I was rebellious inside.

I was determined not to identify with the clergy image. I didn't know there was a better way. But God and his grace Prospered our church began to grow. God dealt with me and things began to change in my life finally got through.

With college got married went off to seminary, but this thing never left me about studying to be a preacher. Not just what the lady had said. But I felt somehow and I knew that I wasn't ready to be a man of God, you know.

That's a very awesome sounding word. I Knew I wasn't that and I didn't know exactly where to find. I kept thinking that the next year I would discover it in some learning institution. So when we enrolled in seminary my wife and I we expected That God through that institution would reveal himself.

Now. I'm not being critical of any institution. Please don't misunderstand me. We are expecting more of institutions than they ever were meant to perform. We're expecting every institution we have where the government learning institutions to do something for us that we're not willing to do ourselves and That is seek God Almighty for a personal answer to our personal problems and needs.

Well, I got there and what I found well, you see I had already been pastoring for nearly three years and so I had all this learning and wisdom and experience stored up and I went there to help them out any way that I could.

Well, they didn't need my help and That frustrated me because I didn't like what they were teaching and so it was a standoff. I quit three times. But I found the first time I never had seen men before whom I felt to be men of my own doctrinal convictions.

Deny things like the blood atonement the veracity of the word and those sort of things. And went through a terrible inner turmoil because I'd been wedded to a doctrine. Now what I did instead of breaking out of that I became more fixed and I reacted.

I don't like to say this but our enemies are right when they say that we are reactionary. Because we do react we wait for the enemy to do something and then we react to it. I believe God has a program and I don't believe it's reacting to what the devil does.

I think God has something positive in mind for us. I remember the first time though that I heard a statement By one of my men and our men a professor and I went to him after class. I said professor you mean you don't believe that Jesus died in our place and his blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

He said no, I don't believe that. I went home and threw my Bible On the little couch in our efficiency apartment. And I didn't want to do it felt like the bottom had been pulled out. I knew I believed it.

But I was suddenly ignorant of everything. The Bible went blank. And I threw myself on the floor and I said God You've got to tell me something now. I tossed my Bible a little amplified New Testament.

I just bought On the couch and fell on my face before it. And I said you got to show me something Lord if that's not true, then I've got to find something else to do. I Can't preach and I said if it is true, you've got to tell me somehow.

And while I was praying a rather lengthy prayer the Lord was turning the pages of that little Bible. When I lifted up my head Right before my eyes Was Hebrews the ninth chapter that says he entered into the holy place.

Not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own precious blood. Well, I had an answer from God that would stand Questioning. I knew that God by his supernatural direction had shown me that the blood of Jesus cleansed me from all sin.

That means a lot to you when God tells you personally now, I don't advise you to study your Bible that way. You know, sometimes we get in a habit of flipping through and closing our eyes and pointing.

Well, that's all right in a crisis God sometimes blesses that. I Remember a number of occasions where God gave me a verse. But if you get to doing that too often and God wants you to sit down and eat daily disciplined meals.

He's got a way of curing you. You'll close your eyes and open your Bible and point. It'll say you are doomed or something like that. And you'll close it up and say two out of three Lord two out of three.

Now God wants us to eat regularly. But sometimes in a crisis he'll speak to us and he did he spoke to me. Well, I thought when I get out of school and give myself full time to this growing congregation that loves me.

And I love them and get through with all the seminary then my problems will be over and I'll preach what I know and everything Will be alright. 1962 while I was in school, I still smoked. I didn't smoke cigarettes.

I'd graduated to cigars. A Young man was sitting behind us in theology class. He was a Bob Jones graduate. I don't know. He really didn't graduate. He went three years and then graduated my Bible scholar.

If you know anything about Bob Jones up here or not, but it's a rather fundamental school two things. You don't do one smoke the other speak in tongues. Anyway. He he never did the first but later has done the second but he he sat behind me without any introduction.

He said do you smoke? I don't know how he knew, you know, you smell a cigar across the block. But he said you smoke. I said, yeah, I smoke. My attitude was that's my sin. What's yours, you know, and he said you're either quit smoking a quid preachy.

Man, I never had anybody to tell it to me like that. I didn't know whether hit him in the mouth or pat him on the back. So I just said well I'll pray about that next day. I've given it some consideration.

I knew who this fellow was. He was a fiery preacher a good preacher. Had a large church won a lot of people to Jesus and not many folks have been meeting Jesus in our church. You can imagine why? So I said, how about preaching a revival for us?

I Think that staggered him as bad as he had staggered me because he never expected me to speak to him let alone invite him to preach. Well, he said I'll have to pray about it. But if I do I'll preach against tobacco.

I Said that's alright. I've considered that so he did and he did and Well, the thing of it is God didn't convict me not that that's the most important thing in the world. But it was in my case because that's what God was talking to me about when God's talking to you about something.

It's the most important thing in the world. We became very good friends. God delivered me had a wonderful meeting a number of people met Jesus and we grew close together. That's very important to this story.

He passed it over in Pensacola, Florida, which is about 60 miles from us. Wife and I were taking a trip down the intercoastal waterway a little boat that we had a little cabin boat and We stopped to visit with him.

He was building a new auditorium seat a thousand people and we were exchanging ideas. Both of us were dry and hungry. We were talking about ways to pick up interest in our church. I offered him a program.

He offered me some suggestions. He was talking about going back to school. He already had a master's degree in education a master's degree in and religion. But he said I believe I'll go back and get some more study.

He said I'm just not happy. Well, that didn't appeal to me because I hadn't been too happy in my study, but I knew something was needed. Went on down the waterway and came Sunday and we had spent 10 days aboard.

It's time to go to church. Wife and I and I was hungry. Looking for something people are looking for so I was doing instead of asking like I said earlier. But I was getting to the place where I was ready to ask.

We visited and we had to walk because we didn't have a car. We were on a boat. So we walked to a large Baptist Church in that little resort town. And I went in that morning expecting perhaps to find some new ideas.

But instead I was the only one in my Sunday school class. So we went to another Sunday school class. But they didn't talk about Jesus. They talked about the job and what they did on the job and social confab, but no meat.

And so I had the gift of criticism. I don't know if any of you've ever had that gift or not. And the gift of suspicion and it really began to operate in me now if you that thing ever starts operating you stop and Get rid of it before you go on because it's not the others.

It's going to be heard. It's you. And that acid began to flow inside and my teacher to top it off when it was all over with said I can't go with You into worship. He didn't know I was a reverend. I never told him but he said My daughter's been after me to take her swimming.

You know, how it is said. Yeah, I know how it is. I could tell how it was. But he said you go on and somebody will make you feel at home. He said there'll be somebody there to welcome you and I'm sure you'll enjoy the service.

I wonder if it's so enjoyable why he didn't go. But I went that fellow was going to make me welcome never showed up. He must have stayed home too because I never did feel welcome. Anyway, I went in and wasn't touched by soul had a clear feel right down the aisle.

Got in my pew in a miserable state. Oh Ugly inside whatever they'd have done would have been wrong at that state preacher got up and made some announcements. He talked about his golf game and That's another thing I didn't want to talk about.

Mine wasn't too good. I never did cuss when I played but where I spat grass would never grow again. And I thought this fellow's not spiritual at all and then he passed out vistas ribbons. I've done that before but these are the most audacious.

Red vistas ribbons. Big bright red. Said I'm a visitor. I look like a bedsheet. I told my wife. I said I'm not gonna put that on. I said Well, my wife's a very reasonable and and very polite person. She said if you don't put that on they won't know your visitor and they won't know to be friendly with you.

Well, that makes sense. You wouldn't want to be friendly with the members and so I put it on. And I sat there with my bedsheet on and a growl on my face and he got up to preach. And he said this morning I'm gonna speak on alcohol.

I Nudged my wife in the rib. I said well any Baptist preacher can get stirred up on liquor. We ought to have a little action. Well, he did he preached for 35 minutes and he never said whether he was for it or against it.

So I told her I said let's go. That sign must have said excuse me because they all did. Nobody touched me going out either. I Got a block down the street. I said I'm gonna pull mine off. What about you?

They didn't need it at the boat dock. Those drunks down here speak to you whether you're friendly or not. No wonder to me a lot of folks go to the world for fellowship. That's the only place you can find it sometimes.

I Told them on the way over here I went to a bar one night to get something to eat because everything else was closed. I'd been in church all day and had anything to eat and went to a nightclub and everybody was so friendly.

They were all laughing and having a wonderful time. Talking across the tables and the young fella got up to saying he's saying and he's saying to put your hand in the hand of Galilee. Then he got up and saying bridge over troubles waters and amazing grace.

I said man, I've been in the wrong place all day. We walked out of that Mortuary that morning and started down the street and I was fit to be tied out a bit of dog if it'll run out. And I said, I don't know what we're gonna do tonight.

But I got to go to church. Every Baptist got to go to church on Sunday night if he's a goodin if he's gonna make a hundred percent and so. But I said, I can't go back there. I lost more than I had and I didn't have much to start with.

So my wife was quiet. She knows to be quiet at times like that. She's blessed with that gift. And so I'm just grumbling with myself. And I see a little sign of the bushes. We're walking down the road back to the boat.

Little faded-out sign says Church of God one block. And I see a little sign of the bushes. We're walking down the road back to the boat. Little faded-out sign says Church of God one block. Now we don't have much of the non Pentecostal Church of God.

You have a good bit of that, but most all of our churches of God are the Pentecostal variety. The only thing I knew about Church of God was it was Pentecostal. The only thing I knew about Pentecostals were that they rolled on the floor and swung from the chandeliers now don't be offended if I say that because If you get the fooling around where the Holy Spirit's moving a tail will get out on you, too.

You see I discovered that when the Holy Spirit fell in our church I found out that rumors get around and we never have been spiritual enough to roll on the floor or swing from the chandelier. Well, all we do is just say amen once in a while.

We got kind of warmed up, but a fellow came to our church one day. Said, you know I've really enjoyed your service. Said I don't know why I didn't come a long time ago. He said I've been afraid to. I said why have you been afraid?

Well, he said I heard something. I said, what did you hear? Well, he said I heard said you owe me to tell you truth. I said, yeah. He said well, I heard y 'all rolling on the floor. We're in a woman bit a man on the foot.

Well I'm mischievous. I kept a straight face. I said well, she didn't bite him on the foot. Eyeballs got big as two fried eggs. Well, I Was scared to go to that Church of God. I Didn't want to go. And I said now my wife's a very quiet introverted shy person.

I thought if I got her over there and that thing broke loose she might go into a traumatic withdrawal and that'd be the end of her. I Said are you game? She said yeah, if you are. I said well, I guess the monkey's on my back.

I'll go so we went. I don't know what time the meeting was supposed to start, but it didn't start at that time. Now we badness a pretty clock conscious. You can tell that about quarter to 12 every Sunday morning.

But anyway, we got there and we were the only ones there. We were on time. I said well, it's gonna be like this morning, but it wasn't gonna be anything like this morning. Anyway, we got there and sat down over in the corner.

That's not the best place to sit in the strange Church. But we did we sat in the corner. Toward the back few minutes the first one came in young man I judged to be 24 25 years of age very pleasant looking young fella who had evidently been in touch with the Lord during the Day, he came up the steps didn't walked in that little country church.

It was on the edge of town a little bit wooden building. He didn't see us in he was looking straight up. I thought if there was a hole in the floor, he'd break his neck. He walked in looking up and then he waved like this.

I thought who's he waving at? There's nobody in here. And he was praising God muttering to himself and then he looked around and realized we were there and he saw us. Now the Lord has a wonderful sense of humor.

You can look at people and tell that he has a sense of humor. He wasn't a maid most of us. But God heard me grumbling about not having my hand shook. I've been murmuring all the way back about how cold and unfriendly that church was and the Lord probably said to one of the angels.

You see that guy walking down there muttering. I've got something planned for him tonight. That's out of this world. I Was sitting there minding my own business and that guy turned in me and he looked and his eyes got real big.

I told somebody I know how a worm feels when a bird looks at him. He said He said brother. I thought I wasn't even his cousin. And he tried to hug me now listen that handshaking is alright, but that hugging is something else I say he tried to hug me.