The following teaching is the fourth in the series entitled, Empowered for Ministry, presented by the Rev. John W. Howe. The title is, The Gift of Faith, Part 1, and the scripture references are 1 Corinthians 12, verses 4-11, and Mark 9, verses 14-29. 

Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. For many of you a very familiar passage I think, but maybe one that we're beginning to see in a little bit new way. Somewhat fresh light.

1 Corinthians 12, a discussion of spiritual gifts. And I'm picking up at verse 4. Paul says, to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healing by the one spirit to another the working of miracles to another prophecy to another the ability to distinguish between spirits to another various kinds of tongues to another the interpretation of tongues all these are inspired by one and the same spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

This is the fourth in a series of brief meditations on the ministry of Jesus, which is also our ministry as well. And the basic thesis that I'm trying to unfold with you is that Jesus, though he was the Son of God, was and is the Son of God, Jesus' ministry arose not out of his divinity, but out of his anointing by the Holy Spirit. That's what he himself said.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to preach the gospel, to heal the sick, to deliver the oppressed. So that we look at the ministry of Jesus, I'm suggesting, not simply to stand in awe of someone who does things that nobody else can do, but for precisely the opposite reason. Are you with me?

We look at the ministry of Jesus to discover the keys that will unlock that same ministry to us. Because that's also what he said. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

The very same thing that he claimed for himself, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to do these things, he said was our birthright. You also will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses. Elsewhere he said, you will do the same things that I do.

As a matter of fact, greater things than I do will you do, because I go to the Father. So far in this little series, I've suggested that when Jesus evidenced knowledge, when he evidenced knowledge of things that he had never learned and could not possibly know in the natural, that was not because he was omniscient because he wasn't. There's lots of evidence that his knowledge was limited yet he knew things that he couldn't possibly know naturally speaking and I suggested to you that what he was manifesting was what is here in this passage called the utterance or the word of knowledge. The Holy Spirit anointed him and gifted him with knowledge that he couldn't otherwise know.

Similarly, when he spoke with such wisdom that it utterly confounded his opponents and left them unable to pursue him any further, this was the anointing of the Spirit of God with what here is called the word of wisdom, the utterance of wisdom. It wasn't simply because he was naturally all-wise. It was an anointing from the Spirit of God.

those same gifts are available to you and to me. How many of you believe that? Well, we're doing better.

That's much better. To how many of us does this paragraph say the Spirit of God gives gifts? To all.

To all of us. It says it three times. Verse 6.

The same God inspires them all in everyone. And if you go back to the beginning of the chapter, it's absolutely inclusive. Nobody can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Spirit of God.

So if you can say, as the confession of your life, Jesus is my Lord, then you're included in this. And it says the same God inspires these gifts, these varieties of gifts, varieties of workings, Varieties of ministries in each one, in every one. Verse 7, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

And verse 11, all these are inspired by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as he wills. Each and every. Each and every.

Now before we go any farther in this series, I want to make four statements. They are absolutely foundational. I really can't go any farther without getting this clearly laid out.

Four absolutely basic, essential statements to understanding the ministry of the Spirit. Number one, there are not nine gifts of the Spirit. Nine are mentioned here.

but if you read all the way through the new testament and you count it up you will find at least 32 at least okay i say at least because some may overlap others there may be some synonyms where does giving service leave off and helping begin those are both called gifts of the spirit Giving service, giving aid, helping. Where does exhortation leave off? And prophecy or counseling begin.

There's overlapping, but at least 32 specific things are mentioned. This is one of several lists of gifts. This one happens to have nine gifts in it.

These are not all the gifts. That's all there is. There ain't no more.

This is just a representative list. Some of the gifts, not all. Okay?

Everything from tongue speaking to martyrdom. Did you know that martyrdom is a gift of the Spirit? It says so in the very next chapter.

If I give my body to be burned, that's a ministry, a gift, a charisma of the Holy Spirit. It may be if you're called to it. Everything from giving aid to marriage.

Did you know that marriage is a gift of the Holy Spirit? Don't be dismayed, so is singleness. That absolutely demonstrates that everybody has a gift of the Spirit.

Alright? One way or the other. Everything from healing, to answered prayer, to prophecy, to eternal life itself is called a gift of the Holy Spirit.

At least 32 specific things are mentioned. These nine are a representative list. These are some of the gifts.

Okay? It's interesting. If you take a shaft of pure white light and you bring a prism, and it's a good prism and it's a good sharp beam of light, you'll break that light, that one beam, into a spectrum, a rainbow of colors.

If you do it well, you'll get nine colors, interestingly enough. Everything from ultraviolet to infrared, interestingly enough. How many colors are there?

Nine? Or one? Or an infinity of them?

Okay? Do you see what I'm saying? There's one Spirit of God who is refracted through our personalities and manifests Himself in a variety of ways.

Here are nine of them that are mentioned. Number two. The gifts usually, in fact, almost always, operate together.

The gifts of God's Spirit almost always operate together. We've seen that here, right here in this room, in recent weeks. A gift of the word of knowledge that God is about to heal somebody is then usually followed by the stirring up or the giving, the gifting of faith to believe Him for that healing.

And then the healing itself comes and that in turn may be a miracle to somebody else who observes it. There's four gifts. The word of knowledge, the gift of faith, the gift of healing itself, and the miraculous sign that it becomes for someone convincing them that the Lord is present.

There are two things we may not say based on this passage. Number one, you may not say, because I don't have your gift, I'm not needed. You may not say that.

look at verse 15 because the foot should say if the foot should say because i am not a hand i do not belong to the body that would make it not make it any less a part of the body i may not say because i don't have your gift i'm nothing i don't belong i'm a nobody i may not say that i may not say because you don't have my gift you don't belong verse 21 the eye cannot say to the hand i have no need of you. Different gifts to different Christians. And we need each other. The gifts usually work together.

That's how God gave it. That's really the whole point of the passage, is that we need each other. He's made us to be interdependent upon each other.

He gives different gifts to different Christians, so that we need each other. Okay? Thirdly, the gifts are not ranked in order of importance.

They are not ranked in order of importance. We are told in 1 Corinthians 14 to seek after the higher gifts. And the definition of that seems to be those that benefit the greatest number of people.

And prophecy is specifically mentioned. Because that benefits everybody who hears it. There's a word of prophecy.

Everybody is blessed by it. Okay? But if you were to ask which is the most important gift, do you know what the answer is?

The one that's needed. You may have a terrific gift of healing, but if what I need is help in balancing my checkbook, that does me no good. What I need then is somebody with the gift of administration, or maybe the gift of exhortation to not spend my money so foolishly, or maybe the gift of contributions.

the gifts are not ranked this is not a matter of I've got the most important gift the gifts are simply equipment to serve and the most important one is the one that's needed and fourthly the gifts are not resident in you or in me they're resident in the Spirit of God. And if He is resident in you, and if you're available to Him, then He can express Himself in whatever way He likes. Are you with me on that one?

If you've invited the Spirit of God to come and live inside you, and now if you're available to Him, He can express Himself in whatever way He likes. He can manifest Himself. Really, a better word is manifestations of the Spirit.

He can manifest Himself in you and through you in whatever way He likes. Now, let's make a distinction. There's a distinction between a manifestation and a ministry.

He can manifest Himself in any of us in any way He likes. But if He begins to do it in a particular way with some consistency, that manifestation may begin to develop into a ministry. So that if He uses you over and over and over again in praying for the sick and seeing them get well, you begin to develop a ministry of healing.

He could use any of us to heal someone. But as He begins to do that consistently, you develop a ministry of healing. He could use any of us to bring forth a word of prophecy.

But there's a difference between bringing forth a word occasionally and having a consistent ministry where everybody kind of recognizes when so-and-so speaks a word of prophecy, we can really take it as from the Lord. You get that distinction? So I want you to see that the gifts per se are not resident in you.

The Holy Spirit is resident in you. And the question is, are you available to Him? Can He manifest Himself through you in whatever way He chooses?

If He begins to do so in a particular way, there may be a ministry developing there and it may even turn into an office in the church. And we talk about offices like the office of pastor and the office of evangelist and so on. So those four statements.

Number one, not nine gifts. A multiplicity of gifts. These nine are mentioned in this particular instance.

Number two, they work together. We're dependent upon each other. The Spirit of God would give different gifts so that we can depend upon each other.

Number three, the one that is most important is the one that's needed right now. And number four, they're not resident in you. They're resident in the Spirit of God.

Now all that needs to be said before we move on to the third of the gifts that's mentioned in this particular passage. The third of the manifestations. We've already talked about the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge.

The third one mentioned here is faith. And I'm just going to tantalize you with the beginning tonight. And then we're going to pick up on it next week.

Faith. There are four kinds of faith that are mentioned in the New Testament. The faith which is a creed.

The doctrine that we profess to believe. Jude 3 talks about contending for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. The faith.

The content of what we believe. Paul says to Timothy, great indeed is the mystery of our religion or the mystery of our faith, the content of what we believe, the faith which is a creed. Number two, the faith which constitutes the basic trust that we have in God for our salvation.

Hebrews 11 is about that kind of faith, the whole chapter, the chapter of the great heroes of faith. It says without faith it is impossible to please God. without the kind of trust in Him that knows that He is and that He's the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Thirdly, faith as the fruit of the Spirit. Faith as a character trait. Faithfulness.

The Spirit of God produces in me trustworthiness. People can count on me. When I give my word, I'm as good as my word.

That's the fruit of the Spirit. That's the fruit of faithfulness. The character trait of loyalty or trustworthiness.

And fourthly, faith as a gift. Faith as a gift, which I would define in this way. A sudden, supernatural surge of confidence in God that He's about to do something miraculous.

It may be to heal. it may be to destroy it's a confidence before the fact a God given confidence that God is about to do something I've already illustrated that when a word of knowledge comes forth that God is about to heal somebody more often than not that provokes faith to believe him for the healing and you see those gifts working together the gift of faith the anointing of faith We're not talking about saving faith now. We're talking about the gift of faith and anointing a supernatural surge of confidence to believe that God is about to do something.

When Jesus said to the lame man, pick up your bed and walk, what was going on there? Was that a word of knowledge? Was that a giving of the gift of faith?

Was that a healing? Was it a miracle? The answer is yes.

All of the above. Okay? I want you to look at just one incident.

Mark chapter 9. Verse 14. When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd about them and scribes arguing with them.

And immediately all the crowd, when they saw Jesus, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, What are you discussing with them? And one of the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a dumb spirit.

And wherever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. And I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able. And he answered them, O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you?

How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me. And they brought the boy to him.

And when the spirit saw him, the spirit in the boy saw Jesus, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked the boy's father, How long has he had this? And he said, From childhood.

And it is often cast him into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have pity on us and help us. And Jesus said to him, If you can.

All things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, I believe, help my unbelief. and when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together he rebuked the unclean spirit saying to it you dumb and deaf spirit I command you come out of him and never enter him again and after crying out and convulsing him terribly it came out and the boy was like a corpse so that most of them said he is dead but Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up and he arose and when he had entered the house his disciples asked him privately why could we not cast it out?

And he said to them, this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer. And most translations add and fasting. This kind cannot be driven out by anything except prayer and fasting.

I just want you to notice some elements of this little story. Number one, Jesus rebukes the disciples for their lack of faith. You faithless generation.

how long am I to bear with you? He frequently does that. He rebukes them for their lack of faith.

So apparently while this is a gift from God, there's something that we can do about it. Just log that one away in the back of your mind. He rebukes them for their lack of faith.

The Father says to Jesus, if you can do anything. Help us, please. And Jesus turns that around.

You almost hear indignation in His voice. If you can, all things are possible to who? To Him who believes.

What's the implication of that? The implication is the disciples should have been able to cast the evil spirit out. the father should have been able to cast the evil spirit out the implication is that jesus is operating here not out of his divinity but out of the gift of faith all things are possible not just to me because i'm the son of god but to him who believes all things are possible who exercises is the gift of faith.

You faithless generation. You get it? Interesting.

When the disciples ask him about it, he elaborates this kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting. God gives the gift, but you develop it evidently by prayer and fasting. How do you prepare yourself for Friday evening?

Do you spend any time in prayer? Do you fast on Friday? How do you prepare yourself for Sunday morning?

Do you spend some time getting ready to come together with God's people, expecting that you're going to see them do some things? Do you prepare yourself? Jesus says there's a gift of faith, and our part is prayer and fasting.

and He rebukes the disciples because they've not done their part. They're a faithless generation. And the implication is if they had done their part, they could have done what He does.

And Matthew's version adds this tantalizing little footnote. For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. If you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed that ought to be a real encouragement to you.

It is not if you don't get anything else tonight get this it is not how much faith you have. It's what you do with what you've got. If you've got only the faith of a grain of mustard seed, that's enough if you use it rightly.

That's what Jesus said. I didn't say that. That's what Jesus said.

If you've got the faith of a grain of mustard seed, you can move a mountain. Nothing will be impossible to you if you know how to use it. The book of Romans says that God has given a measure of faith to every one of us.

So it's not how much you have, but what you do with what you've got. And in the other instance where Jesus said the very same thing about a grain of mustard seed faith moving a mountain, the disciples immediately responded, Lord, increase our faith. Increase our faith.

So there are two dimensions here. I hope this tantalizes you. This is where I'm going to leave it.

I hope you just are kind of on bated breath till next week. There are two dimensions. God gives a gift.

He gives it sovereignly. Individually apportions it to whomsoever he will. Okay?

God gives the gift, but there's our part to do which involves prayer and fasting and exercising the amount of faith we've been given. It may be only the tiniest amount, but it's not how much you've got. It's what you do with what you've got.

And that's where we're going to pick up next time. Let's bow our heads together. Father, that sounds a far way away from us.

To move mountains. Nothing is impossible. And yet your word is true.

And we would take our stand on your word tonight, even if it doesn't square very well with our experience to date. We would question our experience rather than your word. And we'd ask you to open your word more fully to us and teach us about faith.

and gift us with faith, we would pray with the disciples, Lord, increase our faith. And show us what it means to use the little mustard seed of faith that we have. Lord, teach us how to be faithful.

That we might not be those that You have to rebuke. That we might not be those that grieve You. But that we might learn the lessons of mighty faith.

manifest yourself in us and through us to the praise of your own name Amen