God has given you spiritual gifts for the express purpose of ministering to one another and you literally owe it to them to use your gifts in this way! Because God has made us as one Body, we are to function in interdependence upon one another.
God gives us what we need for what he has called us to do and where he has placed us. We shouldn’t feel jealous if God has given someone else greater gifting than us. He gives to each one according to his purpose and his will.
Every ability, whether it be natural talent, skills we have acquired, or spiritual gifts given directly by the Triune God are not our own. Everything that we have is a gift of God’s grace whether he created us with those gifts or endowed us with spiritual gifts at conversion or later. It is silly to be proud of something given to you as if you earned it or deserved it. It is by God’s grace.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2 Paul begins by challenging us to not be conformed to this present age. The world we live in sometimes stands in open hostility […]
Some religions thought it didn’t matter what you did with your body if your heart attitude was good. Paul would have none of that. He says God wants all of you, body and soul.
“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34 This verse comes at the end of a very familiar passage of Scripture. This is a part of the Sermon on the Mount and in this section, Jesus is admonishing us to not be anxious about […]
“But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6)
We need to hear and believe God’s word then we must respond to it in faith. Is there a sin to confess? Is there a behavior to begin? Is there a promise to hold? Is there an attitude to adjust? If we come to God’s word but it does not change us, we have deceived ourselves and are only hearers of the word and not doers.
Word and Spirit should always go together and never be separated. If you seek the Spirit of God apart from the word of God, you will find yourself seeking after “signs” and falling into emotionalism. If you see the word apart from the Spirit, you will end up in a dry and dusty dead orthodoxy without life or vitality.
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 C.S. Lewis, in his book The Four Loves, makes this observation: “To the Ancients, Friendship seemed the happiest and most fully human of all loves; the crown of life and the school of […]
