[Songs in the Night - December 7]
It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. Matthew 10:20
ONLY those whom God has ordained in the sense
of giving them the Holy Spirit of sonship are in any
wise commissioned, or authorized, to preach in the
Lord's name.
All the ceremonies on earth and all the
hands of all the bishops cannot give authority to anybody
to speak in the name of God.
Our Lord Jesus
did not begin his ministry until he had received God's
ordination.
At the time of his consecration and baptism
the Holy Spirit came upon him, anointing him,
consecrating him, authorizing him to preach good tidings
to the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, to proclaim the acceptable
year of the Lord, to comfort those that mourn.
The same Holy Spirit is authority for anybody who
has received it to tell all that he understands respecting the plan of God to all who have an ear to hear—especially to the meek, the brokenhearted, those who
are feeling after God.
While the Apostle Paul intimates
that the female members of the church are not
to preach publicly, this does not interfere with the
fact that all of them who have received the Holy Spirit
have the anointing to preach and to teach according
to the limitations and opportunities of their sex, and
sometimes the private teaching is equally effective as
the more public. Z'13-365 R5363:2 (Hymn 198)