Pastor Danny’s message
1 Corinthians 12 shares, Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. 4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.
11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
I invited us to explore the power of prayer, community, and grace in these last weeks. Now I want us to shift a bit- what gifts do you bring to the table? For the Scripture shares we all have one (or maybe more) and the Spirit blesses us with them. As we consider our future as the church- we will spend some personal time identifying our own!
I want us to focus on three words in the month ahead: PRAYER, POWER, and PURPOSE.
What do each of these words mean to you as we think about our gifts? One thing that was shared with me recently is I have a gift for teaching and organization. I like to believe those do help me as I consider the church and even my classroom. The purpose? I like to help others and find connections. And we can consider gifts powerful, but I hope we realize that all good things come from the power of prayer and the power of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirt! So again, I ask you this day- what POWERS do you have? Let us not think it was all self-made. We know the real power and it is complemented by prayer and knowing our purpose: We are called love one another. We are called to make disciples. How can we do this together as the church? -In Him, Pastor Danny