This is from pages 207-210 of “The Life and Ministry of Billy and Shirley Cole” copyright 2007. These are some of his follow up words after telling the story of his life.
Back to the Fundamental
Within our UPCI Articles of Faith is our Fundamental Doctrine, right at the front. The next time you read the Pentecostal Herald, the official publication of the United Pentecostal Church International, you should see it, near the front. It says, “The basic and fundamental doctrine of this organization shall be the Bible standard of full salvation, which is repentance, baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the initial sign of speaking with other tongues as the Spirit gives utterance. We shall endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we all come into the unity of the faith, at the same time admonishing all brethren that they shall not contend for their different views to the disunity of the body.”
Our Fundamental Doctrine has five very important points:
1. Repentance;
2. Baptism in water by immersion in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ;
3. The infilling of the Holy Ghost, speaking with other tongues;
4. Unity; and
5. Respect for each other.
Whenever I have preached outside of the church that I pastored, I preached one of those points. I never preached anything else. And that is why I have had so many converts –because I was not doing something that was none of my business.
In order to be successful as a minister, it is as important to find out what you should not do as to know what you should do. It is as important to find out what you cannot do as it is to find out what you can do, because one cannot do anything. Now, we have preached as though one can do it all, but that is just not true. According to Paul (
1 Corinthians 3:6-11), one plants, but another waters; One lays the foundation, and another builds upon it. Some among us preach and make a big deal about each one being able to do it all, while citing, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (
Philippians 4:130. But that verse is totally misinterpreted. If you read
Philippians 4:13 in context, it means being able to suffer. Paul said that he had been exalted and also abased. And so he said that he could do all things: “I can be abased, and I can be exalted.” He was not talking about performing every miracle that has ever happened, or singly fulfilling every role of the five-fold ministry and accomplishing alone all phases of achievement in the work of God.
The focus that makes my ministry powerful is that (1) I have learned what I can do, and I have learned what I cannot do; and (2) I do what I can, and what I cannot do I leave for someone else to do.
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