Before Serving, Realize...

This is our third lesson on spiritual gifts, trying to understand more about what God has for us, realizing that They are so important to the health and body of the church We began two weeks ago by looking at the priority of spiritual gifts, helping you understand how our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a spiritually gifted people Outside of that, we realize that our mentality, though, is so warped about what spiritual gifts are and how they function within the body And that the ministry, of course, in the church is weak without spiritual gifts

And so we looked at the priority of spiritual gifts Last week, we looked at some. bas questions concerning spiritual gifts Not answering, of course, all the questions you might have, hopefully to stimulate more questions from you That you might ask them, put them on one of the registration cards in front of you, and we will answer that over the course of our study That you might get the answers that you need concerning spiritual gifts if we have not answered them Already, but to understand spiritual giftedness is crucial

And so we talked about the definition of spiritual gifts, helping you understand What are these divine enablements that the Spirit of God uses to energize us to build and edify the body of Christ? We talked about where they are located in Scripture We talked about how they're described in scripture because that helps us understand the nature of spiritual gifts We talked about how to discover your spiritual gift Of course, the best way to do that is to just get involved in serving the Lord and look back and see how God has used you to impact other people's lives

That's always a good question to ask How has God used you to move others on to maturity? I would trust that God is using you to do that And as you look back at your life, you're able to see what God's doing and rejoice in how it is He has chosen To use you Tonight we want to look at some issues concerning before you serve There are the purpose of spiritual gifts that we need to understand And so before we serve, these things are elements we need To realize Before we do that, let me just set your heart at ease There are some things you need to understand, and that is this

You need to realize that everything you need to know about spiritual gifts is not in this study Okay? Everything that you need to know about spiritual gifts is not In this study, I would like to think it would be, but it's not going to be It's going to be very beneficial to you, it's going to be very helpful to you, but it's not going to give you all the answers you are looking for So you need to understand that at the outset Second of all, you need to realize that once I discover what my spiritual gift is, I am in a position to be mightily used by God

Well, the answer to that is not necessarily Just because you know what your spiritual gift is, doesn't necessarily mean that you are in a position to be mightily used by God There are other variables involved There are other factors involved You have to walk in the Spirit You have to be filled with the Spirit of God You have to make sure you mortify the flesh and you confess your sin, that you study the Scriptures and that you are doing the things that God wants you to do Just because you understand what your spiritual gift is, doesn't mean that you will mightily be used by God

Paul told Timothy that he needed to make sure that he stirred up the gift that was in him, not to neglect that spiritual gift He also told Timothy not to succumb to youthful lusts He also told Timothy that the firm foundation of the Lord is this, that the Lord knows those that are his, and let everybody who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity So there are things that happen in our lives that we need to make sure we hold in check

And once those things happen and we're walking with the Lord, then the gifts that God gives us are used in a great and mighty way. A third question you need to ask is, us my spiritual gift means that I'm spiritual Well, that's not true Okay? The Corinthian church had all the gifts, right? And yet they, in 1 Corinthians 3, verse number 3, Paul said that they were very, very Carnal, very fleshy There was jealousy among them, there was strife among them, there was all kinds of issues in the church Okay, so using your spiritual gift doesn't mean that you are necessarily a spiritual person

You love the Lord, you have a gift. but you can operate that gift in the realm of the flesh. A fourth question you need to ask and answer is: once I discover my gift, I am no longer responsible to minister in other areas Well, that's not true either Okay? Just because you understand what your gift is doesn't mean that you don't have to serve in other areas For instance, let's say you don't have the spiritual gift of teaching That does not mean you're not responsible to teach others

Because the Great Commission involves us to go into all the world, make disciples, and to teach them to observe all that God's commanded, right? If you're a mother, you're a teacher And so you have to realize that you're teaching your children every single day So just because you recognize what your gift is in one area, Doesn't mean you don't have to fulfill other aspects For instance, mercy Let's say you don't have the gift of mercy Does that mean you don't have to be merciful? No

We are to be merciful to other people, right? Now, there are people with the gift of mercy, and they are extremely compassionate They are extremely kind, and their skill set is so different than someone without that giftedness But it doesn't mean that we are not to be merciful one to another And the same would be true of faith, right? Just because you don't have the gift of faith doesn't mean you don't live by faith, right? We're to walk by faith and not by sight, the Bible says

Just because you don't have the gift of giving doesn't mean you have to give to the Lord on Sundays, right? So just because you have a specific gift and maybe Two or three gifts, one maybe being more prominent, doesn't mean that with the other gifts you don't have to use them because they are Qual that are used throughout your life, like serving, right? There are certain people who have the gift of service, but it doesn't mean that you come to church and don't serve anybody Just because you might have a particular gift that's used outside of that realm And so you need to think all that through

So once you understand what your gifted area is, you're not Able to not serve in other areas that require you to honor and glorify the Lord Also, understand this: that spiritual gifts cannot be used without the power and control of the Holy Spirit That sounds good, but it's not true Because you can exercise your gift in the flesh The Corinthian church did that They served in the flesh So you need to realize that that is extremely important Also, realize that the emphasis on spiritual gifts causes division and pride in the church and therefore should be avoided No, that's not true either

It is true that there can be divisions in the church It is true there can be jealousy in the church, but it doesn't mean that you avoid using your get in the church You know, most of it has to do with how we walk with the Lord and the love we have one for another in terms of the ministry of those gifted So you need to realize that as we continue on in our study, because Today, I want you to realize before you serve, you need to understand the purpose of your giftedness Okay? That's the essence of our study this evening And let me explain it to you two ways: one generally and one specifically

Okay, one generally and one specifically Before you serve, you must real the purpose of your giftedness So, understand that in the realm of spiritual gifts, they fall into four categories The first realm is special gifts The second realm is speaking gifts The third realm is support gifts In the fourth realm, Are sign gifts All the gifts can be summed up in one of those four categories: special gifts, speaking gifts, support gifts And sign gifts Now, why is that important? It's important because special gifts equip Equip the saints for the work of ministry Speaking gifts expl the scriptures

Support gifts enable us to serve and sign gifts Establish and evidence God's sovereignty and authority So, you need to understand that So, let me explain to you this way Let's look first of all at special gifts Why are they called special gifts? If you got your Bible, turn to Ephesians chapter 4 Book of Ephesians, the fourth chapter Ephesians chapter four It says in verse number 7 these words, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's Gift to each one, okay, of us Grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift The word there is Dor

It's used in Acts chapter 2, verse number 38, Acts chapter 11, verses 15 to 17, in conjunction with the gift of the Holy Spirit It doesn't necessarily mean that that's what it's referring to here, but it's in conjunction with the gift of the Holy Spirit, because without the Holy Spirit, you don't have a spiritual gift And then he says this Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts Tam, that's a completely different word Where the first one is Dor, this is Dom Dom refers to the character and qu Of the gift

So there are gifts that he's given, but there is a particular gift that after he ascended upon high He gave to man Now you skirt through the parentheses in verses 9 and 10, and you go to verse number 11, and it says, And he gave some as apostles So you read the text this way But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift Therefore, it says When he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts to men And what are the gifts he gave? He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as past. teachers

These are what we call the special gifts God gives gifts to men, but God also gave gifted men To the church Those are what we call special gifts Gifted men, he gives to the church And they fall in the realm of apostle, prophet Evangelist and pastor-teacher Now, you got to be careful how I explain this to you Because some will tell you that the apostles and the prophets no longer exist And they base that on the fact of Ephesians 2, verse number 20, that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets Okay? That is, they were foundational

In terms of the early church and how it all got started, remember back in Matthew chapter 16 when Christ told Peter, That when Peter, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, okay, that becomes the foundation by which the church was built And so, to understand the identity of Christ, to understand the work of Christ, and what the apostles taught about that is foundational to the church And so they will say that the apostles and prophets are now no longer in existence because the foundation has been laid

Also realize that in Ephesians chapter 3, it talks about the fact that there is the revelation that was given to the apostles and prophets Plus, there was the confirmation that was given to them based on their ministry because they did what they did, accompanied by signed gifts You follow with me so far? So they will say that the apostle and the prophet no longer exist today, but the evangelist and the pastor-teacher does exist today. I differ with that. I do believe that God has given gifted men to the church

And they are apostles, they are prophets, they are evangelists, and they are pastor teachers But they're not apostles like the Twelve or the Apostle Paul because we weren't eyewitnesses to the resurrected Christ See? And so they are apostles with a little A, not a large A. I believe there are prophets today Not prophets like there was with the early church, prophets that would foretell the future, right? but prophets that speak forth with authority the word of God So I would say that there are apostles with a little l, because the word apostle means sent one

So I would look to you and say, Bruce McLean, our missionary to India, to Myanmar, to Thail Is an apostle Little A Because the apostles, what they did, were given to plant churches Bruce went to those countries to plant churches He was a sent one, one sent out from this assembly Now, he's not an apostle big A, he's an apostle little A When it comes to prophets, those who speak forth the word of God, the gift of prophecy Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 14. I wish that you all would prophesy

Why? Because when you prophesy and an unbeliever comes into your assembly, right, and he hears the word of God, what happens? It causes him to fall to his knees and repent because he has been given the word of God So a prophet would be one who would speak forth the truth of the living God, not one who foretells the future And then, of course, there are evangelists and pastor teachers These are ones who equip the saints for the work of ministry. I talk to you more about this in a second, show you exactly how they do that All right? Very important

So there are special gifts because they are gifted men that are given to the church There should never be a senior pastor of a church that's not a gifted man Given to the church Unfortunately, we live in a day where we have guys who stand up and begin to preach in churches that are not really gifted men They tell lots of stories Give lots of illustrations They like to talk politics from the pulpit and tell you who to vote for and what kind of bills are being put across our assembly And they give you information

But they're not gifted men given to the church because they don't use the word of God They don't preach authoritatively through the text And equip the saints for the work of ministry They give you a lot of information about what's happening maybe in your marriage, or they gave you information about what's happening in the world, they gave you information about what's happening in your schools, but they don't Truly preach the word of God There are really gifted men given to the church They're maybe good communicators, right? They can tell lots of stories They can make you laugh

You feel good when you leave the church If you feel good having left the church, the guy's probably not a gifted man given to the church He's just a nice communicator who likes to tell cutesy stories to make everybody happy and laugh and feel comfortable when they leave When you look at the apostles and prophets and the evangelists of the New Testament, they preached the truth and brought great conviction upon people's lives Which caused them to realize the necessity of giving their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ So the first category Are special gifts

And we'll talk about these in great detail We'll go through each and every one of them for you We'll show you exactly how they're used in the scriptures Down the road, we'll give you illustrations of different men in the scripture that fall into this category so you can understand a gifted man given to the church because God gave Gifts, the quality and nature of gifted men he gave to the church Those are apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors and teachers Those are the special gifts The second category are what we call the speaking gifts The speaking gifts And there are five of them

There is, as the scriptures say, there is the gift of Prophecy, the gift of teaching, the gift of exhortation, word of wisdom, and word of knowledge So while the special gifts equip the saints for the work of ministry, The speaking gifts ex the scriptures And there are Differentiated this way The gift of prophecy is that which amplifies the truth The gift of teaching clarifies the truth The gift of exhort is that which spe the truth The gift of word of wisdom is that which applies the truth, and the gift word of knowledge is that which id the truth

So they're all a speaking gift, but there are unique elements to each of them Now, there might be someone who has a speaking gift, the gift of prophecy, and the gift of teaching, but they might not have the word of wisdom Guys with the word of wisdom are guys who are very heady They like to write books and they identify the truth Those with the word of exhortation, remember that there is no gift of counseling It's called the word of exhortation There is no gift of counseling Because exhortation is that which tr moves people to action

It identifies not only the need, but takes you to the Word of God to show you how to meet the need The gift word of wisdom that applies truth to everyday life So, a person with that gift is going to take the Word of God, apply it to your life in a very simple kind of way, so you know how to flesh it out each and every day But it's a speaking gift The prophet, the guy with the gift of prophecy, amplifies the truth He calls people to action He makes that public proclamation in the workplace So he's moving people to action These are the speaking gifts

And just because you don't have a speaking gift, such as teaching, doesn't mean you don't have to teach Just because you don't have the gift of leadership doesn't mean you can't lead Don't fall into the category, well, you know, I don't have that gift, I can't do that Because all of us can lead to a certain extent We can influence others in the right direction We can move them to action And so please remember that So the special gifts are gifts that God gave to the church Gifted men he gave to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry

The speaking gifts are the gifts that explain the scripture to people All right? And then you have the support gifts The support gifts are that which enable the service in the church For instance, you have the gift of serving, helps, leadership, administration And there's a difference There's a difference between the gift of leadership and the gift of administration And we'll tell you about that when we get to them to show you how they are differentiated in Scripture So, you can tell the difference between the two

There's also the gift of giving, showing mercy, discerning of spirits, the gift of faith, and the gift of hospitality Now, that's a questionable one Is it really a gift? Or is it not a gift? Peter mentions it in 1 Peter chapter 4. I'm going to show you where I think you can prove that it is a gift given to the church Remember, the word hospitality means lover of strangers Having people over to your house from the church and having cookies and cake is not the gift of hospitality All right? We like to think it is, it's not It's a lover of strangers

Someone who feels very comfortable having strangers in their home, okay? Strangers surrounding them, okay, and make them feel valuable in their presence Very unique gift in the church But those gifts enable the surface of the church Those gifts move the church along Those gifts enable the church to function in a way That meets the needs of the people around it And then you have the sign gifts Okay? The sign gifts are the gifts that Evidence and endorse the sovereignty and authority of the living God They are the gifts of tongues, interpretation of tongues, miracles And healings

Okay? And we're going to talk to you about the difference between the gift of miracles and the gift of healings And those sign gifts were the sign gifts that accompanied the apostles, that would authenticate the message That they gave before the Word of God was ever completed, because it's the Word of God that authenticates the message But before that was completed, the miracles and signs would authenticate Their message Now, listen very carefully to what I'm going to tell you Every gift, every gift oper at will Every gift, speaking gift, special gift, signing gift, support gift, all o at will

Why do I say that? Because if I had the gift of healing, I can heal you. I just heal you Whenever someone tells me they have the gift of healing, I say, come with me. I have someone you need to heal right now Come, come right now Because if you have the gift, you can do that You don't have to pray about it, you don even have to pray over the person You just heal And the healing process is instantaneous, always Always instantaneous The biblical gift of healing heals instantaneously Without exception That is, if you possess the gift and you heal someone, there is never therapy involved Never

You have to understand that But people have so misused and ab these gifts That somehow they have redefined them to accommodate their desires and their ministries, and usually it's about making money And so, you have to understand those kinds of things Every gift, the gift of healing, is like the gift of mercy You show mercy, you heal The gift of leadership, you lead Tongues, you speak in tongues. D't have to pray about it Don 't have to be taught how to do it Just do it It's a supernatural gift, right? The gift of exhortation, the word of exhortation You give a word of exhortation

You give a word of wisdom You help someone You serve someone, you exercise that giftedness Well, if you have the gift of miracles and healing and tongues and interpretation of tongues You do it automatically because you have the gift If you can't do it automatically, you don't have the gift Simple as that Because everyone in Scripture who had those gifts could do them automatically And when they chose not to do them, they didn't For instance, the Apostle Paul, right? He would leave Trophimus in Miletus sick Why would he do that? Doesn he have the gift of healing? Yes

But what's the gift used for? What was the purpose of the gift? You see, you have to understand the purposes of the gifts Because if you don't understand how they are biblically defined and biblically given, you go outside of scripture and redefine the gift to accommodate your lifestyle That's not how they're designed So in a general frame, you need to understand that But specifically, understand this You need to realize before ever serving the purpose of the gifts Generally, you had the gifted men given to the church, special gifts, speaking gifts, support gifts, and sign gifts

And the purpose is defined this way Number one, the first purpose is for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry Very, very important God gave gifted men to the church to equip the saints for the work of ministry If you're still in Ephesians 4, this is what the Apostle Paul says He says, he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service In other words, God has given gifted men to the church for one reason: to equip them The word there is cart

Which is used in Matthew chapter 4 to talk about the disciples and the mending together of their nets The word equip is a word used to ex how man's soul is mend How it is tied together, how it comes together God gave gifted men to the church, apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, and teachers For the equipping of the saints for the work of service Okay? In other words, mended saints are ministering saints You see, whenever the gifted man opens the Word of God, he's involved in the equipping process

So, when you come on Sunday morning and we are in the book of Hebrews, and we begin to preach verse by verse in the book of Hebrews, or if you're here on Wednesday nights and we're doing spiritual gifts, When God's word is being proclaimed, what's happening? Your soul is being knit together Your soul is being tied together How do we know that? 2 Timothy chapter 3 Verses 16 and 17 Say, all Script is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training the righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate Equipped, same word, equipped for every good work

So, how do We mend people's souls How do we tie loose ends together? How do we take the soul that's unraveling? And tie it back together again There's only one way to do that Only one way to do that And that is through the proclamation and teaching of the Word of God There is no other way to do that The Bible, in its context, makes it very clear that's what happens God gave gifted men to the church So that the church now will be equipped How is the church equipped to do the service in the church? It's equipped because God has given us His inspired Word of God

All right? It's profitable for everything That the men of God will be adequately equipped to do every work that God gives him to do So, when the word of God is proclaimed, when the word of God is preached, when there's a word of exhortation that's given, when there's a word of prophecy, the fourth telling of the truth, is given by gifted men, given to the church You are having your soul tied together, mend It 's God's word that does that See, we forget how powerful the word of the Lord is It's just not a book you read and has lots of nice stories in it

No, it's the living, breathing, abiding word of God that trans people's lives That's why if you come here, We're just going to give you the truth We're just going to preach the word to you We're not going tell you a lot of stories We're not going to tell you anything else other than the scriptures because that's all that matters You don't need anything else You need the word of God And so we're going to give you that word That's why when you go to youth ministry, we're going to give you The word of God When you go to our children's ministry, we're going to give you the word of God

When we go to Russia and Uganda and Argentina, we give people the word of God That's what we have to give That's all we need to give Because faith cometh by hearing, hearing by a word about the Christ, right? So it's not the way I present the truth that saves people, it's the authority of the Word of God that saves people's lives And so, therefore, that's what we do We give them the truth And so, the very first purpose of gifts is the equipping of the saints for the work of service That's what it does

That's why Paul says in Colossians 1:2, we preach Christ, admonishing every man, teaching every man, that we might present every man Complete You can't do that unless you give them the Word of God So important to understand that So outside of the equipping of the saints, number two is the edification of the whole church The edification of the whole church Back to Ephesians chapter 4, it says, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service

To the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ And as a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, and by craftiness and deceitful scheming

But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body. being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up, for the edification of itself In love You see, there is this building up The word edification is a word that deals with the construction of a facility The construction of any facility happens when it is Taken care of by those who give the tools needed And that is the authority of God's holy wor

And that's why Paul said to the Ephesian elders: I commend you to God, and the word of his grace, which is able to do what? Build you up Paul says, I'm about to leave. I've been here for three years The Holy Spirit is moving me on But all I can do is give you the word of His grace Which is able to build you, strengthen you, establish you, give you the foundation that you need This is what you need as elders This is what you need as leaders in the church The word of his grace So, there is the equipping of the saints for the work of service

There is, number two, the edification of the entire church And then there is the establishment of each and every believer This is the third purpose for spiritual gifts: the establishment of each and every believer Look with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 1 Romans chapter 1 Paul says, For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established The word there is st Okay, that word means to fix, to confirm, to strengthen

Paul says, I want to come to you. I want to come that I might impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be strengthened. I need you to understand that you need to be established in the faith Well, Paul, exercising his giftedness, is going to establish the church at Rome So, that they understand the things they need to know for the sake of God's glorious kingdom Very important to realize that So, it's the establishment Of every believer So, if I have a word of exhortation, and therefore I want to come alongside of you, and I want to give you a word of counsel

Okay, I'm going to instill strength in you. I'm going to establish you as a believer in Christ. I'm going to make you firm Strong, steadfast, unshakable, by helping you understand The God of Scripture, and how this scripture applies so readily to your life That's why it's so important to realize that you need to exercise your gift In fact, over in Romans chapter 12, Paul says these words Romans 12, verse number 6 Since we have gifts that differ According to the grace given us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly

If prophecy According to the portion of his faith, if service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he exhorts in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence He who shows mercy with cheerfulness In other words, do you understand that if you don't exercise your giftedness? You sin against the body It's like your mother Saying, I am not going to mother anymore. I'm done mothering. I'm done Change your own diaper Fix your own food Do your own laundry. I'm done mothering

If she decides to stop mothering, who's affected? Everybody in the family, right? She's the glue that holds the family together If she decides to stop mothering, the whole family is affected in a negative way If you say, I Have a word of exhortation. I'm done exhorting. I have the gift of helps. I'm done helping. I have the gift of faith No longer am I going to walk by faith. I have the gift of leadership You know what? I'm done leading That affects everybody you come in contact with You eventually, inevitably, sin against the body That's why your giftedness is so crucial to the church

That's why the Apostle Paul speaks about it so vehemently, because there is so much you need to understand Concerning how it is, you are so valuable to the body that without you, we can't function properly But with you, we are able to function to our fullest extent Very important because the purpose of gifts is to equip the saints for the work of service, to edify The whole church and to establish every believer in the church And back to Romans chapter one Paul says, not only that, he says, For I long to see you, so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established

That is, that I may be encouraged together With you So, not only is there an establishment of the believers, there is the encouragement of the believers That's the fourth purpose And look what Paul says: listen, if he exercises Exercises his giftedness, right? Not only are you encouraged, but he's encouraged Why? Because he is doing what God's called him to do Listen, your encouragement in the church happens not because somebody ministers to you Your encouragement in the church happens because you exercise your giftedness in the church to establish the believers in the church

To edify the believers in the church, to encourage the believers in the church, and by nature of you doing that, you now receive the encouragement Hey, let me tell you something You can come, and you don't have to ever say, ever, ever, ever, boy, Pastor, that was a great sermon That was so good, spot on Boy, I am so grateful You never have to say that, and most of you never do, and that's okay All right? You never have to say that You never have to say, you what, Pastor, I just want to thank you for preaching weekend and weekend You never have to say that

Why? Because I'm encouraged just by giving you the opportunity, just by giving the Lord giving me the opportunity to preach This is my encouragement. I would hope that I would establish you. I would hope that I would equip you. I would hope that I would encourage you, right? But in encouraging you, Guess what? I'm encouraged When you serve your fellow man, you're encouraged Why? When you instill courage in someone else You realize the value of not just your giftedness, but how God us you to build the body of Christ

Paul knew, I want to come and I want to impart some spiritual gift to you. I want to use my giftedness to help establish you, right? At the same time, I want to encourage you, knowing that we're both going to be encouraged because I'm able to use my gifts for the glory of the Lord Very powerful stuff We need to understand that And then, fifthly, for the effectiveness of the entire church

Not just the equipping of the saints for the work of service, not just the edification of the whole church, not just the establishment of the believers and the encouragement of the believers, but there is the effectiveness of the whole body. 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 7 Paul says these words: But to each one is given the manifestation The revelation, the unveiling of the Spirit for the comm good For the profit of all Then jump down to verse number twenty four twenty-four Whereas our More presentable members have no need of it, but God has so comp the body

God has so mixed the body together It's an artistic term to talk about the mixing together of paints God has composed the body So that all the body profits All the body grows That is, God composes within the body of Christ Every person that's needed to accomplish a picture, because we're all painting the picture, right? Of who? The Christ We're honoring the Lord We want others to see Christ So He's composed the body He's mixed the body together Every one of us is different We're from different backgrounds We have different giftedness And everything about us is different

But we all come together, right? And God has composed this body so that somehow, when we are involved in exercising our giftedness, there is this picture being painted of the Christ Because as we are all being built up to the unity of the S in the bond of peace We now clearly present Christ not only in the assembly, but to those on the outside world So that's the purpose of spiritual gifts Another purpose, number six Another purpose is this: to endorse apostolic min This is what the sign gifts are for to endorse apostolic ministry Book of Hebrews

You remember back in Hebrews chapter 2, verse number 4, God also testifying with them both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his own will Okay, it says that it was confirmed to us by those who heard, and there was this affirmation, there was this authentication That these signed gifts end apostolic authority These men were used by God in such a way That they would grow spiritually because of the sign gifts that were used Now, look with me in the Gospel of Mark just for a second

Mark's Gospel, the 16th chapter, it says, Afterward he appeared to the ele themselves as they were reclining at the table And he reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who had seen him after he had risen And he said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation Now, this is The Gospels account, Mark's Gospel account of the Great Commission He says, He who has believed And has been baptized shall be saved, but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned And it says these words: these signs

Will accompany those who have believed Or these signs will be done alongside of those who believe In my name, they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues, they will pick up serpents, and if Excuse me, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover In other words, Arist, they will recover Instantaneously with no other eff Then it says in verse number 20 And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that followed

So the word of these apostles was confirmed by the signs that followed These are not the signs that confirm one who is a believer If that's the case, all these signs would be evident in every believer upon their conversion That's not what the text says The text says that these signs will be done alongside of those who believe, because they are designed to confirm the work of an apostle Paul would talk about this in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 12, as well So, signed gifts endors apostolic authority So that all would know that these were the signs of an apostle

Of the 77 times the word sign is used in the New Testament The biblical evidence shows that there were only two m in addition to the apostles who did these signs, Stephen and Philip That's it And so, more about that when we talk about sign gifts So, the purpose specifically is the equipping of the believers, the edification of the whole church, the establishment of the believers, the encouragement of the believers, the effectiveness of the whole church The endorsement of apostolic ministry, and number seven, the exaltation of Jesus Christ Himself So important

All this is done for the glory of Christ Peter speaks about that in 1 Peter 4, when he says, As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to him to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever Amen Everything is for the exaltation of Jesus Christ We do what we do so that God is put on display

We do what we do so God is honored It's not about your honor, it's about God's honor It's not about your name, it's about God's name Hebrews 6:10, Psalm 115. 1, not unto us, O Lord, but unto your name give glory Not unto us, O Lord, right? And that's why the right of Hebrews commends those believers because they did what they did for God's names That's why we do it For the glory of the Lord, that he would be put on display This is not about you and not about me You know, the church is not about a star We live in a society today where everything's about the star, the celebrity

Churches are built around celebrities, the celebrity status That somehow this person is so important that we have to be a part of that church, right? But the church is a body of believers, a team of people who come together to glorify the name of Christ To honor him, to put him on display And when you and I exercise our giftedness, that's what happens And no matter what your gift may be, because there will be some who say, well, you know, I can't do it like that person does it, or like that person, that's irrelevant

God doesn't expect you to do it like that person does it or that person over there does it He expects you to do it for His glory and for His names Because that's when you selfishly, sacrificially serve your fellow man. I want to encourage you as we go through this study to understand That everything about who you are centers around your giftedness God didn't just give you a gift for No reason He gave you a gift for a specific purpose The value you are within this assembly is seen when you exercise That giftedness And God wants to use you in a powerful, in a very mighty way

And I would trust as we go through the study and we go through each gift, we define each gift, we show you where each gift is used in Scripture, how it is God intended it to be used within the church, that you say, ah. I understand that That's me. I can do that That's what God wants for me Because it gets you excited about serving the Lord And thus you're used in a mighty way for His glory Let me pray with you Father, thank you for today Thank you for the opportunity you give us to be in your word What a powerful, powerful opportunity you give us

To look at the fact that you have gifted everyone in the room Those who know Christ, those who love Christ, they want to serve Christ And they want to serve Him because you've gifted them To be used by you for the glory of your kingdom Lord, go before us Use us in a mighty way We pray in Jesus' name Amen.