Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Comforter Pt.4

Hallelujah! Amen. Let's turn to John 14. We want to share a little bit more on the Comforter. The expectation, really, of the Holy Spirit coming into our midst and showing Himself mighty; a place that God's glory can be evidenced in the tabernacle of His church.

We've been studying for weeks now that we are the temple of the Holy Ghost. The Spirit of God dwells in us, praise God! So much of professed Christendom just doesn't know it. We were in a position Friday night of providing some ministry for a number of Christians from around the country. I'm just so pleased to be a part of what manifested there. We had Amy, and Larry came. Richard and Jason drove out to set up the sound, and to make sure it was done as well as it could be done. I was able to share that with the people. I said, "These people came because they wanted to do their best for the Lord, praise God." Things that we take for granted are just not out there. For God, people are willing just to get by. Malachi spoke to it, just bringing our crumbs, one-eyed offerings with the scurvy or mange. A people that give their best to God is rare. Those people that came out to minister are people like that, and it was like a light in the darkness. People came up to me constantly saying, "These people are amazing!" I said, "It's just that it's a people that serve God with all of their hearts. As they're ministering to the Lord they do it with all of their might, praise God." That's what we've been trying to get across these last services. Are we serving God with all of our might? Are we preparing our lives as this tabernacle that can bring honor to God?

As we shift gears a little bit--we talked about the preparation of the tabernacle--now we're talking about the believing. I'm sure you've picked up in these last couple of services; what we're talking about is now using our faith to believe that that cloud will come into our midst. Now, He is evident in each of our lives: in our sanctified living, the renewed minds, and the walk in the Spirit. But tangible evidence, like it was as the Shekinah came down and all of Israel knew that God was there--is what we're believing for. At times we have personal visitations, but we're not all aware of it manifesting. There's the ever-presence of God in His omnipresence, and then there is the manifest presence; you know, when you sense the anointing? The evidence of it when you lay hands on the sick and they recover. What we're wanting to talk about now is that need for us to use our faith and believe for God to come and manifest Himself in this hour in our midst; because, very frankly, Satan is manifesting his presence and distracting people, and drawing to distraction much of the Body of Christ.

Some of our people commented concerning some of the Christians that were there, "How can they say that, or do that?' These are a people that say they love the Lord. A people, many that don't have knowledge; they don't really understand what is being expected of us in this hour as the bride is being prepared. I'll tell you, every time that I get out in that arena it makes me so thankful for what Father is doing in our midst. It surely isn't something that you can take for granted. We're a blessed people, but we're a people that are in need of a visitation. Not just us personally; I'm talking about this generation. The Scripture says that the eyes of the Lord are searching this whole earth, to and fro, looking for vessels, vehicles through which He can show Himself mighty. How would you like to be one of those? How about us as a group; could we be a place where God could put His name? I'm not--I wouldn't even say that the visitation was a genuine visitation--in fact; I would probably say that it was not, in Brownsville, in Ontario. But even if it wasn't, it was interesting to see how quickly--because they said it was God--how quickly the emphasis turned on man. What I'm asking is: I wonder if God could trust us with a real visitation? I wonder if He could find a people in our day that wouldn't commercialize it, sensationalize it. I believe God wants to visit us and we need to prepare ourselves for that visitation; a holy tabernacle, a people that are in love with one thing, the presence of God. A people that live for one thing: to keep His commandments, to love Him and to keep His commandments; the whole duty of man. And in a day of sensationalizing, commercializing, a place where God can come and be honored, and no one steal His glory.

So, we want to talk a little bit about that, and the need to be hungry, and to believe for that. It's not going to just happen; it has to be something that we're pursuing. We have to have an appetite for God. We need to believe and expect that visitation. Just like Joshua, who would not return back to what everybody else was doing, but he was the one who said, "If God shows up, I want to know it, praise God!" Is that where your heart is?

It may not be something that manifests corporately, or observably initially. In fact, I'm pretty sure it's not. It's going to start in us as individuals. Some of us are going to be more aware of it than others to begin with, especially because it can start in you and not in the person next to you. Are you ready to be the one that knows the presence of God, the power of God, the peace of God: a life of contentment in knowing that we're doing what we've been commanded to do?

John 14:26, He said: "I will send you another Comforter." "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." The Comforter, Paraclete in the Greek. As we shared, this isn't just someone that comes and pats you on the back and says, "Don't be afraid. I know its dark but don't be afraid." He's not the pitier. He's not the one that comes to empathize, or sympathize, He's the Comforter. And that word Paraclete, the Greek, is a little different than our word comfort; it includes it, but expands it. The comfort is that He is there to fix it, praise God! Not just make you feel better, but to make it right; to bring God glory in the midst of it. To shore you up and cause you to be able to stand; to give ballast to your life, training wheels to keep you from falling, pontoons to keep you from sinking. He's there to hold you up when the enemy is trying to destroy you. When the enemy comes in like a flood," the Bible says, "the Spirit of God is there to raise the standard against him." That standard speaks of a battle flag. It's one that is raised up, that shows who is present, praise God. You know by the standards who is there, warring. When the standard of the Holy Ghost comes up, I want you to know victory has been declared! Amen?

"When the enemy comes in like a flood..." If we're going to trust God, the standard of God's presence goes up. You resist the enemy and what does he do? He flees, praise God! Have you got a standard to raise? How many of you even have a standard--have you looked through the box to see if the standard is there? "We've got to raise the standard!" "What's this?" "Oh, McDonalds, Radio Shack." "What do you have?" "Well, let's see, what do we have to hold up?" "Here's my high school diploma. Here's my college diploma, here's my cum laude." What do you have to raise up? When the enemy is coming in like a flood, is the Spirit in you to raise the standard, or are you trusting in the arm of the flesh?

"The Father will send the Comforter in my name." But do you have faith, are you believing for that? We saw in Ezekiel 36, He said, "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments..." You see, if we're walking in obedience, if we're seeking the Word of God, if we're doing what we know to do--just being faithful to do what we know to do--you don't need to learn any other great mysteries of God. The simple question tonight is: "Are you doing what you know to do? Are you doing the last thing the Holy Ghost told you to do?" If you are, then you know that the Spirit of God is working in you because it is that aspect of obedience that reveals His presence.

It is through that, that Romans 8:16 says "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God..." How is that done? Through our obedience, through our awareness of Him." John 16:13 says, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: [Now, look at this] for he shall not speak of himself..." This is a very important part of this; "When the spirit of truth is come." Now that's talking about to you, beloved. He's here. It's not like we're waiting for anything. He is already here. Jesus said 2,000 years ago, "You go wait in Jerusalem and I will send the promise of the Father." And on the day of Pentecost the Spirit of God came in His fullness to fulfill the prophetic word, "This is that which was spoken of the prophet Joel. They were filled with the Holy Ghost, they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance, and they were empowered to be witnesses." The church was birthed as the tabernacle of God because they obeyed, they tarried, and they waited, and they received, each one, the promise of God. Have you? "That promise is unto you, to your children, to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God should call" (Acts 2:39). Every person in the church has to come the same way to receive the power, the presence. It's by faith; it's by obedience. Have you been empowered to live this life? It's a lot more than just intellectually understanding God. It's a lot more than praying a simple prayer, "Jesus come into my life and be the Lord of my life." It goes beyond that. "I've called you to be ambassadors."

I was in a meeting on Friday. They were talking--some of the chaplains that are going on, and it was kind of, it was a hysterical meeting--but anyway, there was this one group, a man and a woman. They love the Lord, and they are wanting to serve God. It was interesting. The person in charge talked about the lady being ordained and they wanted to make a big deal about "Well, she wasn't ordained yet, she was just licensed. And the husband was ordained, but she is going to be ordained pretty soon..." And then the next guy that spoke said, "Well, I'm not an ordained minister." I started to say something, but I thought, "Man, I do not want to prolong this meeting!" It had gone way long enough. But at that time, I started to share with them, "Yes, you are ordained. John said, I have called you, and I have ordained you that you bring forth fruit." Amen? Every one of us is ordained of God, set apart, anointed. He is wanting to empower every one of us to bring glory [listen!] to Him.

This is what it is all about. "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; [Say the next phrase with me] for he shall not speak of himself..." Now, why is that so important? Because if He is not going to speak of Himself; He sure isn't going to be speaking about you, amen? Most of us are so caught up in thinking that the Holy Ghost is always going to be talking about me: "What I can do for God? What I should believe for; believe for this new job. I feel the Lord is leading me to do this. I believe the Lord is going to bless me with this. I believe God wants me to teach this." All of this kind of stuff; there can be times when God will speak specifically concerning those issues in your life. But, primarily, the Holy Spirit is always going to be emphasizing Jesus, not you.

"Does this bring glory to the Lord? Does this empower me to better step back and decrease that He might increase? Is it more about my obedience than it is my position?" We begin to see, then, that as the Holy Spirit speaks, He will not speak of Himself, "...but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will show you things to come..." As we shared with you, that is not an eschatological prophecy. "The things that are to come" is what Jesus was speaking of here to people who had not yet been breathed upon and saying, "As you become regenerated, you will then be filled with the Spirit. You will realize, in things to come, it is not about you. It's about you becoming part of Him, part of a whole, part of the Body of Christ; empowered to serve one another, empowered to find your placement in the Body of Christ.

The main sin in Adam, the main sin in all of us, is to get caught up in ourselves. In so many different ways; whether it is trying to somehow vaunt ourselves, to be seen of other people. We're going to talk about the gifts of the Spirit in just a moment. We have to very, consciously, many of us, look and say, "Okay, am I available to God?" Some of us are very timid and we don't want to be seen. You can't let that keep you from being used. Others of us love to be seen and you can't let that keep you from being used. How has God placed us in the Body? Are we here to--as we get into Corinthians 12 and 14 in just a moment--are we here to be used of the Spirit of God to see a mutual edification of all of us that are here, the family of God? Not only in this local assembly, but as we go out and minister to people that we come in contact with who are part of the kingdom. Are you willing to be distracted from all of the daily cares, from all of your ambitions, from all of the noise that you're involved in and hear the voice of God's Spirit to bring light to a member of the Body of Christ? To speak a word in season; to become that instrument of edification that no one else may see. It won't be written in books, it will never be remembered, but God is glorified. God is not glorified by people hearing what He has done. God is glorified by people appreciating what He has done. What I mean by this is, "People who have really received and believed," as 1 John says, "the love that God has to them."

You see, God has no needs. He doesn't need to feel better about Himself. He doesn't need promotion. He doesn't need anything. What touches the heart of God is the recognition of our need of Him, our thanksgiving to Him. That's what touches His heart. I don't want to get off on this and muddy the waters, but at the same time, don't want you to think that somehow when you praise God He says, "Oh man, I feel better!" God can't feel any better, He is infinitely feeling good! What a trip that is! We're not doing anything for God. But we use this language, this verbiage, to just try to communicate to ourselves that this is what it is all about. It's about us receiving the gift, us reflecting His goodness and His glory, us appropriating the blood of Jesus that cleanses us. Us walking out of darkness into His marvelous light through obedience, and denying self reliance and self glory; that is part of the kingdom of darkness; for lack of any way to communicate it we just say, "That's what God delights in."

So, let's go to Corinthians for just a moment, and realize, then, that as we talk about a couple of these things we're not talking about requirements, things we have to do. "We have to do this." No, we get to; it's a privilege. Chapter 12 of Corinthians very emphatically says, "Covet earnestly the best gifts." Those are strong words. "Covet earnestly..." what a powerful phrase! Now, we talk about covetousness from the sin perspective and we know that to covet anything other than God is sin. And yet, how many of you know the power of covetousness? It's in our members isn't it? We all have that in our members; it's that strong desire for self gratification. Covetousness is that longing for, that sighing for, that ambition to obtain, that sighing if it is not fulfilled. That strong, lustful desire for whatever it is: emotional, intellectual, physical gratification and fulfillment. Covetousness has the spirit of "I want it all."

That's kind of the new fad now of the poker that people play. It's all over and it's kind of interesting. The one kind of thing that is very interesting to me about the poker, especially the--not the way it's even played on television because they pay out through a number of different places--but did you know that guys play that where it is winner take all? I like that! See, I think boxing ought to be that way. I don't think that boxing--like when you have George Foreman going to fight Mohammad Ali and they both get twenty million dollars. If you're going to put up forty million dollars the winner ought to get it all. You'd see a fight! In man, we want it all; we always want more. We want more than the other guy. How much is enough? "You know, I really don't have to have it all. I want you to understand that in my own flesh I really don't have to have everything. I'd like you to have something; I just want more than everybody else has."

But covetousness; you've all dealt with it to one degree or another for different things. Can I ask you this? Are you coveting--can you say right now, "I am coveting earnestly God to use me in spiritual gifts. It distracts me. I have to pull myself away from that so I can get my job done, so I can get back to the paperwork. I have to pull myself away from that to be able to do that that I really want to do: clean the house, go to work. I just can't bring myself to read the car magazine, the clothing magazine, to watch that television program, to go out to eat at the restaurant. I just have to force myself to go do that because I'm so consumed with the presence of God and being able to be used of God. I know that I am in pursuit, and somewhere in this pursuit I'm going to encounter God. I don't know what day it's going to be, what hour it is going to be, but I am eaten up! The zeal of His house has eaten me up. I am coveting the presence of God, the gifts of the Spirit to work in me. I'm constantly distracted with that thought, and that desire." I won't ask for a show of hands, but that's the commandment.

We just read earlier that the indwelling Spirit--if the Spirit dwells in us, then He is going to cause us to keep the commandments and pursue the commandments. So, to what degree, then, is the Spirit's presence evidenced in you? How strong is it? Where is your appetite? Are you hungering for spiritual things? See, I'm not asking, "Did you at one time get filled with the Holy Spirit and speak with other tongues?" I'm asking you, "Are you filled with the Spirit? Are you full of the Holy Ghost? Is the power of God driving you constantly towards spiritual things? Are you coveting earnestly the best gifts?"

Now, he says at the conclusion of Chapter 12, as he gets ready to segue into the thirteenth Chapter; he makes the statement, "And yet I show you a more excellent way..." Most people have trouble here understanding the full context of Chapters 12, 13, and 14 of Corinthians. He is not making Chapter 13 distinct. He is connecting Chapters 12 and 14 with the spirit of how these gifts are to operate, and that is by love. "I show you a more excellent way."

What he is saying is, "For these gifts to bring glory to God they have to operate by love. It has to be not about you, but others." We all know the problem with the Corinthian church, right? It's the exact opposite of our church, and that was the gifts were out of control. And here, they're hardly evident, . And so with this Corinthian church, the gifts, of course, were, as we said, being abused. The abuse was not even the abundance, but the spirit of it. As you read this closely you are going to see that it wasn't just that people were talking in tongues too much, that they were prophesying too much. They were doing it to be seen; they were doing it for their own jollies, for the promotion of themselves. They were competing as to who was the most spiritual. And they thought that would be the one that could perform the greatest miracles, come up with the most moving prophecy, or speak the loudest in tongues. And Paul says, "I show you a more excellent way. I want you to understand what this is all about." And then, of course, he tells us that the necessity is that these gifts operate by love.

Go back a few verses in Chapter 12 and look what Paul is saying. In Chapter 11 he is talking about spiritual headship. He talks about communion, the institution of the Lord's Supper and how it is to honor God and not promote self. Again, what he is talking about is the rich people would come with lavish dinners and the poor among them didn't have anything to eat. And he said, "It's a community and you need to share. It's not about coming and having a picnic, it's about glorifying God. If brothers around you are in need, then make sure that everyone has their needs provided for and have this love feast together so that Jesus can be glorified. If you don't discern the Lord's body, you eat and drink to yourself damnation."

So that is part of the practical context of what Paul is saying in the eleventh Chapter. Then he goes from there and says, "And when you learn how to love one another, and you seek the good of one another, then you can begin to put these spiritual gifts into proper use." He said, "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, [you guys are known to be zealous, but concerning spiritual gifts, Chapter 12, verse 1] I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols..." Now, you've got to remember what he's saying when he says "these dumb idols." He's not using it like we do. He's not saying, "Oh, these stupid idols--dumb." He's talking about deaf and dumb; gods that can't speak. He said "The God we serve is very unique; the God we serve is all about speaking. He's not dumb; He has something to say constantly. In His still, small voice He speaks to every one of us as individuals, and by the Spirit of God, corporately, He speaks to us as a church. He has provided vehicles to do that; prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues. Ministry gifts of teaching; the elders are to be apt to teach. If you're going to be a pastor you have to be apt to teach, able to communicate the heart of God.

We have a God that speaks. The great Francis Schaeffer titled his book "He Is There and He Is Not Silent." I've read all of Francis Schaeffer's books. I believe he is the most spiritually astute, spiritual philosopher and theologian of our generation. R. C. Sproul has a great grasp theologically, he is a great philosopher, but he doesn't have quite the spiritual astuteness that Schaeffer had. He knew God, and I believe R. C. does also, but Schaeffer was in another dimension of the realm of the presence of God and speaks and makes some observations in his genius that are phenomenal--and he doesn't have a clue about who God is! These guys are the sharpest among us, and are looking through a glass darkly!

I like what the one author said, "Everything that you understand God to be, He's not that." But He wants to talk to you. Listen, "Do not be carried away. You used to be carried away by all of these dumb idols," he tells them. These were a people--you have to remember who these people were as a culture; these are the Greeks. They were after gods; they had all kinds of gods they manufactured. And they put their words in their gods' mouths. And Paul is saying, "The God that we serve, the living God, is not going to speak anything you ever heard. His wisdom is not going to originate in your mind. His words are not going to come from your mouth. They're going to be things you've never heard or understood." That's powerful! You are going to see that he makes reference to that as he goes on in this passage.

"Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God [speaks coarse words, speaks naturally understood words,] calleth Jesus accursed..." That doesn't mean they cuss Jesus out, it means they will not reduce Jesus to commonness. He will not speak as other philosophers. He will not be compared to anything else that the world has to offer. The Spirit of God makes him exclusive, distinct, unique, holy, separate, above all. And His name is above every name, and there is no salvation except by the name of Jesus; "...and that no man can [truly] say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." People say it all the time. What is Paul talking about? He says, "You've got to understand that it is only the Spirit of God that allows you to speak that with conviction, with power, and with performance. "By this shall all men know you're my disciples, when you have love one for another. Don't call me Lord and not keep my commandments." All of those functional evidences [will exist] if the Spirit dwells in you; and is bringing to your remembrance all things that Jesus said. Paul is making reference to what Jesus Himself said back in John 14:16. "This is what the Holy Spirit will do, and you won't be able to be effective in showing Him as Lord unless you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God."

"Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit [Look at this next phrase] is given [Say it; do you think that includes you?] to every man to profit withal" (1 Corinthians 12:4-7). It's given to every man to profit everybody. It's not given to every man to make you great. It is given to every one among us that we, at one time or another, can be used to build somebody else up; to give God glory, to be used of the Spirit. "For to one is given by the Spirit..." I love the phrasing, as the Spirit of God speaks through here: "By the Spirit, by the Spirit, by the Spirit." He is telling us that these are not natural wisdoms, these are not natural gifts, these are not things that you have as a natural talent, okay? It's not your natural gift of gab. It's not your natural gift of compassion. Some of us, naturally, we're just gentler folks. Some of us naturally just like to be helpful, others like to be helped. It's not talking about that. "By the Spirit..." it's "other than," it's an empowering, it's a recognition that "This is not me; this is God. I don't do this naturally."

[It's funny, when I said that, phew--flash--I don't do this naturally; I hate this! (Gesturing to the people sitting in front of him.) I don't like being in front of people; never have. You'd think after thirty-seven years you'd get used to it, wouldn't you?] "By the Spirit" the Scripture says, "... the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit..." [Okay, already! Now, are we dense or is God setting a doctrine?"] By the Spirit "...To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another diver kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to [say it] every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, and are all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many."

Now, it's important here that we see this. All of these gifts are about the body. It's not about the individual, and it's about the body. He will show us that in detail as we go on into Chapter 14. We're going to take a little bit of time to read this, because what is going to happen here is--as many of us begin to covet spiritual gifts and we desire these things, we're going to begin to see the true visitation of God. We're also going to begin to see people that are trying; they're trying to do good stuff, their motives are not bad; they're trying, they want to be used of God, they want to serve God, but it's not God, it's the flesh. It has got to be done orderly.

You will see that Paul, in Chapter 14, speaks towards that and gives us the admonition that, "If you think you have to do something and God is using you, and the truth is revealed to another that is by and they speak to you, then let the first hold their peace." We'll show you the order, and who it is that does that, as we go on into the study. But we can't let confusion, the potential of confusion; we can't let our own timidity; we can't allow our own apathy that we've fallen into, keep us from a zealous pursuit of the gifts of God operating in our midst. Because if we do, we're living way below what God has intended for us. We're a temple empty of the presence of God. All of the brass, the shine, the silver sockets is in the right place, the tapestries are hung, and God is not there. We have the testimony of holiness, but no presence and no power; a people that profess but have no power.

Much of our holy living, as we shared before, is community induced. We're just trying to adjust to the crowd, we don't want to be rejected, and we want to just fit in. We know that it's right and so we're trying in our own strength. And you need to be used, you need to make effort. I'm not talking about no effort. But, I am talking about relying in our own strength. I'm talking about the wrong motive; the motive being "I don't want to be seen out of step. I don't want to sin. I don't want to be seen as not spiritual." Beloved, the motive is, "That I might taste the Spirit of God. That I might know His presence; that I might be used by Him to bring glory to His name!"

Let me just finish with one more thing tonight, and then we'll pick it up on Wednesday. "...God set [verse 18] the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him." Okay, so you can't go through that list; and pick out a gift. "You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to be the worker of miracles!" You can't pick. God sets us in the body as it pleases Him. Now the reason, probably, that you'd like to be used in the working of miracles--"I just want to be used in the ministry of the working of miracles, because I want to see the needs among us met and represented." Those are the people that God is going to use. And then there are those who say, "I really want to be used in working a miracle because that's cool, man! I like power and I want to see something spectacular!" What's the point? Motives. What's the point? These things work by love. It's not a circus; it's a metamorphosis. It can be spectacular, as the metamorphosis is--whether it is a butterfly, the Incredible Hulk--but it is a natural, spectacular occurrence. When I say "natural," I don't mean as opposed to supernatural; I mean a proper, sequential outcome. It is the natural, or the expected step in the conclusion of the promise. So miracles, then, shouldn't surprise us. They should be what we are expecting; even though they are supernatural; even though they are beyond our ability, sometimes even beyond our understanding.

As we were praying tonight with E. G., and praying for E. G., and believing; in occurrences like this, what are you doing? You're believing for the Spirit of God to manifest. We're believing for a miracle; the healing of his body is beyond anything that we can naturally produce. We can't produce the ability to believe for that. It is beyond your natural ability to generate faith; it is a gift of God. It is the working of the Spirit; it's the gifts of healing, it's the gift of miracles. But as we're praying and believing, "This could be the time that God is doing that!" What if it isn't? So what if it isn't! As we're praying, what's happening? Our faith is manifesting, we're seeking the glory of God. If you don't see the full manifestation, praise God, maybe he got 20 percent better function of one of the organs, who knows? But the key is this: we're exercising our faith, we're believing God, we're seeking the visitation of God. We're standing and saying, "Nothing is impossible to he that believeth." Until we begin to exercise we're going to stay weak. Until we begin to pursue we're going to stay in darkness and without progress. But as we pursue, we now start a journey. We're now moving toward, we are now coveting, we're now pressing toward the mark. Our lives are no longer static, they're dynamic. We're being led by the Spirit of God and the motive is the glory of God. The motive is not E. G. being healed and walking; the motive is not people will note that a notable miracle has been done. The motive, the object of this whole thing is; Jesus paid the price for that. It's what should be. And when it best will bring glory to God, it will manifest. Amen? But it's going to have to be expected. Do you expect that? Do you expect E. G. to be healed? Do you expect the power of God to manifest in our midst and see Becky healed? Do you expect for Steve to get new knees? (Are you believing, are you expecting, for me to get more hair?) What are we living for? What are we believing? Who are we? Are we serving dumb idols or do we believe that God wants to come in here and show Himself mighty in our midst? If we don't, then we're living far below what the blood of Jesus has provided for us and we don't have a clue what this eighteenth verse means, "...that he hath set us everyone, in the body as it pleases Him."

Father, we just want to be used of You. We're looking for that visitation that You might be glorified; a place where You can put Your name. You are looking for a people that you can show yourself mighty on their behalf, and we'd like to be that people, Father. We don't deserve it, we have no qualifications. We'd definitely mess it up if You left us to ourselves, so we ask for Your grace to work in us to will and to do Your good pleasure. We don't know how to go out or to come in, but we want to know You and we want to be used of You.

Father, we have people here that are in need, that need Your touch; people in this area that need to hear Your name and see the light of Your glorious gospel. We have been obedient to go, and now we want to go in power; to be sure that when we return your Word has been declared in power, Your name has been exalted. Then You will add to Your church as it pleases you. We have no desire to build a church. You said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it." We want to be used as instruments to see Your church built, Lord. We want to be eaten up with the zeal of Your house; make it a house of prayer. In a world uniting around religion, we want to be separate to the presence of God. Remove us from religion and plant us in Your presence, that we would know You, glorify You, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. As Gary plays for us for just a moment and we allow the Holy Spirit to put that challenge in us. Are you coveting earnestly the best gifts? Or are you content to live with the form and not the substance of His presence? Are you content to know about Him and not know Him? Are you to content to receive from Him and not serve Him? We just want to be used of You, Father. You are so great, Lord. We stand in awe of you. Help us to know you better. Let's sing it together and just worship Him.

"You deserve the glory..." Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah! Oh thank you, Jesus! Lord, you are the God of exceeding abundance; whatever we expect, whatever we think, You're going to do more. So we just come to pursue you and be used of you. Give us words tomorrow, give us grace. Cause us to walk in obedience. Lord, give us a word. Let us hear Your voice, then let us obey. We ask in Jesus' name. Hallelujah! Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Covet spiritual gifts." Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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