Turning Point

Dr. David Jeremiah: You might not think you have much to offer in serving God. But the truth is, every believer is uniquely equipped for ministry. Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah sheds light on spiritual gifts. All Christians have at least one, and if you don't know what yours is, stay tuned as we continue our series on the Holy Spirit with David's helpful and encouraging message, "The Gifts of the Spirit."

I'm telling you up front, this is the most controversial part of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit—the gifts of the Spirit. We're not going to get into all of the theological discussion so much as just talk about what it means to be gifted by the Spirit of God. There are approximately 19 different separate gifts listed in the New Testament. The Bible says that every Christian has at least one of them, and many Christians are multi-gifted.

God uses those gifts in their lives by His Spirit. He enables them to do things for the Kingdom that would not be done otherwise. We're going to talk about it today. This is a two-part lesson. We'll take the first part today, and we'll finish it up on Monday. One last time this week for me to tell you about this book that we're telling you about during the month of June. It's exciting to me because I know this book is going to be a blessing to you.

One of the things I discovered when I started to teach on the Holy Spirit is that not a lot of teaching has happened in our churches about it. Many times, people just don't know about the Holy Spirit. It's not that they don't want to know or they're not eager to know, but sometimes we don't teach. This book is a teaching tool to help you know the major things you need to know about the Spirit of God.

It's yours for a gift of any size during this month. Just send your gift and say, "Please send me Dr. Jeremiah's book on the Holy Spirit," and it'll be on its way. Here's part one of "The Gifts of the Spirit" in this continued series.

D.L. Moody was one of the most influential evangelists of the 19th century. You've heard me talk about him over the years. He's one of my favorite characters. He left a successful career in the shoe business to share the Gospel. During his brief 62 years of life, it is estimated that he preached to more than 100 million people and led over 1 million people to Christ.

But what may surprise you if you've never read his story is that Moody wasn't a polished speaker, nor was he a trained evangelist or theologian. In fact, when he spoke, he often stumbled over his words and he mangled the English language. He split infinitives and other things like that. After one of his sermons, a man came up to him and said, "Mr. Moody, I listened while you were speaking, and you made 17 grammatical errors in your sermon." God bless people like that.

Then this man held out a piece of paper, and he made a list of Moody's mistakes. Moody just smiled and said, "I'm doing my best with what God has given me. Are you?" That's a real good question. In fact, that's a question we all need to wrestle through because the Bible says God is the great giver of gifts. What are you doing and what am I doing with everything we have been gifted?

Ephesians chapter 4 tells us that when the Lord ascended to heaven, He gave gifts to men. In Ephesians 4:7, we read, "To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift." What the Bible teaches men and women is that you and I, apart from the gift of salvation which we receive when we repent of our sins and become Christians, each of us have been endowed with a gift of ministry from Almighty God.

Every person who is a Christian has a spiritual gift. I know that some of you are smiling and saying, "Well, I must have been left off that list because I don't have any spiritual gifts." Well, you have to argue now, not with me, but with the word of God. The word of God says we all have spiritual gifts. The fact that we don't know what they are is not God's fault; it's our fault.

Today, we're going to deal with that a little bit and talk about what it means to have a spiritual gift and the joy of using that gift for the honor and glory of the Lord. Every Christian has been uniquely equipped for ministry. But before we go any further, let me just take a moment and remind you there's a difference between spiritual gifts and the fruit of the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit has to do with who we are. The fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and longsuffering and all those things. But the gifts of the Spirit have to do with what we do—the things that we do for the Lord, how we serve the Lord. We don't all get the same gift. If we're honest, sometimes we wish we had a different gift than the one we have.

Maybe you look around and think, "Why couldn't I be the preacher?" or "Why didn't God make me the singer?" But spiritual gifts aren't something we get to choose. They're something the Holy Spirit assigns. In fact, the Bible says, "The same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills." The Holy Spirit decides, not us.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Holy Spirit never gets it wrong. He's always right; He never misses. So if you belong to Christ, you already have at least one spiritual gift. You may not have discovered it yet, but it's there, and it's waiting to be used. A.T. Pierson was a Bible teacher from an earlier day, and he said, "Everyone has some gift; therefore, all should be encouraged. Not all have all the gifts; therefore, all should be humble. All gifts are for one body; therefore, all should be in harmony. And all gifts are needful; therefore, all should be faithful."

Today, I want to unwrap the gifts of the Spirit with what they are, how they work, and how we can recognize the ones God has given us. I must confess to you that in years past, I have given entire series of messages and given a message on every gift, which I cannot do now. So I'm going to give all those messages to you in one message. I'm going to bring the truck up and dump it all right in one place.

I want you to listen carefully because the overall of this, the bringing of this all together, is very helpful for us to understand how we fit into the plan God has for us and how we can find the joy we have. I tell you the truth, the greatest joy I've ever had was to become a Christian. The second greatest joy I've ever had is being a Christian and being able to serve the Lord. That comes through understanding how this works.

Remember this—and you want to write this down—there are three major passages in the Bible that tell you about spiritual gifts. It's kind of easy to remember: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. In Romans 12, we are told that we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them.

If prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Or ministry, let us use it in our ministering. He who teaches, in teaching. He who exhorts, in exhortation. He who gives, with liberality. He who leads, with diligence. He who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. So in that passage, we run into the serving gifts like teaching and encouraging and generosity and mercy.

Then in 1 Corinthians 12, we have the gifts of miracles and prophecy and discernment of spirits and tongues and the interpretation of tongues. And then in chapter 4 of Ephesians, we have the gift of prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers. Now, when you take all these gifts and put them together, they sort of fall out into some groups. I think by understanding the groups, we'll understand the gifts.

First of all, there are special gifts. These are gifts that were used in the early days of the church to help the church get established, like apostles and prophets, evangelists and pastor-teachers. These had a very special part in the founding of the church, and some of them remain in operation today. Then there are speaking gifts. These are the gifts that involve the mouth. They include prophecy and teaching and exhortation, the word of wisdom, and the word of knowledge.

And then there are serving gifts. This is my favorite list because this is where most of us find our gifts. These gifts that are given to us throughout these passages tell us that we can serve, we can help, we can lead, we can administrate, we can give, we can show mercy, we can discern spirits, we can show faith, and we can demonstrate hospitality. You may be busy serving in one of these capacities, and you don't even realize you've been gifted.

You're involved in serving God and you didn't even know you were gifted to do it. But you have followed your inclinations to do what God has called you to do, and you're doing it, and you're effective in the doing of it. Then there is one other set of gifts that causes a lot of consternation for people. We get asked questions about this a lot through our radio and television ministry and even here in the church.

These are the sign gifts. One of the reasons there's so much controversy over all these gifts is because we have thrown them all in one big package and think they all have to be used in the same way. But what is the use for special gifts? Or the use for the serving gifts? What is the use for speaking gifts? And what is the use for sign gifts?

Sign gifts were given to establish God's authority. I don't have time to go through all of the argument about this in this sermon, but if you'll listen carefully, I will give you the core answer to the question that sometimes you're asked. In the New Testament, when Jesus was on this earth and His apostles were preaching, they had no New Testament. They had no authority for what they said.

How could people know whether they truly came from God? Their words were authenticated by miracles and visible signs that proved their authority. The apostles were recognized as God's messengers because of the sign gifts. But when the written word of God was completed, when we got this blessed book called the Bible, those sign gifts began to fade from the center.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, God has no higher authority than the Bible. When people want to know, "Is it true?", they should not seek for some special gift to be exhibited, but they should go to the word of God. If you say, "God says it," open your Bible and see if God says it. The Bereans did that. The Bible says the Bereans searched the scriptures to see whether or not the things the apostles were saying were true.

At our church, we do not practice sign gifts because we have the highest authority in our hands that's ever been produced. This is the ultimate authority of our faith. The Bible says that God has exalted His word above His name. When experience becomes our authority, confusion follows because, you see, the Bible is very objective. It says what it says, it means what it means.

If you find out what it means, you'll discover it doesn't mean two things; it means one thing. It's an objective truth. But signs are subjective. They are interpreted by the people who experience them, and they're all different and they mean different things to different people. When we speak the word of truth, we speak the word of truth and it's based upon the word of God.

Where the word of God is central, people grow strong in their faith. Where it is removed from the center, confusion takes its place. So we do not practice the sign gifts at Shadow Mountain because we know we have the authority that's greater than all—we have the word of God and we rest our case on the word of God. If God said it, I believe it, and that settles it. Amen?

So let me tell you what the purpose of these gifts are that God gives to us. First of all, the Bible says these gifts are given to us to build up others in the family of God. Now, there's a word that is used. I remember this word growing up in the church, wondering what in the world it meant to be edified. People were always talking about being sanctified and edified, and I didn't know what it meant.

One day I realized that the word edify comes from the word edifice, which means building. So the word to edify means to build up. The Bible says that we are given gifts according to Ephesians 4:12 for the edifying of the body of Christ. The reason God has gifted you and me with these several gifts that we've talked about is so that when we utilize these gifts, we are building up the body of Christ.

How many of you know some people have the gift of tearing down the body of Christ? But it didn't come from God; it came from the other direction. God has called you and me to develop the gifts He's placed within us so that when we utilize those gifts, we're helping others grow and be strengthened in their faith and become better Christians and better followers of Christ.

We build up. It says in this same passage of scripture: for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And in 1 Corinthians we read: since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. God has given to you and me a gift of ministry so that we will build people up instead of tearing them down.

If your gift is encouragement, you speak hope instead of criticism. If your gift is serving, you meet needs instead of ignoring them. If your gift is teaching, you bring truth instead of confusion. When you use your gifts, you push back against the negativity of the world and you help make the church and the people in it stronger. So we're given these gifts to establish believers.

So you say, "Pastor Jeremiah, what does it mean to be established?" Well, it means that you don't get blown around by everything that happens. When some new thing comes that somebody says is from God, you know whether or not it's from God because you've dug your roots down deep into the scripture. You know what is true. Let me say something to you.

When you know what is true, you know what is false, right? When you know what is true from the word of God, the things that aren't true to the word of God become really evident to you. You may not even be able to express it; you may just be able to say, "That doesn't sound right to me." And it doesn't sound right to you because it's not right; it's not from the word of God.

The word of God tests everything, and when we have spiritual gifts, the Bible says what happens is we help each other to get established in the faith. We encourage one another, we strengthen one another, we go through difficult times with one another, and we together help one another in their faith. Paul wrote in Romans, "I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift that you may be established."

You might ask, "How do I get established?" Well, when people use their spiritual gifts within the church, they bless us with those gifts. They help you and me become more established in what we believe. When I use the gift that God has given to me, my great honor and purpose is to build you up and to establish you in the faith. As I've been asked today, what I want you to know is what the Bible says about spiritual gifts.

So when someone comes and tells you something that's not true, you know where to find the truth. What am I doing? I'm using the gift that God has given me to instruct and encourage and to build up and to establish. Here's the last thing that spiritual gifts do, and this is really neat and pretty special. The Bible says that when you and I use our spiritual gifts, we bring honor and glory to Jesus Christ. We exalt Him.

Listen to 1 Peter 4:11. "If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen." What is scripture saying? It is saying if you have a gift of speaking, speak for the glory of God and God will be glorified.

If you have the gift of serving, serve God with all your heart and God will be glorified. The Bible says, "Let men see your good works that they may glorify your Father who is in heaven." If you have the gift of teaching, study diligently, teach creatively, do it with the strength and skill within you, and the God of glory will gain even more glory because of what you're doing.

Bringing glory to God is one of our chief purposes as Christians, and we might as well roll up our sleeves and in the power of the Spirit get after it. Use your gift. When you do, you bring honor and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's not just for people like me; that's for all of us because as we've learned so far in this little tutorial, we all have a spiritual gift from God.

Now, in the whole doctrine of spiritual gifts, there are some issues that come up. Let me just deal with three of them before we bring the conclusion to this message. I don't know that there's anything that has been more controversial among Christians than this. Sometimes it's just that we don't know. First of all, I'd like to call out the spirituality problem.

Have you ever encountered somebody who's got a spiritual gift, and it may be obvious to you that they do, and because of that, they flaunt this gift and they make you know that they're spiritual people? Well, I'm here to tell you something that'll surprise you: you can have a spiritual gift and be a carnal Christian. The Bible says about the Corinthians, they fell behind in no spiritual gift. In other words, they had all the gifts.

And yet the church in Corinth was the most carnal church in the New Testament history books. When I was a pastor in Fort Wayne, Indiana, there was another church there that was quite large, and they decided to open a bookstore. Low and behold, they opened the bookstore and they called it The Corinthian Bookstore. I called the pastor one day and I said, "Have you ever read Corinthians?"

And he said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Why in the world would you call your bookstore The Corinthian Bookstore? It's the most carnal church; I wouldn't want to be Corinthian anything." About two months later, he changed it and got it right. But Corinthians were not good people; they were carnal people. All of this information that you read—go home and read it today—you'll see what I'm talking about.

But that church, we are told, was number one in spiritual gifts. They all had spiritual gifts, but because they had spiritual gifts, they weren't spiritual. They held those gifts because they were from God and they used them in many cases for their own purposes, and they got into a lot of trouble. Paul scathed them in 1 Corinthians. He lets them have it, and he should have because of what they were doing.

The ironic fact is you can be greatly gifted and still not be walking with the Lord. So don't let spiritual gifts be the standard of your Christianity. The second problem is what I call the specialist problem. This is really common, believe it or not. Sometimes someone will say to me, "Pastor, you've been encouraging us to share our faith, but I don't do that because I don't have the gift of evangelism."

Well, that doesn't get you off the hook, not even close. Because while there are people who have the gift of evangelism, all of us are called to go into the world and share our faith. Somebody says, "I don't give because I don't have the gift of giving." Come on, now. You know, there are people, according to the Bible, who have the gift of giving and it says if you have that gift you should use it liberally. Did you see that?

But the Bible also knows that we might not have that gift but we still have the responsibility. All of the gifts have both a special and a general application. Generally speaking, we all should be evangelists, we should all be serving, we should all be speaking the truth. But sometimes the Lord comes along and He puts His hand on someone and gives them a special ability in one of these things, and that is a spiritual gift.

But it doesn't take you away from your responsibility to do the things that the Bible tells you to do. Just because you don't have the gift of evangelism doesn't mean you can't share the Gospel with somebody you love. You may feel like you don't do it well, but do it because that's what God has called us to do. God calls everyone of us to teach, to encourage, to serve.

And these are not just gifts for a few; they're a part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Thirdly, there's the self-centered problem. There are other people who fall into a self-centered problem. They start to think, "My spiritual gifts are for me." That's not true; God didn't give you a gift for yourself. That's not what God is up to.

God gave you gifts to help others. Once again, scripture says that these gifts are to profit all. There's an old adage that goes something like this: if God has given you a gift, use it, don't abuse it, or you will lose it. And that is a good admonition. You can let a gift atrophy. A gift that isn't used is ultimately lost in terms of its effectiveness for God.

Once you figure out what God has gifted you to do, your goal should be to polish that gift, sharpen that tool, and use it all that you can for the glory of God while there is still time.

Amen. And you know, that's what you do. You go to school, you learn, you sharpen your sword, you get ready to be useful to the Lord. Sometimes the sharpening part of it is, well, it can be monotonous if you're not careful. I remember as a student in seminary I used to think, "I should be out preaching somewhere. What am I doing in this carrel in the library?"

But you know, God wants to sharpen you up, and I am so thankful that I didn't neglect that part of my life because I've been fishing out of that stream for a long time and I'm very grateful. Hey listen, we are going to take a break for the weekend and I hope you will get to church. Be an encouragement to someone, use your gift in the church where you serve, and be sure to look for us on television.

We're on a network somewhere near you, hopefully not while church is going on. If so, record the service on television, be sure to go to church in person, be there and be an encouragement to others. God will honor that. We'll see you here next week, right here on this same station at this same time.

David Michael Jeremiah: The message you just heard originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah. Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where you can find it, visit our website, davidjeremiah.org/radio. That's davidjeremiah.org/radio. Or call 800-947-1993.

Ask for your copy of David's new book, *The Holy Spirit You May Not Know*, a valuable resource that's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the *Jeremiah Study Bible* in the English Standard, New International, and New King James versions, complete with notes and articles from Dr. Jeremiah's decades of study.

Let us know how God is using this ministry by dropping us a note to Turning Point, P.O. Box 3838, San Diego, California 92163. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we continue "The Holy Spirit You May Not Know" on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.