Iliff and Saltillo UM Churches
August 24, 2003
Spiritual Gifts #4
“Developing Your Gifts”
II Timothy 1:3-8
INTRODUCTION: Why are you doing what everyone else could do while you leave undone what only YOU could do?
Maybe it is because you haven’t developed the gifts God intends for you to develop. You may not be confident in your gift. If we don’t have competency, we tend to leave the gift buried.
In today’s scripture Paul was trying to encourage Timothy to develop the gifts he had been given. He says to him, “Fan into flame the gift of God which is in you...for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and of self discipline.” You may be more familiar with the KJV of this scriptures which says, “God has not given us the spirit of FEAR but of power and love and of a sound mind. He is reminding Timothy of his responsibility not to let the gifts lie dormant and grow cold. He was telling Timothy that there was a need to develop in the areas we are weak in. Timothy was a timid person. Paul says God has not given us a spirit of timidity or fear.
Let’s see what today’s scripture says to us about stirring up or fanning into flame the gifts that are already in us.
1. ACTIVE ROLE: We are to be ACTIVELY INVOLVED in the development of our gifts. Sometimes we think that because they are “spiritual gifts” that are given to us by the Holy Spirit that we don’t need to do anything--that it will just happen and that our gifts will AUTOMATICALLY be full blown when we need them. We wait for the Holy Spirit to do it all.
We need to change our thinking on this. Otherwise that may be why the gifts are still lying dormant . We have been waiting on God and He has been waiting on us.
How do we take an ACTIVE role? How do you stir up the gift of God that is within you? How do you go about fanning it into flame?
I Timothy 4:14-16 (Amplified Bible) gives us some clues.
Do not neglect the gift that is in you
Practice and cultivate and Meditate upon these things
Throw Yourself WHOLLY into them
Take heed unto thyself
Persevere in these things
He is saying pay attention to your gift. Don’t neglect to do something with it. Treat the gift as something of value that is important to you.
ILLUSTRATION: Someone once said we have garages at our homes where we store worthless junk and protect it from the weather and lock it up at night and then we leave our $30,000 new cars sitting out in the driveway to rust.
Our gifts should not be sitting out in the driveway. Pay attention to what you have been given and value it. Add to what you have been given by use, education, working with others, etc. Pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is wanting to use your gifts by looking for cues He gives you.
I believe we miss a lot of cues at times. We have to pay attention to be in tune with how the Holy spirit is directing us.
STORY: One day I was driving down Pine Street and “something” seemed to say, “Go see Peggy.” I didn’t have time to go see Peggy and didn’t have any thought of going to see her. She had found out she had cancer and was home from the hospital. I could have thought, “Maybe it’s not a good time. Maybe she doesn’t want a visitor today. I don’t know what to say. I will go another day.” But the feeling persisted and I went to see Peggy.
It was good timing and she needed a visit that day. She needed prayer and encouragement.”
We develop our gifts as we look for these cues of the Holy Spirit to open up opportunities.
How do you stir up or fan into flame the gift of God that is within you this week?
1. Pay attention to the gift or gifts you have already begun to identify
2. don’t neglect it and say I’ll get around to it later
3. look for cues that the Holy Spirit gives
4. Think about a way you can use it
5. add to your gift through education, workshops, etc.
In the I Timothy 4:14-16 verse it also says “be diligent in these matters, give yourself wholly to them so that everyone may see your progress.” As you are actively involved in developing your gifts, you will gain more skill and competency in putting them to use for the common good of all. People will be able to see your skill developing.
If you have the gift of encouragement, you have to be on the lookout for the person God wants you to encourage. If you have the gift of giving, you have to be on the lookout for a need. If you have the gifts of healing, you find someone who needs you to pray for them. Begin to develop your gifts each time you use them, each time you listen to the cues of the Holy Spirit, each time you give yourself wholeheartedly to being used of God.
Paul is telling Timothy, “Let your gift grow as a small flame grows into a fire.”
2. Time and Money: Be willing to invest time and money into developing your gifts. One thing that most people say they don’t have enough of is time and money. But if we want to see our gifts develop into what God intends, it will probably take some of each.
STORY: Jerry Savelle was a paint and body shop man before he went into the ministry. He didn’t know how to prepare a sermon. He only knew how to paint and repair cars. He didn’t have the first place to preach. Here he is feeling called to preach and he doesn’t know where to even begin.
When we identify our gift at first we may feel exactly like this.There is a glimmer of the gift, but we don’t know what to do with it. There is a stirring of interest but also a struggle. You might be able to identify with this. It’s like you are reaching for something but you can’t quite grasp it.
Jerry Savelle said the Lord prompted him to get dressed in his suit and tie every day just like he was ready to go somwhere to preach. But he was to go into the living room with his Bible and notebook and work on a sermon. So he did this day after day. He could have said, “This is ridiculous. I don’t have any need to do this. No one wants to hear me preach.”
One day though the phone rang and he was asked if he could come to a church to fill in for the pastor while he was on vacation.
He was PREPARED and he went. He continued to study and prepare and more phone calls came. Later he went to college and continued to develop his gifts.
ILLUSTRATION: When we used to go to the county jail services at Cambridge the woman who was in charge of them would ask if we would be prepared to speak or do something the next week in the service. One week she didn’t ask. I remember asking her, “Do you want me to be prepared?”
I never will forget her answer--she said, “Oh yes, ALWAYS be prepared.”
It takes time to develop our gifts--to be prepared--to be ready and in the place God wants to use us. Sometimes it takes money and we should be willing to invest both time and money in our gifts in order to become more effective in His service.
A lot of people will say, “Oh, I would go to that workshop if somebody will pay for it. Or I would take music lessons if somebody would give them to me for FREE.
Developing our gifts is not always easy or free. Paul tells Timothy, “You can get over your timidity and fear. You can improve if you will actively stir up the gifts that are already there. Fan them into a full blown flame. And another thing he adds is --you can do it because you have been given a spirit of power, and love, and self-discipline.
Sometimes we are very timid like Timothy and we feel a lack of skill and compentency. We are not sure of ourselvess and we hesitate to step out in faith. The Holy Spirit fills in these gaps with His power at the exact time you need it. Your dependency upon Him is needed. Why do you suppose you never have total competency in an area that God wants to use you? I think it is so you won’t say, “I am self sufficient and try to take all the criedit.” God often uses the most unlikely people in His spiritual gifts.
When you have prepared and have done all you know to do, then He will step in and make up the difference. He is not going to bless laziness, but He will give you the power to do what He calls you to do. Developing your gifts is not a “piece of cake.” It stretches you beyond your current comfort zone.
Be willing to invest in yourself and your gifts--both time and money. Jesus was willing to pay a big price for our salvation.
I Corinthians 6:20 reminds us, “you are not your own; you were bought at a price.”
3. Joyful Experience: Developing and using your gifts is a joyful experience. People say, “I’m just sitting around looking at the four walls. Just waiting for Jesus to come back. Nothing I want to do. Just waiting to go to heaven.” That’s pathetic!!!
Your life will become an adventure when you start letting your gifts emerge and you are just waiting to see how and when and where God will use you next. Scripture tells us to “occupy until the Lord comes.”
You are not going to be in a boring rut. The Lord will send you here and there and have you so excited about being an active Christian that you will not be bored and looking at the four walls.
CONCLUSION: This week
1. Look for some active ways to begin stirring up your gift.
2. Be willing to spend some time and money
3. Expect it to be an exciting adventure
Let us Pray:
