Word & Deed: How do you know you have a gift?

radiantvisalia.com
Word & Deed: We are Gifted: How do you know you have a gift? 
with Travis Aicklen

This sermon focuses on identifying and embracing spiritual gifts as part of understanding God's unique call on our lives. It emphasizes that spiritual gifts are one element among many, including passions, natural abilities, personality, and experiences, that shape our individual purpose.

The sermon addresses the question of how to recognize spiritual gifts, offering several key indicators:

1. Recurring Events: Pay attention to patterns and frequent occurrences in your life. These may reveal underlying spiritual gifts.
2. Frustrations: Identify what upsets you or bothers you in the church. These frustrations can point to areas where you are gifted to bring change.
3. Power and Grace: Recognize when you are operating in a supernatural power source that goes beyond natural abilities.
4. Joy: Discern whether serving in a particular area feels like a "have to" or a "get to." True joy often accompanies the exercise of spiritual gifts.
5. Opposition: Acknowledge areas where you experience significant spiritual attack or opposition. These may indicate areas of gifting that the enemy seeks to hinder.

The sermon also explores the "dark side" of each gift, highlighting potential pitfalls and challenges associated with each one. It emphasizes the importance of love as the guiding principle for using spiritual gifts effectively, as described in 1 Corinthians 13.

The sermon concludes with a call to receive prayer and the laying on of hands to activate and empower spiritual gifts, drawing on biblical examples from 1 Timothy 4:14, 2 Timothy 1:6, and Acts 8:14-17.

Transcript

All right, this is our last week in a series on spiritual gifts. And I'm realizing that to be thorough on the subject of spiritual gifts, I probably needed 12 weeks. So I apologize because I realized there's some gaps in what's been delivered. 

But we're hoping you get the gist and continue to press in. If you've missed some weeks, or this is your first week, there's actually a pamphlet on spiritual gifts that we created. And there's a few in the pouch. There's one seat that has a pouch in front of you. Only one because the seats with pouches, it turns out, are more expensive. If you want a basket or a pouch, it almost doubles the price of your seat. 

So anyway, we were like, huh, we only need like one pouch per six. So if you missed any of the weeks, there's a little description of the 21 spiritual gifts mentioned in scripture. And I would encourage you to read it. And the reason is, is because at the end of our service here together, we're going to ask you to come forward and say, I believe this spiritual gift has been given to me by God. And I know that's a pretty audacious thing to say. God gave me this, you know? That happens to me often as a pastor. People come up to me and they'll be like, God gave me this song. And then you hear it and you're like, I don't think God gave that to you. 

So I get it. It's a really audacious thing to say, I have this tendency. These things characterize me. 

And I think that this is God's wiring in my life. But we're going to ask you to step out and say it. And then we're actually going to lay hands on you and acknowledge that and ask that the Holy Spirit would pour out his power and presence on you in greater way so that you can operate in the gifts that he's given you. So we wanted you to discover some gifting in your life. We wanted you to have the confidence to say it. And then of course, we don't just want to say things here. 

We want to do things here. So we want you to walk in the giftings that God's given you. So one of the things that I want you to understand about spiritual gifts is that spiritual gifts are just one aspect of understanding God's call or his unique call on your life. Discerning the will of God in and on your life requires many things. 

And I know, I know one pastor actually every pastor, I don't know one pastor, every pastor I know uses acronyms, but this, this famous pastor uses this word shape as an acronym to help his church understand their call and their unique assignment. And so when it comes to the shape of your life and the direction of your life, spiritual gifts are just one aspect. But you also have to account for heart, like as in the passions that you carry, the things that you love, you have to account for your natural abilities, the things that you've grown in, you have to account for your personality. That's a part of God's unique call on your life. 

And you have to account for your experiences. Many of you grew up fatherless. And so you have this deep desire, this deep desire to see people fathered, because you know what it's like to go without. And so particularly the painful experiences tend to shape a sense of call or direction in our lives. 

You know this, you've experienced this. So spiritual gifts is just one of these things. But how would you know? Like how would you know if you've actually got a spiritual gift? 

This is a question that I've been getting quite often. And I also want to say that it's still our desire to put together a podcast that answers questions around spiritual gifts. And so if you have questions still after four weeks, let's just assume that you do. I know that I didn't cover everything that needed to be covered. 

But if you have a question, please send it in and we'll spend our time on a podcast trying to answer your questions. But how would you know? What would be the sign that you have a spiritual gift? 

How do you discover the gifts you've been given? When we read the Bible, we actually read narrative. We read stories about people operating in their spiritual gifts. 

Right? We read about healings. We read about prophecies. 

We see mercy being extended. We read about miracles, right? But rarely do we have any of the authors describing what it felt like to have or walk in that gift. Rarely do we get a description of Jesus saying, and that's why I chose to pray for that person and not the other person. We don't come to understand what these gifts feel like necessarily by reading the scriptures. And so I know there's a lot of questions, but one of the biggest ones is, man, how do you know if you're walking in a spiritual gift? What's the difference between that and a natural ability? 

How would we know? So here's some things that I've come up with that I hope are helpful as we get ready to make our way to a place where we receive prayer. The first thing is I want you to pay attention to reoccurring events. So we all have the Holy Spirit living inside of us. If you're a born-again believer, you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you. That means that you've most likely walked into rooms, houses, restaurants, businesses, and gone, hmm, something ain't right in here. Many of us, when we started to follow Jesus, kept listening to the same music we were listening to, but now all of a sudden the Spirit of God was in us going, hmm, something ain't right here. Are we trying to watch the same movies again and go, I don't know if this is for me anymore. So if you're a born-again believer, you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, which causes you every once in a while to go, hmm, something's wrong. 

I'm getting out of here, right? Everybody had that? Like a sort of spidey senses that go off and you're just like, nope, probably going to pass on that. Can I ask you how often that happens to you? Because I believe if you have the gift of discernment or prophecy, it's probably happening weekly. For the rest of us, it's an annual event to walk into a restaurant and go, nope. 

But connect to the dots. How often is this happening for you? I remember being young, I would probably say junior high, and my family went to Pasadena and we were walking that kind of main street in Pasadena. And there are a number of homeless people who sought me out to speak with me, not to ask me for anything. I'm in junior high. 

I don't have anything to offer them. But I remember my dad looking at me and saying, how often does this happen to you? And I did. I went through a season in high school where I made a bad habit of giving homeless people, particularly drunk homeless people, a ride home. And I would get home and tell my parents, like I gave this guy a ride to Ivanhoe. It was amazing. I was doing the Lord's work and my parents were like, don't ever do that again. I'd be like, God, it's like, it's, it happens with frequency. What is it for you that happens with frequency? Why does everyone spill their beans to you? In a matter of minutes, they're like, and then when I was five, well, I think it's probably because there's a pastoral gift on your life or the gift of mercy. And people crave it. 

They need it and they're coming to you for it. Danny can't tell me had been on staff for two years. I've been on staff for 20 years. 

I started this church. Danny can't tell me he's been on staff for two years, and he's in the office next to me, and I'm just watching the line form. And I'm thinking, everyone comes to my office to say, this is what I'm going to do. Can you help me? 

Then everyone else goes to Danny's office to say, this is how I'm doing. Can you help me? And there's a frequency. You ask him, there's just a lot. If you're one of those people who barfs on Danny, keep going. I don't want you to feel bad, but there's a line of people to barf on Danny. 

And that's because there's a great pastoral gift on his life. And somehow in a matter of seconds, you're like, I'm not doing that well. I thought I was fine. 

And then I saw you and I'm not doing that well. Why does everyone come to find you when they're wrestling with a deep question trying to understand a passage? It's probably because there's a gift of teaching on your life. Why do people always ask you to pray? I bet there's a gift of faith operating in your life. And they know that a prayer offered in faith moves some things around. 

And they know that you pray with faith. Why do you notice sickness and disability? Or let me say it this way, why do I notice sickness and disability? Why does your heart swell with compassion? When people are faced with a challenge or they've got this confusing problem that they can't fix, why do they find you? My guess is because you've got the gift of discernment or exhortation or maybe a word of wisdom that cuts through all the noise and simplifies things. 

You have to pay attention to reoccurring events if you're going to understand your gift. Secondly, you should pay attention to your frustrations. What gets you upset? The thing that makes you angry is usually the thing you're meant to change. What bothers you at church? If you're an administrator and you've been given the gift of administration, it just pains you to be around something that's run so poorly. 

You're like, oh my gosh, give me the wheel. If you have the gift of teaching, it pains you to see inaccuracy or something be not taught well. If you have the gift of teaching, you're bothered by the slides. 

That's what I've noticed. Those with the gift of teaching are so bothered by the slides, they're like, if you're going to take the time to put it on the screen, spell it right. Work through your punctuation before you present it to us all. 

That's not the English language. That's what those with the teaching gift do. If you have a mercy gift, it pains you when people are treated poorly, or you feel like policy is coming before people, it pains you to see that happen. If you have a leadership gift, you're like, there's no vision and you're going nuts. What's the bigger vision? Why are we doing what we're doing? It's usually a sign that you have a leadership gift. 

This is tough. This is tough to work out in a body because teachers are convinced, absolutely convinced that the issue is that we need better doctrine. They're convinced that the issue is that we're not teaching truth. Then leaders are convinced that we need a bigger vision. What are we doing here? Pastors, they don't care about reaching the world. 

Susan has cancer. You're talking about reaching the world. What about the people in our own church? Prophets are like, why is kingdom come so poorly attended? Do people not care about God? They'll come to all your events, but they don't come to pray. 

What's wrong with people? Then the evangelists are like, why are we even still here? How many sermons can we possibly hear together? There are people who don't know Jesus, who've never received a Bible. You have six translations and you don't read any one of the six. There are people that don't have the Bible in their native tongue get moving. What is this holy huddle? 

What gets you angry? It most likely will reveal your gifting. Last week I read this It's having to do with the design gifts listed in Romans 12. There's design gifts listed there, and we spoke of someone carrying a dessert into a dinner party. That person drops the dessert, and your design gift probably characterizes your response to the person who dropped the dessert. 

The Perceiver Prophet says, that's what happens when you're not careful, because they've got a motivation to correct right and wrong, and they see it pretty black and white. The server says, let me help you clean it up, because there's a motivation to render practical helpful service. The teacher says, the reason you dropped the dessert is because it was too heavy on one side of the tray. The motivation is to discover and research what happened, and then the exhorter says, next time let's serve dessert with the meal. The motivation is to find success by correcting future failure. The giver says, I'll buy another dessert. They've got a motivation to meet a tangible need. The leader says, Jim, you get the mop, Sue, you pick up the tray, Mary, you can help fix a new dessert. 

They want efficiency, and they want organization. And then the mercy person says, don't feel bad. Any one of us could have dropped that dessert. The motivation is to empathize and be aware of their feelings. And we read that, and we thought, oh, that's so cool. It is so cool what it's working together. But you need to know that every one of those people are convinced that they're seeing it right. They're convinced that they're seeing it straight. Can I ask you who's right? Everyone of them probably. Who's wrong? Everyone of them probably. Welcome to the experiment that Jesus calls church. Everyone thinks the solution is something else. 

And who's right? 1 Corinthians 12 is all about the gifts operating in the body. 1 Corinthians 14 is all about the gifts operating in the body. 1 Corinthians 13 is all about love, the most excellent way, the thing that you can't go without. In context, 1 Corinthians 13 is not about the love of a man towards a woman. In context, it's not for weddings. 

It's for a group of people who want to kill each other because they're convinced they see it right, and they're convinced they know what the solution is. Let me read it over us. If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, but I don't have love, I'm only a resounding gong or a clinging symbol. And if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient. 

Love is kind. It does not envy. It does not boast, and it is not proud. It does not dishonor others. 

It is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 

But when the completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. 

When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror. Then we shall see face to face. 

Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And these three remain. Faith, hope, love. 

But the greatest of these is love. When you get angry, when you get frustrated, come right back here to 1 Corinthians 13. I think that's where Paul meant us to be. 

Thirdly, pay attention to power and grace. Is everybody else rowing and you're sailing? Do you know what I mean by that? Are you tapping into a power source that is not your own and it's not normal and you know it? And everyone else is using pulse hole diggers and you've got an auger. 

Or let me just keep going. Everyone's sawing hospitality. You know? And you've got a chainsaw. 

Everyone's shoveling and you have a snowblower. Pay attention to that. It's not your own doing. It's the grace of God over your life. 

Also, pay attention to joy. Is this a have to or a get to? I always know that I'm tapping into someone's gifting when I apologize for what I gave to them and they say I live for this. I went from I'm sorry that you have to do this. And they're not just willing. 

They're excited about the thing I was apologizing for. Lastly, pay attention to opposition. The enemy's attack and opposition will often be in an area of gifting or in a place of strength. So temptation is going to come to you in areas that God has called you to. If you're meant to be a perceiver and God's going to speak to you in pictures, do you know who else is going to speak to you in pictures? 

You'll have a vivid imagination and there'll be a war over your thought life. Because you're meant to see what God's wanting to show you. And the enemy's attacks will reveal an area of gifting. There's a dark side to every gift and there's an enemy who loves darkness. I can't even describe to you the amount of ribbing that I saw going on last week when I started to talk about the dark side of people's gifts. 

Namely between spouses, hardcore like pay attention, pay attention now. He is speaking. This is the word of God for your life. Serious ribbing going on because there's a dark side to every gift. If you're prophetic, you can have a tendency to dwell on the negative rather than the positive. You can lack a cautiousness and a tactfulness in expressing your opinions. 

If you're prophetic, you demand a positive response to a harsh rebuke. If you've got the gift of serving, you can be governed by needs and feel responsible for every concern. You can be too persistent in giving unrequested help. Nobody asked for it, but there you are. And then you get hurt by the ungratefulness of those that didn't ask for your help. If you have the gift of teaching, you bored us. 

You lost us with all your research. You then you retreat into a world of books because they're easier to handle than people. And then you've got all this wisdom that really lacks any practical application. If you've got the gift of encouragement, you can treat people as projects rather than persons. 

You just want to fix it. You can exaggerate things in order to motivate people. You can be overly optimistic, unable to rest. If you've got the gift of giving, maybe you're trying to control ministries with your giving, bit of a backseat driver, or maybe you're corrupting people by giving too much and too quickly. If you've got the gift of leadership, there's a dark side to this. You can view people as human resources and not as human beings. And you can use them to accomplish your personal goal. And you can take charge of things in your personal strength because God's given you broad shoulders. And if you have the gift of mercy, there could be a failure to be firm and decisive when necessary. You take up offenses on behalf of others that have been hurt. 

And you fail to maintain healthy boundaries and relationships. Worship team, would you guys come? As the worship team comes, if you're a part of our deacon team, our elder team, or our prayer team, would you make yourself available? 

You can be along the sides as well. I'd encourage everyone to stay as far away from Luke as possible. Luke has the gift of drumming, and you're going to hear it. Let me read to you from 1 Timothy 4.14. It says, Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you. Be diligent in these matters. 

Give yourself wholly to them so that everyone can see your progress. 2 Timothy 1.6, For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. Acts 8 verse 14, When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they arrived, they prayed for the new believers that they might receive the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of them, they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. God make no mistake, it is God who gives gifts. But these are called out and conveyed through the laying on of hands. I don't know why it works that way. 

I don't even know how it works. I just know that this is a biblical pattern. And what I'd love to do is as we worship together, I'm going to ask you to be bold, come forward and say, this gift is operating in my life. And we're going to just say, yes, Lord, we're going to pray that the Holy Spirit pour gas on the fire, that a smoldering wick wouldn't be extinguished, but it would be fanned into flame. We're going to lay hands on you because we're asking the Holy Spirit to fill you and empower those gifts. One of the things that the Holy Spirit does, it's clear when you read the book of Acts, as he comes with boldness. 

All of a sudden, these guys who are timid and tiptoeing around are now full on. And so we're going to ask that a gift that is maybe operating, but quietly or wholly spirit, would you stand with me? Jesus, we look to you, we lift our eyes to you. 

You're the giver of gifts. And it's not humility for us to ignore those. It's not humble for us to pretend like you've not given us these gifts. It's humble for us to recognize that you've given us these things. I pray that you would come by the power of your spirit, stir up the gift of God that is in each one of us. 

Amen. As you get clear and you maybe see a person who you feel comfortable praying for you, come forward. We want to lay hands on you and speak life over the gifts that God's given you.

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