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In touch, the teaching ministry of Doctor Charles Stanley, reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Next on in touch, gifted, for service. 1
of the greatest tragedies in life is for a person to live their whole life with no purpose, no sense of direction, no goals, It is floating through life.
Just sort of managing to live from 1 day to the next, though, maybe from 1 week to the next.
maybe from one paycheck to the next, accomplishing nothing really, except just existing and making enough money maybe to just get by, and I can tell you no matter who you are, that is not the will and the plan of god for your life.
It’s very clear in the scripture that he has a plan and a will for everyone’s life.
And one of the most important things about our relationship to him and our relationship to each other is the fact that god has given you and me a spiritual gift or gifts and he’s given us talents and abilities and skills, and he’s given to us for a specific reason.
But if you don’t know that, and you don’t care and you just wanna get by, you’ll miss out on life’s best.
So I want you to turn, if you will, to 1st Peter, chapter 4, And look, if you will, beginning at this 10th verse, which is very important.
And Peter’s just been talking about things that are going to happen and so forth.
And so he comes down to the 10th verse of 1st Peter 4, and he says, and every word is important in the word of god, He says, as each one has received a special gift, employed in serving one another as 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 the dominion forever and ever.
Now, let’s, uh, let’s distinguish between something.
God has given to everyone of us one or more gives So let’s define what is a spiritual gift and I’ll have these on the screen here.
A spiritual gift is what? uh divinely given endowment that enables us or equips us to serve him effectively and successfully.
that is god has placed within you as one of his children.
He has endowed you with a very special gift that is He’s endowed you with the enabling power to work in your life to fulfill his purpose, whatever that might be, and to do so effectively and successfully.
And so if you’re a believer, you have one of these special gifts.
And, uh, so let’s look for just a moment at how the scripture divides them up.
Let’s start with ephesians chapter
4.
and, uh, Paul in Efficient chapter 4 talks about ministry gifts.
And if you’ll notice, if you will, in verse 11 of of Ephysians 4, He says, and he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelist, and some as pastors and teachers.
And you’ll notice He puts pastors and teachers together because of pastor ought to be teaching the flock.
So these are ministry gifts and notice what he says.
He gives these gifts for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
That is my responsibility in this fellowship to build you up by the grace of god and by the power of the holy spirit.
That is in order to work out God’s will and purpose and plan in your life to build up the whole fellowship.
So I want you to turn, if you will, to 1st Corinthians for a moment, And let’s look at the 12th chapter for Scrantonians and here are some personal gifts that God gives.
And if you’ll notice, what Paul says beginning in the first verse.
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.
And, uh, then he moves on down and he says in verse 4, now there are varieties of gifts but watch this and the and this but the same spirit It is the Holy Spirit that gives the gift.
You don’t get a gift from this person, that person, the other person, spiritual gifts are a gift from god through the Holy Spirit.
There are varieties of ministries in the same lord.
Uh, there are varieties of effects as a result of working these gifts.
but the same god who works all things in all persons. But now watch the 7th verse.
But to each one is given the manifestation of the expression of that spirit for the common good.
That is whatever your spiritual gift is, god didn’t give it to you just for you, He gave it to you for the common good that is for the church, for the whole body of Christ.
Then if you’ll go to Romans chapter
12,
and here is, uh, another set of gifts.
The first one, the ministry gifts, second lit personal gifts that god gives but always for the purpose of the work of the church.
And then beginning in, uh, the 12th chapter, beginning, if you will, in verse 4 of Romans.
For justice, we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function.
and not all do the same thing, but many different members.
We got choir members, orchestra members, teachers, and prayers, and so forth.
So we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually, members of one another.
And listen to what he says, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, Each of us is to exercise them accordingly.
If prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving, or he who teaches in his teaching, or he who exhorts in his exhortation, He who gives her liberality, he who leads with diligence, one who shows mercy with cheerfulness.
So here are 7 different gifts. Now listen carefully. These are motivational gifts.
That is these gifts are given to you for a specific purpose of which god wants to use you.
A motivational gift is a gift that expresses itself within you that motivates you.
That is there’s something about that, for example, a nurse with the gift of mercy would be highly motivated in that area.
I probably wouldn’t become a nurse. A teacher who has the gift of teaching is motivated to teach.
A personal gift of exhortation, which is mine, I’m motivated every Sunday to do what we do.
and you could just go down the list of each one of them.
So these are the gifts that god has given to everyone and the scripture says it very clear here in 1st Corinthians, where we were reading.
He says, for example, that, uh, they are given for the for the common good, which means they don’t he doesn’t give us spiritual gifts for our sake, but he gives them for the for the common good.
And so, uh, but to each one is given the manifestation of the spirit.
That is how the spirit operates for the common good.
And that means, for example, in a church like this, all this whole body right here in this particular group We have all these gifts.
And so each one of us is to exercise our gift in behalf of somebody else, for someone else.
and you see somebody headed for trouble and you’re an exorter, you you wanna stop them if at all possible.
You hear someone suffering. You you wanna step in when they’re suffering.
If you see somebody who’s making a mistake and it’s because they don’t know how, you wanna teach them how.
And so I can give you a lot of illustrations But let me give you one simple one that I’ve given before because it’s so simple.
You have invited, uh, seven people to your house. You’re having a wonderful dinner.
You your best spreads on the table.
Everybody has a glass of iced tea and a plate and spoon, knife and fork and so forth.
and him and sit never along and, uh, somebody, uh, let’s just say that it’s my house and I knock over my glass of tea.
Now how would each person respond? Mercy would say, oh, my goodness.
And, A person with a gift of a giving would say, uh, we can buy another glass.
You know, worry about that. And the person with exhortation would, uh, say, well, next time maybe you should if you put your glass on this side, it’d be okay.
The person with the gift of organizations said you go get them up, I’ll get this and we’ll we’ll we’ll take care of all this.
You can take each one of them and they’ll respond a certain way. You know why?
Because the god made us to be a part of the whole.
And if you are giving of yourself to other people, motivated on your gift, you’re gonna be happier, you’re gonna be more successful at what you do no matter what that is.
And I think When people feel that their life is meaningless, they’re gonna make it meaningful even if it means to do something wrong to get recognition.
So he says, god has given us all of these.
That is for the for the good of everyone, not just for the good of one person.
So when I think about the purpose for which they’ve been given, uh, especially he noticed he says, employ it, uh, put it to work, in serving one another.
So whatever your gift is, god didn’t give it to you for you.
He gave it to you to use you in some way for somebody else.
We have all been in situations where each one of those we need and been in situations where somebody needed to give you something or encourage you or direct you and instruct you, for example, or somebody needed to correct you because of something you did wrong.
In other words, all the gifts have a part.
This is about us giving ourselves a way to each other.
What can I do to help the other person?
Because people who are always looking out for themselves they’re not happy, they’re not at peace, you don’t even wanna be around them because it’s me, myself, and I, and that’s all they’re interested in.
What what will it profit me What will I get out of this?
And that is not love, for example, and it’s not the reason he gave us the gifts.
And so I look at, Mark chapter 10 verse
45
and listen to what Jesus said about himself, and I would certainly think that’s ought to be our example.
He says in verse 45, for even the son of man, and notice how he said it, even I Jesus for even I, the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.
And who was it washing feet at that last supper? Jesus washing feet.
because he was demonstrating what service was all about.
And so the truth is you have a bird definite spiritual gift with your name on it given to you by almighty god.
And nobody else can give it to you and nobody else can take it away from you.
The only thing you can do is employ it for the purpose of god or waste it by ignoring it and being selfish and not living it out as god would intend you to do.
And so, remember, what he said, he says, he gives us these gifts for the common good and we’re to serve him and he says it as good stewards or excellent stewards, which means this.
Whatever little I have I am to be a good steward of it.
If I only have a little bit of money, I’m to be a good steward of it.
If I want more and be honest, if I want more, I work harder. I’m more diligent.
Um, I may outwork somebody else or whatever it might be. He says we’re to be good stewards.
In other words, look, the more truth that you know the more truth you’re responsible for.
And the reason god gives you truth is to make it possible for you to become the full person god wants you to be.
What is your potential? You don’t know what your potential is.
You have no idea what your potential is. until you’re tested.
And once you’re tested, for example, what happens? Just like people, uh, in the sports field.
They never know what they can do till they get in the contest. They break all kind of records.
And they think this record, no one ever breaks in. Some of those comes along, yes, they do.
People are always in those areas are striving for the best. They wanna be the best.
Let me ask you a question.
because you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, ignore what the world thinks of you.
You’re a follower of Jesus Christ. You and I have a responsibility to do our best.
It may not be as good as somebody else, but I have the responsibility of being my best at where I am and whatever I’m doing.
There’s always somebody who can outdo you, but that’s not the issue and the issue.
Am I giving it my best? God is not expecting you to be like anybody else.
not expecting you to be like any bias.
He’s expecting you and equipping you to be your best at what he wants you to do while he created you and given you the gifts and the endowments of intel talents that he’s given you, that’s all that’s all he’s expecting and he says you’re living it out for somebody else for the common good, for the whole body of Christ.
So when I look at all these passages and and I look at, uh, colossians chapter 3 for a moment, and notice what, uh, uh, Paul is saying here, because he’s talking about this very idea of doing it best at what we do, And, uh, here’s what he says in the 3rd chapter.
He says, uh, 22nd verse, slaves in all things obey those who you master’s on earth.
not with external service as those who merely please men, but with sensitive heart fearing the lord.
Now, watch this. Whatever you do, do your work heartily, thoroughly, completely, enthusiastically, do your work heartily as for the lord rather than for men.
He says, whatever you do, do your work hardly is for the lord rather than for men, knowing that from the lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance.
It’s the lord Christ whom you serve. If we could just get that. It’s Jesus whom we are serving.
This may be the mediator, whoever that person is, where we work, but it’s the it’s the lord whom we serve.
But if I do my best at whatever I do, that’s what matters.
Now let’s think for just a moment.
Why do believers fail to serve him and weaken the testimony of the church? Why do they do it?
So I’m gonna give you a list and may so I won’t have to take too long to discuss these.
Number 1, their ignorant of scripture.
There there are people who have no earthly idea that god requires them to exercise their spiritual gifts and their talents.
Secondly, uh, people who feel inadequate, oh, I couldn’t do this. Now, watch this.
When people say I can’t, they’re looking at themselves from their viewpoint, not god’s viewpoint, not what god said, but what they think, which makes them inexcusable.
3rd, they have guilt feelings. Well, I can’t serve the lord because back in my life, I did this, I did that, and so I’m just not worthy.
God’s grace takes care of the past. not acceptable.
Then I think one of the reasons that people don’t serve the lord is the lack of love and caring for other people.
They don’t love other folks. Some people grew up in a home where they were never taught to love and never saw an example of love.
I understand that. But, you know, you can get over those things.
if you want to, you listen, if you just spend your life excusing, uh, yourself for laziness and trifle lessons, slop in this and all the rest because, well, my family did this in my you know what?
We’ve all grown up in bad situations about certain things in life. We but god’s gifted us.
He’s talented us. He’s given us opportunities. We don’t stay where we are. We move on in life.
It may not be as fast as you want it to be, but you when you’re faithful where you are, and I can think of some people that It seems they only have one gift in life, but how faithful loyal devoted they are.
And god says he’s the one who gives them that the reward.
Then, of course, there are people who are selfish with their time.
And as we said before, they said, you know, I just don’t have time.
In other words, you don’t have you don’t have time to witness to somebody else.
You don’t have time to serve. You don’t have time to sing and acquire, though, you’re a gift.
You don’t have time to play. though you’re gifted.
You don’t have time to do this, that, the other and so forth.
You don’t have time to visit other people. You don’t have time.
You don’t have any time to do anything for anybody but yourself. that is pure selfishness, ungodliness.
Now here’s one of the worst things comparing yourself with somebody else. You know why that’s not right?
number one, nobody else is like you. You look at you take put everybody’s thumb print. They’re all different.
I don’t understand how you could have the the 7,000,000,000 thumbprints.
I don’t know how that works, but I can say this god knows you by name.
And when you think about it, it’s not right to compare yourself with somebody else.
For example, as a nurse, you’re a nurse, and you think, well, you know, I just don’t have the stamina so and so has, or maybe you or a secretary and you’re not the best in the world with a computer, Don’t compare yourself so much.
Here’s what you do. God, I wanna thank you for the gifts and talents and skills you’ve given me.
And god, by the Holy Spirit, I am going to improve I’m not gonna stay where I am.
I’m going to improve. I’m not waiting for somebody else to just give me a break.
I’m going to improve by the power of the spirit of god. And do you think god will help you?
Absolutely. He promises to do so. You you don’t know what your potential is.
And as long as you blame somebody else, and there’s something about the past where you’re you’ll never make it.
That listen. Everybody in fact, if you list if you go through the list of history, of people who have done amazing things in life.
They came from crazy paths. You’d think they’d never amount to anything in life. But you know what?
They didn’t stay where they were. They didn’t look around and say I’ll never mount anything.
They decided I’m gonna give it my best. I mean, I’d get there, but I give it my best.
And when people get over that, then god will begin to work in their life.
And of course, one of the primary reasons that people don’t really serve god is they’re living in sin.
You live in sin? You don’t have any big desire to serve god.
You don’t have a big desire to help other people. you’re just trying to satisfy yourself.
And when I think of anything that breaks my heart is, when I see people waste talent, skills, time, gifts because of this, because of that, because the other when god save them, sent the holy spirit living on the inside of him.
It’s like he had to go to sleep. You never know your potential.
to you put yourself in the hands of god and say, lord, I’m gonna do it your way.
And my desire for you is that you look at yourself and say, god, here’s who I am today.
What do you wanna do in my life? Where do you want me to go?
I refused to accept the excuse that I can’t and they want.
The important thing is, god, what do you want?
And now that I know I have a spiritual gift and I have I have talents and I have the Holy Spirit in me.
God, I’m gonna give it my best beginning today.
I’m listening for direction I’m gonna trust you and I’m going to obey you.
Today could be a life changing day in your life. It’s a choice you make.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your savior, it’s not gonna work.
You know, why the wages of sin is death, the gift of god has eternal life, And my prayer is that you would ask Jesus Christ to forgive you of your sins based on the fact that he went to the cross and died on the cross and his blood paid your sin debt in full so that you don’t have to pay it.
He forgives you of your sin. Write your name in the lamb’s book of life and sealed you forever.
as a child of god. Whoever you are, wherever you are, you’ve just heard the truth.
And I pray in Jesus name, that you’d be willing to ask him to forgive you of your sense, tell him you’ve messed up your life.
You’ve depended on other things. You’ve lived it the way you wanna live it.
You’ve never given him any real thought. in your life about how you should live.
You thought you were doing well. You’re not doing well without Jesus.
You’re gonna read what you sow more than you sow, later than you sow, you cannot change it.
My prayer is that you’d be wise enough to receive Jesus Christ as your savior.
Father, how grateful we are for your love for us?
How many times we have to ask you to forgive us for not living up to what we know is the best we could do?
Please, lord, do not allow us to be satisfied with anything less than holy living and holy giving of ourselves to you, to be used by you any way, every way you possibly can.
I pray that you’ll seal this message in the heart of every single believer.
Do not let it escape them, father. And I pray for somebody here today who is unsaved.
They’re already wasting time. Help them to see The first step is to be saved.
The second step is to surrender themselves to you and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
And the 3rd step is to say, yes, lord. Here am I. Use me. Send me. I’m available.
And that’s our prayer this morning in Jesus’ name.
Amen.