Strengthening, Encouragement and Comfort

1 Corinthians 14:2-12 – For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.


1 Corinthians 12:7 - To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

Application:

· Have I been given some spiritual gift that is an evidence of the Spirit’s working in my life? Do I use it for selfish advantage?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

It Keeps No Record Of Wrongs

1 Corinthians 13:4-7,13 - Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.


Proverbs 10:12 - Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.

1 Peter 4:8 - Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Application:

· Love promotes forgiveness.
· Love forgives again and again.
· Long after my spiritual gifts are no longer necessary, love must still govern all that I am and do.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Eagerly Desire The Greater Gifts

1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28-31 - For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues…And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.


Application:

· Do I expect to be given a specific spiritual gift?
· Do I exercise my spiritual gifts – in love?
· Do I seek status through the exercising of the gifts God has given to me?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Arranged

1 Corinthians 12:15-20,28 - If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body…And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.


Romans 12:4-5 – For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Application:

· God’s method employs diversity to create unity
· God has appointed a variety of gifts in the church to unify His church
· It is only in Jesus Christ that any unity in the church is possible

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

The Body

1 Corinthians 12:14 - For the body does not consist of one member but of many.


Acts 6:1-2,6 - Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables…These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

Application:

· It is the church’s responsibility to help widows who have no one to care for them.
· As a church grows, the church leaders cannot minister the word and take care of the needy by themselves.
· Those chosen to minister to the needy need to be commissioned through prayer and the laying on of hands

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Prophecy

1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28 - For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues…And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.


Acts 13:2 - While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

1 Corinthians 13:1 - If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

Application:

· Has the mind of God been imparted to me by the Holy Spirit?
· Have I been gifted to help others? Have I been gifted to administrate?
· My journey may not result from a planning session but may result from the Spirit’s initiative.
· No matter how I am gifted, if I do not speak in love, it will be nothing but noise.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Healing

1 Corinthians 12:8-10,28 - For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues…And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.


Application:

· Not everyone has the same gift or all the gifts
· Have I been given the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, faith to meet specific needs or gifts of healing through the Spirit?
· Apostles and prophets are foundational to the church. Teachers are associated with pastors. Miracles, healing, helping, administrating and speaking in tongues are all equally important gifts.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Led Astray To Mute Idols

1 Corinthians 12:2-3 - You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.


Jeremiah 10:5 - Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.”

Habakkuk 2:19 - Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.

Romans 9:3 – For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Application:

· Idols can do nothing at all
· Do I depend on other influences to give me guidance, or do I depend on the Holy Spirit for guidance?
· I am not able to pronounce a curse on Jesus, if I am regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
· Do I love others so much that I wish to be delivered over to the wrath of God for eternal destruction so that they might be saved?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Now About

1 Corinthians 11:33-12:1 - So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home—so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.


1 Corinthians 1:4-8 – I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:25 - Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

1 Corinthians 8:1 - Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.

Application:

· A spiritual gift is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit enabling me to minister to the needs of Christ’s body.
· God’s merciful plan to include me in His great salvation plan should humble me, not fill me with arrogance.
· I should love my brother who doubts.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

1 Corinthians 11:26-29 - For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.


1 Corinthians 1:4-8 – I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:13 – For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Application:

· Has God enabled me to minister to the needs of Christ’s body, the church?
· Do I test the attitude of my own heart and actions and my awareness of the significance of the Lord’s Supper?
· Do I partake of the Lord’s Supper without recognizing that it symbolizes Christ’s crucified body? Am I aware of the nature of the church as the body of Christ?
· God has given me the Holy Spirit to indwell me. Does my life overflow with the fruit of the Spirit?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Sign Of Authority

1 Corinthians 11:8-16 – For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.


Genesis 2:18 - Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Genesis 1:26 - Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

1 Corinthians 7:17 - Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.

1 Corinthians 10:32-33 - Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.

Application:

· Without female companionship and a partner in reproduction, I cannot fully realize my humanity.
· Am I being conformed to the likeness of Christ?
· Am I living contentedly in the Lord in the economic, social and religious state of life God has placed me?
· Am I living to glorify God? Am I doing what is beneficial to others, whether Christian or non-Christian?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV

Do Not Cause Anyone To Stumble

1 Corinthians 10:32-33 - Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved.


2 Corinthians 6:3-10 – We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

1 Corinthians 1:2-3 - To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 8:13 - Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Application:

· Do I live to glorify God? Do I do what is beneficial to others, whether Christian or non-Christian?
· Do I live an exemplary life? Am I discrediting my ministry?
· Have I been declared holy? Am I being made holy?
· Do I refrain from engaging in harmless practices if it will cause my weak Christian brother to fall?

All Scripture verses taken from ESV