The theme of our joint retreat at FECC Michigan - Oakland Campus, East Lansing Campus and Canton/Northville church planting center - last weekend was "Born Gifted for God’s Purpose: Give Your Best to Jesus." We spent five hours exploring the subject of spiritual gifts. After doing the Spiritual Gift test together, we realized that our biblical understanding of spiritual gifts was very limited and incomplete. We also had the opportunity to do a 280-question self-check quiz, through which everyone discovered their top six strongest gifts. We went further to identify twenty-eight different gifts from the Bible, their characteristics and functions and how they are related to us. Through the comprehensive teaching on the topic of gifts in this retreat, everyone discovered their own unique gifts and discussed how to activate their gifts in small groups. Every participant gained knowledge and increased their confidence in serving the Lord!
Christ Jesus is the head of the church, the church is the body of Christ, and each of us is a member of the body. Therefore, as disciples of Jesus, it is our absolute responsibility to use our gifts to build up a strong and healthy body of Christ. As 1 Peter 4:10 says "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." The Bible tells us that everyone of us is born with distinct talents and gifts that set us apart from each other! This gift not only comes from God’s redemption and God’s provision, but it is also a tool that He wants us to use to build up the body of Christ, testify for the Lord and glorify Him so that we will experience the fullness of life. Ephesians 4:7-16 teaches us the source of the gift, the importance of the gift, the different forms of the gift, and how they can complement each other. Ephesians 4:7-16 7But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it says: “When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people.” 9(What does “He ascended” mean except that He also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very One who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. In many churches, Christians do not know what their gifts are and thus do not know how or where to serve. Others may be serving in areas that might not be their “gifting”. When this happens, God’s gift will not be fully utilized and it may produce believers who will wait to be served but not serve. There will be fearful believers who are not confident to serve and their talents are buried. Others may meet challenges and withdraw from ministries. Unhappy believers do not understand the purpose of serving and lose the joy or motivation to serve. Of course, there are people who are enthusiastic and willing to serve, but due to lack of true knowledge about gifts, they become self-centered and lose their awareness of the unity in Christ after serving for a long time. Let’s pray that all of our FECC churches, pastors and members will come together in unity and use our gifts to edify, love and serve for the Glory of God and the benefit of people! I would like to share an excerpt “The Importance of Spiritual Gifts” (Source: written by Lin Anguo, ”天生我才為主用” ) A. Enrich yourself 1. Gives you purpose 2. An avenue to serving 3. Builds self confidence 4. Work takes priority 5. Spiritual life is alive B. Blessing to the body of Christ 1. Members of the body appreciate each other 2. Members of the body respect each other 3. Members of the body serve each other 4. Members of the body love each other C. Build up the Church 1. Equip believers from all walks of life 2. Strengthen the church 3. Cultivate the spirit of unity 4. Boost our defense capability 5. Expand the Kingdom of God D. Glory to God Comments are closed.
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