R366 God’s Gift to the Church Pt.1

We all could use some encouragement, and we'll find it together today in the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton, here on The Encouraging Word.

Today we begin a two-part series from Dr. Wilton, taking us to Ephesians chapter 1, with this message, God's gift to the Church. As we open that gift together in the Bible itself, know that we're here for you. We'd love to pray with you and for you anytime at 866-899-WORD.

Jot the number down, store it in your cell. We'd love to pray and encourage you, maybe connect you with some great resources. The number is 866-899-9673. And right now, many folks are still asking about the book from Dr. Wilton about Dr. Billy Graham. Yes, you can see a peek of it on our website at www.tewonline.org, and order your copy today.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now today's message from Dr. Don Wilton. Would you be kind enough to take a copy of God's Word and turn with us to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians chapter 4. And while you're turning there, I want to say something to you as a congregation, as your pastor. I want to say thank you to you. We need to do a whole study in this area of giftedness, God's gifts to his church. But as we begin this study today, and as I stand here with great joy and say we have every reason to be glad, because God has brought together such a special group of people into this body of Christ. As your pastor, I want to say thank you to you. You know folks, many times we pray and we ask God to do something for us, and then when God does it, we don't say thank you. We assume that we say thank you. We assume that we've told God what we feel, and we do that privately sometimes, but perhaps sometimes as a whole church we need to do it more often. Now folks, listen to me.

It's very significant in today's day and age. We know what we've got. We know how much we've got.

We understand the parameters. We only spend what God's people give, and God is blessing. You see, we're moving into a subject that talks about us, God's special gifts to his church. And so many times when we think of gifts, we think of giving. That's a part of it, but it's such a small little part of it. It's a tiny part of that. God talks about the fact that there is not one of us here today who is not gifted.

Did you know that? I'm so glad to tell you today that there's not one person in this sanctuary, not one person worshipping with us today who is not blessed with giftedness. Every one of you has special talents. Every one of us is gifted.

Every one. I know that there are some people who say, well, I don't do anything. I can't sing, and I don't do this, and I don't do that. The Bible says, no sir, no ma'am. There is not one child of God who is not gifted.

God has no giftless children. I want us to read about it first of all, Ephesians chapter 4. I want to read the first 16 verses again because we need to place this in context. As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope, when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all, through all and in all. But to each one of us, here it is, every one of us individually, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

How's this possible? He earned the right. That's what verse 8 and 9 tells us. This is why it says, when he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to his men. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions?

He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. Listen to verse 11. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers. What for? In order to prepare God's people for works of service.

Why? So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God who became mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then what is the result of all of this? We will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ.

From him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. God has no giftless children. You, dear friend, are a special gift to God's church.

Did you know that? Now I want you to keep your finger in Ephesians. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 1. Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.

I want you to know about these things. You know that when you were pagans, when you didn't know me, somehow or another you were influenced and led astray by mute idols. Therefore, I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus be cursed.

Now if I could just pause there, can I pause there just for a moment? This is just something else. I'm convinced that not only talking about the gifts of the Spirit, but that passage is saying something about people who blaspheme.

I'm convinced of it. People who use the name of Jesus Christ as a cuss word, you hear it on movies, you hear it at football games, you hear coaches use it. All the time, everywhere you go, people use the name of Jesus Christ or God as a cuss word.

Listen to what the Bible says. No one speaking by the Spirit of God can say, Jesus be cursed. And no one on the other side can say, Jesus is Lord, accepting by the Holy Spirit. Accepting the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God enters into the believer and it is the Spirit of God who causes us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord. Now look at verse four, there are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one, the manifestation or the outpouring or the outworking of the Spirit is given for what?

For the common good of the body of Christ so that everyone might benefit. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between the spirits. That is the spirit of discernment.

We're going to talk about that. To another speaking in different kinds of tongues and to another the interpretation of tongues. All of these are the work of one and the same Spirit. And he, that is God, gives them to each one just as he determines. Now go back to Ephesians chapter four and verse seven before we lose that thought.

But to each one grace is given to us by Christ as he determines or as he apportions it. This is a big subject. How is it possible for a church to function the way God wants her to function? Just think about it. I know that school teachers will readily agree with me because school teachers and educators are constantly confronted by different people.

A classroom scene is a mass of individuals. It's no different in the church. That's why there is so wonderful being a pastor. We ministers are in the same sense. We minister. God allows us to minister to a whole group of different people. You would be amazed the different opinions we have in this congregation. If I wanted to do the silliest thing that I could ever do, send out a survey to First Baptist Church and simply say, what would you like to do or what would you like to see or how would you like it to be done? We could write a couple of volumes, I should imagine.

That could be added to our new library down here. Why? Because we all are different. We're individuals. How is it possible, according to what Paul is saying, for there to be one body?

How can there be one body? I prayed earlier on that I've been to some beautiful weddings. Weddings are wonderful things, but you know what happens in weddings, folk? You get two different people, individual people coming together by God's grace. You can go and talk to the average wife today and she will tell you with all the love in her heart, it's amazing what she has to put up with. Well, wives do.

They put up with a lot, not just because their wives and their husbands are husbands, not just because of the male hormones and the female hormones. They're just two different people. They approach life differently and yet it's so remarkable that many people say, the longer you're married, the more you begin to look like each other.

Just think about it. We've got some folks in our congregation who look like identical twins. They've been married for 50 years or so and they do things the same way. They understand each other. Paul is saying here that when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus does something. He brings together a group of people so diverse, so completely different, with all the ups and downs, the good and the bad, all the things we like and we don't like, and he enables them. The key word here is this. He enables them.

We're going to be looking at this. He does it in two ways. He does it by grace and he does it through enabling faith. The Bible tells us he enables the body of believers to come together for the common good. It's a most wonderful picture that the apostle portrays for us here in this particular passage of Scripture. He talks about the complementary nature of God's people, complementary with an E, that we all complement one another.

Now folk, listen very carefully. What that means is simply this. If you are married today, it means that if you have a gift of business administration in your marriage and you are not handling the business affairs of your home, you are letting your home down.

You are weakening the fabric of your home unit. In a football team as there is in basketball, in a soccer team, in a tennis team, in any kind of athletic encounter that you have, all the members of that team have to play their part for the part they are designated to play. Now please forgive me because I've never played football before, but I love it. I coached rugby and the principles are the same, but I know enough about football to know that if one of those players doesn't do what he is supposed to do, he is going to be at least partly responsible for the opposition scoring a touchdown.

The gaps that appear in the line when someone doesn't block where they're supposed to block. And so it is in the body of Christ. We're going to discover here, beloved friends, that the Apostle Paul encourages and admonishes his church to pull together as the body of Christ and he looks out across the body of Christ and he says, my friend, what are you gifted in? And if you are gifted in whatever it is you're gifted in, why are you not exercising your giftedness? You're letting the body down. You're letting the Lord Jesus down. You're not playing your part. For example, if I could use just one illustration, if you have a gift of music, may I ask you a question? Watch me.

Can I ask you a question? If you have a gift of music, if you've got a voice, even half a voice, why are you not in the choir? If you have a gift of teaching, you're able to teach others.

Others learn from you. Why are you not teaching in Sunday school this year? If you have a gift with finances, you don't have to be a banker or a CPA. Listen folks, I'll tell you one of the main reasons why the finances of this church are in such good shape. Do you know what it means for a pastor to stand up in front of his congregation and say we know what we've got, where we've got it, how much we've got it, exactly what we spend? Do you know what that means to a pastor, folks? Do you know what it means for a whole congregation to know exactly where their congregation stands? Do you know why we're able to say that? Because we've had an army of men and women who are gifted in finances who have given themselves morning, noon, and night to tend to the finances of this church. When the body of Christ begins to function as the body of Christ according to the glory of God, guess what happens? Please forgive the interruption.

We'll be back with the answer to that question about what happens as the body of Christ functions as it's been called to with Dr. Don Wilton in just a moment. But Dr. Don wants you to know, especially in this season, this summer season, we are earnestly praying for our nation. We have a wonderful resource called Free Indeed. Take a peek right now at our website, tewonline.org. We'll give you all the details at the end of the program, but right now you can take a look, tewonline.org. This message from the pastor and this resource of 31 Days of Prayer for Our Nation is a wonderful book that will help us grow in these guided prayer points of unity and focus on asking God to move in our nation.

Again, all the details are on our website at tewonline.org. Now let's head back to today's message, God's Gift to the Church from Dr. Don Wilton. The reason Steve Spurrier won the national title, my friends, was that he assembled together a group of men who said, we are going to play individually as one man. That's what he did. Didn't mean to say they didn't lose a game. It didn't mean to say that there weren't gaps in the defense. It didn't mean to say that there were touchdowns not scored against them. It meant, my friends, that they ended up winning the national title. And that's what the apostle Paul is saying.

Paul is saying, listen church, listen people, in today's day and age and in today's world, if you want to quote unquote, if you please win the national title, the body of Christ needs to be the body of Christ. Now listen, friend, if you don't have a gift in finances, let those who are gifted in finances handle it. But you may have a gift of hospitality. You may have a gift of helps. You may have a gift of healing. You may have a gift of teaching. You may have a gift of encouragement. Just to be able to go up, you may have a gift of the discernment of the Spirit. You know when something is of the Spirit of God and when it isn't. I received a letter from a lady in our church this week who's one of the most spiritful ladies in our church and it was one of the most beautiful letters and it was filled with good suggestions about our church and I sat down and I read it and I agreed with her in my heart and soul.

Do you know why? Because I believe this lady walks with the Lord. That's the body of Christ functioning together. Let me say a few things about this. Number one, there is diversity in unity in unity in diversity. There is diversity in unity. So many people when we talk about the body of Christ they think that there's no diversity in unity. Listen to me folks, the more unified we are the more diverse we become and the more diverse we become the more unified we are. You as the body of Christ please know at any time in any place at any moment you need to come and ask questions.

You need to give input. There's not one person in this congregation who ever needs to fear coming to me or to the deacons or to the administrator or to Steve Skinner or to the chairman of finances and saying, listen this is what God has laid on my heart. Could we do this this way or a little bit better that way? That is the most wonderful thing. It's not what you say, it's the spirit of Christ who lives in you that makes it so precious. That's the body of Christ. There is diversity in unity and there is unity in diversity. Number two, different talents and abilities in the church are intended for God's service in a united effort. Why do we all have these gifts? Because God intends them for service. Paul writing to the Romans in chapter 12 and verse 1 says, I beg of you that you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable under God.

Why? Because this is your reasonable worship or your reasonable service. Paul was just saying, wait a minute now folks, you're not saved to sit, you're saved to serve. If we want to know what the future holds for this church, beloved friends, it is going to be determined by the activity of God's people who are responding to the voice of God within the context of the giftedness that God has given to you. You could do so much and you are doing so much. I hope you're hearing me saying, folks, that God has blessed.

I have to thank you for this. I am not prepared to move on into 1997 unless it is clearly stated God's people were faithful. I look around, I see K groups, Koinonia homes, fellowship groups everywhere. I see master life being taught in the homes, experiencing God. I see people giving of themselves in our kitchen. I see the helping centre, those who are preparing bicycles, cleaning up the sanctuary and those who make everything ready, the people who work from Ladies First Thursday to missions. We've got a church that is active and on the march, but I'm going to say to you friends, let's understand where the root of all this lies. It is in the heartbeat of God's word. Number three, the manifestations of God's grace through gifts are as diverse as human personalities.

I've said that. Our gifts are as diverse as human personalities, but that's why we come together. There are many things I cannot do. By the way, that's what your church staff is here for, folks.

I don't have time to get into that. I might pick up on it next week, but every one of us is here for a purpose. Every one of us can't do everything. That's why we have a youth minister, and that's why we have an administrator, and that's why we have a business manager, and that's why we have a single adult minister, and we could just go on and on down the road. It's the microcosm of the macrocosm. It's what we're called to do.

God is speaking, and God is blessing His people. That's why we have deacons, and that's why we have committees, and that's why we have assignments, and that's why we have some people who can give a whole lot and some people who can give just a little bit, but you know, God blesses whether it's $1 or whether it's a million dollars if you and I are giving and doing according to what God has given us. That's the bottom line.

That's the bottom line. I'll tell you in that $505,000 that was cash gifts this year. I'll guarantee you there are some people who gave $10, and there are some people who gave $60,000. Which one is more blessed in the eyes of God?

Both of them are. According to the gifts, God has raised up businessmen and said, I can trust you with money, sir. He's given it to you. He's given other people gifts in so many other areas, and when we come together, He blesses us. Number four, God's grace enables us. Verse seven, how do we bring all this together?

God enables us. Number five, exact proportions are given to us. Exact, according to what we need. Exact right amount. Isn't that wonderful?

Just exactly what we need. The Bible says that the enabling grace of God is measured out according to Christ's apportionment. What is your gift? What a powerful message from Dr. Wilton. God's gift to the church will continue tomorrow. There's much more to come as we study the book of Ephesians, especially in chapter four together with Dr. Wilton, but as we have been hearing this, as our pastor would say, as the Scriptures have been marinating in our own heart and our own soul, and God has been stirring our hearts to response, the response that you feel you need to make today. In my opinion and Dr. Wilton's opinion, that's more important. Every time we hear the Word of God, every time we read the Word of God, we should be changed. We should come away with a decision to do something differently. It could be a major decision.

It could be a minor adjustment. Either way, would you pray with me as we open the microphone to Dr. Wilton now for these next moments to talk about what we need to do next. Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you've prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. Welcome to the family of God. I know that some of you have made that decision to give your life to Christ or rededicate your life.

Others are making course corrections. Either way, we would love to pray with you and for you. Why don't you give us a call and let us pray with you at 866-899-WORD.

That's 866-899-9673. Or you can connect with us online at our website, tewonline.org. We can share those prayer requests and praise reports. We can also share great ministry resources like this. Our nation needs prayer more than ever. Our founding fathers understood that everything that we have and everything that we are is rooted in all that God is.

And without Him, we're on our own. God has a very serious message for America. This month, for your gift of any amount to the Encouraging Word broadcast ministry, you will receive Dr. Wilton's powerful message, Free Indeed, along with the bonus book, 31 Days of Prayer for My Nation. This resource set will provide encouragement now and for the days ahead. You will have a renewed focus on the promise and power of prayer and for your freedom as an American. Call us at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673 to request Free Indeed and 31 Days of Prayer book. Thank you for supporting the Encouraging Word as we continue to proclaim the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ to a nation in desperate need of biblical truth. Our time's gone for today, but I hope you'll join us tomorrow for more of God's gift for the church, a powerful message from the book of Ephesians with our pastor and chief encourager, Dr. Don Wilton, on the next edition of The Encouraging Word.