I'm sorry.

All right.

I'm so glad you're here this weekend.

Give a little shout out again to all of our campuses.

I'm not going to name them all, but you know, West Cohen.

Rancho and Upland and San Dimas, of course.

Okay, Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12, and you'll want to turn there.

That's where we're going to be.

Romans 12, verse 3 through 8.

So, when I was 42 years old, we moved from New Zealand, after having been missionaries in Africa, Zimbabwe for 10 years, and then New Zealand for 10 years, and then I took a job as a teaching pastor at Savannah Christian, which was vibrant, still a vibrant church, just a fantastic church, and as a day of getting the staff together and having staff building, our senior pastor, Cam Hustford, and remember, it's in Georgia, so everybody owns a gun.

And so as a staff bond building day, they took us out into the woods and we were going to skeet shoot, which I had never done.

I'd never held a gun in my, well, okay, that's not true.

I held a gun one time, a 12 gauge shotgun when I was like 16 at my uncle's place.

And he said, you want to shoot this?

And I said, yeah, and about knocked my shoulder off because nobody taught me how to hold it.

So then we go out and we get this long speech.

Okay, there's like 50 staff.

And he says, look, if you've never done this before, the chances of you hitting the skeet are slim to none.

So I was first up.

Skeet goes in the air.

Boom, hit it, knock it right out of the sky.

Cam looked at me and goes, wow.

And then for the next eight hours, I didn't hit another one.

So he thought I had some skill.

That's just dumb luck, isn't it?

Just a fluke.

Seriously, I hit the very first one and couldn't hit another one.

That's not a gift.

That's a fluke.

But I want to talk to you about gifts.

Romans 12, here we go, verse 3.

For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not have all the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us.

If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve.

If it is teaching, then teach.

If it is to encourage, then give encouragement.

If it is giving, then give generously.

If it is to lead, do it diligently.

If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Here we go.

I want to talk to you this weekend about spiritual gifts.

And I want to do it in four segments.

How does one receive spiritual gifts?

What are spiritual gifts?

What is the purpose for spiritual gifts?

And what is the protocol for the use of spiritual gifts?

So one, how does one receive them?

Two, what are they?

Three, what's the purpose?

Four, what's protocol?

So number one, are you ready for the long haul, folks?

You got some Mountain Dew in you?

I'm trying to do a lot of stuff in one sermon, but...

We got to do it.

Got to get this done.

How does one receive spiritual gifts?

The answer is by the grace of God.

Every believer has the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Everyone who has the gift of the Holy Spirit possesses gifts from the Holy Spirit.

Paul says in verse 6, we have different gifts according to the grace given to us.

So a gift or gifts that you have, you didn't earn them.

God gave them to you as a gift.

Every believer.

has them.

We are defining spiritual gift this way.

A spiritual gift is an unmerited, unearned, intrinsic talent or ability given by God for the purpose of building his church.

It is a gift, which means you can't earn it.

It's given.

You can't force your gift on someone else.

You either have it or you don't.

Evidently, we're going to learn later that you can seek a gift or gifts, but God is the giver and has the ultimate say.

and he's always a wise investor.

Now, quickly.

There's a disagreement sometimes concerning whether or not spiritual gifts come suddenly out of nowhere at your conversion or whether spiritual gifts lie dormant until a person is awakened by the Holy Spirit at conversion and then they go on warp speed.

And I believe that this is an unnecessary debate because I believe that both are true.

In Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, we're told that even when we were in our mother's womb, he formed us, shaped us.

He's speaking of Jeremiah.

So he knows he's going to call Jeremiah to be a prophet.

And so he gives him gifts, talents, and abilities that will be awakened in him at a later date, even while he's in his mother's womb.

In Psalm 139, very powerful verse where we're told that God searches us, that he knows us.

Before a word is on our tongue, he knows it completely.

Verse 13, for you created my inmost being.

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Two powerful Hebrew words.

One means awesome, and the other means intricate detail.

And what it means is that God puts you together piece by piece.

He equipped you piece by piece in your mother's womb, and when you discover your gifts, talents, and abilities, and you operate in those, you're going to be awesome.

That's basically what it means.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

So God puts you together in your mother's womb, gave you talents, abilities, gifts, the ultimate purpose for these gifts.

is that you may love, serve, and worship the living God and expand his kingdom here on the earth.

Now, whether you use those gifts for this purpose is up to you.

Most people will not use these talents, abilities, and gifts that God gave them while they were in their mother's womb for the kingdom of God, but will use them for their own selfish purposes.

So you may be in the room and you may have the gift of leadership that we're going to talk about later.

You may have incredible business acumen and you're able to do things that just, man, everything you...

Touched turns to gold.

You can either use that solely for yourself, but it's still a gift from God.

You still owe everything that you have to God because he knit you together in your mother's womb.

Or you can use it both for your survival and for the kingdom of God.

However, to suggest that God sometimes doesn't look down on a person and give them an immediate gift, that does not harmonize well with scripture because the apostles were given the gifts of healing and tongues.

In Acts 1, tongues being, in this case, a language that they had not previously known, that they were able to communicate to people who had come up to Pentecost.

And now suddenly, God gives them this amazing gift of speaking a language they had never learned.

And also, they were given, on that moment, gifts of healing, where they could lay hands on people and they, boom, they were healed.

Man, don't you wish, I wish I had that gift.

Don't you?

You could just lay your hands on somebody, boom.

So God gave them this wonderful, wonderful gift.

He also gave, I think he gave Peter the gift of faith because Peter denied he even knew Jesus when Jesus needed him most.

But yet after Acts 1 and the Holy Spirit is breathed upon the disciples who became the apostles, Peter goes right to the establishment that crucified Jesus and starts preaching the gospel.

He goes from denial to man.

He is brave and courageous.

Neither of these gifts, I believe, were possessed at birth.

They were given for a specific purpose, a specific place and time.

Now, I look into my own life, and I've always been, from the time I was probably five years old, I've always thought people wanted to hear what I said.

Just ask my mother.

I've always been a leader and a mobilizer.

I was the captain of every sports team I played on because I just cannot stand inactivity.

Something's got to be done, and I think coaches saw that, that if they coached me and gave me a game plan, that I would lead the charge.

Just tell me where to go, and we'll go.

But when I came to Jesus, I think the Holy Spirit injected his power and wisdom into that gift that he'd given me and by his grace for his purposes.

However, even though he knits me together in my mother's womb and gives me some of these talents and abilities, at the same time, anybody who knew me then and maybe even who knows me now, ADHD, that's me.

I wish I was kidding.

My staff used to kid me a little bit here at CCV than one at all.

Evidently, there was a movie called Up and there was a dog that went squirrel.

And they started saying that to me and I didn't know what it meant.

And then when I found out, I wasn't very happy about it.

And I remember when Robin and I went to a marriage counselor to improve our marriage and to work on things, the marriage counselor, I remember her looking at me and saying, how do you?

How do you preach?

I mean, it's obvious you're ADHD.

How do you do that?

And then I loved her next statement because I can go, I may not be able to follow you in your conversation for maybe three to five minutes at the most.

But when I go into my office and I start opening the Bible, I can sit there for eight hours and study and not even know the time has gone by.

And she looked at me and goes, that's because the spirit of God gave you a gift, the gift of teaching.

And with the gift of teaching comes the gift of learning.

And anybody who knows anything about me knows that had to be a gift.

So what I'm saying is everybody in this room, I can't explain every detail to you, but I know that God knit you together in your mother's womb and gave you certain talents and abilities.

And then When you became a Christ follower, he's going to give you some of these other gifts.

Sometimes he awakens it.

It's already in you.

Other times he just gives it instantaneously.

Nobody knows how and when, but we just know that he does it.

So now number two, what are spiritual gifts?

Okay.

Now everybody take a deep breath.

Everybody say, I love Pastor Jeff.

And everybody say, I do, but he's not right about everything.

No man or woman is.

You need to follow me here and give me grace.

Okay.

Because we are a wonderful church of people from different backgrounds.

And I love the fact that we're so eclectic.

And when you have this many people come together from this many backgrounds, more than ever, this is where we need to give each other grace and mercy.

But this is a time that I need to tell you my understanding of these things.

Okay?

First of all, let's begin with what most scholars call the foundational gifts.

So in Ephesians 4, verse 10 through 13, this is what we read.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God.

and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So foundational gifts include the gifts that are mentioned very early on in this passage, as well as the other passage we read.

And the first gift I want to talk about is the gift of apostleship with a capital A, because there's also the gift of apostleship with a small a.

Apostleship in the early church, in order to be an apostle, you had to witness The risen Christ, personally, which is why the apostle Paul had to have the road to Damascus experience, and you had to be set apart, breathed on by the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 1.

That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, 1, in defending his right to be an apostle, he says, am I not free?

Am I not an apostle?

Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

Are you not the result of my work in the Lord?

The apostle...

In the first century, church had absolute authority, absolute in ministry and instruction, and his ministry and instructions were validated by signs and wonders.

If you think about it, that makes perfect sense because we're going to be told in a scripture that I'll read momentarily that the church is going to be built on the foundation of the apostles.

Jesus Christ is the cornerstone.

So they're given the task of laying the foundation.

And if you're claiming to lay the foundation of the church, you better be able to back it up.

And so God gave them the ability to perform signs and wonders.

But to be an apostle, make no mistake, you had to have seen the risen Christ.

Now, in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 19 and 20, consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, two groups of people, which Christ Jesus himself, with Christ Jesus himself, you as the chief cornerstone.

Now, that's a pretty amazing statement.

Wow.

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

The foundation, listen now, has been built and Jesus is the chief cornerstone.

Therefore, it is your pastor's very strong opinion.

Listen now, and you have to listen to the whole sermon.

There are no modern day apostles, capital A, or modern day prophets, capital P.

And what I mean by that is you don't rebuild a foundation unless it's weak.

And this foundation is eternal.

And no man or woman today has absolute authority.

We're not to listen absolutely to any man and woman because they're under the authority of Scripture.

No preacher is infallible.

Definitely not me and no other preacher.

The canon of Scripture is closed.

God has given us his revelation.

And what anybody says or does has to be tested and measured over and against the canon of Scripture that has been completed.

No one today is writing a new Bible.

You with me so far?

Okay.

In fact, in Revelation 22, I warn everyone who hears the words of prophecy of the scroll, if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in the scroll.

And if anyone takes away words from the scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are ascribed in the scroll.

So I'm simply saying when it comes to capital A apostleship, capital P prophet, those days are gone.

The Old Testament prophets prophesied about the coming Messiah.

The New Testament prophets explained the coming of the Messiah and they gave words straight from God.

And whatever they said, you were bound by them.

Now, having said that, there is the modern day apostolos, small a, translated messengers.

This is a non-technical term for all ambassadors of the gospel.

It's 2 Corinthians 8.23.

As for Titus, he is my partner and co-worker among you.

As for our brothers, they are representatives, apostolos, of the churches and an honor to Christ.

Apostolos means the sent ones.

So God still sends and calls us to take the gospel to the world.

But no one...

No one today has absolute authority to build the foundation of the gospel in the church.

You with me so far?

So there's a great young adult movement in our church right now.

And last night, I've discovered there's a great high school movement in our church right now.

And many of them are going to be called and sent out.

God is doing something very special around this place right now.

And a lot of them, you can tell there's a movement of the hand of God.

that God is going to call them and move them and send them.

They're going to be modern apostles with a small A, that is apostolos, that they are sent out into the world to preach the gospel.

But they're not going to have absolute authority and everything they say and do is going to be measured over and against the scripture and its truth.

Now let's move to prophecy.

Once again, prophecy as the prophet, this gift served a specific time in establishing the church.

And it didn't begin in the New Testament.

It started in the Old Testament.

Prophecy in the Old Testament was an act of intelligible communication that bore divine authority.

The prophets spoke on behalf of God himself.

Typically, their messages included a warning of coming destruction without repentance, the promise of blessing if repentance does come, and the coming of God's Messiah to restore all things.

And according to Deuteronomy 1820, if a prophet claimed he spoke on behalf of God and was not, the prophet said, The punishment was severe.

Prophecy in the New Testament is a lot like apostleship, capital A.

It's divinely inspired, infallible, and trustworthy.

In fact, the apostle John was a New Testament prophet whose words were directly from God.

He says in Revelation 1, 1 through 3, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.

Who testifies to everything he saw, that is the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it because the time is near.

So if there is a modern day person who claims to have this gift of profit, then I'm going to ask him a few questions.

Are you writing scripture?

Should I record everything that you say and take it as directly from God?

An overview of biblical prophecy looks like this.

A miraculous act of understood, intelligible communication rooted in divine revelation, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and it must be received by those who hear it as absolutely binding the Word of God.

So the gift of prophecy, capital P, was absolutely essential during the foundational stage of the church.

It provided necessary instruction until the blueprint of the Word of God was completed.

Now, when you hear me say that, do not put me in a box in a category.

I know those of you who study this, oh, Jeff's a cessationist.

Listen to the whole sermon.

Charles Ryrie, a top scholar and not a conservative by any means, says this.

The gift of prophecy included receiving a message directly from God through special revelation, being guided and declaring it to the people, and having it authenticated in some way of God by God himself.

This, too, was a gift limited in its need and use.

for it was needed during the writing of the New Testament, and its usefulness ceased when the books were completed.

Now, you think about what he's saying.

Again, when people today claim to be an apostle, capital A, or a prophet, I usually ask humbly the following questions.

Number one, do you speak infallibly on behalf of God?

Are you recording what you prophesy so that others can read it and obey it?

Were you one of the original 12 apostles through whom God spoke and upon whose teaching the foundation of the church is established?

If they say yes, I usually run.

But most of the time they say no.

Most of the time they say no.

And here's where we give each other grace.

What it usually means is they're defining spiritual gifts differently than I am.

And so we have to come to terms with what we mean when we use certain words.

There can be no doubt.

Now, just about the time you thought I'm on your team, now let's come over here.

Because there can be no doubt that there are men and women today who have unique giftings to speak about the future in the sense of where culture is going, what the church should be doing.

and they're able to contextualize the gospel in such a way as to communicate the things of God into culture.

Oh my goodness, they are spiritually gifted people.

C.S.

Lewis, Francis Schaeffer, Elizabeth Elliot, Philip Yancey, Corrie ten Boom, Ravi Zacharias, despite all of his sin, you can still get gifts and still be a sinner.

Otherwise, none of you had had gifts.

Tim Keller, Billy Graham, and yet not one of them claimed to be a prophet or an apostle.

There's a reason for that.

There is clearly a New Testament gift called the gift of prophesying.

It's in the Bible.

Romans 12, 6.

If a person's gift is prophesying, this is different than the office of prophet.

Let him use it in proportion to his faith.

Prophesying is a Hebrew word, naba, and it's the Greek word, profiteo.

And it simply means to speak forth, to proclaim.

In the New Testament church, This basic ministry, this basic gift of prophecy was given to people who had the ability, not their whole mission wasn't to predict the future, but to proclaim and expound and exhort the congregation to follow the teachings of Jesus.

It was a wonderful gift.

It had wisdom in it.

It had knowledge and understanding of things people did not understand.

So if you like to stand up and tell people what to do, there's a chance you have the gift of prophecy.

A lot of us men are married to prophets.

Just a little joke.

In 1 Corinthians 14.3, we have the clearest definition of prophecy.

But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification, that is to build up and equip, and exhortation.

So the prophet in the New Testament, not the prophet capital P, but those who had the gift of prophecy, had this ability to stand before others, boldly, passionately communicate the truth of God's word in a way that they could understand.

And they would inspire people to live a life.

that Christ calls us to live.

And it was a wonderful gift.

You say, wait a minute, that sounds like Jeff Mines and Michael Gisaka.

But can I ask you something?

Are Jeff and Michael infallible?

No.

Do we write scripture?

You better say no, Michael.

When we talk, are we speaking directly from God so that everything we say you have to record and listen to?

Absolutely not.

Spend five minutes with my wife and she'll tell you I'm not infallible.

Listen, yet I do have the ability that God gave me as a gift that I didn't earn or deserve to proclaim, expound, and exhort the congregation, you to follow the teachings of Jesus.

And he has given me a gift to kind of see things and to break down the text and to have a desire to want to understand it and motivate you to follow Jesus.

Now, who put that in me?

I can't claim that.

Believe me, Michael and I both, we're so aware, and I bet you Don Jackson's aware of this too.

God gives us this gift, but he can take it away just like that.

He's not bound by any covet.

If we start walking away from him, if we start going the wrong way, and I think great communicators know that, and they live in this type of humility and a little bit of fear and respect that, man, if I don't honor God with this, there's going to be trouble.

So the Bible says...

By the way, just quickly, we'll get into this in a moment, but you know, there are different measures of the same gift.

So, cause some of you are going to say, well, I can't stand on the stage and preach.

Yeah, but you're great.

If you stand on a stage in front of 15 kids of to tell the story, to use your gift of explaining carefully the prophetic word of God so that they could understand it.

You know what my greatest fear is?

Junior hires, terrified of them.

Matter of fact, last night, Alan asked me to come and do a Q&A with the high schoolers.

I've only done that one other time in my life because I hope I was okay, but usually I'm with, you know, scholars and young adults, and you never know what they're going to say.

I mean, I haven't been that nervous for a long, long time.

But I love them, man.

They were into it.

They were listening.

So the point is there are different measures of the same gift.

Now, in...

Chapter 4 of Ephesians.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the teachers, the pastors, pastors, teachers, to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be able to help.

So now we move to evangelism.

Evangelism simply means gospelizer.

It's one who declares the good news.

The gift of evangelism is the special ability given by the Holy Spirit to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You know, there are some people, man, when they hear their pastor talk about, you need to share your faith, they say, just show me where.

Others of you say, man, I'm just so uncomfortable doing that.

Well, people with the gift, we're all called to do it.

People with the gift, though, they do it with ease and courage and clarity.

You know, they're the kind of people that they're in the movie theater and somebody comes in and says, is this seat safe?

And they say, no, but are you?

See, they're just always looking.

They're always looking for an opportunity.

You know, I've got a, you know, Philip was said to be an evangelist in Acts 21, and Apollos was also described as an evangelist in Acts 18.

I've got a friend that he never met a person he didn't like.

Seriously.

Nobody's safe around this person.

I've seen him walk a woman to Jesus Christ in an airport lounge.

I've seen him talk to a man on the street in London that he didn't know and lead him to Jesus.

I've also seen...

When we go and stay overseas, no person is safe in any hotel.

No person.

I mean, he has a way of starting the conversation about Jesus just by ways that you and I would never think about.

You know, like that.

You know, is this seat saved?

You know, do you need luggage?

No, my friend, but what luggage are you carrying?

I mean, it's just cheesy.

It's really cheesy, but it works.

And I just kind of go like this.

People with this gift, they share the gospel with ease.

Now you're thinking, hey, you know, when you think of evangelism, you're thinking Billy Graham.

Yeah, but there are some great teachers that work with our children.

Again, they have the gift of evangelism for that age group.

Junior high is that age group.

High school is that age group.

Some of you can do it for two people.

Some of you can do it for 300 or Billy Graham, 3,000.

Then the next gift mentioned is pastor teacher.

And by the way, this is a misunderstood gift.

The Greek word is poyman, and it actually means shepherd.

So this is not the preaching, proclaiming gift.

This is the shepherding teaching gift.

And you'll find that elders in a church usually function in this type of ministry.

The elder of a church, they are to nourish and protect.

They are shepherds that are to minister to and to comfort and to have compassion for the people.

They protect the sheep.

They lead the sheep beside quiet waters.

They watch over them with the rod, direction, and the staff protection to keep them from harm.

So The pastor teacher is the one who helps people grow in their knowledge of God and spiritual maturity by both instruction and care.

But that's not only the elders.

Ron Hall would fit into this.

Ron Hall loves to minister to, to counsel, and all the life coaches that volunteer here, all of them I would bet have this pastor teacher kind of gifting.

And then we go specifically to teacher.

Didaskalos is the Greek word.

And people who have the gift of teaching, people with the gift of teaching, have the God-given supernatural ability to communicate Bible truths to others.

So unlike the prophet, listen now, unlike the prophet, capital P, the teacher originates nothing new.

They're merely defining, describing, and declaring pre-existing revelation.

They're not giving new revelation.

They're explaining present revelation.

I think, again, of people like Francis Schaeffer, Tim Keller, C.S.

Lewis, they were really good at skillfully communicating truths.

Not all pastors and elders.

have the gift of teaching, but that doesn't mean they cannot teach.

It just means they have to work harder to do it.

It takes much more effort.

When I think of teachers, quite frankly, I think of Elizabeth Elliot.

I think of John Ortberg.

I think of R.C.

Sproul, Chuck Swindoll.

I also think of Dawn Jackson.

I would classify Dawn more as a teacher-preacher and me more of a preacher-teacher.

She has a way of going through a very communicative language.

It's very easy to listen to.

I'm sometimes difficult to listen to because I'm screaming all the time and moving too fast.

But she has the gift of teaching.

Michael has the gift of preaching, teaching.

And I think so do I.

There are others on staff as well, like Marissa and like Alan. So the gifts are all over this place in our church.

So again, let's go back down to Ephesians 4.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, prophets, the evangelists, pastors, teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith.

and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So there's no doubt that prophesying, small p, evangelism, pastors, teachers, these are significant gifts, which is the reason, according to 1 Timothy 5, the elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

So there is a sense of respect given to them, but not infallibility.

Respect, but not infallibility.

And yet, if you do have those gifts, that's where the most humility in our church should be.

Right?

Because you don't do anything to earn those gifts.

So a person who stands on this stage that doesn't exhibit humility, there's a problem.

There's got to be a sense of dependency here.

Okay?

And then there are the serving gifts.

We'll get to everything.

The serving gifts.

Back to Romans 12.

If it is serving, then serve.

If it's teaching, then teach.

If it's to encourage, then give encouragement.

If it is giving, then give generously.

If it is to lead, do it diligently.

If it is to show mercy, do cheerfully.

So verse 7 says if a person's gift is serving, let him serve.

This is the Greek word diakonos.

It means to serve or attend to.

It's what we call the gifts of helps.

People with this gift are amazing, but often underappreciated.

But pastors know how valuable they are.

They make the church run, don't they, Michael?

Whatever needs to be done, they do it.

They're the people who get tired of talking about it, and they just jump in and get it done.

And they never say, that's not my job.

This kind of person manifests their gifts in many ways.

Well, you have diakonos, you have deacons serving communion, preparing the offering, counting, recording everything that you'll never see what they do behind the scenes.

Then you've got these glutton for punishment parking lot attendants.

Oh, my goodness.

They must have the gift of mercy along with the gift of service.

There are people who work in this kitchen all the time when we have youth events and young adult events.

It's so hot in there and they're cooking all day just to make sure that people's needs are met and they do it without any kind of recognition.

They're church rats, like I described a few weeks ago.

They just love to be here all the time.

They want to serve.

They can't wait to serve.

They have the gift of serving.

And some of you say, oh, that's why I don't serve.

I don't have the gift.

Oh yeah, that's it.

That's it, that's why.

No, the gift is a natural inclination.

There are people who just want to, but we're all called to, right?

Philippians 2, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interest, but also to the interest of others.

Even Jesus said that he did not come to be served, but to serve.

A servant's heart is the telltale sign of a true servant or true believer.

When I lived in New Zealand and had ministry, we set up.

We set up and took down 10 years, 10 years.

So Westco, you've been setting up and taking down what, five, six?

And you've done well, but now you're in your own facility.

Think about 10 years.

There was this one young man, and he was a young man.

His name was Wayne Roser.

And he was part of the set up, take down, true.

I mean, he was five o'clock in the morning.

We had to set this place up for 10 years, Michael, everything.

And he was always the first one there and the last one to leave.

And one day I said, Wayne, why do you do it?

Why do you keep doing?

He said, and I quote, because I've written this down.

I kept it for years.

When we have one of those morning services, when so many lives are changed, I would like to think that I did all that I could to help that happen.

And I'll tell you, Wayne Roser, you look up servant in the dictionary, he's got a little photo of him right there.

Wayne Roser.

By the way, let's go back to what we said.

There are different measures of the same gift.

Some of you, again, you may not be able to preach to 3,000, 30,000, but you can to 30, 15, 10, depending on what age group.

Some of you may not be able to teach to thousands, but you can teach to smaller groups.

Maybe the perfect small group teacher, community leader, that's the perfect size for you.

The evangelist, some of you can do your best one-on-one, others are best in group, and then you got Billy Graham who can do it to three million.

Some of you are Chuck Swindolls for children.

Others of you are C.S.

Lewis's for the high school groups.

Still others are the John Ortbergs of community groups.

Same gift, different measures that matches your calling.

By the way, this gift, this also applies this thing of different measures to helps and service.

You know, there are some of you men in this room and women that can build anything.

Is Randy, I saw Randy earlier.

Randy can build anything.

Randy's my buddy.

That guy, he can, I mean, it's amazing.

Some people, so my wife wanted some, I think I shared this, wanted some shelving built.

And can you believe she asked me to do it?

I mean, And she obviously believes in the gift of miracles.

Because I walked into this place, and I didn't know what to do.

And my son Delaney, I don't even know if he remembers this, he felt sorry for me.

And he walked out, and he could see the look on my face.

And he said, don't worry, Dad.

And he started measuring, drawing lines everywhere.

And he said, can you take me to the lumber yard?

That was the epitome of my gift.

I drove the car, and he went in and bought what he needed to do.

We're starting to put up these shelves.

Delaney, my son, is a Mr.

Fix-It with a capital F.

But they're also Mr.

Fix or Mrs.

Fixits with small Fs.

All they need is duct tape.

I've seen them.

Man, they can repair houses, cars, boats, major appliances.

I've even seen some people braid hair with it.

So some people give them some duct tape.

I mean, do you remember Patrick Gorley?

Anybody remember Patrick Gorley?

Worked here for years.

Loved that guy.

He was back in the back, and here's what he would say to me.

Pastor Jeff, the answer is yes.

What's your question?

What do you want?

Because we used to build these huge stages up here to follow the series.

And we had no money.

He could build things back here.

I'm thinking, where'd you get the money?

Where did he have it?

Well, I found that back here, and I found that back in the dumpster, and I went and found it.

And he could build these incredible sets for almost next to nothing.

He was the ultimate Mr.

Fix.

And I'll never forget Patrick Gourley.

But then of course, capital F, small f, and then there are those who got an f in shop and we've never looked back.

So whatever you are, I hope you realize your gift is invaluable.

Mission teams go to Africa and build things in schools.

We go to Mexico and build housing for pastors.

I mean, if you can, that's such a great gift to have, what you can do in your creativity.

I've actually got this vision, men.

that I've not shared with very many people, and I don't know when it's going to happen, but I've got this vision of people like Randy and Scott and Anthony and those who can build, Rick, coming back here.

We ought to build this huge town of Bethlehem with Roman soldiers so that every Christmas we can take people on a Bethlehem journey, you know, and then we just leave it up all year round.

We can have little meetings in it, you know, the He-Man Womanators Clubs or whatever we want.

Wouldn't that be great?

So I don't know why I threw that in there, maybe just to be light, but gifts of service include...

quickly.

Leadership, encouragement, giving generously and mercy.

So in the order of the text, if it's serving, serve, teaching, teach, encouragement, then give encouragement.

If it's giving, give generously.

So if you start with encouraging, which is a word that means to call alongside with the intent of helping, then the person with the gift of encouragement has the ability to drive home specific truths of scripture in a way as to motivate.

application and transformation.

I love this gift.

There's a verse in Proverbs that says, like apples of gold and settings of silver is a word spoken in the right circumstances.

I love people with this because I need them and I want them in my life.

So Randy is one of those.

Randy can come up and say something to me that calls me to account, but at the same time, I feel like he loves me.

And then you've got people who walk up to you and they're just rude.

It really doesn't matter what they say.

It really does.

Even if what they say is right, you just want to punch them.

You don't think pastors want to punch them?

They want to punch them too.

We don't.

It's a wonderful gift.

Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.

The last thing a pastor needs, somebody tell him how good he is, and then behind his back, rip him to shreds.

You'd rather have somebody honest with you, tell you, you've got this weakness, but you know what?

I love you, and we're going to work on it together.

That's a gift.

Barnabas in the Bible, the son of encouragement, he had that gift, so much so that when all the people in Jerusalem shunned Paul, Barnabas showed up and encouraged him.

And then when Barnabas and John Mark had one of these, because it happens, then Barnabas goes over and encourages John Mark and puts the pieces back together to put him back in the ministry.

Encouragers are essential to every ministry though.

Children, youth, high school, right?

Young adults, mission, whatever.

These people need to be everywhere because everyone needs encouragement.

Verse eight continues, if it's giving, then give generously.

Now, some of you can say, what?

Giving is a gift.

That explains why I don't give anything.

I got it now.

It's not my gift.

Nice try.

The fundamental call of Christ is to render to Caesar what is Caesar and to God what is God.

What belongs to God?

Everything.

So people with the gift of giving, however, they kind of say to God, God, I know you own the cattle on a thousand hills.

I'm going to open the gate to my field.

And if you'll send them in, I'll use them for your glory.

And then their lives become extraordinary.

I mean, God knows their heart, so he blesses them because he's always looking for a heart that will work in his kingdom so that he can transfer funds into their kingdom because he knows they're going to use it for his kingdom.

And then this incredible dynamic starts happening.

They trust, God gives.

They trust more, God gives more.

And then it's kind of like they're outdoing each other, where most people say, If God would bless me like that, I'd give more.

And I said before, no, God says you first.

You first.

You give more and then I'll know that you trust me and then I'll send more gifting your way.

Now, this is not a health, wealth, and prosperity message.

It's a simple message that tells you God knows whether or not he can trust you with what he gives you.

And he's a wise investor.

The truth is, if God has gifted you beyond ordinary means, he might be calling you, has gifted you to do some extraordinary things with your gifts.

I've had two people in my life that have given me an incredible example.

I've mentioned them before.

Mike Taylor in New Zealand worked for Air New Zealand.

And one day I found out what Mike was giving, just incidentally.

And I thought, wow.

And I said, Mike, man, I didn't realize.

You give a lot.

He goes, yeah, you know, my goal in life is to make as much money as I can so I can give it all away.

My friend Mike Masterson is the same way.

Mike's always talking to me about his dream of what he can give the church as God continues to bless him.

So if you have the gift of giving, you have the spirit, given capacity, and desire to serve God by giving of your material resources, far beyond the tithe to further the work of God.

you are the person who looks for opportunities to expand Christ's kingdom.

Then if it is to lead, do it diligently.

Sometimes this word is translated administration.

It literally means to stand before.

It is a person who steers the ship.

So if you are a leader, you have this calm, clear thinking ability to inspire others to act in the most difficult of circumstances.

So If you have the gift of leadership or to stand before or steering the ship, it means that when everybody else is panicking, you're not.

You're thinking very clearly about what needs to be done and you can motivate people to do them.

We had some great leaders in our youth ministry during COVID because they came and they said, look, don't panic.

We're going to make sure that all of our teenagers and junior hires have access to the church stuff on our website.

And they created this incredible place where people could come and they could FaceTime and talk in person to people.

Ron Hall did the same thing.

If you needed counseling during those days, even though we weren't supposed to meet together, he had all these coaches counseling and encouraging.

Leadership, leadership.

And the people who usually have the leadership gift, now listen, I'm gonna take a pause here, have what we call a holy discontent.

If one of the primary ways to discover what your gift is, is to ask yourself this question, what ticks me off?

What am I upset about that nobody's doing anything about?

Homeless need to be given a place to live.

People need clothing.

There are poor people down in Pomona.

What are we doing about it?

Well, guess what?

You think that that's in you because you're just naturally good?

Or has God put a holy discontent in you because he's calling you to do something?

Sometimes people will say, well, our church doesn't do that.

Our church does a lot.

But if our church isn't doing something you think ought to be done, you don't have to ask our permission.

Go get her done.

Do it.

Ask God what he wants to do.

One of the greatest examples of this is I had a friend in Savannah, Mark Spadoni.

And Mark Spadoni was the general manager of the Westin Hotel, but he's much more than that.

He bought boat racing to the city of Savannah.

He bought a professional golf tournament to the city of Savannah.

He made Hilton Head a golfing destination.

The guy was a born leader, but his greatest contribution was to lead all of the small group leaders in the church We've got to get the word of God into the lives of people.

Let's go.

And he led the charge.

There was another lady in Zimbabwe when I was ministering to a little church called Greencroft.

Her name was Joyce Yuda.

And I had given a sermon.

I was probably 22, 23 maybe.

And she came to me afterwards and she said, I got a plan.

I love the sermon about we've got to share our faith.

I got a new plan.

I said, what's your new plan?

I think we ought to take the community by block evangelism.

I've called it block evangelism.

What's block evangelism?

Every person who goes to our church, who lives on a street, right?

Yeah.

They are responsible to bring all their neighbors on their block to Christ.

I said, how are they going to do that?

We're going to have meals and we're going to invite people in and we're going to share our faith and our testimony.

Man, it launched a huge revival.

And all of a sudden we had all these new people coming because of one little lady had a vision and she followed it.

Leadership gift.

If you have the gift of leadership, You have the ability to motivate others to work together toward a common vision.

Timothy and Titus had this gift, and that's why they were church planters.

And then finally, Paul concludes by saying if a person's gift is showing mercy.

Quickly, mercy is the Greek word eleos, and mercy is an outward manifestation of pity, right?

Encouragement is primarily words, something you speak, but mercy is primarily deeds, it's something you do.

And I've got a...

bunch of examples here, but because of time, I think most of you know what I'm saying.

Most of the great ministries of the world have been built because somebody saw something that should be changed.

So I think of, there's a ministry called Bruised Reed Ministry in Lexington, Kentucky, where a church there, a few women, I think it was two or three women in the church, just were devastated at the growth of prostitution downtown Lexington.

But rather than judge those women, rather than consider them outcasts, they went down.

into the city and started reaching out to them.

And then they came up with a plan.

They said, we're going to cook nice meals for them.

We're going to give them a halfway house to go to until they get back on their feet.

We're going to teach them how to get a different job, job placement.

And then we're going to show patience and mercy.

And we're going to give them life coaching.

And we're going to do it and do it until we've rescued them.

All great ministries have started with a few people who have this gift of mercy, whereby they say, okay, there's something bad happening here, but we got to move to do something to save people who are in harm's way.

And then finally, there are other gifts mentioned in the Bible, faith.

The person with the gift of faith has a supernatural ability to trust God in the middle of extremely difficult circumstances.

These are people like William Carey, who was in India.

Follow me now.

Hold on.

Stay with me, okay?

The good part's coming.

If you go to sleep now, you're going to miss it, okay?

William Carey, I don't know where they went.

Let me tell you, they are optimistic people, but William Carey was in India seven years before his first convert.

Hudson Taylor spent 54 years in China.

Hebrews 11 missions people who walked by faith, even though they did not see the eventuality of their faith, they still trusted God and his faithfulness.

It goes on and on.

There are people who pray in faith, even though it seems like God is not moving, they keep praying because they have to get the faith, knowing that God is going to do something.

There are people who walk in faith, even though things are being destroyed all around them, they know the victory will come, so they just keep proclaiming the victory.

There are people who live by faith.

They believe that God will work everything together in the end, no matter what it looks like right now.

And those kind of people drive the rest of us crazy.

Because when they talk, they talk as if it's already done.

But that's how they live.

They live by faith.

And then you have the gift of hospitality, which is a Greek word, philozenia, which is a compound word from philo, love, and xenia, strangers.

So people with the gift of hospitality seek to love and to serve whoever God places in their path.

Now quickly, when I was at Savannah, a group of hell's angels started coming to the church.

You can know they were coming, man.

They had their jackets on, riding on their motorbikes, but they had heard there's this huge church and they were just kind of coming to say, okay, who are these people?

I mean, they came in with authority and you thought, man, we're going to have problems here.

No, because there was this little old lady.

Gladys was about 82 years old.

She goes, I got this.

Man, she met him at the front door and kissed every single one of them.

Come here, you big barrel.

Come here.

And man, by the time they got an auditorium, they just have been humbled.

We had no problem.

And it was all good.

Now, okay.

Everybody all right?

This will be the longest sermon of my career.

It's not that much longer, but if I stopped now.

You've heard me say that Pastor Jeff is going to deal with hard issues and he's not going to avoid them.

And if I stop now, you would know that Pastor Jeff is gutless.

I'm going to give you the best of my understanding.

And I am hoping that those who disagree will give me grace.

And those who agree will give grace as well.

Because I'm about to end.

Do my eyes look tired?

It has been one of the longest.

I'm not asking for pity, mercy.

There are three sign gifts, tongues, prophecy, knowledge.

In 1 Corinthians 13, verse 8 through 13, here's what we read.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease.

Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.

Where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

For now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child.

I thought like a child.

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror.

Then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain, faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love.

Now, this is a difficult topic because suddenly Paul has placed three gifts.

in a different classification, in a classification of revelation, tongues, prophecy, knowledge.

Now, let me just say right away, nobody knows with certainty how to explain 1 Corinthians 13 and 14.

Nobody.

I can give you 50 of the world's best scholars on this side who'll tell you one thing, and 50 of the world's best scholars on this side who'll tell you something else.

It is a hard topic, folks.

And you know me, if I thought I knew all the answers, I'd be giving them.

So what I'm going to do is try to tell you what I know with certainty and then take you through the passage quickly and show you the struggle that we all have, okay?

Here's what we know with certainty.

These gifts did operate in the early days of the church.

whereby God communicated words, messages, encouragement, understanding, truth to a body of believers.

So he would give a person a word of knowledge concerning how to handle a situation in the church.

Just read the book of Acts or what was appropriate action to take, or even a truth about Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit that they had not yet discovered.

These were amazing, comforting, encouraging, and guiding gifts.

But here's the clincher, but they were also essential.

Why?

Because we had no Bible.

Don't put me in a box yet.

You can do it later, but not yet.

We had no Bible.

So these letters were being written by the apostle Paul and were being circulated, but the churches didn't have them yet.

In fact, when a church received the letter, they wanted to hold onto it.

It was precious to them because they knew it was revelation from God.

You think about this for a moment.

Remember what we read in Ephesians 2, that the church is built on the foundation.

of the apostles, capital A of prophets.

After the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two, the church began to grow so rapidly and the apostles could not be present at every gathering and the scriptures weren't in everybody's hands yet.

So if they didn't have the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge, where would the information come from?

God was giving revelation, much needed revelation.

And the apostles, capital A, possessed these gifts, but understood that they needed to lay hands on others to transfer these gifts.

So if the church was to gain knowledge, wisdom, and revelation essential to keep the church pure and protected from outside forces, God was going to have to deliver these gifts in this season.

When the early church gathered, these gifts were in operation.

Thank God.

Otherwise, the mystery religions would have probably penetrated and overwhelmed the early church.

Things like Gnosticism and other isms would have caused schisms.

in the body of believers.

So now this brings us to the challenge in the church today.

We just read where there are prophecies, they will cease.

Where there are tongues, they will be stilled.

Where there's knowledge, it will pass away.

So the core doctrines of the church have not changed for over 2000 years.

I love that.

Don't forget that.

But where the gifts of revelation are concerned, there's aggressive disagreement by noteworthy scholars on both sides.

And you know what?

I've read all the arguments.

I've spent my whole life reading these arguments.

There are excellent arguments on both sides.

Some people say the perfect that has come is the scriptures.

And they say, we don't need these gifts because the scriptures have come.

They make a great argument, but other people say, no, the perfect that will come will be the end of the church age when we no longer need these gifts.

And their argument's good too.

Two great arguments.

This is what I know with certainty.

The two issues that continue to cause division in the church today are tongues and the age of the earth.

Why?

Right now, there is a huge movement in Israel.

It's messianic movement, where Jews have come to Christ, and for years they've had this incredible unity until recently, and now they're fighting over tongues.

Why?

I don't get it.

I don't get how an issue like this could divide people.

And some people, I mean, now we have the tongues and the not tongues and that's gonna divide us?

Something that's so difficult and we're gonna get mad and be divided over something like this?

However, as someone who's studied the scripture, I know why there's division, because it's thinking hard.

Let me tell you a little bit about Corinth, okay?

Corinth, which is where we have basically all the information we know about.

the kind of tongues people talk about today, we find in the Corinthian church.

And Corinth was an absolute disaster, a mess.

To be a Corinthian meant to be excessively immoral, decadent, and self-indulgent.

That's a difficult place to start.

Everybody brings their past into their relationship with Jesus, which is why we need solid teaching, training, and nourishing.

which is why we read things like 2 Timothy 3, that all scriptures God breathed, and it's useful for correcting, rebuking, teaching, training, and righteousness.

But where the Corinthian church was concerned, the reason it's so difficult to know what was going on there is because some of the people in Corinth were mimicking the bizarre practices in which they were previously involved.

Ecstasy was considered to be the highest religious experience in Corinth in the other religions.

Sensuous, supernatural communion with a deity.

was the highest value in temple worship.

And these were induced through drugs, frenzied, hypnotic chances, and ceremonies.

So congregations would work themselves into frenzies, allowing the demonic to enter and immorality and debauchery to ensue.

So Paul is concerned about the immaturity of the church at Corinth, so he writes in this letter.

But it's very difficult to know what subject he's addressing when.

Two things are clear.

There were some of the Christians in Corinth who were combining their past experiences in temple worship with now this new religion that they had discovered.

And the Corinthian church misunderstood.

They thought the gifts of the Spirit were for self-edification, rather for the building up of the body of Christ.

So you've got these two things happening.

On the other hand, It's hard to convince somebody that there's no gift of prophecy or prophesying small p in our churches today.

There are amazing prognosticators.

I mentioned them before.

Chuck Colson, Ravi Zacharias, Tim Keller, Francis Schaeffer, Phil Yancey, Billy Graham, on and on.

Is this identical to the gift of prophecy in the first century?

I don't know.

And neither does anybody else.

It's hard.

But what I do know is when these people are expressing these very special gifts, None of them claim to be prophets, capital P, and none of them use the phrase, the Lord told me to tell you.

Those are the things that make me nervous.

Even the people who seem to have a supernatural gift of knowledge, an uncanny ability to communicate truths that impact culture.

It's as if God gives them words of clarity, the right meaning at the right time, but none of them claim to be prophecies, capital P.

None of them say, the Lord told me to tell you this, and they don't claim to be infallible.

It goes on and on.

But here is why it's important that I address especially the gift of tongues.

It's because we have so many people from different, not different faiths, different denominations and different understandings.

And I want to explain my understanding.

You have a right to know that, but you also need to know that this should never divide a church.

Not if we understand scripture, this should never divide a church.

And here's what we know.

Number one, the gift of tongues in the book of Acts is very clearly the gift of speaking in the language you did not previously know.

Okay.

So in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes and suddenly there's all these people that have come up to celebrate Pentecost and God gives these apostles, disciples, the ability all of a sudden to speak.

And it would sound like gibber unless they were speaking your language.

And if they were speaking your language, you would understand it.

And it makes perfect sense because The Bible says that Jesus came in the fullness of time.

And in this fullness of time, Rome had built all the roads.

All roads lead to Rome.

And so now the gospel can travel.

And so it makes perfect sense that in order for the gospel to take over the known world as quickly as possible, God gives this gift.

However, so far, the people who've been at Christ Church of the Valley or one and all, they're with me.

But I might lose some of you right now.

Because here's the honest truth.

As I read 1 Corinthians 14, I...

cannot harmonize Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 as the same gift.

Let me just read it to you.

Pretend like you've never read this before.

Let me just read it.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy.

Small p.

For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God.

Whoa, hold on a second.

The gift of tongues in the book of Acts speaks to people in a language they had not previously heard.

What?

You with me?

I'm a little dramatic right now, but you with me?

Something's going on here.

Indeed, no one understands them.

They utter mysteries by the Spirit.

Mystery?

But I thought tongues was a language you'd never learn that somebody could understand.

And now, Paul, you're telling me, no, it's a mystery?

Verse 3.

but the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strength and encouraging and comfort.

I get that.

That's what Michael and I do.

So the prophet seems to have evolved into prophecy.

The basic ministry of the gift of prophecy was not to predict the future, but to proclaim, expound, and exhort the congregation to follow the teachings of Jesus.

So I got it.

At least I think I do.

And then I read verse four.

Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves.

Whoa, you said that the gifts were for the edification and the building up of the body of Christ.

But the one who prophesies edifies the church.

Yeah, I got that.

You said that.

I would like every one of you to speak in tongues.

Now you've done, what are you talking about?

But I would rather you prophesy.

What on earth is happening here?

Verse six, now brothers and sisters, if I come to you and speak in tongues, what good will I be to you?

Unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction.

This is the apostle Paul who possesses the revelation gifts.

He's a prophet.

He's an apostle.

And he says he has the gift of tongues, prophecy and knowledge.

He says that if he speaks in tongues, it will do them no good.

It may do him personal good, but not good to the entire body, which is the purpose for spiritual gifts.

Verse 7, even in the case of lifeless things that make sounds, such as a pipe or harp, how will anyone know what tune is being played unless there is a distinction in the notes?

Again, if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?

So it is with you.

Unless you speak intelligible words with your tongue, how will anyone know what you're saying?

You'll just be speaking into the air.

Undoubtedly, there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.

If then I do not grasp the meaning of what someone is saying, I'm a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker is a foreigner to me.

It sounds like to me he's saying, don't speak in tongues out loud in church.

So it is with you.

Since you are eager for the gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.

But tongues doesn't build up the church.

He says it edifies self.

So am I not to seek it?

Verse 13, for this reason, the one who speaks in the tongue should pray that they may interpret what they say.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

Oh, this is not gifts of Acts 2.

You see where, you see the struggle?

No.

So what shall I do?

I will pray with my spirit.

What?

So tongues, prayer language in the spirit.

I will sing with my spirit, but I would also sing with my understanding.

And there you have it.

Yeah, it's hard.

It's hard.

He says, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.

Would you make up your mind?

But in the church, but in the church, I would rather speak five intelligible words to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue.

And then he says, this is cold.

He says, brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children.

What he's saying is time to grow up and stop babbling.

That's what he's saying.

How do you know that?

Verse 26, what then should we say, brothers and sisters?

When you come together, each of you has a hymn or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

Hold on, did you go back to languages, Paul?

Did you just go back to languages now?

Everything must be done so the church may be built up.

Okay, if anyone speaks in a tongue, two or at the most three should speak one at a time and someone must interpret.

So has he now gone back to the gift of revelation?

that comes from God to the apostles and the people they laid hands on in absence of scripture.

If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.

Oh, so speaking in tongues, you're speaking to yourself and you're speaking to God.

Just when you thought it was safe to go outside, verse 29, two or three prophets should speak and others should weigh carefully what is said.

And if a revelation comes to someone who's sitting down, the first speaker should stop.

For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged.

Now, you've realized by now you're only going to be doing one song, right?

After the sermon, you've realized.

Verse 32.

The spirits of the prophets are subject to the control of the prophets.

For God is not the God of disorder, but of peace, as in all congregations of the Lord's people.

So when somebody says, oh, I just can't help it.

I had to do that.

I was overcome.

No, you weren't.

That's not how the gift works.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy and do not forbid speaking in tongues.

But everything should be done in fitting and orderly way.

Now, just quickly, to all of you, I love you.

I don't have this gift.

And if I'm being honest, I don't really understand it completely.

Okay?

But I do know that if I'm going to be honest with scripture, when somebody tells me they have the gift, I cannot tell them scripturally based that they don't.

In fact, what I usually say, pray for me then.

You understand?

Pray for me then.

What we're not going to do is stand up in the middle of my sermon and somebody starts speaking in tongues out loud or doing anything else out loud because order comes first.

But...

Listen to me now.

Listen, I've lived a long time now and I have made good friends in my life that have spoken into my life.

And some of them speak in tongues.

Some of them have a prayer language that I don't understand, but I don't have to understand everything.

I just have to love my brother and sister.

And they love me too.

The problem happens when you think your gift is higher than mine.

And now you want everybody to have your gift.

I don't want everybody to have the preaching gift.

And not everyone's going to have the preaching gift.

That's why in 1 Corinthians 12, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, do all work miracles, do all have gifts of healing, do all speak in tongues, do all interpret?

The Greek here is very simple.

It's rhetorical.

The answer is no.

And he tells us to do what?

Seek the greater gifts of which tongues is not a part.

But I don't understand it all.

I just know what the Bible tells me.

And I know if I'm being honest with scripture, here's my conclusion.

One, you have a spiritual gift or gifts that are inextricably tied to the reason you were born and the manner in which God has shaped you.

Dirt road discipleship travels a difficult road until it discovers this gift and employs it for the cause of Christ.

Two, the gifts are for building up the body of Christ, not your own personal gratification or spiritual superiority.

So if I ever hear any of you say, God told me to tell you this, I'm going to talk to you.

Don't do that.

Do not do that.

You're placing yourself in a position of authority that you have no right to do.

You understand that?

And if somebody on this stage starts just breaking out in tongues, we'll stop them.

That's not the time or the place.

If you have that prayer gift, I'm going to tell you, pray for me.

Believe me.

Believe me.

Pray.

Pray for us.

Three, the gifts are to be used in an orderly fashion under the authority of the church leadership.

Our elders established the protocol and they've been called by God, and I'm passing that protocol on to you.

Four, those with the gift of tongues should thank God and use their gifts to pray for unity of our church and for those who are far from God to come near.

Okay?

This is the most...

The reason this splits so many churches is because it's hard.

It's difficult and nobody understands it completely.

But I am not going to tell somebody who has this gift in a prayer language that they don't because I don't have scripture to stand on.

And I'm going to ask them to pray for me.

Wouldn't you want, I mean, you got that gift, pray for me, pray for us, right?

But don't tell everybody if they don't have it, they're less than.

spiritual, okay?

Because it is not one of the gifts that we're supposed to seek, but it is a gift that God gives.

Now, let's look at the list quickly.

All right, we're almost done.

We're going to have time for one song.

Wait, we might not even have time for a song, Michael.

Okay, I'm not finished though.

Okay, so this is an important message.

Look at the screen real fast.

Okay.

Administration, the ability to organize and manage tasks and people effectively.

Discernment, the ability to distinguish between truth and error, good and evil.

Encouragement, the ability to uplift and motivate others.

Evangelism, the ability to share the gospel with others in an effective manner.

Faith and extraordinary confidence in God's promises, power, and presence.

Giving, the ability to contribute material resources generously, cheerfully.

Helps, the ability to support and assist others in practical ways.

hospitality, the ability to create a welcoming environment for others, leadership, the ability to inspire and guide individuals or groups, mercy, the ability to show compassion and care for those in need, prophecy, the ability to proclaim God's truth boldly, shepherding, the ability to nurture and guide believers, teaching, the ability to explain God's word clearly and apply it to life, and finally, and finally, Mercy, the ability to show compassion.

Oh, did I do that already?

Oh, they got them all on one screen.

I apologize.

Michael, I had to finish this sermon.

Natalie, I had to finish this sermon.

This is important for our church.

Even though it's a different week, it's important for our church.

And one more time, I love all of you.

Love each other.

Love each other.

Pray for each other.

Because God is doing an amazing thing here.

There's a revival happening, and we can learn from each other.

Amen?

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

If you want to know more about what it's like to be a Christ follower, I want to encourage you to go to oneandall.church.com to get more information, as well as to reach out to us to walk alongside you in this step.

I also want to encourage you to download our One and All app as we have so many resources there for you, like our daily devotionals, our conversations, podcasts, as well as the sermons, and to know what is happening here at our church so you can get plugged in.

We hope you have a great rest of your week, and we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.