David Robert Lambert

So far, over 1,000 questions were submitted by visitors to the Alpha USA website.  I have selected a few that I find interesting.  The following words were not edited before being published.

• If all the prophets, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed were all talking about the same God, why is there such conflict between them all?

• Why are there so many Denominations?

• Would Jesus recognize our christian churches?

• Why don’t people realize that Jesus is Santa-Claus for grownups?

Click on the link below to read all the questions or to add your own response.
http://www.alphausa.org/Articles/1000087448/If_Gods_Exists.aspx

The basic New Testament texts regarding spiritual gifts are found in Romans  12:1-8; 1 Corinthians  2:1-27; 1 Corinthians  14:1-5; Ephesians  4:1-7; Ephesians 4:11-16  and 1 Peter 4:8-11.

They can be grouped into 4 categories as follows: Expression, Leadership, Perception and Service.

Expression: Artistry, Communication/Speaking/Writing, Craftmanship, Giving, Humor, Music/Voice/Instrument.

Leadership: Administration/Ruling, Apostleship/Pioneering, Encouraging/Exhorting, Evangelist, Leadership, Pastor/Shepherding, Teaching, Missionary.

Perception: Discernment, Faith, Knowledge, Prophecy/Perceiving, Wisdom, Visions/Dreams, Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues

Service: Healing, Helping, Hospitality, Mercy/Compassion, Prayer/Intercession, Serving/Ministry, Miracles.

Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?  If not, you are not alone.  75% of Christians in America wonder the same thing!  According to Barna Research in 1995, 2000 and 2008, “less than one in four can identify a spiritual gift which they believe they possess.” Yet the Bible says that every Christian is given at least one gift, that spiritual gifts are given to build up the church, and that the Holy Spirit is in control of giving these gifts.

The survey asked people who said they were Christian and who claimed to have heard of spiritual gifts to identify which gifts they believe God has granted to them. The most commonly claimed gifts were teaching (9%), service (8%) and faith (7%). Those were followed by encouragement (4%), healing (4%), knowledge (4%), and tongues (3%). The gift of leadership was mentioned by just 2%.

Since 1995, the proportion of born again Christian adults claiming the gift of evangelism dropped from 4% to 1%. The stagnation of evangelism relates to many factors, but one of those is probably the fact that just 1% of Christian adults (self-described or born again) now claim the gift of evangelism. While the Bible never suggests that one must possess this gift in order to share the gospel, the depressed proportion of believers who identify with that gift reflects the stalled growth of the Christian body in America.

Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame! When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him! You welcome those who gladly do good, who follow godly ways. But you have been very angry with us, for we are not godly. We are constant sinners; how can people like us be saved? We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind. Yet no one calls on your name or pleads with you for mercy. Therefore, you have turned away from us and turned us over to our sins. And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand. Don’t be so angry with us, Lord. Please don’t remember our sins forever. Look at us, we pray, and see that we are all your people.
Source: Isaiah 64:1-9 (New Living Translation)

But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Source: Romans 9:20-21 (New International Version)

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
Source: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (New Living Translation)

It is not you who shapes God, it is God who shapes you. If then you are the work of God, await the hand of the artist Who does all things in due season. Offer God your heart, soft and tractable, And keep the form in which the artist has fashioned you. Let your clay be moist, Lest you grow hard and lose the imprint of God’s fingers.
Source: Shalem News, www.shalem.org

O God, you divided the waters of chaos at creation.  In Christ you stilled storms, raised the dead, and vanquished demonic powers.  Tame the earthquake, wind, and fire, and all the forces that defy control or shock us by their fury.  Keep us from calling disaster your justice.  Help us, in good times and in distress, to trust your mercy and yield to your power, this day and for ever.[1]

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.[2]

We pray today for the people of Japan who have suffered the worst earthquake in hundreds of years and the tsunami that followed.  Our hearts also go out to Japanese-Americans and others around the world who know not the fate of their loved ones.

The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.[3]

Lord, we pray not for tranquility, nor that our tribulations may cease; we pray for thy spirit and thy love, that thou grant us strength and grace to overcome adversity; through Jesus Christ.[4]

Amen.

Ref 1: “In Time of Natural Disaster”, Andy Langford, USA, 20th Century
Ref 2: Isaiah 54:10 (NIV)
Ref 3: Psalm 145:9 (NIV)
Ref 4: “For Overcoming Adversity”, Girolamo Savonarola, Italy, 15th Century

He who never acts fails by definition.

Some of the Ten Commandments are positive like love God and your neighbor as yourself.  Others are negative like do not steal or commit adultery.  Doing a bad thing is a sin of commission.  Not doing a good thing like loving your neighbor is a sin of omission; maybe not quite as bad as stealing from your neighbor or coveting his wife, but a sin none the less.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) once said “anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”  You might say inaction is a sin of omission.