The Make-Up of the Church The Gifts Part 1

10-07-2018

Make up of the church pt 3

Welcome

Intro - recap

The first week we spoke on the fact that the church as described in scripture is made up of alot of different parts

which means and translate to Maranatha, not everyone is going to look the same and or act the same

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NASB95

12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.

verse made up of different parts

We will not have the same gifts, we wouldn't be a church if we all had the same gifts

And then last week

we really looked if we are made up of different parts what that means for church

If we will be successful as a church with our calling as a church

which is to share the Gospel

If we want to be able to do that

We will have to work together as different members apart of the same body

Church did you hear me

We need to be unified as a body of Christ

Philippians 2:1–5 NASB95

1 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, 2 make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

Verse from last week

So for this week

Your challenge since the first week was to take a spiritual gifts test

you understand this test is not scripture and does not take the place of scripture, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit will use those test to help guide you individually

This morning our plan is not to cover every spiritual gift

but to cover a few

Last week I shared that when I took the test what my results were

I hope you have taken the time to be series and take that test

I hope you have also spent sometime reading and looking over those different gifts

I also hope you have spent sometime in prayer asking God to give you wisdom in using those gifts

The first gift may actually be the toughest gift we talk about this morning

So lets get it out of the way early

Apostleship

maybe most of us hear that and begin to question it

I completely agree with you

See when I hear Apostleship

I think Apostle and begin to think of how I define that

I believe the men who sat directly under the teaching from Jesus were Apostles

So then I begin to question well how then could someone here today be an Apostle, well they couldn't and they would be just Disciples

But we not talking about disciples as a Spiritual Gift we are talking about Apostleship

Apostle was given to the sent person with a message

In the NT which is where Apostle and Apostleship come from is given to those Jesus sent with the Gospel Message

Apostleship as defined as the spiritual gift is the gift to go with a mission, to lead and grow new churches

Did you see the word lead in there

Acts 15:22–33 NASB95

22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas—Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren, 23 and they sent this letter by them, “The apostles and the brethren who are elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the Gentiles, greetings. 24 “Since we have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls, 25 it seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 “Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. 28 “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: 29 that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.” 30 So when they were sent away, they went down to Antioch; and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 When they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message. 33 After they had spent time there, they were sent away from the brethren in peace to those who had sent them out.

The Apostleship gift is to lead people to sending people to growing the kingdom

Now what you may have just heard is that if I dont have this gift then I must not be a good Christian because that would mean I don't want to share the good news

That is absolutely not the case it just means that Jesus has equipped others with a gift of sending others or going out themselves with the Gospel

Did you also see in that passage that the church was unified with the same mind

Again church, if they are going to accomplish the goal of sharing the Gospel then we need the many many different parts to work together

Those of you who have the Apostleship gift we will be talking and working together as we move forward with missions

Right now our church is doing one conversation, that would be a great opportunity for you to exercise your gift

also we are looking to partnering with Mike and Tish to send people down to Colombia to share the good news

that would be another great way to exercise your gift

I want to be careful not to say this is the only way in Maranatha that you will be able to exercise your gift because I have learned that God is still very much in charge

The next gift this morning I wanted to talk about is

Discernment

This one may be a bit easier than Apostleship but still very much needed and very much important

Defined is the ability to look into a situation, problem, or person or whatever and see the falsehood

We commonly refer to this person as a person who is good at reading people

But that is not just it to read people, I believe discernment is the ability to look at life and see the falsehood, to see those wolves in sheep clothing, to see those false prophets rising up

Peter is going to exercise the gift of discernment

Acts 5:1–11 NASB95

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it. 6 The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. 7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter responded to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?” And she said, “Yes, that was the price.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.” 10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things.

This person is important because the rest of us don't see the same things they see

We don’t see that we are headed down the wrong path, but with the gift of discernment they see that we are following the wrong leader, or teacher, or agreeing with the wrong things

Here at Maranatha this gift is used heavily within our leadership I believe

Not just the elders and deacons but within the leaders of ministry, because those are the people who are searching and directly and leading those ministries

But like we said early, we need those gifts used properly, and in the unity of the Church

The next and final gift we will look at this morning is the gift of exhortation

Exhortation

If you are like me you immediately thought exposition which means you are able to explain an idea or theory comprehensively

Those to are not the same

Exhortation is the ability to encourage one another

see those two are competely different, not even the same

Exhoration is to encourage others and to urge them on in their walks with Jesus

Paul was an encourager and an urger, I believe that Paul had the gift of exhortation

Acts 14:22 NASB95

22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

This gift is important because this is the gift that encourages the rest of us when we are hurting or struggling, or it has been a long road and we are simple ready to give up

This is the gift that is often always smiling and loving on you

Here at Marantha this gift is used by almost anyone and everyone

With as many moving parts I believe that maybe someone serving in each ministry there is someone who is exhorting either the team or leader at Maranatha

The disclaimer this morning is not to highlight just these and say these are the best, because they are not, it is not to say that if you don't have these then you are a second class christian no it is simply to share with you a few of the gifts, in hopes of urging you on in your walk

Closing

It may not seem that we have shared the good news with you here today but we have

see none of those gifts are possible with God giving us the Holy Spirit

The only way you will experience the Holy Spirit is by having Him in your life

Maybe you are here today and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and you have some question or maybe you want Jesus

I want to invite to the front, there will be people here to talk with you and pray with you and share scripture with you about how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus

maybe you need to make another decision of church membership or baptism

maybe you simple need to pray

the altar is open