Yahweh gives spiritual gifts to every Christians.

"God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other."

—1 Corinthians 12:6 7

The special abilities given to each person by the Holy Spirit are called the spiritual gifts.They enable us to minister to the needs of the body of believers.

There are nine spiritual gifts, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge,the gift of faith,the gifts of healing,the working of miracles,prophecy,discerning of spirits,different kinds of tongues and interpretation of tongues.

One gift is not superior to another.No single person can embody all those gifts. Each of us will have our strengths and weaknesses and those other gifts can compensate and balance our deficiencies. The purpose of those gifts is to build up the church which is the body of Yeshua. It is used to help the church function more effectively.

Those gifts are not for our own personal success. All gifts are from God and we should use them to build up the church. Freely you receive and freely you will give .No one should think highly than he ought to think. For without those gifts from God, we are nothing.

We know God works in different ways with different people who have different faith levels. We should not have preset ideas about how God works. Our experiences with God may not be the same with another person. God may use another way to get the message across to us.

If we say others are wrong , we are only limiting our powers of understandings of God to our narrow human concept and intelligence.There maybe a difference of opinions but this should not cause a division in the church.

Difference of opinions cannot be avoided because not all of us think on the same level as we come from different backgrounds , education levels and experiences. We should not fear the difference of opinions but we ought to learn to handle them with love and in the affirmative way.

We should always be aware that there is a possibility that God is speaking through another person and we should not just dismiss a person simply because he does not conform to our way of thoughts or what we have learned from our Bible knowledge.

Don't be like those Pharisees who rejected Yeshua because He was not from their society.

The church is like a human body and every part of the body is essential to the well being of the body.There should not be pride or feelings of inferiority in the body of Yeshua, for there is unity in diversity.


Reference and thanks to :-

Life Application Bible.

When others make jokes or insult Christianity, how do you respond?

You cannot avoid it totally and there are times when you will have to choose to response appropriately to the challenge. You could laugh at the jokes and insults ,correct the misconceptions of his perspective or choose to ignore it and walk away. It depends on the circumstances and whom you are dealing with.

If you cannot get any distance with that person , it is best to change the subject and leave it to God to change that person.It is not time yet for him to know God. You are like planting the seed in his ground and someone will water for the seed to germinate.

Everyone is unique and do not think alike.We cannot expect others to think like us or accept our perspective in toto.We should be reasonable and rational and if we want people to respect us , we should respect others first.

You can be astonished that those who insult or criticized Christians have a fair knowledge about the religion. Christians are not perfect people and they do make mistakes. It is wrong to think that as a Christian we are superior to others or adopt such kind of attitude. There are good and bad Christians .

There is a big difference between insults against Christians and insults against God,His son,Yeshua and the Holy Spirit. You can insult Christians and all can be forgiven but if you blaspheme against God , that is unforgivable. You are dealing with something which you do not understand and you will learn that it is an unwise thing to do.

It is best not to joke or insult any religion. It is a very sensitive subject and their God is sacred . It can be offensive and some people are overtly sensitive and sometimes bothering on the fanatical or extremist side. It is no joking matter.

If you go into a house and the owner does not receive you , leave and shake off the dust from your feet. Go to those houses which openly welcomes you . They are ready to receive the Good News.



Reference and thanks to :-

A Christian Sense of Humor
by Holly Vicente Robaina

Yeshua or Jesus Christ ?

"When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ. But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.
When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings."

—1 Corinthians 9:21–23 (New Living Translation)


Paul looked to maximize whatever common ground he could with the people he was trying to reach with the gospel, while still obeying God's law. He focused on the spirit of the law, not on the letter. The law of love governed him.

What common ground can you use as the foundation of your relationship with neighbors, coworkers, or relatives you are trying to reach with the good news?

Are there any barriers to those relationships? Are they real barriers, or just things that are uncomfortable? Let God's Spirit show you answers to these questions, and how to act on them.

From,

todaychristianwomen.com


Laura1318's perspective.

God told us to spread the 'Gospel' or the good news or evangelize,to bring people to Christ /Yeshua.
Yeshua is the original Hebrew proper name for Jesus of Nazareth.His mother called him by that name .Jesus is a mis-transliteration of the Greek mis-transliteration, Yeysu.

It is the most proper to call Him Yeshua, since only in the Hebrew does His name have any meaning. In Hebrew,Yeshua means "Salvation," The name Jesus has no intrinsic meaning in English, except as it is known as His name in English.

Some churches have reverted to using Yeshua instead of Jesus Christ while some have kept to the old name.

Does it matter greatly to those who practice this faith ?

God has many names and I think it is not worthwhile to argue what is the most appropriate and correct name.As long as your prayers are answered by Him, it does not matter what you call Him.

It may not matter to some people but I think I will prefer the name Yeshua.Whoever wants to use the name Jesus Christ , it is their prerogative. I won't argue with them.

Since we have accepted Yeshua and found the new life is superior to the old life, we naturally want to tell our friends and relatives about the good life. This is easily said than done.

They would not readily believe you and it would take a lot of convincing to sway their opinions and skepticism.

The apostle Paul shows us the way to bring people to Yeshua. When he is with the Gentiles,he will agree with them as much as he can without forgetting that he must always do what is right as a Christian. Some people may call it 'compromising.'

The Gentiles were non believers in Yeshua and they were also called heathens.God chose the Jewish people first to receive His salvation and later to all those Gentiles. Those Gentiles lived outside the Jewish laws for they do not follow their laws.

The goal of every Christian is to glorify God and to bring people to Yeshua. To bring people to Yeshua,we should not have any philosophical position or material entanglements.

If we preach for pay , then we do not have much freewill to say anything we want but have to listen to our paymasters. Pastors who are paid a salary will have to toe the line.

The church elders or committees will terminate their services if they are not agreeable with the pastors actions or preaching.There will be a conflict of interest, whether to serve God or that particular Church.

There are no perfect church in this world and please do not try to look for one in this world cause you are not perfect either.

We find some Christians who like to quote the Holy scriptures to point out people's mistakes or wrongs in life.They are like those Pharisees in Yeshua's time, who are more holier than others and imposed many man made rules to burden the people.This is judgmental and it can only turn off that person from this religion.

It seems that they enjoy telling other Christians too who do not follow their right way.Only their way is the right way while others are wrong according to their thinking.We should respect each others opinions for not everyone thinks alike.Let God decides who is right or wrong.

Christianity is not only about God's law or scriptures but the most important thing is about love. If you have no love for your fellow mankind, your religion is nothing but a hollow faith. Faith without works is a dead faith.

You may have a very deep knowledge about the Bible but they are only words without any substance when what you preached to others but do not practice them yourself. You are nothing more than just a hypocrite.

To tell others about the good news, we should find the common ground with those we come into contact.We should avoid the 'know it all' attitude because it is a turn off to many. We should make them feel accepted even though we may not accept everything they said or hold and be sensitive to their needs.

That is what will break their defenses and let their guards down.We will then seek opportunities to share the good news with them.

This article is just my own personal views only and you are entitled to your own views.

Reference and thanks to :-

http://www.messianic.com/articles/yeshua.htm

Life Application Bible