Gifts of prophet, mercy-shower, and giver
Key Passage: Romans 12:3
Date: June 7, 2024
Turn your Bibles, if you would, to Romans chapter number 12. Romans chapter number 12.
On Sunday nights, we are going through a series about spiritual gifts. This morning, let me see if I can get this right. I believe it’s, is it Allison? Brother Josh, is it Alyssa? Alyssa. This morning, Alyssa, she’s trying to get a Bible out, I believe, right now. Good, they got it. They got, Alyssa. You’re good.
Alyssa asked Jesus Christ to be your savior this morning. Amen. Amen for that.
So here’s the thing: when Alyssa was born, how old are you, Lisa? 11 years ago, she was born with some gifts physically. I don’t know, maybe she likes to cook. Do you like to cook? Maybe she’s just gifted at being a good cook. She can bring in some cookies and try it out on us right now. There you go, you know. But maybe she’s gifted that way physically, but she was born again as a child of God this morning.
So when she was saved, born again this morning, she was gifted spiritually. When you got saved, you were gifted spiritually, and they’re biblical. They’re called spiritual gifts. I think there are much more than 12. We’re covering 12 in our series.
One of these last nights of it, we will have a sheet for you with all 12 of those gifts listed out with the definition beside it. We’ll also have a spiritual gifts test that will help you in finding out how you’re spiritually gifted. All right. But we’re trying to cover three on a Sunday night, and that’s tough.
I came in tonight. Brother Patrick, he said, “Man, all those verses.” Try to give them verses ahead of time, if I remember, so he can put them online. And he said, “Boy, we’re going to cover all those verses tonight.” And I said, “Well, we’ll see.” I mean, we do have volleyball. And how many are you said just got a little tired. I mean, you know, we don’t want to go too long. Brother Josh says that. He says he was out bus visiting yesterday. I don’t know. There’s a lot of basketball games going on yesterday, so maybe that was part of it. I’m not sure. But we’ll try to cover as much as we can, as quickly as we can. But I want us to kind of grasp these gifts.
And tonight we’re going to start with the gift of prophecy or a prophet, and a very, very important gift tonight we’ll start off with. And we’re in Romans chapter number 12. We’re going to start in verse number three of God’s word. Romans 12, verse number three. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together, just trying to show it respect if you’re able to? Romans 12. Look in verse number three.
He says, “For I say through the grace given unto me.” We’ve covered that, I think the first Sunday night. We’re gifted by His grace. That’s one of the things He earned first on the cross. And when He ascended, He said, “I gave men these gifts.” So we’ve got no right to be proud. I’m gifted in a certain way; it was given to me by the grace of God. And He says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.” Well, I’ve got six gifts. Well, let me ask your spouse or those that are close to you about that. They might see a little bit otherwise. And by the way, that’s a great thing to do. Sometimes I’ve asked my wife to fill out—I think we did—advice for us to fill out the spiritual gifts test for each other. That’s a good thing. Those close to you, they sometimes see something in you you don’t see, or maybe you think you’ve got something and you might not have it quite there. And that’s what we’re talking about here. He said, “Not to think of himself more highly than you ought, but to think soberly.” I’m serious about it.
Now here’s the thing: some go to extremes. Some say, “Well, I’m not gifted anywhere.” No, if you’re a born-again Christian, you are. And it is a good thing. Sometimes they’ll see that in you you don’t see yourself. Be serious. Be sober. Be serious. Be sober. Be serious about this matter. You’re gifted somewhere. “Not to think of himself more highly than you ought, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
Friends, we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us. He lists this one first; it is a very important gift. “Whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith.” We won’t go through the other gifts listed here, but let’s just focus on that one tonight. We’ll start off with that.
Would you pray with me that God just kind of keep us engaged as we go through these three gifts tonight? Would you do that? Father, Lord, that we are trying to cover a lot. Lord, help me not to get caught up in the details. Lord, help me to cover it thoroughly, but wisely. Lord, help us to be engaged on Your word in these gifts tonight. And Lord, show us where we’re gifted and why we’re different than others and how we fit into Your kingdom and can be used by You greatly. And Lord, we thank You for what You do in Jesus. Then we ask, Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.
This is a very important gift. If you notice, it was mentioned first there, and this is the only one of the gifts. There are four lists of gifts in the Bible, four different times it lists gifts. But this is the only gift that is listed in all four of the lists. I think it’s a very important gift. I mentioned first here. In fact, 1 Corinthians 14, he’s talking a little bit and clarifying about spiritual gifts. Chapter 12 gives them a list about gifts. Chapter 13, charity. If you’ve got these gifts but you have no charity, it’s no good. It’s like somebody over there playing an instrument they can’t play, and it’s like, man, it’s driving me crazy. If someone has a lot of gifts but they have no charity, it’s like, I don’t care about your gift; you don’t love anybody, type thing. You know, that’s chapter 13, the love chapter we often call it.
In chapter 14 of 1st Corinthians, he really does some correction. People really get off on some gifts, specifically sign gifts, specifically the gift of tongues. And if you see someone or hear someone that wants to argue about tongues and all that, typically the easiest way—the way I typically handle that—is, “So let’s go over to chapter 14 of 1st Corinthians, and it’ll list how that gift ought to be dealt with.” And that usually takes care of the problems. It’s got to be by course. It’s got to be a schedule. It’s got to be at least two, no more than three. It’s got to have an interpreter. It cannot be a lady involved in that, and just a lot of different things. Usually, it solves the issue, you know. And so that’s a little bit of it all. But in that chapter 14 of 1st Corinthians, it does say, “Seek to have this gift.” It edifies the church. Tongues edify a person, you know, “Look at me.” And this gift of prophecy, it helps people. He says it’s a good gift to have, if you will.
Many churches in our day and time have gone liberal. By that, I mean they’ve strayed away from the Word of God. They’ve watered it down because the gift of a prophet is sometimes just belittled. People don’t want to listen to that. It’s very interesting. He says in 1st Thessalonians 5:20, “Despise not prophesyings.” You say, “Well, these people are preaching it to everybody,” if you will, you know, whether it be from the pulpit or wherever, “and I’m just sick of that.” He said, “No, no, give them a hearing. Don’t despise that. They have their place.” A lot of churches in America need that. See?
Now, as far as a way of a definition of the gift of a prophet, by the way, when I say prophet or prophecy, I’m not necessarily talking about preaching behind the pulpit. Ladies can have this gift, I believe. Okay. In the Old Testament, it’s a little bit different, or I should say before the Bible was completed, it’s a little different. Let me give you some definitions. If you look this word up in Strong’s Concordance, it’ll say prediction or foretelling. God would use these people to tell what’s about to happen. Noah Webster, 1828, it says it’s a foretelling, prediction, a declaration of something to come. But when the Bible was completed, there was a shift, if you will, in this area of gifts. That’s where some of the sign gifts—you realize the Bible says the Jews require a sign—and there were sign gifts, one of the major ones, tongues. Well, the Bible says some of these sign gifts, 1 Corinthians 13—we won’t take time to look over there—but when the Bible was completed, “that which is perfect is come, then these things which are in part shall cease.” They have ceased. And there was a shift in the gifts category, if you will, when the Bible was complete.
Look over, if you will, in 2nd Peter, chapter number one. All hang with me. We’re giving a lot of details and we’re forming a foundation for this gift of a prophet, and we’ll get to a definition and more practical, if you will, or more in just everyday living about this thing in just a moment here. But look over in 2nd Peter chapter one and look down in verse number 19. 2 Peter 1 and verse number 19. When you find that, would you say amen? Good deal. He says, verse number 19, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” We’re talking about the gift of a prophet or prophecy. He said, “Look, we got a more sure word.” Earlier in that chapter, he was talking about when Peter, Peter, James, and John heard the voice on the Mount of Transfiguration: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” He said, “We got something better than these Old Testament or before the Bible was complete gifts, sign gifts, prophecy, and these revelations and whatnot.” So you have something more sure than that. He says, “Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.” That’s Jesus Christ. He said, He’s talking about the Bible here. He goes on and says, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” So you understand when the Bible was complete, a more sure word of prophecy. And that’s more sure. That’s what we put our… That’s what we put our anchor on. Not that there’s no signs at all, but we don’t hold too much to signs. You’ve got to be careful. The signs can lead you to do some crazy things. The devil can give signs, see. But we have something more sure than that, a more sure word of prophecy: the Bible. So there’s a shift, and there was a shift in this gift of prophecy.
Now that we have the Bible or the truth, a gift of prophecy, if you were just really one that is just concerned—they’re focused on getting the truth out. They’re very focused on truth, the Bible. They’re very concerned on getting the exact word out clearly presented. I mean, they’re just often people that don’t see a lot of gray. It’s like, boom: this is what God said. Doesn’t matter what you think. Doesn’t matter how you feel. Doesn’t matter if you’re crying about it. That’s the truth. That kind of mentality. Man, I’m not saying this is bad; they’re just wired. They’re very focused on truth. The Bible. They’re very concerned. Let me give you some attributes to someone that has a gift of a prophet or prophecy. They listen to preaching. Maybe they go on Spotify. Spotify’s a big thing down our days. Ms. Brenda’s looking at me like, what in the world is that? I haven’t got Pandora and all the other ones. Now they’re getting to Spotify nowadays. How many are on Spotify? How many on Spotify? Good. Good amount of people, especially this side is more Spotify than this side, you know. But you can’t listen to good preaching or the podcast nowadays and all that. You can listen to good stuff on there, but they’re listening to preaching. They’ll be very focused that every single thing in there is biblical. And if there’s one thing not biblical, wow, it’s not right right there, and they’re right. If it’s not lining up with truth, they’re right. But they’re focused on that. They’re just laser-focused on truth. They have a great burden over the sinful condition of the world around you. They can just spend 24/7 preaching at everybody, if you will.
They typically like hellfire and damnation preaching. Give it to a preacher; they’re not listening. Hit them over the head, you know. I hear something typically about it. They’re so intense about getting the truth and exactly the truth out, they can be abrasive sometimes, and they can be offensive sometimes to some people.
They have a strong sense of duty to proclaim truth.
They tend easily to spot what is wrong. I mean, they can just spot it real quick, often quicker than others. One of our children, I was thinking about this, one of our children, I think, has somewhat the gift of a prophet. And they were very young in school, maybe second, third grade, having just maybe eight years old. And there’s a girl in their Christian school class that believed went to church that they practiced this modern-day tongues movement. And they were kind of talking about tongues. Well, you know, one of our children, that’s their gift—man, a prophet doesn’t like error. They’re going to point it out. You know, no, some people just love people, they just, you know, and I’m not saying a prophet doesn’t, but they’re not—that’s not the big thing, first, you know, center stage. But a prophet, man, they don’t like any error. And boy, that child of ours had it out. I mean, you know, eight years old, I’m like, “Preaching, you know, that’s not right. That’s the devil.” They come home, “Dad, some Bible verses about this thing,” you know, and everything. And I think, well, you know, maybe they’re gifted a little bit. They got the gift of prophecy a little bit, and they’re concerned. That’s not right. No, the Bible says that’ll be ceased. That’ll be done away with, and the Bible’s completed. And some people are just, wow, they’re gifted.
That was a very, very important gift. I think Apostle Paul had the gift of a prophet. I think it’s interesting. The church at Corinth had some issues. He wasn’t even there; he just heard about it. And I’m going to read for what he says. I read it for you. It’s in 1st Corinthians 5:3: “For I verily, being absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed.” I mean, just heard about it. He’s not even there. Often a gift of prophecy can pick up on that, boom, like that. He said, “I’ve already—I’ve already made my decision on that one there.” You know, and it was just focused on truth. Now, it’s a very important, very, very needed gift, but there are weaknesses. We’ve talked about the weakness of these gifts. Weakness of a prophet: of course, when we say this about almost every one of them, they can get proud or self-righteous. They’re very good, I think, about a man that I think has a gift of a prophet, and I think he maybe has a little bit of discernment too. And boy, sometimes I’ll try to word something just right, you know, to cut to the chase. And boy, this individual, they, boom, you know, he can cut to the chase so quickly, and usually he’s getting—he’s hitting the nail on the head. And he’s told me about some arguments, if you will, and about some friends. And he’s not in our church typically, but himself. But he’ll tell me everyone’s smiling about something he got into. And boy, he’ll just hit the nail on the head. I said, “Brother, I, you know, I understand you’re right on that, but I don’t know if you’re helping in that,” you know. And he just focused on truth. Typically, they can get right to the root of it very, very quickly. But they’ve got to be wise with that. Sometimes they have to work at keeping a right spirit.
Look over in John chapter 4. John chapter 4. A gift of a prophet, a wonderful gift, very important. Sometimes they have to work at their spirit. John chapter 4, look in verse number 23. And they often just talk about weaknesses, things they are prone to. They have to work at keeping a good attitude or good spirit. John 4, verse number 23 there, if you would please. Jesus speaking there. And Jesus says, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in…” What’s the first word? Or next word, I should say? “Spirit,” and in what’s the next word? That’s very interesting. Everything in the Bible is there for a reason, and even the order is there for a reason. I’m always surprised about that order. He says, “Spirit first and truth.” He said, “Look, the hour is here that shall worship the Father, when true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. For God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in…” What’s the first one? “Spirit,” and then, “and in truth.”
Now, that’s important. Even the order is important. You know, there are some churches that are all about spirit and attitude. They have a good spirit, a loving spirit, a kind spirit, a forgiving spirit, a merciful spirit, and all that. And I like that. That’s right. But then they’ve got no truth. And you can have a good spirit and a good attitude about you, but you’ve got no truth. It’s not going to help anybody long term. Temporary help. But then you’ll go to some churches, and sometimes if the pastor of the church has got the gift of a prophet, he’s going to have to work maybe a little bit harder at it because it can be a church where the spirit is like, “Me! And bless God, my God, my God!” one way or the other. You know, sometimes they’ll care of those Bibles so big enough. If they don’t listen, they can hit them over the head with the Bible, you know, boom, you know. And they’re spirited now. They’re going to tell the truth. They’re going to have the truth. The spirit’s not right, see? And He said, “No, no, no. If I’m going to be a true worshipper of God, I must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” Both are important.
By the way, my thought process is the reason why God lists first the spirit or the attitude, then the truth, because if you’ve got the right spirit, pretty soon you will get the truth. If you have the right attitude, you get the truth. But both are important, see. And He’s saying here, “Now wait a second.” For a prophet, we’ve got to work sometimes at having the right spirit, work at not being judgmental. And sometimes I have to work at that. Sometimes someone has a gift of a prophet; they have to work at presenting the truth in love. Ephesians 4:15 says this statement: “But speaking the truth in love.” That’s what you want, whether it be behind the pulpit, in a Sunday school class, or in the corner of the room, or talking to somebody out behind the—you know, out back about, or on the phone, you know, Joe or whoever, about so-and-so. No, you don’t want to be judgmental and having a wrong spirit, wrong attitude. And sometimes some people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. You understand? You’ve heard that before. And it’s so very important. By the way, how you’ll reach them is by having compassion. You know the verse in Jude? There’s only one chapter, Jude 22: “And of some have compassion, making a difference.” Now, others with fear, but some with compassion.
By the way, we don’t want to get off too much on it, but you realize when you go fishing, a good fisherman—I mean, they’ll have every kind of lure. You’ll have plastic worms or rubber worms, and they’ll have Hula Poppers, and oh, let me see if I can name you guys are name it much better than me, all these different, you know, the—name me off some kind of fishing lure. Rattle trap? Yeah. Oh, don’t list that one, Brother Frank. We don’t like that one there. There’s an old fishing lure of Brother Fontaine. Here’s a good one as far as catching fish, but the old name is back of the day from Zorro, the Gay Blade. And I told him, “Brother Fontaine, we’ve got to change the name of that one out there,” I’d tell you for sure now, you know. We changed it to the King James or the KJB Blade. That’s what we changed it to. Catch a lot of fish. But all these, so a fisherman, you use a lot of types of lures. And so, you know, it’s not always—ah, sometimes it’s compassion and so on and so on. And you have to work at that, presenting the truth in love.
Now let me say this. Look over in 2nd Timothy chapter 4 real quickly here. Just we’re winding down on the gift of a prophet and kind of putting it in perspective a little bit, I think, in the end times, not about America in the end times, and this gift where we’re at today in our country, and this gift of a prophet or prophecy, just laser-focused on the truth and getting the truth clearly presented. Second Timothy chapter 4, look in verse number two, if you would, verse number two. He says, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears: And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Now, friend, we’re getting there where, you know, that crazy guy over there, he’s just preaching to everybody. Well, maybe everybody needs a little preaching an hour a day in time. Well, I’m sick of that. “Teach me, teach me, teach me, me.” Now, nothing wrong with teaching. This is a good thing. Next week we’ll talk about the gift of a teacher. It’s a good thing, but if just teach, teach, teach, and they never want somebody just focusing on the truth, we got problems. And Americans could sure use that, friend. But he says if we get close to the end times, if people do, “I don’t want that. I just tickle my head a little bit,” you know, “and give me some kind of a good story. It might be feel-good.” Well, that’s nothing wrong necessarily, but you need truth. If you’re not careful, just feel-good is a temporary little fix, but long term, nothing’s changed, and I’m going to be hurting just as much, or if not worse, a little bit later on, see. And so a very, very important gift.
Let’s go back to Romans chapter number 12. We’re completed on our first gift, and we’re going to focus on another gift real quickly tonight and how important the gift of a prophet or prophecy is. And it’s amazing as you watch sometimes. You’ll just find some people, they’re just laser-focused on truth, and you say, “They’re hurting everybody’s feelings.” Yeah, but they’re getting the truth out, you know? And they can do it in a wise way, but they’re just focused on truth. Look at verse number six of Romans chapter number 12, and let’s get to another gift here.
He says, “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us: whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry; Or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; He that ruleth, with diligence; He that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.”
The gift of a mercy-shower, showeth mercy. The word mercy there has to do with having compassion or pity. I’ve already mentioned the book of Jude, that verse number 22: “And of some have compassion, making a difference.” Now, others with fear, but some with compassion. It’s very interesting. It does have to do with emotions.
Let me read for you—I’ll just read them for you—a couple of verses, and it’ll have mercy in there. Watch this: Colossians 3:12: “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercy.” When the Bible talks about bowels, I was talking about—we’ll say, “Well, I get butterflies in my stomach.” I mentioned I sat down here when the choir was singing that, and well, the choir did a great job. I love to hear the choir sing that song. Man, they’re up-beat, ready to go on that song. They’re just going to town on that song, you know. And these young ladies were in practice earlier, and they’re getting where they can grow up, and they get in choir eventually, whatnot. And I say, “Hey, y’all need to be up there singing one day.” It’s on that line. And she said—she said, “Well, I don’t know.” She said something on the line that makes me afraid, or I’m nervous to be up there singing in front of everybody, you know. And she didn’t say this, but she could have said, “It gives me butterflies in my stomach.” As with your emotion, when the Bible talks about your bowels, let’s talk about your emotions, see. And also when He mentions mercy, He’s associated with that. Philippians 2:1: “If there be therefore any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercy…” Jeremiah 31:20: “Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still: therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.”
What’s the definition of mercy? One that feels genuine compassion towards someone’s suffering, even if it is self-afflicted, and enjoys doing something about it—a mercy-shower. Can I say this: all of us ought to have somewhat or work at this gift of mercy. Why do you say that? What the Bible says: Luke 6:36, “Be therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” If you never have mercy on anyone, oh, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes because God’s not going to have a whole lot of mercy in dealing with you. Well, it’s not a good one.
And let me give you some attributes of a mercy-shower. It’s someone that loves to visit the nursing homes or hospital or sick or shut-in. And maybe someone used to special needs, if you will. They love that. The little girl, one of her classmates in her school—one of her classmates’ mom died. And she heard about it at school. She went home and told her mom. And her mom said, “Well, did you do anything about it?” And the little girl said, “No, I didn’t do nothing besides I went over and sat with her and cried with her.” Now, that little girl probably was a mercy-shower, and they just enjoy showing mercy to someone. The first concern is to stop the hurting. We’ll find out what all happened and whose fault it is and all the rest. A prophet, he’s going to find out who did what, who hurt you, why they hurt you, and all the rest of that. And then that’s needed. A mercy-shower just wants to stop the hurting. We’ll find out all the reasons why it was, how to solve the long-term problem. Just a difference of wiring—not a right or wrong, not a right or wrong. They don’t like to see people hurt. They’re often seen at funerals or viewings, just showing mercy to people. They can be everyone’s friend. They can serve the hurting people with much patience. They’re different types of hurts, but they’re just good at serving the hurting, maybe the not-so-gifted people, with much patience.
They’re very concerned for the handicapped and those treated unjustly.
They can be aggravated—and I kind of put these two gifts back to back on purpose because they’re almost polar opposites: prophet and mercy-shower. But the mercy-shower can be aggravated with the prophet, and a prophet can be aggravated with a mercy-shower because they’re looking, viewing it from two different angles, not a contradiction per se, but they’re going to see it differently, react differently. They attract and are attracted to hurting people. They’re comforters. They’re very empathetic. How many’s ever seen Jerry Lewis, I believe it was back in the day, and he’s—some of you will know what movie it is—but he’s in the waiting room at the office, and someone comes in, they got an itch maybe, you know, and they say—he says, “What’s wrong on there?” “I got an itch.” And all of a sudden, he starts itching. And then the next one comes in, and they got to itch it. And I’m getting it all wrong, but their back is hurting. Pretty soon, his back is hurting. And someone comes in, their knee is hurting. Pretty soon, his knee’s killing him, you know. He feels everything. Anybody comes in with any problem, he’s feeling it, and pretty soon a pregnant lady comes in. He says, “Oh, no,” you know. There are skits about that, but they’re very empathetic. I just feel other people’s pain.
By the way, if you’re hurting, you want a mercy-shower around. They’re going through a hard time. You want a mercy-shower. You’re in the hospital. You just lost a loved one. You want a mercy-shower. A very important gift. By the way, just the importance of the gift very briefly tonight. You know, this old world has a whole lot of hurting people. You don’t have to look very far at all. Just everywhere you go, hurting people. I view America a little bit in the '60s and maybe early '70s, very rebellious. And I’m not saying we’re not rebellious today, but folks, we’re reaping a lot of the repercussions that we’re just hurting today. Everywhere you look, people are hurting. Life is so messed up. And boy, a mercy-shower—I think about this. You think about this. We’re trying to move on quickly. But you ever think about Job’s friends? I wonder if Job’s friends were mercy-showers. I wonder how that went. Maybe different for Job. I know they sat with him for seven days, but boy, after a bit, man, “You’re a hypocrite, Job. You’re a liar.” I mean, if you’ve been through the experiences, you don’t experience God like a good—well, just, just, just preaching after he—after a while, you know. Well, man, I feel like that’s what Job just kind of took a downward turn for sure. I wonder if Job had mercy-showers. It’s interesting. Job says this—says it more than once—but I kind of like it how Job a little bit stands up for himself a little bit. And Job 16:2: “Ye say, ‘Miserable comforters are ye.’” Man, if you’re a comforter, whew! Wow! Who needs an enemy with comforters like you, type thing? And oh, how we need mercy-showers today. The world often sees the love of God and feels the love of God through mercy-showers.
You know, here’s an interesting thing. We kind of covered it a bit already, but there are 23 verses in the Bible where mercy and truth are mentioned together. Almost—almost every single one of them, you know which one comes first? Mercy. Let me read a couple of them for you. Psalm 85:10: “Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” Of course, talking about Jesus Christ. Proverbs 3:3: “Let not mercy and truth forsake thee; bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart.” Proverbs 16:6: “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged.” Notice the order of that? Jesus, of course, was such a perfect example: “Neither do I condemn thee.” What’s that? Mercy. “Go and sin no more.” Truth. And mercy-showers are so important. By the way, sometimes the mercy-showers pave the way for a prophet to come in there and kind of deal with some root long-term problems. Or maybe you can work at both of them, but mercy-showers are very, very important.
The weakness of a mercy-shower: sometimes they can be an enabler. You don’t talk about an enabler? They just enable someone to live in sin, and they never let the full consequences of their sin happen because they’re always showing mercy. And sometimes almost long term, they can hurt them. They don’t want to confront the real issue. You know, the sinful world that reaches out to us Christians often for a little temporary relief, and that’s a good thing. But if it’s just temporary, and I don’t long-term help, they might end up or suffer in the end.
They can be easily overwhelmed with others’ situations because they’re just kind of attracted to hurting people, and they care about them so much. And before long, they’re just defeated and depressed themselves. Isn’t it interesting when we read it? I don’t know if you noticed it, but Romans 12:8: “He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.” It’s amazing how God gets it all. He says those people who have to work at being on top side, and they have to work at not being overwhelmed by hurting people all the time because they get hard for them. And God said, “No, no, I want you to show mercy, not where you’re defeated and depressed and discouraged and, you know, crying all the time, but you’re doing it with cheerfulness.” It’s amazing how God gets it all in there. It kind of makes you think, you know, just talking about, amen, you know. Such an important gift. Not allowing the weaknesses. Sometimes they just have a hard time allowing others to be different. I’ve already talked about the polar opposites: the prophet and the mercy-shower. A mercy-shower has to allow them to be different. They’re just going to face it differently. But I’ve already mentioned it. We want to close out this gift here. But a mercy-shower, you’re so valuable because there are so many hurting people. It’s amazing—a Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, but it’s Sunday morning. It’s amazing all the hurts of the people represented. You’d be shocked, and I don’t know them all, but you’d be shocked how many people come that have attempted at least once in their life suicide in our church family. I mean, it’s a great church family, but it’s just amazing in our society. It’s amazing how many young ladies have been—has had a wicked, sinful man do sinful, wicked things to them. Just amazing. And I say that and say, I’m just talking about the hurting people. They’re all around. And a mercy-shower, God can use you in such a great way to oftentimes open the hearts and the doors of people’s hearts for the Lord and for the gospel and for truth to get in there. Such a valuable, valuable gift.
Now, we’ve covered the gift of a prophet. We’ve covered the gift of a mercy-shower. Y’all want to try to get one more in? Y’all want to quit? Brother Frank said, “Get it in.” We’re blaming everything on Brother Frank today, so we just might as well keep going on that. All right. So let’s go back over Romans 12. Romans 12. You say, “It’s late. We’ve got a lot going on tonight.” It’s Brother Frank’s fault, I’m telling you. Romans chapter number 12. I’m going to get one more gift in here. We’re just trying to move along a lot of information tonight, and stick with me, if you would, please. And preachers or pastors like this next gift very, very much, and you’ll understand why in just a moment here. All right. Let’s see here. Wherever we had—I’m going to try to skip some verses and just get to the one gift that we’re going to focus on, if I can find it. Well, just start in verse number six. We’re going to get to it. Verse number six: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us: whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministry; He that teacheth, on teaching; He that exhorteth, on exhortation; Here we go: He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.”
The gift of a giver. Now, you know every pastor in the world likes somebody with a gift of giving, amen? Now, let’s just for a minute here, if I’m going to do it, we’ve got to do it right. Let’s just get our thinking right about giving for a moment here, specifically inside the church. The Bible talks about a tithe. That’s the tenth of our income. That is not necessarily giving; that is giving God something that is His. Leviticus 27:30: “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or the fruit of the tree, it is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord.” It’s already the Lord’s. It is, if you will, rent for living on His green earth. God requires it of everybody. You’re giving Him what is His. By the way, by the way, you have robbed Him if you don’t give it to Him. That’s what the Bible says.
Then there are offerings. There are offerings. The Bible never says how much an offering should be. A tenth, a tithe, we know what that is. An offering—it may be a buck sometimes. It may be a hundred bucks next Sunday. For some of you, it’s $20,000. No, I don’t know what it is. The Bible doesn’t tell us what an offering is. God speaks to you individually about it. Malachi 3:8: “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” We’ll all give you an offering, everybody, but we don’t know how much an offering is. That’s however the Lord leads you. By the way, I don’t know who gives what in our church, and I do that on purpose. I don’t want that. The Bible does speak of proportionate giving. The widow put in the two mites, and Jesus says she gave more than all.
But there’s alms-giving. Alms-giving. Let me read for you a verse. Acts 3:2: “And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple.” Alms is where you know someone that’s needy. We’ve been using Brother Frank all night long, so we’ll use him again. Brother Frank, he doesn’t have a dime to his name, and he needs to put food on the table for Miss Wanda, or else she’s going to hit him over the head. And so we shake his hand, and we have a—“How much money do you want, Brother Frank, tonight?” “A hundred dollar bill.” Man, you might as well go with a thousand or something, you know. But we have—we have it, you know, a hundred dollar bill, and we shake his hand, and Brother, “What’s that?” He said, “That we want to give it to you.” You know, “We love you, Brother. We know what kind of time.” Maybe it’s a tough time. That’s alms-giving, see. Those are all wonderful, wonderful ways of giving to the Lord.
So just trying to get our mind wrapped around this thing as far as giving biblically. Now let me give you a definition of someone that’s gifted in the area of giving: one who is wise with money, realizes the need for money in the Lord’s work, and enjoys giving to the work of the Lord. They enjoy it. Let me give you some attributes about it.
They don’t mind it. They like it when the preacher—someone here recently, oh, it’s maybe a bit a year ago when we had the bucket offering of different things, and maybe even before that—they said, “Man, preacher, you’ve been having all these special offerings. Don’t you think people are going to get tired of giving?” And honestly, my mind of myself, man, I’m doing people a favor. I’m giving them a way to invest in eternity. And someone with a gift of giving, they’ll love it if the preacher gives ways and lets you know of needs. They like it if the preacher’s preaching on giving. They like it. They’re like, “That’s needed.” They realize they have it. This is in the forefront of their mind. If the work of God is going to go forward, money’s part of it. Not being mean or rude or greedy or anything; it’s kind of they’re focused on that. They realize the importance; it’s just part of the formula.
It’s typically one who has the ability to own money without money owning them. The money’s not bad; the love of money is bad. They enjoy giving to church and people. It’s someone—someone today, to be honest with someone today, texted me. They used to be in our church; they’ve moved away, but they watch online. I’ve tried to get them in a church out there where they’re at, but they watch online. And every once in a while, I’ve been mentioning here lately about, you know, we need Easter eggs, candy Easter eggs. And so they texted me, “I’ve sent in $50 extra dollars, and I want you to know, I want to make sure it gets to—it’s for Easter eggs.” Now, they do this periodically. I imagine they’re gifted with the gift because they’re focused. It’s in the forefront of their mind. They want to make sure this, that we’ve got enough money to make sure those children get plenty of eggs. By the way, those children, they’re going to have eggs running out their ears, and praise the Lord for it. Our people are giving, you know. But they’re focused on that. And someone that’s just—they’re concerned. Do we have enough for this? And they’re not trying to be nosy. They’re not concerned. They don’t want to, you know, “Well, I want everybody to know I gave this.” They’re not concerned. They’re just focused on it. They want to make sure the needs of the church are met financially. It’s in the forefront of their mind. And that sometimes we’ll say, “Do we have enough for this, whatnot?” And you don’t have to—why, you kind of get to know people, and you’re like, “Yeah, I think we did. Thank you for your concern.” They’re just wired that way. And I like it, amen. It’s such an important gift because they realize the need. They see the financial need before others do, and they’re very liking and wanting to be able to give. They may be wealthy, by the way; they might not be wealthy. Some people then think they have the gift of giving; they don’t have a whole lot of money. Well, they’re just focused on—they’re concerned. “Is so-and-so getting their need met?” They’re somebody that’ll buy a tire for someone.
There’s someone—I think of a couple—at least the husband’s in heaven; the wife moved away. I’m sure they had the gift of giving, and they’re always giving. They weren’t rich; they were all right financially, but they’re always giving to people. I’ve seen them over there just give to so many different people. And that’s why they’re why—they like to give. They wanted to give. They—let’s see—they have a good understanding between the difference of eternal and temporal. The importance—we’ve already mentioned it briefly—but they realize the importance, the need of God’s kingdom financially. It’s interesting when God talks about tithing, we’ve already read that over there. Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.” Part of tithing is so the needs of the kingdom, of the church specifically there, is met. That’s just part of it. By the way, so that’s the storehouse. Well, over in 1 Timothy 3:15, He says the house of God is the church. Very clear in Scripture. But their focus is that that need is met so the work of God can go forward. By the way, I can hear Curtis Hudson saying, there’s a great preacher—he’s in heaven. I used to say, “Great works aren’t built by spare time and pocket change.” It’s just part of it. It’s somebody investing time and energy and money. It’s just part of it. Imagine all that could be done if we had the funds. Just kind of dream sometimes about that. Giving is an important part of the work of God. By the way, another importance of the gift of giving or someone giving: it gets the heart of people into the work of God. Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” Some people give—if somebody gives to a cause, you know they’re going to check up on that cause, why? Because their heart’s there; they put their treasure there. Well, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Giving’s a great thing because it gets your heart in there, and you’re concerned about it because you put your treasure in that thing. Another just importance: it equals a lot of rewards one day in heaven. You know, the Bible says, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal.” It’s a good way to invest in eternity.
Now let me just real quickly here. I feel like I’m going so fast, I’m losing y’all. Still with me tonight? We’re winding it down. That was a bit much. Yes, yes, yes, yes. We’re winding it down. Let me just—just a look, just very quickly, at the gift of giving. Sometimes that can be—you know, maybe a little guilty of enabling others. You know, the Bible still says in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, “If a man will not work, he ought not to eat.” The guy’s just not willing to work; he’s just lazy. And I’m giving, I’m giving and giving. I’m going against Scripture. Yeah. So I don’t want to be an enabler. I like to give to people. I like to do that. We were at Dunkin’ Donuts—praise the Lord for that, amen—and someone asked us for—didn’t ask for money. We wouldn’t have gave them money. But they asked for coffee the other day. Well, we’re glad we got them coffee and a breakfast sandwich. And I tried to witness to them, and I realized mentally they were off a little bit. Probably can’t hold down a real job, and couldn’t stay focused long enough for me to give the gospel to them. Now, someone like that, they can’t work—that’s understandable. They can work hard, and they’re just lazy. You know, I don’t want to enable them to go against biblical principles.
By the way, money can’t solve everything. By the way, a church can have a whole lot of money if they don’t have the hand of God on that church; it’s not going to go very far. Sometimes just a week because they can give too quickly. Never give without praying. Always seek the Lord. Always ask God’s advice on it. Sometimes they can give without asking their spouse. You know, you want to work together, and you want both to be a part of that. My wife’s so good about it. Sometimes I’ll say, “Hey, babe, you know, I gave this or want to give this, whatever.” And she’s, “Well, do whatever you want.” I said, “Good. I’m going to go buy a set of golf clubs.” No, I don’t say that. You know, I’m not into golf anyway. But no, and I say, “Well, I want you to know it because I want you to have a part in that. Now, I want us together; we’re doing this together.” She’s a giver; she likes it, but I want her to know about it. I want to be involved in this together, you know. And sometimes they’re just giving without, you know, keeping their mate involved in it all. Sometimes pride—“I’m a giver.” Can I say something to kind of help us with that? Maybe that’s one of your things. I may be prone that way. You realize the greatest giver there is is God, that gave to you. You’ll never give back to Him more than He gave to you, and it kind of keeps us humble on that.
Benefits of a giver: rewards forever, laying up for themselves treasures in heaven. God is very pleased with him, and every man according as it purposeth in his heart. So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God loveth that, for giving—they like to give, they enjoy giving. God loves that. He enjoys that.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Gifts of Prophet, Mercy-shower & Giver - Sunday PM 03242024