In this sermon, the speaker shares his experience of being led by the Holy Spirit to go to different places to preach the word of God. He emphasizes the importance of participation and manifestation of spiritual gifts in the church. The speaker encourages believers to speak words of wisdom and knowledge given by the Spirit, with love and without causing harm. He also highlights the significance of being immersed in the Spirit through the blood of Jesus and the importance of partaking in the Lamb, symbolizing the sacrifice of Christ. The sermon concludes with a conversation about fasting and the distinction between fasting and hunger strikes.

Jesus said, Go ye therefore and teach all nations. World Map Tape Outreach is fulfilling this divine commission by bringing you these messages for your spiritual edification. Open your Bible and your heart and share now in the teaching ministry from God's Word. Since I cannot tell you everything that's happened in the last 20 years, get this book, it tells a story. The Spirit made me go is the only excuse I've ever had for doing what I did. No Pentecostal church or Pentecostal movement would ever have sent me to the World Council or the Vatican Council. They all tried to keep me away from it. As if Africa is the only mission field. They say to me, What do you find in these places? I said, The best mission field I've ever been in. For there's something to be done everywhere. And if things don't change quickly, Africa will soon have to send missionaries to pagan Americans. For in South Africa, the government has made a law, the Bible must be taught in every school one hour a day. And there is no radio station but the government station and they have religious programs three times a day for Africans. So you can see the Africans get the Bible. Or do you think they should get politics? I think if they get the Bible, our politics will straighten out too. And here in America I find there is a great need. The need I discover among the children of God is mostly the confusion that exists about what the Lord teaches us, what we have in the Word of God. And strange that Paul should open the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians with the words saying, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. And I cannot think of anything else in Christian circles upon which people are more ignorant than the gifts of the Spirit. Some wonder whether they, some claim to have the gifts. I'm sorry to say all those that I have found that claim to have the gifts are a nuisance in the church. They cause trouble. Those that don't claim any gifts and just let the Holy Spirit have His way, they're a blessing. Because people that claim to have the gifts are often the people that think they can use the Holy Ghost. He wants to use us. So today let me read a few verses in two chapters and show you something about the gifts that is misunderstood greatly. It's right on this issue then. We read in chapter 12, verses 4 to 7. Now here the Apostle speaks of spiritual gifts. And he says, There are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations or ministries 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 to profit withal. The manifestation is given to every man, not the gift. The manifestation of the Spirit is what is given to the individual for the common good of all that listen to the individual, for the common good that that individual could bless. Now turn with me to Ephesians 4 and again we read from the fourth verse. There is one body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling. Here the same thing as you had here, the Spirit. Now he speaks not of the gifts of the Spirit but the Spirit in the body and a calling. Not a manifestation, a calling. And a calling is a ministry. Then he goes on, verse 5. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Here we read one Lord or there are differences of administration but the same Lord. Here he says one Lord, one faith, one baptism. And I'm amazed at the clever people, the theologians that are all scratching their heads about this one baptism. I think I've helped some of them out of their dilemma because so many of them are trying to find out how can they get all churches to practice one baptism. Some have sprinkling, some have pouring and some have immersion. And they say, how can we get to one baptism? And I said, why do you want to get to one baptism? Well, the Bible says one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Oh, but I said, that's the Lord's baptism. That's not the one you're worrying about. This is not water baptism. They say, what baptism is it? I said, this is the baptism you never preach. The baptism in the Holy Spirit. There is one baptism only and Jesus is the baptizer. And brother, he only baptizes you once. And once he's baptized, you are in. Not through, but in. Don't ever say you got through. Just admit you are in. He baptizes you into the Spirit. Then verse 6, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. The other verse said, And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. These three verses are parallel. But the one speaks of the Spirit and the other speaks of Christ. Now listen to the seventh verse. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. We had read here, But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one, every man, to profit withal. So that there is no difficulty really. The Spirit will use everyone to manifest His gifts. And the Lord will give everyone a ministry by which the Spirit can manifest His gifts. He says now, Wherefore He saith, when He ascended upon high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. But He said the Holy Spirit gives manifestations. Now what are the manifestations of the Spirit? He said the manifestation of the Spirit works this way, That when you are together in a meeting, The Spirit does not only use one person to manifest His glory, to manifest His gifts, But He uses different ones. That should be a meeting where there is participation then. Not a meeting when one fellow runs the whole show, like Brother Mumford says last night. He is the doorkeeper, He welcomes the people, then He is the evangelist, Then He takes the offering, and then He does everything. This is a group where there is participation. And so He says the manifestation is given to each individual. And to one is given by the Spirit a word of wisdom. To another, a word of knowledge by the same Spirit. Now a word isn't something that you keep in your mind, it's something you speak, isn't it? What's the good of a word if you don't say it? But when you've spoken the word, It is a word of the wisdom of the Spirit that you are speaking, no matter how dumb you are. And I've heard some very dumb people speak some beautiful words of wisdom. That's why I'm ready to learn from anybody. If it comes from the Spirit, I don't care how educated or uneducated, How white or how black he is, or how long his beard or his hair may be. If he speaks by the Spirit, I can get a word of wisdom. And I can get a word of knowledge. But that word is spoken to me. It is a gift to me, the listener. He's only got a manifestation. He manifests it. Now to one is given in that meeting the word of wisdom. To another, a word of knowledge by the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of feeling by the same Spirit. To another, the working of miracles by the same Spirit. Still to another, prophecy by the same Spirit. To another, discerning of spirits by the same Spirit. To another, diverse kinds of tongues by the same Spirit. To another, interpretation of tongues by the same Spirit. For all these work at that one and the selfsame Spirit, Dividing to every man severally as he will. And if there is an Apostle in the meeting, this Spirit may very well let the Apostle speak in tongues and interpret. He does not have to give the word of wisdom through the Apostle. He can use him for anything he wants to. That's why he says, When you are together, you must remember that he divides as he will. And what wonderful meetings I've seen when God's children are together and we are all on the same level. You know, when Pentecost started out, we didn't have platforms. I'm surprised we ever had benches or pews. But pulpits were out. We didn't have them. There are still Pentecostal churches where they have just one floor. Everybody sits on the same level. They've got a few elders here. Well, I can't blame about that because I was one of the young fellows that started building platforms. And then I put a pulpit on it, too, and so on. I didn't think we need to be so afraid of the churches. But, on the other hand, if a platform makes us fellows bigger or higher or more important than you are to the Holy Spirit, it's dangerous. It's dangerous. One dear old missionary in South Africa, one night from a platform as high as this, he forgot and he walked forward and he stepped down and down on the floor he went. And he got up and he says, Lord, if that's too high for me, I'm satisfied to minister from here. And he wasn't upset to nobody. The meeting wasn't disturbed. We only laughed a little. But he felt that that was too high for him. And he's accustomed to speak to the people at the level. Now here we have heard the nine manifestations of the Spirit. Let's go back to what Jesus does. Christ gives gifts unto men. And he says, verse 11, He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And we've got all of them in this meeting. I don't mean we've got fellows here that are tagged, for who would tag them? But we've got apostles in this meeting. Only you don't call them apostles. You call them missionaries. An apostle is a missionary. An apostle isn't a general superintendent. An apostle isn't an executive council member. They didn't have those things in early days. An apostle is somebody who has done some front line work and established something. An apostle is not the pope of the show. Not at all. An apostle is a man that will do the smallest, the detailed, the meanest thing. Let him that is most among you be your servant. And as long as a man serves, he's a wonderful apostle. But the day he begins to rule, he's no longer an apostle. He governs everybody. How do you do it? You serve everybody and everybody will appreciate you. And the more service you render, the more blessing you'll bring, the more the folks will love you. And they don't listen to you because they're afraid of you. They listen to you because they love you so. It's easy. It works by love. And now we've got two sets here. One, the gifts of the Spirit, and the other is the gifts of Christ. We now see that the gifts of the Spirit are manifested. But the gifts of Christ are given. They are ministries. And you have a ministry. Your ministry, however, will never function. You cannot function in any ministry unless the Holy Spirit manifests Himself through you. In chapter 12, we have a longer list of ministries. Verse 28, God hath set some in the church, first apostles. And friends, God does it, not the executive, not the conference. God does it! And I've come across grand, wonderful apostles that aren't even called reverend at all. They are businessmen. Who told you that an apostle is a man that does nothing but preach the gospel? If that's the case, Paul wasn't an apostle. Then he was a tentmaker. But Paul says he makes tents to pay the way, to do his apostolic ministry. That paid his fare. And he says now, God sets in the church apostles. And I thank God for the wonderful apostles I've met. Oh, but sometimes some are appointed. I don't know who appointed me in the natural. And those who originally ordained me didn't ordain me as an apostle, they ordained me as a minister. But I think I've had it prophesied over me more than a dozen times that I'm an apostle. And every time they prophesy I'm an apostle, then I say, is that a new appointment now? One prophet said to me, no, it's a confirmation of your ministry. I said, and who gave me the ministry? He says, God did. I said, then I'm satisfied. As long as I'm doing the ministry that God gave me, you don't have to prophesy to make me feel that I've got recognition. Why are we so anxious to have recognition? The ministry ought to make the way for us. And if a man hasn't a ministry, you can tag him evangelist as much as you like. Nobody will invite him as an evangelist because they know he hasn't got it. He doesn't do it. You can advertise all kinds of things. How disappointed people can be when they read the ad and hear what a great fellow this is and they come there and he's got nothing. But how wonderful when you hear about a fellow and you get there and he blesses your soul and you say, why didn't they advertise him a little more? A few days ago I was in a meeting in Bremerton. There came a lady, and I believe it was the first time she heard me. When the meeting was over she says, what's the matter with these people? Don't they know you? I said, yeah, they know me. She says, but they should have had you advertised in the paper and on radio and on television everywhere. I said, what for? She said, the whole city should have been here. All the preachers should have been here. I said, what's the good of having them here if the Lord hasn't anything to say to them? I got those that the Lord wanted to hear the Word. And folks, I've been in meetings where only one person in the meeting was blessed and turned the world upside down in that area. And then I'm in a big meeting and talk to a crowd and nothing happens. Nothing happens. The ministry that God gives us, He will use. Now, God sent in the church first apostles, secondary prophets. I've seen apostles begin, and in the beginning the apostle is the only man. There's nothing there. He starts from scratch. And he gets a family saved, he gets some person saved, the Lord begins to bring one family after another. And it isn't long before among the new converts that are just baptized in the Holy Ghost, they begin to prophesy. Would you believe it? That apostle never prophesies again. Has he lost his prophetic ministry? No. The Lord has just found a member that he could use to do it. And so it improves. Secondary prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracle workers, then healers, helps, governments or administrators, diversities of tongues, are all apostles. No, thank God, we don't all have to be apostles. It'll be all chiefs and no Indians. Are all prophets? No, brother, not all are prophets either. Are all teachers? No. Look what a time you've got to put up with Mumford and me. You've got two teachers and both of us take a long time. And then Brother Allen joins the group and he goes on. Teachers are long-winded people. But they are there. I started out to be an evangelist. You should have seen me the days I was an evangelist. I think this chord would have been too short for me. I was up and down the platform, one side or the other, jack-in-the-box, I could play that too. That's when I was an evangelist. And then I became a teacher and I stay put behind the microphones, making sure that the tapes will be all right for people to listen to. It's terrible to listen to a bad tape when the preacher one moment whispers and the next moment shouts like thunder. That's a horrible tape to listen to. That's why I keep my voice even now so that the people can get the teaching. He says here, are all teachers? No. Are all medical workers? No. Are all healers? No. Are all speakers in tongues? And how well they know that text. Brother, everybody knows that text in the churches. Do all speak with tongues? No, not all have a ministry of tongues at all. Only some. It is not speaking in tongues here, it is the ministries that are mentioned. Do all interpret? No. And now comes the Apostle and he says, but he's given us both the manifestations of the Spirit, verses 7 to 11. He has given us the gifts of Christ, the ministries, verse 28 to 30. And then he says, but covet earnestly the best gifts. And when I get there, I say now to Pentecostal teachers, he's got two sets of gifts here, gifts of the Spirit and gifts of Christ. Now which is he saying covet the best? What is he saying? Covet the best gifts comes immediately after he speaks of the gifts of Christ, not the gifts of the Spirit. And when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit, which are the best? Have you ever discovered which are the best? I asked this in a Bible school one time where I was a teacher. There was one young fellow, I taught six subjects, and this fellow took five subjects of the six. And one day he fell asleep in the first class. He fell asleep in the second class. And I said to him, look, I know a teacher can be dry, but I'm not that dry that you should fall asleep in every class. He says, I'm sorry brother, I'm fasting. I said, are you fasting? Yes. He says, and that I'm worn out. I said, what are you fasting about? He says, I'm fasting for the gifts. Oh, I see. You want gifts. Yes, he said. I said, and now you told the Lord that you won't eat or drink until he does a miracle so that you will know you've got the gift of healing. He says, that's exactly what I'm doing. How do you know? I said, I've just given you a gift of a word of knowledge. That's what you've got. Is it right? He says, yes. I said, let me give you another word. Now it's a word of wisdom. You are not fasting, you're on a hunger strike. And you'll get nothing. Gandhi could scare all India by fasting until he looked like a skeleton, but you can't scare the Lord into doing anything by saying, Lord, I won't eat until you do it. That's striking. That's rebellion. That's not fasting at all. And so many people, even why they ruin their health by going on hunger strikes. My father was that stubborn that he fasted for 40 days. Forty days. And I said, Dad, what did you get? Nothing. I said, you don't think the Lord took notice of you? He says, not. But later on he got to comfort. He said, David, do you know something? I think the Lord is giving you what I'm asking him for myself. Well, I said, then my name isn't Solomon, but you must be like old King David. God gave Solomon what David was fasting for. And I'll be glad to fit in with Dad's prayers answered. But I learned from him that 40 days fasting isn't going to make anybody a saint with just bubbling with supernatural powers and mystical life and so on. It wore him out. And how can the Spirit use a weak, sick, worn-out body? Please turn the tape over for the remainder of the message. Well, this fellow said he was fasting. I said, you come to class tomorrow. Go home now. Get your wife to give you steak and eggs and have a good lunch. Sleep well tonight. Tomorrow I'll tell you how to get the gifts. Perhaps you've already got them and you don't know it. The news got around the campus and the next day my class was double the size as usual. Everybody wanted to hear about the gifts. So I had a full courier house. I said, all right, we're going to study about the gifts and I'm going to begin with verse 31. Come at the best gifts and yet I'll show you a more excellent way. Now I said, let's first decide what are the best gifts. Because if you're going to get gifts, let's get the best. I said, what's the best gift? And one fellow put up his hand. I said, yes. He said, healings. I said, you mean the gift to heal the sick is the best gift? He said, yes. I said, brother, why? Well, he says, it gives you the most publicity. I said, then you're not after blessing the sick, you're after publicity. You want to see your name in the paper's headlines. He's done a miracle. I'm the miracle worker. I've heard of miracle ministries. Brethren, miracles do happen. But I've never seen one that you prepare for. Miracles are usually the greatest surprises. It isn't the miracle you decide to do that happens, it's the one you never expected. That's a miracle. Anyhow, I said, now you said healing is the best gift. And I said to you, do you mean the gift to heal the sick is the best gift? He said, yes. I said, in good southern English, there ain't no such gift in the Bible. There is no gift in the Bible that says the gift to heal. But he does say gifts of healing. That's the word here. To another, gifts of healing. Now, if it is a gift to heal, what is this gifts of healing plural for? The word of wisdom is singular. The word of knowledge is singular. The others are singular, prophecy. But when he comes to healing, he says, it is gifts of healing. I tried one time to figure it out this way. I knew a man called Fred Square. And Fred was very successful with all head troubles. Anybody, it seemed, that had any trouble with their head, eyes, ears, or headaches, Fred Square was a specialist in healing people's heads. But Brother Smith Wigglesworth was a real specialist on healing people's stomachs. He didn't have much success with heads. His own daughter, Mrs. Salter, who died recently, was stone deaf till her death. She became deaf because of quinine in the Congo, drinking quinine. She became deaf. She went with her father, and one evening they were staying in my home, and she said to her dad, I'll stay home tonight, you're going to have a great healing meeting, and I am no good publicity for your healing. Because the people say, why the old man heals the sick, and there's his daughter, why doesn't he heal her? He says, Alice, if you were deaf and dumb and blind, I'd still take you to the meeting. For it isn't because of what happens to you, it is written! And what is written remains the truth no matter what you can say. Alice had to go to the meeting, and Smith Wigglesworth was a strange evangelist, I'm surprised, in South Africa they almost threw him out, because the people had come up to him, and he'd say, what's up with you? I have stomach trouble. Boom! Smack him in the stomach. Loosen! Go on. Two old people walked out, mad as can be. They're wealthy people, and nobody's ever treated them that rough. He doesn't ask you how rich you are, but he really smacked them hard. They went out, and the brethren came and said, you better get Wigglesworth out of this country before we have more trouble. But the next morning we had a great meeting, that was Saturday night, and the first two people that arrived at the city hall were these two old people. I looked at them and I said, I'm surprised, I heard last night you were going home. They said, yes, we were going home. But when we got to the hotel, we found out we're healed. So we've got to come back and thank the old Englishman. So I got them on the platform, and they thanked Brother Wigglesworth and gave their testimony on the platform. Do you know what happened after that? The next healing line Wigglesworth had, they come up to him, hit me, hit me. Everybody wanted to be hit. How quickly we develop techniques. Reverend Dick Simmons is in this meeting. I heard them say his name, and let me say Dick's doing a tremendous job. I've known him for many years. I knew him when he was still a Presbyterian minister. And the Lord baptized him in fire, and he got too hot for the church. Then he worked with David Wilkerson. But he and I talked one day, and I said to him, there are certain things for which you never develop techniques. The Lord saves, the Lord heals, and the Lord baptizes in the Holy Ghost. And there are no techniques to get people saved. There are no techniques by which you get people healed. And there are no techniques to get people baptized in the Holy Ghost. And I said, you've got to be careful. Don't try techniques with the devil either. For he has some tricks too. And if you start with techniques, and he finds out what your technique is, he'll change his. Later on I heard, Dick and some of the boys went out. They found a poor wreck of humanity standing on a street corner. And Dick goes up to him, and he says, Son, do you know somebody loves you? Yes. He says, my mother loves me, but I've broken her heart, and look what a mess I'm in. And in a few minutes, he had the boy on the street, kneeling down, surrendering his life to Christ. So he sends him back to 416. And I was the first man that ever slept in 416. They were there, working on the place, and so I slept in that place the first time anybody, after they purchased it. Well, he thought, well now I see how easy it is to reach these poor boys. He came on the next corner, and he said, he saw another one of them. Now his friends had gone back with this fellow to the house. And he came up to him, and he said, Son, do you know somebody loves you? He says, I know your kind. And he gave him an uppercut, and Dick was on his back in the street. And he says, when he lay there, he heard David say, No techniques, no techniques, no techniques. Why not? Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Let the Holy Spirit use you. Covet the best gift. And the best gift is what the other fellow needs, not what you want to display. And you don't know what the other fellow needs, and sometimes the other fellow himself doesn't know what he needs. But the Holy Spirit does. And so manifest the gift that the Spirit gives you. He'll always give the best. The manifestation will be the best. And now they say to me, Brother David, do you have any gifts? Oh, I used to think I got some. I remember the days when I thought I had the gift of tongues. And brother, they said to me, David, you've got the gift of tongues because you've got diverse kinds of tongues. And you must use it, otherwise you lose it. What did I do? I used it in season and out of season. I abused it. I prayed with tongues when nobody else felt like it because I was afraid I'd lose it. And then one day the Lord gave me interpretation because I said, Lord, the Bible says, let him that speak in a tongue pray that he may interpret. Don't wait for somebody else. You've got to pray for the interpretation. And I prayed for the interpretation. I got it. And the windows of heaven opened in that meeting. It was glorious. Oh, David, you're doing fine. You've got two gifts now. You've got tongues and interpretation. And I thought I had. And I was glad until the next meeting. What happened the next meeting? Somebody talking tongues and everybody looked at me. What for? David, you've got the gift. Now use it. There was tongues there. You've got the gift to interpret. You interpret that. And I thought, dear Lord, I didn't even feel moved by that tongue there. Nothing happened to me while that tongue was spoken. But I'd already heard them quote text. So I thought, well, what? The first text that came to my mind, I quoted. It didn't open the windows of heaven at all. I knew I was quoting a text. Don't you think the Lord wants us to read what's in the Bible? He doesn't have to repeat it so much for us. Unless there is a word that gives us a wider dimension of that text. But simply to quote a text, we can find that in Scripture. And today, because of what I did, and because of what I saw, I'm still suspicious of all the texts that I sometimes have to hear. And it is called interpretation. Well, then I said, now I'm not going to try this anymore. But then the Lord gave me prophecy. You know, just speak out without tongues. And yet I can't say that I ever really speak out without tongues. I found speaking or praying with tongues, even when you pray softly, just speak to yourself and the Lord, that's as good as the best self-starter on any car. I can always get started by speaking in tongues. Why? I edify myself. And the self-starter edifies the car. It does the car good, so the car gets started, then the car can serve me. And so I always pray a little with tongues to get started. Not when I teach, except before the meeting. But I prophesied. And then they said, now you've got three gifts. And that was wonderful, until they came to me and said, David, I've got this problem, that problem. Will you prophesy what I've got to do? Oh, then I was sorry I ever was called, I had a gift. Oh, use your gift. Use, use, use, use your gift. Operate your gift. Employ your gift. And you know, I got to the place where I wouldn't do anything. I decided I'll just preach like everybody else and never bother about gifts anymore. I didn't pray for the sick, because they didn't get healed. And I thought if I had the gift to heal, I ought to be able to heal anybody. And if I don't heal them, I've got to tell why not. I've got to know why. Because if I have all the gifts, and I can use them, then I ought to know. And I got lost. The Pentecostal movement almost lost me, or I lost it. For my father was a strictly honest man, and he knocked honesty into me if I didn't have it. And the Lord gave me grace. And I became that honest that I said I'd rather have nothing than to fake anything. And for a while I was really in a sad state. Until I discovered this verse. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. Oh, I said, then it isn't what I've got, it's what He gives. And He gives a manifestation. And He divides as He will. And I said, but He's the one that manifests all the gifts. And I saw the secret. I don't have any gifts at all, but the giver of all the gifts has got me. And He can do with me anything He pleases. Now what do you think He'll do? One thing I now discover He does. Because the Lord gave me a ministry of teaching, He kindly supplies the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge to teach and prophetic words. I don't always know what it is I'm saying or doing, for I'm a good delivery boy. I just deliver what the Holy Ghost gives, and the people who get it know what it is. Do you get gifts through the mail? What would you think of the mailman if he came and told you what's in it? That means he opened the package. I wouldn't like a mailman to open my letters and my gifts. He's got to deliver it the way he gets it. And I promise you I deliver what I get. And you can open the package and see for yourself. And so one night I spoke a word that I thought was pretty ridiculous. The people laughed, and I didn't even see the joke. But I was sorry I said it. And when the meeting was over, a man came to me and he says, Brother David, thank God for the word of wisdom that you delivered to me tonight, for if I didn't hear that word, I can hardly think what would have happened to me tomorrow. I was contemplating something and I was going to do something, but you tonight brought me a word that stopped me. And he was so encouraged and so full of joy about it, I said, now will you please tell me what that word was? And what do you think? He quotes that silly word that I said. And I said, Lord, I thought a word of wisdom is wisdom for everybody. No, he says, what may be foolishness to you is wisdom to the other man. And that's why you must never censor with your mind what the Spirit gives you to deliver. Learn to speak what he gives, whether you think it's wise or not. So I said, well, Lord, help me then never to think that it's foolishness, because my mind functions different to other people. Another one comes up, he says, David, old man, tonight I'm glad you gave me a word of knowledge that helps me out of my dilemma. I said, yes? You are in trouble? He says, brother, am I in trouble? And I didn't know why. I didn't understand. But, he says, you gave me a word tonight that's going... Why, he says, if I didn't know that you don't know me, you've never met me, you don't know my family, we've never had contact, I would have thought you knew all about me. For you looked straight in my eyes and you gave me that word. And I said, tell me what that word is. The same silly word. And he says it's a word of knowledge. The other man says it's a word of wisdom. What's the difference? The difference is this. What the first man wanted to do tomorrow, he got a word of advice, of wisdom, not to do it. But the second man had already done it yesterday. So he thought I knew what he had done. It's the same thing the one wanted to do that the other had done. So to the one that already was guilty, he got a word of knowledge. The other one got a word of wisdom. And it was the same word for both. Only the Holy Ghost can talk that way. And then I still think it's silly. But imagine my surprise when number three came up and he said, so, they've told me everything about you except that you're a prophet. I said, you mean I prophesied tonight? Oh, brother, you really did. I asked the Lord for a word and I came and I got it. I said, could I know what that word was? The same silly word. Then I gave up. I never try to open the parcels anymore. Because if I do, they have no meaning. Did you ever get a telegram from somewhere the boy that delivers it may not understand one word of it. To him it's absolute nonsense. But to you, every word has great meaning. And that's the way the Holy Spirit speaks to us. And now I close with this word. Covet the best gifts. And whether you want to be an apostle, a pastor, a teacher, what it is, prophet, whatever you want to be, those ministries, I pray that every one of you will welcome a ministry in your life. Even if it is, what brother Mumford said so sweetly last night, a helper. Helpers, the Lord knows how many we need. And anybody can do something for somebody. And I guarantee if you want to be a helper, the Lord will soon promote you to an apostle. For an apostle must be a helper all the time. To help everybody. But, he says, I show you a more excellent way than coveting. And the theologians tell me you can have all the gifts, just give me love. I want the gift of love. Nowhere in the Bible is love ever called a gift. It's fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. And he says, you can covet the best gifts, you can pray for them, but I show you a more excellent way, a better way than coveting, than desiring, than asking for. And what is that Paul? That is loving. And so I gave up coveting anything at all. For myself or for anybody else. I just learned the way. The more excellent way. The perfect way. Love everybody. Love everybody. And when you get to the end, I have to go back to the end of the fourth chapter of Ephesians. And how does the apostle say these ministries are going to work? He says in verse 30, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. And I think if I, every time I preach I pray, and now Father forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those that trespass against me, then my sermons will always be successful. For woe the preacher that gets up with bitterness and malice in his heart. The Holy Spirit is not going to be manifested through him. He's going to quarrel with the congregation, he's going to be insulting, he's going to be rough, and instead of saving them, he's going to just wound them. Don't wound sinners, just shoot to kill. And you can never aim straight if you don't love the sinner. But if you love him, you'll aim straight at his heart, and not wound his head. God bless you, and give you all grace to remember. See to it that the giver of all the gifts has got you. The Spirit has me, Jesus has immersed me into the Spirit. And what's more, for the ministry, Jesus has me. I'm in him, and he in me. How did I get in him? By the blood. For it is by the blood that Israel got into the Lamb. The Lamb's blood was on the doorpost, and Israel was safe inside the Lamb. But they were told to eat the Lamb, all of it. And when Israel, behind the shelter of the blood, whilst Egypt was experiencing tragedy and death, Israel was eating the Lamb. And every Israelite that walked out of that country was full of Lamb. Isn't that a beautiful picture? You in Christ, and Christ in you. You in the Lamb of God that takes away your sin, and the Lamb of God in you. Eat the Lamb, all of it. And David says, He brought them forth also with silver and gold, and there was not a feeble person among their tribes. Not a feeble one. They were too full of Lamb. And if we are full of Jesus, we in him and he in us, then any ministry, then you can cover all the ministries. God will use you wherever you are. Shall we bow our heads? And our Heavenly Father, we thank thee today that these are not things that we achieve by our doings. These are the blessings that we receive. They are just given. They are God's gifts. They are the gifts of Christ. We don't earn them. Help us to be willing to accept any ministry that Jesus gives us. And then, Lord, there are the gifts of the Spirit. Because we love, we want to bless. And because we want to bless, we must have gifts to impart to our friends. Give us grace, O Lord, that we will forever let the Spirit have us, hold us, keep us, use us, bless us, manifest himself through us, for the glory of God and for the extension of his kingdom till Jesus comes. Amen. 91502 Over 300 anointed messages available for your spiritual enrichment.