Grace Community Church of Ramona Podcast

Barangonan Update

The Church: A Gifted Family - Wrap-Up

Oikodomeo is a construction term used throughout 1 Corinthians 14. It means to build. As we’ve discovered, the purpose of grace-gifts is to build up the church. When grace-gifts are exercised in an orderly and peaceful manner in the meeting of the church, the church is effectively built up.

Much like warning tabs on brake pads, the grace-gift of tongues was a divine sign God used to get the attention of unbelievers. This is one of the reasons why, as we will study today, the Apostle Paul taught the Corinthians that speaking in uninterpreted tongues during the meeting of the church was inappropriate (1 Cor. 14:20-25). The grace-gift of tongues was a divine sign for unbelievers, not believers. In Acts 2 we have a clear historical illustration of tongues being deployed as a divine sign for unbelievers.

Special Presentation and Testimony of Alex Nsengimana of Operation Christmas Child

Paul closes out chapter 12 with an interesting line. "I will show you a still more excellent way". This begs the question, "way to what?" The answer lies in 12:7, here Paul reveals the reason that there are grace-gifts at all. They were given for the "common good", or for the proper Godly function of the body of Christ. These grace gifts are indispensable to our call to minister to one another and the world around us. However, there is a "more excellent way" to minister to one another and pursue this "common good." Agape Love. In Chapter 13, Paul will show us three things: the uselessness of using grace-gifts apart from love, the true definition of love, and why love is greater. For nothing builds up the family more than love.

Learning and applying the Word of God is the most important element in our spiritual growth as individuals and as a church family.  That is why we constantly encourage all of us to have a daily quiet time in the Word and to join a Bible Study or Home Group where you can study the Word with your brothers and sisters.

As we continue our series, The Church: A Gifted Family, it is my goal to introduce you to spiritual gifts and, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, convince you that you most certainly possess a spiritual gift.

We are a family of spiritually gifted brothers and sisters who, as we serve according to our gifts, build up Grace Church to be Jesus’ loving presence in the world.

The goal of this series on money is to help us run the race of life unencumbered by the weight and entanglements of materialism. Our calling is to love God with all that we are, to love one another as Christ has loved us and to help others become disciples of Jesus along with us. Our calling is to joyfully serve Jesus and one another through our spiritual gifts and the material resources God has entrusted to us.