Join Pastor Josh Massaro as he explores the vital theme of giving, particularly focusing on the spiritual gifts bestowed upon believers for service and ministry. Emphasizing that it is better to give than to receive, Pastor Josh encourages listeners to reflect on how they can utilize their unique gifts to serve others and glorify God. He discusses the importance of humility and selflessness in the Christian life, illustrating how true service stems from living in the grace of God. As the church approaches the end of the year, this message serves as a powerful reminder to shift our focus from personal gain to communal support and encouragement. Tune in for insights on how to actively engage in ministry and embody the spirit of giving during this Christmas season.

The sermon delivered by Pastor Josh Massaro at Middletown Baptist Church presents a compelling call to action for believers to recognize and utilize their spiritual gifts in service to others. As the church gathers in the spirit of the Christmas season, Pastor Josh reflects on the true meaning of giving, urging congregants to shift their focus from mere reception to active participation in sharing God's grace. Drawing from personal experiences, he illustrates the journey from a child’s excitement over receiving gifts to an adult’s joy in giving, particularly in the context of his own children's experiences during the holidays. This narrative sets the stage for a deeper exploration of how Christians are called to share the gifts they have received from God, especially the gift of salvation.

Throughout the sermon, Pastor Josh references pivotal scripture passages, including Acts 20 and 1 Peter 4, to emphasize the biblical principles that underscore the importance of service. He eloquently argues that it is more blessed to give than to receive, and that true fulfillment comes from using one's spiritual gifts for the benefit of others. The pastor challenges the congregation to adopt a selfless attitude, reminding them that spiritual gifts are not merely for personal enrichment but are intended to edify the church and promote unity among believers. He encourages each member to reflect on their unique gifts and consider how they can serve their community, highlighting the diverse ways in which these gifts can manifest within the church.

As the sermon culminates, Pastor Josh invites the congregation to take an introspective look at their roles within the body of Christ. He emphasizes that every believer has been endowed with at least one spiritual gift, which should be exercised in faith and humility. The message resonates with a sense of urgency as he calls on church members to prepare for the new year, urging them to step out in faith and embrace their calling to serve. The overall theme of the sermon is a reminder that the essence of Christianity lies not in what one can receive, but in the profound joy that comes from giving and serving others, thereby glorifying God through their actions.

Takeaways:

• The greatest gifts we receive from God are grace, love, and forgiveness, which we must share.
• As believers, we are called to not only receive God's gifts but to actively give them.
• Understanding spiritual gifts helps us serve others effectively, promoting unity in the church body.
• Maturity in faith shifts our focus from receiving gifts to giving to others.
• The process of sanctification involves moving from self-centeredness to serving others selflessly.
• Service in the church requires humility and a sober perspective on our gifts.

Thank you for joining our podcast. Visit our website at https://middletownbaptistchurch.org/

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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of the Ask Ralph Podcast, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.askralphpodcast.com/

Pastor Josh: 00:00:00

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:06

My name is Pastor Josh and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:10

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:16

Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:23

As we come to the end of the year, we've been focusing on gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:29

We've been focusing on what God has given us, specifically in the gift of salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:36

Now we know that as a believer, the greatest gift that we can ever receive is the grace of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:43

That is the gospel message.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:45

And that is something that we all must rejoice in, that we all must be excited in, because the Bible challenges us to take that gospel message and share that with those around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:54

We can't avoid that teaching in our Scriptures, right, that we have received the gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:00:59

And now the challenge is for us to, yes, be recipients of that gift, beneficiaries of that gift, but also ones that are going to be able to share that gift with those around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:11

And so this month we've been studying so far the gift of God in his grace in salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:17

That's the greatest gift, the greatest gift that we could ever receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:20

But we're also going to study here for the next few weeks how we can be recipients of that grace and salvation, but also recipients of gifts that we can use to minister or to serve others.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:33

And I want to take you to a few passages of scripture that kind of set that up so that we get to our main text.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:38

You can have some context and you can have some background.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:41

Okay, so the first passage of scripture we're going to look at is Acts, chapter 20.

Pastor Josh: 00:01:45

You weren't expecting to go to the Book of Acts here on Christmas week, but that's what we're going to do because we're going to be looking at gifts and we're going to look at the perspective of being a gift giver, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:01:56

How can we be a grace giver?

Pastor Josh: 00:01:57

Now, we talked about this on the first Sunday of the month, how we can give with the material blessings that God has given us.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:03

Certainly God has blessed us with material things, and we can take those things as stewards of God's gifts and give to the church, give to those in need.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:11

But what we're going to talk about here for the next two weeks is the spiritual gifts that God has given us in our lives to serve others, to.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:19

To preach the gospel to minister to those in need and to edify and to encourage those around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:26

And so I.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:27

I mentioned this last week, but I.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:28

I kind of want to use this as an analogy again.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:30

When I was growing up, Christmas time was all about what I could get, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:36

So all year, I was getting my Christmas list ready, making sure that, you know, I got everything that I wanted.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:42

And Christmas was all about me.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:44

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:44

It was all about me getting something.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:46

And you say that sounds pretty selfish.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:48

Well, I am an only child, and so that's kind of how it goes.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:50

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:50

So it was all about me.

Pastor Josh: 00:02:52

And I was like, yes, what am I going to get this year?

Pastor Josh: 00:02:54

And then Christmas would come, I'd rip open the presents, I would be excited, and I can't wait to tell my friends, I can't wait to tell everyone at school what I got.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:01

And it was all about me.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:02

But then as we got older, as I got older, the maturity level changed, and it wasn't all about me.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:07

It was now about my children.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:09

And now how I could find a way to make my children have that same excitement, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:13

I want to share with my children what I got to experience, that excitement of Christmas getting a gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:18

And so it wasn't so much about, well, what am I going to get this year?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:21

It was more about.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:21

The conversation in our house was like this, what are we going to get the kids this year?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:24

Number one, what can we afford this year?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:26

And what.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:27

What.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:27

What do we want to have in our house for the rest of the year?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:29

You know, some of those gifts that you get that you don't always think about the implication of it later.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:33

It might be really loud or you might step on in the middle of the night.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:35

How many of you ever stepped on a Lego in the middle of the night?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:38

That's not.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:39

That is one of the most painful experiences I've ever had.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:41

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:42

But the idea for us now, as mature parents, hopefully we would say that we are, is that it's all about other people.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:49

It's about others.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:49

And that's what the Christian life's about, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:03:51

At first, when we taste of the grace of God, when we hear the gospel, we're all excited, and we should be, yes, I'm saved.

Pastor Josh: 00:03:58

Yes, I am a beneficiary of God's grace.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:01

And so it is all about my transformation.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:03

But in the process of that transformation, we.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:06

We've studied that there is that spiritual growth process, what we call sanctification.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:10

And in that sanctification process, the focus goes from what I can get to what I can give as God has given me.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:19

And so we get to this passage here in the book of acts, Acts chapter 20, and we're going to go all the way down to the end of the chapter and we're going to look at verse number 32, verse 32, and we're going to see this perspective of, you know, actually as a believer, as we have received the grace of God, it's better that we give than we actually receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:41

And so it's a humbled focus.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:44

It's a selfless submission to what God has called us to do in service.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:49

So first excuse, let's look at this here in Acts chapter 20.

Pastor Josh: 00:04:52

Then we'll go to First Peter, Acts chapter 20, verse 32 says, and now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:07

So this speaks of we are the ones that are built up in the grace of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:12

Then he says, I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:20

You know, to be a good gift giver, you can't be coveting other people's stuff.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:24

You can't be so focused on what you want and what you can get from other people.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:29

It's all about what you can give to other people.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:30

And that humility says, I've showed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:37

And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:44

I want you to think about that phrase there at the end of that verse.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:46

It is more blessed to give than receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:49

And the concept of this.

Pastor Josh: 00:05:50

I believe that what is being taught here is that thing that we see in Philippians chapter two, that that selfless humility of Christ that that we should be looking for opportunities to minister to other people, to build other people up.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:02

We are going to naturally be built up in Christ if we are abiding in Him.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:06

The Bible says that if we live in Christ, if we live in his word, if we commune with him, if we fellowship with him, we are going to be built up and established in our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:15

We are going to be strengthened, we're going to be encouraged, we're going to be comforted, we're going to have all of those things that God promises us.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:20

But that's not to hold to ourselves, that is to share with other people around us.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:25

And so I want you to look with me to first Peter, chapter four.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:28

So we're in Acts, chapter 20.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:29

We're going to move to first Peter, chapter four, and we're going to kind of build this case to the spiritual gifts being lived out within our church.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:37

So let's look at First Peter, chapter four, and we're going to look at verse number 10 and 11.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:43

This kind of explains to us the perspective that we are to have as God gifts us with spiritual gifts that we are to share and minister to others in.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:52

So let's go ahead and look at 1 Peter, chapter 4, and look at verse number 10 and 11.

Pastor Josh: 00:06:58

So we've already established this idea that when we abide in Christ, we are living in his grace, we are living in his forgiveness, we are living in his love, we are living in his power.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:09

And then we.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:11

We then see in verse 10, it says, as every man hath received the gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:16

And so here, obviously he's talking about salvation, but more than just salvation, he's talking about a spiritual gift of service.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:23

We're going to see that here in a few moments.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:24

So he says, you've received salvation and now you received a gift, a spiritual gift in service.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:30

So he says, every man hath received the gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:32

Even so, minister.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:33

That word minister means to serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:35

Even so, minister the same one to another.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:38

So as we've received the gift, we are to minister one to another.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:41

We are to serve one another.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:42

That's the purpose here.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:43

The purpose of the gift is to serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:46

That's what he's saying.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:47

And so he says, as you've received the gift, even so, minister the same one to another as good stewards.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:54

That word steward means I'm managing what God already owns.

Pastor Josh: 00:07:57

And so I'm stewarding what has been given to me as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:04

The word manifold is not a word that we use quite frequently, but it means varied or different.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:09

It actually literally means like, different colors.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:12

And so what we would say there is this.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:14

There are going to be people who are gifted differently within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:17

And it's because of.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:19

What does it say there at the end of verse 10?

Pastor Josh: 00:08:21

Because of God's grace.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:23

And so God graces us with different gifts in the body of Christ, and it's his discretion.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:28

It's.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:29

It's not like, hey, I.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:30

I've earned this gift today, or, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:08:32

Because I'm this type of person, I have the spiritual gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:35

The Bible says very clearly here that it is God's discernment, what spiritual gift he gives us.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:40

It's because of his grace.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:41

It's nothing that we earn.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:43

Sometimes it's taught this way.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:45

Hey, if you're saved and you're working really hard, God might then grace you with a spiritual gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:49

That's not what this says.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:50

This says it's because of the grace of God that he gives you this opportunity to serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:54

This gift is, is literally a free gift that we did not earn.

Pastor Josh: 00:08:58

God gives this to us.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:00

And then it says, if any man speaks.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:03

So this, this idea has the concept of these are public gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:06

These are gifts that are going to be more on the front side of things.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:09

People are going to see these gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:11

If any man speak, let him speak as of the oracles of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:13

Mean, let him speak in the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:16

If any man ministers.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:17

So then we see that there's another side of this.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:19

There's going to be some gifts that are exercised publicly and people are going to notice, but there's also going to be ministerial gifts that are going to be behind the scenes and not everyone's going to notice.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:29

And so he says, if you speak, speak of the oracles of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:32

If any man minister or serve, let him do it.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:35

Do it as of the ability which God giveth, meaning God is going to give you the ability to do this.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:40

You have to rely on him to do this.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:43

And so therefore trust and give in the grace of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:47

So it says that in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, that God in all things might be glorified.

Pastor Josh: 00:09:54

So the reason why we serve, the reason why we exercise these spiritual gifts is not so that we get glory, not so that we have the acclaim or the praise.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:03

It says that we do these things, we serve and we speak so that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:10

The point of exercising our spiritual gifts is so that God would be glorified in Christ Jesus.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:16

And then it says here, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:20

So we can kind of frame this idea of the spiritual gifts in this way.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:24

They are given to us after salvation from God through his grace, so that we can serve publicly and privately for the cause of the gospel, for the glory of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:36

And we do that so that we can exalt the name of Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:40

That's the idea of a spiritual gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:42

Now we're going to go to Romans chapter 12 and Romans chapter 12 is going to be our main text for the next two weeks.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:49

And there are.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:51

There are other passages of scripture that speak of spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:10:54

But In Romans chapter 12 we see a succinct list of what I call and what many other people call the ministering gifts, the service gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:02

These are the gifts within the church that we would practice in helping others, serving others, and ultimately teaching and guiding others in the truth of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:11

We're not going to go through all of them here today, but what I would like to do is I would like for us to see how we can properly exercise these spiritual gifts that God has given us, how we can properly give these gifts back to the Lord, back to people within our church, and so that we can exercise these in the truth of the Word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:28

So Romans, chapter 12, we're going to start in verse number one.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:31

All of you are probably familiar in some way, shape or form with verses one and two, but we're going to get down from verses three through eight and we're going to look at these spiritual gifts that are listed.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:40

So it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, who which is your reasonable service, meaning this?

Pastor Josh: 00:11:50

We are called by God to give him everything.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:54

And.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:55

And he says, present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:58

God wants our lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:11:59

God wants not just your Sunday morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:02

He.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:02

He wants more than that.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:03

He doesn't just want 10%.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:05

He wants 100% of you.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:07

He wants everything.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:08

He says he wants your bodies a living sacrifice, holy or separate unto God, which is your reasonable service, meaning this is only reasonable.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:19

This is how you serve God for what he has done for you.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:22

And be not conformed to this world.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:24

So don't allow the world to tell you what this looks like, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:29

We renew our minds by the word of God and by the leading of the Spirit that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:37

So if you want to follow in the will of God, be transformed by the renewing of your mind to the Word, so that you're not guided by the world, but you're guided by the Spirit, so that you're not guided by your flesh, but you're guided by the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:12:48

And so what we can see here in this case is that there is that whole transformation that happens in salvation that happens in sanctification, that we as Christians must follow to live out these spiritual gifts in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:00

But what I will say is that I believe Scripture teaches very clearly that all Christians, all folks that have come to Jesus Christ in faith, have received at least one of these spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:11

Some of you might be gifted in many of these areas and And I want to preface this study with this.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:17

I have heard some people say, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:13:19

I'm not gifted in the gift of fill in the blank.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:22

And so therefore, I don't need to exercise in that ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:25

Well, I would challenge you on that because we're going to see that there is the gift of exhortation or encouragement.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:32

Well, I'm not really gifted in encouraging people, so I'm just not going to do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:35

No, exercise just means all the more we need to strive to grow in these areas.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:38

And so all of these areas are elements of a Christian's life that we should exercise.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:43

But what the Bible says is that some of us are supernaturally gifted in some of these areas more than others.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:48

And so therefore, exercise in these categories, you can be more effective in these categories if you follow the Spirit in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:55

And so let's look at what it says in verse three.

Pastor Josh: 00:13:57

It says, for I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:03

And we see that it's every person, every person, every Christian within the church not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:11

So we see again that there is that theme of humility every time we're speaking of the spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:16

It's not about us.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:18

It's humility.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:19

It's about others.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:21

And I think that that is a phrase that we should use in our society today because it's countercultural.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:28

What does the culture say?

Pastor Josh: 00:14:29

Think more highly of yourself, exalt yourself.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:33

You know, you are above everybody else.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:35

But what does the Bible say?

Pastor Josh: 00:14:37

This is countercultural.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:39

This is not popular.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:41

It says, don't think of yourself more highly than you ought to think.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:45

Now, it doesn't say, think less of yourself in the concept of like, think poorly of yourself, but don't think about yourself higher than you should.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:53

So, so what does that mean?

Pastor Josh: 00:14:54

That means, obviously, we should have respect for our bodies.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:56

We should have respect for what we decide to do in our lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:14:59

So it's not about harming yourself here.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:01

It's not about degrading yourself, but it's talking about having a proper perspective of who you are in Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:07

And the moment we don't align ourselves with our position under Christ is where we have issues.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:12

And when we start exalting ourselves as the center of the universe, like I did when I was getting those gifts, right, I had no other focus other than receiving that gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:20

The Bible says, and then we've gotten ourselves in the wrong place.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:22

And so he says, don't think of yourself more Highly than you ought to think.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:26

But also think as it says there, but to think soberly.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:30

The Bible calls this sober thinking, basically being serious about the right things.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:36

All right?

Pastor Josh: 00:15:36

H.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:37

Having a sense of gravity to the situation that we are in.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:42

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:42

Thinking soberly doesn't mean that you have to be serious about everything.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:45

Right?

Pastor Josh: 00:15:46

And you can't smile and you can't have a good time.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:48

No, what it's talking about here is thinking seriously about the things that need to be thought seriously about.

Pastor Josh: 00:15:53

And so he says, okay, these aspects of the spiritual gift, you have to have humility and you have to have that sober thinking, according as God have dealt to every man the measure of faith, meaning each one of you in faith has been gifted one of these spiritual gifts, at least one of these spiritual gifts so that you can live this out amongst the members of the body of believers.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:13

And we see that in verse number four.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:15

For as we have many members in one body, there's.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:18

There's an explanation about this in First Corinthians, but the picture is, is that the church is a body, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:16:23

So you have some that might be the hand, some that might be the feet.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:27

A foot and a hand are different, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:16:29

And they function differently, but yet they are needed for a body to be working completely properly.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:34

And so what he says here is that we as a church have different members, different members of the body, and all members have not the same office, which means they don't have the same job.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:45

So I'm looking around the church here and I see different folks.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:47

If everyone said, you know what, we're all going to work in the audio visual ministry, all of us feel like that's our ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:55

A couple things might go wrong here.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:57

We don't have a big enough sound booth to have everyone get back there.

Pastor Josh: 00:16:59

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:00

Other things is, and the Bible says is that everyone is gifted in the same area.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:04

There's going to be different areas where you can be gifted in and there's going to be diversity.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:08

And that's a beautiful thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:09

A lot of times we think of it as this.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:12

There is unity, but not uniformity.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:17

You understand what I mean by that?

Pastor Josh: 00:17:18

We have unity working together, but there's not uniformity in the concept that we all have to be the same.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:23

What if I got up here and said, everyone has to be like me.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:26

Everyone has to serve in the exact ministry that I'm serving it.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:29

Everyone has to serve in the exact way that I serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:32

Everyone has to deal with other people the same way that I serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:34

That's going to be a big issue, because number one, that's anti biblical, but number two, that's just not going to function well.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:39

And so what we see here is that there's this diversity of gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:42

All members have, not the same office.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:45

So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and that's the unity there.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:49

So if we're not working in step with each other, if we're not working in unity, then there's going to be some problems, there's going to be some pain, there's going to be some struggles.

Pastor Josh: 00:17:57

Now, there's always going to be pain and struggles within serving the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:00

But what the Bible tells us here is that when we work together, we're able to overcome those difficulties when we're following the plan of God and the plan that God has laid out for us as believers.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:09

I've used this analogy many times before, but it's the best analogy that I can come up with when it comes to having a little thing causing major issues in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:18

So.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:19

So my body, I think, I mean, this was probably when Micah was a baby, had an issue.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:24

And the issue was one day I got home from school, I was teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:28

I wasn't.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:28

I wasn't in school while Micah was a baby.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:31

I was teaching in school.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:33

Make sure I'm clear on that.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:35

I was teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:36

I got home from school and I was like, man, got like some stomach pains.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:39

This is not good.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:41

So.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:41

So I was like, I'm having some pain here.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:44

And I told Alicia and she's like, all right, well, you know, you want some Tylenol?

Pastor Josh: 00:18:47

And I was like, yeah, maybe grab some Tylenol.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:49

And she's like, all right, we don't think we have any.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:50

So I'm going to go to the store and get you some.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:52

Some medicine.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:53

I was feeling like just a dull pain.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:54

And all of a sudden that pain got worse and worse and worse.

Pastor Josh: 00:18:57

And I finally was like, oh, man, this is really bad.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:00

And I thought I was dying.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:01

I literally felt my stomach was about to explode.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:03

I thought I was going to, you know, see Jesus right then and there, which I'm okay with, but it hurt a lot.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:09

And so I didn't have my phone by me and I couldn't walk at this point.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:12

So I crawled all the way down to the back room in our house, and I grabbed my phone and I called Alicia saying, hey, where are you?

Pastor Josh: 00:19:18

I need to go to the hospital.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:19

She's like, well, I'm getting you some.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:20

Some medicine.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:21

I'm like, that medicine is not going to help.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:23

What's happening here right now.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:24

I'm like, I am about to die.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:25

So we got to the emergency room and obviously, long story, long, long story, I'll make it as short as I can.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:30

I had kidney, a kidney stone, actually, two kidney stones at that time.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:34

And, and so that little thing in my body caused my whole body to have pain and suffering.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:39

Right?

Pastor Josh: 00:19:40

My hand wasn't.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:41

There was no issue with my hand at that point, but I wasn't like, well, at least my hand's feeling good today.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:46

It was, it was, it was.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:47

The issue in my kidney was that was the problem that my whole body had.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:52

And that's how it can happen within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:19:54

The Bible says that, hey, we can all be functioning pretty well, but if there's one element of that body that's off, the whole body is going to feel that.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:00

And we might not be able to discern what's going on, but there's going to be an issue there.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:04

So we have to be unified.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:05

And the way that we're unified is by serving in the capacity that God has us within the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:10

And so that's what he's saying here.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:12

He says, so, so we being many, are one body in Christ and everyone members of one another as then.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:17

He's going to say this in verse 6, having then gifts differing according to.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:22

We're seeing a theme here.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:23

The grace that is given to us, it's a gift of grace.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:27

The, the fact that God has given us an avenue of service within the ministry is a gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:33

It's a gift of grace.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:34

You didn't earn it.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:35

You know, there, there's a lot of times in my life that I might start to be tempted to think, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:20:39

I've done a good job.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:40

And maybe, maybe God has given me this because I've earned this note.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:44

Every element of your life that is good, the Bible says, is a gift of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:48

Every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from God.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:50

That's James, chapter one.

Pastor Josh: 00:20:52

And so what we can see here in our life is that sometimes the, the temptation for us is to think about the opportunity to serve as not a gift, but as an inconvenience.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:02

You ever think about that?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:03

You ever think like, oh, boy, I got to do something nice for someone, I got to go out of my way?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:07

No, the Bible says that is a gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:08

That is a blessing to be able to, to serve, that is a blessing to teach, it is a blessing to serve God in your capacity within the body of believers.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:16

You might say, well, what does this have to do with Christmas?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:19

Well, not really anything but the idea is, is that we as a, we as a church have been gifted so much.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:26

Number one in salvation, but number two in the concept of service.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:31

Like, to.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:31

To be able to serve other Christians is a blessing.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:35

It should.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:36

It should excite us.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:37

We should wake up in the morning and go, wow, I get to do this for the Lord.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:41

I get to do this for his people.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:43

I get to teach, I get to preach.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:47

I get to serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:48

I get to encourage.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:50

I get to give.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:51

And so the whole point here is that we as Christians sometimes, if we're not careful, can be.

Pastor Josh: 00:21:57

You ever seen that story, the, the Christmas Carol?

Pastor Josh: 00:21:59

You have Ebenezer Scrooge.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:01

You guys know who Ebenezer Scrooge is, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:22:03

He hoards everything to himself.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:04

He doesn't want to give it to anybody.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:06

Look at all this wealth.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:07

Look at all these storehouses, folks.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:09

Sometimes we can be like Ebenezer Scrooge in our Christian faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:12

It's all about me.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:13

It's all about what I can get.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:15

All the prayers are for me.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:16

And the focus sometimes misses the point in the fact that we are supposed to be here for others.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:21

That's what the Bible tells us.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:23

We're not here for ourselves.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:24

We're here for the Lord ultimately and for his people.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:27

So it says then having gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:31

And then he starts to list some of these gifts, and we're going to talk about these.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:35

And, and the goal for us through these two studies is for you to see what scripture has to say about these ministering gifts, these service gifts, and see where you fall in on these gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:45

I'm going to tell you that each one of you, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and you have faith, have an opportunity to exercise these gifts within the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:52

Service ministries.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:53

Now, let me go ahead and kind of clarify another thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:22:56

This is going to sound somewhat like a teaching lesson here today, but I, I need to teach you this because I think that sometimes I've even fallen into this trap.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:03

Okay, so let's say there's someone here that's a great cook, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:08

You're the best cook in town, and I don't doubt that you are.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:12

I've heard some people say, well, my spiritual gift is cooking.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:15

Well, let me, let me stop you on that.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:18

I don't see anywhere in Scripture where it says, spiritual gift is cooking.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:21

Now, if you can find a passage of scripture, I would love to see that.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:25

But I do see that there are many spiritual Gifts that.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:28

That could fall under, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:30

So God gives us natural talents.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:32

Do you have to be a Christian to be a good cook?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:36

I don't think so.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:37

I don't go and ask every single, you know, chef that's at this, the, you know, restaurants, hey, are you a believer?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:43

Do you have the spiritual gift of cooking?

Pastor Josh: 00:23:45

No, I enjoy the food and I eat it.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:46

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:46

And so there's this concept that I think sometimes that we conflate.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:50

We.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:50

We put together natural gifts that God gives us in our life, and we conflate them with spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:23:59

Now, if God has naturally gifted you in cooking, you could use that for all of these categories.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:03

You could use this for the, you could teach other people how to cook and use that for the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:08

You could encourage people by cooking them food.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:10

You.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:11

You could serve people, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:12

That's a great opportunity.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:13

So you see the difference God can give people with, with these awesome talents, let's call them talents, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:20

Someone could get up and sing, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:22

That's a natural talent.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:23

But we know that that's not only like something that a Christian indwelled by the Spirit can do.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:28

And so what we're going to actually see is that within the context of spiritual gifts, you must have the Holy Spirit indwelling you to exercise these properly.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:36

And so God gives us natural talents in our life so that we can utilize them for these spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:43

So the first one we're going to see here in verse number six, then is this says, and whether prophecy.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:50

Now some of you might say prophecy, what is that?

Pastor Josh: 00:24:54

Literally, prophecy means to speak forth the truth.

Pastor Josh: 00:24:58

Now, when we hear that word, prophecy, what do we naturally think?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:01

We think about someone talking about the future, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:03

I'm going to prophetically tell you what your day is going to be like tomorrow.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:06

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:07

That's not exclusively what this word means.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:10

It actually primarily is used in scripture with speaking forth the truth of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:15

Now, in many cases in the Old Testament, it was God speaking through prophets and speaking about the future, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:21

And so the fulfilled word of God comes along and there's elements of those prophecies being fulfilled.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:26

And obviously, we see many of the prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to Jesus Christ and the Messiah, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:32

He's going to be born in Bethlehem.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:34

He's going to ride in on a donkey eventually, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:25:37

There's all these different.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:38

He's going to die on the cross for our sins.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:39

Isaiah 53 is a prophetic passage.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:41

But I will say that that gift of prophecy today is primarily seen through speaking forth the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:25:46

So an individual who is gifted in the area of prophecy is going to be someone that gets up and is able to proclaim the truth of God publicly or maybe even in the setting of private preaching forth the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:00

So you could ultimately lump this together with someone who is a preacher, someone who is able to preach and proclaim the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:08

Now, the word preach just literally means to proclaim.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:11

And so someone who is gifted in the gift of prophecy is able to speak forth the truth of God clearly.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:18

And in this case, in many ways would be able to speak for different elements of the truth of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:24

Many times prophecy is going to be tied in with teaching, but it doesn't always have to be tied in with teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:29

So someone exercising the gift of prophecy within the guidance of the Spirit is going to clearly and properly present and proclaim the truth of God to others around them.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:41

And so someone who is preaching is exercising the gift of prophecy.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:45

They're speaking forth the truth of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:47

Now you might say, well, I'm not a pastor, so I can't have this gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:50

I don't think that that's the case.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:52

It doesn't link this with the office of the pastor.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:55

There is a list in the book of Ephesians that speaks to different offices within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:26:59

That's not what this is talking about.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:01

I believe that this is talking about someone who is able to proclaim the truth of God to those that are around them.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:06

And so we see that it says, if they are going to prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:12

And there's a lot of scholars who will argue about what that phrase means.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:16

But what I will say is that we, as people that are proclaiming the truth of God must believe what we are preaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:22

We must understand it, we must believe it, and we must proclaim it in faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:27

And as God gives you different elements of faith in your life and grows your faith, you are able then to proclaim more truths about God in that proportion of faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:35

You know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:27:35

I preach much different now than I did 10 years ago.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:38

Because of certain elements in my life, my faith has grown in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:43

I preach different than I preached a year ago.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:45

Because let me tell you, most of you understand this.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:48

As you have certain elements happen in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:50

You are tested.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:51

You are tested in a trial.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:53

And what does that trial do?

Pastor Josh: 00:27:54

That trial either builds your faith, or for many people, it destroys their faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:27:58

And so for a lot of people in their life, because of a hardship, they go, you know, What?

Pastor Josh: 00:28:02

I just don't believe in this anymore.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:03

But for other people, a trial brings them closer to the Lord and strengthens them in Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:08

And so what I would encourage you to do is, if you are feeling like, hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:28:11

I'm.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:11

I'm proclaiming the truth of God to people around me.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:14

I'm proclaiming the truth of God in.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:16

In his word, then do that in faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:18

Do that as God has tested you and guided you in that proportion of faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:22

And so that's one gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:25

I'm going to say number two here, you see the next one.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:28

It says verse seven, or ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:30

Ministry or service.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:32

That word, ministry literally means service.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:35

The Greek word is the word that we get the word deacon from, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:28:38

The role of a deacon within the church is to serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:41

Say, no, no, no, that's not what it means.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:44

Literally, the word deacon is service.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:46

And so therefore, this word is not talking about the office of a deacon, but this is talking about the characteristic of service within the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:55

And so it says here, or ministry, let us wait on our ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:28:59

Let's be patient in our ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:01

And so the Bible says that there is a spiritual gift of service.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:04

Now, this is a broad category.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:06

This is a category in which can be exercised in many different ways within the body of believers.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:11

How can you serve someone?

Pastor Josh: 00:29:12

Well, you can serve someone a lot of different ways.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:14

You can serve them by providing something financial for them.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:17

You can serve them by providing something material for them.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:20

Maybe you can serve them by coming and bringing them food if they're hungry, maybe clothing them if they need clothing, serving them, supporting them.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:28

And so this speaks to this idea of humility and service that we are called to follow in Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:33

Christ, as it says, humbled himself as a servant.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:36

And so all of us, I believe all of us are called to exercise this spiritual gift within our life, whether it's natural or not.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:42

I do know that in this area of service, we all must in some ways grow in the element of our faith.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:50

And so ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:52

Let us wait on our ministering.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:54

There's this idea of patience here.

Pastor Josh: 00:29:56

You ever been challenged to be patient in your service to another?

Pastor Josh: 00:30:01

Um, the Bible says to be patient in that.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:03

The Bible says to wait on the Lord in that case.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:06

Because, you know, one of the things that I'm challenged with is I'm happy with serving somebody when everything goes my way and when they're thankful and when things go well and no one complains, but, you know, when I'm tempted not to serve, when somebody isn't thankful for what I do.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:20

Or when someone says, oh, you gave me this, well, I really wanted this.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:24

You ever got someone a gift and they were looking at it and you could tell that they weren't happy with it and they're like, well, thank you.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:30

It's like, oh man, my, my flesh wants to say, well, you know what, I'm not going to give you a gift of anyone.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:38

But, but, but the Bible says that's not why we serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:40

We go back.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:41

Why?

Pastor Josh: 00:30:41

Why do we serve?

Pastor Josh: 00:30:42

We serve because we are called by God and we are equipped by God to love others, even love people that are difficult, even love people that are against us.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:49

And so that's the element of service here.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:51

Folks, I would, I would encourage you to think about how God has you to serve within the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:56

Not everybody.

Pastor Josh: 00:30:57

Now remind, let me remind you, not everyone is called to serve in the same capacity.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:02

Not everyone's even called to serve in the same area.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:07

I know that sometimes there's some conflict within the church with that.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:10

What do I mean by that?

Pastor Josh: 00:31:12

Let's say there's someone here who.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:15

Years have passed and there are certain physical ailments that have come up in their life.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:21

And I've heard even people say, you know, I wish I could do more.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:24

And I understand that sentiment.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:26

But folks, not all of us are able to do the same amount of work.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:30

Maybe we're not even physically able to.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:32

It doesn't mean you're less of a Christian.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:35

It doesn't mean that you're less of a member of the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:36

It just means that you're a different stage of life.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:39

What if I came up here and I said, how many strong men do we have in this room?

Pastor Josh: 00:31:42

And you know, most of us men, we all think at some degree we're kind of strong, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:31:46

I mean, everyone in the room said, I'm strong for my size.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:48

And I brought up, and I brought a big weight up here and I said, okay, if you're a true man, you need to come up here and lift this.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:54

And maybe a few guys can come up here and lift it and some of the other guys get up here and they can't lift it.

Pastor Josh: 00:31:58

We don't go, well, and let's say there's a guy, he comes up here and he's, I don't know if we have any 90 year old men in here, but if a 90 year old man goes up and doesn't lift it, we go, well, that guy's really weak.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:07

No, we would just say he's at a different stage of life.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:09

Maybe 70 years ago, he was able to lift that thing up over his head.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:13

But he's at a different stage of life.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:14

And what we see that within the church sometimes is we feel like, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:18

I can't be used by God anymore.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:19

You can be used by God.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:21

Maybe not in the same capacity of service, but you can be used of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:24

The Bible doesn't say that there's an expiration date to any of these spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:28

So what I would encourage you to do is think about, hey, how can I serve at Middletown Baptist Church?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:33

How can I serve people in my community?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:35

How can I serve my family?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:36

How can I serve others around me?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:38

How can I ultimately serve the Lord?

Pastor Josh: 00:32:40

So there's this idea of service here, ministering.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:44

Let us wait on our ministering.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:47

Then it says here, or he that teacheth on teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:52

Now we do see very clearly that the gift of prophecy and the gift of proclamation is separated from the gift of teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:32:59

And some would argue that those go hand in hand.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:02

And I would say in a lot of cases, the gift of prophecy and the gift of teaching do go hand in hand.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:07

But what I would say is that there are people that maybe aren't gifted naturally in the preaching element, but they are very gifted in teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:14

And someone who is a gifted teacher is someone who's able to clearly explain passages of scripture and clearly frame it in a way that people can understand.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:24

And so, you know, the one thing that I would say that a good teacher is able to take very complex topics and make them sound simple.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:31

The way that I explain this to people is explain this to a 5 year old.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:36

If you are a gifted teacher, you're able to take very complex issues and put them down on a level where people can understand it.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:44

I would say it this way.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:46

There's a, there's a.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:46

You.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:47

I don't know if you guys watch YouTube.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:48

Be careful on the Internet, okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:50

Just don't just scroll everywhere.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:51

But there is a series on YouTube where they take these like rocket.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:56

What is it?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:56

What's rocket scientist?

Pastor Josh: 00:33:57

Or whatever.

Pastor Josh: 00:33:58

They take like a rocket scientist and they say, okay, you're going to explain a concept in your field to a 5 year old, to a 15 year old, to a 30 year old, and.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:07

Or they might say, you know, you're going to explain this to someone who has zero intelligence in this area, someone who maybe is like in high school, someone is in college.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:15

And there's a way that we explain certain things to different people, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:34:18

And so with the element of teaching comes the discernment of knowing who your audience is, understanding what vernacular they use, understanding how someone can hear it.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:29

So, for example, if I was sitting in front of a Children's Church, 10 year olds and down, and I get up here and I say, okay, we're going to talk about some really complex issues today.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:40

We're going to talk about the hypostatic union of, of God, of Jesus, and we're going to talk about the, the justification, sanctification, propitiation.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:48

Immediately, some of you are like, okay, I'm already lost.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:52

Some of you already have, like, I've lost you already.

Pastor Josh: 00:34:55

But, but, right, you, you see that there isn't the discernment of knowing the audience and understanding that.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:00

And so with the gift of teaching comes the gift of understanding and knowing who your audience is and being able to frame it in a way that's obtainable.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:08

And so, and so we see these three gifts and you would say, well, why do I need to know that?

Pastor Josh: 00:35:13

Because it's very, very effective within a church ministry to know where you are gifted so that you can effectively serve Jesus Christ in these areas.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:21

Now, now I have heard people say, I'm not serving in any areas until I figure out my gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:27

I would say that's probably not a good, good path.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:30

Because what I would say is one of the areas that helped me understand where God has gifted me was serving in a lot of capacities.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:36

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:37

Because if you serve in a lot of capacities, you're able to see where it fits and where it doesn't fit.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:42

And I would say, be able to say, you know, I'm going to be flexible and I'm going to stretch myself.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:46

The best growing happens when we are stretched.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:49

The best growing happens when we're able to move out of our comfort zone.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:53

And so we see we're only going to look at these three gifts here this morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:35:57

We're looking at the gift of prophecy, the gift of service, and the gift of teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:02

And you would say, well, look, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:36:04

I don't know if any of those areas are something that I'm gifted in.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:06

Well, next week what I'm going to do, and I know that this isn't typical, but what I'm going to do is at the end of the service, what I would like for us to do is you could take some spiritual gift tests home with you.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:17

We have them on paper now.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:18

Are spiritual gifts tests foolproof?

Pastor Josh: 00:36:22

No.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:22

Okay.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:23

Because you can lie on them.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:24

Okay.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:25

You know, there, there's a, there's a scale there and you can say, do I enjoy doing this.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:28

And you might say, yeah, I kind of enjoy that.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:30

Like, it's, it's only a little bit helpful to guide you in a direction to discern what gift God has given you or gifts that God has given you.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:37

And, and so the idea for us next week is for me to kind of go through all of these different gifts and be able to see where you fall in that category and then explain to you at what capacity you could use those gifts within our ministry here in Middletown Baptist Church or how you could use those gifts out in your community.

Pastor Josh: 00:36:56

Because my goal is not for, for me just to tell you what these gifts are, but to explain to you where you can functionally use these gifts within your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:04

Folks, this is not.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:06

We don't see in this passage of scripture God saying you're going to get a gift, but it's up to you.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:10

You know, you really don't have to exercise it.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:12

Just, you know, it's there if you want it.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:14

No, the challenge is for us to use these gifts for the cause of the gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:18

What did it say at the very beginning so that God would be glorified through Jesus Christ?

Pastor Josh: 00:37:23

And so we point people to Jesus through exercising our spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:28

They're not there for us.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:29

They're not there for our own self exaltation.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:31

They're there because we exalt Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:33

And so it's that humility, it's that sober mindedness, it's that understanding that we are to trust in God to give us these gifts and to exercise these gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:42

Is it going to be easy?

Pastor Josh: 00:37:44

No, not it's not going to be easy, but it's a lot more easy when within our life to serve God, when we know the framework and the marching orders.

Pastor Josh: 00:37:55

What if I just told you, what if I got up here today and I said, okay, all of you at Middletown Baptist Church need to start serving right now.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:01

Start serving.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:02

And you go, okay, where do I serve?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:05

You're looking around.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:06

Okay, how can I help, Pastor?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:08

Well, you just better help.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:09

Okay, get busy.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:10

A good Christian is a busy Christian.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:13

Do you see sometimes how busyness isn't always effective?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:16

Because what if everyone's just running around like crazy and bumping into each other and I thought we were going to do this.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:21

I thought we were going to do this.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:22

No, because we're going to get to other passages next week that talk about there's the gift of administration, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:27

Maybe someone that isn't gifted in the gift of administration, but maybe they're gifted in service and they're able to be like, hey, where should I go?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:33

And then we have someone who isn't the greatest person that's able to be a gift of mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:38

But maybe they're great in the ministration and they're able to exercise certain things.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:41

Here we can't expect everyone to be the same, and we can't judge other people because they don't have the same gifts as we have.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:46

Sometimes that's another issue.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:47

Sometimes, like, right, I don't.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:50

I naturally.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:51

This.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:52

I, I'm not naturally gifted in the gift of mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:55

I walk around, you know what I'm gifted in?

Pastor Josh: 00:38:57

I'm gifted in exhortation.

Pastor Josh: 00:38:59

And, and the gift of proclamation to say, well, here's what you gotta do to fix it.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:02

Just do that, like, get over it, like, get, get to work.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:05

But I'm having such a bad day.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:06

Well, just, just, just grind, go forward, push forward.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:09

And, and so the gift of mercy is not something natural to me.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:12

And sometimes when I see someone with the gift of mercy, do you know what I do?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:15

I sometimes go like, come on, how can you be so gullible?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:19

Like, why are you so nice to them?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:20

Why are you so patient with them?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:22

Because they have the gift of mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:23

And it's easy for me not to see it from their perspective and then get kind of frustrated.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:27

The truth is, is that there's going to be different people with different gifts, and we're able to be patient with them and love them in the grace of God and say, we need people with the gift of mercy just as much as we need people with the gift of proclamation.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:38

We need the gift of people with exhortation just as much as we need the people with the gift of teaching.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:43

Right?

Pastor Josh: 00:39:44

It, it.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:44

It goes all hand in hand.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:46

And for Middletown Baptist Church to thrive, for you to thrive as an individual, it's exercising these spiritual gifts with those around you.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:54

It's not so that Middletown Baptist can build this empire.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:57

It's so that we follow the word of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:39:59

Go back to what verse number, verse number two said in Romans, chapter 12.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:03

What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:08

This is the will of God to work out in the midst, in the body of Christ, the spiritual gifts that he has given us.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:14

Specifically in this area, the ministering gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:16

Now let me tie this all back in together with the idea of the gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:19

Now, the reason why we exercise the spiritual gifts is because of the greatest gift that was ever given to us in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:27

You know, we, we get the opportunity to say, I am a Servant of Jesus Christ because of his gift of salvation.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:35

You don't just become a servant of Jesus Christ because you want to be.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:38

You have a.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:38

You're a servant of Jesus Christ because the Holy Spirit's indwelling you.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:41

And these gifts are perfected through the indwelling of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:45

But not just the indwelling of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:48

Because what the indwelling of the Spirit is is that when you're saved, the Holy Spirit now lives within you.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:53

That's the amazing thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:54

As a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living within you.

Pastor Josh: 00:40:57

But these gifts aren't alone exercised by just the indwelling of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:02

These gifts are exercised by the filling of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:05

What do I mean by the filling of the Spirit?

Pastor Josh: 00:41:06

The filling of the Spirit is the opportunity for us not to just have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, but, but the Holy Spirit guiding us in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:14

Folks, as a Christian, the Bible says very clearly and Paul talks about this.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:18

There is the wrestling of the flesh and the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:21

Okay, so, so there could be people with these spiritual gifts, but not exercising these spiritual gifts properly.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:27

Because why they're living in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:31

Because all of these gifts can be exercised in a spiritual manner or they can be exercised in a fleshly manner.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:38

If I am guided by my Spirit, I'm going to be like the one that gets upset with people when they have mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:43

If, if I'm a person of service, I'm going to serve in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:48

What does that look like?

Pastor Josh: 00:41:50

Well, I'm going to serve for my benefit.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:52

I'm going to serve so that people notice me.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:54

I'm going to serve so that people can lift me up.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:56

And when someone doesn't lift me up, I don't want to serve anymore.

Pastor Josh: 00:41:59

You see how the gift of service can then be fleshly, flesh focused.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:04

The gift of proclamation, the gift of prophecy.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:07

Have we ever heard someone preach for the praise of themselves?

Pastor Josh: 00:42:11

Right.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:11

It can happen.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:12

God can allow someone to be so gifted in the area of proclaiming the word of God, but they do it for the wrong principles.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:20

They do it for their self focus.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:21

They do that for praise, they do that for acclaim.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:24

And the Bible says that these gifts are given, but they can be exercised in a very fleshly manner.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:29

And so the challenge for us is to number one, identify where God has gifted us.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:33

But then number two, to live in the Spirit, to abide in Christ so that we can exercise these for the cause of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:42

I challenge us here not to be able to see these things as a, as a Thing that we do, a thing that we accomplish, a checklist in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:49

But it's a way that we can commune with God.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:52

And so each one of these gifts that we talk about can be exercised in a fleshly focus.

Pastor Josh: 00:42:57

And so the challenge is, number one, to find the gift that God has given us or the gifts that God has given us.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:03

But then, number two, to exercise these gifts in the guidance of the Spirit in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:08

To yield to the Spirit and not to the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:12

I would encourage you to read through the book of Galatians.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:14

The book of Galatians speaks of the fruit of the Spirit and then the works of the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:22

You know what the.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:23

The test will be?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:25

Let's.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:26

Let's go there really quickly.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:27

We got to see this, guys.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:28

We got to see this.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:29

And then we'll wrap it up.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:30

Because a lot of people might say, well, how do I know if I'm living in the Spirit?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:34

How do I know if I'm yielded to the Spirit?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:36

Well, there's this amazing thing in scripture that tells us what we look like when we are yielded to the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:44

It's found in Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:48

This is the test.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:49

You know, am I.

Pastor Josh: 00:43:51

Am I acting in the Spirit to my wife?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:54

Am I responding in the Spirit to my children?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:56

Am I living in the Spirit at the workplace?

Pastor Josh: 00:43:59

Here's the test.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:01

Galatians, chapter 5, verse 22.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:06

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:15

That's patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:23

That's self control.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:25

Against such, there is no law.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:27

So your test is, am I responding to my wife?

Pastor Josh: 00:44:29

Well, did you respond in love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, and the like?

Pastor Josh: 00:44:36

Well, no, you know, it was just she.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:38

She got under my skin.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:39

And so you were acting in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:42

Okay, this has been something that's been very convicting in my life because a lot of times I'm willing to justify my actions because, hey, look what happened to me.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:49

The Bible says, in anything, have you respond in the fruit of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:53

If you have, then you've responded in the Spirit.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:55

If you respond in anything outside of the fruit of the Spirit, it's in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:44:59

And we don't have time to go in Galatians 5.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:01

But it talks about all these different things that are works of the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:06

And so when we exercise our spiritual gifts, when we serve other people, the true test is not are we serving right as Christians?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:14

Actually, we see in Scripture that basically it's the assumption that Christians are going to be serving that Christians are going to be ministering.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:21

So, so it's a really rare thing to see people that proclaim to be Christians but have no action in their life.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:26

That, that, that's not really even seen in Scripture.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:29

Jesus says, when ye fast, when ye pray.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:31

Right?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:31

It's just the assumption that if we love God, we're going to be serving him.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:34

But the true test that we see in First Corinthians is, why did you do this?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:39

Why did you do this?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:41

What are your motives?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:43

And so I would, I would go deeper in the spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:46

It's like, are you giving gifts to other people?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:48

Are you serving in the grace of God?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:50

Yes, but why are you doing that?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:53

That's the motivation.

Pastor Josh: 00:45:54

Why, why do I get up and preach on Sundays?

Pastor Josh: 00:45:57

Why do we have a Sunday school class?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:00

Why do we have a ministry over here?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:02

That's, that's the true test.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:03

Like, why, why am I giving gifts if you are giving?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:06

So, so here's how it goes sometimes in, in the world.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:08

Okay, let me give you a gift now.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:10

I've given you a gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:11

The assumption is, is that you're gonna, what are you gonna give me now?

Pastor Josh: 00:46:14

Like, you know, like, sometimes I struggle with that.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:18

Like, someone gives me a gift that I wasn't expecting, I'm like, oh, now I gotta go get them a gift.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:23

I gotta go do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:24

And, and I understand why we do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:26

But, but a lot of times, if the motivation is that I'm gonna give something to somebody because I want something back, that's not the heart of giving.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:35

That's not the heart of service.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:36

That's not the heart of agape love.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:38

And so the Bible says that we give these gifts not for response.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:42

We don't give these gifts for any type of praise.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:44

We give these gifts out of the humility of our hearts.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:47

We saw that in First Peter.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:48

We saw that in Acts, chapter 20.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:50

We saw that in Romans, chapter 12.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:51

It's all about humility.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:53

And so it's the why behind the exercising of these spiritual gifts in our life.

Pastor Josh: 00:46:57

We're going to come back next week and we're going to look at the rest of these gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:00

We're going to look at the gift of exhortation.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:03

We're going to look at the gift of ruling or administration.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:07

We're going to look at the gift of mercy, and we're going to see all of these things lived out in our midst, hopefully within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:15

Now, I, I, I challenge you to think about this from the perspective of not like, well, hey, I wonder what their gift is, or I wonder if they're exercising this in the flesh.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:25

I want this to be a time of introspection for you to say, like, you know, I really want to design our desire.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:31

I really want to desire and discern what God has given me in my life in ministering.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:37

The idea for us at the church is for that you can serve at the capacity that God has you to serve in.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:44

I don't want to put someone in a box, you know, if I sat in your Sunday school class, I might be like, I would teach that this way.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:52

But if you're teaching the truth of God, it's not my job to tell you whether it's the right or wrong way, because you might have a different path than me.

Pastor Josh: 00:47:59

You know, service.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:00

I.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:01

I might not have served that way to that person.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:02

Well, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:48:03

I'm not the one doing the service.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:04

They're doing the service if they're doing it with the spirit of God and they're doing it for the cause of edification, the cause of exhortation, the cause of the gospel, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:48:13

It's not my job to judge and look over there and say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:48:16

I would have done it differently.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:17

And the truth is, is that that's how we function within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:20

That's how the body of believers function.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:22

So God has gifted you so, so well in your life to do the things that he has called you to do.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:28

The truth is, is, are we going to be willing to exercise those gifts within the body of believers?

Pastor Josh: 00:48:33

Are we going to be willing to humble ourselves, to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:48:36

This doesn't bring me any benefit, but I'm going to do this because Jesus expects this from me.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:41

I'm going to do this because he calls me to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:47

I want to be transformed and not conformed to this world.

Pastor Josh: 00:48:51

r can exercise these gifts in: 2025

Pastor Josh: 00:48:57

There's nothing more rewarding in your life behind salvation than to exercise the will of God out in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:05

The safest place to be is in the will of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:07

The most rewarding place to be is in the will of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:09

The most joyful place to be is in the will of God.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:12

And I would encourage you to think about that this year.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:13

We want to be joyful Christians.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:15

Walk in the way that God has you to walk in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:18

Exercise the gift that God has given you in your life, because that's how you should function.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:22

You know, it's using the right tools for the right situations.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:25

My dad's here today.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:26

And I remember when I.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:28

When I first got married and, you know, I needed help at my house.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:32

What would I do?

Pastor Josh: 00:49:33

Hey, dad, come over to my house.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:35

I need.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:35

I need this fixed.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:36

So.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:37

So that was cool for a while until I moved to Delaware, and he wasn't able to hop on a plane every time that happened.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:41

So I call him, I say, dad, I'm underneath the car and I don't know what to do.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:45

And he's like, well, what tool do you have?

Pastor Josh: 00:49:46

And I'm like, I don't know.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:47

It's this thing that looks like this.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:49

And he's like, no, no, no, no, no.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:50

You got the wrong tool.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:51

Okay?

Pastor Josh: 00:49:52

I admittedly, I'm not handy in any way.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:54

And so I'm like.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:54

And he's like, just grab this tool over here.

Pastor Josh: 00:49:56

And I grabbed that tool and it just was like, it worked really well.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:00

I was like, well, you got to have the right tool, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:50:02

And sometimes what we try.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:03

Sometimes what we're trying to do in the church is we're trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:08

And we're trying, we're trying, we're trying, we're working.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:10

But sometimes it's about the idea of submitting to God and allowing us to do the right thing.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:15

That might mean that we need to change certain things.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:17

Well, Pastor, we've always done it this way, and we can't change that.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:22

Well, what if the Spirit is guiding us?

Pastor Josh: 00:50:23

A separate path.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:24

Not an unbiblical path, but a path that says, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:50:27

This ministry could be more effectively in the cause of the Great Commission in this path.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:32

Not.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:33

Not to remove ministries for the sake of removing.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:35

I had one, one pastor friend say, the first thing you gotta do when you become a new pastor is just flip the script, do everything different just to change them, put them on their toes.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:44

I was like, no, I don't want to do that.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:46

So.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:46

So it's not changing just the change, but it's changing as God directs and wills it.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:52

And that's what we have to do within the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:53

You say, well, I've been in this ministry for 50 years.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:58

Great.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:58

That's awesome.

Pastor Josh: 00:50:59

Maybe God has you moving from that ministry to another ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:04

Would we be willing to say, you know, I've been here for this long, but I could do this?

Pastor Josh: 00:51:08

Or maybe you could say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:51:10

I've been doing this ministry this way, but these kids aren't acting the way they used to act 25 years ago, I might be able to benefit from someone coming in explaining to me how some of these kids start to think differently these days.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:22

We don't just say, well, these kids are different, so we just forget about them.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:24

We just throw them to the side.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:25

We adapt and we adjust.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:27

And.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:27

And so that's the idea here in Romans chapter 12.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:29

It's.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:30

It's seeing the gifts and being able to move and adjust and say, lord, you have me here for this purpose.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:35

u to think about that here in: 2025

Pastor Josh: 00:51:41

Is it.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:41

Isn't it amazing?

Pastor Josh: 00:51:42

We're right here.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:43

We're almost to the end of the year.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:45

We look back on: 2024

Pastor Josh: 00:51:49

One of the goals at the very beginning of the year was discipleship.

Pastor Josh: 00:51:52

Our theme for: 2024

Pastor Josh: 00:51:56

And I believe that we have fostered an environment where there's more desire for that discipleship process to happen and to grow and to individually invest into people's lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:06

But what I would say is that there is that point where we internally build ourselves up, but there also is that desire for us at a point where, hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:52:15

We're ready to go.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:17

We're ready to take these gifts and.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:19

And utilize them for other people, because it was about me growing, but now it's about how can I help other people grow.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:26

And I would encourage you to think about how that transformation can happen in your life.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:29

You know what, as God buil and he's always going to be building us, but there is a point where as we are being built up in him, that we say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:52:36

I want to take someone along with me.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:38

I.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:38

I want to take another group along with me in this process.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:41

That's how we grow the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:43

We don't grow the church by saying, hey, I heard that other church across town is having issues.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:47

So we just want to, like, go in and get a bunch of other Christians and bring them over here.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:50

That.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:51

I mean, we.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:51

We welcome other Christians into our building.

Pastor Josh: 00:52:53

But you know, what an amazing thing is, is biblically, there is a model for us to reach the lost and to bring them into the church and then grow them up.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:00

That is an amazing opportunity that we have.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:03

All of us have been on that process.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:04

At some point in our life, we need to see more, we need to grow.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:08

We need to go.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:08

And that's how we show is the spiritual gifts for the cause of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:13

I'm gonna ask if you're able to to stand with me.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:14

Every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays this morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:16

I know this was a different type of message, but I think it's a message that we all need to hear in the Christmas season.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:22

See, why do we need to hear in the Christmas season?

Pastor Josh: 00:53:24

Because we are more spiritually focused on gifts, right?

Pastor Josh: 00:53:27

Man, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:53:28

It's better to give than receive.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:29

Well, the way that a Christian gives is not just by vaguely being kind to people.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:36

The Bible says very clearly that there are specific areas of service that we are all challenged to exercise ourselves in.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:46

Specifically in the area of ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:48

That word ministry sometimes gets confused.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:50

Sometimes people think that, oh, ministry is just pastors.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:54

Ministry is just people running the ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:53:57

Folks, all of us, every single believer here today is called to have a ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:04

You might not even have a name to that ministry, but the ministry of its servants, it's serving others.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:10

How can I serve others?

Pastor Josh: 00:54:12

Is it in the area of proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ?

Pastor Josh: 00:54:15

Is it in the area of service to others?

Pastor Josh: 00:54:19

Now, two very different ministries.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:21

Remember in First Peter, Chapter 4, it said that there's going to be some that are speaking ministries, upfront ministries, ministries that are going to receive notice.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:31

But there's other ministries like the service ministry that many times never gets noticed.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:35

But the beauty of that is that those are the ministries that God notices.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:38

Those are the ministries that may be overlooked in the concept of leadership and administration.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:44

But you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:54:44

That ministry of service is a vital ministry.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:47

It's the heartbeat of the church.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:48

And you might say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:54:49

I'm not able to get up and teach.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:51

I'm not able to lead a Sunday school class.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:53

But what I can do is I can serve and I can lift others up.

Pastor Josh: 00:54:56

I can lift others up so that the cause of the Gospel is pushed forward.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:00

You don't have to be upfront.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:01

You don't have to have a ministry title.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:03

The Bible says all of us can serve.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:05

And maybe for some of us, you say, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:55:07

I want to be a teacher.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:08

And teaching is something that I love.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:11

Teaching is something.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:12

And teaching isn't always in the classroom.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:14

I would say a lot of teaching happens within the church outside of the classroom.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:18

By the way that we live our lives, nothing resonates more with people than when a life is backed up with what is being taught in the classroom.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:26

People can talk to talk.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:28

But how about let's walk the walk and Teaching the next generation about Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:33

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:35

I pray that you work in hearts and lives.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:37

I pray that you allow us to see you clearly here this morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:40

Lord, I pray that you challenge us to a place in which we can follow you in giving those gifts of service to other people.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:47

We love you.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:48

In Jesus name, Amen.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:49

As the music plays here this morning, you can come forward.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:52

You can rededicate your life to serving the Lord in those spiritual areas of service, of teaching, of exhortation, of.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:59

Of mercy.

Pastor Josh: 00:55:59

And I would also challenge you on this.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:01

You know what, if you're not a believer in Jesus Christ this morning, you can't exercise these spiritual gifts.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:07

So what I would say is that if you've been trusting in something else outside of Jesus Christ, if you've been trusting in anything outside of faith in Jesus Christ and what he has done for you by coming to this earth, living a perfect life, dying on the cross, conquering death of the resurrection.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:21

Hey, you know what?

Pastor Josh: 00:56:21

You can trust in Jesus today.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:23

What better season than the Christmas season?

Pastor Josh: 00:56:25

Turn your life over to Christ and receive that gift of salvation and the gift of service.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:30

So as we have prayed, you can come forward, you can kneel in your pew.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:33

We're going to take a few moments to focus on the Lord here this morning.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:35

Respond to him as the Lord leaves.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:38

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:41

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:44

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh: 00:56:54

You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Pastor Josh: 00:57:06

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh: 00:57:07

God bless.

Pastor Josh: 00:57:08

Have a wonderful day.