 Let's go into chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians. So if somebody could read, I think we can read the entire chapter up to chapter 14 verse 1 and then we can discuss it. I was convinced chapter 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging silver. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I'm nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body we burn and have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy, love does not pervade itself, is not popped up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, things no evil, does not rejoice in pity, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails, but whether there are prophecies they will fail, whether there are tongues they will cease. Well, where there is knowledge it will vanish away, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in the middle dimly, but then face to face, now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of all these is love. Verse 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse 1, 1st you love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Okay, so I'm sure everyone who is very familiar with this chapter 13, I think this is one of the chapters we had to memorize when you were children. So it's one that is very powerful and when we understand it in the context as well to understand why Paul is talking about love here, before this he's been talking about spiritual gifts, he's been talking about how should we behave when we gather as a church. So to understand them that his chapter on love comes as an undergirding to everything else that he's been talking about before this. So when he's giving them these instructions, this is how we should function as a church, this is how we should behave when we gather as a church. To tell them that when I'm giving you all these instructions, it's not just a set of things to follow that it is something that should be undergirded with love. And when you have genuine love for one another, you will do things that will help the other. So whether it is the question of a woman covering her head to be modest within the church. So to not attract attention towards herself, to honor her husband, to come into the church with that sense of reverence. You do that because of your love for your fellow believer, for your brothers and sisters within the church. To honor them, to honor your husband, to protect them from having any kind of lust, to keep from any kind of division within the church. So all of those reasons were underlying what Paul had said, cover your head. Or when you gather for the Lord's supper, think about one another. Make sure that everyone is getting to eat, everyone is getting to participate in the food that is being offered. And then now he specifically connects this love chapter to chapter 12 within the context of his spiritual gifts. Just say that when we are exercising these spiritual gifts, we must recognize that the gifts have to come from a place of love. It doesn't matter how powerful we are, how sacrificial we are. If that is not motivated by love that comes from God, so a love that is birthed by the Holy Spirit in us. If it doesn't come from that love, then it will have no permanent effect, it will have no value basically. So he talks about these first few chapters. If I do not have love, I am nothing, I gain nothing. I'm only resounding longer a clangence. So to say that whatever we do if love is not our motivator or the passion that guides what we are doing, it's not the thing that is inspiring what we are doing. Then everything that's coming out of our lips, it's just noise. There's no words, there's no value to it. If we are not being motivated by love, it doesn't matter what kind of gifts we have. However much we are being glorified by people because they see those gifts in us. The truth is that we are nothing without love. So even if other people are glorifying us, even if other people are giving us honor, without love, the value of what we are doing is nothing. Even if we are sacrificing, even if we are giving our whole body, sacrificing all that we have to give to the poor, but that is not being motivated by love, then there will be no reward for us. There will be nothing that we can boast in before God because God knows our hearts and he knows what was motivating us in those times. His main intent here is to encourage these believers not to say that the gifts are less important, but to say that when you are exercising these gifts, let them come from love that comes from God. So a broad kind of love that is filled your heart and is overflowing out of you in the form of these gifts, in the form of service, in the form of sacrifice for the sake of those around you. So he will go on from this. We will look at the general message of this chapter and then we will look more specifically at some of the things he says about love, how he describes love. So in verses 4-7, he is specifically about what love is like and we will look more in detail at that. And then he goes, at the end he says, and these three remain, faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. So he elevates love over everything. So faith is required to exercise the spiritual gifts. Hope as we, even in our everyday lives, as we are looking towards the coming of Christ, whatever we are doing within the church with that hope. All of that, while important, is not as important as love. Love for God and love for the body of Christ, love for other believers. And then verses 8, where he talks about love never fails. Prophecies will cease, tongues will be still, where there is knowledge, it will pass away. So here he is talking about the gifts have a specific type and a specific function. They are here for the church at present, but they will not be here for eternity. There will be no use for them when Christ comes back. But love will remain. So even when the gifts disappear, even in all of these things that we find so much spiritual pride in are gone, love will be there. And so this is why love is most important. Love is key in exercising these gifts. So yeah, that is the kind of the grounding he gives to them. And we look at what are some of the specific things he says about love in this chapter. So a few verses that also talk about love. So we just look at Galatians 5-6, if someone can be back. And then Romans 5-5 and 2 Corinthians 5-4-D. Galatians chapter 5 verse 6. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision advise anything but faith working through them. So Galatians 5-6 reminds us that it is important to have faith. But that faith should work through love. So if there is no love, then whatever we are doing in faith will not have any effect, will not be free. Romans 5-5. Romans chapter 5 verse 5. Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So Romans 5-5 reminds us that even as the Holy Spirit gives us these spiritual gifts, the Holy Spirit also gives us a pleasure heart with love. And so when we are exercising these gifts to also be praying for more love within our hearts to be able to exercise these gifts in line with God's heart for people. And the last one, 2 Corinthians 5-4-D. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15. For the love of Christ compels us because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died. So the love of Christ is what compels us good. Gives us the heart to serve what inspires us to minister to people. And so if we try to do things without love, our own efforts or our own strength will soon break down. We will soon kind of win. But the love of Christ will keep producing the good ones, we keep producing a desire to bless people. And that is what will keep us going even in the long run. So we look from here at those few verses where Paul is describing love specifically. So from verse 4 onwards. Because love is patient and kind. So some things for us to learn as we are ministering to people. The importance of being able to wait for people to grow into the things that we want them to do. So when we are ministering to people, do not be impatient with where they are spiritually. But to allow God to work in them and cause them to grow, to see the fruit of what we are investing in their lives. What we are holding out to their lives to be patient in that. And be kind. So not to in our impatience begin to say things that are rude or harsh or unkind that would hurt people. So there is a difference between being firm or confidently and boldly speaking something that God has told us to say to a person. And there is a difference between being rude. So you can be bold, you can be confident. You can say clearly what you think the Holy Spirit is leading you to say. While also being kind and being gentle at the same time. In certain cases, God may give you something to say that may seem rude or may be harsh. To speak to someone because of something that is happening in their lives. Or to address something within their lives that is not as God would have it be. And if that is the case, then we should be capable to say what God is telling us to say. But we should be very clear that this is coming from the Holy Spirit. We should know this is being led by the Holy Spirit and we should speak in line with what God is leading us to say. And then we can trust God with the results. So even if it is going to seem harsh at that time to trust that when what we have said bears results or bears food. That person themselves will recognize that it was from God. So that may be a specific circumstance that is where we are still doing it in love and obedience to the Holy Spirit. Love is not jealous. So this is also very, very important. So when we are seeing people within the church serving in different roles or being gifted in certain ways. To not desire a spiritual gift because we are jealous that somebody else has a gift that we also want to have. That should not be the motivation. So love is not jealous. So when our desire for a spiritual gift comes from a desire to truly edify others, to truly build others. Then that is the right way to approach the desire for a spiritual gift. So where we are looking at the needs of people and we are saying God give me, give that as a gift at this time to minister to this person's need. Rather than saying I want this gift because I can see somebody else has this gift and I should also have it. This person is less, maybe they have been in the church for less time than I have been or they are a younger believer or whatever may be the reasons. God may have given them a gift but we should never approach a desire for spiritual gifts from this place of jealousy or competitiveness or wanting to kind of show ourselves better than someone else. Love is not proud, arrogant or boastful. So when we are using the spiritual gifts, it is always for the glory of God. It is for the benefit of the body of Christ and for the glory of God or for the benefit of the people we are ministering to. So very important because as we exercise gives people start to give us glory, right? When they can see that you are able to do something, when they see that you prayed for them and they are healed or that you prayed for them and they received what they were meeting with God for. They immediately give you a lot more importance and they kind of elevate you in a way in their own eyes or even amongst other people, they will start to talk about you in a way that elevates you. So how do you continue in these circumstances to walk in humility, to not let the praises of people or the things that God has accomplished through you become the things that give you your sense of identity and make you feel like you are better or you are in any way doing something out of your own strength, right? To recognize that everything is given by God and so you have to continue to walk in humility, continue to depend on God, recognizing that whatever you have accomplished is only by the grace of God. Love is not food or a magnet. So a continuation of what we saw before love is fishing, right? Love is fishing and love is not food. So at all times to be gentle towards people, to show them respect, to honor them as we are ministering to them, like we talked about, if in certain circumstances your God is leading you to do something that may appear to be harsh, you can do it and trust God with the results. So be very clear that it's Holy Spirit led and then trust that God will make it clear to that person that that was something that God himself was doing and the results themselves will speak for a fact that you were doing what you did in love. Love is not self-centered, self-seeking or self-promoting. So love, the very word love has no, there's no place for self, right? When we're saying love is thinking about the other. So there is no place for thinking about yourself or seeking something that would benefit you or seeking your own glory. If any of those things are coming into your use of your spiritual gifts, then that's a warning sign that, okay, this is not motivated by love. If you are doing it for your own benefit or you're doing it to gain glory, to draw people to yourself, to promote yourself, then that is definitely something that is not coming from love. And one way to kind of go in the opposite direction of seeking your own glory or seeking to promote yourself is to start to encourage others to use spiritual gifts. So as soon as you do that, you are making it about God, right? Where you are not seeking glory through the exercise of spiritual gifts, rather you are encouraging others to use their gifts so that the body of Christ will be benefited. And when they are exercising spiritual gifts, when they are having an impact, if you are able to rejoice in that, then that is a sign of matureliness, a sign that you recognize that this is about God. It's not about you or not about any individual. Love is not irritable or easily angered. So oftentimes in ministry, we are working with people, we are working with so many things that could go wrong. And so it's important in these times to constantly be praying, to be filled with love for people. Because when things go wrong, or if someone has not done what they're supposed to do, it's very easy to get distracted from what is the main purpose of what we're doing. We've gathered here to minister to people, we've gathered here to reach people with the love of Christ. And if there are other things that come in the way where we are irritated, where we are angry, then being able to express that love to people and to minister for heart of love will be very difficult. So if things are going wrong and if people have not done what they're supposed to do, to be able to quickly let go of those things and keep focusing on why you are there. So to keep praying in this spirit, to keep allowing God to fill you with love towards the very people who have not messed up, as well as the people who we are ministering to. Of course we will try and correct things that have gone wrong, as is appropriate. But to not allow those things to become a hindrance when we are ministering. Love has no evil intent. So very important that when we are ministering, we're coming with a pure heart to really bless the people that we are ministering to. So for example, if there is someone who has done something against you and you have the opportunity to minister to them, to be able to put all those things aside and be filled with love for them and still be able to minister to them in love. And not to use the spiritual gifts to manipulate them or to take revenge or to in any way bring shame upon them. So you have the opportunity to minister to them and to stand up and say something that will defame them or that will put them down. So that is not coming from the place of love. So to be very clear about what is the intent behind which I am saying something. Especially in a case where you know someone, you've been hurt by someone or someone has something against you. How can you minister to them with a pure heart? Love is truthful, honest and holy. So when we are ministering, when we are using the gifts of the spirit to do it with a sense of awe and recognizing that what we are being entrusted with is something that is holy, that it comes from the Holy Spirit and it is straight from God. It is a very manifestation of the glory of God. So to handle that with that kind of value to hold it with that kind of value and to honor God through the way we lose the gifts. So there is no place for faking the gifts or if God is not giving us a word to simply speak something because it is expected of us or to do something just because we want to appear to have some kind of anointing that somebody else has. So all of those things are disowning and trampling on what is holy. And so it's very, very important when your exercise needs to come to approach it with the sense of awe. Love holds up, love believes, hopes, endears. So love produces hope and it believes in God's best for every individual. So even if things are going wrong, even if things are not happening at the pace that we want them to happen at for us to continue in love, to keep patiently striving for what God wants to do but doing it from a place of love. So not giving up, not giving up on the person, not giving up on what God has promised but holding on to those promises and believing God's best for the people that he has asked you to minister to. So even an example of this is John 4 when Jesus is ministering to the women at the well. She is in a place of sin, she is in a place of brokenness. But when Jesus ministers to her, his exposure of her sin doesn't make her feel hopeless or doesn't make her feel ashamed or rejected. Instead, she feels known and she feels so much hope that she goes and shares that with other people. And so that should be the way in which we minister that we have hope for the people. Even if things are not happening the way we want it to happen, they are not responding the way that we want them to respond that we keep working with the hope that God will do what he has said he will do and we keep believing that God is going to work things out. That God is going to work his best in their lives. And the last one is love never fails. So the word fails here is translated in different ways. So one thing is to be driven out of one's course or to become inefficient or to lose. Some other definitions are to fall from a place. So to fall from a position to become powerless to become to have no effect or to fall to the ground. So when it's talking about love never fails, it means that if you're walking in love, you will not step off the course that you're supposed to be working on, off the path that you're supposed to be working on. When you walk in love, you will keep staying on the right path in the right course that God has set for you. And your love will produce power. It will produce honor. It will produce fruit. So there will be impact from what we do because it has been done in love. So we can be sure that when we are walking in love, when we are ministering in life, that what we have done will not fail because God's love working through us will have an impact on people's lives. And will enable us to continue to walk in the right way, no matter what happens, no matter what challenges we face, whatever may happen along the way, if we continue to walk in love, we can be sure that we are doing what is God's will. So the greatest commandment is to love God, to love our neighbors. So we can be sure that we are walking in line with God's will just because we are making sure that what is motivating everything that we do in ministry is love for God and love the people. So everything else we leave up to God. We leave the results of what we are doing. We leave the impact, the fruit, all of that to God. But we maintain a pure, we keep asking God to fill us with his love for the people that he has entrusted to us, so that whatever we do, we be rightly motivated and will bear fruit. So with that, we come to the end of chapter 13. Before we have a few minutes, so we can start with chapter 14. Anything anyone would like to share before we move to the next chapter. Okay, then we can move on to chapter 15. Let's see, we can maybe start with verses 1 to 5. If someone can read verses 1 to 5. First Corinthians chapter 14, 1 to 5. Perceive love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God, for no one understands him. However, in the spirit who speaks mysteries, but he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesy. For he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. So here Paul closes this with perceive love. So desire greater love for people. Desire greater love so that when you are ministering, you are ministering in the power of God, in the love of God. And desires greater love so he doesn't mean to say that we just love the spiritual gifts are unimportant. But to say that when you are pursuing love, then your desire for spiritual gifts will be rightly motivated. And you will be able to exercise gives that will actually benefit others because you are doing it from a place of love. That is you're doing it from a desire to benefit others. It's not for any other personal selfish desire. And then he says, but especially that you may prophesy. So we also understand you when you say desire spiritual gifts that we can desire for any of the nine spiritual gifts that we talked about before. So a believer can desire any gift of the spirit. And here he's encouraging them to desire the gift of prophecy. And he's contrasting it with the gift of tongues. So from verse two to five, he talks about why is prophecy better than tongues. And he's specifically talking about this in the context of the local church gathering. So when the church gathers, why is prophecy a better gift for a believer than the gift of tongues. So when you speak, this is in verse two, when you're speaking in tongues, you are not speaking to one another. You're not speaking to the other believers, but you're speaking to God because people can understand what you're saying. The Holy Spirit is speaking through you in a mysterious language. On the other hand, when you prophesy, you're speaking directly to people. And so what you say benefits them. So the purpose of prophecy is mentioned here in verse three. It edifies, exalts and comforts them. So three things to look for when someone is speaking prophetically. Is this edifying us? Is it in some way exhorting us, teaching us truth about God? Is it bringing comfort to people? That is the goal of prophecy. So when someone is prophesying, this is believers are being edified. They are being taught the ways of God, they are being taught the mind of Christ and they are being comforted. But when you're speaking in tongues, they don't know what you're saying. And so it's not benefiting anyone. He will add more to that in verse five, but we'll just continue in verse four. He who speaks in tongues edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. So again, that contrast. So when you're praying in tongues, you are being spiritually edified because the Holy Spirit is giving you words to pray. And he is working within you and revealing things to you and drawing you to a higher place spiritually. But when you're prophesying, you are drawing others within the church with you, along with you. They are also being edified, they are also growing spiritually. So there is a benefit in tongues. It has its own benefit, it has its own place, but it's not within the church's gathering. The gift of tongues is for you, for your personal spiritual edification. That is, the gift of prophecy is for the edification of the church. And then verse five, I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied. But he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks in tongues, unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification. So this is where he adds a qualification. So he says, if you are speaking in tongues, if you're also able to interpret, then there will be a benefit to the church. But if you're not able to interpret and you're just coming to the church gatherings and you're praying in tongues, then that is a no benefit to the other believers. Instead, it is better that you prophesies. So that would be the greater gift or the more beneficial gift to the church gathering because other people also will be edified. So let's just say we have a few more minutes. We've seen how much we can cover here. We'll just go verse by verse. So verse six, but now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you? Unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying or by teaching. So when he's talking about by revelation, revelation means when we are speaking a truth that people do not know. So we're revealing something new to people by knowledge where we are imparting a spiritual truth that will help people grow spiritually by prophesying. So speaking something that is by divine inspiration. So God gives us a word and we speak that to people's lives or by teaching. So teaching is basically explaining God's truths to people, so helping them understand a certain truth that they may already know about, but giving them a further understanding and reminding them of the truth about that God is revealed. So if I come to you by speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you? Unless I speak to you. So this will only be profitable if we are bringing it with this kind of revelation, knowledge, prophesying, teaching. So the gift of tongues, if it's coming with that kind of revelation or teaching, then it will benefit them. But if it's coming without that, then there would be no benefit for the people because it will not take back anything from what you have said. Verses 70 to 11, even things without life where the fruit or heart where they make a sound, unless they make a distinction in the sounds, how will it be known what is pipe or plate? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is poking? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, it may be, so many kinds of languages in the world and none of them is without significance. Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be a foreigner to him who speaks and he who speaks will be a foreigner to me. So he is continuing to build on the importance of interpreting. So when you are speaking in tongues, you have to make clear the message that you are trying to say or trying to communicate. And he uses these different examples of an instrument. So if the notes are not clear, we won't be able to recognize the tune. If a trumpet doesn't make a clear sound, so people won't know what the trumpet is. So the trumpet is to tell people get ready for battle. But if you don't make the clear sound of the trumpet, then people won't. You may be making a sound of the trumpet, but you're not making the sound that is required for people to get the message and to prepare for battle. So although they may be speaking in tongues and may be proclaiming something, if they are not interpreting it for the people, then whatever they are saying is actually of low benefit. It's just kind of not accomplishing what it's supposed to accomplish. And then verse 12, even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to accept. Therefore, let him be speaking in tongues clearly that he may interpret. That's verse 12 and 13. So, since the church was already zealous, so the church had the right desire. They wanted no spiritual gifts. They were asking God, they were desiring spiritual gifts. So he's saying you already have that desire, but let that desire be motivating by love. Because when it's motivated by love, the gifts you desire will be so that people will be edified. So he's saying your zeal should be properly directed. It's not that you shouldn't be zealous for the gifts. You should impact these zealous, but it should be directed towards the edification of the church. And then he concludes this with a prayer that you may also interpret. So we'll stop. Oh, I think we can continue. Okay, I thought we may get into the middle of this next section, but we can continue. Let him pray with speaks in tongues that he may interpret. But if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unthinkable. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit and I also will sing with the understanding. So verse 13 is saying the only way a congregation can be benefited when we speak in tongues is when we interpret. When we are praying in the spirit personally, oftentimes we may not understand what we are praying. So we must learn to both pray and sing when we are praying in the spirit and singing in the spirit. We also pray and sing with understanding even in our personal prayers. But specifically also specifically in the church gatherings. So sometimes when we are praying personally, we may not interpret and that's not necessary when we are doing it in our personal prayers. It is definitely beneficial for us if we understand what we are praying, what we are singing, but it's not necessary. But in the church gathering, when we are using tongues to say something to people, it is necessary to also interpret. So there are three reasons why it's stated here in your notes. Why it's beneficial in your personal prayers to have both tongues and interpretation. So personally for you to have guidance and direction from God to understand God's plans and purposes for your life. When you're trying to make decisions to know how God is leading in those decisions and to gain spiritual insight into God's ways, into His truth. So when you are praying in tongues, you also have an interpretation of it will help you gain that kind of insight and revelation. So these are some reasons for in your personal views when you're praying in tongues. It's also beneficial to be able to have understanding of what you're praying and singing about. So we'll stop there and we'll continue when we come back. But I'll try and post the video and definitely post the assignments this week so you can just look for those all through the classroom. Thank you.