Are You Growing Your Gifts_

Ask your neighbor real quick, say are you growing in

your gift?

Are you growing in your gift?

Because from time to time we'll see somebody who is

very good at what they do, and often we'll say

about a person like this man, they're so gifted. You

ever met somebody and the gift is just dripping off

of them, like man, it's just like coming out their nostrils.

They can't get enough Kleenex to catch all the giftedness

that's coming out, just dripping with an annoying dripp And

maybe it's not necessarily in even an athletic environment or

a musical environment, where we tend to see people who

are just so gifted, just people who are maybe so

good in meetings with their words and they can convince

somebody to do anything, and there is a gift in them.

I've noticed something about the term gift.

It's a little bit problematic because when we say that

someone has a gift, often what we assume is that

because they have a gift, they.

Never have to work to prepare that gift. And so

you know, we see k D.

Dunk, but we don't necessarily see him on the squad

rack because nobody wants to see the squad wrack. We

all want to see what happens.

In the finals.

And here's one thing that's very deceiving about someone who

has a gift.

You can be so overwhelmed and.

Mesmerized by the gift that you underestimate the grind that

it took that person to be able to operate in

the gift that they have.

And that's why I wanted to preach.

I didn't just want to go, Okay, David killed Goliath,

because I wanted you to see that before David ever

killed Goliath, there was a gift at work that David

had to work on developing in order to be in

position where he could be strategically maneuvered by God.

To be able to do what God called him to do.

So here's what I wanted you to know.

God has anointed you to accomplish your assignment. But just

because God put a deposit in you doesn't necessarily mean

that it's going to come out of you. In order

for the deposit that God put in you to come

out of you and make a difference in the world

around you, You've got to develop what God has deposited.

So here it is.

Here's the word first word diligence, diligence.

How many hours did David have to practice his harp.

In order to be good enough that when the King

needs a personal musician, you're the first person that they

think of. How many lessons did David sit through, because

we know he was a teenager at this point in

his life. How many times did he have to drag

his harp? This is a harp y'all, This isn't like

and acoustic guitar. And you can carry it back and forth,

you can't load it up in mom's suv.

How many miles did he lug his harp.

Across the countryside of Bethlehem in order.

To be the best harpist?

When they called for him, he was ready. So you

see the gift when it's in full operation, but you

don't see the grind.

That it took to get the gift ready.

And in this room there are a lot of people

who have a deposit that God has put inside of

you that's never been developed. And if you don't develop

the deposit that God put inside of you through diligence,

you'll never experience the destiny that God prepared for you

before you were ever born. And see We got to

put this out there because a lot of people they

want the benefit of the gift without the burden of diligence.

I remember when my father in law first got a motorcycle.

I said, man, let me have that. He said, you

can have it, and you can have the payments.

No, no, no, I don't want the payments. I just

want the product. And see, be very careful when you

envy somebody else's gift, because when you get a gift,

it doesn't come as a finished product. It comes with payments.

In fact, I'll say it another way. God gives each

of us gifts things that He deposits inside of us.

But the gifts that God gives should come with a warning.

And here's what it's.

Just say some assembly require come on, talk to me somebody,

because you know, the gift comes in all these different pieces.

And the gift doesn't.

Look like a bicycle when you open it out of

the box.

It just looks like metal. It just looks like parts,

It just looks like bolts, It just looks like stuff.

So if you ever see somebody functioning in a gift,

you can bet on two things. One God gave it

to them and number two they put it together.

Because if God's gonna give you.

Something, he'll give you everything you need, but he'll expect

you to put it together through.

The process of diligence. So God has anointed you.

That's the deposit the spirit of God like Paul till

Timothy and two Timothy Chapter one, verse fourteen. He said,

guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you, guarded

with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.

So there are two realities here. One, you've got a gift.

You didn't learn it. You don't even know.

How you're good at that. You don't even know why

people think you're funny. You don't even know why people

like to tell you their problems. You don't even know

why people have to be over in your home. You

don't even know why you have this gift of hospitality.

But guess what, the gift of hospitality still means.

You got to put something in the oven.

The gift of hospitality still comes with mops and brooms.

So if you're gonna have a gift, you gotta put

it together.

I don't know why I'm hollering on my first point,

but I feel it.

Maybe it's because I'm alarmed at the number of Christians

who expect the product without the payments. Story is told

about this pastor and he went out and he bought

himself a kind of a farm, a ranch like a well,

when he bought it, he didn't he didn't realize what

he was getting himself into. He got out there and started.

He decided to go fix up his land that he

had bought. And he got out there and he realized, man,

this thing is a money pit. There's gopher holes and

and and tumbleweed and broken windows and so and so

every Saturday, on his day off, he'd be out.

There working his farm.

You know, fire up the tractor and and and and.

Other stuff you do on the farm. I never lived

on a farm, but we work real hard.

And so he worked like this for years. It took

him a few years to get the place right. And

after he finally got it right, and he worked so hard.

I mean, this guy worked so hard. And one of

his neighbors stopped by for a visit, just a neighborly visit,

and we'll call the neighbor.

We'll call him farmer Brown.

And Farmer Brown came over and said, well, preacher and

He kind of nodded approvingly looking over the land. He said,

looks like some good work that you and God have

done out here together. And the preacher said, well, thank you,

farmer Brown. But I got to tell you you should

have seen the place when God had it all to himself.

Touch somebody next to you and say.

Work your field, Work your field, because see, the treasure

is hidden in the field, and the gift is hidden.

In your humanity.

And if you're ever going to step into your destiny,

you're going.

To have to dig deep.

We have a habit as Christians of reaching up high

trying to get God to do stuff when God says, actually,

I put what I put down in you, and if

you want it to come out, you're gonna have to

dig for it. Look, my sermons don't just come to me.

Do you think they show up on the back of

a truck.

You gotta dig to.

Have something to say to people, Especially if you're gonna

preach every six days to the same people over and

over again. You gotta dig for it. You gotta be

diligent about it. You gotta do what Paul told Timothy.

He says, study to show yourself approved a workman.

That needed not to be ashamed.

And if you're gonna flow this year, and if you're

gonna grow this year, you're gonna have to dig this

year through diligence this year because God puts it in you,

but you gotta work it out. Touch three people tell him,

work it out, work it out, work it out.

That's called diligence.

So I must develop what God has deposited. I must develop.

Are you growing in your gift or have you become stagnant?

Are you sharpening your skills or are you chopping at

the tree wondering why it won't fall because you forgot

how to sharpen your acts? Did you read anything this

year to make you better at what you're called to do?

Did you meet with anybody this year and say, teach

me how you think? Because I see.

Where you are and your father along and where I

am see it requires diligence.

David didn't get called to play the harp because he

loved God. He got called to play the harp because

he was good at playing the harp. It's amazing how

many times we'll give God something that's no good. Let

me show you this in the scripture, because this kind

of blew my mind when I was reading it, because

when you think of David, you think of a man

after God's own heart. And the reason God shows David

is because he loved him. And all of that is

very true. But I want you to notice when we

when they were putting up flyers on the telephone poles

for you know, Harpist wanted for Saul.

Look at it.

In verse sixteen, they say, let our Lord command his

servants here to search for someone who can play, now,

who can pray? I'm about to mess with your religious

little beliefs now right now, so just hang on verse seventeen.

So Saul said to his attendants, find someone who plays well,

not someone who prays well. Someone who plays well, not

someone who loves God. In fact, look at it in

verse eighteen parbe, they start listing off all the things

that he's good at. You know, he can play the liar,

he's brave as a warrior, speaks well, fine looking, and

the Lord is with him.

But that's the last thing they mention.

It's the most important thing about David. But it's the

last thing that people see. So how did they see

that the Lord was with him? Because he was excellent

at what he did because God made him capable. My

second word is excellence. Excellence. How do you grow in

your gift, maximize your potential flow in all the things

that God has planned for you. Well, it's going to

take diligence and it's going to take a commitment to excellence.

Right true.

Because a preacher told me one time when I was

first getting started. I said, what do I need to

know about ministry? He said, just love God and preach

the word. No, that's a good start, But you got

to do more than love.

God and just preach the word.

I mean, yeah, you're never gonna not preach the word.

But let me tell you something.

You better know something about the word that you're preaching

if you're.

Going to stand up and preach it.

Come on, how many of you want to show up

and hear a sermon that the preacher didn't study for.

How many of you want that? Well? I just love God.

We got a lot of people that sing in church

that ought not be singing.

Yeah, but they love God. Well, they can love him

in the seat on the fourth row. Just because they

love God doesn't mean they need to.

Be on the stage with the microphone.

Because God, listen to this. God likes good stuff. Well,

as long as our heart's in the right place.

It didn't say Day that got the job because.

His heart was in the right place. He got the.

Job because his hands were excellent at what he'd been

assigned to do.

And what we've got sometimes.

Is a lot of Christians who want to separate spirituality

from skill. Right, so it's not important that I'm good

at what I do, just as long as I love God.

Well, I'm doing it for the right reasons. Well, why

don't you.

Do it with skill and excellence and for the right reasons?

Why don't you get so good?

This is a vision for somebody in your business this year.

Why don't you run your business.

With such excellence that you don't even have to put

a cross on your logo or a fish by the

name of your company, But the way you do it

will show the people that you serve that there's something

different about you because you serve with excellence. I was

talking to somebody the other day about sports. This person

is a very accomplished athlete, and I was asking what

certain shoes I should buy one of my kids, or

a sport that they wanted to play.

And then my friend said, don't buy.

Them any nice shoes yet, because you don't want your.

Kids to be those kids. I said, what kids, and

he said.

The kids who have all the gear but no game.

Make sure that your kids have some game.

Before you get them the gear.

They don't need Nike ID custom cleats if.

They don't have no game.

So send your kids out there and some hand me

downs so your kids can get the game and then

the gear. I'm afraid Church that in the world today

often what they see when they look at us is

a lot of believers who have all the gear but

no game.

In other words, we got a lot of talk, but

we don't quite walk it.

I'm afraid sometimes what they see is that we claim

it's for God, but it's no good. Let me tell

you something. If it's for God, it ought to be good.

If you fix cars for God, you want to fix

them on time and at a reasonable rate. If you're

an accountant and you love God, you want to do

your job with accuracy because if it's for God, in

ought to be good. Hey, God is good, and if

he's good, I want to offer him something that's worthy

of his goodness. I'm not talking about perfectionism.

I'm talking about excellence. Perfectionism is when you need to

be the best. You gotta be the best.

That's rooted in a competitive spirit, which does not come

from God. But excellence doesn't say I gotta be the best.

It says I want to bring God my best. I

want to bring God my best. Excellence. Are you excellent

at what you do?

Students?

Don't be inviting your friends to Elevation Church and you

got a d in chemistry because you're lazy.

Why do they need a God in their life?

They can't even help you from flunking out of your

sophomore year high school. Oh it's getting kind of rough

in here now. I feel like I need to back

this down a little bit.

It's true. It's true. Excellence, excellence. Look at it. In

Psalm ninety.

I believe verse seventeen, the Psalmist is praying and he says,

made the favor of the Lord our God rest on us.

Now that's what we want.

Okay, the favor of God rest on us sounds pretty passive,

But then he says, establish the work of our hands

for us. Yes, again, establish the work of our hands.

All I'm saying is if you're going to ask God

to build something in your life, at least give him

good lumber to build with. If you're going to ask

God to build something in your life, give him something

to work with. I love this quote from the Protestant

reformer Martin Luther.

I just came across it the other day.

He's talking about excellence, and nobody was more theologically adept

than Martin Luther. If anybody was about the glory of God,

it would have been Martin Luther. But I want you

to listen to what he said about excellence. He said,

the maid who sweeps her kitchen is doing the will

of God just as much as the monk who prays,

not because she may sing a Christian hymn as she sweeps,

but because God loves clean floors. Can I get an

amen from a need free? The Christian shoemaker does his

Christian duty not by putting little crosses on the shoes,

but by making good shoes, because God is interested in

good craftsmanship. God is interested in excellence. Now, the next

time the sun comes up and you're awake to see it,

I want you to give God a grade.

How did he do?

I mean he could have he could have set the

universe up to run anyway that he wants. But have

you ever noticed how the whole universe shouts of the.

Excellence of our God?

Once Alma said, O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic?

One translation says.

Excellent is your name in all the earth. And if

the excellent God lives inside of you, what would he

desire to produce through you?

Excellence?

Excellence is not enough for us to just claim that

we're living for God. We're supposed to grow in our

gift so that we can show the glory of God,

the goodness of God, the excellence of our God, to

declare the praises.

Of our God. How great is our God? And how

will the world ever know.

How great he is if his people don't do what

they're called to do with an excellent spirit.

I can preach.

About this another thirty minutes, but I got to get

to my.

Third word, which is uniqueness. Uniqueness.

Now, I don't know if you noticed this, but the

scripture points out something here.

In verse eighteen that to me seems contradictory on the surface.

Look at it.

When they're describing David and they're talking about what he's

good at. They say he knows how to play the lyre,

which is the heart. And look at the next thing.

They say, he is a brave man and a warrior. Okay,

so stop stop harpist warrior. Did you ever watch Sessamme

his Street? They used to have a song that said,

one of these things.

Is not like the other.

Come on, when's the last time that you've ever seen

somebody man? That dude looks tough? You think you could

take that guy? Na, dude, I don't think I could

at all. And you know what else I heard about him?

He plays a mean harp.

When have you ever come on? Now?

Now, No, it's just work because we're tracking David's trajectory

and we're trying to see how God got him ready

for what he was annointed to do. And we see

here a convergence of two abilities that don't seem to

go together. Okay, but both of these things would be

needed for David to be in position to fulfill his purpose.

And so you've got to understand that it is at

the intersection of your idiosyncrasies that your destiny will often

make itself clear. Those things that don't seem to go together,

those things about you that don't seem to make sense

because all of us are walking contradictions.

But here's good news. Your calling will often become clear.

Because of your contradictions. I didn't say in spite of them,

but because of them.

Check it out.

The reason that David had the courage to approach Saul

and ask him if he could fight Goliath in chapter seventeen,

That's where We're going next week, was because he had been.

Playing hard for him in his bedroom.

Saul's job replacement was sitting in his bedroom singing him

to sleep.

And he didn't even know it. But if David was

just a warrior, he never would have had access to Saul.

If he was just a harpist, he would have got

killed on the battlefield.

You can't sing the liath to sleep, No, you need

a sling for that.

But how many know that God will give you everything

you need for every situation you face. So if you

need a harp, he'll give you a harp. If you

need a sling, he'll give you a sling. But you've

got to learn how to work out of your uniqueness.

Touch your neighbor and tell him you're weird. You're weird,

You're weird. But God works through weirdness. See, God works

through your weirdness.

God works through the stuff that doesn't seem to go together.

A couple weeks ago, my brother in law was over

at our house and in the kitchen making a sandwich.

I want to show you a picture of his sandwich.

I took a picture because.

It was just to me. It was so remarkable. Here's

the sandwich.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, indeed, that is a turkey and

jelly sandwich.

Come on, that's terrible.

How many agree turkey and jelly doesn't belong between two pieces.

Of bread touching one another.

I like turkey, I like jelly, but don't put them

together and call them a sandwich.

It's not a sandwich. It's an abomination. And I told

him so. I said, that's disgusting. He said, no, I

like them together.

And I think sometimes God looks at things sometimes that

we think don't go together. And God says, you know what,

I like turkey with jelly because my thoughts aren't your thoughts,

and my ways aren't your ways.

And I made you weird in a wonderful way. Here's

the way. One scripture says it.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made, fearfully and wonderfully made.

That means there's some stuff about me this strange. But

guess what God made me strange. See, God put the

turkey with the jelly. God gave me that experience and

that experience because he couldn't give me just the same.

Old experiences that everybody.

Else has, because there's something he wants me to.

Do that only I can do. So God had to

make me watch a harpist and a warrior.

God had to make me a little bit insecure over

here so I would rely on his strength over there.

The thing that makes me weird to you makes me

wonderful to God, because I am fearfully.

And wonderfully made. And see what God will do in

your life if you let him.

He'll take the turkey and the jelly, and he'll take

your upbringing and your current situation.

And he'll take the thing that you went.

To school for that you thought you were going to

use in your career.

And the thing that you're really doing to get a paycheck.

And if you'll follow him and trust him and be

diligent where he puts you, and serve him with excellence

where he put you, and trust in the uniqueness of

how He made you.

You know, the scripture says that.

All things work together for the good of those who

love God and are called according to his purpose. So

God will take the conflicts and make them work together

to complete your calling.

I'm speaking to somebody.

Today who's conflicted. You've never made sense to yourself. You

can't reconcile this with that. You can't reconcile what you've

been through with where God said he.

Was going to take you. But I want to announce

you're a harpist and a warrior.

Nothing is wasted in God's economy. He's making something out

of what you went through. He's bringing it together with

what you're going through, and he's gonna put it all together,

and it's all good.

It's all good. This all good. That's why God made

you weird. You ever wondered why you were weird, You

just found.

Out because God needed a harpist in chapter sixteen that

would know how to handle his business in chapter seventeen.

So you had to be both tot somebody say you

had to be both. You had to be both. You

couldn't fit in that. You couldn't fit in.

It wasn't possible because you were a custom tailored for something,

so you couldn't be off the rack.

You have to be made to measure. You have to be.

Fearfully and wonderfully made uniqueness. Let's review diligence. Are you diligent?

Are you developing what God has deposited inside of you?

Excellence? Are you giving God the best gift?

One theologian who wrote a book on prayer, he said,

what you are is God's gift to you. What you

become is your gift to God. Excellence, excellence. If it's

for God, it ought to be good. If it's for God,

we ought to work hard at If it's for God,

it ought to matter to us. If it's for God,

we ought.

To do it.

We ought to do it better than somebody who's doing

it without God. Christian music ought not suck. Yeah, it

ought to have a beat. It ought to feel good,

It ought to sound right. If it's for God, it

ought to be good. But it all comes down to

did I say uniqueness?

You knew that one? Well, uniqueness you're weird. We got that.

You don't need a reminder. But it all comes down

to experience. See, because it says that for some undisclosed

period of time. David verse twenty one entered saul service

and Saul liked him very much. Now, if you know

the rest of the story about David, that sentence in

itself is a little funny because this is chapter sixteen,

and Saul likes David because he can play well and

he's a warrior. By chapter nineteen, Saul's going to be

throwing spears at David, trying to kill him, because the

people are praising David more than Saul. And I just

threw that in there for free to let you know

that sometimes the very thing that makes you great is

the thing that will also get you in trouble. Sometimes

that makes you gifted is also the thing that will

get you killed. So don't be surprised when trouble comes

because of your gift. Don't be surprised if when you

sing for somebody, sometimes they applaud and sometimes they throw

something at you, because the same gift will accomplish both. Yeah,

the same thing that makes you great is also the

thing that makes you vulnerable. Right, But here's the part

I wanted to read. It says that Saul liked him

very much, and David became one of his armor bearers. Again,

this is all part of God's strategy to get David

in position to fulfill his purpose. Look and then Saw

sent word to Jesse saying, allow David to remain in

my service, for I am pleased with him. I want

you to understand that God will arrange every experience in

your life to serve his purpose.

If you will embrace it assas