Acts 23:5

If you cannot say something nice about those appointed or elected,remember your manners and show respect….keep silent! Ignorance is no excuse.

It is one thing to disagree with a law or ruling and protest or use the power of your vote.…quite another to gossip, making personal, derogatory comments. 

Remember God controls ALL things and nothing happens that is not first known by Him. 

Out of our hearts the mouth speaks words that edify or words that tear down.

Note that Paul did not defend his behavior, but rather repented of it. There are several possible reasons why Paul did not know Ananias was the high priest. It could be that Paul’s eyesight was poor, and he could not see Ananias clearly. Or perhaps this was not a normal assembly of the Sanhedrin, and the high priest was not wearing his normal robes or sitting in his usual place.

Acts 23:5

⁵ Then Paul said, “I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’ ”

¹⁷ “If a person sins, and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity. 

Leviticus 5:17

¹⁸ And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, as a trespass offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him. 

Leviticus 5:18

²⁸ “You shall not revile God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

Exodus 22:28

²⁰Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter. 

Ecclesiastes 10:20

¹⁰ and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed. They are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries, 

2 Peter 2:10

1 Corinthians 8:9-13

If you believe it is wrong… it is wrong for you.

If you have a clear conscience... it is right for you. 

If you believe you shouldn’t eat meat on Friday during Lent…don’t.
If you believe Lent has nothing to do with eating meat on Friday.... eat meat. 
But do not do it with others who feel morally different about it than you do.

Your freedom should not influence someones beliefs. If they believe it is wrong for them it is wrong for them. 

Don’t let your liberty be a reason for another to go against what they believe.

The knowledgeable believers were correct in their view of idols, but it did not matter. If the weaker brothers and sisters saw other believers eating food offered to idols, they might also eat, in violation of their own conscience. To go against the conscience was in fact sinning. By their knowledge the stronger believers were causing the weaker believers to stumble. Paul exhorted the strong believers to show love to the weaker ones by refraining from offending them.

1 Corinthians 8:9-13

⁹ But beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? ¹¹ And because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? ¹² But when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 

¹³ Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

¹³ For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 

Galatians 5:13

¹³ Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. 

Romans 14:13

²¹ It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 

Romans 14:21

²⁸ But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” do not eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for conscience’ sake; for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.” 

1 Corinthians 10:28

²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 

Romans 14:20

³² Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, 

1 Corinthians 10:32

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

No matter how much we have studied the Word of God we only understand a small part of the whole. 

Mere humans could not grasp the scope of the Almighty and He knows that. And whatever knowledge the Holy Spirit has given us is to be used to build up our fellow Christians… not to tear them down. 

Faith in Him alone pleases our Father and His love has conquered sin and death covering all believers in the Blood of Jesus the Christ.

These people belittled their weaker brothers and sisters with their knowledge. They had missed the point. They should have been using their knowledge to help other believers in the church.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. ² And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

⁸ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is ⁴perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. ¹² For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 

1 Corinthians 13:8–12

³ For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 

Galatians 6:3

⁴ he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, 

1 Timothy 6:4

Mark 1:6-8

There is much to be learned by these passages. 

The fact that the outward appearance of someone should not matter to any of us.

 It is the world that tries to dictate how we view people….and we are not to be under the control of this world. Each person is formed from the womb by the Almighty, uniquely made by Him and has intrinsic value to us in society as a whole and especially in the Body of Christ, His Church!

We are all sinners. All unrighteous. All unworthy. 

Without the salvation of Jesus we are alone. We are bereft. We are without hope. 

Without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we are unable to understand the spiritual things of the Christ.

The angel Gabriel (the name means “mighty one of God”) announced to Zacharias that his son John would “go before Him [Christ] in the spirit and power of Elijah.” John’s characteristic message was to promote expectancy and acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said he was not worthy to loosen the Messiah’s sandal strap. Students often performed menial tasks for their rabbis, but even they were not expected to remove someone’s sandals. That task was left to slaves. John humbly understood and accepted his own role in the coming Kingdom.

The prediction that Christ will baptize you with the Holy Spirit appears in each Gospel and was repeated by Christ in Acts 1:5 as being “not many days from now.”

Mark 1:6-8

⁶ Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. ⁸ I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

¹¹ I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

Matthew 3:11

²⁷ It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose.” 

John 1:27

⁵ for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 

Acts 1:5

²² And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 

John 20:22

⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 

Acts 2:4

¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 12:13

³For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, And My blessing on your offspring; 

Isaiah 44:3

Luke 11:29-32

No man knows the exact time of the return of Jesus but all of us long for it but with anxiety wanting for as many as possible to be saved.

Look up your Redeemer is closer everyday.

The sign of Jonah here refers to his prophetic call to repentance rather than to the resurrection foreshadowed by Jonah’s return from the belly of the great fish.

Because Jesus is greater than those who proclaimed God’s word in those days—Solomon and Jonah, His word should have been heeded by the first-century Israelites.

Luke 11:29-32

²⁹ And while the crowds were thickly gathered together, He began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. 

³⁰ For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so also the Son of Man will be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

⁴⁰ For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. ⁴² The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here. 

Matthew 12:38–42

²² For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 

1 Corinthians 1:22

⁴⁶ Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 

Luke 24:46

⁴⁰ Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 

Acts 10:40

⁴ and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 

1 Corinthians 15:4

⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 

Matthew 24:7

⁵ of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. 

Romans 9:5

⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 

Jonah 3:5

¹² I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. 

Revelation 6:12

¹⁹ Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail.

Revelation 11:19

John 10:25-30

Death is inevitable and when it happens there is nothing greater than to be in the blessed hands of Him who loves us most. 

There has never been nor will there ever be a greater gift than Jesus who gave up His life in exchange for ours! Because of God’s great agape love for His creation He wants no one to perish and we are His hands and feet on earth. We share God’s plan of salvation because He loves us and we love Him. We fulfill the law and the commands of Jesus when we Love God with all our heart, mind and soul and love others as well as ourself. 

Spread the Word!

Jesus was the Messiah and said so.

 He told the woman at the well that He was the Messiah, as well as the man born blind. His works include all the miracles He performed as signs pointing to His messiahship.

 The Jewish opponents understood that Jesus was claiming to be God.

 John 10:25-30

²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. ²⁶ But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. ²⁷ My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and My Father are one.”

³⁶ But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. 

John 5:36

³⁸ but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and ⁶believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” 

John 10:38

³⁰ And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 

John 20:30

⁴⁷ He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” 

John 8:47

¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 

John 10:14

Nahum 3:19

If God is against us it doesn’t matter who is for us. 

Wake up. Ask forgiveness. Change.

For every action we take there is a reaction and God does not honor choices based on pride or arrogance. We need to live our lives loving others as much as ourselves and basing our decisions on that criteria…. individually and as a nation under God.

The tendency of evil people in all ages is to take advantage of the helpless. But the destroyer of persons needs to know that the widow and the orphan have a Redeemer, a protector of family rights—His name is the living God. Proverbs 23:10

Every nation and people that had suffered under the abusive power of Nineveh would shout and clap upon hearing of the city’s destruction.

 There would be no mourning for Nineveh.

Nahum 3:19

¹⁹ Your injury has no healing,

Your wound is severe.

All who hear news of you

Will clap their hands over you,

For upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

¹¹“Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured. 

Jeremiah 46:11

⁹For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people— To Jerusalem. 

Micah 1:9

¹⁵All who pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and shake their heads At the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that is called “The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth’?” 

Lamentations 2:15

¹⁵This is the rejoicing city That dwelt securely, That said in her heart, “I am it, and there is none besides me.” How has she become a desolation, A place for beasts to lie down! Everyone who passes by her Shall hiss and shake his fist. 

Zephaniah 2:15

Romans 8:37-39

If God is for us nothing else matters. 

A dear high school friend, a member of our Breakfast Club which has met regularly for the past 44 years, a Christian in every good sense of the word, passed away yesterday morning. We met for breakfast a couple of months ago and she was well and happy expecting her 11th grandchild. 2 weeks ago she was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney. Within this small amount of time she passed. I mourn for her family and newly born grandchild but rejoice that she is now in the arms of the One who loves her most.

Absolutely nothing can separate believers from God’s love. 

The apostle struggles for words to describe the absolute certainty of God’s love for believers. Nothing hard or dangerous, neither death nor life, can separate us. If God, the uncreated One, is for us, and no created thing can separate us, then our security in Him is absolute.

Romans 8:37-39

³⁷ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

³³ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

John 16:33

⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1 Corinthians 15:57

⁴ For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 

1 John 5:4

Romans 8:31-34

No matter what life throws at us we need not fear….we are wrapped in the eternal life of Jesus Christ. 

The things of this world will not overcome us because we are kept busy in the desires of our heart and the works of the Father. 

There is power in the name of Jesus and through Him we are justified! 

Our fight is spiritual not physical and He overcame the darkness and hell in His resurrection from the dead.He has already won!

If God has done everything from foreknowledge to glorification for us, all adversaries are powerless. If God, the Supreme Judge, justifies, then who is going to successfully bring a charge against us? Since Christ had fully justified us and is presently interceding for us, then no one can possibly condemn us.

Romans 8:31-34

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ³³ Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:28

³ who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 

Hebrews 1:3

¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

John 3:18

⁶ For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 

Romans 5:6

¹⁰ For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 

Romans 5:10

²⁵ who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. 

Romans 4:25

²⁵ Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. 

Hebrews 7:25

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 

Revelation 12:10

Mark 1:14-15

The time is now. Salvation is at hand. Repent. Believe. 

Jesus fulfilled the law in His birth and death overcoming the darkness in His resurrection. He died in our place so that we could live in His.

He is the light that shines on the truth of God and we are one in Him…the Body of Christ.

Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. It was the subject of much OT prophecy, and the theme was familiar to Jesus’ listeners. Repent, and believe are both acts of faith. When a person accepts the only true and worthy object of faith, that person readily turns from inferior substitutes.

Mark 1:14-15

¹⁴ Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, ¹⁵ and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

^12 lNow when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. 

Matthew 4:12

²³ And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. 

Matthew 4:23

⁴ But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 

Galatians 4:4

¹⁰ that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, ³both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 

Ephesians 1:10

⁶ who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, 

1 Timothy 2:6

²¹ testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Acts 20:21

²⁵ “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 

Daniel 9:25

1 Kings 14:12-13

There are consequences to our actions individually and collectively but If we humble ourselves, seek God and ask forgiveness He is merciful to forgive and bring us back into union.

 Without God, through Christ Jesus, life is void and without meaning. The sins of the past generation do not dictate our present if we are doers of God’s word and not just readers. 

Being a member of  a Church does not make us followers of Christ….. our actions do.  He sees the heart.

Abijah’s character receives special divine consideration. Although the age of Jeroboam’s son is not certain, he may have been quite young.

1 Kings 14:12-13

¹² Arise therefore, go to your own house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die. ¹³ And all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he is the only one of Jeroboam who shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something good toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam.

¹⁷ Then Jeroboam’s wife arose and departed, and came to Tirzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 

1 Kings 14:17

¹² When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah. 

2 Chronicles 12:12

³ Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God.” 

2 Chronicles 19:3

Luke 12:1

Our life needs to reflect the truth of the Cross. 

The Church, the Body of Christ, shines through the darkness when we walk the walk and talk the talk in our daily life showing God’s loving compassion to all people. We cannot do this in our own power… we need the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life of humility, forgiveness and mercy. It is sufficient to say God hates hypocrisy and that Satan is the father of it. Anything but love creates disharmony and will be pruned from our life and thrown into the fire to be burned.

The Father wants no one to perish. NO. NOT. ONE

Practicing hypocrisy is senseless because eventually all deeds—both good and evil—will be exposed.

Luke 12:1

12 In the meantime, when an innumerable multitude of people had gathered together, so that they trampled one another, He began to say to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

⁶ Then Jesus said to them,“Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” 

Matthew 16:6

¹⁵ Then He charged them, saying, “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 

Mark 8:15

¹² Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

Matthew 16:12

³⁹ Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness. 

Luke 11:39

John 8:22-24

Just Believe! 

Believe that God loved you enough to send His only Son (all man all God) to die in your place.

I am was God’s designation of Himself. Jesus was claiming to be God. This assertion was not understood by the religious leaders at this time. Later, Jesus’ claim to be the “I AM” prompted the Jewish leaders to seek His life.

John 8:22-24

²² So the Jews said, “Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?” ²³ And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴ Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

¹⁴ And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” 

Exodus 3:14

³¹ He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 

John 3:31

¹⁹ If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

John 15:19

¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 

John 17:16

¹⁶ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 

Mark 16:16

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

Where did speaking in tongues and prophesy go? When were they banished from our services? Shouldn’t we be desiring these outward expressions of the Holy Spirit in our Church? The time is coming or has already arrived that we need to clearly hear the direction of the Holy Spirit to survive. Room for thought.

1 Corinthians 14:39-40

³⁹ Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. ⁴⁰ Let all things be done decently and in order.

³¹ But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 

1 Corinthians 12:31

²⁰ Do not despise prophecies. 

1 Thessalonians 5:20

³³ For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints. 

1 Corinthians 14:33

Nearly anything good can become unproductive if it’s abused or misused. Paul is all about embracing the side of spirituality that can seem a bit wacky to us today—gifts of tongues and prophecy, to name a few. But he is fully aware of the problems that can come from these gifts being used in a way that doesn’t fit within God’s will. And Paul’s primary concern is that spiritual gifts are used only within the bounds of love.

Love is what it’s all about. “Pursue love, and strive for spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, because no one understands, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor 14:1–2). By tongues, Paul is likely referencing the “tongues of angels”—some angelic language (1 Cor 13:1)—although elsewhere the term is used in reference to people speaking in a language they don’t actually know for the sake of ministering to others in their native tongue (Acts 2:3–4).

Love—as manifested in Christ’s death and resurrection and in our living sacrificially for Him and others—is central, and spiritual gifts should support that cause.

Paul goes on to say: “Now I want you all to speak with tongues, but even more that you may prophesy.… But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with tongues, how do I benefit you, unless I speak to you either with a revelation or with knowledge or with a prophecy or with a teaching?” (1 Cor 14:5–6).

Spiritual gifts are meant to indwell believers. Christians are meant to be driven by God’s Spirit and to do miraculous things in His name. But none of it matters if it’s not for the purpose of showing Christ’s love.

What gifts do you resist using? How can you use the spiritual gifts God has given you to show love to others, and how can you correct your use of them if you’re not currently using them for this purpose?

John D. Barry