1 Corinthians 14:1 | The God Who Speaks

 1) Pray

Church of the Week

Eastside Baptist Church and Pastor John Aranda

Missionary of the Week

Shalom Christian Center on Mfangano Island

2) Accountability: Invite your group to share a moment where they needed to wait on the Lord this last week. What were the challenges of waiting?

3) Opening Discussion Question: What has been your experience with spiritual gifts, specifically prophecy? 

4) Read: 1 Corinthians 14:1 encourage your group to open their Bibles and follow along someone reads the passage out loud.

5) Discussion:

What stuck out to you from the message this week?

Use the discussion questions to spur on conversation:

• What questions do you have as you read 1 Corinthians 14:1 to “earnestly desire spiritual gifts” and his prioritization of prophecy? 

• How would you define prophecy? Remember, Sam Storms defined it as “the human report of a divine revelation.”  

• What faith tradition are you most familiar with: Cessationism, Continuationism, Word-Faith, or Functional Cessationism? 

• Thinking back through the Bible's survey of prophecy, what stood out to you? 

• Genesis 20:7 

• Exodus 7:1 

• Exodus 15:20 

• Numbers 11:29 

• Numbers 12:6-8 

• Deuteronomy 13:1-4 

• Deuteronomy 18:15-22 

• 1 Samuel 10:1-16 

• 1 Samuel 19:20-24 

• How can you ensure that you don’t despise the gift of prophecy, and what can you do to “earnestly desire spiritual gifts,” especially that you might prophesy? 

Share the "Ways to Weigh Prophecy" from the sermon and share how they can help test prophecy:

• Is it spoken with love for Jesus and the Church? (1 Corinthians 14:1) 

• Does it glorify God? (1 Corinthians 14:25) 

• Does the person speaking submit to the judgement and consensus of others? (1 Corinthians 14:29) 

• Does the person speaking have self-control? (1 Corinthians 14:32) 

• Does it harmonize with Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:37) 

• Is the life of the person consistent with the fruit of the Spirit? (1 Corinthians 12:3 / see also Matthew 7:15-20) 

• If they are making predictions, do they come true? (unless they are conditional, i.e. Jonah) 

6) Apply: Spend time praying together as a group and on your own for God to stir up the gifts. Be open and share if you sense that God is revealing something. Ask God to lead you into living with an earnest desire for spiritual gifts, especially that you would prophesy. 

Cross References:

Genesis 20

Exodus 7

Exodus 15

Numbers 11–12

Deuteronomy 13:1–4

Deuteronomy 18

1 Samuel 10

1 Samuel 19

1 Samuel 19:20–24

1 Thessalonians 5:16–21

1 Corinthians 14:1

1 Corinthians 14:25

1 Corinthians 14:29

1 Corinthians 14:32

1 Corinthians 14:37

1 Corinthians 12:3

Matthew 7:15–20