Because of Love | Spiritual Gifts | Week 4

/> ### MESSAGE NOTESBecause of Love | Spiritual Gifts | Week 4 | April 21, 2024Teacher: Dave Brown  /> Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit./> There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.—1 Corinthians 12:1-7 /> No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.— 1 Corinthians 12:3b /> 1. The first Spiritual Gift Paul mentions is accepting Jesus as Lord.Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.— 1 Corinthians 12:7 /> 2. Everyone is given a gift from the Holy Spirit. /> 3. These gifts are meant to be used in community. /> 4. Paul is calling us into unityAnd yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.— 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 /> 5. The Greatest Gift of All is LoveLove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails…—1 Corinthians 13:4-8a But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.—1 Corinthians  13:8b-10 Paul’s description of the attributes of love in verses 4-7 offers a picture of habitual actions and dispositions.  One cannot merely decide in a day’s time to start doing these things.  They are learned patterns of behavior that must be cultivated over time in the context of a community that models and supports such behavior…far too little attention had been given in our communities to this character-forming task of the church.  We must deliberate carefully about how to reform the church so that we can more fully devote our energies to learning how to love.—Richard Hays /> The gift of love is the only gift that lasts for all eternity.  Here, Paul is inviting us to participate in eternity today.