Faithful in Ministry | Part 1

Why has God gifted us? Give your gift and minister here in the body.

Many of us don't understand how to use them. In order to be faithful in ministry, we must identify and develop our spiritual gifts. If you have your Bible, turn now to Ephesians chapter 4 and look at verse 7 as Adrian Rogers reveals the importance of being faithful in ministry. By Ephesians chapter 4, many believe that Charles Spurgeon, outside the apostle Paul, was the greatest preacher who ever lived. Spurgeon told a story, a very interesting story. He told of a woman that had been a member of his congregation who was very poor. And she lived in the poor house, what they call the poor house in those days. And Spurgeon went to visit her to give her some comfort and some help. And when he was there in her room, he looked up on the wall and there he saw framed a certificate, a piece of paper, sort of a legal document.

And so he went over and read it. And what it was was a document transferring great wealth to this woman. She didn't know what it was. She had framed it and put it on her wall. What had happened is this, that she had served as a nurse and had taken care of an elderly man. And when he died, he left her his estate. She didn't know what it was. She was untaught, unlearned.

When finally the bank learned about it, they said, we wondered who the old gentleman left his estate to. Now, may I say this, that when the Lord Jesus Christ descended to heaven, He left you an incredible giftedness. It may be that you have not yet discovered what you have in the Lord Jesus. I want to talk to you today about your spiritual gift. Could it be that you have it framed as a motto on the wall rather than having carried it to the bank to cash it and use it?

Or could it be that you have left your gift under the tree wrapped and unopened and therefore unappreciated? Let me tell you something. When God saved you, God saved you by His grace. But God did not save you to sit, soak and sour. God saved you to serve and you are saved by grace and you serve by grace and you are a gifted child. Now, look in God's Word, Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 7. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now, if you don't mind marking your Bible, would you underscore for me every one? Now, did that include you? Well, indeed it did if you're a child of God. Are you part of every one?

Of course you are. Now, God has given to you, precious friend, a spiritual gift. But unto every one of us is given grace. Do you see the word grace?

It's the Greek word charos. It's the word that we get our word charismatic from. You have a charismatic gift. Did you know that you're a charismatic person? You say, I'm not charismatic. Well, don't think by charismatic that we mean somebody who has a ready smile, a firm handshake and verbal ability. We say, well, that man is charismatic.

He'd make a good politician. That's a corruption of the word charismatic. The word charismatic merely means a person who has been gifted by grace. To every one of us is given grace, charos, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. You are a gifted child. But you may be like that poor woman who does not understand what the gift that you have is, and you don't know how to use it. So we're going to be looking today at how you can discover and develop and deploy your spiritual gift and minister here in the body.

Now, there are about four things I want you to see very quickly this morning, and the very first thing is how the gifts are delivered, the gifts delivered. Verse 7, but unto every one of us is given, underscore the word given, given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Now, God has given you a grace gift. Therefore, do not insult God by saying God cannot use you. In the church there can be no inferiority.

There can be no superiority. We are what we are by the gift of God. Now, what is a charismatic gift? Remember that every one of us has a charismatic gift. Every one of us has a charismatic gift. What is a charismatic gift?

Here's the definition. A grace gift, a charismatic gift is a God-given ability for service and ministry. Got it?

Got it. A God-given gift for service and ministry, a God-given spiritual ability for service and ministry. Now, it goes beyond natural talent. Talent is natural. Spiritual gifts are supernatural.

They're supernatural in source, supernatural in nature, and supernatural in purpose. Now, you do not choose your spiritual gift any more than you could choose your natural gifts. You can develop your natural talents, but you don't choose them any more than you could choose the color of your eyes or the color of your skin. You get that genetically by your first birth, and your talents are encoded in you genetically by your first birth. Your spiritual gift is given to you at your new birth, and as your natural talents are natural, your spiritual gift is supernatural. Now, how did you get this gift?

Well, it is the gift of your ascended Lord. Look, if you will, in verse 8, wherefore he saith, when he ascended upon high. Who is that talking about? Jesus.

He led captivity captive. Who is that talking about? The devil. And gave gifts unto men. Who is that talking about?

You. Now, he that ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He that descended is the same also that hath ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things.

Now, here's what happened. The Lord Jesus descended. He came to this earth, lived a perfect life, suffered, bled, and died on the cross, was buried and rose again.

When Jesus Christ died on that cross for us, went with his blood, he purchased our salvation. At the same time, he broke Satan's back. Satan's kingdom came crashing down, and Satan and his malevolent forces were crushed by Calvary. And so the Lord Jesus Christ, by his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, led captivity captive. Satan had taken the world captive, but Jesus took Satan captive.

He led captivity captive. Now, what the Apostle Paul is talking about here is a Roman triumph. When a Roman general would go off and fight the war for Rome, if he won the battle, he would come back to the city of Rome for a parade called the triumph. And in the triumph, the Roman general would come. The air would be filled with incense and perfume. He would be riding upon his white horse. There would be a parade.

The priest would be there swinging incense and perfume. And the people would be there giving their praises to this general. Behind this general would come the conquered kings and generals behind him. They would have been stripped naked, absolutely naked. They would be chained to the conquering general's chariot wheels. And they would be being dragged along. The people would be praising the conquering general. They would be jeering and mocking these who had been stripped and shamed and subdued, their power gone, their pride laid in the dust. And then behind them would come servants bearing all of the spoils of the battle, the riches that have been conquered. They have been brought back to Rome to be given to the people of Rome.

Now that's the picture that Paul is talking about here. The Lord Jesus ascended up on high. He led captivity captive. Satan's kingdom is ruined and the spoils of the battle are given to us. And the spoils of the battle, that is our grace gift to serve our great King. So never despise or overlook your great gift.

It is a spiritual gift from our conqueror, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the second thing I want us to think about, not only the gifts as they are delivered, but the gifts as they are described, what are these gifts? I would like for you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.

Would you please just turn to that? You turn left, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. We'll find a list of gifts. And then in Romans chapter 12, we'll find another list. I want you to listen very carefully because you're going to hear your name called in one of these gifts.

You're going to discover one or more of these have been your spiritual gift, I believe. Now I begin in verse 4, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 4. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. Now it's the Holy Spirit who gives different gifts to the church. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. That is, everything is not always done the same way, but it's the Lord who's doing it. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all.

Now what does that mean? In plain English, it means that God gave you a spiritual gift not for your own enjoyment, but for your employment. Your spiritual gift is to bless the church, not to bless you.

It is a tool, not a toy. And then he says in verse 8, for by one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom. Now what is the word of wisdom? That is supernatural insight into the mind of God. He's not talking here about common sense.

He's talking about uncommon sense. People who have a word of wisdom make wonderful counselors. To another, the word of knowledge. This differs from wisdom in that it is the supernatural ability of the Spirit to know the things of God and apply the things of God. Knowledge puts wisdom to practical use. And there are people who have the gift of wisdom. Some will have the gift of knowledge.

Some have these gifts combined, and they make wonderful, wonderful leaders and counselors. Verse 9, to another, faith by the same Spirit. Now all believers have faith, or they could not be called a believer. You could not be saved without faith, but they have a supernatural gift of faith that's described in the next chapter as mountain-moving faith.

Thank God for these kind of people. And then another, gifts of healing by the same Spirit. In the Greek language, this is literally plural. Gifts of healings. There's healings for the body, soul, and mind. Physical healing, psychological healing, spiritual healing, healing for the Spirit. And I believe in the gift of healing. I believe in this gift, and I am grateful for the gifts of healing. And then he says to another, the working of miracles. Pastor Rogers, is the age of miracles past? Absolutely not. Well, do individuals have power to work miracles?

According to this, I believe that they do. I don't think that is my gift. As a matter of fact, I'm quite certain that it is not my gift. But I am grateful for any who may have the gift to perform miracles. I believe that Satan also has miraculous power, so we need to be very, very careful. I also remind you that the gifts of healing generally came in clusters in the Bible.

They were not normal in everyday Bible life. But we cannot deny that God is a God of might and miracle. To another, prophecy. The word prophecy means the ability to foretell and forthtell. Primarily not to foretell the future, but primarily to tell forth the will of God in a particular matter.

Now, we don't have to guess about what the gift of prophecy is because he says over here in the 14th chapter in verse 3, But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification. What does edification mean? That means to build people up.

And edifice is a building. And exhortation. What is exhortation? That is to encourage, to fire people up, to exhort, to cheer, and then to comfort.

What does comfort mean? That means to hold up and shore up people. A prophet is somebody who builds up, fires up, and shores up the people of God. The 14th chapter of 1 Corinthians is given over to tell us how important the gift of prophecy is.

Every church ought to pray that God will give prophets to the church, spokesmen who can speak for God. Maybe that is your gift, the gift of prophecy. And maybe God uses you to speak God's word to another, the discerning of spirits.

Now, what does that mean? There are a lot of wild and wicked spirits in the world today. The apostle John says, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test or try the spirits whether they be of God.

There's a lot of spiritual wickedness as well as spiritual righteousness in the world today. I was on the airplane and I generally pray for those that I'm going to sit by and try to witness to them. A lady got on, sat by me, and I prayed, Oh God, help me to find a way to talk to this woman about you. She pulled out a book and began to read the book. And the book was about angels. And so, I'm looking over and kind of with my eyes eavesdropping on her reading. And I'm trying to find out what she's reading. And I see the book, it's just full of New Age era.

And there's nothing in there based on the Bible or the Word of God. I said to this woman, tell me about angels. Oh, she said, well angels are wonderful. She said, they're all around. And she said, they guide me.

I said, they do? She said, yes, they speak to me. I said, oh.

She said, and I speak to them and I pray to them. I said, well, that's interesting. I said, what is that book based on? She said, what do you mean? I said, what is the authority of that book?

How do you know that book is true? Well, she said, the angels speak to me. I said, did you know, lady, that the Bible says that Satan can be transformed as an angel of light?

She looked at me like I'd shot her. And then I began to share with her the Lord Jesus Christ. And to shorten the story, I believe she was gloriously saved right there on that airplane as she prayed and asked Christ into her heart as her personal Lord and Savior and said to me, Mr. God put you on this airplane beside me.

I've written her to give her some material to help her to grow in the Christian life. But here was a woman, I believe, making contact with demon spirits and believing that she was in contact with angels sent from God or whatever because she did not have the basis of God's word. And we in this day and age need the spirit to discern spirits to another diverse kinds of tongues. The word tongues here simply means languages, the ability to speak a language that you have never learned in school to praise God. Tongues are not assigned to God's people. Tongues are not assigned to believers but to unbelievers. Now, tongues are not primarily a private prayer language. They are a tool of witnessing primarily to unsaved Jews.

How would the gift of tongues work today? Well, suppose in this particular service a busload of Russian tourists were to stop out here. And let's suppose that they're Jewish and they've never heard the Gospel. They don't know English, or maybe they do know English, but I don't know Russian.

They come and sit in this section right here and God gives me supernaturally the charismatic gift of tongues. And I begin to praise God in fluent Russian. And they hear in the language where they were born. They say, how does that man know Russian? I don't know Russian. God has supernaturally gifted me to speak to them in Russian. But most of you don't know Russian, so when I'm speaking in English the Russians are not understanding. When I'm speaking in Russian you're not understanding. So, if God gives me the gift of tongues so I can praise God in their language, He has to give somebody else the gift of interpretation so you can understand what I'm saying when I'm speaking in Russian. So, continue to read in verse 10 to another interpretation of languages.

So, let's suppose that Brother Whitmire has the gift of interpretation. I am praising God to those Russians, saying that God is great and God is glorious. They're being convinced, especially if they're Russian Jews. Brother Whitmire says to the rest of us, what the pastor is saying is this and he interprets, having never learned Russian either, supernaturally the gift of tongues so that nobody is in the dark.

Remember what we said, that every gift is given to the entire body to profit with all. Nobody is to come in a service and sit there and say, I wonder what that meant. If he occupies the room of the unlearned and we're speaking in things he can't understand the Bible says he'll think we're crazy.

He'll think we've gone mad. Everybody is to understand the Word of God. Now, that is a gift of God. Now, you say, Pastor Rogers, I don't believe you mentioned my gift yet. Well, just turn to Romans chapter 12 and let's look at another gift right here.

And maybe you're in this list. And just turn left to Romans chapter 12 and I begin again in verse 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy.

Now, we've already mentioned that. But it may be that God's called you into preaching or jail services, missionary work to speak for God. Our ministry let us minister. Now, what is ministry? That's acts of service. We could just call that general church work. Our ushers today have the gift of ministry.

Our secretaries, typing, ushering, coaching. Oh, here's a wonderful gift of ministry, working in the nursery today. Many of you ought to do that. And many of you have been gifted of God to change diapers.

I'm serious. You say, well, God didn't give me, God didn't give me any gifts. Why, if in the name of Jesus you can care for these little ones, you cannot even give a cup of cold water to one of these little babies in the name of the disciple and lose your reward.

This is a gift that is so greatly needed. He mentions ministry, and then He mentions teaching. People who have been, first of all, taught and anointed and gifted of God to teach the Bible, that's the spiritual gift of teaching, maybe in missionary organization. Maybe you don't teach a class, but you're a mother, and God anoints you to teach your children supernaturally. Then He mentions the gift of exhortation. What is the gift of exhortation?

Those people who do visitation, those people who do counseling that encourages. Many times they have the gift of exhortation. Is that your ability just to cheer people on?

Maybe you just have the ability to exhort your pastor and encourage me. I need it. I heard about a little boy who wanted to be in the school play. He had his heart set on it.

And his mother knew that he did not have the ability to be in that play, but she was afraid he'd be heartbroken if they didn't give him a part. When he came home, the mother asked him, how did it go? Did you get a part? Oh, he said, yes, I got a part. She said, what is it? He said, they gave me the job of clapping and cheering.

I like that. And he was so thrilled that that was his job, to clap and to cheer. That's the gift that God has given you. And it is a needful gift. In a church like this, the gift of exhortation. Then he mentions the gift of giving right there.

What is that? That's the ability, the supernatural ability to make and give money sacrificially and wisely. We have those. And then he mentions the gift of ruling. Those on our church staff, those who head committees, those in places of leadership, those who even coach teams.

Then he mentions the gift of mercy. These are people who do hospital visitation. These are those, again, who counsel.

These are those who go to the rest homes and so forth. The gifts described. And coming up on Monday, we'll hear part two of this important message, Faithful in Ministry. Maybe today you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, how to receive the forgiveness that he's freely offering you today. Go to our Discover Jesus page at lwf.org slash radio.

You'll find resources and materials that can answer questions you may have about your faith. Again, lwf.org slash radio and click Discover Jesus. Now, if you'd like a copy of today's message, you can order one by calling us at 1-877-LOVEGOD. Request the title, Faithful in Ministry. This message is also part of the Insightful Factors of Faithfulness series. For that complete collection, all seven powerful messages, call 877-LOVEGOD or go online to lwf.org slash radio.

Or you can write us to order at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183. Well, thanks for studying in God's word with us today. As you discover and develop your spiritual gift, remember these words from Adrian Rogers. God gave you a spiritual gift not for your own enjoyment, but for your employment. Your spiritual gift is to bless the church, not to bless you.

It is a tool, not a toy. And be sure to tune in Monday for the conclusion of Faithful in Ministry right here on Love Worth Finding. Hi, I'm Kerry Vaughn, CEO of Love Worth Finding with Adrian Rogers. I hope you and your family have enjoyed a beautiful Easter season. As we celebrate the most important event in history, here's the two-word question, now what? 2,000 years ago, Jesus gave us the answer in the Great Commission, go into all the world and proclaim the gospel. Friend, I want to ask you today to grasp the baton with Love Worth Finding, to run with all the strength the Lord gives us, and to extend the gospel together as far as we can reach.

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