Message From the House - 10.21.07

"Show Me What You're Working With"

1 Cor 12:
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. 2 Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. 3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: ^F41 and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, ^F42 but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.

One Spirit but many manifestations
- Every person in this room is gifted

8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

The Gifts of the Spirit
- Speaking Gifts: Prophecy - foretelling the future, Tongues
- Miracle Gifts: Healing, Alchemy (water to wine)
- Interpretation of Tongues
- Discernment
- Wisdom: Settle what you're going through, Knowledge
- Not meant to make you peculiar, meant as tools
- For helping the person, not to hurt, or belittle the person

Beyond the Nine
- Your gift making room for you
- A part of that gift ought to be used in the kingdom
- Administration (order), Helps (support, behind the scenes, Acts: ropes undergirding the boat), Giving, Mercy (forgiving, compassionate, reason to balance self-righteousness), Singleness (Paul: It is better for them to marry than to burn, you don't want no husband and if one comes up to you he'll get his feelings hurt),
Giving doesn't come from how big your check is, it comes from how big your heart is
When you were giving, God blessed you. You get more out of giving than the receiver enjoys
- You have to identify your gift. As a Christian, you're supposed to die empty
You may have more than one gift
You need to be around somebody who will encourage your gifts and release your creativity
"There's something else in you."
"I am gifted."
"Your mind is a gift."

"I said it, I meant it, and I'm here to represent it."

Gal 5 Fruit of the Spirit
- Nine descriptions of one fruit
Nine sections of one fruit
Fruit of the Spirit grows in you
- Priests wore bells: Silence beyond the veil meant the priest had died and the blood had not hit the mercy seat. If the priest died, there would be no year of atonement.
In between the bells were pomegranates: bell - fruit - bell...
The gifts are tempered by the fruit. When you're gifted but don't have mercy, temperance become arrogant
Balance between the fruit and the gift
- We have this treasure wrapped in earthen vessels that the excellency of God
The treasure is in you: Clay envelops, had to break the envelope to get the gift
"It's in me."
You are gifted in your youth. Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee.
- Your spouse is given as a spouse

The enemy attacks you when you're really gifted
- When God is ready to used you, your gift has been corrupted and you have trouble getting it out
- Gifts passed down generationally through the faith of your predecessors
Stir up the gift - so much trash on top of the treasure that you must get rid of the trash
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world
- The enemy loves to hide your treasure in your trash
In all likelihood, the more you've been through, the more gifts you have