 So, anyway, what I'm going to do is I'm going to take you to us. We're going to look at a few of the gifts of the Spirit. And as I was preparing this, I realized that there are so many other gifts that we're familiar with that probably should be mentioned and even taught a bit about. And so, more than likely next time we get together, as a matter of fact, next time we get together, I'm going to add some of the gifts that are found in 1 Corinthians and kind of try to develop it a little bit more. You'll see what I mean as we go through this. But just letting you know that I'll be stopping at verse 7, but verse 8 also has gifts of the Spirit that he mentions. But I'll be using verse 8 next time as my launching pad and I'll be adding other gifts to round it out a bit to make it a little more full and so today we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 7. So let's begin here in Romans chapter 12 at verse 1. I'll read verses 1 and 2 and introduce and get into our study. Paul writes in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now in chapter 11 we concluded the teaching that Paul was giving on Israel's destiny with words of praise. We saw that in verses 33 through 36 of chapter 11. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments, his ways past finding out. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has become his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall be repaid to him for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and then he added the word amen. So he was saying that God's plans defy the intellect of human minds that his wisdom is beyond man's ability to trace out and that God does not rely on human counsel or help. It's like what it says in Psalm 8 verses 3 and 4. When the psalmist said, when I behold your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him? So he's speaking about the glories of God, the power of the magnificence, the wisdom on all of that. So he was saying as he concluded chapter 11 that God is the source, the means and the goal of all things. So in chapter 12, he takes us in a new direction. He's now sharing how sinful man can have a relationship with God and he's instructing concerning how we can live a life that is pleasing to him. That's what verses 1 and 2 is pointing to. And so in verse 1, he begins by saying again, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body's living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which he says is your reasonable service. So he's speaking about dedication, a complete commitment, a complete dedication. He's calling for the believer to dedicate themselves completely body, soul, spirit to the Lord and to his service. The Bible teaches us something that sometimes we need to be reminded of. Sometimes we forget that the Christian life is a committed life. The Christian life is a life that is set apart for God and that service and self-sacrifice are actually the way of life for a believer. The Bible teaches very clearly that we don't look for an easy way out or a simple path in Luke 9, 23. Jesus said to them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me. So the Christian life is a committed life. And so Paul is urging his readers to service, a voluntary service to God. Notice how he is beseeching. He begins in verse 1 here in chapter 12 by saying, I beseech you. I beg of you is what he is saying. He's not commanding them. He does have the power. He does have the authority to issue a command, but he doesn't do so. Instead, he encourages them. He's appealing to them. He's appealing really to their wills. He's urging them to serve the Lord. He's pouring into them a begging, a calling for them as one who loves them as a pastor. He's saying to them, I care for you and I want you to be blessed and I want you to serve God and I want you to do that with all of your heart. And notice in verse 1 on what basis he makes the appeal. He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Now the Bible teaches us obviously in so many places that God is merciful. Micah chapter 7 verse 18 is one example where the prophet said, who is a God like you who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance. He went on to say, you do not stay angry forever, but delight to show mercy. So Paul is saying, God has been merciful to you. So in light of the fact that he's merciful, then respond with a total commitment to him. We love him, but we love him because he first loved us and he revealed his love to us and the depth of his love through Jesus Christ. And because of that, verse 1, Paul says, present your bodies of living sacrifice. The word present means to yield up. It is a picture of taking a sacrifice to the altar of God. In the Old Testament, a person offering a sacrifice picked out the best of the flock, brought it to the altar and presented it in the Old Testament as an atonement for sin. In a similar way he's saying, we belong entirely to the Lord. So present yourself entirely to him. We are to present again, verse 1, ourselves as, notice living sacrifice, not dead offerings. We are living offerings to God. You know, you can't work a field with a dead ox. And so God wants to use living sacrifices to do his work. He wants us to use our strength in service to him. Now, when he speaks about this, and he's speaking of our sacrifices as a living sacrifice, we are a living sacrifice, but what is dead is to be the desire for sin and the desire to fulfill the lust of our flesh. Earlier in chapter 6, verse 13, he had said, do not present your members, your bodies, as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. So sacrifice, yield yourself fully in light of God's mercy and goodness and serve him. He's asking for commanding, if you will, more than simple belief, intellectual ascent. The capacity for us to say, well, I believe these certain things. No, he's not asking us just for mental agreement. We are saved, and now that we are saved, we are to serve, and we serve him with all of our strength. In 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20, you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God with your body and with your spirit which belonged to God. He bought us, we belonged to him. And so our bodies, though imperfect and in need of discipline, are to be offered to the Lord for service. He says they are to be holy and acceptable to God. The word holy is a Greek word, hagyas. It means to be set apart for a particular purpose. And so our bodies are to be holy, they're to be set apart. In the Old Testament, there were requirements under the law of Moses for an offering. A sacrifice was to be without spot or blemish because the sacrifice represented purity. In the Old Testament book of Leviticus 22, verse 20, it says whatever has a defect you shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable on your behalf. So our bodies are holy and acceptable because we've been set apart by God. We've been made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. Now in verse one, this has made us acceptable to the one who searches the heart. That's why he calls it our reasonable service. The word reasonable simply makes sense. It's our logical service. In light of all that he has done for us, Paul is saying, doesn't it make sense to serve him? And all that he has done, doesn't it simply have a logic to it? If he really did send his son, if his son really did die on a cross, if he really did atone for my sin, if he did take upon himself my sin, die on my behalf, if he did get buried and was resurrected, doesn't it make sense to serve this one? And that's the point he's making. Yes, we're supposed to do that. Why? Because of what he's done for us. And this is our service to God. We're to do this as unto him. All that we do is really to be done unto him. So he goes on in verse two and he says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. When I first got saved, there was a big thing about the hippies who were getting saved and all. And it wasn't that everybody was excited about it. Frankly, the church world as it was at that time wasn't real excited because they said that we were, people like us were really just, we weren't sincerely changing. And you know why they were saying we weren't sincerely changing? It's because we didn't cut our hair and we didn't wear shoes. And that was a big thing. And some of you may, you're too young. I'm looking at a younger congregation. Let me look for some gray hairs out here. But it's true. It's true. In the 50s and 60s into the early 70s, a Christian, the stereotype of a Christian was that they were clean cut and, you know, they wore penny loafers and, you know, slacks and you wore it tied to church. And so when the hippies, kids started getting saved and we started going to church, it really did freak people out. I think that Greg Laurie had a movie out, the Jesus Revolution. And I didn't see the movie myself, but I'm aware of some of the things I've had people sharing with me. And there was, there was a a desire on the part of some to keep the hippies from coming into the church because we didn't wear shoes. And they had new carpet and everybody who owns a house or rents a house or whatever, home with a rug, knows that if you're out there running around barefoot and you come into the house with your greasy dirty little feet that you're going to grease up the carpet. Everybody knows that. And they didn't like that at that time, so they wanted us to put our shoes on. And the 11th commandment is thou shalt not wear shoes. You know, there was there was no way that we were from a mindset that the man can't tell. That's what we call the authority. The man can't tell us what to do. I'm going to worship God as I am. And we had a lot to learn, of course. I'm not saying therefore we all should be as mean as we can towards those with particular opinions. I'm simply saying that you have to catch a fish before you can clean it. And there were a lot of people wanting to clean up the fish before they were even caught. And so they were telling us cut your hair, put on some shoes. And I understand why. I remember hearing the story of some of the hippie kids who were sitting in the pews and their toes were getting stuck in the communion cup holders that you have in the pews. And the fact is I understand that because my toe got stuck in it too. So I understand that story and all of that. Well, see the thing is this when it says don't conform to the world, it's not speaking of the outer the outer it's speaking of the heart the heart that's conforming to the ways of the world we're not to follow the pattern of the lost world when he says do not be conformed to this world but be transformed the word conformed means to pattern your mind and character to another's model so he's saying do not allow yourself to be patterned after the spirit of this age this spirit of this age is a system opposed to God and it entices believers to follow its pattern In Galatians 1, 3 and 4 Paul said it like this he said grace be to you in peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father this present evil world system in opposition to God is not to be my model this present age has Satan as its prince as its God the God of this age and it is in a hundred percent opposition to the rule of God In 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4 Paul said it like this he said if our gospel is hidden is hidden to those who are lost in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them and so don't model yourself after this present Christ rejecting age but instead of being conformed be he transformed the word transformed all of us are familiar with it's a Greek word that we get the word metamorphosis from and it speaks of being completely changed and we can be transformed he says by the renewing that word renewing speaks of a renovation by a renovating a renewing of our minds so we offer up our bodies for service he's saying but offer also up your mind intellect the outer behavior has a tendency of changing when the minds are changed when our minds are washed by the water of the word of God our behavior begins to change also and so we begin to pursue the Lord Colossians 3, 1 and 2 if you were raised with Christ seek those things which are above sitting at the right hand of God set your mind on things above not on things on the earth in Philippians 4 verse 8 finally brothers and sisters whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praise worthy think about such things so our minds are transformed by the obedience and knowledge of the word of God as we meditate on what God's word says and as we put it into practice which is one of the reasons why we emphasize the reading and the teaching of the word of God because that's how God transforms you and makes you into somebody that he can use for his glory and the result of this is you're able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God you see with this new mind you will begin to accept what conforms to God's will so in the reading of the word of God in the obedience of the word of God in the fellowship with those who love the Lord in the putting those things into practice together there's a transformation so rather than being conformed to this world we have presented our bodies living sacrifices we're not crawling off the altar of offering we're staying there we're remaining alive but alive to him and dead to sin so as you've yielded yourself to him he begins to work in you and as he works in you he does it by the power of his spirit as he does it by the power of his spirit he also does it by informing us by training us in what his will is and he does that through his word and in doing so with the new mind accept what conforms to the will of God and we trust him and that's why I say again we need to be in the word of God that's why it's such a blessing to have midweek Bible studies I'm blessed to have you here with us as we go through the word together and so he begins that way but he moves on into verse 3 and he starts speaking about this in verse 3 he starts speaking about the gifts God gave us that we might serve him well he says in verse 3 for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith for as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them if prophecy let us prophesy in proportion to our faith ministry let us use it in our ministry he who teaches in teaching and so notice how he begins this section by saying I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you so what is he saying he is saying not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think he is encouraging us to serve but we are supposed to do so with humility the body of Christ is not to boast against the other members of the body of Christ the hand isn't supposed to boast against the feet the feet aren't supposed to boast against the mouth the body doesn't do that the body has to work together and it actually serves itself as the body and so we are going to look at gifts of the spirit we are going to look at them one at a time and like I said pick up some other gifts that aren't mentioned here but what he is saying to us is we need to be serving see we have presented ourselves to God but how can I exercise the gifts of the spirit the grace gifts that he has given to me well I am to exercise them by faith with humility here is why people have a propensity of giving more honor to the thing that is most visible and because that is true we are to be humble as we serve the Lord somebody may be doing something that is noticeable that garners attention sometimes they may be doing some kind of spiritual thing that people begin to say come in here with the mighty man of God is saying who started out with humility where he would just come out in fear of the Lord and love for the people and share God's word in a way that was applicable to their hearts and minister to their spirits they begin to look at him as if he is some great thing and he is something very special that is the worst thing you can do I don't believe that we should ever intentionally put people down but I also fear that sometimes we can lift them too high I shared with you once about this maybe more than once I don't know but years ago I was teaching at a pastor's conference in another state I gave the Bible study and after I gave the Bible study I was standing speaking to some of those who were part of the study and this young man walks up to me and he looks at me and he says that study wasn't that good and I said John you're never going to get on staff that way no this guy walks up and he says that he says I just need to let you know that study wasn't that good so I smiled at him and I said okay and he says you may be wondering why I said that not really but okay he says I have the gift of keeping pastors humble you know I I've read through the gifts of the Spirit and I just haven't found that one not yet not yet see the way that you should approach the service to the Lord is always with humility why? because without him you can do nothing because anything that you can do and anything that has a great impact or an impact of any sort that is good is from the Lord you're simply a vessel being used by God and that's how we should understand it it's not that we don't encourage each other by the way we do we love one another we encourage one another we come alongside of and help one another all of these things are part of being in the body of Christ but at the end one sows another reefs but it's God who brings the increase and it's God who gets the glory sometimes ministers can become lifted so much by those who admire them that they begin to lose their footing and they start doing things in the flesh for the attention that comes as a result of the things they're doing and at that point they're in great in great danger because the Lord has a way of humbling and he will remove his hand at least for a season until the lesson of humility is learned it's a very important thing to understand people have a tendency of lifting up the person communicating or the person exercising visible gifts so if the Lord is giving you a gift as we'll be looking at him in a moment that is noticeable you should serve the Lord with all humility and again as I say verse 3 through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith and so we can become proud because of the noticeable gifts and the followers that begin to accrue and that's why immature Christians should not be given spiritual humility in 1st Timothy 3.6 Paul said it like this when speaking of selecting a bishop a pastor teacher a leader of the church he said he is not to be a novice lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil so spiritual pride destroys especially destroys the body of Christ humility is what God desires for us if we're going to serve him and that's why he says do not think too highly of yourself in Philippians 2 verse 3 he said do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better than yourselves and so he says in verse 3 God has dealt to each one a measure of faith the word measure a determined portion God has given to you faith necessary to exercise spiritual gifts it isn't faith for salvation it's faith for service and so he's going to go into this and share he says in verse 4 as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually of one another so we are members of the one body and as members of the one body we need each other if somebody were to speak to you tonight and say okay you've got your body what part would you like to give up tonight you know your fingers you know the hair on your back some guys would say yeah no but what would you what would you want to give up your toes you know a lot of people say oh I hate my ankles would you like to give them up tonight no I'm okay with them at the end of the day we don't want to give up any part of it why it's all necessary it's all necessary because it's who I am it's what I am it makes up who this person is so that means that every part of my body is necessary in the body of Christ each one of us has different gifts some of us have multiple gifts it's called gift mixes you have several gifts but each one is important for the entire body in a baseball team you've got nine players on the field right you need each one of them each one plays a part and you don't want to give up any of them even though you may consider the shortstop to be the best player or you may consider the pitcher but you need them all because if you've got a great pitcher but no catcher so you need the whole team so it's not that I should be looking at somebody else and their gifts and covet those gifts I wish I had that I should be seeking the Lord for what he's given me what is it that I can do in the proportion of faith that he's given to me what gift does he have for me what gifts can I exercise why for my own benefit no for the benefit of the body of Christ and so we have the one body and we need each other there are no perfect members in the church and no perfect churches somebody said this I thought it was good enough to repeat to you the Christian church is the only society in the world in which membership is based upon the qualification that the candidate shall be unworthy of membership and that's true because when you realize you're unworthy of membership and it's the grace of God it should bring humility into us and if there's humility within us we can exercise the gifts of God because we're not trying to draw attention to ourselves and so he begins to speak concerning these things verse 6 says having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us let us use them and he begins by saying if prophecy and so having gifts that are differing according to the grace that's given to us this body as unworthy as we are given spiritual gifts of ministry they are called grace gifts they enable believers to serve the body of Christ the reception of which is due to the power of grace operating on their souls by the spirit again every member of the body has a share of ministry all of us do in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 if we've been baptized by the Holy Spirit we have received power and so we have the power of the Holy Spirit as the Lord has empowered us that is intended to empower and equip us for works of service now in 1 Corinthians 12 verses 4 through 7 Paul said there are different kinds of gifts but the same spirit there are different kinds of service but the same Lord there are different kinds of workings but the same God works all of them in all men now to each one the manifestation of the spirit notice this the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good in 1 Corinthians 12 verse 11 all these are the work of one and the same spirit he gives them to each one just as he determines so the gifts of the Holy Spirit are intended for the common good the gift that I have is intended for all of us the gifts you have are intended for the common good for all of us and so it's the Lord who determines which gift you have you can get on your face and pray all day long for a certain gift but God determines which gifts you're going to have I'll develop that in a moment but the gifts are not intended to create superstars but to bless the people in 1 Corinthians 12 7 again to each person the manifestation of the spirit is given for the benefit of all now various New Testament passages speak of the gifts of the spirit if you take notes 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14 Ephesians chapter 4 1 Peter chapter 4 all include lists of the gifts there's no exact number of gifts listed though Paul gives to us in this passage I think around 7 the gifts are to be desired but God determines which gift to give them and so in Romans 12-6 Paul begins by speaking of prophecy prophecy prophecy literally has been called speaking forth the mind of God now when it's speaking of the spiritual gifts it is not speaking of the office there is an office in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11-16 there is an office of prophet we're not looking at the office of the prophet we're looking at the spiritual gift of prophecy so in the New Testament it can speak of foretelling but it also can refer to what has been called forth telling foretelling future events forth telling present intentions it's a gift prophecy that is exercised by both men and women in the book of Acts chapter 2 verse 18 it reads even on my servants both men and women I will pour out my spirit in those days and they shall prophesy Acts 21 verse 9 speaks of Philip's daughters who prophesied of future events now in the Old Testament a prophetic word generally spoke of the future event in the New Testament we see that when a prophet by the name of Agabas prophesied in Acts 11 27 and 28 in those days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch one of them named Agabas stood up and showed by the spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world which happened in the days of Claudius Caesar so that was a prophetic word of future events Agabas is seen again in chapter 21 verse 10 and he prophesies concerning the apostle Paul of a future event so the gift of prophecy is not the promise of prophet it's a gift that an individual receives and it speaks of someone speaking forth under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit now this is a gift that is very valuable in the church it should be desired because the gifts are intended as I read earlier that for the church to be benefited by it says in 1 Corinthians 14 3 through 5 he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself but he who prophesies edifies the church he says I wish or I desire that you all spoke with tongues but even more that you prophesied for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues unless indeed he interprets that the church may receive edification if you're asking the Lord do I have this kind of gift and I'll develop a little bit further he said in these verses I just read that the gift of prophecy brings edification it brings exhortation or it brings comfort or all three at the same time so when he speaks of edification the word edifying or edification speaks of building up so when somebody has a prophetic word that they're sharing that the Lord laid on their heart to share it builds up and encourages the body of Christ the word exhortation is a word that it actually provoke you to walk with Jesus and the third word comfort is a word that reminds us that God is concerned about us now I had somebody approach me years ago now who said I am very confused and I said and why is that and he said because somebody walked up to me and gave me a prophetic word and I don't know what they're talking about and I said what would that word be oh that I'm going to climb mountains with and I'm going to have hinds feet you know goat's feet and I said goat's feet huh what happens sometimes is people will speak but it's confusing even mysterious when somebody is bringing edification and the comfort and the exhortation it's going to be plain it's going to be something the Lord has laid this on my heart and I really believe that this is a word that you might want to receive he has spoken to me and I'm sharing with you you can test it through scripture if you like but the Lord is going to see you through this you're going to make it I just feel you need to hear this you're going to make it and though you've been going through some difficult things and I've actually I'll even make it more personal I've actually spoken to people in the past where I have said things to them there's no way I could have known what they were going through but in our conversation it just was a sense that you know I just want you to know I'm not sure what you're going through but it's obvious you're going through something and I just want you to know that whatever it is you're going to make it you're going to be okay you'll be alright and that was actually a prophetic word I had a lady approach me after church one day she said what you had to say today in church she said really really good it spoke to my son but please don't do that again because he thinks I called you you know I didn't know who the lady was and I most certainly didn't know who her son was so there are times that even when a pastor teaching myself included that there may be an illustration or a story or something that is direct that hits somebody and they're thinking that's me they're speaking to me I've had that when the teachers spoken and as shared I was at a pastor's conference this is why this is going to take time that's why I'm not going to rush through this I was at a pastor's conference our church was a couple years old I was as discouraged as a young pastor could be and I was sitting when one of the we had what was called an afterglow and the Holy Spirit was moving my brother said one of you was feeling a sense of wanting to give up and as I was listening there was an encouragement God is going to use you don't let go it's not like somebody standing up and clearing their throat standing real stiff and saying thus saith the Lord and speaking in King James because some of us if you've been around long enough you've seen that I've seen that suddenly God speaks in King James when a word of prophecy comes out it's more of it's a natural flow of the Spirit is God working and speaking forth and declaring his mind towards you the words are easy to understand now when that gift is exercised it needs to be tested because there are false prophets who give false prophecies in 1 Corinthians 14 29 let two or three prophets speak at the other's judge in 1 Thessalonians 5 20 and 21 do not despise prophecies but test everything and hold fast what is good and the way you test those things is through the word of God and if there's nothing clear seen whether that thing that was spoken actually takes place because if it didn't take place it was a false word it was a false word so you may have this gift where you share sometimes the gift is exercised in a pulpit sometimes a lot of times it's shared amongst brothers or sisters where simply with each other praying with each other loving each other and the Lord and the Lord lays something on their heart it brings edification, exhortation and comfort ministry gift of ministry the word ministry is a Greek word that you get the word deacon from it's the word deacon in it speaks of waiting on tables ministry speaks of waiting on tables it's a gift that is similar to the gift of helps we've made a mistake in the way that we see ministry we can think that only certain people are ministers you know a pastor a teacher a worship leader an evangelist a counselor a missionary these are ministers that's not what the scripture says there are always things that need to be done and there will always be people who are in need and the one who is gifted with ministry is the one who has a spiritual gift to meet needs all Christians are to serve that's really one of the distinguishing traits of being a believer in Titus 3 verse 8 it says this is a faithful saying these things I want you to affirm constantly that they who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works Galatians 6 10 as we have opportunity let us do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith so that's a general call for the body of Christ it's not just pastors there are those who are commanded to do good works but this is a gift that makes that person sensitive to needs the one with this particular gift enjoys meeting the needs of somebody else they have a tendency of getting involved if they're in a church in fellowship and all they have a tendency of getting involved in ministries that are like the helps ministry they do it because they have a joy not just oh it's got to be done they do it because it's an inward joint they'll come and set up chairs or they straighten up rooms they make dinner for the sick in many times let me share something with you we had we've had people with that particular gift and some of them are the most they've made me laugh in ways that you can't believe I remember we had a guy who was painting one of our rooms he came he had the gift of Halson and we gave him the the paint and we gave him the brush we gave him the room and there he was just painting away and I came walking in I'll never forget he looks at me and he says pastor how's it look and I looked at it and I said looks a good thank you and I walk out half hour 40 minutes later I can walk in back in hey pastor how's it look and I said it's looking good he says great and I walk out an hour later I come back in hey pastor how's it look and I go it looks fine you're probably asking yourself why do I keep asking you how's it look right and I go yeah he says I'm color blind I don't have any idea what color this paint is I'm just trying to make sure that it's okay I'll never forget that guy I had another guy who worked the sound board as a volunteer and I remember I would walk by and he would have the earphones on and he would take them off and he'd put them on my ear and he'd say and he'd nod like this and I'd hear the sound and I'd nod yeah I did that every week every time I walk past the sound board he would take off the the earphones and put them to my ear and he'd go like that and I'd go like that I did it every week and then one day it hit me he was working the sound board but he was deaf he was deaf he was a correction he was a correctional officer who had lost his hearing at the firing range and so he just wanted to serve God so I had a color blind painter a deaf sound man but these these are guys who enjoy helping they go on ministry trips we have a number of people who are signed up right now to go to Hawaii for disaster relief and no they're not going with their boards they're going to work but they do that because they want to help they'll come early and leave late, they serve in the parking lot we've had them go and clean up homes we've had them go and paint homes for those in need so they have this gift and they want to use it you may be thinking I have no gifts of the spirit if you like to help if you get a joy from being there and cleaning up afterwards and serving in that way you may very well have the gift of help you see need and you're blessed to be able to serve it and you may think it doesn't matter and I have to stand up and tell you it matters a lot because very little gets done very little gets done and then we'll stop on the third gift and that's teaching what is teaching well teaching the gift of teaching is the ability to explain a passage or the word of God and to encourage the application of that passage so you explain it and encourage application chapter 8 verses 7 and 8 it says the Levites instruct the people in the law while the people were standing there they read from the book of the law of God making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read it's a spiritual gift it is not just a fondness for talking there have been people over the years that I've met who just like to talk they just it's like they're afraid of silence so they have to fill the silence with the sound of their voice and they just they like to talk and they like to instruct and it's not just a fondness for talking it's a gift that people will actually listen and learn they not only will gain information but they'll apply it to their life and as a result they're being raised up built up in the things of the Lord so it's something that you don't call yourself to it's not something that you go to school to become a spirit anointed teacher you can go to college or to seminary you can go to advanced training but if you're not anointed by the spirit you're sounding gong you're actually not a teacher you're somebody who just likes to talk it's a spiritual gift in 1st Corinthians 1228 it simply says God is appointed teachers now sometimes the pastor and the teacher both will hold this as well as the gift the gift is intended to communicate the gospel clearly and thoroughly I'll say this briefly but it should be repeated especially in our day there are still those that I become familiar with who will go through a passage and say that they've taught it when in fact they only talked through it and I've seen that numerous times I was asked on one occasion to go to a particular place we had a couple in our church who had moved to another city they were very dear to us this is many years ago and they had asked Marie and me would you come on over spend the night and go to church with us so we want to know if the church we're going to has a teacher and I said of course because they were very dear and it was very early of our church and so we went spent the night at the house and the next day went to church and when we went to church I sat there and I listened to the guy who was speaking he was teaching out of first Corinthians chapter 11 I still remember the passage because he didn't teach the passage and so at the end of the study and all I went back to my friend's house and he said what do you think I said I think the worship is great people were sweet but he didn't teach the passage I said what he did because it had things to do with marriage I said he just basically talked to you about the counseling that he's had in his office but no he did not teach what Paul was teaching he taught what he felt like talking about see so it's not just opening up the Bible and talking it's rightly dividing the word of truth and presenting it under the inspiration and power and anointing of the spirit which is the dissemination of information but the encouragement to application so that there's a transformation in the life of the people who are listening it's not just hearing it's hearing and doing and that comes through the proper teaching ministry so that somebody not only knows what to do but are encouraged to do and so some people think and I see this more often than anything else that they are teachers because they like to talk and open up Bible James 3 tells us this not many of you should be teachers my brothers knowing that we will receive greater judgment I have told many a pastor and I have applied this obviously to myself I will give an account before the Lord for the things that I have taught over the years I do not want to be guilty of misleading God's people and anybody who's thinking I might be a teacher I'll give it a shot that's not the way you enter into the pulpit to teach you enter in with fear and trembling because you're presenting the word of Almighty God and so the one you fear is not the people before you like when God spoke to Jeremiah and said be not afraid of their faces the one you fear is the one that you're obeying you fear him and you're careful with what you say because you don't want to misrepresent him Moses made that mistake when he smote the rock when God had commanded him to speak to it and he didn't enter the promised land because he misrepresented the Lord in the ministry of teaching you need to be careful that you rightly divide the word of truth and you present it accurately for me that is I spend no less than two days per Bible study preparing I'm looking at each I take the words apart I ask how this works I look at older commentators it's been said if they're not dead they're not read so I like to read the older guys because they haven't been tainted by some of the worldly philosophy of today's way of doing church so I want somebody who's rightly dividing the word and then I compile those things and I add to those things the 50 plus years that I've been teaching the experience I have and then I bring a forth to you as practical as possible that's the gift of teaching some of you might have that gift that's something to seek the Lord about to see whether it's so and if so you handle this word accurately and with fear we'll stop here and pick up next time