Gifts must be used with a pastoral heart
Dr. Roberto Miranda(Audio: Spanish)
SUMMARY:
The speaker invites the audience to First Corinthians chapter 14 to discuss how to be an effective church in reaching and retaining souls. He emphasizes the importance of creating a safe and welcoming environment for all who come to worship. The passage discusses the different gifts of the Holy Spirit and their purposes within the congregation. The speaker notes that the church in the first century met informally in houses, but today's church meetings are public and diverse. He suggests that although people may come from different backgrounds, there must be a selection of things offered in a service.
The speaker addresses the importance of edification and care for others within the church. He emphasizes the need to ask oneself if what we are doing is edifying for others and to be aware of how our actions may affect others. The speaker also discusses the use of spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues and prophecy, and the importance of proper interpretation and judgment of these gifts. He encourages learning more about the gifts and using them appropriately. Finally, the speaker addresses concerns about ministry times and emphasizes the need for appropriate use of gifts and prophetic words.
The use of spiritual gifts in the church must be done in an appropriate and orderly way. The gifts exist for the edification of the people of God and as a sign of his power and presence. They must be used with a pastoral heart, taking into account the people around us and avoiding conflict or scandal. The principle of love is often superior to the principle of reason, and we must submit our maturity and convictions to those of the weaker brother. Lion of Judah is a diverse congregation, so caution and discipline are necessary to avoid confusion and conflict. Paul was an ardent defender of the gifts, but he also established order and guidelines for their exercise. The order of society and culture demands certain restrictions, even if they may seem unnecessary at times.
The exercise of spiritual gifts in the church must be done in love and within the context of biblical order. Pastoral responsibility must be upheld to maintain discipline and avoid confusion during worship and ministry times. It is important to be respectful of the public nature of these events and to consider how actions may be perceived by those who do not understand or appreciate them. It is also important to be careful with laying hands and prophesying, especially with strangers, and to respect people's needs and desires for their personal worship experience. The goal is to have a mature church where the gifts of the Holy Spirit can manifest harmoniously and effectively.I want to invite you to go with me to First Corinthians in chapter 14, it is an interesting subject that I want to discuss with you. In light of our desire to be an effective church in reaching and retaining souls and to be a church that when people come in and worship with us they feel welcomed, they feel good, they feel in harmony, they feel they are in a safe place , a place where they can experience the peace of the Lord. Because it is of no use to us that people come and do not find the space they need for their needs, when they come sometimes busy, sad, anxious, when they come confused, when they come hurt from outside, when they come with some situation that afflicts them, it is It is important that they are in a place where they can find that rest and that harmony that they are seeking from the Lord.
And that's why it's so important. Evangelism includes not only bringing people to church, but also offering them that safe environment, that peaceful environment, that environment where they can stay and be at ease. The Apostle Paul was not only a theologian, he wrote a lot of passages of scripture, two thirds of the New Testament was written by him, but he was also a church planter, he was an evangelist, and he was also a pastor because he had a pastoral heart and he wrote to the pastors and the congregations that he helped to plant, about how they should conduct themselves, how they should regulate their daily life, their daily life as congregations. And he wrote principles because in those times they did not have what we have, this writing already written, already codified, already well ordered. They did not know how to behave because the growth of the Gospel was just beginning. It was the first century and everything was yet to be established.