Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 

Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 

Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 

Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 

Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 

Hey, everybody, good morning, Pastor Jason here. We've been praying for you all week long. We believe God has something special for us this morning. Listen, I am coming to you from the Huntsville Botanical Garden, which is going to be the home for our twenty twenty two night to Shine that we told you about just a few weeks

ago. The night to shine is sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. And it is an unforgettable from that experience centered on God's love for people with special needs in our community. And we are honored and privileged to get to be a part.

It's going to take place right here at the Huntsville Botanical Garden on Friday, February 11th. More information will be coming out soon. And we hope that you'll want to be a part of this special night. I also want to remind you that next Sunday morning, September the 12th, we're going to be throwing our eighth birthday celebration as

a church family. We're going to have some snacks. We're going to have a special surprise, and we're going to have an incredible time praising Jesus together and thanking him for what he's done over these past eight years of our church.

Hey, let's pray together and then let's jump in to God's word. Jesus, we love you and we adore you and we praise you. And we thank you, God, for your word. We thank you, God, for your power and your presence.

And God, we ask you to speak to us today. Father, through your living word, would you change our hearts and change our lives? And Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and the glory and Jesus, it's in your name.

We pray. And everybody, said a man. So this month, we're continuing our series called Power Up Understanding the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you'll remember from last week, we said that too many Christians are walking through life powerless.

They don't know who they are in Christ or what God has placed inside of them. So during the month of September, we are learning more about the spiritual gifts by spending time in Romans 12, First Corinthians 12 in Ephesians four, because God never intended for us just to suffer through life.

God wants you to walk through life with purpose and power. Now, as a reminder from last week, our definition of spiritual gifts for this series is this a spiritual gift is a special supernatural ability that God gives to each of his children so that together we can advance his purposes in the world.

In First Corinthians 12 verses four through seven, it says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit, the Holy Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.

God works in different ways. But it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of this so that we can help each other. God has given you supernatural special spiritual gifts so that you can play a unique part in bringing his plan and his purpose and his

kingdom into your generation. Now, in week one, we talk to you about what the spiritual gifts are not. So let's lay a little more foundation today and talk about what the spiritual gifts actually are. First, spiritual gifts are gifts from God given through the Holy Spirit.

This is the common ground of all the spiritual gifts on this basis. If they all operate as they should, apart from the flesh, these gifts should unite us and not divide us. They should empower us, not frighten us.

Why? Because they are gifts from God. And the Bible is clear that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. Spiritual gifts are given to all Christians. The Bible says we see this in first, Peter, for Forkin.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have a spiritual gift. It is a part of who you are. It is a part of your unique and special design. Remember, you are God's masterpiece. You are not mass produced.

You are a work of art. And God has placed a gift inside of you. Spiritual gifts, they are essential to the help of the church we see in Ephesians four. These gifts are essential because they are vehicles. They are channels through which the Holy Spirit ministers to the body of Christ.

My gifts are for you, your gifts or for me and for each other, for the body to be healthy and grow. All of the gifts must operate. In unity, spiritual gifts, they may come in combinations. We see this in second, Timothy, for believers in Jesus Christ.

Usually have a gift that's dominant. But you may have more than one gift. We call this your spiritual gift mix. And you can have gifts and not even be using them. We talked a little bit about this last week.

Sadly, this is the case for most Christians. But friends, I want you to know your gifts. I want you to discover them. I want you to develop them. I want you to use them to be everything that God has called and created you to be.

I want you to make a difference in this world. Spiritual gifts are not necessarily a sign of spiritual maturity. We've got to be careful. All believers possess gifts. Even in mature believers in gifts can be counterfeited and they can be operated in the flesh.

Having a gift of the spirit is no guarantee of being right, even in the area of your gift. Even one who has gifts can use them in a fleshly manner. The enemy, Satan. He can also pervert gifts to his use.

So we have to understand that the possession of certain gifts of the spirit does not signify either maturity or spirituality or infallibility on the part of the one who exercises it. What is from the spirit will always be done in harmony with the scriptures.

Now, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, there are many, many different viewpoints about the gift of the spirit in churches today. I want you to remember, at our church in the essentials, we have unity. There are some things that are just non-negotiable to being a Christian.

And there's those things. We have unity in the nonessentials. We have liberty. There are some areas of scripture that we're just not sure on. And there's not widespread agreement. And so in those areas, you have the freedom, you have the liberty to search God's word for yourself and come to a conclusion.

But in all beliefs, we show love and charity. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are one of those non-essential areas where you have the freedom to study God's word and determine what you believe, as long as you can back it up with God's word, like in the in Tom's series.

My goal is to teach you what I believe is the most biblically accurate view on this topic. So what I want to do is I want to share with you five of the major beliefs about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in churches today.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit have ceased. There are some people believe that the gifts of the spirit are not active at all anymore. Some people believe that only the miraculous gifts of the spirit have ceased.

But all the others are operational. They believe that God does it necessarily do the miraculous any more. But these other gifts that we talk about still exist. Some people believe that some of the miraculous gifts are operational, but not all of them.

Some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are operational, and you must use one or all of them to prove that you're saved. And then even some people believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational.

But you do not have to use one or all of them as proof of your salvation. Now, when we started our church, we really leaned in to that last belief as a church leadership. We believe that all of the gifts of the spirit are still operational today.

But you do not have to use any of those gifts as proof of your salvation or your spirituality. We believe that the fruit of the spirit, that's the evidence of your salvation, not the gifts of the spirit, but really friends.

We've got to remember that the gifts of the spirit. They're not about us at all. They are to build and strengthen the church. They're designed to minister to people, to advance God's kingdom and ultimately point people to his son, Jesus Christ.

Bible scholars have categorized the gifts of the spirit into three categories based on where you find them in the scriptures and their purpose. So I'm going to share those with you this morning first. We have what are called the motivational gifts.

We see these in Romans Chapter 12 verses three through eight. The motivational gifts are how God works in a believer to shape his or her perspective on life and motivates his or her words or action. These gifts are used for serving in the church and ministering to people.

In addition to the motivational gifts, there's also what we call the ministry gifts. We find them in Ephesians Chapter four verses 11 through 13. The ministry gifts are how God works with a believer to build his church and to edify and build up other Christians.

These gifts are used to lead and grow the church and advance God's kingdom on earth. And then finally, we have the miracle gifts, and they're found in First Corinthians 12 verses seven through 11. And this is how God works through a believer in a given situation that demonstrates his supernatural power.

These gifts are used to demonstrate the power of God and point people to his son, Jesus Christ. So today, what I want us to do is I want us to start with the seven motivational gifts that we find in Romans Chapter 12.

We're only going to get through one of them today. But I want you to remember, as we spend time in Romans Chapter 12, listen, pay attention to all of the gifts that God has for us. It says for by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do you not think of yourself more highly

than you are, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you for just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function.

So in Christ, though, many from one body and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.

If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach. If it is to encourage, then give encouragement. If it is giving, then give generously. If it is to lead, do it diligently. If it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

You see, every Christian receives at least one of these gifts at the time of salvation. And it is the tool through which God works in him or her to see the needs around them. And to do something about them.

These gifts equip believers to take a vital role in the church, in the seven gifts or prophecy, or some people call it perceiving serving. Some people call it the gift of helps teaching, which can also be called the gift of research encouraging, which is also called exhortation giving leadership, which is also called administration and the gift of

mercy. So let's spend time with the first gift that we see in the scripture, and that is the gift of prophecy or the gift of perceiving is to a person with the motivational gift of prophecy. APPLAUSE, the word of God to a situation.

So that sin is exposed and relationships are restored. He or she has a strong sense of right and wrong and speaks out against compromise and evil. When talking about this gift, I like to use the term incite. People with the gift of prophecy can often see things that other people just miss.

Now, the motivational gift of prophecy does not necessarily refer to speaking prophecies. We'll talk more about that gift later on in a few weeks. This gift of prophecy perceiving it's all about having inside people with this gift have a more direct, intuitive sense about how people and things really are.

They can can they can discern really well the inner motives of people in a way that other people just cannot. The basic. That sea of this gift is to view any person, group or situation in light of their life before God and his word and moral standards.

The results of this gift are people with this gift bring other people to accountability. They help reveal inner heart motivations. They bring inner conviction and they bring awareness to the presence of God. Now, we have to be careful.

Like I said before, because all of these gifts can be operated in the flesh instead of the spirit. So this gift, the gift of prophecy in the flesh can come across as harsh or unloving. Now, next week, we'll finish the other six motivational gifts.

But before we close today, you're going to hear me say something every week of this series. And that is there is even a greater gift than this that we need to received. And that is God's gift of forgiveness.

You see, every one of us is born a sinner. We're all separated from God because we say things and we think things and we do things that dishonor God and disobey him. But God loved you and God love me so much.

He wanted to reconcile the relationship. He wanted you to know how much that he loves you. He wanted to forgive you for a sin. And so he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life. Jesus died on a cross as a sacrifice for you and for me.

Jesus took the wrath of God. He experienced hell so that you and I wouldn't have to. He died so that you could. You and I could have life. Jesus spilled his blood so that we could be forgiven and set free.

But the most amazing thing is this Jesus didn't stay dead. In the Bible says that three days later, he rose again from the grave to prove to everyone that he was exactly who he said. He is the son of God in the flesh.

The one with the power, with the ability, with the propensity to forgive sin. And Jesus is at the right hand of God right now. And he is calling you to himself because of his great love for you. And the Bible is clear, if you will trust in what Jesus did for you on that cross, if you will

place your faith in him, if you will follow him as your Lord and savior, he will save you. He'll rescue you from hell. He'll give you a home in eternity with God. And right now, while you're walking on this earth, he will feel your life full of purpose and peace and forgiveness.

But friends, it is a decision that only you can make. A pastor can't make it for you. A priest can't make it for you. Not even your parents can make it for you. It's a decision that you have to make for yourself.

And I want to give you that opportunity today to place your faith and trust in Jesus. And so if that to you and you would say, Jason, I want to follow Jesus with my life, I want to make Jesus my Lord and savior today.

I invite you to pray a prayer with me this morning. You can pray something like this. God, I've been going my own direction with my life. I've been doing my own thing. Honestly, I've been trying to be God in my life.

And the day I realize that, God, you have a better plan, that you have a better way, God, that you sent your son Jesus to die on a cross for me and to rise again from the grave so that I could be forgiven and so that I could spend eternity with you.

God, I believe in what Jesus did on that cross. And I ask you to apply it to my life today. Jesus, would you forgive me? Would you change me? Jesus, you are my Lord, and I'm going to follow you for the rest of my life in Jesus.

It's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you and you prayed that prayer. I want to congratulate you. It's the greatest decision that you could ever make with your life. The Bible says that all of heaven is celebrating for you right now.

And we celebrate along with heaven. But I want to ask you, please don't change the channel. Please don't turn this video off without letting us know of the decision that you made. You can go to our website and fill out the Digital Cornette Court, or if you're watching online, you can find the link in the post above

or in the comments below. But I want you to know, we have a prayer team that wants to pray for you by name. And I want to send you some resources that will help you grow in your faith and become more like Jesus Christ.

And if you don't have a church, how can I be the. First person to say welcome home. We would love for you to be a part of our church family. It would be an honor to serve as your pastor now at the end of every service.

We end with worship in prayer because we believe that prayer is powerful and we believe that there are things in your life that you need to take to God. And so in just a few moments, we're going to worship together one last time today.

And if you have a prayer request, I invite you to let us know. You can fill out the prayer card online if you're online. You can actually tell us your prayer requests in the comments below. If you're OK with it, be in public.

But we want to pray for you by name. We want you to know Jesus loves you. And so do we. Jesus is for you. And so in a way. So let's worship together. And if you need prayer, let us know.

Jesus, again, we come before you and we say thank you. Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done in our lives, but more importantly, Jesus, thank you for who you are. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb.

Thank you for change lives. God, I know that people watching and listening, they're going through tough times. God, I know that there are things happening that God I don't even know about. But I acknowledge that you know, that you are aware in God, you care about what people are dealing with.

And so I got to ask you, in Jesus name, would you meet people right where they're at today? God, would you give them the grace that they need? Would you show them great mercy and God? Would you show up in great power in their lives?

Jesus, we're going to give you the honor and glory for what you do in Jesus. It's in your name. We pray. Amen.

 


We'll be learning biblical truths from well known (and not so well known) stories in the Bible