WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?                       DO 2232                            4/86

         1. WHEN YOU TAKE THINGS AWAY FROM PEOPLE YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE THEM SOMETHING THAT'S JUST AS GOOD. Like some of these false cults, for example: They enable their members to have all kinds of spiritual powers & do miracles & things, & when you take them out of that & give them Christianity, you've got to give them something that to their way of thinking is just as powerful.
         2. CHRISTIANS & THE CHURCHES TAKE A NEGATIVE APPROACH TO FALSE RELIGIONS. They attack them negatively, trying to show everything that's wrong with them, but they don't really offer them something better! They don't really show them how much better the LORD is, at least a lot of them don't. They don't really show them how much GREATER power they can have through the LORD! (Maria: They can't, because they don't have that power THEMSELVES. Because they don't want to accept it.)
         3. MY MOTHER USED TO ILLUSTRATE IT BY THE FAMOUS PICTURE OF THE LITTLE GIRL THAT HAS DROPPED HER FANCY LITTLE DOLLY THAT SHE LOVED SO MUCH. You see the dolly falling to the ground out of one hand, & she's reaching up to a real live dove that's coming down to land on her other hand! In other words, the IMITATION was easily traded for the REALITY of something even BETTER.
         4. MOTHER USED TO ILLUSTRATE IT THAT WAY TO SHOW THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT THESE FALSE RELIGIONS, JUST SHOW'M SOMETHING BETTER, GIVE THEM SOMETHING BETTER! Show them that Christ is BETTER, the Holy Spirit is MORE powerful & that God is THE God!--That you can really have greater peace, greater power & the ONLY Salvation through Jesus! Because nearly all of them are imitations & counterfeits of the reality. And who wants an imitation & a counterfeit when they can have the real thing?
         5. (MARIA: BUT EVEN MANIFESTATIONS OF SOME OF THE MORE MIRACULOUS, MORE HELPFUL, PROTECTIVE THINGS SEEM TO OCCUR FOR THESE FALSE CULTS IN A MORE SPECTACULAR WAY THAN IN THE CHRISTIAN'S LIFE. We as Christians have many many miraculous answers to prayer, none the less miraculous just because we can't see them take place before our very eyes! But the Lord more often than not lets OUR miracles be done through natural channels in accordance with His natural laws, not bypassing them in a spectacular show that calls public attention to them. Do you think that's because the Lord wants us to believe by FAITH & just KNOW that He's doing it & taking care of it without us having to SEE what He's doing?)--Yes, of course.
         6. OUR MAIN MIRACLE THAT WE WANT PEOPLE TO SEE IS SALVATION & its power to change hearts & lives! These false cults emphasise & spend their time on signs & wonders with no real power to change PEOPLE!
         7. OF ALL THE NINE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT, ONLY THREE REALLY ARE OBVIOUSLY OBSERVABLY SUPERNATURAL, such as tongues, miracles & healings.--Miraculous types of healings, instant healings etc. We have plenty of healings, we have plenty of tongues & we've had miracles. But they've not been the main nor most spectacular part of our ministry & they've not had to be!
         8. WE'RE TRYING TO WIN PEOPLE TO CHRIST & THE LOVE OF GOD, & not just going around showing off our super-duper spirituality, that we're some kind of mystical gurus that can perform miracles & healings & speak in tongues & do showy spiritual manifestations! (Maria: It would make us too proud, wouldn't it? And it would gain us a following who were coming along just for the miracles.)--Just for the loaves & the fishes, just for that sort of thing, just like the Pentecostals have.
         9. (MARIA: I GUESS THE LORD WANTS US TO HAVE FAITH TOO, JUST FAITH IN HIM, IN THE UNSEEN.)--Yes, most of the gifts of the Spirit are not showy gifts, they are the gifts of wisdom & knowledge & faith & discernment & things which are not so showy, not so obviously supernatural, but things which are the most NEEDED & the BEST of all the gifts if you're going to work for the Lord! If you're really going to do things for God & be led of His Spirit, THEY are the things that you have to have in order to be a real leader for the Lord!
         10. HOW MANY CHURCH PEOPLE REALLY WANT GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT WHICH WILL HELP THEM WITNESS & WIN SOULS & have the faith to go to the mission field & faith for support & to self-sacrifice to give their all & suffer for Jesus & for others that they can save souls for Heaven! (Maria: Not very many.)--Not many!
         11. MOST CHRISTIANS ARE AFTER GOD WITH THE ATTITUDE, "WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? WHAT CAN GOD DO FOR ME?" What J. F. Kennedy said to the nation: "Ask not what your country can do for YOU, but what can YOU do for your country?", could be paraphrased for Christians: Ask not what your God can do for YOU; but what can you do for your GOD! My message for the average church person is quit asking God, "What can You do for ME, God? What's in it for ME?"
         12. WE LITERALLY HAVE A HIGHER & FAR MORE SACRIFICIAL CALLING which requires far more faith & wisdom & knowledge & other gifts of the Spirit in order to sacrificially witness & preach the Gospel & win souls, save people for Heaven!--And not just, "What can I get out of this religion? What can I do to still live comfortably & sacrifice little or nothing & give up almost nothing to go to church on Sunday & get out of it whatever I can for ME selfishly?" That's what most church people are after with their selfish motives of self-aggrandisement, self-interest & self-acquisition.
         13. MOST CHRISTIANS HAVE A SELFISH APPROACH TO FAITH & CHRISTIANITY & CHURCHIANITY: "Is it doing any good for ME? What do I get out of it? What's in it for ME?" I mean, EVERYTHING'S in it for us, of course! By forsaking all & serving the Lord & pleasing God, He'll give us almost anything, the desires of our hearts abundantly above all that we can ask or think!--Not only our NEEDS, but our WANTS!--The DESIRES of our hearts! EVERYTHING'S in it for us!--If we will delight ourselves in Him & His Will & His service in obedience to lay down our lives in love for others & for Him! If we'll obey Him & do His Will & follow Him & serve Him & others & win souls, EVERYTHING'S in it for us!
         14. THERE ARE TWO SIDES TO THE DEAL! It's not only, "God, what can I get out of You?" But also God wants to know, "Christian, what can I get out of YOU?" And if He can get ENOUGH out of YOU, He'll give you ANYTHING, like He has us! PTL!
         15. SO THIS BUSINESS OF WANTING SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS & MIRACLES & POWERS & supernatural demonstrations just to show off your power & that you're some kind of a god & you're some kind of a supernatural superman human being, this is what most people are looking for. They're looking for the spiritual, even church people. They're not really looking for what they can do for GOD or OTHERS, they're looking for what they can get out of it for THEMSELVES & SHOW OFF to others!
         16. THE LORD SHOWED US THAT THIS IS FOOLISHNESS AS FAR AS GOD'S CONCERNED! "O foolish Galatians! O foolish Corinthians!" All this foolishness of child's play, of playing with the gifts of the Spirit like they were toys! The Lord had to show us that we needed to GROW UP & be MATURE Christians with the responsibility of PARENTS & the responsibility of souls & followers, babes in Christ, to teach others to teach others to teach others, that a Christian has MOST of all a responsibility to God in thanks & gratitude for what God has DONE for us ALREADY! We're not just to be looking for MORE & selfishly craving more, selfishly boasting of more, but we are to sacrificially want to serve CHRIST & serve OTHERS & WITNESS & WIN SOULS forever for Heaven!
         17. SO THAT'S THE WHOLE CRUNCH OF THE WHOLE AFFAIR, & THAT IS, WHAT IS THE REAL MOTIVE? Why do people join our Family? Well, they join for Salvation most of all, to be saved from their sins & receive Christ & know that their future's assured & to even KNOW the future, & for Heaven & all the rest, to get the peace, the satisfaction, the joy & the love that they've never found before! But when they join, they know that they're going to have to DO something for the LORD in return, that they're going to have to carry the same Message sacrificially & by faith & suffering for OTHERS.
         18. THEY KNOW THEY'RE JOINING AN ARMY & GOING TO BE A SOLDIER THAT HAS TO FIGHT BATTLES & fight the Devil & sacrifice, forsake all, suffer & live by faith in order to be genuine Christians, what Christians are SUPPOSED to be & what Jesus INTENDED for them to be, like His Own disciples who lived & fought & died for Christ & others & to bring us the Message, or we wouldn't be here today!
         19. THE LORD TELLS PEOPLE TO SIT DOWN & COUNT THE COST, because as far as WE'RE concerned, when people join OUR Family they KNOW what's in it for them--they're going to have to live like they see the Family living, & they're going to have to witness like they see the person witnessing who witnessed to THEM! They're going to have to win souls like THEY were won! They're going to have to live by faith like the FAMILY lives! They're going to have to suffer persecution like the FAMILY suffers! They KNOW what's going to be in it for them! But because they know what priceless benefits they have already gotten out of it, they join anyhow because they love the Lord & they want to please Him, & they love souls & they want to save'm! THAT'S what's in it for you & me!--Amen?