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Volume 4 ... #21
A revelation from God, Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom
Paul says to the church:
I Cor. 14 ... 26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm (prayer), hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
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A "revelation" is when God opens the eyes of the person to give that person understanding.
I have read II Tim. 3 many times. But one day I was reading II Tim. 3 and God opened my understanding to know what verse 5 of that scripture really meant!
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:from such turn away.
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They have a "form" of godliness, going to church and such which makes themselves look like they are of God (They even think themselves to be of God for they do what they think the church says to do) ... but they deny the power of the Holy Scriptures to rule over them ...
From such people as this turn away.
I have seen people calling themselves Christians do this for more than 40 years but it was only recently that God revealed to me what "the power thereof" meant in II Timothy 3... They deny the power of the scriptures to rule over them. To them, the scriptures are just words. To us the scriptures are the word of God, not the word of man. Therefore the scriptures are worthy to rule over our lives. We do what we can to conform ourselves to the scripture knowing the scriptures are the word of God.
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I Thess. 2:13 ... For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
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Now I know when I see people who call themselves Christian but deny the power of the scriptures to rule over them, to just "turn away" from them ... not keeping future company with such.
An example: I gave a Catholic woman this scripture. Mt. 23:9 ... And call no man your father upon the earth:for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
She "thanked" me for the message but she continued in the Catholic church calling these men FATHER. By this, she denied the power of the scripture to rule in her life. (From such turn away)
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Here is another revelation from God to an individual.
This was given by God to the apostle Peter.
Mt. 16 ... 13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist:some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
(This was a revelation from God to Peter.)
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
(Peter was "blessed" not because he said "Jesus is the Christ." Peter was blessed because God chose to reveal this information to Peter.)
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
( " The rock" is the word God reveals to the individual. Jesus is telling us that the church will be built upon the word God reveals to the individual and the gates of hell will not prevail against the revealed word from God.)
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God also gives to individuals in the NT Church the spiritual gifts of "word of knowledge" and "word of wisdom".
I Cor. 12 ... 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Example of word of wisdom: I was speaking with a woman who kept having problems in the church. She would say things thinking them to be of God when they were not of God. As we worked through this problem, God opened my eyes and gave me the wisdom needed to deal with her problem. She wanted to be approved in the church. I told her we, in the church, are approved by God when God gives us the Holy Spirit. That makes us approved in the church in the sight of God.
Eph. 1 ... 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein HE hath made us accepted in the beloved.
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Example of "word of knowledge"
I was having a church meeting for radio audience in Oklahoma City. I was in my room in hotel when all of a sudden I knew something ... a man who was Bible teacher in our church group had married ... (no one even knew he was dating anyone ... he kept this secret from the church)
When I returned home, there was a postal change of address notice in my mail box giving me his new address ...
A woman who worked for me said, "I don't know how to tell you this but ..." I broke into her sentence by saying "Don married."... God had shown me.
God had given me a word of knowledge.
Don's marrying greatly upset Emogene (a woman at our church). She said: "He handled this wrong. He should have brought the woman before the church and let the church give witness to the situation instead of doing this in secret."
A few weeks later, they separated, then divorced.
You can't live in secret in the church. We are the body of Christ, connected one to another. We must share with the church what we are doing or about to do gaining witness from the church.
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Pam Padgett (our little church group) was planning to marry. The man said he was a Christian. But I had a very bad witness inside me concerning this wedding. Another member of our church group also had bad witness. Before the pending wedding, we shared this with Pam. As a result she postponed the wedding. Shortly after this she discovered this man really didn't believe the scriptures though he thought he was a Christian. He left her because Pam shared with him the following scripture. Mt. 5:32 ... Jesus said ...whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery. (This man's son was planning to marry a divorced woman.)
Pam was spared much trouble by the collapse of this marriage.
Today her testimony is she is very glad she didn't marry Chuck.
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The scriptures and the words through the Holy Spirit are given to the church as "gifts" from God so we will escape many pitfalls of this present life.