The Power We Need | CHURCH IN CHAOS | 1 Corinthians 12:1-31

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We

are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ

for the glory of God. If we can serve you in

any way, then visit our website at citychurchmanchester

.org to find out more. This is 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 verses 1 through 31. Now about the

gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I

do not want you to be uninformed. You know how

when you were pagans, somehow or other, you were

influenced and led astray to dumb 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 Holy

Spirit. There are different kinds of gifts. but

the same 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 means of the same Spirit,

to another faith by the same Spirit, to another

gifts of 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. Just as a body, though

one, has many parts, but all its many parts form

one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all

baptized by one Spirit, so as to form one body,

whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free. And

we were all given the one Spirit to drink. And

so the body is not made up of one part, but of

many. Now if the foot should say, because I am

not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would

not for that reason stop being part of the body.

And if the ear should say, because I'm not an

eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not,

for that reason, stop being part of the body.

If the whole body were an eye, where would the

sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an

ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in

fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every

one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If

they were all one part, where would the body

be? As it is, there are many parts but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need

you. And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't

need you. On the contrary, those parts of the

body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.

And the parts that we think are less honorable,

we treat with special honor. And the parts that

are unpresentable are treated with special modesty,

while our presentable parts need no special treatment.

But God has put the body together, giving greater

honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there

should be no division in the body, but that its

parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with

it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices

with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and

each one of you is part of it. And God has placed

in the church, first of all, apostles, second

prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then

gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and

of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles?

Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work

miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all

speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly

desire the greater gifts, and yet I will show

you the most excellent way. This is the word

of the Lord. Well, thank you for reading that,

Scotty. It's great to have you here. Great to

have your excellent accent reading the Bible

from the front as well. And I should say with

that, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in

the room. As the Americans would say... Thank

you for your service. We appreciate all that

you do. And for you veterans who are maybe no

longer in the war zone with small children anymore,

we're thankful for you too for all that you did

do. But anyway, keep your Bible open. We're going

to be in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And for the

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

sake of time, as you can see, there's a lot going

on in that passage. We are going to be primarily

focusing in on verses 1 to 11 together. Now,

the last time I preached... I went a little bit

over the time that was allocated for my preach.

I tell you, you preach one 45 -minute sermon

here and you put on some blacklists. So we're

going to focus in on those first 11 verses together.

And as you can see, there is a lot to cover here.

So I hope we've had our Weetabix because we are

just going to jump straight on in to the text

together. Verse 1. Now, about the gifts of the

Spirit. That's what we're going to be talking

about today. Now, here's the context for what's

been going on in this letter. So this is the

letter that Paul wrote to a young church in the

city of Corinth. And there's been a whole lot

of confusion in this church over a number of

things. And here we come to find out that there's

a lot of confusion amongst this young church,

this group of young believers following Jesus.

There's confusion over what they should be doing.

with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Look at verse

1 with me. Paul says to them, I don't want you

to be uninformed about the gifts of the Spirit.

Maybe we feel a little bit uninformed about this.

So we're going to dive into the text and try

to unpack what is Paul talking about here when

he's talking about the gifts of the Spirit. What

are the gifts? I've got a broad definition, which

will be on the screen behind me. Here is... A

definition of the gifts of the Spirit is an ability

that comes from God to build up the church. An

ability that comes from God to build up the church.

Now, I just want to hopefully, helpfully make

a distinction here. We're not talking about talents.

We're not talking about natural abilities. We're

talking about gifts. The gifts of the Spirit.

You know, being naturally good at something,

and everyone in this room is naturally good at

something. Everyone's good at something. Being

naturally good at something doesn't necessarily

mean it's a spiritual gift. Example, just because

you might be somebody who's really good at words,

really good at writing, really good at performing,

really good at public speaking, doesn't necessarily

mean, That you would have a gift in preaching

the Bible. And in the same way, just because

you might be someone who's not very good at reading,

who's not very good at writing, who hasn't gone

to university, who hasn't got these degrees,

doesn't necessarily mean that God wouldn't give

you the gift to be able to preach. So what we're

talking about here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

are supernatural gifts, not natural talents.

Does that make sense? So let's get that in our

heads. We're talking about supernatural gifts,

gifts that God gives to the church to build up

his people. God given spirit empowered abilities

that when they're exercised, make people go,

wow, only God could do that. It's not about the

person. It's not like, look at how impressive

he or she is. It's only God could do something

like that. And here's the context of what's been

going on in Corinth. The people in this church

in Corinth have been using and abusing the gifts.

They've been using them in ways that glorify

themselves, that make people look at them, that

make people think they're really impressive,

that they're really spiritual. You can imagine

them in the church with the Christians around

them, speaking out loud or behaving in ways that

make the church go, look at how spiritual that

guy is. Isn't he impressive? That's the problem.

And the big problem isn't that they were just

being show -offs, because nobody likes a show

-off, right? That's not the big problem. The

big problem is that there were some in this church

in Corinth who were using the gifts to do the

very opposite of what God intends them to be

used for. They were using the gifts in a way

that was bringing division and confusion. Whereas

God has given these gifts to his people that

they might bring unity. and power. Unity, the

whole second half of what we just read there

is all about the unity of the body. Christians

together, united in one spirit. The spirit unites,

whereas the church in Corinth, people were using

the gifts in a way that was causing disunity.

The gifts bring unity and power. And here's the

key verse. If you're a scribbler. This is the

verse I think you want to highlight in 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. It's verse 7 and it'll be on the

screen as well. Here's the key verse. Now, to

each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is

given for the common good. What's that saying?

Saying to each one, every Christian, every follower

of Jesus is given a gift, a manifestation Now

here's the thing, if you're a Christian here

today, maybe you sometimes find this actually

quite hard to believe. Maybe you find it hard

to believe that God has given you any sort of

gift for the building up of the church. Because

let's be honest, sometimes being a Christian

here in Manchester, sometimes it doesn't feel

particularly powerful, right? You know, the church

in Manchester isn't exactly exploding with growth.

And actually, sometimes following Jesus can feel

far from being a life fueled by spiritual power.

Actually, often it can feel like a really hard

and long, difficult road. And maybe sometimes

you just hit a point in your walk with Jesus

where you go, where is the power? Where is God

at work in my life? I feel weak. I feel futile.

Where is this power? Let me tell you about something

that happened this week. And when it happened,

I immediately thought, yes, this is going to

be a great sermon illustration for Sunday. So

I've been thinking about this for the last few

days. Wednesday night, I got back from work and...

For a lot of you, maybe our parents in the room

as well, you know what I'm talking about, that

chaos of the evening. Straight in from work,

I'm going to be turning around to head out to

an elders meeting shortly later. We're doing

tea time. There are dishes stacking up. The girls

are in the bath. My kids are in the bath needing

bath time. There's clothes on the floor. You

know, it's just the chaos. It's life. Clothes

on the floor, dishes piling up, bubbles, giggles,

you know, busy household. We've got a short amount

of time before I've got to get back out the door.

And in this moment of busyness and life and laughter,

all of a sudden, everything went dark and everything

went completely silent because there was this

massive power cut. And it wasn't just in our

area. Sorry, it wasn't just in our house. It

was not even just our street. It was the whole

area. You know, looking out the window, all the

streetlights had gone off. And so there was this

really weird moment where we'd just gone from

being in the light, everything being busy. Everything

suddenly went dark. Everything suddenly went

quiet. Until I just heard a cry from the bathroom.

My youngest child just goes, what's happening?

Just freaks out, poor little thing. I think she

thought she'd gone permanently blind for a moment

or something. But the point is, in that moment,

we had no power. We had no power whatsoever.

So what do we do? We went and got the candles

out. And so now me and my wife, Judy, we're trying

to do bath time. We're trying to do the dishes,

like these little tea lights in our hand, trying

to figure out, trying to do life shuffling around

in the dark. And I just think that all too often,

as followers of Jesus, we too often can think

of life with Jesus being a bit like that. trusts

in him, everyone who has turned to him in faith,

he's called every single one of us, whoever you

are, wherever you're coming from, the call on

every single one of our lives as followers of

Jesus is that we would do the work of building

up the church. For us, it's here in Manchester,

here on earth. And I think too often we think

and we speak and we subtly act like all we have

to help us do this amazing work is a little tea

light of God's presence. You know, we're shuffling

around. We feel weak. We don't know what to do

next. And so we just hold the little tea light

of God's presence in our life. And I just think

sometimes we're so... Quick to forget who Jesus

is, who he says he is. We forget that because

of Jesus, because he is the one who has come

from heaven into our present darkness, because

he is the one who has come and done battle against

every supernatural. Power in this world that

he's broken the powers of sin. He has broken

the powers of death. He has shone a light in

the darkness because Jesus has done that. And

because now by faith in him, we are united to

him. We have union with him. That means that

every single one of us. However weak you may

feel, every single Christian has access to the

supernatural power of God by the Holy Spirit,

whose power can shine so brightly in our lives

by his gifts. And it's not just for the benefit

of us as individuals, it's for the benefit of

those around us. It's for the benefit of his

people. And so here's where I'd like to go for

the rest of our time as we go through 1 Corinthians

12. It is precisely because of the work and ministry

of the Holy Spirit that we as followers of Jesus,

we have the power we need for the building up

of the church. If you go away with anything,

this is what I want you to hear. If you're a

Christian, you have the power you need. to play

your part in building up the church. Now, maybe

you go, okay, but how do I know that? I hear

you saying it, but how do I know? Let's be honest.

How many of us as followers of Jesus at some

point in our lives have battled with really knowing

whether or not we belong to the Lord, whether

or not we really do have the indwelling power

of the Spirit in us? You know, you might be saying,

yeah, I'm a Christian, I follow Jesus, but I

just don't feel much power. I don't see these

gifts at work in my life. So how can I know?

How do I know if I truly do have the Spirit of

God at work in my life? Just look at verses 1

to 3 with me for a minute. If you've still got

your Bible open, if you haven't, open it up again.

Verses 1 to 3. we see that Paul is wanting to

reassure the church in Corinth, these young Christians

who have all these questions about the gifts

of the Spirit. He wants to reassure them that

actually every Christian has the Spirit. It's

not just Mr. or Mrs. Impressive over here who

is putting on a spiritual show who have the Spirit.

He's saying every Christian has the Spirit. And

what does he say? is the outward sign of knowing

that the Holy Spirit is at work in your life.

Look at verse three with me. It's on the screen

as well. I'll read it again. He writes, 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 Holy Spirit.

Now, that's not saying that if you're not a Christian,

that somehow you can't say the phrase Jesus is

Lord without your face melting or something.

That's not what Paul is saying here. What he's

saying is you can't follow Jesus. In fact, he

goes further. You can't even have the desire

to want to follow Jesus and to call Jesus the

Lord of your life, except by the wonderful, powerful.

life -transforming, supernatural work of the

Holy Spirit in your life. What am I saying? Well,

what's verse 3 saying? Verse 3 is showing us

that on our own, you and me, away from God, there

is nothing inside us. There's no amount of spiritual

fuel that we can fill ourselves up with to keep

following Jesus in this world. It's too difficult.

We don't have the faith in ourselves to do that.

And let's be honest. Sometimes it doesn't take

much for us to doubt that God is good. It can

just be a Wednesday morning when it's raining

again outside. We go, Lord, where are you? Why

have you betrayed me like this? It doesn't take

much for us to take our eye off who God truly

is and off his goodness. But God has given us

his Holy Spirit. He has put his Spirit in us.

To sustain us. That we might have this ability

to keep living for Jesus even when it's really

difficult. Even when it's tough. Even when we

struggle with doubt. We doubt his power is at

work in our lives. In fact, follow me on this.

Here's the crazy thing. Sometimes our very doubts

about God's power at work in our lives. can be

the very sign that God is indeed at work in your

life. It can be the sign that we do have the

Spirit, because if we didn't have the supernatural

work of the Spirit working in our lives, we wouldn't

even be concerned with these things. Because,

verse 3, the desire to want to have Jesus as

Lord is a supernatural desire that has been given

to us by the Spirit. He did the work. He put

that desire for Christ in you. It didn't come

from yourself. What I'm saying is you cannot

love Jesus except by the work of the Holy Spirit

at work in you. If your heart longs for Jesus

and you know him, that is a sign that the Spirit

is at work in you, no matter how much you might

be struggling today. And it's only because...

God the Holy Spirit delights in God the Son,

that you and I are able to love Christ today.

Because the love that the Holy Spirit has for

the Son of God, the ever -glorifying love of

God who delights in himself, that love, Romans

Romans 5:5

5 verse 5, has been poured into the hearts of

every believer by the work of the Holy Spirit.

And so the point I'm making here is the point

that Paul wants the church to hear clearly is

every Christian has the Holy Spirit. It's not

just for the impressive. It's not just for the

super spiritual. Every believer is indwelt by

the power of the Holy Spirit. And so what that

means is if you're a Christian here today, if

you are someone who says, yes, Jesus is my Lord,

it doesn't matter what your day job is. It doesn't

matter whether you're on minimum wage, whether

you're making millions. It doesn't matter whether

you've been in the trenches with Jesus for years

or whether you still have that newborn baby Christian

smell on your head. It doesn't matter who you

are. According to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, God

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

has given, verse 7, Each one. Every believer.

Every follower of Jesus. He has given us unbelievable

power. The ongoing supernatural power by the

Holy Spirit to build up the church. If you know

Jesus, you have the Spirit. But here's the thing.

Let's pull back a little bit. It seems to me,

and I think it seems to Paul, that according

to him, it's... possible to have the Spirit.

It's possible to be a Christian, to repent of

your sins, to have the Spirit at work in your

life and be following Him, but to not follow

Him as earnestly as we should. You know, it's

a bit like we're living like His power is a little

flickering tea light and we forget that this

is a God who has the power to fill the whole

world with light. And why do I say that? Look

at the last verse that was read to us by Scotty

there in verse 31. Paul writes, now eagerly desire

the greater gifts. Eagerly desire. That phrase

literally means burn with zeal for the gifts.

Pursue them earnestly with everything you have.

Chase after them. And here's what I think a lot

of us miss. Here's something that I missed for

a long time in my walk with Jesus. Here, right

in front of us, it's been read from the front.

We're talking about it right now. God's word

is open. The authority of God's word is being

spoken to us right now through the Bible. And

here is a direct command from scripture, from

God's word that tells. us as believers, that

we should be zealously pursuing the gifts of

the Spirit. And I just want to ask you, are you

doing that? Are we doing that, City Church? Are

we pursuing God with this burning desire that

Paul draws out here? Are we longing for more

of his power in our lives, that we would know

him? more powerfully, more personally, that our

faith would go deeper than it has before in trusting

that he is who he says he is? Are we pursuing

him like that or are we settling for a little

tea -like kind of Christianity? The instruction

here is to desire the gifts. And that instruction

is also an invitation to come and desire more

of God, to desire more of who he is. Because

when we pursue spiritual gifts, as Paul is speaking

about here, we're not pursuing things. We're

not pursuing stuff that is somehow separate from

who God is. Sam Storms, who is a reformed preacher

and teacher in America, he puts it this way.

He says spiritual gifts are nothing less than

God himself in us. energizing our souls, imparting

revelations to our mind, infusing power in our

wills and working his sovereign and gracious

purposes through us. In other words, Sam Storms

is saying that pursuing the gifts of the Spirit

is actually the pursuit of God himself. It's

coming to him. It's asking for more of him, for

more of his. presence in our lives, to have a

deeper experience and knowledge of who he is,

to have a greater vision for how he works and

for his glory, to have an ever -increasing outworking

of his power, that we, his people, who struggle,

who are weak, that we might be built up in faith.

And so the question is, are we doing that, church?

Have you, in your walk with Jesus, have you ever

stopped and asked him for his gifts? And so what

I want to do for the rest of our time is look

at this list of gifts here in verses 7 to 10.

Have a brief overview of, well, what are they?

How do they fit into the Bible? And then just

close by thinking, what might it look like for

us to pursue these gifts together? So I've got

on the screen here, the gifts. How's everyone

doing? Great. I'll take your overwhelming silence

as a good sign for doing great. Look at verses

7 and 8 with me here. I'll just read it. 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,

and to another, a message of knowledge by means

of the same Spirit. So here's the first gifts

that I think we can put together in this list.

Words of wisdom and words of knowledge. The word

that we read there for message of wisdom, message

of knowledge is the word logos, which literally

means word. Words of wisdom, word of knowledge.

Now here's the thing. Every single Christian

should be used to saying words of wisdom and

knowledge on a regular basis. Doesn't matter

whether you think you're very clever or not.

Every Christian can say words of wisdom. Why?

Because of this. Because of the Bible, because

we read this, we pray this, we sing this, we

open this up. And here we see and read and receive

the wisdom of God into our lives. We can open

it and say, what should I do with my life? Right

here, God tells me what the purpose of my life

is. So every Christian should have some sense

of wisdom and knowledge because we are those

who are growing in Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1, Christ who is the wisdom of God. So the great

news about being a Christian is even if you're

not very intelligent, you're wise. God has given

you wisdom. He says, come to me and I will give

you wisdom. So every Christian has wisdom. Every

Christian has knowledge. But I don't think that's

what Paul means here. He's not talking in broad

terms about wisdom and knowledge. He's talking

about something more specific. And there's loads

we can say on this. But I think what Paul is

referring to here are human words spoken under

the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that communicate

insight into spiritual realities. I'm aware that's

quite a long definition. Human words spoken under

the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that communicate

insight into spiritual realities. It's those

times in our walk with Jesus where we are prompted

by the Holy Spirit to say things that God wants

someone to hear. I was reminded of this just

this week, that God does this. And it's not strange.

It shouldn't surprise us that God does this.

I was meeting with a Christian brother who was

telling me a bit of his story. And he told me

about this stage in his life where he's a Christian,

he's following Jesus, but he's struggling. It

wasn't that he wasn't believing that God was

real. It was that he was struggling to believe

that God was good and that God cared for him.

And he's moved to another country at this point

in his life. He's starting a university there.

He's on the bus and he misses his bus stop. He

doesn't know where he is until he gets off at

the next stop. And a lady gets off at the same

time. And he decides, I don't know where I'm

going. I'll just follow this lady and see where

she goes, which is a smart move, just to try

and see if she might lead him to where there

might be community. So he's following this lady.

There's a path ahead. It can go left or right.

She goes left. He's following a bit behind. As

he goes to follow left, there's a dog there barking.

So he turns the other way and goes right. So

now he's walking and going, I don't know where

I'm going. And he ends up on a street. And there

on the street, he finds a church. And then in

this church, he sees there's a library. And so

he goes to the library. And in that library,

he meets someone who has come from the same country

that he's come from. And they say, hey, why don't

you come and meet some of these guys next door?

Come and hang out with us. And so he's, you know,

making conversation with people. And they say,

how are you doing? He says, I'm doing fine. And

then somebody, no one he's met before, someone

who doesn't know him. Somebody who doesn't know

his story, somebody who doesn't know about his

struggle at this point in his life, just turns

to him and says, hey, do you know that God loves

you? And in that moment, it would have been like

an infusion of faith. His faith was just boosted

up as this weird set of circumstances God had

led him to, led him to this point where somebody

just said, you've got to hear this. God loves

you. And he cares for you. I think that's what

these gifts look like. It looks like words of

knowledge, words of wisdom that God in a moment

might give to us as his children, as those who

are chasing after him, that we can say to a brother

or sister that their faith might be built up.

And so we should pursue this for one another.

I want that. Don't you want that? To be able

to pass on, to build up faith. So that's the

first set of gifts. Then verses 8 to 10, we see

a group of these three together. Faith, healing,

and miraculous powers. Now again, all Christians

have faith, right? We all have what we might

call saving faith. Ephesians chapter 2. By grace,

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

you have been saved through faith. So it's through

faith in the Son of God who died for us that

we receive the grace we need that we might be

saved. And this faith in and of itself is a gift

from God. He gave us the faith to trust in Christ,

to lean on him, to depend on him. And this saving

faith is given to all believers at all times.

It will not be taken away from us, praise God,

because we belong to him. But the gifts of the

Spirit listed here in 1 Corinthians 12, are not

things that are given to every member of the

body of Christ at all times. These are gifts

that refer to specific situations in specific

ways. And so faith here, I think, means something

different. We're not talking about broad stroke

saving faith. We're talking about something more

specific. What is it we're talking about? I think

we're talking about... A mysterious surge of

confidence in God's power to act in a certain

situation. A mysterious surge of confidence in

God's power to act in a certain situation. We

see this in the Bible. We see this in the book

of Acts. Think of the apostles in the book of

Acts where they are going out on mission. They

are taking the gospel. They are seeing these

signs and wonders. this incredible faith for

immediate healings, incredible faith for immediate

deliverance. They don't pray, God might do this.

They pray, God, you will do this. We know you

will do this. I think that's what the gift of

faith is. And so it makes sense to me that we

group these three gifts together, faith, healing,

and miraculous powers, because faith is the gift

that... God is going to do something extraordinary

in a specific moment to glorify himself and build

up the church. Now, we know, as those who read

the Bible, we know that a day is coming where

sin and sickness and suffering will be no more.

And we long for that day. We look forward to

that day. And because we know that day is coming

where Jesus will come back and make everything

new, we can answer the question, will God heal?

We say, yes, God will heal. We know a day is

coming on the day when Jesus comes back and he

will wipe every tear, every illness, every suffering

will be dealt with. Does God heal everyone like

that right now? No. Lots of us are sick. All

of us know people who have died. But can God

heal? Yes. But it's extraordinary when he does.

It's not ordinary, it's extraordinary. And we've

seen this here, haven't we? We've seen this here

at City Church. Some of you might remember this.

Our dear friends, Josh and Sarah. When Sarah

was pregnant with Jesse. And there was a moment

when they received terrible news that Jesse wasn't

going to make it. I was still at City Church

when this happened. I remember it devastated

us. The whole church moved to pray. It was really

hard to hear the news that a young mum and dad

were going to lose their baby. And so what did

we do? I'll never forget this. A group of us

went to Josh and Sarah's house and we spent a

long time that evening crying together and just

praying and asking the Lord that he might heal.

Asking that he might come and do what he can

do, which is bring life. Do the miraculous. Go

against what the doctors and praise God. We just

saw little Jesse running out to City Kids. God

healed. He did it. We've seen that. We can testify

to that. And I can remember for myself, I remember

when we received that news that Jesse was better,

that he was going to be healthy, that he was

born. I just remember this sense of faith in

my own soul, just being like, I just knew, I

knew God would do that. I don't always feel like

that, but we just trust. And I think that's what

the gift of faith looks like. It's a... A confidence,

an extra level confidence of trusting God's power.

And verse 10, look at me. Let's keep going through

this list. Verse 10, prophecy and distinguishing

between spirits. Now, I think we compare these

because prophecy, get future fortune telling

out of your head. That's not what we're talking

about here. It's not about predicting the future.

That's not what Paul has in mind. Again, Sam

Storms. has a helpful definition where he says

that prophecy is the human report of divine revelation.

John Piper, who many of us will also know as

a pastor in America, he says that prophecy is

the spontaneous personal revelation from the

Holy Spirit for the purpose of edification or

guidance or conviction. That needs assessment

on the basis of biblical teaching. In other words,

of course, Piper has a much longer definition.

In other words, God may choose to reveal something

to a believer in a specific situation. Now, we're

not saying that God will reveal something new

about himself. You know, we're not Mormons. We're

not Jehovah's Witnesses who say, The Bible isn't

actually right. We trust the words of this book.

Everything in this book we believe to be true

and full and it is enough for us. God has given

us everything we need to know who he is. There

is a full stop at the end of the Bible. We don't

add to it. We don't take away from it. So we

don't say God says something new about himself

in prophecy. Rather, he says something specific

to a person or a situation that is for the building

up of the church in that moment. And so distinguishing

between spirits, I think, has in mind the ability

to discern what is from the Holy Spirit and what

is from other spirits, from demonic spirits.

And just think again, open your Bible, look in

Acts chapter 9, we see this. Think about when

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Ananias receives a vision from the Lord to go

and find Saul and pray for his healing. We see

examples of this gift at work in the Bible. in

the church as well. Charles Spurgeon, who some

of us might know that name, is a famous preacher

from the 1800s. He was a proper Bible guy, a

guy who went around the country telling people

about Jesus. And there's a famous incident. with

Spurgeon, that's recorded, where he's in the

middle of preaching. And imagine being this guy

on the receiving end. He's in the middle of preaching

the gospel and he points at someone in the congregation.

I'm not going to point at any of you, don't worry.

He points and he says, this man has sold his

soul to Satan for six pence. That's what he says.

It was true. This man in that moment, Spurgeon

had no way to know this. But what happened that

morning, that man had been stealing from his

boss. So he'd just gone and robbed his boss in

the shoe shop that he worked in. And then he'd

snuck into church and heard Spurgeon preaching

because he was kind of a celebrity. And then

Spurgeon points at him and says, you've sold

your soul to Satan. There's no way he could have

known that. But the man confessed it was true

that he had done that. And this is what the man

said. He said, at first, I was afraid to go again

to hear this man preach, lest he should tell

the people more about me. But afterwards, I went

and the Lord met with me and saved my soul. That's

what I think the gift of prophecy looks like.

God speaking in a specific moment to a specific

person that his church might be built up. And

then finally, the one that we all have all the

questions about, the gift of tongues and the

interpretation of tongues. And I would love to

talk to you about that, but I'm not going to.

Because if you scan your eyes forward in chapter

14, you see a whole chapter is dedicated to tongues

and prophecy. And so Ralph's going to preach

on that in two weeks time. So come back in two

weeks time to hear what Ralph will bring to us

from that. But all I'm trying to do here is set

us up. To give us a bit of an overview of what

these gifts are. And hopefully that will serve

the preaching over the next few weeks. But let

me just start to wrap up here. Because I'm aware

that we have gone fast through this passage together.

There is power. Power available to every believer.

And God has given every single one of us a gift.

A gift for building up. his people. And so we're

going to close here. I'm going to invite the

band up, actually, who are going to come and

lead us in worship in just a couple of minutes.

But here's the question you might be going out

with. How do I know my gift? How do I know what

God has given me? And here's what I would love

to encourage you in. Don't look inside you. Look

around you. Don't look inside you to see what

am I naturally good at. Look around you to see

Where is power needed? Where in this church,

where in my community, where in this world is

the power of God needed? Who needs encouragement

in your life right now? Who needs a word from

the Lord to build up their faith? Who needs someone

to come alongside them and put their arm around

them and pray that God might heal them of the

sickness that they're battling? Who might need

God to come and work and move in a miraculous

way in their life right now? You know, who has

God put uniquely around you, brother or sister?

Who has he put around you that you might be used

by him to strengthen faith, to build up for God's

glory? God is good. Amen? God is good. And he's

not left us on our own. He's not left us in this

work to build his church here on earth in our

own strength, but he has given us the power we

need that we might be able to do it. He is the

God who draws near to every single one of us.

In Christ, he's the one who stepped into this

world, who stepped into our darkness, who came

not as a little tea light, but as the light of

the world. shining in the darkness, who came

and conquered sin and who conquered death and

who disarmed every power that might stand against

the church because he is the one who would build

a church that the gates of hell would not prevail

against it. This is the God we know. This is

the God we serve. And now he has given us himself.

We're not talking about him giving us things.

He has given us himself, his heart. Holy Spirit,

the Spirit of Christ at work in every believer,

that whoever believes in him, whoever turns to

Jesus may receive his Spirit and walk in his

power. And so, church, let's ask for more of

his power. Let's receive his help in our lives.

Let's ask for his presence and ask that his power

might come and build us up. where we need building

up, that we would labour until the day where

Jesus returns and the work will be done. Are

you feeling weak this afternoon? Are you feeling

a little bit like a slumber in your walk with

Jesus? Hear this, there is power. There is power

in the name of Jesus. He has given us his spirit,

so let's pursue him and his gifts. Let me pray.

Father, we thank you. We thank you for that love

that you have set upon us in the Lord Jesus.

And God, we thank you that you have called us

as your people, as your church, to labour for

you to build up your work here on earth. And

Lord, I thank you that you haven't left us to

do this on our own. God, by your spirit, come

and speak to us now. Help us, Lord, now to pursue

you in faith that you would give us the gifts

we need to build one another up. Lord, we know

you're not a far away God. We know that you've

drawn near to us. And so I pray that each of

us would know your presence in our lives. that

you would give us a deeper sense of faith, that

we would pursue you earnestly and chase after

you so that we might do the work of making you

known here in Manchester, across the Northwest

and beyond. Jesus, we thank you for your kindness.

We thank you, Lord, that you have sent your spirit

to us. We pray these things in the powerful name

of Jesus. Amen.