Good morning. And so some of the gifts that were given to the Church – apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And why were they given? It wasn't just so they could lord it over the rest of the church; it was for the equipping of the Saints for the work of the service, to the building up of the body of Christ. God did not give us our pastor just so we can hear some funny stories on Sunday morning. Those are like the BOGO ads. They get you into the store so you will buy things other than those. His funny stories get you into the "store" so that you will "buy into" all of the rest. If you put his teachings into action, they will build you up. And just how long are these gifts to be building us up? Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Previously we talked about that you did not have to attain to the unity of the Spirit; but here we have to attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Jesus. The Church is not unified in those. That is part of the reason we have so many different denominations believing in different things. Some of the differences are minute. Indeed we act like children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. Some people are not trying to build the church; they are trying to build themselves. We had that in a previous church I attended. We had some people coming in to speak to us that supposedly were apostles (I've mentioned this before). However they were not trying to build up our church; they were trying to build up themselves with their "pyramid scheme". By the way the word translated trickery actually means cube as in dice playing, where people tried to cheat one another. Father thank You for giving us our pastor. Give him/her the wisdom to help build up the church. Thank You that the reader is being built up into a mature Christian. He/she is not tossed here and there by every wind of doctrine.

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