The Gifts That Keep On Giving | Sunday Message

Struggling to answer someone's questions about your faith, Pastor Greg Laurie recommends a great book to help. You know, I remember the first time that I shared my faith; I was so young, and I was challenged by an atheist. I did not have a clue as to what I should say, and I wish I'd had a copy of this book by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler. And the title of it is "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist." And we want to send you this book for your gift of any size, available at. Harvest dot org.

Hey there! Thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie, encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to Harvest dot org. Why don't you grab your Bible and turn to Romans chapter twelve?

Romans chapter twelve. And the title of my message is "The Gifts That Keep On Giving." We're in a series called "The Holy Spirit in You." Now we're going to talk about the gifts of the Spirit. Speaking of gifts, have you ever been given a gift that you really didn't like? It's so hard to fake it, isn't it? Oh, what do you think?

Oh, wow! Thank you so much. You know, somebody who thinks they have good fashion sense gives you a shirt, and then a couple of weeks after they gave it to you, they ask you why you have not worn it. And if you were honest, you would say because it's ugly, and you have really bad taste. But you don't want to hurt their feelings, so you don't say that to them.

So you maybe regift it to someone else. How many of you have ever regifted a gift? Raise your hand. Come on, more of you have. And regifting you, you get a gift.

Oh, I don't want this, so I'll give it to someone else, and you never tell them someone gave it to me. You just give it to. I don't think it's a sin to regift. Just make sure you don't regift the gift to the person who gave you the gift to start with. That's called an awkward moment.

Or maybe they give you a fruitcake. What is the fruit cakes? Do has anyone here liked fruit cake? You know, there is only one. Did you know that there is one?

Have you ever seen two fruit cakes next to each other? You haven't, because there is only one. It's been circulating from the early nineteen hundreds around and around, just regifted over and over again.

Well, I want to talk to you about. God's gifts to us—we call them the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I can promise you, when God gives this gift to you or these gifts to you, you will not want to return them because they're just right for you.

Now, we've been talking about the Holy Spirit. Together, the third member of the Trinity. We've discovered some things about him, starting with the fact that the Holy Spirit has a will. The Holy Spirit has a personality. The Holy Spirit has intelligence.

The Holy Spirit can be quenched. He can be grieved. He can be resisted, and he can even be insulted. We also saw how, when we become Christians, the Holy Spirit indwells us. He seals us, He fills us, and He empowers us for service.

And then last Sunday, we talked with Pastor Jonathan talked to us about the fruit of the Spirit. Do you remember what the fruit of the Spirit is? The fruit of the Spirit is that's right. It's love. And it's defined there in Galatians.

It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, longsuffering, and so forth.

Now, listen. You can have all the gifts of the Spirit available, but if you don't have love for God and love for fellow believers, you really have nothing. In fact, First Corinthians thirteen, Paul says, "If I had the gift of prophecy and I knew all about what was going to happen in the future, knew everything about everything, but didn't love others, what good would it do? Even if I had the gift of faith, so I could speak to a mountain and make it move, it would still be worth nothing at all without love." So the idea that's being communicated is God gives us these gifts to use for His glory in love, serving one another. Listen to this: the gifts of the Spirit are not toys to play with; they're tools to build with, and they're weapons to fight with.

Let me say that again: the gifts of the Spirit are not toys to play with. They're tools to build with. They're weapons to fight with. And God gives these gifts out to His followers, and He wants us to use them. Ephesians four eleven says, "Now these are the gifts that God gave to the church.

So they're given to the church to be primarily used in the church. And let me just say, thank God for the church." Thank God that the church exists. Thank God for all church does. It's like an oasis of hope in a desert of hopelessness. Right?

Think about it. I mean, I remember when I first went to church. I wasn't raised in the church, so I didn't have really any real resistance to it. I didn't have any real thoughts about it. And when I first went to a church, it was Calvary Chapel in the middle of the Jesus movement.

It was pretty exciting. It was all new to me, and it was in church that everything changed for me. It's like my brain was rewired and my heart was refired. For the first time, I think in my young life, I was seventeen. I started thinking.

I started thinking critically. I started thinking biblically, and I began to form my world view. And I also had a family because I wasn't raised really with a family to speak of. And so now I had a Christian family, a brothers and sisters. I know people say, "Oh, the church is full of hypocrites," and my response to that is, "There's always room for one more." Right now, look, I'm not excusing hypocrisy.

I know it exists, but come on, let's get real. The church is filled with people like you, so there's going to be hypocrisy, and people like me, because we are flawed people, and we're going to mess up, and we're going to fall short, and we're going to disappoint, and we're going to be disappointed. But still, it's the best thing going. Jesus started the church. Jesus only started one organization when he walked this earth.

He called it the church. He said, "You are my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against you." So I thank God for the church. And yes, there is some hypocrisy, but hey, so much good comes out of what happens in the church. And every believer needs to be a part of the church for a number of reasons.

Well, what are they? Number one, church is a place where we come to be spiritually fed. It's a place where we can be accountable, where we can develop a consistent theology, a place where we can grow, where we can learn to serve and give, and it's a place to discover and use our spiritual gifts. That's all up there on the screen if you are taking notes.

So, the church exists for three reasons. Number one. The glorification of God. Number two, the edification of the saints. Number three, the evangelization of the world.

So when we came to church today, we had a time of worship. We were engaged in the glorification of God.

Now we open up His Word together, and we're engaged in the edification or the building up of the saints. And then when we leave the church, we engage in the evangelization. Of the world, so it's upward, inward, and outward.

Sometimes people think the church is a building. It isn't. A church is people. In fact, the word that church comes from, ecclesia, in the Greek means called out ones. And I think the problem is sometimes we treat the church like a movie theater.

Now, think about this for a moment. Don't think about that. I took a drink of water. Think about something else. Wow, what do I want to think about that for?

So, like, okay, movies. When we go to the movies, I don't know how you go to the movie. I go to the movie late, and I'll tell you why. If the film starts at seven. It's really not going to start till seven thirty, right?

Why? They're going to play trailers, endless trailers, most of which you don't want to watch.

So I'll get there about seven twenty-five, and I'll go to my seat.

Now, my wife she always wants to get popcorn, and I like popcorn with milk. That's as a matter of fact, and but she'll always like do it at the last minute, and she'll miss the first five minutes of the film. Cause she'll be saying, "What's going on? Who's that?" Right, and then I eat the popcorn and the milk duds, and I fall asleep, and then I'll wake up thirty minutes later, and I'll say, "What's happening?" So for me, going to a movie is a great place to take a nap, and eat popcorn and milk duds.

Okay, so go to the movie the way you want to go, but we take that same mentality and apply it to going to church.

Well, then let's get there later. You know the band; they're just a warm-up act, anyway, right? No, they aren't. The folks that stand on this stage and lead us in worship are here to prepare.

Well, first of all, to bring glory to God—that's why we exist—and to prepare our hearts for the Word of God.

So it's very important. You shouldn't be late to church. You should be early for church, and then we want to leave early. I do that too in movies. I admit, you know, once the movie is over, I say, "Let's go." My wife, I want to watch the credits.

Why? Let's go and let's get out, beat the traffic, whatever it is. And this happens in church as well. Oh, let's leave. Let's leave as soon as the message ends.

Sometimes let's leave while the message is ending. Here's a problem with that. You're you're creating a distraction. Why are you here? You know why don't you stay?

There's more things to do after the message ends and the song ends. There could be ministry opportunities where you can then develop and use the spiritual gifts that God has given to you.

So let's explore that together. I think sometimes people will say, "Well, I don't go to church anymore. Why? I have church hurt." Oh, please. You have church hurt.

Yes, I was hurt at church.

Okay, that's like saying you have doctor hurt. I don't go to doctors anymore. Why? I have doctor hurt. What do you mean by that?

Well, the doctor wanted to do a surgery on me to save my life, and I didn't want to do that.

So I felt he judged me.

Okay, isn't that kind of the job of the doctor to make an evaluation? To do a checkup on you, and then to give you a course of treatment to help you get better.

Well, I did. I didn't like the tone of his voice. I didn't like what he said. You know, someone might come to church, and maybe a guy and a girl are living together outside of marriage. And they talk to a Christian or a pastor, and that person tells them you shouldn't live together because you're not married.

That's called fornication. You should get married and not live together anymore as you're getting ready to get married. Oh, you judge me? I have church hurt. No, the church didn't hurt you.

The church told you the truth. See, they told you the truth. Why? For your own good, for your own good. If we didn't care about you, it'd say, "Do whatever you want." We don't care, but because we love you, and the Bible says, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend, and the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Because we love you, we tell you the truth.

And the Bible says in Galatians six one, if a believer is overcome by sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back into the right path, and be careful so you don't fall into the same temptation yourself. I'd be like saying, "I have Jim hurt. What? What? I've Jim hurt.

What happened? You went to the gym. I hurt after. Yeah. You ever heard the expression, 'No pain, no gain.'" It kind of can be a good thing.

Now here's the thing: people will not go to the gym for years, and then they'll go and they'll work out way too hard. Try to lift way too much weight, and they may injure themselves. They need to ease into it. But the idea is, you break muscle down to build muscle up. You see, and in the same way, we go to church to be built up.

And sometimes it hurts a little bit.

Sometimes it stings a little bit. Other times it soothes our conscience. Other times it lifts us out of a pit of despair. The word of God goes where it goes, and the spirit. Of God does what He does, but this is a place to encounter God, and that's why I love the church, and you should love it too.

You want to get on my bad side, insult my wife? Don't insult the church. Don't mock the church. Don't tear down the church with its flaws and its imperfections. We are the bride of Christ, and yes, we do have our shortcomings.

But one day will be a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. And it's in the church that we develop our spiritual gifts.

Now, let me draw a distinction between natural ability and spiritual gifts. They are not the same. We all have natural abilities given to us, also by God.

Some people are naturally athletic. I know many of these people. I'm not one of them. And then other people, they seem to be a klutz by nature. You know what I'm talking about?

They're always falling, always injuring themselves. How do you always injure yourself? It's just you know we're wired differently.

Some have mechanical minds. I wish I had a mechanical mind. I have the opposite of a mechanical mind. Others are artistic. Others are musical.

Others have talent for crunching numbers. Others have talent for dreaming big dreams. These are all great natural abilities that God can give us. But then there are the gifts of the Spirit. Romans twelve five says, "We being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, having then gifts differing according to the grace it has given to us." So.

God gives these gifts according to His grace. You don't buy them, you don't earn them, you don't deserve them. But God gives them as He chooses. And by the way, when you came in today, were you given one of these? Did you get one of these?

Okay.

So on the back of it, there's a little QR code. You know what a QR code is, right? Take the phone, your phone out, and put it in photo, and then you look at the QR code through that app, and and it will take you to a place where you can literally take a serve quiz.

So this is a little thing we've developed where it may help you develop your spiritual gift or at least discover it. It's not foolproof, it's not perfect, but I think because you wonder what am I called to do. What is my spiritual gift? What are my spiritual gifts? Take the serve quiz on the back of this, and then as the service ends today, there's going to be some people in the back in little tables on all of our campuses.

And they will tell you about various ministries we have, and these are all volunteers—people just like you that are serving the Lord. Let me ask a quick question: How many of you are serving in some way, shape, or form here at Harvest? Raise your hand up.

Well, God bless you, but a lot of you didn't raise your hand.

Okay, you are missing out on a blessing—the blessedness of being used by God. How many of you think you know what your spiritual gift or your spiritual gifts are? Raise your hand. Okay, okay, a few of you, but many of you don't.

So let's see if we can help you as we look to the Word of God.

So it's so important to develop these gifts because we're told in First Timothy four fourteen, don't neglect the gift that is in you. Or as another translation puts it, keep your gift, dust it off, and in use. I like that. Keep your gift, dust it off, and in use.

Now, sometimes we we envy the gifts that other people have. Say, "Oh, I wish I, I wish I could do that. Wish I could have that gift. You know, that musical gift or that speaking gift or." The gift of exhortation, or whatever it is they do, and you need to know that God will give you the gift that's just right for you. Don't envy someone else's gift.

Remember when I was a little kid, early sixties, and Christmas came. And I opened whatever my gifts were, and as I recall, I was happy until I saw what my little friend got. He got a toy. It was actually—I remember it still. It's a skin diver.

Now, remember, this is early sixties tech. This is it. Look at this thing. When I saw this gift, I thought this was the greatest thing I'd ever seen as a little kid. Let me tell you what this toy did.

You put batteries in the back of it, and you flip the on switch, and put it in a pool, and it sank to the bottom. But the feet slowly kicked a little bit like this, and bubbles came out of it. I thought that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. Why didn't I get a sinking plastic skin diver toy? And I was totally unhappy with my gifts because I wanted his gift.

And we can be the same way in life and in the church. Oh, I want their gift. Be content with the God gift that God gives to you. First Corinthians twelve eleven says, "It is the Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should get." Now here is.

The problem with the gifts of the Spirit. Maybe I should restate that. Here's the problem with the abuse of some gifts of the Spirit. We see excess, we see strangeness, and we say, "I don't know if I want that to happen to me." And you often see it on Christian television. And someone will say, "I'm operating the gift of the Spirit," and people will come supposedly under the power of the Holy Spirit, and they'll shake uncontrollably, or writh around on the floor, or in some cases, I'm not making this up, make animal sounds, barking like dogs, or laughing uncontrollably.

And we say, "If that's the Spirit, I don't want any of it." Good news, that's not the Spirit. That's just people acting strangely, psyching themselves up. See, when God's Spirit works, the Bible says He does all things decently and in order. And the Bible also says that the spirit of the prophet is subject to the prophet. See, when we exercise the gift of the Spirit, I'm exercising the gift of the Spirit right now.

It's a gift of being hilarious. How am I doing? No, there's no gift like that. No, the gift I'm operating is a gift of teaching, and I control my volume. I can speak quietly.

I can speak. I don't go into a trance where I have no control over what I'm saying.

So when you see this kind of thing happening, this is not yielding to the Spirit. This is not being filled with the Spirit. This, in my opinion, is actually quenching the Spirit. And the Bible warns us to not quench the Holy Spirit, but however, the Bible also tells us in First Corinthians one seven, we should not come behind in any spiritual gift as we wait for the return of the Lord.

So, look, Jesus is coming. Can I get an amen on that? Jesus is coming. He's coming, and he's saying, "Find your gift." Develop your gift and use your gift as you await my return. We should be looking for that gift that God has given to us.

The Bible says, "Earnestly desire spiritual gifts." Sort of going back to Christmas again. Remember when you were a little kid and you told your parents what you wanted for Christmas. You hope they got it for you, and then when they weren't around, you searched the house trying to find that gift. Maybe one in the closet, always a favorite hiding place behind something else. You found this box already wrapped, and you peeled the paper away to see if this is the gift you wanted.

You were anxious to find your gift; nothing wrong with that. And we shed out of that same enthusiasm when it comes to discovering our gifts of the Holy Spirit.

So let's go to Romans twelve now, and before we dive into what the gifts are. Paul tells us this Romans twelve three. I give each of you this warning: Don't think you're better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

Okay, here's point number one. If you're taking notes, you are not all that and a bag of chips. I love that expression. It's so random. All that and a bag of chips, and sometimes we think we are.

So have a realistic view of yourself. You're not as great as you may think you are. You're not as horrible as you may think you are. Honestly evaluate who you are and be humble and be open to what God will give you.

Now, sometimes people will say, "I'm so humble. I'm so humble and humble." I'm humble. I dropped the H. I'm just humble. Humble.

Shut up. That's not humility. That may be the most prideful thing of all. If you're walking around telling everyone how humble you are, maybe more of a sign of your pride. A truly humble person isn't talking about themselves all the time.

They they see themselves as they are, flawed and weak. But if God comes and gives to you a gift. Don't you dare say no.

Well, I'm not worthy.

Well, you never were. You never will be. But God's going to give you some gifts, so you want to gladly receive those gifts because the Bible says in James four seventeen, to him that knows to good knows to do good and does not do it, it's sin.

So if God says I've given you this calling on your life, I want you. To teach the Bible, I've given you this calling in your life. I want you to serve behind the scenes. I've given you this calling in your life. I want you to do fill in blank here.

If you say no, that's bad. God came to Jeremiah. He was very young.

Some scholars think maybe around seventeen. He could have been even younger. He's a kid. And the Lord calls him, and Jeremiah says in Jeremiah one six, "Oh, I can't do that, Lord. I'm far too young.

I'm only a youth." And the Lord says, "Do that, for you will go where I send you and speak whatever I tell you, and don't be afraid of the people, for I, the Lord, will be with you, and I'll see you through." So if the Lord calls you, don't say, "Oh, I can't do that. I won't do." No, no. If He gives you a gift, use it. Point number two. You say, "What was point number one?" You're not all that in a bag of chips, right?

Point number two. We all have a part to play in the church with our spiritual gifts. Look at verse four. Just as our bodies have many parts, and each part has a special function.

So it is with Christ's body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. You know, we're all different.

Some of us are more outgoing.

Some of us are more reserved.

Some of us are big picture people. Others are detail oriented. You know, clearly God loves variety. Look at His creation. All the amazing flowers.

Look at the animal kingdom. The dolphin. The horse, the eagle, the giraffe, the elephant, and then there's this animal. I don't know what God was thinking. This is the duck billed platypus.

Look at that guy. It's almost like the Lord had some leftover beaks from when he was making ducks, and a few extra beavers. Hey, let's put the Let's put the beak on the on the beaver, but actually, I found out my son Jonathan looked this thing up. This thing has some amazing skills. It actually is venomous.

It it can raise the dead. Very few people. No, not really. I was kidding. Has all these unique features about.

Anyway, God made him. He made you. Maybe you feel like an eagle. Maybe you feel more like a duck billed platypus. God can use you.

We're not all the same. Go back to Romans twelve, verse six. In His grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. If God has given ability to prophesy. Count with as much faith as God has given you.

If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you're a teacher, teach well. Love the practicality of this. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If your gift is giving, then give generously.

If God has given you leadership ability, take that responsibility seriously. If you have a gift for showing kindness to others, Do it gladly. Certain terms bubble up from what we've just read. Do it well. Be generous.

Do it gladly. Take this responsibility seriously. Let's look at this first gift identified by Paul: the gift of prophecy. God has given some people a gift for proclaiming the truth. Verse six: If God has given you the ability to prophesy.

Speak out with as much faith as God has given you. What does this mean? Prophesy. It's translated different ways. One translation is to speak for another.

Another translation is to bubble forth.

So this is the idea where God gives you a supernatural insight into something or someone you would not normally have. Maybe God's revealed something to you.

Sometimes a prophet will predict the future. In the Old Testament, there was a lot of predictions given by prophets, and we read of prophets like Elijah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Jonah. But in the New Testament, we find a guy named Agabus that correctly predicted what was going to happen to the Apostle Paul. The Bible does say in the last days, the sons and the daughters will prophesy.

So God will give us supernatural revelations, but here is the key: a prophet must always submit to the Word of God. You should never say something that is outside Scripture. And sometimes someone will predict the future. I'll say, "I'm a prophet of the Lord." Here is what's going to happen. I give this prophecy in the name of Jesus.

Okay, now I am going to evaluate you because the Bible says that we should judge prophecies. All right, so here is what I am going to do. I am going to see if what you say happens. If what you say happens, as you said it would, God may have given you that prophecy. If what you say will happen does not happen, then.

You are not a true prophet of the Lord. Deuteronomy eighteen says, "You may wonder whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord. If the prophet speaks in the Lord's name, but his prediction does not happen or come true, you know the Lord did not give them that message." Here is the thing: the Bible tells us that one of the signs of the last days is there would be false prophets.

Okay, so we have to be very careful. When so-called prophets and apostles claim to speak in the name of the Lord, is what they are saying biblical? Does it align with Scripture? And this prediction they made—did it happen as they said it would?

Okay.

Number four: There's a spiritual gift of serving. Verse seven: If your gift is serving others, serve them well. I love that. Serve them well.

So, isn't it fascinating that the gift of prophecy is placed right next to the gift of serving?

So one would be a public role. One would be more of a role. We would tend to think, oh, someone who would prophesy. They're more important than anybody.

Well, the Lord takes these two gifts and places them side by side to show us a simple thing: every gift matters, every person matters, every contribution matters as well.

So, if God is giving you the gift of serving others, serve them well. Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Colossians three twenty three says, "Work willingly, and whatever you do is though you're working for the Lord." Rather than for people.

So whatever you do, and this is true of life, whatever your career is, I don't know what you do, but do it well. If you are working at In and Out Burger, flip those burgers for the glory of God, and I'll take mine animal style. Thank you very much. If you're a builder, you work for the glory of God. You work hard.

You work honestly. If your work is programming a computer, you do that for God's glory. As you nerd out on junk food on this side, if your gift is an athlete, be a great athlete. If your gift is music, practice and get better at what you do and do it well. Whatever you do, do it for God's glory.

And if you serve, serve well, serve faithfully. And serve for God's very glory. Every person matters. Serve them well.

Some are called to teach the word of God. Verse seven. If you're a teacher, teach well. So simple. Teach well.

Let me put it another way. Don't be boring. Don't be boring. I think we know it when someone has the gift of teaching, and I think we know it when they don't. Right.

The moment they start to speak, there's just something about the way they talk. Even sometimes the way they read the Bible, they take the action-packed, anointed Word of the Living God and make it dull and actually somehow uninteresting. What's going on with that? I don't get that at all. Listening them to them is like watching paint dry.

Heard a story about a preacher who was asked to say a few words at a public meeting. The moderator said, "Reverend, just say a few words. Give you five minutes." The preacher filled his five minutes quickly.

Now it's ten minutes. The moderator clears his throat, like your time is up. The guy's still speaking.

Now it's fifteen minutes, and now the moderator lightly taps his gavel on the podium to stop the preacher.

Now it's twenty-five minutes. The preacher is droning on.

Now the moderator is pounding his gavel to stop the preacher, and still this preacher won't stop speaking.

So, in frustration, the moderator throws his gavel at the preacher. It barely misses him and hits an elderly man who had fallen asleep in the front row. The old dude wakes up, sees the preacher is still speaking, and says to the moderator, "Hit me again! I can still hear him." That's a dad joke, isn't it? Also, a pastor joke, interchangeable dad jokes, pastor jokes.

But sometimes we feel that way. Hit me again. I can still hear him.

Okay.

If you're a teacher, teach well. See, when I step into this pulpit, I'm going to give you the word of God. I have complete confidence in this message. I don't need to make the Bible relevant. The Bible is relevant.

I just need to let the lion out of the cage. Yeah. I need to let the lion out of the cage. The Bible says that the Word of God is alive and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Martin Luther said, and I quote: "The Bible is alive.

It speaks to me. It has feet. It runs after me. It has hands. It lays hold of me." But it's a big responsibility to teach the Bible.

The Bible says we should learn how to handle it correctly, and we're told in James three one, "Hey, brothers and sisters, if you want to become teachers, be careful because those who teach will be judged more strictly." I take what I do very seriously. I spend a lot of time preparing my messages. You probably are surprised by that, but I do. But I know that I'm giving you God's word, and I want to give it to you accurately and rightly. And and I am the last person you would have ever thought would end up doing what I'm doing because I was the worst student of all time.

I got bad grades. I caused disruptions in the classrooms all the time. I spent more time sitting outside of the principal's office than I did in the classroom. It seems getting in trouble for something I said or did, and so I was the worst student. And for me to become a teacher is almost laughable.

But sometimes, when God gives the gifts of the Spirit, He goes out of His way to surprise us, and this makes no sense at all. Why? Well, the Bible says God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. Right? So maybe you're timid, you're quiet, you're soft-spoken, you're humble.

Lord says, "I'm going to call you to be a preacher." Oh, not me, never me. Oh, yeah, you. There's no way, Lord, I can't do it. That's what Moses said. Lord, I have a speech impediment.

You're my man. Oh no, not me! Moses says, "Get Aaron to do it. Get someone else to do it." The Lord says, "I want you to do it." God will often call you outside of your comfort zone, so He will get the glory. You see, He might take that other person.

He might take that other person. I was always loud and boisterous and outspoken. We would say of them, they have the gift of gab, and then God says, "Yeah, I'm going to call you to serve behind the scenes. I'm going to call you to do this other thing here, and no one will even know you're doing it. But I want you to do it for my glory.

And maybe He'll call them to be a public speaker. He just never know. But you just ask the Lord to show you. Here's the thing." One of the best ways to find out what you're called to do is first find out what you're not called to do.

So after the service, you can go out to these little tables, ask each of these volunteers, "Tell me what this ministry does." This is one I would never choose. I'm going to go over there. Hey, tell me what this ministry does here, and then you volunteer, and then you find out you're horrible at it. Great, cross that off the list. What else is there?

See, there's so many opportunities. You're gifted at something. You're good at something. You have some gifting from the Lord. I remember years ago, I discovered what I was not supposed to do.

I was at a little home Bible study, and and we had a very talented singer, songwriter, guitar player there. Who had a new song? He says, "I have this new song," and he played it. Wow, that's a great song! And there was a guy in the Bible study who was a flautist, an amazing flute player.

He played along in this song. We're all singing. This is a great song.

So we decided to form a band, and and somehow I ended up in this band. And all I was doing was keeping time. On the coffee table, just you know, they're playing. Is just kind of doing this.

Okay, you are in the band, Greg. And they went to Calvary Chapel, where bands were forming every eight minutes back then, and coming up on the stage and doing their new songs. We had a name for our band, as I recall, it was the Idiots. No, not really. I think it was like "Bright and Morning Stars" something like that.

So we have "Bright and Morning Star." We walk out. There's a guitar player. There's a flautist, and there's me with a conga drum because I couldn't take a coffee table out with me.

So, so they're playing it, and I'm trying to keep time in this conga drum. And I realize I have no skill whatsoever in conga drum playing, and it was one of the worst moments of my life. I was embarrassed, but guess what?

Now I know I'm not called to do that. Cross that off the list. What am I called to do? See, I like to draw cartoons. I like to do art and design.

That was my natural ability, and then the Lord calls me to preach.

So unexpected, but that's what he has called me to do, and who knows what he has called you to do? And you know, another thing I would add in closing is sometimes someone else can tell you what your gift of the spirit is better than you can even know yourself. It was Pastor Chuck Smith that said to me, "Greg, God's called you to be an evangelist." I said, "What?" How would you know that? Why would you think that? But he knew it before I did.

And you might ask someone that you respect, "What do you think my gift is? What do you think God's called me to do?" And you might be surprised by the answer. But let me close with this thought about gift giving.

So, the greatest gift of all is the gift of eternal life. It's called the gift that keeps on giving, right?

So, have you ever noticed how some gifts become more valuable with the passing of time? That would probably not include tech, would it? Tech is outdated. Like in four minutes, there's a better version, a faster version. It does something that your little phone or whatever device it is we're talking about does.

And so, tech is dated, but other things become more valuable, such as that drawing your child did for you when they were six years old.

So, if your house was on fire, you're not going to try to save your flat-screen television or drag a sofa out, but you might grab that piece of art your child made, or you might grab something else that is valuable to you because it became more valuable with the passing of time. There's no question that the greatest gift God has given to us is the gift of eternal life. Right? That's the gift that keeps on giving. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I know I will go to heaven when I die. Greg, how can you know that? No one can know it. Yeah, you can't. I have this gift, and you do too, if you're a Christian.

Because I've received this gift from God, and the Bible says His Spirit bears witness with my Spirit that I am a child of God. How many of you believe you have the gift of eternal life? Raise your hand up.

Okay, now maybe there's some of you that say, "Well, I'd like to have it. I hope I have it." No, you can know that you know is what I'm saying to you. These things we write to you, says the Apostle John. Who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life, not that you may hope you have it if God's in a good mood. No, you know it.

You know that you know that you know. Do you know? Are you sure you have it? If not, let's get that settled. If you walk out of here with the gift of eternal life, this would be the greatest day of your life, don't you think?

And it's offered to you freely. You say, "Well, how much does it cost?" Oh, you couldn't afford it. What good things do I need to do to earn it? You, you could never do enough good things to earn it. But here's the good news: the gift of eternal life was purchased for you by Jesus Christ on the cross two thousand years ago.

And all you have to do is receive it. Just receive it.

Someone gives you a gift, take the gift. God's offering you this gift.

Now the ball's in your court. Do you want Christ to come into your life? Do you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die? If so, respond to this invitation that I will extend now as we close in prayer. Let's all pray together.

Father, thank you for the greatest gift of all—the gift of eternal life. Jesus. Thank you for purchasing this gift for us as you hung on the cross of Calvary and shed your blood.

Now we pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit will convince and convict people of their sin and help them see how much they need this gift.

Now, while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed, and we're praying, how many of you would like to receive the gift of eternal life? How many of you would like to know that when you die, you will go to heaven? Listen, if you want your sin forgiven, if you want to go to heaven when you die, if you want to fill that hole in your heart, so to speak, that void in your life, if you're ready to say yes to Jesus Christ, wherever you are, would you just lift your hand up and let me pray for you today? Lift your hand up. God bless you.

God bless you. Raise your hand up higher, I can see it. Please, God bless you as well, wherever you are. You want to receive this gift of eternal life? Let me pray for you.

God bless all of you. God bless you. Some of you are watching this screen at Harvest Orange County, Harvest Maui. You can raise your hand too. Wherever you are now, I'm going to ask that every one of you that has raised your hand, I want you to stand to your feet, and I'm going to lead you in a prayer where you're going to ask Christ to come into your life.

So stand up, even if you did not raise your hand, but you want this gift of eternal life, you want that promise of heaven, you want this relationship with God. Stand up. Let me lead you in prayer. By the way, others are standing, so you won't be alone. Anybody else?

Stand up now. There might be a few more. Stand now. Let me pray with you and for you. I'll wait one more moment.

Just stand up wherever you are. Let's get this settled. Anybody else? Stand now. God bless each one of you.

Now, all of you who are standing, I want you to pray this out loud after me. Again, as I pray, pray this out loud after me, right where you stand. Pray these words, if you would, please, Lord Jesus. I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior, who died on the cross for my sin, and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward, as my Savior and Lord, as my God and friend.

In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Hey everybody! Thanks for listening to this podcast. To learn more about Harvest Ministries, follow this show and consider supporting it.

Just go to harvest.org. And to find out how to know God personally, go to harvest.org and click on Know God.