We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Amen.
So we're in chapter number 12 this evening,
and as we've been going through 1 Corinthians,
especially in the last few chapters,
we see the Apostle Paul addressing a lot of different topics or subjects
which are causing division in the church,
where there's possible schisms or possible problems
or different things that are just issues that go along with church.
But as we get into chapter number 12,
we're going to see it as an answer to some of these divisions,
some of these quarrels, things that are wrong,
something that can actually help the church be unified
and understanding the right mentality.
So when we study chapter number 12,
we're going to still see the capability or the possibility of there being division,
but rather not just the problem, a solution to that particular problem.
Look at verse number 1 where the Bible read,
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
Ye know that you were Gentiles carried away under these dumb idols,
even as you were led.
Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking
by the Spirit of God called Jesus the curse,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.
And there's a lot of powerful verses in this chapter.
There's a lot of subjects that are kind of being mentioned,
but essentially this chapter is about spiritual gifts.
He's going to really dive into this subject matter,
and he doesn't want them to be ignorant.
Ignorance is not bliss.
Ignorance is not something to be praised.
The Bible does not praise being ignorant or simple minded.
The Bible actually praises having wisdom.
Get wisdom, get understanding, get knowledge.
And when you lack understanding, lack knowledge or wisdom,
it makes you less effective.
You're not as good at your job.
You're not as good at performing.
You're going to be lacking in certain areas.
So it's important to have knowledge.
Knowledge is power.
Knowledge is going to help you succeed in every area of your life.
And in fact, anytime I do a task and I do it the first time,
I always realize, man, there's a lot of ways I could have done that better.
And we should learn from our mistakes.
We should learn from the things that we do
and realize that knowledge is something that's very important.
I'm never going to do something perfect the first time.
I mean, I have to work at it and try and get better.
My preaching, for example, okay?
I have to constantly get better and work on it and improve.
And my first sermon, I hope, was not the best sermon I ever delivered.
I hope it's not downhill from there.
I've got to improve and work on it.
And you're going to learn by doing.
I'm going to get better at preaching by preaching.
So if you want to become a good preacher,
you know how you become a good preacher?
Preach often.
And you say, well, there's not always an opportunity to preach.
Well, the nursing home ministry is in the bulletin, isn't it?
Oh, I'm not going to give you all this recognition
and all these people aren't, you know,
just preach to a bunch of old people that don't really care.
Well, you know, just repetition will make you a lot better preacher.
And you don't know what kind of ministry the Lord will open up to you
and that kind of opportunity.
I know that my first preaching experiences were done
in an addiction and recovery center,
drug and addiction recovery center.
And, you know, frankly, the ministry was kind of like falling apart
because they would let anybody come in.
I mean, they literally have the service before some black woman
get up and like singing, you know,
just singing like, you know, weird Pentecostal like séance stuff.
Not like good music, okay?
I'm saying obviously you can enjoy music.
I'm saying like you get up, sing preaching,
and like, you know, being an apostolic elder
and they're getting up and saying they're going to heal everybody.
And, you know, then I'm coming up with a King James Bible,
you know, about to preach on, you know, what the Bible actually says.
And so it was a very interesting situation.
Everybody that was sitting there, they only cared about one thing,
the meal they were going to get after I was done preaching.
So it had to be done at exact certain minute and time and hour.
And so, yes, there was a time when I was always done on time.
All right.
But that's a different story.
And so, you know, it wasn't necessarily ideal.
It was a service.
And in fact, afterwards, okay, the glory and the honor and recognition I got,
they gave me a gift after all this preaching, okay?
They sent it in the mail.
I unwrap it.
It's a hand-drawn picture of Jesus.
It was unique.
I'll say that.
He had the long hair.
I mean, some faggoty looking dude.
It wasn't Jesus Christ at all.
I mean, of course, that's the gift that you get.
But look, all those sermons that I prepared,
all that time that I spent there was not in vain.
The Bible says in all labor there is profit.
So we ought to realize that being ignorant is not a blessing.
And if you want to be good at something, you must do it.
And when it comes to spiritual gifts,
if you want to be good in the area of spiritual gifts,
you have to first realize they exist.
You can't just even be ignorant of their existence.
And then additionally, you have to exercise that gift.
You have to use that gift if you want to be a blessing,
if you want to be good at it.
I like verse 2 as well because then he also gives us some information.
He says, you know that you are Gentiles.
Now, that's interesting because where are the Jews?
They're not in this church, are they?
I mean, when he addresses the church, he's saying,
ye were Gentiles.
So apparently this church is just like, if not majority,
or all Gentiles apparently.
And so that's just something that we can kind of understand
other portions of this epistle.
But when he's talking to the Corinthians,
he says they were Gentiles.
And it's also interesting that they were.
What happened?
Well, they got saved because there's neither Jew nor Gentile
in Christ, you know.
There's no that physical distinction.
God's not a respecter of persons.
Once you believe on Lord Jesus Christ, you're a Christian.
And in fact, they're actually a Jew now.
But they're the real Jews.
They're the true Jews.
They're the spiritual Jews.
They're the spiritual Israel.
Ephesians chapter 2 goes in great detail about that.
But verse 3 is a very powerful verse.
He says, wherefore I give you to understand
that no man speaking by the Spirit of God
calleth Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord
but by the Holy Ghost.
Now, this verse has a very primary, you know,
definition or understanding, interpretation,
but it has so many other layers to it.
But let's understand the first application.
Go to 1 John chapter 4.
Keep your finger here as we'll come back,
but go to 1 John chapter 4.
What is the Bible saying?
The Bible is saying when the Spirit of God
comes upon a man, and he's going to preach the Word of God
or he's going to prophesy,
he is never going to say something negative
about the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's not going to blaspheme the Holy Ghost.
He's not going to blaspheme Jesus Christ.
He's not going to be teaching false doctrine.
When the Spirit of God comes upon a man,
everything that he says is going to be right.
The Spirit can't lie.
The Spirit is truth.
And you know what the truth is?
There's nothing bad about Jesus Christ.
There's nothing written.
There's no wickedness in him.
He's holy. He's perfect. He's righteous.
So if someone gets up and they start preaching
something about Jesus Christ being,
well, he's just a man, that's not the Spirit of God.
If they get up and they see Jesus Christ is a liar,
they're the ones that are lying.
If someone gets up and says Jesus Christ,
you know, he's just a good prophet or a good teacher,
but he's not really deity, that person's a liar.
If they're to deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
this person does not have the Spirit of God.
They're not speaking by the Spirit of God
because the Spirit of God would never say such a thing.
Look at 1 John 4 verse 1.
Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits whether they are of God
because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know you the Spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is that spirit of antichrist
where have you heard that it should come
and even now already is it in the world?
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them
because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world.
They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world,
and the world heareth them.
We are of God, he that knoweth God heareth us,
he that is not of God heareth not us.
Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the Spirit of error.
Now this is a very important doctrine that we find in our Bible,
but essentially what the Bible is teaching
is we can discern who is of God and who is not of God
based on their spirit.
When someone is preaching lies about Jesus Christ
he is not of God.
He is a liar.
And according to the Bible he is an antichrist.
What did the Bible say? Look at verse 3 again.
And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is that spirit of antichrist
where have you heard that it should come.
So what is someone who is antichrist?
It is someone that is denying that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh.
They are denying who Jesus is.
They are denying the reality that he is deity.
They are denying the fact that he is the son of God.
They are denying the fact that he actually came to this earth.
You know any aspect of Jesus Christ coming in the flesh being denied
that person is an antichrist.
And you can immediately tell this person is not of God.
We have nothing to do with him.
And the Bible says there are many false prophets.
Now how do I really discern if someone is a true prophet or a false prophet?
How do I really discern that spirit?
Well the Bible tells us it is from the Bible.
Look at 1 John 5 real quick and look at verse number 9.
If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater.
For this is the witness of God which is testified of his son.
The greater witness that we have is the Bible.
So we can test everything that is said or spoken with the Bible
and that is how we discern whether or not someone is of God.
So what is our litmus test?
It is the Bible.
It is very clear.
It is very simple.
But some people don't understand this.
Now let's kind of expand on what we just understood.
If someone comes up to you and is a person that practices Islam
and they say Jesus Christ was just a person.
He is not really the son of God.
Obviously that directly applies.
If someone is a Jew and they reject Jesus Christ
they don't even say he was a good teacher.
They say he was a blasphemer.
That is just a real obvious anti-Christ.
Someone that is denying Christ.
Well let's expand this just a little bit further.
Look at 1 John chapter number 2 and look at verse 22.
It says,
Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ,
he is anti-Christ, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,
but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also.
So in 1 John chapter number 4 he is pretty specific.
He is saying if you deny that Jesus Christ came in the flesh
you are an anti-Christ.
Here he is just saying if you deny the Son in any way
you are an anti-Christ.
When you deny the fact that Jesus is the Son of God
you are an anti-Christ.
You are against Christ.
You are not of God.
So we are getting a little bit more expansive
in our definition of anti-Christ.
Well let's get even more expansive.
You ready?
What does the Bible say in John 1?
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
So who is Jesus Christ?
He is the Word.
So what happens when someone starts blaspheming the Word of God?
They start denying the Word of God.
They start saying,
Oh that book in your hand, that was written by man.
That's trash.
That's lies.
I don't believe those verses.
Those verses are wrong.
That person is not of God.
That person is not of the Spirit of God.
And look, when a preacher gets up and starts saying,
Well the King James Bible, it has lies in it.
No, you are a liar.
No, you have a bad spirit.
That's a wicked spirit.
That is not the Spirit of God.
If someone starts contradicting verses in your Bible,
that is not the Spirit of God.
Period.
I don't care what verse it is.
Now obviously a lot of people embrace John 3.16,
but what about Leviticus 20.13?
What about verses about covetousness?
What about verses about usury?
What about all kinds of other verses?
What about verses about alcohol?
What about verses about fornication?
And people want to sit here and they deny what the Bible says.
This person does not have the Spirit of God upon them.
Now look, just because someone has false doctrine
does not mean that they are an anti-Christ devil.
That is not what I am teaching.
But what I am teaching is that when a man gets by in the pulpit
and he starts lying about what the Bible says,
he is in the flesh.
He does not have the Spirit of God upon him.
Now when someone is just full blown denying the Son of God,
he is an anti-Christ.
I mean there is no getting around that.
That is the Spirit of anti-Christ
and we see it all over the world today.
Even going door knocking.
I run into plenty of people that deny who Jesus is.
They deny that he is the Son of God.
They deny that the Bible is the Word of God.
This is a form of anti-Christ.
They do not just have to be a full blown Jew to be an anti-Christ.
Look, the Muslims in a sense are an anti-Christ.
They deny that Jesus is the Son of God.
Now look at verse number 19.
It says,
They went out from us, but they were not of us.
For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us,
but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
But you have an unction from the Holy One and you know all things.
I have not written unto you because you know not the truth,
but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Notice that the author here,
he is not giving them any room for misunderstanding, is he?
He says,
Hey, I wrote these things not because you are confused,
because you know it.
And it's something that we have to be reminded of.
We have to be reminded that people that are attacking the Bible,
they're attacking Jesus Christ, okay?
They're not of God.
They're anti-Christs.
But some people, they just don't want to believe that.
They don't want to think anybody's bad.
Oh, the rabbis, you know, the Jews, they're God's chosen people.
How many people believe that?
But you have to realize, hey, you know.
You know that that person's an anti-Christ.
That's why you talk to a lot of Christians and they're really like,
contradictory.
Well, yeah, they're not saying, I mean, they're denying the Son,
but they're still God's chosen people that are saved.
It's like, no, you know the truth.
Quit sitting there lying.
Quit being a hypocrite about it.
Just receive what the Bible is saying.
You have the unction of the Holy One.
You know it.
It's not like you're ignorant of this.
Just accept the truth.
Who's a liar?
But he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, okay?
Now go back, if we would, to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
So let's get even more expansive then, all right?
So we've been kind of digging into this verse a little bit,
just because it's a very powerful verse.
But what happens when someone writes a Bible translation
that speaks negatively about the Lord Jesus Christ?
What if it blasphemes Jesus, calls him, you know,
replaces his title with Lucifer in Isaiah 14?
Is that of the Spirit of God?
Look, the NIV is not of the Spirit of God.
Actually, I want to go to one more place.
Keep your finger there, but go to John chapter 7.
Go to John chapter number 7.
And this one just blows my mind,
because I want to ring people around the neck
when you look at 1 John chapter number 2,
and he says, hey, you know it.
You know the truth.
These aren't things that I have to convince you,
and you're talking to a saved person,
and then you show them in the NIV
how it blasphemes Jesus and says that he lied,
and then they'll still say it's a good book.
They'll still say it's a good translation.
They'll still say it's the Spirit of God.
No, that is not what the Bible says.
Look at John chapter number 7, verse number 8.
The Bible says, go ye up unto this feast.
I go not up yet unto this feast,
for my time is not yet full come.
Now, if you have a red letter version of your Bible,
I have one.
You don't have to have one,
but that was Jesus Christ speaking.
Now, in your King James Bible,
there's a great word in here, okay?
It says in the second paragraph or whatever mine,
but it says, I go not up yet unto this feast.
You might want to even circle that word, yet.
Why?
Because the modern versions, especially the NIV,
remove that word.
Now, if you remove that word, what does it say?
It says, I go not up unto this feast.
And the NIV, it literally has Jesus Christ saying,
I'm not going to this feast.
Well, let's read verse 10.
Then it says, but when his brethren were gone up,
then went he also up unto the feast,
not openly, but as it were, in secret.
Now, the NIV says the same thing virtually in that verse.
So in the NIV, Jesus Christ literally just lies to his disciples.
You're just reading the paragraph.
He says, hey, I'm not going.
Then, like, next breath, hey, he went to the feast.
Blasphemous, wicked.
That's why we need to burn them.
And that's why, you know,
at Pure Words Baptist Church this Saturday,
we're going to burn these fake garbage Bibles.
Because, you know what?
It's not the Spirit of God.
It's an anti-Christ.
It's blaspheming Christ.
And you know what?
I don't even need to tell you.
You have an option from the Holy One.
You know it.
You know that that's a lie.
You know, I mean, any Christian you talk to,
hey, did Jesus lie?
Of course not.
Then why are you using an NIV?
It says that he lied.
There's no way around it.
You need to write yet in your NIV.
I mean, at least.
Obviously, throw in the trash or burn it, okay?
I'm not advocating NIV.
But how could you sit there and read a book
that insinuates and pretty much indirectly states
that Jesus lied?
There's no way around it.
But your King James Bible makes perfect sense
because he was saying, look,
I'm not going to go up yet with you guys.
I'm going to wait.
You're going to go.
And then I'm going to go in secret.
Why?
Because people are wanting to kill him.
Oh, I thought I already loved Jesus.
No.
You've got to read.
Read John.
It doesn't take many chapters to figure out
everybody wants to kill Jesus.
So he's trying to wait to be killed on the cross.
That's a really consistent theme in the Gospels.
He keeps evading death.
There's all these death threats
and all these people trying to kill him
and do all these things to him.
And he keeps evading them and getting out of there.
And then finally, he has to come to the cross.
And you know what dies?
What?
Passover at even.
I wonder why.
That was ordained by God.
Okay.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter number 12.
1 Corinthians chapter 12.
But these modern versions,
they can't be of the Spirit of God
because they're calling Jesus Christ accursed.
For a Bible to say that Jesus lied, that's a curse.
And for it to just make contradictions in the Bible,
Jesus is the Word, ergo,
they're still calling Jesus Christ accursed.
I mean, they'll have a Bible and they'll say,
yeah, that's contradictions,
but it's probably a scribal error.
It was probably perfect in the originals.
That's what we believe.
We have the faith that is perfect in the originals.
Well, we don't have just that faith.
On top of that, we believe it's preserved too.
We got it in our hands.
Because why is God such a respected person
that he only wanted to give it to the original author?
Or the original scribe?
Why wouldn't he also want to give it to us?
Don't we need the Bible?
Isn't it written for all of us?
Or is it just written for that one scribe that one time?
And now we have to go dig it up.
What a bad doctrine.
Let's keep reading in this chapter, though.
Verse number 4, it says,
Now there are diversities of gifts,
but the same Spirit.
And there are differences of administrations,
but the same Lord.
And there are diversities of operations,
but of the same God,
which worketh all in all.
So I believe here he's giving us three different classifications.
And we understand that it's the same Spirit.
So anything that's done from God
would never blaspheme Jesus Christ.
Any gifting of Jesus Christ
would not be a mockery of Jesus Christ.
That's why, you know, the modern-day Charismatics,
or Charismaniacs, as some people would call them,
a lot of the actions and the things that they do and say
contradict the Bible.
That's not of the Spirit of God.
You cannot be doing something
that's contradicting the Scripture
because it's not of the Spirit of God.
They have a different spirit.
They have a wicked spirit, a spirit of the devil,
because there's only one Spirit.
And that same Spirit is never going to blaspheme Jesus,
and it's never going to go outside the scope
of what the Bible already says clearly, okay?
But notice here he says there's diversities of gifts.
Meaning what?
There's different ways that God, you know, gifts people.
You know, through song, through preaching.
He's going to give us a lot of different gifts here later.
But he's saying it's just of the same Spirit, the same source.
There's one source for all of God's work.
It's through the same Spirit, through the Holy Ghost.
That's the one who's going to enable us
and power us to do his work.
Additionally, he says there are differences of administrations.
But the same Lord, what does that mean?
Well, there's different authority structures, okay?
And he's going to give us a list
of some of the different authorities
that exist from the Bible.
But we understand at the end of the day
it goes to the pyramid of Jesus Christ
and the fact that he is at the top.
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He's the one that's the ruler.
He's the head of the church.
We all are subject unto Christ.
There's not a different master.
There's not a different person over here that's at charge.
There's one person in charge.
It's ultimately the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the eyes, in the body, there are certain administrations.
There's certain offices.
And additionally, he says here,
and there's a diversity of operations.
What's operations? Basically the work.
The work that is to be done.
Now, let's keep going. Look at verse number 7.
The Bible says,
But the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit with all,
for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom,
to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit,
to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit,
to another miracles, to another prophecy,
to another discerning of spirits,
to another diverse kinds of tongues,
to another the interpretation of tongues.
And then it says in verse 11,
But all these work that one and self same Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will.
So in verse number 4, he talked about diversities of gifts.
Here he's giving us a list of several of the giftings
that people can possibly have.
Let's look at some of these.
The word of the Spirit will give you the word of wisdom, okay?
Or the word of knowledge.
What would be the word of wisdom?
Well, you know, sometimes when you're reading your Bible
and it just applies in your life,
you take the word of God
and then you apply it into your life,
that is wisdom, okay?
Word of knowledge is essentially when you understand things,
when you gain information from the Bible.
And it's just a gifting.
Some people are more gifted
and having greater knowledge of the Bible.
Not everybody's at the same level.
Not everybody has the same amount of knowledge
or the same aptitude even.
You know, the Bible talks about committing the word of God
on the people that are apt to teach.
So not everybody has the exact same aptitude.
We're all gifted in different ways.
Some people have more wisdom.
Some people have more knowledge.
Look in verse 9, he says another faith.
Some people have greater faith.
Some people can, you know, look at the Bible
and they can just do it.
And then there's others have a weaker faith, like Thomas.
Thomas wasn't going to believe in the resurrection
until he saw Jesus, was he?
He was doubting.
He was unsure of himself.
So some have greater faith and Jesus says,
blessed are they which have not seen, yet believe.
Talking about people having a greater faith.
We see the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter number 11
talking about people who had great faith.
And this is a gift that God will give unto some people
where they just, you know, put a lot more trust
and faith in the Lord through the Spirit.
How do we have the Spirit coming through us?
Through the word of God.
So when you read more of the Bible, you know what?
It'll pump up your spirit
and then when you're pumping up the Spirit,
he can enable you to have the gift of knowledge, wisdom, faith.
It's not some hocus pocus.
You say, how do I get these giftings?
Okay, read your Bible a lot.
Read the Bible a lot, meditate upon the word
and then the Spirit will want to give you more giftings,
will work on your giftings and help you in these areas.
You say, I want to be someone who's wise.
Read your Bible a lot.
You know, people don't just say,
Well, I was just sitting there praying
and then all of a sudden I got really wise.
You say, isn't that how it worked for Solomon?
Didn't Solomon just pray and get wisdom?
Well, you know what Solomon did?
He spake 3,000 Proverbs.
He wrote the book of Proverbs.
He writes, you know, books like Ecclesiastes.
Talk about wisdom.
This guy wasn't just, you know what?
I know it.
No, he actually opened it
and read it and studied the word of God
and then God gave him wisdom through his study.
So if you want wisdom, you got to ask.
I mean, the Bible talks about asking for these things
in James 1, but you don't get it through osmosis,
just, you know, touching and feeling your Bible.
You get it through actually reading it
and studying it and meditating upon it
and then the Spirit will give you certain giftings.
He'll help you.
He'll enable you.
We see the working of miracles, you know,
to another prophecy, to another person.
You know, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits,
to another diverse kinds of tongues,
to another the interpretation of tongues.
And especially at the time of 1 Corinthians
with the apostles going around,
some of them were given special abilities, you know,
in the sense that they could just lay their hands
and the sick would recover, you know, the signs of an apostle.
But does everybody get that gift?
Did everybody have that ability? No.
So the Spirit basically, as he wills,
will give unto people certain giftings,
certain abilities for the work of the Lord.
Look at verse number 12 now.
But as the body is one and hath many members
and all the members of that one body,
being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
For by one Spirit are we all baptized in one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we bond or free,
and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand,
I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye,
I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
But now hath God set the members, every one of them,
in the body, as it hath pleased him.
And if they were all one member, where were the body?
But now are they many members yet, but one body?
And the eye cannot say into the hand,
I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need of you.
Nay, much more are those members of the body
which seem to be more feeble or necessary.
And those members of the body which we think
to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor.
And our comely parts have more abundant comeliness,
for our comely parts have no need.
But God hath tempered the body together,
having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
that there should be no schism in the body,
but that the members should have the same care one for another,
and whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it,
or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Let's read a few more verses here, okay?
Verse 27.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular,
and God has set some in the church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healing,
helps governments, diversities of tongues,
are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers,
are all workers of miracles.
So I kind of read all that together
because it's still the same thought.
He just has the same thought.
We kind of just left one previous thought.
What was that previous thought?
The diversity of gifts.
And then he goes into a parable.
He's going into a parable of fleshly carnal truth
to help us understand what we're learning here.
Because you would say, well, if I read the Bible a lot,
how come I don't get every gift?
Because the Holy Spirit does not want everybody to have the same gift.
Because ultimately, we as the body of Christ
are likened unto a physical body.
And a physical body does not all have the exact same part.
It has different parts.
And that's beneficial.
That's good, I like that.
I don't want to have six eyes on my head.
I like having a nose and an ear, another ear and teeth.
I don't want just more eyes.
That's not going to really be that beneficial.
I would look like a freak.
I like my nose.
And that's the example that it's giving.
I don't want to have two left feet.
I don't want to have two right hands.
I like having different parts and having different abilities.
And in fact, everything that's in our body is great.
Nobody looks at our body and is like,
well, I just really wish I didn't have a right arm.
You know, and this evolution,
where you just kind of like grow parts that are not really necessary
and then through natural selection you kind of discard them.
Such a lie.
I don't even have any bad, you know, vestigial structures, okay,
or whatever they want to call them.
Every part of our body is great.
And any time any part of our body has something wrong with it,
it's terrible.
No matter what part of your body.
There's parts of your body you don't even know exist
until they start hurting.
And then you start looking it up and you're like,
what is that, you know?
And you're like, man, recently I pulled my hamstring.
And, you know, I'll be honest, on a daily routine,
I don't think about my hamstrings.
They're not really on the forefront of my mind.
I don't really give much consideration to them.
You know, all of you that have good hamstrings,
you should tell your hamstrings thanks.
Thanks for doing a good job.
Because when it hurts,
you realize how much you need that hamstring to work.
And you like that hamstring.
You like all the muscles of your body,
how they work and they integrate.
Every part of your body currently that's not hurting,
you're very thankful for,
but a lot of times you take it for granted.
You don't realize.
And parts of your body that you don't use
can sometimes, you know, atrophy or become weak
and you're not really exposed to that.
And then you use it and then like you pull your hamstring,
you're like, oh man, that was kind of weak.
I should have been exercising that part of my body.
I should have been giving it more attention.
I should have been doing things for it.
So now I have to suffer.
I mean, guess what?
My whole body suffers.
You know, my hip hurts because I walk a little weird
because it's, you know, pulled.
And, you know, other parts of my body are hurting
because of the stress.
You shift your weight
and you're trying to lift different things.
And, you know, just one part of your body being hurt
can affect everything else.
Can it affect your vision even?
I mean, just even your, like, big toe.
I've heard, like, it's hard to even have balance.
You don't even have, you know, equilibrium in your whole body
just for your toe hurting.
But the Bible's giving us this parable
to help us understand that in the church
we're not all going to have the exact same gifts.
We're not all going to be the exact same.
You say, oh, I really like that gift of the eyes,
you know, of the sight.
But the nose, he shouldn't really want that.
He should want to, you know,
I don't want to see everything that comes in
through my nostrils, you know.
It's probably, you know, sometimes you smell things,
I wouldn't want to see what that looked like.
You know, some people, I'm not going to go there.
All right.
But go to Romans chapter 12.
Go to Romans chapter 12.
It's important for our body to operate the way it was designed.
And it's important for the church
to operate the way it was designed.
For not everybody to have the same role,
for not everybody to have the same giftings,
and for us to use our different giftings in coordination.
You know, if everybody is just a preacher,
well, then how are we going to play the piano?
Who's going to be listening?
I mean, if we all stand up here and preach at the same time,
it's going to be awkward, you know.
I mean, that's not going to work out.
We need some people to sit there and listen, right?
Endure, endure the preaching, you know.
We need people that want to just help out around the church.
People that clean the church.
I like coming into a church building
and it's not filled with, you know,
all kinds of crumbs and dirty things and dust and dirt
and cobwebs and spiderwebs and all these things.
I mean, I like coming into a nice clean church, don't you?
Aren't you?
But you know what?
You don't really realize that person exists
until they stop doing their job.
You know, when someone stops cleaning for several months,
all of a sudden you're like, wow,
I like that part of the body that was cleaning the church.
You stop brushing your teeth for a couple months
and your body will be like, whoa, I kind of like that.
You stop taking a shower for a few months, it gets bad.
We need all kinds of different people in the church.
People to help out with all kinds of different things.
And I can't mention every single person
or every single occupation or every single gifting.
You know, some people are gifted in other areas.
People are better singer, people are better reader,
people are better preacher,
people are better at different instruments.
People are better at all kinds of different things.
Helping with soul winning, helping leading,
helping, you know, with all kinds of aspects
that help a church run together.
And we ought not look at any of those as lesser important,
as lower of importance or not as needful.
We need all of it.
And Romans chapter 12 verse 4 says,
for as we have many members in one body
and all members have not the same office.
So we being many are one body in Christ
and everyone members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace
that is given to us, whether prophesy,
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry.
Or he that teacheth on teaching.
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence,
he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Let love be without the simulation.
Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
I like comparing this with Romans chapter 12,
which is not necessarily the exact same
when it comes to what it's talking about as far as giftings,
but it is in the same concept of us being one body
and the different components that go into it.
You know, somebody says,
I'm not really the best preacher, you know,
but he's a pretty good teacher.
What does my Bible say that he's supposed to do?
You know, he that teacheth, teach.
Oh, this guy, you know, he's not the greatest orator.
Well, can you teach well? Why don't you just teach well?
You know, the person, oh, this person's not a great preacher.
Well, he's good at ministering, helping other people, you know.
Well, I can't preach.
I don't sing well.
I'm not good at the ministering.
Well, maybe you're good at giving.
Hey, the guy that's good at giving and with, you know, cheerfulness.
He likes giving.
He likes helping the church.
He likes doing things.
You know, I like having a building to meet in
and all the stuff that money buys.
You know, you don't realize that person exists
until they're not there anymore.
I mean, if there's literally no money coming into the church,
we'll notice real quick.
Things will have to change.
We'll be meeting outside.
It's a lot hotter outside, OK,
or we'll be meeting in a living room and it gets really cramped.
You know, I'm just saying you don't realize all the things
that are at play when it comes to the body
until they're absent, until you start missing them,
until you start treating them poorly,
until they start suffering, and then you start realizing,
hey, this person is needful in the body of Christ.
And to me, what's really important about this is
if you have a bad attitude in this section,
it's going to really hurt the church.
It's going to cause a lot of division.
If the nose tries to be the eyes, it's just going to, you know,
you're going to have problems, OK?
He's trying to look, you know.
If you're just guided by your nose, not your eyes anymore,
you know, he's like, I got it, guys, just take a rest.
You know, you're going to stumble and fall into all kinds of things.
It's not going to work.
You know what you need the nose to do?
Embrace being the nose.
You know what you need the elbow to do?
Embrace being the elbow.
Don't try to be the hands.
All right, let's turn our Bibles.
OK, give me a second.
It's going to take a little while.
That's frustrating.
It's frustrating when an elbow tries to be a hand.
You say, hey, I really, really, really want to be a hand.
You're an elbow.
Be an elbow.
Be the best elbow that you can be.
Because you know what?
Without my elbow, my hand can't even work.
My hand is worthless.
You know, what good is a hand without an elbow?
And so it's important for everybody in the church
to embrace who they are in the body of Christ.
But you also can't be ignorant of your giftings.
If you have a gifting, use it.
Hey, I can play an instrument.
Well, where are you?
Hey, I can preach a sermon.
Where are you?
Hey, I can minister.
Where are you?
Hey, I can get somebody saved.
Where are you?
Hey, I can give.
Where are you?
And we see we come together and be the best body that we can be.
But in order to be the best body that we can be,
we need some people to say, I'll be the hamstring.
I'll be the knee.
I'll be the elbow.
I'll be whatever I need to be.
And then as you continue to be humble,
look, God will give you honor and due time.
And whether it's in this life or the next life, who cares?
I'd rather be honored in the next life anyways.
I'd rather not be thinking I'm getting
all this vainglory in the flesh and realize
when I get on the scales, it's like it all burns.
I'm like, oh, man.
Everybody thought I was so cool, though.
They said I was so wonderful.
You know, I was such a great preacher.
But did you have charity in your heart?
Did you really change people's lives?
Were you really preaching for the right reasons?
Or is it all going to be wood, hay, and stubble?
They're all going to burn up.
Did you actually have anything worthwhile in your life?
So it's important for us when we look at the body of Christ
that we also don't get envious of others.
So if I look at somebody and they're the hand and I'm the elbow,
I ought not be mad at them for being a good hand.
Oh, I just really want to be a preacher, and he's a good preacher,
so I'm now going to start gossiping about him behind his back.
So now I'm going to talk down to him.
So now I'm going to be mean to him.
You know what?
Whenever he does a really good sermon,
whenever the hand is really good at being the hand,
why don't you go up and shake his hand and say, great job, wonderful.
Why can't you be excited when your hand does a good job?
Why can't you be excited when your elbow works,
when your knees work, when your hamstrings don't let you down?
And what we also need to do is we need to be reminded
that you've got some body parts, like the hamstring,
that every once in a while need to be told, thanks, hamstrings.
You know, there's some people that come to church and you think,
you know what, they don't seem to be getting a lot of attention,
nobody's really talking to them, nobody's really encouraging them,
I can minister to that person.
And you know what you're doing?
You're going to cause them to want to come back.
And you didn't even know that that person was needful for our body.
If they had left, you know, it would have hurt our body.
So we need everyone to consider everyone important.
You need to look at every single individual,
every single soul in this church is an important person,
every visitor, every single person that comes into the door,
we ought to love them and appreciate them and give them the time of day
and talk to them as if you were talking to Pastor Anderson, Pastor Jimenez.
Oh, if Pastor Jimenez came in, I'd talk to him for two hours.
You know, but this person, who cares about him?
Who cares about the elbow?
Who cares about the knee?
Well, maybe the knee needed that, you know.
I don't think, I mean, obviously the pastors like talking to you guys,
but they don't really need it as much as some of the other parts.
That's what the Bible even tells us, okay.
Look at verse number 21.
And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee,
nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary.
And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable,
upon these we bestow more abundant honor,
and our comely parts have more abundant comeliness,
for our comely parts have no need.
But God have tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor
to that part which lacked.
So what is he saying?
You know what?
The eyes probably don't need a lot of recognition.
The muscles, you know, all the attributes of your body that are just comely,
that everybody really likes, that it's just obvious, it's great.
They don't need extra recognition.
They got it.
They're good.
You know who needs the extra recognition?
The hamstring.
The elbow.
I'm going to keep using that example, all right, until they feel better.
No, I'm just kidding.
But you see, what is the Bible telling us?
You know, we ought to decide that we want to minister unto those that seem more feeble.
You know, you don't have to encourage the people that are necessarily doing the best.
You don't have to find the other people and try to encourage them and minister unto them.
That's going to keep the body healthy.
That's going to help keep the body unified.
Because if I neglect my hamstrings for several months and then I go and run really hard,
they might hurt.
They might pull one.
And so it's important that we realize every part of our body needs constant use,
needs constant exhortation, needs constant encouragement,
and we ought to consider everybody important and not be a respecter of persons.
Not look at somebody in our church and say, nah, I don't like that person, you know, nuts to them.
Now look, I believe you don't have to be best friends with anybody in this church.
And in fact, sometimes people that come to church are the worst people on the planet.
You know, some people I look at, I'm thinking, you're making all kinds of mistakes, buddy.
You know, I'm not going to want to hang out with you right now.
But at the end of the day, we ought to be friendly towards every person,
and we ought to be willing to encourage them and help them and minister unto them
and esteem them better than ourselves and look on the things of others,
not just be concerned with ourself.
But at the end of the day, you know, I don't believe you have to be best friends with anybody in this church.
If you don't want to be their best friend, don't, okay?
And I've had lots of people that I went to church with, and they turned out being horrible antichrists, right?
The first part of the sermon, okay?
Let's get through this a little bit more, but go to 1 Timothy chapter 3.
I want to wrap up one more point on this.
But I'll read for you in verse 26, the Bible said,
And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
When we see someone in our church do something good, we ought to be excited for them
and tell them, hey, good job, we're praying for you, we're excited for you,
and not be envious, not tear them down, not speak against them.
They get up and preach a sermon, and they do a pretty good job.
Well, let me tell you the five mistakes you made.
Well, who put you in charge?
Who decided for you to come around and tear them down after they get up and preach a good sermon?
You know, there's some people, they have to go up, and they have to tell you everything you did wrong,
not because they actually care about you, not because they actually love you, because they want to feel superior.
Well, let me tell you, you know, you made a mistake here, here, and here,
because if I had gotten up to preach it, I would have been flawless.
You'll notice guys that preach, that actually preach by my pulpit, they'll notice that I don't pick them apart on everything,
because if I picked myself apart on everything, it'd be rough, too.
I misspeak all the time, I say weird things every once in a while, I have to work on my own preaching, okay?
So, I think we should have grace and be excited for other people.
Now, obviously, there's a time for correction.
There's a time to help people understand they made a mistake and to love them, but it should be done with grace.
It should be done because you love the person in private, you know, not trying to tear them down,
not trying to look better than others.
Hey, everybody, come here, let me tell you what a, you know, so-and-so sermon was like.
He made a mistake here and here. What do you think? Yeah.
What's the point of that?
You're not really rejoicing with them, you're just trying to tear them down to make yourself look better,
but, you know, in the eyes of me, you're just making yourself look terrible.
You're not a leader.
A leader does not go around making it obvious that someone else made a mistake.
Now, sometimes there's a kind for it, but that's very rare.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter number 3 verse 1, though.
The Bible says this. It says,
This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Notice that the Bible uses the word office, meaning what? It's a position.
It's a position within the church. Notice that there's different administrations.
Not everyone is a bishop. Why?
Because there's an authority structure within the church.
Now, let's skip down to verse 10.
The Bible says,
And let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon being found blameless.
So, notice, again, the Bible is saying, hey, there's an office of a bishop.
There's an office of a deacon.
Now, go if you would to Romans chapter number 11.
Go backwards in your Bible.
Acts Romans after the first four gospels.
We're going to see the Bible determines another office, at least with that specific wording.
It says in Romans chapter number 11, look at verse number 13.
The Bible says,
For I speak to you Gentiles, and as much as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office.
So, notice that these are specific offices in the New Testament.
We have the office of an apostle. We have the office of a bishop.
We have the office of a deacon.
And we have other lists that we can compare this to, and I would believe all those were offices within the church.
And so, we notice that there's different administrations.
There's different positions within church, okay, within the work of God.
But at the end of the day, it's one Lord.
They're all serving Jesus Christ.
The apostle, his boss, Jesus.
The bishop, his boss, Jesus.
The deacon, his boss, the pastor, and then Jesus.
But we see that there's an authority structure.
We see that there's, you know, different people that have authority.
Some people leave, everybody's in charge.
Democracy.
Hey, let's just all, we're just all, you know, priests here.
We're all elders.
We're all just, you know, the ones making the rules wrong.
That is not how the Bible, you know, outlines it.
And we ought not look at someone that has an office and think negatively about it.
We ought to encourage them in that office.
Hey, if someone's a deacon, we ought to be encouraged, you know, and rejoicing with them that they're a deacon.
And they're doing a good job.
If someone's a bishop, we ought to honor the bishop and respect the bishop for taking that office and doing the work of that office.
And saying, you know what, I'm not going to be envious of that office just because I'm not the bishop.
Just because I'm not the pastor.
Just because I'm not the one in charge.
Look, someone has to be in charge.
And if we don't have anybody in charge, this church will destroy itself instantly.
Chaos will ensue.
Divisions will ensue.
God gave administrations to protect the church so that it could operate correctly.
So that it could be handled well.
So everything could be decently and in order.
What does it say at the end of 1 Timothy, chapter number 3?
He said,
These things write unto thee, if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.
Why have pastors and bishops and deacons
so that the church can behave itself well?
You remove the bishops and the deacons, chaos.
You know, madness.
You won't have, you'll just be crazy.
Now, let's go back to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, if I had you turn there.
1 Corinthians 12, let's focus in on some of these last few verses.
He said,
And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers,
are all workers of miracles, have all the gifts of healing, do all speak with tongues, do all interpret.
So he's kind of combining this whole thought process here.
But we notice he's saying, hey, is everybody an apostle? No.
Is everybody a prophet? No.
There's a difference between, you know, someone being an apostle, someone being a prophet, and someone being a teacher here.
And notice that not everybody's all of them.
Some people would believe that in order for you to be saved, the charismatic, the Pentecostals today,
they believe you have to have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and you have to speak in tongues.
But what does the Bible say?
It says in verse 30,
Do all speak with tongues?
Why would he ask that question if it's just obvious they all do?
Well, everybody, if you're saved, you speak with tongues. Do all speak with tongues? Yeah.
Is this a rhetoric question for yes?
No, the rhetoric answer to every single one of these questions is no.
Are all apostles? No.
Are all prophets? No.
Are all teachers? No.
Do all speak with tongues? No.
Look, who in here only speaks one language?
That's like the majority of our church.
Do all speak with tongues? No.
And look, having a second language given unto you, whether through your parents or whatever, that's a gift.
And you know what? God wants you to use that gift.
You know, the Pentecostals, they turn the speaking in tongues into nonsense and destroy the purpose of tongues.
What is the purpose of tongues?
Well, I'm pretty sure the most important commandment we have in the New Testament is to preach the gospel unto the whole world.
Go out into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Now, that's pretty tough when not everybody speaks English or Spanish or French or whatever language.
You know what's needed? Different tongues.
People that have the gifting of other languages.
I myself can never speak every language of the world.
It's not possible for me to devote my time and effort and energy to preaching and to learn every language well enough to give the gospel to every single person on this planet.
So you know what I need?
I need an elbow that speaks Russian.
I need a hamstring that speaks Chinese, speaks Mandarin.
We need other people to get involved that are all the different parts of the body.
We need different members to use their gifting, their talents.
And there's some people, they speak English and Spanish and they don't even go soul winning.
And I'm like, you're one of the best people we can use.
You're so gifted. You're so talented.
God has blessed you immensely.
Why can't you use your gifting?
Why can't you go out and preach the gospel?
And we see our church is going to do great works for the Lord when we're all exercising those gifts that we have.
We're going to be operating at full capacity.
What if I just hop on one leg?
I'm not going to be very effective.
I need to realize I got two legs and then I can walk.
Oh man, this is great.
Hey, I can speak multiple languages.
Great, why don't you start using them for the gospel?
Why don't you start doing the work for the Lord?
Some people, they don't realize how handicapped they are spiritually.
If we were to look at them from a spiritual condition, they've got two pulled hamstrings,
and they've got their eyes closed, and they've got their nose trying to be an ear.
It's like, come on buddy.
Realize the gifts that you have and use them.
Now go, if you went to chapter 14, look at verse number 1.
The Bible says, follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.
At the end of the day, we can talk about a lot of different giftings.
We can talk about speaking in other tongues.
That's a very important gift.
At the end of the day, the most important gift, according to 1 Corinthians, is preaching of God's word.
What is prophesying? To speak forth God's word.
How are we going to get people saved?
By preaching God's word, by speaking God's word.
It's the most important gift.
And you know what? I believe everyone in this room can be at that level.
Can be at the level of someone who can preach the gospel, who can prophesy the gospel.
But unfortunately, the majority of people that are saved on this earth could not give the gospel to somebody effectively.
And they don't.
I mean, most people that get saved, they don't actually open their Bible to any person on this earth and just preach them the gospel.
They take their one talent and they bury it in the ground.
And they never do anything for God.
They show up to church, or they do a lot of works, but they're all wood, hay, and stubble.
It's important for us to take the gifts that we have and use them.
Go back to chapter 12 and look at verse 31.
He was asking, do you have all these gifts?
But he says, but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.
So he says we ought to covet the best gifts.
What is the best gift?
The Bible says prophesying, preaching.
And in fact, when we get to chapter number 14, we go through it, it's all about speaking in tongues.
But the conclusion of chapter 14 is that, you know what's more important than all this?
Preaching.
That's why you wouldn't want to preach in a foreign language where they can't understand, except someone could interpret.
Why? Because prophesying is the most important thing.
Why?
Well, how do we start the chapter?
We can realize who is the Spirit of God based on what.
What they say.
What they're preaching.
Preaching is the emphasis.
What's the emphasis?
The Bible.
What is the Bible?
It's what God said.
It's God's words.
And you know what God has ordained man to do?
To preach his word.
Preach the word.
To prophesy.
Now we have all these special giftings, and that's great.
Use them.
I hope we have lots of giftings.
Why would we want to get so focused on one particular gift?
I've gotten to churches where the music is exceptional.
I mean, the choir is amazing.
They have a huge choir.
They have all kinds of instruments.
They got the French horn.
They got the oboe.
They got, you know, they got the triangle.
You know, they're pulling out all the stops.
The hymns are just thundering forth.
It's wonderful.
It sounds great.
And the preaching sucks.
I don't want to go to that church.
You know what?
If we have to sing a capella, but the preaching is great, I'll go to that church.
And look, we ought not neglect the ministry of praising the Lord.
That's a commandment of the Bible.
We ought to enjoy all the giftings of the Lord.
We ought to be a full functioning body.
But at the end of the day, the one thread that we really need to work on is the preaching.
The preaching of God's word.
It's so important.
It's what changes people's lives.
The music is great, and I love the music, but nobody gets on fire for God just by the singing.
You know what really changes their life?
The word of God.
The preaching of God's word.
That gets into their heart.
That's what really changes them.
You know what gets someone saved?
The preaching of God's word.
I've never heard someone sing the gospel at the door and get someone saved.
They preached it.
They prophesied.
And it sounds silly, but I'm just trying to be honest.
Some people say, well, I'm a gospel singer.
I've never met one.
I've never met somebody that said, for God so loved the world.
I never heard that.
And most of the people that are gospel singers, they have false doctrine.
They believe in repent of your sins and all this junk.
Go, if you would, to John chapter 10, the last place you want to have a turn.
John chapter number 10.
It's an important chapter because we want our church to not just exist, but to thrive.
And in order for us to thrive, we need everybody to accept who they are and to use the gifting that God has given us.
But at the end of the day, we don't want to get so focused on any particular gift that we neglect prophesying, neglect preaching.
Preaching is always the most important gift that we can work on, that we can be focused on.
That's what's going to really influence this world is the preaching of God's word.
So that's the one gift that if you have the ability or you're interested in, you need to work on.
I know there's people even in this room right now, they could preach a sermon.
They need to do it.
You need to get on fire for God and decide, hey, I'm going to preach.
And you know what? We're going to take the gifting of tongues pretty soon and we're going to let people start preaching in Spanish.
Why? Because there's so many people in this world that need some good Spanish preaching from God's word.
We need to turn this world upside down with the gospel, with the word of God, what the Bible says.
And we ought not look at all the emotionalism, the Pentecostals, because they love this chapter.
Chapter 12, they're all about, oh, I got a word of knowledge.
And they just lie.
They just say, God said to buy a red Ferrari, so I'm going to go buy one.
I had a word of knowledge. I had a word of wisdom come unto me.
You know, I need to start this business and make lots of money.
I'm not joking.
They come up, they just lie through their teeth.
They talk about all the gifting.
Oh, I speak in other languages.
No, you had a seizure.
No, a demon came inside you.
That's what happened.
We ought to embrace, okay, what the Bible's really teaching here and realize what is it that they look for.
A miracle.
That's what they want.
They want to show up and just see some, like, I saw this stupid Facebook post.
There's like this pastor, he's like a charismatic pastor, he's standing here,
and he has a guy, like, running at him, you know, on the stage, and he's all like, woo!
And then the guy, he's like running, he's all, woo!
And he falls down there, he's like clapping, like, whoa, the power of God!
You know, and then the guy gets back up, and he's like going to run at him, and he's all like, stop!
And, you know, the guy's just like, oh, oh, you know, oh, the power of God!
Look, I can do it too.
It's stupid.
It's not of God.
And what, they're looking for a miracle.
Oh, this special prayer language, woo!
You look like a moron.
Oh, but I got a word from God, let me tell you.
What's his number?
I'd like to call him.
I got a couple questions, you know.
Did Adam have a belly button?
It's like, but what are they looking for?
Some kind of emotionalism.
We ought to take God's word, the preaching of God's word.
You say, oh, you ought to just get up and just bore us with a sermon.
Yeah, covet the best gifts, prophesying, preaching.
That's what changes people's lives.
Not this fake junk.
People don't get their lives transformed by watching a guy fall down on the stage.
A moron.
Idiot.
It's stupid.
And look, the greatest person told to us by Jesus Christ.
He said, look, this is the greatest man born among women.
Let's read about him.
John chapter 10, look at verse 41.
And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle.
But all things that John spake of this man were true.
Notice the distinction there.
John didn't do any miracle.
But what did he do?
He spake.
And everything he spake was true.
You know why?
Because he had the Spirit of God upon him.
The Bible says that he was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb.
And look, no man speaking by the Spirit of God called Jesus Christ a curse, does he?
So we ought to be like John the Baptist today.
We ought to be one that covet the best gifts, covet prophesying.
And look, I hope we have all the great singing and the diversity of tongues.
And we have the ministration, we have the giving.
Let's do it all.
Let's do everything with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might.
Let's do it heartily unto the Lord.
But you know what?
We ought to desire preaching and the prophesying of God's word.
Let's go to some prayer.
Thank you, Father, so much for this great chapter.
Thank you for the sacrifice of your son.
Thank you for giving us the local church.
I pray that every single person would embrace the role that Jesus Christ has given them,
that the Spirit has enabled them to work in.
And I pray that if there's anybody in this room that has a gift, they would realize the
importance of it, and they would not bury it in the ground, but rather they would use
it for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the glory of God, and that he could get
more glory and more light shown in this world through the Spirit enabling them and the gifts
that you've given them.
I pray that you would just enable the men in this room to preach your word and to thunder
forth throughout all the ends of the earth.