Spiritual Gifts
by Elder Shawn Reynolds
PRAISE BE TO GOD, GREAT THINGS HE HATH DONE
Have you ever stopped and took notice of the many gifts that God has so graciously bestowed upon our fellowship. We have been so blessed by God’s mighty work in the little flock that He has given us. There have been gifts of many kinds that God has mercifully given to us in this time, even when the very foundation of the country that we live in is being shaken, as well as the entire world. Once again, however, as proven in His word time and time again, and experienced by our fellowship, God is faithful to His Church.
I Corinthians 12: 4-6, tells us that "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." These verses tell us that God gives many different gifts to His Church, all of them very important, and all of them from God ministered by His Holy Spirit. We have seen the manifestations of these gifts through the preaching of God’s Word to His flock, the teaching of our children by the ladies in the fellowship, the Faith that God has empowered each member of His Church to suffer for His names’ sake, the gracious giving of time, finances, or labor by the brethren for the edification of the Church, the writings of hymns, Godly educational books, or the confession of what we believe at Grace Baptist Fellowship. There are many more gifts not mentioned that God has blessed us with and many more that have not been revealed. We must remember as verse 14 reads in the same passage, ‘For the body is not one member but many’, and we as brethren should continue to lift one another up in prayer that God would continue to perfect these gifts in His saints, and that He would be glorified in our thoughts, action, and works that He empowers us to do.
At this time in our lives when the world seems to be changing every day before our eyes, we should remember the words of the Psalmist when he said on many occasions that "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised". God is to be praised continually. In Psalms 145:2,3, David writes, "Every day will I praise thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable". We, as a fellowship, have so much to praise God for, and to be thankful for. We are to take part in the joy and happiness of our Lord, for joy is also a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). In closing, my prayer for all of the Saints of God at this time, is that we are given the faith and joy to look higher unto Him and not the temporal things of this world, for if we are counted among the elect of God we are only strangers in this earth (Psalm 119:19) and our hope, praise, and thanksgiving should be in God and the saving work of His Son, Jesus Christ.
