Participants: Hal Steenson (Host)
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000007
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00:01 Hello, I'm
00:03 and I'd like to welcome you to join us in our study 00:04 on the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. 00:06 Today on Heaven's Point of View we'll look at the overview 00:10 of what we've learned so far and then we'll do a summary 00:14 on what we have studied about the gifts to speak, 00:16 and then we'll start a new study on the gifts to know. 00:19 They are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, 00:21 and discerning of spirits. I encourage you 00:24 to get your Bible and study along with us 00:27 as we counteract the counterfeit with the living Word of God. 00:52 You know I talk almost daily with disheartened Christians 00:56 who no longer associate themselves with any church 00:59 or denomination. And when asked why, their common response 01:03 is I became disillusioned with the church. 01:07 What they are saying, they don't realize it, 01:09 but what they are saying is they were living in an illusion 01:12 and finally got out of it. Many of these individuals 01:15 sought truth which would draw them out of worldliness 01:18 and bring them closer to God. Thousands are no longer 01:21 attending church because they were seeking the voice of God 01:25 and were only hearing the rhetoric of men. 01:28 Well, what can we do to help these displaced and discouraged 01:32 Christians? Many of these wonderful people started out 01:36 in pursuit of God and were disappointed by the church 01:39 yet they still maintained their relationship with the Lord. 01:42 These disheartened Christians are still looking for the truth 01:45 and our doors and hearts must be wide open to receive them 01:49 back into the true church. The modern-day tongues phenomenon, 01:54 as this series has endeavored to explain, 01:57 is not the tongues of scripture. We may ask, "If it's not 02:01 scriptural, if it's not God-inspired, 02:03 then why are so many people drawn into this erroneous 02:06 teaching?" The true Light of this World, Jesus Christ, 02:10 compelled those who sought Him to come out of this world's 02:13 darkness and come into His kingdom. 02:15 These dear people have heard His call and gladly obeyed 02:19 His command. These new babes in Christ started out in truth; 02:23 however, some ending up thinking they were continuing in truth 02:27 when they were actually trapped in error. 02:29 Those with pure hearts for God will never stop seeking 02:34 the truth and will continue to pursue God. 02:37 We must be prepared to welcome them warmly. 02:41 Now there is strength in all of us that can drive us to 02:44 seek truth, but there are also resident weaknesses 02:47 that may allow us to be deceived. 02:49 Then there is Satan, always waiting in the shadows, 02:53 to try to mix his error with God's truth. 02:56 Now here are some possible reasons why so many good people 03:00 are seduced by this tongues phenomenon. 03:04 Some may need spiritual recognition and spiritual roots. 03:09 Innate within us is a need to be included with the herd. 03:13 Even a false arena of worship will bring some people to a 03:17 secure place where they can belong and they can feel that 03:20 they have it all together. There is shared among them 03:23 the common ground of speaking in an out-of-this-world, 03:27 incoherent, babbling language. 03:30 However, it's an unscriptural NON-language. 03:34 They have a desire for spiritual understanding. 03:37 Most people have an empty God space inside. 03:41 These Christians really want to know and to be spiritually 03:44 minded. They are told the best way to satisfy their emptiness 03:48 is by receiving the gift of tongues. 03:51 Deception causes them to think that this is the ultimate 03:55 self-actualization time of their life. 03:59 Then, many of these people are responding to an inability to 04:04 acclimate to their environment. What do you mean? 04:07 I mean that they are sometimes lonely and limited 04:11 in their personal and social activities. 04:14 They are fearful of a dangerous society that they encounter 04:18 on a daily basis. By obtaining this unchallenged 04:22 charisma tongue, they can disconnect from society 04:27 and reconnect with what they think is the supernatural. 04:30 How tragic. Also, many are looking for instant spiritual 04:34 gratification. Since this group considers tongues a sign of 04:39 spiritual maturity, those who seek external affirmation 04:43 may seek this environment to appear spiritual. 04:47 They feel an advantage by not having to study for themselves. 04:53 They think tongues has to be scriptural because so many 04:59 Christians embrace it. They have a craving also for 05:03 spiritual expression. Many are seeking ways to express 05:07 themselves spiritually because they don't feel they are part 05:11 of their local church. Speaking in false tongues 05:15 makes it easier for them to fit in because it doesn't require 05:18 a deep relationship with God or much knowledge 05:21 of the scripture. They are not accountable or answerable 05:25 to anyone because what they are saying cannot be understood 05:28 and therefore cannot be judged. It doesn't have to be correct, 05:32 scriptural, or even from God because no one 05:35 in his or her crowd will ever know the difference. 05:41 Next, they may have a desire for revelation. 05:43 Through the years it's been said by some that no one is able 05:47 to understand the Bible unless they are baptized 05:49 in the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. 05:51 Their statement to confirm someone is spirit filled 05:54 is tongues are the initial, physical, supernatural 05:57 evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. 05:59 This is a sign to many that God has devised a shortcut 06:03 to the revelation of His Word. Not so! 06:06 What they end up with is a lot of emotionalism 06:09 and a false sense of having a personal unknown tongue 06:13 hotline of prayer straight to the throne of God. 06:17 With this series I have endeavored to recognize that 06:20 the gift of tongues is as real as any other gift of the Spirit. 06:23 God has blessed His church with many wonderful spiritual tools 06:28 and gifts to further the Gospel. The beauty of the gift 06:31 of tongues is first declared by Jesus in Mark 16:17. 06:35 "They shall speak with new tongues" is that tongues were 06:39 to be used as a powerful evangelistic tool. 06:42 This tool was given to the disciples so they could go 06:45 to the nations where they did not know the native language. 06:48 Once there, they were able to preach the Gospel 06:52 to the people in their own cultural language by using 06:55 the tool of the gift of tongues. This is why God gave them 07:00 the gift of tongues. It was a time in history when there were 07:03 no telecommunications or mass reproductions 07:06 of printed material as there are today. 07:09 The gift of tongues was definitely a Godsend. 07:12 The apostle Thomas may have used this gift to go into the depths 07:15 of India and establish a foundation of faith 07:18 from which we are now reaping the benefits. 07:20 In our age of technology, there are unfathomable methods of 07:25 Gospel presentations available for everyone of every culture 07:28 and language. This greatly reduces the need for the gift 07:34 of tongues in our present age. 07:37 This could be the reason for Paul using two different words 07:40 for cease. In: 07:43 "Charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies 07:47 they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. 07:51 Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. " 07:53 When Paul wrote about the failing of prophecy 07:56 and the vanishing of knowledge, the verbs he used meant that 08:00 they would cease by some outside force or influence. 08:03 However, the verb he used for tongues ceasing 08:06 meant that they would eventually stop of their own accord. 08:09 The verb used for the prophecies and knowledge 08:13 to cease would be like someone snuffing out a burning candle 08:16 while the verb used for tongues ceasing is like a candle 08:20 burning out of its own accord. Now that Christianity 08:24 is reaching the world through a diversity of media and languages 08:27 the gift of tongues is less essential. 08:30 The need for the gift of tongues is not required as often today 08:33 as it was in the day of the disciples. 08:35 Because a large segment of the world has become so open to the 08:40 Gospel, American evangelists can go to Russia 08:43 and use an interpreter to translate his English words 08:46 to the listeners in Russian. Because language barriers 08:50 are breaking down all over the world, preaching through an 08:53 interpreter has become commonplace. 08:55 There are presently world-wide television ministries 08:58 broadcasting the Gospel to several countries 09:01 in that country's native language. 09:03 One such ministry, thank God, Three Angels Broadcasting 09:07 Network, that currently presents the Gospel in English, 09:10 Russian, Spanish, and Portuguese with plans to expand 09:15 to other languages. This network alone covers 99% 09:20 of every inhabited continent on the face of the earth 09:24 and is reaching more people than we could have ever imagined. 09:28 Remember what Jesus said in John 14:12? 09:43 However, if there is one person left somewhere in a remote area 09:48 of the world who has not heard the Gospel, 09:50 God may send someone, maybe even you, to him and allow 09:55 the gift of tongues to work through that person. 09:58 God can still use this gift, give by the Holy Spirit, 10:02 to tell that individual about the wonderful works of God. 10:08 Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, 10:11 we need to get it right! We use catch phrases 10:15 that are used to describe manifestations or events 10:18 that are not theologically correct or Biblically sound. 10:21 One such phrase is expressed as a message in tongues. 10:26 Nowhere in the scripture is this statement used, 10:30 and it is therefore unscriptural. 10:32 There is no such things as a message in tongues - 10:36 only the gift of tongues. Another phrase is 10:40 praying in the spirit - which is also unscriptural. 10:44 There is no scriptural evidence of anyone being slain 10:47 in the spirit. It is scriptural to be knocked off your horse 10:51 to the ground as with the apostle Paul; however, 10:55 this is not a Biblical example of what we see happening 10:58 in Christianity today. The next phrase that is grossly 11:02 misinterpreted, ridiculously, is the secret rapture fallacy. 11:08 Thessalonians is an awfully noisy book with a shout 11:12 and a loud trumpet. That's not very secretive. 11:15 We will not be using any catch phrases or clichés 11:18 in this study. We will be using the Word of God 11:22 and reliable resources. I refer to these gifts 11:27 as an outer court gifts to speak because they are all used 11:32 to present or preach the Gospel. The gift of prophecy, 11:35 the gift of tongues, and the gift of interpretation 11:39 of tongues. The outer court of the tabernacle of Moses 11:42 represented salvation, "whosoever will," through the 11:46 brazen altar and water baptism through the brazen laver. 11:53 says: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord 11:56 shall be saved. How then shall they call upon Him whom 12:00 they have not believed, and how shall they believe in Him 12:04 they have not heard? And how shall they hear 12:07 without a preacher? And how shall they preach 12:10 except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful 12:15 are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace 12:18 and bring glad tidings of good things. " 12:21 Now let me give you a definition for the word of knowledge. 12:26 It is a tiny portion of God's infallible knowledge imparted 12:32 by the Holy Spirit through fallible man. 12:35 The gift of the word of knowledge may also be a 12:38 special endowment God gives to some members 12:41 of the body of Christ to discover, assimilate, 12:45 analyze, and clarify information and ideas that 12:49 are relevant to the spiritual growth of the church 12:52 and the wellbeing of the body of Christ. 12:54 The word knowledge seems to especially affect the intellect 13:00 and enable the person having the gift to understand the deeper 13:03 truths of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is omnipresent, 13:08 He is omnipotent, He is everywhere 13:10 and knows everything just like God because He is God. 13:13 When we comprehend that John 3:34 says that Jesus 13:17 was the only one given the Spirit without measure, 13:20 we begin to realize the truth of this gift only being, 13:25 hear this, please hear this, only being a word of knowledge 13:28 not all knowledge. 13:32 All knowledge ultimately rests with the Lord. 13:35 says: "In whom are hid all 13:37 the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. " 13:38 It is therefore acceptable to believe that God can impart 13:43 any part of His divine knowledge at any time as He wills. 13:46 The word of knowledge is supernatural insight 13:49 or understanding of God's Word, circumstances, situations, 13:53 problems, or a compilation of facts by revelation. 13:57 That is, without assistance by any human resource 14:00 but solely by the divine aid of God. 14:03 Now there are several key reasons the Holy Spirit 14:06 uses the gift of the word of knowledge through us. 14:29 Now let's take a look at some real manifestations of the word 14:32 of knowledge in God's Word. 14:34 Some examples of words of knowledge: 14:36 Jesus knew about Nathaniel before He met him. 14:42 "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him and sayeth of him 14:45 'Behold an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. ' 14:48 Nathaniel said unto Him: 'Whence knowest Thou me?' 14:51 and Jesus answered and said unto him 14:52 'Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the 14:56 fig tree, I saw thee. ' Nathaniel answered and saith 14:59 unto Him, 'Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, 15:02 Thou art the King of Israel. '" 15:05 The prophet Elisha knew that Gehazi lied to Naaman. 15:12 says: "But Gehazi, the servant of Elisha, the man of God, 15:16 said: 'Behold, my master had spared Naaman the Syrian 15:20 in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. ' 15:24 But, as the Lord liveth, I will run after him and take somewhat 15:29 of him. ' So Gehazi followed after Naaman, and when Naaman 15:33 saw him running after him, he lighted down from the chariot 15:37 to meet him and said: 'Is all well?' 15:39 And he said, 'All is well. My master has sent me 15:42 saying behold, even now, there be come to me from 15:45 Mount Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. 15:50 Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver and two changes 15:54 of garments. ' And Naaman said: 'Be content, take two talents. ' 15:58 And he urged him and bound two talents of silver in two bags 16:03 with two changes of garments and laid them upon the two of 16:06 his servants. And they bear them before him. 16:09 And when he came to the tower, he took them from their hand 16:13 and bestowed them in the house. And he let the men go, 16:18 and they departed. But he went in and stood before his master. 16:23 And Elisha said unto him: 'Whence comest thou, Gehazi?' 16:27 And he said, 'Thy servant went no whither. ' 16:31 And he said unto him: 'Went not thine heart with thee 16:35 when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? 16:39 Is it a time to receive money and to receive garments 16:44 and olive yards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, 16:48 and menservants, and maidservants? 16:50 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave upon thee 16:55 and unto thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence 17:00 a leper as white as snow. " 17:02 That's the word of knowledge. 17:04 The prophet Samuel knew that Saul's donkeys had been found 17:11 says: "And Samuel answered Saul and said: 'I am the seer. 17:14 Go up before me unto the high place for you shall eat with me 17:17 today, and tomorrow I will let thee go and I will tell thee 17:20 all that is in thine heart. And as for thine asses 17:24 that were lost three days ago set not thy mind on them 17:27 for they are found. And on whom is all the desire 17:31 of Israel? Is it not on thee and on all thy father's house?' 17:36 Now next we have the fact that Peter knew that Annanias 17:40 had lied about his property. Acts 5 says: 17:43 "But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife 17:47 sold a possession and kept back part of the price - 17:50 his wife also being privy to it. And they brought a certain part 17:55 and laid it at the apostle's feet, but Peter said: 17:58 'Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie 18:02 to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price 18:05 of the land? While it remained was it not thine own 18:09 and after it was sold was it not in thine own power? 18:12 Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? 18:15 Thou hast not lied unto man but unto God. ' 18:19 And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up 18:23 the ghost, and great fear came on all them that heard 18:26 these things. And the young men arose, wound him up, 18:30 and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space 18:34 of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, 18:37 came in. And Peter answered unto her, 'Tell me whether ye 18:40 sold the land for such and such, and she said 'yea, for so much ' 18:45 Then Peter said unto her 'How is it that ye have agreed 18:48 together to tempt the Holy Spirit of the Lord? 18:51 Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are 18:54 at the door and shall carry thee out. ' Then fell she down 18:59 straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost 19:01 and the young men came in and found her dead 19:05 and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband, 19:08 and great fear came upon all the church 19:13 and upon as many as heard these things. " 19:16 I like that. Praise God! 19:18 Although there are numerous Biblical examples 19:20 of true manifestation of the gift of the word of knowledge, 19:23 there are far more examples of false words of knowledge. 19:28 I have witnessed hundreds of these manifestations 19:31 while involved in the charismatic movement and I now 19:35 realize the vast majority were false manifestations. 19:39 Now let me give you some for instances, OK? 19:43 This is a statement from a charismatic web page. 19:46 This is phenomenal. In the charismatic meetings 19:50 it says the word of knowledge is also most impressive. 19:54 There is a man here who is a Mormon. 19:57 He is being healed now of his left arm, 20:01 and the Mormon comes out shouting and crying, 20:04 raising his left arm he could not move for 20 years, 20:07 and he becomes a Catholic. 20:09 I said that right! He becomes a Catholic. 20:13 And it is the most exciting episode in the meeting. 20:17 Everybody is praising the Lord with great, incredible joy. 20:42 Then there is the false word of knowledge - 20:46 physical words of knowledge. This is NOT the gift of the 20:51 word of knowledge. For example, someone will have 20:54 a feeling or a sharp pain in his shoulder. 20:56 It may indicate bursitis, pain in the chest may indicate 21:00 a heart condition, hurt, or anger. 21:03 Pain in the ear may indicate that the person has an 21:06 ear problem, and so on, and so forth. 21:08 This is not only unscriptural but it is also Satanic. 21:14 The Word of God declares in Isaiah 53:5: 21:18 "But He, being Jesus, was wounded for our transgressions 21:22 He was bruised for our iniquities. 21:24 The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, 21:27 and with His stripes we are healed. " 21:30 Jesus has already borne all of our pains, 21:33 and He in no way will ever transfer anyone else's pain 21:38 to any of His disciples - which are us. 21:40 The false words of knowledge are extended to other areas too. 21:45 Auditory. I have heard this for years. Auditory words of 21:48 knowledge. Example: you may hear the still small voice 21:52 give you information about a person's health 21:55 of past in order to stir faith and receive prayer. 21:59 Speaking softly, this is what this website says, 22:03 We don't give the website 22:05 and I am not putting down the person. 22:07 I am talking about the message. It's wrong; it's error. 22:11 It is not scriptural. It says speaking softly in tongues 22:15 is recommended when desiring to hear words of knowledge. 22:20 This will heighten your spiritual sensitivity. How sad. 22:44 Extreme false words of knowledge, odorous words of 22:48 knowledge. Now this is on this website. 22:50 Odorous words of knowledge. For example: The Holy Spirit 22:52 may open your sense of smell to reveal to you that a demon 22:55 is present. This smells like sulphur. Oh, really? 22:59 Or may reveal the smell of alcohol to reveal the condition 23:03 of alcoholism. How sad these things are. 23:07 How sad that someone would really and truly believe 23:10 something that contradicts the Word of God. 23:12 Now, we are going to be back in a few minutes, 23:14 and we are going to put a capstone on this and do a little 23:16 bit of summary right after this message 23:19 so don't go away because we will be right back. 23:25 If you've been confused about what the Bible says 23:28 about the Holy Spirit's amazing gifts for the church, 23:30 you'll want to order your very own copy of this 13-part series. 23:34 It's available on DVD or video cassette from 3ABN 23:38 at a very special price. This 13-part series 23:41 with Pastor Hal Steenson makes a wonderful gift for a friend 23:44 or a family member. Just call us at: 23:52 You may also order it online at: 24:11 On today's program we took a look at the true gift 24:15 of the word of knowledge. We saw how the true gift operated 24:19 in the Old Testament, operates in the New Testament. 24:21 And for it to operate in the church, it does not 24:24 go to extreme. Then we took a look at some extreme false words 24:29 of knowledge. Words of knowledge involving pain. 24:32 Words of knowledge involving smell. 24:35 And, you know, once again it is the word of knowledge. 24:38 It is not the smell of knowledge. An example 24:43 of an extreme word of knowledge would be... 24:46 although you may not feel, hear, see, or smell anything, 24:51 you may strongly sense what's going on. 24:55 A sensory word comes simply as a knowing. Now understand, 24:59 this is not real. If you didn't catch the first part 25:02 of the program, this is not the way the word of knowledge works. 25:04 This is from a website that is telling you things that are not 25:07 scriptural and are not godly. 25:09 It may be simply as a knowing of the person's condition. 25:13 Sensory words of knowledge are very common words of knowledge 25:16 but are easily overlooked. THIS IS NOT SO! 25:20 Now I want to encourage you as we just share here with you 25:25 for a moment, I want to encourage you to 25:29 hear what I am about to tell you 25:31 because all of us are open for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. 25:36 They are for the authority of the believer, 25:39 and there may be some of you that God speaks to a lot. 25:42 You might be walking through the grocery store 25:44 and God will give you a word of knowledge. 25:45 Some you are to act on and some you are not to act on. 25:50 You are to get in your prayer closet and go before the Lord 25:53 Let me give you an example. Back several years ago 25:57 a lady came to me and told me "I was in the kitchen cooking 26:02 and God, she said, I feel like God really spoke to me and said 26:05 there is a good friend of mine, a sister in the Lord, 26:08 that there is going to be great harm done to her. 26:10 What should I do? And I said: "If God gave you 26:13 that word of knowledge, it wasn't go to her and allow 26:16 the enemy to use a spirit of fear to bring her down. 26:19 You get on your face, you lay on your face, 26:21 and you cry out to God. You get on your face 26:24 and you intercede for that person because 26:26 that word of knowledge you know what happened or how it happened 26:30 and you can stop this from happening. " 26:32 Well instead of doing that, she went to this lady 26:34 and told her this. This lady got in such fear she would not 26:38 get out of the house. She had to get somebody to take her 26:41 children to school. She could not even function. 26:44 God doesn't give you a gift to tear down. 26:48 God gives you a gift to build up the body of Christ. 26:51 The other day I got an e-mail from a brother, and he said 26:54 that he had seen that there was going to be a great sports 26:57 disaster. There is going to be a terrorist attack. 27:00 And I e-mailed him back, and I told him 27:02 "I thank you for sending this to me and I do not doubt that 27:06 possibly God showed you this. But, I said, is it a possibility 27:11 that God showed you this, gave you direction, 27:14 gave you purpose, in order for you to pray and intercede 27:19 and keep this thing from happening?" 27:22 Now I haven't heard back from him, 27:24 but I want you to know this, OK? If God speaks something to you, 27:27 a word of knowledge that will not encourage someone 27:31 uplift someone, bring them back into the kingdom of God 27:34 and right standing with God, then what I encourage you to do 27:37 is you get on your face, you lay on your face, 27:42 you cry out to God for that person 27:46 and what God has shown you. 27:47 I want you to know that there are true gifts 27:49 and there are false gifts, and God wants us to work and move 27:53 in the true gifts of the Holy Spirit - 27:55 and the word of knowledge is one of them. 27:57 I pray that you will be open to whatever the Spirit of God 28:02 has for you in this last day, and the latter rain, 28:05 the outpouring of God's Spirit, you'll be one that will say 28:08 "God - use - me. " 28:31 On our next program in this series, 28:33 Heaven's Point of View on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, 28:36 we will start on the gift of the word of wisdom. 28:38 So check your 3ABN World for the dates and times, 28:42 and I'll see you then. |
Revised 2014-12-17