PURPOSE- Answering God’s call
Key verses:
Ephesians 4:11-13
11: And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
12: for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13: till we all come to the unity of the faith of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:28
And God has appointed(“given”) these in the church; first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
Romans 12:4-8
4: For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function,
5: so we being many, are one body in Christ, and individually member of one another.
6: Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith,
7: or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching,
8: he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality, he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Supporting verses:
Luke 2:46
So it was after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
49: And He said to them, “why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
Ephesians 4:16
From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it’s share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome
Key verses: Ephesians 4:11-13
1 Corinthians 12:28
Romans 12: 4-8
Now a certain someone, has mentioned that I don’t give everyone enough time to get to the scripture, so today I’m going to slow it down a bit, and I’ll repeat them to give everyone time to get there.
BODY
Last message, I read a passage in the Old Testament where the people stood in the reading of Gods word, then I forgot to ask everyone to stand! Does anyone besides me remember that?
So, in order that I don’t forget, I ‘ll ask you to stand now as we read Ephesians 4:11-13. (repeat)
Ephesians is one of my favorite books in the bible. It is just verse after verse of teaching us to build each other up, edify and love one another. It amazes me that this is the same man who was persecuting Christians while yet on the road to Damascus!
Read Ephesians 4:11-13
Pray
• Speak to us through your word Father
• Thank you for giving us spiritual gifts
• Allow your presence to transform us and unite us for your glory
• We ask that you breath life in us today
Story 1: Lisa asking how I come up with the messages and titles.
Give title of message and when it came to me.
Teachers, Reachers Preachers and Bleachers
Hopefully it’s obvious, that today’s message is about spiritual gifts from God!
Although we will consider the individual spiritual gifts, I want us to examine a couple of other elements of these passages.
Today I’d like us to look at the words gave and given, and unity.
Give illustration of “bible tracts”. They were actually a business plan, in pamphlet form.
(Go back and read Ephesians 4:11)
• Have you ever been given something, but for whatever reason, didn’t accept it?
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 12:28 (repeat verse info)
In order to be “given” something, we have to “accept” it or “receive” it.
Christ “gave” His life for us, but we have to “accept” Him as Lord and Savior.
It’s the same with spiritual gifts, He Himself “gave” us spiritual gifts. It is up to us to receive them and use them to His glory!
• Let’s look at the first part of verse 28 “And God has appointed these in the church… (where) and who is the church? AMEN
Let’s look @ Ephesians 4: verse 13 again.
? Read it then ask someone to read it.
This passage is so deep and overwhelming, and it creates a vision that I can’t put into words!
In each of these translations it reads “unity of the faith”.
The Greek word for unity is “hen-O-tAz” which means “oneness”. Now hang on to that for a minute, as we look at
Romans 12:4-8. (repeat verse info)
Many gifts, one body. Oneness
1 Corinthians 12:4 also tells us “a diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit”!
Story 2: Years ago, I decided to bake a cobbler for a 4th of July picnic. I love blackberry cobbler, and I bake a fairly mean cobbler if I do say so myself! I’ve made this cobbler many many times over the last 40 years.
So, I bake the cobbler, and when it gets time for dessert I bust out the blackberry cobbler. A few of us at the table got a serving of it, and as we began eating it, we realized that something was terribly wrong! It was dense and chewy, and not MY cobbler! However, It WAS my cobbler, but I realized I had forgotten ONE indispensable ingredient…baking powder. That one indispensable ingredient was the difference between a “blahhh” cobbler and a great cobbler.
To this day, if Tristan sees me preparing a cobbler he asks “did you put baking powder in it”?
• At the beginning of our service Dan read some scripture and the last word was INDISPENSABLE.
Church, when you’re not here, it’s the difference from having a blahhhh cobbler, and having a great cobbler! YOU and your spiritual gifts are indispensable!
Do you use your spiritual gifts? Do you even know what they are?
Maybe you’ve had a road to Damascus experience regarding your spiritual gifts, or maybe there has just been a gentle tugging at your heart. Either way, God is calling us to use our spiritual gifts to His glory.
In Romans 15:16 Paul uses the phrase “sanctified by the Holy Spirit”. That word sanctified means “set apart for a sacred purpose”.
It dawned on me this week, as a church we must be “sanctified” (set apart) in order for us to be unified (brought together as one, in“oneness”) through the spiritual gifts given to us by He Himself!
You’ve probably been so engrossed in todays message that you didn’t even realize I spoke about teachers, reachers and preachers!
If you go back and read the spiritual gifts that were written about in these passages, most of them will fit into one or more of teachers, reachers and preachers.
However, none of the passages mentions bleachers. That’s because Christianity is NOT a spectator sport.
CLOSING
In closing I’d like to look at a couple passages. The first is found in:
Ephesians 4:16
From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it’s share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Last week pastor Jeff closed with reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and every time the word love was used he replaced it with Jesus. And that really spoke to me.
Ephesians 4:16
From whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it’s share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in Jesus.
One final passage:
Luke 2:46 (set the story up)
So it was after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions.
But here’s the powerful part found in verse 49
And He said to them, “why did you seek me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want Jesus to be looking for me, I want Him to know that I will be found at His feet! If I am using the spiritual gifts he gave me, and if as a church we are in unity of the faith, Jesus won’t have to look far, when He says, “well done, good and faithful servants”!
• Are you a:
Teacher,
a Reacher,
a Preacher
or heaven forbid, a bleacher?
