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How can we grow in spiritual maturity while embracing the gifts of the Spirit? In this message, Pastor John Mattica connects 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 with Acts, showing how the purpose behind Pentecost was now being taught to the Corinthian church. Discover how prophecy and tongues, when used with order and purpose, glorify God, edify believers, and compel us to keep speaking about Jesus because of what we have seen and heard.
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How can we grow in spiritual maturity while embracing the gifts of the Spirit? In this message, Pastor John Mattica connects 1 Corinthians 14:20-25 with Acts, showing how the purpose behind Pentecost was now being taught to the Corinthian church. Discover how prophecy and tongues, when used with order and purpose, glorify God, edify believers, and compel us to keep speaking about Jesus because of what we have seen and heard.
Listen to Lessons from the Corinthian Church Part 12 by CCI Fellowship MP3 song. Lessons from the Corinthian Church Part 12 song from CCI Fellowship is available on Audio.com. The duration of song is 52:56. This high-quality MP3 track has 160 kbps bitrate and was uploaded on 17 Dec 2024. Stream and download Lessons from the Corinthian Church Part 12 by CCI Fellowship for free on Audio.com – your ultimate destination for MP3 music.
In this podcast episode, the speaker discusses the use of spiritual gifts in the Corinthian church. They emphasize the need for maturity and understanding when using these gifts, particularly in the corporate setting. Speaking in tongues is seen as a sign for unbelievers, while prophecy is for the benefit of believers. The speaker warns against using gifts in a way that causes confusion and emphasizes the importance of love. They also mention the example of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who were compelled to share God's word despite facing rejection. The message encourages listeners to continue speaking about their faith and the things they have seen and heard. Welcome to CCI Fellowship's podcast, thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 14. I had, over the week, been considering two different messages for this evening, and as I was praying to my truck before coming in, those two messages morphed into one, so you're going to get both of them. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit connects it. He will. He will. All right, we are in part 12 of Lessons from the Corinthian Church, and we are going to read verse 20 to 25, then I'm going to pray. As we have in the past couple weeks, you'll see a C or a PL. This time, it's actually just a C, as we're talking about the use of spiritual gifts within the corporate setting and within our private prayer lives. Verse 20, Dear Brothers and Sisters, Don't be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. It is written in the scriptures, I will speak to my own people through strange languages and through the lips of foreigners, but even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord. So you see that speaking in tongues in a corporate setting, which is what the C is for, is a sign not for believers but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers. Even so, if unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. But if all of you are prophesying and unbelievers or people who don't understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring God is truly here among you. Father, we thank you for this day and we thank you for your presence. Lord, we, in the tone of the song that we just sang, oh come let us adore him, Father. One of the verses is also, we'll praise your name forever. Father, we will praise your name forever. We thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to do that openly in freedom. We thank you, Lord God, that we can come together in unity and we can come, Father, to hear your word and be taught by your Holy Spirit. Your word says that the Spirit is our teacher and he will teach us all things. So I pray, Lord, that our minds would be open, our hearts would be ready, that our eyes and ears, Lord God, would be tuned to what the Spirit would say to us today. That, Lord God, you would fill our hearts, Lord, with passion for you and passion for your word. Father, be glorified in Jesus' name. Amen. So Paul has been, in the previous verses that we covered last week, he was talking about the use of tongues in the corporate setting, that there must be an interpretation. And he lays it out pretty well. If you remember what I had said recently, that the Bible was written in a way so that the person who is the most novice in understanding spiritual things could understand it. As well, the person who has been walking with God for a long time, who has a lot of spiritual maturity and a lot of discernment and understanding in the Spirit, that you never stop getting something out of the word of God. The layers of it go so deep. But it's not that God has given us his word and the moment that we come to him we have to understand everything perfectly. Nor should we ever assume that we understand all of it. That's really when we get into problems. When we get to the point where we're looking at Scripture and we're so familiar with a verse that it no longer speaks to us, that's a problem. Because the Spirit has so much more revelation for us. On this side of heaven, we will still only know in part, as 1 Corinthians 13 says. It's not until we see him face to face that all of this understanding of who God is and all of the revelation of his character, his love, his passion for humanity, all of that will make sense. We will understand it. We will know it. On that side, when we are face to face with him in eternity. But on this side, let us never reach the place where we think that our knowledge of Scripture is the limit. And let us always allow the Holy Spirit to teach us. And Paul moves into these verses. In verse 20 he says, I don't want you to be children in your understanding. Don't be immature in how these things are understood or how these things are used within your service. He says, I do want you to be children, or the word in Greek is actually infants, when it comes to evil, some translations say. Other translations say, when it comes to malice. In other words, I don't want you to be so childish in your activity that your immaturity is hurting each other within the assembly. I do want you to be innocent when it comes to the evil out in the world, that you stay away from that evil. But within the context of this family, let us be mature in how we deal with each other and how the Holy Spirit uses us in the gifts that he has given us for the benefit of each other. And he brings a verse here that talks about, that's from Isaiah, and it says, I will speak to my own people through strange languages, through the lips of foreigners, but even then they will not listen to me. Now, there are many who, with this verse, kind of felt like Isaiah was foreshadowing towards this gift of tongues. But really what he is, if we look at what this applies to, if we look at the context of where he is saying this, Isaiah is prophesying about the coming captivity, where the people of Israel had rejected God's word. They had rejected his prophets. They had killed his prophets. They had refused to listen to God in the language that they understood. And so as a punishment, God says, well, if you're not going to listen to them, then I'm going to bring you to a people that you really aren't going to understand. And even as you see my hand in all of this, they're still not going to listen. And so why does Paul bring this verse to the Corinthians? What is the use here? The use here is saying, when you get together, remember, he's correcting in them the use of tongues in a way that brought confusion, where there was no interpretation. They were just coming into the assembly. They were all speaking in tongues together and just expecting each other to understand. And Paul relates doing that to the congregation to the same punishment that Israel received in the Old Testament when they refused to listen to God. He's saying, you're just bringing things into confusion and nobody can follow God because they don't understand. That's why he says, be mature in this. Remember, we've talked about these different things that run through chapter 11 to 14. The biggest thing of those is love. That's why chapter 13 is there. If we use all these gifts that we have, but we don't have love, then it's worthless. And Paul says, grow up, mature. You can be innocent when it comes to the evils of the world, but mature in your love for each other. So he says, speaking in tongues is a sign for unbelievers. Prophecy is for the benefit of believers. And then he says, but if unbelievers come in and you're all speaking in tongues and there's no interpretation, then they're just going to say you're mad. A bunch of crazy people, I'm never going back there. Those who have been in spirit-filled circles, we have thought the same thing sometimes, as we've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit being in operation. But again, it doesn't negate that the gifts of the Spirit are for the benefit of the body. Bad examples do not cancel out God's Word. You know? You agree with that? Bad examples do not cancel out God's Word. They can't. His Word is the measure, not somebody's performance of His Word. His Word is the message and the measure. So he says, but if you're all prophesying and no believer comes in, then the words that you say are going to convict his heart. And he's going to say, truly God is among you. So I want us to go to the book of Acts, as this is Missions Weekend, and as the topic of this weekend is that we will not stop speaking of the things that we have seen and heard, of the message that is on our lips, that should be on our lips, the message that should be burning in our hearts. I want us to see where, on the day of Pentecost, we have an example of this. And you're going to see this. When I was thinking of this message, in fact, last week when I preached in the 11 o'clock service, I shared a little bit on, we can't help but say what we have seen and heard. And it took me back to two prophets in the Old Testament. One was Jeremiah. And Jeremiah said, he was known as the weeping prophet. He was the prophet that never said anything good. There wasn't anything great that came out of Jeremiah. When he showed up, people were like, run and hide, because this dude only says bad things. And he got tired of it. Can you imagine being the person that's always bringing the doom and the gloom? Nobody wants to be around you. No one wants to listen to you. You have no friends. You have nobody. Rejected by everyone. And Jeremiah said, fine. I just won't say anything. And then he said, but God's word was in me like a fire shut up in my bones and I couldn't contain it. I couldn't not say it. I couldn't keep it to myself. I had to say it. And this word that he was given was words of punishment. Was words of God's judgment. And that word burned inside of him so much. Ezekiel. When God called him to be a prophet, God said to Ezekiel, I'm going to make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth. So that only what I tell you to say is what you will say. And as you read through the book of Ezekiel, you'll find near the end where it says that God let his tongue go so that he could have a conversation with somebody. And it was a rare instance where Ezekiel was able to say something that wasn't God's word. But again, Ezekiel prophesied judgment. He prophesied things that were not great. He prophesied things that lacked excitement. There was no joy in it. There wasn't a whole lot of life in it. And then we come to the New Testament, where Christ has already come. He's risen from the dead. He went back to heaven. He sent the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is poured out. The church is born. They flood out of the room, the upper room, the 120 of them, speaking in tongues. And it says, all heard them praising the Lord and giving him glory. We have the account throughout the New Testament of what happened in the early church. And we come to 2 Corinthians 5, where Paul says that we are compelled by the love of Christ. And he says what the message is, that if one died for many and lives, then all may live. This is the message. It says we're compelled by the love of God. And Paul is trying to instill in the Corinthian church to be compelled by the love of God when it comes to the gifts of the Spirit. Now, in Acts chapter 2, let's look at this. Let's just read it. First one, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven of a rushing, muddy wind. It filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as a fire, and one sat on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused. So initially there was a whole lot of confusion. We see that Paul gives us the same example in chapter 14. If you're all just rambling in tongues, it's just confusion. But if there's interpretation, then there's transformation. If there's interpretation, there's transformation. When the sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speaking in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each one in our own language in which we were born? Verse 12. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean? However, others, mocking, said, They are full of new wine. So you have people that understood. The miracle of tongues had come. The baptism of the Spirit had been given to the church. They came out of the room speaking in languages that people in the crowd understood. However, not all understood them. And the ones that didn't understand said, They're drunk. Paul says if an unbeliever comes in and you're just all talking in tongues, they're just going to say you're mad. So what happened on the day of Pentecost was purposefully happening in the church in Corinth. And he says, this is not love. This is not great. This is not helpful. So what happened here on the day of Pentecost? Verse 14. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, Was Peter a bold person? He was kind of a reckless person. He loved to talk. It wasn't always good what he was saying. I love the story of the Mount of Transfiguration, that Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up with him. And they see Moses and Elijah. And Peter is like, this is amazing. It's amazing. And it says, Peter said to Jesus, Let's build three altars and stay here forever. And the account of it says, He said this because he didn't know what to say and he was afraid. Some people, when they're afraid, they don't say anything. Other people, when they're afraid, they don't stop talking. And yet they say nothing. Nothing of value. But we see the transformation in Peter on the day of Pentecost. When the Spirit came upon him to dwell in him and to empower him, that he stood up and gave a really long sermon. I mean, it goes on for a good amount of verses. And then it says, and he kept preaching after that. And that day 3,000 were added. You see, the miracle that happened both in them being able to speak in tongues, to praise God in an unknown language, and the miracle that some were able to understand in their own language. I believe it was a double thing that the Holy Spirit was doing. But all of that was not the point. The point was the message that Peter preached afterward that caused 3,000 people to get saved. That's why Paul says tongues is a sign and prophecy is a sign. But they're not the end all. They're not what we should be focusing on to the point where we exclude that the word must be spoken in a way that people can understand. He doesn't, again, Paul's not negating any of the gifts. Verse 1 of chapter 14 says, Let love be your highest goal and pursue the gifts that the Spirit gives. We're to pursue the gifts. We're to pursue what God wants to do in us and through us. We're supposed to use these tools that he has given us in order to benefit each other. But the Corinthian church was getting so wrapped up in the spectacular of it that they were missing the transforming power of the word of God. So we go to chapter 3 of Acts. Peter and John are going into the temple. A gate, no doubt, Jesus had passed multiple times. And the lame man is there asking for money. And Peter says, I ain't got nothing for you. I don't have money to give you, but I have something better. I have something that's going to change your life. In the name of Jesus Christ, get up and walk. So he got up and walked. Just like that. Man, did it cause an uproar. And the leaders of the temple started this inquisition to figure out everything. And they put Peter and John in jail. They beat them. They're like, what are we going to do? We can't deny that this guy was healed. We can't deny that it happened. We can't deny the miraculous. But it's interesting that they didn't, when they brought John and Peter out to let them go. This is where we end up in chapter 4. Just kind of going through all this quickly. In verse 13 it says, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. Where did that boldness come from? Because one day they decided we're going to be bold today? No. It came from the Spirit. And where do you think they were able to foster that? Within their time of prayer. Within their time of pursuing God. Within their time of being alone. Remember what we said as chapter 14 started. That private edification leads to corporate edification. You can't build someone else up if you yourself are not remaining built up. And so it says, They saw the boldness of Peter and John. Perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. And so they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Have you ever had somebody come up to you and say that they could see that you had been with Jesus? That you had been in the presence of the Spirit? Have you ever had that? That's an amazing thing. Seeing the young man who had been healed standing with them. They could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go outside of the council. They conferred among themselves saying, What shall we do with these men? Remember indeed that a notable miracle had been done through them is evident. Evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. We can't deny the miraculous. We can't deny that God is with them. We cannot deny that they have been with Jesus. We cannot deny it because there are signs. But they said, verse 17, So that it spreads no further among the people. Let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. It's ironic, isn't it? That they didn't say to them, Don't do more miracles. They didn't say to them, Don't go around healing other people. The fact that this dude got healed was of no concern to them. It was a problem for them that this guy got healed. Because everyone knew it. Everyone saw him. Everyone knew this guy from sitting at the gate. And now he's walking. They can't deny it, they said. But so that it spreads no further, we're going to tell them no longer speak. Don't say it. Don't get the message out. You see, Paul's point within chapter 14 of 1 Corinthians is about getting the message out. Whether that is through this gift or that gift or another gift, it's about the message, not about the miracle of it. And the Corinthians were so focused on the miracle of it that the message of it got lost. Verse 18. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. So Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. What does verse 25 in chapter 14 say? The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report, God is truly among you. Why can we not stop speaking of the things that we have seen and heard? Because the message still brings people to their knees. The message still brings people to their knees. In John chapter 6, Jesus had been talking to his disciples, not just the 12, but all of his disciples, and he was telling them, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part in me. Man, that's some really hard things to capture. But he said it. Some really hard things to understand, and it says from that point on, many of his disciples went back to their lives because it was too hard for them to receive that word. And Jesus, I'm sure feeling deserted, looks to his 12, and he says to them, Do you also want to go away? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also, we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the one that has the words of eternal life. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. You. Are the ones that now have the words of eternal life. If we don't share them, who will? We can't stop speaking of the things that we have seen and heard. We can't not do it. In fact, I want to invite you for the last Sunday of this year, on the 29th, right? We're going to have, this is new to everybody, The person in charge of logistics is just finding all this out. I want to have a testimony service. And I want to give the opportunity for us to talk about what we have seen and heard throughout this year. And the format of it, I'll let you know how that is as we go. But that's what we're going to do on the last Sunday. So that we are edified and built up by what each other has seen and heard. And God willing, that we have people that day that are unbelievers. That they will hear the things. And they will fall down on their face and say, surely God is among you. We must keep speaking it. We must keep saying it. Again in Acts chapter 4. Verse 23 says, And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Oh my God, what are we going to do? We better stay here. Because they're going to beat us. They're going to throw us in jail. They're going to take all of our stuff. None of that. When they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. Who by the mouth of your servant David hath said, Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? Kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. In other words, they were laughing. At these threats. They took these threats as confirmation of what they were doing was correct and who they were pursuing was correct and who had placed the word in them was true. Verse 27, For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you have anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness, remember it was boldness in verse 13, when they recognized the boldness that Peter and John had. And here, all together, again, I mean, we can very easily deduce that they were back with the 120 and said they went back to their own companions, at least them, if not even more. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal and the signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. It wasn't just preaching. It wasn't empty words. In fact, one of the, whether it's Mark or Matthew, ends with, I think it's Mark, I don't know, Mark or Matthew, it ends with, so they went out preaching and the Lord accompanied them performing signs and wonders. The Lord went with them confirming their word through signs and wonders. But the signs and wonders weren't the point, it was the word. Mark 16. And here they say, give us boldness that we may speak and that you would stretch forth your hand and heal and that miracles and signs and wonders would accompany our preaching as we saw you did with the apostles when you sent them out. We can't stop speaking of the things that we have seen and heard. What is the seen and heard? The miracles. The word. But we've got to speak it out. We've got to get the testimony out. We've got to get the word out. But the word without the accompanying signs is like, well, how do you know it's real? I've experienced it. I've seen it. I've been a part of God doing it. We can know theory but it makes so much difference when we have experience to go along with it. And it's not because we're pursuing the miraculous. We're pursuing talking about those things that we have seen and heard of the word that was put in us that we be compelled by the love of Christ to preach the message. And God will bring in the miraculous to accompany it. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? So Paul is encouraging the Corinthians. Grow up. It's not the first time in that letter he told them to grow up. In chapter 3 he says, I wanted to speak to you as mature people but you're still a bunch of babies in your understanding because you're still acting like heathens. So again he tells them here, let's mature in these things and use what the Spirit puts inside of us for the benefit of each other. Well if I'm compelled by the love of Christ to speak and I'm compelled by the love of Christ towards miracles, signs and wonders then I'm going to spend the time in the private to cultivate that in relationship with the Holy Spirit. To say, Holy Spirit I want anything and everything that you have for me. Anything and everything that you have for me. And allow him to use us as his tools. Amen? As we said, this weekend is Missions Weekend. The thing I like about the Missionary Network of CCI, one, it is not bolstered economically by some church in the US. It was started here. By this church. In 2021 they set out a 10 year goal that by 2031 there would be CCI churches in 50 countries. That was in 2021. Now at the end of 2024, where are we? Where are we in that number? At the end of last year they had 44 churches. At the end of this year we're in 52 countries. Sorry, not 44 churches, 44 countries. Now we're in 52 countries. Within 3 years of setting that goal in place God met it. God opened the doors and exceeded what the goal was. What else can he do in the next 7 years of this 10 year goal? Amen? You can see 527 churches in 52 countries on 4 continents. Some of the new churches, the 8 new churches that joined this year were not, I would think knowing Missions, I would think those 8 would have been in Africa. African churches are always looking for some type of covering but that's not the case. You see the ones in Europe? A number of those 8 are in Europe. An area of the world considered to be spiritually dead. And there are new churches there. New congregations there. There's new congregations in Africa, there's new congregations in India. They were telling in the other services the testimony that in which in India, right? When Pakistan, the government leaders came to the prayer meeting that they were having, the church was having and they weren't there to shut them down. At the end of the meeting they said we're going to do what we need to do so that the church can thrive. This is Pakistan. They went to a prayer meeting and essentially said surely God is among you and we're going to do something to promote that. They told a church in India that India is very hostile against the church. But an area where the church was in, the government leaders came to that the new government that has been elected in that area is favorable to the church. In India. God is doing amazing things. He's doing amazing things around the world. He's doing amazing things here in Honduras and we get to be part of a church through which God is advancing His kingdom. Now, we can speak it out ourselves but we also have the opportunity to give so other people can speak it out. We can advance the kingdom that is before us that's reaching our communities in our vision as a congregation. Reaching God, reaching each other, reaching our communities. That's where we advance the kingdom and the communities that we face. But there's also the opportunity that we can advance His kingdom beyond the communities that we have influence in by giving into missions. Giving into what they the program that they're focused on in the next six years. Six months. Churches and countries and years and months. Next six months. So, as we come to the close of our service today as the worship team comes we have the opportunity now to give into missions. To give in to join with the rest of the CCI Missionary Network. What I was going to say the thing that I love about the network is that every church in the network is giving this weekend towards the mission of the network. Some of these churches that are going to receive from the funds that are given this weekend over the next six months when they had their service they were also taking up offerings for missions. It's not this attitude of I'm going to sit here and wait for somebody to supply my needs. It's we are collective collectively a part of this missionary church to give and to allow God to multiply the seeds sown so that he can advance his kingdom. So let's stand together. I'm going to ask the greeters to come because at the same time we'll go ahead and receive our normal tithing offering. Let me just give you this example. Adriana and I, the Renaries and the Webs we were at a missions conference at the end of October and the last night of this missions conference they raised money for missions. In the span of two hours more than a quarter of a million dollars was raised. Two hundred and seventy some thousand dollars was raised for missions in less than two hours. This church is a small church maybe two hundred and fifty members sits between a cornfield and a cemetery. It's not an affluent church. They're not people that have disposable income but they are people who have captured the vision of being able to give to advance the kingdom of God beyond their own influence. Incredible amount of money that is because people were compelled by the love of Christ to get the message out. So it's not about how much you give it's not about whether you can give a lot or give a little. It doesn't matter. Second Corinthians 9 says He that sows little will reap. He that sows much will reap. But it's God the one that provides. It's God the one that expands and multiplies. At the end of those two hours after two hundred and seventy thousand dollars was pledged for missions they took up their normal Wednesday night offering and people didn't fail to give. So we're going to take up our offering as well. I'm not expecting two hundred and seventy thousand dollars to come out of us tonight. I'm not expecting things that God hasn't done yet in us but I want Him to do this. Allow the love of Christ to compel you to give your tithes give your normal offerings to give to missions so that His kingdom can advance. So what we're going to do the greeter's on the ends of the bags and they'll be they're there for your normal tithing offering and then here in the middle with the basket will be your missions offering so make sure that you don't mix them up get them in the right basket so that we make sure that they go to the right places. There's also on the screen if you want to give electronically there's a QR code for tithes and offerings there's also a QR code for missions offerings they are different accounts and so we want to make sure that things get get put in the right place. If you brought your Casa Missionera you can go ahead and bring that up as well and set it here on the altar and then go back to your seat and then we're going to pray over the offerings but let's lift our offerings to the Lord let's make our declaration Father we thank you for the opportunity to come to your house to come to your altar to worship you with the holy tithe and our gifts and offerings I declare them blessed with a heart of faith a heart of honor and a heart of gratitude in Jesus name Amen Amen Let's go Come give Amen If by chance you came and you weren't ready to give we'll still have the missions envelope next couple of weeks and the QR codes are obviously available at any time and you can give that way by the way if you forgot to bring your Casa Missionera please bring it next week At the end of when they prayed for boldness verse 31 said And when they had prayed the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness Let's pray Father we thank you we thank you for Jesus we thank you for bringing us into your family for providing for us eternal life we thank you Lord God for calling us your own for giving us new names for making us new creations because of Christ we thank you Lord God that as Christ returned to your side the Holy Spirit was sent to us as a promise Lord God as proof Father that what we have put our faith in will be completed that who we have put our faith in is the one who keeps his word the one whose character never changes the one whose message stays true not altered Father I pray tonight even as they prayed in the book of Acts Lord God that you would grant with all boldness that your servants may speak your word that you would stretch out your hand to heal that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus this name through which salvation comes there is no other name by which men can be saved except the name of Jesus and Father we commit today we profess today that that name will always be on our lips and that his message Lord God would always be at the top of what we are ready to say Father grant us the boldness through your Holy Spirit fill us all with your Spirit we thank you Lord God for what you are doing in the Red Misionera we thank you Father that the goals Lord that have been set for years from now have already been exceeded so Lord we anticipate Father what you are going to do beyond what those goals were we anticipate Lord God that you will continue to provide the seed that is necessary and the bread that is vital so that your word can go forth that you would extend the reach of this church that you would extend the influence Lord God of what this church is able to do in the world not to raise the name of Centro Cristiano Internacional not to raise the name of any overseer or founder or pastor Lord God not to raise the name of any one person but to raise the name of Jesus Christ across this world Father as we take the message to Jerusalem Judea America and the uttermost parts of the earth we thank you Lord God that you have provided for us to be able to sow into providing for others we pray Lord God of all the offerings received this weekend that you would miraculously multiply them cause them Lord God to be able to go farther than anticipated Lord this money represents souls it's not just money it represents Lord God your work in the world so we give it Lord God not out of compulsion not out of obligation we give it with willing hearts Lord and we give it with expectant hearts that you will cause a harvest to come that is greater than anything that we can imagine anything that we can even ask all praise in Ephesians 3 now unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think to him be glory in the church in this church through Christ Jesus Amen and Amen Amen let's praise God Thank you for listening to this week's podcast if you are ever in a Tegucigalpa area and looking for an English speaking congregation please join us on Sunday afternoon at 4pm in the main auditorium of Iglesia CCI in Colonial Capiches just off Boulevard Suyapa near Una if you would like prayer or more information about our church contact us at fellowships.cci at gmail.com that's fellowships.cci at gmail.com or follow us on social media we hope to see you or hear from you soon Buh-bye
