Heavenly Father, I thank you for tonight. I thank you for this series you've gotten.
I just ask that you fill us with your spirit, God, and I ask that you meet with us tonight.
Please be with us, Pastor God, straight from the Lord, and from the Holy Spirit, God, we love you.
In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
Amen. All right, we're there in 1 Corinthians chapter 12,
and we've been going through the series on Sunday nights,
and we've been going through a systematic study of the Holy Spirit.
It's been a very doctrinal type of sermon as we've been learning about the Holy Spirit.
And if you remember, we started with a sermon on the person of the Holy Spirit,
then we talked about the Holy Spirit as God, then we talked about the Holy Spirit in the Trinity,
we talked about the work of the Holy Spirit. Last week, we talked about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
This week, we're talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
We have about three weeks left in this series, so I hope you'll be excited about that.
Stick with us. I'm really excited about next week's sermon.
Next week, we're going to talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit,
then we'll talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
then we'll talk about the Holy Spirit and speaking with tongues as we finish up this study.
But this subject of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it's an interesting subject
because of the fact that there's a lot of wrong thinking and a lot of just false teaching that arises from it.
We're here in 1 Corinthians 12. 1 Corinthians 12 is really the chapter that deals with spiritual gifts.
The other chapter that deals with spiritual gifts is Romans chapter 12.
We're going to go back and forth and look at those.
But I want you to notice what Paul says here in verse number 1, 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 1.
The Bible says this, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
So Paul begins this chapter by saying there are spiritual gifts and I want you to be aware of them.
I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.
He says in verse 2, You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto the dumb idols, even as you were led.
Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus a curse
and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.
We talked about that last week with the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost.
Notice verse 4. In verses 4 through 6, he gives us an outline for the rest of this chapter as he deals with the subject of spiritual gifts.
Notice verse 4. He says, Now there are diversities of gifts.
So he talks about the fact that there are different types of gifts but the same Spirit.
Here's what he's saying. He's saying there's one Holy Spirit but that one Holy Spirit gives different types of gifts to every believer.
Notice verse 5. He says, And there are differences of administration.
That's talking about offices or positions of leadership.
He says, But the same Lord. Verse 6, And there are diversities of operations.
That's how you do things and how you get things done. But it's the same God which worketh all in all.
And if you look at this chapter, and I'm not preaching through this chapter tonight but just for your own edification.
If you look at verses 1 through 11, you'll find that diversities of gifts that he talks about in verse 4.
And if you look at verses 12 through 16, he talks about the differences of administration that he mentioned in verse 5.
And if you look at verses 17 through 31, he talks about the diversities of operations that he mentioned in verse 6.
So he really gives us an outline for this chapter. And today we're going to just focus, tonight we're just going to focus on this idea of spiritual gifts.
Now I'd like you to keep your place there in 1 Corinthians 12. That's our text for tonight.
But go with me to the book of 1 Peter, 1 Peter chapter 4. You start at the end of the New Testament, the book of Revelation, and head backwards.
You have the book of Jude, 32 and 1 John, 2 and 1 Peter. Go to 1 Peter chapter 4.
And I think we can probably shut the air conditioner off. I think it's cool enough in here. If one of the ushers or somebody can help me with that, I'd appreciate that.
While you go to 1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, while you go to 1 Peter chapter 4, let me say this and let me explain to you a little bit about the spiritual gifts.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about spiritual gifts and how they apply to us today because there are some gifts that are mentioned in these lists that are what I call supernatural gifts.
And they are generally called sign gifts. I like to call them supernatural gifts and there's nothing wrong with calling them sign gifts.
The Bible even uses that terminology, but I don't like that terminology because the Pentecostals have turned that into something different.
But there are these sign gifts or these supernatural gifts and then there are also what I would call a service gift or a ministry gift.
So I want you to understand as we jump into this idea of spiritual gifts that when we're talking about spiritual gifts, they fall under two categories.
One is the sign gifts or the supernatural gifts. Those are supernatural, miraculous things that God gives the ability or he gifts the ability to individuals to be able to do.
And then you've got the service gifts. Those are aptitudes or talents, abilities that he gives believers in order to be able to be used in a local church to be able to serve in the local assembly.
Now you're there in 1 Peter chapter 4. I want you to notice in verse number 10 what the Bible says about these gifts. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10, it says this,
As every man hath received the gift, okay, and he's talking about the fact that if you've got the Holy Spirit, because remember these are the gifts of the Spirit.
If you've got the Holy Spirit and you should have got the Holy Spirit when you got saved, if you got saved and you got the Holy Spirit, then along with the Holy Spirit,
He gave you some gifts that he expects you to use in ministry in the service of the Lord. He says,
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another. He says, look, God gave you a gift and God expects you to minister the same to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
He's saying, look, you have received the manifold grace of God, you have received these spiritual gifts and you are to steward those gifts, you are to manage those gifts properly for the glory of God.
Notice verse 11, it says, If any man speak, so let him speak as the oracles of God. We're actually going to see that in the spiritual gifts as mentioned as one of the gifts.
But I want you to notice what it says next. It says this, If any man minister, let him do it, notice, as of the ability which God giveth.
That's referring to the spiritual gifts. If you have a spiritual gift, you have the ability to be able to do certain things that God has given you,
and he says, look, when you minister, when you serve, you are to do it as of the ability which God giveth,
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever, amen.
So here's what I know, and you can go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Here's what I know.
When you got saved, you got the Holy Spirit of God, and when you got the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit gave you a gift, and he may have given you more than one gift.
I believe that most believers, or I should say this, I believe that every believer has at least been given a spiritual gift from God
that we're gonna look at today in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. I also believe that most believers have probably been given multiple gifts,
maybe a couple of gifts or several gifts that God has given you to be able to use within the church and to use in ministering for the Lord.
But I know that if you're saved, God has equipped you with a spiritual gift, and what I'd like you to do tonight as we study this idea and as we dig into it,
is to try to identify what is a spiritual gift that God has given me? What is a spiritual gift that God, and I'm gonna help you with that,
and I'm gonna help you understand that, but here's what I know. If you're saved, God has given you a spiritual gift.
Because the Bible says, as every man has received the gift, even so, minister the same.
God says, I gave you a gift, and I expect you to minister with that gift. I expect you to serve with that gift.
Now go back to 1 Corinthians 12, and let's talk about the first category, the supernatural gifts.
Now because I'm breaking this up for you into two categories, we're not gonna necessarily go in order through the list of the gifts.
We're gonna cover all of the gifts, but we're gonna cover them in these two categories.
The first is that of the supernatural gifts, or what's commonly referred to as the sign gifts.
And I want to begin by explaining to you the purpose of the supernatural gifts, or the purpose of the sign gifts.
You're there in 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse number 7. Notice what the Bible says.
It says, but the manifestation, you see that word manifestation?
The word manifestation, or to make something manifest, means to make something so that it is clearly seen.
So that it is visible. He says, but the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all.
So he's saying, I'm gonna give you a gift so that you can profit with that gift.
But he said, one of the purposes, and I believe he's specifically talking about the sign gifts, or the supernatural gifts,
are that the manifestation of the spirit might appear.
That people would know when they see you using this supernatural gift.
And I'm not getting Pentecostal on you, okay? I'm gonna explain all that. We're gonna talk about it.
But he's saying, when God gives a supernatural gift, when God gives a sign gift, the purpose is not to glorify that individual.
The purpose is that others might be able to manifest, to clearly see, to identify the work of the Spirit of God in their lives.
Now there are these supernatural gifts. Let me just go ahead and say it now.
I'm gonna prove it to you from the Bible, but I'm just gonna say it because I think some of you might be worried.
I believe the supernatural gifts have been done away with. I believe the sign gifts are no longer available for us today.
I'll show you that from the Bible. I'll show you why that is.
But I want you to know that there was a time when God gave these supernatural gifts, and the purpose was that the glory would go to God.
That people would be able to identify that God was working in and through his people.
So let's talk about these sign gifts. What are they?
And as far as I can tell, I've identified three categories of these sign gifts, or these supernatural gifts.
The first category is the gifts of healing. You're there in 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse number 9. Notice what the Bible says.
It says, to another faith by the same Spirit, and we're gonna come back and look at that later.
He says, to another, here's the first supernatural or sign gift. He says, to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.
Now when we talk about having the gift of healing, the supernatural gift of healing,
what we're talking about is the ability or the power to be able to heal on command.
This is what Paul had. This is what Peter had. This is what, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ did.
But the apostles, even in the book of Acts, were able to heal people or heal individuals, raise the lame, even raise the dead.
And they were able to do that because they had been given this supernatural gift through the Holy Spirit of God called the gifts of healing.
Now, go to Mark chapter number 2. Keep your place in 1 Corinthians 12. That's our text for tonight.
But go to Mark chapter 2. You got Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark chapter 2.
And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ had this gift. He had the gift of healing. He had the ability to heal.
Have you ever asked yourself, why did Jesus perform miracles? What was the point of his miracles?
What was the purpose of him going around and healing people? What was the point of that?
In Mark chapter 2, we get a little insight into that question. So we know that he healed people. The question is what?
What was the purpose? What was the point? Mark chapter 2. Look at verse 5. Notice what the Bible says.
It says, When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Remember the story? They brought the man sick of the palsy. They lowered him down through the roof.
And when Jesus saw, notice, the Bible says he saw their faith. Not just his faith, but the faith of those who believed that if they brought him, he would heal him.
He said when he saw their faith, he said thy sins be forgiven thee. Notice, that was not a physical healing.
That was not a physical supernatural thing he did with the man's body, but he just saved the soul.
He forgave his sins. He gave him salvation. Notice verse 6. But there were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts.
Notice, they weren't saying anything out loud. They were just thinking in their minds. They were reasoning in their hearts.
They were saying, verse 7, Why doth this man, talking about Jesus, why doth this man thus speak blasphemies?
They're saying this guy is blaspheming. You say, well, why would they say that? Notice, who can forgive sins but God only?
Now here's the thing. They're right about that. That only God can forgive sins.
And it is blasphemous for a man to think that he has the ability to forgive sins.
Today, the Roman Catholic priest that will sit there and say that, you know, you're forgiven for this sin or you're forgiven for that sin,
do three Hail Marys and do whatever and say this prayer and chant this thing and I forgive you and I absolve you.
That is a blasphemous thing for a man to say because only God can forgive sins.
Now you say, well, what's the issue here? The issue here is what they did not understand is that Jesus is God.
So they said, hey, this man is blaspheming. Where were they wrong? They weren't wrong with the statement who can forgive sins but God.
They were wrong with the statement, why does this man thus speak?
Because what they did not understand is that this man was God in the flesh.
And this man had the authority and the ability to forgive sin. Notice verse 8.
And immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit, because remember, they're not talking out loud.
And just the fact that he knows what they're thinking, showing again that this is God. You're not dealing with a mere man.
When he perceived in his spirit that they saw reason within themselves, he said unto them, why reason ye these things in your hearts?
Now notice what he says in verse 9. He says, whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, arise and take up thy bed and walk.
Here's what Jesus is saying. It's actually easier for me to physically, supernaturally, miraculously heal this man.
That's actually easier than what I just did which was forgiven of all of his sins.
But you don't understand that because you're a human being. You're carnal. You only see what you see and you don't see the spirit world.
And he said, you think, you think that it's blasphemous for me, you think that it's blasphemous for me to be able to forgive sins.
And he says, but you think it would actually be more difficult for me to heal him physically. Notice verse 10.
But that ye may know that the son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, he saith to the sick of the palsy,
I say unto thee, arise and take up thy bed and go thy way into thine house.
And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all, insomuch that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, we never saw it on this fashion.
So what we learn from this passage is this, that the reason that Jesus would perform physical miracles was only to lend credibility to the message of salvation that he was bringing.
The purpose of their healings was to be a sign that he was who he said he was.
Well, when the apostles began to heal, the purpose of their healing was to be a sign that the message that they preached of Christ was true.
The purpose of the miracles has been and has always been just to show and to lend credibility to the fact that the message of Jesus Christ, the message of God, is a true message, is a true miracle.
Keep your place there, Mark. We're going to go right back to it. Go back to 1 Corinthians 12. Let me give you another example of a supernatural or sign gift.
Notice the first one was the gift of healing. Then he mentions this in 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 10, to another, the working of miracles.
Alright, so now we're not just talking about healing somebody, but we're talking about just the performing of miracles, being able to do supernatural things.
Why did Jesus do this? What was the purpose? Go to John chapter 2. You're there in Mark. If you kept your place in Mark, you got Mark, Luke, John. John chapter 2.
Look at verse number 11. Let me just show you the purpose. Why did God give? Why did God give Elijah the ability to do the things he did?
Elijah, the ability to do the things he did. Why did God give Moses the ability to do the things he did?
Why did God give Moses the ability to bring the plagues? One reason, to lend credibility to the message that Moses brought from God.
See, Moses didn't just show up and say, Thus saith the Lord God, let my people go.
Moses showed up and said, Thus saith the Lord God, let my people go, and then turned the Nile River into blood, which they worshiped that river.
Moses showed up and said, Thus saith the Lord God, let my people go, and brought swarms of flies, and brought darkness, and brought frogs,
and just kind of picked his finger at all of their so-called gods. Why? The signs were there to bring credibility to the message that he brought.
The signs of Christ, the miracles, the healings. He did all that to bring credibility to who he was and what he was doing.
John chapter 2, look at verse 11. Notice what the Bible says. This beginning of miracles did Jesus and Cana of Galilee.
It's talking about the turning water into wine. Why did he do it? Notice. And manifested. Remember we saw that word, manifestation of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12?
And manifested. He clearly showed forth his glory and his disciples believed on him.
Why did he do the miracles? Why did he do the healings? To show as a sign that brings credibility to the message and the word that he was preaching.
Go to John chapter 10. You're there in John 2. Just flip a few chapters over. John chapter 10, look at verse 25.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, how can we know if these faith healers, if they're real or if they're fake, or how do we know that?
Well, number one, I think they're all fake because of the fact that these signs, supernatural gifts have been done away with and I'll show you that in a minute.
But another way to just know that they're fake is because remember the purpose of the signs was to lend credibility to the message.
So before you get all wrapped up in the signs of Benny Hinn, just listen to the message of Benny Hinn.
And the truth is this, that if you listen to the message of these faith healers, they're all preaching a false gospel.
They're all preaching a work salvation. They're all preaching repent of your sins, meaning turn away from your sins in order to be saved.
None of them believe in eternal security. None of them believe in salvation by grace through faith, not of works.
They preach a false gospel. So look, before you get all wrapped up in the miracles, you ought to look at the message and if you can look at the message and realize this is a false message, forget about the miracles.
The Antichrist will perform miracles. The false prophet will perform miracles.
If you remember the prophets of Pharaoh performed miracles, don't get too wrapped up in the miracles but realize that the miracles were there to bring credibility to the message that was a true message.
Today you can just look at the message and look at the word of God and if it doesn't match up, then it's Antichrist.
Then it's satanic. Then it's something else. It's a different source. Are you there in John 10? Look at verse 25.
John 10, 25, Jesus answered them, I told you and you believed not. Notice what Jesus says. The works, now he's referring to the miracles, the healings, the things that he's done.
The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Jesus, why did you come on this earth and do these miracles and do these great things? Why?
Because he said the works bear witness of me. Notice John 14 and verse 11. Let's flip a few pages over to John 14 verse 11.
He says believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else, notice what he says, believe me for the very works sake.
He said look, these works, these healings, these miracles, they lend credibility, they give credibility to the message that I'm bringing, that I came forth from the Father, that I am the Christ, that I am the Savior, that I am the Messiah.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Let me show you the third sign gift. The first one is the gift of healing. The second one is the gift of working miracles.
The third one is the ability to speak with tongues. The ability to speak with tongues. Now, let me show this to you and then I want to talk to you about that a little bit and show you a few verses and give you some things to consider.
1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 10. To another working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another, notice what he says, diverse kinds of tongues, to another, the interpretation of tongues.
Now you're there in 1 Corinthians 12, flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and look at verse 22. Remember we talked about the supernatural gifts, the sign gifts? What are they?
They are signs given to give credibility to the word and to the message that is being preached. 1 Corinthians 14 verse 22, notice what the Bible says, it says wherefore tongues are for a sign.
Now I want you to understand this idea of tongue speaking or speaking with tongues and I'm actually going to preach an entire sermon on this subject as we finish up this series so I'm not going to get into too much detail.
But I want you to understand this. When it comes to the gifts of the spirit, remember they are divided into two categories. The supernatural gifts and the service gifts.
The sign gifts and the ministry gifts. The gifts that are given to be able to serve as New Testament believers in a local New Testament church and then the supernatural gifts that were given to be a sign of the credibility of the message that is being preached.
The ability or the gift of speaking with tongues, this is a unique gift in the sense that there is a supernatural version of it and there is a service and ministry version of it.
There is a supernatural version of it like we see in Acts chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, where people who did not learn languages, who did not take the time to learn languages were supernaturally able to speak a language they never learned.
In 1 Corinthians 14, we see Paul talking about people speaking with tongues, but it's not a supernatural thing. It's just an ability that God has given them to be able to speak and learn different languages.
So you need to understand that speaking with tongues, it falls under both categories. There is throughout the book of Acts the supernatural ability to speak with tongues that you never learn.
But there is also the service gift where some people have just been given the aptitude or the talent or the ability to be able to pick up languages.
Paul was given that gift which is why he knew so many languages and it helped him in his missionary work as he traveled the world.
But we do have that supernatural gift. And again, I'm going to get into that in a lot of detail in about four weeks when we get to that subject.
But let me just kind of whet your appetite on that. Something to consider is that when you look at the speaking with tongues of Acts chapter 2 and you compare it to the speaking with tongues of 1 Corinthians 14,
other than the verse I just showed you where he talks about it being a sign, he says he treats them completely different.
For example, at the day of Pentecost, everyone spoke with tongues with no exception. Whether they learned it, whether they've been through Pimsleur, whether they've done Rosetta Stone,
I mean no matter what they studied, no matter what they learned, everyone with no exception spoke with a tongue they did not know.
In 1 Corinthians 14, he's actually telling them, hey, only a few of you speak with tongues. He's reprimanding them for speaking with tongues because he's saying only a few of you speak with tongues.
So once you're getting up and preaching to the whole congregation, nobody understands what you're saying. In the day of Pentecost, no interpreter was needed because they were supernaturally able to speak the language that other people understood.
1 Corinthians 14, he's telling them, you better not get up to speak without an interpreter. So when you study those, you see that we're not talking about the same thing.
The same thing that happened in the day of Pentecost is not what is happening at the church at Corinth. And we're going to get into a lot of detail into that in a few weeks when we study that.
But I just want you to understand, we've got two categories, supernatural sign gifts, service or ministry gifts, and the speaking with tongues has a version that goes into both.
There was a supernatural, miraculous thing that God did in the book of Acts where people spoke with a language they had never taken the time to learn.
But there is also the gift or the aptitude of people being able to pick up languages to be able to use that in soul learning and missions work and things like that.
So I hope that makes sense. Go to Acts chapter 10 though and let me show you the speaking with tongues under the supernatural category. What was the purpose?
Because remember, the purpose of all of the supernatural gifts, the sign gifts, they all have one purpose, to be a sign.
To be something that lends credibility to the message that's being preached, Acts chapter 10.
Or the work that God is doing. If you're there in 1 Corinthians, just go backwards. You've got Romans and Acts. Acts chapter 10 verse 44.
While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them. We're talking about Gentiles here. Peter is preaching the gospel to Gentiles for the first time.
Which heard the word? He's preaching the gospel to them. The Holy Ghost fell on them. He doesn't necessarily see that.
So what does God do to help him know that, hey, I'm for this. I'm with this. These people got it. They got saved. Notice verse 45.
And they of the circumcision, which believed, talking about the Jews that were saved, that were there, were astonished.
So the saved Jews that came with Peter, preaching the gospel to Gentiles, when the Holy Ghost fell on them, they were astonished as many as came with Peter.
Because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. Well how did they know that?
What gave them a clue or a sign that the Holy Ghost had fell upon the Gentiles as well as the Jews? Verse 46.
For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter, and it goes on to talk about that.
So again, the supernatural gifts were given just as a sign where God was saying, I'm for this. I'm for what's going on. I'm for this message.
I'm putting my stamp of approval on what's happening today.
Now, when it comes to the supernatural gifts, I don't believe that those gifts are available today.
I don't believe there's something that we do today. I'm not going to be able to heal you and I'm not going to be able to turn water into wine or whatever.
If we run out of Coca Cola at an event, we have to go to the store and buy some more. I can't just turn water into cokes or whatever.
So those supernatural gifts have been done away with. Let me just give you a verse for that. Go back to Mark chapter 16, Matthew and Mark.
Let me just give you kind of a couple of disclaimers on these supernatural gifts and then we're going to get into the ministry gifts.
Mark chapter number 16, because remember, the purpose of the gifts, right, the purpose of the miracles was always to lend credibility to confirm what was being done.
Why did Jesus give the supernatural ability to do miracles and to do these things with the apostles when he left? Are you there in Mark chapter 16?
Look at verse number 20. Notice what the Bible says.
And they went forth, talking about the apostles, and preached everywhere, notice, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.
Don't you notice that the Bible says that God gave this supernatural ability to the apostles because when Paul showed up to a place that had never heard of Christ, and he began to preach Christ, he would often confirm the word through the miracles and through the healings that Paul did.
He gave them those supernatural ability to confirm the word. Why? Because the word of God had not yet been completely written.
The word of God was still in the process of being written. It was literally being written by men like Matthew and Luke and Paul himself and John.
So God allowed them to have the supernatural gifts, healings, the speaking with tongues, all those things to confirm what was happening and what was going on during that time period that we know as the book of Acts because it was a transitional period.
We were transitioning between the Old Covenant and the Old Testament into the New Covenant and in the New Testament and the word of God, especially the New Testament, had not been completed.
And the Bible says that God gave them these supernatural gifts to confirm the word. You say, pastor, why do you not think that we need those gifts today? Because we don't need to confirm the word. It's here. It's done.
You don't need to confirm it. We don't need to say, hey, look, I'm bringing you a message and I'm going to confirm it with this supernatural gift. I don't need to confirm anything. This Bible stands on its own.
Look, we don't defend the word of God. I told you about this reasoning series we're going to do and I'm all for taking our beliefs and our doctrines and putting them up to reasoning and logical reasoning because we do not believe in fairy tales.
We do not believe in just these mystical things. I have no problem and no issue with taking anything from the word of God and letting it be brought up against anyone's reasoning and anyone's logic because you can't reason with God. He says let us reason together.
So the point is this. We don't have to confirm the word of God. The word of God confirms itself. Someone said the word of God is like a lion. You don't defend the lion. You just let it loose. It defends itself.
You don't have to sit there and try to help a lion out. You just let the lion do what it's going to do. And when it comes to the word of God, you know what? Let the word of God do what it's going to do.
But during the transitional period, when it was still not written, the Bible says that the Lord was working with them and confirming the word with signs falling.
Once the New Testament was completed, the office of the apostles was done away with, we entered into what we now know as the local New Testament church and those sign gifts were done away.
So I hope that answers for you the supernatural gifts, the sign gifts, the purpose, and why they're no longer around today.
Now let's talk about the service gifts, the ministry gifts. This is highly applicable for us today. Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Now when we talk about the sign gifts, we're talking about gifts that have been done away that were meant to bring credibility or to confirm the word with signs falling. That's what Mark 16 and verse 20 says.
When we talk about the service gifts or the ministry gifts, we're talking about gifts that God gave you in order to be able to serve within the local New Testament church.
Now there are 11 service gifts that I see between 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and Romans chapter 12, which are the major chapters on this.
But I don't think that these are the only ones. I think this is probably most of them, but I'm sure that there are other gifts that we could probably find in scripture.
In fact, I'm thinking of one right now. I'll bring that up to you here in a second. But there are other gifts that we can find throughout the word of God.
But when we're talking about the service gifts, what we're talking about is the fact that God gives you an aptitude, he gives you a talent, he gives you an ability that God expects you to use for his service.
So what are these gifts? Well, let's look at them. 1 Corinthians 12, look at verse 8. So we're not talking about the supernatural gifts, we're going to talk about the service gifts now, the ministry gifts.
The gifts that God gives for ministry. 1 Corinthians 12, 8.
For to one is given the spirit, given by the spirit, notice what it says, the word of wisdom.
So one of the gifts that God gives is the word of wisdom or the ability to have wisdom and to have wisdom maybe in a greater sense or in a greater ability than other individuals.
Let me just give you one quick example of this, but go to 1 Kings 4 in the Old Testament. Let's look at an example from the Old Testament.
1 Kings 4, the Holy Spirit of God was coming upon individuals in the Old Testament and we see his work in the Old Testament.
But here's an example, and this is just an example, but here's an example of what we're talking about when someone is given the gift of the word of wisdom.
1 Corinthians 4 and verse 29. I keep saying 1 Corinthians, good night. 1 Kings, I'm not reading my own writing here, 1 Kings 4 verse 29.
And you're familiar with the story, but let's look at it. 1 Kings 4 and verse 29, the Bible says this.
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the seashore.
And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the wisdom of Egypt.
Go back to 1 Corinthians 12. While you turn there, let me just read for you from James 1.5.
James 1.5 says this, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abraighteth not.
Let me just say a couple things about these service gifts.
The service gifts, when you look at them, these are gifts that we should all be attempting to do.
These are things that we should all be trying to do, but they're going to be certain gifts that you are more prone to, that you are more talented in, that you are given some aptitude in.
But something that we should all, look, we should all strive to be wise. We should all have wisdom.
But from time to time, you will run into individuals that it seems like they've just got a little more wisdom than others.
It seems like they've got some wisdom beyond their age. It seems like they're just able to look at situations and apply scriptural truth to those situations in a way that is maybe above or excels what the rest of us are able to do.
So why don't you notice that one of the ministry, the service gifts is the gift of the word of wisdom.
And Solomon is an example of getting extra wisdom or extra ability in that.
You're there in 1 Corinthians 12, look at verse 8. Let me show you the second service gift.
The second service gift is the word of knowledge.
1 Corinthians 12 verse 8, for to one is given the spirit of word, the spirit, the word of wisdom, to another, notice, the word of knowledge by the same spirit.
Now you say, well, the gift of wisdom, and then you got the gift of knowledge, I mean, what's the difference there or what's, aren't those pretty much the same?
And I want to just show you something. You're there in 1 Corinthians 12, just flip one page over to 1 Corinthians 13 and look at verse number 2.
1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 2, notice what the Bible says.
1 Corinthians chapter 13 and verse 2, and though I have the gift of prophecy, and we'll talk about that in a minute, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith.
And the apostle here, we got this famous charity chapter, but he talks about the fact that some people would have the gift of prophecy, and then he says, and I might even have the gift of understanding all mysteries and all knowledge.
And here's the truth, and if you look at it, if you study this out or you study it in your own life, you'll find this to be true.
Some people have been given the gift of wisdom, and some people have been given the gift of knowledge. Remember Ahithophel, I won't have you go there, but Ahithophel in the Old Testament.
He had been given the gift of knowledge. The Bible says that if you went and inquired of Ahithophel, it was like you were inquiring at the oracles of God.
The oracles of God is referring to the Bible. When you went and asked Ahithophel, it was like you were asking the Bible, because he was so knowledgeable about the word of God.
Here's the problem with Ahithophel. Ahithophel had the gift of knowledge, but he did not have the gift of wisdom.
Because he could answer any question you had, but he lined himself up with the wrong guy, Absalom.
Because some people have been given the gift of knowledge. I can think of individuals, they are so smart. I mean, they retain everything.
They read stuff and they just retain it, they learn it, good night. They understand it, they can quote it to you, they can tell it to you.
And then you watch them make decisions relationally. You watch them make decisions when they're dealing with people.
You watch them make decisions when they're having to deal with situations. You think to yourself, good night, I thought you were smart.
And the thing is, they are smart. They've been given the gift of knowledge, but they lack in some wisdom.
There's some other individuals that have been given the gift of wisdom, and it's hard for them to remember the dates, and it's hard for them to remember the exact reference.
And they have to really sit there and think about, the Bible says this, and I think it's in Proverbs, I have to go back and look.
And it's hard for them to remember all that, but God has given them some wisdom when they're dealing with a situation.
They can kind of see through all the fog and see through all the issues and be able to say, well, here's what needs to be done.
They're able to take the knowledge they have from the word of God and leverage it in a way that can be used to properly help people.
And you say, well, why would God give wisdom to some people and knowledge to others? Here's why.
He doesn't give everybody all the same gift. He gives everybody in the church different gifts so that we will all work together for the purpose of the gospel.
It's good to have some brainiac eggheads that know everything about everything, and they can tell you everything about Daniel 70th week and everything about the trumpets and the vials and this and that.
But you know what? It's also good to just have some people who've just got some good wisdom.
Who say, man, I've read Daniel a lot, and I can't remember all the details about all that, but I can tell you this. You shouldn't say that. You shouldn't treat her that way.
You shouldn't talk like that. There's a difference. See, knowledge is one thing, but wisdom is applying the knowledge.
And I'm not here to tell you one is better than the other. All I'm telling you is this. Some people have wisdom. Some people have knowledge.
If we could learn to work together, we'd get a lot done.
He says he's been given, he says some people have the gift of knowledge, and some people have the gift of wisdom.
Some people have the gift of faith, or what I like to call strong faith. Go to 1 Corinthians 12. Look at verse 9. 1 Corinthians 12, 9. Notice what he says.
To another faith by the same Spirit. It's funny because Paul mentions this in his charity chapter in the very next chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. Look at what it says.
And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains.
We should all have faith. And if you're saved, you have enough faith to at least get you saved. But there are some people that they have strong faith.
I mean, they've got the faith. I'll get up here and say, we're going to raise X amount of dollars for vision offering, and they're saying, you know, pastor, I believe God can do it.
They believe. There's some other people, God bless you, I'm not mad at you, I love you. But there's some people, when I announce some new ministry or I announce some new thing, I try to avoid them.
Because whenever you say, bless God, we're going to trust God by faith, we're going to go plant this church, we're going to go do this, we're going to start a conference, we're going to get a new building.
You know, you tell people, and there's some people that are just like, pastor, how do you really think? I don't know, I just don't know, I just don't think. I just don't understand how.
And look, if that's you, God bless you. But you need to lie to yourself that some people have been given the gift of faith.
I'm not talking about foolishness, but some people who just believe, they believe so much that they can remove mountains. They just have been given.
We should all have faith. Look, we should all have faith. We should all have knowledge. We should all have wisdom. But there are some people that it seems like they've just been given a little bit more of a measure of that faith.
A little bit more of the measure of the ability to be able to discern and to apply biblical knowledge to certain situations. Some people, they've just been given the ability to retain and to learn and to understand and to give out facts and to give you and explain.
These are gifts that are given by the Spirit. Here's another one. The gift of prophecy. That would be the gift of preaching. 1 Corinthians 12, look at verse 10.
To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. Some people have been given the gift of prophecy. Notice what he says in 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 2.
He says, and though I have the gift of prophecy. Some people have the gift of prophecy. Go back to Romans. Go to Romans chapter 12. Let me show this to you in Romans 12.
Romans chapter 12, look at verse 4. Romans chapter 12 and verse 4 says this.
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office. Remember we saw that word in 1 Corinthians 12.
So we being many are one body in Christ and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. That sounds like 1 Peter 4, remember?
Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. So the Bible says that some people have been given the gift of prophecy. In fact, you don't have to turn there.
But in 1 Timothy chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, it says this is a true saying. If a man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality. He's saying you need to do all those things.
But then he says, apt to teach. Apt to teach is not something that you create. It's an aptitude that you have. It's an ability that has been given to you.
And here's the point. I think every man that's saved and has the Holy Spirit of God can get up and preach. I'm not at all saying that only those who have the gift of preaching should get up and preach.
I think any spirit-filled man that loves the Lord is saved and they can study the Bible and preach. I think that you can get better at preaching.
I think you can read books about preaching and read books about public speaking and read books and take lessons and take notes and all those things.
And anybody can work. Anybody can, as far as men are concerned, can preach, but you have to acknowledge the fact that there are some people that have been given a gift by God, an ability to just naturally be able to preach.
I think everyone should attempt to be wise and to have wisdom and to be able to understand what the Bible, to have knowledge and then try to apply that knowledge into wisdom.
I think everyone should try to have faith. All of these things are things that we should all try to do.
But what happens is, and it really becomes fun in the Christian life, when you can figure out what your spiritual gift is, the aptitude that God has given you.
For some, it's wisdom. For some, it's knowledge. For some, it's faith. For some, it's prophesying. For others, it's a discerning of spirits.
Go to 1 Corinthians 12, look at verse 10.
To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, discerning of spirits. To another, discerning of spirits.
One of the gifts that God has given us is a discerning of spirits. Go to 1 John 4. Let me show you a cross-reference here for you.
If you start at the book of Revelation and head back, you've got Revelation, Jude, 32, and 1 John chapter 4.
The Bible says that God has given the gift to the Holy Spirit for some people to be able to smell a rat.
Now look, there are some people who do not have the gift of discerning of spirits.
I mean, they just, God bless them, their heart's in the right place and they're loving people and they're caring for people, but they just don't see it.
I mean, there are some people, I'm looking at individuals and I'm saying, like, this is a bad person. How can you not say this is a bad person?
This person is not trying to, and other people are like, I think they're great. I think they're wonderful.
I think, and look, and you say, well, I don't have the gift of discerning of spirits. Nothing wrong with not having that gift, but you might want to line yourself up with somebody that does.
And you may want to learn to listen, you know, to someone that has that gift and that ability to be able to perceive past some things and to be able to see some things.
Because look, if you struggle with this, you're just going to end up getting hurt and hurt and hurt. Line yourself up with someone that's got that discerning of spirits.
1 John chapter 4 verse 1, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone into the world.
This is something we should all be doing. We should all be trying the spirits, whether they are of God.
This is something we should all, as New Testament Christians, be attempting to do. But there are just some people, there are some people, they don't even have to try.
They just observe someone for a little bit and say, there's something wrong, Eric. There's something off there.
And God just gave them the ability through the Holy Spirit to be able to discern. Go to Romans chapter 12. Look at verse 7.
Romans chapter 12 verse 7. He says, or ministry. Romans chapter 12 verse 7. In Romans 12 we've got the list of the gifts there. Notice what he says.
Romans chapter 12 verse 7, or ministry. That word ministry means serving or service.
Now again, I want to make sure you understand this. All of us should be doing all this. Everyone should be serving.
Look, when it's time to clean up, we should all be cleaning. Right? When it's time to do work, we should all be working. We should all be serving.
But there are some people that have been gifted by God to just serve. You know, and it really helps the local New Testament church.
You know, my wife and I will often talk about the fact that we want everyone to help and we want everyone to serve and we hope that everyone will serve.
But if nobody serves, we know there are certain individuals, there are certain people that they will help.
Because it's like God has gifted them to help. It's just natural for them. They don't see it as a burden.
Where maybe others of us say, man, I really don't want to help. That's the right Christian thing to do. Right?
Other people, they just jump right in and they get involved and they love to help. Why? Because they've been given that gift. They've been given that aptitude.
Some of you guys might say, man, I don't want to preach at a men's preaching night, but I kind of think I should. I'm going to try, but it's really hard.
Where other guys, it just kind of comes naturally. It doesn't make one better than the other. It just means that you have a gift.
You ought to try to identify that gift and work within and with that gift. Notice Romans chapter 12 and verse 7.
Or ministry. Let us wait on our ministry. Or he that teacheth on teaching. Some people have been given a gift of teaching.
Some preachers are better at teaching than they are preaching. Now look, we all ought to preach and we all ought to teach.
But some guys, it just comes more natural to just kind of rip face and get up and scream and yell.
And some guys, it might come more natural to teach and to really dig into a passage and break it up.
And look, we should all try to have a balance and we should all try to do what we can, but realize that there are some gifts that have been given.
Some guys might have got the gift of prophecy. Some guys might have got the gift of teaching.
Now the ones that got the gift of teaching, they need to at least make sure they do a little bit of preaching.
And the ones that got the gift of preaching, they need to make sure that they add some teaching.
But sometimes when you understand what your giftedness is and where you are gifted and you work within that gift,
then God helps you as you come alongside others that have the gifts that you are lacking.
Look at Romans chapter 12 verse 8.
Or he that exhorted on exhortation.
Some people have the gift of encouragement.
They're just naturally able to encourage.
There are some people that have the anti-gift of encouragement.
It's like, if I'm having a bad day, I don't want to get around you.
But some people, man, you just get around them and they just lift you up.
They just encourage you. They're just an encourager.
And they're not fake. It's just God gave them a gift.
They have a gift to be able to encourage.
Those are the type of people I want to get around are guests.
Some people I'm like, please keep him away from any guest.
Do not let him talk to guests.
I love him, but he does not have the gift of encouraging.
He has the gift of putting his foot in his mouth.
There are just some people that God has given you and given you some spiritual gifts.
Notice chapter 12 there in verse 8.
And he that exhorted on exhortation, he that giveth let him do with simplicity.
Did you know that some people have been given the gift of giving?
Now look, we should all give.
We should all give.
We should all be generous with our finances and give to the work of the Lord.
But you know there are some people that God has gifted with the ability to give and to be generous
and to just at the right time be able to come in and give.
And the Bible says this.
And praise the Lord for it.
Praise the Lord that there are just some people who the Lord has blessed financially
and they don't have any problems or issues.
There's no bitterness in their heart.
They can just give and provide financially for the work of the Lord.
Notice Romans chapter 12 verse 8.
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth let him do it with simplicity.
He that ruleth with diligence.
This is the gift of ruling or leadership.
This is the gift of administration.
Some people have been given the gift of administration.
It just comes natural for them to try to organize things, to try to structure things, to try to create systems.
Some people, they don't have this gift.
I know some pastors, they don't have this gift.
Oh, they can't be a pastor.
No, you know, it doesn't mean they can't be a pastor, but they better get around some people that have the gift of administration.
You know, some people have the gift of administration and they're good at it.
Some people that are not good at it, that's great.
God has given all sorts of different gifts to different people.
Let me give you the last one here, Romans chapter 12 verse 8.
Notice what he says at the end.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.
Some people have been given the gift of mercy.
I like this gift, but I'm working on it.
But you know, the gift of mercy is the gift of compassion to be able to look at.
A big example of this is Barnabas in the New Testament. Remember Barnabas?
He had mercy and he reached out to Saul when he was converted and the church didn't want him around.
And they said, no, we don't trust this guy.
Barnabas had mercy on him and he brought him along and he included him.
And he invited him into the assembly and he vouched for him.
Remember later on when John Mark would quit, Paul, who did not have the gift of mercy,
said, I don't want this guy around me. He's a quitter. He's a failure.
But what did Barnabas do? He said, no, I'll take John Mark.
Why? Because he had a gift of mercy.
Was Barnabas better than Paul? Was Paul better? No, they just had different gifts.
And when we find our gifts, when we find our giftedness, then we can be used of God.
Go back to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
So let me just give you a rundown of the gifts that we found in these chapters.
You have the gift of the word of wisdom, the gift of the word of knowledge,
the gift of faith or strong faith, the gift of prophecy or preaching,
the gift of discerning spirits, the gift of ministry, the gift of teaching,
the gift of exhorting, the gift of giving, the gift of ruling, the gift of mercy.
You say, Pastor Jimenez, how can I identify my spiritual gift?
How can I identify my spiritual gift? There's a couple ways you can do it.
Number one, if you find yourself serving in a capacity that you don't see it as a burden
but you thrive in that, that's probably a gift.
Look, if organizing things and spreadsheets and Excel spreadsheets and lists and to-do lists and goals
and those things, they make your eyes roll over in your head and you kind of just fall asleep,
you probably haven't been given the gift of administration, the gift of ruling.
But some people, they like that stuff.
You know, if you're just kind of, it's hard for you to, that guy quit on us.
I don't know, I don't want no quitter around me.
Hey, Paul, praise the Lord, you've been given some gifts by God and God wants to use those gifts,
but maybe you're not the guy that's supposed to encourage John Mark, right?
You're not the guy that we're going to send out to try to help people that have failed.
Let's have Barnabas do that. It seems like he's been given that gift.
So what you need to find is you need to just figure out the areas that you are gifted
and what you really are looking for is the areas that come easy to you or the areas that don't drain you.
If giving actually excites you, if giving actually, it doesn't drain you, but it actually fills you
and you're excited to do it, you probably have the gift of giving.
If serving and working and cleaning, you're happy to do it, you don't mind it, you enjoy it,
you actually like to clean and to serve and to help, you probably have this gift of serving.
You need to find the areas that do not drain you.
If something drains you, you're probably not gifted in that area.
And if something comes naturally, it's an act, then you probably are gifted in that area.
And I'll tell you, as far as I can tell on this list, I believe that some of the gifts that I have,
I think I have that gift of administration.
Honestly, I think that's a gift that I have.
People often will come to our church and say, man, this place is just organized so well.
I've never been to a church so well organized.
And I think to myself, yeah, you know what, when I go to your guys' church, I feel drained the whole time.
Like, how do you guys live like this?
But I think God's given me that gift.
And sometimes I feel bad for our staff.
I feel bad for Brother Oliver.
I make Brother Oliver once a quarter sit with me in my office for an entire day.
And we put the projector up and we put the screen up and we write out, all right, January, February, March, April,
what are the major events that are happening in our church?
Because we have some major events that happen around here.
Easter, make a soul-winning marathon, married couple sweetheart banquet, you know, whatever.
We write up all this.
Then we go through and make a list of what is every action, every step that needs to be done,
what is everything that needs to be done in order for us to be able to successfully accomplish this event or this big day or this whatever.
Then we put dates on those.
Then we line them up into sequence by date.
And then every Monday we look at that list and we say, what needs to be done this week?
What needs to be done this week for us to be able to successfully have a Red Hot Preaching Conference?
For us to be able to successfully have an Easter service?
For us to be able to successfully have a mega soul-winning marathon?
For us to be able to successfully have Mother's Day Ladies' Tea?
Some of you are like, I can't believe you do that.
But I thrive off that.
Now, Oliver needs a lot of coffee, you know, and he sits there and he's like, okay.
No, I'm just kidding.
Oliver's great.
But you know, I think that's a gift that God's given me.
And I hope this doesn't sound arrogant, but I believe that God has given me a gift of preaching.
I'm not saying that I'm the best preacher, but I feel like it does come naturally to me,
the ability to be able to stand up and preach and teach things and be able to grasp things from the Word of God
and to take things that are maybe a little complicated and be able to deliver it in a way that is easily understood.
I think that God has gifted me in that area.
So it makes sense for me to be in the role of a pastor.
Because those are just two major gifts that God has given me that doesn't make me better than you.
It's just two gifts that God has given me that I can use in that capacity.
Now, I'm not saying that you have to have the gift of administration to be a pastor,
but you better hire someone that's organized.
You know, you better have people around you that can keep you organized.
Here's what I'm saying.
You have a gift.
God has given you a gift.
I'll tell you this.
I don't have the gift of mercy, but I'll tell you who has the gift of mercy, my wife.
My wife has the gift of mercy.
I'll tell you the three gifts, and I hope she's okay with me saying this,
but the three gifts that I can identify from my wife, gift of mercy, gift of exhortation.
And I'm not trying to pop your bubble, some of you ladies,
but one thing that I often hear people say about my wife is that they'll say,
whenever I talk to her, I feel like she's my best friend.
And you know, the truth is that she's my best friend, okay?
But the truth is that she just has a gift, you know?
My wife will tell you from time to time, I make her do public things,
you know, I make her do a hair-cutting lesson,
or I make her do a homeschool seminar, and she doesn't like those things.
I think she does a good job with it.
She works at it.
I think she does a good job, but it drains her.
It's not where she's gifted, but she's really good at the one-on-one,
the one-on-one exhortation, the one-on-one mercy.
Well, you know what?
That's great, because I can do the public speaking,
but I'm not generally that great with the one-on-one.
But she is.
We balance ourselves.
I remember for a long time, and maybe even now,
but I remember for a long time,
there was a group of people that came to our church.
They didn't like me, and they didn't like my preaching,
but they liked my wife, and they came just because they liked my wife.
And you know what?
As a pastor, I'm okay with that.
I'm fine with that, you know?
So she's thinking, hey, I'll give you another gift,
another thing I see in my wife.
She definitely has a gift of discerning of spirits.
I mean, there have been several situations in our church
where she called something, and she said,
that person's not good.
That person's going to be an issue.
That person's going to be a problem.
And honestly, at first, there was times when I was like,
I don't know.
Are you sure?
I don't know.
And it just, every single time, it was true.
It was true.
So you know what?
Whenever my wife says to me, be careful about so-and-so,
let me write that down.
Let me make sure I don't forget that, you know?
And here's what I'm telling you.
You have gifts.
You have gifts that God has given you.
Are you there in 1 Corinthians 12?
Look at verse 7.
I will finish this up.
1 Corinthians 12, verse 7.
But the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit with all.
God has given you a gift.
For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom,
to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit.
Here's a gift that's not mentioned here,
but in the Old Testament,
we learn of men when the tabernacle
and when the temple were being built,
the Bible says that God filled them
with the Spirit of wisdom for workmanship,
where they were able to build things and work on things.
And you know what?
Some men, they've been given the gift
to just be able to see things and build things
and understand things.
Now, all of us could learn to work on things,
but for some people, it just comes naturally.
I think that's a gift that God has given them.
Notice verse 7.
But the manifestation of the Spirit
is given to every man to profit with all.
Look at verse 11.
But all these worketh the one and the selfsame Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will.
The Bible says that God gives a gift to everyone.
And I want you to notice verse 11 again.
But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit
dividing to every man to profit with all.
Selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.
God gives every man.
And notice the context right after this in verse 12.
For as the body is one and have many members,
and all the members of that one body being many are one body,
so also is Christ.
So here's the context.
Here's what he's saying.
He's saying, where are all a body, a local New Testament
church?
And here's what I know.
If God placed you here, then God gave you a gift
that he expects you to use here.
And we've all been given gifts, but we've not all
been given the same gifts.
Some of us have been given gifts that are dependent
on the gifts of others.
You say, why does God do that?
Because he expects us to work together,
to strive together as a local New Testament body.
So you need to find your giftedness and labor in it
and work in it.
We need you.
And here's the point.
And I want to say this, and I'll finish up.
And don't get too wound up about the gifts you don't have.
There's some gifts that I wish I had.
Look, I wish I had the gift of speaking.
Some people have been given just the ability
to be able to learn languages and pick up language.
Now, here's the honest truth.
All of us could learn language if we really wanted to.
But some people, they're not drained by learning a language.
They start learning a language, and it just excites them.
Well, that's a gift that God has given you.
Work in that.
Learn the languages.
Preach the gospel in different languages.
Figure out the gifts that excite you,
not the things that drain you, and work in those gifts.
I tell preachers, because I have that administration thing
going on, right?
So I've got my sermons lined up for the next 12 weeks.
I mean, I can tell you what I'm preaching next Sunday.
And I already told you what we're preaching Easter,
reasoning the resurrection, the day after that,
reasoning the word of God, the Sunday after that,
reasoning creation, the Sunday after that, Mother's Day,
the Sunday after that, Nicodemus and the Encounters with Christ
series that we're starting, the Sunday after that,
the Sunday after that.
So I tell that to some preachers, and they're like,
that's way too much for me.
But you know what?
I need that.
I thrive off that.
If I didn't have that, man, every Monday I'd be miserable.
What am I going to preach this week?
For some guys, that scares them.
They're like, I don't know how you do that.
That's crazy.
That's too much.
Here's what I'm saying.
Figure out where you're gifted and working it.
Figure out what excites you versus what drains you.
And in the areas that you're drained,
in the areas that I don't know how you see that,
how you know how you do that, I don't know how you like that,
in the areas that you're drained,
then find someone who is excited by that and partner with them.
But the goal is that we would all be united as a body.
The goal is that we would all bring our gifts
to the ministry of the local New Testament church.
You say, why?
That God might be glorified
and that the work of God might continue in the world.
That's why I had to have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word.
Thank you for the Bible.
Thank you for these truths, Lord.
And I pray you'd help us all to be encouraged
to know that you've given us gifts
and we don't all have the same gift,
but you have given us a gift
and you expect us to work in that gift
to use that ability to bring that ability.
It's not mentioned in the verses there,
but I definitely believe that there's a gift of music.
I thank you for all of the musicians
that we have in this church.
They bring their talent and their gifts
to be used every week.
And Lord, I just pray that you would help us
to find the gifts, the areas we're gifted in,
the areas that excite us,
the areas that don't drain us,
but that they help us feel excited in.
Lord, help us to find our gifts
and to be able to serve, Lord,
because we need everyone serving in their gifts.
We love you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.