4%20Spiritual%20Principles%20Concerning%20Spiritual%20Gifts

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4 Spiritual Principles Concerning Spiritual Gifts

• 1 Corinthians 12

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• One of the primary aspects of church leadership
  is how it seeks to develop each individual in the
  church to realize the fullness of Christ within
  them.
• One of the biggest aspects to Christian growth is
  the proper use of spiritual gifts within the
  church

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• All true use of Spiritual Gifts results in the
  glorification of Christ

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• It is important because it ties in very closely
  with their spiritual growth both individually and
  corporately as a church.
• It was unfamiliar to them because the Corinthians
  were primarily Gentiles
• As pagans they could do whatever their debased
  and sinful nature wanted to do.

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• These people were Stoics or Epicureans. Both
  these systems of philosophy were evolutionary
  based.
• With no desire to please a holy God to what
  depths will an unregenerate heart descend?
• Paul wants to make a strong contrast between what
  they knew previously and their situation now as
  Christians.

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• Paul is telling the Corinthians that in contrast
  to the way you used to serve your god, where
  anything goes, as a Christian, whatever you do
  will never belittle or derogate Christ, and
  contrary-wise any true ministry, under the
  direction of the Holy Spirit will always glorify
  Him.

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The Triune God is sovereign over the Gift
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• Notice that there are three phrases each phrase
  mentions that there are varieties of something
  and each phrase mentions a member of the Trinity.
• But I believe that we can say that in contrast to
  the pagan doing whatever he wants to do We have
  the Triune Lord God of heaven in sovereign
  control of us to use us to glorify His Son.

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• Just think about it, Here is the God of the
  universe, who has gifted you and me, placed us in
  the exact position where He wants us to minister,
  both in the church and in our jobs, and equipped
  and empowered us to do that task for Him a task
  which He from eternity past decreed that we would
  do.

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• Each and every saved individual has a gift or
  gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit. There is
  not a single Christian left out.
• Every individual is gifted so that everyone else
  in the church will benefit from that gift.

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• I have heard people say of their gift, It makes
  me feel so good, I pray better . That entire
  attitude is wrong and sinful and will come out as
  wood, hay and stubble.
• The third issue here is Who is in charge of the
  distribution of the gifts. It is the sovereign
  Lord God in the person of the Holy Spirit that
  chooses for us exactly what gift we have.

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• Here Paul introduces his metaphor comparing the
  church to a human body.
• Paul is going to extend this illustration with
  two absurd and silly examples to confront
  problems within the church.
• First Problem Jealousy.

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• That is exactly what we are doing when we say, I
  cant preach like . I cant sing like . I cant
  do anything in the church. No you cant preach or
  sing like anyone else.
• There is not one ministry in the church, but
  many. That is why all of us arent eyes.

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• Second Problem Arrogance
• One of the dangers of being a pastor is that we
  have so many people listening to us and believing
  what we say, we get enamored with our own
  importance.
• The entire body ministers to itself by each
  member caring for each other member.

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• Paul ends this section by listing in an order of
  priority various gifts within the church

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Lessons for our Lives

• The ultimate product of our lives is to glorify
  Christ. What a great privilege it is to know that
  if we do what we are designed to do, because we
  desire to please the Lord, the Holy Spirit will
  ensure that will happen. We cannot fail if we
  just seek to serve Him.

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Lessons for our Lives

• Arent you glad the Lord does not save us then
  abandon us to muddle through this world on our
  own? He is intimately involved in every aspect of
  our life, leading us, teaching us all things.

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Lessons for our Lives

• This is true to the point that He has designed
  and built and gifted you exactly as He would have
  you to be. There is not another person like you.
  As such there is not another person who can do
  things you can do in the way you can do them.
  That is not merely humanistic flattery talk.
  There is a real responsibility to follow through
  and serve. There are great blessings to be
  enjoyed by those who do serve as He would. There
  is great sorrow ahead for those who choose not
  to. Question How do I know how I am gifted?
  Answer Not Spiritual Gift Assessment tests
  Just serve however you can and pay attention to
  how God uses you.

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Lessons for our Lives

• Remember we are all one body. God has formed us
  together to minister to one another and care for
  one another. Dont think of yourself as superior
  or inferior to anyone else within the church.
  Just different from everyone else within the
  church equipped uniquely to accomplish the task
  God from eternity past formed you to do.