He Gave Gifts To Men | Dr. Matthew Stevenson | The Gift Of Discerning of Spirits

so you don't need gifts to keep you saved but in order for you to be a living epistle there should be power sometime a man so I'm gonna teach the gifts of the Spirit this is the holiday month that we all like to talk about gifts and gift-giving but how many of you know God is the chief gift giver and the good news is the Bible says he has given you several gifts already you have some in you you just don't know what they are or how to work them but you do have gifts in you you don't have to deserve it you don't have to qualify for it he made a decision simply when you came into being he pre invested gifts in you your discovery of them and your use of them helps them to grow stronger do you understand that so their gifts in you and then the Bible says that he's not offended by people who acts for gifts Paul said seek spiritual gifts desire spiritual gifts so what we're talking about is not survival Christianity we're talking about effective Christianity and your effectiveness will determine on your theology many Christians don't know what they believe but it's gonna happen with their theology it's gonna happen with your life witness and holiness but also with the regular use of the gifts of the Spirit now many of you flow in them accidentally or on a need B basis like you stumble into a gift but how many of you know God wants you to make a discipline to flow in the gifts of the Spirit it is very important go to first Corinthians 12 really quick so I'm going to adjust my teaching style to an 8 o'clock teaching style and then at 8 at 10:30 ah holla but I want to teach you I'm going to start this teaching series with talking about what I feel like is one of the most underused and over talked about spiritual gifts in the scriptures first Corinthians 12 7 through 10 now how many of you agree that all nations is a highly endowed people we are I mean to a fault we are a highly stocked people and the Corinthian church was the exact same way Paul said in first Corinthians 1 you will come lacking in no spiritual gift and that is really true in all nations but look it was going on in first Corinthians 12 as he differentiates this but the manifest is first Corinthians 12:7 first Corinthians 12:7 but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to who who who to profit withal now that's that term profit PR Oh fi t means that a part of your use of spiritual gifts will also affect your profitability God uses spiritual gifts to prosper things to prosper things but the manifestation of the spirit so gifts are a manifestation of the Spirit what you say you mean a spirit do morning make you talk into yes he has several manifestations the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal for to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the word of knowledge by the same spirit to another faith by the same spirit to another gifts of healing by the same spirit to another working of miracles to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits to another divers kinds of tongues and to another interpretation of tongues now the gifts of the Spirit this is foundational they are 9 in this list Paul has another list in Romans chapter 10 and then he talks about offices in Ephesians 2 Ephesians 4 and first Corinthians 12 28 but this particular list can be separated into three categories okay so if there are nine you divide the nine by three so you have the vocal gifts the vocal gifts that's prophecy that's tongues and that's interpretation of tongues prophecy tongues interpretation of tongues then you have the revelatory gifts all the gifts of Revelation and that's the word of wisdom it's the word of knowledge and it's the discerning of spirits the word of wisdom the word of knowledge and the discerning of spirits then you have the power gifts boy could we use some of them we have the gift of faith gifts portal of healing that's the only one of the gifts that has a plurality because you can in different types of a healing anointing how many of you have ever laughed at Kevin Hart well I in this service Jesus man how many have elastic Kevin Hart okay for you older folks how many of you laughed at Redd Foxx what am i showing you what you didn't know about them was that they have a healing anointing Kevin Hart has a healing ministry and here's why when you're down depressed confuse sad broke man laughter heals so anybody that can prompt laughter or reaction from the soul that opens up to joy is a healer okay so gifts plural of healing counselors have them medical doctors have them it's not just Benny Hinn or that because he may be a worker of miracles but gifts of healing listeners grit listeners may have a manifestation of the spiritual gift of healing so gifts of healing happen in different ways this morning what I'm going to teach you about is probably the thing that I have well I think this is one of the things that operates more strongly or more consistently in my life but it's also caused the greatest problems and it's not prophecy I know that a lot of you think that that causes all the problems because you know that's how y'all think but it's really the discerning of spirits the discerning of spirits this is one of the most over talked-about underused gifts in the whole body of Christ and the world right now needs very few things more than we need discerning of spirits we need discerning of spirits I'm gonna give you a workable definition for it I'm gonna take you through to scriptural examples of it but we need them take some notes real quick first of all discerning of spirits is not discernment look as Imai said there is a difference there's a lot of people who say they have discernment and they're probably telling the truth they just don't have the ability to discern spirits discernment is a human ability discernment can be cultivated by investigation by research by diligence by assessment by observation a good attorney is going to be discerning a good a real good intuitive surgeon there are some doctors where you go in and you tell them some symptoms and they get gut feelings or they get hunches but all of those conclusions are based upon what experience that's a human ability it is the ability to do that some drunks have discernment seriously you ever heard that uh the the adage that says that drunken heart speaks the sober truth sometimes they'll make an assessment of who you are and how you are I know that but it doesn't make a discerning of spirits a person or a people with little information on the spirit world won't be able to discern a spirit so this is how people who don't cast out Devils are not in churches that do deliverance don't understand warfare you don't have discerning of spirits because you have to be able to at least know what's behind it action you have discernment there is a difference good historians so the gift of discerning of spirits is not a hunch it's not following your first mind it's not even human intuition all of those things are psychological traits but the gift of discerning of spirits is this it is the ability to distinguish to decipher to discover the motivating source of an action so whether something is motivated by God whether something is motivated by the flesh or whether something is motivated by demons this is important because the discerning of spirits is God's resource to uncover the nature of a thing the nature of a thing cannot be known safely without the gift of discerning of spirits I just love when I think about the nature of these gifts they're just brilliant like God was like okay i'ma give you the Holy Ghost he's gonna furnish you with these abilities and I'm gonna give you a gift to help you know what's behind everything you see it brilliant it is the ability to decipher to detect the motivating agent the motivating source of any action so the gift of discerning of spirits is the supernatural ability to know what prompts conversation what prompts decisions what prompts actions sometimes it activates it - so what prompts a sicknesses so it is God's diagnostic capability that is not prophecy a lot of you people who think your prophets you just have a gift of discerning of spirits there is a difference some people are not prophetic at all they just have discerning of spirits and there is a difference now most prophetic people usually do have a gifting in the area of discerning of spirits but you can have discerning of spirits and not be prophetic at all so your ability to see the invisible does not make you prophetic because you still don't know what God is saying you just see things invisibly just drop the mic so the the gifting of discerning of spirits is extremely important if you think about people that need healing deliverance restoration redemption you won't be able to do that efficiently without some type of diagnostic capability repeat after me discerning of spirits is the supernatural ability to know the difference say to know the difference when you have the gift of discerning of spirits it is the Holy Ghost that teaches you the difference I don't have the time to talk about why that's important but you're in ability to decipher difference will open your life to chaos and will open your business to chaos it will open your family like you must have the ability to know the difference and one of the things that you don't realize about the human race about the sin nature one of the things compromises is your ability to distinguish the difference sin makes everything look the same every relationship every city every opportunity every season but the supernatural ability to discern difference can give you wealth prosperity and it can be sharpened how many of you understand that so that is a gift everybody needs now the problem with this is that some people who have the gift of discerning of spirits and it operates really strong those people always have a problem with growing in love I'm telling you what I know my greatest journey has been my love walk and it's because of my nature I'm always looking for what's behind what it is so it compromises people's ability to mature in love when people have the gifting of discerning of spirits they have to apply themselves to the cross daily because they can't take what they sense and use that as their cue for what they're going to do it is a challenge amen so people with the gift of discerning of spirits the devil loves to make them callous harsh rude sometimes abrasive negative guarded because I'll teach you later about how even your gifts become the doorway for your attack see the devil can take your gift he can just use it to attack you sometimes discerning people or people with the gift of discerning of spirits may live their lives in fear and paranoia they've become germaphobes cuz they don't want anybody to touch them because of what they see but you are not supposed to be punished about what you see I don't have let me pull out of there you you an alienation isolation scared to forgive scared to love and you using what you see as the excuse no sir no sir no ma'am that is not the point and the purpose of those gifts they are supposed to profit you profit you or prosper you okay so I want to show you how this works go to Hebrews chapter 4 some of you really need there as few things more dangerous than an anointed naive person Paul said the things that you do not see are more real than the things you do see what is he talking about the ability to know the difference you need this so you don't marry a crook so you don't sign your children over to a school where there are pedophiles teaching them discerning I don't see how you parent without it I don't see how you make money without it you have to have discerning of spirits hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 and i'm gonna give you some examples of the way this works hebrews 4:12 are you there are you learning something are you seeing how this could help you in life okay Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 for the word of God is quick that's normally how discerning of spirits operates sometimes it comes quickly other times God the way he trained me in discerning of spirits was a process he would teach me things through experience and then pull out principles it is quick it is powerful and it's sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing of what of soul and spirit what are those aren't those sources those are sources and origins every act every action every thought every deed either comes from soul or neither comes from spirit this divides asunder soul and spirit and the joints and the marrow and is a what discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart if you want to be blessed by this read this in the amplified it's really rich it's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart now here is the problem I'm gonna read this next verse because this is going to help you half the folk in the church claiming to have discerning of spirits don't read a Bible paranoid schizophrenic can appear to have discerning of spirits negative cynical people look like they have discerning of spirits people with addictions secrets who don't want to be found out can appear to have discerning of spirits but the reason why they don't is because the Word of God is the premise for all discerning of spirits which means that a Bible is Christian I can't get help in this church I can't let it they don't want to say that I'm here I said a Bible this Christian does not have discerning of spirits because you've got to rely on the language the logic the philosophy of your gut to explain things that are spiritual the Word of God sharpens discerning of spirits the more Bible you have the more content you have to measure a motive you won't be able to measure a motive by your prior experiences you have to measure motives by the scripture for example everything that needs to be discerned is not demonic sometimes it takes discerning of spirits to discern the divine you know remember when Samuel walked up to Eliot this is a prophet who God said whatever he says always comes to pass you know my boy says he not and he walked up to le abba says surely this is the Lord's anointed and it wasn't you think about that Sam you walked up to David's brother and said whoa this is the Lord's anointed and the Lord said nope don't look at his height don't look at his stature the Lord has not selected him he appeared to be the King when he got to the one who didn't look like he was going to be the King the Lord said knowing him what was the lesson man looketh on the outer appearance that's what God said to Samuel the Prophet who didn't miss it man looks on the outward I look at the heart what was that a lesson Samuel needed stronger discerning of spirits had Samuel discerned Eliot or David wrong he could have anointed the world King and I said what I'm saying it is a gift of discerning of spirits that operated in Sammy that I think made Samuel know that Saul disobeyed God when he walked he and he deserves something was off what the driving force behind a thing how do you watch movies let me explain to you this way you watch plays and all this time how do you know when you watch a movie the actors the actresses are the people that are paid the lease Wow cuz the real power brokers remain invisible you only see the genius behind the production when you read the credits it's the people behind the scenes the church is in trouble because she can't deal with what's behind the scenes hello does that make sense to you the producer of the movie the creators the executives that don't come out and be seen see we're in trouble because we only mess with the stuff there see we need to deal with what's behind this scenes there's something behind a sickness something behind a behavior something behind an action something is behind it your inability to accurately diagnose it will mean you won't be able to get it to healing you have to see the source lift your hands say lord help me see the source of everything you've got to know it now look at verse 13 of this and Hebrews 4:13 neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight what does he talk about in context the word so everything in the created order can be measured by the word which means the more scripture you have the stronger your basis for discernment why in my life when God has been trying to teach me or discern or show me to discern a thing he'll often take me into a biblical setting to explain it so if I look at an action or sentence from somebody or an experience with somebody very often scriptures that I had in me will be the basis of what I decide in a person see if you if you don't have scripture you're going to discern people by prior experience everybody's gonna have a criminal record to you if you don't have enough scripture you won't be able to have an accurate source to discern things even sickness even sicknesses this make sense there's nothing that is not manifest in his sight but all things are what huh y'all scared to say that word not ten thirty would heal that all the way out naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do let me show you this in real life Matthew 16 Matthew 16 is this okay okay you have to learn this in your life it is the difference between failure and success for so many people you have to see the source now listen to me you even need this for your own heart I mean with the heart lives the heart is what this seed folk which means that the heart is a carrier it's it's a source of information the only thing that deceives is something that has messages or things to show so you need this in your own life as well the ability to discern why you are the way that you are Matthew 16 verse 20 now I love this every churchy person in the world you come up in the church you know this who do men say that I hear some say you this some say you that some say you're this and Jesus said thou art the Christ son of the Living God now listen what you didn't know is his whole setting is about discerning of spirits you didn't know that did you here's why what did Jesus say response to Peter flesh and blood did not reveal look at me here is something that you have to know if you allow it your flesh will try to reveal things to you Jesus basically identified that the flesh can give messages to you flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my father which was in heaven he changed his Peters name and they are in love I mean he just like this my precious I love you so much cyka cyka and then look at verse 20 this is the same chapter then charge he and his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus to Christ from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day verse 22 now they were just I mean just loving each other fried fish I'm so proud of you I'm staying in the ministry because of you you you encouraged me Peter then Peter took him and began to rebuke him who was him Jesus Peter started to rebuke Jesus saying be it far from you this will not happen to you but he Jesus turned and said unto Peter get thee behind me Satan where was the devil in Peter then Jesus turned to Peter after the boy's name was freshly changed he just got the name Peter and now Jesus is like devil he just had the most intimate revelation of him and now Jesus was telling what was in him to get away from him get thee behind me Satan how does somebody go from a beloved revelatory anointed bowl for Asia's apostle to Satan in a matter of moments what the heart meditates on see Peters heart was opened up to information different from the source of the Holy Ghost Jesus because of discerning of spirits was able to look at him and tell him something else is motivating what you just said does that make sense to you and the reason we know is because the latter part of the verse he says you don't speak the things of God but the things of men see Jesus knew the will of God for his destiny Peter started talking the opposite of God's will so Jesus discerned that the thing talking in him was not from God because it was anti the will of God so there should be Bible for every action every believer has I know you don't like that I know you don't like that let me give you another example practically and I'm a prophesy to some of you I mean I'm gonna do the word of knowledge at ten-thirty y'all light will you tell my discernment don't discern me too late and already done that go to acts 16 verse verse 17 how you gonna discern very easily very easily I believe things can be discerned over whole cities so when you see the gift of discerning of spirits the Bible says this one give different operations it may operate differently in every person or in people that have it based upon their ministry or their particular assignment these can be discerned over whole States I believe things can be discerned over families but you have to see what's behind a source acts 16 17 16 and 17 this girl followed Paul first of all let me tell you something anybody following you you probably should discern oh they don't like this gospel anybody wants to be around and follow and spend time why motives matter murder starts in the motives theft starts in the motive all kinds of assignments sabotage comparison envy perversion all starts in the motive if you can't by the spirit discern motives you're gonna waste time you're gonna lose money most the most important thing you notice gonna come under attack as your personal piece you have to be able to see what's behind the thing this girl followed Paul and the rest of us shouting these men are the servants of the Most High God who are proclaiming unto you the way of salvation she had a word cuz where is the lie she was telling the truth she followed them they sho'nuff anointed we did we to ordain our prophet put over the teams we would why because what she said was right don't be deceived because something seems to be accurate you need to know what sang it come on church the devil has access to supernatural information God is showing you what a married man doing in his bedroom God ain't talking to you about somebody's sexual practices knowing you warn them it doesn't matter if it's right you need to know where it came from open your mouth say come sit at the source bye-bye-bye everything saying Jesus don't belong to him verse 18 she continued this for many days eventually Paul grew so aggravated some translations say vexed if you have the gift of discerning of spirits you know how to describe that term have you ever had some just vex you in a conversation somebody and all kind of alarms going off of your spear never had your son or your daughter bring that somebody they datin home and you just got sick and want to throw up yesterday's dinner like what is this vexed there is a vexation that is biblical it's one of the ways your spirit lets you know something is not exactly right the source the source Paul grew vexed and turned and said to the spirit that's where a lot of people with the discerning of spirits go off you start interacting with the person and the culprit is still ignored it's what's in people that motivates them to do what they do when you use what you discern about people to determine how you're going to treat the person then what happens is you've not allowed the gift of discerning of spirits to help mature you you've made it actually scare you see once you know what snake is a snake you are safe the only people that are afraid of snakes are those that still trying to figure out if it's a snake once you can define it you can decide how to be around it you're a snake I know to avoid you but I'm the only danger is in my inability to see if I act like a snake is a zebra then I may try to engage it like it's a zebra but once I know it's a snake I'm safe amen it's what's in people the culprit the manager the the producer that the term makes him do what they do he says that Paul looked and said to the spirit in the name of Jesus I command you to come out of her now I know the area was I would come out she just gave you a confirming word she's spiritual the Lord talked to her my god Paul you so evil you just me cuz it looks me somebody said oh you so preach and Paul's they look devil the spirit left her at that very moment certain things can seem right and be wrong huh you have to see the source I want you to think about the things you're gonna miss out on in life if you miss define a source you need to that's why the whole follow the heart stuff is really weird because the heart has chapters in it the heart has cabinets in it the heart has all kind of files and data and records and pictures and all of that stuff without the gift of discerning of spirits the devil always has a road to bankrupt you why the way to profit is by the use of the gifts of the Spirit every mother I think needs this every counselor needs this I think fathers need this I think if you're going to succeed now here's a beautiful thing about God your spiritual gifts can show up in your professional career could you imagine how effective the gift of discerning of spirits would be to a criminal justice lawyer so it's not just about what you do in church the gift of discerning of spirits can help you it can help you know if something is a pedophile around your children see God wants you to discern sources to protect outcomes they're fit God is overprotective and there's a lot of you who have no greed for what it feels like to be protected so you don't have a real source to realize why you need discerning of spirits how many of you have ever been naive before Rabia weighs your hand just looked at something I might god right no you need discerning of spirits now it's that it's the the stethoscope of the Spirit you need that and if you are a deliverance minister that is something so important that you need to know but I'm gonna show you why not just so you can know what devil you're dealing with you need to know what God sees in that person a drag queen comes in here and I'm not being funny a crossdresser comes in here it is a normal easy religious reaction to be like oh my god but that doesn't qualify you to be a source of emancipation what what qualifies you to be a deliver a delivering force is to see what God sees in that person when God look at the drag queen he don't see a drag queen y'all don't like that teaching did they don't like that when God looks at a crackhead he don't see a crackhead God sees why he made the person and it is our inability to discern the treasure in earthen vessels that's why we're not really seeing real deliverance we're seeing church actions coughing and spitting these people they do that stuff to get us off they back but people are never really free until they understand what they're worth and people don't know where they're worth until it is discerned by the spirit so sometimes it takes a giver discerning of spirits to even see the good in people and there is good in every person a man unless he of just signed in life over to Satan listen there are so many witches that come to this church but by time look prophetess Kate is just outright said it but we all know they all come here all the time but it's a charismatic church this church is high of spiritual energy so there's a lot of things that come here white which is water witches I know folk being here sniffing incense and calling dead folk back I know for being in shooting arrows or whatever at each other and binding up folk you know and there are certain I'm not trying to scare you spiritual posts that are high targets for attack one of it is always the pastor's wife another is always the lead intercessor another is always the music area another is always the head prophet so there are always areas that are very very key or vulnerable to spiritual attack if we don't remain prayerful and fast and allow dr. cultivate discerning of spirits within us it is very easy to put a pedophile over music or to put a rapist over the tenor section or to put somebody who uh uh uh uh I was in worship one day and I was looking at somebody not my god I wonder if this person is ready to be used ready serve and the Holy Ghost said to me no they use drug rape okay won't be doing that it's possible you can shake a person's hand and the God that they worship will talk to you I've shake the hands of whole preachers and the Spirit of God would say he's an alcoholic he abuses his wife and so what I'm saying it's discerning of spirits it is very important that Christians have that because you won't be able to be effective without the ability to this thing what's the difference the people of the Lord said a man let me do about two of these and then I'm gonna open the doors of the church this guy with the dreads you have own glasses and a grey hoodie will you come to me okay so in 10:30 I'm going to teach you about the gift of the word of knowledge that is very important as well but I'm gonna just demonstrate this and show you how it works and then we're gonna do it I bless you today will you stand right here thank you Jesus uh-huh thank you Lord what I deserve lift your hands and what I deserve is a tormenting spirit in you and I'm gonna tell you why you experienced friendship with God that was unlike a lot of people experience your music oh I think you play the piano and you also have a gift I see that there was a couple of times you had to preach sometimes you shared at a college campus and there was a season a storm hit you and you have yet to recover and what it's done is it's opened up your life to torment because of the place in God you feel like you fell from and so in your mind you think if I could just get back there if I could just get back there everything would be okay but the Lord says to you now this is prophecy so I just discern some things now this is prophecy the Lord says to you I don't want you to get back there I want you to go where you've not been if the place in your life that you want to get back to we're so trustworthy you wouldn't have ended up in what you're in God is trying to take you to somewhere in him that you've not known and the time is not too late nor is the hour too dark there is yeah the devil talks to you all the time to talk to you about how unredeemable you are but the Spirit of God knows what's in you rich things are in you I bless your Holy Name you have a very unusual last name think your last name is like the first name of a girl Ashley maybe and what I'm seeing is that the Spirit of God wants to use you to restore an entire last name the Spirit of God loves you he loves you you tormenting spirit I curse you and I command you to let God's Son go he's going to walk in his purpose he's going to walk in his assignment yeah you're not a cursed man there's not a hex on you God is still committed to everything he said hey he was going to do in you thank you Father thank you lord father sever every attachment every connection I feel like there was something that happened to you on a college campus like a Christian college campus even you saw some things in church boys praise the name of the Lord and it discouraged you so much that you just stopped trying but today grace comes yes it does today grace comes father I just release him by the spirit and by the power of this word into the next season consecration and holiness and success glory to God and you come up with those hands together for the Lord come on you can do better than that bill I'll nail that bowtie ha yeah amen come here Momo hurry up man come here if your has the favor of God is not going to flow to you it is flowing to you right now and there is a strong spirit of wisdom that is going to unlock in you for the decisions you need to make you were destined you were born to be a bridge between races and cultures and you're going to find that before the year turns God's going to start turning the heart of different races toward you don't be intimidated but there are people that are going to be Caucasian they're going to be Jews and God's going to put a finger on you that's going to make them love you and they're going to want to do good for you just because money is about to come and is going to be a very significant amount and I see that there's going to be three doors that you're going to have to choose in between one of them is going to be south one of them is going to be close to where you are and I see another is gonna be the east coast what God is going to do is give you dreams back to back to back you are deathly afraid of making the wrong choice but get ready our dream journeys excursions with God so that you don't make the wrong choice don't be afraid the hand of the Lord is going to be on you and there's going to be a day where if you handle this season well we're going to read about you you're going to penetrate culture and God's gonna use you as a revolutionist for holiness now the Spirit of God is teaching you something he's been teaching you about why it's important that you don't compromise I see that you've been growing convictions about not compromising and about choosing friends well and even about your physical discipline like working out and waking up God says he's gonna take you into a daniel season where as you set yourself aside you will succeed you will prosper and I prophesied to you if you obey the Lord and choose what he wants for you there's gonna be a day where nobody in your family makes as much money as you you are the chosen see and you're going to seat wow that's being you're going to see God use your life to turn around things for the glory of God father I set him aside right now hey hey hey that's glory right there I feel that I set him aside for this season I set him aside for this moment I set him aside but what you destined him to do in the name of Jesus yep thank you for new coaches new teachers new people to challenge him this is going to be a challenging time but don't run cuz it will be the Lord come up with those hands together for Jesus all over this place come up with those hands together for Jesus [Music] I'm gonna open the doors of the church and dismiss you we're overtime but that's just some of the ways discerning of spirits it just it comes like that and then it turns into prophetic words so I'm gonna promise a lot more at 10:30 because I don't believe anybody should teach on the gifts and you don't see the gifts it's just my conviction I think it's dumb but give you a chart this is how this works and then you go home I well I wonder what it looks like I'm gonna demonstrate every time I

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Length: 42min 34sec (2554 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2017