As hard as you and I may try to use our unique giftedness in order to find our significance, the reality is that no one has ever truly found the significance they craved through the exercise of their gifts. No one, ever. In I Corinthians 13:1-2 Paul tells us why it is that we will never find the significance we crave through the exercise of our gifts but he also goes on to tell us the surprising place that it can be found. That is what this message is about. 

As we look deeper into this reality that we are all given individual gifts but function as one body, we must figure out how to avoid pride and envy, boasting and jealousy as we live together as the family of God. Listen and hear how the cost to Christ to give us these gifts actually unifies us in his own goal and purpose of giving his body these gifts.

      As a church how are we supposed to view those who are different from us? Do we conform in order to try and fit in? Do we divide in order to find people who are more like us? Do we compare and compete or do we simply try and ignore our differences in order to avoid conflict? In I Corinthians 12 Paul uses the analogy of the body to show us a better way to deal with our differences. 

How can you tell if the Holy Spirit is present at a gathering or even in your own life? Are there certain spiritual gifts that prove the presence of the Spirit? Are there things that should cause us to wonder if he is present? In I Corinthians 12:1-7 Paul lays out some criteria for discerning a true manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He also lays out a few basic truths about the Spiritual gifts that he doesn’t want the Corinthians to be confused about. While there are still a lot of things that Paul has yet to explain in this message we will try and lay out a few of the things that Paul wants to make very clear about the gifts of the Spirit. 

Every week we gather together as a church family and one of the things we do when we get together is we receive the Lord’s Supper or sometimes we call it communion. But why do we take the Lord’s Supper? What does it mean? What actually happens when we take it? And who exactly is it for? And of course there are lots of different ways that people take communion so why exactly do we do communion the way we do? Well these are some really good questions and tonight we will seek to answer them from I Corinthians 11.

We live in a culture of gender confusion. How many genders are there? Does your biological sex determine your gender? How important is it to maintain gender distinctions and what are you supposed to do if there is an incongruence between your biological sex and your internal sense of self. In I Corinthian 11 Paul answers some of these questions for us. However, even after we answer these questions, we still need to figure out how we are supposed to treat those who see things differently. We will end the sermon by considering that question.

 What do we do with the pieces of our life that don’t seem to fit together with what we believe about God? What do we do when something we feel deeply seems to contradict what we have been taught about God? What do we do with our “Why’s”? In Psalm 22 we see David wrestling between the way that he feels and the things that he believes about God. In this passage he will guide us on what to do with our unanswered questions.

In the Transfiguration God pulls back the curtain just a little bit to give us a glimpse of who Jesus is so that we can have confidence through life’s often difficult pilgrimage that he will satisfy and exceed all our greatest expectations. Jesus is the Lord of Glory, the living God who comes to save his people in the most inconceivable way – by laying aside his glory and ultimately by laying down his very life to save sinners.

How do you continue to follow God when you lose someone who has faithfully taught you what he is like? That is the question Elisha finds himself facing in II Kings 2. Knowing that Elijah is about to be taken up to heaven Elisha is faced with the difficult prospect of going on without him. However, before he leaves Elijah gives Elisha the chance to make one last request of him. What would he ask for? What would you have asked for? Will Elisha get his final request answered? These are some of the questions we will look at in II Kings 2.

Throughout the Bible, fire is often synonymous with God's presence. In this passage, we read of God sending fire on some people in judgment, while not sending it on others. Listen and hear how the Gospel transforms the fire of God from something consuming into something redemptive.