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00:00:00 this morning scripture reading is taken from 1 Corinthians chap 12: 12-31 1 Corinthians chapter 12: 12-31 I shall be reading from the NIV let's listen to the word of God just as a body the one has many parts but all its many parts from one body so it is with Christ for we will all baptized by one spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles slave or free and we will all given the one Spirit to drink even so the body is not made up of one part but of many now if the foood should say because I'm not
00:00:41 a hen I do not belong to the body it would not for that reason stop being part of the body and if the ear should say because I'm not an eye I do not belong to the body it would not for that reason stop being part of the body if the whole body were an eye where would the sense of hearing be if the whole body were an ear where would the sense of smell be but in fact God has placed the parts in the body every one of them just as you wanted them to be if they were all one part where would the body be as it is there are many parts but one
00:01:19 body verse 21 the ey cannot say to the hand I don't need you and the head cannot say to the feet I don't need you on the contrary those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor and the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty while our presentable Parts need no special treatment but God has put the body together giving greater honor to the parts that lack it so that there should be no division in the body but
00:01:56 that its parts should have equal concern for each other if one part suffers every part suffers with it if one part is honored every part rejoices with it now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is a part of it and God has placed in the church first of all Apostles second prophets third teachers then Miracles then Gifts of healing of helping of guidance and of different kinds of tongues are all Apostles are all prophets are all teachers do all work miracles do all have gifts of hearing do all speak in tongues do all
00:02:35 interpret now eagerly desire the greater gifts and yet I will show you the most excellent way this is the word of God thank you so much excellent Bible reading we have people who are very gifted in reading the Bible okay here uh good morning church morning spiritual gifts and love today we're going to look at uh next week Resurrection body uh and after that we'll be tongues in worship the more controversial topics so let's start with a word of prayer father Lord we enter into the part of your word that
00:03:18 involves all of us we are the body of Christ and each of us uniquely endowed with a gift that's our identity and yet father we ask this morning that you speak to us that we will make decisions today as to how we are going to interact in your body to glorify your name to be truly Who We Are by being part of your body for you give us identity you give us our source of strength and our vision our hope we ask for Jesus sake amen right let's uh revise last week we went through the nature of spiritual
00:04:01 gifts where it is not a measure of spirituality is sovereignly given by Grace there's diverse but have one source serves the common good and and it's how God implements his will in our church in our community and the world today we're going to look at the effects of spiritual gifts in the body how should spiritual gifts look like in our body and it's very simple I only have three points there are only three principles the principles are unity diversity and Community firstly Unity for just as the body is one and has many
00:04:38 members and all the members of the body though many are one body so it is with Christ for one Spirit we're all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks slaves or free all made to drink of one spirit and if I would to rephrase what Paul would be saying we all baptized into one body Chinese Indian Pakistani Myanmar is Bangladesh every single race doctors lawyers Clarks singers non- singers musicians drummers all infused with one spirit that is the basis of unity and you look at the previous sermon variety gifts
00:05:33 Services activities Same Spirit same Lord same God that is the point spiritual gifts are diverse but have one source it's like the body isn't it we're going to look at the metaphor of the body and if you look right into the molecular level of the body if I to pluck any part of your body I would have the same DNA you leave a bit of saliva a bit of hair I think that and that DNA would be the same for your whole body so the DNA of your eyelash and your tongue would be the same and that represents your whole born
00:06:13 again the spirit makes us born again you can't will yourself to be born again all right the spirit blows where it blows and it is that miraculous once in a lifetime transformation that actually creates new birth a new nature in us and that is the same spirit that animates all Christians so in Paul makes it very clear in Ephesians there's one body one Spirit as you called to one hope that belongs to your call one Lord One Faith one baptism one God and Father of all who are over who is over all and through all and in
00:06:54 all by Grace is given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift so here is son say has just one as long as you're a believer in Christ or a church there's only one but each one is given the different measure of Christ gifts so is baptism it is a when you baptized you are baptized into Christ right uh we have this term called the baptism of the Holy Spirit I'm going to deal a little bit of bit about it because this actually causes division in the church there are various references is a new
00:07:30 testament about baptism Holy Spirit Matthew 3 Mark 8 Luke 3:16 and all of them talk about baptism and Jes and John is the one who comes and announces the baptism of the spirit okay when you go to acts chap 1 verse5 it is Jesus announcing to his disciples when he's leaving an Ascension that the spirit will come in that the next chapter chapter two he announced a baptism of spirit and Acts chapter 11 is actual baptism of spirit in actually the Gentiles for the first time so that's the baptism of spirit is the reception
00:08:10 of the Holy Spirit okay it is a conversion experience and the controversy that's introduced in the church that it is a there is a different baptism there's a postconversion experience and if you look here in Acts chapter 11 this is a situation where Peter was actually preaching to gentiles for the first time the Gentiles will receive the Gospel as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on Earth at the beginning here we are talking about non-believers right they didn't come up stand up and ask to be
00:08:45 prayed you know as he was preaching the Holy Spirit just fell on them and I remember the word of the Lord how he said John baptized with the water you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit if then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ who was I to stand in God's way so very clearly he's preaching a whole bunch of people who are completely different to him and halfway through the sermon the Holy Spirit just falls on them and they all believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
00:09:20 that is the reception of the holy spirit that is the baptism with which Peter says that's what John was talking about right now there's supposed to be a problem when you reinterpret in terms of the baptism of the spirit there are some denominations that says oh no you believe first and then you get baptized in the Holy Spirit as a second experience I mean you know uh two separate experiences and it actually happened in two places in uh the New Testament one is the Samaritans they actually believe first and then uh had
00:09:57 the baptism of the Holy Spirit later on and then they spoke in tongues okay and this is to ensure why does this happen why is it different is to ensure that the Samaritans who were actually culturally different from the Jews and had been enmity for such a long time that they would not continue as a separate faith that the same faith will bind both the juralism Jews and the Samaritans Together as one you look at Ephesians chapter 12 the whole bunch of disciples there Ephesians sorry Acts chapter 19 there were 12 Ephesian
00:10:29 Disciples of John who believed in the words of John and repentance but hadn't known that the Christ had come and they actually were they really Believers we're not sure when Paul spoke to them they came to know and gave their life to Christ and the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues right so what is the role of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit distinguishes Believers from non-believers the Holy Spirit starts us in our Liv Galatians says are you so foolish having begun in the spirit are
00:11:03 you now being perfected by the Flesh and the Holy Spirit makes a person a child of God most new New Testament passages talk about the first indwelling of the spirit not the second so the Bap holy spirit is a conversion experience the subsequent experience is the filling of the Holy Spirit which some people have interpreted I would say misinterpreted as the baptism of the Holy Spirit second time uh you look at Acts chapter 9 uh 4 Peter already had the gift of the Holy Spirit chapter 2 right in chapter 4
00:11:38 Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers and people and Elders if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a Man by what means this man has been healed so second time he keeps being filled uh the disciples when they prayed the place in which they gathered together were shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and you know what happened happens they continue to preach with boldness that's what the Holy Spirit does when he fills you but he being full this is Steven the brightest young mind
00:12:09 there defended the faith first Deacon full of the Holy Spirit gazed into heaven saw the glory of God Jesus standing there and he said behold I see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hand of God and immediately he was killed here again filled with the holy spirit so our charge because we have been given the gift of the holy spirit because we all baptized with the Holy Spirit don't ever let anybody tell you in this church that you're not baptized with the holy spirit that your experience is second class
00:12:44 there is no such thing because we are all baptized with the Holy Spirit we must maintain the unity of spirit the the unity we have in this church is not manufactured or produced by us it is maintained by us so we remember this now the second thing about spiritual gifts is that it is causes diversity and Paul uses the the analogy of the body right for the body does not consist of one member but of many so diversity is actually intentional all right God designs it but as it is God arranged a members of the
00:13:24 body each one of them as he chose if all were single member where would the body be as it is there are many parts and yet one body even if you look in in the world today you got two young ladies who who are basically uh adopted separately in China both had identical DNA both identical heart problems techology of fallot both had surgery done and they actually found each other back in the United States and they grew up uh into beautiful young ladies but you notice they actually have different personality
00:14:00 why do identical twins differ in personality even though they got shared environment they found the Studies have shown that if you are between the age of six and nine and the more stress you are exposed to when you're growing up you actually develop different more different personalities because it's how you cope with stress so even identical twins have diversity put in we're going to celebrate M next weekend I think a and the strength of Malaysia is actually diversity why this is how God has designed the world did you know if you
00:14:39 were to go to Hokkaido in in Winter you see snow falling all over the place do you know the trillions and trillions of snowflakes every single snowflake is uniquely designed you know scientists have actually replicated the process they actually make snowflakes but the trouble the the snowflakes that the scientists make are all identical that's our stupidity when God makes something it is totally unique and that should tell us that diversity is not something that should tear us apart like some parts of
00:15:18 this countryes try to do diversity is our strength you see God's image is only clearly displayed when diversity is upheld see Paul says you know that you being rooted and grounded in love may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth the length the height the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled with the fullness God if you really want to be filled with the fullness of God and to reflect who God is you can't do it alone the only way you can experience
00:15:54 the love the length the breath the height the depth the words cannot dis dis they describe or capture God's love the only way you can do that is to be part of a body apart you cannot do that God's image is clearly displayed in diversity in the many people in his church the misconception that we have because of sin is that Unity is uniformity if homogeneity is is easier to relate to people who are like me so you come to church and God gave you a whole 700 people all completely different like snowflakes and you gather to the people
00:16:36 that look like you smell like you talk like you that's called homogeneity and actually causes it's not a reflection of who God is uniformity says Ah if it's not done my way you know then it's not okay so when you work together in the committee and this chap does it different from you oh see that's wrong it's not my way don't smile because all of you do the same thing Unity is uniformity it applies to non-Christian this Dr Idris Abad prime minister Department you know he's upset about October Festival he never goes to
00:17:15 October Festival but he doesn't want you to go to October Festival because it's not in line with what the country is about see cannot tolerate diversity even nurses uniform you know past MP says oh is too revealing you must have more stricter uniformity don't laugh Christians are the same do you know the when the calvinist went over and they actually were part of the East India Company the Dutch East India Company they enforce strict dress code you must walk like them talk like them and and basically
00:17:51 have the same kind entertainment and got harsh punishments if you do not follow what they say Christians follow the same thing and here Paul says it the foot should say because I'm not a hand I do not belong to the body that would not make any less part of the body and if the ear should say because I'm not an eye I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less part of the body so diversity actually causes division imagine what the whole body will look like right if the whole body were an eye my
00:18:23 God look at that so you don't have to commment on each other's hair or whatever you all look exactly the same right where would the sense of hearing be and the whole body with an ear where would the sense of smell be so maybe that's a good thing no need to smell uh so this is a parody Paul is actually joking with you how stupid of you to to actually go against diversity if therefore the whole body Church comes together and all speak in tongues Outsiders and unbelievers enter will not will they not say you're out of your
00:18:57 minds this chapter 14 so and the whole issue here if you look in the verse 12 13 14 chapters he's actually having a go that people speaking in tongues it's a fact he spending his time they are elevating that gift above everything else and he say if that is the ultimate belief that leads to spirituality and you enter that means everybody speaking tongu then everybody freaks out you know the New Comers would freak out at all so therefore that's wrong the beauty is God's design the problem with us you
00:19:28 know what our problem is we see the world through the lens of our own experience and that applies to every single person in this hall right the you know every time someone talks to me right because I spend my whole day diagnosing problems immediately I put on my doctor lens right I think something wrong with the fellow I think he got kidney stone or maybe he's got a prostate problem and I'm always evaluating people as they're talking to me because I only look at you through the lens of my own experience right if you're a musician
00:20:08 maybe you talk to the musician he looks at you through the hey why so Out Of Tune fellow why is he like that why that is a greting to my eyes I don't think I want to be with him uh so so the the problem is that we see the world through the lens of our own experience and that's why there's conflict in this particular church when you both come to a particular problem you can't see it in a different you can't see in in in a different way so if the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you nor
00:20:37 can the head to the feet say I have no need of you there's no room for Spiritual elitism if you see the world according to your own eyes your own lens then what happens what you see is more important what everybody has is unimportant so tongues become divisive you know why because you're the in group are you speak Tong oh yeah I can come you sit together uh we are ex you don't exactly do that but you know there's a nod and a smile you know soort of thing I'll choose for I committee all the people with higher spiritual gifts right
00:21:11 and then you you polarize to certain leaders why because certain leaders can speak in tongues so they are the more spiritual ones and it doesn't have to be speaking in tongues this could be preaching it could be teaching it could be so many things because you polarize because they're more like you right and then social significance the ones who speak tongues are more spiritual right here is so the doctrine that's gone wrong is separability and subsequence right see is First Assembly of God KL fga a KL they say the baptism of
00:21:41 Believers in the Holy Spirit is witnessed by the initial physical sign of speaking with other tongues as the spirit of God gives them utterance in the baptism of holy spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues so therefore what they have S done is that they elevated one gift above every other gift doesn't say anything about you but it says that if you are baptized in the spirit therefore you must speak in tongues so does it mean that those who do not speak in tonu are not baptized with the spirit that is the implication
00:22:10 when you do that here is a actually this is a charismatic uh uh leader he says is director of The Fountain Trust and vice principle of St John's nottingam he says there is no New Testament principle which states that the Believer cannot be in full freedom of Holy Spirit unless he has spoken in tongues experience show that people do come to know the release of the spirit in their lives and yet do not speak in tongues and to suggest to them that the experience is not real for that reason is biblically unjustified
00:22:38 and possibly harmful and can create unnecessary doubt and bondages this published in the charismatic magazine all right so it's not from a conservative magazine there's a specific dignity in every part of the body and those parts of the body we think less honorable we D we bestow great honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty which is which our more presentable parts do not require what is Paul talking about here which is the part of your body which is unpresentable anybody
00:23:13 know anybody know cannot say you know but cannot say right okay so I will leave it at that so there are parts of your body what which are unpresentable so you buy the proper attire and you put it in cover all that up covering up means give honor some of you don't know why you don't cover but you know in certain societies are not here all right uh so so that's so that tells you that tells you yourself that there's a specific dignity for every part of the body see otherwise why would you cover up your un or give
00:23:49 more honor to the unpresentable parts because I'm not like them I don't speak in tongue I don't prophesy I cannot heal I don't belong that is what we are creating in church we've got because we highlight certain gifts the clearest evidence that all that is wrong is Paul's last Point are all Apostles no isn't it are all prophets no are all teachers no it's rhetorical do all work miracles do all possess Gifts of healings do all speak in tongues do all interpret earnestly desire high so what Paul is absolutely saying here
00:24:26 clearest evidence is that not everybody speaks with tongues that's a fact right so what happens some of you speak in tongues you got prophecies you get healing supposed to be like spiritual the non-spiritual ones are the ones who don't speak in tongue they only teach uh non-judgmental you understand that diversity is there for a purpose and you become teachable because the person who doesn't speak in Tong can also teach you things and as well as person who speak in tongues you don't discriminate
00:25:00 against him he can teach you things too you're teachable and you're humble whether you're spiritual Elite or non- Elite you collaborate you persuade and you don't dominate uh MacArthur held a conference called The Strange Fire Conference in which he he went and th all the Charis all the charismatics and John Piper actually wrote in response that and he says non charismatic abuses are true wrong doctr Prosperity Gospel prophetic abuses Financial abuse non-charismatic abuse emotional deadness liberalism compromise
00:25:40 lack of missionary Zeal you want to throw stones you can throw on either side it is your character that's important so God has composed the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it so that there be no division in the body and that the members may have the same care so so why is it that God caus this diversity why why can't God be more straightforward make everybody like anol how's that everybody can preach it oh don't you're Mary oh make everybody like Mary don't want so you see so actually she
00:26:17 she's right so God has so composed the body the diversity so that you give greater honor the part that lacked it all right now you you are the body of Christ and individually members of it God has appointed the church Apostles second prophets third teachers then Miracles then Gifts of healing helping administrating in various kinds of tongues and so therefore he he actually listes in order first Apostle second prophets the teacher and then after that there's no more 450 he actually says then then then
00:26:49 then then is it mean does it mean that there's a hierarchy right does it mean there's a hierarchy no what he means is that one gift has precedence over the other in terms of the founding and building up of the church when you build up a church Apostles start first and then there's prophets and teachers and then everybody else comes in and the apostles is talking about is not the 12 it's actually talking about church Planters prophets we will talk about in chapter 15 in two weeks time so I won't
00:27:18 deal with that the gift of administration kuesis is the ability to formulate strategies which will plot the pilot the ship through choppy Waters that is what it means in Greek so which is basically the gift of leadership being a pilot a leader could be a board member or an elder and you'll notice if you look at two sections of the same chapter all the gifts are located there what do you notice where tongues are bottom right it is no surprise he puts the tongues at the bottom because that was the problem with the church all
00:27:57 right now let's go a bit about the tongues the early church fathers thought the Chong tongues were languages Gregory chrisostom Austine Calvin even the Puritans Jonathan Edwards uh why because the evidence is on scripture it says in chapter two uh they began to speak with other tongues as the spirit gave them utterance and chapter 2 uh people were bewildered because each of them were hearing them speak in his own language and they were amazed and astonished saying are not all these people speaking galileans and how is it
00:28:38 that we hear each of us in his own native life so a whole bunch of foreigners in Jerusalem at the time and they are hearing the same Apostles speaking in their own native tongue which is well freaks everybody out isn't it that's the gift and one Corinthians chapter 14 Paul Paul says doubtless there are many different languages in the world which implies speaking in tongues is actually a different language this is Charles Parham who's basically the founder of the Pentecostal movement in the United States uh and here are
00:29:13 some historical writings he says the Lord will give us the power of speech to talk to the people of the various Nations without having to study them in schools Topeka State Journal 1901 and then it says as part of our labor will be to to teach the church the uselessness of spending years of time preparing missionaries for work in foreign lands when all they have to do is ask God for power so what he's saying that omf forces you to take four years of language study before you go to a foreign country he says give your
00:29:45 tongues Fast Track you just ask God and you speak the language this is when he first started out this is Agnes Osman who writes in tongues and this is allegedly Mandarin I don't know whether you recognize Mandarin the university Toronto linguistic Professor William samarin he actually studied uh tongues and he says go gosalia turns out to be a linguistic nonsense is not a language in spite of The Superficial similarities gosalia is fundamentally not a language so some people say it's a language of angels and
00:30:23 all it doesn't really matter it's a way you communicate with God and in fact there's some evidence of that this Andrew Newberg who is basically a new trend in the United States he's a radiologist he started this called neuro theology how the brain responds to uh pH uh to to spiritual phenomenon and he did a landmark study published in the New York Times 2006 the measurement of regional blood flow during goso laia speaking in tongues he took five black uh uh uh ladies uh and basically compar their brain when they're singing and
00:30:59 compared their brain when they're speaking in tongues all right and and this is the uh blood flow on one side you actually see the of someone singing all right the five ladies you can see blood flow to the frontal cortex prefrontal cortex as well as the cordate lob on the left side which is the one for language and it lights up as you're singing as you're talking as they're doing something deliberate but on the other hand when they're speaking tongues you can see what what happened less blood flow which means
00:31:32 when you're actually speaking in tongues you're not deliberately speaking you know trying to speak you're actually allowing the spirit to take over because The Language Center doesn't receive blood the prefontal cortex doesn't receive blood so therefore there must be something spiritual going on so this is exciting isn't it that the gift of tongues is real we don't know what language it is but it's something that God gives you as he sovereignly decrease so this church is not against speaking in tongues if you speak in tongues God
00:32:03 bless you it is a holy spirit phenomena and you should enjoy it right but you must not you must understand that it doesn't mean that you're more of the spirit if you got better gifts the diversity of spiritual gifts is to be encouraged celebrated depended on for the health of the body and the progress of our mission The Giver not the gift is the one who accomplishes anything lastly Unity diverse the last one is community the eye cannot say to the hand I don't need you nor can the head to the feet I
00:32:34 don't need you on the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable you see Community result from interdependency that is the important takeaway point from this metaphor you know if you take out your iPhone you know how many major companies are required to produce one iPhone 18 m major companies not just one uh you look at the most important commodity in our society today the semiconductor chip it takes 6 months to develop 500 discri steps and it crosses 70 International
00:33:15 borders mean 70 countries involved to make one microchip because how God designed we need each other imagine some years ago 2021 picture of the doctors here went on stri imagine if you go to GH pediatric department all the doctors on strike the whole thing crashes nothing works because they are essential but better still nurses nurses have left our country they don't strike they leave they go to Singapore where the starting pay is 6,000 sing and over time they make more than doctors in this country we don't
00:33:52 treat nurses well so they don't strike they leave I have an operating list two operating list for the last 25 years okay Wednesday and Friday because of that is today the last 6 month cut into half I mean I do half to work why not because I'm not available I'm available every day but there are no nurses if they don't go to Singapore they go to Saudi Arabia starting pay is 18,000 ring right see that that shows you not that Saudi Arabia AR Arabia or Singapore is good but it shows you that we need
00:34:26 everybody we cannot cannot function as hospital without nurses we cannot function without doctors nor administrators nor cleaners you see it's done in such a way that suddenly everybody talk to the nurses give them more pay hey Sayang please stay so you actually treat is better right because we are interdependent diversity causes interdependence and this results in unity for there may be no division to the body but the members may have the same care for one another suddenly treat the wiers well you know
00:35:00 why because your business suffers otherwise you look down on them and you pay them lowly you know next week we'll be celebrating Hari Meda that is the emblem we're already proud of Meda the Meda actually started in Genesis chapter 3 Independence Day when they took that fruit and you decl and shook their fist before God and says mura yes that's right right and ever since that day when we shook our face to God Adam and Eve mura from each other too they fight her desire will be for the man to control
00:35:40 the man and his result he will punish her and submit and subdue her that's what mdea does to you mura is a fruit of Genesis chapter three it is not a good thing interdependence is the design of God God God designed Unity God designed diversity and God designed interdependence for example you could speak in tongues do you know that you are not allowed to speak in tonu in church I've seen some people the having the the worship leader speaks Sing Sing halfway and then he's like speaking in tongues but you cannot speak tongues in
00:36:20 church you look chapter 14 I'll go you unless you got interpretation right so therefore it makes you what inter dependent why speak Tong is there interpretation unless God gives you the gift of interpretation you one leg kick and do everything then you don't then then why is it that I get the gift of tongues but the other fellow gets a gift of uh interpretation and he's on strike today so I can't speak in tongues why why God so one kind man isn't it why can't he give me all the gives one lick kick super
00:37:01 Pastor the whole idea is that God has no super pastors and sometime you treat your leaders as if they're super Pastor they're not there are people with Clay feet just like you and they have got gifts that depend on your gift if you go on strike we're finished imagine the AV person switch me off and that'll be the end you have to be like George witfield who could his voice is so loud he could speak to 5,000 people uh in a field in the United States so the people who are preachers have be gifted a huge
00:37:37 voice all right squeaky sound like me cannot you say me interdependence is the way if anyone speaks in tongue let be two or three at the most in turn let someone interpret if there's no one to interpret let them keep quiet you see all right so therefore we are interdependent okay so we can experience with all the saints Community Acts chapter 2 the moment they received the Holy Spirit what happened they were together all things in common they were selling possessions belongings and distributing
00:38:14 the proceeds to all any at need day by day attending a temple together breaking bread in their homes receiving the food with glad and generous Hearts praising God and having favor with all the people and Lord added to their number but day by day those who are being saved that is the effect of the Holy Spirit people coming together and sharing letting down their God understanding they being part of each other I had a interesting conversation last week as you know one of the best things that the Lord has
00:38:46 done for this church is right after the service you can see the whole place outside packed and people are all eating and doing all sorts of things and somebody uh came up to me I was visiting one of the groups there there a live group and and they are actually brought their own food you know and they you know don't know what l or whatever they were all together and then they were with harsh tones they ask me you know uh I don't know whether we should be bringing food you know now somebody criticizes and we
00:39:17 are taking business away from the vendor you know that is a very silly statement to say you know why First Baptist is not in business to give money to vendor I rather have no vendor as a fact you know why we have vendor because you guys are too selfish to cook your own food and too lazy right that cell group is an example of New Testament they cook their own food they bring and share with each other they take turns I think only one thing missing I told the group you to share with newcomers your food too and
00:39:54 one day we will get rid of all vendors amen amen right yeah because we love each other it is not a chore to wake up at 4:00 in the morning prepare the meal because I love my neighbor we have vendors because we are too selfish and sinful too lazy yeah Mary's always right too lazy all right but while while we are still growing in spirituality we need vendors no choice okay but I'm just saying that if you cook and it's wonderful I'll come to your table and share and and please share with everybody that is New Testament and so
00:40:31 therefore one day when we have no vendor who do we depend on all of you grab food yeah you're right in an emergency we call grab food but this this is interdependent one group makes L the other group takes onean me and they share and you know it's it's it's how the Holy Spirit works it's like trees these are Aspen trees huge tall variegated trees all have one common root the Holy Spirit but they're all different now rather speaking truth we have to grow up I think Sarah was quoting this ver in Ephesians we grow up
00:41:09 in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined together with every joint with which it is equipped with every part working properly making the body grow so that it builds itself up in love we grow you and I we grow when we all grow you see when every joint is working imagine you go for the 100 met the race remember the Chinese phenomenon uh Pang Pan panz the tall guy who won the gold medal in the medal my wife is watching him every day a CH Chinese gentleman he's
00:41:54 doing this this this this imagine his foot doesn't work you think he can win the gold medal you can't it's when every part it is John mitti who is basically Anglican Theologian he says I am because we are because we are therefore I am so therefore your spiritual growth your progress in Christ is actually interdependent on your community your Christian growth to maturity can not happen outside the body I am because we are that's what he's saying and so therefore uh some people say All I Need Is Christ actually that's wrong all I
00:42:41 need I will live for Jesus as if you're in a bubble at home on zoom on live streaming I live for Christ i i i i i All I Need Is Christ actually you're wrong where is the body of Christ the church I will live for Jesus how do you live for Jesus you live for the church CH why because the church is the body of Christ but the church is full of horrible people yeah last time they criticized me I cook meal some more they say no good it's a fact I've got people who run away from this church because they nosy
00:43:13 buggers coming in and saying hey not enough salt maybe they say not enough salt because it's true but you can't take it right so therefore then you tell me first Baptist how can it be I live all I need is First Baptist all I need is I I I will live for First Baptist cannot be a horrible people that's not the point by loving and living for the church you are loving and living Jesus and if you before you point your finger point it at yourself are you the Paradigm of Holiness and Perfection are you the work in progress
00:43:49 so are are they one member suffers all suffer together one member is honored all Rejoice together if all the parts of the body working together the body grows if one part is Left Behind then we're in trouble the only way you can experience this is is is is through self-denial servanthood and vulnerability a lot of people come to this church you know why because they say the preaching is good and I praise God for that because of my colleagues who are gifted to preach and teach and we're trying to raise more
00:44:21 people but you can't grow from just the word itself which is heard you've got to actually incarnate that word into your life and that can only happen when you're interdependent and the only way to be interdependent is deny yourself be a servant and be vulnerable there a difference between information and transformation when people come to church I hope you come to this church not because of information information you want go ahead and go to internet download you can actually listen to John Piper and and the late Tim Keller the
00:44:57 best sermons in the world they call information isn't it if you come to this church don't come for information come for transformation people don't just want to know what is true they want to know what is real what is real is deeper than an idea it is an experience when you come to First Baptist Church you come for an experience hopefully it's a good experience not a bad experience but it's an experience and and there's transformation you got spirit filled gift of teaching but transformation is
00:45:28 when you interact with each other and and the trouble is I come to FBC there a lot of prickly people there isn't it rub me the wrong way right simply so not sensitive you know say this say that you know and then I so people tell me oh the fell walk past me you know hey hello you have 700 people people of course walk past you isn't it that's right some of you are so sensitive you know and and then the leader does something which you don't agree with then you hop from one life group to another the trouble is do you know that
00:46:02 all that is actually planned we actually put obstacles in your way we actually make life difficult for you you know why we need you to learn one important thing sorry that's right see your gospel is useless if you only join with all the people who are not Pupi no prickly they always praise you they see how clever you are how beautiful you are how loving you are so kind of you what what was that non-Christian can do the same thing if you go to a fellowship where people are difficult and you have to learn to
00:46:40 love to endure to sacrifice then your faith is real isn't it there are non-christians here sitting about our mids and they see that people in church can say sorry people in church can get get over their garages and move on then they say there's something special about this group people because if I go to interact club that doesn't happen if I go to the Japan club that doesn't happen it happens here and that's what it mean I mean your gospel is worth nothing if you can't say sorry it is worth nothing that mean
00:47:20 nothing has happened in your life see anyone come after me let him deny himself take up his cross daily and follow me whoever would save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake will save it he's not asking you guys to be nailed on the cross he already done that for you he's asking you to let it down lower your self-esteem don't guard your dignity with such ferocity that a slightest slight the horrible I so hurt I'm so hurt you you hear this the the number one phrase in this church I'm so hurt I
00:47:58 don't want to serve anymore and the guy who did the hurting no I'm right he's wrong I can never say sorry that is the most magical word in any church and in fact in any marriage there's a number one magic right learn to forgive each other so the challenge this morning is to deny ourselves to take up the cross and follow him and this is what Paul did the beauty is the gospel go Paul said I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake I've suffered the loss of all
00:48:39 things and count them rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith what he's saying is that he doesn't he's not saying that I account everything is lost he lost all his money in a share market all he saying that all my self-esteem all my achievements and my entire wardrobe all rubbish all rubbish doesn't count for anything right compared to the beauty
00:49:13 and love of Jesus Christ and so therefore if your faith is real then you will learn to be vulnerable you see if you're vulnerable you become real the problem is leaders like us have difficulty being vulnerable I mean I have difficulty being vulnerable because I'm sitting across vulnerable people every day they are sick I'm not isn't it so I assume a stance of superiority you're coming to me for help ha yes right you need me to operate on you yes right that's the problem and we are when we are not vulnerable
00:49:53 right we are not real and people can't see the power of the Gospel in our own lives and we all guard our vulnerability so importantly so that you know there no chins in our Ana so they will shine for our Lord Jesus Christ do you not know your your weaknesses will shine for Jesus Christ because your weaknesses will show the world how Christ comes in and and so therefore if your faith is real you will learn that because he loved you because he's sacrificed for you because he forgave you you can forgive others if you can't forgive
00:50:29 others mean your faith is fake you weren't really forgiven by our Lord Jesus Christ if you are unwilling to serve means you don't understand he came to serve you that's the thing is your faith real and if your faith is real serving in church being with each other here like pupy and rubbing each other different way will still be associated with joy Wonder boldness and confidence because we resurrect one day we'll be resurrected one day all the things he said about you all injustices he did to you do you think it'll
00:51:06 matter it'll be a distant memory and we can put it behind us if this gospel is real so finally verse 31 earnestly desire higher gifts and I'll show you the more excellent what does he mean by higher gift he's not talking about gifts in general what is the higher gift the higher gift is one two three Apostles teachers prophets you that me why because they build up the church if you after this service you go oh good I go home and then pray pray pray very hard for the GI of tongues that's fine too
00:51:46 but he wants the higher gift you know he listed the tongue at the bottom right he asked you for higher gift you pray for the one at the top not the one at the bottom right you can pray to be Apostle yes in today's Apostle is actually Church planter I happily send you out all right but pray for the higher gifts because of chapter 13 John will speak to you about love great Warren said these words I need you to keep in our minds as we end God gave me a gift not for me but for you God gave you a gift not for you but
00:52:24 for me if you don't use your gift GI you're depriving me if I don't use my gift I'm robbing you so every single person in this church you all have a gift this morning if you're not using it I am diminished if every part of the body every joint is not working I can't win the race if I don't use my gift I'm robbing you and and that's what FBC is about we're a body that's United diverse and independent we need each other I'm so glad this morning even in the worship team we have Adrien Chang at keyboards
00:53:18 let's give her a shout out and first time she's playing for us imagine if she didn't play go on strike ah Hab and a young lady called Zen at [Music] drums to prove to you women have rhythm too so praise God I would like to see more and more young people old people whatever people every one of you have a gift should we all join together to be dependent it's no shame to be dependent on each other and to grow together let's pray father Lord we ask this morning that we in this church be bold and joyful to exercise our spiritual gift
00:54:06 every single person so that this church will grow and the world will see that Jesus is real and the spirit lives in us we ask for Jesus sake amen thank you Dr Peter J can we all rise and respond with our closing song [Music] people of the R Who Delight to BR him praise come all into your hearts to sing to the morning SAR of Grace from the shifting Shadows of the earth we will lift our eyes to him best steady the arms of Mercy reach to together children in rej that every [Music] time one Heart Church of
00:55:42 [Music] Christ Joy is morning s and the sweeping through the night from those who tell our battles SW and those struggling in the fight for his perfect love will never change and his mercies never ceas but follow us through all our days with a certain hope of Peace REO re let every time Rejoice one heart one voice oh Church of Christ rej [Music] [Music] come young and old from every land men and wom of the fith Come Those Who full are at he hands find The Riches of his grace over all the world his people sing
00:57:18 sure the sure we hear them call the truth that cries through heav age our God is all and all Rejoice rej that every time rejo one heart one Church of Christ rejo let every rej what heart what oh Church of Christ [Music] [Music] therefore my beloved brothers be steadfast immovable always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain every single one of us our labor using our gifts whether natural talents or spiritual gifts is never in vain so let's start putting our hands together to the plow
00:58:54 and for those of you who are uncertain about your gifts and not knowing how you want to exercise them you can come forward and our elders and our leaders and our members will pray for you we let's commit this into our hands of Our Lord father Lord we thank you we ask that you dismiss us with your blessing what you say amen amen
