TABERNACLE BAPTIST CHURCH CORNER OF BROAD & GEORGE STREET * P.O. BOX 1510 NEW BERN *NORTH CAROLINA * 28563 (252) 637-4166 * FAX (252) 637-0436 AugustAugust 20182018 Inside this issue: From the Pastor’s Pen Worship and Music I Can Only Ministry Notes Imagine Youth Group News Sunday, August 26 at 6pm Update from the Jane Train In FLC Gym WMU-Missions Corner Doors open at 5:30 Operation Christmas Child snacks at 5:40 pm. Memorials & Honorariums The OCC Team is hosting this event. All proceeds go towards Thank You’s OCC Shipping TCC This true story follows the life of Unity Corner Bart Millard, lead singer of the Birthdays Christian band MercyMe, who loses Calendar his father to cancer and inspires him to write the mega-hit song, Inserts: I Can Only Imagine. ETC Schedule Awana Tabernacle Preschool Financial Report North Carolina Mission Offering Week of Prayer August 26-September 2 Stewardship Report Media Library www.tabernaclebaptist.com TBC Goal: $9,200 THE TABERNACLE On Wednesday nights we’ve been working our way through Paul’s Knowing our strengths and gifts helps us to focus on the ways instruction on spiritual gifts. It is clear, not only from I Corinthians we can be most helpful to other believers. If you don’t know 12-14 but several other texts such as Romans 12:3-8 and Ephesians your gift yet, don’t worry. It’ll become clear as time passes, and 11-16 that God has designed the church to work most efficiently asking other believers can help you discern your gift. We’re through the exercise of spiritual gifts. But how do we know our often in a great hurry to find our gifts, but God isn’t. He has a gifts? It is popular to take spiritual gifts inventories as a way to iden- purpose and plan to use you in the life of your church, and it tify areas of giftedness. These, however, are limited in their effec- will become clear as you serve him and others. tiveness. I recently read an article by Thomas Schreiner, professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, offering a simple but pro- I think these words clarify the critical piece of the puzzle, so to found thought on discovering spiritual gifts. Schreiner says, speak. The reason many Christians struggle to discern their gift is The best way to discover your gift, then, is not by taking a test. because they have yet to fully engage in the life and ministry of the They didn’t have such instruments in the early church, and peo- church. Rather than identifying your gift and then serving, perhaps it ple discovered and used their gifts just fine! Rather, if you get would be better for you and the church if you simply served. If after involved in the lives of others in your church and love as Jesus some period of time it appears that the particular place in which you commanded, then you will discover your gift. If you get in- are serving isn’t your “wheelhouse” then move on to another minis- volved in the lives of others in your church and love as Jesus try. Even though you may spend time doing something for which commanded, then you will discover your gift. you are not gifted, it’s hard to imagine you will regret serving in Some might say they still don’t know their gift. But know- those areas for that amount of time. However, if you spend too ing your spiritual gift isn’t as important as exercising your spir- much time contemplating how you are gifted without actually serv- itual gift. Surely many believers in history didn’t know their ing the church, you may find yourself piling up wasted time that you spiritual gifts or think much about them, and yet they exercised will regret. If you are a believer in Christ then you possess the Spirit those gifts in powerful ways. If you aren’t sure what your spir- of God. This, in turn, means you possess all that’s necessary for life itual gifts are, I wouldn’t worry about it. If you give yourself to and godliness, including what’s needed to serve Christ’s body. And other believers in the church, you will inevitably be using your since we will begin a new church year in September, this is the per- gifts (emphasis mine). fect time to find a place to serve. Give yourself to service and trust All of this brings us back to the matter of spiritual gift in- God to lead and guide you in the process. ventories. If you’re involved in the life of the church and take such an inventory, it might prove helpful. Sometimes we don’t I love being your pastor, see ourselves clearly, and other believers and resources can help Scott us discern where we’re gifted. Obviously such tools can used in a narcissistic and self-absorbed way, but it’s also true that un- derstanding ourselves better may help us become more effec- tive ministers. He goes on to say, A new church year is right around the corner! We are gearing up for a new season of music ministry. Here are some things we’re looking forward to! Multigenerational Collaborations. We are excited about plans to continue collaborating across generations as we look forward to combining children, adult, and senior choirs for several projects this year. Christmas – Festival of Carols. This year’s Christmas program will encompass the best of a Christmas concert and a meaningful Christmas worship time. We will hear several passages of Scripture that tell the story of re- demption from Genesis to the coming of Christ read by members of the congregation, interspersed with choir anthems and carols. Sunday, December 16, 6:00 p.m. New Musicians Welcome. Interested in joining the music ministry? Our choirs are open to anyone without an audition! For other more individualized roles, we have just launched a new application and audition process. This process is for anyone interested in joining as an instrumentalist or audio/visual technician or anyone cur- rently in the sanctuary choir who wants to join the praise team or be considered as a soloist. The application form can be found online at tabernaclebaptist.com/music. THE TABERNACLE A group of blind men heard that and accepting of other’s religious views? the rest of us, by their own reasoning, their beliefs a strange animal, called an The short answer to all of these questions is no. about God and religion would be just as flawed elephant, had been brought to While the point of the parable is intended to in- and incomplete. Thus, this is a self-defeating the town. Since the men had struct us that we should show humility in ac- position because it contradicts its’ own claim. never encountered an elephant, knowledging that no one person (or religion) They are claiming a knowledge of God for them- they groped about, seeking to understand and possesses absolute truth regarding God, and that selves, that they claim that no man possesses. describe this new phenomenon. One grasped the we should therefore look for whatever is true in Thankfully for us, much like the blind men in the trunk and concluded it was a snake. Another another’s perspective, it unintentionally undercuts parable, we have an outside source that gives us explored one of the elephant's legs and described its’ own argument. Rather than humbly ac- clarity on the matter. Yet our source isn’t just a it as a tree. A third found the elephant's tail and knowledging that we are like the blind men who more “enlightened” person or group who is able announced that it was a rope. The fourth, after cannot see the whole elephant, and therefore, are to see with greater clarity than we can (After all, discovering the elephant's side, concluded that it content with embracing the totality of our multi- the rajah simply pointed out their error, but could was a wall. Finally, the last man touched the ple perspectives, we must first recognize that not make them understand the real essence of the elephant’s tusk and decided that it was like a each of the perspectives of the blind men were elephant.). No, imagine if in the parable, the spear. An argument ensued, each blind man wrong! It doesn’t matter how much flawed rea- elephant could speak for himself. Surely the thinking his own perception of the elephant was soning and how many invalid claims we choose elephant would be able to give the definitive the correct one. Then, the Rajah, awakened by to accumulate, their sum will never equal truth. answer regarding what it means to be an ele- the commotion, called out from the balco- Adding together a snake, a tree, a rope, a wall, phant. When we come to the matter of God and ny. “The elephant is a big animal,” he and a spear does not an elephant make. Nor does religion, that is exactly what the Bible tells us has said. “Each man touched only one part. You trying to reconcile the exclusive and contradicto- happened. God has spoken through His Word must put all the parts together to find out what an ry truth claims of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and instructed mankind on what He is like and elephant is like.” Enlightened by the Rajah’s and Buddhism lead one to the correct under- what He desires. Therefore, when Jesus stated wisdom, the blind men reached agree- standing of God (When dealing with competing that, “ I am the way, and the truth, and the life.