Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts.

God has uniquely gifted every believer with spiritual gifts designed to serve and strengthen the body of Christ. Many Christians struggle to understand the distinction between spiritual fruit and spiritual gifts - fruit represents who you are in Christ (your character and maturity), while gifts represent what you are equipped to do for others. The fruit of the Spirit includes love, joy, peace, and other character qualities that demonstrate spiritual maturity, whereas gifts are the tools God provides for outward service and ministry.

God never intended for believers to live in spiritual isolation. Just as a physical body requires every part to function together, the church needs every member contributing their unique gifts. Your spiritual gifts are like fingerprints - completely unique to you, making your contribution to the body irreplaceable. Scripture reveals that behind every gift, ministry function, and act of power is the same God, eliminating any spiritual hierarchy among gifts.

Spiritual gifts fall into three main categories: manifestation gifts (supernatural abilities like prophecy, healing, and miracles), motivational gifts (deep drives that shape how you approach situations), and ministry gifts (given to equip others for service). The Holy Spirit distributes these gifts as He wills, meaning you don't earn them, can't trade them, but will be held accountable for using them. Discovery is a process involving prayer, broad service, seeking affirmation from the body, and stirring up gifts that may have grown cold through fear or neglect.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

To all the moms. Moms of children who are still at home or all grown-up. Moms who've outlived a son or daughter. Or moms of babies they never got told. Moms who've raised kids all on their own. Or became a mom to someone who needed one. Moms of children who have wandered from God. With a longing to be moms, we're still waiting. God perfectly arranged each of you into the role you have today. His word recognizes you as capable, strong, and praiseworthy. Everything you do makes our lives more beautiful. Happy Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

So today we started a new series. For the month of May, we are behind, because of Esa, it's kind of put us behind a little bit. But we started a new series. And throughout the month of April, we walked through the fruits of the Spirit. And one of the emphasis that we made last month was that the fruits of the Spirit is actually the character of God that is growing inside of you. Amen? The fruit of the Spirit is the character of God that is growing inside of you. And every week in April, we studied how the Holy Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control in the believer's life. One of the things that statements that I made that I thought was profound, I'm going to kind of revisit that statement today, is that God is more interested in your the fruit than the gifts. Now, most of the time, as you know, as people, we all we get drawn to gifts more than the fruit. Amen? And the gift is important, which you're going to be studying gifts this month, but the fruit is a foundation. Amen? And God invests in the investment of God in you is to produce fruit before the gifts. So the way you're going to look at it this way, that the fruit it's about being. Okay? This month we cross a threshold and we're going to talk about actually doing. So there's a difference now. Now there's a critical distinction. The distinction between the fruit and the spirit, uh, the fruit and the spirit of and the and the gifts of the spirit are this. Write this down, they'll bless you. The fruit of the spirit describes who you are in Christ. Okay? In other words, when someone sees you and you are demonstrating a gift, it doesn't really, unfortunately, this the mistake that we've been making, we've equated demonstration of gift to maturity. And it's not at all. The fruit of the spirit is actually the nature of God growing in you and describes how well you are living this Christian life. And how well living this Christian life, no, because you're wealthy, you have a good job, you have no. It's about demonstrating the nature and character of Christ. Okay? So the fruit describes who you are in Christ, but the gift of the spirit describes what you are equipped to do for the body of Christ. There are two different things. We cannot mix them up. Okay? So the one is about happens through an internal transformation. In other words, when you are done with, when you're walking in the fruit of the spirit, it tells me that you are being transformed internally. Okay? But the other is about an outward deployment. Okay? So the gift is necessary, the fruit is a foundation. And many people, many of us, those that stand here, have somehow fallen to brick walls because they valued the demonstration of gifts more than the fruit. Now we have a lot to go through this morning, so I'm going to kind of speed along. Now, one of the things that Satan has successfully done, extremely done very well, is to isolate believers. Okay? Thinking that, you know, the people who believe that being a Christian, it doesn't mean they go to church. It means that you can just stay home in the corner of your house and say some prayers and all is good. I want to tell you this morning, okay? You cannot be truly fruitful in isolation. It doesn't happen. You know why? Because God never designed his church to be a collection of self-sufficient spiritual consumers. He never did that. Okay? We are interchangeable. What you have to understand is that God had done what you call that, an intelligent design. God designed the church as a body. Okay? Diverse, interdependent, and purposeful. The body is supposed to function the same way that the members of your body, your paths, your eyes, your ears, your legs, are supposed to function in unison. All right? And God, we're going to find out today, is that God intentionally placed these gifts in every single person sitting there on the Son of my voice for the betterment of his kingdom to advance his kingdom. So every member of that body has been equipped with a unique gift. There is nobody here on the Son of my voice who God has not equipped uniquely to be able to serve the body. There's nobody under the Son of my voice. You might think that you don't speak in tongues, you don't see visions, you don't see dreams, you can't prophesy, so you have no gift. That myth is going to be blasted today. Amen. Your gifts are your spiritual, and that is so interesting. Now, you know that every human being here has a unique fingerprint. You know that, don't you? There are no two people with the same fingerprints. This is the amazing design of God. Okay? Now, the way you should understand your spiritual gifts is that your spiritual gifts is like a fingerprint. No one else has the exact combination. There is no way that anyone that was created by God on planet Earth can ever do what Augustine does. Or can ever do what Tony does, or can ever do what Patricia does, or what Gloria does. Nobody. Every single person has a unique fingerprint. And when it comes to the house, the body of Christ, every single person, this that the combination of gifts that God gave you, you are alone in that combination. In other words, it's not something you can clone or duplicate. Okay? So the question I have for you this morning is that have you discovered what your gifts are? Now remember we've dealt about the fruit already. So the fruit and the gifts work in unison. Amen? Now watch this. I want to start by just sharing an illustration. And I said, please go to image one for me, please. Let's just imagine that you are you playing an orchestra and somebody gifted you a very expensive violin. Okay? The craftsmanship is flawless. Amazing. Antique, beautiful, very expensive. But then you decide to put, leave the violin in the case. Okay? The strings are there, the potential is real, but it produces no music because no one has picked up the violin and played it. A violin is all effective if somebody musician a gifted musician picks it up and starts playing it. Now, unfortunately, many believers are exactly like a violin. You are beautiful, made, gifted, God has gifted you, but their instruments have never been taken out of the case. You go every morning, you look at the instrument, and you close your back and go and sit down. And you wonder why isn't it or playing? You know, listening to me. So, watch this now. Today, my goal is to open the case and get you to play that instrument that God gave you. So you mean to that? Now let's go to our main scripture for this morning, please. Our main scripture this morning. You know, perhaps someone is wondering why we're not preaching about mothers today. So we have a plan for the year, spiritual fruitfulness. We're sticking to the plan. But glory is going to come and kind of break it all down and tie it to whatever I'm teaching. Okay, so just bear with me. I don't I don't want to, I don't, you know, we have a lot to do before the end of the year. So please, let's go to our main text for this morning. It's 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 46. There's so much loaded. I hope I can just complete my thoughts this morning. Now, watch this. There are diversities of gifts. Okay, take note of the word diversity, but the same spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversity of activities, but the same God who works all in all. Now, watch this. There are three parallels here. Number one, behind every spiritual gift, there is one God. Behind every ministry function, there's the same God. Behind every act of power, there is one God. Now, there is this toxic mentality in Christianity today that many people have kind of separated the gifts into different buckets. Most people here, maybe not here, but maybe somewhere in the world that I don't want to mention names, when they go to pray, they go to pray to God for God to do something very specific for them. God should give them power, demonstrating powers. God should give them the ability to prophesy. Do you know why? Because that gift literally, you know, puts you on the spotlight. You know, people see those gifts, right? There is this myth about spiritual hierarchy in the church. The idea that some of the gifts are more important than or more anointed than others, Paul leaves no room for that. In other words, Paul goes through three, what's it called a uh parallel statements. It says that in all the functionalities, there is one God. In other words, there is not one more better than the other. Do you understand that? Because if that becomes the case, then God is partial. God gives somebody a better gift than another gift. But what Paul is trying to teach the church of Corinth is that all these manifestations, and again we looked at all manifestations, the two important words this morning that we're going to look at manifestation diversities. Now, all these manifestations are from one God. In other words, there is no one better than the other. You're not listening to me. Now, the other myth, as well as about spiritual uniformity, the idea that everyone should look the same, sound the same, and said the same way, it's a myth. Paul says that, you know, it's interesting. God deliberately designs the church in diversity. Okay? The church is not a factory line, it is a garden. Now let's look at the word diversity for a moment. The word diversity in the Greek, my Greek scholar is not here today, so I'm not going to try and pronounce it. But what I did was I put it in your handouts for you. So you try doing yourself at home. Okay. So the word diversity means a distribution, means a dividing out. Okay? So watch this now. God has taken his infinite capacity, right? Who he is, and has distributed a portion of it among his people. In other words, every Christian community, everyone that has come to be saving grace, God took a bit of himself, who he is, and then placed it in that group, right? And it says, every single person here carries a piece of God into every room they'll go. You cannot be saved if you don't carry a peace of God wherever you go. Okay? And the peace of God has been placed in you. The Holy Spirit we're going to find out today now determines what is necessary or what you need or what the group of people that you are with need, and then he distributes that gift to you so that you can begin to edify the body. Does it make sense? Okay, so watch this now. Your gift is a fragmentation of the divine. You're not hearing me. Your gift, whatever gift that you're preaching, we're going to look at all the gifts today, it's a fragment, it's a fragment of the divine assigned to you for a specific season and a specific people. In other words, if the Holy Spirit is the one that is what's called dealing or distributing these gifts to the body of Christ, he looks at life touch and says, okay, let me take a look at India for a minute. What is it that I can give her that will fit into the vision that he's given the church that will, in other words, enhance the movement of my spirit in this church? So it's not about what you want or what you demand you place on him, it's about what he wants and gives it to you. Does it make sense? And so he talks about gifts, all right? So the Greek word, again, I'm not going to try it. Maybe I try this one. Charismata.

unknown 13:54

Yeah, that's not true.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Maybe I try this one. So what is charismata? So these are grace endowments, supernatural capacities given by the Holy Spirit. Okay? Then he talks about ministries, the law Jesus assigns a sphere of service, and how and where your gift is deployed. Then the third thing Paul talks about in that's in the text is activities. This is God the Father energizes the effectiveness he has provided, he provides the result. So basically, Paul said, listen, all this is the work of the Holy Spirit behind the scenes for a specific reason for the edification of the body of Christ. Now, watch this now. There's another illustration. Let's go to the striction number two real quickly. Now just imagine that you you are you're in a you know symphony, okay, an orchestra. And a symphony is more than a hundred instruments in a symphony. A symphony, it's an orchestra that has more than a hundred musicians. Well, watch this. The first violinist and the uh what's it called, the kettle drum play player have a different, have a completely different instrument, okay? The violin makes a different sound from the cattle drama, okay? They are both in in different moments in a score. Now, watch this now. They share the same conductor, the same sheet music, and the same goal. The violin plays a different sound, the drum plays a different sound, they have the same conductor, but the sound coming out from there is different. But watch this carefully. Something beautiful that no single instrument could achieve alone. If you put all that together, let's say you have a symphony of a hundred different musicians playing music, all right? The sound that comes from different instruments are different. But what this is what is interesting, they are all instruments different, but when they come together, they produce this amazing sound. Okay, so the church of God is like an orchestra, people. God is a conductor, your gifts are the instruments, he decides when to play. So if I'm conducting and Tony's playing the flute, okay, by my stroke, you know when to come in and and and release a sound from your flute. But the sound that's coming from the flute is totally different from what is coming from glorious instruments. But when you put it all together, it's a beautiful sound that is coming. The way you gotta understand is that God has made the church exactly like an orchestra. Every single person here playing their part, releasing their sound from the from the what's it called, their instruments. You know, it might sound different, but when it comes together, it produces something amazing. So watch this now. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7. He used an interesting word. I told you two important words you've got to look at. One is diversity, the other one is manifestation. So 1 Corinthians 12, 7 says, but the manifestation. Now that word alone should pause, you should pause a minute and begin to ponder on that word. Okay, the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the to profit all, the manifestation of the gifts of the spirit. In other words, the gift in motion is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. You're not hearing me. There's seven important words here that should stop us, should reframe our thinking. It says, each one for the profit of all. Okay, so whatever God has given each one, He has not given it to you for your personal use or personal determination, but to profit every single person. Your spiritual gifts is not given for you, it is given through you. That's a very important statement. In other words, it is not, it is not a treasure, it's not yours. God chose to release, and again, you use the word manifestation of the spirit. The spirit of God chose to release that gift through you for the benefit of everybody. It's not a personal property, it is not what you you're supposed to profit from. You don't profit from the gifts that God has given you. You don't sell it because when you're holding back and you're doing those things, you're affecting the people who are supposed to be blessed by them. Doesn't make sense to anyone. Okay? So the purpose of the benefit is for the body of Christ and the world around us. So the Holy Ghost decides, I'm gonna give you these gifts we're talking about. But the main reason why he gave it to you is so that the world around you will benefit from it. Oh, you're not hearing me. This is not a private treasure to be admired, it's a tool to be deployed. Write it down, please. So the face manifestation of the spirit is very critical. The Greek word, I'm not gonna try it again, okay? It's to make something visible. It's about disclosure, okay? So this is the way you gotta look at it. When you operate in the spiritual gift, which we're gonna look at in a minute, you are making the invisible God visible in a tangible, practical way. In other words, God decides to manifest Himself through the gift that you are demonstrating at a particular time. And we all know that God is invisible, but when those gifts are out, it makes the invisible God visible. Does that make sense? And so when someone is teaching, the wisdom of God is being put on display as you're listening to him. So the gift of mercy makes God compassionate visible to everyone. The gift of teaching makes God's wisdom visible. What I'm doing now is not for me, it's about God's wisdom being demonstrated to you right now. The gift of giving makes God's generosity visible. Okay? So you are, this is a profound statement, please write it down. You are the way you look at yourself as a body of Christ as a church member is that you are a window through which heaven shines onto the earth. Without you, those who do not know God will never know him. Without you demonstrating the gifts, the the reference point is never going to be pointed back to God. Because as far as they're concerned, you know, the Bible talks about you know spiritual things are spiritual descent. They don't get it. But when we step out in faith and begin to demonstrate the character and the nature of Christ, the invisible God is being made visible on the scene. Does that make sense to everyone? So watch this now. He says that giving to each one, there are no exceptions. This is so critical. I know that people here that are so kind of burdened with what they're going through, they figure it out that you know, this man is a pastor, this is the best is gifted, this man is a prophet, this listen to me carefully. The scripture says, Apostle Paul says, that the gifts have been given to each person. Okay, it says the Holy Spirit manifests these gifts to in each person for the profit of all. In other words, there is no exception. Every believer has received at least one spiritual gift. If you are saved, you are gifted. That Amy was so weak. If you are saved, you are gifted. Number two, he says, for the profit of all, the motive must always be edification. In other words, whatever gifts that God has given you, again, that is operating through you because it's not your property. Okay? And this is one of the things that people make so many mistakes with. Somebody might be gifted with an area, prophecy something. It doesn't mean that the person is always in that prophetic mood. No. It means that when the Holy Spirit decides to give a word of wisdom and knowledge through that vessel at a particular time, he does that. And the purpose for that is to bring edification. It's not for me to exhibit my grace, my goodness. You're not hearing me. And I pray that this happened. Who are you? You don't seem to understand that what is happening, what God chose to answer you, is for the profit of all. It's for the person. Actually, this is so interesting. The person who's receiving the prayer is actually the reason why God gave you the gift. And so you're supposed to use it to edify. You're not supposed to exhibit what you have. Gifts exercise for personal recognition have missed the purpose entirely. People wait for the prophet to show up so that now text begins. And if the prophet, the so-called prophet, accepts that as the norm, you have missed it because God gave you that gift to edify the body of Christ. You are not supposed to profit from it. Amen. So Romans chapter 12, verse 62 quickly. Bible says, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let us then, if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Our ministry, let us use it in our ministry, he who teaches in teaching, he who exalts in exhortation, he who gives liberally, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. Now, Paul says, if prophecy, then prophets are proportioned to your faith. I will share this with you. Gloria's asking me this question this morning. Yes, don't start telling people that I see dead men rising up. Your faith doesn't reach there. He said, If serving, then serve. You know, that's why people say, I uh I see God giving a baby. Your children are going to be born naked. Your children, I see God giving a baby boy, and that baby boy is going to be born naked. The devil is a liar. Prophesy according to your faith. He says, If if serving, then serve. You don't need to be prompt up, you know, like an like an engine that needs to be wind up every morning before you come to gear. No, serve. If teaching, then teach. If encouraging, then encourage. If giving, do generously. If leading, do with diligence. This is the this is one of the most important statements that Paul made in the Bible. He says, if you are leading, there are people who have been given tasks in the body of Christ. You won't prepare, you won't pray, you won't fast, you won't do nothing. You just show up and move with experience. Paul says, lead with diligence. Lead with diligence. Do it with diligence. If show and messy, do it cheerfully. Now watch this. Every gift has a corresponding action. It's interesting. Discovering it is not enough. Deploying it is required. You know, it's great to discover what gifts God has given you. But most importantly, and this is what Paul was trying to address in Romans chapter 12. It's about discovering your gift and then deploying those gifts. Amen. Now watch this. Let's say uh you're driving at night. Okay? Driving. And all of a sudden your eye decides to say, I'm tired. I'm not going to look anymore. Dr. G, last night, four o'clock, you're driving, and you're we go, you go to bedroom, your eyes say, I'm closing, I'm not gonna drive anymore. We will see it heaven. Just in case, just imagine that your ears decide I'm not gonna listen anymore. You're crossing the road, and the ear decides, I'm not gonna listen anymore. I'm tired of listening. All day I've been listening, I'm not gonna listen anymore. What will happen to you? Isaiah put up image number three for me, please. Now watch this. When a member of the body of Christ withholds their gift, the church is weakened in exactly the same way. When your eye decides I'm not gonna look anymore, when your ear decides we're not gonna hear anymore, you give up. There are so many times that God has placed entrusted things into your hands. And because of one reason or another, you decide I'm not gonna do this anymore. The problem here is that because you're withholding that gift, everybody who's supposed to be benefiting from that gift is gonna suffer. Remember, God is this intelligent design we call the body of Christ and the human body is done, we are interdependent on one another. And so if the eyes need to look so that you can drive at night and bring it home safely, your ear needs to hear so that when you're crossing the road, you are not run over. The same way that whatever gift that God has given, it needs to be deployed. Because if you are not, and remember what Paul said, he said, for the benefit of everybody. In other words, if you are withholding back, if you are just warming the peace in the church, if you're part of the body of Christ and you decide that you're not going to do anything, what is really happening is that the people that are supposed to receive the blessing from that gift are not being blessed. That's what is happening. Someone who needs your word of encouragement will stay depressed because you have it's about you. Someone who needs your act of service felt forgotten. The body suffers when your gifts are unused. You know, there's this gentleman who uh from the church I was raised in. This gentleman, really nice guy, always has a great smile on his face. And one day we're having service like that, and it was testimony time, whatever. And he came to give a testimony. His testimony is very simple. He said that most of his friends keep inviting him to go and visit their churches. But he keeps telling everybody, no, I have to come to my own church to minister in my own church. And his ministry was not behind the pulpit. His ministry was just coming, he was just a jovial guy, he was just a pleasant person to be around. And so he sees that work he was doing as ministry. When he comes around and people are, he's joking with people, shaking people, and giving people a word of encouragement. He said, That's my ministry. So I'm not going to leave my church to visit your church because I'm needed in my church. We're all sitting here gifted by God. Just super gifted, man. But we decide our focuses are direct being directed towards somewhere else. Because the need, my need is so much. And the body of Christ is struggling. The same people that understand my voice are the same people that go to the corporate world, that are making corporate world millions of dollars, and the body of Christ is struggling. And God literally needs to come and beg you for you to take up your leg and do something for him because you are too busy. Let's go to 1 Corinthians again, chapter 12, verse 8 to 10 quickly. He said, For the one is giving, he said, for to one is given the word of wisdom. Now we're going to start breaking down the gifts now. So to for to one is given the word of wisdom through the spirit, to another, the word of knowledge through the same spirit, to another, faith by the same spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the same spirit, to another, the work of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discernment of spirit, to another different kinds of things, to another, the interpretation of tongues. So in this cluster, we see nine gifts in this cluster. And usually these are called the manifestation gifts. And these are the gifts that people really go after. You see, the Bible says the spirit, power, ability that transcends natural talents. Now, watch this now. These gifts that we just read are not gifts that are developed through educational experience. Again, this is so critical because these gifts are distributed by the spirit as he wills. Amen. In other words, you don't bribe God for God to give you a spirit of prophecy or wisdom. You don't do that. The Holy Spirit distributes these gifts as He wills. Okay? So let's briefly take a survey of this uh what the scripture says about these gifts. So we want to look at 1 Corinthians 12, the list we just looked at. And I'm gonna go through a list real quickly. If you're taking notes, please do. So what is the word of wisdom that Paul says the Holy Spirit gives us? The word of wisdom is a supernatural insight into how to apply God's truth to specific situations. Amen. A supernatural insight to how to apply God's truth to specific situations. This is not just intelligence, it is having an answer to an ethnic crisis. Many times you sit down, you go to council, sit down with somebody, and within that council, God gives you a word. And because the pastor didn't say, I see, I see, you don't take it as word of wisdom. But that word is heaven's speaking into a situation that you're going through, supernatural situation, that releases the crisis that you're going through. Okay? There's word of wisdom. Now, word of knowledge was word of knowledge. Most people say this prophecy is not. Word of knowledge is a divine revealed fact about a person or situation that could not be known by natural means. It builds faith and it breaks deception. And so when somebody begins to release the word of wisdom, there's something going on here. There's a situation that is hidden, the human intelligence can never unveil it unless the supernatural ability of God is released in that situation. Now, what is faith? An extraordinary deposit of trust in God that enables a believer to believe for the impossible without wavering. This is beyond saving faith if it's a mountain-moving faith. It is a gift that God gives us in situations that we need to trust Him so much that nothing else can hold us back. The gifts of healing, this is interesting. Supernatural release of God's healing power through the believer for physical. So when we talk about healing power, it's not only the physical, there is also an emotional part of it. There's a spiritual restoration of others. This is all the gift of healing in oppression. Amen. So many times when we talk about gifts of healing, we just want to see cripple walk. But what about there's an emotional situation going on in your life now, and somebody gives a word and releases the gift of healing in that situation, and you leave that situation fulfilled, satisfied, living that place with faith, it is God just demonstrating the gifts of healing through the release of the spirit right there. Okay? We'll talk about the work of miracles, the intervention of God's power in not over natural laws, producing outcomes that define explanation. Works of miracles, prophecy. Prophecy. What most of us call prophecy is not prophecy. This is prophecy, the ability to speak forth the heart and mind of God for edification. Prophecy always edifies. It's not about see two monkeys chasing you. Last night, God showed me that there were monkeys under your bed, and these monkeys were so vicious that they were chasing you. And as they were chasing you, I appeared and I lifted up a sword. That's what you want to hear. Prophecy, it's about God's mind, it's about God dealing with a specific situation, okay, from the mind that is supposed to edify you, it's supposed to bring exaltation and bring comfort to you. It builds up people by speaking God's truth into their present moment. That's prophecy, people. Not when I see, I see, I see. Now, what is discernment of spirit? Now, with this gift, every believer, I mean, I uh uh yeah, you should pray for this because this discernment of gift is so profound. It's the supernatural ability to distinguish between the spirit of God, the human spirit, and demonic spirits. Most of us who say, God told me, there's a demon telling you.

unknown 34:20

True, true, you're right. I agree.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

You say, God showed me that demon just showed you something about your life and you bought into it. But with the spirit of discernment, you were able to discern whether it's from a human spirit, because you know that your human spirit is also involved in this equation, right? Uh-huh. Your human spirit is involved in this, or is it from the spirit? Now, how do you even determine it's from the Holy Ghost? How do you do that? How do you know that God you discern something and you know for a fact that's from God? How do you know it? How do you know it's not a human spirit or demon speaking to you? Whenever what God is telling you, there's a precedence in this word and alliance with this word. You know the Holy Ghost is at work. You done that, God will never tell you to stay at home. Don't come to church, you will never do that. God will never, you see, whenever you're about to give an offering and there's $20 and there's $100, and you say God told me to give the $20, that's a lie. Because God, because a precedence in scripture is that be generous. It is not very difficult to determine whether Satan is speaking to you or your human spirit is speaking. It's not difficult at all. Because everything that God is telling you, there's a precedence in scripture. That's why my encouragement to lifetime is to be a student of God's word. You never live a life of deception. Speaking of tongues, it's a spirit-given ability to speak in a language unknown to the speaker for prayer, worship, or as a public message with interpretation. Okay? So there's a difference between what we say, Shaba, Shaba, Shaba, Shabbat here, and the gifts of tongues in operation. If you go in the Bible on the Day of Pentecost, the first time that the close of tongues sat on them and they went out and began to speak. That was the gift of tongue in demonstration. Why? Because we're speaking in the native language of the people that were in Jerusalem. Okay? And I shared a couple of testimonies here about a preacher man flying sitting next to an Arab and who spoke frequently in Arabic for the entire fly. That is the gift of what's it called. When you speak in other people's tongues, that they can hear exactly what you say. Alright? And then we'll talk about the interpretation of tongues. And Paul says that listen, do not speak in tongues. And this is not talking about the one that edifies us. It's talking about demonstrating the gift. Do not do that unless there's interpretation in place. He said the companion gift is that renders a public message in tongues intelligently to the congregation. In other words, if the gift of tongues you're preaching here, I begin to speak in the native language, somebody here understands it and interpret it. Does it make sense? Okay. So Romans chapter 12, let's go to Romans chapter 12 quickly, verse 6 to 8. It talks about the motivational gifts. So we just looked at the manifestation gifts, right? Things that people actually see. Let's look at the motivational gifts for a minute. Having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us then, number one, if prophecy lets us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry lets us use it in our ministry. He will teach us, let him teach, he will exalt in exhortation, he will give liberally, he will lead with diligence, he will show us mercy with cheerfulness. So Romans talks about number one, prophecy. Number two, ministry, which is seven, really. He talks about ministry seven. Number three, teaching, number four, exhortation, which is encouragement. Number five, giving, leading, and showing mercy. These are what we call the motivational gifts. So these reflect a deep motivational drive God places within a believer that shapes how they approach every situation. Now, the third one is what we find that in Ephesians, okay? Ephesians chapter 4. And these are what we call the ascension gifts, the ministry offices. Now, listen to what Paul says, writes this to the Church of Ephesus, and it tells him this. He says, and he himself, God, gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. And for the reason why God did it, Paul concludes, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for edifying the body of Christ. Three important things. Number one is to equip you. So God planted these gifts, the ministry gifts, so that you get equipped. Okay? According to Paul. Number two, is equip the saints so that the saints would then take over and do the work of the ministry. Okay. So this is not a one-man show. The prophet was not never supposed to carry the ministry on his back. It was he was supposed to teach you so that you can carry the work, so that when you are doing the work, the whole body of Christ will be edified. Does it make sense to everyone? Okay, so these five ministry gifts, apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher, are given to equip the body of Christ. Their function is not to do the ministry for the saints. That's you see, okay. Contrary to what you've been brought up and believed, the pastor's job is to do everything. According to the Bible, my function is not to do the work for you. My function is to train you to do the work of the ministry. That's the difference here. And so those ascension gifts, the ministerial gifts, their main focus is training and equipment so that you now begin to do the work of the ministry. And when you begin to do the work of the ministry, the whole body of Christ gets edified. Does that make sense? Edified means to be built up. So if you are crossing your legs, you are just a church, church church goer in and out, coming last, going first, never show up. And again, like look, you cannot be a Sunday Christian. God never designed any single person on the family to be a Sunday Christian. You are Sunday Christian, I promise you, you're never going to be productive in the things of God. Okay? You are supposed to lift up your hands and do the work of the ministry. After receiving information, you put information into practice. And when you do that, the whole body of Christ gets built up. You didn't hear me. The goal is that the whole body becomes fully functioning. And so the apostles' job is to train you, the prophets, the teacher's job, the evangelist's job is to equip you and train you so that you will do the work, so that the work would the body be edified, so that the whole body will be functioning according to how God designed it. And so what the enemy is doing, who is doing a fantastic job, is that he's told you that you don't want to do this because Pastor is going to do it. Oh, I didn't hear men for that. Let's go to image chapter 4, please. There's a story that came across that was interesting. The gift that surprises him. So this story goes: a quiet man, so spoken man in the congregation had no idea he had a gift of mercy. He said he simply showed up whenever someone was sick, sat with them in silence, and prayed. He never preached, he never worshiped, but over the years, families who had experienced tragedy said when he walked into a room, it felt like God has arrived. He was making the compassion of God visible, consistently, faithfully, powerfully. He didn't know that he was gifted, he was simply being who God made him to be. It's interesting, very interesting. By just showing up, showing the mercy of God. God was using him to transform the bereavement of people, the challenges of people. And he didn't go announcing half a gift. He was just being who God has made him to be. So watch this now. The Holy Spirit is not running a buffet line where you choose what you want. Most people go and pray and pray and God give me this and God give me that, God give me that. This is not a buffet. You don't put your request to God, God give me this. He gives you as he wills. He is sovereign distributor who assigns gifts according to his perfect knowledge of who you are. There are things that you're asking for that you can't even handle. But because it puts a spotlight on you, you're asking God to give it to you. Whereas the actual need for the body that God has placed to you is something totally different. He gives you gifts, knowing perfectly what you can handle and what you can do. He knows where you're going and what the body of Christ needs. That season. Amen. Okay. So this means several things. Might mean several things for us today. Watch this now. Number one, critically important, extremely important. You do not earn your gift. You didn't work for it. It is grace. It is not achievement. The word charismatic comes from the word charisma, which means grace. Your gift is a gift. You did not qualify for it, you were chosen for it. If you understand some of these things, you'll make you very humble. It's being expressed through me right now. I didn't qualify for it. There's nothing that I did that God gave it to me. God's sovereign will, knowing exactly what your missionary purpose in life is at a particular time, and knowing that the group of people around you that need that gift, He placed you that gift that should humble you. Number two, you cannot trade your gift. You may wish you had someone else's gift, but the Spirit did not make a mistake when he assigned it to you. He saw your picture. Trust the distributor. Number three, you are going to be accountable for your gift. Three important things. What is number one? You did not earn it. Number two, you can't trade for it. Number three, you're going to be held accountable for it. To each one individually means that there is a personal assignment attached to every gift. You don't hear me. Just refer to the parable of talent in Matthew 25. And you know there's a sovereign thing, there's the sobering thing here. The servant who buried his talent was not celebrated for his caution. He was rebuked for his inaction. When God gives you something, this is one of the things that I believe with all my heart that the church is missing so much. When God gives you something, whatever grace in which you're preaching, there's accountability. God didn't give it to you totally because your hair is shining so nicely. And he gave it to you because when you enact that gift, the whole body of Christ gets edified. Okay. Romans chapter 12, verse 3. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. As God has debted to each one a measure of faith. When you deny what God has given you. No pride that exalts himself above the gift that God has given you for his purpose. So here's a question: Know what you carry, honor it, deploy it. Amen. Know what you carry, honor it, and deploy it. Now just imagine where is where is uh Prophet Samuel, Prophet Samuel's over there. You take a look at Prophet Samuel and you see some traces, you take a look at Pastor Manuel and you take a look at the sun and you see there are traces there. Okay? There are traces of the eye colour, the natural talents. DNA is something that is transferred to us. So watch this now. You cannot, it's not something that you apply for, or you ask God for, you work for. It's something that is naturally transferred to you. But as you grow and as you come aware of the circumstances and situations around you, you determine which ones you want to deploy, which ones you don't want to. Let's say I came from a family and my father used to go angry. Okay, and I see my father angry all the time at home. I'm growing up, I've received that, but I determine whether I'm also going to be like my father or not. You didn't hear me. You do not choose your spiritual gifts, but you will choose whether you discover it, deploy it, or develop it to the glory of God. That's the choice you want to make. God gave it to you. But then you need to discover it. You need to develop it and you need to deploy it. Amen. The Holy Spirit has done its part. Now you must do yours. But before we close tonight, today I'm going to teach you how to develop those things. Discovery, this is a caution, is not a one-time event, it is a process. So we're going to talk about four spiritual, spiritually led steps to identify your spiritual gifts. Everybody should should uh should clue in that. Okay? Step number one. You know, I can't scream and shout this morning and not tell you how to become. Because we have all sentences, we've all agreed that God has given everyone a gift, right? We all agree on that. Right? You have the Holy Ghost, you have a gift. Okay? Because of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in you. So somewhere, somewhere, somewhere, the gifts are buried in us. Now we need to take these four important steps, critical steps, to begin to discover what God has placed in us. Number one, pray with expectation. Somebody said, pray with expectation. In James chapter 1, verse 5, the Bible says that if you, if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all liberally without reproach, and he will give them to you. So the first step, you ask the Holy Spirit to make clear to you what he has deposited in you. Does it make sense? Remember yesterday those who came yesterday for the walk and the training. We talked about the prayers initiate. You initiate everything you do with prayer. This is it. Gifts are discovered on our knees, man. Okay? You ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you clearly. Bible says that if you lack wisdom, ask him, will give you liberally. In other words, God gives without reproach. Take it to prayer, ask him, gifts discovered beyond begins on your knees. Approach God and ask him about his assignment for your life. And so, preacher man says this all the time there's always a purpose that God created for purpose. Yes. But the point is that there are many people that are sitting in church today in the kingdom that are not living their life in purpose. Why? Because they have not asked him to reveal that purpose to them. And so you take this seriously. This is not a two by four minute prayer. This is a lifetime discovering what God has placed in you so that you can be effective in the kingdom. And it begins on your knees, having this conversation with God, asking him, Lord, what is my sermon in life? I remember many years ago when I started ministry, I was really, I think I've shared this here before, I was really drawn to power ministry, like praying for people, deliverance of men. You know, let me tell you, Patricia tells you those who have been with me a long time. I chased demons more than anybody. If you chase demons more than me, this play football and bookdoor history. Now I remember one day when I started in the church, I was evangelism minister in our church. And I had a small team that I used to train and teach all the time. We used to go out. And uh one day we were, I came out, my brother wanna come after, and a couple of guys were standing in front of the church, and there was this young guy, it's actually a Nigerian actually, he was in my team that I was training. And this guy came to me as we were kind of sitting on the wall, we're actually gossiping, we weren't praying, just gossiping. A guy came to me and he said, God spoke to me about you last night. Now I had this arrogant look on my face. This arrogant look. I said, Yeah, what did he say? I was thank God you guys didn't know me 30 years ago. I was very arrogant. Yeah, what did he say? You know, you know, when you think that you know it all. And the gentleman said, I've been praying for you, and God says you've got to be a teacher. Meanwhile, I was leading the evangelism team. Wisdom would tell you that I'm gonna be an evangelist, right? And I'm gonna hold crusades. Because what I wanted to do, really, was to hold crusades and do what Ben Him was the other time. Just throw hands and people fall. That's what I wanted to do. And the guy says, I'm praying for him. God says you're good, teacher. I looked at him and said, Yeah, okay. I if I tell you that I took it with a pinch of salt, I'll be the biggest lion of his own earth. Because I knew that that wasn't what my focus was. 30 years now, let me tell you this, guys. There is nothing, nothing that I treasured more than teaching God's word. Nothing, no prophecy, no demon, because I can change the demon out of you, the demon will come back tomorrow. If you're not aware of what God has given you, God has positioned you, man. Pray and God will give, show you assignment. He saved you, didn't he? And he placed his spirit in you, and he has a unique assignment for you. Just accept, just be honest about it. Number two, critical. Like I said, I started with evangelism. I went here, I did the what's it called. I was holding the years of my life when I started ministry in this country. I was doing seminars in evangelism, traveling around the world this year, seminars. I never thought pasting the church or being a pastor, calling a pastor, was never part of the plan. Never. If I told you God told me you're going to plan the church, no, it was never part of the plan. The plan was just teach. Once upon a time, I thought I was going to be very wealthy so that I can I can you know finance the gospel. That's what I thought it was gonna be. Because when I came in there, I was a businessman and I came in there and I thought, okay, my mission is to make money and just to support God's word. Never thought I'd be this way. Never thought I'd be standing there doing this. But when you pray, your assignment is there with him. Okay? Number two, you often discover your gifts in the field, not in a classroom. Try different areas of service. I didn't start as a teacher, I didn't start as a pastor. I started somewhere that never thought I'd be here. You will not find the exact call in your life if you just you just need to the Bible says the cast your net and see what it drops, right? You serve in broadly. Try different areas of service, helping children's ministry, volunteer outreach, join the prayer team, serve in hospitality. As you serve, pray, uh, what's it called? As you serve, pay attention to what produces fruit, what energizes you, and what others affirm you. Your gift will fill like water to a thirsty soul. Natural, life-changing, life-giving, and inexhaustible. There is nothing that I placed before teaching now. There's nothing. I don't want it. I don't want it. You know, I believe in the fact that a human being should not say I'm promised this and that. God uses you at the time that he needs it. All you need to do is to make yourself available to yield to him and a time. But there are people that are gifted with prophets and all that. That's great. I just love to teach. Amen. Number three, seek affirmation from the body. You're writing this down. Okay. Spiritual gifts are communal by nature, they are recognized by the community. As trusted believers, when I serve, what do you see God doing through me? Others often see your gift before you see them. Somebody came to tell me you're going to be a teacher. I thought you saw it before, sorry. There you go. 2 Timothy 1 16, 1 6, I'm sorry, says, Therefore, remind you to stir, or therefore, I remind you to stir up the gifts of God which He has placed in you by laying up the presbytery. I'm not going to try that Greek word again. But that word here means to kindle afresh, like funning dry amber back into flames. So Paul says, stir up the gifts in you. Some gifts have gone cold because you have not been exercised, they have not been exercised. You may also know what God placed in you, but fear, compromise, or past discouragement has helped you from using them. They are so many times, so many people endowed with so much grace. But because of fear, there's a story that I had that's this young lady, this reluctant teacher, uh, young lady, one of the young ladies here, who was terrified, terrified of public speaking. Um she always quiet, always sitting back there. She never went to the spotlight, very terrified. And one day, during a woman's Bible study uh class, the person who was supposed to take the class wasn't there. So the past out of desperation called this woman to lead the Bible study. So the woman prepared and studied all week. We end on this because it's Mother's Day, so I wanted to end with this. And she comes up on a Sunday to lead the Bible study. And the moment she began to lead the Bible study, all the women were quiet. There were tears falling down their faces. Because that woman led with excellence. Even though she walked in trembling, shaking, she left, she led with such excellence that at the end of the class, four women in that class gave their life to Christ. This is a woman who sat at the backseat, didn't want to come to the front, never wanted to do anything. She was trembling. But because the opportunity was given to her, she picked it up. In that moment, a teacher was born. Now wonder how many women are sitting here today who have that gift of ministry, gift of prophecy that God has endowed you with. But for whatever reason, fear, whatever reason it is, you've decided that you're just going to be a spectator. Imagine that woman decided that, okay, I'm not going to teach. There are four people who are supposed to come to faith who have lost their lives that day. Your gift is profound. You're not hearing me. None of us were born with this grace to be able to teach. It was because we desired that God said it, we say yes, Lord. And every single day that you do this, you get better at it. Every single day you do this, you get the confidence to do it. And most importantly, you understand that this is not for you. Because you said you love them. You stand and we're able, we're talking about faithfulness last week. This is faithfulness in action. When everything around you tells you you are not good enough, that you're not capable, you are not doing well, but you show up every single day because you know whom you are believed. You know, hearing. So I want to close with this. With this truth with the church, the body of Christ, the life tech community church, is only as complete as the members, as the number of members who are operating in their gifts. You know, right here now, the people who have the gift of prophecy. Right now. But fear has crippled here. And because you have decided that you're going to succumb to fear, I go home not hearing what God has asked for me today. Because God decided that he was going to use you to tell me, not me tell you. Does it make sense? When you decide not to step forward and put those gifts in place, the body is struggling because God is not going to change his mind and say, Oh, I'm going to get because he said no, I'm going to give that to Tony. No, he gave it to you. And you're going to be accountable for that. And you're going to go and tell him what you did with that gift. And so let's stop complaining about what the body doesn't have and understand that the answer to that problem is sitting right in front of me. The answer to the financial problems, the answer to the child, the answer to the prophecy, the answer to the supernatural is sitting right in front of me. Dude, I'm doing what I have to do. I'm supposed to teach and I'm teaching good. Oh, I didn't say amen. I didn't hear me to that. Pastor is teaching good. Give me a club, give me a hand club. I'm supposed to teach and I'm teaching good. And I teach good every Sunday. But you're supposed to prophesy, you're not prophesying. So you're letting me go home without a prophecy. That the sacrament is no good. When you sit on your gift, someone in this community goes unserved. When you bury your gifts out of fear and insecurity, the body functions as at what? A deceptive rate. God didn't give you a gift to take to your grave.

unknown 1:01:38

Dr.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:38

Miles was the one that said it said you go to the graveyard and you look at the graves and you see so many people who showed up but never showed up. You came to church for 20 years, but you never showed up. Your involvement in the church, your influence never fell. Because you decide out of fear or pride or whatever it is, I'm not going to do it. You know, the people that come to church and say, I don't want to fight for positions. You're just a baby and things of God. This work is not about you, it's about Jesus who's called you and gripped, gave you grace to advance his kingdom. If anybody thinks he's fighting position, man, okay, that's another story for another day. One day you will give an account for what you were given. What God placed in you. So we ended with this scripture. Time is up. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 11. It says, For we are his workmanship. This is one of uh I'm a very good pastor friend of mine. Um this is one of his favorite scriptures. For as workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Before you showed up on the scene, God has already kind of fixed these things for you, that you to walk in them. So the word workmanship is an interesting word in the Greek, right? I'm not gonna pronounce it. I hope I written down. If I didn't see me enclosure, I'll I'll try and pronounce it for you. Poema. That's the word poema. It says that uh that word translated poem. Okay? That's where we get the word poem from. Now, you are the way you got to look at yourself is that you are God's poem. And a poem is written not to be not to sit in a drawer, it is written to be spoken, to be had, to stab the people who he who hears them. So God is saying that you are God's poem for this generation, this city, this congregation. In other words, when somebody reads you, it brings satisfaction to them. Because that's what God designed you to be. So today we end with this. I'm calling you into action, people. Enough of sitting on the side wings. Enough. Enough. Let me tell you one thing that the enemy is gonna do. He's never going to release your time that you want. He's never gonna do it. You are never gonna get up one morning and say, Oh man, I made too much money, so I'm not gonna go to work. Now I'm gonna save God. It's never gonna happen. Okay? It's never gonna happen. You are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to say, I'm gonna meet every problem I have in my life. It's definitely not gonna happen. Read the Bible, people. Read the Bible. Those that stepped out. Even the people that wrote the Bible themselves, they were writing the Bible when they were about to be taken out to be killed. And last week we read this. God says that Satan is about to strike you guys, he's about to stretch his hand and strike you guys. But he says, He that overcomes, there is some overcoming in the body of Christ, people that your situation doesn't determine. We've got, man, I don't even want to preach, man. Let me keep quiet. But the truth is this Bible talks about redeeming the time. If you don't fix your time, if you don't understand how irrelevant and how important you are in the kingdom, and if you don't step out of that shadow of wanting money all the time in this country, and they circumstance determine what to do, you will come into your country, you're gonna die, they're gonna bury you, and the gift that God gave you to edify his body is gonna go back to the grave. But I wonder what happens when you get up there. I wonder what happens. Oh Lord, I had to work. Okay, I wonder. I had to pay bills. Who put yourself in that bill? You have two shoes, you want three. God give you a credit card, you blow it all up because you want things, and you say I have to work and pay for it. You have a small house. Look, one of the most successful pastors in this country, the one that wrote purpose driven life. The house that that man lives in, that man has got about 40,000 people in his congregation. 40,000 members, over 40,000 members. Actually, the story goes in the pandemic. They grew like nobody's business. The point is, the house that man lived in, the three-bedroom house that he lived in, okay, before he blew up, he still lives in the same house today. The book that he wrote, the papers driven life that will become a bestseller. The man literally gave 90% of that income back to the church, still living in a small house. You, you have arrived. There's small things, you want the biggest house. And then you have to work and work and work and pay your bills. And then you say, I've never had time. Expecting God to understand that. There is a parable for that, you know. And I've said that before, there's a parable for that. God threw a power through a party sent his servants to go and then invite people. They went and invited them. And the people said, We'll come. When the party was ready, God says the party is ready to go get him back. When they went, they said they started giving them excuses. Now that thing baffled me. I said the reason they gave for not being able to show up at a party to you was reasonable. It was reasonable. I'm married, I gotta take care of my home. I bought a property, I gotta take care of it. I gotta go to work. It was reasonable. Every excuse that we give God to people is reasonable. We got to work, it's reasonable. I gotta pay my kids' school fees, it's reasonable. I gotta work and pay my bills. It's reasonable, guy. So why was God angry? If they gave reasonable excuses, your reason why you're saying that I can't work for God right now is a very reasonable, is reasonable to you. But why was God angry? Why was it saying, why was he so angry? The Bible said when he came back and report God was angry. Why is God irrational? People gave good reasons why they can't do things for you. Why are you mad? Uh one day we all go up there and we're gonna give reasons. Be very careful. Why was God mad? Because originally they gave him his word. You see, your life doesn't belong to you anymore. You told Jesus, You are my Lord, He believes He owns your life. Okay, and the most critical part of it is that they could have made arrangements to honor the commitment they gave Him, but it didn't because what they did was more important for them, and God says that you gave me an excuse. I'm calling to action, man. Not someday, not when you feel ready. I'm calling to action today. You took the first step of saying, Lord, I receive what you have pledged in me. Do not bury it. I will discover it, develop it, and deploy it for your glory. Is somebody willing to say that? Start with me, please.