The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Isn't it interesting, I find it, that Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant about this. Now I've discovered that whenever Paul says that, he says that because that is an area of great ignorance.

And I've always found it fascinating that the two areas that Paul the Apostle spoke about not being ignorant about are the two areas most Christians are ignorant about. One is spiritual gifts and the other is the coming of the Lord. The Holy Spirit blesses believers with spiritual gifts.

But sadly, a lot of Christians never tap into them. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip explains what spiritual gifts are all about and how you're meant to use them to build God's kingdom. But first, did you know that Skip shares important updates and biblical encouragement on social media? Just follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to get the latest from him and this ministry.

That's at Skip Heitzig, at Skip H-E-I-T-Z-I-G. Now let's dive into today's teaching with Skip Heitzig. In Acts chapter 8, and we're going to go more in depth when we go to Acts, but I just want to touch on a few things on the way over to 1 Corinthians. But in Acts chapter 8, I just want to take you quickly down to verse 14. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.

I'll catch you up really quick. A guy named Philip went to Samaria, preached the gospel, a lot of people got saved. A lot of people got saved, like a revival broke out.

So that's what this is all about. Verse 15, Peter and John come, who when they had come down to Samaria, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet he had fallen what? What's the word? Upon. That's that word we talked about, that preposition we mentioned last time. There was para, with, there was en, in, and there was epi, and that is upon.

That's the same preposition here. For it says, for as yet he had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. So Philip goes there, he preaches, many believe, many are baptized. The Holy Spirit immediately begins to indwell them.

He is in them. What happened when Peter and John come? The Holy Spirit, and the key word is upon. The Holy Spirit is upon them, empowering them in the sense of Acts chapter one, verse eight. Acts chapter one, verse eight, that text we covered more in depth last time. Now go over to chapter 19. And again, we're going to be plowing through this anyway.

So I just wanted to highlight a couple of things. First Corinthians, Acts chapter 19, verse one. And it happened while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples, he said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believe? So they said to him, we have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. And he said to them, into what then were you baptized? And so they said, into John's baptism.

This is John the Baptist. So Apollos is preaching to them what he had heard John the Baptist say. But remember, if he's preaching John's baptism, John promised, I baptized with water, but one is coming after me mightier than I, who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. So they had heard of it in that context. They had heard of the Holy Spirit.

They hadn't heard that he had come yet. And Paul said, John indeed baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on him who would come after him, that is on Jesus Christ. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when they heard this, they baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon. Notice that word again. You could actually trace that to the book of Acts.

It would be a fascinating study. It came upon them and they spoke with tongues and they prophesied. Now, I just want to say quickly that some interpret this passage as meaning by the time Paul gets there, he discovers, Apollos had preached, but they weren't saved yet.

They weren't saved. They didn't really understand the gospel until Paul got there. So the people there didn't understand the finished work of Jesus Christ that Paul goes on to explain so that they're not saved. And so Paul has to make sure they're saved and then baptize him again. Others, however, see this differently, that they already were saved, but Paul comes there and Paul must have noticed that there's something lacking in their faith. Perhaps a dynamic that he knew they could be at and he discovered that they were not.

They were weak and they were unempowered. But nonetheless, I just want to introduce this thought to you. And by reading Acts chapter 19, we've discovered two gifts that are mentioned, the gift of tongues and the gift of prophecy.

Now, I have to say that I'm not here to teach on that tonight. It took me 30 weeks of a year, 30 weeks to teach through the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I covered each gift per week. Actually, I did it sometimes two weeks, so you know my style.

It takes me a little longer than most. So it took me two weeks to just talk about the gift of tongues and how it's used and the purpose for it. Another week on the gift of the interpretation of tongues, another gift a week on prophecy, and all the way through.

So it took me 30 weeks to do that. So I'm just summing things up tonight. This is a three-part series after all. But I want you to turn now to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, where we are introduced more in depth to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

I just want to touch on them so that you're aware of them. You can then ask God what to do with that after that or talk to one of us about that. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols.

Now, dumb means unable to speak, but I just like that translation. I kind of see it as a double on top of these dumb idols. However you were led, therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. Now notice in verse 1, the term spiritual gifts. Now concerning spiritual gifts, pneumaticon is the Greek word. Two words in English, spiritual gifts, one word in Greek, pneumaticon.

You've heard of a pneumatic tool, a pneumatic drill, a pneumatic tire. It's from pneuma, the Greek word for wind or breath or spirit. Pneumaticon is literally spirituals.

So listen to the literal translation. Now concerning spirituals, brother, I don't want you to be ignorant. That term pneumaticon can refer either to spiritual matters or spiritual people. And in this case, he's referring because he lists the gifts of the Spirit and calls them by that, that he's referring here to spiritual gifts. But isn't it interesting I find it that Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant about this. Now I've discovered that whenever Paul says that, he says that because that is an area of great ignorance. And I've always found it fascinating that the two areas that Paul the apostle spoke about not being ignorant about are the two areas most Christians are ignorant about. One is spiritual gifts and the other is the coming of the Lord. 1 Thessalonians 4, I don't want you to be ignorant about the falling asleep of brothers and the coming of the Lord. But I've always found it interesting that when it comes to eschatology, last things, the coming of Christ, there's just a lot of haziness and spiritual ignorance as well as spiritual gifts. Now you'll notice that word by the way, ignorant, it's the word, agnaeo.

You want to just have a little fun, let's all say that together, agnaeo. That means without knowledge, literally, or without understanding, speaks of somebody who doesn't know something. We get our word agnostic from this word.

It means somebody who is uninformed without information. I want you to be informed. I don't want you to continue as a church to be uninformed about these things. So he goes into a lengthy discussion in chapter 12, partly in chapter 13, in depth in chapter 14 on spiritual gifts. Now, spiritual gifts are mentioned in these verses as you go on. Verse 8, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, discerning the same Spirit, distributing to each one individually as he wills. Do you remember in our first study on the Holy Spirit a couple weeks ago, and I mentioned last week, the idea of cessationism, right?

A cessationist is somebody who believes that the working of the Holy Spirit as seen in the Book of Acts in the early church has ceased, it has stopped. That was for that time period only, that time period is over, God doesn't do those things anymore, and so these gifts, the gifts of the Spirit even mentioned here are not for today, and they're even honestly afraid to broach the subject. I watch some people when it comes to spiritual gifts, even spiritual leaders, even some pastors, they just sort of, you know, get a little bit nervous, move around a little bit, and it's like, they're just afraid, and they'll even say it, I'm afraid to open myself up to that stuff, because I never know what could happen.

If I open myself up to that, I might like start talking weird, like let's say I'm in a bank, and all of a sudden I start speaking in tongues, I've had people like worry that they're going to lose control somewhere. Being filled with the Spirit is never about losing control, it's always about letting Him control you more and more. Now the premise for this idea that God worked in a way but doesn't work that way anymore is called dispensationalism, and I adhere to dispensationalism, sort of, in a bit, I'm a mild dispensationalist, and I agree with certain things, but there's a scripture in Hebrews chapter 1 verse 1 and 2 that says, God who at various times, and in various ways, spoke in times past to our fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His own Son, whom He made, or appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. But that little phrase in the first verse, God in various times and in various ways spoke. That is sort of the foundational premise of dispensationalism. A dispensation is a time period. So a dispensational class, theology class, would talk about the Edenic dispensation, or the time period in the Garden of Eden. God was working a certain way in the Garden of Eden, and He stopped working that way. And then after that, there was the antediluvian time period, or dispensation, before the flood.

Then after that, there was a post-diluvian dispensation, or time era. After that, there was the mosaic, or the law, where God worked through the law. We come to the New Testament, and we have the ecclesiastical dispensation.

These are some big words. This is theology, of course. And they'll say, well, God works in different ways at different times. Now, I agree with that.

I agree with that in principle. But now then they'll take the church age, and they'll divide it up by saying, well, you have the apostolic age, and then the post-apostolic age. That's the age we're in, okay? The apostolic age, the early church. The apostles were running around.

Paul was one of them. But that age is over, and these gifts are done. They're over. They ceased. Now, how do they come up with that?

Upon what do they base that thinking? Well, I'll read it to you. 1 Corinthians 13. You're there.

You could look at it. Verse 8 through 10. He says, love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will fail.

They will fail. Whether there are tongues, they will cease. Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part, we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part will be done away with.

Now, here's how they interpret that. Tongues, prophecy, all these gifts were for the time period before the collecting of the full body of the scriptures, the canon of scripture. Once we have the full canon of New Testament scripture, all of those gifts, which were sort of like crutches until we had the full Bible, all those gifts now are done. They were for that apostolic period only, and they now cease. Now, that is a poor exegesis of that text. And here's how I know.

Because even a very hyper dispensationalist told me so. A hyper dispensationalist who wrote a study Bible and wrote commentaries, Dr. Ryrie, some of you have a Ryrie study Bible, will say that this text does not refer to the full canon of scripture, but the coming of Jesus Christ. By its context and wording, that which is perfect isn't a reference to the Bible.

There's no mention of that at all. It's a reference to the coming of Christ again. And until he comes, we need these gifts. Because if you say, well, tongues will cease once we have the Bible. It also says knowledge will vanish. Has knowledge vanished?

No, I think we still need that. So it's not a consistent exegesis if you make that interpretation. It's not just for the apostolic age. I believe, my personal belief, the gifts of the Spirit are for every single era of church history, including our own.

And so I believe in the exercise of the gifts of the Spirit. Moreover, the Holy Spirit was called by Jesus an interesting term. He called it the promise of my Father. He said, when the promise of my Father has come. He referred to the Holy Spirit sometimes as the promise of the Father.

Well, in the book of the Bible, we're going to talk about the promise of the Father. Well, in the book of Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost, and there was the speaking in tongues in the day of Pentecost, and the Jerusalemites heard it, and they're freaking out, understandably so. Peter preaches the gospel then, but he says, these men are not drunk as you suppose.

It's only nine o'clock in the morning. And he quotes Joel, and he talks about the fulfillment of Scripture. But this is what he said after the Holy Spirit room. He said, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Now listen to what he says about that. For the promise is to you and to your children, keep listening, and to all those who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call. Question, are you afar off from that text? Yes, you are. You're 2,000 years removed. But did God call you?

Yes, he did. So the promise is for you. Now, I have to make a note about something. Whenever you bring up spiritual gifts or decide to have these kind of sessions or open it up to the gifts of the Spirit, which we're going to do in the hub afterwards with an after goal, people are worried about abuses. And I've got to tell you something, there will be abuses. Because there are always a few people are going, I can't wait. I'm going to get in there.

Wait till they hear me. You know, they're just kind of looking for an opportunity to do something that may or may not necessarily be led of the Holy Spirit. And so there are going to be abuses. Also, when we learn something new, to practice something new, we may fall and make mistakes, and that's okay. That's how we learn. I hope that you will step out and learn how to get your spiritual footing in some of these areas.

So there will be abuses. However, I can't say this with a deeper heart, and I couldn't say it too many times. You must, you should never be afraid of the Holy Spirit. You know, people who talk about the Holy Spirit, yeah, weird stuff, I get that. But the real Holy Spirit, you never have to be afraid of Him. And you should never be afraid of anything God would want to give you or do in your life.

You should never be afraid of that. If it's from the Lord, just eat it up, enjoy it, receive, walk in it, work with it. Okay, real quickly, what are spiritual gifts? Spiritual gifts, in short, are spiritual capacities. They're spiritual endowments, spiritual capabilities. Now, I brought with me a Bible here called the Amplified Bible, because you're supposed to plug it into an amplifier and it gets really loud.

No, I'm just kidding. It takes concepts and words and expands them to help you kind of get the fuller meaning. So just let me read this section to you of the gifts of the Spirit, beginning in verse seven of 1 Corinthians 12, Amplified Bible. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, that is the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit for good and profit. To one is given in and through the Holy Spirit the power to speak a message of wisdom, and to another the power to express a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same Holy Spirit. To another, wonder working faith by the same Holy Spirit. To another, extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit.

To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophetic insight, that is the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose. To another, the ability to discern and distinguish between the utterances of true spirits and false ones. To another, various kinds of unknown tongues. And to another, the ability to interpret such tongues. That's from the Amplified Bible. Now, spiritual gifts are not the same as spiritual fruit, okay?

I don't want you to confuse those. It says in Galatians, the fruit of the Spirit is not tongues and prophecy, but love, joy, peace, longsuffering. He gives a list of things that comprise that fruit of the Spirit. Fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit are different. Fruit deals with spiritual characteristics, that is what one is in the Lord.

Gifts deal with spiritual capabilities, what one does for the Lord. Fruit develops gradually. It takes time to have fruit. You don't plant an apple tree, water it one day. Okay, come on.

I'm watching. It doesn't happen. It takes time. However, spiritual gifts are received instantly. You may learn them and work with them and hone the gift, but it's a gift from God. Like any gift, it is just given. It is just given, and you receive it.

Fruit is produced widely or pervasively, would be a better term. Gifts are bestowed selectively. That's Skip Heitig with a message from the series Expound Holy Spirit. Find the full message as well as books, booklets, and a full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Now, we want to share about a resource that strengthens your faith with abundant Bible knowledge and helps you draw even closer to the Lord. Skip often has the privilege of hosting guest speakers. Guests like Franklin Graham and Lee Strobel, who've become great friends to Pastor Skip Heitig in this Bible teaching ministry.

Here's another, our friend Levi Lusko. What's life with Jesus like? It's life, not without storms, but going through storms with an anchor, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the presence behind the veil. An anchor for the soul.

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800-922-1888. Thank you. Tune in tomorrow as Skip Heitzig gives you insight from Paul's life about how you can have truly great relationships. Imagine this, what if you were to decide to become really good at interpersonal relationship? What if you thought, I'm going to become an expert at getting along with people? It is possible, you know. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications. Connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever-changing times.