Body of Christ: believers who have accepted Jesus as their savior
Romans 12:6-8
“Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
7 gifts
Each one of us who have accepted Christ have a gift
Prophecy
Insight
A lot of people view it as telling the future
Not entirely true
Means to speak and explain God’s word
Serving
Practical way to help someone else
“I’m going to give up my time to do this for this person…”
Teaching
Explain the Word, get up there, and be prepared
Do not wing it
Praying over the text and getting a burden for it
Getting extra sources to get the message across
Exhort/Encouragement
Ministry could be hard
When you are losing your hope, someone who has this gift can remind you of your identity in Christ
Can brighten your day
Hebrews 5:12
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.”
All of them should be teaching
Not just those who have the gift
Liberality/Giving
Jesus says to give generously
People who set their mind on giving back to the needy
People who need help and the Gospel
Many missionaries
Leadership
We should be taking this responsibility seriously
Leader has a sense of vision in which direction to go
The leader knows what is up and down
Motivates others
Everyone should be leading in our lives
Mercy
This is really cool
The Kosmos brings people down until they cannot get up
But people who come to home church are brought back up
You do not see mercy like this in the Kosmos
Romans 12:9
“Let love be without hypocrisy Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
We should be using these gifts to show REAL love
This kind of love actually comes from caring people
People need love in their lives
Not the mushy/fake love
The Body of Christ should be more than just a fun time
It should be a mindset of fighting evil in this Kosmos
We have to keep a mindset that we are here to save people and show the love of Christ
It would be a total slap in the face if you had a gift (or two) and you did not use it to show God’s love!
If we do not use our gifts, people are going to go to hell
We have to let them know how cool it is to be a part of this Body
We have to show them how loving we are!
We need to find those needy areas
Man-kind has an essential need…
PURPOSE!
We need to feel important
When you are not saved
You feel important when people tell you, you are important
A great way to impact someone is to just outreach to them
Romans 12:10
“Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor;”
Devotion: to strain
You are making a real effort to have an impact on each other’s lives
Brotherly love
Preference to one another
You are not on an ego trip
When you get saved, you are going to change, but you may let it get to your head
A way to get out of this mindset is to just serve others
The goal is to build someone up, not yourself
Romans 12:11
“Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;”
Do not get lazy
It is also worth getting enthusiastic about
Fervent in spirit
Fervent: heat
To be on fire for the Lord
1 Peter 4:8
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”
We need to engage each other or the relationships will suck
We need to not judge like the churches do
This is why people do not open up to others
Also why people are afraid to come
Romans 12:12
“Rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer,”
Hope
What is our hope as Christians?
Having an eternal perspective
We get to spend an eternity with Jesus and God
There is no better hope than that
Persevere
You are going to face persecution and hate for being a Christian
But we can get through these hard times
God empowers you to come together as a Body to face this
Prayer
Communication with God
Romans 12:13
“Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.”
Lots of opportunities to serve and give
Loving strangers
How?
Witnessing!
Not being tribal
This is just a picture of the beautiful life that God wants you to have!
This is the answer to loneliness
You get hope for your future
You get significance when helping others
God empowers us to do these amazing things
John 1:12
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,”
When you accepted Christ, you can have all of these awesome things
