8. Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts, Part 1

Two or three years ago, when I returned from vacation, I found that the trustees or somebody had installed a clock in the pulpit in case I forgot my watch.  This morning, I see somebody in the first service had set it ahead by two hours, which I thought was another message.  But I've been known to ignore those kinds of messages.

Charles Spurgeon was a great preacher.  He was called, in that day and age, a pulpiteer.  But he was a great preacher in England.  He was serving as a pastor and was visiting an elderly lady from his parish in what, at that time was called an almshouse - a poor house.  And after he had visited her, he kept noticing every time he was there, a small frame that hung on the rather soiled and tattered wall behind her, and he couldn't see what was in the frame.  He thought it might be a picture, but when he looked closer, it wasn't.  It was some kind of writing and finally, one day, he took a good close look at that and asked her what it was.  The lady replied that it was a piece of paper that had been given to her by a aged man that she had nursed for a number of years, as he was an invalid.  And not too long before he died, he had handed her this piece of paper.  And because he had signed his name rather boldly on the bottom of it, she had put it in a frame she had, and kept it there as kind of a reminder of those happy years of ministry to this invalid man.  And Dr. Spurgeon asked her if she would mind if he took this for a couple of days.  And she was not sure she understood that curious request, but granted him the privilege.  And he took it from the almshouse to the office of a barrister (an attorney) and his suspicion was confirmed.  What that lady had put on the wall as a memento of years of service, and the joy in that service, was not an autograph - it was a will.  And when they took it to the bank, they discovered that, indeed, the bank had issued quite a search to try and find who the heir was.  There was no will that had been left that they knew of.  And once it was confirmed, she became heir to hundreds and hundreds of English pounds sterling, which - all along - had belonged to her, but which she had never claimed because she did not really lay claim to that which she possessed.  She had not exercised the right to riches.  She was living in self-imposed poverty.

The scripture says in Colossians that if we have Christ, we have it all - that in Him dwelt the whole fullness of God, bodily.  You cannot find one shred of scriptural or biblical evidence that there is need for one thing more than what we receive in relationship with Jesus Christ.  And the continual searching for something more is non-Biblical, and is the result of deception.  But it is also the result of the fact that we who have all things by relationship with Christ, frequently sit in the almshouse of our lives, spiritually, with a will to all the Father's riches hanging on the wall as an autograph.  When we are talking, concerning the gifts and ministry and Person of the Holy Spirit, we are not talking about something more - we are talking about our possession.  Otherwise, we continue to run off looking for some "more" experience.  And when that pales, we look for something more.  People say, you know, that "I just lack power in my life."  No, they don't lack power.  All power, scripture says, is been given to us in Christ.  "I can do all things, through Christ."  Don't tell me you lack power.  You lack obedience.  You lack the use of that power in obedience.  And so, when we're talking about the gifts of the Spirit, we are not talking about some sort of titillation or some something "more".  We're talking about tools for ministry, that God - by His great mercy through His Holy Spirit - has given to us.  So Paul says in Romans 12, which is the outset of his teaching on gifts in the book of Romans (his primary chapter), at the very beginning he says, "I say to you through the grace given to me to every man that is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly."  And that word "think" just keeps coming through.  And here I just need to make a brief parenthetical statement.  But we sometimes make a mistake, because we assume in our culture today that when we are talking about the seat of our emotions, we are talking about our hearts.  And so when I say to my wife, "I love you with all my heart," she knows that I am speaking about the seat of my emotion.  But the Hebrew mind was a different mind, and their expression was a different expression.  And if they wanted to say "I love you with all my heart,"  they would say - and this is factual - "I love you with all my bowels."  Now that sounds a little bit risque - almost a little bit crass.  But isn't it practical?  Isn't that really the seat of your emotions?  If something happens, you say, "Oh man, I feel it in my guts."  Now that's crude, but that's accurate, and its descriptive, and you know exactly what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling when I say that.  And so, when the scripture uses the term "heart", it is really, in fact, referring to that which is the seat of the mind.  

And that's why, for instance, you find in James 4, it says "You sinners, stop your sinning, and the rest of you cleanse your hearts you double-minded men."  Well, what good does that do if its talking about a double-mind having a problem?  You'll find that - search it out and you'll see it for yourself.  I say that because I want you to understand that when scripture talks concerning the thinking processes, it frequently speaks of our mind.  James say, for instance, "If you see your brother in need, and you shut up your bowels of mercy...", we would say "you shut your heart to them."  I think its important that we understand that, because when Paul says, in the context of the chapter on gifts, that we are to think, he is suggesting to us (in fact, he is demanding) that we have a sensible, rational, sane assessment of ourselves.  That's a spiritual necessity.  I am not interested in looking for some kind of applique to put on, I'm looking for the reality of my inheritance and that which God, by His Spirit, has given me.  Therefore, when we talk about spiritual gifts, we're not moving into the realm of the spooky or the esoteric.  We are moving into the realm of the spirituals, which are the givens.  We're talking about theology in overalls.  We're not talking about something "more".  Something "wow".  We're talking about: Jesus said, "blessed is he who, having heard My words, does them".  The same message that came through in the scripture that pastor Steve read from James 1.

Alright, we're going to begin by examining some of the ways in which we can discover what our spiritual gifts are.  We've talked for several weeks, several months in fact, concerning the Holy Spirit and His work.  But its time now we talk about: how do we discover our spiritual gifts.  Some of you sit here Sunday after Sunday and we get close to it and you start to salivate a little bit, and somehow you expect me to spiritually just lay on some 1..2..3..4..5, and I've got it.  I'm not talking about a formula, so don't try to make formulas out of what I'm saying, because the Bible doesn't use formulas.  The Holy Spirit is like the wind, and you can't put the wind in a formula.  Meteorologists are really confused by what's happening to the jet stream.  It keeps shifting and, in some places, slowing down and then unexplainably just taking off.  That's why the picture in Time magazine this week shows Azalea blossoms encased in ice in Florida.  They can't even predict the wind, and they've got satellites and everything else.  Now don't try to put the Holy Spirit into some sort of formula or bottle - it doesn't work.  But these are some suggestions as to ways in which you can discover your gift.

First of all, look over the possibilities.  Some people are so ignorant concerning the reality of spiritual gifts and the possibilities, that there's no way they're going to know what they've got when they discover it.  The fact of the matter is, the first step in any travel is to lay out the options.  If I want to go from Seattle to Los Angeles, I have the opportunity of hitchhiking, of riding a horse, of riding a bicycle, of riding a motorcycle, taking my car, taking the train, flying, I can go the interstate, I can go the coastal route, I can go the back roads, I can even take the cascade trail.  I have a lot of options.  And I need to know what my options are so I can make a rational decision.  You tell somebody you're taking a trip, they say "where're you going?"

And you tell them, and they say, "How are you going to get there?"

"Oh, I don't know.  I haven't decided.  I may go this way or that way or that..."

That's crazy.  And so if you want to know something about spiritual gifts you need to spend time with the word of God.  You need to know what the possibilities are.  Now, there are three ways that we can do that.  First of all, you need to study and read the word of God.  That's our authority.  That's our basic source - our primary source of data about all the possibilities.  You need to read and study the major passages concerning gifts, repeatedly.  Don't just sit down and, five minutes before you fall asleep, read through I Corinthians 12 & 13, and think you've got it made for the week.  You won't learn a blame thing.  Except how tough it is to stay awake when your laying in bed reading I Corinthians 12.  So what I would recommend is that you take Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, Ephesians 4, and spend time with them, deeply digging in, using your cross-references.  And if you don't know how to use cross-references, or you don't have a Bible that has them, learn how or get one.  The scripture says, "Study, to show yourself approved."  And in this crazy age of instant mash potatoes and instant everything, we expect instant spiritual maturity, and you're not going to get it.  There is no formula, there is no magic, there is no position, there is no act that you can do.  There is just the good, hard speed, where "study to show yourself approved unto God a workman who accurately handles the word of God" and that takes work.  I'm not talking about buying secondary sources and reading what everybody else has to say about the word.  I'm talking about studying the word.

Now, if you can - and I think most of us have so many Bibles around our house, we'd be surprised if we ever put them all in one pile - use it in different translations.  If you love the King James - you think that somehow King James was the thirteenth man that Christ chose, and you believe that somehow the king really had an inside track and that's the word of God and anything other than that is just of the devil and all that (and I've read some dumb stuff about that) - but if you like it (and I love it, boy nobody can match the beauty of the language of the King James translation), but its a little bit obscure, let's admit it, because we don't talk that way today, so get other translations.  Use that as the primary, or New American Standard, or Revised Standard.  Do not use the paraphrase or the Living Bible as your primary source.  Use it to inform, but its not your primary.  Its a paraphrase - its not a translation.  Get a translation.  Better yet, get a Greek/English Interlinear.  You say, "Oh my goodness, the only Greek I know runs a delicatessen downtown!"  That's beside the point.  A Greek/English Interlinear is just that - it has the Greek, and it has the English translation literally translated just right above the words so you can see what each word really means.  And we've got study helps back in our library.  Use them!  Dig in.  Discover the possibilities that God has placed at our disposal.  Not as something to add to, but something of the vast storehouse of God's richness, He has given to us. So the beginning discovery of the gifts of the Holy Spirit operative in your life is to study the word of God.  But let me also suggest that you search the scriptures also for examples of the gifts in operation in the lives of those described in scripture.  You see, the Bible is not only a book of teaching, and a book of history, it is a book that describes the demonstration of that which it taught.  So spend some time really seeking it out.  Become familiar with the indications and the clues to gifts described in other than the "big three" passages, which I suggested to you before.  Get familiar with the cross references and the translations.  Get to work!  Stop just coming here and expecting me to chew all the food for you.  Spend some time with God's word.

Now, after you've done that, then look at secondary sources.  But I say after!  By secondary sources, I've got to warn you - be careful here.  There are some very popular books and some very popular authors that are just pious pap.  Just baloney!  Holy baloney, but just baloney.  Its bad teaching, it is non-Biblical, and it is divisive.  So when you go to secondary sources, use your head.  Don't go in to a bookstore and say, "Give me a terrific book on gifts".  Don't do that.  They'll give you some book on gifts.  They may give you something they're trying to unload or they may give you the most popular book.  And it may not be the best.

And when you go to secondary sources, let me suggest something that may surprise you, but its very practical: buy authors you don't agree with.  If you happen to be a charismatic (by the modern definition of that term) - you believe that tongues is for today, in fact, you even go so far as to believe (which is erroneous) that tongues is the sign gift of the presence of the Holy Spirit - its the entryway and all that - if you believe that, then your bookshelf should be added to by adding J. Vernon McGee, and John McArther, and some of those boys.  Read it and get good and mad.  It will drive you to the word. And that's the point of the whole thing: get into the word!  If you read about "Oh wow...terrific!" you're not learning a blame thing - you're having your biases supported.

And if you believe that tongues ceased with the apostolic age; that the book of Acts is purely a book of transition, and therefore the occurrences of tongues that appeared in the book of Acts are simply transitional appearances; then you need to buy some books.  But be careful here, because there's some real strange ones who are writing in this area.  But I suggest that you go out and get a book by C. Peter Wagner, or Rick Young, or Bob Ryrie.  There's some great authors - some wise men - some Biblical scholars that are writing.  Oh, I always find it a lot more exciting to read books that really just get me excited.  I can't read at night before I go to bed, because I usually read books I don't agree with, and I get so wound up I couldn't possibly get to sleep.  But if you're going to go to secondary sources, get in secondary sources that force you to think and drive you to the word.  And when a book says, "And just like it says in John 15:42...", look up John 15:42 and read verses 30 through the end of the chapter.  A verse out of context is purely pretext.  And there are a lot of writers who go, you know, smorgasbording their way through the Bible.  So spend some time with the word of God so you know your groundwork is done and then go to secondary sources and have a good time.  And you will have a good time.

Then I suggest, also, that you talk about gifts with people that you view as gifted.  Now, don't look for the superstars on the spiritual horizon.  Don't look for the people who always come to your mind when you think in terms of leadership and all of that kind of thing.  Look around you in the body of Christ and try to have an honest - not judgment - and honest evaluation of somebody else.  And then come up to this person and say, "you know, I've been kind of watching you, like Pastor said, and you know, I think you must have the gift of..." and then tell them what that gift is that you think.  "And I'd like to talk to you about it, sometime to find out how you got into this and what's the joy and what's the problems, and all this."  Talk with people.  They may say, "Me?" and you'll both have a good time.  The point is, discover your gifts by talking with gifted people, by reading books concerning the gifts, but first of all by grounding yourself in the word, concerning the gifts.  And don't become specialists.  Don't become super-specialists.  Be a general practicioners with the word of God.

Alright, seek information, broaden your experience.  But here I want to warn you.  And here's another warning: do not spend time talking with people who are gift pushers.  I don't care what their gift is.  If it's tongues, or if its prophecy, or if its exhortation, or if its mercy, and they say, "You've got to have it.  You've got it?  Oh boy, this is it!"  Take a walk, because gift pushing is one form of abuse that the scripture condemns as "gift exaltation" or "gift projection".  And that's divisive.  But find brothers and sisters - and if you need some suggestions, if you're curious about a particular gift, ask me, I've been having a great time studying this because as I'm studying a particular gift, the Lord will bring somebody to my mind and I'll say, "Now really?  Does he?  Oh!  Yeah, I think you're right."  And I get so excited, and I've had some fun approaching some of you and saying, "Do you know what gift I think you have?"  And people look like its Christmas, you know.  They go "Wooo!" and then they find out that the gift that they have - like all the gifts - means it has to be used.  And that's work.

Alright, first then, spend some time examining the possibilities, and the second aspect is: plan on going to work.  Fulfill your Christian role - your responsibilities - and you will discover some exciting things about gifts.  If you look over the Biblical listing and teaching concerning spiritual gifts, you'll recognize that a lot of them are descriptive of what's expected of every single Christian.  Some of the gifts are also every Christian's role as a Christian. We are all commanded and exhorted and instructed by scripture to witness, to share our faith, but not everybody has the gift of evangelism.  We are all expected to show mercy and to comfort those who are afflicted and assist the unfortunate, but not everybody has the gift of mercy.  We are all called to give with liberality, but not all have the gift of giving.  And just because I don't have a particular gift does not mean I can abdicate my obedience to the role.  There are many things that I am called upon to do as a pastor that I do not believe, in all honesty, I have any spiritual gift for whatsoever.  But I do it.  And I do it, not because "its God's will for my life", but I do it because its part of my job.  Just that plain and simple.  And there are things that we can discover about spiritual gifts by simply doing our job as a Christian.  Obedience.  You will never discover your spiritual gift by sitting back and saying "lay it on me!"  You will discover your spiritual gift when you're moving.

Paul writes to Timothy and he says, "Timothy, stir up the gift of God which is in you."  And then he says something that has confused a lot of people: "which is in you by the laying on of hands".  And so people are "Ah, so that's the way I find my gift" and they run around and find somebody to lay hands on them and pray that they'll receive a gift.  And if they have hands laid on them and they do not have some particular understanding or insight as to the gifts that they've received, they're still confused - they think, "I had the wrong hands on my head" and they look for another set of hands.  And when Paul writes to Timothy and says, "that gift that was in you by the laying on of hands", he's saying "that's what happened in your life, Timothy", but that is not a formula.  Don't make formulas out of the Holy Spirit's work.  It may be by the laying on of hands and, if so, then ask your brothers and sisters in Christ to lay their hands and pray for this.  But don't expect it as a result of that.  Don't say, "well, God, I had hands laid on me, You've got to!"

If you want to discovery your spiritual gift, examine the possibilities and then go to work with experimentation.  Edison, when he was trying to discover what would work for a filament in the incandescent bulb, was asked - after he had had 1,200 failures of different materials he'd used for the filament - "aren't you ready to give up?"

And he says, "No.  I must be closer to the truth: I know 1,200 things that won't work."

Don't be afraid of failure in the body of Christ.  Be afraid of not obeying.

Alright, don't copy or ape another person's experience, or another person's place, or another person's position, or another person's prayer, or another person's action or experience.  That's not important.  The Holy Spirit works the way He wants to.  You come to me and say, "Now wait a minute pastor, I know I received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and discovered them when someone laid their hands on me in pray."

And I say, "Well, praise the Lord for that!  You know how I found my gifts (and I'm discovering my gifts)?  By working!"  By really working - I've tried everything.  I'll get into that a little bit more the next time we get to this.  But let me illustrate it.  We are instructed to evangelize, and exhort, and show mercy, whether we have the gift or not.  There are hundreds of Bible commands, which operate in the area of gifts.  And so if you go to work and obey those commands in the obedience, you will discover that the Holy Spirit will unveil the possession of gifts you didn't know were yours.  And there are clues to that.  You see a need in the body of Christ?  Then volunteer to meet that need and go at it.  I know that there are some of you that see needs in the body of Christ and you won't say anything to me about it, because I have, in the past, said, "Yes, that's probably true.  There is a need.  What are you going to do about it?"  And some of you don't want to do anything about it - you just want to be need discoverers instead of need meeters.  And I don't want to turn you off by being insensitive to things, and you may see a need that I don't see, and you may have no way in which you can meet that need.  That's okay.  We need to know those needs.  But the point is, the body of Christ is thoroughly furnished for every good work.  Therefore, everything that needs to be done within the body of Christ should be able to be done.  You may discover a gift you never dreamed was yours.

Let me illustrate this.  Let's call the woman "Helen".  Its not her name, but Helen was very, very fearful.  She was a shy kind of person.  Kind of introverted, and she knew the word of God commanded that she be a witness to her neighbors - to be ready to give an answer to the reason that lies within you, for those that ask.  But she hid out so much that nobody had a chance to ask her.  And every time she'd come driving down the road past her neighbor's, she'd see them in the yard and they'd wave at her or something like that, it was like a little voice inside of her that said, "You really ought to talk to that person about the Lord.  You really ought to."  And she'd say, "Oh boy, I don't have the gift of evangelism.  I don't have any gifts."  And she was just very introverted.  Finally, one day, it became so heavy on her heart that she decided to just get the bit in her jaws and obey.  And so she tried to think of the easiest way she could do it and the easiest way she can do it is to bake fresh bread and take a loaf of bread over to the neighbor, or to have the neighbor over for a cup of coffee and then give them a loaf of fresh bread and she said, "just something I like to do, and this is an act of my affection for you.  We've lived together but hadn't known each other very well and I just kind of wanted to find out about you, you know."  She discovered, after three or four of these sessions with one neighbor lady at time, that she did not have the gift of evangelism.  Nobody said, "Oh yes, I want to know Jesus."  And she told them about Christ, because they all seemed to give her opportunities.  They'd say things like, "You're a pretty religious family, aren't you?"  Well, now that's an opening.  I mean, even the slowest witted of us understand that's an opening.  And she would be faithful in simply following through on that opening and sharing in all candor and honesty - no hard sell, no big deal - just honest sharing of what Christ had done for her.  And nobody said, "Oh I want that."  She was really discouraged.  I encouraged her to keep this up.  Just keep being faithful.  Keep obeying.  I didn't know what she was going to discover - I was pretty sure it wouldn't be the gift of evangelism either.  And then she came one day, really excited.  She'd been at this about three or four months; she'd had just about everybody on the block in at least once.  And the people were starting to call her.  And the lady's would say things like, "You know, I've been watching your family since we got together the other day and you have such a fine son and we're really having problems with my boy.  Can I come over and talk to you about my boy?"  Or, "My husband and I are really in conflict, do you mind if I share?  I've got to tell somebody and I don't have anybody I can trust enough with it".  And she began to have the opportunity to exercise what I call the gift of exhortation.  She had the chance to build up these people - to draw them.  She didn't win them to Christ, but she was exercising her spiritual gift and the net result was they, through her, became involved with the church, encountered those who did have certain gifts, and the Holy Spirit won them anyway.  But the point is: this woman says, "what am I going to do?  I've got a heavy counseling appointment and I haven't even had psychology 101."

And I said, "No, but its quite possible you have a gift.  So exercise it.  By the way, take psychology 101 too.  It won't hurt you.  You can inform, and flesh out, and exercise, and develop the gift."

The other person, we'll call Him "Fred".  He was elected to an office in the church.  He kind of wanted the office.  I mean, it was kind of his turn.  You know, you pass those things around.  "Oh, I had that five years ago..." And it was his turn for the office and he had no legitimate an excuse he could come up with quickly enough when the nominating committee contacted him.  So he took the job.  And he discovered, after he had been leading and administrating and ruling for a period of time that he did not have the gift of administration.  He was leading, but nobody was following.  And instead of quitting in a huff, he filled out his term.  And at the end of his term, he said, "Let's not do that again, but let's have a different opportunity for ministry.  I have discovered I don't have the gift of administration, therefore please give me a chance to serve in some other way."  And he discovered his gift - a place he never expected to discover it: he is teaching preschool children.  And he said to me one time, "people who have more than three children are masochistic."  And the man we're calling Fred, goes into that Sunday school and its like a piece of bread with honey on it set next to an ant hill.  He is just covered with these little kids.  And he gets juice and jelly and stuff all over his suits and he says, "the most fun I ever have is paying my cleaning bill when I realize that it was put on, not by some sloppy drunk, but some darling child with sticky on his hands."  See, you discover your gift by going to work.  I don't care how big your ship is, how powerful your engines are, how great the rudder is, if you're tied up at the dock you'll never establish direction.  You've got to be moving. And moving frequently comes by obedience.  Its important to discover your gift.  Its important to obey the scriptural roles.  And its important not to quit prematurely.  A few failures may really be required before the gift is developed, and before you can discover your gift without getting arrogant about possessing that gift.  Dr. Charles Ryrie said, "Many lay men and women miss the full use of their gifts simply because they will not tie themselves down to a regular Sunday school class or even to a simple administrative job in the church.  We must be unreservedly willing to do anything if we would know the fullest use of our spiritual gifts."

Now a good Biblical illustration of this is the story of Phillip.  Back in the first part of the book of Acts, when it tells the history of the very early church, you recall that the disciples were doing everything.  Among the things that they were doing, because they held all things in common (they sold property and all the rest, and then they put it in a common pot and supported everybody according to their needs out of that), there were two groups of people within the early church: there were the Hebrew Christians and there were the Greek-speaking Christians - or the Hellenists.  And the result is there was a kind of subtle discrimination that took place between the Greek-speaking and the Jews.  The Hellenists felt that they were receiving second-class treatment in the distribution of goods.  And they began to complain, and this neophyte church - this brand new burgeoning church - is already having squabbles.  And they're having squabbles between the Hellenists, who say, "We are being discriminated against by the Hebrews".  And so the disciples, who are trying to do everything - are trying to spend time with the word, they're spending time in prayer, they're spending time teaching and instructing - are also distributing everything, and it was a mess.  And then the Holy Spirit instructed the disciples, "come on you guys, wise up" and so it says in Acts 6, "it isn't reasonable for us to leave the word of God to wait on tables.  Therefore, brethren, look out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business."  Ever wonder why its always deacons who serve communion?  They're still waiting on tables!  That's a job they got way back in Acts 6.  That's a job they've still got - waiting on tables.  Don't think the deacons are the superstars of the church.  They have been chosen by God and elected by the congregation to be your servants, not superstars.  They're table waiters.  And if any of my deacons get a little bit big for their britches, I'm going to make them wear an apron!  Because its a service capacity.  

By the way, the selection process started with seeking out men of character - not gifts.  They looked for fruit.  Once the fruit was manifested and they said, "yeah that guy's got fruit in his life," then they moved on to the gift.  And the gifts are there, my goodness, look there: we've got wisdom ("full of wisdom"), they had the gift of wisdom; you move on down, "put in charge": they had to have the gift of administration; they had to have the gift of helps: they were involved in this task of distributing food.  They were multi-gifted people.  One of the guys chosen was a fellow by the name of Phillip.  Now don't confuse him with one of the twelve.  Phillip's chosen - and Phillip was a kind of interesting guy (he had an interesting family too, he had some daughters that went in to the ministry and all the rest too).  Phillip was one of those chosen and that was a tough job.  The first deacon they chose was a guy by the name of Stephen and he was killed within just a couple of chapters, not too long after that.  In Acts 1, it describes after the execution, by stoning, of the first deacon, Stephen, that persecution came down upon the church, and it says they were scattered everywhere - everybody but the apostles.  So Phillip (not the apostle) the deacon went.  They had to get out of town for their own safety, and Phillip goes down to Samaria.  You look at Acts 8:5, Phillip goes down to Samaria and there he begins to share the word of God. Verse 6 says there was a terrific response to it.  Now, what's a Jew sharing with Samaritans?  I mean, there's a barrier crossed.  There's a prejudice ignored.  Oh, no wonder scripture says that "He has broken down the walls of partition."  Phillip goes down there, and in the process...  Here's old Phillip out there just simply obeying.  He had a job, but it didn't last very long - he had to get out of town - and now he's out there simply obeying the scriptures.  He's obeying the call to witness and he discovers he has the gift of evangelism.  And so in Acts 21, when Paul is sharing his testimony, the great apostle Paul refers to going down to Cesarea and staying at the house of Phillip "the Evangelist".

You see how gifts are discovered in ministry?  I can't come out to your house with a catalog and let you select.  You have been given.  But you'll never discover it unless you're really on the road.  Really moving down the road in ministry, in service.  But please hear me, and understand.  As you accept new responsibilities and God reveals His gifts to you, and as you work to develop these gifts, and in the process He unwraps others for you, always always remember gifts are not a reward for hard work.  They are not a merit badge.  Its in the work that they are discovered and developed.

I want to wrap this up.  I am sincere when I say, if you are serious about discovering your gift of ministry then get to work.  Undertake to fast and prayer.  Find a need and fill it and don't quit prematurely.  Every single need in this church ought to be oversubscribed with a waiting list of volunteers.  And I am not being facetious - I am absolutely in earnest.  When Sonja Lindberg, our Christian education coordinator puts a list on the bulletin board of needs in Christian education, that ought to be filled as fast as people discover its there.  Not because you know you have that gift, but because you want to have the exciting chance to discover if you do.  And the only way you're going to find it out, is in service.  And don't take it for three or four weeks and then bail out.  That's not honoring to God.  Find a need and fill it.  Put yourself in service.  Experiment.  Have a broad range of experience.  If your experience demonstrates inadequacy rather than giftedness then pass the task on to somebody else at the appropriate time and relocate.  Relocate, not retire.  God has no social security system.  His Kingdom has no room for rocking chairs.  Don't ever say to me again (some of you have said this in the past - and I've said it myself).  Don't ever say it again, "Well, I've served my time.  I'm going to rest now."  That is non-Biblical and, therefore, unacceptable.  We don't want to work you to death.  But if you are working with your gift, and we'll get into this in the next message in this series, you will experience joy.  When Jesus said, "take My yoke upon you and learn of Me" He did not say that because He wanted us to be weighed down and crushed by the burden of it all.  He said, "For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.  And you will find rest."   Where?  In the yoke.