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Feb 27, 2022

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:13,14 & Romans 12:6-8 For people who belong to Christ, the Bible answers the profound questions, "Where are we going?" and "What do we do on the way there?"  The Spirit of God is our guarantee, in Christ, that we will be made new on the day of redemption.  And the Spirit equips us to work in the kingdom of Christ along the way.

For Christians, the Holy Spirit has been given to us, by God, as a pledge, a sort of down-payment, reminding us of the glory to come.  To secure this promise the Holy Spirit is called a 'seal'.  "And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee"       (2 Cor 1:21,22).

There are at least three aspects of the idea that the Holy Spirit seals us for the day of redemption … security, ownership, and genuineness  (cf. Eph 1:13,14; 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5).

On the way to our eternal glory, we labor in Christ's vineyard, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.  The Spirit gives gifts to the church.  There are four main passages in the New Testament in which spiritual gifts are mentioned:  Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 28-31; Ephesians 4:7-16;       1 Peter 4:10,11.  

A spiritual gift is a God-given ability to be used for service to Him in the church.  The purpose for spiritual gifts is twofold: (1) to bring glory to God       (1 Pet 4:11), and (2) to build up the church (1 Cor 12:7; Eph 4:12-16).  Many different needs exist in a church, requiring many different kinds of people with differing talents to produce the environment in which everyone is growing in Christlikeness.