Episode Transcript
[00:00:09] Hey, everybody. Pastor Chuck Allen here, and happy Tuesday. Welcome back to the weekday podcast. Yesterday, we started this week out talking about spiritual gifts. And we started with, we all have been given this gift. A gift, something you receive and honestly, something that God gives us, not as a boss handing out an assignment. But it's not about being qualified in the assignment. It's a gift from a heavenly father who knows his kids and gives each one of us something that fits what we enjoy, what we do, and how we feel.
[00:00:50] And the gifts come in a lot of different shapes. Here's where it gets fun, because God is wonderfully creative. Listen to how the Bible describes it again. Different kinds of spiritual gifts, different kinds of service in God who works in different ways. Three times in three verses, right?
[00:01:10] So over in Romans 12, Paul gives us another glimpse of how wide that variety goes. He says, beginning in verse six, in his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things and doing certain things well.
[00:01:27] So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you're a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it's giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Teaching, serving, encouraging, giving, leading, and showing kindness. Some of these gifts get a microphone, but most never will.
[00:02:01] A lot of them look like a casserole. Some of them are a phone call or a text. Some of them are just a gracious or kind smile.
[00:02:10] At times it's offered to ride to a doctor or pick up a prescription.
[00:02:16] Maybe it's just a note that you slipped into a mailbox or sent via email. That was just encouraging and kind.
[00:02:23] There's a woman in the Book of Acts, and she gets one sentence of introduction. In Acts, chapter 9, verse 36, it says there was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.
[00:02:41] That's all we get.
[00:02:43] Not a preacher, not a prophet, not a king.
[00:02:46] No big deal.
[00:02:48] She didn't write a letter that ended up in the Bible. She just a normal, average, everyday human that made clothing and helped people. And when she died, the followers of Jesus and Joppa were so grieved that they sent for Peter. And the widow stood around him showing the coats and clothing she'd made for them. A whole community understood in that moment what her gift had been worth.
[00:03:14] You know, if a gift like hers could mean that much, we should never call any gift we've been given by our Heavenly Father small.
[00:03:25] So maybe you're, you're the one who notices when somebody is down or alone or fighting depression or just off.
[00:03:34] And you're the person that kind of steps into their life with a word of encouragement or just plain kindness or a listening ear.
[00:03:44] You know what's interesting?
[00:03:47] There are folks that go through their whole life and don't realize the things that they enjoy in the kingdom work as a gift that God has given them. And the question that we're going to ask tomorrow is how do I find that gift?
[00:04:03] Well, I want to encourage you. One, begin thanking the Lord that he's given you a gift. And then secondarily begin to ask the Lord for clarity about what that gift is.
[00:04:15] And then ask the Lord to give you an opportunity to exercise that gift. Well, friends, that wraps up today's weekday podcast. But can I just say, use these gifts, because like we mentioned yesterday, there's nothing quite like the feeling you get when you know you've done exactly what God made you for.
[00:04:38] And there's also nothing quite as off as knowing that you've been given a gift and you didn't use it. So, my friends, go today and be sure that you take those gifts and put them to work and let the Lord do something great through you for someone else. God bless you. Have a great day. Bye now.
