1 Corinthians 12:1

You were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were led. Therefore, 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. 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.

To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another diverse kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. All these work that one and 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. By one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and we have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

Father, we pray for this very unity that Paul is speaking about within our fellowship. We are one body and many members, but You have sovereignly brought us together as one. There is a great unity in diversity, and Lord, we ask that You would work in us to glorify Yourself because of that unity and diversity.

Lord, as Paul exhorted, would You enable us to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, knowing that You are one.

And God, would You shine so brightly through us that Your grace and Your glory are manifested to those who are still in darkness. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

The more I study and read through the text before us—1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14, which deal with spiritual gifts—the more I am convinced that God has asked us as a fellowship here for such a time as this. God desires to do a work in and through the body of Christ here at Calvary Chapel of Escondido. He has given us, the leadership of the church, a vision that is far greater than anything we can currently do or fulfill without God, by His Spirit empowering us, the body of Christ, to do that work.

As we see in this passage, there is one body and there are many members. We will be talking about that in-depth in just a few weeks. If you read through 1 Corinthians, and even if you read through 2 Corinthians, there are very few individual addresses of Paul speaking to Christians within the body. He speaks to the body corporately, and we are to be functioning as one body together. Within the body, there are many members, and each of those members is gifted by God, as we have been considering over the last several weeks.

Every Christian, I believe, is gifted by God to do the work of the ministry. We are given these spiritual gifts that Paul speaks of here. A spiritual gift is a God-given empowering for service, which is given to every believer by God, by His Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit wills. These gifts are given for the glorification of God and for the edification of the body of Christ. They are given to bring praise and glory to His name by building up and strengthening the body of Christ.

We have previously considered in our study that these gifts are given for the profit of all. In verse 7 of chapter 12, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, every believer; the context is the church here, for the profit of all.

It is an ability, any ability, that the Spirit gives, which acts to provide us the capacity to express our faith and build up the faith of another. Spiritual gifts are given to every believer for the profit and edification of the body of Christ. They are from God and are not the same as natural talents, as we saw a few weeks ago. Spiritual gifts are not a sign of spirituality.

The church at Corinth stumbled into the misconception that if you have a specific gift, then you are truly spiritual. Conversely, if you do not possess that gift, you are deemed not to be spiritual. This is not a measuring rod of spirituality; spiritual giftedness is not an end in and of itself. Some people seek after a specific gift, believing that once they have it, they have arrived. However, a spiritual gift is meant to be used to glorify God and to edify His body. If it is not being used for that purpose, then it is not being utilized properly.

As I have mentioned each time we have been going through this passage, a spiritual gift is not a toy to be played with, a trifle to be passed over, or a trophy to be paraded around. It is a tool to be used for the glory of God and for the edification of the body of Christ. It should not be envied, but it should be desired. We should desire that God would work through us by His Holy Spirit to glorify Him and to build up the body. This should be something we pursue and look forward to in our lives.

A couple of weeks ago, we considered six of the gifts. There are four different listings of gifts given in the New Testament: in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter 4, and 1 Peter chapter 4. When you look at these lists, about 20 gifts are mentioned, but it is important to recognize that this is not an exhaustive list of giftings. It is a selective list that we have in the New Testament.

We have been going through each one of these gifts and considering what they are. A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the gifts of prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, and leadership. If you would like to access that message, you can sign on to our website, ccsgo.com. It is available there for free if you want to consider what those gifts are about. Today, we will continue on with the list, and we will not get through all of them.

Today, we are going to begin with the gift of mercy. If you're taking notes, this would be the seventh one that we're looking at. They are not in any particular order, but the gift of mercy is significant. Notice chapter 12, verse 8, where Paul says, "He that has the gift of exhortation, use it to exhort. He that has the gift of giving, let him give with simplicity. He that has the gift of ruling or leadership, let him rule with diligence." At the end of the verse, he adds, "He that shows mercy, do so with cheerfulness."

There are those who are gifted within the body of Christ to show mercy and to give mercy. We must step back from this gift for a moment and recognize that just because you feel you do not have the gift of mercy does not mean you are not indebted to keep and give mercy to others. There is a common misconception where people say, "I don't have the gift of evangelism, so I'm not supposed to evangelize." This is not true. The Scriptures say to fulfill your ministry and do the work of an evangelist.

Some people claim, "I don't have the gift of giving, so I don't give." This is also not true. While some Christians are called to give, others are gifted to give with cheerfulness and liberality in a way that is phenomenal. There are those who are gifted with mercy, but we are all called to be merciful.

In Micah 6:8, Micah states, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. What the Lord requires of you is to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk humbly with our God." However, there is a problem. Our carnal nature tends to switch things around in that verse, and sometimes we get it mixed up in our minds. Many Christians mistakenly think it says to love justice. No, it says to love mercy. In our carnal nature, we often want justice for others while desiring mercy for ourselves.

I can prove this by how we drive down the 15 Freeway. If you are driving down the 15 and someone comes through, doing 85 miles an hour, cutting you off and almost hitting you, you might feel fear and anger. You may think, "I wish there was a cop here right now. Where is the CHP when you need them? I wish I had the sirens on my car; I would get them right."

That guy needs justice. We love justice. That's why millions of Americans tuned into the O.J. Simpson trial in the 90s. Love for justice is also why, this last week, there were people dancing in Times Square and outside the White House when news came that Osama bin Laden had been killed.

We, in our carnal nature, love justice until it’s turned around and we’ve done something wrong. When we’re the ones cruising down the freeway at 85 miles an hour and we look in the rearview mirror to see that little motorcycle that looks like a motorcycle cop, suddenly we let off on the accelerator and think, "Oh, please God, don’t let that be a police officer." In that moment, we need mercy. We repent and promise to drive slower for the rest of our lives, or at least until the next mile marker when the motorcycle passes us and we realize it’s not a cop. Then all is well, and we thank God for His mercy.

We love justice, but we are also called to be merciful and to extend mercy to others. Jesus said something profound in the Sermon on the Mount, specifically in Matthew chapter 5, in the Beatitudes: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." As Christians, we are called to be merciful because God is merciful. Therefore, He calls us, as His children, to also show mercy.

However, the Scriptures reveal in Romans chapter 12, verse 8, that some individuals are gifted with an extra capacity for mercy. This is the person who has the ability to deeply empathize and engage with compassion toward those who are going through great times of suffering, trauma, grief, mental anguish, and emotional distress. This gift often manifests in a person who always seems to notice those who are hurting—the person that I may walk by and completely overlook.

The person with the gift of mercy is attracted like a magnet to those in need. They feel compelled to help, even if they don’t know exactly how. They just know that person needs help, and they need to reach out to them. While this gift may be more pronounced in some, all believers are called to be merciful.

And there's this thing where some people think, "No, no, no, no, no. I have the gift of judgment." No, you don't. God does. He is the one who puts on the cloak of vengeance, as stated in the book of Isaiah. It's not for you; it's not for me. It's mine, saith the Lord. You, Christian, be merciful. Be merciful. Thankfully, there are people within the body of Christ who have this capacity to be merciful in a greater way than others. But we're all called to this, and so we should ask the Lord to enable us by His Spirit to be merciful.

The next gift is the gift of wisdom. We read about it this morning in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 8. It says, "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom." This ability is very closely related to the next gift, the word of knowledge. The word of wisdom is the ability to apply the principles of Scripture, the Word of God, to apply God's heart and God's Word in the right way, at the right time, for the right person, in the right place. It's what the Proverbs talk about when they say that a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver. It's just the right word at the right time. That's wisdom from God—to speak that right thing right there.

I think there's a great example of this in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 23, the Apostle Paul is standing before the ruling council in Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is filled with Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, and all the different rabbis of Jerusalem—the leading figures gathered together. This is the ruling court that said, "Crucify Him; Jesus is to be put to death." Before his conversion, Paul may have been a member of the Sanhedrin. Many people believe he was not, but at the very least, his teacher, his rabbi Gamaliel, was. So Paul knew the Sanhedrin well.

In Acts 23, he is now standing on the other side of the Sanhedrin, and they are trying him in much the same way that they sought to try Peter and John before him in Acts chapter 4, and then Jesus before that. Paul is standing there, and God gives him a word of wisdom. In Acts chapter 23, verse 6, when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other were Pharisees, he cried out to the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son..."

Of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead, I am called into question. Now, Paul had this word of wisdom, which I believe came right there from God. I think God spoke to his heart and just said, "Bring up the resurrection." The Sadducees, as we read here, did not believe there was a resurrection.

So, this whole group of people that were totally against Paul suddenly found themselves fighting against each other. The Pharisees said, "Yeah, we like this guy, Paul. What do you have a problem with?" I mean, he believes in the resurrection, and the Sadducees responded, "Oh, we can't kill him." At that point, Paul just kind of stepped back and let them take it away. They forgot about Paul and became focused on this whole issue. I think that was a word of wisdom—right word, right time, right way, right place.

If any of you have had the wrong word at the wrong time, boy, we need the wisdom of God, don't we? Sometimes, the word of wisdom manifests itself in shutting up. That's my brother-in-law, by the way; he knows quite well. Sometimes it's wise to just remain silent. The Proverbs say, "Even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace," meaning when he keeps his mouth shut.

The word of wisdom is a very real gift that God gives, speaking the right word at the right time to apply God's word to a specific situation. Very closely related to that is the word of knowledge. First Corinthians 12:8 says, "For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge," which is the ability to speak forth knowledge and understanding.

I think that Peter revealed a word of knowledge. A word of knowledge is speaking something that has not been known or could not be known except from God, delivering it and speaking it forth. Peter reveals this in Matthew chapter 16 when Jesus turns to him and says, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter responds, "You're the Christ, the Son of the living God." That is information knowledge.

I don't even think Peter quite recognized what he was saying when he made this declaration. Jesus said, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of John. Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven." That is a word of knowledge right at that moment. Jesus, who is the fullness of all the gifts, exercises the gift of knowledge.

In John chapter four, when Jesus is talking with the woman at the well, there is a significant moment. At one point, she begins to understand him, and he says, "Go get your husband and come out here." She replies, "I have no husband." Jesus responds, "You have rightly said you have no husband. You've had five husbands, and the one you're with right now is not your husband." She then says, "I perceive you're a prophet." This is a word of knowledge, where Jesus speaks forth a word from God to know exactly what is happening in the situation.

Next, let's discuss the gift of faith. First Corinthians tells us that God has given to every man a measure of faith. I interpret that to mean that God has given all humanity, both men and women, the ability to believe. He has provided them with the measure of faith to put their confidence and trust in Him, the Son of Man.

Romans chapter 10, verse 17 states that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This faith can be encouraged to grow. Every Christian who has put their faith and conscious trust in Jesus for salvation should be growing in their faith. In many ways, faith is similar to a muscle; it grows when it is exercised and strengthened.

We often don't like exercise because it hurts and is hard. There is a certain level of willpower required to step outside and go for a run or to go to the gym. Sometimes that willpower is present for a little while, but it doesn't always last, especially when you've stretched further than you have before. At that point, it can hurt and feel painful.

Faith is similar. We Christians all need to be growing in our faith, stretching out, and stepping into areas we might not otherwise consider. We might think, "I don't know if I could do that. It hurts. It's painful. I'm scared to do this." For example, someone might say, "We really could use your help in the children's ministry." You might think, "Oh, that kind of hurts my faith." But it's important to try it and stretch. Yes, it may be painful, but as you engage in these activities, your faith begins to grow and strengthen.

Hey, we'd love for you to go on this mission trip!

Oh, good. Oh, ow. Oh, yeah. I'm feeling that one. Strength. I need to strengthen that faith. We need to stretch. I will tell you, this gets harder as your Christian life goes on because you need to take larger steps of faith.

There are people within the body of Christ who are gifted with a greater capacity for faith. It looks something like this: Kelly Kirstead, our missions director, showed me a video a few weeks ago about the Free Burma Rangers. One of these guys is going to be speaking in Cary Chapel Myriad in just a couple of weeks. We will be talking about this on the second Wednesday night in June.

The Free Burma Rangers are a group of Christians ministering in Burma, Myanmar, bringing the gospel into a nation where there is state-sponsored persecution. If they are caught, they are either imprisoned or killed in terrible ways—burned to death, limbs cut off, and other horrific acts. There is an American man, along with his wife and their three children, all under ten, who are working in Burma with the Free Burma Rangers. They travel on foot, covering 12 to 15 miles a day from village to village, sharing the gospel and bringing aid to the people.

When I watched this, all I could think of was that this is the gift of faith. I kept thinking, I don't know if I could do that. Going by myself is one thing, but taking my family and my kids there? I struggle with that. I really do. A lot of times, those who don't have the gift of faith look at those who do and call them fools. We can look at them and say, "That's crazy, that's foolish; God didn't call you to do that." No, God did call them to do that, and He gave them the faith to step out in that way.

It's so essential. We need people within the body of Christ with this faith, but not all of us have it. I pray that the Lord would strengthen my faith in that area. I'm thankful that when we say, "Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief," He doesn't chastise us. He recognizes that we, in and of ourselves, are weak in our faith. Our faith grows when we step out by faith into an area where we're questioning whether...

God is going to show up, and we see Him show up. That's when we go, "Wow, He is to be trusted." If you follow the life of Abraham in the book of Genesis, you see that over time, he learns that God is the God who provides, Jehovah Jireh. At the beginning, he didn't quite comprehend this. It took years for him to come to the place where he could say, "God provides," and be willing to give up everything because he trusted God. It takes time.

However, there are those who have this great measure of faith given to them, and it's childlike. It's a childlike reaction to God the Father. He is God; He is my Father; He will take care of me. It's that kind of faith. I see this in my daughter, Addison. She's one of those kids who will stand on the fourth stair and just jump out to you. You better be ready because she doesn't care. She just assumes you're going to catch her. Thank God I've caught her because I don't want that faith to be shattered on the wood floor.

Now, Ethan, our son, is a little bit more measured. They are kind of different in that regard. But Addison, she just has that faith. She'll even drink the cleaning solution when everyone says, "No, don't do this." It's childlike faith. This is why Jesus encouraged His disciples to become like children in their faith. Not foolish, not completely naive, but banking upon God—He is able; He can do this.

When an individual exercises that kind of faith, they see God do amazing things. This doesn't mean that people who don't exercise that kind of faith don't see God do amazing things, but sometimes, in proportion to your faith, you see God work. I've had people ask me, "How come we're not seeing some of these things exercised?" We're going to get into healings and miracles and all these things. We're not seeing this in the church today. A lot of times, you see this in frontline missions, out on the edge, at the cutting edge of what God is doing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the stands. You'll hear these missionary stories of people being raised from the dead, blind people receiving sight, and God doing just miraculous things as people step out by faith and need God to show up.

It's a sad reality, but in some ways, we have cut faith out of many of our issues here in America. We need faith. We have a bank account, a credit card, and we feel okay because we can take care of things. However, God has a way of shaking those things we trust in so we can recognize that He is the only one to be trusted.

Now, let's move on to number 11: the gifts of healings. In your Bible, this is mentioned in First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 9. It states, "to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing," as it says in the King James Version. In some translations, it refers to gifts of healing, while others say gift of healings. If you look at the original language, the best I can deduce from various commentaries is that it should actually be translated as gifts of healings. I think that distinction is important.

The gifts of healings suggest that different kinds of gifts for various types of healings are given to different people according to God's sovereign will. This alone implies that one person will not have a monopoly on every sort of healing that is necessary. It also suggests that there will be many times when a person with some gifts to heal will not be able to heal.

Let me unpack that a little bit because I think it is really important. In our day, there have been abuses and misuses of several gifts mentioned in these lists, including the gift of healings, the gifts of miracles, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. We see these abuses and misuses in American evangelical Christianity today. As a result, some great Bible teachers, whom I respect and admire for their exposition of the text, have stepped back from some of these gifts. I mentioned a couple of them a few weeks ago, and some misunderstood my comments as suggesting that I think they are false teachers. I do not.

John MacArthur and Alistair Begg are both great Bible teachers. On this issue, I disagree with them because they believe that the gifts of healing, miracles, tongues, and interpretation of tongues are what they call sign gifts, and that these ceased with the apostles.

No longer available and in use in the church today, this is called cessationism. Those who hold a cessationist position are not heretics; they are not false teachers. We just don't agree with their interpretation of the passage. I think it's a stretch, an expositional stretch, to come to the position that these things have ceased. However, you have to recognize that the reason they are saying what they are saying is a reaction to what they see. I understand it completely.

If you look at what is sometimes put forth as miracles and healings on TV, I'll give you an example. One guy, Todd Bentley, in Florida, I don't even know if he's doing much anymore; he may be out of the ministry now. One of the things that he would do is heal people. People would walk up, and if someone had problems with their stomach, he would kick them and say, "You're healed." Okay, wait a minute, time out. It's not the Spirit of God. It's not.

When we read from John Piper, who said that one person will not have a monopoly on every gift of healing, I think it's good to recognize that when an individual is healed, there is question among scholars and Bible teachers as to who received the gift of healing at that moment. Was it the healee, the person being healed? Did they receive the gift of healing from God for whatever condition they had? Or was it the healer? Did that person have the gift of healing, and did God use them as a conduit or an instrument through which He was going to work to bring about a miraculous healing of a sickness, blindness, or whatever it may be that God is working?

At the end of the day, we all have to recognize that God is the healer. Any time you see a person who is apparently gifted, claiming, "I’m a healer," or "The healing ministry of Scott," because he prayed for someone and now he's going around the nation being the healer, I question whether or not God is a part of that. The gifts of God always exalt and glorify God and build up the body.

Now, I have no doubt that some of these faith healers in Christendom today, perhaps at one point in time, God did use them as a conduit, as an instrument through which a healing came. The problem is that they took that and said, "Well, now I'm a healer," and now they've gone forth.

They're bringing all the glory to themselves. The edification is for themselves, and they become very wealthy from this. They've made a name for themselves. At the end of the day, I think in many ways, like the Pharisees of Jesus's day, they have their reward.

Gifts of healings raise the question: Who is receiving the gift? Is it the one being healed, or is it the one through whom God is using as a conduit for healing? This is open to debate. What I do know is that God still heals in miraculous and powerful ways. He still does this. However, not every apparent healing that's on TV is truly of God. Jesus said that in the last days, there would come false teachers and false prophets who will bring lying signs and wonders. They also will heal. Therefore, we have to recognize that this is not necessarily a sign that God was here or that God did something, because the enemy can also perform these acts to deceive people.

A lot of people have been misled into some Eastern mystical practices by apparent healings from gurus, which are not of God. Paul the Apostle is a good case to study. There were times in his ministry when God used him as a conduit or an instrument through which healing would come.

In Acts chapter 14, verse 10, he is in the city of Lystra, and God uses him to heal a man who is crippled. In Acts chapter 16, verse 18, he is used by the Lord to heal a woman who is demon-possessed. In Acts chapter 19, verse 12, while he is in the city of Ephesus, many people are healed through the ministry of work that God was doing through the Apostle Paul.

Then again, in Acts chapter 20, there is a great story. Paul is teaching, and I believe he is in Ephesus. He is in this room, teaching long into the night. You think I'm bad? Paul teaches until midnight, all day long through to that hour. In this upper room on the third floor, there is a guy named Eutychus who is sleeping in the windowsill. God bless you if you do that, but wake up! Eutychus falls asleep and tumbles out the window while Paul is teaching. Everyone is bummed; Eutychus is dead. Paul goes down, gives him a hug, prays for him, and he is fine.

Paul goes up, eats a meal, and keeps preaching until daybreak. The next morning, Eutychus is fine. He has been raised from the dead; he is not dead, he is healed. It's awesome. However, Paul was not always able to heal people. A great example is found in 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 9. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. Three times he calls out to God, asking that God would heal him. God does not heal him. Instead, God says, "My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. I have given this to you for my glory."

Now, here's a very amazing and hard theological concept for us to grapple with: sometimes God allows illness in the life of the believer to glorify Himself. The death of Lazarus illustrates this point. Jesus receives news that Lazarus is sick and near death. He hangs around for a couple of days before saying, "Okay, let's go see Lazarus. He's sleeping." His disciples respond, "Well, if he's sleeping, he'll be okay." Jesus clarifies, "No, guys, he's dead. And this happened for my glory."

We have a hard time with this in American Christianity, grappling with the idea that someone could have an illness or chronic pain for the glory of God. Doesn't He just want everybody to be healed? "By His stripes, we are healed," says the faith community. The health and wealth prosperity doctrine claims that we are all healed, and the only reason you are not healed is that you are going to the doctor and think you are sick, but you are not really sick. Just stop being sick, and you'll be okay.

No, God sometimes allows these things for His glory, and He doesn't always heal. We may say, "Oh, I have a hard time with that," but it is theology; it is what the Scriptures reveal about God. God allows these things to bring glory to Himself. Paul states, "I will very gladly boast in my weakness because when I am weak, He is magnified."

So, Paul was not healed when he prayed for it. Not only Paul, but Timothy also faced challenges. Timothy had some sort of gastrointestinal problem, probably IBS, and he didn't have Mylanta. He had issues. Paul advises him in 1 Timothy 5, saying, "Well, you know, drink a little wine for your stomach." Do you think Paul probably prayed for Timothy? I think he did. Was Timothy healed? No, he had some stomach problems.

Not just that, but Epaphroditus, mentioned in Philippians chapter 2, was sick and nearly died from the illness he had. I guarantee Paul prayed for him as well.

He wasn't immediately healed. Trophimus, mentioned in 2 Timothy chapter 4, was with Paul when he got sick. Paul said, "I have to keep going. I'm going to leave you here." He left his sick companion alone in the city of Miletus and continued on his journey. Later, he wrote to Timothy, mentioning that Trophimus had fallen sick and that he left him there. He wasn't healed.

As a result of this, it's important to recognize that gifts of healing are not always guaranteed. Just because God may have used you as a conduit or an instrument through which miraculous healing occurs for someone, it doesn't mean that the next time you pray, the same will happen. I have a good friend who is a pastor at Maranatha Chapel. I jokingly called him the "pastor of death" because the first three or four people he prayed for in the hospital all died within hours of his prayers. Consequently, everyone started saying, "Oh, don't send Mark Childers to pray for me." He would walk into the hospital, and people would say, "Whoa, hey, no, send Ray or someone else, not you."

You need to grasp that ultimate healing is spiritual, and that extends to eternal life. This temporal life is quickly perishing. I hate to break it to you, but every one of you is going to die. Unless you're raptured, you're all going to die. It's a really uplifting message for Mother's Day: you're all going to die. Every single person who was healed in the ministry of Jesus eventually died. It was temporary. Were they healed? Absolutely. The woman with the issue of blood was healed. The woman's son at the city of Nain was raised from the dead. Lazarus was raised from the dead. Jairus' daughter was raised from the dead. They all died again. The man with the withered hand died. The man at the pool of Bethesda, who was lame, was healed and then died.

Ultimate healing is spiritual healing. I think I've said enough on that. So the question is, in the gift of healing, is it the healee or the healer that has the gift?

Ultimately, it's the Spirit of God who has the gift of healing, and He chooses as He wills to heal people. He chooses for His glory and the building up of the body of Christ. Amen?

Listen, we're way out of time. I've only got 20 more gifts to talk about, so next week, let's stand and pray.

Father, we endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. I recognize, Lord, that within a group this big, there is disagreement on these issues. Help us to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

Father, if anything I have said today is of me and not of You, would You just let it fall to the ground? We want to be directed by Your Word. Lord, we want to be filled by Your Spirit in exercising these gifts to Your glory and the building up of the body. So we just yield ourselves to You. We confess it's not by our might or by our power, but by Your Spirit.

Lord, work in and through us as we go from this place, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.