4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
Can I tell you a family story about my great-grandmother?
She was a very spiritually perceptive woman and had a way of always knowing when the girls had been in trouble in school before they even got back home.
My great-aunt Opal says that one time when my great-grandfather was away hauling butter from the Panhandle all the way out to California the girls could hear their mother in the kitchen up praying in the middle of the night. "Your daddy's in trouble," she told them, "and we need to pray for him." They prayed together in the kitchen for a half hour and then my great-grandmother suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said, "it's okay, he's out of trouble, ya'll can go back to bed now."
When my great-grandfather got back to Texas two days later he told the family that something had happened to him two nights before. He was driving back from dropping off his load when he fell asleep at the wheel. He said when he awoke the truck was still driving and he was about 30 miles down the road from where he remembered and an angel was standing on the running board with his arms reaching through the windshield and his hands on the steering wheel.
I tell you this story so you'll know why I believe Paul was right -- some really do have the gift of prophecy.
P.S. Lubbock legend and long-time friend fonts family Andy Wilkinson later wrote a folk song about this family story called "Angel on the Running Board".
P.P.S. You can listen to another good story about my great-aunt Opal and her mother and father in last week's sermon (10/4/15) found at the link below:
http://secondb.org/media.php?pageID=5
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