Wirksworth | 21/06/26 | The Gifts Of The Spirit | Jo Hassan

I've got everything I need.

Okay.

Right.

What a glorious day it is today, of a time of celebration and thanksgiving for incredible gifts.

We've got this incredible gift in Matilda, who we were really sort of thanking God for this morning.

And what a gift he is to us from the Lord.

God gives us so many incredible gifts, doesn't he?

Amazing, amazing gifts.

Well, we're going to be doing the gifts of the Holy Spirit this morning.

Gifts from God.

Gifts characterised by the Holy Spirit.

As you know, over the past few weeks we've been really laying the foundation of what we are building here in Workswith.

And we're building really on one of the talks that Steve shared with us a few weeks ago, which was the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So we're building on that.

So if you weren't here for the baptism of the Holy Spirit, what I've put on this slide, if I move out of the way, is a QR code.

And if you use your phones, you can hover over that QR code and it will take you straight, sorry, Steve, to the link of that talk.

It's an incredible talk.

When he talks about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Now, when we give our lives to the Lord Jesus, he comes and lives in our hearts in the form of the Holy Spirit.

And Steve talks about the fact that through that presence we have ongoing sanctification.

But if we are baptized by the Holy Spirit, which is kind of almost like the next move on, we get empowered by his presence.

So it's not just that he lives in our lives, but his power is able to flow through us.

And that is why we need baptism.

So we have that constant in constant infilling.

Okay, well, today we're going to talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Now these are the extraordinary demonstrations of Jesus' presence.

In fact, Jesus said that he couldn't give the Holy Spirit until he'd gone back into heaven.

That that was the whole point, that he had to leave in order for the Holy Spirit to come.

And the Holy Spirit in our lives, yeah, is kind of the empowering and it needs to be able to flow.

Now, gifts.

Thinking about gifts, we've been thinking about gifts with Matilda.

We've been thinking about gifts in terms of our fathers, whether that was a good gift or not.

We're gifts of the fact that when we become Christians, we receive a gift of the Holy Spirit when He comes to live in our lives.

But I'm gonna place a jar on this.

Can you see this jar?

It's got a lid.

Now let's think about as a gift.

Now I remember having a gift very much like this, and inside it had stilton cheese.

Okay?

Now the only way I could access that scrummy stilton cheese, because I love cheese, was I had to break the wax seal.

Yes.

Now you might have um received other things a bit like that in a sealed container.

Maybe it's perfume, maybe it's hand cream, but in order to access it, you have to break the seal.

Now, I love this verse in 2 Corinthians 4 7.

We have this treasure in jars of clay that show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

All surpassing power.

Now I can tell you that right now I feel like a very cracked um terracotta clay vessel, um, and I'm very much trusting that the treasure inside will actually shine out for me because I feel very nervous this morning.

But I wonder whether, you know, what I actually love about sort of like a clay vessel is the fact that it's not a golden vessel, it's not a perfect vessel, it's just a clay jar.

Ordinary, fragile, easily broken.

Okay, it's a bit like us, really, isn't it?

Human.

But notice it's about the treasure in this verse, not the vessel, the treasure, the treasure that's inside.

And that's that's true for us.

Too often we focus on our ability, the bit on the outside, but actually it's all about the presence inside the jar, the treasure.

You know, it's a strange thing.

We receive this gift, don't we?

The lid is still on.

We don't open it.

Maybe it's too precious and we want to keep it, save it for a special occasion.

Perhaps we're scared that if we actually open the jar, something will happen that's a bit scary and we don't feel in particular control.

It might be, and I'm in danger of doing this sometimes.

I actually want to know what's inside before I open it.

Anyone on a bit like that?

Yeah, Steve's got his hand up there, you're the same.

Are you?

Yeah.

Um, I kind of want to know first, and then when I know what's inside, then maybe, maybe I'll open it.

But let's think about this treasure inside.

Let's think about these precious gifts.

Paul writes about them in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and also Ephesians 4.

So we're gonna look at one of these passages together.

Now, Roman um 1 Corinthians 12 is quite a long chapter, so I'm gonna look at a small part of it, but we're gonna probably lift out some other verses from later in the chapter too.

So if you'd like with um to turn with me in your Bibles or on your phones to 1 Corinthians 12, 1 to 14.

And I'm gonna read it from the NIV version.

1 Corinthians 12.

And as I read it, I want you to really, really think very carefully about the gifts, that gift inside the jar in your life, okay?

And I'll start reading from verse 1.

Now, about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be ignorant, and then I'm gonna skip to um verse four.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit.

There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord, there are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men and women.

Now to each one the manifestation of the spirit is given for the common good.

Note to one that is given this the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same spirit, by another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, which we've heard this morning, and to still another to the interpretation of tongues, which we've also heard this morning.

All these are the work of one and the same spirit, and he gives them to each one just as he determines.

And the final verse the body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body, and so it is with Christ.

When you hear the phrase spiritual gifts, what comes to mind?

Perhaps prophecy, healing, tongues, words of knowledge, perhaps people standing at the front in those dramatic moments, experiences that maybe you've witnessed.

Paul, however, begins somewhere very, very different.

He begins not with the gifts, but with the God who gives them.

Something I own, something I achieve, something I become good at, something that makes me more spiritual than anyone else.

But Paul challenges this thinking immediately.

The gifts aren't trophies, they're not badges of honour, they're not performance, they are certainly not a sign of someone's worth and value.

Paul Wright in verse 4 of that passage, there are different kinds of gifts but the same spirit.

And then, and I I've read from the LIV on purpose because it then says in verse seven, to each one the manifestation of the spirit or the spiritual gift is given for the common good.

Notice that word manifestation, manifest.

The gifts are kind of made visible, manifesting, yeah?

The gifts are moments when the Holy Spirit makes his presence known through ordinary people, ordinary jars of play, ordinary people, and Paul tells us why for the common good, not simply for personal benefit, not for recognition, not for status, but to strengthen the church, to expand the kingdom of God.

In fact, it goes on in Ephesians 4, verse 12, and it says, to equip his church, his people for works of service.

Ephesians 4:12

So the body of Christ may be built up.

This is what spiritual gifts are all about.

They're building everyone up, not just inside a church building, but reaching out into the community, reaching out into our families, into our places of work, wherever God places us.

God gives his gifts because he is wholeheartedly committed to building something.

His church, his kingdom, and he chooses to do it through us, through you, through me.

Crazy.

Completely, isn't it?

Okay.

Next slide, Andy.

Five, six.

So the gifts are manifestations of the spirit, moments where something of God's wisdom, God's power, God's encouragement, God's comfort, God's healing, God's revelation becomes visible.

The emphasis is not on us, it's on Him.

The gifts point beyond that clay jar to the one who is inside the treasure.

Next slide.

Okay, so having established where the gifts come from, let's actually think about the gifts themselves.

Now, Paul lists a writer's gifts here in 1 Corinthians 12, and also in Romans 12, and also in Ephesians 4, but actually I think if you if you read through some of the letters and certainly through Acts, you probably can lift out some other gifts in there too.

So I'm going to read a bit of them, okay?

So there is wisdom, there is knowledge, there's faith, there's healing, there's miraculous powers, there's prophecy, there's discernment, there's discernment of tongues, there is um leadership, there's serving, there's encouragement, there's mercy, there's teaching, there's hospitality and administration, singleness, evangelism, pastoring, plus so many others, too.

Some of these gifts might sound familiar, some may raise lots of questions, yeah, yeah.

Some may feel exciting, others may be very uncomfortable.

Walking around the room, some make you feel uncomfortable.

Yet together they reveal something of the riches and the creativity of the Holy Spirit.

Now, I'm gonna be plugging books like crazy today, and these two, which I think we've got in the back, are really really good.

So, discover your spiritual gifts, even has a questionnaire in the back if you've kind of fancy kind of having a look to see where God is kind of leading you in your personality and what the Holy Spirit is working in your life, really good.

Um, but you'll also find out a lot more about the individual gifts, and this one is a bit easier to read, um, can kind of be quite a good study of study book as well.

So these two books so Receiving the Holy Spirit and His Gifts by Terry Virgo, and this one here, which yeah, it's it's kind of a classic, really.

Discover your spiritual gifts by C.

Peter Wagner.

Now there are in the back.

Well, there will be.

This one here.

Are you?

And you're finding it really helpful.

Fabulous.

Yeah, I think sometimes we get really, really nervous about them, don't we?

But actually, studying them is incredible.

So thank you for that recommendation.

Okay, right.

Now, where am I up to on my legs?

Okay.

Where's the book part of it?

Yeah, I've done now, yeah.

Um, God does not mass produce Christians, He doesn't make sure that everyone is exactly the same.

It's a goodness, it's not a one-size-fits-all kind of thing.

Um, God delights in diversity, different personalities, different strengths, different callings.

Yeah, as Paul says, it's the same spirit.

Now, slide eight.

Um, the gifts are not random, they're not identical.

Paul tells us that the spirit identifies his gift as he determines, which is in verse 11 of that passage.

That means that what flows out of one life will be different when it flows through into another, and that is a good thing.

For the church was never intended to be a collection of identical people with identical abilities.

God's design is much richer than that.

After all, in Psalm 139, it says that each of us, including little Matilda at the back, is fearfully and wonderfully made.

And also in Ephesians 2.10, it says, We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he has prepared in advance for us to do.

Therefore, some people may be a naturally compassionate, some people might be naturally courageous, some are builders, others encouragers.

But the important thing to remember is that the Holy Spirit works through those skills and abilities and makes them extraordinary.

A gift of encouragement becomes a way that someone is strengthened and upbuilt at just the right moment with just the right words to say.

A gift of wisdom becomes something much deeper and richer than any normal human insight, and a gift of mercy becomes an impactful expression of Christ's compassion and deep, deep love.

Now, sometimes these gifts, next slide please, combine.

Okay, they're not neatly packaged, and we quite often find this actually the fact that it may not necessarily be one gift, it might be sort of like combinations, because when you look at them, some kind of fit quite closely together, which is kind of why for everyone the spiritual gifts may be expressed slightly differently.

So there may be a link between wisdom and prophecy, there may be a link between mercy and healing, there may be a link between faith and encouragement, hospitality and leadership.

The result is that no two people are alike.

You are created and infilled just as God wants you to be.

That God needs different parts.

The body of Christ needs different gifts.

The kingdom of God is not built on comparison, it is built on contribution.

And this may be one of the most important truths for us here in Worksworth.

And it echoes right through this whole chapter.

And as I look around this room, I genuinely see so much gifting already.

I'm trying to catch people's eyes.

But so much gifting.

Okay.

Not just at the front.

Not just among the leaders.

But throughout our fellowship together.

I see people who pray.

I see people who encourage.

I see people who welcome.

I see people who lead.

I see people who inspire and challenge.

I see people who listen.

I see people who quietly strengthen others week after week after week.

There is so much that has been placed among us.

The miracle is that no one person carries it all.

We all need each other.

That is how the body works.

And when it's empowered by the ongoing infilling of the Holy Spirit, it's how the church grows.

And that is how the kingdom advances.

So before we move on to a response, perhaps the most important question today is not what is my gift, but am I open?

Open to receive, open to learn, open to grow, open to be used, open to whatever God desires to flow through your life, through my life.

In Steve's Baptism of the Host Spirit Talk, one of the illustrations he used was the high performance car.

Now we can have a car with extraordinary potential, lots of gizmos, lots of features, lots of amazing things, but it still needs fuel, or it really can't keep going.

Get very far at all.

And in many ways, spiritual gifts are similar.

The Father gives good gifts, the Holy Spirit empowers those gifts, and therefore we need that ongoing filling.

Not because the Spirit's left us, but because we continually need his strength, his wisdom, his courage, and his empowering.

Scripture repeatedly encourages us to keep filling the Holy Spirit, but it also talks about rootedness, which brings me to another book.

And is reading at the moment, so I can't lend it to you yet.

But it's this book here and its rootedness, and it's by um it's by Banning Leepsha, who was a catalyst, and he really talks about the importance of that secret place with God.

Reading the Bible, getting close to Him, building up that relationship, learning to listen to Him, and the fact that within community and within service, we get used to practicing those gifts.

They're not meant to be perfect.

It takes us a while to learn.

But within a loving community who encourages us who upbuilds us, that's really important.

It's all part of the process.

So I highly recommend this book, Rooted, The Hidden Places Where God Develops You.

So well worth a read.

Okay.

One of the greatest temptations when talking about the Holy Spirit slide, please, is that we keep striving, we keep trying harder, pushing harder.

Hands up, you tend to do that.

You kind of strive and push yourself through and push and push and push and push and push.

But actually, that's yeah, I'm seeing a hand going up there.

Okay, and we use we're using our own strength, aren't we?

We're not strive, we're striving, and we're in a sense we're performing rather than allowing, allowing God to work through us, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, allowing what He has placed within us to become visible, and that takes time.

Receiving a gift is one thing, learning to carry it well is quite another.

We grow, we learn, we practice, we make mistakes.

Now, I don't know about you, but often I'm not I don't hear those talked about sometimes when we talk about the gifts of the spirit, the fact that it isn't the it's the long game, you know, it it takes time and we mess up sometimes and it becomes us and not the Holy Spirit, and so it's learning.

Okay, and we'll be learning about the individual gifts and how to really step forward in them, and some of the talks you've got going forward.

So, we're going to do a talk on around speaking in tongues and what that actually means.

We're gonna do another talk on prophecy, and I'm sure that there'll be others really unpacking the details of what these gifts are about because sometimes they're a little bit confusing and mystifying.

Okay, this is the long game.

I mean you've done you've listened so beautifully to me today.

Okay, now this is probably where I'm gonna get a bit emotional.

Alright, let's slide, please.

Now, while I've been preparing this talk, and I've actually been preparing it for quite a while, there was an image that kept coming back to me.

I couldn't shake it off, and that's why I know I need to share it with you.

Um, it was the incident of the woman at Simon's house who brought a jar.

And I don't know whether you remember that.

She she brought a jar and she broke it so she could anoint Jesus with the contents inside.

In order to do that, she had to break the jar, and it wasn't about the breaking, it was about the releasing of what was inside.

Now, this was no ordinary possession, the perfume inside was incredibly valuable.

It was a may have been a family heirloom, she may have saved up for years, and it suddenly sat on the shelf and then she brought it.

Perhaps it was the most precious thing that she owned.

We really don't know, but we do know this to release what was within, it had to be broken, and she broke it, even though other people criticized her, and she didn't break it carelessly or destructively, but deliberately.

This was worship, this was gratitude.

This was love.

She'd encountered Jesus and she held nothing back.

And as she broke the seal, the curfew was released.

But something strikes me about this story.

The breaking wasn't the point, the fragrance was, the jar was never the focus.

What was within was, and perhaps that's true for each one of us.

Not a breaking that harms, but a releasing, a letting go, so that what God has placed inside can flow.

The jar was broken because she loved him.

And perhaps that's true of all the spiritual gifts, you know.

Not about striving, not with proving, but because we love him.

We want to be used by him, we want his presence to flow through us because we love him.

I think that's the invitation for us this morning.

Because what is in place within us is never meant to be hidden, it was never meant to be put on a shelf for some special occasion, or when I find out what it is that I've got inside, we have an invitation to trust him, to offer ourselves to him, and to allow him to release what he chooses into our lives.

And ultimately, it's not about us.

We are the vessels, we are those simple jars of clay, yet each of us carries inside a uniquely precious gift, one that God has entrusted to you, it's unique to you.

God has chosen those gifts or that gift for you.

Yet that gift belongs to Him.

And I was thinking, as you brought Matilda forward to say thank you to God, what Isaac and Esther were doing was saying, Lord, thank you for this precious daughter that you have given us, but we give her back to you because you love her, and ultimately you love her more than we can.

And that's true of the spiritual gifts too.

I've nearly done, everyone.

I really have.

But I want to think about that perfume, you know, the fragrance that came out of that jar.

I know it was on Jesus.

I know she showed her love and the way she anointed him, and actually we know it was in preparation for what was going to happen.

And I can't help wondering, you know, if that perfume he could still smell, even when he was being tortured and abused and hung on that grass.

He remembered that he was loved because he could smell that perfume.

But everyone in that room would have been affected, everyone would have smelt that perfume.

The impact was beyond a woman, beyond Mary.

Extended far beyond herself, and perhaps this is one of the beautiful pictures of spiritual gifts.

When the Holy Spirit works through ordinary people, the impact rarely stops with them.

It spreads into homes, into friendships, into workplaces, into communities, into towns like Worksworth and beyond.

The gifts are given to build the body and to extend his kingdom.

Little by little, the fragrance fills the space that God has created.

I want to bring you one of my most favourite verses, and anyone who knows me will know I pray this verse a lot, and it's in 2 Corinthians 2.14, where it says, Thanks be to God who leads us in triumphal procession in Christ Jesus and spreads through us the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.

Bethan and Julia, do you want to come up as we finish now?

So I'm going to move into a time of ministry now.

A time of worship, but it'll be a time of ministry too.

And there will be people around you'll notice who are part of the ministry team who are including Angela.

I know we've run out of, haven't we?

So if you really want somebody to pray with you, we'll be praying in pairs, but do come forward if you really want someone to just pray with you because something has really, really spoken to you this morning.

Perhaps you are want really know you need a fresh infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps you sense God stirring something that has lain normal in your life for many years, like the jar on the shelf.

Perhaps you would like to have the courage to step into what He has already given you, but you've kind of powered back.

Perhaps you simply want to become more open to the Holy Spirit, or perhaps, actually, you know you want to respond, but you're not quite sure what you're responding to.

Just come.

Let us pray with you.

It'd be an honor and a privilege to do that.

For you to know the presence of the Holy Spirit active in your life, in your hearts.

So we're gonna pray we're gonna worship now, but I just wanted us to.

Well, if you want to, you can stand, you can sit, you can kneel, you can but hold your hands out.

But let's just dedicate this time now to God and to the Holy Spirit and just to think about opening that jar to release that gift in our lives, just like that perfume.

And if you want to pray this prayer in your heart with me, then you can do so.

Holy Spirit, thank you for being here with me.

Forgive me for keeping the treasure you have placed in my heart all sealed up.

Break that seal for me now, so I no longer hide the incredible gifts you have already given me when I first gave my life to you.

I trust you completely, Lord, and I offer myself to you now, so your extraordinary presence can flow through me.

I long to see the fragrance of Jesus spread through me.

His wisdom, his healing, his generous servant heart, his compassion, his power through my life and everywhere you place me.

Use me for your glory, Lord Jesus.

I so love you.

If you prayed that prayer and you want someone to pray with you either now or after our service, please, please come forward.

I just hand over to the worship team now.