We have been having some wonderful heart -to
-heart talks regarding the gifts of the Spirit.
And I feel that this series of talks is very
timely. We need some good Holy Ghost teaching
regarding the things of the Spirit. especially
regarding the gifts of the Spirit and how these
gifts are to be used and for what purpose they
were given. If you will please turn to the 12th
chapter of 1 Corinthians, and I pray that the
Holy Spirit shall be your teacher. He shall open
your understanding regarding the spiritual things.
I agree with you that... There is so much that
is attributed to the Holy Spirit and the work
of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has nothing
to do with it whatsoever. But believe me when
I tell you, there is the real. There is the genuine.
Paul understood perfectly. The Bible teaches
these things. You can't just take a razor blade
and slit out portions of the Bible that you do
not want to accept or that you do not understand.
You can't just take out a pair of scissors and
cut out portions of the Word of God that you
wish were not there and that you say, I can't
accept. I won't accept. I don't like it. You
can't do it. This is as much a part of God's
word as ye must be born again. This is as much
of God's word as the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. This is definitely a part of his word
and a vital part. It must be accepted. It must
be understood and the Holy Spirit alone can give
us the interpretation. Therefore, I ask you,
instead of just discarding the 12th chapter of
the 1 Corinthians, sit there with open hearts
and open minds and be willing to be taught of
the Spirit. All right? Spiritual gifts in the
body of Christ. And I believe that all of these
spiritual gifts were being manifested and were
active in the early church. I believe that these
same gifts should be in operation in the church
today. When I say the church, I do not mean organizations,
but in this great organism, the body of Christ.
I believe that. And again, let me remind you
that when we speak of the gifts of the Spirit,
and we always speak of them as the nine gifts
of the Spirit, don't limit the Holy Spirit to
just nine gifts. The nine that are mentioned
here are just an example, are just a few of the
many, many gifts that the Holy Spirit gives.
Whatever you do, don't limit. the Holy Spirit's
giving of gifts to just nigh. All right, here
we go now. You have your Bibles open. Now, concerning
spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. The meaning is concerning spiritual
manifestations. Now, there are different ways
in which the Spirit of God is manifested, and
we should not be ignorant of these. They are
called gifts because they are given freely by
Christ himself and for a very definite purpose.
Always remember, never lose sight of the fact
that these gifts of the Spirit are given for
a very definite purpose or to be used for this
purpose. And the purpose is for the edification
of the church and to assist in the proclamation
of the gospel. There's nothing more important
to the Spirit. There's nothing more important
to Jesus or to the Father than that the gospel
should be given out. That men and women shall
find the Christ as their Savior. And the edification...
of those who have been born again, who are members
of his church. And these gifts of the Spirit
are given solely for these two purposes, the
proclamation of the gospel and for the edification
of the church. Now, these Corinthians in their
unconverted days knew nothing of the gospel,
absolutely nothing. The scripture says, ye were
Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols,
even ye were led. Now, carried away suggests
satanic power. And there's satanic power behind
all idolatry. The things that the Gentiles sacrifice,
they sacrifice to demons, not to God. Read the
10th chapter, the 20th verse. Wherefore I give
you to understand that no man, speaking by the
Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed, and that
no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by
the Holy Ghost. Now we see readily that the apostle
marks the clear -cut dividing line between Christianity
and... every system of man's devices. There's
a great difference. There's something more than
just being sincere. You can be sincerely wrong.
You can be a very religious person, extremely
religious, and very sincere in your religion.
And yet, in the final analysis, You are religious
in your thinking, but sincerely wrong in your
sincerity. And that's just it. Any religion that
denies the deity and divinity of Jesus Christ,
any religion that denies the atonement, the shed
blood of the Son of the Living God, but is anti
-Christian. It makes all the difference in the
world in what you do with Jesus Christ, the Son
of the living God. That's the reason the apostles
said, Wherefore I give you to understand that
no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that
Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Christianity
and Christianity alone exalts Jesus Christ as
the very Son of God, accepts his deity and accepts
his divinity. Other systems deny his lordship
and rather think of him as accursed. It's by
the Holy Spirit. that we recognize his lordship.
I wonder whether you've ever taken the trouble
to go through the epistle to the Corinthians
and count the number of times that the apostle
uses the title Lord as applied to our wonderful
Savior. This is truly the epistle of the lordship
of Christ. And we're called upon to... always
recognize His Lordship, His absolute authority
over our hearts and our lives. I want to pause
for just a second and make this very definite
to you. It must not be overlooked. It is one
of the most important things that... I could
say to you under the anointing of the Holy Spirit,
under all circumstances, always remember the
Holy Spirit always recognizes the Lordship of
Jesus. Know that. You and I, as redeemed children
of the King, You and I, as members of his body,
must always, under all circumstances, recognize
his absolute authority over our hearts, over
our minds, and in our lives. No matter what your
experience, First of all, recognize the lordship
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes to the
gifts of the Spirit, remember two very definite
things. Remember the purpose for which the gift
was given, which is the proclamation of the gospel
and the edification of the church. and remember
His Lordship over that gift that's been given
to you. I know that this has not been taught.
We have needed this teaching a long, long time.
Had we had this teaching earlier, there would
not have been so much fanaticism or the misuse
and the misappropriation. of something that's
very sacred and something that's very wonderful.
The manifestation of the Spirit, the gifts of
the Spirit, that are real. We've been just trying
to take this portion of the Word of God out of
the Bible. We have not accepted it because we
have not understood it. Now we're coming face
to face with something vitally important. Because
we have every right to have the power of the
Holy Ghost in our lives. If you are born again,
if you are a healthy Christian, it is yours,
a part of your inheritance, to be filled with
the Spirit. And if you are a healthy Christian,
filled with the Spirit, and there is constant
spiritual growth, you will covet the gifts of
the spirit. And it's just like that. All right,
now watch something and never forget his absolute
authority over your mind, your heart, your life.
His... absolute authority over that gift at all
times which he has given you. We are his servants
and he is our Lord. But the way some of his children
act, you would think that they were Lord and
he was a servant. I do not say that disrespectfully.
I do not mean to be sacrilegious when I say it.
But it is true. I have seen so much spiritual
bigotry in some of our churches and in some of
our religious organizations and in the lives
of some Christians. So much bigotry. So much
spiritual pride that one would think that they
held the lordship. They were the ruler. They
were the controller. And the Lord Jesus Christ
was the servant. I think of that sometimes, you
know, when I hear men and women pray. When they
are so demanding of God. I fear I tremble. I
mean that. Please believe me. I am not being
sacrilegious. I am just telling you some things
that we should have been noticing a long time
ago. I tremble when a man or a woman comes before
the throne of God in prayer and I hear them demand
that God should do certain things. And they command
God to do certain things for them. My friend,
you and I are frail creatures of dust. We're
dependent on him for every breath. We are dependent
on him for the next beat of our heart. How dare
we command God to do anything? How dare any human
being demand God to do something? You wouldn't
even talk like that to an employee. He wouldn't
take it. You wouldn't dare talk that way to your
wife. If she was a lady, she wouldn't take it.
You wouldn't dare order your husband around like
that. He'd walk out on you. You don't dare talk
to your children like that. Then how do you dare
come before the throne of almighty God and start
ordering him around? Hmm? He's God Almighty.
Again, I repeat that sometimes I fear that we
are laboring under the false hallucination that
we are the lords and he's the servant. No, my
friend. We are his... servants, and he is our
Lord. And never forget it. Somebody says I feel
like turning her off. That's perfectly all right.
But not one of you will because you want to know
what's going to follow. I know. But I'm saying
to you, Should have been said a long time ago.
Now, we go back again. Do you realize that as
we read this 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, that
the entire Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
is in connection with the giving and the using
of gifts? Think about the gifts of the Spirit.
Being involved with just one person, the Holy
Spirit. But if you read it carefully. Now, there's
some folk who like to take their penknife and
cut out the portion of the Word of God that they
don't understand. There are others who read,
but only read what they want to see. and they
miss the most important part of God's Word. That's
true. I'm going to show you that in three verses,
in this 12th chapter, 1 Corinthians, all three
members of the Trinity are in connection with
the using and the giving of the gifts. In verse
4, and you have your Bibles there, we have the
Holy Spirit. In verse 5, we have the Lord Jesus
Christ. And in verse 6, we have God the Father.
We read in verse 4, now there are diversities
of gifts with the same Spirit. The Holy Spirit
manifests Himself through the Church of God in
different ways. We do not all have the same gift.
We're not all constituted alike. Even from the
human and the intellectual standpoint. Thank
God that everybody wasn't constituted like me.
And I've seen some folks that I thank. My God,
I wasn't constituted like they are. You know,
it's like that. And yet we all have a place.
We all have a work to do. We do not all have
the same gift. We do not all have the same ministry
committed to us. And he who gives these gifts
knows exactly what he is doing, and he gives
to that one the gift that's best suited to that
one. In our next Heart to Heart Talk, we'll go
deeper into the subject of the gifts of the Spirit.