{"id":18496,"date":"2018-10-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/ecclesiology-037-spiritual-gifts-16\/"},"modified":"2018-10-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-07T05:00:00","slug":"ecclesiology-037-spiritual-gifts-16","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/ecclesiology-037-spiritual-gifts-16\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecclesiology 037: Spiritual Gifts 16"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[94],"series_event":[484],"sermon_service_type":[473],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18496","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-ephesians","series_event-ecclesiology","sermon_service_type-sunday-school","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Ecclesiology 037: Spiritual Gifts 16","sermon_date":"20181007","sermon_month":"10","sermon_year":"2018","sermon_notes":6108,"sermon_slides":6109,"sermon_mp3":6112,"sermon_id":"10718840241","series_or_event":484,"service_type":[473],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":94,"chapter_and_verse":"4:11-12","sermon_transcript":"Dr. Andy Woods\n\nEcclesiology 37, Spiritual Gifts, Part 1\n\nEphesians 4:11-12.\u00a0\u00a0 10-7-18\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 37\n\nFather, we\u2019re grateful for Your faithfulness to us and thank You for this morning.\u00a0 I do ask, Father, that You will bless our Sunday School this morning and also the church service and the fellowship time that follows, and also the partaking of the Lord\u2019s Table.\u00a0 And I just ask Father that people would leave here eternally changed, and only You can accomplish that.\u00a0 And lift up these things in Jesus\u2019 name and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen.\n\nGood morning everybody, I feel like I haven\u2019t seen you for a while.\u00a0 Let\u2019s open our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 28.\u00a0 I want to thank you all for all the prayers and the well wishes, I am feeling much better and most of you probably don\u2019t know this but the reason I was getting sick last week was a problem as I had a big ministry trip that I just got back from about midnight last night which involved a conference in Duluth, Minnesota that I participated in and then in Denver which I participated in yesterday, and made it back today, praise God. And I\u2019m not sure if I should have made it back to be honest with you; the reason being is my flight went from Minnesota to Chicago to Denver and there was a big storm in Chicago so they weren\u2019t letting planes out of Chicago and so I could have been stuck in Chicago. And in fact, when we left Chicago and flew to Denver by the time we landed the stewardess gets on the microphone and I can\u2019t believe she said this, she said well, you know, you guys are pretty lucky to arrive in Denver; we weren\u2019t even supposed to fly out of Chicago because of the electric storm.\u00a0 And I\u2019m thinking well I\u2019m glad you told me that after we landed because at one point we were flying and I no aviator, believe me, but I was looking out the window and enjoying the electrical storm which I had never really seen up close.\u00a0 And I thought well this is really cool, I\u2019ve never seen one of these.\u00a0 Then finally it dawned on me is this normal, re we supposed to be flying this close to an electrical storm?\u00a0 But God is faithful, Amen.\u00a0 And I want to thank Jim for filling in last week.\n\nAs you know, we\u2019ve been working our way through this study on Ecclesiology and we\u2019re looking at the purposes of the church and one of its great purposes is to equip the saints to prepare them for their ministry and then you might ask yourself, well what is my ministry, what am I supposed to be doing.\u00a0 And that largely depends upon what spiritual gift and\/or gifts or gift mix that you have.\u00a0 Operating within your gifts is really a key sign of the Holy Spirit that that\u2019s the ministry you\u2019re supposed to have.\u00a0 Of course, that\u2019s not the only thing you do but that\u2019s your primary thrust and so how can you do that unless you get some teaching on spiritual gifts.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re kind of dipping into pneumatology, the doctrine of the Spirit, because it\u2019s the Spirit that gives spiritual gifts, that\u2019s why they\u2019re called spiritual gifts.\u00a0 And I\u2019m kind of dragging that now into ecclesiology because the two subjects are connected.\n\nSo, what we\u2019re doing is we\u2019re asking and answering four questions.\u00a0 Number one, what are some general observations about spiritual gifts.\u00a0 I gave you about nineteen or twenty of those a few months ago.\u00a0 And then we\u2019re finished with number two, it took a lot of time to do it because I wanted to give you a theological explanation.\u00a0 But number two, all the gifts of the Holy Spirit for today, and as you go through the gift list there are certain gifts that we at Sugar Land Bible Church believe passed in the first century.\u00a0 So, we\u2019re different than a charismatic church, a Pentecostal church, that would believe all of those gifts of the Holy Spirit are in operation.\u00a0 Having addressed those two major subjects now we\u2019re into number three, what are the remaining spiritual gifts?\u00a0 There are about sixteen or so spiritual gifts that continue.\u00a0 And we\u2019re going to start walking through those this morning and then probably next week I\u2019ll be giving you some tips as to how to discover what your gift and\/or gifts are.\n\nSo where would you find the spiritual gifts in the Bible.\u00a0 I\u2019ve given you this pneumonic device before, haven\u2019t I?\u00a0 Twelve, twelve, four, four.\u00a0 Twelve, twelve, four, four stands for Romans 12,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1 Corinthians 12, 1 Peter 4, and Ephesians 4.\u00a0 And if you were to survey or just read those four chapters of the Bible you\u2019d have all of the places in the Bible that actually enumerate the various spiritual gifts.\u00a0 So, by my count there are 16 gifts applicable and normative and available in the body of Christ today and those are what we would call the edificatory gifts.\n\nSo, as you recall the revelatory gifts and the foundational gifts and the confirmatory gifts have passed but the church never outgrows its need for edification so the edificatory gifts continue.\u00a0 What are those edificatory gifts?\u00a0 Sixteen of them.\u00a0 Let\u2019s kind of go through these if we could.\u00a0 The first one is the gift of prophecy, and you\u2019ll find prophecy mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Romans 12:6.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 12:28, \u201cAnd God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.\u201d Romans 12:6, \u201cSince we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith;\u201d]\n\nAnd you remember what we said about prophecy?\u00a0 We said that the church was built on the prophets, the foundation of the prophets.\u00a0 Remember we talked about that.\u00a0 So, in terms of people receiving direct revelation from God and communicating it we believe that is something that has already ceased because the Scripture has been once and for all handed down to the saints, right?\u00a0\u00a0 So, if someone is saying I\u2019m a prophet of God meaning I receive direct revelation from God, well then the canon of Scripture is open but we believe the canon of Scripture has been closed.\n\nSo, with that being the case I think what happened is the Holy Spirit transitioned things, did a transition on the gift of prophet away from somebody who is a receiver and a proclaimer of truth; today the way the gift of prophet functions is it\u2019s someone who is a preacher and a proclaimer, not of new truth but of finite truth or known truth which would be found in these sixty-six books.\u00a0 So the closest thing that we would have today towards someone being called a prophet would be what I would call a preacher or a sermon perhaps you can call it that, or someone that is proclaiming truth but they\u2019re not receiving new truth, they\u2019re proclaiming what God has already said, a preacher we might say.\n\nSo, in that sense there is, I think, a gift of prophecy which is the ability to proclaim God\u2019s truth without compromise.\u00a0 Would you say that gift is needed today?\u00a0 Sure, we desperately need proclaimers.\u00a0 The Greek for proclaimer is k\u00e9russ\u00f3<\/em>, someone who announces or someone who heralds divine truth.\u00a0 And what did Jesus say?\u00a0 \u201cYou shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.\u201d\u00a0 [John 8:32] Obviously if that\u2019s true we need people in the body of Christ that are in places that God has put them to be proclaimers of truth.\u00a0 So that would be spiritual gift number one.\n\nThe second spiritual gift is sort of related but it\u2019s slightly different, it\u2019s the gift of teaching and you\u2019ll find the gift of teaching in 1 Corinthians 12:28 and Romans 12:7.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 12:28, \u201cAnd God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Romans 12:7, \u201cif service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching;\u201d]\n\nTeaching is the ability to explain clearly, not a new revelation that God has given them but what God has already revealed; that\u2019s what a teacher does.\u00a0 So, teaching, I think, is all about accuracy but it\u2019s all about, as J. Vernon McGee used to say, putting the cookies on the bottom shelf.\u00a0 It\u2019s about not just accuracy but it\u2019s also about clarity.\u00a0 And there have been many teachers that I\u2019ve listened to that I\u2019m more confused after the class is over than before it started.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the gift of teaching.\u00a0 I think the gift of teaching is the ability to take what God has said in His Bible and accurately explain it so anybody can understand the teaching.\n\nAnd of course, with all of these gifts there\u2019s different ways to use them.\u00a0 We might think of like I\u2019m doing it now behind a lectern, you might think of doing it through writing.\u00a0 Where would we be today if Paul had not written his thirteen letters?\u00a0\u00a0 So, he\u2019s still teaching us even though he\u2019s been with the Lord for two thousand years because he\u2019s teaching us in written form.\u00a0 \u00a0I also think a great way to teach is also one on one.\u00a0 Acts 18:26 talks about a gifted man named Apollos, remember him in the Book of Acts?\u00a0 And he, for whatever reason didn\u2019t have a complete picture of what Jesus had come into the world to do, he didn\u2019t understand much about the Holy Spirit, and he was more of what we would call an Old Testament saint perhaps, being under the teachings of John the Baptist he didn\u2019t have the complete picture.\u00a0 And over in Acts 18:26 it talks about Priscilla and Aquila, a husband and wife team, how they kind of took him aside, and this would be not of a congregational setting but one on one, and they taught him \u201cthe way of God more accurately.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s teaching.\n\nActs 18:26, says \u201cand he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue.\u201d That\u2019s Apollos, \u201cBut when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained\u201d that\u2019s teaching, \u201cthey explained to him the way of God more accurately.\u201d\u00a0 And then of course once Apollos, who was already very gifted and very involved in ministry, once he received that teaching he was actually more effective in his ministry than he was before.\u00a0 But that\u2019s an example of the gift of teaching.\n\nAnd I encourage people to do this and it\u2019s something my wife and I did when we were in the Dallas area; if you feel you have the gift of teaching one of the best ways to start is teaching children because if you can teach children you can probably teach anybody.\u00a0 Amen.\u00a0 And most people don\u2019t know this about Charles Ryrie, you know, we think of Charles Ryrie as the author of the Ryrie Study Bible and Charles Ryrie the systematic theologian, but the very first book that Charles Ryrie ever wrote, before he even had any aspirations to be a theologian was a children\u2019s book.\u00a0 And that comes across in his teaching to adults.\u00a0 Ryrie can just take the [can't understand word] subjects and make it so easy to understand that anybody can get it.\u00a0 And a lot of people would say well, you know, I\u2019m not going to start with children, I\u2019m too high and mighty for that.\u00a0 Well, I would just say this: he who is faithful with something small can be trusted with something greater.\u00a0 So, a great way to validate whether or not you have the gift of teaching is to start off with children and I\u2019m sure Casey Cunningham would be more than happy to talk to you about that because she\u2019s always looking for volunteers.\n\nSo we have the gift of prophecy and then we have the gift of teaching and there\u2019s a third spiritual gift that continues in the body of Christ and you\u2019re going to find this in Ephesians 4:11.\u00a0 You might want to turn over there for a moment.\u00a0 And this is the gift of pastor-teacher, Ephesians 4:11 says, \u201cAnd He gave some as<\/em> apostles, and some as<\/em> prophets, and some as<\/em> evangelists, and some as<\/em> pastors and teachers,\u201d and I believe that the Granville Sharp rule is at work here.\u00a0 The Granville Sharp rule, it may not show up clearly in what English says, when you have two nouns joined by a conjunction, like \u201cand\u201d and there\u2019s a definite article in front of the first noun, so we\u2019ve got definite article, noun, conjunction, noun, like we have here, \u201cpastors and teachers\u201d then the two nouns are equal, that\u2019s the Granville Sharp rule.\n\nGranville Sharp was sort of an interesting guy, he was actually an abolitionist and he worked alongside William Wilberforce to help abolish the slave trade in Europe.\u00a0 So, I like to use that when people tell me Christians shouldn\u2019t be involved in politics. Well, what do you do with Granville Sharp?\u00a0 I mean, Granville Sharp was a great grammarian but he was also very involved in fighting cultural evils of his day.\u00a0 But anyway, he\u2019s the guy that came up with this rule of grammar and that\u2019s how you can use it to defend the deity of Christ many times because there\u2019s some passages that talk about Jesus being Lord and Savior. So, the definite article is in front of the first noun and the two nouns are joined by a conjunction and so Jesus is not just Savior but He is Lord on the authority of the Granville Sharp rule.\n\nSo I believe that the Granville Sharp rule is in play here and it\u2019s talking about not just pastors and then teachers the way it reads in English but it\u2019s talking about the gift of pastor-teacher.\u00a0 So there is a spiritual gift in the body of Christ which is very necessary, called the gift of pastor-teacher.\u00a0 And when you read it there in Ephesians 4:11 and keep reading through verse 16 you\u2019ll see that it exists to bring the body of Christ to maturity through the systematic teaching of God\u2019s Word.\n\n[Ephesians 4:11, \u201cAnd He gave some as<\/em> apostles, and some as<\/em> prophets, and some as<\/em> evangelists, and some as<\/em> pastors and teachers, [12] for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; [13] until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. [14] As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; [15] but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects<\/em> into Him who is the head, even<\/em> Christ, [16] from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.\u201d]\n\nSo, I\u2019m going to define the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher as the ability to equip and mature the body of Christ.\u00a0 Charles Ryrie comments on the Granville-Sharp rule in his Ryrie Study Bible.\u00a0 He says, \u201cpastors and teachers<\/em>. The two ministries are linked together here,\u201d that\u2019s why I\u2019m calling it the gift of pastor-teacher, \u201cThe two ministries are linked together here\u201d then he says \u201cthough separated elsewhere\u201d [(Romans 12:7; 1 Peter 5:2).\u201d [Ryrie Study Bible<\/em>, p. 1881]\n\nSo \u201celsewhere\u201d you have a spiritual gift just called teaching, \u201celsewhere\u201d you have an office within the church called elder, so you have pastors and then you have teachers but then you have something very unique that God has given to the body of Christ, where the two are brought into a single person called the gift of pastor-teacher.\u00a0 And one of the functions of the pastor-teacher is not just to teach and bring the body of Christ to maturity but it\u2019s to function like a shepherd.\u00a0 If you want to understand how spiritual leaders are supposed to act and what they\u2019re supposed to be doing the concept of pastor is really related to the idea of a shepherd. So think of what a shepherd does in the natural world and you\u2019ll understand what a spiritual leader or a plurality of elders are supposed to be doing in a local church.\n\nWhat does a shepherd do?\u00a0 Number one, he guides the sheep.\u00a0 Number two, he guards the sheep because sheep (no offense intended to anybody, including myself, because we\u2019re all sheep, right?). \u201cAll of us like sheep have gone astray,\u201d when the Lord here calls us sheep it\u2019s not a compliment.\u00a0\u00a0 [Isaiah 53:6, \u201cAll of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.\u201d]\u00a0 We think oh, sheep, they\u2019re so cute and cuddly and oh gosh, we can give them a big hug and all these kinds of things, and we lose the fact that sheep are probably some of the dumbest animals that have ever existed.\u00a0 Sheep will literally follow each other right over a cliff if you\u2019re not monitoring them carefully.\u00a0 Sheep are not very smart and sheep are extremely vulnerable\u2026 extremely vulnerable!\n\nSo, the function of a shepherd is to guard the sheep from who?\u00a0 The wolf, and would you say that there are wolves constantly trying to come into the body of Christ.\u00a0 I would say yes, first of all you have false doctrine, people want to come into churches and teach aberrant strange ideas.\u00a0 And you think of all of the other harmful influences that can come into the church.\u00a0 We\u2019ve all seen the newspaper accounts haven\u2019t we, of people that want to sign up for children\u2019s ministry and work with children and it turns out that they\u2019re sexual molesters and pedophiles and something like that happens and it breaks out all over the news.\u00a0 I remember that happened to a very prominent church in the southern California area.\u00a0 And so the function of spiritual leadership is to keep all of those deleterious influences outside the church, to not let them have influence.\n\nSo there\u2019s some simple things you can do with the situation of child molesters and things like that, is you can have a two person policy in nursery and Sunday School.\u00a0 Our policy is we always have two workers in every Sunday School class for children so that kind of minimizes what a sexual predator can do. \u00a0But anyway, this all falls under the ruberick of spiritual leadership.\u00a0 The shepherd is to stand guard over the sheep.\u00a0 And then the last thing a shepherd does is he grazes the sheep.\u00a0 He feeds the sheep and I believe that this is probably the primary task of a shepherd is to feed the sheep with what?\u00a0 God\u2019s Word, amen!\u00a0 Because \u201cman does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.\u201d\u00a0 Matthew 4:4, and many other passages.\u00a0 And so the function of a shepherd is to feed the sheep with God\u2019s Word.\n\nWhat did Job say?\u00a0 He said, \u201cI value Your words more than my daily bread.\u201d\u00a0 [Job 23:12, \u201c\"I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0So it may not feel like it but you desperately need a meal to survive.\u00a0 Now can you remember what you had for dinner last Thursday night? Unless you\u2019re a really meticulous note taker or keeper you probably would have to strain to remember what you had for dinner.\u00a0 But just because you can\u2019t remember it doesn\u2019t mean you didn\u2019t need the food at that time.\u00a0 Amen. So people say oh well, I can\u2019t even remember what my pastor talked about two weeks ago or one week ago.\u00a0 Well, that doesn\u2019t matter because at that time you probably needed it as a basic meal. So a pastor-teacher is supposed to shepherd the flock of God.\u00a0 He\u2019s supposed to guide, guard and graze the flock.\n\nAnd of course, the ultimate model for a shepherd is who?\u00a0 The Lord, how He treats us.\u00a0 Now you all know Psalm 23, right?\u00a0 Take a look quickly at Psalm 23 and you\u2019ll see exactly what a shepherd does.\u00a0 When you understand what a shepherd does, what the Lord does for us, you understand what a shepherd does and we, as spiritual leaders, are under shepherds, 1 Peter 5.\n\n[Psalm 23:1, The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.\u00a0 [2] He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. [3] He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name\u2019s sake. [4] Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. [5] You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.\u00a0 [6] Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.\u201d\n\n1 Peter 5:1-3, \u201cTherefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your<\/em> fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, [2] shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of<\/em> God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; [3] nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.\u201d]\n\nWe are under shepherds, under the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and we are not shepherds unto ourselves but we are shepherds unto Him and we must give an account.\u00a0 Psalm 23:1 says, \u201cThe LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want,\u201d now why do I not want?\u00a0 Because He feeds me constantly.\u00a0 \u201cHe makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters.\u201d\u00a0 There is the function of guiding.\u00a0 And grazing verse 1, guiding verse 2.\n\n[Verse 3, \u201cHe restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name\u2019s sake.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s the guiding function.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4] Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil,\u201d why not? \u201cfor You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.\u201d\u00a0 Now why would they be a comfort?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re a protection, the rod and staff, from the wolf.\u00a0 \u201cYour rod and Your staff, they comfort me,\u201d so there\u2019s the guarding function.\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cYou prepare a\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201ca table\u201d what do you do with a table?\u00a0 Nourishment so there\u2019s the grazing function, \u201cYou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows.\u00a0 [6] Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.\u201d]\n\nI mean just six simple verses but they\u2019re astonishing how clear they are concerning how the Lord shepherds us.\u00a0 And since He is our model and we are under shepherds, under the great shepherd, He becomes our model for spiritual leadership.\u00a0 The pastor-teacher is to guide, guard and graze, the three G\u2019s as I like to call them.\n\nAnd then there\u2019s a fourth spiritual gift that God has put into the body of Christ, it\u2019s called the gift of evangelism and when you go back to Ephesians 4:11 not only do you see the gift of pastor-teacher in Ephesians 4:11 but you also see the gift of an evangelist, because \u201cHe gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, [unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ:]\u201d\u00a0 So I sort of like to analogize the role of the pastor-teacher to that of a pediatrician, who helps the born child mature correctly.\u00a0 But then there\u2019s a completely different discipline in the medical world called obstetrician who helps with the birth of the child.\u00a0 So, evangelists are basically different than pastors and teachers although I\u2019ve seen on occasions a single individual possessing pastor-teacher and evangelist, although it\u2019s very rare.\u00a0 The pastor-teacher is more or less working with the saints; the evangelist is more or less working with the unbelievers.\n\nAnd when\u00a0 you look at verse 12, after it mentions pastors and teachers it says, \u201cfor the perfecting of the saints,\u201d so the pastor-teacher is working with the saints, that would not be the unsaved, that would be the saved, so the pastor-teacher is basically functioning as a pediatrician helping the newborn child of God to grow correctly; the evangelist is sort of what we might call an obstetrician, helping with the birthing process. And in the medical world it\u2019s interesting that those two disciplines are entirely separate, obstetrician and pediatrician.\u00a0 I think it\u2019s very rare, I\u2019m no medical doctor but I think it\u2019s very rare to see one person occupying both; those are different specialties.\n\nSo how would we define evangelism?\u00a0 And remember, these spiritual gifts, in a certain sense they\u2019re all our responsibility, but one of the observations we made about spiritual gifts is some people actually excel in these areas more than others.\u00a0 It\u2019s a lot like a softball team where everybody takes a turn at bat but some people can hit the ball a lot farther than others.\u00a0 I mean, some of us can\u2019t even hit the ball at all because our eye coordination is not that good.\u00a0 Some can actually hit the ball, some can knock it out of the park but everybody takes a turn at bat.\u00a0 So that\u2019s sort of how these spiritual gifts operate, you can\u2019t say well, I don\u2019t have the gift of evangelism so I don\u2019t have to do it. That\u2019s like saying well I don\u2019t have the gift of giving so I guess I don\u2019t have to give any money to the church.\u00a0 All of us are responsible but some do it a lot better than others.\u00a0 So, there is a spiritual gift called evangelism which is the ability to share the good news of Jesus Christ with unbelievers.\u00a0 Apparently, God has designed His church to grow numerically or He would not have put within the body of Christ a spiritual gift called evangelism.\n\nLet me give you some examples of modern-day people that I think possess the gift of evangelism that you might recognize.\u00a0 Now when I give you these names I\u2019m not endorsing every little theological nuance in their ministries but these are people that very obviously, to my mind, have been given something from above that\u2019s very special and unique.\u00a0 In fact, you could get somebody else up there giving the exact same speech word for word and you would not have nearly the effect (if any) that you would have with someone actually possessing the gift of evangelism.\n\nOne of those guys is Dr. Bill Bright (who\u2019s with the Lord now), I know he got kind of strange at the end of his life where he was talking about merging with the Catholics and all these kinds of things and I\u2019m not drawing attention to that but I\u2019m just saying it is obvious that the guy had the gift of evangelism.\u00a0 I was in Campus Crusade for years when I was in college and Bill Bright was the sort of guy that could get on an elevator with somebody on floor one and by the time they got off the elevator he had already given the whole plan of salvation.\u00a0 And many times, the person would be born again.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s a gift. I\u2019ve tried to do that and I end up scaring people more than I lead them to Christ.\n\nAn obvious one is Billy Graham who is with the Lord now, my mother was saved through Billy Graham, I can\u2019t count the people that were saved through Billy Graham, just by turning on the television and listening to him talk.\u00a0 I think you might put into the mix Luis Palau<\/em>, do you recognize that name, he does crusade evangelism (like Billy Graham did it).\u00a0 And then another guy that I was under his ministry for a long time when I was a college student, we used to go Sunday night and listen to him teach in Riverside, California, and this is long before the Harvest Crusades were even around, but Greg Laurie of Calvary Chapel, to me even back in the 80\u2019s it was obvious the guy had the gift of evangelism when he would give the invitation it was stunning the number of people that would come forward to receive Christ.\u00a0 This is coming from a guy that doesn\u2019t even believe people should be called forward to receive Christ.\u00a0 But my theological disagreements on points not with\u00adstanding I mean, it\u2019s obvious something supernatural was working through Greg Laurie.\u00a0 So praise the Lord, we do have the gift of evangelism in the body of Christ.\n\nThe fifth spiritual gift is one that\u2019s extremely needed, and I guess I\u2019ll embarrass him a little bit, I think Dr. Jim McGowan clearly has this gift, his wife I think is back there, he\u2019s working in another class, right?\u00a0 Okay, good, I can talk behind his back, favorably of course.\u00a0 The gift of exhortation which is, and you\u2019ll find it in Romans 12:8, exhortation; this is the ability to encourage others in the body of Christ.\u00a0 [Romans 12:8, \u201cor he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.\u201d]\u00a0 There are certain people you get around you\u2019re far more encouraged after you talk to them than before.\u00a0 Sadly, other people are the opposite, they kind of suck the joy right out of the room.\u00a0 But there are people that are just encouragers and that\u2019s a gift that\u2019s greatly needed to be exercised.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because our struggle is not against what? \u00a0Flesh and blood, but principalities and powers and rulers of this dark world. [\u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places<\/em>.\u201d KJV]\n\nSo as a Christian we\u2019re constantly being worn down by the world, the flesh and the devil.\u00a0 They run a threefold attack on us constantly and quite frankly it can get very discouraging, one attack after another.\u00a0 And so, we desperately need people in the body of Christ who are encouragers. I\u2019m thinking of Barnabas in the Book of Acts.\u00a0 I think his name actually means son of encouragement.\n\nAnd then we have a very significant gift called the gift of discernment, 1 Corinthians 12:10.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[1 Corinthians 12:10, NASB \u201cand to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, \u00a0and to another the distinguish\u00ading of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.\u201d\u00a0 ]\u00a0 Some of your versions say \u201cdiscerning of spirits\u201d it\u2019s a very important gift and it\u2019s the ability to detect moral and doctrinal error.\u00a0 Why in the world would we need that gift?\u00a0 Because of 1 John 4:1 is why we need it.\u00a0 1 John 4:1, \u201cBeloved\u201d so he\u2019s writing to who?\u00a0 Christians.\u00a0 \u201cBeloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits\u201d that\u2019s discernment, \u201cto see whether they are from God,\u201d why is that?\u00a0 \u201cbecause\u201d how many? \u201cmany\u201d not just a few, \u201cmany false prophets have gone out into the world.\u201d\u00a0 If I\u2019m understanding my Bible correctly as the church gets closer to the end of the age the amount of false teaching and false doctrine will accelerate.\n\nIn fact, there is so much false teaching out there today that it\u2019s just exploded upon the scene.\u00a0 It would take a fulltime job to keep up with about 1% of it.\u00a0 For example, take Mormonism. Just looking at that by itself -- I know people that spend their whole lives trying to understand Mormonism and all of its intricacies and that is a lifelong task -- just to become a specialist in Mormonism.\u00a0 Now that\u2019s just one false teaching. Think of all the other ones out there as well.\n\nSo false teaching has exploded and so we desperately need within the body of Christ this gift of discernment which is basically the ability to take what someone says and screen it against God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 You can\u2019t really know every false doctrine that\u2019s out there but here\u2019s what you can know, you can know this finite limitation revelation that God has given us; you can know these sixty-six books.\u00a0 You may not know every little nuance of every single chapter but you can have a general idea of what\u2019s going on in these books and I\u2019ve used the example of the dollar bill many times.\u00a0 The way they train people in the banking industry I\u2019m told to recognize counterfeit currency is you become familiar with the real currency, you become familiar with its texture, color, etc. and so when a counterfeit runs across your hands you say that doesn\u2019t seem right, it doesn\u2019t fit the mold or the model.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what basically discernment is and some people are exceptional at the gift of discernment.\n\nOver in the Book of Revelation, chapter and verse 2, a verse you know because we\u2019re studying this section of Scripture on Sunday mornings, the church at Ephesus, Jesus said of the church at Ephesus, \u201cI know your deeds and your toil and your perseverance, that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;\u201d [Revelation 2:2]\u00a0 So obviously there were discerners there in Ephesus when some false apostles came in and they found them to be false.\n\nI don\u2019t think a discerner is some kind of mystical subjective experience.\u00a0 There are people that claim this gift and it always makes me nervous when they come out and they announce that they have the gift of discernment which to them means they\u2019re having some kind of subjective experience, meaning if you disagree with them on anything God is on their side, not your side.\u00a0\u00a0 And we had one lady in this particular church that\u2019s no longer here but she claimed to have the gift of discernment and I said well how do you know you have the gift of discernment?\u00a0 She says well I can always spot the best deals in the mall.\u00a0 That kind of thing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t really think that\u2019s quite the gift of discernment.\u00a0 And what she was trying to do is she was trying to establish an authority base whereby she was trying, in a certain sense, to control me and she was basically saying if you do anything I disagree with God is on my side, not your side, because I have the gift of discernment.\u00a0\u00a0 And I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what the Bible is talking about at all.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to do with spotting the best deal in the mall although if you have that skill praise God.\n\nIt really has to do with the idea of your listening constantly to what people are saying and some\u00adtimes you\u2019re even watching their life style when public knowledge of it is available.\u00a0 And you notice very quickly how it starts to deviate from the Word of God.\u00a0 In fact, if you have the gift of discernment -- and I know a little something about it because I think this is one of the two gifts God has given me; He\u2019s given me the gift of pastor\/teacher, and I think He\u2019s also given me the gift of discernment -- you\u2019re sort of ahead of the curve in terms of what you can see.\u00a0 You can spot errors long before your average Christian sees them.\u00a0 And it\u2019s sort of a double-edged sword because when you start to step out in that gift there\u2019s a lot of people that frankly won\u2019t want to hear what you\u2019re having to say.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be labeled negative, a negative person really fast because you just disagree with their golden calf, whoever their golden calf is.\u00a0 You\u2019re saying so and so has the doctrinal problem and the person you\u2019re talking to just bought all their books, just going to check into their ministry and they don\u2019t want to hear what you have to say.\n\nSo, it\u2019s kind of a double-edged sword, it\u2019s a great gift but it\u2019s kind of a tough one to swallow because all you\u2019re doing is you\u2019re seeing things ahead of the curve and you\u2019re trying to warn people.\u00a0 And a lot of people just don\u2019t want the warning.\u00a0\u00a0 When the Titanic was going down there was what you called denial, I mean, this really can\u2019t be happening can it?\u00a0 And so if you\u2019re living in denial and denial is not just a river in Egypt, right [laughter] there\u2019s the deliberate mindset in fallen humanity where we really don\u2019t want to think it\u2019s that bad so we\u2019re like the proverbial ostrich that puts their head in the sand and we don\u2019t want to hear the warning.\u00a0 So the person with the gift of discernment is usually the person that is sort of ostracized.\u00a0 But when the things that you see start to materialize you want to get in the flesh and say I told you so, I told you the Titanic was going to sink.\u00a0 And you don\u2019t want to be like that either.\u00a0 But that\u2019s sort of a little bit of what I know about the gift of discernment.\n\nAnd then we have a seventh gift in the body of Christ, the gift of administration; it\u2019s the ability to effectively run or manage a church program.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find it in1 Corin\u00adth\u00adians 12:28.\u00a0 [[\u201cAnd God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.\u201d 1 Corinthians 12:28]\u00a0 So you can take a program and actually run it effectively.\u00a0 To me the obvious person in this church that has that gift amongst many people is Casey Cunningham, I mean to me it\u2019s obvious she has the gift of administration.\u00a0 I mean, the way for example, the way VBS obviously functions with every little detail right down to checking into how kids in and out is handled and people come to me and they say wow, you really run a great DVBS program here, and in my flesh I like to say yeah, you know, I did a pretty good job with that when in reality I had nothing to do with it; that\u2019s why they make me a crew leader where I can\u2019t do too much damage running things, I\u2019m just responsible for a little tiny group of kids.\u00a0 But the one who runs the whole thing is Casey Cunningham and the way she recruits people and gets people involved.\u00a0 That would be to me an obvious example of someone that has the gift of administration.\n\nThe eighth spiritual gift is, and sometimes these are confused, leadership and administration are confused.\u00a0 To my mind they\u2019re different; leadership, you\u2019ll find it in Romans 12:8 is the ability to cast an organizational vision and motivate others toward the fulfillment of that vision.\u00a0 [Romans 12:8, \u201cor he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.\u201d]\u00a0 To use sort of modern-day vernacular I would call leadership a vision caster.\u00a0 And that\u2019s basically what leaders do, they can stand up in front of people and they can show you where the ship is headed through the big picture.\u00a0 Leaders are not always very good administrators.\u00a0 In fact, not to get too much into politics but Jimmy Carter, for example, Jimmy Carter was basically what I would call an administrator.\u00a0 Jimmy Carter was keeping track on who was playing tennis on the White House tennis court.\u00a0 That\u2019s administration, okay.\u00a0 Leaders really aren\u2019t particularly bothered by those kinds of small things.\u00a0 I mean, detailed things.\u00a0 In fact, they see those things as a distraction.\u00a0 What leaders do is they cast visions that\u2019s so strong you can see where the big ship is moving.\u00a0 In fact, the vision that is cast is so compelling that what you\u2019ll discover with leaders is a lot of people want to jump on board because they can see where things are headed.\u00a0\u00a0 So, I would call that the gift of leadership.\n\nAnd then the ninth spiritual gift mentioned is the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 Now remember when we were talking about the charismatic movement, knowledge we were saying early on was receiving direct revelation from God, gnosis<\/em> or knowledge.\u00a0 And sort of like prophecy I think that knowledge in that sense passed once the canon of Scripture was closed.\u00a0 But that doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t have prophets today because we have proclaimers of finite truth.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t have the gift of knowledge either because God\u2019s revelation is concluded because knowledge is necessary to under\u00adstand finite truth, these sixty-six books.\u00a0 So people with the gift of knowledge have the ability to understand very complex biblical ideas.\u00a0 Knowledge you\u2019ll find in 1 Corinthians 12:8.\u00a0 [\u201cFor to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;\u201d 1 Corinthians 12:8]\n\nAnd I believe one of those people with the gift of knowledge, the way I\u2019m describing it is Lewis Sperry Chafer.\u00a0 And it\u2019s just so obvious when you read his stuff that the guy was gifted with the ability to just kind of go deep into the Bible and extract so many wonderful truths, truths that you read about in the Bible and you say yeah, I see it, it\u2019s there.\u00a0 But you doubt whether you could have, with the business of our schedules and the hectic nature of our lives you doubt whether you could have discovered that on your own, although maybe you could have.\u00a0 People with the gift of know\u00adledge have this ability.\u00a0 The gift of knowledge, sort of like the gift of discernment, is also a double-edged sword because what does Paul say there in 1 Corinthians 8:1?\u00a0 \u201cNow concerning things sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge.\u201d Look what he says here: \u201cKnowledge makes arrogant but love edifies.\u201d\n\nThe problem with the gift of knowledge is that you start to know things that maybe your average Christian doesn\u2019t know; it\u2019s still available to them but you understand it and they don\u2019t.\u00a0 And watch little kids, how they act when they understand geometry and the other kid doesn\u2019t, when they understand algebra and the other kid doesn\u2019t?\u00a0 Look at the immediate sense of pride that comes over them, you know, I\u2019m special, I\u2019m entitled, I\u2019m this, I\u2019m that.\u00a0 Well, you have an aptitude in it that the other kid doesn\u2019t have and that could go to your head very, very quickly.\n\nSo, did Paul have knowledge?\u00a0\u00a0 I think so! \u00a0And so God had to straighten him out, right?\u00a0 In fact, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 is Paul\u2019s explanation of his knowledge to such an extent that he was actually brought into the third heaven and he heard things he wasn\u2019t even supposed to hear.\u00a0 In other words, he understood things that your average Christian didn\u2019t understand.\u00a0 And notice how God dealt with him, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, \u201cBecause of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself,\u201d now why would he be exalting himself?\u00a0 Because of \u201cthe revelations, \u201cto keep me from exalting myself there was given me a thorn in the flesh,\u201d now there\u2019s always a speculation as to what the \u201cthorn in the flesh\u201d was, but I know this much: a thorn hurts, right?\u00a0 It causes pain, whatever it is it hurt him; was it physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, relational?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know but he had this nagging problem, he calls it \u201ca messenger of Satan to torment me\u2014\u201d Wow, that\u2019s strong language, why? \u201cto keep me from exalting myself! [8] Concerning this I implored the Lord\u201d in other words he begged the Lord not once, not twice, but three times that it might leave me. [9] And He has said to me,\u201d Jesus speaking, \u2018\u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.\u201d Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. [10] Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ\u2019s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.\u201d\n\nPaul was so knowledgeable God had to offer kind of an alternative program in his life of pain to keep his knowledge from inflating his ego because the moment the ego gets inflated is the moment God is not going to use him anymore.\u00a0 If God\u2019s not going to use you any more than what good is all of your knowledge?\u00a0\u00a0 So extremely intellectually and academically gifted people are some of the most difficult people to work with.\u00a0 I was in a seminary for a long time, I actually have a PhD after my name, it took me seven years, almost, to get that degree, which is almost the length of the great tribulation period coincidentally [laughter].\n\nSo I was around what I think are some of the smartest people in evangelical Christianity.\u00a0 Some of my professors were some of the smartest people I\u2019ve ever met, tremendous intellects.\u00a0 And these were people I would never even want to have over to my house for dinner to be honest with you.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I don\u2019t even know if I\u2019d want some of these people to teach Sunday School in my local church because they are so brash and obnoxious and you know, I\u2019m the source of everything kind of narcissism you\u2019ve ever seen.\u00a0 And you see, this is the problem with saying God give me this particular gift, give me the gift of knowledge.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019d better think twice about that because if you have knowledge you know God has to do some other things to keep your ego in check.\n\nBut at the same time there was some very godly people that I believe had the gift of knowledge but had a really unique walk with the Lord.\u00a0 The guys I appreciated the most in my times in academia were not just guys that got their degree from Europe and were young and were specialists in some verb form or something of Hebrew or Greek and had written ten thousand journal articles on that verb tense, those were not the kind of people that I really got the most from.\u00a0 The guys that I got the most from were not only scholars but had also been pastors, so they were in the trenches, they understood what it was to suffer, they understood the walk with the Lord. And those people were very special to me personally and I would put Lewis Sperry Chafer (I didn\u2019t study under him, he\u2019s \u00a0a little outside of my time frame) but I would put Dr. Toussaint, Dr. Elliot Johnson, Dwight Pentecost, a number of people that were very helpful to me, Dr. Roy Zook, Dr. Mal Couch, and a number of other people that were very helpful to me that were not just knowledgeable but had a great walk with the Lord as well.\n\nAnd then you have a tenth spiritual gift called the gift of wisdom and you\u2019ll see wisdom mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:8.\u00a0 [1 Corinthians 12:8, \u201cFor to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit;\u201d]\u00a0 Wisdom basically is knowledge applied.\u00a0 So wisdom is the ability to find knowledge from the Scriptures and you don\u2019t just keep it to write a systematic theology book on, see the guys that only operate on knowledge, knowledge is sort of the end game to them, they\u2019ve written their book, they\u2019re written their volumes, they\u2019ve published some journal articles.\u00a0 Some of it can be very helpful.\n\nBut wisdom is the ability to find knowledge from the Scriptures AND<\/strong> apply it to daily life!\u00a0 Knowledge applied!\u00a0 Solomon was that way, at least until he went into apostasy with all of his wives and concubines.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He brought into the land of Israel all kinds of false deities; that\u2019s the problem with him having seven hundred wives because the way you entered into a treaty in the Old Testament world is you got the princess also as part of the treaty, that\u2019s a princess from a foreign country.\u00a0 And with the princess came what?\u00a0 All of the false gods from the foreign country.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the Bible says over and over again to the children of Israel, show them no mercy, related to the Canaanites, do not enter a treaty with them because once you enter a treaty with them then\u00a0 you\u2019re going to bring in all their false gods as well, and goddesses.\n\nAnd I just did a talk on this at Steeling the Mind yesterday, the United States Constitution, which is derived from the Bible to a large extent. You will find in it Article II (I think it is) has a provision there about treaties.\u00a0 It\u2019s not supposed to be easy to enter into a treaty.\u00a0\u00a0 You have to do it with, as President, the advice and consent of the Congress, you\u2019re not supposed to do it by yourself, and then you\u2019ve got to have two-thirds of those guys, that\u2019s not just a majority, that\u2019s a super majority, agree with the treaty.\n\nNow the Obama\u2026 here I go off into politics, the Obama administration with the Iran deal, which Donald Trump got us out of, praise God, totally ignored that and just went ahead and made a treaty and they just called it a new name, they called it an executive order but they got\u00a0 us bound down in this terrible one-way treaty in the Iran deal and they ignored the treaty twice in the process.\u00a0 The whole thing should have been shot down by our judiciary, assuming we had a judiciary at the time and even now, that cares about the Constitution.\u00a0 But anyway, how did I get off on all that.\n\nSolomon obviously took knowledge and applied it to daily life until the end of his life when he stopped applying the knowledge that he had.\u00a0 He just didn\u2019t pay attention to what God said about treaties and that was his demise.\n\nSo, the Book of Proverbs, if you\u2019re a person that walks in wisdom you\u2019ll love the Book of Proverbs, that Solomon wrote in his younger years.\u00a0 It\u2019s all about biblical principles applied to daily life.\u00a0 If you read, and Sarah and I try to do this every night, we try to read at least a chapter of the Book of Proverbs, or half of a chapter, it\u2019s amazing the stuff that you\u2019ll find in there that just so practical that you can apply to your daily life.\u00a0 For example, Proverbs 22:7 says, \u201cThe rich rules over the poor, And the borrower becomes the lender's slave.\u201d\u00a0 So, debt puts you in a position of bondage, every time you go into it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not saying never go into debt or else you could never probably own a home; I\u2019m just saying you have to understand that when you go into debt you\u2019re putting yourself into a monetary position of bondage.\n\nSo the person with the gift of wisdom says well, that\u2019s what the Bible says, so when they\u2019re looking at the budget for the church, and we have some wonderful elders in our church that operate in wisdom, and they say well, maybe we shouldn\u2019t spend money on that, maybe we shouldn\u2019t take on this project over here given what the Bible says about bondage financially.\u00a0 And largely because of the wisdom of the leadership of this church, long before I got here, all of this property is paid for, isn\u2019t that amazing. That\u2019s what you call wisdom.\u00a0\u00a0 So, wisdom is basically knowledge applied.\n\nI think I\u2019ll stop here, that\u2019s a good place to stop and I\u2019ll cover the next six of them next week and then I\u2019ll try to give you some very practical pragmatic tips concerning how you can discover which of these you think you have.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t