"Knowing God differs from Bible knowledge" & "The Humility of God" Kathryn Kuhlman

Well, now for a very few minutes, you and I are going to have a heart -to -heart talk about something that I feel is most important. We're going to talk about what one believes. Do you want to know something? It makes all the difference in the world what you believe. We've come to the time when we just accept as a truth that no matter what one believes, just so one is sincere in his belief. That's all that's necessary. Just sincerity in one's belief. I repeat. It makes all the difference in the world what one believes. It makes the difference between heaven and hell as to what one believes. And your sincerity in your belief Help one bit if you believe in the wrong thing. The most destructive disease in our country today is neither cancer or heart disease. It is spiritual blindness. I know. Cancer and... The disease of the heart are looked upon as the two most destructive diseases that we have today. But cancer and heart disease kill only the body. But spiritual blindness destroys the soul. And the most amazing thing in the whole world is the fact that in the case of... physical illness, we waste no time, we waste no money in seeking the very best medical help that we can get. And if we're that concerned about the physical, I wonder why in the world we're so unconcerned about the right help spiritually. When Our spiritual concerns should be our first. There's a portion of the Word of God here that I want to read. It's found in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians. In the fourth verse. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Oh, I pray that somehow, in these next very few minutes, the Holy Spirit will open your blinded eyes to the glorious light of the gospel. What? is Paul saying here? Oh, he knew. He knew so well of that which he was speaking. The glorious light of the gospel, he says. Who is the image of God? What is the image of God? The gospel. The word. You ask me whether or not I have ever seen God. And I will have to say without hesitation, no. I have never looked upon the person of God. I have never seen God. And immediately, the man without any spiritual understanding whatsoever will say, you're a fool. You're a fool, Catherine Kuhlman. giving your life for someone that you have never seen. And believe me, I tell you the truth, I would not work the long hours that I work for any employer that I know anything about. You could not pay me enough money. to work as hard as I work and to live the kind of life that I live. A life of separation, a life of consecration. All the money in the world couldn't pay me to live the life that I am living. And the man without any spiritual understanding will say, you are living that kind of a life? for someone that you have never seen. My friend, I have learned to know him through the word. I have seen him, his image, his personality through the light of the glorious gospel. God the Father is very real to me. Believe me, I tell you the truth. God the Father is as real to me as my own dad was in the flesh. Sure, I have put my arms around Papa's neck. I have laid my head on Papa's shoulder. I have felt his strong arms folding me close to his body. Papa was something tangible. He was my papa. But I tell you of a truth and try to explain it to someone who has no spiritual understanding is almost impossible. But I swear to you. that my Heavenly Father is as real to me, the person of the Heavenly Father, the personality of the Heavenly Father, the nearness of the Heavenly Father, the power of the Heavenly Father, is as real to me as Papa ever was. Yet one I have seen with my natural eye. The other I have seen through the light of the glorious gospel. You say, have you ever seen Jesus? Not really. I have never looked upon that wonderful face. I have never heard him speak to me audibly. And yet, beloved, he is as real to me as any earthly human being could possibly be. So close to me that there are times when I have actually, and I admit it, reached out my hand, almost expecting to feel his person. There have been times when I think I can almost hear the rustling of his garment. There are times when I've stood alone and I've looked at a darkened sky. not the tiniest star shining. And through the darkness, the blackness of the night, I think I can almost see him. And yet, I have never looked upon his person, but I would gladly give my best body to be burned at the stake. I gladly give my body, my life, myself as a living sacrifice for him. For I have learned to know him through the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is The word. And you cannot know him. You will never know him. Except you know him through the word. For he is the word. Pause with me for just a minute. I want you to see something that is very glorious to my own heart. And it's something that I am learning. I am constantly learning. I am constantly growing in the things of the Lord. And these things that I'm talking to you about today are things that you do not learn in attending a seminary or a Bible school. decrying an education, are underestimating that which is being taught in our seminaries, our Bible schools. Watch just a minute. I am saying to you that to know Him, to become acquainted with Him, to fully appreciate him. You can only find that fellowship, that closeness, that great revelation through the Word. You do not get it through the studying of the Word in the classroom. Neither do you receive it secondhand. It will only become a mental conception of him when you get it from someone else. You don't get it from much learning. Jesus reveals himself to you. God the Father reveals himself to you. The Holy Spirit will reveal Himself to you through the Word. The glorious power of the Gospel. The magnificent light of the Gospel. A second ago, I told you that one of the most amazing One of the most thrilling things about the entire life of Jesus was the fact that he personally gave proof of his authority. Oh, to me, that's very marvelous. Follow me for just a few minutes. Someone recently in a letter asked me the true meaning of the incident that happened. in the upper room when Jesus took a towel, did gird himself with the towel, and washed the feet of his disciples. The writer of the letter asked me for an understanding of that incident. We love it. It was so simple, so natural, so wonderful that you and I must accept it exactly as Jesus meant it to be accepted. The greatest of all Christian graces is humility. I repeat that statement. greatest of all Christian graces is humility. And Jesus Christ himself gave the example of what every real Christian should be, a servant. We are to serve. Oh, pause a minute. Visualize it. Do you know who that one was with a towel around him, kneeling there in that room, washing the dusty feet of mere humanity? Men? Men created in the image and likeness of Almighty God. Sinners saved by the grace of God. Just humanity. Follow humanity at that. And the one who was kneeling there washing those dusty feet was literally God in the flesh. He had been present when the world was spoken into existence. He was there. The Bible gives proof of it. The Son, the Father, the Holy Spirit, all three persons were present when the worlds, the planets were spoken into existence. That was the very Son of the living God. That was God in the flesh. He who could speak and the very elements were controlled. He who spoke and demon power listened. He who had control of all spiritual power. He who could move a hand, a mere finger. and a generation of mankind could be mowed down as though a sickle had mowed down the grain in the field. And yet he was there, kneeling before a man, a mere man. washing his dusty feet. The greatest example that could possibly be given of humility. An example for you and for me. As Christians, you and I are here to serve. We are to be the servant. Oh, beloved, again I repeat, The greatest of all Christian graces is humility. I do not believe that there's a greater sin than spiritual pride. Those today who are in our churches, who are humble and proud of it. And that one thing has caused more splits in our churches than anything that I know anything about. When somebody feels as though they are not getting the approbation that they should have. And they rise up and cause dissension. Just a second, I want to say something else while we're on this subject. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe in spiritual gifts. I... I want to go on record of saying that I believe in spiritual gifts. The Bible teaches that we are to receive spiritual gifts. But listen, my friend. I believe that if God, in his mercy, in his goodness, in his love, gives to one a spiritual gift, a gift of the spirit, that one will be so humbled with having received that gift, they'll not boast of it. They'll not talk about it. It'll be something that's so precious. They'll guard it. Oh, they'll guard it. That's the reason when somebody confronts me with the fact that they have received all the gifts of the spirit. And how often there have been those who have said that very thing. Oh, Miss Kuhlman, I want you to know I'm spiritual. Miss Kuhlman, I want you to know that I have received all the gifts of the spirit. I smile and I say, that's wonderful. I would be so humbled if he would just count me worthy. to receive just one of the gifts of the spirit. Secretly, I question what they have actually received. For I believe with all my heart that any person who is so consecrated to Almighty God, so completely surrendered to Him, so completely died out to self, so lost in the Spirit, that if they had received a gift of the Spirit, they would not boast of it. They would not. before others. In humility, they would guard it carefully. For it's something that's priceless. Yes, my friend. The greatest of all Christian graces is humility. And Jesus himself was our... Example.