Amen.  Well, let’s turn to First Corinthians, Chapter 14.  It has been a good time of refreshing ourselves and looking at the need for the gifts of the Spirit operating in our lives, in the church.  Remember, the church is not just when we come together corporately.  The church is meeting when we are fellowshipping at home; amen?  When we have a few folks over, we are gathering together and have opportunities to take time to minister, to pray for one another.  But the apostle does speak concerning the times that we gather corporately as the church, and how these gifts should operate.  The order of these gifts is spelled out very clearly by the Holy Spirit through the apostle.

We will not spend a lot of time in review, but we saw that the main purpose of the gifts of the Spirit was to bring about edification to the church; amen?  It is to see the church built up, to see the church cheered up, the Scripture says.  It is to see the church stirred up, to prophesy, for edification, for exhortation, and for comfort.  Edification means “to build up, to stir up.”  Exhortation means “to stir up.”  Comfort means “to cheer up.”  Praise God.  These gifts are to operate in our midst.  “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” (1 Corinthians 14:5).  Everything is for the building up of the church and the allowing the Spirit to move mightily in our midst.

We focused on tongues and prophesy most of this teaching.  I do not know if we will, but it is good to go back and remember that we are speaking from the twelfth chapter about the gifts of the Spirit to the church.  These are only a portion of the great gifts that are available to us when we come and gather.  When we come, this is the main thing: expecting.  We need to come believing that God will move in our midst; amen?  We need to come, believe, and covet the Scripture says, to prophesy.  He said he does not want us to be ignorant of these gifts, their purposes, or their ability to change and conform the church to the very image of Jesus.  These gifts are not to be used trivially.

We were talking about the office of the prophet, what is taking place as the whore church is emerging, and the misuse of these gifts.  People’s understanding of what they are supposed to do…  People at church are getting “words of knowledge,” as we said before, for what type of green beans to buy.  People have “revelations.”  “God spoke to me.”  People have the Lord speak to them more in one afternoon than I have experienced in fifty years.  When you see these miracles, these signs, and the gifts of the Spirit in operation, such as they were in the tenth chapter of Acts with Cornelius, you want to see the gifts of the Spirit.  Look at the word of wisdom.  Look at the word of knowledge.  The word of wisdom, of course, is speaking of things that are in the future, things that are not known or declared.  We see the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge taking place with Peter and with Cornelius.  We see dreams and visions.  We see angelic appearances.