The Holy Spirit and the Gifts — Hattie Hammond

Thank you so much. No, no, no, you stay up there. Do you ever sing the doxology at the beginning of the meeting? That's what I'd like you to do this morning. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Come on, let's sing the doxology.

Thank you for people today, in Jesus' precious name. And everybody said, Amen. God bless you. You may be seated. Thank you, brother. Praise the Lord. Isn't Jesus wonderful? I want you to keep your eyes on Jesus.

Keeping Our Eyes on Jesus

Please keep your eyes on Jesus. Don't be disturbed by anything else. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Would you say those words? Keep your eyes on Jesus. Write it in your notebook. If you've got a refrigerator at home, scribble it on the front of it.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. How many of you think God is bigger than the devil? I want you to know that. I want you to believe that. Keep your eyes on Jesus, and He'll get you through any situation. I don't care what it is.

He'll get you through. He's the God of the universe. He is able. Our God is able. Our God is able. Oh, I've just had glorious time being here with you. Thanks, brother Berkey, for inviting me. I didn't know if I would come, if Jesus wanted me to come.

But one morning, before I was wide enough awake to think my own dumb thoughts, there stood Jesus by my bed. And He said, I'll be with you at the Institute. And I, oh, you want me to go? And I just knew that I knew that I was supposed to be here.

And He's been here. Is He back there? I love Him. Don't you? Just one more time, can I hear you say His name? Jesus. Again. Jesus. And again. I thank you so much. Thank you. And you know what the topic is supposed to be this morning?

The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Gifts

The Holy Ghost and the gifts. I'm glad in suggesting these topics, brother Berkey, always put the Holy Ghost first. Do you know by this time, without Him, we can do nothing? Do you know without Him, we don't know anything?

You know, I told you about my black friend who says, leave them where the Lord done flung them. He says some of the richest things. He said to me one day, you know, I don't know nothing about nothing.

That's the reason you're so rich in the things of God. Because all we know has to come to us by the precious Holy Spirit. I want you to appreciate the precious Holy Spirit. Without Him, we can do nothing.

Without Him, we are nothing. I am nothing. Say it. We are so dependent on the precious Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that. That's the reason He sent Him. We are dumb, stupid, ignorant. Isn't that a terrible tale to tell you that you're dumb and stupid and ignorant?

Is that awful? Well, you are. And so all of us know. All that any of us know was revealed to us by the precious Holy Spirit. You can hear things by the hearing of the ear, but you don't know the truth of it until it is revealed to you by the precious Holy Spirit.

And then that has to be worked out in our life before we can really claim it as our own. Truth is not ours until it is personalized in our lives. We can quote all the scriptures about salvation, all of them in the Bible.

That won't save us. We can quote them frontwards and backwards. That doesn't save us. We have to have the experience, right? And then that truth is ours and we're saved. It's true with the baptism of the Spirit.

Just knowing and being able to quote the scriptures doesn't baptize us. It has to be personalized in our lives. And then that truth becomes our personal possession and we know that we know that we know we've been baptized in the precious Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They're not ours. They're not ours. None of us can claim them. You know, I go among some of these. I don't go to those groups. I'm sorry, but you know there are places, there are churches that are called Pentecostal.

I don't belong there. They have the strangest teachings and doctrines. They'll come up with, Sister Hammond, how many gifts do you have? Are you asking me how many gifts I claim? Yeah, I'm sorry, but I don't have any.

And yet I believe that all of the gifts have been in operation through my life. But they don't belong to us. They're not ours. They belong to the Holy Spirit. They're His. They're His. And we don't own one of them.

Paul, who talks to us about the gifts, never claimed to have one gift. And yet we can see they're all in operation in his life. It is so necessary, necessary to be baptized in the Holy Spirit if we want the operation of the Holy Spirit, if we want the ministry of the Spirit, if we want the gifts of the Spirit, if we want the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit.

They can only be manifested through a life that has been baptized with the precious Holy Spirit. How important it is. As I said, have those altar services. Get people baptized in the Holy Spirit and don't be satisfied until they get the real thing.

Out of your innermost being shall flow what? You contend for rivers and not a couple drops. I heard Earthly, she spoke three words in other tongues. Hallelujah, she has the baptism. I said, I don't believe it.

Out of your innermost being will flow rivers, not just drops. Rivers, rivers, rivers. And this gusher of speaking in other tongues, this gusher that releases the life, that opens the Spirit, that releases and breaks us wide open, that we can give ourselves to God.

I want you to know reality and I want you to contend for reality in your churches. Every pastor says, I will. I love you. God bless you. God bless you. Now concerning spirituals. Where is this found? Where?

1 Corinthians 12. Now concerning spirituals. I may as well tell you before I start. I have material enough for three hours. Is that okay with you? So I'm going to try to stick close to my nodes so I have no idea of holding you for three hours.

Sit down, brother. I won't hold you for three hours. I want to just stick close to my nodes so I give you important things and don't hold this too long. Now concerning spirituals. Spirituals. Things of the Spirit.

Spiritual gifts. I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away into these dumb idols even as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.

Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. There are differences of administration but the same Lord. There are diversities of operation but it's the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

To one is given by the Spirit a 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. He's emphasizing over and over and over and over.

You've got to have the Holy Ghost. To another the working of miracles. To another prophecy. To another discerning of spirits. To another divers kind of tongues. To another the interpretation of tongues.

All these worketh that one and the self same Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. And then he uses the body and the members of the body as an illustration of how this is supposed to work.

I'm so glad that Paul shares with us his dealings with the Corinthians in their uses and misuses of the gifts of the Spirit. It's so necessary. Wasn't Paul wise? How did he learn all this? Where did he get it?

He didn't even have a Bible. Where did he get it? By this same Holy Ghost. The wealth, the riches, the treasures that are ours in Christ Jesus if we appreciate and yield to the same Holy Ghost. Appreciate the Holy Spirit.

And I want you to appreciate him more and more and more. The poverty that's in our churches because we don't have the operation and the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit because so many pastors don't realize the wealth, the wealth that is out in this marvelous baptism of the Holy Spirit.

God does a marvelous thing in us when he baptizes us with the Spirit. I told you the real baptism of the Spirit baptizes the whole... Our intellect. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of wealth is ours.

And in the gift of the baptism of the Spirit did you ever receive a box that was to be your birthday present and you opened up that box and there were nine other small boxes inside of that box? Well, that's what happens here.

We have the baptism, this marvelous gift which is the promise of the Father and when we open it up we find out there are nine gifts inside the package and they're all at our disposal to minister to us, to edify, to build up, to comfort, to encourage, to strengthen, to meet the need in the assembly, to minister to the whole as your members of the body ministers to the body.

It's crippled if you don't have a hand. You're crippled if you don't have a foot and the hand can't say to the foot I don't need you and the foot can't say to the hand I don't need you and no member of the body can say to any other member I don't need you and the body certainly can't say to the head I don't need you.

How many of you need your head? Well, don't you think the church needs our head? Don't you think we need our head? The head of the church? And that's why I've said it before and I'll say it again. Don't hold meetings in the body of Christ without opening that service by inviting the head to come.

But we sing 74, 35, 62 and have all our doings and down the road halfway through the meeting oh, I remember, I do have a head. Oh, Jesus, well, thank you. You said we're two or three together you'd be there and we thank you that you're here.

And then the death, the poverty because we don't know that we need our head but he's the head of the assembly he's the head of the church. If there's any vision, it's in the head. If there's any hearing, it's in the head.

The word of life comes from the head. Invite the head to come. We must have the ministry of the head of the church. When you're meeting by inviting the head to come oh, oh, and when he comes but nothing happens till he gets there.

Have you ever been present when he really came? There's a great big church a great big church in our assemblies of God that has, oh, it seats, I don't know I don't get along with numbers I don't know much about it but right down here in front there's just this, not more than 20 people and the pianist has arthritis and so she goes like that poor darling, she's doing her best and they invited me to come.

Well, I just said, you go, you go. So I went and saw these most of them elderly people sitting down here in the front and the dear pianist began to play. The pastor turned the service over to me and I said, do you mind if I I'd like to sing another song because I can't handle this I can't get along in a service anytime until he comes.

So I said, I want to sing Come Thou Almighty King. We sang the first verse and I sang that thing I sang it, I sang it I've got to have you Lord. Where are you going until you get here? Honey, as sure as you're there, I'm here.

He came in that door and he let me see him come down that aisle and I said to those people Jesus just came He's here in the aisle and those people just bowed towards that aisle by the Spirit to worship Him.

There happened to be a big a big name evangelist walked in the back he says, I'm going over there and see what Sister Hammond will do with that big church and that little crowd. So he was sitting in the back and oh, everybody turned towards him Jesus.

It was, His presence was everywhere. The next night that big fella was having a big rally in the city and all the Christians were there so he went around and said I wish you were at Bethel Temple last night Jesus came.

I wish you were there. Jesus was there and he talked on a little while in his sermon and he said, it was wonderful at Bethel Temple last night Jesus was there and he talked on a little further. Oh, that you had been in Bethel Temple last night when Jesus came.

Jesus was there. Honey, He gave me thousands of dollars worth of advertising. He really did. The next night all those people were in Bethel Temple that same marvelous presence was there and we went on for three weeks the place filled night after night and that marvelous presence stayed with us service after service.

You know dear, Jesus always has the key to any and every situation. Oh, isn't He wonderful? Oh, I can't get along without Him. All these gifts shared with us. The gifts are in the body. The body of course is the church.

The Church as Christ's Body

Then we have to know what is the church. What is the church anyhow? What is the church? You know dear, I have to deal with reality with reality. I know there are problems in our assemblies of God. I know that.

But if you pastors will deal with realities your problems are all solved. I'm going to ask you again. How many of you think God is bigger than the devil? You don't have to worry. Get into any Goliath.

He knows the answer. He has the strategy. He can get in there and solve the problem. My God says With anything can happen. Nothing is impossible. Nothing. We just say, oh God can do anything. That's not what it says.

It says with God anything can happen. So you've got to get in union and oneness with Him and then things will happen. So first of all, what is the church? What is the church? Again, Paul tells us what the church is.

2 Corinthians 5, 17. Christ, He is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become. The church, no matter how many people sit in the pew. The church who are really and truly new creatures in Christ Jesus.

New creation. They have to be born again. They have to be new creations. People in whom the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set them free from the law of sin and they're out of that old strategy and that old creation and they are new creatures in Christ Jesus really born again.

Do you know what happened to you when you were born again? You've got to know this. You've got to know what really happened to you when you were born again. If you don't, the rest of your life you'll be trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together and how does this fit with this and how does this Christian life all go together and that, that is the majority of our problems and our trouble.

You have to know what happened to you when you were really born again. Peter, the first chapter, turn to it. Turn to 1 Peter. The very first chapter, the 23rd verse. Born again. Not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.

Now look at it, underscore it remember it, pray over it. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. You've got to know that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus and your church members are new creatures in Christ Jesus because God cannot do anything with the old creation.

It's full of the law of sin and death. It's a corruptible thing. It is slated for corruption. It's no good to God unless it is changed and that person is redeemed and made a new creation a new creature.

The church of Jesus Christ is a new thing in the world a new creation a new tribe of people a new creation type of people born of incorruptible seed. Alright, I want to show you something. We have three lives that we live and I'm not talking about reincarnation.

The New Birth as an Incorruptible Seed

We have three lives that we live. The first life is the result of corruptible seed. Corrupt. A little tiny eenie weenie seed that you could get hundreds of them on the end of your finger. That little tiny seed was the beginning of you.

Right? Say yes. Are you with me? Don't go to sleep. Don't get tired. If you do, just stand up and sit down. Yes. The beginning of you was a little tiny eenie weenie seed but inside that seed was everything that you are today.

Is that right? In that seed was your eyes. In that seed was your ears your brain your heart your liver your lungs your mind your arms your legs was all in that little eenie weenie tiny seed. It just had to grow.

It had to develop. It had to mature. That little life. Your first life was nine months long. And during that nine months you were fed you were warm you were clothed you were happy. Why didn't they leave us alone?

You were growing arms and legs. You were growing organs. You were growing a brain. You were developing eyes. You were getting ready for another life. And the word of God said when that which is perfect is come that which is in part is done away.

And when that little nine month old came to maturity that old envelope was thrown in the garbage. And this little new life came into another world to live. That's our second life. That's our... Here we are.

And we found out after a while we needed those legs to walk on. We needed those hands. And you found out they were worth to be something to be used more than to bite on. And you had eyes to see. And you came into this world.

You're here. You're here. But all that you are now. And if you live to be a hundred years old The doctor is not going to inject something more into you. All that you ever need is in that little eensy seed.

And here you are. Well this is our second existence. But honey this isn't the real thing. Are you sure it's right? You agree? Alright, alright. This isn't the real thing. We're only given in this second phase three score year and ten.

And in this three score year and ten God just gives us this short life time in this second phase for us to make our decisions make our choices. To become a bed. Human nature becomes a seed bed for another seed to be planted in us.

And this other seed is an incorruptible seed which is the word of God. Who's the word of God? Yes. Yes. And so human nature just becomes a seed bed for another seed to be planted in us. And that other seed that's planted in us is the Christ.

The Holy Christ. The Holy Christ. Paul got the revelation. And we hear him screaming out the revelation in Galatians. Christ liveth in me. Christ liveth in me. Christ is in me. Christ liveth in me. I live, yet not I, liveth in me.

The life that I live I don't live it by any other power but the power of the Holy Christ that lives in me. Listen to me. Are you listening? Are you listening, honey? Oh, thank you. Please, get it! This is the most important message you will ever hear.

Christ lives in me. Christ lives in me. Listen, dear. The old you is not you anymore. Would you say those words? The old you is not you anymore. Write that in your notebook. The old you is not me anymore.

There's a new life has come into me. There's another seed sown in the soil of my life. Jesus Christ came into me. This is the new birth. This is what happens in the new birth. It's not just thank the Lord for forgiving my sins.

Honey, that is an Old Testament experience. In the Old Testament you could go up to the temple in the synagogue and take your little lamb and have your sins forgiven. So, when I ask people in my meetings tell me, let's have a testimony.

I like to have testimony meetings. You know where people are. You know what they're thinking. You're able to help them. I thank the Lord for forgiving my sins. Is that all you have? Just the forgiveness of sins?

That's an Old Testament experience. You're not even a New Testament Christian. Well, my sins are forgiven. Yes, honey, you could have that in the Old Testament. It's more than making a decision. It's more than praying the sinner's prayer.

The altar. If you want the real church of Jesus Christ in your church don't let them leave that altar until they are born again and are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Then old things pass away. That old dependence on the old life passes away.

We are a new creation. A new creature. Jesus Christ lives in me. And listen to me. Listen, honey. The real you now is not the old John the old Mary the old person that used to live on the things of this world satisfy the flesh follow the desires of the natural man and do all of these things that the natural man does.

There's another person living inside of me. Jesus Christ has come in. Jesus Christ is formed in me. Those who are backslid Paul says, I pray for you until Jesus Christ is formed in you. And now listen to me.

The Christ in you is the life that God has his eyes on and is concerned about. Your spirituality. It depends on how much you let Jesus Christ live in you. How much he's matured. Just like this corruptible seed grew and grew and grew until you are what you are now.

40, 50, 60 years old. The Christ inside began in you an incorruptible seed. Listen to me, dear. Inside that incorruptible seed planted in your heart and life. Listen is all that God will ever ask of you will ever require of you throughout the countless ages of eternity.

In Christ in you. He's building eyesight too spiritual eyes. He's building spiritual legs to walk in the spirit. He's building spiritual ears to hear by the hearing of the spirit. I want to tell you, dear.

When God looks at you. Now, when he looks on you He will say to you. John, turn around. Let me see my son in you. I want to see how he's growing. I want to see how he's maturing. I want to see if you're nourishing him.

I want to see if he's developing in you. Isn't this what the gifts are for? Until we all come to that maturity. In his image. That doesn't mean we have a nose like he has and ears like he has. But his spiritual likeness in image.

Feed, feed the Christ in you. Feed that holy thing in you. Honey, any urge that's in you to pray. For God's sake, pray. That's the Christ in you hungering to commune with his own Father. When you read this word feed on this word.

This is the nourishment for that man inside of you. Feed on the word of God. Do what it says. Jesus said, what was his nourishment? My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me. Find out what his will is.

Walk in it, walk in it, walk in it. I want to tell you, I want to tell you something. When the rapture takes place. And Jesus Christ comes for his own. You know what will go? I want, please hear this.

You know what will go? The only thing that will go Is whatever Jesus Christ has developed to inside of you. This flesh, this flesh we say. This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise. I'll drop off the old natural man.

God doesn't have any use for the old natural man. He, he doesn't in any way adjust or conform. There's nothing in him that fellowships with the living God. All in you that fellowships with the living God.

Is the Christ inside of you. Where are you in growth? In development? In Jesus Christ in you. When Jesus comes I'll say it again. When Jesus comes All that will go Is the Christ inside of you. And the rest drops off Is left behind.

There's no use for it. It doesn't in any way fit into the new order of things. In this realm of the spirit. This is what happened to you When you were born again. You received the living Christ. A new seed.

The new man. The new man Christ Jesus. The new man. God does things for us. So he can do things in us. In us In us. On that seed that's planted in you. On that seed he pours out the latter rain. When you plant a garden And you plant seed in that garden The first thing you want to happen.

You want it to rain On that seed. And our Father did too. Jesus knew how important it was. And he says The very first order of business. When I get home I will pray the Father To send you the Holy Ghost.

The first order of business. He realized that seed must have rain. And then with the latter rain. And the precious Holy Ghost on that Holy seed. If we yield to the spirit of life In Christ Jesus within us Anything can happen.

What is the church? The church are these Jesus people. People in whom Jesus Christ has been formed. And that's why I can say The old you isn't you anymore. God doesn't deal with the old you. Only to get rid of it.

To take it to the cross. To crucify the flesh. He's done with it. Get rid of that thing. And now we're getting ready for the real thing. And he's coming soon dear. He's really coming soon For his church.

These are the very last days. We're having our last opportunities To make our decisions for him. To make our choices. To make our surrenders. And I want to say to you God is dealing with you about anything.

To surrender. For God's sake surrender. If he's dealing with you to make any commitment. For God's sake make that commitment. Throw yourself into God. You can trust him in any situation. And God will see you through.

He will. I know it. I could tell you miracle after miracle after miracle That God has performed for me. In situations where only God could handle things. There are times lawyers can't help you. There are times your families can't help you.

There are times counselors can't help you. There's times medication can't help you. God save us from depending on tranquilizers. Tranquilizers are only ground up demons. That's all they are. They can't help.

So when you receive Jesus Christ. When you receive Jesus Christ. Listen to me. This is the beginning of God. This is the beginning of God's life in you. This is the beginning of God in you. And this is who you will be.

Throughout the countless ages of eternity We make our choices and decisions And stake off our claim down here. I was in a church. The preacher was preaching on the coming of the Lord. Fifteen hundred people at least there.

And the preacher says I don't want you to be uptight. Don't be uptight saints. Don't be uptight. And I knew right then. That preacher wasn't even in the race. He didn't know anything about it. Don't be uptight saints.

When Jesus comes You know we will be changed on the way up To meet him. And if you aren't all you're supposed to be You will be changed on the way up. What false doctrine. How terrible, terrible To tell those people that.

And let them go out. Let them go out And live in the flesh. Live in the flesh Satisfy the flesh. Do what they want to do. Do what they want to do. I heard another preacher say Do what you want to do. And if you sin Then you can ask God to forgive you.

And he's a God of love. He'll forgive you. But do what you want to do. Oh God in heaven. Have mercy on us in this hour. This is why I'm so happy to be with you. To give you direction. People are saying.

Pastors are saying to me. We don't know what to do. We don't know what to go. We're in confusion. I say honey I know it I know it. I want to give you direction. There is reality with God In this gracious word.

God will answer your prayers And come to you and help you. We do need wisdom. God knows we need wisdom. But you can pray. I love Ephesians. That first chapter of Ephesians. Pray for the spirit of wisdom And revelation in the knowledge of him To be upon you.

That's the best wisdom we can have. That's the best wisdom we can have. When the precious spirit of wisdom And revelation. I love that verse. It's one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible. Ephesians 1 17.

Underscore it with red pencil Right in your notebook. Ephesians 1 17. Pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The father of glory May give unto you The spirit of wisdom and revelation In the knowledge of him.

The eyes of your understanding Being enlightened That ye may know. What is the hope of his calling. And what the riches of the glory Of his inheritance In his saints. Isn't that rich? Isn't that rich?

But that's ours. That's ours. Everything in this book Is for us. It's ours. We can have it. Oh What are these gifts for? What are they for? The purpose of the gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 7 To profit with awe.

1 Corinthians 14 3 He that prophesies Speaketh unto men To edification, exhortation, and comfort. 1 Corinthians 14 4 He that prophesies Edifies the church. Ephesians 4 11 13. What are they for? For the perfecting of the saints For the work of the ministry For the edifying of the body of Christ.

Till we all come In the unity of the spirit And the knowledge Of the Son of God Unto a perfect man Unto that full stature That he wants. And that's That's what happens In the new birth. You have the germ You have the seed You have the Christ Inside of you.

And it's the Christ in us Who grows and matures And comes into the full stature. Jesus can only be satisfied With himself And his own nature. And this is what he gives to us. And he wants a bride Just like himself.

Feeding the Christ Within

And this is how the bride of Christ Will be just like himself. She'll be what he is Because of that incorruptible seed Of the word of God Dropped into us That we feed and nourish And in us to grow To grow.

The old man is still there. I know that How well we all know it. And we'll never get rid of him Until we get out of here. To me To me. You know Our worst enemy Is our carnal mind. This carnal mind That's our worst enemy.

All sin All unholiness All unrighteousness Begins in the carnal mind. We think it Before we do it. And so when the thought comes When the thought first comes You say I'm not going to do it. So I'm not going to think Say amen I'm not going to think it Rebuke the thought And to me The most marvelous thing About the rapture On this side of the cloud Will be to get rid Of the carnal mind.

Do you ever feel like You'd like to pull down the zipper And get out And get released Get out Get released Get out of this This human thing This natural This carnal thing That we can't get rid of. We've got this old man with us.

One of our missionaries Tell us that One of the natives Came to him And he said Sob There's something wrong. He says I know I'm a Christian I know I'm a Christian. But he says It's like there's two dogs Inside of me And they're fighting.

One's a good dog And one's a bad dog. And these dogs Are fighting. And I don't know what To do about it. And the missionary said Well Which dog is winning? And the native Thought about it For a little while.

And he says The one I'm feeding He's the one that's winning. Do you understand parables? Yeah. So feed the Christ Feed the new man Feed him And starve the flesh Starve the old man Starve that carnal thing Starve him out Have nothing to do with him The moment he lifts his head And you know that's carnality That's flesh.

Rebuke it Be done with it And move with Christ And live in him. Amen. Oh Wisdom. Yeah. Solomon says Wisdom is the important thing Therefore get wisdom Therefore get wisdom. You know there's only one Holy Ghost Only one.

And this same Holy Ghost That baptized you and me. This is the Holy Ghost That was upon Those old prophets. Those old prophets This is the same Holy Ghost That gave them the wisdom. They had to move as they did.

It was the Holy Ghost on Isaiah. Wasn't Don't you love Isaiah? Don't you love Isaiah? It was the Holy Ghost on Isaiah. It was the Holy Ghost on Jeremiah On Elijah. It was the Holy Ghost on Jesus. Jesus didn't come to us as son of God.