(Singing) I know my God
has made the way for me. I know my God
has made the way for me. ANNOUNCER: No matter where you
are in your spiritual walk of faith, it all begins with Jesus.
Today, Kenneth Copeland explains how Jesus never operated
outside the gifts of the Spirit. Discover more, next on the
Believer's Voice of Victory. KENNETH: Let's open
our--again to Chapter 12 of I Corinthians. We started
talking about this when Jesus said that, "The Comforter
that I am sending to you, the Holy Spirit." We talked
about the spirit within when you got born again. Now we're
looking at the spirit "upon." "You shall receive power when
the Holy Ghost comes upon you," Jesus said. That's what happened
to Him in the Jordan River and equipped Him for service. Now,
before we even read these--these nine manifestations here in I
Corinthians 12, I want you to realize, Jesus never did go
outside these gifts all of them manifested in His life all the
time. That's the way He did everything. See, when He didn't
speak in tongues, He didn't need to. But then, on the other hand,
the supernatural ability to pray in tongues in your own--in your
own edification, in your own personal prayer life and so
forth, that is a supernatural gift that God has provided for
every born-again child of God that'll open up and yield
themselves to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Hallelujah.
AUDIENCE: Hallelujah. KENNETH: That's different from diverse
kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues, which
we're going to read about right here. But what I wanted you to
see is speaking with other tongues, Jesus didn't need that.
But you and I do. (Audience Agrees) Amen. His prayer life
was just fine like it was. (Laughs) Amen. But you and I
need this supernatural communication tool. Amen.
AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Hallelujah. Now, and I'm--by the
Spirit of God, as the Spirit leads me here, I'm going to show
you some things about this. Let's start there again in Verse
1. "Concerning 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. Wherefore I give you
to understand, no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus
accursed: and no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by
the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit. There are differences of administrations."
I want you to notice the word "administration." That word is
where we get "ministry." Take the "ad" off that, you find the
word "ministry" in the middle of that word. "Administration" or
"ministry," different ministries. So now keep that in
mind. You'll--we're going to see something here that'll bless
you. "There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord."
Well, that--that's readily understandable--understood
because everybody's not called to do the same thing. AUDIENCE:
That's right. KENNETH: There're different ministries in
different locations in different types of situations. And there
are different ministry gifts. These are spiritual gifts. There
are ministry gifts. And He gave some apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Those are ministry
gifts. So you're going to have different ministries. A pastor's
got a completely different ministry than--than--than, say,
a prophet or an apostle. I know this, I've experienced this many
times, that I minister on one level when I'm here in the
United States, and I minister on another level when I go out
of the United States and in different levels depending on
where I'm going because of the level of the calling with which
I am called to that country. (Audience Agrees) So there's
different--different ministries, different administrations. Okay,
so that's--that right there is going to take some studying,
isn't it? Sure, but it's all in here. Amen. It's wonderful. Now
then, "Diversities of operation, but it is the same God which
worketh all in all." Jesus said, "Believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father is in me?" This is what He's talking
about right here. And like I said, He didn't go outside these
manifestations right here. And you can find every one of them
in His ministry. Do you remember in the Gospel of John--well, in
fact, I'll just show that to you right now. Hold your place
because we've got to come right back there. But look in
the--look in the 1st chapter of John. Oh, I tell you, the Word
of God is wonderful, isn't it? (Audience Agrees) Thank You,
Lord. Look at the 37th verse. "The two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them
following, and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto
him, Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Master,) where
dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see. They came
and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it
was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak,
followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. He first
findeth his own brother Simon, and said to him, We've found
the Messiah, which, being interpreted, the Christ. And he
brought him to Jesus. And Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art
Simon the son of Jonah: thou shalt be called Cephas." You
just saw a gift of the Spirit in operation. "Thou art Simon."
Ain't nobody told him what his name was. And He changed his
name. That was knowledge from God. That was the Word of
knowledge right there. Now, watch this, "The day following
Jesus would go forth into Galilee, Philip--findeth Philip,
said to him, Follow me. Philip was of Bethsaida." Now, come on
down. Verse 47, "Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and
said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
Nathanael said unto him, Where'd you--where do you know me from?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee,
when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." "Well, He's
the Son of God." Yeah, but that same--that same thing is listed
right here in I Corinthians 12. That was the Word of knowledge.
(Audience Agrees) He saw him. Do you see it? (Audience Agrees) He
saw it and used it in a--in a calling to Nathanael. Nathanael
said, "Whoa." (Laughs) "Whoa. Yeah, You got to be Him." Amen.
He said, "You think that's something? Come on, fella.
We--you ain't seen--you ain't seen anything yet." Now, let's
go back over there where we were. Ha-ha-ha. Verse 6 again,
"There are diversities of operation, but it is the same
God which worketh all in all." Now, differences of operation.
It can be the same gift, same Holy Spirit working in one
person's life, working in another person's life, but the
operation be totally different. Samson dealt with lions and
Daniel dealt with lions, but in a completely different way. If
the king had to put Samson in the lion's den, there wouldn't
have been anything left but blood, hair, guts, and eyeballs
the next morning when the king came in there. He'd have killed
them all with his bare hands. It's still the Holy Ghost. Amen?
But when Daniel went in there, he just shoved one of them up
against the wall and went to sleep. AUDIENCE: Yeah. KENNETH:
What was that? The gift of faith. Huh? He had absolutely no
fear of those lions. The Spirit of God put the lion to sleep.
The angels were in charge. But the angels were carrying out
what the Spirit of God commanded. Both of them the Holy
Spirit. Both of them manifestations of the Holy
Spirit. Both of them prophets. Different operations. Amen?
AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Now, God told Moses to strike the
rock. Huh? He struck the rock. And what happened? Water flowed,
right? The next time, God told him to speak to the rock. But
no, he struck the rock, and God didn't say--got water both
times. But it got him in some kind of trouble. Why? Pride.
"I'm Moses. You bunch of--pow." He wasn't hitting the rock,
he was hitting them. (Audience Agrees) "You come to--do I have
to get you water? Do I have to do everything? You hadn't done
anything yet, Mr. Moses. It's been the Holy Ghost that's been
doing all this." (Audience Agrees) This is very--I'm
telling you. I'm waving a--I'm waving a big yellow caution flag
at you because the more you get into this and your faith is
growing, and--and the more you yield to the Holy Spirit, and
there's going to be some things that the Spirit of God has had
in your life that's been stacking up there that's ready
to be manifest, and--and more people are receiving and more
people, and you begin to see these things manifest in your
life, you don't want to be hitting the rock when you needed
to be speaking to it. (Audience Agrees) This was a huge problem
back in the '50s. Well, it's always been there. Back in the
'50s and '60s when--you know, these--these manifestations,
they've never been dormant, not since the day of Pentecost.
There has been somebody walking in this, I mean, a lot of
somebodies. There have been big outpourings in the rising up of
awakenings and so forth, but it's never been dormant, not
even during the Dark Ages. It's never been dormant. But, what
we saw--you know, I mean, it was--it was happening
everywhere. And there were--there were men that--and
women, too, that--see, that really got the idea, "You know,
I mean, this--I'm--I guess I'm just special. I must be special.
I mean, it looks like everybody I touch gets healed." You
remember this, don't you? I mean, it got--it got to where
it--there were guys that really--and it looked like that.
But there were times that--and everybody back there then was
having a meeting every night, in a tent or someplace every night,
and just thousands of people everywhere you look, and more
sick people than you could stir with a stick, and--and people
getting all kinds of miracles and getting healed. There--there
was one couple that I know of that I--that set up a healing
ramp in their church and didn't even believe in healing.
(Laughter) But they saw it happening everywhere else, and
they said, "We're going to do this." And people got healed!
It was that--I mean, it was that--that easy. And this--well,
not--just to make a long story short, this--I'll tell you about
this one particular fella that Brother Hagin talked about. And
I didn't know him personally, but I knew what he was talking
about. And he would go out. The Spirit of God come on him and, I
mean, signs and wonders and just marvelous, marvelous
manifestations of the Word of knowledge, just startling. And
then he'd go out the next night. But I wanted--I want you to read
something here with me. Let me point this out to you. Verse 6,
"The diversity of operation, the same God which worketh all in
all. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of
wisdom," and so forth again. Now, Verse 11, "All these
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he wills." You can't make this
happen. This is not some gift you just fold it up and put it
in your pocket, take it out when you need it. You expect it to be
there anytime you need it. Smith Wigglesworth said it like this.
Somebody asked him to explain that, and he said, "The best way
I know to tell you is you just stretch your faith as far as
it'll go, expecting the Holy Ghost to do what is necessary to
take it on through." But it's the same point. You are
believing God. You're not performing. (Audience Agrees)
And then he'd go out there the next night. And if that
anointing didn't manifest, he'd just start doing it anyway.
Well, after a while, it began to work, only it wasn't the Spirit
of God, it was familiar spirits working with him. (Audience
Agrees) Well, maybe the Lord will let us get more deeply into
that later. Now, let's go back up there now. I rushed through
that, but let's go back to Verse 8. "To one is given by the
Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by
the same Spirit." "The word of wisdom." This is not something
you just walk around with all the time. It is a word of God's
knowledge about a situation, person, or thing. And you may
only know a little piece of it. It's going to be as He wills,
but it is going to equip you or me to minister to that person.
Now, the word of wisdom is a word of God's wisdom and
knowledge about future events and things. Now, you can see
when the gifts begin to work together, prophesy, as we'll see
here before we get through--just pure prophecy that doesn't have
the word of wisdom in it or the word of knowledge in it is for
edification, exhortation, and comfort. (Praying in the Spirit)
"To prophesy is to have a word comfort. (Praying in the Spirit)
"To prophesy is to have a word from the Father that comforts, a
word from the Father that says everything's going to be all
right. And it'll build you up and make you stronger to go
ahead and do what you need to be doing," saith the Lord.
(Audience Agrees) That's what I said in tongues. Praise God.
AUDIENCE: Hallelujah. Thank You, Father. KENNETH: Yes, sir. Well,
what manifested right then? Diverse tongues, interpretation
of tongues, equals prophesy. AUDIENCE: That's good.
KENNETH: Hallelujah. AUDIENCE: Hallelujah. KENNETH: Now, see,
I--under the same unction of the Holy Spirit, then I could have
given that without speaking in tongues. But that's not the way
the Spirit of God gave it to me. AUDIENCE: Right. KENNETH: When
it came up, it came up in tongues. Hallelujah. Oh, glory
to God. Thank You, Lord. Now, I wanted you to see that. And
we're going to take care of some of that tongues business right
now, okay? Let's look in the 14th chapter. "Follow after
love, and desire spiritual gifts, rather that you may
prophesy. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto
men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the
spirit he speaks mysteries. But he that prophesies speaketh unto
men to edification, exhortation, and comfort." That's what I just
mentioned a moment ago. He that speaks in an unknown tongue
edifies, or builds up himself. Praise God. Now, that is for
every born-again, Holy Ghost-baptized believer. Amen.
That is devotional prayer life, supernatural communication with
your Father. Glory to God. And it is there for you, and it's
ready 24 hours a day. Amen. And it's not as the Spirit wills
as much as it is as you will--(Audience Agrees)--because
He's there all the time. See, we're not talking about ministry
gifts here, spiritual gifts here. We're--well, it is, but it
belongs to every born-again child of God. It's part of your
life equipment. That's for ministry and avocation yourself.
He said, "What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit. I
will pray with the understanding also." So that's the reason I
said it's not as much as the Spirit wills as it is that you
will because He's there willing all the time when it comes to
your prayer life. AUDIENCE: Amen. KENNETH: Someone walked
up to my spiritual father, Oral Roberts, and they said, "You
mean to tell me you just turn God on and off any time you want
to?" He said--and he was--he was so kind. He said, "No." He said,
"He's always on. It's me I turn on and off any time I want to."
(Laughter) AUDIENCE: That's good. KENNETH: Amen. AUDIENCE:
Amen. KENNETH: That's good, isn't it? (Audience Agrees)
But now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let's
just get this in this last minute here. Back right up there
in that 12th chapter, right at the very bottom of it there.
"God--" Verse 28, "God has set some in the church, first
apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that
miracles, gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities
of tongues. Are all apostles?" No. "Are all prophets?" No. "Are
all teachers?" No. "Are all workers of miracles?" No. "Have
all the gifts of healings?" No. "Do all speak with tongues?" No.
"Do all interpret?" No. "Well, now, see there Brother Copeland,
tongues is not for everybody." No, that's not talking about
your devotional prayer life. That's referring to these
manifestations as the Spirit will. He's talking about
diversities of tongues and interpretation of tongues which,
like I said a while ago, equals prophesy. Prophesy is speaking
by the Spirit in a known tongue. The diversities of tongues is
speaking by the Spirit in an unknown tongue, not unknown
elsewhere, unknown to you.
