4\u00a0<\/span>There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit\u00a0distributes them.<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/span>There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.<\/span>\u00a06\u00a0<\/span>There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone\u00a0it is the same God\u00a0at work.<\/span><\/p>\n 7\u00a0<\/span>Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.<\/span>\u00a08\u00a0<\/span>To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom,\u00a0to another a message of knowledge\u00a0by means of the same Spirit,<\/span>\u00a09\u00a0<\/span>to another faith\u00a0by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing\u00a0by that one Spirit,<\/span>\u00a010\u00a0<\/span>to another miraculous powers,\u00a0to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits,\u00a0to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,\u00a0and to still another the interpretation of tongues.<\/span>\u00a011\u00a0<\/span>All these are the work of one and the same Spirit,\u00a0and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.<\/span><\/p>\n I have always loved working with kids. Before I became a teacher I was talking to a friend of mine and we were talking about careers and how important it is to have a solid job. He is not a Christian, however I remember him saying something that has stuck with me every since. He said, knowing that I am a Christian, I should use my skill as teacher to be my mission field and spread God’s love to other people. It got me thinking because all that time I was mostly looking at my career as a teacher as just a job. That conversation completely changed my outlook on how to approach my role as a teacher and what I can do to use my job as a means to spread the Gospel of Christ.<\/p>\n This passage shows how God has a desire to use each and every one of us. It is not so much how big or vast our talents are. It is whether or not we are willing to be used by God no matter what position we have been placed in. If we have willing hearts, then God is the one who can properly equip us to do His work and make a difference in ways that we ourselves may not think we could. God used a shepherd boy and made Him a king (David), an exile (Moses) to lead the people out of bondage, turned a mass murder (Paul) into a great evangelist and the list goes on. Trust that God will take you and use you in a way that will honor and reflect Him.<\/p>\n Everyone in the body of Christ matters. I played football in high school and we had a 90 something year old priest (it was a Catholic school) who would pray for us every Friday before the games. He would also give us pep talks. Being that he was in his 90’s he tended to give the same speech each week….for 4 years. The speech, however, was always important no matter how many time we heard it. He would tell us “every spoke in the tire needs to be there and working for the tire to work properly. That is why you have to play as a team. No one person is more important than the other.”<\/p>\n Father Keller\u00a0was right about football and it would have been the\u00a0right thing to say about the church as well. Paul was stressing that no one person in the church is the most important person, even if someone has a more flashy gift than another. While one may have knowledge and another discernment, no one is better off than another….not even the pastor. God calls us all to have a certain gift and to use it. What sets us apart is not what gift He gives us but how well we use what we were given.<\/p>\n If we all focus on doing all things unto the Lord and in unity , while not comparing ourselves to others we can move mountains.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scripture Reading(s) 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 Now about the gifts of the Spirit,\u00a0brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.\u00a02\u00a0You know that when you were pagans,\u00a0somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols.\u00a03\u00a0Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12227,"featured_media":4722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,2280],"tags":[2286,2346,2344,2284,2285,2345],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12227"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/Blog-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nReflections<\/h2>\n
\n![\"Lydia.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/dustoffthebible.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Picture.jpg\")
<\/a>I was one time posed with the question “what are the gifts or talents that God has given you that you could further use to expand His kingdom?” That was a hard question to answer because I knew that there were a lot of things I love doing, but whether or not I was talented at it was another story. However, after much prayer, I realized that it was not so much about if I had a whole list of talents, \u00a0it was more so what I was doing to serve God and bring honor to Him?<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>While many might like to use this passage to debate theological matters it should be noted that this passage is actually about unity within the church. This is why Paul went from here right into the discourse on the many parts of the church body. But what is the take-away here?<\/p>\n
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