1996

August 18, 1996

What’s Greater Than Gifts?

One of the problems in the English language is we really only have one word for love. We have other synonymous words, like affection, friendship, things like that. But in the Greek language, they had four different words to describe four different kinds of love: Agape, storge, eros, and phileo. But the highest most perfect most mature love the Bible talks about is the word used here in 1 Corinthians 13, the word Jesus most often used and it is that word agape, which means “unselfish, divine love.”

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July 7, 1996

The Greatest Members and the Greatest Gifts

The truth is throughout the history of the church, it has been known as a body that attracted all different kinds of people. You didn’t have to have a certain kind of IQ; you didn’t have to have a certain bank account; you didn’t have to have a certain social standing. The church has always been, “Whosoever will may come.” For that reason the church is made up of all different kinds of people and some are more prominent by the world’s standards than others.

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May 26, 1996

Unity and Diversity in the Body

None of us are still wearing the same clothes we did when we were five years old. We can’t fit in them anymore because something happened to our bodies. They grew. In any healthy body or body of Christ, growth indicates health. That’s one way you know God is blessing the church, when there is growth, when he is adding to the body every day those people who should be saved. A discussion of unity and diversity in the church.

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May 12, 1996

You are a Gifted Child

Every Christian is a minister. That means you serve the Lord in the body through the gifts God has given you. Every Christian has one or more gifts and no Christian who has all of the gifts, because that would make that person a church in and of themselves. So, no Christian has all the spiritual gifts. The Bible also teaches there is no gift that EVERY Christian has. We are also going to learn that gifts without love are useless. This is just a reminder of the definition of spiritual gifts.

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April 28, 1996

Seek the Giver–Not the Gifts

A gift is something you don’t deserve and that’s the nature of grace. If somebody gives you something because you deserve it, that’s not a gift—that’s payment. You’ve earned it! And a gift is something you are given that you don’t deserve. None of us deserves spiritual gifts. God just says, “I’m going to give you this so you can serve!”

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