1 Corinthians - Spiritual Gifts Part 3

Hallelujah, we thank You, Jesus Oh, we thank You, Jesus It was my cross You bore So I could live in this freedom You died for And now my life is Yours And I will sing of Your goodness forevermore Cause worthy is Your name, Jesus Only You deserve the praise And worthy is Your name Worthy is Your name, Jesus Only You deserve the praise Worthy is Your name And now my shame is gone I stand amazed in Your love undenies us Only You deserve the praise Cause worthy is Your name Yes, we thank You, Jesus We exalt You now with all we have So be exalted now in the heavens As Your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names So be exalted now in the heavens As Your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names So be exalted now in the heavens As Your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names

So be exalted now in the heavens As Your glory fills this place You alone deserve our praise You're the name above all names Yes, we glorify You, Jesus And worthy is Your name, Jesus Cause You deserve the praise Yes, worthy is Your name Yes, worthy is Your name, Jesus You deserve the praise Yes, worthy is Your name So Lord Jesus Christ, we come under Your name And we rightly ascribe to You what is truly Yours All worth, all honor, all glory We say You are worthy to be exalted and lived for Magnified, made much of, God Everything rightly will one day bow before You As King of Kings and Lord of Lords And so we choose to bow now We choose to come into Your presence and bow our hearts, God To bow our understanding, God Lord, to come and say, Lord, we want to know the truths of Your Kingdom In such a way that we might rightly align and live for You But we need Your help now, Lord We need the movement and the activity of the Spirit of God To come and help us to discern that which will matter a million years from now We confess that we will often miss what's most important But we don't want to we want to hear from you. So just take a moment where you're standing right now and just welcome the work of God in your life. Ask him to speak to you. Ask him to take your mind, just captive

in these next moments. Hey, if you're here and you got questions about faith and not sure where you land yet in this whole thing, that's okay. We're glad you're here. Maybe be bold enough to just say to the Lord, Lord, if you're real, would you make yourself real to me? He'll hear that sincere prayer. So Lord, we welcome your work in this room even now, and we pray it in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. All God's people said, amen. Right. Hey, can we tell the next gen worship, man, thank you so much for leading us, man. So grateful to be a part of a church that will set apart moments, man, to rightly celebrate all that God's done this summer and all the different expressions of next generation ministry. Thank you for your faithfulness, your investment into that. You are a part of what God is doing in them to see God raise up the future generation of the church right now. That's not just a statement. We believe that. And so we're trying to be strategic in that and we're seeing the fruit of it. So glory to God. Now, if you got a Bible, turn to first Corinthians chapter 14. I hope you do. If you don't, it'll be on the screen. We got one more week in the letter to the church in Corinth next week. We'll jump to chapter 16. If you want to read ahead and be ready, because we actually tackled 15 on Easter where it talks about the resurrection of Jesus. And Hey man, can we just give God glory for this journey through first Corinthians? Anybody been encouraged by it? It's a very golf clap of you. I wish you would have been a little more excited about that. We'll get there. It's been great. If you missed any of it, it's all there online. If you want to go back and watch any parts of it, before we jump in one announcement, you may have got an email this week. If you serve on any team whatsoever, it's sharing something called a United Prayer Rally that we're going to have next Saturday. They're going to keep on the screen for a second. Next Saturday from nine to three. What we did is we sent it out to anybody that serves on any kind of team whatsoever. If you missed it, maybe it's in junk mail or, or maybe you just don't read your email. And what, what we're, what we're asking, let me tell you the why behind the what is that next Saturday, we want to take a few hours to just position ourselves as a church, not to perform, not to do anything, not to serve, but to seek the face of the Lord. And so what we know in the Bible is that leaders go first. And so if you serve in any capacity here, you are a leader. If you're here and you didn't get the email, but you are a part of this church and an intercessor or prayer warrior, hear me right now. This

is your invitation. We need your prayers. And so I know you say nine to three, we're going to pray the whole time. And I got one of my dear friends, Bill Eliph's going to come and lead us through these stages and seasons of prayer. There'll be some worship moments. We'll take breaks. I promise you it'll fly by. But what I know is this, listen, God is moving in our nation in an unprecedented way. But what I don't want is for us to miss it, miss our expression of it. So I want us to lean in spiritually. So if, if you will, if you're a leader, sign up, register today to be a part of it. If not QR code it, or we will make sure to help you can get in touch with us to be a part. Now to the word, let me tell you what I can't do. I can't give you all a first Corinthians 14. I'm just going to warn y'all. I'm in the best mood ever. Okay. So I'm, I am so in lane, another service after y'all. We're going to be here a minute. All right. So I got five major takeaways from chapter 14 because I can't do it all justice. So at the very least, we started this conversation around spiritual gifts. A couple of weeks ago, we saw some of the gifts of the spirit in chapter 12 and the ways and gave you some definitions, some ideas, some concepts of how those things might function and flourish in the church. Brother David did a great job last week coming back to sort of set the spirit of the gifts, that the spirit of the gifts should be love. Our desire for the gifts to function and flourish is not so that anybody gets seen as super spiritual or nobody's made much of, but that God's love would get through God's people to other people. That we'd be vessels that the activity of God might move through us, that others might be helped in powerful ways in the ways that's needed most. And today you sort of see the governance where Paul is coming to the church in Corinth and says, let me clarify what needs to be clarified. Let me help you see, discern how these things operate. So the five major takeaways, I'm going to do the one. that most people avoid the most first. How about that, right? The first thing we see in chapter 14 is there's greater clarity around the gifts of tongues. Greater clarity around the gift of tongues. Now, Paul focuses on two gifts in chapter 14, the gift of tongues,

interpretation tied to that, really, and the gift of prophecy. Let me tell you why I believe he gives that much time is because those are most likely, in this setting, in the gathered church in Corinth, were the two gifts that were being abused. Misused, you could say. Two gifts that were bringing about, not really the gifts, two misuses of the gifts that was bringing about division and confusion in that context. Let me give you fuller context. That's why you travel through the Bible and see the whole. That's what Paul was addressing in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. In that moment where he speaks specifically to the women among them, and it wasn't all, it was a few, they had removed their head covering, and it wasn't, what Paul's not saying, we need to go back to headdresses. It's funny, right? What he's saying is what was happening in their freedom in Christ, some ladies among them were stepping outside of leadership dynamics. That they were making a public display, demonstrative display, I'm no longer under my husband's leadership, and then they were trying to establish themselves

in a gathered church setting by being very loud, by making public displays and even spectacle at times. So you got this journey through 1 Corinthians, in 11 he addresses some of that, 12 he gives clarity, and then 14 he's gonna give us, let me tell you what I love, and this is what we have to do something with, it's in the Bible, is it not? And what Paul never does, not once, is diminish the gift. What he never does is disregard the gift. What he does try to do, rightly, by the power of the Spirit, is what is the gift? How should it operate specifically in a gathered setting? So let me give you the definition again, okay? That I borrowed from Pastor Sam Storms, the gift of tongues is supernatural speech in a language that the speaker has never learned, that is meant for either prayer or praise, or as a sign when interpreted. The gift of tongues, what I often call a prayer language, is exactly that. It's a language, now y'all track with me here, it's a language that is born of the Spirit in the heart of a believer that is heard and understood by God. It's a language that is born in the heart of a believer that is made known through prayer that is heard and understood by God.

You'll have to allow me today in this sermon, you'll have to leave in the Bible, some mystery around it, because God did. But the chapter does give us some things that I don't think we fully are aware of or understand that we need to. Verse two it says, for the 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. What Paul is saying, what's starting in the heart of the believer right here is unleashed through prayer in such a way that the hearing of God is made aware, and listen to me, and that God cooperates with. So starts with God, gets to God. It's not something outside of interpretation that is understandable to another person, but it is something, listen to me, that is heard and things start happening. You see that even in the Scripture, some more clarity around that. Let me tell you what the Bible does. The Bible gives us a biblical frame, and then he paints a personal picture. Gives us a biblical frame here. It goes on to say in verse four, the one that speaks in a tongue, what happens in the midst of this encounter where God is making known through a person

in a prayer language that's heard and understood, what happens in the heart of a person? It goes on to say, the one who speaks in a tongue and a prayer language builds up himself. That something happens in the heart of that person that they are encouraged, that they are edified, that they're built up. What he's saying is this. In that language, there's life. In that language, the picture would be for that person that's grafted like a branch into the one true vine. When the Spirit of God is pouring fruit in them, there's the life of God that encourages and edifies. Now, anybody grateful for the ministry of the Apostle Paul? Come on. I interact if I need to. I'll preach shorter if you engage with me. All right, and that's not true at all. But, I mean, who has God used more greatly to give us the doctrine of the kingdom than the Apostle Paul? Paul, right? Man, can you imagine what would be missing if we didn't have Paul telling us by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, that no one was used of God to explain to us the beauty of marriage like Paul was, or even practical parenting points that God used Paul to illustrate the kingdom of God and the way that there's a spiritual war and a spiritual realm. There's nobody that was more doctrinally used to foundationally anchor us in what we're a part of in the family of God, man. So when we look at Paul, we're not talking about some crazy guy, right? We're talking about someone that had brilliance, intellect, man, use for

the kingdom. And then Paul says, and we got to wrap our head around this, verse 18, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all y'all. Word. I said, nevertheless though, in the church, in this setting, I'd rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others than 10,000 words in a tongue. Let me tell you what Paul was doing. He sure wasn't being braggadocious. He was rightly putting perspective on this gifting. Because let me tell you what some are doing. They were making a demonstrative display, saying they were operating in this gift which was highlighting them. And Paul was saying, man, I love this. You gotta remember, he's writing to it. He didn't know then we'd be reading it in Brandon, Mississippi, right? He was writing to the Church of Corinth. He goes, y'all need to go easy. I speak in tongues more than all y'all. Let me tell you why he knew that. Because he said, I know my anguish in the way that I pray. I know how God groans through me for you. Paul was saying, man, listen, I know how much time I give to being in God's presence and praying. I know how the Spirit is working through me in my personal prayer life. So if you're trying to impress somebody, I'm not impressed. That you would use a real gift to bring destruction to the body is making me a little angry. Well, Paul is saying to stop never rejecting the gift, rejecting the wrong use of it in a way that it's hurtful for the building up of the body. So he's trying to help bring clarity around this. Paul is essentially saying, I know the gift's real, man. I know what it does in me. I know what God does through it. But if it's bringing division to the body, to the Church of Corinth, it might be of a spirit, it's not the Holy Spirit. He said, I'd rather speak five words that would edify and build up the body than 10,000 words that made me look spiritual. So can I just say one parting thought on this? Y'all ready for me to move on? One part, I told you I'm in a good mood. If this is a gift that God has for you, he'll give you faith for it. Now, you may still be afraid of stepping into it like we are oftentimes with other gifts. But the Bible makes it explicitly clear that we don't have to be afraid of what our Father has for us. Not for a second. And I just want to say this, listen to me, if God is awakening that, if even God's giving you faith

for that, God may gift you in that way, our God is not out to embarrass you. You're not gonna be a person that all of a sudden starts spewing out of control some heavenly language. You won't see that in the Scripture. Now listen to me, one of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control. And the fruit and the gift work together. Guys, let's just talk for a second. God didn't mess this up, we did. What God is even now bringing clarity. Let's believe biblically and be open to the activity of the Spirit. So that's the first. Ready for the second takeaway? The power of genuine prophecy. The power of genuine prophecy. Let me tell you what Paul makes abundantly clear. If we're weighing the importance of gifts, especially in the gathering, there's none that measure up to prophecy. There's nothing quite like God letting us know what's in his mind, in his heart. So let me give you the definition of prophecy again. You got to remember the context in line of the gathering. Prophecy is the speaking forth, the spontaneous revelation of God's mind and heart to encourage, to edify, and to console believers. Let me tell you what I love every time I talk about this, how many stories come to me of moments that somebody's received one of these words from somebody, and how it gave direction or encouragement or consoled or even brought clarity, even conviction. Or God brought a brother were a sister to you in humility and they didn't come and say, thus sayeth the Lord. They came and say, I just had something on my heart. I just felt like God might want me to tell you this and I hope that it helps. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14, three, on the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people. The gift of tongues is speaking to God. The gift of prophecy plain out speaks to people for their upbuilding and their encouragement and their consolation.

It's God sharing through, I want you to think about this and I'm just saying this to you. I think about how ways God wants to use you in this in your workplace, wants to use you in this in the school system, wants to use you this way in the church, that God wants to walk in at times empower you in such a way that he might share with you what's in his mind around this. Share with you what's in his heart around this and that you might be a vessel, listen, that God might speak through to help somebody something that builds up, that brings courage, listen to me, that might be the word that helps somebody finally realize that God actually cares. Might be the word that might bring comfort to the weary or clarity to the confused, listen to me, or the conviction needed to the rebel. That does it in such a way that might bring about life to someone, to some area. Now when we think about prophecy, understandably, we think Old Testament prophets bringing a message about the future, now what Paul brings to clarity in the New Covenant is slightly different. Can God still speak through someone about a coming famine or a future event? Sure, he did that in Acts, told them these things were gonna happen in Jerusalem, to make sure Paul knew what was gonna happen to him.

So God can do it that way, but primarily the way a prophecy plays out is when God speaks through someone in such a way that speaks to someone that builds them up. Let me tell you what Paul couldn't imagine, he couldn't imagine a church that didn't have the gift of prophecy operating. Now let me tell you what I think a lot of times, I think people that stand right here and do what I'm doing right now that God might gift in prophetic ways that through the preaching, come on now, through the preaching of the word of God that are in a life group setting, somebody opens the scripture and they're filled with the Holy Spirit that God brings forth clarity that builds somebody's faith, that gives understanding situationally, that has knowledge in what to do now. That we're not just fulfilling some rules and doing the best that we can, but we have a God that is governing in real time, that's speaking situationally through somebody to you even now, that God while thousands gathered at cross gates, God knows everybody specifically and has a word for the weary. And some of that might come through the preached moment, some of that might come in the fellowship or some might come in a life group or some might come in some kind of interaction. And it's been so many times,

Katie and I share a story of a story that God brought a word to us when we needed it from unlikely sources at times, personally, and then there's moments I've seen God do it in a gathering. Specifically, when we were at Conway years ago, I remember a Sunday morning, tried to have my spiritual antenna up and we're praying, we got people that pray, staff that pray, we have the same thing here now that we did then, we have leaders that come and pray at different points. By the way, if you ever wanted to just come up here and pray on a Sunday morning for this gathering, you are welcome to come and walk and pray. But everywhere I turned that morning, somebody would look at me and say, man, God's gonna do something today. Of course, I'm a Labrador retriever when it comes to Sundays, I'm like, yeah. But it was more than that, right? It's like, no, I'm just telling you, it was urgency. And I say, people are coming up to me like, one didn't know, they wouldn't coordinate it. I'm just telling you, it cost something. About today, it was things like, it's cost like life or death. Man, I'm telling you, something's on the line today. God knows something. I'm like, I got it, I got it, I got it.

But I went into it with my antenna up, like God's saying something. Preached, we had three services at that point. I preached and I'm pretty sure it was the second service. I get done after, we're waiting, sort of like we do here, dismiss, end, blessing. And I just, in my heart, since God says something to me for someone, you say, Kyle, what it's like? What was that like? Well, it was, did you hear him audibly? It was louder than that. I just, I knew. I'm trying to cultivate the discernment around that. And what I heard from the Lord was basically this. Hey, Kyle, there's someone here that's thinking about the end of their life, even ending their life. And I want you to tell them two things. I want you to tell them that I love them and I want them to live. So I just look and step up, say, hey, I got one more thing to say, and I basically say that, hey, I just felt like God wanted me to say to somebody here today, you're in a dark place and you're thinking about some decisions around your life that could be disastrous. And just felt like the Lord wanted me to tell you, he loves you and he wants you to live.

If that's you today, we'd love to talk to you after the service. Before I can dismiss, everybody, I see this college age girl come from the back, move to the front, she's solid. Everybody starts to dismiss, she comes down. I talked to her, one of our elders' wives joined me in that conversation. Come to find out, she'd never been before, came that day. She came back to her dorm room from being out of town the night before to find out that her roommate, life had ended in an unnatural way, let me put it that way. And you know what she heard all night in the dark? You're next. And there ain't no way around it. She woke up the next morning, her exact words, I'll remember this vividly, I thought I might give church a chance. Came, came, right? So listen, that's right. That's right. Beauty, sitting in that moment, she's born again. Then we helped her get some help on the other side of that. You know why? Because God could see her. God is in love with her, passionate pursuit of people. And he didn't need somebody to stand up and say, I'm a prophet of God with the word of God. He just needs somebody to just say, hey, I just sensed. God just wants somebody to know that he cares about you.

That's one way, vivid expression of it. It's also you in the supermarket or on the street corner or the moment you look at somebody, just say like, hey, you know what? I just wanna tell you something. Leads me to the third takeaway. Expecting the supernatural and the gathering is biblical. I'm gonna say that again. Expecting the supernatural and the gathering is biblical. I'm gonna say it another way. To just think we come and do this and go away unchanged is not biblical. To think that the church, the gathering of God's people is just coming in here and we check a box and we go home and we don't have manifest moments, moments where God is making known who he is as God is not Bible. It's not biblical. Not just benefits to us. I'm talking about moments where Jesus is so rightly exalted that God's word is central, that the activity of the spirit is so made known. That God might be tangible in our midst, that lives might be touched and transformed. Not that we just make it through a service, but that we might meet with God. And in such a way that it transforms not just the lives of believers, but the unbeliever comes in and goes, what is this? This is what it goes to say in 1 Corinthians 14.

But if all prophesy and unbelieve, I mean, if they come to the room and from the time they step on the parking lot, if they're hearing the voice of God, if they're experiencing the expression of God's tangible love, if an unbeliever comes into the fold of the family, if comes into the presence of the father, it should be in that moment, I think he might be real. And an unbeliever and outsider enters, he's convicted by all and he's called to account by all and the secrets of his heart are disclosed. And so falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. That the voice of God, like what God intends for the gathering, that there'd be so much of him here that when an unbeliever comes into the room, listen to me, their sins are revealed, but they don't run and hide, they run to him. They're like, I am undone, but I'm finally home. I'm known and that doesn't make me afraid, it makes me aware of my need of Christ. 19 years old, dude, that's me, I'm telling you, coming into a gathering just like this, manifest glory of God, manifest presence of God. You say, Kyle, what was that like? It was him and in every song and every encounter, And I watch people worship and I'm gonna tell you you have a contribution to make to this You know, what makes the gathering like uniquely different than a concert

Makes it different than any other organization come together is that we're here for him And we're amazed by him we're in all of him and so you don't have to force my amen out of me amen You don't have to work up my hallelujah hallelujah Because I'm in the Amherst I'm in awe and I just want to be with him And then people look through our worship and wonder is he true They see through our expression of it, maybe this thing is real But when the unbeliever comes in and it's dead religion, they'll say I'll find something better to do with Sunday I Never forget what that was like for me. I lived to be a hundred Found myself in the presence of God overwhelmed by the gospel of Jesus and was made alive and Then I joined the song. I Joined the work It says in verse 26 what then brothers when you come together each one has a helm a lesson or revelation a tongue or interpretation Let all things be done for the building up. What's he saying? So does everybody got a solo this morning? Well, you hope not, right? It's everybody got a sermon. Is everybody got a prophetic word? No, no. No, what he's saying is everybody's got a contribution Everybody came in expectation I mean for followers Christ and I know we got people at different places on the spiritual journey and you might not be quite there Yet hallelujah grateful. You're here. But for those that's been doing this a while. We brought something this morning We brought our worship. We brought our adoration. We brought our attention. We brought our amen man. We brought listen to me heart affection and All that fuels the environment of this And I brought our service man. We brought our encouragement. We brought our gifts We say God, whatever you want through us today. We bring it He said well Kyle if everybody comes with that hot thing is it make us frenzied We come in the places that he's gonna get wonky if you do that Kyle's gonna get wild That's our thought right man. If everybody brings passion, it's gonna get out of place. That's not what the scripture says The Bible doesn't say that The Bible says no, no, no, no if we all bring our contribution, that's why I brought order Fourth takeaway, that's why spiritual authorities have been entrusted with oversight and to maintain order It's what he says in verse 31

for you can all prophesy one by one and so that all may learn and all be encouraged in the spirit of the prophets are Subject to the prophets for God is not a God of confusion but of peace that God has established pastors and elders and deacons and life group leaders and Prayer leaders man and and those that you see that has been entrusted authority So that when God starts to move That we listen to me. We know how to check it That if God wants to say something to us in this moment as I'm preaching the word It's not some random person stands up and shouts It's that person's got something burdening them and they bring it to a leader and say man I just sense God's saying something to me and it might be the word that we could stand up at the minute and say Hey, is there anybody out here that needs this kind of encouragement? Or maybe God's gonna give you a piece of the puzzle and somebody else a piece of the puzzle and he's gonna paint a picture And it gives us direction for the future. Can I tell you listen to me? This is how the church works God doesn't merely meet with me in my office. God speaks to his people and and he starts putting this thing together I'm watching him do that even now and then he says in verse 40, but all things should be done Decently and in order let me tell you how we read that we think okay, so he's got to get formalized That says get it positioned That the gathered people of God should be positioned that there's right authority structures There's way that we align ourselves in worship and then listen to me and then desire for the outpouring That what we do in here is we're positioning ourselves listen to me for fire to fall Come home, right? What are we here for him? We're here for him And so we're positioning ourselves through the giftings that we're bringing in this moment and we're saying listen to me God We are aligned to the vine Pour out the life of the vine, that we, what, may bear much fruit. Pour out your power. Hey guys, by the way, the way the Pentecost started and the outpouring of the Spirit is the way that,

listen to me, the church is still empowered by the pouring out of God's power and His Spirit upon His people. So, let me ask you a question. Well, how did we get to a place where there's so much confusion, right? Let's be real. Why have so many of the gifts been just given away? Well, it's because the wrong response is on every side. And at the end of the day, listen to me, in maturity, so he says in verse 20, brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil. That's an awesome thought, man. Be pure, man, don't you love those pure places? Be, I'm not here for me, this is not about me. I don't wanna be seen, I do wanna be used. I don't wanna be noticed or known, I want people to be helped and I want you to be glorified. You let God see that spirit in a church, here comes power. God, we don't want recognition, we don't want renown, we want you to be glorified, we want the ministry of Jesus to be made known right now. But in your thinking, be mature. Some at times will wrongly believe in the outworking of the gifting and lack the maturity to match the gift. That's a big word, match the maturity to really empower the gifting. I remember a year, a long, long, long, long, long,

long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, time ago, I heard Brother David rightly help a guy that believed that he was operating in the gift of prophecy and he was giving everybody a word everywhere. And he had asked him and I just happened to be in a learning moment, he's asking him to be more careful in what he was sharing and the guy's response was basically, well, you can't tell me to do that because I have the gift of prophecy. He said, well, I'm not saying you ain't got the gifting, I'm saying you don't have the maturity. He said, in a lot of ways, you're like an eight-year-old with a newsie, you're hitting the target every once in a while, but you leave and hurt people everywhere. And I was in the back like, that's a word right there, dude. You probably need to hear that. I wasn't saying that it wasn't real, he said it wasn't rightly aligned. So listen to me, that's one reason some didn't have the maturity to match the gifting in alignment with spiritual authority, that's one way that's immature. Can I tell you another way it's immature? Is to just say, oh, that's not real, it's ceased. That's immature. Pick up this book and tell me how you do that. Pick up this book and tell me how you do that. So spiritual authorities do matter. Last thing, we'll be done.

You can go ahead and come back and play. We've been commanded to desire the gifts for the building up of the body. We've been commanded. Not an asterisk, not a go away, we've been commanded to desire the gifts for the building up of the body. Verse one says, pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts. There's no expiration date. On that command, until the new consummation, listen, the consummation of the new heavens and the new earth. Until all those things are no longer needed when we're in the full manifest glory of God. So in this, we should rightly desire. Again, it says about prophecy, verse 39. So my brothers earnestly desire to prophesy, do not forbid speaking in tongues, rightly in order, all those things. You say, Kyle, what's the spirit behind the message that he's given in this moment in first Corinthians I'm telling you, I can't imagine what this would mean for people that need help, that need to hear from him. If God found today on this corner, this little corner in light of the big kingdom, if God found thousands of followers of Jesus Christ that just ask in an everyday way, Lord, fill me with the gifts of your love. Fill me, gift me in the ways that are needed right now

to glorify your name and help people. You let that ring. from a sincere spirit, watch out world. That you come in humility, we come in humility, God, we don't want to show. We're not trying to, we're not merely desiring an experience, we want an encounter with our God that plays out among us in such a way that only Jesus could be glorified. Verse 12, so with yourself since you are eager for the manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in the building up of the church. He said you got to balance these things. Be eager for the manifestation of the Spirit, the realness of God in our day, in such a manner that it builds up the church of the Lord. Eagerly desire in such a way that builds up people. I'm just going to say to you follower of Jesus Christ, that God longs for you to function and flourish in these things in the ways he's made you. You ain't got to be afraid of him. He wants to move in our midst in such a way that people, listen to me, that you wouldn't go back to work tomorrow and people say, hey what did you do this weekend? You wouldn't go through the laundry list of things that you did and oh yeah we went to church. But that you would say, man you really want to know, man we got into the presence of a real God yesterday, hallelujah, and I tell you what happened in that moment, God spoke to me and showed me in his words certain things and that there was moments that God actually let me be a part of seeing people minister to. Man in this gathered moment, unbelievers came in and sat under the gospel of Jesus Christ being proclaimed and people were made a part of God's forever family. There was moments where God encouraged the weary. There were moments where God healed the sick. There were moments where God gave clarity for the future. There were moments where God gave endurance to those that needed it. So you want to know what I did this weekend? I had a moment where I gathered with a couple thousand of my family and we glorified Jesus. And we had a moment here that reminded me of what heaven's gonna be like one day. And I can't wait to do it again. And I'm gonna bring my praise. I'm gonna bring my expectation. I'm gonna bring my prayer. I'm gonna bring my life. And we'll

get to do that gathered moment again so he might scatter us and send us in a way that brings help. So every part of this matters. I'm telling you every part of this matters. That's why, listen to me, that's why I'm sitting in the Word with fellowship, all those things. That's why this response time matters. You know, we don't do this, but this is not some cultural thing. I'm telling you, show me where there's revelation where there's not response. When God makes himself known, we got to do something with that. Now you can do that seated where you are, no doubt. Sometimes you need somebody to pray for you, man. Sometimes you need to come get on your face before God. Sometimes, man, you got to move in light of what God's doing in you. So I just want to say this sort of categorically in light of this. We don't just end our service so that we might sing one more song before we leave. What if God wanted to make himself known right now? Help somebody. What if we could pray for somebody and God might move powerfully and maybe gift somebody in such a way that the kingdom comes. Maybe you got something to bring. Maybe God might share something. Hey, man, I just want to share this with somebody in leadership. I got something in my heart. I share this, y'all to discern over it. Awesome. Please don't say my name. Please don't say nothing about me. Don't you love the Scripture? Just bow your head for a moment. Hey, I wonder if anybody here, you sat in the service much like the ones Paul talked about. She came in this room. If you're honest, you know you're not a believer. You know you're not a follower of Christ, that you're outside of the family, but you're here today. But in the midst of this service, you have experienced the presence of God. In the midst of the service, it has disclosed to you your need for Jesus to be your Savior and your King. In the midst of these last moments, even right now, the Spirit of God is drawing you to a place to give you faith that you might be made new. So I just want to say this real quick to anybody here. If you're here today and you need Jesus to make you a part of this family I'm preaching about.

You need Jesus to save you. I'm not gonna embarrass you, but I'm gonna ask you to do one thing real quick. I'm gonna ask you to be bold right now. If you need Jesus to save you, I want you to look at me right now and just raise your hand. Say, Kyle, that's me. Look at me. Do it right now. Say, Kyle, that's me. I need that. I need what you're preaching, what you're proclaiming. Awesome. Hallelujah. Anybody else? I need that. I need Jesus to make me a part of this forever family. Got it. Awesome. Well, listen, raising your hand is a great response. There's an even better one, though. Cry out from your heart. So right there where you are, if that's you this morning, why don't you just say something like this? Jesus, I come this morning and I confess my sin to you. I'm asking you to save me. I want to follow you. If that's you this morning, biggest moment of your life, I think that was several of you. Just look at me for a second. If that was you and you just took that next right step, we're trying to make this as simple as we can, as simple as we can. Simple as we can. When you walk out of this room in a minute, we go by the Next Step Center. We got something for you. We want to help you in your spiritual journey. That's what I need you to go by to say today, I need a box. If you'll say that, we'll help you take next right steps. I'm going to pray for us. We're here. We would love to pray with you about anything, everything that God desires to do in your life right now. Lord, we're here for you. Expect you to do what you do when your people gather, change lives, be glorified. I pray in Jesus name. Amen. Let's stand and worship together as a way to respond, but also if you'd allow us the privilege, love to pray with you. If you want to come meet with God on your own, welcome to. A thousand generations falling down in worship, to sing a song of ages to the Lamb. And all that have gone before us, and all that will believe, will sing a song of ages to the Lamb. Your name is the highest, Your name is the greatest, Your name stands above them all. All thrones and dominions, all powers and positions, Your name stands above them all. When the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy, You are lifted high, holy, holy forever. And if you've been forgiven, and if you've been redeemed, come and sing a song forever to the Lamb. And if you walk in freedom, and if you bear His name, come and sing a song forever to the Lamb. Come sing a song forever and again.

When the angels cry, holy, all creation cries, holy, You are lifted high, holy, holy forever. Forever. Hear Your people sing, holy, to the King of kings, You're holy. You will always be, holy. ♪ Be holy forever ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ Your name is the highest ♪ ♪ Your name is the greatest ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ All thrones and dominions ♪ ♪ All powers and positions ♪ ♪ Your name stands above them all ♪ ♪ And the angels cry holy ♪ ♪ All creation cries holy ♪ ♪ You are lifted high holy ♪ ♪ Holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Hear your people sing holy to the King of kings ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ Holy, you will always be holy, holy forever ♪ ♪ You will always be holy, holy forever ♪ Amen. Oh, listen, as always, yeah, let's give God glory. All right, come on. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Here's, y'all can continue to stay. We're gonna continue to pray over people. We say this every week, but I hope you believe this. We gladly will wait and pray with you about anything you got going on in your life. We'd be honored, I'd be honestly honored. Don't carry it out of the room by yourself when others can carry it with you. Now with that though, we got a family moment here that we wanna share. Most of you, many of you got this specifically if you are a leader or you're a parent of a 56 or kids in ministry, don't start crying on me, Michaela. But hey, there's just moments in the kingdom of God that you send your best. That's just part of it. And we're in one of those moments right now that we're sending some of our best. And so I wanna make sure that we see that well. So probably when we were actually in a conversation, Ben and I, about Rachel when she was transitioning from Rotley home with her kids to school that way. And we're gonna have a kids ministry director role open up. As I'm having that conversation, I came out of it, told Briggs this at one point, God just said Michaela's name to my mom.

Now I remember years and years ago when Katie and I were here, she's like a high school kid, you know, but God's hand was on her life. I honestly at that point didn't even know necessarily, I knew she was in ministry, I just didn't know where. Which lended itself for us to get into a conversation with them about the opportunity we had here specifically with our kids ministry. Now what you might not know about their story, they served in a fantastic kingdom sister church on the other side of Jackson that we love, love, love. And they had faithfully served there for seven years before they came to us. Now what's happened in the last couple months, they became and church did there, aware that there was some leadership trauma at that church that caused a lot of pain. And loving them, we had conversation, Tyler and I had a lunch where we talked about how do you process moments like that, the pain in a local church, conversation with Michaela here about those things, to think through, man, how the enemy might work, because he's always out to steal, kill and destroy, right? Well, since that moment in the last couple of weeks, that church actually reached out to Tyler specifically at first and then Michaela about as they're restructuring their leadership about a role for Tyler as a discipleship pastor

overseeing family ministries, yeah. And then come on, they're ready for you to go. And also the same role that Michaela had fulfilled there is now void and the need for that. there again. So how do you process moments like this? Because in one sense we're grieved to send them, but no, it's gain for the kingdom. So let me tell you what the Lord showed me almost immediately in that. When we first called and started the conversation, I knew of Tyler. I didn't know him and his gifting. I knew Michaela and passion. And Ben and I had had conversations about the need to start a 56 ministry. I just kept coming back to it, kept like, hey, we need to really target and try to go after and raise up this generation to make them ready. They're, they're just not, they need more time. They need more time. And, uh, we talked and talked about, I don't know if we would have got to the decision until we came to a person. And so in starting this conversation and I'll just tell you, our elders had to make a decision in faith for us even financially to go ahead and start this ministry to which we know now we can't go without it. Right. Because of the abrupt. So let me tell you how good our father in heaven is. He knew the leader that we need to step in, to bridge us into the future and kids ministry. He knew the leader that we needed to build a 56 ministry so that we can be at a place. And I want to tell you this church as a whole, that we could be a place with our kids ministry team to walk into this and be in great shape that we're in a place that we have leaders established, and then we're going to give additional leadership to the 56 ministry that's ready because of what God used him to establish and build. So listen, our God is good while removing them for a season for something that was going to happen there so that he might take them back there to be a part of seeing healing happen in that local church where Jesus wins on every front. Okay. So, right. So if we would, I just want to, Hey, can we, I'm gonna let them say something to say, but right now, can we let them know how grateful we are for the season that God gave us?

Well, we just wanted to take a minute. Um, and thank you, uh, church family. Y'all the last year had been nothing short of family to us. Um, the amount of people, uh, that we've got to do life with and do life around has been great and that we've got to invest in has been awesome. But what means so much to me is how many of y'all have invested into our family, um, have invested into me and Michaela, um, and then our children as well. It's something that I cannot, um, accurately express my gratitude for. Um, the last year has been so much fun. Um, and I'm so grateful to all the 56 years out there, um, into the leaders that have stepped in. I think I was talking to somebody between services. I think the thing that I'm most proud of, not selfishly proud, but proud of what God has done in the last year is the young adults and leaders who have stepped into new purpose in the 56 ministry. Um, and so I want to thank all the leaders in 56 and in kids as well, um, that have stepped into new things this year. And we are so incredibly grateful to have been part of this community, be part of this church, um, to serve under Kyle and Ben and the elders here has been an insane pleasure of mine, um, that we got to serve under people that are just so, um, men that I admire. And so we are grateful. We love y'all. Um, and we thank y'all for an awesome like year and a half. So I'm grateful for you, bro. So I want us to do this. Uh, I want us to stretch our hands out toward them and not merely listen to one person. Pray. Everybody pray right now. Pray for Tyler. Pray for Michaela. Pray for their children. Pray for the church. Pray for the leadership they'll have there. So Lord, we love you so much and honored that you'd let us play any part in your kingdom humbled by that. And so Lord, we thank you that you have a divine assignment for Tyler and Michaela and you got stuff for their kids that they don't even know yet. And so I asked Lord, may the good hand of the Lord, our God rest upon them. May the favor of the Lord, our God, Lord, may the anointing that is needed for this new assignment. God, even now rest upon them, give them wisdom and discernment, be a front and a rear guard. Got to know in many ways that they're walking into realms that they know not of and that their spiritual

warfare. So I pray that you protect them. You'd command angels even concerning them or to watch over their coming and their going or God. I pray that you would use them, God, to bring a light in life and God, I pray the pressure would be off of them. They don't have to perform. They just have to be who you made them to be. We pray all these things in the matchless name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Come on church family. We love you. Have a great week. God bless you. God bless you.