VISION KEEPERS ARE HELPERS
(Book by Kendrix Gardner) Lesson 3
THE GIFTS OF HELPS
1 Corinthians 12:28-30
28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.
The gift of helps can apply to anyone. It is not likely to have a title in the church. Helps
is a ministry that requires you to serve others in need. The one who has the gifts of helps
can serve in every area of ministry.
The gift of helps was first recognized in the early Church with the formation of the
Deacons. In the early Church their was a problem with serving of the Grecian women.
Every member of the Church had put all their resources in to one pool. The Deacons
job was to ensure proper distribution to meet everyone\’s needs.
Those who serve as helpers have an unselfish spirit. Those who have the gift of helps
are guided by the Holy Spirit. They have a compassion to serve where ever they
are needed in any capacity.
The greatest servant in the Bible is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is the
role model. He said: Mark 10:45-46
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\”
We were called out of the world to be God\’s servants.
1 Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God\’s grace in its various forms.
Those who serve derive their strength from Christ,
2 Corinthians 13:4
4 For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God\’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God\’s power we will live with him to serve you.
HELPERS HAVE A HUMBLE HEART
A servant takes the lowest position. Mary Madeline served Jesus faithfully after
her conversion. She showed her love and compassion for Jesus in the way she
served
Luke 7:44
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, \”Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
John 12:3-4
Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus\’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
Mary came to Jesus to serve with the resources she was blessed with. What God gave
her, she gave back in service. We should spare no expense to serve God. What
Mary poured on the Lord\’s feet was a years salary.
Jesus gave us the picture of a servant at the last supper with His disciples.
John 13:4-5
So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples\’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
GREATNESS IS FOUND IN SERVING
Matthew 23:11
The greatest among you will be your servant.
For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
We have it switch around. We think we are being exalted when we step out in
front of everyone.
HELPERS ARE THE SOLUTION
In the church there will always be problem.
Matthew 26:11
The poor you will always have with you
Helpers see a problem and take on the responsibility to solve it.
Helpers don\’t run to the Pastor with the problem. Helper run to the
Pastor and offer themselves as the solution.
Since God\’s house is your house, you shouldn\’t be told do what you know
need to be done. For example. if you see a piece of paper on the floor or
in the parking lot, pick it up.
Men and boys are bad about not flushing the toilet after urinating
in the Church.
If you are in the Church and a toilet is not flushed, flush it.
Just because you have not been assigned to a particular task,
does not mean you can\’t get involved.
If you know something is not being done in the Church that need to be done,
maybe that is the ministry you can start.
Romans 12:4-6
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
1 Corinthians 12:18
But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
We are all here to serve each other. Where would we be without the farmer? Where
would the farmer be without us?
Ephesians 2:22
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit
Ephesians 4:16-17
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
All of us has work to do in the body of Christ. None of us should covet another
persons gift. we should focus on what we can do with the gifts God has given us.
VISION KEEPERS ARE LIVING SACRIFICES
Romans 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
In order to serve, you have to see yourself as a sacrifice worth having.
There is always someone who can benefit from your service.
There is always someone who is in need of what you have to offer.
I cannot sing and I am off key when I dance. But on first and third Sundays,
I be in youth church making a fool out of myself trying to encourage
the youth to praise God.
Christ gave His life for me. It not to much for me to be foolish in my
heart felt worship with the youth.
Hebrews 13:15
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise — the fruit of lips that confess his name.
If I am going to be foolish, why not be a fool for Jesus.
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: \’I desire mercy, not sacrifice.\’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
You can make a sacrifice with out mercy. But you can\’t show mercy without a
sacrifice.
The very first sacrifice made in the Bible was in the Garden of Eden, when God
killed an animal to make a covering for Adam and Eve after they sinned.
Do you realized that when Satan the Arch Angel sinned, God did not make an
offering for his sin. Let me suggest that the reason is that Satan\’s sin was
of the spirit, but Adam\’s sin was of the flesh.
It takes a blood sacrifice to cover our sins. Jesus shed His blood on the cross
for you and me.
It should be nothing for us to sacrifice time and money to serve others.
GOD SACRIFICES HIS GRACE AND MERCY FOR US.
Grace is God\’s favor toward us. Mercy is God\’s forgiveness of our sins.
Romans 3:22-23
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Each day God makes a sacrifice for us through the blood of His Son.
Romans 3:25-26
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Everyday we have to make a choice to sacrifice ourselves to God.
It is either, the world or God.
John 15:19
If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
WE ARE WINNERS WITH THE ARMOR OF GOD
The flesh in us want to chose the world. The Spirit in us which is of Jesus
chooses Him
Romans 7:23-25
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
It is normal to be pulled away from serving God. That is the weakness in us which
is of the flesh. It takes the strength of Jesus to resist the flesh to serve God.
To serve God is a constant battle against the flesh. Satan don\’t take no
days off. Satan constantly reminds you that it don\’t take serving to get
into heaven.
Ephesians 6:11-12
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil\’s schemes.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
REV. M, MITCHELL
