Received and released

Made our pastor to you. You have chosen him from

among many to speak on your behalf today. Lord, me

deliver the Word with power, with authority, with conviction, and

with boldness that comes from you. Lord. And let us

not just be hero of the word, Father God, but

be doers of the Word. Or Jesus, we commit everything

to you in your care. In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen morning everybody. Okay, I'm going to do a couple

of things before I get into the Word. The first

thing is I want to help you to help me,

to help you, to help me, to help God to

share the good news. So most of us do social

media in some way or form, Jonathan, so yeah, you're

after the title's lie will come to this title in

a moment. I just want to encourage you to take

an opportunity at any point in the week to share

something with somebody else. So in the background behind me,

Jonathan's put some slides together that have QR codes and

just encourage you. Whatever your preferred platform is, and I'm

not saying you have to be on everything, just whatever

your preferred platform is, please do share, like comment, because

you've got friends. I know you've got friends. You're a

friendly bunch, You've got friends, and so consequently, when you

like it, when you share it, your friends it as well.

So I'm not asking you to do this every day,

but just once in a while, just when you see

something that we post, you like, like it, share it,

follow us. So pick your preferred channel, whether it's YouTube,

whether it's LinkedIn, whether it's Instagram, whether it's Facebook, whatever

your preferred channel is. We're on all of those almost

every day of every week. But please share with somebody,

just like share comments, because you're basically sharing some good news.

We post little video clips. In the week, we post

a lot of different things, so that's up on the

screen behind me, and also for those a number of

people have asked me. I had the privilege of being

able to write another book with Clem. Clem's a good

friend of ours. He's our apostolic oversight. And some people

have said, Dave, it's the same book again because he's

got a similar word in the title. The last one

was Forged in Stillness. This one's called Forged in the Waiting.

They're outside on the table if anybody wants to buy them.

There's a QR code there to church and family Friends.

That's six pounds to you. They're normally kind of ten

ninety nine on Amazon. They're slightly cheaper at Canaan if

you want to buy them there, but if you want one,

please there's a QR code there or if you want

to pay cash, just see me afterwards. Jonathan, I'm going

to move now. Is that okay? So I'm just going

to move for the center because i just want to

explore some things today. We're looking at the gift. We're

looking at gifts. That's what we've been looking at this month.

And last week I talked about the gift of Christ

and he went to bet with the Father and he said,

I'd do not leave you alone. I will send another

who will comfort you and strengthen you. It's called the

Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit impacts our lives, fills us,

equips us, enables us. And therefore, because his spirit is different,

it changes us. Now. I don't know whether you've ever

been changed by the Holy Spirit. But you know what,

I am not the man I used to be. Some

people say, amen, but you know what we are changed.

Whenever we come alongside people, there is friction. And when

you rub alongside somebody there is heat. You ever notice

the hot moment when something happens and you think, oh,

that's a bit auchi, friction's happening. And when friction happens,

bits get rubbed off. And when bits get rubbed off,

they get left behind. But you know, when the Holy

Spirit's at work, the oil flows, and there is nearly

as much friction, isn't nearly as much heat. One Peter

chapter four, verse ten says this, each of you should

use whatever gift you have received to serve others as

faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms, each

of us. So that's not just one of us, it's

not just Dave, it's not just the leadership team, each

of us. Each of us should use whatever gift. You know,

then there are gifts that are given for a moment,

and there are gifts that are given. We read in

Ephesians it talks about the fivefold ministry. Anybody remember a

fivefold ministry. God, See, I'm going to ask you some

questions today, so you'd better be ready to answer. Anybody

remember a fivefold ministry? Apostles, teachers, pastors, evangelists, prophets. Yeah,

five fivefold ministry and those are men and women of

God who are gifted to the church. And they know.

If you know someone like Claim who's a prophet, you

know he can't not prophesy if God gives him, you know,

so God uses as him in a channel. But there

is also a simple gift of prophecy, and it's different

to the gift of the prophet. I'm not going to

get into a teaching about profits and prophecy, but all

I want to say is there are gifts of the

spirit and they are given for a moment, and anyone

can be given one of those. You might be given

a gift of knowledge. I remember sitting in a restaurant

with Letty in Mexico and we were sitting there and

I said, I've got a word for this lady. I

didn't know her. Letty didn't think she knew her, but

she kind of went across and said, my pastor would

just like to share something with you. And then you

realized you knew her, didn't you from long time previously?

But God, just for that moment, just gave me a

gift of a word of knowledge, and I shared it,

and I shared it, and so we use whatever gift

you have received to serve others. Do you know what

I believe? As keris kind of hinted that, I believe

there's a shift going on. I believe God is making

us ready to be ready for more of his spirit. Okay, Now,

if you are going to carry more, you need more capacity.

If you've ever tried, you know, if you ever if

everybody's thirsty in your house and you've got a tiny

little water jug, you're going to be refilling it a

lot of times. So what do you do. You go

and get a bigger jug out and you fill out,

maybe put some ice in it, and you know everybody

is refreshed. But I believe God is building capacity in

our lives, you and me and the church and us

together as we are not called just to be spectators,

but to be participators in what God He's doing. I

believe He's going to release us to equip to carry

and to carry his presence not only in here in

the church on Sunday, but in the week in small

groups in our workplaces. Heaven is not short of gifts, please,

do you know? I mean, I don't know whether anybody's

ever been into Hamley's, but if you as a small

child if you ever get taken to Hamley's it's a

little glimpse of Heaven. Things we can play with, things

we can experience. So Heaven is not short of gifts,

and Earth is not short of people who need to

unwrap those gifts. Heaven touches us and we can be

that anchor point. Just imagine I mentioned this last week.

I mentioned it, I think both times I've spoken this month.

Just imagine a gift sitting under a tree, unwrapped. It's

not fulfilled its purpose, it's not going to be used,

it's just going to remain wrapped up. So my real

major theme for today is this that a gift that's

received is to be released and shared. You want the

summary of the sermon. That's why a gift received is

to be released and shared and ideally now not kept

for months and months and months and growing dusty, but

being received and used by faith that we would steward

them by the character that we are. Every gift has

a giver. James Chapter one, verse seventeen says this, every

good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from

the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change

like shifting shadows. God is reliable. God is faithful, He's

a good source, and gifts flow from their father's unchanging character.

They are expressions of his grace, not rewards of his performance.

We read that in Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine,

the greatest gift that I talked about last time is

Christ himself. Well, thanks me to God for his indescribable gift.

In two Corinthians nine point fifteen. Do you know what,

if we know the giver will never idolize the gift,

so let's keep our eyes on the sources. Sometimes it's

very easy to get all a prophetic word, and you

get people who chase prophets around. Can I have another

prophetic word? I remember being in Mexico a number of

years ago, actly I might have been with you, Letty,

I can't remember, and somebody came forward to the front

and said, I'd like a prophetic word, please. Do you

know what I've since? The Father said to me, go

away and work out the prophetic words that you've already

been given. And you know that wasn't particularly it was

a bit provocative, But do you know what, when God

has spoken, let's take hold of what he said. Let's

do something with it. Let's not chase the gift. Let's

not chase the gift. Let's focus on the giver, our God.

I want to ask you a question this morning. Do

you see the gifts that you have as part of

your DNA, of your birthright? Or do they point somewhere else?

Do they point to God? Yeah, because some of us

look like our parents. I was with my I was

with my uncle just a few weeks ago. I haven't

seen him for a while, and he said, you look

more like your dad than ever, you know, And I

haven't seen him for years, And no, I don't. Yeah,

you know that kind of thing that children don't want

to look like their parents and be like their parents.

But do you know what but we don't. We do

inherit things. We do inherit things from our There's no

point in denying that we do learn things from our

parents too. But I want to point beyond our parents

to an ultimate source that is the greatest DNA that

we can be published plugged into. So we're not accidents

of birth. We're men and women of purpose, and that

purpose comes from a heavenly source. Romans Chapter twelve, verst. Six. Yes,

having then gifts differing according to the grace that is

given to us. Let us use them. If prophecy, let

us prophesy in proportion to our faith. Just an example,

but let's use the gifts that God has given us.

You know, sometimes God has given me a word for

someone and I've gone, are you sure, God? You know,

because I haven't got the faith to share it. Maybe,

and I go, you sure, and I hold back and

hold back, and maybe I don't even share it, and

then I find out later something. I'll give you a

specific example. Here's a good example. So I've been woken

up a few times in the middle of the night,

probably others of you have as well, with somebody on

your mind. And I don't know what you do with that.

I don't know whether you just try and roll over

and go back to sleep again, just think it's too

much cheese or whatever. But I've learned that if I

wake up with someone on my mind, the least I

can do is pray for them. So if I wake

up in the middle of the night, try not to

disturb judy. I just quietly pray for them, and then

I'll roll over go back to sleep. And quite often,

once I've prayed, the peace comes back and I can

get back to sleep fairly quickly. But do you know what,

if you've prayed for someone, why not tell them? And

a couple of times I've prayed about something very specific

in the middle of the night and then I messaged

them over the over the next twenty four hours and

just said I prayed for you last night. I can

think of one lady that I messaged and I said,

I prayed for you last night, and she said what time?

And it was to something. It's all blur that time,

I said, to something, and she said, really, she said,

I woke up. I had a dreadful nightmare last night

and I was wide awake and I couldn't get back

to sleep. But you know what, I suddenly felt a

peace come upon me and I just rolled over and

went back to sleep again. God's timing matters. I want

you to know that sometimes you think it's a coincidence.

I don't believe in coincidences. I believe in god incidences.

I believe God aligns things for us to do. He

calls us to do things. So please do use the

gifts that God has given you. We need to use.

Here's what we have. I have nothing to offer save

that which God has given me. Every gift has a purpose.

It's not about status, it's not about who we are

in One Peter four, verses ten and eleven. And I

want to emphasize this because those gifts are used to

serve one another for the common good one Peter four,

ten and eleven. As each one has received a gift,

minister it to one another as good stewards of the

manifold grace of God. As each one has received a gift.

If anyone speaks, let him speak, as the oracles of God,

you just click on please, thank you. If anyone ministers,

let him do it as with the ability which God supplies,

that in all things God may be glorified through Christ Jesus,

to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

God wants to equip his church. God wants to equip

you and me. God wants to gift us gifts so

that we go boldly into our circumstances in our situations.

You know, a gift of faith can carry us so

long way. I don't know how big your faith is.

Scripture talks about the faith's side of a mustard seed.

You know, you can get hundreds of mustard seeds in

your hand. They're very small amounts of faith. But God

can give us so much more. God can give us

a gift of faith. And you know, as we carry

those gifts, they are for us, not just on Sundays,

not just in our homes, but with our friends, with

our neighbors, with those we work with. In the Parable

of the Talents, the Master commends those who are faithful

with what they have and says, well done, good and

faithful servants. It says that in Matthew twenty five, verse

twenty one, every gift carries a respons reponsibility, that we

may steward it and use it, not bury it. In

two Timothy one to six, it says, fan into flame

the gift of God which is in you. You know,

sometimes gifts can lie dormant and they need stirring up.

And I want to stir you up today. I want

to stir you up by the spirit of God, to

identify the gifts that we have and the gifts that

God is giving us, to not neglect them, but to

nourish them, to be in a good place. You know what,

there's no point in fulling you remember that little jug

I talked aboutsn't matter what size jug I'm talking about.

If the jug has a crack in it, it's less useful.

You can still use it, but you're going to make

the floor wet, and you're going to lose some of

the good drink that you want to pour out for

your friends. Are we cracked and flawed? Are we ready

to carry more? One Timothy four fourteen. Do not neglect

the gift, not by accident, but do not neglect the

gift by decision. And do you know what when we

use the gifts that God gives us, I think sometimes

we look at resources and think, Okay, I've only got

a little if I give it away, well I have

any more. God's a generous God, and God is not

limited in any way. Freely have you gived, so freely

give again. We know the story in John chapter six,

verses nine to thirteen, of the Five loaves and two fish.

And you know, Jesus said sit down. To get them

all to sit down. They were following them around, they

wanted to hear. They were in the middle of nowhere.

He said, get them to sit down. And I'm sure

the disciples were looking at him, thinking whoa, where's the

where's the local McDonald's. Where where's the locust? Five guys?

You know where? Where? Where are we going to feed

him from? He says, get them to sit down. That

raises expectation. As soon as you say sit down, okay,

something's going to happen. What's going to happen? Then he

gets the disciples go, go and look around the crowd

and see what we've got. No, I don't know if

you wanted to. If I walked around and said, you know,

what have we got today? I'm not talking about fish

and bread. I'm talking about what gifts have we got today?

We might be all going, oh, don't know. Some of

us have got gifts in our back pocket we haven't

used for a while. Some of us have been given

a fresh gift this morning. We don't know what to

do with it. But you know what, I want to

encourage it. Let's identify the gift, invest in the gift,

and then let's share it. Proverbs eighteen, verse sixteen says,

a gift opens the way and ushers the giver into

the presence of the great. Released gifts release things that

signpost to the kingdom. And I want to encourage not

only us, but the next generation. Include in that not

just students, but the children in our Sunday school. Are

we modeling with them what it means to carry a gift.

You know, our children and our nieces and nephews. I

love some of the African principles we have in church.

You know, some of the children in church, they did

have to learn my name. They just walked in and said, hello, uncle,

how are you? And I've learned from that so I

don't need to remember their names, so I can go Hello, niece,

Hello nephew, how are you? You've seen this at work? Guys,

you know if you don't know, hello, brother, how are you? Hello? Sister?

How are you? We don't need to know one another's names.

We were straight into we're family. You don't call somebody

who's a brother who's not a part of family, do you? Hello, brother?

Welcome somebody who's walked in for the first time today, Brother,

you are welcome. Sister, you are welcome in this place.

Make yourself at home. But we need to model to

our children, and they will learn more by what they

see us doing than what they hear us saying. How

many times have you had to say to somebody, are

you listening, because we don't hear that well, but we

do see well, we do see a lot of stuff.

If somebody sees poverty going on, if somebody sees somebody,

I'm going to hold onto this. I'm not going to

share it. I'm going to hold on to it. Those children,

if they see that gift being shared generously, they'll be

generous too. And so I really want to provoke us

as I want to give us three things to think about.

The first thing is to identify ask the Holy Spirit

and ask people around you what gifts do you see

in me? And what does scripture say? Scripture says eagerly

desire the spirit the gifts of God, especially prophecy. I'm

not going to go into that today, but there's an example.

You know, it's okay to desire something of God. God,

would you use me? Could I be a carrier of

something of you today? To be used to draw someone

closer to you, to see someone healed. You know, if

God gives you a gift of faith, then you can

pray for a miracle. Why not. God's given you enough

faith to pray. Having identified that gift, I want to

encourage you as it says in two Timothy one to six,

to fan into flame the gift of God that's been

imparted in you through the laying on of hands, serving

a team to encourages that you can come early. You

can come and help serve you do you know what.

The more people we have doing what needs to be done,

that releases other people to do things. Please don't look

at Dave or Julia or Letti or Tonette or anybody

and say I can't do what they do. If you

can do a little bit of what we do, you

can help do one thing. That means any one of

those can then have space to do something else. You know,

most Sundays, if I'm here, I put the banner outside.

It's not something I have to do. It's just something

needs to be done. But it's just an example. It

doesn't need to be a but it needs to be

early because we want to signpost people and encourage them

to come in fan into flame the God the gift

that God has placed in you, and let's see what

he will do. And finally, the third point to invest

choose someone younger. Then choose someone who you can model,

who can explain things to give them an example, come

alongside someone and say, and I'll give you a specific example.

I had the privilege of taking a couple of young

men to a conference in Jenna, in eastern Germany. It

was an interesting conference because it was a Black German

church conference. So most of the churches were led by

Africans and they were married to Germans, and there was

a disconnect in Germany as a consequence, so these churches

felt isolated, so they came together. And I had the

privilege of speaking at this conference. So I took Andy,

one of our young people, and Nate to the conference.

We went for a weekend and and had never been

to a conference like that before, And I said, look,

all I want you to do, Yes, when we come

to a time of prayer, why don't just come and

stand alongside. I said, I'm not asking you to lay

hands on anybody. I'm not asking you to pray anything.

All I'm asking you to do is to come and

stand and watch. His young man got a strong faith,

was willing to pray. So Friday night, ministry time came

praying for people and he was standing alongside me. Saturday

morning we had another session and he wasn't standing alongside me.

I looked around. He was in another group praying for somebody.

Saturday afternoon, we were praying for a whole bunch of people,

and he was at the back pray. Actually hands laid

on somebody praying for somebody. On the Sunday morning of

the conference, a man comes to the front. He says,

I was walking past and I heard this beautiful music,

he said, So I came in and I sat down.

He was a Russian who was in East Germany, and

he was out of work, and he was very ill,

and he had a lot of pain in his back.

He had some kind of liver complaint, I believe. Anyway,

he came and he heard the worship. Then people said

who would like prayer? And he went forward for prayer,

and and he prayed for him. And he prayed in English,

got translated into German, got translated from German into Russian.

The guy got healed. I'll tell you what it changed, Andy,

It changed, Andy, And all I did was said, come

and stand alongside. You know, it's so easy to try

and do things all ourselves. But you know what, we

need to train people and show people it's not that hard.

We just need to listen to God, trust him, and

have some faith. So I want to lean into a

time of ministry. This is a lingering service, So we're

going to step back into worship. I'm going to step

back into worship, but I'm going to get I'm going

to encourage people. I'm going to go a bit like

Carri's is going to go not a cappella acoustic. I'm

going to go a bit like his, or we just

have a guitar. I just want to linger in God's presence,

and I want us to pray for one another. So

I'm going to encourage you. If you need to push

the chairs back and make some space, that's fine. If

you want to go along and stand alongside someone to pray.

If you feel led to go and stand alongside someone

and you don't know why, just go and stand alongside.

That's an encouragement. Somebody coming and standing alongside me is

an encouragement. Even if you say nothing, you are still

an encouragement because you're standing there. I sense your presence,

and by coming and standing alongside, you're saying I'm with you.

And by saying you're with me, you're also saying God's

with me. So if you just want If you then

feel that you'd like to pray, just ask the person

to say, okay, if I pray for you. You know, this

is a big place. We've got lots of space to pray.

And I want to encourage you if you feel something,

be accountable. This is teachable time. If you let me

encourage you to say this. I've done this for a

number of years now. I don't want people. I want

to discourage people from saying the Lord says, because and me,

that's not teachable. And when we read Corinthians, it talks

about we prophesy in part. You know, sometimes if I'm

a little angry, if I'm a little upset, if something happens,

then when God gives me something, my nature taints the

gift that He's given me. My anger gets in the way.

So please don't feel you have to be perfect now,

because none of us are perfect. Jesus is perfect. But

as we pray, just pray as the Lord leads you.

Just before Kerris leads us back into worship, and then

I'm going to I'm going to stay on the microphone

now I'm going to encourage us to