A Sharper Focus

Gifts of the Spirit

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants:

Home

Series Code: ASHF

Program Code: ASHF000180A


00:18 Hello, friends, and welcome
00:19 to our Wednesday night Bible study
00:21 here at the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:23 This is A Sharper Focus because we believe
00:25 the more you study God's Word, the sharper it gets,
00:29 the clearer the truth of God's Word becomes.
00:32 And so thank you for joining us,
00:34 thank you for tuning in.
00:36 We're going to begin a new topic tonight,
00:37 I'll tell you about that in just a moment.
00:39 But before we do anything else,
00:41 we always like to begin with a word of prayer.
00:43 So bow your heads as we invite
00:45 the presence of the Lord to be with us.
00:48 Loving Father in heaven, thank You,
00:50 thank You for Your Holy Spirit's guidance
00:53 that has promised every time we open Your Word.
00:57 And so we pray tonight, Lord, that You'll send
00:58 Your holy angels here to guide...
01:01 to guard us as we study and Your Holy Spirit
01:04 to be our teacher, and may Your Word
01:07 come alive as we study it,
01:10 may we not only gain knowledge but may we gain a desire
01:14 and determination to serve You.
01:17 In Jesus' name, we pray.
01:19 Amen.
01:21 Here's where you can get a copy of the lesson,
01:23 it's lesson number 41, The Gifts of the Spirit,
01:27 go to ASF.3ABN.org and download lesson number 41.
01:32 What number did I say?
01:34 Forty one.
01:35 Number 41, and you can follow along with us,
01:38 the Gifts of the Spirit.
01:41 Lot of confusion about the Gifts of the Spirit,
01:43 we're going to do our best to guide you
01:45 through God's Word to make this topic
01:47 as clear as possible,
01:49 It will come into a sharper focus.
01:52 But before we do anything else, we like to sing our theme song
01:54 and our theme song is Victory in Jesus.
01:57 Join us as we sing together.
02:06 I heard an old, old story
02:09 How the Savior came from glory
02:13 How He gave His life on Calvary
02:17 To save a wretch like me
02:21 I heard about His groaning
02:25 Of His precious blood's atoning
02:28 Then I repented of my sin
02:32 And won the victory
02:36 O victory in Jesus
02:40 My Savior, forever
02:43 He sought me and bought me
02:47 With His redeeming blood
02:51 He loved me ere I knew Him
02:55 And all my love is due Him
02:59 He plunged me to victory
03:02 Beneath the cleansing flood
03:06 I heard about a mansion
03:10 He has built for me in glory
03:14 And I heard about the streets of gold
03:17 Beyond the crystal sea
03:21 About the angels singing
03:25 And the old redemption story
03:29 And some sweet day
03:31 I'll sing up there
03:33 The song of victory
03:35 Key change.
03:36 O victory in Jesus
03:40 My Savior, forever
03:44 He sought me and bought me
03:48 With His redeeming blood
03:52 He loved me ere I knew Him
03:55 And all my love is due Him
03:59 He plunged me to victory
04:03 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:07 He plunged me to victory
04:10 Beneath the cleansing flood
04:17 Amen?
04:18 Amen.
04:19 Tonight, our topic is
04:21 "The Truth about the Gifts of the Spirit."
04:26 The Truth about the Gifts of the Spirit.
04:29 Now there is a lot of confusion about the gifts of the spirit
04:33 and the Bible primarily in the New Testament
04:36 talks about what those gifts are.
04:38 But it doesn't limit them to the New Testament
04:41 because the Old Testament,
04:43 those prophets that were led by God
04:46 also had gifts.
04:49 But primarily, those of us who live in the New Testament
04:54 aspects of the church, which in fact to say
04:57 that doesn't mean that the whole Bible doesn't apply.
05:01 But the Lord established gifts for the church,
05:03 for the New Testament church to operate under
05:06 and as we understand those gifts,
05:07 we begin to see and understand with clarity,
05:10 what the gifts of the spirit are.
05:13 Now living in a day
05:15 where prophets exist, and they are...
05:19 The Bible points out there will be prophets
05:21 in the last days,
05:22 there will be false prophets and what else?
05:27 False prophets and what else?
05:28 You can talk to me.
05:30 There will be false prophets and what else?
05:32 True prophets.
05:33 False prophets and true prophets.
05:35 So we're living in the day and age where there are both,
05:37 false prophets and true prophets.
05:39 When you understand that,
05:41 then you'll be able by God's word
05:42 to be able to filter out where those false prophets are.
05:46 Now some of you may have heard
05:48 about a well-known self-proclaimed psychic
05:52 and astrologer of the 20th century
05:54 and she became very famous, her name was Jeane Dixon.
05:59 Jeane Dixon was a psychic.
06:01 She was an astrologer, and the Bible clearly,
06:05 the Bible clearly denunciates or the Bible clearly denounces
06:10 those who are soothsayers, astrologers, psychics.
06:14 And her prophecies
06:15 were not for the purpose of uplifting Jesus
06:18 but she claimed to be a prophet,
06:19 and many people consulted Jeane Dixon for what the...
06:24 What do they call that? What do they call that?
06:26 Astronomy.
06:28 Not astronomy, astrology, horoscope.
06:32 She was a, what I might refer to as,
06:34 a 99 cent horoscope prophet.
06:37 Even if you are dollar horoscope prophet,
06:39 it's still false.
06:41 But she was a person that many people turned to.
06:44 There are many prophets in these last days.
06:47 One was called the Long Island, I forgot her name particularly,
06:50 she was the lady from Long Island in New York.
06:53 And many police departments claim her...
06:57 purchased her services to help them solve crimes.
07:01 She claimed to be able to see, and go to the crime scene,
07:05 and see what happened in the crime.
07:06 But in fact, once again,
07:09 when you test that person by the Bible,
07:12 you'll discover clearly that they
07:15 or she is not a true prophet of God.
07:18 Now one of the things that really,
07:20 I want to lay some foundation, one of the things we overlook,
07:24 and this is what false prophets are able to deceive people by,
07:30 sometimes a person might say, "Nobody could have known that."
07:34 They'll invite them on a show, I know there's a young man
07:39 that looks sharp, looks like a modern guy,
07:42 prophets usually are people that look
07:45 as it were in the olden days,
07:47 now I said the olden days, I'm not old.
07:51 But you often would go to a darkened room,
07:54 a person that looked eerie, and they had a crystal ball,
07:58 and they had psychics, and your fortune,
08:02 it looked kind of, as it were
08:05 just very shady, very satanic.
08:07 But Satan has changed the appearance of people
08:11 that claim to have the gift of prophecy.
08:13 Recently, I saw a sign where a psychic said
08:17 they can cast out demons, and remove spells,
08:20 and remove, there's a West Indian term,
08:25 remove whatever kind of evil spirit
08:26 is upon a particular person.
08:28 They claim to have that ability.
08:29 But the Bible says,
08:31 "The devil cannot cast out the devil."
08:32 Amen?
08:33 But there are all these gifts that are existing
08:35 that people claim to have, and the Lord said that
08:38 this would happen in the last days.
08:40 There's another one that was very famous,
08:42 he was a clairvoyant.
08:44 A clairvoyant is a person that exists
08:46 between the seen and the unseen world
08:49 and they claim to be able to contact
08:51 those who have departed.
08:53 And people are often pulled in by it because they say,
08:56 when they sit in audiences, and I've seen this before,
08:59 not that it was a particular show
09:01 but I've seen instances where people said,
09:04 "I'm getting vibes
09:07 from somebody whose name starts with the letter D.
09:11 Is there somebody in here with a family member
09:13 that starts with the letter D?"
09:15 And then they say,
09:16 "Well, their favorite color was purple."
09:19 "Oh, that's my uncle David."
09:21 "And his number was 23."
09:23 "Oh, yes, that was the number on his baseball jersey."
09:25 And they're putting all these things together
09:28 and the thing that...
09:29 Well, he's telling you, he's just fine,
09:31 he's contacting you from the other side,
09:34 he wants you to know he's doing okay,
09:36 and life is going to turn out just fine,
09:38 and what they don't realize is the devil
09:41 who's been around for a while knows your uncle David.
09:45 He knows his favorite number was 23.
09:47 He knows he wore purple jersey.
09:49 And he communicates through his agents
09:52 to make people think that
09:53 somehow that they are telling the truth.
09:56 And then there is a Michel de Nostradamus,
10:00 a man that had many, many, many, many predictions
10:03 and many of those predictions didn't come true.
10:05 Some came partially true
10:08 but they have still yet to nail down
10:10 one particular specific prophecy
10:14 in harmony with scripture that Nostradamus has predicted
10:17 and has come to pass with accuracy.
10:20 And so, tonight what we're going to do
10:22 is we're going to see what the Bible says
10:24 about the gifts of the spirit.
10:27 So let's begin with question number one.
10:29 Question number one, here's the first question.
10:33 Here's the first question.
10:37 What has God promised to do to inform His church?
10:41 What has God promised to do to inform His church?
10:47 Let's go to the Book of Amos.
10:49 Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos.
10:53 If you can't find Daniel, go to Ezekiel.
10:55 Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos.
10:58 Amos 3:7, and since it is the first one,
11:03 I'd like us to read this together, all right?
11:07 It's on the screen, let's read this together.
11:09 Here it is, "Surely the Lord God does," how much?
11:13 "Nothing, unless He reveals
11:16 His secret to His servants, the" what?
11:20 "The prophets."
11:21 So the question is, will God reveal His secrets?
11:24 Yes or no? Yes.
11:26 To whom?
11:27 To His servants, the prophets.
11:30 He's not revealing His secrets to anyone else.
11:33 You see, if the devil knew everything that God knew,
11:36 then we'd be in trouble, he would be all knowing.
11:39 But only God is all knowing.
11:41 Matter of fact, go with me to Isaiah chapter 46,
11:44 Isaiah chapter 46.
11:46 And so the answer is...
11:48 What has God promised to do to inform His church?
11:50 Reveal His secrets to His servants, the prophets.
11:53 You can kind of include the entire verse,
11:56 reveal His secrets to His servants, the prophets.
12:00 Look at Isaiah 46.
12:03 Isaiah 46.
12:04 And this is something that only God has the ability to do.
12:08 Isaiah 46:9-10.
12:11 We read, "Remember the former things of old,
12:16 for I am God, and there is no other."
12:20 Is there anyone else like God?
12:21 Yes or no?
12:23 Absolutely not, "I am God,
12:25 and there is none like me,
12:29 declaring the," what?
12:31 "End from the beginning, and from ancient times,
12:37 things that are not yet done,
12:39 saying, 'My counsel shall stand,
12:42 and I will do all my pleasure.'"
12:44 Notice, from ancient times,
12:47 so you can go back hundreds of years,
12:49 you can go back thousands of years,
12:52 you can go back millennia, and the Lord is able to predict
12:55 through His prophets thousands of years ago,
12:58 things that have not yet happened.
13:00 One of the examples we have is John the Revelator,
13:03 who 2,000 years ago was inspired
13:07 to write the Book of Revelation,
13:08 and portions of Revelation are not yet fulfilled,
13:11 from ancient times, things that are not yet done.
13:15 Many of us don't also know that the writing of John
13:19 or the Book of Revelation is also components of that
13:22 were written by Ezekiel the Prophet.
13:24 Ezekiel 9 is a glimpse of Revelation chapter 7,
13:28 the sealing, the sealing work.
13:30 That was years before John the Revelator,
13:36 hundreds of years before John the Revelator,
13:37 more than a thousand years before John the Revelator,
13:40 God gave Ezekiel glimpses of the things
13:43 that John was also given a picture of.
13:46 Then you have Daniel, Daniel the Prophet
13:49 was given components of the end time
13:53 kingdoms of the world,
13:54 that were to some degree, he was in Babylon
13:58 but he was also given visions of the Medo-Persian Empire,
14:02 the Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire,
14:05 and then the kingdoms of the world
14:07 that according to the 10 toes are yet to coalesce
14:12 in the toes of the image of Daniel chapter 2.
14:16 So these things are from ancient times,
14:18 things that are not yet done.
14:20 And go with me to John chapter 16,
14:22 I want to show you something else.
14:24 John chapter 16.
14:28 Only the Lord has the ability
14:30 to teach us from ancient times,
14:34 things that are not yet done.
14:38 John chapter 16, and by the way,
14:40 let me show you who the active agent is
14:44 behind all these men that God used,
14:48 all these men that God used.
14:51 Look at John chapter 16.
14:53 And we're going to look at verse 13.
14:57 The Bible says, "However when he, the spirit of..."?
15:02 Talk to me, "When he the spirit of," what?
15:04 "Truth has come, he will," do what?
15:07 "Guide you into," how much?
15:08 All.
15:10 "All truth, for he will not speak
15:12 on his own authority, but whatever he hears,
15:16 he will speak and he will," what?
15:19 "Tell you things to come."
15:21 Another word for tell you things
15:23 to come will be prophesy.
15:26 He's going to tell you things to come.
15:28 And the Bible makes it very clear,
15:29 what else is he going to do?
15:31 And this is very important, verse 14 is vitally important
15:34 to our topic tonight.
15:36 It says, "He will glorify me," that is glorify Christ,
15:39 "and he will take of what is mine,
15:41 and declare it to you."
15:43 And when you read through the Book of John,
15:45 you will discover that
15:48 the reason why the Lord outlined
15:50 the way He did these things that were to come, He says,
15:52 "When they come to pass, then you will believe.
15:56 When they come to pass, then you will believe."
15:59 And so what happens is, if something is predicted
16:01 and it does not come to pass,
16:03 can you believe the person that said it?
16:05 Absolutely not.
16:07 But when it does come to pass, that prophet...
16:12 According to the test of the Bible can be verified
16:15 that God is the one that's behind him or her.
16:18 So the answer to number one is
16:20 God reveals His secrets to His servants, the prophets.
16:23 Does God reveal His secrets to anybody else?
16:27 No, absolutely not.
16:28 If they are not His servants, if they are not the prophets
16:31 He has chosen and anointed, He does not reveal it.
16:33 Now people will claim to be prophets of God,
16:36 but we'll get to the point where we test.
16:38 Okay, question number two.
16:40 Question number two.
16:42 Here it is.
16:44 What are some of the ways that God communicates?
16:48 What are some of the ways that God communicates?
16:51 Numbers 12:6. Numbers 12:6.
16:57 We're also going to see in the Bible
16:59 because one of the ways,
17:01 as you turn to Numbers chapter 12,
17:03 one of the things that Satan has learned,
17:05 one of the things he has learned,
17:09 if he could make a prophecy appear to come to pass...
17:14 and add a condition to it,
17:17 he can deceive someone into following him.
17:22 I'll show you that in just a moment.
17:24 But look at Number 12:6.
17:27 Here's the word of the Lord.
17:30 "Then He said, 'Hear now My words:
17:34 If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord,
17:39 make Myself known to him in a," what?
17:42 Dream.
17:43 "Dream and I speak to him in a," what?
17:45 "A vision, and I speak to him in a dream."
17:47 So visions and dreams.
17:50 The Lord speaks in what?
17:51 Visions and dreams.
17:53 Now...
17:56 very few instances in the Bible did the Lord gave people
18:01 that were not His prophets a dream.
18:04 Can you think of a person in the Bible
18:07 who the Lord gave a dream to, who was not His prophet?
18:10 Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar.
18:12 He gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream
18:15 and that dream was then interpreted by Daniel.
18:19 Because the Lord wanted to reveal
18:20 in the courts of Babylon that...
18:23 And He wanted to make it very clear to Nebuchadnezzar
18:26 that your prophets are not true.
18:28 He gave Nebuchadnezzar a vision
18:30 to bring His true prophet to the forefront.
18:33 But he didn't give Nebuchadnezzar
18:35 the interpretation.
18:36 So when a person says, "I had a dream,"
18:38 well, that's not unusual, anybody can have a dream,
18:41 but what does it mean?
18:43 And I remember growing up in New York City,
18:46 kind of taking you back in ways,
18:48 there were guys in New York City,
18:49 particularly in Brooklyn,
18:50 they were called number runners.
18:52 And, you know, they'd come, go from house to house,
18:55 these was street number runners,
18:58 these were gamblers that walk the streets.
18:59 They'd say...
19:01 You know, they had a book called The Dream Book,
19:03 and this is something that was very apropos
19:06 to the inner city.
19:08 And they would say...
19:09 Somebody said, "Last night, I dreamed about an ox
19:11 and a calf," and they'll say, "Okay, in the dream book,
19:14 well, that's number 645."
19:16 So what they'd do is say, "Okay,
19:17 since you had that dream, play the number 645,
19:23 and then chances are you would win."
19:25 I cannot tell you how many thousands of people
19:29 got hoodwinked by some self put together number book,
19:33 false visions, false dreams,
19:35 and the only thing they did that...
19:37 Only thing they did that for is to raise money.
19:41 And then there are those who try to predict
19:43 that this horse is going to win or that horse is going to win.
19:47 And people put that money down.
19:49 And then people said, "I had a dream that,
19:51 you know, this horse is going to win by a neck."
19:54 And they put thousands of dollars
19:55 down and what happens?
19:57 God is not revealing to them because first of all,
20:00 God is not in the gambling business.
20:05 But the Lord made it clear that when He reveals Himself,
20:08 He makes Himself known, sometimes in a...
20:11 vision and in a dream.
20:13 Write that down, in a vision and in a dream.
20:21 But any time a vision is given or a dream is given,
20:25 it cannot be given
20:27 out of harmony with God's Word, it cannot.
20:30 It has to always be in harmony with God's Word.
20:34 That's the test.
20:36 Because today...
20:37 Oh, I'll tell you,
20:39 we'll get to that in the moment,
20:40 I want to just slow myself down.
20:41 Today, there are many people that claim to have these gifts.
20:45 But they are not in harmony with God's Word.
20:47 I remember giving a Revelation seminar
20:50 when I was a young man
20:51 up in the mountains of Northern California.
20:54 And because it was a Revelation seminar,
20:56 shortly after I began my Revelation seminar,
20:58 six other churches began Revelation seminars.
21:01 The town was so small, the only purpose they began
21:04 there's was to get people not to come to mine.
21:07 And the guy came to town, and he was advertised
21:10 as the man who has an edge on prophecy.
21:14 So I went to hear him, one night,
21:16 the night that our meeting wasn't held,
21:18 we had Thursday and, I think,
21:19 Monday night off or something like that.
21:21 And I went to hear him on a Thursday night,
21:24 and I was expecting to edge on prophecy,
21:26 I was expecting to hear something phenomenal.
21:30 His edge on prophecy was "The Lord is telling me
21:33 that there's somebody here in this congregation
21:36 who needs their ear needs to be healed."
21:39 An edge on prophecy?
21:41 Their ear needs to be healed?
21:44 And many of these false prophets
21:47 claim to have miraculous powers.
21:50 But as one person just said it recently,
21:52 and I'm going to be clear about it,
21:53 about a very well known self-proclaimed prophet,
21:58 the healings cannot even be...
22:00 They cannot even be traced to a person
22:02 who had any particular ailment whatsoever.
22:05 And people that had visible ailments that
22:07 if they really were healed,
22:09 well, still don't make that a test
22:11 because the devil is able to put
22:12 a disease on somebody,
22:15 and take it off, and make it appear
22:17 as though that person has been healed.
22:19 And we'll get to that in just a moment.
22:21 So question number two,
22:22 what are some of the ways that God communicates?
22:23 Through visions and dreams.
22:25 Question number three.
22:27 Number three.
22:34 Why does God use prophecy to communicate?
22:38 Why does God use prophecy to communicate?
22:42 He not only communicates through His written Word
22:45 but He also uses prophecy to communicate.
22:48 All right?
22:52 1 Corinthians 1:6-7.
22:55 Why does God use prophecy to communicate?
22:58 Here it is. Here it is.
23:03 "Even as the testimony of Christ
23:07 was confirmed in you,"
23:08 and Paul is talking to the New Testament Christian,
23:11 "even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
23:14 so that you come short in," what's the next two words?
23:19 "No gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation
23:23 of our Lord Jesus, our Lord Jesus Christ."
23:27 So when you look at the gifts, and we're going to go
23:30 to the gifts in just a moment here.
23:31 When you look at the gifts, one of the reasons
23:32 why the Lord gave this particular gift
23:35 because He doesn't want His people
23:36 to come behind in any gifts.
23:39 He doesn't want them to fall behind.
23:41 So whatever gift is there, every gift will be active
23:45 among the people of God.
23:46 How many gifts will be active?
23:48 Every gift would be active,
23:50 not a single gift will be inactive, every gift
23:53 because He doesn't want them to come
23:55 or to fall short in any gift.
23:56 Now the reason why Paul was referring,
24:00 was making this application here to the Corinthian church
24:02 is because the Corinthian believers...
24:07 were port, the Corinthian church
24:09 was in a port city
24:11 of many different nationalities,
24:14 many different languages.
24:16 And as you go further,
24:17 when we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
24:20 Paul outlines the gifts, 1 Corinthians chapter 13,
24:23 he talks about how important love is.
24:25 Love is more important than all the gifts combined.
24:28 But then in chapter 14, he made it clear,
24:31 he tried to specify to the Corinthians
24:33 that when you gather together,
24:36 it's better to say things that everybody understands
24:39 than to speak in languages that nobody understands.
24:44 And one of the challenges in the Corinthian church,
24:46 it was a body of believers that had many nationalities.
24:49 People from different parts
24:51 of the Asian world and they would prefer
24:54 communicating in their own language.
24:56 But he said, "Make sure that whatever you desire,
24:58 whatever gift that you covet, covet the best gifts
25:02 that you may speak the Word of God,
25:04 that you may prophecy the Word of God,
25:06 that your message may be clear,
25:09 that your message may be clear."
25:11 So any gift that muddles up the message
25:16 is not a gift that God operates in.
25:18 Go to 1 Corinthians,
25:19 let me show you this very carefully.
25:21 Any gift that muddles up or beclouds
25:25 what God is trying to communicate is not a gift
25:29 that God is operating through.
25:33 1 Corinthians chapter 14, did I tell you what chapter?
25:37 Chapter 14.
25:40 I want you to see this.
25:42 And I'm not going to spend a ton of time on that,
25:45 but 1 Corinthians chapter 14, okay?
25:55 And let's see.
25:59 Well, the whole chapter is on tongues.
26:02 But...
26:05 I'll go down to verse...
26:10 The whole thing is going to make it really clear to me.
26:13 Let's just go ahead and look at...
26:16 We don't want to make it too long.
26:18 Well, I want to start with a verse 40.
26:21 Verse 40 is the last one but I want to,
26:23 I want to just bring that one out right now
26:27 because I want to go back,
26:28 I don't want to jump ahead of myself.
26:29 When any gift is to be used, what does verse 40 say?
26:35 That all things be done how?
26:37 Decently.
26:38 Decently and how?
26:40 In order.
26:41 So the gifts also should be exercised
26:44 decently and how?
26:45 In order.
26:47 So if there is anything that's out of order,
26:49 God is not the author of confusion.
26:54 Any gift that bring confusion in,
26:59 what can you think of when you think of confusion?
27:03 What does the Bible talk about in Revelation
27:05 that is a symbol of confusion?
27:09 Babylon.
27:11 So anything that brings confusion in is a fruit
27:16 or an evidence that Babylon has influenced it.
27:19 Because Babylon, the Tower of Babel
27:22 was the place that God confused the languages.
27:26 Anything connected with confusion is evidence,
27:30 that it's a symbol of Babylonian influence
27:33 or spiritual Babylonian influence
27:36 because we don't have a literal Babylon today.
27:39 Okay, question number three.
27:41 Now let's go to question number four.
27:43 Question number four.
27:44 Matter of fact, before you run away,
27:46 before you run away in 1 Corinthians chapter 14,
27:49 just look at verse 33.
27:52 Thank you for bearing with me, verse 33.
27:55 And this is what I was trying to emphasize just a moment ago.
27:58 Verse 33 of 1 Corinthians chapter 14.
28:02 "For God is not the author of confusion,
28:07 but of peace,
28:08 as in all the churches of the saints."
28:12 God's not the author of confusion.
28:14 So wherever a church claims to be under the unction of God,
28:18 should confusion exist there?
28:20 Absolutely not.
28:22 So when there is confusion, is God in charge of that?
28:24 That's a very important point to remember
28:26 because God is not the author of confusion,
28:28 meaning where the confusion is rampant,
28:30 God has nothing to do with that.
28:32 So when you think of the topic of death for example,
28:36 some preachers would say,
28:37 "Well, they're in heaven now looking down on us.
28:40 We can't wait for the resurrection morning
28:42 when they come forth from the grave.
28:44 I know there are up there meeting Jesus.
28:46 But it's so nice they're resting in the Lord."
28:48 I went to a funeral that was confusing.
28:52 One minute, she's looking down from heaven,
28:54 next minute, can't wait to resurrection morning,
28:57 next she is up there praising Lord,
28:59 the next moment, she's resting in Jesus.
29:02 Confusion.
29:03 God is not the author of confusion.
29:05 And there's a lot of confusion
29:07 that has a tag today claiming spirituality.
29:11 Question number four will begin to open up the doors
29:14 to help us to see why,
29:16 to help us to see why that is the case.
29:18 Question four.
29:20 Question number four.
29:21 What particularly gift
29:23 angers Satan to the point of war?
29:27 What particularly gift
29:29 angers Satan to the point of war?
29:35 When somebody is angry
29:36 to the point they want to fight,
29:38 something's really angering them
29:40 to that particular point.
29:42 Revelation 12:17.
29:43 Revelation 12:17. Look at that.
29:48 All right, we know it very well, and if you know it,
29:50 repeat it with us, "And the dragon was enraged
29:54 with the woman," that is the church,
29:57 "angry with the woman," Revelation 12:17,
30:01 "and went to make war with the rest of her offspring,
30:05 who keep the," what?
30:07 "Commandments of God, and have the," what else?
30:11 "Testimony of Jesus Christ."
30:13 Look at that scripture, very carefully,
30:15 "And the dragon was enraged with the woman
30:19 and went to make war with the rest of her offspring,
30:22 who keep the commandments of God,
30:24 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
30:26 And if you didn't see that,
30:29 makes it very clear, so what particular gift?
30:32 And we'll bring the gift out in just a moment
30:34 but what is angering the devil is one,
30:39 keeping the commandments of God and secondly,
30:42 having the testimony of what?
30:44 Of Jesus Christ.
30:45 These two combined, not one or the other,
30:48 but both together,
30:51 the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.
30:54 Write that down,
30:56 the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.
31:00 Now, to bring out what gift
31:03 is encapsulated in that text,
31:06 we now go to Revelation 19,
31:08 and we're going to look together at verse 10.
31:13 Revelation 19, and we're going to go to verse 10.
31:18 Here's the question.
31:20 How does the Bible describe
31:23 the testimony of Jesus?
31:26 How does the Bible describe
31:28 the testimony of Jesus?
31:31 Revelation 19:10.
31:34 Let's look at that together.
31:36 Here it is.
31:37 "And I fell at his feet to worship him,"
31:41 that is the angel, "but he said to me,
31:45 'See that you do not do that, I am your fellow servant,
31:49 and of the brethren who have the testimony of Jesus..." '
31:54 Let's read this part together,
31:56 "Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the," what?
32:01 "Spirit of Prophecy."
32:04 The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy.
32:07 How does the Bible describe the testimony of Jesus?
32:10 Write that down there, the Spirit of Prophecy.
32:13 Now let me open this up,
32:14 let me just go ahead and expand this.
32:18 What is the Spirit of Prophecy?
32:22 The work that is done through the Holy Spirit.
32:26 The same spirit that spoke to Isaiah, and Jeremiah,
32:32 and Ezekiel, the same Holy Spirit
32:36 that spoke through Old Testament prophets,
32:39 you have Enoch and Elijah,
32:41 that very same gift the Lord said would be active
32:45 in the time of the end, the same Holy Spirit.
32:49 So when the Bible describes the Spirit of Prophecy,
32:53 it's the spirit that activate...
32:55 Matter of fact, go with me to 1 Peter.
32:57 Let's go there and look at this.
33:02 I'll get there real quickly.
33:12 Okay, I'm going to read 2 Peter.
33:16 Sorry, I said 1 Peter, 2 Peter.
33:20 Chapter 1, verse 19 to verse 21.
33:24 All right?
33:30 And by the way, when you read this,
33:32 I'm going to also go to the very next chapter
33:34 because there are no divisions, when the Bible was written,
33:36 there were no divisions, they were chapter by chapter
33:40 as the Bible was constructed for readability.
33:44 Verse 19.
33:46 "We also have a prophetic word more sure, "
33:49 or a word of prophecy made sure,
33:53 "which you do well to heed
33:56 as a light that shines in a dark place,
34:00 until the day dawns and the morning star
34:04 rises in your hearts."
34:06 Verse 20.
34:08 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy,"
34:12 how many prophecies?
34:14 "No prophecy of scripture
34:16 is of any private interpretation."
34:19 So let's pause there for a moment.
34:21 So if the prophecy someone gives
34:25 cannot be confirmed by the Bible,
34:28 is it a private interpretation?
34:30 Yes.
34:31 Because whatever is given must be confirmed by scripture.
34:35 Somebody could say,
34:36 "Well, you know, I saw three eagles,
34:39 and I saw a blue bird, and I saw a yellow Volkswagen."
34:43 I'm being cynical.
34:45 And what that means, what God showed me,
34:47 and they could...
34:49 "The Lord just gave me a prophecy
34:50 and He showed me and..."
34:53 Where is it confirmed in the scriptures?
34:57 The Bible is the test.
34:58 If the Bible is not supportive of it,
35:00 it's a private interpretation.
35:02 But let's go on.
35:04 "For prophecy never came," how many times?
35:10 "Never came by the will of man, but," what kind of men?
35:15 "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved
35:19 by the Holy Spirit."
35:23 So who is the one that spoke through these men?
35:26 The Holy Spirit.
35:27 They spoke, the impression came from the Holy Spirit.
35:31 They didn't have any private interpretations.
35:32 One of the reasons why people say,
35:34 "I don't believe the Bible" is they say, "Men wrote it."
35:36 No, men didn't write it, holy men wrote it.
35:39 But who in fact is the author?
35:40 Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith.
35:43 Where does the inspiration come from?
35:45 The Holy Spirit.
35:47 And when you read that...
35:48 When you read that in the Greek,
35:50 the Bible is in essence saying,
35:51 the Holy Spirit breathed on these men,
35:54 inspired them, and their pens
35:58 were guided by the influence of the Holy Spirit.
36:02 Think about it, how many books in the Bible are there?
36:06 Sixty six.
36:07 How can you get the Old Testament
36:10 and the New Testament to be in harmony
36:13 over 1,500 years of written record?
36:17 Many of the men did meet each other.
36:20 How does Ezekiel jive with Revelation?
36:25 How does Isaiah jive with Matthew?
36:29 They didn't meet each other.
36:31 The only one that was active from age to age
36:34 is the Holy Spirit of God
36:37 speaking through those individuals,
36:39 and not just men,
36:40 there were prophetesses in the Bible,
36:43 in the New Testament, in the Old Testament.
36:45 The Lord spoke through people
36:46 that whose lives were holy lives,
36:49 not holy because they found the key to being holy
36:52 but their lives were committed to God.
36:55 And the Lord spoke through them.
36:56 So when Ezekiel speaks
36:59 and his word is confirmed in Revelation,
37:01 when Isaiah speaks
37:02 and his word is confirmed in Luke...
37:07 Then who could possibly be behind that?
37:10 These men were moved by the Holy Spirit.
37:15 So when you see the Spirit of Prophecy,
37:18 it is the same spirit that was active in Ezekiel,
37:21 in Isaiah, in Daniel, in Hosea, in Joel, in Amos,
37:27 the same Holy Spirit that was active
37:29 in John the Revelator,
37:30 through the lives of the apostles,
37:32 the same Holy Spirit that work through Peter,
37:34 it's the same Holy Spirit that's going to be working
37:36 through the church of God
37:38 with all the gifts in the last days.
37:41 Let's look at some of those gifts.
37:43 Let's look at some of those gifts.
37:44 Go with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
37:48 This is a very key chapter.
37:50 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
37:52 Okay.
37:58 And this is a perfect example of what I just said,
38:01 1 Corinthians chapter 12 shows you
38:04 how the Holy Spirit works.
38:10 Okay.
38:13 Starting with verse 1.
38:15 "Now concerning," what kind of gifts?
38:18 "Spiritual gifts, brethren,
38:21 I do not want you to be ignorant.
38:25 You know that you were Gentiles,
38:28 carried away by these dumb idols,"
38:32 what a word,
38:33 "however you were led.
38:36 Therefore I made known to you
38:37 that no one speaking by the Spirit of God
38:42 calls Jesus anathema or a cursed,
38:45 and no one can say that Jesus is Lord,
38:48 except by the Holy Spirit."
38:51 So when the Spirit of God...
38:52 And you'll find out later on, there are certain tests
38:54 that the Bible established
38:56 so that people that are coming along
38:57 can be verified.
38:59 Now look at verse 4.
39:01 "Now there are diversities or differences of gifts
39:04 but the, " what?
39:06 "Same Spirit.
39:08 There are differences of ministries,
39:10 but the same Lord.
39:14 And there are diversities of activities,
39:17 but it is the same God who does," what?
39:19 "Works all in all.
39:22 But the manifestation of the spirit
39:24 is given to each one for the profit of all."
39:27 Let me pause for a moment and answer the question.
39:29 If the Spirit of God gives me a gift,
39:31 is that gift given for me?
39:33 No, the gift I get is for somebody else.
39:37 The Lord doesn't give you a shovel for you to dig holes.
39:41 He doesn't give us gifts to benefit us,
39:44 the gift He gives to us is for the benefit
39:46 of how many of us?
39:48 All of us.
39:49 So whatever I give to you, Reza,
39:51 whatever the Lord gives to you
39:52 is a benefit to everybody else.
39:54 Whatever Lord gives to you, honey, Angie,
39:56 is a benefit to everybody else.
39:57 Whatever gift God gives to any one of us is not for us,
40:01 and this is a very important point I'm making here
40:03 because later on, you're going to see
40:05 that there are those who teach in the last days,
40:07 there are many churches today that teach
40:09 that unless you have a particular gift,
40:11 then the Spirit of God is not in your life.
40:14 That's not scriptural, that is not in the Bible.
40:17 So they say, "Well, we need...
40:18 I want the gift of tongues," you'll discover
40:21 as I go down the list
40:22 that you don't get the gift you want,
40:24 you get to gift the spirit thinks you need.
40:27 Sorry, not the things knows you need,
40:30 the spirit doesn't say,
40:31 "Well, I think Reza needs this gift."
40:33 No.
40:34 The Spirit of God gives the gift
40:36 that he knows we are in need of,
40:38 so that everyone around us can benefit from it.
40:41 Let's look at some of those gifts.
40:43 Remember verse 6 says that "God works in all, "
40:47 and verse 7 says,
40:48 "The manifestation of the spirit is given
40:50 to each one for the profit of all."
40:53 Look at the gifts talked about.
40:55 Verse 8, and I'm going to prompt you to respond,
40:59 "For to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit,
41:03 to another the word of knowledge
41:05 through the same spirit.
41:08 To another the faith by the same spirit,
41:13 to another," what?
41:14 "Gifts of healings by the same spirit.
41:16 To another working of miracles, to another prophecy,
41:21 to another discerning of spirits,
41:23 to another diverse or different kinds of tongues,
41:27 to another the interpretation of tongues."
41:31 Now get this, who's doing the giving?
41:35 The Holy Spirit.
41:36 So the Holy Spirit comes and says,
41:38 "This is what you need, Cindy, this is what you need.
41:41 This is what you need.
41:42 This is what you need, Jim.
41:44 This is what you need, Yana.
41:46 This is what you need.
41:47 And I'm not giving this to you for you,
41:49 I'm giving this to you for everybody
41:52 that you minister to."
41:55 He gave some to be apostles, and prophets, and evangelists,
41:59 and pastors, and teachers, for the work of the ministry,
42:02 for the edifying of the body of Christ.
42:05 So every gift we get
42:06 is for the building up of the church,
42:08 not for somebody to sit home,
42:10 like Christmas has come to them and said..."
42:12 I have a gift."
42:14 And as cynical as that may sound,
42:16 there are those who say,
42:17 "Unless I have a particular gift,
42:20 then there's no evidence that the Spirit of God
42:22 is in my life."
42:23 But let's catch this now.
42:25 Okay, verse 11.
42:27 "But one and the same spirit works all these things, "
42:33 and look at the end of verse 11,
42:35 "distributing to each one individually as," what?
42:40 "As he wills."
42:41 He says, "This is I, I make the decision."
42:45 So if you're part of a church that says,
42:46 "No, you need a particular gift,"
42:48 and you start saying to the spirit,
42:50 I need a particular gift, he'll say,
42:52 "Wait a minute, wait a minute, do I make that decision?
42:54 I'm the one that makes that decision.
42:56 You don't make the decision, I make the decision."
42:58 We pray for the infilling of the Spirit of God,
43:00 we don't pray for the gifts.
43:02 He decides what gift is needed.
43:05 But now let's turn the page.
43:07 Let's turn the page.
43:09 Okay, and let's go down to verse...
43:12 Let's go down to verse...
43:15 28 of the same chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
43:20 Now verse 28.
43:25 "And God has appointed these in the church,
43:29 first," together, "apostles, second, prophets," second what?
43:35 Prophets.
43:36 "Second," what? Prophets.
43:38 Oh, I wanted to see if you were listening.
43:39 "Second, prophets."
43:41 So has God given the church prophets?
43:43 Yes.
43:45 Yes, I don't want you to miss that.
43:46 It went right over your head like it was part of the list.
43:49 So the gift of prophecy will be active in the church.
43:53 Did the Lord give it?
43:54 Yes.
43:57 "Thirdly," what else?
43:58 Apostles, sorry,
44:00 "Thirdly teachers, after that, "
44:02 together, "miracles, then," what else?
44:05 "Gift of healings, helps, administrations,
44:09 varieties of tongues."
44:10 You know, I wish more people would say,
44:12 "Lord, give me the gift of helps."
44:15 Because the church needs help.
44:18 You could say amen.
44:20 Amen.
44:21 The church needs help.
44:24 Why don't more people pray for the gift of helps?
44:27 Yes.
44:32 You know why?
44:34 Because the Spirit of God says,
44:37 "You pray for it
44:39 but I'll decide if you're qualified to help."
44:45 Going on.
44:51 "And God has appointed these in the church, first, prophets,
44:54 I mean, first, apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles,
44:57 the gift of healing, helps, administration,
45:00 and variety of tongues.
45:01 And I want you to get this, varieties of tongues,
45:04 that means many different kinds of languages,
45:08 because that's how the church communicates.
45:11 Is the gospel to go to the whole world?
45:13 Yes or no?
45:14 Is the world comprised of many different languages?
45:18 Yes.
45:20 But the reason why it's talked about as a gift here
45:22 is because when you look at the day of Pentecost,
45:25 the men that first exercised this to communicate
45:28 the gospel to the world were all from the same region,
45:30 they were all from Galilee, are not all these Galileans...
45:33 We'll talk about that in the next study, not today.
45:36 On the day of Pentecost, those who communicated
45:39 to all that gathered from all over the world,
45:41 all the men that spoke were Galileans.
45:44 God gave them that instant gift.
45:46 So if I go to New Guinea and I cannot...
45:48 And I was in New Guinea, but if I go to New Guinea
45:50 or whatever country
45:51 that cannot communicate my language
45:53 or cannot understand my tongue, and the Lord sees me in a...
45:57 as it were a pickle,
46:00 He'll say, "You know, you need to be able to communicate."
46:04 And He will decide to activate that gift.
46:09 I'm saying that...
46:11 I'm not saying that because I said it,
46:13 God is going to definitely give me that gift,
46:15 He decides when I need a gift and for what purpose.
46:20 But now, here's the very important question,
46:23 verse 29.
46:25 Verse 29.
46:26 And I want to get your answer from this
46:28 'cause you guys have been quiet on me,
46:30 "Are all apostles?"
46:31 What's the answer? No.
46:33 "Are all prophets?" No.
46:35 "Are all teachers?" No.
46:37 "Are all workers of miracles?" No.
46:40 "Do all have the gifts of healings?"
46:42 No.
46:44 "Do all speak with tongues?"
46:45 No.
46:47 "Do all interpret?"
46:48 No.
46:50 "But earnestly desire the best gifts,
46:55 and yet I show you a more excellent way."
46:58 So now get this, you want to see
46:59 how chapter 12 ends?
47:01 He said, "I'm going to show you more excellent way."
47:02 Where does he go next?
47:04 Love.
47:05 He said, "You could have all of that!"
47:09 And he said that, he said, "You can have all the gifts
47:14 but if you had not loved, it profits you how much?
47:17 Nothing.
47:18 So above all these things that we put
47:19 so much emphasis on that are vitally important
47:22 for the growth of the church, Paul says,
47:24 "This is wonderful but let me show you
47:26 a more excellent way."
47:27 The greatest gift. The greatest gift.
47:31 And the greatest of all the gifts is what?
47:33 Love.
47:34 And by the way, by the way, love is not a gift.
47:41 I knew...
47:42 I didn't mean to do that to you.
47:44 But it was...
47:45 You guys fell for it.
47:47 Love is a what?
47:48 Fruit.
47:50 The fruit of the spirit is love.
47:53 Now the reason I asked that question
47:55 is because should love be in the heart and life
47:59 of every Christian?
48:01 Yes. Yes.
48:02 Can you imagine the Lord said,
48:03 "Well, I only gave Yannick love,
48:05 I don't want anybody else
48:07 in the church to exercise love"?
48:09 What kind of church would it be?
48:12 The fruit, singular, of the spirit is love, joy,
48:15 peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness,
48:19 patience, in that one fruit
48:22 are all those...
48:26 what?
48:28 Are all those attributes, are all those fruits,
48:32 and in that one fruit are all those attributes,
48:35 one fruit, all those attributes.
48:37 So before you get the gifts, here is how the spirit works,
48:41 and this is important to set it up.
48:43 The spirit first works on us.
48:47 And then when we let him in, he works in us.
48:51 And the evidence that he's in us is love,
48:54 joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, patience.
48:58 And then as he works in us, only then can he work what?
49:02 Through us.
49:04 So he works, what?
49:05 On us, in us, and then what else?
49:07 Through us.
49:08 He doesn't work through us, if he hasn't worked in us,
49:12 if he hasn't worked on us.
49:14 So some people claim to have these gifts
49:15 but the fruit is not there.
49:17 That's why the Lord says in Matthew 7:14,
49:19 "By their fruits, you will know them."
49:21 Never determine a Christian by the gift,
49:25 always determine them by the fruit.
49:28 Can I get an amen? Amen.
49:30 The Bible meant by their fruit, the world today
49:32 and many Christian churches are saying,
49:34 oh, they have this gift, they have that gift,
49:36 the Bible never measures a Christian by its gifts,
49:39 always by the fruit.
49:40 All right?
49:42 Let's go to...
49:43 What's the next question?
49:44 We did Revelation 19:10. Did we not?
49:46 Question number six.
49:48 Question number six, quite a bridge between the two
49:51 but a very important one.
49:52 So we don't all have the same gifts
49:54 because we don't determine who has what gift,
49:57 the Holy Spirit makes that determination.
50:00 Question number six.
50:02 What particular gift is to remain active
50:05 in the last day church?
50:07 What particular gift is to remain active
50:09 in the last day church?
50:11 Let me ask you a question before we go to that.
50:13 Are any of the gifts not to remain active?
50:18 No, all the gifts are to remain active.
50:22 But I want to point out one in specific.
50:24 Let's go to Ephesians chapter 4
50:26 and we'll look together at verse 8.
50:29 And verse 11 is going to be the next thing.
50:31 They both partner with each other.
50:33 Okay?
50:35 Ephesians, Galatians.
50:38 Here we are.
50:39 Ephesians chapter 4.
50:42 And we're going to first look at verse 8.
50:45 Here it is.
50:47 Okay.
50:50 Speaking, the apostle Paul says,
50:52 "Therefore He says,"
50:54 that is, the Lord Jesus says,
50:55 "When He ascended on high, He led captivity," what?
51:01 "Captive," and, what else did he do?
51:03 "And gave gifts to men."
51:05 He gave gifts to men.
51:10 And now, let's look at verse 11.
51:15 Ephesians 4,
51:17 "Therefore when He ascended on high,"
51:19 that is Jesus when He ascended to heaven...
51:23 "He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men."
51:27 Now why does he say he led captivity captive?
51:30 Because the very thing that held Him down,
51:32 He held down.
51:34 He had the keys of death and hell.
51:37 Death captured Him but He captured death.
51:41 It's vitally important to understand.
51:42 But the point that is made here is as Jesus ascended,
51:46 what did He leave in His wake?
51:48 He gave what to men?
51:50 He gave gifts to men.
51:52 Now let's look at verse 11.
51:54 So the first question is He gave gifts to men,
51:57 verse 8 of Ephesians 4.
51:59 Now Ephesians 4:11.
52:02 Look at the next one.
52:05 "And He Himself
52:07 gave some to be," what?
52:10 "Apostles, some," what else?
52:12 "Prophets, some," what else?
52:14 "Evangelists, and some pastors, and some," what?
52:18 "Teachers."
52:20 So those are some of the gifts.
52:22 We have also in Romans chapter 12
52:24 where the gifts are talked about.
52:25 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
52:27 you find others gifts spoken there,
52:28 but he's showing here and if you continue here,
52:30 let's just add it in here.
52:32 Let's just add it in.
52:33 If you put the answer to question number six
52:35 under Ephesians 4:11, you put apostles, prophets,
52:39 evangelists, pastors, teachers.
52:42 Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers,
52:47 those are the five that He gave,
52:49 and He gave for what particular reason?
52:52 For what particular reason?
52:54 He made it very clear,
52:55 and I'm reading in Ephesians 4:12,
52:58 I'm in my Bible reading that,
53:00 "For the equipping of the saints,
53:02 for the work of the ministry,
53:04 for the edifying of the body of Christ."
53:08 Verse 13, "Till we all come to the," what's the next word?
53:13 "Unity of the faith,
53:15 and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
53:18 to a perfect," that's a mature person,
53:21 "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."
53:25 That, let me just not run too far past that,
53:28 that means as we enter into the Christian faith...
53:32 Let me tell a story,
53:33 as I was growing, as I was growing up,
53:36 I always wanted to get to a particular height,
53:37 and I was always elated.
53:39 When I was in grade school that every year,
53:43 before school started,
53:46 we would go to get a check up in the doctors
53:48 because they want to make sure that when you go to school,
53:49 you don't have any chicken pox or anything like that.
53:51 I always loved it
53:53 when I went to the doctor's office.
53:54 One of the first things they did, well,
53:55 I was light anyway, they weigh you,
53:57 no big deal,
53:59 but then they lean you against the wall
54:00 and they do what?
54:02 Measure you.
54:04 "You are now..."
54:05 And they tell you how tall you are.
54:07 And when your numbers go up better than last year, you say,
54:10 what do you say?
54:12 "I'm growing."
54:14 "I'm growing to the measure of the stature..."
54:17 So when we come to the walk with Christ,
54:19 He knows where He wants us to go,
54:22 He has a measure already established.
54:25 So as we're growing in Him, we come to the measure
54:27 of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
54:30 He continues to have us grow.
54:32 But what is the gifts that make that happen?
54:34 The active officers are evangelists, apostles,
54:39 pastors, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
54:42 They're all united together to help the church grow...
54:46 to the measure.
54:47 But here is the other benefit to that.
54:49 Verse 14, "That we should no longer be," what?
54:53 "Children," you got to grow up in the faith,
54:56 "that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro, "
55:00 that is back and forth,
55:02 "carried about with every wind of doctrine."
55:05 That means people, when you're not growing,
55:08 when the Word of God is not in you, any doctrine
55:10 that comes along can pull you in a particular direction.
55:14 But when God's Word is your foundation,
55:16 you'll no longer be children, back and forth.
55:20 I heard a new doctrine, I heard a new doctrine,
55:22 you're not back and forth
55:23 because through the work of the apostles,
55:25 prophets, evangelists, pastors
55:27 and teachers...
55:29 you're being grounded in God's Word,
55:31 you're growing to the measure.
55:32 So I hope that by the study of the Word of God,
55:35 you become more grounded, so you no longer tossed
55:38 back and forth.
55:39 And when you're not tossed back and forth,
55:41 you can gauge your growth to the measure of the stature
55:45 of the fullness of Christ.
55:47 That's what the gifts are all about.
55:50 Notice what it says.
55:52 "No longer be children, tossed to and fro,
55:54 and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
55:57 by the trickery of men, and the cunning craftiness,
56:03 by which they lie and wait to deceive."
56:05 That's why this topic is really important
56:08 because there are people
56:09 claiming to have prophecy nowadays.
56:11 I've seen them on television. I don't want to name names now.
56:13 But if you look at television, some of these televangelists
56:15 selling oil, and clothes, and red piece of tape,
56:19 and splinters from the cross of Christ,
56:21 so much wood that you can build Yosemite.
56:26 "I anointed this clause and if you send for it now
56:30 or selling profit materials,
56:32 well, this profit package is 19.95,
56:35 this one is 29.95, this one is 39.95,
56:38 but this one is 99.95, five easy payments."
56:42 I've seen that foolishness on television,
56:45 using God's Word for filthy gain,
56:49 financial benefit,
56:51 claiming all to be prophets, and spokesmen,
56:53 and spokeswoman for God.
56:57 But that's not the reason why God gave these gifts.
57:00 So as we continue in the study,
57:02 and we're going to end here tonight,
57:03 but as we continue in the study...
57:05 It's amazing how quickly our time goes,
57:07 you may want to write it and ask them
57:08 to give me another hour but not really.
57:11 As we continue in the study, the gifts of the spirit,
57:14 we'll discover something carefully,
57:16 and you can go ahead of the study.
57:18 But make sure that as you study God's Word,
57:20 those things that don't make sense,
57:23 commit yourself to the study of God's Word,
57:25 and in the end, you'll discover,
57:27 if it doesn't make sense,
57:28 one day, I can guarantee you,
57:30 it will come into A Sharper Focus.
57:33 God bless you.


Home

Revised 2018-10-15