Nothing to say, yet
Transcription
Summary: The speaker introduces the topic of spiritual gifts and discusses how they are often neglected or ignored in some circles. They emphasize the importance of actively seeking to be used in these gifts for the edification of the church. The speaker references Bible verses and highlights the need for believers to not be ignorant about spiritual gifts. They mention the importance of supporting and praying for God's chosen people, the Jews. The speaker also mentions the hope of seeing loved ones again in heaven and encourages believers to prioritize their relationship with God and actively seek spiritual gifts. Good to have Sister Hannah with us this morning. Did Brother Tim give you anything for Sunday school? We don't go exactly by that, but there's some things in there that will, I believe it's Lesson 9, the Spiritual Gifts is what we'll be talking about this morning. So if you will turn to Lesson 9, the Spiritual Gifts in your Holiness Heritage this morning and also we will get to 1 Corinthians 12 and on in your Bibles. The title this morning, as we said, the Spiritual Gifts, the theme, if you want to read along says there at the top says, God has provided the gifts of the Spirit for the edification and exhortation of the church. We should seek to be used in these gifts. The golden text comes from 1 Corinthians 14 and 12 says, even so you, for as much as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church. Our introduction at the bottom there of that first page says, in this lesson, we will discuss the subject of spiritual gifts. There has been much emphasis placed upon these gifts in some circles, yet in other circles they are largely ignored or even rejected. In our Holiness Pentecostal movement, the gifts have too often been relegated to the good old days of the past. We've heard that, haven't we? In many of our churches, the gifts of the Spirit are rarely manifested, though we would fervently insist that we believe in the power of the Holy Ghost and would be upset if someone suggested that they were not for today. Just the belief that spiritual gifts are of God and are for the church today is simply not enough. We must sincerely seek to be used individually in the gifts of the Spirit and be grieved when they are not in evidence in our assemblies. God gave them to the church to uplift and edify the believers of the body of Christ. We're talking about that old-time power that we just sung about. In 1 Corinthians 12 and 1, we'll get started there in our Bibles. It says, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. I thought, Brother Tim, that this is a common phrase that the Apostle Paul would use. When he starts with this statement, it should be a red flag. Our ears should perk up a little bit because usually when he says, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, it's a place that a lot of the church are ignorant about. I read in Romans 11, 25, when he spoke to the Romans, he said, For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits that blindness in part has happened to Israel unto the fullness of the Gentiles become in. And for the sake of time, we won't go into a full discussion of this mystery. We want to stay focused on the spiritual gifts. But he is informing the Romans that they are Gentiles and they've been grafted into this family of God. They're not replacing the covenant that God has with the Jewish people, but they have a new covenant through the spirit of adoption. This is how we are grafted in as well. We are not Jewish people. I don't I don't think there's any Jewish people in here this morning. We are part of a number of Gentiles that are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If you're saved this morning, you're saved by Jesus Christ. But one day when that door of mercy has been closed and there will be a day and the last Gentile has been saved, Jesus is coming back for his Jewish people and us as well. But let's never forget that we are branches that have been grafted onto the root that is the Jewish people. That's why we should be praying for Jerusalem. That's why Brother Tim sent out text. Let's pray for Jerusalem. They're God's chosen people. God loves his chosen people and they are under attack once again. Let's show God that we are not ignorant towards his love to them and that we are in full support of his chosen people. Psalm 37, verse 4 says, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. If you expect God to care for the things that are dear to your heart, you should let him know that you care about the things that are dear to him and he cares about his people. I have lost loved ones that I want him to graft in, so I want to be found praying for the roots. As a side note again, Psalms 37 and 4, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Does that verse not compliment, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you? I noticed that as I was preparing my Sunday school lesson. Secondly, Paul uses this phrase in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 13 to the church of Thessalonica, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. And I thought I'll, this is another place that you don't want us to be ignorant, and I'll be honest, it might sound a little callous, but I get tired of people that claim that they miss their loved ones so bad that have gone on with the Lord, but they don't do anything to assure their salvation where they could possibly, you know, see them again. That's the one thing that they can do to see their loved ones again. To see our loved ones that have gone on to their reward should not be our primary goal, but it does excite me. I've got a dad that I believe has gone on to his reward. I want to see him someday. I don't know exactly how we're going to know our loved ones or how that works, but I believe there's enough Bible that we will see them again someday. And I'm going to find myself in a church pew on a Sunday morning like this rather than taking flowers to the gravesite. You know, let's not be ignorant of that great homecoming day. There's nothing wrong with doing that, but it doesn't take the place of being here on a Sunday. 1 Thessalonians 4 and 14, for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. I don't think Paul wrote this to the Thessalonica church just so we could read it at a gravesite once in a while. Nor Psalms 23, 1 through 6. It was good to hear Brother Tim talk about it in church. It's always at a gravesite that I hear something like that. Lastly, in 1 Corinthians 12 and 1, in our text this morning, we find Paul not wanting his brethren to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. What I find interesting is as corrupt as the Corinthian church was, they must have had a strong demonstration of the Holy Ghost in their services. Paul tells them in 1 Corinthians 1 and 4, at the first of this letter, and we've been here before in our Sunday school lesson, he says, I thank my God always on your behalf for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything ye are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that tells us that we can't just assume because the Holy Ghost moves in our midst from time to time and mercifully helps us, that it is a stamp of approval that we're doing everything right. But I will add this, keep in mind that the Holy Ghost moving the church services in this way was fairly new to the Corinthians. This was probably about 20 years from the day of Pentecost in the Upper Room, Brother Austin, in Jerusalem that we read about in Acts 2. They had no New Testament Bible. They were living the New Testament Bible. A reasonable person would assume that they would have been shown a lot more mercy than people like us. We have access to all of Paul's letters and teachings, the early church's trials and errors, the Acts of the Apostles, Paul's letters and so on. We all have access to those things. So some 2,000 years later, we have no excuse to be ignorant. We should have perfected an atmosphere and a culture that the power of the Holy Ghost and gifts of the Spirit could thrive in. But we seemingly have less than they did back then. Has the Holy Ghost ran out of power? I don't believe it has. I don't believe this is the case, for we know that the Holy Ghost is part of the Godhead, one in essence but three in parts. Hebrews 13 and 8 says, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. James 1 and 17 teaches us that every good gift and every perfect gift come from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God is consistent. His power does not vary. It does not decrease. It does not increase. He has always been all-powerful, Almighty God. As the sun is always bright, but the earth moves and we experience that darkness, God is always bright, but it's the people that move away from him and darkness finds its way. His gifts have not changed. They are simply neglected and rarely desired. Spiritual gifts have taken a backseat to worldly lust and entertainment. Some churches have justified the absence of spiritual gifts by claiming it's not for the Christians today, but the real problem is they are too full of this world. They want the assurance of being heaven-bound on Sunday morning, but God is a distant thought through the rest of the week. We need those spiritual gifts in this church, all of the gifts, but it won't come by half-heartedly seeking him a couple of times a week. Let me ask you this. How strong would your relationship be with your spouse if you're married this morning if you neglected them for other things or other people except for maybe four or five, six hours a week? What is the chances of your spouse thinking of you and there be gifts waiting on you at home if you only spoke to them just a few moments a week? What if you gave them a gift and they never used it or seemed thankful in any way? How quick would you be to get them something else? I thought I'd get a wild hair once in a while and I'll tell Christy, hey, I'd like to have a weight bench, Brother Austin, and she'll usually look at me or maybe just some kind of workout equipment and she'll say something like, you don't need that, and I'll try to convince her, you know, it'll make me stronger, I need something like that, and she can easily point to things I bought in my past that's laying around the house that I haven't used at all, and they just sit there, and she's right, it won't make me stronger if I don't use it, and there's nothing that points to the fact that I would use that if I got something like that, not that I have to have her permission to buy everything, but it's just a conversation that we'll have, and sometimes I'll know myself, I'll have a thought, Brother Tim, and I'll think, I want this to be a good idea, and then she's kind of a voice of reason sometimes, but like a weight bench, besides the fact that I really don't even have room for it, and it's probably because I have two big old chest freezers that I use very frequently, but she knows that my lifestyle doesn't constitute workout equipment. There's nothing about me that would convince her that I'd use it, and it's just a passing, fleeting desire. I've had it multiple times. Does your lifestyle convince God that you would use his precious gifts properly if he gave them to you? Are you trying to do a work for him that would constitute such a gift? Have you come to the very limit of what he has already graced you with? If I was running on that treadmill every day and tossing a medicine ball around that I've already bought, and lifting some barbells, I bet Christy would go and say, you know, I think we could use a workout bench. That probably would help you. She'd probably be in full support. Psalms 119 and 10 says, With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Moving on to 1 Corinthians 12 and 4 says, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. Paul lets them know that there's a diversity of gifts, but only one giver. Again, James 1 and 17, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. All work towards the same goal. They are given to the edification of the church, and its souls will be added to the kingdom of God. I thought this was a simple concept, maybe not a perfect example, but you can take Altec, for example. How many employees do they have? About 900. I thought Brother Joseph works there, Brother Nathan works there. I see a lot of people that works there. And many others all perform different tasks to one common goal. They put out bucket trucks, right, for utility companies, maybe tree services and stuff like that. But just for instance, they give Brother Joseph a set of tools for this area. Someone else has another set of tools and so on. For a greater purpose, God has set his church up much the same way. God has provided each one of us with something to do, whether we do it or not. There are gifts of the Spirit that are necessary to the winning of souls that we should desire. What if everybody at Altec showed up and said, I'm here, but I don't want to do anything. I'm not going to say anything. I'm not going to do nothing. I'm just going to sit here. Don't bother giving me a set of tools or instruct me in any way because I'm just here. That's all I'm going to do. I showed up. Number one, not a whole lot would get done. Number two, there probably wouldn't be much of a payday coming down the road. Altec is going to find a bunch of other people to do a job that will work for them. And that may be a poor example, but I hope that gets my point across. Ephesians 4 and 1 says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you're called with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering for burying one another, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore, he saith when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles, some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may we grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies according to the effectual work, working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. We all have a job to do and we should have a desire to do it and a desire to seek God. What is my job? What am I supposed to be doing? He has a job for you if you're saved this morning. You may say, well, I'm just a testifier. That's an awesome opportunity. And you may say, yeah, but well, I'm not, I'm not good at testifying. And I'll ask, who says, who says you're not good at testifying yourself? Jeremiah 17, not says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Or are you listening to the devil? Do you ask his opinion? John eight and forty four says you are the father. You are of your father, the devil and the lust of your father. You will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and a boat, not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. Or do you trust God and his word? First Corinthians 15 and 58 says, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Are you not good at testifying because you don't bring anything with you? Has God been on the back burner all week and you have to scramble to think of something when the pastor might ask you to testify? When you do your devotions and hopefully you are, pray that God will give you a testimony, something to give the church to edify the church with. If you stand up with an open Bible and read something that helped you this week, you most certainly didn't give a bad testimony. Hebrews four and twelve says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword piercing even to the dividing the center of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. If we're offering back to God everything he has given us and truly begging God, I want more. He will give you more. But if we are spiritually weak because we haven't sought him or kept his commandments, we can't just claim, well, that's just the way he made me. You know, I'm not good at it because he made me this way. We you know, I'm not the perfect Sunday school teacher. I'm not the perfect testifier. We all know I'm not the perfect singer. But if it's just because I'm not given my full potential of what God has provided me, if I'm not seeking throughout the week and I'm not seeking that power and gifts of the spirit, it's really on me. I can't claim, well, that's just how, you know, that's how God made me. Moving on to first Corinthians 12 and seven. But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all for the one is given by the spirit, the word of wisdom to another, the word of knowledge by the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another, the gifts of healing by the same spirit, to another, the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, to another, the interpretation of tongues. But all these workers that one and the same self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. Now, Paul right here lists nine gifts of the spirit. To be clear, these are all given by the Holy Ghost. First, he talks about the word of wisdom as a gift that makes one wise at a particular time and purpose. That's very needful and not just wise, but supernaturally. So a great example is Paul standing before the Sanhedrin in Acts 23. Paul addresses the council as his brethren and tells them that his conscience is clean before God. Ananias commanded the men to smite him on the mouth. But Paul told Ananias that God will smite him. But in Acts 23 and six says, but when Paul perceived, and that's the key there, but when Paul, but when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, men and brethren, I'm a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead. I am called in question. And when he had said so, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry and the scribes that were the Pharisees part arose and strove saying, we find no evil in this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And when there arose the great dissension, the chief captain, fearing less, Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and to bring him into the castle. And the night following the Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou has testified to me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. Paul surely had the word of wisdom in that moment, and we need it as well. The second gift mentioned is the word of knowledge. The word of knowledge is the gift of the word of knowledge will give us a supernatural once again, knowledge of who God is. Possessing this gift through the Holy Ghost will enrich your devotions and reading in God's word. The word of knowledge will help you in your godly conduct, which falls into the category of the word of wisdom. We must be able to recall God's word in circumstances of defending our faith or in witnessing and witnessing to someone. Comprehension was never my strong suit in school. I can read something a thousand times, and it's hard for me. I have to read it over and over sometimes, but this gift will help us comprehend God's word. Supernatural, supernaturally. So we've all heard testimonies of men that couldn't read very well or at all. And after getting saved, they could read the Bible and understand it. And that's the gift of knowledge. Psalms 119 11. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. If we want power to overcome sin, the word of knowledge will be our help. If you are a preacher, this is most certainly an important gift. This gift will show a man of God what someone in the congregation is struggling with. This is not an effort to condemn a child of God, but rather to bring one to repentance. John 3 and 17, for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. If God uses a man to send conviction to your heart, please don't let pride get in the way. This is God's loving plan of redemption. Keep in mind, 1 Corinthians 1 and 21 says for after that, in the wisdom of God, that the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe it pleases God to reach for the lost in this manner through a man getting up here and and conviction going across to a sinner. Paul's not saying that a preacher shouldn't attempt or try to be educated, but that alone will not help. My hands ain't working this morning. Isaiah 10 and 7 says, and it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder and his yoke from off thy neck and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing. It takes the anointing. The third gift mentioned here is discerning of spirits. A great example of this we found in Acts 16 and 16, and it came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. That word divination, Brother Quentin translates in the Greek as Puthon, or as we know it, Python, a snake. So this young slave girl is following Paul around with the spirit of a snake. She followed Paul and South round for many days, testifying that they were the men of the most high God. Paul rebuked her in the name of Jesus, and that evil spirit came out of her. This cost her masters a lot of money, but likely saved her life. She had a good message, Brother Ronnie, but an evil spirit behind it. And we're told what her motivation was. A man that didn't have the gift of discerning spirits could have been lifted up by her brace. But the Bible said it grieved Paul. It may be that someone will come in our presence with an evil spirit, but act in the part, look in the part. We need to be able to discern those spirits or it could cause all manner of problems and dissension and division in the church like the Corinthians experienced. They could quickly or casually over time change their message and draw one of our young ones away. So we need the discernment, the gift of discernment of spirits. Four, the gift of faith. Our holiness heritage describes this as a supernatural divine faith to believe God for a specific purpose. We all have to have some faith to believe in God for salvation. We all have that. But there are times that our faith seems to get a little thin. Something will rise up in our lives and we can see no way out, Brother Austin. But then the Holy Ghost comes along and deals out another measure of faith and we get our eyes off that problem and back on God. Supernatural faith that we need in those circumstances. It'll lift us up out of a situation, at least in our hearts and our minds, where our warfare really is. The circumstance may not change, but God simply changes our outlook and our view. Problems may arise. We all know that's a part of life, even for a child of God. But it's not his will for us to live in a constant or a chronic state of depression and worry. He will bring you out of that thing if you experience stuff like that. I've been a time in my life where I just seemed like a rotation of anxiety or depression. I'd come out of it for a little bit and I'd fall back into it. These gifts will help us through things like that. Jesus says in Matthew 21 and 22, And all things whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing you shall receive. If you're the type of person that falls in the traps of worry and anxiety, pray for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. If you have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, then pray for the gift of faith. Number nine, naturally, next is the gift of miracles and the gift of healing. Who would agree that we need the gift of miracles in the hour that we're living in? We could all name very quickly five to ten people without even thinking about it that needs a healing in our lives, that needs a miracle. And I need a miracle in my life. Let's read the Holiness Heritage there, E, the gift of miracles, and F, the gifts of healing in the Holiness Heritage. Do you all see that there? It starts with, This is the supernatural ability to work signs and wonders by the Spirit. It differs from the gifts of the healing in that it may include wonders that have nothing to do with sickness or diseases. Remember, Jesus turned water into wine, posthumous with blindness. The gifts of healing, these gifts deal specifically with the healing of the sick and diseased. Healing was purchased by Jesus in the atonement and is available for us today. Number seven, the gift of prophecy. This gift is not just foretelling something that is going to happen, although it can mean that. It is also what we endeavor to have in our weekly services. It is an anointed message straight from God that has the ability to change our current situations. We need the gift of prophecy. Number eight, the gift of tongues. This is the giving of a message in a tongue that is unknown to that one that is speaking. Brother Austin talks about his testimony of getting the baptism of the Holy Ghost just encourages me every time he tells it, and it reminded me of that right there. To be of any benefit, it needs to be followed by the gift of interpretation, which is the ninth and final gift that Paul cites in this letter. This is not in the book, but I'm going to read a portion here that speaks on that. It says, We should make it clear that all who are baptized in the Holy Ghost will speak in other tongues. This is not the gift of tongues. The gift is the giving of a specific message from God in another tongue. It needs to be interpreted to edify the church. While all will speak in tongues as a result of being spirit-filled, baptized in the Holy Ghost, not all will be used to give a message in tongues. Let's turn over to 1 Corinthians 14 and 11. We've got just a little bit more here. 1 Corinthians 14 and 1. Follow after charity and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth him, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. But he that prophesies speaketh unto men to edification and exhortation and comfort. He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the church. Speaking in tongues is not forbidden in church. It's something that we need, but as stated previously, it should be accompanied with interpretation. So is the person speaking in an unknown tongue out of order if there's no interpretation given? We've all bear witness to that. Not always, and it could be that the person with the gift of interpretation has failed to do their part. Often someone will be in the Spirit and tongues will fall on someone momentarily, or it might happen when somebody's preaching, or it'll happen at an altar call as people are praying. There's nothing wrong with that. This is definitely not out of order. But sometimes there may be a problem if tongues takes precedence over a service for quite some time, for a significant period of time, without any interpretation. It seems that the Corinthians were abusing this manifestation in some way. We can be found guilty of this sometimes. We've all been in those type of services for whatever reason, and we need to endeavor not to. If souls aren't being saved, the sick aren't healed, people are backsliding, but we're still having a good time in the Spirit, something is wrong. Paul says that prophesying is what edifies the church. Most often that edifying will come through preaching rather than shout downs, and I'm not against shout downs. I love shout downs. Sometimes we need that, and I love that, but we also need preaching. Sometimes it doesn't take precedence in a whole church. I don't want that ever to be said here. We all love a good shout down service, but solid, holiness, anointed preaching from God should never be dismissed as a dry service. We should always come to God's house with the go of worship and let the Spirit have His way. I thought some people would claim they had a Holy Ghost shout down, when in reality they had a Holy Ghost shut down. As a child of God, we all have access to these gifts, with one caveat. We must be baptized in the Holy Ghost, and if you don't have the Holy Ghost this morning, I'm not singling you out, and this involves you greatly. I'm not saying that, you know, I'm up here, God has given me, blessed me with the Holy Ghost, and I'm better than you. It's nothing like that. There are many of us, including me, that have been baptized in the power of the Holy Ghost, but do not have a lot of these gifts. So we're all in the same boat. We're all trying to draw nigher to God. So how do we receive the Holy Ghost? How do we receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost? It's the same answer for both questions, Brother Ronnie. Desire and obedience. 1 Corinthians 12 and 31 says, But covet, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet shew eye unto you a more excellent way. Draw an eye to God, and He will draw an eye to you. A quote that most people believe came from D.L. Moody, and it may or may not have, but it sounds like it's mostly attributed to him. It says, The world has yet to see what God can do with a man fully consecrated to Him. And I would like to say, What could God do with a church that is fully consecrated to Him? We're a small church, and I think we could do that. I know we all have jobs. We're either homemakers, or we work, or we have children. We have other things that we have to attend to. But what if we determined for just a week to consecrate that week to God? This week. He's been calling out a challenge to the church. It's not Pastor Tim, not me, not any other preacher. God has been asking, Draw nigh to me. I think that's evident this morning. And then we have this Sunday school lesson this morning about the spirits of gifts. If we gave Him a full week of consecration, increased our efforts, pushed the plate back a little bit, increased our prayer a little bit, lift Him up a little bit higher, thought about Him more, read the Word more, I think the results would make us want to do another week, and then another week, and then another week. Most men and women get closer to God through tragedy or loss. That's why there's a call for salvation at funerals. I know you was touched at your Papaw's funeral. It's a sobering time when men see the need for God, and the distraction of this world seems to fade away. Thoughts of eternity have kind of leapfrogged temporary goes in their mind. But God hasn't changed in those circumstances. It wasn't a tragedy that released God's goodness to His people. It's always been there. But it was the awareness of God and the desire for Him that has changed. So I'm convinced this morning we can omit the tragedy and just seek God right now in that way. Let's get real with God and covet the precious gifts that He is ready to give us. I want them all, but I've got excited this week, Sister Hannah, about a few in particular. But I do desire them all. I want whatever God wants for me, obviously. I mean, there's things as a preacher or Sunday school teacher, obviously I'd love to have the word of wisdom. I need the word of knowledge, the discernment of spirits. I want the gift of healing for my friends. I would love to have that. And even the areas that I don't, I want God to make me love them more. I want to draw nire to God. God, help me. If it's not always on the forefront of my mind, put it there. Increase my desire. Sometimes we have to start there and admit, I don't really want these things like I should. And, you know, God, increase my desire to want these things. And then from there, God, I want these things. He knows right where we're at this morning. There should be a desire for the Holy Ghost and there has to be to get it. Mom used to give me, and I think people call it a Sears catalog. I don't know if that was, it seemed like it was a Penny's catalog when I was a kid. It might have been a Sears. But Mom would get this Christmas catalog in the mail and, man, I would take it and I would skip right to the toy section and I would circle everything, whatever I wanted. I'd look at it and I'd circle it and I'd put it up and then I'd open it up and I'd be like, no, I could use that too. And I would get really excited about those things. And before I knew it, I had just about the whole thing marked up. And I'd hand it back to Mom and I'd say, Mom, this is what I want. You know, it's right here. And I'd have all the pages marked where she could very easily see that she couldn't get it confused. And I said, I want these right here. Please get me these things. And then I would get so excited I'd probably take the book back and then I would look at it again myself and I would study on those things and I would sit there in my bed and I would think, man, I would think about how I'd go outside and play with this remote control car or how I'd play with this game in my room and what I would do with this. I would put this on my wall and I would just envision all these things that I would do and how I would use those things. And I would go to bed with that catalog and it would become such a great desire to me. And I thought about that. And, you know, thinking about that this week when I was looking at the Bible here, I'd skip to, you know, 1 Corinthians 12, down to 8 through 10. And I highlighted my Bible and I said, God, I want these right here. And, you know, I think I could use this. And I really want that. God, would you give me that? And I'd close it and I'd open it back up later on and I'd say, oh, boy, if I had that gift of healing, I know whose house I'd go to right now. And, you know, I just, I want these. God, I want it. I really want that. If you would get those to me, I would use them right. I've highlighted everything that I want. And I want it to be known that I want these gifts this morning. I want to be praying for that this week. I want to consecrate myself this week. What would happen if a church would consecrate to God this week and get these desires? I think somebody could be filled with the Holy Ghost. It could happen this morning. You know, all we need is that desire, sometimes just stepping out and God seeing that we're serious about it. That's all it takes. And let's get serious about God this morning. Let's draw nigh to Him and He will draw nigh to us. I'm going to end just a little bit earlier this morning. Closing verse in Jeremiah 29, 13 says, And ye shall seek me and find me, and ye shall search for me with all your heart. I'm going to read it again because I messed it up. I messed it up. Jeremiah 29, 13. And ye shall seek me and find me, and ye shall search for me with all your heart.
