Pastor Gail – Opening Prayer
1. We’re on Greek time. We know that this past week, somebody spoke to me about this, Leto can say if this is true or not. This person told me that it doesn’t matter, because it is so much in the Greek culture, they will never understand what time is the exact time. So, I don’t know, you learn to live as just go with the flow, amen.
2. So, we’re just thankful, because the one thing is, God is always on time, amen. We are so glad that God is here with us. Father, we thank You for today, you’re always, always on time, because You are outside of time; You made time. Lord, You exist Lord, and You love to hear our praises. So, we want to enthrone You this morning in our praises God, we want to declare that there is no one like You. We exalt You. Lord, thank You for this time, at the beginning of our week. We place You in the highest place, in the first place, God. Because we need You to be Lord over everything.
3. I want us to pray, as Fernando is in the hospital. We’re believing that Sunil, will very soon come with a report, ‘I’m completely healed. The cancer is gone.’ The Lord is our healer, amen. We want to pray specifically for healing this morning, nothing else. For just a moment, let’s focus on healing. Call the name of someone you know is sick, tell the Lord that you believe.
4. Father, we thank You right now, that You sent Your Son, and He came, He paid the greatest price, to become our Healer. By Your stripes, Jesus Christ, we believe in healing today, Lord, we pray for revelation for the problem is with Fernando and for him to be healed in the name of the Lord. We pray for comfort for the family, Lord, as they stand with Fernando to be healed. Father, we come against the disease that is in his body and we declare healing in Your name God. We come against cancer, Lord, we pray for healing, God, for Sunil, 100% to be healed, God. And for Benjamin, his heart and his whole body to be totally healed in the name of the Lord. Lord, Your name is “I AM the God, who heals you. I AM the Lord, God, of the impossible.” Father, we glorify You this morning, as the Lord who can do exceedingly abundantly above anything we would ask for. That is who You are God. We declare You are glorified, be glorified in the name of the Lord. We praise the name of the Lord, our healer. Who is like the Lord. There is no one. Father, we stand in Your presence before the throne, and Lord, we glorify You right now. Oh God, there is no other name. You’re the healer, Lord. Lord, we command every enemy of our bodies to come down. The enemies of the bodies must leave right now. Father, we believe this is a house of healing, God, because where You are there is healing. Father, we thank You right now, in the name of the Lord. We believe for healing, Your healing presence, in the name of the Lord.
5. If you’ll remain standing for just a minute more, we want to read the Word. There are Bibles in the room, if you would like to read a paper Bible.
6. Hi everyone, today, we’ll read from 2 Timothy 3:1-4, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” And 2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
7. The Word is true, amen. Do you believe the Word? Every promise, everything therein, amen. We want to ask Eric to come forward. We want to pray for Eric this morning, I’d like for Brian and Stavros to stand with him. Eric is going to a very secure country, to serve, he leaves tomorrow. We want to pray for him and anoint him. Would you all stretch out your hands, so that he will be able to witness, and for protection. Let’s join in as they pray for him.

Pastor Gail – Announcements
1. You may be seated. Praise the Lord. We have some announcements to make. Please get ready for our tithes and offerings. It’s almost fall, and I haven’t had summer yet. So, really from this season till Christmas, is very busy.
For the rest of the announcements please see the video.

Anton Beukes – Main Message
1. Good morning, everybody! As we were singing this last song, I cannot sing at this moment, it makes me very tired. But I was singing in my heart. When we sang, I prayed Jesus’ name for my family, I was thinking of my family back in South Africa. It’s my brother’s birthday today. How blessed I am to have a family that loves and supports me.
2. But I was also reminded that God gives us so many gifts. One of the gifts the Lord has given me is you. You are my family here in Greece. Yes, God gave us the most perfect gift in His Son Jesus. But He gives us so many other gifts. We will read about a few of them today. But if we don’t realize that God has given us to one another as gifts, not for our own benefit, but for His glory, then we will never take that gift for granted. So today, I want to say thank you to the Lord for what He has given me and I thank you for being that gift in my life.
3. Last week, Pastor Gail started a two-part series, on the motivational gifts. And we will continue with that today. She reminded us that all gifts are gifts from God. They are not rewards. They are gifts from God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She reminded us that we are a body and each one of us received at least one gift. And we need to use our gifts as we work together, in order for this body, the church, to function.
4. But she also told us that the gifts help us to grow. And that the motivational gifts reveal something about the personality, the characteristic of God. We were created; we are created in the image of God. We are God-bearers. If each one of us had the fullness, the full character of God in us, I think we would think that we are god ourselves. And I think that’s why not one person received all the gifts. Except our Lord Jesus.
5. But when we come together with the different gifts that we were given, we become the body of Christ. We become the bride perfect for Him. And so, the motivational gifts help us to direct our thoughts, our attitudes and our actions. And usually, each one of us receives a dominant gift, that will affect your personality and your actions.
6. Pastor Gail reminded us, that her dominant gift is exhortation. It is the encouragement that is within her that she wants to encourage people to grow closer to Christ. For me, I believe the Lord has put teaching as one of the dominant gifts in my life.
7. And I want to encourage you that as we go through the list of seven gifts today, that you will ask the Lord, Lord, did you give me one of these gifts? And remember, a gift from the Lord is not something we put on the bookshelf. It’s not something that we keep wrapped up. It is something that we use because He did not give it for our benefit, but it’s part of our worship to the Lord. It is part of how we build up God’s church and that’s how we reach out to the world.
8. We are going to read a few verses from Romans 12:1-8. Pastor Gail looked at verses 3 – 6 last week. But we are going to actually read verses 1 to 8.
9. So, let us pray. Thank you, Lord, that we can open your Word and read these words. Thank you, Lord, that these words are not just written for a church 2000 years ago. But through your servant you wrote it also to us. Lord, we pray that you will open our ears that we will hear your Word we pray Lord that you will open our eyes that we will see and understand and Lord that you will open our hearts that we will become part of who we are but also Lord how we live out our lives. We bring this all to you Lord Jesus because you intercede on our behalf and you alone are worthy. Amen.
10. So, let’s read Romans 12:1. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
11. You can keep your Bibles open as we will go through this passage. Pastor Gail often tells me that I talk too long, that I need to keep my messages shorter. So, this morning when I reviewed my message, I realized that my introduction will be about 25 minutes. So, I asked AI to help me.
12. So, instead of 25 minutes of talking, we will look at a video that gives us an introduction to the gifts.
13. Video start, ‘So many of us are eager to figure out what our spiritual gifts right? Especially the ones Paul lists in Romans 12. But what if the first question we ask isn’t, what’s my gift? What if we’ve been missing the first step? Today, we’re going to go deeper than the list. We’re going to uncover the why, the incredible foundation Paul builds before he even gets to the gifts themselves.
14. So, you’ve probably seen a chart like this before, right? The Motivational Gifts Wheel. It’s super helpful. We love finding our spot on it. But here’s the thing. The Apostle Paul doesn’t start with the list. He starts with the foundation.
15. And that’s really the big question for us in this explainer. What is the bedrock that these gifts are actually supposed to be built on? So, where do we even begin to look for this bedrock? Well, it all starts in what a lot of scholars call the great theological hinge of Romans. It’s this one specific point where Paul just pivots from some of the deepest theology you’ll ever read to, well, to real life.
16. Okay, try to picture this. For 11 straight chapters, Paul has been laying out this massive, mind-blowing case for God’s grace, for our sin, for this incredible plan of salvation. And then, he kicks off chapter 12 with one simple but powerful word, ‘therefore’. That one word, that’s the bridge. It connects everything we believe with how we actually live. It’s the link from the what of our faith to the so what of our lives.
17. And that’s what sets the stage for everything that follows, including the gifts. So, what’s the very first step we take, across that bridge? It’s a call that’s, well, it’s pretty radical. It’s a call to completely rethink what worship even is, to blow it way beyond just a Sunday morning routine.
18. So, based on everything he just spent 11 chapters explaining, all of God’s mercy, Paul urges them, and us, to do two huge things. First, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice. And second, be transformed by renewing your mind. These aren’t just suggestions. They are the two pillars that hold up the entire Christian life. You can really see three clear actions here.
19. First, you present your body. Then, you stop conforming. And finally, you allow yourself to be transformed. And this isn’t some checklist you just tick off. It’s more like a process, a sequence, that really gets to the core of what it means to live out your faith. Now, you have to understand, this idea of a living sacrifice would have sounded, well, kind of crazy.
20. To his original audience, a sacrifice, by its very definition, was dead. It was a one-time thing on an altar. But Paul’s idea is completely revolutionary. Your whole life, your actual body, your thoughts, your choices, that is the worship. It’s not a ritual you perform. It becomes the reality you live. And this brings us to a really key distinction Paul makes.
21. Conformity is all about external pressure, right? It’s the world squeezing you into its own mold. But transformation, that’s totally different. Paul uses the Greek word metamorpho-o. We get our word metamorphosis from it. Think a caterpillar into a butterfly. It’s a fundamental change from the inside out. And it all starts with the renewing of your mind. But here’s the thing.
22. This isn’t a solo journey. This individual transformation isn’t meant to happen in a vacuum. Paul immediately pivots to talk about community. And he uses a metaphor that was really common at the time, the body. But he uses it in a way that absolutely nobody in Rome would have seen coming. Let’s just put ourselves in their shoes for a second.
23. If you’re living in 1st century Rome, a place that is all about status and power and hierarchy, when you hear someone talk about society as a body, what’s the first thing that’s going to pop into your head? For them, it meant one thing, a rigid pyramid of power.
24. In Roman politics, the body metaphor was a tool to keep everyone in their place. The elites, the senators, the super wealthy, they were the head, the brains of the operation. Everybody else, the workers, the slaves, you were the hands and feet. You existed to serve the needs of the top. It was literally a metaphor for domination.
25. And this is where it gets really wild. You can see just how radical Paul’s vision was. He takes their metaphor of hierarchy, and he just completely flips it on its head. Where Rome said status is all about your birth or your money, Paul says, nope, it’s all based on grace. Where Rome said the lower parts exist to serve the elite, Paul says every single part serves the whole. It’s just incredible.
26. So, what Paul does is he basically democratizes the body. Every single person, it didn’t matter if you were a Jew or a Gentile, a slave or free, is now a vital, essential organ. He drives home this idea of mutual dependence, that we are members one another. I mean, this was a direct shot at the Roman obsession with rank, status, and being self-sufficient.
27. Okay, so now with this entire foundation of a transformed life and this countercultural community all laid out, now Paul is finally ready to talk about the gifts. And this is where we see grace in action.
28. And just listen to the language he uses. The Greek word for these spiritual gifts is charismata, and it comes directly from the Greek word for grace, which is charis. That’s not an accident. The gifts aren’t achievements. They’re not status symbols we earn to look good. They are, quite literally, grace things.
29. They are tangible expressions of God’s unearned favor working through each of us. So, we come full circle back to this wheel, but we’re looking at it completely differently now, aren’t we? These gifts aren’t just random skills we have. They are the natural, practical outflow of everything we just talked about.
30. A life fully offered to God, a mind that’s being renewed, and a deep commitment to serving others in this new kind of community. So, what’s the bottom line? What’s the real purpose of these gifts? Well, they’re not for us to promote ourselves. They are tools for building up the community.
31. They are meant to produce service and unity and humility. And this brings it all the way back to the beginning, because your whole life is an act of worship. Faithfully using your gift is a powerful act of worship.
32. And that leaves us with one last vital question to think about. Before we even ask ‘what our gift is’, we have to remember why we have it in the first place. So, if our true and proper worship is our entire life offered back to God, how is your unique gift, whatever it may be, an act of that worship today?’ End of video.
33. I couldn’t have said it better. So, let’s turn back to the passage and look at what Paul wrote to this church in Rome. So, we begin again at verse 1. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and prove what God’s will is. It’s a good, pleasing and perfect will.”
34. So, Paul is saying that the foundation of our Christian transformation and living out of our faith, and that includes using the gifts that the Lord has given us, is focused on worship. But it comes through our self-sacrifice.
35. How we consecrate ourselves before the Lord. We die to ourselves. It’s not me anymore. It is Christ living in me. But it’s also about renewal of the mind. Not to conform to what the world thinks the best things are to be done. Not to be swayed by our culture or by our politics. Not to hang on every word of the social influences. But to be renewed by the transformation of our minds. Our minds need to be renewed. It only happens when we focus on God. When we meditate on His Word. When we focus our whole lives as worship to Him. That’s when God begins to transform our minds.
36. What goes in will determine what stays there. If you focus on the negative. If you focus on the worldly, on the sinful, then that will rule your mind. But if you focus on God, on His Word, on fellowship with others, on serving others, on using your gifts, then God will transform our minds.
37. Then Paul goes on in verse 3. “For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with faith God has distributed to each one of you. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgment, in accordance with faith God has distributed to each one of you.”
38. We are not what society or the people around us see in us. It is who we are in the eyes of God. It’s not how much money I have or how much power or my status in society. But it’s built upon the grace that God has given us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
39. And even in the church, it’s not the position that you hold or how long you’ve been part of this church or who you know. It is because we are all in the same position. Paul says very often, it doesn’t matter if you are male or female, slave or free, Greek or Jew, it doesn’t matter if you are old or young, if you are handsome or ugly, it doesn’t matter who you are. We are all the same because we come from the same place. We come from the same point. Sinners, broken, destined for destruction.
40. But we were reconciled with God through Christ. Not because of us. But because of Him. Therefore, we are equal. Equal because of our past but also equal now in the present. Some people sometimes say that God loves all but I am His favorite. God only has one favorite. His bride. Jesus’ bride. Therefore, we are all His favorite. So, we need to be aware of who we are and live out of humility. We need to be aware of who we are.
41. Verse 4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
42. So, as we heard in the video, the body was used often as a metaphor in the Roman and Greek world but in that society certain members of the body especially the head were seen as more important.
43. But we know that Paul himself says in some other place that Christ is the head of the body and we all are the rest of the body put together. It is not about what member of the body you are or what your function is it is whether you work towards the functioning of the whole body, the up-building of the whole body and the blessing towards God.
44. So, let’s go to the motivational gifts. And we read in verse 6, “we have different gifts according to the grace given to each of us”. And so, Paul now moves from the metaphor of the body, to how our different gifts as members of this body function in the society. So, our gifts come from the grace that we have received. We can never separate the two.
45. Gifts are not earned. We are not entitled to gifts. The gifts that God gives us is part of the grace that He extends to us. So, these motivational gifts give us an idea of how God wants us as His body to function. He has given us different gifts so that as we work together in harmony, the church, the body can fully function.
46. We are the light to the world. We are the salt of the earth. We are the witnesses of Christ Jesus our Lord. But if we go out into the world, and one part of the body wants to go that way and the other part of the body goes that way, we will confuse ourselves more than we will confuse the world. How will we be a witness then? Or if we want to go out into the world, and some parts of the body do not agree or do not want to participate, we will not be effective. We will disable ourselves.
47. So, if we are called to be church in this world, we need to act as church in this world and it does not mean that Pastor Gail and Pastor Brian need to act as the church. They set the example for each one of us to act as the church in this world. But we do not have the same gifts and the same functions.
48. So, we cannot say, because I am not the mouth, I do not speak, I am not needed in this world. God has given you a gift. He has made you a member of the body because He believes that you are important in the position that He has placed you.
49. So, God has given us these gifts, these motivational gifts, so that we can function in this world and in this society. As the gifts He has given us, determine who we are, it also determines the functions that we have received.
50. So, we continue. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith. So, as we look through this list of seven gifts, we will see that some gifts focus on speaking and some gifts focus on doing. Which is more important? Both.
51. When we look at the life of Jesus, we focus both on His Word, on His teaching and His action, His ministry. We know His Words are true, but we cannot just focus on His Words. Because Jesus confirmed the truth of His Word not just through the miracles, but through the biggest miracle ever. That an Innocent Man, willingly, died for each one of us and rose from the dead. His action confirmed His Words. And His Words focus on God’s actions.
52. Whether you speak, whether you lead a care group, whether you are upstairs teaching the children, whether what ministry you have by speaking to people, that ministry, that gift, is not more important than the gift of serving and encouraging and showing mercy. We need both. We cannot just have one without the other.
53. So, the first gift, the gift of prophecy is a gift to speak. The motivation behind this gift is to proclaim God’s truth boldly. It is not to predict the future. Sometimes God gives a glimpse of the future for a prophet, but when we read, especially through the Old Testament prophets, God’s future events were based upon the past and what was happening at that moment.
54. God promised the destruction of Israel and Judah because of their faithlessness. Because of the social injustice. Because they turned their backs on God. Therefore, He would destroy Israel and take Judah into exile. But God in His mercy also gives a word of hope and restoration because the people in exile called upon the Lord. They repented and they asked the Lord for forgiveness.
55. So, those with the gift of prophecy know the Lord’s Word. They know the will of the Lord but they also know what is wrong. They are motivated to speak right in the wrong. To speak truth when others follow other directions. So, they are focused on clarity. A clear voice from the Lord. They are focused on conviction that they know this is the truth. There is no doubt and that is authentic. It’s not their own thoughts but it is based upon the Word of the Lord and His will. Maybe the Lord has given you this gift. to know His Word and to speak His Word. To focus on the truth and to bring this truth to people.
56. Verse 7 “If it is to serve, then serve”. This is not a speaking gift; it is a doing gift. If all of us are prophets nothing will happen in this church. Some are called to serve to help to minister. Who is the first person in the Bible we read to be a server? No. No. Person. Do you know? Adam, yes. I think he was more a leader. Eve. God created a helper for Adam. The helper there in the context was not one that was below the one who did the work.
57. It is not a lower position. Not an apprentice. But it is a partner that enables the work to be done. Adam could not do what he was called to do on his own. So, God created a helper for him. We sometimes think that Adam was just alone. But I think God created Eve because Adam could not do the work that he was called to do alone.
58. So, the helpers, the servers in the church they are not below those who speak or teach. They complete the ministry of the church. They meet the practical needs. Their motivation is not to be in front but to be behind the scenes in order to make sure that we can function. So, they focus on acts of support and ministry.
59. “If it is teaching,” Paul says, “then teach”. Remember, I preached on this passage a few weeks ago. It is actually the third time this year I preach on this passage. But remember what I said a few weeks ago. If God gives us a gift, what should we do? Use it! “If it is serving, then serve. If it is teaching, then teach.”
60. So, teaching is another speaking gift. It is not just to bring the Word of God boldly but to go deeper to explain it to clarify it to study and to communicate clearly. It is about understanding and communicating the Word of God.
61. Think about some of the teachers you had at school. There are some that you remember very clearly, maybe because they were very bad in what they were doing, but you think fondly of the good teachers that you had, that helped you to understand the work that you were studying but they were not just interested in the content of the study they were also interested in you to see you grow and evolve. That is the heart of every teacher. Not just to look at the Word and want to proclaim the Word and explain the Word, but to see that you understand it that it becomes part of your life that you live it out.
62. We go to verse 8. Paul says, “if it is to encourage then give encouragement”. Pastor Gail is who she is. She does not hold back. Every opportunity she gets she encourages people to come to church to go into the world to come and pray to use their gifts. She encourages she encourages and she continues to encourage.
63. But part of the encouragement is also to comfort people. Not there to judge but to encourage to come alongside to journey with us. It is about application of the faith and see that there is a positive change.
64. That we actually do what we believe, and that the whole church goes into the world and lives it out. “If it is giving then give generously”. Another doing act. It is not about how much you have but the gift to know that you actually have nothing. The gift to know that you actually don’t have or own anything. To give away to others because their need is bigger than yours.
65. To be generous not just in your money but in your time in your gifts in your support in everything that you do you are generous. If you are generous, then give and when you give, give generously.
66. “If it is to lead, do it diligently”. Leadership is not about a position. It is about the responsibility to have the vision to organize to administer to coordinate to inspire to take us from one place to another place. Those with the gift of leadership are not only those with a title but also those who administer and organize. Those are very special people. Sometimes this is translated as ‘those with the gift of administration or organization’. But it is about taking the people of God from one place, to where God wants us to be. It focuses on the vision. It focuses on the order. It focuses on the direction.
67. And lastly “if it is to show mercy do it cheerfully”. Do it cheerfully. This is maybe one of the most difficult ones because when we show mercy we are sometimes so deeply affected by the need of others, that it can drive us to anger or to cry or to feel hurt with them. But Paul says that we need to do it cheerfully. And cheerfully is not to laugh at people’s situation. But the cheerfulness can only come when we know there is hope. Our joy flows out of the hope that we have in Christ. Therefore, when we see somebody struggling or hurting or dying, we are in a place of hurt and pain with them.
68. We sympathize with them. But the way that we act towards them is with hope with joy and with cheerfulness. That their pain and their suffering their suffering will hopefully also turn into joy and cheerfulness. We are motivated by our compassion and the care that we want to give. Therefore, we focus on the hope. The kindness the patience and emotional support.
69. So, today we asked the question what gift did the Lord give you? Are you a prophet or one with service? Do you teach or do you encourage? Do you give or do you show mercy? Or are you a leader? No one is more important than the other. But if you are not part of the circle then the body will not be able to function. We all have received a gift at least one and if we don’t use the gift or the gifts the Lord has given us, then we as a church will not be able to function as God called us to be.
70. So we go back to the question that the video ended, with not what is your gift, not how do you use your gift, but the question how is your unique gift an act of worship today? How is your unique gift an act of worship today? A wrapped gift cannot be an act of worship. A gift on a shelf cannot be an act of worship. An inactive gift, a gift that we are not using. God gave each one of us a gift and using our gifts we worship and praise our Lord.
71. So, Lord we come to you this morning to thank you Lord for the gifts that you have given us. We thank you Lord that you have given each one of us a gift. And that you have placed us within our church to serve one another to build up this church to your glory and as light and as salt to this world. Lord if we don’t know what our gifts are, show us Lord give us the wisdom and the discernment to know what our gifts are, and help us Lord to use our gifts to your glory. We want to worship you Lord with our words, with our songs, with our music but more Lord we want to worship you with who we are, sacrificing ourselves so that you can fully work in us. And when you do that Lord use our gifts as a worship to You. Amen.