The Spiritual Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:7-11
(To look up verse references go here)

Take a look at this cartoon I found. The caption reads, “Mr. Smith, as your gift assessment placement consultant, I have the task of connecting you with the ministry of the church that you have tested most gifted to perform. After much deliberation, it is my conviction that you’d serve the church best as a pew sitter.”

Now for some of you, not only does that describe you, but perhaps you wish there was such a gift as warming the seats in the church. Now on cold mornings, it might be nice to have someone come in here early, before the service started, and sit in each chair for a few minutes to warm it up before you get here. But I’m here this morning to tell you that there is no such ministry as pew sitting, therefore, there is no spiritual gift available to enable you to have a fruitful ministry of just sitting in the pew.

But unfortunately, far too many Christians are happy to sit, week after week, year and year, even their entire lives in their chairs, without ever once getting involved in any kind of ministry to use the gift or gifts the Holy Spirit has given them to build up the members of the body of Christ. That is why we are studying the gifts of the Spirit. The purpose of studying the gifts of the Spirit in such great detail is two-fold.

First it is to help us to not to be ignorant about the place & purposes of the gifts of the Spirit. As I have stated in the course of this study, ignorance of the place & purpose of spiritual gifts leads to the abuse of gifts. Which causes many Christians to shy away from the gifts. And we don’t want that in this fellowship.

The other purpose of studying the gifts of the Spirit is to encourage you to discover and to be open to being used by the Spirit for the good of the body. To accomplish the tasks of trying to get you to discover your gifts, I’ve said over and over again that everyone has at least one spiritual gift. And to get you to use your gifts, I’ve looked at some of the reasons why people don’t use the gift or gifts the Spirit has given them.

Last week I emphasized that you shouldn’t be envious of what gift the Spirit may give to someone else, and not give to you. This week I want to talk about another reason why some people no longer use their gifts. In doing so, I want to manifest the gift we are going to study this morning.

The Spirit of God has given me a word of knowledge that some of you are no longer using your gifts because you got hurt using them in the past, and you’ve decided that you’re not going to get your feelings hurt any more. If that is you, then please listen to what I have to say. Don’t let the hurts of the past rob yourself of the blessing of using your gifts to bless others.

Look at a lesson I learned many years ago that has helped me continue to be a pastor: “The only way to avoid criticism is by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing!” Stuart Briscoe said that “The qualifications for anyone who gets involved in Christian ministry is to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros!” The truth of the matter is that if you do anything for God, you’ll be criticized.

But the criticism is worth it because by exercising your gift, you will be blessed, and others in the body will be blessed as well. And when the body of Christ is edified then God will be glorified. And that’s the most important thing.

Brothers & sisters, listen to me: God is calling us to join him in a cause that is the greatest cause on planet earth. He is not calling us to mere social programs that take care of temporary needs. He is calling us to join with him in a mission that will cause people to spend the rest of eternity with him in heaven. So let me challenge you this morning, use those gifts that God’s Spirit has given you so you can serve in something that is bigger, better, greater, even more important that renting videos, and eating pizza at night.

The gift we’re looking at this morning is the word of knowledge--v. 8. Last week we noted that the word of wisdom is not a vast reservoir of wisdom that you can draw upon whenever you want. But it is an anointing of the Spirit in time of need giving the power to rightly apply knowledge in the settling of issues or in the understanding of the mysteries of God. So too, the word of knowledge is not a vast reservoir of information that can be tapped into at anytime. The word of knowledge is knowledge that is given to us supernaturally concerning a person or a situation that you could not know unless the Lord gave you that information.

It is the knowledge of things that you would not know through the natural acquisition of gaining information. In fact, just like the word of wisdom, you may manifest the word of knowledge without ever realizing you did. We see this in the life of the apostle Peter.

One time Jesus asked his disciples what other people were saying about him. The disciples said that some people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist come back to life. Others were saying that Jesus was one of the great prophets, like Jeremiah. And some even believed that he was Elijah who had come back to earth. But then Jesus asked them, “But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”

Like the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge is made up of two Greek words: “logos” & “gnosis.” The word “logos” means, “utterance,” and the word “gnosis” means “to understand what really is going on.” It’s the word from which we get our English word diagnosis. A doctor takes the knowledge he has and prescribes according to that knowledge.

However, the word of knowledge is different from a doctor’s diagnosis. For a doctor bases his diagnosis upon the facts you give him, coupled with the information that comes from the results of the various tests you are given. But the word of knowledge is a message from the Holy Spirit, that reveals what is going on in someone’s life, that is not based upon observable facts. It is not even knowledge that we get from studying the Bible.

For instance, you might be thinking about playing the state lottery. But first you come up to me and ask me what the Bible has to say about gambling. While the Bible doesn’t specifically forbid gambling, it does address the root cause of gambling. The only reason people gamble is to get rich without having to work. Can you guess what the root sin is that causes people to gamble? The root sin is greed.

And the Bible does have much to say about greed. So I might take you to the book of Proverbs where you would see that even if you were to win, which might bring you a moment of happiness, but in the long run, your gains would only later on bring problems. For Solomon declared that “A greedy man brings trouble to his family.”

But I wouldn’t need a word of knowledge to help you come to that answer. The spiritual gift of the word of knowledge is divinely imparted knowledge for a need where human knowledge alone is not enough. It is knowledge given you that you wouldn’t normally have. It is a manifestation of the Spirit that often times causes people to ask themselves: “Who told him?”

Before we get into the particulars of this gift, let me say that this gift must be used with discretion in the body. Let me clarify that by saying that God never gives a word of knowledge so that we can take advantage of people or embarrass them. Any insight the Spirit gives you into the personal needs of others should be carefully used in a private setting. Never, ever should you use this gift in a flamboyant way to put on some kind of show. If you receive a word of knowledge, you need to use it with humility and with a desire to minister grace, not condemnation.

God may give you a word of knowledge about a person and the only thing He may want you to do is to pray for that person. Once, when I was trying to gather up some men to go the PromiseKeepers Million Man Gathering in Washington DC, one man said he would like to go but because of his health he couldn’t go. The Spirit spoke to me that this man needed to go. So I went and told the man what the Spirit of God had revealed to me. His reaction was not what I expected. He got mad, and told me that I had no right trying to play God.

So I went to the Lord in prayer and asked what happened. The Spirit spoke to my heart that he didn’t intend for me to talk to the person, but to first pray for that man. The Spirit revealed to me that he was going to heal that man in the midst of the gathering. So for the next couple of weeks I prayed & fasted for that man. One day, the Spirit spoke to me to go again and invite the man to go.

I did, and this time the man said that he had been convicted to go. He apologized for his outburst of anger. He went, and sure enough, while we were in the midst of praising the Lord Jesus, God’s Spirit reached down and touched that man’s body, and healed him of the infirmity which caused him to think he wouldn’t be able to go.

From that day on, whenever I get a word of knowledge, I pray first. And if the Spirit releases me to go and talk to a person, then and only then, will I do so. The amazing thing I have learned is that in most cases, the only thing the Spirit wanted me to do with the word of knowledge was to pray for that person.

Let me also say that the word of knowledge isn’t a gift we should fear. Just because the Spirit gives someone some special insight to what’s going on in someone’s life, doesn’t mean that person will always know the secret things that are going on in your life. I don’t want you to be afraid to come to worship service because there is someone here who you believe will somehow always have the ability to see and know what’s going in your heart at all times.

Since this is a gift that the Spirit gives whenever there is a need, and not a lifetime source of knowledge, even if the person who is sitting near you this morning has this gift, he/she probably doesn’t know what kind of music you listened to on the way to worship service this morning. Or what the rating of the video you watched last night was. Or if you fudged just a little bit on the amount you reported to the IRS that you gave as a charitable contribution. He/she probably doesn’t even know that you and your spouse had a fight on the way to worship service this morning.

However, God does. For he is the only one who is all-knowing. This attribute about God is what theologians call omniscient. And only God truly knows what is going on in the heart of a person. But there may be times when God will share something which is to be used to help a person, not destroy them. That is why it is so important, as with any gift, but especially with this gift, that we use the gift of the word of knowledge responsibly and in love.

Having said that, let’s look at a couple of examples in the Bible of this gift being manifested. In the Old Testament, the prophet Elisha manifested this gift more than anyone else. In the book of 2 Kings we read about the time when the king of Syria was at war with Israel. Every time he talked his plans over with his officers, Elisha sent word to the king of Israel to not go to certain places, because the enemy was encamped there. Elisha did this so many times that the Bible tells us that “The king of Syria summoned his officers and demanded of them, ‘Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?’ ‘None of us, my lord the king,’ said one of his officers, ‘but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.’”

God was giving Elisha knowledge about the moving’s of the king of Syria. Elisha was not getting this knowledge through spotters he was sending out to spy out the camp of Syria. God gave him this knowledge. That is the word of knowledge in operation.

Let’s look an example of the word of knowledge being manifested, by looking at the life of Jesus. Of course, since Jesus is the Son of God he is all knowing, but when he came to earth, he laid aside some of attributes that belong only to God. He came in the physical limitation of a human body that was subject to things like tiredness, hunger, and thirst.

There are even some things, such as the exact time of his return, which, as the son of man, he didn’t have knowledge of. But we do see several occasion when Jesus was able to know exactly what was going on in someone’s life. And this was recognized by others as being supernatural knowledge.

One such times was when Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan woman. John tells us that Jesus told her that she had “Five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband.” This knowledge blew this woman’s mind so much that she said, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.” Jesus’ ability to tell her exactly what was going on in her life, was based upon supernaturally given information, and not upon facts Jesus was able to see. For John doesn’t say that the woman’s boyfriend came with her to the well.

Not only did she perceive Jesus was a prophet, but she recognized that what he told her was supernatural knowledge. John also tells us that she “Left her waterspout, and went into the city, and said to the men, ‘Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”

There may be times when God will give you a word of knowledge about someone through a dream or a vision. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, quoting the prophet Joel, tells us that “I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.” Have you ever been woken, in the middle of the night, by a burden to pray for someone? Or perhaps God brought that person name into your mind, or that person’s face in your mind, in the middle of the day that caused you to pray for that person.

Let me remind you that in many cases like these, God often will not reveal to you what is going on. Rather it is just a sudden urge you feel that causes you to want to pray for the person. What blows me away is when I share what happened with that person, they tell me what trial they were going through at that time. The beauty, and power of this gift is that it shows the person that God loves them so much that while they were going through a rough time, he put them on someone else’s heart so they would pray for them.

And it blesses your heart because in those times when I’ve gone to someone and told them what happened, they always say, “I felt that someone was praying for me. In fact, if it wasn’t for the prayers, I don’t think I would have made it through the night.”

But as I said before, we always have to keep in mind that a word of knowledge is to be used to help not hurt. So always pray for wisdom when using this gift from God. Otherwise, Satan will come in and pervert the gift.

Once, a woman was woken in the middle of the night to pray for her best friend, who the Spirit revealed to her that she was going through a difficult time in her marriage. The woman was obedient and she prayed for the other lady. But while she was praying, she heard another voice telling her to go and tell her friend her marriage was going to turn out okay. So she went and told the woman what had happened, and the word of knowledge she had received. Well, it turned out that the second voice wasn’t the voice of the Spirit. Rather it was a demonic spirit trying to pervert the gift. Which he did!

For I believe that what God’s Spirit wanted the lady to do was to pray for her friend because he knew that the man was going to divorce her, not stay with her. So it is possible that all the Spirit wanted the lady to do was to pray that her friend would remain faithful to the Lord during the divorce. But because the lady didn’t pray for wisdom, and she shared the message that I believe a demon had given her, and when her friend’s marriage ended, the woman was so upset that she ended up having an affair with the pastor of her church.

So let me say again, use this gift carefully. But at the same time, don’t be afraid to use it, even if the knowledge you receive is about some secret sin that is going on in someone’s life. We see this in Acts chapter 5, in the instance of Ananias and Sapphira.

You remember they sold the fields that they had, and they brought the money to the church but they kept a little bit back for themselves. Peter was able to see this, because God communicated to him something at that particular moment that only God knew.

Thus Peter was able to say to Ananias: “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart: You have not lied to man, but to God.” And through the same manifestation of this gift, Peter was able to say to Sapphira, “Why is that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well.”

The reason I said that we don’t be afraid to use word of knowledge, even if the knowledge you receive is about some secret sin that is going on in someone’s life, is because normally the Spirit wants to use you in a restorative way. I doubt very seriously if any of us will ever have a situation that ends like Peter’s encounter with Ananias & Sapphira. Please keep in mind that any kind of church discipline, even through a word of knowledge, is to restore a fallen brother/sister, rather than to destroy them.

I’ve only received this kind of a word of knowledge once in my life. And regrettably, I didn’t act upon the word of knowledge the Spirit gave me. And the person ended up getting so involved in a sin that the sin almost destroyed this church.

What happened is one night the youth minister brought home my son after a youth meeting, and he still had one of the girls in the car. This really bothered me since it would have been easier for the youth minister to take her home first, and then bring my son home. Then the Spirit spoke to me that the youth minister was having an affair with the girl. I went and told Carol what I had just heard.

Knowing the man like we did, we both dismissed it as me having an evil eye. At the time the Spirit spoke to my heart, the youth minister was only having an affair with the girl. But sadly, later on, the emotional strain of the affair caused him to get involved in even a more perverted sin. He started to go around and expose himself to young girls, which caused him to get arrested. Needless to say, he lost his job, and he almost lost his family. Every time I think about what happened, I kick myself in the pants for not praying for more wisdom as what to do with the knowledge the Spirit revealed to me. For who knows but if I had gone to that man, and confronted him in love, that he might have repented of the sin and not gone off the deep end.

As I said earlier, normally God will give you a word of knowledge about a specific problem that is going on a specific person’s life. But not always. There may be times when the Spirit gives you a word of knowledge that is to be shared with the church in general, but he hasn’t revealed to you who the person this truth is directed towards.

This happens to me while I’m preaching. In the course of a message I may something that is directly related to a problem going on in your life. But I say it in such a way that it could apply to anyone. And the only way I know it’s you the Spirit is talking to is your body language gives you away. If all of a sudden you start to squirming in your chair, avoiding eye contact with me, or if your face turns beet red, you’re busted. Otherwise, I don’t have a clue who the word is for.

One Sunday morning a person walked up to me, before I started to preach, and said “Would you talk to someone else besides me today!” I’ve been accused of reading people’s mail, or tapping their phone. I want to assure you that I’m not spying on you. It’s just that there are times when the Spirit of God allows me to see beneath the surface of your life.

I know that many of you come here with you church face on. When asked how’s it going, you respond by saying what you know you are supposed to say, “Fine, thank-you.” But you know that’s a lie, because in reality your life is about to fall apart, because your world is collapsing on top of you. So there are going to be times when the Spirit wants you to reveal more than just the tip of the iceberg of your life. So part my job as a pastor is to try to help you see that God knows what’s going on in your life; even in the areas you’re trying to hide from everyone else because that you are too afraid, or too embarrassed, to talk about.

But God doesn’t want us to live like that. He wants us to be transparent with each other. Not to dump our problems on people like they do on the talk shows. But so we can fulfill all the “one another” principles found in the New Testament that makes the church so unique. To make this happen, God’s Spirit has given us the gift of the word of knowledge. Solomon tells us that, “The purposes of a man’s heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.”

Therefore, to help you overcome any sin that is in your life, or to help you find the strength you need to stay true to God in the midst of a spiritual battle, God’s Spirit is going to give supernatural insight to people so they can see what God sees that is going on in your life.

Sometimes he may give people specific insights that will cause them to come and speak directly to you. Or he will give people general insights which will cause them to share that word to the entire church. And when he does, don’t get mad, don’t get embarrassed. Instead, rejoice because the Holy Spirit is showing you that God loves you so much that he will reveal to others what you are too afraid to reveal on your own. Again, when God’s Spirit does so, please keep in mind that it is to restore you back into a right relationship with the Father, not to cause you to run away in shame because you’ve been busted.

As I close, I want to challenge each of you to use whatever gift the Spirit of God gives you, use it in such a way that your life brings praise and glory to Jesus Christ our Lord. If that is the desire of you heart, all you have to do right now is to ask God’s Spirit to fill you, and to empower you to be a more effective servant for God. And if you are willing to be used and willing to step out in faith and use the gifts the Spirit wants to give you, He will use you to touch people’s lives like they’ve never been touched before. And I promise you that there is nothing more rewarding, no greater thrill, nothing that will cause you to walk a little bit taller, then using the gifts of the Spirit to be a servant of God. If you will do so, you will experience the fullness of joy that comes from allowing God to use your life to make an impact on someone else.

Let’s pray

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