We must preach it experientially, not experimental, but as something proved by experience. [This distinction drawn between "experiential" and "experimental" here is not altogether well taken, for the word "experimental" can mean "that which is known by experience" as well as "that which involves an experiment or a test." While some may prefer the word "experiential" as applied to spiritual knowledge, the word "experimental," used by many of the older writers, may also be used to denote the same thing. See the Oxford Dictionary -- DVM] It must be proved by spiritual science in the laboratory of your own heart. You cannot give to others something which you do not have yourself. If the early Disciples had to "tarry until they were endued with power from on high," we must do the same. You must KNOW that you have been and are still sanctified, or there will be a lameness in your own message like the one in your own soul. How long has it been since someone was sanctified under your own ministry? If it costs days, friends, positions, and shallow professions to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have been cleansed from carnality and filled with the Holy Ghost, "all the fullness of God." This will make your steps steady, and you can offer to others what you are more certain of and more conscious of than anything else in this world. This will save you from cowardice, weak knees, compromise and hypocrisy, and make you holy, valiant and fearless in the face of every foe. It will make you the most loved and hated person in all your community round about.
A. J. Gordon said, "My ministry was fruitless for 20 years, until I went into my study and shut the door, and told God that I would never come out until He baptized me with the Holy Ghost." The mighty baptism came, and revivals followed him around the world. At our Iowa camp some years ago, a leading minister who fell at the altar to be sanctified, said to the evangelist that "I had lost the blessing, and because of the inconsistencies of others, I had wondered if there was such a thing as sanctification, but when I heard you preach it, I felt that you had it, and that I could have it." About seven preachers got sanctified in that camp, and revivals spread all over the conference after the camp. "Lord, send a revival and let it begin in me." -- Moody
