Still In Circulation
1 Corinthians 13
Chris Seidman
Part of Holy Spirit—Person, Power, and Presence
December 5, 2021

Holy Spirit: Person, Power, Presence

Still In Circulation
December 5, 2021
Chris Seidman, Lead Minister, The Branch Church

Paul’s Guidance in Regard to Gifts Of The Holy Spirit

  • The gifts of the Holy Spirit constantly point us to the Lordship of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 12:3)

  • The gifts of the Holy Spirit empower us to say or do something for the strengthening/building up of others. (1 Corinthians 12:7, 14:26)


1 Corinthians 12:31-13:7 (NIV)
And yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.


If the gifts of the Spirit could be likened to parts of the human body (1 Corinthians 12), then love could be likened to the body’s circulatory system (1 Corinthians 13).


1 Corinthians 13:8-13 (NIV)
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


1 Corinthians 13:8-10 (NIV)
… But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.


1 Corinthians 13:11 (NIV)
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.


1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV)
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.


Revelation 1:7 (NIV)
“… every eye will see him … .”

1 John 3:2 (NIV)
… we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as is.

1 John 4:8 (NIV)
… God is love.


1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.


1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV)
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit … .

1 Corinthians 12:31 (NIV)
And yet I will show you the most excellent way … .

1 Corinthians 14:1 (NIV)
Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit.

Takeaways

  • We should humbly pray and look for the Holy Spirit’s presence to bring gifts until Jesus returns.

  • We should receive the gifts of the Spirit with an eternal perspective.

Communion

What’s one situation you are in right now where you are in need of the power of the Spirit to love and serve someone else?