Ron Dunn Podcast - Building Up The Body (Part 7)

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

Ron Dunn preaches part 7 of "Building Up The Body"

Verse 10, 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 10. And the message tonight is receiving, identifying, and exercising your spiritual gift. And I am the world's greatest optimist in believing that I'm going to get all of that in in one message. We may have to send over to Ward's office for some food about halfway through. 1 Peter chapter 4, and we'll read verse 10. As every man hath received a gift,

even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. When we receive a spiritual gift, as God says we all have received a spiritual gift, at that moment we become stewards of the grace of God. Now, if you and I understand really and fully what that phrase means, stewards of the grace of God, you'll understand that it is a very serious and solemn statement. The word steward literally means and was used as one who governed a household. It was a person who received from his master

a valuable piece of property or the care, the management of the estate, and he was to manage and govern that for the master. And then when the master returned, he was to give an accounting of his stewardship. This is the reason the Bible says, moreover, it is required of stewards he was to give an accounting of his stewardship. This is the reason the Bible says, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Now, understanding that, you need to get this picture,

that God has actually taken the grace of God and placed it in our hands and makes us the administrators of the grace of God. To imagine that God would take such a thing, the grace which is able to save, the grace which is God himself in his loving activity, and takes the manifold grace of God, the varied grace of God, the diverse grace of God indicating the diversity of gifts, and he takes that manifold grace of God and places it in my hands and places it in your hands. He entrusts to you the grace of God in the form of a spiritual gift. And you are to administer that grace and to govern the use of that grace. And that is a terrible responsibility

because the word always carries with it the idea of accounting. That there is a time when you and I will have to give to God an accounting of how we managed and administrated the grace of God that he entrusted to us. God has given to every Christian a gift. And when he gives that person a gift, he is entrusting to that man the grace of God. And God holds you and he holds me accountable as to how we will use and administer that grace. You remember in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells a parable of a master who had three servants. They were stewards.

And he was to go on a long journey, and he gathered his three stewards before him and gave to one ten talents, another five talents, another one talent. It was a wedge of gold, a very valuable piece of property. And when the master returned, he called each one into his presence, and each one had to give an accounting of what he had done with the talent, with the opportunity, with the stewardship his master had left him. And Jesus made a very significant statement when he said,

To him that has much more shall be given, and to him that does not use what he has, it shall be taken away. And the dominant theme of that parable is that God is going to judge you and he's going to judge me on the basis of my stewardship. Now, I have a spiritual gift,

and God holds me accountable for that. And when I stand before him at the judgment seat of Christ, he is going to say, all right, I gave you a supernatural endowment. I gave you a supernatural ability to do certain things for my glory and for the sake of the church. I want to know,

how did you do? Now, that truth leads me to ask three questions. Number one, when did I get this gift? How do I get a gift? Number two, how do I know what my gift is? If I'm going to have to give an account of how I use my gift, it seems to me I ought to know what my gift is. And number three, if God is going to judge me on how I exercise that gift, then I ought to know how to exercise it. And those are the three points of the message. Receiving, identifying, and exercising your spiritual gift.

We'll take them one by one. Number one, receiving your spiritual gift. When did I receive my spiritual gift? Or how does a person receive his spiritual gift? Now, to be sure, the most important thing is that you have a gift, not how you received it or when you received it. But we really need to have some idea how we receive a gift and when we do because we look at these gifts and we see the various lists of them.

Some of those perhaps appeal to us more than others. What am I to do then? Am I to take the list and pick out the one that I want and put in my order and say, now Lord, this is the gift I want. I've chosen this one. Give me this gift. Is this the way I receive a spiritual gift? Now let me say at the beginning what I have said over and over again, that spiritual gifts are sovereignly bestowed. They are sovereignly bestowed. The Holy Spirit is the distributor of the gifts. Now if you'll look in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, you'll find this emphasized in several places. For instance, in verse 11 he says, But all these work of that one and the selfsame Spirit,

dividing to every man severally as he will. Severally as he will. Then again in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 18. Now as we examine these spiritual gifts, you need to keep in mind that Paul continues to go back and forth from the image of the human body to the truth of spiritual gifts. And the body of Christ is likened to a physical human body. And the gifts that God has given to every member are likened unto the different members of that body.

So he says in verse 18, But now hath God set the members, every one of them, in his body, as it hath pleased him. In other words, when God created the physical body, he arranged it the way it pleased him. And Paul says in the same way, God has arranged the gifts of the Spirit in the body as it hath pleased him. He says practically the same in verse 28. And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, etc., etc. Now, the thing I want to emphasize is the fact that it says in verse 18 and 28 that God has done the setting, that God set forth these members. In other words, a man does not choose to be an apostle.

A man does not choose to be a teacher. He does not choose to be a miracle worker. That does not lie within his province. God is the one that chooses. He sets forth some to be a miracle worker. That does not lie within his province. God is the one that chooses. He sets forth some to be an apostle. He sets forth some to be prophets. That belongs to God. Then in Romans chapter 12 and verse 6,

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. What determines our gift? The will of the Holy Spirit, the pleasure of the Father, the grace of God which is given to us. The Holy Spirit is the one that chooses which gift is to be bestowed upon which person. They are sovereignly bestowed. Now, someone asked me the other day, what about 1 Corinthians 12, 31, where Paul says,

but covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show unto you a more excellent way. And then in chapter 14, verse 1, follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. Now, the word translated in verse 1 of 14 desire and translated covet in 1231 are the same greek word just translated differently and the word of course means to prize to be zealous after to be devoted to to cherish now paul is speaking to the church, not to individuals.

And Paul is not telling an individual that he is to seek a certain gift, but rather that the church is to prize the, English word is best gifts, the Greek word is the greater, or rather the greatest gifts, but prize, be devoted to cherish the greater or rather the greatest gifts, but Christ be devoted to cherish the greater gifts. You see, the Corinthians had been abusing, in a way, some of the gifts. They had been exalting some gifts above others. Now, to be sure, Paul does say that there is a distinction in the gifts,

but God has to make that distinction. And the Corinthians needed to alter their desires. They needed to alter their opinion, their evaluation. They had taken some gifts and they had elevated them to a position above other gifts. And Paul is rebuking them for this. And he's saying you ought to, as a church, you need to prize and cherish and be devoted to the greater gifts, indicating that there are degrees of value in the gifts that are given. Paul is not encouraging a Christian here to seek a particular gift. Well, what about 1 Corinthians 14, 5, where he says, I would that

you all spake with tongues, but rather that you prophesied. Someone said to me not too long ago that there Paul was saying that everybody ought to have the same gift, the gift of tongues. Perhaps Paul could have said, I would that everybody had the gift of prophecy or I would that everybody had the gift of healing. What about that verse?

Is Paul saying there that all of us are to have this gift? I don't think so. You know, it's an amazing thing about the Apostle Paul. Even though the Corinthian church had abused the gift of tongues, Paul refused to speak disparagingly of that gift. He said, I have the gift. I exercise the gift probably more than all of you. And he says, I would that you would all speak with tongues. He was indicating there

his own personal desire. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 7, 7, he uses the same words, the same language. He says, I would that you all were single, talking to men. He said, I wish you were all like myself, unmarmarried i don't think that we would take first corinthians 7 7 as saying that every man ought to be unmarried and yet paul says i would that you were all such as i am unmarried he is indicating here a personal desire he says i speak with tongues it's blessed me it's edified Why, I could wish that all of you had this. But he is not saying a command from the Lord that everybody is to have the same gift or that we have the right to choose a particular gift.

You see, Paul has said basically three things about spiritual gifts in these chapters. He says that all gifts have their value. All are said in the church by god himself some are more valuable than others but it is god who chooses who has which gift they are sovereignly bestowed but when does a person receive his spiritual gift? How does he receive it? Now, it's my conviction, and I'll tell you why I believe this in a moment, that a man receives his spiritual gift

when he receives the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are the manifestations of the Spirit himself. The gift is how the Holy Spirit manifests himself in a person's life. And when a person receives the Holy Spirit, it is my belief that this is when he receives the gifts of the Spirit. For instance, in the book of Acts, in Acts 2, when did they speak in tongues? When they received the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 10, when did Cornelius speak in tongues? When he received the Holy Spirit at his salvation. When did the Ephesian disciples speak in tongues in Acts chapter 19? When they received the Holy Spirit

at their salvation, not only did they speak in tongues, they also prophesied. Now, if you'll notice in Acts chapter 10 and Acts chapter 19, those gifts were not post-salvation experiences. They were not second blessings, but they were simultaneous with salvation. When they received the Spirit of God, then they received that spiritual gift. And it seems to me that the scriptures indicate, and we'll see more about this later, that a man receives his spiritual gift at the moment he receives the Spirit himself, the Holy Spirit of God. Now, I have not originally intended to get into what I'm going to get into right now, but I feel that it is profitable for us to do it. When does a man receive the Holy Spirit? In the last few years to three years there have been volumes and volumes of new books written

and older books republished on this matter of the holy spirit and this matter of charismatic gifts and i have tried to read all that i could get my hands on even those that i did not agree with and those i did agree with and i have tried to read all of them to try to understand exactly what is being said and what is being taught. And one thing that I cannot get away from, that more and more there is being taught this truth that a man receives the Holy Spirit after he is saved. You can go to the Baptist bookstore, and there's a very popular book on the Holy Spirit,

the gifts of the Spirit. And there's a chapter at the end of the book on steps or how to receive the Holy Spirit. And there are listed, I believe, at seven steps on receiving the Holy Spirit. And so I think that it is very essential that we take a moment or two to discuss this matter, when does a man receive the Holy Spirit of God? Now, there is a very popular teaching that you receive the holy spirit after salvation they point to

acts chapter 2 and acts chapter 8 philip went down to samaria he preached the people were saved but then peter and john came to samaria laid hands on them and they received the holy spirit and they take these two instances and say that these people receive the Holy Spirit, baptized by the Spirit after salvation, and that is true in those instances. Well, when do you receive the Spirit of God? Now, one of the things that has been written and taught so much today is that God gave the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and He doesn't give it anymore, or give the Spirit anymore,

now we must receive him. And so after a person is saved, you inform him about the Holy Spirit. God does not give him the Holy Spirit, because God has already given the Spirit at Pentecost. Now what you do is receive the Holy Spirit, and every person must receive the Holy Spirit just as he received Jesus Christ. Well, now, in the first place, to me, that seems to be kind of spitting a hair over whether or not God is giving it or whether or not we're receiving it. But there's one of the classic books that has been written on this,

and there is a statement in there that says that it never says that God gives the Holy Spirit. It is always that men received it. Now that statement is not true in Acts 11 17 as Peter is rehearsing the experience with Cornelius. He says, For as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, what was I that I could withstand God? And Peter is saying that when the Spirit of God fell upon Cornelius and they spoke in tongues, that God gave them the gift.

And it seems to me that that is really splitting a hair to say that we receive it now, God no longer gives it. And so we really need to understand when does a person receive the Holy Spirit. It is my belief that a man receives the Spirit of God at conversion, at salvation. Now, there were two exceptions, and we'll discuss those in a moment. Acts 2.38, Peter said on the day of Pentecost, they came and said, Men and brethren, what must we do? And Peter said, Repent, be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus,

for the remission of your sins sins and you shall receive the Holy Ghost or you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Now the word receive is in the aorist tense which indicates you shall receive then and there. Not future tense, not a perhaps, it's not a conditional clause. He says you shall receive. What was the condition of their receiving the holy spirit it was the condition of salvation of turning from their sins of repenting and confessing jesus christ having their sins remitted when their sins were remitted he said then you will receive the holy ghost in acts 11 17 we read a moment ago peter says for as much then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, when did God give them that gift? When they believed on the Holy Spirit? No, when they believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. In John chapter 7, verse 39, Jesus speaks about the rivers of living water that flow out of their innermost being. And he says in the 39th verse, but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive.

When would they receive on him? What was the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit? It was believing on Jesus. Believing on Jesus. Romans 8, 9, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 1 Corinthians 3 and 1 Corinthians 6 says that our body is the dwelling place, the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 3 says that they begun in the Spirit. They begun in the Spirit. Their Christian life was begun in the Spirit.

In the second verse, this only would I learn of you. Receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith. Are you so foolish having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh? Again, in Galatians chapter 4, verse 6, And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. What is the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit?

Because you are sons. Now, in 1 John, you have the presence of the Holy Spirit as proof of our salvation. 1 John 3, 24. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us

by the Spirit which he hath given us. 1 John 4, 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us because He hath given us of His Spirit. 1 John 5, 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness within himself. Romans chapter 8 says

that the Spirit of God witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God someone said to me not long ago a man or a woman receives the spiritual gift and even receives the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands and I just feel that I need to say a word about this matter of laying on of hands and its relationship to receiving the Holy Spirit or receiving a spiritual gift. Now, the laying on of hands was used four different ways in the Scriptures. I'll just mention these briefly. Number one, it was used as an act of consecration,

a setting apart someone for service. The laying on of hands was to consecration what baptism was to salvation. It symbolized this person has been saved. The laying on of hands was a symbol this person had been consecrated. It was used as a commendation. Paul says in 1 Timothy 5, 22, lay hands suddenly on no man and laying on of hands was a commendation a sign a symbol of approval we approve of this man number three it was used to signify a commission a commissioning in Acts chapter 13 and verse 3 when the spirit of God said set apart and send out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries, the church laid hands on them. It was the church commissioning them. Number four, the laying on of hands was used for

communication. Communication. Number one, to communicate sin from one person to an animal. In the book of Leviticus, over and over again. They would lay hands on the sheep, on the goat, and the sins of the people would be communicated. It was used to communicate authority or position from one person to another. Moses laid his hands on Joshua and communicated to him his authority and his position. It was used to communicate healing. Jesus laid his hands, or rather it was used to communicate blessing. Jesus laid his hands on the children and blessed them. It was used to communicate healing as Jesus would lay his hands. Not essential because he would heal people without the laying on of hands, but many times he would lay hands on them to communicate healing. And then it was used to communicate the Holy Spirit.

Now, the apostles had a special gift, a special dispensation to bestow the Holy Spirit upon certain people. In Acts chapter 8, Philip was preaching. The people were saved, but he did not lay hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. Peter and John came and they laid hands on them. And when they laid hands on them they received the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 10 Peter did not lay hands on Cornelius wasn't necessary it's never

necessary sometimes it is done but it's not necessary Acts chapter 19 Paul laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit second Timothy 1 6 Paul says to Timothy to stir up the gift which is in thee by prophecy by the laying on of my they receive the Holy Spirit. 2 Timothy 1.6, Paul says to Timothy to stir up the gift which is in thee by prophecy by the laying on of my hands. Paul, and the preposition there is dia, which means immediate agency. In other words, the agency of Timothy

receiving his spiritual gift was the laying on of hands of the Apostle Paul. So the apostles had a special supernatural ability to communicate the Holy Spirit to certain individuals. Now, those were special cases. For instance, Acts chapter 8, when the Samaritans received the Holy Spirit after they were saved for the laying on of hands, they were the Samaritans, the half-Jews. Jesus said you should go in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. In Acts chapter 10, when the Holy Spirit came in that way,

it was the Gentiles being saved. Acts chapter 19, it was the disciples of John the Baptist, Old Testament believers, really, that received the Holy Spirit after they were saved. Every time an unusual occurrence such as that happened, it was a special forward thrust in Christian history. Only the apostles had the ability to communicate the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. Now, in Acts chapter 9, Ananias, that disciple, came to Paul after Paul was saved,

and the Bible says that he laid his hands on him to receive his healing and to be filled with the Spirit. It doesn't say that he received the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands. The Bible makes a very careful distinction between the filling of the Spirit and the receiving of the Spirit. For instance, in Acts 4.31, those disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, but they'd already received the Spirit. The only ones in the Scriptures, in the book of Acts, that had the ability to communicate a spiritual gift are the Holy Spirit himself through the laying on of hands were the original apostles including Paul who was chosen by God by divine special revelation and since we no longer have those apostles I see nowhere in the scripture where it indicates that

anybody today has the ability to lay hands on somebody and by the laying on of hands, they actually are communicating to them the Holy Spirit or a spiritual gift. It is not necessary to have hands laid on or anything. God did not work that way all the time. Now, you know the interesting thing about this, as I study this over and over again, the one thing that really impresses me is the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit, the variety by which the Holy Spirit works. For instance, on the day of Pentecost when he manifested himself,

there was the rushing wind, the cloven tongues of fire, the languages. But in Acts chapter 8, there were just the tongues, no cloven tongues of fire, no rushing wind. Rather, in Acts chapter 10, there were the tongues. Acts chapter 8, it doesn't mention any manifestation. Acts chapter 19, there the tongues Acts chapter 8 it doesn't mention any manifestation Acts chapter 19 there were tongues and prophecy Acts chapter 4 when they were filled there was just an earthquake that shook the place the Holy Spirit manifesting himself differently every time

and leads me to say that we cannot put the Holy Spirit in a straight jacket and say the Holy Spirit will always must always manifest himself in this particular way. He just will not be caged in. He has the freedom and the sovereignty to manifest himself any way he wants to. We receive the Spirit of God at salvation as a gift from God when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we the Spirit of God he comes upon us and when the Spirit of God comes to indwell us it's my belief that that's when we receive our spiritual gift Paul says we've all

received a spiritual gift the only way of every Christian in the world could have a spiritual gift is if they received it at salvation because they're certainly not all filled with the Spirit all of the tenses that Paul and Peter use talking about the spiritual gifts are in the past tense. It's always the fact they have received a gift, not the fact they can or the fact that they may. The figure of a body leads me to believe we receive our gift at salvation. When did your hand become a hand? At birth. And at salvation we are placed in the body of Christ. We become a member of the body of Christ.

You have a spiritual gift if you are saved, sovereignly bestowed upon you, not because you chose it, but because it pleased God to give you a spiritual gift. Now, that gift may lie dormant for years and years. Paul says to Timothy, stir up the gift of God, which is in the, it's possible for a spiritual gift to be atrophied. It's possible for a Christian in carnality and idleness to live his life

without exercising properly that spiritual gift. And one day, perhaps when he's filled with the Spirit, he realizes he has a spiritual gift and he begins to exercise it all right enough of that and I appreciate your indulgence as I took that detour and went that route about when we receive the Holy Spirit and about the laying on of hands. All right. Second question. How can I recognize my spiritual gift? How can I recognize my spiritual gift? Let me say first that it is really not essential that you know what your gift is.

And I believe it's good and important. I think you ought to. I think you can know. But it is not essential that you know what your spiritual gift is. Paul said to Timothy, the gift which is in thee. The gift is a part of us. And every Christian who is obedient to the head and serves the Lord as God leads him and gives him opportunity is exercising his spiritual gift. If you have been obedient to the head, if you have served the Lord as he led you and gave you opportunity,

you have been exercising your spiritual gift, whether you knew what it was or not. A hand, how does a hand know what to do? It simply is obedient to the head. How does a foot know what to do? It is simply obedient to the head. How does a hand, how does a foot exercise its spiritual gift? By doing what comes naturally.

How does a Christian exercise his spiritual gift? By doing what comes supernaturally. The gift is a part of your life. You are your gift. That's why Paul says some are teachers, some are miracle workers. There is one who exhorts. It doesn't say he has the office of exhortation and between the hours of eight and five, Monday through Friday, he exhorts. No, he is one who is continually exhorting. You are your

gift. And as a Christian simply lives his life in obedience to the head, he is exercising his spiritual gift. Whether he knows what it is or not, just do what comes supernaturally. You don't have to manipulate and maneuver and politic and work and struggle to exercise your gift. You just live your life under his leadership and you'll be exercising your gift. Now, having

said it is not essential to know your gift, I'll give you some suggestions about how you may know it. I have four suggestions to make. Number one, how can I recognize what my spiritual gift is? Personal inclination first. Personal inclination. What is your desire? What is your motivation? What is your leaning? Examine your special concerns. What do you want to do? Your spiritual gift will lie in the direction of your desire.

And your desire under God will lie in the direction of your spiritual gift. For instance, a man who has the gift of showing mercy wants to show mercy. A man that has the gift of teaching wants to teach. He enjoys teaching. That's why I can preach for an hour and not mind it. Maybe some of you will have the gift of listening one of these days. And God will just give you a desire to listen. Examine your desires.

That's the first clue to what your spiritual gift is. There will be an inner witness, an inclination, I want to do something. Now, it has to be a desire to do it God's way, you see. It's possible that your desire may be nothing more than a carnal desire. For instance, some people may want to rule, but they don't want to do it God's way. Well, that's not a gift, that's a greed. That is not the final test, because it is possible, as I said,

for you to have a desire that is nothing more than the carnal desire and is not really the God-given desire that you have. By way of illustration, for years I wanted to be an evangelist. Oh, that's all I wanted to be. From the moment I surrendered to preach, I knew that God wanted me to be an evangelist. I was so shaken up at my ordination when my pastor ordaining me said, Now, Ron, God has not called you to be another Billy Graham.

Well, I thought he had. I didn't just think he had, I knew he had. I knew that I was an evangelist. Now, I'll tell you, for years and years I tried to be an evangelist. And one day it finally gradually dawned upon me, I was manipulating and maneuvering and trying to work out something that I thought I wanted to do, that God wanted me to do. So the personal inclination, your desire, is not the final test, but it's the first hint. It's the first clue. What do you enjoy doing? Where are your special concerns? What do you have a desire

to do in the body of Christ? Number two, there will be not only a personal inclination, there will be a public recognition of that. And that will come in two ways. Number one, the church will use it. The church will recognize it. There will be given to you opportunities to minister your gift, to exercise your gift. Now, if you're interested in knowing what your gift is, answer this question question where has God already used you how has God already used you in the body of Christ look for those repeated areas where repeatedly over and over again, God has used you in a certain way. Now, that's a key to knowing what your spiritual gift is. Because the church will recognize that gift and the church will use that gift. Now, this is one reason it began gradually to dawn upon me that I wasn't an evangelist.

Nearly starved to death. I mean, you know, after I ran through my close friends, where was I to go? You see, when a man is in his proper place, exercising his proper gift, he doesn't have to try to drum up business. He doesn't have to try to drum up business. He doesn't. And you know, that's something I couldn't understand for a long time.

I would see other fellows that weren't as experienced as I was in preaching, and they had, man, they just busy all the time. They weren't starving to death. Church was using them. And what really confused me was some of those fellows never sent out a letter, never sent out a brochure, never politic, never drummed up business.

It just came. Why? They were exercising their gift and God was seeing to it they had opportunity. The church will give you opportunity to use your gift. Now where have you already found places of service repeatedly over and over again? But not only will the church use it, God will bless it. God will bless it.

You see, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, 7, that these spiritual gifts are given to profit with all. Profit everyone. And when you exercise your spiritual gift, it will profit the body of Christ. In other words, God will bless it. And it will minister life and help to those people. For instance, a person that has the gift of showing mercy just seems to attract people that need mercy. Have you ever noticed that? There's a lady in our church that is always attracting people that need mercy.

And she'll tell about it every once in a while. And those things never happened to me. The weird, strange things that happened to her of just people needing mercy, just somehow finding her, not even knowing her. She was in the office one day and I said, you know what I believe your spiritual gift is? I believe it's showing mercy. Because there have been several people that I have baptized in that baptistry that sought her out needing mercy and she was able to help them in such a way that they were saved. Now, God blesses the exercising of that gift.

I know people that have a gift of evangelism, that are evangelists. They have the strangest, most miraculous opportunities to witness and win people that you ever saw. And they minister that gift effectively. God blesses it. God blesses it. A person who has the gift of helps, people will just seek him out.

You don't have to put up a sign and say, Hey, I have the gift of helps open for business. You don't have to do that. They will just seek you out and you will be able to help them effectively. God will bless it. God will bless it. Now, are any of you getting a clue as to what your spiritual gift is?

Where has God given you opportunities? Where has God opened the doors? I'll tell you one of the tragic things is that so many times God opens a door over here, and we're still waiting for this door to open. And we want this door to open. And we want this door open. That's the way we want to go. That's the gift that we want. And all the time God says,

here it is, here's the door open. Now where you have opportunity to serve and your desire lies in that direction. And when you do that, God blesses it. Somehow the people are blessed. Somehow they are profited. Somehow God confirms it and you minister life and help.

For instance, in Acts chapter 6, when they ordained those original deacons, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if those apostles, when they laid hands on them, did not communicate to them the gift of ministering. But be that as it may, when they exercise that ministry of helps, of ministering,

the Bible says the Word of God grew, the believers multiplied. You see? God will bless it. Now, there is a fourth suggestion I want to make. Now, this is exceptional in discovering your spiritual gift. By prophetic declaration. By prophetic declaration. In 1 Timothy 4.14 and 1.18,

Paul speaks of Timothy having his spiritual gift by prophecy. The prophecies that were spoken concerning thee. And it seems that the Apostle Paul or someone else received a prophetic word, made a prophecy about Timothy, and said, you will be such and so. Now, I almost hesitated to even mention this because I didn't want people running up after the service and saying I have a word of prophecy you do not have the gift of pastor teacher that's why I said these are exceptional doesn't not always so but there are times when a man knows his spiritual gift by prophetic declaration.

Young George W. Truitt, studying to be a lawyer, White Rite Baptist Church said, You are to be ordained as our pastor. George Truitt said, But I have sought to be a lawyer. The church said, But God has called you to be a preacher. The name escapes me.

I believe it was Spurgeon. Now, I reserve the right to change at later revelation, but I believe it was Spurgeon, who one day when he was a child of seven, was in the garden, and a great preacher was visiting in their home and laid his hand on the shoulder of young Charles Spurgeon and said,

Son, someday you will be a great preacher of the gospel. There are other illustrations of famous men in history where years before God had given somebody a word of prophecy and they said, you will be such and so. Now the final suggestion on identifying your gift is this. There will be a proper confession.

A proper confession now not all supernatural gifts come from the Holy Spirit Matthew chapter 7 Jesus said many will say to me in that day have we not cast out demons have we not prophesied in thy name have we not worked miracles in thy name

and Jesus said I will say unto them I never knew you and Paul in 2nd Thessalonians indicates that as the end time comes there will be counterfeits who will come working miracles as though the miracles of God, but yet they are the spirit of Antichrist. There are supernatural gifts that are not from God.

How do you know? He tells us in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3, where he says, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Holy Spirit calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that, and that is on the throne. Any work, any ministry that puts anything above Jesus Christ in affection, in allegiance, in attention is not of the Spirit of God. He that is of the Spirit of God and receives His Word from the Spirit of God always puts Jesus Christ in His proper place, and that's on the throne. All right, briefly, let me run through them one more time. Personal inclination, public recognition, the church will

use it, there'll be opportunities, God will bless it. Number three, prophetic declaration. Number four, proper confession. Now, before you leave, let me come to point number three. How do I exercise my spiritual gift? If God is going to hold me accountable as to how I exercise my gift, then how am I supposed to exercise it? I have four suggestions. Number one, now let me preface this by saying the gifts are subject to misuse. You can misuse the gifts of the Spirit as the Corinthians did. So it is necessary to

understand the proper way to exercise your spiritual gift. Number one, there must be proper acceptance of your gift. Now this is what Paul is bringing out in Romans 12. There must be proper acceptance of your gift. In other words, there can be no discontent with your gift. There can be no dissatisfaction with your gift. I wish I didn't have this gift. I wish I had this gift, this gift this man has. The first thing you have to do is to accept your gift because it is from God. And Paul says that every man must evaluate himself, size up himself, his gift, according to the measure of faith which God has given to every man. And the measure of faith is simply that ability that God has given, that's mountain

moving faith, that ability that God has given for a man to exercise his gift. Now when he says the measure of faith, it doesn't mean that some have more faith than others, but really what it means is that God has measured out to each man faith in which to exercise his gift. And here is a measure of faith, and that measure is a limitation. And that measure is for that particular gift. And if you exercise the gift God has given you, God gives you the faith, the power, the ability to exercise that gift effectively. But you must evaluate your gift and accept your gift according to the measure of faith which God has given to every person. He's given me a measure, and that measure of faith

is for the exercise of my particular gift. has given to every person he's given me a measure and that measure of faith is to is for the exercise of my particular gift if I step out of that gift God has not given me a measure of faith to exercise that other man's gift I'm to stick with my gift is what Paul is saying he that has the gift of teaching let him teach he that has the gift of exhortation let him exhort he's that has the gift of ministry let him minister let him exhort. He that has the gift of ministry, let him minister it. In other words, Paul is saying, accept your gift. Be satisfied with your gift.

Stick to your gift. Proper acceptance. Number two, there must be a proper assessment of your gift. You will not take time to read that. It's all in 12 of Romans, verses 3 and following. There must be a proper assessment of your gift. Two things to say about that. First of all, there must be no superior attitude.

Man ought not to think more highly of himself than he ought. Because you have a gift so-and-so has, you are not to have a superior attitude and think you have a spiritual edge because you have a gift somebody else doesn't have. Number two, there's to be no inferior attitude. Let a man think soberly. Simply because you don't have a more spectacular gift, you are not to have an inferior attitude. You'll never be able to exercise your spiritual gift properly

if you think your gift makes you more spiritual and have a superior attitude, or if you think your gift is inferior and that makes you inferior. Proper assessment. Number three, there must be a proper application of that gift. Now, the Bible list gives us several suggestions about the gift. I'll just have time to mention. Number one, he says don't neglect it. Do not neglect it. 1 Timothy 4.14.

If you don't use it, God will hold you accountable. Do not neglect your gift. Number two, he says to stir the gift up. 2 Timothy 1.6. Indicating our responsibility. Indicating that the gift may become atrophied. The word stir up is used of rekindling a fire, causing a blaze. You don't need a new gift. You just need to stir up the one you have.

And there are times when I need to stir up the gift that God has given me. I begin to neglect it. The fire begins to burn low. Coldness comes in. I find that I'm exercising my gift out of mere duty and ritual and ceremony. Paul says, stir it up, set it on fire. Number three, 1 Peter 4.10, we are to minister this gift to others. Now this has to do with the attitude. We are not to take this gift and use it for our own glorification our own profit but rather peter says as every man has received a gift so let him minister the same one to another you are to use this gift in the service and for the good of the body of christ unselfishly by the way that verb indicates you're to do this all the time.

You never turn off your gift. I talked with a preacher on the phone today, one that means a great deal to me. He's in town. You know what all he talked about? He just talked about the Lord, what the Lord had shown him, what he had preached on, and how God was dealing with him in certain areas of Scripture. When we hung up the phone, I said to myself, he's always what he is.

He's not one thing in the pulpit, and then when he steps out, he turns it off, and all of his talk and interest now lie in secular things. You know, I've been with some preachers like this that never want to talk about the things of God, share the word of God outside the pulpit. They just turn it off. Peter says, you are to minister this all the time. If you have the gift of showing mercy, you show mercy no matter where you are.

If you're at a ball game, if you're on vacation, if you're in the church, you see it's the life that you live. That's the way to exercise your gift, is to exercise it for the good of others all the time. Then fourthly, proper application means that you are to exercise that gift in such a way that will glorify God. Exercise your gift in such a way that will glorify God. 1 Peter 4, verse 11 says that all of this is to be done for the glory of God. Now, there are ways that you can exercise your gift that will glorify you and will attract attention to you rather than glorifying

God. You exercise it in such a way as to glorify God. Now, let me mention one last thing. How to exercise your gift, proper acceptance of the gift, proper assessment of the gift, proper application of the gift, and proper adjustment of the gift. Ephesians 4.16 says that every joint, every member, is to be properly adjusted to the head. And when it is properly adjusted to the head, then it supplies for the good of the body. And the body is built up in love properly adjusted to the head that's jesus christ and it's my conviction that every time you exercise your gift

outside the lordship of jesus christ god rejects it as far as reward is concerned because then it becomes simply a work of the flesh rather than a work of God are you properly adjusted to the head you may have the gift of evangelism and lead hundreds to Jesus without being properly adjusted to the head and God will judge you

for working in the flesh on the judgment day. Are you properly adjusted to the head? Would you bow your heads for a moment? The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn.

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