Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing | Rev. Paul Lawler
Love must lead every spiritual gift. Learn how to walk with Christ by pursuing love, desiring the gifts, and using them to build others up, not yourself.
[0:17] You may be seated, church family. Great to see you today. I want to invite you to take your Bible, open it to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. We'll read verses 1 through 25 in just a moment. Now, before I read the scripture and we teach, so here's what I want you to know about the teaching today, church family. This will be highly instructional.
[0:40] A lot of times there's preaching teaching that has more inspirational factors to it, but this is instructional. I don't think there's a way to go through this text as we teach through the book of 1 Corinthians. You're going to see where the text takes us today, and there's no way to be faithful to the text without doing some instruction. So just know that that's a part of what we'll navigate together. So hear the word of God, verses 1 through 25, 1 Corinthians 14. Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now, I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets so the church may be built up.
[1:48] Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments such as the flute or harp do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gets an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many languages in the world, and none is without meaning. But if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourself, since you are eager for the manifestation of the Spirit.
[2:33] Strive to excel in building up the church. Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also. I will sing praise with my spirit, but also sing with my mind also. Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. Nevertheless, in church, I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.
[3:20] Brothers, do not be children in your thinking, be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. In the law it's written, by people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners, will I speak to this people, and even they will not listen to me, says the Lord. Thus, tongues are a sign not for believers, but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers, but for believers. If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, they will not say that you are out of your minds, or will they not say you're out of your minds? But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. Wow, that is a challenging text, amen?
[4:13] So Grant, would you come and just teach this? I'm teasing. Bye.
[4:18] It is a challenging text. And so let's take a moment to pray and ask for God's help. So Lord.
[4:29] God, we all know we need you. We know that. But we pray that you would not only come and instruct, but you would come in such power that you would equip and empower your body to live into the fullness, of all that you've made available in Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. in.
[4:56] One of the regular questions that I get asked as a pastor is, Pastor, help me learn how to walk with Christ. And I want to help you today. Now, I want you to know when I'm seeking to help you, 1 Corinthians 14, 1 through 25, is not the only pattern of walking with Christ. But I want you to know that what we're going to cover is very important and very empowering for your walk with Jesus, the pattern in which you walk with Jesus as a believer. And so as we dive in, let's unpack this verse, and we're going to begin with.
[5:35] Asking the question, what does a walk with Jesus look like? Well, first of all, it is, based on the scripture, a walk that pursues love. Look with me in verse 1. Paul writes, pursue love. Now, we just devoted in last week's teaching, 1 Corinthians 13, to the entire love chapter. But when Paul writes these words, he is saying, pursue agape. Agape, to remind you, is not rooted in your feelings. It's not rooted in your emotions. Agape love is when you choose. You choose to love. You may not feel it. You're choosing the God-honoring way. You're choosing to forgive. You're choosing to honor. You're choosing to do what Jesus would do. That's the pursuit of love, the pursuit of agape. And to put it in context, that Paul is reminding the Corinthian church and us that love, agape love, undergirds all the spiritual gifts. Without love, and he's already said this in the 13th chapter, that without love, without agape, service in the body of Christ is worthless. You're a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal. So we won't spend a lot of time there because we covered a whole chapter last week. This is a walk that pursues love. The text says, pursue it, pursue agape.
[7:03] Secondly, walking with Jesus, this is a walk that earnestly desires spiritual gifts. Look at the text with me. Again, verse 1, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. The word earnestly there means a serious manner, not lightly or casually or flippantly. If you were to read it out of the Amplified Bible, it translates, make it your goal. As you're walking with Jesus, make it your goal to earnestly desire the spiritual gifts of God to operate in your life and through your life for the glory of Christ and the upbuilding of the body of Christ. So, 1 Corinthians lists non-spiritual gifts in verses 8 through 10. Those gifts are the spiritual gifts of wisdom, the spiritual gift of knowledge, the spiritual gift of faith, the spiritual gift of healing, the spiritual gift of miracles, and the spiritual gift of wisdom.
[8:17] The spiritual gift of prophecy, the spiritual gift of discernment.
[8:24] The spiritual gift of tongues, and the spiritual gift of the interpretation of tongues. Then we drop to verse 28 in chapter 12, and Paul lists another set. The spiritual gift of apostleship, the spiritual gift of teaching, the spiritual gift of helps or service, and the spiritual gift of administration. Then we turn to Romans chapter 12, verses 6 through 8, and the Apostle Paul lists an additional four gifts. The spiritual gift of encouragement or exhortation. The spiritual gift of giving. The spiritual gift of leadership, the spiritual gift of mercy. And then when we look at the greater text of the New Testament and the Old Testament, we see a subset that the Bible indicates are spiritual giftings. Those would include the spiritual gift of evangelism, the spiritual gift of shepherding, the spiritual gift of celibacy, that is a person choosing not to marry and abstain from sex to dedicate more of their life to serving Jesus, the spiritual gift of hospitality, the spiritual gift of craftsmanship, or the spiritual gift of intercession.
[9:49] And what Paul, the apostle, instructs us in here is that we are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. These are to be desired in a serious manner, not taken lightly, casually, or flippantly. In other words, for a follower of Jesus, as you walk with Jesus, as you're developed by Jesus, as you grow in Jesus, A part of that growth is making it your goal to pursue the development of spiritual gifts in your life. And this has everything to do with what Jesus once said in John 16.
[10:28] I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. For if I do not go away, the helper, that's a reference to the person of the
[10:38] Holy Spirit, will not come to you, but if I go, I'm going to send him to you. And the point is, is that you have been given the helper. You've been given the Holy Spirit, and he has many ministries in and through your life, but he has two primary ministries in and through your life. The first ministry is the development of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is the character of Jesus. love joy peace patience kindness gentleness self-control holy etc all the these are fruits of the Holy Spirit this is the development of Jesus character in your life so that you are a person that there is an inner strength that outweighs what's going on outside of you and so.
[11:29] The character of Jesus developed through the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit has another ministry, and that is the gifts of the Holy Spirit developed in you. The fruit of the Spirit is the character of Jesus. The gifts of the Spirit is the ministry of Jesus. Jesus is not only interested in developing Christlike character in your life, but he's also interested and passionate around that character in developing his ministry through your life. Now, loved ones, if what your pastor just said is true, and it is,
[12:06] I say that based on biblical authority, not opinion, if that's true, there is a lot at stake. Let me share with you examples of where love, pursue love, and the giftings of God combine. There's a lot at stake in this in terms of the health of the church, the body, and the ministry of the body to the world. There's a lot at stake. But let me give you some examples where love and these gifts combine. I'm going to give you some examples out of Christ Church Birmingham, which will answer that great question, can anything good come out of Birmingham? So here we go.
[12:49] So the church there formed an inner city ministry called the Eastlake Initiative, very similar to the Binghampton Development Corporation that was developed out of the Christ Church family as well. And the city or the church made a commitment to serve a segment of inner city Birmingham for 25 years.
[13:11] When this ministry was getting off the ground, there was a lady in the church who worked for a large accounting firm in the city. And she was used to managing corporations and their books in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, she just retired, and she sees this 501c3 that's impacting the poor in the city. It needs help. And so she looks at her shape. She looks at her spiritual gifts. She's high in the spiritual gift of administration.
[13:44] She looks at her abilities as well as her experiences in keeping books. And this little nonprofit that's running under a million dollars in revenue at that time, she could do this in just almost in her sleep. She gave time to that nonprofit in advancing the kingdom of God among the urban poor in the city. But it's an example of where spiritual gifting and love combine to make impact for the glory of God. Now, the team that was just prayed over just a moment ago, that's heading into Asia this week, if the flame flights all coordinate, would you pray into that? But if, as all that comes together, the contact person there is known as G, Pastor G. We have to leave his name anonymous because it's an area of the world where Christians are persecuted. So Pastor G, before he became a phenomenal leader that he is in Asia, he was a part of the Brahmin class, which is the highest caste in this part of Asia. But as a teenager, he was addicted to heroin. He was addicted to heroin.
[14:59] Now, there's a long story that goes with that that we don't have time for, but he met some Christians, and a lady asked if she could pray for him, and a lady placed her hands on his head and prayed for his deliverance.
[15:15] He went home, and over the next 24 hours, he had no cravings for heroin, and he thought, what have these people done to me? I'm thankful that I don't have cravings, but I do not understand what has happened. And that stirred a deeper hunger, and he went back to this group of Christians to ask them to explain what has happened. Well, they ended up sharing the gospel with him, and he became a follower of Jesus, birthed into the kingdom, and now leads kingdom movement in Asia. But the point that I'm making is what was happening was that there was a spiritual gift working, the spiritual gift of miracles. It's right there in the text we've read over the last several weeks.
[16:05] A person praying out of a gifting that comes from Jesus that set a captive free. I think about another example from Christ Church Birmingham where just like here in Seabrook on Sundays, when the service ends, I'm not one to go to the door and greet everybody. I love all of you, so don't misunderstand that. But the reason I and staff members and others linger up front, it's not only for conversation, it's so we can pray with people, it's so we can pray for people. And there was a lady in the church that was observing what was happening as we were praying for people. And she said, could I make an appointment with you, pastor? I need to talk with you about something. It's a highly educated lady, very gifted, but also very quiet, very subdued. And so I was curious what this would be about. And she sat with me and she said, Pastor, something is happening in my heart, in my spirit, that I'm concerned as I share this with you, you may think that I'm weird. And I said, you know, I've been doing this for a while. Just go ahead and put it out there. And some of you've heard me say this as we've had, just say it we'll sweep up later and she said well.
[17:28] When there are people being prayed for at the altar, sometimes I'm aware that some people are praying for physical healing.
[17:36] And, Pastor, I can't explain this, but there's a part of my heart that believes I'm supposed to be up there praying for people with you and the team. And this is the part that gets a little weird. She said, my hands get warm. I just feel the warmth of God's presence. And it's like this God nod inside my soul that says, you need to be up there using the gifts that I've placed in your life to bring glory to me and to also edify the body of Christ. Now, church, what I'm trying to illustrate for you are the practical ways that God gifts his body and the way God weaves love for God and love for people with
[18:26] the giftings that he places in his body. But we are instructed in Scripture to not only walk in love, pursuing love, but we are instructed clearly in this passage that walking with Jesus involves a walk which earnestly desires spiritual gifts that will bring glory to God and will build up the body of Christ. Thirdly, as we walk with Jesus, we see Paul instructing us here that this is a walk that builds others up through a particular gift, the gift of prophecy. This is instructional. I feel it, okay? But here it is.
[19:06] Once again, verse 1, pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts. But notice what's happening here, especially, see that word, especially in.
[19:16] That you may prophesy. So let's ask a question. What is prophecy? Well, if you read from Genesis to Revelation, you find that there are three forms of prophecy found in Scripture.
[19:29] One is foretelling, when the future is predicted. We see that in the life of Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, John, Malachi, Jesus. We see that all operating in their lives. Then there's another form of prophecy, which we would call forth-telling, and that is for proclaiming the truths of Scripture. It's what your pastor is seeking to do right now in this moment, to teach the Word of God clearly, and for you, you have a responsibility in this too, you're to have the mind of a Berean always to search the Scriptures for yourselves to see if what's being taught is true so that you're growing and you're being developed and edified as you grow in your walk with Christ. And a person who is charged with proclaiming the Word of God with a teaching gift or a preaching gift has a responsibility to teach the Word of God accurately. In fact, the Bible says that teachers will incur a stricter judgment. That always makes me tremble when I think, when I'm teaching the word of God, that one day I will stand before Jesus and Missy's going to be judged. My children are going to be judged. You're going to be judged. And when I stand before Jesus, he's going to go, ramp it up, boys.
[20:54] And that's sobering. Okay, pardon, I didn't mean that irreverently, but it's just, it's very sobering when you read a text like that. But forth telling, which is proclaiming the word of God. Then there's a third category that I believe that Paul's talking about here, and that's the prophetic word. And this is a gift of prophecy that a person has the ability to receive a divine-inspired message and deliver it to others for the sake of building them up. Look at verse three with me. On the other hand, the one that prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, for their encouragement, and their consolation. That word consolation also translates comfort. Upbuilding, some of your Bibles translate that edifying. It's like we get edifice for a building to build people up, to strengthen them, encourage them, to comfort them. And that gift should be expressed in humility, in alignment with the scriptures, always be tested by the scriptures and discerned by the body. I'm going to get to that in a little bit. When this gift's in operation, it can come through a sentence, a paragraph. It also can come through an image or a picture that God gives someone. Let me give you an example.
[22:16] I was in Asia years ago, and I had a hard morning. I had shared the gospel with unreached people groups, and every heart just seemed stone cold. I wasn't seeing Jesus redeem anybody, although I just kept plotting. And so late in the morning, I come up on these men who are about to take their—well, took their lunch hour, and they have hammers, and that tells you something, and they're, They're breaking up these chunks of gravel to use the gravel to pave a road, okay? So very primitive, hammers like you would buy at Home Depot, just going at it, breaking up these chunks of stone into little pieces of gravel. And they take a break for their lunch. So I go and I build rapport with them through the translator. A couple of them speak English. I build rapport, and I start moving toward the gospel. This is, again, an unreached people group. And so as I'm moving toward the gospel, it doesn't go that well. And finally, one of the English speakers interrupts me and says this. He says, the British brought us three things, railroads, tea, and religion, and we like two of them.
[23:40] So, obviously, I'm navigating another layer of rejection and some mild persecution. I don't know that that's really fair to say. And I'm like, okay, God, what are we going to do? Just striking out all morning. And this is why we're here, to share the gospel and to see you reach people with your God. God so loves America that he gave his only son. And you know that's not what it says. God so loves the world.
[24:10] It's a heart for all people, not his desire that anyone perish. And so I'm like, okay, God, what do we do? And so one of our leaders rallied us in a rice paddy and said, we're going to pray. And he began praying. And when he finished praying, he looked up and he said, I have a picture. I said, okay, great. And he goes, it is there. And I'm going, what is there? I'm looking over there. He goes, that's the picture I saw. It's a village way off in the distance, and there's a big river between us and the village. And we go in that direction, wade through the river and get to the village. And I watch, we watch over the next several hours, generation after generation, responding to the gospel, whole families coming to Christ in that village. And what I'm illustrating are ways in which God is still speaking how spiritual gifts work.
[25:12] There are guidelines to how spiritual gifts work. Let me share four of them. First, the prophetic word never trumps Scripture. It never trumps Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5.20 tells us that when there is a prophecy, test everything. Test it. Discern it. It needs to be discerned by the body. Just because somebody says they're hearing from God, it needs to be tested. It doesn't mean that they necessarily are. Secondly, the prophetic word should never be elevated to the level of scripture. You might remember this passage out of Revelation 22. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. If you've ever read the book of Revelation, that will make you tremble.
[25:58] And whether John is talking specifically about the whole Bible or he's talking about just the book of Revelation, we recognize that we want to be very careful before we ever get into a territory of thinking we would add something to the canon of Scripture. Third, the prophetic word should never be despised. The word despised means to regard as unworthy of one's notice or consideration, feel contempt, or a deep repugnance. In other words, if someone says that you know is mature in Christ, that they sense that they may be hearing from God, we're not to despise that. In fact, to flesh out all of 1 Thessalonians 5, 20 through 21. We're taught in the word of God, do not despise prophecies, but test everything and hold fast to what is good.
[26:47] And then finally, the prophetic word should build up, encourage and comfort the body of Christ. Paul says it more than once in the 14th chapter. He says, the one who prophesies builds up the church in verse four. And then verse three, he says again, that, on the other hand, the one that prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding, their encouragement, and their comfort, their consolation. Now, let me ask you a question.
[27:13] Can it go wrong? Yes. Yes, because we're human beings. It went wrong at Corinth. And that's why Paul is giving correction here. Some of them became prideful and boastful about their spiritual giftings. But here's the kingdom principle that we should follow. Use your spiritual gifts for building, not boasting. Use them for building up the body, glorifying God and building up the church. Can people be misguided when they use a prophetic gifting? Absolutely. I remember, again, let's pick on Christchurch Birmingham because we can. We can.
[27:50] I remember a lady who shared something. And I mean, when I heard it, I thought that's off. But I didn't have to correct it. The body came around. Some of her close friends came around her, said, hey, sister, we love you. We're for you. But just since that's a little bit off. And the beautiful thing is that she matured from that, and the body did what it was supposed to do in terms of discerning. It was a beautiful thing, and everybody grew and matured based upon Ephesians 4 and more. And so what I want to encourage you in, if some of you sometimes sense that you're hearing from God, and there's something you need to share with the body or with somebody, and you're thinking, what if I make a mistake? Listen, can I just encourage you, trust Jesus and let the body discern. We can risk that. And so, but ultimately this chapter is really about accentuating the importance of intelligible words that are rooted in what's prophetic and building up the body. Now, to be faithful to the text, you're aware that Paul is giving instructions regarding the proper use of tongues. Now, let me share something with you in transparency.
[29:06] I have pastored three Methodist churches as a senior pastor, been on staff of others, but been the senior pastor of three Methodist churches. And all three of those have been larger Methodist churches in the scheme of things.
[29:19] I have never pastored a Methodist church in which persons at some point didn't sit in my office and say, Pastor, I don't know what you think about this. I don't know what you believe. I've, but there have been times when I'm praying, there is this unintelligible language that rises up in my spirit and I express before God and I understand it to be the spiritual gift of tongues. Why am I sharing that with you? The reason I'm sharing that with you is that what I just said was true in the past. And even though I've only been here a relatively short time, it's already true here. And what I want all of you to understand is that what Paul's teaching here is perhaps more relevant than you realize. And so Paul gives instructions on the proper use of the gift of tongues. And as he does, he emphasizes that prophecy is far more important than tongues. And he shares in verse 2, for the one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men, but to God, for nobody understands him, but he's uttering mysteries of the Spirit. Now, again, instructional, but here we go. As we instruct this morning, the Scriptures affirm that there are two expressions of the gift of tongues. One is tongues followed by an interpretation.
[30:49] The other is tongues manifested through prayer. That is what we might call a prayer language. This is why when you get to verse 14, Paul says, For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays. And so he's distinguishing that there's an expression in prayer, and there's an expression where there's an utterance of tongues followed by an interpretation. And he says in verse 4, the one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up. He is not referencing a person being arrogant when he says that. What he's talking about is a person's development. Remember, he has said that when I pray in a tongue, my mind's unfruitful, but my spirit benefits. And so what's happening is that he's saying those who speak in tongues, they're speaking to God, not to people, while those who prophesy are prophesying to people, and they're strengthening and encouraging and comforting others. And so in verse 4, he says, those who speak in a tongue edify themselves.
[31:59] Those who prophesy edify the church. You may note that it's very subtle, but John the Baptist, when people were talking about him, that John the Baptist was a man, Luke 180, who grew strong in spirit. When you came to know Jesus, making sure we're not glossing over here.
[32:22] When you came to know Jesus, your spirit was made alive. And when your spirit was made alive, God is seeking to develop you, not just physically, not only your soul, your mind, will, and emotions, but God is also developing and growing your spirit. And so what we see when Paul's talking about a person praying in an unknown language privately, not publicly, that their spirit is being developed. Now, church.
[32:58] I want to remind you that the Holy Spirit is among us. He's present. But I also want to remind you as we go through a text like this, that the Holy Spirit is not a wildfire. God's a God of order. In fact, fire is a good thing when it's functioning the way it's supposed to in a fireplace. If it gets outside the fireplace in the house, it causes damage. And that's why Paul is giving this instruction. The Holy Spirit is among us, but you need instruction. And so he writes this letter to the Corinthian church that isn't meeting in formal sanctuaries and worship centers. It's meeting house to house, smaller gatherings. Church buildings didn't exist till 300 AD. And so here's the guidelines he gives. Guidelines for prophecy and tongues. Only two or three should speak the prophetic word. In other words, don't overdo it. 1 Corinthians 14, 29, as they spoke, they all need to speak one at a time. God's a God of order, not confusion.
[34:09] Anytime someone spoke out loud in a tongue, it should be followed by an interpretation. Verse 27, if there was no interpreter, the tongue speaker should be quiet.
[34:22] Those listening to the prophetic word or in interpretation should weigh carefully what is said, compare it to Scripture, and the body should discern. Verse 29, if someone else has something to say, the first person needs to stop so that the one person is speaking at a time. Said that a moment ago, but it's very important. And as these gifts were used, they were to acknowledge that the gifts were under the control of those whom God had gifted because God's not a God of disorder, but one of peace. In other words, a person cannot cop out by going, I'm out of control because God's got a hold of me. God's a God of order. And the person who God is using is under control. And so Paul says in verse six, brothers and sisters, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? And what he's emphasizing, again, is not only God's order, but that God is active among us. The eyes of the Lord look to and fro across the earth that God may strongly support a heart that's his. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and he hears their cry.
[35:42] So I get a phone call, winner of 22, before I became your pastor. It's a church in Atlanta. And they ask if I would come and lead their church in a churchwide prayer summit. I've been asked that from time to time, and I like to ask a follow-up question, and I ask this. Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to rally your church to prayer? And here's what's said. We are tired of business as usual. We are hungry for God among us. We do not have the depth within us to deal with the problems that we are encountering in families and.
[36:33] We do not have the depth within us to deal with children who are far from God, adult children who are far from God, grandchildren who are far from God. We do not have the deposit in our lives to deal with these complexities. And we are going to cry out to God. We do not have within us what it takes to deal with the brokenness in our community, in our city. and we want to cry out to God. Let me give you a kingdom principle. Today's complacency is tomorrow's captivity. And it's true.
[37:13] Jesus reminds us that he is working. The father is working. He said, my father is always at work to this very day and I too am working. In other words, God has never stopped working. He's still working. He's still all powerful. He's still instilling and giving gifts to his church to reflect his character and his ministry. And the church of Jesus Christ needs to be in ministry, not in a power of her own, but in the power of God. This has always been true, but it's more true than it's ever been true. Jesus once said, Verily, verily, I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I've been doing, and they will do even greater things than these. That has a very practical expression. Because Jesus has gone to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit, Jesus and his presence dwells in you and you and you and you and you and you and you. And when Jesus was on earth, that wasn't possible. But now the ministry of Jesus has the capacity to have exponential impact through the body of Jesus Christ. Let me give you a trivial fact.
[38:29] Are you aware that most people who own running shoes don't run?
[38:38] But every Christian has spiritual gifts, but the majority don't use them. So many of us have been conditioned by a lack of the operation of spiritual gifts in our lives. We have accepted abnormal as normal. Sometimes growing in your relationship with Jesus Christ involves unlearning some things so that we learn what it is that God has for us. Listen to the benevolence of Jesus in this statement. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, though you're evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? God is willing to demonstrate his power, his love, his ministry, his fruitfulness in and through your life. Now, again, before we close, let me ask you one more question. Here it is.
[39:43] We've been journeying through Corinthians. So you're familiar with this church. Here's the question. How is this church doing in her sanctification?
[39:55] Not too well. Not very well.
[40:00] But even though the Corinthians were not sanctified, this didn't keep God from being willing to demonstrate his grace and power through the giving and igniting of spiritual gifts in the church. I remind you, going back many weeks, that gifts of the Spirit are not symptoms of maturity, but they are signs of God's availability. And I remind you of what God says about every believer in this room, 1 Corinthians 12, 7. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. And that means you, brother, have a work of the Spirit in you. You, sister, have a work of the Holy Spirit in you. You have gifts that God has placed there, gifts that are designed to function, to bring God glory, and to build up his people and to affect this community. For to one is given to the Spirit the utterance of knowledge, according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
[41:26] Isn't it true that we love to quote this passage? God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound mind. That's a verse we quote a lot. Do you know the context of that verse? The context of that verse was rooted in young Timothy who had allowed his gifts to be shut down. The previous verse says this, fan into flame the gifts that God has placed in you, Timothy. God hasn't given you a spirit where you'll shrink back. God has given you a spirit of love, power, and a sound mind. Rise up, church. Rise up in the gifts that God has placed in you for his glory. In Jesus' name, amen.