Wow...presents!! And It's Not Even Christmas! Series

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 Simba stuff toy…

• 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,