SUNDAY WORSHIP SERVICE
EBCC, Dwarka-1A, Delhi
Date: May 12, 2013
Time: 11a.m
Theme: SPIRITUAL GIFTS
“It is love, then, that you should strive for. Set your hearts on spiritual gifts, especially the gift of proclaiming God’s message” (I Corinthians 14:1)
The worship service started with the local Pastor, Nenglian Vualnam welcoming the congregation and giving praise to the almighty God for leading his people this far. He then read out a song of praise from Psalm 95:1-6:-
“Come, let us praise the lord!
Let us sing for joy to God, who protects us!
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and sing joyful songs of praise
For the Lord is a mighty God,
a mighty king over all the gods.
He rules over all the whole earth,
from the deepest caves to the highest hills.
He rules over the sea, which he made:
the land also, which he himself formed.
Come, let us bow down and worship him:
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!”
This was followed by a mass prayer leaded by the Pastor.
With the worship team taking the lead, praise and worship songs such as “Nang toh ton a pai ka ut hi, Muanna suangpi, Toupa ka gam uh damsak in and Toupa pengkul hon ging “ were sing by the congregation. At the end of this, Upa Thiankhanmuan dedicated the offerings of the church members to God.
The Baby Dedication Ceremony of Mr. Thangmang Vualnam s/o Pastor Nenglian Vualnam and his wife was conducted by Pastor T.Vungkhansuan , a visiting pastor from EBCC Hebron, New Lamka. He read Psalm 127: 3-5 ‘Children are a gift from the lord; they are a real blessing. The sons a man has when he is young are like arrows in a soldiers hand. Happpy is the man who has such many arrows….’.
Mr. Muanthang, BYF Secretary then made an announcement with regard to BYF Nehemia Project. According to him, the Vth Phase of Project Nehemia was launched on May 5, 2013 with a budget of 1.75 lakhs. The present phase focus on three areas:-
i) Infrastructure development
ii) Teachers’ empowerment
iii) Students’ motivation.
A team comprising of BYF committee and other church members are planning to make a ‘Motivational Missions tour’ during the month of July, 2013. For this, registration is open to all interested church members, especially the youth, till the end of May. The main objective of the tour is to visit our ‘zodawn’ villages from Tipaimukh road to Guite road and to interact with the teachers, students and fellow church members.
As a part of raising funds for the tour, T shirts are being made and a car wash is being planned for the church members on June 8, 2013. Everyone has been requested by the Secretary to give their kind support and cooperation for the same.
SERMON
The main focus of today’s sermon is on Spiritual gift, a gift that each one of us has in us, but might not be aware of it. The pastor began his sermon by raising the questions, “What is spiritual gift?” “What are the different kinds of spiritual gift?” “Why are we given spiritual gift?”
In simple terms, Spiritual gift can be defined as “a gift given to believers by the Holy Spirit to do extraordinary work/things”.
Different types of spiritual gifts (I Corinthians 12: 8, 10, 28):
The Holy Bible clearly mentions that there are different kinds of spiritual gift. According to I Corinthians 12:8, “The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge”. Similarly, some people are given the power to work miracles, to speak God’s message and the ability to differentiate between gifts that come from the spirit or not. Even in church, God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets and in the third place teachers and so on.
The desire to help or assist others without expecting anything in return from them is also an attribute of a spiritual gift.
Importance of spiritual gifts (Ephesians 4:11, Romans 1:11-12; 12:6-12):
God has given us his spiritual gifts for certain reasons. Some of the reasons are listed below:-
I) For building up of the church
II) For building up of the body of Christ
III) For empowering believers
IV) For getting strength from one another
To whom are spiritual gifts given (I Peter 4:10; I Corinthians 12:11, 31):
Spiritual gift is a special gift given to each one of us and it must be used for the good of others (I Peter 4:10). The spirit who gives the gift is the same for all but he gives each one a different gift as per his wishes.
God is happy when we use the gift we have to the optimum. A person who has multiple gifts should use more of his gifts as compared to someone who has lesser gift. “Much is required from the person to whom much is given”
God can take away our spiritual gift if we do not make use of them. Therefore, it is important to build up ourselves through the spiritual gift that we received. When we set our heart on the gift and utilize them, our spiritual gifts are multiplied by God.
A good singer should sing a good writer should write one who likes helping others should help and so is the same with all other gifts. No gift should be look down upon. All spiritual gifts should be directed and used for the glory of God.
Two things to remember about our spiritual gift:
- Finding out our own spiritual gift
- Using the spiritual gifts that we received
The Pastor further concluded the sermon by stressing that we should set our heart on our spiritual gifts and make use of it for the glory of God.
The service ended with the closing song ‘Jesu’n vai a hawm hi and a benediction by Upa Thianzakham
By- Niangmuanhoih
(Media Team)
