God Sends

[0:00] Need one? Okay. Notice today we're talking about God's sins. We have church. We talked about church the last few weeks.

[0:14] The fact that God gave us a church, a place to be unified, a place to listen, a place to learn, a place to grow. And God has designed his program to work out through a church.

[0:27] And so God's trying, he's busy building the church so that believers have a place to come and to learn, but also a place to go out and work and serve God through it.

[0:39] So we're going to be talking about that and the fact that what do we do for service? What is the service we're supposed to do? So God sends, he sends us, first of all, you can see there, God's reasons for our service.

[0:51] And take your Bible and go to Ephesians chapter 2. Familiar verses to you. Ephesians chapter 2.

[1:07] And first of all, we are to, the reason God gives us for our service is to fulfill our purpose.

[1:21] To fulfill our purpose. 1 Corinthians 2, beginning of verse 8, verses you know well. Now, he says, we're supposed to be saved by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast.

[1:46] If we took just those two verses, how could we misinterpret what we're supposed to do about works?

[1:59] Not by works. That's the thing he mentioned was, we're not saved by grace. I was talking to Mike yesterday and he asked me, because Catholic Church is big on works and stuff. So he asked me and he said, what do I do about, you know, works and things?

[2:12] And he's, you know, we talked about it. And I took him to this passage. It says, it's not by works that we're saved. It's by God's grace that we're saved, not by works. But, then I took him to verse 10.

[2:26] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath before ordained, and we should walk in him. And we talked about the fact that we're not saved by our works.

[2:37] But, once we are saved, good works will follow. God saves us, and because he saves us, and because we're so thankful for what he has done, we're willing to do things for him.

[2:52] So, by grace are we saved, through faith, not of works lest any should boast. But, here's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works. Hi.

[3:06] Okay. That's good. Glad to have her here. So, we're emphasizing the grace that God has for us.

[3:17] But, once that grace has taken hold of us, once that grace has made us so that we understand God's salvation, then, he uses that word workmanship, God created in us.

[3:30] He changed us, made us ready to do work for him. When we talk about the fruit of the Spirit, part of the fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit coming into us. He and I were talking about this, too. The Spirit comes into us.

[3:42] What is he there for? To help us work. He gives us gifts. He gives us things to do so that we can use those gifts for furthering the gospel. We talked about it. Churches, like we've talked about the last couple weeks, and now we're doing it as well.

[3:57] So, those gifts that we have, we come into the church with our gifts that God has given to us. We use those gifts to unite the church. We use those gifts to take the gospel out because some of us can reach some people, others can't.

[4:11] So, we have the gift of God that he has given to us so that we can go out and do the work that he's called us to do. The Holy Spirit, as he produces the fruit in us and everything, we're to go out.

[4:26] All of a sudden, this is a very familiar verse, and I cannot remember how it starts. Romans 12, 1 and 2. How does it start? Thank you. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

[4:42] And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. He says the Holy Spirit produces those gifts in you so you can go out and do the work of God.

[4:59] The Holy Spirit works in us, according to Galatians 5, 16, so that we can go out and do the work that he has called us to do. So, when he talks about the workmanship there in verse 10, he's talking about the fruit of the Spirit that's in us.

[5:13] Notice also there it says in verse 10 about that fruit and about that workmanship, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. We're in Christ Jesus.

[5:24] When we're saved, we are now in Christ Jesus. So, Jesus has the opportunity to work in our lives and make us what he wants us to be. It allows God to make us Christ-like.

[5:34] When you look at that verse, verse 10, there in Ephesians 2, why does God want us to be like Christ? Why does God want us to be like Christ?

[5:49] He says, For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Why does he?

[6:01] So we can go out and fulfill our purpose. Our purpose is to go out and do the good works. Our purpose is to go out and take the gospel of Christ to those around the world, to our neighbors, to our friends, to those around us, to those around the world.

[6:16] That's why we support the missionaries. God gives us those gifts so that we can go out and share the gospel with others. You know, a lot of people see the good works as optional.

[6:28] I'm saved. That's all that's necessary. I'm saved and I'm good to go. Well, that's technically true. But again, salvation, heaven.

[6:40] What about all this in between? What happens in the in between part? Good works. That we go out and share the gospel with those around us. When God, when did God plan for us to do all these good works?

[7:00] Look at that verse again. Verse 10 there of Ephesians 2. When did it occur to God? I hate using that word, but just to get the point across. When did it occur to God that that should be part of what we do?

[7:15] The good works. When does it say he did it? He said, when before ordained. He says there, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in.

[7:31] It's not something new to God, just like everything else. It's not new to God that we're going to go out and do this or that or the other thing. God has a plan for each one of our lives. God has a plan for us of things to do, which includes good works for us to go out and do them.

[7:46] You know, it's hard to think sometimes that, and he and I got into this yesterday too. He asked me a bunch of questions and I threw a lot of stuff at him.

[7:57] But why was he where he is? You know, because we talked about the fact that all things work together for good. He said, not everything that's going to happen is good, but all things work together for good.

[8:13] And so I used him. I said, why are you here? He's like, I said, could it be that you're here right now so that I could be here talking to you about Jesus Christ and what he's done for you?

[8:28] He's like, makes sense. Good. And so we can continue on from there. So he was very receptive. So it's good.

[8:39] So anyway, we've been ordained to do good works before the foundations of the world. You know, there's a lot of talk today.

[8:50] People are going to go out and you usually hear about this. Kids, right after they get done high school or right after they get done college. Well, I'm going to take a year and I'm going to go find myself.

[9:04] Looks like you're standing right there to me. You know, but yep, going to go find myself. For a believer, that should never be an issue. I have Jesus Christ.

[9:15] I have him living within me. He is before ordained that I should do good works. He's before ordained that I should go out and tell others. I should be like Christ.

[9:27] That's what God wants me. He wants me to be Christ-like in everything I do. If I want to find myself, look at Christ. Christ. That's what he wants me to be. That's how he wants me to live.

[9:40] We are to walk in them. He says there in that passage, last part of verse 10 there, that we should walk in them. The way I live my life every day.

[9:52] From the point in that time I get saved to the rest of my life, I should walk in them. Those good works that God has for me. So, he does it so that we can know our purpose in life.

[10:03] He also does it, letter B, to glorify God. To glorify God. Turn over to 1 Peter chapter 4. God wants us to use our lives to do the good works for the Lord.

[10:25] And there's always a temptation to make it all about the work. And I'll make that work all about us.

[10:37] We talked about that this morning. It's about Jesus. It's not about us. But sometimes we have a tendency to make things all about us. We want people to notice what we're doing. We want the attention.

[10:48] We want our egos stroked. We want people to understand that I'm important and I accomplish things and I do things and all of this other. Look at what he says there in 1 Peter 4, beginning of verse 10.

[11:02] As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

[11:12] If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.

[11:27] To whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Why does it make sense that God should get the glory for the things we do?

[11:42] He created us, number one. He created us. We're not doing anything if God hadn't created us, first of all. What else? Go along with that creation.

[11:55] Every breath you take. Every heartbeat you have. How do I have those? Because God's allowed me to keep going. God can at any time say, you're done.

[12:07] And we've seen that happen to people. Just all of a sudden, they're gone. You know, he's given us the opportunity. He's given us the ability. Where do we get the spiritual gifts from? We get them from God.

[12:19] So as we use those spiritual gifts to do the good works, we do them because God has given them to us. We can't take credit for the good works when God is doing the supplying of everything we need.

[12:31] God has given us everything we need, including the abilities. Notice that he even said that there in verse 11. He said, let him do as of the ability which God giveth.

[12:44] The ability you have, where did he come from? God gave it to you. Be strengthened. The word that's used there is actually a strengthened form of giving.

[12:54] The idea is God is abundantly supplying. The things that we're able to do for the Lord Jesus Christ, we're able to do because God is abundantly supplying the things that we do, the things that we need.

[13:08] The fact that God abundantly supplies all of the things that we need for our service is actually a means of us doing stewardship.

[13:20] God gives us things. We use it for him. God gives us everything we need for our service. God gives us everything we need for our service. He should get the glory. He should get the honor because everything we do, he supplied, and I am just being a good steward of what God has given to me.

[13:34] Everything he supplied, he gives, he owns, he entrusts to us to use. Therefore, we're to bring him glory. So, Anything we do as a Christian would not be possible without Jesus dying on the cross.

[14:02] As we talked this morning, how important is that cross? Peter was thinking kingdom. Jesus was thinking cross. Without the cross, what are we doing?

[14:14] What are we accomplishing? Where do we have, you know, without Jesus going on that cross and paying the debt of our sin, we have nothing. And Peter recognized that.

[14:25] You know, you think about me talking about Peter this morning. You know, Thou art to Christ, the Son of the living God. Denied him, he denied him, he denied him.

[14:35] Yes, you know that I like you. I love you, but I like you. It's not a, you know. And then here's Peter writing a book of the Bible and saying, you know what?

[14:49] It's all about Jesus. That's basically what that verse is saying, isn't it? It's all about him. Peter learned the lesson that we talked about this morning. This brings us to number two.

[15:01] The Spirit's role in our service. The Spirit's role in our service. So, what is the supply that God gives to us that allows us to go out and do the work and serve him effectively?

[15:20] He gives us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit fills us. The Holy Spirit comes into our life. We are empowered.

[15:31] There's a number, letter A under your thing. He empowers us for service. Go to Acts chapter 1. Acts chapter 1. He empowers us for service. Without the Holy Spirit, we're not doing any true service for God.

[15:46] We may go out and do things that look like we're doing things for God, but without the Holy Spirit backing us, without the Holy Spirit being in us, without the Holy Spirit leading us, without the Holy Spirit empowering us, we're not accomplishing anything for God.

[16:00] It's going to happen through the Spirit working in our life. Jesus told his disciples that between the time of his resurrection and ascension, they needed to go and wait for the Holy Spirit.

[16:14] It finally came upon him. You look at verse 1, familiar verse there in chapter 1 of Acts. Verse 1 says, He said, He said, You wait.

[16:34] The Holy Spirit's going to come. When the Holy Spirit comes, you're going to have power. You're going to be witnesses all over the world. And on the day of Pentecost, that's exactly what happened.

[16:49] Look at chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

[17:06] And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire, and it sat upon each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

[17:22] A day of Pentecost was the beginning day of the church. It was a time when God empowered His disciples, the apostles, to go out and do the work that He wanted them to do.

[17:35] Every one of them was entrusted with power by Christ. You know, the Holy Spirit came upon them. The flame, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, He was on them and empowering them.

[17:52] And every Christian since then, has had the Holy Spirit come into their life the day they get saved. The Holy Spirit comes and takes up residence. So, since the Holy Spirit is coming in you, is there ever a valid excuse for not serving God?

[18:14] If the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you've been saved, the Holy Spirit's going to supply the power to serve God, no matter what your circumstances are. Paul served God in prison.

[18:29] Peter, this morning we were reading, you know, about the fact that Peter was going to wind up being crucified upside down, basically. And, could he serve God even in that way?

[18:41] Yes, he was a testimony for God, right up until the end. Paul, and all his things, and wound up in jail for two years before being executed. Was he able to be a minister for God in jail?

[18:54] Yeah. He talks about the fact that the guards came in on shifts, and he had a new audience every time. They showed up. He had somebody to witness to. Better be, he endows us for service.

[19:08] Not he empowers us, but endows us. As I mentioned before, we're all given spiritual gifts. We're all given things that we can do for the Lord Jesus Christ.

[19:20] Spiritual gift is simply an ability that God gives to us to use in service for him. Not necessarily the same as a talent. We all have talents and things that we can do, but a spiritual gift that God has given to us.

[19:34] The talents may be a conduit for the spiritual gift to be used. Give you an example. We have music in church.

[19:50] Some people are gifted in music. They're talented in music. But the spiritual gifts, one of them is exhortation.

[20:01] And someone singing the gospel, someone singing the word of God, someone giving that out, can be using their spiritual gift or exhortation through the talent of singing.

[20:13] God has given us talents and we need to use them the way he has given us. So using a talent or something. You know, how much thought have you given to what your spiritual gift is or gifts?

[20:30] You ever spend much time thinking about what is my gift? What is it that God has given to me? Some people do. I think of that at times. What is the gift that God has given to me?

[20:44] Considering what I'm doing at the moment, I'm hoping it's a gift of teaching, a gift of exhortation, and things are among the gifts that I have. Otherwise, I'm wasting my time up here. So hopefully those are things that I have.

[20:56] In Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4, we have things about the spiritual gifts that God has given to us.

[21:12] In those passages, we put them all together, we come up with a master list of the spiritual gifts that God has for us. They can be separated into speaking gifts or serving gifts.

[21:24] Matter of fact, you don't have to turn back there, but in 1 Peter, let me do it real quick. 1 Peter 4, verse 11 again, it says, If any man speak, let him speak of the oracles of God.

[21:41] If any man minister, let him do it as the ability of God hath given. If any man speaks, or if any man ministers, or any man serves. So we can divide them up into speaking gifts and serving gifts.

[21:53] Go with me to Romans. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12, we have some of the gifts given to us.

[22:16] He says in Romans chapter 12, verses 7 and 8, it says, Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.

[22:36] In Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, it says, And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastor teachers.

[22:46] All of these things have to do, a lot of them, with speaking. So, speaking gifts, teaching, exhortation, pastor teacher, evangelism. Let's break these down a little bit.

[22:57] Teaching. It's the first one on your list there underneath the description of speaking. Teaching is simply communicating the truth of God's word in an understandable, applicable way.

[23:12] See, as I talked to Mike at the jail there yesterday, he's asking questions. My job is to make it as easy for him to understand as possible so that he can understand what the Bible is all about and what God is doing for him.

[23:29] So, my teaching him, communicating with him in an applicable way that's easy to understand. Now, to say I have the gift of teaching, does not preclude using gifts to study God's word.

[23:51] We have to study God's word. We have to study in order to be ready to present God's word. We have to know what it says. To just go out and say, I have the gift of speaking and God's just going to fill me where he will fill us.

[24:05] The Holy Spirit will fill us. He will give us the things to say but it does not preclude the fact that I have to read the Bible before I can get up and say those things. I have to, you know, kind of look at what it says.

[24:17] But I do know there's certain preachers and certain denominations and things that they have that attitude. I just get up on Sunday morning and whatever comes, that's what comes.

[24:31] I'm a little concerned about that. So, okay, study. Know what the word of God says. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, the Bible tells us.

[24:43] So, a good teacher is going to be diligent in studying the word of God and getting ready to teach it. A good teacher is going to hone his skill of teaching, trying to make sure that he gets better and better at it all the time and how to explain things.

[24:57] Second, the gift of exhortation. The gift of exhortation is the ability to encourage someone going through a difficult circumstance.

[25:08] The ability to encourage. Do you have the ability to encourage people to lift them up? You know, there are some people that if I'm going through a hard time, there are certain people I want to come talk to me because they can, you know, they just have a nice way of saying things and doing things to help encourage me and lift me up.

[25:27] There are some people when you're going through a hard time, they come and you just don't want to see them anywhere near you because you know what's coming. A superiority thing or something like that where you're just like, well, you know, if you would, you know, sometimes that's not how, to encourage someone doesn't necessarily mean to make them feel better.

[25:47] Sometimes we have to be blunt with them. But it's the idea of getting a person to respond to a circumstance in a godly way. That's what the encouragement is about. That's what the exhortation is about.

[25:59] To get them to respond in a godly way. I made the statement a few weeks ago. I've read this somewhere recently and one of the problems we have so much in our Christianity today when it comes to our kids, we're teaching our kids to be good kids but we're not necessarily teaching them to be godly kids.

[26:20] It's like you guys mentioned about the basketball games and stuff. We can teach our kids how to be proper, good citizens, do things in a right way and stuff and still not teach them how to be godly in what they do.

[26:32] I can be nice, I can be friendly, I can treat you well, I can take care of you but if I'm not sharing the gospel with you, so we need to make sure that we do it in a godly way.

[26:48] And also, an exhortation, helping people to participate in the ministry of the church. Helping them to participate in the ministry of the church. Hard to participate when you're not here.

[27:02] So we need to be able to share with them why they need to be in church. Third one, pastor teacher. I'm skipping one and I'm coming back to it. Pastor teacher.

[27:13] In Ephesians chapter 11, chapter 4, verse 11, again it said, he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. It's a spiritual gift and it's also a position in the church to be a pastor teacher.

[27:33] All men who are called by God to be pastors should have the gift of pastor teacher. Now, pastoring, reference to caring for people.

[27:44] As a pastor, my job is to care for people, to help people, to lift them up, exhort, encourage, all of those things are part of what I do.

[27:57] Be able to go to people and help them. I have had times when I've dealt with people who are going through marriage problems and I've gone through things with them and helped them and tried to get them back on track.

[28:15] So far, anybody I've done that with is still married. That's good. So, be able to help them and encourage them and show them how they can make their marriage better. That's part of my job as a pastor teacher.

[28:26] Helping people who are going through struggles, who have questions, who have doubts. That's part of my job to help do that. Pastoring is caring for people. Teaching, we've already dealt with. It's basically studying the word of God and being able to relay it to others.

[28:41] Those who want to aspire to be a pastor, teacher, go with me to 1 Timothy chapter 3. I get you moving around a lot today, I know. 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3 beginning at verse 1.

[28:59] It says, This is a true saying. If a man desire the work of a bishop, pastor, overseer, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless.

[29:13] Wow. That sets the standard pretty high, doesn't it? To be blameless. Then he goes on and says, The husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity.

[29:45] For if a man, excuse me, if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice, thus being lifted up with pride, he falls in the condemnation of the devil.

[29:58] Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. So he says, here's the requirements for a pastor teacher.

[30:14] It's not just, just anybody can do it. He says, there's qualifications that you need to face there. And then he goes on to the next one, there in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, he talks about evangelism.

[30:31] Evangelism is the gift of being able to communicate the gospel clearly and effectively. can you communicate the gospel clearly and effectively?

[30:45] It's an interesting one because he mentions evangelism as a spiritual gift, but he also mentions the fact that we should all evangelize. We should all take the message of the gospel.

[30:57] So it's one of those gifts that we need to work on and God's going to help us because he wants all of us to do it. So those that have the gift of evangelism can train others how to give the gospel to those around them.

[31:11] We have people sometimes come in, some are taking classes right now on how to give the gospel to children. Sometimes they have classes on things that, how to give the gospel aloud, how to do that, teach the Romans road, teach other ways.

[31:30] But so that we can take the gospel and go and tell people how to know Christ the Savior. So those are the speaking gifts. The serving gifts we'll talk about next week because there's a bunch of those.

[31:44] So we'll talk about those next week. Okay? Let's pray. Let's pray.