NJ - Working on this - Holy Spirit in Our Everyday
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Good morning and welcome to Oasis Church, welcome to our online family, it is great to have you join with us today. If you are visiting with us, we welcome you.
I have titled my message today: Holy Spirit in Our Everyday.
LETS PRAY
In life, we all face uncertainty. Whether it’s financial troubles, relationship valleys, a health crisis, or just trying to discover your purpose, one thing is for certain; God sees you. He loves you. And no matter what you are facing, He has the answers.
If you would open your Bible to John
15 “If you love me, obey my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you also will live. 20 When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them.”
25 I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. 26 But when the Father sends the Advocate as my representative—that is, the Holy Spirit—he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you. 27 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
Hebrews 2. We’re going to be talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, but there’s something I wanted to establish first that I believe is so important for us to understand.
2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Now, I want you to see that.
He talks about the gospel being preached first by the Lord but then by those who heard Him. And it says, “God also bearing witness (that is bearing witness to the preaching of the gospel) with signs and wonders, various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit.” God bears witness to the preaching of the gospel with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Listen to the words of the apostle Paul,
18 Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. 19 They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.
Paul said, “I fully preached the gospel of Christ, but it’s been with signs and wonders and with the power of the Holy Spirit.” And he called that having fully preached the gospel. So, it wasn’t a matter of just doctrine or of just preaching the good news.
The Holy Spirit was involved in power. And we shouldn’t think that strange concerning the great commission that Jesus gave to us all as believers. And I want to read it to you.
15 And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. 16 Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. 18 They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won’t hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.” 19 When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 20 And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs.
Amen. Now, I share that for a specific reason. It’s because I believe that we can unconsciously create a culture where these wonderful gifts and manifestations of the Spirit are just for us here in the house. And thank God for the things that we do experience within the walls of the church.
That has merit. But, if we’re going to be true to the scriptural pattern, we need to anticipate and be expecting the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, far more outside of the four walls of this church than within the church. In fact, I’ve read through the entire book of Acts, specifically looking for every time a gift of the Holy Spirit was in manifestation.
From chapter one all the way through the end of the book. And there were gifts of the Spirit throughout. But, you will find, if you do that study through the book of Acts, not exclusively, but predominantly, the manifestations, or the gifts of the Holy Spirit are always found in connection with reaching the lost, with taking it out into the street. Yet, there are some things that happened when the people gathered, but mostly the gifts of the Spirit are for out there.
But, I think unconsciously, again, this culture had sort of been created that we just expect it all to happen when we gather in our midst. When God says, “No, the main purpose is for out there.” I’ve preached in a particular country many, many times for probably the last, I’m going to say 30 years. And I’ve probably been 40 times to this particular country. It has some of the greatest skiing in the world, snow-capped mountains that are covered with snow, 365 days a year. Some of the best skiing you can find on the planet.
And one day I’m driving along, we’re going to a meeting, and I notice on the side of the highway, there’s this enormous building that’s built on the side of a hill. And I asked the driver and said, “What the heck is that?” He said, “Oh, that’s a ski building.” I said, “What do you mean?” He says, “Well, they make fake snow in there. And you go in and rent skis, or you take your skis, and you take the rope tow up and ski down the hill, take the rope tow up and ski down the hill.” Now, as awesome as that is, it would be a tragedy to neglect the mountains outside. You see, the skis, yes, they work inside the building, but they’re actually made for outside.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit predominantly will be in manifestation as we take the gospel to a lost and to a dying world. I was a brand new Christian, I didn’t really know anything, but if you stood still long enough, I told you about Jesus, told you about my experience. Anybody or anything that would stand still long enough, I’d share with them. And I was in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon, the same park that the little boy had shared Christ with me. I’m a brand new believer.
There’s a maintenance guy in the park. He’s probably twice my age. And I walked up to him, engaged him in conversation. I started telling him about my experience in the park. And I’m talking to him about Jesus, and he starts to mock me. And he said a couple of snide things. And in my heart, I prayed, “Oh God, give me something to win this man.” And he was making fun of me and kind of laughing, and the Holy Spirit, at that moment, spoke to me.
The Spirit said to my heart, “He’s deaf in his left ear.” I said, “Excuse me.” I put my hand up.” He said, “What?” I said, “You’re deaf in your left ear.” I remember he touched his ear. He said, “Yes, how did you know that?” I said, “God just told me that. Can I pray for you?” He looked down, his eyes got real big, and said, “No, I got to go.” And he turned, he almost ran away. Now, I don’t know whatever became of him, but I do know that was something that he could never dismiss.
And I trust that if he would’ve let me pray for him, there would have been a gift of healing that would have come in conjunction with that word of knowledge that the Holy Spirit gave me at that moment. But, I think we need to expect, anticipate, and look for the gifts of the Spirit as we’re going out there.
And so, as we discuss and define the gifts of the Spirit over the next few weeks, let us think in terms of being used by God outside of these four walls, thankful for everything God does when we gather together, but also lifting up our eyes and looking on the harvest fields and trusting that the Holy Spirit will work through us as we take the good news of Jesus Christ to a lost and a dying world. So, if you would open your Bibles to:
1 Corinthians 12:1, please. First Corinthians 12:1.
And by the way,
1 Corinthians 12 deals with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
1 Corinthians 13 deals with the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
and 1 Corinthians 14 deals with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. 2 You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. 3 So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
I do not want you to be ignorant: Let’s stop right there. There are not many things in Scripture that God specifically says, “Hey, I don’t want you ignorant about this.” Now for me, if I ever find something that God specifically says, “I don’t want you ignorant about this subject,” man, I will study and study and find all I can about that particular subject. And God says to the church that He doesn’t want us to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts.
How important is this for the church that God would go out of His way to say, “Hey, don’t be in the dark about this. Gain understanding about this.” And he goes on in this chapter, he identifies the various gifts and tells how God distributes them within His body.
And then, in chapter 13, he identifies the spirit or the attitude that should characterize the use of the gifts, which is love.
In chapter 14, he gives us guidelines for the functioning of the vocal gifts within the local assembly.
He goes on and basically tells us that when the gifts are in operation, the whole Trinity is involved.
Look with me in verse 4,
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.
6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
I want you to look up this way. All right. There are diversities of gifts, same Spirit. The Holy Spirit is over the gifts. There are different ministries, but the same Lord, the Lord is over the ministries, and God works all in all. God mingles the gift with the ministry. And it may operate differently in one person because there are different operations than it does through another person. But, we have the whole Trinity involved here in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Verse 7
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
Verse 11
11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
So, two things there; these gifts are manifestations of the Spirit are for the profit of all. It’s not about you. It’s about others. And secondly, they operate as the Spirit wills, not as we will. Those two things are very important. Now, someone might ask, “Well, does that mean that we just need to kind of sit around and wait for God to do something if it works as the Spirit wills?” I’m going to answer that two ways; yes and no.
Yes, that you don’t turn off and on the gifts of the Spirit like you do your kitchen faucet. They don’t work as you desire or as you will necessarily, but they work as the Spirit wills. But I’m going to say no because we can do something to cooperate and place ourselves in a position to be used. The first thing we can do is have right motives. They’re for the profit of all. They’re not for our own profit. We need to have others on our minds.
Secondly, we need to have desire. Look with me if you would, 1 Corinthians 12:31. He said,
31 So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts. But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.
(Which is a more excellent way to operate in the gifts, which is love) And He goes into the 13th chapter. I want you to say these words with me, “Earnestly desire.” Earnestly desire the best gifts. We come to 14:1.
He says, Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Verse 12 of chapter 14, 12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel.
Listen to the language. “Even as you are zealous.” You are purposefully going after the gifts of the Spirit, “seek to excel.” Think about those words. Again, it’s for the edification of the church; it’s for others. It’s not for me personally. But I’m to be zealous. I’m looking to excel. I’m supposed to earnestly desire the gifts. And again, verse 39 of chapter 14, 39 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. The old King James says, “Covet to prophesy,” just showing the strength of this word in the original language.
This isn’t some lackadaisical thing. This isn’t a take-it-or-leave-it thing. We need to earnestly desire. And I want you to listen to me. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are not given by God just in response to need, nor are they given just because of maturity. You may be a very mature Christian. You walked with the Lord for many years. You do your best to live by the Scriptures. You’re a good husband. You’re a good wife, a good parent. That’s great, but being a mature Christian will not bring the gifts of the Holy Spirit into manifestation, and God does not distribute them just based on need. The Holy Spirit responds to desire.
I have some materials stored at my house like you probably do as well. And right on them, it will say “Flammable.” It says, “Store in a dry place away from heat.” And so, these things at my house, they’re not stored next to the heater. I don’t keep them by the fireplace because if they get by heat, they are combustible. They respond to heat. And some of us, we’re just far too cool, spiritually. We’re too far away from the heat. But if we would get close to God and get some fire from off the altar, and begin to pray, and seek God, and desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there would be some divine combustion, my friend.
The Holy Spirit would not be long in meeting us with these gifts of the Holy Spirit. I was an assistant pastor for two years. And it was on a Sunday night, and I was actually teaching from 1 Corinthians on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I still remember to this day, in the middle of my message, something came over me. It was an anointing from heaven, and I got stuck on this thought of desire. And for probably two or three minutes, I just walked back and forth across the front of that platform, and I said it over and over, “You’ve got to desire the gifts.
You’ve got to desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You’ve got to desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit.” I probably said it 30 times. I just walked back and forth. I said it over and over, “You’ve got to desire the gifts. You’ve got to desire the gifts.” And I remember at that moment. I recognized God’s hand was on me. It wasn’t me just getting off on a tangent. Anyway, service ended, I didn’t think a lot about it. Now, the pastor and his wife were very dear friends. I actually lived with them for a period of time, knew their children quite well also.
And the very next day, they’re over at some friend’s house, they’d taken the whole family, they’d gone over for dinner. And so, they all enjoyed dinner together. All the kids went upstairs. It was a two-story house. They were playing in one of the rooms up there. And the pastor’s wife, she’s washing dishes. The sink’s there, and they’ve got a big bay window that looks into the backyard. She’s washing dishes, and there’s some casual conversation going on. Well, they didn’t know it, but the kids had gone upstairs, and the older kids had pried off a screen to one of the windows, opened the window, and they climbed out the window and gone up on the roof.
The pastor and his wife’s youngest boy, I think he was three, and he’d followed them out the window. He lost his footing, and he fell from the second-story roof. The wife said, “Bayless, I was washing dishes.” She said, “I thought I saw a rag fall down into the yard, and I looked and realized it was our boy.” She said, “I screamed. My husband ran out.” The pastor ran out, and there’s his little boy with his arm twisted up in a very unnatural way behind him, he doesn’t appear to be breathing, and he’s just crumpled there on the ground.
The pastor said, “I scooped my boy up in my arms.” He said, “Bayless, I heard your voice say, ‘You’ve got to desire the gifts of the Spirit.’” He said, “I’m holding my lifeless son, whose arm is wrenched around behind him.” He said, “From the depths of my being, I cried out, ‘Oh God, I desire the gifts of the Holy Spirit. God, I desire the gifts of the Spirit.’” He said, “I said it over and over and over.” He said, “Suddenly, something came out of heaven, and hit me on the top of my head, went all the way down through my body through my feet.”
He said, “It came back up, went out my arms into my son, and he suddenly opened his eyes, looked at me, and said, ‘Hi, dad,’ jumped out of my arms and went off to play with the other kids, never even had a bruise.” If God says something once, we need to pay attention. His Word never passes away. If He says it twice, you need to give that special attention. If He says it three times, and here, again and again, “Earnestly desire. Desire the best gifts. Seek to excel.
Be zealous about Spiritual gifts, covet, desire to prophesy.” How important is it for us to have this kind of desire we’re talking about? All right. So, look back with me if you would at chapter 12. Let’s read about the gifts of the Spirit. There are nine gifts or nine manifestations of the
Spirit listed here in 1 Corinthians 12:8,
8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,
9 to another faith… (Or some translations say, “special faith”) …by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
All right. There are nine gifts listed here. Now, for the purpose of study, we’re going to put them into three different categories. Though, realize that in actuality, many times, they function together just like the fingers on your hands. A word of wisdom may come through a prophecy, a word of knowledge may come in tandem with a gift of healing, but for the purpose of study, here are three categories. Number one, there are three gifts that reveal something or three revelation gifts, then there are three gifts that do something; three power gifts, and then there are three gifts that say something, which we call vocal gifts.
The revelation gifts are the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and the discerning of spirits. The three power gifts: the gifts of healings, the working of miracles, and the gift of faith or the gift of special faith. The vocal gifts: prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. You know, I believe that there is a real awakening happening in the body of Christ regarding the gifts and manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If we ever needed the supernatural, we need it now.
There is a supernatural darkness and blindness that exists over the world with so many people you can’t even have a rational conversation about certain things. Like there are blinders on them. And you think, “What is going on?” Well, I believe that it is supernatural. The Scripture says, “The god of this world has blinded people’s minds, lest the glorious light of the gospel of Christ should shine upon them.” And the only thing that is going to break through that supernatural blindness is prayer and a manifestation of the true supernatural; the Holy Spirit, the good supernatural. And in this series that we are just beginning, you just sort of watched an introduction.
We found out the gifts of the Spirit work through desire. We need to be praying about them and seeking God for them. But, we will find out as we progress that all nine of these gifts are for today, and they are necessary. And truly, God meets us to the level of our desire, to the level that we go after these gifts. I’m going to be sharing scriptural truth about these. I’m going to be sharing experiences about the revelation gifts: The word of knowledge. The word of wisdom.
The discerning of spirits that gives us a look into the spirit realm. It helps us to pierce the veil of the natural and see the forces that are at work behind certain things. I’m going to be talking about the vocal gifts. And I know a lot of people want to stay away from that and say, “Well, the tongues have just divided the church. You know this speaking in tongues business. You shouldn’t talk about that.” Hey, the Bible talks about it. We need to talk about it.
And truthfully, it’s not the subject of speaking in tongues that have divided the church; it’s men and women with closed minds. It’s men and women on both sides of these gifts. Some that believe they have passed away. And those that believe and are convinced they are for today that just somehow think they are better and superior than other people.
And you know, it’s the blood of Jesus that is our rallying point for fellowship even if we disagree on some other things. But we are going to talk about the gift of prophecy, different kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues. You are not going to want to miss it. And I’m really excited about when we get into the power gifts: The working of miracles, the gift of special faith, and the gifts of healings. Friend, the church needs this knowledge.
You need this knowledge. So you are not going to want to miss a single one of our services where we talk about these things. But you know, as I end right now, I just want to tell you that God sees you, and He knows you. You are not some number on an endless list to Him. You are not some faceless person in a crowd to God. He knows every detail of your life. He knows how many hairs are on your head. And He is interested in you, my friend. He is interested in what’s going on with you. And He is just a prayer away. Open your heart and talk to Him, if you would. You will find out He is a very present help in time of need.
I pray that God would richly bless you. And I look forward to getting together around this subject very soon.