You’d have a little, bitty body and a little, bitty head but your arm might be huge because that’s all you’ve been doing—just Sunday School and/or Church. But you haven’t been exercising other muscles of your body. That’s why serving is so important. To grow in Christ, you must be interacting with others by denying self and serving others. I can’t tell you how important that is for Christian growth. You will not grow as a complete Christian without serving others.

So the emphasis this morning is on spiritual gifts. We’ll talk about Holy Spirit-endowed gifts that you have as a Christian. It’s going to be a little on the heavy side and possibly a little controversial (with healing and speaking in tongues).

As a Christian, God has given each of you a gift. When you think of "gift" around this time of year, we think of buying something for someone for Christmas or birthdays. When you read "spiritual gifts" in the Bible, it’s the word "charismata." Does that look familiar? Charismatic. In religious circles, we use the term "charismatic" to describe people who appear to be more freed in terms of worship or the way they express themselves in praise to God. Sometimes we associate healing or speaking in tongues with people who are charismatic.

What else do you see in the word "charismata?" Charisma. John F. Kennedy’s assassination was recognized on the 22^nd. They said that he had a lot of charisma. What do we mean by charisma? Personality. Influence. They exude something that makes you want to listen to them, follow them, or hear them out. They have charisma. Guess what you have? God has given you something.

So how would you now define "charismata?" What is your gift? <Something you give back to God.> Yes, but what about your influence on others? It’s something God has given you to use to interact with and serve others. When you’re doing that, the Holy Spirit empowers you in a way that you can’t. He empowers you to have an influence or a servant attitude toward others such that when they see it, it’s not you who gets the credit, honor, or glory but it’s God. People see it and ask, "How can you do that? Why did you do that?" It’s a gift God has given you for you to use for others.

You, as a Christian, have this gift. You have it. There are no Christians who don’t have this gift. You have it. Growing up as a Christian, I never thought about me having a gift. I would hear people talk about it and preach about it but I looked at it as something charismatic, for people who were really sold out to God—they’re the ones with the gifts, not me. That’s not what the Bible says. The Bible says that every person has a gift.

Here’s the other thing we’ll discover: not only does every Christian have a gift, but God determines your gift by the grace that He gives you. Not everyone has the same gift. No gift is greater than any other. God bestows the gift on you for what you need for the circumstances, incidents, and environment you live in. God says that every person will have a gift and all the gifts among a group of people are necessary for the group to become one.

For example, everyone sitting in this Sunday School class has one of the various gifts. Do you know why you’re sitting in here, now, with your gift? God sees our group and says that someone else needs what you have. I believe that. I’ve always encouraged you to talk with one another and share with one another. One of you has a gift that someone else needs. God says, "I’ve given this gift as a measure of my grace to you so that you might serve that person." That person also has a gift that is needed by another person. But if we don’t serve and the connection is not made, what happens? God’s grace, God’s honor, and God’s glory are not multiplied and shared.

That’s within our class. The Church is the same way. Any body of believers consists of people who have the different gifts needed for that Church, that group, that class, that Bible Study, etc. He says, "These people are put together with these gifts to minister to one another." Looking back over time, I can see it. I didn’t see this early on. I do now. Certain people are put in certain places to do certain things. Understand that.

It’s not something you do…it is something God gives you to serve others. You don’t walk around and say, "Well, I have the gift of giving. I give here and I give there." No. If you’re gift is giving, it’s probably anonymous. It’s just something you do.

Here are the gifts on this survey:

• Administering,
• Teaching,
• Prophecy,
• Exhortation,
• Shepherding,
• Evangelism,
• Service/Helps,
• Mercy, and
• Giving.

With that in mind, I want you to hear this Scripture about your gifts.

You do not lack a spiritual gift. Everyone has a spiritual gift.

If we took a survey in the Church and asked how many knew what their spiritual gift was, probably 5% would know. The rest of us neglect our gift. What does "neglect" mean? You don’t care about it. You don’t think about it. You don’t work on it. You don’t try to figure out what it is. You neglect it. You don’t pick it up. You don’t use it. We shouldn’t be doing that because the Bible says, "Do not neglect your gift."

That speaks volumes about your gift. It says, "Fan into flame," meaning work on it, exercise it. If you don’t know what it is but know roughly what it is, go try things. Keep working on your gift.

In other words, it’s not a wishy-washy, "I don’t know. I don’t think I can do that. It may be mercy but I’m not sure. I don’t think I should talk to people. I’m not good at talking to people." Hogwash! The Bible says that you should not neglect your gift but fan it into flame and not have a spirit of timidity.

Here’s what happens when you know and use your gift: power, love, and self-discipline. That’s what’s happening. When you start to use your gift, whether it’s exhortation, evangelism, service/helps, etc., power is released in your life. It’s not your power. You don’t exercise a gift of your own power. You don’t say, "Well, I’m going to be a teacher," and then stand in front of the class and mumble through something you’re reading from a book. What would you think of a "teacher" doing that? "I don’t think your gift is teaching. You’re not teaching." No. When you’re using your gift, power is released. You’re doing something for others with power, love, and self-discipline. Self-discipline is what it’s going to take when you start to use your gift.

Take look at Romans, chapter 12. There are at least seven specific passages in the Bible that talk about spiritual gifts. We’re only going to look at three of them this morning.

Romans 12 starts with those oft-quoted, famous, and well-known verses…

That’s how chapter 12 begins. Paul is saying that there’s a different mindset when you’re going to use your gifts.

This is where he starts to talk about spiritual gifts. We don’t hear this preached or taught a lot. Listen to what that says. If I read that right, what’s the measure of faith of one Christian versus another Christian? It’s different. It’s based on the amount that you use your gifts. Do all of us have the same measure of faith? No. But what is God saying? Is that a negative or a positive? He’s saying, "Based on the amount of faith you have, the more I’m going to ask you to do." Do you see that? If you have more faith, He’s going to ask you to do more things. Do you understand that? It’s not you…it’s what God has given you.

He says, "When you really think you’re ‘up there’ in your faith, do not think more highly of yourself than you ought." In other words, if you think you have the gift of exhortation and on a scale of 1 to 10, you think you’re a "10", what does this verse say to you? You’re thinking too highly of yourself. It’s one of those things where you keep growing. You never get there. You never get to a "10." Don’t think too highly of yourself.

What is he talking about? From a Christian, theological, religious point of view, when we come together as a Sunday School class, as a Church, or as a small Bible Study group, the body is formed and each one of us has a different function within that body. Do you understand that? You cannot come to Sunday School class and say, "I’m only coming to learn." That’s theologically impossible, according to God’s Word. Why are you coming? To deny self and practice what God has given me through His grace to others. If you do that, you will learn. You will grow in Christ. I have a challenge when people come to me and say, "I want to come and learn." I say, "That’s great! But I don’t want you to have just one big arm. I want you to be a complete body." You have to do everything.

Right now, this class is one body. That class over there is one body. The class across the hall is one body. When we all meet in the sanctuary, we’re all one body. When all the various churches come together for the Community Thanksgiving Service tonight, we’re all one body. Everybody there is serving a function. Every person coming tonight may be there to say something to minister to someone else. I believe that’s the way God works. It’s not us but it’s Him working through us.

You belong to me. I belong to you. Everybody belongs to each other. We’re not separate. We’re one. We’re a family.

There’s "gifts," or "charismata." If you want to pick this apart, what does the Greek "charis" mean? When you hear Paul say, "Grace and Peace to you," he’s saying, "Charis and Shalom." "Charis" means "grace." In other words, you are giving to someone else the grace that God has given you. That’s what "charis" means.

We all have different "charismata"s. We have different graces that God has given us.

The word "prophesying" there is simply "one who speaks the Word." How many of you think you can prophesy in here? A couple. We have two people who understand what this word means. Let’s try it again. All of you raise your hands. How many of you think you could have the gift of prophecy? You have to do that. "Prophecy" doesn’t mean that you’re in front of a group of people, prophesying. It doesn’t mean that you stand on a street corner, holding a sign that says, "The End Is Near." It doesn’t mean that you predict the future. That’s not prophecy.

It means that you saw something in someone else’s life that needed spiritual correction and told them about it. That’s prophesying. It’s people who see and speak the truth of God’s Word to someone else. If you did not have the gift of prophecy and overheard someone prophesying, you’d gasp, "How can you say that!?" The prophet speaks in truth, in boldness, in confidence, in power, and in love—not with timidity. You will recognize a prophet as one who tells someone something that is 100% theologically correct and truthful but may not be "politically correct" or diplomatic. They are issuing prophecy, stating God’s Word.

Don’t soften prophecy. Sometimes I’ll get "rough" with people, spiritually. My wife (whose gift is mercy) comes along and cleans it up. I don’t have mercy. There is a gift of discernment. You could have a prophet who steps all over your toes and then another person with discernment comes along and says, "Now here’s what he really meant." But the prophet may not be "nice" about it. Were the prophets of the Bible stoned for saying "nice" things? No. They were saying, "This is God’s Word. I see spiritual things that God has shown me and I tell you the truth." That’s what a prophet does. That’s prophecy. It’s not judgment or condemnation. It’s the truth and sometimes the truth hurts. Some of you have the gift of prophesying and it’s because others need to hear the truth about God’s Word from you. Don’t eliminate that gift.

What you need to see is that you all could be a prophet. You don’t look at the spiritual gifts and say, "Well, I could never be a prophet." Yes, you could. You don’t know what God has for you. God has given it to you. It’s not you. You don’t decide. You don’t say, "Well, I think I’ll have prophecy today, or mercy, or giving." God gives it to you. Why does He give it to you? To serve others. It’s not for you. He’s given you something to help you help others. You don’t get to choose. It’s not a decision. It’s not, "Well, I like to do this," or "I like to do that." That could lead you toward knowing what gift God has given you. Don’t neglect your gift. Fan the flame. Find out what God has for you. All of you have something.

Here’s how serious it is if you’ve been neglecting your gift. I believe there’s somebody in this class, in this church, or that you know who is wanting or lacking because you’re not using the gift God gave you.

There’s faith again. It’s not you. It’s what God has given you.

The ultimate service is where there’s no thought of any benefit coming to the servant. You just do it. You serve and there’s no connotation of "What can I get out of it?", "Will they recognize it?", or "Will I get any feedback?" That never enters the mind of a servant. Do you understand that? If it enters the mind of a servant, what is it? It’s flesh. It’s self. It’s that person saying, "I’m doing this for a reason."

This applies to all the gifts. Prophesying is not for the prophet. Serving is not for the servant. They don’t ever think about it. Do you hear me? If you think your gift is serving but you’re always thinking, "Well, they never sent a ‘Thank-You’ card!", do you think you have the gift of service? No. What are the chances that your gift from God is serving? Slim to none.

We’ll talk about teaching in relation to other gifts mentioned in the Bible: wisdom and knowledge.

That’s exhortation. It’s where you say something to someone and you had no idea that it would be encouraging. You find out later. They come up to you and say, "You know what you said to me last week—it really meant a lot to me." The encourager would think, "What!? What did I say!?" You don’t know what you’re doing. God is using your gift for others and you don’t know it.

Are you beginning to understand about gifts? You fill out this survey, you work on it, you practice it, and you go out and start doing it. And there will come a time when you don’t even know what you’re doing—it’s just your gift.

That’s giving. I can think of a person right now who just gives and gives. When she gives, she’s not checking her balance sheet, figuring out assets vs. liabilities, or income vs. expenses. She doesn’t give out of what’s left over. A giver gives, keeps giving, and never thinks about the financial implications. They can get in trouble. They can misuse their gift. But the giver doesn’t even think about it. Do you understand that? If you have to figure it all out, what are the chances that your gift is giving? Slim to none. Because what are you doing? You’re restricting God. You’re saying, "God, I’m only going to give what I’m able to give."

The King James Version says, "he that ruleth, with diligence." The Living Bible says, "administrative ability." It means "to guide" and lead people.

I was o.k. with mercy until it said, "let him do it cheerfully." So I threw that out. I can’t show mercy. One with the gift of mercy doesn’t even realize they’re showing mercy. It’s just there. You can’t help it.

There’s the word "love" again.

These are the signs of the gift:

• Power (inexplicable, from above),
• Love (sincere, self-sacrificial, unconditional), and
• Self-discipline (effortless, you just do it).

Let’s turn over to 1^st Corinthians 12. This is where we get into some of the other gifts—some "controversial."

The term for "spiritual gifts" is very interesting. Do some of you have "gifts" in italics in your Bibles? What does it mean when the word is italicized? It’s not in the original manuscripts. It’s been added to help explain what is being said. The original Greek word meant "spiritualities." It was translated as "spiritual gifts" but it’s really "spiritualities," meaning "concerning spiritual things."

The word is "Pneumatica." What does that sound like? How about a pneumatic drill or a pneumatic press? It’s something with power and force. "Pneumatica" means "invincible or powerful." So a paraphrase of this verse might be, "Now about invincible/powerful things about you…" Do you see how it got translated "spiritual gifts"? Do you see the awesomeness of that? "Now about this invincible and powerful gift that you have from God…" That’s how significant the gift is that God has given you.

There are different kinds of invincible power. It’s the same word.

There is the Trinity: the Holy Spirit, the Lord, Jesus Christ, and God, the Father. Even though God is One, it is

• the empowerment of the Holy Spirit,
• the determination of the gift by Jesus, and
• then God does the work.

That is a breakdown of who does what.

Do you remember the story in John 3 where Jesus is talking to Nicodemus? Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and said, "I want to talk to you about the Kingdom of God." And Jesus said, "Unless a man be born again, born of the Spirit, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus said, "Wait a minute. I wanted to talk about the Kingdom of God, not being born of the Spirit." Then Jesus described the Spirit. Does anybody remember how He described the Spirit? He said, "You can see the trees swaying but you can’t see the wind. It’s the same with the Spirit."

So, how do we see the "manifestation of the Spirit", the Holy Spirit working in peoples’ lives today? How do we see it? What does "manifestation" mean? To see something that you can’t see, how something comes about. A person sees Jesus Christ in you when you’re operating under the power of the Holy Spirit and using one of the gifts He’s given you. Do you see that? That is the manifestation of the Spirit. If you have been neglecting the gift that God has given you by the grace that you have, how can people see the manifestation of the Spirit in you? Unless you’re raising your hands, clapping, and singing in the worship service, they can’t. Others see the manifestation of the Spirit when you are using your gift. Read it again.

Each one, not certain ones.

And it’s for the common good. It’s where one person is helping another person, who is helping another person, who is helping another person, etc. You put them all together and that is the "common good." That’s what it’s all about. You all must be about exercising your gift. You all must identify, develop, and use your gift—everywhere, all the time.

This gift is given to all Christians. When are you given the gift? The moment you accept Christ, God gives it to you and starts to work in you right then. That’s why the Bible says, "He who began a good work in you will continue it till the day of Jesus Christ." That’s what He’s talking about. He’s working on you to be conformed to the image of Christ with your gift.

Do you agree with what I’ve said this morning? Do you understand how important it is for every Christian to know that they have a gift and know what their gift is? "Hey, I’ve got a gift, a ‘charismata,’ that I need to be using! And it’s not about me. It’s something God gave me to use for others." If we all use our gift for each other, then we have the manifestation of the Holy Spirit.

Some of you have probably been in groups where this happened and other groups where it doesn’t happen. Some groups will meet for a year and nothing ever happens—examine the members’ use of their spiritual gifts within the group. It’s stagnant. You won’t find it. They’re neglecting their spiritual gifts. But when you get with someone who says, "God has given me a purpose and this is part of my purpose. This is what I’m supposed to be about."

I know you’re saying, "Wisdom!? Wait a minute. That’s a new gift…that’s not on my list." If you look at the list of spiritual gifts we went over earlier, notice that they’re all gifts where we’re exercising positions or specific functions. Wisdom would be used with teaching. Wisdom is defined as "insight into truth." It’s someone who can see the truth and have insight into it.

Knowledge is someone who digs into the truth. So you have someone who digs into the Word, Commentaries, Concordances, etc., to come up with truths. Someone else with wisdom (it could be the same person) says, "Here’s what I see in all these facts." Do you see the difference between wisdom (insight into truth) and knowledge (digging for truth)? Wisdom and knowledge could be used by teachers, prophets, those with mercy, etc. We could all use these kinds of gifts within the function/role we’re doing.

Faith is definitely used while encouraging. Have you ever seen a faithless encourager? Would you even want to talk to one? Can you imagine talking to an encourager who has no faith? Think about that. It’s almost diametrically opposite.

We always ask, "Are there healings going on today?" This is my personal opinion but I believe healings do occur today. I don’t think it has to be through another person. I think the Lord, Jesus Christ, can heal anyone, anywhere, at anytime. God is sovereign. He’ll heal anyone anywhere.

I have studied this extensively, throughout the whole Bible, and I’ve tried to approach it with an open mind. I could not find where speaking in tongues is done with an unintelligible language.

The closest thing I can find to an unintelligible language is the language of God. God had a language that I tend to believe was around during Adam and Eve. Why? Because God, Adam, and Eve conversed with each other. What language did they use? English, German, Spanish? No. I think they used the language of God. I think the language of God continued until the Tower of Babel (in Genesis). At the Tower of Babel, God said, "I do not want men to have the same language. I’m going to give them various languages." I believe the language of God is lost and gone. We don’t have the language of God anymore.

So when this verse says, "speaking in tongues," I believe it’s talking about different, foreign languages. It happened on the Day of Pentecost. If you read in Acts about the speaking in tongues, it says that every man heard everything in his own language. For example, I’m speaking English right now. If there were a German, an Italian, and a Russian here who didn’t understand English, they’d be hearing my words in their own language.

If someone is speaking in tongues, there must be someone to interpret it. Why? Because these gifts are for others and for the common good. If someone stood up in Church and started speaking in Taiwanese, what good would it do the rest of us? None. That person should shut up and sit down in my opinion. And whatever the interpreter says must be for the common good. It can’t be for self.

That’s a real quick view of speaking in tongues. It’s not something to be afraid of. It’s not something we have to guess at. Study the Word of God, see what He says about it, and draw your own conclusions. I’ve always encouraged you to do that. Don’t just listen to me. Don’t believe anything I say. Read God’s Word.