The Pentecostal Experience- the Gifts. Part 3.
Introduction
The Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the Trinity manifests the gifts for the benefit of the church. No one has control over the working of the gifts. These are given as the Spirt of God wills to whomever, He sees is fit for the good of the body of Christ.
The Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Cor. 12:1-12 Paul states, “Regarding spiritual things, brothers, and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were often led astray by speechless idols, however you were led. 3 So I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different results, but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. 7 To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all. 8 For one person is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, and another the message of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another performance of miracles, to another prophecy, and to another discernment of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues (heavenly and earthly languages), and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 It is one and the same Spirit, distributing as he decides to each person, who produces all these things. 12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body—though many—are one body, so too is Christ.
Different Members in One Body
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many.
How do we KNOW whether it is the Holy Spirit or the person trying to use manipulation.
The Word of God is what we base our interpretation on. If we know the Word of God and if we surround ourselves with Godly people who will mentor us then we will understand the workings of God in our lives. This why God tells us to study the Word of God. Also every point must be established by the Word of God. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I Cor. 13:1
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (handling the word of truth with precision.). 2 Timothy 2:15.
Make every effort [Do your best; Be diligent] to ·give [present] yourself to God as the kind of person he will approve. Be a worker who ·is not ashamed [or will not be shamed] and who ·uses the true teaching in the right way [correctly handles the true message/word of truth; or holds carefully to the true message/word of truth].
2 Timothy 2:15 Expanded Bible
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teaches you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For everyone that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Hebrew 5:12-14.
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. John 14:26
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given since Jesus had not yet been glorified. John 7:37-39.
The Gifts the Spirit Proclaim Jesus as Lord!
So, I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. I Cor. 12:3.
Three Categories of the Gifts
In these verses there are expressed nine gifts, manifestations, or ways in which the Holy Spirit manifests Himself either through a person publicly or privately.
The gifts are divided into three categories.
• Gifts of Wisdom or Knowledge. Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, and the Discerning of Spirits.
• Gifts of Utterance. Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, and Prophecy.
• Gifts of Power. Gifts of supernatural Faith, Healings, and Miracles,
Gift of the Word of Knowledge
God is all knowledge-He knows everything! The Word of Knowledge is a supernatural gift. The Word of Knowledge and Wisdom can manifest itself in many different ways. It can come in a audible voice, a vision, or even in a dream. Some say that I Cor. 12:8 is natural knowledge but the Holy Spirit states that He gives supernatural gift of knowledge. The Word of Knowledge is a supernatural revelation by the Holy Spirit of certain facts in the mind of Father God.
It is manifested through visions. Acts 9:1-12. God told Anaias to go into the street and go to the house of Judas to seek Saul of tarsus and pray for him.
It is manifested through an Inward spirit. 1 Sam.3:4-10. Samuel heard a voice call his name and told him to speak to Eli.
Gift of the Word of Wisdom
Once again it is the Holy Spirit manifesting to a person as He wills. The gift of knowledge at times works with the word of knowledge. Acts 9:10-16.
10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias,” and he replied, “Here I am, Lord.” 11 Then the Lord told him, “Get up and go to the street called ‘Straight,’ and at Judas’ house look for a man from Tarsus named Saul. For he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and place his hands on him so that he may see again.” 13 But Ananias replied,[f] “Lord, I have heard from many people[g] about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to imprison all who call on your name!” 15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, because this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles and kings and the people of Israel. 16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” Acts 9:10-16.
But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation. I Cor. 14:3.
One of them named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly be a great famine all over the [b]world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius. 29 And in the proportion that any of the disciples had means, each of them determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brethren living in Judea. 30 And this they did, sending it in charge of Barnabas and Saul to the elders.
Acts 11:28-30.
Here we can see that the Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom and the Discerning of Spirts was operating. But we must test the spirit to see if it is really coming from the Holy Spirit.
As we were staying there for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 11 And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” Acts 21:10-11.
The Gift of the Discerning of Spirits.
Now, remember we are talking about the discerning of spirits, which is part of the category of the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge. Everything was in the realm of knowledge, facts, events, purpose, motive, origin, destiny, human, and divine, or satanic natural or supernatural past president of future comes within the focus of these three gifts. It’s important for us to understand that everything that is physical, emotional, and psychological has its roots in the spiritual realm. The discerning of spirits gives us insight into the spirit world. This is not mind reading as some have suggested. It is more limited in range than the other two spiritual gifts, because this revelation is limited to a single class of objects, spirits. This Is that the discerning of devils or evil spirits. It is a supernatural insight into the realm of the spirit world, both good and bad. This, of course includes evil spirits but too many people thought discerning evil spirits is all the gifts that are refers to.
In Exodus 33: 20-23 when Father God let Moses look into the realm of spirits, He said to Moses you cannot look at my face, but I’m going to pass behind you and put my hand over your face. What Moses saw was a likeness of God in the spirit realm. All throughout the word of God, we encountered people who had visions who have seen the similitude of God. They didn’t see God they saw a likeness of God. In Isaiah 61 Isaiah said, “I saw the Lord sitting upon high and lifted up. This was a manifestation of the discerning of spirits. The apostle John and his vision on the isle of Patmos he saw seven spirits before the throne of God. That simply meant that John was seeing into the spirit realm and seeing the difference of an aspects of the Spirit of God.
In Acts 16:16-18 the apostle Paul knew that this young woman was possessed by a spirit of divination. Notice Paul dealt with the spirit, not the person. After her deliverance, the girl couldn’t tell fortunes anymore. The spirit of divination had left her. Supernatural manifestations in the realm in which we live, originate from one of two sources, God, or the devil. Many things are she miraculous to us actually do not come from God. We must not forget that Satan is a supernatural being also. Too often people are ready to follow anything whether is backed up by scripture or not.
In Romans 8:14 tells us for as many as our led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. The scripture does that imply that all the sons of God can be led by the spirit of God as in the discerning of spirits. This does not imply regarding the discerning of spirits as we see in 1 Corinthians 12:8-12 does not state or even imply that every believer would have this gift is given as a Spirit of God wills.