Unlocked
Pt. 3 - A Place Holder
I. Introduction
If you don't believe an unlocked door is just as strong and restrictive as a locked door if you don’t know that the door is unlocked, then all you need to do is google bank robbery failures. Watch footage of stupid criminals who push a door open to get inside the bank and then when the teller pushes the button to slam the teller windows closed during an attempted heist. You will see the foiled criminals run for the unlocked door they pushed to get in try in utter panic to push their way back through the unlocked door that needs to be pulled open. It would be hilarious if it didn't so closely mirror our actions as we try to push our way into doors that have already been swung wide open.
So, in week 1 I told you that we have had the door to power unlocked when Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit. I then asked the question, "Power for what?" Is the Holy Spirit only power for witnessing? No, He certainly empowers us for that. Last week, we discovered He also empowers us to pray! Remember an unlocked door is just as restrictive and strong as a locked door if you don't know it is unlocked. I know all of this. If you know this but aren't activating and accessing this power, then we are no better than the criminal trapped in an unlocked bank.
The Holy Spirit unlocks gifts so that we take our place in the body.
Text: Romans 12:6, 1 Corinthians 12:4, 7, 11, 18 (NLT)
Romans 12:6 - In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.
1 Corinthians 12:4 - There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all.
1 Corinthians 12:7 - A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.
1 Corinthians 12:11- It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
1 Corinthians 12:18 - But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it.
The Holy Spirit unlocks gifts for each of us for someone else.
No exceptions. No one missed the line when they were giving out gifts. You are gifted! You are anointed. The Holy Spirit isn't unlocked in you to have good services. He isn't unlocked in you to have goose bumps. He isn't unlocked in you to cause you to be spiritual. He is unlocked in you to help someone else. Too many of us are not only robbing ourselves of fulfillment, but also robbing others of getting the help they need when we don't access the Holy Spirit power to use the gifts that He has given us. I think one of the biggest issues in the church today is gift evasion. We don't have a gift shortage. Instead, we have gift evasion. People either ignore, refuse or are oblivious to the fact that the Holy Spirit has unlocked a gift for each of us to use! We constantly hear "that's not my gift." That may be a true statement. However, if what you are talking about is not your gift, then what is? If that isn't your gift, then there must be an unlocked gift in you for something else. Not being gifted in one area is not permission to conclude that you are not gifted in any area. It is our responsibility to not only pinpoint our gift (through trial and error, through testing, through confirmation of the mature believer), it is also our responsibility to continue to pinpoint our gifts until we die.
Look at your neighbor and say, "I am gifted!" That sounds arrogant (with a little attitude), but what it really is is Scriptural and accurate! Don't worry the Holy Spirit will deal with any arrogance that arises believe me.
The Holy Spirit unlocks the right gift for us.
If the biggest issue is gift evasion, then the second biggest issue in the body is gift envy. Notice Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit alone decides which gift each person should have. I didn't get to vote on it. You don't get to vote on it. And yet, so many of us are experiencing gift envy. We won't use the gift or gifts that we have because we are too focused on the gift that we are attracted to. Often, that is a gift that gets the limelight or the accolades and this causes us to overlook the essential nature of our gift! I wished I could sing like them, while they wished they could be generous like you. I wished I could speak like them, while they wished they had the faith you have. I wished I could play like them, while they wished they could love like you do. Gift envy results in gift erosion. (So, most of us are in one of these three states evasion, envy or erosion.) If I am envious of your gift or focused on your gift, then I won't develop the gift I do have or use the gift I have to the degree that I should. I will be standing on the sidelines trying to develop something I wasn't gifted to do. This is why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12 that the body is made up of a variety of necessary parts and that every part is valuable! Every gift is valuable. Every gift is valuable. EVERY gift is valuable. Including yours!!!! Proverbs 18:16 states that "a man's gift makes room for him." Your gift positions you. Someone else's gift doesn't position you. Too many of us are so focused on someone else's gift that we don't function in our own! Therefore, our own gift doesn't position us. You know you are in the right lane when it comes to your gifting because that gift will make room for you. You don't have to push on a door that has already been pushed open. The Holy Spirit has unlocked the right gift for you!
The Holy Spirit unlocks excellent gifts.
God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. The Holy Spirit gives you power to do some things well. You need to find out what those things are and do them. If you don't do the things that you do well, then you are out of place and possibly keeping someone who can do those things well out of their place. So, if He gives us gifts for doing certain things well then, I must also conclude that there are things we don't do well. It isn't that we can't do them, we just can't do them well. So, if we continue to do them, then we are in the way of the person that can do them well! So, we said our gift positions us. Let me expand that one step further. Our prepared gift positions us. We must prepare the gift that is prepared for us! The Holy Spirit didn't give you shoddy, half-hearted, scraping the bottom of the barrel, pray for me while I sing gifts. Not saying we shouldn't pray for you to be effective while you sing. I am saying if I have to pray hoping that somehow God can work a miracle in your life to make this bearable since you can't carry a tune in a bucket, then perhaps we should just take the mic away and let you find the area of gifting that God has actually given you. If I am going to pray it is going to be for my hearing because you are hurting my ears! Excel somewhere. He has given you excellent gifts for excellence. That requires you to not only discover your gift but to develop it. Don't deploy it and then develop it. Get the order right. Practice with the rock David and a giant will show up for that rock. Why do you think that Paul was so effective as a writer and teacher after he has an encounter with Jesus? He was preparing that gift prior to the encounter and so then when he experiences Christ his prepared gift positions him to be effective! If we are going to use our gift, then let's use it well!
The Holy Spirit is a place holder. He is holding a place specifically designed for you to help others and to excel!
