Greetings in the name of the Lord.  I’ve been looking forward to finishing up our study on the “spiritual gifts” listed in scripture. What a blessed opportunity to share God’s Word with you each week and our constant prayer is that God will use this ministry to touch, grow and strengthen you in the Word of God.

We have looked the last few weeks at the four main passages dealing with spiritual gifts- 1 Peter 4:10-11; Ro 12:3-13, Eph 4:7-16, and 1 Cor 12:4-14.  We saw in 1 Peter that all believers have a gift, that there are two types of gifts, the speaking gifts and the ministry/serving gifts.  We also learned that regardless of which kind of gift we have it is to be used by God’s power, with His grace and to HIS glory.  We saw that the gifts are for the benefit of the body of Christ, to grow each believer into the image and glory of Jesus,  and to increase God’s kingdom through the work of HIS body, the church.

Last week we looked at the oneness of the body and the priority of the gifts of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists and Pastor/Teachers (remember this is the gift, not the office of Pastor within a church).  These four primary gifts relate to the proclamation of the gospel, the instruction of God’s people and the equipping and edifying of each one for service.

Let’s look again at the gifts we compiled from Romans, 1 Corinthians, and Ephesians last week: ministry, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, gifts of healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues.  We’ll look at each gift, it’s definition and some practical understanding of it’s working out.  I trust God to open our hearts and minds to the work of HIS SPIRIT within us to help each one of us gain insight, understanding and a willingness to seek to know and fulfill our gift or gifts with our very best,  to HIS glory.  As we continue,  let’s remember Paul’s admonition in 1 Corinthians 12:7 & 11…”7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.” And “11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”  It’s HIS Spirit, His choice for others profit and HIS glory. 

Ministry: Serviceable labor, service, work…assistance, involves compassionate love …..as it’s labor benefits others.** This gift sees needs and has the ability and willingness to meet those needs.

Prophecy (preaching): foretelling, telling forth, the result of God’s grace or divine enablement,  to proclaim as telling forth God’s Word.  **In contrast to the office of “Pastor” this gift is the ability to speak and proclaim God’s word to others, whether in private or public situations without indication of any response from the hearers.

Teaching: To know or teach, to instruct by word of mouth….with the calculation of the increase in understanding of the pupil. **This gift is in contrast to “Preaching” in that it implies a reception and perception of the hearers, or a situation of interaction and instruction rather than just speaking with no indication of a response.

Exhortation: To call to one’s side, to aid, to call for, beseech, offer consolation or comfort.  **This gift is seen in those who have the desire and ability to see needs,  and to know who needs help and how to reach them, and walk with them through their difficulty.

Giving: To give over, to share, to impart.  (Note Romans says this gift is to be done with simplicity- sincerity, generosity , selflessness).  ** This gift is evident in those who are always ready to give of themselves, their resources and their time to meet the needs of others, with that selfless, generous and single-minded heart without thought for themselves.

Ruling: To stand before, to preside, maintain, rule over. (Note Romans says this gift is to be done with diligence- with speed, eagerness, earnestness, care). ** This is a much needed gift of being able to direct and lead others to accomplish God’s work, with eagerness,  earnestness, while caring for those involved.

Mercy: To have pity, be compassionate.  To show mercy…to  extend help for the consequence of sin. (Note Romans says this gift is to be exercised with cheerfulness-literally “hilarity”, obvious JOY). This is different from “pity” in that this is one who sees the “pitiful” and has the desire and the resources to eliminate the problem.

The word of Wisdom: Wisdom, the knowledge of how to regulate ones’ relationship with  God, prudence with others, and knowing how to regulate circumstances, judicious and sensible. ** Knowing HOW to apply that which we know, to give good counsel about circumstances-to speak a wise and appropriate “word” to the one in need.

The word of Knowledge: Experiential knowledge in contrast to clear and exact knowledge.  **This is the ability to know truth (scripture) and share practical experience from knowledge of the Word, to specific situations—to speak the right “word” from scripture at the right time.

Faith: To persuade or being persuaded.  Implies such a knowledge of, assent to, and confidence in certain divine truths. **This is not just saving faith but the confidence to believe God, to trust His word, and to pursue His specific commands and desires in bold obedience.

Gifts of Healing: (Here the word “gifts” is the only plural of “gift” in this list). A cure, or to affect a healing. **Without getting into any debate this gift is the ability to hear from God and pray healing for specific individuals at God’s direction.

Miracles:  Force or power, specifically miraculous power, or the miracle itself. Ability, abundance, might.  **The performing of “GODLY” supernatural acts.

Discerning of spirits: Judicial estimation, discernment. **Another much needed gift, to be able to recognize the Holy Spirit’s leading in contrast to “false, evil  spirits”. (See 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”)

Kinds of Tongues: Kinds-kin, or nations….   Tongues-Tongue, the tongue of a man, a foreign or strange language . ** The speaking of other languages which one has not learned by education.

Interpretation of Tongues: Translation. **To translate tongues.

I pray that this will help you to have a clearer understanding of the gifts, their meaning, and how to recognize them in your own life and the lives of those around you who are seeking to know God and His Word.

Blessings to you on this lovely spring evening.   I hope you have had a good week thinking about your spiritual gifts.  We’ll look at the specifics of the gifts in this letter and if we don’t get done we’ll finish next week.

We’ve looked at the general division of the gifts—speaking gifts and ministry/serving gifts.  We saw in 1 Peter 4:10-11 that we are to use our gifts, regardless of which kind of gift we have, knowing that they are from God and to be used for His glory and praise. Romans 11:36 reminds us that “of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen .  Our prime concern is to be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”,  God’s grace that saves, “For by grace are ye saved…it is the gift of God.” Eph 2:8-9;  that  holds us, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. …..; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one.” John 10:28-30;  that grows us “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”,  Eph 2:10;  and He keeps us “And being confident of this very things, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”.  Phil 1:6.

With that in mind let’s look at the particulars of the individual spiritual gifts.  There are 3 lists in the passages that we have been looking at: Romans 12:3-13, Ephesians 4:7-16, and 1 Corinthians 12:4-14.  In each of these passages the focus is the body, and the fact that we are ONE body with many PARTS and the gifts are to work together as the physical body does.  Romans 12:5-6 “5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us…” .  Ephesians 4:4-7, “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”  And 1 Corinthians 12:12-14 “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many.”   We know from nature that a body that doesn’t work together isn’t very productive, it is usually sick!!  Why do we not realize that about the ‘body of Christ”?  We are to work together as a body does, not as “hot-shots” seeking glory or fame for ourselves., even though we live in a “hot-shot” world and every one seems to be seeking his own good.  Paul tells us in Philippians 2:5-6 “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”   We  must exercise our spiritual gifts with “others” in mind, NOT just ourselves.

Let’s look at the specific gifts mentioned in each passage:                Romans 12– Prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership/ruling, and mercy.                                                                                   1 Corinthians 12– word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.                                    Ephesians 4-  Apostles, prophets,  evangelists, and pastor/teachers.

Let’s compile these into one list:  Apostles, Prophecy, ministry, teaching/pastor teacher,  evangelists,  exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, gifts of healing, miracles, discerning of spirits, kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues.  As we consider these gifts we need to understand the Biblical order and priority of the gifts, their importance to the “body” in functionality.  In Ephesians, Paul lists the 4 primary gifts as Apostle, Prophet,  Evangelist, and Pastor/Teacher. In 1 Corinthians 12:28-31, Paul lists gifts in order of importance to the “body” as –1^st Apoltles, 2^nd  Prophets, and 3rdly teachers, then the other gifts (as mentioned in this chapter), miracles, healings, helps, governments,  and tongues.  We need to understand the unique ministry of the gifts and that besides being the manifestation of the “Holy Spirit” within each of us, they are for the edification(growth, building up and improvement) of the body.  There is application to the whole of the body of Christ but more significantly for the individual local churches, to build up the believers in the local church body to function vibrantly within the kingdom and to reach out to the world with the gospel of Christ.

Let’s look now at the gifts themselves, what do they mean to me and you.  We won’t be digging into the debates about some of the gifts but the general understanding of what each gift is and how it helps the body.  Looking at these first four gifts, they are fairly easy to understand from the scripture: Apostles ; those sent with a  message.  Whether you believe that refers to only the original 12 or to those who now proclaim the truth of the Word of God as what we call “apologists” (those who defend the word of God, delivering the truth to the world) it is ‘one sent’.  Prophets: those given the message to deliver by proclamation,  which  may include “foretelling” but is more focused on “telling forth” the truth.  This would be preachers, and those who proclaim the word in all settings not an office.  Pastor/Teachers: This would refer to those who shepherd and teach/instruct the flock, including but not limited to church pastors, teachers and those who instruct in the Word of God, usually in a church setting.  Evangelists: those who take the gospel to people who need to hear.  This would include full-time evangelistic preachers, missionaries and those who witness on the streets and in other non-traditional places with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  These are the primary gifts but the others are just as significant in God’s economy and we are to use our gifts for His glory regardless of the supposed prominence.  As we have seen earlier, God gives the gifts, and places us where we need to be to use them to the fullest.   Whom do we trust?  Me or God?  Sounds simple but sometimes that is so hard to live out.  Am I yielded to God’s work for me? His place?  His timing? His heart? His gift?

All the gifts are important to the function of the church.  As Paul’s example in 1 Cor. 12 , just because we aren’t ‘prominent’ doesn’t negate our responsibility to be good stewards of our gifts.  We will look at the other gifts next week and hopefully gain more insight that will help us each to be that good steward of “God’s grace”.  May we be diligent about the work that God has given us without regard to the gifts of others.  Have a blessed week in the Lord as you pursue His work and His word.

Blessings and grace to you on this lovely April day.  Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me, I am feeling much better for the first time in many months.  I know we serve a prayer answering God, and I thank Him for answering and you for praying.

As we continue our study of Spiritual Gifts, let’s briefly review the passages that we are looking at; 1 Peter 4:10-11; Ephesians 4:7-16; Romans 12:3-13; and 1 Corinthians 12:4-14.  We looked last week at the general information in 1 Peter, where we saw that there are two main categories of gifts: speaking gifts, and ministry (serving) gifts.  We saw that even as they are unique gifts, they are to be exercised as from Him, for Him and to His glory, as ‘good stewards of the manifold grace of God.’

As we continue our pursuit to understand our spiritual gifts, let’s look at some general instructions from the other three passages and then next week we’ll look at the specific gifts and how we might recognize them in their use and function.  Romans 12:3-6a “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us,”.   Ephesians 4:7-8,12 “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men….12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:”  1Corinthians 12:4-7 “Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

All of these passages are written by Paul and give us a uniform teaching on the ‘gifts’.  In Ephesians and Romans we are reminded that “GRACE”–God’s unmerited favor– has supplied these gifts to each one.  That each person has received it/them according as God has given the measure of faith (not saving faith but walking around, every-day practical faith, believing God for “living” faith)!!  We also see that all don’t have the “SAME” gift!!  1 Corinthians 12 reveals for us that although there are differences/diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations, all are from that same Holy Spirit that is in each born-again believer.  We also observe that we are to be humble and think (appraise) soberly of our own value (Phil 2 tells us to think of others better than ourselves)-contrary to the “self-love/esteem” that the world promotes.  God calls us to “heavenly” esteem.  As Philippians 2:3-9 says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name”  And the words of Christ himself in Matthew 23:12 “And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted”.  All of our gifts are to be used, as Paul tells us in the Ephesians passage,  “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”— for others NOT ourselves!!!  Our purpose is to edify (build up) the body of Christ—individually and corporately.  Is the benefit of “OTHERS” my primary goal?   Am I building up or tearing down?  We must all examine our desires, our motives and our goals in life and especially in God’s kingdom work—which should be our “life”.

1 Corinthians 12 tells us something else that is of primary importance,   “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”  The gifts ARE the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s very presence in the life of the believer!!!!   If I am saved, 1) I have a gift/gifts; 2) God has given it to me; 3) it is the evidence that the Holy Spirit resides in me.  Now there are fillings of varying degrees in our lives throughout our journey, but the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is the “PROOF” that I belong to Christ!!!!!!  “Romans 8:9b  “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”; 1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”  God’s Spirit reveals God to and within us.  Our spiritual gifts are the evidence to His body, to those around us, and to the world that God has done a work in our lives. John 1:12-13 “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” And John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” !!!!!  IT IS GOD who does the saving and keeping,  And the very words of Jesus in his high-priestly prayer remind us of our state and our goal,   “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me”.

So in conclusion, what are you doing for Jesus?  Are you thinking of others and how you can help them be built up?  Are you exercising your spiritual gift/gifts?  Do you know what your spiritual gift is?  If not we’ll try to help with that next week.  In the mean time study our four passages about the gifts, pray, and ask God to reveal His will and purpose to you, and then walk daily looking for opportunities to see, realize and practice your gift/gifts.  Looking “unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb 12) and allowing Him to be seen in us each and every day.  Have a blessed week in the Lord and we’ll continue next week, Lord willing.  Enjoy the blessings of God’s great and wondrous creation this week.

Greetings to you all from the Brittain household.  What a lovely time to be alive and well on planet earth.  To know and trust our own Lord Jesus for “life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”(2 Peter 1:3)  The spring is finally among us if on a yo-yo basis—hot today cold tomorrow, but then that’s what spring does.  It has been lovely to be out and about seeing God’s beautiful creation come into bloom again and I thought we’d take this week and maybe a couple more to look at our blooming for Jesus, particularly Spiritual Gifts.  I think this season of new growth would be an excellent time to evaluate or re-evaluate how we are using our blessed gifts that God has given to us.

I would like to share the passages that deal with spiritual gifts and help us look at them and how they are manifest in our lives.  Since it would be too lengthy to list all the scriptures each week, I’ll spend this first week just mentioning all four of the main passages that deal with the gifts, and then go on to investigate each one to see how they apply to us individually as well as corporately (as the church-in general, the body of Christ and more specifically the local churches,  I’ll explain this as we go along).   The four main passages are 1 Peter 4:10-11; Ephesians 4:7-16; Romans 12:3-8(+9-13 for clarity); and 1 Corinthians 12:4-14 (chapters 12-14 for clarity).  We will begin with the general teachings and then go to the specifics.  Not an exhaustive study of the gifts but a deep look at the gifts, what they are, how they are to be used and by whom, as well as the priority of gifts and hopefully the identification of our own gifts.

We will begin with 1 Peter 4:10-11 “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  Peter gives us here a general description of the gifts of the Spirit, as well as their source and purpose.  These are very important, as oft-times God’s gifts are misused and abused for the benefit of other than GOD! Let’s just follow the text here—Who receives the gift/gifts? Every believer receives a gift from God when they are saved (we will see later in 1 Cor. 12 that they are received as the manifestation of the indwelling Holy Spirit, but for now we’ll just look at Peter’s declaration.)  It is also noteworthy that the gifts are received not self-imposed.  They are to be used to minister to one another (the body of Christ), not for self-glory or self-gratification.  Peter also classifies the gifts here into two general groups—speaking gifts and serving gifts.  This makes understanding the gifts more simple, especially when we look later at the individual and specific gifts that are given.

Just as significantly here, we see the all-important purpose of the gifts in our lives, as well as the general method in which they are to be used.  Peter shows us here that we are simply “stewards” of the gifts that we have received—they are not ours to use as we please, but God’s gifts to us for a Holy purpose.  We also need to note that they are received by God’s GRACE—not according to human merit or ability.  God doesn’t ‘call the equipped, He equips the called’!!  Continuing, we see that if our gift is a speaking gift we are to use it to speak “GOD’S” words not our own—oh doesn’t that sting for some of us some of the time!!  It sure does me!  We are to diligently strive to have “clean” lips (as Isaiah indicated in Isaiah 6—he was of a  people of unclean lips and God changed that for him).  Oh, if we could just learn to let the Spirit guide our hearts and guard our tongues.  James 3:2 “…… If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.”  How many hurts could be avoided if we would but pause and check to see if the words about to come out of our mouth are from God?  Remember we talked about Philippians 4:8 in that regard—check those thoughts at the door of our minds “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”  I am so grateful for God’s grace, forgiveness and cleansing!!  But we need to work on that “preventive” end more than the “repentant” end and with the Spirit’s help we can. 

Next we see that if our gifts are service/ministry gifts we have the same obligation as those with speaking gifts.  We are to serve as of the “ability which God giveth”, knowing as Jesus himself reminded us in John 15:5,  “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”   It is imperative that we remember where our gifts originate and why we were given them; so that “God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”  It is vital to our Christian walk and ministry, whether speaking or serving, that we keep our eyes “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;……” Hebrews 12:2.  And Paul also aptly states in Romans 11:33-36 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor? 35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”  It’s all of Him–through Him–to Him…..may we remember from whence we have come and where we are going.  As Jesus said in John 14,  “let not your hearts be troubled……if I go…..I will come again….and receive you unto myself…….that where I AM…. you may be also…..”  Let’s walk in the confidence of Jesus, submit and yield to His Spirit and bear fruit as He works in and through us.  May these thoughts encourage you to seek His face and find your gifting and fulfill it—God is constantly at work around us, let’s join HIM!!  Have a blessed and glorious week of communion with the Savior and we’ll continue next week.  And it’s ok to study ahead….

Blessed and happy greetings to you on this Holy Resurrection Day.  I hope that you have had a glorious day in the Lord today!!!  What an inexpressible privilege to celebrate the Risen Lord—Jesus!!  Praise God we serve a LIVING Savior not a dead and powerless man or idol!!

We have been talking about holiness and confidence in our risen Lord and I would like to share more thoughts with you this week in this vein.  I believe we are called to examine ourselves, our beliefs and our practices on a continuous basis.  That is what I’d like us to do this week as we’ve been focused on the risen Lord and our celebration of His resurrection. Deuteronomy 8:2 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.”  Romans 12:2 reminds us of our call,  “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” and 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”  Galatians 6:4 “But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.”  May we be reminded of our obligation to examine ourselves continually—God does!

What does all of this have to do with idolatry, you might ask?  Well, let’s look and see. I’d like to start with several scriptures that show us God’s perspective toward idolatry, with the understanding that “idolatry” means “extreme admiration, love or reverence for something or someone…”.  A good place to start is the Ten Commandments, the 1^st is “Thou shalt have no other “gods” before me”; the 2^nd “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image….”; and the 3^rd “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them…”!!!  The first three of the Ten Commandments call us to exclusive faithfulness to our God, and the rejection of anyone or anything that competes with Him and His place. Galatians 5:19-20 lists “idolatry” among the works of the flesh, in contrast to the works of the Spirit; “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, …..,”.   God takes idolatry seriously, and I believe we should also.

With this said, let’s look at our celebration of “Easter” or Resurrection Sunday.  The time when we, as Christians, celebrate the fact that our Lord was raised from the dead!!!  As I have thought on this of late and been looking around us, I made some disturbing observations. In our desire to “reach others”, are we compromising our faithfulness and devotion to God and allowing hints of, and even blatant acts of idolatry entry into our worship?  I would much rather spend this time sharing light and encouraging words for us but I feel compelled to call us to “holiness” and faithfulness before our “jealous” God.  Exodus 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:” What are we calling people to when we celebrate Christian Holidays?  Are we more interested in an “Easter Bunny” with a basket in his hand, or a Savior with SCARS in His?  Are we more defensive about a jolly “elf in a red suit”, or the Babe in the manger/our Emmanuel—God with us?  Pretend or reality? What are we offering the world?  Temporary myths or eternal HOPE in Jesus?

I was in a very prestigious church recently and the first thing I saw when we entered the door was two large bunnies and a basket with ‘Easter eggs’ in it.  A little farther down the hall was a tree covered with ‘Easter eggs’ hung on it’s branches.  Not a cross in sight!  Not a representation of the empty tomb but lots of bunnies and eggs all around!!  I was shocked and disappointed, to say the least!  There was a time in our American culture when the church presented Christ and Him crucified and risen again, and the ‘Easter Bunny’ was a thing that relegated to each family’s discretion within their own homes.  The ‘make believe’ balanced by parents who shared the ‘TRUTH” about Jesus with their own children.  Those who weren’t Christians obviously weren’t concerned about Jesus and that is to be expected.  But we are the ones with the “GOOD NEWS”—why not share the truth rather than fables?

As I looked in the papers, the mailers and other advertisements from many churches these last few weeks, I saw that many if not most had as much or more emphasis on the ‘Easter egg’ hunt, or the candy or other frivolous “bunny” activities.  What price are we willing to pay to supposedly “reach” people?  It grieves my heart to see that we have opened the door of the church to more and more of the world.  Why is the gospel itself not sufficient for us today?

Paul reminds us,  “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified”, 1 Corinthians 2:2, and in Acts 4:10 Peter proclaimed “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.”   Paul and Peter stood on the truth of the “Gospel” and Christ alone—Hope in the resurrected LORD.  What about us?

Why do we find it so necessary to bring the “world” (idolatry) into our churches to attract the world?  Jesus himself told us in Matthew 6:24 (& Luke 16:13) “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. “  Which master are we serving?  Where do we draw the line?   I’m not talking about “make believe” and children’s “fairy tales” and ‘nursery rhymes’ in general—but I am talking about the church trying to reach the world with the “world’s tools” rather than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  If ours is the “good news” why do we keep reaching back into the world for something to “appeal” to lost people?  They need Jesus not more of the world!!  I pray that we will search our hearts and that we will determine to keep ourselves holy.  1 John 5:21 “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” and Jude 1:21 & 24-25 “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life….24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen..”  I simply add my AMEN.