Be The Church Week 16

                         1 Corinthians 12

Important Announcements!

Heads up we will be having a CGLM Celebration this Sunday afternoon May 15th at 5:00! We will be meeting at STC! What will we be doing? We will be celebrating all that God has done through our connect groups this year. We will go over our summer calendar. We will share a devotion on finding rest in Jesus. Coffee and Cookies will be provided. Thank you for all that you do in serving the church and building God’s kingdom!

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Theme: When we look into the church of Corinth we see a lot of things we can learn from! They were a messy church, but they were a church alive! As we dive into this book we can learn a lot, whether it be from their spiritual failures or whether it be from their spiritual success. The one thing we learn is that God has called the church to be the hands and feet of Jesus! And it's when the church comes together in unity and lives on mission together that God moves in the most powerful of ways! In chapters 1-10 Paul addresses how the church should live in the world outside the church. In chapters 11-14 Paul addresses Christians on how they should act inside the church! Let's Be The Church!

Major Points:

Spiritual Gifts in the Church!

Every Believer who ever lived became a believer through the working in of Faith by the Holy Spirit of God! He works in us Faith and we work out our Faith! The Holy Spirit brings life change to the Christian! There are many things that He does in our lives from saving us to sanctifying us, and growing us into the image of Christ. One thing that the Holy Spirit does is he gives us spiritual gifts with the intention of serving the body of Christ. (The church). He may give us new gifts that we once did not have before becoming a believer, or He may redeem the gifts that God has already given us when He “knit us in our mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13) to use for Him and His glory!

What we once used to serve ourselves we now use to serve Him and His Church! There are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to Spiritual Gifts. Here are a few things we have to understand in order to understand spiritual gifts inside the church.

1.. Understand God’s Design for His Church.

God refers to His Church as the “Body of Christ!” Every part of the body is valuable!

God is good, and so is His design for His church! 

The Church is about all of the parts of the body doing their part! It’s not about a 1 man show! Paul says there is one head, Christ! There is one Spirit, The Holy Spirit. But there are many people with many parts. This is why unity is so important! When we look at God He exists as 1 God 3 persons. One God with different roles to play. The church should be a reflection of God in how we relate to one another and to how we function in our gatherings. This isn’t a one-man show, this is teamwork. We are all valuable in His kingdom and in His Church!

Question:

Why is understanding God’s design for His church important to know in order to understand How spiritual gifts are to work?

2.. Understand Spiritual Gifts.

There are many misconceptions concerning spiritual Gifts!

Don’t be uninformed! (Ignorant)

The Holy Spirit is our greatest asset! What an awesome gift we have! God in us! Working in us and through us for His Glory! 

As Christians, we all have the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Spiritual gifts are how Jesus continues his ministry on earth. Acts 1:1 says all the works Jesus “began to do.” He is still doing “works”! And He uses His Church, and He uses His Spirit to work in us and through us and He does that through using spiritual gifts that He has given us!

Gifts are given by God through His Spirit!

This is one thing I love about the Holy Spirit. He always comes bearing Gifts! He doesn’t just call us out of something into something greater, He gives us what we need to accomplish what He’s called us into! Spiritual gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit! (12:4)

They are given with the purpose of building up the Church.

God saves us into a family! His family! The faith Family! God doesn’t save us so we continue to do life without him. He doesn’t save us so we can do life in isolation! He saves us into a community.

There are no one-man Wolfpacks in Christianity! No Lone Rangers! 

We are saved into the Church and we are given spiritual gifts to serve the Church.

Every Christian has at least one!

God didn’t forget about you! Your gifting may look different than others, but you do have one.

The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts as He sees fit!

Don’t be jealous of someone else’s gift. Be who God made you to be.

Don’t be prideful about your gift. It is a gift from God for God.

Don’t be selfish about your gift. It’s not about you! Gifts are for service and growth.

Be open-handed! Not close-minded. Gifts can be permanent or temporary. God knows better than you do!

Questions:

What are some misconceptions people (or you) have about spiritual gifts?

How have you seen spiritual gifts done wrongly? How have you seen them taken advantage of?

Have you ever wished you had someone else gifting instead of operating in and appreciating your own? Why is it important that you be whom God has called you to be and do what He has called you to do?

3.. How do we identify and operate in our spiritual gift(s)?

Start Serving!

Stop wondering if you have a gift and start serving God and His Church and you will see your gift present itself! Most of the time we don’t know what we’re good at until we start doing something! As you grow and as you serve God will reveal in you what you are gifted at!

Affinity, Ability, Affirmation

Affinity - What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about?

Ability - What are you good at?

Affirmation - What do others affirm in you?

Challenge!

Ge off the sidelines and get in the game.

God is looking for participators, not spectators!

Questions:

How are you serving the church right now?

What is your spiritual gift? What are you passionate about? What are you good at? What do others see in you?

What is one thing you can start doing to serve a brother or sister in Christ Spiritually?

Pray 

Spend some time asking God to make known to you what your gift/gifts are when it comes to serving the church. Ask Him to give you opportunities to use your gifts to help your brothers and sisters in Christ!