Each morning when I wake I say, I place my hand
in God's today. I know he'll walk close by my
side, my every wandering step to guide. He leads
me with the tenderest care when paths are dark
and I despair. No need for me to understand if
I but hold fast. to his hand. My hand in his.
No surer way to walk in safety through each day.
And by his great bounty I am fed, warmed by his
love and comforted. And when a day's end, I seek
my rest and realize how much I'm blessed. My
thanks pour out to him, and then I place my hand
in God's again. This ministry is based upon the
word of God. That's the reason we have no fanaticism.
It's when one gets away from thus saith the Lord
that we get into fanaticism. But you see, Power
isn't noise, and noise isn't power. Oh, sure.
I still remember those old Model T Fords. Somebody
said, look out, Miss Coob, and you're going to
give your age away. Well, now, confess yourself.
You remember those. boards, how noisy they used
to be. Papa had one. And I can tell you the very
hill that we had to climb going to Aunt Belle's
house. Oh, the thing went great. It almost purred
when you were on level ground. But say that one
hill that we had to climb before we got to Elma,
Missouri. thing was the noisiest thing you ever
heard in your life. Oh my goodness a life. If
noise was power, that thing was the most powerful
thing in the state of Missouri. But then there
came the day when Papa bought a V -Lay. You say
now, Miss Kuhlman, oh, well, I'll tell you exactly
how old I was. I wasn't going to school yet,
so I'm not as old as you think that I am. But
any little girl would remember in those days
when their papa bought a V -Lay. It was like
a Rolls Royce today. Oh, but that thing was smooth.
That thing really purred, let me tell ya. Why?
Because it had power. Mm -hmm. Noise isn't necessarily
power. You see, we get off into... that which
is not of the Spirit, when we deviate from the
Word of God. And as long as you and I will stay
with the Word of God, turning neither to the
right nor to the left, but staying right with
God's Word, we'll never get off into fanaticism.
No matter how great is the manifestation of God's
power, we will never get off into fanaticism,
and the enemy will never be able to make a religious
fanatic, a religious nut, out of us. Remember,
that's the truth. Well, sir, all right. Now,
I want you to turn, if you will please, to the
6th chapter of 1 Corinthians. There's a verse
there that I pray the Holy Spirit will make very
clear to your understanding. It's something that
is needed today. It's Paul speaking. That 12th
verse. things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient. He repeats, all things are
lawful for me. It must be something most important
because he repeats it twice, and this isn't like
Paul at all. He continues, But I will not be
brought under the power of any. Oh, there's dynamite
in that twelfth verse. That's the twelfth verse
of the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians. And before
I get through with this little heart -to -heart
talk, don't get angry with me. This is God's
Word. I didn't say it. These are not my words.
And not one of us dare take issue with the Word
of God. Now, we must never take just one verse
of Scripture out of its setting. Let's get the
full continuity of the whole thing, that which
precedes and then that which follows. Stay with
me. If I don't get through today, stay with me
for the next broadcast because we're going to
see this thing through because you may need it.
I need it. The church needs it. Paul is still
dealing with immorality. Now remember something.
These people to whom Paul is writing constituted
the church of God. And you will find that the
spirit of the city had gotten into the church.
And that's exactly where all the trouble began.
The church's business is not to catch the spirit
of the age, but to correct it. We are never.
As members of the body of Christ, as his church,
try to capture the spirit of the age and bring
it into the church. No, ma 'am. That's exactly
where we are today. The night is dark. Men and
women are hungry for the spiritual. They're hungry
for reality. They're hungry for something that
satisfies. Something that will give them peace
of mind and peace of soul. They want a foundation.
They want something that's tangible. Something
that is practical. They're hungry for God. They're
sick and tired of the sham and the tinsel, the
veneer. And that's all that the spirit of the
world is. It's nothing more or less than veneer.
It's a sham. Let's face it. The ordinary man,
the ordinary woman lives a very shallow life.
and is a very shallow person. Take the average
person. Take the person above average. Take the
woman who's at the very peak of society. Talk
with that woman for one full hour and you'll
find out what an the life she really lives. You'll
find out how dissatisfied, how cruelly unhappy
she is on the inside. It's such a veneered thing.
And it's stuff like that. They're hungry for
God. They want something that's substantial.
And so, in their hunger, they turn to the church.
What does the average church have to offer? Very
little. Why? Because they have tried to catch
the spirit of the age. And in trying to catch
the spirit of the age, they have lost their vision
of the Holy Spirit. And they stand helpless.
They stand without the power of God. While the
world stands challenging the church, The church
has very little to offer because they have compromised
and compromised and compromised with the world.
Until we've gotten to the place that the average
church is nothing more or less than a wonderful
sociable club. is a man delivered from liquor.
Rarely does a sinner come walking down the aisle,
kneeling at the place of prayer, and crying out,
Lord, forgive me. I'm a sinner. I need salvation.
I need that born -again experience. I need regeneration.
We need to get back again where the church will
find its original purpose. where men and women
find God. Now, let's pause a minute. Just preceding
this 12th verse, Paul is saying, sure, you will
find that in the unregenerated man and woman.
There's fornication. There's adultery. You'll
find thievery. There's covetousness, drunkards,
extortioners. He lists them all. But he says,
these folk shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
They've never been born again. They are the unregenerated.
But he continues. You too committed these sins
before you were regenerated. But now, he says,
ye are washed. You're sanctified. You're justified
in the name of Lord Jesus. and by the Spirit
of our God. Therefore, you no longer do these
things. You are a new creature in Christ Jesus.
I want you to see something. This thing of regeneration,
this thing of being born again, call it anything
that you wish, it is a Definite experience. There's
a definite time. It is a definite experience.
When literally the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth you. The Bible says you are a
new creature in Christ Jesus. You are a new person.
The thing... that you once loved you now hate.
A changed personality. It's like that. This is
the word of God. All the things having passed
away and behold all things having become new.
The world doesn't change just because you have
been regenerated. No. You go right back home.
It's the same kitchen. It's the same old washer
that has caused you so much trouble. Below these
many years, it's the same house. You go back
to the same husband. who is in the same condition
he was before you were regenerated. The neighbors
haven't moved out. You've got the same neighbors.
Everything is the same. It's the same world.
Only you are the person that has changed. But
from that moment of your regeneration, being
a new person in Christ Jesus, you are... In the
world. But not of the world. You still have to
pay your rent. You still have to pay your taxes.
You still have to eat. But, beloved, you have
a new nature. Something else happens. At that
time of your regeneration, The power of sin is
broken in that life of yours. This is that wonderful
liberty that Paul is talking about. I am laying
the groundwork now for one of the most important
truths in the Word of God. This is the foundation.
Therefore, you must get everything that I say
or you will not be able to understand it when
I go. deeper in giving you the explanation to
this 12th verse, where Paul says, all things
are lawful unto me. That has great and deep meaning.
Before you were regenerated, you were under bondage
to Satan, to sin. Every person in the world at
this very moment, who has not had that experience
of being born again, is under bondage. You're
a slave to Satan. Oh, you say, Miss Cooman, I'm
the most independent person in the whole world.
I am absolutely independent. Not. If you are
unregenerated, is the reason that a man, knowing
that he's losing his family, is costing his home,
is costing his business, and yet he cannot break
that power of liquor, that desire for liquor,
that craving that he has for liquor. He cannot.
He is absolutely sincere. When he comes into
the presence of his wife and he cries and he
cries and he begs for her forgiveness, he's sincere
when he says, I don't want to do it. I don't
want to do it. I'll never do it again. If you'll
just please forgive me this time. Oh, some of
you women, you've heard it a thousand times until
you're so sick of hearing it. Never doubt. his
sincerity. But he's under bondage. He is a slave
to the power of sin. And every man and every
woman who is not a Christian is a slave to Satan.
The things they do not want to do, they know
are wrong yet. They are powerless in breaking
from that bondage. Satan is your master. You
can argue this thing from now to doomsday. Your
own life proves it. And the only power that will
set you free is the power of the Son of the Living
God. That's the... Only power. You do not become
a free person, a free man. You are never loosed
from this bondage until you are loosed by the
power of the Son of the Living God. There is
only liberty in Christ Jesus. The only person
in the whole universe. who has real liberty,
complete freedom, who is set free from the bondage
of Satan, the bondage of sin, and the master
of Satan, is that one who has been set free through
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Paul reminds them,
I'm free. All things are lawful unto me. Did
he stop there? No. I shall continue in our next
heart -to -heart talk. God bless you.