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Sunday – October 22, 2017 Series Week Six: “Spiritual Gifts in the Meeting of the Church”

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Sunday – October 22, 2017 – Read the Word on Worship

Sunday – October 22, 2017 Series Week Six: “Spiritual Gifts in the Meeting of the Church” from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

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SERIES: “The Church- Can We Have It Our Way?”
Week six: “Who Thought Pickles Belonged on That?”

Word On Worship – Sunday – October 22, 2017 Download / Print

1 Corinthians 14:39-40
“Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”

There is great debate in the Church today over the use of spiritual gifts in the meeting of the Church. All too often we try to restrict and control the use of the gifts in such a way as to make them seem like we are college students trying to decide on a career choice. We must revise our thinking concerning spiritual gifts. Most often the subject of spiritual gifts is taught in this way: We all have a spiritual gift or gifts. We are to study the Scriptures to find out what the list of options are and how each gift is defined and recognized. Then we must determine what our gifts are and develop them. Finally, we are to find a ministry where our gifts can be put to use.

While there is some truth in this view of gifts, it does not seem to square entirely with what Paul teaches about spiritual gifts. If all of the spiritual gifts are not listed in the New Testament, there must be other gifts as well. All of the gifts are not neatly defined (e.g., the “word of wisdom” and the “word of knowledge” in our text). Further, the form these gifts take (ministry) and the fruit (results, effects) are not the same for those who have the same gift(s).

I suggest we reverse some of our thinking and reject much of the remainder. God has given us a number of clear commands such as those outlined by Paul in Romans 12:9-21. Let us begin by focusing on these commands, and obey them in whatever circumstances God brings our way. In the process of obeying His commands, we will discover that God has given us a ministry, a place of service. Rather than waiting to know our gifts and then seeking to serve God and His church, let us do the things God has commanded, trusting Him to empower us and produce supernatural results through His Spirit. We should give priority to those aspects of ministry which God has given us in which the power of His Spirit is evident. This does not always mean “success” as the world defines success. It is where spiritual fruit has been produced, where the gospel has been proclaimed, and where God has been glorified. Let us not agonize over the name or the label of the gift, but let us strive to develop the gifts God has given us (2 Timothy 1:6), and employ them as good stewards of the grace of God (1 Peter 4:10-11). Let us never take credit for what God has accomplished or take pride in God’s work in us or measure spirituality by one’s gifts.

Let us be confident that if we are a Christian, God has an important place of service for us, and He will provide us with all the means necessary to fulfill our calling. Spiritual gifts assure us that the body of Christ needs us and will suffer without us. Spiritual gifts enable us to do what God requires of us.

Sunday – January 20, 2012

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January 20, 2012 – Read the Word on Worship

Jesus & The Original Occupy Jerusalem Movement from Sunrise Community Church on Vimeo.

Sadly most readers, and many commentary writers, are shocked to read that Jesus could be so spiteful to curse a poor fruit tree. Instead of seeing the guilt of an unproductive tree in full leaf, many people instead think Jesus is being irrational and petulant as He curses the tree. Yet would they wring their hands in disbelief when a chicken farmer assigns a chicken that no longer produces eggs to the stew? What we fail to see is both the fig tree and the activities of the temple failed to produce the very thing they created to produce. The tree was created to produce figs and the temple was created to be a house of prayer for all nations. What should the Master do when the when the proverbial chicken does not produce what it was created to produce?
Join us tomorrow as we continue in our study of the Gospel of Mark as we look at “Jesus and the Original Occupy Jerusalem Movement” from Mark 11 verses 12 to 26.

Word On Worship – January 20, 2012 Download / Print

Mark 11:12-14
“On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.”

The last miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is the most unusual. For the first time, a miracle of Jesus brings about death, not life. Needless to say, this raises many questions. How is it that Jesus can tell the disciples where to find a colt tied up from outside the city and yet He can’t see from a distance whether a tree has edible fruit? How is Jesus able to feed five thousand people with five fish and two loaves but one fig tree frustrates Him to the point of cursing it?

Sadly, most readers and many commentary writers are shocked to read that Jesus could be so spiteful as to curse a poor fruit tree. Instead of seeing the guilt of an unproductive tree in full leaf, many people think Jesus is being irrational and petulant as He curses the tree. Yet would they wring their hands in disbelief when a chicken farmer assigns a chicken that no longer produces eggs to the stew? What we fail to see is that both the fig tree and the activities of the temple failed to produce the very thing they were created to produce. The tree was created to produce figs and the temple was created to be a house of prayer for all nations. What should the Master do when the proverbial chicken does not produce what it was created to produce?

Jesus has taken the place of the temple during His ministry. Jesus announced in John 2 that He is the Temple. From there, Jesus proclaims throughout the gospels the forgiveness of sin, healing for the sick, and the restoration of people to society. He has replaced the tables of the money changers, where worshippers had to pay for atonement, with the Lord’s Table, were He presents the free offering of His life on the cross as payment for the forgiveness of sins to all who come to the Father through Him.

And that leaves one last question for you and me. What were we created for? Were we merely created to make sure we make arrangements with God to get our fire insurance in order? Or should we have learned from the parable of the soils in Mark 4 that the desired end is for our lives is to be people of the fourth soil producing fruit? The Lord is very serious about His people growing in maturity so that we produce good fruit. Do not miss the lesson of the fig tree. Realize how God deals with things that do not produce ­– especially when they outwardly profess to be fruit bearing.