Ron Dunn Podcast - The Gift of The Spirit

Episode Date: November 18, 2020

Ron Dunn continues his sermon series

Welcome to the Bible. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and Ephesians 4. Now you know why God gave you ten fingers. I think we'll read first Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, beginning with verse 7. We're going to skip verses 9 and 10 because those are parenthetical. And if we'll just skip those and go from verse 8 to verse 11, we will understand more clearly the train of thought. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 4, beginning with verse 7,

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And he gave some. Now let's go back and read verse 8. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now verse 11, And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some teachers, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ."

Now in Romans, chapter 12, beginning with verse 3 and reading through verse 6, "'For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith."

Then he goes on and mentions several others of the gifts. Now let's come to our main passage this morning. This is the passage that I'm going to be dealing with in this Bible study session. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. We'll begin reading with verse 1 and we'll read through verse 13. The entire chapter deals with this matter of gifts. But first of all, let's just read the first 13 verses. 1 Corinthians 12.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away unto these dumb idols, even as you were led. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every

man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and selfsame Spirit,

dividing to every man severally as he will for as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body whether we be Jews or Gentiles whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit. The church is spiritual and supernatural in its origin. And the church was intended and is intended to be spiritual and supernatural in its operation. When Jesus was giving last-minute instructions to his disciples in John chapter 14, he said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will not leave you as helpless orphans. Now, there was a good

reason for the disciples to be a little bit concerned about the coming events. They had made such a mess of it while Jesus was here. Who could tell what was going to happen once he was gone? You were really going to see failure on a grand scale after he was gone. If Peter had made so many mistakes and if they had been defeated so many times and if there was so much they did not understand while Jesus was gone, then what in the world was going to happen to them when he was gone, if it had been that way while he was here? And so Jesus says, don't worry, I will not leave you as helpless orphans.

And so Jesus is saying to those disciples that when he leaves, he is going to do something that will completely fill the blank and the void that would be left by his absence. And so it was going to be just as though he was there. He was going to fill that void. They weren't going to be missing anything simply because he was going to be ascended to the Father. He said, I will leave, I will not leave you as helpless orphans. And we know that what Jesus had in mind was giving to us the Holy Spirit, another comforter, another of the same kind, one just like Jesus. And so the Holy Spirit was sent

to us to replace Jesus in our lives. And the Holy Spirit came to indwell us, every believer, to do in every believer that which Jesus would have done had he been here present in the flesh physically. And so Jesus said, My provision for the church is the Holy Spirit of God. Now, Jesus intended that the Spirit of God should be the operator, the dynamic, the power, and the motive influenced behind the work of the church. It was supposed to be

supernatural in origin and supernatural in operation. Now, all of us this morning believe that the church of Jesus Christ is supernatural in origin. Anybody that knows the Word of God would not deny that. I like what Vance Havner says about the church. I'm convinced that it is a divine institution because if it hadn't have been, it wouldn't have withstood all the way we've run it these years. If it had been anything else, it would have been gone a long time ago. It has to be divine because it sure has taken an awful lot. And the way you and I operate it and run it, it would never have stood the test. We believe it is divine in origin, but I'm afraid that many of us do not believe that it is to be supernatural and divine in operation. You see, loss of power drives us to human resources.

And suddenly when we discover that the same power that the early church had is no longer evidence in our lives, we have to save face. I mean, we're not going around having people look upon us as failures. And so we bring the teachings of the Word of God down to the level of our experience. And this makes everybody happy. This saves the face of a decadent church and a powerless church. And so we are satisfied with this, that Jesus never intended us to have the same power and the same supernatural empowering that the early church had. After we got weaned from that and we became mature and capable of doing our own thing, then all of this is a good substitute for it. I got to thinking not long ago, who was it that first taught me that?

Where did I first get the idea that I was not to expect the supernatural in my ministry? Did I get it from the Word of God or did I get it from somebody who was trying to expect the supernatural in my ministry. Did I get it from the Word of God, or did I get it from somebody who was trying to explain why we don't have the supernatural in our ministry? I am firmly convinced that Jesus intended the church to be supernatural in operation. Now, when Jesus was here on earth, he absolutely depended upon the Father. Absolutely depended upon the Father. And Brother Hall shared with me the other day that the way Jesus absolutely depended upon the Father, absolutely depended upon the Father. And Brother Hall shared with me the other day that the way Jesus absolutely depended upon the Father

was by refusing to rely upon divine resources. If he had relied upon the power that was within him, he would not have been depending upon the Father. And so he refused to do anything with his own power that was inherent in his own personality. And so when Satan comes and says, why don't you just command these stones to be made of bread? What's wrong with that?

I mean, there's nothing wrong with a man eating, is there? But if Jesus had exercised his supernatural power that was his as the Lord of all creation, he would have been saying, I'm afraid the Father's not going to take care of me, and so I've got to patch it out myself. For Jesus to show absolute dependence upon the Father, he rejected the use of divine resources. Now Jesus says, what I do, you do.

Follow me is the game. What I do, you do. I'm supposed to live, the church is supposed to live, in absolute dependence upon the game. What I do, you do. I'm supposed to live, the church is supposed to live in absolute dependence upon the Father. How do we do that? You and I show our absolute dependence upon the Father by refusing to rely upon human resources. Now, I'm not saying we don't use these things

that God gives us. I'm talking about the idea of relying upon them and saying that everything that's going to happen, we have produced. I get a little weary of this kind of church business where you can predict everything that's going to happen because you planned it and programmed it, and if you haven't planned and programmed it and it happens anyway, then you're suspicious of it. Listen, if it isn't supernatural, it's superficial. You know what real revival is? It's when the only explanation is God. It's when the only explanation is God. When people go away from church on Sunday and say, how do you explain that? It must have been God. And when you can explain the work of the church and the ministry

of the church on human grounds and you have a logical human explanation, be suspicious. Be suspect. You know, we have mistaken influence for power. We think that influence is synonymous with power. No, it's not. We don't have power. We have a lot of influence. The New Testament church didn't have much influence but had a lot of power.

They didn't have enough influence to keep Peter out of jail, but they had enough power to pray him out. Daniel didn't have enough influence to keep himself out of the line of dens, but he had enough power to be preserved while he was in it. Listen, don't mistake influence for power. The church is supposed to be supernatural in operation, and God gave us the gift of the Spirit, and then he gave us the gifts of the Spirit. Now, let's distinguish between the gift of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is the Spirit himself. Acts 2.38, Peter says, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins. And you shall receive, that's in the aorist tense, you shall receive once and for all the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Anybody who repents and expresses faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, obedience to his faith, receives once and for all the gift of the Holy Ghost. And I discover as I listen to people and listen to some preachers that they don't believe this. I heard a man on the radio the other day giving a sermon on 10 ways you can get the Holy Ghost. There's only one way you can get the Holy Ghost, and that's when you're saved. That's when you're saved. And the gift of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit himself. And every Christian has the Spirit of God dwelling in him. That's God's birthday gift to you, and you have that. And if you do not have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you're not saved. You're just as lost as you can be.

Romans 8 and 9 says, If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. The only way a person can be saved and acknowledge the lordship of Jesus in his life is by the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit in his life. Now, this brings us to say a word about the baptism of the Spirit. It's going to be obvious that when we discuss the gifts of the Spirit, we're going to have to be saying quite a bit

about the baptism of the Spirit and about the gift of tongues because there's so much going on about it today. But if you look in verse 13, he says, by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. Now, notice Paul says that all of us are baptized into the body of Christ. A lady called me the other day, and she said, hey, I hear you got the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Well, I knew what she meant. I said, yeah, praise the Lord, when I was nine years old, when I got saved. Listen, the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at the moment of salvation. When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God comes to indwell him,

and that Spirit immerses him into the body of Christ and unites him in that mystical body of Christ. The Spirit of God makes him a member of the body of Christ and unites him in that mystical body of Christ. The Spirit of God makes him a member of the body of Christ. And nowhere in the Bible are we ever commanded to be baptized with the Spirit. You show me one scripture where it says that we are commanded to be baptized with the Holy Ghost. There is not one. It says that we will be baptized with the Holy Ghost, but we are never commanded to be baptized, and we are never commanded to seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Now, I understand what some people mean

when they use the term baptism of the Holy Ghost. What they really mean is being filled with the Holy Spirit. I understand that, and that's all right, but I think it would be much better and less confusing if they would use scriptural terms. Charles G. Finney called it the baptism of the Holy Ghost. R. A. Torrey called it the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's unfortunate

because they missed the truth of the Word of God. They were speaking about that initial filling of the Holy Spirit. But the baptism of the Holy Ghost, you received when you were saved, and all of us have been baptized. Notice in verse 13, for by one Spirit are we all, A-L-L, baptized. And who's he talking about? Who's he including in it?

Well, he's including the Corinthians, who were the lousiest bunch of people that ever were baptized in water. I mean, they were carnal. And yet Paul says, all of us, all of us have been baptized in the Spirit. So the gift of the Spirit is the Spirit himself. Praise the Lord. The gift of the Spirit himself. What though the footsteps of Jesus no longer linger here?

Through his blessed Holy Spirit, Jesus is ever near. The gift of the Spirit. Now, when the Spirit comes, he brings with him gifts. These gifts of the Spirit are special endowments for service. The gift of the Spirit is the Spirit himself. The gifts of the Spirit are special supernatural endowments for service. You'll notice in verse 1, he says, Now concerning spiritual, concerning things spiritual, and he uses a word that means that which comes from the Spirit. And so these gifts come from the Spirit. Now in verse 4, he says, There are diversities of gifts, and the word gift comes from the

word grace. And so these are gifts of grace. So the spiritual gifts, the gifts of the Spirit, are unmerited endowments, unmerited abilities, gifts of grace brought to us from the Holy Spirit of God. Now, let me say just a word about the difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. We let me say just a word about the difference between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. We'll say a little bit more about this because it's important

that we understand the difference and the significance of that difference. The gifts of the Spirit have to do with service. The fruit of the Spirit has to do with life itself. The gifts of the Spirit have nothing to do with character. The fruit of the Spirit have nothing to do with character. The fruit of the Spirit has everything to do with character. All right, let's look at this 12th chapter, and I'm going to say three things about the gifts of the Spirit. Number one, the gifts of the Spirit are salvation gifts. The gifts of the Spirit are salvation gifts. By that, I mean that every person who is saved has a gift. They are given because we are saved. Now, Paul says that everybody has a gift. Romans chapter 12, we all have a gift. Ephesians chapter 4, he says, but to every one of us is given a

gift. First Corinthians chapter 12, Paul makes it very clear in that passage that we read that every Christian has a gift. Did you know that you have a gift this morning? Now, you know, I've had a hard time convincing some people of this because they just can't really believe that they have a gift of the Spirit. But I want you to know that God didn't leave anybody out. Every person who is saved has a spiritual gift. Now, want you to know that God didn't leave anybody out. Every person who is saved has a spiritual gift. Now, you may not know what that gift is. You may not recognize it. That

doesn't mean you don't have one. You may not exercise that gift. That doesn't mean you do not have one. Jesus Christ has given through the Holy Spirit gifts. Ephesians 4, Paul says, when he ascended up to heaven, he led captivity captive and he bestowed gifts. You know what the gifts of the Spirit are? They're the spoils of war, the spoils of victory. Jesus Christ invaded the domain of death and the territory of Satan and completely defeated him, completely abolished his domain and his power once and for all, and he took the spoils of war, the spoils of victory, and all of those who belong to him share in those spoils and share in that victory. Every Christian has a spiritual gift, and I hope before we're through this morning you'll come to know that

and come to recognize it, because the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10, if you have a spiritual gift, you're supposed to use it for the glory of God. It's a sin not to use your spiritual gift. Did you know that? I think part of the judgment seat of Christ on that day will be how I have used my spiritual gift. And if I have not used my spiritual gift, I have buried the talent that God gave me, and there will be an accounting. So it's important for us to understand. And I'm sorry, it's very unfortunate that this teaching about the gifts of the Spirit has been so long lost to the church. I preached the first sermon I ever heard on the gifts of the Spirit about a year ago,

first one I'd ever heard. Now maybe I just wasn't at the right place at the right time, but we don't talk much about this. The only time anybody mentions the gifts of the Spirit is when they're trying to deny tongues. But every Christian has a gift of the Spirit, and God gave you that gift so that you could exercise it for the glory of God and the good of the church. All right, they are salvation gifts. Now, this leads me to say three things. First of all, I've already said

the first one, they're given to every Christian. Secondly, they are not given as rewards of spirituality. The gifts of the Spirit are given regardless of your degree of commitment or spirituality. They have nothing absolutely to do with how spiritual you are. Now, many of the people that today are pushing the gift of tongues look upon tongues as an evidence of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And they've said that unless you speak in tongues, unless you have the gift of tongues, you are not filled with the Spirit. Now, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, 4, I believe it is, that the Corinthians come behind in no gift. I believe that was one of the few churches that had every gift. They had all the gifts, and they were exercising them.

The Corinthians had the gift of tongues, and they were exercising the gift of tongues, and yet Paul says in the third chapter, you are carnal and walk like lost people. There was immorality there. They were suing each other. There was strife. There was division. They were living according each other. There was strife. There was division. They were living according to the dictates of the flesh,

but, man, they were speaking in tongues. Now, you'll not find any place in the Word of God where it says that speaking in tongues is an evidence of spirituality. Listen, I discovered something when I began studying about the gifts of the Spirit. I discovered that God gives to every saved person a gift of the Spirit. He may give him one, two, or three. I doubt if anybody has all of them.

But if God wants to give all of them to a fellow, he can. But everybody has at least one. I know that much. And God gives that to you on the basis of your salvation when you become a member of the body of Christ. Listen, when I was born in 1900 and none of your business, when I was born, I was a physically normal baby, physically normal. God gave gifts. He didn't give me the hand when I reached a certain age because I needed to do a certain

thing. He gave me that hand simply because I had a body. That hand is simply a part of the body. That hand didn't go out here and merit and work it up and achieve a certain goal, and then God added it to my body. No, that hand is there simply because it is a part of the body, and it is a gift to the head. It is a gift. This body that I have is a gift that God gives me. And every Christian, simply because he is a part of the body of Christ, has a gift. They have nothing to do with spirituality. All right. I used to be troubled because here's a fellow who's an evangelist or a pastor. And he preaches and gives the invitation, just crowds of people.

And yet I know in his personal life he is not true. I know in his personal life he is not real. I know Monday through Saturday he is living in the flesh. And yet when he stands to preach, God blesses. What's the explanation? I'll tell you what some people have explained it as. They've said, nothing wrong with me because look how God blesses when I preach. Nothing wrong with me because look how God blesses when I do such and such.

Look at the fruit. Look at the results. That must be a sign that I'm spiritual. No, sir. I want to say that a man can stand in the pulpit and preach and thousands be saved and still be a carnal Christian because God gives to men gifts and he may give you the gift of evangelism or the gift of teaching or the gift of a pastor and you can exercise that gift and still be carnal. You can exercise that gift. Listen, the exercising of the gifts

of the Spirit is not the evidence of being filled with the Spirit. Do you know what the evidence of being filled with the Spirit is? The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, and peace, and meekness, and long-suffering, and faith, and self-control. When I see a fellow who stands in the pulpit or goes out here and witnesses and wins people to Jesus, but he cannot control his temper and he cannot control his tongue and he doesn't have peace and he doesn't have patience and he doesn't have gentleness and he goes out to a restaurant and insults the waitress and treats her rudely and that man believes he's filled with the Spirit, He is not. He is not. And so we need to understand that the gifts of the Spirit are given to us without merit. They are not the evidences of spirituality.

Some people believe if you pray and confess and just weep your way to the Lord, that when you reach a certain plateau, then God lays on you the gift of tongues as a reward of your spirituality. No, sir. All right. The third thing about these being salvation gifts, they are differing gifts. They are differing gifts. I've had people tell me that God wants everybody to speak in tongues.

And unless a man speaks in tongues, he's not filled with the Spirit. It is God's will that every man speak in tongues. All right. Listen to what Paul says, Romans 12, 6. Having been gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. Let's look in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 4. Now there are diversities of gifts. Look in verse 8, for to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom. To another, down in verse 10, to another prophecy, to another discernment,

to another kinds of tongues. How can we mistake that? How can we look at the scripture where Paul in the next chapter says, do all speak in tongues? No. How can we look at the plain word of God and then say that God wants everybody to speak in tongues. Now listen, here is a Christian who is trying to go on for God, and somebody comes and says, Listen, what you need is a baptism. You need to speak in tongues. And so this person believes that it is God's will that everybody have the gift of tongues, that everybody speak in tongues. And so they go to one of these meetings and they tell them how to hold their head and

tell them how to hold their tongue and tell them exactly what to say, and this person keeps on praying, keeps on praying, keeps on speaking, just trying as hard as he can to get the gift of tongues. One of two things will happen. It's not God's will for that person to have tongues, let's say. God's not going to give that person the gift of tongues. One of two things will happen. Either that person will be frustrated and confused and think there's something wrong and be utterly defeated for the rest of their Christian life because God would not give them what they needed,

and they'll be frustrated and confused and defeated, or the devil will give them a false spiritual experience. And a person who cuts loose from the moorings of the Word of God and says, I don't care what the Bible says, I want an experience, the devil says that is a guilt-edge invitation, and then he can lay on that person any experience, and that person will believe it's from God, no matter what it is. The only objective part of our faith is the Word of God. Everything else about our faith is subjective. The only objective part of our faith is the Word of God. Everything else about our faith is subjective. The only objective part of our faith is the Word of God. Friends, you've got to stick to the book, and if it's not in the book,

it is not of God. If it is not in the book, it is not of God. So these are salvation gifts. They're given because you're saved. This means every Christian has one. This means they're not given as a reward of spirituality. They are not the evidence of speaking in tongues. I know a man that speaks in tongues and yet, well, he's been caught cheating in his business. I know a woman who confided in me she has the gift of tongues and yet she's an alcoholic. They are not given as rewards of spirituality. Third, there are differing gifts. Not everybody has the same gift. Wouldn't it be ridiculous if you were all thumbs?

What if we all had the gift of evangelism? God hasn't given us all the gift of evangelism. What if we all had the gift of ministering? What if we all had the gift, one gift, and we all had that gift? We would be an abnormal monstrosity. God doesn't work that way. We ought not to covet somebody else's gift.

What if your toe wanted to be an eye? What if the toe was jealous of the eye? He said, oh, I want to be an eye. And God says, oh, I don't make you an eye. But all you'll see is the inside of a sock. No, listen, it is the mark of God that he works in diversity. No two snowflakes alike, no two fingerprints alike, no two blades of grass alike. God's mark is diversity and variety.

Now let's stick close to the Word of God. These are differing gifts. All right, second thing, these are supernatural gifts. Number one, they are spiritual gifts. Secondly, they are supernatural gifts. They are supernatural gifts. Paul says now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, those things that come from the Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. These are all miraculous, supernatural gifts. Listen, I know there's a gift of miracles, and sometimes we categorize certain things as miracles. Listen, I want you to know the gift of evangelism, the gift of preaching, the gift of helps, the gift

of encouragement is a miraculous gift. These are supernatural gifts. Now, by this we mean that they are sovereignly bestowed. They are sovereignly bestowed. Notice what the scripture says in verse 7 of that 12th chapter. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. The Spirit gives them. Then down in verse 11. But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. Hebrews 2.4 says that we receive the gifts of the Holy Ghost according to the will of the Holy Spirit. According to the will of the Holy Spirit. They are sovereignly bestowed. I find nowhere in the Word of God where we are instructed as individuals to seek a spiritual gift.

Now, I know Paul tells the Corinthians to covet the best gift. He's talking to the church. He's not talking to an individual. The Corinthians had all the gifts, but they were minimizing the great gifts, and they were magnifying the least gift. And Paul is saying, listen, you covet the best gifts, and I do that for my church.

I covet the best gifts for my church. I pray, Lord, save somebody and give them the gift of evangelism. Save somebody and, oh, give them the gift of faith so they can pray and believe God. I covet the best gifts for my church. I pray, Lord, save somebody and give them the gift of evangelism. Save somebody and, oh, give them the gift of faith so they can pray and believe God. I covet the best gifts for my church. That's what Paul is talking about. But you'll find nowhere in the Word of God where we are to seek for a particular gift. Now, you can pray for a gift if you want to,

but I don't think it'll do any good. I really don't. I don't find anywhere in the Word of God where we're supposed to seek a particular gift. I believe that when you were saved, God gave you that gift. At the moment of conversion, I believe you have all the gifts you'll ever have. God has given them to you, and as you go along

and yield to him, and as the Spirit of God gives you illumination, you'll come to recognize what your gifts are. Now, they are sovereignly bestowed, and since they are supernatural gifts from the Spirit, this means they do not refer to natural ability. Now, I want you to underscore this, and if you forget everything else I say this morning, I hope you'll remember this. The gifts of the Spirit do not refer to a natural ability or a natural talent. The abundance of natural talent

does not qualify you for work in the church. The only thing that qualifies a man for service in the church is the operation of the Holy Spirit in his life. Now listen, I think the reason the old church of Zion today is trucking along like a car that's burned out half of its cylinders and running on just a few horsepower is because we are ignorant and have ignored the truth about the gifts of the Spirit, and we have people in positions who have not been gifted for that position. When I first began pastoring, I pastored in a town where we had several schoolteachers, public schoolteachers in our church. I said, boy, they'll make great Sunday schoolteachers.

Boy, I just, well, sure, that makes sense. Isn't that logical? Isn't that reasonable? I mean, if a man or woman is a public school teacher, she ought to make a great Sunday school teacher. Oh, I found out some of the lousiest, some of the worst Sunday school teachers I've ever had are public school teachers. Now, some of them are good, but some of them...

Man, I've had school teachers come to me and say, I'm sorry, Pastor, I just can't do this. Then one day God said, that's not their gift. Natural ability doesn't have anything to do with their service to God. I like that. Oh, I like it when Abraham and Sarah had a boy. Their physical condition had absolutely nothing to do with having a boy. You'd think it would, wouldn't you?

You'd think that a man's capacity and a woman's capacity would enter into the fact of having a child, wouldn't you? It doesn't. It doesn't have anything to do with it. God has child, wouldn't it? It doesn't. It doesn't have anything to do with it. God has it to do with it. Supernatural ability. You'd think a man couldn't live without bread, but Jesus said man doesn't live without bread alone, except by the Word of God. Did you know God could keep you alive today without food and air and water if he wanted to? He's using that, but it's God that keeps you alive. God that keeps you alive. Supernatural

ability is what God gives to every person. These do not refer to natural talent. They don't refer to being able to play the piano or being able to sing. They don't refer to natural ability. Now, those things are gifts of God, and God uses them, but they are not the specific spiritual gifts that we're talking about this morning. Now, listen. God has given to every saved person here today a supernatural ability to serve the Lord. You have a supernatural ability. You get your eyes off of your natural ability. You get your eyes off your lack or absence of natural ability

and quit feeling sorry for yourself. Quit saying there's nothing you can do. God has gifted you. You are a supra-human. You have a supernatural gift from God that enables you to do something that nobody else can do in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And when people begin to recognize and exercise their spiritual gifts with the anointing and filling of the Holy Spirit, then the church will become supernatural in its operation and not until. And not until. Now, I believe God's given me the gift of pastor. When I was ordained, my pastor said, I want to be an evangelist. Oh, I want to be an evangelist so bad. My pastor said, now, Ron, God didn't call you to be another Billy Graham. I thought he was wrong.

That was the most discouraging word I'd ever heard. But God didn't give me the gift of evangelism. God gave me the gift of pastoring. Oh, I love it. Now, listen, I want to say something. What I've said to you this morning, I've said to my own church. I have no natural ability to lead a church. I am the worst leader and organizer and planner and thinker-upper that ever lived. I am no good as an administrator, but I want you to know something. I have a supernatural ability to lead that church, and I know better than anybody else in that place what's best for my church. I am better qualified to lead that church than anybody else in that place what's best for my church. I'm better qualified to lead that church than anybody else because God has given me a supernatural ability to pastor that church,

and I know better than anybody else what God wants for that church. I don't say that boasting. Nobody knows it any better than I that it's a gift of God. Nobody knows it any better than I. Friends, I have no natural ability or talent to lead a church, but I know churches today that are having problems, and God is not blessing, and they're torn by strife because there are people in that church who will not recognize the gift, the spiritual gift of the pastor. Brother, when you go into a church and the deacons and the laymen think they know as much about pastoring that church as the pastor does and they want to help him run it, you've got problems. You have problems. Now listen. Now if you know as much about pastoring the church as your pastor does, if God has given

you the gift of pastoring, you ought to be out here pastoring somewhere, not serving as a deacon. And if God has not given you the gift of pastoring, then you don't know as nearly as much about pastoring as your pastor does. He has been given a supernatural ability to lead that church. And if you'll recognize that gift and follow it, God will bless. But there's another problem. Not only that the people don't recognize it, a lot of preachers don't recognize it.

A lot of pastors don't recognize it. You know, they want to appear humble. Listen. Listen. Humility isn't whipping yourself. It's forgetting yourself. And some pastors, they want to be just meek and lowly, like Jesus, who wasn't in that kind of meek and lowliness. They want to be meek and lowly and say, well, I don't want to be a dictator. Listen, you don't have to worry about that. They're not going to let you dictate. I don't want to be a dictator. Listen, I know some pastors who don't recognize that God has given to them a supernatural ability. And if they'll wake up to it, the Spirit of God will give them discernment and wisdom and spiritual insight. and they can lead, but they've got to step out.

They've got to step out. You know, I don't think that in all of my college and seminary training—I'm sure they taught this, but I was just so dull, I missed it—I don't think I was ever taught explicitly to expect the supernatural in my ministry. It seems to me that what I have gathered is that my success depends upon my ability, my training, my skill, my preparation, what I can get my church to do, and the programs that I have in my church. I don't think that I got this overall idea that I was to come expecting supernatural things to happen. Somehow, I think we get the idea that it all depends upon our ability and our training,

our preparation, etc., etc., etc. What a shame. Oh, man, what a shame. Listen, this is a supernatural organization, and it is the gifts of the Spirit, exercise that lifts the church above the other institutions and organizations. It makes it supernatural. Brother, you have a supernatural ability, and you know better how to exercise that than anyone else. And I want to thank God this morning publicly for my church, which recognizes the gift of the pastor. And they

allow, I do not dictate, I have no desire to dictate, and it's a good thing because, like I said, they wouldn't let me. But God has given people in my church the gift of administration and the gift of helps, and we all work together. But I am the spiritual leader of that church, and I have some members of my church here this morning, and I am the spiritual leader of that church, and that church recognizes it, and I've made a lot of mistakes, but the Bible says in the book of Psalms, the Lord preserves the simple. And you trust your pastor, and you follow the leadership of your pastor, and you trust your pastor, and if he makes a mistake, God will work it out because you're trying to do his will. I believe that. And these are supernatural abilities. Oh, boy, my church is full of people

that have supernatural abilities. Did you know Jesus meant for the church to be self-contained and self-sufficient? Oh, I read over there in Acts chapter 2, 120 people, nobodies, just nobodies. I don't know how many people were in Jerusalem. Some people say a million. Some say a million and a half. Some say 700,000. I don't know how many people were in Jerusalem. Some people say a million. Some say a million and a half.

Some say 700,000. I don't know. But I do know something strange happened. They had come there. And you talk about Mardi Gras. Listen. That feast was something else. People from all over the world, Jews from every corner of the earth, came for that feast.

And all of a sudden, 120 people had all the attention. All the attention in Jerusalem was focused on 120 people. They had no advertising. They had no television. They had no billboards. They didn't have anything. Now, I'm not saying we don't use those, but what I'm saying is they didn't have any of that. They had absolutely nothing except the Spirit of God indwelling them and anointing them with gifts and the whole world on that day turned aside to listen. Listen, the Holy Spirit

is the attracting power of the church. And God meant for us to be able to be absolutely independent of everything else. Use what is ours to use, but suddenly if they should cut off everything else and we couldn't use anything else, we would not be out of business. We would not be out of business because we are self-contained and self-sufficient. We have supernatural ability, and we need to recognize it. All right, the last thing, and then I'm through. These are service gifts. These are service gifts. They are salvation gifts, they are supernatural gifts, and they are service gifts. They're meant, he says in verse 7, to profit everyone. They are given for the service of the church. In Ephesians chapter 4, Paul tells us the purpose

of these gifts. He said God God has given gifts to men. And then in verse 12, for the perfecting, that word means the equipping of the saints, unto the work of the ministry, unto the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. These are service gifts. God gives these gifts to us that we might exercise them for the profit of the entire body, not for our own personal enjoyment. Now, there is a difference between the gift of tongues on Acts chapter 2 and the gift of tongues in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. The tongues that they spoke in Acts chapter 2 were foreign languages that men could understand. The tongues in 1 Corinthians 14,

nobody understands unless God gives them a special revelation. Secondly, the gift of tongues on the day of pentecost was as an evidence to unbelievers that jesus was lord and that the spirit of god had come it was an evidence to unbelievers the same thing is true in acts chapter 10 acts chapter 10 that's speaking with tongues there was not an evidence of the fullness of the spirit evidence they'd been saved those rest of the jews wouldn't believe they'd been saved they hadn't heard them speak in tongues. And so Peter said, Now, you narrow-minded Jews, can you guys forbid that these should be baptized in water, seeing that they have received the Spirit of God the same as we?

How did they know they had received the Spirit of God? They didn't have the book to tell them. They spoke in tongues. It was an evidence that they had been saved. Same thing is true in Acts 19. That was the spurious faith in Acts chapter 19. The tongues in the book of Acts was for evidence to unbelievers. The tongues in 1 Corinthians is edification of the believers.

They are service gifts. They are service gifts. This is why Paul said, I speak in tongues more than you all, but in the church. I believe Paul spoke in tongues. I believe he had the gift of tongues. He said he spoke in tongues, but you all, but in the church." I believe Paul spoke in tongues. I believe he had the gift of tongues. He said he spoke in tongues, but he did it privately.

In the church where we are there for the mutual edification of everybody, I'd rather speak five words with a tongue that you can understand. They are service gifts, you see. They are for the service. And if a fellow gets up and speaks in tongues bible says he's edifying himself so he says i will pray with my spirit and i will sing with my spirit that's private individual praying in tongues not talking about public speaking you know just in passing i i can't understand how people who claim to believe the word of god can read the word of god

and still believe what they believe about the tongues. A preacher friend told me just last week that one of his deacons was invited to one of these groups, and he said, I'll come on one condition, that you let me read 1 Corinthians 14 to the group before we start. And they wouldn't let him. They wouldn't let him. Over in 1 Corinthians chapter 14, it says that Paul forbids a woman to speak in the church. Now I've heard preachers quote that all my life, saying a woman is not supposed to preach, she's not supposed to teach. That's not what Paul is talking about.

We lift that out of context. Because you see in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 3 through 10, Paul says it's all right for a woman to pray and prophesy in church. You read it when you get home. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 3 through 10, Paul says that it's all right for a woman to pray and prophesy in church. You read it when you get home. 1 Corinthians 11, verses 3 through 10, Paul says that it's all right for a woman to pray and prophesy in church. So this can't be what Paul is talking about. In 1 Corinthians 14, he can't be talking about a woman

just keeping her mouth shut in church. There's nothing wrong with a woman praying and prophesying, giving her testimony, speaking the Word of God. But he's talking about the confusion that comes, spring about. And he says, I suffer not a woman to speak in the church. Now, you cut it any way you want to, but you'll have to deny every principle of biblical interpretation to deny that Paul there is forbidding a woman to speak in tongues publicly in the church. You'll have to lift that out of context if you believe that.

I want you to know something, that 90% of all the people who stand up in churches and speak in tongues are who? Women. They are women. Now, the Spirit of God will never lead a person to do anything contrary to what is written in this book. And since they are sovereignly bestowed, and this is something I forgot to say a moment ago,

and I'll come back, if they are sovereignly bestowed, you won't have to have anybody tell you how to get it. You won't have to have anybody get you down on your knees, pat you on the back, tell you to hold your tongue a certain way, and say hallelujah ten times as fast as you can. Now, friends, that is not of God.

That is not of God. And they don't try to help anybody else get any other gifts, only this gift. Why? Because I'm convinced that much of it is a false spiritual experience, and every time there has been a genuine moving of the Spirit of God, there has been God's revival, there has been the devil's revival, and the devil wants to destroy every church that's going on for God, and I believe, I am convinced the tool he is using is the abuse of the unknown tongue.

It's what killed the Welsh revival. The misuse and misunderstanding about the baptism and the tongues killed the Welsh revival. Now, I'm not denying that there is a gift of tongues. If God wants to give it, he can. You won't have to have anybody help you get it. The Spirit of God will show you that. And I will tell you something, you will exercise that according to the Word of God. And if it's not according to the Word of God, it's not from God, and I'll leave you to figure

out where it's from if it's not from God. Oh, now, but you know, I wish I didn't even have to say anything about that, because I like to accentuate the positive. Oh, man, I know some people that are scared to death of getting spiritual and talking about the fullness of the Spirit because they're afraid they'll go off the deep end. Listen, you let God take care of that. You don't worry about those things. You just say, Lord Jesus, I am going to appropriate everything you have for me,

and I'll let the rest go. I'll let you take care of the rest. Some of us are so afraid we'll get on a limb we've never even climbed up the tree. And I know some people that are so afraid of going to extremes and excesses, they never get anywhere with God. Like Jack McGorman said, I'd rather live with the excesses of life than the excesses of death. And I sure have.

And I want to accentuate the positive this morning before I close. Listen, God has given every one of you a supernatural ability. Let me take two more minutes and tell you how you can find it. I meant to do this, and I'll cut my next one short. How can I know my gift? How can I know my gift? Let me suggest two ways. First of all, by personal inclination.

Personal inclination. I believe God will give you desire. I think James loves evangelism. I love to pastor. Some of you love to visit the sick. Some of you love to give of your possessions. Some of you love to pastor. Some of you love to visit the sick. Some of you love to give of your possessions. Some of you love to encourage. There will be a personal inclination to do this.

But that's not the only test. You can have a personal inclination and be wrong. The second is not only personal inclination but public recognition. Public recognition. And this recognition will be in two ways. The church will use it, and God will bless it. The church will use it, and God will bless it. Now, I had a personal inclination to evangelism, but the church didn't want to use it, and God didn't want to bless it.

So it's not simply personal inclination. It's not simply what you want to do, but I believe this, that what your gift is, God will give you the desire to want to do it. Personal inclination, public recognition. The church will recognize and use it, and God will bless it when you exercise it. Oh, listen.

Ask God to reveal to you your gift. Man, the church of Jesus Christ, supernaturally gifted to do its work. Don't need anything else. Don't need to worry about no money. You don't need to worry about anything, see. You just exercise the gift and there'll be enough money. Just exercise the gift, there'll be enough power, there'll be enough evangelism. Everything will fall

into place. God's made provision. God's made provision. Don't worry about it. Praise the Lord for the provision He's made. 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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