Ephesians 4:11

Plain English Version

And Jesus Christ gives these special gifts to his people, so that they can help other people in the church. These gifts are the powers he gives to Christians. He gave some of his people the power to be his special workers, and he sent them out to other people to tell them his good news. And he gave other Christians the power to tell God’s messages to people. And he gave some of them the power to help other people to believe in Jesus. And he gave some Christians the power to be pastors, to look after Christians and teach them God’s way. God gave all these powers to his people to get them ready, so that they can work together for him. God works like that, so that his people get stronger, and so that more people join his family. We are like the body of Jesus Christ here on earth, and he wants that body to get bigger and stronger.

Cross References

Matthew 28:20

You have to teach them to do everything that I told you to do. And remember this, I will be with you all the time. I will be with you to help you, right up until the time when this world will finish.”

Acts 13:1

Barnabas and Saul, and some other men in the church in Antioch, used to tell people God’s messages and teach them God’s word. Those other men were Simeon (his other name was Niger), and Lucius from the country called Cyrene, and Manen (he grew up with Herod, the big boss).

Acts 20:28

Now you leaders have to make sure you keep on following Jesus properly, and you have to help God’s people to follow him properly too. The Holy Spirit picked you to be their leaders, so look after them properly. Remember, God bought his people with the blood of his own son.

Acts 21:8

The next day, we got back on the ship, and we left Tolemayis and sailed to the town called Caesarea. We left the ship there and went to Philip’s place, and we stayed with him. He was a man that was always telling other people how to become followers of Jesus. (A few years before this, the Christians in Jerusalem picked 7 men to take care of the Christian widows, and Philip was one of those men.

Romans 12:7

Or maybe God gave you the power to help other people, well you have to do that. Or if God gave you the power to teach other people, well he wants you to do that.

1 Corinthians 12:4

You know, the Holy Spirit gives us special powers to do things. We call those powers the gifts that he gives us. There are different sorts of gifts, but they all come from the same Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 2:20

I will use a house as a picture story. It is like God used Jesus and all his people to build a special house for himself. He used Jesus Christ to start building that house. He is the most important one. Then God used Jesus’s special workers, and the other people that told God’s messages. They are like the cement slab that the house sits on. Now God is using you mob, with us Jewish mob, to make the rest of the house. It is like God’s people are the bricks and the wood. You mob are not Jews, but you are still part of that house. God’s spirit carefully joins us together, to make that house bigger all the time, and God lives in his special house. That picture of a house shows us that God is living in us all the time.

Ephesians 3:5

God didn’t tell that message to the people that lived before me. But now, God picked Jesus’s special workers and other people that tell his messages, and God’s spirit told them his plan.

Ephesians 4:8

A long time ago, God got one of his men to write this in his book, “He went up to the highest place, and he made lots of prisoners follow him. And he gave gifts to people.”

2 Timothy 4:5

Don’t be like those people. You have to control yourself all the time, no matter what happens to you. If they get tough on you, don’t get upset, just keep going. You have to keep on telling people the good news about Jesus, and you have to finish all the work that he gave you to do.

Jude 1:17

But, my friends, you have to remember what Jesus Christ’s special workers said. They talked about what will happen later.