Hello and welcome to the House of Faith Ministries. I'm Lisa Kaine and I'm recording this message on Wednesday, August 14th, 2024. Welcome. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for your word. We bless your word that it does not return void. We bless our ears to hear it. We bless our hearts and minds to receive and believe it. and we bless our soul and spirit to walk in your word, to walk in the relationship we have with you, to walk in the ministry and the joy and the peace that you've given us because your yoke is not heavy. It is light. There's no burden here, Father God. And we thank you. We thank you for your word, your anointing, your presence. And in the name of Jesus, amen. Amen. Amen. Welcome. Glad to have you here. This message is called one body. Let's go to our opening scripture here. And that is in 1 Corinthian 1 Corinthians 12:31. But covet earnestly the best gifts and yet show I unto you a more excellent way. Oh, I love this. I want to uh just establish a little uh groundwork here. If you're new to listening to any of the messages, all of my newer messages in the last year or two have this type of style to it where I put the scripture here and the bolded word is in the King James version. When they translated uh and wrote the King James version, they had multiple words they can use for that scripture. They picked one, they used it. So in this case, use um earnestly here. It it also means to have a warm feeling uh for or against something. Uh the best is also represented by stronger and gifts means gratuitity. So I'm just adding these extra words in to give you a deeper meaning of the scripture is what I'm doing. Okay. So now let's get dive right in and uh you know just to kind of give you an idea what the purpose of this teaching is show you how many options you have at being a part of the body of Christ. And when I say options, choices, how to be in the ministry of the body of Christ. So, we're going to describe the body of Christ and we're going to show you what the Bible shows you as ministries and where everything kind of fits into every category. Right? So, we're going to go and we're going to be focusing on 1 Corinthians 12. So, let's start in verse 12. We're going to read verses 12- 14. For as the body is one, now the body is a sound whole and hath many members. A member is a limb or a part of the body, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body. So also is Christ. For by one spirit, and when you hear the word spirit, it's a current of air. For by one spirit are we all baptized or fully wet into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink irrigated into one spirit. For the body is not one member but many. So just to kind of give you an idea here of what we're talking about, you are seeing how it takes a village to operate in the body of Christ. Now the body of Christ can encompass multiple churches. It can encompass any believer out there. Whether that believer is currently in a church or in a sanctuary. If you are a believer, you are part of the body of Christ. Now, to become a believer, Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's part of being the body of Christ. Now, if you want to go into a ministry in the body of Christ, you do need to be waterbaptized. So when you go look at Jesus when he was water baptized, he came up being fully wet and the dove landed on him and the dove represented the Holy Spirit. So then you go into ministry because that's when uh Jesus went and defeated the devil fasting 40 days and he the devil was a done deal and Jesus was able to move into his ministry. He healed. He uh had the blind see. He delivered people from demons. So you're going to see though that there is a church and there's a structure to the church and we are one body and there are different parts of that entire body. So as we saw here in in verses 12 through 14, we're part of a whole. In other words, I can't do all of these. Now I I want you to understand I can do some of these. I just can't do them all at the same time. And the Lord can move me from gift to gift. He's done that with multiple people. But our part is unique to what God has us doing it. And it could be as simple, you know, part of being the body of the Christ is ministering to others. It could be as simple as smiling and showing joy to others or it could be as complicated as leading a church, a congregation. Um, but did you notice the word drink in that scripture? It also means irrigate. Each of us are drinking from the same spirit. So you get this visual where here's the spirit and there is an irrigation path coming from that spirit to each and every one of us as we partake and drink from that same spirit. And what you have to realize is the spirit, the holy spirit is the word of God. So you can't drink from false ideologies such as wokeism or the latest popular acceptance of tolerance. You drink from the word of God. And how do you drink from it? You read it so that you know if someone is misleading but by not teaching in context or purposely using the scripture for their own justification. You have to be very careful. This is how we the body of Christ keeps ourselves separated from worldly thoughts and worldly things. And I want you to understand, don't think of yourself as someone who doesn't understand the Bible. you you you can read it, but it doesn't make any sense to you. You have the Holy Spirit just like anyone else in the word of God does. And he the Holy Spirit will show you if someone is missing the mark with their teaching and he will protect you and keep you from being deceived. very very important that you understand that and that you are reading the word of God because you have a responsibility and you will not get away with being ignorant because the Holy Spirit is convicting you and showing you every day how to be in his word. So let's continue on. We're going to go to verses 18 through 20. We're still in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 18. But now hath God set the members, every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased, choose or prefer him. And if they were all one member, where would where were the body? But now are they many members yet one body? So he's reinforcing here that we're all one body. But I want you to notice what Paul is saying here. There's a measurement of each person in the body of Christ. And you're going to see that here in just a moment as we get into scriptures. But he's he's trying to get you to understand that there's every member. Every person is a member. Doesn't matter who you are. If you're a believer in Christ, you're part of that member. And God assigns us a place as he pleases. He prefers, he chooses. And he knows your heart. He knows how best to place you. This is how we are one body because we don't all do the same thing. I was just listening to testimony last night at our Tuesday night Bible study and one of the women, she just brings people into her home if they're in need. She says, "Here, I have a place for you in my home." That is part of ministry. That is part of this. We're gonna get into this a whole lot more and I want you to see where you can be a part of this ministry, where you place yourself in there and what you can do. And God's ministry is not a heavy burden. It's not hard and it's not tiresome. It is beautiful and he does it at your level of joy. He's This is a relationship that God is having with you. And when you're having that relationship with him, he knows what you like. There's another lady who shared a testimony last night. She loves children. She loves working with children. That is her thing. And she's about to start up a daycare at her church who had none. And they are working with her. They're paying for everything. They brought her in because of the joy of her heart. The Lord opened the door there. That's how that's another ministry. You hear theologians talk about a five-fold ministry. There's many more ministries than that. We're going to get more into that. Let's continue on with verse 22 here in 23. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. We're going to get to that in just a moment. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor. And our uncom parts have more abundant comeliness. Oh, this is very very important there. Here again is that measurement. He's reinforcing that we're one body and now he's showing you the different levels of each person. There are some who are strong and mighty in the body of Christ. And there are some who could barely wake up every day, who could barely pray, but God hears them. And God is with each and every single one of them. But notice what he's telling the strong to do. Place your hedge of protection around them. Look at this. When you bestow, you are putting your hedge around them and you're calling them abundant honor. You are placing them in abundant honor.

They're weak and we have to give them more honor. Part of that ministry is going up to them saying, "Can I pray with you? Can I minister to you? Can I help you with something?" There was a testimony in the church a few months ago that I heard where an elderly woman, this young kid, he's got to be 18, 19 years old. He came and he said, "I'm going to do the hard things for you over your house. I'm going to take care of your house." He cleaned the windows. He was taking out the trash. He was doing the lawn. That's a ministry. You see, in that measurement of the body of Christ, we do not judge one another. We're going to see that here in scripture. So, as we're more active in the body of Christ, someone like me who's strong, I'm intercessory prayer. I'm praying the Holy Spirit into you, moving you, and then God brings in another person to be there, help you. But the Holy Spirit is working through each of us over them. And we give much honor to those who are weak because we're trying to lift them up, trying to bolster them, trying to give them that courage, that strength that they need to do that. And there are many ways we can do that. I pray and I forgive them here in the spirit in my secret place. And I tell those demons to get lost because you need an opening door to move. So once you take care of the spiritual matter, you can be there for them. You can help them through their situation. You can share to your testimony and hopes. They grab a hold of that and know that God is real and still very active today. One of the reasons why they're weak is because their belief, their faith isn't so high. But when they see your faith, it starts to bolster them. Oh, hallelujah. I hope you guys are getting this because see this is your responsibility as being part of the body of Christ. Let's continue on and look at verses 24 and 25. Um for our now he's still talking about looks where when you look at someone because this is what we tend to do. I'm guilty of this. You look at somebody and you wonder, are they all there? Um, and you wonder, why aren't they stronger in the Lord? Why aren't they able to do this? And see, that's judging. So, what Paul is addressing is that attitude so that we can be in this body of Christ without that attitude, but going in and looking and seeing them differently, seeing them with God's eyes. For our comely well-formed, noble parts have no need. See, I have no need of what does it show? Employment, demand, use, want. But God hath tempered the body together. He co-mingled, combined, having more, having given more abundant honor or value, money paid to that part which lacked to be later or inferior. You see, someone who's struggling, they're realizing and recognizing the sin that they come from, have been living in, and they're struggling. And so, what Paul is saying is that they have had a higher price paid for them by Jesus who redeemed them on the cross. And they haven't quite recognized that yet. So our part is to co-mingle with them and encourage them. Give them that honor. Let them know they are redeemed by the blood of Jesus. They're saved just like me. And just cuz my faith is up here and I don't have any need of that anymore, I still can give it to others. And by the way, there are times I will need it. There's times we hit a low point. Even if we've been a believer for 50 years, a strong believer, there are times where we struggle internally with what's going on. And so roles can reverse. This is why we're co-mingling together as a one body, a body of Christ encouraging each and everyone. And look at this. He says that there should be no schism, no split, no gap, no division, no rent in the body, but that the members should have the same care that we're care to be anxious about. Take thought one for another. So I should be thinking and you should be thinking about those around us plus ourselves. We should be encouraged to go and be with them. Hallelujah. I I hope that you guys are getting this. Uh and and as you think about them, you you're you're seeing them through God's eyes. You're you're seeing the hurt and the need. You're going to see here in verse 26 here in just a moment that when they suffer, we suffer. But when they have a great testimony, we rejoice with them. We cannot have this gap or this schism in here. We have to be one body joining at the arms, the hands, and forgiving one another, encouraging one another, lifting one another. Oh, hallelujah. I hope you're getting that. Let's go look at verses 26 and 27 so we can continue and get this. And whether one member suffer, which experiences pain, all the members suffer with it. or one member be honored, full of glory, magnified. All the members rejoice, sympathize and gladness, congratulate with him. Now ye are the body of Christ and members a limb part of the body in particular. Each of us are in particular members of the body of Christ. So as an assembly, if we have someone suffering, we gather around with them. We show them that we're there. We suffer with them. And as an assembly, when they're sharing their testimony, they're excited. We get excited with them. This is how we work together as one body moving under the spirit of the Holy Ghost because we are irrigated by the word of God, by the Holy Spirit. each and every one of us doing our part because we are a particular limb in that entire body. Now let's go to verses 28 and 29. I want you to see this. And God had set some in the church. So this is where we're going to get into what a lot of um theologians and pastors and preachers talk about as a five-fold ministry. Well, I there is a five-fold ministry, but there's more than a five-fold ministry. It's more and I want you to see the more because you may not be called to be a preacher or a teacher. Um, look at me. I do webcam teachings. You know, I'm not called to be a pastor and I that's not my calling. In fact, my calling is to teach and to you. Let's get into it. I want you to see something here. Verse 20. And God hath set some in the church. A church is a calling out or an assembly. First apostles, a delegate ambassador, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, reliefs, diversities of tongues. And I'm going to continue in verse 29 here in just a minute. I want you to see something here. So, as a lot of people talk about this five-fold ministry, notice there were a lot more than five-fold ministry. In fact, let's go count them. Let's count them. You've got uh apostles one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Did I count that right? So, you have apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts of healing, helps, governments, and diversity of tongues. I see eight there. So we have eight min ministries, not a five-fold, an eightfold ministry. Amen. So let's go over them. Let's talk about them. So we saw that apostles, they're ambassadors of Christ to the world. Paul and Peter very examples of ambassadors. A prophet foretells or is an inspired speaker. Another way to look at that is they're poetic. They they they prophesy poetically. Look at how Isaiah and Jeremiah and the prophets write their books. It's very poetic. Teachers, they teach what they know because they're masters of what they teach. And in order to be a teacher, you need to be a student first. If you want to teach the word of God, you need to be in the word of God, allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal the scriptures to you. And I'm called to teach. What I want to do is I want to take you to um a scripture here about teaching. I because I'm a teacher, I want to elaborate a little bit more on the ministry of teaching. Okay? I want to I want to show you something because if you see how teaching works through the Bible, hopefully you get into the Bible and you will find out how all the other ministries work through the Bible. Okay? You can see what Paul and Peter did as apostles. You can see what prophets did. Now let's look at what teachers do. So let's go to 1 Corinthians 2 12-16. Says, "Now we have received or take not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know, be aware of the things that are freely given to us of God, which things we also we speak." When you see when you teach, when you become a teacher, you have been a student. You're hearing the word of God. He is filling your cup up with the scriptures. Well, then what happens is when you go to speak it, you're now telling it now you're preaching it not in the words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Ghost teaches. Comparing. See that word comparing means to judge one thing in connection with another. So comparing spiritual things which is the non-carnal ethal with spiritual or supernatural things. And then look at this. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness. Remember the walls of Jericho? What did God tell Joshua to have Israel do? March around the city, blow the trumpet and shout. And he did it specific mountains and all that. You can go read that. And then the walls came tumbling down. That was absurd to go and march, be quiet, and then shout, "Wait a minute. If I'm going to defeat a city, shouldn't I have weapons of mass destruction, more bows and arrows, more this, more that?" No, it was absurdity. See, God used Israel to show that worldly thinking is an absurdity. It's a foolishness. But we can see that the wisdom of God may seem foolish to the world, but to him it's not. And he moves in that. Does that God God likes to do this kind of stuff? If you didn't figure that out yet absurdity unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually or divinely discerned. And discerned means scrutinized. You see, people can't know. people of the world who are living by the world can't know what's going on uh spiritually because they're not being definely uh divinely um directed by the Holy Spirit. Now verse 15, but he that is spiritual judges. He scrutinizes, investigates, examines, asks all things. Yet he himself is judged of no man. You see, when you're teaching under the spirit of God, they can't judge you because you're under God's guidance, under the spirit, under the Holy Spirit, not worldly. Because the world doesn't even know what they can't even define what a woman is right now. They can't even come together in unity to try to fix major issues in the world. Everything is about me, me, me, me. That's how the world thinks. and they think they know what's best for you. That's why you ought to follow them.

They're wrong. It might some of the things might they're thinking might sound right for some situations, but then they're leaving out gaps and they leave all these other people hanging. It'll never be fixed through the world. It will always be fixed through the Holy Spirit, through God. Uh verse 16, for who hath known the mind intellect of the Lord that he may instruct, drive together, unite him? But we have the mind of Christ, the intellect of Christ. We have that. Oh, that is very very important. Now, so, so let's look at these teachers. You see, there's a lot of people that go to seminary school, but when they teach, they don't understand the scripture because they don't understand the spiritual aspect of the living word of God. They don't understand why God heals sometimes and sometimes he doesn't. He they don't understand why people get cancer. They don't understand why little children die. And the scripture tells us all of this. So what do we do? We have to spend time with Christ so that we have the mind of Christ that bubbles out of our mouths. His and how do you spend time? It's getting to know his word. See, when you hear a teacher say something to the effect like I I don't understand this, but this is what it says. There's a big red flag there. You now know that person, you need to pray for that person because they're trying to be a teacher, but they can't because they're not in the spirit with God. And they'll avoid certain scriptures because it makes no sense to them, because it's absurd to them, because they're not with the intellect mind of Christ. I hope you're getting this. So, as a teacher, you need to have the mind of Christ. You have to be Christlike. This is why I can sit here and teach on forgiveness because I do it. Christ said to forgive, I forgive. And he says, "Whatever you forgive, I will forgive." Well, I take that and I operate in that. You And so when you find these people that are having trouble uh uh not understanding, they desire it. They just they want to do it their way. And they haven't got into the secret place with the Lord. They haven't gone to him. They haven't asked him. They haven't sought him. They haven't searched him. They haven't looked. They haven't strived to understand the mind of Christ. They haven't asked him to reveal the mystery or answer their questions.

So, you know, that's teaching. And I hope that you see how being in the word of God in the secret place with the Lord will help you in every ministry because it's a gift from God and he will do it with you. Whatever the joy of your heart is. If your joy is taking care of children, then he's going to open the doors for that with you. That's how he works. But remember, we're looking at eight separate things that he identified. I just got to teachers. Let's go back to reading again. We're at miracles. Now look at this. So he says after, so you see thirdly teachers after that miracles. That word miracles means force, miraculous power, ability. What does that mean? See, there are those who let the Holy Spirit move through them, allowing the miracles to happen. So, an example could be in a situation where someone who hasn't been living a great life now has to go to court, but they repented. They called on God and their family is with their church and they're all praying. And then the favor of the Lord is upon that guy and the court system finds favor on him and he gets either a lesser sentence or he's cleared of it all. That's somebody who has a ministry in the gift of miracles. But it's and it could be the entire body doing that together because when you pray in unity, you create miracles. The next one is gifts of healing. And I know uh when you see somebody get healed, it's a it's a gratuitity from the Lord. It's a gift because he can heal or he cannot. If you look at Jesus ministry about healing, you're going to find that most of the people that were healed were by their own faith. Jesus didn't even have to touch him. Remember the centurion who said, "My servant is sick. Hey, you don't even have to come to my house. I'm not worthy of you to come to my house, but you tell your servants. It's like me. I have to tell my servants and I respond to those who tell me what to do." And Jesus marveled at him. See, look at how much faith he has. Your servant is healed. Jesus never even went. Well, a gift of healing is done through faith. And you if you have faith and they don't, you can intercede on their behalf and say, "Lord, I'm applying my faith to their healing and you will see them healed. I'm I do this all the time." And it's neat to see the testimony of the healings that take place in the church. And the funny thing is, they don't even know I'm doing it. They don't have to know. They just know that, hey, yeah, God healed me. That's all they need to know. God healed. But as a member of the body of Christ, we can initiate that and be part of that ministry because it's a ministry. What do we have next here? After gifts, we have helps. Helps. That's relief. You know what helps is? It's taking like the uh young man I I used as a testimony earlier. This young man went to an elderly woman's house. They bonded. They they chatted about everything. He's there. She makes him a meal and they sit down. They talk and they'll talk for hours, but he's there cleaning her windows doing all the hard work she physically cannot do. That's helping. How about helping somebody who is at the hospital, who had surgery, who came home, the Bible study I attend on Sunday morning class, they are called the servants class. They're there for that. They go and take meals to these people to help them get through. They help clean their house, keep their house clean, help them get to that's part of the ministry of being a part of the body of Christ. That's what that is. And then you have, let's see, what else do we have? We have governments. You know, let me see if I counted this right earlier. See, apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, gifts, helps, governments, diversity. Yeah. Yeah. I count it as eight. It's still eight. I don't know why I keep thinking it's nine. It's not governments. What's governments? What does that have anything to do with it? There's many parts to running the body of Christ. And the governments has to do with the administration, the finance. Maybe you're just somebody who has a lot of money because the Lord has blessed you and you have a heart for managing money. You can be donating, tithing, helping build churches. Uh part of the government is building maintenance. Uh and you know what? Here's what's so funny. This is a great example of how the body of Christ works as one. And I want you to see this and I want you to get this. The janitorial services are just as equal to the pastor behind the pulpit. You want to know why? They're both equal. There is no difference. And like the servants class and somebody being there serving, that is equal to all this. You want to know why? Because when you walk into a church and you hear that preacher preach, but if you go to that bathroom, that bathroom is dirty, you ain't going to go back. You don't want to go back. That preacher might have been good, but who's who's cleaning the bathroom? That janitorial service is just as important as any ministry that the Holy Spirit has given us as a body of Christ. That is part of the government portion of walking in the body of Christ. I hope you get that. The last one is diversity of tongues. Let's go look at that. Diversity of tongues. Diversity of tongues is like, let's say you have somebody who's deaf and you have somebody could do sign language or you're an English service, but you have Spanish a a good Spanish speaking or only Spanish- speakaking uh group of people showing up. You you invest in those translators and they can hear the scripture. They can hear your teaching in Spanish while they're sitting there. That is diversity of tongues in the body of Christ. Now, we do have speaking of tongues as a gift, but in this particular case, you're just dealing with the multiple language in the body of Christ. Somebody interpreting, somebody who can speak more than one language. God set that example for us to see. And that again is part of being the body of Christ. Now where we want to do is go look and see what the conclusion of the matter is. Right? Let's conclude with 1 Corinthians 12:30 through31. Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? Let's go back. I want to show you something here in that last set of scriptures we were looking at because I didn't read that scripture now that I realize it. Let's see here. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Says verse 29. Are all apostles? are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles. Now, we can go look at that closing scripture. Are have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? What he's saying here is you can't do all of them by yourself all of the time because you're not God. That's what he's saying. Verse 31, but covet, this was our opening scripture, covet earnestly the best gifts, yet show I unto you a more excellent way. In other words, there's more than these gifts. And he's going to show you the path to that. He's going to open the doors because there's somewhere in your heart that you have a particular thing that you do very well. And God is going to do. You know, mine is praying in secret. Intercessory prayer warrior. And you know what? I enjoy it. I make a way when my family life alters my daily routine. And it does. As a woman, I'm a mother. I'm a grandmother. And I have to deal with the changes in my family, cook and clean and all that kind of fun stuff. I still make a way to go before the Lord. How do you want me to do this? What are we going to do, Lord? Okay. So, like last week, we were on vacation. So, I pray certain prayers throughout the week. So, I took Mondays and Wednesdays prayed, prayed them on Monday. I took Tuesdays and Thursdays and I prayed them on Thursday or Tuesday. So, that way Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, I had off on vacation because it's a joy for me to do that. I love praying like that with the Holy Spirit and he makes a way for me to do that. Gives me the time. Now I ask you, what ministry do you want to do? What's in your heart that the Lord can open the door for you? Start by spending some time with him, asking him questions, seeking, finding, opening the word of God, and let him lead you. and he will open the doors for you. I promise you that. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for your word and we bless your word that it does not return void and that we are encouraged to walk in the ministries that you have given us, Father God, for it is the joy that you place in our hearts to do the things that you called us to do. Thank you, Lord. We love you, praise you, and honor you for what you're doing. And I thank you for showing us this teaching. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. God bless you. I will see you in the next message. Bye-bye.