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UNITY: One Body
“We have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit and we all share the same Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:13
To some people these glorious, wonderful and powerful truths about spiritual gifts may seem irrelevant. They are dealing with financial loss and problems, serious health issues, family and relationship problems and a plethora of other mental, emotional, career and domestic problems. But look at Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-36. This is what unity looks like and produces in a church community. We want a Revival, a Restoration of what the church was in the Bible, when individual and family lives and nations were changed for the better. The one-word Biblical term for that is - saved. “And each day the Lord added to their church those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)
God never answers our questions or gives us His solutions with a straight answer. Jesus never gave a straight answer to people’s questions. His answer came in the form of a curve ball. The mighty prophet Elijah went to a dark cave to have his own pity-party. He repeatedly prayed for God to kill him. He was so depressed he wanted to die. God came to him and He didn’t say, “There, there, My son, bless your darling heart. It’s going to be alright. I love you.” No, Gd told him to leave the cave and go forth and anoint his replacement. Not exactly what he was hoping to hear, I’m sure. And while he was going, he was to anoint the next kings of Aram (Syria) and Israel. God gave him the cure for depression: leave your pity-party and go do something for others. But it came in the form of a curve ball.
A man came to Jesus asking Him to make his brother share the family inheritance with him. After all, he was his brother. “I’m a member of the family!” Jesus’ answer was, “Beware! Guard against every form of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” Then He tells a story about a man who put his abundant crops in a larger barn (Lk.12:13-21). God plants the answers beneath the soil. The church is the field (1Cor.3:9). You expect God to give you a straight answer? He won’t do it. He will throw you a curve every time. It won’t be obvious, not to us. After we see it, it will. Jesus told parables that nobody understood them, but later they would.
You want an answer to your marriage problem? He says, “The church is your answer. I’ve given my children words of wisdom and the gift of praying for one another. Next question.” You want an answer to your drug, anger or lust problem? “The church, where I have gifted members of My body with power to cast out demons and to pray.” Health problems? “I have given to My church gifts of healings.” You need financial help? “I have given to the church some with the gift of giving; they can help you if they know about it. And there are teachers God has gifted the church with and those with words of wisdom to help you with financial advice.
This truth of spiritual gifts is not irrelevant at all. God has deposited His solutions and the answers to your probl
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