Part 3 - Prophecy Series

Spiritual Gifts Series

Part 3 – “Gifts in Romans”

Rev. Bruce A. Shields – First Baptist Church Tawas City Michigan

www.TawasBaptist.org

I would like to welcome you to the First Baptist Church of Tawas City, we are very glad you are here today.

If you are visiting, please fill out a Visitor Card located in the back of the pew’s, and leave them on the pews as you leave, and someone will come by after the service and pick them up.

Scripture Reading

Romans 12:1-8

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

3For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[b]faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

PRAYER

A few weeks ago we began our series on spiritual gifts.

We spoke about how it is God who gives us these gifts, to each of us who belong to the body of Christ. These gifts are given to us to build and edify this body of believers.

We know that these gifts come from the Holy Spirit in us, and are the Holy Spirit working through us and not anything we are doing or accomplishing.

We read in the scriptures how Paul doesn’t want us to be ignorant of the spiritual gifts. We need to know what they are and where they come from so we can use them the way God wants us to, in doing so we will fulfill God’s will for this church, and for us in our lives.

This is how God builds us and this church, through the Holy Spirit.

Another thing we talked about is how we are all given different gifts, and we are to work together as a whole.

God wants it this was so we work together, thus causing the unity among us that is pleasing to God.

We read in 1 Corinthians hat God has arranged THIS body of believers, every single one of us, just as He wants this body to be.

So if you are here, it is because God WANTS you to be here!

He has a plan for you, and He has given you the ability through Spiritual Gifts to carry out this plan.

If you do, your living God’s will for your life, and if you don’t you are living your will for your life.

God has given us the free will to choose Our will or His.

All of these gifts are from the same spirit.

God determines which ones and how many we have.

We learned from the story in Matthew 25 of the talents, that if we use our gifts properly, we will receive a profit from them, or they will grow, and God will give us more gifts!

We are given these gifts according to our ability to obey, and when we obey it pleases God.

The first time you exercise the Spiritual Gift of Faith, it may not be as strong as 5 years from now after you have exercised it a thousand times.

Using it properly, it grows.

We talked about how a lot of churches make the mistake of assigning positions and duties in the church according to people’s availability as opposed to their Spiritual Gifts and calling from God.

We want to be cautious of doing this.

God doesn’t just call people to be Pastor’s.

He calls each one of us everyday to DO.

We are commanded in the scriptures to be DOERS of the word, not just hearers.

Everyday God has something for us, we just don’t always hear.

Only through prayer and quiet time, and sometimes fasting, can we truly hear what God is telling us.