Next Step Christian Church
Worship 4/25/26
      • Bible Trivia
        Loading...
  • All Creatures Of Our God And King
  • Stir In Me
  • Abide
  • Holy Spirit
  • The Spirit super-naturally empowers disciples of Jesus to Love God and Love Others - inside and outside the church. We are taught to desire certain gifts, use the gifts we are given well, and not envy or diminish the gifts of others. The motivational gifts connect with how God has created us, as prophets, servers, teachers, exhorters, givers, organizers, and mercies. As disciples of Jesus, what gifts do you have today and how are you using them? As you disciple others, what gifts do they have and how can you help them use them and use them well?

    Unused Gift

    Who was here June 5 of 2021? You might remember this. I love that I can pull up old sermons from a passage… and learn differently. I presented this gift to Logan forever ago.
    Here was the vision: Logan has long expressed an interest in computer science. For his fifteenth birthday I got him this kit. The idea: let’s make an arcade game for the basement. Play all the classic NES and arcade games whenever, learn about computers doing it… we’ll even make the cabinet and do some woodworking.
    It’s a gift with everything. Learning. Bonding time. Fun video games. Awesome.
    But what I actually gave Logan was this. For those who don’t immediately recognize it, this is a Raspberry Pi. A tiny computer, ripe with powerful potential and possibility. We just to flash the ROM, connect power and the externals, but it in a cabinet and BAM! We get all the fun and joy of the arcade.
    Now I told this story in 2021 as a sad story. Logan didn’t know how to do that. I gave him instructions… but we never followed them. We never built it. It’s a dusty computer part sitting in his room. Unused.
    Here’s the fun thing. In the following year he had a computer science class at Future Forward and needed a project. He took his unused Rasberry Pi, hooked up a visual sensor to it, programmed a game of Pong that you could play with your finger on a table.
    Totally awesome! Totally different from what I was planning and envisioning, but a perfect use for the gift.

    Disciples are Spirit-Gifted

    For the last couple weeks we have talked about a gift that you have. The first “Spiritual Gift” is the Gift of the Holy Spirit, given to you when you Jesus called you and you put your life in His hands as Lord and Savior.
    The first gift God always gives is Himself.
    And the Spirit produces fruit in your life, even as you work with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, loving, and practicing patience, the Spirit is multiplying love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control in you!
    … and that would be enough.
    But there are more gifts, more ways the Holy Spirit works in our lives. And wouldn’t it be amazing if someone had catalogued these? Paid attention to all the different ways the Spirit was working and moving, wrote it down, and then taught it?
    Yup. That is one of the things the early church leaders are doing, the apostles are paying attention to not only how the Spirit is at work in them, but also how it is at work in their disciples, in the churches, in each church, across all the Church.
    And they notice something SUPER important. There is some kind of diversity happening here… the Spirit isn’t expressing quite the same through you as through me. … and what does that mean?
    Peter calls it “God’s varied grace” or “manifold grace”, but that word grace “Xaris” is the same place we get “spiritual gift” Xarismos from:
    1 Peter 4:10–11 ESV
    10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
    Use your gift for God! Amen and amen!
    And that’s a good list, and these lists are scattered throughout Scripture. None of the lists are complete or really meant to be complete or exhaustive. Each list is serving a purpose where it is found. Here, for example, stewardship, speaking, serving, they just read like representative examples that it is ALL for God’s glory.
    Use your gift for the right reasons, the right purpose, it’s all to God’s glory through Jesus.
    I want to take us to a couple of Paul’s lists.

    Corinthian Gifts

    First in 1 Corinthians. It is familiar territory to many of us and it starts with a passage we read a couple weeks ago about who has the Holy Spirit, but this time we will get a running start:
    1 Corinthians 12:1–3 ESV
    1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
    He wants them to know they have the Spirit of God… in the context of spiritual gifts.
    And he has a very particular focus for his teaching of the spiritual gifts. After what is to come, here, he is going to go into the diversity in the Body of Christ. One body, many members… and some are hands and some are feet and eyes.
    And eyes should not go off and form their own “eyeball” church… that would be weird and ineffective, the church they are in NEEDS their eyes, AND hands AND FEET. And even though hands might irritate eyes, or feet might wish they were hands, the unity of the Body requires all the pieces and parts working in unity.
    … and then follows 1 Cor 13, the “love” chapter. It’s not about weddings, first and foremost, it’s about how we do this “church family” thing together.
    So the purpose of Paul’s breakdown is to show that we have different gifts, and that shouldn’t divide us, but bring us together in collaboration by one Spirit.
    1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV
    4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.
    Now folks have leaned into this breakdown quite a bit, and I think it will be helpful for us today. Gifts (xarismos), Service (diakonos) and Activities (energema).
    I’ve heard it called Gifts of Motivation, Ministry and Manifestation.
    1 Corinthians 12:7–10 ESV
    7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
    Now Paul is going to go on to describe gifts of manifestation, they are very outcome focused and primarily recognized by supernatural outcomes. wisdom, knowledge, healing, miracles, discernment, tongues.
    How do you know if there was a manifestation of miracles, of healing? Were they healed.
    How do you know if it was discernment? Was it right. Tongues? Was it interpreted, did someone understand. Even wisdom, was that knowledge applied rightly? Knowledge, was it true?
    These gifts are outcome focused, activity focused, manifestations.
    We shouldn’t be jealous there, we are united there.
    But there’s a different way we can look at the gifts, one mentioned here but not elaborated by Paul… but it is the aspect he focuses on in Romans.

    Roman Gifts

    Similar start, same metaphor, likely addressing the same problem in the church. Diversity is hard:
    Romans 12:4–5 ESV
    4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
    But listen to these gifts, not manifestations, but these ones are called the Motivational gifts because the focus here is on where the gift comes from, not the external effect:
    Romans 12:6–8 ESV
    6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
    And because we can’t possible skip it as a summary
    Romans 12:9 ESV
    9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.

    The Motivational Gifts

    Prophecy
    Serving
    Teaching
    Exhorting
    Giving
    Organizing (aka Leading, Managing)
    Mercy
    Anyone taken any of those personality types, echograms, Myer’s Briggs, Strength 2.0, etc…
    They can be helpful as a kind of lens to think about who you are, how you act and react… and to notice that it is different than how others act and react.
    By the time you have taken the 20th one at a corporate retreat… you’re probably done with it. Well LONG before Myers and Briggs were developing their system in World War II, God the Creator was crafting and creating humans with beautiful diversity… and here’s the thing: you were created to be Spirit-filled.
    There’s a funny dichotomy, a trap we fall into all the time, I do it all the time with fun phrases like:

    SuperNatural

    God puts his “super” on our “natural.”
    But how do I know what is super and what is natural? The code there, in my mind, is what is “mine” and what is “God’s”?
    Hint: it is all God’s.
    The right intended design for you as a full human being, made in His Image, is to be intimately connected with Him by His Spirit. So there is no true distinction between “you as you are by yourself” and “you as you are in the Spirit”… you are made more yourself, more you as you were created to be.

    The Spirit empowers you to be more perfectly you

    And here is where some of these gifts come in, especially as they are related to our motivations and ways of being, and then to being members of the body.
    God has created you on purpose, crafted you to be who you are, how you are. He doesn’t want you to be someone else, he doesn’t want to brainwash you, He wants to change you to become more of who you are in the fullest, deepest, best, freest sense.
    Looking at this list again, we are all to do all of these things:
    Prophecy
    We are told to earnestly desire prophecy, hear from God and speak it, we practice that here every week.
    Serving - modeled by Jesus, an act of love, finding feet to wash and toilets to clean.
    Teaching - teaching all the commands of Jesus as we make disciples.
    Exhorting - lifting folks hoke, giving them hope, speaking life and encouragement into one another!
    Giving - generously, sacrificially, to free our hearts from the grip of wealth and get to be a part of Him blessing others through us.
    Organizing (aka Leading, Managing) - being good stewards and leading in places and spaces where we are called to it.
    Mercy - and knowing, feeling that someone is hurting and walking with them in it. Kindness and mercy and love.
    Did Jesus have all of these? Yes, absolutely!
    Do you have some of these, maybe all one day or another? Yes, I thought and prayed through these for many of you, I see these in you.
    But I bet there is one that leaps off the page for you. That maybe barely sounds like a spiritual gift because it is just the way you are wired. Maybe you were this way before you even knew the Lord… and the Spirit is bringing this aspect of you into all fullness.
    You have a gift… and this church… and the Church global… needs you to operate in your gift.
    Church, as the Church of Jesus, we need you to know this about yourself and operate in the fulness of your spiritual gift.
    We have some tools that can help you discover these. The best way is to discover these with a mentor, someone who is discipling you, who themselves know the gifts and can affirm and direct you in your gifting.
    And, then, as we disciple others, this is a thing we are looking for, praying about, talking with people we are discipling about. Just as Peter is with his disciples, as Paul is here with his disciples in both Corinth and Rome.
    Logan used his gift, differently than I expected. But creatively, and well, and it accomplished the purpose for which it was given, even if it looked different than I initially expected.
    Our role as disciplers is not to dictate the expression of the Spirit but to help our disciples discover what the Spirit is doing, has already done, and help them take a next step forward walking with the Spirit.
    This is a way we can do that.
    As we disciple by name, we can do this intentionally. Maybe it’s your kiddo. Have a name in mind, I sure hope you have some names you are discipling on purpose. Consider that friend, that coworker, that child:
    Are they a prophet? Do they tend to see the truth of things, they feel the injustice of things deploy, lies drive them crazy, unfairness drives them insane. Prophet.
    Peter is a prophet by motivation, bold and true… and sometimes foot in mouth.
    Are they wired as a Servant, spotting the things that need to be done, getting things done especially for those they like. Serving.
    Paul writes of Timothy like one with the gift of serving.
    Or do they love knowledge, love digging in and getting to the truth of things… and then love sharing what they’ve learned. Sometimes they can’t shut up about it. Teaching. This is me, by the way.
    Luke is a teacher, collects all the knowledge, and lays it out as complete and ordered as he can. Wrote most of the New Testament.
    Some folks just want to lift others up, help them feel good, make them laugh, compliment them. It doesn’t mean they are always in a good mood, but this is where they find joy, by pouring into others and encouraging them. Exhorting.
    The apostle Paul seems to be an exhorter, opening and closing every letter with incredible encouragement and exhortation.
    Maybe your friend can see how resources drive so much of what we do, and getting the right resources to the right place at the right time can solve so many problems. The gift of making money, that’s real. And the gift of giving it generously and rightly. The gift of giving.
    The apostle Matthew could be a giver. Able to get rich… and give it all away.
    Or are they big picture people, they can see all the tasks that need to get done, break down the big project into pieces and get everyone on schedule. Organizing.
    Someone like Nehemiah rebuilding the wall in Jerusalem.
    And God bless the child or friend with the gift of Mercy. Quite often they have feels to big for their body, and they are hurting over not only the things that hurt them but the things that hurt you. Beautiful compassion and empathy…. and deeply wanting to meet
    Perhaps the apostle John, the disciple “Jesus loved” is a Mercy.
    It is a powerful thing to recognize how you are wired… and how it can interact with folks who are wired differently. Who see the world a bit different, who notice different things. Every one of these motivations can be out of balance, drive us to different sin and stupid…
    and every one, empowered and directed by the Spirit, submitted to the Lord, can be beautiful and powerful and is desperately needed by your church.
    So, disciple of Jesus, discover your gift, and start practicing it. And in the fulness, see the Spirit growing you in all these other aspects as well.
    Disciples of Jesus, as you disciple others by name, on purpose, pay attention to how God has created them. How is the Spirit at work in them, what gift do you see that you can nurture in them.
    Here is a beautiful thing as a small church: you have opportunity to serve in your gifting. Ministry gifting can be different from Motivational gifting, it is not a 1-1, you have this gift therefore you do this thing… and we say that they Manifesting gifts can pop out all over the place as a simple result of faithfulness.
    When these things line up, we achieve maximum fruitfulness with minimum weariness.
    But you have opportunity to try some things on here, to test out gifts in the Body.
    And I’ll say this again: the Body needs you. You are here to be loved and to be served… and to love and to serve. Not in the same way I do, or the same way KK does… but as God has created and crafted you, as the Spirit is empowering you.

    Communion

    It is no accident, that right before jumping into spiritual gifts and the analogy of the body, Paul teaches them how to rightly take the Lord’s Supper.
    1 Corinthians 11:23–26 ESV
    23 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

      • 1 Peter 4:10–11NIV

      • 1 Corinthians 12:1–3NIV

      • 1 Corinthians 12:4–6NIV

      • 1 Corinthians 12:7–10NIV

      • Romans 12:4–5NIV

      • Romans 12:6–8NIV

      • Romans 12:9NIV

      • 1 Corinthians 11:23–26NIV

  • The Body
Next Step Christian Church
pastordusty@nextstepchurch.org
(720) 663-9085
https://www.nextstepchurch.org
18 members • 15 followers