2.3.4 聖靈的恩賜與生命
By: Ming
Thank you Lord!
Do you understand? We had warfare recently, and as a result, we found that everyone thought that the real warfare was to have spiritual authority to cast out demons, but in fact it is something different. Many people have experienced it during the process of learning, and many testimonies were sent to my mobile phone. Many people were released during this period, whether it was the release of family finance or the release from family bondage. It turns out that spiritual warfare requires learning and knowing how to do it. It is not about gathering a group of people, rushing to the front line with all our strength, and then shouting, keeping binding demons, no. The first step is for the Holy Spirit to work within us shining upon our lives to deal with our problems, after which we can witness overcoming. As for today's topic, I know some of you have heard it. Thank God, it is actually very stressful to stand on this podium. Everyone knows about my situation recently. I currently have to take care of my husband, who cannot take care of himself. To describe my life as extremely nerve-wracking is not an exaggeration. Two weeks ago I had an instinct that God would call me to preach on the stage. I had an instinct, but I didn't get up. One morning, He spoke, and He said that this month is your turn. Then, in order not to preach, we all played our own tricks. I would do it too, because I was really too busy, so I looked for a speaker, and I had already planned and checked that he would definitely not leave Toronto. I also colluded with his assistants and assumed that he would come, but it turned out what I didn’t expect. I waited and was thinking I might be able to pass this week and do not have to come to preach. Finally, he sent me an email on Friday morning and said, sorry but suddenly I have something urgent this very Sunday. He has to go to the United States today. Any other time would be fine. Then I know that it is not easy for me to obey, because I know that every time we prepare, we encounter many situations. Thank God, God has mercy on me and gave me this topic - spiritual gifts. I have shared some of them, so there is no difficulty for me to prepare. I prepared it on Saturday.
Today we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In fact, God began to tell me that it was proper to share this topic a few months ago, because many of us have begun to have outstanding gifts, but after the gifts come out, we don’t know how to use them or what to do with them. So today let’s look at a scripture first, in (1 Corinthians 12:4-12). I want you to read it, because I will talk about these verses repeatedly. Can we read together? " There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ."
Gifts, they have a driving force. We all know that gifts build up others but not ourselves. Gifts have a driving force, which is love. Without love, we cannot talk about gifts.
What is the function and purpose of gifts? We know that God is high in heaven. God is a spirit and cannot be seen, right? If we can’t see it, we can’t reach it, then how does God express Himself? Through something, in the process of exercising the gift, the gift is revealed, and then the deeds of God are revealed. Then we could say that there really is God in our gathering. So gifts are actually used by God to express Himself, and the purpose is to bear witness to God Himself, not to bear witness to us. (Hebrews 2:4) says, “God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.” So we can see clearly that God did them according to His will. What did he use? Miracles. Do you know what a miracle is? Crossing the Red Sea was a miracle, why? When you saw the Red Sea, you knew that this cannot be done by humans, only God. What are wonders? Another nose grows after the first one, and two noses were grown. This is called a wonder. What are the various superpowers? Casting out demons is one of the various miraculous superpowers, as it can cause demons to manifest, which requires spiritual authority. One of the purposes of the gift of the Holy Spirit, as we just mentioned, is to witness that God is among us. So what is the five-fold ministry? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, pastors, so what are these, and how are they different from gifts? The five-fold ministry only tells us our identity, or what our current profession is: are we pastors, apostles, or prophets? Do you understand? Well, the gift of the Holy Spirit is the operation of God’s supernatural power, or it is called supernatural manifestation. Well, Paul says in 1 Corinthians, regarding spiritual gifts, I don’t want you not to understand, but where do the gifts come from? What is said in 1 Corinthians? What does it mean that the Holy Spirit distributes to individuals as He pleases? It means that the Holy Spirit can give it to whomever He wants, and we do not have a say here.
When talking about the gift of the Holy Spirit, you must mention the spirit. What does the spirit mean? It cannot be known in our physical world, that is to say, it operates supernaturally, and it is in a world of the supernatural realm. We know that there are currently two worlds. The first one, the physical world. We see your appearance and the bench. What is the other one? The spiritual world, it is invisible. Therefore, the physical world is called the first heaven in the Bible, and the spiritual world is called the second heaven and the third heaven. What is the second heaven? It is a place where Satan comes and goes and the enemy comes and goes. What about the third heaven? It is the throne of God. In this spiritual world, there is an invisible realm, right? There are two kingdoms in the invisible realm, one is called the kingdom of God, and the other is called the kingdom of the power of darkness.
So what exactly is the kingdom of God, and what is the kingdom of the power of darkness? Okay, first let’s talk about what a kingdom is and what a country is. A country has three elements, right? What is the first one? A king. A country must have a king before it can be called a country. The second one is the people, right? What is the third one? Territory. It is a boundary. So who is the king of God’s kingdom? God is the king. Who are his subjects? In fact, we Christians, so who are we? We are those who are willing to follow the laws, the rules and the regulations of this kingdom. If you don’t follow them, you are a traitor, right? If you betray, you will be expelled for treason, and you belong to the enemy. Where is the territory? Where is the realm, where are the boundaries, (Luke 17:20-21), where is the kingdom of God? In your heart, what does it mean? It turns out that the boundary is the human heart, so it is easy for us to understand. The citizens should be those who are willing to follow Jesus Christ and are the people of the kingdom of God. Where are the people who are unwilling to follow Jesus Christ? They went to the kingdom of Satan, right? Whether you like it or not, there is no middle ground in the invisible realm, either the kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. So who is the king of the kingdom of the power of darkness? Satan. Who are the subjects? Those who are willing to follow Satan's reign. What is the territory? It’s also the human heart. So when you see two countries war against each other, each country has one purpose in the fighting, which is to seize land.
Therefore, Syria is fighting for its strategic position in the Middle East, and to seize valuable things from that place. To put it bluntly, when countries are at war with each other, they all want territory. What about the two kingdoms fighting? Isn't it also to fight for people's hearts as territory? Then who are the people? We are the people. So what do you see as the focus of the two countries fighting for territory? Human hearts. In the book of Job, when God was creating the heavens and the earth and laying the foundations of the earth, he said that the sons were shouting for joy and singing. Who are the sons? Angels. After Satan fell from heaven, one-third of the angels fell with him. How many angels are left in heaven after Satan took away one-third? Some people say that two-thirds of angels remained. We need to understand a concept: angels are immortal. What does this mean? That is to say, the one-third of the angels who fell on earth want to steal the throne of God. Then God is not willing to recreate angels but create humans. So what is the number from the creation of the world to the present? One-third. After our life is dealt with and our spirit is raptured by the Holy Spirit, what will our flesh be transformed into? Spirit. Our spirit is clothed with a spiritual body, and then we are the one-third. That’s why in Zechariah Chapter 13 it is mentioned that two-thirds of the people on the earth will be cut off and one-third will remain, meaning that from the beginning of mankind, from the first man to the last man, two-thirds of them will be cut off. There is a number, that is, the number to enter the kingdom of God. We have a quota and a number. So the first chapter of Romans says, when the number of the Gentiles is fulfilled, then will the whole house of Israel be saved. From the creation of the world to the present, we must take efforts. The kingdom of heaven is raided by violent people.
We have just talked about the power in the spiritual world. When we talk about the spirit, we are talking about supernatural power. So when we talk about the power of the Holy Spirit, we are talking about superpower. In other words, superpower in Hebrews 6:4 is that: "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and who become a partaker of the Holy Spirit...." What does it mean in "heavenly gift"? It means that the second purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit is to give you a foretaste of the kingdom of God, which means that when the gift comes, we have already known the taste of the kingdom of heaven. Understand? Therefore, the source is from God, and no member among us can boast that my gift is great, or how great his gift is. What is the power of the kingdom? It is mentioned in the Lord’s Prayer: Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What's the meaning? It means that the will will be accomplished on earth, but who will run it? The Holy Spirit. The power of the kingdom of heaven refers to the power of God, the power of the Holy Spirit operating on earth. So we need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Do we know who was on the earth after Jesus was sent up? Holy Spirit, right? So we need to understand that everyone has gifts. Why? God does not favor anyone. Everyone in our life has it. We just need to discover and know whether you belong to the eyes, nose, ears, mouth, or hands and feet.
Our current era is an era of the Holy Spirit operating on earth, because the Holy Spirit itself is supernatural and comes from the spiritual world, so in other words, we cannot see or touch the Holy Spirit. If you want to understand the work of the Holy Spirit, you must enter a supernatural realm, which means, what should you do with your spiritual senses? To open them. From the moment we confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is our Savior and believe in our hearts that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, we already belong to the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will leave a mark on our lives, and that mark can be seen in the spirit. Let me tell you a testimony. There was a time when we went to Taiwan for missionary work, we were in a local snack bar. At that time, several of our co-workers already knew that we should choose a clean restaurant to eat, otherwise we may get diarrhea, yes it was important to enter a right restaurant. They didn't choose a restaurant, so they came to me that morning and asked me where to eat. As we walked along that road, I told them which one, and he asked why it was that one. I said, get in and check, I saw in my spirit that the lady boss had a mark of the Holy Spirit on her forehead in her life. After entering, one of our male co-workers asked her, and she told the co-worker, yes, I am a Christian. What does this mean? It turns out that when we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, our lives are marked. When the Holy Spirit seals us in our spirit, we are recorded in the book of Life and naturally enter the spiritual world. When the Holy Spirit lives within us, we naturally enter the supernatural realm. So it is not that difficult to enter the supernatural world, you just need to let the Holy Spirit seal it. So I appeal to those who have not been born again yet to be reborn as soon as possible (laughs).
Many churches reject the gift of the Holy Spirit, but if the church rejects the gift, it is rejecting the Holy Spirit's witness to His own behavior, and it becomes a rejection of the supernatural, that is, it is saying to God, "I don't want your presence, I don't want you to manifest it, I'll just manifest it myself. The church should bring the power of God to let everyone know that there really is God here. In order to testify to the world that God is real and living, and to testify that there are two kingdoms, what else should we testify about? There will be a lake of fire and judgment in the future, in order to save their souls. Then we go back to (1 Corinthians 12:4-6) “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of functions, but the same God. In everyone all things work." This verse allows us to understand how to ask for gifts, which is very practical. From whom should I ask for gifts? Ask the Holy Spirit, the scriptures are very clear. As for ministry, we must indeed ask the Lord. What is ministry? I just talked about the five levels of ministry: apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher, and pastor. You said that I don’t want to be a pastor and I want to pray to the Lord. Who is this Lord? The English version talks about Jesus Christ. Then, “There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God who works all in them.”
That is, who can make the function work? God, what is this God in English? Father God, so all persons of the Trinity appear in this scripture. When the patient is not healed after we laying hands, many people don’t know the reason why. One of the reasons is that the function cannot operate because God the Father has not ordered it to be done. Do you understand? Last time when I shared this topic, a sister who was not in Toronto made a phone call to me and said that she knew two years ago that she was bound by four evil spirits in her life. She identified two, but it took a long time for her to cast them out, she even went to the church to cast them out, but in vain. She asked why? Then when we were at the summer camp, she saw the Holy Spirit manifested and the evil spirits were cast out. Then she asked why it couldn't be done before, so I told her this verse, "in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work". It must be God, which means you have to have an order of command by God. Let me give you an example, we all say that two kingdoms are at war. The day we become Christians, whether you like it or not, the war had already started. Then we all join the army. Are you happy to join the army? There are different types of military troops in the army, such as the Air Force, Navy, and Ground Forces. It usually depends on what you choose to join in. Some people like the Navy, so who will you apply to? It is a profession, who shall we ask from? Jesus Christ! It is a ministry, are you a pastor, teacher or something else? Just ask Jesus Christ, I want to join the army, I want to go to the Air Force, I want to go to the Navy. Then when one joins the army, they must be trained, you are a recruit! Now you need weapons at this time. I chose a bomber. So what is a bomber? Bombers are a gift, from whom should I ask? Ask the Holy Spirit. After training and having weapons, can I set off immediately? No, what are you waiting for? Orders, you have to wait for orders, otherwise your functions will not be fulfilled. Just imagine, what are the consequences of violating military orders? Let's say I'm willing to, now I was trained and I can fight at three o'clock in the morning today. I can just ride the plane and rush out to fight in Syria. Do you know what the consequences will be? Either you'll be punished for trespassing on the enemy camp, or you'll be shot down and get defeated. Of course, if we are defeated in a battle, we should first ask the Holy Spirit to shine upon us and examine our lives. Don’t say abruptly that the enemy has too much firepower. Usually it is because we fight without permission. If you understand this metaphor, you will know that taking off, finding directions, and goal setting all require God's will so that He can operate. This is the function of God the Father—giving command. The functions cannot work when God has not ordered it.
For groups, ministries, or churches, the same principle applies. Gifts must match and serve each other, and they do not operate independently. The appearance of a function or gift often requires different members to work together, which cannot be done by a lone ranger. Just like I am preaching here today, if no one sets up the microphone and no one arranges everything today, it will not be possible. Therefore, the hands have the function of hands, and the feet have the function of feet. No member of the body can work alone in the world. In addition, when God calls you to be a member in a body, He will give you the position of hands or the position of feet. Then, if you are unhappy one day, don’t tell me that I will run to another church. The person who used to be the hands is now playing the eyes, is that okay? No. Therefore, receiving a call is a commitment. It is not a commitment to people, but a commitment to God. Think about it, if your hands were at the position of your eyes, how would you see? Do you understand? Therefore, gifts are different. No one has the complete gifts of all. Because they are different, they need to coordinate with each other. Therefore, we should not be jealous of each other, but should appreciate each other and thank God. That’s why 1 Corinthians 7:7 says, “ I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.” People should use their own gifts as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. Gifts must be aligned with life. This is the key point. Having a gift means having a responsibility. The more gifts you have, the greater the responsibility you take. I will explain what this means in detail later.
We know that 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, “Pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts.” So why should we pursue love? Because we just mentioned that love is the driving force, the driving force of gifts. Without love, you would not want to do anything. Therefore, love must be manifested in an interactive relationship. Love must be manifested in a relationship. Some people say that I will go hide in the deep woods for six months to practice. Can your love be expressed? No, why? Who can you show it to if you don't have a relationship? If you only love yourself, you will not be able to love your neighbours around you. Love is expressed through actions, such as visiting a sick person. So a life lacking charity is not a godly spiritual life. In everything you do and in every position you hold, you must always treat others with kindness and compassion, and in line with the principles of honesty, fairness, and due diligence. Therefore, the Bible says that "love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality..." Please go read it yourself, as that passage is pretty long. Love is the driving force, because the character of love can last forever. What does that mean? There are some things that cannot be taken with you after death. What are they? Can you take the wealth with you? Can you take away your successful status? You can’t take it with you, and you can’t take your academic qualifications with you. Then on the day you pass away, you will enter eternity and become a spirit. Do you know what will happen to you? Your true colors will come out and your true self will be revealed.
What is the original look of spirit? It was discussed in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve were naked to each other. That is to say, after you become a spirit, everything is transparent and you no longer have a covering. Unlike humans, you can still be hypocritical. For a moment, hypocrisy covers you, but when you become a spirit, you have nowhere to hide, and you have no veil to cover you. All your natural heart, your true character and disposition are clearly seen by the spiritual world. Once you see it at the moment you enter eternity, one thing will happen (everyone now stares at me, as if saying, how do you know? Because I have been there). Then when you enter eternity, all species will follow their own kind. This is also stated in the scripture. What does it mean to follow each kind? People will follow their own kind. People with different personalities will find people with the same life characters and habits. With whatever character and temperament we have, we will always hang around with each other, and form various circles. This is society, the culture of the kingdom of heaven. That's it. At that time, because we were attracted to each other, we seemed to have found our own life. This is the true nature of the spirit.
You don’t know that God is light. The meaning of light is that the more you love God, the more you are attracted to the light; the closer you are to Him and naturally the greater the intensity of the light will be. So when you were alive, if your character, your true nature and your original intention were immoral or evil, although God’s light would shine on you, you still couldn’t stand the strong light, and your spirit would be as uncomfortable as it is burning. It is scorching, as some people named, the fire of hell. What does it mean? Evil desires, selfish inclinations including jealousy, competition, revenge, fornication, and so on.... These things prevent you from getting closer to the light. You are afraid, because as long as you get closer, your whole body will be hot and uncomfortable, and you will naturally avoid the bright light. What would you do? Follow each kind, that is, go to a place similar to your character and life, which is the place of darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth mentioned in the Bible, so that your spirit will feel better. Now we understand that this is how people inflict punishment on themselves. People themselves inflict punishment and walk in the direction of hell. God has given us free will, so that everyone can choose what kind of character they want in this world, whether it is good or evil. If we choose kindness and beautiful things, in the spiritual world we will be close to the light and avoid darkness, because we can't stand it. However, whoever chooses darkness will lose the light, because his hypocrisy will be exposed at that time, so he can only go to a place where he follows his own kind. Therefore, going to hell is to obey their own evil heart and out of their own free will. Therefore, the Bible says that we are punished by sin and we bring about our own punishment.
Exercising Spiritual Gift or Anointing
What kind of life is needed for us to exercise our gifts or anointing? First, spiritual gifts must operate in obedience and be given to those who obey. Second, the operation of gifts must be in love, because love is the driving force. The gift of disobedience will bring in destruction and harm. For example, if your mouth never considers the feeling of your stomach and you eat desperately, one day your stomach will suffer. Therefore, if everyone only wants to be eyes, as they think the eyes are easy to manifest God’s power and can be seen and touched, but you know if everyone does the eyes, this limb will be disabled. What does it mean for gifts to operate in love? That is, suppose you have the gift of healing. A sister said that God asked her to get up at three o'clock in the morning to pray for the sick. How about we sleep for an extra hour until four o'clock in the morning when we had to get up to pray for a seriously sick person? What would you do if there was no love? Put down the phone and go to sleep again. It's possible that this person would die the next day. Then after death, who will settle the score with you? On that day of eternity, before the throne of the Lord, this account will still be settled with you. So gift means responsibility. Some of us will have physical reactions to the forces of darkness. Some of them are very obvious. Many people say what should I do and ignore them? No, God wants you to pray for that person because you have feelings and others don’t. So the driving force behind gifts is love. Many people often become proud after receiving gifts. There is nothing to be proud of. Why? Because the source does not come from you. God has given us gifts to serve one another and to consider others better than ourselves. Love can cover many sins. People are made of dust, 97% water and 3% dust. Since it is made of dust, it must be very rough and our words will be unpleasant to hear. So at this time, we must cover it in love and make sacrifices for others. Pray for them, asking God to help them see their problems and repent, instead of immediately judging them or saying I am holier than them.
After the gift has life, the anointing will come. Talking about anointing, you may read Isaiah Chapter 61: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, and He has anointed me. Therefore, Jesus must be anointed when he starts his ministry, and God must anoint Him. Anointing means that the Holy Spirit anoints people to sanctify and set them apart. The definition of anointing is the same. It is invisible and intangible. It also comes from God. When the anointing is on a person, their ministry is empowered because they live in the presence of the Lord. How about holiness, as we just talked about sanctification, sanctification is needed, so is holiness. Sanctification is mentioned in the book of Leviticus. It means giving to God and for his use only. It does not mean you compare with someone and check if I do better than you today, or if I do worse than you tomorrow, that doesn’t mean it. It means that this thing belongs to God, not to the world nor to idols. This is holiness. Holiness is not achieved by pursuing. Don’t assume that holiness comes only because I pursue it. Holiness is mentioned in Leviticus 1:6-9. To peel off the skin of the burnt offering, to be skinless. To be sanctified is to peel off the skin, layer by layer, until the inside becomes white. To peel off is to separate from the world. After handing over your true nature and hypocrisy, you still have to go through a few steps: cut into pieces, burn them, burn the pieces of meat, the heads, the fat, and also burn the internal organs and legs. What is this mentioned in the book of Leviticus? ? To be cut into pieces is to be broken, to have no self. The head and fat, which are your thoughts, must be dealt with; the legs and internal organs, which are your heart and actions, must also be dealt with and cleansed, so they are very painful. When you want to exercise the anointment, there are many attacks and difficulties. At this time, you have to do one thing: to let others peel off your skin. That is to close your mouth and don’t speak. Let them peel it off until the inside turns white to fully reveal life, and this is the operation of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. I remember one time I went to do a ministry in a church. The day after the service, a sister came to me and told me that after we finished that night, she dreamed of a group of people and then saw an angel appear, and it was a high-ranking one. The angel told her that these people below cannot receive the anointing, these vessels are not for it. Then she came and asked me what this meant, what did it mean that the vessel could not receive the anointing? I remember that day I had an act of imparting the anointing. I remember that I did such a thing that day, but she came to tell me about this.
Let’s talk about gifts. What are gifts? They are given for free. Will you give a gift to someone and then go back and say, “I’m sorry, give the gift back to me,” is there such a thing? Has anyone done this? If a gift has been given to you, it is yours. The Holy Spirit generally will not take it back. Gifts have little to do with our life. The Holy Spirit gives them to you according to his own will. Regardless of whether your character is good or bad, a gift given is not returned. Therefore, sometimes in the ministry or in the church, we see some people with many obvious gifts, but we feel that this person’s life is not worthy of this gift. This is the reason, that is, he never talks about life. If he doesn’t talk about life, it means that what he is pursuing is not the Holy Spirit Himself, and what he is pursuing is not God Himself. What is he pursuing? A kind of ability, it’s a bit like I want dad’s blessing, but it doesn’t mean that I get dad. This is different. There are scriptures saying that from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. It talks about the responsibility of receiving gifts, the more you are given, the greater the responsibility. Those who have the gift of healing remember to always answer the phone in the middle of the night. Those who have the gift of exorcising demons, please help those who are seriously mentally ill or suffering from depression, God will not let you go. You have to minister. God’s gifts and anointing have only one purpose: to serve God and to serve others, and not to serve yourself. Therefore, if there are sisters among us who can see the numbers, don’t use the numbers to speculate in stocks, or be careful of being disciplined.
Types of gifts
There are many categories of gifts. Scriptures can be found in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and 1 Peter. There are as many as seventeen categories mentioned in the New Testament, and there are more. Today we will also mention a little bit about gifts that everyone can recognize and are familiar with. 1 Corinthians has listed nine types, which can be classified into gifts of revelation, gifts of power, and gifts of edification. What are the gifts of revelation? Words of wisdom, words of knowledge, and the ability to discern spirits. These contents will be shared in detail in the group Bible study, so it is recommended that everyone participate in group Bible study. Today I will give a general explanation of what gifts, anointing and life are. Some people may easily confuse it with revelation-type gifts.
Words of wisdom refer to things in the future. For example, Jesus was able to predict the destruction of Jerusalem and his crucifixion. This is the word of wisdom, and wisdom comes from God.
So what difference does the words of knowledge make? The word of knowledge is the understanding of what is happening to this person now and what has happened in the past. When Jesus said to the woman at the well in Samaria, you have five husbands, right? now this husband is not yours, he knows the problems of her life. This is knowledge from the past, and this is called the word of knowledge.
What is the gift of power? To another, give him faith, the gift of healing, and the ability to perform miracles. The ability to perform miracles has just been explained, but what about giving him faith? This faith is different from our ordinary faith because it is a gift. What is our faith? For example, now there is a dark cloud in the sky. Maybe our faith is that it will rain soon because there are dark clouds. Our faith is ordinary faith. The gift of faith is not like this. The faith to do extraordinary things and ordinary faith are completely different. It can be said that this is the highest state of all gifts. It means using thoughts and ideas to make things work. You don’t need to do anything, just think. So when we are doing missionary work, something like this often happens. I don’t know the way and I don’t know how to get there. When I think about God, please send me someone to help, a man comes to me and says, ‘Hey, you are lost. Let me tell you where to go. ' What is this? Faith is driven by thoughts.
What about gifts of edification? It refers to being a prophet, to be able to speak in tongues and interpret tongues. Being a prophet here is not referring to the job of a prophet as we think. It is to preach, that is, to exhort, to communicate in the Lord Christ, to speak words that people can understand, to preach as a prophet, which is edification, exhortation, and comfort. Regarding fellowship in Christ, we see in 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 that prophesying and preaching are not to serve as evidence for unbelievers, but for those who believe. Therefore, when two or three people gather together someone can do prophetic preaching.
If you want to understand these sharing, you need to participate in a group Bible study.
Imparting of anointing
Let’s talk about the last point, how is the anointing imparted, and how to use the gift and anointing of the Holy Spirit? Jesus is our role model. No matter what we do, who should we look to as our role model? Jesus. The transmission of the anointing follows the pattern of the example of Jesus. Discipleship is not a college system. It cannot be acquired by learning in a college. Gift of revelation cannot be gained by me teaching you today what a revelatory gift is. So how do people get it? It relies on the discipleship system. Although knowledge can be taught, if God has not given that kind of profession, there will be no such transmission. What does that mean? If the pastor of a church is a pastor or teacher, he will not be able to guide those who have the apostleship among them, because his functions are different, and thus there is no way to pass the gifts on. Discipleship is achieved by leadership, and Jesus gave such an example. Once you see the gifts manifested in that person, he needs to lead. That is to say, you grow through being led, not through going to the seminary or studying the knowledge somewhere. I’m not talking about how good the leader is, but that the person who leads has already walked on this path, so others who come to follow and learn from it don’t need to take the wrong path. It’s not following the leader, listen clearly, it’s about following God’s will and following God.
The second purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit we just mentioned is a foretaste of the kingdom of God. All gifts and offices are distributed according to the degree of faith and must be in harmony with the way. This is mentioned in Romans 12:1-12, according to the amount of faith God has assigned to an individual, and it is in line with the right approach. For example, if you have five children, you ask why God has not given you the gift of healing. This is called faith. If you want to take care of your children, because you have many children, can you still serve the sick in the middle of the night? This means that God is considerate of our weaknesses and understands our circumstances, so in this situation, even God can't push you, because you have too many children, and because of the environment, you can't avail yourself. So we say that God allocates gifts in a rightful way according to the degree of faith. In Christ, God’s faith is complete. Whatever God measures is what God gives you. You just need to be willing to accept the portion that is measured to you and be faithful. Let me give you an analogy. For example, God gives two seeds. What kind of seeds are they? A coconut seed, big enough. There is also a mustard seed. The mustard seed is very small. Which one does God give the greater faith? The one for coconut or the one for mustard? How to compare? No comparison, why? Plant it and you will know. As long as the trees survive after being planted, both are 100%, because each species is according to its own kind. It means we don’t need to admire others, because God is fair. So when we see Ephesians 4:12, we need to build up the Body of Christ, each performing his or her duties for the purpose of perfecting the saints.
That’s it for today, let’s summarize. I just mentioned that the driving force behind gifts is love. Without love, there would be no gifts. Second, the function and purpose of gifts is to express God Himself and bear witness to God Himself. Gifts have two purposes, one is to testify that God is here, and the other is to have a foretaste of what the kingdom of God is like. Then, the Holy Spirit is distributed to individuals according to his own will. Next, we see that gifts and life need to be matched, in obedience and in love. What is sanctification? Sanctification is skin peeling. Next, as for gifts, we just mentioned that there are three major categories in 1 Corinthians. The transmission depends on the discipleship system, not the academy system, then God is fair, so He will give in the right way according to each person's faith.
Thank the Lord, that's all for today’s message. Please bring the children back, because there will be a practical exercise to let everyone understand what is the primary gift God uses you in your current life, so that you know how to cooperate in the Body of Christ and how to exert yourself. We know that God is among us today, those who come tonight are truly blessed. God is manifesting among us tonight in a very special way. He promises that each of us can gain Him tonight. Then let’s enjoy God’s presence together in worship, okay!
Oh God! I know you are among us now, because I have seen that the wings of the angels have been spread out, and I beg you to serve everyone now, and your promise will not fail. When we open our hands and come before God to receive, Lord! I see you starting to pour down a stream of anointing. Oh God! The secrets in our lives, our difficulties, and our problems are in your hands, Lord! You are going to do a miracle among us. Tonight some of us will meet the Lord in a dream. We see the water flowing continuously and beginning to pour into each of our lives. It is a very special flow. This is a revelatory outpouring. What comes now is the second round, the anointing of praise. Let us open our mouths and let us use new hymns or tongues or spiritual songs to praise our God together... (End of prayer and praise in tongues)
