Empowered 4: Understanding Spiritual Gifts - Ephesians 4:1-16

When I entered ministry, I didn't realize how dependent I was on God. I didn't realize how little I could affect any kind of change in anything. I didn't see how little love I had in my heart. I was detail oriented, able to manage many things, and had lots of capacity. But I didn't see how utterly ineffective I was at practically everything spiritually. The Scriptures talk about how you'll bear fruit and your fruit will remain, and over time, I realized I saw no fruit in what I did. I didn't see God's fingerprint anywhere. I called this series "Empowered", leading up to Pentecost, the day the Holy Spirit was given to the church. God hasn't changed. He wants to do that in all our lives and in our midst. God gives his Holy Spirit and gifts from heaven and enables us to serve him. These gifts are not for ourselves but for the benefit of other people. Something must change in us so that we, like God, have eyes and a heart for other people and want to see real change come to them where we by ourselves can control nothing. Only God controls, and he gives tremendous influence when we walk in his ways. Extra Reading: Numbers 27:12-23 Preacher: Bill Dyck