Text: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 

Sunday, 10^th November 2024

FAITH AS A GIFT 2

Text: 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

Memory verse: 1 Corinthians 12:11 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

How do we know that faith is God’s gift? Left to us, no one would ever believe, “There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God”. “So, then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy”. God draws the sinner to Christ and gives the ability to believe. Without that divinely generated faith, one cannot understand and approach the Savior. “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. That is precisely why when Peter affirmed his faith in Christ as the Son of God, Jesus told him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” Matthew 16:17. Faith is graciously given to believers by God himself.

As a divine gift, faith is not temporal nor ineffective. It has an abiding quality that guarantees that it will endure to the end. The familiar words of Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous will live by his faith” not of a momentary act of believing, but of a living, enduring trust in God. Hebrews 3:14 emphasizes the permanence of genuine faith. Its durability is a proof of its reality: “We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.” The faith God gives can never evaporate. And the work of salvation cannot ultimately be thwarted John 10:27–29. In Philippians 1:6 Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:8 “I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”. Colossians 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.

The Holy Spirit is sovereign in His manifestation of the gifts. The Holy Spirit is likened to wind, John.3:8. The wind blows where it chooses. Spiritual gifts do not operate according to human will, but as the Spirit chooses. Yet, they are manifestations through human channels. We are involved. We are not passive. So, there is divine operation and human co-operation.

The captain of a ship cannot dictate to the wind, but he can set the sails. Prepare for them by: love, faith and a willingness to be ministered to by others. Don’t seek them selfishly, or even individually, but seek them collectively, as a church. The gifts are for the profit of the church. There is no formula to operating in spiritual gifts. No two healings of Jesus were the same. Ministry, like the Christian life, is the result of a relationship with Christ through the Holy Spirit. Learn to be sensitive.

CGDS HYMN 3; SS&S 203 

ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS' NAME!

1. All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all.

2. Crown Him, ye martyrs of our God,

Who from His alter call;

Extol the stem of Jesse's rod,

And crown Him Lord of all.

3. Ye seed of Israel's chosen race,

A remnant weak and small,

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

And crown Him Lord of all.

4. Ye Gentile sinners, ne'er forget

The wormwood and the gall;

Go, spread your trophies at His feet,

And crown Him Lord of all.

5. Let every kindred, every tribe,

On this terrestrial ball,

To Him all majesty ascribe,

And crown Him Lord of all.

6. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng

We at His feet may fall,

Join in the everlasting song,

And crown Him Lord of all.

  Prayers 

1.  Lord Jesus, make me a channel for Spiritual manifestations.

2.  LORD God Almighty, empower me to believe, understand you and seek you always in Jesus’ name. Amen.    

3.  Pray for others in this regard.