HOW // You are GIFTED | Ps. Matthew Francey

We're ending a series today called You

Are Gifted. It's a series on spiritual

gifts. If you're here and you're new and

you don't know anything about spiritual

gifts, we will bring you along on the

journey, but you can also catch up over

the last few weeks on our messages on

our YouTube channel, Spotify, Apple

Podcast. You can catch up there. But we

want to make it simple for you to

understand as well. But not just

understand it, but apply it. And we

believe this with all our hearts that

you are gifted. That every single one of

us in this place are gifted. We've been

told that as you accept the Holy Spirit

into your life, he will give you gifts

and abilities that you can use. And my

prayer for you is that if you're new, if

you don't have faith here today, that

you would accept Jesus today. Because as

you accept Jesus into your life, he will

deposit. He will give you the Holy

Spirit. and he will give you gifts to

make you help you serve other people and

to live your life. And the purpose of

this series that we're in currently is

three reasons to uh explain what are the

spiritual gifts. So at week one we

looked all the way through all the

spiritual gifts and giving you an

overview of what they are so you can

catch up on that or we asked the

question last week. Pastor Len said,

"Why did God give them?" Like what is

the purpose of these gifts that we have

been given? And the the reason why we

have these gifts is to simply serve

others. It's in our response. We love

God, but it's to serve others. It's not

to build me a name. It's not to build

your life. It's not to give you

attention, but it's to show God you love

him. And it's also to serve others. And

then today, we're going to look at how

they work. How do we put them into work?

And as we put them all together, my hope

for you is that you would grow in your

extraordinary purpose in Christ. Because

I believe that each and every one of you

have an extraordinary purpose. A reason

why God has put you on planet Earth.

There's a reason for that. And I want

you to discover it. And as I'm thinking

about all these gifts, it makes me think

about gifts. You have you ever received

a gift from someone? Hopefully you have.

Hopefully, you've never missed out on

gift giving. But as I was we were get

we're getting ready for holiday. We're

going on holiday in a few weeks and my

wife has started packing the bags two

weeks early. Is that a thing? Two weeks

early. Like I don't know why two weeks

early. But there she's packing the kids

bags and we're going through all the

wardrobes and putting everything in its

place. And in the top of the wardrobe we

find a box. And in that box is a gift

that someone gave Caleb. And why it was

up there was when we were given it,

Caleb wasn't old enough to use it. Caleb

is my son. And so we put it away saying

when he's old enough, he will play with

this toy. And then we put it away and we

forgot about it. And now we've seen it

and it's like he's now too old. He won't

want to play with this gift. So luckily

he has a younger sister. And if you're

not the firstborn, you know what it is

to have handme-downs. Everything is just

handed down. If you are the third,

fourth or fifth child, you know the real

reality of that. But we give that to

Aaron. But what how often do we do that?

We get a gift card and we say, "I'll

wait for an opportune time. I'll wait

for a better time to use it." And then

we put it somewhere and you become a

magician because it just disappears and

then you lose the amount of money on

that gift card. But I'm thinking about a

gift that my brother got at Christmas

time and it was probably about 15 years

ago, maybe actually even more, maybe

closer to 20 years ago. And he wanted a

unicycle. He wanted to learn how to use

a unicycle. So in the unicycle came in a

box. You had to put the you got the

wheel and then you got the middle bit. I

don't know the technical term. It's the

middle bit. And then you've got the seat

on top. and he had to build it or ask my

parents to build it and then he would

learn how to use that. I want to let you

know today, nearly 20 years later, the

same box is in my parents' garage. Not

the empty box, the full box. The whole

thing is still wrapped up in my parents'

garage. So, what my brother wanted was a

unicycle. And what happened was nothing.

He all he had was a box. And could you

imagine if he had put that and he had

built it and put it into practice. He

could be in the circus now. He could be

famous. He could know how to ride a

unicycle. And like what a flex that

would be like, hey, what's a what's a

cool fact about you? And you could say,

well, I know how to use a unicycle. If

anyone knows how to use a unicycle, that

that's a cool skill to have. You should

share it more often.

But the potential,

the potential of what could have been

was left in the box because he didn't

take it out. The gift had potential, but

the potential wasn't realized because

the gift was never opened or used. Same

with Caleb's toy. Same with the gift

cards that we get. The potential isn't

realized until it's open and used. And

how many Christians treat their

spiritual gifts the same way? We receive

it. We know we have it. we've been told

about it. We've been preached to us and

we put it in the cupboard and we'll say,

"We'll use that when the time's better."

Or when I've got my life together, when

the kids have grown up, when I've got

more time on my hands, and we put it

away for a better time, and we think,

"I'll think about it later." But so

often we treat our spiritual gifts as a

gift that we have and it just remains

unopened. Because some of us are saved.

We're Christ followers. We've given our

life to Jesus. We can say, "Yeah, we've

given our life to Jesus. We serve. We

serve occasionally. We're gifted.

Absolutely. But are we using that gift?

Maybe. Or maybe not. And it's such a

shame when a Christ follower doesn't use

the gift that God has given them.

Because it's such a shame where maybe

you've been in this scenario where

you've gifted someone a gift and you're

like, "They're going to love this.

They're going to use it all the time. I

put so much thought and effort and love

into this gift."

Hey, you ask them a few months later,

hey, how's the the gift I bought you?

And you see a puzzle and their face

looks puzzled and you're like, and you

know that they haven't opened it. You

know that they haven't used it. And how

heartbreaking it is when you give

someone the something and what's even

worse is if they regift it. If they

don't even use it at all and just

offload it to someone else. And it's

like that with our spiritual gifts. We

have them. We've got Jesus. We serve.

We're gifted. But we don't utilize and

we don't use our spiritual gift. And the

tragedy isn't that God forgot to give us

a gift. Because each and every one of

us, if you follow Jesus and give your

life to Jesus, he has given you the Holy

Spirit. And his holy spirit has given

you gifts. So he hasn't forgotten. But

the tragedy is many Christ followers

never unwrap what he's already given.

It's just lying in your life dormant

because you haven't put it into

practice. And maybe you're here and

you've just got loads of questions when

it comes to spiritual gifts. Maybe

you're saying, "I don't know what my

gift is." Like, "Where do I even start

with that read, listen to, catch up on

our previous series and you can get that

the last few weeks of our series. And

today, we're going to help you discover

what your gift could possibly be." Maybe

you're waiting until you feel ready.

when you've been a Christian for a

certain length of time or when you have

all the answers or where you feel mature

enough or when you have more time in

your hands. Whatever that thing is,

we're waiting until we're ready or maybe

it's based off fear. What if I get it

wrong? What if I try and serve? What if

I try and use my gift and it goes wrong?

What if I'm not as gifted as somebody

else? And over the last few weeks, we've

looked at these gifts aren't a

comparison. These are different gifts

that we're given. One spirit different

gifts. We're a body. The hand doesn't

say to the foot, "Get lost. We don't

need you anymore." And last week, we

were asked, "Would you rather lose a

hand or a foot?" And you're sort of

like, "Well, none of them." Because

they're both important, and they are

both important, but they're both

different. And that's the same as your

gift. You may think, "Well, I'm not as

gifted as someone else." You have a

different role and a different function.

And so we don't compare our gifts

because God has given them to each and

every one of us. So if we have these

questions, if we're struggling, what do

we normally do? We normally wait.

Well, I will figure it out. I'll put

that gift card in this safe place that

I'm always going to remember. And then

poof, disappears. You put it in the top

shelf. And we just wait and we think

we're going to get round to it. And life

has this crazy way of we miss out. Life

just comes on us and we think, "Oh,

we'll get onto it." And then we never

actually get onto it. And I want you, if

you're a Christ follower and you've got

this spiritual gift and it you're not

operating in it. I want you to dust off

the cobwebs. I want you to go to that

top shelf and get that gift box down

because I want us to look at it and open

it today and take hold of it because the

church doesn't suffer because of lack of

gifts. This isn't the problem with the

church. The problem is that the church

suffers because gifted people stay on

the sidelines. There are gifted people

in here that aren't putting their gifts

to use. and the church suffers

because you might do it in your job. You

might do it outside of church, but you

don't want to give your gift into

church. And maybe that's church past and

church hurt that you've had. And maybe

it's you grew up in a church that you

weren't celebrated in. Maybe you just

don't want to serve God and give your

efforts to him and you want to put it in

different places.

But the church suffers if you sit on the

sidelines. If fear is holding you back,

if you haven't discovered what gift that

you have, we suffer because you aren't

walking in your extraordinary purpose.

And the church is most alive and the

church is most effective when each and

every one of us live out our

extraordinary

purpose. And everybody in this room,

every person either in this room, in our

parent line, just watching online, every

person has something God wants to use.

you have something in your life that God

can use. So the question in today isn't

do I have a gift because we've been told

that we are all gifted. If we have the

Holy Spirit within us, we are gifted. If

you're here and you don't follow Jesus,

I would love for you to leave this place

gifted. I want you to leave this place

knowing God and having a gift of the

Holy Spirit within you. So the question

we're going to answer today is how do I

take hold of the gift God has given me?

How do we take hold of it? Because we've

got it. So how do we unbox it? How do we

open it? How do we take hold and use

this gift? So we're going to look at a

passage in 1 Peter 4:es 10 and 11. And

the author of this book is called Peter.

And Peter was writing to Christians in

Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey.

And these Christians had scattered. They

were facing persecution. and they had

scattered into this area. So Peter

wanted to write to them and here's the

reason why he wanted to encourage them

as they faced opposition because of

their faith. And at this time as Peter

was writing this letter, it wasn't like

major oppression that was to come. They

were going to get killed for their

faith. They were going to be oppressed.

They were going to be hunted down for

their faith. So it was going to get bad.

But at the time when Peter was writing

this, the opposition that they were

currently facing in their faith would be

similar to how we face persecution here

in Ireland because we we're not being

killed for our faith. We still have

certain freedoms in our faith, but

there's also discrimination. There's

also no one really cares. There's also

hurt and the things that we face to feel

like the world and the Irish culture is

somewhat against Christianity. That is

what they were feeling. The world was

telling them, "We don't want anything

about your faith. We don't want anything

to do with Jesus." And they were facing

persecution that was going to get worse

for them. So Peter wanted to encourage

them. And as we begin chapter 4, chapter

4 encourages the Christ follower to live

differently. Do not listen to what the

world says. Do not listen to what the

culture says. But Peter is saying, "Hey,

I know it's difficult. I know the world

is saying this. I know the politicians

are saying this and the TDs have these

thoughts in mind, but as a Christ

follower, I want to encourage you to

live differently. I want to you use that

gift that God has given you to live

differently. And at the beginning of

this passage in chapter 4, Peter's

creating this urgency. It's not a wait.

It's not a come back to it in years

time, but it's like, hey, this get on to

this right now. We need to live this

out. When the days are difficult, when

oppression comes, live this out now. And

in that urgency, he's reminding us,

don't miss the purpose. As we live out

our spiritual gifts, don't miss the

purpose.

In all the urgency, in all that's going

on around us, don't miss the purpose.

And he reminded us that love is the

motive,

service is the purpose, and Jesus is the

goal. As we use our gifts, this is our

motive that it's love. Our motives for

our spiritual gifts shouldn't be what I

can get from it. How good I look, how

spiritual I look, but it should be how

do I love God and how do I love others?

Well, our purpose should be service.

Thinking about other people in mind, and

Jesus is the ultimate goal. So, here's

what Peter says in chapter 4:es 10 to

11. And he says, "Each of you should use

whatever gifts you have received to

serve others as faithful stewards of

God's grace in its various forms. If

anyone speaks, they should do so as one

who speaks the very words of God. If

anyone serves, they should do so with

the strength God provides so that in all

things God may be praised through Jesus

Christ." And this sounds familiar to the

last few weeks. The passages that we've

read over the last few weeks are

basically trying to tell them if you

speak well then speak like you're

speaking on God's behalf. If you serve,

you should serve with his strength. And

last week we looked at verses like that.

And the first week it was saying, well,

if you have the gift of service, then

serve. If you have the gift of mercy,

then be merciful. Like there's an

urgency of like this, let's get it done.

Let's do it. Let's use it. But he goes

back. Let's go to back to verse 10

because he starts with each of you

should use whatever gift you've

received. So, we've already received it

to serve others as faithful stewards of

God's grace in its various forms. Notice

that he says if you've received a gift,

that's not what he says. He doesn't say

if you've received a gift. If you're

here and you've received a gift and

maybe you think you're talented and

maybe you think you've got things all

together, that's not what he says. Peter

says, "Each of you,

each of you, every single one of us."

This word that he uses in the Greek

means all of us. Christ has given all of

us, each and every one of us, a gift.

And we have been charged to take care of

the grace God has given us. That is our

role to take care and to steward what

God has given us. Not to be received.

Not just to receive the gift and to keep

it boxed, but to be received and unboxed

for one another. As you scroll through

YouTube shorts, one thing that comes up

on my YouTube shorts is Pokemon cards.

Don't know where it started. Don't know

how I got onto it, but I as a child, I

collected some of them, but now it's a

full collector's thing. There's loads of

money in it. And you see people buying

sealed packs like they want them to be

untouched. They want to keep them safe.

They don't want anything to unopen. So

they don't know what's in it. And that's

part of the lure. It's like, oh, we

don't know what's in it. There might be

a shiny one. There might be a Charizard.

There might be all these different

things. And they just want to keep it

boxed. But actually, the purpose as they

were as they were creating Pokemon

wasn't just to create packs that no one

opened. The purpose of the Pokemon cards

were to use, to go into battle, to have

card games with other people. So, the

purpose was not to be put in a box, but

to be unboxed for one another, just like

our gifts aren't just to be kept to us,

and we'll wait for a a good time or

we'll wait, but actually, it's to be

unboxed and used. So, there's three ways

that we can help us take a next step to

take hold of our gifts. The first thing

that Peter encourages us to do is to

discover your gift. In verse 10, he

says, "Each of you should use whatever

gift you have received." But we can't

steward what you never identify. So if

you don't identify what gift you have,

well then how are you able to steward

that gift? Imagine your boss walked in

and said, "Hey, can you look after

that?"

And you're sort of you're looking and

you're like, "What is that?" Like I can

look after it, but what is what is this?

Is it a team? Is it a project? Is it a

room? Is it a place? Is it like what is

it that you're asking for? But if your

boss says, "Hey, can you look after this

team and make sure they've reached their

goal?" You're like, "Okay, there's some

clarity. I can do that." So, you know

how to steward when you have the

information. And it's the same with our

gifts. We can't steward what we don't

identify. So, how can we make better?

How can we develop? How can we know how

to steward it if we begin by not even

knowing what it is? So, we need to begin

by discovering our gifts. And sometimes

we make this too complicated. Sometimes

you ask the question, well, what's God's

will for my life? And if you're a Christ

follower, we're probably asking that all

the time. What's God's will? What's the

direction? What's the goal? What's the

plan? But I actually think we should be

asking a different question. Maybe the

question we should ask is, "How has God

already wired me? What's God already put

inside me? How do I already operate? How

do I think? How do I work? How do I

move?" And maybe that's the direction

that God is putting you in. Because we

can get lost in this. And sometimes when

we're lost, we get paralyzed and we

don't move. But actually, if we walk in

the direction that God has wired us and

God has gifted us, I believe that gives

us a good idea of the direction that God

is calling us in. And sometimes

discovery begins through prayer. We need

to pray about it, ask about it, ask God,

God, what is the gift that you've given

me and how do you want me to use it?

Through serving. Through going into

teams and saying, how can I serve? Can I

join this team? And figuring out where

your gifts are. Or maybe other people

have recognized that. Why do people

always recognize that in me? Why do

people always compliment me in this way?

Because for me, it's just natural. It's

the way I think. It's just the way I

work. But yet, other people seem to be

calling stuff out on me. Other people

seem to be recognizing something in me

that I don't know what's there yet. But

there's some practical ways for us to

discover. always start with prayer. Ask

God, God, what is it that you have given

me? The second thing is to take our

spiritual gift assessment. So, at the

end of service, I'm going to give you a

QR code that you can take and it's going

to give you a questionnaire. And that

questionnaire is going to help you give

you what your spiritual gifts are. And

if you are if you've been serving in our

teams, our next steps team bring you

through this if you want to serve. And

they help you try and figure out if you

don't know where to serve. I'm not sure.

I don't know this. I don't know that. If

you chat to our next steps team, they

bring you through this and then when

when they know what gifts you have,

they're maybe able to better place you

into maybe a specific area. So, we're

all going to take that at the end. Ask a

leader. Maybe you're blinded to it.

Maybe other people can recognize it, but

you can't because you just think it's

natural. So, what are other people

calling out on you? Try serving in

different areas. Shadow a team. If you

ask a team leader, hey, can I shadow?

You literally are just watching what

they do. And maybe you're like, okay, I

like that part. I'm not sure if that

will fit me. And we're trying to find

your sweet spot. We want to find where

God has gifted you and you help you use

your gifts. But also pay attention to

where God is constantly bearing fruit in

your life. Is there an area in your life

that God is just producing fruit in your

life? Why am I so blessed in this area?

Why does this always go so well? Why am

I successful in this way?

Maybe if we pull the string back, maybe

God has gifted us in a certain area and

we don't yet know it. So, I want to

encourage you today, do don't compare

your gifts. Don't be think, "Oh, they've

got this one and they've got that one

and I wish I had that one and that one

looks really cool and but actually just

start by discovering yours. Don't

compare, but discover yours today. Once

we discover it, the second thing we're

encouraged to do is to deploy it." says

in verse 10, "Use

to use whatever gift you've received to

serve others." He doesn't say to admire

or to protect or to perfect the gift. He

says use it, not to wait until you're

work lines up. Not wait until you've got

enough questions answered. Don't wait

until you've figured out life. He says,

"Use it. Don't just think about it and

say, "Oh, this is mine, my precious, and

isn't it cool to have this gift, and you

don't use it." Peter's trying to tell us

we need to use the gift God has given

us. And this word deploy, the meaning of

the word is to put something into

action. So, this gift that we've been

given, uh, Peter's trying to encourage

us to deploy it, to use it, and put it

into action. Because if we stop to point

one and we just discover it, knowing

your gift changes nothing. But if we

deploy it, using it changes everything.

When we start using the gifts God has

given us, then that's where everything

changes.

Not just from knowing it, not just

having it, but using it. Just like the

gift card, just like the unicycle,

they're great gifts, but we don't see

the reality of it until we use it. So, I

want to encourage you today. Don't just

know your gift. Use your gift. And many

of us intend to serve one day. I have

asked a lot of people to serve. I've

asked people, hey, would you be

interested in this? Would you be

interested in that? And I have heard a

lot of answers.

Pastor, I'm waiting for a new job. So

when the new job comes in and my ROA

sort of aligns then I'll start serving.

Oh pastor our kids have sport and once

they grow up and get out of the sport

and if this happens then we'll start

serving. Oh pastor like I would love to

but the transport it's just it's

difficult to get transport here. Oh

pastor I would I would honestly love to

serve but I've got a few things going on

in my life. I'm going to wait. And we

hear these things all the time and some

of them are legit and some people have

these reasons and then figure it out and

come back. But a lot of people just

stays with intention. You hear messages

like this, you feel it on your heart,

but yet maybe something is holding you

back. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's doubt,

maybe it's uncertainty. What is it

that's holding you back from serving?

cuz maybe you're in this camp that

you've intended to serve for ages,

but maybe you just don't know where

either. We have a next steps team who

can help you. There's teams that are

visible and there's teams that aren't

visible. There's teams that happen

things that happen during the week.

There's things that happen on a Sunday.

There are areas where you can serve and

you can use your gift and you can find

your sweet spot. But don't stay in this

area. Don't just stay that it's your

intention to serve, but take hold of it

and deploy your gift because we intend

to serve, but Peter says serve now. He

creates an urgency. He says we need to

use this gift now because there's a

hurting world out there. There's lost

people out there. There's people that

need hope. So Peter says this, serve

now. And you can't fully discover your

gifts unless you deploy them.

the assessment can say well I think you

have these three or these five or these

gifts but it's not until we deploy them

is then when we will fully discover what

gifts we have so I want to encourage you

today to take a bold step what bold step

can you take today maybe it is joining a

team asking a team to shadow connect

them with our next steps team and they

can answer questions and give you a a

pathway to start serving So instead of

just intending to, why not take that

bold step today and say, "I'm going to

serve today." And what I love about this

is that we've had someone in our band

and someone in our production team serve

for the first time today. So let's hear

it for them.

Taking that bold step and saying, "I'm

going to serve."

One of them moving here recently and

saying, "I want to serve. I don't want

to wait to get comfortable in church. I

don't want to wait until I know

everybody. I don't want to wait until I

figure all this out. I want to serve

God. I want to use the gift that God has

given me. And I love when people join

our teams. We get to celebrate with

them. Pray with someone. We've got a

prayer team. They would love to pray

with you. If you feel lost, if you feel

uncertain, if you don't know what path

to take, we would love to pray with you

today. They're going to be over here

after service in their yellow lanyards.

They'd love to pray for you. Maybe

you're here and you could lead a group.

Maybe you've got a gift that you can

share with others and maybe that's

getting people around you and sharing

your gift with them. We have connect

groups that run throughout the year and

we would love for you to consider

leading a group because the gift that

you have you can share with a small

group of people around you and make an

impact in their world and then that

small group can join that start another

group and another group and another

group and that gift that you have

encourages others to use their gift and

they encourage others to use their gift

and there's a ripple effect when we

start leading people from the overflow

of our gifts and our gifts are normally

revealed when we're moving. It's not

when we're sitting and studying and just

thinking, but actually as we're moving,

as we're serving, as we're loving,

that's where we discover our gifts. So,

we discover them, we deploy them. And

the third thing is to depend on the gift

giver. Verse 11 says, "If anyone serves,

they should do so with the strength that

they've mustered up.

with the strength that they can provide,

the strength they worked out in the gym,

but actually we should live out and

serve with the strength God provides.

So, not only has he given the gift, but

he's also given the strength. Not once

does it say in this passage or in the

Bible we should serve with our own

strength, with our own wisdom, with our

own knowledge, with our own mind. We

should serve with his strength. But it's

our role. We deploy the gift. But God

supplies the strength.

So we discover what he has given us. We

deploy the gift. And as we deploy it, he

will strengthen us.

And if this was a business, you'd be

like, "That sounds too good to be true.

So you're going to give me something,

but then also help me use it."

Like that doesn't make sense in this

economy. That doesn't make sense in our

lives right now that if someone gives

you something, they're not going to help

you.

They're not you figure it out yourself.

Like they're not going to give you a

gift and build it for you. They're not

going to give you a gift and figure it

out. But actually, God is so good. He

gives us gifts. And then he says, you

actually don't need to rely on yourself.

Don't need to use your own strength

because I will give you strength. We

don't need to rely on talent. We don't

need to rely on who we are. don't need

to rely on our background knowledge or

or how we grew up and anything to do

with us. But we can rely on him because

only God can take what's natural and

make it supernatural. That as we begin

to serve in our physical, ordinary,

natural self as we step out, as we use

our gifts, he can make what's natural

supernatural.

Because these are just words that I'm

saying in my physical body. I'm standing

here. I'm using my physical voice and

using my words to speak to you. But I

believe that life change comes because I

use what's natural to me. And God makes

it supernatural. That it's not my words

that can change your life, but it's the

supernatural words of God that can

change your life. And as we serve, I may

just be opening a door, but what seems

normal

can become supernatural in a moment.

That what's so natural about people

playing music, cuz people play music

everywhere.

But God can take what's natural and make

it supernatural. So you might think it's

just ordinary. You might think I'm just

pressing buttons on a production team. I

might just be sitting people down. I

might just be playing an instrument. I

might just be doing what I know what to

do. But God can take that ordinary thing

and make it extraordinary. He can take

what's natural and make it supernatural.

So how do we depend on God? We can

depend on God by prayer, asking him,

God, give me the strength, give me the

courage and the boldness to live out and

step out and live out my gifts. Second,

by reading the word, hearing from God,

we build our relationship with him.

Because we don't grow the gift, we grow

the relationship with God. We can get

better in the natural, but we also need

to get stronger in the supernatural.

Yes, we can get naturally better at

playing an instrument, but we also need

to get stronger supernaturally so that

God can work in us and through us. And

then we also need to walk in step with

the Holy Spirit.

And another way to put that is following

God's plan for your life. And maybe

you're here and you're not a Christ

follower. You've never accepted Jesus

and you're interested in what these

gifts could possibly be. What could this

mean for my life? If I live for God and

have this supernatural energy within me,

like what could that mean for me? A

first step for you today could be to

walk in the direction that God has for

you to say, "I want to give my life to

God by simply praying a prayer and says,

God, I believe in you. I give my life to

you. Would you work in me? I'm sorry for

what I've done. Would you

come into my life

and I want to start again?" Starts with

a prayer. as we get to know him, we read

the Bible, we spend time with God, and

then we walk in the direction that he

sets for us. I want to encourage you

today if you don't know Jesus,

that this is the best decision you could

ever make. What God loves us so much

that he gives us gifts

and he gives us the strength to use the

gifts.

He isn't just a faroff god.

It isn't just a God that says, "Okay,

I'm here for you if you ever need. Like,

just write a letter and I'll get back to

you." But he's a personal God. He's a

loving God. He's a God that wants the

best for you. And we believe that you

have a purpose for your life because God

has given you that. And I would love for

you to walk in that extraordinary

purpose and to see that extraordinary

purpose walked out. I believe you need

to use and work on your spiritual gifts.

So church, I want to encourage you

today. Take hold of your gift. Take hold

of it. Don't leave it in a drawer. Don't

leave it shoved away. Don't say, "I'll

get back to it when the time is right."

Today, church, take hold.

Non Christ follower, take hold today.

Make your decision today to follow

Jesus.

So the question for each and every one

of us whether we have faith here or not,

what's your next step? What is your next

step to take? Whether you've been here

for a while and you're serving already,

you have a next step, too. Whether

you're here and you intend to serve,

you've been coming to Lighthouse for a

while and you intend to, but maybe you

haven't f found your place. Maybe you've

just got a few excuses.

Maybe you're here and you haven't

followed Jesus yet. What is your next

step today? Because the bottom line is

this. The church doesn't need

spectators.

We don't need people just watching what

everyone else is doing. We don't need

people just filling a seat cuz in the

body most things have a function. I know

there's like an appendix here that just

sort of sits there, but what happens to

the appendix? Gets infected. A lot of

people need to get it cut out. Causes

hassle. But most of the body has a

purpose. And the purpose of the body

parts aren't to just sit and watch

everyone else do their bit. But they

need to function the way they were

created to function. So we don't need

spectators. We don't need everyone else

watching everyone else operate in their

gifts.

But what the church needs is faithful

stewards who will take hold of their

gifting. I want to encourage you to take

hold of your gifting. Imagine what could

your life, what could our church look

like if we were to take a bold step

today.

What would that bold step for you look

like?

And you might think, I'm not ready for a

bold step. But we have people, we have

teams, we have pastors who would love to

support you on this journey. Because the

first step might be difficult, but you

don't need to take it by yourself. You

don't need to take that step into

serving by yourself. You don't need to

take that step into discovering your

spiritual gift by yourself. We have a

church that love you and support you and

want to take you on this journey to

discovering your extraordinary purpose.

So, here's a QR code as I promised, and

I'd love for everyone to get their

phones out and scan this QR code, and

it's going to take you to our link tree.

And on our link tree, you'll find the

spiritual gift assessment. Click on

that, and that will bring you to the

link to do the test. And it doesn't take

long. It's just questionnaires like you

would a personality test or something

similar. You fill out these simple

questions, and then it will say, "I

think your gift's this. I think your

gift's that. and our next steps team. If

you want to take a next step and get

connected with that team, if you show

them your gifts, they'll be able to say,

"Oh, you're gifted that way. I think

this team might work well for you.

You're gifted this way. I think this

position might work well for you." Or

maybe you're here and you have some

skills and talents that God wants to

use.

God wants to see you flourish to fulfill

your purpose. And you may have gifts and

abilities that you think they've got it

covered. Why do they need another

drummer? They've already got a

good-looking drummer with his long

luscious hair. Like, why do we need

another one? Because we want it for you.

We want you to experience your

extraordinary purpose. Yes, we may get

something from you, but that's not the

reason for this. The reason is that we

want everything for you.

We want you to discover your gifts. We

want you to live out your extraordinary

purpose and we want you to discover the

reason why God created you. Michelangelo

was a uh a famous sculptor and this is

the unfinished prisoners. This is one of

his sculptures and it's rock and he's

incredible at what he does. But this is

what he said about this block. He said,

"Every block holds a statue in it. It's

the sculptur's job to set it free.

He's just got a block and it's his job

to set it free. Each of us in here carry

potential.

But unless we take hold of our gifting,

we're just like a rock without

sculpture. I don't want you to think

that the life that you're living is

everything God wanted for you. The life

that God wanted for you. The life and

life to the full. The abundant life

is when you discover your extraordinary

purpose. It's when you discover the

reason you were born. It's when you live

out your gifts. It's when you walk in

communion with him. It's when you serve

other people. That is when you live life

and life to the full. If you're living

life for yourself, if you're trying to

build something for your own glory, well

then you just live like a rock,

but there's a sculpture inside you. God

has placed something beautiful in you

and the potential is there, but we just

need to take hold. I want to encourage

you today to take hold.

Open that gift. Take hold and deploy it

and use it and depend on God. I'd love

to invite you to stand as we have

finished our message today. I want to

pray for all of us that whether you're

here and you have no faith, I would love

to pray that God would make himself

known to you that you would take that

step and say, "I want to follow Jesus

today."

Maybe you're here and you're intending

to serve. You've been here for a while.

You're not you're a Christ follower, but

you haven't figured out this spiritual

gift stuff. I want to encourage you to

take that next step to step into the

gift that God has for you and to

discover that and to deploy it today.

Maybe you're here and you're a Christ

follower and you're operating in your

gifts. I want to encourage you to keep

using them. Keep strengthening the body

of Christ. Keep doing what God has

called you to do because you're making a

difference in here, in our community,

and in the lives of those around