Paul
the apostle continued to share with the church members in Corinth
about “spiritual gifts”,
and he declared, “For
he that speaks in an unknown
tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God”,
and in chapter fourteen and verse three of
First Corinthians, Paul told the Corinthian church members, “he
that prophesies speaks unto men to edification”,
where we read:
But he
that prophesies speaks unto men to
edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
The
verse begins, “But
he that prophesies speaks unto men to
edification,...”. Paul
began with the word, “but”
which which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about
to be written takes precedence over what was just stated “he
that prophesies”
or “the person who speaks forth by divine inspirations and predicts
with the idea of foretelling future events pertaining especially to
the kingdom of God, utters forth and declares a thing which can only
be known by divine revelation and breaks forth under sudden impulse
in loft discourse or praise of divine counsels to teach, refute,
reprove, admonish and comfort others” “speaks”
which means “utters, emits or articulates a sound to declare or
disclose one's mind or thoughts” “unto
men” or
“toward human beings whether male or female”
“to edification”
which means “toward building up or promoting growth in Christian
wisdom, piety, happiness and holiness”. Paul declared the
“spiritual gift”
of “prophesy”
is spoken to people within the church that they may “grow” in
their relationship with God.
The
verse continues, “... exhortation,
and comfort.” Paul
continued with the word, “exhortation”
which refers
to “calling near, a summons, importation, supplication, entreaty
and encouragement”, “and comfort”
or “any address,whether made for the purpose of persuading,
arousing, stimulating, calming and consoling”. Paul shared how “the
gift of prophesy”
is also to “entreat, encourage, stimulate, calm and console”
those within the church.
When
we consider these words from Paul, we see the immediate benefit to
the “spiritual gift of prophesy”
within the church. When someone exercises this “gift”,
those within the church are “built up” and “encouraged”
in their walk with Jesus Christ. As the Holy Spirit distributes
“prophesy” whether
through preaching, teaching or just a word from another member within
the church, the recipients should be “exhorted, comforted and
edified” which are the reasons for the “spiritual
gifts” given by God. May we
hear the Spirit of God through Paul as we consider the value of the
“gift of prophesy”,
and seek and be “encouraged” to use this gift as the Lord
directs.
Next
time Paul tells the church members, “he
that speaks in an unknown
tongue edifies himself”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment