Restoring the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - The Spirit Filled Believer's Practical Guide

As Yeshua approached the Samaritan woman at the well, he prophesied something to her that his father is calling worshippers of spirit and truth. And in Acts chapter two, he poured out his spirit upon three thousand in the house of Cornelius. He poured out his spirit and they spoke in tongues. We see over and over and over again that the early church as we know it today started transforming the known world. Rome was overthrown with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. And as people started manifesting this power and this love and this authority with signs and wonders and miraculous events, we look around us today and we ask the question, what happened and where has it gone? And many have attempted to make many theories about this. But I want to submit to you that what was once normative has now become lost because we have exchanged spirit and truth with the doctrines and traditions of man. Just like in the first century when the commandments of God were being pushed aside for the commandments of men, so today our traditions have taken a front seat and God's Spirit has been told to take a back seat. But in this time, as we are speaking now, God is restoring his spirit and truth. And this will now be a multi part series, a deep dive into each spiritual gift for the spirit filled believer to be restored back to biblical worship. The spiritual gifts that I am referring to are those as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12, a word of wisdom, words of knowledge, gift of faith, gift of healing, gift of miracles, the gift of prophecy, discerning of spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Even as we read this list, some of us may have fear and uncertainty with these strange ideas and concepts. We may even think, well, that's charismatic. We may think that's Pentecostal or that's what I experienced at this or that church today. Let's put some things aside and make way for a biblical perspective because these are biblical after all. Even if some have abused or misused them, let's make way for how the Spirit calls us to walk in them. I want to submit that the enemy has crafted fear and disunity around each of these spiritual gifts to keep us from walking in our God given gift and the inheritance we have in the Holy Spirit. Believers walking in their gifts powerfully is scary to the enemy's camp. But instead what has happened is we have been scared of what God has given us. And of course this is not surprising. There's been a great lack of discipleship in these areas that have made way.

For many misunderstandings of what these gifts are.

Are or aren't supposed to look like. So to give you an idea of how this will go, today we're going to explore some introductory thoughts and ideas regarding spiritual gifts in general. Then we're going to be looking at multiple gifts in subsequent episodes through the biblical examples provided in scripture, practical real life stories and examples, how we walk it out practically, and then also naturally, we have to address some abuses that has happened in the past. How do we set it right? What do we need to consider, and what do we need to be sensitive to as we practice a spiritual gift orderly and responsibly?

Without further ado, let's dive right in. As a young boy, I remember my mom reading me by Bible stories. And I heard of these disciples of Christ who walked in these great miracles. I remember Peter, whose shadow healed people. I remember how they said, I don't have silver and gold, but this I have rise up and walk. And this man who's been disabled is healed. And in my mind immediately I have this idea crafted that these were like superheroes, that these godly men who walk with Jesus are superhuman in their abilities. And of course, we create a separation between us and between them. And when we even think about some of the Old Testament prophets, someone like Elijah, who God used similarly with great power and authority, doing miracles through him, that feeling continues to extend there. But I want you to think about something that we read about in the book of James, where he encourages us all to believe in the same ways as Elijah did. We see in James 5:17, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervent, fervently that it may not rain. And for three years and six months it did not rain upon the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain and the earth bore its fruit. It's interesting how James comes and reminds us that Elijah has a nature like ours. He's a man like me. He's a human being. He's not a superhero. He is a man of faith. And God is the one who did the miracles. In a response to Elijah's faith, James is bringing Elijah down to our level, you could say. But why? See, if you read earlier, in this very chapter, in verse 16, we read about how God James is encouraging fellow believers to pray with faith, just as Elijah prayed with faith, so that we may then expect God to hear us and even to answer our prayers, even when it means God doing a miracle. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has Great power as it is working, our prayers can have great power. And someone that we pray for who is sick can be made well simply because of a prayer that has come from faith in God. I mean, think about how incredible this is that Jesus has given us this gift that we can trust in him when we pray that he can do similar things in response to our prayers as he did through Elijah or Peter. You know, I know what you might be thinking. When I was a young man and God started showing up in my life in a big way, and I started seeing him move in miracles, I remember sharing this with some people, and I remember a lady speaking to me saying, but Petey, But Petey, we are not his disciples. As a response to that, we cannot expect to see what the disciples saw. I want to submit to you that we as people like to make excuses. We say, well, that was Jesus, or that was the apostles, or that was the early church. As far as we need to go, we'll say, well, that was them. That was that time. But we, as for us, we do not have any of that anymore. But when we look at a man like Stephen, who was just an ordinary man like me, an ordinary believer like you, we read in Acts 6. 8, and Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Why was Stephen full of grace and power? Because of what happened in Acts chapter two, just a few chapters earlier, whereby God poured out his Holy Spirit upon ordinary believers, whereby which Peter reminded them that they will prophesy, that they will receive dreams, they will receive visions, and within them the power of God now lives. Another example is Philip, who was simply serving widows in Acts chapter 6, verse 5. He was not an apostle. He was not a leader of the church. He was not one who walked with Jesus in the flesh like Peter or some of the others. And as an ordinary believer like me, he also later, just two chapters after we see him serving widows In Acts chapter 8, we see the crowds of one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip. And when they heard him and saw the signs that he did for unclean spirits crying out of a loud voice came out of many who had them. And many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. And so if you can feed widows, you can cast out demons and heal the sick. Perhaps that gives us all a lesson as to where we can begin so that we can see God working in us in greater ways. Even in Philip's case, the apostles needed to travel down to Samaria to see what was happening in Acts 8, 14 it says now, when the apostles of Jerusalem heard what Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John. And then we go to Philip's daughters in Acts 21:9, where we read that he had four unmarried daughters who all prophesied. So we have Stephen, we have Philip, and more examples like Luke chapter 10. But the question that I have for you is, is, do you believe? Do you believe that God can come to you, fill you with Himself, His Holy Spirit, and use you mightily, like Elijah, like Philip, like Stephen, like Peter? Do you believe because many today in this world who even call themselves believers actually live in unbelief, and because of this unbelief, that the Spirit cannot move through them and will not move through them, maybe even a theological belief of that that is the very reason why they may never see the Spirit move in such a way through their life. Because by nature, the Holy Spirit moves through us when we put faith in him. And so then many people find themselves in this cycle of unbelief, where because they do not believe, they do not see anything, and because they do not see anything, they do not believe. But what needs to happen is we have to say that no matter what I see, I will believe because of what I have read. As a young man, I said to God, God, many people say to me, I'm not supposed to see anything, but I choose to believe because I see it in the way, and I see that Yeshua says, you will see the things I have seen and greater things than these, because I'm going to the Father, and I'm going to the Father so that I can pour out my Spirit upon you. And then it did happen. He poured out his Spirit upon all his people, as was prophesied through Ezekiel and Jeremiah and the prophets of old. It has happened. And what do we do with it? Do we continue on as if nothing has happened? Or do we live in light of this reality? But maybe you say pd, you know, I feel like I believe in the prophecies, but I struggle to believe that I can be used in such a way. And you're not alone. Even the disciples felt that way. They did not believe. Even when Yeshua told him that he would resurrect from the dead. And we read in Mark 16:14, afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining a table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen. When the woman reported that the tomb is empty. And he has resurrected from the dead. The disciples still did not believe. And today I want to submit to you. Even though the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon his people, There are believers who still do not believe. And we can say that simply because if we believe something, we will live as if it has occurred. After the disciples saw him standing there before him, they started living as if he has resurrected. And to their very deaths they proclaimed his resurrection. But today, if we truly believe that the Holy Spirit has been poured out, Will we not live as if he has been earnestly desiring the spiritual gifts he has for us? Earnestly praying and fasting and seeking for him to use us as he used the apostles and all those who have come before us, earnestly obeying Mark 16, where he said to them, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved. But whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe in My name. They will cast out demons, speak in new tongues. They will pick up serpents with their hands. And if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. These are the signs of those who believe in the resurrection. And on the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. These signs are things that God says. That if you are found in a situation where you need this, God will provide it. If there is someone who is sick, lay hands and they will be healed. If you are poisoned, the Holy Spirit will protect and sustain you. And so forth and so forth. But just as the disciples had unbelief up to the point where Jesus appeared to them. And yet he still called them to go into the world thereafter. And to be used mightily by the Holy Spirit. So in the same way, even when we have found our hearts to have unbelief, he will have mercy on us and use us to be sent out into the world. And to have signs appear upon our lives? But the question is, now that he has appeared, now that he has shown Himself, will we believe and step forward to the core? It is important to understand God's expectations as it pertains to his spiritual gifts. I have heard some say that if God wants X, Y or Z spiritual gift for me. That he will just give it, and I don't have to force anything. And of course, if by forcing something we mean that we have to do it on our own strength, then that's true, and I agree. But in the same way that we don't need to force anything. God will also not force a gift upon you. The Holy Spirit calls us to have faith and to step out in faith as it pertains to a spiritual gift. When Peter was walking and he said, I don't have silver and gold, but rise up and walk. That is a great move of faith. And we can't expect that to just happen without our stepping out in faith. An action on our side we read in 1 Corinthians 12:11 regarding the spiritual gifts. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individual individually as he wills right, so he empowers us, and he's the one who apportions each gift to each individual. So the big question is, if he empowers and he apportions, what do we have to do and do we need to do anything? Let's look at Luke 11:5 and Yeshua said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him, and he will answer from within, do not bother me. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, though, he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. Jesus concludes this parable with, if you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? So this parable is about receiving the Holy Spirit, and this neighbor had to knock with impudence on his friend's door in order to get him to open up. But what does it mean to be knocking with impudence or importunity? If you look at the Greek word, it's an idea, and it's used to describe a boldness or a persistence that is devoid of shame. This word suggests a kind of boldness that is not hindered by social conventions or fear of impropriety. We Further read in 1 Corinthians 14:11 pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. So while God is the one who apportions and empowers, we are commanded by God to pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts that we need to knock on the door of the Holy Spirit with boldness, with no hindrance, understanding that our God wants to bless us and use us. We read in 1 Timothy 4:13 do not neglect the gift you have which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Timothy received his gift when he was prophesied over and the elders laid hands. And he is therefore still encouraged to practice and immerse himself in the gift that God has empowered him with. See, it is that God empowers and God gives it. But we must knock, we must earnestly desire, we must practice, we must immerse ourselves in them. It is us working together with the Holy Spirit. God is not going to force us to do anything. We must walk by faith. But at the same time, the idea of the miraculous of signs and wonders is a scary thought for many people. Hence their hesitation. And in the word we can clearly see some humor as well, because as Yeshua sends out the 72 in Luke.

Chapter 10 to heal the sick, they.

Come back having cast out demons. And all these things occur without any sort of an instruction manual on demonstration how to and this lack of instruction is what puts fear in us. It stops us. We want to know what we're getting ourselves into. But when the disciples got out of the boat to follow Yeshua, did they fully understand what they were getting themselves into? Did they get an instruction manual on how to follow Christ?

No.

The Holy Spirit is their teacher. And our teacher, Christ is alive. He speaks to us and he is with us and he trains us. And that's why we should not fear, because the Holy Spirit is our empowerment. We are not casting out a devil on our own power. We are not healing the sick on our own power. And if it's not on our own power, then we have nothing to fear. For all we need to do is step out and faith and believe. Just like Moses who raised his staff at the sea. We are now ready to start talking about our first spiritual gift called Words of Knowledge, which we will be looking at in next week's episode. As for today, I would love to pray for you in this time before we head into the next episode. For your heart to be prepared to receive the deeper things of Words of Knowledge, for our faith to be stirred up to believe for greater things. Father, I thank you for your goodness in giving us your spiritual gifts. Help us, Lord. Help us to believe like Moses believed when he was standing before that sea that needed to be split. Help us to believe like Peter believed when he was faced with a lame man asking for money. Help us O Lord, to believe like Peter believed when he stood before the crowds in Acts 2, that your holy Spirit is the one who does it all, who empowers who pours out upon people and who delivers them.

Father, I ask that you would help.

Us to see you as a giver of good gifts who is earnestly desiring to give it to us. Help us to earnestly desire to receive it. Father, I thank you that upon the world this day you would come and break the lies of the enemy that has tried to keep us from these beautiful gifts. Help us to break the lies of the enemy on our families and our friends and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to believe that these are.

To be no more.

Help us to have ministries that prosper in setting the captives free. Yeshua, just as yours did. We praise you. We thank you in the name of Yeshua. Amen. I can't wait to see you in the next one. Subscribe to this channel to stay tuned like this video and share it with your friends. Many blessings to you and Shalom.