By David Peterman, Jr.
The fact that we prioritize being together each Sunday to Praise the Lord and hear him through his word and the spiritual gifts proves that we are confident that God speaks to us. What I want to share this afternoon is the importance of ALL of us being an active part of this process.
Every one of us needs to eagerly strive for the spiritual gifts. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 14:1) he exhorts
Pursue love, but strive eagerly for the spiritual gifts, above all that you may prophesy.
Community is the perfect place for us to develop our gifts. Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to help the church and our Community grow in 1 Cor 12:28.
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.
God has placed these gifts within each of us for the up building of the body. This is not a calling for 3-4 people who we hear from each Sunday. We all have the gifts and my sharing in an attempt to encourage 100% active participation. We each need to ask for gifts and put it into practice. Pray during the week with the expectation that God wants to speak through you on Sunday afternoon.
Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. (1 Tim 4:14-15)
Word gifts
It is no surprise that God predominantly speaks to us through his word. The Holy Spirit has inspired the sacred writers and the Church has discerned this message. Not only should we prioritize time with his word in our personal prayer time, but we should ask Is this word for me or for the Community? If you develop a sense that the word is for the Community, please bring the scripture passage to the discerner so that you can discern together. You can share what you have received along with the word and together discern whether to only share the scripture or also what you received.
Another common way the Lord speaks to us is through our experiencing him in small ways in our daily life. We should ask him if these experiences would build up the Community?
Gifts of tongues and prophecy
For those who discern that the Holy Spirit wants to speak through you through the gift of tongues. My encouragement is not to stop there but ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the specific message that he wants to say. The reasoning from Paul in 1 Cor 14:2-5,
For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to human beings but to God, for no one listens; he utters mysteries in spirit. On the other hand, one who prophesies does speak to human beings, for their building up, encouragement, and solace. Whoever speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but whoever prophesies builds up the church. Now I should like all of you to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. One who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.
Prophecies with words of direction should be submitted to Community leadership for discernment, which has a strong preference that they are written down. No matter how strongly you feel a prompting from the Holy Spirit, you should never spontaneously speak up directing the body to do anything (bow down, prostrate, start praising the Lord again, have a holy hug session, etc. ) rather you should either write the exhortation down and pass a note to one of the leaders or go to the person discerning word gift and share what you have received.
In the exercise of the gift of prophecy our objective is to minimize our personal views and maximize what we hear from the Holy Spirit. This involves being very humble in submitting what we receive to the relevant authority for discernment. We should also humbly seek feedback on the message to affirm the gift.
Speaking in tongues without discernment is a small exception to our norm of having all gifts discerned ahead of time and should only follow a member of the Community discerns a strong outpouring of the gift of tongues and discerns that it is immediately intended for the group. If the person receiving this is not sure of its urgency, they are encouraged to come to the discernment person even if the only thing to be shared is the words of tongues. Some discussion might take place in that forum about whether there are also words of interpretation accompanying the gift of tongues.
With the gift of interpretation of tongues, in keeping with the above special case, our history has been to have a short pause after spontaneous tongues to allow the spontaneous interpretation of the spoken gift of tongues by a Community member who believes, different from the gift of prophecy, that they have received the interpretation of the tongues. Order would suggest that there cannot be two different interpretations of a spoken gifts of tongues. If a second person believes they are receiving a different interpretation following the interpretation of tongues, it is preferred that they proceed to the front row for discernment of their word gift.
Practice
The way to develop our spiritual gifts is to use them. Maturity comes through practice. Small groups, Area meetings and family gatherings are all ways to build confidence. We want to hear from everyone on Sunday afternoons -- that is why we have discernment. When you not sure, come discuss it.
(Community Gathering, April 10, 2016)