00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:59 Controversial Passages and Spiritual Gifts

03:17 Unity and the Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

05:25 Serving the Church with Your Gifts

09:18 Love and Its Importance in the Church

10:40 Prophecy and Tongues Explained

14:32 Orderly Worship and Women's Role in Church

18:54 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

3

December 2nd, 2024.

4

Uh, perhaps the most controversial

addition to the daily Bible podcast ever.

5

And pastor I was not

here, but that's okay.

6

That's okay.

7

We're going to dive into it anyways.

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It shouldn't be too controversial.

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I don't believe, but, uh, It

does involve some passages that

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have caused a lot of questions,

a lot of division in the church.

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Ironically, as we'll see here in a moment.

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Um, but yeah.

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It's Monday, hopefully

you're enjoying your Monday.

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I guess it's cyber Monday today, which

is, uh, Yeah, you can do more online

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shopping, I guess if you didn't do

enough on Friday and Saturday and

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Sunday now you've got cyber Monday.

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I think tomorrow's giving Tuesday,

Wednesday is wacky Wednesday, Thursdays.

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Terrific Thursday.

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Uh, Friday is fun.

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Friday.

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Saturday is super sad.

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Who knows.

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Right.

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Cyber Monday.

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There you go.

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Hopefully you can go out and

get some, some good deals on

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some things on, on cyber Monday.

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Maybe finish up some Christmas

shopping, even if you were ambitious

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this weekend and got quite a bit done,

but I'm glad you're opening up your

30

Bible and tuning in for the podcast.

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Again today we're in first Corinthians

12 through 14, and like I said, this is

32

a controversial passage because it deals

with the subject of spiritual gifts.

33

Now let me show my cards

at the very beginning.

34

We are as a church, uh, what we would

call cessationists cessationists or

35

cessationism is the belief that there

are certain gifts, the sign gifts in

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particular, the miraculous sign gifts.

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That have ceased in are no

longer in operation as a

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normative part of the church.

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Okay.

40

So that would include gifts of healing.

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Gifts of prophecy gives us

speaking in tongues, casting

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out demons, so forth and so on.

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These are.

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Uh, the, the miraculous gifts that

we believe were provided for the

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apostles during the era of the, the

rapid expansion of the church, which

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as we're reading first Corinthians,

it's important for us to know in the

47

chronological plan is helpful for this.

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That this is still in that early

stage of the church as the church is

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still growing and going, and churches

are being planted and the gospel is

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still something that is very new.

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And so that those going with the gospel

message we're given by God, through the

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spirit, the ability to do some miraculous

things in order that the message in

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the messenger should be validated by

those that they were going to preach to.

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So when Paul shows up in Corinth and

begins to call these people to faith

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and repentance in a gospel that they'd

never heard of before, and they're

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able to see the miraculous gifts.

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They're able to witness these

miraculous things or have heard about

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speaking in tongues in how these known

languages were used to communicate

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the gospel in such a rapid way.

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Uh, that caused them to stop and

say, I'm going to pay attention

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to what this one has to say.

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And in paying attention to what he has

to say, they hear the gospel and that

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is where they are left to say, okay, am

I going to repent and believer or no?

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So that's our doctrine on

cessationism of the gifts.

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We don't believe that is in operation

anymore today because what we stand

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up and we do is we say, here's

God's word, believe in God's word.

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And we have the Bible in

codified form in a book form.

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And we can point to this and

say, this is what God says.

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We're not standing up by ourselves saying.

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I'm telling you something that God says.

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Uh, extemporaneously the way that

the apostles did in the early church

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did, I'm saying, look, here it is.

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You can put your eyes on the page.

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You can read, this is God's word.

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There's the authority

within the word of God.

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So getting into that.

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What I think makes it so ironic and

tragic that so much divisiveness

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has come from a passage like

this is because if you read first

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Corinthians 12, And really all of it.

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First Corinthians 12, 13 and 14,

which is our text for the day.

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All of it is, is really

mostly about unity.

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Uh, the purpose of the spiritual

gifts were for the unity of the

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body, the common good of the body.

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That's how he puts it in verse seven.

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He says to each, so.

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Who has the spiritual gift will each

Christian does every believer does.

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To each is given the manifestation

of the spirit for the common good.

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All of these, he goes on in verse 11,

you list some, some gifts above that.

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Some of those would be the miraculous

gifts, the gifts of healing, right.

90

Uh, the gifts of tongues, the.

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The these things, he

says, all of these things.

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Are empowered by one in the same

spirit who apportions to each

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one individually as he wills.

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Uh, people have the gifts they do because

the spirit gives those gifts to them for

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the common good for the unity of the body.

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And this is where he goes with the

metaphor after this and the metaphor

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here again is on the emphasis on unity.

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The body has many members,

but it's one body.

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So, yes, he's going to

talk about the varieties.

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There are varieties of gifts.

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There are varieties of manifestations

of the spirit within a person, but.

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All of it works together

for the good of one.

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Body and that's, that's so integral to

our understanding of this conversation.

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When, when you think about employing your

giftedness in the church, it's important

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that you understand that, that you're

doing that, not so that you can say,

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well, this is God gave me this gift,

so I need to express this because it's

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about me and my expression of this gift.

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Now God gave you that gift to be used

for the good of the body as a whole.

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And so maybe you find yourself in a

situation where, uh, you may have the

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spiritual gift of playing the oboe.

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Well, we don't have an

oboe right now up on stage.

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And so because of that, maybe it's not

the season for you to play the oboe

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in, in sense of the corporate good of

the body, but maybe, you know what,

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maybe you also have to give to serving.

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And so in the gift of serving,

you're going to serve on our

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hospitality team and you're going

to use spiritual giftedness in that

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regard to serve the body of Christ.

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Christ for the good of the

body for the unity of the body.

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And listen, we need people of all

kinds of different skills and talents.

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And let me put it this way.

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We need available people.

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One of the things that we talk

about, uh, in, in ministry circles

123

is we want people that are fat.

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And what that means is we want

people who are faithful available and

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teachable in that middle one available

is what we're talking about here.

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Uh, so often we will find ourselves

in a church where maybe we've served

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in one role at a past church, and we

really love that role, but we come to

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a new church and either somebody else

is in that role or maybe that ministry

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isn't in operation at the moment.

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And so we're left there to say,

well, I, I, I'm not going to serve

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because my role is not available.

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My gift is, is not available to be used.

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And that's where I would say

that availability comes in

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and the availability is the

availability, the mindset that says.

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Look, put me wherever I'm needed.

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I'll do whatever I need to do.

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You need me to clean

toilets before the service?

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Because they had a, uh, a

basketball game in the gym last

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week and the bathrooms are messy.

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Sure.

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I'll do it.

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I'll let me give me a brush.

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I'm going for it.

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You need somebody to run

the camera in the back.

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Okay.

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Yeah, that's me.

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I'm in, let me do it.

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You need somebody to stack chairs?

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To tear down, to set

up, to drive a trailer.

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Uh, yeah, I will do all of those things.

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You may have never taken a spiritual

inventory test that says I'm a trailer

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driver, but if you've got a truck and

you've got a tow hitch and you've got

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the availability, you know what, you're,

you're going to use your spiritual

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giftedness of being able to tow a trailer.

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And you're going to use that for the

common good of the body of Christ.

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See, that's why you're not going to find.

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Us ever giving you a spiritual

inventory list here at the church

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saying, Hey, take this test.

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Take this inventory.

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Uh, assessment.

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And this is going to tell

you what your gifting is, and

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there's multiple reasons why.

163

Uh, one of the main reasons,

why is it pigeonholes people?

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Such that people walk away and

go, well, these are my gifts.

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I'm good at this, this and this.

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And then when they're asked to

do something, that's outside

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that, that tri unity of their

giftedness, they're going to say no,

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that's not my area of giftedness.

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Okay, well, but can you do it?

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Can you, can you volunteer with kids?

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Can you teach kids?

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The Bible will, but that's not my gift.

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Okay.

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I didn't ask if your inventory

told you that was your giftedness.

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Can you do it?

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Uh, technically yeah, I can.

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Okay.

178

So now it's a matter of, are

you willing to do it for the

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good of the body of Christ?

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That's what spiritual

giftedness is all about.

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And so when he says in verse

18, Chapter 12, 12 as it is.

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God arranged the members of the

body, each one of them as he chose.

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I love that verse because that means

that God has put you here at the

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local body at compass Bible church in

north Texas, to use your giftedness

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for the good of the body of Christ.

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What does that look like for you?

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How are you serving?

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Where are you serving?

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If you're saying I'm not serving

because my role is taken or I

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don't have a ministry to fit that.

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Eh, that that's not, those are,

those objections are not valid.

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Uh, you need to be involved in the

church and serving the church and, and

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just as a sidebar, are there seasons to.

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To sit out of serving.

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Yeah.

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I mean, maybe you've got a health crisis

going on or you've just got something

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unique going on to where it's like, okay.

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I, I, it's hard for me

to be involved right now.

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Okay.

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I get that.

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But I would also say when, when

you're, you're able to, to get

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back involved when you're able to.

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To smile at somebody and hand them a

bulletin as they walk in the church.

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Uh, walk in the door to church

on Sunday morning, get back

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involved and get serving.

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Um, yeah.

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God wants you to do this.

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It's part of what it looks like.

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It's part of the reason why

he's got you at the body of

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Christ and got you at church.

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So.

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Um, yeah, I I'm, I'm Kevin Strong on that

because I really feel that that's true.

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Um, and yeah, it's, it's not about,

well, my spiritual gift inventory

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list identified these guests.

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If you've taken one of those

in the past, and it's proved

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helpful to you in some regard.

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Great.

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Um, I'm happy for you, but realize that.

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A spiritual gift is any talent that you

have that can be used for the glory of

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God, in the good of the body of Christ.

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Let me say that again, a spiritual

gift is any talent or ability that you

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have that can be used for the glory of

God in the good of the body of Christ.

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And so if you can check those two boxes,

then again, driving a truck with a trailer

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towed behind it, that's a spiritual gift.

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And you can use that for the glory of

God and the good of the body of Christ.

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All right.

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That's first Corinthians chapter 12.

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If you're coming for more answers on

other specifics, then maybe you're going

229

to have to wait until we preach that.

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Or maybe next year, or you can write in

a question to podcast@compassntx.org,

231

and we will answer it on the air if, uh,

if we feel like it's a good question,

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that would benefit a lot of people.

233

Otherwise we'll just.

234

Shoot you a response

individually at least.

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And get your question answered.

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Uh, chapter 13 coming off

of this, he talks about love

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again, I think appropriate.

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Hey.

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Uh, don't be divisive over these things.

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Let's love each other and we're going to

love the way that he describes it here.

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Uh, with a love that's patient and

kind that does not envy or boast.

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You know, this.

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You may have had it read at your wedding.

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Uh, it's, it's oftentimes

right at weddings, it was

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written to the local church.

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Right.

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And so we would say, man, if it's

written to the local church, how

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much more you should it be true of a

husband and wife, but, but really the

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focus here is for the local church.

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And then he goes on, he

says, look, love, never ends.

251

Any shifts here in the end of

chapter 13, to talk about some

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eschatological things and times things.

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And he says, here's what

to expect in the end.

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There are things that

are going to pass away.

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Tongues will cease.

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Knowledge will pass away.

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For window and part and prophesy

in part, but when the perfect

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comes, the partial will pass away.

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When the perfect comes.

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That is Jesus when Jesus returns.

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So.

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There's a lot of people here that think,

well, when the, the perfect is the Bible.

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Okay.

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Now I think it's, it's broader than that.

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I think it's, or I guess more specific,

perhaps, depending on how you look at it.

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I think he's talking about when Christ

comes back, then we're going to know in

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full, and then he has this thing here.

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He says, we see in a mirror dimly

right now in verse 12, but then

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we're going to see face to face.

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We know in part right

now, then we will know.

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And.

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As we have been fully known.

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So faith in hope and love

those three exist right now.

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But the greatest is love.

275

Why?

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Because eventually we're not going to

have to have faith or hope anymore because

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that will be realized when the perfect

comes love is what's going to abide.

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And that's why in first Corinthians

13, he focuses so much on.

279

Making sure that we are loving.

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Alright.

281

Chapter 14, let's get to

the controversial stuff.

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Prophecy and tongues.

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Ah, man, prophecy and tongues.

284

We are called to pursue love

and early earnestly desire,

285

spiritual gifts in the beginning.

286

And especially that you might

prophesy why pursue prophecy?

287

Why desire that because prophecies for

the good of the whole church, he goes

288

on and speaks a lot about tongues here.

289

And, and when we're talking about

tongues, we're talking about a

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known language and existing language

that is interpreted by somebody who

291

understands or knows that language.

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So he goes on to say, look, The one

who speaks in a tongue speaks not

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to men, but to God, some people say,

look, see, it's an ecstatic utterance.

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It's a private prayer language for

no one understands him, but he unders

295

mystery utters mysteries in the spirit.

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No, I think what he's referring

to here is when somebody stands

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up and speaks in a tongue.

298

A foreign language.

299

And there's no one there to interpret it.

300

Well, then it is just between him and

God, because everybody in the room

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that's listening to that person say that.

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Th th they don't understand

what they're saying.

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There's no one there to interpret

the one who speaks in a tongue

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verse four builds himself up.

305

If again, no one is there to interpret.

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But the one who prophesies

builds up the church, because

307

it's about the church body.

308

It's not just about the

individual speaking in tongues.

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The one who prophesies is greater

than the one who speaks in tongues,

310

unless someone interprets notice.

311

That if someone interprets then

it's, it's on par with prophecy.

312

Why?

313

Because it's going to benefit everybody.

314

Remember why were spiritual gifts

given first Corinthians 12 for the

315

common good spiritual gifts are not

about the individual practice of them.

316

They are about the common good, the

building up of the body of Christ.

317

And so this idea of a

private prayer language.

318

Makes it individual when it was intended

for the body intended corporately there

319

that the church might be built up.

320

So his discussion of tongues here

in the beginning of chapter 14,

321

compared to prophecies, he seemed

prophecy is good because it's clear.

322

It's understandable by those

that are gathered in the church.

323

And the tongues on the other

hand, unless someone is there to

324

interpret the tongue who knows

the language that's being spoken.

325

It's not going to be any good for

anyone, but the one speaking in God.

326

For six.

327

He goes on.

328

He says, if I come to you speaking in

tongues, how am I going to benefit you?

329

Unless I bring you some revelation,

knowledge or prophecy you're teaching.

330

In other words, unless someone

is able to interpret this.

331

He says he goes on.

332

He says, so with yourselves, If

with your tongue, you other speech

333

that is not intelligible, how will

anyone know what is said again?

334

It has to be interpreted.

335

For you will be speaking into the air.

336

There are doubtless many notice here,

many different, what does he say?

337

What's the word.

338

There are many different verse.

339

Uh, 10 languages in the world.

340

He's talking about that in context with

tongues and none is without meaning

341

other, in other words, If, if someone is

speaking in tongues, an interpreter can

342

be found because there are many different

languages and none is without meaning.

343

But if no one is there, if no one

is there to interpret it, it's not

344

going to be beneficial to the body

of Christ to the whole church.

345

And therefore don't do it

as the implication that

346

prophecy is better than that.

347

For 16.

348

Otherwise, if you give thanks with your

spirit, how can anyone in the position of

349

an outsider say amen to your Thanksgiving

when he doesn't know what you're saying?

350

So he's talking about even then

the outsiders coming in there.

351

And he says that if, unless there's

someone there to interpret, it's not

352

good for the building up of the church.

353

It's not going to be good for

the body of Christ as a whole.

354

And again, first Corinthians chapter 12.

355

That's what our purpose

is with spiritual gifts.

356

Um, He goes on in verses 20 through, uh,

the, the end of well through 25 here.

357

And he talks about the difference

between tongues and prophecy.

358

Some more.

359

He says, tongues are

assigned to unbelievers.

360

Uh, some have suggested this may be in the

form of, of God's judgment against them.

361

Um, others have said that, no, this

is again a, the miraculous and it's a

362

sign for unbelievers because they're

hearing it in their own language or

363

they're, they're hearing interpreted

in, they're seeing the miraculous.

364

Uh, but he says prophecy

is, is for believers.

365

Um, and the prophecies.

366

Being for believers because

it's, it's understandable.

367

It's clear it's plain.

368

And even those on the outside can hear the

prophecy and even come to faith as well.

369

So here.

370

In chapter 14, he.

371

Tongues and prophesied fine.

372

They both have a place.

373

But only in so much as.

374

Uh, there, the tongues are going to

be interpreted again, tongues known

375

language and, and that is what's key here.

376

That's, what's important in, uh, in

first Corinthians chapter two, chapter

377

14, the first one through 25 there.

378

Okay.

379

After this, he goes on

to order we worship here.

380

He says in verse, uh, 26, let all

things be done for building up again.

381

Uh, verse 33 for God is not a

God of confusion, but of peace.

382

Okay.

383

So.

384

Excuse me.

385

Now let's get to it.

386

Uh, verse 34.

387

Verse 33 and 34 as an alternate

because of the saints.

388

Women should keep silent in churches

for, they're not permitted to

389

speak, but should be in submission.

390

Alright.

391

Alright.

392

If it hasn't been controversial

enough, if you're still with me

393

and I haven't offended you yet.

394

Uh, well, maybe this will.

395

Now what's he talking about here?

396

He's not seeing women have to walk

into the doors of church and be

397

silent the whole time I elsewhere.

398

He said, it's okay for women

to pray in prophecy, right?

399

During that season of the church

that was acceptable during that time.

400

So what's he saying here?

401

And what he's saying here is he's

saying this, he's saying, uh, when.

402

What was going on?

403

Most likely in the Corinthian church

was that there were women that were

404

disrupting the service that were

objecting to the things that were being

405

said by the preacher, by the pastor.

406

By the one speaking.

407

And that disruption was what

he's speaking against here.

408

He's saying that's not right.

409

It's usurping the created order.

410

Remember the order of the husband.

411

Who is the head of the wife?

412

Um, It's usurping the created order there.

413

And so this is wrong.

414

This is out of place.

415

The wife shouldn't speak up and shout

down the pastor as he's preaching.

416

Uh, or even sitting in her seat and

grumble against the pastor as he's

417

preaching, because that's not good.

418

That's not helpful.

419

That's bad for the what for the

unity of the body of Christ.

420

Remember, have I stressed that enough?

421

First Corinthians 12 through 14.

422

What's the theme?

423

The theme is the unity, the good

of the body of Christ, the common

424

good of the body of Christ.

425

And so here, he's saying, let them,

instead of ask their husbands or talk

426

to their husbands when they get home

and if there's valid concerns, okay.

427

Then, then those might be

addressed in other ways, but

428

that's, what's going on here.

429

Paul's not saying two ladies.

430

Hey lady, sit down and be quiet.

431

He simply saying that the public.

432

Preaching of the word.

433

That's not the format.

434

That's not the place to, to

grumble or raise your objections

435

or anything like that.

436

Now you might sit there and you might say,

okay, but what if the pastor is preaching?

437

Heresy?

438

Okay.

439

Yeah, you might, at some point, Stan

decide in the middle of a church service

440

and hopefully not at our church service

at any point, but you might decide to.

441

Uh, in the middle of a church service,

this is, this is so erroneous.

442

I cannot continue to sit here

and be listening to this.

443

Okay.

444

If that happens to you at some

point in time in your life, then

445

calmly and quietly without a show,

stand up and excuse yourself.

446

You can leave.

447

You can choose to walk out.

448

Um, Again, not making a big harrumph

and show and everything else, but

449

you can choose to walk out now.

450

Uh, there, there are times when

more radical, uh, actions may

451

be necessary, but, but those

are the exceptions to the rule.

452

Um, I listened as your,

your senior pastor.

453

I get it.

454

I'm going to preach things from time to

time and you may not agree with that.

455

And I'm talking to both men

and women at this point.

456

And I may preach something that, that

you're sitting out there and going, okay,

457

well, that's a, maybe a second tier issue

and I don't agree with his take on that.

458

Great, awesome.

459

Uh, you don't have to, but I

would say this, I would say.

460

I would need you to still sit and,

and listen quietly, um, and not sit

461

in your seat and grumble and not sit

in your seat and complain and not sit

462

in your seat and make little comments

under your breath about the sermon.

463

Uh, Y because of the, the good

of the body of Christ, you are

464

being divisive and disruptive to

the good of the body of Christ.

465

So, um, again, you don't

have to agree with me.

466

I'm not saying that I'm saying that's

not the format to vocally object to

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anything being said from the pulpit

you're saying, does that actually happen?

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Yeah, it actually does happen.

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Um, but I'm just saying that

that's not the right place.

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That's not the right time that.

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That's a selfish move.

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And a divisive move.

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If it's, if it's being done there,

especially on second tier or

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even tertiary third tier issues.

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Um, we can agree to disagree.

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And if, if you get to the point

where there's enough disagreement

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there, that you're like, Hey, you

know, I find that I'm disagreeing

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with things more often than not.

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Then, then I'll be.

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Totally honest with you.

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I'm okay with you moving on.

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Look, I love you.

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And I don't want to lose

anybody from the church.

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I'm not saying that at all, but I

also want you to be at a place where

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you can worship and be in agreement.

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And to the extent that you're not

tempted to be divisive or disruptive

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to the unity of the body of Christ,

go find a group of Christians that

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that will be true for, for you.

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And you can, you can settle in there.

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I'm not addressing a

specific situation here.

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I know it may sound like that.

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I'm really not.

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I'm talking about this because

of this passage in first

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Corinthians 12 through 14.

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So, um, we love our church

body and I love you guys.

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And, and it's a joy to preach to you guys.

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And I love doing it weekend and week out.

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And it's awesome that, uh, that

you're part of our church family.

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So, um, please hear me say that I'm not,

I'm not addressing a given situation.

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You guys may be sitting there going,

oh man, I wonder what happened.

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Nothing happened.

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This is not a fodder for gossip.

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This is just me going over and

talking through some things and

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kind of saying, okay, how do we

understand this in today's context?

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That's it.

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That's all I'm driving out there.

507

All right.

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I'm sure that created questions.

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So remember podcast@compassntx.org

podcasts@compassntx.org.

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And we would love to

answer those questions.

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Let me pray.

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And then we'll be done.

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God, I thank you for your word.

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I thank you for the truth of it.

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And I thank you for just the, the unity

that we can have as a body of believers

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saying we're after the common good.

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And I pray that that would

be true of our church.

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I pray that you'd protect us in

that regard, and I pray that we

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would see growth as a result.

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We pray in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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All right.

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I'll keep her in your Bibles and

tune in again tomorrow for another

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edition of the daily Bible podcast by.