Together, we are going to have one of the most interesting and informative studies that we have ever had. I want you to enter into this series on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, with your Bible open and with an open mind, as the Holy Spirit Himself becomes our teacher. It is He who holds the key to a successful, fruitful and victorious Christian life and through His gifts, we glorify God's Son, Jesus Christ. There are two extremes which we face today as we come to the subject of spiritual gifts. First of all, there is abuse. Some have brought a reproach upon the wonderful work of the Holy Spirit because of their misappropriation of the supernatural power of the Spirit. I think most of us could cite examples of fanaticism arising around this doctrine; and because this doctrine has suffered much abuse, there is the second extreme: the average child of God has neglected it and does not know the teaching of the word of God in the matter of spiritual gifts. Lest he be deemed a fanatic or thought to run to the same excesses to which many have gone, the average Christian shies away from the teaching of the word of God in his quest for spiritual gifts.
Nothing is as powerful as the written word of God. If I say one thing and the Bible teaches another, the Bible is right. If your church or pastor teaches one thing and the Bible says another, the Bible is right. Sometimes I think it's the hardest thing in the world for folk to turn away from their preconceived ideas and come back again to the word of God. It will be a wonderful day when all professing Christians, regardless of denomination, get back to the Word of God, back again to 'thus saith the Lord.' We have so much 'churchology, ' so much theory, so much creed. There is too much of man's doctrine and too little of ' thus saith the Lord.'
God's gifts are a trust, placed in the hands or the body of an individual, and never forget that. No gift of the Spirit is ever given for personal glory or for 'show.' The Holy Spirit will magnify and glorify only one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus Himself told us that the Holy Spirit 'will glorify me' and He will glorify, He will magnify, He will bring attention to Jesus only. Therefore, we know that, when the Holy Spirit gives this wonderful trust to an individual, when He puts this trust into the hands or into the body of an individual, that one is out of order if he uses that gift to bring personal glory to himself, for any selfish gain, or for anything that is spectacular. That's the very reason that Paul, in writing to the Corinthian believers, began the 12th Chapter with the words, 'I would not have you to be ignorant concerning the USE of these gifts.' Each gift is to be held in subjection to the Lord, and His authority must be recognized in the use of all gifts.
