Do Not Ignore Spiritual Gifts

First Corinthians, Chapter 12. We want to talk—and we are continuing with this series of sermons on the gifts—and I believe this is the final facet of that. And I think I still have about two or three more sermons in my spirit, unless God tells us something else that comes up later. But in the meantime, I want to conclude with this segment of Scripture because, for me, it is one of the most crucial, most central areas of doctrinal teaching about the baptism and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I have sometimes said that Chapters 12, 13, and 14 of First Corinthians—those three chapters—summarize virtually the entire doctrine, we might say, concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the administration of those gifts, whether in the context of personal life or in the context of congregational life. Particularly in Chapter 14, the Apostle Paul gives us instructions on how to handle the moving of the Spirit in the context of a congregation—very important teaching.

In Chapter 12, remember that he is writing to a church that needs that instruction. The Apostle Paul frequently wrote his letters to particular congregations in a given geographical region in order to address or teach about situations that were important to the life of that church. But we also remember that the Holy Spirit recorded those lessons and teachings so that we too might benefit from that teaching, because churches throughout all the centuries have faced the same situations the Corinthians faced, and they will continue to face them.

And that is why the Lord, in His wisdom, left these teachings on record. So we are not in Corinth; we are in Roxbury, Massachusetts, but the lessons are the same—you will see that. So we are going to talk a little based on these chapters.

And here the Apostle Paul says to this congregation: “.... I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts.....”

I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts.... Now, evidently, it is Paul the Apostle who is writing this, but behind Paul there is a Holy Spirit inspiring him. And I believe we can say with complete confidence that it is God Himself, through His Apostle, who is saying, “I do not want you to be ignorant”; “I do not want you to be unaware concerning spiritual gifts.”

God does not want His people to be unfamiliar with the mysteries of the Spirit. God wants us to know how the mechanics, so to speak, of the Spirit work. Incidentally, the original word used in Greek is “pneumatikon,” which has been translated as “spiritual gifts,” but it is more like, “I do not want you to be ignorant concerning the matters of the Spirit”; “I do not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual things.” But in the context in which that statement appears, it is evidently referring to the gifts, although it is more than that. The gifts are only one aspect, but a very important aspect.

In other words, brothers and sisters, God wants His people to be an understanding people. How many of you know that? Amen. God wants us to know how to move in the waters of the Spirit. And let me say, incidentally, that there are many people in the Christian world who are like spiritual children. That is why Paul also said to the same Corinthians in another passage, didn’t he? I have wanted to speak to you about mature things, and I cannot; I have only been able to give you milk and not solid food because you are not prepared to receive the deeper things.

And you know what? God cares about that. God deeply desires to go into profound things with His people. And God wants us to be knowledgeable concerning the things of the Spirit. One’s heart grieves greatly because there are so many people today—particularly today, although there have always been such people in the churches—who are ignorant concerning the deep mysteries of the Holy Spirit and how to move in the spiritual world.

It reminds me of that passage which I think I mentioned once, when the Apostle Paul, on one of his journeys, visits the city of Ephesus, meets some believers there, and it seems that they began talking, and he asks them, “When you believed, did you receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit?” Remember? And what do they tell him? They say, “We did not even know that there was a Holy Spirit, much less that there was a baptism of the Holy Spirit.” They were completely ignorant concerning the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the gifts, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. They were sincere believers; they loved God; they were saved because they had believed in Jesus as their Messiah, but they had not entered into deeper doctrine. And the Apostle Paul immediately said, “Ah, no, then we have to talk about this; we have to settle something. John baptized with water, which is the baptism you received, but Jesus also baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” So what did he do? He laid hands on all of them, found Goya oil wherever he could get it, poured it over them, laid hands on them, prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit, and they were baptized and all went away happy, now sealed with the Holy Spirit.

Because God does not want us to be ignorant. You know what? There are many churches today, brothers and sisters—and I say this respectfully, because many of them are churches that love the Lord. There are others that do not; there are others that are so liberal and so... as they say in English, “left field,” way out there, completely outside the ballpark, and they know nothing about these deeper things. And there are serious Christians who love God who have not been taught about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They have not been taught about the doctrines of spiritual warfare, or healing, or deliverance, or the healing of the soul, or things like that. It is as though those things are veiled from them because they are not taught; unfortunately, they are ignorant. And then what happens? They are fighting the battle of faith with one hand tied behind their backs.

They are running the race of faith inside a sack, and they do run it, but with difficulty, because God wants us to have full access to all His teaching. And so He wants you to understand that He does not want you to be ignorant. That is why it is important for you to be instructed in the Word of the Lord, and that is why I have set aside these times to share with you about these doctrines of the Holy Spirit, because we need to receive them in order to continue.

In fact, brothers and sisters, I would say that there are churches where not only are the gifts not taught, but where, unfortunately, it is said that the gifts are not for our time. And that is worse to me, because they are not merely keeping people ignorant; they are telling them, “That is from the devil,” “That is emotion,” “That is heresy,” “That is false doctrine.” There are sincere people who love God who continually receive that teaching from many pulpits in this nation and throughout the world.

They say that it was only for the first century, before the Bible—the New Testament—was written and the canon was closed: a lot of nonsense with no biblical foundation whatsoever. They take Chapters 12 and 14 and tear out the pages, but they leave Chapter 13 because it talks about love, and that is harmless, because that does not pose any problems. So they leave it there because otherwise, how would they celebrate weddings if they did not have Chapter 13 of First Corinthians, right? .... love abides forever,...... whatever.... very romantic, but nothing spiritual. They tear it out of its context.

And I say, what hermeneutical or exegetical theory, shall we say, allows Chapters 12 and 14 to be torn out while Chapter 13 remains, for example? There are people who say, “Well, yes, there are evangelists, there are teachers, and there are pastors, but do not talk to me about prophets and Apostles, because that is already past....” Who says so? How do they tear out the Apostles and the prophets, and why then do they leave the evangelists? I am not even going to dwell on that, because if I do, I will never stop.

Do you understand? God wants us to have access to all His Word. Amen. To all of His complete revelation. And it says, “..... I do not want you, brothers, to be ignorant concerning the things of the Spirit or concerning spiritual gifts....”

And he continues, saying, “.... You know that when you were Gentiles, when you were Gentiles....”

Now, understand something: I do not believe Paul is saying, “When you were Gentiles, but now you are Jews.” No. I believe that he uses the word Gentiles here in a broad, general way, meaning when you were unbelievers, when you lived in the world. The meaning is more like when you belonged to those peoples out there, to the nations that do not know God. “When you were unconverted” would be a good way of putting it today.

“.....When you were unconverted, you were led astray, being carried away—as you know happened—to mute idols....”

In other words, he now gets into the subject and says, “Brothers and sisters, remember that when you were unconverted, they sold you all kinds of nonsense out there: that this saint, that this virgin, that Saint Michael, that you should light a candle to so-and-so, and that this will happen to you, and that he will find you a boyfriend, and that he will bring back the husband whom that other woman took away from you, and so on and so forth....” You were led astray, confused, and guided down dead-end alleys.

Listen to me, brother: how sad spiritual ignorance is! It opens a person up to all kinds of deception, and there are so many people today in the unconverted world seeking their healing in mute idols. What the word “mute” means in the original Greek is—we might say—brutish idols, stupid idols, in the etymological sense of the word. It means that an idol does not feel, an idol does not speak, an idol does not understand, an idol does not suffer, an idol feels neither love nor hatred; it has no power. It is simply a piece of wood with a little gold paint on it. That is all an idol is. The idol has no power.

At the end of the second service, a sister came to me and said, “Pastor, I have a saint in my house. What should I do with it?” Sister, you came to the right place: throw it in the trash immediately. Do not give it to your grandmother, I told her; do not give it to anyone. Throw it in the trash. In fact, go back to where they sold it to you and ask for your money back, because they deceived you. Idols have no power.

We cannot exchange a living Christ for a mute idol. The Lord said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” The Word of the Lord says, “For there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Look, brother, Jesus Christ does not need the help of Mary, of any saint, or of any idol. He can hear your prayers and take them directly to the Father. Amen. He does not need.... Sometimes we think—sometimes people think—that poor Jesus has too many requests for help, so we had better ask Saint Benedict or Saint John to help Him and go in His place because He is too busy.

The Lord has the power to be in twenty thousand places at once, hear all the prayers in the world, and answer all of them. We do not need idols, brothers and sisters. And I say that respectfully to my Catholic brothers and sisters, let me tell you. I love the devotion of many people who have their little saint there at home, sometimes covered with a bathtub so that water will not fall on it, or whatever, in the gardens of Somerville and elsewhere. I love their devotion, but in a sense I feel that it is misdirected. Do you understand?

That is the problem. I do not know whether they are necessarily sinning; I simply think it is a waste of energy. That is the problem. Spiritual energy is diverted instead of being focused on Christ Jesus.

We Christians have to get used to it: we are of the Spirit. I do not need a physical representation..... It is better to exercise the ability to visualize, the ability to see in the Spirit, rather than having those aids. We know how much advantage the devil has gained through idolatry throughout history.

The Apostle Paul says that an idol is nothing. He says that those who worship idols are actually, in many cases, worshiping demons instead. In Africa, Latin America, and Asia, all those idols are still there. And I ask, if a person is now in the new economy of Christ Jesus, why bring that historical baggage and introduce it into the Gospel, when the Word of the Lord says so clearly that we must not make images of things for ourselves? I know that Jesus can go to an extreme, but spiritual things must be discerned in the Spirit.

We have to be people of the Spirit. My fellowship is directly with the Heavenly Father; it is fellowship through invisible threads. It is through prayer; it is through the confession of faith; it is through my going within and connecting with that eternal place and believing that I am there before the very throne of God’s grace, directing my prayer through the air straight to the throne of God. I do not need anything in between, brothers and sisters.

And Paul says, you know that when you were Gentiles, when you were unconverted, you were led astray, carried away. So many people go to a fortune-teller or a Santería priestess so that she can tell them what is going to happen to them or help them find a job. They take their money, and afterward those people end up just as miserable as before, or worse than when they went, because now they have a little demon following them when they leave the fortune-teller’s office, or wherever it may be, because they are communing with things that are impure. And God has said, “No, it is My Son whom you must speak to and whom you must listen to.”

“........It led us astray, taking us to mute idols that can do nothing for us; therefore, he says, I make known to you—notice—I make known to you.....”

In other words, the idea is also that he revealed it to them. Notice that he begins by saying, I do not want you to be ignorant; now he is saying, well, I make this known to you. He is getting into the subject. In other words, here he is going to give the Corinthians a very important lesson about the spirit world; he is going to give them a very profound lesson. Lesson A, he says:

“.... I want you to know that no one who speaks in the Spirit of God......—the actual preposition is in the Spirit of God—..... no one who speaks in the Spirit, receiving revelation from God, in accordance with the Spirit of the Lord, he says, calls Jesus accursed, and no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit....”

Again, in the original Greek the idea is, ‘No one who speaks in the Spirit says, “Cursed be Jesus,” and no one who speaks in the Spirit—or the person who speaks in the Spirit—can say anything but, “Jesus is Lord,”’ curion ieson, Jesus is Lord. Or he can say, ‘Cursed is Jesus,’ may Jesus be accursed. No one who speaks in the Spirit can curse Jesus or contradict the Lordship of Jesus.

There you have a first lesson: he tells the Corinthians, discern the spirits. He is speaking to people who were involved in idolatry; they had been involved in idolatry, and there was a danger that those people would transfer some of their pagan, idolatrous beliefs into the Gospel and perhaps think that Jesus was simply one more God, that they should include him among all the other gods they had in their pantheon, and thus continue worshiping Jesus while also remaining involved with other gods that were contrary to everything the Lordship of Jesus Christ represents.

And how many people today, brothers and sisters, fall into that error? How many people in our countries go to Mass in the morning and then, later that afternoon or sometime during the week, take a little trip to some Santería place, or to the apothecary to buy some medicine or something, or some thing or other.... or they go to the fortune-teller, or to the home of a Santería priestess or whatever, or they go take a bath somewhere or whatever, and they are communing with gods that are contrary to the God who is Jesus Christ.

And the word of the Lord says—Paul wants to make one thing clear to them—only the one who acknowledges the Lordship of Jesus; do not go anywhere else, discern the spirits. And brothers and sisters, we as Christians have to discern the spirits. If our church is going to enter more fully into the things of the Holy Spirit, we have to lay a very solid foundation.

And I believe that before a church begins doing aerial somersaults concerning the things of the Spirit and the gifts, it first has to put a good safety net underneath. Do you know what that net is? The word of God, because everything that happens in the Spirit has to be measured.

How many know that the Holy Spirit is not the only spirit? There are demonic spirits too; in fact, many times in a congregation there are phenomena that are either demonic or spiritual, or they may simply come from the flesh—neurotic things. A person stands up and begins to prophesy, and what he is really doing is throwing stones at the pastor he does not like, and that is what passes for prophecy, right?

Another person says, oh, the Lord tells me that you have to marry so-and-so and leave your husband. May the Lord rebuke the devil; that is not from God. Churches have split and divided because they did not know how to subject a male or female prophet to the word of the Lord. Did you know that? And many times the devil sends misguided people, at best, to destroy and sow chaos in a congregation. A church must always administer the gifts and discern the spirits. There are tongues, for example, that are not from God. Did you know that? There are people who speak in tongues. The devil speaks in tongues; he speaks every language. Just imagine how old he is—he has already had time to learn every language in the world. He speaks in tongues.

I have heard demon-possessed people speak in tongues. And there are people who are contaminated and sometimes do not even know it, and they are in the churches and have evil spirits without knowing it. I am telling you this from personal experience—people from my church whom I have baptized. I hope this is not a reflection on me, but the fact is that they were baptized in my church, and then it turns out that they have a demon there in the office; that little devil comes to light. And they did not know that spirit was there.

There is a great deal of contamination that takes place; there is a great deal of mystery. That is why Paul says, ‘I do not want you to be ignorant about the things of the Spirit.’ And many churches get involved in the things of the Holy Spirit but do not develop a theology that enables them to navigate those dangerous waters. Because when you buy yourself a Pentecostal Holy Spirit antenna, know that demons and extraterrestrials and all sorts of other beings you never imagined can also get into that antenna. And that is why a person must know how to discern, in the light of the word, what is from God and what is from Satan.

And Paul gives one of the ways here. Demons hate Jesus, hate the blood of Jesus, and hate confessing the Lordship of Christ. Again, this comes from personal experience—not only mine, but that of many people. When a person is demon-possessed and you command, ‘Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,’ that is like throwing water on a cat. They run away; they cannot stand it, they cannot confess it because it is structurally contrary to what they represent. It is like having hot oil poured into their mouths. They cannot do it.

And incidentally, as one way of knowing: sometimes you may be in a deliverance session for a long time, and the devil will sometimes try to make you think that he has left. Look how evil Satan is. There are ways for a demon to conceal itself, and I have discovered that one way to know whether a person is truly free is to command him to confess that Jesus Christ is his Lord and Savior. Many times it then comes to light once again that the demon is still hidden there, or that something remains hidden underneath the.... because many times there are layers and layers of demonization. It is a great method, but this goes deeper than that.

But look, let us go for a moment to First John, Chapter 4, one of the great verses about discernment. Because again, that is the point: if you are in the spirit world, you must not be ignorant; not everything that glitters is gold. How many have heard that saying? Sometimes they are going to palm something off on you, so be careful. If you are in the Spirit, if you are moving in the things of the Spirit, tie yourself securely to the word of the Lord; study the word of God. We live in dangerous times, brothers and sisters, and we must know very well how to navigate the waters of the Spirit.

Look at what the Apostle John says. This is another Apostle now; it is not Paul but the Apostle John, complementing him, because it is one word, one Spirit who inspires John and inspires Paul to say the same thing. Look, in Chapter 4, verse 1, it says:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.....”

Hold on to that one. Grab that one, as they say, because here comes the next. Test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Not every spirit is from God, and he is saying this to Christians in the context of the church. Other things can slip into a church.... even attitudes that are not from God, but they can also be virtual, real spirits. So remember this: not everything you hear, see, or experience is necessarily from God.

It is interesting—before continuing with this, something comes to mind because I do not want to forget it. There is an extremely mysterious passage in Scripture about a pagan, unfaithful, ungodly king who summons prophets to come and prophesy to him, and it is a chaotic time in Israel’s life. There was a great deal of impurity, a great deal of false doctrine everywhere, and an evil king. And this king summons the prophets to prophesy to him; there were many false prophets there and so forth. And the Bible says that God—look at this—sent a deceiving spirit to prophesy to the king. And the king wanted to know whether he should fight against a certain enemy people, and this prophet told him, yes, God has told me that you should go and fight because you are going to destroy them completely. A prophet who had a deceiving spirit inside him. And there was a prophet of God there.... and the king knew that this man was a prophet of God, and he says to him, ‘Well, what are you hearing there? What is the Spirit telling you?’ He told him, no, go ahead, go for it; you are going to get your way. And the king knew that he was telling him a lie, so he says to him, ‘Tell me the truth.’ Then he said, ‘Well, if you go, you will be fleeing everywhere from that king because they are going to defeat you.’ And then the other false prophet says to him, ‘Aha! And how can you accuse me of speaking falsely? Which way did the Spirit of God leave me?’ He even slapped the other prophet. But that is exactly what happened: this king stubbornly set out to attack the other king, and he was indeed defeated and utterly humiliated.

There can be—the dynamics of prophecy are very complex, brothers and sisters. And many people believe that because someone does not act on everything he hears, he is not spiritual. No, it is because of the word of God. When there is prophecy in a church, the word says—and we will see it later:

“.... let two or three prophesy in order, and let the others discern, judge; let the others determine whether it is from God or not, because the enemy sometimes uses the goodwill and the desire of God’s people to receive revelation in order to slip in his own harmful teaching and contaminate a people.

So the dynamics of the Spirit are very complex, brothers and sisters; it is not simply yes or no. There are many variations between yes and no, and God’s people need discernment, need wisdom, need God to send his Spirit, and above all need to know the word of God well and judge everything that happens according to the word of the Lord.

One way to judge a spirit is not only by whether it verbally, mechanically confesses Jesus Christ, but by whether its fruits reflect the Spirit of Jesus Christ. I believe that, more than merely saying it mechanically, the question is what emanates from that life, what fruit that ministry produces, and what teaching comes from that mouth when viewed in general terms over the course of several messages or over the ministry’s track record. Is the Spirit of Christ expressed in that ministry? Is there an abundance of references to the work and the person and the fruits and the deeds of Jesus Christ?

I get a little particular when I listen to ministries or see ministries where you can listen to a sermon for 40 minutes and there is not a single mention of Jesus, not a mention of the deep things of the Spirit. And you sense a kind of emptiness, a spiritual desert. There is a great deal of head knowledge, and even a great deal of theology that flatters the senses or the intellect or spiritual pride, but there is little of the character and depth pertaining to the things of the Spirit. And so you have to be very careful, brother. We live in evil times, when the word says there will be doctrines of error everywhere. People will have itching ears and will heap up teachers who will tell them what they want to hear, not the word of God.

And today, brothers and sisters, there is so much teaching that resembles the teaching of Jesus Christ but is not, because many times all the devil has to do is change a comma, omit a word, or put something in a different place to change its meaning completely. And we have to discern in the Spirit; we have to be guided instead by what happens here between the stomach and the chest, in the innermost parts of the spirit, because sometimes you will sense something, and that will be the Spirit of God telling you, ‘This person is not from God.’

There are so many Christians going all over the place. Brothers and sisters, someone said to me just this morning, ‘Pastor, just in case’—he was covering his bases—‘if people tell you that I am visiting other churches,’ and I said, ‘Brothers and sisters, amen. Rub shoulders with other brothers and sisters, glory to God. How many have ever asked me, “May I go....?”’ I always tell them, ‘Of course you may; go and visit other churches. I love fellowship.’

But let us be careful where we go, brothers and sisters, you know? Let us be careful where we eat. Today, a great deal of filth is coming out of radio and television and from many ministries and many churches, and it is not the word of God. Many seminaries today are teaching words that are not from God, as are many teachers, and we have to ask ourselves, do I want to submit myself to that spiritual energy? When you receive a word, do not be guided solely by how the person speaks or by whether 50 people fall down before him. The devil can knock down more than 50 if he wants to, you know? Do not be guided by....

The Bible says very clearly that in the last days the devil will perform miracles that, if the people did not have God’s protection, would deceive even the elect. The devil can perform any miracle and can do practically anything the Holy Spirit does.

Remember the passage about Moses, when God gave Moses the sign of the serpent: throw down the staff, and the staff becomes a serpent. And Moses said, they are going to have to believe me because, just imagine, who can do that? God gives him a staff and says, ‘Throw it on the ground’; the staff becomes a serpent. ‘Now pick up the serpent,’ and it becomes a staff again.

If you saw that, wouldn’t you immediately kneel down and ask forgiveness for your sins? You would say, ‘Lord, glory to God, here is the glory of God.’ And Moses goes before Pharaoh as happy as can be with his sign, and he comes before Pharaoh and says to him, ‘You have to believe me, because look at what I can do..... boom.....’ He throws down the staff, and the staff turns into a serpent. And Pharaoh’s wise men burst out laughing, and they take their staffs too and throw them down, and they also turn into serpents, exactly like the trick Moses was going to perform, the one God had given him. And I imagine Moses must have asked, ‘Well, what do I do now? They didn’t tell me plan B. Where is plan B?’ But glory to God, it says that Moses’ serpent ate the other serpents; they were not expecting that. Glory to the Lord.

But what I want to tell you is that, in order to deceive, the devil can perform many miracles and many healings. There are many people who go to a fortune-teller, or to a Santería priestess or a healer to be healed, and you know what? They are healed, because the devil is the source of all sickness, and he can hold back its harmful effects for a while; but you know what? Later he charges them interest for that healing. In fact, if you were lame, afterward you come out paralyzed; they amputate your leg completely. And if not, your life is left spiritually contaminated, you know? Because you have already given entry to the evil spirit, to the anathema spirit, to the spirit that does not acknowledge the lordship of Christ.

The only spirit you should consult and to whom you should turn is the Spirit of Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. Do nothing that does not acknowledge the lordship of Christ. Do nothing that does not answer to the name of Jesus; the gifts that are used belong to God, come from God, and return to God. No one who tells you that they have a gift and is using it except through the exclusive name of Jesus deserves to have contact with you.

And we have to examine the energies. That is why I say that there are many people, let’s say, who have prophetic gifts, gifts of the Spirit, but I tell them, ‘Do not stop there. Do not think that because you have the gift of healing, you are now the last Coca-Cola in the desert, as they say, and that you no longer need to receive discipleship or study the Word.’ There are people who think, ‘Well, now I have a prophetic gift, so I no longer need anything else. In fact, now I am going to teach the pastor instead,’ and they think they already have it all.

You know what? Now you need to inform your gift with the teaching of the Word of God, refine your gift, strengthen your gift with the Word, and also make sure that your character reflects the Spirit, the meekness, the love, and the humility of Christ Jesus—that the lordship of Christ is manifested in your life, your actions, and your interpersonal relationships. Because I see many prophetic gifts, many spiritual gifts, impoverished by a lack of character and spiritual maturity.

And the fact that a person or a congregation has many gifts does not mean that it has the true Spirit of God and of Jesus Christ within it, you know?

The Corinthians...... Why does Paul write to the Corinthians about these matters, and why does he write 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, after speaking about the gifts? And why, after speaking about the gifts, does he go into the body and the need to unify the different gifts, and say that we cannot tell someone who has a gift that they are not of the Spirit because they do not have the gift I have? Because among the Corinthians there were divisions, there were quarrels, there was favoritism, there was this attitude of, ‘Well, I am of God, but you are not, because you do not speak the same way I speak.’ There were divisions.

In chapter 11, before chapter 12, he speaks about the Lord’s Supper, where they ate wildly, did not wait for one another, and did not love one another. The person who had a lot of money ate a great feast, while the other person sat there with nothing but his little tortilla with salt, at the Lord’s Supper. And Paul said, ‘Where is the love of God among you? Where is the order of God among you?’ And then, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, he begins to speak about proper use.

Brother, the fact that you have a gift does not necessarily mean that you have the Spirit of Jesus within you; you must have both things. It is incredible, but it is true, you know?

What does Paul say in 1 Corinthians 13? He says, ‘..... Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have no love, assuming that this can be done, I am like a clanging cymbal, like resounding metal.... If I had faith so as to move mountains from one place to another and have no love, I am nothing....’

Why? Because what is external is not enough; what matters is what is in the heart. If you do not express the love of Jesus. If your works, your life, your ministry, and your gift are not informed and filled by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, don’t bother getting dressed, because you’re not going anywhere, as they say.

That is why, brothers, I say: look, if God has given you a gift, make sure that gift has a setting that honors it. Do you know what a setting is? In a ring with a jewel, there is the jewel, and people think about the jewel, but what about the setting? That is, the metal in which the jewel is set, where the jewel is held.

Have you ever seen a great diamond in a little piece of aluminum foil—a three-million-dollar diamond in an aluminum-foil ring? I have not seen one yet, nor one set in sheet metal. A diamond is set in gold or even in platinum or something else that is on the diamond’s level, to enhance and beautify it.

And it is the same way: the gift of a man or woman must be set in godly character, in knowledge of the Word, in a life broken by the Spirit, aware of its weakness, aware that the gift belongs to God, not to him or her, and that if they do not take care of it, it will be taken away. And that if they are not careful, the devil can even corrupt the gift and lead it in contrary directions.

How many great men of God throughout history began very well and later began to believe their own hype? ‘I am the incarnation of so-and-so,’ or ‘Jesus Christ become man,’ and they end up in heresy, and they even end up in false doctrine and demonization, because they did not have the right spirit; they allowed pride to enter them, along with so many other things.

So what I am saying, brothers, is that we must be careful—careful about what we frequent, what we listen to, where we eat spiritually, and with whom we fellowship. And we must even be careful about ourselves and our own hearts, because when we move in the Spirit, look, incredible forces are unleashed. This is like grabbing an electrical cable carrying 20,000 watts of power, and if you do not handle it carefully, it will first char your own life; gifts that are not used properly do harm to everyone around them. This is serious.

That is why Paul says, ‘I do not want you to be ignorant concerning spiritual things,’ because spiritual things are profound. It is not a simple yes or no; it is extremely subtle, and one must know the Word of God very thoroughly in order to know how to navigate those deep waters, because before you know it, something else slips in, another energy that is not from God.

So, when Paul is about to begin speaking about the gifts, the first thing he says is, ‘If you are going to deal with electricity, put on a good pair of rubber gloves and do not stand in water.’ If someone is going to use an energy, the first thing they must know is how to handle that energy, because it could explode in their face. That is why Paul begins with a word of caution.

Now look at what it says again—a long detour, but I believe it is important. First John, chapter 4, says:

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit..... —I am finishing with this now—..... but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world....”

Now look at how he says a divine spirit, the Holy Spirit, is recognized. He says:

“....By this you know the Spirit of God, he says: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.....”

Wow! Make a note of that and write it down there; put it in your wallet. It says that a spirit must be willing to admit that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Listen to me, that is profound; that is enough to blow anyone’s mind if they stop to think about it. It must be able to confess comfortably that Jesus Christ came in the flesh. It is not that He put on a human costume, no, but that He came in the flesh; He became incarnate. It seems that there is a very profound truth in that acknowledgment.

You know that the incarnation of Christ is the very center of God’s saving work. It was on the cross that Christ crucified—it says that He disarmed principalities and powers. If He had been a projection, He could not have accomplished what He accomplished on the cross. He had to suffer in the flesh; He had to be scourged; He had to be humiliated; He had to walk here on earth; He had to pay for our sins; He had to embody humanity in His own humanity and die for it, representing it on the cross. On the cross were God and man, both perfectly. For Jesus’ saving work to take place, the man there on the cross had to die. The Son of Man, the essence of humanity, had to die there. And if that did not happen, there was no salvation. Therefore, if a spirit does not acknowledge that profound fact, then it is not from God, because by acknowledging it, it is acknowledging everything that defeated it, everything that stripped away its power, everything that pulled out its claws, everything that neutralized its claims upon humanity.

That is why that spirit has to acknowledge that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, because by acknowledging that, it is signing a legal document that says, ‘He came in the flesh, defeated me, pulled out my claws, killed death, and killed everything that was destroying humanity.’

Then John says, “...every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is now in the world....”

Wow! That is tremendously.... Look at what verse 6 also says: “...we are of God. Whoever knows God hears us; whoever is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error....”

You know? If a person is a child of salvation, when you speak to them there will be a resonance within their being; but if they are not a child of salvation, it is like speaking to a dead person, like sticking a needle into a dead person—they will feel nothing, because they are not in God’s plans. God has not activated their spirit so that they may understand.

The things of the Spirit are very profound, brothers; they are tremendously profound, and the church of Jesus Christ must be equally profound. We must discern the spirits; we must be careful: what does this represent, what do I feel, what do I see through the Word of the Lord?

I ask the musicians to come up here immediately.

“...therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit....” Glory to the Lord. Amen. Amen.

Let us discern the spirits. Do not be afraid to investigate more deeply when someone comes to you with a prophecy. Do not be afraid to ask questions.... You hear me preach most Sundays; do not be afraid to say, ‘Hmm, what the pastor said does not convince me. I am going to search the Bible to see whether it is from God or not.’ It will not offend me in the least; on the contrary, I will praise you and say, ‘Brother, I congratulate you for my fortitude,’ because sometimes one of those things can slip out of me—not often, but one slips out from time to time, you know?

No, but the point is: wherever you go, discern. If someone comes to you with a prophecy, see whether it resonates in your spirit. And the person who gives a prophecy should give it humbly. If you feel that the Lord has given you a prophecy for someone, do not come with a thunderous voice, as though they have to accept what you say or else they are ungodly. Say to them, ‘Brother, I feel that God is telling me this for your life.’ Now go pray and seek confirmation from God. I love that kind of prophet. And you say, ‘Thank you, brother. I am going to meditate on it, pray about the matter, and weigh it.’ There is no lack of faith in that; on the contrary, it is biblical, and congregations likewise should..... I know that there are many discerning people here who discern in the Spirit. I can already feel the little antennas going up—mmmmmm...—as soon as something comes up, right? Some have an antenna that reaches all the way to the ceiling, but the point is that this is good. It is good for a church to have discernment, for everything not to be immediately received, accepted, and stamped with the seal of approval, because not every spirit is from God. Even in the evangelical Christian world, there is much contamination, much contagion. And we have to be very careful. Amen.

I do not want you to be ignorant concerning the things of the Spirit..... I do not want us to be ignorant, but rather to be forewarned and wise.

Let us stand. In the name of the Lord, let us receive that word of teaching into our spirits. Let us ask the Lord to give us discernment. Nor do I want to frighten you about the spirit or the gifts. This is not all that complicated either. There is no need to be afraid of the things of..... If there is good teaching, if there is good discernment, if there is spiritual maturity, we can allow the gifts to operate. And if the brother made a mistake, glory to God. That is all right. If he does it humbly, he may have been mistaken; there is no need to call him a false prophet now either or place him under discipline. That is why we have to be careful, meditate carefully, and pray ourselves before giving a word: “Lord, is this from you?” And then ask ourselves when the right time is, what the best way to say it is—all these things.

And then we can give ourselves freedom in the spirit. There is no problem. We can even learn; the gifts develop little by little as we use them. At first we may make mistakes, but we continue strengthening them; through practice, the gift becomes established, becoming more beautiful, stronger, and more useful. That is the beauty of working and acting in the spirit.

So, Father, we thank you this afternoon. We receive your teaching, Lord. We long for the gifts, Father. We never want to despise prophecies. We never want to grieve the Spirit. We never want to underestimate the importance of tongues and certainly of miracles, the discerning of spirits or faith, or the other gifts that you have given your people. On the contrary, Father, we long in the depths of our hearts for you to teach us and lead us into the depths of your mysteries and your energy. Give us your power, Lord.

This congregation is thirsty for you and thirsty for your power. We want to honor your gifts, Lord, and we want to handle them with all the reverence and all the truthfulness they deserve.

So, Father, we release a spirit of prophecy upon your people this afternoon, in the name of Jesus. If this is for you, I release a prophetic gift in your heart, and I ask you to use it and take steps of faith. If God places an impression in your spirit and you believe it is from the Spirit, share it with someone, if it is for someone. That is necessary, it is good, it is important, so receive it in the name of Jesus and begin to operate in the spirit. Father, we release spiritual gifts among your people this afternoon, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus. Open your heart; open your spirit.

Take a deep breath and receive that gift from the Lord for your life. Receive God’s teaching for your life now, in the name of Christ, and I ask you: exercise the gift, exercise the gift, listen, exercise the gift. Use the gift. Believe by faith that you have the gift, and operate in the gift in the name of Jesus. Move in the gifts of the Spirit. Hallelujah!

I desire a church filled with the Holy Spirit, and I desire a church where the gifts operate. Understand that. Amen. Do not misunderstand this teaching; it is quite the opposite. I want to provide a good place, a good space, where those gifts can operate, so let us exercise them.

We release a spirit of revelation, of dreams, of prophecy, of healings, of faith, tongues, interpretation of tongues, knowledge, and wisdom, in the name of Jesus; receive it. We release it in the name of Christ. Hallelujah! We believe, we believe, Lord, in the continuing validity, the present reality of your gifts. We believe that you are the same yesterday, today, and forever. We believe that what was written for the Corinthians is also for those of the Congregation Lion of Judah. Hallelujah! We bless you, Lord. We thank you. We glorify you; activate your power among your people. Activate your power among your people, Lord. Activate your power. Praise the Lord. Glorify the Lord. Hallelujah! Prophesy in the name of Jesus. Declare the magnificent works of God in your life. Exercise your gift of tongues and glorify the name of the Lord.

The gifts are meant to be exercised, to be used in the name of Jesus. Thank you; we worship you, Lord. Blessed be the name of Jesus.