Revelation gifts

  BY Argie Simonis

On our first message we had  an introduction to the spiritual gifts and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and on the previous message we spoke about the  impartation of the gifts, in order to lay a foundation before we get into the gifts.

The gifts of the Spirit are not meant to replace our own faith in the Lord. We must not be so completely dependent on some spiritually gifted person that we neglect our own spiritual growth and maturity.

If we have the proper spiritual maturity and know how to believe, we can receive anything we need from the Lord without the involvement of a person with a gift.

If this is so, then why do we need the gifts of the Holy Spirit? We should all receive directly from God and there should be no need for a mediator. This would be ideal, but let's not forget that from the moment we come to the Lord, there is a process of maturing in our Christian life.

If the only way to receive from the Lord was only through your own faith, some people for example diagnosed with terminal diseases and with a short life span, would not have had time to mature in their faith and would be doomed if there were no people with healing gifts for example. The Lord wants us to receive through these gifts, but if later people do not mature in their personal faith in the Lord and depend only on these gifts it is wrong.

The word of knowledge, the word of wisdom and the discernment of spirits are putu together by many in the group of "revelation gifts". 

Let us examine what Paul writes to us:

"For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;" 1Cor. 12:8

A word of knowledge is the revelation that the Lord gives about a person (eg about something that has happened or is already happening in his life) or a specific situation. Jesus operated in this gift many times, even to the point of telling people their names and things about them that he could not possibly have known in the natural.

------- The Samaritan woman at the well

"Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here.

The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband:

For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly." John 4:16-18

------ He saw Nathanael

"Nathanael said to him, From where know you me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." John 1:48

------- The preparation for the last Supper

"And he sends forth two of his disciples, and said to them, Go you into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him." Mark 14:13

Wisdom involves understanding and applying sound judgment. Characteristic examples that the Lord moved in the gift of the word of wisdom, are when the Pharisees tried to accuse Him:

------------- Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?

"But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt you me, you hypocrites?

Show me the tribute money. And they brought to him a penny.

And he said to them, Whose is this image and superscription?

They say to him, Caesar's. Then said he to them, Render therefore to Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.

When they had heard these words, they marveled, and left him, and went their way." Matt. 22:18-22

------------- The adulteress

"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said to them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the oldest, even to the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the middle." John 8:7-9

--------------- By what authority do you do this?

"And spoke to him, saying, Tell us, by what authority do you these things? or who is he that gave you this authority?

And he answered and said to them, I will also ask you one thing; and answer me:

The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?

"And they answered, that they could not tell from where it was.

And Jesus said to them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things." 

Luke 20:2-4, 7-8

The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the gift of prophecy often work hand in hand. For example, the word of knowledge can reveal a problem, the word of wisdom can apply God's wisdom to the situation, and the gift of prophecy will produce the results of obedience. One gift complements the other.

We also see that the Holy Spirit gives Α word of wisdom and Α word of knowledge. It is in the singular, meaning the Holy Spirit does not impart to one person all of God's wisdom or knowledge about a person or a situation. Some people who have not understood this point think that a person operating with the word of wisdom and/or word of knowledge knows everything about them and fear that all will be revealed. And yet, it is not so.

On the other hand, some people have not understood that the Holy Spirit just gives them a "word" of wisdom or a "word" of knowledge and they speak more than what the Lord has inspired. The Lord gives them a word and they turn it into a whole story.

The gift of discernment of spirits that Paul writes about in 1Cor. 12:10, is the supernatural ability to discern different kinds of spiritual beings (ie, angels or demons), as well as behaviors or feelings.

In the next message we will deal with the gifts of utterance (prophecy, tongues, interpretation of tongues) and we will examine each one separately.

To be continued...

Impartation of Spiritual Gifts

  BY Argie Simonis

In the previous message we explained the baptism of the Holy Spirit and its necessity, and gave an introduction to spiritual gifts. Here we will talk about their importance and impartation .

Paul used the teaching on the gifts to illustrate the unity of the Body of Christ. I believe that is where the whole emphasis of 1 Cor. 12-14 is.

Paul also writes in Romans:

"For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established;" Rom. 1:11

The first thing we notice in this verse is that spiritual gifts can be transmitted from one person to another. The second is that spiritual gifts edify and empower a person. When the gifts are operating in the Church service they bring exhortation, comfort and edification to the whole congregation, while when they are operating privately, they edify the individual himself. I will explain this later.

Some believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the impartation of gifts by the laying on of hands is the privilage of the apostles or the presbytery (elders) alone. In the book of Acts we read:

"And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord." Acts 9:10

"And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared to you in the way as you came, has sent me, that you might receive your sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost." Acts 9:17

Paul received the gift of the Holy Spirit from the Lord's disciple Ananias, of whom there is no other mention in Scripture. I believe that this is the necessary condition for the impartation of spiritual  gifts: To be a disciple of the Lord and to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. You can't give something you don't have.

Paul writes to Timothy:

"Neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." 1Tim. 4:14

Paul here advises Timothy not to neglect his gift. Neglect means not paying the necessary attention. In other words, it is not only rejection on our part that cancels the gifts, but negligence is equally destructive.

"But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:" 1Peter 3:15

All believers should be able to teach someone and publicly confess their faith, but that does not make them teachers.

All believers can prophesy but that does not make them prophets:

"For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted." 1Cor. 14:31

All believers are called to lay hands on the sick, but not all have gifts of healing or miracles. Everyone can speak in tongues, but not everyone has the gift of tongues:

"And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Mark 16:17-18

"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely you have received, freely give." Matt. 10:8

Likewise, all believers can and should minister to the lost, but that does not make them evangelists. In the following messages we will explain these differences and examine the spiritual gifts from 1 Cor. 12-14 and Rom. 12, compared to the ministry gifts (fivefold ministry) in Eph. 4.

To be continued...

The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit: Introduction

   BY Argie Simonis

Paul writes to the church of Corinth, a church that is already moving in the spiritual gifts and especially in chapter 14 gives instructions for the correct use of the gifts,

"for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." 1Cor. 14:33

Paul used the gifts to portray the unity of the Body of Christ. I believe that this is the general emphasis given on this letter.

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I would not have you ignorant." 1Cor. 12:1 

Paul devotes chapters 12-14 to dealing with ignorance on spiritual gifts. At best some people do not know the gift of the Spirit they have already received and therefore cannot operate in the gifts. But there is a large part of the body of Christ who has believed that all these gifts are gone after the first century. Those who believe this are in greater ignorance than the first.

In the letter to the Galatians we read:

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law." Gal. 5:23

If you noticed the word "fruit" here is in the singular. All these 9 things that Paul lists here, are characteristic of a "fruit" with 9 different flavors, in the same sense that light can be divided into iris colors when it passes through a prism. Those who have the Spirit of God have in them all these 9 characteristics of His fruit, whether they manifest them or not.

However, in contrast, Paul was saying here that there are various gifts (plural) of the Holy Spirit. No individual necessarily possesses all nine of the gifts of the Spirit mentioned here (1 Corinthians 12:8-10).

"But all these works that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." 1Cor. 12:11

Thus, it is possible for a person to act on more than one of these gifts, but this does not work like the fruit of the Spirit we read in Gal. 5:22:

"Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?

Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" 1Cor. 12:30

Do not forget that Paul asks these questions to Christians who have already received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are already operating on the spiritual gifts.

Did you know that spiritual gifts are not limited to these 9 basic gifts (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues) mentioned here by Paul?

Let us see what Paul wrote to us in his letter to the Ephesians:

"Why he said, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." Eph. 4:8

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" Eph. 4:11

In his letter to the Romans, Paul mentions additional gifts of

- service

- exhortation

- giving

- administration

- mercy

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;

Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teaches, on teaching;

Or he that exhorts, on exhortation: he that gives, let him do it with simplicity; he that rules, with diligence; he that shows mercy, with cheerfulness." Rom. 12:6-8

These are gifts from the Lord to the church "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:" Eph. 4:12

Those whom the Lord has called into a particular ministry are to help the believers so that they can better share their faith with the world. Then all together as one body become witnesses of our Jesus and people are saved. Shepherds do not give birth to sheep. Sheep give birth to sheep.

Every believer can do the same miracles that Jesus performed (John 14:12), and Jesus said that miraculous signs would follow all who believe (Mark 16: 17-20). But not every member of the body will do these things as a gift of calling or ministry.

I will close this introduction to the gifts with a comment on Paul's words:

"But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I to you a more excellent way." 1Cor. 12:31

In the next chapter he talks about this more excellent way. He talks about love. Paul here of course does not mean that love abolishes gifts (as some believe), but that gifts operating without love are useless.

A series of messages on spiritual gifts will follow, explaining their characteristics, the purposes they serve and how they work.

Does God allow evil? - (Part 2)

  BY Argie Simonis

This is the second part of the message. You can find the first part here.

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7

Here we see that a separation is taking place. Some things are from God and some from the devil. We must submit to the things of God and resist the things that are from the devil.

The word "resist" means "I am actively fighting against". There is no resistance on our part when we remain passive waiting for "what is to be done, will be done".

If for example you believe that God is the one who gave you or "permitted" a sickness in your life in order to teach you something, then why do you go to the doctor and take medication? With this kind of thinking you should let the sickness continue its natural course, until it completes its purpose.

As you can see, this is completely absurd. God is not responsible for the sickness, nor should we remain passive not actively trying to get healed.

Jesus healed all those who were oppressed by the devil. The devil was responsible for all diseases and not God:

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him." Acts 10:38

The same thing is happening today. Sickness is from the devil and we must resist every sickness with faith and seek the healing that the Lord has offered us through His sacrifice on the Cross.

As for the Old Testament where God struck people with sickness and plagues, I will try to be simple and clear: None of these cases was a blessing. They were all curses. God used sickness in the Old Testament as punishment, but let us not forget that the New Testament we are in now, Jesus bore our curse upon Him:

"Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:" Gal. 3:13

Both the forgiveness of our sins and the healing are part of the attonment "package" Jesus offered to us.

Deuteronomy chapter 28 solves this issue once and for all. The first 14 verses list God's blessings and the last 53 list God's curses. Healing is referred to as a blessing (Deut. 28:4). Sickness is recorded as a curse (Deut. 28:22, 27-28, 35, 59-61). God called the disease a curse and this is how we must see it.

Knowing that God is not the source of our problems is one of the greatest revelations we can have.

It is really comforting to know that God has only good gifts for me:

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no ficklenss, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17

Any problems in my life are from the devil and come either from a mistake we made, or are simply the result of a fallen world. I know that my Heavenly Father would never hurt me.

Surely we have learned lessons through the hardships of life and most of us have come to the Lord seeking help.

But it is important to recognize that our lives were changed through the faith we placed on Him and not through the hardships. If difficulties and problems made us better, then those with the most problems would be the best of all! But we know this is not the case.

We certainly do not bless the Lord when we blame Him for all the problems that come into our lives. Of course He will comfort us in the midst of our problems when we seek Him, but He is neither the author of these problems nor does He "allows" them.

God is sovereign in the sense that there is no one superior to Him in power or authority. The only thing that limits Him is His own Word:

"God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: has he said, and shall he not do it? or has he spoken, and shall he not make it good?" Numbers 23:19

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Psalm 89:34

Of course, this does not mean that God exercises His power by controlling everything in our lives. The Lord created free human beings, not robots. He created people with the choice to either love Him or even hate Him. To accept or to reject Him. Love can't exist without the freedom of will, and God is love (1John 4:16).

Most of the time our wrong choices are the ones that brings destruction and give place to the devil to have access in our lives. Other times, however, our problems are just an attack from the devil because he hates what God loves and we do not necessarily have to do something bad to be attacked:

"And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:" Luke 22:31

Satan came to steal, kill and destroy, while Jesus came to give us abundant life:

"The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10

Let's read the following passage from 1 Corinthians, and where "love" is (according to 1 John 4:16) we put "God":

"God suffers long, and is kind; God envies not; God braggs not Himself, is not puffed up,

Does not behave Himself unseemly, seeks not His own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;

Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." 1Cor. 13:4-7

When a detective goes to a crime scene, he collects fingerprints and evidence to find the offender. It is time for us to follow this example and learn how to discern the person responsible for things that happen in our lives. And this is not that difficult actually. When it is good, it is God and when it is bad, it is the devil.

The Lord is not the source of our problems, but rather the answer to our every problem. Amen!

Watch on our YouTube channel the video with English subs: 

Does God allow evil? (Part 1)

 BY Argie Simonis

We live in wicked times. Bad things happen even to good people and I have seen many times that the responsibility is attributed to God,  either as the author of these problems, or he permits these problems to come in order to teach us a lesson or somehow fulfill His plans.

I believe this is one of the most dangerous teachings in the Body of Christ. The way God's sovereignty is taught in most churches today is a faith killer. The belief that God controls everything or permits everything to happen around us is one of the greatest lies that satan has ever managed to convince people. If that's really the case, then it's completely pointless to try to do something, since everything is planned to be done in a certain way.

If we believe that it is God's will for everything to happen to us, good or bad, it can temporarily relieve us of our responsibilities and comfort us from guilt or remorse, but in the long run it distorts the image and character of God, preventing us from trusting Him and it leads us to passivity.

- For example, religion presents a child-killing God, who takes babies and children to Heaven because he "needs" them there more than their biological family here on earth.

 - Religion presents a God who sends sickness and sorrow to His children to "teach" them humility and obedience.

 - Religion presents a God who is responsible for every war, famine, earthquake, disaster and every evil that happens in the world, because nothing happens if He does not "allow" it.

So how is it possible to love and trust someone who treats you like that? Under current law, if such a God takes the stand of the accused in court, he will be sentenced to life imprisonment, or even to death as a common criminal!

Religion (the religious spirit) has invented a new meaning of the word "sovereignty" and when it attributes it to God it basically means that God controls everything and that nothing can happen except what He wants or allows.

The dictionary defines the meaning of the word "sovereign" as follows:

- Supreme.

- The one who has the highest degree, power and authority.

- Independent, not subject to the authority of another (eg sovereign state).

- Excellent, the one that prevails compared to someone else.

Let's see a very representative example from the Bible:

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2Pet. 3:9

Here we clearly see that it is not in the will of the Lord for anyone to be lost. But does this actually happen? Let's see what Jesus tells us:

"Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life, and few there be that find it." Matt. 7:13-14

Despite the fact that it is God's will for all to be saved, in the end there are just a few who succeed. So how can God's will not be fulfilled?

This is because the Lord has given us the freedom of choice. The Lord not only does not send anyone to hell, but with His sacrifice He paid for the sins of the whole world:

"And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our's only, but also for the sins of the whole world." 1John 2:2

"For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe." 1Tim. 4:10

The Lord paid for the sins of the whole world but we must choose to believe in Christ and receive His salvation. We must understand that man is the one who chooses hell when he rejects Jesus as his Savior. It is the free will of man that condemns him and not God.

No one will ever be able to stand before God and accuse Him of never giving them a chance to be saved. The Lord with His Spirit draws every man to Him, but we must also cooperate.

The world is governed by the physical and spiritual laws of God. Under these laws every choice we make has some consequences in our lives and the Lord simply validates and applies the consequences of our choices.

God has a perfect plan for each one of us but He does not force us to walk in this path:

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, said the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." Jer. 29:11

We are free to accept or reject it. The Lord has told us what the right choices are to be made, but He will not make them for us. God has given us the power to control our own destiny.

"I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live:" Deut. 30:19

The typical teaching of God's sovereignty places Jesus as our guide and us as passengers. On the surface, this may sound good and comforting, but the Bible teaches that we are behind the wheel of our lives and that Jesus, as our companion, gives us instructions. That means that we have power over our lives, but we need the Lord's guidance to succeed:

"O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps." Jer. 10:23 

God created us to be dependant on Him, and the root of all our problems lies in the fact that we strive to function independently of Him. And on top of that comes religion saying that all our problems are in fact blessings in disguise from God and their ultimate goal is to accomplish His will. This is a reall faith killer and makes people completely passive.

--------- End of 1st part. To be continued...

Watch the video with english subs on our YouTube channel: