Mosaic Of God

Introduction

Where did you used to play on the playground at recess?

at my Elementary school there were different groups of kids doing different things and most times those activities could show alot about the temperament or personality of those kids.

-kids who played sports soccer, dodgeball, tether ball, football

-Kids who played on the playground equipment

-races across the monkey bars, competition on who can swing the highest

-the boys who were fighting ninjas or aliens or robots (who were obviously invisible)

-Kids who sat and talked all recess

-Kids who didn’t want to go to recess so they purposefully didn’t do their homework so they had to stay inside and work during recess.

ME I wanted to be everywhere so one day I would be in with the sports group, another day with the kids fighting the ninjas or aliens, another day racing across monkey bars or jumping from swings......I wanted to do it all.

Where would you have found yourself on the play ground at recess?

There is a form of therapy called play therapy and the idea behind this form of psychology is that you can learn alot about what is going on in the mind of a child through there playing that they might not verbalize.

-for me I could see that even at an early age I wanted to be with everyone all the time....not much has changed.

-this was not something that was developed or taught, but is how God made me.

Where did you play at recess?

Explanation

1 Corinthians 12:3–12 NLT

So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have. The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.

At first glance you might think this doesn’t sound like the text that should be used for Pentecost Sunday. I thought so too at first.

but lets take a look back at the Acts 2:1-13 scripture and we will see where the foundation was laid for our text today.

-They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them

-there is one spirit that fell on that room and yet because you had 120 different people in the room you had 120 different ways the spirit showed itself that day.

-yes the scripture said that they all were speaking in tongues and that is because there was a message that needed to be spread to all the nations and the Spirit enabled the people for the work that was needed to be done, BUT I WANT US TO LOOK AT ONE THING.

Who got up and did the preaching to the thousand of people? PETER!

-does that surprise anyone that Peter would have been the guy to step up and preach to that masses?

-He was always the first to jump in and start speaking, he stuck his foot in his mouth so much Im sure that he was starting to like the taste of his own feet!

-Peter was someone who was naturally outspoken, loud, quick to speak he was not afraid to say what was on his mind and he didn’t care what you thought of what he said.

-When the Spirit fell on Peter it sanctified Peter for the purpose that God had created Peter for....

-the Holy Spirit didn’t change who Peter was in the core of his being it amplified him and glorified him for the purpose of saving thousands!

What about the other 119 people who didn’t speak publicly according to our text that day?

-perhaps some were answering questions people had about Peter’s sermon

-perhaps some were praying with those who wanted to be saved

-perhaps even some were those who would disciple those and raise them in the faith

I know that there were people who probably never spoke in public the way Peter did, but the Holy Spirit used their gifting for the same purpose to accomplish the same goal and we have never heard their names spoken.

-Even though we have never heard of them....their story still makes up the Mosaic of God.

in a Mosaic there are pieces of colored glass that individually don’t make a picture, but when you put them all together all the pieces create one large picture.

-This is similar to the way the Holy Spirit works in our lives

-God has not created you to do everything, but he has gifted you to do something

-And what he has gifted you in your life that is what he has given you to use for his kingdom.

Fulton J Sheen was an Archbishop in the Catholic Church and his ministry was one that he was in many ways the first televangelist and he said,

“God has given different gifts to different people. There is no basis for feeling inferior to another who has a different gift. Once it is realized that we shall be judged by the gift we have received, rather than the gift we have not, one is completely delivered from a false sense of inferiority.”

The best way we can celebrate Pentecost is to walk in the Spirit listening to his leading and using the gifts that he has placed in our hands to use for saving the lives of those who can’t save themselves and may not know they need to be saved from a life filled with death.

Application

Today we are facing a world that needs the Mosaic of God.

-We have to have the various facets of God’s character working in all places of our world working on all cylinders.

In a world that is filled with injustice and unrest.....what is the gift the spirit has given you?

AS you think about that because there is really no one else in the room except a couple people who didn’t know I would call on them....which I wont. Ill use myself as an example.

The way God has gifted me is to connect with people to engage them in community.

-The little boy who wanted to be with everyone on the play ground, who didn’t like to see someone play alone…God took that little boy and gifted him to connect with people and walk with them in life and through life. What does that mean?

-I long for deep and meaningful relationships and because I fell in love with Jesus and talk with him daily he speaks in and through me to people I connect with throughout my week.

-Through these situations we have seen as a country of the killing of innocent people I have been calling people in our Melwood community to see if they are ok and how they are dealing with these horrific situations.

-If you didn’t hear from me last week you will hear from me this coming week I can promise you that.

-I promise you our board is going to talk about how we can live out what Jesus gave us to live out as the Body Of Christ......”Your Kingdom Come” this week in board meeting.

-As the church we need to always seek the best for the city in which we live and the only way I know how to do that is through relationships.....so Melwood is going to work for the betterment of the communities where we already live and work.

-not programatic, but relational and redemptive ministry.

-You wont see me as your pastor or a person in general Waxing poetic on facebook.....for me it is hard to connect with people in a meaningful way. I was not gifted to do that in ways that redeem

-God has gifted others to write in deep ways that bring understanding and connection through there writing.

BUT IT IS ONLY AS WE WALK IN THE SPIRIT WILL THE FULL EXPRESSION OF WHO GOD GIFTED US TO BE WILL COME TO BEAR ITSELF IN OUR LIVES!