Spiritual Gifts
Key Passage: Romans 12
Date: June 7, 2024
Romans chapter 12 tonight. Romans chapter 12. We have, on Sunday night, entered a study about the gifts—spiritual gifts—and we are going to cover three of them. Now, I have a fear. Last time we did this, I had about, oh, I think four or five pages of notes, and that is rare for me. I was like, “Whoa, boy, this is a little long.” We did it, and I think there was only one snoring. I am not sure if it was Ariana or Garrett, maybe Reagan over that section, you know. But God blessed it. I do not have that many notes tonight, but still, I am a little concerned. We are trying to cover three gifts in one night; it is a little tough.
If you have not heard, the first Sunday night, we kind of gave an introduction to it. Then the last one, we covered three gifts. Let us see. I am trying to remember—we covered the gifts of helps, exhortation, and, oh, whatever gift. Anybody remember what gift it was? The other one?
Was it? Yes, sir. Hospitality. That is exactly it: hospitality. Brother Joel was awake that night. Man, I am impressed. That is great. And we are going to cover three tonight. Just try to hit them running a little bit. The gift of ruling will be the first one to be covered. Let me give just a little bit of review if you were not here.
Just like when you are born physically, you have a gift. These folks playing these instruments are gifted musically. How many of you say, “Well, I must have been out for the restroom or something when that gift was given out”? Anybody say that? You know, but they are gifted physically. It is a good gift, great gift. But when you are born spiritually, when you are born again, you are born into the family of God, you were gifted spiritually, and God gave that to you.
We talked about that first Sunday night. He gave it to you by His grace. I have no reason to get proud that I am gifted in a certain area because it is given to me by God’s grace. Jesus earned it for us on the cross of Calvary. So there is no reason I ought to get, you know, “He gifted me at it.”
Then let me say this: Maybe there are areas that I am not gifted at. Sometimes I am going to have to work a little bit, just so far on the negative of that area. Then I need to work at that one. I am not gifted there, but I can work at it. Sometimes the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. I think I have been in a family sometimes, or a church family, and sometimes there is someone just so low in an area. I need to work at that area. They are not gifted, but you can work at that area.
There are so many things about it. Then also, you kind of realize, “All right, now I see why they are seeing it the way they are.” They are wired differently than me, and they are allowed to be different than me. They are going to be it differently, and they are going to react differently because they are gifted in a different way. It helps you with all that, and sometimes it just helps you understand why you are what you are and where you can serve God better, more effectively, and how God would want you to serve Him even better.
Inside the church, we studied it, but God puts them in there as it pleases Him. He knows what every church needs, and He puts people in there. When we are yielded to the Spirit of God, it brings a wonderful chemistry together and harmony together if we are yielded to the Spirit of God. It is just a wonderful thing, and we allow others to be different. We are not talking about them all the time and all. No, they are allowed to be different. They are wired differently, and it just brings a wonderful harmony to the house of God.
Romans chapter 12, let us look at this. We are just kind of starting in verse number four, just to get us going here a little bit. Would you please stand just to show the Word of God respect, if you would? Romans 12. We are going to start in verse number four.
And he says, “Now there are diversity of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administration”—I think it has to do with ways you serve God—“but the same Lord. There are diversity of operations or ministries, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” But the manifestation…
Are we in the right place? I am sorry. I believe it is me. I believe it is me. I am in 1 Corinthians 12. I am sorry. I have a different verse. No. I promise you, I was drinking water earlier, all right now, folks. I promised you that. Steve Page is looking at his hearing aid, making sure it is working right now, you know. Listen on, you are listening. Come on now. You actually have your Bible. Romans—it is not you, it is me. I am sorry, folks. Romans chapter number 12. I was in 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Romans 12 and verse number four. I believe we are in the right place now.
“For as 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 every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us: whether prophecy”—we will get to that one of these Sunday nights, the gift of prophecy—“let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry”—we are going to get that just a minute here; let us wait on our ministry—“or he that teacheth, on teaching.” I think we will get that one of those last Sunday nights of these gifts. Or he that exhorteth"—we have covered that a couple of Sunday nights ago—“or he that exhorteth on exhortation; and he that giveth…”
I am a Baptist preacher. I am going to make sure I get that gift covered right there. Amen. “He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; and he that ruleth…” That is what we are going to cover here just a minute. “…He that ruleth with diligence; and he that showeth mercy…” We will get that one “…with cheerfulness.”
Would you pray as we try to just briefly hit this gift of ruling, and what does God mean by that? Father, would You bless tonight. Lord, would You give me wisdom, Lord? We do want to learn. But Father, as mentioned this morning, Lord, we really want it just for knowledge’s sake. You said knowledge puffeth up. I want to be careful with that, Lord. But Father, let it be for transformation, for us to be better Christians for You, for us to fit together better for You, Lord, for our church to be a sweeter church family for You. And Lord, please use tonight to that end. Father, show me when to really slow down and focus on something and when to maybe bypass something. You guide in that. And we will thank You, Lord, for what You do. You point the truth out in the hearts that need be, and we will thank You for it. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.
Thank you so much for standing and for turning to Romans chapter 12.
A ruler, let me just give you a brief definition, just kind of a practical definition for: is one who has the ability to organize and be over much effectively to see that the goals are achieved. There are three types of leaders: there is a visionary leader, there is a shepherding leader, and then there is an administrative leader. This would be someone that is an administrative leader. Some churches will have an administrative pastor, not larger churches.
Let me say something about this gift. Did you notice how He worded it there in verse number eight when He said, “He that ruled,” He says, “with diligence”? If someone is to be effective with this gift, they are going to have to be a hard worker. This gift is mentioned over in 1 Timothy 5:17. He said, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” You just kind of notice when it was talking about this gift, it is someone that is just a hard worker.
Let me give you some attributes of a person that is gifted with administration. Some people, when they get a job to be done, they are just prone to put their hands on—their hands-on type of people—they just get it done. But someone that is wired more with the gift of ruling, they are apt to delegate. They do not mind, and they are pretty good at delegating jobs. People follow them for the most part. You know, some people tell everybody what to do, and everybody kind of runs, “Oh, we do not want to do what you say,” you know.
Some with this gift, they are good at delegating, and people do not mind following. They are good at designing steps or guidelines to accomplish goals for the glory of God. They are good at that. They are good at creating order out of chaos. Here is an interesting thing: You know, some people, if you put them over a lot, you will find them running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You understand? Someone with the gift of ruling, they are more active. They can get a lot done. They have a lot of different things going on at one time, but they are not running around like a chick whose head got cut off. Someone that is more gifted with the gift of ruler or ruling, they have the ability to accomplish many projects with the help of others and see the details. That is interesting. The details are accomplished. They enjoy it.
The person I think of, and we have some in our church I think right now, and I do not want to say because, you know, I am not the Lord for sure, you know, but if somebody is not in our church or whatnot, I do not mind using them as much. But Brother Stover—how many remember Del Stover? Yeah, Del Stover to me, he is the epitome of the gift of ruling. Coming to Family Harvest Days when we started that, Brother Stover was one that headed it up, and he loved it. He loved planning it. He loved organizing it. He loved delegating every little bit of detail. I am talking about down to the details of signs and trash cans and every little bit of detail. He knew. I am talking about he knew if there was, you know, some of these trash cans we used to use with cardboard and it had plastic liners in there, and you have to have a rock or two in there to keep the cardboard from blowing over. He knew if there was a rock in there or not. I am telling you, but he was not running around, you know, scattered and whatnot. He loved it. He enjoyed it—not to lift him up, but to get the job done for the Lord. He loved it. He enjoyed that.
If someone has a gift of ruling, there will be someone if there is just a job to be done and they walk into a room—everybody knows a job, and maybe there are 20, 30 people in the room—some people are just going to walk in, they are just going to get busy working. Nothing wrong with that. But then some people are going to walk into that room and say, “Hey, for us to get this thing done quickly and appropriately and rightly, let us organize.” And they will say, “Hey, you do that, you do this, you do this, you do…” and they are going to organize that thing. And that is going to be someone probably gifted with the gift of ruling. Okay? It is a great, very important gift.
Now, most of these we try to cover, you know, the importance or the way it can be used, whatnot, and the weakness also. Sometimes the weakness—now I feel bad, I have already mentioned Del Stover. Praise the Lord, he is not in our church anymore. Now, you know, I am teasing about that. He is a great man. I love him. But sometimes the weakness, and I am not saying for him, but sometimes the weakness can just be pride. “Well, they are gifted, they are good at it.” And you have to remember, “Hey, I am gifted by the grace of God. God gifted me that way.”
Let me say this about that: I can have all the talent in the world of organization and ruling, all that, and fall flat on my face to get proud. Now let me say this about that: Talent and organization will not change one life for it. You can have the best-run event in all the world and all that, but if God is not in it, a life will not get changed. God changes lives. Just talking about the weaknesses: sometimes they tend to have conflict with others that are already in authority.
And they can just kind of… You know, we used to have chickens for years and years when my kids were at home. And my son had to get up every morning and feed them and get the eggs. Sarah sometimes too. Sarah is like, “Come on now, me too,” you know. My kids graduated, moved out. We got rid of the chickens, amen, you know. I kind of enjoy that, amen.
But anyway, we would go to Tractor Supply typically, and sometimes you can buy chickens or baby chickens that they do not know if it is a rooster or hen. You just buy them a little cheaper that way. You know what you are going to get, or you can pay a little bit more and get only hens. Every once in a while, they make mistakes on that one too. But if it was a lean time when we were getting checks, we were just going to get whatever we got, and sometimes you end up with three or four roosters. Boy, that is not good. That is not good. I mean, those roosters, they are going to get mean and fighting with each other. And, boy, those spurs are going to grow out, and they are just mean. I cannot tell too many stories about that time, but we had too many roosters at one time. And the only time I have ever done this in my life—but do not look at me sideways about telling the story because you had chicken last night too, now, you know—but we decided too many roosters, so we are going to… supper table for some of those roosters, you know. Those roosters were about to kill each other, literally. I am talking about kill each other. And I started taking care of some roosters to put them on the kitchen table, and those roosters turned on me like they were going to kill me. Why are they about to kill each other? Now you are going to kill me? Anyway, that is my story of roosters. You say, “Why do you tell that story?” I do not know if it was a good story now, you know.
No, if you are not careful, you get two people in the same room that both have the gift of ruling. If you are not careful, you have got two roosters, you know. And that can be a weakness there with that gift of ruling. And this is just about every one of the gifts. Sometimes they can expect everyone else to have the gift of ruling, and everybody does not. And you have got to allow others to be wired differently, see?
Now, the importance—man, the importance—we will just say this: to accomplish much for the Lord, you must, you must have people that have the gift. You have got to. I thought about this as far as the illustration. Years ago, there was a man that lived just on Bluegrass over here, Mr. Jackson. How many remember Mr. Jackson? Good. He was a World War II vet guy. I remember Peanut, his dog Peanut. Amen? Yeah.
We had a workday. We used to do this occasionally, about once a year we would do it if there was someone whose house was just run down. It is amazing: the worse it is, the greater difference you can make. So we would look for the worst ones we could find, and we would go over there and do a house makeover. And the best one we ever had by far was Mr. Jackson’s house. Any of you men—I think Brother Kevin—was any other men there that… at Mr. Jackson’s house, we did the house makeover? Just Brother Kevin was there, and so I can embellish this, really, if I do it too much, I can pay Brother Kevin off later on there, you know. But no, it really was an amazing day. I mean, we had a good crowd for that. I had on 20, 25 men. The street was just lined with cars, our men parked on the side of the street, and just one day.
Now, here is the thing with that: If you have 20, 25 guys in about 1,100 square feet—maybe a 12-foot square house—I mean, you are just going to be bumping into each other. But praise the Lord, we had that thing well organized. Men knew what they were going to do before they got there. They brought the tools they were going to use. I did not think it was well organized, and everybody had a job to do. And from the beginning of that morning to that nighttime, Saturday night, it looked like a totally different place. It was awesome. Our best day by far in doing that. It was amazing. But the only way that could happen is if there was someone who had organized, and different people doing different jobs, and they knew what they were going to do. And somebody had to put that together. Now, that is the importance of someone having the gift of ruling. Somebody got organized so you can get much accomplished for the Lord.
Now, we are going to go over to 1 Corinthians 12 later on. We are in Romans 12 at this time, all right? We are back over in Romans 12. We are going to stay there one more time. I am trying to get you thinking a little bit here. Romans 12, we are going to get a different gift. Romans 12, look in verse number six. Romans 12, verse number six. And let us get a gift. We are already done with the first gift. Look at that. We are flying along.
“…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…”
Ministering—the Greek word is diakonia. The good thing is, since you do not know Greek, I do not have to pronounce it just right, amen. It is the root word. It has to do with a servant. If you look up that word in Strong’s Concordance, it will say “attending.” It has to do with when you go to the restaurant, and there is a waiter or a waitress, and they are attending on you. They are serving you. The word, the Greek word, is often translated service or servant, different forms of the word. Same word that a deacon is translated from. And deacons—be a servant—that is what the word means. And same thing here, it has to do… Let me give you a definition of it: They have a special desire to serve in the area, seeing that the practical needs of a church are met. We are talking about the church here—the practical needs.
Some of us focused on it. Years ago, Ms. Bishop does a good job, but years ago, we used to have different people clean the church. And some people were focused on them. “Man, we’ve got to have this church clean.” They did not want any recognition. They did not want, you know, half the time they did not want anybody. No, they just wanted to make sure that was a practical need, and they want to make sure that was done.
Often someone with the gift of ministry, they like to serve—not always, but usually they like to serve in the shadows. They do not want to be in the forefront. They do not want to be in the line. They just want to get the job done. They are concerned: Is the grass cut? Is there grass? You know, do we need to trim the shrubs? Do we have enough nursery workers? What were the needs we need in the bus ministry this morning? They are just about the practical needs of the church. Do we have enough workers in the nursing home ministry? Do we need someone to go visit so-and-so? They are always focused. They do not want any recognition. They are just kind of behind the scenes. They like to serve the practical things. They are focused on those things. They want to make sure they get done. They could be an usher. They could be the Love and Action ministry. They could be the PA booth, and so on and so on, the blankets of love. They are just focused on making sure the practical needs of a church are met.
They are touched differently. We discussed last time, two weeks ago, about a helper. A helper is very similar. Someone asked me about this last time. Very similar. The person says, “I think I have the gift of helps,” and maybe they do. We talked about it. I said, “Well, maybe yours is the gift of ministry. I just want to serve behind the scenes.” Some of the gifts are really focused on helping the leader, relieving the pressure and all that. Very similar. But it is someone that has the gift of ministry; they are just concerned about the practical things. Did the bus—I look at Brother Bill—did the bus get gassed up? Do we have diesel in there? Is there oil in there? Coolant in there? And all they just are just concerned about the practical needs being met. And they are glad. That is what they want to do, just in the little shadows here and there. They want to serve and get the job done for the Lord.
Now, so important: if a church is going to do much for the Lord, there has got to be a whole lot of people that are just focused on ministry, just here to serve. And they are not necessarily concerned about teaching their Sunday school class or whatnot. They are just concerned about the practical needs. They can teach, I am not saying that. They are concerned about the practical needs of a church getting met. They want to do that.
Now, I think this is one of the most needed gifts, and I tend to think this is one of the most popular gifts. I think a good amount of people—I do not know, of course—but a good percentage of people are gifted with this. They just like to serve and get the job done. You know, this is a sad thing. I think our church is better at this than the average, but they say 10% of the people do 90% of the work in a church. I think, overall, that is pretty true of churches in America. I think, praise the Lord, Brother Caddy Baptist is better than that. But that is a shame. And there are a lot of people just gifted; they are just focused on these little practical needs, and they ought to carve out the time to use their gift.
Jesus—I do not know if He was gifted at it, but He was good at it. You know the verse. Look over there, Mark 10. Mark chapter 10. Mark 10 and verse number 45. Mark 10, verse number 45. Whether He was gifted or not, I do not know, but I know He is good at it. Mark 10, verse number 45: “For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto”—there it is—“but to minister, to serve, to give His life a ransom for many.”
By the way, you read the Old Testament and the law, and how about all those different sin offerings? And He offering it—excuse me—all the different burnt offerings, all these different… Praise the Lord Jesus met every one of those. He served. I have got all those details covered. I am so thankful for that.
By the way, I think someone with this gift, if they just put it into practice, I think they will have a lot of rewards in heaven. I think maybe that is what the Bible means a little bit in Matthew 19:30: “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” They are not the ones that got back in the front of the line. Everybody looks the most popular one. Everybody knows them. No, no, no, no, no, no. They are just doing their job somewhere, making sure practical needs are met, you know, so the work of God goes on.
Now, the weakness—this can be a weakness. Sometimes they are not willing to take leadership or talking roles when God wants them to. And sometimes God does not want them to. But sometimes God does. And they just do not want to step up to those roles when God is leading them to that. I mentioned talking, a talking role. Soul winning is talking. You know, faith cometh by hearing, not by saying; by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And they just kind of… they do not want to do that, you know. “Well, my gift is the gift of ministry, serving in the shadows.” That is a wonderful thing. But God has also called us to be witnesses for Jesus, see?
Sometimes they can just get flustered or mad when other people are not serving and making sure the practical needs are met. It can get their spirit. And I do not think I worship Him. I must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And if I am not careful, I am gifted in this thing. Maybe there is a guy that comes in and he is the ruler, and he is pretty good at it. And he is not—does not have a big head. He is not doing it for his own glory; he is doing it to get the job done. But he is just wired differently than you. And if you are not careful, it will bother you. “Well, who in the world made him boss around here?” you know. “Shut up and stop telling us what to do and do it yourself,” you know. And they are wired differently. They have the gift of a minister/servant. And you have to allow that guy or that person, that lady over there—that is their gift. Yours is over here. And it is all right. And do not let it get your spirit. I want to have the right spirit. I want to keep the spirit. I get to serve the Lord. It is a privilege. I want to keep that spirit. It is a privilege to serve the Lord. I am honored to be able to do something to serve. And I do not want to allow others to steal that spirit, that attitude. I enjoy serving, and you keep that spirit.
I thought about Brother Bobby Garvin. I had the privilege this week of visiting his wife, his widow, Mrs. Jackie Garvin. She came last Sunday, a blessing here in church. And I thought about her husband, Bobby Garvin. He was part of Bible Way Baptist Church when we merged. And we had said, “Look, if we come over, and we had bought, you know, the building and all that,” we had said, “Look, if we are going to come, we are going to merge.” We were not trying to be mean or whatnot, but we said, “We are going to keep our Sunday school teachers, and we are going to keep our deacons and all those things like that.” And Brother Bobby, he was a deacon of Bible Way. And he was a head usher of Bible Way. And a good, good man. When we came over, I watched what a humble servant he was. I was impressed. Brother Bobby, he was thrilled. Remember he came in and kind of brought life and numbers and whatnot, and he loved it. He was just excited to see the work of God growing. Things began to happen. Man, he was just thrilled. He worked around here. He worked. He was a worker.
That sidewalk that I had the privilege of walking on, leading from the road here up to my office there—Brother Bobby, we had a workday. And Brother Bobby, I think years before I knew him, had a stroke or something like that. And so he could not work a full-time job, but he was always up there doing something. But even with that, we had had a workday, and I put a teenager with Brother Bobby. Brother Bobby knew what he was doing. They formed up that sidewalk. Oh, yeah, it is messed up for us, but he formed it up. That is hard work. Man, I put a teenager with him, even though Brother Bobby had a stroke, a little bit limited. He worked that teenager into the ground. That teenager could not keep up. And Brother Bobby was just a worker. He is a servant. I mentioned this to Mrs. Jackie the other day. But if you needed—if I needed to buy anything around here, if you needed to know where the best place is, if it is on sale, if it is on sale, ask Brother Bobby. He knew what was on sale, where it was at. I am telling you, he knew. If it was food, where can I buy it? You know, what—I do not know the food price. “$1.25 a pound,” that is all. He would know. “I need to buy some pavers for the church.” “Where is the best place, brother, where can I buy some pavers?” “They are on sale at Lowe’s for such and such.” He knew it. He knew it. He knew it.
And something else about Brother Bobby: his pickup truck—he had everything in the world. If you needed a tool, ask Brother Bobby. Now, it might take him a half an hour to dig out. I mean, things would just be thrown; he would be throwing them all over. But pretty soon, he would pull it out. There it was. He had it. But he was a servant. And what an attitude, just humble. “I am just glad to be a part of God working.” I was amazed. He said, “Well, I am not concerned about positions. I am concerned about getting the job done.” He is a servant, a worker. He went to heaven. He went to heaven. He was working at someone else’s house upstairs, had a sanding block in his hand, sanding, and had a massive heart attack. And they found him; he still had this sanding block in his hand. He was… he was… He had the gift of ministry, just with… He helped us put that church sign up. Just anything he could, just serving, serving, serving. And that—he was not concerned about who got glory and credit and all the rest, just serving. Just, just an awesome man, Brother Bobby, gift of ministry.
…so very, very important. The way He words it there in verse number seven, “or ministry, let us wait on our ministry.” I think He is saying wherever God puts you and puts you to serve, just get wrapped up in it and give it all you have where you are serving. I think that is what He is trying to say there.
Now, my goodness, we are moving along. We have already covered the gift of ruling. We covered the gift of ministry. Now we are finally going to get to 1 Corinthians chapter number 12. Amen. Trying to get done quickly. You would not let me do it now, you know.
First Corinthians chapter number 12. And we are going to get one more gift in tonight. First Corinthians 12. And we will just start in verse number one to kind of get us going; that context is on gifts.
1 Corinthians 12, verse number one: “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.” God wants us to know about these things so you know why you are wired like you are, how best you can serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Look now in verse number seven. Verse number seven: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another…”
What is the next word? “…faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.” This thing of faith—I believe some have the gift of faith. Now, everyone is given the measure of faith. The Bible tells us that. It is very clear. Romans 12:3 tells us that: “But to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Everybody has got some faith. I think when he talks about the talents over there, the guy that has the one talent, I believe that one talent was faith. He went and buried it in the earth. He was putting his faith in the earth, not in Jesus. That is why he did not get saved and go to heaven, you know. But everybody has got some faith, some more than others.
But some are just uniquely gifted with faith. I do not think I am gifted in that area. I wish I was. I can work at it, but I like to hang around people that are gifted in that because sometimes you can kind of rub off on you a little bit. I need it; I want it. It is a great, great thing. It is so important.
Let me give you a couple of illustrations of men that I think were gifted with the gift of faith. Any of you ever heard of George Mueller? He had the orphanages years ago over in England. I believe he was a man that was just gifted with the gift of faith. He had these orphanages in Bristol, England, and he had determined that God would bless and use someone that never mentioned to anyone else all their needs besides God. And he had determined, “I am not going to tell everybody else our needs.” And really, a lot of his motivation was he had a journal, and he wanted everybody to know God can provide through prayer. And he wanted people to see that, know that. He never asked one person for a penny. He had orphanages at some point over 2,000. A lot of people do not know everything, but he supported 189 missionaries. He supported about 100 different schools. He sent out about 4 million tracts and 10,000 Bibles a year. Wow. Never asked anybody for money. Just asked God. I think he was just uniquely gifted with faith.
Let me read for you just two days from his journal. This is June 13, 1853. He says, “We were now very poor.” It goes on and says there was still about $60 in hand, but there was needed to be bought flour. It goes on: 4,200 pounds of oatmeal—that is a whole lot of oatmeal, folks. Healthy hearts, amen. For 100 weight of soap, there were many little repairs going on in the house with a number of workmen employed, besides the regular current expenses of about $280 a week. Over and above all this, he goes on and says, “I found that the heating apparatus needed to be repaired, which would, in all probability, cost $100. It was therefore desirable, humanly speaking, to have $500 for these heavy extra expenses. But I had no human prospect whatever of getting even $200, much less $500.”
“In addition to this, today was Monday when generally the income is little. But in walking to the orphan house this morning and praying as I went, I particularly told the Lord in prayer.” I like this. Watch this. “I particularly told the Lord in prayer that on this day, though Monday, He could send me much.” And thus it was. “I received this morning $1,500 for the Lord’s service, as might be most needed. The joy which I had cannot be described. I walked up and down in my room for a long time, tears of joy and gratitude to the Lord reigning plentifully over my cheeks, praising and magnifying the Lord for His goodness and surrender to myself afresh with all my heart to Him for His blessed service. I scarcely ever felt more the kindness of the Lord helping me.”
And just notice that Monday morning seemed like everything, but he was walking to the orphanage and he said, “Boy, God, You can do so much on days like that.” I want to say, “Wow, look how bad we have it, Lord.” But he was all about, “Lord, how much You can do on a Monday like this?” It is that unusual faith. And God used that and blessed greatly.
Now, this is years later. The orphanage is a little bit smaller at the beginning, whatnot, beginning days. About 21 years later, July 28, 1874, he writes this: “It has for months appeared to me as if the Lord meant by His dealings with us to bring us back to that state of things in which we were for more than 10 years when we had day by day, almost without interruption, to look to Him for our daily supplies. And for a great part of the time from meal to meal, the difficulties appeared to me indeed very great, as the institution is now 20 times larger than it was then, and our purchases are to be made in a wholesale way.”
“But at the same time, I am comforted by the knowledge that God is aware of all this, and that if this way be for the glory of His name and for the good of His church and the unconverted world, I am by His grace willing to go this way and to do it to the end of my…” course. Now he is saying God is kind of taking this back. He blessed greatly, but we are kind of going back to where we got to just day by day and many times meal by meal. God was just kind of pulling back the reins. He said, “You know, I am all right with that. I know God is going to meet my needs, and if we have to live for the rest of my life like this, I am all right because I know God. I have the knowledge that God is going to provide.” You call that faith. He was supporting thousands at that time.
And I love it when people—some people are just gifted with this thing of faith, and I love it. I like him. I think Les… I do not even know Lester Roloff, you know, of Lester Roloff, at least somewhat, yeah. I think Lester Roloff was one of those men just gifted with age. I think he had the gift of faith. He was on many radio stations later on, early in the days. It started off just a local radio station, and then before long, God was enabling him up to 150 radio stations at one point across America. But the local one, he got kicked off a couple times. One of the times in particular, because he was really preaching against liquor, you know. And they did not want their revenues and commercial and all this to be hurt, you know. And so Lester Roloff, he said, “Well, I will tell you what.” It came to an opportunity. He said, “I am going to buy that thing.” And now this is back in years—50, 60, 70 years ago, 70 plus years ago. And he said, “I am tired of getting kicked off this radio station. We are just going to buy this thing.” And he went and talked to them. $300,000. Now, 70 years ago, $300,000 was a whole lot more than today. And today, $300,000 is a lot of money. And he said, “Well, buy it.” He raised $25,000 for earnest money. And in 90 days, he had to have $100,000. He did not have a dime, but just believed God. God was leading him that way. And the last day, he still needed $7,250. The last hour, he was still $250 short. 45 minutes before the deadline, he got the money. And the whole time he just believed God was going to meet the need, and God did. And he did not own the radio station himself; his contributors—but he got that thing, his crowd bought that thing under his leadership. And it is just that kind of man. He just believed God. One of his homes—he had several. The Rebecca Home—they had about $3 million in that thing back in the day. And just believed God.
Someone that is gifted with faith is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Let me give you a couple of attributes of someone that has the gift of faith. They have an unusual ability to claim the promises of God. God said it; they believe it. I am not just kind of simple for them. Yep, God said it; we are going to do it. For me, I am like, “Whoa.” And I just do not have that ability.
Two little boys watching the sun set. One boy said, “Look at how fast the sun moves.” The other boy—brothers—the other boy said, “What Dad said: it is not the sun that moves; it is the earth that moves.” And the boy, the other boy, he said, “Well, I have seen the sun move, and I watch the earth stand still. That is the sun.” The other boy said, “I do not care what you say; I believe what Dad said.” Now, somebody just… God said it; He is going to meet my need, and I just believe it. I have someone more with the gift of faith. They lead others around them to have more faith. It is just kind of catchy. They can go through dark trials without losing their attitude of faith—the spirit and attitude of faith. They go forward when others quit for the cause of Christ.
Now, they are often—this is amazing, so often this is true—they are often instrumental in starting new ministries; pioneers often. They just ask God to provide, and they trust Him for the outcome. Circumstances do not have maybe as much control over their belief in God’s promises. It does not matter the circumstances; they just believe God and His Word’s promises.
Let me give you a little definition of the gift of faith: Someone that has an unusual ability to believe in God for their every need and request.
The importance, very briefly, to the gift of faith: God responds to faith. “For by grace are ye saved through faith.” The Hall of Fame of Faith over there, Hebrews 11. Sixteen times the Bible says, “By faith, by faith, by faith, by faith.” All these great patriarchs of the faith, by faith, by faith. Every great work that is done for God is done by faith: great marriages, great children, you know, just all these, by faith. And so, very, very important.
I have a theme verse this year in many ways: Matthew 17:20. And remember the apostles could not cast a demon out, and Jesus cast it out. Why can we not do that? And Jesus said, “Because of your unbelief.” “For verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Nothing. Faith. The great importance of this gift of faith.
And okay, I might not be gifted at it, but I can gain and work and grow at this thing of faith. Faith is what takes us from the realm of what we can do, and we enter into what God can do. I do not know about you, but at Rutherford County Baptist Church, I do not want what we can do. We want what God can do. And it is going to take faith to get there. And some people are gifted as… Praise the Lord. Let us not try to drag them down now. Let us try to say, “Hey, let it rub off on me over there. I need some of that faith,” you know. Praise the Lord for you. And let us try to grow our faith. You are gifted—praise the Lord for us. A wonderful thing. Every great work for God is done by faith.
Then let me say this, you will know it: Faith pleases God. Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
Can I say this? And this may be a little bit of a mind-twister: But if you are gifted with faith, it may not take quite as much faith to claim a promise. You understand what I am saying? “Well, I am not gifted at that.” Well, it may take a little more faith if you had claimed that promise with the same amount. And God is pleased with that. Faith is what pleases Him. But if you have faith, praise the Lord for it; please God through it.
Now, a couple of tendencies of the weakness of those gifted with faith: Sometimes they just have a hard time listening to wise counsel. Proverbs 11:14: “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsels there is safety.” They just have a little hard time. Sometimes they have a little hard time just really seeking after God’s agenda. Man, they have got going somewhere, and they are just going, and God is kind of changing things. They do not want to change. “I got there,” you know, “that is it.” You know. And sometimes—I am not saying, oh, sometimes it can be—sometimes they expect everyone else to automatically have the same amount of faith. And we are all wired differently.
But friend, can I encourage you on this last gift here? Even if you are gifted there, praise the Lord. I am happy for you. I am a little covetous, you know, but I am happy for you. I am joking. I am glad for you. I like to get some of it, you know. But if you are not gifted, hey, we can work at this thing. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. One of the fruit of the Spirit is faith. He can give you faith, and we can work at this thing.
A pastor in Boston years and years ago, Dr. A.C. Dixon—their church needed $2,000. Now this was back in the day; $2,000 was a lot of money. They had some bills, and they needed to pay their bills. They were short $2,000. The pastor and the deacons, they met; they prayed. Well, the pastor and the deacons met together and they prayed together. Well, they just had a prayer meeting seeking God. And one of the deacons, I believe the man gifted with the gift of faith, he said, “Brother, God has answered our prayers. God is going to send the money next Sunday in the offering.”
I said, “All right. Now, I hope you are right.” Well, Sunday came around, and it was just… it was a gully washer, as they say. And they did not have 2023 vehicles to drive, you know, and they did not have all this back in the day. And, boy, the crowd was going to be down. And it was so down that one of the men suggested, “Well, we… let us not even take an offering. It is going to be depressed, and, you know, the little pennies and dollars that come in when we need $2,000.” And the one man, he said, “I did not trust in the weather to provide; I trusted in God to provide.” And they took the offering, and they had $2,600 come in. Now that man used his faith. A friend, all of us—okay, I am not gifted there, but I can work at it. I believe Jesus was gifted like you and I, but I believe He worked. I believe it was high, very high in every one of them because He worked at them without sin, and He is our example.
Would you bow your heads? Close your eyes? I do not know how the Lord might speak to your heart: ruling, ministry, faith. Maybe you spend some time: “Lord, show me where and how I am gifted and how I can use my gift for You.” Lord, would You show me where I am gifted and where and how I can use my gift for You? Lord, would You show me where I am gifted and where and how I can use my gift for You?
Would you stand? Would you stand tonight when that word of prayer? Would you spend some time? “Lord, show me how I am gifted, and where and how I can use my gift for You.” Would you do that?
Father, thank You that when You regenerated us, You gave us Your spirit, if You would, Lord, through Your Spirit, and You gifted us. Father, help us to see how we are wired. And Lord, show us where and how You want us to use it for You. Lord, would You put us together to do much for You? We thank You, Lord, for what You do. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
We will just spend some time as our instruments play, just tugging at your heart. May be a good thing. Come down an old-fashioned altar. “Lord, show me how I am wired and how and where You want me to use me.” Would you tell Him that?
A wise man says, “I am wired there, but I am not there, and I want to do my best to be used by God accordingly.” Worry about the gifts you do not have; just use the talents you have now. I say work at them, but use the talents you have, and those are the ones that God gave more to in the parables of the talents. Take what you have; use it for the Lord. God gives you more.
Now, some of these—one of these Sunday nights we are going to give out a gifts test, and they are not everything, but God can use that. We are going to try to study these gifts and get a lot of them in there, and then we will take a gift test and maybe help us a little bit in that, and looking forward to that. And that would be a good, good thing. Glad you are here tonight, and praise the Lord, looking forward to Saturday. Amen. And it will be a good day, and excited about that. Soul winning 9:30, then 2 o’clock, and then Sunday. Looking forward to God’s blessing.
Praise the Lord, young man down here, Travis, asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be his Savior this morning. Pray a little for that. And two yesterday, one that I know of today. I do not know of any others, but praise the Lord, God is working. We want to praise the Lord for God’s working in the hearts of lives. What a great, great blessing. We are very appreciative of what God is doing in our church, and everybody is just being involved. What a blessing, what a blessing for sure. And amen for it. Brother Baxter, I have never asked you about this or talked to you about it. Would you mind dismissing us in a word of prayer? Brother Baxter, would you please, sir?
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - - Spiritual Gifts - Sunday PM 03102024