The Church: Its Meaning - The Platform for the Gifts of God

This morning I want to begin our time by looking at the church, its meaning, mission, and ministry by quoting to you a verse, a verse you probably know very well, but we don't like to apply very often. And that's Acts chapter 20, verse number 35. It is more blessing to give than it is to receive. Paul quotes the words of our Lord Jesus. He says, remember the words of our Lord Jesus. It's more blessing to give than it is to receive. Now, how many of us really actually believe that? Oh, we love to receive.

We love gifts. We love to get gifts. But how many of us really love to give gifts? Or how many of us really love to give of ourselves? Because the statement of Jesus is a monumental statement describing the character and nature of his life and what should be the character and nature of our lives. We should be givers and not takers. So the question comes, how well are you at giving? Now, think about the greatest opportunity you had to give the best gift ever. You might have to go back and do the recesses of your mind to remember those things, but I love to give gifts.

I love to give to my wife. That's a great joy of mine. And I love to be able to give her the right gift at the right time in the right moment. So there was an opportunity for me to give her her third diamond ring.

We lost the first two. The first one was lost two weeks before our wedding day. We were water skiing up at Lake Spofford in Vermont and she was in the water and she realized she had her wedding ring on and she said, Oh, I don't want to lose it, so let me take it off.

Will you hold it for me? So she takes it off and bloop, into the water it goes. And as I watch this shiny diamond go all the way down to the bottom of the lake, I'm thinking, Oh wow, this wedding is going to cost me a lot more than I ever dreamed it would. So we had to rush to get another diamond before the wedding and we did and the Lord provided for us. And so she was able to have that diamond ring on our wedding day. Well, it was at the birth of our daughter, Erin, that she was going into surgery because she was having a C-section.

She said, Will you hold my rings for me? I said, Sure, I'd be glad to. Lo and behold, I lost the second wedding ring.

That was at the birth of Erin. So that was in January of that year. And so we thought, Well, I better get her another diamond ring. And so I began to think about which kind of ring I wanted to get her. And we had gone shopping and looked at ones and she saw one she really liked. I thought, Wow, that's a really nice ring. But boy, that's an expensive ring. I'm going to have to do a lot of saving up for this one. So sure enough, that was in February and March of that year after Erin's birth. And so I began to save and to plan and to think of the best way I could purchase this gift for her and give it to her at the right moment.

So by October of that year, I had enough money set aside to buy that diamond ring. The exact one that she wanted. Right. And then once I purchased it, I wrapped it up and made sure there was a special occasion before Christmas on that year to give her this special gift. And so one night after the kids were all in bed, we sat down by the Christmas tree and I gave her the gift. She opened it up and boy, her heart was just overfilled with joy and tears began to run down her eyes. And I even began to cry.

She was crying because she received the gift that she so desperately wanted. And I was crying because I was flat broke. But the bottom line is that we were both crying. But what would have happened if she would have said to me, hey, you know what, I appreciate the gift. Let me open it later.

I would have said, why would you want to do that? I spent months planning this. I spent money making sure it was the right one. Why would you want to open it later? Or what if she would have said, you know what, I appreciate it, but I'm just not really interested in any gifts this year. What do you mean you're not interested in any gifts this year? I spent a lot of time and energy making sure it was the right one for you. What if she treated it with indifference or even dislike? Even after she picked it out, treated it with dislike.

I'd have been perplexed. I'd have wondered why. Well, think about it this way. The Lord is the bridegroom. We are the bride. He's given us a down payment. He's given us a wedding ring. He's given us the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that sealed us to the day of redemption. But with the Holy Spirit comes all these variety of gifts that he gives to his children. And he expects us to not only open the gift, but to use the gift for the glory of his name. And yet there are so many people in the church who treat the gifts with indifference.

I'll open it later. I don't want to know about it now. I could always wait till next week or next month or next year. And I wonder how the bridegroom feels about that. How he wonders why it is we as his children don't want to open the gifts that he's given to us. Because you see the church, and this is our 11th point, is it not? Yes, the 11th point in our outline. And that is the church is the platform for the gifts of the spirit. It's the platform for the gifts of the spirit. And the Lord expects us to be wise stewards and faithful stewards of the gift.

Do you realize that we are household managers? 1 Corinthians 4 verse 1 and 2 tell us that it's required of a steward that he be found faithful. And we are basically to be found faithful in four areas. Number one, we're to be faithful in temporal riches, right?

Because everything that we have comes from the Lord. So we are the household managers of God's riches. And so we're to be faithful stewards when it comes to temporal riches. We're to be faithful stewards when it comes to eternal reconciliation. Because we're stewards of the gospel and the ministry of reconciliation that we are to be faithful in dispensing that ministry on a regular basis. We are also to be faithful at personal relationships. Because we're placed in a body, a body that functions together.

And we are to show ourselves faithful in loving one another, in serving one another, in being kind to one another. But we're also to be faithful when it comes to spiritual resources. And those spiritual resources are given to us by the spirit of God that we might be used for the glory of God in His church. So very, very important. You know, for us to discover our spiritual gift, to develop that giftedness, and to dispense that giftedness is such a monumental ministry in the church. And the Lord has designed the church to be the platform by which the gifts of the spirit are used so that the body of Christ has this composite picture of who Christ is when they gather together so that others will know that Christ rules and reigns within the body.

This is absolutely essential. And this morning I'm going to give you three reasons why this is so important. Three reasons to help you understand the priority of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ and why the church is designed to be the platform for the gifts of the spirit. Okay? Number one is simply because our identity is wrapped up in spiritual gifts.

Our identity is wrapped up in spiritual gifts. I'm afraid that so many times we don't understand this. It was Oscar Wilde who was an 18th century poet and playwright who wrote these words. He says, in this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants and the other is getting it. It's his way of saying that once you climb the ladder of success and once you get there, success is never what you thought it was going to be. You spend all your resources, all your time and all your energy climbing the ladder of success only to get there and realize it's not all cracked up to what you thought it was going to be.

And that's unfortunate. You see, it's important that the pursuit of happiness never brings happiness. But the pursuit of God brings joy, peace, love and the blessings that God gives. Sometimes we don't understand that. But the bottom line is, is that your identity is not wrapped up in who you are. We think it is, but it's not. It's wrapped up in whose you are. That's very important. In the year 1996, they decided to auction off the wooden golf clubs of the late John F. Kennedy, one of our former presidents.

And they auctioned them off for $772,500. And there were only four of them. That's a lot of money for wooden golf clubs. But you see, they were valuable, not because they were wooden, but because of whose they were. In the year 2010, they auctioned off his wife's, the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the one who changed the whole picture of the first lady in the White House, her pearl necklace that she wore, her famed pearl necklace, for $211,000.

And they were fake pearls. But because she wore them and she owned them, they were valuable. You see, we forget that our value is wrapped up in whose we are, that we are possessed by God. And our identity, listen carefully, our identity is wrapped up in the very fact that we are a very special people. We covered it under point number two when we talked about how the church is the possession of the living God.

Remember what it says over in 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, verse number nine. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. For you were once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. In other words, you're now the people of God because you're owned by God. Your identity is wrapped up in the fact that you're a very special person, not because of who you are, but because of who owns you.

In fact, it says over in the book of Titus, Titus chapter two, verse number 14, that Christ 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. A people of His own possession. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are special people. We're God's own possession. He owns us. We've been bought with a price, not with things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the land. He purchased us and He brought us into His kingdom.

And now what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God, the children of God, 1 John 3.1. So we are the children of the living God. So our identity is wrapped up in that we are a special people. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a servant people. You understand that, right? We are a servant people. Our Lord took on the form of a bondservant. Philippians chapter two, became a man, became obedient unto God, even the death of the cross. But He took on the form of a bondservant.

And He was the one who said these words, Mark 10, verse number 45, for the Son of Man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many. Now listen, 2 Peter 1.4 says that we now are partakers of His divine nature. In other words, part of our DNA, spiritual DNA, is that now we become servant people. That's our identity. That's who we are. If we are partakers of the divine nature and our Lord is a consummate servant, then we now become by nature, servants of the living God.

Paul would refer to himself as a bondslave of Christ because he was called upon to serve, not just as God, but the people of God. So our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a special people, that we are a servant people and we've been called to serve. You see, service is by nature who we are in Christ. So when we come to church, we come to serve. In your marriage, your marriage is best defined on how you serve one another. If you choose not to serve your spouse, things don't go so well.

But if you plan to serve them and minister to them, great things begin to happen because your eyes are off of yourself and onto them, right where they should be, as you seek to minister to them. And when you come to church, you come to serve, right? But it's so hard to do that because we get so consumed with us. But that's where you need to understand that not only we are special people, not only we are servant people, we are a, listen carefully, a supernatural people. We are a supernatural people.

Why? Because God lives in us. The Holy Spirit lives in you and me. In other words, we are energized and enabled by the power of the living God. 2 Timothy 1.7 tells us that he has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of what? Power and of love and of self-discipline. We have that power simply because of the power of the living God residing in you and me. So therefore, we are able to accomplish everything that God wants us to accomplish because he's given us the resources to make that happen.

That's why Paul's prayer in the book of Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one, his prayer was this, Paul's prayer for those in Ephesus was that they might understand the true power of the living God, the same power that raised him from the dead, that we as believers might understand the power of God working in you and me. So Paul says in Philippians 3 verse number 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. In other words, we are a supernatural kind of people. John 14, we read it last week.

He will send us another comforter and he will be in you, the spirit of God. And Christ says, I will be in you and my father will be in you.

In other words, we are a supernatural people able to accomplish all the things that God wants us to accomplish in the spiritual realm simply because of the power of God that resides in you and me. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a special people, a servant people, a supernatural people and a spiritually gifted people. A spiritually gifted people. We need to understand that the Bible is very clear in first Peter chapter four, verse number 10, when Peter says this, as each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God. Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. In the Old Testament, Israel was the vehicle by which God would present himself to the pagan world. When Christ came, he now was that vehicle. When he died and rose again and ascended into heaven, he birthed the church.

And now that church is the vehicle by which he uses to demonstrate who he is and what he does. And our identity is wrapped in the fact that we have been given a gift that helps us understand who we are in Christ Jesus, our Lord. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number 18, these words.

But now God has set or placed the members, each one of them in the body just as he desired. In other words, he has set you, he has in his foreordained plan, in his sovereignty, specifically, individually placed you in the body of Christ that you might be used for his glory and for his honor. And part of your spiritual DNA is that now you are a spiritually gifted person to be used to help build the body of Christ as we seek to honor the true and living God. Now note this. We are a spiritually gifted people.

And those gifts are to be used specifically and primarily within the local body of Christ. But they can be used generally in the universal body of Christ as well. For instance, when you leave here today, you don't stop being a spiritually gifted person. Nor do you stop being a special person possessed by God. Nor do you stop being a supernatural person possessed by the spirit of God. Why? Because that's your identity. That's who you are. So this Friday, I went to go speak at Arrowhead Christian School where my son teaches.

I told you I was going to, a couple weeks ago, I was going to speak on Grandparents Day, right? So here I go to speak at two different chapels at this school on Friday. And I walk in and I am introduced to the guy who's leading the worship that morning and someone else and this other man who's one of the administrators there at the school. And I walk up to him and he walks up to me and we shake hands. He goes, my name is Brian Bell and you were my college pastor at the King's College, New York. I said, really?

He said, yes. He goes, as soon as I saw your face, I knew who you were. You haven't changed a bit. And I told him, studliness has no age. Once studly, always studly. He laughed, I laughed. But the bottom line is, he goes, when I met your son, I didn't put two and two together. I don't know any sparks except your son and you, but I never put two and two together. But as soon as I walked into the gym, I saw you, you never change. You look the same as you did over 40 years ago. I said, I've been trying to tell my church that for years.

They don't believe me. But the bottom line is, so I go to this assembly. What do I do? I exercise my gift, my spiritual gift. I teach, I preach, because that's what I do, right? I don't change my identity when I leave the doors of the church. I'm still a spiritually gifted person. And I'm gonna use that in a universal church setting so people can be edified, so people can be grown, so people understand the truth of the word of God. Because by nature, I'm a spiritually gifted person who has the gift of exhortation, who has the gift of teaching.

So I exercise that gift. Primarily, it's here at the church. Specifically, it's here at the church. But it doesn't mean I can't use it outside the church in different arenas where I'm able to encourage people in their walk with the Lord that they might understand Christ and who He is. Very important to understand that. So understand this, that our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we are a spiritually gifted people. And God has given you that gift. The question is, how have you unwrapped the gift?

But number two, note this. Our mentality is warped about spiritual gifts. Our identity is wrapped up in the fact that we're spiritually gifted, but our mentality is warped when it comes to spiritual gifts. In other words, we don't understand that much about them. That's why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number one, Brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.

I don't want you to be unaware of spiritual gifts. But isn't it ironic how unaware we are of spiritual gifts? We don't know where they're located in the Bible. We don't know how many there are. We can't define them. We can't describe them. We don't understand the difference between a permanent gift and a temporary gift. That the permanent gifts were given for edification. The temporary gifts were given for confirmation. And the temporary gifts never edified the body. Only the permanent gifts do that.

Most people don't understand that. They're confused. Our mentality is warped about spiritual gifts. How many are there? What is my gift? And that's unfortunate. That's why Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 11, we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. He doesn't want you to be ignorant about Satan's devices because Satan loves to cause chaos concerning spiritual gifts. He loves to cause confusion surrounding spiritual gifts. He loves to disrupt the body when it comes to spiritual gifts. So Paul would say, we're not ignorant of Satan's devices.

But isn't it interesting that we are truly ignorant of Satan's devices and how he operates? We think our biggest enemy is our spouse or our boss. That's not your biggest enemy. It's Satan. He's the enemy. And so we realize that Satan has all these devices, but we become very, very ignorant about Satan's devices like we are about spiritual gifts. Paul would say over in 2 Corinthians 8, I don't want you to be ignorant concerning suffering. But isn't it interesting how ignorant we are about suffering when it comes to the believer's life and how God ordains suffering and difficulty and how confused we can be about those things?

You see, it's so important for us to realize that when Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant about something, he means it. And so therefore, spiritual gifts, Satanic devices, suffering, okay, are all things that Paul says, I don't want you to be ignorant about. He also says in 1 Thessalonians 4, I don't want you to be ignorant about the second coming of the Messiah.

But boy, I tell you, there's a lot of ignorance about the second coming of the Messiah. But there needs not to be. So Paul makes it very clear, I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts. Why? Because they're so important to you as an individual because they express your identity in Christ, who you are and how you live your life. One person said it this way, the undertaking of spiritual gifts is critical to the life of the body of Christ and the testimony of the gospel in the world. The total body will never be what it could be or what Jesus prayed that it would be or what the Holy Spirit gifted and empowered it to be until we all are no longer ignorant about spiritual gifts.

Wow. Most of us don't even know how to obtain a spiritual gift. You don't go to the spiritual gift store and pick out a gift. Okay? You say, well, I want this one. I don't want that one. I want this one. It doesn't work that way. You can't pick out your gift. It's divinely and sovereignly given to you by God specifically for you. It's part of your spiritual DNA and you're to exercise that. And if you don't exercise it, you have an identity crisis in the church. You don't know who you are, why you're here, what you're supposed to be doing, and there's no need for that as long as you understand that God has gifted you and wants to use you for his glory in his body to help build that body for the glory of his kingdom.

So why are they so important? Number one, my identity is wrapped up in them. Number two, our mentality is warped about them.

That needs to change. And number three, our ministry is weak without them. Our ministry is weak without them. Our ministry is only as strong as our weakest link, right? And if you're not exercising your giftedness in the body of Christ, then it adds to the weakness of the church, not the strength of the church. So Paul says these words in 1 Corinthians 12, verse number seven. He says, For to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good. For the common good. And then he says over in verse number 25, these words.

But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. There are divisions in the body because we minimize certain gifts. Or there is not enough care in the body because you don't maximize certain gifts. And therefore, we need to realize that our ministry is only as strong as each and every one of you minister for Christ. How many times have I told you, you're the minister.

I'm not the minister. You're the ministers. You're what makes the church what it is. And when you exercise your giftedness in a very unique and special way, then God uses you and you begin to see the fullness. So you begin to understand Acts 20 verse number 35. It's more blessing to give than it is to receive because you're always exercising a giving pattern. You're giving of your life. You're giving of yourself. You're using your giftedness to bring glory to the Lord. And when you do, you begin to see the benefits of that flow into the body of Christ and you begin to realize that God wants to use you in a mighty way.

There's a reason we have a class on spiritual gifts. There's a reason why we make sure we teach it every year so you understand it. It's going on right now in second service.

During our second service this morning, it'll be going on again just because we want you to understand the importance of giftedness.

This is so crucial. You know, people don't understand gifts. They should be. When I was the college pastor at the King's College, I had a secretary for four years that I was there. And she was a student and she had a twin sister. Her twin sister was killed in a car accident. And my secretary was a beloved part of the student body at the King's College. Sweet, sweet young lady. And everybody loved her. And one day there were four students from the King's College that decided to go to the morgue and raise her dead sister from the dead.

And so they went to the morgue. And they left early in the morning because it was about a two and a half hour drive. Came back later that afternoon. And I met them in the lobby of the main building. I came walking in, all four of them. And so I knew what they had gone to do because my secretary had told me what was happening. So I sat them down and I said, hey, how'd it go? Was she raised from the dead? They shook their heads despondently. No, no, she wasn't. I said, did you actually think that you were gonna raise her from the dead?

Her body was already embalmed. And now you're gonna raise her from the dead? And they said, no joke. They said, well, we went and prayed. And she told us that she didn't wanna leave the place she was in. I said, really? She told you that? Yeah, yeah. So we realized that it was a futile effort to try to raise her, which she didn't wanna come back anyway. Those are people who are ignorant of spiritual gifts. They don't understand them. Between a permanent gift and a temporary gift, a gift for confirmation versus a gift of edification, they did not get that.

They had grasped that. And so I began to counsel with them and talk with them about certain things. Their minds were unchanged. But that's how warped people's minds can get about spiritual gifts. And yet, the church is a platform for the gifts of the Spirit. So how do you know what your gift is? How would you discover your gift? I have six minutes, so I'm gonna give you six points. Six minutes, six words, put it that way. Six minutes, six words to help you understand how to discover your spiritual gift.

Okay? It's not hard. It's very simple. Number one, there comes a realization. That is, you all have one. Each one has received a gift. First Peter 4, verse number 10.

So employ it in serving one another. There comes a realization that everyone who's a born-again believer has a spiritual gift. If you're here today and you don't know Christ, the gift of eternal life is still waiting to be unwrapped for you. But once we receive the gift of eternal life, now you receive the gift of the Spirit, and the gift of the Spirit enables you to enact the gifts that God has given to each one of us. So you must understand that you have a spiritual gift. Some might have more than one, but primarily everybody has at least one, and a lot of people have more than one that are used in secondary issues, but you have at least one spiritual gift, a divine enablement whereby God uses you to edify the body of Christ.

Number two, there comes information. Once you realize you have one, then you need to understand what they are, where they are, and what do they mean. Too quickly we want to exclude certain gifts from our list or try to choose a certain gift that we want to use in the body. It doesn't work that way, okay? God knows you better than you know yourself. So you can't choose your gift. You shouldn't exclude gifts because God, in His Word, has given to you a special spiritual gift. You are His possession.

He wants to supernaturally enable you to accomplish that as His child, that you might build the body of Christ for the glory of His kingdom, and that within that body there are no small gifts. There are no minuscule gifts. There are no gifts that don't matter. They all matter. They're all extremely important. In fact, the most important ones are never seen. You don't see them. That's what makes the church function. That's what makes the lights come on, the heat run, or the air conditioner, whatever the case may be.

But a lot of people work behind the scenes, and because of them the church is able to function. So there needs to be a realization that I have one. There needs to be information about where they are, why they exist, how they exist in my life that I might be able to exercise it for the glory of God's kingdom. Number three, demonstration.

Demonstration. What is it you are already doing and demonstrating within the body of Christ? Looking to a more mature believer in the church, looking to an elder or a pastor or someone who is the leadership in the church, and having them affirm the fact that as you have served in the church that you are demonstrating the fact that this giftedness truly is your gifted area. That's very, very important. Now, if you're not serving, you're not demonstrating anything, right? So no one can really come along and guide you and direct you in the right way.

Sometimes you're in an arena that is not the best fit for you. So be mature enough to be able to hear what the more mature person says and says, you know what, maybe this is the place you need to be. Let's say you think you got to get to teaching. You're teaching and the class goes from 20 to two. You might not have the gift, right? Good chance you don't. If the class just keeps dwindling, maybe you don't have the gift. And so therefore, a more mature person would say, you know what, maybe this is a better arena for you to fulfill your giftedness area because I can see this in you and that in you, but the teaching thing, I don't think that's your giftedness.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't teach in the church or you shouldn't teach in some capacity in the church or you shouldn't teach your children because all of us are to be teachers to some extent because we're going to all the world and make disciples and to teach them to obey all that God has commended them. But there needs to be a demonstration, right? So once there's a realization that I have one and there's information about them and where they exist and how many they are and how they function, then there needs to be a demonstration of it in my life.

And therefore you realize that as you begin to demonstrate your spiritual giftedness, it is affirmed by those around you. Okay, it's affirmed. The fourth word is this, my favorite word, excitation. There's an excitation about the ministry. There's great jubilation about the ministry. You can't wait to do the ministry. You see, God is so great and so perfect that he doesn't give you a gift that will depress you, give you a gift that will put you on the wrong course. No, he knows exactly what you need, when you need it and how it's going to operate and it gets you excited about doing it.

If you are not excited about the ministry you're involved in, that's probably not your gifted area. Probably need to move to another area, right? Asking the Lord for wisdom. But it comes primarily because this is what I love to do. This is what I'm excited about doing. This is why I love going to church. Why? I'm going to church to exercise my giftedness. It's more blessed to give than it is to receive. So I'm going to church not to get anything, but to give everything. Could you imagine if we all had that mentality?

I'm going to church to give. I'm going to give my time, my talents, my treasures. I'm going to come because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive, that's why I'm here. You get excited about it. So you have to ask yourself the question, what excites you about church ministry? Oh, by the way, if nothing excites you about church ministry, maybe you don't know the Lord. There's a good chance you don't know the Lord. Because how can you not know the Lord and be excited about ministry for the Lord, right?

It excites you. Number five, evaluation. I've gone past my six minutes, sorry. Evaluation. In other words, what have you done in the past? What have you done in the past? And number six goes right with it, and that is domination. In other words, when you look at your life and you evaluate it, and you look back on your life, how has your life impacted other people for the sake of the gospel?

How has it impacted other people that they might grow in their walk with the Lord? How has it impacted them so that they now are understanding the things of the scriptures? There's an evaluation that must always take place. Is my life demonstrating Christ to the point where I am exercising my giftedness so others around me are growing spiritually, and they are able to see their growth? Because you look back and you realize, oh, that's the area God has gifted me in. Now I understand it. And that sixth word, domination, means, the bottom line is not how I define the spiritual gift, but am I dominated by the Spirit who gives the gifts?

In other words, am I controlled by the Spirit? Am I walking in the Spirit? Because if you're walking in the Spirit, you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. Guess what? As you walk in the Spirit, dependent upon Him, He uses you, and you exercise that giftedness in an arena that allows you to grow other people in their walk with the Lord. Just six words that once understood help direct you in a way that says, God has gifted me, and I want to be used for His glory in His kingdom so others can produce or move toward maturity in Christ because of how God is using me in their lives.

There is no invaluable person in God's possession. Everybody's valuable. And everybody's to be used for His glory. And my encouragement to you is that you need to understand your giftedness and how God wants to use you within the body of Christ so that we might all grow together to the fullness of Christ. So people come in, they see Christ in operation through the gift of service and the gift of mercy. You know, people say, well, I sing. Is that a spiritual gift? No, singing's not a spiritual gift.

Singing's a talent. There's different spiritual gifts and talents. But the exercise of a talent, okay, your exercise of that talent, then, is a use of your spiritual gift in the church. It could be in the category of service. It could be in the category of helps. It could be in the category of leadership. But you're exercising of a talent that God's already gifted you in. That spiritual gift now is going to be seen in other areas because you're helping move the body of Christ toward maturity in Christ.

So important. If you have the gift of helps, you're like Onosiphorus in 2 Timothy 1. You bring profit to those who are in need. And the gift of service, you help relieve responsibility. You help serve in different capacities in the church. So others can be ministered to. If you have the gift of mercy, you're involved in hospital ministry, jail ministry, homeless ministry. You want to be used to show comfort and provide loving kindness to those in need. I mean, the sky's the limit in terms of how those spiritual gifts are manifested within the body.

But what I want you to see is that God has specifically chosen you to be His possession if you're in His kingdom. And those who are a part of His family, His flock, we are living stones. We are not an organization. We are an organism, right? A corpse is organized, right? Even when it lies there, it's organized. Everything is in its place. But it's not living. The church is a living organism. That's why we're called living stones. We are a living, active organism where every person plays an extremely vital part in the maturity and growth of the local assembly.

My prayer for you and for me is that as we understand that, God uses us in great and mighty ways. Let's pray together. Father, we thank You, Lord, for the opportunity You have to give us to be here today. We are grateful, Lord, for Your Word. We're grateful, most importantly, Lord, for You. We thank You for Your salvation, Your redemption. We thank You, Lord, for the things that You've done. Our prayer, Lord, today is that You would use us in a mighty way for the glory of Your kingdom. That each of us in the room would realize that we are Your possession, specifically gifted to be used to build the body of Christ for the glory of Your kingdom.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.