Author: Phil Rehberg

gifts

The Kingdom Of God Flows Through Our Spiritual Gifts

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“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other” (1 Cor. 12:7 NLT). God wants us to be channels of His power to restore His people so he infuses gifts into us so we can use our spiritual gifts to build up one another. He gives gifts of hearing words from Him to edify believers (prophecy, words of knowledge, words of wisdom) he gives gifts that alter the physical world (healing, miracles) gifts that connect directly to the world of the Spirit (discernment of spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues) and gifts that are not manifestly supernatural (helping, administration, service, encouragement, mercy, giving). This generous endowment from God is rooted in the kingdom of God that Jesus brought to earth. When Jesus came he did more than just teach us how to live and then die for our sins. He also came to inaugurate the Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

God’s Song Of Love Is With Us – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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“By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, (Psalms 42:8, ESV). God’s song of love is about us, even when we can’t hear it. God doesn’t just love us, he commands his love for us. It is his decree for the universe that he loves us and his love is unshakable, it is steadfast. God’s song of love is the anchor for our lives because no one can cancel a command of God. It will remain forever. We suffer for a little while here, but in his New Society in the next age we will soak in his love, forever free of all sin and suffering. What else would he do for us if he loves us? When the night comes God’s song of love is the sense of his love in our hearts. His promises in Scripture and the love we Continue Reading →

Big brother

Jesus Is Our Big Brother

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The family of God has an unusual genesis. It has a Father like other families but it also has another member who made the family possible: a big brother. In the family of God everyone has a big brother and Jesus is our big brother. He is the “oldest” of the siblings because He is the first of the newly designed humans, the first of the new Adams. He was the first to live an ideal human life and he did this is order to blaze a new trail for the rest of us to follow. The power he had to be the first new ideal human is available to us too. When we first believe, we receive a new self that is like Jesus’ pure human self but it is an infant new self. God’s goal was to choose people “to become like his Son, so that his Son would Continue Reading →

weekly words of encouragement

I Will Yet Praise Him – Weekly Words Of Encouragement

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Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. (Psalms 42:11, NIV) Psalm 42 is the psalm that begins with the Psalmist declaring that he thirsts for God like a deer thirsts for water. Then he explains his thirst: “My tears have been my food day and night” (Psalm 42:3, NIV). Later he wonders is God has forgotten him in the midst of oppression from his enemies. Sometimes it will feel like God has forgotten us. All we can see is the painful circumstances surrounding us. We cry out but nothing happens. In such times it is easy to forget how God has proven himself to us in the past. We have experienced his Spirit in our hearts; he has delivered us from trials. We forget to say “I will yet praise Continue Reading →

child

The Danger Of False Expectations Of God

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We are children of God (Romans 8:16), so when we talk with Him we can say “Our Father in heaven” (Mt. 6:9 ESV). Isn’t it amazing that our Father is the God of all creation? He is the infinite One. He knows all things and sees all things. He is all-powerful. He is the good One. He is so infinitely loving that Scripture says “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8 ESV). He is the One who takes care of us and gives us power to become like Christ so that no matter what comes our way “we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:37 ESV). But these truths can lead to false expectations of God. We must be careful about comparing God too closely to our earthly father. Many people did not have such good fathers. In that case, God is not like your earthly father; rather, Continue Reading →