Growing up 5 Gifts to Help You Mature

Growing up

5 Gifts to Help You Mature

 

You would have thought in 6000 years

the human race would have become

mature and peace would be on the earth.

God sent His Son because we are not

growing up, we are not getting better.

The proof that we needed help is seen in

the way we killed the most perfect man.

You and I need more than the 5 survival gifts

of food, water, shelter, sleep, and oxygen.

So Christ came not only to forgive us of our

sin but He gave us 5 gifts to help us mature.

 

“It was he who gave some to be apostles,

 some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,

and some to be pastors and teachers”

Ask yourself the question… 

Where are those 5 gifts in my life today?

God send His Son to destroy

the works of the devil.

God sent His Son to set the captives

free, to give us the ability to be

free to live life to the fullest.

Human nature left to its self will destroy its self.

The failure of human nature from creation to the

time of Christ proved man has failed in growing up.

You would have thought in 6000 years

the human race would have become

mature and peace would be on the earth.

God sent His Son because we are not

growing up, we are not getting better.

The proof that we needed help is seen in

the way we killed the most perfect man.

You and I need more than the 5 survival gifts

of food, water, shelter, sleep, and oxygen.

So Christ came not only to forgive us of our

sin but He gave us 5 gifts to help us mature.

  

“It was he who gave some to be apostles,

some to be prophets, some to be evangelists,

and some to be pastors and teachers”

Apostles… sent ones to establish

the order of God and His Church.

Prophets…ones who speak the words

of God to us in personal ways.

Evangelist…those who proclaim the

Good News enticing everyone to come

taste and see that the Lord is good.

Pastors...to comfort and care for the people.

Teachers…to instruct and train us in the

practical things we need to grow up and mature.

If you have been around the church any length

of time you might have heard of the fivefold

ministry so many times you take it for granted.

 But look at it again God says these gifts are…

“To prepare God’s people for works of service”

No one becomes mature who does

not serve, who is not prepared to work.

When we become mature we…

“Attaining to the whole measure

of the fullness of Christ”

That is a lot to grow up into

and it only happens as…

“We all reach unity in the faith and

in the knowledge of the Son of God”

Any other view of maturity will give us the

results of the past 6000 years of human efforts.

Although we have great accomplishments,

the human race is very immature.

As Sandy and I look back on our lives we

see our strong involvement in the church

and the 5 gifts God gave to help us mature.

So if you received the gift of salvation

through Jesus Christ and are born again…

Than grow up.

Take also the gifts of…

 apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers

Get out and do the work they call you to do.

And realize there is a part of those 5 gifts in you

so you do the work of establishing God’s order,

speaking God’s Word to others,

sharing the Good News,

caring and comforting others and

teach the younger in faith

what you have learned.

Ask yourself the question…

Where are those 5 gifts in my life today?

How close am I to the…

“Whole measure of the fullness of Christ”

Scripture Reading

Ephesians 4:11-16 NIV

11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.