REVIEW
Now today, I believe we will be concluding our look at the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. And I want to again reiterate that we are studying this, not to win an argument against the skeptics and not to simply grow in our knowledge of these gifts; we are studying this subject so that we can experience these gifts more in our lives. Yes, we are looking at these nine gifts in order to receive more of a manifestation of them in first our own individual lives and then in our times gathering together. This is why we spent nearly the first half of this series covering three very foundational ways in which we can see more of a manifestation of the Spirit.
We then began studying the three vocal gifts (different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues, and prophecy). We spent a little extra time looking at these gifts because the apostle Paul spent much more time explaining them as well:
We first looked at prophecy and learned that this vocal gift is different than the office of a prophet. This is a gift of the Spirit that we all should desire to operate in (see First Corinthians 14:1). We learned that prophecy can be defined as a supernatural utterance given by the Holy Spirit in a known language. In other words, it is God-inspired speech that speaks into the other people’s lives to where they are edified, exhorted, and comforted (see First Corinthians 12:3). And, finally, we learned that we can prophecy in several different ways—not just the traditional way of giving a one on one “thus saith the Lord.” We can also prophecy in song, in writing, in preaching & teaching, etc.
Then, the following week, we looked at the gift of different kinds of tongues and saw that tongues apparently has different types or classifications. We saw that there are both the tongues of men and of angels according to First Corinthians 13:1—meaning, tongues is not just the ability to speak in another earthly language. So, we learned that while not everyone can speak in the ministry gift of tongues and tongues as a sign to the unbeliever is given as the Spirit wills, there is our heavenly prayer language that all believers have the God-given right to speak in (Mark 16:17). That kind of tongues is the prayer that speaks directly to God and builds us up individually. So, we looked at the myriad of benefits of this type of tongues in our own, individual lives, and there are some awesome benefits to utilizing our personal prayer language.      
Then last week, we looked at the three revelation gifts of the Spirit and saw that just as the vocal gifts “say” something, the revelation gifts “know” something. Yes, these three gifts see and know things about people, and then enable that person to minister more effectively to the person the Holy Spirit has revealed these things about.
 
We first looked at the gift of discerning of spirits—which, contrary to popular belief, is not a gift of discernment. While every born-again, Spirit-filled believer has a certain measure of discernment, this gift enables us to have insight into the spirit realm and distinguish between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God. And we learned that the reason that this gift is so important to the church is because we need to have the supernatural ability to perceive these spirits in specific situations in order to get better results when helping people. Yes, this gift is important in order to set people free. We need this gift in order to identify the cause of many spiritual, emotional, and physical problems that people experience so that we can get them delivered. But we also learned that not only are we given this gift to be able to distinguish the activity of evil spirits in the lives of people such as sickness & disease, fear & doubt, etc. but we are also given this gift to help us discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. So, we can see why this gift is so important in our lives.
 
Then I combined our study of the next two revelation gifts—the word of knowledge and word of wisdom—because oftentimes you will see these two gifts work hand in hand. Again, we saw that just as with the discerning of spirits, many use the incorrect terminology when describing these two gifts. You will hear believers saying that they have the “gift of knowledge” or the “gift of wisdom,” but these gifts are not just natural knowledge and wisdom. No, they are a supernatural “word” of knowledge and wisdom from the mind of God—meaning, they are simply small fragments of God’s vast knowledge and wisdom that are communicated to us as the Spirit wills and for the edification of the body of Christ.
Now we learned that the word of knowledge is a fact from the past or present, while the word of wisdom is direction for the present or future. In other words, the word of knowledge is a supernaturally revealed piece of information that either has happened or is happening and the word of wisdom is the direction or guidance that is supernaturally revealed to us for what is happening or what will happen down the road. And we saw that these supernatural statements from the Holy Spirit are not always the obvious, spectacular ones. Sometimes they are extremely subtle and it’s important that we act on or speak out the information given to us. 
Church, we need these three revelation gifts working in our lives because there are going to be times where simple knowledge and wisdom is not going to be enough to help others and avoid dangers ourselves. We will continuously need the supernatural wisdom, knowledge and discernment of the Holy Ghost to walk in the supernatural life that He has called us to walk in. 
 
THE POWER GIFTS
FAITH, WORKING OF MIRACLES,
& GIFTS OF HEALINGS
 
THE PROMISE OF POWER
Now the third and final category of gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to us are what I would call, “the power gifts.”
Now this is an appropriate title for certain manifestations of the Holy Spirit because when Jesus prepared His disciples for the gift of the Holy Spirit, He referred to Him as power. We see this in Luke 24:39 when Jesus said, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Notice here that Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as “the Promise of the Father.” Why does He refer to the Holy Spirit this way? It is because time and time again in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is forecasted and prophesied as to come. Therefore, He is the Promise made by the Father.
But what is He the Promise of? He is the Promise of Power! Hallelujah! Jesus said here that when the Promise—the Holy Spirit—comes from on high, we will be endued with power. The word “endued” means to be “clothed.” And what will we be clothed with? With power!
Jesus said something similar in the Book of Acts: In Acts 1:8, He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”
So, again Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, what we are receiving is “power.” I say all of this to say that with the Holy Spirit comes power! He is the power of God, and He is the Promise of that power! Amen. 
POWER WITHOUT MEASURE
Now it is important to realize two things regarding the Holy Spirit:
Number one, when we are baptized in the Holy Spirit there is a certain measure of power that we all receive an equal measure of. And this is described in Mark chapter 16.
Well, when Jesus said what He did in Mark 16:17-18, we must understand that these signs simply follow those that believe. Jesus did not say that these signs are given as the Spirit wills or that only certain believers are given these gifts. No. Jesus said that the following signs of power will follow the believer in Christ.
And what are some of these signs that follow us through the power of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said, “In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
You see, all of these signs through the life of a believer are manifestations of God’s power and flow through our lives because God has given us the authority to administer them! Yes, every believer can (and should) cast out demons! Every believer can (and should) speak with new tongues! Every believer can (and should) tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy! Every believer can (and should) be able to eat or drink anything harmful or deadly and it by no means hurt them! And, last but not least, every believer can (and should) be laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. These things are supposed to accompany every believer in some degree or another and are all a part of the measure of Christ’s gift—the Spirit of Power.
However, there is something else that needs to be understood: And that is that there are gifts that the Spirit gives that go beyond this measure. There are gifts of power that He manifests as He wills that are not a part of this list.
For example, notice that Jesus says here that one of the signs that follow the believer is speaking in tongues. Now we know that Paul said that one of the gifts of the Spirit is the diversities of tongues, right? Well, as we learned, there are different kinds of tongues that are given to the body of Christ. There is the gift of tongues that is available to everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit for their own private devotional time and for their own personal edification. That was the kind of tongues that Jesus was referring to in Mark chapter 16 that is for every believer. However, there are other measures of tongues that are given as the Spirit wills which I call ministry tongues, tongues as a sign, etc. 
But notice also that Jesus said that another sign that should follow every believer is the laying on of hands—the laying on of hands for the purpose of ministering healing to the body. Now this too is different than the gifts of healings that Paul referred to as a gift of the Spirit. Yes, we all have a measure of the power that enables us to go about doing good and healing all who are oppressed of the devil. Just because God uses one to minister His healing power into someone’s body does not mean that they have a “gift of healing.”
So, my point is that while the Holy Spirit has been given to believers to administer healing power, that measure of power is walked in by our faith. In other words, a born-again, Spirit-filled believer can lay hands on people and see the Lord’s healing power make people well, but there is another measure of healing power that does not require faith on either the minister’s part or the one being ministered to’s part. This is one of the things that makes these power gifts “supernatural.”
So, let’s begin talking about these “power gifts” by talking about this particular gift of power I just briefly referred to— the “gifts of healings.”  
GIFTS OF HEALINGS
Now again, like it is with most of the gifts we have already covered, there are those who attempt to water down these supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit and turn them into natural things. In this case, there are many people who say that the “gifts of healings” are simply those whom God has blessed with the ability to be doctors, nurses, etc. No, no, no!  Doctors & medical science are just a natural means of healing. These gifts of healings & other methods of divine healing are a “supernatural,” not a natural means of healing!
But notice that this gift is not called the “gift of healing” but rather “gifts of healings.” In other words, the word “gifts” is plural and the word “healings” is plural. So, what does this tell us? It tells us the same thing that the gift of “diversities of tongues” told us—that there are different kinds of gifts of healings.
You see, Paul could have called this gift—the gift (singular) of healings—and that would mean that there is a gift that imparts different kinds of healings. And that is partly true. Paul could have also called this gift—the gifts of healing (singular)—and that would have meant that there are different kinds of gifts that bring healing to people. And that would have also been part of the truth of what this gift of the Spirit is.
But the Apostle Paul said that this gift of the Spirit is “the gift(s) of healing(s)” (i.e. multiple gifts of different kinds of healings). In other words, this means that Paul is describing different kinds of gifts of different kinds of healings.
You see, the same principle exists with this gift as did with tongues. While there are the tongues that every Spirit-filled believer can operate in, there are also other kinds of tongues that only certain parts of the Body can operate in. Likewise, there are different gifts of healings that are given. There is the gift given to all believers where we simply lay hands on the sick and see them recover and then there are the other gifts of healings where people are healed in other ways supernaturally.
So, let me explain what this means: It means that just as there are different kinds of tongues that the Holy Spirit gives us—some for one purpose and others for another purpose—there are different kinds of gifts of healings that are used for various purposes.  For example, some people may have more success with healing cases of bad backs, where another may have a stronger anointing to heal cancer cases. In other words, the Lord will sometimes specialize on the kinds of healings He will want to do through an individual believer.
Now people in the body of Christ tend to err in one or both of these areas: Certainly, there are natural means of healing that we need to be abide by such as eating good and healthy foods and physical exercise. Certainly, there are spiritual laws of faith and expectation that receive healing supernaturally in our bodies. But there is another way. I said, there is another way to receive healing—and it is through the gift of the Holy Spirit called gifts of healings. This is a supernatural manifestation of physical, mental, and emotional healing that overrides natural laws or even spiritual laws. It is a gift of healing given solely by grace.
Now many “charismaniacs” who believe in healing tend to err on the side of thinking that since God does still heal today that they can defy these other natural and spiritual laws and be sustained through these supernatural gifts of healings, but so is not the case. God does not want His bride depending on gifts of healings to live healthy and whole lives. He expects us to live by the laws that this world operates on, such as eating right and exercising and also living by faith and believing God to keep us. But these like to flock to healing meetings and get their drive thru breakthrough. They run to the healing evangelist who is certainly used in these gifts but this is not God’s best. Certainly, it is necessary to have these gifts as we will learn but they should not be a crutch that we lean on in our time of need. We must live by the laws of the land in order to eat the fruit of the land. Amen.   
But this particular gift of the Spirit—gifts of healings—are simply “gifts,” and that means that they are not earned. No, we don’t have to do anything to receive our healing when this gift of the Spirit is in manifestation.
This is why you hear of mockers and scoffers who, for instance, go to a healing evangelist’s meeting and end up getting completely healed themselves. And at the same time, you see other people in those same meetings who are supernaturally healed by just worshipping God. There is no laying on of hands. There are no nutritional supplements being given. No, thousands are healed simply through the gift of healing that is on that evangelist’s ministry.
But at the same time, those gifts of healings can be lost. We hear of this often—how a person gets healed at a special meeting with no signs or symptoms of the infirmity and then the symptoms return days later. Did that mean that they never got healed? Not necessarily. What needs to be understood is that these supernatural gifts of healings that are given from the Lord must be maintained through our faith, authority, and from just good sound wisdom. 
Let me give you a couple of clear, biblical examples of the “gifts of healings” in operation:
One good example is found in John chapter 5. In this chapter, we see the healing of the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda, and in this story, we see how there was a supernatural phenomenon taking place where an angel would come and stir the waters to where whoever got in first was healed. Church, that is a perfect example of one of the various gifts of healings—because how many of you know that it was supernatural, and it was certainly a gift for whoever entered those waters first? But we also see another gift of healing taking place as Jesus healed this man with no apparent faith on his part. You see, Jesus healed thousands of people throughout the gospels but in most of the specific cases of healing, the person who received from Him had faith to receive. But not this guy! Jesus approached Him, initiating the healing Himself.
But it was not just Jesus who operated in the gifts of healings (nor was it just the apostles either); we see in the Book of Acts where the Evangelist Philip (not to be confused with the apostle Philip) preached in Samaria. In Acts 8:5-7, we are told— “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.”
Notice that here in Samaria, Dr. Luke makes specific mention that those who were paralyzed and lame were healed. Now that doesn’t necessarily mean that people with other infirmities were not healed, but by specifically mentioning this shows me that there was a gift of healing in operation here because Philip was apparently super successful with healing those who were lame and paralyzed. 
Now on that note, I believe that we can see here that oftentimes it is the office of an evangelist that tends to operate in the gifts of healings along with the next gift we are going to look at, the working of miracles. I believe it is possible that we can see this in First Corinthians 12:28.
WORKING OF MIRACLES
Now regarding the working of miracles, this gift is very important as well. Therefore, we need to expect this gift of the Spirit to be manifested in our lives, churches, and ministries to the same degree that we expect tongues, prophecy, etc.
The Holy Spirit recently showed me something profound: He showed me how the majority of the Spirit-filled, charismatic community believes in the gifts of tongues & prophecy. We teach it. We expect it. And guess what? We walk in it. Well, what if we began to teach in this working of miracles with the same conviction? What if our churches began to expect that when someone is baptized in the Holy Spirit that miracles were to naturally become a part of their life like we believe these vocal gifts come? Do you suppose we might experience more of a manifestation of miracles in our churches? I guarantee you that we would!  
But you see, many believers have the notion that miracles are a greater category of gift than the others. They believe in their heart that they are rarer than all the rest of the gifts. But this is simply not true.
Miracles are to be as common in our lives and ministries as any other manifestation of the Holy Spirit. But, again, why aren’t they? It is because of our unbelief. It is because we have categorized miracles as infrequent and, in many cases, obsolete.
And I’ll give you a good example of this: We all have experienced the greatest miracle in our life the day we were born again. There is no greater miracle that we can witness and experience than the salvation of our soul. I mean, for God to replace our dead spirit with the spirit of Christ and thereby washing us of all our sins and making us the righteousness of God in Christ. Friends, there is no greater miracle than this! Most would consider someone being raised from the dead as the greatest miracle if asked. But I tell you—the greatest miracle is the raising of our spirit from the dead! Hallelujah! 
But I can assure you that if we truly believed that God can work a miracle as much as we believe He can save a soul, we would see too many miracles to count. Let me say it this way, if we believe we can see the dead raised as much as we can see a sinner saved, we would see the dead raised. It is just that simple.
Jesus actually taught this same principle in the instance of the healing of the paralytic man who was let down through the roof by his friends (see Mark 2:1-12) Do you remember the response of the religious leaders when Jesus looked at the man and said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you”? The Bible teaches us that when they reasoned in their hearts saying “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” that Jesus, perceiving the thoughts of their heart, answered and said to them—“Which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you.’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? Well, the answer is found in Jesus’ point—that one is no easier than the other! Now, of course, Jesus was making the point that He had the authority to speak on behalf of His Father and offer forgiveness, but I want you to see that the complete restoration of movement in the body of a paralyzed man is just as easy to see as the forgiveness of one’s sin. Amen! In fact, it is actually quite amazing that we more readily believe in forgiveness than we do miracles in the natural realm. But do you know why? It is because we cannot see the forgiveness and salvation. Therefore, we are not tempted to walk by sight because we cannot see it. Physical and natural miracles, on the other hand, are seen. Therefore, we have more of an opportunity to have unbelief.
But we don’t have to! I said, we don’t have to! We can get to the place where it is not only just as easy to say, ‘Rise up and walk’ as it is to say, ‘God will forgive you right now’; we can get to the place where it is just as easy to see someone rise up and walk as it is to see someone forgiven of their sins. Amen and Hallelujah! 
So, what is this gift of the Spirit Paul called the “working of miracles”? The “working of miracles” is a supernatural intervention by God in the everyday, ordinary course of nature. In other words, this gift of the Spirit is God, through the Holy Spirit, interrupting the natural laws governing this earth. For example, a miracle would be things we see in the Bible like the parting of the Red Sea, the sun standing still, the floating ax head, (good) earthquakes that open prison doors and unlock chains.
Now it should be noted here the terminology: Paul called this gift— “the working of miracles.”
Actually, this word used to translate “working” is the same word used in First Corinthians 12:6 when Paul said that there are diversities of “activities” but the same God who works all in all. As we have already seen, this means that there are different ways that God works through the various gifts and ministries given to the body. In fact, these are the only two times this Greek word energema is used in the New Testament.
So, what does this teach us about this gift of the Spirit? It teaches us that what comes before the miracle is an activity or a working. What do I mean by that? I mean that there is an action or a work of faith that always precedes the miracle.
This is why I believe that the gift of faith usually works hand in hand with the working of miracles. Why? Because there is usually a supernatural, special faith that is deposited in the heart of someone before they step out and see the miracle. 
But let’s look at the first miracle that our Lord and Master ever performed because it shows to us how this gift of the Spirit comes forth:
In John 2:1-11 we have the account where Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.
Well, this is no doubt a manifestation of the gift of the Spirit called the working of miracles because for water to be supernaturally turned into wine is certainly a change in the natural course of nature. But what we need to understand is that there was certainly a “working” that preceded this miracle.
First, we have the words of Mary, the mother of Jesus, exhorting the servants with the words— “Whatever He says to you, do it.” You see, herein lies the key to miracles: It is in simply doing what the Lord tells us to do—no matter how strange, no matter how impractical, no matter how unorthodox, no matter how inconvenient! No matter what; just do it! (Sorry Nike; this started with Mary 😊)
Well, in this case, Jesus tells them to fill the six water pots of stone up with water. How ridiculous does this sound? Why? They need wine, not water! This would be a waste of time, and we need to be looking for wine, not playing in the water! All of this would be normal, natural thoughts that a person might have if told to do what Jesus told these servants to do. Well, it would also be the mentality of the person who did not see the miracle too.
You see, there has to be some sort of cooperation between us and God for the miracle to occur. He will tell us to do certain things that just don’t make sense in order to position us for a miracle. But if we don’t “just do it” then we won’t “just see it.” It is that simple.
In fact, if you look at the instances of most miracles recorded in the Bible, you will find that there were some pretty strange directions given that led to the miracles like “Go dip in the Jordan seven times! Throw a stick in the water! Stretch out your rod! Strike the rock! Speak to the rock!” On and on and on, you see God giving specific directions and when those directions were followed—leprosy was cleansed, axe heads floated, plagues came upon God’s enemies, and water came out of the rock.
There was a cooperation, and then, there was a demonstration! And why? It is because God requires faith! Faith always precedes miracles! There is to be a working on our part—not just “works” but the “works of faith” (First Thessalonians 1:3)—and when there are those corresponding actions of faith that are based on what God has said, then we see miracles. Amen!  
SPECIAL FAITH
And this leads us to this final power gift of the Holy Spirit: the gifts of the Spirit simply called “faith.” Now many see this gift of the Spirit called, in the King James Version, faith, and say, “See, not all have faith. It is a gift of the Spirit.” Well, that is not completely true.
You see, there is a difference between our own faith and this gift of faith that the Holy Spirit gives: For instance, in Second Peter 1:1, Peter addresses his letter “to those who have obtained like precious faith” with him and the others who had called on the name of the Lord. What this means is that every believer has obtained faith, and not only just any faith, but faith that is of the same value and of equal specialness to that of even the great apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ! Wow! Now that is awesome stuff! So, yes, we all have a measure of faith (see Romans 12:3)—not just some of us.
So, we all have faith, and this faith is capable of growing exceedingly (see Second Thessalonians 1:3). We all have the capability to walk in mountain-moving, devil-stomping, life-changing faith! But this gift of the Spirit differs from the measure of faith that we have all received in that it is a supernatural endowment of special faith that transcends what we could receive with our own faith.
You see, as we have seen, our faith grows. We have all obtained like precious faith—having received the measure of faith. But that does not mean that we have all arrived at the place of mountain moving faith. We must let our faith grow by first hearing the Words of faith and then by putting it into practice by exercising our faith.
But sometimes there is a need for us to be at the place where we have not arrived through natural progression. Sometimes we need greater faith to be dropped into our hearts so that we can receive something for either ourselves or for someone else like we need the gifts of healings when we might not be at the place physically and spiritually to receive healing ourselves.
And there is another faith that can be had that far transcends where our faith is at. This faith can remove the largest of mountains, create planets, and give life to anything that needs it—and this is God’s faith!
Friends, I can assure you, there will be times that our own levels of faith in the Lord will not be enough to get the job done with what He may be asking us to do for Him. Here is an example: Say God has been manifesting a gift of healing through you from time to time to heal a few minor ailments or illnesses on a few people. Your confidence and faith levels are then starting to build up because God is now starting to use you in this manner and you now have had a few good successes on these smaller illnesses. But then all of a sudden God tells you to walk up to a paraplegic, lay hands on him, and then command him to get out of his wheelchair and start walking. All of a sudden you can immediately sense in your mind and in your spirit that your own levels of faith are not going to be good enough or high enough to try and do this, as you have never tried to heal someone of something this heavy before. And this is where the Holy Spirit will now be moving in big time so this miracle can be fully accomplished for the Lord. The Holy Spirit will then manifest His own divine faith in you so you can now believe and operate on that faith—so you will now have the actual courage to walk up to this person, lay hands on him, and then tell him to get out of that wheelchair and start walking.
Sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to receive a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.
Sometimes God may ask you to do something that will be out of your comfort zone. Fear and panic will immediately set in because you have never done what He is now asking you to do. This is when the Holy Spirit is needed to step in and give you another measure of God’s faith to help.
You know, it shouldn’t even need to be said, but there is a BIG difference between where we are at in our faith and where God is in His faith—A HUGE DIFFERENCE! I mean, have you spoken any planets into existence lately? Of course not!
Well, that is why this gift of faith is needed: It is because there are times in our life when we either personally need help in believing for something or when we need to operate at a greater level of faith for the benefit of one that we are ministering to.
And this is what this gift of faith is—It is a temporary impartation of His faith. Amen! In other words, it is the gift of faith by God taking a little amount of His faith and giving it to you for a specific situation.
Picture it like this: You have faith and God has faith. He obviously has a lot more faith than you and I do. So, this gift of faith is God taking a small portion of His faith and giving it you to borrow temporarily. Amen! Isn’t that awesome!?!
This is why I do not like to just call this gift of the Spirit—faith. I like to call it special faith—that is, faith that is different than our own faith which we have received. It is a temporary borrowing of God’s wonder working faith (see the Amplified Bible’s translation of First Corinthians 12:9) so that we can operate at a higher level than we are at at that time. Hallelujah!
Now concerning some New Testament examples of the gift of faith in operation, it is difficult to put a finger on one because, like I said, there is our own faith that can move mountains if it is fed & cultivated. So, when it might be a gift of faith versus our own faith, we can only speculate. But a good rule of thumb would be to continuously work on growing our faith while also believing God for this gift of faith in the times where we need it. Amen? 
Again, our faith—that is, the faith that has been put into every born-again believer and the faith that we walk by everyday—this faith comes by hearing. Romans 10:17 tells us this. This gift of faith, however, does not come by hearing—nor does it come by any effort on our part. It is completely a gift. This means it does not have anything to do with us. The development of our faith certainly does have to do with decisions we have made, but the gift of faith operating in our lives has only to do with our decision to hunger after it.
And as I have repeated time and time again throughout this series, we have been on for some time, hunger is the key to seeing the manifestation of these power gifts in our life, but not only just these power gifts, but all of the gifts of the Spirit.
THE FRUIT OF HUNGER
In Acts chapter 4, we have the account of the church gathering together after Peter and John were threatened by the chief priests and elders.
Well, we see in this passage of Scripture how, when they knew they had a need for God’s help, they gathered together and raised their voice in one accord.
You know, while things like prayer can certainly be done in vain and outside of faith, they can also be done in great faith and as an expression of this hunger that I am talking about.
Fasting is a good example of this. There is not really any power in the fact that we are not physically eating (except, of course, the health benefits of this), but the power that can come through fasting is in the hunger. No, I am not talking about the physical hunger that comes as a result of fasting; I am talking about the hunger in our hearts that provokes the fasting to start with. Amen!
So, the fact that this church began seeking the Lord and lifting up their voice in one accord was proof positive that they were hungry for His gifts and totally dependent on Him. And they specifically prayed that the Lord would grant them boldness to speak His Word by stretching out His hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of His holy Servant Jesus. Amen!
Friends, what they were praying for here were the power gifts—the gifts of healings and the working of miracles to be accomplished by the boldness received through the gift of special faith.
And look what happened next! “And when they had prayed, the place where they had assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.” Saints, you know you are praying right when God starts shaking the house! 
But it all began with hunger! And this is a major point that I believe the Holy Ghost is trying to get through to us through both this message today and also through this entire series!
I want you to take the things that have been reported to you here at High Point Church on these Sunday mornings and take them home with you. Go, therefore, and begin to seek God with your family, seeking after the manifestation of this power. It can be had by all—by all who seek after Him with all of their heart. 
And this is what happened here: In verse 33 we see that with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
And that is my prayer for all of you—that all of us would experience great power through our lives and ministries and give witness to the power of His resurrection. Great grace be upon you all. Amen. 

REVIEW
So, today, we will continue in our study of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And again, we are not studying this for theological purposes or to win an argument with someone. We are studying this to, prayerfully, receive more of a manifestation of these nine gifts of the Spirit in, first, our own individual lives, and then in our assemblies.   
Therefore, we spent the first three weeks of this series covering three very foundational ways in which we can see more of a manifestation of the Spirit. And they are as follows:

1. Begin to desire them more! Seek after them with all your heart, and you will find them. Don’t be satisfied with what you are currently experiencing, but long for more of the Holy Spirit. For when you hunger and thirst for the Holy Ghost to use you and all of us more, we will be filled with the gifts of the Spirit.
2. But go after this with the understanding that all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit are already in you because the Holy Spirit lives in you. We are not trying to get something we don’t already got. No, we already have “charisma” from the Holy Spirit. It is just a matter of releasing what we already possess inside of us.
3. So, how do we release it? By faith! Yes, we begin to step out and speak into people’s lives. Yes, we begin looking for every opportunity to lay our hands on people and pray for them. The more we step out, being faithful in little, the more he will make us ruler over much—and that includes the gifts of the Spirit. Amen?

So, before we move any further into studying these various gifts, make sure you have these foundational keys in place. These three things are what will bring you into the manifestation of the Holy Ghost.
And what are these manifestations of the Spirit? They are listed by Paul in First Corinthians 12:8-10 when he says, “for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”     
Now, as we’ve seen, these nine gifts of the Spirit can be broken down into three groups of three:

1. THE VOCAL GIFTS (Different Kinds of Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues, & Prophecy) *These 3 “say” something*
2. THE REVELATION GIFTS (Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, & Discerning of Spirits) *These 3 “know” something*
3. THE POWER GIFTS (Working of Miracles, Gifts of Healings, & Faith) *These 3 “do” something*

Now, over the past couple of weeks, we have looked at the vocal gifts. We spent a little extra time on these three because the Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul did so as well.
We first looked at prophecy and learned that this vocal gift is different than the office of a prophet. In other words, like one is able to teach the Scriptures but that doesn’t mean they are in the fivefold ministry office of a teacher, we all can be used in prophecy but that doesn’t make all of us prophets.
We saw that prophecy can be defined as a supernatural utterance given by the Holy Spirit in a known language. In other words, it is God-inspired speech that speaks into the other people’s lives to where they are edified, exhorted, and comforted (see First Corinthians 12:3). And the reason I add to this definition of prophecy “in a known language” is because tongues is almost identical, however, it is a supernatural utterance given by the Holy Spirit in an unknown language—meaning, tongues also provides edification, exhortation, and comfort, but it does this for us, not others. 
This is why the apostle Paul spent the time he did exhorting the church to desire that they may prophecy and not just to speak in tongues only. It is because our heart’s aim should be to build others up in love, which is what prophecy does.
And we learned that we can prophecy is various ways. It is not just one on one, “words” that we give and receive. No, we can prophecy in song, in writing, in preaching & teaching, etc.
So, what we learned is that, like with all the gifts, we need to desire that we may prophecy more and then step out and begin stewarding this gift in our lives by opening our mouth and letting God fill it with His words. Yes, we can begin to sing more! We can begin to write more! We can begin praying for others more! This is turning on the valve and letting those rivers of living water flow up out of our bellies and out of our mouth. Amen.
Then, last week, we looked at the gift of different kinds of tongues and saw that this gift has different types or classifications. We saw that there are both the tongues of men and of angels according to First Corinthians 13:1—meaning, tongues is not just the ability to speak in another earthly language. If it were, then Paul would have never said in First Corinthians 14:2 that when someone speaks in an unknown tongue that they are speaking to God and no man understands him. Amen? No, while there certainly is another type of tongues that supernaturally speaks in other earthly languages, there is also that heavenly prayer language that everyone who believes the gospel can speak in (Mark 16:17).
And so we saw that there are, in my estimation, three different classifications of tongues: Number one, there is the tongues that are meant to be a sign for the unbelievers. In other words, this is the tongues that they spoke in on the Day of Pentecost and everyone heard them speaking in their own native tongue. It was a sign for those to testify that God was among this group in the upper room which led to many becoming born again. Number two, we have the ministry gift of tongues—that is, the ministry office of tongues that not everyone can operate in. We saw that this was the type of tongues Paul referred to in First Corinthians 12:30 when he asked the question— “Do all speak with tongues?” Obviously, not everyone speaks in this type of tongues, nor does everyone operate in the interpretation of those tongues. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t all speak with the third type of tongues that speaks directly to God and builds us up individually, nor does that mean that we can’t all also desire that we might interpret our own tongues so that our understanding of what we are praying isn’t unfruitful. And we looked at the myriad of benefits of this type of tongues in our own, individual lives. It is awesome stuff, church!   
So, now that we have looked at the vocal gifts, let’s move on to what I would call the “revelation” gifts. The reason I call them this is because the following three gifts “know” something. Yes, they see and know things about people, and then they enable us to minister more effectively to the person the Holy Spirit has revealed these things to us about.
 
So, let’s look at these three revelation gifts in detail and learn more about what we should be desiring to see happening in our lives.   
 
THE REVELATION GIFTS
WORD OF KNOWLEDGE, WORD OF WISDOM,
& DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
 
I would like to begin with the gift Paul called “discerning of spirits.”
 
DISCERNING OF SPIRITS
 
Now notice that Paul did not call this gift, “the gift of discernment.” You will hear this phrase thrown around many Christian circles, but it is important to realize that the Bible makes no mention of a “gift of discernment.” Sure, there is a certain degree of spiritual discernment that every believer has the ability to walk in where the Holy Spirit shows us things, but my point is that there is no mention in the Scriptures regarding a gift of the Spirit called “the gift of discernment.”
What many refer to as a gift of discernment that they possess is really just a knack for criticism and fault finding. They like to spiritualize their vice by saying, in their arrogance, that it is a gift that God gave them. No, friends, no one has a gift of discernment, but some do operate in the gift of the discerning of spirits.
So, what is this gift of the Spirit? Well, notice the terminology used in the New King James version: Paul called “the discerning of spirits.” Most other translations say that this gift is the supernatural ability to “distinguish between spirits.” Therefore, the discerning of spirits is the supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit which enables us to have insight into the spirit realm and distinguish between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God.
You see, the word “discerning” comes from the Greek word diakrisis which means to “distinguish, differentiate, or pass judgment.” But, like we said, it is not a gift that gives one the ability to pass judgment on people. No, it is the ability to be able to correctly judge something behind the curtain of the spiritual realm, which could certainly be a spirit motivating and inspiring a person.  
Church, we need to understand that the spiritual realm is more real than this physical realm that we live in and can contact with our five physical senses. In fact, God created the natural world through the spiritual world. So, we should be able to accept this truth that the spirit world is more real than the natural because the spirit world is the parenting force.
But my point is that the spirit world is very real and, in this world, there are angels in abundance and demons on every corner. In fact, if our eyes were to be opened to see clearly into the spirit realm, our jaw would likely hit the floor. We would see the most giant and majestic angels encamped around us, but we would also see the most ugly and vile demons as well.
This is the real world out there, saints—and God has given us the ability through this gift of the Spirit to perceive these spirits in specific situations.
And someone might say, “Well, Trey, I’ll pass on this gift. I’d rather not see anything that would scare me like this.” But do you think that this gift is given to freak us out? No, God gives us this gift of discerning spirits because He wants to help us and help others.
You see, this gift is important in order to set people free. We need this gift in order to identify the cause of many spiritual, emotional, and physical problems that people experience so that we can get them delivered.
For instance, this gift is extremely useful in the area of deliverance and healing. Sometimes in these situations, it is extremely important that we are able to discern a specific spirit that is causing their afflictions so that we can speak to the specific mountain that is keeping them in bondage. I am convinced that the reason that some stay sick or stay afflicted is because the one doing the ministering has not correctly identified the root cause and are praying amiss and are taking authority over the wrong things. Friends, we need this gift in order to distinguish what we are specifically taking authority over so that we can have better results when we pray.
You see, sometimes the person might be experiencing panic attacks or extreme anxiety because there is a spirit of fear that has attached itself to them. Sometimes a person might be in bondage to a certain lust of the flesh because they are bound by a spirit of lust. This is why it is so important to be able to discern the activity of a spirit in a person’s life. It is because in both of these situations the world and the church have their own ideas as to what the person is dealing with. For instance, with the anxiety, the world will just immediately label the person with some mental medical condition and try to band-aid the problem with medicine. Well, there might be a medical condition involved because people can certainly be sick mentally and emotionally like they are sick physically but sometimes people’s condition is a result of demonic activity. Likewise, in the church, if a person is dealing with a bondage to any lust of the flesh, we immediately say the problem is their flesh. But we need to understand that sometimes a spirit can be involved.  Sometimes the problem can be an unclean spirit that is causing the unclean lusts.
Now this same principle applies to physical sickness as well. How many times do you see Jesus, when praying for a sick person, identifying their physical infirmity as some kind of spirit? He referred to some as a spirit of infirmity, a deaf spirit, a dumb spirit, etc. My point is that sometimes in order to get the correct results when praying for the sick, we need to be able to discern any spirit that might be involved in the sickness. Sometimes I think we just lay hands on people and pray for their healing when maybe we should be casting a spirit of infirmity out of them. I believe that it is much rarer that it is a spirit which is at the root of a sickness, but we see it sometimes in the ministry of Jesus nonetheless.
But not only are we given this gift to be able to distinguish the activity of evil spirits in the lives of people such as sickness & disease, fear & doubt, etc., but we are also given this gift to help us discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Let me explain:
Matthew 24:24 says that in the end times, if it were possible, even the elect will be deceived by what the Apostle Paul called “seducing spirits and doctrines of demons” (First Timothy 4:1).
Well, it would not be possible for us to be deceived by these evil spirits if we operated in this gift of the discerning of spirits.
Now let me say this but, with some doctrines and teachings, we do not necessarily need this supernatural gift to discern bad doctrine. I mean when someone is constantly making an appeal for your money by using strange methods like “If you sow $100 into my ministry then in 100 days God will bless you.” All you need to discern the error in that is just a little common sense (i.e. natural discernment).
But some error is much more deceptive than that and you will need to be operating in this gift to be able to discern it. The reason why is because Satan is very sly and, as Paul told us, he knows how to transform himself into an angel of light and a minister of righteousness in order to slip error into our lives. In First John chapter 4 we have the Apostle John’s take on this.
So, there are ways in which all believers can spiritually discern between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, but in some cases, we will need this supernatural gift of the spirit to be able to discern the activity of a wrong spirit lacing the truth with lies.  
So, this gift of the discerning of spirits is the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit to differentiate between spirits (i.e. as we have just seen—being able to discern the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error). It is also the supernatural ability of the Holy Spirit to be able to distinguish a spiritual presence behind a situation, action, or message—meaning, we can perceive the presence of good and evil spirits behind a peculiar circumstance. It is a knowing in your spirit that comes by supernatural revelation concerning the source, nature, or activity of any spirit.
The discerning of spirits is a supernatural gift given at any particular moment that enables one to discern the presence of any spirit and to differentiate between what type of spirit is behind something like a situation or words (i.e. an affliction or a message).  
THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE & THE WORD OF WISDOM
 
Now I am combining our study of the next two revelation gifts because oftentimes you will see these two gifts work hand in hand. Usually the word of knowledge will be given and then the word of wisdom will follow. However, this does not mean that you cannot operate in one independent of the other. But the fact is, they are so similar in how they operate that it makes sense to talk about them together.
Now, again, the terminology is important here: Just as we saw with the discerning of spirits, many use the incorrect terminology when describing these gifts. Yes, you will hear believers saying that they have the “gift of knowledge” or the “gift of wisdom.” But these gifts are not just called knowledge and wisdom; they are called the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom.
So, these gifts of the Spirit of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are not just natural wisdom or knowledge that one can accumulate. No, they are a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom that are given supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.
So, what does this mean? Well, first of all, we need to understand that they are both a reference to the knowledge and wisdom of God: now we know that God is omniscient. This means that He knows everything. He is all-knowing. We also know that God possesses all wisdom as well. True wisdom comes from God. The Scriptures say specifically that God alone is wise. So, when Paul says that the Spirit will give us the gifts of a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom, this means that He will give us, of the complete knowledge and total wisdom that He possesses, a word of that knowledge and a word of that wisdom. Amen.
A great example of this is with the word of knowledge: The Greek word used for “knowledge” here is the word gnosis. This word describes a complete or thorough understanding of a subject.
We see this word used in Ephesians 3:19 in reference to Paul’s prayer for this church to know the love of Christ. He prayed in the first half of this verse that we would know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
This seems like an impossible statement, does it not? How can you know something that passes knowledge? Well, the key to understanding this is in understanding the difference between the Greek words for “know” and “knowledge.” The word “know” comes from the Greek word ginosko which literally describes an experiential knowledge. Ginosko was more of a broad, general knowledge than the word that was used for “knowledge” here. Can you guess what the Greek word Paul used for “knowledge” here is? You guessed it! It is the same word gnosis as he used in the word of “knowledge.”
So, when Paul prayed that these saints would know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, he was praying that they would experience the love of Christ that could never be fully comprehended. In other words, He wanted them to taste in their minds just a bite of the love of God that they could never fill themselves up on. In essence, we could say that Paul was praying for them to have a word of knowledge concerning the love of Christ because he was saying, “Hey guys, you’ll never be able to completely exhaust the knowledge of God’s love, but I’m praying that you’ll get a word of the knowledge of His love!” In other words, he was praying that they would get a word of that knowledge. He was praying that they would taste and see that the Lord is love and He is good.
And that is exactly what the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom are. They are simply “words” that are given to us in specific and strategic moments that originate from the complete knowledge and understanding of the all-knowing and the alone wise Creator of all things.
And, no, I am not referring to “word” as in He only gives us one actual word, but “word” as in He gives us a communicated thought or a statement.
The Greek word used for “word” in both of these gifts is the Greek word logos which describes “a transmission of thought, a word of explanation, an utterance, a divine revelation; a statement, instruction, or oracle. It is a divine promise, a divine doctrine, or a divine declaration.”
So, when we see this word logos being used, we need to understand that it is more than just one actual word. It is the transmission of a thought from the mind of God. For example, the Bible is referred to as the living and powerful Logos of God (Hebrews 4:12). Well, the Bible is not all of that which God knows. It is not all the history of the human race. You know, there was likely a lot left out between Genesis 1:1 & 1:2. There were over 2,400 years of human history in those 50 chapters of Genesis. The Bible is also not all the truth and wisdom that there is in the world. It does not hold all the answers to every problem that anyone will ever have. But do you know what the Bible is? It is all of the knowledge and wisdom that we need concerning salvation and concerning knowing who God is and what His will is. In essence, the Bible is a “word of knowledge” and a “word of wisdom.” It is the Living Logos!      
So, to summarize, we can conclude that these gifts of the Spirit called “the word of knowledge” and “the word of wisdom” are simply small fragments of God’s vast knowledge and wisdom that are communicated to us as the Spirit wills and for the edification of the body of Christ.
Now the word of knowledge is a fact from the past or present, while the word of wisdom is direction for the present or future. In other words, the word of knowledge is a supernaturally revealed piece of information that either has happened or is happening and the word of wisdom is the direction or guidance that is supernaturally revealed to us for what is happening or what will happen down the road.
Now these can certainly happen in a spectacular way. For instance, early in my Christian walk, I had been specifically praying for the gifts of the Spirit to operate in my life and was particularly focusing on the word of knowledge. Well, I go to work that day and while I was standing at one part of the store, I heard the bell ring from the front door opening. I never turned to look at who was coming in, but after a few minutes, I had this “knowing” (almost like a vision) that there were a couple of kids in the back stealing cassette tapes (I guess that kind of dates meJ). Well, I put down what I was doing and went back to the music section, and sure enough, there they were stealing tapes.
Now that was more of a spectacular manifestation of the word of knowledge, but these gifts also manifest in much less spectacular ways but no less supernatural.
Sometimes the word of knowledge comes almost like an impression or a thought. Maybe we are outside the house doing something and we just have an impression that there is something wrong inside. So we go in the house and walk in on a fire that just began on the stove just in time to put it out before it got out of control. Maybe we are standing in church and just have a thought come in our mind that the person in the seat in front of us is going through a divorce. So, we tap them on the shoulder and ask them if they were and they break down in tears.
I give these couple of examples to illustrate how gifts like the word of knowledge can come almost like a thought or an impression and are not always with the bells, whistles, and fireworks.
The word of wisdom is no different: It too can be a subtle statement of wisdom that is communicated to our spirit that is not readily identifiable.
Now this is easier to understand when we understand what the word of wisdom is. Again, God holds all wisdom for every situation, right? He has the correct answer for every question or situation that we have. He has the right answer for every impossible question like— “Should we pay taxes to Caesar?” or “The law says to stone her. What do you say?”
In both of these examples, the Holy Spirit gave Jesus the exact word of wisdom that He needed to answer those trap questions. God alone is wise!
And for those situations that we are presented with—whether it be us personally or someone else conveying their issue to us—God has the word of wisdom that we need. He can give us the answer in that moment.
I see this one in my life a lot. When I am confronted with situations that people are going through and they come to me for counsel, it seems like the Holy Spirit is always so faithful to give me words of wisdom for their particular situation.
Now understand me, I am not just talking about general wisdom. This is not just something that we have accumulated through years of experience. I am talking about supernatural wisdom that can come through the mouth of babes.
Two situations I am thinking of in particular are as follows:
Number one, when I was a young child, my parents and I were on the way home from church, I was playing with my toys in the back seat as my parents were murmuring amongst themselves about something that they heard the pastor say. Of course, I don’t remember this but my parents said that while they were expressing their disagreement with what he said, I spoke up and said, “Y’all ought not to be talking about that.” Immediately, when they heard those words, they knew it was the Lord. Now I believe that was a little bit of prophecy but also a word of wisdom too.
Another example is when I was in Bible College in Colorado Springs, me and a couple of other guys were sitting at a table in the breakroom and a spiritual question was raised that no one knew the answer to, including myself. Well, at that very moment the Lord gave a word of wisdom to the question that was asked and I knew the answer.
I say all of this to say that a word of wisdom is a “word” from the infinite wisdom of Almighty God who has the answer for every one of life’s problems and questions. He knows! He sees! He understands!
But like I said earlier, these two gifts like to work together: For instance, maybe we are standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes and we just have a knowing in our hearts that we need to call someone at that moment. Then it turns out that that individual was just asking the Lord to give them a specific answer to a difficult situation they are in. So, the Lord gave us a word of knowledge that we need to call them and then once we get in touch with them, He follows it up with the answer to their situation by giving us supernatural wisdom to share with them.
But think back to that example I used just a moment ago where the Lord shows us that the person in the seat in front of us is going through a divorce: Well, He does not just give us info like that for nothing. He gives us those words of knowledge so that we can either pray for them, give them encouragement, or give them a word of wisdom! So, as that lady turns around and we tell her that the Lord has shown us that she is going through a divorce, we need to open our mouths wide and begin to encourage her, expecting a word of wisdom might soon follow. For instance, the Lord might say through us: “The Lord has shown me that you are going through a divorce. I also believe the Lord is showing me that the problem is that you have been fighting this battle yourself (another word of knowledge). So, stop fighting him, fearing that you will be taken advantage of. Give to him who asks of you and you will see me fight this battle for you.” Now those last two sentences were a word of wisdom. Notice that the first two parts of this were a word of knowledge—where we supernaturally knew of her divorce and then that she was fighting in her own strength. Then, the second part was a word of wisdom, because it held the wisdom of what to do in light of what she was going through and what she was currently doing. 
So, can you see how much we need these revelation gifts working in our lives?
We need the gift of discerning of spirits to distinguish between the spirit of truth and error in the things we hear as well as to distinguish between the problem someone might be having in their life. This gift will help us help others more effectively while also helping keep us from those seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. 
We also need both the gifts of the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom so that we give people the information they need in their life. Yes, the word of knowledge will help us to tap into the omniscience of God so that we can see and know what someone has or is going through. And when we share this with that person, it’ll let them know that there is a God out there who loves them and cared enough about them to show their struggles to another person. Yes, the word of wisdom will help us to give people the answers and solutions that they need in their life as well. This gift will give people divine direction that will turn their situation around. Amen.
So, again, earnestly desire these revelation gifts to operate more in your life and in the lives of those around you! Seek after them with all your heart—for as you wholeheartedly desire these gifts, your mere human knowledge and wisdom will turn into “revelation” and you will see and know things that your eyes have not seen nor have your ears heard. It’ll be supernatural—the supernatural life! Amen!