Rick Warren - Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts—Part One

Hello, everybody, this is Pastor Rick's Daily Hope. Thank you so much for joining us today, and if you're brand new, welcome to the Daily Hope family. We hope you'll enjoy the teachings of Pastor Rick Warren right here. I'm so excited for all of you to learn about your shape. It might not be the shape you're thinking of right now. Rick loves to use acrostics and this one is shape your shape, your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality and experiences. And one of the reasons I love this series and have shared it with so many friends is because Rick talks about the way God wired you and why you need not just know your shape, but how to use it to do the things that God designed you to do. Very excited to hear today's message. So here's Rick with part one of a message called Unwrapping your Spiritual Gifts. Robert kriegel Runs wrote a book in which he said everybody is always in one of three zones. He said, one is the panic zone. And that's exactly what you do in the panic zone. You panic. In the panic zone, you are out of your league. You are doing work that you're not gifted or shaped or prepared or educated or equipped to do. You are stressed out when you're way in over your head. Have you ever been there? How many have you ever been in the panic zone? The rest of you are lying because everybody's been there. If you've never been in the panic zone, I want you to preach the six services next weekend. That will immediately move you into the panic zone. At the other end of the spectrum is the drone zone, and that's where everything is too easy. You are in a job that's beneath your talent. You got twelve cylinders and you only use it two. It's mindless work, boring. You're bummed out by it. Everything is so predictable and easy. You're just bored out of your mind. There's not a single challenge, and many of you have been in the drone zone. Between those two extremes is what he calls the sea zone. He calls it the sea zone for challenge and confidence and commitment and control. And that's where your gifts and your abilities perfectly match the task that you have to do. I call it the Jay zone for joy because when you're in your Jay zone, you're in your joy zone. It just feels good. You go this is what I was made to do. This is me. I'm good at this, I enjoy this, and God is blessing this. And that's where God wants you to live your life, in that joy zone, not in panic, not in boredom, but right there in the middle. Now, last week we said that God is a giver, and he is in. Everything that we have is a gift from God. That the God so loved the world that he gave. And everything you have is a gift from God. And He made you unique. You are uniquely shaped for His purpose here on earth. There's not anybody in the world like you. God does not make copies of anything. No two trees are like, No, two animals are like. No, two people are like. God doesn't make copies because originals are always more valuable than copies, even in twins. They're differences that are distinct. And God said, I made you to be you, and I don't want you being anybody else. We said that there are five things that make you you. We call them your shape shape. They're on your outline. They are spiritual gifts. What am I gifted to do? Heart? What do I love to do? Your passions, your interests, those are given to you, put inside of you by God. Abilities is a your natural abilities that you're good at. P is your personality. You have a very distinct personality, different than everybody else in the world. And E are your experiences which are unique to you. And you have vocational experiences and relational experiences, and spiritual experiences and painful experiences. And God uses all these things to shape you for the purpose He has for your life. Now today we're going to start as we look at each of these in detail, how God has shaped you. That when you know what you're shaped to be, then you know what you ought to be, and then you can start focusing on that and make better use of your life. I want to begin by just pointing out that the moment you step across the line spiritually and you say, Okay, I'm going to be a believer in Christ, I'm going to go God's way, not my own way. I'm going to let him direct my life. I want to follow his purpose, not my purpose. I'm going to do what I was wired and made to do. The moment you step across the line put your faith in Christ. God gives you four major gifts. Many people don't even know that they've got these gifts. But God gives you four major gifts. Number one, he gives you the gift of forgiveness. Now, folks, even if there was no such thing as heaven, and even there is, but even if there weren't, it would be worth it just coming and get in my life right with God, just so I don't care a bunch of guilt around. Most people in life are not very happy because they carry this constant burden of guilt and resentment, guilt over things I've done to others and resentment over things they've done to me. And that makes you miserable. And the answer to both is forgiveness, asking for it and offering it. And the Bible says in Romans five point fifteen, Jesus Christ brought forgiveness to many through God's bountiful gift. And the first thing he gives Jesus says, Okay, we're gonna wipe out everything you've ever done wrong, wiped out, forgive and forgotten, no condemnation. It's like as if it never happened. That's a good deal. That's the first gift. God gives you forgiveness of all of your past. Second thing he gives you is eternal life. And you might call this the gift that keeps on giving, because God has long range plans for you, and he says, I want you to be with me in heaven forever and ever and ever and ever. And in Romans six point twenty three, the Bible says this. The wages of sin is death, that's the bad news. But the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. You're never going to work your way to heaven. You're never going to earn your way to heaven. You can't be good enough to get into heaven because heaven's perfect and you're not. You can't buy your way into heaven. God does not great on a curve and goes, well, your good works for this much, and your bad works for this notch and so yeah, okay, you're in. You can't do it that way. The only way you'll ever get into heaven is it's a free gift. That's what the Bible teaches. That's what Jesus said, and it is a free gift that you accept by faith. And I say, Jesus, I'm going to accept what you did for me on the cross, and I get the free gift of eternal life in heaven. The third thing God gives you the moment you become a believer is he gives you the gift of his Spirit. The gift of his Spirit, the Bible calls him the Holy Spirit. And God says, I'm not just going to be around you, and I'm not just going to be with you. I'm going to put my spirit inside of you. And the Bible says in Romans five to five, God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. How do you know when you're letting God live through your life? The Bible says, the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and self control and faith. These are the nine qualities that God says, I put into your life when you let Me live through you. And he says, I'm going to be with you, and I'm going to give you strength that you don't have. Many of you have never called on that strength. He's put it in you. It's not a feeling, it's a fact. You may feel full of God, you may not. Doesn't really. Feelings are irrelevant. It's a fact. And God says, you trust me, and I will help give you power through you to do what you need to do. The fourth gift that He gives us is the gift of some special abilities. When you put your faith in Christ, he gives you the gift of forgiveness, eternal life, his spirit, and some special abilities. Now these special abilities are called in the Bible spiritual gifts, which makes them different from material gifts or physical gifts. They are spiritual gifts. They are the ability abilities you need to get the job done that God wants you to do. These spiritual gifts give you a special ability to do the purpose He planned for you. Now, the Bible has a lot to say about this. Look up here on the screen. Onet Corinthians, chapter twelve says, brothers and sisters, I want you to understand about spiritual gifts. I want you to understand because most people who are believers don't even know they've got them, and much less know what they are. But you have put some spiritual gifts that God put them in your life, and their dormant waiting to be used. Special abilities that you now have. The Bible says this in First Corinthians chapter one, Paul says, I never stop thanking God for all the generous gifts He has given you now that you belong to Christ Jesus. He has enriched your church with gifts of eloquence and every kind of knowledge, and you have every spiritual gift that you need. Now. Notice he says in this verse, He's enriched your church with gifts. If that could be said about any church, you could be said about saddleback. There are literally thousands of very gifted people in this congregation. God has gifted you and the other people in our church family in an amazing way. It is your giftedness that I see in you that gives me the confidence say, hey, let's go after some of these big world problems like poverty and disease and illiteracy and corruption and injustice and aids and stuff like this. What because I see the giftedness in this congregation that maybe you don't see. It's an amazing combination of talent and the way that God has shaped you. And God says, I gave you these to be used for a purpose. The Bible says this here on the screen one Corinthians twelve. A spiritual gift is given to each of us. That means everybody has at least one spiritual gift. If you're a believer, you've got at least one, and you've got many that you don't know about. Situal gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church. Now, what is a spiritual gift? Well, as I said, God has a purpose for your life, and your spiritual gifts are the equipment that He gives you to do what He asks you to do. God will never ask you to do something he doesn't give you the ability to do. And it's given to you the moment you accept Christ. You don't get to choose your gift. God says, I'm going to choose it. You don't earn your gift. It's a gift. It's sovereignly given. And important thing is it's not given for your benefit. Your spiritual gifts are not given for you. They're given to you to help other people. And other people in the church family are given those gifts, their gifts to help you. For instance, I have some spiritual gifts. When I use my spiritual gifts, like one of them is the gift of teaching. When I use my gift, you get blessed when you use your spiritual gift, I get blessed, and so do the other people. If other people don't use their gift, you don't use your gift, I don't use my gift. We all get cheated. And every gift is important. It's like a puzzle. When you have a puzzle and one jigsaw piece is missing. What's the first thing you notice the one missing piece? And if you don't use, you don't develop those gifts that are dormant lying there may be undiscovered in your own life. Then we all get cheated. Now, spiritual gifts are different than natural abilities. They can appear the same, but they're different. When you were born, you were given certain natural abilities. For instance, how many of you can roll your tongue? You know I'm talking about like that. How many of you can roll your tongue? Okay, about sixty three percent can roll their tongue. The rest of the people are defective. No, just and it is just kidding. You can roll you anybody can roll your tongue. Under Look at that. Let me see it. That is so cool. That is just that is just too cool. Can anybody wiggle your ears? Okay, let me see that's great. That is really good. Anybody double jointed in their fingers. Okay, all right, let me see it. Ye that's ugly. That that's just flat out ugly. All right? Okay? Uh? Anybody double jointed in their toes? That is a real ability. Okay? Can any of you do this? Do any of you hear voices in your head? No? No, just kidding. Uh. Every one of us have different natural abilities. Have you noticed the when kids are born some things they're just naturally good at. Some kids are born being performers, and I mean they come out they're just so cute and they're just showing off and they're just fun to watch. And other kids are just retiring and they look the other way when you look at them. Isn't that true? Who taught them that? It's inborn natural gift? Some of you are good at math, and some of you are good at mechanics, and some of you are good at art and music and all their we're all Some of you are born coordinated, and you're good at sports, and you are just naturally you have a good sense of balance, and some of us are just not coordinated. Okay, And you're never going to be coordinated, no matter how much, because you didn't get those natural abilities. When you were born, you got to set a natural abilities. Now when you are born again. In other words, when you have a spiritual rebirth, when you are converted, when you come to Christ, when you experience salvation in your spiritual rebirth, you get a new set of spiritual abilities to do a whole new thing. They're giving to you the moment you become a believer, and you don't have them until you become a believer. If you're not a believer, you don't have any spiritual gifts yet, but they're given to you the moment you step across that line. Now, what's the difference, Well, you might write this down. Spiritual gifts produce spiritual results. Spiritual gifts produce spiritual results. For instance, have you ever noticed the difference between a Bible teacher and a spiritually gifted Bible teacher? Big difference, big difference. The difference is the difference between information and transformation. A teacher can give you information, but when you're gifted at teaching the Bible, it transforms people's lives. It changes them on the inside. It has an additional power to it that just normal teaching doesn't have. In fact, I know a lot of people who are great teaching in school or in college or business, and they're professional teachers, but they don't have the spiritual gift of teaching, and so it's not the same thing. You can be good in one and not good in the other. Have you ever noticed the difference between somebody who is naturally good at singing and somebody who had the spiritual gift of say, encouragement or or exhortation while they sang. Do you notice the difference in the singing? Oh yeah? Why is it some people singing oh yeah, that was okay to other people saying you go whoa? I just felt that in my heart. It just grabbed me. They had the gift inside them and it has that. When you hear somebody who's a really good singer, you go wow. When you hear somebody who is spiritually gifted in this, you go wow. God. It draws your attention to God, what a great God. It draws the focus onto God himself. Have you ever tried to see the difference and notice difference between somebody who tried to encourage you and somebody who had the spiritual gift of encouragement. You know some people that tried to encourage it, and he just want to say thanks, but no thanks. You know you're not really encouraging me. You're not helping me right now. In fact, you're kind of messing it up. Four reasons why you need to know your spiritual gifts. Four reasons. Number one because they shape your work. They shape your work, they said last week. In architecture, form follows function. Tell me what you want to use the building for, and I'll tell you how to build it. But in human beings it's the exact opposite. Function follows form. Figure out how God shaped you, how he wired you, what he's given you in gifts, heart, personality, experiences, abilities, and then you'll know what you're supposed to do with your life. And so your shape, your spiritual gifts, shape your work. Now, Jesus said this on the screen. He said, I must work the work of the one who sent me to Earth while there is still time. He says, I got to work the works of the one who sent me. He said, you know what, Life doesn't last forever. You're only here for a while. Then you're going into eternity. Goes, I got to get the job done while I'm here, because I'm not going to have forever. That's true of you two. In fact, Paul said this, Saint Paul, he said, life is worth nothing. It's worth nothing unless I use it for doing the work assign me by the Lord Jesus. Did you know that God has work for you to do, specific work that he wants you to do while you're on this planet, and nobody else can do that work. It's called your life's work. God doesn't put people on earth without giving them a life's work. And your life's work involves your job, your career, it involves your ministry, your mission, all these different things. And God says, I put you on earth. Did you know that God has work for you to do? Work is a part of God's purpose for your life. He didn't put you on earth just to be a placeholder, just to take up space, just to use resources, to be a cipher. No, He put you here to make a contribution. You say, what am I supposed to What contribution am I suposed to make? Based on your shape? Now, God never gives you a task or work to do without giving you the ability to do it. And that's called your spiritual gifts. And as I said, they're laying dormant in you until you decide to discover them and develop them. Surveys have shown many many surveys have shown that in America, most people, most Americans, are in the wrong job. They're in a job they're not shaped to do. They're in a job primarily for economic reasons, not because it's fulfilling, not because they're good at it, not because they're shaped at it, but because it's just putting bread on the table. Let me say this to you. It's not like you're living in a number of countries that I could mention to you where you don't have the freedom. If you're in a job that's not using your talent, your abilities, the shape that God has given you, your spiritual gifts, get out of it. Life is too short to waste your life on a job that doesn't express who you were made to be. Get out of it. Even if it means taking a cut and pay, even if it means selling your home, even if it means moving out of Orange County, Get out of it. Life is too short and your life is too important. God did not put you on earth to make money. The greatest things in life aren't things. But what matters is what God has shaped you to do. I want you to write this down on your outline. My gift is the power to bless others. My gift is the power to bless others. If you are a believer, every one of you have that spiritual gift, at least one, and you probably have many. And it is the development of your spiritual gifts, those abilities that God has given you that blesses other people. Now the Bible says this, they're on your outline in First Corinthians, chapter twelve. Let's read it aloud together. There are different spiritual gifts, but the same spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, yet the same Lord is served. There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person. Now there's a word that's used three times in that verse. I want you to circle. It's the word different. There are different spiritual gifts, there are different ways of serving, and there are different types of work to do. Now, we're all called to serve God. We're just called to serve God in different ways. So don't try to copy anybody else. Don't try to be like anybody else. You're unique. When you read a biography, to go, wow, I wish I could pray like that, or I wish I could do that. Don't because God didn't make you to be that person. God made you to be you now, knowing your spiritual gifts answers questions like What's God's will for my life? What does God want me to do with my life? What kind of job? What kind of career should I have? What should be my ministry? What should be my mission in the world. Gives explain where you're supposed to be headed. They shape your work now. Not only do that, they explain why people see things differently. It's why you get in fights with your girlfriend or your boyfriend, or you getting fights with your wife or your husband or people were because people are gifted differently. And even when you don't know what your spiritual gifts are, you always approach it, approach problems from your giftedness. You always do. And that's why two people can approach the same problem and they see it from a different angle, because they're gifted in different ways. And you always approach problems with your gifts. For instance, find invited a bunch of you over for dinner tonight at my house and we're sitting around the table and somebody serves the dessert and they spill it. Now, if you had seven people or six people sitting around that table, and each one of them had a different gift, they'd respond in a different way. For instance, if you had the spiritual gift of exhortation, you'd be likely to say, well, that's what happens when you're not careful, because people with that gift are always figuring out how to correct something. On the other end, if you had the spiritual gift of mercy, you'd be going, oh, it's okay, don't worry about Everybody does that, and your goal is to relieve embarrassment. If you have the gift of mercy, Now, if you have the gift of serving, you would probably immediately say, here, let me help you clean it up, because that's your goal to help meet a practical need. On the other hand, if you had the spiritual gift of teaching, you'd probably say, now, the reason it fell over is because it was too heavy on one side, and you're always trying to figure out why on everything. If you got that gift, if you have the gift of spiritual gift of giving, you say, we don't worry. I'll be glad to go buy another dessert. Be right back. And you know you're trying to meet a practical need. If you had the spiritual gift of administration, and the Bible says that is a spiritual gift, it's different from human management. It is the spiritual gift of administration that God gives you to organize things. And if you had the spiritual gift of administration, you'd probably say, Jim, you go get the mop so you make a new dessert. Betty, you help me clean this up. You know, you know, in every small group, God puts at least one person with the gift of the administration. It's true, in every small group, somebody has the gift of administration because God says, we're going to organize this to achieve a group goal. Now, not only does your spiritual gift shape your work, it actually shows your worth. That's the second thing. It shows your worth. Your gifts show your worth. They show how valuable you are because God has put some valuable gifts in your life. Now, the reason why you have value is because of what God says about you, not because of what other people say about you. See today, many people lack self esteem. They don't feel good about themselves because they're always trying to pump themselves up by the kind of clothes they wear, the kind of car they drive, the kind of things they say, the way they look. They're always trying to pump themselves up to me them feel better about themselves because they really don't accept themselves, which, as I said last week, is really rebellion against God. It's saying, God, you blew it, you made a mistake. You didn't know what you're doing when you made me me. Well, if God had wanted you to be somebody else, you wouldn't exist. But He wanted you, and he made you to be you. And so real self esteem comes from three things. Number One, God created you and thought up every one of the details of your life before you were born. Number Two, Jesus died for you, which shows your value. And number three, God's spirit lives in you, and he has gifted you with certain spiritual gifts, and that shows your value. If you're a parent, you should teach what I just told you to your children as soon as you can, because when they understand God made me, I'm unique, nobody else is like me, then I don't have to compare or compete or criticize, And I don't have to project onto others, and I don't have to copy. See as I said last week, most of us start off as originals but end up as carbon copies. God made you to be you. By the time you get out of school, you're already a bunch of what other people want you to be. Your parents, your friends, and everybody else. God says, no, no, no, no no, you're missing it. I wanted you to be you, And he says, I don't want you doing three things. First, don't copy, Second, don't compare, and third don't project. Now copying is saying I wish I were like you, and projections when you say I wish you were like me, and we do that too, We do gift projection. You should feel the way about this the way I do. That causes a lot of arguments. You should see this the way I see it. You should care about it the way I care about it, and on and on. But these things show you're worth And when your kids come to know Christ, help them to realize that they have spiritual gifts. An eight year old has spiritual gifts if he knows the Lord, and they can begin to make a spiritual contribution. Look up here on the screen. The Bible says, we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us to do long ago. Now you know the Bible, the New Testament, part of it was written originally in Greek, the Old Testament in Hebrew, and the Greek word for masterpiece. There is the Greek word poema. It's the word we get poem from. God says you're my poem. God says you're my work of art. He says you're my masterpiece. I don't want you copying somebody else. You're my masterpiece. And I've put some gifts in you, some hard abilities, personnel and experiences, and I want you to use it and it shows your worth. Now, every part of the body is needed. We're all needed. Look at this verse. The Bible says, we're all part of Christ's body. The Bible calls the Church the body of Christ, hands, legs, arms. We are all part of Christ's body, and it takes every one of us to make it complete. In other words, hand can't say this foot, I don't need you, and the ear can't say the eye, I don't need you. And every part of the body is necessary for we each have different work to do. That there's that differences again. So we belong to each other and each needs all the others. You are needed. You're needed in this church, you are needed in this community, you are needed in this county, you are needed in this world. If you weren't needed, God would not have made you. I want everybody to just say I'm needed. Go ahead, say that I'm needed. You are. Thank you so much for joining us on Pastor Rick's Daily Hope today. Hey, I'm wondering, have you ever ask the question, what does God want me to do with my life? If you're like me, of course you have and you're not alone. God intentionally created you to fulfill a unique purpose. It's so important that you discover how you can live the full and abundant life that God designed just for you. In the Shape to Make a Difference Bible study, it was created by Pastor Rick and taught by Pastor Eric Reeese. Now in this study, you're going to see how the acrostic shape, which stands for spiritual gifts, heart abilities, personality, and experiences and it will reveal how God wired you and how you can use your shape to do the things that God made you to do. This is a sixth session video and workbook study and it's going to help clarify to you your future goals and it shows you how you can have the most fulfilling life possible, a life lived for God's purposes by God's design. Now, no matter what your age is, it's never too soon or too late to discover what God has shaped you to do. And this life changing study kit is perfect for personal or small group study. We so appreciate all your prayers and support, and today when you support Pastor Rick's Daily Hope with a gift to help share the hope of Jesus Christ with people all over the world, We're going to send you your very own copy of the Shape to Make a Difference six session video and workbook Bible study. It can really make a difference in your life. Just go to Pastororick dot com, or you can text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine. That's Pastorick dot com and that's got two rs in the middle. Or just text the word hope to seven oh three oh nine and we thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us at Daily Hope. We hope you'll join us next time as we continue to look into God's word for our Daily hope. And this program is sponsored by Pastor Ricks Daily Hope and your generous financial support