Walking With Christ

Happy Halloween.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.(ESV)

God made every day. The fact that we decided to get together and celebrate another day for God with candy sits well with me. I like candy. Yes, Halloween can be used by the enemy as well, but that doesn’t make it different from any other day. Let what the enemy intended for evil be used for good.

On to the actual message…

The cost of revelation.
Every revelation has a cost. Every new lesson has a cost. People may not always recognize the costs associated with the lives we live. John the Baptist and most of the apostles gave their lives to pay for the revelations given to so many others. Every choice we make is based on information we have, experiences that we had, or guesses as to what a likely outcome will be. A revelation, or lesson, can change the information we have which will change the decisions we make going forward. Every new lesson has the potential to change the course of every life it touches.

The gifts of prophecy and knowledge are both listed in 1 Corinthians 12 (below) and can easily be confused since they are so similar. God can speak to us or through us to reveal what is not known. Sometimes, what is not known was seen but simply not recognized for what it really was. The gift of prophecy or knowledge can correct or refocus a situation to reveal truths that we would otherwise choose to ignore.

There is the cost of the revelation. Once we have new information, we have a choice to make. The opportunity cost of each choice is what will ultimately show the value of our lives. What we give up because of the choices we make is as important as what we gain. We give up our old selves with each new step towards Jesus. When we made the decision to follow Christ, we gave up our old lives, to give up our sins, our desires, our wants, and ultimately our lives if called. This isn’t to say that none of those things exist, but rather to say that they now take a back seat to His will.

Every day we must each make the choice to lay down our lives and pick up our cross.

Matthew 16:25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.(ESV)
Mark 8:35 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.(ESV)
Luke 9:24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.(ESV)


The gifts of the Spirit:
1 Corinthians 12:8-11 (8)For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, (9)to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, (10)to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits (discernment), to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. (11)All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.(ESV)