1. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

3. “the doctrine that God in consequence of his foreknowledge of all events infallibly guides those who are destined for salvation.”
Merriam Webster

4. Why would a loving God, a God who created all things, only want to save part of what God had created?
What’s the point of trying to live a Godly life, if the final outcome has already been decided?

6. Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”
Romans 8:30
And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

7. The common thread running through all of these beliefs is the notion that God has set those whom God will save apart from the rest of humanity.

8. “freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention”
Merriam Webster

10. “God's predestination does not mean that we cannot make free will choices. God predestines in and through our choices because God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He knows what we will do because He knows all things. He cannot not know all things. So, whatever you choose to do out of your own free volition is known. But His knowing doesn't mean you don't freely choose.”
Matt Slick, founder of The Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry

11. “An illustration would be that I could arrange for my child to choose ice cream over something else and not violate his free will. For instance, I could put a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a bowl of dirt and rocks in front of my child, and I know exactly which one the child will choose to eat. But my knowing does not violate my child's free will.” - Matt Slick

12. God knows everything that will happen, and knows what our choices are, but doesn’t make the choices for us.

14. I’m one of the most unlikely people to end up as a preacher.
Bishop Willimon postulates that God calls the most unexpected people to be God’s mouthpiece.
I’m one of the most unlikely people to end up as a preacher.
Speech impediment
No college degree
Unorthodox “lifestyle”

15. God has chosen some to interpret God’s word.
Why would God choose one like me to speak through?
I have no clue, yet here I am.
How Odd of God, indeed.

16. To each of us, God has given a gift
To each of us, God has given a gift. It may take a lifetime to discover what that gift is, but it’s there.

17. 8 years ago, I stood in the pulpit of Madrona Grace Presbyterian Church and preached my very first sermon.

19. God decides who gets what gift, God doesn’t decide whether or not we use the gift.

20. It is God’s gift but our choice.
Our choice to explore,
our choice to revel in God’s magnificent generosity,
our choice to share with the whole world, our choice not to share,
and our choice to leave the gift unopened gathering dust.

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