WOF 1975 - 12 December, The Virgin Birth

8/18/2019 WOF 1975 - 12 December, The Virgin Birth

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An d in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was

sent from God unto a city of Galilee,

named Nazareth, to a virgin

espoused to a man whose name

was Joseph, of the house ofDavid; and the virgin's name

was Mary.

An d the angel came in unto

her, and said, Hail

the Lordiwi thblesse d art thou among '

women.And when she saw him,

she was troubled at his

mind what manner of

saluation this should be.

An d the angel said unto

her, Fear not, Mary: for

thou hast found favour withGod. And, behold, thou shalt

conceive in thy womb, and bring

forth a son, and shalt call his

name JESUS. He shallbe great, and shall be

called the Son of the

and the Lord God shall give unto him the

throne of his father David: And he shall

reign over the house of Jacob for

i , eve r; and of his kingdom there

be no end.

said Mary unto the angel,

How shall this be, seeing I know

the angel answered and said

unto her, The Holy Ghost shall

come upon thee, and the power

of the Highest shall overshadowthee: therefore also that holy

thing which shall be born of thee

shall be called the Son of God.

And, behold, thy cousin

Elisabeth, she hath also

conceived a son in her old age:

i and this is the sixth mon th wit h

s .:>

x h e r , wh o was cal led barren. For

with God nothing shall be

impossible.

And Mary said, Behol d the handmaid

of the Lord; be it unto me according

to thy word.And the angel departed

from her.

-Luke 1:26-38

(Continued on Page 4)


2/8

BOOK PRICEINCREASE

On January 1 , 1976, som e ofour book pr ices wi l l increaseas fol lows:

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at

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O r d e r s r e c e i v e d b e f o r eDecember 3 1 , 1 9 7 5 w i l l besh ipped at the ol d pr ice s.

TH E W O R D O F FA IT H published monthly byKen n eth E. Hagin Evangelistic A s s n . , P.O.Bo x 501 26 , 10 29 N. Utica, Tulsa, Ok lahom a.

Doy le Harrison EditorBillye Brim Managi ng EditorLarry Huggins ArtSubscription rates: $1.00/yr. U.S. and Canadainstituted by payment of regular rate (or) first$1 .00 of your donation to : Ken n eth E. HaginEvangelistic Ass'n.

Volume VIII 1 2

Dear Mr. Hagin,I am a new Chris tian e ven though I grew up in a family where we went to

church every Sunday. I always believed in Jesus, but I really never knew him.

I am now 22 years old and we are best of friends.

Another friend of mine that I work with started listening to KDTX-FM...

I used to get so upset with him and the station I would turn it off. Then one day

God opened up my ears and softened my heart. I started listening to Jimmy

Swaggart, Don George and youself. It was just forty-five minutes a day but it

changed my life--and later on many around me.

In the three programs I found out that God was n't what I believed him to

be at all. Now I make it a habit to read the Word at lea st two hours a day or more.

And I have found out the Holy Spirit will teach me...I asked and was filled with

the Holy Spiri t a fter reading your book EXCEEDINGLY GROWING FAITH and

I BELIEVE IN VISIONS, both of which I found to be extreme ly intense, exciting,

and a real b less ing. Pra ise God...My deepest love and thanks for showing me

how empty I was and how FULL God wil l make one.Yours in Christ Jes us,

(A Brother)

September 30, 1975

Dear Bro. K. Hagin,

...It was during your br oadca st that the Lord healed me of a tumor of the

uterus on April 14, 1975. Praise the Lord! I was to go into the hospital on

April 19, 1975 for sur ger y. But pr ais e God, I was lying in bed on the 14th of April

as you were teaching faith and it seems that it was so plain to me for the first

time—and that instant I was healed.

Praise God!

RADIO NEWSPlease check our radio log in this issue

for new broadcasts in Brighton

(Denver), Colorado—Belle Glade,

F l o r i d a — C h i c a g o , I l l i n o i s —

Greenville, South Carolina.

SUtian K H I /M H I rrnitD.C. AREAPrince Frederick WMJS-FM 927 10.30 PM

Falls Church . WFAX 1220 3:30 PM

ALABAMABirmingham .. WOJC-FM 93 7 11:15 AM

ARIZOHA

Phoenix KHCS 1010 11:30 AM

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CALIFORNIACarona . . . KREL 1 370 11:45 AM

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L,05_0_ _Bulk*^ 3,100 Bulk*C T O T A L P A I D C I R C U L A T I O N R -, R . „

__ . .47,700 _ | 57,500

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S A M P L E S , C O M P L I M E N T A R Y . A N D O T H E R F R E E C O P I E S 2 600 4 900

^ TC^TAl. DISTRIBUTION (Sum of C and I ^ ^ Q Q ^ ^

F , C O P I E S N O T D I S T R I B U T E D

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2. R E T U R N S F R O M N E W S A G E N T S

G T O TA L (Sum of k' & F should equal net press run shown in A)

. 50,800 j 63,_000

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2


3/8

TH€ PASTORPART 1

Fourth in the Ministry Gifts Series

b y K e n n e t h H a g i n

EPHESIANS 4:11-1211 And he gave some, apostles; andsome, prophets; and some, evangelists;and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfe ctin g of the saint s, for

the wor k of the minis try, for the edif yingof the body of Christ:

The word pastor is used onlyonce in the King James translation of the New Testament. That 'she re in Ephesi ans 4:11. Thi s se emsa little strange when we realizethe office of pastor is probably the

most widely recognized office inthe Christian ministry today. Yet fam sa t i s f ied the re a r e m a nyreferences to this pastoral office.

The Greek word translated pastor literally means shepherd. It istranslated so referring to our wonderful Lord and Saviour, the LordJ e s u s C h r i s t — w h o m i g h tleg i t i mate ly be cons ider ed thegreatest example of a true pastor.

JOHN 10:1111 I am the good she pher d: the goodshepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

HEBREWS 13:2020 No w the God of pea ce, that broughtagain from the dead our Lord Jesus, thatgreat shepherd of the sheep, through theblood of the everlasting covenant...

1 PETER 2:2525 For ye wer e as she ep going ast ray;but are now returned unto the Shepherdand Bishop of your souls.

I PETER 5:44 And when the chief Shep herd shallappear, ye shall receive a crown of glorythat fadeth not away.

A pastor is a shepherd of God'ssheep . Jesu s is the Good Shep herd ,

the Great Shepherd, the ChiefShepherd of all God's sheep. ButHe has some under shepherds.The pastor stands in that office.God calls men and equips them toshepherd or pastor a flock.

We can see the necessity forshepherds. As believers began to

be gathered together in recognized local churches, or groups, orassemblies, in early New Testament days, the need for certainones to exercise a position of loving overs igh t and care wouldnaturally arise. Jesus spoke of people going astray as sheep withouta shepherd. (Did you know that'swhy many sheep are going astraytoday? Because they're without ashepherd.)

Such persons were required to

be more or less settled in thelocality and residents, for a time atleast, of that one place. They weredistinguished from the apostlesand other ministries who werecalled to move around.

It 's plain that the early churcheswere put in the charge of localelders. The Greek word for eldersimply means an older person. Dr.P. C. Nelson, the noted Greekscholar, pointed out that in thebab yho od state of the chu rch th eydidn' t hav e pastors. The y wer e

starting out."Let's get back to the Acts of the

Apostles," some folks say.No . Let's don 't get back th ere . If

we do the church will be a babything—in a babyhood state. Backto some of the experiences available to us—yes. But we don't wantto get back there altogether. Whenthe church started out it was ababy church. They didn ' t haveany ministers except the apostles.It takes time to develop ministries.I t t a ke s t ime to de ve lo p th e

pastoral office.Very often to begin with they

would simply appoint some of theolder men to oversee the localflock or assembly until God coulddevelop ministries.

The Word of God speaks aboutnot putting in a novice even as a

deacon. How much more that

would be true in any other office.That's why God starts a ministerout some place e l se—pre aching ,evange l iz ing , t e l l ing the s tory ,developing—before He makes apastor out of him. Ministry giftsa n d s p i r i t u a l g i f t s c a n b edeveloped.

These elders would simply beolder men who by reason of theirs tanding and experience were obviously fitted to a place of positionand responsibility.

But, if this term elder had special

reference to their age and standing—there was the more official title of overseer or bishop. TheGreek word, episkopos, is thesame for both. It conveys a meaning of defini te leadership andofficial position. Re me mb er ho wJes us is the chief Shep her d andBishop of our souls—Overseer ofour souls. Hallelujah!

Notice how the word overseer isused in Paul's admonition to theelders of the church at Ephesus:

ACTS 20:28

28 Take hee d therefor e unto your selv es,and to all the flock, over the which theHoly Ghost hath made you overseers, tofeed the church of God, which he hathpurchased with his own blood.

It takes a little space to print thefollowing passages here. But Ibelieve it 's important that we getright into them and read them.We'll comment as we go:

I TIMOTHY 3:11 This is a true say ing , If a man desi rethe office of a bishop, he desireth a goodwork...

I want to again point out that theword here translated bishop is thesame Greek word translated, overseer. What this is really talkingabout is the pastoral gift.

1 TIMOTHY 3:2-72 A bishop then must be blamel ess, thehusband of one wife, vigilant, sober, ofgood behaviour, given to hospitality, aptto teach;

3 Not giv en to wine , no striker, notgreedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not abrawler, not covetous;

4 One that ruleth wel l his ow n house ,having his children in subjection with all

gravity;5 (For if a man kno w not ho w to rule hisown house, how shall he take care of thechurch of God?l

6 Not a no vic e, lest be ing lifted up withpride he fall into the condemnation of thedevil.

7 More over he must hav e a good reportof them which are without; lest he fall intoreproach and the snare of the devil.

Continued on Pag e 7 3


4/8

Continued from Front Cover

sby Kenneth Hagin

The Virgin Birthev en hu nd re d fif ty ye ar s

before, God had marked out thisdaughter of David who is to givebirth to that wonderful Being in a

m a n g e r c r a d l e i n B e t h l e h e mthrough the prophet Isaiah:

ISAIAH 7:13-1413 And he said, Hear ye no w, O hou se ofDavid; Is it a small thing for you to wearymen, but will ye we ar y my God also?14 Ther efor e the Lord himsel f shall gi veyou a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call hisname Immanuel.

The Lord Himself will give asign. He will show you a miracle, awonder; something out of the ordinary will take place.

What will it be?A virgin shall conceive and

bear a son. A virgin will give birthto a son in a supernatural way. Hisname shall be called Immanuel—which means, God with us, or , In-carnation.

God's first promise of the Incarnation is given in His conversation with Satan just after Ad amhad committed high treason.

God said to Satan:

GENESIS 3:1515 And I will put enmit y be tw ee n th eeand the woman, and between thy seedand her seed; it shall bruise thy head, andthou shalt bruise his heel.

God the Father realizes man'sneeds can only be met by the Incarnation of His Son. He realizesthis One could not be born ofnatural generation. So He gives aprophecy that a woman shall givebirth to a child independent ofnatu ra l generat ion—it shal l becalled the seed of woman.

In Je re mi ah 31:22 God de clar ed,"...A woman shall compass aman."

Or, mor e litera lly, a wo ma nshall encompass a man child.This Incarnate One could not be

b o r n of n a t u r a l g e n e r a t i o nbecause man is a fallen being. Hisseed is subject to Satan. This Seed,this Holy One, must be One who isnot a subject of Satan. This wonderful Being must be conceived ofthe Holy Spirit. The womb of the

virgin is to be simply the receptacle of that Holy One unto the dayHe is brought forth.

Adam was created. The rest of

the human race was generated bynatural processes. But this One tobe bro ug ht forth is to be formed bya special act of divine power. TheApostle Paul speaks of His birth inthe following words:

PHILIPPIANS 2:6-86 Who, be ing in the form of God,thought it not robbery to be equal withGod:

7 But mad e himself of no rep utat ion,and took upon him the form of a servant,and was made in the likeness of men:8 An d be in g found in fashion as a man,he humbled himself, and became obedient

unto death, even the death of the cross.

A modern translation of thatpassage helps us see i t moreclearly:

Who existing in the form of God countednot the being on an equality with God athing to be grasped: But emptied himself,taking the form of a servant, being madein the likeness of men, and being found inthe fashion as a man he humbled himselfbecoming obedient unto death, yea, thedeath of the cross.

He had existed always in theform of God; but He empties Him

self and takes the form of a bondservant; being made in the likeness of man.

HIS PREEXISTENCE

The Person we now know asJesus Christ is one of the threedivine persons of the Diety. AsGod, He had no beginning. It is thetime before He became a man thatwe refer to as His preexistence.Micah speaks of Him as existingfrom all eternity:

MICAH 5:22 But thou , Bet hle he m Ephratah,though thou be little among the thousandsof Judah, yet out of thee shall he comeforth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel;whose goings forth have been from of old,from everlasting.

John speaks of Him as existing inthe very beg inn ing wi th theFather:

JOHN 1:1-31 In the beginni ng wa s the Word, andthe Word was with God, and the Wordwas God.2 The same was in the begin ning with

God.3 All thin gs wer e made by him; andwithout him was not anything made thatwas made.

Je su s sp ea ks of Himself asbeing before Abraham and beforethe world was created:

JOHN 8:5858 Jesus said unto them , Verily , veri ly, Isay unto you. Before Abraham was, I am.

JOHN 17:5, 245 And now , O Father, glorify thou mewith thine own self with the glory which Ihad with thee before the world was...

24 Fathe r, I will that th ey also, who mthou hast given me, be with me where Iam; that the y may behol d my glory, whi chthou hast given me: for thou lovedst mebefore the foundation of the world.

Paul speaks of Him as existingbefore all things and as the Creator and Upholder of all things:

HEBREWS 1:1-3, 81 God, wh o at sund ry time s and indivers manners spake in time past untothe fathers by the prophets,

2 Hath in the se last day s sp oke n unto usby his Son, whom he hath appointed heirof all things, by whom also he made the

worlds;3 Who being the brigh tnes s of his glory,and the express image of his person, andupholding all things by the word of hispower, when he had by himself purgedour sins, sat down on the right hand ofMajesty on high;...

8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy thr one,O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre ofrighteousness is the sceptre of thykingdom.

EPHESIANS 3:99 An d to mak e all men see wha t is thefellowship of the mystery, which from thebeginning of the world hath been hid inGod, who created all things by JesusChrist:

The Incarnat ion p resupposesthat this Being who became incarnate had a separate existence previous to His coming to the earth.The entire gospel of John is basedupon the fact that Jesus had a previous existence with the Father—and that while He was walkingthe earth He remembered His ex-


5/8

periences in the other world and

spoke to the Father of them; andalso of when He would go backand take up again life with theFather. (See John 8:42; 13:3; 16:28,-30; 17:3-5.)

This One to be born of thefamily of Judah to be a ruler inIsrael, according to Micah 5:2,"...whose goings forth have been

from of old, from everlasting," hadtraveled up and down through thee t e r n i t i e s a n d h a d l e f t H i sfootprints on the ages.

In the beginning this Eternal

One was with God—with Him infellowship and purpose, workingwit h Him; cr ea t i ng with H im.(John 1:1,3; Heb. 1:2.) Way back inthe beginning we hear God say,

"Let us make man in our image."(Gen. 1:26.)

Here are some of the divinenames and titles given to Jesuswh ic h pr ov e He is by na tu redivine and a member of theGodhead.

GOD, IMMANUEL Matt. 1:23...THE WORDJ n . 1:1...LORD AND CHRIST Ac t s

2:36...LORD OF ALL Acts 10:36...LORD OFGLORY I Cor. 2:8...WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTINGFATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE Is. 9:6...THELORDS CHRIST Luke 2:26...THE SON OFGOD Matt 4:3, 14:33; I Jo hn 4:15...MY SONMatt. 3:17...THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SONJohn 1:18, 3:16-18...THE FIRST AND LAST,ALPHA AND OMEGA, BEGINNING ANDENDING Rev. 22:13...THE LORD Acts9:17. ..SON OF THE HIGHEST Luke1:32...BREAD OF GOD John 6:33...HOLYONE OF GOD Mark l:24...HOLY CHILDJESUS Acts 4:30...KING OF KINGS, LORDOF LORDS Rev. 19:16...LORD ANDSAVIOUR II Peter 3:2...THE WORD OFGOD Rev. 19:13

Yet this Being, called the Word,who was God, and was with God infe l lowship and companionship ,possessing the same nature, existing in the same form and on anequa l i ty wi th God—took uponHimself the body of man. Heb e c a me f l e sh t h a t H e mi g h tbecome man's Redeemer.

JOHN 1:1414 And the Word wa s mad e fles h, anddwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,the glory as of the only begotten of theFather,) full of grace and truth.

And when He came into thisworld God prepared a body forHim:

HEBREWS 10:55 Wherefore wh en he com eth into theworld, he saith, Sacrifice and offeringthou wouldest not, but a body hast thouprepared me:

God prepared a body—a specialbody—for this Being called theSon of God. He was not born bynatural generation as we know it.God performed a miracle by taking Him out of the Godhead, orfrom the Godhead, in heaven andplacing Him in the womb of avirgin to be united with flesh by aunique conception.

We note here that when Christ

became a man in the IncarnationHe became man for eternity. Hedid not assume humanity as a garment to be worn for 33 years, thencast off and laid aside. But Hebecame a man forever. Today atthe Father's right hand there is aman in heaven as the result of theIncarnat ion.

I TIMOTHY 2:55 For ther e is one God, and one media tor between God and men, the man ChristJesus.

The fact that it was possible for

diety and humanity to becomeunited reveals the place the firstman held in the plan of the FatherGod. (See Genesis 1:26 and Psalm8:5.) God had created man in Hisown image just a shade lower thanHimself—so nearly like God it waspossible for God and man tobecome united for eternity in oneindividual. It was possible for Godand man to become united! Godcan dwell in these human bodiesof ours. God can impart His Lifean d nat ure to our spirits and dwell

in our hum an bodies. That ' s w hattakes place at the New Birth.

Eve ry born aga in ma n is an incarnation. The believer is as mucha n i n c a r n a t i o n as J e s u s ofNazareth. God can now irradicatespiritual death from the spirit ofman and give man His life.

INCARNATEREVELATOR

Man born into a world ruled bySatan did not by nature know His

Creator. But the Incarnation ofJesus Christ—God manifested inthe flesh—has given the worldtrue knowledge of the nature ofGod.

From the time Adam sinned,and man died spiritually, God andman have been spiritually separ

ated. Spiritually dead men couldnot know the nature of man'sCreator without a revelation fromHim. And man rejected revelationin the blindness of his mind. Hebrought forth false conceptions ofGod.

A nation's conception of Goddetermines its worship and its life.The ignorance and untold miseryof heathen nations is due to their

darkened conception of God. Godhas been conceived as the weird,the cruel, the grotesque. As theimmoral . As the aloof. As an impersonal energy. But never as Heis.

That ' s why Jesus came! Toreveal Him as He is! As a God ofLove! As a Father God!

Even Israel which possessed asclear a revelation as God couldgive of Himself to spiritually deadmen, had no true conception ofGod when Christ came into the

world. The product of Israel's conception of God was the Pharisee.We see the counterpart of that today in the Chris t ian world—proud, bitter, unkind, arrogant,self-seeking. Israel had such a falseconception of God they didn ' trecognize Him when He stood intheir midst.

Jesus said, "He that hath seenme hath see the Father." John saidof Him, "No man has seen God atany time, the only begotten who isin the bosom of the Father, He hath

declared Him" (John 1:18).I love Roth erha m's tran slation of

John 1:14. "And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent amongus and we gazed upon His glory,the glory as of the only begotten ofthe Father."

It has been our tendency todwell upon Christ ' s self-denial ,His sufferings in coming to earthfrom glory. Yet as we know Himbetter, we believe it was a joy toHim, who so loved man and sodesired man's fellowship to dwell

on earth among men that Hemight give to alienated man a trueconception of his Creator.

INCARNATEREDEEMER

GALATIANS 4:4-7

4 But wh en the fulness of the time wa s

Continued on next page

5


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Continued from Page 5 ma nd ed of the hu ma n. And He

becomes answerable.Now—after He has paid thepenalty, after He has suffered tillthe claims of Justice are fullymet—then Life Eternal must begiven to His spirit. His nature mustbe changed until the prophecyfrom the second Psalm is fulfilled,"Thou art m y Son; this day have Ibegotten thee." He mus t be bornout of spiritual death into Life thatPaul may say, "He is the first bom from the dead, The head of thechurch." He is ma de alive in tha tdark domain of hell!

He must meet Satan, bind him inhis own house, and take away thearms in which he is trusting.

COLOSSIANS 2:1515 And havi ng spoil ed principalit ies andpowers, he made a shew of them openly,triumphing over them in it.

A vivid picture of Jesus in hellwith all the hosts of demons uponHim, seeking to hold Him prisonerin their dark kingdom. But Jesusmust arise in His new omnipotentstrength, hurl back the hosts of

d a r k n e s s , a n d l e a v e S a t a nparalyzed, s t r ipped of his authority, defeated. (See Hebrews2:14.)

Jesus must possess the gate ofHis enemy. He must take the keysof death and hell.

Then He must ascend up out ofthe darkness of hell, enter into Hisbody which would then be filledw i t h l i g h t a n d i m m o r t a l i t y ,glorified and fitted to last throughthe ages of ages as the Head of theChurch, and as a sample of the

resurrect ion.This Redeemer must experiencespiritual death for every man sothat every man may have a legalright to Eternal Life and a legalright to become a child of God.

All are dead spiritually. All aresubjects of Satan. If one could havebeen saved without Jesus takinghis place, then all could have beensav ed. If th e worl d could ha vebeen saved apart from Christ, thenGod's sending Jesus to hell is themost colossal crime ever commit

ted.Man ' s t ransgress ion must be

atoned for—and thank God, Jesusdid th at for us! He took my pla ceand yours. And He did it as God.For He was virgin born and dietymanifested in the flesh.

Without the virgin birth—thereis no rede mpti on.

Short Term Courses ...now available through RhemaCorrespondence Bible School

In response to many requests, we have

made available 6-month short term

courses for home correspondence

school study. You can choose to study

one or more of the following subjects:

Christology

Charismatic Truths

Communicating Ministries

Dynamics of Faith

Bible InterpretationHealing Truths

Write today for information regarding

Bible study at home through RCBS.

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Bible SchoolP.O. Box 50220Tulsa, Ok 74150

ITINERARY

ATLANTA, GA. Nov. 30 - De c. 7

Agnes Scott College

(Decatur Area)

Presser Hall - Gaines Chapel

1-20 at U.S. 155

South Candler Road

Sunday, Nov. 30 2:30 pm

Monday-Satur day 10:00 am & 7:30 pm

Sunday, Dec . 7 2:30 pm

HOUSTON, TEXAS Jan. 4- 11

FAITH SEMINAR

AND

MID-WINTER INDOOR CAMPMEETING

FRED PRICE and KENNETH E. HAGIN

teaching in the new 2000 seat sanctuary of:

Lakewood Church

7400 East Houston Road

Houston, Texas

Sunday Se rv ic es 7:00 pmMonday-Saturday 10:00 am & 7:30 pm

TULSA, OKLAHOMA Jan. 18-2 5

-Sheridan Assembly Christian Center-

205 South Sheridan Road

Sunday Se rv ic es 6:30 pm

Monday-Saturday 10:30 am & 7:30 pm

come, God sent forth his Son, made of awoman, made under the law,

5 To red eem them that we re under thelaw, that we might receive the adoptionof sons.6 And beca use ye are sons , God hathsent forth the Spirit of his Son into yourhearts, crying, Abba, Father.7 Where fore thou art no mor e a ser vant, but a son; and if a son, then an heirof God through Christ.

God, in sending Jesus, wroughtfor us His Great Plan of Redemption.

The Redemption of man must

eminate from God. Because man isa broken, helpless slave withoutresources in the hands of anenemy (Satan) who rules him without mercy and who has the authority to cast him into hell. Godmust provide a Redeemer.

This Redeemer must be adequate to meet every demand ofJustice and every need of man. Hemust be big enough to conquerSatan, and to bring Life and immortality to the broken, bondagedhuman.

This Redeemer must become incarnate. As a spiritual being Hemust take on a human body. Thisbo dy c an no t be mor tal as ours is. Ifit were, He would be a subject ofSatan. He must have a body patterned after the pure body of thefirst man Adam. He must be conceived and born in such a mannerthat He will not be a subject ofSatan. He must be a substitute forman. He must pass the examination and requirements Justice demands of a substitute. He could not

be an angel, a disembodied spirit,or any special being created forthe occasion. He must be GodHimself. Di et y mu st suffer forhumani ty .

The only way this can be done isfor God's beloved Son to come outof God's bosom, lay aside the gloryand maj es t y He ha s e n jo yedthrough eternity at the Father'sright hand, and come down hereon earth and assume the physicalbody of a human.

Then God must take man's sin

n a t u r e —t h a t h i d e o u s mo n s t r o u sthing called spiritual death—andlay it upon the spirit of his HolyEternal Son.

The Son must go unto judgment.The wra th and ind igna t ion ofJustice against sin and treasonmust be meted out to Him. Hemust pay the wages of sin. It's de


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Continued from Page 3 What laborer is w o r t h y of dou

ble honor and his hire? The onewho labors in word and doctrine.He is to be r ewarded and taken

•care of.

ĉ. • o m b i n i n g all thes e sc r ip

tures it's easy to grasp the natureof t he ministers called pastors. Letme say again, the Greek wordtranslated pastor means shepherd.The shepherd would have theovers igh t of the flock. No com

p a n y of bel ievers can be gatheredtoge ther for long with out feelingthe need for such minist ry. Th ereis always t he need of wise, competent oversight of the mee t ings ofthe assembly, or prayer group, orwhatever , so that al l thi ngs will bedone decent ly a nd in order . (I Cor.14:40.) W he n the Word talks abo utelders, or bishops, or overseers it ist a lk ing about people wi th thepastoral gift. Fo r pastors a re giftsg iven by Chris t to the church.T h e y w e r e t h e r e c o g n i z e d

s h e p h e r d or s h e p h e r d s of t h eflock. (Sometimes a flock ne ed smore than one shepherd.)

Oh, some have figured it all ou t,and they're going to put an elderover five people, a nd an elder overten people. These people are tosubmi t to the m. The y tell t hosepeople exact ly what to do. Whento move. When to bu y a car, etc.That is unscriptural . It is not theplace of an e lder in the church.

Submission doesn't mean whatma n y t h i n k it does. T he Bible s ays ,"Submit yourselves therefore toGod" (James 4:7). Sometimes youcan' t obey both God and ma n.First we submi t to Him .

T h e n the Bible says for us to be

submissive on e to another. Doesthat mean we are to be slaves ofone another? No. It mean s we're tot ry to get a long with one another.To respect one ano ther . To honorone another . To love one another.

The scr ipture is ve ry clear thattrue pastors are a ge nu in e giftfrom God. A b o v e al l else the positive work of a pastor is feeding theflock. Feeding the flock. Because aflock well fed is the least likely tobecome unheal thy spir i tual ly.

The scr ipture is ve ry clear that

true pastors are a ge nu in e giftfrom God. (Eph. 4:8, 11.) This is tobe especially noted in our dayw h e n it seems to be thought pastors can be manu factu red withsome special course of training.

If o ne doe sn't h av e tha t gift fromGo d to s tand in this office, he'lln e v e r be successful. If the gift isthere, it can be and should bedeveloped. No matter how muchpersonal ambit ion w e mig ht ha ve,no matter how good our intent ions—nothing can t a k e the place

of t he fact that there is a gift in -volved. It comes from God . It isgiven by God to the church . It isthe Holy Ghost w h o makes menoverseers.

(Our study on the ministry of the pas

tor will be con tinued next month.)

This port ion o f Kennet h Hagin's teaching o n

the office o f pastor is ava i lable o n cassette.

Order S568C MINISTRY O F THE P ASTOR (Part

l) ...price: $4.00.

FAITH SEMINAR

AND

MID-WINTER

INDOOR CAMPMEETING

F r e d P r i c e . . . M o r n i n g S e s s i o n s

Kenn eth Hagin Eve nin gs

The new 2000 sea t s anc tua ry of

Lakewood Church, 7400 East

Housto n Road, Houston, Te xa s,i s the s i t e of a m i d - w i n t e r Fa i t h

S e m i n a r & Indoor Ca mpm eet ing

J a n u a r y 18 t h r o u g h 25 . Sunday

s e r v i c e s a r e at 7:00 pm and

Monday through Sa tur day the

t w o s e r v i c e s a day a r e at 10:0 0

a . m . and 7:30 p . m .

Notice in par t icular that it isunscriptural to put a novi ce in tothis office.

TITUS 1:7-97 For a bishop must be blameless, as thesteward of God; not selfwilled, no t soonangry, no t g iven to wine, no striker, notgiven to filthy lucre;8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover ofgood men, sober, just, holy, te mperate ;9 Hol din g fast the faithful word as hehath been taught, that he may be able b ysound doctrine both to exhort and to convince th e gainsayers.

1 PETER 5:2-32 Feed the flock of God which is amongyou, taking the oversight thereof, not byconstraint, but willingly; not for filthylucre, but of a ready mind;3 Neither as bei ng lords ove r God'sheritage, bu t being ensamples to theflock.

Money cannot be the control l ing interest in the life of anyminister. If it is , it will ruin him. H emust serve because he loves God,and because he loves the sheep.

It is cer tainly the d u t y of theflock to support the pastor, theelder, the bishop, but he is not to

do it for filthy lucre. His mot ive isto serve God and to put th e peoplefirst—really to serve them, takin gthe oversight thereof with ther ight motive in mind . It is rightand scriptural that ministers besupported. But if t h e y a re justdoing it for money, then it be-comes wrong.

I TIMOTHY 5:17-18

17 Let the elders that rule well b ecounted worthy of doubl e honou r,especially they w h o labour in the wordand doctrine.

18 For t he scripture saith. Thou shalt notmuzzle th e ox that treadeth out the corn.And, the labourer is worthy of his reward.


8/8

A chal lenge to move intothe deeper dimensions of the Spirit-filled life...

By CHARLES H. E. DUNCOMBE

A C H A L L E N G E T O M O V E I N T O

T H E D E E P E R D I M E N S I O N S O F T H E

S P I R I T - F I L L E D L I F E .

Charles Duncombe studied

for the ministry in London, Eng

land under the leading Pen

tecostal teachers of the world.

He is the founder of Trinity Bible

College in Tulsa. And the authorof The World Today in

Prophecy, a regular feature of

CHRIST FOR THE NATIONS

magazine.

In his 62 page book WE

COULD BE GIANTS you will

find he shares the Apostle Paul's

conviction that Spirit-filled

Christians should not live as

mere unchanged men.

W e quote from his forward:

This book gives some vitalaspects of life in the HolySpirit and is sent out with the

prayer that the "Now Generation" will lay hold on theweapons of their spiritual warfare and write a final gloriouschapter of church history which could be appropriately titled,"There Were Giants in the Earth in Those Days!"

W e will send one copy free this month to all who write and re

quest the book by name.

Morris & Bert a Bass SECOND CLASS POSTAGE

Rt. 6, Box 40 8 PAID

2 4 0 3 rd, S t AT TULSA, OKLAHOMA

Claremore, OK 74017

• Please send my free copy of WE COULD BE GIANTS.

WOF 1975 - 12 December, The Virgin Birth

Documents

Transcript of WOF 1975 - 12 December, The Virgin Birth