© 19 Colin Melbourne, Transcribed and annotated from The Pentecostal Evangel 1923
Not In the Presence of Unbelievers
That is what troubles us, somebody being drunk in a place of worship where a lot of people come in that know nothing about the word.
If you allow yourself to be drunk there, you send people away, they look at you instead of seeing God.
They condemn the whole thing because you have not been sober at the right time.
Paul writes, 2 Cor. 5:13 KJV;
For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
You can be beside yourself.
You can go a bit further than being drunk.
You can dance, if you will do it at the right time.
So many things are commendable when all the people are in the Spirit.
Many things are very foolish if the people round about you are not in the Spirit.
We must be careful not to have a good time at the expense of somebody else.
When you have a good time you must see that the spiritual conditions in the place lend themselves to help you, and that the people are falling in line with you.
Then you will find it always a blessing
While it is right to covet earnestly the best Gifts, you must recognize that the all important thing is to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost Himself.
You will never have trouble with people who are filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, but you will have a lot of trouble with people who have the Gifts, and have no power.
The Lord wants us to come behind in no Gift, but at the same time He wants us to be so filled with the Holy Ghost that it will be the Holy Spirit manifesting Himself through the Gifts.
God Glorified in Our Midst
Where the glory of God alone is desired, you can look for every needed Gift to be made manifest.
To glorify God is better than to idolize Gifts
We prefer the Spirit of God to any Gift; but we can look for the Trinity in manifestation, different Gifts by the same Spirit, different administrations, but the same Lord, diversities of operation, but the same God working all in all.
Can you conceive of what it will mean for our Triune God to be manifesting Himself in His fullness in our assemblies?
Watch that great locomotive boiler as it is filled with steam. You can see the engine letting off some of the steam as it remains stationary. It looks as though the whole thing might burst.
You can see saints like that.
They start to scream, but that is not to edification.
But when the locomotive moves on, it serves the purpose for which it was built, and pulls along much traffic with it.
It is wonderful to be filled with the power of the Holy Ghost, and for Him to serve His own purposes through us.
Through our lips divine utterances flow, our hearts rejoice and our tongue is glad. It is an inward power within which is manifested in outward expression.
Jesus Christ is glorified
As your faith in Him is quickened, from within you there will flow rivers of Living Water. The Holy Spirit will pour through you like a great River of Life, and thousands will be blessed because you are a yielded channel through whom the Spirit may flow.
Smith Wigglesworth
END
Back to Part 1 Smith Wigglesworth: Concerning Spiritual Gifts
Preached at Springfield Assembly of God in 1922
© 19 Colin Melbourne, Transcribed and annotated from The Pentecostal Evangel 1923
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