Sermon Central
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Wow...presents!! And It's Not Even Christmas! Series
Contributed by Larry Brincefield on Jul 20, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: We often give presents to people we love. God is no exception. He gives us gifts. First and foremost is the gift of His grace. He also gives other gifts.
Title: Wow! Presents!! And it’s not even Christmas!!
Text: Ephesians 4:7-11
Author: Larry C. Brincefield
Author’s Website: www.pastorlarry.net
Introduction
1. People love to get presents!!
• Birthdays…Christmas…Valentines…
• All great opportunities to get presents!!
• Some kids get so excited…
• They start counting down the days about 6 months ahead of time!
2. Some people have found that “it is more blessed to give than to receive”…(Acts 20:35)
• I enjoy getting presents…
• But I’ll have to admit, I REALLY enjoy giving gifts to those I love…
• I try to pick out gifts that I think they will enjoy…
• And it gives me great joy to see them happy with their present…
• And to see them find joy in using the gift.
• When Amelia was 2 years old, I took her to see the movie, “The Lion King”…
• It was her first movie…
• And she LOVED it!!
• That year, for Christmas, I bought her
• I’ll have to admit, I thought twice about getting it; because it was pretty expensive…
• In fact, Kay didn’t think I should…
• But I ended up getting it; because I knew she would love it!
• Today, that same Simba is 11 years old…
• And still has a treasured place in Amelia’s room and in her heart.
3. Tonight, I’ve got some presents for you…
• And its not even Christmas!
• Well, actually, that’s not quite true…
• I didn’t get you any presents…
• But Someone else did!!!...
• And it’s my joy tonight to tell you about it!
Read Text: Ephesians 4:7-11
Body
1. Paul says, “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it”
A. there are 2 kinds of gifts that Jesus gives to His followers…
• Some gifts He gives to ALL of us…
• And some gifts are given to some people and not others (more about those in a minute)…
• This gift of grace has been give to EACH ONE OF US…
• Are you a Christian tonight?
• Are you a follower of Christ?
• If so, then He has given you a very special gift…
• The gift of grace!
B. What exactly is grace?
• What kind of present is that?
• The very 1st entry in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines grace as: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification
• Earlier in our study in Ephesians, Paul said,
• But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:4 & 5)
• It is a gift that Christ has given us…
• The gift of salvation…
• The gift of walking with us, leading us, guiding us, loving us, blessing us…
• We certainly don’t deserve this gift…
• But He gives it nonetheless.
• Why?...
• Well…Jesus likes to give presents too!!
• And He gave us the greatest gift of all!
• The gift of grace.
• By the ways, He’s the One that said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive”! (Acts 20:35)
• Grace is a gift that He gives to all Christians…
2. But there are other gifts…
A. Those gifts that He gives to some people….
• And not others…
• We find some of these in verse 11:
• It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers”
• I’d like to look at each of these gifts a little closer…
1. Apostles: Mark wrote in his gospel: He appointed twelve--designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14)
• And that’s literally what the word Apostle means…
• A person sent by another; a messenger; an envoy
• Another designation of the Apostles was the ability…
• Through the power of Christ…
• To perform miracles…
• Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles (Acts 2:43)
• As a result of that, most commentators hold that The apostles could have had no successors.
• The office of an apostle ended with its first holders.
• However, they continue to minister to use today by way of their inspired words left behind that we find in the words of Scripture.
2. Prophets: In Hebrew, the root word Nabi means "to bubble forth, like a fountain," to utter…
• In Samuel’s day, another word meaning “seer” came to be used…
• The "prophet" proclaimed the message given to him,
