Church of the Resurrection Belfast

Gifts of Grace: Leadership | Danielle McCullagh

Gifts of Grace: Teaching | James Collie

On Sunday, we thought about how spiritual gifts enable us to display the many-coloured wisdom of God. God cannot be displayed in monochrome, so He needs His whole church to be filled with His love, filled with spiritual gifts, surrendered completely to Him and united as one healthy body.
James read from Acts 8, which shows us so much about the gift of teaching; that God-given ability to open up scripture in a way that enables others to experience the presence and ministry of Jesus in an undeniable way.

Gifts of Grace: Exhortation | Freya McNeice

This week, Freya led us in looking at the spiritual gift of exhortation. Originating from the word parakeleó which means 'to call to one's side, to exhort, to encourage, to comfort and to urge,' this spiritual gift focuses on three aspects:
 
1. Drawing in: Exhortation is all about relationship! Exhorters draw in to people's real and messy lives and walk closely beside them. Ultimately, exhorters draw in just as God draws in to us.
 
2. Calling out: We are called to 'walk in a manner worthy of God' (1 Thessalonians 2:12) and sometimes we miss the mark. We need exhorters to lovingly call out where our hearts need aligning back with Christ's. They have the hard conversations because they want people to look more like Jesus, and they offer hope through the Word.
 
3. Building up: We live in a very discouraging world. Exhorters have the incredible gift of drawing alongside people and putting the courage back into them. Encouragement reminds people who God is and who they are in light of that. Building people up strengthens and heals the church, and when exhorters encourage, discouragement loses a foothold on the church.
 
Ultimately, we exhort through the power of the ultimate exhorter.

Gifts of Grace: Serving | James Collie

Here's James Collie sharing from Romans 12, John 13 and Philippians 2 as we continued our new series, 'Gifts of Grace'.
 
We hope this journey through some, but by no means all, of the spiritual gifts, will help to unlock and encourage more of us in the supernatural gifts that God has given us. So that the church may be strengthened and the world blessed.
 
When we practice the gifts God gives; the gifts that are beyond any human talent or skill, it is evidence of God's power and love. Through practising our spiritual gifts, we hope and pray many people would come to know the Lord Jesus and the love and power that He possesses. 

Gifts of Grace | Danielle McCullagh

On Sunday, we began a new series exploring spiritual gifts, helping us think about how God equips every follower of Jesus to serve in unique ways. This is an important topic or us to dig in to, since scripture makes it clear that every believer has at least one spiritual gift, and these gifts are meant to be exercised within the Church and beyond.
Danielle shared the difference between natural talents and spiritual gifts, explaining that being skilled at something doesn’t automatically mean it’s a gift from God. Throughout the series we’ll be look at Romans 12 and 1Corinthians 12:1-11. We looked at spiritual gifts are not earned or a mark of greater holiness, but rather manifestations of the Holy Spirit’s power given to equip us to build up others. Gifts flow from God’s power, not human effort. Spiritual Gifts are about displaying the character, ministry, and glory of Jesus, and as we yield to the Holy Spirit, both our lives and our community can be transformed.