What are Spiritual Gifts?

A spiritual gift is an expression of the Holy Spirit in the life of believers which empowers them to
serve the body of Christ, the church.

Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30; Ephesians 4:11; and 1 Peter 4:9-11 contain representative lists of gifts and roles God has given to the church. A definition of these gifts follows.

· Leadership—Leadership aids the body by leading and directing members to accomplish the
goals and purposes of the church. Leadership motivates people to work together in unity
toward common goals (Rom. 12:8).

· Administration—Persons with the gift of administration lead the body by steering others to
remain on task. Administration enables the body to organize according to God-given purposes
and long-term goals (1 Cor. 12:28).

· Teaching—Teaching is instructing members in the truths and doctrines of God’s Word for the
purposes of building up, unifying, and maturing the body (1 Cor. 12:28; Rom. 12:7; Eph. 4:11).

· Knowledge—The gift of knowledge manifests itself in teaching and training in discipleship. It is he God-given ability to learn, know, and explain the precious truths of God’s Word. A word of
knowledge is a Spirit-revealed truth (1 Cor. 12:28).

· Wisdom—Wisdom is the gift that discerns the work of the Holy Spirit in the body and applies
His teachings and actions to the needs of the body (1 Cor. 12:28).

· Prophecy—The gift of prophecy is proclaiming the Word of God boldly. This builds up the
body and leads to conviction of sin. Prophecy manifests itself in preaching and teaching (1
Cor. 12:10; Rom. 12:6).

· Discernment—Discernment aids the body by recognizing the true intentions of those within or related to the body. Discernment tests the message and actions of others for the protection
and well-being of the body (1 Cor. 12:10).

· Exhortation—Possessors of this gift encourage members to be involved in and enthusiastic
about the work of the Lord. Members with this gift are good counselors and motivate others to
service. Exhortation exhibits itself in preaching, teaching, and ministry (Rom. 12:8).

· Shepherding—The gift of shepherding is manifested in persons who look out for the spiritual
welfare of others. Although pastors, like shepherds, do care for members of the church, this
gift is not limited to a pastor or staff member (Eph. 4:11).

· Faith—Faith trusts God to work beyond the human capabilities of the people. Believers with
this gift encourage others to trust in God in the face of apparently insurmountable odds (1 Cor.
12:9).

· Evangelism—God gifts his church with evangelists to lead others to Christ effectively and
enthusiastically. This gift builds up the body by adding new members to its fellowship (Eph.
4:11).

· Apostleship—The church sends apostles from the body to plant churches or be missionaries.
Apostles motivate the body to look beyond its walls in order to carry out the Great Commission
(1 Cor. 12:28; Eph. 4:11).

· Service/Helps—Those with the gift of service/helps recognize practical needs in the body and joyfully give assistance to meeting those needs. Christians with this gift do not mind working
behind the scenes (1 Cor. 12:28; Rom. 12:7).

· Mercy—Cheerful acts of compassion characterize those with the gift of mercy. Persons with
this gift aid the body by empathizing with hurting members. They keep the body healthy and
unified by keeping others aware of the needs within the church (Rom. 12:8).

· Giving—Members with the gift of giving give freely and joyfully to the work and mission of the
body. Cheerfulness and liberality are characteristics of individuals with this gift (Rom. 12:8).

· Hospitality—Those with this gift have the ability to make visitors, guests, and strangers feel at ease. They often use their home to entertain guests. Persons with this gift integrate new
members into the body (1 Pet. 4:9).

God has gifted you with an expression of His Holy Spirit to support His vision and mission of the church. It is a worldwide vision to reach all people with the gospel of Christ. As a servant leader, God desires that you know how He has gifted you. This will lead you to where He would have you serve as part of His vision and mission for the church.

If you would like to complete a Spiritual Gift inventory, which is a questionnaire that will help you discover you Spiritual Gift, contact your LifeGroup Leader, or come by my office at church and I can get a copy for you.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Forgive?

As we approach our 2nd week of the Purple Book, I am moved in my Spirit by two loud truths from God’s word.

God wants us to have a transforming influence on the world around us – not the other way around. (Matthew 5:13-16)

(from page 27) – The quality of our relationships with other believers is a crucial testimony to an unbelieving world. We should be able to forgive not just our friends, but even our enemies. We Must Realize That We Are In A Spiritual Battle, and we must be trained and determined not to allow bitterness and unforgiveness to push us into darkness. (Philippians 2:3-4)

Is there a person or persons on your list of people that you need to forgive or to ask forgiveness from? Don’t let next Sunday come and go before you give the very thing that Christ gave you.

Marriage Conference:
There is a sign up sheet as well as a brochure, at the entrance of the sanctuary for the February 20th & 21st Marriage Conference. Cost is $25 per couple. Sign up OR email Jane Blackwell Jane@lifesongchurchonline.com

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Far from God

This past week as reading and making more notes on the first chapter of the Purple Book, I couldn’t help but to reflect on times in my life when I felt most far from God. Kind of “marking the trail” (Jeremiah 3:21). There have been times when I was way more excited to meet my Bacon & Eggs in the morning, than talking to the God of Peace, the maker of the Universe.

My far from God times in my life seem to have some common elements.
I Loved me more than God.
I Loved me more than my neighbor.
I was more concerned what others thought of me than God.

This past week has been full of potential “Far from God” moments.
1). I nearly ran the BMW paint shop out of Pearl Silver paint,
2). There is some animal (That God created) that is restacking the selves in our basement in the middle of the night, which was causing me to focus on “where is a good nuke when you need one”, and that was killing my early morning time with God.
3). Lynn had an allergic reaction to medicine which brought an ambulance visit to Ridge Road.
4). A conversation that I had with someone, comes back to me with false info of “he said she said”. I always wonder why my phone seems to be silent during those types of gossip… oh yeh, we live in “this present darkness” Ephesians 6

In all of these moments I was able to see God, and to be honest when I look at the past trails that I have been on, I couldn’t see Him because of the distance I had put between me and God.

The rich still got to purchase their Pearl Silver Beamer, the animal found a new residence and I didn’t have to buy a Nuke, Lynn is healed, and I have had multiple God conversations of encouragement with the Lost & Hurting, and have received phone calls of encouragement out of the blue.

I want to encourage you to DO Luke 10:27 and draw close to God. I was inspired by a close friend to read Romans 12 every week in 2009. A new Trail and a new Marker

I desire the prayers of my LifeSong family that I would honor Him with my life.

Gather, Grow, and Go
Pastor Tim

Get Stretched - Do Purple

Do you have questions about bible study? How to do it? Do you struggle moving around in God’s word? Great news for those of you that are in one of our LifeGroups. This week you will embark on a tremendous opportunity.

The Purple Book.


This is a “Blank” book that you will write. The whole book is “fill in the blank”. You will review it weekly in your LifeGroups. After 12 weeks, you would have written the book, which then will serve as a reference book for your Spiritual Library. What’s in the Purple Book? 12 chapters of the basics of Christianity, and it will transform and grow your bible study. Trust me on this one, you will gain confidence, and remove any fear about using and soaking up God’s word.

It will cost you in time about 15 to 20 minutes a day Monday through Friday. So turn off the TiVos & DVRs and “put a stake in the ground” for bible study.

Keep you Purple Book with your Bible everywhere you go. You never know when God will provide you with some unexpected time to do the Book.

If possible we are asking that you give $5 for your book, but regardless if you have the $ or not, do the Purple!

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Is it Murder?

During this Christmas of 2008, there is a lingering thought that is in my mind and I can’t shake it. The Answer to Death. Plain and simple, Christ’s birth. What does it say of us as followers of Christ, when we do not put feet to the prayers that we speak to God on behalf of the precious that do not know him yet. If you have not watched the video on Pastor Jeff Hickman’s blog this week, I would encourage you to do so now.

My Son, Matthew shared this quote with me from Spurgeon:

“If you want to murder a man, you need not stab him: rather just starve him. If you want to destroy a man you need not teach him to drink or swear; just keep back the gospel from him. Be in his company and never say a word for Christ. When you should speak be sinfully silent…Don’t you think that to deny a cup of cold water to a man and let him die of thirst is murder. To deny the gospel, to have no word to say for Jesus- is this not soul-murder?

Romans 10:14-17 (The Message)
“But how can people call for help if they don't know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven't heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That's why Scripture exclaims, a sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people, telling all the good things of God!”

Game time is over. Its time to answer the questions in Romans Chapter 10

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

8 Reasons for Christmas

"The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil." (1 John 3:8; cf. Hebrews 2:14-15)

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Mark 2:17)

“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:45)

“For God so loved the world that whoever believes on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:16)

“God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him." (1 John 4:9; cf. John 10:10)

“The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." (1 Timothy 1:15)

"Christ became a servant…to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy." (Romans 15:7-8; cf. John 12:27).

from "DesiringGod.com"

Gather, Grow, and Go
Pastor Tim

Bonhoeffer

I’m reading a small book this month called Life Together, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Who is Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism.

In 1939, Bonhoeffer joined a secret group of high-ranking military officers in the Abwehr (Military intelligence Office), who planned to end the National Socialist regime by killing Hitler. Bonhoeffer was arrested in April 1943 after money used to help Jews escape to Switzerland was traced to him. He was charged with conspiracy and imprisoned in Berlin for a year and a half.

Following the failure of the July 20 Plot on Hitler's life in 1944, Bonhoeffer's connections with the conspirators were discovered. He was again arrested and was imprisoned in a procession of prisons and concentration camps, ending at Flossenbürg.

Bonhoeffer was executed by hanging in Flossenbürg at dawn on April 9, 1945, just three weeks before the Soviet capture of Berlin and a month before the capitulation of Nazi Germany. Like other executions associated with the July 20 Plot, the execution was brutal. Bonhoeffer was stripped of his clothing, tortured and ridiculed by the guards, and led naked into the execution yard. A lack of sufficient gallows to hang the plotters caused Hitler and Nazi propagandist Josef Goebbels to use meathooks from slaughterhouses to slowly hoist the victim by a noose formed of piano wire. Asphyxiation is thought to have taken half an hour.

In the book “Life Together” Bonhoeffer writes:
It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of His enemies. At the end all His disciples deserted Him. On the cross He was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause He had come to, bring peace to the enemies of God.

So the Christian, too, belongs not in seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of the foes. There is His commission, His work. The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies.

2 Corinthians 5:20
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Coffee Time

I know, its been a while since you have heard from me. No excuses, but it truly has been a very busy few weeks for me.

Ever since my Army days, I look forward to having my daily coffee. Not just the coffee, but it also means a time to slow down and reflect. The past 2 weeks I have had reflecting moments. First one. I’m now hosting our second LifeGroup of the week on Thursday nights. One of the things we do is to share about ourselves to get to know each other. That activity always causes me to reflect on the family life that I had as a child, the experiences that God has brought me through, and my wife. I love to hear her reflect as she shares our early years of marriage with others.

Second one. In preparing for a ministry conference, I had to “look back on the timeline of my life” and list the experiences that made me who I am today. That was a big list. It caused me to look a both Positive and Negative experiences with family, church and work. As I pause with my coffee, I can truly say that I am thankful for all of those Life Mile Markers.

I challenge you to take pen and paper and “timeline” your life, and thank a Holy God for making you who you are today. I will not be easy, because you would be including some uncomfortable times. God will for us is not to be comfortable, but to be moldable. The questions today are:

Who do I have the passion for, to share the Love of God with?

How will I use my experiences to reach the precious?

How can I make a difference in the institutional mindset of “church” to be church?

First century Christians did not call themselves Christian, they called themselves Christ followers, because that was what they were doing. They were identified as Christian, by others, that saw their walk as a follower.

John 20:30-31
30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

One Year Later

One Year Later

Its hard to believe that one year ago this month a merge between to different congregations happened. Much fear was expressed as to what LifeSong Lyman would look like when it was all done. Of the new changes that were experienced was the idea of LifeGroups. I have to admit, some fear entered into my heart because I just wasn’t sure that I could communicate clearly, what I knew as to what God was doing in my heart in terms of growing relationships and learning God’s word, verses something that we all have been use to… Sunday School.

In October of 2007 we began training LifeGroup leaders in our home. During those amazing 6 weeks, God conquered our fears as we trained, practiced, and prayed. January 2008 God started 5 LifeGroups. Today God has to be given the Glory and Praise, because of His guidance, LifeGroups have grown from 5 groups in January to 12 in October 2008. I expect to see even more in 2009.

It has been difficult thing for me personally, to move people out of their current group in order to start new groups, but with the explosive growth that we are experiencing at LifeSong, it is simply necessary. I am beginning the process for the next Host (leader) training as we continue to move forward. More Hosts and Host Homes are needed.

Please know my heart; my passion is not to simply multiply groups, but help create an environment where three relationships can thrive. The 3 relationships that I speak of, is with God, Christ followers, and the ones that don’t have a relationship with God yet. In order for Iron to Sharpen Iron, there has to be more than just a few rubbings. Personal & Spiritual growth will take place in LifeGroups the longer the group stays active. Current groups will end at the end of the school year.

Thank you LifeSong family for your Love, Support, and Prayers. I am truly blessed to be with you!
Pastor Tim

We have room for you if are not currently in a LifeGroup. See List

Who - Where - Day
Matthew Christopher - LifeSong Church (SINGLES) - Sunday night

Troy & Brandi Cole - Reidville - Sunday night

Jon & Kim Adam Adam - Duncan - Wednesday night

Brian Christopher - Lyman/Inman - Wednesday night

A Note About Communication

Text messaging is one of the simplest and most useful means of mobile communication. No one can doubt the popularity of text messaging, but is it really communication when there is no voice, and no body language?

Is texting addictive? I don’t know, but do you ever have feelings of anger or tension when you are separated from your texting tool? Do you long for a better texting phone? Do you need an extra set of hands when you thumb through you cell phone bill?

Top 10 list of texting guidelines.
1. Common courtesy still rules. Contrary to popular belief, composing a text message while you're in a face-to-face conversation with someone is just about as rude as taking a homeless person’s biscuit. It says to people around you that they are less important to talk to than the person being texted.

2. Remember that texting is informal. Texting shouldn't be used for formal invitations. The casualness of texting diminishes the strength and meaning of the message.

3. Don't get upset if you don't get a reply. If it's immediate, make a voice call. If you can't get through and your text message is ignored, there's probably a good reason. If you live at the Lyda house, you don’t have “texting” anyway.

4. Be aware of your tone. It is extremely difficult to discern tone in text messages, just as in e-mail. What seems to you to be a completely innocent message may be grossly misinterpreted by the recipient, causing certain discomfort if not irreparable harm.

5. Don't text while you're driving. You won't know what hit you - or what you hit.

6. Leave the slang to the kids. Don't expect people you know to be hip to the lingo of the “texting” streets. And don't expect to win points with your kids by trying to be cool, either.

7. I’m tired of looking at the tops of people’s heads. I sometimes misinterpret a bowed head for someone praying, and I tend to get a little “gnashing of the teeth” attitude, when … well you know.

8. Before you hit the send button, ask yourself “am I gossiping?” I have this feeling in my stomach that more gossip and less glorifying is being texted, but hey that’s just me.

9. Remember that your phone does have an off button. There are very, very few things in the world that absolutely cannot wait.

10. In short, when we think of relationships, don’t settle for Twinkies when you can have Pecan Pie. If you don’t know what that means, come see me.

In His Love
Pastor Tim