1 Corinthians 12: 1-10 (NLT): Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.

There are three things the Holy Spirit came to do: convict the world of its sin, God’s righteousness, and the coming judgment. Don’t try to do the Holy Spirit’s job- that is worldly, man-made religion. When we convict the world of its sins, we live in that man-made religion, and we have no time for love. If all we do is convict, look down on people believing that we are better because we are saved, we will save no one. We must move over and let the Holy Spirit do his work. When the Holy Spirit is free to move, he does os powerfully, in freedom.

The Holy Spirit moves through us, in our gifts and our fruits. Fruits are grown, and gifts are given. We are all given gifts; we all have them, but we must grow the character to contain the gifts. We should let the Holy Spirit do his work, but we should keep order in the meeting, which we do.

The 9 gifts of the Spirit are: great wisdom to make good decisions, special knowledge, great faith, the gift of healing, the power to work miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues. We should let the Holy Spirit work through us with the gifts we are given, and help the others in our worlds.

The book of 1 Corinthians is a great book. Chapter 12 is about the gifts of the Spirit, and chapter 14 refers to the fruits of the Spirit. Chapter 13 is about love. Love is the motivation for walking in the gifts. Everything comes together in unity. Something interesting- a dove has 9 bones in each wing, and there are 9 fruits and 9 gifts. They go together.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NLT): So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

Galatians 5:19-24 (NLT): When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.

The passage in Luke is a potentant statement that gives believerts a unique look into the heart of God. God sees everything we can be–not what we think we are or what the world says we are. When we believe what the world says we should be because of what we have experienced, chosen, been through, etc…we sell ourselves short; God gets frustrated when we sell ourselves short! It is this frustration that sparks the passage in Luke. He is telling us just how important our hearts are to who we are and who we can be, as well as to Him. He, as stated above, knows what we can and will be if we submit our lives to Him.

Spiritual fruit is grown. It is not a gift given. Jesus wants to grow this fruit in our lives. It is a challenge. Ground must be churned; rocks and thorns must be delt with; seeds must be planted and cultivated; weeds must be uprooted; and time must pass before the fruit comes to fruition. The House of God is a place where this process can happen. The House of God is a place where life is cultivated and learned through living what the Bible says and not just by memorizing what it says. God’s will is released in our lives when we submit to the cultivating process. He makes us strong–body, soul, and spirit.

Paul continues on the theme of the heart in Galatians. This is where the classic Christian passage about the fruits of the spirit is found. Prior to the famous passage, he points out a poignant truth. There are two natures in our hearts–the sin nature and the Spirit nature. The Spirit nature is implanted in us the moment we accept Jesus. One day, we are living for ourselves, doing all the things listed in Galatains 5:19-21; the next moment, we are living verses 22-24. With the help of the Spirit, we begin to deny the nature of our flesh. However, the flesh fights back. There is a constant battle in our hearts and minds over what we should do. Paul says that it is like wanting to do the right thing but not doing it. The sin nature urges us to do wrong, be selfish, follow the easy path into death; the Spirit strengthens us to submit to God’s will and the use the fruit that is being grown within us.

In order to win this battle, we must be submitted to the Spirit. We must let Him lead us. We do this by hanging out with Him, soaking Him in, and letting Him change our hearts. He sets us free from the Law. The Law dictated that one little mess up was rewarded with a long list of punishments. In the Spirit, there is only grace. Mess ups are met with forgiveness, grace, and the urge to try again. The Spirit gives us victory over our sin nature and grows the fruits that begin to define our personalities.

So, when you are in conflict of the mind and heart, STOP and know that He is God. Pray. Let your spirit language flow. That’s why He gave it to you, to battle against the mind. The mind does not understand the Spirit language, thus praying in the Spirit stiffles the attacks of the mind. And when you pray, the Spirit comes on you, and the fruits begin to grow. Love comes in, followed by joy and peace and patience. One by one, the fruits over power the flesh until, finally, self-control finishes the mix, allowing you to forgive, forget, and move on with your life. That is the joy of submitting to the Spirit and letting Him cultivate fruit in our lives.

What’s love got to do with it? EVERYTHING!

2 Corinthians 6:14-15 “Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?”

Agape love is the love that God has for us. It is shown in acts of service, kindness, and sacrifice. Sacrifice in your relationship so that it benefits the other person, in a way that it doesn’t benefit you. If the other person is not receiving of the gift, it doesn’t matter. Do something for the other person. Sacrifice your time or something else so that the other person accepts it, and it means something.

The two things that make a relationship work are alignment and let go. Align your vision with the other person’s vision. Alignment is also called submission. Be agreeing and accepting of the other person and their relationship with God. Let them go to be all that they can be in God. For men- being the head of the household isn’t about being in charge. It’s about covering your woman in encouragement, providing her with the things she needs to grow, and encouraging her to be all that she can be. For women- submit to your man, and encourage him to be all that he can be.

In order to have a good relationship with someone, you must be equally yoked, but not only that, you must be on the same page spiritually. If you have been a Christian for a long time, you should not be in a relationship with someone who is a new Christian. There should be a relationship where two people are working together in order to go where they need to go in life. There should not be one person constantly leaning on the other. There will be times when one person needs to lean on the other person, but it shouldn’t be for too long, or the other person will be dragged down. Spiritual equality is about being on the same page. Draw from God, but talk it over with the other person. Equality means, let’s grow together.

When two people are joined together in a marriage, they become one. Two people becoming one is a life-long journey. That kind of love takes time to build.

3 John 1:14-15 “For I hope to see you soon, and then we will talk face to face. Peace be with you. Your friends here send you their greetings. Please give my personal greetings to each of our friends there.”

Philio means brotherly love. That is the love we must have for one another. Just as an arm is connected deeply to our bodies, love is that connection. Love is the deep connection that binds us all together as Christ’s body. Connect is a great part of life. How do you get your best life? Connect and grow. 10% of pastors will leave because of loneliness or isolation this year. Loneliness is one of the worst things in the world. It can be deadly. We need people to survive.

Serve your friends. That is how you let them know that you care about them. With all the different ways to contact each other, it can be so convenient to just tweet or send a comment on facebook, but nothing beats face-to-face contact. It is the best way to communicate with someone because they can see your face, hear your voice, and really know what you mean. It can be hard at times to interpret what someone’s attitude is through an email. Are they angry or just saying something? Face-to-face contact is the only way you can make sure that people know how you are trying to say something.

Matthew 6:33 “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

Acts 2:41-45: Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

The new testament church described in Acts is the kind of church that attracted thousands. Imagine having a church of only one hundred that, after a miraculous move of the spirit, grows to over three thousand in one day! Imagine! And this church was run on four basic actions: teaching, fellowship (hanging out), the Lord’s Super (eating together), and prayer. Four simple actions constructed a church that revolutionized ancient historical culture and changed the course of the human race!

Then why do we make it so complicated? How did Christianity go from an attractive movement to something for which we must aspire? Why jump through the hoops to reach God? That was not the intention of the first church. It wasn’t even called church. That came later. Christians came later. These people were simple people drawn to a supernatural God.

Verse 43 states that “a deep sense of awe came over them” and that “the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders.” The Acts Church was familiar with the supernatural. It was tangent and moving among them daily. These believers were not afraid to let the Holy Spirit move, to let Him display His power. Why has that changed? Again, modern churches have shifted from what was to something more complicated. There is a desire for structure and order; some services are even structured to the very minute; yet, have we put so much structure that God has no room to move? Modern churches have forgotten that when the Holy Spirit moves, there is structure! There is order and structure, but there is also freedom and openness for God’s will to be accomplished. Structuring God out leaves rigid religion, and that is not God.

Because the Acts church was submitted to the flow of the Spirit, something even more miraculous happened. Verse 45 says that the early believers “shared everything they had,” going so far as to sell their homes and possessions so the poor and in need could be given help. This spirit of generosity was revolutionary. In the ancient Roman culture, there was no such thing as charity. IN the ancient Hebrew culture, there was no such thing as charity outside the family! Yet, here, perfect strangers bound together by a mutual faith have done the impossible! They changed modern culture by introducing charity! Since that day, Christians have been the forerunners in disaster relief, aiding the poor, and helping those in need. All because a group of people remained submitted to a supernatural, loving God.

When humanity is exposed to God, hearts change. It is seen in the creation of generosity, and it is seen in the second and third actions taken by the Acts church. Fellowship and the sharing of a meal at a table; these two things are revolutionary to church life. In the days of the New Testament, sharing a meal was no small feat. It was an event that spanned for hours. Enemies would sit down together and dine as a show of peace and forgiveness. When a meal was shared, a friendship was formed. In the modern western era, the value of the table has been lost. People are too busy to go home and eat. Tables are more an accepted social norm for a home than a used piece of furniture. There is something difficult about inviting someone into your home. Home is intimate, private, holding secrets that you may not be willing to share. That is why restaurants are so popular. It is easier to share a meal in public than it is in private. And yet, this one on one intimacy of sharing a meal together in a home is one of the staples of early chruch life that made it attractive.

Yes, the first group of believers were attractive! And we as Christians should strive for the same. Back then, 3000 people did not join in a day because the early Christians had a big building with lots of gadgets and nifty programs that ran perfectly and smoothly, followed by lunch at a near by eatery. No, this church was attractive because God reigned! And were God is, people follow. His presence is attractive. His Spirit changes hearts from hard and selfish to soft and generous. That gives room for an open, friendly environment that welcomes all. It was God’s presence that brought people in, and it is God’s presence that built a church that changed the world.

Teach the Word. Hang Out. Be Hospitable, inviting people into your home. And Pray. Four simple things that can change history. Are you ready?

Lots of places have slogans. For example, McDonald’s slogan would be “I’m loving it.” The C3 Church’s slogan would be “your best life”. We believe that God has only the best of intentions for our lives. You best life means your best all together life, not your best one part of your life. We are not supposed to focus only on your spiritual life; you must focus also on your physical and emotional lives as well.

At that time the above verses were written, Jews and Gentiles were being treated differently. The Jews were allowing the Gentiles to be Christians, but the gentiles were not allowed to completely join. They were not allowed to worship in the inner courts. The church that Jesus is building is for everyone, there are no insiders and outsiders. When someone immigrates into this country, they must get a green card in order to live here. Green cards allow the person to live here as a citizen, but they are not allowed everything that a citizen is allowed, such as the right to vote. With God, there are no green cards. Everyone is allowed, and everyone is equal. This is our family.

However, being a part of this family means that you must contribute something. We all have our place, and we all have our calling, but our calling is also as a family. We must work together as such. Even while all families have dysfunction, we are called, as the local church, to change lives and impact the world. Nothing can impact the world like the local church.

We are a leadership-driven church. We are visionary, but we have order, and we hold ourselves accountable. Everything that God does, He does through a person. The cornerstone is Christ. This is a dwelling place for Him. he lives in us. We have the power to reach the world, but think long-term. Is what you are doing today going to impact the world in a good way?