The Gifts of the Spirit

Good morning. I am glad we can be gathered here together. IT is a good day to be gathered in the Father’s House and to worship him this morning. This morning I want to open this time of preaching with the passage of scripture we will be looking at this morning.

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 CSB

4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person.

Gifts of the Spirit

This morning we will be talking about the role of the Spirit and how it provides gifts to us to do the work of God. Remember the Spirit came to us today on the day of Pentecost to empower us to do the work of God. To give us all that was necessary to be ministers of his Gospel. That is where we need to begin. If we have come to be believers of the Gospel than we need to look at how the Spirit has gifted us in different ways to do the work that will bring about his Glory.

To help us better understand how important knowing and applying our different roles and the Spirit’s role in our gifting lets look at a interesting story.

On the Gridiron

Picture this

We are on the field watching the football game as a sportscaster. It is the start of the game and the whole team is ready. We watch the team huddle up and open their game up with prayer with the coach right in the center. The team is ready to go. They break the huddle and they are excited to get out on the field.

The Team we are covering gets the ball first. They go out to huddle up and they huddle and they huddle and they huddle some more. The Referee blows his whistle and calls a penalty. Delay of Game on the offense and they move the ball back five yards. The team huddles up again and the same things happens. They stay huddled up until the get another delay of game. This keeps happening until they are all the way till they are backed up against the goal line.

The Coach calls a time out and calls his team together. Excitedly the quarterback tells the coach, “This is the greatest huddle I’ve ever been in. What a great group of guys!”

We have the best fellowship… and some of the guys are amazing students of the play book. Some have memorized over a hundred plays and can analyze them precisely. WE learned so much in this huddle!

The coach looks at the bewildered. “But why don’t you get up on the line and play?”

“Why should we? What we want are bigger and better huddles! Besides, we might get hurt. No one ever got hurt in a huddle!”

Gifts of the Spirit

This unfortunately is too often something that happens in the church. The church is told that we are all given different gifts.

1 Corinthians 12:7–11 CSB

7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good: 8 to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, 9 to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of tongues, to another, interpretation of tongues. 11 One and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as he wills.

Hoarding our Gifts

The problem is that often the church will receive these gifts and we will hoard them to ourselves. We don’t want to share them. We want to stay in our huddle because that is safe and easy. The problem though is that before long that catches up to you and you find yourself against the goal line with no where to go. This is not he place you want to be in the church because all too often that ends up with the ending of a church.

The church will find its self facing the huddle getting smaller and smaller because they aren’t willing to invite new people into the huddle and to go out and play to be the best team they can be.

Back to the Gridiron

A little while later in the game the team comes together after the other team scored on them again. They all huddle up and pray before the kick off just like before with the coach at the center. They break the huddle they are excited and ready to go. Suddenly we notice that the coach runs out on the field and the player either sit down or watch from the sidelines as the coach runs out on the field and strangely enough the head cheerleader joins him to take the kick off.

The play ensues. The Ball goes flying through the air and the coach catches it. He starts to run back as he watches the other team run over the Head cheerleader as she tries to block for him and than he is quickly smothered by the other team. Both the coach and the head cheerleader are carted off the field barely conscious but they raise their thumbs up in encouragement.

Gifts of the Spirit

This is another one of those unpleasant situations in the church that we have to face. We forget that the church is not built alone by the Pastor and the Pastor’s wife. We are all called to the work of the church and we are all given the gifts of the spirit to share the gospel.

1 Corinthians 12:6–7 CSB

6 And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:

God works in all of us

WE must never forget that God works in all of us through the Holy Spirit. WE are all given gifts and abilities to do the work of sharing the good news of the Bible. To helping the church be what the church is supposed to be. If we rely on two people to do all the work we will destroy them.

This is a two way street by the way. The Pastor can’t just put this all on one or two people. This is the job of everyone for the common good. We have to all work together to make church happen to make the play happen so that we can minister to all the world.

Back to the Gridiron

The team huddles again with the Pastor at the center. They pray and break the huddle again. They are motivated and seem ready to go. Yet, we see something strange happen. the team goes out on the field but is in small groups of two or three spread across the field.

The linemen are in one part not wanting to block for the quarter back because he doesn’t appreciate them.

The receivers huddle up together and start arguing with the running backs about who should get the ball.

All the different sections of the team fight about which one of their areas is the most important

Suddenly the half ends and as the team runs off the field to the coach he asks them “What’s wrong now?”

WE can’t get along we are fighting over how we should play the game. How we should run plays who should be in charge, who is the most important.

In frustration the coach simply yells that’s it. To the locker room!

Gifts of the Spirit

This too is often how the church looks. We get hung up on fighting over the simplest and most basic of matters and we forget the most important thing. That the Gifts we have been given come form the one spirit and the spirit is the foundation of our relationship with Christ. It is in christ that we can’t ever forget...

Ephesians 2:13–14 (CSB)

13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.

The church fights over things that we can’t allow to be our focus. What music we sing on a Sunday morning. What color the carpet should be. Pulpits, bulletins, the women’s bathroom being nicer than them men’s room. Trivial matters that keep us from making the play happen. From scoring the touchdown. The Spirit calls us to be Christ who died for all of us and we need to be reminded of that. That we are all drawn together because of the blood of Christ.

The Second Half

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Football Scenario

when the second half begins, we see a different team. Suddenly they’re playing together with a new spirit. They huddle, slap each other on the back, and take the line. They’re off the ball with split-second timing, there is no hesitation, they know where they’re going. Each player carries out his assignment, and soon they score a touchdown, then another, and another. When the game ends, they’ve won!

Afterwards in the locker room the players are exhausted, cut and bruised, but happy.

“What happened at halftime to change this team?” we ask, the coach.

“We were sitting here beaten,” he says, “and suddenly a kind of presence seemed to come over us. I started talking to the players, pointing out my mistakes, and theirs, and they started talking. Everyone was honest. Nobody blamed the others. We took a good look at ourselves. Then someone recalled that the Great Coach, the one who invented the game, also wrote the Master Game Plan. Wouldn’t it make sense to see what he said?

“We remembered how he literally gave himself to get the game started and to teach that first team everything he knew. So we got out the original Game Plan and read about basics such as each player knowing his place and dedicating himself to it, about pulling together, being willing to sacrifice, knowing the aim of the game, and using the proper equipment he designed.

“Well, we were quiet. It felt as if the Great Coach was with us, as if somehow his Spirit got inside us. Suddenly, we were up! Motivated! Ready to go! We can’t take the credit. It goes to Him!”

The Gifts of the Spirit

The Gifts of the Spirit are given so that we can all play our role. That we can come together as a team and work to achieve the goal mission of God. To share the good news across the land to make disciples of the nations. IT is when we come together under the leadership of God that we find this. When we let the Spirit lead the way that we are suddenly able to move forward and be successful.

Along the way there might be a few penalties and a few fights may break out but we can know that if we quickly turn back to God and relying on his Spirit to lead the way we will win the day.

Let’s Pray!