The Speaking Gifts

This past weekend I was at a retreat and had the opportunity to speak to 200 different men about the Word of God. It was a great opportunity, but it kind of wore me out. I forgot my belt this morning. I got up, it was dark, and so I couldn't see. I forgot my belt, and then we had four phone calls this morning to the church. We never have phone calls on Sunday morning. And, you know, I should just stick to preaching and keep my mouth shut. And they called and they asked me what time the church started. I told them 10:30. And so if you're here today and you're late, it's my fault because I was the guy that answered the phone and told you to be here at 10:30.

So I'm hoping I'm a little bit better prepared for my sermon today. I got notes because I got back at 8:30 last night and didn't have a lot of time to memorize it, but I color-coded them, kind of nice, huh? Yeah, all right. So, hopefully, we can be able to understand a little bit more about spiritual gifts this morning. So, we better pray so that we're organized here.

Father, we thank you for today, and we thank you that we can come together and open your word. And Lord, there are many people here this morning with the gifts that we're going to speak about, and we trust, Lord, that you would encourage them. And for those who are looking to see, Father, what their gift might be, I pray that this morning would help them to understand more about what your call is and what your gift is for their life. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

This morning, our topic is the speaking gifts. The speaking gifts. Last week we talked about the special gifts. Those were the gifted men given to the church. Their purpose was to equip the saints for the work of ministry. Today, we're going to talk about the speaking gifts. These gifts are given to explain the scripture to people. There are five of them: the gift of prophecy, the gift of teaching, the gift of exhortation, the gift of word of wisdom, and the gift of word of knowledge.

The outline's a little different today. A little chart for you. Thought maybe you might like that. Pastor Stan put that together for us. And so we thought that we'd look at it just a little bit differently. There is so much information to give you. We thought that we'd give you as much as we possibly could already. And then I'll just kind of fill in the blanks for you as we go along. We want to first of all identify the gift, then we'll illustrate the gift, and then we'll look at some insights about the gift. And we will not cover all the insights about them, but just look at a few things that we'd like to have you notice about that gift, okay?

So, first of all, the gift of prophecy. It is a spirit-given ability to proclaim God's truth to others without compromise, resulting in edification, exhortation, and comfort for the believer and conviction of the non-believer. That's the definition of the gift of prophecy.

Now, last week we talked about gifted men. Prophets. 1st Corinthians 12:29 tells us that all are not prophets. But 1st Corinthians 14:31 says that all can prophesy. And 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 10 in Romans 12:6 says there is a gift of prophecy. So you have prophets who are gifted men to the church. You have those with the gift of prophecy. Yet, all people, according to 1 Corinthians 14:31, can prophesy. Because prophecy is that public proclamation of God's word given to exhort, to comfort, and to encourage the believer and to convict the unbeliever.

So it kind of gets us off on the right foot here by letting us understand that just because you don't have the gift of prophecy doesn't mean you can't prophesy. Now, let me explain that to you. There's a difference as we illustrate the gift between revelation and reiteration. And we want to make that distinction. Because when you talk about prophecy, you're talking what in most people's mind is revelation.

The revelation of God that the church was built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, according to Ephesians chapter 2, verse 20. And Ephesians 3:5 says that they were revealed the mysteries of God, the apostles and prophets, and they are the ones who revealed it to us. God revealed it to them, they revealed it to us. But there's a difference between revelation and reiteration of that revelation.

Turn with me over to 2 Peter 1. A very familiar verse that, if you were to go through and talk about how we got our Bible, this verse would be very prominent in your thinking. 2 Peter chapter 1. Listen to what Peter says. "For we did not follow cleverly," verse number 16, "devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory: 'This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.' And we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain."

Now, when was that? Remember what that was? That was the Mount of Transfiguration. That was back in Mark chapter 9. That was a couple of months ago we talked about that. Remember that? Well, Peter says, as he goes on, that we have a more sure prophetic word than that vision. That's very important to understand, because he is establishing the authority of God's holy word.

He says this in verse number 19. "And so we have the prophetic word made more sure to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

He says, "Look, this prophetic word, this prophecy, was originated by God. The words that you have are not words of any human interpretation, any human origin. These were given to you by God as He bore men along through the Spirit of God." 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17 talks about how all scripture is God-breathed. The word of God that we have is God's holy word. He breathed these words into existence through the pen of the apostles and prophets who wrote them.

And so that was the giving of revelation. And we believe at Christ Community Church that that revelation has ceased, that we have the completed canon of Scripture, and that was a revelation of God to man. There were other people who gave revelation, such as Agabus and Acts 21, when he came to Paul and said, "Look, I want to let you know what's going to happen in Jerusalem when you go." He took off Paul's belt and they bound him up and said, "This is what's going to happen. You're going to be taken a prisoner." And that revelation was true. He revealed to Paul what was going to happen to him in Jerusalem, and that came true. And Agabus was a prophet.

But for today, we're not talking about God revealing certain truths through man. We're talking about the reiteration of the truth already given to man. And that reiteration is what the prophet gives today. He prophesies what God has given, and the church of Corinth is a good illustration of that. We'll talk about that in a moment.

But there's also the church of Thessalonica. Turn there with me if you would, please. First Thessalonians chapter 5. First Thessalonians chapter five, verse number 16. Paul says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit, do not despise prophetic utterances." I'll stop right there.

Paul says, "Look, I don't want you to despise prophetic utterances. I don't want you to disregard them. I don't want you to disobey them. I want you to understand them." He says, "Don't quench the spirit. Or, in other words, present tense, stop quenching the spirit." Evidently those in Thessalonica were quenching the spirit of God. They were putting the fire out. They were dampening God's spirit in their lives. They were quenching the spirit of God. How? And the word of the Lord says, "Look, through the Apostle Paul, don't do that."

In fact, he goes on to say these words. "Examine everything carefully. Hold fast to that which is good. Abstain from every form of evil." The church of Thessalonica had a different problem than the church of Corinth. The church of Corinth misused the gifts, they went after all the showy gifts, and so Paul had to get them back on track. But the church of Thessalonica, they despised the prophetic gift. So the utterances that were coming, they were looking down upon, they were disregarding, which is a good reminder to you and me.

When someone gets up and prophesies the Word of God, reiterates the Word of God, makes a public proclamation of God's Holy Word, we've got to be careful not to quench the spirit in our lives by despising what He says. Because God said it.

James says something similar in James chapter 1, verse 19, when he says, "Let every man be quick to hear the word of God, slow to speak the word of God, and even slower at becoming angry at the word of God, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." That's what James says. He says the same thing Paul says: "Look, if you want to be a righteous man, if you want to be what all God wants you to be, then you've got to be quick to hearing the word of God. You can't despise the prophetic utterances. You can't look down upon them. But instead, you've got to test them. You've got to examine them."

And how do you examine the prophetic utterance? 1 Corinthians 14:37, Paul says, "You examine it by the text, the Word of God." We know what a man says is true or not by examining the text. That's extremely important. And so we need to be like the Bereans who search the scriptures daily to see whether or not these things are so.

This past week on the retreat, it was my father-in-law's church in which I was at, and he's got a guy in his church that is like a Berean. And he's a retired colonel in the army, and he loves the Word of God. He searches it day and night. And he takes notes incredibly during John's sermons and during the retreat. He was writing everything down because you see, he checks every verse. And if you're wrong, he tells you. And I was wrong on one of my verses. And he called me to check after it was all over. We had a great conversation.

And John was telling me, "Hey man, this guy, he's on me every week. Because John memorizes all of his sermons. He quotes lots of verses. And this guy writes them all down." And so, how do you test the prophetic utterance? You test it in accordance with the Word of God. And if it's true, Paul says you hold on to it, you get a firm grasp of it. You live by that word, as God told Moses in Deuteronomy 32: "The words that I give you, they're not empty words, they're not futile words, they are your life."

And because this book is your life, if the prophetic utterance is a true prophetic utterance, then you hold on to it. Don't become angry with it, don't disregard it, don't despise it, but you hold on to it. And then he goes on to say, "Abstain from every form of evil." Evil, meaning anything contrary to what the Word of God teaches, is evil. It's not true. Therefore, you abstain from that. You disregard that, but you hold on and grasp firmly the prophetic utterances that, when measured against the text, are true. That's our responsibility.

So, we need to understand when we talk about the insights of the gifts three things. First of all, the priority of prophecy. Second of all, the main point of prophecy. And thirdly, the problem or the potential problem in prophecy.

Turn me over to 1 Corinthians 14. Paul says this in verse number one: "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spirituals or spiritual gifts." Now, if you recall, verse number 31 of 1 Corinthians 12 says, "But earnestly desire the greater gifts." We talked about the use of the word zeloo, which used in terms of jealousy, in terms of envious. And these Corinthians were jealously seeking gifts, the showy gifts, because they wanted to be put on display.

And if you understand the context of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, you realize that the Corinthians were misusing certain gifts, specifically the gift of tongues. And so Paul says, "Look, not everybody has the gift of apostle. Not everybody has the gift of prophecy. Okay, so don't be seeking after those kinds of things. But if you want to seek after something, seek after love." And so he spends 1 Corinthians chapter 13 talking about love.

And then you come back to verse number 1 of chapter 14. He says, "Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts." So what's Paul saying? He's saying, "Look, I want you to desire spiritual gifts if your motive's correct because God's given you one. In chapter 12, verse 1, he said, 'Don't be ignorant of spiritual gifts.' So, therefore, God's given you one. I want you to eagerly seek it so that you can implement it in the body. Don't be seeking a gift that others have because you want to be put on display. But earnestly seek after the gift that God has given to you so that you can exercise it in the body."

And then he goes on to say, "But especially that you may prophesy." Now that's very interesting. Used in the plural form. So it's when the body comes together, earnestly seek especially prophecy because prophecy is that proclamation of the truth.

Now, look what he says. He says this: "For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God." No definite article, therefore, it should read "speaks to a God." So, what Paul is saying is that in your pagan ecstasies, what you're doing is speaking to a God. Understand this. God doesn't need you to minister to Him. Do you understand that? God is not incomplete. So, your ministry to him is not going to make him more complete. He is totally complete. So, we don't have a ministry to God where we are somehow going to exercise our gift to make God more complete.

So, what Paul is saying is this: "Look, one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to a God, for no one understands, but in his spirit he speaks mysteries. But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation." And that's what spiritual gifts are for: to minister to who? Men. And so that's the parallel that Paul is drawing here.

The issue is: "Look, seek that you can prophesy because prophecy is a prominent gift." Why? Not because of the gift itself, but because of what prophecy accomplishes, and that's the point of prophecy. It's given for the exhortation, for the edification, and consolation of the believer.

Now, look over in verse 23 of chapter 14. "If therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues, the kind of tongues that you guys are doing, ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?" "You folks in your pagan ecstasies are getting up and trying to be showy with your gifts, and you get up and you begin to speak all these kinds of tongues, and an unbeliever comes into your assembly, he's going to think, 'Man, you folks are wacko, you're crazy.'"

So, what does Paul say? He says, "This, but if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you."

That's the point of prophecy. Not only does it give consolation and exhortation and edification to the believer, but it brings conviction to the unbeliever, so when the unbeliever comes into your assembly and you prophesy, you make a public proclamation of the word of God without any compromise, what it does is it convicts. It judges the man's soul. It exposes his sin. And when he sees himself before a holy God, he falls on his face and he worships God and he realizes what he needs. That's the point of prophecy. You see that? That's why prophecy is so prominent.

And Paul speaks more about prophecy than he does any other gift because prophecy is that which edifies, encourages, consoles, and convicts believers and unbelievers. It's a very powerful gift in the body. So, don't think that you don't have it because all can prophesy. Some have the gift of prophecy, and there are prophets given to the church. Small p today, big P. Thank you, Del. Big P, back in New Testament days, that's how we distinguish.

We had a Sunday school class this past Sunday night when I was with the class that meets at the Browns' house. We talked about distinguishing between the prophets today and the prophets then. Big P, little p. And so when God has given gifted men to the church who are prophets, there are those who have the gift of prophecy, yet all can prophesy.

And so there is a potential problem. And that's this. Over in Romans chapter 12, Paul says these words: verse number 6. "And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly, if prophecy, according to the proportion of its faith, according to the measure that has been given." The word proportion means there's a measured-out amount, and that measured-out amount has been given to us. So, if you're going to prophesy, prophesy according to the measure that has already been given, and this is that measure that has been given.

The problem comes when people go beyond that and say that God has spoken to them and revealed something to them. That's a problem. Because if it doesn't drive with Scripture, you're to abstain from that evil. If it does jive with Scripture, God might have spoken to him, but he spoke to him through his word because his word reiterates the truth of revelation.

Peter says over in 1 Peter 4, verse 11, that "If any man speaks in this context of spiritual gifts, let him speak the utterances of God." So if you're going to make a public proclamation, do it based on what God has already said. That's the gift of prophecy. There's a lot more to cover, but because of time, we're going to trust you to be like the Bereans and search the scriptures to see whether or not these things are so and see what else is there.

The gift of prophecy amplifies the truth. The gift of teaching clarifies the truth. The gift of teaching, the Spirit-given ability to explain the meaning of God's truth to others, so that there is understanding and application for both believer and non-believer. Prophecy is a public proclamation. Teaching is not necessarily a public proclamation. Teaching can be done in a one-on-one setting, a small group setting. But it has the idea of systematic kind of teaching behind it. Whenever you look at the word to teach in the original, it has behind it the idea of a systematic kind of training process. That's important to understand.

That's illustrated in Acts chapter 18. If you have your Bible turned there with me, if you would, please. Acts chapter 18, verses 24 to 28: the story of Aquila and Priscilla and Apollos. "Now, a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth," verse number 24, "an eloquent man came to Ephesus, and he was mighty in the scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. And he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately."

That's the gift of teaching. They took him aside and began to say, "Look, the Holy Spirit has come. It was proclaimed on the day of Pentecost in Peter's sermon." And so they began to systematically teach him and train him about the coming of the Holy Spirit that was promised by the Messiah.

And then it goes on to say, "And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. And when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrated by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ." And so, a man who has the gift of teaching can demonstrate through the scriptures what he wants to teach because we are to teach according to the word of God.

Another illustration of this gift are elders in the church. I believe that elders in the church possess the gift of teaching. In fact, when you go to appoint elders in the church, you look for those with the gift of teaching first and then determine whether or not they match up the character qualities of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. It's very important. Most churches do not see that as being evident in an elder.

If an elder does not have the gift of teaching, he will soon become a deacon in the church, although he'll own the office of eldership. Because he'll be more concerned about administrative details than shepherding the flock of God. Titus 1:9 says that the elder is to be able to exhort and to refute those who oppose the teaching. 1 Timothy 3:2 says that the elder is to be able to teach. Hebrews 13, verse number 7 says that we're to remember those who spoke the word to you. Those are the elders.

Over in 1 Thessalonians 5:12, it says that we're to appreciate those who have given you instruction. The only ones who are concerned about giving instruction, the only ones concerned about speaking the word, the only ones who are able to teach, are those who have the gift of teaching. They want to do that kind of thing. And so, elders in the church have the gift of teaching because, as Acts 20:28 says, "Be on guard for yourselves," Paul says, "because you are to guard and shepherd, feed the flock of God." How do you feed God's flock? You give them the word of God. And so, in order to feed the flock of God, to be a shepherd, to be an elder in the church, you've got to be an effective feeder of the flock. You've got to give them a proper diet. To do that, you have the gift of teaching because you want to systematically bring the sheep to maturity. And that's what the shepherd does.

Now, some insights. First of all, the procedure. Romans 12:7 says that if—turn there with me, if you would, real quick. Romans chapter 12, verse 7. You'll notice that all the gifts, prophecy, teaching, exhortation, are to be done according to the exhortation or according to the teaching. It says "if service in his serving," or "he who teaches in his teaching," or "in the teaching." So your teaching is accordance with the word of God.

And Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 that he is to entrust to faithful men, the gospel, who in turn can teach others also. At the root of the word to teach is the idea of the choir director. Shannon, you'll appreciate this. The choir director who spends time with people teaching them how to put the music together so that they can bring it to a performance at the end. The teacher is like a choir director. He takes people from point A to point B to point C to point D to help them understand the truths of the scriptures.

A good example between the difference of the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching is Pastor Stan and myself. Pastor Stan has the gift of teaching, I have the gift of prophecy. He is more interested in the intricate details of the teaching. So he goes point A, point B, point C, point D. He's got his little charts he has, his all these little configurations that he puts up there. He's got to get to teaching. As you know, I don't have all those little chart little deal things. I have to get him to put this in a chart for me. Because, you see, he has the gift. I don't. I have the gift of prophecy. He has the gift of teaching.

So he's into that systematic kind of training. I have a prophetic gift, which is used in public can be a one-time kind of shot. This past week, I did a retreat. I exercised the gift of prophecy. I spoke three different times. All right? But the man with the gift of teaching does a long-term kind of training process. That's how you can differentiate between the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching.

Which brings me to the third point, or second point: the word precision. Now, you'll like this. There's 12 P's here, and you know, it took me about 20 minutes to figure out what they would all be, but I'm giving you a word so you can remember the insights about these gifts. When it comes to the gift of teaching, precision is very important.

Turn with me over to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says this, talking about the people who said, "Well, I'm of Apollos and I'm of Paul." Paul goes on to say these words: "For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and another is building upon it. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it."

When it comes to the gift of teaching, precision is a key. You see, God's Word is the blueprint. And as a teacher, as an architect, you have got to build upon the foundation. And if at any point in the building process you don't lay a firm foundation, then you won't have a stable building at the end, right? So, you've got to make sure that every nook and cranny is set in proper order when it comes to building a building. When it comes to building people, you've got to lay a proper foundation.

Those with the gift of teaching, i.e. Ken Mitzker, who teaches in our new believers class, is concerned about building a proper foundation. If we mess up on the foundation, then everything else will be out of whack down the road. So, we've got to accurately teach people the truth of God's word. There's got to be precision in our teaching. That's very important.

Peter says over in 2 Peter 1, 12 to 15, that he wanted to call into remembrance the things that he already had taught them. One of the things that a teacher does is that he continues to remind people of the things that he has spoken to them because he doesn't want them to forget. You see, when you come each week, I don't know if I've shared this illustration with you or not, but if I have, indulge me for a moment. When you come each week, you come different than when you left the week before, right?

If you're a cabinet worker and you're putting a cabinet together and you put that thing together and you go to bed at night or you go on vacation, and you come back, that cabinet is in the exact same place you left it, in the exact same condition in which you left it, right? Unless there's an earthquake. But it's going to be in the exact same place. You just pick off where you left off. But for you, it's different. When you come in on Sunday morning, you hear the word of God, you go out six days in the week, you come back, you're not the same as when you left the Sunday. Satan's after you, the kids are complaining, the wife's kicking you, the dog's biting you, all kinds of things. Things change.

Things change in my house over the weekend. We got a cat. Can you believe it? We got a dog and a cat, and I can't stand animals. But we got them. We got a cat. It's that big. It's that big. I thought it was a furry bowl on my bathroom floor. I was going to sweep it up and get it out of there. I thought my wife didn't clean the house when I was gone. It's a cat. It's that big. It's the smallest thing I ever saw. I had rats bigger than my cat. But when I came home, my house changed. I had a cat. My kids were different. They got a cat. They're happy now. They were sad before, but now they're happy.

But you see, when you come back, you're different. And so the teacher, he's got to reiterate it. He's got to re-emphasize it. He wants you to remember it. So he goes back over the same thing over and over and over and over again. He might use a different illustration, but that's all that Jesus did when he was here, right? Jesus said the same thing every time he spoke. He just said it a different way. And that's what the teacher does.

What? I know I'm running out of time here. The gift of discipline, is that a gift? No, you're supposed to be disciplined. Preparation. That's why Paul tells Timothy: "Look, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Timothy, don't be ashamed of your teaching. But accurately, cut it straight. Provide the path. You see? Handling correctly, rightly dividing the word of truth. Timothy, that's what you've got to do." So, preparation is very important for the teacher.

That's why James says, "Don't seek to be many teachers." Why? Because every one of us are accountable to God for our lives, but your teacher is accountable for your life. See that? Whoever you teach, you're accountable before God for their life. But everybody's accountable for their own life. But if you teach, and the more people you have to teach, that's the more people you'll be held accountable for when you stand before the Lord Jesus.

That's why in Matthew 5:18 and 19, Jesus says, "Look, if you want to be least in the kingdom, then you teach people to annul Word of God. But if you want to be great in the kingdom, you teach them to apply the Word of God." You see, don't teach people to disregard the Word of God or to disobey the Word of God, you've got to teach them to obey it and to regard it as it is the truth of God. The preparation is extremely important.

Next, the gift of exhortation. We're going to go a little bit more faster here. The Spirit-given ability to draw close to individuals in time of need, counseling them accurately with the Word of God, persuading them to take courage in the face of something they must do, or assuring them to take comfort because of something that has happened. This is the gift of strengthening. Prophecy amplifies the truth, teaching clarifies the truth, and exhortation specifies the truth. It hits a specific area and encourages that believer in that area. It's the gift of strengthening, exemplified best, of course, by the son of encouragement, Barnabas.

Acts chapter 11, verses 19 to 26. Turn there with me if you would, please. If you know that, remember Acts chapter 4, he's called the son of encouragement. He had sold some of his property and helped those who were in need. In Acts chapter 9, he went to the believers and encouraged them because he was a major influence in getting them to accept Saul into the body of Christ because he was a believer. And then in Acts chapter 11, we see where these Gentiles had come to Christ. And in verse number 23, it says, "Then when he had come, Barnabas, and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord."

Look over in Acts chapter 13, verse number 43. Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them, were urging them to continue in the grace of God. Acts 14, verse number 21. This is Paul and Barnabas again. "And after they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying, 'Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.'"

It's the gift of encouragement. It's the gift of coming alongside someone. These people are different than the guys who have to dig into the facts and know what the Bible says and teach it. Although those with the gift of exhortation do do that, those with the gift of exhortation are concerned about the person. And they want to come alongside the person and instill courage in their lives. And that's what Barnabas did. He strengthened the souls of those disciples.

And there are many people within a congregation who have the gift of exhortation. It's the counseling kind of thing. The process is counseling, the gift is exhortation. Because you want to move people on towards maturity. And where is it best exemplified? By God Himself. The word that's used for exhortation, parakalao, is used ten times in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 3 to 7. Ten times. Because it's God who is the master encourager. It's God who is the master exhorter. He's the God of all comfort, right? Who comforts us in our tribulations? And it's God's word that revives us. And so it's a tremendous illustration of what it means to be comforting someone amidst difficulties.

The practice, 1 Thessalonians 2:11 tells us that the practice of exhortation comes as a father exhorts his own children. So those who have the gift of exhortation exercise it as a father would instill courage in his children. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 14 that in that exhortation is to be patient character. Second Timothy 4:2 Paul was to reprove, rebuke, exhort with patience and instruction. Titus 2:15 says that Titus was to exhort with all authority. Why was it to be an authoritative instruction, exhortation? Because it was based on God's holy word. And so you can exhort people with authority because of God's Word. You can exhort them with patience because as you exhort them with the word of God, it's God's Word that has to change them. And you do it as a father does his own children. That's the practice of exhortation.

And the purpose is somehow to instill in people something positive, to move them in the right direction. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14, you encourage the faint-hearted, those who are small-souled, those who are despondent. You're to come alongside of and encourage. Over in 2 Thessalonians 3:12, you're to exhort those people who don't work not to be gossips but to work. Over in 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 1, Paul says, "I urge you, I exhort you, that prayers and petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of President Clinton." It's in Titus 2:1. You got to read it. It's there. Petitions, prayers, and thanksgiving. So the exhortation comes: "Look, this is what needs to happen. You are to pray for those in authority. You're to give thanks to God for those in authority." That's the exhortation.

And over in 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 and 2, Peter exhorts the elders as a fellow elder, as a fellow shepherd, telling them how they should feed the flock and shepherd the flock of God which God has entrusted to them. That's the purpose of exhortation, to get people to move from point A to point B in a very positive kind of thing.

But there's a great promise, it's in Romans chapter 15. Romans chapter 15, verse number 4. "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." See, the great thing about exhortation is that as you come alongside someone and you explain to them the Word of God, these things are written so you might have hope. That's the promise of an exhortation.

And I think that as we look at God's Word and realize that there is a tremendous promise that's given through His Word, all these things that happen to those who in the hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, all that happened back to David and his life and his son Solomon and all that happened to Joseph when he was thrown into prison, and the thing with Potiphar's wife, and all that kind of stuff, and Abraham, and Sarah, and the creation, all that was written for your exhortation, for your encouragement. That you might have strength and that you might have hope. That's the promise of exhortation.

So the gift of prophecy amplifies the truth. Teaching clarifies the truth. Exhortation specifies the truth. And wisdom applies the truth. The word of wisdom applies the truth, the spirit-given ability to have insight into people and situations that is not obvious to the average person, combined with biblical understanding of what to do and how to do it. 1 Corinthians 12:8 is the only occurrence of the word of wisdom recognized as a gift in scripture, and the emphasis is on the skill of application. Knowledge focuses on the facts, for knowledge identifies the truth. But wisdom focuses on the application of those facts in your life because wisdom applies the truth.

It's exemplified in the life of Joseph back in Genesis chapter 41 when the Pharaoh said, "Can we find a man like this in whom is a divine spirit?" Pharaoh recognized that the wisdom that was in Joseph was there because of a divine spirit. The wisdom that you have as a gift of word of wisdom is given to you by a divine spirit, the Holy Spirit of God. Deuteronomy 34, verse 9, it says of Joshua that he was filled with the spirit of wisdom. It says of Solomon in 1 Kings 3 that God gave Solomon a wise and discerning heart. Those who have the gift have the gift because God gave it to him.

And Paul talks about that in 2 Peter 3, verses 15 and 16, where he needed the word of wisdom in order to write the scriptures. He talks about it over in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 4 to 8. For your own study, James chapter 3, verses 13 to 17. In terms of the insights of the gift, spell out the peculiarities of the gift. The peace of God, the wisdom of God that cometh from above is first pure, thence peaceable, gentle, full of mercy and good fruit, without partiality, without hypocrisy. Those who have the gift of word of wisdom have those things as the characteristic of their life. Match those character qualities with a man like Joseph, with a man like Joshua, with a man like Paul, with a man like Solomon. They were obvious characteristics of their lives.

And of course, the person of wisdom is Jesus Christ Himself. In Christ dwells all the wisdom and knowledge of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24 tells us that Jesus Christ is called the wisdom of God, and because the person of wisdom who is Jesus Christ, because of him, when we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we become partakers of that wisdom positionally. And the sanctification process is a progression of growing in that wisdom. And those with the word of wisdom help us grow in that knowledge. That's important to understand.

So, all of us, in some degree, have the word of wisdom. That doesn't mean we have the gift, word of wisdom. But we have wisdom because Jesus Christ dwells within us. We can exhort people because we are called to come alongside people and encourage the faint-hearted, right? So we can exhort people. We can teach because a mother teaches her children. A father teaches her children. We can teach one-on-one. We can teach a Sunday school class. More people have the gift of teaching than they know. We can all prophesy according to 1 Corinthians 14:31, but there are certain people who have the gift of prophecy.

All that to say is that you can't say, "I'm stupid, because then I don't have the word of wisdom. Or, I'm stupid because I don't have the gift of knowledge." You can't claim that. You've got the knowledge of God, you have the wisdom of God. You can never ever say you're stupid. Somebody else can say you're stupid, but you can't call yourself stupid. Why? Because you got the wisdom of God. You got the knowledge of God, right? And you've got to learn to tap into that wisdom and that knowledge. So you're up alongside those who have the word of wisdom, those who have the word of knowledge, those who have the gift of teaching, and you begin to grow in your faith, and your wisdom begins to expound. That's why the possession of wisdom is very important.

Who can possess wisdom? Everybody can. 2 Timothy 3:15. The scripture makes us wise unto salvation, right? What did James say? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men liberally. Liberally, hey, listen, if you're stupid, it's because you haven't asked God for wisdom because God gives it liberally. You see that? God wants you to be wise, so He gives you wisdom to discern between right and wrong and make the right choices.

And lastly, the word of knowledge. The word of prophecy or prophecy amplifies the truth. Teaching clarifies the truth. Exhortation specifies the truth. Wisdom applies the truth. And knowledge identifies the truth. The Spirit-given ability to understand things which others do not know and cannot comprehend on their own.

People with the word of knowledge are very valuable to people like me. I love being around people with this gift because, boy, that's how I learn. These are the people who write books. These are your college professors, your seminary professors. These guys who like to put the word in print for guys like me who need to read in order to understand more of what the word says. And so men with the word of knowledge and women with the word of knowledge are very valuable to people who have the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching. That's how we learn.

And Simeon is a great example of this in Luke chapter 2, verses 25 to 35. God had given him the word of knowledge. He longed to hold the Lord Jesus. Remember the story of Simeon? He longed to hold the Lord Jesus. And when he finally met up with Joseph and Mary, he revealed to them the knowledge of the future and what was going to be happening. And when he gave them the word of that knowledge, they realized that their son was going to be involved in major conflict in days ahead. But Simeon gave them that word because God had gifted him.

You read Daniel chapter 1 and read about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and Daniel, and those men that it says, "God gave knowledge and wisdom ten times better than all the magicians." If you had the word of knowledge, you got the knowledge, man. God has given you keen insight into His Word. To be able to draw out the truths, identify the truths, put them out on a platter so people like me and people like you can digest them and look at them and people with the word of wisdom can come along and apply them and people with the gift of teaching can come along and clarify them for us and those with the gift of exhortation can specify that truth in your life and in my life and those with the gift of prophecy can amplify it so all can hear it. See how it comes together? The speaking gifts. Very valuable to the body of Christ.

There's a precaution, though. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says that knowledge makes arrogance. Gotta be careful. Paul says, "If I have the gift of knowledge and have not love, I'm zippo, zilch, nada, nothing, worthless." Got the point. So you can know it all and had not love. Paul says you're nothing. So there's a precaution there with those who have the word of knowledge. Don't go around thinking you know everything because God somehow has specifically gifted you in this area. But in gentleness, and humbleness, and meekness, realize as Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7, that God has given me a thorn in the flesh in order that I might not exalt myself. See that? Paul knew that knowledge puffed up. But God had allowed Satan to buffet him. So he would learn the sufficiency of Christ and realize that God doesn't want you to think too highly of yourself. And Paul had that thorn in the flesh.

The possessors of knowledge, 1 Corinthians 2:11 to 16, the thoughts of God are discerned by those who are spiritual. You see, those with the gift of knowledge are not necessarily the ones with the great IQs and the great education. Please don't think because you have an education, you got a high IQ, that God has automatically gifted you with the gift of knowledge. There are a lot of people with those things that don't know anything about God because only God can teach you about Himself. And those who are spiritual can discern the thoughts of God, and those with the gift of knowledge are able to discern His thoughts.

But don't think that because you don't have the gift that you too cannot discern the thoughts of God because you can. Because within Jesus Christ dwells all wisdom and all knowledge. And Jesus Christ dwells within you, and we need to tap into that resource.

And lastly and not least, there's a plea. 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 18. And what does Peter say? Peter says, "Look, I want you to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in grace because grace will teach you how to love. Grow in knowledge because that will teach you how to be strong. Grow in grace because that will make you extremely vulnerable. Grow in knowledge because that will make you very stable. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." That's a plea made to everybody. And that's what our ambition ought to be. Every day, seeking to grow more of the grace of God and know more of the knowledge of God.

What did Hosea the prophet say, or God through Hosea the prophet, Hosea 4, verse 6? "My people are destroyed because of lack of knowledge." Do you want to be destroyed in your life? Refuse to progress in the knowledge of God, and you'll be destroyed. Because remember, as Moses said, "This is your life. These are not futile words. These are not empty words. These are your life."

Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for a chance to be together and talk about some of these gifts. There are so many of them, Lord, and so many intricate details to draw out that we can't even begin to cover them all into one session. That, Father, your word speaks volumes to what you want us to do and how you want us to live. Our prayer is that, Father, we would get a better understanding. And Father, we would really see how these speaking gifts are used in the body. And then, Father, we would ask ourselves the question: do I desire to learn more of the Word and to help people grow in their faith? Maybe I have the gift of teaching. Do I love to search out the Word of God and publicly proclaim it to people? Maybe I have the gift of prophecy. Do I love to take the word of God and draw practical application? Maybe they have the word of wisdom. Maybe, Lord, you've gifted them in a way where they're able to identify the truths of the scripture in a way in which those round about them cannot, and you've gifted them with the word of knowledge. Or how about the gift of exhortation? They love to come alongside of people, put their arm around them and move them towards maturity in specific areas of their lives. Father, whatever those gifts are, however they apply to those who are here today or those who may be listening by tape, we ask, Lord, that they would begin to exercise them for the glory and honor of Jesus Christ our Lord. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.