The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Well, welcome back to our continued study of the doctrines of the Bible. This is our overview of Christian theology and doctrine. And we have been in the study of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

We are coming to the conclusion of this portion, which we call pneumatology. Pneumatology is the study of the Holy Spirit. Will we get through it tonight? Maybe. We'll try. Because once this is over, we're going to move to another section, which is going to take us into the summer.

And that is the subject of angels. We're going to look at angelology, which is an odd... It's actually a subject that I took in seminary. And I remember seeing that name and thinking, boy, you can put ology on the end of anything.

It was actually angelology, demonology, and satanology was the three-fold course. But really, it's all a subset of angelology, because demons, of course, are fallen angels. Satan, of course, is a fallen angel.

So it's all a part of that. And not all systematic theologies look at that. But I thought it was an important thing. So many people have questions about it. It's in the Bible. Certainly something worth our time.

So once we finish with the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, we're going to look at the doctrine of angels. And so we'll see if that is where we finish tonight. I think it will, though. I want to preface this by saying, I've been preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians.

I spent several months preaching through 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. Which is some of the most robust portions of Scripture regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So some of what I'm saying tonight is going to rehearse and repeat some of what I've already said.

And if you really want to dig deep into the study of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And why I would hold the positions I hold. And why our church teaches what it teaches. I would encourage you to go back onto Sermon Audio.

Find those portions of 1 Corinthians and listen to all of those. Because I'm only going to touch briefly on some of those things. Only because I just did it on Sunday morning. And I don't think it's absolutely necessary to rehearse and repeat everything.

However, having said that, I would like to ask you to open your Bible. And turn with me to 1 Corinthians. Because this is where we get a lengthy treatment of the subject of the spiritual gifts. And so we might as well go there first.

And look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The Apostle says, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. Or the word ignorant is another way that you could translate that particular word.

I do not want you to be ignorant of the gifts. I do not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. So, if Paul says that in this passage, he doesn't want us to be ignorant of them. Then that's enough to tell me it's something that's worthy of our study.

There are other times where Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant. If you go to 1 Thessalonians 4, he says, I don't want you to be ignorant regarding the coming of Jesus. Obviously that's an important subject.

He doesn't want us to be ignorant about the end. He doesn't want us to be ignorant about the resurrection. And so we know that's an important thing. And when he says here, I do not want you to be ignorant.

I don't want you to be uninformed. We know that that's telling us that this is an important subject. May I ask this question? Would you agree that the subject of the spiritual gifts has been one of the most divisive subjects in the last hundred years of the church?

Would we agree with that? Isn't it true that churches nowadays, more so than being divided by denomination, are often divided by the way they understand the spiritual gifts? Used to, it was Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and those still exist.

But often times today, it's charismatic or non-charismatic. Because you can be a charismatic Baptist if you can believe that. In fact, I got a job offer once when I was the youth director here. Church called me and wanted to meet with me to come and be their leader of their young people.

And so I went and sat and had lunch with the guy. I had no intention of going, but I wanted to know what he had to say. And I went and had lunch with him. Jennifer came with me. And he told me he was Baptocostal.

Baptocostal. Partially Baptist, partially Pentecostal. So he was Baptocostal. And halfway through our conversation, he said, you're too much Baptist and not enough costal. And I said, that's probably true.

And he said, I don't think you're going to be a good fit for us. I said, I don't think I will either. But that was, so again, there are charismatic Baptists. There are charismatic Methodists. There are charismatic Presbyterians.

It runs the gambit. In fact, what I want to simply point out, when you hear the word, yes. Well, they're not Pentecostal Catholics. They're charismatic Catholics. I'm going to explain the difference in a minute.

Well, see, because the history of the charismatic movement, and I'm going to make this very brief. The history of the charismatic movement actually began in Topeka, Kansas. Under the teaching of a man named Charles Parham.

Charles Parham believed in the gifts of the Spirit. All of them functioning for today. And he believed the gifts of the Spirit were going to manifest themselves in the speaking with tongues. And you'll notice one thing about the Pentecostal movement and the charismatic movement.

Is that that tends to be the major point of difference. It's about the tongues. Sometimes it'll be about healing. Sometimes it'll be about words of knowledge, hearing from the Lord. But almost always it's the issue of whether or not you speak with tongues.

And in the early 1900s, a man by the name of Charles Parham began his teaching on this subject. And a woman by the name of Agnes Osman, in one of their meetings, believed that she was speaking in tongues.

And she began to speak. And Parham said, she is speaking Chinese. His belief was that she was uttering Chinese. And she began to write. And he said, she's writing in Chinese. Well, come to find out, it wasn't Chinese.

And what she wrote wasn't any discernible language. However, he encouraged some followers. And one of his followers ended up going out to California. And beginning what became known as the Azusa Street Mission or the Azusa Street Revival.

And Azusa Street is really where Pentecostalism had its birth. I don't have the date with me. It was in, I think it was in 1906 that all that happened. But the revival that happened in Azusa was the birthplace of Pentecostalism.

And the idea of the word Pentecostal was the idea that on the day of Pentecost, 2 ,000 years ago, when the Holy Spirit fell, they began to speak in tongues. And so this Azusa Street Revival was called a revival of the Pentecostal gift.

Or the gift that happened at Pentecost. The Pentecostal church arose out of that. But it did not become mainstream. In fact, I would say even today, the standard Pentecostal church is still not mainstream.

What did happen, though, is in the 60s, another movement arose called the Charismatic Movement. The Charismatic Movement took the idea of the gifts and began to introduce those ideas into other denominations.

So now you have Charismatic Baptists, you have Charismatic Presbyterians, you have Charismatic Methodists, and Charismatic Catholics. That happened actually in 1967. There was a group called the Catholic Renewal Movement.

And they believed that they were able to exercise the gift of tongues and other gifts. And so you have the Charismatic. That's why I say Pentecostalism is almost like a denomination. But Charismatic is trans-denomination.

It goes through the denomination. So that's why I was saying the distinction is to be made. Pentecostalism is a strain. And where does it come from? Out of what major denomination does Pentecostalism break off?

The Methodist Movement. This is why oftentimes you'll hear holiness. You know, have you heard of the Holiness Church? That actually goes back to the early Methodist teachings. John and Charles Wesley had a club.

It was called what? The Holy Club. And they were holiness. They believed in holiness and methodological holiness. Thus the idea of Methodism. That there was a method to becoming more holy. And so you have the idea of methodological holiness.

You have the Methodist Movement. The Holiness Movement. And all those things. So a modern person. And here's basically if you want to. All Pentecostals are Charismatic. Not all Charismatics are Pentecostal.

Does that make sense? Because if Pentecostal is the denomination. All Pentecostals are Charismatic. But not all Charismatics are Pentecostal. Because Charismatic can be Baptist. Charismatic can be Presbyterian.

You understand? So having said that. A Charismatic. Where does that word even come from? Charisma. Charisma. The root is actually the Greek word. Charis. For grace. And Charisma. Is grace gift. A gift of grace.

And so a Charismatic. Is a person who has been given. A gift of God. If you look back at 1 Corinthians 12. And look at verse 4. It says. Now there are varieties of gifts. But the same spirit. Right there is the word.

Charismaton. Or Charismaton. In the Greek. That is where we get the word Charismatic. That's the Greek Charismaton. And that is. The idea. Of it's a gift from God. A gift of the Holy Spirit. There is another word.

That we see later in 1 Corinthians 14. Pneumatikos. Pneumatikos. Sounds like what? Pneumatic. Spirit. Right? Pneuma. So Pneumatikos. Means spirit. Or a spirit gift. Or a spiritual. This is why. Paul calls them spiritual gifts.

So they are called grace gifts. That's Charismatic. Or they are called Pneumatic. Pneumatikos. A spirit gift. Either way. The idea is that these are things. That come from the Holy Spirit of God. That you can only do.

Because the Holy Spirit of God is giving you the ability. To do them. It's a gift. And this is one of the blanks on your sheet. Spiritual gifts. Can be distinguished. From natural abilities. Spiritual gifts can be distinguished.

And they should be distinguished from natural abilities. Now. Having said that. I'm not saying. That if a person has a natural gifting. That God cannot use that natural gifting. Neither am I saying. That a natural gifting is really natural.

Because all things come from God. All good gifts come from God. With whom there is no shadow of turning. You know. From the Father of Lights. From whom there is no shadow of turning. James chapter 1. So.

I've used this example before. And some people have given me grief about it. I want to make sure that I say it right. I tell people. I don't think that speaking. Is my spiritual gift. Because I could speak well.

Publicly. Before I got saved. And I don't think. Spiritual gifts. Come to us. Before we have the spirit. Wouldn't that be a natural necessity? That before you have the spiritual gift. You have to have the spirit who gives the gift.

And so. When I was in high school. I was leader of many clubs. I was a professional magician. Worked as a professional magician in high school. I was a singer in the chorus. I was a director in the band.

I was a captain of the marching band. I had all these different things that I could do. Because God had given me the natural ability. To speak. And sing. And get in front of people. Never had a shy bone.

As far as standing up and speaking. So I don't think that's my spiritual gift. I think it is an ability. God gave to me. That is part of my natural makeup. Not everybody has that. In fact. Did you know that public speaking.

Is the number one fear. Of the average person. I've taught public speaking class. And. It is the number one fear of the average person. In fact the number two fear is death. The number one fear of the average person.

Is public speaking. The number two fear is death. Which Seinfeld said. It means if you had to go to a funeral. You would rather be in the casket. Than delivering the eulogy. I quote Seinfeld in the sermon.

But the point is. A lot of people don't have the natural ability. To get up and speak. And that's fine. That's something God gave me. But when I got saved. I did have a new motivation. My motivation. Was to proclaim the word of God.

I didn't have that motivation. Before I got saved. I did not desire. To do God's word. I did not desire. To know God's word. And I certainly did not desire. To preach God's word. Before I got saved. So if somebody said.

What is your spiritual gift? I would say the desire. To proclaim God's word. Which I would say. Is a form of the gift of prophecy. We will talk about that in a minute. When we talk about the different kinds of gifts.

But that particular gift. I think is. What God gifted me. Because I had this natural thing I could do. But now God takes this. This motivation. And gives me a new motivation. And so when somebody says.

What do you think a spiritual gift is? I think it's a motivation. To service. It's a motivation. To service. And it's always. Always. Intended. To bless the body. In fact. Go back and listen to the series.

I did on 12, 13, and 14 in 1 Corinthians. The point Paul is making. Is that the gifts. Are given to edify. That means to build up. The body. Not the individual. God didn't give me this gift. So I could build myself up.

God gave me the gift. So I could build up the church. God gives us gifts to build up his church. Everybody with me on that? That's an important point. Because. A lot of people say. Well I have this gift.

And it's for self building. No such thing. Well people say. They'll say in 1 Corinthians 14. It says. The person who speaks in a tongue. Builds himself up. See right there. We're supposed to build ourselves up.

That actually is a rebuke. Not something that is intended. To be an encouragement. Because he says the one who speaks in a tongue. Builds himself up. But the one who prophesies. Builds up the church. So which is better?

The one who builds up the church. Yes sir. Well let's go look at it. You have to remind me. Unfortunately I don't have everything memorized. I have to go look. Let's look real quick. 1 Peter chapter 4.

And verse 10. As each has received a gift. Use it to serve one another. As good stewards of God's. Varied grace. Yes. As you've been given a gift. You use it to serve one another. Thank you Richard. Thank you for pointing out that passage.

Absolutely. So we have the purpose of the gifts. Is to edify or to build up. The church. Now. Let's for a moment. Talk about this issue. Of the charismatic church. Because would you agree with me? I asked earlier.

I asked if that was a major division. I think we all agree to that. Would you agree. That we functionally worship differently. In a non charismatic church. Than a charismatic church. Would we agree? What's some of the differences?

Speak in tongues during the worship service. What else? It depends on the church. Order is sometimes not maintained. We talked about that some. The tongues. Is the primary answer. But also you'll hear people.

Give words of prophecy. Meaning they'll say God told me. About you. And sometimes it will be the man standing up on the chancel. He'll say Dan God told me. That you are going to have a miraculous so and so.

Or Daisy God told me. You're going to have a so and so blessing. You know what they rarely say? You rarely hear them say Dan. God has told me that you're a sinner. And you're going to go to hell unless you repent.

You rarely hear that. That was what real prophets would say. Almost always the modern people. Claiming prophecy. Are always giving some kind of a good blessing. Go back and read Isaiah. Listen to Jesus.

I've never seen one of them stand. And say you're a whitewashed tomb. Sorry Dan I'll be picking on you. But you understand what I'm saying. I tell you. I would be moved by that. If I saw a man stand up and say.

Sir you are a whitewashed tomb. And God has told me you're committing adultery. And you need to repent right now. That would be bold. But it would be powerful. And if the guy said. How did you know? Then we know he was telling the truth.

The point is. Almost always. When you hear people nowadays. Say prophecy. It's always something good. You're going to do great missions work. And it's almost always generic. God's going to bless you. What does that mean?

You're going to see movement. You're going to have a breakthrough. What does that mean? You see what I'm saying? It's so generic that it's meaningless. Yes sir. Ma 'am. I told that story on Sunday morning.

When I was going through this. I had a guy. My wife was pulled up. Up to the chancel. And there was a guy. Offering up words of prophecy. And I went. Because I wasn't going to have her standing by herself.

But I didn't want to go. So I went up there. And the guy started talking about me. And he said God told me. Which by the way ordinarily. If I'm not in a situation. Where I'm going to hurt somebody's feelings.

If somebody comes up to me and says God told me. My response is usually. No he didn't. No he didn't. Yeah he did. When you say God told me. The burden of proof is on you. Not me. Deuteronomy says that.

If a man says something that comes from God. And it's not true. He's not a prophet. You don't have to fear him. The man said. You're going to have a great youth ministry. And you're going to go on to great youth ministry.

He didn't realize. Somebody told him I was a youth minister. But somebody told him I was a youth minister. But I'm not. But I was leaving youth ministry at the time. I was moving into the pastoral ministry.

It was right before I took over here. Somebody told him. That I was a youth minister. And so he decided to. Offer up a word of prophecy. That was nothing more than a vague attempt. At trying to land that dart right in the center.

And he missed the board completely.

What's the motivation behind all this? Can it be a blessing instead? Like you pray for someone. And you know. I pray that you have a wonderful youth ministry. In your church. And that's different. That's different.

Couldn't they turn that. Why don't they just turn it into something good. Instead of something fake. Well I'm going to get to Dan. And it's going to kind of answer you as well.

Why do it? No, no I know. But what's the motivation? What would motivate people to fraudulently. Claim to have a gift that they do not have? Well there's a couple of motivations. That I have seen. One, in certain churches if you don't exhibit certain gifts.

They don't think you're saved. There are a lot of churches that say. If you don't speak in tongues you're not saved. I mean. I heard Dr. White debate a Pentecostal minister. On that very subject. And in the debate Dr. White says.

Because I don't speak in tongues am I not saved. And he said I can't say that you're saved. If you never spoke in tongues. Dr. James White is having this conversation. So yes. In what I call hyper charismatic churches.

And that's a description I give. Hyper charismatic churches. Teach that unless you have the gift of tongues. You do not have the gift of the Holy Spirit. And if you don't have the gift of the Holy Spirit.

You're not saved. Now I believe the second part of that. If you don't have the gift of the Holy Spirit you're not saved. But the gift of the Holy Spirit does not come. With speaking in tongues. And it's right in this passage.

It says right here. If you go down in chapter 12. It says. Let me find it here. Verse 27. Now you are the body of Christ. And individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles.

Second prophets. Third teachers. Then miracles. Then gifts of healing. Helping. Administrating. And various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles. And by the way it doesn't answer it in the ESV. But in the Greek it does give the negative.

Are all apostles. No. The answer is no. Are all prophets. No. Are all teachers. No. Do all work miracles. No. Do all possess gifts of healing. No. Do all speak with tongues. No. Do all interpret. No. But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

This text clearly says. Not everyone is going to speak in tongues. So a church that tells you. That you must speak in tongues to be saved. Is by that statement. Proving that they do not believe the word of God.

They have added something to the word of God. So having said that. That is where. You get the issue of the charismatic. Versus cessationist argument. And just very quickly. Charismatic teaches. That all of the gifts.

That are mentioned in scripture. Continue to today. That all of the offices. Mentioned in scripture. Continue to today. Thus the term charismatic. Or those who believe in the gifts. Functioning today.

So all of the gifts. Function today. The cessationist. Believes that some of the gifts. Do not function today. In the same way that they did. In the first century church. So you have all of the gifts.

And some of the gifts. There may be some cessationists. Out there who don't believe. Any of the gifts are operational now. But I don't know of any of them. Most cessationists would argue. That the gifts are still operational.

You say well which gifts are they? Typically. The cessationist would say. That those gifts. Which were miraculous. In nature. Meaning they were accompanied. By some form of miracle. Is speaking in tongues a miracle?

It is. If you're speaking a language. You've never learned. And let's say I was speaking Chinese. And you. Were able to interpret it. And you never studied it. That would be a miracle. And that's the way I understand the gift.

By the way. That's the way I see it functioning in Acts chapter 2. And I believe I made the argument. That's what I think is happening in 1 Corinthians as well. That it is a gift of languages. In fact I think if we translated the word Glossa.

As language. Rather than tongues. I think it would make things easier. Because the word Glossa. Is where we get the word glossary. Is translated tongues. But it can be translated languages. It's the gift of languages.

So would it be a benefit to me. If I went to Malaysia. And I could speak in that native tongue. Without having to study it. Well absolutely. And yet. The charismatic movement. Has never produced people.

Who can do this. In fact that's what that man. I mentioned Parham. That's what he said that woman could do. She could speak in Chinese. When it was tested. She wasn't able to do it. When her writing was tested.

It wasn't Chinese. So they changed what they expected. Rather than saying well we made a mistake. They changed what was expected. Now modern speaking in tongues is what? Well gibberish. Is not incorrect.

It is a little derogatory. No no no. I'm just saying. If I'm speaking to a charismatic person. I would say modern tongue speaking. Is ecstatic. Syllabic noise. Well it's still derogatory. But it's nicer.

That's another way of saying gibberish. But what I'm saying is. It's ecstatic. Meaning it simply is eruptive. It doesn't have any. It's not a conversational language. Like we're having. It comes out as a.

That's ecstatic. It's monosyllabic. It's not multisyllabic. You know like the word. Construction. Is multiple syllables. Makes a word. Multiple syllable words. Or how you define language. Because construction.

Is based on the word structure. Which you add the con with structure. And you add the ION on the end. So it becomes construction. It becomes a multisyllabic word. And that's how we do language. When all you have is repetitive.

Expressive monosyllabic noise. It's not a language. There is no language. That functions that way. It's just noise. I'm not being ugly. I'm just saying what it is. So. If they. And again there are places.

That try to teach you how to do it. There's actually books. We've had them here. For people who brought us from other churches. Books on how to speak in tongues. And they'll say close your eyes. Focus on the spirit.

And start to let your spirit speak. And let it make noise. And the noises begin to become more elaborate. And then each individual person. Has their own individual. Spirit language. So. Kind of gotten off track a little.

My point being. If the tongues of the bible. Were happening today. Meaning. Paul Turner. Stood up in church. And spoke in Chinese. Having never studied the language. Having never been to China. And he was given the ability.

To speak in that language. And it was that language. That he was speaking. And Jack Bunning. Having never translated it. Stood up and gave an appropriate. Translation of that word. I would have no reason.

To say. That's anything less than a miracle. It would have to be. I would have to affirm. The miraculous nature. But if Paul Turner stands up in church. And goes. There he goes. And I say. Paul. Are you okay?

Because that's the difference. It's not a language. What does it say? Language of angels. Yeah they take that from. 1 Corinthians 13. Which I think that's a poor understanding. Of 1 Corinthians 13. Paul says if I speak in the tongues of men.

Or of angels and have not love. I'm nothing but a resounding gong. Or a clanging cymbal. Number one. There is nowhere in the bible. That talks about an angelic language. I think Paul is using hyperbole.

What is it? Hyperbole means to express something. In exaggerated terms. And when he says if I speak in the tongues of men. Or even of angels. Meaning as if I could speak like an angel. It's an exaggerated phrase.

It's not saying. There's a special angelic language. That Paul had. There's nowhere in the bible to affirm. Angels have a particular type of language. And that's what Paul is addressing there. But again.

This is all in my teaching. On those passages. Getting back to the point. The miraculous gifts. Of the new testament. Were. Speaking in tongues. The gift of healing. The gifts of prophecy. As in to speak.

The word of God. That this will happen. In the future. Prophetic future word telling. Those are things. That. Do not seem to be active. In the modern church. Except. In those churches that claim to be.

Pentecostal and charismatic. So. Why would we doubt. The legitimacy of those things. Well. For a few reasons. Number one. The evidence that they are genuine. Miraculous gifts. Is simply not present. There is no reason.

To believe. If anyone can stand up and do it. Without. Much coaching. Then it's not much of a gift. Healings. Are simply. Not real. When it comes from men like Benny Hinn. And other charlatans. And you say Keith.

That's your dangerously close. To speaking. Something that you can't prove. No. There have been many many investigations. And I want to defer to Justin Peters. If you're interested in this. You look up Justin Peters ministry.

He is a man with cerebral palsy. And he's a pastor. One day I hope to have him come preach here. Wonderful pastor. Wonderful teacher. And he does a lesson. It's entitled clouds without water. Coming from the book of Jude.

Which talks about false teachers. They're like clouds without water. They basically have no substance. And he talks about the fact. That when he was a young man. Walking on his crutches. With his cerebral palsy.

That his father took him to one of these miracle healers. One of these women. He was brought up to the woman. For healing. She didn't want to give him any attention. They hand pick. The people to come up on stage.

They send people away in droves. Benny Hinn's nephew. Costi Hinn. Got saved. And now he is proclaiming the truth. About what his uncle does. They have thousands of people come in. In wheelchairs. They send them away.

They will not bring them up on stage. But this man. Justin Peters. His father. Finally got the woman's attention. And she said. How much money do you make? What does that matter? God's work. In your son's life.

Is going to be dependent on what you are able to give. So we ask the question. Why do people do it? There is motivation. In charlatanry. I know it was. I was getting around to answering it. There is motivation in being a charlatan.

Do you guys remember. Eric Weiss. No. Do you remember Harry Houdini. That is his real name. Harry Houdini made his life. As a magician. But when his mother died. He believed. That he could contact her.

From beyond the grave. He wanted to contact her. From beyond the grave. So he began to visit. Mediums. And necromancers. Who could try to reach out to the dead. And he noticed. That they were using the same tricks.

That he used. As a magician. And so he began to call them out. As charlatans. He would even set up across the street. Like if they had a tent. Where they had people coming in. And getting their palms read or whatever.

He would set up across the street. And do a magic show. And call them out as frauds. When he died. He left his wife a special code word. And she went all around the world. Trying to find. Somebody who could speak to the dead.

And know that word. That he would give to her. That is desperation. He never gave up his hope. That somebody might be real. But all he ever found. Was frauds. So I say this. The danger of. The modern charismatic.

Movement. Is there is so much fraudulence. That goes on. Toward the end of the first century. Toward the end of the first century. It is well documented. That the gifts. That were active in the early church.

Were no longer functioning. The way that they did. In fact by the time you get to the fourth century. With Saint Augustine. And he wrote about speaking in tongues. He simply said it just no longer. Is happening.

That is within the first 400 years of the church. When the Kansas City. Revival in Topeka. Happened. They believed it was a revival. Because they believed it had stopped. They believed it was something.

That was rehappening. Because they believed it had stopped. So in that sense I would say. That all of them were cessationists. Until the early 1900s. When they believed it. Turned back on. As if a light switch had turned it off.

And it got turned back on. Time runs away from me as it always does. I want to show you a passage. That I think is very important. We could read through 1st Corinthians 12. And we read the gifts. But I want to show you another passage.

Go to Romans 12. By the way. Which one was written first? 1st Corinthians is one of the earliest books. In the New Testament written. The letter to Corinth is one of the earliest books. Romans is one of the latest books.

The later books. In Romans chapter 12. Paul lists the gifts again. But you will notice. Certain gifts are missing. In this later writing. Go to Romans 12 verse 3. For by the grace given to me. I say to everyone among you.

Not to think of himself more highly. Than he ought to think. But to think with sober judgment. Each according to the measure of faith. That God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members. And the members do not all have the same function.

So we though many are one body in Christ. And individually members one of another. That is almost exactly word for word. What he says in 1st Corinthians 12. Here is what is different. The list of gifts.

Beginning in verse 6. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith. If service in our serving. To the one who teaches in his teaching.

The one who exhorts in his exhortation. The one who contributes in generosity. The one who leads with zeal. The one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness. And he goes on to say. Let love be genuine.

Notice something missing from that list. The gift of tongues. The gift of healing. Words of knowledge. All things that were mentioned in 1st Corinthians. Early. Are no longer mentioned in Romans. Which is written later.

Yes. Should we not mention to you earlier. The first verse of 1st Corinthians 13. Or not verse 8.

Well I don't want to get into that tonight. I know what you are talking about. That it says some things will succeed. And some things will cease. And it specifically says tongues will cease. Yeah. But there are certain debatable.

How to interpret that. As far as whether or not that which is perfect. Is the scripture. Or whether that which is perfect. Is the end of the age. I talked about that when I taught on it. Again. And we are out of time.