Wisdom, personified as Jesus Christ, has built her house with seven pillars, representing the church as a demonstration of God's wisdom. The sermon explores these seven pillars, beginning with the deity of Christ, emphasizing that His divine nature gives character to the church. It further details the necessity of Christ's incarnation for the church to have a high priest, His manifestation of life as an example, His crucifixion for the church's purchase, His resurrection for justification and new life, and His ascension for the church's maintenance through spiritual gifts. Ultimately, the sermon highlights that Christ Himself is the wisdom the church needs, and His attributes are reflected in believers.
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We've seen God answer prayer that we asked for last evening. Just a little bit ago I got a call from Ben Palmer and he said that the Lord has ushered Mildred into his presence at ten-thirty this morning. And they were, Ben and the children and one of the grandchildren I believe were with her at the time. She went home and, he said, is blessed. She's relieved of her suffering and at home with the Lord, we need to pray for Ben and the family. It's always a loss that certainly felt. And Melterd was a lady who loved the Lord and served him.
We worked at Hydra Haji together for the past ten years. She liked children and worked with them well at camp. Oh, she'll be missed. But she's in the presence of His glory. That's a blessed place to be. To be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Also, Jeannie Huck is here with us today. We prayed for her last night and she's, I understand, got a better diagnosis than what we had heard. So we can rejoice in that she can be treated and helped. So we thank God for that.
This afternoon I'd like to look at something from the Word of God. Last night we looked at the worship of God. And then this morning our brother turned us to a man sent from God. And Milo spoke to us about walking with God. And I'd like to look this afternoon at the wisdom of God, wisdom that's displayed in the church. And I'd like to take for a text verse. the book of Proverbs and Lord Willie in the next couple sessions. I'm going to be in this book with the subject of wisdom. Wisdom, how to get it and its rewards.
And then in the evening tonight as we speak the gospel, wisdom's call. How does wisdom call? But this morning, or this afternoon, I'd like to take a look at this verse, Proverbs chapter nine and verse one. Wisdom has built at her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. So many times when we read of wisdom in the Word of God, we read of wisdom in a personal way. For instance, if you would go back one chapter, and you would read in that chapter, I, wisdom. I am counsel. I am sound wisdom. I have strength.
I was brought up with him. And you see it in the personal pronoun. always being spoken of wisdom there. Now certainly all of chapter eight could not speak exactly of the Lord Jesus because the Lord Jesus was never brought forth. He was always. But he was one with him as one brought up with him, as the eternal Son of God. But in chapter eight we do see many things that would apply to the Lord Jesus. And I believe that wisdom personified is Jesus Christ, none other. When you look at the birth of First Corinthians in chapter one and verse thirty, you read that Christ has been made unto us, wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
That's what Jesus Christ is made unto us. Now that is blessed because Every one of us then, in Christ, when we receive Christ, receive that measure from God of wisdom, of righteousness, of sanctification and redemption, it's ours in Christ. So many times we feel ourselves without wisdom and we seek for wisdom. But as we take a look at the church itself, the wisdom of God is displayed through Christ in a seven-fold way. Now, in the Word of God, I think that a pillar is given to us of something that is a witness.
And when we look at seven pillars, then we're going to look at seven witnesses. Remember in First Timothy chapter three in verse thirteen, Paul writing to Timothy there said, That thou mayest know how, thou oughtest to behave thyself. In the house of God, which is the church of God, the pillar and ground of truth. It's a demonstration of the truth of God as that the church is. It is a demonstration of God's wisdom in Christ. And as we do the things that we've been talking about, worship God, be sent from God, walk with God.
We're doing that in the frame of the church, the body of Christ. because that's what He called us on to. Today we have a lot of things called parachurches. They're outside little organizations, many of them doing a good work. But I rather feel some of them are doing works that the church could be doing. And when we look at the place that God has for us within the structure of the church and within the example of His Son, The pillar is theirs for our witness. And we can take the things of Christ and use them as a witness of the church in our own lives.
Now, if you remember in the book of Revelation, chapter three, I'm not exactly sure of the verse. Perhaps ten, twelve, somewhere in that area. And he promised in the message to Philadelphia to the overcomer that he would make them a pillar in his temple. that he would write on them the name of his God, the name of the city of his God, and my new name. What a blessed place then the Lord Jesus has promised to every single one who overcomes, who is faithful to him in the end, the overcomer that is rewarded.
So I'd like to look at then in view of these things of sevenfold manifestation of what Jesus Christ is to us in the church. And the necessity of each one of those pillars being in the church. The first one would be the deity of Christ. Now I think back in the spring, I took this verse of Proverbs nine one in a men's conference and then applied it to our own home. how that we ought to have those seven pillars of witness in our own home, and then I gave to you what the seven pillars were.
But here, I'm going to look at it, I think, in a truer sense. That's a good example, but I'm going to look at it as God has revealed it in His Son. And the first one is the deity of Christ. Now, the deity of Christ was necessary for the church that He might put character to the church. See? The church being of Christ has the character of Christ. And when the Lord Jesus came, he was the one who was God manifest in the flesh. So we read of the church that it's the house of God and the church of God. Now, if you were to go to Acts chapter twenty and verse twenty-eight, in that particular verse, you read of the church of God which he is.
God purchased with His own blood. If you ever want a verse for the deity of Jesus Christ and describing Him as God and making the sacrifice that He made, it is found there. It is the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. And so as we look at the church, it is built upon the first pillar on the first witness of the deity of Jesus Christ. I am so glad that from my youth up I was taught that Jesus Christ is God. That the Lord Jesus as he came was a full revelation of God.
We read that in John I, that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. But we read back in chapter one and verse one that in the beginning was the Word. and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. An exact expression of all that He was. Hebrews one brings us to the view that He was the express image of God. He was the effulgence of God. He was the glory of God. And when that glory was manifest here, and when He by Himself purged us from our sins, sat down, at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
So the first pillar to the church is the deity of Jesus Christ. He is God manifest in the flesh. Because of that in the church now, when we look at it, it has the character of God. Well, if you want to learn any of his character, all you have to do is go through the Word of God and you find all that God is. But I rejoice in this. Because in one particular verse, God took and put something for every one of us, that we could lay a grasp on that deity and what it is for us. And he put it this way in Galatians five, twenty-two, when he talked about the fruit of the Spirit of God.
And when He brought forth that fruit, it was love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, faith. You see, these are the manifestation of all that God is, and it is reflected through the believer in the church. Now, we've been hearing some blessed things and challenges this morning. And I suppose in every one of our lives there are areas where we desire certain characteristics or attributes. I know in my own life how many times I prayed and asked God for a gentle spirit. Lord, make me a gentle person. David could say, Thy gentleness has made me great.
You know, our greatness is not found in how much we know and how much we can demand of other people. Our greatness is found in the gentleness of Christ as it's manifest through us. And if in our walk for God, we want to manifest God, then it ought to be in that gentle spirit, reflecting the one who walked here in gentleness and meekness. How do you like that? He said to us when he invited us to come to him to join the church, he said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Then He gave us a rest beyond that. He said, Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and can add rest unto your soul.
Meekness is something that He wants in our life too. That's not weakness. Someone has well said, meekness is control strength. Ah, meekness is that power and that energy that can be put forth in a right way, but it's control. And you know, a meek person then is reflecting all that the Lord Jesus did. Has the one who was God. And when he walked here, we beheld his glory. Has the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Beloved, when God revealed his wisdom in the church, he displayed himself through Jesus Christ to us.
And if we need an example, then it's in him, in his deity, as he was here. Christ is made unto us wisdom. And so as we see that wisdom manifest, then we need to apply it in our life. The second pillar that He gives to us is the incarnation of Christ. To be incarnate is God becoming man. That's what it is. And when the Lord Jesus left heaven, God became man. was displayed there as that babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. The announcement that the shepherds preached, ah, are the angels told to the shepherds, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord.
The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. And when God gave His Son, born in that humble stable, He was the Savior of the world. He was God to be manifest amongst us. He was God incarnate. And He became incarnate for something in the church. And that was that the church might have a high priest. And in the high priesthood of Jesus Christ, we read of Him in the book of Hebrews chapter two. We read that He was made likened to His brethren. that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest.
If Christ had not become a man, you and I would not have a high priest over the Church of God, a high priest who is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. He is the one who is carrying on the work today, the unfinished work of intercession. for every child of God. But if Jesus Christ had never become man, He would have never been touched with the feeling of our infirmities in all points like as we are sin apart. We wouldn't have had a throne of grace to come to by finding that there we have the captain of our salvation who was made perfect through suffering.
It was because Jesus Christ walked here and Jesus Christ was touched with all of our infirmities. What's that mean? Well, it means that he got tired. Remember the day when he was walking through Samaria, and he sat down by that well. And there was that lady who was having a thirst. She was thirsting for a lot of things, most of it of the world. But she finally wanted a drink of water, and she came to the well, and she found one who could give her water that would satisfy a thirst. Because he said, Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him, the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up to everlasting life.
How woman wanted a taste of that water when she found out who he was. He told her she knew one day that the Messiah would come, and he said, I that speak unto thee am he. My, what touched that woman's heart that day? She left the water pot. I've often contemplated, why did she leave her water fox? She came for water, didn't she? But now, in one way, we could say she was satisfied from a living spring in a living fountain that so satisfied her there was no more need for that kind of water. At that particular moment, have you ever been hungry? And you sat down picking up the Word of God, waiting for the time to get something to eat.
And as you read, the inward man began to be filled and satisfied until it seemed that your soul began to run over and suddenly there's no need for food. You know, that's what I see that fasting is. We read about prayer and fasting. Sometimes we bring fasting upon us in a forced way. But it seems to me that fasting is the sympathy of the soul to an afflicted body. The sympathy of the body, I could put it the other way, too, to an afflicted soul. A time when food means nothing to us because of an affliction or a trial that's come that seems to fill our lives.
And so when we view the Lord Jesus, He was one that could satisfy. He could meet a woman in his weariness and could satisfy her. But, you know, he was hungry, too. And when the disciples came back, and he told them that he had bread to eat, and they said, where did you get it from? The bread that he had to eat, they didn't know of. He was fed of the Father himself. And that's the type of bread we get at a conference, isn't it? when the Father, through His Spirit, feeds our soul from His own precious Word. The Lord Jesus stood at a tomb and wept. I'm sure most of us here have experienced some of the things that Milo talked about today.
We've gone through the periods of grief when we've lost loved ones. Mother, brothers. I stood by the grave side of three brothers, a sister, and a mother, and a stepfather. had a chance to preach the funeral of several of them. There's grief there, isn't it? And even at that time of grief, there is the peace that passes understanding that he floods our soul with. Because he was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He lost a friend, a dear friend, when he stood at that tomb. Lazarus was dead and buried.
He knew what he was going to do for Lazarus. Why did he weep? He knew he was going to bring him forth from the dead, but he had a compassionate heart, and I think perhaps he wept not only for Mary and Martha and their hurts, but for all of those all down the line who were going to face it, and maybe for those that were going to reject his love and face it forever, an eternal death. He's a God. of compassion. He was touched with the feeling of our infirmities. The incarnation of Christ was necessary for the church that it might have a high priest.
Then we look at the manifestation of the life of Christ. That was necessary for the church, that the church might have an example. Now here's so many worldly organizations and or I'll put it this way. Unbelieving organizations talk about Christ and His example and say that we ought to follow in His steps. You know Peter said that in chapter two of first Peter and verse twenty-one. He said, For here unto ye were ye called because Christ has suffered. for us that we ought to follow in His step.
Christ has left an example of suffering for us that we ought to follow in His step. You know, to the unbeliever, Christ is not an example. He's a sacrifice. He's a substitute. But for those of us who know Jesus Christ as a Savior, we have received that substitute. We've taken Him as our own. But now He becomes our example. He left an example for the way that we ought to suffer and the way that we ought to walk. Beloved, I guess a lot of us feel that suffering had not to be in our portion. And sometimes when suffering comes, we begin to cry, Why me, Lord?
You know, why is it brought to me? We think ourselves something special that I had not to be touched in that way at all. But by the Lord Jesus never made any promises of that glory here. He said, In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And when suffering and affliction comes, it becomes because that's a pattern of things here. That's a result of sin in some instances. But there's a sovereign God who's overall, who can turn that and use that in our lives as chastening, as instruction along the way. He chastens every son he receives, and he chastens because he loves.
You ever got to that position where suddenly you were laying down and looking up? And then the thought came, perhaps why? And then as you laid there and waited for the answer of God, he turned something that seemed to be a very hard pillow. like Jacob had in the wilderness as he started out in his journey toward Laban. And he laid down there his head on that rock. That rock became an altar for him that night. As he saw that vision of the ladders that led to heaven and the angels ascending and descending on that ladder, the next day he made that an altar. And he called it the house of God.
And how many times the hard pillow. the hard circumstance that we enter into become an altar for us, a place of worship. Because that's what it brings. Have you ever thought of Eliezer, the servant of Abraham? Oh, he went on a long journey. I don't imagine in that day that was too good a journey. And he was sent with a real responsibility. I want you to come back with a wife for my son. Oh, boy. I don't know as I'd care to be sent on a mission to find a wife for somebody else's son. I never went picking wives for my own son.
I had some suggestions, but when we look at what this man did, he went forth instructed by his master, Abraham. And then he lifted it up to God. He gave it to God. And as God answered his prayer, what do we read of Eliezer? He worshipped God. First there was the request. Then there was the answer to the prayer. And he worshipped God. What about Gideon? Gideon was sent in some pretty tough circumstances. You know, God told Gideon, well, Gideon, I want you to go down at a camp in Amidian. I say, if you're afraid, take your servant with you.
See, he just had a revelation from God. God showed him who was sovereign. Gideon said, well, if you're God, or if you're in this, then I'd like to do on the ground and the fleece dry. God gave it to him. He wanted to, I guess I got that reversed, but the fleece, the do on the fleece and then the ground dry. God showed him that he was sovereign. He could do either one. And if the fleece is a picture of Israel, he was simply saying to him, look, I can bless Israel with the do or I can withhold it. And that's exactly what he was going to do. And so he said, or he'd been doing that, but now he's going to change. So he said to Gideon, you go down to the Midianites. Why do you want him down there? He wanted to talk to him.
So Gideon goes down. And when he gets down there, He hears a dream. Ever hear a bunch of GIs in their dreams or talking about home? GIs talk about anything. And so here he hears them outside their tent discussing their dream. He said, I saw a little cake of barley bread come tumbling down the mountain. And it hit the camp at a midnight and flattened it out. And one of his GII buddies said, Oh boy, that's the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. What did I read Gideon do? Oh, Gideon, worship God. God sent us to a tough spot. And in that tough spot, it brought forth worship from His heart. You know what, beloved?
Many times the tough places will bring forth that kind of thing from our heart. And so as we view the manifestation of the life of Christ, when He walked here, how did He walk? We read He went about doing good. Oh, my. What a epitaph to be left for any one of us was left of a woman one day when the Lord said, Leave her alone. She had done what she could. Wouldn't that be neat when Ray Routley's gone? If it could be said of him, He had done what He could.
Wouldn't that be good to have that said about any of us? Oh, you know, if that could be said, then when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and I don't see that day far off, we could hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Christ manifests his life here so that we would have an example of his suffering. And because we have seen Christ suffer all his lifetime, You know, when he first began his ministry, his family didn't have their arms open to him.
His brethren believed not on him, I read. His brethren said, go to your disciples. They didn't want anything to do with him. Oh, there was a day when his brethren did come to believe on him, but I believe it wasn't until the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he appeared unto James. James was probably the first one of his brethren to believe on him. because he was found there with his mother and his brethren in that upper room waiting for that power to be endued from on high. My blessed, the example that he left of his suffering. And when we see the suffering of Christ, then we need to know that the glory will follow.
You know, I'm sort of a guy who likes to look at goals. If I'm on a long trip, I don't look at that distance a long way away, especially when I'm going home after a series of meetings and I'm tired and it's late at night, I'm not looking at that hundred miles home or however far it is, I'm looking at the next town. And when I get to that town, then there's another town in the way. And you know, when we look at what lies ahead of us, We don't look all the way to the end of the road. We're looking toward our hope, which is Christ. You know, we talk about resurrection being our hope.
That's not my hope. My hope is not the resurrection. Well, I'm looking forward to that. But Paul, in writing to Timothy in First Timothy chapter one, verse one, he said, Christ is our hope. And when the Lord suffered here, he left that example for us. And then he tells us in the first epistle to John in chapter two and verse six, He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as he walked. I like that. That's a big order, isn't it? But that's what he says he'd like of us, to walk even as he walked. I ever tell you, I suppose I did.
Give you that little rhyme I learned from Edgar Greer Dylan. It was an Irish evangelist who used to travel the state, lived in Michigan, was in Wisconsin, and that's where I first met him as a younger man in Milwaukee. And talking about it one night, I heard him say, Your walk talks, and your talk walks. But your walk talks farther and faster than your walk will ever talk. Pardon me, I got it backwards. got to say that one again. Your talk walks and your walk talks, but your walk will, now I have got it.
Your walk talks louder than your talk will ever walk. I got it straight. You see, it is how we walk that our brother brought us to this morning that makes the difference. Oh, words can flow out. As I said last night, some of us generally speaking, we're generally speaking. We've got our tongues going all the time. And it's the need more to become quiet, to let the Lord speak, so that when it does come to our walking and talking, then it has the power of Christ. He left the pillar of the manifestation of his life for an example for the church that we could follow in his step.
The fourth thing was his crucifixion. The crucifixion was necessary for the church in order that it could be purchased. The church would have never been purchased had it not been for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. You know, we have the redemption of us in a singular sense, as Peter puts it, every believer for the saints. were redeemed with corruptible things such as silver or gold, received from the vain manner of life by the tradition of your fathers, but by the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
You see, that's how we were redeemed. But in Acts, twenty-eight, twenty, or twenty-twenty, we read there that it is the church And I'm trying to grasp the beginning of that verse. I gave the last part of it to you before. In that verse, he's speaking to the elders and their call to the church and to feed the church. And that's what he says. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit made you overseers. To feed the church of God which he purchased. with His own blood. It is in Him in whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sin.
The church would have never been purchased out of this world. Had not God been manifest in the flesh, had not Christ became God incarnate, had not He left His example here in His life, had He not offered Himself there on Calvary's cross to be the redemptive Christ for every one of us. The church has a redeemer. The church has one who paid the highest price in the universe to purchase her. Imagine that. We weren't purchased with silver or gold or with any precious jewel you can think of, but with the blood of Christ. Now I got the heart of a gospel, so I can't pass this by.
Do you ever think of the value of the blood of Christ? It's an unchanging value. Mind how much the gold standard changes. Gold's up today, down tomorrow. Silver's up today, down tomorrow. Everything, when you look at the market, it's so changing. But when you look at the precious blood of Christ, that is the highest standard of God's riches in the whole universe. Nothing of greater value than the blood of Christ. And yet he gave him for a sinner like me.
How? How could he love me like that? He never loved me because of any good in me. He loved me just because I was a sinner lost and undone. He loved me because he didn't want me to suffer. in a place that he made for the devil himself. You know why he made it for the devil? Because of his rebellion. And you know why lost sinners will go there? Because of their rebellion. Their refusal to accept the grace of God. He purchased the church with his own blood.
That witness, that pillar was necessary. Then there's the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This pillar is necessary as well, because it is through His resurrection that we are justified and that we have life. I'm going to take it in this sense. The church does not go along the world today in its walk for God with a load of guilt upon it. He's cleansed us. He's made us justified. We just said a little bit ago that Christ was made unto us wisdom and righteousness.
You know, in justifying, that's a judicial term, and he declares us righteous. This company that's before me here today, every one of us in this room that know and love the Lord Jesus, are justified in his sight. We are righteous. He presents us holy, unblameable, unrebukeable in His sight. What a glory. What a glory. How do you feel in the Church of God? When you go talking to the unsaved, they want to know what you are. And you scratch your head a minute then. You don't know what to tell them. I tell them I'm a Christian.
That's not so hard. I remember a man one day, I guess I caused him to sin. I was sorry about that, but he said to me, who owns this place? I said, the Lord owns it. He was talking about the late Geneva youth camp. I was directing it then. And he said, yeah, I know that. Who are they? I said, they're Christians. And I could see the color rising in his face. He said, yeah, I know they're Christians, but who do they belong to? I said, they belong to Christ. And then I saw the red color flash. And I said, it's owned by the Lake Geneva Foundation. I know that, he said, but who are they?
I said, well, if you mean who do they meet to? I said, they meet to the name of the Lord Jesus. And there's a simple word in the New Testament forum called Brethren with a little bee. And then he yelled at me. And this was a preacher in a big Baptist church in Chicago. And he yelled at me. And he said, why didn't you tell me that at first place? Well, the first place is Christ, beloved. The first place is Christ. And the church has its life through Christ. Now, I want you to look at Romans chapter six. You say, Oh, Ray, we preached that for baptism, and that's good. You ought to.
But it is in that picture of death, burial, and resurrection that he gives us the idea of the life that is ours in his resurrection. Now, he teaches us in verse four, therefore we're buried with him by baptism unto death. As Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. I like that. Oh, we're back to that walk again. In the church, we walk in the newness of life. Because life has come to us through Christ, and that came in His resurrection. It's a pillar of life to the church.
And we can look at that pillar and say, because He lives, we shall live also. We live here and now. He's given us life abundantly, life eternally, but He's given us that life to be lived out here, a life that's to His glory. in the resurrection of the Church. Now, beloved, He wants us on resurrection ground, when Christ descended on high. He went into the glory, didn't He? The earth journey was over, and He's now glorified. He's at the right hand of the Majesty on high. How's He there? He's there as the man in the glory.
He's still a man. He's a God-man, but He's the man in the glory, and He's there. fulfilling that office of high priest for us. He's exalted. He's living. And because He lives, we have life. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things become new. Ah, there's that new life in Christ. A man said to me one day, What's the matter, A? Don't you have any vices? He wanted me to have a cigarette and I told him no thanks and he offered me a drink and I said no thanks and he began to think something's wrong. So he said, don't you have any vices?
And I said, oh, I suppose I got a few only, mine don't show so much. And I think that's probably the way it is too. But you know, when it comes to living the life of Christ, the life that we live through it, we need to take, as Paul wrote it in Galatians Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I. Oh, I better begin at the beginning. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I live now in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me.
The pillar of resurrection, the life of Christ in the church. Then there's that one of ascension. You know, the Lord Jesus ascended. He didn't remain in the tomb. He was resurrected. He came out of the tomb. He ascended to the Father. And then he spent that time here on the earth, those forty days, walking amongst men, showing himself for who he was, in a resurrected body. and then he ascended into heaven. And he told them to remain until power was endued from unhigh.
So in the sixth thing, in the pillar of his ascension, he gave two things. We read in Ephesians four, what is it that he descended but that he ascended Pardon me, I'll get it straight. What is it that He ascended, but that He descended into the lower parts of the earth and then ascended and led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, I got a couple words that crossed up onto me there, but He descended, He led captivity captive, He ascended and He gave gifts unto men. That pillar and ascension was necessary that the church might be maintained.
Now, he didn't leave us to flounder. He gave us gifts for the maintenance of the church. Think about that one for a moment as you sit there. Did he give you something? Oh, indeed he did. He said he gave to everyone to profit with all, that the church might profit, that the church might be maintained. That's why he gave the gift. Sometimes we talk about my gift. How do I find my gift? He's the giver of the gift. So I wouldn't struggle finding your gift, young person. I'm going to spell that out to you. Instead of struggling to find your gift, I'll tell you how to do it.
Just take up to do what's at hand, what you can do for God. And one day, the church, your brothers, your sisters are going to say to you, Hey, you're really gifted in this area. I can see. that God has given something to you. I see many times today we're preached a strong message to young people and it sort of lays a guilt trip on them that they don't know what their gift is. My, how much better if we just take up to do what we can do. And in that we're going to find out where we feel at home and where God is blessing you. And some older brother is going to say to you, I see that God has blessed you in this area.
This seems to be an area of gift. So you see, in his ascension the Lord gave gifts. In his ascension he gave power. The Spirit came and indwelled the whole church. How do you like that? In that pillar the church has power and the church is maintained. because of the gifts that he gave. Now, when you want to struggle and you'd like a different gift or a lesser gift or a greater gift, says the Father has placed the members in the body, everyone, as it has pleased him. He didn't please Ray by what he gave to him. In fact, he pushed Ray to become a preacher.
Ray did not seek that. I had sought being a missionary