 Hello David Diga Hernandez here and welcome to Spirit Church today. I'm gonna help you discover your spiritual gifts So we're gonna be talking about the spiritual gifts. What are they? How do they work in the church and more importantly, how can you discover what specific gifts? God has given to you. I'm gonna give you some very Practical keys to discovering your spiritual gifts But first as usual Steven Moctezuma is here with me. He's gonna lead you in some worship right now I hope that you enjoyed that worship with our good friend Steven Moctezuma. By the way keep this in prayer for us We are going to be releasing a worship album very soon coming from this ministry And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna gather some of the best musicians that I've ever worked with and that have traveled With me all over the world and we're gonna have Steven even do a couple of the songs. So keep that in prayer We're working on that project. We're hoping to get it to you by December just in time for Christmas So that'll be like a Christmas gift from the ministry to you But today as promised, we're gonna go over spiritual gifts now I want to get into the word here and before I can really talk to you about how you as An individual can find out specifically the gifts that God has placed on your life And there are three practical keys that I'm gonna give you that as soon as you're done watching this video You can go and assess and apply Immediately into your life and I'm gonna go over those keys with you at the end Toward the end of the teaching because first I think I want to establish more the foundation of the doctrines of the spiritual gifts That are given to us by the Holy Spirit. So I'm gonna give you a quick survey of the gifts I'm gonna talk about the role of the gifts I'm gonna talk about unity in the body and like I said just some very Foundational teaching here and so I'm gonna take my time with this I want to first build that foundation and once we grasp a full understanding or at least a Sufficient understanding of what the Bible teaches about the spiritual gifts Then I'm gonna go into detail and give you keys to finding out what your spiritual gifts are The gifts that God has given you so first I want to talk to you about God's criteria For people that he will use, you know many times I think people when considering the call of God upon their own life are very quick to dismiss themselves Because of the disc disqualification that they see about themselves they look at the things Like their flaws they look at their character traits that are not necessarily caught up to what they should be or where they think they should be They look at some of the things in their life that are not necessarily in perfect order or perhaps maybe they're not in the most ideal situation maybe it won't be comfortable or Convenient to pursue the call of God on their life quite yet But I want to reassure you and I want to encourage you to know then no matter who you are as long as you carry A love for Jesus in your heart you carry the power of God on your life and God's criteria for being used is Not even necessarily as strict as ours I mean we talk about faithfulness and I believe in faithfulness, but then the scripture gives us these encouraging Truths such as he is faithful even when I am not and you consider the faithfulness of God And you'll be relieved to know that God's call upon your life depends more upon his faithfulness Than it does on yours and so we're gonna be talking about this specifically so God's criteria now Like I said, we're gonna go over the gifts in just a little bit But I want you to understand a couple things first of all Let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and we're gonna read verse 26 to 29. This is what the Bible says Remember dear brothers and sisters that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you Instead God chose things the world considers foolish In order to shame those who think they are wise and he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful And the base things of the world and despised and the despised God has chosen The things that are not so that he may nullify the things that are So that no man may boast before God, you know, I'll never forget when I first began to pursue the Lord I was so thrilled To find the depths of his presence at a very young age and I remember being in prayer and I just Everything within my heart burned to be used by God. I just had this passion This desire this yearning to step into the call of God I sensed that there was some greater purpose in life. I knew That by faith I could step into an entire different dimension of living and as I prayed as I sought the Lord I felt as though I was standing on the very edge of something grand and I knew that all it took Was one step of faith and then I'd be in but At the same time as I was encouraged by what I saw that lay before me I also sensed a little bit of discouragement because I looked at myself and I said, okay I kind of went down this checklist. I said God I I don't have much influence. I'm not I'm not a very good speaker I'm not I'm not I'm not the brightest among my friends. I don't I mean I I looked at myself With qualifications as the world did now as many of you know, if you've read any of my books You know, I'm not that big of a sports fan And one of the reasons I wasn't that big of a sports fan is because I wasn't very good at sports And so, you know, I didn't grow up with a lot of confidence and at a young age I developed a lot of things that in me Created this lack of confidence and I remember being On, you know, the sports lineups and and I don't blame them So I'm not saying this so you feel sorry for me. In fact, I I probably wouldn't have chosen myself either But I remember there were several times I'd be on a line And I was they would go down the line picking the people they want it in the game I was usually among the last to be picked now the only exception for this of course was basketball And that wasn't because I was any good because I was taller than all the other kids But by the time I reached the third and fourth grade and maybe fifth and sixth Um when the other kids started catching up my height ceased to be an advantage And I went back to being picked last for that as well But I remember in my mind I developed this this this mentality that I was never going to be the first choice that I wasn't someone that People would pick as the ideal man for an option and still to this day I even look at myself and say god, are you sure you have the right person? And I'm sharing that with you because I'm sure that perhaps maybe you share some of these In in how would I word this maybe you share some of these feelings of inadequacy And I thought you'd be encouraged to know that I struggle with these same things too But the good thing is that I remember when I was praying when I was seeking the Lord When I first began to get to know him That when he called me I recognized the transformative power that was Touching my life because the time I spent in prayer, you know when god uses you He's going to use those who are hiding themselves in his presence god exposes those who hide themselves in his presence Those who have devoted their lives to the private Power of prayer are going to be used publicly by god those who who go to god in secret are given influence And those who are hidden in the lord in their devotion Eventually become exposed and so I didn't know it at the time But god was working in me little by little every moment I spent in prayer It was a moment that I was drawing close to the god and the power of god was increasing on my life But I'll never forget this because there was one particular day where the power of god touched me And perhaps you've heard me share about it before where I kind of drew this ultimatum And I said i'm not leaving this room till god touches me long story short I experienced the presence of god in a way I had never Experienced it before and in that moment My life was changed You see a single moment spent in the presence of god Will transform your life But a life that is spent in the presence of god can transform the nations God is not looking for the mighty. He's not looking for the strong the wise or even the confident God is looking to the yielded God is not looking for those who Puff themselves up and boast and consider themselves to be the best pick God is looking for the one who walks in humility As it pertains to the call of god upon your life It's not a matter of how gifted or talented you are But of how surrendered you are And as we Surrender our hearts to him We recognize that it's his ability and us That is the reason we're being used It is not by my power not by my might it's by his So As it pertains to god's criteria. He's looking for a yielded vessel someone who surrendered You may look at your life and say I don't really consider myself useful, but let me tell you God looks for those who will surrender. So that was my intro. I wanted to talk to you about the criteria So just don't let the enemy rob you as you listen to this god wants to use you So we have to recognize that we in the body of christ need each other every single one of us play a vital role In god's plan for global evangelism Every single person matters Your influence matters because you're going to affect those lives around you and your influence matters because you contribute something Whether you see it or not to the body of christ and when I say the body of christ I'm not just talking about your local church down the street I'm talking about the universal body of christ in the world at large And so this is what the bible says concerning the body of christ And in the scripture here is uh first grant the ends chapter 12 verse 18 through 27 And I love the way paul the apostle puts this he says but our body Our bodies have many parts And god has put each part just where he wants it How strange a body would be if it only had one part? Yes, there are many parts But only one body the eye can ever say to the hand. I don't need you The head can't say to the feet. I don't need you In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen While the more honorable parts do not require this special care So god has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts That have less dignity This makes for harmony among the members so that all the members care for each other For if one part suffers All the parts suffer with it And if one part is honored all the parts are glad All of you together are christ body and each of you is a part of it So the scriptures talking about here that sometimes we consider certain things or we perceive certain things Especially in this age in this culture. We kind of esteem certain things that god doesn't necessarily esteem. I'll give you an example Let's say for example, you've probably Received many compliments if you pay any attention to your hair the way you style your hair the way you dress Maybe from time to time you get a compliment on how you dress or how you do your hair, but As it pertains to your body when's the last time someone complimented your kidney or your heart or your lung? They don't But the lung and the heart and the kidney Are more important Vitally, they're they're they're vital. They're they're they're so much more important than the hair Yet nobody ever notices the heart the longer the kidney They only notice the hair and so god the scripture is telling us here That sometimes we honor things and and maybe we see a preacher on tv Or we see someone on a pulpit or we see someone who's kind of got a big name in christianity And we say well that person means more to the body of christ than i do Well, that's the more visible part of the body of christ But it doesn't necessarily mean it's the most honored or even the most important In fact, it all balances out so that the humbled are exalted and the exalted are humbled This is why jesus said the first shall be last and that's as it goes in the kingdom of heaven First grantians chapter 12 verse 21 says the eye can never say to the hand I don't need you the head can't say to the feet I don't need you all the gifts matter because all the gifts work together to contribute to The global plan of evangelism that god has established on earth through his body So first grantians chapter 12 verse 7 now says this now to each one the manifestation of the spirit Is given for the common good in other words gifts are given for service not status God does not anoint someone or use someone so that they can receive a status I mean if you want to read a scripture that's very um That that will shake you to your core Read Matthew chapter 7 but read it in the message bible and I love the way the message bible puts it I'm going to have to paraphrase the message bible which is somewhat of a paraphrase itself But the message bible says it like this again paraphrasing He says many will come to me on that day and they're going to be strutting confidently And they're going to be confident in what they've done and I'm going to turn to them and I'm going to say Get away from me. I don't know you all you did was use me to make yourselves important And I thought that was a very very good translation because it kind of does You know Wake some of us up because some people use Ministry or use church or use evangelism or use their titles and their gifts as a way to puff themselves up or to make themselves Important when in reality the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to us not so that we can draw glory to ourselves But so that we can give glory to Jesus and so that we can function and serve in the body of Christ So the gifts are given to us for service Not for status now. I want to talk to you quickly about what the gifts are First grant against chapter 12 verse 1 through 3 says this now dear brothers and sisters Regarding your question about the special abilities the spirit gives us I don't want you to misunderstand this You know that when you were still pagans you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols So I want you to know that no one by no one speaking by the spirit of god will curse Jesus And no one can say Jesus is lord Except by the Holy Spirit now Paul is talking to these people who are former pagans now The reason he has to address this Is because former pagans they dabbled in witchcraft and in that witchcraft they did receive certain kinds of power Of course, it was demonic power. So it's counterfeit to what the Holy Spirit does in our lives So paul the apostle is addressing former pagans. They're possible misconceptions or the potential misconceptions Of the spiritual gifts it was quite possible that paul is addressing this So that they wouldn't confuse and look at the gifts as the same type of power that they received when they were pagans He's saying look, I don't want you to be ignorant Don't don't don't mistake the gifts of the spirit and cheapen them and view them like their Gifts of paganism or gifts that are to find themselves rooted in the same type of demonic power of the stuff You used to dabble in rather he's saying we need to focus on the gifts of the spirit and call it for what it is And then he says this no one speaking by the Holy Spirit says Jesus occurs And no one can say Jesus is lord except by the Holy Spirit Of course, he's not talking about the phonetic pronunciation of those words or those phrases So it's not like someone who's not filled the Holy Spirit can't physically say Jesus is lord Rather what he's saying that the spirit behind the power of those gifts of those functions of those abilities Has to point to christ as lord If the gifts and the power do not point to christ as lord Then those gifts are not of the Holy Spirit. They are of the demonic realm. In fact, I've been to many services where They'll have You know, I've been to some services all they focused on was the miracles all they focused on was the prophetic Words all they focused on was was the manifestations of power And I felt that I was rather in a new age session Then a church service and I would sit to the whole meeting and it would be all about the man and his gifts Or the woman and her gifts and she would prophesy or he would prophesy or he would do all these These things that you know, you you'll see manifested in some of our services But the problem was there was not one mention of Jesus There was not one mention of the gospel there was not one mention of anything that scripture had to teach So the message was missing but the miracles were there but the message When it's missing The miracles aren't necessary Miracles without the message of jesus are witchcraft The paganism their new age humanistic Religion it's this law of attraction and spirit that's kind of been Meddling and being pedaled around the church and that's this type of stuff We have to avoid we cannot become so focused on the gifts We cannot be ignorant as paul said as many of us were former pagans We cannot be ignorant We have to recognize that the purpose of the gifts is to point to jesus as lord Not to puff up a man not to bring attention to an organization or when he one person But that the purpose of the gifts of the holy spirit are to point to jesus as lord And if the gifts and what's going on in the movement of people is pointing to jesus It's of god if it's not pointing to jesus. It's not of god I see many times people will criticize out of ignorance, of course They'll criticize people who pray for the sick or the criticize people who speak in tongues Or they'll criticize people who prophesy and they'll say oh your false prophets on the point to scripture Or did we not prophesy on your name? But the truth is that some people who prophesy Are false prophets, but not everyone who prophesies is a false prophet So the issue is they're kind of making a generalization on the wrong end of the idea So the the point is not that anyone who prays for the sick or prophesies or cast out devils is going to hell The point is that some of those who practice such things aren't genuinely following christ and paul the apostle gives us the standard By which we can discern all of these things. It's the objective comparison to which we hold all truth And if those gifts if what that man and woman is doing is pointing to jesus I'm not saying every service they do has to be evangelistic There's some people who are picky in that way, too They'll say i didn't hear one mention of the cross or one mention of the blood or one mention of repentance But as long as what they're preaching is biblical truth Even if it's some truth, maybe not the whole I mean not every service you go to you're going to hear the full gospel message But they're going to you're going to receive teaching But the idea is ultimately is what they're doing in the spirit of Pointing to christ or in the spirit of pointing to something else So that's where paul the apostle is addressing his former pagans They not get confused with this and he gives us that standard by which we can judge things So paul's prophets aren't those who get things wrong every now and then paul's prophets are not those who Perhaps misinterpreted scripture here are there unintentionally paul's prophets are those who don't point to jesus who point to someone else Everyone else jesus said if they're for us then they're on our part If you're not with me you're against me, but if you're with us then you're not against us So we have to follow what jesus says and not what men who are picky and you know, you know those people are so Romans chapter 11 verse 29 says this for god's gifts in his call Can never be withdrawn now the reason i'm reading this scripture here Is because i think it ties into what paul then goes on to address in verses 4 through 6 of first chrithians chapter 12 Because first chrithians chapter 12 verse 4 through 6 says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts now watch this follow this There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit Is the source of them all there are different kinds of service But we serve the same lord God works in different ways, but it is the same god who does the work in all of us. Did you see it? It's the holy spirit It's the son and it's the father now Why is paul the apostle alluding to the trinity? And a text that's about the spiritual gifts Well for one i believe as we read in romans chapter 11 verse 29 That he's saying that it was god who gave us the gifts Therefore no one could take them away the holy spirit The son and the father all together decided an eternity past what gifts you would have They took a unanimous vote and decided what they would impart to you And nothing could ever undo that the father the son and the holy spirit All together decided together decided what gifts you would carry think about that I want you to really appreciate that that truth that god the father god the son god the holy spirit talked about You before you ever entered this earth Before you ever came to live in this body god the father god the son god the holy spirit all together decided What gifts you would have Now that's powerful because what they do in unity can never be undone Also, the reason i believe he's alluding to the trinity is because this is this is uh first crantons chapter 12 Remember first crantons 13 is about love and first crantons chapter 14 is about unity in the body of christ I believe that paul is referencing the trinity because they're the greatest example of unity It's trinity unity that's ultimate unity and so we need to be one with each other Just as the father son and the holy spirit are The father son and the holy spirit all point to each other. They never pointed themselves The god the father says this is my beloved son Jesus says i have to go so i can send you the comforter john 14 26 He says and that one will come and he'll guide you in all truth and who does the holy spirit point to He points back to jesus because the holy spirit is the one who according to roman chapter five verse five Sheds the love of god abroad in our heart. So the holy spirit then cultivates within us a love for jesus He points right back to christ who points right back at the father He says if you've seen me you've seen the father and then the father points right back at the son and the The son points right back at the spirit and so this eternal Sharing of glory is what makes the the trinity an ultimate example of unity And so we need to be that way with each other We need to be not those who who stand up and want to get all the attention for ourselves Everybody look at me what i'm doing We need to be people who not only carry the gifts of the holy spirit But who honor the gifts and glorify jesus for the gifts that are in our brothers and sisters We cannot always want to be the center of attention We have to be united because we're in this together and we all have the job of global evangelism to do so One more thought on the gifts before i kind of list them here first kranthians chapter 12 verse 31 The scripture says so you should earnestly Desire the most helpful gifts But now let me show you a way of life That is best of all and then of course we know he goes in there first kranthians chapter 13, which is the love chapter So paul is saying you need to desire the gifts not just the gifts, but the most useful ones Now let me ask you a couple questions here And i know this is video so you i won't exactly hear your responses, but i want to get you thinking about these things now paul the apostle tells us to desire the most useful gifts so If someone is sick What is the most useful gift for you to have at that moment? The gift of healing if someone needs to hear from god What's the most useful gift for you to have at that moment give the prophecy if someone is discouraged and they come Across your path. What's the most useful gift for you to have at that point? The gift of encouragement if someone needs to decide whether someone is coming in the right spirit or false spirit What gift is best to have in that moment the gift of discernment? So the most useful gift is the one that's needed at the moment So god wants to give us these gifts and i believe that to some degree and i'll touch a little bit on this later That to some degree every believer has the capacity to function in every gift because it's the holy spirit Who does these things and he lives on the inside of each one of us? so That's a thought i want to take over now. Let's take a look at the gifts Okay, so i've broken them off into three Categories here number one the first category. These are what i call the service gifts Now don't let that throw you off because all gifts like i said are for service not status But just for the sake of categorization i'm going to call this first block of gifts the gifts of service There's a gift of exhortation Founded romans 12 8 the gift of giving also found in romans 12 8 the gift of leadership Also found in romans 12 8 and it's found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 28 The gift of prophecy found in romans chapter 12 verse 6 Also found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 10 the gift of service found in romans chapter 12 verse 7 And the gift of administration or the gift of helps as it's worded in some versions of the bible Is found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 28. That's the gifts the service gifts the second category I call the power gifts and again all gifts are empowered by the holy spirit But for the sake of categorization the power gifts are the gift of discernment Which is found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 10 The gift of faith which is found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 9 The gift of healing which is found in first grant the inch chapter 12 verse 10 The word of knowledge which is found in first grant the inch chapter 12 8 The word of wisdom the same reference the gift of miracles first grant the inch 12 10 The gift of tongues first grant the inch 12 10 the gift of tongues interpretation first grant the inch 12 10 as well And then finally there is what i call the author there are the office gifts And this is the evangelist. All these are found in Ephesians 411. The evangelist, the pastor, the teacher, the apostle and the prophet. You can also see a reference to the teacher in Romans chapter 12 verse 7. So, okay, let's break this down first. Let's talk real quickly about the office gifts. Now, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 to 12 says this. Now, these are the gifts Christ gave to the church. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ. So, the evangelist is one who is so gifted by God in the area of soul winning. The evangelist is the one... Actually, let me tell you first what evangelist is not. An evangelist is not a traveling speaker. An evangelist is not someone who does church conferences. An evangelist is not someone who travels and goes from church to church to church. Sometimes teachers do that. An evangelist is not someone who just kind of wants to have a title and not really be tied down anywhere and kind of just moves around. That's not what an evangelist is. That's not what an evangelist does. An evangelist at the very spirit is a soul winner. And an evangelist, their job, their function of the body of Christ is to win people to Jesus, to call them to repentance. They're graced in the area of soul winning. That when they share the gospel, there's a special grace on their message that causes hearts to be turned in repentance from sin toward Christ. And so the evangelist, like I said, not a Christian entertainer. An evangelist is not someone with all the benefits of the pastor and none of the responsibilities. An evangelist is someone who is a soul winner. A true evangelist cares more about people than he does about crowds. A true evangelist cares more about souls than he does about money. A true evangelist is going to put himself in positions no matter how difficult. He'll do anything to win souls. The mark of the evangelist is that he carries with him a burden, a passion, a desire, a yearning to win the loss to Christ. And that's what his focus is. Now there's the pastor. And the pastor is the overseer of a local church group. Now the pastor is the one who is in charge of building disciples. And so the pastor's focus, he's graced as it comes to build disciples. Then there's the teacher. The teacher is graced by God to have a special gift of teaching. He's very, he or she is very gifted at causing others to understand truths of scripture. There's the prophet. And this is someone who's the mouthpiece of God. He has the ability to hear from God and repeat what God says. Now, I'm going to talk to you about how everyone can kind of prophesy, but not everyone's a prophet in just a moment. Let me just finish up with this thought. Apostle. Now an apostle, this one gets a lot of different definitions. I mean, everyone's an apostle nowadays, right? They call themselves an apostle because everyone thinks that the apostle is just a high ranking pastor. And that's really not what it is at all. In fact, an apostle simply put is someone who is graced to start ministry works, whether those are churches, whether those are mission projects. And so an apostle by happenstance and really as a result of what he does and not necessarily the purpose of what he does, an apostle just so happens to therefore because of the nature of his ministry, come to oversee multiple works. So an apostle is not necessarily a pastor of pastors, but an apostle is someone who's graced and gifted in the area of starting churches, especially and more generally just works of ministry. And they all carry that special grace. Now, it's very important that we do not confuse the gift for the office. In Timothy, we're told do the work of an evangelist, but Ephesians 4 11 teaches us that there are some who are evangelists, not everyone's an evangelist. We all can evangelize, but not all of us are evangelists. We all can teach the word, but not all of us are teachers. We all can help to build disciples, but not all of us are pastors and so on. So I think a good parallel to draw would be this practically. And I'll read this. This is an excerpt from carriers of the glory. Practically, it would be like the difference between a profession and a hobby. You may be able to fix things around the house, but that doesn't make you a contractor. You may know first aid and CPR, but that doesn't make you a paramedic. You may know how to do graphic design, but that doesn't make you a marketing expert. You might like to cook, but that doesn't make you a chef. So to some degree, we all are to function in these gifts, but not necessarily hold the place of office. Now the office gifts are God's chosen servants to be leaders of the church. Now I know many in my generation, especially more specifically the millennials, we don't like the idea of rank and pool and systemized Christianity, but that's the truth guys. I mean, the Bible teaches very clearly that the church is very structured with leaders. Some people have higher ranks than others. That's just how it goes. I know some people I can already hear, well, we're all equal and God is. And I understand that, but as it pertains to the ministry, there's an ecclesiastical authority that the church has and there is a structure to things. I know many today are anti-establishment thinkers. That's not the way the Bible works. And that's not the way God thinks. God thinks in order, God thinks in rank. In fact, that's how heaven is organized. And the church is a system whether we like it or not. We like to talk about how well I am the church. Therefore, I don't need to go to church, but all that really is that kind of thinking comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of how God works and how he works in the earth. You see, to be practical, there has to be some organization of where to move as a unit. And so I think that to deny that would be to really deny it in the face of a lot of scripture that says otherwise. So we have to accept that the church is structured. It's organized and it has rank, not as in who's better than others, but just rank of who's in charge. In other words, I'm an evangelist. I travel the world and I win souls. But I personally am submitted under a pastor. Now, that pastor, the Bible says has been given the responsibility to watch over my soul. Now, it doesn't matter. See, the kingdom of heaven doesn't rank the way the world does. If anybody came to our church and I've had people comment before they say, well, how are you under him? He's not on TV. He doesn't. He's not as well known as you are. But can I be honest with you to God? That stuff doesn't really matter at all. It's just another tool to spread the gospel in the spirit. God ranks those in order of who is most like Christ. So he exalts the humble. My pastor is a very humble man, but he's also a man of authority and he knows his authority. And I personally, I could, I mean, I could go and sustain myself and raise finances and I'd be fine. But you know what? I don't want to do it that way because there's a blessing that comes when I recognize the authority of God's church on my line. And so my pastor has been my pastor since I was 10 years old. And that's the man I go to. That's the man who can direct me. That's the man who can correct me. And I'm gladly accept that pastoral headship over my life. And because of that pastoral headship, I'm kept humble. I'm kept on track. I don't air off into weird doctrines and I'm just kept focused and it really does help to have that. And if you don't have that, I really recommend you do. Because the reality is that legitimate ministries, legitimate spirit back God ordained ministries are connected to the local church. There's no getting around that. So now there are leaders of the church, but the service gifts are functioned within the church. And again, this does not have to do with anyone being better than anybody else. This is God's structure. So the church is an organized framework, despite those who are anti-establishment thinkers. Just go look at Acts 6, 1-7, Ephesians 4, 11-12, 1 Timothy 1, or 1 Timothy 3, 1-13, Acts 14-23, Titus 1-5, 1 Timothy 5-22, James 3-1, Hebrews 13-17. If you have to pause the video, get those scriptures, go study on it. It spells out a very clear structure to the church. I'll give you just this one verse to highlight here. Acts 6, verse 2-4 says, So the twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, We apostles should spend our time teaching the Word of God, not running a food program. Now, if anybody said that today, people would criticize, Oh, no, you have to be humble. Oh, no, you have to. Who are you to say you shouldn't be running the food program? We all, Jesus washed feet, blah, blah, blah, they, they quote those things. And, and they don't really pay attention to what the Bible actually teaches. But this is what it says. This is what the apostles said. They said, We should spend our time teaching the Word of God, not running a food program. Somebody say, Well, my pastor will do those things. And that's great and all. But these apostles, they recognized that the church is more efficient when everyone takes their roles. We have to know our place. So not running a food program was the apostles decision. Verse three, And so brothers select seven men who are all while respected and are full of the spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Verse four, Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the Word. In other words, They didn't do the practical day-to-day operations of the church. They focused on prayer and teaching the Word. And that's the way God needs it to be. And so that way we have to just be accepting that we have to be humble and recognize our place. And again, God exalts the humble. So the key here is as it pertains to these gifts is it spirit and power. Now I'm going to go through and list these service gifts really quickly. And I'm going to tell you what they are and you may go, Well, that doesn't sound so spiritual, but the truth is they're probably more spiritual than the power gifts because they have more to do with character than they do with power. And so when I list these gifts, remember that the key here is that each one of these abilities are not just basic abilities, but they're a special grace, a special ability, a special empowerment. So I'll read those now. The gift of exhortation Romans 12, 8 is the gift of being able to encourage others. Again, that's a special grace to do this. The gift of giving Romans 12, 8 a special grace, the gift of leadership, the gift of service, the gift of administration and helps. The gift of prophecy can even be considered a service gift. And I kind of do sometimes put that on the service gift and the power gifts. And if you want more on my teaching on that, I'll probably do one later on the gift of prophecy alone, but there's a reason I have them sometimes separate like that. But the truth is all of these are spirit empowered abilities. In fact, I think the gift of administration, if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 12 in the King James Version, I believe that's the first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 12. If it's not the correct verse, the corrected on the screen in the King James Version. If you read that, it almost implies that the gift of administration and helps has to do with business administration. In other words, those who could provide resources to the church, but that's just a thought I've had when studying that. So those are the service gifts. Now the power gifts, again, these are a different function. So the office gifts are leadership of the church, the service gifts are service within the church, and the power gifts are those without the church that pull people in. So they're more on the evangelistic cutting edge. Again, these are not solid barriers here. Sometimes one gift will overlap into another category every so often. But for the most part, this is how they generally work. So the gift of discernment and that gift has to do with being able to distinguish demonic spirits versus the Holy Spirit versus a spirit of man or a spirit of mammon. It helps people to decipher what kind of spirit something has. Now it's very important to say here that the gift of discernment is not the gift of criticism. I don't know how many people who claim the gift of discernment, they kind of just go around criticizing everybody calling everyone a false prophet. That's not it at all. It's a very gracious, a very, a very humble gift to where you're able to distinguish whether something's of Christ or of the demonic or another spirit. The gift of faith, this is God-empowered faith for certain moments in special circumstances. You know, there's the measure of faith that the scripture talks about, then there's the gift of faith. The gift of faith, I believe comes on a person to be able to stir faith in others. I believe the gift of faith, it comes on someone, it stirs faith within them and it helps them to stir faith on others. And so you can see why the gift of faith would work good with all the other power gifts. The gift of healing, which is the special God-given grace to minister healing to the sick. The word of knowledge. Now this is where you can get a piece of information or knowledge. Again, it's as simple as just adding spirit-empowered. So I can attain knowledge, such as the weather or someone's address or what someone's going through. I can attain knowledge of those things naturally or supernaturally. The word of knowledge is the supernatural acquisition of knowledge that you would not have otherwise known. And the word of wisdom is God-given wisdom. I believe Joseph, when he helped Pharaoh prepare for the famine, was given God-given wisdom. That's the word of wisdom. The gift of miracles. This has to do with, you know, you talk about food multiplication. This is not just healing. This is miracles, special things, suspension of the laws of physics or things that shouldn't have happened that happen. And someone carries a special grace for that. The gift of tongues and tongues interpretation. I'm not going to touch on these here. Instead, I'm going to point you to the link in the description. I did an entire teaching on tongues because I believe there's a lot of controversy surrounding this particular topic. But I did go over the gift of tongues and I got rid of all the misconceptions, confronted all of the objections. And we really confront head on a lot of the misinterpretations that people carry. And finally, we just show you verse by verse, but the Bible actually says about the gift. So if you're watching this on YouTube or watching this on a website, you should be able to see that link in the description below. If you're watching this on the app, you're going to have to go and search for this on YouTube. It's called, I believe it's called the truth about speaking in tongues. So if you want more on that. So let's just review real quick, power gifts, discernment, faith, healing, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, miracles, tongues, tongues interpretation, service gifts, exhortation, giving, leadership, prophecy, service, administration, office gifts, evangelist, pastor, teacher, apostle, prophet. The gifts can work together. The gifts can be requested. The gifts can be stirred. Now I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to give you three keys real quickly and then I'm going to close it up here of how you can know what your spiritual gifts are. So there are three things that will help you to know what your spiritual gifts are. You ready? Okay, here we go. Number one, desire. Do you desire the gift? Number two, recognition. Do others see the gift in you without you promoting it? Number three, function. And this one seems more obvious. Do you actually operate in that gift? Number one, desire. First grant the inch chapter 14 verse 1 says this. Let love be your highest goal. But you should also desire the special abilities the spirit gets. It's not wrong to desire gift. In fact, I remember when I was, I believe I was in 7th grade or so and I went to a private Christian school. I actually went to a private Christian Baptist school for some years of my education, not all. I went back and forth different schools, different seasons of my life. But I was receiving education at a private Baptist school and I'll never forget in history, in our history books, they actually went over the history of the church, the great awakenings of America. And I'll never forget, I would be so bored with the rest of the history. I mean, you know how it is, sometimes you're just reading and you're like, okay, it's wonderful. But I'm interested in history now. But then I was and I would just kind of skip over certain parts. But every single time we would read of evangelists like Jonathan Edwards, George Whitfield and, you know, Billy Graham, Billy Sunday, who else do we have? You know, I can go on listing them, but every time we would read of those evangelists, something in me would start staring. And I would pay attention, especially during those lessons that I would say, Lord, I want you to use me like that. Use me in this nation. I want to be a part of winning souls and bringing revival to this land. I know you can use my life because you're powerful and I'm surrendered. And so, you know, there were times I would, every time I would look to those stories, everything within me would just say, Lord, I want you to use my life like you use their lives. And maybe that's you. Maybe when you see other people flowing in certain gifts that within you, it stirs this desire. That's because God wants you to have the gift. You know, when you desire a gift, you have to ask yourself the question, who put that desire there? Did the devil put that desire in the gift for you? No, why would it? Because he doesn't want you doing anything for God. Does your flesh desire the gift? No, because your flesh may like the notoriety that comes with such gifts, but your flesh wouldn't desire the gift itself. Your flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit. So the devil didn't give you the desire for the gift. Your flesh didn't give you the desire for the gift. It could only have come from God. If you have a desire for a gift, it's one of the indications that could mean God has given it to you. You ask for it. You want it. I remember when I asked for the word of knowledge, I remember it floats so easy. I was 11 years old. I asked God, give me the word of knowledge, Lord. And within the next week, I didn't even realize that I was prophesying when I was prophesying with how naturally it flowed. I remember I was talking to a couple of friends at church, and one of them was a young lady about my age at the time. And I just very casually asked. I don't know how this information got in my head, which is very casual. I asked, I said, excuse me, I know this is weird. I go, but were you talking to a girl at school just a couple days ago who was leading up against her locker, sitting on the floor, holding her knees, crying and telling you that she wants to kill herself because her father is verbally abusive? And that question, I'm telling you, it just flowed out of me. And it was a question. It was almost like a matter of fact, like, you know anything else. The knowledge was just in my head. And I wasn't trying to prophesy. I wasn't trying to read her nothing. I just asked the question very casually and her jaw dropped. She's because that was a Sunday. She said on Friday, she was at school and she was sure enough talking to a friend. She was leaning up against a locker, sitting on the floor, holding her knees, crying and telling her she wanted to commit suicide because her father was verbally verbally abusive. And I said, Lord, this is you gave the gift. But first he put the desire in me. I asked for it and he gave it. So don't feel bad that you desire to give. Don't feel convicted. It's not it's not a conviction of the Holy Spirit. If you're sensing this, this, this shame and wanting a certain gift. If there is a desire for a gift within you, I believe it's God who put it in there. So number one desire, number two recognition, Proverbs chapter 18 verse 16 says a man's gift make its room for him and bring it to him before great men. You know, if you have a gift, you don't have to go around parading. And I know people who introduced themselves to me. And you know that it's just they have this stuffy aura about them. Introduce the hi, how are you? I'll introduce myself as David or Diga, depending upon what setting it is. And they'll go, hi, I'm prophet so-and-so or I'm pastor so-and-so. I pass through a church to hand me their card. I pass, you know, they just got to kind of one up everybody around them. Make sure everyone knows they're special. They're important. And on as if you're anything like me, you kind of see right through and it's really just obnoxious. If anything, you don't have to be that way. If God's put a gift on your life, you don't have to go around promoting it, saying I'm this or that or I have this and that. Others will begin to recognize it without you having to promote it. So number two, recognition. Do people recognize it? Number three, finally, 1 Corinthians 12 verse 4. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same spirit is the source them all. Number three is function. Do you actually function in this gift? And I have to be careful with how I teach this here because some people have the gift, they have the desire and people recognize that there's something on them, but they don't ever take a step of faith to do anything and therefore they never function in it. You'll never know if God has given you a gift or not. If you don't take a step of faith, here's where I want to challenge you. Listen to me here. Really, I mean this. I want you to take this challenge. You're watching this right now. And everything within you has a certain desire for a gift and in you, you're wondering God, have you gifted me? It's time. Listen, you're not watching this by accident. Listen to what I'm saying. It's time to take a step of faith. It's time to step out of the natural and into the supernatural. Today is the day that you say enough is enough. I'm going to stop being dormant. If you got a desire for a gift, start seeing if it works. Go out and pray for the sick. You know, the first people I prayed for to get healed did not get healed. The first miracles I saw were people getting healed of back aches and coughs. Nothing like it. I mean, forgive me for being so cliche. I never liked to be cliche, but here it goes. A gift is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. And so that's where I'm going to conclude the lesson. I want you now to go and just trust God, see what happens. Open your mouth, find someone who will keep you accountable and keep you moving toward using that gift. So right now we're looking at the names of the new members of Spirit Church, where they're from. Who they are. Welcome to Spirit Church. We love you guys. I'm praying for you. If you'd like to join this church, online church, go ahead. I mean, my spirit family, who I so affectionately referred to them as, they will tell you that I call them personally. I pray with them. I talk to them. We email back and forth. I know what's going on in their lives if they want me to. And we're really just experiencing a move of God here. We have almost a hundred members from all over the world who are now a part of the Spirit family. I encourage you to join. Also, if you're watching this and you're receiving a lot from the teachings from EncounterTV, from Encounter Services, from Spirit Church, that's worldwide television, global discipleship and international events. Those are all our efforts to spread the gospel, to evangelize the lost and edify the believer. And you've been affected by that or you're happy for what we're doing and you're wanting to invest in the gospel nowadays. We need it more than ever, especially with everything that's going on and especially with people compromising the gospel. We can't have that and you want to see the gospel go forward. You believe what I believe that Jesus is the only way and you want to stand up and unapologetically declare it. You can make a difference in this world right now by going online, sewing a one-time gift or becoming a monthly partner. We need both one-time gifts and monthly supporters. Partner with the ministry today. Partner for $5 a month, $10 a month, $20, $30, even $100 a month. Some of you can give one-time gifts, $5, $20, $100. Some of you could even give $500 or $1,000 one time. Whatever you can do, do it today. Now I have to tell you this one more thing before you go, don't turn this video off. Carriers of the Glory, my book Carriers of the Glory, my office is telling me that many of you are writing in and asking and seeing that it's been removed from the website. That's correct. We've removed Carriers of the Glory from the website because we're going to be re-releasing it next year. A publisher, a major Christian publisher, you'll find out more soon, has picked up the book and in fact, we actually have in April, we're releasing a book with one major Christian publisher and in October of next year, we're releasing, this is 2015, so October 2016, we're releasing another book from another major Christian publisher, but Carriers of the Glory is no longer available on our website. The only way you can get it is by getting a physical copy from us. We don't sell the PDF anywhere, nothing. We only have a few left here in stock and we'll never print another version like that again. It's the original Carriers of the Glory. There are only about 250 of them that are left in shipment. After that, they're gone. We cannot reprint any more original. Every copy that's printed a Carriers of the Glory from then on will be a totally different version, even revised, rewritten in some areas and under a totally different publisher. I will sign the copy of Carriers of the Glory, the original copies and as we start to get rid of them, the price is going to go up on them because we want to gain some support for the minister and we know something like that you may value. So for right now, you become a $30 a month partner. Well, supplies last and I have to say that any video that was posted before this date does not account for the supplies lasting because some people in the future write in and want us to send them a book but they won't be any for long. Send in your gift become a $30 a month partner. Not a one-time gift. It has to be a partnership, a monthly partnership. And if you do that, we will send you a signed copy of Carriers of the Glory. There are just a few left. But again, become a partner one-time gifts. It's all appreciated. That's it for this edition of Spirit Church. I know we didn't pray, but we're very short on time. We like trying not to make these videos too long, but I do pray you were encouraged. Go now fulfill the call of God in your life. I will see you next time and remember until then nothing is impossible with God.