SPIRITUAL GIFTS FOR THE BELIEVER

The purpose of spiritual gifts was and always will be to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Holy Spirit said He was not in the business of glorifying Himself. Yet the whole Charismatic Movement today is centered around glorifying the Holy Spirit instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is God the Holy Spirit's job in the Church Age to glorify Jesus Christ. How does He do that with me and with you? He glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ by producing the character of Christ within us through all the components of the Fellowship Sphere for Time. That wonderful fellowship sphere, in which, at the moment of salvation, we are filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time. We are entered into the power sphere for living the Christian way of life which includes all the necessary components. They include the filling of the Holy Spirit, the faith-rest life, confession of sin when necessary, our intake and perception of Bible doctrine that gives us the capacity to love the Lord, humility, and application of Bible doctrine that gives us the capacity to love others. All of this gives each of us the capacity to meet all of the spiritual growth tests whereby we wind up sharing the very happiness of God.

That is what glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ! You cannot help but glorify Jesus Christ when you are filled with the Spirit, living in the Spirit, walking by means of the Spirit which means you are living inside the divine power system. You are living inside that power sphere for time in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. That is the most important thing. As you live therein, you identify your spiritual gift and you use it for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is glorified by your reproducing His character. He is glorified by your using the gift that He has given His church. Of course, those gifts are disseminated by the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.

The miracle for today is the filling of the Holy Spirit plus maximum Bible truth residing within the soul, producing in Mr. Joe Average Christian, the very character of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Galatians 4:19-20, Paul was incensed with righteous indignation. He was chewing them out. Those who have a problem with ministers rebuking their congregations should read and understand Galatians.

My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you, but I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. (Galatians 4:19-20)

In love, he rebukes them for going legalistic, and departing from salvation by faith through faith. They have added to salvation by keeping the Law and they had retrogressed and moved away from grace and doctrine through apostasy. They were all wrapped up in keeping the Law for salvation and spirituality which is wrong. With his pen, Paul was shaking them up and spiritually smacking their souls "up side the head." Activity contrary to the correct teaching of the Word of God cannot be tolerated long without being mentioned by the pastor-teacher to his congregation for teaching, rebuke, for correction in righteousness as stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

In Galatians 4:9-11, Paul was so upset, he didn't wait for a personal secretary to come along. He didn't even wait for an amanuenses to come along. He didn't wait for Timothy to present this. He stated his love for them and his concern because they had fallen away from grace and though they had not lost their salvation, they were reversionistic. In Galatians 4:19-20 above, Paul said he was again in labor with the Galatians until Christ was formed within them. The ladies can identify with this analogy. They know the implications and pain of childbirth to which he was referring. Paul said he was actually feeling pain because of their spiritual condition. Paul wrote to the Galatians to rebuke them in unconditional love. He told them he had the right attitude and was not doing it because he wanted to feel good or that he was some super authority with the right to chew them out. Paul wanted them to get back to grace and Truth so that Christ could be formed within them.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:9-11)

What does that mean? You reproduce the character of Jesus Christ. He is formed within you. It's just as if your soul becomes like Christ’s with all the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ under the power of the Spirit and doctrine during His incarnation. All this, of course, without the special infallibility and impeccability of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul said the fruit of the Spirit is love or unconditional virtue love. It is also the virtues of joy and sharing the happiness of God which the mature believer has to the maximum. It is also peace (irene in the Greek which means total grace blessing from God), patience, kindness, morality, and loyalty to the Lord, to Christ, to the church, and to one another. It is also gentleness, self-control which is genuine and enforced humility. God has no laws against such things.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Spiritual Recovery via the Word of God

Get yourself to the Word of God that will show you divine direction for your life. That's how you fulfill your destiny within the plan of God. That's right. God has a destiny for each of us. We only fulfill it when doctrine is our number one priority and love for Jesus Christ is number one in our scale of values. This is not the materialism that grips the Christian world today. This is not the love of mammon or materialism. It should be the love for Jesus Christ that will result in everything falling into its proper place.

You can be like David who was one of the richest men whoever lived. Riches meant nothing to David because of his tremendous love for Jesus Christ. He could take it or leave it. It didn't matter to him. His love for the Lord caused him to be a man after God's own heart. David was one who fulfilled the entire will of God. In spite of his carnal failure, he still fulfilled the entire will of God.

Bible Truth Must Have Priority in Your Daily Life

In the phrase "behold, I am coming like a thief" in Revelation 16:15, the Lord Jesus is speaking and is referring to His Second Coming. The thieves of the ancient world would hit caravans and in a moment's notice, they would destroy everything. The phrase "blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments" means that being found naked is being stripped of everything, but the grace of God. The believers of the Tribulation will be sucked into false information. They will not be martyred as bona fide martyrs when they are resurrected at the Second Coming and because of this, they will have no reward!

("Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame.") (Revelation 16:15)

Many Christians today are indifferent to the Word. The Word of God is not the number one priority in their lives. This happens because they don't take in doctrine every day. There is no regular consistent intake of the Word. The Word is referred to as manna for our souls. Physical manna is the physical food we eat every day. You should eat spiritual food every day. That's really when the Word of God is highest on your list of priorities. Bible doctrine should be the highest priority every day of the week.

Making Bible doctrine top priority is being in fellowship with the Lord experientially, and responding to His plan as it relates to the Tribulation period. This is so the believer may not go naked and be shamefully exposed, stripped of everything except God's grace and eternal security. Eternal security guarantees a resurrection body, but this body will be minus a translucent uniform of glory and the decorations he could have received in eternity. He could have gone from babyhood to adolescence to maturity and could have become a friend of God. That's what is meant by responding to His plan.

The application definitely applies to all of us. Doctrine has to be number one priority in our lives so that Christ can be number one in our scale of values. That means that nothing in your daily life, your home life, your personal life, your marital life, your family life, your recreation life, or your social life is to take precedence over your spiritual life. I don't mean you have to stay home every day and study the Bible. This means, you take in physical food on a daily basis and you take in spiritual food the same way. That's why Job was such a great believer and said in Job 23:12 that he had treasured God’s Word as more necessary, more essential than his daily food. That's why Job became a hero and a friend of God.

"I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. (Job 23:12)