======================================================================== SPIRITUAL GIFTS： WISDOM, FAITH, HEALING (WED. NIGHT SERVICE) by Shane Idleman ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the need to deconstruct preconceived notions and be open to what God's Word says. It explores the diverse experiences and perspectives within the church regarding the exercise of spiritual gifts, highlighting the importance of discernment and balance in approaching the gifts. The sermon encourages a deep dive into chapters 12, 13, and 14 of Corinthians to understand the relevance and application of these gifts in modern times. Duration: 1:09:30 Topics: "Spiritual Gifts", "Discernment in the Church" Scripture References: 1 Corinthians 12:1, James 5:16, Mark 16:17, 1 Corinthians 14:3, Acts 3:6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the need to deconstruct preconceived notions and be open to what God's Word says. It explores the diverse experiences and perspectives within the church regarding the exercise of spiritual gifts, highlighting the importance of discernment and balance in approaching the gifts. The sermon encourages a deep dive into chapters 12, 13, and 14 of Corinthians to understand the relevance and application of these gifts in modern times. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Let me just give an introduction on this topic. The spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit. It's almost like sometimes we have to deconstruct something in our mind and then build it back up because we've been taught certain things. There's people in this church that are conservative, very conservative. There's people in this church who have came from Pentecostal churches, charismatic churches where the gifts are exercised regularly, often maybe out of order sometimes. There's some in the middle as well. So my hope is to try to just show you what God's Word says based, of course, a little bit on my personal experience, but primarily on God's Word and what it has to say to us. My thought on the gifts of the Holy Spirit is this. The question we have to ask ourselves as we study chapter 12, chapter 13, chapter 14, does this apply to us or does it not? That's the big question because if it doesn't apply to us, we don't really need to teach through it. This is something the early church had and thank God they had it, boy, because they really needed it. But today we have it together now. We have the Bible and that's all we really need and I'm not in a position to do that. I think it's dangerous to start to take out entire chapters and things where there's just no scriptural support. In case you're unaware, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there are a lot of different gifts. There's helps, administration, pastoring, teaching, preaching. Nobody seems to have a problem with those, but it's the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit. A gift of faith, a gift of healing, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, a prophetic word, prophecy. That's where we seem to have problems sometimes, many people do. What I'm primarily talking about is the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit that the church, the early church saw in the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came upon a group of people and the Holy Spirit was active in a way. So let's start in chapter 12. If you have your Bibles, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, I should have looked at the page in the Bible in front of you, and I think we'll have some of it up on the screen, I just don't know how far I'm going to get. So that's usually the case with this kind of study. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1. So Paul's writing to the church in Corinth, and a vibrant, living, healthy church needs rules, doesn't it? So Paul said, hey, in regards to the gifts, here's how I want you to conduct yourself. And D. Martin Lloyd-Jones said, and I've told you this before, that living children need rules, dead children don't. So the fact that a church is living and vibrant and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are flowing, they're going to need some guardrails there. They're going to need some older women and older men to come alongside and help discern sometimes. And it's a living, vibrant, growing church is sometimes messy, isn't it? Just like Proverbs says, where there's no ox, your stall's going to be very clean. But where there's an ox, there's manure. There's a dirty stall. And so when a church is growing, and I've seen this, the more we're growing and God's building and people are being set free, there's a lot of attacks as well on the side, on the peripheral, back attacks, frontal attacks. And it's like, man, the enemy will just...for every spiritual person on fire for God, he brings somebody that's not quite at that spot. He'll bring the fire of God and then the devil brings the loose cannon. You know, a healthy church has to be careful in this area. So Paul says to the church, and I would say he's saying this to us, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols. However, you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed. And no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So let me stop there for a minute. Two things I want to glean from this. Paul is telling us, I believe, do not be ignorant, meaning don't be foolish in this area. You know what ignorance is, right? Ignorance is bliss, they say. Ignorance, well, I just didn't know. Don't be ignorant. Don't be ignorant on this topic. I just don't know. I just don't care. Understand what God is saying to us. But he also says, on the flip side, don't be carried away. You know what carried away is and just getting too focused on possibly the gifts or getting it carried away on certain things. And we see our kids sometimes, right? He says don't get carried away on this area of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So don't be ignorant and don't get carried away. Be balanced. And he says no one speaking by the Spirit of God can deny Jesus Christ. Now this is interesting because I think he's saying, you know, you can't be a follower of Jesus Christ and also curse God. But the context now, he's going to go into the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So people have said, and I don't necessarily disagree, he could also be talking about the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues because of the following admonishment. So I have this picture. I could be wrong. Again, some of this is just, you know, speculation I'm pulling from it. But Paul is saying here, if somebody's speaking in tongues and as it's attributed today to Satan. So somebody speaking in tongues, I'm going to get into that hopefully next week. Sorry for all those who think I was going to get into it this week. You have to come back next week. But he's saying, and you can imagine them speaking in tongues. They're not cursing God. It's not of the devil because they can't say that Christ is Lord in their heart and they're praising God and be speaking something that is demonic. Whatever they are speaking is glorifying God. And this issue of tongues happened on the day of Pentecost. Now I will give you this. It's interesting, isn't it? I mean, to say the least, to speak a language that's not known to you is interesting. You know, it gives people pause for concern. Those who have experienced this have no problem with it. They read what Paul wrote and they said, man, I can relate. Those who haven't experienced it seem to have a problem with it. And we make the mistake of thinking, I'm going to get to this later, but now I'm going to get to it now, I guess. We seem to think, well, if that person's speaking in tongues and I'm not, they must be more spiritual. And what really stuck out to me, at least this week as I'm studying this, is the gifts of the Holy Spirit can be given at conversion. So you can have somebody one week in the faith who is given a gift by the Holy Spirit. We have this impression, right, oh, after 25 years, this real mature, seasoned Christian, now they're going to have a word of wisdom or a word of knowledge. Sometimes it can be with the baby Christians. They can repent and they can believe in, Shane, I just have this, I'm worshipping in this, I just start praising God in a language I don't understand. What's wrong with me? Well, read 1 Corinthians 12. Or I gave my heart to the Lord, I repented, I'm filled with the Spirit, and I feel I just have this discernment or this faith rising up in me, or I want to speak this word of knowledge to somebody, it's been on my heart all week, what do I do with this? And they've only been a Christian a month. But also what comes with immaturity is immaturity. So that's what Paul's also addressing, is maturity in the church, and what does that look like? So I believe Paul could say, you hear these people speaking in a language that they don't understand, of course, people are, when they're worshipping, they're speaking, they're worshipping, they're praising God. I mean, I kind of, I'll be careful here, but I think, I wonder how many people in the church overall would be embarrassed how the early Christians acted in the book of Acts. Think about that. The Holy Spirit fell upon a group of 120, sometimes it gets to that here, and they just started praising God. How many Christians would be embarrassed of that? Even though it's biblical, it's in the Bible. Those were early believers filled with the Spirit of God. So what happened is you see these people waiting in the prayer room, I like to call it, but upper room, and they were filled, the Holy Spirit came in like just rushed in, a rushing of the Holy Spirit. And believe it or not, I've got books this high, probably, of past revivals, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, where, and I should read some of the excerpts sometimes, and it's recorded, where people, they'd be in a prayer meeting, all night prayer meeting, and they would just say, God, we're holding you to your promise, meet your people, and just the whole place was shaken like a leaf. The power of God came upon that place, and people were just on their face, prostrate before God for hours. See I don't think that's weird, I think that's biblical Christianity when the Holy Spirit visits a place. And I should be careful, because people say, well isn't the Holy Spirit everywhere? Yes, the Holy Spirit is here, but his manifest presence, when God begins to reveal more of himself, and more of himself, and more of himself, humanity gets to a point where they can't handle the omnipresence, the powerful manifestation of God's Spirit. How close to the fire are you is really what happens. The Holy Spirit's everywhere, many people, you know, they know it, they're conscious of it, but when the Holy Spirit imparts the atmosphere, and breaks the atmosphere, and comes into a place, and really he convicts people of their sin, people see, you don't get a lot of people, at least with the accounts I read, where people are just too excited, and they are sometimes, but usually the Holy Spirit, people have this awe, this oh my God, the Holy Presence of God, the power of God, I shouldn't even speak right now, it's just this weight of glory that's coming to the place. So that's what happened here on the day of Pentecost, they're speaking another language that they don't know, and they're praising God. It would be like if I'm saying, you know, you've heard me say this, our Father who art in heaven, right? Padre Nuestro de casa en cielo santificado, sea tu hombre, venga en nuestro reino, haga si tu voluntad, hacia en la tierra, como en cielo, Padre Nuestro de cada dia, de nos los. It's our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name in Spanish. And you'd be like, what in the world is going on with that guy? But right, we're singing the praises of God. So people, I believe, were saying, oh, they're just cursing Jesus. It's of Satan, it's demonic, and Paul's saying, no, you can't worship Jesus Christ, and be a believer, and Jesus be your Lord, and also be looking to Satan here. You can't accurse Jesus, and also praise him at the same time. So I think that's what was taking place as well. So then verse four, so Paul says, there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, so the Holy Spirit gives different gifts, but it's the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, everybody's got different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, so there's different activities. I believe that the Holy Spirit, I've seen him call people to the gifting of helps. You know what that is, a helps ministry? You know it when you have it, and you know it when you don't. Or administrative, like a Moses or a Joshua, there's this gift to administrate, to lead the people, and he's giving different gifts to different people, why? For the whole body. It's for the whole church to be edified and built up. But it's the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. And you don't have to be afraid of that word manifestation. Does that kind of not sit well with some people? Manifestation? Manifestation just means God revealing himself. God manifests. God reveals himself. So basically you could say this. The revealing of the Spirit, when the Spirit reveals his gifts, it's for the profit of all of us. So as we work through these gifts, I would encourage you to pray for it and say, Lord, impart into me this gift of the Holy Spirit. I want to operate in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the Holy Spirit wants to give to me, a word of wisdom, a prophetic word. It doesn't have to be weird. And what happens, the side that says this no longer exists, they basically take it from 1 Corinthians 14, when Paul says, I thought as a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. And he goes on to say, right now we look through a mirror kind of dimly, or at a mirror dimly or through a glass dimly. We can't see real well in our fallen state. We can't see well. But when that which is perfect comes, that which is in part will be done away with. And we'll be able to see fully the picture. We'll be able to have all knowledge. It says knowledge will cease, tongues will cease, but love will never cease. So people say, once we have the canonization of Scripture, now that we have the Bible, that which is perfect has been fulfilled. Now we have the complete revelation of God. But that word perfect is telios in the Greek. It's also when Jesus said, when they said, hey, Herod's trying to get you, he said, you go tell that fox that in three days I will be telios, perfected. I will be in my perfected state. Even John Calvin in his commentaries, 1500, said that perfect means when Christ comes again. So we're waiting for Christ to come again. And when we are with Christ, we will not need the gifts of the Holy Spirit any longer. So that's why many people say they don't apply anymore. They see the abuses, they see weirdness, or they don't experience them. And well, we have all that we need now, and when that which is perfect comes, which is the Bible, now we don't need these gifts of the Holy Spirit. But based on what we just read, there is diversities with the goal being unity. These gifts are for the prophet of all, not just the spiritual elite. You have to remember that. These gifts are for the prophet of all. And sometimes I think God uses the least likely. He'll just choose the person you just, you know, don't think will have spiritual gifts, and he will give them spiritual gifts. He'll give them a word of knowledge or a prophetic word. I'm hoping to break these down in just a minute. So again, I already asked this, you must answer the question, are these chapters, are these readings for us today? And that's how we can go forward. If they are for us today, we can go forward. If they're not, then we need to just move on to the next topic, basically. So verse 8, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit. So he's saying the Holy Spirit, there's different ministries, there's different callings. To one person, he gives a word of wisdom through the Spirit. To another, the word of knowledge through the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healings. Take note of that. Gifts of healings by the same Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits. To another, different kind of tongues. And to another, the interpretation of tongues. There's a lot of gifts there, isn't there? So those are the gifts that are in question. But one and the same Spirit works all these things. Distributing to each one individually as He wills. So this is a sovereign act of God. So no matter how much you pray for a certain gift, it's up to the Holy Spirit if He wants to give us those gifts. It's actually His gift to us. And isn't it funny? I believe that's where the word charismatic comes from. Charisma. Charisma just means bestowing spiritual gifts. So that's where the charismatic term comes from. That they believe the Holy Spirit still bestows spiritual gifts. And then verse 11. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. Okay, so look at the first one. Wisdom. So the Holy Spirit gives a gift of wisdom. It's called here the word of wisdom. What do we know? What is wisdom? Well, let me just tell you, because there's a lot of people. I don't want everybody answering. You know what knowledge is, right? Knowledge is knowing something. Okay, for example, people know about God. They know about God. But once they experience Him, now they have the experience, now they have wisdom. So wisdom is knowledge in application. Because you can know something and not do it, right? James said that those who know the word of God, but do not do it, be doers of the word, not hearers only, or you're living in deception. So he distinguished right there knowing something, knowing it, and actually doing it. So wisdom is doing it. So the word of wisdom here, I believe, is something brought to the mind, to your mind, my mind, by the Holy Spirit, possibly where action should be taken. So the Holy Spirit, and somebody has, say, the gift of a word of wisdom. I don't believe certain gifts are turn on, turn off. Okay, I'm going to go give them a word of wisdom today. I'm going to give him a word of wisdom tomorrow. And we have to be careful, because this is the downfall of the church where they put too much emphasis in the gifts and not the gift giver. So everybody comes to church for a word. Everybody comes to church for this. And they're coming for the wrong reason. And they start, like an addict lives on his addiction, the person starts to live on words that are given to them. And that's not healthy, because you should spend time with Christ in his word and get the word, and then these other things are just supplemental. And I know of churches where people, every week they're going to get a word. Now, if God's doing something, that's fine. But if they're just going for that, and the problem is also that not everybody's right on the money. Right? God might give them the hamburger beef, but they like to add the buns and the lettuce and the tomato and the ketchup and the mustard and just add to different things. And I'm careful in this area. People have given me words of wisdom before. This is not a gift. I necessarily operate in, to my knowledge. I'm going to get to where I think I'm at in a little bit as we keep going. But a word of wisdom is something is brought to the mind by the Holy Spirit, possibly where action should be taken. An example I've given before, and I want to give it again because it's relevant, is before I started to pastor a church. I had a half dozen people that normally wouldn't say anything, called me out of the blue, and they'd say, it's been on my heart all week, have you ever considered pastoring a church? No, leave me alone. Another friend called from Hawaii. He said, hey, have you ever considered pastoring a church? And it just kept this, so to me that would be like a word of wisdom, giving somebody, the Holy Spirit would spontaneously bring something to mind for someone else often. It can be for yourself as well, but here's the thing. Spontaneously brings something to mind. Don't just say something because it comes to your mind. That can be dangerous, right? A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man, so things come to my mind all the time, I'm not saying nothing. But I will if God, okay, you put that on my heart. Lord, you show me. And I believe there's almost like you have to do it. I don't know if you've felt that before. I've got to talk to this person. I've got to share this. I've got to give them what I believe the Lord has put on my heart. Now why wouldn't just God give us what He wants to tell us? I don't know. But we also know the Bible doesn't tell me God's calling me to pastor. There's principles. I can sense it. I can feel it. But without this supplemental confirmation that gives me additional assurance, that's how the gifts work. It's supplemental to the Bible. It doesn't precede. It doesn't take the authority over the Bible. It just comes alongside and confirms what is already in the Word. So somebody who has the gift of, and maybe it's not a gift all the time, but God might put something in your heart because you can talk to that person like no one else can at all. And maybe I should share this now. It's been a while, but I believe I didn't, and I still believe this. Hopefully I can, well, maybe not verify it. But many years ago, I think it was six, seven years ago, for about a week, I knew somebody. And it was all week. I think I had two dreams about it. That he was cheating on his wife with the secretary at work where he worked. And when you have these dreams, it's not a pornographic dream. I just had this, like, he's spending time with her he shouldn't be. And at least two or three nights in a row. And then all week it's like, oh, I gotta call this guy. Gotta call this guy. And I never mustered up the strength to do that. Come to find out, I think later on his job didn't work out where they moved. There was some turmoil. I didn't get the exact results. So I don't know if I never, you know, I was kind of maybe embarrassed. Or I'm like, oh boy, this is gonna be off. But it's funny. When I saw him at his work, I went to drop something off to his work, and I saw how he interacted with the secretary. And right then, something prompted in my mind that all week it was building and building and building. So I would believe that would be a word of wisdom. Something I should have confronted him on. Or God might bring a word of wisdom to our own heart. I know people that, they write about, too, that where they're going to go on a flight. And they just, oh, had a strong, oh, I don't, I'm not gonna take that flight. I don't wanna take that flight. I can't. And then ends up the small Cessna crashes or something. So sometimes God can put a word of wisdom into our hearts, or he puts it into your heart. So here's what it would look like. Usually what I would do, and what I think would be biblical, is to say, okay, Lord, will I know my own heart? And I need to know this is from you. I need to know, Lord, if you want me to talk to this person. Give me confirmation. And there's been times where I've run into somebody I haven't seen for a year. I'm like, oh, well, talking about confirmation. So God will, oh, if you're like, Lord, I wanna wait on you, will you show me? Because often he'll plant that word that you should give somebody. Not necessarily you have to give it to them that day, but it's watering. It's seeding. It's growing. So when you go, you feel confident because you've waited out for a while. You've let it sink in for a season. Because some things come and they go, right? Like, what was that about yesterday? I'm like, I don't even, I'm glad I didn't bring up anything. And usually if you went to somebody, you could say, hey, I don't know. Take it for what it is. I don't know if this will help at all. But God put it, I think it's, God, I mean, you do with it what you want, but this has been in my heart all week. And you just share with them. You share with them what's been on your heart. I remember one lady, I won't get into details or names or different things because she used to go here. But just totally out of the blue, she doesn't even operate in this type of gift. She was on the phone with somebody. And she just said, hey, I need to tell you this. I don't normally do this. And there's a passionate discussion going on. And she said, but God spoke to me all week and I've been ignoring it. But you've developed a prideful, arrogant, hard heart. You're not hearing God. And it was just kind of silent. And the guy knew it was right. It was right on. Dead on. There's an area in his life where Satan is working. And he was getting harder and harder in this area. And it took this lady's boldness to confront that. So that's kind of what a word of wisdom is. See, it's not weird. It's not people doing cartwheels. It's God working through His people. And wouldn't you think somebody filled with the Holy Spirit of God would be able to... A word of wisdom here can be applied not just to believers. You can speak to the waitress or at Trader Joe's or where you're shopping and God puts something on your heart. I know people who operate this quite frequently. And not necessarily at this church. This guy who wrote this book will list some of those people too. And I know one of the guys he mentions. But where they'll just be in a store and God puts it on their heart and they can't ignore it. And they'll talk to this lady and she breaks down. And she starts crying and he helps her out with groceries. And see, a word of wisdom where God's working through His people. See, we kind of come like, okay, I'm filled with this Holy Spirit. Let me come to church. Let me sing. I got fed today. Thank you. Now next Sunday. But being filled with the Holy Spirit starts now like a car broken down on the side of the road. Your neighbor, and you're filled with the Spirit of God leading you and directing you. If you say, Holy Spirit, use me today, watch out. Put down the TV controller and just turn off the television. Go to the hospital homes. See, the Holy Spirit will work through an empty vessel that's wanting to be led by Him. But if we already have our preconceived ideas, I don't want to be used of God, I'm comfortable. You're not going to be. You have to be open for the work of the Holy Spirit. So then we see the word of knowledge. So wisdom, I believe, is something that's brought to our mind where somebody needs to act on something. It's wisdom. Something needs to happen. So knowledge is something brought to mind by the Holy Spirit that a person needs to know. Now this is interesting. Most of you will know this, and this goes out on video. Let me preface it by saying, men of God who I look up to do not agree with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. One, as you know, is John MacArthur. I did a message on a pastor response to the John MacArthur Strange Fire conference, and it's over close to 100,000 views right now. So I get emails from both sides, of course, on this. But it's interesting. I was at, and again, I love these guys. I go to their conferences, the Shepherds Conference once a year, I try to go to, and I love their works, and you know, and I try to, I'm broad-minded and read different things. But I went to one of the conferences seven, eight years ago, and I believe they were interviewing or showing a video clip of one of their professors now who's Chinese, and he escaped the persecuted church in China. And on the video, he's telling a story of when he was riding a bike, riding a bike, and the Holy Spirit, don't go down that road. Go down that road. Changed now, and he changed and went and got free, and the police were at his house. So I wanted to get up and shout, hey, for all you who don't believe in the gifts, that's exactly what it is. You just proved my point on video to hundreds of thousands of people who say the gifts don't cease, but now that works in the Chinese guy's life, escaping the police in China from a word of wisdom, knowledge, getting, see, that's all it is. Don't wrap me into this weird group. You just explain what it is. Why is that okay? The Holy Spirit supernaturally gave him knowledge of something to do immediately and change course, and that's not uncommon. You get some of the revival, the underground Chinese, China books that we've handed out before. I don't know if we have any more, but it talks about, this gift is operating often, a word of knowledge, where to go, what not to go, what not to say, and the Holy Spirit's directing them. That missionary movie we watched on Wednesday night a few months ago, that guy was led often by the Holy Spirit on a word of knowledge. So sometimes it's for others, sometimes it's for ourselves, being open to what God wants to do. And again, I think, I've had times, and so have you, where I'm riding my bike, and I'm like, oh yeah, go right. This is a, you better turn. This is, you know, you know that you know that you know. That's why you don't have to worry about sometimes making the wrong decision. I think if you just say, Lord, I'm trusting you in this. I'm making the best decision to the best of my ability. Oh, this is interesting too, on the word of knowledge. I'm going to give this example again. Many of you remember it, but it's perfect for this. This is a perfect word of knowledge. I spoke about Davin Ravenhill in his book, Leonard Ravenhill's Son, who talked, he talked to this guy who was having dinner with a missionary, or a girl who was getting ready to go on the mission field. And all night during dinner, it kept coming to his mind to tell her that God hates mommies and daddies. And he's like, I can't tell her that. That's ridiculous. There's no way. God loves mommies and daddies. But it got so hard and so burdensome. And he was, oh, can I just say this so I can be relieved? I believe that God wants you to know that He hates mommies and daddies. And she lunged at him and broke down right there and then. And he's wondering, what happened? Well, when she was little, her uncles abused her and said, let's play mommies and daddies. So she's been carrying all this this whole time. And God was so gracious to say, you tell her that I hate mommies and daddies. And she was set free. That's how it works. That's how the Holy Spirit works. He ministers to people. We can think of a lot of examples where the Holy Spirit would do that. Also, word of knowledge that somebody needs to know. Somebody might come to me or leadership at the church or different church or different things and say, hey, listen, this has been on my heart all week. Just feel prompted. Do whatever you want with it. But I feel that the church needs to be prepared. There's going to be a season of shifting. There's going to be some people leaving that you're not prepared to leave and different things. Just take it for what it is. Be prepared for that. So when that happens, ah, thank you, Lord, for preparing me. Word of knowledge. Something you need to know. Why does the Holy Spirit do that? Because if you're just hit with something out of the blue without any preparation, so see how God's gifts come alongside and help the body. Because we have the Word. We have the Word. But it doesn't tell me, oh, next month, people are going to get upset and a couple families leave for no reason. Wow, I was warned of that ahead of time. Or different things. Or there's somebody, I know somebody who has a strong gifting. I'll get into it in a minute, on discerning of spirits and different things. And he's been right a lot. Like, hey, I just don't feel good about that person. This spirit is in them. And just be careful. They're right. And just, oh, I didn't realize that. Because my antennas aren't, you know, because usually Aaron's side of grace and love and mercy and everybody's welcome. We don't use a Ronald Reagan trust, but verify in the church, right? We just trust, trust, trust, trust, trust. So it's the, but we do verify. Just kidding on that one. But we do see that there are different gifts to help each other. And then it goes into faith, the gift of faith. Now, this is interesting because it ties in with, I believe, some of the other gifts. The gift of faith is a supernatural surge of faith, confidence that God is going to do something. And if you've ever experienced it, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't, then just suffice it to say, it's a strong surge. It's, oh, you know, I have so much faith. A person who, if you're interested to look at more videos and things online, Sam Storm, Pastor Sam Storm in Oklahoma, a theologian, wrote a wonderful book on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He would talk about a time, an opportunity where he had to, it was just a normal day and the elders got oil, anointing oil. It just represents the Holy Spirit. They're asking the Holy Spirit to be in the prayers of the elders and praying over it. And they prayed over the sick child that had a liver disease and they were gonna need, the CAT scan wasn't good. He actually needed a transplant. And he just, as he was praying, he just knew, he said, oh, that child is, it's healed. It's done. It's done. I mean, I don't wanna tell the parents necessarily and get their, you know, cause you're checking yourself. And he said, oh, I had so much assurance. That baby is healed. Unbelievable. Something you normally don't feel, right? Who feels that? Usually it's like, oh, I hope so. And, but he just said, oh, I knew it. I knew it. And they called a week later, so excited. They said the doctor's never seen anything like this. The liver, it looks like a brand new liver on the CAT scan. So see, that's, that's faith. And it doesn't just come. You can't just, you know, it's just a supernatural act of, and I wish I could tell you this happens a lot with me. It doesn't, right? My faith stands trial. Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. One area though that this did, if I remember correctly, was when we were considering moving up here and driving, I drove it quite a bit. And after, you know, I don't know, a dozen times or so, just driving back, I think Morgan felt the same way. Just this assurance. It's like, okay, it's a done deal. I mean, God's gonna, God's gonna do this. I have no doubt. I know he's, he's just, I could just sense it. So it didn't matter that, you know, people didn't, you know, complaining or going back and forth. It didn't matter. They're taking a vote, I think in a month or two, you know, and it didn't matter because you knew there was an assurance that God's will is going to prevail. So you have this, when the Holy Spirit gives you a gift of faith, I should pray for that more often. You should too. Lord, give me the faith. I run to people all the time. All the time. But a lot next door. And they'll say, as they're praying, Shane, I just, for some reason, I have faith that my prodigal daughter's coming home. I can't explain it. I just have tremendous joy and it's already done. It's a done deal. And then, you know, they'll come and say, hey, guess who's, guess who called me? And it happens a lot. Guess who called me this week? It's been a year. And this faith has risen up in them. And often, again, it can be for you, but it can be for you. Sometimes if you have this great faith, you can go to somebody. You can go to somebody and say, hey, listen, God's got this. That legal battle, that court battle, that health issue, all these things, God's got this. I just have tremendous faith. You better be careful, though. Right? You don't want to say, I know for, you know, I'm a thousand percent certain, unless you're very certain. But that's what the Holy Spirit, when he gives you this gift of faith, that's what happens. Now, I think it leads to the other ones. I think that's why faith, and then he goes right into gifts of healings. Now, this is interesting, because many times we say, oh, this person has the gift of healing. But the Bible actually says gifts of healings. And so if you look it up, the plural nature might indicate diversity. So when God gives somebody the ability to pray for somebody and heal them, it's not like, okay, this person automatically has this gift to pray for, go talk to them. They have the gift of healing. There's a gifts of healing that the Holy Spirit gives. And there's a lot of opinions on this, and what we know is from Scripture, that God grants great faith to heal for specific healings. God gives great faith to heal for specific healings, and sometimes doesn't mean always. That word sometimes doesn't mean always. So we have this idea, a person is a gift of healing, or gifts of healing, and oh, just go to them. They can turn on healing like a light switch. Everyone they pray for, I mean, we just don't see that. We see that in Jesus Christ, because he had the full counsel of God, the full will of God. Anybody got a question, is Jesus faith? I mean, he was the embodiment of God on earth, so of course, everything he does. And even you see in the apostolic era, of the apostles, the shadow of Peter, and Paul, and so many people being healed. So you do see something pretty dramatic. I believe that God can still do that. But where's this person of healing, if that gift exists, like let's say such and such has the gift of healing when they pray people are healed, why don't they go into the hospitals and clear them out? Why don't we go into hospital homes and help every single patient? Because see, it's God's sovereignty. Sometimes isn't always. It doesn't mean God has to, because then we become, God becomes a genie in a bottle. And we all know, come on, let's be honest, that we've all prayed for healing, in people, and majority of the time, we don't see it. What's going on? Is it our lack of faith? Is it their lack of faith? Is it God's sovereignty? I believe, let me just go on a little rabbit trail here. From the people I know, there's, gosh, a half dozen right now that I'm trying to help that have cancer that doesn't look really well. It doesn't, I mean, unless God does something, you know, their body is not responding too well. Of course, praying for that, praying with them, but I would say, I would say in all cases, they actually thank God for using this to draw them back to God. Or in a deeper way, one gentleman I visited at City of Hope, and I was down there, I said, listen, this can be your sanctuary. Put on worship, turn off that TV, get so close with God, get into the Word of God, and see, God sometimes uses these things to push us back to Him. To get us back into church. So, if we, Lord, please heal this person, God might be saying, oh, don't pull the plug too early. He's not done taking a bath yet. Right? Don't pull the, so, but we, oh, why aren't you healing? But God's still working for us, a far more and exceeding weight of glory. See, our suffering isn't, our suffering and disease doesn't lead to nothing. God uses those things. He's conforming us, He's shaping us. So, for us, and when Jesus prayed for people, it was God's will. In all those cases, He was God. But in our case, many times we're praying for someone, pray for this cancer, God, please, heal this person. But it's not yet, or maybe it won't be, in His sovereignty. Now, people don't like me saying that. On the hyper-Pentecostal side of it, they say, you should never say, Lord, if it's Your will, that's weak. You should always pray in faith. Always command that demon to come out. Always pray for health. And I understand what they're saying, but for me to go and, for example, that person I visited, when I prayed for him a year ago, if that would have happened, it wouldn't have led him back to a deeper relationship with the Lord. So, actually, it wouldn't have been a good thing to heal them. Now, what happens when a person is not healed, and they eventually die? How in the world, Shane, is that productive? How is that a good thing? And you have to just search your own soul on this. We know that we're all appointed once to death. And whatever that journey is, and I don't know in God's sovereignty, but I do know this, that I want to go into this trusting God, knowing that He can heal. But will He? That is the question. And also, I think it leads to a very balanced view, because if you think everybody should be healed, you're going to get pretty bitter, pretty upset, pretty frustrated. There are people, I won't name their names tonight, they're old timers now, I think in the faith movement, you know what that is, right? Name it, claim it, you should never be sick. Always, you just don't have enough faith. They will actually check in under a different name when they go to the hospital, an alias. They'll use a different name when they check into a hospital. Why? Because they've been preaching this whole time that you shouldn't be sick. Now, there is a dynamic that takes place, because is sickness demonic? Does repentance need to take place? Is it because of sin? There's so many different things. That's why I believe words of wisdom, words of knowledge are so important, because God can impart to us the things we need to know to pray specifically for a person. And I believe, just a side note, one of the reasons I wrote the book is because I believe that many people are praying for healing, but the sickness is a result of lifestyle choices. Not all the time. But we know that not taking care of the gift that God has given us has ramifications. Do we not? Just spray Roundup in your mouth every day. Watch what happens. But see, we spray it around our house, right? Fumes come up, and eat the wrong things and different things, and so some of the disease and sickness is self-inflicted. So if you take it to God, why is the number one thing I hear next door in the prayer room is I know I've been convicted about that. That's what I hear more than anything. I know I've been convicted about that. Especially on this issue of health. I know I've been convicted on that. This is interesting. Tuesday I drove out to Bakersfield. I visited the church I'm going to be preaching out and brought some books because they asked if I had any books for their book table. I'm like, sure, I can bring some out there. But the guy who's helping me unload it, he said, oh, fasting? I'm like, oh, no. They're going to think I'm some, you know, just out of my mind. Because, you know, oh, here we go. But he goes, oh, I can't believe that. Look at these pictures. I've lost so much weight. I'm in better shape. I'm running marathons. The people in this church need to hear this. I was so encouraged. Because at first I was discouraged. I'm like, oh. But he said the same thing. He goes, they need to hear this. They are hurting their bodies. They're dying too early. They're not productive. They're not being able to run after their kids and chase their kids. They're just always sick. This is so needed. I'm like, wow, that's a good encouragement. So, see, we see so many things working against health. I will tell you this. I'm not saying that's always the case because we know it's not. But those who don't like me talking about this are often the ones who need the most help in this area. How dare you challenge my Dunkin' Donuts and coffee? How dare you say anything about my McDonald's habit and Panda? I love that orange chicken. So do I. This is funny. That guy who did the Super Size Me, that thing, that movie, I wouldn't encourage you to watch it necessarily. There's some things in there I didn't know about until somebody told me to watch it. But maybe it wasn't him. I don't know. Don't quote me on this. But there was a lawsuit brought up against McDonald's about how unhealthy. And the attorney's rebuttal actually in the document, in the paperwork said, we know that our food is unhealthy, but he chose to eat it. Like, did I just read that right? They know it's unhealthy. But he chose to eat it, so it's not our fault. So they willingly know that they are serving a bunch of garbage. And what happens, I know you didn't come for this, but I'll just tell you. When you start to consume things that are unhealthy for the body, that's toxic, the body is busy removing the toxins. It doesn't know how to assimilate the nutrients because there are none. So it starts to steal from other areas of your body for nutrients. Bone density decreases because it needs calcium. Eyesight fails because it begins to take vitamins. Your body starts to pull things from all these other areas and you become deficient. And you become sick and ill simply by what's going in here. Yet we'll come home and say, Shane, would you pray for diabetes? Absolutely. But as I'm praying, I know in my mind they better make some lifestyle changes as well to accommodate the healing that could take place or to foster healing. Now I never say, well, no, I'm not going to. Change your diet for two months and then come talk to me. But I'm praying for that and then I'll ask them, have you ever thought about changing something? I've been so convicted about that. That's what I hear all the time. I've been so convicted about that. Where's that conviction coming from? It's coming from the Holy Spirit, I believe, working in their heart. So this gift of healings, this may be why Paul's friends were not healed all the time. Maybe it was Aphrodite, if I'm pronouncing that right, and Timothy. So we see that sometimes people were not healed. But majority of the time in the early church, and I believe the closer you can get to New Testament living and reliance on God, the more you will see the gifts of the Holy Spirit. See, everybody wants the New Testament power, but they don't want the New Testament holiness. These guys were spending their day with God, meditating on God's Word, praying, fasting, seeking God. So they operated much more efficiently in the Holy Spirit. Nowadays, we've got our mind on two or three hours of garbage. We're not devoted much to God, so we're not filled with the Spirit, so you won't operate in the gifts of the Spirit. To the degree you will operate in the gifts of the Spirit, is to the degree you are full of the Spirit. A mighty filling of the Spirit, full of the Holy Spirit, you're going to be seeing these things more often than the person who's not. So with the gift of healing, I could stay here quite a while, but let's say this. Often those who have been healed or set free in certain areas are used in this way to pray for people who need the same deliverance. So that's why the gifts of healing, you might have it and you don't even know it. God might say, listen, I delivered you from this. It's the best person to pray for. A drug addict is a former drug addict. Same thing with alcoholism. Same thing with, hey, I had, and you'll see some of these people over the years who have had legitimate ministries where they would pray for people and they would be healed. Often were they themselves healed miraculously by God. Because they've experienced that, now they are imparted with that gift to now pray for people with the same type of situation. So this gift of healings, it's the gifts of healings. We believe that it's imparted to a lot of different people. And maybe can be specific in certain areas. But let me just on this topic of healing, fast facts on healing. And again, I got this from Sam Storm. Healing is God's mercy, not our right. He may say no or wait. We already talked about that. Faith and full abandonment do play a role. So when you pray for somebody, I believe that our faith and their faith does play a role. I mean, if I'm going to pray for somebody, they say, well, I guess so. We can try it. Well, let's not try it until you're ready to believe that God can heal you. And set you free. Faith plays a role. Jesus couldn't do many miracles there because of their unbelief, their lack of faith. So we see that. See, here's what many, when you get doctrine that goes weird, they go off track. They usually take one point of Scripture and go all the way to the, as far as they can go with it. So it is true that because of your faith, Jesus healed the son. Because of their lack of faith, He couldn't do many miracles. So now they take this and they say, okay, it all has to do with faith. The reason you're not healed is because of a lack of faith. That's it. They say that because there's one truth. But see, as with everything, you have to look at the totality of Scripture. I want to ask this person, hey, did you forget about James 5, I think it's chapter, verse 12, where James says, your sickness could be the result of your sin. Therefore, go and confess your sin so that you could be healed. Wait a minute, that's just through your faith argument out the window. Because you can have great faith while you're staying in sin. And it could have been that James, when he said, when you go and confess to one another, it could have been sins against each other. Gossip, backbiting, slander. Like, let's just say I've been, TJ, can I use an example? Alright, I've been saying I've been slandering TJ all week. I haven't, so that's good to know. I've been slandering, I've been gossiping, can you believe this guy comes in, thinks he's spiritual, you know, just slander, backbiting, and I start to get sick. You know, I'm just all week, I have a sore throat, and it's, you know, the elders are praying for me, and I know, oh, I've been convicted all week about, and that could be the result, God says, okay, loud mouth, I'm going to shut your mouth. And the sickness is a result of my sin. So when I go to TJ, I say, hey, listen, I've been saying these things, and I apologize. I shouldn't have been gossiping, maybe I was jealous that you're here earlier in the morning than me. And worshiping, and I just, I want to repent to you. And that person would be healed based on the repentance of that sin that was leading to the sickness. So see, there's so many different things you have to look at, so when I try to pray with people, I ask them, is there anything you know of that you need to, especially if you get on this area of unforgiveness, boy, the whole face will change, you don't know what my dad did to me. I don't, but I know it could be hurting your healing if you're holding in all this unforgiveness, all this bitterness, you have to let it go. Letting go doesn't mean they're right. You're just choosing to let this go. Actually, they have more power over you as you're holding it in. So once you release it and let it go, you are free. And often healing can take place, deliverance can take place by letting these things go. I like what Sam Storm said on this, he said, God is your soul source for healing. We have to know this. God is our soul source for healing. Faith is God's ability to heal. Believe he can heal. Faith is God's heart for healing. We know his heart is for healing. Faith, that God delights to heal. We know that God delights to heal. And faith is, that is his will to heal. So that you can have, see, it's not my faith, when I pray for somebody, it's not, okay, let me, okay, I don't have a lot of faith right now, let me work this out. My faith is in who God is. I'm praying for you, I know God heals, I know he delights in healing. And we'll pray for that. But don't get discouraged if he doesn't answer, because we don't know what God is working on the back end of things. Jesus had perfect faith and walked in the perfect will of God. And again, I talked about James, oh, it's James 5 16. Exhorts us to confess our sins to one another that we may be healed. Also, we might be sick because of demonic activity. People are like, oh, don't go there, Shane. Well, it's one area in the Bible. There's a lady bent over, back issues like this, probably. Have you ever seen those people walking? I wish I'd get that faith to come up and just go pray for that old man in Home Depot, like, can I pray for you? And have that faith. There are people around here, around that have that faith, and God uses them to heal people. I believe it, I've seen it. But it's not the norm, and because it's not the norm, we sometimes get frustrated. So anyway, this lady's bent over, and Jesus says, why shouldn't this daughter of Abraham, who Satan has bound, I think it was 17 years, why should she not be free? Woman, thou are loosed from your infirmities. The devil's grip on you is no longer. And he prayed for her, and she was set free. Had nothing to do with her faith, had nothing to do with sin in her life, had everything to do with this demonic oppression. So again, as I go through the checklist, is there sin in your heart? Is God convicting you of something? And we renounce. Lord, if this is, I believe there's been things in my past with my kids many years ago that was demonic. When we started to plant the church, I don't think they've ever been that sick. As sick as they were in three months, they've all been that sick in eight years or ten years. All different, foot, mouth disease, whatever that's called, sores in their mouth, to strep throat, to the flu, that's just half of it. All within a couple months, I'm like, I'm about ready to throw in my towel. And I felt that was all being demonically inspired, much of it. And we start saying, Lord, in Jesus' name, this is not going to happen in our house. And actually, once I said, you know what, we're planting the church regardless. We're planting the church regardless. Satan, you're not winning. And you just see people being, the kids were getting healthier and quicker and different things. Yeah, it was, and I think God often, back to that topic of taking care of our body, I think He does. You don't always have to run to the antibiotics either. We've been recommended antibiotics at least ten times, and I probably haven't used them eight times. But two times you have. You know, if it gets, antibiotic is anti means against biotic, against life. So sometimes you have to do that. But there are natural antibiotics. Antibiotics are going to wipe out everything in your system, good and bad bacteria. It actually hurts your system, your body. It's a toxic thing for your body. So you have to be careful. You have to pray about it. God will use it from time to time. But our, I think it was Shane had strep throat. It was really bad. It was the first day. I said, okay, I'm starting some moxicillin tomorrow. We're praying. We're going to do this. And I got a lot of clodial silver. I just started spraying clodial silver. It's an antiseptic natural remedy. Clodial silver, echinacea, elderberry, these things. And the next morning, completely gone. Fine. His throat looked great. But I'm not stupid, right? The next day, if he's getting sicker and sicker, I've got to take, because there's another group that gives charismatics and Christians a bad name that says, no, we're just going to have faith. God's going to heal our son or heal our daughter. And there's a premature baby. I know a couple now, I think they're serving a 70 year either sentence or parole or something where they didn't offer the little baby that was born too early. They didn't get that baby to the hospital to the doctor. No, we're just going to have faith. We're just going to have faith. And after 9, 10, 12 hours the baby died. And they were charged with it. I know what they're doing, but that's not sometimes using wisdom because God will use physician. Medicine can be a gift from God if it's in the hands of the right person. I believe we need physicians and they need us. I believe that God, Luke was a physician. You need to go doctor and from time to time, when I had strep throat, it went to my heart as a secondary viral infection, myopericarditis at 24. And I can't breathe. I'm sitting in the emergency room at A.V. Hospital. Oh, sir, you'll be okay. No, I'm like, not good. And so an hour later they got me on the EKG and the nurse, oh, my goodness, cardiologist stat, cardiologist stat, get down here. I'm like, uh-oh, this isn't good. So I was there four days. They did an angiogram. They put that line in my artery in my leg and shot dye in my heart and watched it on the screen. So if I didn't go, I probably would have died. Granted, I wasn't walking with God. I was on steroids and growth hormone and those things lower your immune system as well. But in that, I did a lot of research and what happens is as soon as we get sick, let's take something. And that's why you've got children on so many different antibiotics. And it's not working anymore because the body's immune so they have to get them a higher dose, a higher dose, a higher dose. And now there's something out called Cipro, Ciproflaxin. It's got black box warnings and they're giving it out like candy. And it actually hurts your DNA at the myocondria level of your cells. It hurts your DNA in your cells. Just Facebook or Google this stuff. There are so many testimonies of it hurting and destroying lives. There's a man here that comes to the second service and almost killed him. He would be in fetal positions and God began to show him that it was all the stuff that he was taking. So anyway, that's a whole other side note. My thought is just be careful. Use wisdom. There's a time to look to the physician but there's also a time to look to the physician up there. Lord, what do you want me to do? And I believe as you're seeking God, listen Lord, I want you to heal. I want you to do this. But I'm going to go and I'm going to trust that you're going to guide this doctor or this physician. Don't worry, I won't get into the radiation from CAT scans and x-rays and things like that. I won't put you through that. So anyway, we have to be careful. And also, he made a good point. I've seen this many times when it comes to healing. Do you want to be made well? Jesus asked the person, do you want to be made well? And for most of us, we think that's funny. But I like what Sam Storm said and I could say the same thing. He said that some people who suffer from chronic affliction become accustomed to their illness and to their pattern of life. Their identity is to a large extent wrapped up in their physical disability. I realize this sounds strange to those of us who enjoy robust health, but why would anyone prefer to stay sick? Who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to be healed? But I've actually known a handful of people who in a very real sense enjoy their dependence on others and the special attention it brings them. And I have talked to some people like, you like this, don't you? You're not that sick to where you're in pain, but you like the, oh, I can't go to church. I can't go to just bring me my food. And they want to stay in that condition. Not everybody. I'm assuming most people don't. But do you want to be made well? Because if you don't, you might not. You might stay in that spot. And then the next gift is miracles. That's an hour sermon already? Wow, you guys are patient. I'm going to get into this a little bit more next week, but miracles, in short, is working of powers. So in the Greek language, miracles, if you look it up in the Greek lexicon, it's working of powers. All this is is people being blind and having eyes, their eyes see again, feeding people on leftovers like we see Jesus, raising people from the dead. You know that can still happen today? Now this is, we don't see it much in America because, oh, they're dead. Call the paramedics. But in other countries, they'll, read missionary accounts. Either all the missionaries, like I said before, are lying, or there's plenty of accounts. I've known a couple. I don't know if they go here. I'd have to find out. But they were feeding people in Mexico. And I know them to be a very good couple, upstanding couple, not liars. And they'd say, Shane, we only had a certain amount of sandwiches. And it just kept going and going and going and going. We fed all the kids in this little village. So I either say, yeah, right. Or was God, because we all know God can do that. Right, nobody's going to say, I mean, of course He can, but does He? Is that guy really telling the truth? And raised from the dead. Many accounts of missionaries, and they come and get the missionary, and they're praying for this little boy in Africa, and after hours, they come and get him, he's already dead, and they pray for him, and the life comes back to this child. It's a lot more common than we think, because we don't see it. We don't experience it here in America. Because Jesus said, when you believe on me, you will cast out demons, you will raise the dead, you will pray for the sick, they'll be healed. So do we say, mmm, I don't think so, Jesus. Or do we say, yeah, that's possible. So see, I live in the possibilities. I live, if God forbids, one of my kids drown in the pool, I'm not going to be, oh well. I'm like, okay, Lord. I'm holding you to that promise. That you raise this, that you bring life back to that child, and that's faith that God loves. Now, will He do that? Not all the time. Does it happen? Not very often. And to be honest with you, it would be, you know, I've been a couple different places. I remember Sierra Highway, I told you guys about, where I could see the mom in the hotel room on the bed, or on the floor, dead, waiting for the coroner. And we had the little three-year-old daughter out, the husband's hysterical. I wish I would have told her, let me in there. Let me just pray. I mean, there's no way I'm touching that one, because I didn't have the faith. I didn't know God wasn't in that, probably. I didn't feel any desire to do it. And many times we're timid. But I know of other people who go the other extreme, like just pray for everybody who dies. And they make Christianity just look weird. So you have to be led of God. I just can't discount miracles, working powers. If somebody's dead, and God can raise them from the life, He can open the blind eyes, He can feed people. So that's what this would be, when God chooses to work. And also you see it in the mission field, because they're more desperate for God. They can't say, we're waiting on the coroner, we're waiting on paramedics. The child's dead, in bed, go call the missionary, because we have to bury this child tomorrow in the dirt. Either God does something, there's nobody else to call but God. So that's what this gift was, it's miracles. And next Wednesday I'll talk about the gift of prophecy. Prophecy is to speak forth the divine will of God to influence people. I'm going to tie that in to tell you, this is where I believe a little bit where God's gifted me in this area of prophecy. It's not forth telling, like, oh, this is going to happen next week. It's forth telling God's word to influence people. And a lot of times when you hear the rabbit trails, half of what I'm just, okay, I'm going to shoot you straight. Just so you know, my frustration. Half of what I preach, I don't even know, it's not on my notes. Like, where in the world would that come from? Morgan will say, oh, that was a great first service, hope you remember everything for the second. I'm like, nope, I won't remember everything for the second. And I used to get frustrated trying to remember, what was that, what was that, what was that, what was that? But God's using, it's always people say, I can't believe you told me that. Like, it's not in my notes. I didn't know where that came from. But you're revealing God's will. Like, get off that junk media, get off that. And you just start preaching, you start prophesying God's will. And to influence people, that's when Paul says, pray that you have that gift, because when people come in, they're going to fall on their face before God and say, truly, God is among you. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. That's a gifting that God does. And that's why I think it's a unique gifting to have that. Because I'm not just going through, okay, here's my bullet points. A dynamic takes place. Like, man, I just feel like unloading. I didn't even load the gun in the first place. So where does that come from? It's that gift of prophecy to speak, foretell God's will for His people to influence you to change. So that's what I believe my primary gifting is. That the Holy Spirit is imparted and gave me. I could sense it early on. Actually, you probably don't know this. Morgan will remember this. I used to preach without any notes. I didn't have any notes for an hour. I just had my five points, I mean, my Scripture, my five points, and I memorized those points, and I just preached. And then I stopped and I put them up on the PowerPoint. And I had my notes up here. And then one day, remember, Grey Glory Church, I was actually at his pulpit at Grey Glory Church and Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside. And it wasn't a Sunday, it was a singles conference. And the PowerPoint went down. So I had no more notes. And I just preached. And that last half, somebody came up and said, you know what, you did so much better without notes. Because it was just foretelling and convicting. But I also believe that God, the Spirit falls on a prepared heart. Like this guy, doesn't ever prepare notes. He just goes and he'll speak. I don't feel that yet. I feel I need, here's my Scripture, here's my content, here's what God's put on my heart, here's the points, and I'm going to stick with this skeleton, and God, you need to put clothes on it. You need to put skin on it, you need to put clothes on it as I preach. I don't feel comfortable just... See, what are we going to tell you guys this morning? What page should we turn to? You know, I want to have a prepared heart, a subject on my mind, and then it just takes so many different angles from there. So with that said, let's have the worship team come back up. I hope that helped you a little bit understand the gifts, that they're not weird, and that you should pray for them. Lord, what gift do you want me to have? I want gift. I want a spiritual gift. And if you want a spiritual gift, pray that during worship. Pray, Lord, would you use me? Give me a spiritual gift. But be ready, you have to humble yourself, you have to empty yourself to be filled with God's Spirit. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/ka3_jLAMsG8.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/shane-idleman/spiritual-gifts-wisdom-faith-healing-wed-night-service/ ========================================================================