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October 28 - Evening
"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith"
- Romans 12:3-6 |
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| The Grace and Responsibility of a Spiritual Gift |
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When Paul says, “By the grace given me,” he is referring to the grace God showed him by calling
him to be an apostle. Paul is referring to his spiritual gift, not the grace of salvation, in this case.
As an apostle, Paul writes, “I say to every one of you,” to introduce an apostolic command or direction to every believer, since each believer has a spiritual gift and a responsibility to use that gift.
Paul says,
“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
Each believer (not merely the clergy or the professional minister) is gifted in order to advance the cause of the kingdom of God in time and to serve the body of Christ (the church). Each person
should think soberly about their gift, which is a supernatural bestowment of ability. A casual, insensitive recognition of their gift could cause the thoughtless, self-centered believer to think of themselves in a prideful way. But, if they take a serious second look at themselves and their
gift they would realize their gifting is a loan from God who is holding them accountable for a comparable amount of production. So, the serious believer will realize that the greater their gift,
the greater the expected harvest. The immature believer will merely consider their gift as a
source of pride and self-promotion.
Paul then encourages every believer to recognize their gift, to identify the purpose and to start exploiting the potential they have according to the measure of faith God gave them to use their
gift. The gifts vary, but so does the faith given to operate the gift. The variables concerning how,
when, where and the size, amount and effect of the gift will vary from person to person based
on the faith and vision God has placed in that individual person’s heart. Some will minister their gift
at work, some in church, some in foreign lands, some to a few people, some to entire countries. |
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"Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon."
– Martin Luther
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In Israel there is 100 miles between the arctic climate
at the top of Mount Hermon
in north Israel (9,400 feet above sea level) to the tropical climate at the Dead Sea (1,388 feet below sea level;
a two mile drop in elevation
in 100 miles). |
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Kopiao (Gr) - Labor (Eng) - the Greek word kopiao means "to grow weary" with toil,
"exhausted" with burdens," or "exertion and toil." It is used 24 times in the
Greek New Testament (GNT). Three examples are:
1 - Peter kopiao all night fishing but caught nothing (Luke 5:5)
2 - Paul recognizes Mary, Tryphena, Tryphosa and Persis for their
kopiao in the church in Rome (Romans 16:6, 12)
3 -
Leaders in the church are to kopiao in the preaching
and
teaching (1 Timothy 5:17)
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There is a tomb in Cairo, Egypt on the east side of the Nile in a village called Beni-Hasan that has a wall mual in vivid colors with scenes from daily Egyptian life from 1890 BC. This particuar mural is 8 feet long and 1 foot wide and shows a procession of 8 men, 4 women and three children with their animals being led by Egyptian officals into Egypt to trade. The hieroglyphic text at the top of the mural says these people are part of a group of 37 people from Shut (southern Canaan) being led by Abishai, their cheif, into Egypt to trade. From this mural we can see the physical features, clothing, weapons, musical instruments, hairstyles and means of tranportation of the Canaan people around the time that Isaac was born.
(image here and here.) |
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Do say that I don't know what my spiritual gift is?
Do I neglect the use and development of my gift?
I will boldly identify my spiritual gift from God and begin to use it so that
I might develop my gift and be productive with it. |
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"A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished."
- Proverbs 28:20 |
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| To be a good friend |
Maturity in understanding and life |
Minorities |
Solomon Islands - training for pastors and leaders |
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| Reps & Sets is a daily Bible devotional for Christians from Generation Word Bible Teaching used each morning and evening. |
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