Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast. To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes.
Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, God did not give these gifts to help the American Cancer Society, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Republican Convention run more smoothly, okay? He gave the gifts for the church.
These are given so that the church can run as God intended it to run and achieve its purpose. And that means the place for you to exercise your gift is the local church. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.
Have you ever wondered why certain activities in life come naturally to you while others feel like a real struggle? Well, the answer might lie in understanding your unique spiritual gift. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress examines the seven spiritual gifts outlined in Romans chapter 12 and helps identify which gift God has given to you. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Let me ask you a very personal question. As a Christian, as one who follows Jesus Christ and respects the Bible, do you ever find yourself feeling empty, as though your church is promised more than it delivers, like deep down something is missing? Well, I want you to satisfy your spiritual hunger, God's way. The key, I believe, is engaging the power and the presence of God's Holy Spirit. For this reason, I've written a best-selling book called I Want More. In my book, I'll show you how to access the divine power of the Holy Spirit and feel a renewed sense of God's presence in your life.
When we learn to draw upon the power of the Holy Spirit in our day-to-day activities, it's a game changer. So please get in touch with us today while there's still time. This special offer ends tomorrow. I want to send a copy of my book titled I Want More. It's yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. That's not all, because when you respond today, I'm also going to send you the Jesus map. This accordion-style brochure opens up to show you two colorful maps of the Holy Land from biblical times. Alongside the maps, you'll find a list of 52 key events from the life of Jesus displayed in chronological order and showing where they occurred.
So while there's still time, be sure to request your complimentary copy of the Jesus map by going to ptv.org. We'll repeat the details and give our contact information later in today's program, but right now let's give our complete attention to the important passage in Romans chapter 12 and Philippians chapter 2. I titled today's message Discovering and Using Your Spiritual Gift. Every Christian has been given a unique spiritual gift.
Just as when you were born, you were born with natural abilities. When you were born again into the kingdom of God, God gave you a spiritual gift. And we said last time that a spiritual gift is the desire and the power to fulfill God's purpose.
Philippians 2 13. It is God who is at work within you, giving you both the power and the desire to achieve his purpose. A spiritual gift is a desire in your heart to do something.
If you're operating in your gift area, it is something you enjoy doing. It is a desire that is planted in your heart, but it's also a unique empowerment of God. It's both a desire and a power. Secondly, we saw last time that real joy in life comes when we discover and use our gift. The word gift, charisma-ton, comes from the root word char, C-H-A-R, which means joy. When we are involved in exercising our gift, there is genuine joy in our life because we are connecting ourself with a purpose that is bigger than ourselves. Third, we saw that spiritual gifts can help perfect the body of Christ.
They help perfect the body of Christ. Not everybody has all of the gifts. The reason God has different people with different gifts is to help perfect the body of Christ. The fact is, the body of Christ needs all of the gifts being operated in order to run as it's supposed to run. But it's also true about us individually. No one person except Jesus Christ had all of the spiritual gifts.
And this is so key to understand. Just because a certain gift is your desire and your unique power, the fact is, God wants you to use all of the gifts. He wants us all to be serving. He wants us all to be giving. He wants us all to be able to speak a prophetic word. He wants us all to be able to help one another with personal problems. The fact is, we are to operate, we're to use all of the gifts. And so if I'm a person with the gift of prophecy, but I don't have very much mercy, guess whom God is gonna place in my life?
And maybe even have me marry. It's gonna be somebody with the gift of mercy, okay? It's the same way in the church. He puts us in a church in contact with people with different gifts than our own to make us more like Christ. Christ had all of the gifts. He wants us to exercise all of the gifts as well. And then finally, we said spiritual gifts can be divided into three categories. Turn back over to 1 Corinthians 12 for just a moment. People have asked, you know, why is it there are three different lists of spiritual gifts? Why are they not all mentioned in one place? Well, the fact is, Paul divides gifts into three categories in 1 Corinthians 12, four through six.
We've been studying this book all year. Notice in verse four, he says there are a variety of gifts, but the same spirit. There are a variety of ministries, but the same Lord.
There are a variety of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons. And last time, we looked at that chart that shows the three different categories of spiritual gifts. There are the gifts.
Romans 12 lists seven of them. This is the gift, the list of which you have one gift. And then there are ministries, opportunities for service through which to exercise your gift.
And then there are effects. That's what the Holy Spirit does in other people's lives when you exercise your spiritual gift. So when we talk about discovering your gift, we're talking about discovering which of those seven gifts in Romans chapter 12 is yours.
Remember 1 Peter 4, 10 says you only have one. There is one basic desire and empowerment you have as each one has received the gift, Peter said, singular. Now let's turn over to Romans chapter 12 and let's look at each of these seven gifts briefly. And what we're going to do is spend about four or five minutes on each one of these seven gifts. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you the name of the gift. I'm going to give you a definition of the gift. And then we're going to talk about some characteristics of the gift and also some dangers of the gift. As I said last time, I got this material from Don Crossland who used to be a member of our church.
He later gave this material to Bill Gothard who incorporated it as a part of his seminar. And I have found this to be probably the best explanation ever of spiritual gifts. Now let's start with the first gift that is mentioned in verse 6 of Romans 12. And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them accordingly if prophecy according to the proportion of our faith. The first gift Paul mentions is the gift of prophecy. The gift of prophecy is not foretelling the future, it is forthtelling the truth of God.
And here's the definition. The gift of prophecy is presenting God's truth to convict people of sin and their need for a right relationship with God. It is the desire, the power to present God's Word to convict people of sin and their need for a right relationship with God. When I think about the gift of prophecy, I think about the apostle Peter.
He had the gift of prophecy. Remember Acts chapter 2, he preached the great sermon at Pentecost. And in verses 37 to 38, it says, when the people heard Peter, they were pierced to their hearts. And they begin crying out and saying, what shall we do in order to be saved?
What should we do? And Peter said, repent and let each one of you be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins. Peter had the ability to present God's Word in such a powerful way that it convicted people of their need for a right relationship with God. Now, a person who has the gift of prophecy is somebody who's very persuasive usually. They have an ability to speak well. They're skilled in rhetoric. They are usually highly opinionated.
That is, to them, everything is black and white, right or wrong. And that's important for somebody who has a ministry of convicting other people. Some other characteristics I didn't put up there, but they tend, if they're going to minister, they tend to prefer ministering to groups of people rather than on a one-to-one basis with people. They have also a unique, an uncanny ability to see through people. They are able to get past the facade and understand people's real motivation.
And that's important. If God has given them the ministry of convicting people of sin, they need to be able to see through people. Now, there's some dangers to this gift, just as there are dangers with every gift, some abuses or misuses of the gift. A person with this gift has to be careful of being prideful of his speech, his ability to speak. He also needs to be careful about depending on his own speaking skills rather than on the Holy Spirit. He needs to be careful about being insensitive to other people's feelings.
Sometimes his directness can be at times harsh. That's the gift of prophecy. By the way, how many of you think you know somebody with a gift of prophecy? Raise your hand, okay? How many of you think that might be, might be a gift of yours? Would you raise your hand? Somebody would say, yeah, that may be a gift of mine.
Okay, good. That's the gift of prophecy. Now, the second gift that Paul mentions here in verse 7, he says, if your gift is service, do it in your serving. What is the gift of serving? It is meeting the practical needs of other people.
It's meeting practical needs. Now, classic, who would be a classic illustration of the Bible of that? Remember there were two sisters, love the Lord, Mary and Martha, and Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus, worshiping Jesus, and Martha got on her and said, get up and do something useful. Quit all that Bible study stuff and that worship stuff.
You need to do something practical. Well, that's a person with the gift of serving. They're interested in meeting the practical needs of other people.
Now, they're not as all as unspiritual as Martha was necessarily. They're very good people, but they want to do practical things. That is both their motivation, their desire, as well as their ability. Now, here's an interesting insight about the gift of serving. People with this gift don't need much public recognition, but they do desire appreciation.
They don't have to be applauded in public, but they do want to know that they're appreciated for what they've done. A person with this gift has the ability to detect needs, sometimes before the person they're ministering to even knows that they need a particular thing. They're the kind of people who detect when somebody is in need or may have a need. They also have the ability to overlook personal discomfort to meet other people's needs. They will overlook personal discomfort to meet other people's needs.
Now, here's some downsides to the gift. Again, a person with this gift needs to guard against becoming bitter when their serving is not appreciated. They also need to guard against an overemphasis on practical needs versus spiritual needs.
There's a balance there they need to maintain. They also have to be careful about judging others who don't have the gift of serving. Again, a classic example, Martha judging her sister Mary. Martha saying, why don't you do something practical instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus?
Why can't you be more like I am? That's a danger of the gift of serving. How many of you tonight can think immediately of somebody you know who has the gift of serving? Okay.
How many of you think that might be your gift tonight? Raise your hand. Okay. All right.
Very good. Third gift that Paul mentions here is a gift that's often misunderstood and that is the gift of teaching. Verse seven, he who teaches in his teaching. The gift of teaching is the desire and the ability to present and clarify biblical truth. Presenting and clarify biblical truth. A person who has this gift is extremely content oriented.
Okay. Now, don't confuse the ability to teach or the ministry of teaching with the gift of teaching. There are many of you who may be in the ministry of teaching a class, a Bible study, a small group, a Sunday school class, but your inward motivation may be serving, it may be giving, it may be prophecy, it may be exhortation. Every pastor has to have the ability to teach. In fact, in 1 Timothy 3, of all of the qualifications of the pastor, did you know there's only one skill the Bible says a pastor has to have? Only one skill.
All the rest of those lists are character qualities. The only skill, the only ability he has to have, Paul says, is the ability to teach. That is the ability to organize material to present it effectively. But that's not the spiritual gift of teaching. The spiritual gift of teaching is the desire to present and clarify biblical truth.
Let me explain it this way. A person with the gift of prophecy, that person is presenting biblical truth, but he does it in order to convict people of sin. Somebody with the gift of exhortation, we'll see in a minute, will present biblical truth to other people, but his or her motivation is to help them solve personal problems using scripture. But a person with the gift of teaching presents truth because he or she is convinced people need to know that truth, that doctrinal truth.
They think your spiritual life isn't complete until you know these facts, this truth. And that's the motivation of the gift of teaching. A person who has this gift, just to help you understand the gift, is somebody who enjoys research. They can sit for hours and just read commentaries and get lost in word studies.
And I mean, time passes and they don't even know it. A person with this gift tests knowledge, will test the knowledge of other people. He'll sit there and listen to this preacher or this teacher and the first thing they think of is, does this person know what they're talking about?
And they will always judge that person according to what they say. Now, here are some dangers to the gift. A person with the gift of teaching can concentrate on content to the exclusion of application. And they have to remember that transformation, spiritual transformation, not information, is the ultimate goal in teaching.
How does this truth make me more like Christ? And somebody with the gift of teaching needs to be careful that they apply that truth. Now, if you talk to somebody who has the gift of teaching, they'll say something like, oh, I don't have to apply that truth. Let the Holy Spirit apply that truth to their lives. That's a person with the gift of teaching. Or you could say, well, just let the Holy Spirit teach the lesson all together.
But God uses people to do that. Secondly, they need to be careful they don't become prideful of their knowledge. And also, sometimes a person with the gift of teaching can be inattentive to the response of their audience.
I mean, half their class can be snoring, asleep, and a person with the gift of teaching, they just go on and on and on because they want to deliver the information. Now, again, every church needs people, and the body of Christ needs people with the gift of teaching, an important gift in the body of Christ. Now, the gift of exhortation, Paul says in verse 8, are he who exhorts in his exhortation. Let's say you had a serious problem in your marriage or with one of your children.
To whom would you go? If you wanted a lecture, you'd go to a person with the gift of prophecy. If you wanted somebody to empathize with you and sympathize with you, you would go to somebody with the gift of mercy. But if you wanted some practical help, how do I solve this problem according to God's word, you would go to somebody with the gift of exhortation. The word exhort comes from a Greek word that means to come alongside. The Holy Spirit is called the paraclete, the one who comes alongside of us. An exhorter is one who comes alongside another Christian and helps them solve problems using God's word and applying it to their situation.
I was talking to June Hunt Friday about this series. I said, June, I'm using you as an example because you are the poster child for the gift of exhortation. In fact, the whole Hope for the Heart ministry is built around exhortation, taking the Scripture and applying it to individual problems. Now, a person who has this gift usually is gifted in counseling. They're effective in counseling one-on-one. Now, they may minister in groups or they may minister in one-on-one.
If they were given a choice many times, they might choose one-on-one, though not exclusively at all. Thirdly, they are interested in practical application. A person who has this gift is frustrated.
They just get frustrated with any teaching that is not applicable. Now, you know, I said last week Walter is a very organized person, which he is. Now, personally, I really think he's got the gift of exhortation. And one way I know it is that through the years whenever I've preached on prophecy or revelation, he goes to sleep. He has no interest at all in the end times. And he'll tell me he has no interest at all in the end times.
Well, why is that? Well, his gift is helping people right now, helping them work through their problems right now. And that is typical with a person with a gift of exhortation. They're not interested in eschatology.
They're not interested in the finer points of Bible doctrine. They want to know how does God's Word apply to my life now. That's the gift of exhortation. Now, there's some dangers with the gift of exhortation. That is, if they're not careful, they can waste time helping people who really aren't interested in lasting solutions. And secondly, they have to guard against becoming discouraged by a lack of progress with those to whom they're ministering.
If they're not careful, they can become discouraged. How many of you know somebody besides June and Walter that have the gift of exhortation? Raise your hand. Somebody, you know somebody. How many of you may think that may be a gift of yours?
Okay, yeah, yeah, good, good. That's the gift of exhortation. Now, he says here in verse eight, if your gift is giving, let him who gives, give with liberality.
This is a very interesting gift. The gift of giving is the desire and the ability to use personal assets to further the cause of Christ. Using your personal assets to further the cause of Christ. And a person with this gift, under the characteristics, they may or may not be wealthy, but usually they have the ability to handle money well. You know, they may not be a super mega millionaire, but they tend to do pretty well with their finances. God gives them the ability and they have a desire to handle their money well, increase their assets so that they will have more to give. A person who has this gift prefers to give anonymously.
He doesn't like a lot of fanfare with his giving. Now, we can all think of people in our church who have the gift of giving. I would call some out, but they don't like that.
They want to give anonymously and that's a real characteristic. A third thing, and I want you to circle this, they do not like pressure appeals. A person with a real gift of giving does not respond well to pressure appeals. You know, I'll have people sometime in the church come to me and they'll represent this cause or that cause and, oh pastor, we need some money for this or that or that or that. Now, you know some people in the church who have money, can you go to them and just tell them that if we don't raise this money, children are going to go hungry, babies are going to die, people are going to go to hell. If we don't raise this money, will you go talk to these people for us?
And I'll say, absolutely not. And the reason is a person with a true gift of giving doesn't respond to that kind of pressure. Instead, if they have the gift of giving, what they like is for you to honestly present a need to them and then give them the freedom to say yes or no to that need. At Pathway to Victory, we're asking God to use these daily messages to ignite a fire of passion in the hearts of His people.
And maybe right now you're prepared to take your next steps with Him. At the beginning of today's message, you heard me mention a book I've written called, I Want More. I'm eager to get a copy of this book into your hands because it will fan the flame that starts in your heart. A copy of my book can be yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. I truly believe my book can reignite your passion for God and bring you into a deeper relationship with Him.
But when you give a gift to Pathway to Victory, you're doing more than just receiving a helpful book. You're making it possible for radio listeners and television viewers around the world to hear the truth of God's Word. Every day we receive notes from individuals who share how this Bible teaching ministry has become their spiritual lifeline. For instance, I recently heard from Susan, who listens to Pathway to Victory in Kansas. Susan said, Pastor, I live with depression and anxiety, but you shared a powerful message that I needed to hear.
I haven't always been in a good relationship with God, but I'm still learning how to be faithful and I look forward every morning to your message. Your voluntary gift helps us reach people like Susan and millions more. So thank you not only for giving to support this ministry, but for bringing hope and light into a world that is shrouded in darkness. David.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request a copy of the book, I Want More, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Here's our toll-free phone number, 866-999-2965, or visit online at ptv.org.
And when you give an especially generous gift of $75 or more, we'll also include this month's teaching series called Unleashed on both CD and DVD. We'll only be offering these resources for just a few more days, so please get in touch right away. Call 866-999-2965, or go to ptv.org. You can send your request by mail if you'd like, PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins. Join us next time for the final installment of the message, Discovering and Using Your Spiritual Gift, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
