Before Serving, Remember...

Spiritual gifts. I wonder if you could define a spiritual gift for somebody If somebody came to you and said, what is a spiritual gift? Would you be able to tell them? Would you tell them, explain to them, that this divine enablement is given to you by God and is energized by His Spirit so that you can edify the body of Christ? That's simply what a spiritual gift is

But could you tell somebody that? Could you describe for somebody spiritual gifts? Could you take into the scriptures and open up the Bible and say, Let me tell you what a spiritual gift is? Because 1 Corinthians 12 is that great chapter that does that It talks to them about Spirituals, those mnemonicons, those gifts that are controlled or characterized by God That's what it means So, if you're going to describe to somebody, you go to 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 1 and say, these are spirituals These are things that are characterized and controlled by the Spirit of God

They're not something that you and I do They're not natural talents that we have Everybody has a talent Given to him by God anyway, because every good and perfect gift cometh down from the Father of light So, whatever gift you have, whatever talent you have, it's given to you by God anyway But a spiritual gift is that divine enablement Where God energizes you in order that you might edify the body of Christ And it's something that's characterized and controlled by the Spirit of God based on what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 1 In verse number 4, he calls them Charism or gifts

That means they're unearned and they're unmerited That means you can't earn the gift and you can't work for the gift All right, you can't say, you know what? I'm going to work really, really hard so I can have that gift over there That's not how it works Because God, in His sovereignty, Gave you a gift And you what great thing is about that? In the scriptures, listen carefully, in the scripture, there is no retirement There's no such thing as retirement in Scripture You can't retire from the Lord's work You can't say, you know what, I'm too old to serve in the church

What if Moses would have said that at 80? Okay? What would have happened to Israel? Lord, I'm too old. I'm 80 years old. I can't lead You know, two million Jews out of Egyptian bondage. I'm old and decrepit. I can't do that No, there's no retirement in scripture So if you've retired from your job, And you're collecting retirement, that's great That just frees you up to serve more in the church, right? So, those of you who are retired, I think you should be serving a lot more than those who have a regular nine to five and are working five days a week You're freed up

You're getting paid to be free So come use all that freedom right here in the church Because in the scriptures, there's no such thing as Retirement from church ministry God never says, You know what? You've used your gift long enough Take a break That's nowhere in scripture God wants you to exercise your gift That's why He goes on and describes them as effects in verse number six or energies In is the word It defines the fact that these are gifts energized by God

He calls them ministries in verse number five, where we get our English word deacon because they are servants, and then In verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12, he calls them manifestations He calls them that which reveals the work and the picture of God So, when you serve with your gifted, you are involved in painting the beautiful picture of Christ to everybody around you That 's how you describe spiritual gifts So if someone says, What is a spiritual gift? And how do you describe them in Scripture? You take into 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and go through those different words that

Point out different aspects of gifts so they can say, you know what? Now I can begin to understand them Could you tell somebody where the gifts are in Scripture? I mean, we've already covered this, this is all review So, I think that because you were here, you'd be able to, Yeah, I know where the gifts are. I can tell you They're in four different passages in the New Testament You can go to Ephesians 4 and 1 Peter 4 You can go to Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 through 14, and you can talk about gifts Those are the passages where spiritual gifts are

You need to be able to do that simply because our identity is wrapped up in them, but our mentality is warped about them, and therefore our ministry is weak because of that So, our whole agenda is to do something very, very simple And that's this: we truly want to be able to strengthen our ministry To strengthen our ministry, we have to straighten out our mentality Once we straighten out our mentality about gifts, then we can solidify our identity because our identity is wrapped up in our giftedness

Because God saved us, and because God gifted us, He wants to use us for His glory and for His honor And I think that every one of us should say, man, chomping at the bit, figuring out what is my gift? How do I use it? How can I honor the Lord? How can I impact other people's lives? Where is there a meaningful impact? by my life in my church for the glory of God's kingdom You got to ask yourself that question

Are you impacting the body of Christ? Are you doing something so significant that if you were to die, we'd miss you desperately? If you were to go home to be with the Lord, there'd be a hole in the ministry Or are you one of those people that if you went home to be with the Lord, we say, hallelujah, they're with the Lord We don't even miss them Now, we wouldn't say that about you But think about it

What kind of impact are you making in the church? Is your impact so significant that when you went home to be with the Lord, there would be such a hole? That we would just be praying and asking God for someone to fill that slot because this person made such a unique and powerful impact. I would pray that that would be the case for you. I really do. I would pray that you understand giftedness in such a way that you say, you know what? I want to live out my identity in Christ. I want to be used by the Lord You know, my dad never retired Never retired Worked until he couldn't walk anymore

He had ALS And even when he could barely walk, he still went to work Even when he would drive and he would park his car cocke in the street because he really couldn't get it straight, he shouldn't have been driving, but he was Going to work still because he wanted to work He would drive to church to work And even when he couldn't speak very well, because he had ALS, it began from the top down, so he couldn't speak very well And so he lost the ability to speak before he lost anything else And month summer, we brought all the kids back and we went to a Sunday school class

And he was hard to understand But the people in his class wanted to hear him But you know what? He didn't want to miss out on the opportunity to serve He had the gift of teaching. A spiritual gift And so he would, even though he could not speak clearly any longer, he labored over his words To make sure he spoke slow enough and loud enough for people to hear You could hear a pin drop in the classroom because everybody was so in tune to listen to him speak Because he was losing his voice and his ability to articulate his words But he had a gift He never wanted to neglect using that gift

He taught in that church for over 40 years And when he died, there was a huge hole in the church Huge He wanted to exercise his gifts He would never stop using that until he could not speak anymore And once he could not speak, he could not walk And once he could not walk, he could not leave the house But you see, there's a person who modeled to his son You never quit You never give up You work hard to the very end My dad finished strong Didn't finish weak He finished strong He labored Hard You know, you might be getting up in years That's alright God's not done with you

Listen, if God was done with you, you'd be home with Him Right? The reason you're still walking and talking, breathing, show, eating, is because God still wants to use you Are you being used? Are you living out your identity in Christ? So we're trying to help you understand giftedness and what it's all about and where you find them and how you define them and how you describe them Because you need to know them So important And so last week we talked that before you serve You need to realize the purpose of your giftedness

We talked about that purpose in a general perspective with gifts as well as a specific aspects Of those gifts We talked about them generally because we divided them up into four sections Remember what they were? There were special gifts, speaking gifts, support gifts, and fourthly, there were sign gifts Four categories of gifts Very simple to understand Why do we divide them up that way? Well, because that's how Scripture divides them. I said, no, it doesn't Yes, it does Because God gave gifts to the church

God not only gave you the gift of salvation, but Ephesians 4 talked about He gave gifted men to the church That's what we call them special gifts They're not special because they're better They're not special because they're more special They're special because God gave them to the church What did God give to the chur He gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors, and teachers They're gifted men that God gives to the church And it gives them to equip the saints for the work of ministry, right? The purpose of the special gifts are to equip the saints for the work of ministry

That is, we told you last week, remember the word equip, kart, tid, which means to mend, to tie together It's used of the fishing nets of the apostles when they would mend their nets And when Christ came up to them and he found them, they were mending their nets So gifted men are given to the church to mend your broken soul, to take the unraveling of your life And take all those loose sins and tie them back together

And the only way we can do that is through the Word of God because the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3: and 17, the inspired word of God is given that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped Thoroughly tied together for every work that God's given to him So gifted men are given to the church So that they can tie people's souls together so that they can minister effectively in the church So the church then has a body that's Maturing and growing That's what Ephesians 4:1 and 16 is all about We read about that last week

That 's why they're called special gifts, because they're gifted men that God's given to the church And then there are the speaking gifts Remember, they're given to explain scripture And then there are the support gifts They are given to enable the service of the church And then there are the sign gifts that endorse the supremacy of Christ over his church And God has given those gifts to the church That he might equip the church These are the specific purposes

In order to establish the church, in order to enrich the church, in order to impact the church, in order to endorse the apostolic ministry in the church That the church might exalt Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father And God has done this in a very unique and special way That he has gifted you to put you in a local assembly that the body of Christ might grow and flourish because of the ministry that you have in that assembly God wants to use you

So if we can straighten out our mentality, because it's so warped, about spiritual gifts, then we can strengthen the ministry of the church and then solidify the identity of the people in the church So they can live as God wants them to live That's where we're going That's what we want you to understand This is so important. I wish everybody that's here on Sunday would come on Wednesday. I wish they would come because they need to hear this They need to understand this They need to grapple with these things because the Bible is very clear about what God intends for his people

And God doesn't want you to be confused at all about what he's doing And so that was last week Before you serve, Realize the purpose of your giftedness And point number two is this: before you serve, rem the prerequisite For your effectiveness Remember the prerequisite for your effectiveness In other words, do you have a meaningful impact in the body of Christ? When I say meaningful, I'm talking about a powerful impact in the body of Christ Something that is significant, something that is extremely useful That's extremely valuable because this is who you are And God wants to use you

It's like, you know, God can use a clogged vessel, but he uses a clean vessel a lot better than a clogged vessel, right? And we're clogged with all kinds of sin and all kinds of bad habits and all kinds of extra peripherals that keep us from being used effectively before God We say we're committed to God, but we're clogged vessels Because we're trying to hang on to the things of the world Just think what would happen if the vessel was clean and everything ran smoothly through the vessel That's what God wants: a clean vessel

So there's a prerequisite to your effectiveness. I want you to be effective. I want you to be so effective that you infect people With all kinds of things that move them closer to God. I would trust that in whatever ministry God has called you to serve, that you have moved others closer to their walk with the Lord Because listen, if we're not moving people closer to the Lord, okay, then we tend to move them further from the Lord Think about that Our lives are doing one or two things

Our lives are moving people into a deeper walk with Christ, or we're hindering that and moving them further away from Christ And we need to examine our lives So if you've got your Bible, turn with me to Romans 12 That's one of the four passages that deal with spiritual gifts And in this passage, he will list seven gifts And this is so rich This is so good, man He lists only seven of them, but the seven Are all that every church needs because the seven gifts that he lists meets every need in the church Oh, this is so good Ah, man, I can't wait to get there

But Romans 12 is a very, very popular passage We know the verses Because we've read them before, we understand them, okay? At least Romans 12, 1 and 2 But verses 3 down to verse number 8 We don't know so well So let me digest them for you Let's look at it together Romans chapter 12, verse number 1 Therefore, I urge you, brethren, you these verses By the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind

So that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think But to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith For just as we have many members in one body, and all their members do not have the same function So we, who are many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly

If prophecy, according to the portion of literally the faith If service, in the serving, or he who teaches In the teaching, or he exhorts in the exhortation He who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness Then, these verses come the prerequisites for effective service Let me give them to you There are exactly five principles Here's the first one It begins with a plea for consecration Paul urges them. I beseech you, I beg you, I plead with you Based on the mercies of God

The mercy of God is God's ministry to the miserable because our souls are miserable When you live in sin and you're separated from God, you're miserable In Romans 1 to 11, it talks about how God rid you of that misery through the sacrifice of his Son on Calvary's cross And it's all about the salvation of man's soul And so Paul says, based on God's great mercy that rel you from your misery. I beg you to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac unto God You know, have you ever thought, well, I wish I could do something for the Lord? I wish I could give him something But we can't

Nothing that we could give him would make any difference because he owns the world It's like sending my kids every year: hey, Dad, what can I get you for Christmas? What can I get you for your birthday? You know what I tell him? What did I tell them, Ashley? What? You don't eat anything That's not what I say, but it's close Wow, that's okay You been in a house for a number of years You got married That's okay. I tell him only I want, you're right, I don't need anything, you're right. I tell him, obedience That's all I want Obedience What can I give you for your birthday? Obedience

What can I give you for Christmas? Obedience Same phrase all the time, obedience That's all I want You don't have to give me anything. I don't want anything. I don't need anything What are my kids going to give me that I need or I want? Nothing. I just want them to obey the Lord That's all that matters Nothing else matters So Paul says, I plead with you, I beg you Oh, based on the mercy, I want you to present your bodies a living sacrifice They know about dead sacrifices They know about the sacrifice of animals They know all about the priesthood of Israel

They know all about what God demands from his people They understand that Paul says, I don't want to, God doesn't want a dead sacrifice He wants a living sacrifice Wow What's a living sacrifice? Well, you should know this If you've been here for any number of years at all, you should know what a living sacrifice is Because we always take you back to what chapter in Genesis? Chapter 22, right? Abraham, Isaac Right? The sacrifice of Mount Moriah. I mean, this is so real And God says, take now your son, your only son Your only begotten son, the son that you love Not that he didn't love Ishmael

That's not the point But in Isaac were all the dreams, were the promises Of the seed that would come, and that Abraham would be a father of many nations, more than the stars in the sky, more than the sand on the seashore He'd be the father of the nations And Isaac was the promised seed, and Isaac was the dreams and aspirations of the great patriarch of Israel And God says, I want you to take him to Mount Moriah, and I want you to slay him So Abraham obeyed, took a son, went to Mount Moriah, tied him down, was about to thrust him through And the angel of the Lord appeared and stopped him

And in Genesis chapter 22, verse number 12, I believe, he says, Now I know that you fear me Now, did Abraham do something that would cause God to learn something? To know something? No God already knew that But Abraham had to know and live out the fear of the Lord He had to obey God in such a way he feared God He feared God so much, he dared not to disobey He would not do that And so he obeyed He didn't know what was going to happen But he knew that if he slayed his son, all the dreams, all the hopes, All the aspirations, everything that he wanted would be gone in a moment

Hebrews 11 says that he believed that God would be able to raise him from the dead, so he believed in a resurrection But he didn't know how that would happen Just obeyed the Lord And in that whole story, is the fact that if Abraham slayed Isaac, Isaac would be a dead sacrifice But Abraham would be what? A living sacrifice That's exactly what Paul's saying in Romans 12. I beg you to present your bodies a living sacrifice. I beg you

To present your bodies in such a way that all your dreams, all your aspirations, everything that you have desired for all your lives, you say, Lord, I'm yours. I'm yours My dreams, Lord, are your dreams My desires are your desires My will is your will Whatever you want me to do, Lord, I'm going to do Now, isn't that what happened when he got saved? Think about that If any man come unto me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me That's the salvation message, right? Luke 9:2 How many weeks did we spend on that when we were in Luke? Seven weeks on Luke 9:2, just one verse

So, you can digest it, understand the fact that you understand self-denial, submission to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, because that's the call of salvation Christ always said, follow me Follow me What's it mean to follow Christ? It means you deny yourself, you deny your dreams, all your aspirations You say, Lord, I'm done with my life And I want nothing but your life That's what salvation is If you're saying when you get saved, Lord, you know what? I still want to hang on to my life, but I'm going hang on this part, and I'm going to give this other part to you That's not salvation

Salvation is, Lord, I'm yours You take my life. I submit to your lordship. I'm going to follow you. I'm willing to sacrifice my dreams, Lord, because I'm going to take up my cross daily. I'm going to follow you because I've denied myself That's what salvation is The problem is, we've preached a watered-down, diluted gospel for so long in the evangelical church We have duped People into thinking they're saved because they said a prayer, they walked an aisle, they read a verse, they had a feeling, they had an emotion, and all of a sudden, hey, you're in, you're going to heaven

But they've never denied themselves They've never given their lives to Christ So when Paul says, I urge you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice This is something we do daily The problem is, what's the problem with the living sacrifice? It can jump off the altar Do you ever think about that? You can jump on the altar and jump off the altar You can say, I willing to sacrifice everything Oh, wait, not yet See? I'm willing to offer everything Oh, the weather's too cold. I'm jumping back off again

See, we can jump off the altar because we're living sacrifices We're alive We're not dead But living sacrifice stays no matter what the weather conditions No matter what the situation, says, I'm yours, Lord. I'm yours See, this is the prerequisite for effective ministry. S, unless you've done that and you're willing to do that on a daily basis, your ministry is going to be minuscule, not mighty Your ministry will be a chore for you Your ministry will be something that's hard to accomplish There's going be days you just don't want to do it anymore

See, that's not the way ministry should be. I don't think in the 40 years that I've preached the gospel, there was ever a day where I didn't want to preach There was never a Sunday or a Wednesday where I said, you know, I wish I wasn't preaching tonight. I wish I wasn't preaching today. I wish I was doing something else. I've never had that. I can't wait to get here If I even start to feel a little bit sick, my wife says, have you called Tom? I'm not calling Tom. I'm preaching But you don't feel good. I'm preaching Better call Tom and warn him

Tom better be ready if I'm sick. I'm not going to call him. I'll call him at 8 a in the morning He better be ready to preach at 9 a He 's an elder In the right time? Yes, I see But I'm preaching, I'm going And if I get there and I'm sick and I can't finish, Tom, you're up It's like tag, you're it You know, that's how it works But you see, when you present your life a living sacrifice, all your dreams and aspirations really don't matter anymore

That's what God wants. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. I ever tell you a story about the guy who's preaching At this huge church He was preaching the gospel, calling people to give their lives to Christ He was sweating, man He was working it hard He was Preaching hard, and there's beads of sweat were welling up on his face And he was calling people: Give your life to Christ, present your life a living sacrifice, give everything you have He was preaching so hard. I challenge you to come down this aisle

Come down here and be with me Stand by me if you want to do this And nobody was coming Church was packed Nobody was coming And boy, you'd go at it again and he'd preach. I want you to come down here. I want you to stand with me because you are willing to say My dreams mean nothing My desires are irrelevant Everything that God wants is all that matters And don't come down, stand with me, and present your body a living sacrifice. com He was waiting and waiting and waiting and all of a sudden the bat, way back, the church was huge

Way back, there's a guy that jumped on a skateboard and came rolling right down the aisle As he came down, he realized the man had no legs That's why he was on a skateboard He got blown off in the war And when he got down at the bottom of the church, or at the front of the church He rolled off his skateboard He said, Pastor, Pastor, can the Lord use half a man? And the pastor said, you know, it's better for a half a man to give his whole life to the Lord Than for all those whole people to give only half of theirs to the Lord Amen So profound So profound

God just wants you to give your life to Him That's it To deny yourself daily Take up your cross daily Follow Him daily Always No matter where he takes you, no matter what he commands you, it's always yes, Lord. I'm at your disposal Because I am all yours He says, He says, This is acceptable, God Acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service or of worship, or literally, which is the only log re for worship In other words, to not do this is the most illogical thing you could ever do But to do it is the only logical thing to do

Paul makes it in such a way that, look, he stays in such a way that he says, listen, this is the most reasonable, the most logical thing you could ever do To not do this is completely unreasonable, based on all that God's done for you All the mercies of God in chapters 1 through 11 He repeats them over and over again God's ministry to those who are miserable because Dead in their sin, but yet God saved you He raised you up He brought you to Himself The least you could do And this is all that God would ever want He needs nothing He just wants you to live for him Always and only him

So there's this plea for consecration Number two is the power of trans That's in verse number two And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the will of God Or what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and per And be not conformed to this world In other words, don't assume an outward expression That is completely different than what has happened on the inside of your life In other words, don't conform your outer life around the things of the world Don't mold yourself into the image of the world

Don't be conformed, but be ye trans Be ye metamorphosized Same word used of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew chapter 17 when he's unzipped his flesh and the inside began to shine forth In other words, what was on the inside would shine forth on the outside So Paul says, and be not conformed, stop being conformed to this world Stop molding your life into the image of the world, but instead be transformed, be metamorphosized, trans Into the glory and wonder of God That you may be able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God

You need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind See, this is the power of transformation You see, God wants to transform your life And the only way that's going to happen is if you are having your mind renewed all the time Be trans in the renewing of your mind In other words, Paul says, Look, I want your mind to be so transformed, so metamorphosized That everything on the outside reflects everything on the inside Right? Because you are a born-again believer, you are a new creation If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation Old things passed away, behold, all things become new

Well, we are created on the inside When you get saved, right, everything on the outside stays the same Your face doesn't change, right? The color of your hair doesn't change There's no weight loss, no weight gain You don't get bigger, don't get smaller When you get saved, everything on the outside stays the same, right? So, Paul now says, I want you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I want you to be so transformed that what happens on the inside now is manifested on the outside So everybody sees what's really happening on the inside

That's what Paul says in Ephesians 4 when he says, walk worthy of the calling wherewith you've been called In other words, I want you to be of equal weight That is, I want you to be able to demonstrate on the outside equally what has happened on the inside It simply means I want you to practice your position, I want you to live out What has happened when you were a new creation, so everybody can see it And the only way you can be transformed is through the renewing of your mind How does that happen? Well, over in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul explains it to us

He says, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed, same word That's used in Romans 12, verse 2, into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit Paul says, We all with unveiled face are looking into a mirror, which is the mirror, the Word of God And as we open the word of God, we behold the glory of God Remember when Moses said, Lord, show me your glory Just want to show me your glory. I want to be able to gaze upon your beauty

And the Lord said, I can't let you see me because if you see me, I'm going to have to kill you, because no man can see me and live But I I'll hide you in the cleft of the rock, Moses, and I'll walk by you, and you can see my afterglow And he began to speak To Moses and proclaimed to him that he was a God of loving kindness and compassion and mercy How do you see God? You see him because you hear him And you hear him because of who he is And so we behold in a mirror the glory of the Lord This is God's beauty, he is the inc word He has given us the inspired word of God

And when we begin to gaze upon his glory, the Spirit of God now is going to reproduce God characteristics in our lives So as He reproduces them in us, we can then reflect Him through us That's what the Holy Spirit does And that's why the Word of God is so powerful See, we've minimized the power of the Word of God We think that we can manipulate people and that we can turn people and get them to do things You can't do that. I mean, you can do it for a moment You can do it for a minute You might be able to do it for a week or a month, but you can't do it forever

Only God's word does that because it's an internal transformation So, as we behold the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, we are being changed from one level of glory to the next level of glory to the next level of glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord The only way you are going to be renewed in your mind is to saturate yourself in Scripture, to be in the Word of the Lord all the time, beholding His glory And as you do this, The Spirit of the Lord is going to do such a great work in your heart, in your life, He's going to transform you from the inside out This is the power of transformation

And this is what needs to happen This is the prerequisite for an effective ministry That's why Paul has a plea For consecration, to present your body as a living sacrifice Then he talks about the power of transform because it's the word of God that renews your mind The problem is, he says, That you might pro what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God The problem is, we have another will We have our will We have another way We have our way God has His way We have our way God has His will We have our will And we just don't want to align our will and way with His will and way

And yet, when our lives are being renewed from the inside out, being transformed, being metamorphosized, so that what's on the inside, the reality of our conversion experience, now is being able to be Communicated outwardly because God has renewed my mind through the power of His Spirit, which frees me to use my giftedness For his glory, for his honor So you have the plea for consecration, you have the power of transformation, and then number three, you have the principle of evaluation That's in verse number three

For through the grace given to me, that's not the grace of salvation, that's the grace of service, where Paul was called in the apostolic ministry That's 1 Timothy 1:1 to 15 He says, For through the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to have sound judgment Think soberly as God has allotted to each a measure of faith That is a measure of faith as it pertains to your giftedness, not saving faith, but serving faith

Paul's not talking about saving grace and saving faith, he's talking about serving grace and serving faith The measure God doesn't give you a certain measure of faith when you're saved He just grants you the gift of faith But with that gift of faith comes a measure of faith To exercise to the capacity to the full comprehension of your giftedness, because that's the context of Romans 12 He's going to lead into giftedness, he's going to lead into the identity of each person in the pew that they might understand the importance of following the Lord

They've learned to give me signs in the back about how much time I have left because I went so long last week They're trying to slow me down They're trying to speed me up. I got 15 minutes left. I'll be done. I promise I'll be done in 10 That's the plan Ten minutes from now, hopefully But he gives this principle of evaluation. I want you to think soberly Think right Same word used of the garrison demoniac in Mark chapter 5, the man filled with legion, that when he was saved, he was in his right m Because before he was saved, he wasn in his right mind He was controlled by Satan

But once he was born again, he was now in his right m Paul says, You know, I don't want you to think too hot of yourselves We have a tendency to do that, don't we? I mean, maybe those in another church, maybe not you guys But there is a problem there He says, I urge you to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think Why would he say that? Why would he say that? Because we tend to do that You ever think that you're somehow better than somebody else? You look at somebody and say, hmm, a poor fella. A poor couple

And we tend to think of ourselves as better than somebody else But we're not There's this evaluation that needs to happen And Paul says, I want you to think right Clearly and sober. I want you to understand that, as he would say in the book of Galatians, these words If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself That's almost hilarious When a man thinks he's something, when in reality he's nothing, he deceives himself You see, all of us fall in this category to some degree

Don't sit out there and be all pious, think, that's not me, man, that's somebody else. I always think highly of everybody else No, you don't Because we're all by nature selfish people, right? We are And Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, we all love ourselves Because no man ever hated his own flesh, right? That's what Paul says No man ever hated his own flesh Nobody ever hates himself Oh, they might say, I hate myself. I mean, that they want you to say to them, No, no, you don't hate yourself, you really love yourself They want you to say that That's why they say what they say

They're trying to manipulate you to say the opposite so they can feel good about themselves. I hate myself Oh, no, you don't No, you don't You say, that's just a lie You say, well, I know people who don't think very highly of themselves That's not true They love themselves. I'm going to believe what God's word says, not what they say Because that's coming from a sinful heart, from a sinful person who does not love the Lord The Bible says, every man Thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think That man, when he thinks he's something, when he real that he's nothing, he's deceived himself

Because nobody ever hated his own flesh Every man loves himself And so Paul says, Look, let me talk to you about the principle of evaluation. I don't want you to go around thinking that you're better than somebody else Somehow, there's something about you that puts you above someone else That's just not the way it is We have to think soberly So that we can live humbly Listen, if you're being transformed from the inside out, this is going to happen So he moves from the plea for consecration to the power of transformation, to the principle of evaluation, to the productivity of variation

This is what he says For just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individual members one of another There is so much diversity within the body, yet there's unity within the body Diversity breeds unity It doesn't breed disunity It breeds unity And because we're all one in Christ, we are unified one to another, but there's so many diverse people within the church And we're not talking about your ethnic background either We're talking about the giftedness that you have

There's such a diversity of giftedness We're all different God has gifted us uniquely and distinctly in powerful kinds of ways For his glory. I love what Paul says over in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 when he says these words He says, But now there are many members, but one body, verse 20 And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are the most necess

He says, and those members of the body which we deem less honorable are these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become more presentable Paul says, let me tell you something The person that looks the weakest is really the strongest The one you think you don't need, you really do need Because with them, we see them as dishonorable, and God sees them as honorable

And then he says, Whereas our more presentable members have no need of it, but God so composed Remember, it's an artistic word we talked about last week where he mixes everything together in such a way that he composes it as an artist would. a masterpiece of music or a master painting, he composes it in such a unique way He says that the body giving more abundant honor to that member which lacks So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care one for another

Listen, when we recognize, when we go through this process of evaluation, Okay, we understand the productivity of variation, that there are unique and distinct people within the body of Christ Everybody is valuable No one is more honorable than someone else Nobody is better than somebody else Everybody is of complete necessity within the body of Christ because everybody has uniquely and distinctly been given a gift That makes the body what it is You can't say to a hand, I don't need you anymore Cut it off, throw it away No, I need my left hand, I need my right hand

Right? How am I going to hold my Bible if I don't have my hand? So, I got have my hands, I have my fingers, I gotta have my toes Same is true with everybody within the church So, God uses the, I mean, Paul uses the analogy of the body, the physical body, to talk about the spiritual body So he talks about the productivity of variation within the body of Christ For each has been given a measure of faith There is a uniqueness of the faith, the gift of faith

That God gives you, which is speaking specifically of the gifted, where He allows you to comprehend what that gift is and to clearly communicate that gift to others And then he talks about, lastly, the payoff of partic Oh, by the way, listen, put it this way: if you at any time Say, you know what? I'm not going to exercise my giftedness You have effectively crippled the body of Christ If you're here tonight and you're not being used by the Lord in the body of Christ, you've crippled the body of Christ

Not because we've been in some accident, not because we've been in some tragedy, not because we've been injured, simply because of your own selfishness that says, you know what, I'm done That's just so selfish, isn't it? It's like we told you last week, it like the mom saying, I'm done being a mother The father said, I'm done being a father No, you know what? Once a mother, you're always a mother You're never not a mother Right? Once a father, you're always a father You're never not Listen, you're gifted Once gifted, always gifted Once a servant, always a servant

For you to say, you know what, I'm done serving, is the biggest slap in the face to the living God that there is in the body Of Christ If you're not serving, you're effectively slapping the face of God and saying, I don't care Living sacrifices are relevant to me. I don't want to do that anymore. I'm done. I need a break What does that mean? You need a break. I don't understand that You don't need a break You need to get involved, exercising the gifts that God's given to you

Now I grant the fact that there are times away where you need to rest and replenish the soul. I get that. I understand that But yet you're so valuable to the body that if you set yourself on the side, you have effectively crippled the body Listen, I know, I know that everybody in the room doesn't want in any way to be in any accident that causes you to lose a limb Cause you any kind of brain damage, cause you any lo of any capacity that you have No one wants that, right? But yet, when we set ourselves on the side, that's effectively what we do to the body of Christ We cripple the body

And so there comes the payoff of particip Paul says, Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly Now he gives seven gifts This is so good. I got five minutes He has seven gifts. I guess I'm going to take 15 and not 10 because I've passed my 10, right? I'm sorry Okay, he gives seven gifts Okay, he gives prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading, and mercy, right? He gives seven gifts that meet every need in the church Prophecy meets the spiritual need Service meets every practical need

Teaching meets every intellectual need Exhortation meets every emotional need Giving meets every financial need Leading meets every organizational need, and mercy meets every physical need Isn't that great? Every need in the church, whether it be intellectual, spiritual, physical, emotional, you name it, is met when you exercise your giftedness in the church Amen Everybody When you prophesy, prophesy according to the prophecy, the once-for-all faith that was delivered to the saints If you have to get to serving, serve If you teach, get to teaching, teach He who exhorts in his exhortation

He who gives with liberality Isn't that great? We all should give, right? But the people with the gift of giving, they give with liberality They give in a unique and special way Those who lead with diligence If you got to get to leadership, there's a diligence behind your life Proverbs 12:2: man's most precious possession is It is diligence, right? Well, if you're going to lead, you lead with diligence You can't lead without diligence because diligence requires you to be effective It requires you to take the initiative, requires you to see a need, meet the need

Right? That's what leadership does If you leave, you've got to get to leadership, do it with diligence If you've got to get to mercy, do it with cheerfulness Cheerfulness So great. I mean, I know my time is going, but I got to finish this because I'm not going to be here next two weeks. I do be in Israel And we'll be preaching on the Sea of Galilee and all those unique places in Israel and get all excited and all that kind of stuff But remember Luke chapter 17, the 70 were sent out Remember that? God sends out the 70 Wow

He says, now when you go out, you know, you go to each house, remember this is what's going to happen, okay? He talks to them about when you go into a house and then they receive you, then they receive the word, they reject you, they've rejected the word, dust dust of Kick the dust off your feet, move on, and go to the next house And he gives them all these instructions And so they go out and they go out and they come back ecstatic Filled with joy They come back, and verse 17 and Luke chapter 10: the 70 return with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are sub to us in your name

Boy, this is great! Even the demons are subject to your name Now, listen carefully The Lord never, ever gave them power over the demonic world, like he did the apostles It doesn't say that in Luke chapter 10 He sent him out It never said it gained power over the demonic world But They went out to share the gospel They went out to preach the gospel And when you preach the gospel, you are preaching a gospel that takes people from the kingdom of darkness Satan's domain and transfers them into the kingdom of God's dear Son, which causes Christ to say these words

And he said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning In other words, I was watching Satan's kingdom fall one by one One converted soul rescued, then another converted soul rescued You have power over the demonic world simply because you have rescued people from the kingdom of darkness through preaching the gospel That's what was happening And they said, Man, we, even the demons, are subject to your name We preach the gospel and they are subject to the name of Christ Because remember, during the time of Christ, Dem influence was rampant in the land of Israel

That's why there's so much demon possession, and Christ would cast out demon after demon after demon because they were rampant everywhere They preach the gospel Christ says, yeah When you're out there preaching the gospel, guess what I saw? I saw Satan fall like lightning He was losing members of his kingdom And he says this: Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions People say, What? Who cares about serpents and scorpions? What difference does that make? They're metaphorical For Satan and demons, read the book of Revelation

Demons are seen as scorpions, and Satan is seen as a serpent. I've given you power over the demonic world and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you Is that not true? What did Christ say in Romans 16? I 'm about to have Satan trampled under your fe You see, when you exercise, you get this Christ wanted to keep perspective So he goes on and says this: Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this You've seen great things You've seen the power of God on display You've seen the kingdom of Satan begin to crumble because of the power of God's kingdom

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven Listen There's going to be times when you're involved in ministry, it's going to be so ecstatic, so on fire, you just can't wait to get back and do it again and then again and again and again But it's not always going to be like that way And Christ says that, listen, this is great And I know you saw it as great, and it is But remember this Your true joy is that you are assured of my pres In heaven forever That will never change

The impact of your ministry will vary from day to day We always won't be an emotional high Always won't be that way But what will keep you joyous is that your name is written down in glory, and one day we'll be there face to face The prerequisite for effective ministry is to make sure you present your body a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God That you transformed and renewed your mind That you don't think too high about yourself, but think rightly, soberly, truthfully

Because within a body, there are various members, different gifts, different ways in which those gifts are in operation But when you operate them, the productivity is unbelievable Because it really truly paints a beautiful picture of the Messiah May God give us the grace to accomplish his will Pray Father, we thank you for today All that you've done Lord, you are truly so good to us Thank you for this opportunity In Jesus' name, amen.