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1266.
166.
Strength machine.
High tender mercy still.
Have a brighter way.
Of strength.
And close to us.
Awhile again.
Can we also say #300 and 33130?
4.
On our probably we thank thee for the wondrous in these two Henrys, of being drawn to thy well beloved son through thy life.
None of us will ever come.
To thee on our own, Lord Jesus.
Except that his cross.
We thank thee for this, and then to think.
Lord Jesus said.
We would not only be drawn to thee for salvation.
But to the.
Brought into his eye.
Board members of our body, and I'm sure to see it on earth as I brought forever in heaven. Well might we sing.
Who I want raise the wondrous daughter Who did it suggest?
It could only be.
By thought or God and I love my power and I finished work for Jesus.
We thank that for all these things, and we pray now that as we open my word again.
And read it together that I was to teach us what our Holy Spirit.
And we might have listening hearts and listening ears. They ask, this Lord Jesus and I, worthy and precious name.
Would you say it start at verse 3?
Romans, chapter 12, verse 3.
Romans, chapter 12, verse 3.
For I say, through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
00:10:02
Whereas we have many members in one body and all members have not the same office. So we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another.
Having gifts, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith or ministry. Let us wait on our ministering or he that teacheth on teaching.
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectioned 1 to another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of Saints given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice.
And weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind, one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man, evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.
Word is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If ye thirst, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt keep coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Brother Eric was reminding us of the little outline of Romans. So the 1St 8 chapters bring the forest, the teachings of Christianity and then we have the chapter 9/10/11 are really our dispensational in their outlook and their teaching. And then we have this practical truth that stems from it in these next few chapters. And then we didn't mention chapter 16 is really an appendix to the book and is a letter of commendation.
And perhaps just a review of those in that 16th chapter, a little picture of the judgment seat of Christ and those that distinguish themselves particularly.
In the at the beginning of the church period and what God saw and in their lives and he just presents a little bit of a review of those. So now he brings here in chapter 12 These practical instructions.
And the responsibility that we have to live in holiness. And so he says in verse three, that I say through the grace given unto me, that every man among that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly.
According as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith and so.
What we have in Christianity, what's to be characteristic of Christianity, is humility. It's not really what characterized Judaism at all. They had.
It was a religion filled with pride and the exaltation of man. And that's really what happens when we take up the law and take up things from a legal perspective. Then we start to think that we're better than other people and so on. And so they had a real hierarchy, you might say in Judaism, but Christianity is not to be.
That way, as individuals, we are to consider ourselves as those that are disciples of the Lord.
And in humility to walk with him. And we are to be characterized by humility. And so even the apostle Paul was characterized by humility. He was a model. Perhaps he might save humility among his brethren.
00:15:00
Any service which lifts us up in pride is probably not the service of the Lord.
The service of the Lord will always humble us and.
Lead us to take the low place.
In self judgment.
Yeah, we sometimes use terms that maybe we don't all understand. For instance, we talk about spiritual things, we talk about moral things.
And sometimes the question is asked, what's the difference between spiritual things and moral things? And I believe, as I understand it, spiritual things have to do with my relationship to God.
Obviously that's most important. We're made-up of man as a tripartite being spirit, soul and body.
So spiritual things have to do with my relationship with the Lord, and that's primary, as you were pointing out earlier, Rob, the hall always brings out the spiritual 1St and then the moral is a result of the spiritual principle. And that's so important that sometimes been said, good doctrine leads to good practice. Well then moral, we often use the word moral. And what do we mean by that? Well, I believe moral has to do with our relationship with other men.
So that's what we have starting with verse three, don't we? We've had spiritual things previously.
Now our right relationship with God leads to a right relationship with men. That's always God's order. And I mentioned that because Christendom is filled today with what's called Christian psychology.
The problem with Christian psychology is it's primarily moral. It's not rooted except very little in the spiritual side of things. It's a mixing up of things. And in fact, if we just look at the language.
Christian Psychology.
It's been pointed out a noun is stronger than than an adjective.
Psychology is stronger than Christian. Christian psychology, frankly, is based first of all on psychology, and then it's Christianized. The noun is stronger than the adjective that, that that modifies the noun. And so we have to be somewhat careful, don't we? Because if we start with just the moral side of things, we're told how to have a good, be a good husband and have a good family and all these things.
But it may be mixed up with wrong spiritual principles. So Paul always gives us the proper spiritual principles first, and then the right moral principles flow from that. I think that's so important to label that.
Chapter Brown used to say that we had to believe right to be able to walk right. We used to use that term frequently. We need to believe right in order to be able to walk right now. And so that's why all I believe in a really according to the divine wisdom who gives the instructions 1St and then he gives the practical expression of it in our lives.
There's always a danger of us imposing our thoughts on Scripture and drawing out certain verses that support what we think is right. But that's the wrong way to approach Scripture, isn't it? The proper way is to read what God says, and then based on what God says, then he gives us the following moral principles. That's God's order. That's the order throughout Scripture. And we can be so thankful, but all these ideas come at us how to do this, how to do that, but.
The divorce rate among evangelical Christians is just as high as the divorce rate among the world. Why is that? Well, Christian psychology as such doesn't work. There has to be the spiritual foundation.
That's what's going to be our true motivation and that's what's going to that. That's what's going to truly sanctify us and ultimately satisfy us with the portion we have in Christ.
In that regard.
The verse is often.
Looked at an infusions Chapter five of their husbands and wives.
And there's a state brother Eric.
There are many so-called Christian books written on.
How to have a good marriage?
But the key is in verse 25 of Ephesians 5.
Husbands, love your wives, but what's the rest of the verse? The rest of the verse says even as Christ also loved the church and gave themselves.
00:20:10
That's a pretty.
And that's a pretty.
Deep truth there.
Some of us husbands.
Had to measure up to that standard. We would all fail.
But that's that's what the objective is, is to be focused on the fact that.
I did himself for and if we have a, somebody already said today it may have been the address.
When we have a war between Jesus Christ as Lord of our life, everything else in our life is going to fall into place.
Relationships or parent children in assembly.
Out of the war of our electric.
I read. Since I read. I kind of skimmed a couple of times.
When we've been in a Christian bookstore.
Not too many of them here in Canada, but this was in the States.
You pick up a book and and.
And written by a believer and all kinds of good advice on that. But when it comes through there not much mention of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
His name doesn't appear very often.
Well, grace is mentioned here, isn't it? It's going to require grace to go on in humility.
And it's something that is given to us.
Grace given unto me. And so the apostle Paul, even perhaps the one that was the focus of the energy of the Spirit of God.
In connection with the teaching of Christianity and the bringing of the truth, all of the revelations that he had, and so on, he goes over those things in the his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.
He was given a thorn in the flesh, but it might not be vaulted, and so he walked in humility. So it was according to the grace that was given to him. And so grace permits us to walk in this scene.
Into perhaps walk in the shadow of the Lord. You might say it's Matthew. Chapter 11 brings before us the principles by which the Lord was going to lead out some of the children of Israel, some.
And bring them into blessing. And it was they were going to follow him, not as one who was manifesting the glory and the power of the Kingdom, that he was going to lead them out to meekness and loneliness apart.
President Matthew 11, verse 28 Come unto me, all labor and heavy laden, I will give you rest. So they were burdened under the law, and they couldn't escape the law and the consequences of the law.
They needed to come to Christ. And so he calls them out of Judaism. He says, take my yoke upon you as an individual, the Lord Jesus himself, and learn of me. For I am meek and lonely and hurt. You shall find rest under your souls, for my yoke is easy. My burden is like, so Christianity doesn't impose a set of rules upon believers. Not a set of rules, not a new set of rules, a new guideline, so on. No, it's a person's person of Christ.
And to walk in that path will require grace, and to walk in humility.
Will require grace from the Lord, and He is capable of giving us the grace to walk in humility, not to exalt ourselves, but to exalt Him.
The law, generally speaking, was addressed to unregenerate men, wasn't I know there was few that were born again. We know that. But as a rule, it was addressed to all the Israelites and it told them what they should be, but they didn't have the new nature, didn't have the power to be what they should be. But in Christianity we have many commandments. Look at the Scriptures and you'll see there are many commandments in the New Testament. Why? Why is that? Some people say, oh, that's legality. No, it's not legality. The difference is.
That the commandments and the moral principles are really a similar thing in the New Testament are given because they're the natural expression of the new nature under the direction of the Spirit God. So there's a vast difference, isn't there? It's not what we should be, but it's what we are. Now, by God's grace, we can walk in that newness of life.
00:25:22
This really comes in the Spears we had in the first meeting of service especially.
And so those principles apply.
In our service for God, and so humility in that service for God is not to think beyond what we should think.
We should not, in that service, go beyond.
The ability and the sphere of service that God has given us.
Or we're going to cause trouble and thinking more of ourselves than we should can lead us to get outside the sphere where God has given us to serve. We don't glorify God anymore and can't glorify Him anymore than filling the place He's given us.
Whether in creation or whether in service.
That's where we can glorify him the most, just to fill the place he's given us and not go beyond it.
Then there's the other side too. With thirsty, there's the quenching of the Spirit. What's What does that mean?
Well, that would be to the spirit might be leading us in in service and then we say, no, I'm not going to go that far. I don't, I'm afraid or whatever it might be that hinders me.
Be the opposite, wouldn't it? Yeah. So there's both sides, isn't it?
I wonder if it would help to look at the seasons chapter 4 because it tells us there in Ephesians 4.
Verse 7.
Unto everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he says, when he has ended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
And so he gave gifts of the man, he gave gifts into the church, he says.
In verse 11, he gave some apostles, he gave some prophets, he gave some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
Perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, we could go on in that chapter, but there was a purpose that God gave those gifts. Now when you got saved, when you were quickened by the Spirit of God, you were given life. You were dead in your sins.
He gave you, He gave you life, and then He gave you faith to believe. At the same time He gave you the gift of faith to believe His word. He spoke to you, believed you, believe that Christ died for you, and then you were sealed with the Spirit of God. And at the time that you were sealed with the Spirit of God, you were given a spiritual gift.
To be used for him, not to be used to exhaust yourself. He gave spiritual gifts and he's given them to the church.
And so you've got a spiritual gift, you have natural gifts as well, but God has given you spiritual gifts and they're to be used for his glory and for the blessing of the Saints for the whole church not And so here they're going to be used in humility. So here's the character of the one that uses that gift.
Is in the spirit of grace, in the spirit of humility. That's how that that gift is the exercise. So he goes on, he says.
We have many members in one body and all members have not the same office, so we have fingers and toes and everything, everybody.
Member has a different function, a different need and fulfills that need if it functions properly. So we being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another, having them give differing according to the Greece that is given to us. Whether prophecy let us prophecy according to the proportion of faith and goes on gives instruction.
So.
Marvelous.
That the Lord gives the spiritual gifts, and everyone of us is being given a spiritual gift.
And we're not here in this world to be conformed to this world and to sink our efforts, our time into this scene that's going to fall under the judgment of God very shortly. But we're to be glorifying him and using these spiritual gifts not only to support the Christian testimony in the place where we're at, in the local assembly where we're at, but we're to be using it for the blessing of all of the Saints.
00:30:15
An exercise about a verse in Proverbs 31 with virtuous woman. It says she perceiveth that her merchandise is good.
And in service for God, we need to have a sense that our merchandise is good. We need to have a sense that what He has given us and the abilities given us is profitable for the Saints.
Not just to go on, because I can.
And we need to be careful as brethren, we don't push somebody beyond the sphere and the and the service that God has given them. A brother might be, and again, I'm more thinking of on the brother side of things, but this is brothers and sisters too. A brother might be have a have a gift that functions very profitably in a private sphere, home to home, encouraging the Saints and then gets pushed out more into public ministry.
And he comes along and has a meeting and the Saints just groan. Oh no, you know, because that's he's been pushed beyond this week. Very profitable in the spirit that God has put him in, but gets pushed beyond that or maybe doesn't have a sense of the merchandise, so to speak. If I can apply that verse that he has and goes beyond, he thinks.
This this verse, I think in the new translation it's a little clearer.
Where I say through the grace which is given to me.
Among you, not to have high thoughts above what he should think, not having exactly higher thoughts of himself.
But thinking beyond the level that he's really at and the gift that has been given to him and it's exercised.
I'd like to make another an application.
In this verse 3 before from this verse 3 before we leave it.
And this, you know, we've been speaking about this verse.
I guess you could say applying to the less individually.
But I believe there's a warning for us collectively also.
In second Peter.
There's in verse one, the first chapter of second Peter.
There's a phrase there. Peter addresses it to them that have obtained light. Preface faith with us.
Brother Robert was just Speaking of his faith being a gift from God, and you see that.
In many places, many verses.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves as a gift of God. Asians. But here Peter I speak so then there have obtained like precious faith with us.
And to me that goes along with.
The same thought as at the end of verse three of our chapter.
Peter says that we have obtained like pressure space or received, I believe a new translation says, and at the end of verse three it says God hath dealt to every man or given to every man the measure of faith. Faith is something.
That has been given to every member of the body of Christ.
It's not exclusive.
We cannot use this expression in Peter exclusively for those with whom we have their in solitary as being gathered to the Lord's name. And sometimes I've heard that expression used quite a few times actually.
Implying that it just includes those of us who, by God's grace alone, have been gathered to His name.
And I believe, brethren, that we should be very careful not to.
Put ourselves up as though we are.
At different cost of believers. Better than everybody else, better than every other member in the body of Christ.
00:35:02
I think we need to be very careful and apply this verse three of our chapter to ourselves collectively.
Not to think of ourselves more highly than we are.
Every member of the body of Christ has received that gift of faith.
So I I really feel very strongly that we should not be referring to ourselves as those who those of Lake precious faith.
I just bring that before.
Before us Christians from the Lord.
Think we need to be careful about.
The various.
Areas of activity here.
Gift is as Brother Robert mentioned, it's a spiritual.
Enablement. It's according the talents were according to the ability.
So God gives the gift according to the ability. That's the natural aptitude that a person has. For instance, an evangelist. He needs to have courage.
Someone who is reticent and doesn't want to communicate with others, God's not going to give him the gift of an evangelist.
So.
Possessing the gift is the warrant for using it. And another point is that all gifts are not of a public nature.
There are gifts that.
Are for public.
Representation, but every believer, sisters and brothers.
Have a gift, They're all in the ministry.
They're all laboring brethren. We want to be careful about using that term. We all have a place in the body of Christ, sisters and brothers.
We have a gift, a function in the body.
And then another point that we should be clear about is that the.
Area of priesthood is not the same as the area. Yet now when it comes to exercising our priestly function, it's not a question of gift. There's no such a thing as a gift of prayer or gift of worship or anything like that. That's not a question of gift. That's the area which every believer can.
Can function in it is.
A gift is.
Something that we have received from God, Something that we.
Give in the body of Christ, whereas the priesthood aspect is.
Our our offering of Thanksgiving and praise and prayer to the Lord. It's a different character. Maybe someone can explain it better.
A gift is always in respect of the one body, isn't it?
Whereas priesthood is in respect to the House of God.
That is the Spirit of God and dwells Christendom and we.
Respect his rights, respect his presence. Our behavior is to be consistent with His presence, and priesthood has to do with the prayer and worship.
That's due His presence and also we might add another, and that is the office of the Deacon and the Bishop. Isn't there the elders? That again is not gift, isn't it? Although it almost touches what we have later on here, later in verse 8.
But nonetheless, office and the deacons and the bishops that we have in First Timothy and Titus, that has to do with the House of God as well, doesn't it? So again, it's not a specific gift, it's an exercise and it's a responsibility. And we all should seek to learn what our gift is.
There's a danger of getting outside our gift, very definitely. But what is my gift and.
How can I fill it? I'm a member of the body of Christ and as John mentioned, we all have a gift.
Well, let's exercise that gift because someday we're going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, aren't we? Not only exercise our gift, but.
00:40:02
The exercise in regards to the House of God, which is priesthood, and the two offices eldership and deaconship, those are exercises rather than gift per SE, I think.
So I might ask the question then, how am I to know what my gift is? My spiritual gift? How do I know?
Where does the Lord lead you?
Remember there was a sister in the, in Columbus where I was raised in Ohio. And, and dear Miss Patrick, I don't know if anybody here knew her, but dear old sister never married. She was a practical nurse. And she said, you know, I, I, I wanted to minister to older people, but the Lord kept directing me to children. And then when I knew her, she was probably 80 by that time, and she taught a Sunday school class on large day. She had a ministry for children at the meeting room on Thursday, I think it was Tuesday or Thursday afternoon.
And she had another ministry for children in her home, in her apartment, I should say. So all, all three. And she said, well, that wasn't really what I wanted to do, but the Lord led me there. And that was certainly your gift, without a doubt.
I like how the chapter starts. Yield your bodies.
Get your body there, so to speak. The Lord will give the gift and He'll show you what to do and yield your body. You know, and so I thought of it like coming down the road and you see, maybe you come across an accident. You're the first one there.
Maybe you don't know any first aid, maybe you don't know anything, but you got a cell phone. So you get there and you call somebody else pulls up and they know a little first aid and they can help the person that's in need and.
Due to the call, here comes an ambulance first responder and they can do a little more and they get into the hospital emergency room can do a little more and so on. And so we each function in our measure.
And it moves things along according to God's purpose and what He's trying to accomplish. You can't go beyond your mentor, but you can take up whatever He puts in front of you.
Yield your body, he'll give the ability.
Before what he puts in front of you.
Mr. Darby said other strange remark. But he said that if there was more devotedness among us, there would be more gift.
But rather.
Thought provoking because we don't normally think of devotedness.
In connection with a gift.
But what he meant, I believe, was.
If we are more devoted to the Lord.
There would be gifts manifested that are latent and they're not being used.
Meaning Christendom. There's a lot of gift outside of those gathered to the Lord's name.
There may be gift among us and it's not being, it's not being used because of my spiritual state. I'm not in the spiritual state to minister. So the gift is not reflected.
Maybe someone has something to add?
I was thinking of the first Peter chapter 4 and Peter speaks of the similar thing in connection with spiritual gift verse 10. He says as every man has received.
To get where I get Even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak of the word over God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability with God-given that God and all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom He praised and dominion forever and ever. Amen. And so God has given us not only the gift, but an ability and.
The attitude that we have in the day that we live in and who cares?
Let somebody else do it. Who cares?
You see the accident along the side of the road, Somebody else will stop. I don't need to get involved. I might. I don't want to get involved.
No, Christianity is a very practical thing. Lord showed that He involved himself in every single situation that He came into, and it was for the glory of God.
And so the apostle here says, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, or the ability we might say.
Differing according to the ability that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophecy not going to force us according to the proportion of faith.
00:45:04
Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry. Or he that teacheth on teacher, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, that he that rule it. Or I think leads is the right word there. He that leads with diligence, that he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
And so the Spirit of God just gives a sample list, not an all inclusive list, a sample list of how we might exercise gifts.
Gift in the spiritual realm for the blessing of others.
And just for myself if if you pardon the personal little illustration.
I feel if we exercise that gift that God has given us, it'll be a joy to our souls. We'll walk in communion with the Lord. It'll be evidence that we are submitting to what God has done in our lives. Unless this sister was teaching these little ones.
And so it's necessary for us to be able to maintain communion, to be engaged with the Savior and not just pay lip service to what Christianity is, but seek to do something for his glory, for the blessing of his people, just a little something.
Maybe as a young person, maybe something that's just practical in the meeting room or something, but just do something to further the cause of Christ in this world and make it an objective in your life.
I believe this is what the apostle is teaching. Make the spiritual gift. Make those things an objective in your life.
I can mention that I may not be a spiritual leader in any shape or form, but I have a gift of printing.
I've been a printer for 51 years now with BTP were to call up and said we need a printer.
Will they turn me down?
I may have to get a green card.
But what I'm pointing at is.
There can be something that you know as a trade.
Whether you're plumber or whatever, or women as nurses.
But we can use our tree as honoring the Lord and His service. I just want to look at it from that section.
Characteristic of Christianity is fruitfulness, isn't it?
It was never the thought that I could be a Christian and then that's the end of it.
But if I'm a Christian, I should be a fruitful Christian. We had that in Genesis one, didn't we? The grass, the herbs and the trees. God expects us to grow. The sad thing for me, if I've been saved for five years, 10 years, 20 years or more and not a fruitful Christian, what a sad thing. I'm not growing in the Lord.
I don't think of others before myself. Those are all fruit. That's all fruit of Christianity, isn't it? And so service here is a fruit. And if I have no interest in service?
There's something wrong with my Christianity.
That's putting the Lord first, others next, and myself left. So I suppose we could say verses 3 through 5 or are the the right spirit of set of service and then verses 6 through 8 is that there's actually 7 characteristics of service there. If you say they're not, they're not exhaustive, but there's seven different characteristics. We have others mentioned in First Corinthians 12.
Others in Ephesians 4 where it's actually people are the gifts that Ephesians 4 that whereas here it's it's the character.
Remember as far as the the right.
Spirit of service has often been repeated. Have somebody, some person came to Mr. Darby and of course is very impressed with this service and wanted to know how he could serve like him. I don't remember the exact circumstances, but his answer was very simple and telling. He said study this well. The flesh profited nothing.
But that's Christianity, isn't it? Not I, but Christ. That's evidence of Christian growth, but not growing as a Christian. There's something wrong with my Christianity.
And I think oftentimes the gift is a little different for younger people, isn't it?
And the office is we like to see young people. We don't expect a young person to be the leading teacher in the assembly. I don't say that never happened. But as a rule, we don't expect to see that, do we? But evangelization is often said to be a younger person. It takes a lot of energy.
00:50:10
Also office. I should say office, but well, office.
As we mentioned, the House of God is something that's more characteristic of older brethren, isn't it? If I'm to be an elder, I know we have people ride around on their bicycles and they wear suits and ties and they call themselves elder and they're only 21 years old. And I question that. That's not, that's, that's denying the very meaning of the word, isn't it? So elders that take that office and even deacons to a large extent are often those that are a little older, aren't they? And that's appropriate.
Have the experience and the moral weight.
So that it has value in what they do, but as far as priesthood goes.
That's that's a good place for a younger person to start, isn't it?
To pray together and even begin to pray publicly and to give out a hint, maybe ask questions, that's a good place to start, isn't it? But it's not really appropriate for a young person. And I've seen some that have tried to do that. I know of a young person that was just a young teenager, and he went to a large conference and he sat right up in the front row and he wanted to be prominent teaching.
Wasn't long and he was gone. He didn't have any moral weight. And I don't say what he said. Her saying was bad, but didn't have any moral weight, did it? So that's really not appropriate. But what about, what about Crane? What about giving out hints? Those are those have to do with our priesthood, don't they? And that's really, I think the best place for younger people to start. And then as they get more experience and gain their brother's confidence.
The other things come out, don't they and even gift to in a way gift has to do with the body office and priesthood had to do with the House of God. And a gift will develop but it's a little different gift often for younger people than for those that are a little older in the next. There's a nice moral order in that too because.
Especially the thing in the spirit of public ministry.
And.
Priesthood in the assembly in a public way.
In that ministry, I'm telling my brother how to live.
But if I'm telling my brother how to live but I can't pray for him, something was out of order. I'm telling my brother and how to live, but I can't give my opinion of Christ to God. And as a mouthpiece of the assembly, I got things out of order.
I need to be able to pray for my brother before I tell him how to live, and I need to be able to speak on behalf of the assembly well of Christ.
And and and priestly service before I tell my brother how to live.
Yeah, so the spiritual comes before the moral, but of course often there hand in hand of course, but the spiritual exercise comes first and then the moral side follows that. I would just say that I agree, Brother Eric, with the your suggestion that maybe a young person should involve himself in gospel. It's a good work and it says do the work of an evangelist. You may not be an evangelist like some are evangelist, but.
Do that work?
And the Lord will bless you in it. And it's a practical thing. You'll forgive me for giving a little illustration, but Brother Gordon Hale, when he was 16 years old, he wanted to do a little work for the Lord. So he bought a house to have hobby classes in and have the gospel outreach in the city of Ottawa. He bought a house at 16 years old.
His brother was so impressed that brother Charles, he said, oh, I'd like that house. I'd like to do a gospel work too, and won't you tell me how it's? So Gordon sold him the house and so Brother Charles had a gospel working one part of the city and then Gordon went and bought another house.
16 years old.
So did God use that man later on?
May God give us the desire to use our youth and the very best of our days for Him not to fritter those days away in this world.
Use the gift that you've got, the spiritual gift that he's given, and seek grace to use it for himself. He will use it. He'll magnify it.
Is that following the Lord, Purpose apart? Amen.
I think we have.
Prophecy. We might make a few remarks because.
Prophecy. We're usually thinking of foretelling some future event, but that's not the sense in which the word prophecy is used. Here you look at First Corinthians chapter.
00:55:11
14.
An important verse there.
In that connection 3.
Either prophesied speaketh unto men to edification.
And exhortation and comfort. So we have those three areas.
In public ministry and prophecy in the New Testament sense of the word.
It's ministering, first of all. It should be for profit.
If my ministry is not-for-profit in the assembly.
The kindest thing they can do is to tell me to be quiet because I'm wasting my time in other people's but prophecy?
Is for edification building up.
Exhortation stirring up and comfort binding up. This is what should characterize public ministry.
And I think the keynote First Corinthians 14 probably have noticed it is profit. Is the ministry profitable?
In the assembly. If not, the brethren should tell me.
So and I should cease, cease from that that aspect.
Is that right, Eric? Yeah. So would you say, John, that as you mentioned, the prophet in the Old Testament particularly was a foreteller in many respects, wasn't he, but also a fourth teller?
He told forth the mind of God. That's not necessarily telling forth the future events, is it? But it's ministering what God would have us minister to particular time. And that requires communion, doesn't it? That's wouldn't it? Yeah.
You know, I've heard of the center across there's one who delivers a message from the Lord for a specific time to on a specific occasion to that group of people.
You know.
Tomorrow afternoon there'll be what we refer to as an open meeting or for the ministry of God's Word, and we trust that.
I'm not sure the better here in Hammer Bay Press, but the messages that are given will be.
What the Lord wants us to hear right now.
On this weekend of October 2019.
For those of us who are here, that's a profit, delivering a message from the Lord.
I've noticed I've been.
Noticing here as we've been talking about.
Uh, public ministry or what do I say, audible ministry, audible gifts. So when we look at this list.
Here in going back to round 12 having gifts different differing according to the grace that is given to us verse 6.
So then we talked about prophecy.
Ministry and verse 7.
Teaching in verse 7.
Exhorting in verse 8.
Those would be I would take it the the the Audible gift program.
Gifts of speaking.
In various ways, but then you go on to.
The middle of first day either give us.
And either rules we've talked about, we've spoken about.
Offices, those who are exercised in local assembly to take responsibility that needs to be taken.
And then those that show mercy. And then I would suggest that even going on with in verse 9.
Speaking about love.
And being kindly affection 1 to another.
Brotherly love.
And so on. So there are many gifts that the Lord had given to to us, and these can be especially given to sisters as well, who who would not be speaking publicly in the assembly.
Gifts that are not audible gifts they might not even be noticed by by others in the assembly. But I can think of a lot of people in my experience that have shown love and giving of their time and.
They don't. You don't hear from them in the assembly.
01:00:02
But they're doing a whole lot of other work.
Work and they have a gift.
Of speaking to perhaps an older person in the assembly who's discouraged or not well going and visiting them and all of these, that type of thing.
Those are gifts equally.
In my mind, equally as important as as gifts that we hear.
And it's an opportunity for for those who may not be up to standing up in front of a meeting and speaking, but there is a lot of encouraging to do.
In a in a local assembly without getting up and speaking in front of the crowd.
Gifts are gender neutral, aren't they? Gifts are not just for men, but they're for women as well. Absolutely.
In heaven there won't be any difference between the genders. Now there is, and the Lord has asked us to fill the place He's given to us. But gifts are given to every believer, both male and female. Let's not forget that.
It's interesting too, that in the book of the Acts, those gifts were exercised in the homes, and you'll see different experiences, different stories in the life of the apostle Paul particularly. But even Aquila and Priscilla, they took Apollos under them.
Expounded the way of God more perfectly unto him. And so I take it that Aquila took the lead there and there was a little bit of teaching, and he only knew John's baptism, so he needed a little more teaching. That's prophesying. It's a part of prophesying.
He that edifieth. Then there was exhortation that was required in the home. The apostle Paul, I think it's.
After 20 he says of the book of the Acts, Acts 2020. I kept back nothing that was profitable on you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly and from house to house. So in the homes. Let's use our homes to further the cause of Christ and this word prophecy really is our brother John mentioned has a broad application. It has teaching like they taught Apollo's and.
The stirring up of the Saints.
Exhortation and the comfort of the Saints. You might go to someone's house and and take up the scriptures and comfort them. So even the Apostle Paul when he takes up the the subject of head coverings, he speaks of he that prophecies or praise. It means in any one of those spiritual activities, the sister shows that she represents the church.
In submission to Christ.
And she represents, she covers her head when there's spiritual activity and Christ gets the glory, She covers the natural glory of the woman. That's the natural glory of the man. And when this we're engaged in spiritual activity, the woman has her head covered and she's in submission. So we have Ephesians chapter 5, verse 2425. They're connected.
Even if God the even as Christ as even as the church is subject under Christ and so prophesying. It has a broad spectrum and it's not only in the assembly, it's in the home. There could be other places. And then when he speaks of the ministry of service. So as a brother Robert mentioned it could be service that some measure of spiritual service.
For the Lord.
That teacheth. It could be in the assembly, but it could be that there's someone that has a gift that teaching, Sunday school teaching.
In the home, teaching young people, whatever it might be, let's use those gifts. And so he he goes over those things and as I say, they're not, it's not at all inclusive list, but he gives examples of those things that he gives.
Don't you think there's a place for development of gift too?
I don't know. We have to answer your question. We know what our gift is.
What is in thine hand?
Use what the Lord has given to us.
And they get the development manifest. Is that right?
Somebody else in our detention diversity where?
Where Paul when he was converted out. So we were about to stop having a good team and I believe if we asked for a word that you will show us.
01:05:09
I think it's nice in connection with equivalent Priscilla too. When it was a question of service or teaching other men, Aquila's mentioned first. He was the man wasn't English. But when it's a question of devotedness, Priscilla's mentioned first. It appears she was probably the more devoted to the 2. And so that's a beautiful thing, and that's not uncommon.
The woman, the sister has a very special place. I remember Albert Hale.
Speaking about this, not hopefully to get too far off the subject, but head covering is not a popular subject, is it? And it's the spies, not only in the world, but in the camp, as we all know. But I remember Brother Albert Hayes speaking about First Corinthians 10, because First Corinthians 10, the second-half, we have the Lord's Table.
And 1St Corinthians 11, the second-half, we have the Lord's Supper. But what is in between those two? It almost seems like like something out of place, but it's head covering. Why is that? And Albert made it very plain, he said, because to bring the Lord's Table and the Lord's Supper together requires subjection, not just for the sisters, but there's the primary example requires objection for all of us. We're told that.
In other places, aren't we?
But the angels see that, and they're so thankful to see that. But Satan has mixed things all up. Genders are all mixed up. The woman's place is all mixed up. The men's place is all mixed up. That's just the world. Let's follow the scripture. We're going to get a reward based on following the Scriptures, not what the world does.
I've noticed that when the head coverings are given up, it's public evidence that Paul's ministry is being given up. Paul's doctrine is being given up, it's public evidence.
You know, you know, there's another thing that in connection with service and knowing what our gift is.
I'm Brother John's an evangelist and he's very joyful when he's giving out gospel tracts. I've seen Brother John and Sister Eleanor in action and they're very happy doing what they're doing. God gives a gift, and if we exercise, that gift gives us great joy.
And we understand what it is to enjoy and pleasurably do our work. But if if someone is.
Not given the particular gift and tries to force himself into that.
Service, Why? It's not going to be a pleasure. There's going to be, but it's going to be a horse thing. I love going to gospel meetings where evangelists are are.
How should I put applying your trade, exercising your gift? They're often storytellers, aren't they? They can spin stories and they can I love with listening to a brother like Dave Whitaker or brother John. They they give these lovely illustrations and they can spin a story. May not be teachers, or rather Dave Whitaker's not a teacher, but it's love listening to his. You just see the children sitting on the edge of the chairs and those of us that are older too, because they can spin these stories.
That just beautifully illustrate the fundamental truths.
And I just marvel at that because a teacher is more orderly in his thinking, isn't it? He has to try to get outlines and put things in perspective and and rightly divide the word of truth. That's a very different gift from, I don't say there's not crossover. Or rather, Gordon and Albert Hayes certainly were crossovers. They could both preach the wonderful gospel and they also were very helpful teachers. But it's more more rare, isn't it?
Rule. A teacher is more orderly in his thinking, and an evangelist seems to be more more subjective, can I say? And more courageous, as her brother John mentioned. And I I say I just love listening to an evangelist.
That we've known over the years and listen to them tell these stories and it just, it's just a joy to hear that.
There's a measure of faith in verse three, and then there is the proportion of faith in verse 6.
The measure of faith is more in connection with the ability that God gives us in service and the faith to go with that.
The proportion of faith, and it seems especially mentioned with the gift of prophecy and its exercise is more.
That I should be in the good of what I'm saying personally.
01:10:07
And walking in there, if I give out truth beyond where I'm really walking, then my heart's going to get cold and indifferent to the things that I'm giving out.
And there's a real danger there for us and that so I think when it comes to prophecy in that line of things, he brings out the proportion of faith. Don't I think we always know a lot more than what we're walking in. And so we have to be careful that we don't minister beyond what we're walking in. It's it's very easy to do the rest of them. It says wait on.
And I think that means if the Lord showed you this is what he's giving you to do, focus on it. Focus on it.
You put your attention on that, you know that's that's what he's giving you then and go focus on that and do that, develop it.
And then point out one other thing. I think when we get to the end of verse eight, we transition.
He speaks of gifts differing. When it comes to gift, everyone is different.
When it comes to Christian character displayed in our life and service were all the same.
And so I think you'd get a transition into those things in which we're all to be the same.
And we leave those things in which were each different.
Just a word of encouragement and then a word of warning. The question was asked and if the question was well answered, as far as how do we know what our gift is?
But just to reiterate one of the answers, when I was younger, I was terrified.
That maybe the Lord was going to give me a gift and I wouldn't like doing it. And just, you know, I'd be the guy standing up front and just, boy, this is terrible. This is awful. Like, Get Me Out of here. And I am very much afraid of that. And so perhaps many, many here smile and know better, but I didn't. And what was a real help to me?
Was when one explained that there will be enjoyment in the exercise of that gift.
We understand that naturally, if you're talented in mathematics, it's not going to be a chore to, to do that subject. When I was in, in high school, I had the opportunity of observing one that was, was talented in mathematics. And so there was the valedictorian in the calculus class and all these, all these smart people. And there was one that was not when you would think naturally very brilliant. And they just floated through the class without hardly trying. That's because they had a gift in that and they enjoyed it in the process.
So in spiritual gift it's no different. We're going to enjoy the exercise of it. But with that, the warning gift is not godliness. And so we had right at the end of Romans chapter 12 here, the need for that devotedness to Christ.
And if that is not coupled with a gift?
It'll be devastating and I'll give a natural example, the example of the body here that's given a natural illustration that we can understand. So give a natural example of that. My teeth, they do a wonderful job of eating food. So you stick it in your mouth, you chew it up and it works wonderful. But if if my teeth start going on my fingers.
I'm going to have a very serious problem and so my jaw is very gifted strongest strongest muscle or strongest bone in the body works very well for the task which is being suited to. But if it if it goes rogue and start starts working on other things, it's going to be devastating.
And so perhaps the Lord has given a gift, perhaps there's a teacher. But if that teacher is teaching error, it's devastating to the body of Christ.
And so, yes, it's important to know what our gift is, but there needs to be that devotedness.
And that submission to the will of God in the exercise of that gift.
I think 294.
Somebody knows that's suitable?
Food for that to start it 294.
On the.
Our loving God, my Father, he asked for my blessing on this time that we've had this afternoon.
We desire that there would be that which would encourage our hearts, but to that which would.
Would exercise our heart convict our conscience?
Help us to walk.
In my fear, just in a in a way pleasing to our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
So we thank you for this time.
That we would continue to ponder these things that would be in effect in our in our lives and not like those that would behold our image in a in a glass and then go away and forget what matter of people we are just ask about help our Father. So we commit this time to the the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen.