In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of walking with the Lord in our everyday lives. He categorizes our activities for the Lord into worship, work, and loss. The speaker encourages believers to trust in the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God's plans, even when faced with challenges. He also highlights the need to develop and use the gifts that God has given us for His glory. The sermon references Bible verses such as Isaiah 40:31 and 1 Timothy 4:12 to support these teachings.

Tonight, with the help of the Lord, we want to consider the strengthening ministry of the Spirit of God and the spirit ministry and dispensing gifts. The first scripture that I would like to refer you to is in the Old Testament, the book of Zechariah, chapter 4. We've been considering the wonderful truths of the indwelling Spirit of God, of his dealings with us from the very earliest of our spiritual experience, and we want to take this study right through until his last ministry to us in this world where he lives. Of course, we will have to consider it tomorrow night. But tonight we want to consider the strengthening ministry of the Spirit of God, and oh how we need this. We preface our little study by making the remark that this is a day in which we are depending on the strength of the flesh rather than the strength of the spirit. There is such a tendency to depend on the flesh, such a tendency to lean on the arm of flesh. We dare not do this. We try to depend on our own wisdom instead of the wisdom of the Lord. We try to undertake for ourselves instead of really seeing what God can do through us rather than what we can do for him. Certainly when we get to glory we're going to find out, and this study I trust will help us to realize it down here below, that we have absolutely nothing in this living book for our own self. And certainly the Spirit of God is the strength of the Christian life. Now in Zechariah chapter 4 we read, The angel that talked with me came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. And he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the lord and of the rubbable, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? The pores of the rubbable thou shalt become a flame, and ye shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Great, great unto us. This is Zechariah, the prophet of the restoration, or rather the return of the children of Israel, the restoration to the land, after the Babylonian captivity. He really, to understand Haggaiah and Zechariah and Malachi, we need to read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. And those two books will give us something of the history of the children of Israel as they came back from the land of Babylon to the land of Israel. Now, you remember that one of the first things they did was to lay the foundation of the temple, to rebuild the temple and to reestablish the worship which they had not enjoyed, the ceremonial worship, offering of sacrifices and so on, which they had not enjoyed in the land of Babylon. That was their first thought. They set that temple up. They began it. And the Jews are the others rather of the land, the peoples of the land, especially those of Edomite and those other nations that were there, that had been the nations that the kings had used to re-people the land of Israel after the Jews were carried away to Babylon. They objected. They sent a letter to the kings and they said, if you will review your records you will find that the rebuilding of this city and the rebuilding of this temple will not be for the good of your kingdom because this has been a rebellious city. This temple, these people have been a rebellious people. And a church was made and they found out something in the history of the Jews and then they called for work to be ceased. And it ceased for fourteen long years. And finally the children of Israel got into such a state of lethargy in regards to the rebuilding of the temple that they just weren't interested in rebuilding it. And through Haggai and Zechariah, they were spurred up by the Lord to rebuild that temple. Now, the rubble bull was a prince and he was of the tribe of Judah and he was very instrumental in rebuilding that temple. But the children of Israel, they were weak in their faith and they had become occupied in material things and the temple of God was not being rebuilt. And they became fearful for the opposition. They remembered how the theft program was stopped fourteen years prior to that by Artaxerxes, I believe it was Artaxerxes who caused it. And they were just timid. They lacked faith. And so this was the message. You don't need to be worried about your lack of might. You don't need to be worried about your lack of power. Anything that's accomplished as God is going to be accomplished by the Spirit of God. Not by my name, nor by power, but by my Spirit sent to the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? And certainly the rebuilding of that temple looked like a mountain to these Jews that had come back to the land of Palestine. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before the rubble bull thou shalt become a slave. That mountain was just moved out. Why? Because of the power of the Spirit of God. He could not be their power. He could not be their might. They didn't have to have the power. They didn't have to have the might. They only had to have the power of the Spirit of God. So, rubble bull, that looks like a mountain to you. You will be a slave. You will be slain before the power of the Spirit of God. And he shall bring forth a headstone, a headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of the rubble bull have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hands of the rubble bull. This is the plumb bob. With those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. When you see a plummet, when you see a plumb bob in the hands of a man, you know this building program is just about done. It should be interesting to you who are engaged in the building program right now. Don't be pained by it. The Spirit of God is going to see this program through. I'm just quite certain. And the plumb bob has been held up. And who hath despised the day of small things? Fear God, and accomplish that which ye can not accomplish. You need to know that, because the strength of the flesh will invariably fail you. Fear God gives the promise. The rubble bull started this building, and the rubble bull is going to finish it. Isn't that a nice promise from God? Isn't it a nice promise that God will give the strength to finish that which ye have begun? He certainly can, and he certainly will. How encouraging that it's the Spirit of God. It's not man in his power at all. It is the Spirit of God in his report. Now, Paul speaks of the strength of the Spirit in Ephesians chapter 3. I suppose I should have added, while we were talking back there in Zechariah, about the fact that that temple was as nothing compared with the temple of Solomon when the temple was completed. Oh, what a time of rejoicing. The foundations were laid. The young men shouted, and the old men wept. They remembered the bygone days. They remembered Solomon's temple. Oh, and this temple was nothing compared with it. Nothing, nothing compared with it. I'll tell you, God was interested in the building of this temple. There's no record in the Restoration Temple ever being visited with the Shekinah glory of the Lord. It's just not recorded. There's no record that the Shekinah glory ever visits this parish temple. It was 46 years in building. But I'll tell you, God was interested just the same. He was interested just the same. You only have to turn to the book of Haggai to see how God was interested in the building of this temple. And I think the Lord is interested in your building program as well. Now, in the third chapter of Ephesians, Verse 14, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. Now, this is the prayer of the Apostle Paul. He's praying for two things principally. Well, we'll read on. Verse 17, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is of breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. What is that power? It's the Spirit of God. He prayed up here in the earlier part of this prayer that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man. And now, he can do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church, like Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, worlds without ends. Amen. Now, the Spirit of God is the power of the Christian life. When we were born again, we received the life, but that life only gave us the God-consciousness. That life that we received was not a life of power at all, but it gave us the God-consciousness and appreciation for the things of God. God himself is the power of the Christian life. The Spirit of God is the power of the Christian life. Life is an appreciation of things, and life is consciousness. But life is not power. Now, there is a natural power that we do have, that's in muscle power. But that's not true in the things of God. God has left us powerless in everything. Now, I don't mean that we can't serve the Lord with our bodies. We're encouraged to give our bodies, to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice in Romans chapter 12. But the power of the Christian life is the Spirit of God. The life that we have at the new birth, or the very life of Christ, is an appreciation for the things of God and consciousness. Sometimes we ask people, Are you saved? Well, I don't know. That's kind of an odd way to answer that question, Are you saved? Well, I don't know. I was illustrating this to a group of boys and girls on one occasion, and, or to an audience, and I selected the boys and girls to illustrate it, and I pointed to a boy in the audience, whose name happened to be Philip. And I said, Philip, are you alive? He looked up at me and he said, Yes. I said, Can you prove it? And his eyes garnered about, and he began to think, and he was absolutely puzzled. How was he going to prove that he was alive? He knew he was alive, but how could he prove it? I said, Well, I'm asking you to prove it. How can you prove that you're alive? Well, he couldn't do it. He couldn't prove that he was alive. Finally, a little girl raised her hand, and she said, I know how. And I said, How can you do it? And she said, I can see. I said, That's right. That's right. And it caught on. And another said, I know how. And I said, How? I can hear. That's right. And they went through the five senses. Now, those five senses give them consciousness. Now, it's just as true in the spiritual sense that we are conscious of God, and that means life gives us spiritual consciousness. Now, if we had the time, we could find in the spiritual realm all the things that answer to our five senses. And we can find them in the spiritual realm. We have God consciousness. I can't quite understand that response. I don't know whether I'm saved or not. I know whether I'm alive or not. Do I have a God consciousness? Well, I should have. Believe me. Somebody asked Billy Graham, when the controversy was raging, the God of death controversy, they asked Mr. Graham how he felt about it. They asked him, Do you believe what God has said? He says, Indeed I do not. He says, I was just talking to him this morning. There is such a thing as spiritual consciousness. I have physical consciousness. How about that? I don't know whether I'm saved. I don't know whether I'm alive or not. Spiritually. I can't get the problem. I can't understand it. Do we have consciousness? Do we have contact when we talk to God? We should have. We personally should have. But all of that, with all of that, we send a new life, a new power, nothing short of the spirit of God. The spirit of God is the power of the Christian mind. Now we need to realize that. We need to realize it in a wonderful, wonderful way. And I think that that's the answer to what we have here in verse 20 of this third chapter of Ephesians. Incidentally, I might have mentioned, although I think I've taken up the subject here, in memory, personally, that Paul is asking for two things in this portion of Scripture that they might understand, that they might appreciate, that they might have the power of God in their lives and the love of God in their lives. And when you combine the power of God and the love of God, you're going to see some things happen. And so he says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus. Now God is able to do above all that we ask or think, not according to the power that worketh for us, but according to the power that worketh in us. Now, oftentimes, I think we use this Scripture, and I'm not going to find fault with anybody, if they use it in this way, but oftentimes we think of this in connection with the provision of God. We ask him for a ford and we get a Cadillac. We ask him for something, and we get so much greater than we ask for that we say, well, look, the Bible says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, well, God is able to provide for us above all that we ask or think. But here, it's not material provisions, it's our purpose that is in question. It's now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Not for us, but in us. Now, here's the truth that I'd like to present. Here, God can do more with us, because the Spirit of God is in power. He can do more with us than through us. You may have any idea. We think of ourselves sometimes as being weak. We apologize for the weakness of the Church, and there's no room for apology when we're enveloped by the Spirit of God, and He is the power of the Christian life. We have faltered and undereased. Who is it that is enveloping me? Who is it that gives me the power for the Christian life? Who is it? It's none other than the Spirit of God. If that's what the Apostle says, now on to Him that is able to do, to do, exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. And I trust that we do ask and think of things that we can do for God. I know one thing, if Paul's prayer is answered and we're enveloped by the power of God and the love of God, things are going to happen. They're going to happen in our Christian experience. We're going to see things done for God. And He's able to do more than we think. Why? It's according to the power that works in us. Now I know if you're leaning on the arm of flesh, you well may have no faith whatsoever to do and to dare for God. But if you're depending on the power of the Spirit of God, that's another question. When you're depending on that power, you're going to find out that this verse is true. You're going to find out that God will do more for you. He'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. He'll exceed your prayers when you want to do and to dare for Him because of the unwilling of the Spirit of God within you. Now in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, we have an example of how the Spirit of God will indeed strengthen us. Although He's not specifically mentioned in the 40th chapter of Isaiah, but I want you to see it. Isaiah chapter 40, verse 29. And I think we need this truth in this day and age because I think we have a defeated complex. I think we have an apologetic attitude as far as Christianity goes. And we shouldn't have it. Not at all. None of it. We read in verse 29, He giveth power to the faint. Now, notice that. He giveth power to the faint. And to them that have no might He increases strength. As a matter of fact, He had to tell you about the fall. My strength is made perfect in weakness. We can furnish the weakness. God will furnish the power. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings of eagle. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Now, there is a fear in which you and I move There are three activities here. I think all the activities of the Christian life can be summarized in verse 31. They shall mount up with wings of eagle. Right up into the heavens. I think that speaks of worship. We go into the presence of God and worship. They shall run and not be weary. I think that speaks of our service. We serve and run. And they shall walk and not faint. That speaks of our everyday life. Our everyday life is more or less done on a walk. Your service should be done on the run. We have to extend ourselves to serve the Lord, but we do like to walk a little bit in regard to our daily duties and our daily life with the Lord. Now, in these fears, in this threefold activity, our worship, our work, and our walk, I think we see all of our activities. In summary, of all of our activities, I think that if you will analyze what you're doing for the Lord, you'll find it all under these three categories. It would be either worship, or work, or walk. There is a fear in which the powers of youth do not prevail. The very power of that, the body, however you may want to summarize it, just simply plays out. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall. Those that have the strongest in the prime of their lives have all the powers of youth. And the things of God? They find it to no avail. This shows that human resource, human resource falls short in the things of God. And I don't care whether it's your strength, your wisdom, your ingenuity, or anything that you have. It simply will not do in the things of God. But, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Now, don't misunderstand me. There is a verse in Lamentations that says it's good for a man to serve the Lord in his youth. I don't mean that the powers of youth can't be used for God. I don't mean that our bodies, the strength of our bodies, can't be used for the Lord. They can't. They can't. God wants our bodies when we're young. He says, seven, give me thine heart. God wants to use these bodies of ours, and I trust that none of you young people here tonight have the experience of waking up to the opportunities that you had to serve the Lord when your teeth have all fallen out and your hair's fallen off, and you know all the things that can happen to you. And your youth is gone and your strength is gone, and you say, oh my, why didn't I see the opportunities that I had long before this? And even you seem to need to learn that what is accomplished for God is accomplished through the power of the Spirit of God. When we lean on the arm of the flesh, even when we're young, we're going to fail. We're going to fail. But, they that wait upon the Lord, they shall renew their strength, and they shall mount up with wings of eagle. This is highly suggestive, as far as I'm concerned, because the eagle is a soaring bird. He soars. Now, the bird that soars, does it because of a thermal. That's what the aviators call a thermal. It's a rising current of air. And he just holds his wings out, and the rising current of air does the work, and he soars around and around, and he gains altitude. And he soars up in the blue, because he is riding on a rising current of air. This is, as far as I'm concerned, is one of the most apt pictures of worship that I can think of. It's a rising, ascending current of air. Isn't that highly suggestive? From the spirit of the very word in the Greek, the spirit of God, which is the same word that we use in Gnatic, the Gnatic power. That spirit is a breath of air. And here, this is a warm, ascending current that bears the eagle up into the sky. And you know worshipers have wings. You know, did you ever try to worship? Pretty hard to do, isn't it? You have to pump, and you have to pump, and you have to pump, and you don't get enough, and you don't get enough. The spirit of God is the source of worship. It is through the spirit of God that you and I worship. Let's see the New Testament counterpart for these suggestions here in Isaiah 40 and 31. Philippians chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3, verse 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now, the spirit in other versions, I have a birthday with me, is capitalized. This is the spirit of God. We worship God in the spirit. He is the power for worship. Now, you and I, I think, have the experience, sometimes I end with a bird, while I'm sitting reading my Bible out on the farm over my daddy-in-law's farm years ago, and I saw a hawk. And he was flying around over the countryside on a warm spring day, and he flew over a black cloud field and he brought his hawk with him. And he began to circle around and around and around, and I noticed he was getting out of position, and he wasn't even moving. He stopped laying out there just, oh, I landed him. And he was just laying there, and he was just, you know, hanging out, and I watched him, and I'm telling you, he became such a small pet, and he flew. He finally landed. Didn't land. You know, it's nice to be caught up in the spirit of worship like that. Without all you have to do as a Christian is just spread your wings and let the spirit of God take you into this place. If you have to work up worship, you let me do it. That's something that isn't on the Bible. You don't talk about worship. Sometimes, now I trust this will not make any of you self-conscious, but sometimes I keep thinking that sometimes when we remember the Lord, we remember Jesus, I hear the word, and I hear the fact that we're worshiping too much. I become bewildered when I hear it too much. Do you worship God by saying, we worship Jesus? Does that constitute worship, to tell the Lord, Lord, we worship Jesus? Not necessarily. I'm not saying that he does. If you don't worship by simply talking about him, you spread your wings, and the spirit of God takes you into the presence of God. It's by the power of the spirit of God that you're born up in a warm, ascending church. And does that feel, does that feel like holding your wings out that way? I think it was, I think it was D.L. Moody, his memory serves me right, he was reading the word of God one day, and he was caught in a warm ascending church, and he was reading the word of God, and he finally lifted up his voice, and he said, Lord, take my hand, I can bear no more. His heart was healed, the spirit of God was doing its work. He spread his wings, and he was just lifted into the presence of God. Now that's what the spirit of God can do, and the spirit of God only. Yes, they shall mount up with me, as he did. They shall run, and not be worried. I think we've already seen this in the first chapter of Ephesians. I think that we have seen this, now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all of the ascetics, according to this law, will work it in us, as far as our service is concerned. We shall run, and not be weary. We shall walk, and not faint. I think the counterpart of that is in Relations, chapter 5, about the Christian walk. Shall we notice it, please? Relations, chapter 5, verse 16, Then walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other, so that she cannot do the things that she would. But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. If we walk in the spirit, we will not faint, we will not fall victim to the lust of the flesh, we will not quail, we will not cower in fear before the lust of the flesh. We will walk in the spirit, we will not faint. We need to walk in the spirit. Now, walking in the spirit involves our daily walk. We are to walk in the spirit in our daily lives. And the lust of the flesh will not have its way in our lives if we are walking in the spirit. We shall be strengthened according to our needs. Now, this lesson is hardly that. We're so inclined to lean on the arm of flesh. I suppose that some of you will remember last day morning, we were talking to the children, and I said probably they would enjoy enjoying the illustration that I used about the carburetor. But, if you were here at that time, and I'll repeat the story for the benefit of some that are not here, Christian brother and I were trying to overhaul the carburetor. And we got down into the insides of the carburetor, and we couldn't get a curtain jet to pry it loose. Or unscrew it. We tried, and we tried, and we tried, and we tried, and we finally had to hold a prayer meeting over that carburetor. We held a prayer meeting over that carburetor, and we just kind of let it go. Now, that's an illustration. That's an illustration of how we exalt all of our enforcement before we go to the Lord. Wouldn't it be wonderful, wouldn't it be wonderful if we could realize that the power of the Christian life is the Spirit of God working through us. Nothing's going to get to glory. As a matter of fact, when we get to heaven, I'm sure that we're going to realize then that there is absolutely nothing that we can glory in. Our own vision, our own native ability, all of the things, our vision, and all of the things that we could possibly find any consolation in, we're going to find out to the end. When we get to heaven, we're going to find out the truth. Should God be the glory? Great things He has done. That's not scripture. That's the truth. Nevertheless, the power of the Spirit of God in our life, and I fear that we're in a day when we're neglecting this truth. We are. We are depending on God's power. And if all is failed, we will run out. And we need to be careful to avoid that sort of speech, that sort of talk. Now, that will help us to appreciate the Spirit's ministry in dispensing gifts because we need power for the exercise of our gifts. Shall we turn to the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians? The Spirit's ministry in giving us gifts. Verse 4, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man through prophethood of all. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. Now, we understand, of course, that part of the gifts that are listed here, the miraculous gifts, were consigned to these, and I'm very sincere in that belief, that they were consigned to the early days of the Church. The early days of the Church, because the word of God was not yet manifested, and God wanted to manifest the authenticate, rather, the testimony of the apostles through miracles. And it was. God did it that way. And the tongues were one of those miracles. Certainly, they did impress those people that were at Pentecost when they heard the every man in his own language the wonderful works of God, the wonderful things of his glory. And certainly, wherever those gifts were manifested, the results occurred. And there was a reason for it. God showed those gifts, or gave those gifts, those early gifts, that people might believe in His face. I think we ought to check that out in the New Testament. Let's notice Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 3, How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. Now, what did God do by these miraculous gifts? He bore them witness. He gave them witness. It was the people. Now, let's notice these. I think we could refer to Scripture in the book of Acts, I believe it's chapter 9, if I'm not mistaken, or I could be mistaken. Acts, chapter 9, verse 32, And it came to pass, that Peter passed through all quarters, and came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Ammias, which had kept his dead eight years, and was sick with a cold. And Peter said unto him, Ammias, Jesus Christ, make of thee whole, arise and make thy dead. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Sarum saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now, there is an example. Now, we could go through the book of Acts. I'm not going to do it. And see where miraculous powers were given to his apostles, his disciples, his apostles. And in each case, where those miraculous powers were given, cold, disease, they turned to the Lord. The word of God was not complete. This was the way God gave pain to the message of the apostles, by doing these miracles. And that's why they were done. But now the church in our age, we have the word of God, and God works miracles. Yes, not as such, but they're miracles nevertheless. And I think the greatest miracle of all is the salvation of a precious soul. That is a miracle that puts all other miracles to shame far than this one. The salvation of a precious soul. Every time that we see a soul born again, we see a miracle. And how wonderful that miracle really is. Now, it's not time for this, to go into this whole question about tongues, miraculous gifts. But the thing that I did want to notice there, in the twelfth chapter of 1st Corinthians, was that these gifts were given by the Spirit of God, and they weren't all given to one person. You have to notice that. But it does say, "...the manifestations of the Spirit is given to every man, the prophet of it all." Then verse 11, "...but all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." Now, the Spirit, in His sovereignty, selects the gifts. You do not choose your own gifts. The Spirit gives those gifts to you. It's up to you to recognize it. But He does it to every man. I've heard some people say, Oh, I'm not gifted. There isn't... I have no gift at all. Well, I beg to differ with you. The Bible says you do have. You just have not discovered what it is yet. Now, I don't mean that it's a showy gift, ostentatious. Use that word. Not at all. But you have gifts, and the Spirit of God gives us those gifts. Now, if the Spirit of God gives us those gifts, we shouldn't be boastful about it, should we? The Apostle says to these Corinthians, he says, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? And if thou didst receive it, why hast thou boasted, as if thou hadst not received it? We have no room for boasting. Absolutely no room for boasting at all. But we all do have gifts, and the Scripture says we have. But all these worketh at one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, and don't rule out the laity. These gifts are given, so that we might profit, and that others might profit too. And then he gives the illustration in the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, that these gifts are to function together even as the body functions together. And these gifts are all given to one for a person. Now, there's more gifts in the 12th chapter of Romans. If you want to give gifts, if you want to see these things, remember the 12th chapter of Romans, the 12th chapter of Romans. They're both 12 chapters. And we see the same thing in the 12th chapter of Romans. Perhaps we should turn to the 12th chapter of Romans to emphasize a point. Verse 5, So we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts giving according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry let us lead on our ministry. For he that teacheth on teaching, for he that exhorteth on exhortation, and he that giveth let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Now, there's no crossovers in these gifts. If we have been given the gifts of ministry, then let us wait on our ministering. This is prayer. This is not ministering as we're doing now. This is ministry such as feeding it in the church that's in freedom. This is just deaconing, as I may use the word. It's the same word in Greek. Let us wait on our ministering. For he that teacheth on teaching. No crossover. In other words, keep in our spirit. Find out what God has given us in the way of gifts, and then exercise those gifts. Now, it's true that giving of gifts is absolutely the responsibility of the sovereign spirit of God and gifts to every man federally as he will. But I'll tell you what we can do. We can develop our gifts. That's within our power. We do not choose our gifts. The spirit of God does that. But we can develop our gifts. That is within our power, as a matter of fact, the way it started to do so. 1 Timothy, section 4. Verse 12 of the fourth chapter of 1 Timothy. Let no man despise thy youth. These are an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. No generation gap here, folks. None whatsoever. Paul exhorts Timothy, You just act like a mature citizen. Go ahead. Let no man despise thy youth. But these are an example of the believers. None in all the like. In word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come give attendance the reading, the legislation, the doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in you. God gave you the gift. You can't claim that you got it. But you can discover it. And you can develop it. Now that's what we don't do. We don't develop our gift. We're not to be a judge of our own gift. I think the scriptures say, Well, let the prophet speak two or three and let the others judge. Others can oftentimes tell us what our gift is. And we don't know it's us. And in the multitude of counselors there's faith. And oftentimes I think that we embark on a line and say, this is my gift. Well, I'll tell you, you'll be subject to the other people of God, and they'll tell you what your gift is. And they won't be wrong. They'll recognize that gift. You stand so close to it that you can see it. You won't be able to see the wood or the trees. We're so prejudiced, we think. And then, leaning on the iron flesh and on the natural working that we have, we know what our gift is. Others will be able to tell us more what our gift really is than we ourselves. And we should take the word for it. We should let the prophet speak two or three and let the others judge. We'll tell them whether or not we have any gift. We don't need to be afraid of the estimate of our brethren. Not at all. There's no fear in faith. And when I use and exercise faith, I don't need to be afraid. God will accomplish His purposes and His effects. But we can develop our gift. Thank God for that. Now, it's all in the Spirit. It's all of the gracious ministry of the Spirit of God. You're giving us a gift, and then giving us the power to carry them out, and develop them. Now, I think that we have a full lack in developing our gift. And we've become occupied with the development of our gift until we, perhaps, see a little improvement. And, after all, a gift is developed through exercise. An arm is strengthened through exercise. And we very erroneously suppose that because we can develop our gift, that we gave ourselves a gift in person. Well, no, we didn't. That gift came from God. But we can develop it. The only trouble of it is, we note a point of reference. Then we develop. We mature. We become more proficient. And we note another point of reference. And we project backwards to the former point of reference, until we think that we began the gift. We just often fear to drop the gift. Now, it's up to you and me to find out what it is. And listen to the things of God. We need each other's advice. Now, I know this wouldn't be too welcome to some segments of our attendees today. But we do need each other's advice. No man lives for himself alone, and no man dies for himself alone. We need each other. And in the multitude of counselors, there's faith too. But the thing that strikes me, and the thing that thrills my heart, which is all of the Spirit of God, it begins with Him. He's the Spirit of God. He continues on. Why? That you and I might have a sense of usefulness. That the church might be ministered unto. That God might be glorified. You and I have the pleasure of having this power work in us to the glory of God. There are some real rewarding experiences in Christianity. And that is the service we do for others. There is that little song, that little chorus, about the way to tell joy. This J-O-Y, Jesus, others, and you. That's the way to tell joy. And certainly our service for others. Spirit begotten, Spirit gifted, Spirit empowered, will give us an immense source of satisfaction. I don't know whether you feel about it, or you feel this way about it or not, but it makes me feel good to be able to do something for the Lord. Now I don't mean that I take psalms, or that I try to adjust my halo or anything of the kind. Not that at all. But thank God He can use them. And thank God He is able to do a speeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Because otherwise we don't ask, and we won't plan, and we won't anticipate. But He is able to do a speeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in us. And don't forget that little preposition, peace. It's the Spirit of God working in our lives. May we let go and let go. May we get out of the way and let Him work through us. Now I've kept you five minutes ahead of time. I apologize. Go to Mike. Will you close with a word of prayer? I have not listened to this teaching, to this instruction. But it will come to you all at one moment with a certain and huge change. You will see that it is my will that I may be at work one day at a time. Day by day I'll call you as one thing, which is that God wants us to do. May our leaders be true to this hope. And may we call them the sons of Israel and the daughters of Israel. You are the sons of Israel. You are the daughters of Israel. So call on me saying that I have spoken to you with the Spirit of God. Let all these gifts that I have given you speak in your mouths and may we be called in many ways which can be shown. Amen.