1 Corinthians; Chapter 14 Part III, Order In The Church

The Big Picture.
Chapter 12: Holy Spirit, Body of Christ, Unity
Chapter 13: LOVE
Chapter 14: Get Organized

Brief overview of 1 Corinthians 14.
Prophecy better than speaking tongues = foreign languages

Prophecy Defined:
1. Foretelling
2. Forth-telling: even when there was no finished New Testament to forth-tell from.

One thing is definitively for sure.
What was taking place during the lives of the First Churches around the ministry of the Apostles we are hard pressed to find genuine activities of the same nature.

Spiritual Gifts Defined
The Holy Spirit is still working.
Looking for Evidence of the Holy Spirit?
Salvation = Born Again.
[Jhn 6:41 ESV] So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
[Jhn 6:42 ESV] They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
[Jhn 6:43 ESV] Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves.
[Jhn 6:44 ESV] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
[Jhn 6:45 ESV] It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me--
[Jhn 6:65 ESV] And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father."
[Jhn 6:66 ESV] After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

Sanctification:
[Rom 8:29 ESV] For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
[Rom 8:30 ESV] And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
[Rom 8:31 ESV] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

The Fruit of the Spirit
[Gal 5:18 ESV] But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
[Gal 5:19 ESV] Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
[Gal 5:20 ESV] idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
[Gal 5:21 ESV] envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
[Gal 5:22 ESV] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
[Gal 5:23 ESV] gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
[Gal 5:24 ESV] And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

The Ability to pray
[Rom 8:26 ESV] Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
[Rom 8:27 ESV] And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

The Ability to Understand & Believe the Bible.
[1Cr 2:9 ESV] But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him"--
[1Cr 2:10 ESV] these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
[1Cr 2:11 ESV] For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
[1Cr 2:12 ESV] Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
[1Cr 2:13 ESV] And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
[1Cr 2:14 ESV] The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
[1Cr 2:15 ESV] The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.
[1Cr 2:16 ESV] "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

I am still growing also. I may be wrong.

Spiritual Gifts Defined (The reason for all the confusion)
1. Yes! The Holy Spirit is still doing miraculous things that are similar to the Spiritual Gifts
2. There is a difference!
a. Biblically: What they experienced in the first churches started by the Apostles is not what we are experiencing today.
i. How many of you are speaking 2 or more earth languages by way of instant miracle?
ii. How many of you zapping people in the hospitals for healing?
iii. How many of you continually prophesy to people about their future “with details”.
b. Not all gifts seem to be given, “once and for all.”
i. Early Church: People were labeled “prophets” Bam! They were empowered and it never stopped.

No Christian group anywhere will disagree that there are Miraculous Spiritual Interventions of the Holy Spirit. Can we call them (Spiritual Gifts)?

The Big difference I Observe for most gifts. Some I believe stick around longer or permanently.
They are provided at certain times & circumstance for specific purpose, then they are done.
More like a meal, than a third arm.
If I were to give you a gift card to Olive Garden.
You received it in full, used it entirely, then it was done. I did not take it back.

Healings: in our church this spring.
Camp prophecy:

Order in the Church! 14:26-40

Remember Gift of the Spirit: Self-Control!

The Corinthian Church had a different church bulletin than current churches.

The goal: To encourage each other with Biblical Truth. Not warm fuzzies.
[1Cr 14:26 ESV] 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.

*Put a schedule of events on your Church Bulletin. Start with “ONE AT A TIME.”

Concerning Spiritual Empowered Foreign Languages. If no one is there to interpret, don’t talk. (So much for ecstatic prayer languages.)
[1Cr 14:27 ESV] If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.
[1Cr 14:28 ESV] But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.

Concerning Foretelling & Forth-Telling prophecy.
[1Cr 14:29 ESV] Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
[1Cr 14:30 ESV] If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.
[1Cr 14:31 ESV] For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,

You will be held accountable for what you “prophecy”
[1Cr 14:32 ESV] and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

Ladies; Save it for home.
[1Cr 14:33 ESV] For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,
[1Cr 14:34 ESV] the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says.
[1Cr 14:35 ESV] If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Women had the gifts also, but they were not allowed to use it corporate group meetings.
[Act 21:8 ESV] On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.
[Act 21:9 ESV] He had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.

Paul concludes: These Orders are from God.
If you disagree with me, you are a fraud.
[1Cr 14:36 ESV] Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached?
[1Cr 14:37 ESV] If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.
[1Cr 14:38 ESV] If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.

Use your spiritual gifts as designated on the Church Bulletin.
[1Cr 14:39 ESV] So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
[1Cr 14:40 ESV] But all things should be done decently and in order.

1 Cor. Chapter 14, Order In The Church

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