Paul starts this chapter speaking of spiritual gifts. "There are different gifts , but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."
Then he goes on to say that, "to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." To some , the message of wisdom, the message of knowledge, to another faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in different kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.
Going back to verse seven speaking of gifts, "they are given for the common good." To me that means that they are not only for us, but for the building up of the church body.
Now the second half of the chapter really hits me because, so often I hear someone say that they don't need to be in a church and it always makes me think of this part of the chapter where Paul talks about the body (church) being made up of many parts (each of us has different talents and Spiritual gifts) and the body needs each one of those parts to be complete and function properly.
I can remember many times in the past three years feeling like I couldn't go another step, but with the leadership and teaching of our REAL pastors and encouragement from REAL men and strength from the Spirit I was able to keep going. So whenever I hear someone say they don't need a church, I can't help but shake my head.
That encourages me to be at every service to be a "part" of our church "body". I'm proud to be a part of the REAL men of Euless .
Rick VanderZanden
