SPIRITUAL GIFTS - I CORINTHIANS 12-15

Ressurection - 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 There are many different beliefs about life after death in our culture: Annihilation: There is no afterlife Buddhism: after death you lose your identity into the ‘formless’ and ‘nameless’ beyond Traditional Christian/Muslim: Paradise or heaven awaits Reincarnation. Believing in ‘karma’ means that one must return in a different body to pursue the next stage in ones destiny. How you do in this life determines how you will return. Spiritualism: Ghosts, spirits and contacting the dead.

However 1 Cor 15 says RESURRECTION is the central affirmation of Christianity after death – it’s why Paul, who writes this letter is so clear. 1 Cor 15:3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”

If there is a weakest link in the chain of Christianity – here it is.  The Resurrection of Jesus.  Because our faith and hope for the future stands or falls on whether or not it happened.  The bible even affirms that fact.  1 Cor 15:17 “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins…19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.”

One only need to provide the bones of Christ, and all of this collapses like a house of cards. If Christ stays in the tomb, then nothing has been achieved, a good man has died and that’s it. But if he rises and still lives – then no one has ever done that and that proves a whole ton of things about the Christian faith has massive implications for everyone.

Historical Evidence for the Resurrection:
1) Resurrection was Totally Unexpected.
2) The Witnesses were Women!
3) Mistaken identity:
4) Empty Tomb.
5) Jesus didn’t die:
6) Jesus only appeared to people who believed in him?
7) The accounts were biased or incorrect.
8) No shrine:
9) the Sabbath Shifting

The best historical explanation is that Jesus of Nazareth having been thoroughly dead and buried, was raised to life on the third day with a renewed body (not just a resuscitated corpse) and appeared to many different people.  Now, I realise it is still possible for you to say, “I don’t have a great explanation for the empty tomb and the resurrection appearances but I still maintain my belief that people don’t rise from the dead and so something else must of happened.” That’s fine, but can you see, your putting your faith in something other than the logical facts or evidence of the events.  That may be a shock to you but are you sure your putting your faith in the right things?

Christians have this wonderful hope that is far bigger than just going to heaven when you die.
God is interested in this life, this world. 

All Christians are called to bring resurrection and restoration to this dying, decaying world and look forward to the job getting completed at the end of time.  If Christ really does rise again, it means the worst that life can throw at you - Hardship, trouble, evil, even death, has been defeated. If you trust him, you get to benefit both now and in the future.

Questions:
What are the most commonly held beliefs about life after death with your friends?
What happens when a Christian dies? Where do they go and where do they end up?
How does Jesus’ resurrection impact your life?
What do think of the evidence for a physical resurrection?

TALKS AVAILABLE FROM ‘TOGETHER ON A MISSION’ CONFERENCE

Click on this link to listen to some excellent talks from the Newfrontiers Brighton Leaders Conference. Talks

Spiritual Gifts + Love (by JR BAKER)

The buildup In chapters 12 and 14 of this same book, Paul is really doing a lot of clarification for the people of Corinth, in regards to spiritual gifts and what they’re all about. he’s very clear and firm on the issues they had struggled with and wants to be sure that they understand, as clearly as possible, what this is truly all about.

most excellent and greatest

Now, as Paul is flowing into the chapter 13, the one on love, he starts out by mentioning that the way of love is the most excellent way.  he wants you to know, right off the bat, that even though living out all these spiritual gifts is crucial to the body and an absolute part of life in Christ, that a life of love is the most excellent way to live. 

and just to make sure that we don’t miss it, he ends the chapter by coming back to the fact that love is the most excellent way and he says that after all the gifts have faded away, that faith, hope and love will remain, but the greatest of these is love.  Paul starts and ends the chapter on love, making sure we are fully aware of the fact that love is absolutely imperative to all of these other things we have been discussing.

in fact, living a life of love is so vital to the life of the church and of the believer that he goes on a little bit of a rant pointing out just how much you’d be lacking if you went out and did all these incredibly spiritual things but did them without love.  he talks about how you can be a spiritual giant, and do so much for so many, and yet be completely missing it if you don’t have love as the foundation.

i told the story about how in seminary, i was doing all these good little church things with all of my free time, i was preaching and leading bible studies, i was mentoring college guys and discipling folks, and yet my competitive nature led me to get so upset about a flipping volleyball game, that i actually made the referee cry…i, the pastor, made this sweet, little, girl referee cry⎯i am a horrible human being.

the reality is that the lost of the world couldn’t care less about all your great spiritual accolades and wonderful community service and awesome prayers if they don’t see and experience the love in your life.  i hope you’re getting the point that love is absolutely fundamental to our lives.

The focus
in our culture, love is often misconstrued and it gets mixed up with so many other things.  we confuse emotions and feelings and lust and movie-love and the list goes on, with what God is actually desiring for us to live out with each other, in the body of Christ.

because of this problem, Paul does something extremely helpful and gives us this nice little checklist of what exactly the love of Christ is to look like.  He tells us exactly what this love is and it’s a pretty thorough list of challenging things.  it is a list that i know for a fact that i have not mastered and chances are, will never come close.  we can definitely take out the word love and try putting our name in the blank and see just how well we measure up.  unfortunately, most of us would not stack up to well with Christ.

essentially this list is the perfect description of a beautiful, selfless, sacrificial love that puts others before ourselves.  it goes right back to the Greatest Commandment and the simple point that Jesus makes about us loving God first and then loving our neighbor.  we have got to improve on this because the world around us is dying and it desperately needs to see the beautiful love of Christ that we see so clearly in the cross.

and i hate to be the bearer of bad news and please don’t shoot the messenger, but the truth is…love is difficult.  it is hard to live this out, it is a challenge to live this out, it is something that each and everyone of us need to actively seek out and pray about on a regular basis, so that we can try and be more and more like Christ. 

we’ve got work to do, so lets quit making excuses and get on with it.

challenges and discussion

* pray for the group and one another and that the Spirit would show you where you need to improve in these areas and how you can practically be more loving

* which attribute of love do you struggle the most with? why do you think this is?

* if you were to remove love from that list and put your name in its place, how would you stack up to the ideal?

* do pray for the ability to be more loving as often as you pray for yourself, your friends, your spiritual gifts, etc.?

* if Jesus said that love was the greatest commandment and numerous other authors throughout scripture say this as well, why do you think we choose to focus on so many other things more than we do the aspect of love?

* the beatles have a famous song that says, “all you need is love”…how can this concept that love is “all you need” be dangerous to us in the church? or do you think it is great?

* what is one thing from the sermon that you really felt like God was speaking directly to you and whispering right in your ear?

* in Galatians 5:22, love is the first attribute listed in the fruits of the spirit…do you think that it is listed first for a reason? why or why not?

* this week, try your hardest to love those where it doesn’t come naturally.  it is easy to love my wife, my best friend, my family, etc., but what about those others? be intentional in stepping out in love in new and powerful ways.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS - I CORINTHIANS 12-15

Using the Spiritual GIfts: 1 Corinthians 14:26-33. How do we makes sure the Spiritual gifts are used wisely and responsibly? Here are 6 principles:

1. Encourage Freedom
A key verse in this chapter is verse 26 “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.” There was an openness and expectation that the Holy Spirit would be present as the church gathered for worship.  We must make sure there is room and space given for people to contribute their gift when we meet.

2. Encourage Leadership:
Even though Paul stresses the ability of the tongues speaker to be in control of their utterances, and likewise for the prophet (28 & 32), it is not necessarily their responsibility to be counting the number of contributions.  Their contribution is the tongue or prophecy and it would be helpful to have others to bring control and clarity to proceedings. 

3. Encourage Weighing
The passage encourages the evaluation of the prophecy or tongue.  The main question is who does the weighing when Paul says “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said“?    Who are the ‘others’? It is unlikely the ‘others’ are other prophets.  Paul is clearly addressing the whole church and not just prophets.  So the words must be given publically and all the people weigh them. 

a) Is it Biblical? 2 Peter 1:20-21)
b) Is it God honouring? (1 John 4:1-3)
c) Is it Encouraging and strengthening, (1 Cor 14:3)
d) Is it what God wants to say now? (Acts 15:28)

So Paul says three things about Tongues when we use them in gatherings:
i) First there must be an interpreter present
ii) second only one person can speak at a time and
iii) thirdly, only two or three may speak in one go. 

4 Encourage Edification:
1 Cor 14:26 ‘All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church.’
It seems to obvious to state but edification is the stated purpose of spiritual gifts.  It means encouragement and building up.

5. Encourage Order:
The passage concludes with a clear appeal to structure (40) “But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.”  This ordering has it’s foundations in the nature of God (33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.). 

6. Encourage Intelligibility
Our final guideline is to encourage intelligibility, especially for guests and unbelievers. Look to explain, promote understanding, create safe environment. Paul was concerned for unbelievers was huge (see verses 22-25).

Questions:
1) Is there anything you don’t understand about using the spiritual gifts in our gatherings?
2) Spend some time this week at mission group practicing using the Spiritual gifts then feedback to each other about the experience.

SPIRITUAL GIFTS - I CORINTHIANS 12-15

1 Corinthians 12:1-25 Tongues and Prophecy. What are they and how do we use these gifts?

Tongues:
Paul suggests there are different kinds of tongues in 1 Cor 12:10 and so the gift of tongues is either:
(a) an earthly language (E.g. Turkish, Japanese, Arabic) that God supernaturally gives you for a reason – e.g. Pentecost (Acts 2)

(b) a heavenly language with which we speak to God – maybe it is the language of angels (mentioned in chapter 13 and ) but it is definately a heavenly language that isn’t just gibberish but words given spontaneously by the holy spirit that the speaker doesn’t understand (unless there is an interpretation) that form a prayer or worship to God. 1 Cor 14:2 “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God”

So, Tongues are a form of prayer, a way of speaking to God (14:2, 28), a way of praying ‘in the spirit’ or ‘by the spirit’ which by-passes the mind (14:14-15).  It is a means of communication with God to praise him with heartfelt gratitude (14:16), but which may also be used for supplication, petition and intercession.
The Apostle Paul didn’t think that everyone will speak in tongues - 1 Cor 12 says one gift is given to someone and another gift is given to someone else. “29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues ? Do all interpret?”

Prophecy:
What is the gift of Prophecy?
Prophecy is telling something that God has spontaneously brought to mind.  It’s saying something that God thinks or feels about a situation that is inspired by the Holy Spirit. 
It’s about being encouraged and inspired in your walk with God. It helps us fall more and more in love with Jesus.  That’s what Paul means in 1 Cor 14:3 when he says ‘everyone who prophesies speaks to men for there strengthening, encouragement and comfort.’

Prophecy also convicts and exposes sin (14:24-25); and to teach (14:31). It seems that it was also used for direction for ministry (Acts 13:1-3); predicting the future (Acts 11:28); and identifying or imparting spiritual gifts (1 Timothy 4:14).

The Bible talks about 2 types of prophecy:

1)High Level
God’s word revealed to man through the Prophets and Apostles. The words God breathed out through the various writers in the bible that became scripture.  High level prophecy generates scripture. 
Since the bible is complete, there is no more high level prophecy

2)Low level
This is the level of prophecy we experience today - doesn’t have the authority of high level and therefore doesn’t generate scripture.  In fact, low level prophecy is fallible and needs to be weighed according to high level – scripture. 

Different types of scripture found in the Bible:
Individual: Acts 21:10-12 where Agabus prophesies over Paul before he returns to Jerusalem to be handed over to the authorities.
Corporate: 1 Cor 14:31 where Paul gives some instructions on how to bring prophecy’s in a group situation.
Predictive: Acts 11:27-30 Agabus prophesies a huge famine which results in the churches collecting money via Paul and Barnabus to support the church in Judea
Conviction of sin: 1 Cor 14:24 where if people who are not Christians may realize they need to repent from sin if prophesy reveals what’s really going on in their hearts

Using the gifts of Tongues, interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy in corporate meetings:

The thrust of the passage is that Paul wants to encourage the gift of Tongues only when there is an interpretation and the gift of Prophecy.  1 Cor 14:4 “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.” Tongues without interpretation is like playing random notes on an instrument, you’ll never understand the melody.

Paul also wants to appeal to the presence of unbelievers in corporate worship to promote order and intelligibility.  He says in 1 Corinthians 14:22 “Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.” But he also warns against the public use of tongues (without interpretation) precisely because unbelieving guests will not understand what was said and ask “surely you are out of your mind?” 
What then does Paul mean when he says on the one hand that tongues are a sign to unbelievers and on the other hand, they must avoid their public use as unbelievers won’t understand them?
The answer is found in Paul’s quotation from Isaiah 28:11 (which alludes to Deuteronomy 28:49).  Where God says that, as a sign of his displeasure with unbelieving and rebellious Israel, he will speak to them by the lips of foreigners (Assyrians) whose language they can’t understand.  Thus being ruled over by a people whose language you cannot understand means God has come in judgment, handing his people over to foreign powers.

In the same way, Paul says, if a guest comes into the assembly of the church and hears unintelligible speech, they will be driven away and never understand the gospel. The church in Corinth would have given them ‘a sign’ that eventually leads to judgment. Yet at the same time, Paul is enthusiastic about the use of prophecy in public settings.  He suggests that unbelieving guests will hear the revelation and “will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”  So tongues without interpretation is a sign to unbelievers, negative sign, they’ll leave confused and away from gospel.

But prophecy’s can bring revelation of Jesus and a person’s need to repent and receive Jesus into their lives.

Questions:
Talk about your experiences (good and bad) about the gift of Tongues and Prophecy?
Was there anything in the passage you did not understand?
Why do we not see more Tongues and Prophecy at Mosaic (either in mission group or Sunday gatherings)?
What can stop you from contributing during a worship gathering?
How can you practice using the gifts at Mission group?

LAMENTATIONS 5 - A CRY FOR PRAYER

This chapter provides a warzone prayer. It gives us 'grooves to run down' in scripture when we want to pray in difficult times.

There are four main movements

1) Appeal - (5:1-2) we appeal to God and ask him to act for His names sake.
2) Repentance - (5:7;16) we say sorry for our sin
3) The Sovereignty of God - (5:19) we trust in God being so power that he is totally in control
4) Questioning - (5:20-22) we reverently ask God questions about the suffering we see around us. This should eventually lead us to the cross and resurrection.

Questions:
Describe the challenges of developing your prayer life?

Application:
Choose a situation around the world to pray for together using the four movements
Watch this amazing video on prayer by Terry Virgo (founder of Newfrontiers) if you want to learn how to pray.
http://vodpod.com/watch/1804876-elijah-prays-for-rain-a-sermon-by-terry-virgo

Gwyneth Paltrow and caring for babies

Want help and advice caring for your baby?

Here is what it is about

“Calling all carers of babies and young children!  If this isn’t you then can you invite a friend??  Courtyard Cafe at Harehills Lane Baptist Church in Leeds 8 is putting on an event at 7.30pm on Monday June 21st in the Hall. Cuppas and cakes and a talk by Rachel Waddilove who has had extensive experience of working with babies, young children and their families (including Gwyneth Paltrow with both her babies). Rachel has also written 2 books about babies and toddlers. There will be a question and answer session. Rachel will talk about her own faith journey as a Christian during the evening. Tickets will be on sale from the HLBC office for £2.00 each. Tel 0113 262 8080. Or See Julia Crookston on Sunday mornings at Mosaic Mob 0783 729 1978”

A great event for parents and also a great event to invite non-Christian friends to. It would be great to get a crowd from Mosaic along.

Lamentations 4 - Coping with Grief

Lamentations is a book that deals with life's toughest moments - when the emotions run in all directions

It is a communal lament - the whole community has been shaken (because of war time defeat). Job is a book about individual suffering where his comforters didn’t know what to say to him.

If we are going to be prepared to suffer (and not become paralysed by the grief) as a community we must

(1) Expect Grief. In chapter 4, everyone suffers, even the rich and powerful…...and even the king (the Lord’s anointed - vs20). We mustn’t think that we will avoid suffering (because we live a moral life and follow God). Jesus was perfect. Jesus suffered. If we don’t expect grief it will topple and consume us because we (a) will think we don’t deserve it and (b) will have thought we were immune to it. We must

(2) Express your Grief.. Chapter 4 is honest - brutally honest. God always wants honesty. Babies are starving to death and suffering from dehydration. No hiding or pretending or keeping a ‘brave face.’ Jesus was brutally honest with God in the garden of Gethsemane. Psalm 88 is an important Psalm because (a) it is brutally honest and (b) it ends with the line “the darkness is my closest friend.” WOW! But it is important because that is how some people feel and they shouldn’t feel condemned for it. The bible commends honesty because God knows the situation, he knows how you feel…and he wants you to tell him.  ALSO - the suffering in chapter 4 is so bad because ‘it could have been avoided’ (vs17ff) - they were suffering because of the sin of the leaders. That only compounds the suffering. It could have been avoided and there is a sense of betrayal. Again Jesus at the death of his friend Lazarus (a) wept with sadness and (b) quaked with rage at the destruction and evil of death. And again, Jesus suffered because of our sin - we literally nailed him to the cross. Never succumb to the pressure to hold in the emotions. If you don’t, if you bottle them up, they will eat away at you until they consume you and you are paralysed emotionally and spiritually. Psalm 126 says “those who sow with tears with reap with songs of joy.” We must cry and must be honest with God and express our grief if we are to move on.

(3) Express your Grief with the words God has given you. Lamentations 4 (like the rest of the book) is an Acrostic (each verse starts with the next letter of the Hebrew Alphabet) which gives it s Rythmn. Why did the writer do this (a) so it could be memorised and used when suffering came (b) so it expresses an A-Z of grief - their is a completeness and (c) (3)So it could help you express your grief in such a way that leads you out of it. The Acrostic poem gives dignity to your emotions so that the grief doesn’t run out of control and become unhelpful and lead into a downward spiral of spiritual and emotional depression. Instead it gives you a rhythm which means you don’t end up worse than when you started.

The Psalms and Lamentations are not words TO US but words FOR US. They are not words God speaks to us, they are words he gives to us so that we can speak to him. They are groves that we can run down. Groves that have been well worn by the people of God over the centuries. Groves that are tried and tested. Groves that God gave us so that we can channel and express our emotions in such a way that means (a) we don’t sin and (b) we are led out of the grief. There are words for all emotions! What did Jesus do in his suffering when he experienced hunger in the desert? He ran down the groves God had given him - he quoted scripture…and was led out of the desert. What did Israel do when they experienved hunger and suffering in the desert. They didn’t remember. They didn’t run down the groves and they died in the desert. What did Jesus do in his hour of grief on the cross? He runs down the groves God gave him (Psalm 22.1 + Psalm 31.5). Because he knew the groves would (a) channel his grief and (b) lead him out of his grief. He bled scripture.

If you don’t - you will become hard-hearted and separated in your relationship with God. If you try to protect yourself (by not loving) you will become hard-hearted and have an under-current of anger and bitterness to your life….and you’ll end up in a place where everyone is hard-hearted and forgotten how to love God and others…Hell!

What grove does God gives us in chapter 4 for us to run down?

vs20-22 talk about the anointed king (the Messiah/Christ) who was trapped by the enemies - they couldn’t shelter in his shadow. But God promised that one another would come, he would cry over Jerusalem, he would be striped naked, he would drink the cup of suffering and eternal justice against sin, he would feel the full force of the wrath of God (vs10) and he would cry “it is finished.” But then he would rise 3 days later. His enemies couldn’t beat him.

What does this mean? We have a conquering king we can run to. We can shelter under his shadow. He can be our portion (chapter 3.24). And we can know that one day there will be an end to all suffering - he is preparing a room for us (John 14). And in the mean time, we are more than conquerors in him (Romans 8) - no matter what the suffering.

We must run to him in suffering!

Questions

Read Psalm 48
(1) What strikes you?
(2) What were the people’s expectations of Jerusalem? How did they view Jerusalem?
(3) Why was Jerusalem so important?

Read 2 Kings 25 + Jeremiah 52 (+ Lamentations 4) to the account when Jerusalem fell.
(4) Is it any surprise the writer writes like he does in Lamentations 4? (given Psalm 48)
(5) Why has has it happened? (vs17ff)
(6) How does he feel? How does he express himself?

Application

(7) What does this tell you about how we can speak to God?
(8) What happens if we don’t express our grief to God? What happened to the Israelites in the desert?
(9) How can we make sure we run in the groves God has given us?
(10) What parts of scripture do you turn to for comfort (and why?)

Prayer

(11) Pray through Lamentations 3.21-26. Pray that these verses would be true for you.
(12) Pray for any people and communities that are suffering. Pray that the Holy Spirit would bring comfort and bring people to Jesus.
(13) Thank God for our anointed king who conquered. 

Through the week

(14) Pray for those you know who are suffering. Visit them. Cook them a meal.
(15) Memorise Lamentations 3.21-26 or Psalm 23.