GRACE GIFTS

Time with Jesus - Thursday, 04 October 2012

Hi all,

Today’s meditation is more or less a continuation from yesterday’s one. We looked at gifts and fruit. Today we look at grace gifts. We also look at the need for Charismatic/Pentecostal believers to unite with their Evangelical counterparts. The fact is we have much to learn from each other. Lord hasten the day when it becomes reality.

Blessings,

Jim & Phyllida Strickland

Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give			Time with Jesus – Thursday, 04 October 2012			Matt 10:8 Freely you received, Freely give
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	INTRODUCTION			DAILY LIGHT EVENING SCRIPTURES	GRACE GIFTS
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT Love / Goodness Joy / Faithfulness Peace / Gentleness Patience / Self Control Kindness		GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT Discerning of Spirits / Faith Word of Wisdom / Word of Knowledge Prophecy (foretelling and forth-telling) Tongues / Interpretation of Tongues Gifts of Healing / Working of Miracles		6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. 7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. 8 To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. 1 Corinthians 12:6-8 NLT	1              Let us take on The Christ who’s the One. And walk in the gifts He will bring For all that we do Will only come true When Jesus is truly our King. 2              So let’s look around At what we have found As we have come into this place. The gifts will emerge In a powerful surge As Jesus expresses His Grace 3              Yes, let us be found Where assignments abound And let all our gifts be displayed For stewards we’ll be When the people all see A love that forever can’t fade 4              So how do we build That the Word is fulfilled And people all look to our King? It’s not you or me That the people must see, But Jesus who’s praises we sing 5              And let us all serve With sinew and nerve The One we all love and adore. For as all we give He’ll cause us to live And worship our Master much more. 6              As Moses’ face Was veiled in that place Let Jesus’ gifts be revealed. There’ll be no surprise When He opens our eyes To things we thought were concealed. 7              Fulfilment is found Where the gifting’s abound And we flow harmoniously. The ultimate end, We needn’t defend For sinners converted we’ll see!		8              We don’t want a flake Or anything fake To walk in the way we should go. So fill us with power To move hour by hour In all of the things that You know. 9              His burden is light It isn’t a fight To do all the things He desires. Just listen and do And all will come true. And His people will all be on fire. 10            Give thanks for the gifts And the way that they lift And carry your people on high. We won’t interfere When Your Spirit draws near And Jesus will cause us to fly. 11            God’s gifting is sure It’s Holy and pure And we will bring Him all the praise And if we are humble We won’t cause to stumble The people who walk in Your ways. 12            We’re not all the same And we worship the name Of Him who is more than complete. And as we harmonise And cast out all lies, We’ll all behold Satan’s defeat 13            Our body’s at rest And we will be blessed When all of our people are one. The warring will end When our knees we all bend And all of our quarrels are gone. 14            So let’s celebrate That as from this date The gifts of His Spirit we’ll see. And as we mature We’ll begin to endure And everyone here will be free.
Here we go again. Yesterday we looked at the Gifts and the Fruit of the Spirit. Today’s Scriptures warrant a further look at these topics. It is widely held that the Gifts of the Spirit were only needed during the time of the apostles in order to “kick start” the Church. I’ve met many lovely Christians who are convinced of this. The view is, that something like the Apollo Space system, the Gifts of the Spirit were needed to “launch” the young church into orbit. Then, rather like part of the used rocket system, the spent parts fell back down to earth. With the satellite in orbit, those various stages were no longer required. Thus, when the church was established the gifts were no longer needed and could crash back to earth. It’s an excellent comparison. For convenience this has been called the evangelical point of view. The real question is whether or not it is true? The Charismatic/Pentecostal (C/P) view is that the gifts are as valid today as they were some 2000 years ago. Indeed, they would go so far as to say that there has never been a time in history since Apostolic time that the gifts have not been in evidence throughout the church. Phyllida and I are unashamedly part of the C/P stream. At the same time we are deeply grieved that this issue has divided God’s people into these two “camps”. Both streams have much to offer each other if only we could both put aside these apparent opposing positions. I rather suspect that our Lord is deeply grieved by this lack of unity. We have a great love and respect for our evangelical brothers and sisters. We love the comparative tranquillity of their services. More than anything we admire the passion they have for God’s Word. Evangelical Churches study the Scripture in a disciplined and systematic way. It has been suggested that the Evangelical “Trinity” is Father, Son and Holy Scripture. This may be unfair. But it does show the huge emphasis on reading and studying God’s Word that quite frankly, the C/P’s have not adopted. The C/P by and large tends to be shallow when it comes to the knowledge of the Bible. It has been suggested that the C/P “Trinity” is “Holy Spirit; Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit”. Again it is a gross simplification, but is a fair assessment of C/P’s by our Evangelical brothers and sisters. Sadly there is much truth in this comment. Far too many C/P’s know very little of the Content of God’s Word. They can quote proof texts by the score. But most of those who do, know precious little about exegesis and hermeneutics. Lots of froth and bubble; lots of excitement, singing and dancing. But how often does the preacher even read from the Bible? Not very often. What both streams need today is the Evangelical commitment to God’s Word and the C/P freedom and enthusiasm. O Lord help! We badly need each other! Jim & Phyllida Strickland				19 Some men from Manasseh defected from the Israelite army and joined David when he set out with the Philistines to fight against Saul. But as it turned out, the Philistine rulers refused to let David and his men go with them. After much discussion, they sent them back, for they said, "It will cost us our heads if David switches loyalties to Saul and turns against us." 20 Here is a list of the men from Manasseh who defected to David as he was returning to Ziklag: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. Each commanded 1,000 troops from the tribe of Manasseh. 21 They helped David chase down bands of raiders, for they were all brave and able warriors who became commanders in his army. 1 Chronicles 12:19-21 NLT 32 Of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, 200 chiefs, and all their kinsmen under their command. 33 Of Zebulon 50,000 seasoned troops, equipped for battle with all the weapons of war, to help David with singleness of purpose. 1 Chronicles 12:32-33 ESV 8 A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can't make up his mind about anything. James 1:8 GW 25 God's purpose was that the body should not be divided but rather that all of its parts should feel the same concern for each other. 26 If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts share its suffering. If one part is praised, all the others share in its happiness. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 GW 4 There is one body and one Spirit. In the same way you were called to share one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over everything, through everything, and in everything. Ephesians 4:4-6 GW
					Jim Strickland – Written 2009