CULTIVATE SPIRITUAL GIFTS, Part 2 with Don Carpenter

Prophecy, discernment, healing, words of knowledge, bold faith, these aren’t meant to be locked away for “special” Christians. We open Acts 21 and watch the gifts of the Spirit operate in a normal home gathering: Philip the evangelist hosts, his four daughters prophesy, and Agabus delivers a clear warning to Paul using a simple object lesson. That Bible story isn’t just history to us. It’s a blueprint for how the Holy Spirit still speaks, strengthens, and prepares the church today.

We also get practical about the frustration many believers feel: “I’m not a preacher, so where do I use my gifts?” We talk through everyday ministry moments where the Holy Spirit can move through you, in conversations, prayer, counseling, and even when someone mentions an illness and faith rises to believe God for healing. Along the way, we draw a hard line between boldness and timidity, because faith is the connector to the spiritual realm, and hesitation can quietly become neglect.

Then we tackle a big question: what happens when a church doesn’t welcome prophecy? We argue from Scripture that prophecy must not be forbidden, and we explain how love, connection, and healthy leadership keep the gifts building up the body instead of turning church into a one-person show. We also look at Paul’s response to Agabus to show how prophecy can warn and confirm without controlling a calling, and why laying on of hands and spiritual impartation matter for recognizing and releasing gifts.

Subscribe for more Bible-based teaching on spiritual gifts and the baptism of the Holy Spirit, share this with a friend who’s hungry to grow, and leave a review so more people can find it. What’s one gift you’re asking God to cultivate in you right now?

Transcript

Why Listener Support Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:08

This ministry is made possible through the prayers and generous support of listeners like you. Your giving helps us continue sharing the gospel, encouraging believers, and reaching more people with the hope of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to partner with us and support this ministry, or learn more about our work, please go to doncarpenter.ca.

Acts 21 Shows Gifts At Work

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Cultivating the gifts part two. Acts 21 8. On the next day, we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea and entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven and stayed with him. This man had four virgin daughters who prophesied, and as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabas came down from Judea. When he had come to us he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Spirit. So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns his belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. Amen.

The Holy Spirit Activates Spiritual Life

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We see the gifts in operation. I want to talk about the importance of it and what will make the difference between us being effective in the kingdom and maybe just simply constantly struggling. When the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, that Holy Spirit is what activates us as living beings. The Bible refers to us as living beings. You're going to say everybody's a living being, not spiritually. I'm talking spiritually. Living beings are those who are born again, and they know what it is to have their sins forgiven and to be wiped clean. It's the Holy Spirit that activates us. We believe and teach that you see the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that it is an experience to be sought after, and a second experience, if you will. And we believe that's what God uses to motivate us.

Everyday Opportunities To Use Gifts

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Opportunities to move in the gifts of the Spirit. Sometimes people may think, what kind of an opportunity? I'm not a preacher. I don't have those ministry gifts, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. We might say, I hardly ever get to influence people. Like, how could I use my gifts? Or even worse yet, I attend a church that doesn't recognize the gifts, and there's no way made. God has not caused the door to be closed on you like that. You can use the gifts, for example, the gift that you have, they are. We're talking about the nine gifts in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We're talking about those gifts when witnessing to people. The gift of discernment, faith, word of knowledge, word of wisdom. There are several gifts that come into play there. Or witnessing, and they may talk to you about some illness that they have, and you'd be able to operate in one of the gifts of healings that God has given you. Or counseling, or praying. When you are praying for people, or you're just praying in a meeting, and God will show you things to pray for. When I look at these, there's something that we must always remember.

Faith Requires Boldness Not Timidity

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One of the gifts is faith. And faith is what connects you and I to the realm of the spiritual, the dimension in God. Faith is what God uses. And you have to be very bold. You cannot allow yourself to be timid. You cannot hold back because what timidity does, when we're going to say, I don't have that kind of confidence, or I don't feel like that they will accept, that's not up for you to decide or make that judgment. Your position always is to move and how you feel that God would have you move. Faith causes us to move, and I will be bold. You will find that many times being bold is very effective.

Why Prophecy Must Not Be Forbidden

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When you are moving in the gifts, do I accept prophecy? Does my church recognize it? What is my minister going to think? Can I tell you something about prophecy that you must always remember? Prophecy is never to be forbidden in God's kingdom. Prophecy is never to be forbidden by any Christian group. Prophecy must always be accepted. And if anybody has trouble with that, you need to search the Bible, you need to pray about it, you need to read some scriptures on that, and I believe it will become very clear right away that it's necessary.

How The Early Church Stayed Grounded

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I'm reading you a passage today out of Acts chapter 21. And I read to you here that they went to the house of Philo. I'm going to give you just a little glimpse of what it was in the early church. Any place where the gospel was preached, there would be some converts and some family, maybe were spiritual leaders in the area. They said, I will open up my house and you will come and worship with me. They may have a dozen people in that meeting. They may have 50 or 60. We don't have any indication of what the number was, but we do know there were many house churches that we would refer to them as today. They had issues. Each group taught their own doctrines. They all had elders, they all had leaders, and they all decided on how to run their meeting. Some would say we're going to have food every time we gather, and then three of those would say we're going to have just a little bit, others would say we would have full meals. And they would teach various doctrines. And you can appreciate the problems that it would cause. Thus, people like Peter, John, Paul the Apostle come into play, were commissioned by the Lord, and they were sent to all these regions to bring truth and to bring them together. And they would teach the word of the Lord, and they became established. And the apostles said, This is the way, and this is what we're going to believe, and this is how we're going to do it. That was a huge job. Sounds quite familiar, doesn't it?

Neglect Not The Gift In You

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We read in the Word of God, 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee. And people can neglect. Maybe they tried to use their gift and they were rejected. I know of cases like this. And they said, if that's the case, I'm not going to use my gift anymore. Don't be like that. That is pride entering into the picture. And not only that, you can rest assured the enemy is behind that, trying to discourage you, and your flesh may say, I want to just be able to try to please everybody. No matter what your age is, as an adult, you already know that it's impossible to please everybody. Can't be done. This brings me to the point: what believer in the body of Christ, who should they try to please? And I think most of us, if not all of us, would know immediately who we try to please. And it is God. That's who we please. He says to us with our gift, I want you to move, I want you to do this. And God has empowered you to release that gift. Another thing about gifts that you need to understand, it's exactly what it says it is. It's a gift. It's not because of your physical features, it's not because whether you're male or female, it's a God life gift. And it will benefit members of the body of Christ.

Church Works When We Minister

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That's why when we feel that, why should I go to church? Or what would be the purpose of that? First of all, why you should be in church, why you should gather with the believers. Ephesians 5 25 is a very good incentive. It tells us right there that Jesus loves the church and he gave himself for it. And the church is made up of people, believers. Only believers can make a church. Only active believers can make a church alive, the body alive. Church is not a building that we recognize that's on some road or some street. And Jesus loves the church and we minister to one another. That's what takes place in church. It's not one person doing all the ministry in the gathering. That is a mistake. That will cause deadness very quickly. That will cause religion to take over, and that will cause the Spirit of God to live and depart. And quickly it becomes a carnal, politically run organization. When believers gather together and when we have this gift, it's not one person having all the gifts. It's not one person being so selfish and saying, I'm going to keep this gift so that I will remain the most powerful and the most important. Even in my position, if you do not recognize my position, you will not receive from me. It's the same when you move in your gifts. Because you've cut it off. It's a spirit connection. In 1 Corinthians 13, it talks about us loving one another. It talks about us accepting one another. Because what that does, it connects us. And the reason is for the connection is because God wants us to grow. And he wants us to bring forth his expression in the earth. It's quite simple, isn't it? The gift is yours, it's given to you. And God did that on his own accord. And the reason that God gave you the gift, one of the reasons, he wants you to have advantage in the kingdom.

What Prophecy Can Sound Like

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Prophecy is critical. This is when the Lord will speak to the group. I've often heard it when people would start to prophesy, the Lord would say unto you, and technically that is true, but we read here where this prophet Agabas said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, however you may want to move, but you would bring a word directly from God to the gathering. It could be like the Lord would say unto you, thus the Holy Spirit would say unto you today, be not entangled with the affairs of this life, for that shall prevent you from entering into what I have for you. I have set you free, saith the Lord, and I've called you by my name, and I've empowered you, and I would say unto you this morning, take no thought, but move forward by faith, and I shall be with you. For I would have you know my word to you is that I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. That was a prophecy that I just gave here to the body, and to those of you who are joining me in either one of our podcasts or one of our live streams today. That's powerful. We need to know things like this.

Agabus Warns Paul Without Controlling

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Acts 21, verse 9. Philip the evangelist had four daughters who prophesied. This was a powerful meeting place, wasn't it? Philip was there, he was an evangelist. It looked like many great preachers came to this particular meeting. Power of God was present. But here are four daughters who prophesy whom the Holy Spirit recognizes. And their dad is a leading evangelist. Philip is the same guy that was having mighty meetings later on, and God said to go down and met the eunuch from Ethiopia, prophesied to him, baptized him in water, and Philip was then caught away, translated. This was a powerful household, and he had four daughters that knew how to prophesy. And then a prophet shows up there in the same meeting because God is ministering to Paul the Apostle. This preacher by the name of Agabas shows up. He takes a belt from Paul, and Agabas ties his hands and his feet with this, and he prophesies and he said, Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. In Acts 20, 23, because what happens is right here, Paul decides, not that he rejected the prophecy, he knew what the prophecy was about. He knew what the prophet was saying. You go to Jerusalem and you're going to be bound. Therefore, everybody in the church automatically says the Holy Spirit doesn't want you to go to Jerusalem. Don't go, because you're going to be hindered and bound and probably your life taken. Here's what Paul said in Acts 20, 23. He said, listen, he said, I've been traveling and preaching a lot. And he says, the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. He says, I already know the word of the Lord. Prophecy is a gift. It's one of the gifts of the Spirit. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, it releases God's purpose for an individual in a local fellowship of believers. Somebody in the congregation can have a gift of prophecy. It's not the same as being a prophet. We must not distant ourselves from the prophetic and the priestly ministry. We cannot back off from that. That's how God builds his church. You're wondering how God builds his church. And who is the church? You. You're the church. That's who God builds. And he does it through prophetic, the gifts of the Spirit. And the priests would be the ministers. Here we are, and Paul is in this and he says, Don't break my heart. I've been getting this word everywhere that I'm going to be bound in chains and tribulations await me. And now I'm getting a more accurate word. Agabus, the prophet, he takes Paul's, probably his belt that girds around his clothing. Agabus ties his hands and his feet, and he says, The man that owns this is what's going to happen. Paul knows that. And it's like the last confirmation before he gets to Jerusalem. And that's exactly what happens. Riots, rejected, almost killed.

Impartation Through Laying On Of Hands

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Laying on of hands, it says here in 1 Timothy 4, 14. That's my very root verse for this teaching. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the presbytery. And the presbytery are the elders, the leaders, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. When they lay hands on you, they know what they're doing, and they are the safeguard for the body. That's what they do. The five ministry gifts are the safeguard for the body. And when they lay hands on you, there is no doubt to the church that you have the gift. Everybody knows that. Laying on of hands is a method of impartation from the spirit realm that God uses to release into the human body or the flesh the natural. It is the connector that takes place between the invisible and the visible. Acts 8, 17. They laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost. Amen. I trust today that you will be encouraged. I'm going to give you three things alone will alert you to. Are you born again? Number two, be baptized in water. Acts 238 is repent, be baptized, you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It's there, and when that is there, you will receive the gifts. Is it possible to move in the gifts and not be filled with the Holy Spirit? The answer is it is impossible to move in the gifts if you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Closing Encouragement And Giving

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Thank you for joining me.

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This ministry is made possible through the prayers and generous support of listeners like you. Your giving helps us continue sharing the gospel, encouraging believers, and reaching more people with the hope of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to partner with us and support this ministry, or learn more about our work, please go to doncarpenter.ca.