(#417) Romans 12 - God Fills Our Spiritual Gifts With Love

/Welcome To 

BARAH MINISTRIES

a Christian Church

Rory Clark

Pastor-Teacher\

 

Good Morning!

 

Welcome to Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference worldwide courtesy of the internet…Barah Ministries…a Christian Church that makes a difference locally in the Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler, AZ communities.  My name is Pastor Rory Clark.  At Barah Ministries, our God is the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and we teach the Word of God from God’s perspective…not from man’s perspective.  

 

Matthew, Chapter 22, Verses 34 to 40 say this…

 

/MATTHEW 22:34

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.\

 

/MATTHEW 22:35 

One of the Pharisees, a lawyer, asked Jesus a question, testing Him…\

 

/MATTHEW 22:36 

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Mosaic Law?”\

 

He’s “testing” the Person who WROTE the Mosaic Law.

 

/MATTHEW 22:37 

And Jesus said to the lawyer, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…and with all your soul…and with all your mind.’”\ 

 

/MATTHEW 22:38 

“This is the great and the foremost commandment.”\

/MATTHEW 22: 39 

The second is like it, “‘You shall love your neighbor unconditionally as you love yourself…unconditionally.’”\

 

/MATTHEW 22:40 

“On these two commandments depend the whole Mosaic Law and all the teaching of the Prophets.”\

 

The Beatles had it right! All we need is love.  And in the realm of your spiritual gift, nothing is truer. All you need is love.

 

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Fills Our Spiritual Gifts With Love\

 

Your spiritual gift is like an M&M.  It’s got a tough shell on the outside, but on the inside it is filled with deliciousness. For an M&M the deliciousness is the chocolate.  For your spiritual gift, the deliciousness is love… unconditional love.  All we need is unconditional love.  Some of you, of course, are like the other M&M’s…the one with a nut inside.  J

 

As we continue our look at spiritual gifts, we must remember that they are powered by divine omnipotence, and like an M&M, the spiritual gift is filled with the deliciousness of reflecting God’s unconditional love…especially within our own house…to other believers in Christ in our own congregation.  Welcome to a place where you can experience the deliciousness of unconditional love if you so choose…first giving it…then receiving it…and then being a perfect reflection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the giving and in the receiving.

 

Well Psalm 37, Verse 1 says…

 

/PSALM 37:1

Do not fret because of evildoers…do not be envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb.  Trust in the Lord and do good…\

 

The wicked are unbelievers, yet there are many times when believers in Christ act like unbelievers by adopting the thinking and the action of unbelievers…and this conduct is even more maddening than when

unbelievers engage in it. No matter…Psalm 37, Verse 4 reminds us…

 

/PSALM 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.\

 

God ALWAYS vindicates the righteous.  He is not partial in any way.  He uses each and every heartbreak to teach us the lessons of forgiveness and grace and unconditional love.  He bids us not to get angry.  He wants us to turn over our thoughts and feelings to Him for resolution…because God always considers our problems to be His responsibility.  

 

We have every confidence that our God powers our spiritual gift with His unconditional love.  We are to use that spiritual gift to heal the broken among us.  The best way to help a person heal is with love.  First John, Chapter 4, Verse 8 says…

 

/FIRST JOHN 4:8

The one who does not love unconditionally does not know God the Father, for God the Father IS (in His very being) unconditional love.\

 

Here’s June Murphy to remind us how much our God loves us with her song, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BEG.

 

/MUSIC AND REFLECTION

Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ

Enjoy the Singing of His Praises

 

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BEG

June Murphy\

 

/OPENING PRAYER

Let us pray...\

 

Almighty God and Father…thank you for allowing us to be in Your presence…because You promise us that whenever two or more of us are gathered in Your name you are there in our midst…we appreciate Your knowledge of our human frailties…and we are so happy that You don’t see any of them…instead You see your own righteousness in us…a perfection You installed in us at the moment of salvation…

Teach us in such a way that we remember and never forget that there is no mountain in this life that is high enough and there is no valley in this life that is low enough to keep Your unconditional love away from us…help us to rest in Your love and to drink it up every day…in our receiving unconditional love from You, let us pass it on to others, especially those in our congregation family, giving just as You would expect us to…

 

…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ’s

name...Amen.

 

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Fills Our Spiritual Gifts With Love\

 

We’re studying the fourth passage of Romans, Chapter 12…Verses 4 to 8…and Verse 3 is the apostle Paul’s lead in to the spiritual gifts…

 

/ROMANS 12:3 

For through the grace given to me by God the Father (the grace gift of being an apostle…Paul’s spiritual gift), I (Paul) say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think…but to think so as to have sound judgment…the thinking that’s in line with the measure of faith given to you by God (your spiritual gift).\

 

/ROMANS 12:4 

For just as we have many members in one human body and all the members

of our human body do not have the same function…\

 

/ROMANS 12:5 

…so we believers in Christ…who are many…are one body in union with Christ…and individually we are members one of another.\

 

/ROMANS 12:6 

Since we each have a spiritual gift (charisma) that is different according to the grace (charis) given to us by God…each of us is to use the spiritual gift accordingly…if he has the spiritual gift of prophecy (for preaching the Word of God)…he is to exercise the gift according to the proportion of his faith…\

 

/ROMANS 12:7 

…if he has the spiritual gift of service…he is to exercise the gift in his serving…or he who has the spiritual gift that teaches…he is to exercise the gift in his teaching…\

 

/ROMANS 12:8 

…or he who has the spiritual gift to exhort, he is to exercise the gift in his exhortation…he who has the spiritual gift that gives…he is to exercise the gift with liberality…he who has the spiritual gift that leads…he is to exercise the gift with diligence…he who shows mercy, he is to exercise the gift with cheerfulness.\

 

What is your spiritual gift? How are you using it?  One thing that is funny about the spiritual gift. It does not require anything of others. It is exercised with unconditional love. UNconditional love has NO conditions. Spiritual gifts are filled with unconditional love.  And the gift you give to others is not diminished in any way when the receiver of the benefit of your spiritual gift rejects the gift.  

 

What comes to mind is the “so great” salvation that the Lord Jesus Christ offers to “whosoever.”  All are welcome to taste the gift of salvation. Some after tasting it spit it out. They don’t want it.  They don’t savor it.  Does that diminish the power of the gift of salvation in any way? OUK! Not no way!  Not no how!  Absolutely not!  May it never be!  Many of us get tied up in what the receiver does with the spiritual gift benefits we provide.  Your job, as a believer in Christ, is to give the gift.  Your job is NOT to evaluate the receiver, and what the receiver does with the gift.

 

The way people receive our spiritual gift, sometimes, is so maddening that we want to take our spiritual gift, like our ball and our bat when we were kids, and go home.  All we need to know is that is not the way the Lord handles the giving of His gifts.  The giving of His gifts is irrevocable.  They can’t be reversed and He never takes them back.  What you like when you give a gift?  Once again, Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 3…

 

/ROMANS 12:3 

For through the grace given to me by God the Father (the grace gift of being an apostle…Paul’s spiritual gift), I (Paul) say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think…but to think so as to have sound judgment…the thinking that’s in line with the measure of faith given to you by God (your spiritual gift).\

 

We are to think about others in the body of Christ…we are not to just think of ourselves…we are to think about how to use our spiritual gift for the benefit of the members of the body of Christ…and specifically for this congregation.  The question to ask yourself is, “How can my congregation benefit from my spiritual gift?”

 

/ROMANS 12:4 

For just as we have many members in one human body and all the members of our human body do not have the same function…\

 

/ROMANS 12:5 

…so we believers in Christ…who are many…are one body in union with Christ, and individually we are members one of another.\

 

Paul is the apostle God chose to set forth the New Testament teaching concerning the Body of Christ. Paul uses a beautiful and vivid metaphor with the Body of Christ analogy.  The human body has many parts and they function as a unity.  The Body of Christ…the Church…us Church Age believers… who live between the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and the exit resurrection of The Church, the Rapture…are likewise one body…in unity…with Christ as the Head.  We are here for one another.  We don’t all have the same work to do.  We are to be all in for each other.

 

Let’s take a music break.  

 

/MUSIC BREAK                              

THERE’S JUST ONE HOPE

June Murphy\

 

/MUSIC BREAK                              

I WANT TO BE WHERE YOU ARE

Don Moen\

 

/TODAY’S BIBLE LESSON

God Fills Our Spiritual Gifts With Love\

 

Welcome back!  There are many passages throughout the bible that illustrate this beautiful idea…The Body of Christ.  Ephesians, Chapter 5, Verses 28 to 32…

 

/EPHESIANS 5:28

So husbands ought also to love their own wives unconditionally as they love their own bodies unconditionally. He who loves his own wife unconditionally loves himself…\

 

The wife is an extension of her husband, and he is an extension of his wife.

 

/EPHESIANS 5:29 

…for no one ever hated his own flesh…but nourishes his own flesh and cherishes his own flesh, just as Christ also does cherish The Church…\

 

/EPHESIANS 5:30 

…because we are members of His body.\

 

We are to care for our bodies.  Our bodies are imperfect.  We must care for the members of the body of Christ even though all of them are imperfect. And your first thought when you hear this should be giving…not receiving.

 

/EPHESIANS 5:31 

For this reason, marriage, a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleve to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.\

 

The bond that spouses have is greater than the bond that parents and children have.  Parents and children are not one flesh.  Spouses ALWAYS forget about the sacredness of this one flesh bond…and they let the kids divide what is indivisible…the unity between husband and wife.

 

/EPHESIANS 5:32 

This mystery (of oneness) is great…but I am speaking with reference to Christ and The Church.\

 

The same marriage that exists between a man and a woman is the marriage that exists between us believers in Christ as members of the single Body of Christ.  We are in union with Christ…fellowship.  We are in union with each other…fellowship.  And we can’t get out!  

We are to treat each other as if we are married to each other.  In a great marriage there is a care for each other that is so special it supersedes our caring for anyone or anything else.  God has that exact same attitude toward EACH of His creatures, and He wants us to have that attitude toward each other as well.  He wants us to express that attitude toward one another with our spiritual gift.  Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 22 and 23…

 

/EPHESIANS 1:22 

And God the Father put all things in subjection under the Lord Jesus Christ’s feet, and gave Christ as head over all things to The Church…\

 

/EPHESIANS 1:23 

…which is Christ’s body (The Church)…the fullness of Him who fills all and is indwelling all.\

 

Our spiritual gift is a dynamic and living and supernatural force to be used for the benefit of others in our congregation.  We are to use our spiritual gift to fill what lacks in others.  First Corinthians, Chapter 12, Verse 12…

 

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 12:12

For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ One.\

 

We are a unit, with many parts, working as one…E PLURIBUS UNUM.  First Corinthians, Chapter 12, Verse 27…

 

/FIRST CORINTHIANS 12:27

Now all of you are Christ’s body…and individually you are members of His body.\

 

Christ is the One who unifies us.  He expects us to exploit the unity we have with each other.  There is nothing like being on a team.  Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 25…

 

/EPHESIANS 4:25

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.\

 

The tongue is a fire. We are to be careful not to slander each other…not to

speak falsehoods about each other…not to deceive each other.

 

Everything with God is one…Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verses 1 to 7…

 

/EPHESIANS 4:1

Therefore I (Paul), the prisoner of the Lord, implore you believers in Christ to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…\

 

Walking in a manner worthy is living the balance between our responsibility to ourselves and our responsibility to members of our congregation.

 

/EPHESIANS 4:2 

…with all humility and gentleness…with patience…showing tolerance for one another in unconditional love…\

 

Believers who walk in a manner worthy have their emotions under control.

Our walk is to reflect an attitude…the same attitude that was in Christ 

Jesus …

 

/EPHESIANS 4:3 

…being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.\

 

Our unity with other believers is a sacred bond in the eyes of God and is to be treated with the utmost care and respect.  What are the seven elements of our unity?

 

/EPHESIANS 4:4 

There is ONE BODY (the Body of Christ) and ONE SPIRIT…just as also you were called in ONE HOPE of your calling…\

 

/EPHESIANS 4:5 

…ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM…\

 

/EPHESIANS 4:6 

…ONE GOD AND FATHER of all who is over all and through all and in all.\

 

All three members of the Godhead participate in our unity…

 

/EPHESIANS 4:7 

But to each one of us grace was given (a spiritual gift with a supernatural spiritual ability) according to the measure of Christ’s gift.\

 

Romans, Chapter 12, Verse 6…

 

/ROMANS 12:6 

Since we each have a gift (charisma) that is different according to the grace (charis) given to us by God…each of us is to use the gift accordingly…if he has the gift prophecy (preaching the Word of God)…to exercise it according to the proportion of his faith…\

 

/ROMANS 12:7 

…if he has the gift of service, to exercise it in his serving…or he who teaches, to exercise it in his teaching…\

 

/ROMANS 12:8 

…or he who exhorts, to exercise it in his exhortation…he who gives, to exercise it with liberality…he who leads, to exercise it with diligence…he who shows mercy, to exercise it with cheerfulness.\

 

There is a tidy list of spiritual gifts…

 

Serving…Teaching…Exhorting…Giving…Contributing…Leading

Showing Mercy

 

There are a lot of broken people in our congregation…how are you using your spiritual gift on their behalf? How are you lifting them up?  If you’re focus on yourself, it makes it pretty tough to focus on others.

 

We’ll finish this passage on spiritual gifts in our next lesson.

 

/GOD WANTS YOU!

Make the Most Important Decision of Your Life\

 

The closing moments of our study are for the benefit of anyone who does not have a personal relationship with the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We want you to know that GOD WANTS YOU. 

 

What is going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life?  Is there an “afterlife?”  And if there is an afterlife, how can you get to heaven?

 

Many people have beliefs about God.  A belief is an opinion…a conviction…a confidence in the existence of something that does not seem provable.  Satan, the enemy of God, prefers we have beliefs because there is a big difference between a belief and the truth.  Only when your beliefs and the truth are the same is it significant.  Satan hates the truth.  He can’t handle the truth.  He loves beliefs.

 

So what is going to happen to you when you close your eyes in this life?  Is there an “afterlife?”  And if there is, how can you get to heaven?

 

Many people believe they can earn their way into heaven by doing good deeds. They give money to beggars…they give food to the homeless…they are actively involved in community projects…they generously donate their time, talent, and treasure to charitable organizations…they “give back”… you’ve heard people use that term countless times. People who “give back” usually are convinced they are better than most people.  They think they are so good, that after they die God will reward them by letting them into heaven for their good deeds.

 

Unfortunately, in the bible they find a completely different story.  Titus, Chapter 3, Verse 5…

 

/TITUS 3:5

The Lord Jesus Christ saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in self-righteousness, but according to His mercy…by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing by God the Holy Spirit…\

 

Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 8 and 9…

 

/EPHESIANS 2:8

For by God’s grace you have been saved through faith (in Christ for salvation)…and that grace and that faith and that salvation are not from the source of yourselves…it is the gift of God….\

 

/EPHESIANS 2:9 

…therefore, being saved is not as a result of works (deeds you have done in self-righteousness)…so that no one may boast (about saving himself).\

 

One thing you would never want to do is to put the burden of your salvation on your own back.  So how do you get to heaven?  There’s only one way to get to heaven…in John, Chapter 14, Verse 6…

 

/JOHN 14:6

Jesus said to the doubting apostle, Thomas, “I am the way (to salvation), and I am the truth (through the Word of God), and I am the resurrection life…and no one comes to God the Father (in heaven) but through believing in Me.”\

 

When we choose to believe that Jesus Christ is God, it is much more than a belief…it is the absolute truth.  So how do you get to heaven when you close your eyes in this life?  Romans, Chapter 10, Verses 9 and 10…

 

/ROMANS 10:9

…if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord (that He is God)…and if you believe in your heart that God the Father raised Him from the dead… you will be saved…\

 

/ROMANS 10:10 

…for with the heart a person believes…resulting in the imputation of absolute righteousness (your admission ticket to heaven)…and with the mouth a person confesses (admitting faith in Christ alone)…resulting in salvation.\

 

Acts, Chapter 16, Verse 31…

 

/ACTS 16:31 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and everyone in your household who also believes.”\

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 36…

 

/JOHN 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has the resurrection life right at that moment… but he who does not obey the command to believe in the Son will not see the resurrection life…instead the wrath of God (the Lake of Fire) abides on him.”\

 

John, Chapter 3, Verse 17…

 

/JOHN 3:17

For God the Father did not send God the Son into the world to judge the world…but the Father sent the Son into the world that the world might be saved through Him.\

 

Take the free gift of eternal life right now!  There’s no time to waste!  God wants you!  So join me in heaven!  And don’t forget…God loves you…all you need is love…here’s June Murphy to sing about it…

 

/CLOSING SONG

WHEN I SAY I LOVE YOU

June Murphy\

 

/CLOSING PRAYER

Let us pray...\

 

         THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION

 

/Thanks for coming!

Thanks for watching!

Thanks for listening!

www.barahministries.com\

 


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