1 Corinthians 12:11 reminds us that it is the Holy Spirit that divides the gifts of God for the church to every person as He chooses. This verse summarizes verses 4-10 and Paul continues to stress that each gifts, through different in many ways from the others, is supernaturally given to each member of the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit as He chooses to give. There is no indication here that gifts should be sought. In God’s sovereignty He has give gifts to be the fulfillment of His divine purpose, they are not a smorgasbord from which believers may choose. The fact that they are given by the Holy Spirit is also a reminder that they are not given for our importance but for the church local and universal. As such they must never be used to exalt the person, but to be to exalt and glorify the Lord, Himself. When the Spirit of God rules and energizes a church at least eight evidences will be manifested, and I want to take this week to review those evidences starting tomorrow. For today, I want to remind you of two things. One, the gifts that the Spirit has given … READ MORE

An important gift for the protection of the church is that of discernment. We live in a day and age when this gift is more important than ever. All Christians should judge carefully what they hear and read and “not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (I John 4:1). Yet more and more the church is displaying a lack of discernment. Some ideas that are given as scriptural and that on the surface seem scriptural actually are clever counterfeits that would deceive most believers. The gift is especially valuable in the church because of this. Discernment is not the ability to tell the difference between right and wrong, it is the ability to see the difference between almost right and right! When Christianity is persecuted, counterfeit teach3ers usually are scarce, because the price for being identified with the gospel is too high, they are much more likely to appear in times and in places where Christianity is considered respectable or at least is tolerated. God gives some insight to expose imitations and deceptions that most Christians would take as genuine. Today, we live in a world that tolerates all teaching, it is … READ MORE

Like its Hebrew equivalent (naba), the Greek verb behind prophecy (propheteuw) simply means, “to speak forth, or to proclaim.” The connotation of prediction was added sometime in the middle ages, and although many of the prophets of old made predictions, that was not their basic ministry. God revealed a great deal of His word through the prophets, but much of their ministry was simply proclaiming, expounding, and exhorting with revelation already given. A prophet of God, therefore, is simply one who speaks froth God’s Word, and prophecy is the proclaiming of that Word. The gift of prophecy is the Spirit-given and Spirit empowered ability to proclaim the Word of God effectively. Believers today with the gift of prophecy are empowered to speak forth not according to their personal subjective faith but according to God’s already revealed objective Word of God. Prophecy can never deviate from the Word of God as it is written, in the Bible as he gift of prophecy is the Spirit’s special enablement of a Christians to testify of Jesus Christ. What is the value of this gift to the Church? Paul will record in 1 Corinthians 14, that prophecy is important to the church, because it … READ MORE