Introduction to the Gifts of the Spirit

So we're going to kick off a series on the gifts of the spirit tonight. We're just going to kind of going to be in a little bit of a teaching mode, man, and we're just going to go through this and kind of introduce it. But I really felt from the Lord that, man, we just need to give him some time, right, to demonstrate what we're talking about. So I want to make sure we do that. My wife is not able to be here tonight.

She wishes she could be. We have two kids at home right now with fevers.

And if you know these two particular kids of mine, they're full of energy and right now they're laying in bed lethargic. So if you guys could pray for my wife and my family, just. And if any of you have any sick ones, sick loved ones out there, you know, I pray for them too. In fact, Lord, I just pray for your healing power, right? It's one of the gifts.

It's one of the gifts the Lord gives this, right? So, Lord, we just trust you right now. I declare healing and wholeness right now in the midst of this string of sickness, Lord, that is taking over our area, I declare the blood bought son of God, Lord, would pronounce himself over their bodies right now in the name of Jesus, and that they would be healed right now in the name of Jesus, right? Let's just let him be himself. I didn't plan on doing that, but man, why miss the opportunity, right?

Lord, have your way, man. I'm about to start preaching and I can't because I have to teach this. All right?

So if you guys, some of you may remember last year I was speaking and I got my notes ready and I gave them to my wife. I said, hey honey, can you print these out? And she printed them out and when she gave them back to me, she had added notes to my notes. I don't know if you guys remember that. So this time when I said, babe, can you look over these notes?

And I just added the comment, feel free to add what you need to add. I got them back and she didn't add any, right? But I can tell you this, you would probably much rather have her notes than mine. And I don't mean that in like a self depleting way, but I have an incredible wife who loves the Lord.

Last night, as I was actually praying about tonight, I was praying for her and this quote came to mind that I heard a long time ago that Phil Jackson. Anybody know who Phil Jackson is, right? Anybody heard of the Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan, Right. Some of the younger people in the room, you may not recognize the name, but he was actually Michael Jordan's coach.

Right? Michael Jordan, arguably. We're going somewhere with this, by the way. Arguably the best basketball player that ever lived. Right?

Right. And I agree with that. But I heard this quote one time from Phil Jackson, and he said, listen, if the game depends on it, I would pick Michael Jordan to take the last shot. He said, but if my life depended on it, I would pick Larry Bird to take the last shot. Right?

And that says something, right? You've coached this guy. He's like, but listen, if we're just playing a game and I want to win, right, I'm going to pick Michael Jordan. This is nothing against Michael Jordan. This is just a quote.

But if my life depends on it and I want to live, right, I'm going to pick Larry Bird. So tonight you're getting the Michael Jordan. My wife would be the Larry Bird. Right. I try to pray in such a way that when the army exits the field of battle, we've won.

Right? She prays in such a way that when the army leaves the field of battle, not only have they won, they're not broken, right? They're whole. And that's because she moves and lives and has her being in the Holy Spirit.

And so tonight, I really wish she could be here. And I just wanted to take a moment to honor her for who she is in the Lord. And she's not here to hear this, so I'm not looking for any benefits from saying it, but she's just the type of person that I want to be like, Right? That's just. That's who she is.

Right? So tonight, as I go through this, we're going to look at a lot of scripture as we work our way through this.

I just want to be a person of the spirit, right? That's how I want to live every day of my life, every moment of my life. I just want to be that person who exudes who Jesus is. That's my goal. So I really felt to attack this by kind of going over the who, what, when, where and how of the gifts of the Spirit, just to break this down in a way that is easier to digest and understand.

But I'm going to start by reading some scripture here just to kind of set the tone. And then we're going to break this down. So I'll be reading out of John 14, starting verse 15, it says this. If you love me, keep my commands, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever. The Spirit of Truth.

The world cannot accept him because he neither sees him or knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me because I live.

You also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in the Father and you are in me, and I am in you. What a promise.

Listen, I'm looking for the day where we realize that and live that out every moment of our lives.

Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I, too, will love them and show myself to them. Lord, do that tonight. Then Judas, not Judas Iscariot, said, but, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus replied, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me.

So, Lord, I thank you for this. Thank you for the promise of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, once again, I ask you to have your way here tonight. Father Lord, teach us of yourself. Move in power. Lord thank you, Father. So First Corinthians 12 we're going to break into some some teaching here.

He's promised us the Holy Spirit, right? And then there there are gifts that come along with the Holy Spirit. That's just who he is. It's part of him, and he gives himself to us. Now, there are.

There are many gifts given to us in the Lord. We're going to focus on a couple of them tonight and not really focus on the gifts themselves, but explaining this particular list of gifts in an overview of how they work. So First Corinthians 12, 7, 12 says this now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit, a message of wisdom. To another, a message of knowledge by means of the same spirit to another, faith by the same spirit to another, gifts of healing by one spirit to another, miraculous powers to another, prophecy to another, distinguishing between spirits to another, speaking in different kinds of tongues.

And still another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines, just as a body, though one has Many parts, but all its many parts from one body. So it is with Christ. So real quick, the gifts of the Spirit are one, the gift of wisdom. Two, the gift of knowledge.

This is in no particular order. Three, the gift of faith. Four, healing. Five, the gift of power, which is the working of miracles. Six, the gift of prophecy.

Seven, discernment. Eight, tongues and nine, the gift of interpretation. All right, so in the coming weeks, we're going to spend some time breaking these down and going over them in more detail. That's not the purpose of tonight.

Tonight is just an introduction. And here's why I think this is important that we're doing this because the gifts of the Spirit have been used and abused, right, in the church for decades, right? And I'm only saying decades because I've only been alive for decades, right? But they have been utterly and disgustingly used and abused, right? For self promotion, for financial gain, right?

For control. They've been manipulated. And because of that, there's a misunderstanding of what they're for, right? Who they're for.

And what I'd like to do is just dispel some of the lies of the enemy tonight and bring some truth about this miraculous part of who Jesus is, right? And the gifts that he gives us. So the who, what, when, where and how of the Holy Spirit, so the who of the gifts of the Spirit, the who of the Holy Spirit is the who is the Holy Spirit and us, right? That's the who of the gifts. He gives them.

We receive them, all, right? We being the church right there for people of every age and both male and female, right? Which I feel we should note. You can't switch back and forth on any given time that you feel like it, right? We are what we are and we are a gift, right?

God has given us a gift and he has given us as gifts to each other and gifts to this world.

There's no need to doubt who the Lord has created us to be, right? So First Corinthians 12:11 says, he distributes them to each one as he determines, all right? His part is to give them, to distribute them, all right? Our part is to ask for them and receive them, right? That's our part he gives when we ask and receive, right?

Now the gifts of the Spirit are given and. And received, right? For the church, right? He gives, we received. All right?

Couple of things though, is one is we have to desire both him, the Holy Spirit and the gifts. It's crucial. I firmly believe a lot of people we'll get into this more in Just a moment. I firmly believe a lot of people that don't experience moving and walking in the gifts of the Spirit is just simply because they don't really ask for them and there's no desire for them. Now, that could be for any reason.

It could be for several reasons. But I firmly believe that a lot of people who don't move in the gifts of the Holy Spirit is just simply because they don't ask the Lord for them. Right? And really desire them and go after them and ask for understanding in them. All right?

That's our part. That's what we have to do. All right? First Corinthians 14:1 says this. Follow the way of love and eager desire, the gifts of the spirit, especially prophecy, all right?

We have to make sure that our heart is pure, right? And the desire of the gifts.

Right? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all working together in unity, right? That's the purpose of the gifts as well, when we use the gifts. Right. It should be in a spirit of unity within the body.

Right? Let me read you a quote. My wife came to me right before Christmas and said, hey, there's a book I want to get for our four kids. I said, sure, let's get it. So we bought him this book.

It's called Practicing the Way. It's by John Mark Comer, if I'm pronouncing that right. But the funny thing, this is how the Lord works. So we were sitting there on Christmas morning, and one of my kids, we put this in their stocking. One of my kids pulled this out and set it down as they were looking at the rest of their stocking.

And I had already opened up my gifts, so I grabbed the book and I opened it, and I opened it to a certain page. I read a few. Few paragraphs, and I'm like, man, that's really good. I'm going to have to look at that later. Well, be honest with you, I haven't touched it since then.

Until tonight. I walked downstairs after I got home from work and the book sitting on the counter, I opened it to the exact same page I read on Christmas morning. And I just heard the Lord say, listen, I want you to read this passage out of this book. So I. I have not read this book myself other than this passage. So that's my disclaimer.

All right? But it comes highly recommended by my wife, and my daughter is more than halfway through it already. So, yeah, a good book, this one. All right, so let's read this real quick, because I think it's, it kind of captures the essence of how our heart should be right and the desire for the gifts of the Spirit. An apprentice of Jesus is one who has arranged their life around becoming like Jesus as expressed through their personality, gender, life stage, culture, ethnicity, and so on.

But if you had to summarize Christlike character in one word, the word would. There would be no competition. The word would be love. Love is the acid test of spiritual formation. The single most important question is, are we becoming more loving?

Not are we becoming more biblically educated or practicing more spiritual disciplines or more involved in a church? Those are all good things, but not the most important thing. If you want to chart your progress on the spiritual journey, test the quality of your closest relationships, namely by love and the fruit of the Spirit. Would the people who know you best say, you are becoming more loving, joyful and at peace, more patient and less frustrated, kinder, gentler, softening with time and pervaded by goodness, faithful, especially in hard times and self controlled? Are you growing in love not just for your friends and family, but for your enemies?

When you are hurt, wounded, or treated unjustly as we all are, are you finding yourself increasingly able emotionally to emotionally release the bitterness, to absorb the pain and not give it back in kind to pray for and even bless those who curse you? And is all this feeling more and more natural and less forced, more and more like, this is just who you are?

Yeah. I recommend the book. It's a good one. My point of that is this.

We too can get into a practice of misusing the gift if we are not filled with the love of Jesus, right? It's got to be who we are. It's got to be in us. Listen, I'm not saying that we won't get frustrated from time to time. I'm not saying that we won't get upset.

Listen, that happens. But on an increasing basis, is that becoming less and less right? Because that's the type of heart that the Lord want to manifest himself through, right? In the gifts of the Spirit. And trust me, as we go through this teaching and you guys start to realize and open up as we all.

I'm including myself, as we start to open up and realize what the gifts are and exactly what they do in our lives and what they do in the church, right? Them themselves are a gift of love to us, right? So we have to ask for them. James 4, 2, 3 says, you do not have because you do not ask God when you ask. You do not receive because you ask with wrong motives.

We've got to ask with the right motives, right? It's not so we can start our own healing ministry, right? It's not so we can write a prophecy in the book and then sell it and make a whole lot of money only to find out the prophecy is wrong and then keep the money and not give it back. Right? That's not what this is about.

And I point that stuff out because that's what kind of stuff that's happening in the church.

And this is why people are somewhat turned off to the gifts of the Spirit, because people do this stuff and they do it in the name of the Lord, right? I'm here to tell you as a brother in Christ, that's not how this works. That's not God's plan.

That's not what they're meant for.

Matthew 7:7 12 Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds.

And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Listen to this. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for fish, we'll give him a snake. If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children.

How much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him? Right? So in everything, do unto others what you would have them do unto you. For this sums up the law and the prophets.

So the what of the gifts of the Spirit? What are they for? The gifts of the Spirit are for us, are given to us for the benefit of his kingdom and his bride. That's what they're provided for. Again, it's not self promotion.

Or so that we can make money off of it, or so that we can impress our friends.

That's not what they're for. God forbid we ever use them for that.

The gifts of the Spirit are given to us to help us serve one another and to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. He gives them to us to manifest his character in us. And when we use them amongst ourselves and with each other, that's exactly what they do.

Right? I'll tell a quick story and then I'm going to tell another story later about how I blew it. I'll go ahead and tell you that it's the Lord showed me something one time and I didn't tell the person he showed me and the consequences were dire. And I'll tell you that in a minute.

But I'll tell You this man, what the gifts of the Spirit produce not only in our own lives, but the lives of others, when we allow the Lord to use us to serve others is amazing.

One Wednesday I was here and I just felt the Lord say, hey, I want you to go over and pray for this particular individual or this couple, actually. So I went over, and as I'm walking to them, I had no idea what I was going to pray for. None. No clue. I was just trying to act in obedience.

So I went over and I said, hey, can I pray for you? And still at that point, guys, I still had no clue what I was praying for. It was just a simple act of obedience.

And at that moment, man, the Lord brought some scripture to my mind, right? Found in Luke 12, verse 11, says, when you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you would defend yourself or what you will say. You say, well, Jonathan, you weren't brought before a synagogue or rulers or authority. So this doesn't apply to that. Yes, it does, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but the principalities and the rulers of the air.

And these guys needed someone to war for them in this moment. And as soon as I opened my mouth, the Lord gave me what to pray. And, man, some stuff was broken off of them to the point one of them asked my wife or asked the other one, they said, did you talk to Jonathan about anything? The answer was no, because they hadn't talked to me. And then one of them asked my wife, how does he do that?

Now, listen, I'm not telling this story to promote myself because I'm about to tell you a story where I blew it.

But all I'm saying is this, a simple act of obedience, right? In the gifts of the Spirit will break stuff off people's lives, right? That's what they're meant for. They're meant to spur one another on in love, right? And at times, they do bring correction, all right?

But they're never meant to tear down and berate and to exercise ungodly authority over another person. That's not what they're for, but that's what they've been used for in the church. And that's why people are confused about what they're really for and somewhat scared to pursue them. May we break that off of us tonight? May we not be scared to pursue both the giver and the gift, right?

We need it, guys. We need this. I pray that they be more manifest in our presence, right? That they're used more often, right? That we would all get to know the Holy Spirit better than we currently do.

I long for that. I pray for that for all of us. And listen, every one of you that claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior and your life is surrendered to Him. You qualify for them.

You qualify for them. Getting a little bit ahead of myself. I was about to start tackling another one of the W's, but I'll wait till I get there.

Galatians 5, 22 and 23 says, but the food of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. Against such things there is no law. Again, this is what the gift is meant to produce in us. John 14, 26 and 27. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you things, and we will mind you of everything I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you, May peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Philippians 4, 8, 9. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things, whatever you have learned or received or heard from me.

This is Paul talking to the church in Philippi, the one who also wrote the book I just read from earlier explaining the gifts of the Spirit, right? And his goal was to exemplify these things, right? And he's doing, he's like, listen, whatever you've learned from me, put it into practice, right? And this is what the gifts of the Spirit help us do. They help us to put these things into practice, right?

And the God of peace will be with you, right? Listen, if the use of the gifts of the Spirit don't bring peace in the lives of the people in the church, they're being used incorrectly, right? That's not to say that they're not used to bring correction. But the end goal is never to leave someone beat up and berated. It's to gently restore them, right?

I'll use an example of something that happened to me. In fact, it happened in one of these chairs out here in the middle, right in front of the glass room out here.

A gentleman in the church came up to me and said, hey, what's wrong? I said, what do you mean? They're like, something's off with you, right? The Lord had given him a word of knowledge, and I was struggling with an area of forgiveness in my life.

And the Lord gave Him a word of knowledge about it. And in obedience to the Lord, he came to me and he said, hey, what's wrong? Right. Can I pray for you? Right.

And he used it in wisdom. And when I left there, that spirit that I was struggling to forgive this certain person with was broken off of me. And I walked out the door with complete forgiveness in my heart for that individual. It's the gift of the Spirit at work. That's how they should be used.

Never to manipulate and control.

Right. If they're used in a matter of correction, it's for our benefit that we get back on the right track. Right. That's why it's a gift.

The gifts of the Spirit are meant to help us strengthen, empower, and encourage one another.

The gifts of the Spirit are meant to be assigned to those who believe and don't believe. Right. And we'll get into this as time goes on. I won't spend a whole lot of time on this right now, but it's very clear in the Word. All right.

They're meant to be as a sign both to the believer and the unbeliever.

Right? And that sign is meant to draw both of them to Jesus. Both of them, both the believer and the unbeliever, to draw them to Jesus, to be more intimate with the Holy Spirit, that we would know him more deeply, that we will begin to understand him on a level we don't currently understand Him.

That's what they're meant for.

So the when of the gifts of the Spirit, when do they happen? All right. The gifts of the Spirit can happen anytime. The Spirit gives the unction, and the person receiving that unction is willing to obey.

That's when they happen. Right. All we have to do is walk in the Spirit and let him manifest Himself in us and then be obedient to His Word. And they will happen.

That's our promise. They're not relegated to a Sunday morning or a Wednesday night. Right? They're for 247 anywhere. Someone who is a person of the Spirit is and is willing to obey.

When the Lord says, do this, that's when the gifts of the Spirit are used. It could be in a grocery store, it could be in Walmart. Right? Doesn't matter. Someone could be in the aisle.

You hear the Lord say, go pray for them. They just had a death in the family. Right?

Listen, it's done in complete humility. Ma'. Am, sir, this might be weird, but can I pray for you?

I feel like the Lord's showing me. You may have just experienced A death in the family. Right.

And then you pray for them. It's using the gifts of the Spirit to draw people closer to. To Jesus.

That's what they're meant for.

Try to hurry through these last couple of points because I want to give the Holy Spirit some time to just be himself, the wearer of the gifts of the Spirit. They happen everywhere. A person of the Spirit goes and is willing to obey. Right. When is it?

Any time. And where is wherever.

Right. They're not relegated to the four walls of a church building. Sure. They're used within church services. Absolutely.

The Bible's clear on that. In fact, it gives some very specific instructions on that.

But they're not just relegated to a church service. You and I can use them anytime we want. All we have to do is listen to the voice of the Spirit. That's why it's so important that we know his voice. My sheep know my voice.

Right? They enter through the narrow gate.

We have to get to know the voice of the Lord. We also have to gain a deeper understanding of the Word.

There's been so many times, man, the Lord has spoken to me for someone else through the Word, right? Brought a scripture reference or just the Scripture itself, whatever the case may be.

We have to know the Word.

It also helps to know the Word to know whether or not what you're hearing is actually from the Lord. Because if it contradicts the Word, it's not from the Lord. It's not the Holy Spirit.

So the better we understand the Word, the more discernment we have in what we're hearing.

So that's the where of the gifts of the Spirit and lastly the why of the gifts of the Spirit. And the question I had to ask is, why don't we see them more often?

Right? We've already went over some of this.

The church at large, for whatever reason, does not earnestly desire the gifts of the Spirit. That's why we don't see them more often. I'm talking about in the Bride of Christ, right? Thankfully, you and I go to a church and we attend church. We are the church with a group of people who want to see the gifts of the Spirit move, who want to see them manifest in our presence.

But that doesn't take us off the hook for going after them. Right? Listen, just coming and sitting inside this building and trying to take in the gifts of the Spirit by osmosis, right. Is not really how the Lord planned that out. Right?

You're going to benefit just from being in here, but nothing like you could, if we jump in and participate and earnestly desire the gifts of the Spirit, right? Because then what you realize is they don't just happen. Here you're at home, laying in your bed, and the Lord gives you a word of knowledge about a certain person or situation, and you start to pray, only to find out the next day that there was a dire need there and what you actually heard and prayed about was happening in real time as you were interceding for that person.

Or there's a situation you have and you just don't know what to do about it, right? And then all of a sudden, the Lord downloads a word of wisdom in you how to handle that thing, right? And it's wisdom that comes outside of your capabilities. In other words, you could have never thought of that on your own, right? That's wisdom from the Lord, Right?

And unfortunately, you don't gain that type of activity in your life just by sitting in a church building and. And not participating and not asking for the gifts of the Spirit in your own life. It's something we have to go after.

The second reason we don't see them more often is we don't understand them. And listen, I don't claim to have complete understanding of the gifts of the Spirit. I don't.

But my years of walking with the Lord and really, really asking the Lord, hey, for the gifts of the Spirit and for them to be made manifest not only in myself, but in the body of believers that I live with and do life with, which is you guys, right? I want to take what I already know and just build on it, right? That's why I'm so looking forward to this myself. Right? The wisdom and revelation and insights that's going to come in the next few weeks as we dive into this.

The third reason that we don't see the gifts of the Spirit more often is we don't obey when the Holy Spirit speaks to us.

Right?

If the Lord's speaking to you and saying, hey, listen, go pray for that person in that wheelchair right at the aisle in. Well, I was about to say Kmart, but maybe not Kmart anymore at the aisle in Academy Sports, that's a good place, right? Listen, if you don't go pray, you're not going to see the healing.

But what if I go and I don't see the healing? At least you obeyed, right?

But I'm thoroughly convinced that one of the reasons we don't see them more often is because we just don't obey when the Lord asks us to do something.

Right.

And the last reason we don't see them more often is we just don't make room for them in our lives, Right?

And Pastor Jay, don't shoot me if I misquote you here. In fact, you can correct me if I do.

He said, people do it all the time. That's not my goal.

But I heard Pastor Jay said something one time to the effect of, hey, listen, if you're trying, if there's something you're facing and you go into figure it out mode, rather than like, let's seek the Lord mode, right?

That's not the way to handle situations, right? And when we do that in our own life, right, we're not making room for the gifts of the Spirit in our life, right? You got a financial situation, right? And some people have more tendency to lean on their own understanding in that situation. If they've got the gift to make money or they've got a gift to do a business, right?

It can be more leaning on their own understanding to try to figure out that financial situation, or it could be anything, right? But our first reaction has got to be making room for the Lord to work in our lives and not trying to figure it out on our own.

If we do that, we will see the gifts of the Spirit made more manifest in our lives, right? Because what happens is you get into a situation that you can't possibly think your way out of, and then you don't know how to go before the Lord because you've made a life practice of figuring it out on your own. But this situation is too much for you, right? Anybody ever been there? I have.

I confess. I've been there. All right. Lord, I can't figure this one out. I wish I was more in practice with hearing from you, right?

We've got to make room for the gifts of the Spirit in our life.

And listen, can we just be real with each other for a moment, man? Listen, sometimes, especially in a church service, people can get a little bit weird, right? I mean, like, let's just be real, right?

And that kind of causes us, like, a bad taste in our mouth towards the gifts of the Spirit. Well, if that's the gifts of the Spirit, I don't want anything to do with it, right? But listen, stay focused on the Lord, right? People are going to react however they react. If another person's action drives us away from the Lord, we really have to look at ourselves and go, hey, listen, why would that happen if it pushes us away from the gifts he's trying to give us, right?

We've got to look at ourselves and go, mm, I would rather be with the Lord, right? I'm not going to determine my pursuit of the gifts of the spirit, of the things of the Lord, of the Lord himself, based on how somebody else is acting, because it can just get a little bit weird sometimes. But we can't let us keep. Let that keep us from pursuing him, right?

So how of the gifts of the spirit. Real quickly, I want to go through this. How can we see them happen more often out or miss? Well, one is seek the giver and ask him for gifts we've already talked about. Learn to hear his voice and obey when he speaks.

And here's a big one. We have to place him above our own plans, right? Sometimes, man, we have everything laid out exactly what we're supposed to do. We've got our day laid out. We've got to do this.

We've got to get that done. And listen, I'm a list person. If there's stuff to be done, man, I've got lists. In fact, if you look on the note app on my phone, man, I've got so many lists on there that I can't count them. And.

And I haven't looked at some of them in years, right, Man, But I tell you what, I can make a list. Who can I make a list? Ask my wife. I can make it in a heartbeat. And you know what?

I can also go through that list and get the stuff done. But if I'm not careful, because that's my tendency, I will leave the Lord out of my list, Right? And I won't make room for him to have his way in the midst of that. And, guys, he wants to. He wants to be a part.

He is longing to be a part to the point that he died. To be a part of our lives.

We've got to make room for him, Really. In tonight, I was thinking about all the stories I could tell of experiencing the gifts of the spirit.

And, man, they're glorious, right? Just whether the gift was working through me or someone else, they're incredible, right?

It's the way we should live. It's the way we should move. It should be the essence of who we are.

And I don't want to leave or leave this on a bad note because I want to give the next few minutes, just let the Holy Spirit do what he wants to do.

But I promised you I'd tell you a story about one time when I blew it. And this one had dire consequences. And I've been forgiven for this. I asked the Lord forgiveness for it. The Lord's forgiven me.

I don't walk in shame over this. I really don't. But it does serve as a reminder what happens when you don't obey the voice of the Lord.

My wife and I were at a wedding one time and we were sitting there, you know, and it came to that awkward part of the wedding where they go, if anyone has reason that these two shouldn't be joined together, let them speak now or forever hold their peace.

I held my peace and I shouldn't have, because I knew. The Lord gave me a spirit of discernment and a word of knowledge about what was happening there. And I should have obeyed. I should have stood up and said very humbly, very gently, listen, I can't within good conscience sit here before the Lord and not say something that should have been how it went. Because I knew in the Lord this was not right, that this wedding, this marriage should not be happening.

I knew it. The Lord spoke to me as plain as day. And out of fear I sat there and kept my mouth shut.

I knew that this young lady should not be marrying this man, that this man was trouble. The Lord was showing me these things. In fact, before the wedding, I'd never met the man. I knew the young lady. My wife and I did.

We had known her since she was a child.

And when I shook his hand, I knew something was wrong.

What was on that man was not the spirit of the Lord.

And I knew it. The Lord showed me then and he kept telling me over and over and over again. When I sat there and I did not get up, I kept my mouth shut.

The marriage was over in six months.

By that time, the wife was pregnant.

The husband beat her and left and took off. Had I opened my mouth, that young lady would not had to have endured that in her life.

Our disobedience does not only affect ourselves.

If I had it to do over, I would stand up and and shouted from the rooftops, don't marry him.

And I would have. If she would have listened to the voice of the Lord, not saying my voice, but listen to the voice of the Lord, she would have spared herself all that agony and pain. On the backside of that, the Lord is a redeemer. Because now she's married to someone who loves her deeply, right? And takes care of the child as if it was his own.

In fact, they even look alike.

And biologically it's not his child. The Lord is a Redeemer, right? That's my redemption in that story, is even though I disobeyed, the Lord took care of the situation.

That doesn't let me off the hook for my disobedience.

It just shows the nature of the Lord.

That's what the gifts are for.

That's just one small part of the gifts.

It's for you and I to hold each other accountable, to spur one another on in love, to help one another, to serve one another, to do it in humility, to not be self seeking. To not do it for our own gain or for recognition. That's not the purpose of the gifts of the Spirit.

Our only gain in them should be more of him and less of us. That's the gain in the gifts of the Spirit, more of him and less of us.

We have everything to gain, and whatever we lose is nothing compared to what we get.

It's just a simple act of obedience and listening to the Lord.