Now understand, after perhaps seeing some excesses and maybe seeing some fleshly examples of the Holy Spirit and the giftings, you'd be hesitant. But understand, the enemy comes into this. He wants you to be afraid, because the Holy Spirit endues you with what?
With power. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. In a world that changes all the time, it's good to know that God doesn't change at all.
He still does miracles and offers us His supernatural power to live for Him. Learn how to access that power today as Pastor David continues in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Before we join Pastor David, we want to let you know about an outreach opportunity that could bring hope to countless prisoners. This month, Cross the Bridge is teaming with men and women like yourself in order to provide Pastor David's devotional book, Cross the Bridge Every Day to Inmates. When you call today and help support the ministry with a gift of $25 or more, we'll send you a book and also provide one to a prisoner in need. To take part in this important outreach, call 877-458-5508. That's 877-458-5508.
Or go online to crossthebridge.com. Now here's David Magee with his teaching, God is the only know it all. We're looking at 1 Corinthians 13, and we're going to pick it up at verse 9. And what we're doing here is we're continuing our verse by verse, chapter by chapter study of the Word of God. And so we're at verse 9, but let's back up to verse 8 for context's sake, and there's something in there we want to look at. Verse 8 says, Love never fails, but whether there are prophecies, they will fail. Where there are tongues, they will cease.
Whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
The New Living Translation, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 9 reads, Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture. This is an interesting section of Scripture for a lot of different reasons. You know, one of the things that evangelical Christians who believe in the Bible are, they agree on a lot of things.
They agree on the Bible being the Word of God, Jesus being the only way to heaven, and, but the Spirit who gives unity, interestingly enough, comes to be a dividing point. And some people believe that the Holy Spirit used to give gifts, and used to give the ability to predict the future, used to give the ability to have supernatural knowledge, used to heal people, but doesn't anymore. Now, let me be open, if you believe that, I'm glad you're here, and we can agree to disagree, because I believe that God still heals, that, you know, God still gives supernatural knowledge. Now, we, here at the bridge, we adhere to the Bible, sola scriptura. During the Reformation, that was a Latin phrase they came up to say, you know what, we gotta go back to the Bible, not tradition, not because headquarters says this, or denomination says that, and what's interesting is the folks that say that God no longer heals, the Holy Spirit no longer baptizes, or indwells, or fills people, what scripture do they base that on?
Well, the passage ran now. I see some confused looks, I'm serious, this is the passage that they believe says there will be an end to the gifts, because verse 8 says where there are prophecies, they will fail, where there are tongues, they will cease, where there is knowledge, it will vanish away, for we know in part, and we prophesy in part, we'll tie verse 10 in there, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. Now, whenever you're reading the Bible, studying the Bible, the best thing is just to take the main and plain interpretation, you know, if you read it and you think it says something, it probably is saying just that.
If you need somebody to explain the hidden meaning that if you take every seventh letter and walk backwards while you're reading it, then you get this other meaning, this obscure meaning, be careful with that, be careful with that. The main and plain interpretation of this, which I feel is pretty obvious, is talking about when Jesus returns, when that which is perfect, because part of the wording in the Greek there is that when that who is pure, morally pure comes back, then that which is in part will be done away, because you come up with several dilemmas and and we do believe in the what's referred to as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the biblical exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I know that sometimes churches they engage in the gifts and and sometimes they're not using scriptural guidelines and maybe you've seen some weird stuff and had some bad experiences and you know what for that I apologize. Hopefully you haven't had any of those here because again we're gonna apply scripture and in chapter 14 Paul talks about hey if you just act exercise the gifts without scriptural guidelines people are gonna come in and they're gonna think you're crazy. I've been to those churches where it was just anything was allowed to happen and it was never guided you know even even if weirdness started happening it was like the pastor was afraid to say anything and it made it kind of weird to invite somebody you know because you invite somebody and you knew that woman was gonna do the thing that she does right in the middle of the service and you know and your guest was gonna look at you and go what what in the world was that and you know oh no she does that every week but we don't want to negate the power of the Holy Spirit or the gifts of the Holy Spirit and this verse says hey there will be a time when these things will fail or will not be needed may be another way to say that because see one of the verses in chapter 14 1st Corinthians chapter 14 verse 39 it says therefore brethren desire earnestly to prophesy and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Some of you that are anti-glossalia in the Greek it's an unknown tongue and we're gonna get into that in chapter 14 I'll explain it in detail but you know if you're saying hey it's gonna they're gonna stop when the Bible is complete which is what these folks say boy you got a lot of issues there don't you if you're saying okay well when the Bible is complete then there's no more prophecy there's no more tongues there's no more knowledge so that is to say when the scriptures were complete all of a sudden in that instant nobody else was ever healed the power of God was no longer available for supernatural giftings that's obviously a stretch and I like to sing if you torture the data long enough it'll confess to think that at some instant somebody was praying for somebody to be healed and about that time the New Testament canon was completed and so in the middle of that prayer God's supernatural healing no longer available it seems like that verse in chapter 14 would have said but only until the Bible is written now again this may seem like biblical common sense it may be pretty obvious exegesis now exegesis is a complicated word but it's a real simple definition in that exegesis is simply getting the meaning that's in scripture out of it isa jesus is taking your meaning and trying to put it into it the main and plain of this text I believe is when jesus comes we won't need supernatural knowledge we won't need to speak in the prophetic we won't need in another language we'll be with jesus amen we'll be with him who knows everything james chapter 5 verse 14 tells us are any of you sick you should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you anointing you with oil in the name of the lord every thursday night every sunday morning there's a prayer team up here there's pastors there's elders up here that will pray for you that will anoint you with oil why do we anoint with oil well first of all simply because the book of james says to do it and understand if you gotta if you have to understand it to obey it that's not really obedience conditional obedience is not obedience conditional submission is not really submission it says to pray for them anoint them with the oil the oil is the symbol of the holy spirit so we do what that verse says now i i you know and i've said this often but i don't understand churches that don't believe god heals anymore how do you pray for the sick i wonder i don't know you know i mean well you know it's where you're coming you know martha comes up martha's sick you don't believe god heals anymore so okay martha i'll pray for you lord we know you don't heal anymore and martha's sick so just go ahead and end her misery take her home right now in jesus name the next person in line would go no thanks i'm good all right and then what do you do with the verse in hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 that tells us jesus is the same yesterday today and forever because that's a pretty significant change that god used to act like this god used to heal god used to give supernatural giftings and he stopped all based on this obscure definition of this passage i grew up in church i grew up in a somewhat a religious home and and you know what i never knew that we were supposed to ask god to fill us with the holy spirit until later in life and friend we are now again this some people say well when you're saved god gives you the holy spirit and there's some truth in that when you ask god to forgive you i understand what happens your relationship with the holy spirit before you're born again the holy spirit can't reside in you he can't fill you why because there's sin in your life now you may still mess up after you ask god to forgive you but after you ask god to forgive you you're wrapped in his robes of righteousness and it is the holy spirit and now the holy spirit can dwell in you but does he fill you to overflowing i believe you have to ask him to fill you to overflowing now if you're sitting there you go i've never heard you had to ask god to fill you with the holy spirit where do you get that well i read this book one time called the bible it says in luke chapter 11 verse 13 if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your heavenly father give the holy spirit to those who ask him now i understand after perhaps seeing some excesses and maybe seeing some fleshly examples of the holy spirit and the giftings that you'd be hesitant but understand the enemy comes into this because he wants you to be afraid he wants you to be afraid of the holy spirit he wants you to be afraid of asking for the holy spirit why because the holy spirit endures you with what with power if you and i are getting ready to to get a tangle a tussle and there's a bazooka at your feet and i can somehow keep you from picking that bazooka up you know hey i saw that thing misfire on somebody last week or something i'm going to try to do that the holy spirit's going to give you power and let's understand again god's the same yesterday today and forever life lesson here is god does not and has not changed he still does miracles and offers us his supernatural power to live for him god does not and has not changed he still does miracles and offers us his supernatural power to live for him you're listening to cross the bridge with david mcgee we'll be back to the teaching in just a moment this month we're focusing on prison ministry and i have the chance to sit down with pastor david pastor we know that sharing the word of god is always important to you and why is it so important to get god's word into the prisons as well our prison system is built around trying to change the lives of people who've made bad decisions and yet you can't change a life without changing the heart and that's where god's word and god's spirit are so powerful they can change a life they can change your heart we can share the word of god with somebody you can help send us into the prisons to share the plan of salvation see that prisoner get saved and then begin to disciple him and teach him the word of god so that when he gets out he is different than when he came in with all that is going on in the world today why are you so interested in prison ministry you know paul was in prison and he spent his time in prison writing letters to churches to encourage him now we know these letters as the epistles of the new testament we have those because paul made good decisions about how to use this time while in prison we want to help people who've made bad decisions and find themselves in prison to make the best decision they've ever made and to choose jesus christ to ask him to forgive them of their sins and then to become a disciple of jesus christ following him learning the bible allowing us to help teach them the bible so they can follow jesus thank you for sharing pastor if you're listening and agree with david about our need to help those in prison we would love to hear from you you can call 877-458-5508 that's 877-458-5508 and when you give $25 or more we'll send you a copy of cross the bridge every day not only that but we'll match your gift by sending another copy of david's devotional to an inmate in need also your gift of $200 or more will provide a case of 10 books that will be used to help change lives for eternity again that number is 877-458-5508 or go online to crossthebridge.com now let's return to pastor david's teaching now i understand that you've perhaps have seen some examples the holy spirit examples of the gifts that you didn't see line up with scripture i have to i've also seen very poor examples of christians i've seen poor examples of pastors poor examples of churches but i didn't throw the baby out with the bathwater i didn't go well you know that one particular christian is a flake obviously the whole thing is a myth and a fable of course culture and society do that but that's not an option for us if we're following god and let's remember we play up the gifts we play up the supernatural gifts and stuff but let's remember what the power of the holy spirit really is for it's not for showboating acts chapter 1 verse 8 says but you shall receive power when the holy spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in jerusalem and in all judia and samaria and to the end of the earth you shall receive power what for to be a witness the word power there is the greek word doom in us where we get our word for dynamite and you need that dynamite power why to be a witness to live out your christian walk now i'm gonna assume something i'm gonna assume everybody listening here or listening through various medias that you could use the power of god to help you follow him to walk out your faith to be a witness to share your faith we all need that and god offers that god offers that so the three relationships now probably in chapter 14 i'll go more into this but before you're saved the holy spirit can come alongside of you and convict you or convince you of your need for god when you ask god to forgive you the holy spirit does i believe indwell you but you need to ask him to fill you to overflowing and he will let's read this verse nine again for we know in part and we prophesy in part title of the message is god is the only know-it-all you don't know everything i don't know everything i love this book i've studied it for years and years been in ministry and going up on close to 20 years started on us four but i'm always learning about this book i'm continuing to learn about this but i want to always stay teachable michelangelo who designed incredible things the sistine chapel and david and the piazza mary and jesus and all these different i mean this is just incredible sculptor painter architect at 87 years old he said encaro and para which means always learning i've got a plaque on my desk it says encaro and para reminds me i'm always learning i'm always supposed to be learning which is to say i don't know it all i shouldn't scare you that i'm a pastor admitting i don't know it all i'm willing to say that we need to always be learning and to maintain a teachable spirit so you can learn you know all that we're doing in television and radio i'm learning a lot about that people are we've got some great great christians great people on the team that are very knowledgeable and i'm trying to learn from them just don't feel bad that you don't know everything admit you don't know everything and continue to learn mark twain has a real interesting saying he said at 16 my father was the most ignorant man on the face of the planet and at 21 i was amazed at how much he'd learned in five years we're always learning which is to say we don't know everything see and friend this is where our judgment comes suspect when you look at a situation when you look at a person when you look at a position you need to understand you you don't know everything i've been involved in counseling in different situations and you know at first glance i would think okay well this is that and maybe he's the problem and then you know i come up later and there's deeper issues and be careful about assuming you know a situation and you understand everything about it because you never do you never do and a lot of times you know when we have government officials and they're making decisions they're making decisions with information that you and i don't have now it's easy for us to sit back and go well i would do this and i would do that but again if you don't have certain information and you know what as pastor of this fellowship sometimes i need to make decisions based on information i have that perhaps you don't have some of those decisions are difficult and i'm never going to come out here and say well you need to understand this guy's really a creep and a low life let me tell you what all he's done wrong but i'll make a decision it's difficult how do i make these decisions well first of all i pray i pray see god knows everything god is the know-it-all i don't know it all you don't know it all but we can know him who does know it all amen you might not know what tomorrow holds but you can know who holds tomorrow and be careful of judging the situation or judging people by their appearance now i dare to say that this fellowship this ministry does a better job than most in that area i forget one time we had a fellow that came in and said uh talked to one of our parking lot guys and said hey can i go in dressed like this they said sure and jeans and shirt he said because i i tried to go to the church down the street and as i was walking they stopped me at the door and they said if you're going to come in here and you're going to come worship with us you need to dress more respectfully we dress casually now if you want to wear a suit wear a suit that's awesome that's great some of you wear suits sometimes i'll wear a jacket you know where let me tell you you know why i wear a jacket because when people come in here with suits and jackets i want them to feel comfortable i remember the steward guy goes in this church he's got jeans on and the pastor says well you need to you need to pray ask god what he wants you to wear when you come here she said okay and he noticed everybody's looking at him weird you know he's gone a few weeks comes back and he's in jeans again pastor comes up he goes what i thought i asked you to pray about what god would have you to wear when you came here you get well i did i asked him what i should wear and he said he'd never been here you can't judge by appearance gay first samuel chapter 16 verse 7 says but the lord said to samuel don't judge by his appearance or height for i've rejected him the lord doesn't see the things see things the way you see them people judge by outward appearance but the lord looks at the heart friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven you can know right now i want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling god you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him now god wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you please pray this prayer with me out loud right now dear jesus i believe you died for me that i could be forgiven and i believe you were raised from the dead that i could have a new life and i've done wrong things i have sinned and i'm sorry please forgive me of all those things please give me the power to live for you all of my days in jesus name amen friend if you prayed that prayer according to the bible you've been forgiven you've been born again so congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make god bless you if you prayed that prayer with david for the first time we would love to hear from you you can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with christ god is using cross the bridge to impact lives across our country including the lives of those currently serving time in our nation's prisons while materials provided by muslim organizations continue to increase within our prisons our distribution of pastor david's book cross the bridge every day has been making a significant impact for jesus with prisoners and you can help continue that outreach by calling today when you call today with a gift of 25 or more we will send you david mcgee's devotional book and then match your gift by sending a copy to a prisoner in need and if you're able to give a gift of 200 or more we will send a case of 10 books to inmates who are without hope help us reach those in prison call today at 877-458-5508 that's 877-458-5508 or go online to cross the bridge dot com also if you're not able to make it to your home church this sunday why not join us for our live stream at nine and eleven thirty eastern just visit cross the bridge dot com and click on our live stream link there you can watch pastor david teach from his home church the bridge in kernersville north carolina again that website is cross the bridge dot com thanks again for listening we hope you'll join us next time as we continue to cross the bridge
