Further, Part 4

Those who have been created new in Christ Jesus have been given His Spirit. And one of the most important roles of the Spirit in the life of a follower of Jesus is to empower us to develop and use our unique gifts, abilities, perspectives, and experiences in the life and mission of the church. You have a role to play in God’s story.

We’re Here For You
Jeremy Riddle

Firm Foundation (He Won’t)
Cody Carnes

Living Hope
Phil Wickham

Pursue / All I Need
Hillsong Worship

John Mark Comer
“How you understand the gospel is the linchpin of how you approach (or don’t approach) discipleship…the fatal flaw of [many modern presentations of the gospel] is that it has no call to apprentice yourself to Jesus…It seems the western church has at times been more careful to avoid ‘works righteousness’ than to avoid sin.”

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A spiritual gift is an expression of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers which empowers them to serve the body of Christ, the church.

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1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

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1 Corinthians 12:11
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

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The Critical Journey
“No one else can prescribe for us at this stage what will be our source of satisfaction in the acknowledgment of gifts or the reaching of goals. These are ours to discover, create, or acknowledge. That is another reason this stage of fruitfulness is so exciting. We discover what we can be and how we can contribute. We are created by God to be God’s resources for others as we discover our own resources.”

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1 Corinthians 12:12-14
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

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1 Corinthians 12:15-21
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

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1 Corinthians 12:22-27
On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

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Spiritual Gift
It is an expression of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers which empowers you to serve the body of Christ.

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Scriptures on Spiritual Gifts
Romans 12:6-8
1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30
Ephesians 4:11
1 Peter 4:9-11

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Practice being before doing.

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The Holy Spirit empowers you.

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Galatians 1:10
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

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Stuck in Stage 3?
1. Your doing is self-centered, not Jesus centered.
2. Your doing is a performance and not an act of worship.
3. Your doing is a burden, not a joy.

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Moving to the Next Stage
1. God, what is going on?
2. God, where are you?

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Moving to the Next Stage
1. Become humble.
2. Become vulnerable.

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