Pastor Gail – Welcome
1. Good morning. It’s good to see everybody. It is still raining outside? Well, it’s winter, so you never know if it’s going to start or stop. I’m practicing thankfulness. I do not like winter. And I know we need the rain, but I’m looking forward to summer. One of the wonderful things about heaven, is that the climate is always going to be the same. It will be perfect. Yeah, I think that’s going to be great, don’t you? Amen. Shall we thank the Lord for that.
2. We’re going to start this morning, I’m going to read a Scripture, we’re actually going to sing this Scripture, this morning. Deuteronomy 32:3-4, The song we will sing today is based on these verses. This song is one that Moses sang, “I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” Would you stand.
3. We are so privileged, to love the Lord, to worship the Lord, to know the Lord. And for those of you that just came in, in case you didn’t get that, the song we just sang was from Deuteronomy 32. Sometimes it’s a great way to learn Scripture, to sing it. Yeah, it is. When I first came to know the Lord, that’s how I learned a lot of Scripture. How many of you learn Scripture by singing? Yeah, that’s what I thought. There are a lot of songs like that. Scriptures are so rich.
4. Well, I want to read another Scripture to you today. And I’m going to ask you to be comfortable where you’re at, as we read it, Psalm 142:3,5, what a great Word for today, “When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. In the path where I walk people have hidden a snare for me… I cry to you, Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
5. Then we’re going to read Jeremiah 31:3, one of my personal favorite Scriptures, it’s beautiful, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Amen.
6. Where you’re seated right now, just be comfortable. Sometimes, we get in a form in church, but today, I just thought if the Lord wanted to invite us, just to imagine yourselves in His presence, because He is here, and begin the service today, by telling Him, ‘You’re a great God. I have needs, but oh Lord, You love me with an everlasting love. And You will bless.’ Where you’re at this moment just talk to Him, and thank Him for this day as we begin it.
7. Father, I thank You so much for this morning, God, that we can come into Your presence Lord. Oh God, there are often times in our lives God, when it seems so difficult Lord. And we wonder how we will make a way, but Lord, as the Psalmist said, ‘I cry to the Lord; He knew my way.’ It isn’t just that You make a way, You already know the way. Oh, I thank You Lord, I ascribe greatness to You today, oh Lord, You already know the way. Father, I thank You, Hallelujah, that You love us with an everlasting love, oh God. Thank You Lord, Your love never gives up, Your love never fails. Lord, Your Spirit is within this room with us this morning. So, we thank You right now, oh God, every need we just lay it down and we say thank You Lord, we are declaring today, that You be exalted in our lives and You will make a way where we don’t know what to do, when we don’t know how to go, where to go, who to do it with. But we know above it all, we do it with You! We do it with You, oh God. Hallelujah, because You already know the way. And Your love is amazing. You are a faithful God. And we love You lord. Praise the Lord. He’s faithful, isn’t He? Amen. Let’s stand.
8. Early this morning, I felt like I needed to take a little time in the middle of service today, to just pray for ourselves, for special needs. Almost every day I speak to somebody that says they’re afraid, afraid of the time we’re living in now. And I’m going to invite our prayer teams to come forward. If you want someone to pray with you this morning, for your need, or a need for someone else, the Scriptures are very clear, ‘Where two or three agree together, I’m there’, the Lord says. And He honors His promises to His children. Amen.
9. There’s a beautiful baby right here, in the middle of this aisle, and this baby, I don’t think is afraid of anybody. He just seems so happy to be here. And really, that’s how the Lord wants us to approach Him right now. To be so happy to be in His presence, with no fear as His child, knowing today that He hears when we pray and He will answer. So, I’m going to ask you just to stand and to pray for yourself. If you want somebody to pray for you, just come forward.
10. So, Father, we thank You right now, for this time to pray and to be able to talk to You Lord. Lord, we want to surrender everything to you today, Lord, so often we carry things we don’t need to carry. Lord, we want to lay it down to You today, give it all to You in the name of Jesus. Lord, I pray today for a very special, specific freedom, for some that need it, Lord, a very specific freedom today, Lord, for things that have been in the mind or the heart for a very long time. But Lord, we would ask You today, You said, ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things you do not know.’
11. So, today we’re calling to You, Lord, and we believe You’ll answer. Today we would ask, that this thing that has, in some of the people in this building today, it’s just been something rumbling around, walking around, living in their heart and their spirit for a long time. Let it end today. Replace it with Your peace. Replace it with Your joy. Replace it with the knowing that God, You are here. There’s no one like You. Jesus, You love us. We love You, Lord. You’re the God of miracles. Lord, we believe for miracles, Lord. Some of us need a miracle today. Some of us for our faith to be restored again. Lord, we pray for the miracle of faith arising, in this house today. Faith, for every need, in the name of Jesus.
Pastor Gail – Announcements
1. Sometimes we forget the simple things of being a Christ follower. He loves us. That’s foundational. That’s the beginning and the end. If no one told you they loved you today, and I know that one of these days was Valentine’s day. But every day for us, is a day of love. So, I’m going to ask you to turn to some one and tell them right now, ‘I love you. Because He loves you.’ The guys, get mushy. So, if no one told you on Valentine’s day, they loved you, well you got it today.
2. We have some announcements we want to share with you this morning. Don’t forget, we have church here every Sunday morning at 10:30. For the next 2 Wednesday nights, prayer will be at 19:00 and Bible study at 19:30. And we hope you can come to the building, but if you cannot, we’re on Zoom. And the young men meet Michael at 17:00 on Fridays, here at the building, I believe. And I want to remind you that for a season still, the church will be open from Tuesdays till Fridays, at 10:00, and you can come and stay as long as you like.
3. In March we are going to go ahead, and don’t forget everybody, that our main focus is, ‘This is the year of prayer’, but in March we will begin care groups so, we will meet in homes. There will be more information about that soon.
4. March 1, Stavros is having men’s breakfast. And March 8, there is a conference for women only, Beautiful. I’m actually on the organizing committee. You can find out more information, during coffee time upstairs, or call the office.
5. I would like to remind those of you that haven’t yet made this your local church, you want to make this your home, this is where you want to belong, you have not joined. We would like to have membership lessons with you. And when I looked at my calendar, I was actually quite surprised, it’s almost Clean Monday. It’s really fast, this year. And so, usually in this church, we suggest you fast and pray, during the 40 days. But we’re leaving that up to you, because on April 17, it is Holy Thursday. We’re going to ask everybody in the church, ‘Would you fast all day, that day’, and we will break the fast by having communion in the church that night.
6. But ahead of that, Sunday 13th we’re going to eat together, have lunch together. So, Leto, help me remember, we’re going to have all of this on the WhatsApp group and GCC Facebook Page. So, you aught to be able to find it there. We’re getting ready to listen to the Word. But may I invite you one more time to stand up, and if you don’t want to it’s ok, I don’t get mad at people that don’t stand up.
Pastor Brian – Main Message – Giftings
1. Thank You Lord that Your grace is enough. And because of Your grace, it is well. In the midst of everything Lord, it is well. And we declare that to ourselves today, we declare that to circumstances today, we declare that as a testimony to one another today, ‘It is well!’ Because You are God, and You are with us, and Your grace is enough. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
2. You can be seated. We’re moving a bit into a new series. This is our year of prayer. Look at your neighbor and say, ‘We pray.’ We’re going to move a little, into a new section today. I don’t like starting new series., when we’re half gone. So, encourage your friends and family, that may not be here today, to go online and catch up with us. Because, we do want to keep the whole family together on one page, and we do feel like the Holy Spirit has led pastor Gail into something that we need to talk about, as a church family. And it has to do with the fact that God exercises grace in our lives, because grace is not just forgiveness; that’s a wonderful part of grace. Aren’t you glad that God has forgiven you and does forgive you? But that’s only the beginning of grace.
3. God’s grace is also that He empowers you. He doesn’t say, ‘Live this way,’ and then just leave you alone. He says, ‘Let me show you a way to live, that will make your life the best it can be, and then Me gift you and let Me empower you, to live that life.’ So, we’re going to talking about ‘Being Gifted,’ for the few months. And I’m going to lay a little bit of a theological foundation for that this morning. But I don’t want us to get lost in that, because I want the real point to be this: ‘You are gifted by God.’ There is something in you, that God placed there, not just when you were born and not as you developed as a person, but there is also something that God placed in you, when you were born again, when you were given new life, you were also given a purpose in life. And so, we’re going to be talking about that for a little bit.
4. But first let us pray. Lord, I do just thank You again, that You are here this morning. Lord, I thank You for every single person, here or online that is in the sound of our voices. Lord, I thank You for every person that will watch or listen at a later time. And Lord, I pray this simple prayer, help us to understand Your gifting in us. We are Your people, made for Your glory, made to do Your purpose and to bring all the glory to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
5. Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:4-7. Over the next few months, I’m sure you will hear these verses quite often. But today as we introduce this subject it is a very good place to start. And I want you to notice these words of emphasis today, we will be talking about many different kinds of gifting in the weeks ahead.
6. We’ll talk about the gifts of the Spirit; we’ll talk about the fruit of the Spirit that is gifted to us. We’ll talk over the Holy Week about specifically, the purposes of Jesus in your life as a gift. We’re gifted in many ways. But we want to underline this fact, and so, you’ll hear me say it a lot, because I’m hoping as you go through the weeks, you’ll hear it in your head very often. ‘I am gifted of God.’
7. How many of you like to receive gifts? I guess not very many. I won’t ask who got gifts this week. I won’t ask the husbands if they gave gifts this week. It feels good to get gifts, usually. Except the one that you have to take the time to go and return. That’s always a little bit of a hassle. But even still, it feels good to get gifts. It’s nice to be remembered. It’s nice to be blessed. But I wonder how often we consider the fact, that other than forgiveness, God has gifted us, He has given us gifts. Paul said to the Corinthians, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
8. You have the divine presence of God inside of you. When you were born again, the Spirit of God entered your life. And from that point He began equipping and empowering us to fulfil His purpose. The Spirit dwells inside of us, not just to comfort us, but to equip us, to give us Spiritual gifts for the work of the Kingdom of God.
9. Now look at verse 7. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” It’s underlined here. ‘Now to each one,’ there is not one born-again person sitting in this room who has not been gifted. And they are not given for our personal gain, but what does the Scripture say, ‘for the common good.’ You are given something by God, that is supposed to make all of our lives better. So, it stands to reason, that when God’s people are not using their gifts, then the common good is not being achieved.
10. I am supposed to be here to help improve life for you. So that together, we can be a better body of people. We are supposed to be uplifters of the body of Christ. But when we become absorbed with our needs, rather than our gifts, then we end up not working for the common good, but being a drag on the common good. That’s why the Bible says, ‘when we come together, share the Psalms and the Hymns and the Spiritual songs, because they are meant to uplift, to encourage, to benefit and ultimately to bring honor to God through that.’
11. If we back up, we see in verse 4, ‘There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them’. In other words, we’re not all the same. We are not all supposed to strive for the same gifts. Because, if we are all the same, we would be very ‘monolithic’, we would all be one thing. And that does not reflect the nature of God, nor does it reflect our own nature. So, the Spirit gives different gifts to different people.
12. I was speaking the other day with pastor Gail and Anton, and we were remembering some many years ago, we did a Spiritual gifting test in the church, so everybody took the test, because we wanted to see what kind of gifts were reflected. I’m sure that everybody answered the questions, the way they wanted to, rather than the way they should have. Because, we found out that about 90% of our church was meant to be a teacher or a preacher, and we literally had almost nothing else. So, we’re just a bunch of people looking at each other and talking.
13. We are not meant to all be the same. The Holy Spirit at salvation gives us gifts, to equip us as a body for all the different kinds of ministry, and for Spiritual growth. When we are all exercising our gifts, we’re actually helping each other grow. And when we don’t, we can stunt or stop that growth.
14. Unlike natural abilities, which we inherit from God, from experience, from development, these are supernatural gifts. And as simple as that sounds, I love that thought, because it’s not just a deposit of anything in your life, it is God giving something Spiritual into your being. And not just for personal gain, although, I believe when we use our gifts, we personally gain, like any muscle, the more you exercise it, the better it gets, and that’s a gift to us. But it is really meant to be a gift to other people, through you. And probably, most of you, if you’ve been in church very long, you’ve heard this a lot.
15. But somehow, I believe that it has to become a truth at a deeper level for us. You must use your gift, so that other people can advance. We take our Spiritual life very personally sometimes. And it is. But when you read through the pages of the Bible, you will find very little about the Christian life, that is just personal. It is always common. Even your salvation is not just for you. We are saved as people, but we are saved as ‘A people’ as well. And some of us may be restricting the growth of each other, because we’re not actually asking the Lord, ‘What do You desire of me, for the body’.
16. So, I’m quickly going to give you just 3 categories that the Scripture shows us of the Spiritual gifts. I don’t necessarily believe that these are complete lists, but since it is the Word of God, it is a really good place to start right here.
17. So, there are 3 very common passages of Scripture where we talk about Spiritual gifts. In churches like ours, one of the most common, is 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. So, turn to 1 Corinthians 12, I’m not going to read all of it, because we’re going to get this later. But I want us today to have the framework.
18. So, in 1 Corinthians 12:4, we see that, ‘There are different kinds of gifts,’. ‘Charismaton’, that’s the Charismatic, the empowering gifts. And within these we have things like, ‘Word of Wisdom’, which is often just the Lord giving an insight, supernaturally, that would speak into a situation or a decision making and it could something as simple as sitting around a table at work, trying to make a decision, and the Spirit of God, drops a thought in your mind and you feel the voice of the Holy Spirit saying, ‘This is the right thing.’
19. A Word of Wisdom. Now people have wisdom in general. Some people have more than others. But this is a different kind of wisdom. This is that supernatural moment of, ‘Ah Ha, I hadn’t thought of that’, when the Holy Spirit puts that little light bulb over your head. And it’s just the voice of the Lord for the moment. Many of us have been in those kinds of situations. Where at the end everybody just went, ‘Yeah, that seems good’. Isn’t it great, that we don’t have to rely just on our own wisdom? But that there is supernatural wisdom available to us. Everybody say, ‘God give me wisdom’.
20. Or a ‘Word of Knowledge’. Divine revelation. I remember sitting on a chair here one day, we had some prophets in the church and they were prophesying over me. And there’s prophesy, and there’s word of wisdom and there’s word of knowledge and they sometimes overlap. But I was sitting in this chair, and this man began to say things to me he could never have known, about my life and my history. And it opened up my spirit to receive everything else he was going to speak. I could receive the prophetic word because I had heard the word of knowledge. And I just remember thinking there is no way, you could know that. I had never met him before. And nobody else I knew anywhere, knew those things. But the word of knowledge was spoken.
21. There have been times where I have seen the Lord speak through people to other people, to open up the door to his ministry, because of the word of knowledge. How many of you know that we need to see the Lord work in that way.
22. First Corinthians 12 talks about the supernatural gift of ‘Faith’. There are times that you pray for something, and you believe, and sometimes, Sarah, there are times when you pray and you BELIEVE! Somehow, it’s just stamped in your spirit, ‘This is God’. Supernatural faith opens the way to so many other things. Things like the gift of ‘Healing’, ‘The Working of Miracles’, ‘The Word of Prophecy’, ‘The Discerning of Spirits’. Oh, I pray for this one so much. God give us discernment, as people to know what is good and what is not. To know what is true and what is false. And the Holy Spirit is available to you, to divinely experience discernment. And may we learn to exercise that, so that when we hear the Holy Spirit, we – ‘OK’. That we don’t just hear, but we respond.
23. First Corinthians 12 talks about the ‘Gift of Tongues and Interpretation’. I know it’s gone out of fashion a little bit these days, but we have access to prayer, that even we do not know. The Bible says that, ‘He will give you utterances’ (Ephesians 6:19 among others) and it’s just the language of heaven. It’s the deep in you; it’s the Holy Spirit in you speaking to the Father. That when we don’t know what to pray, the Scripture says, ‘He will pray for us.’ I don’t know about you, but I appreciate the prayers of God Himself. Not just that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father praying, but that the Holy Spirit in you is praying directly.
24. There are times when I run out of prayer, and I just pray in tongues. Because something in my heart, tells me that God is not finished. And if you have questions about any of those, you can talk to pastor Gail and myself or one of the other leaders. As I said, we’ll get to all these things.
25. But these are gifts of supernatural power, that when it’s necessary, God says, ‘there’. In fact, at the end of 1 Corinthians 12, He says that He distributes these just as He wills; when He wants to and how He wants to. That in the moment God says, ‘I want this to happen, and I want it to happen through you.’ Everybody, say, ‘Thank You Lord.’ Yeah, ‘Thank You Holy Spirit.’
26. Secondly, the Spirit says that, ‘There are different kinds of service.’ Different kinds of ‘Deacon Word.’ Different offices in the church. Ephesians 4:11 says that, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
27. And we got this from Dr. Wilson, an easy way to remember the 5. the apostle is the thumb, because it’s a foundational gift, it’s the only finger that touches all the other ones. The apostles start things and helps get it established, and helps release all those other things.
28. The prophet you can remember, because it’s the pointing finger. It tells what’s coming and it tells what’s up. It preaches and it prophesies, it’s always pointing.
29. The evangelist, it’s the longest finger, because it’s always reaching out, trying to get the others in.
30. The pastor is the ring finger, because the pastor is about loving you, growing you, serving you; it’s about you, you, you. There is nothing more precious than a real pastor’s heart.
31. And then I like this one, the teacher is the smallest finger. Anybody know why? It’s the one that gets most in the head, (in the ear). It can get in there. And that’s what the teacher does.
32. And God has given us these gifts in the church. I personal believe that every healthy church will have all 5 of these, present in some way. Some churches may be more one way than the other. A lot of it depends on the person who is leading your church. But we need all of them, to function as the body. So, you can say Amen at the end of this.
33. God give us some apostles, give us some prophets, give us some evangelists, give us some pastors, give us some teachers, that we can be built up as the body of Christ. Every one exercising their gift.
34. Then, very quickly, we find that there are not only gifts and services, but there are different kinds of working. The energy gifts. That’s where the English comes from in that Greek word (ενέργεια) it’s what gives us our energy. And Paul says that some prophesy, it’s just what gets them going. Some are servants; they just like helping people. They’re the ones everybody in the church calls when they need something done, Stavros.
35. Some people are energized by teaching. I love to teach. Some people, their energy is to exhort. Pastor Gail will make anybody happy, if she can. Loves to share with them the Word of the Lord. Some people are energized by giving. How many know that the church needs people who love to give? We are all supposed to give with a joyful heart, but some people just don’t need to be reminded. I’ve known people in my life, that would give you anything you ever asked for. I do not have that gift. I love to give, but I often have to be motivated to do it. I’ve known people who would just say, ‘Ah, I don’t need it, take it; or I do need it but I can get another one. Take it.’ It’s just their nature.
36. Leadership or administration. And then I love this one from Romans 12:8. Some people are just energized by giving mercy. Some people like to point out all the faults, and some people like to cover all the faults. And how wonderful is it, when somebody just gives you mercy.
37. So, these are the gifts. God has put them into the church. And everyone of us finds a place in there somewhere. Probably, even more than one of them. But you, sitting right where you are, have a place in there. And the body of Christ needs you answering the question, ‘Which one am I, and how do I use it for the common good. Not just my good, but the common good?’
38. And by the way, I don’t think all these gifts operate just inside the church. They go with us because we are the church. Listen to this: they go with you, but they don’t need to be exercised only out there, they also need to be exercised in here. Some people use their gifts out in the world, which is wonderful, purposeful, Godly, necessary, but they never bring them into the church for our common good.
39. You know the Bible says, ‘Do good to all, beginning, where? In the house of God’ (Galatians 6:10). So, we have to have both sides. Cielo, I don’t care if you’re gifted in here, but you never take it out. But I also don’t understand being gifted out but not in here.
40. So, through these weeks, as we discuss a variety of subjects, I hope the line will keep ringing, ‘I am gifted.’ Say it to yourself, ‘I am gifted.’ But more than that, ‘I am gifted by God for a purpose, for the glory of God, for the good of other people.’ So, over these weeks would you pray with us, ‘Lord, reveal who You are in me.’ And make a way; it doesn’t have to be complex. If you have the gift of ‘Hospitality’, come early and stand at the back of the church and greet people. Or better yet, stand at the top of the stairs and greet them on the way out, because you’ll not get very many coming in.
41. But exercise the gift. If you have the gift of ‘Organization’, help organize something, so that the same people aren’t always doing it. What is your gift? We’re getting ready to start our care groups. Maybe you’re a teacher. Maybe you’re a pastor. Maybe you’re an encourager. Maybe you’re an evangelist. Get involved in a group, and exercise the gift. Gather with each other outside of the Sunday church. Share our gifts with each other. Pray for words of wisdom. Pray for words of knowledge. Let the Lord speak prophetically. Teach one another. Let’s exercise our gifts. Because, as we do, the body of Christ, will be built up, to the glory of God. Can you say Amen?
Pastor Gail
1. So, the song we sang earlier, ‘It is well with my soul’, let me tell you a little bit more. After Mr. Spafford’s two daughters were killed because the boat sank; now remember the song goes, ‘It is well’, everything is OK. Well, his factory in Chicago, totally burned down, they lost everything, and he said, ‘It is well’, and he kept living a life, God you’re in control. I love You.
2. He and his wife, moved to Israel, and they started an orphanage, particularly for Palestinian unwanted babies. You can see pictures of them in a hotel there, that’s called, ‘The American Colony Hotel’, in Jerusalem. Pictures of little babies, that they rescued and took care of, in their orphanage.
3. The Lord always has a gift for us, to serve Him, not just in a church, but out. And do you know what? Because He is faithful. He wants us to learn, even in the darkest time of your soul to find His joy. Can you imagine, two of his daughters, he will see them in glory, but right now they’re at the bottom of the ocean, but he’ll meet them one day. Friends and all of his fortune, totally wiped away by fire in Chicago, but he still said God was faithful and as long as we’re alive, there’s something I can do for Him. Amen. Something I can do. So, he wound up living his life, rescuing unwanted babies.
4. Where you’re seated or you’re standing, let’s just sing that to the Lord. Thank You God, how faithful You are. Great is Your faithfulness Oh God. The only reason it is well with my soul today, and I do believe yours, because He’s always faithful to be there. Isn’t that wonderful?