Latest / Karl and Crew / Spiritual Gifts for the Common Good with Dr. Sam Storms & Every Believer Is Gifted with Alex McFarland

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Spiritual Gifts for the Common Good with Dr. Sam Storms & Every Believer Is Gifted with Alex McFarland · Karl and Crew

0:00
S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
0:06
S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced guide, overcome
0:10
S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
0:16
S1: the truth daily.
0:17
S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available.
0:21
S2: And you're forfeiting your soul. There's no amount of gain
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S2: that would make it worth it.
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S3: Our own way never ever works. Because it's apart from
0:29
S3: the life source, which is God.
0:32
S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
0:36
S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
0:39
S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
0:44
S1: Now from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
0:48
S1: and crew. Yeah, we got a pop up pole for
0:51
S1: you here. And we really want your involvement. Trying to
0:54
S1: get a large sample group. We're doing really well. We're approaching.
0:59
S1: I don't know what we're approaching here. 700, 600, which
1:03
S1: is tremendous, but we got a pop up poll. It's
1:06
S1: a simple one. Have you identified your spiritual gifts and
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S1: are using them? Have you identified your spiritual gifts and
1:15
S1: are not utilizing them? Or have you not utilized your
1:19
S1: gifts because you haven't identified them? All of us have
1:23
S1: been given gifts. When Jesus ascended, he took captives captive
1:29
S1: and gave gifts to men. The Holy Spirit, as we've
1:31
S1: been discussing already this morning, distributes those gifts. They are
1:35
S1: not our gifts. They are gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1:38
S1: They are utilized for. And this is very important, the
1:41
S1: building up of the body of Christ. But we want
1:44
S1: to get your response into this poll, as many of
1:47
S1: you as can take a moment to grab your phone
1:50
S1: as possible. I want you to do it right now.
1:53
S1: Super di. How do they get their vote registered here?
1:56
S4: Very simple. That word is vote. Yeah. Text the word
1:59
S4: vote to 805 five, five, 78, 98. The word is vote.
2:04
S4: And really even maybe 10s that's all it's going to
2:07
S4: take you. So text the word vote 800 555, 78, 98.
2:12
S1: Yeah, getting some good data points back on this already.
2:16
S1: What a beautiful thing. Think about this. Your gift, uh,
2:20
S1: if there ever was an example of not being a
2:22
S1: cul de sac, but rather being a conduit, imagine your
2:27
S1: life being a conduit of all that God has all
2:30
S1: your resources. I can go to Matthew 25 again here.
2:33
S1: Man two and five talent, people, they see all that
2:36
S1: they've been given as from God and they reinvest it. Well,
2:40
S1: it's the same is true with spiritual gifts. God wants
2:45
S1: us to see gifts as a tool and a gift
2:50
S1: that is given to us for the building up of
2:53
S1: the body. This is not for you to look at
2:55
S1: and get fixated on and think, boy, I got this one.
2:59
S1: Too bad you ain't got this one. Don't you know?
3:01
S1: Too bad young thunder ain't got that gift over there.
3:05
S1: I mean, it can get really wonky.
3:07
S3: Absolutely.
3:08
S1: So we want to have a lot of clarity around
3:10
S1: this one today. So text vote. We're going to get
3:13
S1: a big sample group in here to 805 5578, 98. Super.
3:18
S1: I said it right. It is quick and easy man.
3:22
S1: And it's like 10s to do this poll and it's
3:25
S1: giving us some good data points. And I'll let you
3:28
S1: know in the next few minutes where we stand here
3:31
S1: with this poll. But would you get your vote cast
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S1: right now? Text vote to 805 5578983 categories. I know
3:41
S1: my spiritual gift and I'm utilizing it in the body
3:44
S1: of Christ B so that's a b. I know my gift,
3:48
S1: but I'm not using it right now. And see, Carl,
3:52
S1: I do not know my gift right now or gifts.
3:56
S1: And that's okay. There's no condemnation.
3:59
S5: So no, not at all.
4:00
S1: We want to we want to hear because we want
4:02
S1: to get a good pulse of you, the boom crew.
4:06
S1: So text vote right now. Grab your phone if you're driving,
4:09
S1: don't do it. Some of you say 10s. I can
4:12
S1: do it while I'm driving. Please don't pull the side
4:14
S1: of the road. Grab that phone and text vote to
4:17
S1: 805 557898. Okay, I want to do a banner ad
4:24
S1: for something really important here. I am so thrilled about
4:29
S1: this cruise to Alaska. And man, we are chugging away
4:34
S1: at this thing. Super dive. But Allie's right. She's got
4:36
S1: a day off here today. But last week she said it.
4:40
S1: People are reentering into the world after the summer, they're
4:44
S1: reentering into their calendars, they're reentering into planning, they're assessing
4:48
S1: where they stand financially. All these things are true, but
4:53
S1: we want to invite you to a week that is
4:56
S1: going to nourish your soul and change the spiritual trajectory
5:00
S1: of your life. Super di, you're on a roll. Give
5:02
S1: them the details on this thing.
5:04
S4: It's real simple. You text the word cruise to 805 five, five, 78, 98.
5:09
S4: You're going what? Cruise? When? Where? What? It's June 5th
5:12
S4: through the 12th. That's 2027. June 5th through the 12th.
5:16
S4: So make sure you check those dates of 2027. Incredible
5:19
S4: time of teaching, Carl. Yes. Leading that time. His wife
5:24
S4: Janine will be there. Also Doctor Michael Rudnick joining in
5:27
S4: that his wife Eva. Time of worship with Micah Tyler.
5:31
S4: Plus you add the backdrop of beautiful Alaska, wonderful fellowship, worship, discipleship.
5:38
S4: It's the moody Radio Alaska cruise. Yes. Those details will
5:42
S4: get them to you. Just text cruise 805 557898, text
5:47
S4: cruise to 800 805 557898.
5:52
S1: Okay, so you got two key words there, and I'm
5:55
S1: grateful for all of you responding right now. We're getting
5:58
S1: hundreds of you responding. That's tremendous. All we need is
6:02
S1: you trying to get a good swath. You know, the
6:05
S1: more data points we get here, the better sample size
6:07
S1: we get, the better results we're going to have. So yeah,
6:11
S1: if you want to get on that cruise, please text
6:14
S1: that number and get this information. Just text cruise to
6:17
S1: 805 557898. And for everyone here, you can jump in
6:25
S1: right now and you give a response to spiritual gifts
6:29
S1: by texting vote to 805 557898. Coming up, I'm going
6:34
S1: to give you the results. Get your vote in. We
6:37
S1: get it instantly tallied. So get it in. Get let
6:41
S1: your voice, let your heart, let your life situation be heard.
6:44
S1: Text vote to 805 55. 78. 98. Results of the
6:50
S1: poll coming up in just a moment here.
6:53
S6: She was trying to earn her way to God, but
6:55
S6: God showed her. She didn't have to. Ali is in
6:59
S6: the crew. It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
7:03
S1: It's Carl and crew here talking spiritual gifts all week long.
7:06
S1: We are going to have an amazing week. We're going
7:08
S1: to have experts in here. I'm talking even Craig Keener
7:11
S1: from Asbury, phenomenal theological mind. He's going to be later
7:15
S1: this week. And by the way, tune in tomorrow. I
7:18
S1: think it's going to happen tomorrow. We are going to
7:21
S1: have a spiritual gifts inventory that is being created by
7:26
S1: our very own doctor, Drew Dickens, our very own doctor,
7:31
S1: Drew Dickinson. He's creating it just for you, boom crew.
7:34
S1: And that's going to be tomorrow. We're going to have
7:35
S1: a link for that. He does.
7:37
S5: So much work to just build things for us, for.
7:40
S4: The boom crew, for the boom crew.
7:42
S5: It's incredible. So cool.
7:43
S1: It's humbling.
7:44
S5: Man. It is.
7:45
S1: Okay, I've got some vote responses here or poll responses,
7:50
S1: and I want to thank you. So this is what
7:53
S1: we've got. We're nearing 800 people responding. How about them apples.
7:58
S3: That's incredible.
7:58
S5: That's great.
7:59
S1: Okay, so we got nearly 800. Good sample group. I'm
8:02
S1: going to keep getting it all week long. I want
8:04
S1: to see if this is going to move at all.
8:06
S1: It's been trending about the same here. But here's where
8:09
S1: we're at 53%. Yes I've identified my gifts and I'm
8:14
S1: using them. Now I got to tell you, I my
8:20
S1: firm conviction is that if you take the general population
8:25
S1: of the church, just the gen pop, I think, and
8:30
S1: I'm talking gospel preaching, you know, calling down the Spirit
8:35
S1: of God and angels to work that kind of a church,
8:38
S1: open the Bible, preach from it. I think that's that's
8:44
S1: a high higher number than what you would normally find
8:46
S1: in the general population.
8:48
S5: I think that's fair.
8:49
S1: And that that's not that's not surprising because folks that
8:54
S1: are in the boom crew, they're in it to win
8:56
S1: it all the way, no doubt. And so that would
9:00
S1: explain the 53%. But here's where it gets a little
9:04
S1: more concerning. 13% have identified their gifts but are not
9:08
S1: using them. And by the way, concerning in the sense
9:11
S1: that we need you identify and using your gifts. And
9:14
S1: then 34% of respondents with 777 poles already accounted for here, 34%. No,
9:24
S1: I've not identified my spiritual gifts and then obviously can't
9:28
S1: use them. Now, I will say this. Some of you
9:32
S1: are using your spiritual gifts and you just don't know it.
9:36
S1: You haven't pinned it down.
9:37
S5: That's very true.
9:37
S4: That's a very good point.
9:39
S1: You've got a gift of administration and you're using it,
9:42
S1: or of mercy or of helps, and you've just never
9:44
S1: pinned it down. So God willing, by the end of
9:47
S1: this week, we're going to pin that down. But I've
9:48
S1: got a very important question for you. And it's this
9:53
S1: if spiritual gifts are given to build up fellow followers
9:57
S1: there for there for building people up, how are you
10:01
S1: using your gifts right now? Now, obviously, this has to
10:06
S1: be done in a tenor of humility. Some of you
10:09
S1: are going to want to remain anonymous. We're only going
10:11
S1: to call out first names anyways, but I really want
10:15
S1: to get some feedback on this. Why? I want to
10:18
S1: build a fire broadly around all these spiritual gifts and
10:23
S1: feature these for the sake of encouraging others to utilize
10:27
S1: them more. So here's the question I want you to
10:31
S1: call in in response. If spiritual gifts are given to
10:35
S1: build up fellow followers of Christ, build up the church.
10:40
S1: How are you using your gifts right now? 805 557898
10:48
S1: give us a call. 805 557898.
10:54
S6: He was sharing the gospel on the radio and then
10:57
S6: he got saved. Young thunders in the crew. It's Carl
11:02
S6: and crew on Moody Radio.
11:04
S1: If spiritual gifts are given to build up the body
11:07
S1: of Christ, strengthen, encourage, really move the trajectory of someone's
11:12
S1: spiritual life to growth in Jesus. How are you using
11:16
S1: your gifts right now? Now? I know that there's a
11:19
S1: lot of you that are very shy to say, why
11:21
S1: would I want to call in and tell you about that?
11:24
S1: My goodness, because it's going to encourage others to jump
11:28
S1: in and use their gift, maybe even help identify what
11:31
S1: their gift is for them. 805 557898. I'm asking you
11:36
S1: to not be shy. Pastors. Elders. Don't be shy. 800. 555. 7898.
11:45
S1: Give us a call. James. Plant City, Florida. What do
11:47
S1: you say, my friend?
11:49
S7: Hey, how's it going? This guy this morning.
11:51
S1: Guys going good. What's your. How's God using your gifts
11:54
S1: to build up the body?
11:56
S7: Okay, well, I walked through 30 years of addiction and,
12:00
S7: you know, and things in my life. But what he's
12:02
S7: done now is he's turned my life around. And the
12:06
S7: same thing that crushed me. Now, the oil that poured
12:09
S7: out is to go back into the community now and
12:12
S7: tell the homeless and the addicted and mental health about
12:16
S7: the love of Christ, and that there is a way out.
12:18
S7: You know what I mean? Through him. And, and he's
12:21
S7: just he's so good. And the opportunity to go out
12:25
S7: and give back, you know, in ministry to him. And,
12:28
S7: and that's, that's the way he's using me right now.
12:30
S7: Me and my wife in our life. We actually have
12:32
S7: a ministry we just opened up and it's called the
12:34
S7: way out Plant City. And He's just. He's doing mighty
12:37
S7: things here in Plant City.
12:38
S1: I'm going to tell you something, James. I would be, uh,
12:42
S1: I would be remiss to not tell you. You either
12:45
S1: have a gift of mercy or helps, for sure. And
12:49
S1: that is a beautiful thing. And I want to encourage
12:51
S1: you to keep using that thing powerfully. I also want
12:55
S1: to encourage you with something here. This is very important.
12:58
S1: This is I hadn't planned on this. Oftentimes, people with
13:03
S1: the gift of ministry or helps need administrators or even
13:07
S1: leaders around them. This is where the gifts of the
13:11
S1: body come into play. This is what makes churches tick,
13:16
S1: is when somebody's got portions of where we aren't gifted,
13:21
S1: strengthened by their own gifting. So just think about that.
13:25
S1: Thank you James. Great call. Boom brother. Way to go.
13:28
S1: Lee in Cleveland, Ohio. Tell us.
13:32
S8: Hi, Carl. Good morning. Um, I think that God is
13:35
S8: using me with my spiritual gift of teaching and of languages.
13:39
S8: I teach at a Christian high school here in Cleveland.
13:42
S8: I teach, uh, foreign languages. So I think that's where
13:46
S8: he's using me.
13:47
S1: Yeah, no doubt about it. Way to go. Way to
13:49
S1: be usually. Love that. Proud of you, sister. It's a
13:52
S1: beautiful thing when we can leverage the gifts God's given
13:56
S1: us to build up others. And when we see our
14:00
S1: gifts as spiritual gifts, they are not ours. We are
14:04
S1: stewards of the gifts God's given us. We'll use them boldly. Yeah.
14:09
S1: Give us a call. You're using your gifts because you
14:13
S1: know they're there for the building up of the body
14:15
S1: of Christ. How are you using them right now? And
14:17
S1: I don't want you to be shy. I know the
14:19
S1: tendency is, my goodness, if you got to remain anonymous,
14:22
S1: remain anonymous. If you feel better with that. Most people
14:26
S1: that are using their gifts don't want to go, hey,
14:29
S1: this is how I'm using my gift. But we want
14:31
S1: you to say, this is how I'm using my gift
14:33
S1: right now. 805 557898. Give us a jingle right now.
14:39
S1: 805 5578, 98. Phone's still jingle, guys.
14:44
S5: Uh, well, I guess if you have the sound on them, then, yeah.
14:48
S6: He's a sports fanatic with a stand for anything you
14:51
S6: can think of. Young Thunder is in the crew. It's
14:55
S6: Carl and crew on Moody Radio Scotland.
14:58
S1: Crew talking spiritual gifts. Got a question for you. If
15:01
S1: spiritual gifts are given to build up the body of Christ,
15:03
S1: how are you using your gifts right now? Going back
15:07
S1: to the phone lines, Barbara, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Thanks for
15:09
S1: calling in, sister. What's your story?
15:12
S9: Absolutely. I'm still working. I'm 78 years old, but I
15:16
S9: really enjoy what I'm doing for a mission for a non-profit.
15:20
S9: And sometimes, um, decisions are made at the higher level,
15:24
S9: but all the, the people who are workers don't always understand.
15:27
S9: So I try to encourage people. I encourage my friends
15:31
S9: to know that God is in control and for whatever reason,
15:35
S9: we're going through this. So if you don't like it,
15:38
S9: then get a different job. But otherwise, let me just
15:42
S9: encourage you to let God be handling it. And you
15:46
S9: be in his his arms and let him hold you up.
15:49
S1: Okay? You know, you're touching on a few things here, Barbara.
15:52
S1: And I want to try to encourage everyone calling in
15:54
S1: today to try to pin down their gift. I would
15:57
S1: say you've probably got a gift of exhortation for sure,
16:01
S1: gift of exhortation, and that there could be a little
16:05
S1: bit of prophecy. In other words, speaking truth to a
16:10
S1: person directly in that exhortation. But it's an awesome thing
16:14
S1: to hear. Sister. Boom! Way to go, Barbara in Fort Lauderdale.
16:18
S1: Way to go, guys. Uh, Marlena Cleveland, Ohio. Thanks for
16:22
S1: calling in. What's your story?
16:25
S10: Uh, it'll be a year and a half tomorrow that
16:28
S10: my husband went home to be with Jesus. And I
16:32
S10: asked the Lord, you know, how do you want to
16:34
S10: use me for this next season of life until I
16:37
S10: go to be with you? And I started a widows
16:40
S10: group and I have now we just started in January.
16:44
S10: I have 53 women in our group now and we
16:47
S10: meet every single month. We have dinner. We share with
16:52
S10: one another. Um, we do activities together and it's encouraging
16:57
S10: these women that God's got something for their future, that
17:01
S10: they won't roll up in a ball and die. Yes,
17:05
S10: it's full of joy. It is full of hope because
17:09
S10: our Lord is our bridegroom. And there it gives me
17:13
S10: such great joy to be able to bring joy to others.
17:16
S10: And our group is called WCJ. We choose joy widow
17:21
S10: connection journey.
17:23
S11: How do you like that?
17:24
S1: Sister, I love it now. Marlena. You know what your
17:29
S1: spiritual gift is, right? Because I do.
17:33
S10: Okay. Um, well, um, what would you call it?
17:36
S1: I would, I would say you've probably got a spiritual
17:39
S1: gift of leadership.
17:42
S10: Um, that is true because when I took the vision
17:46
S10: to our pastor, he right away said, that's a great idea.
17:50
S10: He said, you're in charge.
17:51
S1: And go get her done.
17:53
S10: Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Because he said, you know, we can't
17:56
S10: start new ministries if we don't have someone to lead.
17:59
S10: And I agree with you, Carl, because God's given me
18:03
S10: that ability. And it's, it's just it's so exciting. And
18:07
S10: there we had three new women that came last Wednesday, uh,
18:11
S10: Tuesday for our meetings. And so we yeah, it's, it's phenomenal.
18:17
S10: It really is. And to God be the glory. And
18:19
S10: that's Romans 828 that he makes something good come out
18:24
S10: of everything that happens, even the loss of our spouses.
18:28
S1: And you're living, James. You're living. James you're living real
18:31
S1: religion is caring for widows. So you're doing a good thing. You're.
18:35
S1: This is so good. Now let me let me keep
18:37
S1: you here for a second. Marlena. See, you're using your
18:40
S1: leadership gift in your. But you're not focused on the gift.
18:43
S1: You're focused on utilizing it for the growth of the
18:47
S1: body of Christ. There are 50 plus women that are
18:50
S1: going to be radically altered until the day they go
18:54
S1: home to be with Jesus, or he comes to get us.
18:57
S1: That is boom crew, listen to me. What Marlena is
19:00
S1: doing is beautiful, and the fact that she didn't know. Bingo.
19:05
S1: My gift is leadership. She had a hunch, didn't want
19:07
S1: to say. It is one of the greatest evidences that
19:11
S1: we're tracking with Jesus on these gifts.
19:14
S5: No doubt about that.
19:15
S1: Man. Marlena, stay on the phone. You're getting a call
19:21
S1: and crew prize pack.
19:22
S12: I love it. Love it.
19:23
S1: You want to? Do you want a prize pack? First off,
19:26
S1: would you like one sent to you?
19:28
S10: I would love one. I would be so blessed. Thank
19:32
S10: you so much.
19:33
S1: I hope you enjoy what's in it. I don't even
19:35
S1: know what all is in there, but. Godspeed, sister.
19:38
S5: Lots of prizes.
19:39
S1: What a cool thing. Yeah. Oh, what a blessing.
19:44
S6: The gospel changes everything.
19:47
S2: Where else am I gonna find peace, joy? Eternal life
19:50
S2: not found in any one else.
19:53
S6: You're listening to Carl and crew.
19:55
S1: We're talking spiritual gifts this week, and I want to
19:58
S1: thank all of you that have had a hand in
20:01
S1: helping us get a good sample size group of data.
20:06
S1: We asked you a question with regarding spiritual gifts. Do
20:11
S1: you know them and use them? Do you know them?
20:14
S1: But don't use them and you do not know them,
20:17
S1: therefore you cannot use them. Three options. Sam Storms, my
20:22
S1: guest right now, we've got a pretty high rate of
20:25
S1: people that know and use their gifts here on the
20:27
S1: morning show. Sam, that probably didn't surprise you, but it's
20:30
S1: up around 50%. So that leaves 50% that are under
20:35
S1: leveraged in the body for sure. And it probably goes
20:37
S1: higher than that. What's your take on that number?
20:41
S13: Well, it sounds about right. Um, it's interesting. You should
20:44
S13: use the word use because both in Romans 12 and
20:48
S13: in first Peter four, the the apostles exhort us, use
20:51
S13: your gift for the building up of the body. So
20:54
S13: identifying it as one thing, um, embracing it. And the
20:59
S13: reality of it is another, but actually putting it into
21:01
S13: use is absolutely essential. And that's one of the things
21:05
S13: that Christians don't know how to do.
21:06
S1: Yeah. That reminds me of first Corinthians 12, verse one.
21:10
S1: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not
21:14
S1: want you to be uninformed. Uh oh, Sam, we're we're
21:19
S1: like the church of Corinth, only we haven't read the letter.
21:21
S1: We're uninformed, aren't we?
21:24
S13: We are. Uh, let me just give you a quick
21:26
S13: illustration of why this is important. Let's assume that you
21:29
S13: want to remodel your kitchen in your home. And so
21:32
S13: you hire a guy to come in and he walks
21:34
S13: in by himself, and all he has is one hammer
21:36
S13: and one screwdriver, and you immediately become suspicious. There's not
21:40
S13: there's no way he can remodel my entire kitchen with
21:44
S13: those two tools. Well, that's the way many Christians approach
21:48
S13: church life and small group life. Uh, they think that
21:52
S13: somehow they've got 1 or 2 tools, and they fail
21:55
S13: to make use of all the resources God has given us.
21:58
S13: Spiritual gifts are the tools, the spiritual tools that God
22:02
S13: has granted to build up his people and to expand
22:05
S13: his kingdom. And we should no more expect to be
22:08
S13: able to accomplish that without the use of those gifts.
22:11
S13: Then you would have your kitchen remodeled by a guy
22:13
S13: with only a screwdriver and a hammer. So we have
22:16
S13: to recognize these are the resources, the tools, the instruments
22:20
S13: that God has given us so graciously and freely in
22:23
S13: order to build up the body of Christ. And if
22:25
S13: we don't make use of them, the body remains tiny,
22:29
S13: remains spiritual pygmies.
22:30
S1: Yeah. Yeah. Sam storms, my guest right now. And we're
22:33
S1: going to have a link to a ton of resources
22:35
S1: here before we're done with our time with Sam. I
22:38
S1: got so many questions here. Let's just get rapid fire.
22:41
S1: Let's get some answers. Spiritual gifts were given according to Ephesians,
22:47
S1: when Jesus rose, he took captives captive and gave gifts
22:51
S1: to men. And then the Holy Spirit is because they're
22:55
S1: spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit is infusing those gifts that
22:59
S1: were gifted by Jesus. What do we need to know
23:03
S1: about that, Sam?
23:05
S13: Well, you've pretty much defined what a spiritual gift is.
23:09
S13: And we have a definition in first Corinthians 127 where
23:12
S13: Paul says to each is given the manifestation of the
23:15
S13: spirit for the common good. Spiritual gifts are the Holy
23:19
S13: Spirit himself, manifesting his presence and power through Christians. So
23:24
S13: we need to get out of our minds this idea
23:26
S13: that spiritual gift is like that one under the Christmas tree,
23:29
S13: wrapped in a pretty paper and a nice little bow.
23:32
S13: It's not a thing separate from God. Spiritual gifts are
23:36
S13: God the Holy Spirit operating visibly and vocally through us
23:40
S13: to build up other people.
23:42
S1: Sam, in all my years and I've preached on spiritual gifting,
23:45
S1: I've never landed that firmly on that nuance. This is
23:49
S1: not your gift. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit.
23:52
S1: We are stewards, Sam. That's huge.
23:56
S13: It is. I mean, think about it for a minute.
23:59
S13: People say sometimes that focusing on the Holy Spirit isn't biblical. Well,
24:04
S13: the Holy Spirit himself is manifesting. He's coming to full
24:08
S13: disclosure about who he is and what he does by
24:11
S13: means of these empowering, um, abilities that he imparts to Christians.
24:16
S13: And it's also important that we notice there in that
24:19
S13: verse seven of first Corinthians 12. The purpose, it's for
24:22
S13: the common good. It's for building up godly Christians, maturing
24:26
S13: them in Christ, enabling them to minister to one another
24:30
S13: in a way that honors Jesus and builds them up
24:32
S13: in their faith.
24:33
S1: How do we delineate between talents and gifts? Spirit, Holy
24:39
S1: spirit infused gifts and let me illustrate from my own life.
24:42
S1: So when I was lost, I was always the class leader. Now,
24:47
S1: when I was born again, I was a reluctant leader
24:49
S1: because I was humbled and really brought low in a
24:53
S1: beautiful place before the Lord. So I had no desire
24:57
S1: to preach the gospel. God. God chose me. I didn't
25:00
S1: choose that. But the gift of leadership is my primary gift.
25:05
S1: I have teaching and evangelism as well, for sure. But
25:10
S1: how do you you know what I'm struggling with here?
25:14
S1: I mean, I was born a leader, but now I'm
25:16
S1: a spiritual leader. How does all that work?
25:19
S13: Well, this may catch you by surprise. I don't think
25:22
S13: it's all that important for us to differentiate between natural,
25:26
S13: God given talents and a spirit given spiritual gift. The
25:30
S13: question is, once we recognize what we can do effectively
25:33
S13: for the glory of God and for the good of people,
25:36
S13: use it, put it into practice. So on the one hand,
25:40
S13: it is oftentimes the case that your natural talents and
25:44
S13: your educational experience will coincide with and will be perfectly
25:49
S13: manifested when you get a spiritual gift. So for example, uh,
25:52
S13: like you said, maybe, uh, if you have the gift
25:55
S13: of leadership and you were in a, let's say you
25:57
S13: were the CEO of a fortune 500 company and you
26:01
S13: were doing an excellent job there. And then you get
26:03
S13: saved and you find yourself in the local church, your
26:06
S13: gift of leadership, uh, which was produced in you by
26:09
S13: the Holy Spirit even before you were saved. Because remember,
26:12
S13: the Spirit of God works all these things in us
26:14
S13: by common grace. But then you make use of that,
26:17
S13: and you adapt it to the life of the local church.
26:20
S13: On the other hand, there may be an individual who
26:23
S13: has very little education, who has very little experience, but
26:27
S13: he's saved, and suddenly he has the capacity of wisdom
26:31
S13: and guidance and leadership to build up the body. And
26:34
S13: there's no connection between his natural native abilities and his
26:37
S13: spiritual gifts. So my point is, sometimes there is an overlap,
26:42
S13: sometimes there is not. I don't think people ought to
26:45
S13: worry about it. Just make use of whatever gift you
26:47
S13: have and thank God for it.
26:49
S1: That's that's some good barnyard counsel there. Don't worry about it.
26:53
S1: Just I mean, if we go back to Psalm 139,
26:57
S1: we were fearfully and wonderfully made back in the womb.
27:01
S1: So there were designs on our life. So it just
27:04
S1: dawned on me, if you take the sovereign nature of
27:08
S1: God's calling on our life. That would almost imply, look,
27:14
S1: I know I'm going to use this thing I built
27:17
S1: in you, and I'm going to supercharge it by the
27:19
S1: power of the Holy Spirit. That makes more sense, doesn't it, Sam?
27:23
S13: It does, it does. And so again, I would just
27:26
S13: say to people, if they, you know, people, the question
27:29
S13: I get asked more than anything else is, how do
27:30
S13: I discover my spiritual gifts?
27:32
S1: Yeah. So let's go there.
27:33
S13: Yeah. Well, the people don't like this, but the first
27:37
S13: thing I say is stop gazing in on your belly.
27:40
S13: You know, this this introspective. Oh, I got to search
27:43
S13: and rack my soul and find out what my gift is. No.
27:47
S13: Open your eyes. Identify a need and step into it
27:51
S13: to meet it. And the Spirit of God will find
27:53
S13: you in the midst of that. So, you know, it's
27:56
S13: a very practical, almost pragmatic approach to discovering your gift.
28:00
S13: If I see somebody who's depressed and discouraged, sit down
28:03
S13: with them. Speak words of encouragement, pray for them, and
28:07
S13: suddenly the spiritual gift of encouragement will manifest through your ministry.
28:12
S13: Or if you find an elderly person in your church
28:14
S13: who who can't take care of her yard, or even
28:17
S13: wash the clothes, or clean out the garage, get a
28:20
S13: bunch of people, go over there and serve her in
28:23
S13: that capacity, and suddenly you'll find that the spirit has
28:25
S13: equipped you with the gift of service.
28:26
S1: I love.
28:27
S13: It so. On and on and on. All we need
28:30
S13: do is instead of looking inward, look outward. Identify the
28:34
S13: need that somebody in your neighborhood or your church might have,
28:38
S13: and then say, all right, Lord, I'm going to step
28:40
S13: into the middle of this. Would you equip me and
28:43
S13: empower me to help this individual in whatever need they have?
28:46
S13: And I believe when you do that, the spiritual gift
28:49
S13: that you're searching for will meet you in that moment.
28:52
S1: I believe it. You know, I got two thoughts on
28:54
S1: this one, Sam. I've often told people in our church campuses, listen,
28:59
S1: you're trying to discover stuff, but you're strapped to the
29:01
S1: dock trying to figure out who you are. You got
29:03
S1: it untied from the dock. And get this boat out
29:05
S1: to sea a little bit. And that's what you're saying.
29:08
S1: Let's get out there and use it. Here's the thing
29:11
S1: that's just struck me. I wonder if, Sam, one of
29:16
S1: the most important elements to discovering how the Spirit of
29:21
S1: God is using me with gifts that he's given me
29:25
S1: and working through me. I wonder if that isn't best
29:28
S1: done by a word of affirmation. When you see someone
29:32
S1: winning in leadership, administration, mercy teaching, uh, prophecy, whatever. I'm
29:39
S1: wondering if that's the secret sauce that we're missing out
29:42
S1: on here.
29:44
S13: Well, I definitely think it is. Um, and again, it's interesting. Um,
29:48
S13: I think I counted nine times in first Corinthians 14
29:52
S13: that the Apostle Paul identifies the purpose of spiritual gifts
29:55
S13: is edification building up the body.
29:58
S1: Yes.
29:58
S13: And that can be done, as you just said, simply
30:01
S13: by affirmation. You see somebody who's ministering powerfully, maybe they're
30:05
S13: explaining a text of scripture to somebody who's really confused,
30:08
S13: and they've never thought that they might have the gift
30:10
S13: of teaching. And you say, you know, I think you
30:12
S13: should develop that gift and work on it. You really
30:15
S13: communicated that biblical truth well, or you see somebody writing
30:19
S13: out a check to a person whose electricity is about
30:22
S13: to be shut off, and suddenly you say, hey, have
30:25
S13: you ever thought you might have the gift of giving?
30:27
S13: I mean, you reacted so spontaneously and generously to that need.
30:30
S13: And so, yes, I think by affirming what we see
30:33
S13: in others, it oftentimes can bring to the surface and
30:37
S13: enable them to exercise their gift more effectively.
30:40
S1: Let's get into a risky spot. And that is this gift, uh,
30:44
S1: fascination that borders on idolatry, if you know what I
30:48
S1: mean here, Sam. How do we prevent that?
30:51
S13: By reminding ourselves. Number one, the word spiritual gift is
30:57
S13: rooted in the Greek word for grace. Chorus. That's why
31:00
S13: we get the word charismatic. We always have to remember
31:03
S13: that whatever my gift is, it's not because I did
31:06
S13: something wonderful that God felt obligated to give it to me.
31:09
S13: It's grace gift. It's a it's a total work of
31:12
S13: God's sovereign mercy. Secondly, we have to remember, as I've
31:15
S13: already said, the purpose of the gift. It's not so
31:17
S13: I can enhance my reputation in church or have people
31:21
S13: applaud me or hand me a microphone or have my name,
31:24
S13: you know, in the bulletin or on the screen. It's
31:28
S13: to build up the body of Christ. It's to edify others.
31:31
S13: And I think if we remember where the gifts come from,
31:34
S13: they are not rewards for obedience. They are God's grace gifts.
31:38
S13: And secondly, they're given so that other people might grow
31:41
S13: up and benefit from what we do through the power
31:44
S13: of the spirit.
31:45
S1: Yeah. And I want to linger here because I had
31:48
S1: something happen. I feel prompted to share this story just quickly.
31:51
S1: There was a person in a church a number of
31:55
S1: years ago now who. This person had a very real
32:00
S1: gift of discernment. No question about it. But I began
32:05
S1: to see in this person something quite destructive. They didn't
32:10
S1: use this. It was almost like, I'm here to read
32:13
S1: your mail, if you know what I mean. Sure. And
32:16
S1: it it spiraled into something really dangerous. Sam and I
32:20
S1: went to this person and I said, I want you
32:22
S1: to stop and consider something. I think your gift is
32:26
S1: very real, but I'm afraid you're using this to read
32:31
S1: mail and actually tear people down rather than build them up.
32:36
S1: And I said, I want you to take a break
32:38
S1: from church and come back here when you're ready to
32:41
S1: use this thing rightly. Just take a couple of weeks
32:43
S1: and pray. Now, I never saw that person again, but
32:46
S1: I felt like what I said to them was from
32:49
S1: the Lord. And this is a cautionary tale, isn't it, Sam?
32:53
S13: Yes it is. I'm glad you brought this up because
32:55
S13: basically it uncovers a real problem in the body of Christ.
33:00
S13: And that is when people when Christian people begin to
33:04
S13: identify their own personality and value with their gifting. So
33:08
S13: I am valuable because I have this gift, or I
33:12
S13: am loved by God because because I have this gift,
33:15
S13: or I am admired and respected by people because I
33:18
S13: have this gift. Our identity is in Christ. Regardless of
33:22
S13: what gift we may or may not have. But when
33:25
S13: people begin to identify their own value, their own dignity
33:30
S13: as an image bearer with whatever gift they have, then
33:33
S13: what happens when, like you did with this individual, somebody says, look,
33:38
S13: I think you're misusing this gift. You're hurting people rather
33:41
S13: than helping. Well, if they can't differentiate between their gift
33:44
S13: and their own personal soul, they will be devastated. They'll
33:49
S13: be like you said, this guy walks away. He doesn't
33:51
S13: come back. So we need to be very careful not
33:55
S13: to think that, um, let's say I have the gift
33:58
S13: of prophecy to be able to say I am a prophet.
34:01
S13: That is my fundamental identity as a child of God. No,
34:05
S13: your fundamental identity is that you are a child of God,
34:08
S13: redeemed and adopted into his spiritual family, and he's gifted
34:11
S13: you in this way so that you can build up others.
34:14
S13: So it's a very dangerous and subtle thing in the
34:18
S13: body of Christ. When people begin to, uh, merge or
34:21
S13: coalesce their gifting with their own, uh, value as an,
34:25
S13: as an individual, as if somehow my dignity and my,
34:29
S13: my value before God is wrapped up in my gifting.
34:32
S13: No it isn't. We need to remember that.
34:34
S1: Yeah. And I think, uh, when we talk spiritual gifts,
34:37
S1: obviously the apostle Paul, I mean, a lot of his
34:40
S1: teaching to Corinth was cautionary. I mean, it was corrective.
34:44
S1: So with regard to spiritual gifts, I think a couple
34:46
S1: other areas I'd love your thoughts on this is we've
34:49
S1: kind of highlighted a few gifts and diminished many others.
34:53
S1: We highlight, uh, we highlight preaching, teaching, prophesying, whatever all
35:00
S1: those the more show gifts as they were. And then
35:03
S1: we diminish mercy and helps and administration. My goodness, I
35:08
S1: love guys that can line up ducks and knock them down.
35:10
S1: Sam give us a word on that.
35:13
S13: Absolutely. Yeah. It's, uh, this, this was the problem in
35:17
S13: first century Corinth. That's why Paul wrote what he did
35:20
S13: in first Corinthians 13 and 14. He basically said, look,
35:24
S13: these gifts that are more, uh, external and, uh, have
35:28
S13: a little bit more sensationalism to them, like prophecy or
35:31
S13: tongues or healing. He said, that's fine, but you don't
35:35
S13: highlight those to the exclusion of others. And that's what
35:38
S13: he says in chapter 12 when he says, the eye
35:41
S13: cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you,
35:43
S13: nor again the head to the feet, I have no
35:44
S13: need of you. He says, all parts of the body
35:47
S13: of Christ are of equal value. And I mean, just imagine, uh,
35:51
S13: what life would be like for you if you had
35:54
S13: no eyes but great ears if you had. Yeah. Two feet,
35:57
S13: but no hands. You would be crippled. You couldn't do
36:00
S13: much of anything. And we need to realize again that
36:05
S13: no gift is means that God loves me more than
36:07
S13: he loves you. Uh. They are equal in the sight
36:10
S13: of God. In fact, I, I this is why I
36:13
S13: so appreciate my wife. She has the gift of mercy
36:15
S13: and service. And boy, she doesn't even need to be
36:17
S13: told where there's a need and she's in the middle
36:19
S13: of it. The last thing in the world she would
36:22
S13: want is to be on a platform with a microphone
36:23
S13: in her hand. Other people. That's the only thing they
36:26
S13: care about doing. And, uh, it's very sad that we
36:30
S13: have lost sight of what the spiritual gifts were designed
36:33
S13: to do.
36:34
S1: Uh, so one final thought here. How do we keep
36:39
S1: from worshiping someone else's gift? And I mean that really seriously, Sam.
36:46
S13: Absolutely. Well, again, uh, that there is a tendency toward that.
36:50
S13: I've seen it firsthand in my own experience in church
36:53
S13: life for a half a century. And that is that
36:56
S13: we see somebody with an extraordinarily powerful gift. Maybe it's preaching,
37:00
S13: maybe it's prophecy, maybe it's, uh, discerning of spirits or whatever.
37:05
S13: And we tend to elevate them and put them on
37:07
S13: a pedestal. And we create a two fold distinction in Christians.
37:11
S13: We see, oh, the powerful ones over here, the really
37:13
S13: anointed ones. And then there's the rest of us. And again,
37:17
S13: that is so contrary to what God says in Scripture. Um,
37:21
S13: so we need to be careful that we do not
37:23
S13: create a secondary standard of behavior and expectation. The one
37:28
S13: of them for the really overtly gifted people on platforms
37:32
S13: and the actual, you know, the ordinary Christian down in
37:35
S13: the pew. Right. Um, this is contrary to everything that,
37:39
S13: that God has said in his word. And let me
37:41
S13: say one more thing, just real quickly. There are a
37:44
S13: lot of controversies about spiritual gifts today. A lot of
37:47
S13: people debating and arguing and people writing spiritual gifts off
37:51
S13: because they've seen them abused. And I want to say
37:54
S13: to people, whatever negative concept you have of any spiritual gift,
37:59
S13: you did not get it from reading the Bible. The
38:02
S13: Bible only says positive things about spiritual gifts.
38:05
S1: That's so good.
38:06
S13: My guess is nine times out of ten, if you
38:08
S13: have a bad impression of a gift or you're frightened
38:11
S13: by it, it's because you saw some goofball on a
38:13
S13: stage manipulating people and acting as if he's more important
38:17
S13: than anybody else, raising money through the exercise of his gift.
38:22
S13: It's that fear that has created this prejudice in your
38:25
S13: heart towards spiritual gifts. It's not God's word because there's
38:29
S13: no negative statement. Now, there are some warnings about.
38:33
S1: Cautions.
38:33
S13: Can be abused, sure, but but that doesn't mean there's
38:36
S13: a problem with the gift. It means there's a problem
38:37
S13: with us. That's why Paul kept saying to the Corinthians,
38:40
S13: stop acting as if your babies grow up and make
38:43
S13: use of the gift for the purpose that God has
38:45
S13: given them.
38:46
S1: Amen. Sam storms. Everybody okay? I've got something really good
38:51
S1: for you. Understanding spiritual gifts, a comprehensive guide. Yeah, it's
38:56
S1: a book that he's written. Now I'm going to give
38:58
S1: you a link. You're going to be able to find
39:00
S1: it right there. And a ton of other resources related
39:02
S1: to spiritual gifts. Text the word storm to 805 557898.
39:10
S1: One word storm to 805 5578, 98.
39:16
S6: This is Carl and Crew on Moody Radio.
39:20
S1: We are coming out hot on this Monday morning, a
39:23
S1: whole week committed to spiritual gifts. And the reason we
39:27
S1: want to tackle this is I want to give you
39:29
S1: an update. We've put out a poll. And by the way,
39:31
S1: you can be part of this. We're going to data
39:33
S1: collect all week long on this. The question we have
39:36
S1: for you regarding spiritual gifts a you know them what
39:41
S1: they are and you're using them. B you know them,
39:43
S1: you're not using them. C I don't know them so
39:46
S1: therefore I can't use them. It takes you 15 seconds
39:49
S1: to take this poll text. Vote to 805 557898. Please
39:56
S1: get your data in here with me right now. Doctor
40:00
S1: Alex McFarland, who spiritual gifts. Man, I think my biggest
40:05
S1: challenge here is I was asking our church in Alaska
40:09
S1: when we were 5000 strong a number of years ago.
40:12
S1: I said, all right, how many of you know your
40:14
S1: spiritual gifts? And they're being utilized? And the number was
40:17
S1: actually about 30%. That's what it took to kind of
40:21
S1: keep this flywheel of multiple services in church and dynamism
40:26
S1: and everything going. I came up to our church the
40:29
S1: next week and said, whoa, we got a 70% unemployment rate.
40:33
S1: You know where I'm going here, Alex? We've got to
40:35
S1: change this, don't we?
40:36
S14: Yeah we do man. Thank you for tackling this topic.
40:39
S14: It's very, very important because I think one of the
40:42
S14: keys to revival and just like you say, you know,
40:45
S14: spiritual strength and, and fruitfulness for the Lord is that
40:50
S14: we know our spiritual gifts and we're, we're walking in
40:53
S14: those gifts and using those gifts.
40:55
S1: Okay. So what are some of the fallacies about spiritual
40:59
S1: gifts that we need to debunk just off the top
41:02
S1: of your heart?
41:04
S14: Well, I think one of the big ones is that
41:06
S14: only certain Christians have spiritual gifts. Wow. Um, I believe
41:12
S14: that at the moment of salvation, when we trust Jesus,
41:15
S14: we put our faith in the Lord Jesus. Um, they're
41:18
S14: spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities that are imparted to us.
41:24
S14: Number one, for the glory of Jesus, but also for
41:27
S14: our own spiritual growth and the edification of the body,
41:32
S14: but also the Great Commission. And I want to give
41:35
S14: four scriptures where you find everything in the New Testament
41:39
S14: has to say. First Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians four
41:45
S14: and first Peter four.
41:46
S1: Okay, say those again.
41:48
S14: Yeah. First Corinthians chapter 12, Romans chapter 12, Ephesians chapter four,
41:56
S14: and first Peter chapter four. And the super easy. You'll
42:01
S14: you'll learn everything about the spiritual gifts, but there are
42:04
S14: different categories. Now, um, not every gift is in the
42:09
S14: life of every believer, right? But every believer has one. Generally,
42:15
S14: I think it's about three spiritual gifts and one is
42:19
S14: going to be more predominant than than another. But it's
42:22
S14: so beautiful that every believer has these, you could call
42:27
S14: it strengths or competencies, and not only abilities that the
42:33
S14: the Holy Spirit puts in us, but Actually desires and
42:38
S14: things that we enjoy. And when we're serving our local church,
42:42
S14: and by the way, I think every Christian believer should
42:45
S14: be a part of a church. Yes. That's just part
42:47
S14: of it. You know, Christianity is personal, but it's also corporate.
42:53
S14: I mean, we personally put our faith in Jesus, but
42:56
S14: then we're part of the family of God, right? Amen.
43:00
S14: So when we're in a church and we're serving in
43:05
S14: our gift mix, it doesn't drain us or wear us out.
43:09
S14: And in fact, it, it really charges our batteries. So
43:13
S14: the every believer has some gifts. And it's, as Ephesians
43:17
S14: four says, for the building up of the body and
43:21
S14: for the work of the ministry. And I just think
43:24
S14: it's a beautiful thing that we can really worship and
43:28
S14: serve Jesus by using these abilities he puts within us
43:34
S14: at the moment of salvation.
43:36
S1: So I'm going to ask every guest this week the
43:40
S1: same question, and I'm going to pitch it to you.
43:42
S1: But let me give you a little backstory. Uh, when
43:45
S1: I was lost and far from God, I was a leader.
43:48
S1: There's no doubt about it. I was a leader on
43:50
S1: the playground. I was a leader at work. I was
43:52
S1: leader in construction field, the oil fields, commercial fishing always
43:56
S1: been a leader and not because I felt like I
43:59
S1: wanted to be a leader. It's just God made me
44:02
S1: that way. That was my personality. Now, when I was
44:04
S1: born again, interestingly enough, I backed away from that because
44:08
S1: I was so humbled at the grace of God. I
44:10
S1: backed away from that. But soon God called me forward
44:15
S1: into that gift. But here's what's interesting. I felt more
44:20
S1: affirmed than ever before when the president of my Bible,
44:22
S1: Little Bible College in my homiletics professor said, you got
44:25
S1: to set down your carpentry bags. You're going to preach
44:28
S1: the gospel the rest of your life. Because they, they
44:31
S1: came to me and they spotted this in me and
44:35
S1: they spoke it over me that put this whole leadership
44:39
S1: thing in a whole new spiritual trajectory. I feel like
44:45
S1: we desperately need. Well, here's my question. Apart from people
44:52
S1: watching us operate and affirming that we're going to be
44:56
S1: stuck with this huge unidentified gift problem in the church,
44:59
S1: aren't we, Alex?
45:01
S14: Yeah, I think that's very significant that you you said
45:05
S14: they spoke it over you. There's almost like a kind
45:09
S14: of a false humility, like, oh, I'm no good. I'm
45:12
S14: not I don't have any talents. A lot of people,
45:16
S14: they'll say, you know, I'm not very intelligent. Don't say
45:19
S14: those things.
45:20
S5: Yes.
45:20
S14: I mean, you know, there's a lot in what the
45:23
S14: Apostle Paul said, I am what I am by the
45:26
S14: grace of God. You know, on the one hand, Paul
45:29
S14: didn't brag. Oh, I wrote half the New Testament, and
45:32
S14: on the other hand, Paul didn't beat himself up. Oh,
45:35
S14: I persecuted the church. I put a hit on Stephen. No,
45:38
S14: Paul said, I am what I am by the grace
45:40
S14: of God. And look, for example, God's allowed me. I
45:45
S14: give God all the glory. Uh, God's allowed me to
45:48
S14: write some books and do a whole lot of traveling
45:51
S14: and teaching. I love to preach and teach. I love
45:55
S14: to research and, and give out that research to hopefully
45:59
S14: build up people. But I'm not going around like, oh,
46:03
S14: I can't do it. No, it's, it's what God's given
46:06
S14: me to do. Yes, I love it. And it doesn't
46:09
S14: mean I'm better or smarter or anything. It just means I, I've,
46:15
S14: I've been very blessed to find out what I think
46:18
S14: the Lord put me here to do. And, you know,
46:21
S14: the beautiful thing about spiritual gifts, there's kind of almost
46:23
S14: like 11 categories. And I'll be very, very quick. But faith,
46:28
S14: there's prophecy, there's teaching, there's service or or help gifts
46:35
S14: really meeting practical needs. There's administration and leadership. And yes,
46:40
S14: praise God, administration is a strength or a spiritual gift.
46:46
S14: There's ruling and authority. And we'll come back to that.
46:50
S14: There's exhortation, Romans 128, which is really encouraging people. There's giving. Uh,
46:58
S14: I always wanted this gift. I didn't get it really,
47:01
S14: although everybody gives. But do you know, I want to
47:04
S14: say to everybody, listen, some people can make more money
47:08
S14: by accident than the rest of us could on purpose.
47:12
S1: You aren't kidding.
47:13
S14: Yeah. God enables many Christians to be givers. See, there
47:19
S14: there are goers and there are sinners. I'm a goer.
47:22
S14: I've been all over the world. And then, praise God,
47:25
S14: some people have Donated money to help me go. So
47:29
S14: giving is actually a gift. There's mercy showing and it,
47:34
S14: you know, what's really wild is, um, and, and by
47:37
S14: the way, and we can talk about this, there's also
47:40
S14: healing and there's also tongues and the interpretation of tongues,
47:44
S14: but the Greek word for mercy showing is the word oleo.
47:48
S14: And uh, there used to be a type of butter
47:51
S14: called oleo. And it really means the applying of oil
47:57
S14: and oil can lubricate and soften things and mercy showing
48:02
S14: to show grace and patience and mercy, which is a
48:05
S14: real gift. Uh, it helps relationships and it maybe, um,
48:11
S14: harmony within the body of Christ. But these spiritual gifts, I,
48:16
S14: I believe that I have a teaching gift and it's
48:20
S14: the word dydasco. And we get the word decay, which
48:24
S14: is teaching on the old Testament. Sure. Romans 12 and
48:27
S14: Ephesians four talks about that. Now, you might know I'm
48:32
S14: not all that organized. I mean, I don't have administrative gifts. Um,
48:37
S14: I've sat on many boards and committees, but I'm not
48:40
S14: really the chair of boards because I'm not an administrative
48:45
S14: kind of guy. Um, but others are, there are some people,
48:50
S14: and I suspect you're one of them with your leadership gifts, brother.
48:54
S14: People everywhere they go, the room gets more and more
48:57
S14: organized and structured. And then there's guys like me that
49:02
S14: I need to lean on people who are very structured people,
49:07
S14: but it's like a baseball team. Not everybody's the shortstop
49:12
S14: because we need some outfielders. Not everybody's the pitcher because
49:15
S14: we need a good first baseman and a catcher. When
49:18
S14: everybody is cognizant of their strengths and their they're in
49:23
S14: their positions, man. Great things happen.
49:27
S1: Alex McFarland. My guest right now, we're going to have
49:30
S1: a link to an entire message on spiritual gifts that
49:34
S1: is going to be, we're going to have a link
49:35
S1: for you. But I got a couple of thoughts. One
49:38
S1: is we feature too much. A lot of the showy gifts.
49:41
S1: Number one. Number two, we limit them. We sometimes think
49:45
S1: because when we feature too much a guy, let's say
49:48
S1: a guy up there teaching. Well, in a church of 200,
49:51
S1: you got more than one teacher. You probably got 7
49:55
S1: or 8 gifts of teaching there, right? And in like manner,
49:59
S1: we also diminish then the gifts of mercy. Faith helps
50:05
S1: administration into me, brother. The longer I follow Jesus, the
50:09
S1: more I realize, boy, that has been to our detriment
50:12
S1: that we're missing those two balls.
50:15
S14: Amen. Amen. You're. I like what you said. The showy gifts.
50:19
S14: You know, those get all the limelight or all the focus,
50:22
S14: but praise God. You know, first Corinthians 124 through 11,
50:27
S14: one of the gifts is, is wisdom and a word
50:30
S14: of knowledge. And I, I gotta tell you, I've been
50:33
S14: around a lot of Christians that are, they're very wise,
50:36
S14: not just smart and not just intelligence, but wisdom comes
50:42
S14: from the Holy Spirit. And, um, it's very important. Like
50:47
S14: if you're on the cusp of an important decision and
50:50
S14: you're praying about it, seek some Christians to also pray
50:55
S14: and then give some wisdom and direction from the Lord. Uh,
50:59
S14: we need that. And, and I want to say this
51:02
S14: in the American church, which I love, and I've been
51:05
S14: in all 50 states multiple times to preach, but it's
51:09
S14: almost like the American church in some quarters kind of
51:14
S14: ignores or even maybe suppresses the work of the Holy Spirit.
51:20
S15: Yes.
51:20
S14: Because it's like, um, we know salvation is of God.
51:25
S14: But then the working of the Great Commission, we got this. No,
51:30
S14: we need to, uh, be very open and grateful and
51:35
S14: obedient for the work of the Holy Spirit. And yes,
51:40
S14: this Christian life is a supernatural walk. And I'm just
51:44
S14: going to say it and look, I'm a Baptist man.
51:48
S14: We we, we don't we don't get out there and,
51:52
S14: you know.
51:52
S1: You know, talk spiritual gifts a lot.
51:54
S14: Yeah. But tongues and the interpretation of tongues and faith
52:01
S14: and speaking words of truth that God, you know, does
52:06
S14: things through. And then, yes, laying hands on and praying
52:10
S14: and seeing God heal people. Um, we've got to be
52:15
S14: fully embracing of what the New Testament says. I'll summarize
52:20
S14: it this way. Anything you read in the book of
52:23
S14: acts God is still doing today.
52:27
S1: Amen. Alex McFarland, my guest. Okay. Boom. I got something
52:31
S1: for you. I've got a link both to his website
52:34
S1: and a message he preached called The Empowered Believer. Now
52:38
S1: you're going to want to check this out. This deals
52:42
S1: with this whole issue of spiritual gifting, how God works
52:46
S1: through it, and how he fulfills the Great Commission. So
52:49
S1: I want to encourage you. Find out how God has
52:53
S1: gifted you. The question is, and has God gifted you?
52:55
S1: If you're born again, you're gifted. The only question now
52:58
S1: is what is the gifting? How am I going to
53:00
S1: use this thing? That's it. So text Alex a LEX.
53:05
S1: Text Alex to 805 557898. One word, Alex to 805 557898.