Serve Others- Using What God has Given Me

Three weeks ago I began a series teaching on our Mission at The River. Our Mission is simple:
· Come as you are- we are a judgment free zone!
· Love Jesus – This is our ultimate purpose for being here, it’s what God created us for – to love Jesus
· And today part 3; Serve Others - using what God gave you. That’s what God wants us to do. He wants us to use the talents, abilities, and spiritual gifts He gave us to serve others.

Check this out: Several years ago, a fire destroyed a building that contained tons of ice. Although the building contained enough material to extinguish the fire, the water was not in usable form. The building was literally full of frozen assets.

I think that describes most of us. We have all kinds of potential locked up inside of us, yet it remains frozen, unused, and wasted.

For those of us who are Christians, We have even more potential because God has given each one of us an extra helping of abilities, skills, and talents called Spiritual gifts. And God wants us to use those abilities and gifts to serve others.

Let me review three things that God gives to us the moment we fall in love with Jesus and accept Him as our Lord and Savior…
I. GOD GIVES ME THREE GIFTS WHEN I accept CHRIST
God does more than forgive me of my sin, He also gives me…

1. Eternal life. When I open my life to Jesus Christ, instantly I'm given eternal life.
Romans 6:23 (NLT) "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
I never have to worry about my future; I know I'm going to heaven. It's solid and I’m secure.

2. The Holy Spirit. The moment I gave my life to Jesus Christ, God gave His Spirit to me to live inside me.

Romans 5:5 (LB) “…God has given us His Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.”

And He'll never leave you and you'll never be alone. God is with you for the rest of eternity.

3. A special ability to use for His purpose.

Romans 12:6 (LB) "God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well."
(NASB) “Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly."

When you become a Christ follower, God gives you a brand new purpose for living, and along with that new life purpose He gives you a special gift or gifts to fulfill that purpose and he expects you to use those gifts, they’re what we call spiritual gifts. The Bible has a lot to say about spiritual gifts.

Every Christian gets at least one spiritual gift. That's different from a natural ability. Everybody has natural abilities. But only believers have spiritual gifts.
· When you were born physically, God gave you physical gifts like hearing, taste, touch, sight, smell Maybe He gave you athletic abilities, the ability to write, do math, think outside the box. Those are natural abilities and everyone gets some.
· But when you become a Christ follower God gives you some spiritual abilities or spiritual gifts to serve Him. Every believer has at least one. They are given to you at the moment of salvation.
Now God chooses which gifts you're going to get; you don't get to choose. They're given by grace; you don't earn the gift, it's God's free gift to you.

There are several lists of spiritual gifts in the Bible.
Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14; and Ephesians 4:7-16; 1 Peter 4:9-11

I don't think these lists are exhaustive. I think they're simply examples. When you include the special gifts mentioned in the Old Testament I think the list is much larger than the list of gifts that’s actually mentioned in these passages. I think they're just examples for us in Scripture.

Here’s my point: any time you're serving God and you're doing it well and you're having fun doing it, you're demonstrating giftedness; you’re using the gifts God has given you.

II. THE IMPORTANCE OF MY SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Why is it important to know my spiritual gift? Because, if I'm a Christian, God gave me at least one, probably several, and if He gave them to me He expects me to use them.

As a believer, there are 3 very important reasons, to discover, develop and use your spiritual gifts. So let’s look at them.

I need to know what my spiritual gifts are because…
1. MY GIFTS DETERMINE HOW GOD WANTS ME TO SERVE OTHERS.

I Corinthians 12:4-6 "There are different kinds of gifts but the same spirit. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but the same God works in all of them."

Your spiritual gifts determine how God wants you to serve Him.
Once you understand what your spiritual gift is, it answers a lot of questions. For example:
· "What is God's will for my life?"
· "What does He want me to do now that I'm a Christian?"
· "What should my ministry be?"
· "How should I spend my time?"
· "Where should I focus my life?"
Each of these questions are answered when you understand your particular spiritual gift.

Every Christian is called to serve the cause of Christ, but your spiritual gift shows how you, individually, are to serve Him.
· If you're gifted in leading then God wants you to be a leader.
· If you’re gifted in teaching then you need to be a teacher.
· If you're gifted in music then you ought to sing or play music
· If you're gifted in talking to non-Christians about Jesus you ought to be an evangelist.
However you're gifted determines how to use your life for God.

Notice the word different in 1 Cor. 12:4-6 it’s used 3 times.
· It says there are different kinds of spiritual gifts
· There are different kinds of service
· There are different kinds of working
Every gift in your life is unique, meaning God doesn’t want you to copy other people's spiritual gifts.

There is always a temptation to copy other Christian's gifts, because their gifts seem cooler or more important than yours.

But God doesn't want you to copy anybody else; He knows what gift is best for you. That's why He is the one who determines what gift you will get.

Spiritual Gifts explain why Christians who believe the same things see things differently.

Have you noticed that even though we believe the same, Christians disagree about a lot? Why?
It's because of giftedness. We see things differently. We tend to emphasize what we're gifted in.

Check this out… If seven spiritual gifts were represented in a family and somebody dropped their desert on the floor here's how each person would respond according to their giftedness:
· Mercy – Put your arm around and empathize
· Preaching - That's what happens when you're not careful!
· Administration - Jim, would you get the mop? Sue pick it up.
· Serving - Let me help you clean it up!
· Teaching - The reason it fell is because you weren’t carrying it right and it was too heavy on one side. They are practical.
· Giving – Can I buy you a new desert?
· Exhortation – There is a deeper reason you dropped your desert, the bible says….

Truth is we're all different. That’s how Christians become divided; they tend to over focus on certain gifts.
· Some people think the most important gift is teaching so they go to a strong teaching church.
· Another says the most important gift is evangelism. So they go to a very evangelistic church.
· For another it's miracles so they go to a miracle church.
But they’re all equally important. The key is to not expect your gift to show in others and don't project your gift onto others.

All the gifts are important and they’re all necessary. What you need to know is that your gift shows God's plan for your life.

I need to know what my spiritual gifts are because…
2. MY GIFTS SHOW ME THAT I’M IMPORTANT.

1 Corinthians 12:27 "All of you form the one body of Christ and each one is a separate and necessary part of it."

You're needed. You're important. There are no little people or little jobs; truth is all the gifts are needed.
You’re just as important in the body of Christ as I am or anyone else. Every gift is needed.
· My gift is the power God gives me to bless others.
· God gives you a spiritual gift to bless other Christians too.
· If I don't use my gift, you get cheated.
· If you don't use your gift, I get cheated
The fact is if we don’t use our gifts everybody gets cheated.

God designed you to make a unique contribution. You're not gifted by accident; without you the picture isn't complete.

It's like a jigsaw puzzle with one part missing. Every Christ follower is needed in the body of Christ.

I need to know what my spiritual gifts are because…
3. MY GIFTS ARE THE KEY TO MY FULFILLMENT IN LIFE.

Everyone has the desire to be used in some way. And every one has the desire to accomplish something, to feel significant, to feel like your life makes a difference.

When you use the spiritual gift that God has given you - you're not only productive, but you’re doing what God has gifted you to do, and when you do what God designed you to do - you enjoy doing it.

John 15:8 & 11 (PH) "This is how my Father is glorified --in your becoming fruitful (productive) and being my disciples… I've told you this so that you can share my joy and that your happiness may be complete."

· Real joy does not come from making a lot of money.
· Real joy does not come from having a lot of pleasure.
· Real joy does not come from things.
Real joy comes from knowing my life is productive, that it counts, that it matters that I'm not just taking up space.

You find real joy and happiness by being what God meant you to be, by taking the gifts and abilities He's given you and using them. You feel a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.

The Bible says that spiritual gifts are given to help other people.
God gives me one to bless you.
God gives you one to bless me.
And there is enormous personal satisfaction that comes from being used by God.

Nothing else to compares to the feeling of serving God. Being used by God is the greatest feeling and thrill you can experience in life.

Some of you can't comprehend that. If you've never experienced what it means to feel used by God you're missing out on real joy, the joy that God wants you to experience.

Nothing compares to knowing that God gave me a gift and I'm using it and God is blessing it.

God wants you to feel that feeling. He wants you to unwrap and use that gift. He wants you to use it so you can experience a satisfaction that compares to nothing else.

III. WHAT DOES GOD WANT ME TO DO WITH MY GIFT?

He wants you to do three things:

1. Discover it.
1 Corinthians 14:1 "Eagerly desire spiritual gifts."
One of the marks that proves you’re a Christian is that you have a desire to know your spiritual gift and to use it serving God.

In fact, if you have no desire to know your spiritual gift, develop it and use it, you ought to question whether you're a Christian or not.

The mark of a genuine Christ follower is they have a desire to know the gifts that God's given them and to use them.

God gave you your gifts - so it only makes sense that He wants you to know what your spiritual gift is.
I Corinthians 12:1 "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.” God says, I don't want you to be ignorant of gifts. I want you to know them.

So how do I discover my spiritual gifts?
Examination and experimentation. By examining my Christian life and by experimenting with different kinds of service.

1. Examination. First, I discover my spiritual gifts by looking back on my Christian life and saying,
· In the ways I've served God so far, and what have I really enjoyed doing?
· What has God blessed?
· Where have people been impacted?
· Where have I seen results?
If you've never gotten involved in serving in a ministry since you've become a Christian there's no way you're going to know your gift.

2. Experimentation. Secondly, if you don't have anything to look back on you're going to have experiment with different kinds of ministries and service.
So what interests you? Try out some different ministries:
· Greeting
· Small groups
· Hospitality
· Teaching children
· Work with youth
· Start a singles ministry
· Rock babies in the Nursery
· Sing or try to sing on the worship Team
· Play in the band
· Get involved with set up and take down
· Sound tech, computers, lights, etc.
One of them will feel like your niche. If we don’t have a ministry that fits… make one up! Truth is if your gifted in something that we are not doing, then God has put you here to start it! Use your gifts and start a new ministry here at The River.

You need to do what God's gifted you to do. It will be enjoyable and you'll like doing it. When you do that you've found your gift and your ministry!

If you had told me 30 years ago that someday I’d plant a new church in Las Vegas and then another one in Eagle Idaho, I'd have said, "You're nuts!" I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be a church planter. In fact at that time, I never thought I would be a senior pastor. I was a youth pastor and I loved it and I never wanted to be a lead pastor! But I discovered I’m good at it, I’m gifted at it, and now I love it!

Taking spiritual gifts tests can help. There are a bunch of them online. But every test has to be somewhat standardized and we're all unique.

If I'd taken a test, never in a million years would I have discovered I have the gift of Apostle; one who starts a new work or plants a new church.

When I planted my first church in Las Vegas the only way I could have known I was gifted to plant a church was to do it!

So we trusted God, packed our stuff and moved to Las Vegas. I found out I had a special gift for starting churches. Then 12 years later, did it again when we moved here.

The only way you discover your gift is get out there and start doing something. Try it.

2. Develop it

Paul tells Timothy
1 Timothy 4:14 (GN) "Don't neglect the spiritual gift that is in you."

Many of you already know what you're good at. You know how God's gifted you. But if you're not using it for God's glory, then you're neglecting your spiritual gift.

Why? Maybe you think…
· I'm too busy
· I'm not good enough
· What if I fail or embarrass myself?
Satan will do everything he can to keep you from discovering and developing your spiritual gift.

He'll even try to get you involved in all kinds of good things to keep you from the best thing so you don't know the thrill of being used by God.

So follow God’s direction….
2 Timothy 1:6 (JB) "Fan into flame the gift God gave you."

Strengthen your gift, deepen it, increase it, and cultivate it. Don't get discouraged. Don't quit. Get some training, go to conferences, read books, find someone who is good at it to help you.
Just because you're gifted in an area doesn't mean it's easy. You may be gifted in counseling or caring for people who are hurting but that's not easy week after week. You may be gifted in organizing events but that doesn't mean it's easy.

I can tell you from experience it’s not easy starting a new church or teaching every Sunday, but I do it, it’s hard work but I love it!

So don't give up. Keep on doing until it feels good - or until you figure out it’s not your gift, then try something else!

3. Use it.

1 Peter 4:10 "Each one should use whatever spiritual gift he has received to serve others faithfully managing God's grace in its various forms."

God wants you to use the gifts He has given to you -- and the church is the place to discover and develop and use your gift.

Ephesians 4:12 (LB) "Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God's people will be equipped to do better work for Him, building up the church, the Body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity."

God's plan is brilliant: Every Christian gets a spiritual gift…
· so that everybody can contribute,
· so that everybody's important,
· so that nobody feels insignificant,
· So that we all function together in harmony.

He says, I'll give every Christian a spiritual gift so that every person can be a partner with God in the most important task in the world, building His kingdom.

So here’s God's plan:
· some people set up,
· some people organize,
· some people make artistic signs, banners, or decorations
· some people do music,
· some people teach,
· some people work with kids,
· some people know how to raise money
Everybody's important. No one is more important than the others. It's all God's plan. It takes everybody.

In Matthew 25 there's a story called the Parable of the Talents. Jesus tells this story to say, "One day you're going to stand before God and He’s going to ask you, `What did you do with what I gave you?'"

When you stand before Jesus one day and He asks, "Why didn’t you discover, develop, and use your gift?" What are you going to say?

Folks this is serious stuff. One day there's going to be a final exam and as your pastor want you to be able to give the right answer.

What we're talking about here is of vital importance.
· God is not going to hold you accountable for gifts He didn't give you.
· But He is going to hold you accountable for the gifts He did give you.

1 Corinthians 4:2 "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."

God has made an investment in you and it is a sin to waste what God has given you. So don’t waste it!
God has given you spiritual gifts that are to be discovered, developed and used.

WRAP-UP
We are getting ready for an out pouring of God’s blessing next month. As we have our Grand Opening I believe God has positioned us here in Eagle to further His kingdom in a significant way.

There are so many things that need to be done as we kick off.
· There are new ministries that we need to start
· We need to build up and support all our core ministries, like children, youth, small groups, setup, tech, worship, greeters, and hospitality.
· I would love for us to start a drama team, a food bank, a helping hands ministry where people can find someone in the church who can help them do something they cannot do for themselves, for free!
· We need people who are willing to go door to door and tell people that a new church is starting.

There is much to be done. Jesus Said…
Matthew 9:37-37 “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

I’m asking God to send you out into the harvest field, serving others for His sake.