How does one know their rightful position in the Body of Christ?
How does one know their rightful position in the Body of Christ?
48 That’s a good one, very good, “How does…” That’d be the kind of question amongst many of us here tonight, “How do you rightfully know?” Now, I’m presuming that this brother wants to know “What position, what in Christ, what part of Christ do I play?”
49 Now, for instance, I’d say like this, brother, to give you the best answer I know. Your position is…in Christ is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit. And then if you want to know whether it’s the Holy Spirit or not, find out whether He blesses what you’re doing, or not. And if He blesses it, then that’s Him. If He doesn’t bless…
50 Like someone said to me not long ago, said, “The Lord called me to preach.” I said, “Well, then preach.” See? And so he–he…
51 I really think it’s so…Satan, if he can just get somebody to–to act like that and then deceive them, that’s just what he wants to do. Then the whole world points their finger right there.
Somebody thinks they have a gift of speaking in tongues and interpretation; some has the gift of Divine healing; some has these things like…Sometimes they’re mistaken in those things, see. And sometimes they think they haven’t got it when they have. So it’s very tricky.
52 So always do this, brethren, whenever you feel that you’re supposed to do a thing, first find out if it’s Scriptural for you to do it (if it’s in the Scriptures).
Not just wrote in one place, but I mean completely Scriptural through the Bible for you to do it, your position, say if you’d be an evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, whatever that God might have called you to be.
Do you see? Or if you have the gift of tongues, gift of interpretation, gift of any–any kind of the nine spiritual gifts in the church, and the four spiritual offices of the church, any position, first see if God called.
53 Then, usually, the way I watch it for myself, just…this is me, I watch the nature of the person and see what kind of a gift that they’re professing. See, God will work with His creature the way He’s made him. See? He’ll make a creature…
54 If you see him real flighty and going on, you…and he says, “The Lord called me for such-and-such, to be a pastor.” Now, a pastor can’t be a flighty person. A pastor’s solid, sound. See?
55 “God called me to be a teacher.” And watch him how he interprets the Word. See? He gets It all mixed up and everything, then you can tell. See?
56 But, then, the thing to do, your position is usually known whether you can do it or not.
57 Now, when God called me to be an evangelist, I wanted to be a pastor. And I thought staying at home here would just be fine. And the Lord called me. And finally all the people got together…There’s not a one of them left tonight in here, that they cried and went out there on 1717 Spring Street. And the lady, Mrs. Hawkins over here, met me and said (crying, during the time of depression, when one in the neighborhood would cook a mess of beans and we’d all come in and eat from that), and she said, “I’ll allowance my children at the table if you’ll only build a tabernacle.” See?
58 And my calling was an evangelist. The morning…Laying right here at this cornerstone, if we could burst in there tonight, you’ll see a flyleaf off of my Bible where He told me to be an evangelist. See? And I wasn’t a successful pastor, never would be, because I haven’t got the patience and what it takes to be a pastor. See? So therefore if I tried to pastor, I would just be as far out as a pastor is trying to be an evangelist.
59 See what I mean? You can see the way the Lord calls you, what your position is in the Body. Is there a question?
