Latest / Karl and Crew / Every Gift Builds the Body with Dr. Eric Redmond & The Gift of Faith with Millie Stalling

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Every Gift Builds the Body with Dr. Eric Redmond & The Gift of Faith with Millie Stalling · Karl and Crew

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  S1: Broadcasting from Chicago, across North America and beyond. It's Carl
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  S1: and crew. Come as you are an experienced God, overcome
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  S1: what seems impossible and live as you never imagined delivering
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  S1: the truth daily.
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  S2: If it were possible to have every worldly gain available
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  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
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  S3: the life source, which is God.
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  S4: For me, growing up, love was always conditional and can
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  S4: be taken from you. Christ's love can't. And he went
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  S4: to the cross with my mind and my heart that night.
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  S1: Now, from the call of Hope Studios, this is Carl
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  S1: and crew.
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  S2: How gracious of our God to give a variety of
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  S2: gifts to his kids and creative. Creative.
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  S4: Yes. How's the creator?
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  S2: How boring would it be if everybody had the same gift? Oh.
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  S4: Man.
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  S2: You know, I don't. I don't like sameness. I used
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  S2: to live in a in a suburb here in Chicago
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  S2: for a couple of years, in a neighborhood where it
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  S2: was one of those neighborhoods where it was a every
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  S2: single house looked the same.
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  S4: The cookie cutter.
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  S2: Sure. So it was like a townhouse. Everybody had the
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  S2: same color house, the same dimensions. You had to put
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  S2: the trash cans out in the same spot. Everybody had
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  S2: the same tree in the same spot, planted at the
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  S2: same time in this little planned subdivision.
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  S4: Same.
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  S2: I hated it. I did not like living with that
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  S2: much sameness. And hey, it was a fine townhouse. Let
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  S2: me be careful. It was a blessing from the Lord
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  S2: that we had this place to live right after we
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  S2: got married. So no complaint there. Right. But just in
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  S2: terms of the, the of the feeling of walking around
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  S2: and seeing no variety was was actually difficult for me.
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  S2: I didn't, I didn't like it, I much preferred in
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  S2: a neighborhood with some character where there were different kinds
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  S2: of houses.
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  S4: Picture a bouquet of flowers.
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  S2: Yes.
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  S4: I mean, come on. Just the colors and the smells
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  S4: and just the the variety. It's a beautiful thing.
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  S2: Like variety in the neighborhood. I like variety on my
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  S2: dinner plate, I like to.
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  S4: That's a good one.
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  S2: I like to and I like to have, you know,
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  S2: the this part of the plate occupies this kind of food.
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  S2: And then I kind of like to eat to where
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  S2: there's like a, a bite left of each type of food.
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  S4: And some foods complement each other greatly. So that's important.
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  S4: Of course.
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  S2: Variety is important in so many areas of life. First
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  S2: Corinthians 124 says, now there are varieties of gifts, but
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  S2: the same spirit, and there are varieties of service, but
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  S2: the same Lord. Oh, how we benefit from having so
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  S2: many different gifts in the body given by one Lord,
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  S2: the same spirit for the building up of the body.
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  S2: We are all blessed by it.
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  S1: It's Carl and crew on Moody Radio.
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  S2: How have you benefited from someone else's using their spiritual gift?
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  S2: 805 557898. Elizabeth calling in this morning from Muncie, Indiana.
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  S2: How have you benefited? Go ahead, tell me.
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  S5: Yeah, there's a couple there's two different couples in my life. And, um,
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  S5: they just exude the Lord every day and everything that
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  S5: they do. Uh, they're so passionate about the Lord and
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  S5: their expression, they're able to identify somebody in the store
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  S5: that seems upset or just not having a good day.
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  S5: And they will stop and they will talk to that person.
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  S5: I mean, I've seen them just praying with people in
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  S5: the middle of the grocery store. and they they heed
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  S5: God's word. And when I start to get discouraged, you know,
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  S5: I think about them and the example that they are
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  S5: and how I need to be more like them to
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  S5: feel like I'm living more like Jesus. Um, and they just,
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  S5: they listen, they, they follow the Lord and everything that
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  S5: they do.
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  S2: Yeah. Elizabeth from Muncie, Indiana, thank you so much for
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  S2: calling in this morning. What a great example. It sounds
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  S2: like they have a gift of mercy, a gift of encouragement.
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  S2: The gifts are for the building up of the body.
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  S2: So it's always we we need to take notice when
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  S2: we benefit from other people's gifts. Sometimes that's an encouragement
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  S2: even for us. As you said, it encourages you to
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  S2: step out as you've seen them do. I want to
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  S2: bring in a special guest who's joined us in studio
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  S2: this morning, Doctor Eric Redman. He's a professor of Bible
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  S2: at Moody Bible Institute, also the executive director of Moody's
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  S2: Theological Seminary Center for Compelling Biblical Preaching. I want to
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  S2: talk with Doctor Redman this morning about the spiritual gifts.
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  S2: You know, you love we all. Whether we would be
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  S2: able to identify by name. This person has a gift
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  S2: of fill in the blank. We certainly know what what
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  S2: it feels like when we receive the spiritual gift from
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  S2: someone else, whether it's mercy, encouragement, hospitality.
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  S6: I think that your last caller was a great example
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  S6: of that, recognizing that in others, oh, I've seen them
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  S6: do this in the store or what they've done in
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  S6: my own life. One of the ways that we're able
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  S6: to observe gifts is to look at what goes on
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  S6: in the lives of others, and how their use of
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  S6: what we might identify as skills and talents helps mature
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  S6: the body or build up the body. And that is
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  S6: a way that we're able to best identify what goes
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  S6: on with gifts.
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  S2: Now, we have been sending out this assessment that one
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  S2: of our our AI experts, I don't know if you've
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  S2: seen it or taken it yet, but he put together
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  S2: with the help of AI, a quick little assessment to
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  S2: begin to help people identify where am I most gifted
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  S2: and not not for my own benefit. We'll keep reiterating that.
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  S2: But to build up the body, what what are some
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  S2: other good ways to begin to identify your spiritual gifts?
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  S6: I think that that sort of survey is what we're
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  S6: used to, and those are good. But then there's a
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  S6: role that elders and wise people and other gifted people
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  S6: play inside the body to say, you know, when so
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  S6: and so speaks, people get really encouraged. Or when we're
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  S6: missing somebody, someone's out of position. We need someone to serve.
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  S6: This person always steps up and the people always benefit
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  S6: from that. I think that's a role that we should
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  S6: take on as those who are leaders in the church.
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  S6: To say, we're recognizing the spirit moves supernaturally inside of
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  S6: people in our our body. We don't need them necessarily
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  S6: to take the assessment because we can see how the
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  S6: church is benefiting from them being used.
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  S2: You know, it's interesting. I think most people, when they're
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  S2: serving in a church, they may gravitate towards certain roles
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  S2: that Sometimes will line up with their spiritual gifts without
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  S2: even them knowing it. You you may feel like, oh,
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  S2: there's a need for somebody to serve the body in
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  S2: this way. I, I love to prepare meals or I
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  S2: love to go and visit somebody who's. We used to
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  S2: have a sick and shut in list in the, in
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  S2: the church that I grew up in. But sometimes spiritual
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  S2: gifts don't necessarily. We don't necessarily feel like, oh, I,
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  S2: I know that about myself. Talk about the spiritual gifts
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  S2: that may be less obvious to us and require to
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  S2: be us to push and step out a little bit more.
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  S6: Well, it may be less obvious because they're behind the scenes.
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  S6: In one way. I think of a gift like giving
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  S6: or a gift like helps. Somebody may quietly be serving
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  S6: the widow or the family that has a need that
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  S6: the church is not in informed about. But also we
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  S6: need to take risk and say, the Holy Spirit has
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  S6: endowed me with something supernatural, at least one thing, and
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  S6: wants that so that the body of Christ can make disciples.
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  S6: So Jesus name can be known in the world, and I,
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  S6: I need to step into that role. And so that's
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  S6: going to require me to serve somewhere and maybe out
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  S6: of my comfort zone so I can recognize, nope. Not that. Yes, this.
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  S2: Yeah. You know, and we see in first Corinthians that
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  S2: there has always been a tendency to elevate certain gifts
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  S2: over others, right?
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  S6: Yes, always. Because they're more obvious. If someone teaches that
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  S6: person's going to be out in front or in Corinth,
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  S6: if somebody was able to perform miracles or on the spot,
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  S6: give the knowledge of God's voice to people. Okay, that
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  S6: was very obvious. But if someone had a gift in
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  S6: administration and they were helping strategize or what we might
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  S6: call taking care of calendars, organizing events, you don't necessarily
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  S6: notice until you see, boy, that event got pulled off
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  S6: really well. Who did that? Oh, maybe they're supernaturally empowered
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  S6: to do that.
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  S2: Yeah. How do we guard against that? Against the tendency.
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  S2: Because teaching comes to mind quickly. People, you know, if
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  S2: you sit in a listen to a sermon, you're benefiting
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  S2: from a pastor's teaching gift primarily. And it's easy to
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  S2: become impressed by by certain gifts more than others. How
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  S2: do we guard against that as a church?
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  S6: I think we need to celebrate everyone in the body
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  S6: of Christ and recognize all of us have faults, and
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  S6: all of us have have gifts. And so those who
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  S6: have the more obvious ones need to be those especially
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  S6: who celebrate the things that are behind the scenes. This
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  S6: person is just faithfully driven the bus for the church,
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  S6: or worked in the kitchen for the church, or been
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  S6: in the nursery for the for the church, or it's
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  S6: cleaned up. You didn't know that this is who was
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  S6: putting up those bulletin boards all the time. And, and
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  S6: bring that forward so that we're celebrating all the things
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  S6: that God is doing in the body.
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  S2: Doctor Eric Redman, our guest this morning, professor here at
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  S2: Moody Bible Institute. Let's talk about the purpose of the gifts.
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  S2: Why did the Lord give gifts to the church? Why
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  S2: use us in this way?
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  S6: So the work that we're doing in the church is
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  S6: not something that we can just do in our natural
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  S6: human abilities. The challenges are too great. The need in
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  S6: the world is too great. The enemy that's coming against
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  S6: us is too strong. And so in his great kindness
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  S6: and his plan of redemption, the Holy Spirit pours out
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  S6: supernatural abilities so we can go beyond what we can
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  S6: naturally do. This is not putting nuts and bolts together.
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  S6: This is not crunching numbers. We're talking about communicating the
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  S6: gospel in the hopes that people's eyes will be opened
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  S6: to Christ and souls will be saved. That needs supernatural power.
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  S6: So God gives supernatural abilities, not just natural teaching, but
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  S6: supernatural teaching. Not just faith, but faith that goes beyond
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  S6: what would be normal for somebody to have in the
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  S6: body of Christ, so that the church can continue to
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  S6: grow and make make disciples. Otherwise we wouldn't be able
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  S6: to do this work in the world.
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  S2: Now, when we think about the spiritual gifts you said
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  S2: the Lord's given, we've each have at least one gift.
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  S2: But we also see that we're to desire to earnestly
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  S2: desire gifts. Is it? How do we get more gifts
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  S2: than we currently have?
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  S6: Yeah, it's again, the same. Scriptures also say that the
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  S6: Holy Spirit distributes as he wills. And so I would say,
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  S6: cry out to the Lord and say, God as your.
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  S6: Please give me this gift because our local body is
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  S6: in need of, of, of this. Again, they're given for
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  S6: the church. So to use the gift of faith, the
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  S6: church to reach its community where it may be, it
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  S6: may not have all the human material, financial resources, but
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  S6: someone needs to say our God is split the Red sea.
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  S6: He's big enough to do this. When everyone else gives up.
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  S6: The person supernaturally endowed with faith says, come on guys,
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  S6: we can do this. And the church continues to do it.
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  S2: Yeah. What? What would you say are your primary spiritual gifts?
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  S2: Is teaching, I'm sure is up there. That's my best guess.
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  S2: But what else?
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  S6: I like to joke with the students that some of
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  S6: my gifts they're not going to see like, I think
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  S6: I have one in giving and that's never going to
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  S6: affect them. But years ago, I had a pastor who
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  S6: was over an area where I was serving say to me,
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  S6: people gravitate towards you because you have the gift of mercy.
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  S6: I had never heard that before. And I said, do
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  S6: you really think that? He said, just consider the way
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  S6: that you treat people. Everyone else recognizes it. You don't
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  S6: know that you have it, but that's why people gravitate.
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  S6: So I think I do in that area. Hopefully someone
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  S6: will say that I have the gift of teaching and
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  S6: the gift of faith.
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  S2: You know, it's interesting when you when someone calls it
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  S2: out of you, because I remember serving in the kids
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  S2: ministry many, many years ago. I was in the baby
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  S2: room serving with another woman. And one of the things
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  S2: that I had stepped into for another ministry was to
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  S2: help lead worship for a time. And so I'm not
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  S2: a great singer. And singing is not a spiritual gift anyway,
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  S2: but part of worship leading is to exhort. And so
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  S2: I remember that as we were serving together, This woman she.
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  S2: Her name is Cassandra. She goes. Does anyone ever told
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  S2: you that? I think I think you have a teaching gift.
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  S2: And I looked at her and I was like, no,
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  S2: nobody's ever, ever told me that. And it was through
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  S2: the leading of worship and the exhorting kind of in
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  S2: between songs that she identified that. And nobody had ever
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  S2: said that to me before. And it was the same
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  S2: kind of thing of like, really like you do you,
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  S2: do you think so? Is that what you see that
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  S2: the Lord has given me? And I think that there's
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  S2: many times that we don't see it in ourselves. Somebody
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  S2: else sees us operating in gifting the gifts that the
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  S2: Lord has given us and then calls it out. And
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  S2: that's such a powerful thing.
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  S6: It is. And that's going to keep us from the
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  S6: sort of pride that you see in Corinth where we're saying,
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  S6: I have this gift here, and look at me, and
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  S6: you don't really have anything. But when someone else calls
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  S6: it out, because we've just simply allowed the Lord to
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  S6: use us, it is a great thing. This lady probably
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  S6: recognized the gift of exhortation in you. The way we
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  S6: might recognize the whole room turns toward a person when
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  S6: he speaks here, because he always says something wise and
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  S6: we would say gift of wisdom over here.
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  S2: Doctor Eric Redman, such a joy to have you with
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  S2: us this morning and want to give you more information
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  S2: on this. I mentioned the center for Compelling Biblical Preaching.
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  S2: Maybe you have a teaching gift and you want to
• 14:02
  S2: sharpen and learn and grow. Um, text center to (800) 555-7898.
• 14:08
  S2: Text center to 805 557898.
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  S1: Get to know the team behind the scenes. Follow Carl
• 14:17
  S1: and crew on Facebook and Instagram.
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  S2: I want you to think beyond maybe the more obvious one.
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  S2: You have likely sat week after week with a pastor
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  S2: and benefited from a teaching gift. But what about someone
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  S2: who has blessed you with their gift of serving or
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  S2: faith or encouragement or hospitality? So sometimes those are the
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  S2: gifts that maybe get overlooked because they're not as out front.
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  S2: But how have you benefited from someone else's spiritual gift?
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  S2: 805 557898. I want to take you to first Corinthians 12.
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  S2: We've been spending some time there this week. Verse 14
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  S2: for the body does not consist of one member, but
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  S2: of many. If the foot should say, because I am
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  S2: not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
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  S2: that would not make it any less a part of
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  S2: the body. And if the ear should say, because I
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  S2: am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,
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  S2: that would not make it any less a part of
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  S2: the body. If the whole body were an eye, where
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  S2: would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body
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  S2: were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
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  S2: But as it is, God arranged the members in the body,
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  S2: each one of them as he chose. It's easy to
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  S2: elevate certain gifts over others. This was true for the Corinthians.
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  S2: The people who could have had a word could have
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  S2: a word in tongues. It's kind of the context here,
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  S2: they would elevate that. That seemed more important when you
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  S2: think about the gifts that get elevated in the church today.
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  S2: The teaching one is obvious, but we had a friend
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  S2: of ours who actually left a church because they elevated
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  S2: his gift in a way that made him feel uncomfortable.
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  S4: Really?
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  S2: Yeah. So this was, you know, this was a guy,
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  S2: he had a a good, well-paying job. So he made
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  S2: more money than lots of other people.
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  S4: All right.
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  S2: That's just the how the Lord had provided for him.
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  S2: And he had the gift of giving. So he gave
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  S2: generously to his church. Not in a weird way, but
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  S2: the church couldn't seem to get past that. So when
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  S2: he would come, he was shown more honor. He was.
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  S2: And he hated it. And so it ultimately came to
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  S2: the point where he had to leave this church because
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  S2: he just was not comfortable with his gift of giving.
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  S4: I'm sorry to hear.
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  S2: That being elevated in a way that made him feel
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  S2: like to other people that somehow it was more important than.
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  S4: Someone. Than yeah.
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  S2: Than someone else's gift of mercy or someone else's gift
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  S2: of hospitality. And so it's beautiful when all the gifts
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  S2: function together and when we're not looking at the gift
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  S2: because of the person, we're not looking at a person
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  S2: and saying, oh, one of my least favorite phrases that
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  S2: people utter is you are so gifted.
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  S4: Oh, okay.
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  S2: Because on its surface, it sounds like a compliment, right?
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  S4: Well, sure.
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  S2: But when we consider that the gifts are the gifts
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  S2: of the spirit for the building up the body, we
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  S2: have to guard against elevating people.
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  S1: Breaking chains, and running free. You're listening to Carl and crew.
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  S2: One of the beautiful things about the spiritual gifts is
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  S2: that they are not for our own benefit. They are
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  S2: for the building up of the body of Christ. And
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  S2: where you have gifting someone else does not and vice versa.
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  S2: Want to take you back to a morning here at
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  S2: Moody with a friend of mine who is in studio
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  S2: with us. Her name is Millie Starling. And on that
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  S2: morning it was a going away party gathering for one
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  S2: of our colleagues. And so I walked in and I
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  S2: sat down at a table and wouldn't you know it,
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  S2: who was sitting next to me? It was my dear
• 17:59
  S2: friend Millie. And Millie did not know. What she didn't
• 18:03
  S2: know was that I walked in with a lot of
• 18:05
  S2: things on my mind, things that I won't get into
• 18:08
  S2: on radio because it's kind of personal. But there were
• 18:10
  S2: some decisions. There was a little bit of turmoil, but
• 18:13
  S2: the Lord had started to speak to me about something
• 18:16
  S2: that I. And I wasn't totally sure. I was wanting
• 18:19
  S2: to hear what he had to say. But that morning
• 18:22
  S2: I sat next to Millie and Millie and I started
• 18:24
  S2: to talk, and I didn't share with her what had
• 18:27
  S2: been going on. But Millie, without even realizing it, had
• 18:30
  S2: an absolute word for me that day where she said
• 18:35
  S2: a phrase, and I'm not even gonna hate that. I
• 18:37
  S2: can't give you all of the details, but I got
• 18:40
  S2: to keep some of that back. But what she shared
• 18:42
  S2: with me that day made my mouth drop because it
• 18:46
  S2: was so from the Lord. She had a word of
• 18:49
  S2: faith for me and a answered some questions that had
• 18:53
  S2: been swirling around, and I was so grateful that the
• 18:56
  S2: Lord had me sit in that chair on that day
• 18:58
  S2: next to my dear sister Millie, who was prayed up
• 19:01
  S2: and didn't even realize that she was the answer to
• 19:05
  S2: my prayer. Millie joins us in studio. She serves her
• 19:08
  S2: formal position. She's the administrative services and events manager with
• 19:13
  S2: the stewardship and development team. But really, she's just a
• 19:16
  S2: ball of fire and a bundle of energy. And to
• 19:19
  S2: know her is to love her. Millie, I don't even
• 19:20
  S2: know if you remember that morning, but you shared something
• 19:24
  S2: with me, and it was you didn't even realize how
• 19:26
  S2: significant it was. And this. But this is not something
• 19:29
  S2: that happens irregularly. This is a regular occurrence that the
• 19:32
  S2: Lord uses you to, to share a word of faith
• 19:35
  S2: with people. Right?
• 19:37
  S7: Absolutely. Oh, this is a moment I have to say,
• 19:40
  S7: come on, Jesus, because that's why I do what I do.
• 19:44
  S7: You know, Ali, I do remember when you start talking,
• 19:47
  S7: I says, oh, wow, I remember that day.
• 19:49
  S2: Yes.
• 19:50
  S7: And I remember a word and I'm just going to
• 19:53
  S7: say the word. I remember that the Holy Spirit gave
• 19:56
  S7: me in that moment to say, stay.
• 19:57
  S2: Yes, yes, you still remember it.
• 20:00
  S7: I remember it, I remember, oh my goodness. Yes.
• 20:03
  S2: Wow.
• 20:03
  S7: Stay. And I didn't know what it meant, but I
• 20:06
  S7: knew because here's my life verse Galatians two and 20
• 20:10
  S7: I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer
• 20:13
  S7: I who live, but Christ that lives in me and
• 20:16
  S7: the life that I now live in faith. I live
• 20:19
  S7: through the Son of God, who loved me and gave
• 20:21
  S7: himself for me. So because of that life verse for me,
• 20:25
  S7: it allows me to allow God to gift me and
• 20:29
  S7: use me how he sees fit, so that I'm saying
• 20:31
  S7: no more of me, but all of him. Yes. And
• 20:34
  S7: so as I come alongside others, and that's what I
• 20:37
  S7: like to do life with people. It's not about me
• 20:40
  S7: any longer. There was a time in my life, some
• 20:43
  S7: time ago, and it's over two decades that I was
• 20:46
  S7: a little selfish, but becoming selfless through the spiritual gifts
• 20:51
  S7: that God sees fit. He's the one that gives, and
• 20:53
  S7: it's not for me. He reminds me all the time
• 20:56
  S7: when I pray. One day, the Holy Spirit on January
• 20:59
  S7: the 6th of 2025, I know the date and he said, no,
• 21:03
  S7: thank you, Holy Spirit. It was January the 4th of 2025.
• 21:06
  S7: He said, pray and record it. Now, I had never
• 21:08
  S7: done that before. And so I took out my phone
• 21:11
  S7: and I'm like, Lord, well, how do I do this?
• 21:12
  S7: I know how to do a video. But then I
• 21:14
  S7: saw a voice memo. I says, ah. So I recorded it.
• 21:18
  S7: It was 5:14 a.m., I recorded it when I got done. I,
• 21:22
  S7: I hear now listen, I listen to it when I
• 21:26
  S7: get to the end of it. I said, Lord, I
• 21:28
  S7: pray for everyone but myself. And I heard a still
• 21:32
  S7: small voice say, as you pray for others, I'll take
• 21:35
  S7: care of you and yours.
• 21:37
  S4: Wow.
• 21:38
  S7: That gave me such peace. Look, two days later I
• 21:42
  S7: was at a visiting church for my with my sister
• 21:44
  S7: cousin who mom had passed away, so I was going
• 21:46
  S7: there to support her. And the pastor looked at me
• 21:50
  S7: and he said, come here. He said, it's time for prayer,
• 21:53
  S7: and I. I thought he was going to pray for me.
• 21:56
  S7: In that moment. He says, no, I need you to
• 21:57
  S7: pray for for the congregation. I knew then when the
• 22:02
  S7: Holy Spirit reminded, he says, do you see how I.
• 22:05
  S7: You were obedient. Yeah. So the obedience piece for me,
• 22:08
  S7: that's how walking with others, that's how, you know, God
• 22:12
  S7: has showed me the gifting of having spiritual gifts. It's
• 22:15
  S7: not for me. It is for others. It is for
• 22:18
  S7: the Great Commission. It is to go and make disciples
• 22:21
  S7: of others. It is to encourage others through words, through prayer,
• 22:24
  S7: through intercession. Intercessory prayer is, I call it my love language.
• 22:29
  S7: I love to intercede for others because I know when
• 22:32
  S7: I do that, I've seen him work. I've seen the miracles.
• 22:36
  S7: I have seen God. In 2012, my grandmother Mildred, who.
• 22:41
  S7: That's my paternal grandmother. I'm. By her bedside. She had
• 22:44
  S7: a massive heart attack and she was ready to go
• 22:47
  S7: and she said, let me go. I said, I'm not ready.
• 22:48
  S7: Grandmother says, you're going to be okay. I then tell
• 22:51
  S7: the doctor she's ready. I had the power of her
• 22:54
  S7: health care and, you know, stop, you know, giving her
• 22:57
  S7: the drips and things. I go in, she says, Mildred,
• 22:59
  S7: she calls my name real loud. I run in there.
• 23:01
  S7: I says, yeah, grandma. She said, I'm uncomfortable. In that moment.
• 23:05
  S7: I said, I got to get the nurse to come
• 23:07
  S7: help me. So she, you know, we're lifting her up,
• 23:09
  S7: making her feel comfortable. She says, I'm good now. Thank you.
• 23:12
  S7: And then she flatlines just like that. I said, God,
• 23:16
  S7: I wasn't ready, I wasn't ready. You took her too fast.
• 23:18
  S7: You took her too fast. And I get on the phone,
• 23:21
  S7: I call my husband. I said, honey, she's gone. She's gone.
• 23:25
  S7: Why you're not here? And he says, I'm on my way.
• 23:27
  S7: I'm three minutes away. I hang up the phone. I
• 23:30
  S7: call my mother, mom, grandmother is gone. I was not ready.
• 23:34
  S7: I was not ready at the foot of her bed. Ali,
• 23:37
  S7: the nurse, is turning off the machines. The next thing
• 23:40
  S7: you know, you hear beep beep beep, the nurse said, Mrs. Jones.
• 23:46
  S7: She said yes. I said grandmother. She said what? It
• 23:52
  S7: was more than two minutes had passed.
• 23:55
  S4: Wow.
• 23:56
  S7: Everyone comes running in the room. They said she has
• 23:58
  S7: a DNR who resuscitated her. The nurse is trembling. She
• 24:02
  S7: says she came back on her own. I said, oh no,
• 24:05
  S7: not on her own. God heard my cry. So that.
• 24:10
  S7: Galatians two and 20.
• 24:12
  S2: Yeah.
• 24:12
  S7: In that moment I got to see a miracle through
• 24:16
  S7: the power of me saying, God, I'm not ready. You
• 24:18
  S7: took her too fast. I now say, I should have said, God,
• 24:22
  S7: I wanted 15 more years like Hezekiah.
• 24:25
  S2: Oh, Billy stalling our guest this morning. So you have
• 24:29
  S2: identified your primary spiritual gift as faith, exhortation, Teaching, you know.
• 24:35
  S2: What would you say to somebody who, when we start
• 24:38
  S2: talking about spiritual gifts, it sounds very strange. I mean,
• 24:41
  S2: to to operate in the in the gifts of the spirit.
• 24:44
  S2: What would you say to encourage somebody who's maybe never
• 24:47
  S2: thought about it like that? They know that they've got talents,
• 24:50
  S2: but that's something totally different. Give some encouragement to our listener.
• 24:54
  S7: Yes. So because talent is one thing, you know, I
• 24:57
  S7: can sing, I can sing, but that's not my gift. Right?
• 25:01
  S7: You know, because I can hold a note. So talent
• 25:04
  S7: can take you someplace. But gifting the the spiritual gifts
• 25:07
  S7: is something you cannot do on your own.
• 25:09
  S2: Yes.
• 25:10
  S7: Yes. It's just like in that moment with my grandmother.
• 25:12
  S7: It's just like my brother that I prayed for 30
• 25:16
  S7: years for him to come off of drugs. 30 years
• 25:18
  S7: I prayed, and I always called him overcomer, even in
• 25:22
  S7: the times when he would call me and he might
• 25:24
  S7: have just come out of the crack house and I say, overcome.
• 25:27
  S7: He said, sis, why do you keep saying that? I said,
• 25:28
  S7: because you're still here. I'm believing God. I have the faith,
• 25:32
  S7: the grain of a mustard seed. I can move mountains,
• 25:34
  S7: so I'm going to keep saying it until I see
• 25:36
  S7: the fruit of that labor. So that is the difference.
• 25:39
  S7: It is not about your own abilities. It is the supernatural.
• 25:44
  S7: You know, God is so amazing. He has gifted all
• 25:46
  S7: of us individually and he said he gives those gifts
• 25:49
  S7: as he sees fit. So there are times and moments
• 25:53
  S7: like in that on that day it was for you. Yes.
• 25:55
  S7: For him to give me a word for you. And
• 25:58
  S7: I remember the word stay. I don't remember all of
• 26:00
  S7: our conversation, but that's what I do remember.
• 26:02
  S2: Yes, that's exactly it. That's amazing. You know, the gift
• 26:06
  S2: of faith. I'm just going to read this to you
• 26:08
  S2: a little bit from the spiritual gifts assessment we've been
• 26:11
  S2: giving to you. The gift of faith is extraordinary confidence
• 26:14
  S2: in God's power and promises, trusting him for things others
• 26:17
  S2: consider impossible and steadying everyone else's trust in the process.
• 26:22
  S2: A couple of the reference verses. First Corinthians 129, also
• 26:25
  S2: Hebrews 111. When you know that the Lord has given
• 26:30
  S2: you a gift of faith, how do you recognize in
• 26:33
  S2: a moment? My gift is needed here how the Lord
• 26:37
  S2: has wired me. That's what's needed. How do you identify
• 26:40
  S2: that this is the moment for me to step forward,
• 26:43
  S2: whether it's to pray for someone, whether it's to have
• 26:45
  S2: a word for someone.
• 26:47
  S7: Well, I tell you, we just had an event because
• 26:49
  S7: I'm over events with a stewardship and development. It was
• 26:53
  S7: in Barrington on August the 11th, and that day on
• 26:56
  S7: the ninth, it was saying that the time of our event,
• 26:59
  S7: it was going to be raining. In fact, it rained
• 27:01
  S7: all day. It was going to be raining for actually
• 27:04
  S7: during that time, that three hour window. And I remember
• 27:07
  S7: I got on the phone with the host of the
• 27:09
  S7: house that we were going to be at. I said,
• 27:11
  S7: we need to do a Hezekiah prayer right now. We're
• 27:14
  S7: not asking for three years. We want three.
• 27:16
  S2: Hours. I love.
• 27:18
  S7: It. So I knew in that moment I said, because
• 27:20
  S7: we had an outdoor event, we wanted to keep it outdoors.
• 27:24
  S7: And I just I prayed to God. I said, God,
• 27:26
  S7: you know my heart. You know that it's about this
• 27:30
  S7: kingdom assignment that we're having ministry partners come, and we
• 27:33
  S7: want them to see the vision of what you know,
• 27:35
  S7: what's going on. But in this moment, I need the
• 27:38
  S7: rain to stop. So I'm just going to believe, God
• 27:40
  S7: that you're going to do it. I'm not even going
• 27:42
  S7: to even do a plan B because plan A is
• 27:45
  S7: we need to have it. And, and guess what we
• 27:47
  S7: did in that time? It rained earlier that day. By
• 27:51
  S7: noon it was done. We had the event outdoors. And
• 27:55
  S7: so that that kind of faith that says, I believe God,
• 27:59
  S7: I believe he knows my name. I believe he knows
• 28:02
  S7: when I, when I pray, when I speak to him.
• 28:05
  S7: And so this choice for me is to live a
• 28:08
  S7: life that is not only pleasing to him, but is
• 28:11
  S7: sacrificial to him out of obedience to the Lord.
• 28:14
  S2: When you think about the gifts that you've seen in others,
• 28:17
  S2: is there something that comes to mind, a way that
• 28:19
  S2: you have been blessed by or benefited by someone else's gift?
• 28:23
  S2: What have you seen in other people?
• 28:25
  S7: Oh wow. I call her Amy and she, she just
• 28:29
  S7: went home to be with the Lord at 102. I
• 28:32
  S7: met her, I was a manager for Amtrak at the time,
• 28:35
  S7: so this was almost 20 years ago. And but Annie
• 28:39
  S7: was a prayer warrior. But not only that, Annie also
• 28:42
  S7: Faith was her number one, she said, because the faith
• 28:45
  S7: that she had. She knew that God was not only
• 28:47
  S7: going to hear her prayers, but he's going to answer
• 28:49
  S7: in his timing. I remember her saying that she was
• 28:52
  S7: in her. She was about 90 at the time. She
• 28:54
  S7: says in his timing, daughter, he's going to do it.
• 28:57
  S7: And so I because I always said, Lord, send women
• 28:59
  S7: like that. That's like minded that have a heart like
• 29:02
  S7: I have. Yeah. And this is an older woman of God.
• 29:06
  S7: So I want to learn from her. I want to
• 29:07
  S7: glean from her. I would go and just sit at
• 29:09
  S7: her house and I would listen to her and the
• 29:12
  S7: stories and the things that she told. And she wasn't
• 29:14
  S7: an educated woman, but yet she was more than that,
• 29:17
  S7: because she had the faith of God to move mountains
• 29:20
  S7: and people called her from on her from all over
• 29:24
  S7: to not only intercede with with them for prayer, but
• 29:27
  S7: also to just give them a little more to go on.
• 29:30
  S7: And so that was Andy as my she's my, my rock,
• 29:33
  S7: my my hero. She now she is rejoicing in heaven
• 29:36
  S7: with the Lord.
• 29:37
  S2: Yeah. Oh that's.
• 29:38
  S7: Awesome. And I got a chance to go to her
• 29:39
  S7: home going and speak at it as well.
• 29:41
  S2: Now with every gift, there's going to be a challenge
• 29:44
  S2: that's kind of unique to that gift. So for people
• 29:46
  S2: who have a gift of hospitality or mercy, the challenge
• 29:50
  S2: is going to be that you are going to be
• 29:51
  S2: maybe more prone to burnout, to exhaustion because you're giving
• 29:55
  S2: and you're giving. What do you have to guard against
• 29:58
  S2: when you have a gift of faith? Is it discouragement
• 30:00
  S2: when you don't see God doing maybe what you thought
• 30:04
  S2: that he would? Is that the thing that someone with
• 30:05
  S2: a gift of faith has to guard against?
• 30:07
  S7: Absolutely. And I have to keep repeating, don't grow weary
• 30:10
  S7: in your well doing, because in due season you will
• 30:12
  S7: reap if we faint, not because a lot of times
• 30:14
  S7: you're pouring out, you're doing a lot of pouring. Yeah.
• 30:17
  S7: And I thank God for that. I think that he,
• 30:20
  S7: he can trust me with his people. That's what that
• 30:22
  S7: says to me. But at the same time, I also say, Lord,
• 30:26
  S7: send someone my way. And he always does. Yeah, he
• 30:29
  S7: always does.
• 30:30
  S2: Millie Starling, what a blessing to have you on this morning.
• 30:33
  S2: I want to point you to this spiritual gift assessment.
• 30:36
  S2: If you have not taken it, please do. This will
• 30:38
  S2: help you identify your spiritual gift. Just text drew. Drew
• 30:42
  S2: Dickens helped us develop this. Actually, he did it with AI.
• 30:44
  S2: We can't take any credit, but we've been the beneficiary.
• 30:47
  S2: Just text drew to (800) 555-7898, drew to (800) 555-7898.
• 30:56
  S1: Making herself laugh no matter who joins her. It's time
• 30:59
  S1: for Allie thinks it's funny.
• 31:03
  S2: Couple jokes for your Wednesday morning. How do you make antifreeze?
• 31:09
  S2: Anyone know?
• 31:10
  S4: I don't know, but I'm not gonna say.
• 31:13
  S2: How do you make antifreeze? Good question.
• 31:17
  S4: Mhm.
• 31:17
  S2: You make antifreeze when you take away her blanket?
• 31:22
  S4: Yep. Wow. Look at that.
• 31:27
  S3: I think that just the silence and the letting Ali
• 31:29
  S3: kind of quietly laugh.
• 31:31
  S4: She is literally.
• 31:32
  S3: The best way to handle.
• 31:32
  S4: This. We need video of this so bad.
• 31:35
  S2: Take away her blanket, guys. Come on. Not even a chuckle.
• 31:39
  S3: You got our managers in here. He's laughing. Do you
• 31:42
  S3: want to turn his microphone on?
• 31:43
  S4: You got to laugh over here.
• 31:45
  S2: Okay, I'm gonna gather myself for myself. Thanks, Matt. Matt McNeely. Yes.
• 31:52
  S2: He's got a good sense of humor this morning. Ever
• 31:56
  S2: gotten locked out of your house?
• 31:57
  S4: Oh, please. Yes.
• 31:59
  S2: It's not a good feeling, right? Yeah, well, I got
• 32:01
  S2: I got a new tip for you. If you ever
• 32:03
  S2: get locked out of your house, this is what you
• 32:05
  S2: need to do. Speak to your lock slowly and in
• 32:11
  S2: a calm, soothing voice. Just get right down there next
• 32:15
  S2: to the lock, okay? Speak calmly and quietly.
• 32:20
  S4: All right.
• 32:22
  S2: Because I've heard communication is key.
• 32:25
  S8: It's so funny how we don't talk anymore.
• 32:33
  S2: Text jokes.
• 32:34
  S4: 805.
• 32:36
  S2: 557898. You don't know how much I get up for these.
• 32:39
  S2: The build up. The story that I invent around these
• 32:42
  S2: jokes really light me up.
• 32:44
  S4: Is it? I'll give you. Okay.
• 32:47
  S2: Text jokes 805 557898 jokes to 805 557898. Thanks to
• 32:55
  S2: Jonathan for the musical assist there.
• 32:57
  S3: I do, I.
• 32:58
  S2: Never know where I'm going.
• 32:59
  S3: No I don't. Well, the problem, not the problem. But
• 33:01
  S3: the funny thing is, is that you're like, get me
• 33:03
  S3: a song that is about talking. And I was like, well,
• 33:06
  S3: what about talking?
• 33:07
  S4: There was no other context.
• 33:08
  S3: No. And I'm like, I'm like, does it matter? And
• 33:10
  S3: then you're like, let me hear it. And then you go, okay,
• 33:12
  S3: that's a good song.
• 33:13
  S2: You can't tell him the joke ahead of time. I
• 33:15
  S2: just tell him what music I need, and then he
• 33:17
  S2: hears how it all fits together. Wow. Text jokes to
• 33:20
  S2: 805 557898. Jokes to 805 557898.