29 April 2018
Two-Minute Features | 06 May 2018 | 22 April 2018

The Spirit is Our Hope for the Future (TMF:880)

Friday, May 04, 2018
Peace to Live By: The Spirit is Our Hope for the Future (TMF:880) - Daniel Litton
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       The Spirit of God is our hope for the future. The best verses I think to explain this is are in Ephesians 1:13 and 14. It says, “In him [Christ] you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (ESV). So, the Holy Spirit was the “promised Holy Spirit,” because Christ promised his coming to the disciples in John 14. This was before he went back to heaven, and he promised he would come after he did. But his presence within us assures us that we will in fact be saved from God’s wrath to come in the future. When the Spirit bears witness with our spirit, we know that we belong to God and that we will go to Heaven in the future when we die, or are Raptured.

Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 6 (TMF:879)

Thursday, May 03, 2018
Peace to Live By: Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 6 (TMF:879) - Daniel Litton
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       Now, here the Apostle Paul adds some additional categories from the Romans 12 passage. First are the apostles, which I believe to be limited to the original apostles called by Jesus himself. That is, the Eleven original ones plus Matthias, which the first church chose to replace Judas. Some believe this choice by Peter’s leading was made in error, but I do not believe it was an error. We call Paul the Apostle Paul, for he called himself that, for he was one untimely born, and the last to be called by Christ. Anyway, back in the text, Paul also added evangelists here, for there are some people particularly gifted in the area of evangelism. That’s why some have far greater success in one-on-one evangelism versus others. Not everyone has the gift of evangelism, though we should all evangelize, and really we are evangelizing whether we know it or not.

Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 5 (TMF:878)

Wednesday, May 02, 2018
Peace to Live By: Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 5 (TMF:878) - Daniel Litton
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       We all have different functions and responsibilities within the body. And, notice, that each of these gifts exists to fulfill the second greatest command, that we should love our neighbors as ourselves. None of the gifts are for selfish, personal use. Finally, let’s look at a passage in Ephesians chapter 4: “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11, 12, ESV). Now, here the Apostle Paul adds some additional categories from the Romans 12 passage. First are the apostles, which I believe to be limited to the original apostles called by Jesus himself. That is, the Eleven original ones plus Matthias, which the first church chose to replace Judas. Some believe this choice by Peter’s leading was made in error, but I do not believe it was an error. We call Paul the Apostle Paul, for he called himself that, for he was one untimely born, and the last to be called by Christ.

Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 4 (TMF:877)

Tuesday, May 01, 2018
Peace to Live By: Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 4 (TMF:877) - Daniel Litton
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       Let’s go ahead and turn to Romans chapter 12, and we’ll pick up in verse 4. We read the following from the Apostle Paul: “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness” (Romans 12:4-8, ESV). So, here Paul mentions these gifts: prophecy, service, teaching, exhorting, contributing, leading, and showing mercy. Now, right off the bat, we should recognize that we as members of the body of Christ have been given different gifts, and so, we should not all be doing the same thing.

Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 3 (TMF:876)

Monday, April 30, 2018
Peace to Live By: Summary of Spiritual Gifts, Part 3 (TMF:876) - Daniel Litton
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       I personally believe that while believers definitely receive one gift, that they can in fact receive more than one. Think of it like the Parable of the Talents in Matthew chapter 25. In that parable, Jesus said in verse 15: “To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability” (Matthew 25:15, ESV). If you go over to 1 Corinthians chapter 14, we can also see this fact in verse 1. Paul says, “Earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1, ESV). Now, this statement is very interesting. It would appear by this statement that we can gain more gifts as we go along on our journey, or perhaps become more mature in Christ. I think that some of the gifts require a greater amount of faith, and I would suggest that the reason we don’t see things like prophecy, tongues, and healing in many churches could be because the faith simply isn’t there among the members. Something to definitely consider and pray about. Perhaps we should be saying to God, “Increase our faith” like the disciples said to Jesus.