We've been having some wonderful heart -to -heart
talks regarding this thing of miracles, the gift
of miracles. And remember something, gifts are
a trust. Gifts are a trust from God, the gift
of the Spirit, any gift of the Spirit. And there
are nine gifts of the Spirit. that are mentioned
in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, I'm still
convinced that we are not to limit the Holy Spirit
to just nine gifts. We limit the Holy Spirit
in His power. We limit Him to when it comes to
gifts. I believe that there are many, many more
gifts than just these nine that are mentioned.
These nine just represent some of the gifts of
the Spirit. But in each instance when the Holy
Spirit gives a gift, that gift is a trust that's
put into the hands or into the body of an individual.
And never forget that the Holy Spirit never gives
a gift to draw attention to a personality or
to a person. Neither does he give a gift to an
individual for that one to use that gift for
selfish gain. Never, never know that. Another
thing to remember, that all gifts, not only this
gift of miracles, but all gifts are to be held
in subjection to the Lord. That's what that scripture
means in the 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians. The
spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
Therefore, the Lord's authority must be recognized
in the use of all gifts. Well, sir, now we talk
about this gift of miracles. A miracle is a sovereign
work of God, a manifestation of divine power,
and is given to substantiate a message from God.
And always God must get the glory. The Lord Jesus
Christ must receive the glory. Miracles were
never performed to be spectacular. They were
never performed to attract people to the individual,
the one through whom the Holy Spirit was working.
That's the reason people... Let me just tell
you something. And please, if you forget everything
else that I say regarding the gifts of the Spirit,
bear my soul on this one point. There are too
many people going around boasting of having some
gift of the Spirit. A woman very recently came
and faced me in the Shrine Auditorium and shook
my hand and said, Oh, Ms. Coleman, I want you
to know that I have all the gifts of the Spirit.
I... stood there, awed. I never said a word.
But I thought, my goodness, such spiritual ignorance
I have never seen. And I mean that. You know,
the worst kind of ignorance is spiritual ignorance.
There is No ignorance that's worse. Ignorance
in any form is bad enough, but spiritual ignorance
is the worst kind of ignorance because it brings
so much reproach on something that is the most
sacred thing in the world. It is my firm conviction
and my own personal experience that if... The
Holy Spirit has given an individual a gift. If
the Holy Spirit has given this trust, has put
it into the hands or the body of an individual,
that gift and that trust will be so sacred that
they're not going to exploit it. They're not
going to boast about it. They're not going to
talk about it. I have had spiritual experiences
that I tell you before God are so sacred to me,
I have never spoken of them to any human being.
They are sacred. There are things that you just
don't talk about. You don't exploit. You don't
boast of these things. They're too sacred. And
it is my firm conviction that any saint of God
who has been given this trust, to whom this gift
was given, any gift, whether it's the gift of
the word of knowledge, or the gift of wisdom,
or the gift of healing, or the gift of faith,
or the gift of tongues. When somebody comes along
and says, oh, I have the gift of tongues. Now
you know me well enough to know that I believe
that there is such a thing as speaking in an
unknown tongue. I have to believe it. It's in
the word. I have to believe that there is such
a gift, the gift of tongues and also the gift
of the interpretation. But when one has been
given this sacred gift that one is not going
to talk about it, capitalize on it, exploit it,
use it to draw attention to himself, Too many
people are using tongues to draw attention to
themselves. I'm saying something. I'm giving
it to you. Somebody needs to teach it. We need
to come back again to the Word of God. Some of
us have gone so far out that it's been many a
day Since we have taken the scripture and have
stood purely on thus saith the Lord. There are
too many people adding to. You know, we condemn
those who are taking from. We stand in our pulpits
and we condemn the man who stands in his pulpit.
We say he's a modernist. We say he does not preach
the atonement. We say he does not preach divine
healing. We say he does not preach the deity
and divinity of Jesus Christ. It's easy for us
to stand and condemn the one who has taken from
and is taking from the word of God. And it's
true. There are thousands who are. But there
are... also literally hundreds who today are
adding to the Word. They're putting words in
the mouth of Jesus that never were spoken. They're
putting things in the Scripture that are not
Scripture. I'll just pause a moment until you
get your equilibrium. That's exactly what Paul
was saying when he begins even with the gift
of the Spirit. I would not have you ignorant,
brethren. We have too many ignorant brethren,
too many sisters who are ignorant these days
regarding the use of the gifts of the Spirit,
too many who are ignorant regarding... the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, who are misusing the power
of the Holy Ghost. We need to get back again
to the Scripture. Now, where was I? My goodness,
my life. All right, I know where I was. This
thing of a miracle. Back to the gift. of miracles.
You want to know something? We have every right
to see the gifts and the fruits of the Spirit
in operation in our churches today. This wonderful
gift, the working of miracles, should be in operation
in the church today. No Bible student, no theologian
can prove to me from the Word of God where the
power of God was shut off, where the power was
turned off when Jesus went back to the Father
to take the position of great high priest. Everything
that happened in the early church, everything
that happened in the ministry of Paul. Everything
that happened during the lifetime of Peter, the
disciples, everything that happened after the
day of Pentecost should be in operation and should
be made manifest in the church today because
we're still living in that dispensation. That's
right. We are still living in the day of Pentecost.
Now, a miracle is a sovereign work of God, a
manifestation of divine power, given to substantiate
a message from God. Now, we go back to Moses
in our last heart -to -heart talk. We took this
gift of miracles that was manifested. in and
through the body of Moses. And remember, the
God of Moses is still our God. Moses didn't have
one God, and you and I have another God. We forget
that. That's what I told this wonderful group,
one of the finest group of teenagers that I have
ever spoken to in all my life. In a Catholic
high school recently, they were teenage boys.
16 and 17 years of age. And before I opened that
hour for questions, I said, now, young men, you
are Roman Catholic. I am Protestant. But remember
something. You honor God. You have confidence
in God Almighty. You're God. is the same God
that I have confidence in. He's just the same
God. Your God, my God, was also the God of Moses.
That God had only one son, Jesus Christ. I said,
you know, young men, you sit there, you're Roman
Catholic. Oh, and these were intelligent. These
were nice young men. They were all 16, 17 years
of age. This was a Roman Catholic high school.
I said, when you talk about Jesus, you're talking
about God's son, the same Jesus that I know because
he had only one son, the same wonderful Jesus.
When you talk about the Holy Ghost, the Holy
Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, There
is only one. The same Holy Spirit that you honor
is the same Holy Spirit that I honor and whose
power is manifested through our lives. Just one
Father, one Son, and one Holy Ghost whom we speak.
of the power of God in the life of Moses. It's
the same God that you and I serve today. And
his power is not limited to any one person or
any one generation or any one dispensation. We
need to know that. I would never have to preach
a sermon on faith if I could get men and women
to see that The God of Moses is our God today.
That his power has never been limited to one
generation or one individual. And it's just like
that. God bless you.