Spiritual Gifts and Ministries

also beginning next wednesday this is my final wednesday but brother sam will begin a series on trust so don't forget that i know you will enjoy him he always he always lightens the load a little bit he he brings some some really interesting things to us and i appreciate him very much but i would like to say um i'm truly grateful to pastor for allowing me to to speak on the last this will be the fourth wednesday but uh talking about gifts and ministries of the spirit and i do appreciate that opportunity very much don't take it lightly because this is something that is very needed in the church and i appreciate him for allowing me to be a part of this and uh i know that he could have stepped up and done a really great job at this but he gave me that task and i i did not take it lightly i thank him for it but we will be studying tonight we'll be talking about the power that is the act those gifts that fall in that category and we'll be talking about them and that is uh under the power of that anointing those acts of of and those gifts that we will that you perform some of you already performed these and some of you already as we go through them you may and i think we've talked about this there's a lot of things during this uh series that probably has has kind of come alive in you to understand that this uh you know hey god's been dealing with me in this area and he begins to develop you and i want you to understand these are all of these gifts that we have talked about in ministries we've talked about is to bring glory to god all of them they are they are never to elevate a man they are always elevating god they're to lift him up so i want us to start off with our our lead text that we we have been saying and we've been quoting this for the last uh three other services um i want us to start off with that and that is first timothy the first chapter and that is verse 17. this particular scripture and the reason i bring it to you is because this should be your prayer anytime we're talking about anything along the lines of the gifts of the spirit would you read it with us now unto the king eternal invisible immortal invisible the only god be honor glory forever and ever amen god is that that we're going to exalt in everything that we do we do it unto him amen praise god so i want us to just start off and these that fall under this category are the works of faith gift of healing gifts of healing and the working of miracles faith gifts of healing and working of miracles these three are are the powers of god these are those that we act upon every one that is involved in faith healings or miracles is something that we must act upon how many of you uh would would say there's been times in your life when you felt like something needed to happen but you was you was reserved about it you you weren't sure about it um again i go back to some of the things that we said in our prior services anytime you feel this understand that there is life at stake always remember that there is life at stake there's there's there is there is those those spiritual lives that that could be snuffed out at any moment and so what you want to make sure of is that you are following whatever god speaks to you you're following through with what god is doing in in your life uh every one of these that we are going to talk about tonight uh if you ever feel the unction of the spirit uh please go ahead step out walk by faith because that's what we do right we don't walk by sight we walk by faith and you do what the lord has spoke to you how many you feel that you have been spoken to by the lord you you have felt that god spoke to you well no matter what it may have been about you felt god speak to you god does this in the same way anytime he works in miracles healings but he has to have that vehicle we've said that over and over he has to have a vehicle and uh and you say well god can do anything yes he can and he can and he can just say he he created all of this by himself he did it but doesn't it feel good to know that god uses he uses you he uses me for his kingdom that just that makes me feel so good that god would just he would say hey i'd like for you to do this for me that that just does something to me just to know that i can play that that part in the kingdom of god hebrews the 11th chapter verse 6 tells us that but without faith it is impossible to please god for he that cometh to god must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him the scripture says that that we must believe without faith it is impossible to please god every every one of us if you are filled with the holy ghost you have a measure of faith in you god has given you that measure of faith now when we talk about faith as far as the work of faith the gift of faith he's given all of us that measure of faith but there are those times when when you get to a place in life and and he gives you a certain a certain action and there's a zeal that comes with it and you're allowed to god allows you to speak in faith there are things that can happen in a person's life let's just for example things is going wrong in your life and and you know you have been i've been going to church on sundays and wednesdays lord and i've been doing everything i paid my tithes i do everything that i know i should do and yet there is still something happening god can speak to someone and he can have them to walk to you and i've had this happen to me in my life they could come to you and just with a simple word of faith i snap out of it why because that's just our nature is our nature is is that that sometimes even though i have that measure of faith in me i just don't feel like god what are you doing what's going on what's happening and then in just that that god lays on someone's heart and many of you probably you've been used in this is is god gives you that that word of faith to speak over a person and you see it it gives you the ability to see something even though it is not there it gives you the ability that that you could actually and as brother stone king even mentions in in some of his writings that that he's able to when he closes his eyes the spirit of faith comes on him and he's able to see something happening and when he opens them it still has not happened but that is that is the workings of faith is god gives you the writer even talks about it this way says that faith is that that moves god faith moves god prayer is the key to heaven right you've heard that prayer is the key to heaven but faith is the is that that unlocks heaven it gets god's attention and it unlocks the door of heaven you know we we can pray and we can pray and god gives us that measure of faith that we god i'm a believer but one writer even said it this way but help my unbelief there are some things that and and god gives us in life he gives us people that are able to speak a word of faith over us and it allows us to to just get a glimpse of maybe that miracle that he would like to perform we see that as an example we see that in daniel the third chapter verse 17 and 18 the three hebrew children are mentioned here and they're standing before the king and they say to him if it be so our god in whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of your hands o king but if not notice they even speak this way but notice they say but if not he will he's going to deliver us from you notice that the when you speak faith that many times faith will give you the ability to speak something as as though it is he's going to deliver us but there may come there may be something in there that he's wanting to see us see us through notice god did deliver them out of the fire didn't he he delivered them out of the fire he did not say they did not speak in faith saying that they thought that he would take them they would he would just take them out of the situation he didn't say that and they didn't say that they said god whatever my faith says this that whatever i have to go through that you're gonna you're gonna handle it and you're gonna get me out of there and he did so without any kind of without a burn without any kind of scarce with any their clothes that the scripture said their clothes didn't even smell like smoke and and that is what true faith does didn't say that he was going to just zap it out of there but it did say that he would see them out he would he would deliver them out of the hands of the king and through that we see your faith is able to help someone else see the truth god help me to speak in faith help me to be in operations of faith believing being able to see something that even though it's not happening god i know that there's going to be revival and and this is how this is how it works is we pray and we seek god and we know folks if we could ever get our our eyes and and minds wrapped around the vision that that god is filling this place up that we've got people that'll be sitting right beside us that we've got people that will be sitting right next to us that's that's what faith does your faith builds and it builds to the point that you're looking around you and you're saying you know what i i see i see family members sitting there i see some of my my my children sitting there i see those that that are connected to my children's life i see sunday school teachers bringing their kids and their great grandkids and and you go around and you go around the room and before long you've got the house full you say well i don't see that physically right now well faith says yes i do now you say well that that sounds kind of it sounds kind of odd there to say that yeah this is what faith does is being able to see something the scripture tells us in hebrews 11 chapter verse 1 now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen everybody say substance everybody say evidence you've got to understand that when we can visually in our minds we can see something happening that's substance right that is saying i believe i believe god that that these things are coming to pass i believe that you're going to heal this person i believe god that you're going to fill this person with the holy ghost this is how it works you come in and you've got somebody you invited to church and and you know they've they've been going through bible studies and they really are right there and you just start praying in the name of jesus in this service god i believe i'm gonna see that person feel with the holy ghost substance is that as i'm holding on to that until i see it come to pass how many of you been praying prayers and you've been seeking god over things that you have not yet seen and then the gift of faith comes into works is whenever you're sitting there praying these prayers and you're not giving up on these prayers and then all of a sudden things start to happen and you start seeing that evidence come to pass those things start happening those things and and before long you're exercising faith and once you ever see it happen that exchange happens in your life then it's not going to be long till god's going to begin to speak to you about something else and then you're going to you're gonna exercise again substance i believe god i'm believing and before long you'll see the evidence come to pass that is that is the work of faith is seeing having that substance and saying god i know i know without a doubt i know because god is able how many you believe god is able he's able to deliver he's able to set free those that are in bondage he's able and if we could ever get that in our minds that god you're going you're gonna deliver this person you must learn though that through these things you must learn to speak these things this is the part of the this is a part of it that many people will hesitate on as they they're saying well i don't know i might be out of line if you feel this in your spirit and you have again you've tried it you've checked it out and you say god you're not letting me go on this so i'm gonna act on it speak it by faith and you'll see god begin to do a work speak it and you see him come these things come to pass it's not it's not one of those things that just that that you're able to just stick aside and just say well you know what i i'll just hold them because you may be you may be standing between somebody and their miracle you may be the one that's standing between somebody and the altar just by speaking god wants to do something for you and i'm using these as illustrations but you you walk up besides behind somebody and you know that in your spirit that you know god's laid something on your heart for that individual for the day is there's nothing wrong with saying i just feel it in the holy ghost that god's got a miracle for you today that is the work of faith speaking it no i don't see it but it is evidence the evidence will come that substance will turn in to evidence amen the gifts of healing notice this does not say gift it says gifts of healing we'll move into it these this is a this is saying plural it's it's it's it's gifts those things that the scripture tells us that we're to lay hands on the sick and the scripture says that they shall recover that's mark 16 verse 18 and i know the guys don't you don't have that but that's okay uh we're just using it at a ref as a reference but you you want to you want someone to lay hands on you in healing now when we speak of healing and we speak of of miracles uh we and we'll we'll make a distinction between the two but many times people will look at healings healing sometimes comes as one of those things that that comes through process you feel a move in your spirit you feel something happen in your body after god has used an individual in healing as you feel that sort of like you you you're saying you know it takes six weeks for a bone to heal or or something to get back into place in an arm or a leg but then when you're when hands are laid on you you feel something change inside of you well you may still feel the the the soreness you may still feel some but god uses people in the gift of healing and you you speak into their lives healing you lay hands on them believing scripture tells us to call on the elders of the church let them anoint you in the name of jesus and you'll receive your healing healing is one of those things that that we can have not only physically but it can be a spiritual healing these things that god uses us in is the ability to walk up us behind somebody and and sense in the spirit that something is going on in their life and you're able to lay that hand upon that brother or that sister and they can feel virtue jesus did this on one occasion he had a lady that was that was the scripture called this lady had an issue of blood now we we got definitions all over the world that talk about maybe cancer and all these but there are different ways that they explained it but she had an issue of blood something was causing her to lose blood in her life in her body and she had searched through doctors she had searched through through all kinds of medical help and could not get any help couldn't find any answers and she felt in her spirit that if she could get to jesus and she felt that if she could just touch the hem of his garment that she would be made whole don't think for a minute that jesus didn't know what was going on but i think for the sake of everybody else around he made the statements that he made this woman reached out and the scripture tells us that the issue of blood dried up that very instant and jesus asking him around him says who who touched me now i'm using this example because i think it's very important that we understand that that there is there is virtue that flows through someone who has the gifts of healing there's a virtue that flows you will feel that as god begins to move through that individual you will feel virtue move from one to another how many have ever laid hands on someone and you felt that in your spirit you felt that something just happened you may not understand what it may never find out exactly what but you knew that something had just happened the spirit begins to flow there is virtue and jesus made that statement he said he said i felt someone touched me the rest of them around him they you know they had there's a lot of people around you jesus and there's a lot of people pushing up against you there's a lot of people touching you and you ask a question who touched me no he wasn't asking the question who touched me physically he said somebody just touched the core of life and when a person has that gift of healing this is an operation in every life there is there is something that happens in that individual um and and i'll use this example personally there's been times that i in my body was sick i knew i was sick i knew that there was some things not right in me and i would be in service and and walk over to someone and be praying for them because they were sick and i could feel in myself because i had opened myself up to to pray for them i begin to feel virtue you see healing virtue flows both ways is you're allowed to feel the presence of god and feel god's virtue flow and it goes in and out in and out in and out throughout his people and some of you may even have been been able to to to see this in your own life but i want you to understand that that these these things really happen and god wants this happening in his in this day and time he wants this happening in this church is that healing begins to flow i had a question asked just a few days ago says you know we've got a lot of people that have that have become ill with this virus and there's been a lot of people that that we have questions about whether or not what's going on and these are these are people that love god these are people that that that are called by his name these are god fearing people and and they're losing their lives and the question was asked you know what's wrong here do i say i have the answer no but i do know this that god knows exactly what he's doing he knows exactly what's what he's doing and and i made this comment and i i just made it in just because it came to my into my spirit i said and god is picking and choosing he knows who he needs to he needs together and then he's getting us ready for this great awakening oh hallelujah he's getting us ready for some things that he wants to do in in the body of christ we wonder in ourselves we've seen it time and time again in in the word we've seen it throughout the scripture of the miracles that was performed the healings that were performed and we're asking ourselves the question okay god where is that he says if my people which are called by my name would humble themselves and what pray seek his face repent turn from their wicked ways he said there's going to be a healing that takes place there's going to be some things that takes place among god's people and i really feel that our key to all of this is is that we find our place on our knees and begin to pray until something happens god i want you to heal our lands and i know that i have to get things right in myself first and if we'll start praying that way god will begin to use his people you'll start seeing faith arise you start seeing things operations of the gifts come through you and you'll start seeing people healed of sicknesses things that that that god wants to do in each and every life the power of the lord enters in when we pray i said his prayer his power enters when we begin to sincerely pray and seek god's face he opens up the windows of heaven and that's when he pours out the blessings and we want to we want to be used of god he will do that once we begin to humble ourselves pray and seek him how many of you believe that we live in a busy world how many of you just came from work things just just busy busy busy go go go things happening not in the notes but the spirit of the antichrist is that of that he wears the saints out so if he can wear us down if he can get us tired he gets us to a place that we're and when we get home we just all we want to do is lay down on the couch get in the recliner and you know just whisper that prayer god thank you i made it to the recliner thank you i made it to the bed whatever but but that is what our adversary wants is he wants to wear his the saints of god he wants to wear god's people down and i say that to us as a warning is when you begin to get exhausted with the cares of this world and i know we're talking about gifts of the spirit and the operations of the spirit we're talking about how that all this works and and these are the nuts and bolts but but we've got to get ourselves mentally spiritually emotionally in a place that god can help us that we can be used of god we've got to get to a place in ourselves at god i want to see your operations and i want to see them in operation in the in the church i want to see them throughout the church i want to see things happen i want to see somebody receive their healing brother um gainesville jeff arnold i'm sorry pull the blank there brother jeff arnold some years ago just a few years ago he was in a service and some of you probably remember the story but he was in a service i mean in the service dropped dead he was out they had they had the professionals in the building and those professionals able to get to him and they were able to witness that he was not coming back but someone had the word of faith and says hey we're not going to accept this hello that that's how faith works is is is there's a group of people and they're believers somebody says hey we're we're not going to accept what you say well that's that that's rude that we have a nurse that says hey they're dead and she's a professional true for us to hurt her feelings let me tell you something there is there is three dimensions of your life there is the past there is the present and there's the future which one do you live in you live in the future no you live in the past no where do you live right here right now you are living in this present right now and how many of you know that god operates in the past he operates in the present and he operates in the future so if god knows my future then why shouldn't i question whether or not he's through with me or not somebody had the faith to say hey we're not go let's pray let's get let's let god have the last say so and when you give god the last say so you begin to pray and seek god and say god now i know that you have heal blinded eyes i know you have raised the dead i know that you have done these things i i read of the witness of it in the word of god and you begin to call on him and say okay god i've got a man that's laid out here in the floor he's dead as a door now whatever that is he's dead and you brought lazarus out that had been wrapped up and with a bow on him this guy's not even he's not even cold yet and you give god that opportunity how many times have we missed the opportunity of of god oh wow how many times have we missed the opportunity to really step in and allow god to use us we live in this present day right now at this particular time i hope it's right 754 we live right now and god's in control of this but he's also in control of where our future is as well he knows what tomorrow holds for us he knows what's going to happen tomorrow and i want to give him every opportunity and i want to be a part of every opportunity that he gives and god whatever you want for this individual whatever you want for them if it's something that you want me to speak a word of faith or maybe there's there's some spiritual healing that needs to take place allow that virtue to flow through me so that someone can be touched in the name of jesus works of miracles this is the last one that is a part of this power works of miracles those things that is healing that comes immediately and some of you may have had the opportunity to be around some of these things and i have in my life and and i'm not here just to just to testify of all of those but but the works of miracles those things that that god and through these you'll see faith is operating here because how can you believe god for a miracle if faith is not involved right how can you believe in miracles if healing's not involved and so the miracle is that that god immediately he gives you an unction in the spirit some some feeling that comes and you're able to step out and you're able to do something and god begins to move on that person and heal immediately in acts the third chapter verse one through seven we find where peter and john is they're going to the temple and many of you have heard this this illustration but they're going to the temple to pray at the ninth hour and there's a certain man that is lame from his mother's womb that they lay at the temple they carry him and put him at the temple gate they do this every day he's laid there daily because this is how he makes his living is he ask of alms and and i don't know that this man would even think that today is the day that i receive my healing don't know that but i would say he was probably just waiting for another piece of silver accepting those things that just normally naturally come those things and how many of you ever been guilty of the mundane i don't i don't want to sit here and preach a message on this but we're guilty sometimes of just the mundane we're guilty of just allowing those things this is just what happens today this is just what this is what my day consists of and we do not allow god to enter into that day i mean that's what peter and john was doing they was going to pray and if if peter had not felt it in his spirit you know what they'd have passed by this they probably passing this guy before i don't think this was their first time to be to be going to pray but something hid in his spirit and and what i want you to get about this is this is how the holy ghost moves on you is something hit them and it hit him in his spirit let's make that sound like boy just boom but the truth is you've got to be open to whatever god's speaking and john and peter felt this and they see this man standing there are sitting there and peter looks at him the guy is asking of alms and peter looks at him and the guy gives heed to him because they're thinking hey i'm fixing to get some change peter says this he said silver and gold have i none but such as i have give i thee in the name of jesus of nazareth rise up and walk he spoke this because he said there was something that he felt about this guy again i take you back to some of the previous discussions is there's times in your life when there'll be people that show up and they show up for a specific time in a specific place and you've missed it yeah we miss it why because we do not have the spiritual ear to hear god help me oh they may have been saying one thing but my spiritual ear was hearing something else god help me to hear what they're truly saying this man was hollering for alms but peter heard in his spirit this man needs healing and i know we've got them all over the city but how many of you have ever pulled up at a red light stop sign somewhere and you've seen these little cardboard signs yeah there's a lot of them i'll take your money but just a few weeks ago my eyes locked with one of them and in my spirit something happened yeah i see them all the time and you know that because i see them all the time it can numb you it can bring you to a place that you don't even look up sitting at the red light don't let him look up don't even look at him but my eyes locked eyes with him and i saw the hurt i saw something going on inside of that individual and i could not help myself i had to make that connection yeah i do i hope that i can get him through that door and you might not want to sit by but i will volunteer to set by why because i know miracles still happen i know miracles still happen i know that god still he's still on the throne he still moves he still moves mountains in people's way he still gives joy back to those that are hurting those that are sad in their lives he still get i've got that faith in me that god you'll heal him you'll make him whole yeah he may be burnt out something up there short-circuited but you know what god can heal that he can heal that and when we can ever get the spirit that jesus had folks i want you understand every bit of this that we've been talking about the last four weeks is the spirit that jesus had while he was here on earth he walked among men he dined with them he talked with them he helped them he did whatever he could he healed blinded eyes he opened up their eyes to where they could see he touched them raised them from the dead all of these operations and gifts that we talk about here jesus showed us how that we are to live and if you would i'd like for you to join me in trying to figure out where do i fit in the picture what is it that i can do for the kingdom of god what is it that i need to be doing god is it the man on the street corner is it when they walk through the doors that i am that one that i can i can make that connection with them that they don't turn around and leave maybe i'm the one that walks up behind them and lays gently lays my hand on their back and virtue begins to flow and the testimony comes back the next day that you know i had some issues and they're gone god does silent treatments and then they become testimonies oh i like to hear testimonies would you stand with us i want to do what god wants me to do i want to be a part of the kingdom of god that is in full operation we've often times thought about the job that i have and the job that i do every day i've got a total of 27 people that actually are in the operation that i do on that particular shift more than that but that i depend on to do certain tasks and if i don't have my mixer show up one day thank god i've got some people to lean on but the whole day i'm crippled if i don't have that person that takes and puts that one little sticker it cripples me so it doesn't matter if it's a big job or if it's a small job if one is missing then i'm in trouble the gifts and operations of the spirit in the ministry that we talk about scripture tells us that the ear if it wants to be the hand then who's going to hear and if the hand wants to be the ear who's going to be the hand scripture tells us that so we can't be everything that's why god puts all of this together we talk about the five-fold ministry there's no way that one person can do all of that and so he strategically puts in a church and i think it's very neat how god does things he he takes and he pulls this one in says you're going to be here you're going to be here you're going to be here and he's got all of these people and everybody has their part to do with a drawing we've got keyboards that can do it some but he's got to know how to push all the right buttons but he needs a drummer needs a bass guitar thank you brother he needs people that'll be up here to sing he can't do it by himself he's done it by himself but that's not god's intention you see find yourself in the place that he puts you and do that and do it to your best you know what it may just be standing at the back door greeting somebody thank you sister renee just maybe standing at the door but you never know what that smile and that shaking of the hand does for that person that walks through that door do your part and if god is laid it up upon your heart and you know that god has one of these that he is operating in you and he's wanting you to operate in please don't quench the spirit move do what he said dude yeah sometimes you feel uncomfortable but it could be that that might be their last service it could be that they never come back and you miss that opportunity would you lift your hands with us right now i thank you lord that opportunity to serve you lord jesus and god i want to be serving you with gladness no matter what my part may be they're all important to you lord jesus it's for your kingdom it's for your glory it's for you lord jesus not to bring glory to anything else or anybody else but to you lord god i thank you for that opportunity god to serve you i ask lord that something along the way of the last four weeks that if there's something been said let it be something that springs up inside of us each and every one of us to do what you have called us to do use me o god for your kingdom use me for your glory god we thank you for it thank you for this opportunity god would you thank him now for what you've heard thank you for what god has laid on your heart i don't want you just to thank him and walk away from it i want you to act on it god i thank you thank you for the opportunity god that you've given us to serve you to live in your kingdom to be a part of the kingdom of god to be a part of this great body thank you jesus in the name of the lord in the name of the lord how many you believe that god's able now how many of you will step out and allow god to to do that that she's able to do will you do your part for the kingdom amen god bless you each and every one i appreciate you for this opportunity to stand before you and talk a little bit about the things that god wants to do with you to god be glory amen god bless you in jesus name