had raised those pierced and wounded
hands over them and breathed upon them and said, "Receive ye the Holy
Ghost." And I haven't a doubt they received it then, but not in such
mighty power as afterward when qualified for their work. It was not in
fullness that He gave it to them then, but if they had been like a
good many now, they would have said, "I have enough now; I am not
going to tarry; I am going to work."

Some people seem to think they are losing time if they wait on God for
his power, and so away they go and work without unction; they are
working without any anointing, they are working without any power. But
after Jesus had said "Receive ye the Holy Ghost," and had breathed on
them, He said: "Now you tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with
power from on high." Read in the 1st chapter of Acts, 8th verse: "But
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."

Now, the Spirit had been given them certainly or they could not have
believed, and they could not have taken their stand for God and gone
through what they did, and endured the scoffs and frowns of their
friends, if they had not been converted by the power of the Holy
Ghost. But now just see what Christ said:

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you;
and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."

Then, the Holy Spirit IN US is one thing, and the Holy Spirit ON US is
another; and if these Christians had gone out and went right to
preaching then and there, without the power, do you think that scene
would have taken place on the day of Pentecost? Don't you think that
Peter would have stood up there and beat against the air, while these
Jews would have gnashed their teeth and mocked him? But they tarried
in Jerusalem; they waited ten days. What! you say. What, the world
perishing and men dying! Shall I wait? Do what God tells you. There is
no use in running before you are sent; there is no use in attempting
to do God's work without God's power. A man working without this
unction, a man working without this anointing, a man working without
the Holy Ghost upon him, is losing his time after all. So we are not
going to lose anything if we tarry till we get this power. That is the
object of true service, to wait on God, to tarry till we receive this
power for witness-bearing. Then we find that on the day of Pentecost,
ten days af