Living on the Edge

Guest (Male): Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? I mean, why is it certain ministries resonate with your heart and others, you know they're important but they just don't motivate you at all? Well, there's a good reason for that, and today, I'll share with you straight from the New Testament, how you can begin to put the pieces of your spiritual gift puzzle together and do it in a way that will bring you great joy and bless other people in the process.

Guest (Male): Have you ever felt like you were made for something more, but you're not quite sure what? Well today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram opens up the New Testament and walks us through the seven motivational gifts God has placed in his people. From prophecy to mercy, from teaching to leadership, Chip makes it practical and personal, with a simple challenge, which of these gifts makes you lean forward? Which one describes the lens you naturally look through?

You were made for more than sitting on the sidelines, and today's message is your starting point. Well now here's Chip Ingram with his message, how to discover your primary spiritual gift.

Chip Ingram: Okay, now we're going to look through these gifts.

And here's how we're going to do it. I'm going to give you a written definition that you can see there. Then I'm going to give you some quick characteristics. And by the way, don't try and write these down. I'll make you nuts. If you're obsessive compulsive, just lean back.

And then here's what I want you to do. Underneath in your notes where it says prophecy, I want you to write the words yes, no, maybe. And then when I get done, just gut reaction, circle yes, no, or maybe. All right? So I'll give you the definition, I'll give you a few characteristics, and then we'll do a quick application.

Prophecy, motivational gift from Romans 12:6-8. The divine enablement to proclaim God's truth with power and clarity in a timely and culturally sensitive fashion for correction, repentance, or edification. It's the ability to reveal God's word accurately. One of the good tests is people with this gift often intuitively ask about almost every situation, "What went wrong? What caused this?"

Some of the dangers of this gift, there can be a tendency to be proud of their speaking ability. And people with prophetic gift who want to make it right can be insensitive to the feelings of other people. Okay, how about you? Yes, no, maybe? Does that kind of describe you?

Gift number two is service. It's the divine enablement to attach spiritual value to the accomplishment of physical tasks within the body of Christ. It's the ability to demonstrate love by meeting practical needs that releases other Christians for direct spiritual ministry. The question these people intuitively ask because of their gift is, "What can I do to help? What can I do to help?"

They're able to overlook personal discomfort in order to meet other people's needs and will often use their own funds to make things happen because they just, they want to serve. Some of the dangers, they can be bitter when their deeds are not recognized. They don't need a lot of limelight, but when they get none, it's kind of like, "Hey, does anybody care?" And by the way, these are the most neglected people in the body of Christ and in the church.

These are the people that I'll tell you what, when you go to your church this weekend, you don't see them but they really make it happen. Someone got in early, someone turned on the lights, someone cleaned things, someone folded the bulletin. These are the kind of people that where the spirit of God, where the rubber meets the road practically, in my mind, these are heroes.

In fact, Paul says, "You know the more unseemly, less visible members we need to exalt." That's this gift. Another danger is putting an overemphasis on practical needs to the exclusion of spiritual needs.

In my life, there's a guy named Dick. Dick was a school teacher. Dick retired. Dick found a group of eight or 10 retired guys and we had one who was a plumber, one who was a carpenter, and I mean, we fixed single moms' cars. They fixed everything around the church. You know that verse that we kind of overlook in James, true religion is caring for widows and orphans? Dick thought that was in the Bible and we ought to actually do it.

And he developed a team of people and I mean, we just did practical. He was an elder. And in elders' meetings, what I knew, no matter what we talked about, guess where Dick was going to come back to? Bang.

You see, here's what you got to understand about what you bring. In every discussion, every decision, it's the lens you look through. I don't care what we're talking about. We can talk about money, we can talk about church, we can talk about families. The lens I'm going to look through is, "Hey, what went wrong? How can we make it better? How do we help people reach their full potential?" That's what prophets do. Other people are going to be, the lens you look through is, "How can we serve them? How can we help them?"

Third gift. Are you ready? Yes, no, maybe? Circle it or just write that word.

Third motivational gift is teaching. It's the divine enablement to understand and give detailed explanation of biblical truth. They love to study and they like to study down to the minutia. That's the gift of teaching. The danger of this gift is to concentrate too much on content to the exclusion of application.

See, if you got the gift of teaching, the truth is so wonderful. I mean, they just like they swim in the truth, the truth is so wonderful. They can get up and study and study and study and they can give it and like the back row can be asleep, so what? I mean, they're just missing out. The truth. That's why we need the body. Okay, what? Yes, no, or maybe? You got the gift of teaching? Could it be? Could that be your primary motivation?

Next is the gift, motivational gift of exhortation. It's the divine enablement or power to come alongside another in need of encouragement, to reassure, strengthen, affirm, and notice, challenge those who are discouraged or wavering in their faith. It's the ability to stimulate the faith of others. People with this gift ask, "What must be done to fix this?" These are fix-it people.

And then next, "How can we move this person to wholeness?" This gift of exhortation, the biblical word, you know when it says, "Another comforter will come," the Holy Spirit, the word is para alongside kaleo. Kaleo, called alongside, parakaleo. This word exhortation, same word. This person is called alongside other people.

This characteristics of a person, they're gifted in counseling. People like with this gift see practically how to put the scripture in the truth applied to your life. They call us to godly living. They initiate, they implore, they request, they entreat. These are great people to have as friends. The dangers of this gift, they spend too much time with people who only want temporary solutions to their problems.

See, they care so much, it's like, you know, maybe they should have said that at session six instead of session 11. You know, "I'm in a terrible marriage." Well, okay. Another danger is they can become discouraged from lack of results from people who they're ministering to. These people, they've got to see people's lives change. And if people's don't lives change, they get really discouraged. Like, "You know, what's the deal? Am I doing something wrong?" So, how about you? Gift of exhortation. Are you motivated to ask, "Hey, how do I bring, how do I fix this? How do I bring this person to wholeness?" Yes, no, or maybe?

Next gift is the motivational gift of giving. This is the divine enablement to earn money, manage it well, and wisely contribute to the work of the Lord with cheerfulness and liberality. It's the ability to entrust personal assets to others for the furtherance of their ministry. People with this gift ask this question, "What can I give to meet the needs?" "What can I give to meet the needs?"

The word here is to share or to give. It's not necessarily money, but primarily it shows up in people's finances. But this is a person with generosity. And notice in Romans 12, "Let him who give, give it liberally." The word is haplotes. It's the word for having a single eye. These characteristic, these people don't like the limelight. These people like to give anonymously. These people like to have a single focus. These people want to know what the ROI is on their gift.

I mean, they, I mean, hey, you know what I want to know is, so, okay, I gave you $100,000 to do this and do this, did this, this, this, and this happen? And if not, I'm going to give my gift next week somewhere else. These people hate high-pressure tactics. They smell manipulation in a New York minute. They can tell when people are trying to con them and put them on.

And what they have is an ability to earn money, manage it wisely, and they see opportunities and they see, "You know what, with this much money, this is what could really happen." Those are the basic characteristics of someone with the gift of giving. They do not have to be wealthy. Obviously, this gift is operating in the third world. You can have the gift of giving in Haiti and you may not have but two coconuts, but you're willing to give, you know, one and a half of yours away.

The danger of this gift is there can be a tendency to be proud of it. As is evidenced by, "This gift was given by Mr. and Mrs. so and so and so and so, and here's the plaque and." See for every great gift, there's always a danger.

And there can be a danger that you want people to know what you gave and, you know, sort of in a nice, sophisticated Christian. You don't want people to know too much, but you want them to know just enough. Not that you're proud, but that you're wonderful.

Another danger is overemphasizing material needs to the exclusion of spiritual needs. And judging other spiritually by their bank account. See again, you look at others through this lens. And it's so easy for you to make money, it's so easy for you to do stuff. It's like, my lens. I mean, the guy's got the gift of service and you've been working on that job for 11 years. I appreciate the guy. That's the most beat up, dumb truck. His kids are still riding in the back and that's dangerous.

My lens, "Save so much, start with tithing, do this, set aside some, get yourself, get your finances in order." You're like, "What's wrong with you?" I mean, they just go nuts when they see financial mismanagement. Because to them it's just, you know, it's so natural how you ought to operate your life.

How about you? Yes, no, or maybe?

Next motivational gift is that of leadership. It's the divine enablement to notice, see what needs to be done, set goals and then attract, lead and motivate people to accomplish the work of the ministry. It's the ability to coordinate the activities of others for the achievement of common goals. People with this gift are asking, "What's the goal? Where are you trying to go? What's the target on the wall?" And the other thing that always asking, "What's the results?"

"Okay, this activity, fine, activity, you're saying you're doing this, doing this. Show me, you know, what did you accomplish? What's the goal?"

It's interesting in terms of definition, this is a person who gives vision and direction, can mobilize other people. It originally has the idea of someone who stands in front. It's the ability to lead and delegate. They take charge, they enjoy responsibility. This is the guy that wants to take the shot, the last shot in the game. And if he misses, he misses, but he wants the ball in his hands.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And part two of our message is coming up next. Remember, the place to go for all of these daily messages is over on our website, LivingOnTheEdge.org. There you'll find Chip's full teaching library, along with even more content like Chip's free daily discipleship tool, to help you grow all week long. You can also download the Chip Ingram app absolutely free through any app store on your smart device. Now let's get back to today's message from Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: When there's a vacuum and nothing's happening, a person with the gift of leadership is just frustrated to death. It's disorganized, it's going nowhere. What they want to do is say, "Look, okay, if no one else is going to do this," "Okay, look, I'll tell you what. You seem to be good at this, good at this, let's come up with a plan." "There's a target on the wall for the next six weeks. Let's go for it." "Does everyone agree?" And everyone goes, "Oh yeah, I don't know why we didn't know how to do that. It just makes sense." And so that's what they are.

They stand in front. It's a person who has ability to see how things fit together, what needs to be done, how can it be accomplished? And they have a way of doing it where people are attracted to them and they see the big picture and they mobilize people and getting them in their strengths. The danger is they can use people to achieve their goals.

Danger is they can get proud or pushy with the power that's given with them. We've all been around leaders that know God, but we wish they knew him a little better. You know? And that they get a little grace with all that drive and intensity. And sometimes they forget the purpose of the project. I mean, it gets, "Got to get it done, got to get it done. We got to build this building, got to build this building, got to build this building. Come on, what's wrong with you? You need to give more. Why aren't you giving more? Come on these contractors. Hey, we're already 10, 12% over budget. What's wrong with this committee? You know, we start on time, we get this thing done." And someone says, "And why are we building these buildings?" "Because we got to love people." "Huh." And maybe we ought to start in this committee. "Okay, okay." See it's just one of the dangers. How about you? Leadership? Yes, no, maybe?

The final one is the gift of mercy. It's the divine enablement to minister cheerfully and appropriately to people who are suffering or undeserving and to spare them the punishment or the consequences they justly deserve. Isn't this a wonderful gift? This is those people that you've blown it and you've really blown it and, you know, you can blame others, but it really is your fault. And something in them not only wants to help you, but they don't want you to have to suffer the consequences that you really ought to get. Kind of like God, huh?

It's a gift of mercy. It's a gift of of wanting to withhold just consequences from those who deserve it. They're always asking the question, "How can I make them feel better?" There's a high identification with people's hurts and people's needs and what they're going through. The definition of this word, at the heart of it, is an emotion that is aroused by the affliction or the needs of others that gets translated into action.

There's just something in the heart, this compassion, this sympathy and empathy that wants to reach out and help people. The characteristics, they are able to detect and discern people's feelings. I mean, have you ever, ever been there? You know where you're with someone with the gift of mercy and and actually, you're talking to, you go through the meeting and you think, "Wow, that was a good meeting" and you walk out and you walk out with someone with the gift of mercy and say, "Hey man, we really need to pray for that guy." "Why? I thought it was a good meeting." "You didn't pick up on it?" "Pick on what?" "His marriage is in trouble." "What do you mean his marriage is in trouble? I we were talking about marriage, we're trying to get a building built." "Didn't you pick up on the signals he said this, he said that when you ask about his family quickly, we went around and shared, his countenance fell and."

These people, man, they just they got they got this antenna. They got this radar when there's needs and when there's hurts and when there's they pick up on it. And then they're drawn to it and they want to help and they want to care. And the characteristics here, not only are they detect and discerning, they're very sensitive, they're sensitive to the point of action. They want direct personal ministry. The gift of mercy, they don't want to delegate this. They are moved highly by the world vision or the food for the hungry commercials and they're glad to give, but they want hands-on helping people with very specific needs.

The dangers here, they tend to have a hard time to be firm when necessary. I mean, they look at life especially in their parenting. You got the gift of mercy, being very disciplinarian is pretty tough with the gift of mercy. Resentment for those who don't have this gift. People with the gift of mercy and people with the gift of leadership can have significant problems in the body of Christ.

And God's goal is that this person does this out of his grace and this person does this out of his grace and the leadership becomes more merciful and the merciful person learns to lead with clarity and direction and apply their gift much better. They often are misunderstood by people of the opposite sex. If you have this gift, you got to be careful. Because someone's really hurting and you're a woman or vice versa, man, woman. And you reach out to help them and, you know, the guy or the gal goes, "Hey, it's pretty cool. I think she's kind of coming on to me or he's coming on to me." "No, no." It has not. "I see your need, I see your pain." People often with this gift end up in very dysfunctional relationships because they're trying to rescue people and they're getting involved emotionally in helping people they shouldn't be helping. What you need is to find another sister to, you know, help that gal or a brother to help that brother on these kind of issues. Yes, no, or maybe?

Well, those are the seven motivational gifts and someone has I think rightly said often, "A picture is worth a thousand words." And I got this from a buddy and I don't know where he got it, but I've got it on a little page that they do in their spiritual gifting networking class in California. And he tells the story about a waiter who's at a Christian banquet. And there's a big Christian banquet. And there's a big front table up here and believe it or not, there's exactly seven leaders. And each leader has a different one of the motivational gifts. And it's a big Christian banquet and they're all godly so they operate in their gifts controlled by the spirit of God.

And it's a huge banquet and they're raising a lot of money and doing great things all over the world. And they're clearing away the tables and as they're doing it, the dessert is coming out and there's a very nice waiter who's been serving them. And he comes and he's got this huge plate of desserts and as he comes here, someone's clearing a table, they bump, it goes, splat goes everywhere. It's in front of everyone. Microphone goes over, bash. Everyone's every eye looks up. The waiter's there. He's got ice cream and chocolate and sundaes all over him. The main speaker looks like he's been, you know, dressed for a dog to lick, you know, chocolate off his vest.

And then the gifts go into action. And so the person with the gift of prophecy gets up and says, "I could see this coming. It was a mistake from the very beginning." "Tell you what, you cannot take away plates and bring dessert at the same time." Motivation is to correct his life. The person with the mercy jumps up and says, "Oh, don't feel so badly. It could have happened to anyone. It's okay." Motivation, "How can I relieve the embarrassment?" The person with the gift of serving goes, "Oh, let me help, let me help." She grabs, "Can I wipe this off?" And she's picking up or he's picking up.

What's fallen down? The motivation is to fulfill a need. The person with the gift of teaching backs off. They always think their gift is most important in these situations. And they step back and say, "You know, the real reason this happened was not as you thought that they were taking away the plates and bringing in the dessert." "The real reason, I've analyzed this and what you see is that if you have seven desserts on one time and five desserts on the other side, the equilibrium and the balance, if you wear those kind of shoes on this type of cloth, will cause a tilting." And the goal is to motivate and to discover why it happened.

The person with a gift of exhortation just jumps up and says, "Hey, next time, I've got an idea. Why don't you just serve the dessert with the meal?" And his motivation is, "We'll just correct this for the future." The person with the gift of giving looks and goes, "Okay, I've got a suit that's ruined. I got a microphone that's broken. I got carpet that's destroyed. We've rented the church." And he goes, "I'll tell you what, guys. I'm not sure what we need to do on this." "But I'll tell you what, if you'll go ahead and speak, here's my jacket and I'll buy you a new suit." "And you know something, this is a nice church we've rented. This carpet has been needed replacing probably for years. I'll tell you what, I'll throw in the first $5,000 that the rest of you will jump in with me." And his motivation is to give to relieve a need.

And then finally you have the person with leadership. And as people are doing this, he steps up and he goes, "Hey Jim, could you get a mop? Sue, would you please help pick up Mary? We can get one more dessert." "I'll tell you what. Let's make an announcement. Bobby, I'll tell you what, you know that song you did earlier? Do it again and do it again right now." "Okay, we're going to clean this up right now. Thanks, you get the jacket. Okay." "Everybody, in about 15 minutes, we'll be ready to go."

I believe that God has given everyone in this room one primary motivational gift. Which one of those seven did you most resonate? If you were at that table, what would you naturally jump up and want to do or want to solve? You know, top one or two.

Because what I'm going to say to you is that you are a workmanship. You are a piece of art. God has given you gifts of different nature and hues that he wants to paint out of his grace into the lives of other people. And if you think you're this and God wants you to be this. Not only are you frustrated, but think of what's happening in the body of Christ who need your gift of leadership or your gift of mercy or your gift of exhortation.

And when you understand that there are primary motivations and then that motivation will play out in different ministries at different times, at different seasons in your development and the development of the ministry that you're called. Then what we'll learn is how you develop those ministry gifts and how all those other manifestation gifts operate in the body of Christ.

Because I tell you what, God wants you to walk in the good works that he before ordained from the foundation of the earth that you should do those good works. And I'm going to tell you, when you do, you'll get the double F in your life, unbelievable fulfillment.

And unbelievable fruitfulness. Did you get maybe just a tiny little inkling that we learned some things about God's word, but one guy in the room had a lot of fun? Unashamedly, I just had a blast. You know why? Because I just did what God made me to do. I'm not special, I'm not smarter, I'm not more important, I'm not more holy. I just understand, this is what he made me to do. And my dream is that you'll discover what he made you to do.

Guest (Male): This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and a message titled, How to Discover Your Primary Spiritual Gift. You can revisit or share today's lesson anytime at LivingOnTheEdge.org. Chip walked us through seven motivational gifts today, and if you were paying attention, one or two of them probably made you sit up a little straighter. That's not a coincidence. That's the Holy Spirit giving you a nudge. Don't overthink it. Just circle yes, no, or maybe, and start paying attention to the gifts that feel most like home.

We're in a series from Chip called, You Were Made For More, How to Discover God's Purpose For Your Life. And to help you go deeper into what you heard today, we've created a free tool called The Real You, a free online assessment built to help you understand how God has uniquely wired you. Take it free today at TheRealYou.org. Every resource we offer, every broadcast, every tool like The Real You, exists because people who believe in this work choose to give. If Living on the Edge has helped you take your faith from theory to practice, would you give today? Donate online at LivingOnTheEdge.org. You can also call us right now at 888-333-6003, or send your donation through the mail by writing to us at Living on the Edge, PO Box 3007, Atlanta, Georgia 30324. And if you'd like to connect with us beyond this program, join us on Facebook and Instagram at Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And for the full uncut version of Chip's messages, subscribe to the Chip Ingram Sermon podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts. Well now here's Chip Ingram.

Chip Ingram: Okay, today is an important day. I mean, what I want you to do is don't think too much, don't let too much get inside your head, don't try and remember every specific point about each gift. I'm going to name these seven motivational gifts, and all I want you to do, right where you're at, give me 22 seconds, and then the first two that come to your mind that you think to yourself, "Yeah, you know, that's kind of sounds like me." Don't be critical, just, "Yeah." "Yes or no?" So, are you ready? Let me go through the seven. Prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy. Which two just popped to the top for you? Have you got it? I'm going to tell you, it will help you like never before to start to narrow down the core or primary motivational gift God's given you.

Guest (Male): What is God's plan for you specifically? How do you discover it, develop it, and actually walk in it? Well, Chip has the answers next time on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.

Today's program is produced and sponsored by Living on the Edge.