Category: Spiritual Gifts
Sermons: Equipping the Local Church
What is the church? And how did God organize and equip it to do His will in the world?
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What Christ Gave the Church
We know that the church belongs to Christ, created for us that we might serve Him as He desires. He established His church, accomplishing it by dying on the cross for those who He chose through the gospel. Jesus gifted to us our salvation, as He Himself paved the way to heaven through His own resurrection from the dead. Consider Paul’s words, “‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men. (Now this, ‘He ascended’ – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)’” (Ephesians 4:9-10).
The Holy Spirit used the word church (ekklesia), referencing God’s people, in two basic ways in scripture. The first is referred to as the universal use of the word church. It is that to which Jesus refers when He promised in Matthew 16:18, “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” In this sense it refers to the relationship that each saved person has with Christ when He comes to Him in faith. “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them … And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:41,47). Simply put: every person who has been saved in the past, is saved now in the present, or will be saved before the Lord comes again, — he or she is added to His church. This references our relationship with its privileges. There is no passage of scripture than activates this universal church in any way. Continue reading “What Christ Gave the Church”
Jesus and Healing
In John 5, we read of the healing of a man who had been lame for a long time. It is an interesting narrative, and one of the first times in Jesus’ ministry that He came under fire by the Jews, who were angry at Jesus for healing this man on the Sabbath day.
Our interest comes from verses 2-4. “Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had” (John 5:2-4). Notice that the healing of an individual came if he was the first to step into the pool at the appointed time. Continue reading “Jesus and Healing”
Sermon: Do Not Be Ashamed
Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. His conviction made him always to be willing to proclaim boldly God’s message. His example is one we seek to emulate (2 Timothy 1:8-12).
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Mining the Scriptures: Matthew 2:19-23
After Matthew records the departure of the young Jesus to Egypt (a fulfillment of Hosea 11:1), the massacre of the infants in Bethlehem, and finally the death of Herod; an angel appeared to Joseph to return with the child and His mother back to Israel.
However, Joseph was afraid to return to Judea because the son of Herod, Archelaus was reigning the place of his father. Apparently Joseph’s fear was legitimate as God warned him in a dream about the danger there, and Joseph instead turned to Galilee.
The city of Nazareth was where Joseph settled, and where Jesus was raised. In fact, he was often referred to and known as Jesus of Nazareth in the New Testament. Nathanael, in John 1:46 asked about Jesus, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Indicating the city did not have a good reputation in Israel at the time.
This was also a fulfillment of a prophecy concerning the Christ. “He shall be called a Nazarene”, which was written hundreds of years previously, in Judges 13:5.
The Collection
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Paul wrote, “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.”
Nothing is surprising about this text. It relates an obligation that we have to support the Lord’s work in a systemic and regular way. It denotes the Lord’s day as the day when the collection will be taken. We know this to be the day that Christians came together to worship the Lord (cf. Acts 20:7). I states an obligation that we help those in our number (other Christians) who have a physical need (cf. Galatians 6:10).
This is the only place in scripture where there is a pattern established for this financial obligation we as Christians are given toward the Lord’s work. There are other places which give authority to practice benevolence, to support efforts of evangelism and to edify the church, but here alone is the passage that tells us how money is to be gathered in the local church.
What remains is for us to do our duty in a manner that the Holy Spirit prescribes. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Spiritual Gifts and Their Purpose for Christians
The apostle Paul gave some important directions to the Corinthians regarding the distribution and use of spiritual gifts in the first century church. He began in 1 Corinthians 12 by writing, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.” In addition, he made the point that there are “different ministries (5), and that there are “diversities of activities”, but, “it is the same God who works all in all” (6).
So, what is the purpose of noting this? If God gives diverse gifts, they are all of value to Him. We should not depreciate them. That is true as well of any ministry or activity that we are privileged to participate in. “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each for the profit of all” (7). Continue reading “Spiritual Gifts and Their Purpose for Christians”
