Bible Study 1 Corinthians 12:10d ESV James 1:5-8 ESV If I had to choose one verse and one gift that has caused more confusion in my life more than any other verse or gift it would be tongues. When I was twenty something the gift of tongues was categorized as a certain kind of gift and there were two schools of thought or two sides. One side said tongues were real and they were still a gift today. The other side said tongues were a real gift when Jesus and the Apostles were al

Bible Study 1 Corinthians 12:10c I’ve known for most of my life that my strongest gift is not Discerning Spirits, but with awareness I have learned how to cope with it by signs I see in others. When the Apostle Paul wrote to the new church in Corinth he told them about many gifts from the Spirit and one of those gifts was discerning of Spirits, In 1 Corinthians 12:10c he wrote God gives, “to another the ability to distinguish between spirits.” It wasn’t until Seminary that I

Bible Study I Corinthians 12:10b ESV The Apostle Paul also wrote to the church in Corinth about the gift of prophecy. I Corinthians 12:10b tells us, Give “to another prophecy.” Years and years ago unbeknownst to me I was drawn into a discussion about the gifts of the Spirit and which gifts are given to us today. I was young and was  terribly confused so I did what I always did and I went to my dad. I told him both arguments I heard were from different Christian friends. Some

Bible Study Series: God Gives 1 Corinthians 12:10a ESV There are many modern (or maybe not so modern) schools of thought about the work of the gifts of the Spirit in today’s world. Some Christian groups believe there are some miracles not available in the modern church or with Christian believers. There are other Christian groups that practice some of the miracles. There are still others who believe all miracles are still available to us today. I say each  group is correct. T

Bible Study 1Corinthians 12:9c There are some people who would say the gifts given by the Spirit Paul wrote about are no longer given as they were in the First Century. I would beg to differ. I have witnessed gifted healers who are healing others today. In 1 Corinthians 12:9c we are told that God gives, “gifts of healing by the one Spirit.” It seems that the definition of having the gift of healing isn’t being fully explored. As a matter of practicality we need to try to thin

Bible Study 1 Corinthians 12:9a ESV Hebrews 11:7 MSG In Seminary we studied the meaning of faith. We looked at it from every viewpoint. While I did learn more than I knew before there are elements of faith that cannot be taught in a classroom. We have to experience faith with God. 1 Corinthians 12:9a tells us, God gives “to another faith”. GOD gives faith. Faith is not something we can conjure up. In light of that I wish I had a nickel for every time someone told me I just ne

Series: Receive a Gift 1 Corinthians 12:8b I’m old. I can officially say that. I don’t grieve when I say that. Instead I rejoice. 1 Corinthians 12:8b tells us God gives “the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit”. The last section of 1 Corinthians 12:8 reminds us it is the Spirit of God who gives us the real utterance of knowledge. That’s because real knowledge comes to us from God. Men/women may have some measure of knowing and knowledge from studying, gaining

Bible Study Scripture 1 Corinthians 12:8a I have been reminded recently that when we suffer loss and we grieve, God grieves with us. When I was younger I thought that meant God gives us strength when we need it. Maturity does have definite advantages because I now know that God grieving with us means IN us. The Spirit is IN us. I knew that when I was younger but emotionally I hadn’t connected all the dots. 1 Corinthians 12:8a tells us, “to one is given through the Spirit the

1 Corinthians 12:7 manifestation of Spirit for common good Series: Receive A Gift 1 Corinthians 12:7 MSG Philippians 3:4-8 NLT Daily (actually several a times a day) we can be reminded of the greatness of God all around us. We just have to stop or at least slow down long enough to see where God is at work. In I Corinthians 12:7 the Apostle Paul wrote, “Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.” The key to seeing whe

Series: Receive a Gift Ephesians 2:8 ESV Acts 9:3-6 ESV While I have counseled with adults who struggle with receiving God’s gift of grace, I have not personally experienced that struggle. I received God’s grace when I was nine years old. I did understand that I wanted Jesus in my life. I loved Jesus and that life is all I’d known. I was taken to church early in life and my first memories of being in Sunday School were very positive and uplifting. I adored my first Sunday Sch

Series: Receive a Gift 1 Peter 4:10 ESV The relationship with early believers and the Apostles can best be understood by remembering the Apostles actually knew Jesus. They traveled with Jesus. They heard all of His teachings. They were when he was arrested and crucified. They witnessed Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. It’s interesting that Peter’s instructions to the new church of Jesus reminded the early believers of several key elements that Jesus taught them. First, they

Series: Receive a Gift James 1:17 ESV Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 ESV We know a great deal from the opening greeting from James as he writes to his fellow believers. While James was a common name in the first century, experts believe the James who authored this book was the half brother of Jesus and the brother of Jude. By half brother, we know Mary was their mother and Joseph was the Father. Jesus of Nazareth was born of Mary but His father was of God, not Joseph the Carpenter. How

Series: Receive a Gift Romans 12:6a ESV Realistically if we had a child or even a spouse who was a genius mathematician but refused to use that genius to solve math problems we would be really frustrated. If someone could play the piano like Rachmaninoff but refused to touch a piano we would be furious. If someone could heal others but refused to touch those who were ill we would be dumbfounded. The truth is, when people are gifted but they refuse to use their gift for one r

Series: Receive a Gift Romans 6:22-23 MSG You do not need to be told or reminded that life is hard. There are times in everyone’s life when we don’t know how we’re going to go on. Learning how to go on is the key. Romans 6:22-23 tells us, “But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the

Bible Study Encourage We cannot begin to imagine how much cheer the early People of the Way (Christians) experienced when a letter arrived from Paul, Peter or Timothy. We have to remember Paul was first in Macedonia and he was imprisoned near the end of his life in Rome. When Paul wrote to Timothy was in Ephesus. Peter referred to Babylon in his letters but that was a “code” word for Rome because of persecution. Mail carriers named for those in prison were Phoebe, Tychic

Bible Study Philippians 1:27c NKJV Over the course of my lifetime I’ve always known I was proud of my country, especially when times were difficult, Philippians 1:27c tells us,“stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,” But there have been times when I’ve been really sad. On November 22, 1963 I was in a car with a few other classmates coming home from the circus in downtown Kansas City. We heard the President was shot and killed i

Bible Study 3 John 1:2 ESV I am regularly reminded of the benefits of good health and especially good eyesight. 3 John 1:2 we are told, “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.” Today…monthly I have an eye treatment and I am reminded of the benefits and blessings of modern medicine. I inherited three eye diseases from women in my family. One of my grandmothers had glaucoma and I inherited it. My other

Bible Study Hebrews 11:1 ESV For some reason the book of Hebrews was an enigma for me at one time. I wasn’t sure why. When I was in Seminary I finally understood the reason. Today’s scripture is a perfect example. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” I was the one making it difficult to understand because I was overthinking it. For years I’d been told by teachers in grade school, high school, and even

Bible Study Psalm 100:1-2 ESV and MSG If you’ve ever been  blessed to be part of a congregation that really gave a joyful noise to God, you are blessed! In my case the size of the congregation wasn’t always a factor. I’ve been part of a congregation of 20 people and they gave a joyful noise to the Lord. I’ve also been part of a congregation that seated 3,000 and they gave a joyful noise to God. The important factor wasn’t in the numbers. It was in the joyful noise that each p

Bible Study Ecclesiastes 3:4 ESV Oh my, YES! In my book the greatest gift God gave us is laughter. All my life people have told me they heard me coming because they heard “my laugh.” I just can’t help it. I love to laugh! Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us, there is a time to weep and a time to laugh.” In addition to laughter, I’ve also done my share of weeping. It seems like we can’t have one without the other. But here’s the deal: when the weeping is over and we’ve worked through