TITLE:
Gifts from God (Part 1)
TEXT:
Ephesians 4:7-10
PROPOSITION:
God
gives the best gifts IF we know how to use them.
QUESTION:
Why?
KEY
WORD:
Gifts
INTRODUCTION:
-
This is a time
of gift giving.
-
Sometimes we
struggle to find the perfect gift for someone.
-
God knows the
perfect gift for all of us.
-
James 1:17
Gifts God has given to His church (11)
-
Apostles
inspired to guide the early church
Received Holy Spirit baptism guided into all truth, revealed and inspired
-
Prophets
to teach the message from God
Before the Bible was reduced to written form church relied on the oral
message of inspired men.
-
Evangelists
those who proclaim the Word
Three terms minister, preacher, evangelist (not titles)
All these terms apply to those who in public and in private teach and proclaim
the gospel.
-
Pastors
shepherds to lead us, guide us in the way of God
Three terms Pastor (shepherd, one who feeds); Elder (wisdom of
age, mature); Bishop (overseer, manager, foreman)
All 3 are used interchangeably in:
-
Acts 20:17
-
Acts 20: 28
-
1 Peter 5:1-2
-
Teachers
to instruct, explain, make application for our lives
Why
God chose these gifts for us (12)
-
Equipping the
saints
We must be able to carry on the work.
To do the work, we need the tools.
-
Work of
ministry
The church is about ministry.
Everything we do is ministry classes, benevolence, worship, nursery,
fellowship, and tape recording of lessons.
Everything this church does MUST be ministry OR we need to stop it.
-
Edifying the
body of Christ
In addition to serving our world, we must minister to the needs of the
Christians.
Many churches focus on evangelism baptizing bring them in the front door.
Just as many leave out the back door.
Other churches focus on status quo keep what we got.
BOTH (evangelism and edification) are important to the survival of the
church
-
Summary
-
We need the
tools.
-
We need to
use the tools.
We need to encourage each other to use the tools.
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