GIFTS (Ministry)
The 6 G’s – Part 4 Pastor Chuck Bernal 09-14-14 W hen you became a Christian, God gave you salvation and the hope of eternity in heaven. He also gave you purpose and significance in your life now. He has given each of us the opportunity to serve others and make a real difference in someone’s life. Each believer has been given a GIFT/GIFTS to be used to serve others in Jesus’ name, that’s called ministry. M inistry is using whatever God has given me to serve Him and the needs of others.
God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us to do good works, which God planned in advance for us to live our lives doing. (Ephesians 2:10 – NCV) _______________ into ______________
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Some of us have been given special ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of being able to preach well; some have special ability in winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for God’s people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and teaching them in the ways of God. Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is so that God’s people would be thoroughly equipped to minister and do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity. (Ephesians 4:11-12 – LB)
GOD’S 2-FOLD PURPOSE: ___________________
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A LIFE-CHANG ING TRUTH - M Y PRIM ARY IDENTITY I am not who I think I am. I am not who you think I am. But I really am who God says I am!
I’ve been _______________________________________for m inistry! For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10 – NIV)
I’ve been _______________________________________for m inistry! It is he who saved us and chose us for his holy work not because we deserved it but because that was his plan long before the world began . . . (2 Timothy 1:9 – LB)
I’ve been ______________________________________into m inistry! God in His grace, chose me even before I was born, and called me to serve Him. (Galatians 1:15- GNB) I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1 – NIV)
I’ve been _______________________________________for m inistry! God has given each of you some special abilities; be sure to use them to help each other, passing on to others God's many kinds of blessings. (1 Peter 4:10 - LB)
There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do. Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person, for the common good . . . One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things, and the Spirit decides what to give each person . . . A person’s body is one thing, but it has many parts. Though there are many parts to a body, all those parts make only one body. Christ is like that also . . . If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But truly God put all the parts, each one of them, in the body as he wanted them. So then there are many parts, but only one body . . . Together you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of that body. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 11-12, 18-20, 27 – NCV)
Every Christian has a _______________________! Every gift is _______________________________! Therefore each of us m ust __________ our gifts! The body of Christ _______________________________m y m inistry! All of you together are the one body of Christ, and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27 - LB) M inistry always functions for the benefit of ______________________ When he saw the crowds, he felt sorry for them because they were hurting and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus said to his followers, “There are many people to harvest but only a few workers to help harvest them. Pray to the Lord, who owns the harvest, that he will send more workers to gather his harvest. (Matthew 9:36-38 – NCV)
I am personally ______________________________ for m y m inistry! Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. (Romans 14:12 – NLT)
I will be _____________________________________ for m y m inistry! Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (Colossians 3:23-24) His master said to him, “You have done well. You are a good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will put many things in your care. Come and share my joy.” (Matthew 25:23 – NLV)
REM INDERS ABO UT SPIRITUAL GIFTS God gave me gifts not for my ________________ but ___________ Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. (1 Corinthians 12:7 – Msg) If I don’t ______________ them , I can ____________________ them ! For the man who uses well what he is given shall be given more, and he shall have abundance. But from the man who is unfaithful, even what little responsibility he has shall be taken from him. (Matthew 25:29 – LB) Gifts are __________________, but _________________ is essential! I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – LB)