Title: Wow! Presents!! And it’s not even Christmas!!
Text: Ephesians 4:7-11
Author: Larry C. Brincefield
Author’s Website: www.pastorlarry.net
Introduction
1. People love to get presents!!
• Birthdays…Christmas…Valentines…
• All great opportunities to get presents!!
• Some kids get so excited…
• They start counting down the days about 6 months ahead of time!
2. Some people have found that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”…(Acts 20:35)
• I enjoy getting presents…
• But I’ll have to admit, I REALLY enjoy giving gifts to those I love…
• I try to pick out gifts that I think they will enjoy…
• And it gives me great joy to see them happy with their present…
• And to see them find joy in using the gift.
• When Amelia was 2 years old, I took her to see the movie, “The Lion King”…
• It was her first movie…
• And she LOVED it!!
• That year, for Christmas, I bought her
• I’ll have to admit, I thought twice about getting it; because it was pretty expensive…
• In fact, Kay didn’t think I should…
• But I ended up getting it; because I knew she would love it!
• Today, that same Simba is 11 years old…
• And still has a treasured place in Amelia’s room and in her heart.
3. Tonight, I’ve got some presents for you…
• And its not even Christmas!
• Well, actually, that’s not quite true…
• I didn’t get you any presents…
• But Someone else did!!!...
• And it’s my joy tonight to tell you about it!
Read Text: Ephesians 4:7-11
Body
1. Paul says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it”
A. there are 2 kinds of gifts that Jesus gives to His followers…
• Some gifts He gives to ALL of us…
• And some gifts are given to some people and not others (more about those in a minute)…
• This gift of grace has been give to EACH ONE OF US…
• Are you a Christian tonight?
• Are you a follower of Christ?
• If so, then He has given you a very special gift…
• The gift of grace!
B. What exactly is grace?
• What kind of present is that?
• The very 1st entry in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines grace as: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
• Earlier in our study in Ephesians, Paul said,
• But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:4 & 5)
• It is a gift that Christ has given us…
• The gift of salvation…
• The gift of walking with us, leading us, guiding us, loving us, blessing us…
• We certainly don’t deserve this gift…
• But He gives it nonetheless.
• Why?...
• Well…Jesus likes to give presents too!!
• And He gave us the greatest gift of all!
• The gift of grace.
• By the ways, He’s the One that said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”! (Acts 20:35)
• Grace is a gift that He gives to all Christians…
2. But there are other gifts…
A. Those gifts that He gives to some people….
• And not others…
• We find some of these in verse 11:
• It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers”
• I’d like to look at each of these gifts a little closer…
1. Apostles: Mark wrote in his gospel: He appointed twelve--designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14)
• And that’s literally what the word Apostle means…
• A person sent by another; a messenger; an envoy
• Another designation of the Apostles was the ability…
• Through the power of Christ…
• To perform miracles…
• Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43)
• As a result of that, most commentators hold that The apostles could have had no successors.
• The office of an apostle ended with its first holders.
• However, they continue to minister to use today by way of their inspired words left behind that we find in the words of Scripture.
2. Prophets: In Hebrew, the root word Nabi means "to bubble forth, like a fountain," to utter…
• In Samuel’s day, another word meaning “seer” came to be used…
• The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him,
• as the "seer"…he “saw” a vision from God
• In Numbers 12:6, God says,
"Listen to my words:
"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,
I reveal myself to him in visions,
I speak to him in dreams.
• God raised up prophets among the people to draw those who had strayed back to God.
• There are people today who claim to be prophets…
• But to be honest, I’m pretty skeptical of them…
• The prophesy of Scripture has already been given…
• Some of it we are still waiting to be fulfilled…
• But when someone tries to prophesy for someone else that’s a Christian…
• Well, I have to wonder why God wouldn’t just reveal Himself directly to that person…
• That’s not to say that there can’t be prophetic teaching or preaching…
• Certainly we can teach and preach the prophesy that we find in God’s Word…
• But we aren’t the ORIGINATORS of that prophesy…
• That’s the key difference.
3. Evangelists: Evangelists are a special kind of preacher…
• They travel from place to place…
• And their primary role is to win the lost.
• In the book of Acts, Philip is referred to as an Evangelist…
• And we see that he went from city to city to win the lost.
• We have Evangelists today…
• Today Evangelists not only endeavor to bring the sinner to Jesus Christ…
• But they also endeavor to lead people who are already saved into a fresh encounter…
• A revival.
• In January, we are having Chic Shaver as our Evangelist.
4. Pastors: Pastor is a shepherding image…
• Tending the flock…
• The word for pastor literally means “a shepherd”.
• We are to feed the flock…
• To minister to them…
• And protect them from spiritual danger.
• We have pastors today.
• God says, in Jeremiah 3:15…
I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
• Someone had given me a framed version of that verse that I keep on my desk.
• And that word for shepherd is that word we use for pastor.
5. Teachers: Teachers are special people!
• They try to tell us about the Bible and spiritual things…
• To educate us…
• To help us learn more.
• We have teachers today…
• And not just in School or college!!
• We have teachers in Sunday School…
• And they are certainly special people!
• I see the Teaching ministry in the church as very important!...
B. Well, those are the gifts that are mentioned in our text…
• But, don’t feel bad if you didn’t get one of those presents!!
• There are other gifts too…
• Gifts that we find in other places throughout Scripture.
• 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 list some of them…
Conclusion
1. In 1 Cor. 12:14-20, it says,
“Now the body is not made up
of one part but of many.
If the foot should say,
"Because I am not a hand,
I do not belong to the body,"
it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body.
And if the ear should say,
"Because I am not an eye,
I do not belong to the body,"
it would not for that reason
cease to be part of the body.
If the whole body were an eye,
where would the sense of hearing be?
If the whole body were an ear,
where would the sense of smell be?
But in fact God has arranged
the parts in the body,
every one of them,
just as he wanted them to be.
If they were all one part,
where would the body be?
As it is, there are many parts,
but one body.
• That’s a description of a church!!
• I found a poem that says it nicely…
• By Cathy Moore
The Body Of Christ
Some Of Us Are Profits
And Some Of Us Are Preachers.
Some Of Us Are Poets
And Some Of Us Are Teachers.
Some Of Us Are Warriors,
Who Fight Down On Our Knees.
What We Want The Most,
Is Our Lord We Want To Please!
All Of Us Have Gifts,
In Which We Use To Lift His Name.
Yes, All Of Us Have Gifts,
But Not All Are The Same.
Some Have The Gift Of Giving
For They Always Want To Share.
Some Have The Gift Of Lifting
Others... Up In Prayer.
Some Have A Gift To Listen,
When Others Are In Need.
Some Fight The Prince Of Darkness.
The Blood Of Jesus They Do Plead.
Some Shout In The Streets,
For You Can Hear Them Far Away!
Some Will Pass Out Bibles
Walking Miles Everyday.
All Of Us Together,
We Are Our Saviors Hands And Feet.
Yes, We So Adore Him,
For To Us He Is So Sweet.
There Is Nothing We Won’t Do,
If Upon Us He Does Call,
We Were Taken Out Of Darkness,
For He Has Saved Us All!
We Love Him With A Love,
A Love So Very True,
For He Is Our Mighty King
And There’s Nothing We Won’t Do,
Do For Him, If He Ask,
Right Up To Our Death,
For We Are His Body
He’s The One Who Gives Us Breath!
We Know Him In A Way,
That The World Can’t Understand.
We Talk Of Him Both Day And Night,
All Because He Is So Grand!
Now You May Call Us Freaks,
But We Don’t Mind A Bit,
For We Know Our Mighty Savior,
Who On His Throne Does Sit.
He Lives Within Our Heart,
Oh How He Loves Us So
And Soon The Day Is Coming,
When With Him We Will Go.
Many Then... They Will See
That We Were Oh So Right,
For Right Before Their Very Eyes,
We Will Vanish Out Of Sight!
Written by Cathy Jo Moore
2. So, do you know what present Christ has given you?
• If not, perhaps you should pray and ask to be shown…
• I am convinced He has given each Christian at least 1 gift…
• Over and above that gift of grace…
• And more often than not, there is more than 1 gift.
• I trust that you have opened your gift and put it to use!!
• It certainly does no one any good if you just leave it wrapped up on a shelf!
