The Gifts of the Spirit: Part Two

(upbeat music)

It's a great day to be here at Springhouse

because God is on the throne.

He's on the throne and we can trust Him

and we can trust Him.

Welcome, welcome this morning.

We are continuing today, part two of a two-part series

on the Holy Spirit and I'm excited about

what the Holy Spirit wants to do.

But before we do that, could everyone take your head

and just turn it back to the corner that way

and say hello, Alice Taber.

- Hello, Alice Taber.

- We are so glad Alice Taber is in the house this morning.

We sure do love you, Alice.

Alice is so beautiful and we are just,

it's such an encouragement to see you here this morning

in the house.

Let's start by reading scripture.

That seems like a good place to start.

Would you guys stand with me this morning?

I'm gonna read this like your favorite football team

just won the Super Bowl, okay, here we go.

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters,

I do not want you to be uninformed.

You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other,

you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.

Therefore, I want you to know that no one who is speaking

by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed,"

and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Spirit.

There are different kinds of gifts,

but the Spirit distributes them.

There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them

and in everyone, it is the same God at work.

Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit

is given for the common good.

To one, there is given through the Spirit

a message of wisdom.

To another, a message of knowledge by the means

of the same Spirit.

To another, faith by the same Spirit.

To another, gifts of healing by that one Spirit.

To another, miraculous powers.

To another, prophecy.

To another, distinguishing between spirits.

To another, speaking in different kinds of tongues,

and to still another, the interpretation of tongues.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit,

and He distributes them to each one just as He determines.

Father, I thank you for your word that it brings life.

I pray that it would be live and active in our hearts today.

In Jesus' name, and everyone said?

Amen.

You may be seated.

I had the privilege to go to several of the gatherings

this past week at the camp that the youth went to,

where 160 teens received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

(congregation applauding)

And some of those teens are sitting here this morning,

and I'm excited because I believe that the Lord

is gonna use them this morning to pray over some of you.

And I cannot wait to see what the Lord does in that.

Let's just get this out of the way,

because I don't know another way to say this.

And I've been, I asked the Lord,

what's a more better, cleaner, packaged way to say this?

And I don't know, so I'm just gonna say it.

This doesn't have to be weird.

Okay?

Can we just get that out of the way?

This doesn't have to be weird.

It is mysterious in some ways, because it's supernatural.

And as we disclosed several weeks ago,

anybody who claims to have the authority and knowledge

of God Almighty, they are a liar.

Nobody has all of the knowledge, okay?

But we do have a precious gift in the Word of God

where there are truths that have been given to us.

There are things made available to us.

And guys, we at Springhouse believe

in the entire Word of God, not just parts of it,

not the parts we just like, but all of the Word of God.

And there are some precious gifts available to us

that we don't wanna just skirt over,

because guys, I want the fullness of God in my life.

I want all of what God has to offer me,

and I want you to also be able to lean

into everything God has for you.

So picking up from last week,

this is a part two of a two-week series.

So if you weren't here last week,

I do encourage you to go back and watch and listen to that.

But let's just review for just a moment.

The gifts of the Spirit edify the body of Christ.

What is the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit?

It is to edify the body of Christ.

Guys, as the body of Christ, you are the body of Christ.

The body is supposed to edify the body.

The body is supposed to edify the body, okay?

So the demand, hallelujah, what a weight relief to me, Barbie,

and you, and the pastoral stuff.

But the weight and the demand is not on me alone

to come in here and encourage you.

You are to be encouraging and lifting one another up,

and not just Sunday.

Man, what would it be if you talked to your spouse

just an hour on Sunday,

and didn't say anything to them the rest of the week?

That relationship probably wouldn't go very well,

I don't suppose, right?

Guys, it's not just about the hour

that we're here on Sunday.

In fact, I'll tell you the reason we gather here on Sunday

is actually for communion,

and remember Jesus Christ and what he did,

and to enthrone God on our praises together.

But throughout the week, on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,

we should be lifting one another up,

we should be calling one another,

we should be asking the Lord for words of knowledge

for people, and sending out messages to people,

and asking the Lord to use us to build each other up,

let alone maybe at the grocery store,

the Lord using you supernaturally to lead somebody to him.

But I know you're too busy for that.

Okay, so the gifts are important,

but they are never as important as the one who gives them.

We want to make sure that we are centered in on the Lord.

He has given so many precious gifts.

If I were to come and give you a gift, Jonathan,

I'm sure the gift would be great, it'd be wonderful,

but I'm more important than the gift.

You're more important than the gift.

And so as we lean in and we explore the gifts of the Spirit,

let us not forget the one who has given us the gifts.

He is the one that's the most important.

So we're gonna go through these gifts that Paul lists

one by one, and I'm just gonna kind of give

a brief explanation.

Some of them are somewhat self-explanatory,

but some of them you may be, I have no idea, okay?

And so I'm gonna attempt to somehow bring

a little bit of clarity, but we'll see.

First one is this, wisdom and knowledge,

wisdom and knowledge.

I love that in the list of gifts, wisdom is the first one.

And let me tell you why, this is why.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Now, the fear of the Lord it's talking about here

isn't a fear of the Lord like you run away,

like you're scared of God.

The fear of the Lord is likened to my child

coming into my presence at my house

and wanting to do the right thing.

There's a sobering mindset when it comes to the Lord

that he is God Almighty, at the same time he is Abba Father.

Right?

He is the fear of the Lord,

it is a reverent fear of the Lord.

And guys, as we look at these gifts that he's given to us,

we need to approach them with a sober mindset

that he is God Almighty on the throne.

It is a wonderful, excellent, incredible thing

that he has entrusted us with these incredible gifts.

But he's the one entrusting us with these incredible gifts.

And so what we do with them is very important.

The beginning of, the fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

So what's the difference between wisdom and knowledge?

So wisdom gives us a certain sense of direction

and the path that we should go.

When you're seeking wisdom, you want to see things

with eyes outside of the current situation.

You ever had tunnel vision?

You ever look just at your situation just like this?

We wanna look at it from God's perspective.

We wanna look at it from God's perspective.

We wanna see it from all angles and all sides

and we want to walk in the path that is the most fruitful

and we need wisdom to do that.

This is a supernatural gift from the Lord

that we can ask for and it's available to us.

Knowledge, a word of knowledge on the other hand

is the Lord giving you a piece of knowledge

about someone else in order to edify them

or to concrete that the Lord is involved in the conversation

so that then you can lead them to Jesus Christ.

Okay, I've had people come and I've seen people say,

"I've got a word of knowledge for you, Cornelius.

"You're dealing with X, Y, and Z."

And Cornelius is like, "What?"

You ever heard the thing, you've read my mail?

He's like, "You've read my mail."

And I'm like, "No, I haven't read your mail."

The Lord Almighty is wanting you to pay attention

to what's about to come out of my mouth.

What's about to come out of my mouth

is he wants to do something mighty and powerful in your life

he wants to liberate you from X, Y, and Z,

he wants to do these things.

God will give you a word of knowledge about someone

that you speak over them and that's something

that they're currently going through

or something that they know about that they're like,

"How in the world did you know about that?"

Because I'm so good.

No.

It's the Holy Spirit of God.

So when somebody says, "You've read my mail,"

you have been given a shoe in to say,

"No, it's the Holy Spirit."

Take advantage of that.

Make sure you're putting the credit

where the credit is supposed to go, yes?

Over faith, faith, okay, let's talk about faith.

What is faith?

Faith is the confidence in what we hope for

and the assurance about what we do not see.

Faith is a supernatural gift from the Holy Spirit.

Have you ever been around someone

who had supernatural faith?

Like you had given up all hope,

but they were just plowing in as if it is gonna happen.

Anybody been around somebody like that?

It takes supernatural ability to be able to lean in

and have faith for things that you don't,

in your in-right mind mentally, don't want to believe.

Some of you need faith to believe for someone

who is a prodigal that needs to come home.

Some of you are believing for reconciliation

in destroyed relationships.

Some of you were on the precipice of a destroyed relationship

and God got involved and healed your relationship

and now other people need your testimony, your story,

so that they can have their faith bolstered.

That's why it's important for us to share our testimonies

with one another.

The Word says this also, faith comes from hearing

and hearing from the Word of Christ.

I am believing God for this.

I'm believing God for that I'm gonna be a multimillionaire

with a Corvette, yada, yada, yada, all these things.

I'm just believing by faith.

Let me tell you something.

The things that we are to believe by faith

are the things that we find in the Word of God.

And they are rarely about us.

They are rarely about us.

Some of you are believing God for things

that He has not told you to believe Him for.

And that's why He's not answering them.

But there are also things that He's saying, come on,

mustard seed faith is all it takes, come on, come on.

Faith is acting and living our lives

as if that thing has happened

even though it hasn't happened.

He gives us supernatural faith.

Healing, we understand what healing is.

There are people in this room who have had experiences

with God in the area of supernatural healing in their life.

If you have experienced God's touch

in the area of healing at some point in your life,

would you raise your hand?

Stick, keep 'em up, look around the room.

Put your hand down.

God will move supernaturally in healing.

He loves to move in His people in this way.

But when the answer is no, He is still sovereign

and He's still good.

He's still sovereign and He's still good.

But it doesn't mean that He doesn't like to move in this way.

Some of you today need a supernatural healing

and I believe you're gonna walk out of here healed.

And some of you today need to understand

that you have the gift of laying on hands to others

and praying for healing over their life.

And God wants to bestow upon you that supernatural gift.

Miracles, what is a miracle?

A miracle is anything supernatural that can't be explained

in the law of, is it physics, the law, our law?

It can't be explained, right?

The natural law, that's what I'm looking for.

Yeah, natural law.

And so guys, I don't know.

I don't know what miracles would be.

Miracle is something wasn't and now it is.

Right?

Miracle of miracles.

A miracle is I should have died in January

in my accident with my car,

but I'm standing here talking to you today.

That's a miracle.

I can't explain it.

So miracles do happen.

And when miracles happen,

they happen so that you can point people to Jesus Christ.

I can't explain why this happened.

It must have been some mysterious entity.

No, it was God Almighty.

It was God Almighty.

Prophecy, now I know you guys wanna talk about this.

Prophecy.

Prophecy in Scripture,

a lot of times will have elements of it

that talk about the future.

But prophecy in Scripture,

and what Paul specifically is talking about

in 1 Corinthians is not fortune telling.

It's not about going to somebody and saying

in the year 2032, you're gonna have a red house

with yellow shutters.

Red house with yellow shutters, where'd that come from?

(congregation laughing)

Fortune telling.

It's not about fortune telling.

Prophecy is about edification and an encouragement

of pulling out something that you see

that the Lord has identified that you see in somebody

and saying, hey, you might not see this,

but I see this inside you

and God wants to do this thing in your life.

Let's look at what the Scripture says about prophecy.

And it's also gonna talk a little bit about tongues,

which we're gonna talk about as well today, okay?

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire

the gifts of the Spirit.

Can we say this?

Eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit.

Let's say it again.

Eagerly desire the gifts of the Spirit.

Guys, you should be here eagerly desiring these gifts.

It says in the Word, that's not from me.

Especially prophecy.

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

but to God.

Indeed, no one understands them.

They utter mysteries by the Spirit.

But the one who prophesies speaks to people

for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.

Encouragement and comfort.

Strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

Those are the results of prophecy

as it is written in terms of the gifts of the Spirit.

Strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves,

but I would rather have you prophesy.

The one who prophesies is greater

than the one who speaks in tongues

unless someone interprets so that the church may be edified.

You see a common theme here, that prophecy and tongues

and the other gifts are about edification of the body.

Edification of the body.

Prophecy does not mean fortune telling.

Now, this is real important.

I want you to lean into this, okay?

There's scripture in Deuteronomy that talks about prophets.

And it says, in Deuteronomy, it says,

if somebody prophesies and it does not come to pass,

kill them.

That's what it says, kill them.

So we have lined up, no, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

(congregation laughing)

No.

Be careful when you say, thus saith the Lord.

He is a sovereign God.

And you don't wanna be at a place

where you are saying something that he did not say,

but you are walking around as if he said it.

God is real serious about his name being taken in vain.

But at the same time, he has given some of you words,

encouragement, prophetic things to say to other people

that are meant for their encouragement

and building up that you need to lean into

because God has given you those words.

God has given you those words.

So don't be afraid to lean into the prophetic

when it comes to the people that you're sitting by,

the people in your life, to lean into saying

and calling out those things that are inside people.

'Cause it builds them up, helps them see Christ.

The distinguishing between spirits.

This is discernment.

This is when someone comes to you and they say,

thus saith the Lord, but you know that what they're saying

doesn't line anything up with the word,

and you can say, that doesn't bear witness with me.

Or how about this?

Somebody comes and they gossip to me about James,

and I can say, no, I don't bear witness with this

because I know James, and I love James,

and I know that James is not the person

you're describing to me.

The Lord has given me supernatural discernment to say,

this is not right.

The distinguishing of spirit between spirits is important.

It's important so that you realize that what you're hearing

and what is continuing to be said is really of the Lord.

So anytime somebody comes and gives me a prophetic word,

I say, Lord, give me the gift of discernment in this.

Going back to prophecy for a second,

'cause I forgot to say this.

I've had people come and prophesy over me.

I'm not gonna tell you.

I'm supposed to do a lot of things that I'm not doing.

No.

There have been people who've come and prophesied over me,

and it did not hit the mark.

And then there are people that have prophesied over me,

and it very much hit the mark.

When somebody comes and gives you a prophetic word,

all you have to do is say, Lord, I give you back this word

that's been spoken over me,

and then shelve it in the back of your mind.

You can be encouraged by it,

but you don't need to do anything with it.

Do you understand what I'm saying?

You don't have to necessarily do anything with it

unless the Holy Spirit starts to tell you

to do something with it.

Sometimes it is just for you to be encouraged

and wait and see what the Lord does.

The Lord does not need you to make something happen.

Does that make sense?

Somebody told me that I would be leading a congregation,

pastoring a congregation back when I was 18, literally.

I laughed in their face.

I could never see myself doing this,

and here I am doing it.

God knows what he's doing.

God knows what he's doing.

Shelve it, allow him.

I could tell you a story, but I don't have time

about how I really try to make something happen.

I'll tell that another time.

Okay, it did not work out.

Tongues and interpretation of tongues.

I know y'all are excited about this.

Okay, tongues is just a fancy word for prayer language.

Prayer language.

Okay, when you speak in tongues, when tongues are uttered,

it's vocabulary, syllables, it's a language

that is not understood by the mass majority in the room.

Okay?

Now, I have a prayer language, and about 98% of you

have never heard me use my prayer language,

because I use my prayer language mostly in private.

I use my prayer language in private.

The word gives us very specific instruction

about how prayer language is supposed to be used

in the context of the congregation.

We just read a verse that talked about

if it's gonna be between tongues and prophecy,

Paul says, "I'd rather you prophesy,

"because tongues is an edification for yourself."

What is tongues?

Prayer language is the Holy Spirit interceding

to God the Father on your behalf

about things that you need

and that you don't really realize that you need.

Prayers that you don't really know that you need to pray.

You literally, when you're praying the Spirit,

you could be praying for something that's gonna happen

a week from now that you have no idea,

because the Holy Spirit of God

is interceding on your behalf.

So it is a prayer, it's a prayer language

that comes out in these utterances.

The word tells us that he groans before the Lord.

He comes to the throne with these utterances

and groans on our behalf.

So he intercedes on our behalf.

I believe that when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit,

I believe that you are given a prayer language.

Sometimes it's years before you receive the prayer language,

but you do receive a prayer language.

Let's look at what 1 Corinthians says about this.

"If anyone speaks in a tongue,"

this is talking about the congregation.

"If anyone speaks in a tongue,

"two or three at the most should speak one at a time,

"and someone must interpret."

Okay, so what that tells me, black and white,

that tells me if somebody gets up

and starts shouting out in tongues,

and there's not somebody here to interpret that message,

they are out of line.

Okay?

"If there is no interpreter,

"the speaker should keep quiet in the church

"and speak to himself in God."

So it doesn't dismiss that there's a place for tongues,

it just means that it's not for everybody else.

It's between you and the Lord.

"The spirits of the prophet are subject

"to the control of the prophets.

"For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace,

"as in all the congregations of the Lord's people.

"The spirit of the prophet is subject

"to the control of the prophet."

Guys, every one of us in this room have emotions.

And for somebody to tell you that your emotions

are not tied into your worship,

that would be false.

That would be false.

When I sing that song at communion about Jesus Christ

and what he did for my life, I begin to weep.

Your emotions are a part of who you are.

They're connected to your worship.

But I want you to understand that you are in control

and you have the ability to steward your emotions.

So if you decide to wail out loud,

to scream and shout, to throw a chair, to jump up,

to run around the congregation,

the Holy Spirit is not a possessor.

You are in control of what you are doing.

Do you understand what I'm saying to you?

And it is the responsibility of the elders

and the pastors in the house to call out

when things are happening that are distractions

and that are of God.

And so, unfortunately that's me, you know,

and it's other people in this house too.

But it is the charge of the leadership

to ensure that our focus is maintained vertically.

Now, remember when Jesus heals that blind man in Scripture?

I guarantee you when that blind man saw for the first time,

he didn't care one bit about what anybody thought

about his emotional response.

So there are moments when an emotional response

is appropriate.

It's in keeping with what the Lord's doing.

But let none of us be in a place where we are pulling away

from the focus of the Holy Spirit.

The word says that God is not a God of disorder

and we're talking about tongues.

So this is how, some would say we don't allow the releasing

of the public speaking in tongues

and the interpretation of tongues.

That's not true.

That's not true.

There is a protocol for how to do it.

I'm about to let you know what it is.

If you feel like you have a word for the congregation,

if you feel like the Lord has given you something

for the congregation, then in the middle of the service,

you come find me, I sit right here every week,

or you come find Pastor Barbie or one of the elders,

and you share with them what you feel like

the Lord's put on your heart for the congregation.

And the word tells us to judge the word, to judge the word.

If we judge the word that it's in keeping

with the flow of the Spirit,

then we're gonna let you get on stage or get down here

and share the word because it's for the edification

of the body.

But the protocol is to go to a leader

and share what it is that the Lord's given you

so that you can have somebody in agreement with you,

and then we can release that word, okay?

That's how that works.

For you to just stand up and start shouting that word

without that process is out of order.

And we won't be a church that's gonna run out of order.

Yes?

Because God desires order in his congregations, yes?

Does that sound good?

Okay?

I do not believe that the initial evidence

of the Holy Spirit is speaking in tongues.

I believe that the initial evidence

of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is power.

Acts tells us you will receive power

when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.

And in that power, it's to do what?

To be witnesses.

To be witnesses for Christ Jesus.

The prayer language comes down the pike.

Wisdom can come down the pike.

Faith might happen immediately or down the pike.

Miraculous, all of these gifts are available to you

when you decide I wanna be filled up

and baptized with the Holy Spirit.

Let us not forget though,

though these gifts are rich and powerful and wonderful,

that the gifts of the Spirit are temporary.

The fruit of the Spirit is everlasting.

The fruit of the Spirit is everlasting.

And we want, I don't wanna be a church,

listen to me church, I'm saying this as your pastor.

I don't want to be known as a church

that operates in the gifts of the Spirit.

I wanna be known as a church that operates

in the fruit of the Spirit with the gifts in operation.

Does that make sense?

I want us to be a church,

if somebody looks at Springhouse and our people,

I want them to say, man, those people know how to love.

Those people are some of the most joyful Christians.

Those people walk in abundant peace.

Boy, the faithfulness of those people

when they say they're gonna do something,

they actually do it.

I mean, that's who I want us,

that's the marking of walking by the Spirit.

Let us be a people who walk by the fruit of the Spirit.

Okay, we believe everything this word says.

We believe everything that the Word of God says.

And so today, is today July 21st?

Today's July 21st,

and this would be Margaret's 70th birthday.

July 21st, this is the door.

See the door right here?

Okay, I'm opening the door, okay?

I'm opening the door from this point forward

in our gatherings for the gifts of the Spirit

to be in operation.

I'm opening the door, I am releasing you as your pastor

to say, if the Lord has given you an encouragement,

a word of knowledge, if he's given you the ability

to go and lay hands on somebody and pray for healing,

you are free in the context of our service

to go and do those things.

Now, I appreciate that you have come this morning

and you have sat in your assigned seats.

Because it really helps me when I'm standing over here,

some of you wonder what I'm looking at

when I'm like turned around, I'm taking attendance.

Like, oh, they're not in their seat, you know?

Landon threw me off, where's Landon Jones, is he in here?

He threw me off, he's supposed to be sitting over there,

you know, my brothers moved over and my mom's moved over,

I'm like, y'all are trying to throw me off today

and I'll mark you absent,

so you better get back to your seat.

No, I...

(congregation laughing)

One of the things that makes me cringe in church

is when I feel like I am being manipulated.

I never want to be someone who manipulates you

into doing anything.

You are a free agent.

You are a free agent.

So, we're about to do some things

and I want you to consider it an invitation.

Not a source of manipulation, but an invitation.

I want you to know, I'm gonna,

I'm saying this right on the heels

of what I just said on purpose,

'cause I never wanted to say this

so that it happened in a manipulative form.

But part of my desire for Springhouse

when I walk into this place is to see you all come in

and when worship starts, we storm the altar space

and we worship in the altar space with hands raised

and reckless abandon.

Now, I understand that it's nice to come

and get your assigned seat with your latte

and get comfortable and watch everything that's going on,

but guys, at Springhouse, we are not spectators,

we are players.

We are in the game.

We need to be participants in what's going on.

And so, while it's nice to sit back

and watch what you would call the show if you're watching,

it's not a show, this is real life.

What's happening is the reality of the kingdom

and you're missing out on huge things

when you come in to get comfortable.

Guys, this should be a place

where we get comfortably uncomfortable, okay?

And we move and ebb and flow.

I would love, when I went to that person,

why is it that when I go to the camp

with seven churches of youth, 400 kids,

on the very first sermon, the very first strum of the guitar

these kids don't even really know each other,

they all, I can't even,

James and I are in the front row pushing our chairs back

because they're storming us about to fall back.

There's not enough room in the altar space for all the teens.

What is holding you back from running full face here

into the, I'm not saying God can't minister to you

from your seat, but I'm saying your heart posture.

What is stopping you?

Do you know, we have, Jonathan told,

Pastor Jonathan told me this week, I didn't realize this,

he said over the last five or six services,

we have had two altar calls in the service.

We'd had one in the first part of the gathering

and one at the end.

When we make that call at the first in the gathering,

last week, we had to eliminate a row this week

because we didn't have enough room up here last week

when you all came up here for believing Jesus

for your family.

What would it look like if you didn't have to

have an invitation?

What if we knew that the door is open

and the invitation was there already?

What would it look like if we came in

and actually took this space and really just went after

the things of God?

Well, it would mean that I'd have to get uncomfortable.

Yep, yep, it sure would.

Okay, you done with me preaching that too?

Okay, okay.

If you join us on live stream,

thank you for joining us today.

We will see you next week.