Pastor Jeff emphasizes the importance of spiritual gifts in the church, reminding the congregation that these gifts are meant to build each other up and serve the body of Christ. He provides examples of various gifts, like evangelism and teaching, and encourages believers to discover and use their unique gifts to glorify God. Pastor Jeff highlights the significance of love and humility in delivering these gifts, asserting that without them, the gifts lose their power and purpose. As he prepares for communion, he reinforces the centrality of Jesus Christ as Lord and the shared mission of believers to serve one another through the gifts bestowed upon them.
Sermon Transcript
Well, good morning. Will you help me welcome all of our brave campuses that are worshiping here with us today? So great to have all of you. Want to thank all of you for being part of our 21 days of prayer and fasting. That was a great experience for us.
We're going to continue to pray. We're going to be a praying church. As you may or may not know, Saturday mornings are not continuing for the immediate future, but we're putting some other things together. We're going to roll those out to you here in the coming weeks. Want you to be aware of that.
Also letting you know, next Saturday is our warrior Summit. If you are a guy 16 or over and you're not signed up for that, sign up today. Plan on bringing a friend. You will not want to miss it. It'll be a great time for all of us.
Also want to say this. The Bible says that righteousness exalts the nation, but sin is a disgrace to all people. It also says in Proverbs 29:2 and the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. I've been groaning for far too long. And as we've been praying, I want to let you know that when we see someone in office use their authority to wield biblical values, we need to give Jesus praise for what they're doing.
Amen.
And regardless of your conviction of President Trump as a man, let me just tell you a couple things that went on this week from the White House. Number one, sign an executive order that America will only recognize two genders, male and female.
President J.D. vance and several of the Cabinet members were at the March for Life and were promoting all of that. Amen.
President Trump's defunding all taxpayer monies for abortions both here and abroad, which is awesome.
23 people that had protested peacefully against abortion clinics were pardoned and released this week, which was incredible. And let me just tell you, that's just to mention a few. So I don't celebrate a man. I worship the Lord Jesus Christ and serve him only. However, when somebody who has authority and power to wield biblical values does so, it's worthy of praising Jesus and continuing to pray for leaders to do the same.
Amen. It's been a great week to watch those things. And I'm not being a good pastor if I don't point those things out to you. And this is nothing new for us as a church. We've been about this from the beginning.
We even have some cadres that do resistance, cadre training that go and protest peacefully. Just to give you an example, on November 19th of last year, we had a group go up to Boulder, one of the largest abortion mills in the country, where people fly in from all over. There was a couple that flew in out of town to abort their child. And our team was there and loved on them and encouraged them not to and got them to believe that having the child was the best. Brave church prayed for them to fly home with the baby in utero.
And I want to let you know something. I'm going to show you a picture on Mar on January 16, 2025. Yeah. So this is, this is Lionel Jeremiah Cordova. Right.
I think there's only been two lives that we know of that have been saved out of that abortion mill. And this is one of them. And friends, righteousness exalts a nation. We must be about righteousness outside the walls of our church and never back down from what the truth of God's word says. Amen.
Amen. Well, that let's continue as we continue to seek the Lord in prayer and let's get ready to hear from his living and active word among us. Father in heaven, thank you so much for this week. Lord, we pray for President Trump, his cabinet. Lord, there's so many that have taken their oaths and have given Jesus Christ all the glory and honor which was so refreshing.
It's been refreshing our culture to see athletes do it more and more politicians, educators. Lord, would you have your reign and rule in our country? Would you be high and lifted up? Would you guide our politicians to align with biblical values and truth? Lord, we will stand by anybody Republican or Democrat that aligns with the word of God.
We love you, Lord, and we bless your name. And Lord, we thank you today that we get a chance to hear from your word because we as a people here at Brave believe that every time your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that you are speaking. And so our prayer this morning is speak, Lord, for we are ready to hear. And so now for all those who have gathered who desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ speak directly to your heart, who will believe what he tells you and who will by faith put into practice what he shows you. Will you agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word Amen.
Amen. This morning I want to talk about the giftings of the Holy Spirit. I want to talk about the giftings of the Holy Spirit. As we've been in this series of the only God. We started by taking a four week look at who the person and work of Jesus is that he's the eternal God that became incarnate, that died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead, is coming back soon.
And then we began to take a look at the Holy Spirit. We took a look at the advantage that we have with the Holy Spirit. Because when Jesus said, if I leave, I'll send the Holy Spirit to you. And now every believer has been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Every believer has been filled with the Holy Spirit.
We can continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit. We're indwelled with the Holy Spirit forever. We've been taking a look at how we have liberation in the Holy Spirit, of freedom in the Holy Spirit, because there's now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So we can live out the work that God wants us to live because the Holy Spirit is inside of us. And today we're going to talk about the giftings of the Holy Spirit for every single believer.
When you're converted, the Holy Spirit gifts you. Some he gives one gift, some he gives two. Some you may grow into over time. But everybody is a gift to the body of Christ to serve the body of Christ. And we're going to talk about today how the Holy Spirit does that and why the Holy Spirit does that.
This is not going to be a stuff on all the gifts and what all of them mean and how all of them operate. It's gonna be very limited. It's gonna be much more on who the Holy Spirit is and what he's doing in those parameters to get us there. And it's important that you understand this because even after Jesus Christ rose from the dead and the disciples were congregating with him and they were asking him about, you know, when he was gonna set up his kingdom right before he ascended into heaven. And he said, it's not for you to concern yourself with times or dates.
This is Acts 1:8. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. You're going to be indwelled and you're going to bear witness to My name.
Every single place that you go, that's exactly what's going to happen. And then we read other scriptures like in Ephesians 2, 8, 9 says, for by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not your own doing, it's a gift of God. So no one should boast. But the next verse in Ephesians 2:10 says this about his church.
For we collectively brave church, the whole big C church. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so we would walk in them. And then he says in John, chapter 14, 12, 14, that if we believe in him, the works we've seen him do, greater works will we do than these. So it's very interesting that Jesus keeps promising this Holy Spirit to all of his disciples and that they will do great works when he comes. And the reason is because the Holy Spirit gifts every single believer to deploy their gift for his glory.
So today we're going to do something I haven't done in a while. We're going to look at three chapters. First Corinthians, chapter 12, 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, and 1 Corinthians, chapter 14. So we're not going to read every single verse of every single chapter, but we're going to kind of lay out a framework as we roll over it. What are the giftings of the Holy Spirit, and what does that look like?
And so we're gonna start by taking a look at the deployment of those gifts. So if you open your Bible up to First Corinthians, chapter 12, 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, we'll begin there. First Corinthians, chapter 12. Now, before we start, let me just give you a little framework before we begin. Depending upon who you talk to and who you're listening to and what pastor is talking, scholars normally list between about 18 and 28 spiritual gifts, depending on who you talk to.
I'm not here to argue how many there are today, okay? As a matter of fact, I'm not really here to argue anything. I'm here just to present biblical truth. Different people add different gifts. For instance, some people that have more gifts would maybe add the gift of martyrdom.
It's the gift if you get. You only get to exercise once, right? Other people would say, that's not really a gift. That's just something that happens. Some people might add the gift of music.
Some people would add the gift of craftsmanship. If there is such a gift, I did not receive it. Some people would add a gift of intercession. And so depending on how you read your Bible and what you see, you may come up with a number of different ones. That's not the purpose of this message.
What I want you to understand is that spiritual gifts are simply this. They are supernatural abilities. Say that with me. Supernatural abilities, okay? They're supernatural abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to believers to build one another up.
That's what they are. They're supernatural abilities that the Holy Spirit gives to believers to build one another up. When other people are built up, it glorifies God and then it's used for his church. Empowers the church to advance his kingdom. But first and foremost, the Holy Spirit gives you gifts so that you can build one another up in the body of Christ.
The gift is not given to you so you can use it for your personal gain. The gift is not given to you so that other people will think you're special. The gift is given to you so that you can deploy that gift in a church for the purpose of building up the body. Therefore, when I hear people say I don't go to church, I am the church. If you don't go to church, you're not deploying your gift.
Back in the day when I was a youth pastor, I remember being at a retreat up in Wisconsin one time for three days. It was negative 35 degrees outside during part of the afternoon. One of the things that kids did this was some 25 years ago, this was before cold plunges were considered hip. They got in this sauna and they had to trot basically 200 yards across knee deep snow to the iced over lake that had a hole cut in it. And they would jump in and we had to watch them to make sure they weren't in there more than 45 seconds or we wouldn't have been able to pull them out.
And then we had to pull them out and they would trot back and I was like, enough of this, I'm going inside. And people were putting together this puzzle and I'm not a big puzzle putter together, but I was just like, I'd rather do that drink hot chocolate than be outside. So we were putting together this puzzle and wouldn't you know, after a couple days this thousand piece puzzle got put together. Except for one problem. We were missing one piece.
We had 999. Now isn't interesting that every kid that walked by for the rest of the weekend, they didn't look at it and say, hey, great job on the nine, that's excellent. All they said was this dude, you're like missing a piece. I think when God looks down from heaven and sees believers that have been empowered by the Spirit and gifted by the Spirit that don't deploy their gift in a local church, he says I'm missing a piece. You matter to God that much.
One of the Reasons I left doing itinerant ministry full time, became pastor of a church is because I got tired of watching people come to Christ that didn't have a place to plug in and grow in their gifting in the local churches where that happens. And God wants you to consider what your gift may be, and we'll talk about that later, and then how you can deploy that among the church. Now, understand this. When I say supernatural abilities, that's what you need to remember. Because, for instance, you know, in the.
In the Great Commission, we're called to teach everything that he's teach, everything we've observed, obey everything he's commanded. So all of us are called to teach, are we not? All of us are called to make disciples. But then there's a spiritual gift. That's a supernatural ability of teaching.
And when somebody has a supernatural ability to teach, they teach God's Word in a way where you're like, I've read that passage before. I never saw that. I've read this 10 times. I didn't see, where did they come? It's a gift of teaching or.
All of us are called as servants of Jesus to serve. But there's certain people that have a supernatural ability to serve that receive incredible joy from serving. All of us are called to pray and seek the Lord, but some of us have a supernatural ability of intercession that when we're seeking the Lord, it's great delight and joy. And we spend our time doing that. Do you understand?
All of us are called to do the things God's called us to do. We're all called to be financially generous to the church. But certain people have a gift of generosity where they can lavish out resources on the church, and it gives them incredible joy to do that. And so some people have the gift of evangelism, where they like, like I do, like speaking on subway trains and going to bars and sharing with lost people. And some, you know, and we're all called to evangelize, but some people have a supernatural ability to do it where they just get excited about it and it works for them.
You know what I'm saying? So it's not just that we're called to do something, it's that we're supercharged by the Holy Spirit to do it in a unique way. And what you'll find is once you get saved, those things will just start happening naturally for you. Now that as a background, let's get into 1 Corinthians 12, 13, 14 as we do a quick overview on these. And I'm going to call Chapter 12 the deployment of spiritual gifts.
Now notice what Paul says. He says now concerning spiritual gifts, Brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. Some of your Bibles will say, I do not want you to be ignorant. What he's saying is this. Be informed about spiritual gifts.
Learn about spiritual gifts. Don't be ignorant. I find three other times in the New Testament where we're told not to be ignorant. Okay, listen, listen. One is in Romans 11 where he tells us not to be ignorant because God still has a plan for the nation of Israel.
So don't be ignorant. God still has a plan for Israel. In Second Corinthians chapter 2 he says don't be ignorant. Don't be unaware of Satan's mind oriented schemes or Satan's strategy for your life. Satan has a strategy to take you out.
Don't be ignorant about that. And in First Thessalonians chapter four, he says, don't be ignorant or unaware about the second coming of Christ. So four places in the Bible God says don't be ignorant. One, he loves Israel, two, Satan has a strategy for your life. Three, Jesus Christ is coming back and four, spiritual gifts are real.
And what do we fight over in the church all the time? Israel, the second coming gifts and how Satan works. I mean, don't be ignorant. He's like, I'm going to make this plain to you, this is not something to argue. And here's what I find.
The greatest gifts that God gives is what Satan tries to mess around with. God gives gender, male and female. Everyone wants to mess around with it. God gives marriage between a man and a woman. Everybody wants to mess around with it.
When God gives wonderful gifts, let's just take him at his word and not be ignorant about it. Amen. So he tells us, don't be ignorant. And here's why. Because in the first three verses, which we're not going to read, he tells them, hey listen, here's what I know.
You come from all these pagan backgrounds where all these demons are manifesting and doing all this. I want to let you know, no one can say Jesus is Lord unless Jesus is in him. So what you find is in verses in this book to the Corinthians is a very immature and young church. Very immature and young church. And Paul's writing to them to help them grow in maturity.
And what's going on in their service is nothing shy of craziness. You got people speaking in tongues and nobody understands. You got people prophesying, nobody's listening. You got all These different demon manifestations. And he's like, hey, calm down, let me show you a better way.
And by the way, just a sidebar note, when you're around people that are always talking, listen, I believe Satan is a real being and I believe he has legions of helpers called demons. I believe it. I do not believe that every time something goes wrong, it's the demon of whatever went wrong. I do not think there's a demon behind every rock. I do not believe Christians manifest.
I don't. And when you listen to young immature believers, they're always talking about the demon of this. We gotta manifest, we gotta pray it out, we gotta do. No you don't. You need to disciple them in the truth.
And then if there is demonic activity that will show itself forward. And you should be a more mature saint to be able to deal with that. Amen. That makes sense. So this is what he's telling them.
Don't be unaware of spiritual gifts. And then he's gonna tell em this. He's like gonna be aware that the same spirit gives a variety of gifts. There's myriads of gifts. We're not going to get into all of them.
If you read Romans chapter 12, you'll find more of them. I'll read first Peter 4 here in a second. Ephesians 4, verses 11 and 12 talks about offices and gifts to the body of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher that are given to the church to build the saints for the work of ministry. But really, First Corinthians chapter 12 and Romans chapter 12 are the two biggest highlighted places. And let me just say this, before we get into the different gifts, let me read first Peter chapter four so that you know what to do when you discover what your gift is.
Is. Here's what he says. He says in 1st Peter 4:10 as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as a good steward of the manifold grace of God. So if you have a gift, serve other people with your gift. If you have the gift of hospitality, welcome people.
If you have the gift of generosity, give lavishly. Have the gift of evangelism. Share your faith. Wherever your gift is, use it in the lives of other people. Notice how he says verse 11.
Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. We're doing all These things on behalf of Jesus. Why do we do these?
Because we love Jesus and so we want to serve his church in the best way we know how. Now here's what he says. Let's just read through some of this. He says this in verse 4. Now, there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit, and there are varieties of ministries and the same Lord and there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works in all persons.
So what's he saying? Same God, but there's different gifts, different ministries and different effects. What does that mean? It means you can get the gift of teaching and you can get. Another person can get the gift of teaching, but you may get different measures of teaching.
You may get different ways that that teaching is used effectively. You may get different ways that that gift operates. Let me give you an example. I went to nursery school when I was 4. My nursery school teacher, her name was Barb Garber.
She's with the Lord right now. Barb Garber used to be able to have us do this. And she would have us sit on a magic square, 35 of us with our sitting Indian style with her hands folded and nobody was talking. And as I grew up in the church that I was in, I remember even being in high school where she would march down 34 year olds and they would all follow her in a single file line. None of them were talking.
And they would sit on the imaginary magic square with their legs crossed and their hands folded. And I thought that's what four year olds did.
Nobody talked, everybody paid attention and she was awesome. Until I ran a VBS one year when I was in my 20s and they asked me to take five kids outside to play Duck Duck Goose. And it took me 15 minutes to get them to sit in a circle. I'm like, what happened to the magic square? And that's when I realized that's her anointing and that's her gift.
Because she had a gift of teaching with 4 year olds and 5 year olds and she was good at it. And I still remember some of the stuff that she taught me when I was that age. So just because you have a gift of teaching doesn't mean you're in the pulpit. You could be in a classroom, you could be in a school, you could be in a governmental law, you could be anywhere. God gifts you with different measures, different means, different ways of how you're going to do that and how you're going to operate.
Does that make sense? Same spirit, different gifts. Why? Because God's unique call on your Life is different than anybody else's call. Now, do pay attention to this.
Pay attention to some of the people that you're drawn to in the body of Christ. Because chances are there's certain things in your gifting that's drawn to them. I remember when I was really beginning to grow in Christ in my early 20s, I started hearing people and like Howard Hendricks and Tony Evans and Dr. David Jeremiah and Chuck Swindoll. And I'd be at Promise Keepers.
I'm like, where did all these guys go to school? And they're like, they went to Dallas Seminary. I'm like, I need to go there. Because there was something inside me that said, I want to be able to handle the Bible. Like these guys.
I didn't even know why. I just wanted to be around that. And there are things inside your heart that when you're attracted to someone in the body of Christ, chances are they have some of your gifts. If you're drawn to people that really have a gift of prayer, or really have a gift of discernment, or really have a gift of encouragement, or really love to serve, and you're drawn to them, chances are there could be something inside of you that the Lord is trying to bring out. So pay attention to that.
And he goes on to talk about some of these gifts. He says in verse seven, each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Listen to this. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the Spirit, and to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gift of healings, and to another effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues. But one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he wills.
So the Holy Spirit is the one who gives gifts, gives the measure of gifts, decides which gifts you're gonna get, and decides how you're gonna be operating in those gifts. And he gives you those things so that you can use them. A word on gifting. If you use your gift, it will grow. If you do not use your gift, it will atrophy.
So he gives things to you, not for you to store up. He gives things to you so you can minister to other people in the body of Christ. And what you'll find is, as a believer, there's certain parts of ministry that you're more prompted towards. There's certain things in your life that you'll say, why doesn't everybody see it this way. I remember my first year in seminary.
I went to three, but the first one I went to, I remember I was at seminary the first year. 1500 students, and I heard that they were gonna do an evangelism night, go out and share the gospel, go out to the bars, do all this stuff. I'm like, this is gonna be awesome. I can't wait to go. 1500 students, we're gonna have hundreds of people go out and share the gospel.
I can't wait. I mean, that's what I love to do. And I got there that night. Guess how many people showed up? 7.
And my thought at the time was, I picked the wrong school. What is wrong with these people? How come nobody wants to go out and share their faith? Now, over the years, what I've come to realize is not everybody enjoys that in the same way. And it doesn't make you less spiritual because you don't want to go do that.
We're all called to share our faith and our sphere of influence. Do it. But for some of us have the gift of evangelism. We're looking for opportunities to go do that stuff. I've spoken on subway trains in New York City.
I've preached on the streets in London. I've been told all sorts of names. So when somebody curses me on Christmas Eve, it's no big deal. It's happened to me many times. You know, I mean, I like all that stuff.
It's fun for me. But I'm telling you, when you go do the thing you're called to do, there'll be something that goes off in your heart. Why isn't everybody doing this? How come not everybody's coming to the prayer meeting? How come not everybody's passing out turkeys at Thanksgiving?
How come nobody else has compassion? Whatever your gift is, you think everybody else should have it. Not everybody does. You have it, and other people will be drawn to you as you deploy your gift. Does that make sense?
And so that's what we need to bear in mind, and that's what we need to understand is there's these varieties of gifts, and different ones manifest differently. We're not going through all these. But, you know, a word of wisdom is not just. We're all called to live wisely. The Bible teaches us to live wise.
The whole Proverbs is a book on wisdom. James talks about wisdom. But when somebody has a gift of wisdom, a spiritual gift of wisdom, there can be 17 things going on. Everybody's sitting around a room saying, I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.
And they say, you know, this is what we do. It's kind of like when King Solomon, you know, they had the. Whose baby is it? King Solomon's like, bring it to me. Let's just cut the baby in half.
And the real mom's like, if that's what you're going to do, give it to her. He's like, that's the real mom. Do you know what I'm saying? That's wisdom, right? Then there's this word of knowledge.
Word of knowledge is where you know something about somebody else that you wouldn't know about anybody else had you not known it, right? Discernment comes with that gift. My wife has that gift in spades. I don't get that very often. I remember one time when we were newly married.
We'd been married, like, probably six weeks, and I've been spending time with a guy I led to the Lord, and we were out to dinner, just the two of us, and she said these words to me. She's like, I just want you to know one day, if we ever have children, that man will never be with my kids because he's an abuser. And I was like, what? I'm like, you can't say that about somebody if you don't know. And of course, we got in a fight because of me.
And wouldn't you know, about two weeks later, my friend called me. We've been hanging out, and he's like, hey, would you come talk to me? I'm like, yeah, what happened? And I got to his house, and he's like, bro, I goes, I know he'd been working on his marriage. He's like, I know I lost my wife.
He goes, I know she came over last night. We were trying to work things out. I got really mad. He goes, I ended up choking her and pinning her on the ground. I almost killed her.
And he goes, she got away. I know she's never coming back. I called my wife on the phone and I was like, how did you know that? She's like, I knew it the first time I saw him. That's a word of knowledge where you're prompted.
You know something you wouldn't otherwise spiritually. No, Those things happen. And by the way, you don't need to go looking for your gift. Like, that doesn't happen to me very often. Every now and again, maybe, but it's just not me.
Happens to my wife more frequently than not. Right? And so your gifting is what ends up manifesting through you, that's pretty natural that you need to continue to develop, you know, all these different things, and we'll talk about some of them later. But whatever your gift is, I just want you to be aware that the Spirit gives a variety of gifts. And the reason he gives them is because we don't have them all.
Only Jesus had them all. That's why we need each other. So be mindful of this. Be mindful that we're part of one body. Now, here's what you need to do.
You need to champion who you are. Notice what he goes on to say in verse 14. He says, for the body is not one member, but many. And if the foot says, because I'm not a hand, I'm not part of the body, it is not for this reason any less part of the body. If the ear says, because I'm not an eye, I'm not a part of the body, it is not for any less.
It is not for this reason any less part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? And if the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired. Champion who you are.
And don't look around and say, how come I didn't get their gifts? Just deploy yours. That's the way. Because if you're like, well, if I only had their gift, then I'd be able to. That's not why the Holy Spirit gives gifts.
He gave you gifts. And I've seen many people in the body of Christ just accelerate because they have a gift of servanthood, or they have a gift of prayer, or they have a gift of encouragement, or they have a gift of teaching, or they have a gift of hospitality, or whatever the gifting is that they have. If you'll just deploy it, that gift will grow and it will bless the body of Christ. So champion who you are. When you begin to learn who the Lord made you, just go put that into practice.
Baby step upon baby step upon baby step. I didn't know I had a gift of teaching or preaching when I was young, but I did know from the time I got saved, I wanted to tell other people about Jesus. And I did know as I got a little older and there were opportunities to give testimony that I was raising my hand, said I'd love to give mine. And there was something about sharing verbally about what Christ had done that was good. And little, step by little, step by little Step.
God continued to lead my ministry. And so the reality is you get prompted little step by little, step by little step. Do what God calls you to do. And that's how he's going to use your life in miraculous ways. Amen.
But not only champion who you are, appreciate everybody else's gift. Listen to this. On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. Have you ever noticed that I broke my fourth toe on my left foot when I was in 8th grade? I didn't even ever think about my fourth toe on my left foot until I broke it.
But once I broke my fourth toe on my left foot, I was like, I can't walk, I can't balance, I can't do anything. I'd never even given it thought if somebody would say, is that an important thing? Like, I could probably live without it. And the reality is you could live without it. But even the little members mean something, even the things you're not thinking about.
So in the body of Christ, God has those that are stabilizers. God has those that are doing different things that nobody sees or seemingly unimportant. But if you're a Christian, how God's called you is super important. Amen. I personally believe.
I personally believe I have no way of validating this approving. Some of the intercessors in this life are going to sit closest to the throne of God. People that are not even known, people that you didn't know that God's saying, hey, the reason that whole revival broke down is because for 30 years you sat in your house and nobody knew who you were. And you prayed and sought after me. I think the great things are happening in Abre because of people like that that are praying here.
I believe that with my whole heart. So it's not about being visible. It's about how God is using you. Amen. And it's going to go on.
Notice what else he says. And those members of the body which we deem less honorable on those we bestow more abundant honor and on our less presentable members become more presentable. Think about this. I'm more thrilled today that my heart and kidneys are working than I have an arm. I can live without my arm.
It's a more presentable member. Nobody would want to see my kidneys or my heart on a table today, Right? But even though those are hidden, they're more valuable. And sometimes in the body of Christ, those that are hidden are more valuable. So I'm saying it's not about using your gift to get notoriety and recognition.
That's the American way. What it's about is deploying your gift in such a way because the one in heaven sees your gift and wants to use you. Amen. And when you're using that and you have great joy in your life, that's when you can experience abundance with Christ. Does that make sense?
And so God just wants you to take what he's stored up in your heart and put it into practice. And then realize this, you don't have all the gifts and neither do I. Notice verse 27. Now you are Christ's body and individually members of it. And God is appointed in the church.
First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations and various kind of tongues. Then he says this, all are not apostles, are they? Now, in the original language, they use two different articles. This is the negative article. It's expecting a negative answer.
It's even more so. All these are no, all are not apostles, are they? No. All are not prophets, are they? No.
All are not teachers, are they? No. All are not workers of miracles, are they? No. All do not have gifts of healing.
No. All do not speak in tongues, do they? No. All do not interpret, do they? No, they don't.
But earnestly desire the greater gifts, and he's going to show you an excellent way. So desire these gifts, but you won't have them all. That's why you have to be part of a local fellowship, because God arranges all the parts and we need each other for that. When you go through significant grief, you want someone that has a gift of mercy and compassion, that wants to spend hours with you and not say anything and just be present. And if you've never had that experience, it's beautiful when you have it right.
Sometimes when you don't know what to do, you need somebody that's got wisdom, that can speak into that. Sometimes you need an intercessor that can do that. Sometimes you need a word of encouragement. Not everybody can be all things for everybody. Only Jesus can.
But he's given us these gifts. And that's why this is so important. Because Jesus in His earthly ministry did all these things. Then he said, I'm going to heaven. I'm still the head of the church.
You're my body to do everything I was doing when I was here. Now you all get to do it under the influence of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. So you go do all the work that I was doing. Amen. So here's the question, how are you going to know your gift?
Now, you can take spiritual gift inventories. If you go to First Steps, we do one of them. There's some online that you can get. Some are free. I think some you pay for, and those can be helpful.
But here's the best way to do it. Just get in a cadre or get in the core and just start serving alongside other people. And other people in the body of Christ will recognize your gifts. They'll start telling you, you're so good at that. Now, don't listen to your spouse or your kids, because they'll tell you you're good at everything, right?
Or your mom, you know, because in church, sometimes, you know, somebody's singing like, oh, you are so good. No, mom, they're not. You know, so I'm talking about when the body of Christ as a whole is saying these things, then, you know, maybe that's something that I need to consider. The way I used to do it when I was a youth pastor. I used to invite every single adult into our ministry saying, this is where you wanna be.
There's no better place. You wanna be with our students? Here's why. Let me give you a vision. All this stuff was recruiting people from everywhere.
And anybody that came on our team, I gave them the same assignment. Week one, you have to serve on our cafe team for at least one or two weeks. And here's the assignment. Just stand behind the counter, pass out the cookies and the drinks, and just say hi to kids and be nice and do that. And then help me sweep the floor when we're done.
And it happened every time like clockwork. Majority of people could not stay behind the counter. I remember one guy named Bill. He would go out to the smoker's pit. He'd be with all these lost kids that were out there smoking, whose friends dragged him there, who didn't want to be there.
And he was welcoming inside. And he said he'd just have tears in his eyes, like, pastor Jeff, these kids are lost. They need Jesus. I was out there sharing the gospel. It was so much fun.
I'm like, okay, cool. Bill's an evangelist. And then I would meet somebody else, and they would come to me afterwards. They're like, pastor Jeff, have you ever looked at how unorganized that thing is behind the counter? You know, if we just got some tubs at the Container Store and put this stuff, it could be so much more.
I'm like, okay, administration. Then somebody else would come up to me and be like, hey, who brings the food. I'm like, well, we just kind of purchased it. You know what? There's 90 small groups in the church.
Why don't we just set up a whole plan for everybody to come in and bring it so you don't have to ever think about it again? And then everybody can be involved, like, okay, leadership. And then somebody else would come to me afterwards and said, hey, I met this girl. And she told me her name. And, you know, she's going through a thing with her family, and her dad's an alcoholic and she's almost suicidal.
And somebody's gotta reach out. I want her number. I want to call her right now. Cause I don't want her to go to a bad spot. I'm like, okay, mercy and compassion.
And then there'd be somebody at the end of the night that would just stay behind the counter. They'd come say thanks. I don't know if I'm doing anything, but it was so awesome to be here and set up the chairs and tear it down and mop the floor. I'm like, okay, great. Helps.
And I knew everybody's gift just by having them serve. It was so easy to see. We make it way too complicated. We're navel gazing as to what it is when it's so obvious to everybody else around us. So instead of just taking spiritual gift inventories for 14 years, take one or two.
That's great. Kind of learn and then start moving out on it, you know, it's taken me years to clarify. I mean, my number one gift is apostleship. It's building ministry where Christ has not been done. I get fired up about thinking about more campuses.
I get fired up about thinking about schools. I get fired up about thinking about ministry being broadcast there. That's how I think. And it's bolstered by wisdom and faith. That's why I'm telling you, here's how it works.
Here's how you put it into practice. That's how I preach. That's my style. That's who God made me. And if I stay within my gifting, I do okay.
I stay outside my gifting, I don't do okay. Does that make sense? And all of us are that way. And so the Lord just wants you to find where you can deploy your gifts and serve. But notice what he ends this by saying, earnestly desire the greater gifts.
Now turn your bible to chapter 14, verse 1. He says, pursue love, yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts. Wow. There's a whole chapter in between those two. Why?
Because now that you understand the deployment of spiritual gifts. I want to talk to you about the delivery of spiritual gifts. The delivery of spiritual gifts. There's a way in which spiritual gifts must be delivered or they don't work. And I read this whole passage to you, but I'll just read the first verse.
If I speak with the tongue of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal says in verse two, if I have not love, I am nothing. Verse three, if I have not love, it profits me nothing. And then it talks about what love is. It's patient and kind and not jealous or boastful, arrogant or rude, doesn't insist on its own way. That's who our God is.
If God is the giver of gifts, then we need to deploy the gifts from the God that gave us the gifts. So sometimes you'll hear people teach, like, put your name in there. Like, Jeff is patient, Jeff is kind. Jeff is not jealous. Jeff is not boastful.
And that's good because it reminds us of where we're falling short. But I want to tell you something even better than that. This is not for you to. I'm going to try to love. It's about you spending time with the God that is all these things.
Because if you're experiencing his love and you're experiencing his kindness and you're experiencing his goodness, and you're experiencing his patience and you're experiencing all these things, then when you minister your gift in the body of Christ, those things are also gonna flow out of you. So how you dispense the gift has to be in love. Because the biggest killer of spiritual gifts is arrogance, pride and immaturity. When you think the gift is about you and you're doing something for other people, it doesn't connect well. When you're doing your gift and you're living with Christ and He's pouring his life through you, then other people get built up.
Because that's the purpose of your spiritual gift. So if you have a gift of a word, of knowledge or wisdom or teaching or preaching or evangelism, and it's building up others, then you know you're operating in that. But let me give you another way. Not only in love, but I want to say in humility. In humility.
Notice verse nine. It says, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
So here's what you need to know. We know a little bit now. That's all we know, we prophesy in part, we preach in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. Now let me pause because within the body of Christ, there's two different understandings of this verse. Some read that verse as if to say, when the perfect comes, you know, everything will be done away with.
And by that they mean the 66 books of the canon. When that's completed, we don't need the gifts. Or specifically we don't need the miraculous gifts like healing and prophecy. Tongues. And all those have gone away.
That group theologically are called cessationist. Gifts have ceased. And they use this as one of their main passages to discuss that. They will take you right here and they will say, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away with. So we don't need the gifts anymore.
Why? Because we have God's absolute standard of his word. Okay, that's what a cessationist would say. There are those that are continuationists, and here's what they would say. That's not what that means.
And let me show you why that is. Now I would be part of the continuationist camp. I believe all the gifts are still for today. And let me show you exegetically why I believe that from God's word. Because if you keep reading on, he says this.
When I was a child, I used to speak like a child. Excuse me, think like a child and reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now, presently here, he says we see in a mirror dimly. But then what?
Face to face. When's that? When's face to face? That's when Jesus comes back. He doesn't say face to book.
He says face to face. He's talking about the second coming in Christ. Now I know in part that's what I know. Then I will be fully known. When's that?
When I see Jesus face to face. But now faith, hope and love abide these three. But the greatest of these is love. When Jesus comes back, there will be no need for gifts. You won't have a need for healing.
If you want to be taught something, you will not look for Pastor Jeff in the coming kingdom. Just go talk to Jesus. There's no need for the gifts. So I would be a continuationist. I believe all the gifts are today and there's really not this huge debate between the two.
I have a lot of good friends, a lot of people. I listen to that preacher that are cessationists. I disagree with them on that. I think God has gifted all people. I still think those things are operational because the Bible teaches it.
Matter of fact, Ephesians 4:11, which says he has given apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers to equip God's saints for the work of ministry until the whole body of Christ is mature and built up. When's that happen? At the second coming. And then thirdly, why would Paul write a book to a bunch of immature Christians that are doing everything wrong if within 30 years all of it was gonna cease anyway? Why would he just not skip those chapters and just say, hey, in about 30 years this stuff's going away and you guys don't have it right anyway, so just stop it.
That's not what he does. I think Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. My experience would dictate that's the same truth. Now here's what I would say. If you're in the cessationist camp, I love you.
I'm not even debating you. I'm telling you the way that I see the Word. And in the capital C Church, you're my brother in Christ, you're my sister in Christ. I love you unconditionally. I'm not here to persuade you in the Lower C Church at Brave.
I'm telling you we're continuationists and we want to be word and Spirit, which means nothing outside of what the Bible teaches we want to do. But we want to be. And we want to be anchored to the Word because the Holy Spirit wrote the Word. But anything the Holy Spirit says he can do, he can still do. That's what I believe.
Now here's the challenge with that debate. For those of you who are kind of new to it. It's not those two groups. It's the extremes on both sides, because there's this extreme group of cessationists who are like, the only way you can ever hear God is in the Bible. And if you don't read the Bible, you're not hearing them.
If you say, I felt prompted to, or God told me, they would say you're lying. God doesn't tell you anything. If it didn't say it in the Bible, it's not true. And they would say that people that believe in the gifts sometimes are demonic, misinformed, or at worst, not even believers. And then there's an extreme on the other side that's very experiential, where they believe that everybody's got to have all these gifts and that's all you operate in that aren't anchored to the Word.
And they look at cessationists and say, you don't even have the Holy Spirit. You don't even know what's going on, and you're probably not saved. And that's where the debate happens. But in the middle here, we can differ on these things. I just firmly believe that the Holy Spirit is still working today the way he's always worked.
And that's what I believe, and that's what we teach, and that's where we're moving as a church. And so what I want to talk to you about as we finish up today is the final is the desire for spiritual gifts. The desire for spiritual gifts. Notice what he says. Pursue love and yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts.
But especially that you may prophesy. Now, understand there, in the first century, they didn't have completed canon. They didn't have the word of God that they were just preaching from God, was giving them words that he was speaking out. Now let me make a differentiation between Old Testament and New Testament prophecy. Old Testament prophecy, if you spoke on behalf of God and said, thus saith the Lord and you were wrong, you could be stoned to death.
New Testament prophecy is when the Lord puts a word on your heart that you're using for encouragement, for exhortation, or for comfort that you're sharing with that person that we'll read about here in a second. It's for them to decide, is that really of the Lord or not? So let me read about it. Here's what he says in these first four verses. We're talking about tongues and prophecy, which is, I know what everybody came to hear.
He says, for one who speaks in a tongue does speak, does not speak to men, but to God. For no one understands. But in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for what? Edification?
That's building them up. Exhortation, helping them take a step of faith and consolation. One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but one who prophesies edifies the church. So here's what he's talking about. Tongues are fine.
That's what he says. But what is a tongue? A tongue is an unknown language to the speaker that's known to someone else. So in Acts, chapter two, when they were speaking, they were speaking languages that people all over the place that were coming from different languages. They're like, we're hearing that Jesus is Lord.
Disciples didn't know what they were saying, but they were preaching it in such a way, there's also an understanding that any tongue is a language, even if it's unknown to the hearer. Because Paul's going to go on to say, what am I going to do? Even though I pray in a tongue, I pray in tongues more than all of you. And even though I'm praying, I don't know what I'm praying, but my. My heart is fruitful because tongues are used to build me up.
It's a gift used for me, but I don't even know what I'm talking about. Prophecy, on the other hand, is a word God's given for the church. And in New Testament prophecy, if you go to first Thessalonians, Chapter five, when he says, don't quench the spirit, he says this. Don't despise prophecy. Don't forbid the speaking of tongues.
So he tells us clearly in scripture that prophecy is part of the New Testament. Sometimes prophecy looks like this. Sometimes a prophetic word is when you're praying for somebody and you're prompted to share what God's putting on your heart. If you don't know how to prophesy, start with a scripture. It's God's word over the person.
Pray that. Listen to Jesus before you pray. Sometimes when people come up to prayer, like, what do you want prayer for? Okay, I'll pray that. When somebody says that, start listening to the Holy Spirit.
Is there something that the Lord's asking me to pray for them? Am I getting an understanding of what they need to hear? Is there something that's going to bring them comfort or encouragement? I've been prophesied over several times in my life. Many times I've thought, man, that was so of the Lord.
There was one time I was at a conference and I'd been journaling the night before. And I was like, God, I don't speak in tongues and I don't do all this, and how come it's not happening to me? And am I doing something wrong and all this kind of stuff? And should I even stay in seminary? Is it a waste of my time?
And I remember the next day, this guy had never met him before. He'd never heard about me. I never told anybody anything that was in that book. And he came and he stood over me, and when he put his hands on my shoulders, I just started weeping. And he said to me, stop looking for signs and wonders.
Said, you'll heal people. He goes, you'll cast out demons. You'll see the dead rise. But rejoice because your name's written in the Lamb's book of life. And he said, the Lord also wants you to know you need to continue to study yourself, to be a workman.
Approved and not ashamed, because the Lord's ministry for you is going to involve knowing the word of God accurately. I stayed in seminary because of that prophetic word. I've had other times where people prophesied over me, and I'm like, doesn't feel right. And here's what I would say when somebody's prophesying. If you're gonna prophesy over somebody, the Lord never told me to tell you anything.
Don't go up to somebody and trap them like the Lord told me to tell you, so don't do that. You could say, when I'm praying for you, I get a sense that. And does that make any sense to you? Because you, in the body of Christ get to determine is that of the Lord or not, not the person speaking. They have no authority over your life.
The only authority over your life is the word of God. Does that make sense? So prophecy still happens. As a matter of fact, in our monthly prayer time. Last month, I was teaching on this for about an hour, and we got in groups and we practiced this with each other.
And it was amazing. The things that were coming out of our group that were encouraging and comforting to our whole body, and we want to move in that direction. That's really where First Tuesday goes and some of those other opportunities that we have. Because if there's a way to encourage the body more, if there's a way to comfort the body more, if there's a way to encourage us to take steps of faith more, would you not want that? I want that.
And that's how we grow in it. But it's not a weird, funky thing like you see on tv. That's the nutty stuff that's not anchored to the word. I want no part of that. I've been to some of those places.
You guys have, too. I was at the Mall of America one time at a Catholic charismatic service. About 400 people, and everybody was coming forward to pray. Was, like, falling down, quote, unquote. Getting slain in the spirit and putting these blankets over the girls so you couldn't look up their legs or something.
I didn't know what was going on. It was the weirdest thing. And I'm like, I'm the only person that hasn't gone down. So I'm going, I'm gonna go see if this is real. So I walk up to the front and they're like, yeah.
I said, I just want you to pray for me. And they start praying for me and started pushing my head. And I said, don't you dare push me. And I was the only person that didn't go down. I thought it was the biggest phony sham I'd ever seen in my entire life.
Cause it was. That's not. I'm not saying that somebody can't go down in the spirit. I'm not saying I haven't been everywhere. I'm not saying that.
But there's discernment that takes place when you see something that's nutty and crazy. And there's discernment that you see when something like that was genuine. Does that make sense? Now, let's talk about tongues for a second. Tongues are languages unknown to the hearer.
Paul says in verse five, now, I wish all of you spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. And greater is the one who prophesies than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets so that he may be edifying. Now, why does he say that? Go. Drop down to verse 18.
He goes, I thank God I speak in tongues more than you all. However, in the church, I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others Also, rather than 10,000 words in a tongue. So tongues are unknown languages. And what was going on in the church, People were coming in, and everybody's speaking in tongues and trying to manifest demons and doing all this stuff. And people were like, you're out of your mind.
I mean, have you ever been in a crazy place like that where this doesn't feel like the Jesus I read about? Cause it isn't. It's nuts. If the Bible doesn't teach it, it shouldn't be happening. If it doesn't glorify Jesus, we're not allowing it to happen.
We're gonna shepherd it. Amen. So what is tongues? It's an unknown language. Now, I prayed for years for the gift of tongues.
Pray for you. It never happened, right? And I remember talking to people that had it, like, hey, just pray. If the Lord gives it to you, he gives it. And if he doesn't, he doesn't.
And one day when I was praying, it was around 2007, I started praying, and out of my mouth came these words that I didn't understand. And I started speaking in something I didn't even know. And when I did, I was like, that ain't it. I'm just thinking to myself too much. It's kind of weird.
So I started praying to the Lord. I'm like, lord, if that's of you, you got to give me evidence that that's you. Because I don't want to be babbling, because I think it's stupid if I'm doing that. And I got to know. Well, it was about a month later I was running the Chicago Marathon in 2007, and I trained like crazy.
I looked very slender at the time, and I was running. I wanted to do sub four hours. And I was in a place where I could run 20 miles, no problem. And I was ready to go. And it was the first one I was ready to complete.
And on that day in Chicago, where it's normally 50 degrees, it was 90 degrees. And they ran out of water stations. And in about mile two, I started feeling it, which had never happened. And about halfway through, I saw Kim. And I'm like, hey, you gotta pray for me.
I don't know if I'm gonna get this thing done. And from mile 15 to 18, I kept telling the guy I'm running with, bro, I ain't making it. I mean, I just go. And so he started quoting Top Gun for like, three miles, like, you never leave your wingman and all this stuff. And at about mile 18, I'm like, seriously, bro, you gotta go.
And he said, okay. He goes, would you leave me? I'm like, I would have left you a long time ago. So he took off. And I'm sitting there walking down the street in Chicago, it's mile 18.
And I'm like, lord, I told you I wanted to glorify you today. I don't even know what this is all about. This is the worst I've felt in six months of training. So disappointed. And so I started run, jog, run, jog.
And I got up, and it was mile 19 on Ashland Avenue. I turned the corner, and there was a guy laying down. He had blood coming out of his mouth. Now, I saw people pass out that day because of the heat, but this was different. And he had blood coming out of his mouth.
You ever felt prompted just to go do something? So I turn around and I go wheel around. I start praying for the guy. And wouldn't you know it, when I sat down and knelt and prayed for the guy, all those words that I had prayed, that I didn't know what they mean, kept pouring out of my mouth. I couldn't help it.
All over him, and my heart was just full. And then I got tapped on the shoulder, like, what are you doing? I'm like, I'm praying for the guy. Okay, you stay. Everybody else out.
And turned around to pray for him again. Same thing happened. And then the paramedics came, and I turned around, and the Lord kept ministering to my heart. Jeff, the most important thing in this life is being prepared for the next. I ended up walking the last seven miles by myself, kind of run, jogging, doing all that.
Heard that the race got canceled because I heard there was somebody that died. I called my wife, said, I'll be back. I'm fine. I got a crazy story to tell you. We got home that night.
I looked up online what happened, and I saw the guy's picture. His name's Chad Scheiber. He died. I said, that's the guy I prayed over. And I like, God, what just happened?
So I looked him up online, where he went to, where he was from. He was from Midland, Michigan. Looked up his church, and when I looked up his church, it was like Pentecostal Church. I'm like, okay, this pastor will probably understand what happened. So I called on Monday, and I told the lady, I want to talk to the pastor.
Well, certainly the national media, all the things. He's like, he doesn't have time right now. I said, well, just tell him this. I was praying over Chad Scheiber while he died on Ashland Avenue yesterday. So he takes my call, and I told him what happened.
I said, you gotta understand. I went to Dallas Seminary. I said, we're in the cessationist camp. We don't believe all this stuff. You know, I've kind of been open to it, but I don't know.
I told him what happened, and on the other end, he's like, praise the Lord. That's awesome. All this stuff. I said, well, what happened? He goes, you were praying.
What Chad needed to hear is the angels were taking him away to heaven. Amen, he said.
I said, was Chad a Christian? He's like, yeah. We were training to be an elder in our church. He's one of the most loved guys. You would have loved him.
He goes, have you talked to his wife yet? I'm like, wife? I'm like, I don't even know any of y'all. He's like, will you come to the funeral and share that story? I'm like, I don't even know how to share it.
He goes, just tell the people you were praying in the spirit. Because on Sunday, he tell my whole congregation what happened and in the congregation. So his wife was there. And I said, well, why do you want Me to talk to his wife. He goes.
Because his wife's only problem was she ran the race, too, and got rerouted home, was taking a shower and got a knock on the door and said, hey, your husband's dead. And she's a believer, too. And the only thing she wished is she would have been there praying over him as he died. So it'll mean a lot to her that you did that. So Kim and I went to the funeral.
Brooke was just a baby. She's like six months old. And we spent the weekend with this group of people. And I'll never forget that. And since that time, I pray in tongues, but I don't do it out loud because it's between me and the Lord, and I don't even necessarily know what I'm saying.
And the Lord's never prompted me to pray out loud in a tongue. And I wouldn't do it unless there was an interpreter, because that's what the Bible teaches. And I think private prayer languages are good. And I think you should ask for it because it's built my soul many times when I haven't known what to pray or what to do. Now, for those of you who are like, man, I want the gift of tongues.
Here's a hint. Start praying in English first.
Just saying. I mean, some people are like, I want the gift of tongues. I'm like, why don't you come to one prayer meeting first and then ask, you know what I'm saying? But I believe the gifts are for real. So if you're silently praying in a tongue like I do sometimes here in church, it's okay.
Just don't disrupt anybody. Nothing wrong if God's given you that gift. But Paul says, I'd rather, in a church, prophesy so that people know what I'm saying. So there's a time and a place for the gifts, and that's what we have to shepherd and do well, right? And so this is what he says, because if we don't do it right, then it's crazy.
Verse 23 says, Therefore the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues and ungifted men or believers will enter. Will they not say, you're all mad? I mean, wouldn't it be nuts if everybody's just speaking in tongues, going crazy like, this place is nuts? Because it is. That's not what tongues are for.
Tongues are to build up the believer. Tongues are to sing praise to the Lord unless the Lord prompts you. And if he does, then we're going to ask, is There somebody here that can interpret that or we're not going to share that. That. Amen?
Is that what it means? And here's. Here's the final thing I'll tell you. You know, we're supposed to. All these gifts are to edify the body, but we're to operate in our gifting under the authority of God's word.
I'm going to give you two verses, verse 33 and verse 40. For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. And then he ends by saying in verse 39, Therefore, my brethren desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid the speaking of tongues. So we will seek to prophesy. And here at brave, we will not forbid the speaking of tongues.
But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. So let me just tell you about something. Some of you have been believers for a long time. You don't have the gift of tongues. Let me tell you what that means.
Absolutely nothing. We just read. Not all people have a gift of tongues. Tongues is not a sign of maturity. No spiritual gift is a sign of maturity.
Prophecy is not a gift of a sign of maturity. Whatever your gift is, you mature in that. I know people that have the gift of tongues that are totally immature and aren't walking with the Lord. If you never have the gift of tongues, you're not second class. What difference does it make?
You do not have all the gifts. I do not have all the gifts. But we want to eagerly desire them. We want to pray for them. We want God to unleash more of them so we can build more people up in the body of Christ.
And I believe he's already gifted you. And if you'll put those into practice, then you can continue to ask for others. And let me just say this to some of the cessationists that would say, yeah, well, if you really believe in the gift of healing, then why don't you, you know, if you have the gift of healing, why don't you go down to children's hospital and just heal everybody? Buddy, it's a straw man argument. Total straw man argument.
Just because you have the gift of evangelism. I think I have a gift of evangelism. Not everybody I preach to gets saved. Not everybody I share with gets saved. Not everybody.
Somebody has a healing anointing that they pray with gets healed. Do you understand what I'm saying? Not everybody you serve will be thankful. Not everybody you encourage will be blessed. But if you have a gift Operate in it to the glory of the Lord.
Operate in it out of love and humility to build up the body of Christ. And oh, what a place. I mean, we're growing in this, but what a place brave can be if we operate fully in our gifting, if we let the Lord use what we're using instead of being that missing puzzle piece. Say, lord, I'll serve your church. You have to be in a local church to serve the church, to get the full measure of joy.
And Lord, show me how I can do that. I'll start taking baby steps in that, and I'll start growing in that. And as you do, God will do amazing things in your life. He's gifted you to build up the body. He's entrusted us to build the body.
It brings him great glory and it advances our kingdom. Amen. Why don't you prepare your hearts right now as we get ready to take communion, we're gonna take it on all the campuses. After we sing this song, we'll break it out to the campuses so our campus pastors can come up and take communion. But as you hold these elements in your hand, here's the truth.
Regardless of what your belief is on spiritual gifts, here's what we believe here. That Jesus Christ is Lord, that he died for our sins and that he rose from the dead. And that's what centers us all. We can differ on our understanding of spiritual gifts. We can differ on our understanding of several things, but we cannot differ on the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord.
To the glory of God the Father. Amen. Father in heaven, we thank you for your work on the cross, your resurrection from the dead, and your Holy Spirit who empowers each and every one of us. And we pray, Lord, today as we get ready to take this meal, you'd remind us of our sin and how much you've cleansed us. Through the cross, we give you all the praise and glory in Jesus name, Amen.