Some exciting Church Updates!

Service Changes:
· Starting June 7th
· Prayer Service at 9:30 - Isaiah 56:7
· Coffee/Donuts/Fellowship at 10:00
· Combined Service at 10:30
· We combined the Dream Team – see an issue, let us know! We desire to serve you well!

New series over 1 Corinthians 14 - Build Your Church!

Chapter breakdown:
· Priority of Love – 1 Corinthians 14:1-5
· Worship that Builds – 1 Corinthians 14:6-19
· Spiritual Gifts – 1 Corinthians 14:20-25
· Order of Worship – 1 Corinthians 14:26-35
· Final Exhortation – 1 Corinthians 14:36-40

1 Corinthians 14:1-25 NLT
THEME - PRIORITY OF LOVE
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy. 2 For if you have the ability to speak in tongues,[ you will be talking only to God, since people won’t be able to understand you. You will be speaking by the power of the Spirit,[ but it will all be mysterious. 3 But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. 4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
THEME - WORSHIP THAT BUILDS
5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.
6 Dear brothers and sisters,[ if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language,[ how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful. 7 Even lifeless instruments like the flute or the harp must play the notes clearly, or no one will recognize the melody. 8 And if the bugler doesn’t sound a clear call, how will the soldiers know they are being called to battle?
9 It’s the same for you. If you speak to people in words they don’t understand, how will they know what you are saying? You might as well be talking into empty space.
10 There are many different languages in the world, and every language has meaning. 11 But if I don’t understand a language, I will be a foreigner to someone who speaks it, and the one who speaks it will be a foreigner to me. 12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.
13 So anyone who speaks in tongues should pray also for the ability to interpret what has been said. 14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don’t understand what I am saying.
15 Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit,[ and I will also pray in words I understand. I will sing in the spirit, and I will also sing in words I understand. 16 For if you praise God only in the spirit, how can those who don’t understand you praise God along with you? How can they join you in giving thanks when they don’t understand what you are saying? 17 You will be giving thanks very well, but it won’t strengthen the people who hear you.
18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
THEME - SPIRITUAL GIFTS
20 Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your understanding of these things. Be innocent as babies when it comes to evil, but be mature in understanding matters of this kind. 21 It is written in the Scriptures[f]:“I will speak to my own people
through strange languages
and through the lips of foreigners.
But even then, they will not listen to me,”
says the Lord.
22 So you see that speaking in tongues is a sign, not for believers, but for unbelievers. Prophecy, however, is for the benefit of believers, not unbelievers.23 Even so, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. 25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

A new study that came out from the Pew Research Center. They found that the number one reason people are leaving the church is because they are simply no longer believing, they are losing their faith.

A healthy church makes the presence of God undeniable.

Love shapes how we desire gifts, how we use them, and how we gather as a church.

If love is missing, spiritual gifts become noise instead of ministry. Let love be your highest goal.

1 Corinthians 14 NLT – Varying passages
· 4 A person who speaks in tongues is strengthened personally, but one who speaks a word of prophecy strengthens the entire church.
· 5 I wish you could all speak in tongues, but even more I wish you could all prophesy. For prophecy is greater than speaking in tongues, unless someone interprets what you are saying so that the whole church will be strengthened.
· 6 Dear brothers and sisters,[ if I should come to you speaking in an unknown language,[ how would that help you? But if I bring you a revelation or some special knowledge or prophecy or teaching, that will be helpful.
· 12 And the same is true for you. Since you are so eager to have the special abilities the Spirit gives, seek those that will strengthen the whole church.
· 19 But in a church meeting I would rather speak five understandable words to help others than ten thousand words in an unknown language.
· 24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say.
· 25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”

Spiritual gifts are given for one central purpose: to strengthen the church.

They will build you personally, but they are never meant to end with you.

What God gives you is meant to build more than just you.

This chapter, and the Bible as a whole, gives evidence for BOTH:
- private prayer language
- public tongues with interpretation

Private Practice of Tongues:
“speaks not to men but to God” — 1 Corinthians 14:2
“edifies himself” — 1 Corinthians 14:4
“pray in the spirit” — 1 Corinthians 14:15
“speak to himself and to God” — 1 Corinthians 14:28

Public Practice of Tongues:
requires interpretation — 1 Corinthians 14:5, 14:13, 14:27
meant to strengthen the church — 1 Corinthians 14:5, 14:12, 14:26
should happen orderly — 1 Corinthians 14:27–33, 14:40
should not create confusion — 1 Corinthians 14:23, 14:33, 14:40

The Bible speaks against forbidding tongues (speaking in other languages).

Tongues without interpretation is personal; tongues with interpretation is corporate.

Jesus says in John 14:17 NLT - 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.