things that really work together.
That is the Holy Spirit's filling
and the gifting of the Holy Spirit.
When I was a kid, I don't know if you have any other kids
in here that really enjoy this specific toy,
but I was really into Legos.
Do we have any kids in here?
Maybe even some adults that are really into Legos.
Legos is actually still a thing for some adults.
Some of those Lego sets out there
are hundreds and hundreds of dollars, collectors items.
But I was never blessed to have
any of those really cool ones.
Our kids got some Legos this year from grandparents
and they've got all kinds of neat parts and pieces
and things that are imitating,
things that are from TV shows and movies.
And I was never, I never was blessed to have that.
The kind of ones I had were just literally the blocks.
So like I literally had squares and rectangles
and little round pieces.
That was it.
And so when it came to building things or imitating things
or making things that, you know, to be able to play with,
I had to get creative.
I had to get a little bit of ingenuity.
So I had to make things, I had to make houses
and make cars that would look horrible in comparison
to some of today's really cool, unique Lego pieces.
But I had to get kind of creative.
And it helped breed a lot of creativity,
which I think was kind of the point of Legos originally.
But when it comes to creativity,
I think that there's probably the pinnacle of being creative.
It was illustrated a lot in one of my favorite
after-school TV shows when I was a little bit later
middle school, high school, and that was MacGyver.
And do we have any MacGyver fans in here?
MacGyver played by Richard D. Anderson was this,
if you don't know who he was, his covert operative.
And he was sent in some very difficult things,
very difficult, you know, saving the guy
or defeating the warlord, those kinds of things,
difficult situations.
And he generally had to improvise.
He was known for his improv skills
and making all kinds of neat things out of nothing.
He had to be very, very creative.
And some of the most incredible contraptions that he made,
he made an arc welder out of a car,
out of a car about a generator,
cables and 250 set pieces, made an arc welder out of that.
Another thing that he used, he made a lie detector
out of a blood pressure cuff and an alarm clock.
That was pretty cool.
One of my favorite ones is that he used a muffler
and he used some stuffing in the seats
and a shifter knob and then a lighter to make a bazooka.
How cool is that, right?
Now I don't know how scientific some of these creations were
or how even authentic they were,
but it was a lot of fun to watch after school.
I was just like, man, what's MacGyver gonna come up with next?
And actually this TV show became really influential
even to our linguistics because even the idea of MacGyver
has kind of become part of our linguistics.
So if you were to MacGyver something, what does that mean?
It means to improvise, right?
To fix something.
Anybody have some tools or some things at their house
that they've MacGyvered, right?
Usually it involves some kind of duct tape
or maybe some screws in some random places, right?
That's kind of the way that, life, life sometimes is
because sometimes you don't have everything you need, right?
Sometimes you have to get a little bit creative.
You got a MacGyverer situation, right?
But when it comes to our spiritual life,
there's no MacGyvering, there's no improv that is necessary.
We have a Holy Spirit who equips us
and equips the local church to do exactly what we need to do.
We don't have to improvise.
We have exactly the gifting
and we have the power behind that gifting,
what we call the filling, to be able to get the job done.
What is the job?
Well, the job is to go and therefore teach all nations,
baptize them and teach them to observe all things, right?
And to worship and honor God until he returns.
So we have everything that we need.
So we don't have to MacGyver our spiritual condition.
The Holy Spirit equips us with everything that we need
and that's what we're gonna talk about tonight.
The filling and the gifting of the Holy Spirit.
And what I want you to be able to walk out of here tonight
is the idea that every believer can engage
in spirit-led ministry
by understanding some of the aspects
of filling and gifting tonight.
So we're gonna go through it.
We'll go through a variety of scriptures.
If you have a copy of your scriptures,
feel free to follow along with some of these scriptures.
We're gonna meet Luke,
that would be the first one we look at,
but we're gonna be all over the place.
The scriptures will be on the screen as well
if you need those.
So first of all, let's kind of fill it.
Let's kind of talk about the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Talk about the power behind the gifting
before we get there.
The filling, we're gonna talk about some
of the conditions of feeling.
What is it required for us to be filled with the spirit?
Ephesians has a command, be filled with the spirit.
So exactly how does that happen?
What are the conditions that are required?
Well, first of all, I wanted to just note here
that this first condition was really very specific
in the beginning of the church age
and beginning of even the time
when Jesus came on the scene.
And the first one is the sovereign act of God.
There's no doubt in our mind
in what scripture teaches that God is sovereign.
And so the gifting of the Holy Spirit
was certainly a sovereign act of God.
And we see this illustrated a lot in the Old Testament
through the temporarily indwelling,
which we've talked about in a couple of lessons past.
We've talked about the Holy Spirit,
but also in this New Testament age
or the time intertestamental right in between
when Jesus came on the scene.
There were specific times
when the Holy Spirit filled people for acts of service.
So we have, for example, we have John the Baptist
who was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb.
He doesn't do anything necessarily
to get that Holy Spirit, it just happens.
That's a sovereign act of God.
We see Elizabeth also when she hears the news,
the salutation that Mary is with child
who was also of the Holy Ghost.
Her child leaps in her womb
as Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Ghost.
She doesn't do anything necessarily specifically
to get that, it's a sovereign act of God.
We see Zacharias, also the father of John the Baptist
who is filled with the Holy Ghost as he's serving
and he prophesies talking about
why John the Baptist is going to be coming.
We see the disciples in Acts chapter two,
they're prepared, they're ready to be able to serve God,
but the Holy Spirit comes
and they're given a temporary gift
to be able to speak in tongues
and the Spirit gives them utterance
as they're filled with the Holy Ghost in Acts chapter two.
Then we see Paul as well, Paul also being filled
with the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 13.
He's given a supernatural power to be able to rebuke.
And so these people not necessarily doing anything
out of the ordinary, which we'll get to in just a second,
but they're sovereignly filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now this happens really specifically
only in these set times.
I don't know that Orinor believed
that the Holy Spirit necessarily acts in this way anymore
because we have a Holy Spirit who is also number two
and the condition is, fills us when we submit,
the submissive act of believers.
We have the sovereign act of God,
but we also have the submissive act of believers.
These are the conditions to be filled with the Spirit.
Now, this is where I believe there's a primary way
that God fills us with his Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is allowed to fill us.
It's a primary condition that needs to be met,
is that we submit to the will and the word of God.
I think that this is how God extensively works
in a believer's life.
And we see this exemplified more in the New Testament
scripture than these specific sovereign acts.
We see first of all, the example of Jesus.
Jesus in Luke chapter four,
both in verse one and verse 14.
He is being filled with the Holy Spirit
and being led as he's submitting to God's will,
being led out into the wilderness in verse one
to be tempted.
And then verse 14, when he comes back,
he comes back in the power of the Holy Spirit
as he is doing the will of his father.
He is being submissive to the will of his father.
We see this also exemplified in Acts chapter six.
Acts chapter six, verse three says,
wherefore brethren,
look ye at among you seven of men of honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,
whom we may appoint over this business.
This is the time of the first deacons
when they are being submissive to the work
of the Holy Spirit, the will and the word of God.
They are then filled with the Holy Spirit
to be able to do what they are to do.
Acts chapter six, verse five,
just a few verses down says,
saying this thing, please the whole multitude.
And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith
and of the Holy Ghost, Philip, Prochorus,
Nicar and Taimon, Parmias and Nicolos,
the proselyte of Antioch.
We see this in the example of Barnabas too.
And I want you to note here
that that's both in Acts chapter six and Acts chapter 11.
We're talking about the submission of the believers.
It says that these people that were mentioned here
in Acts chapter six and then Barnabas in chapter 11,
do you see something that connects them?
They're filled with the Holy Ghost and of faith.
There is a submission to the will and word of God
that is required for the filling of the Holy Spirit.
The Ephesian believers also in Ephesians chapter five,
verse 18 says, do not be drunk with wine,
whereas in excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
We'll talk about that in just a moment
in a little more detail.
But we see a commonality between all of these people,
Jesus, the first deacons, Barnabas, Ephesian believers,
they all are submissive to the will and word of God.
There's a lot of what I would say misconception, perhaps,
when it comes to thinking about the idea
of the filling of the Spirit.
Sometimes we get it mixed up with the indwelling
or the baptizing of the Spirit.
I've heard one preacher say that the filling
of the Holy Spirit isn't about how much
of the Holy Spirit you have,
but how much of the Holy Spirit has you.
And I wanna illustrate this today
with this idea of two different pictures.
Because sometimes I think that when we think
of the filling of the Holy Spirit,
our mind tends to wander towards one of two pictures.
The first picture is this.
It's the idea of this bottled water
that's being poured into an empty glass.
And a lot of times when people think about
the filling of the Holy Spirit,
they think about it in this regard,
that there's some external source
that where the Holy Spirit resides,
and as we want to be filled the Holy Spirit,
He kind of fills us from the exterior.
And then of course, when our cup is empty,
we need more, and so He pours more into us.
I think that this is probably a very poor way
to think about the Holy Spirit
and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Because what happens is at the time of salvation,
the Holy Spirit indwells us.
We have 100% of the Holy Spirit,
not parts of the Holy Spirit,
or a percentage of the Holy Spirit.
We have all of the Holy Spirit, and He indwells us.
We talked about just a few weeks ago
that when He indwells us, that seal,
that stamp is then impressed upon us.
And that letter that's been sealed is never opened
until the sender who is Jesus,
the recipient who is also God,
opens that seal or breaks that seal.
So none of the Holy Spirit seeps out,
and no more of the Holy Spirit gets in.
So how can we think about,
what's the proper way of thinking about this filling
of the Holy Spirit when it comes to a picture?
Well, I found this picture,
I think it was probably one of the best ways
to be able to illustrate it, this next one if you will,
is this idea that the Holy Spirit is all contained within us.
But as we yield to the will and the word of God,
we allow the Holy Spirit to expand if you will,
to take control if you will, of us.
That unlike the glass of water,
where more of the Holy Spirit is required
from some external source,
it's more actually better to understand it
as we yield to the Holy Spirit,
we allow him to expand in influence and in control.
Unlike the permanence of the baptism or the sealing
or the indwelling,
the filling of the Holy Spirit is conditional.
And at times can be hindered,
that idea of being full on the right,
being pressed down actually can happen
when we are involved in sin,
or perhaps when we are reluctant
to yield to the will and the word of God.
We can choose to not allow the Holy Spirit to fill us
and we can allow sin or our own will to take control.
Now this is the idea of the conditions of the Holy Spirit.
How does one get filled by the Holy Spirit?
Well, obviously it's a sovereign act of God,
but it's also a submissive act of a believer.
We must submit to the will and the word of God
to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us.
But what does it look like?
What does it look like if someone is being filled
with the Holy Spirit?
What are some of the characteristics
of being filled with the Holy Spirit?
Well, first of all, Galatians chapter five tells us
that we'll have Christ-like character,
that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit,
verse 22 says,
but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-sivering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
Again, such, there is no law.
You see, when we yield to the will and word of God
and as the Holy Spirit then fills us,
we then overflow the fruit of the Spirit, right?
Things like love, joy, peace, long-sivering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.
We overflow and we present ourselves
just as Christ would with Christ-like character.
As we yield to the will and word of God,
we act like Christ, who perfectly submitted to the Father
and perfectly submitted to the will and the word of God.
Not only do we reveal Christ-like character,
something else that looks like is that we're involved
in evangelistic involvement,
that as we are allowed the Holy Spirit to fill us,
we will also be involved in the mission
of why the Holy Spirit and why God send Jesus.
Acts chapter two, verse four, it says,
they were filled with the Holy Ghost
and began to speak with other tongues
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
What were they speaking?
The truth of the word of God.
And what happens in Acts chapter two?
Hundreds and hundreds of people are saved
and added to the church.
Acts chapter four, verse 31, it says,
when they had prayed, the place was shaken,
where they were assembled together,
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost
and spake the word of God with boldness.
They were involved in an evangelistic pursuit
that as the Holy Spirit was being,
was there being filled by the Holy Spirit,
they were involved in the mission
of getting the gospel out and speaking the word.
Acts chapter six, verse three,
wherefore brethren, looking out among seven honest report
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom
who may appoint over this business.
What business?
The service of the church.
They were involved in this evangelistic pursuit.
Why? So that the apostles could be involved
in their part of getting the gospel out.
Acts chapter 11, for he was a good man
full of the Holy Ghost and of faith,
and much people was added unto the Lord.
What does that mean?
A bunch of people got saved.
He was involved in the evangelistic pursuit.
You see, when we're allowed the Holy Ghost,
the Holy Spirit to fill us,
we'll be involved in what the Holy Spirit wants us to do.
What is that?
The mission of Christ, right?
Going into all nations, teaching, baptizing,
and teaching them to observe all things.
As we yield to the will and word of God,
we'll be active in the focal mission
of the salvation of many.
Third way that we can,
a third characteristic, if you will,
of us being filled with the Holy Spirit is three things.
Praise, thanksgiving, and submission,
all coming out of Acts chapter five,
or sorry Ephesians chapter five.
Ephesians chapter five verse 18,
which we said already says,
be not drunk with wine whereas in excess,
but be filled with the Spirit.
Verse 19 goes on to say,
speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,
giving thanks for all things unto God and the Father
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
submitting yourselves one to another
in the fear of God.
You see, when we allow the Holy Spirit to fill us,
when we yield to the will and the word of God,
we will overflow the things of God.
That is, praise, we'll have a heart of praise.
That is, thanksgiving, we'll give thanks to God
for all things that has happened,
and we'll also produce submission.
So, if you meet a Christian who is not thankful,
who is not being submissive,
who is not overflung with praise,
they have a filling problem.
They are not being filled with the Holy Spirit.
They're not allowing the Holy Spirit
to have his will and way in their life.
Let's talk about the gifting.
So, the filling is the power behind the gifting,
but the gifting is oftentimes what we tend to think about
when we think about the Holy Spirit.
And for good reason, there is much of Corinthians
and Romans that talks about the gifting of the Holy Spirit.
It is an important subject for us to understand.
So, let's take a little bit of time tonight
before our time expires to be able to talk about
this gifting of the Holy Spirit.
First of all, let's talk about the distribution
of the gifting.
So, where does the gift come from?
Well, according to 1 Corinthians 12 verse 11,
it's given by the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12 verse 11 says,
but all these worketh that won in the self-same Spirit,
dividing to every man severally as he will.
Verse Corinthians 12, if you look at the greater context,
is talking about the different gifts of the Spirit.
It tells us that the Spirit is the one
who divvies them out, if you will.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit, they're not applied for, right?
We don't get saved and there's like an application.
I really kind of want this one and want this one.
It's not like a menu board where we walk up
and we go, can I get a double dose of Thanksgiving
with a side of evangelism, right?
It's not something that we pick and choose,
not something we order.
It's not something that we ask for necessarily.
It's something that the Holy Spirit distributes.
It says, as he will.
The implication here is that he gives us to it
as the body needs.
That was what the greater thing in 1 Corinthians 12 talks about.
As the Holy Spirit wills, he gives as needed.
Verses 24 through 27, in 1 Corinthians 12,
kind of give us a little bit of that insight
that the Holy Spirit gives the body what it needs
to be able to do the mission of God.
So, as we are given these gifts, we are given to them,
we're given them by the Holy Spirit.
Not only is that, when we say we,
I mean that we as believers,
that believers are the only ones that are able to have
the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
They're given by the Spirit.
They're also given to the saints.
1 Corinthians chapter seven, verse seven says this,
for I would that all men were even as myself,
but every man hath his proper gift of God,
one after this manner and one after that.
See, Paul was talking to the Corinthian believers
who were having a little bit of trouble with the gifts
and the idea of that.
Some of them were being misused.
And so, part of his letter to the Corinthians
was to set them straight into how to be able
to use their gifts to edify the body
and to do the mission that God had called them to do.
And so, Paul was encouraging them that he wanted them
to all be like him, using their proper gift
in the proper manner, one having some,
one having another, but all of them using it accordingly.
Who is them?
It is the Corinthian church, the Corinthian believers.
1 Peter chapter four, verse 10 says it this way,
as every man hath received the gift,
even so minister the same one to another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
See, Peter was talking to a group of believers as well.
And he wanted them to understand that as the gift
that they had been given, so they must minister
or use it for the good of the body.
He said the same one to another
as the good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
You see, as you as a believer have been given gifts
by the Holy Spirit, we are responsible to use those gifts
in a way that is proper to that gifting.
Primarily, to be used, to edify, to build up the body of Christ
but also to accomplish the mission
that God has all called us to do.
The gift of getting the gospel here and around the world.
These gifts are imparted to all believers.
And what's understood at least by 1 Peter chapter four
is that every believer has at least one gift
to be able to use for this process.
So we talk about the distribution,
how we receive those gifts.
But the big question is, what are the gifts?
Right, that's when we talk about gifting,
we usually wanna know the details.
What is it?
What are the gifts?
Which one do I have?
Well, I don't know that I can answer that question
necessarily for you tonight.
But what I can help you understand
is the nature of the gifts that we have
or that have been given through time.
By kind of looking at a few different diagrams.
Pastor used some diagrams this morning,
we're gonna use some diagrams tonight.
Just happened to work that way.
So I've got a few tables that I'm gonna show you here tonight
and we'll do our best as time allows
to be able to go through some of these gifts
to be able to help you give a better understanding
of the characteristics or the description of these gifts.
First of all, I wanna break the gifts up
into two different categories.
One is what we would call ceased gifts.
The other one is continued gifts.
So there are some gifts that God distributed
in the early church time that was used
in the beginning of the church age.
What we call ceased gifting.
These are gifting that I believe the scripture teaches
that these no longer exist because their purpose is now,
there's now no longer this purpose for these gifts.
So let's talk about the first one is the gifting
or this position of the apostle.
Now, in a general sense, the idea of apostle
literally just means sent one.
So when pastor says you're not dismissed,
you're apostleed, right?
You're sent.
That's kind of the general sense of the word,
but we don't necessarily use it that way
because of the idea of the apostle in the New Testament
isn't in a general sense, it's more in a technical sense.
In a technical sense, the apostles were those
who were taught and had seen the risen Christ.
By and been seen by, had seen the risen Christ.
These were people who were obviously part of the 12,
maybe a few others, and also Paul.
Paul actually claims apostleship
or the role of apostleship.
And he does so because of what he says in Galatians
that he was taught by Christ Jesus.
And then of course he had seen the risen Christ
on his way to Damascus.
So he had fulfilled both of those stipulations
to be an apostle.
So because there is nobody in this room
who has been taught by, nor seen the risen Christ,
there are no apostles in this room,
at least not in the technical sense, right?
There may be some sent ones.
We're all sent at some point in time.
But the idea of the apostle has ceased.
There are none of those left today.
The idea of the prophet, the prophet in a general sense
just means to proclaim.
But obviously the role of the prophet as well
in the technical sense has also been complete.
The idea of the prophet is the idea
who someone who speaks of future things.
Now the Old Testament is filled with many prophets.
In fact, several of the books of the Bible
are prophets, they're named the names of prophets.
But we also see a little bit of this in the New Testament.
Even during the church age, there is a guy named Agibus
who is a prophet.
And he comes to Paul, I believe it's in Acts chapter 20, 21,
where he comes and he uses his girdle to bind Paul up
and say, Paul, when you return back to Jerusalem,
this is going to happen to you.
You are going to be bound and you are going to stand trial
for what you're preaching.
And of course, all the people who are with him
begin to cry and Paul says, I'm not willing only to be bound
but to give my life for this cause.
And so this Agibus practices this idea
of proclaiming future things.
Now, there is no need for the prophet anymore
because we have a more sure word of prophecy
that is the word of God.
We're gonna talk about miracles and healing.
Now, when I say miracles and healing,
that doesn't mean that have ceased,
that doesn't mean that God doesn't still do miracles
or God doesn't still do healing.
I believe that he still does those things,
but he doesn't use us to do those things anymore.
These miracles and healings that were used
in the New Testament time,
specifically in the book of Acts and others,
are special signs that you were used to authenticate
the message of the gospel and of the truth
of the word of God before the completion of the canon
or before the completion of the word of God.
Before there was the word of God to point to
and say thus sayeth the Lord,
there were just people who would speak
or would stand up in the midst of a church service
and say, God says this or God's truth is this.
And one of the ways they authenticated that message
was to do some miraculous healing or miracle.
Tongues, an interpretation of tongues,
a highly debated topic even still today,
not necessarily in our circle,
but in other greater circles.
The New Testament makes it very clear
that tongues was someone who was given
a supernatural ability to speak an earthly language
that they didn't already know.
So this isn't the idea of being able to be bilingual
or trilingual.
So if somebody was to stand up and speak a language,
Spanish or French or Chinese
that they had studied for many years,
that doesn't mean that they had the gift of tongues.
That's not what tongues was in New Testament times.
Tongues was the idea of being able to speak
a language of earth that you didn't already know.
Now the interpretation of tongues was just the opposite.
It was the ability to understand and then interpret back
into the language that the people knew
of what this person was saying.
They were to be used together according to the apostle Paul
in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 13 and 14.
He spent a lot of time helping people understand
that these were not to be misused
but to be used simultaneously together.
He also indicates in 1 Corinthians chapter 14
quite the opposite of what modern day practitioners
of the idea of tongues do.
For those who practice the modern day equivalent of tongues
or I would say the modern way of tongues,
most of the time they're used in a church shedding
to edify or build up a church.
But according to Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 14,
the purpose of tongues was not to edify the church
but to win or evangelize the lost.
That's what the point of it was.
1 Corinthians chapter 14,
if you would go to it for a second,
I don't know that I have this one on the screen
but I think it's important for us to look at it ourselves.
1 Corinthians chapter 14, Paul is dealing with prophecy
and with tongues with the Corinthian church
who was abusing this time, misusing it in the church
if you will.
Verse 21, he says, in the law it is written
with men of other tongues and other lips
will I speak unto this people
and yet for all that will they not hear me say
the Lord, he's referring to a prophecy
that is being fulfilled in the giving of the gift of tongues.
Verse 22 says, wherefore tongues are for a sign,
not to them that believe,
but to them that believed not for prophesying service,
not for them that believed not, but for them which believe.
So he's talking about I'd rather you prophesy
to build up the church,
rather than to use this gift of tongues
because tongues is a sign gift.
It's a sign to demonstrate that the truth
of the message of the gospel is what you should believe.
And so you should use it to evangelize the lost
rather than to build up the saved.
So the tongues interpretation of tongues
as verse 13, I think makes clear also is one
of the gifts that have ceased
because we no longer need any kind of proof
that what God's word says is true because we have.
God's word in its completion.
The discerning of spirits is the last one I believe
is one of the sign gifts.
Sometimes misunderstood this ideal ability
to discern spirits was also a spirit given ability
to distinguish between true and false sources
of supernatural revelation that was given in oral form.
Now remember the written word of God was very scarce
in this very church, in this beginning church age,
not only because it hadn't been written yet
or was still being written,
but because copies of scripture
were very difficult to come about.
So most of these Gentile churches would get together,
they would not have copies of the Hebrew scriptures
nor would they be able to read the Hebrew scriptures
nor did they have the completed word of God.
So God was supernaturally helping them to grow in Christ
not only by the letters that Paul was writing
and the preaching that Paul was doing
and many others, Timothy, Barnumus and such on,
but also through the gifting of prophecy
and some of these other gifts that had ceased.
And so when someone would stand up and say,
God says this or God's truth is this,
God had given someone else the ability
to stand up and say that sign gift,
a sign that what was being preached was the truth.
Now we no longer need a sign
because we have a more sure word of prophecy.
We have the word of God that has given to us
in its completion.
So we no longer need somebody to say,
hey, this book is right because God's word says it itself.
Okay, so we have the ceased gifts
but we also have the what I call continued gifts.
The gifts that are still in existence today
that I believe that the word of God teaches
and that the Holy Spirit still gives
to those believers that come to Christ.
So let's be really quick because we're running out of time.
All right, we're gonna kind of water ski over these.
We could spend many, many weeks setting all these out
but we're gonna water ski over these really quick.
Ministering, of course, ministry,
this is in its most general sense,
the idea of ministering or doing ministry to the church.
Exertation, the idea of encouraging, comforting,
or admonishing someone with the spirit given ability
to encourage and to comfort others.
This is exhortation.
Evangelism, the supernatural,
or what I would say spirit, the spirit ability
to proclaim the gospel with exceptional clarity.
Specifically this idea of evangelism.
For the most part we see like Philip the evangelist,
most of these people who have this gift
in the New Testament early church age
were sent out of the church.
They didn't use this inside the church.
They were sent out of the church with this ability.
I think maybe most commonly we would probably call
this person a missionary in our modern tongue.
The idea of serving or maybe an evangelist.
The serving and helps are closely related together
in the broadest sense.
It's the idea of meeting the needs of others
through doing something about it.
So when God has given you the spirit ability
to not just pray for somebody,
but do something about someone's problem.
This is the idea of serving and helping.
Teaching, the ability to teach the word of God
with exceptional clarity.
Many times this is connected with the pastoral gifting,
but not necessarily.
The idea of the pastor, the role there still exists.
Although apostle and prophet do not exist still today
in the technical sense, the pastor still does.
He is the one who has been given the spirit
let ability to shepherd and care for the flock of God.
And also to protect God's people and the flock of God.
Administration, what we call leadership.
The idea of ruling is the ability to rule in the church.
Not necessarily like as some kind of elected king
or elected official, but as someone who is able
to get the details down.
Someone who is able to help things move about
as a group of people meet, as a group of people do
what they've been called to do as far as assembling.
There's some processes that happen.
And so the ability to then give oversight
in the rule of the church.
This is the gifting of administration,
of leadership and of ruling.
The idea of faith is the ability to believe
and help others believe in God's supply.
Also mercy is highly connected with serving and help,
but is also not limited to just doing.
It's also extended to the idea of comfort
or encouraging those, particularly those who are sick.
And that's what we see in scripture.
But when it comes to the idea of gifting,
many times people are wondering,
and we kind of focus so much on this idea of gift.
Which gift do I have?
Do I should I take this test?
And we kind of think about this idea of gifting
and we're trying to build a resume, if you will.
But here's what I want to encourage you with.
Because I think sometimes it's kind of like a pendulum, right?
If we go too far to one side and think,
well, gifting is not really that important.
Well, the scripture makes it really clear
that it is really important.
In fact, there's a bunch of scriptures
that talk about the gifting and the importance
of being able to develop that gifting and use your gifting.
So to be able to say, well, it's not really important at all.
I think that would be too far to swing
on one side of the pendulum.
Of course, the other side is, well, I gotta take this test
and I only have these specific ones
and I can only do ministries
because of the specific gifts I have.
I think if we go too far to one side
or too far to the other, it kind of nullifies
this idea of a practicality of how we actually use these
gifting in the sense of the building of the church.
But here's what I want to encourage you.
Because sometimes people will say,
I don't really know what gifting I have.
Here's what I want you to be able to see, okay?
There are some gifts that are given to some,
but there are commandments that are given to everybody.
I want to see, I want to show you
how they kind of parallel one another here.
We have some gifts to some and we have commands to all.
There are some that have the gift of ministry,
but all of us have been commanded to serve each other
in Galatians chapter five verse 13.
There are some that may have this supernatural
or a spirit-led ability to exhort,
to admonish, to encourage,
but all of us have been called to exhort one another
in Hebrews chapter 10.
There are some who may have an extra measure of gift,
of the idea of giving, but all of us have been called to give.
Every man is to give as they have been blessed,
according to 2 Corinthians chapter nine.
Some may have the spirit-gifting to teach with clarity,
but all of us have been called to teach what Jesus has,
teach people to observe all that Christ has taught us.
That's Matthew chapter 28, the Great Commission.
Some have been given an extra measure of mercy,
but all of us have called to be kind.
Some have been given the extra measure of faith,
but all of us have been called to walk by faith,
according to 2 Corinthians chapter five.
Some, maybe, the supernatural, the spirit-led ability
to have the gift of evangelism,
to be able to preach the gospel
with much clarity, but all of us have been called to witness.
Acts chapter one, verse eight.
That's what Jesus says, you shall be my witnesses.
So, what I wanna encourage you with and leave you with
is that don't get so hanged up or hung up
with the idea of, well, I only have certain giftings
and I can only, don't build a box around your gifting.
Do as the word of God says.
All of us can do most of what the Holy Spirit
has still allowed us to give,
still allowed us to do through the gifting
of the Holy Spirit.
Some of us may have an extra measure to do it,
maybe a little bit better or with more clarity,
but almost all of us have been called to exemplify
all the different facets, all the different characteristics
of the gifts of the spirit.
Here's what I wanna leave you with tonight.
So, we kinda went through a lot.
Maybe some of you, your heads might be spinning a little bit.
What I want to encourage you with tonight is this,
the duties of the gifts.
Why do the gifts exist?
Why are we filled or commanded to be filled
so that we can do what we can live out the gifting
in our life?
Well, here's what I wanna encourage you with.
What are our duties?
First of all, our duty is to discover through serving.
We need to know the gifts that we have.
It is important.
1 Peter chapter four, verse 10, there's a command.
Every man hath received the gift.
Even so, minister, do something with your gift.
So, I don't know what my gift is.
I understand that, you can discover it.
Now, it's a little bit of a misnomer.
I kind of stretch a little bit here
when I use the word discover
because there's a risk.
A risk is, well, then I won't do anything
until I find out what it is.
And that's what I wanna say, I'm trying to say the opposite.
I don't want to push you, pause
until you find out what your gift is.
What I want you to do is hit play
and serve until you find out what your gift is.
Does that make sense?
I want you to be able to discover your gift through serving.
Don't wait for the test results to come in.
Now, those online tests may have some profit.
Some of them may not.
But I don't want you to wait until the test results come in
before I start serving.
Start serving now and your gifting will become apparent.
So, what should I do?
Well, in a very practical sense,
don't turn down any opportunity to serve the Lord,
especially if you don't really know what your gifts are.
Don't turn down any opportunity,
even if you think it doesn't fall into your range of gifting
because God might be trying to tell you
that you have a gift that you haven't even recognized yet.
So, when you have an opportunity to serve, do it.
Serve and as you serve,
you will discover what your gift is.
Not only should we discover, we should also develop.
Develop the serving, develop what we have through serving.
We see this illustrated almost perfectly
in the life of Philip.
Acts chapter six, Philip is selected to be a deacon.
He's yielding to the will and word of God
full of the Holy Ghost.
He is selected to be a deacon in the first church.
But Philip doesn't stay a deacon.
Acts chapter eight tells us that as he's continuing
to be yielding to the will and word of God,
he is then given a mission by the Holy Spirit
to go into Samaria and to preach Christ.
Acts chapter five, eight, verse five.
Philip went down into the city of Samaria
and preached Christ unto them.
Acts chapter 21, we come full circle
and we see this same Philip in Acts chapter 21, verse eight.
It says the next day that we were of Paul's company departed
and came into Caesarea, we entered into the house
of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven
and abode with him.
You see, Philip didn't start out as the evangelist.
Philip started out as a waiter of tables.
He was a deacon.
He just did what he was supposed to do.
He helped those widows who were bickering in the church.
He helped meet their needs, right?
That seems like a little bit of a underplay
for somebody who's got the gift of evangelism, right?
Well, he didn't know that he had the gift of evangelism,
but as he served, he discovered what his gifting was
and then he developed it as he was obedient
to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
He was yielding to the will and the word of God in his life.
Then he developed into who he was to be in Christ.
He discovered through serving
and then he developed it through serving.
So here's what I wanna leave you with.
God has gifted you with everything you need
to participate in spirit led ministry,
both personally and here at Trinity Baptist Church.
Are you developing your gifts?
Are you serving?
If you're not, why not?
You've been given the command,
not just to be filled with the spirit,
but to do something with that filling,
to do something with that gifting.
So get involved if you're not already involved.
Serve, grow and develop the gifting that God has given you.
And you know what's gonna happen?
The body is going to grow, people are going to be one,
disciples are going to be made
and it'll be fruit to your account
because you are being obedient to submit
to the will and the word of God
and you are using your gifting to build up the body
and reach the lost.
That's what we've been called to do
and the Holy Spirit makes it possible.
Would you bow your heads with me?