John K. Jenkins Sr - Understanding Spiritual Gifts

All right, open your Bibles with me. I want to talk to you today from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. By the way, this is a Bible study. Since you all don’t come to Bible study, I’m going to bring Bible study to you. Don 't get distracted, don’t get confused, and pay attention, because if you’re not careful, you can easily get confused with this message. Tell your neighbor, «Don 't get distracted; get focused!» Tell them on both sides so I can make sure they got it.

All right, the book of First Corinthians is the Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth. The interesting thing about the church in Corinth is that it’s a spiritual church, but it’s also a very carnal church. He wants to discuss some things that they will need to help bring them to a place of maturity, to help them stop being carnal, and to aid in their spiritual maturity. He writes this letter to them, and he gets to chapter 12. In chapter 12, he talks about a very important element in the church: he discusses spiritual gifts.

What I want to talk to you about today, if you were going to put a title on this message, is «Understanding Spiritual Gifts.» Say that, «Understanding Spiritual Gifts.» Tell your neighbor, «The pastor is going to talk about understanding spiritual gifts.» Just make sure that everyone in here who has accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior has some spiritual gifts within them. When the Holy Spirit comes and takes residence in you, He brings with Him spiritual gifts. Some of you have spiritual gifts, but you’ve been sitting on them. Somebody in your section has been sitting on their spiritual gifts; go ahead and look around and see if you can figure out who it is. Go ahead, look and see if you can figure it out. You' re not looking around; you' re looking straight ahead. Does that mean you know it’s you in your section?

1 Corinthians chapter 12-did I tell you all that already? Verse 1 says this: let’s start at verse 1. It says this: «Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.» So he begins by saying he wants you to know about them, and he wants you to be aware, and he wants you to understand spiritual gifts. He starts to discuss these spiritual gifts, and I have just three points in this little simple message. I’ll keep it brief; thank you! But y’all are perpetrators because at 3:00, some of y’all will get up and start leaving while I’m still preaching. Yeah, y’all say «Take your time, take your time,» but at 3:00 y’all will get up and leave, because some of y’all can’t even stay for the benediction now.

It 's rude and disrespectful. Y’all probably shouldn’t have come to this service right here, because all my filters are gone at the 12:00 service. Okay, so are y’all with me? He talks to them about spiritual gifts, and the first thing he does in these very early verses of chapter 12 is identify the categories of spiritual gifts. Somebody say «categories.»

So the first thing I actually want to do is define for you the three categories of spiritual gifts. Look at verse 4. The first category is in verse 4; it says this: «There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.» Now that word «diversities of gifts,» the word «gifts» is the Greek word «charisma.» Here 's what " diversities of gifts» means: these gifts are categorized. The first category is motivational gifts. Say «motivational gifts.»

Motivational gifts — there are seven of them, and they’re all located in Romans 12:6-8. We’re not going to turn there, but just jot it down, because I know y’all go home and reread the notes you take from the message I preach every Sunday. So I’m going to give you some verses for you to go and read. I want you to look at Romans 12:6-8. It 's up there on the screen; jot it down, write it down. It lists the seven motivational gifts: prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, ruling, and mercy.

Now, what is a motivational gift? A motivational gift is what motivates you to do what you do; it’s what moves you to do what you do. Everybody has one motivational gift. Now, you see these gifts up here? One of mine is mercy. I know what mine is; my motivational gift is mercy. It means I am moved by compassion. Yes, everything I do, my pastoral gift is motivated by compassion when people are in pain. Amen! I want to help you get out of your pain; I want to help you mature; I want to help you move forward, and it’s fueled by mercy. Some of y’all don’t have mercy; that’s why you can cuss people out and talk about them. Amen! Be critical of people because you lack mercy. But I have compassion; I’m patient with people. Most of the time, I’m patient with people. You know, I’m motivated by mercy. Somebody say «mercy.»

That 's my motivational gift. You look at other people and their circumstances through the lens of your motivational gift. Amen! You judge people and evaluate them based on your motivational gift. So, everyone has one motivational gift, and they’re located in Romans 12:6-8. That 's the first one. Y’all got that?