"Gift of Miracles Part 2" Kathryn Kuhlman Gifts of the Spirit talk 12 of 13

We have been having some interesting heart -to -heart talks recently on the gifts of the Spirit. I want to spend a few minutes with you today regarding the gift of miracles. Now, get out your Bibles, because we are discussing the 12th chapter of... 1 Corinthians. Remember something. When we talk about the gifts of the Spirit, we're not talking about the same experience that a Christian has when one is baptized with the Holy Ghost. Gifts are a trust. Always remember that. Gifts of the Spirit are a trust put into the hands or the body of an individual. And no gift is ever given of the Spirit for show. No gift of the Spirit is ever given for personal glory. Always remember that. The Holy Spirit will magnify, will glorify only one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus himself told us that the Holy Spirit will glorify me. And he'll only glorify, he'll only magnify one person. He'll only bring attention to just one person, and that one person is Jesus. Therefore, we know that when the Holy Spirit gives this wonderful trust to an individual, when he puts this trust into the hands or into the body of any individual, That one is out of order if he uses that gift to bring personal glory to himself or any selfish gain or will use it for anything that is spectacular. Now, that's the very reason that Paul, when he begins this 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, he said, I would not have you to be... ignorant concerning the use of these gifts. And always know something. The gift is to be held in subjection to the Lord. Our Lord's authority must be recognized in the use of all gifts. Well, sir, now, since we have that settled, and that is something that is most important. Always know that. Always. I've given you something in the past couple of minutes that is most important. Now let's go a little deeper into the study of this gift of miracles. Remembering also that the gift of miracles is not the same as the gift of healing. Neither is the gift of healing the same as the gift of faith. Just read it. It's there. To one is given the gift of faith, to another the gift of healing, to another the working of miracles. They are three separate gifts. Now, in order to understand the ministry of God through miracles, we must observe different periods in recorded scriptural history where the gift of miracles was emphasized. I always like to do that in studying the Word of God. Go through the entire Bible because one cannot take just a verse or a portion of a verse and take it out of context very often and build an entire theology on it. You can't do it. You must take it as a whole. Study the Word of God. See where the gift of miracles is in action. So we can do that very thing in the next several minutes. Because in order to understand the ministry of God through miracles, we must take recorded scripture history where the gifts of miracles was emphasized. And I believe that... There are four great periods in which miracles happened with frequency. First of all, we take Moses. Oh, Jimmy was saying just a moment ago, how real was the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit in the working of miracles through Moses. I believe with every atom of my being that God had given Moses. at certain times in his ministry, in his life, this wonderful gift of miracles. And then again, that period of Elijah and Elisha. And I'll go back to that in just a few minutes. That third great period, the period during the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. And remember, it's the same glorious Holy Spirit. working through the life and the ministry of Jesus. It's the same Holy Ghost. It's the same power. And then came that wonderful experience, that wonderful period, the day of Pentecost. And again, we see the gift of miracles in operation in the early church. Oh, that's thrilling. Read it, if you will, please. And remember something. You and I are still living in the day of Pentecost. Everything that happened in the early church, when all of the fruits and the gifts of the Spirit were in action, everything that happened In the early church, after Jesus left this old earth and took the position of great high priest at the right hand of God the Father, everything that happened then, we have every right to expect to happen now because we are still living in the day of Pentecost. And the day of Pentecost will continue until the rapture of the church, until the Holy Spirit is taken up out of the earth. Know that. So when I speak of these four great periods where we have the gift of miracles in operation, we are now living in that fourth great period. Oh, to me, that's thrilling. And yet many of us are closing our eyes, we're closing our ears. We are unwilling to accept that which we have every right to see in action. But do you want to know something? I believe that before the great catching up, I believe that... in these last days as we're coming to the end of this period, this dispensation, we are going to again see in operation all the gifts and all the fruits of the Spirit just as they were in operation in the early church. There is a calling out. God is calling out men and women who will believe to see the manifestation of the power of God again. Men and women who will catch this vision of power. Men and women to whom he can give this wonderful trust. Into whose hands and into whose bodies he can put this trust. and this power. I believe that with every atom of my being. All right? Let's go a little further into this thing. A miracle is a sovereign work of God, a manifestation of divine power. Mm -hmm. And it's given to substantiate a message from God. Miracles were never performed to be spectacular. We must remember that. Please. In no instance did God ever perform a miracle or permit a miracle to be performed to be spectacular. Never. They were never performed to attract people to the miracle worker. Never. Never. They were always performed to substantiate a message from God. We take the first great miracle worker, and I say that advisedly, and what I really mean, take one of the first ones to whom this wonderful trust was given, and that was to Moses. Take the recorded scripture regarding Moses. His miracles were performed in reference to the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt. God has a reason for everything He does. You and I do not necessarily have to know what the reason is. Not really. That's our faith in Him. That's our trust in Him. But He never does anything promiscuously. He's not promiscuous in anything that He does. He knows exactly why he does everything that he does. And his miracles were performed in reference to the redemption of the children of Israel out of Egypt. When God would deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, Moses was given the power to work miracles for the benefit of Pharaoh. It's there. Read it. In Exodus, the seventh chapter. Let's read just the one verse, the third verse. And we find the statement of God. I will harden Pharaoh's heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. Notice what God says. These are my signs. And my wonders. It was not what Moses was doing, but what God was doing through Moses. Continue reading. But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you that I might lay my hands upon Egypt and bring forth mine armies and my people, the children of Israel. out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them. How would Pharaoh and the Egyptians know that God was working on behalf of the children of Israel? How would they know? by the signs and the miracles that came to the hands of Moses, who was given the power to work miracles, not only for the benefit of Pharaoh, but also for the benefit of the children of Israel. God has delivered the children of Israel unto the leadership of Moses. But how would the Israelites know that Moses was God's appointed ruler and leader? How would they know? How could they be sure? What evidence did they have? And God, knowing human nature as he knows human nature, knew that they needed some outward sign. Mm -hmm. Again. How would the Israelites know? How could they be sure that Moses was God's appointed leader? By the miraculous sign that came from the hand of Moses. Therefore, in his first great period of miracles, the miracles substantiated Moses. as God's appointed ruler for Israel and attested to Pharaoh the fact that God was moving on behalf of Israel. There it is. Oh, to me this is marvelous. Remember, in every instance, when the Holy Spirit gives this gift of miracles, it's always for the glory of God. Always. All right. Let's take the second great period of the manifestation of miracles. And we come to the experience of Elijah. Oh, and I love that. Oh, to me, that's thrilling. That's something I missed and I have wished upon. thousand times that I might have been there that day. Oh, there is action, let me tell you. Something was happening every minute. I'm going to read just a few verses of the 18th chapter of 1 Kings. You read the entire thing after I leave you today. And then maybe tomorrow we'll just go on with the rest of it because this is so thrilling. Just don't dare cut this short. Oh, this I love. Here it is. And see the simplicity of it all. And as you read it, remember, God is still the same God. The power of God has never been limited. The only limit to that power that we see in action here When Elijah meets Ahab and the prophet challenges Ahab, remember, the only limit this very hour to that same power lies within you and lies within me. And we should be seeing this same power in action in our churches today. You cannot show me, in the Word of God, where this power has been limited with this dispensation or has been cut off, or why you and I have any reason whatsoever not to believe God for the manifestation of this same power. All right, here it is. Well, let's begin with about the 33rd verse of the 18th chapter of Kings. And he put the wood in order. And he cut the bullock in pieces and he laid them on the wood and said, fill four barrels with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood. And he said, do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And I know myself so well, had I been standing there near Elijah, I would have said, tell him to do it the fourth time. Do it again. Do it again. And the water ran round about the altar, and he filled the trench also with the water. He did it right. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice. that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel and that I am thy servant. Let them know from whom I have gotten my authority. Let them know. that I am thy servant and that I have done all these things at thy word. God himself had ordered all these things to be done. Elijah was in the perfect will of God in what he was doing. This gift, of miracles was the trust that God had put into the hands, into the body of an individual, not for his own selfish gain, not for show, not for personal glory, but that they may know that God was still God Almighty. Watch. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, that thou hast turned their heart back again. And then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench. I believe that literally there was dust. where water had been. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, He is the God. The Lord, He is the God. Father God, I pray that we shall not use any gift ignantly, but in the perfect will of our God. Amen.