1. The Wind of the Spirit

Looked a a number of words that zI don’t expect you to remember, but the meanings are important.

This is Peregrinatio the great adventure.

Perechoresis the dance of God

John 3: 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases.  ( cloth of the Holy Spirit )You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it is going. So it is with everything born of the Spirit.

We do not want to miss what the Holy Spirit is doing in our lives and the lives of those in the Chippewa Valley and Buffalo County.

2.  Missing what God is doing.

We need to be trained in hearing from the Wind of the Spirit.

EXAMPLE: Speaker at conference.  Inside voice will always drown outside voice.  I am talking to you but you are thinking where are we doing to eat.  You can’t hear a thing that is being said.

Inside voice may say things to us in this area of adventure and convinces us it is not for us.

No way God can use you in spiritual gifts.

When you are more “Spiritual” then you can be used of God.

Renew our minds with the Word of God.

Before any move of God there is a revelation of who he is.

  1. Moses Burning bush
  2. Gideon and messenger from heaven
  3. Isaiah and vision of heaven.
  4. Ezekiel and wheel within a wheel.
  5. Trained to hear what God is doing.

IMPORTANT: Not about gifts but about being alongside of Jesus and what he is doing.  Not what we are doing but who we are working with.

3. Keep United

Ephesians 4: 2, 3 Put up with each others faults and keep united.

We cannot find out where the wind is blowing on our own.  Nobody has all the spiritual gifts needed.  Flesh gets in the way and we believe it is God and it isn’t

We all have boards in our eyes that stop us from seeing.

We need others to perform eye surgery on us, but do it with an attitude of making allowances for each other.

4. . Gifts “to put things right”

Vs 11, 12 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

Vs 13 Maturity complete standard of Christ

EXAMPLE: Maturity is a variable in our lives. Child talking about the big kids in kids village.

Revelation 3: 1 You have a reputation for being alive, but you re dead WAKE UP!!!

Something is not right. Wake Up, but how do we know if we are sleeping.

Equip means to put things right. Set the bone that is broken.

God has given us gifts so we can set right what is broken in the church.

It is why Jesus ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit.

5. Five Ministry gifts

What does this look like in a practical sense for us?

  1. Prophet mentioned 458 singular and plural forms
  2. Apostle 89
  3. Pastor 1
  4. Teacher 139
  5. Evangelist 3

Will look deeper at these in the next few weeks, but a couple of areas of introduction.

Does everyone have one of these gifts?

Yes and no.  We are all called to move in these areas and all of them are needed for maturity, but not everyone is called to train others in how to move in these gifts.

Can I move in more than one gift?

Yes 2 Timothy 1: 11”And God chose me to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of this Good News

The idea here is not so much the gift we possess, the idea is What is the Holy Spirit doing and how can I be a part of it.

Isn’t there a chance of abuse, getting it wrong, or someone really messing it up?

Yes, absolutely,

False teachers 1 Timothy 1: 3 – 7

False Apostles 2 Corinthians 11: 13

False shepherds (pastor) Ezekiel 34

EXAMPLE:  Vietnamese dong has the distinction of being the most worthless currency in the world. 33,000 for every dollar.  Most counterfeited is the $100 bill because of its value.  YOU DON’T QUIT USING $100 BECAUSE OF THE CHANCE OF ITS COUNTERFEITING.

6. What should I do?

More of these gifts are active in this body and we just don’t recognize them for what they are.

  1. Fear of the adventure
  2. Ignorance (We will take care of that the next few weeks)

1 Corinthians 14: 1 Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, but especially the gift of prophecy.

Many of us don’t eagerly desire the spiritual gifts.  We approach them like if it happens it happens. We can’t be like that anymore.

  1. This wasn’t a suggestion
  2. It was a command to eagerly desire the gift
  3. Especially prophecy
  4. Jesus defeated Death, Hell, and the grave.  He ascended into heaven to make room  (perechoresis) for the Holy Spirit to come and use us in these gifts in bringing his kingdom to the world.

Pray give us this desire for the Holy Spirit.