Some weeks ago, our brother Mr. Frank Wardenberg was speaking here on a Thursday night, and he started a kind of chain of thought which has been running through these meetings week after week about the church and God's provision for his church. Chapter fourteen of the first epistle to the Corinthians. follow after charity or follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that he may prophesy. For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, now notice the word unknown is in italic so that it is not in the original. He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God. For no man understandeth, howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. That's to say, if a man came in here talking, he could talk Chinese. If God had given him the language, and he could speak Chinese, and he came in here just talking Chinese, he says, he might be speaking unto God, but he's not speaking to us, we can't understand. no sense in it. But these Corinthians were very proud of the gift of tongues. They could talk in tongues. Paul said, I'm speaking more tongues than any of you. But there's no point in speaking with a tongue unless somebody can understand it. Verse three, he that prophesies, speaketh unto men, to edification, exhortation, and comfort. He that speaketh in a tongue edifies himself, but he that prophesies edifies the church. I would that he all speaketh with tongues, but rather that he prophesied, for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaketh with tongues, except to interpret that the church may receive edifying. Now brethren, I come unto you speaking with tongues, Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you? Except I shall speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge or by prophesying or by doctrine. Even these things, even things without life, giving sound, whether pipe or heart, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how should it be known what is piped or heart? For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood. How shall it be known what is spoken? For ye shall speak into the air. There are, it may be, so many voices in the world. Boy, is that Isn't that true today? So many voices in the world. You drive along at night when the air is pretty clear and turn on the radio in your car and switch from station to station. I do that sometimes and I think of this verse. There are so many voices in the world. And you get language after language all coming in. So many voices in the world. and none of them is without signification. Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I should be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh should be a barbarian unto me. Even so ye, for as much as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying And then the last verse of the chapter, Let all things be done decently and in order. Now very briefly a few thoughts here. We have been talking between us here, some of us the last few weeks on a Thursday night, about the church and God's provision for his church. The Lord Jesus, remember we said last time that in the Acts of the Apostles there are three main movements. An upward movement in verse one, the Lord Jesus went up into heaven. A cloud received him out of their sight. In the second chapter, a downward movement, the Holy Spirit came down. And in the eighth chapter, an outward movement, they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel. That's followed up again in the eleventh chapter, after the persecution about the time of Stephen's death, they were scattered abroad and they went to Cyprus and Antioch and so on. And then the Apostle Paul came on the scene and went out to the limits of the known world, an outward movement. And local churches were formed. Now how are these local churches going to be governed? How are they going to be educated? How are they going to be instructive and taught? Well, the Lord Jesus made provision. God made provision. We saw last time I was speaking in Ephesians chapter four that when the Lord Jesus ascended up on high, as we said just now, chapter four of Ephesians and verse eight, therefore he says, quoting from the Psalms, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men. Now he gave these gifts unto men for a certain purpose, to edify and build up his church, his people. You must remember, say when Paul went to a city like Iconium or Lister or some other pagan city, where they worshipped idols, And Paul goes in there preaching the gospel. And the great mystery of salvation takes place. The miracle, shall I say, of salvation. He preaches the gospel to them. God gave him a tongue so he could talk in their tongue. Although of course he spoke Greek fluently and Hebrew fluently and Latin fluently. Paul knew these languages, but God also gave them the gift to speak other languages. And he went into these cities and preached the gospel, and the miracle of salvation took place, and these heathen people were saved, and they were gathered together in companies or local churches. And Paul went on his way. Who's to teach them? Well, this is how it was done. The Lord Jesus ascended up on high, and when he ascended, He gave gifts unto men. Verse eleven, I'm reading Ephesians four. He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. What for? For the perfecting or the completion, the completing of the saints. When they were first saved, they were raw and ignorant. They didn't understand anything. And they had to be taught. And they were taught by these gifts which God had given to men. What for? For their perfecting or their completion unto the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. If you read this really in the sense it was written, and you leave out and you change the word for to the word unto, you read this, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ. The teaching and the gifts were given, not so much for the work of the ministry, but for the perfect of the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ. The ultimate object was the edifying of the body of Christ. And the gifts were given to men And they had to be used to train other men in the ministry, it says, the work of the ministry, that they in turn might go on and train others. And God gave these gifts to men. And we saw in the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians that when he had given the gift to the man, Then he placed the man where he would. He gives one man the gift of an evangelist, the other one the gift of a teacher, the other a pastor. And then the Holy Spirit places them severally, it says, as he will. In the body of Christ. And they have to function. And the gift which God has given to that particular person, that gift has to be exercised in the body of Christ. So he says, then the hand can't say to the foot, I don't want you. And the eye can't say to the ear, I have no need of you. We are all needed. In the various capacities in which God has given us gifts, we are all needed in the body of Christ. And the whole of the twelve chapters dealing with this wonderful thing. He has set some in the church. He has set. He gave the gifts to the men, then he set them in the church. First apostles, then prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, health, governments, diversities of tongues. And then before he goes on with this subject, as we were reading in the fourteenth chapter, there is a parenthesis chapter, the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, a tremendous chapter. Because you see, if God gave gifts to men and some men began to use these gifts and God blessed them, they could get very proud about it. They could get very puffed up and conceded and think, oh, I'm a wonderful preacher, or I'm a wonderful teacher, or I know everything. So Paul says, listen, the thirty-first verse of the twelve chapters, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show unto you a more excellent way, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not loved, I am become a sounding brass or a tingling symbol. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have no love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not loved, it profiteth me nothing. This is the great parenthesis chapter in between, telling us that all must be done in the spirit of love, called charity in this chapter, love. Then he describes love, and I don't think there's a better description of love anywhere in the world than this description in this thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians. I married a couple last Saturday night in Gainesville, and I read these verses, you know. I like to read these at a marriage. Listen. Verse four. Love suffereth long, and is kind. Love envieth not, love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, Thinketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things. Look at these wonderful words. Love, beareth all things. Believeeth all things. Hopeeth all things. Endureeth all things. Love, never faileth. Love never failed. This is the test of love. Why is it so many marriages today become shipwrecked? Why? Because there was never true love. If there was true love, you can't have divorce, because love never failed. It never failed. And I said to this couple last Saturday night, I said, look, it's easy now to love one another. Be easy all next week, be easy all next year. But the test is going to come forty years from now. That's the test of love. Forty years from now. Why forty? Well, forty is the testing time in Scripture. Children of Israel are forty years in the wilderness. That's the Lord Jesus was forty days and forty nights being tempted of the devil in the wilderness. Forty is the testing time. And the real test of marriage love is, when you've been married forty years, that's the test. It never failed it. You see, well, suppose one side of the contract fails. All right. There's not only the other side remains two. Love never failed. One loved the other didn't love. But love never failing. And listen, love bears all things, endures all things, hopes all things. Can you ever say anything like this? You can't beat it. Love never fails. Now, says Paul, in exercising the gifts which God has given us, In the church, this must be the Spirit, if I'm speaking with tongues like an angel, and if I've got all knowledge and all faith, if I give all my goods to feed the poor, it's got to be done in the Spirit, the Spirit of true knowledge. I'd like to read the Apostle Paul's wonderful category of his sufferings in the twelfth chapter of the second epistle to Corinthians when he tells of all the sufferings through which he passed. And then finally he says, and above all this, the care of all the churches. The care of all the churches. And don't let me tell you that's not a test. The care of all the churches. If there's one place that can break your heart, it's when you try to do a little work for the Lord in the church. That can break your heart already. The care of all the churches. And Satan, in his great desire to break up the work of Christ, the Lord prayed that we all may be one, and Satan's great business is to break up the church, and what he'll do is raise up inside the church. people to break up the church. That's what he's done, all down to the angels. How did the divisions come in the churches? Not from outside, from inside. From inside. And those who would seek to serve the Lord in the church have to work with all these problems. And Paul says, you can only do it in this one spirit. The spirit of love which never fails. that endures all things, bears all things. And when things are darkest and blackest and most difficult, hopes all things, but never fails. Paul says, Now then you put these gifts into practice with that spirit. And then we leave the parenthesis chapter and we jump into the fourteenth chapter and this is what he says, Follow and desire. Follow. Follow after love. What we've got to do day by day. Follow after love. And desire spiritual gifts. That is that God might use it. There should be no drones in God's work like you find in a beehive, some that don't work. We all have to work. Desire spiritual gifts. We have to be doing something for the Lord, and the Lord has given every one of us some kind of a gift to function somehow in the body of Christ in his church. He says, I have a great desire to do this, to serve you. It may be a very menial task he's given us to do. Still, we have to do it with that spirit of love. Follow after love and desire the spiritual gift. And he says, I would rather that you all prophesy. Now, what does he mean by that? This doesn't mean foretelling its future. It isn't just quite exactly like the Old Testament prophets. It is to some extent because they didn't all foretell the future. They were not all prophets in the sense that they wrote prophecy. But when they prophesied, they told forth the Word of God. And the greatest business in the church, as far as I can see, in the gifts, is that a prophecy which is preaching the Word of God. Because there's another gift, the gift of an evangelist. He's out preaching to the sinner, winning the sinners and bringing them in. And then the prophet, in the church, he has to preach the Word of God. What for? Very briefly, but our time is gone. Why does he do it? Verse three. He that prophesied, Speaketh unto men for three purposes. Look at it. Three purposes. He that prophesies, speaketh unto men to edification. What does that mean? To edification. Well, it's the spiritual education, the spiritual good. It's no good for a man to come up here and talk and talk and talk unless he can really give us something, it's going to Build us up. Build us up in our most holy faith and make us stronger in the things of God. That's edification. Edifying. So the ministry of the Word of God must be to edify the saints of God. That's one of the purposes of the prophesying or the ministry. To edify the members of the body of Christ. To build us up in the knowledge of the things of God and the things of Christ. Thank God for our conference here. When we get the most wonderful ministry, and we surely do get edified and built up in the knowledge of God. Now the next thing, Ezek prophesies speaking unto men to edification and to exhortation. What does that mean? There's a difference in edification and exhortation. Now to exhort is to awaken people. To edify is to teach them and build them up, but to exhort them is to awaken them to do something. Just as I came on the platform, my wife gave me a little track. She said, read it tonight. I said, I've got time. I said, but I've never read it, and I won't read from the platform what I haven't read, but I read it just now, and I'll read a little bit of it. This is exhortation. It's about prayer. and is written by Leilow. Just before a large evangelistic campaign, I was asked by a number of Christian leaders to address a meeting for Christian workers. The object of the meeting was to awaken a sense of our responsibility toward those around us who are unsaved. I felt impelled to use an allegory showing the sinfulness of prayerfulness, and I know that the Holy Spirit spoke to many because of the response following the special service. The story follows. In one of our munition plants, employing five hundred men, there was an excellent canteen and lounging room. After the men had lunched each day, they developed an informal open forum. where for the balance of their lunch period they discussed topics of general interest. One day their discussion centered on Christianity and hypocrisy. Some very harsh and cruel things were said about Christians. In the company was a young Christian fellow named William James. When Bill could stand it no longer, he rose to his feet and said, Men, you have been saying some very hard things about Christians. Now I must admit there are hypocrites in the church, but I also want you to know that there are quite a lot of sincere Christians, and I myself very humbly claim to be to sincerely believe in Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. He was about to sit down when a man said, just a minute, Bill, I would like you to answer some questions. I take it from what you have said, that you believe the Bible to be the Word of God. I certainly do, said Bill. I believe it from cover to cover. Then do you believe that all men out of Christ are lost and on their way to outer darkness? Yes, he said I do. And so the dialogue proceeded. Question. Do you think most of us men are out of Christ and therefore lost? Bill, yes, boys, I'm very sorry indeed to say I do believe that. Question, do you believe in the efficacy of prayer, Bill? Yes, I have had many answers to my prayers in the past. Question, how long have you worked here with us? Four years. Question, How often in that period have you spent a night in prayer for our lost souls? Bill's head doesn't seem quite so high, he says. I'm sorry, boys, but I cannot say I ever spent a night in prayer for you. Question. Well, Bill, how often have you spent half a night in prayer, say from eight o'clock in the evening till midnight? Bill, whose head is going lower, I'm sorry, I cannot say I ever spent half a night in prayer for you. Question. Well, Bill, we'll take your word for it. Quickly add together all the time you spent in prayer for us during the last week. How much would it be, all told? Bill, I'm sorry, fellow. I cannot say that I spent any time in prayer for you this last week. Questioner. Well, Bill, this is just the kind of hypocrisy we've been talking about. It's quite a test, isn't it? We say we pray for people. Paul says that the teaching must be for edification, for exhortation. I trust that this little message is exhortation to you and me, to awaken us to our responsibilities to pray for people around us, to pray for the lost, and to go out. There's some here. Our brother Sneberger was out in the jail last week Sunday preaching the gospel. Our two sisters here are out working among the children, doing something to win them to Christ. Exhortation builds us up to go out to do something. So the ministry must be then, first of all, for edification, then for exhortation, the street, and finally it says it's got to be for comfort. And how necessary it is in this world of trouble and trial and difficulty and sorrow, that our ministry should be a comforting ministry. So Paul says then, our ministry must be for the edification of the saints, for the exhortation of the saints, and for the comfort of the saints of God. May God bless this to our souls. Now, it's our time for prayer. I need not go over the prayer request unless there are any special ones, are there? How did you find the people in the hospital, Brother Sackler? Brother Wong, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. And he did appreciate the fact that some of the men were going to see him yesterday, and that they prayed with him, and he prayed with them. And I knew he did. And so today we followed the same course. I said to Bob, after we had a little study together, did Bob, when you pray, then I'll pray. He said, no, he said, Mr. Sack, you pray, then I'll pray. So I prayed very briefly, and I'll pray on and on and on. Mr. Shepherd, I'm just thank you, O Lord, and put the trust in the Lord, and the hope in the Lord. And he prayed very clearly, slowly, and very effectively. His mind is clearer then, eh? My mind is clearer. Good, I'm glad to hear that. And how about Mrs. Morgan? He didn't get in to see Mrs. Morgan. well somewhere in there yesterday she's finding it very difficult to endure it's quite a nice place she's in but she can't see all the nice things that we can see there and it's a monotonous thing you would sit with your arm tied up with broken arm and just say week after week so let's pray for these two and others as we think now and about Twenty minutes to nine should we say, so we can get meeting over at quarter to nine. Touch someone while I will.