Oxford Bible Church - Living in the Last Days

A Gift of Faith is a portion of God’s faith (Mark 11:22) imparted by the Spirit to our hearts thru a special word from God, enabling him to trust God for a special need in a specific situation, which goes beyond his normal faith from the Bible. He releases this faith by speaking it forth, believing it will come to pass.

The word of wisdom is the first and highest of the 9 Gifts of the Spirit (1Cor 12:7-10). It's a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of God’s plan and purpose for a person’s life. It is directive, giving wisdom for what to do, based (usually) on a revelation of the future. We give many Bible examples of its operation.

1Corinthians 12:7-11 describes 9 Manifestations of the Spirit. The 2nd one is the Word of Knowledge - a supernatural revelation by the Spirit of certain facts in the mind of God, a small portion (word) of His knowledge of present or past facts, which otherwise we couldn't know. We give Bible examples.

After describing the Gifts of the Spirit in 1Corinthians 12, Paul describes the 2 WAYS to pursue the Gifts: (1) DESIRE the Gifts to operate through us, but (2) the most excellent WAY is to pursue LOVE (1Corinthians 13). LOVING people will activate our DESIRE for the Gifts, as a means of blessing them.

In this Series, we study the 9 supernatural gifts of the Spirit of 1Cor 12:7-11, consisting of 3 revelation gifts, 3 power gifts and 3 utterance gifts. We see that these gifts have not passed away and are for us today. They operate as the Spirit wills, but we must make ourselves available to Him for Him to use us.

In Praise, we open the gates of our heart to welcome the King of Glory, allowing Him to fill us with His Presence and Peace. The Triumphal Entry shows how Jesus comes to us, offering Himself as our Lord and Saviour, and how we should respond to Him. Jesus rode on both a DONKEY and her COLT. WHY?

Praise and thanksgiving release the waters of salvation from our spirit into our hearts and lives. Isaiah 12 is a prophecy of the New Covenant, based on Christ's atonement (v1), in which God Himself lives in us as our Salvation (v2,6). Isaiah 12:3-6 describe 5 ways we draw water from our Spring (Well) of Salvation by our words.

Our Praise (1) BLESSES God, (2) BENEFITS us and (3) BINDS the enemy (Psalm 149). A Sacrifice of Praise is thanking God before we see the answer. We see 3 examples that show how this prepares the way and opens the door in the Spirit for God to release His saving power into our lives and situations.

*More Benefits of Praise: (9) It brings us into greater MENTAL HEALTH, by helping us have a healthy perspective, by seeing things from God’s viewpoint. It also helps create in us a humble relaxed state of mind, rather than being governed by pride. It brings us into a state of peace and freedom from anxiety.

*Benefit (6): Praise releases spiritual strength into our hearts for living, empowering us to do God’s will. (7) By a lifestyle of praise we pursue God and bring our hearts increasingly into submission and harmony with God. (8) Praise, thanks and worship are foundational for developing our moral virtue and character.