Author: natejstaton

In this third week, we continued our foundational teachings in regards to gifts. This was the last week for the foundational teaching. Be sure you catch up if you missed last week.

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them

Romans 12:6

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3

We took the time to see exactly what gifts are..Here is what Scripture spoke.

Gifts are:

1. TO BE USED.

2. NEEDED in the body of Christ.

3. Gifts are FOR the Body of Christ.

4. Are From God, and are to be used unto God and His people for His glory and name sake, not yours.

5. Not confusing

6. Not for us to be uniformed

7. Revealing God not contradicting God

8. Are Good!

If we didn’t use Gifts:

1. To not use gifts, is to not be the church Jesus died for.

2. To deny the freedom of gifts, is to deny the living hand. heart, and will of God.

 

See you next week!

 

PN

 

 

 

 

If you missed this past Sunday of worship, you are in luck! Here is a recap of the very beginning of a new teaching series entitled “Beyond Me.” Beyond me is a teaching on the Gifts that Holy Spirit gives children of God. In this first week, we didn’t touch on any gift in particular, rather, we delved in Romans 12:1-2. The foundation of the gifts, a life lived unto Jesus. Below are the “highlights” of Sunday’s message to get you up to speed for this coming Sunday’s message.

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore - A Call to Identity and Ignition

Anytime the word “therefore” is used in Scripture, you look back. When you look at Romans 10 and 11 you see the Messiah Jesus being lifted up as the One and only means of life and salvation. He is being proclaimed as the One who has saved  and reconciled the lost to the Father.

This appeal to the Romans is for them to remember who they are and what fuels them to live empowered in Christ. Because Jesus died for me, His mercy and Grace empower and motivate me to live for Him. You and I do not live on our own strength and power, but on His. We are able to live a life that is a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God, because of where we are found in Christ. We able to be alive and sacrificial in living, because greater is He who is in me, than he who is in the world. When your flesh get’s tired remind your spirit who and what is fueling your faith. God’s Mercy is the fuel for walking out our Faith. This is not a call to be mentally strong, but strong in mercy. It is in that place you find mental strength and mercy’s empowerment to live for Jesus.

Walking Sacrifice

God’s word calls us to be a living sacrifice. We look no further than Jesus for this model. He is the One who demonstrated this life to us. He walked to please and reveal the Father. So too do we. We do this when we live in the aforementioned identity in Jesus Christ. We are sons and daughters of God called by His mercy and love. Jesus is the walking sacrifice that is our model. He say’s “come, and follow me.”

Let the walk be holy. We make too many excuses for the actions of our flesh. When we remember who we are by the mercy of God, our spirit does not tolerate the flesh acting out-of-order. This is a holy walk, because merciful holiness has made you a new person.

How is this possible? Holy Spirit. Our relationship with Jesus gives us relationship with Holy Spirit. When I’m walking in the Spirit Jesus left me I am empowered and cleansed to be holy. Make plans to be empowered by God, not excuses for the flesh.

Spiritual Worship

Spiritual worship is far more than words that recited off of pro presenter on Sunday morning. We went over this significance of the Greek word latreia and its call to our lives unto Christ.

λατρεία

One of the best ways I can think to translate this to english in concept and context is “To minister to God.” Our lives are to minister to His name. Think of the last time a pastor came and ministered to you specifically. Keep that ministry moment in mind as you live your life unto Christ. Our life and everything about it deserves His complete attention and honor. We live our lives holy, pleasing to God, and acceptable by ministering to His name with our life. So, I live His word out. Not in religion, but in relational empowerment from Christ.

Mind

God calls us to transformation away from the world not to conform to it.

Transformation requires the renovation of my mind. – What I use for renovation will determine the final product. Don’t take short cuts. Get in His Word. Overtime, the foundation and renovations will be exposed through the trials of life.

There is no substitute for God’s Word. Since there is no substitute, there is no excuse to not be in it.

Make plans for renovation, not excuses that will lead to the demolition of your mind

What does this have to do with Gifts?

The Romans 12:1-2 believer is a healthy person in Christ able to live out and use these gifts to please and reveal the father. We are called to live beyond ourselves. We are supernatural testimonies of the Christ. There is nothing  normal about us. Therefore, we yield to His ways and His desires so we can be the Bride He has made us to be. God wants to use us to reveal Himself. If we don’t know who He is, we can’t know who we are in Him. When we know who we are in Him, we are ready and empowered to live a life beyond ourselves for His name and glory sake.

See you Sunday for week two of “Beyond Me.”

 

Jesus

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

Jesus, is the ultimate proof that our Father is faithful. God promised in the garden that He would redeem the sinful events that had taken place. The events that cause you and I to be born into sin, and live in a sinful world.  God said He would, and He did. He gave everyone a chance to have fellowship with Him that could not be hurt by sin. He did this through His son Jesus Christ.

Read the above Scripture again. Don’t rush through it. Read it. Reflect on it. Allow this truth to penetrate your soul. God loves you. God sacrificed for you. God gave you and I a chance for everlasting life with Him. Don’t get too comfy with that truth. This westernized Christianity we live in and deal with causes us to become numb to this supernatural, earth-shaking, life changing truth. God gave His only Son for you and for me. He allowed His Son to be the final and only sufficient sacrifice for our sins.

The Son willingly came in obedience to the Father. He walked this earth. Withstood the temptations of sin. He overcame all the tactics and militant ways of the enemy. He died, and rose again. He did this because He is God, and God loves you. He wants your life. He wants your heart.

I wonder if reading this has allowed Holy Spirit to begin to speak to you. Perhaps, He is telling you to surrender your life to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Perhaps, He is calling the prodigal home and calling them back to Father’s House to live in the Father’s blessing. Perhaps, He is reminding you not to get to casual with your walk before Him. You are one He died for. Don’t take that for granted and don’t take that lightly. Those who believe in Jesus as sons and daughters of God!

Walk confidently in your identity in Jesus. Walk trustingly in your Father’s faithfulness. Walk in your abundant life, if for living, not for conversing nor sitting on the sideline. Be seen has one of His children. Be known by the Father. Thank you Father for being faithful, so faithful that you would give your only son, for us to have a restored relationship with you again.

 

Perfect Timing

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

Galatians 4:4-5

Time is reality many wrestle with. Some wish to have more of it. Others, wish for is to hurry itself on throughout the timeline of history to come. Regardless of one’s feelings of time, we all have to deal with this reality. There is only so much time we have, and we are accountable for what we do with it. Therefore, we must learn to steward the time we have. God shows us His perfect nature in this passage by telling us that in His perfect time, His Son came so that we would have a chance to be adopted by Him as sons and daughters.

There are a couple of takeaways that I want you to focus on in this passage. The first is that God knows when the time is right. That truth is one that can give us great confidence in the manner we live. Knowing that God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him, gives one the trust that God in His right timing will allow me to see how He is working this for my good. Just as His timing was perfect in the coming of our Savior, so to, is His timing in the details of your life. God was in the details in the coming of your Savior, don’t for one minute think that He is not in the details of everyday life for those who love Him. He is for you, therefore, steward your time well, and allow your Father to show how His clock works to your advantage.

The second thing to focus on is that the Father is looking to adopt. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. The Father came and sent His son to fulfill the law perfectly so that we could be found perfect in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus’ atoning death, made the only way for all who would believe in the Son to have an everlasting relationship and life with the Father. The Lord desires to adopt as many who will call Jesus Messiah and in doing so, call Him the Father. Yield to His call for adoption today. Rest in the finished work of Jesus, and enjoy this restored relationship with the Father!

Our Father is Faithful. Don’t allow this life and its circumstances nor the darts of the enemy distract you from that truth. His faithfulness is the anchor for our hope. Since Jesus is who He said He is all of the above is available through Him. Make the choice today to reach and take what the Father has given for your good.

 

No Hesitation

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:1-5

 

Jesus, the author of our faith is also the creator of the universe. In the begging was Him. He was with God and was God Himself. Nothing we see today would be present if Jesus did not speak it into creation. We would not have bodies, if Jesus did not create Adam. Adam would have no breath for life, if Jesus did not exhale into his lungs.

While that sounds amazing, and it is, there’s more depth to these Christian factoids. This is more than doctrinal nuggets that we can converse about and learn from. Although, these truths certainly do merit such focus and attention. I want to point you to the life found in these truths. Truth is important, however, truth divorced from relationship is death. It’s moral intellectual superiority.

Perhaps you find yourself knowing everything about Jesus, His Church, His truth, and everything else associated with Him, yet you still haven’t heard Him speak. Perhaps you have memorized every single memory verse, and are the most moral person, yet fear for your mortality. I have good news; the Word became flesh. He is not an idea or a theory, He is the lamb sacrificed for you and I to have life and life abundantly. You don’t have to live in fearfulness of your fate.

How do I know this? I know this because as Jesus was creating everything, He was able to see into the things to come. He was able to look down the timeline of eternity progressing forward and see you and I in our sin. He was able to see Judas betraying Him. He was able to see Peter denying Him. He was able to see Eve eat of the tree and Adam following suit. He was able to see Himself on the cross for you and I, but He did not hesitate to remain faithful to the Father in creating us. He didn’t blink, bat an eye, or question the Father.

The Father, you see, is faithful. Therefore, His perfect unique Son is faithful as well, they are one in the same. With that said, there is nothing you have to withhold from God. He already knows. He came to die for us because He knows. Since then He was in the beginning, we can trust Him with our new beginning in Him. This beginning is only found in giving our lives over to Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

You may find yourself wrestling with God. Worried that He can’t forgive what you have done. Fearful that He wants nothing to do with you because of the thought you are thinking or the skeletons in your closet. I have good news for you. Jesus, when creating the Heavens and the Earth, saw this, yet still created. He did not hesitate in His love for His Father nor the Father’s children. He remained true to the Father’s heart. Free yourself today by giving Jesus everything that you are hiding from the rest of the world. He has already come to your rescue; He is simply waiting for you to respond to that rescue. As Jesus did not hesitate to obey the Father at creation, so can you and I run to Him without hesitation knowing that He came to give us life. Jesus is freedom. We can all be thankful for such a faithful Father for His loving-kindness and faithfulness. Free yourself today from the bondage of your sin, and take upon His yoke. It is easy and light.

 

God with You

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

God with us. What a name, what a promise that God will fulfill. Have you ever taken the time to truly allow the truth of Jesus walking the earth penetrate your soul? Think about it. God, took time to come to earth. During that time on earth, He would be among His creation. He would love them, minister to them, teach them, and die for them. He didn’t send an angel, nor did He send anyone else but Himself.

I remember when my daughter was sick when she was a baby. She was not feeling well at all. I was in my study and the Kids Ministry Director came into my office to tell me that my daughter was sick. I remember her asking me if she wanted me to let her watch her while I worked. While I trust this person with my life, there was nobody else that I wanted to be near her other me when she was sick. It was as though the thought of someone else caring for her, even someone who loved me and my family, crushed my soul. I wanted to go rescue her from her sickness and be with her. Sure, there was work and ministry to be done, but my daughter required my presence and attention. This is the picture that comes to mind when I hear the name Immanuel.

God didn’t want anyone else to come be with His sick kids. He didn’t want anyone else to take this responsibility. Why? Because He is the Father. He is a good Father, a faithful Father. The Father was going to rescue His children from the mess they were in. He left Heaven to come make a way for us to be with Him forever.

God is with you. If you are a Christian, His Spirit resides within you. God is closer than you think. Remember the faithfulness of the Father to send His son to die for your sins. Remember the Holy Spirit Jesus left you so you would not be an orphan in this world. Remember that God left Heaven, so that Heaven could invade you. Surely, God is with us. He will not just see you through what you are going through, but He will walk with you all throughout the journey. Whenever you feel alone or lost, call upon His name.

 

Marvelous Faithfulness

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

Luke 2:33

Marvel. A state of awestruck wonder. To be enamored with what you are beholding. That’s how I would define it at least. One of the most wonderful things about being a child of God is that we can marvel at His handiwork all the time. That’s not an exaggeration either. To be able to marvel before the Father requires us to be seated in the seat of a child. To be seated in the seat of a child is to believe anything and everything is possible with “Daddy.”

Joseph and Mary were marveled at what the Lord was unfolding before them. They marveled for many reasons, here are just a few. One, Mary had a baby without being impregnated by a human…yeah. You read that right. She was impregnated by Holy Spirit. Two, this baby was now alive, and they could see Him, hold Him, hear Him, and talk to Him. Three, people were coming to bring gifts and worship Him. Four, a star was in existence just for His glory and to navigate people to Him. These are just a few reasons for them to marvel. The Lord was using this couples devoted life to God to make His plans known among the nations.

All of the above mentioned reasons for marveling speak to the faithfulness of God all through out the process. They could have been angry and upset that there was no room in the inn. They could have been angry about all of the traveling during Mary’s pregnancy, but, they chose to marvel. They chose to take the faith filled seat of a child.

You and I have the opportunity and blessing to live our lives in marvel before the Lord, despite the circumstances that surround us. How is this possible? Look at what He is doing in your life. Don’t look at what is going wrong, look at what He is doing. Look inside His hands and trace the lines of His faithfulness. Touch them. Examine them. He is faithful. Do not lose heart, and do not grow weary. Your faithful Father is right with you where you are. Don’t lose your child like wonderment in believing that anything is possible with Him. When you are with Daddy God, anything is possible.

 

Anna of Asher 

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.  And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Luke 2:36-38

He see’s you. You need to hear hat. The Lord see you. You may be reading this right now and feel that the Lord does not see your walk before Him. He does. You may see so many around you prospering in Babylon while you seeming struggle, the Lord villengatly watches you, and He will meet you. How do I know this? I know this because Scripture speaks of this truth time and time again, and Anna of Asher speaks of this same faithful Father. Faithfulness is a part of the DNA make up of our God. It is one of the many things that makes Him almighty and worthy of our praise.

Anna is depicted as righteous, devoted, a lover of God, a worshiper of God, and one who interceded and waited for the redemption of her people. In other words, she was definitely someone you wanted praying in your corner. If she was in your church, you would be asking her to pray over everything you go through. She was faithful to her first love, and she did not lose endurance in that love. She was praising the Lord in advance for the promise of her King that was yet to be seen.

Finally,  Jesus was here. Her praise and prayers were met the faithful redemptive response of the Father through His son Jesus. The arrival did not stop her from praising, she kept on. It was the presence of God within the promise of God that speak volumes to her actions here. She was not finished with the Lord when He came, she was going to continue in her devotion.

Often times, we stop seeking once we receive what we have asked from the Lord. We don’t depend on Him, and our praise even changes. Anna shows us that circumstances do not define out position in praising Him, His presence determines our worship. Anna was always found in the places of worship and prayer. These are two places where heaven intersects our reality. She was certain to be found there.

As Anna was found there, let yourself too be found there. The Lord is faithful, yes. The Lord is also worthy of our devotion and attention. He deserves all of the attention of our day. Free yourself from the vanity of the promises of the world, and walk in the full promises of Jesus Christ. He is faithful to capture your hearts attention.