Encounter - Hearing the Voice of God for Others

In this moving message from our “Encounter” series, Pastor Tyler Lynde shares “Hearing the Voice of God for Others.” Tyler opens up about his personal journey through grief after losing his brother, detailing how his family navigated sorrow and questioned their faith. Amidst their struggle, they found healing through the spiritual gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12, which guided them from despair to restoration.

Tyler explores how God desires to speak not only to us but also through us. He discusses spiritual gifts like the Word of Wisdom, providing divine guidance beyond human understanding, and the Word of Knowledge, offering insights into situations that couldn’t be known naturally. He also delves into Prophecy, emphasizing its role in edifying and comforting others.

Emphasizing that love is the foundation for operating in these gifts, Tyler reminds us that without love, even the most extraordinary abilities amount to nothing. He highlights the importance of humility and discernment, encouraging us to involve mature believers when interpreting and applying these gifts to ensure they align with God’s will.

This message challenges us to consider the incredible privilege of being used by God to deliver His messages to others. By earnestly desiring spiritual gifts, especially prophecy, we can become instruments of God’s grace, offering hope and encouragement to those around us. Tyler invites us to be attentive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and willing to step out in faith when prompted.

Join us as we explore how to hear the voice of God for others, embracing the opportunity to impact lives through His guidance. Let’s journey together toward a deeper understanding of how the Holy Spirit works through us, transforming ordinary moments into divine appointments.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Chapters

• 0:03 The Power of Spiritual Gifts
• 13:38 Exploring Supernatural Gifts of the Spirit
• 28:43 The Power of Prophetic Gifts
• 37:14 Guidelines for Prophetic Gifts in Church
• 53:11 Effective Prophetic Communication Skills

Transcript

Tyler Lynde: 0:03

So let's turn in our Bibles to 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, if you would, and, like Derek said, we're in the sermon series called Encounter. It's all about the Holy Spirit, who he is and what he does, and for the last couple of weeks we've been looking at how God speaks to us as individuals. Aren't you thankful that we can hear the voice of God? So important, especially in the time that we're living in, to be able to hear and recognize the voice of God as he speaks to us. But he doesn't want us to stop there. He wants to speak to us so that he can speak through us to other people, and so that's such a great privilege that we have, as believers in Jesus, to be able to hear his voice for others. So 1 Corinthians 12, verses 1 through 11, is going to be our key passage this morning. Let's read that together.

Tyler Lynde: 0:52

This is the word of God Now concerning spiritual gifts. Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away to these dumb idols I love how God says things these dumb idols. However you were led. Therefore, I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

Tyler Lynde: 1:21

There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of minist gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same spirit to another. Faith by the same spirit to another. Gifts of healings by the same spirit to another. The working of miracles to another. Prophecy to another. Discernment of spirits, I'm sorry, discerning of spirits and to another. Different kinds of tongues to another, the interpretation of tongues, but one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as he wills. Let's pray together.

Tyler Lynde: 2:19

Father, I am so thankful for your Word. It is not just words on a page, it is not just something that we read for entertainment value. It is your very life-giving, god-breathed word that brings about the change in our lives that we need. And so, father, we ask that you would help us today to be more, to have a greater level of understanding about who you are. We ask that you would help us today to be more, to have a greater level of understanding about who you are. We ask that you would be glorified in everything that is said and done and we ask that, by your spirit, that you would make the words that I speak to come alive and to transform each person that is sitting here and all of those who are watching online. And, lord, we thank you and we give you praise and honor for it, in Jesus name, amen.

Tyler Lynde: 3:10

Many of you know my story but for those of you who don't know, my dad was a cowboy, like a real cowboy. We lived in Wyoming and his dad was a mountain man, like a real. I keep saying like a real, but I mean an authentic mountain man, like with the leathers and the, you know, the elk tooth necklace and the weird hat and all of that. I mean that was, he was a trapper, he did all of that stuff. And my dad was a cowboy and he got a job in Montana on a ranch where he managed 80,000 acres of land and on that land we had horses and we had cows and we had buffalo. And I was born, and before me my brother, brian, was born, and so we lived there, the four of us, along with ranch hands and other people that were there to help. But we lived there and all things were going very well, until one day when my brother, who was two and a half years old, had watched somebody else open the fence gate, and so he opened that fence gate and he and I walked out of that gate and down the hill and down below there was a pond that was not actually water, it was runoff from the sewage on all of the property and somehow my brother found his way into that pond and he drowned.

Tyler Lynde: 4:36

My mother, when she would discover this, was obviously overcome and overwhelmed with every form of grief that you can imagine. But the thing that hit her more than anything else, believe it or not, was the fact that the very few times that she had gone to church, she had been told that unless you christen your child, if you don't christen your child and they die, they do not enter into heaven. And so my mother dealing with the physical loss of her son and my brother, that was one thing and that was one layer and one level, but on a much deeper level, the fact that she believed with all of her heart that, because we lived 80 miles from anywhere, because she had not taken him to the church to be christened, that now his destiny was eternal damnation in hell. My dad didn't know what to do with the situation. He pulled his hat down and pulled his boots up and tried to be even stronger than what he had been before, but he couldn't help my mom, and so he took her to a psychologist, and the psychologist was listening to her, and mom couldn't help my mom, and so he took her to a psychologist, and the psychologist was listening to her, and mom couldn't even really speak.

Tyler Lynde: 5:49

She was overcome and overwhelmed with emotion, as you can imagine, and so the psychologist stopped and said I really can't help you, but I'm going to send you somewhere. There's a lady there that I believe can help you. And so he sent her to this little Christian bookstore in Billings, montana, and my mom walked in there and the lady, obviously seeing that she was distraught, took my mom back to this little room, the stock room in the back, and, as my mom would tell it, this lady began to pray in a language that she didn't understand and she stopped. Now here's the thing that you need to know before I go on with the story. This lady knew nothing about the situation. The psychologist did not call her and tell her any of the details. My mom couldn't even speak. She was shut down so much emotionally at that point in time that she couldn't explain the situation to her. There's no way my dad was entering into any bookstore, especially a Christian bookstore. And so here's my mom in this back room with this lady who's praying in this. She didn't know it was praying. She was talking in this weird language to her and she stopped and she looked at my mom and she said your son, son Brian, is in heaven with Jesus.

Tyler Lynde: 7:11

And in that moment, all of those layers of lies, fears and darkness that had tried to overcome my mom and overwhelm my mom began to loosen their hold and their grip a little bit, and it wouldn't be long after that. A Baptist minister would enter into my grandfather's home to try to get him to believe in Jesus, and he wasn't interested. But he pointed out my mom, and my mom listened to what this man had to say about his Jesus, who lived for a perfect life and who died a death and took our sins upon him and, boy, she needed somebody to take what she perceived to be her sin upon himself. And then he rose again from the grave and all of the great details of the gospel, and my mom gave her life to Jesus Christ and within a year's period of time we were moved out of that place because it was too much hurt and grief to remain in that ranch, and so we moved back to Wyoming and my mom went to church and she began to take me to church with her, and within just a couple of years, as I was able to understand more and more about who this Jesus is, I became a Christian because my mom asked me one day in the bathroom as I was brushing my teeth Tyler, do you want to follow Jesus? And I said yes, and I have to say grace be to God. It's been hard since then, but I've never second-guessed that decision I made as a child.

Tyler Lynde: 8:48

Obviously, to me it's very important that we hear the voice of God for other people. My mom's life and the complete trajectory of our family was changed because one lady was running a Christian bookstore which was just a front for the prayer room in the back where she would cry out to God, knowing that there was nothing that she could do to help my mom, but that she loved and served a God who cared more than she could ever care or be concerned. God desires to speak to his people, but he also desires to speak through his people, and I don't want us to lose sight of this. I want this to become something that we are so well aware of that we can't hide from it, that we can't ignore it, that we don't want to, that we want to work with God as he desires to speak to people. One of the ways that God does this is that he gives us spiritual gifts. It's not even that he just counts on us to be able to come up with the right thing to say at the right time, to be educated enough to have enough knowledge. All of those things are good and important, but he also gives us his very spirit to speak in us and through us to other people.

Tyler Lynde: 10:10

Spiritual gifts are motivations, ministries and supernatural abilities that God gives Christians by his spirit. He gives these things as gifts to us. In the Bible, god gives Paul three different lists of these gifts that are found, and I just want to quickly run through them. So the first one is found in Romans, chapter 12, verses 6 through 8, and this is called motivational gifts. That's the kind of the label that is used to describe these gifts. So they are prophecy, or maybe you've heard the term perceiver serving teaching, the term perceiver serving teaching, encouraging, giving, leadership, or administration and mercy.

Tyler Lynde: 10:56

Now, the thing that's unique about the motivational gifts is that they're given to us even before birth. They're a part of us from the very beginning, and these gifts that are given to us by God can be used for good or they can be used in a lot of different directions. They can be used to serve God or they can be used to serve ourselves. For example, have you ever known somebody in your life and you would just say of them that person is such a giver Like? That's how you would characterize them, that was a quality of their life, or you'd say, man, that person's an incredible servant. All they do is serve, right? Maybe that was in the context of Christianity, and hopefully it was. But that same gift, that same motivational gift, that same thing that is put into the personality, the fabric of who we are, those things are given to us by God.

Tyler Lynde: 11:42

Motivational gifts are given to us by God Motivational gifts. Right, they have a profound effect on shaping our personality. Every person typically has a dominant motivational gift. One of those that I read is your dominant gift, so that's the one that you operate in most often and, by the way, you don't even have to think about doing these things. They're just a part of who you are. It's like the natural outworking of who you are. Now you can suppress these things and pretend and, you know, hide from who God made you to be right. But in the normal circumstances of your life, where you are being who God made you to be, these expressions of these gifts that God's given you will come out. They will be made obvious. Gifts that God's given you will come out, they will be made obvious, and you may have a strong secondary gift and third gift, and so on. So those are motivational gifts.

Tyler Lynde: 12:30

The second set of gifts that Paul speaks about is found in Ephesians 4, verse 11. It speaks of the apostle, the prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher, and the term that we use for that is the five-fold ministry gift, because it's apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher five-fold. And these gifts are given to some who are called to specific ministry roles within the church. Not everyone has one of these gifts. These are equipping and training gifts given to enable members of the church. What is our job are equipping and training gifts given to enable members of the church. What is our job? Our job, those of us who are in the five-fold ministry our job is to equip you, to give you what you need to be able to do the work that God's called you to do, and so that's when I love, when I see you running with the gospel, when I see you doing what God's called you to do and what he's made you to be. That, really, more than even my own whatever I would want to label my own accomplishments seeing you, each and every one of you, fulfilling God's purpose for your life is rewarding beyond compare.

Tyler Lynde: 13:38

Next, and this is the one we're focusing on here this morning, is the supernatural gifts of the Spirit found in 1 Corinthians that we just read. These are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gift of faith, gifts of healings, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and the interpretation of tongues. So the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are given to each believer when he or she is filled with the Holy Spirit. These are some of the gifts that God gives to people as individuals, as they are filled with the Holy Spirit. They often are imparted through the laying on of hands.

Tyler Lynde: 14:14

It doesn't have to happen that way. God can fill somebody with the Spirit in any way that he wants to do it. Many of us have experiences in our lives that prove that to be true. Right, some of you were driving in your car, some of you were at home, some of you were at a Bible study, some of you were at a church meeting, some of you were one-on-one and the Holy Spirit fell upon you. Right, and filled you and gave you different gifts. And we understand also that the Holy Spirit is the one, ultimately, who baptizes us into the body of Christ. So if you are a believer in Jesus you are you do have the Holy Spirit. He's an active part of your life. He has filled you and filled your spirit and caused you to be alive unto God. But there are many fillings that come after that as well, right? So these supernatural gifts are explicitly supernatural in nature and tend to operate spontaneously, as the Spirit wills. This isn't according to our will or our desire, although we can at times. God can. He connects our desire with His, and I'm thankful for when he does that, when we realize that we're working with Him.

Tyler Lynde: 15:20

Right, they're most often released because of a need that presents itself at any given moment. For example, why would there be a need for the gifts of healings to be in operation if there was nobody that was sick? Does that make sense? I mean, that's pretty basic right. So if there's a need for a particular gift to be used in order to be a blessing to somebody else, god will use that gift and he'll use different people at different times to operate in that gift. And so people might have again, like the motivational gift, a predominant gift, something that they operate in most often. But I believe that all of us, at any given point in time, can be given a gift to meet a need in a particular point in time. Right, god can use us at any point in time in any way that he chooses to do that, but a lot of times we have a predominant gift or two that he tends to use us in more often than the others.

Tyler Lynde: 16:19

So Paul is writing here in our passage to the Corinthian church and this is a church that he established on his second missionary journey and five years later he gets a report from the church at Corinth. What does the report look like? We're growing, there's a lot of good things happening, but there's an addendum. What's the addendum? These people are crazy. This church is going crazy. Nobody's in charge. It's a free for all. It's like the Wild West right.

Tyler Lynde: 16:55

And so Paul, in his fatherly way, writes this letter again, five years after he's established this church, on his second missionary journey. And he does a lot of saying you know, good job, thank you for doing this. But most of the time he spends dealing with their lack of spiritual maturity. And how does he do that? He teaches them and he trains them. It's interesting because the greatest area of their lack of maturity was in the use of the gifts of the Spirit. And yet, what does Paul not do? If it were me and I got a report that this was going on, what's the first response? That your mind would say Shut it down, tell him to stop. He doesn't do that, but he does bring correction. He does bring correction because that's what was needed at the time. His correction is to the motivation behind them using the gifts.

Tyler Lynde: 17:53

What is the proper motivation for the gifts of the Spirit? We're going to get there in a minute. Just be thinking about that. He also reiterates the need for keeping an orderly, edifying approach in corporate services. Things must be done what Decently and in order, decently and in order. So we're going to focus on three of the gifts of the Spirit this morning that really relate to hearing the voice of God for others, and they are the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom and prophecy.

Tyler Lynde: 18:25

Now, next week, Neil is going to come and he's going to be speaking to us about tongues, the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. So you won't want to miss that. That'll be right. Before our Servant's Heart Banquet, which again Derek mentioned, there will be wildly funny entertainment. We're just speaking it forth as if it is right. Please pray for us Seriously, but first let's remind ourselves of the motivation.

Tyler Lynde: 18:52

Okay, so what is the motivation? The primary motivation of the Holy Spirit is what To bring honor and glory to Jesus. Please don't lose that. Please don't forget that. That is the primary motivation of the Holy Spirit is to draw attention to Jesus. It says here in our passage again, therefore, I make known to you that no one, speaking by the Spirit of God, calls Jesus accursed and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. What is this revelation about? Why is it that the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and helps us to see things in the supernatural realm? Why is it that he gives us the ability to pray for healing and to see miracles come about so that Jesus might be glorified? See miracles come about so that Jesus might be glorified, so that his name might be lifted up. Listen to this phrase. It doesn't matter how powerful it may seem, if Jesus isn't being glorified, it's not a gift of the Holy Spirit.

Tyler Lynde: 20:01

How many of you know that there are false gifts that are used? There are a lot of people who are pursuing the occult and all kinds of practices that are out there and I promise you, a lot of times they see things that appear to be more powerful and more amazing and more revelatory than even we do. They have great faith that they're going to see those things and experience those things. But I'm telling you, the cause of those things, or the root of those things, is evil and it is dark and it doesn't lead to having life and having life more abundantly. It leads to the thief coming to steal, to kill and to destroy. If you are dabbling in any way in any expression of the supernatural that is outside of the word of God and his way of doing things and the working of the Holy Spirit. I plead you, I implore you, I beg you, stop it now. It will only lead to destruction in your life.

Tyler Lynde: 21:12

As we go on with our passage, we see that the entire Trinity is involved in blessing believers with gifts. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. There are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works. All in all, you see all three of them involved in the unity of the work of God among His people. The various gifts, ministries and activities that are manifested in their presence underscore God's desire to bless, serve and to be active in the life of his unique people. You know what God is. God is a giver. He is a giver and he loves to give good gifts to his children.

Tyler Lynde: 21:56

And next, the passage tells us that the gifts of the Spirit are given for the common good. For the common good, it says, but the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all. If we use the gifts for selfish reasons, we completely miss the meaning of them and the purpose of them. I believe that the reason that the last great move of God came to an end is because people began to take credit for what God was doing. I healed so-and-so, I performed a miracle, I cast out demons. My friends, the disciples, came back to Jesus after Jesus sent them out with power and they had the same reports. And what did Jesus do? He was happy that things were happening, but he reminded them don't forget, the most important thing is that your name is written in heaven. There are different needs in the Christian community and different gifts are required at different times.

Tyler Lynde: 23:12

Love should always be the motivator in the use of the gifts. Isn't it interesting that if you read 1 Corinthians, 12, 13, and 14, sandwiched in between these two very important passages on the use of the gifts of the Spirit is a whole chapter on love, a whole chapter on love. What was it that Paul was really bringing correction to? What was it that the Holy Spirit was bringing correction to concerning this church? They were doing amazing things. Power, all of these things were occurring, but they weren't motivated by love for one another.

Tyler Lynde: 23:47

Let us never forget that God is much more concerned with the fruit of the Spirit developed in our lives than he is the use of the gifts. And here's how I can prove that, when we get to heaven, are we going to need the gifts of the Spirit developed in our lives than he is the use of the gifts. And here's how I can prove that, when we get to heaven, are we going to need the gifts of the Spirit? Are we going to need the fruit of the Spirit? So which one is eternal? God cares about both of them and they're both a huge part of who he is and what he does. But let's not mistake one for the other. Right If you had to focus on only one, which we don't have to, but let's work on God developing character within our lives.

Tyler Lynde: 24:23

Love is considered primary among all of these characteristics. In fact, the greatest commandment that God gives is what? What did Jesus say when he was asked what's the greatest commandment? Love God and love people. Love God and love people. If we are using the gifts with any other motivation than love, we're utterly failing. Listen to Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. God is love, and those of us who are his children will also love, as we've been loved and as he loves through us. So let's look at these three gifts.

Tyler Lynde: 25:25

The word of wisdom first of all, for to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit. What is? Let's give a definition to this. The word of wisdom is a revelation of wisdom, usually about the present or future. So it's either today or in the future, beyond natural wisdom, that enables a person to know what to do or say to someone else. How many of you have ever experienced something like this, where you did not know what to do and God spoke to you and gave you specific information on what you should do, moving forward? He either spoke to you directly or he spoke to you through somebody else. Right, that is a word of wisdom. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. So what is wisdom? Wisdom is the proper use of those facts. So, having a word of wisdom, is God telling us what we're supposed to do with facts that he gives us? God telling us what we're supposed to do with facts that he gives us? How do you walk this out? What should you do?

Tyler Lynde: 26:23

The word of wisdom is one of the most subtle supernatural gifts. It's not flashy or dynamic in a lot of ways. In some ways it can be just very simple. But how many of you know? Just because it's simple doesn't mean it's not powerful. We need the wisdom of God, and James tells us that if we lack wisdom, that we can ask him and that he will give it to us liberally. He loves to give us wisdom and sometimes, a lot of times in my life, god has used other people to speak words of wisdom to me. Right, so it doesn't. Word of wisdom doesn't refer to a wise person, but a spontaneous gift. It's something that God is speaking in the moment through you. God gives to. God gives to bring his wisdom to bear on the situation.

Tyler Lynde: 27:06

A word of wisdom was given to the magi. Remember when they came to worship Jesus? And what was the? What were? They told that they should depart and go a different way. Right, it was a word of wisdom that was given to them. How about Joseph? He was given a word of and what were they? Told? That they should depart and go a different way. Right, it was a word of wisdom that was given to them. How about Joseph? He was given a word of wisdom through a dream that he was to take his family to Egypt. All kinds of examples in the scripture.

Tyler Lynde: 27:28

We rely on this heavily as elders when we counsel people Because, man, I can tell them all kinds of information and refer to books, and we do all of that and give them just basic life skills and all that. But, man, if God would speak to us and through us in a moment in time that can do so much more than a thousand words, that sound really good. Does that make sense? Also, when we make decisions as an elder team, we ask God for words of wisdom and, by the way, we're going away tomorrow. The elder team will be gone Monday through Wednesday this week and we're doing nothing but going to seek the Lord and asking him to speak to us concerning this church, concerning each of you, for this next year, for 2025. And so we covet your prayers. We ask that you would join with us in praying and asking God to speak clearly to us, to confirm it and to give us a footpath, a pathway that we can take to walk towards being obedient to what he asks of us. Will you do that with us? Thank you very much. I can have Tricia drop you a text every morning at 6 am as a reminder. No, no, I'm just kidding. I trust you that you're going to do that, so thank you for doing that.

Tyler Lynde: 28:43

Let's look at Acts 13 just quickly as an example of the word of wisdom. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers Barnabas, simeon, lucius Manian a friend of Herod, the Tetrarch and Saul. And while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said Set apart from me, barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off. How many of you realize? This cost this church in Antioch a lot. They sent out two of their very best, but it was a word of wisdom that God gave this group, that this is what they were supposed to do, that they were supposed to send out, separate out Saul and Barnabas and send them out, and that was the beginning of their first missionary journey. So that's the word of wisdom.

Tyler Lynde: 29:33

Next, the word of knowledge. Word of knowledge is a revelation of information, usually about the present or the past. So word of wisdom is present future Word of knowledge is present past. It's for a person, a group or situation that could not have been known by any natural means. This is what happened with my mom in that bookstore. This is what happened with my mom in that bookstore. God gave the lady a word of knowledge about my brother. God gives this type of knowledge for encouragement, for faith, for warning and sometimes even for correction. I was just thinking about Jordan, was talking about me being a teacher to him and I appreciate his thoughts on that, but there have been so many times in my life that God has used my kids to bring correction into my life.

Tyler Lynde: 30:23

I don't, I don't. How can I say it? Right? I got to be honest. I don't love it. I mean, I understand the need for it and I receive it as being from God, but you know it's like seriously, and now, like I said last week, I'm waiting for him to start using my grandchildren next. You know out of the mouth of babes, right? And when they start correcting and speaking the word of the Lord to me, I think I'll just rejoice and I'll just say you're exactly right, baby, and my kids will look at me and say what's happened to you? You didn't raise us like this and I'm like that's right, because you're raising your kids and I get to be the grandfather. It's a different world, right? Amen? Some of you understand that. So these impressions that God gives are easily ignored and risky in application.

Tyler Lynde: 31:15

As an inaccurate word, maybe damaging to the person for whom it's intended. We need to make sure that we're hearing from God when we speak these kinds of things to somebody else, right? This is not something we want to be wrong about Now. If we poise it right, if we say it in the right heart and spirit, we can say something in a humble way and ask questions. You know, do you have a brother? For example, If you feel like the Lord is giving you a word of knowledge about somebody having a brother, that's a prodigal son, you know, prodigal child, do you have a brother? If they say no, you can stop right there. If they say yes, if they say no, you can stop right there. If they say yes, you can say so. What's their relationship with God like? See how you're getting there, without necessarily saying something that I'm saying practice. It's okay to use some training wheels with this right. So practice as you're going along, and what you're going to recognize is that you are hearing from God. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you to speak through you.

Tyler Lynde: 32:18

This word of knowledge doesn't mean that it's just somebody that's smart, that's saying these things or has a high intellect. This is a spontaneous gift given by God in the moment. To speak to somebody, jesus demonstrated supernatural knowledge. How about the woman at the well? Remember what he said to her? Go get your husband. She said Lord, I don't have a husband. I don't think she said Lord yet, but she said I don't have a husband. What did Jesus say? You're right, but you've had five of them and the man you're living with now isn't your husband. Boom, who wants to give that word of knowledge right? Who wants to give that word of knowledge right? You better be sure. You're right on that one, absolutely. But Jesus did. He spoke those words and he didn't speak them to condemn her, how many of you know. It was part of the process of bringing her to a place of freedom. Come on to a place of freedom. Jesus didn't say that to leave her there to rub her nose in it. Jesus said it to give her a pathway out of that to freedom. Moving on.

Tyler Lynde: 33:22

Third one is prophecy. Prophecy is speaking a message from God in a known language for a particular person or people in a specific moment in time. Pretty generic Prophecy is a message from God for somebody or some people at a particular point in time In the New Testament era. We should be thankful, actually, that we live in the New Testament era, because if you were a prophet in the Old Testament and you said something and it didn't come to pass, guess what? You were no longer a prophet because you were no longer on this earth. You were killed, you were stoned, whatever it was, they took care of lying prophets right In the New Testament.

Tyler Lynde: 34:05

Thankfully, we don't have the same level of import as the Old Testament prophets did. And why is that? Can you think of one reason why that things would be different in the New Testament instead of the Old? Why I hear Jesus, which is always a good Sunday school answer? It's because of the Bible. We have the written Word of God right, and so no longer do we have to rely on just one individual in the Old Testament being anointed by God at one time to be able to speak for the entire nation. Now we have the written word of God that gives us the character and the nature and the wisdom and the direction of God and all of those things, and so the New Testament prophet.

Tyler Lynde: 34:49

We should still strive and desire to be accurate in the words that we give, but it's not on the same level as it was in the Old Testament. So why is prophecy important at all If we have the Bible? Why do we need prophecy? Because God desires to speak to people right now, in their current situation, and let them know that he's there, that he's there Messages that are specific to those who are hearing it at a particular point in time. These words never trump scripture and must be in line with God's word, but they are very, very important. 1 Corinthians 14, must be in line with God's word, but they are very, very important. 1 Corinthians 14,.

Tyler Lynde: 35:32

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy, For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him. However, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. So we are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. It says here especially that we should prophesy. And what does it say? What are true prophetic words supposed to do? Scare you, shame you, curse you? They're supposed to edify us, to encourage us and to comfort us.

Tyler Lynde: 36:07

When people are suddenly confronted with the inescapable reality that God truly knows their hearts and has heard their prayers and is intimately acquainted with all their ways, they are encouraged to press on and to persevere. Have you ever experienced that? What an amazing gift to be given. Do you need to be built up? Do you need to be encouraged? Do you need to be comforted? Prophecy is one of the ways that God does that. Now, none of these gifts are to be used to dazzle people. It's not show and tell, it's not check me out right. All of this needs to be done with the spirit of humility. It is not to draw attention to ourselves, it is to point attention to God and to Jesus. It is the word of God for his people, to confirm his presence and power in our lives and to show his providential care. Prophecy can include warnings. We see that in the New Testament A word of exhortation, invitation to some ministry, opportunity, guidance for decision-making, and on and on.

Tyler Lynde: 37:14

Let me just finish with a few examples. So let's look at edification. What does it mean to edify something? It means to build it up, to shore it up right. So when I first came to Trinity, clem Ferris came and he prophesied over me that God was going to make me like a wagon train master. And if any of you have watched a Western at any point in time where there's a wagon train involved, you know that there's a guy that's in charge of the wagon train. It doesn't mean that he's the only one that does anything or that even people would necessarily know for sure who it is that's leading the wagon train at any point in time. But he said that God's going to make you like that and he's going to put a lot of wagons behind you and they're going to hitch their wagons to yours and you're going to be leading them moving forward. And at that point in time I was not doing really much of anything. I wasn't preaching, I wasn't. You know, here at Trinity I was serving, I was behind the scenes, working. So I had no idea what does this even mean, god? But it was in preparation for what God was calling me to do, even now, as I stand before you today. And God knew all that time ago and he spoke it to me so that I could be encouraged and edified and built up, even though I felt like maybe he was overlooking me.

Tyler Lynde: 38:35

There was another time in our church in North Carolina where, between one Sunday and the next, about 20 people left the church. I don't mean that they left to go on vacation, I mean they left. Now, when you have a church of about 50 people and 20 people leave, you feel it. And so my wife and I were on vacation the next week at the beach, and I had my head down, I was feeling very depressed and I was literally asking the Lord. Lord, if you want me to step aside. If this isn't what you called me to do, I'm willing to do, I'm willing to stop, I'm willing to walk away. I mean, that seemed like the easy way at that point in time, right, because I was hurting.

Tyler Lynde: 39:23

Amy and I were walking into Walmart and I don't know if you know this hack. Maybe I shouldn't tell you, because then you're going to be doing it too. But if you park back by where they do the car service, you can walk right into Walmart. You don't have to like park and walk a mile to get to the front doors. So we parked like that and we went in the back way because I really didn't want to. I just wanted to go where I was going to go, get what I was going to get and leave, didn't want to.

Tyler Lynde: 39:50

And as we were walking in my head down and my hat on, this young girl who was a door greeter stopped me and she looked at me. I looked at her and she goes you're a pastor, pastor. And I said no, I'm not. I just quit in my head, like I have quit three times on the way down here I quit this morning. I told God that I was quitting. I haven't told my wife yet because I don't have a plan B, but I already quit.

Tyler Lynde: 40:21

But God knew that it wasn't my time to quit and so he spoke to this young lady who had no, I wasn't wearing a Christian t-shirt. I wasn't wearing a name badge that said Pastor Tyler. I wasn't. There was no indication. If anything, I felt the furthest away from being a pastor of any time since I had become one, and yet God spoke to me, edify me. There was another time that was an encouragement, that was an example of encouragement. The last time is a few years ago.

Tyler Lynde: 40:53

I wasn't feeling God. Do you know what I mean by that? I was having like a wilderness experience where I wasn't experiencing God on a regular basis in my private life and so I was feeling distant from God. I was feeling like there was something wrong with me and within a few days period of time, three people independently came up to me and said to me God is well pleased with you. Satan was beginning to convince me and I was thinking along the lines that something was very, very wrong with me. But what a great thing to be comforted by these words.

Tyler Lynde: 41:36

In 1 Timothy 1, it says this charge I entrust to you, timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare holding faith and a good conscience. Paul told his son in the faith, timothy, that prophecy was very important to be used in fighting the fight when we stand against the wiles of the enemy. So let's just finish quickly by talking about how does prophecy work at TCC. God wants to speak to us within the walls of this building, but he also wants to speak to us outside. I want us to think that way and begin to prepare and begin to ask the Lord to speak to us and through us.

Tyler Lynde: 42:20

One of the best places for you to exercise the gifts of the Spirit is in triads and within community groups. What a great thing when a group of people are together, seeking the Lord, praying together, asking for Him to speak, and God gives you something specific to say to somebody or to that group that you're with at that point in time. There's such an intimate feeling when that happens. Also, we want to use the gifts of the Spirit. We want them to operate in corporate celebrations in times like this. So here's a few guidelines that we use.

Tyler Lynde: 42:53

I want to say these things just to explain them to you, because there might be some confusion about the process that we use, and so I just want to make sure that everybody's aware of this and Kelly, in a couple of weeks, is going to go into much more depth about what it means to do things decently and in order according to Scripture. But just since we're talking about prophecy, I wanted to give you just a couple of things. So one thing is that we, as elders, are designated each Sunday to be people that you can come to. If you feel like the Lord is speaking to you for somebody else, okay, and we want to hear that, we want you to come to us. Now, if one of the elders is wearing one of these, please don't go to them on that Sunday. Why? Because they need to be focused in on what God is going to speak to them through them when they preach. Does that make sense? So speak to an individual that's not wearing one of these one of the elders and say, hey, I feel like that possibly the Lord's giving me this and this is the you know kind of the Reader's Digest version. You don't know what that is. This is the what's. Another example this is the text version. Well, some people text the Instagram version. I don't know. This is the you know condensed version, abbreviated version. Well, some people text the Instagram version. I don't know. This is the condensed version, abbreviated version. Thank you, yeah, the short version.

Tyler Lynde: 44:15

Why do we do that? Why do we do that? Why should we do that? Because it's important for us as leaders within the church. God's given us the responsibility of shepherding this church. We take that very seriously, so we are called to watch over, to protect and to make sure that the things that are spoken over this body and over each of you are in line with what God is saying to us. If that makes sense. It doesn't have to be word for word, but we should be sensing or feeling like God is in what is wanting to be said. Okay, so we ask you to give us the ability to lead in that way. It's not an attempt to control or to shut down or to shut down 90% of the time we bring forth whatever it is that people feel like God is speaking to them. There's only a few times where we won't do that, but it's not because we're rejecting an individual or because we think that you can't hear from God. There are reasons behind that. Okay, so your job is to refuse to be offended. Spiritual maturity.

Tyler Lynde: 45:31

Remember what was Paul writing to the Corinthian church about? They wanted to exercise their gifts without having any kind of oversight or anybody watching in on that. Paul is saying wait a minute, guys, you need some help. So please don't be offended. And the other thing is I'm going to give you you can take this home with you. We might be wrong, the leaders of this church might be wrong. So we ask you to give us leniency even in that and if we are wrong, we believe that God will show us, he'll reveal it to us and we'll be quick to repent. Okay, but again, we will be judged.

Tyler Lynde: 46:14

When I stand before God, I'm going to stand before God as an individual. I'm going to stand before God as a husband. I'm going to stand before God as a father and I'm going to stand before God as one of your pastors here at Trinity Community Church, and I take that very seriously and all of us do. So. Don't take it personally. Refuse to be offended and leave room for us to possibly make a mistake. The elders will help to discern if the revelation is for you personally, will help to discern if the revelation is for you personally.

Tyler Lynde: 46:49

Sometimes, when you hear something from God and it jumps on the inside of you, it's because he's speaking to you and that's where he intends for it to stop at that point in time. So we want to rejoice with you that God is speaking to you, but it may not be something that he's speaking to the entire congregation in this moment in time. It's also possible that he might be speaking something that needs to be shared on a subsequent week Like we know, for example, the sermon schedule's ahead of time, although we adapt and adjust as we need to. But it may be that next week we're preaching a sermon that is in direct alignment with the word that you feel like that you're hearing from God, and so we would ask you to wait until next Sunday so that we can and we want to give the word next Sunday because it aligns more closely to what God is speaking for that week. Does that make sense? So, again, we ask that you trust us not to be perfect, but that you trust us as leaders in this church to try to do what's in the best interest of the church as a whole.

Tyler Lynde: 47:51

Also, there are times that God will speak to you and he just wants you to pray about it. He wants it to be a matter of prayer and intercession and not something that you immediately bring up to the entire congregation. Okay, so it may be something that he's speaking to you as an individual, it may be something that he's speaking to you about the church, but it's so that you'll pray about that and not necessarily speak it out at this time, or it could be that he is speaking something to you that needs to be spoken out on that day. And also, the last thing is that we will decide as elders who should speak it publicly the individual who received it or the designated team member for that day. And again, that's not. We want to say yes. Trust me, we love to say yes.

Tyler Lynde: 48:43

So if we say no, there's a real reason why we're saying that, and it's not because of you. It's not like because we're harshly judging you or we don't trust you or we don't believe in you, anything like that. It's because we are trying to stand before God and to be in tune with what he's speaking to the entire body at any given moment in time. And so, again, that's kind of some general guidelines and the reason why we do things the way that we do. You can disagree with that, and that's fine. That's fine. We're not looking for, we're not doing it just because it's a popular thing. We do it because we take very seriously what Scripture teaches. It's a popular thing. We do it because we take very seriously what scripture teaches.

Tyler Lynde: 49:34

And again, paul spent this entire book talking to the church in Corinth about how to handle things in a way that would bring glory and honor to Jesus and that would be a blessing and would benefit the people that God was wanting to speak to. That make sense? All right, I wish I could ask. Are there any questions? But if you have any questions, you can send them to Derek at tccnoxcom. Would you stand to your feet with me and Derek's spelled D-E-R-R-I-C-K, just in case, don't misspell his name, all right, oh man, thank you Lord. Thank you Father. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord. Would you just open your heart up now to receive.

Tyler Lynde: 50:22

I'm going to ask that the Lord would increase our ability to hear from him, especially in the way that he wants to speak through us to other people. Thank you, father. Father, in Jesus' name, we stand before you today as one body and, lord, we desire to be obedient to your word, and your word says that you give good gifts to your children and you give these gifts so that others would be blessed and minister to, and exhorted and comforted and built up. So, father, we pray in Jesus' name that you would increase our ability to hear you for ourselves, but also today, lord, for other people. Would you speak to us when we're in the grocery store, or when we're at work, or at school, or in our homes, wherever we are. Lord, would you speak to us, things that we can share with other people, and also Lord within the church. We ask that you would increase, increase the gifts of the Spirit within this church. Lord, god, in Jesus' name, we want every part of who you are in operation in this church, and we want nothing to hinder it or to keep you away from performing your work in the way that you desire to do it, and so we ask that you would pour out your spirit in new ways, even this day. In Jesus' name, we give you glory for it. Thank you Father. Let's just listen for just a minute, see if the Lord would speak anything to us. Thank you Lord. Thank you Father. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you Father. Thank you Lord.

Tyler Lynde: 53:11

One of the things that you can do as you begin to exercise these gifts, as you're practicing, grab somebody with you that's mature in the Lord and say, hey, would you be a part of this? Would you listen to what I have to say to this person and help me to judge it, help me to figure out if this is what God is actually speaking. That's such humility to do something like that, but there's such God loves that. What a tremendous thing to do. The other thing I would encourage you to do when you give a word, don't attach phrasing to it that doesn't need to be there. So, for example, thus says the Lord Some of us have grown up in that kind of training and that's what we experienced.

Tyler Lynde: 53:57

But I'm here to tell you we got to be careful with that stuff, because if we're wrong, we're attaching the name of the Lord to it in an authoritative way. Wrong, we're attaching the name of the Lord to it in an authoritative way. So I would prefer to say something like I feel like the Lord is saying to me, because that adds a layer of. I believe this is God, but I need you to judge it. I need you to research the scriptures. I need you to talk, to, counsel with people who are spiritually mature and make sure that what I'm saying is accurate, right?

Tyler Lynde: 54:29

The other thing is I've heard well-meaning people and I've done this myself. I'm embarrassed to say I've done this myself giving a message to a group of people love you, yelling at people in the name of God. Right, let's give the message in the tone, the tone that goes along with the message. Does that make sense? We don't need to yell, we don't need to scream, we don't need to say something within an authoritative tone in order to appear a certain way. If it is God speaking through you, you can whisper and it will have the impact that he intends for it to have.

Tyler Lynde: 55:16

Right, does that make sense? I'm sorry if I scared you. I didn't mean to do that, but I just felt like I wanted to just encourage us a little bit further with that. Let's make sure that we give messages in the tone that God intends for them to be given, and let's be careful with the. Thus says the Lord. So let's be careful with that right. All right, I'm going to pray a blessing on you. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. No-transcript.