We Grow Our Gifts Together - September 22, 2024

It is my privilege to invite you to today's sermon podcast.

I have made the Apostle Paul's prayer request my own.

When he states in Ephesians 6.19, Pray also for me, that whenever I open my

mouth, the words may be given to me, so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

May today's sermon come alive to you and aid you in your understanding of God's plan for your life.

Praise the Lord. I am so grateful for the multi-talents of people,

the multi-giftedness of the people in this congregation.

Just thank the Lord. You know, when we come to worship and when we lift our

hands in worship or whatever you're comfortable doing, doesn't it just come

from a place of gratitude in your heart of what God has done?

Man, when you receive forgiveness, praise the Lord, you can't help but turn

that praise and worship to the Lord.

When you're surrounded by such awesome people, You can't help but just give

praise to God to say, Lord, thank you for bringing the best of the best around here.

Instead of all those stinkers that go to some other churches, maybe. No, no.

We may start out as stinkers, but the Lord transforms us. Praise the Lord.

And to something that's beautiful and to a beautiful smelling aroma.

So we can thank the Lord for that. Well, we're continuing this morning talking

about our gifts and about the multi, many gifts that we have.

And I just want to let you know that part of the reason that we have gifts is

so that we can grow them together.

Have you ever wondered why it is that some people tend to struggle to maintain

their faith or to walk the Christian walk?

Have you noticed that? Or is it just me? I don't think it's just a pastor thing.

And you see others that they're just thriving and they're just reaching new heights.

They're pressing on the upward way. New heights they're gaining every day,

as the old hymn says. Bye.

And you wonder, well, what's the difference in there? What's the difference

between the person that's struggling and the person that is just thriving and

just overcoming and ascending the faith mountain with no problems?

And I want to submit to you this morning that it might not just be about individual effort.

That is part and parcel of it. But I think it's deeper than that.

I think really what it speaks to is the power of a faith community,

the power of a church, the power of those that are gathered around that individual,

to help them along, to help them as they journey.

And a lot of times as we're journeying through this life, journeying through

faith, we underestimate the impact,

the profound impact that other people have on our spiritual growth,

that other people have in developing, first of all, discovering,

and then developing the gifts, the strengths that God has given us.

And I think once we get that concept that we really do need one another,

that the Christian life is not meant to just be lived in a solitary confinement kind of place.

But when we get it that we need each and every one of you together living through

this life more than just on a Sunday morning, I think really the light bulb bulb goes on.

And we do realize that God uses others to help us to grow in our gifts,

and we help others to grow as well.

This morning, we're going to look in the New Testament, the account of the New

Testament Saul, who has a name change, and his encounter with the Lord.

And I'm going to read the part of the scripture in Acts chapter 9 this morning

Acts 9 · chapter mention

that I'm not going to be preaching from, but just to give you that backstory.

And so let's hear this morning of the account of Saul of Tarsus from Acts chapter

Acts 9 · chapter mention

9, starting in verse 1. We'll go through verse 9 today.

The scripture says, Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats

against the Lord's disciples.

He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus,

so that if he found any there who would belong to the way, whether men or women,

he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

He fell onto the ground and heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?

Who are you, Lord? Saul asked. I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting, he replied.

Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what to do.

The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless.

They heard the sound but did not see anyone. Saul got up from the ground,

but when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing.

So they led him by the hand to Damascus. For three days he was blind and did

not eat or drink anything.

Father, would you bless your word this morning? Lord, not just what happened

to Saul here, but God, what it means for us today.

And as we look at the rest of this chapter, chapter 9, God, we just pray that

you would enliven and awaken in us,

Lord, the need that we have for other believers, the need that we have,

Lord, to be part of a community of faith where we can use our gifts that you've

given us, we can use the talents and the strengths that you've blessed us with,

Lord, to serve you and to serve others.

But Lord, through doing that, we will see a growth in them. We'll see a multiplication in them.

Lord, be glorified. Thank you for your church today. Bless your word to our

lives, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

You know, the story of Saul's transformation here in Acts 9, 9.

It provides a compelling illustration of what God does to help us nurture the

gifts that we have and the strengths and the talents,

but that we can then turn around and help to nurture the strengths,

the talents, the gifts that other people have as well.

And this isn't just a church history account.

It is, for sure. It actually happened. But I think deeper than that,

it becomes comes a blueprint for how we can support one another in our journey of faith,

how we can come alongside one another and really begin to not just survive in the faith,

but man, to really thrive and to thrive together,

to see how God knits us all together and brings us along on this journey.

We think about it, the main point this morning, that God uses others in our lives to grow our gifts.

And I just want to look at three different aspects of this blueprint this morning.

And the first one is that God uses others to help you see clearly.

Well, when I was writing a sermon, I was thinking about that song,

I can see clearly now the rain is gone.

Now, you know, I'm not on praise team, right? But that song just kept echoing

through my mind. And I was thinking about the church.

And I was thinking about how others have helped me see blind spots that I had

and helped to correct those.

And where I was gung-ho about something, let's go, let's storm the gates of hell.

Some brothers and sisters says, Mike, there's probably a better way to do that.

I appreciate your zeal, but we want to keep that zeal and we want to focus it

in this direction or that direction.

And so when we think about this, seeing clearly through the eyes of others is

very beneficial and is very, very helpful to us.

Can you imagine being struck blind like Saul was?

Not just physically, but having that spiritual blindness.

You see, Saul was all about God. He was persecuting people of the way,

that is Christians, because they were a danger, he felt, to Judaism,

of which he was a devout member, of which he was a devout student.

He was an Israelite of all Israelites. He saw himself, I believe,

as a defender of the faith, but

he was misguided and he was blind to the Messiah. He was blind to Jesus.

And so here he was literally being struck off of his donkey to the ground, came up blind.

Saul's reality of being physically and spiritually blind after this encounter

on this road to Damascus, God chose not to leave him in darkness.

Now, he was for a while. Did you catch that in the scripture passage that we read? Like three days.

And that the men around him, they were not sure what was going on.

They heard this noise. They heard something, a sound, but Saul gets up.

He's blind. There was no words to put to this.

They were just helping him along all the way down to Damascus.

And in verse 10, the scripture says that there was a believer there,

a believer that God had been speaking to. There was already someone in place

that God had planned to help Saul along.

In verse 10, the scripture says, Now there was a believer in Damascus named Ananias.

The Lord spoke to him in a vision calling, Ananias!

And Ananias says, yes, Lord.

And then the passage, if you read verse 10 and on, the passage talks about Ananias' reluctance.

Now Saul was a persecutor of the church. He was going to Damascus to arrest

Christians, to haul them back to Jerusalem, to.

To stand trial, much like perhaps in the way that Jesus stood trial,

to correct this aberrant part of the Judaic philosophy or religion,

to following this paragon of a preacher that was out there named Jesus.

Even though they had taken care of Jesus, there were still all these followers

around. Saul was going to take care of them.

So needless to say, Ananias, he was very hesitant. But in his hesitancy,

because of Saul's reputation, And Ananias still obeyed God's call.

Folks, God might call you to something, something great, or maybe in the eyes

of others, maybe just something small.

And it might seem that there's no way that I can do that.

There is no way, God, that I can do what you're calling me to.

You know, I have this problem.

In the Old Testament, it was Moses. Do you remember this, perhaps?

God said, Moses, I want you to lead my people, set them free, get them out of Egypt.

Well, God, I can't. I have a

stuttering problem. And you want me and you want me to go talk to Pharaoh?

I'm going to be an idiot standing before him. This is my paraphrase, of course.

Well, I guess a paraphrase is supposed to be shorter. That was longer than what

the Old Testament says. But you get the idea.

We throw up our insecurities. We throw up our limitations.

Say, God, I can't. When God isn't asking you if you can or can't,

he's just telling you to do it. Go.

Here, Ananias, he had a lot of hesitancy. Was this some kind of, what do they call it?

I don't even know. I'm not going to think about the,

different operations. Psyops is what I was thinking of. Is this some kind of Saul Psyops?

Is he just saying this, that he's converted to get in and find out where all

the Christians are and then arrest them all and take them to Jerusalem? Or what is this?

None of that mattered because God called him. And so his act of faith and obedience

to reach out and to find Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church,

it became the catalyst for Saul's transformation.

Because because he obeyed, because he had faith in God that even though he didn't

know or couldn't foresee the outcome, he would take a step of faith,

follow God's command to go and to find Ananias. And so he did.

And when Ananias laid his hands on Saul, in verse 18, the scripture says,

instantly something like scales fell from Saul's eyes and he regained his sight.

The scripture goes on to say, then he got up and was baptized. Whoa.

You can't see it. I got long sleeves on, but that gave me chills.

When you were baptized, it showed identification with Jesus.

Here, the persecutor of the church was so transformed in those three days in

that experience that started deserted, fallen off his donkey and being encountered

with the Lord, became from persecutor to baptized,

from against Jesus to for Jesus in such a way that he identified his life with him.

When you're baptized, it signifies you're accepting that your life has died,

that you are dead in your sins and trespasses.

But when you come up out of the water, that you are alive in Christ,

that the The old is gone, that the new is here.

And in that signification, this moment of significance...

Saul was changed, transformed. And what happened there?

Why did it happen? Because there was another guy named Ananias who in his prayer

time with God had the clear calling that you need to go and you need to go find Saul.

Now, earlier I asked you about praying for five people that don't know Jesus.

I don't know that you're going to go find the worst of the worst critics of

Christianity, but if the Lord calls you to go for it, If you're going to start

to pray for them then then pray with all the gusto in your faith I do know,

That if god calls you to if god lays them on your heart, then you're the one

that needs to pray for them,

Hey, you all could bring your names to me and I could pray for them spend all day praying for them

But god's given me five people to pray for I think five we can handle but it's

five people from each of us

That god can do amazing work through us Through how

god has created us to reach out to them the

powerful moment here reminds us that there's

sometimes we need others to help us see the gifts and the

potential within us that we might not feel up to it that we might feel or we

may have experienced some bad times when we've tried to use our strengths our

talents our gifts to serve god before maybe it blew up in our face but maybe

we just need an ananias to believe in us to come Come alongside and to say, hey,

I don't know why I'm here, but I'm going to pray for you.

Praise. And you can see. You can see clearly.

Like Ananias, we have the opportunity to be God's instruments,

to help others discover their gifts, their talents, to help them discover their

strengths, their aptitude for serving others, to find their calling and their purpose in life.

If not any further than just coming to know who Jesus Christ is and receiving

salvation for their faith.

Folks, we do help others. We help others discover their gifts and their giftedness.

Secondly, this morning in this blueprint, we see from verse 23 to verse 27,

that God uses us to help clear the way, not only to help them see clearly,

to help others see clearly,

but maybe even to help clear the way for what God wants to do with their lives.

We might need to clear the path.

So here as Saul, now Paul in the sequence of events, as he begins to preach

Jesus and to preach about him, like we said last week, which was later on in

the story, Paul begins to face opposition.

So much opposition, in fact, that the scripture says that his life was in danger.

Now, this is the first time his life was in danger. As you go through the book

of Acts, you'll see more and more his preaching wasn't received by folks like

y'all here when I'm preaching.

I've not had any life threats so far, thank the Lord. No one showed up in my

office on Monday for more than just a cup of coffee.

They haven't showed up with clubs and guns and knives or anything, thanks be to God.

But here, Saul, Paul, he faced such intense opposition that his life was threatened.

It seemed that his newfound gift of evangelism was not well received by those

around him, by those at the synagogue, by those that once cheered him on to

go and find the way, to go and kill the Christians or at least imprison them.

Boy, this week was the anniversary, I read, of the date where Benedict Arnold

was a turncoat, where he changed from the American side to the British side.

I kind of think this right here was one of those moments in Judaism.

When Saul found allegiance to Jesus, found continued zeal in God,

but through Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

And so here he is, the leaders of the church, the people of the church,

needed God to intervene on behalf of this new evangelist.

And so verse 25 says how God handled this.

During the night, some of the other believers lowered Saul or Paul in a large

basket through an opening in the city wall.

So what happened here was the church got together and said, we need to save this brother.

He is not going to last very long here preaching the truth, preaching the gospel message.

And so he needs to go away for a little while. He was one of those young,

zealous preachers that just tells it like it is.

It was probably hellfire and brimstone, and there's nothing wrong with that

because that's the truth.

But here he was full of zeal. But the church decided, oh, we need to protect this guy.

And so they got him out of the city. They got him out of Damascus for a while.

Wasn't it just in chapter 18, we saw the same thing happening.

So there's a little pattern here with Paul's ministry.

He stirs it up, man, stirs up the pot.

We have a mutual friend. His name is Steve Ryan. Anyone know Steve Ryan,

Pastor Chuck's brother.

He was known affectionately in McCall to some of us that knew him well as the pot stirrer.

He knew how to stir up the pot at certain times, and it was kind of fun to watch.

So, you know, here in this pot stirring person here, you got to stir the pot

so things don't burn on the bottom, right?

And so that's what Paul did here. He was stirring it up, trying to break up

the old ways and bring in the new ways of Jesus.

But this act of protection by the church, it allowed Paul to continue in his ministry.

That his life his ministry wasn't cut

short right there but it was extended because of the

wisdom of the people around him later on

when Paul arrived in Jerusalem it was

another man Barnabas who vouched for him and through Barnabas the son of encouragement

through him stepping up to validate Saul who was Paul to validate Paul and his

transformation that had happened it cleared the way to being accepted by the other apostles.

It cleared the way for him. In verse 28, the scripture says,

then Barnabas brought him, that is Paul, to the apostles and told them how Saul,

had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to him.

He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.

And then through his influence, Barnabas, And because of Barnabas' reputation,

he advocated for Paul, saying, no, he is changed. He's transformed.

He's using this gift of evangelism that came from the Holy Spirit of God to

preach the word, to bring new people in to the faith, to bring new people to faith in Christ.

But it was Barnabas who stepped in and who cleared away the obstacles that were

going to keep Paul from being all who God wanted him to be in the church.

You know, we have a responsibility to recognize when there's a person that has

gifts but aren't being supported like they should be,

who has a gift for something, but maybe their past or their reputation gets

in the way, and we say, there's no way God can use them.

Well, it's in those times that someone needs a Barnabas to come along,

to come alongside, to bring courage and encouragement to them,

even when it seems risky or inconvenient.

When we think about this in our own lives, how do we use our gifts to help protect

and propel others in their gifts, to help come alongside and advocate?

Folks, we're in the business of salvation.

I don't say it in a business like a business kind of thing, but that's our mission.

It's to seek and save that which is lost.

And when we see people that have been so anti-Christ, anti-Christian come to

faith, we might be skeptical.

We might be saying, I don't know where they're going to plug in in the church. Good luck, buddy.

I know what kind of sinner you were. You remember the old Andy Griffith show,

The Town Drunk? Do you remember his name?

Otis. Otis would come in. Hi, Andy. He would go to his own cell,

lock himself in, and hang up the key?

What a picture of someone that needs Jesus, right, to overcome that.

But when we think about it, the kind of people that God wants to reach aren't

going to be the kind of people that are like you, that are sitting in church

already, that already have faith in Christ.

That's not what we're called to do. Hey, we are called to join together to encourage

one another, iron sharpen iron and such.

But out in the mission field, we're going to be reaching people that aren't

like us, that don't maybe have the same exact values of faith in Christ.

That God calls us to, because their eternal salvation depends on it.

And they're going to need a Barnabas to come alongside and to say, hey, you've met Christ.

Let me help you discover your gifts, to advocate for them with all the barriers

that we seem to put up sometimes in a church even, to come alongside and say,

I see that God has transformed your life, and I'm here to help you along.

The third portion of the blueprint that we see in the scripture today is that

God uses us others to help keep us on mission.

And that keeping one another on mission is what we're to be about.

There's so many needs in our communities. There's so many needs in our world

that we could be spread thin going 20 different directions, but for God to call

us all together to keep us about the mission that we're continuing,

the mission to seek and save that which is lost.

You see, Paul's ministry began to grow and so did the challenges that he continued

to face. but the early church still rallied around him, ensuring that he would

stay focused and stay on mission.

Down in verse 31, the scripture says, the church then had peace throughout Judea,

Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in their

fear or the respect of the Lord.

And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers.

Members, the passage here highlights the beautiful truth that we grow together

when we use our gifts together in unity.

And when we do that, the entire body of Christ becomes stronger.

When we're all doing what God has gifted us to do, and when we're freed up to

do that, which God has called us to do, our individual growth isn't just for personal benefit,

but our growth in Christ leads to the the edification and the expansion of the kingdom of God.

So greeters, when you're out there greeting, giving people a bulletin,

smiling because you genuinely love them and care about them,

you're helping the church grow.

You're growing as you use your gift. When our praise team comes up to sing and

to play and to lead people before the throne of grace through worship,

they're helping us grow up into Christ, giving us a way of expression to praise the Lord.

But they're growing as well as they play, use their talents,

use their spiritual gifts to lead us into ministry.

And us just being here, you being able to hear me even this morning,

if we didn't have a tech team that used their different varied skills and talents,

plus the spiritual gift to serve, where would we be?

Where would we be without those that come along, Mary, and cleans,

use her gifts and talents,

her spiritual gifts of encouragement to come alongside and just to keep this

building looking tip-top so

that you have a nice place, a non-smelly place to come to worship God in.

You get the idea that when people are saved, God gives them these special gifts

along with the talents he's already given them, along with the personality that they've developed.

And he says, I want to use you, but it takes all of us together using our gifts as the body of Christ.

The powerful statement there is about the power of belonging.

Recent studies have shown, and I'm going back to a Gallup study that was in 2022,

it showed that practicing Christians who were, one, aware,

two, intentional, and three, generous with their gifts, they were more significantly

likely to feel a sense of belonging in their faith community.

Let me read that again. They were aware, they were intentional,

and they were generous with their gifts that they'd been given.

And because of that, they felt more connected to their faith community.

I'll say a bold statement this morning that if you're feeling disconnected from

this church, are you aware of your gifts that God has given you?

Are you intentional about using them?

And are you generous in using them?

Those three factors go in man, to you feeling that connection,

to being part of what we're doing here.

Man, I've been here probably seven months now, and I still don't know everyone.

I still probably get your names wrong, and I apologize. I know your face.

If you go out the center door, I definitely see you when you leave.

Those of you that sneak out the sides, kudos on you.

I can't replicate myself, but I'm still figuring out how God has gifted us all to work together.

I know he has. I know that he has given you these great talents,

these great strengths, but he's given you these gifts.

And the sense of belonging isn't

just to have a good feeling when we come together on Sunday mornings.

But it's really a crucial factor in our spiritual growth, not only as a congregation,

but individually. We need to be able to use those gifts.

So what we want to do is create an environment where you truly feel that you

belong because there's a place for you, for your gifts to be exercised.

We want you to know that we want to have the optimal place where you can use

your gifts to serve others.

Hey, it's going to be in this building, some of it, but a lot of it's going to be out.

We want to equip you to go out and to serve those that most need it,

when we think about how this reflects the gospel in our own lives.

You see, it's at the core of this gospel message that we sometimes overlook.

We think it's just about coming to an altar, getting saved, getting sanctified,

going out and figuring out what we're doing with the rest of our life and for all eternity.

But really, it gets deeper than that because it's about developing these gifts

that God has given us, these spiritual gifts, discovering what they are and

developing and then being equipped to go out and to serve others.

And just as Christ's death and resurrection reveal our brokenness and our need for a Savior.

And they also reveal God's immeasurable love, our journey in discovering our

gifts and talents and that development, it could be a powerful testimony to others.

When we allow others to speak into our our lives. It helps us to overcome obstacles,

helps to keep us focused on the mission, and helps us discover our divine calling

that God has placed upon our lives.

We're demonstrating the transformative power of God's love and the beauty of Christian community.

Can you imagine what the New Testament would be like if a church committee got

together and said, we are not having this Saul of Tarsus.

I don't care if he changed his name to Paul or not. He is not fitting getting in here.

And he had it out for us. I know what God can do, but I don't think they've done it with him.

Let us not, he's not going to be part of our fellowship. Cast him out.

Send him back to Jerusalem. Send him back to the temple.

Can you imagine if there wasn't an Ananias, if there wasn't a Barnabas to come

along, or the greatest evangelist, the greatest missionary in the church to get everything going?

Where might the story be today?

So folks, will you be obedient to the Lord when he calls you to reach out even

to those that you're kind of suspect about, to reach out to those that may have

a reputation and say, I believe that God wants to do something with you.

I believe that God has a plan for your life well beyond what you think it could

be or what you think it is right now.

The transformative effect of the church is when we see people that were broken

and beat up, That were sinners that were against god come to faith in christ

and have their lives so transformed.

So transformed That they reflect the love and the grace and the image of god,

These are some of those five people i'm asking you to pray for They're some

of those five That needed the transforming grace of god to impact them in a major way,

in the bulletin there you can see the little points of application vocation.

I want to offer you something this morning that I've been kind of leading up to.

Maybe you're at the position, you're like, yeah, Mike, we've been talking about

spiritual gifts for four weeks now.

And okay, what are they and how do I get them? Or how do I figure out what they

are? Well, I've got a tool that I want to give you.

For some of you, you'll want the paper version.

And so there's some paper versions of this. It's called the shape assessment.

They're out there in the foyer.

Basically what you do, you just fill in what it says to fill in.

And return it to the church office and we'll get you and get your results out to you.

For those of you that like to get it done faster and don't like to read,

you know, that much or you might lose this.

There's an app, or not an app, there's a website, a QR code,

there it is on the screen, that you can click and it's in your bulletin as well

and you can take it online.

It's a lot easier because you don't have to find a pencil or a pen or find the paper you misplaced.

And you just go in and it helps you to discover what might your spiritual gifts be.

What might your abilities or what do you think your abilities are?

What kind of personality has God blessed you with and what experience have you had?

If you've taken the Clifton StrengthsFinders test, there's a place at the very

end for that. If you haven't, don't worry about it. Just click the box that you haven't taken it.

But what we do with this is we begin to say, okay, let's look at the unique

person that God has created you to be.

Let's look at where God might want you to plug in if you're not already plugged in.

We pair this along with a lot of different opportunities for you in the church,

a lot of different ways in which you can serve God, but not even just in the

church, but outside the walls of this church with our partner ministries.

Folks, we want you to grow in Jesus. We want to help you develop those gifts that you have.

We don't want to just leave you where you're at because we know God doesn't

leave us where we're at. That God brings us along. He grows us up.

And so this is part of the way that we can help you, that I can help fulfill

my calling, which is to equip the saints for ministry.

And so basically I'm saying you're helping me do my job.

Morning as you consider all these different ways that God has put you together.

I hope that you'll take an opportunity to discover how God has shaped you and

then go out and to see, Lord, what can I do from here?

We consider Paul, when we consider the evangelist, the missionary journey that

he was on, how important he was to being an apostle, starting these churches. We're just amazed.

And don't ever think that you can't do something thing because God has shaped

you for something great.

Let's pray together, and I

think we're going to close with a song and the Lord's Prayer this morning.

Father, in the name of Jesus, we just come before you.

Lord, we come before you humbly asking God that you'll take your words in this

example, this blueprint that you've given us from Paul's life,

from the very first part of his spiritual life, God, and that we'll understand

it takes us all together,

Lord, to build up our body.

We can't neglect one part in favor of another, but Lord, the whole body is important.

And Lord, our body is incomplete without every believer using their gifts in

ministry to serve not only building up the body, but Lord, to go out into our

world and to help share your love there as well.

So Lord, this morning, we pray you'll be glorified. Lord, in our own hearts,

would you create in us that clean heart that you want to do great things with.

And so Father, we pray this today in the name of Jesus. Amen.

I want to thank you for joining today's sermon podcast. You can find a copy

of today's sermon, as well as other sermons, and the sermon outline from today

on our church's website,

www.mvcnaz.org.

It is my prayer also that you will seek out a church home that recognizes the authority of the Bible.