April 16, 2026

Prophecy with Love: Revisiting 1 Corinthians 14

51 minutes

This sermon by Bill Teubl revisits and expands on his previous sermon on 1 Corinthians 14, focusing on how to speak for the Lord (prophesy) within the church. The central themes are that our speech must be motivated by love and delivered in a language others can understand. The talk provides practical guidance on testing one’s motives, the purpose of prophetic words and tongues, and encourages the congregation to practice these gifts to build one another up.

[00:00:00] The sermon revisits 1 Corinthians 14 to discuss how to speak for the Lord, focusing on two overarching themes: speaking with a motive of love and speaking in a language others understand.

[00:01:15] If we speak for the Lord (prophesy), our primary motive must be love, without which our words are just noise and bear no fruit, as illustrated in 1 Corinthians 13:1.

[00:06:01] A practical test for a loving motive is to ask if your desire in speaking is to help and build up the hearers; the beginning of love is having the desire to love.

[00:07:53] The opposite of a loving motive is a critical spirit; God gives grace to overlook others’ weaknesses so we can speak to build up their faith.

[00:11:59] We are exhorted to desire spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, because it builds others up; the life of the church depends on members speaking prophetically to one another.

[00:15:58] A key practical point is to speak in a language people understand, meaning don’t speak in a tongue publicly without interpretation.

[00:16:37] The exhortation for all to speak in tongues is for those with the gift, as it enables prayer about things for which we have no words, primarily to build oneself up in private and others up in church with interpretation.

[00:18:50] A tongue is speaking to God in prayer in a language you don’t understand; in a church meeting, it can be a prayer for the Lord to open the way for prophetic words.

[00:22:26] A prophetic word is primarily intended to do three things: encourage, build up, and comfort the hearers.

[00:24:58] Using metaphors from 1 Corinthians 14:7-8, good prophecy also enhances our worship and equips us for spiritual warfare.

[00:27:43] Practical comfort: Don’t worry excessively about perfect interpretation or prophecy; speak simply, tie it to Scripture, and view it as practice to grow in hearing the Lord.

[00:37:34] Prophecy should be weighed by others; corrections are rare and usually handled with grace, either on the spot, afterwards, or through balancing words from mature believers.

[00:40:47] A false prophet is defined by a wrong motive to lead people astray, not by being slightly off; if your motive is love and building up, you are safe to share.

Scripture References

1 Corinthians 14

1 Corinthians 13:1

Romans 16

Romans 8

Psalm 149

Psalm 150

Psalm 2

Psalm 27

Psalm 66

Generated by AI model deepseek-chat

The post Prophecy with Love: Revisiting 1 Corinthians 14 first appeared on Canaan Fellowship.

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