God's Gifts

Brethren, I have had some in the past years when I visited particularly different countries, Brazil and Portugal, specifically, I had requests to visit some new people. And one of the requests to visit new people I had was I was talking to a lady and she was explaining to me about her feelings about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, saying that it was so special and that she was sorry that we in God's Church were not experiencing these feelings and sensations that the gifts of the God's Spirit were giving her. And she was referring to 1 Corinthians 12, verse 8, which we will go to later. And when you hear these things, it gives you, put it mildly, a weird feeling. It gives you a weird feeling and a weird sensation. And brethren, as we're going to preach the gospel more and more to the world and more effectively, we are about to come in contact with some of these people trying to inject into us some ideas that might not be quite correct. And therefore, it is very important that we are grounded in the truth, that we're able to prove our beliefs, and that we are able to explain different doctrines. And one of them, for instance, is understanding the gifts of God. And God is given as many gifts. And obviously, amongst God's gifts, there's the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And today, brethren, I want to spend a bit of time examining some of God's gifts, because there are many. There are many. We're just examining some and including, more specifically, the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The reason I'm doing this is so that you and I can have a better relationship with God the Father and the Son. And as we sang a song earlier today, which was quite happy, which was on page 168, hymn 168, giving God thanks, it fitted very nicely with the sermon today, which is that we can be a lot more grateful to God for what He does give us. But, last but not least, one of the main reasons of God's gifts is that we can be of better service to Him and to each other for His glory, for His ultimate glory. So God the Father is developing a relationship with us, brethren, because His desire is to have us as His children. And therefore, He wants a very special relationship, like a dad and a mom wants to have that relationship with the children. Obviously, it's based on truth, based on the Bible. It's loving, it's empathetic, it's like a family, godly, genuine, loving family relationship, a relationship that we all are learning and growing and learning about it. But as we, for instance, are parents or become parents, we learn even more about this genuine love that God has for us, as parents love their children and their grandchildren. But even if you don't have children or grandchildren, you're learning this through your family relationships and relationships in the Church. And therefore, we are learning genuine, godly love through the example of our families. And one of the things that we, as parents, really like to do for our children, we like to give good gifts to our children. We like to give. We like to give to our children.

We like to give of our time to them. We like to give things. But obviously, we also expect a response. We expect a positive response. Because if we're getting a negative response, it kind of hampers the giving of gifts. But if you have a positive response, you want to give. Now, it's still a giving. In other words, the gifts are unmerited. It's not that the response earns them, the gifts. The gifts, it's because it's unmerited giving that we do give to them.

But a positive response is something that we expect in a relationship. And God is teaching us the same concept through us, throughout the Bible, and throughout His gifts. And so today, as I mentioned, we are looking at God's gifts. So to start, let's look at James chapter 1, verse 17.

James chapter 1, verse 17.

Here we have a simple Scripture which says, very plainly, every good gift and every perfect gift. They are gifts, it says, is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, which with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. These gifts come from God, God the Father Himself.

He loves us and He gives us the best gifts for us because He wants that relationship with you and I. He wants that relationship. Let's look at how Paul described this in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians, second chapter. We're going to start reading in verse 4.

Ephesians 2 verse 4. And it says, But God, who is rich in mercy, God, obviously, is God the Father who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us. God the Father is rich in mercy because of His great love that He has for us. Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together of Christ, by grace, you have been saved. And what is grace? Grace is an expression of love, a loving desire to freely give. It's a desire that wants to give. It's to freely give. It's a free gift. It's a desire and it's an expression of love, outgoing concern. And he says, And raised us together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in the ages to come, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace, that in the ages to come, in other words, millennia from today, He will be able to show.

The exceeding riches of His grace. Why? For His glory. It's for God's glory, for God the Father's glory. So we will be able to see for His glory and it will be to His glory, to His honor, that He's created this whole family and everything. It's a wonderful thing that He has doing it for us. And He says, the exceeding riches. You and I just cannot even begin to comprehend what these exceeding riches are. We just, like Paul said, we see through a glass darkly, but we just don't understand this all incomplete. And it says, Exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus, in other words, through Christ. Because Christ is being, let's call it, the instrument that He is executing this grace through to us. And then it says, For by grace, you have been saved through faith. By this grace, you know, it was this expression of love, this loving desire to freely give. We have been saved. He's already looking into the future.

Obviously, there's a response. There's all He wants to give, and there's a response. But He is looking at it positively. And He says, We've been saved through faith. In other words, through the faith of Christ. It's not something that I've got to work it out. It's the faith of Christ. We've saved through faith of Christ. And it says, And that not of yourselves. So it's not our faith. It's the faith of Christ. It is the gift of God. It's God's gift to us.

Wow! We'll look a little bit more at that in a moment. And then look in verse 10. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus through Christ Jesus for good works. That is the ultimate purpose. That is the end result. The end result, the purpose of all this, is so that we are going to be doing good works. Now, obviously, God defines what good works are. It's not what mankind or evangelists talk about good works. It's what God defines what are good works. Because ultimately, it's good works towards that good, godly, meaningful relationship that He wants to have with us.

So, what is the gift that demonstrates God's love to us more than any other gift? What would you say? Think to yourself. What would you say is the gift from God that demonstrates to us His love more than any other gift? And we're going to go through a number of gifts. But which one would you say is, let's call it the creme de la creme, the top of the biggest gift? Well, it's a Scripture, yeah, that we all know pretty well. John 3 verse 16. John 3, 16.

It says, For God so loved the world, there He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Now, there is a ton of things in this verse. There's a ton of things in this verse. For one, it says, the beginning, the beginning, like the Alpha, right, is that He gave Christ to die for us and to suffer for us.

Right? Because it says, He gave His only begotten Son. That's a gift. That's the biggest gift. He gave His only Son. I mean, if you only had one child and you were giving that child, that is a lot of love. That is a lot of love. Probably a mother understands better than a dad, but really, it's a lot of love.

And then it says, that whoever believes in Him, what is belief? Belief is a whole process of obedience.

It's a whole process of obedience. This is where the whole world goes wrong. It's Satan's deception says, oh, just believe. There's a whole... believing means doing something, because if you believe, you're going to do what people say, tell you to do, because you believed it. You're going to do it. So, it's a whole process from Christ's sacrifice, symbolized by the Passover, which is the beginning, the Alpha, that's the beginning, through this whole process of belief, which is a process of obedience during our lifetime, and living and changing, becoming, becoming different. So that, ultimately, it says here in verse 16, so that ultimately, we should not perish, but have everlasting life. That is the end, the end goal, ever-lossing life. So, from Alpha to the Omega, from beginning to end, that's where it is, everlasting life, always having that relationship with God, and always a relationship which is based on love. God the Father wants to have that with us.

And that is because of His grace, of His graciousness wanting to give this to us, for no reason over ours. We've done nothing. We've done nothing. He just wants us to be there, and He's doing it through, from, as it says, by grace, by His graciousness, and He's done it by giving us the biggest gift, the first gift here that I'm highlighting today, which is the gift of Christ's own life.

But this is where the whole world goes wrong, because from here, they go wrong.

Because they say all we need is to believe, etc. There's a whole process, and in this process, what is the next thing?

God has given Christ to us, but the world doesn't understand it, because the world hasn't been called. Now, look with me to John, chapter 6, just a few pages ahead, John, chapter 6, verse 65.

Look at it. It says, And He said, therefore I have said to you that no man can come to me unless that he has been granted to him by my Father.

In other words, we cannot come to be true Christians unless it's been granted to us. In other words, it's been given to us. So God's calling is a gift. It's a gift.

It's a gift. So, yeah, we'll be starting looking at that process of believing, the beginning of that process. He has another gift, which is God's calling.

Now, we probably knew that God's calling is a gift, but we haven't thought of it that way as part of the gift from God to us.

But that's not all.

You see, because God may call you, it's like the parable of the seed, and the seed falls in the ground, and what it is. There's many called, but few are chosen. Why? Because the seed falls in the ground, and those hearts have not, their minds have not really grasped it and understood it. Turn with me to Matthew 13, exactly where Mr. Adams was earlier. Mr. Adams was earlier on today, Matthew 13.

And then at the end of this, well, not at the end of this parable, but before this parable, it's in verse 10, after this parable, correct. Immediately after this parable, verse 10, he says, and the disciples came to him and said, Why do you speak to them? In other words, to the audience, to the people, to the world, Why do you speak to them in parables?

And he said, Because it has been given to you. He has another gift. It's been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, of the kingdom of God. But to them, it has not been given. They don't understand it. They don't see it. You can read it further. Their minds are blinded. Their hearts are hardened. Their ears are dull of hearing. They cannot grasp it. So the calling has gone out, but not everyone has got that gift of understanding that the mind has been opened. Not everyone has the mind open.

And we are the firstfruits. We have been given that gift, that calling, and God has opened our minds to understand this beautiful plan of God. And that is an amazing gift. That understanding, having the mind open to understand it. It is a gift from God the Father.

Another thing we can give God thanks as that song we sang. It's beautiful when I just heard that song. It really goes through it again, 168. And it really is so meaningful. It's beautiful. And then, what's next? What is the next gift? Think about it. God has given us Christ.

We have been called. It's a gift. Our mind has been opened. What is it that we need to do next?

Which is, by the way, also a gift. Can you think what is it that you and I need to do next? Which is, by the way, a gift? Turn with me to 2 Timothy 2, 2 Timothy 2, verses 24 and 25. And the servant of the Lord must not quarrel, but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance. God grants repentance. God gives repentance so that they may know the truth.

Repentance is a gift from God. To those that accept His invitation, those that have the mind open, now they start to do what? To see themselves as they are. They really have their eyes open, not to see the sins of other people, but to see their own sins, but not only to see their own sins or to see our own sins, but to see what we ourselves are. It's not just what we've done, but it's what we are. So we have our minds open to see ourselves, and that's what it is, because it's saying those who are correcting those who are in opposition. Because quite often, people are opposing themselves. They're kind of resisting themselves. You can feel that there's a battle within people. They're opposing themselves. So we have to understand that God is given as a gift for us to be, or rather to have an open mind to see ourselves so that we are not spiritually blind. Now, it's all part of this whole process of humility, because it's when we see that we are not important. We're just not important. We are teachable, and we, therefore, through those gifts, are responding. As Isaiah 66, verse 2, you don't have to turn there, but it says, "'Him that is a contrite heart and trembles at my word.'" Trembles at God's word. We contrite heart, we listen to God's word, and we change, and we repent, and we listen to it, and we are changing.

Then, and Yah is a condition. Yah is an important condition. If we really confess, if we really confess, if we are... You see, God has expectations, like in a relationship, parent has an expectation with the child, has expectations that the children do certain things. Not that they deserve to get additional gifts, because a gift is a gift, but there are certain expectations. God has certain expectations with us. Turn with me to 1 John, 1 John chapter 1, verses 8 and 9. 1 John 1, verse 8 and 9. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if, Yah is a condition, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So there is a repentance and a confession, but there is a condition. And therefore, when we repent and we confess and we are able to talk to God openly about our frailties and our weaknesses, etc., then He says He will, He's faithful, He is absolutely faithful and just to forgive us, our sins. That is another gift. Forgiveness is a gift.

The nast, forgive us, it's a gift. It's unmerited pardon. It's a gift. It's part of His grace.

But it is conditional on us responding to the calling, is conditional on us being good ground, responding to that calling, being of a contrite heart and humble and teachable and trembling at His word and therefore repenting and putting that to practice. Then He gives us another gift, which is the mind is cleared. That kind of, in modern technology, word is delete. It's gone. God! Delete! It's gone! What a peace of mind that gives us! It is a gift.

And then, what is next?

It's part of this whole thing. He gives us, when we repent, and we know He's going to forgive us, but He does tell us to do something. Turn with me, Acts 2, verse 38, a very well-known scripture, yeah? It says, then Peter said to them, Repent, and let every one of you be baptized. And yeah, is another condition.

Yeah, you repent. You have this repentance. God is prepared to forgive, etc.

But you do have to do something. There is an additional positive response from us. And what is it? To be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

So, yeah, it's another gift, which is the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now, I am not telling you anything new, but it's interesting to start putting them under the frame that they are all gifts from God the Father, that we need to be grateful for. And these gifts that I've covered so far, in a sense, they apply to everyone. They apply to everyone. In a sense, they're collective, not that it's not a collective salvation. That's not what I'm talking about. All I'm saying is, they are gifts that apply equally to everyone when those conditions are adhered to.

You know, it's not that He will do this to me, but He will do to somebody else differently. It's to all the same, provided He's called, that we are called by God, that in other words, at the right time, in the end, He'll call everybody. But each one in His own order, we are just the first fruits. But we have to respond now. There are certain positive responses that He expects from us, you know, certain expectations He has from us. But these gifts are applicable to each one of us, to all of us. But now He gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And the gift of the Holy Spirit now, in first place, is not given just under any conditions.

You see, He expects us first to do certain things, like one of them is baptism.

The other one will be the laying on our vans that will follow on, baptized into the in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in other words, into the family of God, by the authority of Jesus Christ, by legally, let's call it legally in God's terms, a duly authorized minister of God, and passing that baton to you as it's authorized. But He does not give that to everybody. Look at it. John 14. John 14. John 14, verse 16 to 17. John 14, 16 to 17. And I'll pray the Father, said Christ, and he the Father will give you another help, in other words, the Holy Spirit, that he, that it, it should be, may help you, may abide with you forever. The Spirit of truth, you know, it was God's Spirit, who the, whom the Lord cannot, whom the world cannot receive. In other words, the world cannot receive God's Holy Spirit. Wow! The world cannot receive God's Holy Spirit. God's Holy Spirit is given only to those that have repented from the world, that have moved away from the things of this world. The world cannot receive the Holy Spirit. But you know Him. You know God the Father. For He, God the Father, dwells in you and will be in you. God the Father, it's God's Holy Spirit, and it's also Christ's Holy Spirit, because it's the same Spirit, it's the same mind, the mind of God, and therefore it will be with you. And, and, but the point that I wanted to emphasize here is that the world cannot receive the Holy Spirit.

Why? Because only, because God only gives His Holy Spirit to those that obey Him.

Acts 5, 32. God only gives those, the Holy Spirit, to those that obey Him. Acts 5, 32. So we have to obey. And again, yeah, we're talking about responsibilities, because God gives us the principles that we need to obey. He gives us the guideline, He gives us His commandments.

What is the ultimate end result? For good works. For the good works of that relationship.

So God defines what those good works are according to the ten directives of God's law.

And again, He says elsewhere, Why do you call me Lord, Lord? And don't do the things that I tell you to do. Yes, you see, yes, you see, I think this world, even this morning, I had a request on the Internet from somebody says, Oh, well, we're doing the Lord's work. Please send this literature so we can actually go out and evangelize. And the point is, yes, the people can be willing, but we've got to be based on God's laws and God's commandments and keeping the Sabbath, because you can keep all the commandments barring one. And it's if you break one, it's as if you broke them all. So you've got to keep the Sabbath. You've got to keep God's law. So those are the conditions that God gives the Holy Spirit. So everything else is false. It's a deception. So brethren, we can see that the process of giving from God the Father is quite an extended one, starting from, he said, he loves so much the world so that he is given his firstborn so that if we believe, and there's a whole lot of things related to believing, then we'll have eternal life. That's the end. The last gift. The last gift is eternal life. Eternal life is a gift, too.

But there is a whole process here. But in the middle of that process, he gives us his Holy Spirit.

Now, that's where things become where people get confused. Because it's like a gift inside another gift. It's like a box inside another box. If you've done the thing where you're giving a present, and then in the present you've got another box inside the box, you know, well, God's Holy Spirit is another gift. But inside it, it's got many other gifts.

Now, there's a thing called the fruit of the Holy Spirit. There's a thing called fruits.

And there's a thing called gifts. They are different.

You see, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is what we all have to have. When we have God's Holy Spirit, we have to exhibit those nine characteristics of the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. Yes, maybe the fruit is not quite ripe. So maybe some of its characteristics are not quite ripe. But we have to have all of them, which is outgoing love, joy, and peace, which is being patient, kind, and good with other people, which is the inequalities of faithfulness, nikness, and self-control. We have to have them all, not just one of them.

We can say, well, he's got a lot of love. The fruit is God's Holy Spirit, because he's got a lot of love. But maybe he does not have self-control. That's not God's Holy Spirit. So, yeah, some people have great abilities of being very kind and very patient. But that might not be God's Holy Spirit, because you've got to be kind and patient and good and faithful and mik and self-control and having love, joy, and peace for that to be the fruit of God's Holy Spirit. So that's the fruit.

You can read about that in Galatians 5, 22, and 23. But anyway, that's the fruit. Then with that fruit, with those characteristics, we have to do good works. And those good works have outcomes in our lives, which are fruits, which are end results, which are good fruits of things that we do, good fruits. So we have good fruits that we exhibit because of God's Spirit.

But how do we achieve these good end results? It's because the Holy Spirit gives us, let's call it, specific talents, specific abilities, specific, let's call it, tools, specific tools, which are individualized to you and I. So you may have certain talents while somebody sitting next to you may have different talents, all coming from God's Spirit as gifts from the Holy Spirit. Gifts that the Holy Spirit has given you may be there are enhancements on your own natural talents, maybe some additional talents that you haven't even explored, that you need to maybe explore, that God through His Spirit is giving you, or maybe some talents that you may have in some situation, but in other situations somebody else has got that talent a bit more.

And therefore we have to work with one another because those gifts are, think about abilities or talents, individualized to you so that you and I can function as a body of Christ to do the work.

So, Paul explained this very nicely in Corinthians. So we're going to go now and look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which are now, let's call it in modern language, they customize to you. God, in fact, Christ prayed to God the Father and He says, look, I'm looking at George or I'm looking at Mary or Peter or whatever and I'm saying I want Him or her in this position in the body, in in the Church and ultimately in the Kingdom of God because the Church, as it was mentioned in the sermon, is the embryo of the Kingdom of God.

So it's a training ground towards that. So I want Him or her in that position because I'm preparing this room for Him or her and therefore I'm going to now start developing Him or her on certain things and therefore for Him or for her to have this, I'm going to give this person certain talents, certain abilities, certain unique strengths or abilities to perform whatever function God wants us to perform in the body, in other words, to serve the body. So Paul explained this in Corinthians 12. So let's go into Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and look at that.

So we've seen the first set of gifts, as I mentioned to you, were gifts from God that apply to everybody. Then Christ is going to heaven as our High Priest, looking how He can serve us in a different way, looking right at the greatest good of the body, the total body, He's the head of the body.

So as He says, right, I need this arm, I need this finger, I need this leg, I need this function in the body, and each one for that function needs specific abilities or talents or capabilities. And therefore I'm going to ask the Father, pray to the Father, to give Him or her those gifts of the Holy Spirit so that they may function accordingly for the good of the body. And so 1 Corinthians 12 now concerning spiritual gifts. Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. So Paul was saying, and God basically is saying through Yah, because it's God's Word, he says, God does not want us to be ignorant.

He wants us to understand these things. For you know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, whatever you were led. You were in the world, and you were carried away with these funny ideas of the world, and you didn't really understand true Christianity, through spiritual things.

You had funny ideas, but they're not spiritual, truly spiritual. Verse 33. Verse 3. Therefore, I made known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus a curse. So no one with God's Spirit can say that Jesus, Jesus Christ, was a curse. In other words, was condemned. And today, obviously, people don't normally say that, but they say it in more subtle ways, but they kind of end up with that statement, but in very subtle ways.

And no one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. People cannot say that Jesus Christ is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. I mean, I looked at in some translations, they even say, they translate that differently by saying, the Lord Jesus. Well, that's not what it says, because they're actually denying Christ, because what it's saying is, Jesus is Lord. The word for Lord, obviously, in Greek is kurios, but interesting thing is, in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word Lord, which is YHWH, was translated, and which people use at that time, at the time of Christ, in Greek, was translated to also kurios.

So, Jesus is the Lord. That's what it says, and you can only say that by God's Holy Spirit. If you read our booklet, Jesus Christ, the Truth Story, it's very clear explaining Jesus is YHWH. It says that times also refers to God the Father as that, as well. So, it says, but most of the time, Jesus is the Creator and is that.

So, that is something that the world, in general, does not say. It does not say Jesus is Lord, and that we can only say through the power of God's Spirit that Jesus, indeed, is of the God family. And then he goes on, because understand Jesus' pride and asked us to get the Holy Spirit, and he says, there are diversities of gifts. Now, it's interesting. The word Christ is charese, like charity, similar type of word, charese, just the beginning.

And the word gifts is charisma, which is an English word that's used like that. Person's got charisma. It's a charismatic type person. It's, so it's very similar words, it's grace and gifts in Greek. Interesting. But it says there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, there are diversities of ministries. In other words, the word there is diakonos, of serving, like a deacon, diakonos. So there are differences of positions of service, but the same Lord.

And there are diversities of activities, which is, the Greek word is energy, comes like the energy is of activities, actions, but it is the same God who works all in all. You see, God works all in all. The gifts are for all of us, for the benefit of all, for all our benefit to do a work. And then it goes into the gifts into a little bit more detail. For to one is given the word of wisdom. So to one has got the gift of wisdom.

What is this? Basically understanding cause and effect. You do this thing, it's got this end result. That's what this wisdom is. It's understanding, cause and effect. And God, therefore, is serving us through the servants by giving us wisdom. Do we all have wisdom? Yes, to one greater or lesser extent. Some people have more wisdom in this situation, some people may have more wisdom in another situation. So we kind of share with one another for the benefit of the body, the gift as God gives us through His Spirit, as we learn and understand and get wisdom from God's Word, we may get one thing, the other person will get one, we talk to one another, and it's the benefit of the body. It's the benefit for all in all.

Unfortunately, it says not many wives are called.

It says that earlier in the same book, but God is called amongst the foolish and not wise. It's why? So that I don't say or none of us say, I have wisdom. Because that's trouble. That's trouble. So we all, God is called as we realize that we are not the wise, but God does give us wisdom in situations. And we then recognize that it's a gift of the Holy Spirit that God the Father sent to us.

And then it says to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. What's knowledge? Knowledge is what we are able to understand, because you can also read early on in Corinthians that it says, you know, that the things of man we know because of the Spirit of man, but the things of God we know through the Spirit of God that is upon us. So God has given us this knowledge, understanding, and some people have more understanding in one area. And we know that some people have more understanding in another. So God gives us that Spirit to that gift to you. And to me, we all have the gift, gifts of the Holy Spirit. We all have them. We have God's Spirit, we have them. Maybe we have in smaller quantities or in greater quantities we need to develop, and we need to work with it. As we develop, we grow, so we're not quenching it, and it grows, and we have more. But we all have this individualized gifts of the Spirit to you and I, as God sees fit so that we can serve the whole body. And so He's given us the gift of knowledge.

And then He goes on to another faith by the same Spirit. Well, some people in the Church have a lot more faith than others. We all have to one degree faith, but some people have more faith than others. Some people have gone through certain situations, and those people with more faith encourage us or show us things that help us also to develop faith. So it's like, what does it say, iron sharpens iron? You know, we just help one another through God's Spirit. We're helping for the benefit of all, in all for all. To another gift of healing by the same Spirit. So God, some people have the gift of healing. Now remember that these gifts are for us to do the work. And so God gives them, maybe sometimes in greater quantities at certain times to do the work because it's needed, and other times, maybe in lesser quantities. Look at the time of Peter and the apostles. Peter had the gift of healing. He woke past and he said, well, there's a man sitting there. I don't have a lot, but what I can do, I can give to you. Get up and walk. That was a gift of healing.

Was he anointed? Was he given oil and anointed and laid the hands? Maybe it was, but it doesn't say, it doesn't appear that it was, according to the Scripture. He says, just get up and walk. There was a gift of healing. It wasn't anointing. It was a gift of healing. Now why do we don't have it in the stom? Well, maybe we have it, maybe we don't. I think we have it less, probably at this time, because if we had a lot of this now, we'll draw a lot of attention to the church. And maybe, therefore, God sees, he gives us these gifts for the good of the body at his time. And so he gives these gifts individually, as it's necessary for the good of the body. And the body is the church.

Ultimately, it will be the body of Christ. Ultimately, it will be married. But it's for that body, so that the body can do a work. A work, good works. God defines good works through his Spirit, so we can actually preach the gospel to the work in the process of developing that good, healthy relationship. And then he goes on to another, the working of miracles.

Now, the word miracles there is, it's a word that says, dominos, which is power. Now, it's interesting because it says, Yahweh translates to say, the working of miracles. So you take this word and Yah, they translate the working of miracles. But then in another place, think about remembering the model prayer, and it says, our Father art in heaven. And how does it end? For thine is the power and the glory. I'm just trying to, for that for yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory. The word power is the same word. So the translators, when they use that word, they translate it at their power. They could have said, for thine is the kingdom and the miracles and the glory. But Yah, they translate in miracles. You see, the translators sometimes have certain liberties. And so it's why, that's why it's interesting sometimes to actually look at the words. Because Yah is the working, the working of dynamic power of God. And yes, it may be miracles, but it may not be. God has power. So it's the workings of power.

Now, this world likes, it's got this thing about miracles. Now, we've got to be careful with miracles. Now, if you watched the Beyond Today program this past Sunday, you've probably heard Mr. McNeely talking about, be careful of miracles. An example he gave there on the Beyond Today program, he said that Satan tempted Christ to do miracles. And he said, if you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread. Now, he could have done miracles, he had a power.

But those miracles would be for a show, for an exhibition, not to do God's work. You see, Satan then said, if you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this tower. Well, he could have done, he had a power. But those miracles, the use of that power for that purpose would have been misapplied because would have been for a show. We don't use God's power, miraculous dynamic power, for a show. Christ's life was full of miracles, but it was to do the work, the work of the body, the work of God, ultimately with that end result, the good work. That's when the miracles come into play. And then it goes on to another prophecy, which is speaking like a professor, kind of, you know, it's basically is preaching. It's an old word that is using meaning like this person professes to do this, that, and that. In other words, he says to do this and that. It's an old word, which means speaking, inspired speaking, to another discerning of spirits. And indeed, forever and there are spirits in the world. There are spirits of the world, there's spirit of God, and there's spirit of man in man. And with God's spirit, we can sometimes get what we call, I get this vibe. You discern spirits with God's spirit. It is a gift.

When I was in Brazil, I had the situation that I don't want to talk about it. It was the wrong spirit. It was the wrong spirit, and I discerned it straight away, and I told my wife, this is the wrong spirit. This is wrong. And really, brethren, it's the thing that you don't want to confront yourself with. It's not a nice experience. And another kinds of tongues. Well, yes, another thing. In Portuguese, in the Bible, it says, into another tongues. But in Portuguese, there's no word for languages.

The word for language is these tongues.

So, in the Portuguese Bible, it says, translating in today's word will be to another different types of languages and to other the interpretation of languages. You see, so, the Bible says, translating in different languages. You see, so, people have taken this word and made something of it, but that's what it is. It's speaking in different languages. And what for? To do the work.

When people read this in the world out there, and they say, oh, now we need these gifts of tongues and this, and it's just to show. It's just to show off. It's not doing a work. In God's work, to the degree that it's necessary today. And so, God will give that ability where it's necessary. Certain people have certain talents, and God enhances those talents with certain additional gifts.

I'll give you an example. In school, my highest marks was maths, was science, was drawing, was all those things. My lowest marks was languages. I failed the year because of languages. I had to do the last year, I had to repeat it three times, you know, you can do the exam, to actually pass English, because English is my weakest language. I mean, my weakest subject. And Portuguese is the same thing. And God today is using me to do a work with some languages. It's not of me. I know it's not of me. He's enhanced that. It's not perfect, but at least it's enough to do the work. He announces it. And to another, the translation of languages. Basically, it's a translator. Some people can translate and go down. What for the benefit of the word? But one and the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills. So some people have more of this, some people have less of that, to do the work. Because, and you can go and read the rest of the section. We don't have to go into it now, but they are there individually to do a work. Turn with me, please, to Ephesians, the fourth chapter, verse seven. Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. We're going to come back to Corinthians, but I just want to show you one or two things here in Ephesians and then in Peter. Ephesians 4, verse seven. But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. To each one of us, there was this grace, this generous giving of gifts given to us, according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Now, it's the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ went to heaven and says, it's good that I go so that I can ask the Father to send you the gift. So that's why, in a sense, it's Christ's gift to us. But it's God that gives it to us. And Christ said to him, giving these talents, because I want him to do this in a body, to that person giving these other gifts, to do that in a body. Look with me, please, to 1 Peter, 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 10 and 11. 1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 10 and 11. As each one has received a gift, ministered it to one another. In other words, God has given each one of us a different set of gifts, a gift. And we are to serve, we are to diaconate, like a deacon, to serve, to use that gift to serve it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold graces of God, of God the Father. They come from God the Father. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. So if one of us has responsibility of speaking, making sure we do it as the oracles of God, in other words, absolutely correct according to God's teaching. If anyone ministers or serves, then we do it with ability, which God supplies, that in all things, God may be glorified. We are doing the work for God's glory. It's not for our individual glory. You know, when people want to do miracles and they want to speak in tongues and things like that, it's for their own glory. They're kind of saying, well, well, I've got this great gift. I'm great. Whatever it is. No. God is giving us these gifts to serve, to do the work. It's good works for the benefit of all of the body. God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and forever. Amen. Then let's go back to 1 Corinthians 12, where we were a moment ago, just to complete that section. We read verse 11, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 11, that said that God distributes to each one individually as He wills. Just pick up one or two other statements here. Look at verse 18. But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He has pleased. We as members of God's church are in God's church with specific functional responsibilities. That's what the gifts of the Holy Spirit are. They give us functional abilities to function as He pleased. So it goes into the example that some are a feet, some are a finger, some are a toe, some are a little finger, whatever it is, each one plays a role in the body. It's not that one is better than another. It's got nothing to do with better quality of individual. It's got nothing to do with importance. It's purely something to do with the function that we perform. So it goes on to explain in verse 25. It says that there should be no schism in the body. In other words, the body is all working together. You can't have the head going to one side and the arms and the legs walking out on that side. Man, I'll get a fright. I'll see that. I'll get a fright. So there's no schism. We've got to work together as a body. It's got to be together.

So that the members should have the same care for one another. That is really for outgoing concern for one another. I mean, if I take a hammer and I hit my little finger, man, do I have care for that little finger. I really, you know, we have care for one another.

If one suffers, we all suffer with it. And so it goes on. And then it says in verse 28, And God is appointed, these in the church, first apostles. And he said, oh, well, so this is more important. No, no, it's not important. It's functions. God wants these functions to be executed first. And we all help in one way or another in serving so that those that God has appointed to be apostles, to do that first function that he wants to be done as the body.

And then second prophets and third teachers and so on. They are functional gifts and we have different functions to perform. And we all help the body to perform those functions. It's not that the person that does that job is more important than the other. No. He just happens to be the mouth. But the mouth can't do anything without the lungs to breathe their ears so the mouth can speak, and so on.

Look at the kingdom of God, Semenoz. Some of us maybe will stand up and will give the presentation. But somebody else had to prepare, somebody else had to do the advertising, somebody else had to do that. That all were doing the work together for the benefit of the body.

We're all working together. So, and there it goes on in verse 31. But earnestly desire the best gifts. And I'll show you a more excellent way. And then it goes on to chapter 13, which as we all know, it's the chapter of love, of outgoing concern. And that is a gift. It's still talking about gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gift of genuine outgoing concern, one for another.

And how we can express it. That expression of love, which is how we express that gift. So brethren, as we've seen, God has given us many gifts. Ultimately, the last gift is eternal life. Because it says, you know, or turn with me to Romans 6, Romans 6, verse 23. Romans 6, verse 23. It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. So we've had all these gifts of God, which apply to everybody.

And God has given the Holy Spirit to everybody in the church. The first fruits, ultimately, in time, the rest of the world. But each one is on time. Why? So we can overcome, so we can grow in grace and knowledge.

So we can do the work, so we can actually do the good works that God gives us, that defines what it is to build that relationship within. Ultimately, if we remain faithful to the end, the final gift is eternal life. In this process, obviously, the gifts of God are never-ending, because you'll want to give to us things forever and ever. Amen.

That's what He wants to do. So God's gifts are not some feeling or emotional feeling, or are not a show or of exhibition or some sort of attitude that one is better than another or more important than another. No. God's gifts are wonderful gifts with one ultimate end to build that relationship. It starts by the gift, the gracious gift, of Christ's life for us that makes it all possible. And then God calls us, which is another gift, which then gives us an understanding of the truth. Our mind is open to true doctrine. That's a gift. Then it gives us repentance and forgiveness, and He's always the Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is there to help us to function, to do the good works.

And then, if we are reliable and faithful all the way to the end, to serve the body till the end, and to develop that meaningful relationship throughout our lives till the end, then we will be receiving the final gift, which is the gift of eternal life. And so, brethren, when it says, as we started in John 3, verse 16, I'd just like to conclude by reading John 3, verse 16. John 3, 16. When it says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

That is the beginning. That whosoever believes in Him, there's this whole process that belief means, applies, and executing, and functioning, and using those gifts, etc. It's practicing it, should then ultimately have the final gift which is ever lost in life. So that you and I ultimately may have the full measure of Jesus Christ. So that you and I ultimately may serve humanity by ruling in the Kingdom of God during the world tomorrow, and beyond that as well, all to the glory of God the Father.