Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast,
where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
In this podcast series, we're going to be looking into biblical
words that have great significance to our faith.
The name of this series is called the Word of the Week, where
once a week we will dive deeper into these words that we are
familiar with in Scripture.
So come along with me.
Let's study the Word of the week.
Pastor Josh here with another word of the week.
The word of the week is gift.
We talked about gifts last week, and we specifically talked
about the greatest gift that was ever given to us, and that is
the gift of Jesus Christ, the gift of salvation, the gift of the
Gospel.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves.
It is a gift of God, not.
Of works, lest any man should boast.
And so the Bible tells us that.
We as believers have received and believed in the gift of grace.
But you know what?
As a believer, the Bible tells us that as we have received that
gift.
Of grace in our salvation, we also have received a gift of the
Holy Spirit, meaning we have been given something supernaturally
so that we can use that gift for a purpose.
And so that's what we're going to be looking at here this week.
At least that's what we're going to be starting with here this
week.
We will be looking at this for the next few weeks.
And that is the idea of service within our Christian walk.
What does it mean to use our spiritual gift or spiritual gifts?
The Bible says in First Peter, Chapter 4, Verse 10, as every man
hath received the gift.
So the Bible tells us here in First Peter, Chapter 4, that every
believer has received at least one gift, one spiritual gift.
Now, I want to be clear that this isn't talking about natural
talent.
This isn't talking about something that we're inclined to
be like.
This is specifically talking about a gift.
That'S given to us through the Holy Spirit, through the indwelling
of the Spirit.
So give you an example of this.
The Bible does not say that a spiritual gift in this case, in this
definition would be like singing talent or building something
or being able to cook really well.
That's not necessarily what the Bible defines as a spiritual
gift.
Now, God does give individuals gifts within their life, or we could
call them talents.
That would be musical talent or a gift of cooking or the opportunity
to.
Maybe use their hands to build something.
But the Bible says that we use those natural talents for these supernatural
gifts.
So we'll talk a little bit about.
That here in a few moments.
But it says that everyone has received this.
And so if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you have trusted
in him in faith to save you from your sins, you are indwelled
by the Spirit.
And in that indwelling of the Spirit, we have been given a gift
from God.
We're going to see what that looks.
Like here in a few moments.
But it says that everyone has received a gift, and then it tells
us what we are to do with that gift.
You know, I think a lot of times in our life we think of a gift
is something that we take.
And we hold to ourselves.
But actually it says here what we are supposed to do with that gift.
It says, even so, minister the same one to another as good stewards
of.
The manifold grace of God.
Now what does that mean?
That means this.
The gift was given to us to use to serve God, to give to other
people.
So says, minister or serve the same one to another.
And so the gift is not given to us to keep to ourselves.
The gift is not given to us so that we can get attention or that
we can get praise.
It says, no, we are given the gift so that we would minister or.
Serve one another as good stewards.
And we've talked about stewardship on this podcast before.
But stewardship is essentially using what has been given to us for
the cause of the person that has given it to us.
So we've been entrusted with something.
It's not ours to own, it's ours.
To steward over, to manage over.
So God has given you, pure believer.
God has given me a gift or gifts so that we would serve one
another.
And that is the proof of our love for God.
That is the proof for us demonstrating our stewardship to
God.
So it says, do that as good.
Stewards of the manifold or the varied grace of God.
Which means that there's different gifts.
You know, you might have three people.
Sitting next to you in church, and.
All three of those people might have been gifted differently
by the Lord.
Maybe some have been gifted in hospitality.
Verse 9 of First Peter, chapter 4 says, Use hospitality one
to another without grudging.
So?
So we also will see in Romans.
Chapter 12 that one of the spiritual gifts is hospitality.
Now going back to that analogy before, between the natural talents,
or you could even say the God given talents and the spiritual gift.
Let's say, for example, somebody was given the talent that
they can cook really well.
That's not the spiritual gift, because an unsafe person can cook
really well.
But what we can see is that as God has gifted us with those talents,
we can use those talents in.
The area of our spiritual gift.
So in that analogy, God has given me the talent of cooking, and
he's given me the spiritual gift of hospitality.
Therefore, I can use that talent of cooking with the gift of
hospitality.
And so there's that ultimate purpose behind it, right?
The purpose behind that cooking would be to be hospitable
to someone in the name of Jesus Christ, so that they can know
him or they can grow in him.
So it says there, every person has received the gift, so minister
the same one to another as good stewards of.
The manifold or the varied grace of God.
That word manifold just means different.
And so that's the beauty of God's.
Gifting when it comes to these spiritual.
Gifts is that not everybody is gifted the same way.
Some people are gifted in the same way, but other people are gifted
in a very different way.
Some people have been gifted in multiple areas.
Maybe another person isn't.
But nonetheless, we are called to exercise, to live out those things
in our life so that we can be good stewards of the grace of God,
the gift of God.
Now, I have heard people say, well, you know what?
I haven't been gifted in this area.
So therefore, I don't need to think about this.
I don't need to grow in this.
No, the Bible says that we're to grow in all these areas.
But it does very clearly say that we are gifted in certain areas
so that it comes more naturally to us in our lives.
And then we see verse number 11 in First Peter, chapter 4.
It kind of speaks of two different categories of these service
gifts.
It says, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
So we see that there is an element of a more public ministry,
a more public gift.
So speaking that that could be someone.
Who'S maybe preaching at your church.
You know that individual has that gift of preaching, right?
The gift of.
And we'll look at Romans, chapter 12 about these gifts, teaching,
maybe.
But it says that there is a category of these spiritual gifts
that are.
More public, more of the public speaking element.
So let him speak as the oracles of God, Meaning he's going
to use this gift of public speech.
It is going to be done in the name of God.
It needs to be done in the power of God.
It needs to be done in the will of God.
So there is a stipulation to that.
I'm not just using this gift for my own glory, but for the glory
of God.
Then it says if any man minister.
So this is, this is the idea of service.
This would be the category of things behind the scenes.
Maybe not a public display of this gift, but maybe a, a private
display or maybe a display to only a few people.
Says, if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which
God giveth.
Meaning we can't serve unless we are trusting in the power of God,
trusting in the strength as God supplies it.
You know that verse, Philippians, chapter 4, verse 13,
I can do all things through Christ.
That verse is talking specifically in context about things
that God has allowed to come up into my life, opportunities that
God has brought into my life or allowed into my life.
He's going to give me the strength to do that.
So let him do that as the ability which God hath given him,
that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
And so we see that the ultimate goal for these spiritual
gifts would be to give glory to God through Jesus Christ.
And so we will explore this thought a little bit more next week.
But the understanding about this is that the wrong way to go
about these spiritual gifts would be to be doing it for ourselves,
be doing it for.
Our own cause, be doing it for our own glory.
But the right way, the spiritual way, the biblical way,
would be to do these gifts, to live out these gifts, I should say,
in a way that glorifies God.
And then it goes on to say.
To whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.
So the motive behind these gifts would be to give honor and
glory to God.
So let me summarize it this way.
If you are a believer, you are gifted.
You are gifted with the grace of God.
So it's not something that you have earned.
And God in his discretion, God in his love has given you a specific
gift or gifts.
Now, as he has given that gift, he has also given you a reason
to have that gift first and foremost.
That is to serve others.
But to serve others in the name of the glory of God.
And so we use our gifts to the point where we help people, yes,
we encourage people, we educate people, we challenge people.
But we do that in the name of service.
But we do that also in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ, to the glory of God.
And so that is the overall principle.
Of the spiritual gifts.
Now, next week we will look more.
Into those specific spiritual gifts, specifically in the book of
Romans, Romans chapter 12.
We call them the ministering gifts, the service gifts.
And there's a list of gifts given there in Romans chapter 12
that explains.
These different gifts and how we are.
To go about living out these gifts to other people around us.
Now, there's a lot of debate about.
The different list of gifts in Scripture.
There's three different lists.
There's the list of ministering gifts that we see in
Romans chapter 12.
That's the one we're going to spend the most time on because we
see this passage in First Peter, chapter four, really speaking
of that ministering.
And so these are the ministering gifts.
There's also the gift of the miraculous gifts that we see in the
Book of Acts and in certain elements of the New Testament.
And so those are the miraculous gifts.
Those are different than the ministering gifts.
I believe different people vary on that opinion.
But then we also see that there are ministerial positional
gifts.
Right?
There's a passage in Ephesians that talks about on pastors, teachers,
evangelists.
And so we're going to be focusing this in this series on the
ministering gifts, the service gifts that are mentioned in Romans
chapter 12.
And so I encourage you to follow along with this series.
If you've never identified what your spiritual gift is, this
could be an opportunity for you to study along with us and see
where you fit in that.
Because the Bible does say very clearly, if you trust in Jesus
Christ as your Savior, if you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you,
he's given you a.
Grace, and that he's given you a.
Gift, not just in salvation, the greatest gift of salvation, but
he's also giving you a gift to use to those for those around you
for the cause of the Gospel.
So back in First Peter, chapter four, he starts in verse
eight and he says, and above all things have fervent charity among
yourselves.
And so the heart of this is love for each other.
And for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.
Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
So he really is demonstrating there in that passage that these
gifts are all about service.
These gifts are all about helping others and not helping yourself.
These gifts are all about pointing people to Jesus Christ.
And so I encourage you to think about that.
As in the month of December, we're thinking about gifts here at
Middletown Baptist Church.
We're thinking about ultimately the gift of God's grace
and his salvation that he extends to all.
But then we also think about as he has gifted us with that salvation,
he's also gifted us in service.
And many times we don't see service as a gift.
We see salvation as a gift, but we don't see service as a gift.
We see Service sometimes as an inconvenience.
Or we see service sometimes as something we have to do, even though
it might not be as pleasurable as we would like it to be.
But actually the biblical way to see it is joyful.
The biblical way to see it is coming to it with excitement that
we.
Get to serve God because He has gifted us.
And so I would really encourage you to think about that
when we come to these spiritual gifts that we're going
to be talking about next week.
And I hope that it can be clear in Scripture where God has
you to be serving within the ministry that you are a part of.
And I hope you are part of.
A local body of believers, a church.
If you want to know more about the church, we have a series on what
the church is, the definition of church, and what that looks like
back in our Word of the Week podcast.
And I encourage you to look back.
On that in the catalog there.
And I hope that would be a blessing to you.
So it might not be Middletown Baptist Church that you attend, but
I would encourage you to think about a church that you can be a
part of and serve in and give glory to God through your life.
Now, certainly your gifts are not designed only for the church.
I mean, obviously there are.
There are people that you can impact outside of the church.
But I would say that there is a strong element in the scriptures
that that really include the idea of assembling together, edifying
each other.
That means building up, exhorting each other.
That means challenging, and then certainly evangelizing, bringing
the loss to Christ.
But we also do know that there is that element of education within
the church.
And we're not talking about just head knowledge, we're talking
about head knowledge.
Yes, but also heart knowledge.
And so all of these elements kind of fall into that idea of the
spiritual gift.
Some people are encouragers.
Some people are those that are going to exhort, they're going to
challenge.
There's going to be some people that are going to teach.
There's going to be some people that are going to, you know,
edify each other and build each other up by.
Certain areas of service.
And so I hope that this will be a time not just for you to understand
the spiritual gifts, but also to understand how it looks in your
own life.
So thank you so much for being here this week, listening to this
podcast.
We're looking forward to coming back next week and looking
more at these spiritual gifts.
And I encourage you to seek the Lord in this desire to serve
him to the best of your ability.
God bless you.
We will talk to you next week.
Have a wonderful week and take care.
Hey, I really appreciate that you listened to the Word of the Week
podcast.
If you have any questions about the podcast or about our church,
Middletown Baptist Church, you can find more information about us
on Facebook, Facebook or YouTube.
Or you can find the podcast on NBCPodcast.org you can contact me
directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch.org stay
tuned for future Word of the Week episodes where we dive deeper
into words that impact our life according to Scripture.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
We'll talk to you soon.