(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.) If you are able, it'll be song number 66 at Calvary. Song number 66. All together on that first verse. Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified. Knowing not it was for me he died on Calvary. In mercy there was great and grace was free. Far and there was woe to find to be. There I heard a soul from liberty at Calvary. Five years for the last lesson I learned. Then I trembled at the wall I squirt. Then my lips of glory turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Far and there was woe to find to be. There I heard a soul from liberty at Calvary. All along the true salvation's plan, all the grace that brought it down to man. All the life of the God was spent at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Far and there was woe to find to be. There I heard a soul from liberty at Calvary. Now I've been to Jesus everything. Now I'm glad he'll be as my King. Now my ransom's all the only sin of Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Far and there was woe to find to be. There I heard a soul from liberty at Calvary. Amen, wonderful singing. Let's start off our service with a word of prayer. Dear Lord God, Heavenly Father, I thank you for giving us this day, Lord. I thank you for giving us this opportunity to come together here in your house and sing these praises unto you and to hear the preaching of your word, Lord. And I just ask that you please bless this service tonight. Please bless the singing and bless the preaching of your word and fill us all with your spirit as we listen that we might leave here changed, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Turn to song number 343. Song number 343, revive us again. Song 343, all together on that first verse. We praise thee, O God, for the Son of our God. For Jesus, our hand is now gone above. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. We praise thee, O God, for thy spirit of life has shown us our Savior and scattered our kind. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. Come, glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. Revive us again. Fill your heart with thy love. May soul be rekindled with heart from above. Hallelujah, bind the glory, hallelujah, Amen. Hallelujah, bind the glory, revive us again. All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Welcome to First Works Baptist Church. Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which will be song number 30, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus, song number 30 if you want to get that ready in your song books. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at 1030. Sunday evening is at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock. You see the soul winning times, the teams, the list of expecting mothers. Please pray for them. And then some of the upcoming church events. My wife like to thank everyone for everyone who participated and helped out with the baby shower. And of course, thank you to Miss Ashley for that. And then we do have the men's prayer meeting coming up on Friday, May 28th at Brother Hikes' house. And so men want to encourage you to come, bring your sons with you so they can pray with you. We have dinner for everyone. All the men who come will fellowship, will pray. And so looking forward to that. That'll be approximately around 6 to 630. It's not really a set, strict time. We start around 630 or so. And so hope to see you there. Sunday, June 6th, we have the June birthday breakfast. And then Sunday, June 20th is the special Father's Day service. We'll have a gift for all the dads on that day. And so make sure you bring yourself if you're a father. Bring someone if they're a dad, your uncles, your dad, whoever it may be. The service is going to be geared towards fathers on that day. And so we're looking forward to seeing all the new guests. And then on Sunday, July 4th, we do have the July birthday breakfast that we're going to be celebrating. And we're going to have something special for the 4th of July as well. And of course, our regular reminders about quiet time and no food or drink allowed in the main auditorium except for water and coffee. And make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service. So at this time, we're going to go ahead and take some Sony numbers from this past week up until this afternoon. Let's get some salvations from Monday to Thursday. Yes. Two, all right. Anybody else from Monday to Thursday? How about Friday and Saturday? Friday and Saturday? Five? Four. Brother Maury? Anybody else? Friday and Saturday? Okay, how about this afternoon? Brother Paul? Four for Brother Paul. Brother Ulysses? Five for Brother Ulysses. Brother Mark? One. Brother Mark? Brother Hike? One. Okay. Brother Marcos? Four. All right. Anybody else? Going once, twice, thrice. All right. Keep up the great work on Sony. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Song number 30. I'm going to lead this song. Song number 30, Nothing But the Blood of Jesus. Sing it together. Song number 30 in your songbooks. We'll sing all four stanzas of song number 30. What Can Wash Away My Sin? Sing it together on that first verse. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my part in this I see. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing is my plea. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force an atone. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Nice and strong. Sing it together. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Great singing. At this time the ushers are going to take the offering. Go ahead and take your Bibles and open them up to 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. Tonight we're in 1st Corinthians chapter 12. 1st Corinthians chapter 12. And it reads, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that ye were Gentiles carried away into these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus a curse, and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. 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 it is the same God which worketh all in all. But 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 the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For 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 into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be 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 has 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 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 uncumbly 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. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, 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, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Let's pray. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, thank you for this time we have together to hear your word being preached. Lord, just please fill pastor with your Holy Spirit and give the congregation here ears to hear. And just please bless this service and bless the time to follow. And we pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we're in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, look down at your Bibles in verse 4, it says, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. And what I'm preaching on this evening is the diversities of gifts. A little over a month ago, I started a series about spiritual gifts in light of Romans chapter 12, and we went over those seven spiritual gifts that you see there in that particular chapter. But when you think of those specific gifts mentioned in Romans chapter 12, those are actually gifts that can be basically described as a way that a Christian is wired naturally. That's the way that we are, in a sense, predisposed to already think. That's the way we kind of already behave. It's kind of attached to our way of thinking, our behavior. It's not necessarily a gift the way we see it here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And learning those gifts from Romans 12, and who has them, really helps us relationally. It helps us to realize why is it that that one individual is just really rude, and why does this person, all they want to talk about is just boring knowledge or something. Why does this person always cry? It's just kind of those things of that nature. And it helps us because we need to know those things so that we're not judging someone thinking that they're just weak because they behave a certain way that's different from you. You understand? They're just stronger in different areas. God has gifted them and wired them differently according to Romans chapter 12. Now, we also know that those gifts in Romans chapter 12 are motivational gifts. And what do I mean by that? Well, one of the ways you can know what your spiritual gift is in Romans chapter 12 is based upon does it motivate you? Do you feel energized when you do that specific or when you behave that certain way? For example, you have the servant, and most people, if they're not a servant, they're not naturally inclined to kind of see the need to take the lead naturally. But those who are servants, they love being a servant. They love doing the menial tasks, so to speak, not being in the spotlight. And in fact, it energizes them. It helps them to feel motivated and helps them to really have purpose in life. The person who's the prophet is motivated by preaching God's word, studying God's word, just kind of encouraging others. Actually, that's the exhortor. The exhortor is very much motivated by encouraging others and giving hope to others. This is what's actually referred to as a motivational gift. And so I want to encourage you to listen to that series to find out what your spiritual gift is if you don't know it. So one of the ways you can know what spiritual gift you have is by basically determining what is it that energizes me? Is it weeping with those that weep, mourning with those that mourn, or is it serving, or is it preaching God's word? Is it just studying a slew of information, collecting a myriad of information to kind of tell people about? That's how you can tell what your motivational gift is. Well, I'm going to continue this evening with the subject of spiritual gifts, but I'm going to transition to 1 Corinthians 12. And I'm not going to do a series, so this is going to be the only sermon on 1 Corinthians 12. I'm just going to kind of breeze through each and every one of them and just kind of briefly explain what they are. Now, before I get into that, let me just make some introductory statements. First and foremost, I want you to notice that in 1 Corinthians 12, we see that the Holy Spirit has influence over our lives. Look at verse number 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant that ye know that ye were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 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 Lord, but by the Spirit. And what's being emphasized here is the fact that the Holy Spirit is very much a real entity in our lives. And He has a significant amount of influence in our lives. No man speaking by the Spirit will call Jesus accursed, the Bible tells us. And we can't say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Spirit, but by the Holy Ghost. So it's showing us the significant influence that He has in our lives. But not only that, we see that there are diversities of operation in the body of Christ. Now what's one of the reasons why we call individuals in our church members? Okay, you think about that, you know, we think about church members or church membership. Well that's describing the body of Christ. Because often the Bible will describe limbs of an individual, like my arms, you know, your ears, your legs, as members of the body. And the reason we call individuals in a local New Testament church members is because of the fact that we are an extension of Jesus Christ. You understand? And so we see that even though we are different members, everyone has a different operation in the body of Christ, it's the same Spirit, you understand? It says in verse 4, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administration, but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. And the reason this is important to note is because of the fact that we can't expect every single church out there, Independent Fundamental Baptist, to operate just like us. Why? Because there's different administrations, there's different operations. You just have to realize that if that church down the street is preaching the word of God, they're preaching the right gospel, they have the right Bible, they have the same Spirit. It's just a diverse operation. It's just a different administration, okay? And so that's important to note. And we need to recognize that we can't compare our operations with someone else's, our administration with someone else's. You know it's important that we distinguish those things. Now obviously, if the church down the street is preaching the false gospel, that member has been cut off, so to speak. It's not even a member of the body of Christ. It's obviously a false church, apostatized or whatever, with a false pastor. But this is specifically referring to the members of the body of Christ, whether that be the members of the body of Christ at First Works Baptist Church, the members of the body of Christ and any other Independent Fundamental Baptist Church all around the world, we're all part of that one body and we just have to recognize we have different administrations, okay? Now obviously, if you're part of First Works, you're going to think that we do it the best way, amen? And we should think that way about our own church. We should take pride in our church and be thankful for our church, but not at the expense of criticizing someone else's operation. You've got to recognize other churches who are preaching the Word of God, they have the same Spirit, just a different administration. The next thing I want you to notice is that the manifestation of the Spirit is different from the fruit of the Spirit, okay? Because you can kind of get those two confused if you're not careful. It says in verse 7, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all, okay? Now you have Pentecostals and Charismatics today that will take a verse like this to say, oh, you know, this is our justification for, you know, doing all that demonic weird stuff that they do in their services. That's not the manifestation of the Spirit that it's referring to. The manifestation is what we are going to look at in just a couple of verses, but it's different from the fruit of the Spirit, okay? Galatians 5, 22 tells us, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. And I want you to notice that when the Bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit, it says fruit, not fruits, okay? Right? Because what he's trying to get at here is that, you know, when we walk in the Spirit, it's not like, okay, I got to work on this particular fruit of the Spirit known as love, this particular fruit of the Spirit known as longsuffering, this particular fruit of the Spirit known as peace. No, the Bible is teaching us that when we walk in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is all of these, okay? And they're manifested simultaneously when you walk in the Spirit. Now, obviously, you know, there's a time to be temperate, there's a time to have longsuffering, there's a time to have love, there's a time to have joy. And what I believe this is telling us here is the fact that when you're walking in the Spirit, you will basically, the Holy Spirit will produce that fruit at that particular time when needed. You understand? You know, you're working with someone who is a little hard-headed, so to speak, okay? If you're walking in the Spirit, you know, the fruit of the Spirit is going to manifest itself, not because of you, but because of the Spirit, and it's going to produce that fruit known as longsuffering, okay? It's going to be gentle, it's going to be good, it's going to have love and joy. So these are attitudes, so to speak, that are produced by the Spirit when we walk in the Spirit. So we don't have to work on necessarily, you know, being meek or temperate. All we have to do really is walk in the Spirit. You should not fulfill the lust of the flesh. If you walk in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit shall be made manifest not because of you, but because of the Spirit that dwells within you. He says, and they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lust. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. The next thing I want you to notice is that the diversities of the Spirit, the gifts are given to edify the body of Christ. Now, these particular gifts that we see in 1 Corinthians 12, we see that they're not like the fruit of the Spirit, but what they are is specific actions or things that a believer can do within a local church that will actually benefit and edify the body of Christ. Look at what it says in verse 11. But all these worketh at one in the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit, for the body is not one member, but many. So here's the thing when it comes to the diversities of the gifts that we see here in 1 Corinthians 12. The gifts that you see in Romans chapter 12 is basically signifying how we are naturally wired to behave. Just the way you're naturally predisposed to think, to behave, to respond to others. And that's something that doesn't really change. Not only that, but we've seen and I've observed over the years that typically people have one primary spiritual gift, such as, for example, the gift of being a servant, the gift of ministry as the Bible calls it, and then they have a tendency to also adopt a secondary gift because of their upbringing, their pastor, the leaders in their life, etc. And we see that we also should be able to, or seek to develop the other spiritual gifts, right? Whereas the gifts that we see here in 1 Corinthians 12 are not necessarily those that we're predisposed to do, these are things that kind of come sporadically, okay? And what I mean by that is this, is that when you're walking in the Spirit and there's a prepared place for prepared people, if you are studying the Word of God, if you are gaining wisdom and knowledge, if you're in the right place at the right time and a need rises up, I believe that the Spirit manifests one of these gifts in you during a specific time like that. And I'm going to explain what I mean in just a bit. What I'm saying is this, is that the gifts in Romans 12 is something that cannot be changed. The gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 just kind of come sporadically based upon the situation where it's needed, you understand? So it's like a gift that God gives to you at that moment, okay? Now let's go through these in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Look at verse number 8. Okay? So this is the first gift that we see. Again, this is not something that you just, well, we got three people here who have the Word of Wisdom, other people got the Word of Fools. This section right here is a little intermediate, you know, they got a little bit of both. No, I think this is actually available to every individual in the church when necessary to use it, when the Spirit, when a situation presents itself, you're walking in the Spirit, and God gives you a Word of Wisdom to give to another individual. Not for your edification, not for your self-glorification, but rather for the benefit of the person listening to you, okay? And here's a practical way to explain this. Someone comes to you for advice, okay? Someone comes to you for advice on marriage, on child-rearing, on the Christian life. You know, you want to make sure that you have a Word of Wisdom, right? And be able to speak that Word of Wisdom to help that individual, especially if it's a decision they have to make that it's a pretty important decision, okay? The Bible says in Isaiah 50 verse 4, turn with me if you would to Proverbs chapter 15. Proverbs chapter 15, I'm going to read to you from Isaiah chapter 50. Keep your place there in 1 Corinthians 12. Isaiah 50 and verse 4 says, the Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning. He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. Here Isaiah is saying, God has given me the tongue of the learned, so I know what to say and when to say it, you understand? To basically help those who are weary, those who are tired, those who need encouragement. And let me say this, this is a very important gift, okay? Because if someone's going through a tough time, they're going through a difficult time, and they come to you for advice, you can either make or break that individual sometimes. Because death and life are in the power of the tongue, right? You know, they're just going through, they're depressed, they're discouraged, you know, they're looking to make some drastic decision in their life, and often, if you're not careful, you know, you can give some really bad advice, you understand? So here's a word of wisdom from me to you, okay? If you don't know, if you're not certain of the wisdom that you're expelling to another individual, don't say anything. You know, hand that person off to someone else. Say, you know what, I'm praying for you. I'll be praying for you, brother. But you should probably go talk to either pastor or someone else about this, someone who has some experience. Now, here's the thing is that I personally believe that the diversities of these gifts typically manifest themselves unto those who are already predisposed to it. In other words, someone who has been working on getting wisdom, you understand? Someone who has been asking God for wisdom, they've been reading the word of God to get wisdom, they are hanging around wise people, okay? They've learned from a failure in their life that has given them the experience and wisdom, and if that individual is a good steward of those experiences and that wisdom, God will give them an opportunity to manifest that wisdom to someone else who may need it, you understand? And so the word of wisdom is important. Now, look what it says in Proverbs chapter 15 in verse 23. A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is. Now, I don't want to rehash my sermon from a couple weeks ago or a month ago on Shut Your Mouth. That's the title of the sermon, okay? You know, but this kind of has to do with it, right? It's being able to speak in due season. What is that talking about? The right timing. Sometimes there's a right time to say something, even if it's the right thing, and sometimes it's not the right time to say something, even though it's the right thing to say. You understand? And sometimes timing, not sometimes, all the time, is everything. Now, why is timing everything when giving a word of wisdom? Well, because of the fact that sometimes the recipient of the wisdom you're expelling is not ready to hear that yet. And we want that person to get that word of wisdom, to benefit from that, to act upon it, and to fix whatever problem they have. But if they're not ready to get that word of wisdom, then it's kind of worthless. So the wisdom that you have has to be attached to the right timing as well. You understand? When's the right time to talk to this person? Well, it's probably not the moment when you're really mad. It's probably not the time when you're furious, you're angry, you're upset, you're frustrated, you haven't gotten any sleep, you're moody, you just had a bad day. You should have the discernment to say, well, now's not the right time to say whatever it is that I need to say. Understand? Have the word of wisdom. You say, well, how do I know the difference? Well, walk in the Spirit, think upon wisdom, gain wisdom, ask God for wisdom, and He'll place you in the right place at the right time to give that word of wisdom to another individual. So they can profit with all. You understand? Because each and every one of us, to a certain extent, has wisdom. We've learned things. We've learned things, we're not stupid, we're not foolish. We have wisdom because we've experienced life or we've gained wisdom from the word of God. The element that's sometimes lacking in a person's life is the timing of when to give that wisdom to another individual. Chapter 16 and verse 23 says this, The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth and addeth learning to his lips. So take your mouth to school, have it sit down, teach it when to say something, how to say it. Proverbs 25 verse 11 says, A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. Now I, as a pastor, I have to make sure that I constantly work on this because I have constantly people asking me for advice. And if I'm a fleshly pastor, if I'm not making sure that I'm asking God for wisdom and praying for wisdom and gaining wisdom from God's Word and learning from other people's experiences and even my own failures, I'm going to give bad advice. And here's the thing, there's nothing wrong with you saying, well let me think about this and consult with someone else before I give you that answer. In fact, that's wise. So if someone comes to you and says, I need advice about something and I don't want you to divulge this to anybody else because I'm embarrassed. You can say, well, I can't give you an answer now because I don't really know anything about that yet. But what I can do is consult with someone else and I'll do it in confidentiality and I'll bring you an answer. That's wise. You know, wisdom doesn't necessarily have to originate with you. You can get it from someone else as well. And so this is the gift of wisdom. It's when someone is able to give you a word, a phrase, a piece of advice that has wisdom behind it and prudence and it helps you to make an important decision. And if anything, if you get anything from this sermon, get this, just make sure you're always walking in the Spirit as much as possible. And make sure you're predisposing yourself to these virtues here so when the time comes you're able to effectively deliver each of these gifts to someone else in the church so they can profit with all. Let's look at the next gift here. It says, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. Now the word of knowledge, what is that? Well it's just people who just have a good amount of information already stored up. And obviously this reminds me of the teacher in Romans chapter number 12. But this is an individual who's not necessarily given wisdom but they're able to expel knowledge, information with accuracy when someone asks for it. Now this is important. Why is it important? Because if you don't have knowledge then don't try to give it. You understand? We want to be able to edify someone else so if someone comes to you for knowledge regarding a specific topic or information if you don't know it, just say, I don't really know. Right? That's probably the best thing for you to do. The worst thing for you to do is talk about something that you don't really know about as though you know what you're talking about. That is not, that thing falls over at every service. I don't know what it is. Every single Sunday night that thing falls over. What was that? Sorry YouTube. They're like, this guy's going crazy. Anyways, knowledge, get it, right? And by the way, that's why it's important that you continue to learn as a Christian. You're continuously learning the Bible learning concepts outside of the Bible things outside of the realm and boundaries of the word of God information, science, whatever it may be so that you're kind of predisposed to those things that when the opportunity comes, you're walking in the Spirit you can give that knowledge to another individual who needs it. You understand? He says there, to another, verse 9 faith by the same Spirit. Now, this is not saving faith, okay? This is not the, for by grace are you saved through faith. You know how the Calvinists like to say that faith is a gift that God gives to us. That's not what that's referring to at all. First and foremost, we all are born with a little bit of faith, okay? And some have more faith than others. God doesn't expect for us to have the same amount of faith as another individual to be saved. He just wants us to put whatever faith we have in Jesus Christ in order to be saved. But this is not the faith that this is referring to, okay? When it says that someone has the gift of faith it means they have the ability to instill confidence in another individual. And this is an important attribute here, okay? Why? Because we want to be able to motivate people to serve God. Okay? We want to motivate people to serve God. We want our words to be as goads that motivate them to serve the Lord. And we want to be able to instill faith in that individual to do so. Okay? Encourage that person. And a good way to say, a good way to explain this is this, is that, you know, this is kind of like the gift of confidence. Where you're able to instill confidence in another individual and within reason, by the way, okay? Within reason. Which you have to, you know, have wisdom to know, you know, you don't want to just kind of instill confidence in an individual who has, they're not predisposed to play an instrument or something, you know what I mean? You know, it's like, you know what, who can I pick without offending someone? Let's see, who's not offended that they can't play an instrument at all? All right, let's get Maury here. Like Maury, Jon doesn't do this, but I'm just giving an example, you know. I think you can play the piano. I think you can. In fact, you will play the piano. Those hands are made to play the piano. Black people know how to play piano. I know they can. And you just build up Maury and you're just like giving him that confidence and what happens, he tries and just fails miserably, okay? Maury's not offended, I promise you, okay? His wife may be offended. He volunteered. No, I'm just kidding. What I'm saying is that, you know, faith, the gift of faith is the ability to instill confidence in an individual within reason of what they're capable of doing. So the person who has the gift of faith should couple that gift with the gift of wisdom to be able to spot someone who has potential, you understand? Because the person who has potential has the building blocks for whatever task needs to be accomplished, and the person who has the gift of faith is able to instill the confidence in that individual to say, develop that gift, develop that talent, develop those leadership skills, and you can do something with that in the future. But that requires someone with the gift of faith. They're able to basically, you know, instill vision in someone else's life for what could be, okay? And that is an important thing to do there. Now, it goes on to say, to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit. Now, one thing you notice in this list of gifts that are being mentioned is that there are some that are being mentioned that you would say, well, I thought those were null and void. I thought those don't exist anymore. You've got the gifts of healing. You've got the gifts of miracles. We see the gifts of being an apostle. What's going on with that? Well, obviously, some of these are null and void. And you say, then why are they being mentioned? Because it was necessary during that time when it was being written to the Corinthians. For example, we love the Ten Commandments, but we don't keep the Sabbath anymore, right? But it's on the list. But we obviously know, okay, this is one that we don't have to keep because that's already been fulfilled. You understand? Well, in like manner, we could look at a list like this and see the gift of miracles. We can see the gift of being an apostle or a prophet and understand, okay, obviously, these gifts, they no longer exist. We can basically scratch these off. These aren't what God is referring to for us today in 2021. But I will say this. When it comes to the gift of healing, automatically, the thing that comes to mind is, well, you know, the ability to heal a leper, right? Heal someone who's blind, deaf, they're mute, or whatever it may be. That's what comes to mind. But, you know, this could also be referring to someone who just understands medicine, right? You know, someone who has the gift of healing is someone who understands the science of medicine, okay? You know, Dr. Rita, for example, she has a thorough understanding of medicine. And I would say that she has the gift of healing because she knows basically all the ins and outs of the medical world, okay? She's a general practitioner who understands these things. And she can drop that inflow at the drop of a hat. And she uses it to be a blessing to people, you know, people consult with her, et cetera. We have a person like that in the Bible named Luke, right? Luke was the beloved physician who was serving God, but we obviously see that he was an actual doctor. We would say that he had the gift of healing. He just understood medicine the way other people would not be able to understand medicine. You know, some of us, it's like, that kind of goes over our heads. We're not really interested in those things. I'm not really, you know, kind of keen to medical terms and all that. Whereas someone like a Dr. Rita, that heightens her senses. That's what she's gifted with is the ability to understand those things. So that could be the gift of healing in that way. Which obviously a lot of doctors today in 2021 do not have the gift of healing. Or maybe they have it in certain areas, but then when it comes to vaccines, that just goes out the window, right? Next one we see in verse number 10 to another, the working of miracles. Now again, this is one of those gifts that are just null and void today. It was necessary for the gift of miracles to exist in these days because it confirmed the message of the apostles. It was necessary in order for them, for God to confirm the word with much signs and wonders. It basically established the apostles as being messengers of God. You understand? So as they're preaching Christ and him crucified, they are tying that link between the Christ, the Messiah, and Jesus. A lot of people are kind of in doubt of that, and therefore they were given the ability to perform signs and wonders in order to validate and confirm that these men were sent from God. These miracles, okay? Now, I'm not saying that I don't believe miracles exist today, because I believe in miracles, okay? I believe miracles exist, I believe God does miracles, but I believe that he does them sporadically, okay? And people say, what do you mean by a miracle? Is it a salvation miracle? Yeah, okay, if you want to get poetic like that, yeah. Yeah, so every time someone gets saved, that's a miracle, absolutely, okay? I'm talking about raising someone from the dead or healing someone who's blind. Those special miracles that we see in the Bible, okay? Now, I don't believe people are raised from the dead anymore, okay, like it was in the Bible. But I believe some people can be healed of cancer, for example, or if they have some sort of debilitating thing that if we pray for them in God, if it's in God's will, that God can heal people like that. And I'm sure many of us could attest to a time that a miracle was performed in our personal lives, where we could not explain the outcome of a situation, but by divine intervention. We say, well, this had to be a miracle, you know? I can't explain it through reasonable means, you know, it wasn't an individual who did this, it had to have been God, okay? But this doesn't happen very often, you understand? So what I'm saying is this is that obviously, I believe miracles exist. But here, this is saying the gift of miracles. In other words, these are miracles that come from the hand of an individual who is currently in the Church of Corinth, you understand? This is an apostle who was there, who was performing miracles, okay? Someone was, you know, blind, and he touched them and removed his blindness from him, or they were lame, they were crippled for whatever reason, and they were able to perform those miracles to heal those individuals. The Bible says in Hebrews 12 verse 4, 2 Corinthians 12, 12 says this, Look at verse 24 of 1 Corinthians 12, because a lot of people think, well, I think people can still work miracles today. I mean, it's in the Bible right here, you know, as a gift. Well, even in these days, not everyone can work miracles. Because it says in verse 29, And the implication there is that no, not everyone does all these things. Because obviously, not everyone was an apostle at the Church of Corinth, not everyone was a prophet, not everyone was a teacher, and in like manner, not everyone was performing miracles. Because a miracle is a special sign. If it's something that was consistently done, it wouldn't be that special now, would it? Okay. Let's go to the next one. He says to another prophecy. Now, in Romans chapter 12, we went over the spiritual gift of being a prophet. This is that rude guy in the church, okay? Or guys in the church, okay? You know, they're just kind of impetuous. They kind of have a tendency to put their foot in their mouths, but they're very good at communicating God's Word and discovering prophecies or mysteries of the Bible. This is what I actually believe this is referring to here when it talks about the gift of prophecy. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 13, if you would, 1 Corinthians 13. Someone who has the gift of prophecy, I believe it's referring to someone who is an orator, someone who is able to communicate well. And it's important that we communicate the Word of God, right? That we open up the Bible, we read from the King James Bible, that we preach the Word of God. But you know what's also important is the delivery of that content as well, okay? And if it wasn't important, then God wouldn't have been instructing Ezekiel and Isaiah to, you know, preach in a very extravagant way, to have extravagant delivery, to lift up their voice like a trumpet, to slap their thigh and stomp their feet and slap their hands. Why? Because he wanted them to be dynamic, okay? Now this requires someone who is gifted in that area, because not everyone is able to do that. Not everyone is able to even kind of slap their hand. I know that's not hard to do, you think it's not. But when you're preaching, some people are just incapable of doing that. It's not bad. It just means they don't have the gift of prophecy. Look what it says in 1 Corinthians 13 verse 1. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity, I am become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Now, let me tell you first and foremost what this doesn't mean, okay? Tongues of angels is not referring to what the Pentecostals say it is. That it's some heavenly language which no man can understand but God and the person who's saying it. The challah shalaballah and a six-pack dolla. I bought a niche and I should have bought a Honda. Or as the guy in my old church used to say, arak tak tuk. That's what they tell you this is talking about. They'll say the tongues of angels is that isolated language that only the celestial bodies can understand. God gives that person the ability to speak that to be able to communicate with God in a special way. So stupid. When it says the tongues of men and of angels, he's referring to the eloquency with how someone can speak eloquently. It basically means that this is an individual who's able to deliver the word of God well. That's what it says, the tongues of men and of angels. And I would say this is that I would compare it to 1 Timothy chapter 3 where it says that someone is apt to teach. Because here's the thing, the knowledge of the Bible is available to every single individual in this church. Every Christian has the resource of the Bible. They can learn the word of God, but let me say this, not everyone can teach the word of God. Not everyone can stand up, get behind a pulpit, outline a sermon, and deliver it in such a way that people will understand the message and apply it to their own lives. It doesn't make them bad people, it just means they don't have the gift of prophecy. Now here's the thing, I'd rather listen to a person who knows what they're talking about and they're just boring as dust. Then listen to an individual who has the gift of prophecy like a Joel Osteen, because he's a speaker, he's an orator, but the dude's a false prophet. But I will say this, in order to be sent out from our church you do have to have the gift of prophecy. And you say, wow, is that a qualification now? Well it is for me. Obviously I expect you to follow 1 Timothy 3, and there's other things that I expect for someone to do if they want to be a pastor. But I want the preachers who are sent out of First Works Baptist Church to be able to deliver the word of God well. Because we have a certain flavor of preaching at our church. There's a certain way that the word of God is delivered, and that's what we want to produce in our church. So if you want to be a pastor and you want to preach, base level you have to obviously know the Bible. I know you have to be able to expound the word of God and put the cookie on the bottom shelf, but you also have to deliver the word of God well as well. You have to be able to communicate God's word, you have to be dynamic and exciting. What do you mean? Is it really that important? Yeah, it is important. Today in 2021 we have too many independent fundamental Baptist preachers who want to be motivational speakers. They don't want to lift up their voice like a trumpet. They don't want to cry out loud and spare a knot. They just want to encourage you today. Let me just encourage you today with this little one truth here. It's like a 15 minute sermon, and it sounds all cute and cotton candy like, but it's lame, it's whack. The gift of prophecy is obviously an important attribute. If it wasn't, it wouldn't be in the Bible. Next one, 1 Corinthians 12, we see the gift of prophecy, but also it says to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits. This is another phrase that has been hijacked by the Pentecostals. Where they want to discern the spirits. I think you have the spirit of fornication, brother. You have the spirit of alcohol. That brother has the spirit of porn. I've heard that before. I heard that from an independent fundamental Baptist at a different church. This idiot went up to a visitor in our church. He went up to a visitor in our church and said, I think you have the spirit of pornography. The guy was like, what? Who are you? Why are you even saying this to me? In fact, I don't even think he was visiting the church. I think he was in the parking lot. I think he was a mechanic at that time, in the parking lot helping someone else. He wanted to come up to him and say, I perceive that you have the spirit of pornography. The guy went on to complain. He was like, this bozo is telling me that I'm watching pornography or something. What's up with this dude? What an idiot. But this is the charismatic nonsense that he's getting it from. Where charismatics want to say, oh yeah, I feel like you have the spirit of fear. You have the spirit of anxiety in you. I can sense it in you. I'm discerning that spirit. Stupid, folks. This is not what that's referring to at all. That person has the gift of, he has the spirit of stupidity. It's called the dumb spirit. In fact, a dumb spirit means a muted spirit, so he actually needs a dumb spirit to keep his mouth shut. Now, what is it referring to when it says the discerning of spirits? It's not saying, I think there's a spirit in here. There's some sort of devilish spirit in here. It's not what it's saying at all. What this is referring to is someone who's able to spiritually discern whether the truth is being expounded or not. Because often the spirit is used synonymously with the words that someone says. The sermon or the content that someone is giving out. The Bible says that the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. Neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. Go to 1 John chapter 4 if you would. Hebrews 5 14 tells us, because remember, these are gifts that I believe are given to someone who's already predisposed to them. The way you predispose yourself to developing this gift or being ready to use this gift is by obviously reading the Bible. How are you going to be able to discern if false doctrine is being preached if you don't know what the Bible says? The Bible says in Hebrews 5 14, but strong meat belonging to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil, the Bible tells us. So a person who has read the word of God, they're reading the Bible, they're learning the word of God, they're learning these doctrinal principles, they know what the Bible says, they're able to discern if the preacher on YouTube, if Robert Breaker is a false prophet or not. But there's a lot of saved people who listen to bozos like that and they don't have the ability to discern the spirits. Because they don't read the Bible. Yeah, you see, that's some good stuff, you know. Charles Lawson, he sounds like a good guy, you know, he's got some good stuff. He's a heretic. He's a hyper dipstick who has no idea what he's talking about. And apparently you can't discern that because you're not reading the Bible. You have to prove all things, hold fast to that, which is good, folks. And just because someone has Baptist on their church name, fundamental on their church name, just because they say they're King James only, doesn't give them a free pass as being a righteous person. You have to be able to discern the spirit that's coming out of that person's mouth. 1 John chapter 4 verse 1 tells us this, Beloved, believe not every spirit. Can we just tell these people, show them this verse and say, look folks, don't believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God, because many what? False prophets are gone out into the world. So false prophets is being used synonymously with what? Spirit. So when he says, try the spirits, another way of saying is this, prove the false prophet. Don't we see that in Revelation chapter 2 with the church at Ephesus? Okay, go to Revelation chapter 2. Let's see a church who executed this very well. They had that gift. Revelation 2 verse 1 says, unto the angel of the church at Ephesus write, These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars. So apparently the church at Ephesus had a couple visits from these so-called apostles. Oh, we're apostles, brother. And they're like, oh, did they just give them a free pass and let them preach and do whatever? No, they said, all right, let's talk. Let's do some fruit inspection then. Let me try that spirit. And then what happens? They found out that they're just a bunch of liars. Man, I wish I would have known what that would have looked like in those days. Just booting that false prophet out of the church. This guy says he's an apostle, he's a phony, he's a worker of iniquity. He's a Nicolaitan. He says, and has borne, has had patience for my name's sake, has labored, and has not fainted. So we see the church at Ephesus exercise the discerning of spirits. And they didn't just give a free pass to any individual who came into the church claiming to be a pastor and apostle. They tried the spirit to see if they were of God. And why? Because there's many false prophets going on into the world. We can't just risk having any regular Joe Schmoe who claims to be a pastor, who was given their bachelor's degree at so-and-so Bible college, to come in and expect that person to know what he's talking about. We need to prove that individual and not lay hands on any man suddenly. Neither be partaker of other men's sins. Go back to 1 Corinthians 12. And I think this is important, especially today, the discerning of spirits, because many false prophets are gone into the world. And the reality is, the sad reality is this, is that a lot of churches do not teach their people how to discern if someone is a false prophet or if a teaching is false. I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt. And I would say I give the benefit of the doubt a lot of the times. But the benefit of the doubt that some people give is just like extreme, to the point where it's just like they're teaching repent of your sins. They look like a fag. They talk like a fag. You know, they're just like, not much discernment is needed in this situation. Just give them a chance. See what God does in his life. No discernment, folks. They don't discern between good and evil. Let's move on. We see here another to another diverse kinds of tongues. Let me actually turn there myself. It says in verse 10, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues. Now go to 1 Corinthians 14. 1 Corinthians 14. Now, people wonder, well, if this is null and void, is this one of those things that's just like the miracles that we just saw mentioned earlier? What is this referring to? Well, I believe only half of this is still existent today. OK, so what do you mean by that? Well, when we think of the gift of tongues in light of the Bible, in light of, like, for example, Acts chapter 2, this is a gift that was given to the apostles in Acts chapter 2 for a special moment, right? Because you had all types of individuals from all around the world that were gathering together for the day of Pentecost. God wanted to basically take advantage of that momentum that they had. The fact that they had people from different nations in one spot seeking to worship the God of the Bible, who obviously already had tender hearts because they're worshiping God, and what God wanted them to do is be saved. So he basically permitted the apostles to be able to speak in a foreign language without having to learn it, OK? It's just like, you don't speak Spanish? Don't worry, I got you. Boom! Yo hablo español! And they start preaching the Bible in Spanish, and they're just expounding the word of God, and they're just like, señor este! And they're able to win people to Christ in Spanish. That was actually a special miracle, OK? And that is a gift that God gave to them to be able to preach the word of God in an unknown language without prior education, formal education, in that specific language, OK? That doesn't exist today, where God just kind of miraculously gives you that. There's pastors out there that believe that that still exists. They believe that God can actually just miraculously give you, you know, the ability to speak in a different language, just kind of, you know, out of the blue. I don't believe that exists. Now, I will say this, is that I do believe there will be a resurgence of this particular gift in the end times. You say, why is that? Well, when you compare Acts chapter 2, the lander of Acts chapter 2, with Joel chapter 2, one thing you see is that there's going to be a resurgence of these miracles in the end times. Then why is that? Well, because of the fact that if we're going to go out, let's go out with a bang. God is like, well, I'm going to pull out all the stops, all the miracles to get as many people saved as possible. I believe we're going to see visions, OK? And I'm not saying like vision of a 50-foot Jesus or something, OK? I'm talking about we're going to see like a Macedonian call, where someone from some different country is like, come over and help us. And we get that vision that God gives us in order to go to that particular spot and give him the gospel. So whatever miracle takes place in the end times, according to Joel 2 and Acts 2, is for the furtherance of the gospel, is to get people saved, you understand? And it could be that we're placed in a situation where maybe you're placed in a situation, maybe you don't speak Spanish or something, OK? Let me pick someone out here. Who doesn't know Spanish? Jason! Oh, man, Jason. For sure, Jason doesn't know Spanish at all, right? He doesn't know Spanish. You know, God could miraculously give him the ability to speak in Spanish in the end times to win Spanish speakers to the Lord, OK? Just to kind of go out with the bang, and you see that according to Joel 2 and Acts chapter 2, but I don't believe this is what this is referring to here. The gift of tongue is just referring to your ability to learn a language. And I believe God gives that gift to certain individuals who are just capable of learning very little. And capable of learning various languages, OK? And, you know, I personally believe that people who are already predisposed to speaking two languages, such as English and Spanish, they kind of already have that embedded within them already. So those of you who are Spanish speakers and English speakers, you need to work on learning another language. Because you're already used to kind of switching back and forth. Even though some of you can't speak both, like, really well at all. Albert Gutierrez over here waving his hand in the back is one of them, OK? Yeah, I see you, OK? Now, obviously, if that's the case with you, you should probably just stick to just... You probably don't have that gift, OK? But let's talk about tongues. Well, look at 1 Corinthians 14, verse 1, it says, Follow after charity desire spiritual gifts, but rather they ye may prophesy. So obviously this was actually an issue at the Church of Corinth. So people were speaking in tongues and just kind of doing things disorderly. And they saw this gift as being just a valuable thing. It's like, wow, this person is able to speak in this foreign language. I want that gift. And Paul comes and basically says, hey, you should actually desire a better gift, which is the ability to prophesy or to preach. Because that's actually more valuable than the ability to speak in a foreign language. Look at verse 2. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesyeth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself. But he that prophesyeth edifyeth the Church. So he's basically making the point, look, guys, at Corinth, if you're going to desire and covet a spiritual gift, you should desire and covet the ability to preach God's Word. Because that's actually more valuable to the local church than speaking in an unknown tongue. If you're able to speak in an unknown tongue, you're just going to basically glorify yourself. When you're up there and you're speaking in Mandarin, Nǐ hǎo, huà huà huà huà huà huà huà, and saying all these things, and no one knows what you're saying, all you're doing is glorifying yourself, right? Whereas if you're able to actually preach God's Word, expound God's Word, what happens? You're actually edifying the listener, you know, the person who's listening to you, okay? That's all the Chinese I know. And I don't even know if I even said that correctly, okay? I was going to make another joke, but it'll get me in a lot of trouble. Verse 4, he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifyeth himself, but he that prophesieth edifyeth the Church. I would that ye all speak with tongues, but rather that ye prophesy it, for greater is he that prophesy it than he that speaketh with tongues. Can we show this verse to the Pentecostals? And say, hey, you know who's better than you? Someone who's actually able to preach the Word of God. Except he interpret that the Church may receive edifying. Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? Look at verse number 14, wherefore, let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret, for if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with the understanding also, I will sing with the Spirit, I will sing with the understanding also. He says in verse number, let me skip down a couple of verses here, verse 19. Yet in the Church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue. Brethren, be not children in understanding, how be ye in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. He's basically saying this, look, I know it's very cool to be able to speak in a different language, and be able to expound the word of God in a different language, but you'll get a lot more done if you just learn how to preach in your language. You'll get far more done if you just master your language, and master being able to communicate the deep truths of God in your language, rather than trying to learn a different language and investing all that time in doing so, if you don't have that particular gift. Now I will say this, look, if you know a different language, you know English, Spanish, and you know a different language or whatever, you should seek to master those languages as well, and be a good steward of that ability that God has given to you to learn that language, to win people to Christ, to preach the word of God in that language, so on and so forth. Let me see here, something else I wanted to say. I'm going to skip that. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Let me say this, Pentecostals, they violate this entire chapter. They just mess up this whole thing here. Why? Because you go to your typical Pentecostal church, you have women speaking in tongues. When the Bible literally says, let your women keep silence in the church, it literally says, don't allow the women to speak in church. It is not referring to the time they enter into the doors until the time they leave, it's referring to the actual time of preaching. Now what do you have today in Pentecostal churches? Women just flapping their jaws, speaking in this heavenly language during the church service, just a complete violation of the Bible, and you show them this verse and they're just like, this is just the spirit, brother, I can't help it. It's nonsense. I remember I went to In-N-Out, did I tell you guys that story about In-N-Out? The Pentecostals and I ran into In-N-Out? Years ago when I was in Bible college, we went to In-N-Out, that Christian restaurant, In-N-Out, and there's some ladies who came in and they were just asking, oh, you know, you guys go to church, you guys were wearing suits, and like, yeah, we go to church, and we just got out of church. It was like on a Sunday night. And they're like, yeah, we go to church too, and you know, I speak in tongues. And that just, I was triggered, triggered. And I was just like, I don't believe in that. And he's like, what do you mean? I'm like, that's false. No one can speak in tongues. Like the jibber-jabber stuff, that stuff doesn't exist. It's like, no, I speak in tongues. I'm like, no, you don't. And I just kind of like, we were just arguing, and then I just got my food and I went to go sit down, and she was furious. So mad. She's so mad, she came to my table. And she said, I just want to let you know that I do speak in tongues. I was like, can you speak in tongues? She said, yeah. I said, do it right now. And she's like, okay. You know, just like, seizureing and stuff. And then, and I was like, okay, repeat exactly what you just said. And her face just turned red. She was like, well, I can't. I said, well, why not? I said, because you're a phony, that's why. Because you can't just repeat jibber-jabber, right? I was like, what did I say? Did I say the hollifers or did I say the jollifers? Like, which one did I say first? And of course, they walked away, and I just felt like a boss. But you know, that's exactly what it is, right? It's just nonsense. People can't repeat that stuff. They don't know what they're talking about. And it's funny, the Bible explicitly teaches that if you're going to speak in tongues, speak with tongues, there should be a what? An interpreter. Right? God wants you or someone to interpret what you're saying because if you are preaching God's word in a different language, who is it going to benefit if they don't understand what you're saying? All you're doing is showing off. Which is the next one, the interpretation of tongues, okay? To another, the interpretation of tongues, people who are capable of interpreting what's being said. Look at verse 27. I'm going to finish up here. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular, and God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. So a help, what is a help? Well, it's just an individual who basically assists, right? It's like an assistant to the pastor, it's an assistant to another individual in the church. They're simply a person who basically God endows with wisdom to know, hey, this area is lacking, I'm going to go ahead and make myself available in this area. And then the last one is governments, okay? And believe it or not, the government is a gift, okay? Not our government, this government is referring to just the person who is able to organize and rule. You know, we have a couple people like that in our church, and they bring order to an organization in order that it would operate with more efficiency basically, okay? So that's pretty much it for these gifts, I just want to share those with you tonight, and let you know the distinction between the gifts in Romans 12 and the gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. The ones in Romans 12 are those that which we're naturally inclined to do because we're wired to be that way. Whereas the gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 is something that can sporadically happen, but you are basically supposed to prepare yourself to have those things. You know, you learn wisdom, you learn knowledge, you learn these things so that when you're at the right place at the right time, you're walking in the Spirit, you can help someone profit with law from your word of wisdom, word of knowledge, word of faith, et cetera. And that's pretty much it, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to have the wisdom, Lord, to prepare, because there's always going to arise an opportunity to be a blessing to someone, whether in our church or even outside of our church. And I pray that you'd remind us, Lord, to continue to gain wisdom, to ask you for it, Lord, knowing that you give to all men liberally and you have prayed us not for doing it, that we would gain wisdom by associating with wise people, that we would learn from our mistakes and our failures, we would learn from our experiences, that we would gain knowledge, Lord. So when the opportunity presents itself to be a blessing to someone, to encourage someone, to give someone counsel or advice, it would be a word spoken in due season. And I pray, Lord, help us to be conscious of that. We love you so much, Lord, and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and turn in your song. It's a song number 259 as our last song, Jesus Saves. Song number 259. Song number 259, Jesus Saves. We have heard the joyful sound on that first verse all together. We have heard the joyful sound, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Spread the tidings all around, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Fair the news to every man, climb the steeps and cross the waves. On what is the word of man, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Walk it on the holding tide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Tell to sinners far and wide, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Through the islands of the sea, echo back the ocean caves. First shall keep her jubilee, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing of all the battle strife, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Climb his death and endless lives, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing it softly through the gloom, rim the heart for mercy praise. Sing in triumph for the tomb, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Give the wind a mighty voice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Let the nations now rejoice, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Shout salvation for the free, highest hills and deepest caves. This our song of victory, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed. .