Spiritual Gifts For The Church

Grace Fellowship Church

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.

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Well, good afternoon, everyone. It's good to see everyone again. Happy New Year. It's good to see, again, people returning for visiting.

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It's a pleasure to see you, like my brother just read. Today we're back in 1

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Corinthians, chapter 12. We're looking at the hotly debated topic of spiritual gifts.

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So join me today as we explore this topic. I have to admit that when

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I first embarked on studying for today's passage, I was a little bit hesitant and somewhat anxious for two major reasons.

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The first reason was that this is a big weighty topic. This is the spiritual gifts to his church.

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So these are the spiritual gifts on which we're talking about. On a subject that is so weighty, has so much breadth and such depth,

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I felt a little bit out of water. I was a little bit anxious as to how it is I would approach this topic, how

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I would preach it, how we would come to a faithful understanding of such a topic that has so many opinions, where people are strong on both sides of a spectrum, where there are probably as many opinions on this topic as you'll find people who read it.

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So in one sense, I felt coming before the throne thinking, Lord, how is it that I'm supposed to preach this, that I'm supposed to do this text justice and preach it faithfully?

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Again, there are weighty topics. This is a weighty one, and there's dissenting opinions on both sides. So how am

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I supposed to approach this? So that was one reason why it is that I was a little bit hesitant. And the second reason was because I made the preaching schedule and I assigned it to myself.

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So in one sense, I said, okay, well, if this is providence, then I'll have to approach this topic. And the Lord has this laid out for me for a particular reason.

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And as you would have, as he would have it, there's good things that actually have come about from this topic.

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This has been an amazing study, an amazing study for me in particular, as I've approached this topic and studied the text for what it's worth.

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And I found myself rejoicing at what it is that we're going to learn today. One thing

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I've also been rejoicing, one thing I've also been looking forward to, is the conversations that are going to come after the fact.

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So after I'm done preaching, after we have finished examining all 11 verses today, I'm looking forward to the conversations that are going to come about, having looked at this topic in this way.

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I'm looking forward to the sharpening of iron that's going to proceed from today. Again, because likely there's going to be some opinions that fall on one side of a spectrum or another, and I look forward to those sharpening conversations after the fact.

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At one point, Shane had said, you know, there's some churches that do roast the preacher. Maybe this is going to be that. So we'll see.

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Like I said, I look forward to that after. Because in some sense, this would have been a very similar attitude to some of the believers in Corinth, as we're going to learn today.

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The attitude to study and to learn and to find confusion in some of these gifts and find confusion in what's happening.

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This would have been some of the attitude of the believers in Corinth, as Paul is going to address today. However, one of the differences that we have between now and the church in Corinth is now that we have the

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Holy Word. We have the Word in front of us. So we are to study it for all it's worth. Today's passage is meant to guide the

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Lord's Church as to how we are to see God's gifts and how these gifts are designed and given and divvied out for the building and the up -building of God's church, of his people.

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So in other words, all giftings that beliefs are given by the Holy Spirit, when rightfully understood, are used to build the church up in love.

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That is the point of today's text. Because otherwise, what Paul is going to address here is the same human condition that we all suffer from.

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If we don't rightfully view the gifts, if we don't understand them rightfully in their context, we are all in danger of falling into the same sin, the same mindset that plagued many of those in Corinth.

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It is this young church that was plagued by this mentality. That God gives the gifts, but man uses it to elevate himself.

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That's the danger. I'm going to say that one more time. Again, this is the danger that we're going to address, that the text aims to solve.

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God gives the gifts, but man uses it to elevate himself. I'm getting some buzzing from behind here.

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It's a rocket ship that I'm about to take off here. I'll just use human,

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I'll just vocalize really loudly. So, I don't know, I'll say it one more, one third time if you guys can hear over the buzzing behind me.

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So God gives the gifts, man uses it for self -glorification, to elevate himself. So regardless of what we think about the use of gifts today, if we fail to understand this, if we fail to understand this problem that the text aims to solve, then we all are in danger of falling right into the trap of self -glorification.

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So let us keep that in mind, but before we do that, let's pray. Father, oh dear

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Father, we humbly ask, prepare our minds to receive all knowledge and wisdom, Lord, as you have imparted it to us.

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Lord, that we would come boldly, but also humbly, Lord, seeking to learn, but to apply rightfully,

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Lord, what it is that, Father, your Holy Spirit will impart upon us in terms of giftings. Lord, I pray that we would immediately look at these gifts,

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Father, as we finish and we conclude today's study, Lord, that we would look at these gifts, and immediately, Lord, upon receiving them or rejoicing in the gifting of someone else,

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Lord, that we would stop and look to the Lord Jesus Christ and glorify him with whatever we see before us,

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Lord. That we would not look to the gift, but the gift giver. That we would glorify the

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Lord Jesus Christ and that, Father, I pray, Father, that none of us would walk away here, Father, forsaking your gifts, and probably worse yet,

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Lord, taking these gifts upon ourselves and self -glorifying, robbing the Son of glory, the very glory he's due.

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Lord, I ask, make a heart within us, Father, that is humble and one that prepares to come to the world boldly,

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Lord, looking to proclaim Jesus Christ with whatever giftings, Lord, you've imparted on each and every single one of us.

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Lord, I thank you in this and I pray this all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So if you haven't already turned to today's passage, again, we're in 1

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Corinthians 12, starting at verse 1. So as we look at today's passage, we're going to start right in verse 1.

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At this point in Paul's letter, he has moved on from his discussion into rebuking, into correction, into not answering questions addressed by possibly

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Phoebus' people or the person who has sent him the letter. And the way we know that is if we look at where we're at in terms of the book, in 1

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Corinthians 11, verse 22, he says this of head coverings. He said, So that's head coverings.

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And then of the Lord's Supper, which we spoke about last week, he says, So Paul is systematically going through questions and observations made by people that addressed the letter initially.

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So now he's moved on from head coverings in the Lord's Supper now to spiritual gifts. And he says this.

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So looking at our first verse, it says, Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

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Again, Paul, his first point here, if we're looking at our bulletins, the first point is what the world gives.

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We're looking at Paul addressing misapplications and actually sinful application of what the

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Church of Corinth was witnessing. And that's what Paul intends to address here.

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He says he does not want us to be uninformed. He wants us to have a rightful view of what these spiritual gifts look like.

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Sorry, just looking for my place here. In other words, by first addressing this point, before we get to what

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God gives, Paul wants us to understand what the world gives, how it is that the world gives these gifts and how we misapply them.

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First, he wants us to apply this, to understand this. So in other words, he wants us to go from understanding fake gifts to real gifts.

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So first, he's going to address the fake gifts. In verse two, he says, So Paul recognizes that regardless of how all believers got there.

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So remember, this church in Corinth is a very varied group. This is a young church with quite a diverse set of peoples and different backgrounds.

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But regardless, regardless of how they all got there, all have an understanding or a context for spiritual gifts.

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In some way, this is similar to how we are now. We have all of us in one sense, believer, unbeliever, even the pagan world outside these walls, has an understanding of spiritual gifts, whether in mocking or in jest or in some form of reverence.

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But in some way, Paul is, again, speaking to believers in Corinth. He wants them to have an understanding that is rightful and not what is witnessed by some of the people in Corinth.

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Again, so whether it was former Gentiles, those who might have had pagan gods like Aphrodite or some of the other

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Greek and Roman pantheon that existed in Corinth at the time, or maybe even possibly some

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Christians with Jewish backgrounds, ones who previously worshipped the gods of Baal or the

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Asheron poles or many other instances in the Old Testament where there was old pagan worship.

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Paul is addressing all these people, Gentiles and Christian Jews, all the same. And he describes them, and he tells them specifically, that if you look at verse 2, when you were led astray to mute idols, that they are exactly that, they are mute, they do not speak.

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Looking at Psalm 115 verses 4 to 8, if we look, this is the exact description of what

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Paul is talking about when he's talking about mute idols, powerless idols. So again, Psalm 115 verses 4, it says, their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

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They have mouths, but they do not speak. Eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear.

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Noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but they do not feel. Feet, but do not walk. And they do not make a sound in their throat.

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Those who make them become like them. Note verse 8, those who make them become like them.

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So do all who trust in them. So when Paul says that they are mute, powerless idols, he means just that.

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They are powerless, they're useless. They have no strength. And those who have written to Paul concerning these idols need to understand that these idols have no strength.

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In other words, what they are witnessing is something altogether. Reading in verse 3, it says,

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In other words, if you ever were to see a

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Christian, and I'm going to use scare quotes here, if ever you were to see a Christian using their gifts to curse the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and by extension, stealing his glory, these gifts are not from the

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Lord. That's what Paul wants us to understand here. And to those that he was writing to in Corinth, if you ever see any instance where there is some type of self -glorification or some cursing of the

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Lord Jesus Christ or some blaspheming of any sense, these gifts are not from the Lord.

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Turning to 2 Corinthians briefly, Paul had to deal with this later on in a future letter to the church in Corinth.

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Again, Paul's aim here, again, is to correct false theology, false doctrine, and he had to deal with this later on in 2

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Corinthians. For those keeping notes, 2 Corinthians 11, verses 12 -15. Again, very similar circumstance.

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And what Paul says to the second letter to the Corinthians, he says, And what I am doing,

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I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who like to claim that in their boasted mission, they work on the same terms as we do.

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So in other words, in verse 12, Paul is saying, I am going to continue my mission to undermine those who say they are from us, but are not actually from us, who say they are

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Christian, but are not actually Christians. They are doing, they are walking, they are doing the things that make them seem

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Christian, but they are not. Continuing in verse 13, he says, For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

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Again, you have people walking and doing things. However, they are enemies of the Lord. And they are deceiving believers who lack that discernment.

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Verse 14, And no wonder! For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise that if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, their end will also correspond to their deeds.

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So again, similar circumstance. Paul is still writing to correct these things later on in the second letter to the

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Corinthians. This church in Corinth were observing gifts being used in this way to curse our

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Lord, and were highly confused. These are highly confused people. So Paul sets the record straight.

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These are of the world and not from the Lord. So that is our main point.

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That is our main point for the first three verses of our text today. These are from the world and not from the

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Lord. So let us not be confused. And this is where we can begin to apply exactly what it is

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Paul has set forward here. And the application is this. Reject false teachings and false giftings.

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I will say that one more time. Reject false giftings and teachers. Again, although Paul is speaking directly to the use of gifts here, so in the context of 1

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Corinthians 12, 1 to 11, these are pertaining to spiritual gifts. But we can absolutely apply this to false teachers, 100%.

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Anyone who would claim to be a Christian, who would have a gifting or a teaching that in any way dishonors the

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Lord Jesus Christ is not of us, and they are to be rejected. Jesus Christ said in John chapter 4, verse 23,

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John 4, 23, he said, But the hour is coming, and is now here when true worshipers will worship the

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Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.

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In other words, if they don't have both spirit and truth, we are to reject them, brothers and sisters.

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Taking note of the theological landscape today, many have been won over or lost by the mysticism of healing ministries and prophecy ministries that have no basis in the

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Lord Jesus Christ. This is a very popular thing. This is happening in many parts of the world, not excluding here in North America.

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Although we should always be sharpening our tools of discernment, so we should always be sharpening our edge on this blade, that we should always be discerning what is godly and what is ungodly, there is one easy way to determine if someone's gift or motive is from the

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Lord, and that is to ask this, who gets the glory? That is one quick question that will disarm most of what you see out there.

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If you can ask the question, who gets the glory? Because if there's any doubt that whoever's being glorified is not

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Jesus Christ, or if there's any shred of evidence that denies Jesus Christ His full glory,

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His full due, then we can happily reject this, brothers and sisters. And we should, we ought to.

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We ought to reject this person's gifting, and this person, they are a false teacher. So that is one quick way, one good application that we can use in these first three verses, is to reject false giftings and false teachers.

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However, this does lead us to our next question, which you inevitably get to.

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What do we do about these gifts that do honor the Lord? How do we know? How do we know what is a gifting from the

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Lord? What does that look like? So that's our next point, but before I do that, I kind of want to walk us through just a quick observation that some of us have probably partaken in.

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If we're honest, we probably all are there. But it helps kind of illustrate some of what happens in this next point.

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So maybe to the kids here, who here still has recess?

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Do you guys still have recess? Okay. At some point, we all had recess. I'm going to put my hand up.

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At some point, I went to recess too. So if you don't have recess, then you're starting to get to points where you get a little older in school.

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I work in school, and you guys know this, and I love seeing this. I see this a lot, actually. But when you go to recess, and you see a field of kids,

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I'm talking to kids who do go to recess. If you guys go outside for recess, and you see just hundreds of kids, who is it that you run to first?

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That's right. You're going to run to your friends, right? You're not going to run to the different grade people, or whatever, right?

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You're going to run to people that you know. You know, for those who don't have recess.

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I'm going to talk to maybe some of the other ones. And maybe some of the university students, actually. That's fun too. Okay, so when you guys are on break, or when you guys are on study breaks, who is it that you're going to hang out with?

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Who are you going to study with? This is the end of my answer. But Daryl, if you're going to hang out with someone, who are you going to go to?

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That's right, your friends. You're going to hang out, and you're going to study with people that are kind of like you, right?

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You're going to go to like -minded people, right? You know, walking through the hallways at school, and you know, you see this.

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I see this walking through the hallways, and I see people of like groups. I see, oh, there's people who like music over here.

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There's people who like to draw over here. You see some athletic kids over here. Okay, that's that group. And you see these different groups, and there's intermingling.

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And if we're honest, if people were more loving towards one another, there would be more intermingling and less groups.

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But this isn't always the case, right? I'm going to address some of the maybe university students or former university students.

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There was nothing worse than group projects. Yeah, or collaboration.

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Sometimes that strikes fear in people. Because now you have to get in groups with people that you may not usually associate with.

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Different styles of work, different work ethics, different philosophies. All of a sudden, you're intermingling. And again, if we're honest, we should have a biblical approach to this, to do it with a mind that honors the

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Lord. But this kind of, if I can use the word, these groupings, these cliques that naturally emerge somewhat illustrate what was happening in the

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Church of Corinth. So if we're looking at our next point, you should have in your heading, what our

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God gives. So if Paul is going to address the lies and confusion that the world offers in verses 1, 2, and 3, in verses 4 to 7,

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Paul says this. Paul's trying to address this. He says, remember that this was a church that was divided in so many ways.

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If you guys remember, again, if you flip back to chapters 1 and 3, Paul rebuked the

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Corinthians for their divisions, their schisms over earthly knowledge, and orators, and teachers, and mentors.

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If you guys remember, he rebukes them for their love of teachings from Paul, and Apollos, and Cephas.

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And Paul's very clear that we are not to have these divisions. We're to unite. So if you guys remember, although Paul isn't doing this here, in these four verses, this isn't happening here specifically, you have to understand, you have to contextualize, and maybe it's implied that this is likely happening here as well.

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Again, if we go back to our illustration just a minute ago, of all these different groups, you can picture in your minds, imagine for a moment that the same division was taking place in the

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Church of Corinth, but instead about teachers, and mentors, and their favorite teacher, or their favorite preacher.

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Now, it's taking place in regards to spiritual gifts. So imagine for a moment, if you guys can just picture yourselves there, imagine there's people everywhere after the service, and in one corner, you have people who are prophesying.

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You have a group prophesying in one corner over there, and there's a big group of them just prophesying over the church, and over each other, and they're prophesying.

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And in another corner, you have people speaking in tongues. You have just a big group of people speaking in tongues over there.

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And then somewhere else, you have a lineup. You have a lineup that strings around the door for the faith healer, that people are in lineup for the faith healer for things that they need healed or looked after.

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Now, hopefully you guys can picture that. It's easy to see in one sense. It's no different than if you're walking down a high school classroom, or a hallway, sorry, and a very similar idea that there was divisions taking place.

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But instead of rebuking them, so Paul, instead of rebuking this church, note what he says here.

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Oh, I lost my place here. Paul points instead to the unity of the church. And he points to it in the most emphatic way that he knows how to do that.

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So he says that all these gifts are all to complement one another. And if they are to do that, they are to do it in the way that the

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Trinity complements one another. Look at verses four to seven. He says, Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same

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Spirit, and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but the same

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God who empowers all of them and everyone. To everyone is given a manifestation of the

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Spirit for the common good. In verse six, when you see the word used for God, it is also used in other places in the

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New Testament for the Godhead, the Father. So in other words, so the point

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Paul is making is this. In the same way the Trinity complements and is equal with one another, so should the gifts complement one another and be equal amongst all those of the church.

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There should be no overvaluing, no priority, no partiality given to particular giftings because they are all meant to build up the church.

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This is what God gives. God gives unity. Where the world might give lies and confusion,

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God gives clarity and He gives love and unity. So in other words, these gifts aren't to be used as a source of division, but they are to be rendered back to the

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Lord in unity. And that's what we are going to do in this next text.

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That's how we're going to apply that as well as don't covet other people's giftings. So that's how we can apply that today is don't covet one another's gifts.

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Many of the errors of this church and current spiritual, if I'm honest, many of the spiritual gift ministries out there that exist, we see today, they come from the sinful man's desire to self -gratify, self -glorification.

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In seeking to meet our own desires, our sinful desires, I should say, whether for the glory, for self -glory or self -gain, we divide against one another and fail to give

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God His glory. That's what's happening. And that's what Paul is diverting from. He wants unity.

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We read this earlier. Shane read this, and what a blessing it was. But we're looking at Ephesians chapter 4.

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And I won't read all of it because Shane was gracious enough to read this for us. But I just want us to note

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Ephesians chapter 4. We're looking at verses 11 to 14. It says, And He, Lord Jesus, He gave the apostles, the prophets and the evangelists, the shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the

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Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.

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So these gifts are not for division, to divide over, to covet, but rather they are to build up one another.

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And Paul is going to spend the rest of the chapter 12 doing this. If you're looking forward to next week's study, we're going to look at what

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Paul says in chapter 12 about building up the body. So this is his emphasis. But before he can even address that, he needs us to orient ourselves from the world to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. He needs us to unify. As the Trinity is unified, these gifts also should unify.

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Again, rendering to the Lord his due. Okay, so if we don't understand this and we don't understand that they are sourced from the same

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Holy Spirit, from the Holy Spirit, we're going to covet and we're going to have issues of division and we're going to have issues similar to what the

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Ephesian church was experiencing in their day. So that is the second point.

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So as we look at this third point, I want to do something a little bit different with this one because of the nature of the text today.

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At the beginning of the text, if you guys remember, I said that there was some level of hesitation for me when

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I approached such a weighty topic because I knew that there was going to be different interpretations of the text. How am

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I going to do it faithfully? So what I intend to do is one of two things.

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First is we're going to do a quick brief summary of these gifts. We're going to look at them individually and we're going to see what the

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Bible says about them. And then, Lord willing, I'm going to give you both positions or I guess both sides of the same coin here as how people view these gifts today.

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So again, I won't exhaust all that these gifts are able to give.

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There's a lot there. And if I'm going to be honest, there's a lot of diversity here.

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And this is something, if I'm going to reclaim a word from today's age, there's true God -honoring diversity in here.

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And this is something to be to be rejoiceful for. However, there is also flexibility and I won't be able to address everything as I want to.

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In one sense, this does make for great material for topical Bible studies. So I do urge you actually to, if you guys want to proceed to roast me after this, please do.

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But also to do some self -study, to really dig deep because there is a lot here. And I will not do every gift and every utterance of this justice.

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However, there's also good news that Paul is going to spend a significant amount of time going into greater detail over some of these gifts.

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So if you feel like you're not getting enough today, Jesus Christ wrote his word in such a way that we are going to get more of this.

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So we'll be here for a while. However, there's also good room for study. So I urge you, brothers and sisters, to go and do that.

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So anyways, with that kind of out of the way, let's just get into the last four verses or verses 8 to 11.

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So in this passage, all of what we've looked at today, Paul mentions nine unique gifts.

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And depending on how you classify these statements, also at least nine instances of these gifts finding their source in the

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Holy Spirit, in the one Holy Spirit. These are gifts rendered from someone.

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There's at least a one -to -one ratio worth giftings and mentions of their source being the Holy Spirit. And also note that as we look at these gifts, they fall in either one of two categories, either serving or speaking.

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So again, as you're taking note, you can start to classify. This looks like service. This looks like speaking.

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And sometimes these gifts kind of waddle between both. But regardless, they fall into one of two categories.

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So again, like I said, without further ado, we're going to look at verse 8. So in verse 8, we have the gifts.

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First, we have the gift of wisdom and of knowledge. So best understood, the first gift of wisdom is being able to articulate or dispense of biblical knowledge.

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Or you might even say also apply biblical knowledge to your life. Whereas knowledge is able to ascertain or comprehend or understand really deep theological doctrine.

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So one example, so if you're going to, if you're asking, well, what's the difference? You know, one example is if you've ever met someone who's able to understand really technical biblical doctrine, really technical, deep theological learnings, but doesn't really have the strength or the ability to teach that, it's likely they're probably blessed with more knowledge than wisdom.

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But that's one way I've thought about it. If you can teach it, that's godly wisdom and being able to apply it and to do it.

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But learning it is a separate gift altogether because there is, and anyone who knows anything knows that that's true, that there is, it's different learning it and there's another thing teaching it.

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Looking at verse 9, Paul then mentions faith and gifts of healing. So these are 3 and 4.

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In the Greek, the word used for faith actually does mean to have a deep and abiding faith. For example,

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Jesus Christ mentioned this, like the faith, the size of a mustard seed in Matthew 17 to 20.

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That deep abiding faith that seems almost supernatural, otherworldly. One good example of this, if you're looking at a contemporary, is

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George Muller. If you guys aren't familiar with George Muller, he's a phenomenal resource.

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And actually, I would even encourage the parents to maybe start reading with their kids some of George Muller's writings and journal entries.

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They're amazing. Because George Muller, as history would have it, is one of the fathers of faith missions.

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The notion by living by faith, not asking for donations, seeking the Lord for all provision in faith and prayer.

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And quite an incredible, again, incredible testimony by George Muller. I really urge you guys to go and visit and just learn more of him.

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Ironically, he would not have said that he has the gift of faith. Ironically, George Muller probably, especially as you go through his journal entries and his learnings and just his struggles, he would have, of himself, he would have said that he didn't have that kind of faith.

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But everything contrary to his life displays almost a supernatural level of faith, of being able to go out into essentially with nothing and rely on the

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Lord to provide him with all that he would need, including all his ministerial work when he was the head of an orphanage, in all his preaching and teaching, everything, and all his leadership.

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Amazing stuff. So I do urge you to look at that. And that's probably a good example of this gift of faith.

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As for healing, Paul's making reference to healing acts that the apostles and Jesus Christ would have done.

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So in the book of Acts and in Jesus' ministry in the gospel, these are the ones that people are most familiar with.

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So if you're going to ask people of healing, people understand these, people have a general sense of these, because Jesus Christ did these on many occasions.

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So moving on, so looking at verse 10, we have the remaining five gifts. And Paul does something interesting here because he just lists almost rapid fire five separate gifts.

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And then at the end he bookends in verse 11, he says, and these are all empowered by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

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So instead of, I guess due to repetition, there's a lot of repetition happening here.

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He just labels them all and he just reiterates that these are all from the same spirit who apportions as he wills. It's the

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Holy Spirit who dispenses. So the first thing we're going to address here is the working of miracles.

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These are understood to be mighty deeds outside the realm of nature. That's what the biblical use is of this.

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So for example, raising the dead to life and causing to lame to walk. This isn't a healing per se, but these are supernatural abilities that the

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Bible makes use of here or that this is the biblical use of. So for those taking notes, if you're looking at more information on how to understand mighty works or the working of miracles, many of these are from Acts.

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If you're looking at Acts chapter 9, you're looking at verses 40 or 41. You'd see them as well in Acts 14 verses 8 to 10 and Acts 20 verse 9.

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So you get to see just a few examples of what it looks like to work miracles. Next up we have prophecy.

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Prophecy is described as divine inspiration and declaring the purposes of God.

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Grouped with the speaking of and interpretation of tongues, these gifts will be the study of chapters 13 and 14.

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So I'm not going to hit on these as deeply. There is much to say about them and Paul will do just that in chapters 14 to 13.

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He's going to really examine what it is these gifts are meant to do and where they find their purposes.

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But again, these fall into the category of speaking, of speaking gifts. Again, so not to disappoint those who are really looking forward to learning about this.

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Trust me, we'll have plenty of time to look forward to this. And like I said, I'd love to talk to you after. However, the last one

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I really want to dig into today is the ability to distinguish between spirits or the spiritual gift of discernment.

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This is a big one. So if we're looking at discernment as a gift, good examples of this are demonstrated actually by Peter in the

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Book of Acts. Peter was one who exhibited almost supernatural discernment and we get this in two places primarily in the

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Book of Acts. The first one we see is the tremendous powers of discernment with Ananias and Sapphira.

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And if you guys remember the story, briefly, this is the story in the Acts when Ananias and Sapphira aim to take advantage of the

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Holy Spirit, to actually to lie to and to gain glory while looking to see, seeming as though they are going to give all that they have sold in their property, in their value and deceive the

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Holy Spirit and the apostles. But Peter, rightly, by Holy Spirit power is able to discern the intentions of the heart.

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And we see that, and again, if you're taking notes, Acts chapter 5 verses 1 to 11. And again, later on in the

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Book of Acts we see, again, Peter having powers of discernment again. But this time we see it with Simon the magician.

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Again, who tried to do something very similar. Who tried to ascertain the gifts of the spirit and seeing all that the

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Holy Spirit was doing within the apostles and trying to purchase this gift for himself.

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So again, Peter, once again, through Holy Spirit discernment ascertains the heart and mind of Simon and he does that, again, in chapter 8 and the story is found in verses 9 to 25.

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So again, those are just two examples of spiritual discernment. Okay, so, having done kind of the quickest study on gifts, probably in the history of the pulpit, this leaves us with a question.

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So this does leave us with inevitably these two questions and I want us to ponder this for just a second. Where are these gifts today?

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Or in other words, what are we to do with this information? Looking at these verses, where are these gifts today?

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We ask ourselves this. And if they are around, what do we do with this? How does this work in today's age?

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Many, like I said, this is something that has given us a pause for thought, many of us. And it is something, no doubt, that many of us should ask ourselves even now today.

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And this, unfortunately, well fortunately for me I should say, is where there is freedom to interpret. There is some freedom here.

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Praise the Lord that we have this kind of freedom here. On both sides of the spectrum, so we either have, we have two sides.

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Again, if you have, you have both extremes. On one side, you have cessationists and on the other, you have continuationists.

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So, on one extreme, you have cessationists and on the other, you have continuationists. So, cessationists hold to the view that these gifts have their purpose for a particular time in history.

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And that these gifts are no longer being dispensed by the Holy Spirit, largely in part, because now we have the authority of Scripture to guide us.

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So, that is, again, a very brief summary of what a cessationist would say. Looking to the other end, on the other hand, you have the continuationists.

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And their view is that these gifts are still being dispensed by the Holy Spirit and that these are gifts for the mature and that, and that they have not ceased to be dispensed to this church for the up -building of brothers and sisters and for the up -building of the church.

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Again, they have not ceased and they continue in perpetuity, so that is to say, they continue to be dispensed and that, again, the

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Bible hasn't made a claim that they have ceased. The Bible makes no mention of the ceasing of these gifts and they would lay heavy claim on them.

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And then, everywhere in between, you have varying degrees of where different people lie.

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Like I said, there are many different interpretations and different circumstances where people either believe one or believe the other.

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And, again, this is where, like I said, I will have to gladly and humbly say that you don't want my opinion.

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This is what the Bible says. This is the positions that are being held to by today. So, again, there's some faithful interpretation to be made on either distinction.

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And, if I'm honest, and if we all draw near to the word of God and we apply this in a way that is godly and honestly, regardless of your view, regardless of where you stand on the spectrum, whether you think these exist or don't, or whether they've continued or continue to exist in certain circumstances, whatever the case may be, regardless of any of that, all who esteem the gifts of the

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Holy Spirit will rightfully glorify God in the end. In other words,

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God will get the glory in the end if these gifts are still around, depending, regardless of your view, the glory is still rendered to the

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Lord. These gifts are dispensed by the Holy Spirit to be used by His Church to glorify the

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Lord in the up -building of His Church. In other words, it is secondary.

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These gifts are secondary to the aim of building up the Church and the glorification of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the application here, that regardless of your view, regardless of where you stand here, these gifts are meant to glorify the

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Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the application. Be it, again, gifts of tongues, gifts of prophecy, gifts of wisdom and knowledge, all of these will glorify the

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Lord Jesus Christ in the end if they are from Him. And that is where we apply this. So again, whatever you're gifting, whatever your position, glorify the

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Lord Jesus Christ with it. Whatever your position, whatever you're gifting, glorify the

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Lord Jesus Christ with your gifts. Okay, that seems like a little bit of an information dump.

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And frankly, I've had a blast looking at this passage and studying the

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Scriptures and seeing where the Lord has beautifully laid out these gifts in history, even the varying different views of where these gifts are today.

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I thoroughly enjoyed this study. And part of the reason why I enjoy this study so much is because of the discussion that does take place after this.

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The sharpening of iron amongst believers, whether you hold one position or another, the studying of Scripture, the studying of God's Word, is something that does excite me and it should excite every one of us.

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Again, like I said, I'm looking forward to stepping off the pulpit today and having people ask me, you know, okay, well, what about this or what about that?

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You know, I'm looking forward to these discussions. I really am because these are ironing, sharpening iron.

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You know, one brother sharpens one another. I'm looking forward to that. This is one of the beauties of this text, of that freedom that this text does allow us to interpret, is that we are to build one another up.

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This is part of the reason these gifts exist and this is one application that we can also apply now.

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So I thoroughly enjoyed this. So again, this should excite all of us here, for those of us looking to either win the discussion or maybe to learn.

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So I'm looking forward to that. But if I can say one thing before we leave, if I can, now that we've looked at this text, however,

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I do have to plead for two groups in particular. One group is the group that says that they believe in the spiritual gifts.

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They believe in spiritual gifts and may even claim to have a blessing from the Lord in these gifts. They have ministry, they have some way, they have some discernment from the

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Lord. However, they are deluded and they continue to walk on the broad road of destruction.

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I'm talking to that one group right now. If I can plead for them, those who are deluded over the spiritual gifts, who covet the gifts more than they covet the gift of Jesus Christ himself.

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That's one group. And the other group, another group, again, equally as deluded, who walks as an enemy of the

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Lord, believing in their own self -righteousness and their own unrighteous works and their own route to salvation, only to join hands with those on the broad road of the first group.

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For they are both one and the same. I'm talking to those two groups in particular. For they are both equally headed to the same direction, that broad road to destruction.

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For today, I want to close really quickly in Matthew 7, verses 21 to 23.

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I just want to close there briefly because this finds so much application in today's day, even with us now.

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I want us to really examine this text and truly come away with a sense of reverence for whom it is we render our glories.

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So again, chapter, or Matthew, Matthew 7, chapter 7. So Matthew, chapter 7, verse 21.

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My mistake. It says this, Not everyone who says to me,

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Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Ask yourselves, do

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I claim Lord, Lord, but am I of the one that does not enter the kingdom of heaven? Ask yourself.

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Verse 22. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?

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There's one gift. Cast out demons in your name. There's another. And do mighty works in your name.

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Those are the questions being asked by this group. Or to the unbeliever that says, I'm a good person.

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I worked really hard. I did good things for good people. Don't I deserve salvation?

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Right? You have both groups standing before the great white throne. And what's the answer of the Lord? What does he say?

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What is his declaration? Verse 23, it says, And then I will declare, it is a finished issue.

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Case closed. The Lord declares to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.

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So to those groups, I ask, I plead, again, I urge, repent, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't covet these gifts.

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To the first group that says that these gifts are of great power and great worth, these gifts are useless to you if you walk in the broad road to destruction.

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They are anathema. So repent, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. And to those who claim self -righteousness or self -glorification for the sake of your own righteous works before the

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Lord, you are also as equally deluded. So repent, repent to the

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Lord Jesus Christ. Turn to him and be washed of sin. And to you, brothers and sisters, those here who stand before the

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Lord in rightful bearing, let us never lose sight of the greatest gift of all.

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Forget the giftings of the Holy Spirit for one moment, but the greatest gift of all is the Lord Jesus Christ himself and his sacrifice for us.