Love Worth Finding

Adrian Rogers: Now, when you got saved, you got your spiritual gift. Just as you got your natural proclivities when you were born naturally, you get your supernatural proclivities when you are supernaturally born, and your spiritual gift is a salvation gift. When the Holy Spirit came into you, he did not come in empty-handed. When you were born, you were born a gifted child.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teaching of pastor and author Adrian Rogers. When we're born again and become children of God, we receive a spiritual gift. Discovering, developing, and putting to work that spiritual gift is how we find joy and fulfillment in this Christian life.

First Corinthians, chapter 12, explains how children of God can discover their spiritual gifts. If you have your Bible, turn there now as Adrian Rogers shares part one of Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gift.

Adrian Rogers: Back to the basics, Christianity 101. I want you to take your Bibles today and find first Corinthians, chapter 12. Today, we're going to be talking about spiritual gifts. If you want real joy and fulfillment in your Christian life, I'll tell you how to have it. Get right with God, then discover, develop, and put to work your spiritual gift. You are a gifted child, and the title of the message today is Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gift.

Now, look, if you will, in chapter 12, verse one. "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." May I say that the world is saturated with ignorance on the subject of spiritual gifts? The devil wants to keep you ignorant, but you are a gifted child. You have, if you are a child of God, if you're born again, you have a spiritual gift.

Now, sometimes when we talk about spiritual gifts, people get a little antsy. They're afraid of spiritual gifts, but that fear is rooted in ignorance. Most prejudice is rooted in ignorance. We're so afraid of wildfire that we end up with no fire. Dr. Vance Havner said we're afraid we're going to get out on a limb; we haven't even been up the tree. Out on the limb is where the fruit is.

And so, we're going to be talking to you about spiritual gifts, and there are three things I want you to see. First of all, spiritual gifts described, the description of these gifts. Secondly, I want you to see the diversity of these gifts, and I'm going to give you a long list of gifts, and you're going to say, "Ah, maybe that one is mine." And then, last of all, I want you to see the discovery of the gifts, how indeed you can discover your spiritual gift. We're going to get it right from the Word of God.

Now, let's describe the gifts. Look, if you will, in verse one. "Now concerning spiritual gifts." The very first thing I want to say is this: they are spiritual gifts. The word here is pneumatika—spiritual. We're not talking to you about a gift of money, a gift of beauty, a gift of health, or a gift of fame. If I were to tell you how to have a brand-new automobile, maybe some of you would get out and begin to take notes.

But the problem is we're not all that interested in spiritual things. I've often heard it said, "Oh, we're so heavenly-minded, we're no earthly good." But the truth of the matter is we're so earthly-minded, we're no heavenly good. These are spiritual gifts. What a tragedy to fail to understand that you have a spiritual gift.

Not only are they spiritual gifts, they are supernatural gifts. Look, if you will now, in verse four. "There are diversities of gifts." Now, the word for gift is a different word. One word was used in verse one, pneumatika. Now, here's a word that is used, charismata. It's the word we get our word "charismatic" from. And the word charis is the word "grace." And so, a charismata is a grace gift.

And what is grace? Grace is that which is completely, totally unearned. It is the sovereign work of God. It is the saving work of God. It is the supernatural work of God. And so, if you have a grace gift, it's different from talent. A grace gift is not something that is earned; it is not something that is learned. It is the grace gift of God. Therefore, if you have a spiritual gift, and you do, there's no room for pride.

You see, every Christian is either supernatural or he is superficial. Now, here's the third thing I want you to learn about these gifts. First of all, we say that these gifts are spiritual gifts. Secondly, they are supernatural gifts. Verse four. Thirdly, they are service gifts. Look, if you will, in verse seven. "But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal."

Now, what does it mean to profit withal? It means to profit the others, to profit the whole body. If you have a spiritual gift, it is not a means to an end, and you do have a spiritual gift. It is not for your selfishness; it is not to make you feel good; it is not to prove something to you. These gifts are not for evidence; they are equipment. They are not for your enjoyment; they are for your employment. They are to put you to work for the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's not that you have a little gift that's going to make you feel good; it is that God has given you a gift to profit withal, that is, to profit the whole body. Again, it is not for your enjoyment; it is for your employment. Now, here's something I want you to notice very carefully. Your gift not only is a spiritual gift, a supernatural gift, and a service gift, but your gift is a sovereign gift. Look, if you will, in verse 11 of this chapter now.

Verse 11. "But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit." He's talking about the Holy Spirit. "Dividing to every man severally," or individually, "as he will." Now, you don't decide what gift you're going to have. You couldn't decide what gift you're going to have any more than you could decide in the natural realm what talent you're going to have, or to decide how tall you're going to be, or the color of your skin, or the color of your hair. You can't decide that.

Well, some people do decide the color of their hair, but what I'm trying to say is this: your gift, your gift is a sovereign gift. The Holy Spirit of God chooses your gift. Your joy and responsibility is to discover the gift that God has given you. Now, some people get the idea that in verse 31, we're told that we are to seek a particular kind of gift. Look in verse 31. "But covet earnestly the best gifts, yet I show unto you a more excellent way."

Some people think that we're to pray, "Oh God, give me this gift or give me that gift." But the word "covet" here is "zeloo," usually used in a bad connotation. And what he is saying here is this: there was something wrong with the Corinthian church. They were seeking; they were coveting the best gifts, and to them, the more showy gifts, like tongues and miracles. And what he is saying here is this: he says, "You covet the best gifts."

This is not imperative; it is indicative. What he is saying is, "This is what you're doing. You're coveting the best gifts." But he said, "I'm going to show you a more excellent way." And then he speaks to them in one entire chapter about love. What is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is a sovereignly bestowed gift. You're not to want or covet somebody else's gift. You're to say, "Oh God, thank you for the gift that you have given to me." These gifts are sovereign gifts.

Now, next, they are salvation gifts. Look, if you will now, in verse 12 and find out when you got your gift. "For as the body is one and hath many members, and all of the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ," that is, the body of Christ. "For by one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."

Now, some people say, "Have you gotten the baptism of the Holy Spirit?" If you've been saved, you've gotten the baptism of the Holy Spirit. "For by one Spirit have we all been baptized into one body," not some of us, all of us. If somebody asks you, "Have you gotten the baptism of the Holy Ghost?" you can say, "Yes, I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost when I was saved and put into the body of Christ." For by one Spirit, have you all been baptized into one body.

And when you were put into the body, you were put into the body of Christ with a function. Your spiritual gift enables you to function as God put you in the body. You may be put in as a hand, a foot, or an eye, but wherever you were put into the body, that is the way that you are to function. Now, when you got saved, you got your spiritual gift. Just as you got your natural proclivities when you were born naturally, you get your supernatural proclivities when you are supernaturally born, and your spiritual gift is a salvation gift.

When the Holy Spirit came into you, he did not come in empty-handed. When you were born, you were born a gifted child. Do you have that? When you were born spiritually, when you were born again, you were born a gifted child. And for by one Spirit have we all been baptized into one body. The moment the Holy Spirit of God placed you into the body of Christ, he placed you into the body of Christ to do a particular thing. Everybody has a ministry.

Now, you may not have a ministry because you don't know you have a ministry, but you have a ministry. That is that when you were saved, you had a sovereign, supernatural gift that God equipped you with. Now, you may not yet have discovered it. A little baby that's born in the natural world has hands. Have you ever watched a baby discover his hands? That little baby when it's born doesn't know it has hands, but later on, that baby can become an artist, a pianist, a violinist, a surgeon as he learns how to use these hands.

But he didn't get the hands later on. The parents didn't take the baby back to the hospital and say, "Now put the hands on." The hands came at birth. The child has to discover his hands. The child has to develop his hands and then deploy his hands and put his hands to work. Do you have it? These gifts are salvation gifts. Now, let me say something else: they are support gifts. Look, if you will, in verse 17 of this same chapter.

"If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?" Wouldn't that be grotesque, some of you today were 195-pound eyeballs? If the whole body were an eye, you couldn't hear a thing, could you? But you could sure see good. "If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?" In other words, suppose you are a great big ear, but you can't smell anything. But now notice, "But God hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him."

And he goes on to say that the eye needs the ear, and the nose needs the rest of the body, and so forth. What's he saying? That God gave us different gifts. And the reason that God gave us different gifts is to make us one. If you don't learn anything else that I'm trying to say to you today, I want you to learn this: that God made us different that he might make us one.

God gave me some gifts he didn't give you. God gave you some gifts he didn't give me. And each of us have individual gifts, and together we must depend upon one another. And that is what makes the church the church. These are support gifts. And therefore, if you try to exercise your gift apart from your relationship to the body, it's going to be absurd.

Now, my hand, there's my hand. There's nothing particularly wrong with that hand. I think it's a pretty nice hand myself. But if it were cut off from my body and flung out there on the floor, I think you'd say, "Ugh." If you walked in and saw a hand lying on the floor this morning, you'd say, "That's grotesque. That's repulsive." The hand is significant only as it is a part of the body. Your spiritual gift is here to support the rest of the body, to profit the whole body.

God made us different that he might make us one. The Bible says when one member suffers, every member suffers with it. When one member rejoices, every member rejoices with it. Did you ever hit your thumb with a hammer? Boy, if you have, you know there's hardly a pain like that, hitting your thumb with a hammer. I'm talking about one that makes the thing turn blue later on. I wasn't there when it happened, but if you did, I can tell you I know just about what happened.

The very first thing you did was to grab it. I tell you what else you did. The next thing you did, you put it in your mouth and sucked it. And then I tell you the third thing you did: you did a little dance like this. Now, what do your knees have to do with your thumb? I don't know, but I tell you that dance helps. When one member suffers, every member suffers with it. These gifts are support gifts.

It is sheer pride for you to say, "I don't need the church." You need the church, and I'm going to tell you something else: the church needs you. Now, here are the gifts described, and I have given you six descriptions of these gifts. Now, let's talk about the diversity of the gifts. There are many, many gifts. And you say, "Well, pastor, if I am a gifted child, I want to know what my spiritual gift is."

Well, I'm going to read some of the gifts here, and I want you to see if you can hear your name called. Look in verse four. "There are diversities of gifts." Diversities of gifts. Now, let's skip down to verse eight and begin to look at them. In verse eight, he mentions wisdom. "For by one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom." What is wisdom? Wisdom is a spiritual gift. Have you ever known people who are gifted with wisdom? I'm not talking about common sense. You can be unsaved and have common sense.

I'm not talking about horse sense. You know what horse sense is? That's what keeps a horse from betting on a track meet. That's horse sense. But I'm not talking about that. Wisdom is not common sense; it is uncommon sense. People who have the gift of wisdom make wonderful, wonderful counselors. Maybe that is your gift. Or, in verse eight, a word of knowledge. Now, it doesn't say that you know everything. Nobody knows everything.

But the charismatic gift of knowledge is the ability to know things that you could not know apart from the anointing, the guidance, the giftedness of the Holy Spirit of God. The devil's counterfeit of this is clairvoyance. But you can know things through the Spirit that you couldn't know any other way. As a matter of fact, Simon Peter knew that Ananias and Sapphira were telling a lie in Acts, chapter five. How did he know that? He wasn't there when they carried on the transaction. He had a word of knowledge. A word of knowledge.

I've had that happen to me on a few occasions. I don't think that's my gift, but I was preaching in South Georgia in a revival meeting once, and while I was preaching, there was a man that people were praying for. Somebody came in and tapped him on the shoulder and motioned for him to come out. He was the sheriff of that county. As he walked to the back of the congregation right in the middle of the message, I felt impressed to say this: "There goes Sheriff So-and-So. There most likely has been a wreck, liquor's been involved, and somebody has been killed."

He left. About 11:30 that night, he came and knocked on my motel door. I came out. He said, "I need you to lead me to Jesus Christ. I want to be saved." There had been a wreck. A car hit a logging truck. A broken liquor bottle was in the front seat, and the man who was killed was the man who ran against this man as sheriff of that county. Now, how did I know that? How did God put that in my mind? I don't know.

It wasn't a part of my sermon. I was surprised when I heard myself say it. I just believe in answer to prayer for this man as people were praying, God wanted him to be somehow convicted and convinced by that. I don't have the gift of knowledge, but I think sometimes we can have flickers of these things. There is the gift of knowledge. There's the gift of faith. Look, if you will, in verse nine. "To another faith by the same Spirit."

Now, all Christians have faith in the general sense, but this is a very specific sense, the gift of faith. He describes it in chapter 13, verse one: "If I have faith that could remove mountains." This is mountain-moving faith. If you want to find the story of somebody who had the gift of faith, read the story of George Mueller of Bristol. This was a man the whole Christian world knows who had unusual faith. He had the charismatic gift of faith. He could believe God for certain things.

And I thank God that he puts in the church people who have this kind of faith. And I know some in this church how they encourage me because of their great and strong and mighty faith. Let me tell you that George Mueller of Bristol was a preacher. He raised millions of dollars for orphans without ever telling a person about his need. Incredible stories. One day he was off the coast of Newfoundland, and there was a great fog, and he went to the captain of the ship and he said, "Why aren't we moving?"

And the captain said, "I'm sorry, we can't move in this fog. It would be unsafe." And Mueller said, "But I've got a speaking engagement, and I cannot miss it. And it's very important. You must get the ship moving." He said, "We'll move the ship when the fog is lifted." He said, "Very well, let's go to the chart room and ask God to take away the fog." The old sea captain, knowing the ways of the sea, just went with George Mueller just to humor him.

They went into the chart room and got down on their knees, and Mueller prayed like this: "God, you know I'm supposed to be in such-and-such a place at such-and-such a time, and the captain says he won't move the ship till the fog is gone. So God, I ask you to take away the fog. Thank you, Lord. Amen." Now, the captain later reported this. He said he prayed a prayer that was so simple it was like a child would pray.

Then he said, "I began to pray," and Mueller rebuked me and said, "Don't pray." He said, "Why not?" He said, "For two reasons. Number one, you don't believe he'll do it. Number two, he's already done it." And the captain said he got up and went out and looked and the fog was gone. Now, you explain that. I don't have that kind of faith. I wish I did. I believe in God; I have faith. But there is that kind of faith that he's talking about, which is the gift of faith.

And then, in verse nine, he speaks of the gift of healing. Actually, the Greek word is "healings," plural, because there are all kinds of healing: physical healing, mental healing, spiritual healing. And there are some that God has given the ability to heal. This does not mean if you're a doctor that you have the gift of healing. You can be saved and have the gift of healing and not be a doctor.

You say, "Well, pastor, I'm going to ask you about a certain preacher. Do you think he has the gifts of healing?" Well, God has given me permission not to answer you. Let me tell you, that man or whoever you're thinking about will report in to God. But I believe with all of my heart, because I can read black print on white paper, there are people who have the gift of healing. You can do with that what you want, but I do believe there is a supernatural charismatic gift of healing. You can read the Bible and you can see that there are gifts of healing.

But of course, God uses medicine, and thank God for medicine. Jesus said, "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." Jesus said sick people need a doctor. That's pretty good advice to me. "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick." But there are the gifts of healing. Then there are gifts of miracles. Now look, if you will, in verse 10. "To another the working of miracles."

Pastor, do you believe in miracles? Of course, I believe in miracles. Why? Number one, I believe the Bible. Number two, I believe there is a God. And to say there cannot be miracles is simply to limit God and to say that God is the prisoner of the world that he has created. Are there miracle workers today? There probably are. Do you know any? No, I don't. Do you think it would be wonderful if we had some miracle workers in our church? Well, it'd be nice.

But I'll tell you this, that miracles are not much good in converting the unsaved. As a matter of fact, Jesus had to step over the miracle-mongers in order to do his ministry sometimes. But there are miracles that are performed. And you're going to find as you study the Bible that miracles came mostly in clusters. There were the miracles surrounding the creation. There were the miracles, for example, surrounding the ministry of Elisha and Elijah.

There were the miracles surrounding the ministry of Jesus, the miracles surrounding the ministry of the apostles, and the miracles that are prophesied for the last days. And so, there are gifts of miracles. You say, "Well, if you're spirit-filled, will you do miracles?" Not necessarily. The Bible says that John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his mother's womb. But notice what the Bible said about John the Baptist in John 10, verses 41 and 42.

"And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were true," that is, everything that John said about Jesus is true. "And many believed on him," on Jesus there. What a blessing. I tell you what, I'd rather have the power to point men to Jesus like John did than to raise the dead. I mean that with all of my heart and soul. John did no miracle. He was a spirit-filled man, but the ministry of John was that he pointed men to Jesus Christ.

Guest (Male): And with that, we'll conclude today's portion of Adrian Rogers' message. Don't miss part two coming up next time. And if you have questions regarding your faith in Jesus, we'd love to offer an insightful resource on our website, the Find God's Love page. You'll discover answers you may need right there about your faith. There's a response section where you can share how this message or others have impacted your life.

Simply go to LWF.org/radio and click the tab that says "Find God's Love." We can't wait to hear from you. Well, thank you for studying with us in God's Word today. Remember these words from Pastor Rogers: these spiritual gifts are not for evidence, they are equipment. They are not for your enjoyment, they are for your employment. Put your spiritual gifts to work today and join us next time for the conclusion of Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gift.

This program has been brought to you by Love Worth Finding, a non-profit ministry showcasing the powerful preaching and teaching of Pastor Adrian Rogers. We operate solely through the generous gifts of individual supporters like you. To give a gift today, call 1-877-LOVEGOD. You can also connect with us online by going to LWF.org/radio or write us at Love Worth Finding, Box 38600, Memphis, Tennessee 38183.

Be sure to join us next time for more profound truth simply stated, right here on Love Worth Finding. We were so thrilled to read this message from an international listener who shared this: "Love Worth Finding is a treasure for all time. No matter what decade I hear it, it is a word for the rest of our time on earth. I love it."

You know, at Love Worth Finding, we're honored to be able to share these timeless teachings and the exciting new resources we develop to help you flourish in your faith. And that's why when you donate to the ministry right now, we'd love to send you a copy of the powerful book, His Story. In this collection of eight powerful messages, Adrian Rogers shares the largest pieces of the Bible story from start to finish in a simple and clear way.

Request a copy of the book when you call with a gift at 1-877-LOVEGOD or give online at LWF.org/radio. And thanks for your generous support of Love Worth Finding.