Good morning. You can open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12. Ricky, thanks for your kind words. More importantly, thank you for your friendship. Love being with you and your family and your team. And I saw the pictures on the screen from last week in the canyon. I wish I was here. That looked pretty good. Did you like it? Yeah? Alright. You want to go back? Oh, okay. Alright, well, that's your problem. I wanted to come and thank you, Cross of Grace Church, for being a part of our small family of churches known as Sovereign Grace. And I thank God for you. I think of you. We as a leadership team pray for you as a church. And we're grateful to you because you are, you are strengthening us as a family of churches in a number of ways.
I could spend my, my, my sermon time outlining each of those, but let me just give you a few. First of all, your, your gospel presence here in the El Paso area and your commitment to preach the gospel, your commitment to apply the gospel to your life, your commitment to reach out to those who don't know Christ as their Lord and Savior. The recent Alpha course, just hearing about conversion since I've been here, that strengthens us as a family of churches because that's what we're about. We're about Jesus and we're about the good news of Jesus Christ. And so when we do that together, you strengthen us as a family of churches. I'm just grateful for your specific example, and we look to you, you should know this, of how you have a heart for and care for and love military families. You do that well as a church, and we have some other churches in particular that are near military bases, like Crestview, Florida, and we point them to you and to your example. So, so thank you for your example. We learn from you beyond the borders of Cross of Grace Church. Ricky leads— is a part of our church planting group, and he leads the Antioch Project, which is intended to help churches who've never planted a church to figure out and pray about potentially planting a church at some point. So Ricky, thank you for your investment there, because we do that not to grow Sovereign Grace, but to reach more people with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I pray your labors bear a lot of fruit for Christ. Todd's travels to India, And he and I were in the Philippines together recently, and I just watched how he just cared for JP while he was there in Manila. It was just wonderful to see. So Todd, thank you for the many trips and for the investment that you make. Your investment into Rancho 3M and the orphanage there, that strengthens us as a family of churches. You sending out— I didn't know that Vince was here last week, but But I was glad he was here, but you sending him out to Czechoslovakia, those are just a number of ways of what you're doing as a church that strengthen us as a family of churches. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I didn't want to just send an email, 'Hey, Ricky, can you thank your church for me?' I want to come and thank you.
All right. 1 Corinthians 12. As Ricky mentioned, he asked me to speak on the work of the Holy Spirit. Hopefully that draft's behind. Your time in Ephesians 5, where you spent some time looking at what it means to be a Spirit-filled people. And we're gonna talk about the work of the Holy Spirit, maybe in a little broader way today. That, that's my sermon title, The Work of the Holy Spirit. And we're gonna read 1 Corinthians 12, the first 11 verses. Now concerning Concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, 'Jesus is accursed!' No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord!' except in the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit. Who apportions to each one individually as he wills. May God bless the preaching of his word. Amen.
You and I, we live in a material, physical, schedule-packed, fast-paced, traffic-jammed world. I-10 is a regular reminder of that, right? We daily feel the pressures of work, of raising a a family of providing for ourselves. Our cars break down, roofs on our house, they need replace. As you get old like me, you've gotta go see the doctor a little more often 'cause your body is breaking down. See, all of these things, they serve as daily reminders that you and I, we live in a physical, material world. And we must be careful that the demands of living in a spiritual— in a material world lull us into forgetting that as Christians we are spiritual people. See, if we forget as Christians that we are spiritual people, meaning that we are indwelt by the Spirit of God, we will live unaware of the Spirit's presence and power and work in our lives.
Richard Lovelace says this: The failure to recognize the Holy Spirit as He's personally present in our lives is widespread in the churches today. Even where Christians know about the Holy Spirit doctrinally, they have not necessarily made a deliberate point of getting to know him personally. A normal relationship with the Holy Spirit should at least approximate the Old Testament experience described in Psalm 139, a profound awareness that we are always face to face with God. That as we move through the life— through life, the presence of the Spirit is the most real and powerful factor in our daily environment, that underneath the momentary static of events, conflicts, problems, and even in excursions into sin, he— meaning the Spirit— is always there. So Christian, let me ask you, do you believe that the Holy Spirit is always there. See, we can't allow the demands of living in a physical, material world numb us to the reality that you and I as Christians, we are spiritual people.
So here's the question I want to answer during our time. How, how can we live? How can you and I live more aware of the Spirit's presence and work in our lives? I believe there are two ways that we see in this text and even in this letter. By celebrating— the first is by celebrating the broad work of the Spirit, and secondly, by using our spiritual gifts.
6 · Exegetes 1 Corinthians 12:2-3 to establish that Paul begins his discussion of spiritual gifts by reminding the Corinthians they are spiritual people
So first, how do we live more aware of the Spirit's presence and work in our lives? One, celebrate the broad work of the Spirit. Now, you noted that in opening this section of the letter where Paul is speaking about the spiritual gifts, that's chapters 12 through 14, he begins the conversation by drawing the Corinthians' attention to the fact that they are spiritual people. He does that in verses 2 and 3 by reminding them of who they were. They once were pagans who were led astray by what he calls mute idols, but now they are people that he describes who declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. And it's very clear from verse 3 that only those who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God and at conversion indwelt by the Spirit of God, it's only those people who can genuinely say that Jesus is Lord. Look again at verse 3. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says Jesus is accursed, and no one can say Jesus is Lord except in the Holy Spirit. So before narrowing his discussion about the spiritual gifts, what Paul very carefully and eloquently does is he references the broad work of the Spirit, namely here the regenerating work of the Spirit in our lives. That's one of the broad works of the Spirit. Jesus taught about that in John chapter 3, verses 6 and 7. Jesus says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. See, if you're sitting here this morning and you are a genuine Christian, remember that you and I, we once were dead in our sins and trespasses. We had no way of bringing ourselves to life until the Spirit acted upon our sin-sick heart and regenerated our heart, showing us our sin and need for a Savior. And we are, as Jesus says, born again. Now we can talk about a lot of miracles, but the greatest miracle we will ever know is that miracle, that we were brought from death to life, that we were transformed from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his Son, and that is the regenerating work of the Spirit, amen? Amen. You and I are spiritual people. Because we've been born again by the Spirit of God.
7 · Introduces a second broad work of the Spirit—illumination of Scripture
Another broad work of the Spirit is the illumination of Scripture. Earlier in this letter, Paul references this broad work of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 2:12-13. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit—capital S, note the contrast—who is from God. That we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths found in God's Word to those who are spiritual. So you can see from those verses, and you look at other verses in the New Testament, the illumination of Scripture is a work of the Spirit. In which he enables the readers of Scripture to understand what is written. That may be, that may be an entire lifelong process, but without the Spirit's help, you and I will never understand Scripture or be able to apply Scripture in a way that transforms our lives. All people, all Christians have the need of the Spirit's work to illuminate Scripture in our lives Because there's this spiritual blindness that exists in our lives, and we need the Spirit's help to open our eyes and read the Word in a way that changes us and makes us more like Christ.
8 · Cites Martin Luther to reinforce that no one can understand Scripture without the Spirit
Martin Luther says this, 'The truth is that nobody, nobody who has not the Spirit of God sees a jot,' means a bit, 'of what is in the Scriptures. The Spirit is needed for the understanding of all Scripture and every part of Scripture. So it is a very charismatic thing. It is a very continuationist thing. It is a very spectacular thing when you read your Bible and there's something that you've read before that suddenly comes to life in your heart and your mind, and you're thinking, I've read that verse before, but never like that. In that moment, the Spirit is at work in your life, and he's illuminating Scripture.
9 · Introduces a third broad work of the Spirit—sanctification
Another broad work of the Spirit is that of sanctification. So when, when we are born again, as Jesus says, and the Spirit indwells within us, we are set apart for God. Which is why when Paul opens this letter in 1 Corinthians 1:2, he actually calls them saints. Saints because they have been set apart by God. And being set apart means that we do this, we progressively live lives that are more and more reflect the character of Jesus Christ. Theologically, we call that sanctification, which is why Paul writes earlier in the letter in 1 Corinthians 6:11, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God. See, the work— one of the broad works of the Spirit in our lives, thank God for this, is that he convicts us of sin. John chapter 16, verse 8. And gives us power then to repent from that sin, power to grow in holiness that we just sang about before, so that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling as God works in us. Philippians 2. Verses 12 and 13. So we got to get sanctification right. The Spirit works synergistically with us to sanctify us and make us more like Christ.
10 · Personal story of the preacher's recent experience of Spirit-wrought illumination and conviction
Let me just tell you what happened in my life recently that sort of illustrates the, the illumination of the Spirit and the conviction of the Spirit in my life. Devotionally, I at that time was reading through Isaiah And I had noticed this pattern recently in my life. Jill was noticing it too. Jill's my wife. Where I was just, I was irritable. And I was irritable and I was a bit grumpy and I was trying to figure out why. And I was confused actually. And a bit discouraged 'cause I didn't want that to continue. That was not a reflection of Christ. And one particular morning, I again was just praying that and confessing that to the Lord. And as I worked through, I can't remember exactly which chapter, I think it was Isaiah 45, there was a particular verse that I read that just leapt off the page. And it convicted me of this specific sin of self-reliance. And I was convicted of it in a way that I just hadn't been convicted before. Now I can be self-sufficient, but it felt like a new conviction. Of self-reliance. And so I just, I confessed that to the Lord, my self-reliance. I confessed that I needed the Spirit's power to walk and live more dependently upon the Spirit, upon grace, to live differently. And in that moment, I had not had clarity. I was unburdened. There was a step of being set free from the sin of un-reliance. See, I tell you that story because I couldn't do any of that in my own strength. I was confused. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I needed the Spirit's conviction, and I needed the Spirit to illuminate Scripture so that I could have clarity on what, what was wrong with me. Can you relate to that? That is a wonderful, miraculous, broad work of the Spirit that you and I need.
11 · Introduces a fourth broad work of the Spirit—perseverance
Another work that we need is that of perseverance, because there are these times when We are condemned by sin. I think I was experiencing some condemnation. We get beaten up by trials and the difficulties of life. We get confused. We get disillusioned. And there are times on the extreme end— we've all been there— we just want to give up. Maybe some of you are here today and you arrive here with, 'I just want to give up.' See, it's in those moments that we need to remember the broad work of the Spirit that you saw in your series in Ephesians, in Ephesians 1:13-14. In Him you also, when you heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit— who does this? Who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it? To the praise of his glory. That the Spirit seals— it means like a seal on a letter. We are marked as those who bear the Spirit of God, and it is the Spirit then who is a guarantee that we will not give up. There's a guarantee that, that we will make it to our eternal home, which is our future glory, because on our own We won't get there, but the Spirit guarantees that he's with us and he will get us home.
12 · Story of Alan Redrup, a founding pastor of Covenant Fellowship who recently died and finished well
A good friend of mine died just a few weeks ago. His name is Alan Redrup. He was a pastor at our church. He was one of the founding pastors of Covenant Fellowship Church almost 40 years ago. I miss him, and I attended his memorial service, and as people remembered his life, the consistent theme was this, that, that Alan finished well. And he did. He finished well. And Alan had chose a particular song that I thought was so appropriate because it reflects that Alan was— Alan finished well because he was a man who relied upon, who was dependent upon the Holy Spirit each and every day. And so there's a verse from Blessed Assurance. It's really almost like a prayer to the Spirit that says, illumine me with the Spirit's light to dispel my thoughts in the blackest night. Those times when we want to give up, right? In darkest hour, to my soul reveal the wounds which all my sorrows heal. Impress that seal. Ephesians 1, right? His image leave, and by your power to his grace I'll cleave until faith be sight and prayer be praise. I'm beholding Jesus face to face. My friend Alan, he's beholding Jesus face to face. He finished well because the Spirit gave him perseverance.
13 · Synthesizes the first point—celebrating the broad work of the Spirit (regeneration, illumination, sanctification, perseverance)—and pivots to the second point about using spiritual gifts
See, the broad work of the Spirit is wonderful. I've just given you just a few. There's so many more works of the Spirit that include regeneration and illumination, sanctification, perseverance, and we must see them, we must celebrate them, we must practice them in our lives to be spiritual people so that we're not lulled into this material world that we just kind of got to get through it on our own. No, we have the Spirit, who is a gift from the Lord Jesus Christ to us. Now, the Spirit also does this: the Spirit empowers our gifts for the service of others and for the witness of the gospel, which leads to the second point. How do you and I live aware of the presence and power and work of the Spirit in our lives? Number 2: use, use your spiritual gifts.
14 · Exegetes 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 11 to establish that the Spirit empowers spiritual gifts
1 Corinthians 12 is one text that shows us the empowering work of the Spirit. Look again at verses 4 through 6, and then we'll look at verse 11. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all and everyone. Then verse 11, all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
15 · Expounds the Trinitarian structure of 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Now what's striking there in verses 4 through 6 is that every member of the Trinity is mentioned. Did you see that in those verses? The Holy Spirit in verse 4, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in verse 5, and God the Father in verse 6. And did you also note that before each member of the Trinity is mentioned, that word varieties is used? Varieties of gifts, varieties of service, varieties of activities. So here's what Paul is saying. He's saying that God has given this church a variety, a diversity of gifts, and when you together collectively use the variety and diversity of gifts God has given you, That has its root in the Trinity itself. See, each member of the Trinity is fully God. You know that. But each member of the Trinity has a specific function or role or service. And according to verse 11, God has given us gifts, and he empowers those gifts through the Spirit so that when we use those gifts, we reflect something of the diversity and the unity of the Trinitarian Godhead. That's a massive theological truth that you can't miss, right? That's pretty big.
16 · Applies the Trinitarian structure to pastoral concerns about spiritual gifts
It's important that we don't miss the theological construct that's there in verses 4 through 6 in looking at the gifts so that this happens, so that the gifts don't become about us. Rather, we use the gifts to serve others, and we use the gifts in a way that draw glory and attention to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Trinitarian Godhead. That's a massive theological truth, and it's very important practically, because if you're here and maybe you came from a cessationist past, meaning you don't believe the gifts are for today, and you're not so sure about the gifts, or maybe you came from a charismatic past and you've seen the gifts misused, in a way that draws attention to people. You got to understand that is an error that this church is seeking to avoid, and it's an error that we are seeking to avoid as a family of churches, because we want to use the varieties of gifts God has given us to bring the Trinitarian Godhead much glory. It also seems intentional there in those 11 verses that twice we are told that It is God who empowers the gifts through the Spirit. We saw that in verse 6 and verse 11. It's a reminder that for you and I to effectively use our gifts, we are very dependent upon the person of the Spirit and the work of the Spirit, and specifically the empowering work of the Spirit. We will never use our gifts effectively in our self-reliance. We need the Spirit of God.
17 · Defines spiritual gifts using Boyd Hunt's definition, emphasizing that gifts encompass both natural-seeming abilities (administration, service) and supernatural-seeming gifts (healing, prophecy)
But let's answer this question, what are these gifts that the Spirit empowers? I like this definition by Boyd Hunt, 'Spiritual gifts are God empowering his people through the Holy Spirit for kingdom life and service, enabling them in attitude and action to live and minister in manner which glorifies Jesus Christ.' It's a broader definition, I like it because if you look at the gifts listed here in 1 Corinthians 12, Some seem more like natural abilities, gifts like administration and service and helping. Other gifts might look a little bit more supernatural, like healing in verse 9 or prophecy in verse 10. So gifts, as that term is used in the New Testament, describes a broad and diverse, a variety of abilities and talents and gifts that God has given you to minister to others in a way that glorifies Jesus Christ.
18 · Exegetes 1 Corinthians 12:7 to establish that gifts are given 'for the common good'—to serve others, not for personal benefit
See, spiritual gifts are given and empowered by God so that each of us, each of you sitting here who's a Christian, can participate in what Boyd Hunt calls kingdom life and in ministry and in gospel mission. And we know they're given to serve others because it's very clear in verse 7 that they're given, as the text says, for the common good. They're not given for you. They're given to serve others. See, all of the gifts in Scripture, 1 Corinthians in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, they are given for the common good.
19 · Applies the 'common good' principle directly: gifts are never for self-aggrandizement but for serving others and drawing attention to Jesus
It's another reminder, brothers and sisters, that gifts are never given for us. They're never given to draw attention to ourselves, but they are given to serve others and to draw great attention to Jesus Christ.
20 · Cites Max Turner to argue that the whole experiential dimension of Christian life is charismatic and that gifts enable life-giving understanding and application of the gospel, service to others, and empowerment for gospel mission
I like this, I like this sort of perspective by Max Turner. He says the gift of the Spirit to believers affords the whole experiential dimension of the Christian life, which is essentially charismatic in nature. So he's commenting on 1 Corinthians 12, and he says these charismata— that's the Greek term for gifts— these gifts operate at individual and corporate levels, enabling a life-giving joyful understanding of, and ability to apply the gospel, impelling and enabling different services to others in the church, and driving and empowering the mission to proclaim the good news of the gospel. See, I like that definition of what's happening here because of the gospel centrality that you hear in that definition.
21 · Warns against the charismatic error of overemphasizing gifts at the expense of the gospel
See, one of the errors that we can make and one of the errors that you see in the charismatic world is that there can be this overemphasis on the gifts, almost a disproportionate emphasis upon the gifts, and unintentionally so, I believe, the gifts move more into the center and the gospel moves out to the periphery. See, that's something that Scripture never teaches, and it's something we can't do. Just the way that this letter is structured tells us that. So Paul begins this letter saying in 1 Corinthians 2:2, 'I decided to know nothing among you except—' What? Jesus Christ and him crucified. Now he's gonna write about a lot of things. He's gonna write about divisions in the church, he's gonna write about idolatry, he's gonna write about lawsuits among believers, he's gonna write about sexual immorality, he's gonna write about the gifts. What's the one thing that he knows in all of those topic conversations? He knows this, he knows Christ and him crucified. So that gospel truth, it's threaded through the entire letter. And then he gets at the end of the letter and he says in 1 Corinthians 15:3, I decided— no, it didn't say that. He said, this is of— I've delivered to you that which is of first importance. What's of first importance? The gifts? No, it's that Christ died for our sins. And he goes on, he talks about his resurrection and ascension. In other words, the way that this letter is even structured tells us that the gifts are given for the common good of continuing the work of the gospel in our lives.
22 · Applies the gospel-centrality principle to gift use
That's what the gifts are for, to continue, to strengthen, to edify the work of the gospel in our lives. And at times, we know from 1 Corinthians 14:24-25, at times When a prophetic word is shared in a meeting like this and there's a non-Christian there, at times that can be— that can lead to someone coming to Christ. Because as the text says, the secrets of their heart are revealed, and they fall on their knees, and they must at least recognize that God is real. So brothers and sisters, do this as you use your gifts: keep them connected to the good work of the gospel.
23 · Identifies 1 Corinthians 12 as a representative list of gifts and begins exposition of two specific gifts: healing and prophecy
Now, as continuationists, we believe that the gifts are for today, and we believe they're given for the good of the church. And what we see here in 1 Corinthians 12 is not an exhaustive list of the gifts, it's a representative list of the gifts, issues that were happening in Corinth. And so we're just going to look at a few quick gifts. The gift of healing is seen there in verse 9. Let's be very clear, the people that have the gift of healing do not heal. It's just not true. We don't have that kind of power. But it seems that God uses people who have the gift of healing, and people at times— not every time, but at times— they are healed. One of the things we do at Covenant Fellowship is after the, after the service ends on the fourth Sunday of every month, we invite folks up for prayer for healing if they want prayer for healing. And we've had a number of different reports of people being healed. We see in verse 10 there the gift of prophecy. Prophecy is one of the gifts that's listed in the New Testament. We see it in Romans chapter 12, verse 6, and 1 Corinthians chapter— here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1. In fact, flip over to 1 Corinthians 14. Let's look at the first 5 verses. Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets so that the church may be built up.
24 · Defines prophecy as 'the human report of a divine revelation' and carefully defends the term 'revelation' by exegeting 1 Corinthians 14:26, 30 where Paul uses it
So what is this gift of prophecy? Here's the definition we use back at our church at Covenant Fellowship. Prophecy is this: prophecy is the human report of a divine revelation. Now, you got to be very careful with that word revelation. We don't mean by revelation that what is reported is added to the canon of Scripture. The canon of Scripture is closed. Any prophetic words we hear today, you're not going to find in your Bible the next day. That's what it means. So you're saying, 'Well, that's kind of a risky term to use. Why do you use that word revelation in your definition?' It's because it's the word that Paul uses later in 1 Corinthians 14. Look at verse 26. 'What then, brothers, when you come together, Each one has a hymn we sang this morning, a lesson, I'm trying to give one, a revelation, there it is, a tongue or an interpretation. Then look at verse 30. If a revelation, there's the word again, is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent, for you can all prophesy one by one. So he's connecting that word revelation with the gift of prophecy. So that's why we use that term revelation. In fact, Wayne Grudem makes this wonderful observation that that word revelation is actually used 44 times in the New Testament, and it never refers to human activity. Every time it refers to the divine activity of God. See, prophecy is simply reporting what you believe the Holy Spirit has brought to mind.
25 · Emphasizes the wonder of prophecy: the God of the universe desires to speak to us today
Now, we can get that definition and we can move on. Okay, I understand what prophecy is, and we can miss something. That the God of the universe actually desires to speak to us today. Now we gotta get this right. This is what you've gotta get right. The primary way God speaks to us is through his word. Primary way he speaks to us is through his word as the Spirit illuminates that word. But at times he will make us aware of his presence through the gift of prophecy.
26 · Exegetes the purpose of prophecy from 1 Corinthians 14:3—upbuilding, encouragement, consolation
And what's the purpose of prophecy? Why does God give this gift to his church? You saw it in verse 3. It's for their upbuilding, right, and encouragement and consolation. So that the giving and receiving of prophetic words, it communicates that God is with us and that he knows us, and then it communicates his care for us. In fact, what's even more striking, if you read all of 1 Corinthians 14, you'll find there's repetitive language used throughout. 6 times this building up language is used. It's verse 3, verse 4, verse 5, verse 12, verse 17 and verse 26. See, that's intentional, and it captures God's heart for us, that through the work of the Spirit and through the gift of prophecy in particular, he desires not to tear you down, but to build you up. And that's important because we can all have what John Owen calls hard thoughts about God, right? We can have them. We can arrive here feeling condemned. We can arrive here wanting to give up. We can arrive here thinking that God is just disappointed in us. Those are wrong thoughts. Those are hard thoughts about God. And then in the gathered setting, there can be a prophetic word that speaks right into your life, and you know that God desires to build you up.
27 · Extended testimony of a woman who received prophetic prayer for anxiety about a job transition
I believe you taught through 1 Thessalonians 5 recently that that section that says, don't quench the Spirit, do not, do not despise prophecies. We taught through that a few years ago, through the entire letter, got to that chapter and decided to pray for people after we preached on that text. Jared Mellinger preached that morning, and I want to tell you a story of a woman who came up for prayer who had never just received prophetic ministry before. She said, after the service, I waited patiently for someone to pray for me. When it was my turn, the woman and I only exchanged names. Now, our church is about 1,000 people, so that's literally true. There can be times when people just haven't met one another. It's kind of like, oh, I didn't— you go to Cross of Grace Church too? It can be that, yeah. She was on to say, she touched my arm and began to pray. Her first words brought tears to my eyes. She said, I sense that you're in anticipation of something and you are feeling anxiety related to whatever it is you're anticipating. She mentioned that morning that the worship music touched me. However, as much as I wanted to, I was unsure how to cast my worries aside and upon the Lord. She prayed that I would lift my gaze to God and trust him entirely. She prayed that I would shed my anxiety and that faith in God would rise and that God would see me through this situation. And then she says this: I, I wept after Because what she could have not known was that the following day I was about to start a brand new job in a brand new field after only days earlier leaving a field that I had loved. I had been feeling an enormous amount of anxiety about leaving that field and transitioning to a new one. I couldn't sleep at night. I was so worried that I failed to pray to God for help until the day before that Sunday meeting. God spoke to me through prophecy that morning. He let me know that I was not alone and that he heard my prayer and he was with me. That's amazing that the God of the universe would choose to speak into this woman's life at just the right time. And she knows that this woman who prayed for her, who she never met, had no idea what was going on in her life. So these words that are being spoken are brought to mind by the Spirit of God. It was God building her up.
28 · Testimony of healing: a woman with a decade-long blood disorder was healed after prayer
There's a woman in our church who had a just a blood disease, a blood disorder, had taken medication for well over a decade, kept going back to the doctor, nothing was changed. So she just came up again and asked for healing. We prayed for her, and she went to the doctor 2 weeks later, and her blood chemistry was normal. Doctor was surprised. And she didn't tell anybody. She thought, well, maybe this is the Lord healing me. But she wanted to wait. She waited— I forget her next checkup, a month, 2, 3 months later, whatever it was. And again, she went to the doctor, and her blood chemistry was normal. God just decided in that moment to heal her. I don't think she remembers who prayed for her. What she does know is God healed her.
29 · Establishes the limitations of prophecy: fallibility (1 Cor 13:9), need for discernment, submission to Scripture and prayer, and no authority to make life-changing decisions
Now, you got to be aware that prophecy has limitations. The gift of prophecy has limitations. It's affected by our fallenness and finiteness. We know in part and we prophesy in part, right? 1 Corinthians 13:9. The prophecies found in Scripture, they're infallible, but the prophecies we share are fallible is what that means. And really what that means is that you've got to discern what's said. You receive a prophetic word, you've got to submit it to the authority of Scripture and to God in prayer. Get wise counsel. In other words, we don't want people making life-changing decisions based on prophetic words. It just doesn't work that way, because the other limitation is that the gift of prophecy has no authority in your life. There's only one authority in your life, and it's this right here. It is the Word of God.
30 · Exegetes 1 Corinthians 14:29 to establish that prophecy requires governance—elders and the congregation weigh what is said
So prophetic words need to be measured and discerned in light of the Word of God, which, because of that, this gift specifically needs governance. It says as much in 1 Corinthians 14:29. Let two or three prophets speak, let others weigh what is said. That's why someone here is at the ministry mic to hear what's said. Who are the others there in 1 Corinthians 14? Well, it's the gathered setting. So in one sense, it's all of you. You're prophetic words. You've got to weigh, you've got to discern what is said. But because the elders are responsible for the meeting, they have to weigh what is said, which is why somebody's at the mic. And you might think, well, doesn't government restrain or squelch the Spirit? Actually, the opposite is true. You find that it frees people. In other words, you've got an impression, you bring it up to the mic, now it's Ricky's problem. It's not your problem anymore. You've been faithful, you've brought the word, he has to decide where it's shared or not. And whether you share it or not, man, you walk back lighter to your seat, right? Because you've been Faithful to God.
31 · Brief transition noting the decision to skip wisdom and knowledge for time
All right, let's do this. I was going to touch on the gifts of wisdom and knowledge, but I'm not going to do that for the sake of time.
32 · Compressed exposition of wisdom and knowledge gifts from 1 Corinthians 12:8
Let me just say this though, in here in 1 Corinthians 12, in verse 8, that's the only place in the entire New Testament where the utterance of wisdom or the gift of wisdom and the utterance of knowledge is mentioned. It's the only place. So to understand what they are, you've got to put it in exegetical context of 1 Corinthians 12. There can be a lot of different definitions here, but if you study 1 Corinthians 12, Paul talks about wisdom in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, and he's talking about worldly wisdom and those that delivered it with rhetorical skill. He says that in chapter 1. He's saying, I came to you not with eloquent words. I'm not the best preacher, but I preach Christ and him crucified so that you would depend upon the power of God. That's what he says there, right? So the gift of wisdom is essentially this. It is this ability, this Spirit-empowered ability to give insight into some aspect of God's redemptive purposes into someone's life. So it's basically helping someone. My friend Andy Farmer, a fellow pastor, he does this so well. He helps me take the issues I'm facing and apply the gospel to those situations. That's the kind of wisdom that's being talked about here. It's a redemptive wisdom. And just knowledge— Paul writes a lot about knowledge to the Corinthians. You know that knowledge puffs up in 1 Corinthians 8, and they're talking about knowledge that's related to the eating of food sacrificed to idols, and he's saying food is nothing, idols are nothing, you could eat food sacrificed to idols, that's okay, but if you have a brother whose conscience is weak, as he calls it, and you do that in front of him and it stumbles him, that you don't wanna do. And so knowledge is simply this, knowledge is this Spirit-empowered ability to help people understand how God's Word, how God's truth, God's knowledge works in the world today and in their life. That's what the gift of knowledge is. So that's, that's brief, but I hope it, it serves you.
33 · Summarizes the sermon's two main points: celebrate the broad work of the Spirit (regeneration, illumination, sanctification, perseverance) and use gifts humbly to serve others and glorify God
Let's close with this. The Holy Spirit does a wonderful number of broad works in our lives, and to be Spirit-filled, Spirit-led people, we want to celebrate that broad work of the Spirit. And we want to be people who use our gifts in a humble way to serve others so that as we use them, they are built up and God is glorified. That's what it looks like for spiritual people to live and do ministry in a physical material world.
34 · Closing prayer asking God to empower the church to use gifts for building up and reaching unbelievers, and asking the Spirit to fill and renew those who feel the effects of living in a physical world
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for the Holy Spirit, who was present in eternity past and will be for eternity future. We thank you that the Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost, bringing the New Testament age that we live in. And we pray— I pray for this church, Lord, that you would empower them, that you would fill each one here this morning with your Spirit, and that you would empower them, that you would help them to use their gifts to build up this church. And may the gifts be used as they reach people who don't know Christ, Lord. May there be a demonstration of the Spirit's power through your people here in a way that brings you glory. And I pray for anyone here who has felt the effects more keenly recently of living in a physical world. They're unaware that they are indwelt by the Spirit of God. Would you fill them with your Spirit? Would you renew them? Would you meet them as they spend time with you this week? May the Word of God leap off the page. May the Spirit of God draw near to them. May they be aware of your presence, of your power, and of your work in their lives. Do that all for your glory, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.