Tag: Spiritual Gifts

Why did God give gifts?

Part of the reason for the incarnation was for Jesus to reveal the Father. He told Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Luke opens his gospel with a statement of purpose. Theophilus could have certainty about the things he had been taught. In his second volume, the book of Acts, Luke refers to the thing Jesus began to do and teach and illustrates that through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Jesus will continue to minister to the world and his people through the church, his body. 

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The triune God gifts his people

Our God is a God of variety. When he distributes his gifts, those gifts don’t limit us to some confining box and restrict us from being who we are. In fact, when we understand our gifts from God and give ourselves to those gifts, we are “who we are” more than at any other time. We are living according to God’s unique intended purpose for our individual lives.

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How to live in chaotic times

We always have a choice. We can either retreat into our place of safety (which is really not safe but puts off the inevitable). Or we can be servants of the kingdom of God and risk. In reality, the greater risk is to retreat. Retreat results in isolation, and none of us does well alone. We are social creatures, and as believers in Jesus, we are members of his body. Have you ever known of a severed hand prospering? How about an eye-ball removed from its socket? Does it see well? Severed body parts die. So, according to the analogy, members of the body of Christ that retreat are effectively severed from the body and die. I’m not saying that they lose their salvation and go to hell. I am saying they will shrivel up and be of no value to the kingdom of God.

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Variety from the Triune God

I have heard it said that if you emphasize spiritual gifts, you will be putting everyone in a spiritual box and destroying the freedom to act as individuals. If anyone believes that, I can only assume they have a minimal understanding of how God manifests himself through the gifts he has given to the church in individual persons.

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My story in brief…

Christ first came into my life at the age of 5 during a series of evangelistic meetings in our tiny country Quaker church house in Gate, Oklahoma. Since then it has been a process of “Stumbling forward by grace, through faith in Christ.” I experienced a significant personal revival at the age of 19 and have been much in love with the Lord ever since…five decades-plus.

My passion is to enjoy the Lord by encouraging others to make progress in their lives…living life successfully. I do that primarily through my disciple-making efforts and through my writing.

I spent about 20 years in public ministry and at the age of 40 decided that I had allowed my passion for ministry to impede my prior duty to my family, so I stepped aside. I found a new career as a financial advisor and now make my living serving my financial planning clients.

I now consider myself to be a bi-vocational minister of the gospel.

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