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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. What is the goal of the spiritual gift? Look at Ephesians 4.12. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, here it is, to the building up of the body of Christ.
That's what spiritual gifts are meant to do, to increase the spiritual strength of the church.
Well, how do we do that? How do we build up the body of Christ? Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, the church is a living, breathing body with Christ as the head and each believer playing a vital role.
Yet many Christians fail to recognize their unique purpose. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffers explains that God has equipped each of us with spiritual gifts to strengthen his church and to advance his kingdom.
Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffers. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Every single day on Pathway to Victory, we open our Bibles to learn more about God.
But let me be clear, head knowledge must become heart knowledge. And that happens when God's Spirit flows into our hearts and radically transforms our lives.
Well, gratefully, we hear from listeners every day who tell us how their lives have been transformed as a result of something they've heard on Pathway to Victory. The stories are remarkable, and nothing makes me smile any bigger because that's exactly why this ministry exists. Our sole purpose is to see God change lives as we bring His light into the dark places of this world. To accelerate this mission, a number of families banded together to establish a staggering matching challenge in the amount of $1 million. As a result, Pathway to Victory has the opportunity to realize a total of $2 million through the Salt and Light matching challenge.
Challenge. Simply put, every dollar you give between now and July 6th will be automatically matched and therefore doubled in size. Whether you give $50, $100, $500, or $5,000, your investment will have twice the impact. Our plan is to use these funds to bring transformation, moral clarity, and the light of God's Word to your community, nation, and world. And we'll accomplish this plan as we expand our reach on television, radio, and the many other places Pathway to Victory can be accessed.
So, get ready to jot down our contact information at the close of today's study. But right now, let's continue a study from Ephesians 4 that began yesterday on Pathway to Victory. I titled my message, Bodybuilding. A spiritual gift is the unique desire. And the power God gives you to share His message to other people.
If you look in the Scripture, there are three separate lists of spiritual gifts.
Some include things the other list includes, some are omitted. Why do we have three List of gifts. I believe the reason is there are three categories of spiritual gifts. We refer to all of them as gifts, but there are really three categories of gifts. This is actually given to us by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 4 through 6.
Paul said there are a variety of gifts. but the same spirit. There are a variety of ministries. But the same Lord, and there are a variety of effects or manifestations, but the same Spirit. But there's another list that we're finding in our passage today, Ephesians 4.
Those are ministries, Paul says, opportunities to use our gift. We each have a basic gift. There are a variety of ministries that we'll look at in a moment we can serve in. And then finally, there are effects found in 1 Corinthians 12. Those are the results into other people's lives when we use our gift.
Now, that's the reality of spiritual gifts. Let's look at the disbursement of spiritual gifts. He's saying we have all received the gift.
Now, let's look at a description of the gifts beginning in verse 11. Remember, these are ministries that God may open the door of opportunity for you to use your gift. It's not an exhaustive list of ministries, it's just some of the offices in the church. And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and others as evangelists, and some as pastor-teachers. Let's unpack those just for a moment.
Apostles. In a literal sense, there were only 12 apostles. You remember one of them flamed out, and so they were replaced. Judas was replaced in Acts 1 with Matthias. And he was the 12th apostle.
And then God added a 13th apostle named the Apostle Paul. To be an apostle, you have been chosen by Jesus Christ, and you've had to see Jesus in his resurrected body, and all of those qualified to be an apostle.
Now, I believe there are no more apostles today, they were temporary, they were here to serve as a building block for the Christian faith to receive divine instruction.
So, in a Strictest sense, there are no more apostles. The faith has been once forever delivered to the saints, Jude tells us. But I think you can, in a broader sense, say, That missionaries are a kind of apostles taking the gospel to where it's never been before. And so, if you want to expand it to that, that's fine, but just don't call yourself an apostle. Secondly, he gave some as prophets.
Now, again, this was in the time before the scriptures were complete. Being a prophet in the Old Testament was not so much about foretelling the future, it was foretelling God's truth. It was speaking God's truth. And God would have a special message for a group of people, and He would raise up a prophet to give that message. Think of Elijah, or think about Isaiah.
They were prophets.
Now, I don't believe the office exists today in a technical sense, but there's a general sense in which some people have a gift of prophecy, again, not foretelling the future, but speaking God's truth in such a way that it brings conviction to people. It leads unbelievers to turn to Christ and leads believers to turn to a more godly life. And so I think you can say people today with a spiritual gift of prophecy have the gift to produce or to proclaim God's word in such a way that it brings convictions to the hearts of people. That would be a prophet, an evangelist, one who bears the good news. In a sense, 2 Timothy 4:5, we're all called to serve, share the gospel of Christ with people.
But there are some who are especially gifted at doing that. Think of our most famous member of First Baptist Dallas in 156 years. Our most famous member was Billy Graham, who was here for 54 years.
Next to the Apostle Paul, he was the greatest evangelist the world had ever known, winning millions of people to faith in Christ. But that's not the only thing an evangelist does, he trains other people to know how to share their faith. When I think about that, I think about the late Dr. D. James Kennedy, the pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church.
Many don't know his story. Before he was saved, he was a dance instructor in the Arthur Murray Dance School. And one night he came home after a night of partying. Pass that out. And the next morning was awakened.
To hear the voice of a preacher booming out this question: If you were to stand before God and He were to ask you, Why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say? And at that moment, D. James Kennedy gave his life to Christ. But he was fascinated with that question and out of it used it to develop evangelism explosion. A program for sharing faith that has been embraced by tens of thousands of churches.
That's the gift of an evangelist. He was in the role of a pastor-teacher, but his heart was that of an evangelist. And that leads to the fourth office Paul gives. Pastor, and I think you can make it one word, pastor-teacher. There's a grammatical reason for believing that's one word.
A pastor-teacher. That's the primary role of the pastor is to be a teacher of God's word. In fact, in 1 Timothy 3, of all of the qualities you have to have in a pastor, there's only one skill that's mentioned he is able to teach.
Now, Since we started the discussion last week, You know, who can serve in these offices? As you know, there are a variety of ministries that men and women alike can have. They can be missionaries. Men and women both can be missionaries. They can be Um speakers of God's word.
Prophets, in the sense of teaching God's word in such a way to bring conviction to people. Just think about the long history of great teachers, men and women, who have been in the halls of First Baptist Church Dallas. There's an evangelist. Men and women can be evangelists. It's not men only who share the gospel.
2 Timothy 4:5 says we're all called to share the gospel. First, two bearers of good news in the Bible were women, Mary Magdalene and Mary. Remember, they went to the empty tomb and the angel said, He's not here. Go and tell, go and share with your brothers, the apostles, the good news. Jesus later appeared to those two women and said, Go tell the men what has happened.
But There is one office that's reserved for men in the church, at least one, and that is the role of pastor-teacher. The pastor is to be a man. There's a lot of confusion about that today. And so our deacons studied this in depth. We had a three-hour deacon meeting.
Uh Tuesday night. to discuss a resolution that would firmly affirm that the role of pastor is for men, but also affirm that women can be called to other ministries. And I'm happy to report that our deacons unanimously adopted that resolution. And that is going to be from this point forward the public recognition. We ordain men to be pastors, but we're going to commission women for whatever ministry God has led them to outside the role of pastor.
But the point is, there are many different ways for Christians to use their spiritual gifts.
Now, what is the goal of the spiritual gift? We've talked about the reality. Look at Ephesians 4, 12. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, the reason he gave pastors, evangelists, prophets, and teachers was to equip the saints for the work of service. Here it is, to the building up of the body of Christ.
That's the ultimate aim of spiritual gifts. To build up, oikadome in Greek refers to the building of a house. We are to build up the spiritual house of the Lord. What does that mean, to build it up?
Well, he's talking about, first of all, growing larger. Did you know in 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter describes Christians as building a holy temple to God. How is it built? A spiritual temple, not by bricks, not by stones, but by individual lives. God wants this temple.
The spiritual temple to get larger. He wants more people to be a part of the spiritual temple. God is interested in numbers, the numbers of true converts who come to know Christ. And so that's why we're having this emphasis on one life, to go out and reach somebody, invite them to become a part of the body of Christ.
So he's certainly about growing, talking about growing larger, but he's also referring to growing stronger. He wants to build up to strengthen this body. To have a strong building, you have to have the right foundation. And at First Baptist Dallas, the foundation is the living word of God, Jesus Christ, and the written word of God, the Bible. He wants to make sure that The pieces of this temple, the stones, the bricks are connected together through the right mortar.
We've got to be connected. We're not 16,000 individual people at First Baptist Church. We are connected. We are cemented together. That's what spiritual gifts are meant to do, to increase the size of the church and increase the spiritual strength of the church.
Well, how do we do that? How do we build up the body of Christ? Well, you know what some churches do? They say, well, we'll go out and hire the best staff, the best pastor we can, and we'll pay them to do the work of ministry. I'm reminded of Bud Wilkinson, who for years served as the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
He was a well-known professional football player before Kennedy appointed him. And a reporter asked him one day, Mr. Wilkinson, what contribution has professional football made to the health of the American people? And Wilkinson said, absolutely none. No help whatsoever.
Just think about it, he said. In a football game, you've got 22 men on the field desperately in need of rest. Being cheered on by 50,000 spectators in those stands, desperately in need of exercise. You know, that's a great picture of many churches, too many churches. Too many churches hire a pastor and a staff.
And they're out there on the field with a few dedicated laymen. And if the team's doing well, if the church is succeeding, the team people, the spectators in the crowd yell, Go, team, go, keep on going. We're for you, we're behind you. But if the church isn't doing so well, They yell out, call in the second string.
Now, that may make for exciting football, but that's a lousy way to run a church. God never meant the paid professionals to do it. And to say, those who are apostles and prophets and music ministers and evangelists and whatever else in the church, our job is to do what? to equip the saints. That would be you.
For the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. That word, Carter Titso, refers to. The equipping, the loading up of a ship with supplies before it goes out on a long journey. Did you know that's the reason we come together once a week? Besides worship, we come to get equipped.
to go out and do the work of ministry. You know, occasionally and thankfully, we have people who are saved in our service. But you'll never have that many people saved in a service. You know why? It's real simple.
Unbelievers, by and large, don't come to church. A lot of believers don't come to church. But a lot of unbelievers don't come to church. If you're going to reach them, it's not going to be in the pew of a church. You reach them out there where they are.
And that's why we have you here. To give you the tools you need to go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ, equipping the saints for the work of service. And by the way, when everybody's on the field and playing the game. When everybody's out blocking and tackling and sharing the gospel, it creates a much healthier attitude in the church. My old mentor, Howard Hendricks, had a dad who was in the military, was unsaved for most of his life.
Dr. Hendricks says one day his dad said to him, Son, remember this: you can always tell where your troops are. by what they're complaining about. If they're complaining about warm beer, You'll know they're nowhere near the front lines. But if they're complaining about a lack of ammunition, then you know they're right in the heat of battle.
What are you complaining about? Hopefully not warm and beer. But something may be just as ludicrous. I don't like the sound. I don't like the music.
I don't like... The ties the pastor wears. I don't like the way my Sunday school teacher teaches. I don't like the temperature of the auditorium. You know, did blah, blah, blah.
When people start complaining about that, you know they are nowhere near the front lines of spiritual battle. But when they're complaining about, so to speak, man, I need more meat, I need more food, I need more business cards to pass out to invite people to come, you know they're right in the heat of spiritual battle. God's plan for the church is to equip the saints. That is, to equip you for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. We talked about the reality of spiritual gifts, the goal of spiritual gifts, building up the body.
What's the measurement of spiritual gifts? How do we know if we're succeeding? I'm going to do this very quickly. One word is maturity. Look at verse 13, until we all attain to the unity of faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
You know, everybody loves a baby. Babies are cute and cuddly when they're about five or six months old. But there's nothing cute. about a 40 or 50 year old who acts like a six-month-old. In fact, when we see that happen, We think it's tragic.
We call such a person mentally challenged. It's the same way in the body of Christ. We enter as babies, spiritual babies, but God doesn't intend for us to stay that way. He wants us to grow up. In all aspects.
And the measure of our spiritual maturity is the fullness of Christ. Second word, stability. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried away by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. You know what characterizes a child? They're highly volatile in their emotions up and down.
They're extremely self centered. They've got to have it their way. And they're easily led astray, which is why we tell them to beware of strangers. Same way with spiritual babies. One way you know that somebody is immature spiritually is they're always giving in to their emotions.
Their emotions rule their life, and they're easily carried away by false doctrine that make promises they can never fulfill. Don't be that way. He said, when we're mature in Christ, there is stability. And finally, there's activity. One way you know is if your body of believers, your church is healthy, is there's activity.
Look at verse 16. From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies. The church is the body of Christ. It means every part, every joint has to be supplying what it's supposed to supply. Remember, I said, if a cell in your body starts taking nourishment from other cells but never gives anything in return, it causes cancer.
It's the same way in the body of Christ. When you have members taking and taking and taking and not giving. The result is cancer, spiritual cancer.
Now, what does he mean? What is it that every body, every part of the body supplies? You know, if I wanted to, I could make it shameless. stewardship appeal right now. You need the supply.
Reach into your pockets. Give your money. That's what the body needs. Your supplies.
Now, I could do that, but I'm not going to do that. Because that really wouldn't be faithful to the text. Yes, we're to give of our financial resources. But he tells us what he means by supplies. He says, according to the proper working.
The working of each individual part. You know how you can know if your body is healthy? Every body part is present. and each one is functioning as it's supposed to. It's the same way.
in this body of believers, First Baptist Dallas. How many of you have ever done a jigsaw puzzle before? If you have, you know the frustration of getting toward the completion of the project and realizing. One or two pieces is missing. What a bummer.
I mean, the funny thing is, you can have all the pieces. Put together and be missing one, two, or three. Where does your attention go to? The missing part. It's the same way in the church.
God created First Baptist Dallas to be a picture. A portrait of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every part is essential. And every part has to be correctly connected to the other parts. Um And if it is.
And if they are. Then a beautiful picture of Jesus emerges for the world to see. That's God's way. That's God's method. for building a strong body.
Friend, you're an essential part of God's plan for His Church. Simply stated, the body of Christ is incomplete without you. And I hope today's Pathway to Victory has inspired you to invest your personal time and resources in a local church where God's Word is held high. As I mentioned earlier, we're in a critical period of time right now, counting the hours until the deadline of midnight, July 6th. I'm referring to the Salt and Light Matching Challenge, in which a $1 million gift was given to Pathway to Victory as a means to gain another million dollars.
These are dark times in our nation. Activists are working overtime to undermine Christian values. Even with visionary leadership in the White House, liberal elites are trying to silence Christians, to persecute Jews, and all those who love Israel. Many governors are attempting to sabotage peace officers who attempt to protect our citizens.
Well, for these reasons and more, the $1 million Salt and Light Matching Challenge is intentionally designed to give us an arsenal to push back the forces of evil in our country. And we know that the hope of our nation relies not on political influence, but on the person of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Because of this salt and light matching challenge, every dollar that's given will be automatically Doubled in size until the deadline of July 6th. And we're asking God to stir in the hearts of friends like you so that we can reach a combined total of $2 million. Thanks for stepping up to give today.
I'm confident God will use whatever amount you choose to give to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of the brand new book by Dr.
Jeffress, Shine the Light. To request this resource, call 866-999-2965 or visit our website, that's at ptv.org.
Now when you give $100 or more, we'll also send you the complete collection of audio and video discs for the Shine the Light teaching series. And don't forget because of our Salt and Light matching challenge, your gift to Pathway to Victory will be matched and therefore doubled in impact.
So be sure to get in touch with us today. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could send your donation by mail right to PO Box 223-609 Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins. Will Christians in America face persecution? Dr. Jeffress addresses this relevant subject next time.
It's a message he calls Christians in the crosshairs here at Wednesday 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.
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