Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The King and His Subjects

When a believing sinner trusts Christ as Lord and Savior, they are delivered from Satan’s power, moved into God’s kingdom, redeemed, and forgiven.

Colossians 1:12-14 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us, meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”

The believer has been liberated by God from Satan’s kingdom and translated us into Christ’s kingdom.

1. Translated means “to change or remove” He caused us to
stand in a new kingdom.

2. Once translated, we can’t be translated back. We didn’t do
the translating.

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

3. A kingdom is a group of people ruled by a king. We are in
a kingdom under the care and authority of Jesus Christ.
The Father gave this kingdom to His Son as an
expression of his love for Him.

John 6:37 “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

4. How do you get into this kingdom? You must be born
again, you must believe.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Mysterious Musings # 3

I continue to write about things that have always been a mystery to me in the pastoral ministry.

Why don't Christians know and develop their spiritual gifts?

The Word of God names about 17 spiritual gifts in four different passages in the NT that the Body of Christ has to minister to the body. Each believer has at least one gift which has been given at salvation. If we are to be fulfilled and happy in the body, we must find our gift/gifts and use them to minister to one another. We must function in our giftedness in the body.

Many setting in our pews are totally ignorant of spiritual gifts and don't seem to care. Many pastors have not taught spiritual giftedness because they so afraid of being called a "charismatic."

We must know what the gifts are, experiment with the gifts, seek confirmation, and walk in the Spirit. As we walk in the Spirit living under the control of the Spirit,the Spirit will express that gift through us to the body.

If the body is to grow as God intended, we must all use our gifts in the Spirit and not the flesh [Eph. 4:11-17].