August 14, 2005
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Here is the rest of the July 12th Bible study done by Pastor Don.
He is talking about being armed and dangerous to satan, by being filled with the grace of God and the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 3:14-18 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation–as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You, therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
Pastor Don has been pointing out to us that we cannot interpret the word grace to be unmerited favor (mercy) for how can we grow in unmerited favor? But Grace implies a power provided by God for the work He wants us to do. But Peter admonished us to grow in grace. When we are saved we do not instantly have all the weapons fully formed, we grow in our use of them.
When did Jesus begin growing in grace?
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Jesus grew in grace.
Ephesians 4: denominational churches have abandoned the whole Word of the Gospel in favor of what messages they feel need stressed.
Jesus wants us to be overcomers.
Eph. 4:11-12 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ.
To equip the saints for the Body of Christ is not done by education alone, you have to experience, to do the work of ministry. Ministry is everything that Jesus wants done on earth.
All of the above gifts are received by faith. Pastor Don talked about how he read Chuck Swindol’s book that talked about how the gifts of the Spirit are not operating today. Pastor Don was the son of a Baptist preacher and was taught pretty much the same thing.
He prayed to God and asked God to show him the truth in the Word of God. Knowing that you cannot take one isolated passage and form a theology around it, you need the whole counsel of the scripture. He remembered the five fold ministry of Ephesians, and how it said that the anointing came and they felt the presence of God in the room. He felt God tell him that He was now a teacher, and when he went back to teaching Bible study, the members of the group sensed something different in his teaching even though he taught the same way, with the same word, and the same message. The something different was the anointing of God. If we are not working with the anointing of God, the works we are doing are carnal. They may be good works, helpful, and great, but they do not have the same impact as the same works done under the anointing of God. (this is a paraphrase of Pastor Don’s testimony).
Paul tells us to seek after and desire spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.
Pastor Don asked us, why would Paul tell us to desire something that is not available to us? To speak in tongues is prophesy. Tongues are for you to get built up, to edify your body, so that when you speak to the church you have something to say. (this is in reference to our private prayer life).
1 Cor 14:12 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. 1 Cor 14:30-40 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.
(Heather’s note from previous teachings – key word is decently and in order. It would not be edifying for tons of people in church to be speaking in tongues when there are visitors. It would lead to chaos and interfere with the work God wanted done in a service. But private prayer life, and in certain circumstances tongues are in order. But if a person is praying in tongues, they need to also pray that God will interpret the tongues, or it is again not in order. But that is for tongues of prophesy, tongues which is used in the private prayer life is between you and God, and you do not need to consciously know what is being said. I will try to find Pastor Don’s teaching on tongues, and take notes to share better).
We are to worship God, and learn to use the gifts he has so freely given us, to do his work on the earth. It is not for self-gratification, self advancement, it is for the advancement of God’s kingdom on the earth.
Hope you have a great Sunday.
Heather
Comments (5)
Thankyou for praying!!
thank-you for your comment
as always!
be very blessed,
arielle
I agree with your pastor. Blogging is a ministry of yours. I thought of you as I just posted some notes from the sermon at church this morning.
what’s the hardest thing in a realationship that i should know about being a young man who wants to serve God?
Hi Gideon, what an awesome question. Our relationships on earth are a mirror of our relationships in the Body of Christ. In both instances Christ must be the head. The most difinitive study of relationships is found in Ephesians 5:22 for husband and wife, and Ephesians 6:1-4 for children.
These passages can be misconstrued so easily that the husband is the dictator of the family, but that is not the way a great relationship is formed. If you keep Christ first and love your wife as Christ loves the church (He gave His life for us), then your wife would have to love you because of your great love for her.
Think of a business, a good business is not run by the president of the business, he depends on his other workers to give input, ideas, plans, and problems to him, then he, as the head of the company takes those ideas, inputs and makes a decision that the whole company runs under. Think of the chaos that would come if every member of the company went their own way and did their own thing. The company would fold. So too a relationship.
Not always will the husband make the best and right choice, but a woman is blessed by sharing and following her husband’s lead. But a husband is blessed by listening to another point of view, his wife’s. Then the husband can make a wiser choice after considering both points of view.
A relationship, according to Christ is for life, two become one. It is so important to ask Christ into the relationship from the first, and continually. If you do that, and have a relationship based on love, then you have an awesome relationship.
Problem is, and I am guilty of this too, is when people in relationships are struggling about who is in control. It causes chaos, and a problem.
That is not to say that if a person is in an abusive relationship that they must stay through thick and thin. No way would Christ want someone to make a life threatening choice.
I think the best thing to do, and something that is so easy to let slip, is to forget to make Christ the head of the family. Not to act on our own, but to prayerfully remember to listen to Christ.
Heather
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