Who Is God?

The Lord is asking you this morning what do I need from you? God is asking you what is His biggest need? As we enter into the Easter season the answer is that you would be a faithful witness to His Resurrection!  Acts 1:– Go to Jerusalem and wait for me! Do not attempt to do it on your own. I will send my Holy Spirit to you! Be a faithful witness as I work in you! Spiritual Gifts! What is a spiritual gift? A Spiritual Gift is a gift to Glorify Jesus and encourage people. It is also to minimize man. The word Gift is the same Greek root word that is used for Grace which is the word Charisma. A Gift is a miraculous faculty or the Gift of Grace! How would you like a resume with a miracle on your faculty! The first Gift mentioned in Acts is Wisdom. Wisdom is the special ability to hear and speak wise council. This gift may be just for me. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge. It is enlightened understanding.  Luke 2: 46-48— Joseph and Mary lost God? Three days later they found Jesus in the Temple. At 12 years old Jesus was sitting with the Jewish Scribes and asking questions. Jesus was hanging out with wise people! We must seek the Gift of Wisdom! We need to get addicted to Spiritual Gifts! Find favor with God and man. Favor is bringing idea’s to the table. With the mind of Christ favor will find you! You will have the right answers! The Jewish Scribes of the Law were amazed with Jesus answers! There is no junior Holy Spirit! He is the same to all. One body. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature. Do you also need to grow? The next gift mentioned is the Gift of Knowledge. This is the special ability to have critical insight into people and situations. A good example would be Jesus at the well. Jesus has much more than conventional knowledge.  John 4:16— Jesus said unto her go and call your husband. Remember again Spiritual Gifts are to Glorify Christ and encourage people. Jesus responded to her that you had 5 husbands and the man you are living with is not your husband! Jesus can read your mail using the Gift of Knowledge. This woman was so impressed that she went back to her village and told the whole town what had happened! The whole town came out to see Jesus. The Gift of Knowledge is used here to bring people to Christ! This is how to gather a harvest. The Gift of Knowledge can also be used to understand our spouse. Works better than a marriage councilor! Use wisdom and knowledge to understand each other and to speak to one another with encouragement and understanding. The Gift of Faith. This is the special ability to be full of faith in every situation. Faith is the reliance on Christ for Salvation. It is a ground of confidence and a moral conviction of religious truth. Faith towards God!  Hebrews 11:1— Faith is being sure and certain of the God you serve! Believe in a good outcome but do not place your Faith in the outcome! I have prayed for the sick and some have recovered and some have not. My Faith is only in a God who is Good and Faithful! My Faith is in a Loving God and not in an outcome. God is not an ATM machine in Heaven! Remember when we pray for someone or something God may have a better idea or a better plan! Jesus disciples did not believe or expect what would happen 3 days after the Cross! Many in our culture have no Faith. Some have a little Faith. Some have a great faith like the Centurion who said to Jesus, “Just say the Word and my servant will be healed!”  Acts 1:— The Deacons were full of Faith and the Holy Spirit! Stephen had a great Faith but got stoned! Let me explain this to people in Colorado that I do not mean drunk! Not a Rocky Mountain High! With this 6000 feet elevation in Colorado Springs you can get high on a Diet Coke! Stephen died from injuries by rocks pelting his body. It surely does not look like a good outcome for Stephen! Stephen did not know that standing near him was a man named Saul of Tarsus who was consenting to his death. He later became Paul and had a vision of Jesus Christ along the road to Damascus. Much like Stephen’s vision of Christ at his execution. Paul would later write two thirds of our New Testament including the Book of Corinthians we are studying this morning. Did Stephen know the impact he would have on Paul and others? He did know God was good, loving, faithful, wise, knowledgeable, powerful and trusted for his outcome. A young teenager from North Carolina was Faithful in small things and helped his father milk cows every morning at 4:00 A.M. His name was Billy Graham. A young teenage girl in the slums of Seoul Korea found a young man dying of tuberculosis and prayed for him in Jesus name. This young dying man was David Cho! Pastor Cho and his one million plus congregation have never been able to find this girl over the past 60 years! A young Faithful Sunday School teacher drug a young girl out from under her bed who was trying to avoid his class. D.L. Moody changed the world! All but one of Jesus disciples were martyred! Does that look like a good outcome? Do the chapters they wrote in your Bible have a good outcome on you? At the Cross all the disciples fled and ran! Are you running from Jesus? Run towards him! Without the Cross we have no hope, future, peace, joy and no purpose. No Heaven for us without the Cross!  You may be in jail right now for doing righteous acts like Martin Luther King suffered. You may be in jail right here in America for distributing Gospel tracts! God is never done with you and that tract you gave to that bum on skid row may be the shot heard around the world! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever! Does not matter what generation you live in! At the end of the day God is Good and Faithful! Thirty times in the New Testament Faith is followed by Faith in Christ and Faith in God! Let us close in prayer and prepare for communion as we remember the words in Ephesians 1:17. Source; Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday morning April 6, 2014.