We have been having some interesting heart -to
-heart talks recently on the gifts of the Spirit.
I want to spend a few minutes with you today
regarding the gift of miracles. Now, get out
your Bibles, because we are discussing the 12th
chapter of... 1 Corinthians. Remember something.
When we talk about the gifts of the Spirit, we're
not talking about the same experience that a
Christian has when one is baptized with the Holy
Ghost. Gifts are a trust. Always remember that.
Gifts of the Spirit are a trust put into the
hands or the body of an individual. And no gift
is ever given of the Spirit for show. No gift
of the Spirit is ever given for personal glory.
Always remember that. The Holy Spirit will magnify,
will glorify only one person, and that one person
is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus
himself told us that the Holy Spirit will glorify
me. And he'll only glorify, he'll only magnify
one person. He'll only bring attention to just
one person, and that one person is Jesus. Therefore,
we know that when the Holy Spirit gives this
wonderful trust to an individual, when he puts
this trust into the hands or into the body of
any individual, That one is out of order if he
uses that gift to bring personal glory to himself
or any selfish gain or will use it for anything
that is spectacular. Now, that's the very reason
that Paul, when he begins this 12th chapter of
1 Corinthians, he said, I would not have you
to be... ignorant concerning the use of these
gifts. And always know something. The gift is
to be held in subjection to the Lord. Our Lord's
authority must be recognized in the use of all
gifts. Well, sir, now, since we have that settled,
and that is something that is most important.
Always know that. Always. I've given you something
in the past couple of minutes that is most important.
Now let's go a little deeper into the study of
this gift of miracles. Remembering also that
the gift of miracles is not the same as the gift
of healing. Neither is the gift of healing the
same as the gift of faith. Just read it. It's
there. To one is given the gift of faith, to
another the gift of healing, to another the working
of miracles. They are three separate gifts. Now,
in order to understand the ministry of God through
miracles, we must observe different periods in
recorded scriptural history where the gift of
miracles was emphasized. I always like to do
that in studying the Word of God. Go through
the entire Bible because one cannot take just
a verse or a portion of a verse and take it out
of context very often and build an entire theology
on it. You can't do it. You must take it as a
whole. Study the Word of God. See where the gift
of miracles is in action. So we can do that very
thing in the next several minutes. Because in
order to understand the ministry of God through
miracles, we must take recorded scripture history
where the gifts of miracles was emphasized. And
I believe that... There are four great periods
in which miracles happened with frequency. First
of all, we take Moses. Oh, Jimmy was saying just
a moment ago, how real was the power of God,
the power of the Holy Spirit in the working of
miracles through Moses. I believe with every
atom of my being that God had given Moses. at
certain times in his ministry, in his life, this
wonderful gift of miracles. And then again, that
period of Elijah and Elisha. And I'll go back
to that in just a few minutes. That third great
period, the period during the ministry of Jesus
and the apostles. And remember, it's the same
glorious Holy Spirit. working through the life
and the ministry of Jesus. It's the same Holy
Ghost. It's the same power. And then came that
wonderful experience, that wonderful period,
the day of Pentecost. And again, we see the gift
of miracles in operation in the early church.
Oh, that's thrilling. Read it, if you will, please.
And remember something. You and I are still living
in the day of Pentecost. Everything that happened
in the early church, when all of the fruits and
the gifts of the Spirit were in action, everything
that happened In the early church, after Jesus
left this old earth and took the position of
great high priest at the right hand of God the
Father, everything that happened then, we have
every right to expect to happen now because we
are still living in the day of Pentecost. And
the day of Pentecost will continue until the
rapture of the church, until the Holy Spirit
is taken up out of the earth. Know that. So when
I speak of these four great periods where we
have the gift of miracles in operation, we are
now living in that fourth great period. Oh, to
me, that's thrilling. And yet many of us are
closing our eyes, we're closing our ears. We
are unwilling to accept that which we have every
right to see in action. But do you want to know
something? I believe that before the great catching
up, I believe that... in these last days as we're
coming to the end of this period, this dispensation,
we are going to again see in operation all the
gifts and all the fruits of the Spirit just as
they were in operation in the early church. There
is a calling out. God is calling out men and
women who will believe to see the manifestation
of the power of God again. Men and women who
will catch this vision of power. Men and women
to whom he can give this wonderful trust. Into
whose hands and into whose bodies he can put
this trust. and this power. I believe that with
every atom of my being. All right? Let's go a
little further into this thing. A miracle is
a sovereign work of God, a manifestation of divine
power. Mm -hmm. And it's given to substantiate
a message from God. Miracles were never performed
to be spectacular. We must remember that. Please.
In no instance did God ever perform a miracle
or permit a miracle to be performed to be spectacular.
Never. They were never performed to attract people
to the miracle worker. Never. Never. They were
always performed to substantiate a message from
God. We take the first great miracle worker,
and I say that advisedly, and what I really mean,
take one of the first ones to whom this wonderful
trust was given, and that was to Moses. Take
the recorded scripture regarding Moses. His miracles
were performed in reference to the redemption
of the children of Israel out of Egypt. God has
a reason for everything He does. You and I do
not necessarily have to know what the reason
is. Not really. That's our faith in Him. That's
our trust in Him. But He never does anything
promiscuously. He's not promiscuous in anything
that He does. He knows exactly why he does everything
that he does. And his miracles were performed
in reference to the redemption of the children
of Israel out of Egypt. When God would deliver
the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage,
Moses was given the power to work miracles for
the benefit of Pharaoh. It's there. Read it.
In Exodus, the seventh chapter. Let's read just
the one verse, the third verse. And we find the
statement of God. I will harden Pharaoh's heart
and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land
of Egypt. Notice what God says. These are my
signs. And my wonders. It was not what Moses
was doing, but what God was doing through Moses.
Continue reading. But Pharaoh shall not hearken
unto you that I might lay my hands upon Egypt
and bring forth mine armies and my people, the
children of Israel. out of the land of Egypt
by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know
that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine
hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of
Israel from among them. How would Pharaoh and
the Egyptians know that God was working on behalf
of the children of Israel? How would they know?
by the signs and the miracles that came to the
hands of Moses, who was given the power to work
miracles, not only for the benefit of Pharaoh,
but also for the benefit of the children of Israel.
God has delivered the children of Israel unto
the leadership of Moses. But how would the Israelites
know that Moses was God's appointed ruler and
leader? How would they know? How could they be
sure? What evidence did they have? And God, knowing
human nature as he knows human nature, knew that
they needed some outward sign. Mm -hmm. Again.
How would the Israelites know? How could they
be sure that Moses was God's appointed leader?
By the miraculous sign that came from the hand
of Moses. Therefore, in his first great period
of miracles, the miracles substantiated Moses.
as God's appointed ruler for Israel and attested
to Pharaoh the fact that God was moving on behalf
of Israel. There it is. Oh, to me this is marvelous.
Remember, in every instance, when the Holy Spirit
gives this gift of miracles, it's always for
the glory of God. Always. All right. Let's take
the second great period of the manifestation
of miracles. And we come to the experience of
Elijah. Oh, and I love that. Oh, to me, that's
thrilling. That's something I missed and I have
wished upon. thousand times that I might have
been there that day. Oh, there is action, let
me tell you. Something was happening every minute.
I'm going to read just a few verses of the 18th
chapter of 1 Kings. You read the entire thing
after I leave you today. And then maybe tomorrow
we'll just go on with the rest of it because
this is so thrilling. Just don't dare cut this
short. Oh, this I love. Here it is. And see the
simplicity of it all. And as you read it, remember,
God is still the same God. The power of God has
never been limited. The only limit to that power
that we see in action here When Elijah meets
Ahab and the prophet challenges Ahab, remember,
the only limit this very hour to that same power
lies within you and lies within me. And we should
be seeing this same power in action in our churches
today. You cannot show me, in the Word of God,
where this power has been limited with this dispensation
or has been cut off, or why you and I have any
reason whatsoever not to believe God for the
manifestation of this same power. All right,
here it is. Well, let's begin with about the
33rd verse of the 18th chapter of Kings. And
he put the wood in order. And he cut the bullock
in pieces and he laid them on the wood and said,
fill four barrels with water and pour it on the
burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said,
do it the second time. And they did it the second
time. And he said, do it the third time. And
they did it the third time. And I know myself
so well, had I been standing there near Elijah,
I would have said, tell him to do it the fourth
time. Do it again. Do it again. And the water
ran round about the altar, and he filled the
trench also with the water. He did it right.
And it came to pass at the time of the offering
of the evening sacrifice. that Elijah the prophet
came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac,
and of Israel, let it be known this day that
thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant.
Let them know from whom I have gotten my authority.
Let them know. that I am thy servant and that
I have done all these things at thy word. God
himself had ordered all these things to be done.
Elijah was in the perfect will of God in what
he was doing. This gift, of miracles was the
trust that God had put into the hands, into the
body of an individual, not for his own selfish
gain, not for show, not for personal glory, but
that they may know that God was still God Almighty.
Watch. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people
may know that thou art the Lord God, that thou
hast turned their heart back again. And then
the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt
sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the
dust and licked up the water that was in the
trench. I believe that literally there was dust.
where water had been. And when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces and they said,
The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the
God. Father God, I pray that we shall not use
any gift ignantly, but in the perfect will of
our God. Amen.