Here's an important announcement from Destined for Victory's Executive Director, Alicia Shepherd Greer. Pastor Paul's media ministry is at a crossroads, and as Executive Director and as his daughter, I'm sincerely asking for your help. When my father went to be with the Lord earlier this year, you all showed such tremendous support, and we are so grateful for each and every one of you. But recently, we experienced a change in one of our significant sources of funding, and that change has led to a deficit.
So we need your help to keep Pastor Paul's teachings on the air. Every December we do a special fundraising push, but this year, because of the deficit, it's especially important.
So we're asking you to prayerfully consider giving a gift over and above your normal amount to help us keep this teaching legacy alive. And what's so special is that this month we're offering a special thank you gift. It's a collection of my dad's last year of teaching in the pulpit, and it's called Becoming an Excellent Steward. The family just finished up edits and now it will be going to print. We wanted to make sure it truly captured his voice, and it came out beautifully.
I spent my dad's birthday weekend reading the entire book, and it feels like a book of his best biblical life advice, so I know it will bless you. You can make a donation and request the book by visiting pastorpaul.net. Thank you so much for standing with us and keeping this mighty man of God's teaching legacy alive. God bless you. Thank you, Alicia.
The hardcover book is titled Becoming an Excellent Steward, a collection of the final messages that Pastor Paul preached before God called him home. It's available today as our thank you for your best gift of $25 or more. Your gift will help us through the current financial deficit and keep pastors teaching right here on this station. And remember, whatever you give before midnight this Wednesday is tax deductible for 2025. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500.
That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorPaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, post office box 1767, Fremont, California, 94538.
Some of your blessings are on reserve until you give somebody else their blessing. And I don't know about you, but I don't need any of mine held up. I need everything God's got for me. Therefore, I'm very anxious to give it away so that I'm empty, Lord. I've given all the gift you gave me.
Now, hook a brother up. God's got something for you too, but he may want you to give something away first. Hello, and thanks for stopping by for today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepard.
Well, if you've walked with God long enough, you know He sometimes blesses you for no reason at all, but many of His blessings, like many of His promises, are conditional. They require you to do something before he returns the favor. Today you'll see that the same principle applies when it comes to the use of our spiritual gifts.
So now let's listen closely to Pastor Paul's Destined for Victory message: Unwrap your gifts and give them away. We're in the section of Paul's letter where he is answering questions that have been sent to him. by the church at Corinth. And he is currently addressing some of their questions as it relates. to corporate worship.
What is to happen when we come together? As members of the family of God in settings of worship and ministry. And so we are looking at some guidelines for effective corporate. Worship. We have seen that we are To demonstrate love and compassion for others, toward others, as we worship.
The Lord together. We have seen that we are to also walk in humility and submission as we worship together. And last time we began looking at This matter of unwrapping our spiritual gifts and giving them away. The third guideline is to unwrap your spiritual gifts and give them away.
Now when it comes to spiritual gifts, these are not gifts we receive, but that these are gifts we are used of God to give.
Now here's the good thing. While you are giving to the needs of others, as God would have you do that through the expression of your gifts, God will see to it that your needs are met as well. But you have to shift your focus. Usually, when we think of gifts, we think of what we get. But when you come to this passage, Paul's trying to help us understand: no, God hasn't gifted us in the sense of receiving, He has gifted us in the sense of giving.
He has equipped us so that we can unwrap gifts that He has placed in us and then give them away. And the most blessed person is the person who does the best job of giving gifts away. And so, we want to look at what it means to unwrap our spiritual gifts and give them away.
Now, there are a number of points you find here in chapter 12. And let me give them to you. A. The Holy Spirit is not mute. He wants to speak to us and through us.
We talked about that last time. That the Holy Spirit has things to say. The reason why He has gifted the body of Christ is because He is active in our lives today. And I want to let you know that God's going to be speaking to you and he wants to speak through you throughout your Christian experience. Christianity is not a religion at its core.
It's a relationship with a living God. That living God has things he wants to say to you and things he wants to say through you. And not all the things he'll say to you are in the privacy of your devotional time.
Sometimes he'll speak to you through other members of the body of Christ. How many have ever had God speak to you through someone else? It happens regularly when we exercise our spiritual gifts. There are speaking gifts. Encouragement is a speaking gift.
And what I'm doing here, teaching the word, is a speaking gift. There are a variety of speaking gifts, and God has things to say to you.
Sometimes someone will call you and say, You know what? God put you on my heart. This morning I was praying, and He gave me a word for you. And that's an example of unwrapping a gift and giving it away. And you can't sit on it and be blessed.
When God puts His word in your mouth, you've got to give it away. In fact, some of us know that some of your blessings are on reserve until you give somebody else their blessings. And I don't know about you, but I don't need any of mine held up. I need everything God's got for me. Therefore, I'm very anxious to give it away so that I'm empty.
Lord, I've given all the gift you gave me.
Now, hook a brother up. The Holy Spirit is not mute. He wants to speak to us and through us. Spiritual gifts are designed to glorify Christ and bless others. That's verses 4 through 7, which we covered the last time out.
You can know God is at work through spiritual gifts because two things will happen: they'll glorify Christ and they will bless other people. Gifts are always designed to give God the glory and give the blessing to some individual. See, There are a variety of spiritual gifts. He lists nine of them in verses eight through ten, and he lists an additional five of them in verse twenty-eight of 1 Corinthians 12.
So in this chapter, he lists some 14 gifts and callings in the body of Christ. Then if you go to Romans 12 and Ephesians 4, you'll find some other gifts and callings that are listed in the body of Christ. I personally believe that the Bible does not intend to be exhaustive in giving us the list of spiritual gifts. I believe if you walk with God, you'll see him use you in a variety of ways. And so it is less about saying there are, some folks say there are nine spiritual gifts.
Some say there are 14.
Some say there are 20 spiritual gifts. Listen, I don't think we know the number. Here's what I tell you to do. Say, God, I want you to use me, and then wait and see what he does. And if you can't find it in a list anywhere, if it's glorifying Christ and blessing others, it's a gift God gave you to give away.
So, there are a variety of gifts. Don't expect your gift to look like somebody else's. If you want to be used of God, quit looking at other folk and saying, I want to be just like them. I thought you wanted to be like Jesus. If you want to be like Jesus, what you'll do is learn from the models that God gives you, but let God use you in your own unique way.
Don't try to preach like me. If God gave you a preaching gift, find out the way He'll use you. And do it for his glory. Don't try to pray like somebody else. Pray the intercessory prayers God gave you to pray.
And so, when you will get comfortable in your own skin, in your own calling, you'll find God using you greatest. God told me when I came out here to California 17 years ago, I'm going to call you to be a teacher of my word. I had spent my years preaching in a different style that I was very accustomed to, but God said, I am going to give you a different style of communicating my word and teaching my word. And so I had to let God change my style to suit my calling. Because God knows exactly how He wants to use every individual.
And you got to be comfortable with you because you know what? You are the best you in the world. Best you in the world. And let me tell you something else. You are a lousy me.
You're a lousy me, but you are a great you. I am a great me, but I'm a lousy you. All of us have to get good at letting God use us. When David decided I'm the only one that wants to fight Goliath, there was no other choice because everybody else knows, I'm not going out there. He went to Saul and said, I'm going to, I need your blessing to go fight this giant that's defying the whole army of Israel.
And Saul said, Well, all right, I guess I'll let you go. Nobody else wants to go. Here, put on my armor. And he looked silly in Saul's armor. And guess what?
He'd have been a dead David. In Saul's armor. Because That's not his calling. And he wisely said, I cannot go in these. I can't do this.
He's taking that stuff off. He said, all I need is my slingshot. God has anointed me with this sling in my hand. While I was tending my daddy's sheep, I killed a lion and I killed a bear. Only thing he didn't kill for the Wizard of Oz song was a tiger.
Y'all remember that song? Oh man, the Wizard of Oz has some songs. Just about anointed. I think it's just about anointed. One of my favorite movies of all time.
And will you know that part where they're walking through that forest? And they start lions and tigers. And bears. There you go. And David said, I killed a lion and I killed a bear.
If a tiger had come out here, I'd have killed him too. Because I have the anointing of God on my life, but the way He uses me is with my sling. Don't put your armor on me, release me to use my sling. And he killed Goliath by the power of God.
So there are a variety of gifts. Let God use you. Be comfortable with who. You are. The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ears are open to their cry.
That's Psalm 34:15, and this is Destined for Victory, featuring Pastor Paul Shepherd. And stay with us, the second half of today's message is coming right up. If you missed the important message at the beginning of this broadcast about the financial deficit that this ministry is currently experiencing, please visit pastorpaul.net for more information and to find out how you can help. When you give today, we have a special gift reserved for you. Again, the details are available at pastorpaul.net or by calling us at 855-339-5500.
Well, Jesus said, if you want to find your life, give your life away.
Now, let's get you back to the rest of today's Destined for Victory message: unwrap your gifts and give them away. D, under unwrapping your gifts and giving them away. We need each other and we always will. We need each other and we always will. Look at what Paul has to say here, beginning in verse 11 of 1 Corinthians 12.
He said, All of the gifts. Operate by the same Spirit who gives them to each one just as He determines. That's why you don't want to hate when you see somebody being used of God, because God chose to use them that way. Why get mad at someone God is using? See, in fact, if you see an anointing on someone that you covet, bless them, honor them, thank God for them, rejoice with them, don't get mad at them.
You want God to bless you in a way He's blessing someone else? It's all right to covet another gift for the kingdom of God to say, Lord, I wish you would use me like that. I'd love to glorify you in that way. Nothing wrong with coveting the best gifts. We'll learn that a little later on.
But you've got to do it understanding that it is God who determines how He wants to use us. And so he said, God Determines the giftedness.
Now, read on. The body is a unit, verse 12, made up of many parts. Through all of its parts. Though all of us are many, we form one body.
So, you've got to understand, we are the body of Christ, the body of Christ. Intentionally has many different parts, but all of the parts need each other. If you saw a thumb running around, By itself. That wouldn't be pretty. And it wouldn't make any sense.
What is a disconnected thumb gonna do? Can't do anything but scare everybody.
So Paul goes on to explain that we need each other and we always will. In other words, don't think that you are going to outgrow your need for the body at some point. If I keep on growing in the Lord, I keep on getting strong in the Lord like I am, at Dua, I won't need none of y'all. Not true. Not true.
We will always be Interdependent. We will always need one another. Doesn't matter how spiritually mature you are, doesn't matter how long you've walked with God. You never get to a place where you don't need the body. Because an eye never gets to the place where it functions apart from the body it's connected to.
And so, when you get this understanding, it'll bless your life and bless your ministry. That we need each other and we always will. And he gives some very practical examples. He says, You've got to understand: if all of us were a particular body part, we would miss many dimensions in ministry. If all of us were seers in the body of Christ, no one would hear from God what we need to hear.
If all of us were hearing from God, but not doing anything about what we heard, and being the hands of the body, you could hear it, but you couldn't do anything about what you heard.
So, what does God do? He puts seers, he puts hearers, he puts hands and fingers, he puts feet, people who move toward action. He puts all of us in the body and he causes us to work together. Which is why we have seen from the very beginning of our study here in 1 Corinthians that God hates division. God hates division because he cannot accomplish his work through a divided church.
The body should not fight each other. The members of the body can't get it done if, imagine your hand warring against your foot. And you have to keep them separated 'cause they hate each other. And your hand's always trying. As soon as he's not looking, I'm going to grab him.
Sick of you make me sick. And the foot says, give me a chance, I'm gonna kick him. Isn't that silly?
Well, we look silly. To God, to the angels. We look silly to the devil. When we fight each other. The devil said, look at that.
They're doing my work for me. I'm fighting against them and now they're fighting each other. Oh, brothers and sisters, I pray that this will be a time in your life when you make up your mind, I will not. Fight believers. I will I don't care where we differ.
I don't care if our differences are doctrinal. I don't care if they're personality-driven. I don't care if they are socio-economic, cultural differences. I don't care what the difference is. I will not.
Fight believers. I don't care what political party they're from. I don't care what their views are about non-essentials. I do not. Fight my brothers and sisters.
I don't understand them all the time. But I won't fight them. Because we have a common enemy. Satan is our common enemy. And division is not to be named among us.
So we work through our differences one of the biblical ways. We reconcile if we can have a meeting of minds and hearts. If we disagree like Paul and Barnabas, then we decide what to do about our disagreement. But we make sure we are unified in our hearts, even when we go our separate ways to accomplish what we can't do together. We find a greater point of agreement.
Because I will not fight my brothers and sisters. I put up with their stuff, they get on my nerves. See, this is a family. And in the family, you don't expect to get along with everybody in your family, at least, not the same way. Look at your natural family.
Whenever the holidays approach, some of y'all have to go on a fast. In preparation for a family gathering. Oh, Thanksgiving coming up next month. Oh, let me start now. Getting my fasting time in.
But you're still family.
Some of y'all's families fight for sport. You just that's just your way of having fun It is to get together and fight. Let me tell you something. The body of Christ can't afford that kind of nonsense. The stakes are too high.
Spiritual warfare is too real. We are wrestling not against flesh and blood. I'm not wrestling against you. We're wrestling against principalities. Powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places.
This stuff is real. The devil hates you. He is out after you. He doesn't want God to use you and bless you and grow you up. And he's fighting us.
And he's not playing with toy weapons. He's got weapons of mass destruction. And he wants to wipe us out. And when we walk in division, we help his cause, not ours.
So we need each other. We always will. The body parts have no business fighting one another. He says, God sees to it that your natural body works together, not apart. That each part has significance.
And I want to let you know, my brother, my sister, you have significance. If you never get on a stage, if your name is not heard by many people, don't think you are insignificant. Every body part. is important. One of the gifts he mentions in verse 28 is a gift of helps.
If you have a gift of helps. Do you understand that not much would get done by the visionaries? People like myself in the body of Christ who are well known and teach the word, and people are like, oh, oh, Pastor Paul, oh, yeah, I love him, all over the country. If there weren't people on our staff, both the radio ministry staff and the church staff, with gifts of help who did what it took to undergird, to make things happen, I would never get the opportunity to exercise my gift. You gotta have all the parts working together.
See, some folks are the leaders. The apostles, prophets, evangelists. Everybody knows them. Oh, but there are people with gifts of administration. Who makes it happen?
Because you know how these visionaries got the vision.
Now, when you had a meeting for what to do about it, they get quiet. They can cast a vision now. They can hear from God. But you need some folk to say, yes, I believe that's God.
Now here's what we need to do. Step one, step two, and we need to fill in all these blanks. You need detail-oriented people. And God puts them in the body.
Now detail-oriented people try to be visionaries, it doesn't work. They need somebody to give them, what is God saying? What's the big picture here? And so some folks exercise their gift. God gives them the big picture.
Other folks take the big picture and say, yes, that's God.
Now here's what we need to do to execute. And we work together. Enter Independence. Not competition. Not why you always caring to me.
And Enter Defendants. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's Destined for Victory message. Unwrap your gifts and give them away. Remember, we have a special gift reserved for you when you make your generous year-end gift, which helps Destin for Victory through the current financial deficit and keeps Pastor Paul's teaching on this station. More details are available at Pastor Paul dot net.
That's pastorpaul.net. Or you can make your best year-end gift now by calling 855-339-5500. 855-339-5500. The Bible says you need other members of the body. You need them to pray for you.
You need them to watch with you. You need them to love you. You need them to correct you. You need them to strengthen you. We need each other, and we always will.
That's next time in our Destined for Victory message: Unwrap Your Gifts and Give Them Away. But until then, remember. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
