Sunday Sermons

We’ve considered the presence, power, promise, produce, and presents (gifts) of the Spirit and today we conclude by considering the ultimate pathway of the Spirit.

Paul would call it the most excellent pathway...

1 Corinthians 12:31 Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

In 1 Cor 12-14 Paul talks about the body as it relates to the presents or the gifts of the Spirit and quite frankly it’s been a passage of scripture that has made many a bit jumpy.

We find at least five passages in the New Testament that list gifts of the Spirit:

1 Corinthians 12:8–10

1 Corinthians 12:28–30

Romans 12:6–8

Ephesians 4:11–12

1 Peter 4:10–11

Here’s what we notice… No list of gifts is complete… How do we know?

Well, for one, no two lists are identical which should tell us something.

And two, it was not the intent of any of the epistles to create an exhaustive list.

Rather, it’s more fitting that they are suggestive of the type of work the Holy Spirit does.

Bret continues our series on the Holy Spirit. We’ve looked at the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, we’ve considered the promise of the Spirit– the deposit guaranteeing what is to come. Last week we looked at the produce or the fruit of God’s Spirit. For the next couple weeks we want us consider the presents (as in gifts) of the Holy Spirit.

Bret continues his series on the Holy Spirit as we take a look at the "produce" or fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. The letter to the Galatians exposes the conflict that is taking place within the Galatian church and Paul has spilled a good bid of ink addressing this conflict: Is it Jesus or is it Jesus plus? But Paul doesn’t just address a conflict within the church. He moves to talking about a conflict within the soul…

We hope this message will strengthen our dependence on and reliance on the Holy Spirit.