There are those people, like, when we get together and pray for God to give us boldness to share the Gospel, they're biting their tongues because they're like, you guys are nervous about sharing the Gospel. I don't get it. What are you talking about? Evangelists are definitely still given to the church as a gift. And according to Paul, every pastor must be able to teach.
But there's a difference between being able to teach and having the gift of teaching. Every pastor should be able to teach in such a way that they can present the truths of Scripture, clearly building up the hero in their faith. But the gift of teaching and the gift of a teacher is a person empowered by God to teach with clarity and authority, above and beyond their natural ability or any skill that can be learned. It's a special anointing from God for the task of teaching. The word pastor in the original Greek is the word for shepherd.
When God gives the gift of a pastor to a local church body, he gives them the gift of a shepherd, someone who desires to care for, protect, and feed the flock of God so that they grow into strong, healthy sheep. That's the heart of a faithful pastor. He is always aware that the flock belongs to his master, the Lord Jesus, and his life's work is shepherding the sheep that have been entrusted to him by his master. I just want to point out again that every believer is called to serve. Every believer is called to give generously, every believer is called to show mercy, and on and on.
I would he a gift of the Spirit is a special anointing to serve, give, or show mercy above and beyond our natural inclinations or abilities. If one of my kids came up to me and said, Dad, after listening to that message, I've realized I don't have the gift of washing dishes, it might surprise you to learn that my response would not be, oh wow, I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know, buddy. I would never want you to serve where you don't feel gifted. My response would be, cool story, bro.
The dishes still need to get washed, so let's get to it. I say that lest anyone dream of saying, I don't have the gift of chair stacking, I don't have the gift of helping with kids ministry, I don't have the gift of service. The church is a family, and in a family, the work needs to get done. I don't run dinner clean-up multiple times per week because it's my gift or my passion. I do it because it needs to get done and I'm part of the family.
The Bible doesn't promise that every believer who gets sick will be healed in this life. But he told me that Charlene would recover in that specific situation. I can't explain it, but there was no doubt in my mind from the moment I heard the diagnosis to the moment the doctor said, you're all clear. Zero doubt. I can say that with sincerity.
It was a gift of faith given by the Holy Spirit for that time, for that purpose. The gift of healing is precisely what it sounds like. The Holy Spirit moves through a person to heal another person. In the ministry of Jesus and the apostles, this gift was given to authenticate their ministry as being from God. Now, we believe that miraculous healing still occur today.
And our brother Amen tells us that if anyone among the brethren is sick, they should call for the elders who are to lay hands on them, anoint them with oil, and pray for them to be healed. This gift is still active today. The performing of miracles gift is broad and includes miracles other than healing. Examples would be Moses in Egypt or Elimus being struck blind, which we'll read about when we get to Acts, chapter 13. Now, there is a compelling case to be made that this gift was specific to the upper case A apostles.
We will see this in multiple places. In the book of Acts, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, and speaking of himself, he said the signs of an apostle were performed with unfailing endurance among you, including signs and wonders and miracles. In other words, there may have been a category of signs and wonders and miracles that was a special empowerment given to the upper case apostles, the apostles in the first century through whom Jesus established the Church. For what it's worth, I think that was likely the case. When a person is full of the word of God, the Holy Spirit may give them a special gift to distinguish between spirits empowerment, to discern the truth from the deceptions and forgeries of Satan and his allies.
The Holy Spirit will bring specific Scriptures to mind, which will enable clear discernment. Or he may simply give the conviction that something is off and should be investigated or weighed or prayed about. Further, this gift of the Spirit was active in Jesus when the Spirit empowered him to discern the difference between someone who was sick and someone who was possessed, someone willingly involved with demons, as opposed to someone who was being oppressed against their will. I don't have a verse for it, but experience will teach you that generally God created woman to be more sensitive than men. In the spiritual arena, I have often found that God will work through that natural spiritual sensitivity to discern when something is going on beneath the surface in a person's life.
The gift of mercy is not a dysfunctional need to feel important or feel needed. That's not what's going on. The gift of mercy is the agape love of God overwhelming a person who feels compelled to extend it to others. Those with the gift of mercy will be active in extending it first to their brothers and sisters in the faith and then to those outside the church. This order of priority applies to all the gifts and is summarized by Paul's instruction to the Galatians when he said, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
Unsurprisingly, those with the gift of mercy are often active in ministering to the marginalized, the oppressed, and the lowly. Now, your translation might refer to a word of wisdom, for that is what this gift is. It's a spoken gift, a word of wisdom. Simply put, the Holy Spirit gives someone the wisdom to practically apply biblical truth to a specific context or situation. It's wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit, not solely from the experience or knowledge of the person speaking.
When direction and clarity are needed, God can speak through a believer in a way that lines up with His Word and brings illumination. Where there is confusion, indecision, or conflict. That's a word of wisdom. The message of knowledge is another gift that is spoken, and it occurs when the Holy Spirit reveals knowledge to believers that they could not have known apart from supernatural revelation. The best example in Scripture is Jesus's interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well.
In John, chapter four, I'll read you a few of the verses. Go call your husband, he told her, and come back here. I don't have a husband, she answered. You have correctly said, I don't have a husband, jesus said, for you've had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true, sir, the woman replied.
I see that you are a prophet. After their interaction, she goes back to her village and calls everyone to come and see Jesus, telling them, Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. In that instance, the Holy Spirit empowered Jesus with this knowledge for evangelism. In the context of the church, the gift of a word of knowledge could be used to encourage someone who's been suffering in silence, or it could be used even to do something like expose sin that is, endangering the whole church body. As we shall see when we get to Acts, chapter five, god gives all believers the gift of saving faith, for without it, none of us would be able to recognize and place our faith in Jesus.
But in some instances, the Holy Spirit gives a special gift of faith to a believer, enabling them to unswervingly hold to a promise from God or to a Scripture. Despite incredible challenges, I think of Noah and the decades that he spent building the ark far from the ocean in a world where it had likely never rained. How do you not quit after year 30? The gift of faith is the only explanation. I experienced this gift myself when Charlene received a cancer diagnosis years ago.
She was operating in the gift of giving in that moment. And in two Corinthians eight, paul writes about how the gift of giving gripped the church in Macedonia. Paul says, we want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches of Macedonia during a severe trial brought about by affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. I can testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability of their own accord, they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints. The church in Macedonia heard that the church in Jerusalem was suffering.
The church in Macedonia was suffering too. They were experiencing poverty, but they were gripped by this gift of giving and gave above and beyond what they had any reason to do on a logical or natural level because they were gripped by the Holy Spirit. And of course, we can trust the Holy Spirit provided for them. When the gift of giving is present in a person, they give above and beyond with great joy and a heart to see the body of Christ built up. The gift of leading called administration, in some translations is just that a supernatural empowerment to lead the church.
This is not, again, the natural talent of leading. Elon Musk does not have the gift of leading. The gift is given to those who are called to lead in the context of the church elders and deacons, and we're going to talk more about elders and deacons in future chapters in the Book of Acts. It's the ability to shepherd God's people and lead them in the direction Jesus desires, resisting the pressure to conform to the world. It's walking in partnership with the Holy Spirit as he reveals how to make disciples in each church's unique context.
It's a gift to tackle all kinds of issues that come up when leading a church practical, relational, financial, legal, spiritual, you name it. Those gifted by the Holy Spirit to lead the church understand that the church belongs to Jesus, and they gladly take their place under him, constantly exhorting their brethren to look to their Savior. In Ephesians 4/13, Paul tells us that the goal of the gifted leader is to guard and guide those he leads until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son. Growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. Please note that the gift of leading has nothing to do with charisma.
It has nothing to do with being liked by the world. It has nothing to do with having a large following on social media. The test of a leader gifted by the Holy Spirit is Ephesians 4/13. This is the test. If you submit to the leadership of that church, do you find yourself growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness?
If you submit to their leadership, do you find yourself becoming more like Jesus? That's the test. The gift of mercy is God-given compassion that inspires helpful action. Let me clarify here. We're not talking about people who have a savior complex or a personality trait that makes them constantly want to rescue broken people.
Those characteristics are often highly dysfunctional. We're talking about someone so overwhelmed by the mercy of Jesus that they feel compelled to extend that mercy to other people. This mercy is not defined by the person to whom it is extended. This mercy is defined by the agape love of Jesus. What I mean is that the gift of mercy that comes from the Holy Spirit does what is best for the other person, even when it is difficult, because the true gift of mercy is not self-serving underneath.
You cannot go to college and learn how to have the gift of teaching. A seminary degree cannot give you the gift of teaching. Like all the other gifts, it is bestowed on a person by the Lord to build up the saints in their knowledge and understanding of the Word. This is why the greatest preachers in history have never been the best trained or the most naturally gifted. They've been men powerfully anointed by God to teach his people.
God gifts some men to teach the whole church. He gifts other brothers and sisters to teach children. He gifts parents to teach their children, and he gifts people to lead Bible studies. He will even give the gift of teaching for one-on-one conversations. Sometimes the gift may be given for specific situations or certain groups of people.
The gift may stick with you, or God may give it supernaturally for a particular ministry, situation, opportunity, or conversation. The gift of exhorting is a supernatural ability to build someone up, strengthen, and encourage them in the truth. It may be through verbal encouragement. It may be through a text encouragement. It could be a challenge.
It could be a scripture that is shared. It's an arm around the shoulder, literally or metaphorically, that strengthens a brother or sister in the faith. It's the heart that identifies someone who needs encouragement, someone who needs a pat on the back and says, let's grab a coffee this week. Let's get into the Word. Let's pray together.
What's going on? You seem out of it that's the heart. Be strong, stay in the Lord, don't give up. Keep the faith. I know you're going through a hard time right now.
Keep doing the right things. God is with you. That's exhorting someone. And the supernatural part is that it's always truthful and it's always timely. Always timely.
When you receive an exhortation, you're keenly aware that it was a word from God for you that you just needed to hear at that time. I don't know if you've ever had the blessing of having someone call you and they're like, I don't know why, I just felt I needed to call you. I just felt I needed to talk with you and just ask how you're doing. Just felt like the Lord wanted me to do that. That's the gift of exhortation at work.
The exhortation could come through a message on a Sunday, could happen in a home group, in a one-on-one conversation, can happen anytime two or more believers are together, and at least one of them is being led by the Spirit. In the book of Acts, we're going to meet the best biblical example of someone with this gift. His name was Joseph, but the disciples called him Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. We'll see him come alongside the newly converted Paul and introduce him to an understandably skeptical church. In Acts 13/43, Barnabas encourages believers to continue in the grace of God, and later he will choose to give a young man named John Mark a second chance as a ministry partner after he had deserted his brothers on a previous missionary journey.
Barnabas, we will find, had the gift of exhorting. The gift of giving relates to finances. Now, all believers are called to give generously to the Lord so that the local church is fully funded by its members. But believers with the gift of giving are empowered by the Holy Spirit to give above and beyond what would be considered normal giving for a Christian. Believers with this gift are often also gifted with wealth, and they display business, entrepreneurial, and investing savvy.
But not always. We know of at least three women who financially supported the ministry of Jesus, and they were from very different socioeconomic levels. Luke tells us they were Mary, called Magdalene. Seven demons had come out of her. Joanna, the wife of Chusa Herod's steward Susanna Jesus pointed to the widow giving her last two small copper coins at the temple as an example of incredible faith because it was all that she had.
Does it contradict Scripture? These are the tests we can run it through. If it's a gift of the Spirit, it'll agree with Scripture. It will be presented in a manner that is decently in order for Paul's instructions in One Corinthians 14/40, which will include submitting it to the elders before sharing it with the church. It will build up the body of Christ.
Here's another one for you, though. If it pertains to the future, it will be specific, and it will come to pass. When I say specific, I mean God doesn't give words about the future like this. Somebody in here has an anniversary coming up. I'm getting a birthday.
He doesn't do that specifically because prophecies about the future are intended to demonstrate the sovereignty of God over time. Okay? They're incredibly impossibly specific, and they always come true. There's only one explanation.
If they don't come true, wasn't from the Lord. Okay? The next gift we see listed is service, and I suggest that the gift of helping from One Corinthians 12/28 is the same thing as service and helping. The Greek word translated service diaconia, means to take the posture of a servant and attend to someone's needs. Interestingly, the same word is translated from Greek in the New Testament as ministry, and it's the verb to minister.
To minister is to take the posture of a servant and attend to someone's needs on behalf of Jesus. The Greek word translated helping only appears in this one place in the Scriptures, and it means to aid or to help. So when we put it all together, the term seems to refer to a gift that empowers a person to minister to a brother or sister by serving them in practical ways at a point of need. It's an anointing to be the hands and feet of Jesus when someone is shouldering a heavy load of some sort. The gift of teaching is just that.
It's a gift to teach. Again, it's not the natural ability or talent to teach. It is not the skill of teaching that can be learned. It's a supernatural empowerment by the Holy Spirit to teach the truths of God's word in a way that causes people to understand what it means to follow Jesus. When someone has the gift of teaching, you can sense a spiritual weight to their words.
You have moments of illumination as they teach, but you're aware that it's the Holy Spirit that is giving you understanding. You find that the Holy Spirit just connects the dots as this person teaches. And I've heard people preach who were skilled public speakers, but they did not have the gift of teaching given by the Holy Spirit. I've also heard people who needed to do serious work on their public speaking skills, but they had the gift of teaching given to them by the Holy Spirit. And there was just this weight to what they said, and God was moving through them.
Let's take a little bit of a closer look at each one. When the Apostle Paul is writing about the gifts of tongues, in One Corinthians 14, he tells believers it would be better for them to desire the gift of prophecy more than tongues, because while the person who speaks in tongues speaks to God, he says the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation. So, simply put, prophecy is a message from God to people. That message could pertain to the past, the present, or the future. Peter clarified that the prophets who wrote in the Old Testament scriptures did so under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
In Second Peter One, he says, that no prophecy of scripture comes from the prophet's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. This is why the Old Testament prophets use phrases like, Thus saith the Lord, or this is what the Lord God of Israel says. The person who prophesies is making that claim. They're saying, this is what God is saying to you or to us.
They're claiming to speak on behalf of God. Not a light claim. Not a light claim. That's why you don't hear me saying that on a regular basis. It's a big deal to name-drop God.
I'm going to play the God card on this one. It's a huge deal. When BJ and I are talking, we're having conversations with elders. We do our best to lead with wisdom. But there's this understanding if any of us ever says, God is telling me we must do this, that trumps everything.
That trumps everything. I don't know that it's actually happened yet, but for us, that would trump everything. You can have all the strategies, but if somebody says God has said this and it doesn't contradict the scripture, we're like, well, I'm not taking sides against God. It doesn't really matter what I think at that point. It's a serious claim.
Deuteronomy lists two ways to spot a false prophet. Number one, they direct you to worship other gods. Number two, they prophesy about the future, and their prediction doesn't come true in either case, guess what the law of God required Israel to do with a false prophet? Stone them to death. You don't get to be wrong twice if you're a prophet in the Old Testament.
Suffice it to say today this would create a lot of empty time slots on Christian TV and radio channels. The lineup would be rotating very, very regularly. Okay, yeah, I know I was wrong about who was going to win the last election, but this time I've really heard from God. Please. I hope none of you are listening to people who have made false prophecies.
I hope none of you are listening to any Christian leader who prophesied that Donald Trump was going to win the last election. They're a false prophet by the definition of the Bible, not the Bible. Okay, don't give them a second of your time, because prophecy is God speaking to man. Some of these other gifts could likely fit under the umbrella of the genre of prophecy. As I said, these lists of gifts are not as neat and tidy as we would like them to be.
Some of them cross over. And while we know everything in the Scripture that's listed is obviously a legitimate gift of the Holy Spirit, we can't even say with absolute certainty that these are the only gifts of the Holy Spirit. He might do something else at some point. How will we know if it's legit? Does it build up the body of Christ?
I don't believe in them. I think they're well intentioned, but they fail to understand how the gifts of the Holy Spirit work. The gifts of the Spirit are not personality types. They're not a list of different things that people are interested in or passionate about. Neither are the gifts necessarily permanent.
As I said earlier, the Spirit may give them for a season or a one-off instance. I've had gifts that were one-offs, gifts that were for a season, gifts that have reoccurred, and gifts that have stayed with me. Additionally, how you view yourself or what your passions are does not necessarily correlate to the gifts of the Spirit in any way. Remember, the gifts are for building up the body of Christ. They are not, first and foremost, about you and I finding personal fulfillment.
For example, you may love to sing it may have been your heart's desire for as long as you can remember. But when you get up and you sing with the worship team, everyone in the church starts praying. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. You don't have a spiritual gift, you just like to sing. If the church isn't being built up in the faith, it's not a gift of the Spirit.
Even if you have a natural talent for singing, the question remains is the church body being built up in the faith? If you have a gift of the Spirit on an ongoing basis, it will be evident in your life. Others will observe it, and the evidence will be the fruit of the church body being built up in the faith through the gift the Spirit has given you. The church body and the Scriptures affirm the gifts of the Spirit. No test can do that if you believe you have an ongoing gift of the Spirit.
But the church body is not being built up by that gift that you believe you have. The only explanation is that you're not yet obeying the Lord and using it as you should be in the body of Christ. And if that's you repent and start using your gift, stop holding out on your brothers and sisters. We need it. Okay, so with that, let's read through the key passages of Scripture that list the different gifts of the Holy Spirit.
You'll find these on your outline, and then after them, you will notice that I've combined all of these verses into one megalith of the gifts of the Spirit. In Romans twelve, Paul writes, that according to the grace given to us, we have different gifts. If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one's faith. If service, use it in service, if teaching, in teaching, if exhorting in exhortation, giving with generosity, leading with diligence, showing mercy with cheerfulness. In One Corinthians 12, Paul says, to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit to another, a message of knowledge by the same spirit to another, faith by the same spirit, to another, gifts of healing.
By the one Spirit to another, the performing of miracles to another, prophecy to another, distinguishing between spirits to another, different kinds of tongues to another, interpretation of tongues. And then later in One Corinthians 12, we read that God has appointed these in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, leading various kinds of tongues. In Ephesians four, our brother Paul says, and he himself that Jesus gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. Those are the primary texts in Scripture that list the gifts of the Spirit.
I really want us to understand this. Some people think they have a gift of the Spirit, but it's really just their personality. Some people say, Well, I have the gift of hospitality. It's like, no, you just like eating good food and hanging out with people. I don't know if you know this, but nonbelievers have been known to sometimes congregate with friends and have things like a barbecue together.
Nonbelievers do that too, for real. So how do you know if it's a gift of the Spirit? It's really simple. If it builds up the body of Christ in the faith, you might have one person who has people over for dinner. Everyone has a great time, the food is good, the fellowship is fun.
But then you have another person who has people over. And when those people leave, they might not even be able to explain it, but they just feel spiritually built up. There's something in the conversation that minister to them, that strengthen them, that encourage them. Maybe you prayed together, maybe you spoke an encouragement from the Word into their life. That's a gift of the Spirit because the body is being built up in the faith.
That's the difference. Last week we talked about how it's pointless to ask to be filled with the Spirit if you're unwilling to obey Jesus or an unrepentant sin. I would say, in the same way, asking the Lord to give you a gift of the Spirit is pointless if you're unwilling to obey the Lord. If he doesn't if he gives you a word for the church and says, I want you to share this with the church, and you say, I can't do that. I don't speak in front of people.
God's not going to say, Okay, let me give you some other options. If we want to be used by the Lord, we must be pre-committed to obey the Lord. It's a tremendously insulting thing to ask the God of the universe to invite you into a supernatural work on the earth and then turn them down when he grants your request. That's a big deal. We also need to deal with unrepentant sin before asking the Lord to move through us, to strengthen our brothers and sisters.
Because when we live with unrepentant sin, we are rejecting the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us. We're tuning Him out. The longer we persist in sin without repenting, the better we're getting at tuning out the voice of the Holy Spirit, and our thinking and discernment become clouded. So if you ask the Holy Spirit to speak through you, how are you going to be able to discern with clarity if it is the Holy Spirit? You won't be able to if you've been spending the past weeks, months, maybe even years, perfecting the art of tuning out the voice of the Holy Spirit.
This is why there has to be freedom from unrepentant sin. Before we ask the Lord to move through us and operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we have to have a mind that can be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, can hear and discern the Holy Spirit, and we simply cannot do that if we've perfected the art of tuning out the Holy Spirit. So write this down if we desire to be used by the Holy Spirit, we must first repent of our sins and precommit to obey his leading. Now, if you grew up in the church or you've been around the church for a while, you might have come across spiritual gifts tests. These are tests that are intended to reveal which of the spiritual gifts you may have.
And everybody loves taking tests. I won't ask how many of you have been on Facebook and taken a test to find out what kind of kitchen appliance your personality is or something ridiculous like that. Probably more of us than we would care to admit. But I'll telegraph my view on this issue. I don't believe in spiritual gifts tests.
He intends for us to be bound together in love for one another, the kind of love that he displayed for us. Suffice it to say, the gifts of the Spirit are not about getting a warm, fuzzy feeling. They're not about getting high with God or drawing attention to ourselves. The gifts of the Spirit are given for the building up of the brethren, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, a wonderful byproduct of operating in the gifts of the Spirit is that I experience the joy of being used by the Lord to build up my brothers and sisters.
As the Lord uses me to build them up. I too am built up in my faith. And I wanted to bring clarity to the purpose of the gifts because Paul tells us that we should desire these gifts. In One Corinthians Twelve, he says to desire the greater gifts, and in One Corinthians 14, he says to pursue love and desire spiritual gifts. We should desire the gifts of the Spirit simply because it should be our desire to be used by the Lord to build up our brothers and sisters.
We should always have a heart posture that says, lord, I'm available. If you can use me to accomplish your will in any way, please do it. Please do it. Write this down. We should desire the gifts of the Spirit.
We should desire the gifts of the Spirit. Our attitude shouldn't be, that's not really my thing. That's not for me. According to Scripture, that would be the same as saying, I'm not really into building up my brothers and sisters. Not really into that.
So we're told to desire the gifts of the Spirit, whoever we are. When a gift of the Spirit is given, it might happen once, it might happen more than once, or it might stick with you for the rest of your life. Paul seems to describe some of the different ways that the gifts of the Spirit can function in One Corinthians one-two again on your outline where he writes now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord, and there are different activities, but the same God works all of them. In each person, a manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good.
The Spirit might gift you with an ongoing ministry. He might gift you for a season. He might gift you repeatedly or with long gaps in between. Or he might gift you for a one-off occasion. As you study the gifts and you observe them in the church, you'll find that they're not as neat and tidy as we might like.
We can't categorize all of them with solid lines. We can't necessarily build a complete, systematic theology around the gifts of the Spirit, and we must leave room for the Holy Spirit to do what he wants to do. As I mentioned, however, we can be sure that all legitimate gifts of the Spirit will build up the body of Christ in the faith. So we can be sure that any legitimate work writes this down. We can be sure that any legitimate work of the Spirit will never contradict Scripture.
It will never contradict Scripture.
The gifts of the Spirit are not natural talents or abilities. This is really important. They're not given to nonbelievers. The gifts of the Spirit provide us with a special ability, a special anointing that exceeds our natural and normal state of being. That's what makes it of the Spirit.
Acts 2 reveals the gift of tongues for the first time in Scripture. But what about the other gifts of the Spirit mentioned by Paul in his epistles? This study will provide an overview of those gifts and their purpose in the Church today.
Well, we've been hanging around in Acts chapter Two to address some critical, yet often misunderstood doctrines of the Christian faith. Over the past three studies, we've looked at the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, and what it means to be filled with the Spirit. And while we're here, we felt it would be wise and helpful to look at all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We know that tongues are one of the gifts of the Spirit. But wait, there's more.
So today we're going to look into those other gifts, believing that the Lord desires to grow our understanding so that we can experience more of the Holy Spirit's ministry in Gospel City Church. This is the fourth message in a row that relates to the Holy Spirit and his work in and through us. I'm not going to rehash the content of the previous messages, but I will build upon them today. So if you missed any of those messages, be sure to hop online to watch or listen to them so that you're up to speed. Before we get into what the different gifts of the Spirit are, I want to establish their purpose.
The purpose of the gifts of the Spirit is to build up, strengthen, grow, encourage, and mature the body of Christ that is the church. Here are a few quotes from our brother Paul regarding the gifts of the Spirit. These are all going to be on your outline. In one Corinthians seven, he says, that a manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good. In One Corinthians 14/26, he says, everything is to be done for building up.
In Ephesians four, he says, and he himself, that Jesus gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ. Also in Ephesians four, he writes, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head, Christ. From Him, the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part. Do you see the theme? The purpose of the gifts of the Spirit is to build up, strengthen, grow, encourage, and mature the Body of Christ.
So that's going to be your first fill-in. The gifts of the Spirit are given to build up the body of Christ. To build up the Body of Christ. Once again, we see that the Lord Jesus intends his followers to be actively involved in their local church family. His Spirit gives gifts to each person so that they can build up their brothers and sisters in the faith.
To state the obvious, you cannot build up your brothers and sisters if you're never around your brothers and sisters, or if you're never around them. In situations where Jesus is the focus, I'm talking about church services, home groups, prayer meetings, dinners or coffees, where you're asking someone else how they're doing, not just in life, but in their relationship with the Lord, where you're praying together, talking about the faith. Secondly, we're reminded that our mindset as church members is to be focused on others. Focused on others. When we decide what we do and don't do as church members, based solely on what we get out of it, we misunderstand how Jesus designed his church to function.
So tongues is a beautiful gift from the Holy Spirit, primarily to help build up an individual's faith. But when we gather together as the Church, it's better to be focused on the other gifts that better build up the body. Remember, it's about the we, not me when we get together as the Church.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul instructed believers to pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the Saints. Paul refers to praying in a very particular way. He intentionally refers to praying not in the regular sense, but in the Spirit, apparently referencing praying in tongues. And it fits the model of One Corinthians 14 where Paul told us that tongues is the man speaking to God.
When you have the gift of tongues you can use it privately on command. To praise God, to share your request.
And speak to himself and God. And then Paul concludes chapter 14 by writing, do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything is to be done decently and in order.
Scripture gives us further clarity regarding the content of tongues, describing the kinds of things a person legitimately praying in tongues says, earlier, we read in one Corinthians 14 two, the person who speaks In a tongue is not speaking to people but to God.
So write this down. The gift of tongues is the Holy Spirit supernaturally empowering a person to speak to God It's not God speaking to man. Tongues are a man speaking to God. The direction of the communication is upward. In verses 16 and 17, Paul says that praying in tongues is giving thanks to God.
And in this instance, the book of Acts is consistent with one Corinthians on Pentecost. The crowd that gathered around the upper room said, we hear them declaring the magnificent Acts of God in our own tongues.
And when the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentile household of Cornelius in Acts 10, we are told the disciples heard them speaking in tongues and declaring the greatness of God. They were praising God. Here's what we can discern then. If the legitimate gift of tongues and the legitimate gift of interpretation are being exercised, the message will be man-speaking to God, praising him for his greatness and for his mighty works. It will not be this is huge for those of you who come from a charismatic background, tongues, if it's legitimate, will not be anything that begins with the words thus, saith the Lord. Or God, says, it will not be a word or a message for the Church. Paul is explicit on this point, and in one Corinthians 14 three, he even says, on the other hand, the person who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouragement, and consolation according to the word of God. When the Church gathers the gift of tongues is man speaking to God. The gift of prophecy is God speaking to man. And we'll talk more about the gift
And I just want to point out to something practical while we're there, because. I was talking with a brother this weekend, laughing because I've had the same experience. If you've ever been in a Church before and someone speaks in tongues and someone brings the interpretation, you just need to know Jesus doesn't speak King James English. Okay, this is a thing in Pentecostal churches. Usually, every Pentecostal Church has this one older Saint, male or female, someone prays in tongues, and that person always begins with, thus saith the Lord, though thou walketh through a darkest time, my light shall abideth with thee. And you're like, what's up with this? God could keep pace with English and earthly languages, but then around the 1500, he just sort of ran out of steam and he hasn't been able to keep up with the developments in our language since that time. God doesn't speak King James English. Okay. He doesn't do it. It doesn't make your interpretation more legit. Not at all. Just wanted to get that out there.
Since no one understands him, he speaks mysteries in the Spirit or mysteries in his Spirit. That same verse also affirms that tongues was not an earthly language in the Church. At Corinth, Paul says, no one understands the man speaking in tongues, not the. local or the foreigner. No one. Clearly, this type of tongue that was taking place in the Church in Corinth is not the same type of tongue that was appearing in the Book of Acts.
When you put these Scriptures together, I believe a compelling case emerges for the gift of tongues being a heavenly rather than an earthly language in the Church today. As I mentioned, the gift of interpretation of tongues shows up for the first time in First Corinthians and Paul lists It as one of the manifestations of the Spirit in chapter twelve.
The idea behind this gift is that if someone with the gift of tongues speaks out in tongues in the corporate gathering we're in right now, God will enable the person with the gift of interpretation to understand what was spoken in tongues and share it with the Church in the local language in our context. English. Wherever Paul addresses spiritual gifts and or manifestations of the Spirit, he is Crystal clear that their purpose is to.
Build, strengthen, and encourage the body of Christ, the Church.
When we gather as the people of God, it's all about the we, not the me. And so when it comes to tongues, Paul says in One Corinthians 14, it doesn't do anybody any good. If you speak out in tongues and nobody else understands anything you're saying. There needs to be an interpretation so that the body of Christ can be built up and encouraged.
Paul says in One Corinthians one four If you praise with the Spirit, how will the outsider say Amen at your giving of thanks?
Since he doesn't know what you're saying, you may well be giving thanks, but the other person is not being built up. Jumping back to verse 13, Paul writes, Therefore, the person who speaks in a tongue should pray that he can interpret. So apparently it's possible for a person to be given the gift of tongues and the Gift of interpretation, then Paul instructs how tongues are to function when the Church gathers together one Corinthians 14/27.
He says, if anyone speaks in a tongue, there are to be only two, or at the most three each in turn and let someone interpret. But if there's no interpreter, that person Is to keep silent in the Church.
If you want a modern day equivalent, just go to a rave where people are popping e and dancing themselves into a frenzy and then they begin to. \Feel that they're having a supernatural spiritual experience.
The only difference is you begin to speak out nonsense, but you're like, this Is the language of the gods and you're just high out of your mind and you've been dancing for 7 hours and you're dehydrated that's all that's gone You're going to see a lot of stuff when you put yourself in that situation, I guarantee it.
And so the problem was that in Corinth, many of the believers came from those sort of pagan cults and so they were treating the gift of tongues as a means to get high with God. They were working themselves into this frenzy and then they would just be shouting out over each other and pursuing a transcendent experience with selfish motives. And it was just absolute chaos like in the Church. And all they cared about was themselves and their personal experience. In addition to their theological errors in Corinthians, Paul addressed the deeper issue that was manifesting in all kinds of areas of their Church. An overriding lack of love. They were not acting in or out of Christ-like love for one another.
One Corinthians 13 is known as the love chapter. It's the one that even nonbelievers love. To use at ending as they delusionally Pretend that they're actually capable of loving each other as God loves us.
It's the chapter that says things like love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, you know, the one. But in the context of the surroundings Chapters, one Corinthians 13 is very interesting. Remember that when all the books of the Bible were written originally, they weren't. Written with verse, numbers, or chapters. Paul's letter to the Corinthians was just a letter nonstop. He addresses the gifts of the Spirit in chapter twelve. He gives instruction on the proper use of tongues in chapter 14, and in between them is chapter 13 where he describes agape love, the love of God. Chapter 13 begins with this verse, If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.
So notice One Corinthians 13 Paul mentions, The gifts of prophecy, wisdom, knowledge, and faith. So what is he almost certainly referring to is where he refers, to human or angelic tongues. The other gifts in the list from the previous chapter, tongues and the Interpretation of tongues, and he calls it angelic tongues.
The entire chapter of One Corinthians 14 Is devoted to the subject of tongues.
In chapter 14, verse two, Paul seems to again refer to tongues as a nonearthly language, the perso who speaks in a tongue is not speaking to people but to God
Write this down. This is what I'm going to suggest to you. The primary purpose of tongues in the Book of Acts is to establish doctrine. The Holy Spirit is given equally to all who believe upon regeneration. Acts, chapter two. The Holy Spirit is given equally to Samaritans and Jews.
Acts, chapter eight. The Holy Spirit is given equally to Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles. Acts, chapter Ten. The Holy Spirit is given where people. Respond to the Gospel. Acts, chapter 19.
I believe the purpose of tongues in the Book of Acts is to establish. Doctrine in the early Church. Jesus is making a point about how regeneration and his Spirit work in every single one of these instances. If all were going on is the. Book of Acts, we need to acknowledge. That there would seem to be no purpose, no reason for tongues to continue. Once those doctrines have been established in the Church.
Furthermore, if you study the four places. Where tongues are documented in the Book Of Acts, you will discover that the evidence for tongues being foreign earthly languages that are foreign to the speaker is far more robust than the evidence for it being a heavenly language. In fact, no evidence for tongues being. A heavenly language is almost nonexistent in The Book of Acts. That's just the truth of what the text says. And before we go any further, I just want to remind those who believe they have the gift of tongues to relax their shoulders, unclench their jaws, take a deep breath're okay? We're all going to be okay.
Hang with me. The gift of tongues is talked about. Extensively in one other place in the Bible, the Apostle Paul's first letter to. The Church in Corinth. That letter was written about two decades after the events documented in the Book of Acts. And that's significant because while the Book. Of Acts documents tongues in extraordinary circumstances.
One Corinthians was written to a local Church, and it consists of Paul giving them teaching and instruction on how the gift of tongues functions in their personal lives and their corporate gatherings. Here's what I'm suggesting. The Book of Acts addresses tongues in A primarily descriptive manner.
First, Corinthians addresses tongues in a primarily prescriptive manner. That's why the Lord had Paul write to a local Church about the issue. It's why these sections of One Corinthians are in our Bible. They're instructive for us the local Church outside of the extraordinary events in the Book of Acts. So if we want to learn what.
Tongues are how it's intended by God to work, we should primarily study First Corinthians. So write this down. The Book of Acts deals with tongues.
In a primarily descriptive manner, while first. Corinthians deals with it in a primarily prescriptive manner. Another reason I hold that view is that when you study One Corinthians, it becomes clear that the gift of tongues was functioning differently in the local Church 20 years later than it was in.
The extraordinary circumstances and events in the Book of Acts. To Telegraph where we're going, I'm going to tell you the two significant differences and then we'll unpack them. The first difference is this. The gift of tongue seems to refer to earthly languages in the Book of Acts and a heavenly language in One Corinthians. The second big difference is that there is no interpretation of tongues needed or mentioned in the Book of Acts.
In one Corinthians, the interpretation of tongues is listed as a manifestation of the Spirit alongside tongues. Let's get into some of the scriptural. Reasons why I believe that tongues is a heavenly language in one Corinthians. One, two, seven to ten. All these are going to be on your outlines.
They too were part of the Church, the household of Cornelius in Acts chapter ten are the first Gentiles to speak.
In tongues because God wanted to make.
It clear to the disciples that he was not only giving Salvation and his Spirit to Jews and Samaritans, he was giving it to the Gentiles, he was actually giving it to anyone who wanted it. Everyone was invited to be part of the Church. And then in Acts chapter 19 we find the followers of John the Baptist. They had responded to his preaching repented and been baptized in preparation and expectation of the coming Messiah that John preached. But they were not regenerated until they.
Heard the gospel of Jesus preached to them by Paul, making it clear that there cannot be regeneration apart from the gospel.
Even today some people have never heard the gospel and yet they're saved because they responded to the revelation that they have received. They've responded to the general revelation of God in creation and they've recognized there must be a Creator and the Creator. There is not anything that I can carve out of wood. And they've responded to their internal moral. Conscience is given to them by God. They recognize that things are inherently right.
And wrong and that they should do what is right and yet they are not regenerated because they have not yet. Heard and received the gospel. We see this clear pattern across these four extraordinary instances of the Gospel, reaching out further and further ethnically, culturally, and geographically, Jewish believers in Jerusalem, Samaritans in Samaria, Gentile believers in Caesaria, and disciples of John in Ephesus. Each of these situations, I think, is clearly extraordinary, and for that reason, we should be very cautious about what we call descriptive and prescriptive regarding the gift. Of tongues in the Book of Acts.
For this reason, we must be cautious in understanding the difference between descriptive texts and prescriptive texts. This is a core principle of Bible interpretation of understanding the Bible, rightly discerning the difference between descriptive texts and Chronicle history. In other words, they describe what happened and prescriptive texts in the Bible that are commands, prescriptions, instructions, or models of what we as followers of Jesus are called to follow. For example, in the case of Pentecost, in Act Acts chapter two, we do not have to meet in an upper room to be born again, regenerated, and receive the Holy Spirit. It doesn't have to be the Day of Pentecost, and when we're born again, there doesn't have to be the sound of a violent rushing wind or the appearance of something like a flame of fire above our head. All of those elements of the text are descriptive.
If you read the Old Testament, it. talks about someone having more than one wife. Not prescriptive. Descriptive when it talks about somebody murdering their enemy. Descriptive, not prescriptive. Let the record show that we teach that here at Gospel City Church.
However, we do as they did in Acts chapter two receive the Holy Spirit when we are regenerated and born again. And like them, we do have access to the power of God through his Spirit, and we are now part of his Church as they were made part of his Church. Those elements of the text are prescriptive. In the Book of Acts, we see the gift of tongues appear in four extraordinary, extraordinary cases, three times explicitly and once implicitly. This is all on your outline in Acts chapter two. On the day of Pentecost, the first Jewish believers are regenerated and they speak in tongues. In Acts chapter eight, the first Samaritans, the first half of Jews are regenerated. The text implies that they spoke in tongues.
In Acts chapter ten the first Gentiles are regenerated and speak in tongues. In Acts 19 verse is through seven disciples of John the Baptist are regenerated and speak in tongues after Paul shares with them about the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. These are the only four places the gift of tongues appears in the book of Acts and they are all extraordinary in the upper room. The purpose of tongues was to make it clear to those 1st 120 believers that the same thing was happening to each of them. The same Holy Spirit was being equally distributed to all who believed. The Lord also used the gift of tongues to attract a crowd whom Peter will preach the gospel beginning in Acts chapter 2/14. When Peter and John traveled to Samaria in Acts chapter eight, the Wording and Simon's reaction imply that they witnessed the first Samaritan speaking in tongues because God wanted to make it clear that he wasn't only giving Salvation and His Spirit. To Jews, He was also giving it to the Samaritans.
And so the Lord reproduced the sign of tongues to make it clear that he would do the same thing for Samaritans that he did for Jews on the day of Pentecost.
No message should be viewed that way on any subject. My hope is always that we can. Bring some clarity to some confusing parts of Scripture and that we can all. Leave having taken a significant leap forward in our understanding of the Scriptures and how the Lord desires to work in this specific way. When BJ and I were preparing to. Get into Acts Chapter Two and study. In the Book of Acts, we knew that. This study was going to hit on.
A whole bunch of issues around which there is much confusion in the Church. We're talking about stuff like the baptism. Of the Holy Spirit, the gift of tongues, spiritual gifts being filled with the Spirit, all that stuff. And we really wanted to approach the Book of Acts by stripping everything down.
To the students and asking questions like; Where do my beliefs come from on these issues? Do they come from the Bible? Do they come from my upbringing and my Church tradition? Does the Bible support what I currently believe about these kinds of issues?
Or am I elevating my personal opinions, Church traditions and experiences above Scripture? These are the most critical kinds of. Questions to ask when you're searching for the truth.
If we believe something that the Bible doesn't teach, that's a problem. We need to have logical and scriptural reasons for what we believe, because Newsflash, our emotions lie to us all the time. All the time.
Side Note My prayer for every Christian is that if someone ever says to you, why are you a Christian? That you have more to offer them, by way of an answer than, Well, I just knew I went to Church and I just had this overwhelming, tingly feeling, and I just knew that God was real. And the reason I say this is because people in other religions have that testimony too. You know that the Buddhist says the same thing. The First Nations person could say the same thing. The Muslim could say the same thing.
The person who goes to a concert who knows how to arrange music and. Use lights and visuals can say the same thing. My prayer for all of us is. That we grow in our knowledge and understanding and reasoning skills so that we can offer people a better answer than I just know that we can offer them the best answer, which is, I'm a Christian because it's true. That's why I'm a Christian, and here's how I know it's true. And this was a very scary proposition.
For me going into this study, asking these kinds of difficult questions because I believe tongues is a heavenly language. I believe I have the gift of. Tongues and that I've been practicing it for 25 years. So as I started studying for this message, I had to be willing to face the question, what if I've been wrong for 25 years? What if I've just been ending myself and I've been over here praying, boom, Shakalaka, over and over again for over two decades.
Now? If you believe you have the gift of tongues, the nervousness that you're currently feeling is a small part of what I felt going into this study. But I hope we all understand that the truth of God's Word always takes precedent over everything. It's even more important than my personal embarrassment or yours.
And now you're even more nervous. Don't be. Let's get into this.
The Book of Acts is, by definition, extraordinary. It is extraordinary. It documents the birth and the early years of the Church. It records the Jews and the Gentiles being brought together to create a new people of God. It captures the Ministry of the Apostles who spread the Gospel across the world with supernatural empowerment that was by any measure not duplicated outside of the first century.
The Gift of Tongues Date:6/5/22...Series: Acts...Passage: Acts 2:4...Speaker: Jeff Thompson
What is the gift of tongues? Let’s look at what the Bible has to say and how it applies to us personally and collectively as the Church.
Well, last week we studied the events of Pentecost in Acts to verses 1 through 13, the day the Holy Spirit regenerated the first believers, making them born again and joining them covet together as the Church. This week we want to circle back to verse four because it touches on an issue that to this day causes confusion and controversy within the Church.
The greater Church, not this Church. Specifically, in verse four we read then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them. The question at hand today is what?... Exactly are these different tongues and what....Do they look like today if they exist today? Verse four makes a few things clear.
Right off the bat. Firstly, tongues come from the Holy Spirit. It says they began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them. The second thing we noticed right away is that tongues is the believer being super, naturally empowered by the Holy Spirit. To speak a language unknown to them.
The original word translated throughout the book of Acts as tongues is the Greek word for languages. Now, the most popular explanations offered for the gift of tongues are firstly, it's the supernatural ability to speak in an earthly foreign language that you don't know. For example, I'm in Japan, the Holy Spirit supernaturally comes upon me and I'm suddenly able to praise God in Japanese.
Most people who hold this view are. Known as cessationists regarding the gift of tongues. They believe in the gift of tongues actually. Ceased at a certain point in history. Generally held to be with the death. Of the final uppercase an Apostles which occurred would the end of the first century Ad. Those who have this view believe that tongues were a special miraculous gift that God gave to the early Church primarily to enable cross-cultural Ministry. So Philip could go somewhere like India..And he could speak Hindi or whatever. A version of Hindi they were speaking back at the end of the first century. That's what some people believe about the gift of tongues.
Another second popular view on tongues within. The evangelical Church sounds something like this. Tongues is not an earthly language, but a heavenly supernatural language. And if you come from a charismatic or a Pentecostal Church background like I. Do, you'll be familiar with this. It's the belief that when God gives a person the gift of tongues, they can pray and speak in a language that no one on Earth can understand on their own. Because it's a language from the heavenly realms.
The only way a person other than the speaker can understand it is if God provides the complimentary gift of the interpretation of tongues, then the person with the gift of interpretation can tell everyone. Else present what the person with the. Gift of tongues was saying. If you've never heard of the whole heavenly language idea, then you're thinking what? Kind of Church did I just walk. Into and I just want to reassure you. That we've locked the doors, so there's no point trying to make a getaway. Now, you might as well just listen to the rest of the message. Okay.
But really do hang with us because we're going to do our best to bring some clarity to the somewhat strange issue of tongues. This is not going to be the. Authoritative message on the gift of tongues. This is not going to be the final word on the subject of the gift of tongues.
When Napoleon was spending his final years imprisoned on the island of Elba, he reflected on his life and he wrote about, among other things, Jesus verse is an actual quote from the writings of Napoleon. The last couple of years of his life, he says, I know Amen and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between him and every person in the world, there is no possible term for comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires, but on what did we rest the creations of our genius upon force? Jesus Christ founded his Empire on love. And at this hour, millions of men would die for him.
This is why we can read something in Scripture that completely blows our minds. But when we share it with a non-believer, they're like, okay, it's because their spirit is dead, their spirit is dead. They can't understand it because they don't have the Holy Spirit in them, making the Word come alive, enabling them to understand spiritual things. But when Jesus brings your dead Spirit to life, the Word comes alive to you. When Jesus breathes on the disciples, I believe he's also pointing back to something and pointing ahead to something. He's intentionally mirroring the creation of Adam in Genesis 27 where we read the Lord formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils. And the man became a living being in the upper room. On Pentecost, Jesus would create something new yet again, the regenerated man. And now when a man or woman is saved, they become a new spiritual creation on the deepest of levels. We are not who we were. Praise God for that. That is why Paul described regeneration like this. If anyone is in Christ, he is a what new creation?
The old has passed away and see, the new has come. Jesus points back to the creation of Adam, and he also points ahead to the creation of the regenerated man. On Pentecost, Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. What was the first event, the first phenomenon that signaled the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the believers in the upper room in Acts chapter two. It's verse two where we read suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from where? Heaven. And it filled the whole house where they were staying. Where is Jesus? At that moment? He's in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father. He had promised to send the Holy Spirit. He had breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. And those words were fully realized on Pentecost when I suggest to you that Jesus breathed on them again from heaven, sending them the Holy Spirit. To summarize the key concepts from our study today, the disciples were saved under the old Covenant before the death and resurrection of Jesus, but they were not regenerated when Jesus breathed on the disciples in John chapter 20, he imparted a special anointing to them to comprehend the scriptures, to prepare them to lead the Church that would be born on Pentecost.
On Pentecost, men and women were regenerated for the first time and the Church was born. The terms regenerated, born again, and baptized by the Holy Spirit are synonymous. That means if you're a believer, you have been regenerated, you've been born again, and you've been baptized by the Holy Spirit. Next week we're going to look at the issue of tongues and what it means to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Man, you do not want to miss next week. And if you have questions, some of you may have experiential questions where you're saying, Jeff, but how do you explain this experience I had? We're going to get to that next week as well. Make sure you don't miss it. I'm going to ask BJ to come up and get ready to pray for us. You may have studied great historical revolutions in school, but believe me when I tell you that what took place in the upper room on Pentecost was the greatest revolution the world has ever seen. It has lasted 2000 years. Countless millions have laid down their lives for it. Its message has never changed. And despite two millennia's worth of efforts to eliminate it, the light of the Church still shines like a city on a Hill, calling dead sinners to come and be made alive through the resurrection power of Jesus.
The Church is a revolution not born to the sound of battle drums or cries of rebellion, but rather the followers of Jesus declaring the magnificent acts of God. Wicked men in Thessalonica would speak the truth when they accused Paul and Silas in the early Church of turning the world upside down.
So let me offer a possible chronology of what happens in the upper room when Jesus breathes on his disciples and he says, Receive the Holy Spirit, we should all be able to agree that he's clearly imparting something to them. He's imparting something to them. So the question is, do we find anything imparted to the disciples in Luke 24 or John 20? And the answer is, yes, we do. I mentioned it last week. Luke tells us that Jesus at that time opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And I suggest that these verses show us a clear impartation from Jesus to the eleven in John 20 and the results of that impartation in Luke 24. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon specific people for a particular time in a particular mission or task. He wouldn't come in them and regenerate them. He would come upon them. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit giving specific abilities to win battles, judge legal matters wisely, to prophesy, to write scripture, to defeat an enemy in the face of overwhelming odds, that sort of thing. If you've been part of home groups, you've been reading about some of these events where the Holy Spirit came on a person in the Old Testament for a specific mission.
Like that judge who kills Shamgar, is it 800? He kills 800 people with a cattle prod. Love that story. Spirit of the Lord came on me. I killed 800 people in a field. Makes a beautiful kid's Bible story. But it seems that this coming upon with a specific power for a specific purpose. It seems that this is what Jesus was doing when he breathed on the eleven disciples on Resurrection Day. He was imparting to them a special ability to comprehend the Scriptures, specifically how the Old Testament prophecies connected to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the soon-to-be-established Church. However you want to frame it, it seems clear that when Jesus breathed on the disciples, he was imparting coveting of the Holy Spirit, similar to how the Holy Spirit would come upon people in the Old Testament. And it would make sense that whatever that impartation was, it was connected to whatever Jesus wanted them to do between Resurrection Day and Pentecost. Most likely after that impartation, the disciples were discussing the Scriptures, thinking about the Scriptures, and growing in their understanding as they went about their daily lives, waiting for Jesus to tell them what to do next.
This impartation seemed to give them a bit of a head start in understanding the Scriptures on a deeper level, which was needed because they were to become the leaders of the first Church. On Pentecost, I use the term head start because one of the other blessings of being regenerated is that the Holy Spirit opens our minds to understand the Scriptures. When you've been born again, the Bible suddenly speaks to you in a completely different way. It starts coming alive to you in a way you can't explain. And Paul referred to this change as being given the mind of Christ and he described it this way in one Corinthians two. He said, "We've not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God's Spirit because it's foolishness to him. He's not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually."
So let me offer a possible chronology of what happens in the upper room when Jesus breathes on his disciples and says, Receive the Holy Spirit, we should all be able to agree that he's clearly imparting something to them. He's imparting something to them. So the question is, do we find anything imparted to the disciples in Luke 24 or John 20? And the answer is, yes, we do. I mentioned it last week. Luke tells us that Jesus at that time opened their minds to understanding the Scriptures. I suggest that these verses show us a clear impartation from Jesus to the eleven in John 20 and the results of that impartation in Luke 24. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come upon specific people for a particular time in a particular mission or task. He wouldn't come in them and regenerate them. He would come upon them. I'm talking about the Holy Spirit giving specific abilities to win battles, judge legal matters wisely, prophesy, write scripture, defeat an enemy in the face of overwhelming odds, that sort of thing. If you've been part of home groups, you've been reading about some of these events where the Holy Spirit came on a person in the Old Testament for a specific mission.
Like that judge who kills Shamgar, is it 800? He kills 800 people with a cattle prod. Love that story. Spirit of the Lord came on me. I killed 800 people in a field. Makes a beautiful kid's Bible story. But it seems that this coming upon with a specific power for a specific purpose. It seems that this is what Jesus was doing when he breathed on the eleven disciples on Resurrection Day. He was imparting to them a special ability to comprehend the Scriptures, specifically how the Old Testament prophecies connected to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the soon-to-be-established Church. However you want to frame it, it seems clear that when Jesus breathed on the disciples, he was imparting coveting of the Holy Spirit, similar to how the Holy Spirit would come upon people in the Old Testament. And it would make sense that whatever that impartation was, it was connected to whatever Jesus wanted them to do between Resurrection Day and Pentecost. Most likely after that impartation, the disciples were discussing the Scriptures, thinking about the Scriptures, and growing in their understanding as they went about their daily lives, waiting for Jesus to tell them what to do next.
This impartation seemed to give them a bit of a head start in understanding the Scriptures on a deeper level, which was needed because they were to become the leaders of the first Church. On Pentecost, I use the term Head Start because one of the other blessings of being regenerated is that the Holy Spirit opens our minds to understand the Scriptures. When you've been born again, the Bible suddenly speaks to you in a completely different way. It starts coming alive to you in a way you can't explain. Paul referred to this change as being given the mind of Christ and he described it this way in One Corinthians 2. He said, "We've not received the Spirit of the world but the Spirit who comes from God so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God's Spirit because it's foolishness to him. He's not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually."
This is why we can read something in Scripture at completely blows our minds. But when we share it with a non-believer, they're like, okay, it's because their spirit is dead, their spirit is dead. They can't understand it because they don't have the Holy Spirit in them, making the Word come alive, enabling them to understand spiritual things. But when Jesus brings your dead Spirit to life, the Word comes alive to you. When Jesus breathes on the disciples,
God said, when my Spirit is in you, though I can bring you together across ethnicities, across cultures, across languages, around the cross, around the gospel, and the result won't be greater wickedness. When my Spirit is in you, the result will be greater righteousness as you come together. And as we learned in our study of revelation, when Jesus returns to rain on the Earth for the duration of the Millennium, he will restore a common language. Because again, no more will it be used by man to dream up greater acts of evil, but it will be used for greater righteousness. Now we need to backtrack one more subject we need to hit on today as we work our way this week and next week through Acts chapter two, we need to backtrack a little bit to clear something up. In the chronology of events in the Bible, Luke 24 and John chapter 20 described Jesus' first post-resurrection appearance to the disciples. It was resurrection Sunday, but they didn't know yet that Jesus was alive. The disciples are sheltering in place in the upper room, undoubtedly trying to figure out what to do next. They're terrified that the same religious leaders and Romans who conspired to murder Jesus are conspiring to murder them.
Jesus appears out of thin air in their midst in his resurrected and glorified body to prove he's not an apparition. He invites them to touch him, and he eats food in front of them. In John chapter 20, we read that Jesus said to them, again, Peace be with you as the Father has sent me. I also send you. After saying this, he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. Naturally, the question arises, well, hang on a minute. In Acts one five, Jesus tells his disciples to wait in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. John chapter 20 takes place weeks before Pentecost. So what's going on here when Jesus breathes on his disciples and says, Receive the Holy Spirit? I came from Church traditions that taught regeneration and the baptism of the Holy Spirit as separate events, and they would teach that the disciples were regenerated when Jesus breathed on them and baptized by the Holy Spirit in a separate event on Pentecost. Again, the problem with that is One Corinthians 12/12 and 13, which we read earlier, where Paul tells us explicitly that all believers have been baptized by the Holy Spirit, making it clear that regeneration and baptism by the Holy Spirit are the same events.
We also noticed that all the 120 in the upper room have the same experience on Pentecost, right? It's not like the eleven disciples who were breathed on by Jesus weeks earlier have a different experience from the rest of the 120 because they've already been regenerated. All 120 have the same experience in Acts chapter two. They're all regenerated, born again, baptized by the Holy Spirit together at the same time by design so that it would be clear that the Church is being birthed at that moment. But the question persists, then what was Jesus doing when he breathed on the disciples on Resurrection Day? Well, both Luke 24 and John 20 record things that Jesus said in the upper room when he appeared to the disciples on Resurrection Day. Not everything recorded in both Gospels is the same. None of it contradicts. It's just like if you had two witnesses to a conversation and you said, I want you to write down the three most important things from this conversation. They might not write down the same three things, but that doesn't mean that either of them is lying. It just means they noticed different things. That's the case in Luke 24 and John 20.
Secondly, they're amazed. We're told to see that they were Galileans. Now we don't know what the visual giveaway was, but somehow they could tell by looking at them, they were Galileans, and you might recall that Galileans had a very peculiar accent. It was what betrayed Peter to the servant girl the night that Jesus was arrested. And the Galilean accent seems to have been considered very unsophisticated. I was trying to think of a good comparison, and the only one I could think of was the way that someone might view a Northern British accent. I don't know if you watched any British TV shows, but there are somewhere there's characters from Northern England and Charlene, and I have the subtitles on speaking English. We can't understand anything that they're saying at all. It's like an assault on the ears. And yet those passing by the 120 hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God with perfect fluency in their local dialect. This would be like, I don't know if you can imagine an accent from Newcastle in Northern England in your head, but this would be like hearing 120 geordis from Newcastle praising God in flawless French or Italian.
It would just be, what in the world is going on? Based on the text, it doesn't seem that those who are passing by are picking out the odd voice in their tongue from the 120. It seems from the text that each person is hearing the whole group praising God in their native language. It says we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues. Now, whatever the specifics may be, this is clearly an astonishing miracle. The house with the upper room would have been in the Eastern part of Jerusalem, close to the Mount of Olives. That means the streets would have been narrow. Later in this chapter, Peter is going to preach to thousands in response to what has happened. Given the logistics of space and the number of people involved, it seems likely that at some point the 120 moved out of the upper room to a larger outdoor area, where they continued praising God. Possibly one of the courtyards around the temple somewhere that could support an audience of thousands. In verse twelve we see God using this astounding phenomenon to arouse the curiosity of those in Jerusalem in preparation for Peter's sermon, which will be delivered beginning in verse 14.
Verse twelve reads that the crowd was all astonished and perplexed, saying to one another, what does this mean? God does this miracle to get the crowd's attention and clarify that something supernatural, something miraculous is taking place. And when we reach verse 14, we'll see the same Holy Spirit that has gathered this crowd prompt Peter to preach to this crowd in verse 13. But some sneered and said, oh, they're drunk on new wine. Those who have no interest in the truth are generally unable to recognize it even when it's right in front of them. Such was the case with the religious leaders who accused the Son of God of being possessed by the devil. Some who witnessed this miracle quickly dismissed it as drunken chaos, though nothing could have been further from the truth. At Babel, the Lord divided humanity into ethnic groups with different languages, and he did this because United humanity was only using their unity to dream up even greater acts of evil and rebellion against God. So, divisions were created by the Lord to limit humanity's potential for wickedness. But when Jesus sent his Church, the Holy Spirit, on Pentecost, something began to change.
Nobody could say it happened only to the uppercase D disciples, not the lowercase D disciples. Nobody could say something more powerful happened to the men than happened to the woman. The tongues of fire made it clear that the Holy Spirit was doing the same work in every person who had placed their faith in Jesus, binding them together on equal footing in unity as the Church by giving them the same Holy Spirit, the tongues of fire. Write this down. The tongues of fire showed that the Holy Spirit was being given equally to each member of the Church. It was being given equally to each member of the Church. Verses four, same theme continues. Then they were all underlying, all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, different languages, as the Spirit enabled them. Those in the upper room are praising God when they are regenerated, when they're born again, when they're baptized with the Holy Spirit, they continue praising God as it happens. But their speech suddenly and miraculously changes into different tongues. Different languages. They don't know the word says they were being enabled by the Spirit to do this.
If you come from a charismatic or Pentecostal Church tradition, you'll be familiar with the issue of whether these different tongues are earthly languages or a heavenly language. And if you've never heard that, then you're like, wait, what? We're not going to get into that question today. We are going to get into it next week. But for today I want us to focus on the effect of these different tongue. So let's keep reading. In verse is now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. So religious Jews from all over the world had made the journey to celebrate Pentecost in Jerusalem. So the city was packed with hundreds of thousands of visitors from different ethnicities and cultures who spoke different languages. When the sound, the sound of the believers in the upper room praising God. When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded and amazed saying, look, aren't all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia Pontus, in Asia, Phrygia and Pamphilia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Sierraine.
Visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts, Cretans and Arabs. Underline this we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues. The word tongues there means literally languages in Greek. Those from countries to the west would have spoken Greek under the Roman Empire, while those from the Parthian Empire to the east would have spoken Aramaic. But it seems the 120 were praising God in more specific local dialects than those Empire wide languages, as the 120 would have likely been well acquainted with Greek and Aramaic. People passing by the upper room are amazed for two reasons. Firstly, they're amazed to hear such a large group 120 praising God in their native tongue. Some of these native dialects were only spoken in an incredibly small geographic area. The equivalent I think in our context would be like if you take a look at one of the First Nations bands that has their own language and at their peak there were a few thousand who spoke this language. It would be like that type of thing, somebody from a group that size going into Jerusalem and seeing 120 people praising God in their own language, they're astounded.
And these Commandments would form the basis of Israel's Covenant relationship with God. These Commandments laid out how Israel was to live and function as God's people, as individuals, families, and as society. It was a special revelation from heaven, a sacred dispensation remembered at the annual feast of Pentecost at Mount Sinai. Pentecost inaugurated the age of the Law in Acts chapter two. Pentecost will inaugurate the age of the Church. The 120 disciples of Jesus who were in Jerusalem for Pentecost are all together in the upper room praying and worshiping God as described in Acts chapter, verses 14- 15, we read suddenly a sound underline the words sound. Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. Understand this. It's not a violent rushing wind. It's a sound like that of a violent rushing wind as they're praying. Suddenly the roaring sound of a mighty wind fills the room. Verse three. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on underlying each one of them. Each one of them. Before the Ministry of Jesus began, John the Baptist appeared at the Jordan River in Bethubara and began preaching a message of repentance, calling people to prepare their hearts for the imminent arrival of the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Lamb of God, who would be Jesus.
And all the way back then, John told the crowd this. He said, I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who's coming after me is more powerful than I. I'm not worthy to remove his sandals, he himself will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. John the Baptist was prophesying about the events we read in Acts chapter two. Now why fire appearing above everyone's heads? Let me share a couple of observations. Bible students will likely be aware that fire often represents the righteous judgment of God in the Scriptures. And so I suggest that what we have here is in some ways a picture of God's judgment coming upon every believer in the upper room. And yet they are not consumed, they don't die. Why? What's changed? Well, the blood of Jesus has covered their sins, so God's Spirit, including his righteous judgment, can rest on them without consuming them. Because their spirits are spotless, they've become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The Old Testament also records instances where God's presence appeared as fire. I think of the pillar of fire that accompanied the Israelites at night throughout their wilderness wanderings.
The Word says that God's presence came down in fire on Mount Sinai at the time of the first Pentecost. Exodus 20 417 says, the appearance of the Lord's glory to the Israelites was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop. I think of the time God appeared to Moses in the burning Bush in Exodus chapter three. The miracle that astounded Moses and drew him to the burning Bush was that it was burning, yet it was not consumed. And as he approached, what did the Lord say to Moses? He said, Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is Holy ground. God said, My presence is here, therefore this place is Holy. On Pentecost, the presence of God didn't appear in a Bush. It came upon believers, and the message this time was, My presence is in you, therefore you are Holy. That's the miracle of the gospel. It transforms our spirits from cemeteries into temples of the living God. The phrase Each one of them is so important because the primary reason for this visual manifestation of the work of the Holy Spirit is to make it evident to everyone that the same thing was happening to everyone.
It's on your outline again, One Corinthians 1212, Paul says, for just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many are one body, so also is Christ. The body Paul is speaking of here is the Church. He goes on and says, for we were all baptized by one spirit into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and we were all given one spirit to drink. It's clear and scholars agree that Paul is not speaking of water baptism because he says, we were all baptized by one spirit. Paul describes a baptism not done by men, but by the Holy Spirit. And here's the real key. It's the word all. Paul writes, we were all baptized by one spirit and we were all given one spirit to drink. And as you Greek scholars know, the original meaning of the word all is all. That's right. Paul emphatically States, this is the key. Paul is saying that every member of the Church, every person who is part of the family and Kingdom of God, every believer, every Christian has been baptized by the Spirit. To say it another way, write this down.
If you have placed your faith in Jesus, then you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit. And that points to the baptism of the Spirit being a type of synonym, another way of referring to regeneration, another way of referring to being born again. They're all the same thing, and they're all referring to the moment when the Holy Spirit enters a person's life, joins their dead spirit, and brings it to life with resurrection power, regeneration, being born again, being baptized by the Holy Spirit. It's all a simultaneous event. In Acts chapter one, verses four and five, right before Jesus ascends back to heaven, he repeats an instruction to his disciples. It says, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Father's promise, which he said, you have heard me speak about, for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days. Jesus was telling them to wait for the Holy Spirit, who in just a few days would regenerate them and make them born again. And Jesus refers to this glorious transformation as being baptized with the Holy Spirit. This is going to take place on Pentecost in Acts chapter two.
The disciples will become the first men and women to be born again. This is why the Scriptures never instruct us to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Did you know that we're commanded to repent. We're commanded to believe in Jesus. We are commanded to be baptized with water, but we are never commanded to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit, because if we repent and believe, we are automatically baptized with the Holy Spirit as we pick things up in Acts chapter two, verse one. The disciples of Jesus have been saved under the Old Covenant, but they haven't been regenerated, and they are now following Jesus final instructions by waiting in Jerusalem to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Born again, regenerated, verse one. When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. Pentecost means 50th. It's the New Testament name for the Hebrew Feast of Weeks, also known as the Feast of the Harvest, celebrated 50 days after Passover. The purpose of this feast was to commemorate the giving of the Law, the time in history when, after freeing them from slavery in Egypt, God met with Israel at Mount Sinai and gave them his commands through Moses, most famously, the Ten Commandments.
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What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
There are those people, like, when we get together and pray for God to give us boldness to share the Gospel, they're biting their tongues because they're like, you guys are nervous about sharing the Gospel. I don't get it. What are you talking about? Evangelists are definitely still given to the church as a gift. And according to Paul, every pastor must be able to teach.But there's a difference between being able to teach and having the gift of teaching. Every pastor should be able to teach in such a way that they can present the truths of Scripture, clearly building up the hero in their faith. But the gift of teaching and the gift of a teacher is a person empowered by God to teach with clarity and authority, above and beyond their natural ability or any skill that can be learned. It's a special anointing from God for the task of teaching. The word pastor in the original Greek is the word for shepherd.
When God gives the gift of a pastor to a local church body, he gives them the gift of a shepherd, someone who desires to care for, protect, and feed the flock of God so that they grow into strong, healthy sheep. That's the heart of a faithful pastor. He is always aware that the flock belongs to his master, the Lord Jesus, and his life's work is shepherding the sheep that have been entrusted to him by his master. I just want to point out again that every believer is called to serve. Every believer is called to give generously, every believer is called to show mercy, and on and on.
I would he a gift of the Spirit is a special anointing to serve, give, or show mercy above and beyond our natural inclinations or abilities. If one of my kids came up to me and said, Dad, after listening to that message, I've realized I don't have the gift of washing dishes, it might surprise you to learn that my response would not be, oh wow, I had no idea. Thanks for letting me know, buddy. I would never want you to serve where you don't feel gifted. My response would be, cool story, bro.
The dishes still need to get washed, so let's get to it. I say that lest anyone dream of saying, I don't have the gift of chair stacking, I don't have the gift of helping with kids ministry, I don't have the gift of service. The church is a family, and in a family, the work needs to get done. I don't run dinner clean-up multiple times per week because it's my gift or my passion. I do it because it needs to get done and I'm part of the family.