[0:00] Today, I'm going to be speaking about building through the Holy Spirit.! Building through the Holy Spirit. I'm going to pray before we jump into some of the texts.
[0:13] I'm going to be kind of all over the scriptures, but we'll primarily be in 1 Corinthians 12, a little bit of 13 and 14. So I'm going to pray and we'll dive in.
[0:26] Lord, I thank you, God, for the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the Holy Spirit as our comforter. I pray, Lord, that you would be with my mouth now as I speak your word.
[0:38] I pray that you would help me to speak faithfully, Lord, and say the things you want me to say. I pray, Lord, in Jesus' name, that you would pour out your spirit on this gathering now as we hear your word.
[0:52] I pray, Lord, that you would deposit faith in Christchurch as a corporate body. Lord, you would have an outpouring of faith and a deposit of faith to us this morning.
[1:03] In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, so building through the Holy Spirit. Before we get into the idea of building through the Spirit, I wanted to kind of say that Christchurch believes that the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the spiritual gifts of the Holy Spirit, are for today.
[1:27] The official word for this is continuationism, which basically just means that we believe that the gifts continue, as opposed to the opposite view, cessationism.
[1:38] And we believe that the scriptures teach not to despise prophecies. 1 Thessalonians 5 and then 1 Corinthians 14, in many places, Paul says to earnestly desire the gifts, to not despise prophecies, to desire prophecy, to not forbid tongues.
[2:01] He actually says that this, he says, is a command from the Lord. So he actually commands these things. And that there's no expectation in the scripture that alludes to the cessation at any point, but that we're expected to pursue these things and them to continue.
[2:18] In Acts 2, we see that when Peter quotes Joel, the prophet Joel, he says that in the last days, God says, I'll pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.
[2:32] So this is for us. Okay? We don't believe that prophecy, modern day prophecy is the same as scripture, carries the same weight. But we do believe that the function of prophecy is for us today, as well as the other spiritual gifts, including the miraculous one.
[2:50] So I wanted to give a little disclaimer and say that we believe that at Christ Church. Although this sermon is not a defense for continuationism, just wanted to intro and say that it's a huge backdrop for what I'm about to say.
[3:06] So, building through the Holy Spirit. Why I titled this that is, there are many places in the New Testament that speak about building, building up, these kind of things.
[3:18] And I think it's Psalm 127. It says, unless the Lord builds the house, its labor is labor in vain. So there's got to be a way that we build, as New Testament believers, build one another, build up the church, that is in a right way.
[3:36] And I believe that this is through the Spirit. Okay? I believe that Christ Church is in need of faith. You know, how many of you think that we need faith, or an increase of faith? I believe we have faith, that faith exists, but we need a regular filling of faith.
[3:52] And we need more faith, you know? Even if it's small, you know, even a mustard seed size, God wants to use that in specific ways. And so, building through the Holy Spirit.
[4:05] Before we talk about the building aspect, when I say the Holy Spirit, a lot of you guys know exactly what I'm referring to, but for clarity, I'm talking about the third person of the Trinity.
[4:17] Okay? The third member of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, which Jesus talks about in John 14, and says, these things I have spoken to you while I'm still with you, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I've said to you.
[4:37] And again, in John 16, Jesus literally says that it's better that He leaves and send the Holy Spirit.
[4:48] Okay? The idea, well, first of all, taking a step back, if you were Jesus' disciples, you know, literal eyewitnesses of the Lamb, and Jesus is about to leave, imagine how you would probably feel.
[5:05] Right? Like, the Messiah has come, we've seen His works that He's done, right? Like, He's taught us, and now He's like, I'm going back to my Father.
[5:19] It's kind of like, oh, what are we going to do? You know, like, I kind of need you. You just got here. You know, well, He literally says in John 16, it's better, or He says, it's to your advantage that I go.
[5:34] For if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. So, there's something about the Holy Spirit, the Helper, the scriptures call Him the Comforter or Counselor, that is to our advantage as believers.
[5:54] God, Jesus is reigning in heaven, interceding on our behalf, and we have an intercessory working through us that's the Holy Spirit presently in us.
[6:05] Okay? So, when I talk about the Holy Spirit, that's who I'm talking about. The Spirit of God is actually living inside every born-again believer. Another way to describe the Holy Spirit, or, I was reading about it, and, I don't know if some of you are familiar with the word paraclete.
[6:24] This is how the Holy Spirit is described, and the Greek word translated Comforter or Counselor, found in John, is paracletos. Paracletos, and this form of the word is unquestionably passive, and proper means, which means one called to the side of another.
[6:44] Okay? The helper, the counselor, the counselor, the paraclete, called to the side of another. The word carries a secondary notion concerning the purpose of the calling alongside to counsel, support, the one who needs it.
[6:56] This counselor, or paraclete, is God, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, who has been called to our side, and he's a personal being who indwells us.
[7:07] He's our paraclete. That's the technical word for that. So, building through the paraclete, the Holy Spirit, this is what I want to talk to you guys about.
[7:20] Specifically, there's many avenues we could talk about. I wanted to hone in on an aspect of building, which, also building in very specific ways that God has gifted us with the spiritual giftings outlined in Scripture.
[7:39] Jeff Vanderstelt says that he defines the church as the people of God saved by the power of God for the purpose of God in this world.
[7:50] So, not only when you were saved by God, did God deposit in you, or did he forgive you of your sins and cleanse you, but he deposited something in you to complete his purposes in this world.
[8:08] And he gave you the Holy Spirit, and it says that he gave giftings to men. Right? So, if you're a believer, you have gifts from God for specific purposes.
[8:18] Okay? And so, the Bible speaks about the gifts and power of the Spirit that are given for building. This is what I mean, building through the Holy Spirit.
[8:31] In Ephesians chapter 4, 11, it says that he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for the building up of the body of Christ.
[8:44] There's that word for the building up. Again, he says, later, let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth. Only such is good for building up. And then, more specifically, the spiritual gifts, this is going to be the main text if you want to turn there, 1 Corinthians 14.
[9:06] Paul says to the Corinthian church, pursue love and earnestly! desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For the one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God for no one understands him but he utters mysteries in the spirit.
[9:26] On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding. That word upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
[9:37] For the one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself but the one who prophesies builds up the church. In verse 5 he says, Now I want you all to speak in tongues but even more to prophesy.
[9:51] For the one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues unless someone interprets so that the church is built up. So there's this constant language of being built and Christchurch is in the midst of being built and we are all builders contributing to that as members of one another but the way is super important.
[10:20] Do you guys naturally think about the giftings you have as tools or members to build? I know when I was burning earlier this week thinking about this topic I was really convicted that naturally I kind of suppress the giftings I have.
[10:43] I think oh it's just you know like it's not really a gifting it's kind of just like you know personality mingled in there and just you know a guy like yeah a guy can work but like wouldn't really work like profoundly you know and I was realizing how much unbelief I had around this topic and I think it's really easy in a culture that's like a naturalist culture no miracles anti-supernaturalist culture to succumb to kind of the spirit of like yeah we believe that God can do anything but really we actually subtly believe that God won't God can but he probably won't and I was convicted because I think I've started to fall in line with that spirit but one of the ways I think that we can revive our faith in Christ's church is by looking at God's ways the ways that he has gifted us that he's poured out through the
[11:45] Holy Spirit different giftings in the body and saying let's actually have faith and believe that God will work not that he can but he will work through these things and from one degree to another there is that happening I don't think it's non-existent but I think you and me both know that we need more faith right and so he says pursue love and earnestly desire the gifts for their upbuilding to build up the church so the Bible speaks about building up building up I think just really simply means to strengthen to nurture and encourage to equip right and we have to do it through the Spirit okay when's the last time that you like showed up at a gathering or showed up at a you know friend's house one of the saints you know and you thought to yourself how can I build these people up when you when you show up with other believers and you're in the room are you thinking about like how can I encourage this person how can I encourage this group or maybe not like how can I like myobically just like boost somebody but how do I like if
[13:06] God if God the Holy Spirit dwells in me then every opportunity that you have to interact with somebody is an opportunity to be built up in the Spirit or more specifically for a manifestation of the Spirit do you guys believe that that the Spirit manifests whenever the saints are together or whenever the saints go out to an unbelieving world I know that I was struggling to believe that this week but this is what God has gifted us with is the manifestations of the Spirit it says in 1 Corinthians 12 that to each is given by the same Spirit to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good do you believe that it's for the common good or maybe the uncommon good you know like this is supposed to be something we expect we expect God to move that means that every time Michael opens his mouth it's an opportunity right for for the
[14:11] Spirit to go forth you know it sounds ridiculous sometimes right to be like well you know I don't know but but it's true like does the Spirit of God genuinely live in us or does he kind of does he lie dormant you know a little bit do we believe for gifts of healing impartation of tongues interpretation of tongues utterances of knowledge that words of knowledge that you would never know about somebody had the Lord not prompted you right these things are real we believe that and sometimes although our orthodoxy you know what we say we believe doesn't actually line up with what we do with our actions we don't really believe that in our actions right and I would love in my own life and the life of this church for us to deny and despise the unbelief that says you know the Lord won't work you know the Lord will or maybe maybe just a passive attitude like hey the Lord is going to do what he wants you know
[15:25] I don't have to earnestly desire the gifts you know the Lord is going to do what he wants he can't do anything that's not the testimony of scripture here Paul says urgently to actually a church Corinth was a really messed up church there were so many problems right in chapter five there was someone sleeping with his step mother the Lord's table was completely out of whack all the spiritual gifts he actually says that they're exercising the gifts but wrongly so there was the spirit at work to some degree but it was also kind of being quenched by the way they were using the gifts there's a lot of correction coming here but Paul doesn't say hey you know what these whole gifts!
[16:14] he brings correction and says earnestly desire the gifts especially prophecy because he wants the church to be built up and so we need to know about these things part of the I think some of the ignorance too around this issue is or some of the issue is ignorance like some of us just don't really know what the gifts are and how to use them I think a lot of us do and it's a matter of actually just having faith in God that will work and in ways that we might not expect and so when you read through the gospels and you see all that Jesus did and you see even in Acts this kind of testimony of signs and prophecy it's undeniable that God wants to work it's not an issue on
[17:15] God's part of does God want to give us these things right he absolutely does but there's a verse in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 19 that Paul gives which is very clear he says do not quench the spirit I was actually looking in other translations and it's like the same phrase like in three or four translations like do not quench the spirit right and so I believe that if if any of us are functioning in a passive way towards the gifts or if you're not earnestly!
[17:52] desiring earnestly as in like sincerely with intense conviction desiring the gifts then you are quenching the spirit of God like quenching in the sense of like extinguishing putting out the spirit of God like like Paul literally says to a messed up church earnestly desire them he's not saying put out the spirit here he's saying do it rightly decently and in order right there is a way but we as a church have to desire these gifts and we should pursue them as if the flame of the Holy Spirit needs to be fanned right Paul says to Timothy fan in fan in the flame the gift of God right are we believing for that or are we kind of passive are we like you know what I'll desire the gifts maybe in halfway through the year a couple times a year or are we regularly praying for that or are we regularly desiring
[18:54] Lord work among us I believe he is at work a lot of times we can get you know so pigeonholed into thinking like the gifts are only really like prophecy healings these things but there's many other gifts gifts of encouragement you know we see those gifts of wisdom gifts of administration different things like this and when we when we reduce the gifts to just a naturalist like oh that's just personality and kind of bent you know we start walking in unbelief on this topic you know may we not do that and so that's that's the that's the chunk of my burden is building up one another through the earnest desire of the gifts I believe there's a lot of gifted people in this room and it is possible that those gifts will be quenched can be quenched and not use may we not do that may we fan into flame like a roaring flame the gifts that God has given us may we use them right that's my burden let's build through the
[20:18] Holy Spirit build up one another pray for the lost pray for words of knowledge and prophetic words for the lost you know it's so easy to live your life without any testimony but praise be to God that there are many many testimonies I was just talking to Michael about this how faith building testimony is I'll share with you one story I think I've shared this to some of you but such an encouraging thing there was a man at a prayer meeting I can't remember where I think it was actually Jack Deer he's at a prayer meeting there's a man at a prayer meeting goes into this prayer meeting and there's a young girl that came for the first time perceivably a young struggling girl sat down at the meeting and they're praying and it might have been at the end of the meeting or something where this man looks intently at her and thinks he gets a word prophetic word he's impressed with a word to tell this young lady very specific words to tell this young lady that
[21:29] God hates mommies and daddies what it's a weird thing to say he was thinking to himself uh Lord like this is clearly against scripture like God loves moms and dads like why would I go up with this woman and say that and he said it as clear as that he couldn't shake it he's just like I have to go tell this this young lady so they find out that she was sexually abused by her mom and dad and before the abuse would happen the parents would say let's play mommies and daddies so this is the use of the
[22:41] Holy Spirit which seemed on the surface to be you know something outlandish and crazy that could easily be discarded and dismissed! give deliverance and freedom to this woman and she was set free that night these are the kind of things that we have to believe for that God actually works okay and I'm not saying that every waking moment will be this way right but we have to earnestly desire it we have to say God if you don't speak you know if your spirit doesn't work then we've got nothing you no help at all right it's the spirit who gives life Jesus says I was just talking before about a time that Brian Firtle had spent a long night in prayer praying for people and he got a phone call to a man who was dying from liver failure and he was already extremely discouraged that night exhausted in prayer ended up going to the hospital walking into the hospital room all the nurses were standing there like what is this guy going to do he was called there to pray for this man the man was laying on the bed groaning in pain and
[24:09] Brian was telling me earlier this week he's like I've never experienced anything like this but in that moment I looked at the man and I just knew it's like I received this word from God whole you will be healed but something was stirred up in Brian with confidence and faith he knew that he knew this guy is going to be healed so he lays his hands he brings Audrey over they both lay their hands on the man saying Jesus name be healed and sure enough he gets out of his fetal position that he's crouching in he calms down sits up and he's like I don't feel any pain you know and Brian is like Jesus did this for you then he walks out you know like these are the type of things that testify that not only can
[25:11] God can God right can God do miraculous things can God work but God does okay it's important for us to believe this we live in a culture that suppresses this and that spirit comes to you guys and tells you to suppress your own gift things you know God can't work through me you know but here's the deal your old man was crucified with Christ and a new man lives in you to do his will through the spirit and Jesus said it's better that I leave and send you the spirit right we have to be burdened to earnestly pursue the work of the spirit in our life I was so convicted I was just like Lord forgive me for falling into unbelief in this area may the body be built up may we build through the Holy Spirit amen so I see a couple of ditches here
[26:19] I already talked about one which is the the error of passivity towards the giftings I think the Corinthian church made the other error they were pursuing the gifts but they were doing it in a completely wrong way they were selfishly ambitious trying to be the best you know one upping one another and Paul says in 1st 15 it's 14 what then brothers when you come together each one has a hymn a lesson a revelation a tongue or an interpretation let all things be done for building up if any speak in the tongue let there be only two or three at most and each in turn and if there's and let someone interpret but if there's no one to interpret let each of them keep silent so Paul is kind of like rebuking them he's just like you come together one of you wants to share him a lesson everyone wants to just keep sharing it's like this competition it's just like he's like listen if someone has a tongue let there only be two or three like at the end of the chapter it says let everything be done decently in an order right so there's a way he's not he's not forbidding tongues but he's saying there's an order to it right and he says but if there's no one to interpret let him keep silent and so sometimes sometimes we can be like the Corinthians in some ways
[27:58] I don't think we're we're in that ditch per se but maybe we have inflections sometimes you know like in our relationships you know when we kind of like want to be one step above we want to be the guy with the word right or maybe we want to have the final word like you know are we really considerate about how the gifts are working and how we're working the gifts out is there a little bit of selfishness in there there's an interesting phrase in 3rd John 1 where John literally names this guy he says I'm going to mispronounce this diotrophus he says but diotrophus who likes to put himself first rough name rough guy to be known by his selfishness right but he was known to get ahead of everybody put himself first in
[29:05] I don't know what specific ways but do we do this in our relationships sometimes are we quenching the spirit a little bit in our efforts what about in our prayer meetings this might seem really normal and mundane but God wants us to have the unity of the spirit are we praying prayers that are just kind of like not even considered about what's already being prayed not even caring about you know like the flow that the holy spirit would lead us in right are we kind of a diatrophist in our prayers always just putting ourselves first our needs you know like be considerate right I think in Hebrews it says consider how to stir one another up right this is not self centered it's others seeking and I believe when we do that the guess will work let's not be a diatrophist man
[30:14] I'm cruising through this 30 minutes yeah let's not in an effort sometimes I think with the gifts specifically the way that the Holy Spirit has gifted this body I think we can play it safe too safe it would be better I think to risk it and be wrong than to quench the Holy Spirit and say you know what I'm not really going to lean into this gifting or encouraging this brother or maybe this prophetic word maybe I'll be wrong right don't get me wrong I'm not giving you guys a life to go crazy right like things should be tested!
[31:03] order and care it should be love right but we have to pursue these things and we have to say I'm not going to play it safe or more specifically what you're saying is I'm going to play it passive you know let us be a church filled with faith and alive in spirit so that leads me into kind of the final exhortations that I had I was thinking about how could I encourage this body how could I exhort this body even with seeing my own lack of faith in this area and number one Jesus says many at different points but many times in the gospels that if you have faith like a mustard seed very very small I think in Luke he talks about how the mustard seed is smaller than any of the other plants yet when it goes into the ground and grows it grows larger than them all he says if you have faith like a mustard seed you can say to this mountain be thrown into the sea right so it's not that you yourself have to muster up the faith right in fact actually it's that as if you have faith even if it's small it's the object of your faith that must be large right not the faith itself per se right if you have a little faith in a very large
[32:31] God then he can literally do anything right and so I would exhort you to not be discouraged when you're discouraged about how small your faith is or maybe how you would wish God would work but to know the God that we actually believe in can do anything and to lean in and say Lord do it move the mountains in our lives and increase the level of pressing in and the earnest desire the intense conviction and desire for these things give yourself to the earnest desire of the spiritual gifts don't quench the spirit we already talked about that Ephesians in Ephesians it says to make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit so that means that you know all of us have to be like an assembled team you know especially with us you know about to go out and do some mission here
[33:40] Lord willing and reap a harvest we have to be unified in the spirit right imagine if everybody was just like we're all on a football team and it's kind of just like okay everybody just you know you can be a linebacker well actually you know what you just get on the line and we'll see how it goes you know I mean it would be total chaos right scholars actually say this verse make every effort this phrase make every effort is like the strongest emphasis of the word like work really hard to maintain the unity of the spirit this is probably one of the pegs of the charismatic movement that has been so terrible is that it's a free for all of disunified use of the gifts of the Holy Spirit disorder and this is what Paul is rebuking the church about he's just like let everything done let everything be done decently in an order right so that's the mark of a healthy church is that the gifts are functioning they're not being quenched and they're done in order there's unity so
[34:51] Ephesians says make every effort I would exhort you church work hard at maintaining that unity as we're about to go out and embark on you know as laborers into God's harvest field like let's work hard to do it together we live in a very individualistic society that basically says you do you the way that you want and has no mind for team mentality right but we have to be unified we have to be in prayer together and if that's uncomfortable for you well you know like God wants to save us from that like he wants to save us from doing our own thing you know and it can be kind of squeamish but how much are we committed to God's ways you methods for building so make every effort work hard at it see what
[35:52] I got last one last exhortation finally be eager to love one another and all this talk about the spiritual gifts and there's a lot in first Corinthians 12 and 14 right in the middle of that is chapter 13 the love chapter he basically says if I speak in the tongues of men and angels but have not love I'm a noisy gong even if I have prophetic powers I understand all mysteries and all knowledge and even if I have faith to move mountains but have not love I'm nothing so he says that prophecy you know without love even says martyrdom!
[36:40] it's useless you know the mark of a believer is that we actually have genuine love for one another and here's the thing this is an encouragement to you guys if you lack love for one another God will give it through the spirit if you ask him okay God God has loved us so incredibly more than we actually believe most of the time in Christ Jesus 1 John says that we love because he first did it he first loved us and so God wants to win our hearts again if our love for him has grown cold so that our love for each other will burn highly again you know and my last exhortation is be eager to love one another and if you're dry ask God to fill you up and maybe some of us even today would say yeah
[37:41] I'm kind of cold and my love you know or maybe my loves are competing I love some people well and then I don't one day you know God wants to fill you with his spirit I believe that if that's you today I believe that God wants to fill you today with his spirit that's one thing another thing if you've been found as I'm speaking to say you know what I just honestly haven't valued the spiritual gifts that much you know like the Bible says earnest desire right intense desire if you if you kind of fall under the realm of like you know I've been passive towards God working I've been in a little unbelief that God can work you know God wants to fill you he wants to actually change your heart towards these things and so before I pray if that's you I would have encouraged you to get prayer from someone else we've also believed in what's called the baptism of the
[38:49] Holy Spirit I don't have time to explain that but baptism denotes immersion right the Spirit actually like us being immersed in the Spirit and I believe that God wants to immerse us and fill us if we're weary in this way okay so if anyone needs prayer there's going to be people in the back to pray for you lucky you can come up I'm going to read Colossians chapter 1 to close and then I'll pray and so this is Paul speaking and so from the day we heard we have not ceased to pray for you asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual wisdom and understanding so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might with all endurance and patience with joy giving thanks to God the Father who has qualified you to share the inheritance of the saints in life church this is what
[40:18] I pray would be over this church that we would be filled with all these things that Paul prayed and that you would be filled not only with the gifts of the Holy Spirit but with faith to believe for them and persevere and if any of you feels disqualified the Lord Jesus qualifies us in 2 Corinthians 3 it says that he has made us ministers not that we ourselves are sufficient but he has called us to that in his sufficiency right we're sufficient ministers so of