Epaggelia

The Gift of God’s Holy Spirit of Christ is seen by Luke & Paul, as given to Christians…

… in baptism, Acts 2:38, “Holy”

… in salvation, Romans 5:17, 8:10, “Righteousness”

… in personal ministry, Ephesians 4:7, “Grace”

…in public ministry, 2nd Corinthians 9:15, “Inexpressible”

Jesus says, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”, Luke 11:13

Just as in the world, we see children grow up to give gifts in return to their parents that cared for them in their youth, we should see new Christians grow up to give gifts out of appreciation back to our Father in Heaven for giving us Christ’s Spirit. Mature Christians have the wisdom, strength and love to be grateful in…

… Giving liberally, Luke 21:1-4 

… Giving personally, Romans 12:6

… Giving publicly, Philippians 4:18

How do you give gratitude to God? The word “thanksgiving” has GIVING in it, not “saying”! So even if we are simply saying thank you to God in prayer, it should be from our hearts, giving love & respect, sincere heartfelt gratitude.

Peter calls all Christians individually in the church, publically, a royal priesthood, (1st Peter 2:9), if you believe this, then we should be able to offer sacrifices, because that is why people are made into priests. See Hebrews 13:15-16. All genuine Christians are actually spiritual priests, we do not have a physical priesthood, our sacrifices are sanctified by Christ’s blood and offered up in praise & prayer spiritually. When we do good works, they are maintained by faithful prayer, see Titus 3:8-14. 

If you believe Christ’s Spirit has been gifted to you, (Romans 8:8-9), then you are his and He is yours. Our every effort to serve him physically or spiritually can be accepted by The Father as a holy sacrifice. Do you live like this? See 1st Peter 2:1-5.

“Church” (ekklesia – Greek) meaning “to call out of”. Before the New Testament was written “ekklesia” was a word used to describe what Roman Senators did throughout the many different provinces of the Roman Empire, when they were called out of, and into Rome for an annual meeting to give account of their work in their particular Province and the State of the Empire. But Jesus used it towards his disciples, who would become apostles teaching believers to become Christians, Matthew 16:18-19. This meant that Jesus intended us to be coming together out of the world as we are called into the body of Christ. Every Sunday we physically show this by coming together as a congregation, out of the world and into worship. When our Sunday worship service is finished, we go back out into the world physically, and if we are in Christ, then we are spiritually the church throughout the week. Monday through Saturday we should be living daily lives that are called out of worldliness and into the righteousness of Christ. The English word “Church” and the Scottish Gaelic word “Kirk”, derives from a Greek word, kuriakos, that means “house of the Lord.”  It applies to any lord, whether a landlord, a master, a lord of slaves or any other lord.  It is this word, from which “church” is derived, that occurs only twice in the Greek New Testament.  In I Corinthians. 11:20, it is used to identify the “Lord’s Supper” as belonging to the Lord.  In Rev. 1:10, it is used to refer to the “Lord’s Day” as belonging to the Lord. Kuriakos doesn’t appear in the NT Greek, but it’s obvious meaning is literally used as “My Father’s House” or the Lord Jesus, saying “My House”, see John 2:16 & Luke 14:23 & Acts 7:49.

Descriptions or names in the “Gospels & Acts”

The Kingdom, Matthew 16:18-19, Luke 9:27, Colossians 1:13

The Flock, John 10:16, 1st Peter 5:2

The Family, Mark 3:35, Ephesians 3:15.

The “Way”, Acts 24:14 & 22

The “Congregation”, Acts 5:11, 7:38 & Hebrews 12:23

The “Christians” Acts 11:26, 1st Peter 4:16

Titles in the “Epistles”

The Church of God… as Saints, Acts 20:28 & 1st Timothy 3:15, 1 Corinthians 1:2, 3:9, 10:32, 11:22, 15:9, 2nd Corinthians 1:1, Galatians 1:13. (Saints is used over 64 times in the New Testament)

The Church of the First-Born, Hebrews 12:23

The Churches of Christ, Romans 16:16, this title can be applied to all the various phrases in the New Testament that are written as “churches of ….. Galatia, Thessalonica, Laodicea, etc.,

There are many different words used to describe the church in the New Testament, like Bride, Body, House/Temple, Field/Vineyard and City, but these descriptions are not used like real titles, but rather they help us understand how the church should function, work and grow in the world. They help us understand what the will of the Lord is in the life of the church of Christ from day to day. The real titles of the church help us tell the world who we belong to and who has purchased us. We are owned by the Lamb of God who bought us with his blood, 1st Peter 1:18-19. Who do we belong to? Wherein lay our identity and citizenship? Philippians 3:20