Questions and Answers About Spiritual Gifts

Tonight we are going to continue our study on spiritual gifts We began last week and we have a long way to go and I hope that you'll be with us because As we go through the scriptures, you're going to begin to understand how they all kind of come together So, if you miss a week or two, what happens is it gets you just a little bit behind and you miss out on some things that we might have covered earlier What we want to do is look at some questions concerning spiritual gifts, answer them for you this evening, okay? And my desire is to raise more questions in your mind

If after tonight you have more questions about spiritual gifts than when you arrived, that's a good thing Because I want you to be able to take that registration card in front of you and to write your questions down on those cards And turn them into the office, turn them into an offering basket You can give it to me, give it to one of our elders, but give it to them, and throughout the course of the study, we'll answer those questions

At the very end of our study, we'll have a Q to be able to answer questions that maybe we didn't fully cover in the series and give you the opportunity to ask more questions Okay? Because I know that when we're all done, you're going to have. A slew of questions Unless, of course, I'm thorough and I get it all done for you But I'm probably not going to be able to do that. I'm going do my best, though, to answer those questions as we go along But it a long journey, it's not a short jaunt, it's going to take us some time to get through it

So, bear with us, and hopefully, over the course of time, we will be able to answer your questions concerning spiritual Gifts Tonight, I want to ask eight questions and answer those eight questions. I should be able to do that We have a brand new clock in the back They made sure it was a bigger clock because evidently I couldn't read the smaller one, they said So they made it bigger So I told them, I still can't read it So we've got to figure out what we're going to do about that But anyway, all I want to do is ask and answer eight questions They're very basic questions

They're not some deep theological Question concerning different aspects of gifts We'll get into all those things, but we got to begin somewhere, right? So, we're going to begin with some of the very basic, fundamental, foundational questions that need to be asked and answered About spiritual gifts And in doing so, what we're going to do is open a whole bunch of other questions in your mind, which is a good thing Because I want you to be like the Bere. I want you to search the scriptures. I want you to be able to know first what the Bible says

Because we always want to be able to defend the faith By looking at what the Bible does say, you never want to defend your view of Scripture with an experience or with an opinion You want to be able to defend the scriptures with the scriptures Because our God is the God of truth Our God is the originator of truth There, through him comes the truth that we need to understand In a world of uncertainty, where uncertainty has crept into the church, where there are no longer any absolutes, we can't be sure about this, we can't be sure about that

We say here at Christ Community Church, yes, you can be sure because God has spoken on these issues And so we want to be able to address them with you forthrightly We want to address them with you thoroughly We want to address them with you lovingly, but we need to address them with you Okay? So let's begin at the beginning. A great place to begin What is a spiritual gift? In fact, I'm going to give you eight words that sum up the eight questions Okay? So the first word is defin What is a spiritual gift? That's very important to understand Because a spiritual gift

Is simply a divine enable through which the Holy Spirit Energizes you to edify the body of Christ Okay? Three key words: en, energize, edify. A d en where the Holy Spirit energizes you to edify the body of Christ That's all it is But that working definition, because you have to have some kind of definition, a working definition And when we go to point number two, their description, we go from the definition To the description, as we describe different aspects of those gifts to you, this will come more into light because you

Get that definition by looking at what the Bible says concerning spiritual gifts Now, if you've got your Bible, turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 Okay? 1 Corinthians chapter 12, because the bulk of our time will be in this chapter this evening Okay? Doesn have to be, but For time's sake, it is okay So, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, that's where we're going to be So, you're able to understand ex what we're talking about

Because six different times, okay, in verse 1, verse 4, verse 9, verse 29, verse 30, verse 31, the term gifts is used, okay? Now, in verse 1, it says, Now concerning spirituals Remember, see where the word gifts is in italics? That means it was added by the translators, it wasn in the original text So the text l is now concerning spirituals It's not talking about spiritual people, okay? It's talking about something uniquely spiritual, which is a spiritual gift, because the whole chapter is about spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Corinthians 14 are all about spiritual gifts

And so the translators add that so you understand exactly what it's saying So that leads us to point number two Spiritual gifts are a divine enablement by which the Holy Spirit energizes you to edify the body of Christ How is it that is described in the scriptures? So, once you get a working definition And you move from the one word, definition, to the next word, description How are they described in the Bible? Well, by looking at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, let me show you In verse number 1, it says, Now concerning spirituals

The word there is mnemonic, okay? Compound word which means spirit and controlled or characterized by, which is a good understanding of spiritual gifts They are characterized or controlled by the Spirit of God That makes sense? Now, concerning those things that are controlled by the Spirit of God, Paul says We don't want you to be unaware We don't want you to be ignorant of these things You can't afford to be ignorant of what God wants to do through His Spirit In you So he goes into this long dissertation about spiritual gifts

So he makes it very clear that spiritual gifts Are that which are characterized or controlled by the Spirit of God? Now, the word mnemonic is used 26 times in the New Testament. 25 of the 26 times it talks about How is it something is controlled or characterized by the Spirit of God And that's what spiritual gifts are: they're divine enablements You move from verse 1 down to verse number 4, and it says these words Now there are a variety, or there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit Now that's a different word That's char, where we get our the root word is charism, which is grace

This is charism, which are grace gifts That means that these gifts are given to you by no merit of your own, by the fact that you don't deserve anything In fact, it's a word used 17 times in the New Testament Of those 17 times, 11 of them refer to spiritual gifts, and the other ones refer specifically to salvation And you know that you were undeserving when you were saved, right? Right? You sure about that? Okay So you were undeserving when you received the gift of salvation It was not something you merited, something that you earned You didn't earn salvation

You weren't good enough for God to say, you know what, man, you are so good. I'm going to save you That's not the way it works It's God's unmerited favor towards those who are so undeserving And that's us Well, the same thing is used of gifts They are given to us, even though we don't deserve them, and you can't earn them In other words, you can't do enough to get a certain gift, right? You can't earn a specific gift It is given to you by God, even though you don't deserve it, even though you can't merit it God just gives it to you

So that helps us understand a little bit more about spiritual gifts That these are divine enablements God granted you a gift and wants you to use it for His glory So your gift is energized By the Holy Spirit, and it's something that you did not earn, something that you do not deserve, but God gave it to you That's just great Note this: every good and perfect gift cometh down From the Father of lights, James 1:1, right? Every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, 7, What do you have that you did not receive? Answer: Nothing

In other words, whatever you have, you received Now I know that in our mind we think we earned it. I earned the money to pay for my car. I earned the money to pay for my house. I earned this But you know what? The Bible says: what do you have that you did not receive? Nebuchadnezzar thought that Remember that? Look at this great kingdom I built Look at these palaces that I built What did God do? God humbled that man for seven years, put him on the ground Because Nebuchadnezzar needed to recognize that what he had was given to him by God, not that he earned it Very important

Why do we say that? We say that simply because of this All of us in the room have certain skill set, right? Some of you are good with your hands Some of you are good with your mind Okay? Some of you are good in terms of your physical prowess You have a skill set You have a talent, right? It's given to you by God You know, you watch someone who's a super great athlete Who rises above everybody else? And someone said, Man, that guy, his skill set, his talent is so beyond everybody else Yes, he works at it

Yes, he tries hard, but there's something uniquely, distinctly different about that person as compared to somebody else Or someone, someone's intellect There are people in this room that are so much smarter than I am, okay? I mean, I'm not very smart compared to most people There are some people whose intellect is so far superior to mine that God has granted them a tremendous gift To be able to think things through differently than I would ever think them through They just are so intricate in their thought process, and they're way beyond me intellectually

Or how about music? Okay? There are some people who play an instrument that are incred Why is it some people rise above others who play instruments? Yes, they put in the time Yes, they put in the effort They work hard They're disciplined But some people are just incredible musicians They have a skill set, a talent That is not a spiritual gift Although it is a gift It's granted to you by God It is not a spiritual gif Let 's say someone is uniquely talented You know, on the piano We have Kristen is on the piano We have Hannah who plays the harp We have Brad who plays the flute

We have Tim who plays the guitar Uh the guys on the drums, they don't count Anybody can pound on something, right? They don't really count So anyway, all that being said is that these people have certain skill set. I I could never do what Kristen does on a piano and I took three years of piano lessons Three years My parents made me do that It was the worst three years of my entire life. I begged my parents not to let me do it Know what they tell me? It's good discipline It's good discipline. I say, can I learn discipline on the ball field? Can I learn discipline in the classroom? Yes, you can

But discipline is learned by doing the things you don't want to do, but getting in them anyway, because that's what life is all about So for three years I took piano lessons It haunts me to this day My biggest nightmares come with me having to play the piano in front of people for a piano recital But I can never play the piano like Kristen does She has a unique talent But that's not her spiritual gift But, listen carefully, it becomes the channel Through which her giftedness is manifested It becomes the channel through which God uses her to minister to the body of Christ

Let me give you a couple of examples: one in the Old Testament, one in the New Remember Saul, and when he was troubled by an evil spirit Who do they call to come soothe his spirit? David David The shepherd boy The sweet psalm of Israel, right? They called him because he could play like nobody's business The guy was amazing So they brought him into Saul's chambers and he would play, and there'd be a great soothing element that came over him Now, this is way before spiritual gifts were granted to the church But he had a talent, a skill set that he would use to minister to the king

Never forget Proverbs 18:1. A man's gift makes room for him before great men. A man's gift makes room for him before great men Don't think for one moment that the talent you have, the skill set you have, is given to you just for you It's not God wants to use that in a unique and special way And so, therefore, David would be used to minister to Saul through a skill set, a gift that God had given to him Better yet, let's look at the New Testament Remember Dorcas? Her name is Tabitha, Acts chapter 9, and she dies? And everybody's weeping

Okay? It says in Acts 9 that she did great acts of kindness, great acts of goodness to those in Joppa And so they call upon Peter And Peter comes And they are crying Why? The text tells us in Acts 9 that she made all these tunics and garments. I'm not so sure they were crying because she died or They were crying because they didn't have clothes anymore No one's going to be able to get tunics and cloaks for her anymore Maybe they were crying for selfish purposes. I don't know, but they were crying And Peter raised her from the dead

Now, she had a certain skill set, did she not? She could make things She could make garments She could make cloaks She can make clothes Unlike anybody else But through that skill set, that talent that she had, she was able to minister to the church She was able to serve the church, the gift of service She was able to help the church, the gift of helps She was able to exercise her giftedness through the talent that God gave her She wasn't a singer, she wasn a prophetess, she wasn't a faith healer, she was just a person who had a skill set

Who ministers to the body of Christ by serving them, by making them things? Do you follow my train of thought here? Yep You understand that all of us in the room have unique and special talents and skill set That uniquely separate us from everyone else And that's great It's still a gift given to you by God, no matter how you cut it What do you have that you did not receive? Nothing But There is a divine enablement that God has given you way beyond that because you had a skill set way before you were ever saved, right? But once you're saved, now you have a divine enablement given to you by God

So that through the power of the Spirit of God, who energizes you, now you build up the body, you edify the body Very important to understand that So, back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 Time is fleeting Got to get through eight questions And so, you see That these gifts come They are spirituals, which is n, which means controlled or characterized by the spirit There are gifts, charism, that is, they are grace gifts Given to us, even though we don't earn them, nor do we merit them And then, if you go down to verse number five, it says, And there are a variety of ministries Ministries

Diak, where Diak is from, where we get our English word deac, which means to serve So there's a variety of services So they're called grace gifts, they're called spirit-controlled gifts, and they are called Services In other words, the gift that you have is designed for a specific service within the body of Christ in order to build the body of Christ Now that's important Why? Because in your service in the body, you know, we live in a day Have you ever seen the advertisements recently about the church app? The church app

Enjoy church from the comforts of your home by watching us on the church app Folks, that's not church Okay? Even though it's got the name church app, it's not church, no matter how you cut it There's a reason, there's a reason the writer of Hebrews said that we're not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together As you see the day approaching, the day of the coming of Christ, in order for us to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, you've got to be together In the comfort of your home, listen, anything about church that makes you more comfortable probably isn't church

Just keep that in mind, right? If it's designed to make you comfortable, it's probably not the church It's something other than the church After all, the church is not designed to make you comfortable, the church is designed to build you up In the body of Christ to get you closer to the Christ, sometimes that's a painful experience because we have to deal with our sin, we got to confess our sin, we to get things right with our brother, we got to serve when we don't want to serve, all those things

So, when you think about it, that writ of Hebrews says, We're not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together because we've got to stimulate one another to love and good deeds The reason we come together is because there's something unique about the body of Christ that motivates, that stimulates, that moves us toward good deeds It moves us in the direction of honoring Christ You can't do that from the church app You can't do that sitting at home In your bed, sipping your coffee, eating your Cinn muffin, saying, Wow, isn't it great to be at church today? That's not church

Because we are uniquely designed to stimulate one another And so when you gather together, when we come together, we come to serve We come to minister We know that there are, quote, deacons in the church, di This word diak is taken from that It just simply means a servant We are servants one of another Well, if these varieties of services are given to the church, how can you serve one another if you're at home in your bed? On the church app Answer is you can't God uniquely has places together

You don't cut off your arm, okay, and send your arm out some other place and expect your arm to benefit your body if your arm is not attached to your body It can't happen that way We are designed to be together, and so we come together in a day of Of the electronic church in the day in which we gathered together. I remember when I was growing up, they had this church way back in Dover, in Dover, Delaware

They had this church that That designed its ministry around the drive-up theater, where you can come in and just take your little speaker and attach it to your to your window, okay, and listen to church in your car And I thought to myself, this is so ridiculous

Are they going to have girls coming up in roller skates delivering sodas to the people in their cars like they do at the restaurants or like the A Root Beer Stand way, way, way, way back when? You know, what are they going to do next? What is the church going to think of next? See? Anything to make you comfortable, anything to get you from being together, anything to keep you apart is what Satan wants to do Satan wants to do that God didn't design you for that These are min These are services in which we gather together To serve one another Look at this next one, verse six

There are varieties of eff In er geo, we get our English word energy Okay? So now we have mnemonic, which is things controlled by the spirit We have charism, which are grace gifts given to those who don't deserve them, don't earn them We have ministries, services, and now we have Energies, which is the power of the Spirit of God These are divine energies, whereas you are energized By the Spirit of God, this is not something that you energize You don't muster up energy to do it This is something that God does in and through you to accomplish for His purpose This is a divine-given energy

So important That's why down in verse 11 it says, but one in the same spirit Works all these things or energizes all these things The Spirit of God energizes them So extremely important And then when you go down to verse number seven The very next verse, but each one is given the manif, the manifestation That's the word phoner, which means to reveal or to make clear In other words, in your service that you did not earn or did not deserve, controlled and characterized by the Spirit of God

By which you serve the body of Christ, the reason it's energized by the Spirit is because there's going to be a manifestation of something There's going to be something that's revealed, something that's clearly seen And that which is clearly seen is what? God and His glory God wants to be seen Listen, that's why it's so important for us to be together as a body Because each of us in the room has different gifts Okay, some of them are the same, some of them are the same, but function in different ways

But when we all come together and we all serve within the body of Christ, we present as a unit. A composite picture of the Christ who embodied all the gifts And because we're the body of Christ We gather together, we come together, and as a body, we are manifesting, we are revealing, we are making clear who Christ is That's why, when you skip church, when you miss church because of some selfish, not because you're sick or you're dying or you're gone someplace, but because you just want to miss it

Okay, or you don't exercise your giftedness in the church, you kind of muddle up the painting, the portrait, you distort the portrait, right? We don't want to do that We want to make it as clear as possible So when you exercise your giftedness, it's a manifestation And then it says this But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good Or for the profit of all Isn't that great? This is for the profit of everybody here

Listen, if you're on the church app, At home in your bed, sipping your coffee or your hot cocoa or your tea, or whatever it is you sip in the morning, and you're enjoying church on the church app, guess what? There's no profit for you Because you miss out on the stimulus that happens when we come together to minister That moves us on to maturity so we can better proclaim the Christ and portray the Christ, you missed out on that benefit You missed out on that opportunity And God doesn't want you to miss out This is for the common good This is for the profit of everybody involved

Not one person profits Everybody profits That's how they're described Just in 1 Corinthians 12, in these few short verses Isn't it good to know what the Bible actually says? Because don't you have just a little bit of a clearer picture on spiritual gifts? Just a little bit You don't have to have a whole bunch, just a little bit Because over time, everything's going to be expanded for you But you have to know from the groundwork up what is the definition and what is the description of spiritual gifts Now, here's a good one: this is question number three The derivation of spiritual gifts

In other words, where are they derived from? What is the source of them? Where do they come from? What does that mean? The super Empowerments, these spiritually energized services Verse 11, 1 Corinthians 12 says, but one and the same Spirit energizes, work in us This is important because the Bible says in verse 11 these words But one and the same Spirit works all these things distributing to each one indiv just as he wills Now if you got a pen or a pencil, you need to certain circle that These gifts are given to each person individually, just as who wills He will Very important

Look at verse 18 But now God has placed, or God has set The members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired Not as you desired But as he desired Now look at this, verse 28 And God has appointed in the church Okay? This is so important The source of your giftedness comes from God Himself That means, listen carefully Everybody, look this way just for one minute. I want to make sure you get this That means I don't care how hard you pray, it's not going to make any difference on the gift you receive. I don't care how hard you pray Oh Jesus, I need this gift

You can pray till Jesus comes again You're not going to change his mind It's a divine enablement You can run around the church 100 times if you want to, think if I could just run around the church 100 times, my gift's going to change It 's not going to change It's not Because the gifts that you have received are undeserved and they're unmerited, right? They're given to you divinely by God It's a divine enablement given to you by His choice. P each one individually as he desires within the body, his way, his time, his place, his gift in you He does it

So, no matter how hard you pray or how hard you might desire another gift Oh, I just want to be able to have that gift. I want to have the gift, the gift of pastor-teacher. I want to be a teacher Listen, you might want that, but if God didn't give it to you, I don't care how hard you try, you're not going to get the gift They're divine enablements Nowhere in Scripture do you pray, or no matter how earnestly you desire a gift, it makes no difference They're divinely given

Now, someone's going to say, wait a minute, doesn't the Bible say these words in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number 31? But earnestly desire the greater gifts Isn't that what it says? That's what it says right there Just read it, black and white, 1 Corinthians 12, 3 But earnestly desire the greater gifts There See, there's a command For us to desire the greater gifts The gifts of healing, the gifts of miracles, the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues Those are the des earnestly That 's what Paul says It's exactly what it says right there But cont is so important

The word for desire, zel'o, is a word used of strong desire, yes? And whether it's a negative connotation or a positive connotation, is always determined on the context before and after the verse Okay? My charismatic friends will always use this to prove that they can desire a gift, whether it's praying in tongues, which, by the way, is not a gift. I'll talk about that in a minute Or the interpretation of tongues, or speaking in tongues, or the gifts of healing If you desire it, you can desire the greater gifts And use this verse to prove that But you can't because the context disproves that

How do we know that? Would Paul actually, through the Spirit of God, be given a command? Listen carefully For the Corinthian church to do something they had so misappropriated in the church. I don't think so So you have to look at the context and realize that They are coveting something They are desiring something as opposed to God's sovereign place of something In other words, that's like saying, you know what? I wish I'd have married her instead of her Wow, I desire her. I don't want her, but I desire her When God gave you her, not her But I coveted my neighbor's wife

But that's a negative connotation because I'm coveting my neighbor's wife when God has given me this one in a sovereign plan He gave me this woman right here, this beautiful woman right here Not that one There was a reason he didn't give me that one, but he gave me this one God gave her to me God placed her to me God honored me with her You rejoice with the wife of your youth, not to rejoice with your neighbor's wife who is a youth You need to make sure you get that one right See? I think we get them all mixed up half the time And so here they are coveting

The greater gifts, the showy gifts, because they were more popular, they were more exciting But in the context of 1 C 12, you have to understand that the Corinthian church was a carnal church Read chapter 3 They were a fleshy church Why would Paul command the fleshy church to continue doing fleshy kind of things? He would never do that Never do that And you must realize that in the context of 1 Corinthians 12, as well as 14, he's talking about the value of every gift

How important every single gift is within the body of Christ, how every one of them plays an extremely important part in the portrayal of the Christ in the building of the body And yet you say, well, there are showy gifts There are gifts that I desire. I want those gifts because they're more public They're more popular. I can get money if I have this gift This is a great gift People will see me That's just the wrong motive That's why God sovereignly ordained the gift that you received Because He knew in your flesh you'd want somebody else's gift But God didn't do that

So the context proves that'o is used in a negative sense In other words, he is saying But earnestly desire the greater gifts, but you are earnestly desiring the greater gifts Then he says, And I show you a still more excellent way, I'm going show you a better way And then he goes in a whole great love chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 13 Before he gets back to gifts again in chapter 14 Because he wants them to understand You don't love each other If you loved each other, you wouldn't be desiring or coveting someone else's gift so that you can be put on display

So let me show you what love is all about Let me show you how love is patient and love is kind And let me show you about how love is displayed within the body of Christ because this is what you need to be pursuing So 1 Corinthians 14:1 says, pursue love You want to pursue something, you want to go after something, go after love Because love is what distinguishes us from the world By this shall all men know you're my disciples, if you have love one toward another

See that? So it's very important to understand those things as you go through the text and realize that these are all derived from God You are here Listen, you are here because God is sovereign You chose to come tonight You chose to come to Calvary Church After 30 years, you think I get that right Okay, you have come, chose to come to Christ Community Church and be a part of this assembly and be here You've been brought here by God This is a divine appointment This is a divine appointment

See, that's why when you look at when you come to a church and you invest in that church, okay? That you just can't turn around and leave the church God has strategically placed you in the church, right? For a specific ministry You just can't bail on the church and go to another church Unless there's a doctrinal error, yeah, then you leave the church, right? Okay, but you've got to, the church is a family, it's a body

You can't, you know? If my right hand is in pain, okay, or my right knee is in pain, and I went to go see my doctor today, who shoots me up a quarter of those shots, so I'm pretty good tonight. I could probably preach for three or four hours tonight But if I decide, you know, my knee's in pain, I'm cutting it off. I don't need it anymore. I'm getting rid of it They just toss it away And I'm moving on Okay? That hinders my body It h the functionality of my body, does it not? And people today just say, you what? They get upset, they get irritated, they just want to

Walk away from the church, and I, Wait, Tim out, wait a minute, what about the body? What about the family? What about the ministry? What about the service? What about the exercise of your gifted? What about the value of your ministry to the body of Christ? You're just going to throw it all away, and they're like, Yeah, I am. I'm like, wow You never cared that much, did you? You really cared only about yourself You didn't care about the church If you don't care about the church, listen carefully You certainly don't care about the Christ who died for the church You need to understand that

Church life is body life Church life is crucial to everybody in the room Church life is crucial to the growth of your family, of your individual life, but church growth is essential for you to portray to the world Christ It's more than just showing up on Sunday and singing some songs, hearing a sermon, giving a 20-spot in the offering, and going home and going out to lunch and coming back the next Sunday It's a lot more than that It's about investing into the life and the body of the Christ church Whether it's at 1432 West Point Avenue or whether it's some other location, you're investing

Your life, because it's a service, it's a divine enablement So important to understand Wow Okay You know, so many times I think that we're we're like that That imaginary antagonist in Romans chapter 9, which says to the potter, Why did you make me this way? What right does a pottery have to say to the potter, why did you make me this way? He has no right None God gifted you What a beautiful thing Which leads us to number four, the definition, the description, the derivation to the d

There is a distinction you need to understand between the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and the gift of the Holy Spirit Okay? There is a gift The Holy Spirit that's been given to us, which is a beautiful thing Remember in John 14, what did Christ say? I'm not going to leave you orphans, I'm going to send you another comforter, another helper Right? Another of the same kind as me, right? Spirit of God The spirit of truth will be in you The Holy Spirit is a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit

The Spirit of God takes up residence in our hearts when we submit ourselves and yield our lives to Christ Spirit takes up residence And that's God's gift The Spirit of God is what the Bible calls our pledge, our down payment to our Inheritance It is the guarantee of the future inheritance that we have in heaven God says, I'm going to give you my spirit Ephesians 1 says, it is the Ere, it is the pledge, it is the down payment that guarantees that you will be forever secure with me in eternity Spirit of God That's different than the gifts of the Spirit

There is the gift of the Holy Spirit, and there are gifts of the Spirit And then there is the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5: and 23 But the fruit of the Spirit, by the way, the fruit of the Spirit is singular, not They're not the fruits of the Spirit They are the fruit of the Spirit They are the showing forth of a Spirit-controlled life That's why the command is given: walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh And the lusts of the flesh in Galatians 5 are contrasted with the fruit of the Spirit

And against such things there is no law, or these things are not condemned because you're walking under the control of the Spirit of God And what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? It means to take each step that you are taking in the spiritual realm the same way you would take it in the physical realm by leaning on the Spirit of God, depending upon the Spirit of God for everything that you do That's what it means to walk in the Spirit And as you walk in the Spirit, you produce these fruit of the Spirit Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and all those attitudes

Because the fruit of the Spirit is attitudes, but the gifts of the Spirit are the outworking Of the action that God has designed for you to build the body And the better the attitude, okay? The deeper and more glorious shines the activity of the gift that you serve with in the church Very important to understand And as time goes on, we'll distinguish more of that about you, for you And then I want you to understand their delineation, okay? Where are they? Spoken of in Scripture And you'd be surprised about how many people don't know this

There are just four passages: 1 Corinthians 12, okay? Romans 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4 That's it. 1 Peter 4 is gener speaking, serving gifts If you speak, speak forth the utterances of God Okay, in other words, speak forth the word of God If you have a speaking gift, if you have a serving gift, then you need to serve with the power that works within you All right? Generally, speaking, serving gifts Ephesians 4, we'll go into great detail this later on Ephesians 4 talks about special gifts

Not special because they're better than other gifts, but because they're gifted men that God gives to the church Some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers Okay? So those are gifted men that God gives to the church And He gives them to the church for one specific reason So that he can equip the church There is an equipping that goes on It's a word that means to mend the nets, to tie the nets together So, as I am preaching as a pastor-teacher, as I am preaching to you, there is this mending going on in your hearts

And as you are being equipped together, as you're being mended together, that's going to make you a more effective minister within the body of Christ Because gifted men are given to the body for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service, for the work of ministry God gives gifted men to the church to equip the church so that the church can actually minister Listen, I've got news for you. I am not the minister in the church You're the minister of the church Not me. I'm just the equipper You're the ministers because you serve one another

And so God gives get them into the church to tie them together, to mend them all together within their souls, to dep, teach you word of God, because 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, same word used, kart, which speaks about the fact that God's word is divine for the equipping of the man of God so he'll be complete, right? How is the man of God complete? He's tied together How is he tied together? The God-breathed word So God gives gifted men to preach that God-breathed word to knit your souls together so now you become more effective ministers within the body of Christ See that? So important

So there's the special gifts, we'll call them, for lack of a better phrase, of gifted men given to the church, Ephesians 4. 1 Peter 4 are the speaking and serving gifts in a general sense Romans 12, along with 1 Corinthians 12, begin to list out those gifts for us Okay, and they give us the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, interpreting tongues, serving Exhorting, giving, leading, showing mercy, teaching, helps, administration And yes, there is a difference between the gift of leadership

And the gift of administration within the body of Christ There's a difference between the gift of service and the gift of helps There is a difference We'll define all that for you We'll take you through each specific gift We'll show you how it's manifested in the scriptures and how it's manifested in the church and in your life We will do all that for you But you need to know where they are delineated in the scriptures so that you can study them thoroughly. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4 First Peter chapter 4 Okay? Got five minutes Their distribution, okay, is number six

Their distribution How do I know everyone possesses one? Well, easy. 1 Corinthians 12:7, each one. 1 Corinthians 12. 11, each one. 1 Corinthians 12. each one. 1 Peter 4:10, each one Each one Now, you need to Did you know that? The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable, Romans 11:2 says God 's not gonna take them back Say, you know what? I'm taking that gift back Give it back You abuse that gift Give it back God didn't do that The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable That gift is in conjunction with the Spirit of God who lives within you God gave you the gift God's not an Indian giver

He doesn't want it back He gives it to you free of charge To be used for his glory So each one has one You never lose it And by the way, spiritual gifts are not necessarily dependent on your spirituality In other words, you have a gift, even though you might not be as spiritual as somebody else is Now, the more spiritual you are, the more mature you are, you walk with Christ Okay? The more impactful will be the operation of your gift within the body of Christ Because your attitude is right You're honoring the Lord And the Lord said, Those who honor me, I will honor

So God will use you in a mighty way You need to remember that How about number seven? Their diversity Okay? How is my gift different than someone else's gift? Well, it says in verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 12: the body is one, but it has many members So in chapter 12, verse number 4, there is a diversity of gifts Chapter 12, verse number 5, a diversity of activities And in chapter 12, verse number 11, a distributing to each one Individually or uniquely or particularly as he has chosen In other words, there is no one in the room who's non-essential No There 's nobody in the room that doesn't matter

Now you might go to your class in school And you might not matter to most people in your class In fact, if you're not there, they might even know you weren't there, right? You might go to work, and you might be a flower on the wall And no one knows whether you're there or not there Unless you're, of course, the person who writes the check and they don't get their check every Friday or every second Friday Okay? Then they would know you weren't there But in the church, everybody's valuable Everybody is needed Everybody is essential

So there's nobody in the room that doesn't matter. I can't say to Chris, Chris, you don't matter We don't need you You're non-ess. I can't say to Don, Don, get lost, dude We don't need you You mean nothing to us No Everybody plays a part. I can't go to Taylor and say, Taylor, go home Go on We don't need you here No, no, no, no Everybody in the room is essential That's why you have to recognize your essentiality. I don even know if that's a word or not Maybe it should be That you are so essential to the building of the body that without you, our building is incomplete

Because you have been divinely given to the church in this location, particularly at Christ Community Church Very important to understand that That's why Paul told Timothy: neglect not the gift that's in you Stir up the gift, Timothy, that's in you Evidently, Timothy had maybe gotten upset or hurt because somebody was 35 years of age, probably around that age, and people maybe didn't like his leadership or like his style of leadership or liked his preaching or whatever the case may be. I don know, and maybe he was all upset Was backing off and exercising his gifts And Paul said, Don't do that

Stir it up Don't neglect it Get back in the game Do what you in this case, get back in the church Do what you're supposed to do You are designed Do the work of an evangelist Fulfill your ministry Preach the word, Timothy Evidently Timothy had a speaking gift Maybe it was a word of exhortation Maybe he was the pastor-teacher He was a gift man given to the church Paul says, get back in there You're essential to the work of the ministry Say number seven, number eight Finally, number eight, their discovery How do you know what your spiritual gift is? Let me give you six words, real quick

Want to discover your spiritual gift? Want to know what your spiritual gift is? Number one, there needs to be a realization You got to realize, number one, they exist, and you got to realize you have one Right? Got to begin someplace Let's begin with a realization Have you realized you have a gift? Have you realized that you have something God's given to you that you do not deserve, that you did not earn, that is uniquely designed specifically for you, and no one else? Because you can do something that nobody else can But that's great You can do something that nobody else can

Because God g you a gift So, first of all, there's a realization Now, I believe that everybody has at least one Some have more than one, some have two, some have three There's always one that's dominant Okay? We'll talk about that as time goes on Number two, not just realization, but in form Okay, what does the Bible say about them? Where are they located? How are they defined? You need to get that information, right? So you to know what the gifts are What are the gifts? How are they used in scripture? And we'll go through all that with you so you understand that

But you can't be too quick to zero in on one gift Say, wow, those are all the gifts. I want that one. I hope I got this one Boy, I hope I don't have that one You know, can't do that Don't zero in on one gift or don't cancel out another gift Just make sure you're informed about all the gifts: real, information Number three Demonstration Key point What do others see? As you live out your Christian life within the body of Christ, what do other people see? That's very, very important Because you can think, you know, I got this gift. I am

Great at mercy. I am going to the hospital and I'm going to visit everybody And every time you show up at the hospital, they got a big X Don't let this guy in. I don want to see him Why? Because you don't have to get their mercy Nobody wants you there Especially a person who needs to be shown mercy They don't want you there And yet you think, I've got that gift Or you have the gift of teaching, and you get to teach, and everybody leaves the room And they just keep leaving and leaving and leaving. I've got the gift of teaching Where's everybody going? Don't have the gift, dude

Sorry. I know you might want the gift, but you haven't had the gift But others might say, I not sure got the gift, but everybody's coming Everybody's coming Everybody's coming Okay? Or I'm saying, you, I'm not sure. I had to get the mercy, but everybody wants you to go visit them at the hospital They want to see you They want you to pray with them They want you to hold their hand They want you to be there when they're sick Because of how you demonstrate to them great compassion and kindness and mercy That's important Realization, information, demonstration Here's a good one My favorite word

Excitation What gets you excited? What gets you excited? Listen, God knows you better than you know yourself God formed you in the womb of your mother God knew you before you were ever born Right? And God designed a gift specifically for you Not so you'd wake up one day Born again and so upset that you got the wrong gift Wow. I can't believe God did that. I can't believe that God would make a mistake like that. I know I should have this gift No, no But the other thing is, whatever you get excited about, That's your giftedness

For instance, I told you last week, I get excited to preach. I live for Wednesdays and Sundays Wednesday's a Sunday Going to Israel, preaching five, six times a day, I live to preach. I get so excited about preaching And as sick as I get when I go to Israel and when I come home from Israel, the excitement drives me through each and every day It's a chance to preach, preach, preach on locations Preach at our church But as much as I love preaching in Israel, I love being here with the people of Christ's Community Church And the weekend, the week out, deliver the truth to them

This is what gets me excited. I love doing this. I have never one time in 40 years of teaching and preaching got out of bed and said. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm too tired This is not interesting to me anymore. I'm done. I'm going do something else What on earth would I ever do? I can't do anything else This is all I can do. I can't do a blooming thing Something that breaks in my house, I got to call the home rep ministry to come fix it for me because I can't fix it So, what gets you excited? Because that gives you a hint as to how God's gifted you And you move from excitation to ev

In other words, what kind of impact have you made on people's lives? Are you making an impact? Evaluate that Have others evaluate that with you Because your gift is going to impact the body When I say impact, I mean make a dent You've made a significant impact in the body of Christ Listen, listen If for some reason you're not here, are you missed? If for some reason you can't make it, Are you missed? Does the ministry to some degree suffer imp because you're not here? You see, that's important

There's an evaluation that says, you know, what kind of difference am I making? Well, if you're gifted in a particular area and you're excited about that, listen, excitement's contagious People get fired up about those who are fired up That's why we get fired up It's one of those things that encouragement instills courage in other people And you move them on, and you get excited Listen, if I wasn't excited about preaching And I was up here thinking, man, you know what? I sure hope you love Jesus. I sure hope you read your Bible every once in a while No, man, you got to read your Bible

You to be in the Word You got to be sharing the gospel You got to be telling other people about Christ You got to be involved in service and ministry You to be involved in missionship Doing whatever you can for the glory of Christ You got to do it Now you begin to see I'm kind of excited about those things And so your evaluation is seen on the impact that you're making in people's lives through the ministry of your gift that touches them deeply It's important And lastly, domination Last word Domination This is probably the most important part of all

Why? Because you've got to walk in the Spirit You've got to be filled with the Spirit of God You got to be controlled The word filled in Ephesians 5:18, be filled with the Spirit of God, means to be controlled by the Spirit of God Pl, which means to be consumed and controlled by God's Spirit Why is that important? Because when you walk in the Spirit, this is what happens You don't fulfill the lust of the flesh, but you manifest the fruit of the Spirit in the exercise of your spiritual gift

And as you do that, as you walk in spirit day by day dependent upon God and His Word, trusting Him, dependent upon Him, one day you turn around and you look back and you see the difference you have made You say, ah Ah, now I know what my gift is Now I see it Now I get it Because you look back and seen exactly how God has used you So, make sure you are dominated by the Spirit of God walking in the Spirit day by day Let me pray with you Father, thank you for tonight Chance to be together once again You are so good

Thank you for those who are here. I pray that your word would have touched them deeply Give us journeys of mercies as we go home Keep us safe, that we might come back To serve and to minister within the body of Christ for the glory of your kingdom We pray this in Jesus' name Amen.