The Fullness Of God Pt 5 - Charisma Series

The Fullness of God

Pt 5 – Charisma

I Cor 12

We have been talking about rediscovering the work of the Holy Spirit in the church this third person of the Trinity – the God who seems to be all but forgotten in the church of the 21st century. We’ve talked about 3 important words Parakletos (comforter) and Dunamis (Power), Metamorphoô (transform). Today we look at one last word in this series – the word is Charisma – means gifts. Look at 1 Cor 12 with me.

Let’s look at the key verse in this passage v.7.

1) To Each One – How often do you think about the Spirit working in your life? You know the truth is that God has been so very generous to all of us that He has given us enough strength, knowledge, ability, and talent to survive and even thrive (as far as the world is concerned) without ever engaging with the power of His Spirit in us. We go through life with little or no regard at all for the empowering Spirit of God. Is it any wonder that people question our core beliefs? We live lives and go to churches where nothing supernatural ever happens – where we never see God high and lifted up with the train of his robe filling the temple – where we never sense the power of God that humbles and compels us – where we are not reduced to crying out to God in sackcloth and ashes. Like the prophets of Baal we sing and dance and cry out but the fire never seems to fall from heaven. Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal. “I don’t want my life to be explainable without the Holy Spirit. I want people to look at my life and know that I couldn’t be doing this by my own power. I want to live in such a way that I am desperate for Him to come through.” Francis Chan

2) Manifestation of the Spirit – These gifts are the manifested power of God in our lives. What would you expect to see if I told you that God had come supernaturally to indwell His people? Do we even believe this? Are we so content in our own abilities that we have shut out the possibility of God really moving in us? Is our worship so shallow that we shut out the possibility of the Shekinah Glory of God brightening our faces? Have we become so self reliant that a good show is enough even if God doesn’t show up? I am terrified by the fact that if God showed up today like He did to Isaiah that we would not know what to do or how to respond. As I wrote this sermon I sat under such heavy conviction of my own heart that I didn’t want to stop writing, but I didn’t want to continue either. I had to leave my work and come here to the sanctuary and spend time with Him. I didn’t pray, I didn’t sing I simply meditated on the presence of God. My fear is that this conviction won’t bring change – that I will be content to be who I have been and worship as I have worshipped. This manifestation of the Spirit is a supernatural thing – it’s not about us it’s about Him.

3) For the Common Good – v.27 “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice in it. Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” We live to the glory of God and to the edification of each other. Christ life given for us – our lives given for each other. Are we brothers and sisters in more than name. Chan describes a gang member who came to his church and after a few months left. “I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in gangs we weren’t just nice to each other once a week we were family.” That is what church is supposed to be.

Is the Spirit of God working in you? Is your life different from the Mormon or the Muslim next door? Is this body different than the moose lodge or the masons? Where is the fire on the altar, the abundance of grace, and the power of God? Where is the parakletos, the dunamis, metamorphoo, the charisma? Where is the Spirit of God in us?