Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Illustration: Our gifts are not limited to one area of life

it is great how God gives us certain gifts and talents that are not limited to one area of our life.

In the current NFL playoffs there are two Australians who are making a contribution for their teams….

Both of these men were stars at their Australian Football League clubs. Ben Graham was the captain of the Geelong Cats and Saverio Rocca was a leading goal scorer for the Collingwood Magpies and the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Because AFL is a fast paced, jumping, running non stop type of game their AFL careers were coming to an end. Fortunately, for them some people in the USA had identified that some AFL footballers had a skill that would be very handy in NFL, they could kick the ‘pigskin off the ball’. So Graham (now at Arizona Cardinals, previously with the New York Jets and New Orleans Saints) and Rocca (Philadelphia Eagles) were encouraged to try out (now there is another story of sacrifices they needed to make which I will share later). They both gained mentors and after some adjustments, time learning the rules and getting used to the weird game of NFL they are there punting for their teams in the play offs Now the gift that some thought was only good for AFL is useful in another arena, contributing to another team and entertaining a greater audience.

And in our lives God has given each one of us gifts and talents that we use to earn money, bring up a family and contribute to society.
And many of these gifts and talents can also be used by our local congregations and the wider church to contribute to growing God’s kingdom.

What we can learn from the above

  • Identify the gifts and talents we have
  • Offer yourself and your talents/gifts for use
  • Be open to guidance and mentoring
  • Understand how your gifts and talents can be used in the church and wider church. (Understand the environment, what it means to be church and what the church is on about, if Graham and Rocca had tried to use the talent in the same way they had Australia they would never have made NFL)
  • Have a go/contribute.

1 comment:

Jonathan CHM said...

1) The following are the proves that angels could perform miracles healing and there are falling angels in the Scripture to be against God too:

John 5:3-4, “In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.””

From John 5:3-4, it shows that angels could heal various kinds of illnesses whether they are blinded, halt and withered. As angels could perform miraculous healings and there are so-called, fallen angels, it is irrational to jump into conclusion that certain illnesses be healed to be the work of God/Jesus Christ/the Holy Spirit since some wonders might be the work of angels and/or fallen angels.

2) The following are the proves that Angels could perform marvellous wonders:

Luke 1:7, “And they had no child, because that Elizabeth was barren and they both were now well stricken in years.” Luke 1:13, “but the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for their prayer is heard; and they wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John”. Luke 1:18, “And Zacharias said unto the angel, ‘Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my life well stricken in years.” Luke 1:19, “And THE ANGEL ANSWERING UNTO HIM, I AM GRABRIEL…” Luke 1:20, “AND BEHOLD, THOU SHALL BE DUMB, AND NOT ABLE TO SPEAK, UNTIL THE DAY THAT THESE THINGS SHALL BE PERFORMED, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.” Luke 1:22, “And when he came out, HE COULD NOT SPEAK UNTO THEM”.

Matthews 28:1-2, “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Many Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. And, behold, THERE WAS A GREAT EARTHQUAKE, FOR AN ANGEL OF THE LORD DESCENDED FROM HEAVEN, AND ROLLED BACK THE STONE OF THE DOOR, and sat it.”

Acts 12:23, “Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.”

3) Angels could appear in somebody’s dream:

Matthews 2:19, “…an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph…”; Matthew 1:20, “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream…”

As angels could perform wonders, are there any strongest proves to show that those wonders in contemporary Charismatic Churches are from God? If someone in contemporary Charismatic Church could prove it, we have to accept it. However, if nobody could prove whether the existence of wonder in contemporary Charismatic Churches is from God or the Holy Spirit or Angels, there is a danger that one would comment that certain wonders are from God or from the Holy Spirit or from Jesus Christ and, in case if they are not and it would turn up that we have forced God or Jesus Christ or the Holy Spirit to bear the name of doer and indirectly we have abused the name of Jesus Christ or God or the Holy Spirit and this causes us to speak against Jesus Christ or God or the Holy Spirit indirectly.