Gift / Enough
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Gather Groups Gifts Give
Gather Groups Gifts Give
Recap the current series
Talk about core values
Today we are focusing on gifts – spiritual gifts
Opening Story:
Restaurant visit: From Condemnation to compassion
Compassion is a call to action
Is the church known for its compassion?
Give First scripture context
Jacob runs from God, he is a deceiver
ABRAHAM is his Grand father.
He has a vision and sees a ladder
There above it stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
God tells Jacob: I WILL GIVE
Our gifts come from God.
ALL People will be blessed through you.
What did Jacob do to receive the gift? Nothing
We are saved by God’s grace, we are gifted by God’s grace
Any gift we have is a gift from God.
Who was the gift for? The entire world.
God told Jacob that he is giving him the gift, but it’s not for him, it’s for the entire world.
The grace of God is why we have the gift, but the gift is given to us for others
Reference Matthew 15 as an example of the church using its gifts
Context:
This is the story of Jesus feeding 4000
This takes place after the feeding of 5000 in Matthew 14
The feeding of 5000 was a Jewish audience at Mount Arbel
After this, he heals the daughter of a Canaanite woman.
The earlier text says that he was in the region of Tyre and Sideon
From there Jesus goes to the Sea of Galilee which is a gentile area.
Jesus is dealing with gentiles on a more significant level
Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.
Sick People couldn’t go worship. Lev 21
Blind, crippled, mute, lame could not worship in the temple.
Many churches say they want to see people healed; they problem is they don’t want sick people coming.
The church is a place where sick people show up and not get kicked out, but pulled in.
Art and Rhonda Vision
The church is a hospital for broken people, not a museum of perfect people.
The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
These were gentiles that came and gave praise to the God of Israel
They were following Jesus for what he could do for them.
Usually in the beginning, we start to follow God because of what he can do for me, but after a while the question changes, it’s no longer what can God do FOR me, but What can God do THROUGH me
Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.”
Jesus has compassion for the people
Notice the miracle begins with compassion
Many times, the best work God does in your life has to deal with the things you’re passionate about, or the people you have compassion for. For me, I have compassion for people that are far from God.
He also said I don’t want to send them away
He said this because when He fed 5000, the immediate response was the disciples wanted to send them away.
If the people weren’t there, then there would have been no miracle
Sometimes the thing that God wants to use is the very thing that we want to send away.
His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?”
Where can we get ENOUGH?
How many times have we asked God where can I get enough?
There is so much demand and not enough supply
There is never enough time, sleep, money, patience. Seems we never get enough done.
There can never be enough money, Instagram likes, or complements to fill a void, until Christ in you becomes enough.
Sometimes we look at the world and think, I can’t make a difference, what I have isn’t enough.
“How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked.
“Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.”
Jesus wants to feed THEM, but he wants to use what YOU have
God wants to use US to reach THEM
They replied 7 loaves of Bread
In other words, “Not Enough”
Remember: In Matthew 14, Jesus fed 5000 Jewish men and women.
We saw the miracle 1 chapter earlier, so
#1 Perhaps they thought the miracle wasn’t for the gentiles.
Before we get mad and judge the disciples, we must remember:
#2 they simply forgot
How many times have we forgotten what God has done in our past?
How many times have we felt that God’s grace is for everyone but me?
God can’t use me because of my _____ .
Jesus turned to the disciples that felt like they didn’t have enough.
No matter how small or insignificant what you may have seems, God can use it.
He is saying, take what’s in your hands and place them in my hands
Something that I like to remind myself is a saying a mentor taught me.
My life and my plans in your hands
Place the spiritual gift that God has given you in His hands and let him use it.
We can either look at the world and think “I’m not enough” and get intimidated, or we can give it to God.
So, we ask, what gift, what can I do?
We can ask 2 questions
What do I do well?
What do I enjoy doing?
Both questions are important.
There are things I do well that I don’t enjoy, there are things I enjoy but don’t do well
Examples: Accounting
Singing
Story about deacon at church growing up.
When you figure out what you love and what you do well, take that, and put it in God’s hands.
Note: Gifted people don’t have to tell you they are gifted: MJ, Adel.
He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
He gave thanks:
Can we still give thanks for a little bit?
Can we still give thanks when it seems it isn’t enough?
He broke it
Our gifts can be impactful even in brokenness
Tell story about the horse
Then he gives the pieces to the disciples.
He was the one with compassion, he was the one that didn’t want to send them away, but He called them (the disciples) to help make a difference to the people whom he had compassion for.
They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
It all began with compassion
Do we have compassion for people who are far from God?
Compassion without action is simply feeling sorry
Project 150 story
Closing:
God gifted us, not so that we can delight in our gift, but so that we can serve people
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
God didn’t call the church to sit on the sidelines
We’re a church that says to God, my life, and my plans in your hands
Im not the greatest, but I hvae compassion for the people that you have compassion for, so if you can use me , use me
A group of people like that will absolutely change the world
pray
Thank you that you not only save us, but gift us by grace for the good of others
i pray for those that at one point have felt insignificant or meaningless
No longer believe the lie of the enemy, they will understand that they are created on purpose for a purpose
compel us to compassion, not feeling sorry for people, but for taking action.
Use our gifts to serve others.