Spiritual Gifts Ep #4

well praise the lord um hope i don't think it's going to rain today uh last service we had last wednesday we had rain and uh they they tried to turn me up as loud as they could so you can turn me back down uh uh well before i get started we've got the young men are passing out uh some sheets of paper everybody likes paper right don't shred them i hope i don't know that i'll have enough and i ask him to give them out to the adults that doesn't exempt the children but you can look on with somebody you'll have in that you'll have there's one that's got 80 statements and out beside it there's a little black a blank spot you you rate that from one to five and you add those up at the end you ever done those and you get a score yeah so the the paper that is by itself it is not attached to it it should have been but it wasn't it was not in my stack when i was stapling and so uh but it it explains what we're doing and on the back of that paper it actually has a summary of the list of gifts that we have highlighted throughout this series and i think this will be good good information for you guys and i encourage you and i think i asked pastor about this i really would like for you to if at all possible those of you that are that would like to fill this out no we've need it filled out and pastor needs it back let me put it that way no but we would really like to be able to to take this and and look through this and it kind of helps you uh yeah yeah put your name on it uh we we don't want to just know well oh i don't know who that is it's just yeah yeah yeah with 3.5 million dollars yeah amen that's what we need right but i do want to say thank you pastor for allowing me to share the last uh this past month on wednesday night i think the way that we've approached this is quite different from what we normally would but i think by the time we get through and we're going to talk a little bit more about fundamentals tonight and uh giving you some things that i think is going to help us along i go back to some of the statements i've made over the last few weeks is this is the body of christ amen this here is the body of christ and the body has to be functioning right if a body is not functioning what's happening it dies if you're not exercising and i was having to do any eval here for my wellness still and they were asking me all of those questions those important questions that we don't see that's important and one of those was how often do you exercise how many times a week and they they were getting really personal there and i was like ah you know this is i don't think this is any of their business it is too but i i was thinking of that while i was doing that assessment i was like you know it's the same way with the body of christ if we are not moving and we are not doing what we should be doing then we're dying and the body must be in motion everybody say the body must be in motion the church must be in motion amen in philippians the second chapter verse 13. for it is god that worked with that it is god which worketh in you both the will and do of his good purpose and i like the uh new living translation and i asked jess i don't know if she's got it but i asked her to put that up there but the new living translation says it this way for god is working in you giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him i think it's very important that we understand that god is trying to he's trying to get our attention and in these last days and i i i will stress this in these last days the gifts of the spirit must be in operation it must be it doesn't matter what your gift may be it has to be an operation so the body must be moving and it is god's will that you do what you're supposed to be doing for the kingdom of god amen and the gifts or to operate in the members each and every one of those members in the body of christ all of this boils down to the fact that each and every one of us may have one or more gifts that if we're not careful we'll lay dormant we need to make sure that we are using what god has given us the spirit of god inside of us moving amen use your spiritual gift whatever it may be to make sure it glorifies god that is one of the scriptures that we've read over and over that what are the gifts made for why are they here why do we have gifts gifts are to what edify the body of christ lift up the body of christ and so when we are doing what we're supposed i i'm going to jump ahead of myself but we are responsible for the body there must be a commitment to the body uh was thinking along these lines uh yesterday as i was i was doing a little bit of work and i i was thinking you know it's so much it's so important that when we are together as a body as members we are together that we are we must understand that how many uh have been married long enough and that you can pretty well tell what your wife's thinking and you could even look on her face look at her face and say i did something wrong are you there dakota picking on you but when the body is working together and you're doing what you're supposed to be doing for the kingdom of god there is a commitment there there is there is parts that are in motion and and night before last i was slaving for dylan and uh i went home and i was like oh my goodness i didn't realize i had my both shoulders hurting faster i i was like what in the world am i doing and then i get up the next morning and then i make it through the day and i come home and i'm i'm already i'm wore out yesterday and she's asking me what's wrong with you i don't know my arms my again the body knows i my my mind i know when things is not right i feel sick i feel bad same goes with the leadership and and it doesn't take a whole lot to read it but pastor knows when things is not right he knows when things is not and he's here tonight but i was talking the other a couple weeks ago and he was out and i was glad he was out because we were we were discussing moses and how that moses and the lord was having just uh one of those conversations and you remember us talking about that and and and and and god spoke to moses and said hey moses you got something that can help you there's a part of the body that can really help you you just got to realize that i know pastor does this every once in a while you've heard him do that he'll go he's trying to get your attention he's not necessarily doing this but he's and sometimes that's that's the way it is with the body is we're we know we need to be doing something else but we can't do it unless everything's working right we've got to be in that place of of mobility with the church the church must be moving it must be moving when when we have people that come into the church and they are are asking to be a part of the church or they they decide that this is the church they want to be a part of we've got groups that get together pastor does studies with them and we've got sister lauren doing studies with them and all of these things because we want to we want to express to them where we are as a body now how can you help that that's the whole purpose of that that is not for us to determine whether or not you're going to be apart is trying to find where you plug in trying to find what you're going to be good at james tells us this he says if you lack wisdom let him ask of god there are some things that we have got to ask god for and that is when we're when we're trying to find those gifts and and i want to i want to talk to you just for a few moments on that exploring the possibilities exploring those possibilities of what is it god that you want for me to do trying to find that place well a lot of times people think this is just such a spiritual thing that oh we've got to be in the spiritual realm to figure this out and the truth is you can be at your you can just be sitting there reading your bible very first thing that's very important in finding out what your calling is is to study and as you begin to study through the word of god as you begin to study his word there will be things that comes alive to you you read scriptures and you see those scriptures on the very back page that you've got there but you read those scriptures that talk about those gifts i'm going to urge you to really study scriptures like that take those scriptures and dissect them and look at them and look at them in different different versions look at them how they talk about those colleagues because god knows exactly what the body of christ needs he knows what we need to be doing and there is there is a world out there there is a chattanooga that god wants to reach and he has to have the arms the legs he has to have every joint every part must be mobile everything must be moving in order for that to happen and if we're going to do that we've got to study we've got to learn what the word says about this what is it that you're telling me god find examples in the bible find those examples like the example i gave you of moses take that and look at what moses and what who he was he was a great leader right aaron was a great speaker those guys went along together god needs leaders he needs speakers he needs people that can do those things one person can't do it by themselves the head all it would be if it was it would be just there it's got to have body parts there has to be a heartbeat amen so number one would be read your bible study your bible and study it thoroughly find those examples in the word of god find out what that is learn your church and what its gifts are look at the church that you're a part of and look at where you are as a body and say brother so and so does this sister so and so does this i feel the need to and search those things explore those things find out what your calling is and that's one of the reasons for this little and it's really not a questionnaire i started to change that it's not questions it's statements and how do you relate to that statement but it's along these statements this finds me where am i what am i good what do i feel that i i plug in at and then once you've done that then you're you're looking through that and you're saying okay where who are those people in the church who are those that i'm around you're committed to this church amen when you become a part of the body you're committed so i i don't need to say it but i'm going to say it and pastor you with me later but when you're committed to the body of christ when you're not there what happens did nobody to pick up the slack you say well so-and-so's got they do the same thing but is that their calling is that the gift that god has flowing through them and i'm and i know we have times that we can't be in service but we are a body functioning we should feel the commitment to be a part of that body and be functioning there should be something inside of us that says you know i've got to be plugged in i can't miss that we're committed and we've already talked about this but but find those examples find those people in the church because spiritual gifts is what makes the church grow it makes the church grow we have got to find those examples pull ourselves in beside those people and ask questions if you know that a person you think like that for you know i feel the call to do this and i really feel like this what did we say at the very beginning what what did the scripture say that god puts in you he gives you that desire and power to do that so you can't do like moses and say god i can't speak well you know somebody that can and i've given you power to do so we have got to find those examples pull ourselves in you want to be a sunday school teacher find those people i i am more and more as and i guess it's because of age but the more and more i think about it we have got to develop the next generation we have got to have our children understanding what intercessory prayer is all about we've got to get our children to understand what what is an altar how does that function how does it work how do i pray somebody through to the holy ghost and and when we teach the next generation that then we've got somebody already rolling into that place of saying you know what we got youth groups that's going to be out there i'm looking around we were talking about this sunday we look around look at all the young people and children that we have in my very next statement that i made who's going to be teaching them who is going to be putting into them i don't know about you but i just don't want any any joe off the street coming in indoctrinating my children all right infiltrating or whatever you've gotta you've got to understand this is i'm looking at our grandchildren right now and i'm thinking you know there's got to be some things that's being poured into them and somebody's got to be doing that who do i want teaching them this is a part of the body of christ is we've got to be able to be get somebody up beside you young people you find somebody if you feel something god doing something inside of you you may not have it figured out i don't but i do know that if i read my bible and i follow after what god's word says and i have those feelings inside of me i'm going to find somebody that can kind of help me understand that those young men that will step to a pulpit and preach the gospel in years to come those young ladies that will that will be teaching and and maybe preaching and maybe shouting and maybe maybe on the platform singing who knows but all of those things are very important to the body of christ that we we that's what church growth is all about finding the lost get a knowledge of the gift that god has has given you whatever it is that god is pouring out upon you invest time get an understanding if you know that that god has been talking to you about prayer pick up every prayer book you've got and and i'll tell you this there there's some books out there it's kind of weird some kind of crazy but if you're really truly walking with god and in tune with god you you can you can filter through all of that stuff i i've i've found some really crazy people out there and i found a couple of lines in their books it was pretty good but you never know you you never know what god is doing in your life find those find find that stuff start asking god god show me give me more knowledge give me understanding of what you have called me to do make the gifts part of your conversation make it part of your comfort i know we we live in a world oh man you don't just pull up beside somebody and start talking about prophesying they start looking at you like you're weird or something but the more that you you talk about it the more that you fight you're going to find somebody that clicks with it and it's not long until you're gonna get an understanding of that and it's not going to be long until that that gift is going to be operating in your in your members you're going to be able to walk up to somebody and god's going to be speaking a word to you does this sound weird to you does this sound spooky to you no it shouldn't it shouldn't because that is the way the body of christ works i i need you in my life i need you to be to be active in the word of god and in what god's called you to do walking toward what god has planned for this church and it's not it's not easy to do but taking that step and saying god i want to exercise in those gifts experiment with your gift you find yourself a place and you start praying i i remember at a very young age of whitney and she didn't know what was going on but she knew that she was praying and she would start weeping and she couldn't understand why and she'd back away from it and then she started doing it she started praying and all of a sudden she'd get this heaviness and weeping it was like hold on babe hold on that's god operating there that's something that god is starting to show you and at that point we were able to to give her some lessons on how intercessory prayer works those are those things and and there's some of you that are sitting here right now and i could point at you and tell you that you have the gift of intercessory prayer i'm not going to do that that's not my place but at some point if you if you just keep on keep keep doing that i may walk up behind you and i know pastor would be behind me when i did it and say you need to start praying right now our pastor will do it i've seen him do that but god has a place for you he's got something that he is doing in you the body of christ must be active experiment with it find yourself that quiet time say god reveal to me i know i feel this but reveal to me what it is ask god for it the way you do that experimenting is you take and you look at the needs how many of you and he we're just going to do a little exercise here how many of you have ever looked at the list that sister stacy sends out and i know if you're on a prayer share you you're not going to tell me you hadn't looked at it but i'm going to ask you this question you looked at it you're going through the list how many ever had a name that just boom there was just and i know there were several names but somebody in that group there was a name and you may not ever you didn't know who that name was but that name just seemed to just ring when you passed over how many ever stopped and said you know i don't know what it is but i'm gonna pray over this person at that moment you are operating in gifts you see how easy that is again i don't want to make this complicated and i i know that we get we we've talked about gifts spiritual gifts and we got real spooky with it but the truth is it's not all of that there's some things you better be praying and fasting when you start in on but when god drops something into your heart about somebody allow that to operate do not quench the spirit do not step away from it because you never know what's happening that very moment in that person's life you never know what may be getting ready to happen in that person's life and god sent an interceptor through a prayer warrior that just happened to see it on a screen somebody stop right now and just thank the lord for that how many are thankful that there was an interceptor somewhere for you somebody that interceded for you thank you lord thank you for that opportunity thank you lord for giving me that opportunity oh thank you jesus we need to discover those gifts that we do have and those that we don't it's very wise and i've already i already spoke that piece of wisdom by saying god gives wisdom to those who ask for it amen he gives that wisdom and if you ask for wisdom he's going to give it to you don't operate in gifts that you don't have it's very simple if you don't have it don't do it and that's there's no shame in that at all do what god has called you to do what god is leading you in the ministry to do there are things that we need to explore we need to explore our feelings god shares through our feelings i mean you know all human beings have those we have feelings we have emotions but explore that those feelings ask god psalms 37 verse 4 psalms 37 verse 4 the scripture tells us here to delight ourselves in the lord and he shall give you what the desires of your heart if we delight ourselves in him what are you seeking for what are you asking god for we live in a world that is full of quick fixes we live in a world that that we want it and we want it right now the truth is sometimes we have to seek and that's not only that's not a quick fix sometimes it's asking god and saying god give me direction give me direction and asking god for that direction he may give you a partial he may give you a portion of what he's trying to say you don't get it all because if he gave it all to you you know what we would do we'd expect it all all the all the time sometimes we have to seek him and say god what is it if i was to ask brother duron in preparing for his worship set and i i know this because i'm not going to ask him but there there are times that their struggles and knowing exactly when that's a certain song is to be saying or if that is the song to be saying and you don't have to be super spiritual to figure that out but you've got to be sensitive to the holy ghost when i say super spiritual i'm talking about one of those that walks around no he's sensitive to know what is the direction for today god and you've got all these members of prayer team saying he had sent that set yet in the back of my mind i'm saying yes struggle buddy struggling or maybe he just didn't send sinned but yes we understand that we understand that there are things that sometimes we've got to be we've got to ask god seek him what when somebody comes to you and asks for an answer he's like can you give me just a little bit more time that's not because they hadn't been thinking about it we ask of god we ask for wisdom god give me wisdom what is the emotions telling you what is it that that emotion telling you that needs to be the next step this is another step last step we'll talk about and that is you will get confirmation through the body it will be there has been times that in my life that i wasn't sure and i would say i don't know and walk in the church and it could be just some little somebody and i say little because usually it was the little elderly lady that had been in the prayer room and she would make them just make a statement and it was like oh man just what i needed to hear and no it was no revelation it was just something that i was trying to figure out and it was there talking about gifts look at your neighbor and tell them you're important we're not just saying that now i want you to look back at me look at me you're important to the body of christ there there is so many little things that goes on in the body that needs your help the body needs you the body needs you in motion the the body needs you to be here so that yeah there may be something that's happening there that brother so and so can't get to her sister so and so can't get to but you know what you're there and you step in just in time maybe there's something that that brother gibson would be struggling with and i'm using these examples but there's there may be something that brother gibson is struggling with and you step through the door just in time to say that word you didn't even know you were saying you didn't know that you were being used at that moment you just knew that that was just something you wanted to say the truth was the whole time you were walking in the spirit you were walking in that gift that god has given you how many you've ever felt like doing something but then you was like but but i'm not that way you ever felt that way may i stress this just a little more just maybe there's somebody that is on the edge of eternity and you could have been that body part that needed to be there at that moment there's some of you that said in this room that you were dawdling there for a little bit and the body of christ there was some part of the body made it to you just in time thank you lord you see how important this is spiritual gifts are given of god and they're given to edify the body of christ they're given so that you and i can be lifted up and we can be ready for when babies are born and when when when god sends new people to the church that we're there for them but if we're not functioning right and we're dysfunctioned then who's there to catch the baby before it hits the floor you got one that waters you got one that puts the seed in the ground you have one that waters the scripture says that god is the one that gives the increase everything that you do represents the body of christ and we get it from him i know some of you probably been working on your paper and you weren't listening to me but that's okay what i want you to do for me now and we we talked about this at the very beginning talked about committing to god we evaluated ourselves and we find out what we're really what we're really cut out for what what god is calling us to do and then i also talked to you about giving that gift to god some of you are called to be administrators without a doubt you're able to organize thank god for my wife and me for me she keeps things together for me but but you're able to to organize bro sam great organizer doing the spreadsheets and doing all of the all of the boards that time i can do it but i struggle yeah i went to school for that stuff that was just i did it because i went to school for it he's a natural but i want you to stand with me everybody in this room you are made in the image of god the body of christ this is what people see when they're looking for christ this is what they see are we doing what we are called to do are we functioning fully functioning as the body of christ you have gifts i have gifts and if you're here tonight and you know exactly what god's calling you to do some of you have already been operating in that but you know what god has called you to do would you step out from where you are and come around on the carpet if you would at the altar you know maybe some of you here that's struggling with the fact but you know i'm going to challenge you if you will simply say god this is what i have and i give it to you this you may think it's not much as the old song said little is much when god's in it you may think it's not a whole life or that's not a lot that i can do but god needs every part functioning would you close your eyes with us right now just close your eyes you would lift your hands with us foreign i want you to know you're you're you're in the right place and you're doing the right thing by where you are right now because you're you're committing to god and you're surrendering to god a god these are my gifts and i offer them to you i ask you god to bless those gifts that i have those things that that those abilities i have i have talent god that i want to give to you i have things that i want i want you to use for your kingdom with all pride put aside in nothing nothing withholding in me god this is this belongs to you lord i surrender it to you and i ask for you lord to take it and to use it for your glory i'm willing to go and do whatever you ask me to do i need you lord i need you lord i need you in operating in my life god i need you to do your work in me in the name of jesus in the name of jesus that's it reach out to him right now reach out to him right now reach out to him thank you lord i love you jesus