The sermon last week was about the final judgment and the great white throne that all unbelievers will stand before. This week I want to talk about the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us to help the unbeliever escape that final judgment.
Paul, when he first starts to talk about the spiritual Gifts talks about ignorance. How many people here today think that they have a spiritual gift?
I am here to tell you that every single believer in Christ Jesus has at least on spiritual gift. Do you call the Lord Jesus Christ you Lord and savior?
If you have claimed Jesus as your PERSONAL Lord and Savior, then you already have at least one gift.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draw him,
(2) Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led.
There it is ladies and gentlemen, in black and white. We have all been led away by the world. All of us. We all have the experience of being away from Jesus. We all have the knowledge of what it is like to have no hope. We also have the opposite, we have hope. We can find a way to meet people at their point of need. I realize that the Methodist Church is often called the frozen chosen but people, according to Jesus own instructions that is not how we are to behave.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
We are to use the faith that God has gifted to us to make students of Jesus Christ and His Father for him. He has given us the gift of belief to do so.
(3) Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Can any one of you in good conscience curse your Lord and Savior? Can you feel his saving grace that he so freely gave and ignore the passion of your calling? That is exactly what we do when we just sit by and let others in the church concern themselves with growing the church. Our complacency is a tool that Satan can and does use to keep this church from growing.
I can here some of your brains working now, I don’t want to be labeled a religious fanatic. If you are not willing to stand up for Jesus Christ then why would he stand up for you?
(4) Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. (5) And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. (6) And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
One Spirit, one God, one Lord and Savior. Yet we are told that there are many gifts. All come from God calling us to believe in His Son and follow his example.
Christ was not just some guy that we are to believe in and that is it.
James 2:18-20 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. (19) Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
We are going to be known by our faith and our works that we are truly indeed children of God. We are going to be known by our works that our faith is a real and tangible object.
(7) But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
The spirit is given to every single believer. Are you going to sit there and show that you have no faith by your actions? Are you taking the fact that Christ died for our sins so lightly that you are not willing to be labeled a religious fanatic? It is that faith that the world is scared of that makes them ridicule our belief and once you have pushed past that fear using the gifts of the spirit, we are then doing God’s will as to profit and grow the entire church. The gifts of the spirit are meant for growing the church.
(8) For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; (9) To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; (10) To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
Paul gives us a partial list of spiritual gifts. He makes sure to show that all may not be given the same gifts but he does show that all are given gifts. Have you realized what your gift is? Have you embraced it to do the work of God? When was the last time you spoke to someone about Jesus? When have you prayed to realize and be given the ability to use your gift?
(11) But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (12) For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
All of our gifts come from Holy Spirit. All of us have been given at least one gift. Paul tells us that many of us have been given several gifts as the spirit sees fit. Our willingness to use these gifts is the driving force behind the growth of the church.
The church has many different members. We fit into many diverse economical and social categories but we all also belong to one very important group. Whether we are Methodist, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, or a member of some other Christ believing denomination, we are all members of the ONE BODY of Christ Jesus. As such, we should not bicker about different denominational values or social beliefs but we should all work to profit Jesus Christ and the church he is building for His Father’s Glory. Use your gifts in your everyday life. Make it your goal to bring in at least one new member into Christ’s Fold this year. Give all aspects of your life over to the use of the Holy Spirit and if that gets you labeled a fanatic then stand up and say with pride in Christ, YES, I AM A FANATIC!
