In this Fundamentals of the Faith lesson, Mark Twombly finishes discussing the topic of spiritual gifts, distinguishing between the temporary miraculous gifts of Bible times and the other supernatural gifts true Christians are to use in ministering to one another today.
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and welcome to spiritual gifts part two so uh we’ve got a lot to talk about today so uh let me kick us right off um I’ll ask a couple questions and then we will Dive Right In uh the key passage for this lesson with the memory verse is actually verse S here 1 Corinthians 12 4-7 now there are varieties of gifts but the same spirit and there are varieties of Ministries and the same Lord there are varieties of effects but the same God who works all things in all persons but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good LSB says for that which is profitable and I’ve talked about this uh in last week a little bit that our spiritual gifts are really the spiritual DNA that God has put into us we’re going to talk a little bit more about that but before we do would you pray with me Father God we pray that you would continue to give us a compelling vision of Christ for the church that you would Captivate Us with the beauty of Christ and the desire to grow into His Image both individually and corporately give us specific wisdom today to understand spiritual gifts generally and to discern specifically how you have gifted each of your people and how we should serve like Jesus father may it be our desire to do only the things that are pleasing to you and that our food would be to do your will and to accomplish your work help us to derive Heavenly character and strength from you and a heart to serve others with those resources counting others as more important than ourselves like Jesus may we seek to serve and not to be served knowing it is infinitely better to give than to receive help us to see all things today in the light of in the Light of Christ ourselves in your image the church in its fullness the world under your rule and the universe under your Reign we pray all these things in Jesus name amen amen we will do A Brief Review if you’re in your workbooks uh we are picking it up on page 74 uh we covered uh the nature and provision of spiritual gifts last week um and today we’re going to talk about understanding the gifts we’re going to talk about uh the exercise of the spiritual gifts um and how they are to be applied in our lives so I hope you are inspired and energized by this for some of you this is brand new material uh for some of us it’s review but I I get so energized and excited by this topic because I see how personal how perfect God’s work is so last week we talked about the source of spiritual gifts which is the holy spirit God himself gifts comes from the word Charisma right and so let’s not forget these are spiritual gifts these are not things that we generate of ourselves nor are they talents and skills God has also given us those but spiritual gifts are something altogether different the destination what are spiritual gifts to be directed toward toward all True Believers right um as each one has received a special gift it says in 1 Peter 4:10 employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God and then the purpose is building up building up one another that God may be glorified right I think we talked a little bit last week that our gifts aren’t there to impress people but to impact people you know Jesus was really clear with the Pharisees that if we do our good works to be seen by others we lose our reward and that does not please him so thinking about this from the perspective of the one who gives gifts and the one who sees all things is incredibly energizing and exciting for us so I hope I hope the Lord Works in Us in such a way uh and deepens that in us today so the primary passage is on spiritual gifts we emphasized last week are Romans 12 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 really two lists and then something a bit about how those gifts are to be how we are to be unified in those gifts and how uh they are to be operated you know I like to think of of the body and and the spiritual gifts kind of like an orchestra do we have any music people here any people who play instruments yeah and so you know the importance of a conductor right you you know the importance of a score right of all being on the same sheet of music right we know what it’s like when it’s not that way and so that’s a beautiful thing I think to think about when um when we think about spiritual gifts that God is the head he’s the conductor he’s not only orchestrating all of it but he’s he given us all the gifts you know yesterday um I was at a Veterans Day um celebration that Jackson’s marching B was part of and I was just marveling I love brass I’m a trombone player and I just so at the end they played taps with just a trumpet player but then the whole brass section filled in with some Harmony and it was just magnificent when you think about how those things work together no individual person can produce that right and the body is the same way none of none of us has all of the spiritual gifts but God has so composed the body in a beautiful way that there’s Harmony and there’s growth so let’s continue to explore that together so uh the lists of the gifts right and so we’re going to talk a little bit more today about temporary and permanent gifts and what distinguishes those so our first list is what we call temporary or what I call foundational gifts because they were foundational to the um the establishment of the early church and the creation of the canid of scripture right so these were foundational for that so you had Miracles healing and tongues and interpretation of tongues now tongues I think I mentioned last week is an unfortunate translation of the word it really means languages so this idea that we have in the modern in our modern society of ecstatic utterances that don’t mean anything that’s utterly unknown to the scriptures that’s not what tongues is and so that’s one of the things that we want to really look for as we discern what’s going on around us do we understand the definitions of these gifts and are these definitions and guidelines and commands being applied properly I think we find that in some ways if if you w if you’ve listened to the the MacArthur sermon that I recommended or watched the movie sensation is you see how in modern times people have tried to change those to non-biblical definitions and it’s led to a lot of conf confusion so what I call the permanent gifts or the edifying gifts right that are clearly you know without question edifying are these prophecy which we’ll discover is not telling the future but forthtelling the truth of God’s word right teaching which is closely related to that Faith wisdom knowledge discernment Mercy exhortation giving leadership helps and service you know I was almost tempted to categorize these as the kind of the more visible and the more background gifts but I think we’ve established from 1 Corinthians 12 and other passages that just because some gifts are more visible doesn’t mean they’re more valuable we want to be really really clear about that and and I think we’ll discover why that is as we continue today so let’s get into what the temporary or foundational gifts are first is Miracles right Miracle is and so what I’ve done here so uh in your book if you’re on pages 74 and 75 there are some definitions there some of the definitions that I’ve given are kind of modifications or or amplifications of that um that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with these definitions I’ll be honest with you this is this has been a topic of study and teaching for me for a long time I’ve spent a lot of time looking into this and every time I look at it it’s really fresh and wonderful I just marvel I Marvel at God’s design for the church and I hope you do as well so Miracle Miracles are the ability to do wonders and signs Miracle is an act outside of the laws of nature right one of the things to think about is that when you see a miracle you know it I know that sounds obvious right but think about that with regard to some of the things you might see in public today right someone someone claims to have a miracle but is it obviously a miracle think about how they were in the in the New Testament when Jesus healed someone it was obvious they were healed if someone’s blind from birth walks around and the parents are like he’s never seen before he’s never walked before right these things are obvious and so we see these kinds of miracles in the Old and New Testament healing right kind of overlaps a bit here it’s the ability to call on God and have him heal the Sick by Supernatural means and keep in mind I want to make a distinction here we’re not saying that God doesn’t do these things at times today right when we think about healing we think of the of the guidance in James chapter 5 and others that if anyone is sick let him call the Elders have him lay them lay hands on him and pray and that person may be healed right this happens right what we’re talking about here is people who have these specific gifts so when we use the word cessationist when we talk about temporary permanent we’re not saying that God doesn’t do the miraculous today let’s be really clear about that and let’s be really clear that salvation is a rising from the dead spiritually and there’s no greater Miracle than that right God is doing this every day right that’s healing and then tongues or languages it’s the ability to speak a language unknown to the speaker to communicate the truth to unbelievers and we see this clearly shown uh at Pentecost right where the apostles were speaking tongues they didn’t know but they were people from all over the world who were able to hear God’s word because of that and by the way that shows that that’s kind of a preview to God translating his word into other languages which is a huge thing today uh I talked to some of my Muslim friends who um for them to be faithful Muslims they have to learn Arabic right they they do not consider translations of the Quran to be legitimate right so I can say I’ve read the Quran because I’ve read it in English but they would say that I haven’t because I haven’t taken the time time to learn Arabic right God’s word and his gospel is broader than that more diverse than that expands it transcends culture and language that’s just a beautiful thing and so that the early expression of tongues showed that people understood the gospel and were being saved through the use of these languages at that time so let’s think about when we think about the miraculous oh I’m sorry one more interpretation the ability to translate the language for the benefit of the body right um Paul talks about this in First Corinthians 14 about what good is is is it if it’s not understood by someone right we’ll get into that a little bit more and so um we see that the tongues had a purpose and that was to communicate the word of God I’ll get ahead of myself a little bit by saying all of these things were not ends in themselves but signs to point people to God and His word right where we get our greatest Delight we’re not the Jesus I think was really clear about this you came to me because you seek signs you don’t seek the truth so this is something that we have to think about in our own lives right we may not necessarily consider ourselves charismatic in the modern sense but do we seek an experience right an ecstatic experience more than God and His word we have to really be careful how we think about that because there is great Delight in God’s word Peter said this in 1 Peter 1 he said though you have not seen him you love him and do and though you do not see him now but believe in him you greatly Rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of Glory so I want to challenge us with this that we need to be able to experience and display Delight in what God is doing even if it’s not these specific miraculous things does that make sense okay okay all right so how common were miraculous gifts in Biblical history this was very eye openening for me when I first started to look at it bear with me here I’m having technical difficulties all right all right there we go I was surprised to learn how uncommon they were and this might surprise you as well these were the times where the miraculous were seeing in Biblical history in the times of Moses and Joshua right you have those years approximate 1445 to 1385 BC Elijah and Elisha a little bit later 1870 to BC and then Jesus and the apostles ad.
30 to 100 right these were the only times in Biblical history that the miraculous was seen and and I think if we don’t think about it I know my perception my impression was that oh well Miracles were just a common thing in Biblical history it turns out when you really study it that’s not the case and there’s a particular purpose here in each in each case so out of approximately 4,000 years of Biblical history miraculous signs were occurring in less than 200 of those that might surprise you I know it surprised me yeah was God less active in those other 3,800 years anyone want to take a stab at that was God just of course not right what was he doing what was God doing when the miraculous wasn’t there working in his people right he gave them his word right he gave them the the law and the prophets right right and then the prophets were um were still preaching and and and taking taking God’s word and giving it to the people so the question was were they listening and were they faithful to it right I think the and we’ll get into this a little bit the sufficiency of God’s revealed word which was clearly enough God never leaves us without what we need to seek Him it has always been even as scripture progressed throughout history as it was being developed God always gave his people what they needed and he always gives us what we need today so let’s rejoice in that couple things to think about here we always remind ourselves what the purpose of the gifts is I’m going to I’m going to kind of harp on this a little bit right it is the manifestation of the spirit for the common good who gets the glory who gets the attention in that scenario it’s him right whether it’s someone up front like me teaching or Pastor as he gives a sermon later and all that what do you come away thinking about right if it’s if it’s exercise properly We Come Away much more impressed with God and his work than the instrument that he uses right so so important that that be our attention you know I I think of so many places where I’ve been where people will say well this person is so skilled this person is so elequent okay what about their character right what do they like when no one’s watching right how would they serve me I’m going to send the SL I see you guys taking pictures of the slides that’s great I’ll set them out later so just you know I want to relieve you of that so and then Ephesians 4:15 through6 right um but speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head even Christ from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies according to the proper working of each individual part causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love now why do I put this in here uh in a section on distinguishing temporary and permanent gifts it’s because we’re looking at the motivation and the source right which is Christ himself and what he has provided and we’re going to we’re going to focus on the proper working of each individual part now part of what I want to emphasize here is that I hear sometimes people Express sentiments like they’ll see something that’s a non-biblical I think clearly non-biblical but claim to be Christian expression right and they say well well God can use anything who’s to say God can’t use that drives me crazy because affirmation of what God says he does use is much more important than speculation of what he can use right I think we have enough to go on about what God says he will do rather than us speculate on frankly nonsense and to be distracted right God has given us us enough to go on one of the things to think about as well is how unifying are the expression of the gifts right that is a fruit of the gifts if it’s from the spirit couple other thoughts on this Colossians 3:16 let the word of Christ dwell on you richly with with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another right um this is why we’re here today this is why we meet in smaller groups our our following the conductor our Lord in our individual time in the word is vital to us working together and sharing those things with one another I said this before I said it directly to you Mike and her small group and other folks I need you to walk with God this week I need you to be in the word of God this week because God’s going to give you something that I’m going to need to hear and I’m and and and vice versa right so that’s that’s how the body works and then simply just very familiar verse to us to many of us and we really think about how this works right all scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching for reprove for correction for training and righteousness so that the man of God may be equipped having been thoroughly equipped for every good work and what the word does in US is what we are to do with one another right the word right it teaches reproves corrects and trains us and that’s what we bring to one another you notice two of those are positive if you will kind of right teaching training but in between there’s reproof and correction right that’s a regular part of our diet in the word that’s a regular part of our interaction with one another and I think a couple weeks ago Glenda you kind of L us on a journey of talking about what that looks like stimulating one another to love and Good Deeds means sometimes having very real and very difficult conversations right um if there’s sin in my life that needs to be reproved I need my brothers and sisters to help me with that right and you do too all right just one of the thought on the sufficiency of scripture and that’s really I think what the main issue is when we look at temporary and permanent gifts um so then you were no longer strangers and sojourners but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and are of God’s household having been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Christ Jesus himself being the Cornerstone in whom whom the whole building being joined together is growing into a holy sanctuary in the Lord in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit John McArthur says this the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets refers to the divine revelation that they taught which in its written form is in the New Testament is the New Testament right so that’s a foundation for us once you build a building you don’t keep building the foundation you build on the foundation right so the foundation is the the fixed revelation of the New Testament that God’s given us through the apostles and the prophets um yeah I have more to say about that but we’ll we’ll wait on that so let’s think about this how how the the miraculous and the scripture intersect right so we’re going to talk about three sources of the scripture the first is prophets and we go all the way back to the Old Testament um for those of you who are with us in Exodus in Iron Man you’ve seen this right Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which he had sent him and all the signs that he had commanded him to do he then did the signs in the sight of the people so the people believed right the sign was there to confirm and validate that the message was true right that was its purpose the sign went away the Revelation which we have remained remained second source of scripture Jesus himself right Jesus answered them I told you and you do not believe me believe the works that I do in my father’s name these bear witness of me right and you see this throughout the miraculous as Jesus heals people no one could do the signs that he did unless God was with him right there was no question when a miracle occurred that had occurred it was undeniable Jesus said or in Acts it says uh I think it’s Peter says this men of Israel listen to these words Jesus the Nazarene a man attested to you by God with Miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst just as you yourselves know he’s talking to people who saw who were eyewitnesses to these things right attested as being from God by The Miracles that he did right there were a lot of false Messiah at that time none of them could do the things that Jesus did and then thirdly third source of scripture here is the apostles right there’s a lot that could be said here but I think this verse sums it up probably better than any 2 Corinthians 12:12 the signs of a true Apostle were worked out among you with all perseverance by signs and wonders and miracles right how were people at that day to distinguish between what was true and what was false right if you had two self-proclaimed prophets or Apostles that were saying different things which one would you believe you’d believe the one attested to by signs and wonders that God was doing through them this was God’s means of affirming the message right and isn’t it interesting as we think about Jesus and the apostles that people would continually come to him because they wanted to see signs they wanted to be entertained and even Jesus and the apostles though they did those things directed their attention away from those things toward the truth of God’s word that’s what the signs were for how I think God knows how easily we get distracted you know especially in this culture there’s so many things to to entertain us right God would direct our attention to something that might seem more might seem more boring but is actually better so praise the Lord for that Leela miracul yeah great Point uh I hadn’t given that much thought I’d have to study that the word perseverance there I think at least we want to say there’s a consistency right that um he who perseveres to the end will will be saved and the fact that the the apostles did persevere to their to their martyrdom probably is really good evidence of that I hadn’t really thought about that Leela that’s a great Point yeah yeah and we see in Jude and in first and second Peter contrasting with the false teachers who were really about themselves and their own pleasures and their own Glory a vast difference right um You can look through um in acts in 1 and 2 Corinthians some of the things that the apostles went through right um for the the sake of the Gospel yeah and false teachers generally don’t make sacrifices yeah that’s that’s great evidence thank you for that thank you for that Leela okay and then I want to just point your attention to and I I think I’ve alluded to this to to the limits of the miraculous turn with me if you will to Luke um 16 and this is a parable that Jesus taught and uh so important for us to recognize the truth of this and Jesus gave a parable and I’ll just pick up a couple verses from it it begins actually in verse 19 uh the rich man of Lazarus and so the idea is that someone had died and um and were suffering right in in in eternal torment and they said somebody send someone please go back and warn warn my family to avoid this place right and it ends with um well in verse 30 but he said’ no Father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent but he said to him and this is the verse on your screen right if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead this was not theoretical right you realize this actually happened Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead people saw that some believed the authority said well now we need to kill him right this is what I call the limits of apologetics right people say um well if God showed up and spoke to me you know I’d believe well you realize that actually happened right and people did it right this speaks to us of the sufficiency of God’s word if they don’t believe what God has already revealed even if a miracle happens they won’t believe that’s real Mike and there you go exactly are you reading my notes that’s next to my notes Jesus rose from the dead and still people didn’t believe yeah right that that’s that’s really worth thinking about yeah yeah the Risen Jesus so I think that I think we need to think about that when we think about evangelism right how how dependent on we we are for God to give the effectual call for someone to be risen from the dead spiritually you can give the best gospel presentation per you know you can do it perfectly Jesus did it perfectly it’s worth thinking about right and so we trust in him to work through his Spirit as he reveals the word to people one more thought on this I’m I’m emphasizing this I’m spending a little bit more time on this because it’s really important and I think is at the Crux of how we understand temporary uh versus permanent gifts this is Peter is saying as an eyewitness he said this for we did not make known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ following cleverly devised myths but being eyewitnesses of his majesty but yeah but being eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and Glory from God the Father such an utterance as this was made made to him by the Majestic Glory this is my beloved Son with whom I well pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with him on the Holy Mountain this refers to the Transfiguration when Peter James and John were there right and Moses and Elijah showed up with God rich I of the eyewitness that they all had of him that should be a testament to everybody their words they yeah what they do to be truth not will for that’s right yeah people do not die for a lie right and this goes with along with what you were saying Leela right this is strong evidence right and and they were very clear we are not making this up right and I’ll just say this about the scriptures so much in the scriptures does not make the people who wrote the scriptures look good right if you were going to make something something up I I don’t think you’d write it like that I think you’d make yourself look a little bit better Peter I think he’d make himself look better right it’s evidence I think that it’s true let’s continue and and we have as more sure the prophetic word to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day Dawns and The Morning Star rises in your hearts know this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes by one’s own interpretation for no prophecy was ever made by the will of man but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God there’s a lot we can say on this uh Pastor Bobby preached on this not that long ago from second Peter what we have in the word of God might be hard for you to believe is better than if we were there face to face with Jesus on Earth better it’s more sure it’s more certain right do you believe that I struggle to believe that sometimes and there’s a delight that we can have on the word of God that is even greater than what those who saw Jesus had why because Jesus said it is better that I go away he said this the Holy Spirit I will be with you and will be in you right the holy spirit in US Illuminating God’s written word to us is better than if the human Jesus were standing in front of us now I I think that’s what this passage is saying people have really I’ve had some very contentious conversations about this it’s more sure Glenda right by reading God’s word he is telling us we saw Jesus saw everything but are blessed yeah us know that didn’t yeah we didn’t see him yeah yeah yeah yeah blessed are those who do not see and yet believe Jesus said we’re we’re blessed and that you quoted from that that first Peter verse that I mentioned we we love him and we Rejoice with joy and express ible and full of Glory right let’s let’s let’s do that let’s experience that as the Holy Spirit impresses his word on our hearts okay let’s get into it we got a lot to cover um the priority of the spiritual gifts I think this is really important to think about um as as Paul wrote it right um 1 Corinthians 12:28 God has appointed in the church first apostles second prophets third teachers then Miracles then Gifts of healings helps administrations various kinds of tongues right teachings at the top tongues are at the bottom just noticing that right it’s not a huge emphasis we’ll talk more about that here right it says in in in 1 Corinthians 14 pursue love yet earnestly desire spiritual gifts especially that you may prophesy one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself but one who prophesies edifies the church right think about the purpose of the spiritual gifts if it’s to edify the Church of what value is a tongue right we’ll talk a little bit more as we unfold this but one who prophesies edifies the church however in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind so that I may instruct others also that rather than 10,000 words in a tongue right so I want to be careful here to say that all gifts as God has given them in their time are equally valuable right but some are more profitable to the body than others I think we just have to acknowledge that does that make sense that may seem like a little bit of a contradiction I think as we walk through here um that’ll make more sense ah sorry there’s the slide okay so we’re just going to walk through fairly quickly the definitions of the 12 permanent edifying gifts okay um and by the way how many of you have been through the membership class okay so if you have you know there’s a a spiritual gifts question that I hope that you’ve gone through um and if you have these weeks will be a good time to review that right um but for those of you who haven’t I have copies here and I’m going to be sending sending them out in email so that you can you can walk through that so first one is prophecy right prophecy is the ability to preach tell forth or declare scripture it is forthtelling more than it is foretelling right the future beyond the ability to teach it all it often comes with the willingness to confront when needed not everybody has that has that orientation right teaching teaching is the ability to teach the word of God and help the hearers to understand the scriptures as he intended the result is Clarity relevance and usefulness to the hearers when I think of this I think about uh Pastor Norm swensson who was the first Pastor that I uh experienced as a child he led my my parents to Christ and uh he honestly he wasn’t really a very good teacher if if Clarity is a measure he really wasn’t that good right and I remember think sitting there as a kid thinking well I’m not understanding it maybe it’s just because I’m a kid as I got older I realized there was more to it than that um in his case um I think he was such an outstanding Shepherd and discipler that I would say it almost didn’t matter right but sometimes he just struggled with the clarity pieace right and that happens faith faith faith is a consistent enabling trust in God for his purposes in the face of faith in the face of overwhelming obstacles and human impossibilities and for great things it is primarily expressed in prayer so I’ll just say my wife Betty has the gift of faith there’s no question about it that I that I clearly don’t have I shared with the man in Iron Man um we’re talking about Moses and Moses how he was uh resisting God wed to use him and uh and God said no you know I’m I’m I will be with you um Betty said to me more than once and pretty recently she said why do you act Mark why do you act as if it all depends on you I don’t know guilty is charged right I am weak in faith and God has given me a helpmate who is strong in faith so I’m profoundly thankful for Betty now next wisdom wisdom is spiritual Insight discernment and ability to discern applicable principles from God’s word for complex situations knowledge is related it’s understanding the facts of scripture often seen through scholarship or the ability to know the scriptures both broadly and deeply making effective use of this knowledge in diverse areas right knowing how to apply it and then uh discernment I think is Rel these are all kind of related right discernment is the ability I’m behind here discernment is the ability to tell which things are from the Holy Spirit and which are not 1 John chapter 4 talks about that how we how we test the spirits right some people have an UNC uncanny ability to discern spiritual warfare if you know what I mean if there are maybe demonic forces impacting a situation things like that that’s a that’s a level of discernment that I frankly don’t have um but I’m thank thankful that that some people do really helpful really helpful okay we keep going Mercy Mercy is the ability to perceive and show deep compassion to those who have spiritual physical or emotional needs um I’ll just say this I’ve seen people exercise this and um I think when you see someone operate in their gifts there’s a sense of Marvel like I look at like I remember being on a deacon board years ago and we had a lot of people coming to us with various needs and I felt lost to know how to really meet those needs but we had a couple people who just really had particular wisdom to know what to do and I just marvel that it’s like how do you do that it was almost like magic right but it was a spiritual gift right we see there’s a there’s um as as one um as I’ve heard one person say that we are intuitive in the area of our strengths or an area of our gifting right it might seem like nothing to us but it’s an Evidence of God’s gift to us exhortation exhortation is the ability to comfort encourage confront and instruct toward deeper spiritual commitment to growth this is a qualifier for counseling ministry right sometimes a good counselor and Dave you know this as a certified counselor sometimes it’s important to make people feel bad before they feel worse right because you’re calling people to repentance and some and I I know having received strong biblical counseling I felt a lot worse before I felt better and that was necessary right yeah giving giving is the ability to perceive pressing needs and the man material Ministry of giving resources in response to those needs in the church right and by the way what we need and what we want sometimes aren’t the same thing so there’s a level of discernment that’s that’s needed there okay just a few more leadership sometimes it’s it’s uh noted as Administration right it’s the ability to oversee or Shepherd the flock of God’s people it’s a qualifier for pastors elders and leaders of other Ministries it involves motivating others to do God’s work while coordinating their efforts and overseeing the big picture right we see that in leadership it’s a leadership by example and also by direction right as a as a as a flock we need specific Direction sometimes leaders provide that helps helps is the ability to Aid in time of need or bear the burdens of others helping them to complete the task God has given them and then service is the ability to work for the body of Christ in areas of physical Ministry serving food facility maintenance for example right so it’s interesting when when you see all these gifts you if if if a person has these gifts they kind of see things that others don’t see right they have a perception of things that God has equipped them to both see and to meet that need that is how the gifts work so here is the full list just take a minute to look at that which of these resonate with you which do you think that you have or have a desire to express right and I want to encourage us to think maybe just write if you haven’t actually I think on P if you have the workbook uh on page 77 um it talks a little bit about areas you would be willing to serve but just take a minute here as as we as we proceed to think about maybe write down those that you want to explore further that you think you might have if you don’t already know your gifts Steve people Next Level don’t we all have these but people were gifted ticket to the next level are you looking at my notes I don’t know how you were able to see this you know you know this is this is there you go it’s the Lord working yeah so for example um some would say um evangelism is a gift right I know it’s not in this list right we’re all called to evangelize right um but yet some people just wow they can do it in ways that and they bear fruit in way in that way that’s unusual Mercy are we all to show Mercy yeah yeah uh are we all the help to serve to give to exhort a lot of these things yeah yeah and and I would say that all of us even are to teach one another if I’ve read Colossians 3 correctly right we let the word of Christ richly dwell in us we teach and demonish one another whether we have the gift of teaching or not that’s what we do chrisy yeah prophecy if um and I probably didn’t spend enough time um uh I’ll actually go back actually I’ll just read it from my notes it is it is really um your question again what what about prophecy yeah yeah Prophet yeah prophecy is the foretelling of existing truth not the forthtelling of new truth right so I think that’s one where I think we could maybe say it’s it was both a permanent gift and it a both a um temporary gift right through through prophesy prophesying new revelation the word of God right uh we saw that in how the scripture was given to it to us the prophets Jesus the apostles right but today how it’s expressed is forthtelling what’s already been revealed does that make sense yeah so it so it’s a bit of a hybrid right it was it was active in a different way up until the apostolic age but it’s still active in a new way with the Revelation that’s already been given so it’s not foretelling the future but forthtelling the existing truth make sense Glenda do know how do we know when we’re operating hold that thought because we’re going to get there okay hopefully all right so the exercise of spiritual gifts turn with me to Romans 12 really helpful for us to to look at how the gifts are to be exercised and this is universal to all of them and I I’ll actually back up to verses one and two I’m just going to go ahead and read this and I’m going to put some pick up some things from the slides as we go therefore exhort your brothers by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice living holy and pleasing to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the Renewing Your Mind so that you may approve what the will of God is that which is good and pleasing and perfect for through the grace given to me I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought so we do it with humility right but to think as so as to have sound thinking as God has allotted to each and measure of faith for just as we have many members in one body and all members do not have the same function right so the next thing is with no appreciating the diversity being grateful for the diversity of the gifts don’t be jealous of other people’s gifts right sometimes I remember I said that spiritual gifts are like our DNA we’re made a certain way right and as God said to Moses who has made man’s mouth or who makes him dumb or deaf or seeing or blind is it not I the Lord I’ve made you in a certain way for a certain purpose we need to be thankful for it right and not be jealous of others spiritual gifts right because we are to maintain a posture of humility and not exalting ourselves right so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another right so we should display unity in the exercise of our spiritual gifts gifts but having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us whether prophecy and agreement with faith right so we do it with mutual commitment right commitment and um consistency with the gift that we have been given right in Ser or service in his serving or he who teaches in his teaching right or he who exhorts with his exhortation or he who gives with generosity he who leads with diligence he who shows Mercy with cheerfulness right so we’re we’re applying specific wisdom in the areas where we are gifted right operate within your gifts stay in your lane I guess would be a good way to put it right Paul even talked about this with regard to gospel Ministry we did not we did not seek to be in the sphere of another God has given to each a sphere to work in we talked in 1 Corinthians 12 of gifts Ministries and effects right all of us have a unique combination of those things that is just for us that no one else can fulfill and so important for us to be humble and content in that all right and the Primacy of Love 1 Corinthians 13 let all that you do Paul said be done in love very familiar passage um often read at weddings this will really uh I read this passage and I it really really humbles really humbles so if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love I have become a noisy gong or a clany symbol and if I have the gift of Prophecy and know all Mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all Faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love I am nothing what is the valuable what is the value of giftedness without love it’s utterly worthless right think about what the gifts are they are Gifts of Grace to us they are an expression of God’s love so if we’re not loving in them we have completely missed the point right this is a great reminder for us right so he’s saying here even if I have all the gifts essentially is what he’s saying but do not have love it’s meaningless right so how are we to be like the things that love is love is patient love is kind love is not jealous does not brag is not puffed up does not act unbecomingly does not seek its own is not provoked does not take into account a wrongs suffered does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth Bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things and so what it love is patient love is kind love is not jealous love is not puffed up love is not provoked love does not brag it doesn’t act Unbecoming L doesn’t seek its own doesn’t withhold forgiveness that’s huge doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness but what does it do rejoices in the truth Bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things I hope you see kind of the spiritual um the fruit of the spirit kind of reflected here I see that here and it can be discouraging you know we we we match up our life with uh with with this and we can be discouraged and so we we ask God to build a Heart of Love into US Mike because it’s Jesus it’s Jesus yeah amen amen so as we wrap up so as it ended Love Never Fails love love never fails let all that you do be done in love Paul said um very convicting what’s my motivation right again am I trying to impress or impact right we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord Paul said with ourselves as your servants for jesus’ sake okay so the value of the gifts um talked about this a little bit earlier um many members but one body right let me just read this but now there are many members but one body and the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of you or again the head to the feet I have no need of you on the contrary how much more is is it that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary and those members of the body which we think as less honorable on these we bestow more abundant honor and our less presentable members become more presentable whereas our more representable members have no such need 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 and if one member suffers all the members suffer with it if one member is honored all the members Rejoice with it now you are Christ’s body and individually members of it we notice there’s no division right there’s Mutual care and there’s equal value we intentionally honor those who would seem less honorable we give exposure and encouragement to those who are maybe behind the scenes right this is the opposite of what we see in the world in the world the world says to you leaders are superior to followers and followers are inferior to leaders Jesus said it it shall not be this way among you right we give more honor those who are lower because Jesus came not to be served but to serve so we intentionally seek to honor those who don’t who would not naturally get as much honor right and encourage them right this is I know there’s a lot of talk these days about how we exercise justice social justice all that right this is the real thing right this is this is not just Optics or making something look a certain way this is how we are to operate as a body and it’s just beautiful it’s beautiful beautiful right so no one should feel inferior in the body of Christ just to be a part of it I think as I said last week is an amazing thing that we get to even be in the body of Christ and serve in some way is incredible and so but for those who have more visible gifts we want to work harder right to encourage those who may be behind the scenes and may be discouraged and find themselves think of themselves as less Valu so a couple thoughts here um I won’t spend a lot of time here but referred to gifts as your spiritual DNA and that’s an important thing to think about right Ephesians 2:10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them you’ve been gifted in a certain way for certain things that only you can do I hope that excites you right um Ephesians 424 talks about the new self has been created in Us in the image of Christ in Colossians 3:10 says that it is being renewed so this image that God’s created in US it has been created and is being renewed day by day and this as we cultivate our spiritual gifts and work them out I think this is how it’s being renewed and how it’s being expressed so I was just challenge you with the question how are you submitting to the spirit’s work right are you acknowledged that God God has gifted you in a certain way that he’s gifted no one else you are needed if you are in Christ you are needed needed in the body if you don’t exercise your gifts we’re we’re going to miss something I hope that excites you and coni and convicts you right um we are all equally valuable in his body so are you submitting to that uh I think I mentioned last week um I just give a a quick word of of personal testimony I uh I had to be told um about uh spiritual gifts one in particular um a um assistant pastor who was um doing the Sunday school class said Mark I I see something of the spiritual gift of teaching in you I want to I want to cultivate that and I I said I think you got the wrong number here um I don’t I don’t think so but he really pushed me and gave me opportunities um and it it was not pretty at the beginning I remember one time I I preached I ran out of things to say that’s hard for some of you to believe who know me I I gave a lesson on Joel the minor prophet and 20 minutes when I was done and I looked at Pastor Paul and I’m like brother bail me out man I’m just not I got nothing so these things happen so um I think you know in our gifts we need to be sometimes we need to be told sometimes we need to be encouraged and and and and brought along and so that’s part of what we do part of what we do for one another and I I’ll emphasize something we’ve emphasized every week in Ephesians 4 um what does this mean right right according to the proper properly measured working of each individual part causes the growth of the Body for the building up of itself in love what is your individual part in the body right when we started talking about this we recognized that the body the church is an organism it’s a living organism it’s not an organization right we don’t structure it uh with business principles not that there’s not wisdom there but as I’ve said before I think the church has a lot more to show the world that the world has to show the church in terms of leadership right not always app parent okay couple more by way of application and I really encourage you to spend some time in this over the next week right and I’ve already asked the first question right Ephesians 4:16 what is the proper working of each individual part for you what is your part in the body right if we think about a physical body if one part’s not working it’s dead it affects the whole body right you stub your toe affects the whole body right um and if cells are not following the head and they’re going rogue right medically that’s cancer right that’s damaging so we need to really think about that uh in terms of doing our part right 1 Peter 4:10 right as each one has received a special gift employed in serving one another in um what is the next step inflo one another as this happens sometimes somebody want to help me there that’s good stewards of the manifold grace of God thank you um what is your next step right have you taken the time to know your spiritual gift or gifts and to employ it in serving one another right um this is your responsibility as a Believer um at a church plant I I was part of the pastor would often say nobody rides the bench nobody sits on the bench here Nobody Rides the bench here right we’re all serving right so here’s some just some thought this is from your workbook right some some practical tips on that look for open doors and pray for opportunities to serve right I think I think Pastor Bobby and and the elders and the deacons would say there is more work to be done than there are people serving right some of you might have heard of the Paro principal 20% of people do 80% of the work right ought not be that way in the church right that’s not a principle that we apply here but oftentimes it it seems to to uh to be the case seek the counsel and confirmation of other believers right so important that um if we think we have a gift try to exercise it with the council walking with other believers right um some people may may think they have a gift that they don’t it might be something else that they don’t see we need one another to help see it I certainly did and still do right I my natural temperament and my spiritual gifts are kind of like the opposite they don’t they really don’t go together what’s really interesting about that is like so for example this might surprise you I am not an extrovert I’m an introvert but with my spiritual gifts it seems more like I’m an extrovert but naturally in my temperament I’m not so uh as I thought about that I thought that was really interesting in evidence that God was doing something new um and then the last question and this is in your workbook as well in order to discover your giftedness in the body and in submission to the elders in what areas would you be willing to serve so in that so I’m going to give you a little homework on that so for those of you who have been through membership and you’ve gone through the spiritual gifts questionnaire I have some copies here um go through it and review it um and ask yourself am I exercising those do I need to have some conversations ask the leaders um uh the uh the the pastors the pastors and elders and and the leaders of various Ministries do you need help how can I help right if you haven’t gone through membership and haven’t taken this um I have a few copies here and I’m I’ll also be sending it out an email so you can have it really encourage you to spend some time walking through the questionnaire it might really be clarifying and helpful to you as you discern um your experiences uh your interests um and you it might surprise you what spiritual gifts you have and with that we are over time so let me pray for us father uh once again as we have these last few weeks we Marvel we Marvel at your at the beauty of the of your design for your church your work in each of us individually we are your workmanship craftsmanship beautifully created for good works and you’ve orchestrated this so perfectly in a body that we might be unified that we might care for one another we might edify one another I pray that you would open our eyes to see that and to seek that father and may your power be evidenced in us in a new way here in Jesus name amen amen