Participants:
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000180A
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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. |
Revised 2018-10-15