STUDY: THE MINISTRY GIFTS . By Kenneth E Hagin.

Lesson II THE DIVINE CALL

A.    God hath set some in the Church. There is a divine call.

1 CORINTHIANS 12:27,28

27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

28 AND GOD HATH SET SOME IN THE CHURCH, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

1.    Ephesians 4:11 says "Jesus gave." This passage says "God set."

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2.    Notice this Corinthian passage calls the Body of Christ the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is the Church.

B.    God sets ministry gifts in the Church — not man.

1.    There is a vast difference between God setting some in the Church — and man setting some in the Church.

2.    A study of Church history reveals that down through the centuries, various groups have endeavored to get back to what they call New Testament prac­tices.

They've set up organizations which often were something man manufac­tured — something in the flesh; something carnal.

They "called" and "set" people who had no divine calling into certain offices. This is unscriptural.

God does the setting. God does the calling.

C.    You do not enter the ministry — any phase of it — just because you feel it is a holy calling and you'd like to respond.

1.    You cannot make yourself a ministry gift.

2.    It is dangerous to do something just because you want to do it.

D.    You do not enter the ministry because someone else tells you that you are suited for it.

Personal experience: When I was a pastor, I watched young people in the church who were apt to work for God. Some of them, I believe, were called. Some of them, I am certain, were not. I have seen other members in the church ruin some of these

young people by getting around them and saying, "I believe you are called to preach," and so forth. They tried to do it and failed. Oftentimes they got out of church completely because of it.

1.   Don't go into the ministry because somebody else called you.

2.   Don't go into the ministry because your mother called you.

3.   Don't go into the ministry because your father called you.

4.    Husbands, if you are a minister of the gospel and have a divine call on your life, don't try to call your wife into the ministry. Let her be the helper who is meet (or proper) for you, as God designed her to be. Include her in every way you possibly can.

5.    Wives, if you are called, don't try to make a preacher out of your husband if he is not one. But don't shut him out of your life. Work him into your life, and even your ministry, in every way you possibly can.

6.    There is a divine call to the ministry. You must determine whether or not it is on your life. Don't try to go into the ministry without a calling from God to do so.

E.    How can you tell a divine call?

1.    You will have the conviction in your own spirit. You will have the witness in your own heart.

You will have the spiritual equipment — gifts of the Spirit — that go along with the office or offices to which you are called.

Personal experience: I just knew I was called deep down inside myself. How? By an inward intuition. It was always with me. It was as much a part of me on the inside as my ears were a part of me on the outside.

2.    God deals with man's spirit.

3.    Learn to listen to your spirit.

a.    Learn to listen down on the inside of you and you will know many things you don't otherwise know.

b.    But if you are just messing along in the world, about half-dedicated, half-in and half-out because you are living too much in the carnal realm, car­nality will dominate you, and you won't be conscious of your spirit.

c.    If you are fully dedicated and consecrated to God to do anything He wants you to do, you will become conscious of that something inside you.

d.    There will be a divine compulsion on the inside of you.

F.     The methods by which men are called are unimportant. But obedience to the call is important.

1.   If methods were important, the Bible would emphasize them; it does not.

2.   The Bible has much to say about obedience.

3.    Sometimes God does move in extraordinary ways. But this is not the rule.

a.    Visions. Sometimes people will have visions. Paul did. I have had visions. But I was in the ministry 15 years before I did. I went into the ministry without any kind of "supernatural" (if you want to call it that — actually, everything of God is supernatural) visitation. I went just by the inward intuition; the inward witness.

b.    Prophecy. Ministry gifts are not set in the Church by prophecy. However, a confirmation to the ministry may come through prophecy.

ACTS 13:1,2

1 Now there were in the church which was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon . . . and Lucius ... and Manaen ... and Saul.

2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I HAVE CALLED THEM.

Barnabas and Saul were not called by prophecy. They were not set in the ministry by prophecy or by man. God just confirmed their call through prophecy.

Personal experience: In the last church I pastored, we were all praying around the altar one night in united prayer. I was laying hands on various ones and praying over them as the Spirit of God seemed to lead me.

Suddenly, I was drawn like a magnet to a very quiet young lady who was actu­ally timid in a sense. When I laid hands on her head to pray, I was surprised to find myself saying, "This is the confirmation of what I said to you at 3 o'clock this afternoon as you were praying in the storm cellar. I told you I would confirm it."

I didn't know what that meant. And I didn't ask her about it right then because she began to cry and pray even more.

I telephoned her later and asked, "Did that mean anything to you? Were you in the cellar praying at 3 o'clock?"

"Yes," she said, "the Lord said that He called me to the ministry and that He would confirm it in the service tonight."

Notice she was not set in the Church as a ministry gift by prophecy. It was con­firmed that way — but she wasn't set into the ministry that way.

1.    If a so-called prophecy does not confirm what you have in your own spirit, forget it.

Personal experience: A man once told me that a "prophet" had laid hands on him and had given him five spiritual gifts, including gifts of healings and the word of knowledge.

This so-called prophet had said to him, "I've been observing you, and I've noticed that the word of knowledge and gifts of healings oper­ate in you."

This man said to me, I must have these gifts because that prophet said I did. Maybe you can tell me how to operate them."

I said, "In all these months since the man laid hands on you, have these spiritual gifts ever manifested in your life?"

"No," he said.

I said, "If I were you, I would just forget it. In the first place, that so-called prophet didn't give you anything. Only God can give spiritual gifts. In the second place, if spiritual gifts were there, they would endeavor to come into manifestation. You would have some kind of intuition about it. If I were you, I would just stay in the church here and be faithful."

I was preaching in the area some time later. I noticed he had remained a layman, faithful to God and was a blessing to the church. Had he tried to enter some other office, he could have become a curse to that church, instead of a blessing.

G.    Seeing a need is not a call to the ministry.

1.    If we are not careful, we slip into the attitude of the Church in general that seeing a need is a call. This is not scriptural. There is a divine call, given by God alone.

2.    Naturally, as Christians, anytime we see a need, we are concerned about that need and will endeavor with all the ability we have to minister to that need. That is scripturally correct. But it is not to be confused with the divine call to the ministry.

H.    An anointing evidences a divine call.

Personal experience: Many years ago I heard a man preach at a great convention of 5,000 people or more. "Seeing a need is a call," he stated. Although he was in the ministry, he said, "If I have ever been called to the ministry, I don't know it."

I thought to myself, If he hadn't told us, all of us would have known it in 15 min­utes anyway. There was no anointing on him.

When a person is called to the ministry, there is an anointing that just comes upon him or her to stand in an office. Otherwise the person would just stand up and talk. It's good to talk and share whatever you have, but that's different from being called to a ministry and being set in the Church.

I.     If God didn't call you to full-time ministry, don't try to get into it; you will be a mis­fit.

J.     Knowing that you know you are divinely called settles the matter once and for all. There should be no confusion on the subject.

Personal experience: As I said, I entered the ministry without any kind of supernat­ural visitation. I just went by the inward intuition — the inward witness. And I have never been confused on the subject.

Yet through the years, especially during the 12 years I pastored, I've seen many ministers who were up and down, even wondering whether or not they were really called.