The Best Gifts — Bill McLeod

Paul’s Prayer for Spiritual Strength

I would like to read from Ephesians 3, beginning at verse 13. Wherefore I desire that you faint not of my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

His name, He would grant you to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ made nothing of nothing. God says it's dollars to dollars. If God says give me a car, give me a car.

Contentment, Giving, and Trusting God

Well now they needed $30 ,000 a week. They always got it. I was not needing two. Don't forget the exchange. From the pocket I won $60. So being Scots, I checked the other pocket. And it was more than I'd actually given.

You see, like Materno said, he had the bigger shot. Have pity on the poor, you're lending to God. We give, it's a joy to give, to serve others in these ways. But to do it without thinking of anything but the love of God.

Displaying God’s Love Through Compassion

You're trying to display something of the love of God. It's not a selfish thing. And often we not hear a popular vote. People made a lot of money on slavery. I don't care if all the demons in hell and everybody on earth sees me here.

Conversion and the Baptism of the Spirit

I'm praying to you. He said as he got up, he felt a lightness in his heart. He felt a lightness in his heart. He went back to his office, his law office, and he sat down beside the fire. He received the mighty, he called it a baptism of the spirit.

Until the Pentecostal movement hit the scene, and it occurred that the baptism of the spirit was speaking in tongues. So then most evangelicals don't use the term anymore. They didn't until then. He received this mighty.

He didn't sleep long. He woke up. He was converted. He paid for a cow to walk the cow home. The pastor recognized him. Mr. Finney, give us your testimony. He never got home for six months. What did your wife think if he didn't show up for a month?

Evangelism, Testimony, and Spiritual Growth

No plans. He couldn't go and tell her it was happening. If you want to think, then he goes and looks at his son. And people started crying. And people started praying. I've never heard of anybody else to do anything like that.

But Ross Bruce said he did. Put some bricks in it. Put all kinds of stuff to God. God? What in the world is wrong with him? It was on his face. It was filled with a thousand people from Christ. When Paul prayed about it, usually when we get people converted, the first thing we do, the next thing we do, is make sure they get really rooted in doctrine.

There's nothing wrong with that. He came in his feet. We should be thinking of those terms in some way. It's wintertime in Winnipeg. Your next-door neighbor. His wife is out there pushing. His kids are there.

They're shoveling. In the spring, you call in your neighbor, and you invite them to these meetings. You just never know. You never have a clue. They came back looking. I needed you. I can't. He did it one time.

Interrupting Plans to Help Others

The highway was just a sheet of ice. I saw kids on skates. Back wheels. I stopped and I said, I'm going to get you up there. It wasn't a hill. It was just kind of a slight incline. He couldn't make it.

And people were spinning on it. He didn't want me to do this. I said, oh, come on. Let me do it. He said, you're going to waste a lot of time. You'll never get me there. Listen, just let me do it. Okay?

So he did. And we hooked on and had a chain. The chains on the back wheels. Oh, listen. You're wasting your time. You know, sooner or later I'll get out of here. I said, I'm going to get you out of here.

And the plan was just be disrupted. Maybe God wants the plan to be disrupted. Beauty of the immediate. It doesn't save you a weekend or longer. They're not people that you really like. And you know they're only doing it so they don't have to get out of the room in a motel and pay some money.

Love as the Essential Christian Virtue

We practiced smiling for every day, you know, until he got there. And they couldn't wait until they were gone. And they praised the Lord when they were gone. My love, he said, love is the essential. The love of the Spirit.

It's the only place in the Bible that phrase occurs. The love of the Spirit. Well, I should wonder if there's a verse that speaks about your love in the Spirit. To do that, Pennsylvania couldn't make a movement, but he was there to help them.

He formed a plan. He did everything he could. Center. He that loves not knows not God. For God is love. The Lord makes you to increase in love. Paul prayed in 1 Thessalonians, I think, chapter 3. Through us.

Strength in Christ Amid Personal Weakness

I kept saying, I can do all things through Christ. Okay, God preached, so I felt free then. But that was a nightmare that night. Well, he asked me to speak in a church in Winnipeg. All things through Christ.

I've never forgotten. I got in front of 30 pairs of eyes all looking at me. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Because it had a lot of verses. And I thought if I could persecute in one verse, I could plead in another.

And I made it for 20 minutes. Walking home. I was saying, hey, 2 ,000 didn't mean anything.