Priority and Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

Tonight we look at a brand new study, one on spiritual gifts and the opportunity for us to dive to the scriptures and see what the Bible has to say concerning the spiritual gifts that God gives to his children.

Now, I know that everybody in the room loves to receive gifts. I mean, that's a no-brainer, right? We all like Christmas, we all like our birthdays, we like to receive gifts, and we even like surprise gifts when they come and they're something that we really like. But beyond that is the opportunity to give gifts. The Bible says in Acts 20, verse number 3: it's always better to give than it is to receive.

We have a hard time grasping that because we love so much to get. But to give is something different. And when you give, you want to be able to give something that is going to meet the need of someone that you're going to give the gift to. You know, you think about the opportunity to give a gift at Christmas or at a birthday or just for some special occasion. And you save up the money and you make sure the gift is wrapped properly, and you want to make sure that the person who receives it. Is going to enjoy the gift that they receive.

A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to give my wife a diamond ring. It would be her third diamond ring.

That's because she lost the first one two weeks before we got married. We were skiing up in New York, water skiing, not snow skiing. I don't do that, but we were water skiing. And she had gotten into the water with her skis on and realized that she had her diamond ring on. Didn't want to lose it, so she said, Here, will someone hold this for me? She took it off and bloop, it went into the water. And I saw that diamond sparkle as it went down to the bottom of the lake. And I'm thinking, there goes all that money.

I'm not sure I want to marry this woman. Well, a few years later, we were giving birth to Erin, and she asked me to hold on to her diamond ring when she went in to have the baby. So I did, and lo and behold, I lost the wedding ring. Soon to realize that my wife is costing me a lot of money. But we came across the ring that I was able to afford. Later on in the marriage, and it was one that was very special to her and me. And she asked that maybe one day we'd be able to get that ring. Well, at that time we could not really afford it, but I had a plan to be able to figure out a way to pay for the ring, and so I would go back in October before Christmas of that year and and purchase the ring.

Keep it through the month of October and November into December, looking for the right moment, the right time to give her that. Third diamond ring.

Three's a charm, right? And you still have that ring, Ben? That's right. Okay, just checking. And so at the right time, wrapping the gift in the right way, I gave to her. The third wedding ring.

And the evening I gave it to her, she was surprised. And she cried, and I cried. It was just a great night. Do you remember that night? She cried because she got her diamond. I cried because we were broke. But we cried, and it was a great night. And yet, what would have happened if I'd have given her the ring or the package and given it to her and said, this is for you, it's something special for you? And she would take the ring or take the box, you'd know what was in it, and just put it up on the counter and say, You know, I'm just going to admire it from a distance for a while, and not open the gift.

And I'd come back a few weeks later, a few months later, and the gift would not be open. And I would say, well, why haven't you opened the gift? I'm just admiring the bow. I'm admiring how it was wrapped. I'm just not sure I want to open it just yet. And she would let it sit there. Or maybe she would open it and not be that excited about the gift she received. How would I receive that? How would I handle that? Realizing that I had spent all this money, all this time, making sure that I thought was the right gift for her.

But her response would not be exactly as I would want it to be. You know, that happens. But just think about what goes through the Lord's mind when He gives children His gifts. And for the most part, in the church, we don't even know what the gifts are. So we never open them. And if we never open them, we never use them. And if we never use them, Then we have really turned our back on what the Lord has given to us as a free gift to be used within the body of Christ to edify the body. We have to think about those things because if you're a born-again believer, if you've given your life to Christ, then you have been given not just the gift of eternal life that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.

But with the gift of redemption comes a very unique gift specifically designed for you to be used within the body of Christ to help build the body. And God wants you to use that gift for his glory, that you might honor his name. And yet, churches are filled with people who have yet to open the gift. They have no idea what the gift is. They have no idea how to use the gift. And yet the Bible says that we are to be stewards of the gift that God gives to us.

We know that the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 4, verse number 1, that it's required of a steward that he be found faithful.

A steward is a household manager. And you know that we are household managers, we are stewards of temporal riches, the money that God gives us. And we are to manage his money. It's not really our money, it's his money. We are to be stewards of eternal reconciliation because he's given us the gospel. And we in turn are to manage well the distribution of that gospel. We also know that we are stewards of personal relationships. And we are to manage those as if God was managing them. But we're also stewards of spiritual resources, the gifts that God has given.

And if it's required of a steward that he be found faithful, the question comes: how faithful are you at discovering your gift, at developing that gift? And dispensing and dispersing that gift within the body of Christ. Do you even know what your gift is? Let's say you do know what your gift is. Are you exercising that gift within the body that God has called you to be a part of? All that is so very, very important. Now, if you're here tonight and you've never embraced the Christ, if you've never given your life to Christ, then the great gift of eternal life still awaits you.

And that gift was wrapped in swaddling clothes and was lying in a manger, and was given specifically for you. And if you've never given your life to Christ, you need to do so. Because if you haven't, then everything I say over the next several months beyond this point will mean nothing to you. Because unless you're born again, you have yet to receive your spiritual gift. But once you're born again, once you've given your life to Christ, once you've embraced the Christ As the Messiah, once you've denied yourself, taken up your cross and followed him, once you're a part of the kingdom of God.

He gives you a gift. Some of you have one, some of you have more than one, but everybody has at least one gift. And the question comes: how are you using that gift within the body of Christ? Over the next several weeks and months, we are going to examine what the Bible says concerning spiritual gifts.

And we're going go through each and every gift for you. We'll define it for you. We'll show you how it's used in Scripture. We'll show you how it is you are to use that gift within the body of Christ. How God has called you to exercise that gift. We'll talk to you about the speaking gifts. We'll talk to you about the support gifts. We'll talk to you about the special gifts. We'll talk to About the sign gifts. Because that's a big discussion for today. And are signed gifts still in operation today?

Have they ceased? If they're still in operation, how are they used? If they have ceased, what does that mean? How do you know they have ceased? So, we want to go through all that with you so you understand it. Because, believe it or not, God wants to use you in a very unique and special way. Within the local assembly where he's called you to live out your spiritual existence. And so we want to help you understand. What those gifts are, how they manifest themselves on a regular basis, because it's so very, very important.

How important is it? Well, I want to give you two points tonight. I want to talk to you about the priority of spiritual gifts. Then I want to talk to you about some of the purposes of spiritual gifts. Okay? Very simple outline. Under point number one, the priority of spiritual gifts, I want to talk to you about three specific.

Elements. All right? The priority of spiritual gifts. Why are they such a priority? Number one is because your identity Is wrapped up, no pun intended, in spiritual gifts.

Your identity is wrapped up in them. Let me explain it to you. Oscar Wilde, a poet, a playwright back in the late 18, he was an Irishman, said these words. He said, in this world, there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other. Is getting what you want. That was his way of trying to explain that we spend our whole lives trying to climb the ladder of success. And once we get there, it never pans out the way we thought it would. It just doesn't. And that's because we think that some way, somehow, my identity is wrapped up in my position.

Whether I'm the president or a CEO of a company or whether I'm the president of the United States or whether I'm the lead teacher at a school or whatever it may be, my identity somehow seems to be wrapped up in my position. That somehow, if I am the top dog, then people will see me as valuable, see me as important. And if it's not wrapped up in my position, it's wrapped up in my possessions. That somehow, with all the things that I accumulate, it's somehow going to define who I am. That I am this person of great worth, this person who owns so much property, has so much money, and my values tied into my possessions.

So my identity is wrapped up either in my position, my possessions, my popularity, or My person, that somehow the more popular I am, the more valuable I am. The greater my personality, the greater I am. But none of that's true. Because if you get fired from your job, you lose your position, that means you lose your identity. If you lose your money, all your possessions. And you defined your identity in those possessions, you lose them all, then you have nothing. Therefore, you are nothing. If I define it in my popularity or my personality and something happens to me and I lose all that, then I lose my identities.

But my identity is wrapped up in a person, and that person is not you. Your identity is wrapped up in the person of Jesus Christ our L. If you understand that. You will never struggle with an identity crisis. You'll never wonder who you are. You'll never wonder why you exist, and you'll never wonder what you are to do. Because my identity is not wrapped up in who I am, my identity is wrapped up in whose. I am. That's very, very important. Let me illustrate to you in a very practical way.

All right? Tonight I brought something for you that I thought I'd auction off. And that is my toothbrush. Don't laugh. I had this toothbrush here in my office, and it's been here for probably maybe six or seven years. Okay? Same toothbrush. I'm a very clean-teethed person. Okay? The bristles are still good and int. In fact, what do you think? That 's a pretty good tooth, isn't it? Don't you think? Absolutely. Good job, Serena. So I wanted to auction this off tonight, hoping that if I auctioned it off, we'd be able to pay off the mortgage of our building here and we'd be all right.

Now this toothbrush in a store will probably cost you $2. 99, maybe $3. 99, depending on what store you go to, whether you go to Walmart, Target, or Macy's, whatever. you prefer but but if I was to auction this off and ask you does Mac sell suit brushes they don't well maybe they should I'm not so sure how much I would get. W would anybody give me 5 cents for my toothbrush? My wife would. But do you mean to give me 2 cents for my toothbrush? I ask you that because it's my toothbrush. Because it's mine, it should be of some value to you.

But it's not, is it? Years ago, they auctioned off Napoleon's toothbrush. And they got $2,000 for his toothbrush. I know it's not as nice as mine. But Napoleon, of course he was long dead and gone, but they auctioned off a toothbrush for $2,000. Think about that. Jacly Kennedy On. She was a woman who dressed so elegantly. And she had earr. pear ear. They auctioned off and she was able or they were able to receive two hundred and eleven thousand dollars. For those pearl earrings. And they were fake pearl earrings.

John F. Kennedy had wooden golf clubs. $7,000 they were auctioned for. Why do they go for so much? Not because wooden golf clubs are any good, because they're not. Not because fake pearl earrings are any good, because they're not. Or even a toothbrush. They went for so much because of who own them and because they were owned by people. That were prominent figures, they sold for so much money. Why do I say that? I say that because your identity is wrapped up not in who you are, but in whose you are.

To whom do you belong? And so when I say our identity is wrapped up in our spiritual get, you must understand. Several things. And I think so many times we miss out on the true identity of the believer. You know, our identity is wrecked up in the fact that we're very special people. We're not special people for any other reason than that our Lord owns us. He purchased us. Listen to what the scriptures say in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse number 9. It says, You are a chosen race. A royal priesthood, a holy nation.

Peter's speaking to the believers who have been scattered abroad. A people for God's own possession. God owns you. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. He says, verse 10: For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You're God's possession. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says you've been bought with a price. What is the price? The price is 1 Peter chapter 1, verse number 18, which says Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your feudal way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with Precious blood as of a lamb, unblem and spotless, the bl of Jesus Christ our Lord.

You were bought back from the slave market of sin. Christ purchased you. He shed his blood for you. He died for you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And Christ gave up his life for you so that he might redeem you from the slave market of sin because you were a slave of Satan. Now you become a slave of the living God. He owns you. In fact, over in the book of Titus, Titus chapter 2, verse number 14, it says, picking up at verse number 13, it says, We're looking for the blessed hope.

and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good Deeds. It emphasizes the fact that He purchased us, He redeemed us so that we would be His. He would own us, we would be His possession. Our value, our identity is wrapped up in the fact that Jesus Christ owns us. We are His. We have been bought with a price, and the price was His blood. We are a very special people.

In fact, the Bible says in the book of Colossians that we are complete. In Him. In other words, if you're not in Christ, you're inc. But if you 're in Christ, you are complete. Every believer is complete in Christ, but without Christ, you are in Complete. Speaking to the value of eternal life and its importance. So, our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are very special people, not because of anything that we have done, because he redeemed us simply because he chose to, not because of any value in us.

because we were dead in our trespasses and sin. We were alienated from the life of God. We needed to be reconciled to God. That comes because there's one mediator between the God and man, or between God and man, and that's the man, Christ Jesus Himself. And so, because we've been purchased by his blood, now we have value because we are owned by the living God of the universe. That's what makes us so valuable. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are very spe people because we are owned by the living God of the universe.

Not only that, our identity is right up to the fact that we are a servant people. We are servants. Christ, Philippians chapter 2. Took on the form of a bonds in the incarnation. When he came to the earth, he was made in the likeness of man, but he took on the form of a slave. And later on in the Gospels, he would speak of the fact that we Are def by the fact that we are His servants. In Mark 's Gospel, the 10th chapter, He talks about the fact that we are the servants of the living God. And the very fact that we have been purchased by God and that we are now the servants of God because we were once the servants of Satan.

Listen, if you don't know Christ, You serve the Antich. Those who are against Christ, you serve Satan. But if you are with Christ, you serve the living Christ. You have been born, you've been transferred, as Paul says in the book of Colossians, you've been transferred from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. That's why we're called children of the king. That's why we're called the bel. That's why we're called a royal priesthood, a chosen nation. A people of God's own possession.

Which helps you understand this. If, in the realm of our identity, we understand that we're special people because God bought us, okay, and redeemed us for Himself. And that because he did, we want to be conformed to his image. Now we become servants in the kingdom of God. Our identity is lived out whenever we are engaged in service. I have noticed that when people want to serve their fellow man, they don't struggle with their identity. But those who want to be served tend to struggle with their identity.

Because our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are servants of the living God. Think of your marriage, for example. In your marriage, when you are geared up to understand your responsibility to serve your spouse. That you don't want to be ministered to, but you want to minister to them. And you live within the realm of your marriage with that attitude. You got a great marriage. Because you're living out your identity in Christ, that you are a servant kind of people. And our Lord is a servant, and you want to be conformed to his image, right?

And we are predestined to be conformed to that image, and he is the image of Great servanthood, and so therefore, when we live that out, we then understand our identity. And we live for the glory and honor of the king. Some will say, well, that's just so hard. It is. But listen, not only are we special people, not only are we as servant people, but we are a supernatural people. We are a supernatural people. Why is that? Because God lives in us. On the eve of the crucifixion, it was our Lord who said to his men these words in John chapter 14.

He said, John 14, verse number 12. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. Verse 16. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another helper, not another of a different kind. That's heteros, but another of the same kind, that's all. I 'm going to give you another helper, another comforter. Just like me, that he may be with you forever. That is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in.

You. He goes on to say this. I will not leave you as orphans, verse 18. I will come to you. After a little while, the world will no longer see me, but you will see me because I live. You will live also. For in that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Listen, God lives within us. Our Lord God is a supernatural being. Therefore, when He takes up residence in our hearts, we can do things. of the supernatural. In other words, we can love the unlovely. We can reach out and care for those that have done us wrong.

We can be kind to those who have done evil to us. Simply because God empowers us to do so. His Spirit lives within us. And therefore, we are able to accomplish everything He's designed for us because we're His children. He has given us his spirit. He says, I'm not going to leave you as orphans. I'm going to send my spirit, the other comforter, just like me. And you will be in me, and I will be in you, and my Father will be in you, and the Spirit of God will be in you, and you will be complete in me.

And therefore God gives us the power to accomplish His purposes. So we are a special people, we are a servant people, we are a supernatural people, we are a spiritually gifted people. A spiritually gifted people. That's our identity. And when you exercise your gift within the church, you understand who you are. You understand that? If you don't exercise your gift in the church, you don't understand who you are. In fact, you're not even sure if you're even in the right church. Because you're not being used by God.

But you can be if you understand that we are a spiritually gifted people. Listen to what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 4. He says in verse 10, as each one has received a special gift. Wow. 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 whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. If you have a speaking gift, speak forth the things that God has said. If you have a serving gift, serve with the power that God supplies. Because God wants to use you for His glory and for His honor. As each one has received a gift, God doesn't give gifts to certain ones and not gifts to others. He gives gifts to all of his children, and that they are to employ it because he energizes them through his spirit. To help build and edify the body of the living God. First Corinthians 12, verse number 18, says this.

1 Corinthians 12, verse number 18. But now God has placed, or God has set, the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he Desired. In other words, Paul is saying that you have a divine place, you have a divine appointment. Your gift has been divinely given. And so he says that God has placed the members, each one of them, speaking to the specialness of each child of his, that he has put you within the body. To do great things. You know, every part of your physical body has a specific purpose, does it not?

Of course it does. Every part, your arm, your fingers, your legs, your ears, your eyes, your nose, every part of your body has a specific purpose. And it's been uniquely designed by the living God. Everything is used to function in a certain way. So that you can live your life. And when one thing goes bad, if your knee blows out or your foot breaks or your arm breaks, everything changes on you. God has set them all perfectly in order within the physical realm of our bodies. Same thing is done in the spiritual realm, within the body of Christ.

He has set each and every one of you within a local assembly. If you're a part of Christ Community Church, He's set you in this local assembly so that This whole assembly will p Christ because Christ embodied all the gifts. None of us embody all the gifts. But when we all function according to our identity in Christ, that we are especially gifted people, we then can portray to the world the beauty and excellencies of Christ. That is just so important. Your value, my value, is wrapped up in the fact that I am a special person.

Possessed by my God, designed to serve my God. And the only way that can happen is because he dwells within me, making me a supernatural kind of person. The Bible says in Peter, 2 Peter 1:4, that we are partakers of the divine nature.

Think about that. We become partakers of God's divine nature because He lives within us. So, because He was a servant, we now become servants. And we serve within the body of Christ with the gift that He's given to us. All that to say is that our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are spiritually gifted people. And if you understand your gift, you understand how it is God has uniquely placed you within the body of Christ to help edify the body, to help build the body. You never struggle with your identity because you know what you're here for.

You know what you do in the church, the body of Christ. Not only is our identity wrapped up in them, But understand this: our mentality is warped about them. That is, we have a hard time understanding spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 1, Paul says these words: Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant. I do not want you to be unaware. In other words, you are ignorant, you are unaware, but I don want you to be that way. And in seven different times in the New Testament, Paul uses that same phrase.

I don't want you to be unaware. I don't want you to become ignorant, brethren. Why? Because there are certain things that we are ignorant about that we can't afford to be ignorant about. You can't afford to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. So, Paul goes through 1 Corinthians 12, then 1 Corinthians 13, he gives the whole love chapter, goes back into spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 14, talks about them in Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4, Romans 12. I do not want you to be ignorant concerning the gifts that God has given to the body of Christ.

But we tend to be ignorant about them. We don't understand where the gifts are in the Bible. We don't understand what the gifts are in scriptures. We don't understand what gifts are in operation today, what gifts may or may not be in operation today. We don't understand that, but we should know that. And if we study the scriptures properly, we know. What those gifts are used for, and how God wants you to be used within the body of Christ. But our mentality seems to be Completely warped when it comes to understanding spiritual gifts.

For instance, if you don't know what your gift is, mentally, you're out the lunch. If you know what your gift is and you're not using it mentally, you're out to lunch. You need to be using your gift. And why you're not. Is a quandary because it defines who you are in Christ. And so If you go through the scriptures, you realize that there are several times that Paul says, I don want you to be ignorant. For instance, he says in 1 Thessalonians:, Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant concerning The second coming of Christ.

But is it not true that we become completely ignorant concerning the return of the king? We don't understand how it's going to happen, the events surrounding his coming. In fact, we're even scared to read the book of Revelation because it's got so many things in there that we just can't even begin to figure out. And yet, it's not that difficult once you begin to study it. He goes on to say in 2 Corinthians 2, verse number 11: I don want you to be ignorant concerning Satan's devices, but we are. We don't know how Satan wants to operate, how Satan wants to divide and conquer, how Satan wants to destroy your marriage and destroy your testimony, destroy your Family, destroy your church.

And all the devices that Satan uses to do that, but we become very ignorant of those things. That's why the Bible exhorts us to not be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. Do not be ignorant concerning the second coming of Christ.

Do not be ignorant concerning Satan's devices. Paul would say, Brethren, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning my sufferings. But you know what? We become very ignorant concerning why God allows suffering. Why God allows pain, tragedy, turmoil, heartache. And yet, if you understand the scriptures, You can begin to get a handle on why God does those things. But Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning my sufferings. He would say earlier in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, I don want you to be ignorant concerning the sins of Israel.

Why? Because I don want you to repeat those sins. But you'll find that we're very ignorant concerning the sins of Israel because the sin specifically mentioned is the sin of complaining, bickering, and bellyach. And we do that all the time. You would think that we would not be ignorant concerning that because the Bible says not to be, but we are.

We complain and bellyache and moan and groan and nausea. And Paul says, hey, don't be ignorant about Israel's sins because you realize what it costs them when they sinned against the living God. So he says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 1, Brethren, I don't want you to be unaware. I want be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. I want you to understand them. Because our identity is wrapped up in them, our mentality should not be warped concerning them. It's important to realize that our Lord Our Lord wants to use you in a magnificent way.

In fact, he wants to use you more than you want to be used. And that's unfortunate. You would think that we would understand that because he owns us, we would want to be used as he wants us to be used, but that's just not the case. So, we need to understand what the scriptures say. So, the priority of spiritual gifts, number one, our identity is wrapped up in them.

Our mentality is warped about them. And number three, our ministry is weak without them. Our ministry is weak without them. 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 7. Listen to this. But to each one is given the man of the Spirit for the common good, or literally for the profit of all. Listen, if you know that you can profit someone else, wouldn't you want to help that person? God has gifted you for the profit of all, for the common good of the church. He says in verse number 25 of 1 Corinthians 12. He says, verse 24, but God has so composed 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 for one another. When you understand your gift, you dispel division and cultivate care within the body of Christ. You dispel division. One of the ways Satan wants to divide us is around spiritual gifts. And have a mis of spiritual gifts. And yet, if we understand that they're for the common good, for the profit of all, Then, what that does is it dispels that division and causes us to come together and learn to care and to cultivate the kind of relationships we need to have one with another.

But if we don't do that, our ministry then becomes extremely weak. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 4, that we had the same spirit. Verse 5, the same Lord. Verse 6, the same God. Verse 11, if the same spir. In other words, There's this unity that happens when we are all doing what God has designed us to do. That is crucial. We forget that the church is more an organism than it is an organization. The church should be organized, right? Your car, for instance, is very well organized by how it's put together.

But your car is not an organism, but it's very well organized. The church should be organized, but it's more than just an organization. Located at this case, 1432 West Point Avenue. It is an organism, it's a living organism. Your body is a living organism. A corpse is not a living organism, it's a dead organism. But it's organized because every part of the body is organized. But the body of Christ is made up of people who are li beings. Meaning that this is an organism that functions well when everybody plays their part.

And does what they have been designed to do. Yet, if we don't, the ministry is weakened. We're not nearly as strong as we could be. Nor are we as strong as we should be, nor are we as strong as the Lord prayed that we would be. So we need to understand that. So let me give you four principles in closing, very briefly.

When we exercise our giftedness, and we will go into great detail with you over the coming weeks. As to how this all happens, how it all comes together. We're going to answer all your questions. We're going to make sure that no questions left unturned for each of you. And so we will answer them all to some degree or another. But you have to understand that when we begin to function together as a body of Christ, the fellowship within the body is magnificent. The fellowship is magn. We have a partnership.

We have a fellowship because we are one in Christ. And the more we exercise our gitt, the more we understand the magnificence of that fellowship. For instance, a husband and wife. They are partnered together, right? They're in a partnership. They come together. They're in a fellowship. They're one flesh, right? But if one or the other dec not to invest, decides not to serve, decides not to give, then that relationship becomes fractured. It becomes damaged, like in the church. We are a family, we are a living organism.

If you decide not to use your gift, It hinders the fellowship of the body. It's not nearly as magnificent as it is when you exercise your gift. In fact, what makes church so great is that when you come, you come to serve. You come to minister. You come to reach out. You come to exercise, utilize the gift that God's given to you within the body of Christ. That's what makes the fellowship so unique. That's what makes you want to come on Sundays, makes you want to come on Wednesdays, makes you want to be a part of something, a smaller group or a specific ministry.

Because it becomes so magnificent, so important. Not only is the fellowship magnificent, but our discipleship then becomes magnetic. Our discipleship becomes magnetic. When Peter exercised his gift in Acts chapter 3, 3,000 people came to Christ. When he healed Acts chapter 2, I'm sorry, in Acts chapter 3, when he healed the lame man, because he exercised his apostolic gift, the gift of healing, when he healed the lame man there at the gates of Jerusalem. Wow. The city was mesmerized. And Peter was eventually thrown to prison because he wouldn't stop preaching the gospel.

You can read on through the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2, when the early church got together and the members of the church were giving and serving and loving one another, as the Bible speaks of. And they were praising God with one another daily within the temple. God did a great thing by drawing people into that assembly. Because we're to go into all the world and make disciples, right? Make followers of Christ. Well, what makes that so magnetic, what draws people to us, is the fellowship that is so magnificent.

So p in that we go out and present the gospel when Dorcas, and her name is Tabitha in the scriptures in Acts chapter 9, when she was being used to meet the needs of the people in the church, and she died, and everybody began to mourn at her death. Peter went in and raised her from the dead. Peter exercised his gift so Tabitha then could come back and continue exercising her gift in a supernatural kind of way. It was just a fabulous. Read through the book of Acts. It is a mesmerizing book. But you'll realize that when we exercise our gifts, our fellowship is magnificent.

Our discipleship then becomes magnetic, and leadership is manifested. Leadership is manifested when we exercise our giftedness. Think about Bart in Acts chapter 13. He was a prophet. He had a prophetic gift. And God chose him out from among the church in Antioch. There was the Apostle Paul. Who was at the time Saul, and he would be used as the great apostle, but when he exercised his gift, he rose to the top. You see, we have all these books. Everyone knows we have all these books on leadership and all these seminars on leadership, but we have very few leaders in the world.

We have people impersonating leaders, they think they're leaders, but they really have no influence at all over people. Leadership rises to the top in the church when we exercise our get-in-ness. We have to choose men to lead because they have a certain income. We have to choose men to lead because of what their secular job is. And we forget that when people within the body of Christ begin to exercise their gitt, that leadership rises to the top. It's manifested, and everybody sees it. Everybody knows it.

And that person is easily followed. So not only is our fellowship magnificent, our discipleship then becomes magnetic and leadership is manifested, but our worship then becomes majestic. It becomes majestic because now you're going to church for the right reasons. You're not going to church to be ministered to. We want to minister to you. But if you're coming to be ministered to, you'll be hopping from church to church to church to church, never settling in, never finding a place to where you're going to really feel welcome because not everybody's going to minister to you.

But when you come to minister, when you come to serve, when you come to exercise your gift, you are freed up to celebrate the Christ. You're freed up from your own selfish motives, your own selfish desires. But is someone going to talk to me today? Is somebody going to greet me today? Is somebody going to pray for me today? Is somebody going to put their arm around me and love me today? Is somebody going to do Some people go to church that way. Instead of going to church saying, What can I do to put my arm around somebody today?

What can I do to go and pray for somebody today? What can I do to go and give a word of encouragement to somebody today? Who can I serve today? Can you imagine if we all came to church the same way? If we all came to church to serve, every need would be met that you had. But because we all don't come to church to serve, but we come to church to be served. We leave with our needs unmet. But our worship becomes so majestic because we come to be utilized by God when we gather together as a local assembly.

And when that happens, I am freed up to celebrate all that Christ is. I'm able to sing praises to His glorious name. I'm able to lift His name on high because I am free from all the extra peripherals. I am free from looking at myself, and I'm freed up to look only at the Christ and worship Him. This study is going to revolutionize the way you see church. This study is going to revolutionize everything you do in church. This study is going to help you understand that when you are exercising what God has divinely given to you.

You will live out your identity. Don't think for one moment that the Lord, the God of the universe, who knows everything, Who's all-powerful is going to gift you with something you're going to hate? He's not going to do that. He hasn't done that. Do you think I despise getting up here every Sunday and Wednesday to preach? No, I love being here. I can't wait to be here. I love this. When God gifts you, He gifts you with that which is used in such a way you can't wait to exercise your gift. That's why spiritual giftedness is so important within the body of Christ.

Your identity is wrapped up in that. We want to expose that to you in a good way over the next several weeks and months ahead as we examine the scriptures together. I promise you will not be disappointed. Next week, we're going to ask some questions and answer those questions, commonly asked questions about spiritual gifts. Because we all have them, and we're going to see what the scriptures say about them so we can have some of those answers that you might have already answered. In the following week, we're going to look at what happens before I serve.

Because before I serve, I must understand something very, very important. And then we'll embark on each and every specific gift and how it manifests itself within the body of Christ. Let me pray with you.

Father, I thank you for today, the opportunity you give us to live for you. Our prayer, Father, is that we would truly, truly understand exactly what you have for us, that we might glorify your precious name. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.