Wisdom Month

Week 1 - Wise to Trust in God

Week 2 - Shared some wisdom about Marriage Relationships

Week 3 - We Rise

Give Your Gift

Attention Grabber: How many opportunities/open doors have you missed in life?

if you heard about bitcoin in 2010 and invested $100, it would be worth $105 million dollars today

I heard about it in 2020 (but sounded sketchy to me) lost out on $800 ($100 investment)

Well I am going to tell you about an opportunity that you don’t want to miss

Proverbs 18:16 KJV 1900

16 A man’s gift maketh room for him, And bringeth him before great men.

I. The Original Meaning: A Literal Gift Opens Doors

Definition: The Hebrew word literally means a present or offering

In ancient and modern cultures alike, gifts are used to open doors and build goodwill. Some of you have heard the term, “We come bearing gifts”

NLT says, Giving a gift can open doors, it gives access to important people

Examples:

A young man meeting his girlfriend’s parents might bring a gift to make a good impression.

Pharmaceutical reps take doctors out to lunch, or provide lunch for the whole staff as a relationship-builder. So doctors will subscribe their pills

Late to work? Bring donuts —suddenly you're not the person who is late, you're the hero who brought donuts!

Timeshare property sales use a free weekend as a gift to gain your attention for the full sales pitch

Application of the literal advice: Sometimes, what opens the door isn’t your words, but your gesture—a gift

Gifts Work in Every Area of Life

Business: Offering a free service or discount as an entry point is a proven strategy. A free trial gets people in the door. That’s what our phone apps do

Relationships: Want forgiveness? Bring a gift—maybe a dinner, a card, or an act of kindness. Learn your spouse’s love language and give that gift—acts of service, words, time, touch, or things.

Children: doing chores will make room for you; even if they know why you did it, it makes room

Church/Volunteering: People in leadership often started by consistently showing up and helping. Faithful presence is a gift.

Bible Example: When Jacob was meeting the brother he double crossed, he sent gifts ahead of him, and it helped ease things between them

you can do a lot with that, but now let’s go to an even deeper application of this principle of giving gifts opens doors

II. GOD GAVE YOU A GIFT

Every person was born with a divine deposit—a God-given gift, talent, skill, aptitude

Your gift is placed in you by God for His glory and your assignment.

and if you are born again, you have a spiritual gift

Your gift/gifts are intentional, not random.

James 1:17 – “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above…”

Whether you’re gifted to speak, organize, heal, lead, help, teach, prophecy, give wisdom, musical talent, artistic talent, extreme faith, athletic ability, or create—God equipped you on purpose for his purposes

It’s not just about enjoyment, or entertainment, or making a living—God gave you gifts to make a difference.

Bible Example:

Esther had wisdom, beauty and courage to save her people

Paul had a way with words and boldness— helped gentiles be saved

different gifts, same God, all made a difference in the lives of people

III. YOUR GIFT MAKES ROOM

“…makes room for him…” means YOUR gift creates opportunity, access, and placement for YOU

It opens spaces and doors.

Operating in your gift brings divine favor and direction.

You won’t have to push people out of the way. Your gift will push you forward in God’s timing

“and brings him before great men” people of influence, power, or position— your gift will unlock some doors.

A college will make room for a gifted athlete with scholarships and NIL money (and the famous coaches we see on TV will chase down the local kid . . . because of that local kid’s gift)

Bible Example: David’s gift with playing music brought him before King Saul, and thus began his preparation for being king himself

then we tell people, “so walk in your gift” . . . but forget to consider what that really means

IV. How do I “walk in my gift”? How do I “operate in my gift”?

First, Identify your gift/gifts (natural and spiritual)

something that you naturally do better than others

something spiritually that you do better than others

a gift is something that seems normal to you, but is a wow to others

something that comes easy

something that does not burden you, but others say I couldn’t put up with that - (teacher example)

something you would do for free if all your needs were met

something that stirs your passion

it’s good to identify your gifts, but it’s also important to prioritize and identify the top two/three gifts . . . the biggest gift will put you into the biggest room

after identifying your gifts . . .

Secondly Then you need to prepare your gift

practice, training, practical experience

our gifts need to be nurtured and grown

taught how to get the most out of our gift

2 Timothy 1:6 says to “stir up the gift of God which is in thee”

the gift is in you, but you must stir it up

fan into flame, work with it

rekindle it, revive it

fires need fuel, muscles need exercise

start using it to the best of your ability

many never make it past this step - unrealized potential, missed rooms

identify the gift, prepare the gift . . .

Then you have to give it

a gift is not a true gift until its given

you have to not just use it from time to time, but do it as a full time position . . . not just do it, but be it

intentionally and consistently use it

if you have the gift of prayer, don’t just pray hard from time to time . . . be a prayer warrior

fully activate your gift

many never make it past this step, because it can be fearful using your gift

you have to open yourself to rejection, failure, misunderstood, and being criticized

and you have to sacrifice, giving a gift is a sacrifice (time, energy, money), and many times it seems that giving the gift is not worth the sacrifice or worth the risk

it can be scary when you purposely say, “I am going to really use my gift . . . that’s why after 2 Timothy 1:6, “stir up the gift”, verse 7 said “For God has not given us the spirit of fear”

and so your faith has to kick in -because fear paralyzes, but faith stirs

Faith that God gave me the gift

Faith that it will be worth the sacrifice

faith that the gift will work

Faith that if I put God first, he will supply all my needs

Faith that God will lift my head above my enemies

Faith that the gift will make room

Let’s put it all together:

identify the gift, prepare the gift, give the gift

you will get results with that, because that’s just how God created this world to work . . . that’s the principle

but if that’s all you do, you might end up with a tragic end (Samson - an impressive disaster)

if you want the best results

identify the gift, prepare the gift, give the gifts and combine all of that with some “act right”; living godly

always understand that your ultimate purpose is to glorify God through service

A gift brings access. a good Character will keep you there

a goodcharacter will keep you from messing up the gift

a good character will keep you from misusing the gift

Illustration: Joseph of the Old Testament had the gift of interpreting dreams (spiritual) and leadership/organization (natural and spiritual), and these gifts made room for him

he exercised his spiritual gift and told his brothers about a dream, but that made them jealous and he ended up in a ditch and then in slavery

while in slavery he exercised his leadership gift and “act right” gift (he was trustworthy) and ended up in charge of his masters household

then when his master’s wife came on to him, he continued to act right, but she lied on him and he ended up in prison . . . using your gift does not guarantee you an easy road, it just guarantees you room

in prison he used his leadership gift and became the head prisoner

because he was head prisoner he had access to all of the prisoners and got to meet a prisoner who had a dream

he used his spiritual gift to help/to serve/to aid the man

two years later this man turned out to be the man who recommended Joseph to the king, and next thing you know Joseph is standing in the room with the the king who needed a dream interpreted

then the next thing you know Joseph is second in charge of all Egypt, and Joseph uses his gift of leadership and organization to save Egypt, thousands of other lives, and the lives of his own family

it took a while but his gifts made room, brought him before a man of influence . . . he used his gifts combined them with some act right, and it became a blessing to him and his family

V. Jesus – The Ultimate Example of giving gifts will make room for you

God sent Jesus, who was a gift who gave gifts

Jesus gave many gifts: teaching, healing blinded eyes, lame to walk, and the dumb to talk, healing people with fevers, delivering people from demons, giving hearing to the deaf, raising people from the dead, feeding thousands.

These gifts made room for Him— the miracle gifts caused people to listen to his words . . . so crowds followed, and he gathered disciples

Then He gave the ultimate gift, he sacrificed himself, and died on the cross

but Jesus was an extraordinary gift, and he rose from the dead of the 3rd day

and his gift has made room in the most difficult place to get into, the hearts of people

and his gift made room in my heart, and I asked Jesus to come on into my heart, my room

cause I wanted to be saved

come in the room, cause I wanted someone who would never leave me nor forsake me

I wanted someone in my life that I can totally depend upon . . . always faithful . . . always true

I wanted someone who could do more with my life than I could do alone

I wanted someone who could put me on good terms with God

I wanted someone who would not just disappear into heaven and leave me alone, but would make sure that I had a comforter, a teacher, a helper

Yes, Paul called it the “gift” of the Holy Spirit

I wanted someone who could promise me that I didn’t have to worry about death

When I saw what God’s gift was, the value of his gift . . . I made room for him

and remember that Proverbs 18:16 says that giving your gift brings you before great men (it gives him access to important people)

so the fact that God sent Jesus the Christ as our gift, shows that God thinks we are important

We are the one who failed and came up short, but God thinks so much of us that he sent the greatest of gifts!

A gift that came, lived, served, died, and rose again for us . . . God gave all of that so that he could get in the room of our heart and reconcile with us

VI. Closing Charge: Call to action

Have you identified your gifts?

natural gifts (talent, skill, aptitude, ability)

spiritual gifts

Here are some of them based on New Testament scriptures (primarily Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4):

Wisdom (1 Corinthians 12:8)

Knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8)

Faith (1 Corinthians 12:9)

Healing (1 Corinthians 12:9)

Miracles (1 Corinthians 12:10)

Prophecy (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10; Ephesians 4:11)

Discernment of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10)

Speaking in tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10)

Interpretation of tongues (1 Corinthians 12:10)

Teaching (Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11)

Exhortation (Encouragement) (Romans 12:8)

Giving (Romans 12:8)

Leadership (Administration) (Romans 12:8; 1 Corinthians 12:28)

Showing Mercy (Romans 12:8)

Serving (Helps) (Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:28; 1 Peter 4:11)

Evangelism (Ephesians 4:11)

Pastoring (Shepherding) (Ephesians 4:11)

but spiritual or natural . . . they all come from God and will all make room for you if you use them

and if you have identified your gifts, then . . .

what gifts do you have and . . . what gifts are you actually giving (two different questions)

have 5 gifts and giving two?

different gifts will open different rooms!

better use them all!

or do you need to stir up your gifts

or is fear paralyzing you, and you need to put your faith into action

or did you start giving your gift but then you gave up before your gift made room for you

My life as an example

some of them: music, teaching, wisdom, pastoring, general knowledge

some gifts are not revealed until you are willing to serve when called

music and teaching for me

I discovered the wisdom gift when I realized that some people could not see what I could see

I could not see the future, but it was like seeing the future

but I could see that “that will work” or “that wouldn’t work”

those gifts led to pastoring

yes, my father was the previous pastor, but if you knew my father, he was not going to support someone simply because they were his child . . . it was me using the gifts

never had to put in a resume or application (nothing wrong witht that) but the door opened here and doors have opened for me to pastor other places (not the doors I was called to), but using your gift opens doors

never wanted to be one, but I love it

using your gifts open doors to more gifts

gift of playing music

smaller gift of singing

using them, led me to discover my top musical gift (songwriting)

but there has been some training

practicing, sang in choirs, faithful at church

heard thousands of sermons, bible studies, seminary

worked in voluneteer groups

this is just some of my journey

Challenge:

There are Christians who need you to use your gift.

There are people in the world who need you to use your gift

And you need you to use your gifts . . . some doors won’t open until you use it

we often think we are protecting ourselves when we don’t put our gifts out there, but actually you are closing doors on yourself

GIVE YOUR GIFT