Tapin to the Holy Spirit by Gerald Van Horn
# Part 4 1 of 5
I Corinthians 14:1
Introduction: We continue our series on “Tap In to the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Today’s message in very important. I trust you will listen and learn. You might want to even take notes.
The Gifts of the Spirit. We may not be able to cover everything on such a vast subject in one Sunday. However, I think we’ll cover the subject on as best as possible as the time limits us.
“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers (miracles), to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits (discernmentz0, to another speaking of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines.” I Corinthians 12:7-11. These gifts are commonly the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Make no mistake they are helps for the church and the body of Christ. There are 9 gifts of the Spirit to empower the church to function here on earth.
We are aware that many people today do not believe in the manifestations of the gifts of the Spirit for several reasons: (a) They just do not believe it. (b) They believe that the gifts ceased with the Apostles.
God’s Word makes it clear to us. The Spirit himself has placed them in the Bible for some reason. It sounds awkward to us who have the gift of tongues when someone says, “I just don’t believe in it.” It’s like saying “ I don’t believe in something that you’ve experienced.” Once you experience the gifts of the Spirit, you know it’s real. You know in your knower. In the same way you know God is real.
Many believe that they ceased with the Apostles. They base this on I Corinthians 13:8 “Love never fails, but where there are prophases, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” I believe this is a future reference. Basically, the gifts are inadequate compared to future coming of a perfect King. Besides, if prophecies and tongues have ceased then why do we still have knowledge?
Have there been those who abused the gifts? Yes! Have people misused the gifts? Yes! For this reason, many only see the abuse. Many only see the misuse and conclude the gifts are false. This is a sad case of human nature. It is our nature to throw out the baby with the bath water.
* Just because one preacher turns bad doesn’t make all preacher’s are bad!
* Just because one day care center encounters child abuse, doesn’t mean that all day care centers are bad!
Concerning the gifts of the Spirit, the Bible tells us to stir up the gifts. Basically it is available to all people. “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” I Corinthians 14:1.
Basically Paul says here that we should desire to have spiritual gifts. The word desire in the original Greek is “Zelo o”. It means to covet earnestly the gifts. Wow.
I disagree with the pushy manifestation of spiritual gifts! But if we have a desire(covet earnestly) spiritual gifts it will help us to understand what Paul is talking about.
“For this reason I remind you fan the flame of the gift of God.” 2Timothy 1:6 The Bible is clear we are to stir up the gifts that are within us. When it comes to the gifts of the Spirit many people quench the Spirit. They don’t have an open mind about it and a negative spirit arises within them. “Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” I Thessalonians 5:19. Basically and sad that many pull out heir spiritual fire extinguishers and try to put the fire out. So, we must be areful not to put out the fire.
Briefly let me touch on the gifts of the Spirit listed in 1 Corinthians 14:1.
There is (1) The word of knowledge. How we all need a word of knowledge from time to time to be able to navigate through life. Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives us a word of knowledge about a certain situation or a person. (2) The Word of Wisdom. A word of wisdom is different from knowledge. Sometimes we need wisdom to implement the knowledge we already have about a situation. (3) The Gift of prophecy. This may be the most important gift of all. Why? Because Paul says, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” I Corinthians 14:1. All these gifts build up and edify the church or buils up individuals. What is prophecy? Sometimes God gives insight into certain situations involving individuals or a body of people. Prophets do exist. There are prophets all through the Bible. Jesus ,himself, was a prophet. And prophets wrote much of the Bible. Hosea and Joel to name a few. So prophets are important to the kingdom of God..
Are there false prophets? Yes. Is this gift is sometimes abused? Yes. Many seek out a so called word from the Lord. The best word is found in a book called the Bible.
(4) The Gift of Faith. You can’t accept Christ without this gift. (Eph.2:8)
(5) The gifts of healing.
(6) The working of miracles.
(7) The discerning of spirits.
(8) Different kinds of tongues.
I believe the gift of tongues is the most widely misunderstood gift of all the gifts. The gift of tongues that Paul is speaking about is a tongue that is not of this earth. It is a different kind of tongue. It is a heavenly tongue. The person speaking in a tongue (the gift) does not know what they are saying. So, why do it? Because it builds you up in your walk with Christ. I Corinthians 14:4. “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.” When you attended a full Gospel church you might hear people speaking in tongues.
Now let us address something very important . Tongues should not be a distraction during the service. In fact if there is a message in tongues there should be an interpretation of what is said. Why should there be an interpretation? Because nobody knows what is being said and it must be interpreted. If a message comes forth we must pray for the interpretation. All this should be done in an orderly fashion.
Some of the largest churches in America believes in speaking in tongues. In fact the largest churches in the world believes in speaking in tongues. In Acts 2:17-18 Peter declares, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on your sevants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophecy.”
Next I will conclude this series on Tapin to the Holy Spirit.
Thank to Mark Van Horn pastor of River of Life HEB
