Spiritual Gifts

My second sermon.

Listen (mp3)

Notes

Indonesian headhunter, BMW, New suit (Romans 6:4)
He is not going to just sew a spiritual gift onto your old garment.
You have to learn. Sure there is child-like faith, but you have to grow. (Later Pg. 3)
Watchman Nee
Body, Soul, and Spirit 1 Thessalonians 5:23, Hebrews 4:12.
The Tabernacle and the veil rent
Conscience: C.S. Lewis “Mere Christianity”
Communion: Romans 8:16

Intuition: 1 John 2:20b, 27 (NLT)
…the Holy One has given you his Spirit, and all of you know the truth.
Pp. 86-87 Big Book.
In thinking about our day we may face indecision. We may not be able to determine which course to take. Here we ask God for inspiration, an intuitive thought or a decision. We relax and take it easy. We don’t struggle. We are often surprised how the right answers come after we have tried this for a while.
What used to be the hunch or the occasional inspiration gradually becomes a working part of the mind. Being still inexperienced and having just made conscious contact with God, it is not probable that we are going to be inspired at all times. We might pay for this presumption in all sorts of absurd actions and ideas. Nevertheless, we find that our thinking will, as time passes, be more and more on the plane of inspiration. We come to rely upon it.
Spiritual gifts are a God-given talent to do things that are beyond a person’s unaided capability.

Fruits (mature Christian) vs. Gifts (What you do for the body of Christ) vs. Witchcraft. (God is not giving you “powers”)
The purpose of the Spiritual gifts are not to make the gifted person famous, they are intended to benefit the entire body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13).
1 Corinthians 12 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit (NIV).
? message (word) of wisdom
? message (word) of knowledge
? faith
? healing
? miraculous powers
? prophecy
? distinguishing between spirits
? speaking in different kinds of tongues
? interpretation of tongues
Greater things than these: (John 14:12)
“Sign” and “Serving” gifts: (Healing, tongues, miracles, interpretation)
What is our gift?
We can choose our gifts!  We need to eagerly desire them! 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 14:1

Probably not Gifts
Quote:
“Everything from laughing, crying, barking like a dog, meowing like a cat, passing out at the altar, jumping over pews, to transforming into Superman seems to be claimed as a true manifestation of the Spirit”.
Greg Heisler, Spirit-led Preaching (Nashville, Tennessee, B&H Publishing Group, 2007), 13.
Ecstatic experiences with soulical characteristics.

Some people overemphasize the gifts, some have erred to the other extreme and even attributed the gift called “speaking in tongues” to demonic activity.
Tongues
1 Corinthians 14:2 For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.
Acts: more accounts of people who did not speak in tongues than who did.
Love
Paul interrupted Chs. 12-14 with Chapter 13.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
Summary
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts
Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body
The Preacher and little old lady with the pot-luck and a hotline to God.
Baptism Romans 6:4-6
God has to break through the soul to get to the spirit
Living Sacrifice
Let the cross do its work
You are not your own!
Like ripping off a Band-Aid. Peter never prayed for people’s relief, he prayed for them to be strengthened. Nor did Paul (1 Peter 1:6, 2 Thessalonians 1:4)
Let God rip off the Band-Aid

Spiritual advancement is measured by faithful obedience.
~ Watchman Nee

How to get God to fill you with the knowledge of his will:

For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. (Colossians 1:9-12)

1. spiritual wisdom and understanding
2. live a life worthy of the Lord
3. please him in every way
4. bearing fruit in every good work
5. growing in the knowledge of God
6. being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might…

Crystal Jesus
Altar Call

• By Thomas E. Brown, November 13, 2013 @ 5:06 am

  People’s understanding and beliefs about God , themselves, and what it means to hear God’s Voice play a significant role in their experience of hearing the Holy Spirit in their lives. Below we answer the question, “Who or what is the Holy Spirit?” and discuss the many gifts of the Holy Spirit. We also provide a free video series on accessing the Divine Consciousness of the Holy Spirit in your life and the opportunity to receive daily inspirational quotes from the Holy Spirit in your e-mail inbox.

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