What is the difference between spiritual gifts and church offices? And how should we relate to homosexuals?

<p>What is the difference between spiritual gifts and church offices? And how should we relate to homosexuals?</p>

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Arkadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church Plant

Church Plant

Eugene Prewitt

Speak Plainly

What is Jesus Doing?

Against Passionate Anger

The Blessing of the Sabbath

Gifts, Jobs, and Homosexuality

God is Patient

Scholars are Needed

I'm going to speak this morning about 3 only slightly related topics.

1 of them is about the gifts of the Spirit.

The gifts that God gives to his church to allow it to accomplish its mission.

Another is about the jobs that we have in the church.

And in an active church, there are many jobs.

In this church, there are more jobs than there are people, which means a number of people here have many jobs.

And then I'm going to speak for a brief period about homosexuality, An issue that is current right now in society, in the world, in politics, and because it's prevalent enough, I suppose there are not many of us here that do not know someone that practices or is tempted to practice homosexuality, we ought as a church to know how to relate to that.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

1 Corinthians 12 was our scripture reading.

And I want us to observe a few ideas in that passage.

First Corinthians chapter 12, and looking at verse 28.

When we talk about the gifts of the spirit, who's doing the giving?

You know, God is the 1 doing the giving by his spirit.

The gifts that you or I have, we didn't give to ourselves, God puts those gifts in the church.

There are apostles, and it says that they're first.

That's because the church is built on a foundation of apostles and prophets.

That foundation is essential for you and I, because otherwise we would not know what was true.

I mean God has given us a foundation so we can know what is so.

And apostles and prophets, they're the ones who've written the New Testament.

It's first apostles and secondarily prophets.

Teachers are not the same source of authority as apostles and prophets.

The Bible does not say the church is built on apostles, prophets and teachers.

I mean, apostles are inspired so that what they say or what they write for us is true.

But what teachers teach is a good mixture of truth and not so much truth.

Do you know that by experience from the teachers you've known in your life, that there's a good mix?

I don't mean a good mix meaning that it's not a bad mix.

I just mean that God never intended that you would trust me the way you should trust an apostle.

He never intended that we would trust each other as teachers the way we would trust the Bible.

After those first 3, there are some that aren't given any particular order.

There are miracles, gifts, helps, and gifts of healing, helps, governments, and when it mentions tongues, it's very careful to say diversities of tongues.

As if there are more than 1 language that has been given to the church as a help.

And then comes the question, verse 29, that we ought to answer.

Now I'm adding the word no, but I think you can see that it's implied.

Is it appropriate for you to desire spiritual gifts?

And is it appropriate for you even to evaluate in your own mind which gifts are more value than others?

It must be appropriate because it says you're to covet.

Do you see the very last part of this chapter?

That I show unto you a more excellent way?

I'm not speaking about that really directly in the message this morning, but I want you to understand that while the gifts of the Spirit are precious, while some of them have authority, while they help us do so much, not any of them or all of them together are so likely to help you get something done as is love.

Faith works by love, and that is what accomplishes, it's what endures, it's the subject of chapter 13, and again, we're not looking at that today.

Gifts are precious and special, But suppose that in our church, someone stands up this afternoon, or even while I'm speaking right now, let's suppose this afternoon instead.

Suppose someone stands up and says that God has given them such and such a spiritual gift.

Maybe that they are an apostle or a prophet or gifted as a teacher or some other spiritual gift.

Are you and I then obligated to trust them?

Because the Bible teaches that there are spurious gifts.

Even if you don't know the word spurious, You know it now, don't you?

There are people who think they have gifts from God, which in fact are simply being tricked by the devil.

They have supernatural experiences that they associate with God, but in fact come from another source.

Maybe we should look at evidence of that.

Turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew chapter 7 and looking at verse 21.

Not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, and in your name cast out devils, and in your name done many wonderful works?

That is, they have been prophets, they've had the gifts of healing.

Now The question is, was it the Lord Jesus that was working in them when they were prophets and had the gifts of healing?

And then will I profess to them, I never knew you.

Depart from me, you that work lawlessness.

If my first thought was that there are a variety of useful gifts in the church, the second thought is that there are also spurious gifts.

And that the fact that someone has a gift is no evidence that we ought to trust him.

In fact, it's not even evidence that we should give him a job in the church.

In fact, right here in Arkadelphia, if you stand up this afternoon and say that you are a prophet, the chance of being given a job in this church has just gone down a long ways.

Because we do not think that just because someone claims to have a spiritual gift, that in fact, they ought to be given a job, since there are in fact spurious gifts.

But let me take that idea a step further.

The 2 I'm thinking of right now, I'm thinking of Maya and of Chris, they're not here.

I think because of spring break, they're probably visiting their family in Hope and in Little Rock, 2 opposite directions from here.

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Series

Church Plant

Gifts, Jobs, and Homosexuality

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Unraveling the Gay Spin

6. Your Questions Answered- Panel Discussion with ‘Coming Out’ Ministries

1h 15m

Business & Management

Panel: Workplace Dilemmas & Business Ethics For the Christian

1h 20m

Women's Ordination Symposium

8- The Present Relevance of 1 Timothy

1h 53m

Delicious Grape Juice

36m

Engage

1h 16m

The Gay Myth

51m

Hermeneutics

The New Hermeneutics: Whatever It Takes - Part 3

1h 4m

Total Member Involvement

2. Ask the President! (Q & A with Elder Ted Wilson)

1h

The Call of Nehemiah

1h 48m

The Law of Love & Sexuality and Purity

1h 51m

Sound Doctrine