When I was in high school my teacher brought in a local professional to motivate our class. The professional shared about working hard, going to college and building his own business. He encouraged us by saying that we could have the same future if we worked hard and stayed focused. Then, he finished his motivational speech in a way that I’ll never forget. He ended it by saying, “I know I said a lot, but you know we still need plumbers so everyone shouldn’t do what I did.”

I remember laughing when he said it and then realized he wasn’t joking. Was he worried that his pep talk was too good? Was he worried the entire class was going to graduate college and run successful businesses and then we would end up in a world without plumbers? I can’t say for sure what motivated him to haphazardly tell us that not everyone should follow his example, but I can say that as I’ve gotten older I realized that he’s not wrong.

There is no doubt that our society would fall apart if everyone had the same job, and that is one of the points that Paul will be making in 1 Corinthians 12 this Sunday. The same concept applies to our jobs and giftings within Christianity and the importance of embracing our diversity in such things.

As we review the gifts of the Holy Spirit this Sunday it’s important to consider the different experiences each of us have had in the past that we bring to church with us. I want to encourage everyone who is able, to set aside preconceived ideas or biases regarding the gifts of the spirit and start with a clean slate in studying the verses this week. We will be reading the whole chapter which is a lot of scripture, but it flows together nicely and will hopefully give us some insight as to how we live our lives.

We invite you to join us this Sunday at 10:00AM. Hope to see you there!

Click here for a pdf of the teaching slideshow.