We learn it's critical to understand that the gifts are more for the body of Christ than the individual within the body of Christ. which has been a detour for too many. They think, I got the gift, and it's not yours. We covered that. Hermit Christians If they have gifts at all, They are operating on low battery power.
Therefore the body of Christ As I read from Ephesians 4. Those gifts from Jesus include positions that are critical to a church's survival. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through a topical series.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio. specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick as he continues his message: Spiritual Gifts and the Rapture. Spiritual gifts part two. If we get that, we'll get the rapture in two.
So we go right to it. Question to repeat from last session. Gifts of the Holy Spirit are they for to day? Second part of the question. Could you discuss speaking in tongues?
And the third part is biblical examples And when is it appropriate today, that is, to speak in tongues?
So, to start off with a text, which we like to do, we always like to say, well, Here's what we find in the Bible about this, to begin with. Ephesians 4.12 Now, in Ephesians 4:12, Paul's talking about the gifts, mainly what Christ is giving to the church, to the body of Christ. in the form of men who oversee The people who have the gifts of the Spirit is all tied in together. And if you look at Ephesians chapter 4, the first. 12 verses or so.
Let me a little bit more. You'll see that. What I'm saying. And there's another interesting part of this. Corinth was the only one that had problems.
Everybody else seemed to behave themselves. I had to get that in as part of my Disdain for the Troublemakers of that church. Anyway. Ephesians 4 for the equipping of the saints. For the work of ministry For the edification of the body of Christ.
That's why the gifts are given. in the form of Officers of the church, leadership. Pastors, evangelists. And prophets, pastors, teachers? And then also the actual individual gifts.
Now, it's important to remember when Paul wrote these things, an evangelist was a big deal. Unlike today. In Western civilization, where the church has really carried the gospel, Christians have carried it out. In those days, Those were the ones that were planting churches. In pagan world.
They would go into a city that was loaded with, you know, what we call now Greek mythology, but was not mythology to them. That could get you killed As Paul found out. It's concerning the Temple of Diana.
So They this, you know, you look at it, well, in those days, it was a very. Important ministry, whereas today it's more select. You have an outreach of some type, and a guest speaker who is a gifted evangelist. And it's a whole different approach, but it's the same result, leading people to Christ.
So, two gifts we did not cover last session that we'll get in a moment, but I want to talk a little bit more about the gifts of the Spirit.
Now the comments that I made as we went down the list They were superlative statements about the gifts, the ideal. to just an overview of the gift and hopefully its highest form. It was not meant to be. a detailed study on each gift, but hopefully gets us A clearer understanding. of what they're about.
And here from Ephesians 4, We learn it's critical to understand that the gifts are more for the body of Christ than the individual within the body of Christ. which has been a detour for too many, They think, I got the gift, and it's not yours. We covered that. Hermit Christians If they have gifts at all, They are operating on low battery power. Therefore the body of Christ As I read from Ephesians 4, Those gifts from Jesus include positions that are critical to a church's survival.
The gifts from the Holy Spirit are primarily strengthening. The local church.
Now, we get to the universal church. We talk about the rapture. First Corinthians twelve For as the body is one, and its many members, but all the members of that one body being many, are one body, So also is Christ.
So, as Paul's talking to the Corinthians about the gifts, he's talking to them about the body of Christ in the same chapter. That's 1 Corinthians 12, where he talks about the gifts. He doesn't let them lose sight of this. That we're connected. And we're not these rogue believers out there doing our own thing.
So here's a reminder from last session. 1 Corinthians 1:7, so that you come short and no gift. Eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So Paul said to the Corinthians, you guys got all the gifts. And yet You're getting a lot of rebukes. The first nine chapters of Corinthians is rebuking them. Look what you've done with what Christ has invested in you. Ephesus, on the other hand, Who doesn't get a rebuke from Paul?
Ephesus was diligent. I had accomplished so many things for Christ. And yet, Jesus himself. sternly rebukes them for what? Lack of love.
Yeah, you got all this stuff done, but you don't have any love. Revelation 2 Verse 3, you have persevered. And have patience. and have laboured for my name's sake, and have not become weary. That's quite an accomplishment on the long run.
Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. You got a love problem. You have a problem.
So the gifts of spiritual resources, that go beyond our natural abilities. They may use natural abilities, but they still take it to the next level. For example, Love is natural. Agape love is not. Philo Eros Stroge family, romantic love, Love of things, good or bad, natural.
But agape. That love that says, I'm going to sacrifice. Because of what Christ has done for me. That's imported from heaven. The gifts of the Holy Spirit require God's direct.
Involvement. continuously, not just a flash in the pan, Experience.
Some want the gifts. Without giving. They just want them. And this has been one reason why.
Some Christian groups have tried to say the gifts don't exist anymore because they've looked at those who abuse the gifts. It's pretty short-sighted to just shut them all down because of abusers, but here's a proverb. Proverb nineteen, verse six: Every man is a friend to one who gives gifts. I would like to prove this.
Okay. Yeah. You could all give me gifts and we'll be happy. All right, so let's dig into the two we left out. Hospitality.
A gift, the Greek word for hospitality. Philo Zenia I'm not going to pretend to be able to pronounce the Greek, but I can make enough connections for you to go, yeah, I got it. Thanks, Pastor. Wouldn't have got it without you. I have a gift for you at the end of service.
See me, please.
So, you know, xenophobia, fear of foreigners.
Well hospitality philos in ye A love of foreigners or a love of strangers Romans 13, distributing to the needs of the saints. Given to hospitality. And that word hospitality is that Greek word, philo, love. is ania of strangers. Peter uses it also in his first letter, chapter 4.
Be hospitable to one another. without grumbling. That's a bit asking too much, Peter. I can do the hospitable part. Just don't ask me to stop grumbling.
Hebrews chapter 13. Do not forget to entertain strangers. for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. I'm talking about Abraham. When the angels came, when God was on his way to Sodom and Gomorrah, So, what I'm establishing here is that the word hospitality has to do.
With a love for strangers. All Christians are to have some degree of this. But then there are others that take it to another level. And it's not just that they're social butterflies. They're doing it for the body of Christ.
They're doing it because of their relationship with Jesus Christ. And the fact that they may love it does not diminish the gift. If you have a gift and you love it, don't feel guilty. I shouldn't have loved this gift so much, but Here it goes. Heh.
So, again, I've done marriage, performed marriage ceremonies in other churches. And so far, I don't know, I'm at like 0 for 4 or something like that. The people that I have encountered there have not been. Hospitable Christians. And you know, we're supposed to.
Now, we don't want to overdo it, try to get people to come back to the church. That's none of our business, that's God's work. What we have to do is be hospitable, be Christ-like. Be friendly and welcoming. but certainly not pushy and not trying to sell The church.
That's not good. for anyone. Anyway, back to this particular gift. It is not listed with the other gifts. It's clearly of the spirit 'Cause it functions.
As a gift. What gives us permission? To classify it, with the rest. All Christians, again, are to be, and this is the operative word. genuinely hospitable.
Not faking it. It's not necessary to be a social butterfly, just be a Christian.
So who have we seen in Scripture that seem to have been Open to this. This function, well Abraham for sure. When the strangers came, he went out of his way to prepare a feast for them.
Well, if you live in the desert, you could say, well, he's a little desperate for company. Isolation was creeping up on him. But what about Martha? Martha was big time into company. and some other problems too.
She was the legalist. that wanted to be loving. And it wasn't doing a good job at it. Until Jesus pointed out, your sister's chosen the word, and we're not taking that from her.
So, what do you do with that, Martha? And she, so we see Martha again later. She's still entertaining And she's not complaining now. The lesson was learned, to her credit. Philip the Evangelist in Acts ch Acts chapter 20.
He and his daughters, you know, till totally into the Lord. It says Paul and his crew stayed there many days. I would have been giving hints. Every 20 minutes. Aren't you uncomfortable?
Let me turn down the thermostat. Maybe that'll motivate you. I don't have, I mean, I'm hospitable and I love, you know, being with people that are friendly and all like that, but I got my limits. And who doesn't?
So anyway. I think someone told me, they said, the way to do it is to tell them, well, when you leave, turn the lights off. I'm going to bed. I don't know if anybody could ever really do that. Anyway.
This gift. The gifts Which is the one you want?
Well hopefully it's the one that's needed. And in different environments different gifts are needed. I mean, there are opportunities and deep in South America and Colombia, for example.
Well, you could benefit from the some of the gifts that we might not benefit so much From here.
Now, love is not a gift. It's an attribute of Christ, Christ-likeness, part of the new man in Christ.
Well, we come to the next one, tongues. Speaking in that heavenly language. adoring God, off the chart of language. Intended to be a sign. Which incidentally the illiterate might benefit from if they have this gift, to be able to express their love for God.
Whereas they might not be so articulate otherwise. Have they no right to be moved in the Spirit also? First century conditions still exist in certain places, not so much in civilization, but outside of civilization. Do you not it's a sign gift. It's one of those gifts that sort of validates the presence of God operating within a group.
Do you know what the Syrian Christians are going through with this new Islamic regime in charge? The Afghanistan in Afghanistan, the Christian what about Ukrainian troops? Or even Russian troops if they're born again. Do you not think they could benefit from An extra dose of the Holy Spirit under those circumstances? I'm just preparing for our discussion on those who think that particular gift.
Is Antiquated. It's no longer around. As though there's no opportunity. or short-sighted. Approach to the gifts of God.
The gift of tongues comes last on the list. Of gifts, but usually it's the first. In controversy, Now Ch charisma. Or chorus, the gift itself can morph into insanity And this particular gift, when abused, works best when there's an audience. Be pretty disappointed if you want to show this gift off and there's nobody around.
So I got to get down to the church because there's an audience there because it's not working here in my prayer closet. Matthew 5, Matthew 6. And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues. and on the corners of the streets that they may be seen by men. And you know, if you go to some churches, there are people that go off like clockwork.
And they'll like a sprinkling system at a certain time, they go off. And they rattle out their tongues, and everybody's waiting for the interpretation. If somebody feels sorry for them, well, I'll say something. as terrible And it's always, you know, thus saith the Lord, which is again, we're going to come to the inappropriate use of tongues according to the scriptures. And I like I like that they're wrong.
John Wesley said. of the numbers of members of One of the earliest Methodist societies. He said they came to church to enjoy religion instead of to learn how they could become holy. This is practiced in various ways. Coming to church to show off, coming to church to be entertained, coming for anything other than to hear from God.
Through the scripture, through preaching. How many times have Christians heard from God Through the preaching. of anointed pastors. That's how the missionaries went out. David Livingston and Hudson Taylor, all of those missionaries, who were sitting in congregations hearing the word preached, and God said to them, You need to do this.
So, I think a lot of people who claim to speak in tongues. Aren't speaking in tongues. Erroneously supposing that tongues somehow validate their salvation. You don't have to speak in tongues to be saved at all. 1 Corinthians 12, 30.
Do all Have gifts of healings? Obvious answer, because it's rhetorical. No. He continues, Do all speak with tongues? Obvious answer.
Rhetorical. No. Do all interpret. Clearly the answer is no.
Well, if that's the case, then it cannot belong to salvation because the all, do all, he's talking about believers. Chuck Smith writes in his book. Charisma versus charismania, gifts versus insane use of gifts. He says, I cannot deny The validity of the spirit-filled lives of many of those dynamic leaders and laymen in the church today. who have never enjoyed the experience of speaking in tongues, and I prefer their fellowship over many who promote the speaking in tongues, as the only true evidence of the spirit-filled life.
But whose personal lives are marred by strife or pride. And often even heresy. Spot on, that's why I'm quoting. He got that from me. I know it.
It's just what he's saying is: I know people who don't speak in tongues, and they have offered the most wonderful Christian fellowship. Hot servants for God. Then I know some others that do speak in tongues, you don't want to be anywhere around them. And many of them are heretics. And it is the abuse of the gifts of the Spirit that creates a dread in some.
And they overreact and say, okay, the gifts, those kind of gifts, they can't be anymore.
So let's go to some biblical examples, the second part of the question. Biblical examples when it is appropriated today.
Well, let's look at the biblical example. That we have.
Well, the first one would come to mind with Acts chapter 2. Praising God in one language. being heard in multiple other languages. It's not the same as That adoration tongue, but it's similar, it's connected because they were praising God, the apostles. They're praising God.
Likely in the Greek or the Aramaic, likely the Greek Aramaic. I can't make up my mind. Anyway. They're praising God in that language, but then you've got people Speaking other languages, they're like 15 different languages or more. understanding every word they're saying.
That's not the same thing as the gift of tongues that needs interpretation because these people were believers.
So really it wasn't a gift of the gift of tongues operating. Quasi It was simply a miracle. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And the first The first evidence of his presence. It's not so much tongues, though tongues were used to do it, It was simply a miracle.
For someone to speak in Spanish and someone who doesn't speak in Spanish, speak Spanish but speaks German, to understand everything they said, and they're an unbeliever, and the speaker is a believer, that is a miracle.
So unbelievers. In the miracle, Mark chapter 16, verse 17: These signs will follow those who believe. In my name, they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues. Very vague language, is it not? Not till we get to the book of Acts do we see the nuances that belong to this.
experience in tongues. There are not a lot of New Testament examples outside of Corinth. Currents abuses There are the Gentile converts. Under Peter's preaching. And they are the Messianic Jews.
who were led to speak in tongues by Paul. Acts chapter 10, this is Peter, he's in the house of Cornelius. Cornelius, a devout man praying to the Lord, had a vision of an angel come speak to him. Everything was validated. Peter shows up and he's preaching, and in the middle of his sermon, they interrupt.
It's not the same thing as today. Peter left me a note. If they do that in your service. No. We'll get to why.
Well, what happened when they began to speak in tongues? What was it?
Well we're told Acts chapter 10 verse 46 For they heard them speak with tongues. and magnify God. They weren't telling you, again, what the stock market's going to do in five days and predicting the future. Thus says the Lord in rebuking the church, that's always a favorite. If my people will hear my, you know, turn towards Jerusalem, you know, that's for the Jews, that's not for the church.
I mean, there's some things we identify with with that but That's for the Jewish people. Acts 19, now Paul is Amongst Jewish believers.
Somehow the Holy Spirit never made it that far. in their doctrine, in their thinking. Acts 19, verse 6, and when Paul had laid hands on them, which he could not have done if they were hermit Christians. I gotta get on the bus. I gotta go over to Rollo's house, lay hands on him because he won't come to church.
Then I gotta go over to Susie's house. I gotta pray for her, too, because. No, that wasn't the case. They were gathering. They were assembling.
I'm not a fan of Hermit Christianity. I don't think the New Testament is either. And when Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. And they spoke with tongues and they prophesied. likely the magnification of God because As we've been going through these things, we know because the word prophecy is brought up, Old Testament and New, it is not an automatic predictive event.
It has a manifold, a bunch of meanings. It could be an encouragement, could be a song, could be the reading of scripture, it could be a prophetic word. You know, the Lord spoke to me and just put this thing on my heart that you need to not stay here or something like that. And you said, Boy, you've been telling me the same thing, that's confirmation. Those things happen.
But what we tend to do is we hear the word prophecy and automatically we think somebody's predicting something. And again, that is very short-sighted and that's not even scriptural. If we were doing a study on that, we would go through all the New and Old Testament examples of that very thing.
So, Jesus, this group in Ephesus that Paul lays hands on, and there's this outburst of tongues, which they never even heard of. Jesus was their Messiah, but news of the Holy Spirit again somehow did not make it to them. Until Paul gets there. And explicitly it is said that they were believers, yet There was a distinct experience available to them.
So, you can have salvation, not speak in tongues, not be filled with the Spirit. You believe in Christ, you're saved. But you've never had an experience in the Holy Spirit, and that's these. Messianic Christians are Our example for that. I hope I've I I feel like I did a pretty good job on all that myself.
Until I drive home. Anyway, now we come to The proper usage of the tongues. I think that's what the question was asked. Give me some scriptural examples of seeing them in use and. what they are.
and what how can they be used in the body of Christ. It's one of the gifts that doesn't have to be used. Body of Christ directly, indirectly, if it strengthens you in your prayer closet and you come to church inspired, then yeah, the body is going to benefit from that. Thanks for tuning in today to Cross Reference Radio, where Pastor Rick has some answers for various questions that have been asked. We can't fully express how grateful we are that you've been with us today.
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