The Church - the Body - Gifts of the Spirit — G.W. North

The Church as the Body of Christ

I want to continue tonight in the theme of the church, in which we've been investigating and learning much truth. It was the ladies' night last night. I don't promise to make it man's night tonight, but I want us to investigate in the great theme of the body.

May I remind you, if you've been coming regularly, and if you haven't, well, just to remind you, to tell you, or maybe even to remind you from some past thing, that the body is really the new revelation of Scripture, in that there are many other aspects of the church revealed in Scripture, such as the temple, built together for a temple of the Lord, or the family.

You remember ancient Israel had a temple, and then you remember that ancient Israel had the great privilege of calling God their father. Of course, they never had individual new birth, but they had a national birth in a glorious occasion through the Red Sea, when the whole nation was, as it were, born in a day, in that had they stayed the wrong side of the Red Sea, they would all have been killed or taken back into captivity, and they knew God as their father in this aspect of truth.

They also knew a marital relationship with the Lord, under the figure of Israel being God's wife, but they never knew the body relationship. That was nowhere to be found in the typical teachings of the Old Testament.

It was entirely new. Paul said that it had been hidden from the ages and the generations, and now it was revealed, and he was the instrument, chiefly taken up by God, to tell us the truth of this marvellous head-body relationship, this thing of absolute oneness, union.

If you sort of like to feel up as far as your head now, and feel down, you feel it's united with your body. Yes, that's right. You won't find anywhere where there's a break. I hope you don't, anyway. Certainly not where there's a cut.

That would be bad. You would be quite dead. And this was the great thing, the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament lies precisely here. The last great prophet of the Old Testament symbolised the division there always was between God and his people, because, you remember, John Baptist had his head cut off, severed from his body.

That was taken on a nice dish to the macabre woman who wanted it, and the corpse, as it is called, was taken up and buried, division between the head and the body. When the Lord Jesus was laid in the tomb, you will remember that when they went to look into the tomb on resurrection morning, and God very conveniently had the stone rolled away, so that they could go in.

That wasn't to let Jesus out, it was only to let us go in and see that he wasn't there. He'd been out some time before the stone was rolled away. That's a marvellous thing. Stones couldn't hold the resurrected Jesus, why?

He appeared in a room when the doors and the windows were shut. He just came and stood in the midst. He didn't need a stone rolling away to let him out. But we needed the stone rolling away to let us get in and see he wasn't there.

Amen. And God very conveniently lit the tomb up with angelic lights, so that everybody could see and see that death is now a bogey, there's no darkness in it. There's no corpse in it, nothing like that.

And when they had a real good look inside, they saw that the grave clothes that had been wound round Jesus' body, actually it's the Greek word bandages actually, it was all sort of wound round. Is that the word, bandage?

Rolled right round the body, that had collapsed, you know like a bandage does, if you pull it off your thumb and squash it, because there's no thumb inside to keep it out, that had collapsed. This is the actual construction in the Greek, but the napkin that was about his head was nicely folded up and put in a place by itself, which of course confirms the statement in 1 Corinthians 15 about the resurrection, that every man in his own order, first Christ, yes that's right, the head, in this great general resurrection plan, the head and then everybody in his order in the body.

But there was the head and there was the body, all finished now, everything had risen. Head and body had risen together and it's just one, beloved, this is the amazing truth that you and I have to discover about this thing that God wants us to really get into and I hope that tonight many of us in this room will pass into that which God wants.

Forsaking Self to Become Christ's Disciples

It is taken for granted, if you are a Christian, that you've forsaken all that you want and your way, if you haven't, you're not a Christian, you've got to get this right clear in your head. The condition for you being a Christian, a born again Christian, is that you forsake your way, forsake the world, remember Jesus said this, if any man, follow me, and he doesn't hate his own life, especially other things as well, but especially his own life and take up his cross and follow me, he can't be my disciple, that's what Jesus said.

Far from throwing the net wide and saying, oh everybody be my disciple, he said if you don't forsake all, you cannot be my disciple, you must read that in Luke chapter 14. The condition is that you have agreed with him by the death of the cross, to die to all self interests, to die to self, sin, the world, everything, especially self, if you die to self, you're sure to die to everything else, hallelujah, because it's self that's got into sin and it's self that's got into the world and it's self that's done everything.

The chief enemy is self, and when you quit that for Jesus, so that you don't get Jesus mixed up with self, but it's only Jesus, then you're right, and this is the condition, it's a great one, and that's why God has supplied the cross, that's what the cross means, and we then become one with the Lord, what a tremendous thing it is.

Reading First Corinthians as a Whole

I want to spend quite most of the time tonight in the first letter that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, this is a great letter, those of you who are Bible students, or if you wouldn't aspire to such a grand title, Bible lovers, or Bible readers, I want to suggest to you that a good way of dividing up the Corinthian letter is to divide it on the occurrence of the word now, now, he says something, and then having said that, he says, well we've He deals with a series of things, so next time you do read your Corinthian letter through, and I set up the other day, and I read a letter through that I received, I didn't say well no I think I'd like to read this paragraph here, I started at the front, I even read the address, it had come from overseas, and I read the dear so-and-so, even read the date, and I read right through to the last word, that's the way I read a letter, every sensible person does it, except when they come to read the letters in the Bible, then they become insane, they become insane immediately, when they read the Bible, they buy a little card in which they can get away with six verses for a day of reading the Bible, now my beloved brothers and sisters, you've got to show God you mean it, praise the name of the Lord, really get down to it, and when you do read this Corinthian letter, here's a suggested way of going at it, just take now, now, now, alright, a good way to get this Bible divided up, look at the eleventh chapter for instance, where we were last night, you see the second verse starts off now, hallelujah, it's a good one, it says now I praise you brethren, hallelujah, that's good isn't it, when you get to chapter twelve, you find he says, now concerning spiritual gifts, amen, now the whole matter of spiritual gifts, I don't know whether you desire spiritual gifts, and Paul says you are to, look at the, the last, sorry, but the first verse of chapter fourteen, follow after love, and desire spiritual gifts, so if you don't desire spiritual gifts, you're disobedient to God, you are to desire spiritual gifts, but if you are desiring these spiritual gifts, that God has to give, you needn't get bothered about this word sort of charismatic, charismatic that's being bandied about today, you know, I don't want to get in movements at all, movements come and go, the, but what you do need to know is this word charismatic really means free gifts of God, they're, they're quite free, they function in a realm other than merely human, they are, as you will see in chapter twelve, spiritual gifts, learn this, that they are all connected with the body, what God calls the body, the body of Christ, let's start shall we, by looking lower down in chapter twelve, and we come to this verse, twelve, that's easy, twelve, twelve and thirteen, for as the body is one, and have many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ, did you see that, the body is Christ, amen, that's very wonderful, the body is the many members Christ, this is the mystery of Christ, or one of the facets of the mystery of Christ that's spoken of in the Bible, and Jesus Christ is a mystery, and this is the one of the things that makes Jesus Christ more mysterious than others, not mystical please, we don't want mystique and mystics, but we do want the mysteries of the Bible, and this is what makes Christ so mysterious to the untaught person, he was not just one lone figure in history, he is the great God that is still filling the earth by means of his body, people who are born again, baptised into that body, they virtually really come into the actual life of Jesus Christ, I have it, I don't know whether you have, I have this life, it's not exclusive to me, but it is exclusive to the body, and no one else can have it except those who are baptised into that body, it says, for by one spirit, I'm in verse 13, are we all baptised into one body, whether we be Jews, or Gentiles, Greeks, Hellenists, whether we be bond, or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit, praise the name of the Lord, so there is Christ, the body and the head is one, once we realise this, it brings us into a tremendously new understanding, now keep your finger in that chapter, turn back with me in the same epistle to the third chapter, in the third chapter, I'm sorry to have to say this, but it's true, I'm only reading it from the bible of course, when Paul wrote to these Corinthians, he had to say, look at the first verse of this chapter, I could not write unto you as unto spiritual, he wanted to write them about spiritual things, you remember, now concerning the spiritual gifts, but he said, I couldn't write unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, and even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able, for you're carnal, you're yet carnal, so when you read this Corinthian letter, you must understand that this is not strong meat, it's milk, he said, I can't write unto you as spiritual, just as unto babes, this is baby food, this Corinthian letter, I hope you've all drank it in, and it's done you good, have you, you've all mastered the Corinthian letter, it's only for babes, that's right, that's what it says, and yet you know people stand up and give great, long, months ending exposition of the meat of first Corinthians, and it's only milk, that's because people can't even take milk, yes, we can only take milk and water, that's right, it's true, I'm sad to have to say so, but I find this wherever I go, it's only milk, you read it, I didn't write the Bible, I'm telling you what it says, he says now, I'm writing to you now, and I still can't give you strong meat, because you're only babes, now what do you think of that, terrible indictment of the church, because if you go into the majority of church, you say, now about the spiritual gifts, they say, what do you mean spiritual gifts, what are you talking about, you see, don't want any of this Pentecostal stuff here or something, they think it's Pentecostal stuff, it's church stuff, don't they understand, it's for the church, listen, we've got to get this right, it says, the first verse of the epistle, correct me if I read it wrongly, please, eyes down, verse 1, Paul called Apostle, the words to be am are not in the original, Paul called Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and sustenance our brother unto the Pentecostals of God, which are in Corinth, does it say that, no, it doesn't say Baptists or Brethren either, it doesn't like that, it says the church, eyes down, let's get this right, this is for the church, Amen, your Bible says the same as mine, doesn't it, as it was inspired from heaven, let heaven inspire your heart tonight, and there's nothing to stop you passing into all that God has for you, if you say, but you see, I'm only a baby, well, you're just the one, you're just the one, it's written for you, and as you go down this third chapter, you find this, where shall we start, verse 10, according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, now Jesus Christ is the foundation of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14, the body, the foundation of the body, the church, is Jesus Christ, in fact, you'll see him, in these chapters, blessed be the name of the Lord, and when presently we come to look at these gifts of the Spirit, we shall see that they are all powers that Jesus Christ used in his everyday working ministerial life, as he moved in and out amongst men, that's what we shall discover, Jesus Christ is the foundation of the gifts, when you were baptised in the Spirit, you were baptised into this body, 1 Corinthians 12, 12 and 13, now, this is a very, very lovely thing, we'll start at the top now, when you start as a body, you start at the top, you remember when John had the revelation of Jesus Christ, in the first chapter of the book of the revelation, keep your finger, or if you've got a ribbon in your Bible, keep it in 1 Corinthians 12, and turn to Revelation chapter 1, in the marvellous revelation, John sees Jesus Christ, the risen Christ, and it says in verse 12 of chapter 1, I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, and being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks, or lampstands, now, the seven lampstands are the seven churches of Asia, and in the midst of the churches, he saw Jesus, now that's what we've got to see in the churches, remember that Paul, as I pointed out the other night, wrote to seven churches, John wrote to seven churches as well, and in the midst of Paul's seven churches, the foundation of the churches is Jesus Christ, and so, looking through the candlesticks, and right in the midst of the candlesticks was Jesus, there he is, he's the foundation of the churches, praise God.

All the churches together make the church, you've got that clear, the true church which is his body, so you look through the churches and you see the church, Jesus, it's him, the Christ, now let's have a look at it, and he says, in the midst of the seven lampstands, verse 13, I saw one light under the sun of man, clothed with a garment down his foot, and so on, girt about the peps with a golden girl, and then he starts at his head, his head, praise God, and then he finishes at his feet, verse 15, his feet were like under fine grass, as if they'd burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Now I want you to notice this, and please let's do this right away, it's indecent to have a body that's not clothed, all right, and when you see Jesus Christ, you find that the body is clothed, I wish we'd let it remain clothed, what we're doing today, shouting up the body, the body, the body, the body, and old John says here, clothed, we don't want to have a look at the body, what we want to see is the head, we're all to hold the head, not the body, that's what a body's for, isn't it, what do you think your body's for, it's to hold the head, and hold it upright too, you've got what's called a backbone, not jelly, you've got a spinal cord, and it's just there, it starts and it goes right up there, in order to hold the head, that's right, so it's not, you know, you can't make your head do it, fancy if there was no spinal cord, it stopped at your shoulder blades, that's what the whole body is for, to hold the head, it's the head that is the glory of the body, it's the head, we haven't got to puff up the body, it's functions, it's offices, it's this, that, and the other, but we've got to know them, because they're in the Bible, we're going to do that tonight, but we're here to hold the head, his head, and his hairs, the head and the hairs of whites, I wonder if I can say something, I love to say this, I love to think of it, you know, when, I tell you about preachers, they're quite normal sort of people, generally speaking, and they're like you, they have lovely little things that they get thrilled with, and this is one of the things that always thrills me, that, you know Jesus, he was born a Jew, he liked the song of Solomon's Sea, black as the rain, this lovely Jesus, with his gorgeous dark black hair, how ever did his hair get white then, how did it get white, you know, I want to stop worshipping her, that's why I love this, there's something in here, whiteness, that's what shock does to people, that's what suffering does, not that my hair turned white through suffering, I've got a good wife, she's very kind, she bears a badge of authority on her head for me, and well there it is, the head was covered, the body was covered, his head was covered, because the head of Christ is God, and the body through its head alone reaches out to God, now I'm back in 1 Corinthians 12, let's keep the body covered shall we, amen, let's keep it in its place, we're starting at the head then, here we go, you always start at the head, verse 1, now concerning spiritual gifts brethren, I want you to notice first of all that they are not natural gifts, I want you to notice secondly they are not psychic gifts, amen, these are not psychic powers, psychic powers come by special inbreeding in the human race, not deliberately done, but this is why people are not allowed to marry their blood relatives, because inbreeding in human beings always brings out the worst thoughts, insanity, hypersensitivity, soulish powers, but nevertheless give a race long enough, so they all live together for a thousand or two years, and you get some inbreeding, and out comes psychic powers, developed hypersensitive in soulish realms, often mistaken for and masquerading as spiritual gifts, they are sensual, and James links sensuality with devilish, you read James epistle and see, now, once we get on this track, that Paul is talking about spiritual gifts, amen, they are not natural, they are not highly developed psychic forces, so these can accomplish much, they have wrought and wreaked great havoc, masquerading as gifts amongst people that we'll call Pentecostal, and I mean that in a general sense, not a particularly denominative sense at all, and he says, but concerning these spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant, you know that you were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were led, now, I love this Bible, do you love the Bible, you keep reading it and you'll love it more and more, uh, praise God, uh, are there any Gentiles in the room, any Gentiles here, how many of them, put your hand up, all the Gentiles, go on, put your hand up, all the Gentiles, any Jews, you notice I didn't put my hand up, I'm neither, it says I was a Gentile, if you're born again, you're not a Jew, there are three classes of people in the world, now, it's fashionable if you're a gospel preacher, you say, there's only two classes of people, saved and unsaved, well, now, let's read the Bible and we'll correct myself, in 1 Corinthians 10, at the end of the chapter, it says, verse 32, give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church, when you're in the church, you are not a Jew, and you are not a Gentile, you are a new creation, really, you really are, how many of you believe that, if you're a Gentile, you're not born again, if you're a Jew, you're not born again, stop this business about Hebrew Christians and Gentile Christians, there aren't any, you're a Christian, that's that, you're a new creation, hallelujah, and if you don't forsake your father and your mother, and if you don't forsake your nation, and if you don't forsake everything, you can't belong, as God wants you to belong, because you're cluttered up, with this old thing, I'm not a Gentile, and I don't want you to think I'm an Englishman either, amen, do you believe you're a new creature, if you're not a new creature, you've got to get born again, amen, we've got to stop all this approximation unto, attempting to reach, wanting to be, you start wanting to be, but you've got to know that you're there, by this tremendous miracle of new birth, amen, let's go to this same chapter, isn't the Bible foolish, I shan't get beyond about two verses if I'm not careful, now here we go, you know that you were Gentiles, amen, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were led, wherefore, I give you to understand, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed, or anathema, and that no one can say, that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, now there you have the head, there you have him, Jesus, before we go down into the body, which we're going to do, here's the glorious head, but look again, what a wonderful head, and how gloriously this is written, keep your eyes well down on your Bible now, I'm going to read it as it is in the original, wherefore, I give you to understand, no one speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus anathema, and no one can say, Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost, amen, Jesus, you can get a parrot to say, Jesus is the Lord, just like you can get people to say, our father, which art in heaven, when he's not their father, but no one can say, by the Holy Ghost, we're in the realm of adoration, we're in the realm of worship, we're in the realm of headship, lordship, love, when we come into the realm of the gifts of the Spirit, amen, and all gifts, all spiritual gifts, function under the lordship of Jesus, that's the first lesson, that's at the head, if Jesus is not your Lord, if he isn't your Lord, nothing for you here, not in this chapter, unless he's Lord, if you had a gift, you would only carnalize it, turn it into a soulless manifestation, if he isn't your Lord, if he's Lord, he directs the operation, he's Lord, he rules over its manifestations, if he's Lord, this is why, when you come together as a body, you must know your, you must know your union with Jesus Christ, you must know, he's your Lord, glory, that's the thing you must know first, spend time on that, beloved, will you, lord, amen, I will stop and worship the Lord, doesn't it do that to you, something wrong with you, if not, something radically wrong, see beloved, we're in the realm of the spirituals, actually, look again at your verses, now concerning the spirituals, the word gifts isn't there, and it's in the plural, now concerning the spirituals, they're spiritual, and they're so spiritual, that they are called the spirituals of all the things in the Bible, it's the gifts that are called the spirituals, how about that, it should start making something open and shut inside you, amen, now concerning, this is how they're conceived, this is how God intended them, this is how, first of all, it is privileged, that the church is a spiritual body, worships, lives and loves and works in a spiritual atmosphere, that's what it's all about, oh, the tragedy, that these things should have been lowered to self-promotion, manifestation of a person's ugly fleshly soul, what a terrible prostitution of these gifts, amen, he's the head, hallelujah, and we worship him, that's good, now, having dealt with that, you see, that's in a class of its own, the head, now, there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are differences of administrations or ministrations, but the same Lord, and there are diversities of operations, but it's the same God, which works us all in all, exclusively, God is claiming here to the apostles, to work all these gifts, work all in all, every part, in every manifestation, it's Jesus, oh beloved, how careful we've got to be here, this functioning of the body of God is to be a complete ministration and an operation of God, in a diversified form, hallelujah, no wonder he says the foundation is Jesus Christ, the gifts of the spirit are a portrayal of Jesus Christ at work, in his ministry, those of brethren who were together this afternoon will get most out of this, when he went out into his great ministry with his anointing in Jordan, and these gifts are exactly, except the last two times in interpretation, we'll talk about that a little later, these are the Lord Jesus Christ at work, these are the exact means by which he performs his work, and they're still in him, the body is him, they haven't departed, the wonder of Jesus, the glory of his resurrection and his home going, is that he, instead of withdrawing these things from the world, by moving out of the flesh into the spirit, he magnifies them all, multiplies them all, universalises them all, my word, what a tremendous, oh how wide our God is, how glorious he is, to have done this thing, and I hope you're getting quickened inside, I hope there's something inside you livening up, I hope there's something rising and moving in you, for if you've been baptised into the body of Jesus Christ, you've been baptised into it to possess a or some gift or gifts, you've been baptised into it not to be a sleeping partner, but a functional member of the body, you've been honoured with this, that you should have and receive and help perpetuate on the earth, the powers, works, ministries, words of the living Christ of Galilee and Nazareth and Judea and Samaria, that's what it's all about, you mustn't think that you've just been forgiven and washed up a bit so that you can go to heaven when you die, you've got to see that you've been chosen, that God had in his mind before all eternity, he had in mind a place for you in Christ, not just a thought in his heart to think of you when he hung on the tree, and to include you in his forgiving grace and love, marvellous, but an actual position in his body so that you could be in and function in and with his spirit and could work in some place, position or another to manifest the living Christ, who has not changed one iota since he walked on the earth, in fact if he has changed, it's changed for the better if I may put it that way, you can't improve Jesus, but you know what I mean, instead of being localised to what was called Palestine, we mustn't call it that now, he could go all over the world, wonderful isn't it, this plan of God, the more I talk the more I want to adore, and it's he that preaches from an adoring spirit, that really prays the name of the Lord, here we are then, well well well, I'm sorry for you if you're using a different version from mine, you can get it changed.

It's important though, it won't be different in any version if it's not one of those paraphrases that don't speak to what should be said, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit the Lord, 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, those two words in Jesus we'll discuss there a little later, that is He didn't manifest them one on top of the other, but all these work with that one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every man several years as he would.

Testing the Spirit Rather Than the Gift

Now what I want you to notice is, I hope you've noticed it, which two words were used most in that section? By the same Spirit. Why? Because you see in the end of verse 13 it says, we've all been made to bring into one Spirit.

Is that right? Hallelujah. So the important thing is this, look please at verse 7, the manifestation of the gifts is given to every man. Is that what your Bible says? No, but that's how you're thinking if you're not careful.

Isn't that true? You've been thinking it's manifestation of gifts, haven't you? That's not the important thing. It's the Spirit of the body that has to be manifested. See? And that's the thing I always listen for.

I don't primarily listen for the gifts. I listen for the Spirit. That's separate. Then I know whether it's psychic or not. Whether the oracle is being worked by the human Spirit or not. I know then it's the Spirit.

You see it's the self-same Spirit. If gifts function in a church, providing you really are born again and Spirit filled and living in the Spirit, perfect. Here is the test, beloved. We don't test the gifts, we test the Spirit.

Try the Spirit, says John. It's the manifestation of the Spirit. I want to know the Spirit that's in you, brother. Listen. I know of some men that had marvellous gifts. They preached and some time ago now they used to preach.

I know that they performed miracles. I know that they cast out devils. I know that they cleansed lepers. Think of this. You don't know many people like that, do you? I'm going to read about them. They're in Luke, chapter 9.

Ah, beloved. Beloved, you've got to learn this. In Luke, chapter 9. Verse 51. It came apart. When the time was come that Jesus should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face.

And they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James, and listen to this, John, the beloved disciple, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them as Elijah did?

He did. But he turned and rebuked them and said, you know not what manner of spirit you are of. They were still of the old, old spirit. Jesus said, I haven't come for that. They hadn't got the spirit of the body, but they had gifts.

But their spirit was wrong. Their spirit was wrong. Of course they'd never been baptized in the spirit. They were merely functioning under Christ's own anointing and authority as Christ in his kingdom on the earth.

He chose servants and he empowered them for what he wished. They still were not born again. That's the important thing. So you see gifts did function before people were born again. And that will explain a lot to you.

That gifts do not primarily and properly function by the baptism in the spirit, but by the anointing. Amen. All these men performed miracles before they were baptized in the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost.

Isn't that right? Let us remember that. It's what spirit you're of, brother and sister. That's the thing that counts. Not what gifts you have. Not primarily. Amen. Though God disperse and dispense his gifts among us this night for his glory, we need them, don't we?

Don't we? God knows we do. But we need more to have the spirit of the body, which is the spirit of Christ. For the body is Christ's and the spirit is Christ's. And the gifts are Christ's. The foundation of everything is Christ's.

He's the foundation. He's the foundation of the gifts of the spirit. Hallelujah. So, oh let's go on. Let's get into this tremendous section and see what God has to say to us. Now, I read, beloved, that, well, let's look at verse 11.

All these gifts worketh that one and the selfsame spirit. See, he didn't put self in that. Selfsame. Whose self? Jesus' self. The selfsame spirit of Christ works these gifts, just as he did when he was in the body of Jesus of Nazareth.

Works all these gifts and it says, dividing to every man severally according as he will. Every man. Actually, the word is each. It's very specific. Dividing to each one. All right then. Am I to presume that each of us in this room tonight possesses at least one gift of the spirit?

Says each. Or do you think the Lord makes up his mind and says, ah, worthy. Ah, ten gifts. There they are. Divide them up amongst yourselves. You see what he does there? Well, do you? This, beloved, is a specific and personal thing with Jesus.

And I want to tell you, it depends on your personal relationship to Jesus Christ. This will find us all out. It depends on your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. And your personal relationship, when you talk about you as a person, that includes your thinking, your imagining, your will, your disposition, your desires, whether you want them, your beliefs, whether you believe in them.

Or anything like that. Your personal relationship with Jesus Christ depends on your attitude. And beloved, which shows, well, shows what spirit you are really, doesn't it? And that depends on what body you belong to.

So if you keep working it back, it depends on your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know it did with me. And it still does. It still depends on my personal relationship and communion with Jesus Christ.

It depends on this, that by the Holy Ghost, I can say the life of Jesus. And it's true that he's my utter Lord, to dispense with, or dispose of, or disperse through, as he will. That's what it depends on.

I thought it depended on whether you were baptised in the Spirit. Here, take it for granted. That's right. I thought it depended on your anointing. Well, that anointing, my anointing, doesn't depend on some dear soul prayer Lord's anointing speaker.

It depends upon my relationship. The anointing is always on the head. It comes down to the body. Always. It depends on that. Hallelujah. Glory be to the name of the Lord. It depends on that. If I may say, the neck that joins the head to the body is just that.

When you believe, how will you vote? All that's vital for my body, and all that the body would contribute to the head, to be vital to the head, comes up through this neck, comes down through this neck.

Who can tell the depth of love? Who can tell the heart of the communion? Who can tell the glory of the revelation? Who can tell the breadth of affection? Who can tell in that word Jesus? Our beloved, that's where it all lies.

Here lies the power of powerlessness of a group, or a church. Just there. Doesn't rely on anything. Lacks that, and everything is calm. The Lord be spectacular. Amen. Lack this, and the spirit will run down into the psychic, and will continue ten, twenty years like it should.

God bring it to an end. And you know, this really concerned me at one time. I've had to live and learn, you know. And anyway, my background isn't Pentecostal. I came through a very sort of an orthodox background, I tell you.

As a matter of fact, if I mention that I use a new brief Bible, that should enlighten lots of people, the background I come from. And, my word, I'm knowing about this. God did things. And God did things in me.

And then things started to happen. And when they happened, I didn't know what they were. And I won't bore you with that now. But, I've had to learn. Because nobody taught me. I didn't know anybody. It's good when you trust on God.

Don't mourn, and moan. That's the best thing that could possibly happen to you. So I've discovered. I've been in meetings at times, you know, and I've heard somebody, you know, use one of these powers.

Manifestation. And afterwards, to make it worse, somebody said, you know, that message was a blessing to me. It was a blessing to me. Oh Lord, I'm doubly moved. I'm right out here. And then I discovered something.

Listen. It comes from the soul. You can bless a soul in a soulish way. I understood that then. I saw it then. That's why soulish things meet soulish needs. And soulish people are carried away with them.

But he that is spiritual is out. And he knows in his spirit that something's wrong. He can't make his mind function on this at all. But if he continues, God gives him understanding. That's why he says, in understanding be near.

But in ways be malice. Don't get vicious about it. Don't be malicious against that spiritual brother. I told you to grab. That's as carnal as the gift that you objected to. Or the manifestation of the gift.

Amen. Let's understand, shall we? The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man. Now, the manifestation is via these gifts. We even started calling the gifts the manifestation. They aren't. They are the means of the manifestation of the spirit.

So that the spirit that's in that person is revealed. Clears in. Manifested. And you know, you know. Praise God, we know. Well now. This benefit, the self-same spirit, it says in verse 11, divides to every man.

Each one. So every one of you in this room tonight will know that this is the lot of your inheritance. That in the promised land, Joshua had to divide unto each their inheritance. And that was theirs.