 Hello this is David Digger Hernandez and you're watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. I'm continuing again my series on the Holy Spirit and right now I want to talk to you about the spiritual gifts. God has given to you a spiritual gift so let's explore what the Bible has to say about what God has deposited in you. But first, Stephen Mark the Zoom is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship and then we're getting right into this message. Here is Stephen Mark the Zoom up. So let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 and this is going to be the main portion of Scripture where we glean truths from. But before we read this portion of Scripture, I want to talk to you just a little bit about what spiritual gifts are. Spiritual gifts are the supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit through you. It's the Holy Spirit giving you certain abilities, certain powers so to speak that enable you to help other believers and to help bring the church to a greater place in God's glory. So let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 12. Let's begin first of all reading here at verse number one where the Bible says, now your brothers and sisters regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don't want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans you were led astray and swept along and worshipping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There was an ancient saying that went to live like a Corinthian and that phrase to live like a Corinthian meant that one would live a lifestyle of parting of self-indulgence. The Corinthian culture was very pagan and the world knew it. The Corinthians were known around the world for their ungodly lifestyle. They would worship multiple different gods, Aphrodite, Asclepius, Poseidon. They had a plethora of gods that they worshipped and so this is a pagan culture that Paul the Apostle is writing to or former pagans that Paul is writing to because these are now the Christians at Corinth. So Paul did not want the Corinthians to confuse the power of the Holy Spirit for pagan power. This is why he writes, I don't want you to misunderstand these things. Then he writes, you know that when you were still pagans you were led astray and swept along in worshipping speechless idols. So he doesn't want the Corinthians to confuse the power of the Holy Spirit for their former pagan power. He doesn't want any comparison to be made and he gives them a very clear way, a very clear distinction between the pagan power and the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse three, so I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus and no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So often we criticize one another, especially as believers. We criticize style. We criticize methodology. We criticize where we disagree even on some of the minor issues of doctrine. But Paul the Apostle here is saying that we know someone is of the Spirit of God not by their methodology because remember the Corinthians could confuse the pagan power for the Holy Spirit's power. Why? Because the enemy will always try to counterfeit what God's power accomplishes. But he gives us this very clear distinction, the message of the one who is operating in this power. The message of the believer, the message of the one who is Spirit filled, the message of the one who is operating in true spiritual gifts will always be Jesus. It will always be Christ's Lordship. Christ centered ministries never stray into demonic areas. Now this isn't to say that someone can possibly get off track once they lose that focus but those who stay focused on Christ stay on track. So he's saying here this is how you know where the power is coming from. The message they're preaching. If their heart, their existence is all for the preaching of the Gospel. If everything they are doing is pointing to Jesus then it's very likely that they are indeed a Spirit filled ministry. If the church understood this there would be greater levels of unity. You can't judge someone based upon their methodology. Now I've been in some church services where all they did was prophesy and pray for the sick and there was no mention of Jesus. That is borderline witchcraft. That is what I call charismatic sorcery where they demonstrate the power but they never preach the person. And that's a very dangerous thing to do. You want to make sure that whenever you're demonstrating the gifts you're building the body of Christ and pointing to Jesus as you do so. So this is what the Bible says in Matthew 7 21 to 23. Not everyone who calls out to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me Lord Lord we prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and perform many miracles in your name but I will reply I never knew you get away from me you who break God's laws. So that scripture is sobering and it gives us the balance to first grant the ends chapter 12 verse 3. On one hand you have to watch and make sure that they're preaching Jesus. But on the other hand just because someone is preaching Jesus that doesn't necessarily mean they are definitely from the Holy Spirit. You have to watch the fruit. So the Bible gives us several tools for discerning these things but certainly Paul the Apostle is emphasizing that the message of Christ must ground us and that the point of these spiritual gifts is to point to Jesus. So Jesus said well know people buy their fruits not their gifts not everyone who demonstrates power is demonic and not everyone who demonstrates power is of the Holy Spirit. So we cannot judge based upon the gifts we have to look at their message and their lifestyle. Let's continue to read now 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 4. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. Did you notice that? Watch again. Same spirit, same Lord, same God, God the Father, the Lord, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is a subtle reference to the Trinity. Now why is there a subtle reference to the Trinity in a chapter of the Bible that's about the spiritual gifts? Well I believe that what the Trinity decides in unity can never be undone. This is demonstrating to us Trinity unity. Unity is a major theme throughout this book and the reason it's a major theme is because all of us come together to work in the body of Christ. All of us come together joining our gifts with each other's gifts and ultimately fulfilling the purpose of kingdom expansion and edifying the fellow believer. So that unity must be exercised when operating in the spiritual gifts. The spiritual gifts work best in unity because they were given to you in a decision that was made in unity. Romans chapter 11 verse 29 says, for God's gifts in his call can never be withdrawn. Why is that? The gifts in the call can never be withdrawn because what the Trinity decides in unity can never be undone. So think about this, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all got together and decided which gifts they would give to you. That's a powerful, powerful truth and I believe it can help us to become more confident in what God has given to us. Now let's continue here in verse 7. The Bible says a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. The gift is not a reward. It's a responsibility. It's not for show. It's for service. It's not to boost your status. It's to help your brother and your sister in Christ. These are gifts from the Holy Spirit Himself. He has given to us these abilities so that we can help one another, so that we can build the church, not so that we can elevate our status, not so that we can be praised by people. The gifts were given to us for the purpose of serving one another. Now let's read verse 12. The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one spirit, and we all share the same spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand, that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye, would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? So here the scripture is talking about, and if you go on reading down to verse 28 you'll see, again, that very clear theme, unity. These gifts work best in unity. Why? Because remember, we're all one with the Holy Spirit. So if I'm one with the Holy Spirit and you're one with the Holy Spirit, then we are all one in the spirit by the Holy Spirit. And so the greatest example of unity is the Trinity. We are all to serve. We must operate together, and that is the best way that these gifts function. So what are the spiritual gifts? Now I've categorized the spiritual gifts into different categories that I've given terms to. Now this doesn't necessarily mean that this is the way that the Bible terms them, but you'll find that these gifts are listed nonetheless. I simply put them in these categories so that you can memorize them and study them more easily. First of all, there are what are what are called the service gifts. Now here I must emphasize that all spiritual gifts are for service, but I call them the service gifts because they work best in the body of Christ as they all do, but you'll see as we read why we call them the service gifts. So then there are the power gifts. These are the ones that we think of when we think of spiritual gifts. These are the ones listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Then there are the leadership gifts, which I'll also talk about in a moment. I want to talk about the leadership gifts first. So the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11, now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Now the apostle is one who is sent on a mission. Biblically speaking, the apostle is somebody who would go and establish ministries or establish church works. Now today, and forgive me for sounding facetious, it's not my goal to mock anyone, but today there are so many people who claim to be apostles, it's laughable. And I say that in the most serious sense, it's not laughable in that it's funny, it's laughable in that it's just ridiculous. Because I think we like titles and you should never try to make up with a title what you lack in influence. And so what we've imagined an apostle is someone who has multiple pastors under them. So an apostle has kind of been termed a pastor of pastors. Not only is that somewhat like a pyramid scheme, but that's not even biblical. Yes, apostles do help pastors, but an apostle is not by definition a pastor of pastors. An apostle is someone who's sent on a mission to establish a new ministry or to establish the spreading of the gospel message in a new region such as Paul the apostle that he was an apostle, mainly to the Gentiles. He's the one who God used to break the gospel message out of just the Jewish culture and into the world of the Gentiles. So an apostle is someone who establishes a ministry or breaks new ground in establishing a ministry. An apostle because they are one who establishes ministries usually becomes a pastor of pastors, but that title or that way of describing the apostle is not in and of itself the complete description. The becoming a pastor of pastors is incidental and not primary. In other words, as an apostle, because I'm establishing ministries, I can become a pastor of pastors, but a pastor of pastors is not necessarily always an apostle. They're disciple makers. They're people who multiplied themselves in people. They're church planters. They are ones who found new ministry works. Number two, there's the prophet. Now I mean a true prophet, not cold readers and guessers. There are people who can look at you and kind of surmise what's going on in your life by looking at whether or not you have a ring on your hand, what kind of clothes you wear your body language. They read people be very careful about those people. The prophet I'm talking about is a very genuine servant of God. And though every believer can prophesy, not every believer is a prophet. The difference between the gift of prophecy and the office of a prophet is simply authority and influence a leadership position, a deacon type position in the body of Christ. So prophets are given the oracles of God. They can hear from God concerning the future and information that is relevant to the people of God at that time. And they speak forth the oracles of God with authority as leaders in the body of Christ. There really is a gift of prophecy that can function in the most believers, but the gift or I should say the office of the prophet is something else entirely and that's what's being described here in Ephesians 411. Now then there is the evangelists. Now I'm an evangelist, so let me tell you what an evangelist is not. An evangelist is not someone who goes from church to church, stirring people up emotionally. An evangelist is not someone who just travels from church to church as an itinerant speaker. Now many evangelists do travel, but being a traveling speaker doesn't make you an evangelist. In fact, evangelists, the focus of the evangelists isn't even really to go from church to church. They go from church to church to help work in a region, but their primary goal is to win new souls. The evangelist is graced by God to be a soul winner. The evangelist is passionate about souls. Their focus, their job, their gift is to go and win people to Jesus. Now I am not a prophet, though I do at times prophesy. Just recently we were in Texas and the word of knowledge was flowing so clearly, it was surprising even me, but I am not a prophet. That's not my, that's not my ecclesiastical position. That's not where God has placed me in leadership in the church. I'm not a pastor. I'm not an apostle. I am an evangelist, a soul winner with a teaching gift who prays for the sick. That's very simply put what I do for those, those are, that's the combination of gifts that God has given to me. And by knowing what you're not, it helps you to actually focus in and become better at what you are gifted and called to do. So again, an evangelist is not, again, is not someone who just travels from church to church. An evangelist is someone who is graced by God to present the gospel in such a way that there really is this pool on people to receive Christ as Lord. Now, this is not to say that other believers don't have this. We're all told do the work of evangelists in the scripture. But what an evangelist is grace to do is to win souls. That's their focus, I mean, that is what God has called them to do. So the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor is an elder. The pastor is a leader. The pastor is someone who shepherds the people who builds relationships with people and helps them to grow. Now we can all help each other grow, but not all of us are called to be pastors. Romans 12, seven, if your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. That's number five, the teacher. All of us are called to know the word of God, but not all of us are called to the office of a teacher. So that is the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor and the teacher. So I'm going to list now for you the service gifts. Now again, all spiritual gifts are for service, but this is just the term I gave to the category because these really are used in the body of Christ, as I said, in a way that is more service oriented. So prophecy, that is more looked at as speaking forth in Oracle of God. That is a service gift. You do service people by prophesying because you're serving them the message of the Lord. But these service gifts, well, take a look and you'll see why I call them that. These are all found in Romans 12 eight and first Corinthians 12 28, the gift of exhortation, the gift of giving, the gift of leadership, the gift of service, the gift of administration or helps. Now I want you to notice something about these gifts. These gifts all seem to be very practical abilities. I mean the gift of exhortation, the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving. Can't we all give? Can't we all encourage? What these are are supernaturally empowered gifts. So imagine having a supernaturally anointing to walk up to somebody who's in depression and begin to speak and they come right out of that depression. They're encouraged. Imagine having the supernatural ability to hear God and know exactly when to give something at the right time. God begins to put resources in your hands and you become a generous funder of the Kingdom of God. That's the gift of giving. I saw on Twitter the other day. I don't remember who tweeted it. It's not my thought but I thought it was very interesting and I wish I remember the name so I could properly attribute it. But they said that prosperity is not getting its giving. I thought what a powerful and true statement that prosperity is giving and this is one of the gifts that we get to exercise. The gift of leadership. There is leadership and then there is spirit empowered leadership. An extra grace upon these gifts. So leadership can be an ability that one has without the help of the Holy Spirit. But the gift of leadership is that empowered grace filled ability to lead and that is different. It's a cut above. It takes you to the next level in this area. So again the gift of encouragement, the gift of giving, the gift of leadership, the gift of service. How amazing that one of these gifts is simply the gift to just serve, to be available and do what's needed. Then there's the gift of administration. Now I have a thought on the gift of administration. These are people who are very organized, very structured. I truly believe that the gift of administration is the gift of business. Now this may not be the case for everyone who has the gift of administration but those people who are structured and know how to build organizations and know how to give structure to a ministry or a church. These people typically are also very gifted in business. So it's very possible, I think, that the gift of administration is the gift of business. And then of course there are the power gifts and these are found in Romans chapter 12 verse 6. 1 Corinthians 12 10. 1 Corinthians 12 8. 1 Corinthians 12 9. I'll list them all here. The gift of prophecy. It's the ability to call forth the future. The gift of discernment. That's the ability to discern what spirit somebody is coming in. What are their motives? Are they coming in the spirit of God? Are they coming in a demonic spirit? By the way the gift of discernment is not the gift of criticism as a lot of people have taken upon themselves. Then there's the gift of healing. This is the grace to pray for the sick and see healing. There's the gift of miracles. This is beyond just physical healing. These are miracles that I can't even list any right now because the Holy Spirit is so creative with these. You never really want to limit that gift. These are just gifts that the Holy Spirit empowers and the gift of miracles. How would I put this? It's God's supernatural power working in you. And yes I know we all have that as in healing all can pray for the sick. But remember these gifts are that extra grace that intensified empowering. So then the gift of miracles though every believer will see miracles is that extra grace to see the power of God working in your life. There's the word of knowledge that's getting knowledge about someone that you could not have known other than by the Holy Spirit. There's the word of wisdom that's getting wisdom for a situation that you could not have known other than by the Holy Spirit. There's the gift of faith. Now here's such interesting on the gift of faith. The gift of faith couldn't possibly be my faith being stirred because all of these gifts are to serve others. So then the gift of faith likely what I believe is that ability to stir faith in others whether just by your presence or just by your words. That is a powerful gift to have the gift of tongues and the gift of tongues interpretation. Now this gift of tongues in 1st Corinthians 12 remember is different than in 1st Corinthians 14 2 and 4 because the one in 1st Corinthians 14 2 and 4 is a personal gift for self-edification and this one is for the benefit of the church. So those are very clearly distinguished gifts. And then of course we talked about the leadership gifts. Now here's some truths about the gifts I want to give you and then I want to give you three keys to discovering your spiritual gifts. The gifts can work together 1st Corinthians 12. So prophecy can work with healing. The apostle can work with the teacher. The gift of service can work with the gift of leadership. All of the spiritual gifts interlock and in fact the gifts can be requested 1st Corinthians 14 1. The gifts can be imparted 2nd Timothy 1 6. The gifts can be stirred also 2nd Timothy 1 6. The gifts can be strengthened Romans 12 6 that can be calibrated or sharpened and all of these gifts work again for the edification of the church for the building up of one another and in fact all of these gifts can be operating in you. It's possible that you have two or three or even four or five of these gifts that all work together to create the unique combination that is you. God has surely given to you spiritual gifts. So how can you tell which spiritual gift you have? I'll give you three quick keys. Number one desire 1st Corinthians 14 1 says let love be your highest goal but you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gives. There's nothing wrong with desiring a spiritual gift. In fact I believe that the desire for a gift could be a sign that God has given you that gift because I believe he's the one who puts those desires in us. Number 2 recognition Proverbs 18 16 says a man's gift make its room for him and bring with him before great men. If you have a gift you don't have to go around announcing it. You know you have a gift because others recognize it on you. Now this doesn't mean that if people don't recognize it on you that you don't have it. This simply means that one of the indications that you do have a spiritual gift could be that others see that gift or recognize it or discern it on you especially spiritual leaders. And finally number three function this one's obvious but let's read it 1st Corinthians 12 4 there are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same spirit is the source of them all. Again this is very obvious but you know you have a spiritual gift if you see yourself functioning in it. Now the reason I even bring this up is because some of us function and spiritual gifts without even realizing it. You might think that you're just really good at reading people but that could be the gift of the discernment. You might think that you just have this special ability to encourage people that that's just a part of your personality but that could be the gift of encouragement. You might think that you're just very favored but that could be the gift of miracles. You might think you just have a passion for souls but that could be the gift of the evangelist. You don't want to overlook what might be a hidden spiritual gift in your life. Those are three keys to discovering a desire, recognition and function. And that is it for the lesson. I'm going to pray now that the Holy Spirit would stir his gifts in you. Father in Jesus' name I lift that one now who desires to operate in the spiritual gifts and I ask you Lord begin to stir that gift. Begin to strengthen that gift. Then walk in your power Lord. Reveal to them Father their spiritual gifts that they might become a service to the body of Christ in the name of Jesus. I want you to say it because you agree say amen. Well that is it for the lesson. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you and we are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you'd like information on how you can join the Spirit family then go right now DavidHernandezMinisteries.com slash Spirit Church. Now to your comments and these comments are from last week's teaching. How to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit three keys. If you haven't seen that one be sure to watch it. In fact be sure to watch all of the teachings in this Holy Spirit series. I know it will strengthen your walk with the Lord and while you're at it while you're going to look at those other videos be sure to also subscribe. We've actually just topped over 200,000 subscribers and I want to thank all of you who watch and share the content. We so appreciate you. We don't take you for granted. Keep sharing keep liking keep spreading the word with us and help us continue to spread the gospel all around the world. So while you're at it like comment subscribe and make sure to click that notification bell if you're subscribing on YouTube. Here are the comments from last week's teaching how to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit three keys. If you want me to potentially read your comments next week then go ahead and leave a comment in the comment section now. Michael Fernandez writes today's worship song by Stephen was absolutely amazing. God bless him. I absolutely love the teaching especially the part where you said how can God reveal the next step to you when you have not done the first. I was convicted. Well, Mr. Mockezuma certainly did an excellent job last week as he always does and if you haven't done so yet go and check out his worship playlist go to youtube.com slash encounter TV you'll see his playlist he's got hundreds of songs that we know will bless your life. Gina Green writes thank you David I've been watching you for over a month now. This has been my hardest task above anything in my fellowship and journey with the Holy Spirit. But with your simple and thorough explanations I have faith that I will hear his voice more clearly than ever continue to spread the gospel brother you are nailing it. Well thank you Gina we appreciate that you're blessed by the content and of course we know we give all the glory to the Lord. The next commenter writes I just want to thank you guys for the spiritual nourishment this is all we need these days during this period as believers more grace to your ministry. And finally Ikir A writes I saw you were about to reach the 200,000 subscriber mark on YouTube so I decided to support you that way because I've heard you before on Sid Roth and was tremendously blessed I've always admired your relationship with the Holy Spirit I wish you the best in your future with Christ Jesus well for those of you who don't know as we were nearing our 200,000 subscriber mark our friends over at Sid Roth's it's supernatural decided to do a post to encourage people to come over and subscribe to our channel and help push us over that final 100k mark there so now we've done it over 200,000 subscribers why is that important it's important because it means more people are being reached with this message and that's our heart our heart is to continue to reach people these numbers aren't just numbers each number represents a person each person has a story a hope a desire a prayer and we need to get the content to them so that we can continue to help them here's what the Bible says in Matthew 26 don't go anywhere here's what the Bible says in Matthew 26 verse 6 Meanwhile Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon a man who previously had leprosy while he was eating a woman came in with the beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head the disciples were indignant when they saw this what a waste they said it could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor but Jesus aware of this replied why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me here we see a woman thankful for what Jesus had done for her and she brings to him this expensive gift this alabaster box she breaks it open and begins to anoint him as he was about to be crucified how many times have we overlooked the Lord how many times have we had something to give and withheld from him you know Jesus our loving savior has never held back from you don't hold back from Jesus I'm asking you today to break an alabaster box to take something that's of value to take something that was hard to earn and I'm asking you to break it over Jesus as an offering to him as your worship to him as a demonstration of your love to him it is truly an act of worship imagine if Jesus were standing in front of you and you could place a gift in his hands physically would you just throw a little something in there and say oh Lord here's a little token I appreciate you thank you would you tip Jesus would you toss him a little something that's easy for you to give King David said I will not give to the Lord that which cost me nothing what will you put in his hands you see when you give into a ministry you're putting resources in the hands of Jesus imagine him standing there in front of you physically what would you place in his hands would you give him just a little something or would you present to him your very best gift that's what I'm asking you to do that's different for everyone I'm asking you to present the Lord with your very best gift that you can do right now go to David Hernandez ministries dot com slash donate give a one time gift to the ministry or sign up to become a monthly supporter and when you do that you're not doing it so that you can get you're doing that to give because you love Jesus put something in his hand today let the Holy Spirit speak to you do something that cost you something do something that's a sacrifice do something that others might look and say why would you waste that lavish the Lord with your love through your giving which is an act of worship again David Hernandez ministries dot com slash donate if you sign up to give thirty dollars or more a month I will send you either carriers of the glory encountering the Holy Spirit in every book of the Bible or twenty five truths about demons and spiritual warfare that will be my initiation gift to you all the resources go to help us continue to produce the content we don't charge for the content we don't charge for our events go today put something in the hands of Jesus David Hernandez ministries dot com slash donate do that right now a one time gift or monthly partnership I know God will bless you for it but do it because you love him I know you want to give to the work I know you love the Lord and his work so I thank you thank you for standing with me thank you for supporting the ministry and thank you for loving the Lord and that is it for this edition Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network until next time remember nothing is impossible with God. 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