Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: And now I will show you. Listen to me the most excellent way.
You have to hear me. I will show you the most excellent way. So he stops talking about spiritual gifts and the power of the spirit and he says, there's something else that's higher that you need to hear.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Welcome to the web and Elam Fellowship Leadership Podcast. My name is Leah and I'm the social media and marketing coordinator here at Elam Fellowship. Each episode will draw from the heart of our leadership community and dive into messages that refresh, challenge and equip you in your walk with Christ. In this special series, we're bringing teachings from our prophetic ministry conference held this past August. These sessions are full of wisdom, encouragement and practical insight to help strengthen you as a leader in and as a prophetic voice in your environment.
Today's message is part one of a two part session featuring our speaker, Peter Mayer. So let's jump in together and hear what God is speaking to us.
[00:01:08] Speaker C: Welcome and I have the privilege of introducing our first speaker, Peter Mayer, whose wife Susan is not with him today, but we are grateful for her.
And so I don't see. Oh, there he is. Okay, so. Peter Mayer has served as lead or associate pastor in four congregations over 45 years.
The Lord has called him to preach, teach and prophesy God's word. He has traveled to Africa, ministering to leaders over 20 times.
Currently retired from full time ministry, he serves Grace Shrewsbury Church in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania as associate pastor. And I've known our brother Peter for many years and like I said, his wife Susan. And so I am grateful that he is here and I just want to give us, help me give him a warm welcome.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Thank you, Cheryl.
How many of you enjoyed so far what the Lord did with us last night.
And I think it would be appropriate as we start today just to take a moment and thank the Lord. I want to thank the Lord for Phil and Cheryl's leadership and for the team that of course Phil has already thanked them. But the reality is that the leadership is outstanding.
And that's part of what you felt when God.
Have you ever noticed that it's not so much that we carry authority as a result of what God gave us.
It's much more that when we do what God has told us to do, God endorses us with other people.
And I have known Phil and Cheryl for quite a while. I've enjoyed ministering with Phil. Every time I minister with him, when I think about him, I hear his laugh.
Praise the Lord.
And you know, but what I really like about him is the. The reality of the manner in which he consistently encourages faith. So let's just take a minute. Would you just put your hands up in the air, close your eyes, and just begin to thank the Lord for what you've already heard.
Let him engrave it on your heart. Whatever you heard, let him put it into your heart deeply. Don't lose it. Don't let it go.
But if he's going to build upon it today, and he wants to build upon it today, then you got to get it in.
What did God say to me yesterday? What did he teach me? What did I hear? What did I feel?
Thanks be to God and Father, we ask that you would open up the living word of God to us as we look at your Word today. We trust you for it. We trust you for your faithful, unchanging nature.
And in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Good to see you all.
Good to see you all come back.
Praise the Lord. So I am going to start in Corinthians, but I want to repeat a few things that Phil said last night that are very important to me. Okay?
So the scriptures tell us that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is given for the what common good?
Okay? It's for edification, exhortation, and comfort. All right? And the reality is that. And I may cover some of those words later, but the reality of prophecy in the house is that God wants to use through the power of the Holy Spirit prophecy to not just strengthen you as an individual, to not just exhort you about the next step that God has for you as an individual, to not just comfort you about the trials and difficulties of life. That's what those things are all about. Okay? If you will study out the language, you will find that the strengthening, okay, The. The strengthening that is to come to you is for today, the comforting and consolation that comes to you.
That's the tough things that happened yesterday or in the past that God doesn't want you to limp around with. You know, Jacob walked for his all of his life with a limp, but I think when he walked with that limp, he was not handicapped. He walked with a limp because he knew God had touched him, and he knew God had touched him in a place that was previously incredibly weak and not presentable to God. God. And God had to deal with it.
Was it painful? Sure, it was painful, absolutely. But he walked with a limp, and he was a new man with a limp that he would never have been without that encounter with God.
So comfort speaks to the hard lessons that you and I have gone through in the past.
I want to tell you, if you've ever been a servant of the Lord, forgive me, you've been betrayed.
Okay, so what's the solution? What's the solution, guys? Don't tell anybody anything.
Can I say to you, that is not a solution. That will never be a solution. If Jesus could not protect himself from betrayal, I mean, do we. Do we really listen to his words, Did I not choose you? And yet one of you is a devil and you think you're going to have a different experience.
You and I think that if we do the right things. Oh, my gosh. Did God ever deal with me one time about this?
I remember going to the Lord and saying, lord, I did exactly what you wanted and this thing is a disaster.
And the Lord said to me, could you please show me where I promised you that if you did the right thing and obeyed me and followed my spirit, that what you wanted to happen and perceived happening was what happened?
When did you pick up that little tidbit of not wisdom?
Not wisdom.
We are not in control of the outcome.
But there is one thing we are in control of.
The development of our character.
The development of our character. So anyways, back to build up, exhort and comfort or consolation.
One is about the past, One is about the present. One is about the future.
Doesn't that sound to you like the word of God? Doesn't that sound to you like the eternal word of God, that when God speaks, it transcends our time frame? And that's a little bit what I want to talk to you about today is a time frame that I see in chapter 13.
So here is Paul writing to the Corinthian Church, with which it appears to be, like us, a bit of a mess.
Okay. And he starts out saying, I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. I think that means that they probably were ignorant about spiritual gifts. What do you think? Okay. And. And he rolls into the whole the. The many verses in chapter 12, and he gets to the end of chapter 12 and he says, I'm going to put a big parenthesis in my teaching.
That's exactly what it is. Chapter 13.
Okay? If you're not careful, it looks like a big parenthesis. He interrupted his train of thought and his teaching.
I should probably say the Holy Spirit interrupted it. And chapter 12 ends with, Are you ready?
Chapter 12 ends with, but eagerly desire the spiritual gifts. And then even most of the Bibles take the next half of the verse. They're still in chapter 12. But in my Bible, it's attached to chapter 13.
And now I will show you. Listen to me the most excellent way.
You have to hear me. I will show you the most excellent way. So he stops talking about spiritual gifts and the power of the spirit, and he says, there's something else that's higher that you need to hear.
And by the way, when he finishes talking, he goes back in chapter 14. Here's the other side of the parenthesis. First side of the parenthesis is.
Let me show you a more excellent way. When he's done talking in chapter 13, 14 starts out, follow the way of love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. So when I started to think about these things, I said, okay, Lord, what I want to do is somehow from the word, share with your people, what is the sweet spot?
Prophecy.
Now why do I say that? I say that because we need to know how prophecy is designed by God to work and what it's designed to do if we're going to have the liberty and the freedom and the confidence to do it. Because it takes faith to prophesy. Amen. Okay? And believe me, no matter how much, how many times I have the opportunity to prophesy or to teach or to preach, I will tell you that every time there is a war that takes place in me that has 100% to do with, okay, is this my idea, God, or are you saying this to me?
Okay, you might, you might have figured out by now I'm. I'm a pretty bald faced truth teller as much as I know how to be. Okay? I don't want to fool people into believing something that's not true.
All right? And I will tell you, every time I'm in the pulpit, every time I have a chance to lay hands on people, I try to start out by saying, God, thank you for the privilege.
Do you understand? It's a privilege for me to break the word and to believe that God has given me something for you.
That's a privilege.
That is the absolute delight of, of my heart and my soul. And, and you'd think, well, maybe after 45 years this guy would get used to it, he'd get it figured out. No, no, it's a living thing with Jesus.
Okay, so chapter 13 in Corinthians, I'm going to read it slowly.
If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I'm only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. I am making noise.
In other words, what we talked about last night as the sweet spot of the intent of God, when prophecy is spoken, it's not there without love. It's not there.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing.
I want to say again what I said earlier. Gifts and even calling to a certain degree, do not in and of themselves give us power.
Power comes from being united with God, doing the things that he has equipped us to do, and then he takes care of the endorsement to people.
Sometimes I watch leaders who are trying to convince people that they're right. Can I just say to you it's a mistake.
It's a mistake. Don't go there. You're headed for an argument.
It's not worth it. It's not worth it to go there if God.
How many of you are married?
Okay, listen. Can I tell you something?
If God does not endorse who I am to my wife, I have no choice. I have. I have no place to go. There's no place to go. Is it true? Is it true? Come on. And. And if. And if I do not endorse the faithfulness and the love of my wife, where is she going to do? What's she going to do to convince me of it?
Relationships have their center point in God, and if they don't, you really don't know what you're going to get.
So if I give all I possess to the poor, surrender my body to the flame, but have not love, I gain nothing. All that effort, all that reality, you know? Chapter 13.
Pastor Peter. Why? Why are you reading chapter 13 to us?
Because without this, you will not find the release, and you will not find the sweet spot of prophecy, and you will not find your word endorsed by the God who you believe you are serving.
The worst thing in the world, you and I, as Christians can do.
Listen to me. Is to not see ourselves in the mirror of truth.
We'll get to it.
You better watch the clock for me.
Okay, so here we go. Now, listen, I'm going to go slowly. Love is patience.
I really have to stop with that because I'm going to confess to you. My wife would tell you in an instant.
He's really patient in serious things, but on things that don't matter, he's not patient.
And I. I can't.
I cannot defend myself. I want to get from point A to point B quickly.
God has put a task in front of me. I want to get it done. Would you please get out of My way.
Well, that's not. That's not patience.
That's not patience. So I've departed from the foundation of love.
Because why? I want to drive like a maniac, get a ticket, bother other people, which is. Those words come from my wife. Thank you, Susan.
Okay. But love is patient. Love is kind.
It does not envy. Isn't that a beautiful statement?
Love does not envy.
There's not a pecking order.
You're not trying to sit and figure out who's the big dog.
Where do I rank next to him? If I could only get near the big dog, I'd be good. I'd have favor. No. Love does not envy. The problem with envy is if you are comparing, you want to destroy the good things that the person has.
Not a good motive.
It does not boast.
I'm astounded sometimes at how much I want to share with other people what God has helped me to do.
Because I want to feel better about myself. Probably no one else feels that way, but I do.
It is not proud.
I have to stop here for a minute.
It is not proud.
To find the sweet spot of love, we must learn humility.
And the only way you really learn humility is a revelation from God of who he actually is.
If you have a revelation of the goodness of God in the land of the living, it becomes very simple for you to bow the knee to that God whenever pride arises.
Pride will kill your ministry.
It will destroy. People fall because of pride.
It is not easily angered.
I love this one. It keeps no record of wrongs.
Don't you love people who have grace for you?
There's people who have grace for you. And it's like no matter what you do, they think you're wonderful.
[00:18:49] Speaker C: Woo.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: I love those people. And then there's others.
Sometimes you don't even know what you did.
But you know they're bothered.
And you know you're the one that bothers them.
I'm not sure how it all works, okay? But I just want to say, don't be easily angered. Keep no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Now, I need to make a point here. I know this is talking about God's love when I read that last verse.
Because I know, looking in the mirror of truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always persevere.
And looking in the mirror, I've got to say, I sometimes.
But this says always about every one of those things.
What are you trying to get to? Can I tell you what I'm trying to get to?
We all know that love is the foundation stone, the consistency of who God is.
I, the Lord, do not change. Therefore you descendants of Jacob are not consumed.
How many of you glad the descendants of Jacob are not consumed because that means you and I.
Okay, so I, the Lord, do not change.
Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of Lights. Listen to me, in whom there is no change, or even a shifting shadow from a cloud.
No change.
If the God who loved you at the moment you gave your life to him is that God, then you never need to worry about whether he will hang with you and stay with you and give mercy and forgiveness to you when you've not hit the mark.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Thanks for joining us for the well and Elam Fellowship Leadership Podcast. We hope today's message encouraged and inspired you. This was part one of a two part session from our Prophetic Ministry Conference. Be sure to tune in next time for part two of Peter Mayer's message.
