Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

The Gift of Discernment.

‌This gift does one thing. It reveals the presence and identity of supernatural spirits. John warns us not to be believe every spirit, but to test them.

‌1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

‌The gift of discernment is a spiritual ability to distinguish between what is true and what is false, good and evil, and wisdom and foolishness. You can gain a measure of discernment through experience, but the gift of discernment specifically helps you to understand what spirits are at work in a given situation.

‌Discernment is rooted and strengthened through study of the word of God.

‌Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

‌There are four types of spirits.

‌Divine. John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.””

‌Angelic. Hebrews 1:7, “And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits And His ministers a flame of fire.””

‌Demonic. Matthew 12:43–45, “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.””

‌Human. Genesis 1:26–27, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

‌Distinguishing Spirits:

‌Divine and Angelic Spirits will be in line with the word of God.

‌Demonic spirits will look to twist the truth of God’s word to manipulate and control you. We saw this in the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness when Satan told Jesus to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple because the angels had been given charge to protect him.

‌The human spirit is the deepest part of a person being, created by God to receive and contact God. The human spirit includes our intellect, emotions, fears, passions, creativity, and it govern’s man’s mental and emotional existence.

‌An example of Jesus operating in the gift of discernment is found in John 2:23–25.

‌“Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.”

The Gift of Miracles.

‌Webster dictionary defines a miracle as an event, or effect, in the physical world deviating from the known laws of nature or transcending our knowledge of these laws.

‌The working of miracles is a supernatural intervention in the ordinary course of the system of nature as we have known it. It is miraculous supernatural power released that glorify God and defeat Satan.

‌Miracles are distinguished from healings in that miracles include a demonstration of God’s power in unusual measure beyond the physical body. They occur outside the bounds of what is considered natural. By definition, they are rare and out of the ordinary.

‌A few of the many miracles of Jesus.

‌1. The feeding of the 5000. John 6:1-14

‌2. Jesus walk on the sea. John 6:15-21.

‌3. Jesus raises a widows son from the dead. Luke 7:11-17.

The Gift of Tongues and Interpretation.

‌The only two gifts we do not see recorded with Jesus in the gospels is the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation. As the gifts are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 I will also explain them.

‌In Acts 1:4 the disciples were told to not to leave Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit. “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me;”

‌With the gift of tongues I always want to point to the reality that the disciples did not know specifically what would happen when they were filled.

‌When the Holy Spirit is poured out in Acts 2:1-4 we see them given to the church.

The Gift of Tongues.

‌Acts 2:1–4 “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

‌Strong's G2523 in the following manner: sit (26x), sit down (14x), set (2x), be set (2x), be set down (2x), continue (1x), tarry (1x). to make to sit down, to set, appoint, to confer a kingdom on one, to have fixed one's abode,

‌This moment in Acts is more than a conversation about tongues. This is the moment that man became the house of God, and the kingdom was conferred upon God’s people.

‌Jesus promised us the Spirit of truth would come and abide in us.
In John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—”

‌Jesus said in John 14:21–23 “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”

‌This is so significant! Now with tongues I want to make a distinction with tongues. The initial evidence of tongues in Acts 2 was the ability to speak in an unknown/unlearned language of other people groups.

‌The result was that all heard in their native language the goodness of God. Acts 2:5–11 “And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.””

‌With tongues we also see another distinction mentioned by Paul.

When we pray in the Spirit the Spirit aids us.

The Gift of Interpretation.

‌Is intended to bring understanding of the word spoken in tongues to edify (build up) the body of Christ.

‌When a message in tongues is given in a gathering of believers it is needed that interpretation must be given also. If there is not one to interpret the one who speaks in tongues should remain silent.

Jesus is our model. He has shown us the way and we are to walk in it.

‌John 14:12 ““Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.”

‌He has commissioned us to go in the power of the Holy Spirit so that through accompanying signs mankind can be reconciled back to God.

My desire in this series was to show that the anointing of the Spirit is not new to the New Testament as seen in the book of Acts, and that it is available to all through the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

‌We need Spirit baptism to accomplish our kingdom assignment.