Gifted Service (2 of 4)
Series: Serving Others
Steve Jones
Ephesians 2:20
SERIES SUMMARY: ''Love God, Love People, Serve Others'' is a mission statement for many churches, including ours. This series focuses on the ''Serve Others'' aspect of that mission.
1) We serve others in Love.
2) We serve others with our gifts.
3) We serve others INSIDE the church.
4) We serve others OUTSIDE the church.
INTRODUCTION: The New York Times ran an article entitled ''Gift-giving Tips from Scientists'', offering three insights gleaned from recent research. I'm going to share just the first tip: DON'T BE A SOULLESS UTILITARIAN. Many economists fall into this category even advocating we simply give one another cash for the holidays. A variant on this is to give very practical gifts, such as household appliances at the high end, or tube socks on the low end. The fundamental error here is not economic efficiency per se, but excessive usefulness. The best gifts are, in fact, useless. By this I don't mean worthless, but rather, valuable for the intrinsic satisfaction they bring as opposed to being a means to some other end. Marketing experts have long found that people get the most satisfaction from ''useless'' experiences that have emotional impact, like going on a beautiful bike ride.
I'm here to tell you that the Holy Spirit never read that article. He is a gift giver and ALL of his gifts are utilitarian. They are useful. And what they are useful FOR is sanctification.
Remember ''sanctification?'' That's the progressive process of becoming holy...becoming like Jesus. It's resisting sin and obeying God. It's the primary job of the Holy Spirit - to empower and enable our inward transformation. Since we're talking about SERVING OTHERS this month let's approach it from the stand-point of our gifts. There is a lot that we/I DON'T know about spiritual gifts...but here's what we/I DO know.
I. YOU HAVE A GIFT FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT
I Pt.4:10 ''God has given each ...
Series: Serving Others
Steve Jones
Ephesians 2:20
SERIES SUMMARY: ''Love God, Love People, Serve Others'' is a mission statement for many churches, including ours. This series focuses on the ''Serve Others'' aspect of that mission.
1) We serve others in Love.
2) We serve others with our gifts.
3) We serve others INSIDE the church.
4) We serve others OUTSIDE the church.
INTRODUCTION: The New York Times ran an article entitled ''Gift-giving Tips from Scientists'', offering three insights gleaned from recent research. I'm going to share just the first tip: DON'T BE A SOULLESS UTILITARIAN. Many economists fall into this category even advocating we simply give one another cash for the holidays. A variant on this is to give very practical gifts, such as household appliances at the high end, or tube socks on the low end. The fundamental error here is not economic efficiency per se, but excessive usefulness. The best gifts are, in fact, useless. By this I don't mean worthless, but rather, valuable for the intrinsic satisfaction they bring as opposed to being a means to some other end. Marketing experts have long found that people get the most satisfaction from ''useless'' experiences that have emotional impact, like going on a beautiful bike ride.
I'm here to tell you that the Holy Spirit never read that article. He is a gift giver and ALL of his gifts are utilitarian. They are useful. And what they are useful FOR is sanctification.
Remember ''sanctification?'' That's the progressive process of becoming holy...becoming like Jesus. It's resisting sin and obeying God. It's the primary job of the Holy Spirit - to empower and enable our inward transformation. Since we're talking about SERVING OTHERS this month let's approach it from the stand-point of our gifts. There is a lot that we/I DON'T know about spiritual gifts...but here's what we/I DO know.
I. YOU HAVE A GIFT FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT
I Pt.4:10 ''God has given each ...
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