How to Be Unashamed
Pray
Last week we addressed the question, Am I ashamed of Jesus? Are you a Christian that is not afraid to associate
your name and your life, with the name and life of Jesus Christ? Do you openly speak the name of Jesus to others, in
spite of worldly pressure not too, in spite of what others may think about you? Because if you do not, in essence you
are saying, I'm ashamed of MY Savior. I'm ashamed to associate myself with Jesus publically.
Unfortunately, this is very common amongst Christian people today.
This morning, we're going to continue this series, by addressing the topic of NOT being ashamed of Jesus
Christ. Open Your Bible's to 2 Timothy 1:6
In this one verse, Paul is exhorting Timothy to focus on the reason for his existence.
Right now, God is telling you that exact thing, Remember the reason I created you and placed you on earth. What
is your Purpose? IF you're here this morning and you're not saved, if you've never accepted Jesus as your Savior,
God created you to chose Him and until you do, you will have no defined purpose in your life.
If you have already accepted Jesus as your Savior, God is asking you this morning, What is the reason for
your existence, Not as a mom or a dad, child or grandparent, But as a Child of God's, As a Christian, what's your
puropose? How many people accept Jesus as their Savior and then say, "NOW WHAT?"
When you accepted Jesus as your Savior, many things happened. One thing that happened is that God
redeemed you, meaning He gave your life meanning, He made your life have value, He made your life have
purpose. That purpose is to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ and live for His glory, through the working power
of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, being ashamed of Jesus strikes a blow at the root of our being and cripples our
effectiveness as a child of the Most High God.
Paul is reminding Timothy here in vs. 6 to renew the Gift that God had given him.
And like Timothy, we sometimes need to renew our commitment to use the gift or gifts we've been given. And if
we neglect our spiritual responsibilities, we have lost sight of our purpose.
We are not told what Timothy's gift is here in this verse but obviously Timothy had the gift to preach, teach, lead and
evangelize and Paul is reminding Timothy here, Start using those God given Gifts for God's Glory and Honor.
In your life, Christian, God gave you a gift at the moment of your salvation. A gift of Grace from God Almighty,
You didn't earn it, you can't gain it, you cannot seek it and you and I certainly do not deserve it.
But God in His Grace and Perfection bestows every child of His with a spiritual gift to minister within His church.
Let me explain. Romans 8:9 says, at the moment of your salvation, you received the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor 12:13 says, you were then placed into the ONE Body of Christ and 1 Cor 12:11 says And you were gifted
by the Spirit to minister within the church.
Now, the big question from every Christian is, "What is MY Gift"
Here's what we have to understand about God's Gifts. Every Gift of God given to one of His Children is for the
edification, which means the building or lifting up of the church.
Flip your Bible's over to 1 Cor. 12:4-13 and read.
Here in this portion of Scripture, Paul is addressing the Corinthian church body. A church body that was abusing
many things within the church. A church that was very prideful, very vain and they were a church not walking in unity,
and they were actually divided.
vs. 4 we see, there are different gifts, all from ONE Spirit, the Spirit of God.
vs. 5-6 we see there are different jobs and responsibilities with in the church body, but there is only ONE God
that makes us able to perform those jobs.
vs. 7, But the manifestation, or the revealing of the HOLY SPIRIT, through YOU, in the church is to be profitable
to everyone. Keep that in mind, when you hear people talk about certain gifts today. Who is being profited? Them
or the entire church? Because God's Word says, the entire church is to be profited through His Gifts.
now in vs 8-10 Paul lists some of the gifts.
and in vs. 11 we are told that the Holy Spirit gives out those gifts to God's true believers, as He sees fit.
Quickly, I have to address, the gift of tongues because it is the most abused, Today, you have church after
church chasing the gift of tongues, which simply means languages. Notice a few things with me, It's the last gift that
Paul mentions, meanning it is the least of all the gifts. Yet some churches today place it at the very top of God's Gifts.
In the Book of Ephesians chapter 5:18-20, Paul gives the definition of being FULL of the Spirit, and speaking in
tongues is NOT even mentioned as one of the characteristics. Why Not, Some churches today say that is the Top Characteristic of a believer when they are full of the Spirit. Who's right, The apostle Paul or these so called preachers today?
Paul only addressed the Speaking of Tongues to the church in Corinth. Why, because they were faking it and
mocking God, trying to edify themselves, not the church, and Paul had to admonish them for it. Paul does say
speaking in languages was a real gift, and it was, God used it at Pentecost to start the church.
But it ceased. Several gifts from God ceased when the apostles died. God gave special gifts to the apostles
in order to start the church. They were the foundation of the church. Christ was the cornerstone of the church
and the apostles laid the foundation and to do so, God had to give them miraculous power to back up what they
were preaching and teaching. They couldn't tell people to open up their Bible's and read the book of Matthew, it didn't
exist yet, so God had to give these men power to back up their words.
Think about it, flip over to 1 Cor. 13:8-13
Paul very clearly tells us in vs. 8 Three Gifts will Stop. God will not give them out ever again during the Age of Grace.
1. Prophecy, God was giving men prophecies, so that they could record them in the Bible, that's how we have
the book of Revelation, God gave that prophecy to John. God gave Daniel much prophecy or knowledge of future
events. God does NOT send down prophecies to men today, IT STOPPED when the Bible was completed.
2. Knowledge, Think about it, How was Peter and John, simple fishermen, able to preach and teach the way
they did at Pentecost and beyond. IN Acts 4:13 We read this, Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were UNLEARNED and IGNORANT men, they marvelled. They were amazed how two fishermen knew so much about the OT and how they knew so much about Jesus and the plan of salvation for mankind.
Then there is the apostle Paul who was persecuting the church, ordering the deaths of Christian people, when God
struck him down as he was travelling, and ONE Week later, Paul was preaching and teaching about Jesus in the
Synagogues. How could Paul do that? How could Paul write most of the New Testament. Answer, God was giving
these men (APOSTLES) along with others, instant knowledge of Him, in order to get the church started. God is not
sending down instant knowledge today. Why, vs. 10, Now, our knowledge is in that which is perfect and completed, The Bible, so that gift is no longer necessary today.
3. Tongues, Will Cease. Tongues another gift God needed to start the church. Given to the Apostles., The first
display of tongues was at Pentecost where God Gave Peter and the other Apostles that gift to minister to thousands
of people in attendance that spoke different languages. God needed those people to understand the gospel, so
they would return to their home lands and share it with their neighbors. Tongues was a necessary gift to start the
church. Peter and the other apostles didn't get up there and preach and just start babbling in some unknown language, what good would that have done?
Today, it serves no purpose. Why would God send down a message in a different language, to a group
of people that all speak the same language as the preacher? To confuse them? NO, can't be that, because God
is not the author of confusion. And God would never send something to any of us, that contradicts His Word, Never.
And Tongues also stopped, when vs. 10 that which is perfect is come, The completed Bible. If tongues or the
gift to speak in a language that you didn't know was still being given by God, Why isn't God giving it to the people
that really need it, HIS MISSIONARIES. We've already said all the gifts are from the Holy Spirit, so why wouldn't
God's Holy Spirit give it to the people really need it? Instead of an Old Lady sitting in a church, where it benefits
nobody. Answer it's either faked or demonic. This Gifts Ceased.
It's sad when I hear people say, I believe it's real because I experienced it first hand or I saw it first hand. And what
these people are actually saying is, MY experiences trump God's Holy Word. I don't care what God's Word says
I know it's real, because I saw it or I spoke in them.
And I never deny someone's experiences, But what I can say in One hundred percent confidence is, IT WAS
FAKED, DEMONIC, or there are known cases and psychological diagnoses of people working themselves into such
a state of hysteria, that they alter their state of consciencesness. But in EVERY CASE, since the Bible was completed , IT was NOT FROM GOD, NOT ONE TIME.
Nobody receives prophecy from God today. Nobody receives instant knowledge from God today. And nobody
speaks in tongues today. People may claim all three or some of these gifts, but in every case they are faked or
demonic because God's Word clearly tells us they will stop, when THAT which is perfect comes. And we'd all agree
the word That there is not referring to Jesus, He's not a that, it's the completed Bible, The completed Word of God.
God gave the apostles these gifts to lay the foundation for His church. And when They died, those particular gifts
died, but the foundation had been laid. So I ask you today, How many times do you lay a foundation down for
something?
People today crave to be special in the church and in essence they're trying to lay another foundation for the
church and it just doesn't make sense, But the devil loves to mock God and that is exactly what is going on in these
churches today. Your spiritual gift, That God gave to you is NOT for you, It is not for you to be special in the church,
IT is for God's Glory, For HIS HONOR and it is for the edification or building up of the Church.
So discover your gift. But I can assure you, it's not one of these three.
1 Peter 4:10 says As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God.
You are unique in God's eyes. He created you. If you've accepted Jesus as your Savior, YOu're His child.
And God doesn't create or render anything useless. You have a gift from God, and it's up to you to discover
what that gift is.
And here's the key. Again, Christian's that have to ask what their gift is, I'm going to give it to you straight,
the reason you have to ask, is because you're probably not doing anything for Him.
YOUR GIFT was given to you at the moment of your salvation BUT you will never discover what it is, UNTIL you
start working for The Lord. See, it's a special, unique gift designed solely for His ministry down here, through you.
Isn't that neat. BAck to 2 Timothy 1:6 and we'll stop.
Paul says to Timothy, Your gift was evident to me, that day I laid my hands on you.
This was at the start of Timothy's ministry. Paul along with the presbytyrs or elders today, were ordainning Timothy
into the ministry and some how, Paul knew what Timothy's gift was that day. Obviously revealed through the Holy
Spirit. See , Timothy's gift was given to Him at the moment of his Salvation, but His gift wasn't revealed until he
began to minister or work for The Lord.
Christians that are working for the Lord, Know their gift. Whether it be a pastor, a teacher, a patient person,
a loving person, an encouraging person, maybe you clean well, maybe you are a good scheduler, Maybe you're
a good door greeter and you just don't know it yet, because you haven't tried. Maybe you're a good singer, Maybe
you're good with babies and you don't even know it, maybe you're someone that prays very well and sincerely,
. See these are the gifts that God gives today, because they
are profitable within the church body. And that's why God gives certain gifts to certain people, so that we can
function as a church body in unity. IN many of today's churches, everyone in the church is seeking the SAME
Gift, It doesn't make sense in any aspect of God's Word.
It's like being on a football team, Everyone is on the same team, And everyone wants to play Quaterback!!
How many games will your football team win if there are 11 quaterbacks on the field playing at one time?
My gift may not be your gift. But no gift is better than any other. And Paul says, any gift NOT performed in Love
is useless anyway.
Christian, You have a God given Gift, a Talent but you'll never know what it is until you start working for Him, and
if you do, I promise you, He will reveal it to you. Your Gift will be made known in your ministry, and it is exciting to see
what God does with you when you give yourself Wholeheartedly to His service.
Have you done that today? Have you devoted yourself to His service? You'll never discover your talent until
you do so. If you're truly saved, God's given you a talent to perform in His church body, but you'll never discover
what it is until you get off the bench and get in the game.
Discover what talent God has given to you. Because, I believe It is the foundation of your personal walk with the
Lord.
By discovering your God given gift, it will give you boldness and it will give you courage to profess Jesus.
And when you know and profess to people that your talent, everything that you are capable of doing is because
of God, through His Son Jesus, I believe that is your first step to affiliating your name and your life to the name
and life of Jesus Christ and you're on the way to NEVER being ashamed of Jesus Christ.
let's pray
