Start Using Your Gifts

Introduction

The Lord Has Given All of Us Gifts

*Identify the gifts of the spirit but also the other gifts listed in Scripture

*OT - Those who used their gifts to help build the Temple, rebuild the wall and the city of Jerusalem

Illustration: ask who thinks teaching children is important, then have those who serve in this area to stand. Likewise, visiting elderly, etc …

Idea: Figure out who is a regular attender and then figure out the % of people who serve

1 Corinthians 4. God Distributes Gifts and Callings according to His Pleasure (27–31)

Spurgeon on those with the gift of helps: “It strikes me that they were not persons who had any official standing, but that they were only moved by the natural impulse and the divine life within them to do anything and everything which would assist either teacher, pastor, or deacon in the work of the Lord. They are the sort of brethren who are useful anywhere, who can always stop a gap, and who are only too glad when they find that they can make themselves serviceable to the church of God in any capacity whatever.”

Possibly Closing illustration

1 Corinthians 3. Continued Elaboration, Showing that the Less “Glamorous” Parts of the Body Are Just as Important (21–26)

“I want every member of this church to be a worker. We do not want any drones. If there are any of you who want to eat and drink, and do nothing, there are plenty of places elsewhere, where you can do it; there are empty pews about in abundance; go and fill them, for we do not want you. Every Christian who is not a bee is a wasp. The most quarrelsome persons are the most useless, and they who are the most happy are peaceable, are generally those who are doing most for Christ.” (Spurgeon)