1 Corinthians 14 - Order In Spiritual Gifting - Part 2

So pray for me as I teach this chapter today.

It's a very challenging chapter, First Corinthians 14.

I know we have people in our church that believe that the

gifts are still here today, and we have some folks that believe

they aren't. Some of them aren't anymore.

And I pray the way I teach this won't bring confusion or

division or anything like that. I'm just going to teach the

Bible as the Bible is clearly written and I'm not going to add

my own thoughts in or anybody else's.

I just want to teach what Paul wrote here and why he wrote it

this way. So a little bit of background in

regard to the church in Corinth. It was a mess.

A lot of activity. Boy, these lights are bright

here. I feel like I'm under

inquisition. Turn that down a little bit.

So anyway, the church was really not a healthy church.

It was full of all kind of pride and self centeredness.

People were using the gifts to make themselves seem spiritually

important and other people not important.

They had issues of drunkenness at their spiritual agape feast

when they had the Lord's Supper. They had issues of cliques in

the church where certain people followed, certain leaders, this

all kind of stuff, sexual immorality.

Hard to believe this was going on in this church in Corinth.

So Paul had to bring correction. This is why this letter was

written, the spiritual gifts for being abused and taken advantage

of and being used in an unbiblical way.

And so Paul needed to address these things.

Now we talked a little bit about spiritual gifts in First

Corinthians 12 and Paul clearly delineates the fact that not

everybody has the same gift and everybody has some gifts.

Some people have more than one gift, but not everybody has many

times the same gift, especially in regard to the gift of tongues

and the gifts of gift of prophecy and the gift of

healings. Now when we study the Bible, we

see in the book of the Acts in the Apostolic age and time,

things were really rolling. I mean, there was miraculous

things happened, thousands of people getting saved, a lot of

energy, a lot of activity. Whenever the apostles showed up,

there was usually a miracles that were occurring all the

time. The apostle Paul had physical

affliction himself. He was able to be used by the

Lord to bring healing to other people, but he didn't get healed

of his own need. And that was a fascinating

issue. He says at the end of First

Corinthians 12 regarding the body of Christ that were members

individually and God has appointed these in the church.

At that time there was apostles. No longer is there apostles

anymore. That was the people that Christ

originally raised up to lay the foundation of the church.

Second, prophets in the early stages of the church, before the

Scriptures were written, prophetical utterings would come

forth, and some of them were from the Holy Spirit and some of

them were from this human flesh as kind of stuff.

So the apostles had to discern which things were from the Lord,

and excuse me, which ones weren't.

Now we have the Bible, so we have clear prophetical overview

of everything that God wants us to know.

It says that God has given us all things that pertain to life

and godliness in Christ Jesus, so there's nothing we're

lacking. He also says in Timothy, all

Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is

profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction and

instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be

thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

It tells us to study, to show ourselves approved under God,

workmen that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing.

The word of truth. And that's what we endeavour to

do every time we teach in this church.

Whether it's the women teaching the women or mixed studies with

men teaching to kids or young people or adults, we study to

show ourselves approved unto God.

We don't want to be ashamed of our teaching and we certainly

don't want to teach things that are false.

So we take these things very seriously here.

So then he says there's other gifts teachers and they are

still on in place and on on the planet and in the church.

We have many gifted teachers here at Calvary Chapel to have

the gift of teaching has the ability to teach.

The Bible in a way that. Feeds the flock of God and

builds them up and strengthens them to understand how to first

of all come to know Jesus, but then how to follow Jesus.

And then there's miracles, and there's still miracles that

occur. Some of you have had miracles in

your lives. You've prayed for something

whenever the doctor said that you had a certain amount of time

to live, and you've outlived those years because God's

touched you for a season and you're still alive and you're

well. Sometimes you have a headache

and you ask God to heal you of the headache.

That's sort of a simple 1, isn't it?

But whenever someone tells you you have cancer and you only

have so long to live, that's when you start to get desperate.

For prayer and miracles, right? You want God to intervene, you

want him to act. And that's why the Bible says,

if any are sick among you, let him call upon the.

Elders of the church. And the elders will anoint them

with oil. And the oil is a symbolic

picture of the Holy Spirit. Nothing magical about the oil,

but the oil represents the fact that the Holy Spirit will be

touching you in the way that he desires to touch you.

And it says that the person will confess sin if they have sin in

their life, if there's a problem that they're living in a way

they shouldn't, they'll repent because many times sickness is

brought on because of our rebellion against God.

Many times we just get sick because that's part of being a

human being. But the elders will anoint that

person and pray for them. And it says the prayer of prayer

of faith will save the sick. And so it could be a physical

healing, a spiritual healing, an emotional healing, a

psychological healing. But nonetheless, you, you're

able to do that. And I encourage you if you are

ill or if you have illnesses, let us know as elders in the

church. And after the service is over,

we'll have you come up and everybody else can go home.

But if you have specific needs, we'll, we'll pray and counsel

you and pray and, and see what the Lord may desire to do in

your life at that time. Sometimes God uses doctors to

bring healing right. Sometimes he supernaturally

touches us as well. I've been touched diagnosed with

a rare type of cancer years ago. It wasn't lethal at that time,

but could become lethal sometime.

But I had a platelet issue where the platelets were raising above

what they need to raise. All the other blood work was OK

and. So whenever I I heard about

that, I thought, well, Lord, I'm going to ask you to touch me and

heal me and give me more time if that's your will.

And he did. And my platelets have been

stable for the last five years. And it's a miracle of God.

And I give him praise. And I tell you that because God

still does miracles. And there's been people in the

church who have had serious illnesses that we've prayed and

intercede for. And they're clear now they're

cancers. This, this isn't good luck or

this isn't circumstantial. This is God's intervention.

And we give him the praise and the glory for what he does.

The ministry of helps our sister mentioned, if you want to help,

we, we can use helper all the time and all kind of different

ministries. And I think it's one of the most

powerful gifts because it's behind the scenes.

No one sees what you're doing, but God does.

And it's a blessed gift because it really strengthens and helps

the church become better what it does.

My wife Cindy has a ministry of help.

She's always wanting to help, whether it's family or people in

the church or whatever. And I got to tell her sometimes,

like you got to take a break. You know, you can't be helping

everybody, but she just has that call of God, the desire to help

people. And I'm so thankful because I

need a lot of help. So she's my wife and she says

you're helpless. I said, that's right.

That's why you have the gift of help.

You're my wife, right? So that's a good thing.

It says that there's gifts of administrations and

administration is the ability to organize a group of people,

whether it's in a job, a career, a business, a church, and get

everybody moving together in the same direction and and helping

everybody be connected. And, and Karen and Diane Flow

and those gifts in this church and we're so grateful for them

and their administrative gifts. Then it says there's different

types of tongues, and we're going to talk a little bit about

that this morning. And then he says, and I love

this section, are all apostles, are all prophets, are all

teachers, are all workers of miracles?

Do all have the gifts of healing?

Do all speak with tongues, do all interpret, but earnestly

desire the best gifts. And yet I'll show you a more

excellent way. So it really clarifies the fact

that not everybody has the same gifts.

We'll study about tongues this morning.

Not everybody has that that prayer language and that's OK.

And we'll see how Paul talks about that versus praying in a

known dialect of your own language to the Lord or or

praying in a supernatural prayer language.

Either of those accomplish the same purposes as far as God's

concerned. But we'll get into that.

But then in chapter 13 he says he though I speak with tongues

of men and of angels, and have not love, I've become a sounding

brass and a clanging symbol. And if I have the gift of

prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and

though I have faith that I could remove mountains, but have not

love, I'm nothing. And so we have to understand

that the most important thing in our personal walk with the Lord

and our ministries is the love of Jesus Christ, the agape love

that he puts into our hearts or through the Spirit that we have

that love to love one another. Because Jesus said that's the

most important aspect of being a believer is he said by this love

will people know you're my disciples, right?

And so we all have to ask the Lord to help us flow in that

love. It's it's it's part of the gifts

of the Holy Spirit and it's the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians

5 Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness,

goodness, meekness and self-control.

And so. We have to be actively involved

in pursuing, as he'll tell us here in the beginning of First

Corinthians 14, spiritual gifts. And I think about that.

Love. It's easy to love people when

everything's going good, but whenever things aren't going

good, you have to make a choice to love your your flesh or human

ability. Wants to get mad?

You want to smack someone off the side of the head, right?

You got road rage, whatever you might have.

And then you had to say, Lord, this isn't the way I'm supposed

to behave. I'm, I'm a child of God.

I'm supposed to love. Help me, Lord, to love my

enemies. And I want to be able to do

that. I can't do that apart from your

empowerment and your strength. And so he begins in chapter 14,

verse 1. He says pursue love.

That's the most important thing to do and most important gift.

Make sure that's happening and occurring in your life and

desire spiritual gifts. It's not wrong to desire

spiritual gifts to ask the Lord to enable you to be able to flow

in these spiritual gifts if it's His will.

But remember that the Holy Spirit gives the gift severally

as He wills, not as we will. He chooses and determines what

he wants to do in each of your lives and through each of your

lives. So don't be jealous if you don't

have this one or that one or someone else has something you

want this be content with whatever it is that the Lord's

given you and allow him to use you in that specific gift.

So he says, but especially that you may prophecy.

Now this gift of prophecy isn't so much this idea of, of

foretelling the future. Of course, sometimes God will

give someone an insight if something that's going to

happen, perhaps not so much the the, the date of the return of

the Lord. We know he's coming back and and

that's that's a a done deal as far as the scriptures are

concerned. We just don't know the day or

the time or the hour, but we know he's coming back.

But sometimes the Lord will put something on your heart, and

you'll tell someone something that you're concerned about

possibly occurring. Not everybody that says

something like that to you is on target with the Lord, but you

listen to him and, and you consider it whatever, but you're

you're not going to look at it like the scripture that's black

and white. But some people have that

ability to have that intuitive skill to descend something that

the Lord wants you to know about.

And so they're going to share something and maybe it's

something about something you're dating or what what something

looks like in the future if you happen to marry the wrong

person. And and these things are

obviously in in the scripture talked about don't be unequally

yoked and those kind of things, but.

Sometimes someone just has some discernment that we need to hear

from the Lord on. But really the gift of prophecy

is the ability to edify. That means to build up the

church. So what we do here Sunday

through the word of God is to teach in a way that builds your

faith up in the Lord. OK, to edify you, to build you

up exhortation, that's to lift you up and to encourage you in

the things of God and to help you to keep on keeping on.

Basically not to give up, not to get discouraged, not to get

depressed or despondent or apathetic or complacent.

But to this, keep staying in the word and staying close to Jesus

so that you can just keep walking with him and enjoy your

relationship with him. And then comfort, being able to

come along, someone who needs comforted during crisis.

They're in some kind of tragedy. Maybe they lost a loved one or

they got a diagnosis that they don't know how to handle, or

they're dealing with something that they just had surgery with.

And you're not any going to let them know you're praying for

them. But maybe you're going to hold

them for a little bit. Maybe you're going to hug on

them a little bit. You're just going to provide

that comfort. And I see you guys do that in a

church with one another. Many of you have this gift of

prophecy in that sense. The people that teach the Word,

I believe, have that gift too. Not only they teach the

Scriptures, but the Holy Spirit put something on their heart to

build them up and to encourage them and to help them to

persevere and to comfort them whenever they get downcast or

discouraged. So Paul says that's the one you

really want to go after. And then he says in verse 2, For

he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God,

for no one understands them. However, in the Spirit he speaks

mysteries. If you have a pen underlined in

your Bible. He who speaks in a tongue does

not speak to men, but to God. This is a conversation to the

Lord and it's about him. It's praising him.

It's not trying to communicate some kind of special message to

another person. That's not the purpose of it.

It it's a conversation. With the Lord Himself.

And if if you heard someone speak in tongues and you're

beside someone, you're not going to understand what they're

talking about. But the Lord understands, He's

listening. He knows.

And this reminds me of of something over in Romans chapter

Romans 8 · chapter mention

8, whenever we live in times of suffering.

And we have to understand that right now, even as we live, no

matter how good your life might be right now, Paul says in verse

18 of chapter 8. I consider that the sufferings

of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the

glory which shall be revealed in us.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for

the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but

because of Him who subjected it in hope.

Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the

bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children

of God. So we know that the whole

creation groans and laborers with birth pangs together until

now. Not only that, but we also who

have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves grown

within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the

redemption of our body. For we are saved in this hope,

but hope that is seen is not hope.

For why does 1 still hope for what he sees?

But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it

with perseverance. And so when I was reading that

and thinking about this, how earnestly are you waiting for

the redemption of your body and wanting to be with Jesus?

That's usually not the first thought we have.

Career, new car, house, I'm going to date this woman, I'm

going to marry this person, whatever.

I'm going to go to this Steeler game next Sunday.

And all these things are part of living life and enjoying life.

Nothing wrong with that. But where's our focus is our

focus? Like I can't wait, Jesus to you,

you Take Me Out of here. Not that I don't like life and I

don't enjoy life and all that, but like you put in me wanting

to be with you, right? When I listened to the worship

this morning, I thought, boy, that was just like a sort of a,

a preview what it's going to be like in heaven one day when

we're going to be like shot now Jesus's name and excited to be

there. And we're never going to get

bored of it. We're just going to be

enthralled with his beauty and His Majesty and his grace.

But I, I, I read this section in Romans and I think I don't meet

AI, meet a lot of people and let's say, let's, they're in the

hospital getting ready to die and they're like, Hey, I can't

wait to get out of this body, right?

But usually healthy, wealthy, successful people, they're not

usually talking about waiting earnestly for this adoption and

redemption of their body. And maybe that's something we

need the Holy Spirit to put in US, right?

And a deeper way because this isn't our home, right?

We're looking for a city. Like it says in Hebrews, his

builder and maker is God. We have to think about that.

So it says likewise. Then the Spirit in verse 22nd 26

also helps in our weaknesses for we do not know what we should

pray for as we ought. You ever in a situation where

you just don't know how to pray, you're so overwhelmed that

you're just, I'm just crying out to God, help me, oh Lord, have

mercy. I don't know how I'm going to

get through this. I'm so broken.

I'm so desperate or whatever. And, and, and it says that the

Spirit himself makes intercessions for us with

groanings which cannot be uttered.

I'm so thankful that the Holy Spirit knows how to really

intercede, right? He knows how to get a hold of

the Father, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

He's saying, God, look what Clark's going through or look

what this sister's going through or this brother or this person.

He's praying in groanings that can't even be comprehended or

uttered. Now he who searches the hearts

knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he makes

intercession for the Saints according to the will of God.

So when you have this gift of speaking in tongues and you're

basically speaking in a language to God that he understands, it's

not gibberish. It would be that way maybe to me

if I heard you or you heard me, but to God, it's making sense.

And the Holy Spirit's involved in this.

And and so God's allowing this to go on and he's unburdening

the person's heart and their soul and the pressure that

they're under. And he he does that too.

When you pray in English and you say, Lord, I need your mercy, I

need your strength. You're quoting Scripture, you're

reading Scripture, you're reminding God of his promises to

you. And you hold on to this verse

and it sustains you and it lifts you up.

But we'll see another benefit of the people that have this gift

of tongues here it it's a blessing.

And verse 3 it says, but he who prophesized speaks edification,

exhortation and comfort to to men.

So that is what is most important here today is that you

guys are edified and encouraged and comforted in your

relationship with the Lord. In verse four, he who speaks in

a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesized edifies the

church. So a person that has this

opportunity to pray this way in the Spirit is building

themselves up. They're getting strengthened,

they're there. It's just a blessing to them and

their relationship with the Lord.

That's a individual quiet thing in your prayer closet.

You're praying to the Lord and you're being built up as you

pray in the Spirit. And Paul says in verse 5, I wish

you all spoke with tongues because he spoke with tongues.

He loved it. But he also said, do all speak

in tongues? No, they don't.

But don't feel like if you do or you don't, one's better or

whatever than the other. OK, there's an advantage to a

lot of these different gifts in different ways and how God uses

them in your own life and in the church.

I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you

prophesied. So he puts the elevation of the

emphasis on. Not myself, even though if I'm

praying in the Spirit, I'm building myself up.

His emphasis is on I'd rather be edifying you guys.

I'd rather be edifying the church.

It's not the self-centered thing then, he says.

For he who prophesizes greater than he who speaks with tongues,

unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive

edification. Now I, I got saved when I was

20. I grew up in the frozen chosen

church, Presbyterian. You know, I didn't know what

anybody believed or what they felt or it was like, it was like

uptight man, uptight. We're good people, love the

Lord, many of them, don't get me wrong.

But anyway, I, yeah, I start reading the Bible and the New

Testament and I'm as a young guy and not knowing anything about

anything at the time, I'm reading things like this and I'm

saying, well, I never heard of this kind of stuff.

I never was around any of this. What, what's this mean?

How does this work? Most of the churches I was

involved in after I got saved were Baptists.

Good churches, but they were cessationists.

They believed that the gifts of the Spirit were over and that's

just the way it was, right? We, we wouldn't spend much time

in first Corinthians 12 or 14 because it was almost like you

just cross those chapters out and just move on.

And to be honest with you, I wish I could move on today.

This is a, this is a challenge here, but I, I got to be

faithful because we, we brag about how we talk about every

verse, every chapter, every book.

But believe me, there's a lot of us as pastors.

Lord, can I skip that 1 today? You know, I do a topical and

they'll forget that last time I was in chapter 13 and they're

waiting for me to go to 14 and well, how come you didn't talk,

talk on 14, You know, so I'm not going to do that.

I'm talking on 14. But anyway, so I'm in this

element of my early Christian development.

But I often said to pastors, and I mentioned it last time I

spoke, but why can't like where? I don't know, Clark, is this the

way it is? You know, that's what he told

me. So then I got involved in the

Pentecostal side for a while, the charismatic side.

And it was funny, man, I, I was out there and I like, I hate to

say, very little teaching a lot of emotional emotion.

People running around with flags and hype and dancing and, and

singing and, and boy, God really moved today.

We worshipped and we praised God.

We didn't have time to teach the word.

I'm thinking like that's the most important thing.

Teach the word right. So you have the, the other

extreme, right? And, and I'll just, I'll just

tell you this, I was so desperate for these gifts and I

didn't know whether I had that gift or not, but I went to

Assembly God Church one Sunday when I was like 23 years old.

Cindy, no way was she going with me, right?

And I was in there and the church sort of seemed dead.

So I figured I'll speak in tongues.

So I stood up and I spoke in tongues.

But I was smart enough to know that I need to give the

interpretation. So I gave an interpretation of

who knows, you know, I didn't know anything about when an

interpreter. I can hardly.

Even speak Spanish, I learned Spanish and I don't even know

how to interpret what I was learning how to speak right.

But anyway, the pastor was so gracious he didn't have dead

silence. And he says this is an.

Example in the book of the acts of and he's going on and on like

that so. I didn't go back to that church.

And he was probably glad I didn't, you know, But anyway,

that's sort of like my learning experience.

And, and then, you know, I, I don't know, at times I thought I

was and at times I thought I wasn't.

And, you know, I was so messed up in so many ways in, in my

early Christian development. I mean, I was dealing with all

kind of personal issues as a man.

I wanted a quick fix and if I could speak in tongues and all

my problems were gone away and I was a perfect Christian, no

problems, I'm all in, right? Well, I found that wasn't the

case. There is no easy path.

It's death to self. It's denying self.

It's living in continual repentance and humbling yourself

before God and before others. That's how we grow in the grace

and the knowledge of the Lord and.

So I come to Calvary Chapel. 36 years ago and I knew they

weren't cessationists. I knew they believed the gifts

were still here. So I, I, I sort of took a, a

breath of fresh air there. Like, wow, I can be in a church

where there's some balance, not extremes over here and over

there. And all the times I was with the

pastors and the leaders, some of them had a a prayer language,

some didn't. And it was never the issue

whether they did or you didn't. We didn't talk about that stuff.

And we never in all the meetings I was in, ever had anybody

publicly stand up and speak in tongues in a meeting.

And we'll, we'll get into why Paul doesn't recommend that in

this chapter. In a small group, maybe you have

6-8 people and 10 people and you know the people, you know their

walk, you know their lives. Maybe the Lord shows up

sometimes in a small group in a different way, but not in a

larger audience. And, and people come here, I

don't know who they are. Say someone stood up and they

started speaking in tongues. And I'm like, you know, there's

no interpretation. Well, first of all, you can't do

that here. I'm sorry.

Please sit down and then and then say there's an

interpretation, but the interpretation isn't what what

is supposed to be in the sense it's supposed to be language and

praising and worship to God, not like my little children.

God wants you to know today that if you follow him, he will bless

you and he's going to prosper you.

You know that that's not the point of, of the interpretation.

And, and, and so you can get into this study much deeper than

I'm going to go through it today.

I'm just giving a sort of an overview of, of my studies and,

and my experiences in these things.

So he says. And, and in these churches I've

been in with Calvary, they're never once in a pastors

conference anywhere. I hear any of that as someone

drawing attention to themselves in a meeting and and then some

kind of interpretation. And I, I believe, to be honest

with you, it is less today than it was in Acts.

It's just the nature of the development of the church.

It's not the priority is it was in that early church because

they didn't have any Bible in the early church, you know, and

it must have been really complicated to be an apostle and

an elder to try to discern what was of the Lord and what wasn't

of the Lord testing the spirits as the Bible says.

And so he says in verse 6. But now, brethren, if I come to

you speaking with tongues, what should it profit you unless I

speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by

prophesying, or by teaching? He's saying what would be the

preference? Because he already said if I

spoke in tongues, you don't understand what I'm saying.

But he's giving these other alternatives, even things

without life, whether flute or harp, musical instruments here

that make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the

sounds, how it will be known what is piped or played.

So these worship people up there so gifted in their instruments,

and if you put me up here on a Sunday to fill in for them,

they'd be like, what's Clark playing up there?

I know what the song sounds like or what it's supposed to sound

like, but when he's playing that keyboard, it doesn't sound like

anything but insanity, right? So the the musical instruments

are specific sounds for specific purposes.

For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will

prepare for battle? So the the bugle was you'd used.

So let's go forward and go to fight, right?

And if the bugler doesn't know how to play the bugle, right,

they don't that sound. Are we supposed to go to dinner

now? Are we supposed to like relax

for a while? Are we supposed to go to battle?

Who will prepare for battle? So likewise you, unless you

utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be

known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into

the air. There are, it may be so many

kinds of languages in the world, and then none of them is without

significance. And this made me think, think

about how many languages are out there in the world.

If you travel on the different parts of the world, you go to

France, you know, Paris, they're speaking French.

Now, if you haven't been studying French, you you like,

hey, how do I get over here to this restaurant?

They just smile and look at you. They don't know what you're

talking about unless they know English, right?

And and they speak back to you in French.

And now you get these phones. This is sort of cool.

You can hit the phone and it'll interpret what they're saying.

That'd be fun to do with someone speaking in tongues.

Let's get the interpretation from Google right.

I never thought about that. But anyway, therefore, if I do

not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a

foreigner. I'm in France, I'm an American.

They're they're French. We can't relate to each other,

to him who speaks, and he who speaks will be a foreigner to

me. Even so you, since you are

zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the

Church that you, that you seek to excel.

So what can I do and what can you do to make this church

stronger and more of a blessing to one another?

Prophecy. Pray that you prophecy and and

that is the ability to build people up.

You know, I really appreciate John Kirkland.

I was Tuesday at his study and I'm usually on the road working,

but I was able to go and listen and see the other deep

Christians that were in the meeting.

Brian, this guys a brain and languages here.

If you want to know Hebrew, Greek, this guy in the front

row, talk to him. He really knows how to pull out

the Nuggets of the word of God. But anyway, I was listening to

these guys and I was a so overwhelmed the women and and

the men that were in that study and the gifting of John as he

was in first Samuel chapter 3 with Eli and his sons getting

1 Samuel 3 · chapter mention

wiped out and all that because of the false teaching.

So I say to John, John, thank you for serving.

Thank you for using your gift to build up the church and I know

that that blesses him to hear him.

That's what I'm to do to him. I'm for him.

His wife Amy teaches women Amy, thank you for the hours you

spend in studying the word and rightly dividing the word of

truth. Thanks to Lord, glory to God,

right and many others here. I could thank everyone of you

for everything you do. That's just an illustration that

means much more than if I was A and John's like, what's Clark

saying? You know, that's ridiculous.

You know, that's what happens in somebody.

And that was not a tongue, by the way.

I was being facetious, you know, But you know, it's just like

goofy. It's weird.

You know, someone said they got they want they want to get

saved. I kind of come to your church

and the person's like, and I don't want you to come to my

there's another church down the road.

And the guy said, if you don't want them to come to your church

because a lot of weird stuff going on, why are you still

there? And some of you are here because

you left weird churches. It abused the spiritual gifts.

Maybe I'll get a testimony once in a while for my brother John

back there. You know, it took a month before

his anger went down because of the false teaching and the

craziness that he had to sit under in the church that he was

in. And I'm not going to mention the

church. But anyway, so he says if I pray

in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is

unfruitful. What's the conclusion then?

I will pray with the Spirit, and I will also pray with

understanding. So he had the gift of praying in

tongues, but he also prayed like most of us pray in this normal

English, right? I will also pray with the

understanding. I also sing with the Spirit, but

I will also sing with the understanding.

Otherwise, if you bless with the Spirit, how will he who occupies

the place of the uninformed say Amen at your giving of thanks,

since he does not understand what you say?

For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

And then listen to this. Verse 18 is very important.

Paul says I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all.

Yet in the church, I would rather speak 5 words with my

understanding that I may teach others also than 10,000 words in

a tongue. The some of you came out of

churches where everybody, OK, let's everybody pray in the

spirit and everybody's speaking in tongues.

My, my brother told me last week it was funny that I was down in

Florida years ago. He's not a follower of this guy

anymore. He said I went to a Benny Hinn

conference, right? And you know, I don't know

what's going. I'm just sitting there all of a

sudden Benny, everybody's speaking in tongues.

He said he ran out of there quick.

He never, never went bad. I'd run out too.

It's insane. That's not biblical, and if you

follow what the Bible teaches here regarding these gifts,

you'll understand why. Paul was grateful for his gift,

but he never used it in the church setting.

It was in his private prayer closet that he prayed this way.

Someone said in some of these churches because egos and

psychological imbalance of people, they feel they need to

speak in tongues publicly and the pastor says well how many

hours you spend in your prayer closet praying that way.

Some people are the spiritual show offs and they draw

attention to themselves and they take the glory from the Lord.

Brethren, do not be children and understanding, however, in

malice be babes, but an understanding be mature.

And the law, it's written with the men of other tongues and of

other lips. I will speak to the people, and

yet for all that they will not hear me, says the Lord.

What happened in this particular section of Scripture in Isaiah

was the fact that the Lord was bringing judgment on Israel.

They weren't listening to the prophets anymore.

They weren't listening to the word of God.

And so the Lord had to send in Assyrians into that place of

where they lived, and they heard tongues of the enemy.

That was to their judgment. It wasn't for their good.

Therefore tongues for a sign, not to those who believe, but

the unbelievers. The prophesying is not for

unbelievers, but for those who believe in the book of the Acts.

When the Holy Spirit descended was poured out and all those

people were praying in this language, it was something that

could be understood by all the listeners because it says they

heard these people worship God in their own tongue as a

miracle. It was a real language and they

heard whether they say they, they said we heard them

magnifying the wonderful works of God.

Therefore, if the whole church comes together in one place and

all speak with tongues and they're coming, those who are

uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of

your mind? To your point, our brother that

went to the Benny Hinn thing, they were out of their mind,

right? That's what you thought and you

were right. You were a prophet man.

But if all prophecy and an unbeliever or an uninformed

person comes in, he's convinced by all and convicted by all, and

that's the secrets of his heart are revealed.

And so falling down in his face, he will worship God and report

that God is truly among you. I don't know how many times and

this has happened to different people here that teach someone

will come and they'll say, did my mom call you or did my wife

talk to you? I said, what are you talking

about? What you said went right to my

heart today and I need to deal with something in my life.

I'll say, well that was the Lord because I had no clue what you

were dealing with, nor do I know you personally.

That's how the Lord uses His word to bring the knowledge of

their need of Christ to their hearts.

And when that happens, the secret of their hearts are

revealed and falling down on their faces.

They'll worship God and report that God is truly among you.

So order in church meetings, verse 26.

How is it then brethren, whenever you come together, each

of you has a Psalm. This is this church was so

self-centered like I want to get on the platform.

So I got a Psalm. I want to share my Psalm.

I want to give my tongue. I want to give the

interpretation. I want to give the prophecy Has

a teaching, has a tongue as a revelation has an

interpretation. Let all things been done for

edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue,

let there be two, or at the most 3 each in turn.

Let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter,

let him keep silent in the church and let him speak to

himself and to God. If you're praying in the Spirit

and you have the responsibility to minister, that's between you

and the Lord. And so your intercession with

the Lord and your time with God, he's, he's putting things into

your heart and your mind that he wants you to use as you teach

the Word. It's just the way the Holy

Spirit many times rolls. But if there's no interpreter,

just be quiet. Let two or three prophets speak

and let the others judge. I find like in our pastors

conferences, there'll be 6-8 guys that'll teach.

They're called to teach. They're not told what they're

going to teach on. They pray and bring what the

Lord has put on their heart to bring.

It always flows together. I've never been there thinking

like, why did they have that person speak?

Because if this was out of order, it wasn't like part of

like what we believe God was wanting to say or to do.

That's not how the Holy Spirit works.

It's it all comes together and and as the the different people

speak, the the leaders judge whether this is of the Lord or

not. If anything is revealed to

another who sits by, let him first keep silent.

For you can all prophecy one by one that all may learn and all

may be encouraged. And the spirits of the prophets

are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of

confusion, but of peace is in all the church and of the

Saints. So it isn't like some people

say, Oh, the Spirit came upon me and I couldn't control myself

and I I just had to blurt out what that's not biblical.

The fruit of the Spirit is self-control.

You're never in a position where God is like, you know, making

you do something that is strange and weird that you don't

understand and you have no ability to discern whether God

is moving you to just be quiet or to actually say something

about something. The benefit of teaching the

Bible verse by verse and line upon line is it keeps us out of

the weeds and beginning to say things that we have no business

saying. As speakers on behalf of the

Lord, we bring his message to you guys, not our message.

And I've been in churches where I never know what the person's

going to begin to start teaching and talking about.

And sometimes I'd walk out and I said, Cindy, what was that all

about? You know, sad.

There's a famine for the Word of God, and everything the apostles

taught was teach the people my word.

That's what the Lord wants. That's the only thing that's

going to change your life, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit

applying it to your everyday life and living it out as he's

directed you. So Paul wrote this because the

church was abusing all these things.

I'm thankful. Maybe you aren't.

Maybe you think we should be moving more in Signs and

Wonders. But this is who we are as

Calvary Chapel. We don't, we don't try to create

any kind of activity up here to tickle ears or to get people all

excited. You know, if the Word of God

isn't enough, then this isn't the place that tells us in

Hebrews. The Word of God is sharper than

any 2 edged sword, nothing sharper than the word piercing,

dividing asunder of the soul and the Spirit, and is a very

discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

That's the Holy Spirit's job, to cut what needs to be cut out of

my heart and yours and to change us and transform us.

So my favorite part as we begin to wind down is let your women

keep silent in the churches. Amen.

Now we're going to have like, we're going to have like a

revolution here now. Well, first of all, the context

of the culture was in the Jewish church in the beginning, which

was made-up of Jews primarily. The women sat on one side and

the men sat on the other side. And so whoever's up there

teaching, maybe the woman didn't understand something and she

agreed something and she's going to yell over, you know.

Hey, hey, Steve. But you hear what that guy said.

What do you think in the midst of the meeting?

Steve's like, we'll talk about it when we get home.

Well, I want to know now. I mean, it was that kind of

stuff being interrupting in the in the service, right?

It didn't mean that a woman couldn't prophecy because Paul

said in First Corinthians 12 that they had that gift as well

to be able to teach and to prophecy and to edify, exhort

and comfort. We have women here that lead to

worship. It's totally biblical and they

pray and they encourage us. They talk.

That's totally OK. This was the out of order kind

of communication that the women were having.

And so he said that they are to be submissive as by the law also

says. And if they want to learn

anything or something, let them ask their own husbands at home.

For it's shameful for women to speak in the church.

And it wasn't that a woman can't give a testimony or give

announcements or or pray or encourage or come up here when

we have intercession for people who are sick and lay hands and

pray, that is totally within the confines of of biblical church

order. But it was whenever they were,

you know, creating some havoc here.

And then he says in verse 36, or did the word of God come

originally from you? Or was it only you that reached?

If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him

acknowledge that the things which I write to you are

commandments of the Lord. So these aren't suggestions here

that I'm sharing today in regard to order of spiritual gifts.

These are commands of the Lord. And if you want to do stuff

different, you know you'll be called out on it here because we

won't allow it to happen because it's not within the confines of

church order and church worship. But if anyone is ignorant, let

them be ignorant. Therefore, brethren, desire

earnestly to prophecy, do not forbid to speak with tongues,

and let all things being be done decently in an order.

What is that? OK, How did I do on a scale of 1

to 10? What's what's funny, you know,

some people say I like that Calvary Chapel, but they're

they're too Baptist. And then someone else to say I

like, I don't like that Calvary Chapel because they're too

Pentecostal. Like you can't please everybody.

But I believe that in these last days, when you only have certain

choices to make and where you want to serve and where you want

to fellowship and where you want to bring your families, I think

it's critical more than ever, you know, to find a church that

teaches the Bible. Simply simply teach the Bible.

Simply not any. Don't add anything to it.

Don't subtract anything from it. Teach the whole council of God.

And it's hard to find. That's why Cindy and I planted

this church in ignorance 30 years ago.

We had no idea what we were doing.

We just knew there needed to be a church like this in this

community. And we had attended a lot of

churches, nice people and all that, but we there was like very

little teaching of the Word of God.

And I'm so thankful that the Lord brought me and Cindy and my

family into this part of the body of Christ.

And I'm not saying we're better than anybody else, but I believe

that we are on track with what God wants his church to be like

and to look like. And he's using all of you in

different ways here. And there's more opportunity to

be used. I'm thankful for the men that

teach her Wednesday night. And they can have different

views on these positions. No one's signing a report here.

You must agree with everything this way.

Some people have different end time views here.

Some people believe in a little rapture.

Some people don't believe in a little rapture, some people

believe in the pre Trib rapture. Some people believe in a mid

Trib, a no Trib, all millennial. I mean, but those are secondary

issues. The primary issue is to preach

the gospel and teach the word right and sometimes to be able

to agree to disagree and not make a big deal of it right.

So that's my prayer. And if you could come up for a

minute, brother, just come up here and say hi to everybody.

Come on up, Anita. Matt.

Matt has the gift of interpretation.

So we're going to do a little thing here now.

So tell everybody how you're doing, what's going on.

Yeah. OK, so we have a testimony from

the Lord 3 1/2 years ago. The doctors told me I only had

two years, so we're a year and a half ahead of them.

Every day is a blessing. So we all need to think about

that, though we all could be gone tonight.

That's right. So.

Like Clark said, if you're not right with the Lord, you need to

get there big time. So my cancer, I had six months

of chemotherapy. We ended that up in June and my

blood numbers were way down. And then in September we had

blood samples and they're going up again.

So in December we're starting a new treatment with this new

treatment method that's out there called Pluvicto, and they

inject radioactive material into your blood and it attaches to

cancer cells and kills cancer cells.

So we're looking forward to that one.

The only problem with that is I'll be radioactive for two or

three days and if we're in the car, I got to sit in the back

seat on the other side and sleep in a separate bedroom.

So, but we're just so blessed. Every day is a blessing.

Amen. Thank you for your.

Prayers. Yes, thank you so much for your

prayers. We know that many of you still

pray for us and we really appreciate it.

We live in Kerrville, TX. If you've heard about Kerrville,

this summer, there was significant flooding and right

across the street from where we live, 28 girls were killed at a

Christian camp. So we're still in a recovery

mode. I think Tim at West Elizabeth is

going to send some A-Team down in January.

If anybody feels led to come and help us, we could use your help.

The community is still hurting big time.

There were 120 people that perished during the flood.

So our little Calvary Chapel is pretty small.

It's really a loving church. We're really blessed there.

We miss you guys like crazy. We're we're so happy that we

could come and visit and say hi to everyone.

So yeah, just keep up, keep on keeping on and.

Chugging along with the Lord. Amen.

Thank you. Is John around?

John Morris. You.

John is. Where's John at?

He was here. He must have left after my

message. He went back to a Pentecostal.

Steve, Steve. Steve, come up.

Steve, come up here. John, come up here.

John, come on up with Steve there.

Come on over. Brother.

Please, please lay hands and pray.

Pray for our brother as your LED of the Lord.

OK? Heavenly Father, we do gather

before you. We do thank you for our brother

Matt and Nina. We do thank you, Lord, that

you've provided for them in many ways that are unknown to us.

But we thank you Lord for his presence.

We thank you, Lord for his testimony.

Lord continue to guide him and and bless him and continue to to

lead that only can come from you.

It's not us, Lord, that that provide and, and direct and

leading guide. It's you, Lord, and we give you

the glory and we give you the honor and the praise, Lord, that

you deserve in this man's life and in his wife's life, Lord,

that you've, you've put him where he needs to be.

We miss him and we miss his time with us.

But Lord, we ask that you just continue to guide and direct and

give him the wisdom that he needs.

Thank you, Lord, for His presence.

Family, Father, we just truly thank you for this couple, Lord

God, and what an example of who they are.

And you, Lord God, that you are all over them.

Lord God, in the midst of adversities and problems and

difficult situations, Lord God, they come up here with smiles on

your face. Lord God, they come up here

thanking you for who you are in their life.

Lord, we thank you for that. Lord God, we ask you, Lord God,

just to continue to touch them. Lord God, continue just to your

provisions in their life. Lord God, they come with even

concerns for others, Lord God, as they're going through things.

Lord God, Lord, we just thank you.

What an example of who you are in them.

Lord God and Lord, just bless them.

Bless them in all that they do in Jesus name.

Yes, Lord, God, we do thank you for Matt the need of here, Lord,

Lord, when when they were here, Lord, the example that they gave

Lord, I know in one instance when we had to move, Matt showed

up and helped us move. And Lord, we're a huge family.

And he didn't, he didn't care. He just stepped in there and he

helped Lord. And so Lord, now it's it's our

time to lift him up and his and Matt and he's both Lord and just

as he would just bring healing Lord, this new medicine coming,

Lord, he looks forward to it and we just ask he would just work

through this medicine. Lord, we know it's not the

medicine, Lord, it's you working through Lord.

So we just ask you to just lift him up and.

Thank you. OK so one more thing.

Some of you guys might disagree with me but the Lord blessed me

with the best wife in the world. OK, Gina, come on up.

Gina and the team will close service.

Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. I'm going to do that.

Yep. Thank you.

You got the help. Thank you for helping me.

Thank you, Lord. So much for your goodness, Lord.

And it was wonderful. Family here of God, what you're

doing in people's lives and how much they love you and love one

another. And that's the greatest example

of your Holy Spirit working in this church.

Lord, we're all learning. We're.

Desiring to be closer to you and to follow you 100%, Lord.

And we just pray you'd help us in our struggles, our

downfallings, Lord, Times of doubt, Lord, times of being

overwhelmed, all the things that can happen to us as human beings

on any given day. Lord, we're so thankful that you

tell us You're always there for us to call upon you.

You say if we draw near to you, you'll draw near to us.

And that's what we do every Sunday when we gather here to

draw near to you. And Lord, the the one of the

most amazing ways you've given us to draw near to you is taking

the supper with you, Lord, in your presence, remembering what

you've done for us and how much you love us.

And Lord, how we can deal with our heart even a few minutes

before we take this, we can say, Lord, this has to be changed.

And when I turn from this, I repent of this Lord.

I want to be yielded to you. I want to surrender to you.

I want it to be more about you and others and less about me and

myself. We just want to be more like

you, Jesus. And we know that's your will for

us, Lord, that you conform each of us more to your image and

likeness because we can't do that ourselves.

It's got to be you. Work your Holy Spirit.

On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took the bread in

his hands and he broke it and he gave thanks.

He said, take, eat, this is My body which is given for you.

Eat this in remembrance of me. On the same manner in that night

he took the cup. He said this cup is a new

covenant in My blood which is shed for the forgiveness of sins

of many. Drink this in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup.

You show forth the Lord's death till he comes again.

God bless you guys. Thank you for putting up with me

today.