I meant to announce it this morning,
but next Sunday night, Gabe Stoniger is going to be here, and he is
going to present a slideshow about when he went to Africa.
There is a missionary we're supporting by the name of Willie Maponte
in Malawi. I think I'm pronouncing it right.
But anytime we can have some part in the gospel being preached
somewhere else, I want us to be in it, and he'll give us some
idea about this man so we can pray for him more understandingly,
and I'm looking forward to that. When I grew up, or when I was
growing up, I'd never heard of the charismatic movement. If you were to talk to me about
the charismatic movement, I wouldn't have known what you're talking
about. If you had talked about Pentecostalism, I wouldn't have
known what you were talking about. And I remember when I was in
college, this was in the late 70s. I don't remember exactly
which year it was. I was living on Transylvania
Park off Euclid Avenue, going to school. And right beside me,
there was a kind of commune, the Maranatha Christian Fellowship. Bunch of people lived in this
house and they sought to indoctrinate me into their doctrine, the gifts
of the spirit, speaking in tongues, healing and so on. And I remember
being, Skeptical about it. And I remember
this one fellow that came up to me, he looked like Charles
Manson. He really did. He had the most piercing eyes,
long hair, a beard. And I remember the way he looked
at me. He said, God gave me a revelation about you. Uh-oh. He said, there's sin in your
life. How'd he know? There's something
there must be to this guy that has such penetrating revelation. And I remember I was thinking
about, I remember praying that the Lord would able me to speak
in tongues if it was real. And the first time I went to
one of their services, I remember it absolutely scared me to death. I thought a thunderbolt was gonna
come down to heaven out of heaven, fry me for being there. It was
so, it was scary. I felt the presence, I thought,
of Satan when I was in that meeting. And I know I got up and got out. And the seeds of this comes out
of these passages here in 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. That's where
their doctrine comes from. And I do not want to, I want to love a charismatic
the way I love a Catholic or the way I love anybody else,
and I want to pray for their salvation, and I do not want
to be harsh. It can be easy to be harsh on
this because it's so phony, and they make it sound like it's
so real, and you can get pretty aggravated over it, but I want
to have a proper attitude about this, and I want to be preaching
for the next several weeks out of 1 Corinthians 12, 13, and
14. But let's read this 12th chapter. Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were
Gentiles carried away into these dumb isles even as you were led.
Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaketh by the Spirit
of God, calleth Jesus accursed. And no man can say that Jesus
is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities
of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of
ministrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of
operations, or workings of power, but it's the same God which worketh
all in all. But the manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one
is given the Spirit by the Spirit, the word of wisdom. To another,
the word of knowledge by the same Spirit. To another, faith
by the same Spirit." And he's talking about miracle working
faith. He's not talking about saving
faith. He's talking about that faith
that moves mountains and works miracles. To another, the gifts of healing
by the same spirit. To another, the working of miracles,
supernatural miracles. To another, prophecy, being able
to give a prophetic word, being able to predict the future like
Agabus. To another, discerning of spirits, being able to discern
who's real and who's not. To another, diverse kinds of
tongues, the ability to speak in other languages. To another,
the interpretation of those tongues, But all these worketh that one
in the selfsame spirit dividing to every man severally as he
will. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all
the members of that body being many are one body, so also is
Christ. For by one spirit we're all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we
be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit,
for the body is not one member but many. If the foot shall say,
because I'm not of the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore
not of the body? And if the ear shall say, because
I'm not the eye, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not of
the body? If the whole body were an eye,
where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now have God set the members,
every one of them in the body as it has pleased him. And if
they were all one member, where were the body? But now there
are many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say
into the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to
the feet, I have no need of thee. Nay, much more, those members
of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor. and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no
need, but God hath tempered the body together, having given more
abundant honor to that part which lacked, that there should be
no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same
care one for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now, you are the body of Christ
and members in particular. And God has set forth some in
the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after
that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues, or all apostles. Are all prophets? Are all teachers? The answer
to those questions are no. Are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do
all interpret? The answer to those are all no.
But covet earnestly the best gifts, these gifts I've been
speaking of. Covet them. Desire them. And
yet, show I unto you a more excellent way. a way that's better than
any of these gifts. Supernatural gifts. When the Lord Jesus walked upon
this earth, he performed works that only God can perform. He created matter. He raised
the dead. He controlled the weather. He
healed without the use of means. He didn't have to go get medicine
or send someone to a doctor. He simply willed the healing
of people and they were healed. He gave sight to the blind. He
did what only God could do. And he gave his disciples supernatural
powers when he was on the earth. Look in Luke chapter 10. Verse one, after these things,
the Lord appointed other 70 also. Not only the 12, but 70 others.
and sent them two and two before his face into every city and
place where he himself would come. And look what he says to
these people in verse nine, and heal the sick that are therein.
They were given the ability to heal sick people. They could
come into Markey Cancer Center and say, be healed, and they
would be healed. They had this supernatural ability. saying to them, the kingdom of
God has come nigh unto you. Look in verse 17 of the same
chapter, and the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. Now they
come back, and they had healed sick people, they had performed
miracles, they cast out demons, and I'm sure that they were feeling
quite good about the way the Lord had blessed them. I would,
I would be thankful for that gift, and you would too. Look
what the Lord said to him. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you
power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power
of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means
hurt you, notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits
are subject unto you. Now, do you hear that? He said,
don't rejoice in this. but rather rejoice because your
names are written in heaven. Now what a reason to rejoice. The Lamb's Book of Life, that
glorious book, your names are written in that book. That means
God gave you to Christ before time began. Christ came to be
your savior. He saved you. He's gone back
to glory. Rejoice that your names are written
in heaven. I love thinking about this. You
know, we don't have a church role here. I don't see where that's
biblical in the first place. I've heard people say, well,
how do you exercise discipline? I've had other preachers say
that to me. How do you exercise discipline? Wheat eater. Get it? But that is not, but here's a
church role I want to be on. My name written in heaven in
the Lamb's book. of life. Now, after the Lord's
resurrection, turn back a few pages to Mark chapter 16. Verse
15, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. Now, what a mandate. They had
to have the gift of tongues to go into these other lands in
these other countries to preach the gospel. They couldn't just
learn their languages. They had to have this divine
gift we read of in Acts chapter 2. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these
signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they
cast out devils, they shall speak with new languages, new tongues,
they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly
thing, It shall not hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick
and they shall recover. Now this was said to these disciples
who were going to spread the gospel throughout the world.
Now you're familiar with what happened in Acts chapter two,
where the Lord had said in Acts chapter one, tarry in Jerusalem
and the Holy Spirit, the spirit of promise is going to come upon
you. And they tarried in Jerusalem and then When they were all together
with one accord, we read of that great rushing wind, mighty wind,
must have sounded like a tornado come down upon them, and they
began to speak with tongues. And turn to Acts chapter two,
this is so important. Here's what they were saying.
17 different languages are mentioned
in Acts chapter two, and in verse 11, Cretes and Arabians, we do
hear them speak in our tongues, The wonderful works of God. Now that is what they heard of. The wonderful works of God. His work of salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
what they heard. The wonderful works of God. My
salvation is the work of God. If it had anything to do with
me, I wouldn't be saved. I know it. It's His work alone. That's what they heard at this
time. Now, you also remember. In Acts chapter 8, when we have
Philip going down to Samaria and preaching, and a great revival
took place. And when the apostles in Jerusalem
heard about it, they sent Peter and John there so they could
lay their hands on these people, and they would receive these
supernatural gifts of healing and speaking another language
and working miracles. I mean, this was going on. This
is something people saw. What would it be like if people
in this church could perform miracles? if they could will
somebody to be healed. If we had something like that,
this place would be packed out, wouldn't it? Every sick person
in Lexington would be here if we had that power to heal without
the use of means. And that was going on in this
church at Corinth. But in Acts chapter 8, when Philip
went down there, I know I'm being repetitive because I've said
this the last couple of weeks, but Don't think I have any choice.
When Philip went and preached the gospel, they sent Peter and
John because Philip couldn't lay his hand on him. And here's
why. Simon Magus saw that through
the laying on of the apostles' hands, just the 12, through the
laying on of the apostles' hands, The Holy Ghost was given. That's when he offered money,
give me this great power. But the point is these gifts
have ceased. Now I can see where I'd like to have them. Evidently
it's best that we don't have them. These gifts have ceased. They died out with the apostles
and those who claim to have them are frauds, it's makeup. It's not real. And I think the
best example I could use, if somebody has the gift of healing,
why don't they go to the cancer wards and heal people? Why don't
they go into the hospitals and heal people? Because they can't.
Because they do not have the gift they claim to have. So these
gifts, I have no doubt, have ceased. I was very intimidated
by this. I thought, if this is real, I
want to have it. If this is real, they have seemed to have something
that I don't have. And they did. They did. There's no doubt about
that. It was another spirit, but I was impressed with it.
And I was asking the Lord to do something for me to enable
me to do this because I thought I'm missing out on something.
Well, I see now from the scriptures that these gifts have ceased.
Do you remember? when Paul said, when that which is perfect is
come, and he's talking about the full canon of Scripture.
When Paul was writing that, 1 Corinthians was one of the first three epistles
to be written. I mean, Romans hadn't been written,
Hebrews hadn't been written, Ephesians hadn't been written,
there were so many of these epistles that hadn't been written, Revelation
hadn't been written, and When that which is perfect has come,
the full canon of scripture. And at that point, it becomes
a closed revelation. There will be no new revelations.
This is the completed word of God. When that which is perfect
has come, that which is in part shall be done away with. Now, Paul was an apostle used
of God to bring the gospel to these Corinthians. And he laid
his hands on them. And they actually practice these
gifts. We read about them, gifts of
healing, miraculous power, speaking in tongues. And let me also remind
you about this church that possessed these gifts. Paul said to this
particular church, and he didn't say this to any other church
that we know of in his writings. He said to this particular church
five times, you're puffed up. you have a swollen, inflated
view of yourself. Now, they had these gifts. And
Paul said, you are puffed up, filled with contentions, envying,
and strife. He said in 1 Corinthians 3, verse
3, for you're yet carnal, for where there is among you envying,
strife, and contention, are you not yet carnal? And walk as men. Now, these people, in this church
were carnal, contentious, envying, and strife. They were very critical
of the Apostle Paul, always calling his authority into question.
There was sexual sin in this church. They had people suing
each other, bringing each other to court and suing each other.
They didn't care about the well-being of their weaker brethren. They
had idolatry going on. They had the abuse of the Lord's
table with making it a feast and people actually becoming
intoxicated at the Lord's table. And there will be other things
he addresses in chapters 14 and 15 and 16, but this church with
these individual members who possess these gifts, we're not
using them for the right reason. Now remember in first Corinthians
chapter 11, we talked about how they use the Lord's table. He
said, this is not the Lord's table. You're calling it that,
but that's not what it is. They were having feasts. They
were leaving people out that didn't have food. They were becoming
drunk at the Lord's table. I mean, this place practicing
these gifts, it was a mess. It was a mess. We had more information
about the church of Corinth and that's why we know so much about
it. And as they abused the Lord's
table, they abused these supernatural gifts. It produced arrogance
and feelings of superiority and insecurity and jealousy and envy
within the church. I don't have as spectacular a
gift as you do. That really troubles me. Why
don't I have this gift? I've got a more important gift
than you do. I'm more important than you.
I am superior to you because of the gifts God has given me. And so you have this conflict
going on in this church. Paul said earlier to this same
church, you're carnal and walk as men. Now here's a question.
Can stuff like that go on in a true church? Do I have to ask that question?
Read the Bible. All you got to do is read the
Bible and you'll find that all things, kinds of things have
gone on at all times. That's the way it is. As long as people still have
sinful natures, there will be sinful things going on in a true
church. If you find a church that doesn't
have these problems, don't join it. you would single-handedly
ruin it. I know I would. Now Paul says,
back to 1 Corinthians 12. Now concerning spiritual gifts,
brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you are
Gentiles, carried away into these dumb idols even as you were led.
Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit
of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that
Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." Now here's the purpose
of gifts, what they say concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
the only purpose. Does your gift cause you to say
from the depths of your heart Jesus Christ is Lord? He is Lord of lords and king
of kings. I don't make him Lord. He is
the Lord. He's the Lord of the dead. He's
the Lord of the living. He's everybody's Lord. I love
that. You know, there's something going
on. They call it the lordship issue.
That's not, there's no issue with a believer. He is Lord.
He's Lord of Lords and King of Kings and nobody speaking by
the Spirit of God can call Jesus Christ accursed. Now that includes,
as we saw last week, more than using foul or cursive language
with regard to his person. If I think that somebody that
united him, united him, somebody that he died for, ends up in
hell and cursed by God, I say that, I'm saying Christ is cursed
because Christ is one with that people. So the purpose of spiritual
gifts are what they have us say with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now verse four, now there are diversities of gifts, but
the same spirit. And there are differences of
administrations, different ministries, but the same Lord. There are
diversities of operation, works of power, but it's the same God
which worketh all in all. He's the one doing it. But the
manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit
with all. It's not given to individuals
so they can feel good about themselves. It's given to the church for
all men's profit in the preaching of the gospel. And this is what
they had been abusing. Now, verse eight. For to one
is given by the spirit, the word of wisdom. And what all these
gifts are, I'm not totally sure. It'd be a blessing to have the
wisdom to understand the gospel, wouldn't it? And to be able to
communicate the gospel, but one person's given this gift of wisdom
to another, the word of knowledge by the same Spirit and I think
that's what Paul's talking about in first Corinthians chapter
13 verse 2 Where he says though I have the gift of prophecy and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge And though I have
all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity
I'm nothing now that there's no salvation apart from knowledge.
Well, all that knowledge is I'm really not sure I've read different
things and everybody said something different about it but this was
some kind of gift given to the early church this word of knowledge
to another faith by the same spirit, which is Miracle-working
faith to another the gifts of healing by the same spirit they
could heal people Without the use of means they could simply
will this to take place I mean Peter at one point it points
out how when his shadow touched somebody they would be healed
what? gifts There were in the early
church the gifts of healing by the same spirit doesn't the Lord
heal today Listen if you're healed he heals you If you're healed,
He heals you. And if you're sick, He made you
sick. And if He heals you today, something's
going to kill you tomorrow. You can write that down. But
we believe, we pray for the sick. We love the sick. Our brothers
and sisters in Christ have been sick. We love them. We earnestly
pray for the Lord's mercy and grace to heal them. We don't
want them to leave. And the Lord's certainly able
to do that. But do we have the ability to pronounce somebody
healed? No, we don't. They did at that
time. To another, the working of miracles.
I don't know what all those miracles were. I know what Moses did.
He'd throw a staff and it would turn into a snake. What miracles? Elisha had an axe head come up
out of the water and float in the water. I mean, there's miracles
in scriptures. These things are things that
actually did take place. The working of miracles. To another
prophecy and Agabus was able to foretell future events. This
is what's going to take place. To another discerning of spirits.
Somehow I could have some kind of gifted discerning where I
could listen to somebody and I'd know whether they're of the
Lord. To another, diverse kinds of tongues, the ability to speak
in other languages. To another, the interpretation
of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame spirit
divide into every man several as he will. For as the body is
one," now here he's going to get into what was taking place
in the church. For as the body is one and hath
many members, all the members of that one body being many are
one body so also is Christ." Now Christ is called in Ephesians
or the church is called in Ephesians 1, the body of Christ. Isn't
that special to be a member of His body? It's called the temple
of God, also in Ephesians, the church. And it's called the bride
of Christ, this one body that he's speaking of. You know, there's
not one person more important than another in this body. There's
not one person less important than another in this body. You
are all one in Christ Jesus. There's not male nor female,
barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but you're all one in Christ
Jesus. And what was going on here, because
of these gifts, there was competition. I have a better gift than you. I don't have as good a gift as
you. And it brought strife and contention and envy in this church.
Verse 13, from my one spirit, are we all baptized into one
body? That's the gospel being baptized
into Christ, immersed into Christ by that one spirit. We're all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
it be bond or free. We've been all made to drink
into one Spirit. I baptized into Christ, drinking
of the Spirit is His work of regeneration in us. We're saved
the same way. Listen, if me and you are saved,
here's why. God elected me before time began.
My name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Christ worked out
a perfect righteousness for me, and His obedience is my obedience
before God. He died for me and put away my
sins, He was raised for me. This is true of all the elect.
We all have the same salvation. There's not one more saved or
more holy or more accepted than the other. Not one more special
than the other. We're saved the same way. The
one body saved the same way. When Christ was raised from the
dead, all of the elect were justified in God's sight. He was delivered
for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. God, the Holy Spirit gives me
life. I was baptized into the body
of Christ. Every believer was, I drank of
the same spirit, God, the Holy Spirit. Verse 14, for the body
is not one member, but many. Now, if the foot shall say, because
I'm not the hand, I'm not of the body, is it therefore not
of the body? I don't have this gift. I'm not
as important. Is that so? Does that mean you're
not of the body? And if the ears shall say, because
I'm not an eye, am I not of the body? Is it therefore not of
the body? I love the reasoning here. If
the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole
were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God has set
the members, every one of them, in the body as it hath pleased
him. You know where you are? Where
God put you. You know where I am? Where God
has put me. All members of the same body. You know, I don't remember everything. You know, this little finger
is so insignificant, I think I'm just gonna cut it off. I
mean, it doesn't do me any good. No, I love that little finger.
And if that little finger's hurting, what am I thinking about most
in all my body? That little finger. You see,
all the members of the body have the same care one for another.
That's the way you are in your own body. You don't think, well,
my finger's hurting, I'm gonna cut it off. No, you take care
of that finger and it's very special to you and very important
to you. But now God has set the members,
every one of them in the body as it pleased him. And if they
were all one member, with a body, what if your whole body was an
ear? What if your whole body was an eyeball? While that would
be offensive looking, it certainly would not be right. Verse 20, but now are there many
members Yet but one body. Every one of us members of His
body. And you know, I am perfectly
content to be a little toe in His body as long as I'm in His
body. I don't need anything else. I just want to be in His body. That's my, oh that I may win
Christ and be found in him. That's my greatest desire is
to simply be in his body. And the eye, verse 21, cannot
say into the hand, I have no need of thee. I need that hand. That hand I'm
looking at, I desperately need him. I don't want to be without
him. Nor again the head to the feet.
I have no need of you. That head's not gonna be going
anywhere without the feet. The feet is the means of transportation.
The head doesn't transport anything. I need my feet. Nay, much more
of those members of the body which seem to be more feeble
are necessary. And those members of the body
which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant
honor. And our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness, for our comely parts have no need. God
hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor
to that part which lacked. Now, let's talk about body parts. Nothing like a beautiful arm. What would you rather lose, an
arm or a liver? Nothing like a beautiful face. What would you rather have, a
beautiful face or lose your heart? I mean, you can do without. If
I lose my arm, I can live. But I can't live without a liver.
I can't live without kidneys. I mean, do they look good? No, no. They're not pretty at
all. If you look at something like
that, but that's what's needed. You see, the Lord has tempered
the body. I think, well, you're the preacher. God can use anybody. this preacher
died next in line. It's no, he can raise up anybody
so easily. And it could be that I'm just
the, I'm the mouthpiece and the people praying for me are more
important in that sense in the gospel. So what I'm saying is
there's not hierarchies. There's not different. We're
all one in Christ Jesus. There's not somebody up here
and somebody down there. There's not somebody more important
and less important. We're all one in Christ Jesus. Our comely parts have no need,
but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant
honor to that part which lacked that there should be no schism,
no division in the body, but that the members should have
the same care one for another. And whether one member suffers,
all the members suffers with it. Or one member is honored,
all the members rejoice with it. You see, if you're honored,
I'm honored because we're one. We're in the same body. And if
you suffer, I suffer because I'm one with you. Now that's
the great mystery of the church. Members of the same body. Isn't
that awesome and glorious? members of the body of Christ. Now you are the body of Christ
and members in particular. You're in the body where Christ
put you. And that's a good place to be.
I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. And God has set some in the church,
first apostles, the 12 apostles like Paul, the writer to the
Corinthians was taken in the third heavens and For two weeks,
he learned the gospel directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. He
said, the gospel was preached to me was not after man, for
I neither received it of man nor taught it, but by the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now the apostles, the apostles
doctrine, this is who God expounded the gospel through. They're not
more important, but they're the ones God used to make known the
gospel. God has set forth in the church,
first apostles, Secondarily, prophets. I'm not sure whether
that, I think here it's preachers, but also it has something to
do with being able to tell the future. Thirdly, teachers. After that, I think it's interesting,
the first three here has something to do with preaching and teaching.
After that, miracles. Then, gifts of healing, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? No. Are all
prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles?
No. Have all gifts of healing? No. Do all speak with tongues? No. Do all interpret? No. But covet earnestly the best
gifts, yet show I unto you something
that's better than any gift. Now, I wanna close this message
by simply reading 1 Corinthians 13. We'll consider that next
week. But this is better than any gift. Paul says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I'm become
as a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the
gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains,
and have not charity, I'm nothing. I don't even count. And though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned as
a martyr for the cause of God and truth, and have not charity,
it profits me nothing. I can have all those things,
and I'll have charity. Charity suffers long and is kind. Charity envieth not. Charity vaunteth not itself. It's not seeking to promote itself.
It's not puffed up with pride. Doth not behave itself unseemly. It's not rude. Seeketh not her
own. It is not easily provoked and
touchy. It thinks no evil. That means
it keeps no record of wrongs. Rejoices not in iniquity, but
rejoices in the truth. Bears all things. Covers with
silence all things. Believes all things. Hopes all
things. Endures all things. Charity never
fails. But whether they be prophecies,
they shall fail. It's not talking about being
wrong, but they'll cease. This prophetic gift is gonna
cease. Whether they be tongues, they
shall cease. Whether they be knowledge, it
shall vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part. Our knowledge is partial, but
when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall
be done away. Now, when I was a child, I speak
as a child, understood as a child, I thought as a child, that's
normal. When I had these gifts, this is the way I operated. But
when I became a man, I put away childish things. And that's what
Paul's calling these. These were things that were needed
in the infantile state of the church. And he calls them childish
things. For now, we see through a glass,
darkly, in an enigma. But then, face to face, now I
know in part, but then I shall know, even as also I'm known. And now abideth faith, hope,
charity, these three, but the greatest of these is charity. Follow after charity. Covet gifts. Covet gifts to preach,
witness, tell forth the gospel. But this is the more excellent
way. Let's pray. Lord, we are so thankful for
your word. And Lord, I ask in Christ's name
that you would put in our hearts to pursue charity. Lord, it's so beautiful. It's
the gift of your grace. We know it's the work of and
the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Lord, we ask that we would pursue
charity for Christ's sake, and may we be found in him. And once
again, we give thanks for your word. Bless this message for
your glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.