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Teachings About Speaking In Tongues

I believe that one of the most abused gifts of the Holy Spirit in modern history of the christian church is speaking in tongues. Today, we will be studying a deeper level of what it means to use and practice the gift of tongues.

What Is Speaking In Tongues?

The gift of tongues or what we know now as the “speaking in tongues” is a spiritual gift where one is enabled by the Holy Spirit to speak in different known languages. The book of Acts gave us several scenarios where the Apostles used this gifting. There are many people from different places with different languages who listened to them (Acts 2, 10 and 11). The people where amazed because the Apostles were able to speak their native languages which they can fully understand. Some even thought that they were drunk.

In the book of Acts, the Apostles speak in different known languages of men. However, as we can see in the book of 1 Corinthians, we can see there that Christians can also speak in the language of the angels where no one can understand. 1 Corinthians 14:2 further added, “…he utter mysteries for himself.” which means, he is speaking language which is not understandable by men.

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True Prophecy vs False Prophecy

Most Common False Prophecies

In our world today, there are many false prophecies and false prophets. This part two of the Gifts of The Holy Spirit Series will tell you the most common false prophecies that until now many people get into being scammed. I hope this will also serve as a warning to every Christian out there to be very careful in examining prophecies. After all, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14, that we are to weigh carefully the prophecies being spoken.

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Teachings About Prophecy

What is Prophecy?

Easton Bible Dictionary defined Prophecy as: “Prediction, was one of the functions of the prophet. It has been defined as a ‘miracle of knowledge, a declaration or description or representation of something future, beyond the power of human sagacity to foresee, discern, or conjecture.’”

Prophesying is God’s giving of the word to a prophet who will tell the people about what’s going to happen in the future. It maybe about destruction, repentance, hope, etc. Anything that God wants for his people to know.

Another interesting thing about prophecy is the abuses of many religious leaders in our time. We can see many of them out there in the streets and some even exists on televisions.

But God himself warned us about them in Deuteronomy 18:18-22:

“18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. 19 Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable. 20 But any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.” 21 You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the LORD has not spoken?” 22 If a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.

Prophecy is usually done by a prophet. The Old Testament gave us so many prophecy about the coming Messiah. We also have to note that the OT was authored by about 50% prophets of its total authors. We also have to take note that the New Testament was closed by the book of prophecy, the Revelation.

Truths About Prophesying

(Verses from main points were taken from 1Corinthians 14)

Prophesying Is to Be Desired (v.1)

We have to note here that Paul is giving emphasis on the two kinds of gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophesying and speaking in tongues. However in this passage we can see that Paul has made a point that we are to desire spiritual gifts especially the gift of prophecy because prophecy edifies the Church.

There is nothing wrong in asking God for a the gift of Holy Spirit. However, as we have learned, it is the Holy Spirit who gives it as he determines.

Desiring to have a spiritual gift means desiring to serve better inside the Church which is the body of Christ. It also means that it is very important that we have to place our hearts in the gift that God gave so that we can serve him better.

Prophesying Edifies The Church (v.4)

How does prophecy edifies the Church? Verse 3 gave us three things that prophecy can do to us; strengthening, encouragement and comfort.

Prophecy can strengthen us in times of trials. When we know what is it\\ exactly is going to happen in the future, especially if we see hope, then we are most likely be strengthened and not give up the hope.

Prophecy encourages us to continue living faithfully. When we hear or read prophecy, we feel encouraged to continue faithfully. We are encouraged to turn our backs from the world and focus our eyes on Jesus.

Prophecy comforts our souls whenever we hear encouragement. It gives peace of mind. There is no such comforting words than the words of encouragement.

The book of Revelation is a prophecy which gives us the picture of what’s it going to be in the end of times. We have seen that it already made mentioned of catastrophic events for many nations in the end. But we also see hope for those who remains faithful to the end. We see that those who hope and stayed with the Lord allow us to see a better place for those who wait for the Lord.

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The Body Of Christ

Today’s sermon is all about the Body of Christ and how each part is related with each other.
Title: Principles of The Body of Christ
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Introduction
This morning we talked about the principles concerning spiritual gifts. We talked about spiritual gifts as God given, that there are different kinds of gifts with different kinds of manifestation.

Tonight, we will be talking about the Body of Christ as the basic composition of God’s community, God’s church.

Principles Of The Body of Christ

Principle 1: The Body Is One (v.12-13)

The passage has been very clear that the body is a unit (v.12) composed of different parts. Let us talk first about the Body. The Body of Christ that we are talking about here is the basic unit of the church. This pertains to the local church in contrast to what other people is trying to prove about the “Universal Church”. Yes, we also belong to the Universal church, but the passage is not referring to the universal church but to the local church.

As a local church, each one of us were baptized in one Spirit into one body. Yes, we are one body. This means that we are identified as one, having the same goal, having the same outlook.

As we act as a body, all our actions are being defined as one. Let us take for example an individual. When his hand steal, it is not only the hand that goes to jail, but the whole body. Likewise, if the hand does well, it is not only the hand who is being commended but the whole body.

As one body we have the same goal. We move forward toward a common goal. Just like an individual who decided to go to a certain place, his whole body walks through the same direction, it makes a step each one at a time until he reach his destination.

As one body we also have the same outlook. As an individual plans ahead of time what does he wants to achieve, so are we as one body in Christ Jesus, we plan as a whole to achieve what we want to achieve in the future. There is no part of the body that go against the flow of the plan. But each one function for a common interest, to achieve the same outlook and goal.

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King James Version Bible Against New International Version Bible

KJV Bible versus NIV Bible, Which One is The Best?

I was deeply intrigued upon reading this article concerning the issues against New International Version. For so long, I have found NIV to be a Bible that is very much easy to understand especially that English is not my first language. I have been using New International Version for so long that I have made so many notes within my Bible.

However, just yesterday, a friend of mine forwarded this very intriguing article that I found to be a MUST to read especially if you are a pastor, a Bible interpreter, or a worker. I am not so skeptic against Bible translations. But I think this article is worth my time to read. And I found it very helpful to take note of the things that I need to look at a Bible Interpreter.

By far, as I have remember in my training which includes Bible history, background and some glimpse (not detailed) about these codexes like Textus Receptus, Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, its just, its the only available manuscripts out the there that can be a reference for the newer translations.

Now, to set up the reliability issue, let’s put it in this way, Dr. William Grady is a scholar who have his personal opinion about the validity and reliability of Textus Receptus. But how about the opinion of other Bible scholars who would say Vaticanus and Sinaiticus are more reliable? Which scholars are more reliable then if they have the same degree?

By the way, Dr. William Grady is the author of Final Authority: A Christian’s Guide to the King James Bible to which I really wish I could get my hand on this very intriguing book.

Furthermore, I am not so sold out to say that KJV is the “ONLY” true and authoritative translation of the Scripture for the main reason of its historical background. I believe I have already said this several times in preaching. King James is homosexual. To avoid having conflicts with Puritants (which we know one of the major group reformers) he granted them the authority to translate this new English version that came to be known as KJV. This simply means that it was born out of King James’ personal interest. But in fairness, I would certainly admit that King James Version of the Bible is really the finest by far.

Filed Under: Doctrines and Theology, For Pastors Only, Preaching, Theology Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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Immediate Follow Up Phase: The Church and its Ordinances

Lesson 7: The Church and its Ordinances

Be sure to let them lead as much as possible in all aspects of your “participatory” worship. Make sure you keep them accountable to do the things they need to do in order to obey and to share the lesson with someone else.

In the last lesson, we learned that believers in Christ join together to form His body, the church. This is a special lesson on the church and its ordinances. It is designed to help the leader ensure that a new church will be formed that is fulfilling the 6 functions of a true church.
The items for accountability are:

Did you read your Bible at least 5 min/day?
Did you listen for God to speak during QT? Have them show journal or share 1 insight from their reading and their obedience to what God showed them.
Did you share the Hand Presentation with at least 3 people? Tell me their names?
Did you share the last teaching/lesson with 5 people? Tell me their names.

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Sermon About Humility: The Foolish, The Weak and The Lowly

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31

Introduction
Last time we have discussed facts about the Corinthian Church. We have learned that they are a called church, a religious and knowledgeable church, a waiting church, and a problematic church.

We have seen that one of their early problems was division among them (1 Corinthian 1:10-17). Many of them have their own favorite ministers. Ironically, Paul is thanking that he was not able to baptized any except for some people among them.

Today, we will be studying about how God works in the lives of the people.
How God Works?

We really cannot fathom the vastness of God’s wisdom for it is beyond our understanding. Furthermore, Isaiah 55:8-9 says ”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Obviously, there is nothing in this world that can explain how God works. The things that we will be seeing today is just a small glimpse of the impossibilites where God made it possible.
God Chose The Foolish (v. 27)

“God chose the foolish things in the world to shame the wise.” Salvation is not through human wisdom. Unlike the beliefs of the pagan world, salvation is by grace through faith. It cannot be attained by knowing the fullness of the doctrine of Christianity.

Corinth was predominantly influenced by Greek culture at this time. This is why most people are interested in philosophies of the Greeks. But what does we benefit from wisdom? The book of Ecclesiastes teaches us that wisdom is a chasing under the wind. It is vanity unless used for the things that is of God.

Filed Under: Doctrines and Theology, Morality/Immorality, Sermon Outlines Tagged With: , , ,
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