In this Fundamentals of the Faith lesson, Mark Twombly finishes overviewing the Bible’s teaching on Christian fellowship and worship and begins discussing the topic of spiritual gifts.
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we go ahead and get started if you have your workbooks um we’re going to pick up in chapter n uh which begins on page 65 but we’re going to pick it up around page 67 and start on Fellowship I’m just going to give a brief recap of some of the things we talked about last week and uh and we have one more week so we’re going to do the second part today of fellowship and worship and then the first part of spiritual gifts we’ve got two weeks for that because it really requires that okay all right oh Eric I need the uh remote tremendous thank you while I’m walking up here let me go and pray for us father God thank you for your goodness to us uh thank you for your wondrous and beautiful design for your church which reflects the nature of Christ himself as your word says the fullness of him who fills all in all help us as your people to surrender to that design individually and corporately father may we as Ephesians 4 says that we would grow up until the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ how exciting is that so as we prayed last week we continue to pray that you would give us a vision of Christ both for um us today individually and for your church in Jesus name amen amen I’m having some difficulty here I uh noticed blood on my have a little cut here so here we go all right let me go back so our key memory verse for the for the chapter on fellowship and worship I don’t think we’re working here guys if you would turn to Hebrews 10:2 24-25 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good works not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day Drawing Near and that’s the day of Christ’s return so uh we we spoke in quite a bit of detail uh last week uh about um what does it mean for us to stimulate one another to love and good work works and Glenda as you and I were talking this this morning that first of all requires us to be together and not just on Sunday morning as important as as that is uh but also to be interacting with each other throughout the week can I just ask you guys to to forward the slides since this isn’t working thanks and if you can get one of these working that would be great all right and uh and secondly I think it requires us to have very direct and transparent conversations with one another I appreciated the conversation that we had a couple of us had afterwards what does that mean uh we talked a little bit about what it means to be willing to reprove one another in Love no was that me or that was that you okay I think that’s me I think we’re good now I think so yeah maybe not n it’s not working um you know it says in Proverbs 27 that it says better is open rebuke and love that is concealed faithful are the wounds of a friend but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy and so one of the ways that we do express love to each other is through approve and correction but not just that we think about the four things that the scriptures do in 2 Timothy 3:16 all scriptures inspired by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction for training in righteousness right so we see those four things thanks Caleb we’ll give that a shout no I don’t think so let’s see all right I think we’re back thanks for bearing with us this morning so when it says in in um in Colossians uh 3 that um let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another um and so that’s how we do it right we teach and admonish one another I’m really sorry to interrupt could does somebody have a Band-Aid I seem to have cut myself here um a little one is just fine and uh this is going to look great on the video I’m just wandering around here and I just I don’t know how this happened thank you Eric this is this is the body ministering to one another we’re we’re having a little bit of an illustration here you like how I did that how uh we God provided an illustration for us today um as we continue uh we want to really have the right vision of what this the church is right and so a couple verses that we went through last week and the church is primarily um not an organization but a living organism right we we went through a couple verses in 1 Peter 2 and coming to him as living stones which have been which has a living to a living Stone which has been rejected by man but is choice and precious in the sight of God you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house bear with me guys appreciate that and so that is that is the church right the institution of the church it’s not this building right as important as this building is for us to meet you do know that there are people all over the world meeting who don’t have buildings who are still having church it’s a wonderful wonderful to think about uh built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ and then our identity right but you are a chosen family a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for God’s Own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light for you once were not a people but now you are the people of God you had not received Mercy but now you have received Mercy this is quoting from Exodus and this is very present in my mind because we’re going through this in our Iron Man the men’s group one of the things that’s so interesting about that is we see um in Exodus 19:4 right the verse right before this in the Old Testament God said that you have seen what I have done to the Egyptians and how I have borne you on Eagle wings and I brought brought you to myself so in an ultimate sense they had already reached the destination because he himself was their primary destination he had promised to provide for them to bring them into the promised land and it’s just so interesting to me that they’re they doubted that they doubted God’s promise right they were focused on the land god here was focus on how they would live Faithfully as his people in the land isn’t that interesting does that sound familiar to us we’re more concerned maybe with our Earthly provision than living the life that God has for us how we demonstrate Christ in all of the challenges of life that’s our Focus that’s how we are built up in him right in our character both individually and as a body The Universal Church this was a quote um this is the quote from your workbook on page 65 and and thank you Tina for having a good discussion with me last week we have the kind of I think modify or correct this a little bit um in the book it says something that I think might be misunderstood so we want to clarify that it says a church is not a physical building but a group of Believers not a denomination sect or Association but a spiritual body the church is not an organization but a communion a fellowship it says that includes Believers we want to make sure that we understand if if we understand the church correctly as a spiritual house as we’ve just discussed the true church is made up of Believers now as we assemble we talked a little bit about the visible and the invisible church and they overlap right the visible church is those who congregate and we know from the scriptures there are sheep and goats Wheats and tears we see those those uh analogies in the gospels so we not we know that not everyone in a gathered assembly is a Believer but to the extent that those who are those are the true church and sometimes we just won’t know until the end right so uh but that also reminds us that the invisible church if you will those who are not seeing invisible congregations are also very much the church as they meet and Faith Faithfully live out the gospel in their lives um so let’s pray for them a lot of them are under persecution and under duress right now uh so I hope that you pray regularly for the church worldwide and uh just for a recommendation for that some of you know the organization voice of the martyrs um and um it started by a man named Richard warmbrand who was tortured I believe in Romania uh wrote a book called tortured for Christ started that organization there’s an app you can get on your phone uh a voice of the martyrs that’ll give you um some Believers to pray for in different countries every day it’s a great Habit to be in all right this passage I think is probably the primary passage to look at I I commit this to you to spend some time in that kind of succinctly gives us God’s design for the church we talked about it last week I’m going to read it again and he himself self gave some as Apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the Saints for the work of service for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ so that we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of Doctrine by the trickery of by craftiness and deceitful scheming but speaking the truth and love we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head that is Christ from whom the whole body being joined and held together by what every joint supplies according to the properly measured working of each individual part causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love it’s really that last part that we’ll be talking about lot today how do we have the proper working of each individual part right and as we get into spiritual gifts we’ll recognize that we’re all needed in the body right if I’m not Faithfully serving in the gifts that God’s giving me if you’re not Faithfully serving in the gifts that God’s given you the body suffers but to the extent that you are the body grows so that’s an interesting thing to think about the proper working of each individual part so here’s what we’re going to attempt to cover today I had an outline last week as well we didn’t get through it but I think we’ll get through this today uh we’re going to finish the last couple items of uh fellowship and worship which is chapter nine and then we’re going to get get into the nature and provision of spiritual gifts in chapter 10 so let’s talk about Fellowship what’s really interesting to me is our fellowship uh is with God and with other believers those things are connected let’s never lose sight of that uh 1 John 1:7 a great thing to think about kind of a sobering verse I think if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his son cleanses us from all sin one of the things we talked about last week from Ephesians 4 is that Unity with one another doesn’t come from focusing on one another but on The God Who unifies so our fellowship with him as our father unites us us and so Fellowship in the truest sense cannot happen corporately unless we are vertically having fellowship with God right it’s a it’s a spiritual impossibility and that’s the spiritual Dynamic of Fellowship this is why if we Harbor sin in our lives that’s unconfessed that maybe nobody knows about it still has an effect on the body it does because because of the spiritual unseen realities of Fellowship so if we are walking in the light as he is in the light then Fellowship is possible then I can I can encourage you and stimulate you into love and good works as I need to as Glenda pointed out to us last week I’m able to both receive and give your reprove from the word of God because I’m already experiencing that daily in my fellowship with God so there’s a there’s a connection so I hope you know that to have True Fellowship you you and I don’t have the resources with within ourselves to do that but we draw it’s a beautiful thing to think about we draw on Heavenly resources to minister to one another right we don’t do that with our own abilities and our own strength praise the Lord right our ability to forgive is impossible without the gospel right I was talking to uh uh Jackson earlier this week about what does it take to forgive how do you forgive someone who is a offended you deeply right unless you draw on the Forgiveness of Christ and understand that no one can sin against you to the extent that you’ve sinned against God right Matthew 18 talks about this unless you draw on those truths you’re not able to forgive and this is how Fellowship Works we’re constantly drawing on Eternal Resources by this we know we talked about this last week that we love the children of God when we love God and do his Commandments right we talked about this last week we love others best I think it’s on the slide by putting him first right I don’t know what your need is you don’t know what my need is but God does and if we follow his instructions and directions it’s going to work it’s going to work so we put him first we love others best by putting Christ first ministering to other believers I think this is uh whereing in new territory here right um 1 Peter 41011 this is a great segue into spiritual gifts right as each one has received the gift in the New American Standard it says a special gift or spiritual gift employed in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God whoever speaks as one Speaking the Oracles of God whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever amen our gifts are not meant to impress one another amen right but to serve one another anybody here struggle with pride it’s constantly at the door right yeah you can you ask yourself am I here to impress or to impact that’s a great thing to think about right um and you know when you serve serve you run the risk of being treated like a servant are you following me right sometimes you’re not going to be exalted or treated well or visible kind of like Jesus right that’s the road that he has for us so let’s be excited about how we take those gifts that God has given us to serve one another right Jesus talked about this in the beatitude that if you do it to be seen by others um you’ve lost your reward it’s a little difficult for me to talk about cuz I’m seeing right now right teaching right but I think the idea behind it is that we should be serving in all kinds of ways all kinds of ways right um speaking the Oracles of God right we don’t Minister our own ideas right we Minister what our Lord says or as as the Apostle said we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord right with ourselves as your servants for jesus’ sake we do it with his his resources in his strength for his glory so everything is from him through him and to him let’s never forget that as we serve there’s a lot of people serving here at Calvary that I don’t know about praise the Lord that are even making what we’re doing here today possible so I thank God thank God for them all right so worship God seeks genuine worshippers from the story of the woman at the well right where Jesus was explaining that the place isn’t important I think we’ve established that haven’t we the physical place isn’t as important as the spirit as important as the spiritual reality but an hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the father in spirit and Truth for such people the father seeks to be his worshippers God is spirit and those who worship Him must Worship in spirit and truth and in the sequence Jesus is talking with the woman of the well about well should we worship here or should we worship there at this mountain or that mountain what’s the tradition Jesus said that’s ultimately not important ultimately not important it’s really interesting to me um anyone here come from a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox background yeah so a lot of kind of ornate decorations and things like that particularly in in the Eastern Orthodox I found um I have a nephew who’s an Eastern Orthodox priest and so you can imagine he and I have some really interesting discussions I love him greatly his middle name is Mark and um we uh we’re we’re very close but um I asked him about this one of the things he said is that well we have these pictures right because they actually you might know this they kiss well you know uh Mike uh from your background they they kiss pictures of saints things like that right and and and the whole idea as he explained it to me was because I just couldn’t understand the appeal like well this is the way that we experience Christ through these tangible things and it just made me really sad because you’re not I think they really do obscure Christ and prevent us from worshiping him in spirit and Truth before we get too critical of them or I get too critical of them think about ways we might might do that right we might be thinking more in an outward way than an inward way for those of us here today God knows your your thoughts and your hearts right now and I hope that both terrifies you and excites you because he’s drawing close and we need to draw close to him so that’s an exciting thing so let’s worship Him in spirit and truth right his word illumined by his spirit and for his glory all right let’s continue in worship we worship God because only he is worthy of our highest devotion only he is worthy of our highest devotion let me ask you a question how would you define worship what is worship honor and adoration right it’s an exaltation of something right so when we when we sit here and we do praise and worship on Sunday morning we call that worship but worship is a lot more than that that’s part of it but it’s a lot more than that what else Glenda okay the preaching of the word rightly divided is worship I agree why yeah we want to Worship in truth not with our own Notions right we always need to be measuring Our Lives against the plum line of the word of God right we’re all off in some way yeah and as it says in 2 Corinthians 4 like we do not preach ourselves but him right so by preaching his word we’re exalting him we’re making it very clear that we’re not promoting our own ideas or thoughts but his that’s worship yeah it’s what we value the most I think worship is what we value the most one of the things that was really helpful to me that a brother was faithful to to take me aside and explain to me is that the thing that you’re anxious about might reveal what you worship if I’m anxious about provision maybe I’m worshiping provision stuff riches right yeah what what what gra what what captivates your mind and your thoughts what do you Delight in right where does your mind go where it when it goes no place else right that’s an that’s a an expression of what we worship what we Center our lives around right um those of us who are married who are dating you know when you when you’re dating someone particularly sometimes in those early days you’re just always thinking about that person you’re revolving your schedule everything around that person right because you’re growing in love for them well how much more does that need to be for Christ right revolving everything I was reading earlier this week where Jesus said I only do the things which are pleasing to him right wow would God give us that that heart and that mindset and and by the way that’s the only thing that can really fulfill us none of these other things can Mike worship without ceasing yeah yeah each moment revolving our lives around what he wants I I love what it says in Galatians 5:24 and 25 if we um if we live by the spirit let us walk by the spirit let us keep in step by the spirit I think a good way to to render that is if the spirit has made you alive then let him rule your life right what rules your thoughts and affections revelation the 24 Elders will fall down before him who sits on the throne and will worship Him who lives forever and ever and will cast their crowns Before the Throne saying worthy are you our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and because of your will they existed and were created we will be worshiping forever right um and I I can remember in times past thinking I really I’m I uh I’m a recovering perfectionist and everything’s perfect in heaven and right where it needs to be right so that appeals to me but does worship of him that’s because that’s the main thing does that appealed to me and God grows me in that right it’s not the it’s not the benefits of him it’s him it’s him that we’re after right so that’s that’s worship and then of course worshiping God involves praise Psalm 33 is a great praise Psalm I probably quoted it here several times um I really encourage you to to meditate on it and even commit it to memory right Sing For Joy oh Yahweh oh righteous ones Praises be coming to the upright and it just goes on to express what that looks like in specific instruments and specific attitudes and specific dependence upon Him Praise is becoming to the upright um I think it’s in Psalm 106 I was reading this morning who can Proclaim all the mighty Deeds of the Lord or show forth all his praise right it’s not possible it’s a constant thing that we grow in right his worth is beyond what we can express so it takes all of us forever to do it that’s exciting Psalm 100 I remember my third grade Sunday school teacher Mrs Childers had us memorize Psalm 100 it’s the first scripture that I memorize I just come to Christ enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise give thanks to him bless his name right this is not just what we do today we get to kind of EX kind of expand on that because we’re all together today which is great give thanks to him bless his name for the Lord is good it says in verse 5 and his loving kindness is forever generation to generation so he is worthy of our worship and praise and then lastly worshiping God involves reverence right Proverbs says uh in several places the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom now that sounds good and Abstract but there’s really an affection to that and there’s a what does it mean to fear the lord right there’s a sense in which we draw close but that we’re also kind of scared right I think of ASN in Chronicles of Narnia um he is not safe right God’s not safe but he is good but he is good because he’s holy so this verse I think helps us with that therefore since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe for our God is a consuming fire when we think about what Hebrews says about drawing close to the throne of grace I think we have to understand what it took to make that possible Right the death of Christ you didn’t just approach casually you think about the Old Testament the holy holies and if you if you did it wrong you died right opening day of the priesthood naab and Abu Aaron’s sons decided that they would improvise gone right so God takes his worship and his name very seriously so let’s never lose sight of that Lord give us a growing fear of you amen all right uh the ordinances we’re going to briefly uh go through this there’s two ordinances that God has given us for his Church Believers baptism right uh we see that expressed in the Great Commission and in Romans 6 right um baptism I find it interesting when people say um baptism by immersion um that’s like saying Swimming by going in water it’s a little bit redundant right that’s what baptism is just so we’re clear right it but it’s well we’ll get into this a little bit um and then communion the Lord’s table right First Corinthians 11:1 17-34 it’s kind of the most succinct instructions that we have for the Lord’s table which I think Pastor Bobby will be reading for us today we have the Lord’s table today right all right um so those are the two ordinances that the Lord has given us very clearly in his word I was very surprised to learn not that long ago that in Roman Catholicism I think there’s five or seven seven thank you and I thought and I read it and I thought well that’s really creative because it’s just not there in the Bible at all so God has praise the Lord he’s made it simple for us we can remember two these are so important uh so the ordinances are outward expressions of spiritual realities which unify us as his body right we go back to that spirit and truth right don’t confuse these outward expressions with the spiritual realities we do that to unite and remind ourselves of what these are right uh Believers baptism therefore we’ve been buried with baptism through Christ into death right in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life right that’s Romans 64 that is a spiritual reality that gets to be expressed in the physical reality of Believers water baptism right and then communion well let’s just look real quick here um just briefly I know we’ll get it get to it later but maybe this will help us to prepare a little more for the Lord’s table today first Corinthians 11 just a couple highlights here that are really important starting in verse 17 I think you have some of the warnings and and um and and and look at what it says about our Unity but in giv this instruction I do not praise you because you come together not for the better but for the worse for in the first place when you come together as a church I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it for there must also be factions among you so that those who are approved may become among you now when we went through I I gave a lesson or two I think on the Reformation was probably going on a year ago now or maybe earlier this year you notice those two words divisions and factions right one is sinful one is not right the divisions us not being unified in Christ uh schisma I think is the Greek word um not good that that betrays the unity you have in Christ but factions right uh I think is where we get the word heresy haresis someone who knows Greek help me out here I don’t have my notes in front of me those distinctions between those who are faithful and those who are not right those who are false and those who are true that’s actually really important so it actually says that it’s good there must be factions among we must be able to distinguish between who is true and who is false what is true and what is false um and so this is a sobering thing uh going into uh the Lord’s supper and they were abusing it right in terms of how they were eating and not welcoming one another and leaving some deprived um and then the main instruction stting in verse 23 for I received from the Lord that which was also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was being betrayed took bread and it just walks through the account of Jesus last supper I want to point out verse 27 this gets to the reverence aspect um of what we’re doing um whoever eats the the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord but a man must test himself and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup for he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly so the idea here is we we’re getting down to the spiritual realities right you you know you can outwardly take communion but still have unconfessed sin in your heart and I think this speaks to a warning about what that might look like some some got sick and some died because of that they that that I think that could still happen right but I think the great way to think about it is we want to in reflecting on the Lord’s atonement that we want to confess and be cleansed from those things for which he died does that make sense we don’t be holding on to those things we want to really understand how could I do that if I understand what Christ has done I want to confess that and make it right just as soon as possible and so I think that’s that’s where those instructions really help us and they and they can unify us as a body right the ordinances are outward expressions of spiritual realities which unify us as a body all right and then finally we’re going to get into some um actually we’re going to get into this next so spiritual gifts finally before we get there any questions uh or comments on fellowship and worship church church yeah asate Church going and the scripture tells us to do this to maintain the unity of the body so my first thought was it’s not going to be total Unity because some are all believers but then I thought about Judas and how the Lord had Judas there for that meal so that we would know that that’s okay that’s how it’s going to be because Judas could have betrayed him at any other time he had that as a picture in the Bible so that that answered my question that that is a great Point Leela about Judas being there at the Last Supper and how that illustrates what we just read I never really thought about it that directly that’s wonderful there was one there who would have taken in an unworthy Manner and had to leave interesting yeah so that’s always going to be there uh there may be times where you may have to just let it pass and just work some things out with the Lord that’s okay that’s healthy I’ve had to do that yeah wonderful any other thoughts yes yeah yeah we we feel unworthy taking communion is that what you just said so so let me just say this so the sense of our unworthiness is based in reality that’s true we’re unworthy yet um our worthiness comes from the atoning work of Christ right who has made us a kingdom of of priests right in a holy nation right so it’s not selfworth um I think of that phrase in that song um that Getty song My worth is not in what I own it’s one phrase really gets me it says two wonders here that I confess my worth and my unworthiness right we get that they’re kind of both there at the same time so um what this is talking about is is not our personal unworthiness but taking the the the elements in an unworthy manner does that make sense which may if if so um we can be um Sanctified we can be justified in Christ but not walking in the light right and so our worth is set in Christ at that point but we still run the risk of taking the Lord’s table taking the elements in an unworthy manner that make sense but there’s there’s another option where the conviction may show us that we may not really know him and we need to leave space for us to come to faith in Christ I think there’s probably at least one or two people in here for that whom that’s been the case right through that ordinance recognize that they didn’t really know him and came to Faith does that make sense okay great all right finally spiritual gifts such a clear topic that the body of Christ has such Clarity on don’t we there’s a lot of confusion out there there on spiritual gifts so by the Lord’s Grace let’s see if we can uh go back to what the scriptures say on spiritual gifts I hope you know that even in what we just studied you know I I said a few things about some other Traditions Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodox and all that but we’re not immune from our own our own Traditions things that we bring that aren’t right and we constantly need to be looking at our hearts and our practices in light of the scriptures right perhaps per APS in no other area is this more important than the area of spiritual gifts there’s a lot of abuse out there today the memory verse is here it comes wait for it wait for there it is but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good each one not for ourselves but for the common good right you know when I think about this I think about when Jesus said it is better to give and to receive you know that’s not just a mind game it actually is better right Jesus said my food is to do the will of him who sent me and accomplish his work when we’re operating in his strength in his gifts right there’s an energy that comes with it in the in the giving and not in the getting it’s just amazing I just love that about God’s design come on there we go um important verse that I think summarizes kind of the design a little bit of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12: 4-6 now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit and there are varieties of Ministries and the same Lord there are varieties of effects but the same God who works all things in all persons so I thought we’d unpack this a little bit what are these three words what do they mean that came out a little funky didn’t look that like that on my computer okay gifts um uh the Greek word is charisma these are inner abilities provided by the holy spirit for the building up for the building up of Believers right they come not from ourselves but from him these are gifts of the Spirit they are spiritual gifts you don’t you and I don’t generate these we don’t train ourselves into these these are things that God gives as he Wills Ministries this is an expression or office of service how it expresses itself right so an example is if I have the gift of teaching I’ll do this from time to time that’s just how it’s expressed right can also be expressed in one-on-one discipleship in all kinds of ways right but it’s how the gift is expressed and then thirdly effects uh results enera I think is how you say that in Greek results energized by God’s grace so it’s really the the scope of it or the effect right so each one of us has a unique set of gifts Ministries and effects that no one else has and they are distributed as he Wills so one of the things I think about is we we we’re really impressed with someone who has a large platform or a large audience right what is that from God’s perspective right the Evangelist who you’ve never heard of who has led hundreds of people to Christ is just as valuable just as much expressing his gift as someone who’s LED thousands or Millions to Christ right it’s how God blesses it as he will right and we stumble over that don’t we because again we wanted people to be impressed with us right um and this is where that vertical relationship with him operating with him getting our satisfaction and pleasure in him is so important God that you would even use me in some way is just amazing right in the Psalms it says I would I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in tents of wickedness just have some small little part in this is amazing the fact that we even get to know him much less serve him and do anything for him can we just be blown away by that and and and just leave the scope to him I remember at one of the shepherd’s conferences I went to John MacArthur said this talking about kind of the background of of Grace Community Church he said I I recognized that God put on my heart that if I focused on the depth of the ministry and just leave the breadth to him now the breath is pretty big right so maybe it’s easy to say but that’s really his heart you know and as I’ve as you know as I’ve um interacted with people who’ve come out of that Seminary we have a couple of them here right their focus is being faithful not being big so important so important so that’s something for us to think about as we think about gifts so to each one right we read that is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good for the common good and God is appointed the church first apostles second prophets third teachers then Miracles then Gifts of healings helps administrations various kinds of tongues right we’re going to get there don’t worry we’ll get there so the source is the holy spirit God himself again the source is not us one of the things I like to think about is uh it’s kind of like if you look at um the fruit of the spirit or when Jesus said if you abide in me my words abide in you and it talks about unless you unless you abide in me if you abide in me you will bear much fruit and Noti said it’s a word bear not produce you get this right we don’t produce fruit we bear it as he produces it in US same with spiritual gifts we don’t produce these things we don’t produce these things one of things that’s really interesting here is that I kind of look at this kind of like our spiritual DNA right um we all have physical and temperamental attributes that are kind of fixed right some we like some we don’t like right but that’s God’s doing right similar with spiritual gifts right you cannot train yourself into another spiritual gift just so we’re clear right um but you can cultivate and grow that Paul said to Timothy fan into Flame the gift that was given to you right so we can grow it but we can’t create new gifts or as I heard one Pastor say to a guy who has a 55 mph fastball and wants to be a major league pitcher it’s not a matter of training right he just doesn’t have it sometimes we just have to acknowledge that gifts that we have abilities that we have and that we don’t the destination as each one has received the gift employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God talked about that before it’s from him toward one another right the destination of our gifts is all True Believers as we Minister our gifts to one another and then the purpose so also you since you are zealous of spiritual gifts seek to abound for the edification or the building up the building up of the the church not yourself the church whoever speaks as one Speaking the Oracles of God whoever serves as one serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and might forever and ever amen so the purpose is building up to God’s glory right we go back to those verses in Ephesians to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ you get that right I I’m just really praying that God captivates our hearts in new ways and specific ways with a vision for him for the church right um yeah to a mature man right to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ beautiful let’s never lose sight of that goal that Vision that Vision may God increase our faith for that Vision so provision of spiritual gifts uh there are three primary passages uh actually two primary passages I’ll go with three three primary passages on spiritual gifts Romans 12 has the first list 1 Corinthians 12 has the second list and these are in your your workbook and then Ephesians 4 tells us a little bit more as we’ve read about the unity and the operation of those gifts how they are to be used so with the time we have left just go let’s go through these and we can spend a little bit more time next week I think defining them because I think there are various and sometimes contradictory definitions of what these gifts are um so let’s let’s get into it Romans 12 6-8 let me just read that but having gifts a different for according to the grace given to us whether prophecy you see that up there in agreement with faith or service in his serving he who teaches in his teaching he exhorts with his exhortation he gives with generosity he leads with diligence he shows Mercy with cheerfulness It’s a Wonderful list right not only lists the gifts but gives a little sense of how they are to be used right so that’s your first list of seven the next list there’s a little bit of overlap here uh if you would turn to 1 Corinthians 12 and by the way let me just point out something um a little bit earlier in Romans 12 don’t leave Romans 12 yet look at verses 1 through3 this is kind of a sets the the stage for spiritual gifts therefore I exhort you Brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice living holy and pleasing to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may approve what is the will of God that which is good and ex and pleasing and perfect for through the grace given to me I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think but to think so as to have sound thinking as God has allotted to each a Measure of Faith this is what we were talking about before this guarding against Pride do not be conformed to the world right the world’s mode of leadership and gifting and all that completely different self-centered self-exalting right which is why Paul gives the exhortation do not think more highly of yourself than you ought that’s what the world does or as Jesus said in another context it shall not be this way among you yep the leaders of the world promote themselves no no we don’t we don’t do that we don’t do that 1 Corinthians 12 starting in verse 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit and to another the word of knowledge according to the Same Spirit to someone else faith by The Same Spirit to another Gifts of healing by the one Spirit to another the workings of mirales to another prophecy and another the distinguishing of spirits to someone else various kinds of tongues just to be clear we’re going to get into this more next week tongues means languages right I think we this is kind of a spill over from the older translations a better translation is languages tongues are nothing but languages which means they’re coherent that’s important we’ll get back to that right and to another translation or interpretation of tongues right so what about these lists do you notice go I’ll go back and look at them again we we’ll just stick with this past one right do we see all of these in operation here today no we do not and there’s a reason for that which we’ll get into we’ll touch on it today we’ll get into it a little more next week 1 Corinthians 1228 last part of the verse te uh Miracles Gifts of healings yeah there we go helps administrations various kinds of tongues again means languages languages so you see there’s a wide variety of gifts right and I’ll say all of which are or were necessary right certainly were all necessary at the time that this was written all right um so let’s talk let’s have a few a bit of discussion here this is a bit of this is kind of covering both of our chapters today are you sure that you are a member of the body of Christ how do you how do you know how’ you answer that question anybody want to take a stab at it Glenda I’m sorry oh go ahead Lea yeah go ahead Glenda yeah body you’re placed in that body we talked about that last week right he has called us right he has baptized us into the body it’s his doing amen Leela you remember okay scripture that says um our witness our spirit Bears witness with his so we yes um Romans 8 I was just praise the Lord I was just turning there right Romans 8 15 and 16 for you have not received the spirit of slavery leading to fear again but you’ve received the spirit of adoption as Sons by which we cry out ABA father the spirit himself Bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God it’s his doing right right and and and and and we are relying on the finished work of Christ we know that I remember asking um a professing believing friend because he was saying some things that were kind of strange to me and I I asked that very question is how do you know that you’re saved because I accepted Christ because I did this and and there was like so much eye in it it was like it was like the opposite of your answer Glenda I was horrified like I don’t know if this person’s saved it’s all about what they did not what about what Christ did for them so we camp on that right and it’s spiritual right this we know in our spirits that we are the children of God right I remember when I first came to Christ things bothered me that didn’t bother my friends I had this heightened sensitivity to to sin things that appealed to my friends did not appeal to me and I felt strange because as a kid you experienced peer pressure and I thought there’s something wrong with me you didn’t realize there was something right with me they God and God was doing so praise the Lord for that uh as such how can you better submit to him as Lord what are some thoughts on that how can you better submit to him as Lord remember we talked last week about he is the head we are the body right as each one does its own individual part submitting to his guidance so what what are some thoughts that you you have on that Mike first KN knowing him yeah think of you never wanted to read the Bible yeah yeah to know pleases him and how do we help others to know him if we don’t know him we talked about this in our men’s group right Jeremiah 9 you know let not the wise men boast of his wisdom let not the rich man boast of his riches not let the Mighty Man boast of his might right but let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me Jesus said this is eternal life that they might know me yeah is that what we think about all the time back to worship right how Lord how can I know you better how can I become more like you yeah yeah and then just think about every decision that we make right is it um is it submitted to him am I asking him Lord what do you want me to do how is your spirit guiding me or am I going rogue right we kind of all go Rogue Jody yeah yeah y yeah yeah if you love me you’ll keep my Commandments yeah so walking in obedience to his Commandments um and never trumping the word our feelings can never Trump the word Proverbs 2826 says he who trusts in his own heart is a fool but He Who Walks wisely will be delivered what this means is you have to fight your feelings sometimes I am amazed at how how my feelings at times have been completely the opposite of reality and I need to trust if you’re a pilot I wish Craig was here he knows about spatial disorientation which means that you are flying and your feelings are the opposite of reality and you need to trust your instruments and not your feelings or you will die I think there’s a spiritual analogy there right yeah amen how as such how are you serving his people how are you serving his people I’m just going to fly through these because we’re bad out of time and and and let be thinking about it even more next week go through that list um how many here I don’t want to put you on the spot if you’re comfortable um feel like you really have you really know what your spiritual gift or gifts are really study this and you have a good sense of it right um if you gone through the membership that should really help you there’s an assessment there that was really really healthy right and then we walk by faith in them I had to be convinced that I had some spiritual gifts like and and and I had a faithful Pastor just put me to to work right away like I’m like I don’t think I can do this you know but he saw it and cultivated and and and lo and behold there it was so we need that kind of help from each other yeah um yeah people certainly AR immediately some are gifted immediately obviously yeah yeah Brothers yeah to know your gifts yeah yeah yeah I had to be told what a couple of my gifts were by by by faithful pastors and and and and one reason in one sense I I was challenged here because it’s like well if that’s true then I need to do something and I’m not sure I’m really willing to do that right so it challenged me in that way I did want to say something quickly to your comment jod about not trusting in our feelings but trusting in the word um it remind me of something that I learned about um Chuck Smith you know know he who he was he was um a founding pastor of Calvary Chapel if you saw Jesus Revolution Kelsey gramar played him in the movie um I wish they had put this in the movie because because I I know this about him that um he said this and and this this is one of the things that really changed him profoundly he said I was trying to do the work of the spirit in the power of the flesh right and he was convicted of that he also wasn’t preaching Expositor some might say he never got there I’ll just leave that one alone but I but I think he he to to to large extent he did I thought I think a lot of his teaching was really I found personally helpful but it’s when he became convinced of that and started preaching Through the Bible that things happen isn’t that interesting isn’t that interesting lastly um Ephesians 4:16 right the proper working of each individual part causing the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love I want you to think about this week we what is the proper working of your individual part in the body of Christ would you do that please do that um no time for Q&A we already did that couple resources right so next week we’re going to get into temporary versus permanent gifts um this is a real positive thing actually it gets a lot of negative press I think um and then the proper exercise of spiritual gifts if you haven’t teed up the audio and it’s uh this link is also in in your notes um teup John MacArthur’s sermon on spiritual gifts it is probably the clearest teaching I’ve ever heard on how we distinguish uh temporary from permanent gifts really helpful so please listen to that this week if you haven’t already and uh some of you have seen the movie cessationist uh that’s I think a must watch as well uh if you get a chance to watch that it’s online that’s that would be really helpful for next week as well all right with that let me pray father I just I’m just amazed um at your perfect design for the church and how it’s expressed even this morning in in our back and forth our Q&A and the things that you’ve put on people’s hearts the ways people are serving um selflessly um humbly um really as your word says Counting others more important than themselves I’m I just praise you for those examples here of people who do that help us help me to be more like that father help us to be in step with your spirit and confident not in self but in your marvelous work to your glory give us a wonderful rest of the Sunday worship hearing your word uh sitting at the Lord’s table um transform Us in ways we could never imagine even this morning in Jesus name amen thank you