John Lloyd - Spiritual Gifts: Fulfilling God's Purpose in my Life

Strengthen Your Core Series

Spiritual Gifts: Fulfilling God’s Purpose in my Life

December 8, 2019

Pastor John Lloyd

Our physical bodies are made up of several core muscles.  If kept in shape through exercise, they will function properly.  God’s goal for followers is to make us more like Jesus.  This happens when we think like Jesus, CORE beliefs, act like Jesus, CORE practices and be like Jesus, CORE virtues.   We need to exercise our CORE in order to glorify God.  We are now at the halfway point in our study of the key beliefs, practices and virtues.  When one makes the courageous decision to step across the line of faith and accept God’s offer of salvation of grace and mercy through Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit deposits spiritual gifts in us.  Today, we will focus on the practice of discovering and using our gifts and skills to build up the body of Christ and serve others.  It is a great privilege to be part of God’s kingdom work.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Memory Verse: I Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Key Question:  What gifts and skills has God given me to serve others?

Key Idea:  I know my spiritual gifts and use them to fulfill God’s purposes.

“We seek to serve, using our gifts to glorify God and help others.  We value and respect the gifts of others as together we serve God’s purposes.  We come to see that using our gifts for God gives us a purpose bigger than our selves.”

Frazee, Randy. Think, Act, Be Like Jesus . 

I.               Daily ___________________ our gifts and talents to God.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

“The apostle Paul is looking for transformation at the deepest level that is infinitely more significant than the conformity to the world’s pattern that is distinctive in so many lives.”  Doug Moo  

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. John 14:26 (Rom. 7:6 walk in newness)

Surrendering my life to God brings renewal from God!

II.               Remember that spiritual gifts are all about ______________. 

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 

Grace- undeserved favor.  Utterly undeserved (I Tim. 1:13, Eph.3:7-8)

Think- it connotes not so much the act of thinking in itself but the direction  of one’s thinking, the way in which a person views something.” Eph.4:7-8

I Corinthians 4:7 For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?  (Ephesians 2:8-9, Colossians 2:6)

Every talent and skill I possess is given purely by the grace of God.

“God has given you a spiritual gift, and it is not the same as a natural ability. That natural talent, rightly sanctified for God’s use, often points toward the identity of your spiritual gift. But you should find out the special gift God has given you while you’re serving as diligently as you can without that definite information. In fact, in addition to the study of Scripture, the best way to discover and confirm which spiritual gift is yours is through serving.”  Donald Whitney

III. Spiritual gifts are discovered and developed in community.

Romans 12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ( I Cor. 12:19, 12:27, I Tim 4:14-16)

“Paul’s goal at this point is to encourage each Christian to use his or her gifts energetically and properly and not to worry about the gifts others may have, or the way in which they may be using them.” D.A. Carson. 

I Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

Reflective questions:  Do I know my spiritual gifts?  Am I developing them?

The greatest gift I can give to God is developing the gifts He gave to me.

IV.    Use our spiritual gift to _______________ the body of Christ in love.

Romans 12:6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

“Paul is describing the way in which God, in his grace, has distributed different gifts to his people as means of building unity of the body.”  Doug Moo

“If the church is not active in this way, she is failing.” Lloyd Jones

Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Ephesians 4:11-12

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only indwelled select individuals for a period of time to accomplish God’s purposes. The Spirit instilled gifts in artisans, architects, builders, priests and prophets. In the New Testament, Jesus promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for all believers. That promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. The Spirit deposits gifts in every believer for the express purpose of building God’s kingdom on earth. We do not all have the same gift. In unity we are to celebrate the giftedness of others and work together to accomplish God’s will in our lives and in the world.  Randy Frazee

By serving God and His people with the gifts He’s given to me through the Holy Spirit, I am living for something bigger than myself.  I am part of what God is doing around the world.  I know my spiritual gifts and will use them to fulfill God’s purposes.

Spiritual Growth Questions for December 8, 2019

(Take one question each day and grow deeper in Bible study)

Based on your understanding of spiritual gifts, use a scale of 1-6 to rate how well you are living out the statements below (1=not living at all, 6=living out completely).

___  I know my spiritual gifts.

___  I regularly use my spiritual gift(s) in ministry to accomplish God’s

        purposes.

___  I value the spiritual gifts of others to accomplish God’s purposes.

___  Others recognize and affirm my gifts and support my use of them.

1.     Take a moment to affirm the specific ways you see members of your group using their spiritual gifts.  (Thank them for blessing your life)

2.     If people were unsure of their roles in the body of Christ, how would you advise them to discover their spiritual giftedness?

3.     Some gifts get more attention than others, which can cause pride and jealousy within the body of Christ.  How can we safeguard from these destructive attitudes? 

4.     Read Exodus 35:30- 36:1. How were spiritual gifts and skills used to build the tabernacle? How is the picture of building the body of Christ?

5.     Read I Corinthians 12:4-31.  Read two times. Let the Scripture speak to your soul. What stands out to you from this passage? 

6.     From I Corinthians 12. What role does your spiritual gift play in the redemption of broken people and a broken world?  Discuss parts of the human body that are not visible but are incredibly important.  Similarly, which gifts within the body of Christ are rarely recognized yet vital to the success of the mission?

7.     Read I Peter 4:7-11. Why is it imperative for us to use our gifts with an attitude of love?  What does it mean to be a good steward of our gifts.

8.     Read Romans 12:3-8, Ephesians 4:16. Reflect on how Paul teaches spiritual gifts used humbly build the body.  How does using your gifts grow us as believers?  How could you use your gifts or skills to serve others?