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Pastor David Mitchell
Verses four through six follow along with me. It says now there are divisions. I'm sorry.
There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same
Lord and there are diversities of operations It is the same
God which worketh all in all And I think if you study that carefully, you'll see that verse four ends with the word spirit same spirit
Which is the Holy Spirit? Verse five ends with the same Lord, which is the Lord Jesus Christ and verse six ends with the same
God Which is the Father and we see that God plays a part in these gifts
And that's kind of unknown nowadays in the modern church because in the modern church man is the one who determines who has what gifts and man always seeks after gifts and signs and wonders and man wants to decide what he can do and what he can't do and sometimes men want everybody to be able to do the same thing
And it creates all manner of problems in the church It can in fact create divisions in the church
And so I think this is a very very powerful passage of Scripture to understand and I'm going to come to this
I want to read it as we begin because in the middle of the message this morning I'll come back to this and review it a little bit
But if you weren't here for the first message, you wouldn't understand where we were coming from But that's where it is.
That's the passage that we come from now last Sunday. Let me review that a little bit We were in Romans chapter 11 starting with verse 28 and following and we found out these things
We found out number one that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance That's Romans 11 29
Repentance means that God's not going to change his mind about it That they aren't going to change when
God gives gifts and callings They are without repentance We talked a little bit about what the gifts were they come from the same
Greek word the word grace comes from really Kairis and it goes down to a root word
Cairo, which means to be cheerful and And The Jews always believe that the greatest evidence of the presence of the
Holy Spirit was joy joy and cheerfulness and So we see we talk about these gifts that God gives
Specifically when Jesus ascended into the heavenlies after his resurrection When he ascended it says he gave gifts to men
These gifts are without repentance. God won't change his mind about them We learned also that it is
God who sovereignly disperses these gifts to men We find this as we read on down in the passage in Romans 11 down about verse 33
It says that God disperses gifts to men according to his unsearchable wisdom
Oh The depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out
Sometimes when we look at one another and we have criticism of one another We ought to stop and realize that we're criticizing the very hand of God and the wisdom of God Because he is the one who sovereignly dispenses the strengths to each of us
Which implies that we will also have weaknesses because we don't have the whole package.
Jesus is the only one who did now it's not that it speaks about the weaknesses, but they're implied and So a study along these lines would cause us to look at one another and see our strengths and see
God's hand in each life and see what God placed each person here to do and to focus on that and to speak about that And not to speak about the weaknesses
Anytime we get to the place where we feel like that. We've got to get together and pray over some other brother Who's not there?
We're in trouble Because nine times out of ten We're not praying about the strengths and the gifts
God gave that person and thanking God and praising him for it We're asking God to help the person to be more like us
God didn't make him to be like us He made him to be who he is And so we see in this passage that not only is it
God who disperses these gifts and strengths to one another To each of the people in the body, but he does it according to his unsearchable wisdom
And he does it exactly as he chooses to do it And as we saw in the passage we started out with this morning that the entire
Godhead is involved in it we see that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives the diversity of the gifts and Make sure that they are given out according to God's will exactly in the place in the body where they're needed
We see that Jesus Christ is the one who is the administrator of these gifts and he makes sure that the services
They come out of us because of what's given to us on the inside is right where he wants it to be in the exact Place he wants it to be at the exact time
He wants it to be and then we see that as the father becomes involved and there are diversities of operations
But at the same but the same God which worketh all in all this word operation comes from the
Greek word ergo Which our word work comes from which has to do with energy
So it is the father who supplies the energy and the appropriate amount of it at the exact right time now
I'm sorry If you missed some of the messages we dealt with that particular subject But it really goes a long way to do away with the problem people have today with the gifts which ones of them are operative which ones are not operative if they are all operative and all these arguments that go on and I Myself as as I who was it this talked about debating with me
Oh, that was brother Russ this morning talking about we debate in the office. We debate in Sunday school I mean seems like everywhere
I go there's a debate, but we have joy in those debates Because we're all talking about the
Bible and I remember what we used to talk about before we got saved We sure weren't debating the Bible so This could be something that people debate about and I've been involved in my own number of them
I've had some very strong felt beliefs about these things and God has taught me much
Just in this year about the gifts I believe what's happening here is verse 6 is key where it says and there are diversities of Power this word operations is energy power and that the father is sovereignly responsible for that So as you look at the gifts we tend to look and say whether are they here or not and what we should be looking at is
What amount of power is God putting into that gift on this given day because it's all up to him
So that's enough review about that. I think but it talks about the fact that God sovereignly
Disperses the gifts to men that he does it according to his unsearchable wisdom No one can know
God's mind or give him counsel as to how to do a thing All of that is in that passage in Romans It also teaches us that there's no merit in the strengths that we have
There's no merit If you can sing today, it's not because you did anything. It's because God gave you a gift.
I know that because I can't sing and Anything that you can do for God We can never take pride in it because it's a gift and a calling that God has given us and dispersed
According to his sovereign will for his own purposes, but you know, what neither can is there demerit in weaknesses and That's where we're wrong
We tend to focus on each other's weaknesses Anytime we can find a weakness in a brother.
It makes us feel stronger Anytime I can find a an Unspirituality in a brother or sister makes me feel more spiritual
And we go back to the fact that God is sovereign Don't you think he knows when it's time for a person to learn a certain truth?
Do you think he can learn it without the Holy Spirit and without the Word of God? Do you think you can teach anything to any man?
Do you think you can change any woman? Or any man you can't only
God can and he does it by his spirit in his word God Will call us from time to time to disciple to teach to encourage to admonish
But it all must be done according to his spirit And it all must be done in good faith
And more often than not when we get into that realm of criticism In a critical spirit and looking at our brothers
We are actually questioning God's wisdom as to why he didn't give that brother more strength in that area
We have to really really be careful with those things I believe but we see all that in this passage
The last thing we see in that Romans 12 passages that the gifts differ in Romans 12 verse 6
It says having been gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us Do we not see that the reason we're different is because God has made it to be so He has given each of us a different amount of grace in different areas
According to different gifts that he's given us and he gives us different power to operate those graces
All according to his sovereign will man thinks he has all to do with it, but the more man grows in his knowledge and understanding of the father and Of the word the more he understands that the father's in control.
I Don't know why we would want it any other way. I mean, I know me and I know some of you and some of you know me.
Why would we want us in control? We've been we'd be you know, that ship may not make it back to port
So isn't it wonderful that God is sovereign? now we
Looked at this little area in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 To sum it up.
It basically teaches us that the Holy Spirit creates differences and distinctions of gifts within the body within the church
Where he wills according to his unsearchable knowledge and wisdom for only he knows the mind of God Secondly, we see that the
Lord Jesus Christ the Curios, which is the supreme authority on this earth
Whose special affinity is with mankind as he has always been this way
Remember the verse in Proverbs chapter 8 verse 31 You might want to take a look at it sometime that whole passage is beautiful but it speaks of the
Son of God as wisdom personified and it says Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth and his delights were with the sons of men
So you can go back into eternity past You can go back as far as the human mind will allow us to go and we find
Jesus there Rejoicing in the habitable parts of the earth and his joy was with the sons of men
Jesus Christ has always his focus has been on this planet and on people of God He is the
Curios to see supreme authority Having to do with this realm as a matter of fact with all realms, but specifically with this realm and he is the one who administers the
Dioconia which is the actual Outworking and ministries that come from the gifts that God has given us as we go to do genuine good works
Which can only be done by faith Only be done as the Holy Spirit leads us to do them if we do them for any other motive
They're no good. They burn up burn off on the way up as they say but it is actually
Jesus Christ who administers the services the ministries that we each do and Then we see that is
God the father that supplies exactly the correct amount of energy to empower the work that must be done during each time in God's timetable and As he deals with his own it is the father who supplies the correct amount of energy
What's interesting is we see this word in the English version the operation of God Everywhere where you see this word operation
It comes from the Greek word inner gain of which our English word energy comes from but the root word that it comes from in Greek is
Ergon and Have you ever taken physics before there are a few few folks in here that I think everybody's taking it
None of us remember it because it's been ages ago back in another dispensation when we were in school But you remember the little word erg erg
Yes, I used to love words like that in physics where we had to learn all these things But remember what an erg was an erg was a unit of work
It was a measure of work in the exact definition of an erg It is the unit of work done by the force of one dine
Moving over the distance of one centimeter So it is force over distance do you see how that comes to play in the physical universe that God has created in time and space and So what the father does is he reaches down and he supplies the proper energy for the proper moment as These gifts are exercised in his church.
It's not of man. It's of God We think it's of man, but God is the one who supplies the ergos
The energy in the appropriate exactly correct right amount When man sometimes tries to counterfeit gifts or fake things
He adds too much energy more energy than he needs for the given moment God always does it exactly right?
Let me give you some verses to run through Colossians 2 12 I'll try to give you enough time to look them up if you'd like to do do that and see them as we go
You'll remember a lot better if you see a man here I'm Colossians 2 12 says this I want you to watch for the word operation
And remember that everywhere you see it is this word energy it's the energy behind the work and it comes from God Buried with him in baptism wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God Who had raised him from the dead?
Do you see what this is saying that we are in Christ if we're born again today? We are in Christ.
Not only are we in Christ, but since God is not bound by time He has seen us as in Christ when
Jesus died on the cross and he saw us in Christ when Jesus came out of the grave in fact
The same power the resurrection power that brought him forth from that grave is the very power the energy that's in your life to perform
God's will through good works by faith But he says we were buried with him in baptism
We're in also we are risen the resurrection power is in the life of the believer we are risen with him through the faith of the energy of God this
Supplying of energy this same power that he supplied that brought Jesus out of the grave is in your life today
Some of you don't look like it this morning and I understand why it's much easier to stand up here than to sit out there
But I'm telling you when it comes this week To walking in the path that God has for you
Satan is going to bring all manner of evil circumstances and people but guess who is sovereign over Satan the father
So it all comes from his desk as a favorite teacher of mine said once sitting on the second row
It comes from God's desk and when it leaves his desk, it's good. I love that. That's good stuff
When it leaves his desk, it's good by the time Satan brings it to us. We see it as bad
But there really is no bad thing when you analyze it in that way because you only grow Usually under adverse circumstances
That's when we grow that's when we learn the deepest things about God that we ever learn That's when we get into the word and we find things.
We've read a thousand times and never seen It's when we need the thing and he gives us the energy at the right time
We're buried with Jesus in baptism. We were in him when he died. We were in him when he rose
We are also risen with him through the faith of the energy of God who had raised him from the dead
I want you to notice one little interesting thing the translators when they Translated this from the
Greek they put we are risen through the faith of the operation of God not faith in the operation of God and I like that.
I like that way to render it because the fact is the faith that we have is of it comes from this very energy as we see as we go on this very energy that the father is placed in us as The Holy Spirit gave us these gifts and as Jesus administrates them and as the father
Tweaks up the energy when it's needed or brings it down a little when it's needed That very energy is what gives us the faith that we have
Let none of us ever think we were worked up belief from the flesh None of us ever believed in Jesus in and of ourselves.
He had been pursuing us for a time Before we ever looked in his direction
We just like the Apostle Paul as he walked down that road He was looking to destroy the things of God to kill and to imprison
Christians he was not looking for Jesus But guess who was looking for him?
Jesus was Jesus had to supply the love first. He had to supply the energy first.
He had to supply the faith first He did all of it first Now I understand when we first get saved.
We don't see it that way when I got saved. I thought My my this is the happiest day of my life.
I just accepted Jesus. I finally accepted him and It was all in my power to do and I made the decision and I just got saved because I made that decision
That's what I thought that's fine for a baby to believe that Don't get mad at babies when they believe that way
But as you get into the word and you study the mighty power of God and you go into Deuteronomy chapter 7 and other places you find that the fact is that the day you got saved it's because he loved you before the foundation of the world and he knew you and you were his in his heart and mind and There came a day when just like with Paul The light came on and you looked up and you said
Lord What would you have me to do? That's not what he was saying three seconds earlier. So how did that change take place?
Did Paul do it? Because he's so good or so faithful no God's energy brought faith to Paul's life for the first time in his eyes were open faith repentance and the ear that hears
They're all the same thing and they all happen instantaneously According to the will of God at the right time in the right place
And that's how you got saved even though you thought you did it You know, we really analyze that we know we never would have done it.
Don't we? That's right Praise be to God First Corinthians 12 6.
I want you to look for the word operation and there are diversities of operations
You understand what is saying? There are differences of energy The energy of God the power of God's what we're talking about.
There are differences of Energy, but it is the same God which worketh all in all when we look at a brother who?
Seems to be on fire for God. We shouldn't criticize him for being too charismatic or whatever
There are diversities of energies. I mean even we individually are that way one day
We feel like crying when we hear songs Sung in church another day.
We feel like laughing some days We're just blah because we're probably not right with God on that day.
We're quenching and grieving the Holy Spirit We brought sin in that's unconfessed
But then other days we don't and you feel like jumping on the pew and running around but you don't because you're in a
Baptist Church, and that's okay probably ask you to sit down if you did anyway, but That depends
I probably I might be dancing with you. You never know But only like the Jews dance men with men women with women.
That's how it's supposed to be but There are diversities of energies
But the same God and he does it according to his wisdom and knowledge but all these worketh that one and self same spirit dividing to every man severally as who wills as He wills who's in control of the energy
Who's in control of the gifts? We don't ever have to fake it folks.
Don't ever even go there Please not in this local church But at the same time you don't have to hold back if God's giving you some energy and you know, it's from him
You won't be embarrassed by anyone in this church. You may think you would But I think there are saints all over this church that can sense the real thing when they see it and we're not afraid of the real thing
Ephesians 3 20 take a look at that one Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to what according to the power the energy of God that worketh in us
We think we do a lot don't we but it all comes back to God Every one of these verses we can find in the whole
Bible It says the things that we are doing if they truly are accounting for anything for God if they're true if they're genuine
Then they are according to the power that worketh in us The power from God the same word similar word is the word dunamis
Which literally means miraculous power That's kind of an interesting thing to think about folks and it bears on our topic because I want you to think about this for A moment this verse says now to him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we think or ask
We wouldn't even pray for some of the things that God can do in our lives And he does it according to this power this dunamis that worketh in us now the word worketh is the energy word
The word power is dunamis, which is the power word which literally means miraculous power
There's an interesting place if you go into 1st Corinthians chapter 12 where you study the gifts There's one gifts that's called the gift of miracles.
Do you remember that one? The Greek word for miracles is dunamis Now, well, you know some of us have grown up believing that the you know
The miracles were first century gifts that no longer exist. I've taught that a million times What I've learned as God has taught me the truth is it better exist because it's the very power that worketh in us
The difference is that it has to work according to God's will God hasn't caused one of us in this room lately to touch someone and have them raised from the dead
But I'll tell you what you have that power in you. It's just that you can't turn it on and off You have in this verse where it says in Ephesians 3 20 that he works according to the dunamis
That is energized in us. That word is the gift of miracles.
Isn't that amazing? So you have the same gift that some of the things that you read about that are amazing in the book of Acts And we say well that can't happen now, well it won't happen until God turns the energy up But the
Bible teaches through Joel that in the last days You're gonna see some of the same things happening again that happened at the first advent and you know what?
We're in the last days. We're getting close. Anyway, we believe we are anyway And don't be surprised if you see
God turn the energy up You say well we don't need tongue -speaking well, you know
The fact is that some of the greatest missionaries we've ever had William Carey himself who we know is the father of missions
He he said my gift of tongues is the fact that I God's given me the ability to translate the Bible and over You know 15 or 20 different languages in my lifetime.
He said that's my gift of tongues. He never spoke in tongues You know why God didn't turn the energy on what
God did was he gave him wisdom to translate languages and that was God's will for his life and so folks that think all of this has to be happening and manifested in a certain way or I guess
I would call them Arminians They believe man does it all God is the one who's in control
Isn't it amazing that this power to accomplish whatever God wants to accomplish is already in you right now if you're saved today that power that Dunamis is there and it is energized within us by God according to his sovereign will
At the right time in the right place for his purpose Philippians 2 13 for it is
God which worketh in you it is God which Energizes you both to will and to do his good pleasure.
Do you know that any good work that you do that really counts for God? It is because of this energy
God turned it up just a little bit and he brought the faith in your heart and a an understanding that you needed to do a certain thing perhaps for a certain person or whatever and That came from God and you knew it came from God and it says the fact is it was
God working in you It was God Energizing you both to will in other words to want to do the thing and then to do the thing
Praise be to God. That's where good works come from Do you think that it's the light bulb?
That does all the work or is it the little place you plug it in? It's down there where brother
Jesse works At the power plant And yet man has gotten the place in this day and time in our churches
We have a modern humanistic church today where a man does everything man supplies the energy
And that's why it burns out here I heard a burnout that's where it comes from It's like a little light bulb trying to burn from static electricity rather than being plugged in And that's what so much of the church does today but Colossians 129 says this where into I also labor striving now.
Look how Paul worked. Look how he Do you strove
Deborah? Is it he strove? He did strive he has driven
Look at Paul's workings. I like the word work better. I can conjugate it in Colossians 129
Paul said that he strives according to God's Workings, which is the word ergo, which is the word energy?
Paul only did good works as God energized him to do them and let him know through the
Holy Spirit It's time to do them and gave him the power. God will never ask you to do something
He doesn't give you the power to do it with First Thessalonians chapter 2
And I didn't get the verse unfortunately in my notes, but But as it is in truth the
Word of God Which effectually worketh also in you that believe?
That verse says that God uses the Word of God to bring energy from time to time you ever experienced that in your life
Of course you have the Word of God effectively energizes us
Who believe which verse is it which chapter in verse? Thank you, very good first Thessalonians 2 13
And then Galatians chapter 3 in verse 5 in Galatians 5 and verse 6
Show how faith is tied in with this energy It says he therefore that ministereth to you the
Spirit and worketh miracles. Now, that's the word dunamis This person had the energy turned way up by God But it's asking the question this
Person who ministers to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you Doeth he it by the works of the law in other words?
Can he do this by the law? Could he do this by the flesh? Could he do this by himself? Or does he do it by the hearing of?
faith Now what's amazing is that it's telling us that the energy comes from faith
But Galatians 5 6 says for in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision
But faith which worketh by love The word worketh is the energy it is energized by the love of God in our hearts
And so everything we do Comes from this resurrection power.
It is sovereignly dispersed by God When and where he wants it and with the exact power that he wants it to be
Now we see that this is resurrection power Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 1 in Verse 19
The same power with which Jesus was raised from the dead is in you it is this very word we've been studying
But there's more to it than the resurrection power There's also this thing that happened with the
Ascension now Look at Ephesians 1 19 and 20 carefully and you'll see two aspects and what is the exceeding greatness of his power?
his power to us word who believe According to the working of his mighty power
Do you see our two little words coming into play here at the end of verse 19? The word working is the word ergos.
It's the energy that comes from God and the word power is dunamis power specifically is what's created by the energy and it's what moves us which is what the
Physicist called work in an erg is a measure of work It is it is work over a distance
So it brings it into space and time where we are But the energy comes from a place outside of space and time where we ain't
Except for the fact that we actually are seated there in Christ right now That's how we get our power that part of you
The real you if you're born again today, the new man is actually seated where the power is
Did you hear what I said? The flesh is not
It's down here in space and time and it's that flesh. Unfortunately that we have to move around to get any work done for God If we're going to encourage someone it's a tongue of ours that has to do it
And I'm going to tell you if that tongue Gets out of being connected to the real you that seated in the heavenlies is going to create a problem
Any part of your body can create a problem your flesh Paul said in my flesh there dwelleth
No good thing And the Holy Spirit of God does not dwell in that part of you
He dwells in the new man But if you let that part of you the old man get in control you never know what might dwell there
It might be more than just you you won't like it Others around you won't like it
And that's why the Bible tells us as Christians to resist the devil and he will flee from you
That means you he's there with you as a saved person now this power
Being seated in Christ in the heavenly places It is the working of his mighty power to us word in Verse 20 says this power was wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead
That's resurrection power and then this little phrase and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places
That's ascension power or some call it session power That's the power of Jesus right now.
We spend our lifetime studying the birth of Jesus in the manger We study the death of Jesus on the cross.
We study the burial of Jesus in the tomb We study the resurrection of Jesus and the rock being the great rock being moved away
And the people going in and seeing the grave clothes there as if a body had come out of them
And left them exactly like they were We study all those things we talk about I was saved, you know, when was when did you get saved?
We talked about the past tense of salvation all the time because it's one it's probably the it's absolutely the most beautiful time in our life
But we don't talk about the work that he's doing right now on our behalf today He's seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God is our intercessor as our advocate before the father
He is doing a work on our behalf. He is actually saving us right now. You see we're not just saved
We are being saved and we shall be saved. There are three tenses to salvation taught in the
Bible This focuses in on the present tense when we start looking at the ascension power the session power
What is he doing right now on behalf of his brothers and sisters? well
It says the first thing he did on the way up there was he bestowed gifts to men
I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 4
We're gonna start with verse 1, but let's back up two verses Because it all flows with the same
Topic so look at Ephesians 3 20 Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power
That works with his energy in us Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages world without end
Amen in the very next verse going into chapter 4 begins to talk about this
These gifts that were given to men at the ascension It's all in the context of the very verse that we read on resurrection
Sunday about the fact that as he Ascended into heaven. He gave gifts to men. He gave gifts to men and this is the context
We find it in first of all, we see in verse 1. I Therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherein you are called
These gifts were given to us in God's mind as Jesus ascended into heaven because he's not bound by time
They come to us in time by the Holy Spirit at exactly the right time from our vantage point on earth
And the Bible teaches us and instructs us that we are to walk worthy of the vocation wherein we are called the vocation means the calling the gifts and Callings of God that came to us.
He's not going to change his mind and take them away He's given those to us and we are called to walk worthy.
The Greek word means suitably We should walk in a suitable appropriate fashion in the church together
Based on the gifts and the calling that God has given us Secondly in verse 2 it says if we do that it will create humility
Because it says with all lowliness and meekness with long -suffering. We'll have patience with our other brothers and sisters
Because we don't assume for a moment that God's given them the gift. He's given me He's given them different gifts so when we see that the very things that we do the only way that we can do them suitably is because of the
Energy that God gives us in the gifts. He's given us it creates humility We have lowliness and meekness because we know we didn't do these things.
We remember how we were in the flesh We remember how we can be today and tomorrow in the flesh if we dwell in that realm.
We're not supposed to The old man is crucified, but sometimes we don't believe
God we believe the devil Who tells us it's alive again? And so we believe
God will walk right we walk in the Spirit and it brings humility and lowliness and meekness
Because we know where these things come from they come from the hand of God It also brings long -suffering patience with our fellow man
And then we see in the second part of verse 2 that it says forbearing one another in love
When we get our proper understanding of the gifts and the callings and the differences
Diversities that the Holy Spirit the Son of God and the Father bring into our lives
It causes us to forbear one another in love. This is an interesting Greek word It literally comes from two little words one means up and the other means to hold so it means to hold up So as we understand
God's hand in our lives and God's hands in each other's lives It creates an attitude of lifting one another up rather than tearing one another down We can see the areas of strength sometimes
Where God brings us gifts and strengths, but we're very well aware of the weaknesses in our own lives
And yet we like to point those out in our brothers and sisters But we don't want them to point ours out because it doesn't feel good and it's not edifying So we must remember
That this entire teaching should cause us to forbear one another one of the
Greek definitions Literally means to put up with that funny Put up with one another
But it literally means to lift up one another. I Kind of like to put up with definition myself
That's what you all do with me Verse 3 says endeavoring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace You see a proper understanding of the gifts and callings of God throughout the body and the diversities of such
Creates a unity in the church It allows each of us to know that there's information and knowledge that some of us have that others don't have yet There's information and knowledge that We may have that the others don't have yet God teaches you personally as an individual when he chooses to you know that you've read passages of scripture a hundred times and all of a sudden last week the light came on and you learn something from it and you
Feel like nobody else ever knew what you just learned But probably some people already know it Sometimes they don't though But where'd it come from is the point who turned the energy on that gave you the faith to understand that verse at that moment
So can we take pride in it? Can we be worried if the others don't understand it and they just don't get it yet.
They'll get it when God turns theirs on And so what does it do? It creates a tremendous unity in the body
Endeavoring endeavoring means to use speed in the Greek to use great speed to do it in a hurry hurry up to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace and And so we see this word bond is the word ligament it ties everything together in the church
And it closes with this idea in verse 4 There is one body one spirit even as you're called in one hope of your calling you see the unity
He's teaching on unity here One Lord one faith one baptism one God and father of all who is above all through all and in you all he's teaching on Unity and yet he just got through teaching about diversity
But he says the thing that brings the unity is Understanding that it's the Holy Spirit in his wisdom and the wisdom of the father and the wisdom of the son
Who bring the gifts and the diversities? Who farm them out at the right time and who energize them?
It's all God and we fight against God when we don't accept these things So we need to have unity understanding that it's all by God's grace that any of us are saved that any others are here
That any of us are walking with the Lord But until every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ No pride in that You see that every person has a different measure
You can only do according to the measure that you've been given today You can seek to grow and we ought to seek to grow and we will grow because that's another part of the
Holy Spirit's job Is to grow us And so I think that closes our study very well, and I think to sum it up I would say what
I wish more pastors understood Is that sometimes we try to overtake
His job in each other's lives and we try too hard Usually it's because we care for each other
Usually it's because when we see a brother at the edge of a cliff it frightens us We're afraid for the brother
But we fall in weakness of faith at the point when we think that God can't keep him from going over the cliff
So we ought to pray for that brother And sometimes it requires fasting
But always realizing that the Holy Spirit is the one who does the work and it's his children anyway and his servants anyway
And it's really up to him ultimately to do the correcting and the growing and the moving and the changing and the gift -giving and the calling as He chooses to use us to speak a word to a brother or sister
That's fine as long as according to the scriptures and according to the moving of the Holy Spirit in your life But never overtake his ministry in the lives of each other let him work realize the priesthood of the believer
Realize that if God changed you and got you where you are. He's doing that with everybody else. It's his too Let's stand and have prayer together
Father we thank you for your word. We thank you for the way that you
Instruct us clearly You teach us to accept your gifts
And to realize they're from your hand and that there can be no pride in that And we thank you for the power of the resurrection that you've placed within our lives to keep us from sin to Eliminate certain sins from our lives so that we don't continue in them
And also as you ascended you gave us gifts on the positive side to work works for you according to your will
Thank you for each brother and sister in this place today Thank you for molding together this local body with the specific members and giving them the specific gifts that each is supposed to have
Help us to put up with one another Because it's the right thing to do
Help us to understand that each person is exactly where they're supposed to be today according to God's sovereign will because you are in control
We're not what we're supposed to be in the future, but we're what we're supposed to be today And help us to seek your face
Seek your knowledge and wisdom from the Word of God Seek that special walk of fellowship with the
Lord Jesus Christ that we have by the Holy Spirit's work in our life That we might truly be different tomorrow than we are today and be more like him
Father we ask you to go with us into our time of fellowship and bless the meal We're about to have and we ask it in Jesus name.