SPIRITUAL GIFTS 4
Spiritual Gifts Are To Be “Stirred Up” And Used.
According to I Timothy 4:14s, a spiritual gift can be neglected.
God’s intent is that it be “stirred up,” II Timothy 1:6 through searching the Word of God, giving “thyself wholly” to it, and using it to the glory of God, I Peter 4:11b.
According to Romans 12:6-8, God expects us to concentrate on exercising our gift in the church. This is seen in the words, “let us” and “let him.”
Joy Comes In Exercising The Spiritual Gift.
The Greek word which is translated “gift” in our English Bible is ‘charisma.’ This comes from another word, ‘char,’ which means JOY. (The word ‘charis’ means “grace.”)
Thus we see spiritual gifts in the light of God graciously giving us the desire to do His will – Philippians 2:13.
In Studying The Subject Of Spiritual Gifts, The Word Of God Takes Precedence Over “Experience.”
Isaiah 8:20. If experience is our basis then we logically have to accept all experiences.
If experience is our rule of faith and practice, then we are judging the Bible to be true or false according to our experiece. The Bible is to be our rule of faith and practice in all things, and what we experience is to be judged by the Bible, the Word of God.
If we were to say, “I have looked into the eyes of a man and I saw his soul and he has not been saved; the Bible would judge us on the truth or falseness of that statement.
A PORTFOLIO OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS
A list of spiritual gifts mentioned in the New Testament is compiled from the following Scriptures:
Bible Listing Of Spiritual Gifts.
- Wisdom – I Corinthians 12:8
- Knowledge – I Corinthians 12:8
- Faith – I Corinthians 12:9
- Healing – I Corinthians 12:9,28
- Miracles – I Corinthians 12:10,28
- Prophecy – I Corinthians 12:10; Romans 12:6; I Peter 4:11
- Discernment – I Corinthians 12:10
- Tongues – I Corinthians 12:10,28
- Interpretation – I Corinthians 12:10
- Helps – I Corinthians 12:28
- Governments (Ruling) – I Corinthians 12:28; Romans 12:8
- Ministry – Romans 12:7; I Peter 4:11
- Teaching – Romans 12:7
- Exhortation – Romans 12:8
- Giving – Romans 12:8
- Mercy – Romans 12:8
Bible Listing Of Gifted Men.
Ephesians 4:11
- Apostles
The office of “apostle” has ceased.
Although the Greek word ‘apostolos’ means “sent one,” or “missionary,” the Biblical qualifications for the office of apostle were that they must have been:
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- An Eye-Witness Of The Resurrected Christ.
Acts 1:22; I Corinthians 9:1; 15:8
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- Audibly Called To Be An Apostle By The Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 10:5; Romans 1:1
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- Been baptised by John.
Acts 1:22
For this reason we do not have apostles today. There is no such thing as “Apostolic Succession.”
- Prophets
The office of “Prophet” was two-fold.
The “fore-telling” aspect of the New Testament prophet ceased with the completion of the New Testament Scriptures.
According to Romans 16:26, the human writers of the New Testament were prophets.
- Evangelists
An Evangelist primarily establishes or builds up a church NUMERICALLY through Gospel preaching. (Acts 8:5-12,26-40; 21:8.) He is a “Gospeller” – or a missionary.
- Pastors And Teachers
A Pastor primarily builds up an established church SPIRITUALLY through preaching and teaching the whole counsel of God. (Acts 20:27,28; I Peter 5:1-3.)
According to Ephesians 2:20, the temporary offices of apostles and prophets were FOUNDATIONAL – whereas the permanent offices of evangelist and pastors and teachers are FUNCTIONAL. (These offices are not mutually exclusive – a pastor is to “do the work of an evangelist.” – II Timothy 4:5.)
In Spirit and In Truth The Word 
Evangelism 101
EVANGELISM 101
Quite by accident I stumbled upon an article by Paul Proctor dated January 13, 2010. The pertinent points of this article in my own words are as follows.
A “veteran missionary” is encouraging Christians to employ what is called “The Camel Method” to evangelize, where the Quran is used, instead of the Bible, to share Christ with Muslims – a method that reportedly utilizes “selected verses” and “doesn’t teach or lecture, but asks questions.
This missionary is working to start Christian movements among Muslims in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal… adding that “his goal focuses less on individual conversions and more on starting spiritual movements that will result in thousands of Muslims becoming followers of Christ.”
This “veteran missionaries” statement – “Our generation can’t afford to be satisfied or happy with winning one lost person to Christ. There are so many lost people, we can’t be happy with that.”
Is it permissible to set the Bible aside with this method of “evangelism,” and use a man written book that teaches heresy and presents Jesus as the son of Allah?
Would this be promoted by the leaders of the new spirituality and its church growth movement and thereby enter the “wide gate” and “broad way” by choosing clever methods of “evangelism.” Is this not only incompatible with God’s Word, but also prove these people unwilling to trust God with the increase – ever looking for something more clever, spectacular and impressive to glory in and boast about to a watching world?
It appears to me that this is exactly what dialectically trained facilitators have done for years in many seeker-sensitive and purpose driven churches to draw and hold large and diverse crowds of potential converts with a lot of non-offensive opinion sharing and relationship building in order to find common ground and greater tolerance for one another through compromise and group dynamics.
This is not the Bibles agenda where the Word of God is spoken and the Holy Spirit acts upon that word.
CHURCH HISTORY
Ben Stratton – Landmark southerbaptist@yahoogroups.com.
Spuregon and our Baptist Roots
“As to the Christians commonly called Baptists, we are convinced that they have, more than their brethren, preserved the ordinances of the Lord Jesus as they were delivered unto the saints…the claim ought not to be filched by the church of Rome, but should be left to that community which all along has hel one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. This body of believers has not been existed into temporal power, or decorated with worldly rank, but has dwelt for the most part in dens and caves of the earth – destitute, afflicted, tormented, and has thus proved that it is of the house and lineage of the Crucified…. It would not be impossible to show that the first Christians who dwelt in this island were of the same faith and order as the churches now called Baptists. The evidence supplied by ancient monuments and baptisteries still surviving, would be conclusive in our favour were it not that upon this point the minds of men are not very open to argument.” Charles hadden Spurgeon
(C.H. Spurgeon {1834-1892} was a noted English Baptist preacher, author, and editor. The above quote is from his sermon “Looking For Our Spiritual Roots” delivered at the Metropolitan Baptist Tabernacle in London, England. Notice tat Spurgeon believed the origins of modern Baptists were found in the Anabaptists. He also believed that Baptists/Anabaptists had existed in England since the earliest days.)
Where is the Dollar Headed?
A story by: Dan Weil quotes David Roche, former global strategist at Morgan Stanley and present global strategist at Independent Strateby say the dollar is on its way out, and the euro is on it way in as the world’s main reserve currency.
The reason given is that Europe has amore solid fiscal policy than the U.S. Which continues to add to their huge budget deficits by a total of $1.4 trillion last year.
There are those that disagree. Charles Dumas, chief economist of Lombard Street Research in London, says the euro zone will collapse.
Seems to me the U.S. Needs to get her financial house in order.
A Thought – “Oh the wonder of it all – to think that God loves me” – George Beverly Shea.
AL-GEBRA MOVEMENT….
A teacher was arrested today at john F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule, and a calculator.
At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
“Al-Gebra is a problem for us,” the Attorney General said.
“They derive solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in search of absolute values. They use secret code names like “X” and “Y” and refer to themselves as ‘unknowns,’ but we have determined that they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country.”
As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, “There are 3 sides to every triangle.”
When asked to comment on the arrest, President Obama said, “If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, he would have given us more fingers and toes.”
White House aides told reporters they could not recall a more intelligent or profound statement by the President. It is believed that the Nobel Prize for Physics will follow.
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