1 Corinthians 12:4

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols even as you were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord. There are diversities of operations but the same God, which works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the profit of all.

In verse 11, all these work that one in the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he wills. For as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

Father, we pray for that even right now, that we would know the unity of the Spirit. We ask that you would continue to unite us together as one in Christ and that we would recognize and understand what your Word and will are. God, teach us; give us open hearts and minds to receive from you.

Lord, sometimes things that we think we know, we don't really know. Things we think we have figured out, we don't have quite as figured out as we think. Lord, we thank you that you know all things and that you give us to understand by your Word and by your Spirit those things.

So we pray for your direction today, for we ask it in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed, saying, "You can be seated."

For the last several months, I've been studying this section of 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14, to the point that right now I feel as though my brain hurts. I have to confess that as we jump into this, I feel like I'm kind of on information overload, and I have to be careful not to just regurgitate everything upon you because that would be disgusting.

As I've been looking at this passage and planning how we would go about it, I've had some trouble figuring out where to start. As we talk about the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, it's important that we rely upon the Holy Spirit to direct us and give us insight and understanding into His Word. We need to recognize that God has chosen to reveal Himself first and foremost through His Son and by His Word. Therefore, we want to seek to know Him in that way first and foremost.

The Corinthians, as we considered last week, had allowed the pagan way of thinking to enter into the church and govern their practice. Many of the people in the church at Corinth came out of a paganism that was emotionally driven and thrived on an enthusiastic, ecstatic experience. Such intense emotional ecstasy caused the worshippers of these pagan gods to have a euphoric kind of experience, a feeling which they instantly attributed to communion with the deity they were worshipping.

For example, if they went to the Temple of Apollo, which was central in the city of Corinth, or they went above the city to the Acrocorinth and visited the Temple of Aphrodite, they would often experience many immoral and sensual things, very emotional highs. Those experiences were instantly attributed to coming in contact with the God or gods. This wrong sort of thinking easily found its way into the church because God created us as emotional beings, and He desires that our emotions would be involved in the worship of God. Sadly, this mindset remains today in many churches.

Today, a service is regarded as spiritual only if an emotional high has been realized by those present. If you walk away exhilarated, with a sense of empowerment, filled with happiness, or with your heart racing, then the Spirit of God must have been there. I don't think I need to ask the question because I probably know the answer, but do you think that is a good metric for determining whether or not the Spirit is moving?

Clearly, it's not, because emotions can be stirred up. An emotional sense of empowerment or happiness can be manufactured. There are counterfeits in the world today—things that are called spiritual because of an emotional experience that really are not spiritual. This happens predominantly among people who are immature in their faith.

If you've ever served in youth ministry, you'll definitely see this. You take a group of youth to a camp, and they're surrounded by 400 other youth. The worship is very powerful, like a concert, and a lot of emotions are stirred up. The teaching is geared in such a way to encourage response and evoke emotion. As a result, you begin to create a breed of young believers who think that the Spirit only moves when there is that emotion. If that emotion is not present, then it has not been a spiritual experience; God has not been there.

This is very dangerous because you can create those kinds of emotional experiences elsewhere. You can experience that at a U2 concert or a Coldplay concert, or you can develop that sort of thing through substances. We even came to a point where we call certain alcoholic beverages "spirits" because they seem to make you feel the same way as the Spirit. Then you have a group of people who say, "Well, now I'm drunk in the Spirit," which is not scriptural. They take that from Ephesians 5:18, where we read, "Do not be drunk with wine, which is excess, but be filled with the Spirit."

They say, "Well, when I'm filled with the Spirit, then I must therefore become drunk in the Spirit, and now it overtakes me." They believe the Spirit has overtaken them, and they do things they wouldn't normally do; their inhibitions have been removed. But that's not the work of the Spirit; it's emotions. The symbolism is very real, but it's not necessarily the work of the Spirit.

It's important to recognize that emotions are not, in and of themselves, bad. But if we...

Use emotions and an emotional high to determine whether or not God has moved, and then we're using a wrong standard. We're using something that changes and moves. It's not a good fixed position, focal point, or standard.

There is an emotional excitement that comes when we are being used by the Lord and using the gifts that God has given to us, being directed by His Spirit. However, that emotional excitement doesn't overtake us. It doesn't cause us to be without constraint in any way. The Scriptures don't describe that. Never do we see that in the New Testament. Yet, we see that today in certain places that it's called spiritual.

This was coming into the church at Corinth, where people were having an ecstatic emotional experience. In the midst of that service, something would be said, and the people would exalt it as the Word of God because of the experience that was going on. The content wasn't considered. It was just, "Hey, it happened in this setting; it must be of God." So people would say things like, "Jesus is accursed" or "Jesus be damned," and the church would say it must be from God. Paul says, "No, no, it's not from God."

There has been a lot of damage done within the church, within the body of Christ, by people who, in reality, are immature or ignorant of spiritual things. As I mentioned as we closed last week, the Bible needs to be that which informs our experience. It has to define our experience. If we have an experience, we need to take that and say, "How do we explain this with the Scriptures? What do the Scriptures have to say about this?"

We don't take our experience and say, "Well, I felt this, and therefore I know that what you're saying is in the Bible, but I felt this, and you can't prove my feeling wrong." No, we need to use the Bible as our guide.

As I said last week, I want us again to remember that the gifts of the Spirit are not toys to be played with. They're not trifles to be passed over or neglected. They're not trophies to be paraded, but they are tools to be employed by the believer.

Now, we're not actually going to get into the gifts of the Spirit today. The listing that's given here in 1 Corinthians 12, another list given in Romans chapter 12, more in Ephesians chapter 4, and in 1 Peter—we're not specifically going to get into that today. We will, but before we jump into that, I think it's important that we answer four questions.

Questions. So if you're taking notes, number one: Who gives the gifts? Number two: Who receives the gifts? Number three: Why are the gifts given? And number four: When are the gifts given or received?

First, who gives the gifts? Notice that we see in verse one of chapter 12 that these things are called spiritual or spirituals. The word "gifts" is not actually in the original language there in verse one, where it says, "Now concerning spiritual gifts." That word "gifts" is probably italicized in your Bible, which means it's not in the original Greek, although it may be implied. The Greek word is "pneumatikos." The first half of that word, "pneuma," is translated as "breath" or "spirit" in the New Testament. The ending "ikos," anytime you see the "ikos" or "ikon" ending in Greek, speaks of that which is controlled by or belongs to.

So Paul says, concerning those things that are controlled by the Spirit, and of course, he's talking about the Holy Spirit. The whole context of this passage is God's Spirit. He says, "I'm going to talk with you about those things that are controlled by the Spirit." He then amplifies his explanation of these things down in verse four, where he says, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same pneuma, spirit." There are differences, diversities of the gifts, but they all come from the same source. They come from the same Spirit.

Now, the word "gifts" there is the Greek word "charisma." The root of that word is the Greek word "charis," which is always translated in the New Testament as "grace." The first thing we learn about these things that are governed by the Spirit, controlled by the Spirit, is that they are a gift of grace. The word "charisma," translated as "gifts" here, is used 17 times in the New Testament. Eleven of those times it refers to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The other six times it speaks about salvation. Salvation is "charisma." It is a gift of grace.

We recognize that we did not do anything; we did not earn salvation. We haven't done anything to get it. It was freely given to us as a gift of God's grace. In the same way, the work of the Spirit in...

The life of the believer is the result of God's grace. It is a gift. We did not earn it; we didn't do anything to get it. It's not because of our own merit. Since we have received it as a gift, we cannot boast about it. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 7, that the church at Corinth was boasting about the things they had. He asked, "For who makes you to differ from one another? And what do you have that you did not receive as a gift? Now, if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you did not receive it? Why do you boast as if you earned it?"

We receive these as gracious gifts from the Spirit of God. They are controlled by God's Spirit and given by His grace. We cannot boast about them. We are not better than any other believer because we have them, and we ought not to look down upon people who don't have them or envy someone who appears to be spiritual or gifted. Paul tells us in verse 4 that there are different kinds of gifts. They are different and manifested in various ways in the life of the believer, but they all come from the same Spirit.

The first thing we learn in verse 1 is that these gifts are controlled by the Spirit and given because of God's grace, not because of our own merit. Now, look at verse 5. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; differences of gifts, but the same Spirit. The word "administrations" is translated in other versions as "ministries" or "services." It comes from the Greek word "diakonia," from which we get the English word "deacon."

Recently, someone asked me about deacons. Do we have deacons here at Calvary Chapel? Yes, in reality, we do. They may not have a badge that says "Deacon Bob," but the word "deacon," from "diakonia," means servant. Those who are currently serving in the children's ministry, for example, are deacons because of what they are doing. They may not have a title, but their service qualifies them as deacons. Those who serve in the sound booth, on PowerPoint, as ushers, greeters, or in the worship team, including myself, are all servants of the Lord. Therefore, we are all deacons.

So, what does this tell us about spiritual gifts? Well, spiritual gifts are governed...

By God's Spirit, given to the church by God's grace for service, we are to be used in service. What do we learn further on down? In verse six, there are diversities of operations, but the same God works all in all. The word "operations" there is the Greek word "energama." It speaks of energy or power to be energized.

Jesus promised His disciples in Acts chapter one, verse eight, that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit of God. Acts 1:8 states, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." Notice there that God promises them they will be empowered. They will be energized by the Spirit of God through His grace to do what? To be witnesses unto Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts.

God will graciously, by His Spirit, give Spirit-controlled gifts to the church to empower them to be servants and witnesses, enabling them to do the work that God has called them to do. Thus, God, by His Spirit, has graciously gifted us as His disciples with what we need to empower us to serve.

Who gives the gifts? It's clear. In First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 11, it says, "But all these work that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He wills." The New Living Translation puts it like this: "It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have."

There are gifts, and verse seven tells us that they are manifested. Verse seven states, "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the profit of all." This means that these gifts are made clear to the believer by God. He reveals what these things are; it's not some sort of hidden thing that you can't figure out. God makes it clear. These gifts are controlled by the Spirit, given by God's grace to the believer to enable them to do the work of the ministry and to serve. These things become clear, evident, or are made known.

The Holy Spirit, God, is the one who gives the gift.

Secondly, who receives the gifts? Well, again, look at verse seven. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man. Now, this is not every man in the sense of all heathens, all pagans, all unbelievers, or all humanity. The context of the passage is clear; this is speaking to believers. These gifts, which are controlled by the Spirit and given by God's grace to enable the believer to serve, are given to all believers. Every believer is gifted by God's Spirit. We all are given gifts by the Lord.

It is important to recognize that there are different gifts for different ministries, which are energized in our lives in different ways. These gifts are not an indication of spirituality. In First Corinthians chapter one, verse seven, we read that the church at Corinth was gifted; they were not lacking in any spiritual gift. However, in First Corinthians chapter three, we learn that they were also carnal. They were gifted, but they were immature and carnal. Therefore, the gifts they had, given by the Spirit of God and controlled by the Spirit of God, did not prove that a person was truly spiritual because they had gifts. We have all been given gifts from the Spirit by God.

Turn over a few books to the right to Ephesians chapter four, verse seven. It says, "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Wherefore, it says, when He, Jesus, ascended upon high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. God has gifted every believer.

From Ephesians chapter four, still to the right, turn to First Peter chapter four. Look at First Peter chapter four, verse ten.

Peter says that as every man has received the gift, so we should minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. As every man has received the gift, we have been gifted by God. All believers receive gifts from the Holy Spirit by God's grace to empower them for service.

Now, do all believers have these gifts in equal measure? No. The scripture reveals that the Spirit gives as He wills. Not all believers have them in equal measure. Another question is, do all believers utilize the gifts that they are given? Unfortunately not. It is very evident and clear that many people either don't recognize that they have gifts, or when they do recognize that they have those gifts, they don't actually use them for the edification of the body of Christ. That is why He gifted us and empowered us.

The Bible is clear: God, by His Spirit, graciously gives gifts to all believers within the body of Christ to enable them to serve. This brings us to the next question: Why are the gifts given? We have already touched on it, but again, look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the profit of all. The New King James translation renders it as "for the profit of all." The New Living Translation says it is "as a means of helping the entire church." The New International Version and the English Standard Version say "for the common good."

The gifts of the Spirit are given for the profit of all, for the common good, and for the helping of the entire church. Gifts are given to be used within the context of the body of Christ. We are to minister the gifts that we have been given to stir one another up, to use our gifts, and to bless and build up the body of Christ.

What do I mean by that? Well, every Sunday, week after week, I am using the gifts that God has given me to teach and preach His word, to stir up and equip you so that you can use the gifts that God has given you to fulfill the work of the ministry. It works like this: there are some people in the body of Christ who have the gift of encouragement. They may even send you a card in the mail. You receive that card and feel encouraged by their gift, and then you are also stirred up to think, "I should..."

Probably send a card too, because God is using one person's gifts to encourage another person's use of their gifts for the edifying of the body of Christ.

Well, again, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10, we just looked at it. Let me read it to you again: "As every man has received the gift, even so minister the same to one another." Now notice what Peter says: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. God has graciously given us gifts, and we are to steward or manage those gifts in such a way that we bless and build up the body of Christ.

Ephesians chapter 4 describes that God has given to the church corporately gifted individuals who fill offices within the body of Christ, from which they exercise the gifts that they have been given to edify and encourage the entire body corporately. Notice this with me in verse 7: "But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Wherefore, he says, "When he ascended upon high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men."

Now, verses 9 and 10 are a parenthesis speaking about this ascending and descending. Let's skip on down to verse 11. He has gifted people and has given to the church: "He gave some apostles and prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers." God has gifted individuals within the body of Christ and set them within offices in the church for this purpose.

Look at verse 12: "For the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." God has gifted people by His Spirit, through His grace, and set them in the context of the church to equip and encourage the body of Christ so that the body of Christ corporately would do the work of the ministry. The work of the ministry is much bigger than just one gifted individual.

So they are lifted up to do the work of the ministry, to build up the body until verse 13: "We all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, or a complete body, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Henceforth, be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men in the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may we grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

God has graciously gifted people within the body of Christ to fit into specific places within the church, to encourage and equip other believers to function within the gifting that God has given them. The gifts are not given to identify the truly spiritual. They are not given to lord over others within the body of Christ. The gifts are not given to boast about, parade around, or show off. They are not given to cause envy, nor are they given so that we can hoard or hide those things. They are given to be used for the mutual edification and building up of the body of Christ, to fulfill the work that God has given us to do.

The giver of the gift is God, by His Holy Spirit, as He wills. Those that receive are every believer within the body of Christ. We all receive these gifts so that we can serve within the body of Christ.

Well then, we come down to the question that is something of a divisive issue: When are the gifts given and received? This perhaps is the most touchy part of our message today. We will get into far more in the next several weeks, but there have been traditionally two different schools of thought within the church in answer to this question: When are the gifts given to the believers, and when are they received by the believer?

Now in the church, especially the evangelical church, you may hear the phrase "the baptism of the Holy Spirit." You may have even been asked before, "Have you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" The idea of this question is: Have you been baptized by the Holy Spirit? Has the Holy Spirit come upon you?

The first thing we need to recognize and understand is that the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures is never seen as the baptizer, the one doing the baptizing, but is always seen as the element by which we are baptized. To explain this, turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, specifically Matthew chapter 3.

In Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist is baptizing with water in the wilderness of Judea. Multitudes of people from the land of Israel are coming to him to hear him preach. When they come, he dunks them down underneath the water; they are baptized with water. John, in Matthew 3:11, says to those who are gathered to him, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you," underline this, "with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Jesus is seen as the baptizer, baptizing us with His Holy Spirit. Mark chapter 1 also says the same thing. In Mark 1:7, John the Baptist preached, saying, "There comes one mightier than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptize you with water," and in Mark 1:8, "but he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Matthew and Mark are in agreement.

Luke's Gospel, chapter 3, verse 16, also concurs. John the Baptist answered, saying unto them, "I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to loose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

You may have noticed that in both Matthew's Gospel and Luke's Gospel, John mentioned baptizing with fire. There are some who teach that this fire is the fire of the Holy Spirit, like on the day of Pentecost. However, you need to study it in context because in the very next verse, he explains what the fire is, and it's not the fire of the Holy Spirit; it's the fires of judgment.

Jesus's fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor and will gather the wheat unto His garner, but all the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire. What is being said here is that Jesus comes, and there are only two different kinds.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those whom God has baptized with His Holy Spirit and those who will one day be judged by His fire. In John chapter 1, verse 33, John the Baptist says of Jesus, "I knew Him not; but He who sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, 'Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending and remaining, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'"

This discussion about the baptism of the Holy Spirit implies that the Holy Spirit comes and baptizes you. The reality is that Jesus is always described as the one doing the baptizing, while the Holy Spirit is the element with which we are baptized. We are immersed in, covered with, and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why is this important? It has been taught that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an event that takes place after conversion, subsequent to conversion. Some groups in the church refer to it as a "second blessing" to conversion or salvation. One may have a very real experience that they classify as a second blessing and refer to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. However, our experiences must be defined by the Scriptures, and the Scriptures nowhere use the term "baptism of the Holy Spirit." Nowhere do we see the Holy Spirit being the baptizer; rather, He is the one who brings us into the experience or the one who infills us.

Our experiences need to be tested by the Scriptures. You may say, "Well, listen, I went forward at a harvest crusade in 1992, and I gave my life to Christ. I became born again, and then it wasn't until a retreat ten years later that I had the Holy Spirit come upon me. I had this experience." We need to take your experience and compare it with the Scriptures to see what they say about this, because our experience cannot be our guide; the Scriptures have to inform our experience.

We can explain this by looking at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. In verse 13, Paul states, "For by one Spirit are we all baptized." Notice the word "all." The Greek term speaks to the inclusivity of this baptism.

Of everything, everyone, for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, we have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

Now, when we read "therefore by one Spirit," the word "by" is the Greek word "en," and it means that we are baptized in or with. So, we could literally read this as "for with one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." I want you to think about this question for a minute: when did you, or when were you, brought into the body of Christ? At conversion, right?

At conversion, you were also baptized in or with the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians chapter 3, verse 16, and First Corinthians chapter 6, verse 19 tell us that all believers are the temple of the one Holy Spirit. He has come into us. When does it take place? At conversion. We are baptized by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit when we are saved.

After Jesus's resurrection, He met with His disciples in John chapter 20. In John 20:21, Jesus said unto them, "Peace be unto you. As my Father has sent me, even so I send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on His disciples and said unto them, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit." At that moment, they had put their faith in the risen Lord Jesus. He breathed on them, and they were born again by the Spirit of God.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter 3, "You must be born again." Nicodemus asked, "Wait, should I enter into my mother's womb a second time and be born?" Jesus replied, "No, no, no. That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of Spirit is spirit."

All Christians, at conversion, are baptized by Jesus with the Holy Spirit, who now resides in them. They have all the Holy Spirit that they will ever need. You have everything you need at conversion. What this means is there is no second blessing.

Now, I know that some of you may say, "Wait, you don't understand. I've been taught differently." Well, I understand what you may have been taught, but we need to look at the Scriptures. What do the Scriptures say? Why is this important? The second blessing teaching is not a biblical doctrine; it creates a caste system within the body of Christ. It creates a different class.

Of believers, you have those that are empowered and those that aren't. You have those that are spiritual and those that are inept, and this creates a second class. People say, "Well, you just need to be filled with..." No, no, no. If you're a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit.

You see, hyper-Pentecostal doctrine creates a division within the body of Christ, and I am always skeptical of doctrines that create division within the body of Christ. Now, that doesn't mean that every doctrine that has any sort of hint of division or brings division is bad, because we have to test it with the Scriptures. However, I am always immediately skeptical of doctrines that bring division and that categorize different kinds of Christians. Hyper-Pentecostalism does that.

Now, I'll say hyper-Calvinism does the same in a different direction. Hyper-Pentecostalism says, "Well, there are the truly spiritual and those that haven't quite got there yet." Hyper-Calvinism says, "There are those Christians, normal Christians, and then there are those who have a true understanding of grace and salvation, and you just don't quite understand it yet." Both are not scriptural whatsoever.

So, you may ask, "How do you explain that I was born again on this date and later there was the manifestation of the work of the Spirit in my life?" The work of the Spirit is manifested through the gifts of the Spirit. I would suggest to you, and I believe that I can build this from the Scriptures, that it comes when we yield ourselves to the work of the Spirit in our lives. When we yield ourselves to His governance, He dwells in us and has great power that He has gifted us with.

In Luke chapter 24, verse 49, Jesus told His disciples, "Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you." John chapters 14, 15, and 16 explain that the promise of the Father is the Holy Spirit. He says, "I send the promise of my Father upon you, but wait in Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high."

The Greek word "endued" there is "enduo." I talked with my good friend Justin Alford, who is a scholar of Greek, and I asked him about this word. He explained to me that the Greek word "enduo" consists of two different words: the preposition "in" and "duo." When you study them, you find out that it speaks of a power that is within you that will be manifested from the inside out. This power will be manifested in you.

What I want you to do, says Jesus, is to wait in Jerusalem until that power is manifested in you. When it is manifested in you, then you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts. I don't want you to go out and minister and witness of me until this has been manifested in your life.

I've breathed on you to receive the Holy Spirit. You are gifted; you are filled. Each believer has been baptized in the Holy Spirit and is therefore gifted by the Holy Spirit at conversion. All Christians have been given gifts. Now, you may say that you don't have any gifts. Yes, you do; you just may not have recognized them. You might not be using them, but you have them.

Well, my gifts aren't like your gifts. No, they're not, but God has gifted you in a specific way for the task that He's called you to. In a few weeks, we're going to get into another section here in chapter 12 of 1st Corinthians, where we find that we are all parts of the body. Some are more visible—the hands, the feet, the mouth—more visible. Some have bigger mouths than others and can't shut up, but there are other parts that are far more vital that are never seen. Without them, the body cannot function.

We have all received the Holy Spirit at conversion; we have all been gifted. We may not have recognized those things or may not be using them, but when we yield ourselves to God and walk in the Spirit, we experience the fullness of His filling. He animates our lives. Even those who are exercising the gifts of the Spirit that God has given them today have areas of their lives that they have not yielded to the work of the Spirit.

Today, there are things that you've held back. You say, "No, I'm not ready to give this up," and it might be an area of sin that you're struggling with. The reason you don't have victory in that area is that you've not released it to the Holy Spirit to be able to work through those things by the gifts of the Spirit.

Now, does that mean if you release that to Him and He becomes Lord of your life in that area, you'll instantly be done with it? No, because He is sanctifying us by His Spirit and through His Word. What then is the experience that some call the second blessing? They are not receiving anything new from God by His Spirit; they are witnessing the manifestation of the Spirit's power as they obediently submit themselves.

To His will. Perhaps you're at a women's retreat or a men's retreat, and they say, "We're going to have a time of prayer." You go up and say, "I really would like to see God working in my life. I'd like to see the Spirit's work in my life." They pray with you, and you start to experience a transformation in your life. What happened there? You were yielding to the work of the Spirit in your life, something He has wanted to do for a long time.

If you walk in the Spirit, you will experience the abounding fullness of His Spirit. He will fulfill in you what He has desired to do. We need to daily submit ourselves to Him and allow Him to work in our lives because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. There aren't different classes of Christians—the really spiritual ones and the spiritual elite, as opposed to those who haven't quite got it yet. We need to pray for you, yes, but what we need to pray for is that we would allow the Spirit of God to work in us as He desires to do.

The gifts are given to all believers in the church to build up God's people into the image of Christ, their Lord. God has equipped gifted individuals and placed them within the body of Christ in different offices throughout the body to minister to the church and equip the saints for the work of the ministry. These individuals are to help people mature so that they can fulfill the work that God has called them to.

If you are a Christian today, then you have been baptized by Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit, and you are gifted by God to do the work of the ministry. Does that mean that you fully and perfectly function in the gift that God has given you? No, because those gifts need to be developed. God has given me the gift of teaching; He has given me the ability to study His Word and break it down to understand what is being said there.

The first day that I recognized the gift of teaching was when I was teaching junior high in February of 1999. I wasn't quite as good at it then; it needed to be developed. But God has given us the raw materials to develop those gifts and to walk in that which He has called us to.

So we have to wonder: Are we using the gifts that God has graciously given to us, or have we buried them? Perhaps you say, "Well, I didn't even know what those gifts are." Well, you have to come back next week so we can consider them together.

Let's stand and pray together. Father, we need Your grace and Your wisdom to be able to walk through these things and to understand them. We thank You, Lord, that You've made it clear. Thank You, Lord, that You desire for us to know Your character and Your will.

Lord, we want to be a church that sees the gifts of the Spirit being exercised in our daily lives, effectively doing the work that You've called us to and equipped us for. Help us to submit ourselves to what Your Word says, to define our experiences by what Your Word says, and to walk in the light of the truth that You've revealed.

We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.