Permanent Gifts The Spirit Gives

Transcript

GR 1348
03-25-07
Permanent Gifts the Spirit Gives
1 Corinthians 12:28, Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We're in 1 Corinthians 12 in your Bibles, we've been talking about spiritual gifts. We've been doing this more topically and when we come to chapter 13 we will pick up again with more of our verse-by-verse progression. We've divided the gifts between the temporary and the permanent, identifying gifts that have ceased because they were limited only to the foundational period of the church, the days of the apostles ending roughly 95 or so A.D. with the passing of John, the last of the surviving apostles. And the permanent gifts, those that God intended to be enduring through the history of the church, until the church comes to its conclusion and completion with the rapture of the church, when the church is gathered into the presence of Christ in the air and taken to glory.

It's important that we make biblical distinctions and biblical identification. Sometimes it seems, well, does it matter that much. But there are significant issues at stake. We have to be sure that we recognize the gifts for what the New Testament says they are. For example, apostles and prophets were individuals who received direct revelation from God. To say that apostles and prophets are present today opens the door to a major issue. Is direct revelation being given by God today, revelation in addition to what was revealed as our New Testament? And we looked at the qualifications of an apostle and noted that there are none present today because one of the requirements was to have seen Jesus Christ bodily after His resurrection from the dead. And in 1 Corinthians 15 Paul said he was the last one to be given such an appearance, and thus be qualified as an apostle. And it's important because there is a major movement in the evangelical realm today claiming that the gift of apostleship is present. And as far as I can tell, the only foundation they have is they declare that it is so. It's not primarily established from biblical evidence, simply men declaring they are apostles and apostles are again present.

The same with the gift of prophecy, and we noted some try to distinguish between fallible prophecy and infallible prophecy. We'll have more to say about this gift when we look through 1 Corinthians 14. And we noted that's an artificial distinction, a prophet received direct revelation from God and communicated that revelation accurately. And so that gift is no longer present. We looked at some of the other temporary gifts—miracles, healing, tongues. And we are going to delay any further discussion of tongues until chapter 14, because much of chapter 14 will involve the discussion of the gift of tongues and the interpretation of tongues, and a comparison of those gifts with the gift of prophecy. So we haven't said everything we want to say about those gifts yet, but we're delaying that until chapter 14.

Discerning spirits, word of wisdom, word of knowledge, these were gifts necessary when you did not have a completed New Testament to go to. Now we go to the scriptures to discern what God would have us do, how we are to conduct ourselves, what is the proper course of action and so on. Some make almost a mockery of this word of knowledge and you'll see them on television and so on where they claim, I'm getting a word of knowledge. Somebody in my audience.............. I saw someone this week giving an example. Reading a letter from a listener and it said one side of their face smelled. This was serious, this was on TV, you know everything on TV is serious. This man was serious, Pat Robertson. Somebody had an odor on one side of their face, and while they were watching him on his TV program he said, I have a word of knowledge. Someone in my audience is having a problem with one side of their face, so he declared them to be healed in the name of Jesus. And so this lady wrote a letter to say the odor disappeared. That's supposedly a word of knowledge. Now just because someone makes up this is what a word of knowledge is and I have it, doesn't make it biblical. That's not a biblical word of knowledge, that is just, to use a theological word, baloney. It's not genuine.

Turn over to Revelation 13. The whole issue of miracles and the miraculous, there is a great time of miracles on the earth coming in the future in that period of time we know as the 70th week of Daniel, the 7-year tribulation, and particularly during the last half of that 7 years, the last 3½ years. And that's what we're talking about when we come to Revelation 13:5, just so you know the timing is clearly set out. The end of verse 5, authority to act was given to him for 42 months, that's 3½ years. So we are in that 3½ years that will climax with Revelation 19, when Jesus Christ will bodily return to earth to destroy his enemies and set up His kingdom. And in this period of time there are going to be miraculous things occurring. But for time we're going to jump down to verse 11. Verse 8 tells us all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life of the Lamb who was slain. Why will they worship this antichrist, this beast as he is identified, the first beast in chapter 13? Well there is a second beast identified here, he is a false prophet, he is a man who will direct the worship of the world toward the individual known as the antichrist. And you'll note verse 12, he exercises all the authority of the first beast. The first beast is the man we usually refer to as the antichrist, the little horn of Daniel, this man who will rule the western world. He exercises all the authority of the first beast and is present. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. As I mentioned in the first part of the chapter, this man is going to rise to dominant power and become the object of world worship, he is going to experience a supernatural healing, and resurrection from the dead.

Verse 13, he performs great signs. There is our word, remember, the context of signs, wonders and miracles. So that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. He deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to him to perform in the presence of the beast. So those who dwell on the earth will make an image to the beast who has the wound of the sword and has come to life. It was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak. These are amazing, miraculous events that we're going to go into, this could be some of the explanation. But the fact is, the people of the world are going to be absolutely convinced, this man has come back from the dead, these are works of power that only God can do. He'll even have an image made and then call that image to life. Who can do that but God? Now I say this, not because we're going to go on a study of prophecy, although that would be pertinent to us as well, but to remind ourselves that when Satan is turned loose to do works of power, his works of power are powerful. Remember in the Old Testament? You could have a prophet, and if a prophet would come and give a prophecy and that prophecy came true, but he led you away from the God of Israel, you should stone that prophet to death. You say, wait a minute, don't we have to figure out how he could give a prophecy and have it come true? That's irrelevant, if that prophet leads you according to the revelation that God has given of Himself, that He might be worshiped. So it is with miracles. We evaluate them, not because we can figure out and prove this one was false and this one is genuine, but because we go by the scripture. How do I explain the miracles in chapter 13 that are going to take place on the earth? I don't have to explain them, but I know I don't bow down and worship this individual. That's what I need to know. So it's not just the miracle, but it's the revelation that comes from that context.

It's important that we're clear on these issues of miracles. If I would stand up here and do a great miracle, raise somebody from the dead, then I would say, worship me. You would say, wait, if he really raised him from the dead, I guess we should worship him. No, because the Bible tells us we only worship God. Doesn't matter if I raise someone from the dead. We have that kind of miracle in chapter 13 yet in the future take place on the earth, and it's done by the devil. So we talk about these gifts, we want to be sure that we are careful in first determining what the Bible says about the gifts, how it was to operate, the context in which it was to operate, and then in light of that what do we expect today. Very important matters.

I want to turn our attention to some of the gifts of the Spirit that are present today, and that the Bible would indicate that are to be continuing gifts and that we are to be exercising today. It's amazing how many of these gifts that we call temporary, they become the focus. And really the focus is to be on the Word of God and the work the Spirit of God is doing in the context of the church today, and those gifts that God gives to accomplish His purposes.

Come back to 1 Corinthians 12, and we'll pick up with verse 28. We won't stay here, I'll just mention, because I've pulled these gifts together from Romans 12, Ephesians 4:11 and 1 Corinthians, chapter 12 verse 28 in particular. Now you'll note in verse 28 we're told, God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers. Then miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administration, kinds of tongues. Each time in 1 Corinthians here when Paul lists the gifts, he puts tongues or interpretation of tongues last. I take it the purpose of that is because the Corinthians are making this particular gift, tongues and its interpretation, as such a prominent issue. He puts it at the end of his list just to put things in proper perspective. All the gifts are important and necessary for the body, all the gifts are not of the same importance. And the analogy of the body is the same. The most desirable thing is to have your body completely healthy, as we might refer to it, your physical body, having all the parts functioning as they should. Now obviously some parts of the body are more important than other parts of the body. And to have one part of the body malfunction can create a greater problem for the body than when another part doesn't function. If you break your little finger that limits what you can do with your hand. But if you break your neck you've had a greater impact on the body. So the analogy of course carries through.

Now what Paul does in 1 Corinthians 12:28, God has appointed in the church first. You'll note there is first, second and third, and then it is then, then, then. So he's not going to go on and list all 18 gifts or so, but he identifies the top three in this context and then mentions some of the others. We've looked at apostles, among other things they received direct revelation. The apostles in many ways had all the gifts. We noted on the gift of miracles. There are also people who have the gift of healing. Well isn't that a gift of miracles? Yes, but it's not as broad. The gift of miracles, as we noted, encompassed more than just healing people. So a person with the gift of miracles may be able to heal someone, but they could do other things. A person with the gift of healing could just heal somebody, but couldn't do the other things that a person who had the broader gift could do. An apostle had authority over the church, he received direct revelation. A prophet received direct revelation but didn't have the same authority in leading and so on the churches as the apostle had. So there is distinction, and as I noted, an apostle seemed to have all the gifts. We find them doing about everything. Paul said he spoke in tongues, he healed, he evangelized, he taught, he received direct revelation. And so it is the gift of most importance and it is foundational along with the gift of prophet, as we saw in Ephesianas 2:20, for the establishing of the church. So those two gifts were of prime priority. And we still are benefiting from them, even though apostles and prophets aren't present, we are building on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. We are studying the book of 1 Corinthians to learn what God has for the church. Where does that come from? That came through the Apostle Paul. So the impact of the revelation given to apostles and prophets continues down to today.

The third gift, the gift of teacher, the first gift we'll look at as a permanent gift, is a gift that continues down to today. Teachers do not receive new revelation from God. I am teaching you the Word of God today, I am making the revelation that was given to the Apostle Paul and recorded under the direction of the Spirit, and explaining it to you, helping to clarify. So the gift of teaching is the supernatural ability, as all the gifts are, an ability given by the Holy Spirit, to explain and clarify the truths that have been revealed in the Word of God. So the teaching gift operates on the Word of God. It's not teaching so you can learn from my experiences, teaching so you can learn from the stories I tell. It's teaching the Word of God. Paul told Timothy, teach the Word, preach the Word. We are focused on the truth that God has revealed. This gift does not simply involve a knowledge of the Word, but a teacher has to know the Word. You can't teach what you don't know. So a teacher will have to be a student of the Word. A teacher will have to have the ability, not only to study the Word, not only have a good grasp of the Word, but the ability to effectively communicate that Word to others so that they can understand it more clearly, understand its meaning. This is important here. Loving the Word of God is not enough, loving to study the Word of God is not enough, devoting significant time to the study of the Word is not enough. The gift of teaching has to involve the ability to communicate the Word in a clear and understandable way. We'll say more about the gift of pastor/teacher later as we progress along. But the teaching part of that gift is simple and clear.

How do you find out? Well, you might have an interest and the desire, you might have studied the Word. Then I take it you look for an opportunity to do it, and then you look for those who will evaluate. We're going to talk about, when we pull things together, how you identify your gift and so on. But in this area it is crucial, we are at a prominent gift and the most important gift in the church today, the gift of teaching the Word. It's foundational to everything else that goes on. And sometimes people are drawn to this gift because they have a desire, I want to be a teacher. That does not make you a teacher. If God has gifted you to be a teacher, you have to have the knowledge of the Word and the ability to communicate the Word in a clear and understandable way. There have been men who have wanted to go to seminary and have asked me for a recommendation. And I've sat with them and said, I cannot give you a recommendation as a teacher or preacher of the Word of God, because in all honesty, my observation and the observation that I've been able to discern is that you are not gifted as a teacher. Going to seminary will not make you a gifted teacher, it will make you a believer who has much more knowledge about the Word, but you still will not be gifted.

I had the director of missions at an evangelical seminary call me one day several years ago. And he's calling different pastors and says, Gil, we need your help. He said, from my observation in the years I've been at this seminary, most of the men studying at this seminary are not gifted to be teachers of the Word of God. And it would help tremendously if the church would help sift out these men instead of just sending them to seminary. So he was going through, contacting churches, just encouraging them to do a more careful evaluative process, because men go off to seminary, they get a seminary degree, therefore that means I am a teacher or a pastor or a preacher. No it doesn't. God gifts and we want to develop our gift. And that's true in the local church, and so there is an evaluative process. I mention that on this gift because it becomes important.

And there is a warning. Turn over to James 3:1, let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. Then he goes on to talk about the dangers of the tongue and the problems with the tongue. You'll note verse 1, we sometimes think we should have many, many teachers. But James' instruction is just the opposite—be careful that you don't pile up teachers. Don't many of you become teachers, my brethren, because a teacher comes under stricter judgment.

Let me back up and use the gift of prophecy as a comparison. If a prophet receives a message from God but then he changes it and gives out that message from God in a different way, we'd say that prophet deserves judgment. Now think about it. A teacher has been entrusted with the revelation of God, but he does not present it as he should, that's a severe matter. My preaching professor when I was in seminary would say to us on more than one occasion, men, it is a sin to bore people with the Word of God. And I can appreciate that. In other words, we ought to do all we can to present the Word of God with clarity, as it is, so people can understand it. Now people without the Spirit, we can't help, but a teacher ought to be able to communicate the Word of God in a way that people will respond to it. One of the things that helped me as I was considering what the Lord had for me was the response of people around me who evaluated my teaching, evaluated my preaching. When I was a Bible college student many, many years ago we had a Department of Christian Service and I was called into that department and given an evaluation, they saw what my gifts were, and they had come to hear me preach and sit under my teaching. And I went on to seminary and went through the same process. We need to be open. Don't ask your closest friends, don't ask your wife. There's not a problem getting an evaluation there, but they may not be the most objective. I want godly people who will tell me the truth. What would it be for me to have spent the last 40 years trying to be a teacher of the Word if God hadn't gifted me to do it. That would have been a terrible waste and I would not have been doing what God really gifted me to do. So it would be a loss all around.

So to love the Word, that would be a part of a teacher, but many of us love the Word and may not be gifted to be a teacher. And to love to study the Word, that's great and a teacher is going to have to study the Word. But a teacher is going to need to be able to sit down and communicate the Word and have people say, yes, he clarifies the Word, it becomes more understandable to me. I'm growing in my knowledge of the Word as he explains it. Part of that does come through the process, so don't be embarrassed. I go and teach, I think I'm a teacher. Well, we give opportunity to teach, then there has to be evaluation. I'm spending time on this aspect because this becomes probably more of an issue here. We are a teaching church, and we should. Teaching is the most prominent gift in this church, and I take it in light of 1 Corinthians it should be, because the Word of God is foundational to everything we do. We'll say more about this when we talk about the gift of pastor/teacher. But we want as many men as God has gifted to come up to teach the Word, that there will be many people who explore that possibility and will find that's not my gift. And will move on to another area.

That's the gift of teaching. It's mentioned in Romans 12:7. Paul says, if your gift is teaching, then concentrate on your teaching. If it's in something else, do it in something else. So it's mentioned both in Romans 12:7 and here. And then that gift, if you're familiar with the epistles of the New Testament, is a permeating ministry and Timothy will be instructed in Paul's letter to him to take the things that he has received from Paul and teach it to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. So you'll note there is no new revelation coming. Paul says simply, take the truth that has been given to you from me and you teach it to other men and they'll teach it to other men. And God has blessed us with many gifted teachers in this body, and they are teaching the Word. But it's not the only gift, it is a gift that is crucial and foundational to the others.

Second gift in 1 Corinthians 12:28, we'll just take the next gift here. Third gift was teachers, then come miracles and gifts of healing and we've talked about those. They are not gifts of permanence, they were associated with the apostolic gifts and the prophetic gifts. An aside here, obviously apostles were gifted teachers. Paul taught, prophets were teachers. They had the revelation, they communicated it, and often they would explain that revelation. And many of us teach the Word, you don't have to be gifted............ Somebody asks you what a passage means. Oh I couldn't tell you, I'm not a teacher. We are to know the Word, we are to be able to talk about the Word, we want to understand the Word. That doesn't mean I can never explain the Word to someone, but as far as teacher in the church, a formal setting, that's a gift.

Then it continues with a gift called helps, after healing, the gift of helps. In Romans 12:7 Paul calls this gift serving. He uses two different words, but I think we're basically referring to the same gift. The word translated helps here in 1 Corinthians 12:28, it means to carry someone else's burden. So you can see how it means help. You see someone carrying something, you say, here, let me help you with that. And so you're carrying their load. It's a gift of helps. In Romans 12:7 he says if your gift is serving, then concentrate in serving. He uses the word we get the English word deacon from there, to serve. We talked about serving as a proper use of gifts, but here it is in a special way. Now this is a gift that doesn't get near the splash that teaching does. It's a gift that is done and one of the strengths of the ministry of our church are the people with the gift of helps, the gift of serving, who are doing so many things in the body that enable the body to minister effectively. I mean it goes on. There are people doing things for other people. People are having physical problems and people are coming in and cleaning their home, providing food, sitting with them, doing ................. I mean, the gift functions in so many ways and it just goes on. We sometimes think, well everybody does this. No, everybody can help and serve, but not everybody is gifted. It's the gift that people who lead the body and enable even those who aren't gifted to contribute in ways. Just like teachers, you sit in a class and someone is teaching you and then you're at work and somebody asks about a passage of scripture and you explain it to them. Well you are teaching them in a sense, even though your gift may not be teaching. It's the teacher who has enabled you to do that and the gift of helps. I look around and just am amazed at the people and the way they step in. You know, how many lists could you make of meeting needs, just stepping in and getting it done. If someone said, would you do this, I could maybe do it. Would you bring this or could you .............. But they just step in and are there and so much of this goes on and you don't know about it until it's been going on. I didn't know they were doing that for them. It's not a prominent gift, but it's absolutely essential for the body to go on. Sometimes we minimize it and say, well, that's just one of those general gifts, if you don't know what your gift is we say, it's probably helps. Well, it's probably a way that many of us do get started. I mean, there is an opportunity, just needs to be done, well, I'll do that. But there are people who are just gifted in this area and it's just amazing to me what they do, how they just proceed to get it done. No splash, no recognition, they're just seeing that what needs to be is done.

Now again, we all do this. It's not an excuse, oh, it's not my gift, I don't help, I don't serve. But obviously I'm not going to do it as often or as well as the people who are gifted in this most crucial area. I think it's a tremendous strength in our local church and in any church that is going to be effective, that the Spirit of God has raised up people who are gifted in this way and people taking in the Word, the Word that is nourishing their soul and strengthening them so that they do this. And it is done. They do it without complaining, and do it so graciously and effectively.

The next gift mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:28 is administrations. Obviously by its nature this gift may be a little more prominent, and often it is. Just like the teaching gifts, it can vary. And we mention these gifts, they don't all function exactly the same, even though you may have basically the same gift. The person who has the gift of teaching, that doesn't mean they will stand in a large group like I'm doing now and teach. They may find they are more effective in their teaching in a small setting, and they are more effective with a younger group. So there is variation within the gifts, as we have noted. The same with the gift of administration. We have a number of people in the body that have this gift, and this gift is crucial because it enables the gifts to work together and the church to be moving together more cohesively. In some the gift will function more broadly in administering the work, some of them will be more focused in more limited areas. But it enables the work to get done, it enables the gifts to function together more cohesively. It's the spiritual ability to oversee and direct God's people. And again, there are different levels of this, as you might expect, in the body. God gifts and calls some to function with broader administrative skills and abilities and some in a more narrow way. Just like the teaching, some is more broad and some is more limited.

Come over to 1 Peter 5. You know this gift can be prominent because it is giving direction to other people, sometimes a larger number of people. Like the gift of teaching we have to be careful. I sometimes find that people will come and say, well, ............. especially guys who get off to seminary and they may not be gifted but they say my gift is teaching and leadership. Now what is the evidence? I just know those are my gifts. Well somebody else needs to know it, too, and others ought to recognize it. And then there are guidelines for it here in 1 Peter 5. And he's talking as an elder to elders, and two of these areas, teaching and leadership get into the realm of the gifts of elders and their responsibility. But he's addressing the elders as a fellow elder, verse 1. They are responsible, verse 2, to shepherd the flock of God. We'll talk more about this, when we talk about pastor/teacher. And note some of the guidelines here when you get into this oversight area and ministry. You exercise oversight, not under compulsion. Leadership and administration has its pressures and we know what it's like. Just look outside the church and people in leadership get exceptional criticism. There are always going to be conflict and difficulties, the unpleasant side, but we don't beg people to be leaders. We don't beg people to be elders. We pray about it, we talk about it, we consider who may be. We contact them, and if they say, I don't believe so, then we accept that from the Lord. The Lord is leading them, they shouldn't do it because they felt compelled because we've talked them into it. So those having this responsibility, this oversight. Do it not under compulsion, voluntarily, according to the will of God. We do it because we believe this is what God would have me do, not because I want to have a position where I'm in charge, I'm boss. No, because it's the will of God for me.

Not for sordid gain, but with eagerness. In other words, you are eager to do it. You don't do it because, well, if it pays good enough, I'll do it. I'll tell you now. When I was considering going into the ministry and when I was in seminary I told the Lord, Lord, I'd do this if they don't pay me. I don't want you to take advantage of that now that I'm here. Verse 3, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge. So this is not a chance now to get my way because I'm in charge and I can have people do what I want done. Not lording it over people under you, allotted to your charge, entrusted to your care. Proving to be examples to the flock, and the shepherds serve under the Chief Shepherd who will do the evaluating of the ministry. There are some guidelines there.

Administration is a key gift. This gift is mentioned in Romans 12:8. Turn to Romans 12:6, and as a reminder, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly. That's the point he is making. If prophecy according to the proportion of his faith. You function in the realm of prophecy as God has given you faith to trust Him in this area. If service in his serving. We just mentioned that gift, called helps in 1 Corinthians 12. He who teaches it is teaching. So you see this emphasis on you functioning in the area that you are gifted to function. In verse 8, he who exhorts in exhortation, he who gives with liberality. He who leads, that's the gift we're talking about, it's called administration in 1 Corinthians 12. Different words, the same idea. In 1 Corinthians 12 the word would be used of a person who is captaining a ship, directing it, keeping it on course, guiding it. The word used in Romans 12:8 translated lead is a comparable word, means to stand before, thus to be the leader. One who is before the people, leading the people. So that idea in the words to guide and direct, to lead them. Again, it happens in various areas of the ministry, we have leadership going on, that's why these various areas work well. There are people in these various areas that work and there are people coordinating it and seeing that people involved in that area function effectively. And the work gets done.

It's a gift that can come open to criticism. Congregational style government has aggravated the problem, because in congregational style government we say everyone is involved in leadership. We say we all have the Spirit, the Spirit can lead in all of our lives, therefore we all ought to be involved in the decision. It may be logical, but is it biblical? Why did God give those who are to direct, captain the ship, stand before and lead?

Turn over to 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica in verse 12 and says, but we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. Very early in the church history they had to be told that there is to be order and to function properly. Easy to get frustrated. Leaders are great as long as they do what I like. And when I disagree then I feel that I have the gift of criticism. My job is to evaluate the leaders. But you know I have to come at this with the view that if God has gifted them to lead, I take it then the Spirit gives them the wisdom and the ability to see and know things that I don't see and know as far as what is best here and how would this best be done. There may be other ways to do it, but this is the person God has raised up and put in this position. And so I want to respect that, and even though it may be done differently than I'd do it, God hasn't placed me in that position and hasn't gifted me to do it. And even if He has, He hasn't placed me in the position with that gift, so it is their decision and I can support it. That doesn't mean anybody is free to run off doctrinally as a teacher, a leader, whatever. But there are certain things the leaders will decide in the smaller areas and the larger areas, and we are told to appreciate those who do this and esteem them highly in love because of their work. It's not an easy task, being the leader in that sense.

Turn over to Hebrews 13:17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over our souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not for grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. I mean it wouldn't be a good thing to have those that God has appointed as leaders to have to give a bad account. They didn't follow very well, Lord, they were constantly criticizing, they were constantly chafing at the leadership. That wouldn't be profitable. Now they will give an account for their leadership, but again this doesn't give them the right just to run off. There are guidelines, they don't lord it over and so on. And we do want the body to be supportive. We're going to do something, build a building or build an addition, and we talk about it to the body, they give input. But the bottom line, what it comes to is somebody is going to have to make a decision. There have been numerous times that I've said, you put together a group and have them make the decision, whatever the decision is, is good with me. Somebody has to decide, and so we support that leadership and we encourage it. Crucial gift and it enables.

Now within this I see varieties in the gifts of administration or leadership. And so that doesn't mean one person is going to be exactly the same, anymore than one teacher is going to be exactly the same. One person in leadership is most effective in this kind of setting and this realm and another is in this realm. Just like one teacher is good in this setting, these gifts have variation.

One more gift I want to mention, this will come from Ephesians 4:11 and we'll have to stop here. It is the gift of evangelism. In Ephesians 4:11 we are told God has given some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists. I want to talk about the gift of evangelism. This is a gift that I would like to see more of in our local congregation. This is basically the supernatural ability to present the gospel to unbelieving people in the power of the Spirit that results in above average response, if I can put it that way. Whatever average is. I say it this way because all of us share the gospel and all of us are to be ready to give an answer to the faith that is in us. And all of us are lights in the world in darkness, and all of us share the glorious message of Christ with those we come in contact with, as we have opportunity. But there are those specially gifted of God who share the gospel with the lost and it seems they have an effectiveness that others don't have. They see more response, you might say, positively.

We want to be careful here. Something happens, we have many people........ More
people want to come forward to be teachers than want to come forward to be evangelists. Part of that may be that in my role I teach the Word and that sends something of a tenor through the congregation. But I think by and large there probably would be more teachers, I don't know. The fact of the matter is, there are. I wonder why don't we have more evangelists. Are there people here gifted that are not using it? I think sometimes we may have people who are gifted as evangelists that try it and don't succeed the first or second time. I've shared with you. A number of years ago I was with a person whom I believe was really a gifted evangelist and saw numerous people come to know the Lord. He said, I witnessed to over 100 people before I saw one person come to know Christ. I thought this person was probably out the door, probably saw the first 10 of the 12 people he witnessed to get saved. He said I witnessed to over 100 people before I saw one person come to know the Lord. I think this is the kind of area where people probably quit too soon. Well, I tried to witness and I tried once or twice, and I don't think it's my gift. And I think without gifted people to step forward and lead the way in this we perhaps don't see the development of the gift in the body like would help. I don't know why we don't see more of the gift. Perhaps when the church is established, God doesn't provide the gift as openly as He did at one time, because the church itself is a light in the midst of darkness as is every individual believer. I think the strength in the church would be individuals who are gifted. They may not be many who encourage the rest of the body in the sharing of their faith. Aren't you stimulated to want to go and share Christ when someone is sharing a testimony of how they shared Christ with someone and they got saved? That's exciting, I'd like to be able to do that.

So I'd like to encourage you to consider, is that perhaps your gift. There is only one person, so we say we don't have many, but the New Testament doesn't mention many. Obviously the Apostle Paul had the gift of evangelist because part of being an apostle, he went to new places and presented the gospel, people got saved and churches were established. But there is only one person called to be an evangelist who is named in the New Testament. Timothy is told to do the work of an evangelist, it doesn't say he has the gift of evangelist. The one man named is Philip the evangelist in Acts 21:8. Come to Acts 8, here you have an example of the work of the man who is called an evangelist. He is called an evangelist in Acts 21, but you see him doing his evangelism in Acts 8. I was talking with a missionary a week or so ago, saw him on furlough and had opportunity to visit with him over a period of days. I shared with him, it seems to me the prime gift for a missionary ought to be the gift of an evangelist, going to new places in the world to share Jesus Christ, gather a group of believers and get them ready as a new church to be a testimony in that area. My concern is when somebody wants to go to the mission field, I've often had young people say, I want to go to the mission field. My first question is, how many people have you led to Christ? If you don't lead them to Christ here, what makes you think you're going to lead them to Christ when you get there? It seems to me that the gift of evangelist, like I can teach the Word of God here in Lincoln, Nebraska and I've taught the Word of God in South American or other places. But if I can't teach the Word of God in Lincoln, Nebraska, what makes me think I'll be able to teach the Word of God when I get to another country? Well if you have the gift of evangelist you ought to be leading people to Christ here. And if you can't lead people to Christ here, what makes you think when you get on a boat or an airplane and you get to another country you're going to be leading people to Christ?

So it seems to me this is a crucial gift. I'm not saying there are not places on the mission field for people with other gifts, just like there is a diversity in the church. But without the gift of evangelist, what do we have going on? We have endless work going on, but if people aren't getting saved, who's going to be the church?

So in Acts 8, the first three verses talk about the persecution under Paul, and then that resulted in believers being scattered. Remember they've been centered in Jerusalem where the church began. No God uses persecution to drive them out to other places, and Philip goes to Samaria. Verse 5, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. The crowd with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip. Philip's ministry is supported by signs, wonders and miracles. Remember, this is a new message to them. For the first time the Samaritans, non-Jews, or perhaps call them mixed breed Jews, are hearing the gospel. There is much rejoicing, there is the response down in verse 12. When they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women. You see what he did? He carried the gospel to the lost and people are responding.

Come down to verse 26, an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza. So he got up and went down, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, evidently a proselyte to Judaism who has been in Jerusalem worshiping, now returning home to Ethiopia. The Spirit of God directs Philip to go up to the chariot and talk to him. When he goes up he hears the Ethiopian eunuch reading from Isaiah 53. And Philip said, do you understand what you're reading? The Ethiopian eunuch said, I need someone to explain it to me. So Philip, verse 35, opened his mouth and beginning from this scripture he preached Jesus to him. The Ethiopian eunuch responds and believes, and is ready to get baptized. Then from there Philip is snatched away, and verse 40, he found himself at Azotus. As he passed through he kept preaching the gospel in all the cities until he comes to Samaria.

Now this is what we're told about the gift of evangelists. We're told in Acts 21 that Philip was an evangelist, and we get an example of this in Acts 8. He's preaching the gospel to unbelievers. We probably have out of the 225,000 – 230,000 people in our city, 200,000 people who are lost. We need some evangelists helping to penetrate the city. Everywhere we go everyone of us is a light, sharing Christ, but we think God would provide individuals who would step up that are gifted in this area, that have that tenacious carrying out the gospel so we have a constant inflow, by God's grace, of new believers. New believers. New believers. We’ve got to go out to share the gospel, that is the passion of my life, to share Christ and have them come to know Him. They'll lead the way in this crucial area.

As I mentioned, Paul wrote to Timothy and said, do the work of an evangelist. So all of us are to be lights for Christ. We're talking about those gifted individuals who will be especially effective in this and will help the rest of the body develop in this area. Just like those with the gift of helps and serving, help the rest of us who don't have that gift to do things more effectively and contribute in the way we can, even though we're not gifted in that area. We'll see it with other gifts as well.

So these are just some of the gifts, we'll look at the rest of the gifts in our next study, permanent gifts. And then we'll look at how you discern your gift and get about exercising it in the body. God has made every provision for us, there is not one person sitting here who is a believer in Jesus Christ who is not gifted to contribute in a necessary way to the body. We want to make the greatest contribution we can to the glory of God.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for every provision you've made for your body, the church, that functions under the headship of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Savior. Lord, what a thrill it is to know that each and everyone of us as believers in Jesus Christ are indwelt by the Spirit, providing a special enabling power for us to trust you and serve effectively in contributing to the body. Thank you for the diversity of this body, many, many people involved in so many ways is a testimony of your multifaceted grace, and we are privileged to grow together as we serve together. Bless our service, even today, for your honor and glory. In Christ's name, amen.