Life Lifters | Lakeshore Community Church

Jun 30 8:14 AM

Serve to Find Your Gifts

Jun 30 8:14 AM

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

There are different places in the Bible that tell you all the spiritual gifts that God gives to people. So once you understand and believe that, the next question is how do you know what gifts you have?

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

This week, we're talking about how to improve your serve. And I'm not talking about how tennis players yell and sound like they're having a seizure because they think it makes them serve better. I think the belief is that when you exhale, you exert more power, but anyway I'm not talking about that kind of serve. I'm talking about the towel over the arm, "How can I serve you?" type. Like a waiter serves us when we go to a restaurant, we want to have that attitude to serve. Last time, in June 28th's Life Lifter, I argued that if you want to improve your serve, serve like Jesus Christ. Mark 10:45 tells us that Jesus Christ came not to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many.

Today, I want to help you with this by helping you find your gifts. So for instance, the Bible teaches that when you become a Christian you have spiritual gifts. You have certain gifts, others have certain gifts, everybody has different spiritual gifts, and different gift combinations. The Bible says the moment you become a Christian, you have spiritual gifts. A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability to do certain things well. The Bible has different gift lists in different places in the Bible that tell you all the spiritual gifts that God gives to people. So once you understand and believe that, the next question is how do you know what gifts you have? The answer is, you have to serve to find your gifts. You're never going to find your gifts by just thinking you have certain gifts. The only way you know is by serving.

Once you serve, and you do it well, and you do it effectively, and others affirm that, then you know, you got the gift. I get that from 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. Look at what it says, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." God works out these gifts. And if you notice, it's through the Trinity, verse four says, "the same Spirit," verse five, "the same Lord," verse six, "the same God." That's the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father in that order. He's saying God works through us to manifest these gifts. Well, if God is going to work through us to manifest these gifts, guess what we have to do to discover the gifts? Gotta use them. Some people want to know their spiritual gifts without using them. That's like saying, "I want to know how to drive a car, but I never plan to get behind the wheel." I mean, it's silly. Some people say "I want I want to buy $1,000 set of golf clubs, but I never plan to play." There are a lot of people who have spiritual gifts, but they have no desire to use them. That's almost antithetical to being a Christian. But here's the thing, if you want to know what gifts you have, you have to use them.

At Lakeshore, we teach a three step process. Here's the first number one, discover what spiritual gifts there are, and which ones it seems you might have. We have a class called Discover Your Purpose where we will help you get a start on what your gifts are. The second is deploy. You have to get out and use your gifts. Once you get out and use them, you'll start to say, "I thought I had that gift, but I used it and it didn't work. Or, I used it and it did work." Trial and error. So, the steps are discover, deploy, and then develop. Once you know from deploying what your gifts are, you develop those gifts. Just because you have a gift does not mean you're automatically great at it. I have certain gifts and I'm not always automatically great at them, I have to work at it. I have the gift of teaching, I don't just roll out of bed able to teach automatically. I have to learn the material I'm teaching, and I have to own it and do it well. So you have to develop your gifts. But here's my point, God gave you some amazing gifts, and if you don't use them, you will lose out. So how do you use them? You deploy them. You use them. The number one place the Bible talks about using your gifts is in the church. I've never met a pastor or a church in my life that said, "Oh my goodness, we don't need any more volunteers." I've never met one. And it's certainly not the case here. We need your gifts here. For those of you who serve in our church or your church, if it's a different one, good for you. You get it. For those of you who don't, maybe you've never understood that using your gifts is natural, and it's a work of God in your life as we just saw in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6.

Here at Lakeshore we will help you to take Discover Your Purpose. We'll help you try a ministry. If that ministry works out, great. If it doesn't, we'll help you find the next one. But we're here to help you because the only way we'll understand what gifts you have is to deploy them. Father, thanks for these amazing thing called gifts. Forgive us for not using them as you want, and encourage everybody watching to use them the best way they can, starting right now. Whether it's in the church or someplace else, help them in Jesus' name, amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 15 11:52 PM

Spiritual Gifts | Part 5 | Why Should We Use Spiritual Gifts?

Jan 15 11:52 PM

Friday, January 15, 2021

I want to end today in talking about this fascinating subject of spiritual gifts by answering this final question: why should I use them? Why should I use my spiritual gifts...

Friday, January 15, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:27

I want to end today in talking about this fascinating subject of spiritual gifts by answering this final question: why should I use them? Why should I use my spiritual gifts? Why should you use your spiritual gifts? Here's the answer: because we're needed in the church and in the world. Your gifts are needed.

If you put together a symphony, (and I'm not a big person in the symphony hall, but I like to go to the RPO and Jazz Fest) you have a string section, a brass section, and so on. So let's say you chose to have a string section but there's no violin, cello, or bass. You get the sound, but it's not complete. If you have the string section, but you don't have the brass section, or you don't have the percussion section, you get the sound, but it's not complete.

Unfortunately, the church has mostly been like an incomplete symphony. We have a lot of the pieces and parts, but we don't have all of it. I say that because the Bible says you are necessary to complete the symphony of gifts in the church. I get that from 1 Corinthians 12:27 out of the Living Bible where it says, "now here's what I'm trying to say", Paul says to the Corinthians, "all of you together are the one body of Christ, and each of you is a separate and necessary part." Separate meaning, in this sense, you have unique gifts. We talked about this earlier in the week—the gift lists of Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 4—all have different spiritual gifts. You don't have all of them. You might only have one, two or three of them, but you have separate gifts. The text says you are each not only a separate but necessary part. You are needed.

Who needs you? The church needs you. People in the church need you. People outside the church need you. Take this the right way: God needs you. Now, here's the thing, God needs you, but he doesn't need you in an absolute sense. If you won't use your gifts, God will find someone else who will. But the great thing about letting God use you is that when He does use you, he doesn't use you to abuse you. Imagine you're in a relationship and you go, man, I was in this relationship and I got used. That's a bad thing, right? Unless it's God, who's doing the using. When God uses you, that's important. Here's what I want to say: you are a necessary part. If Lakeshore Community Church is your home, you are needed here. Every single team in this church can use more people, which tells you what? There are lots of different ways and lots of different gifts, and lots of different people that are needed. You can find a spot if you want to. We have people that do all kinds of things in our 20+ ministry teams here at Lakeshore. You are needed. The question is, will you exercise your gifts? Have you ever heard the saying, "if you don't use it, you lose it"? Now, you don't lose your spiritual gifts. It's not if you don't use it, you lose it. When it comes to spiritual gifts, if you don't use them, you lose out. You miss the joy and thrill of being used by God.

So I encourage you to use your gifts. This is what the Bible says about spiritual gifts. I've given you the five basics. If you want to find out more, take Discover Lakeshore. After that, you can take Discover Your Purpose and it will help you know your gifts. More importantly, it will help you know them so you can use them.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, thanks for this week of study on spiritual gifts. Thank you that we are needed. It's nice to feel needed. And this church needs people's gifts and I pray that you inspire them. If people go to other churches, I pray they'd be inspired to plug into their church. It may not be be clean and easy in their first thing they try may or may not be the right ministry for them. But I pray they be persistent and patient so they can find a place for their gifts to be used in the church because they are a separate, unique and necessary and valued part. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

By Vince DiPaola

Jan 14 8:00 AM

Spiritual Gifts | Part 4 | Where Do You Use Your Gifts?

Jan 14 8:00 AM

Thursday, January 14, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:7

Hi, everybody. Thanks for joining me for this Thursday edition of Life Lifters. This week, we're talking about what I think is a very interesting subject: spiritual gifts. It's amazing that in 1 Corinthians 12:1 Paul talks to the Corinthians, saying, "I do not want you to be ignorant." Truthfully, today a lot of people are ignorant about spiritual gifts. So, we're answering five of the most foundational, important questions about spiritual gifts. So far, we've answered three of them. First, what are they? They are supernatural abilities to do unique tasks. Second, who gives them to us? The answer is the Holy Spirit gives them to us. Third, when do we get them? We receive them the moment we become Christians.

Today, I want to answer the fourth question, which is, Where do we use our spiritual gifts? There is a certain sense in which you could say we use them everywhere, and you would be right. But the Bible seems to focus our use of spiritual gifts in two primary areas. We use them primarily in the church and around the world. The Bible talks more frequently about using your spiritual gifts in the church than anywhere else. In 1 Corinthians 12:7 (TLB) Paul says, "The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church." God has given you spiritual gifts to help the church. We live in a day in which things have changed, largely due to the 2020 pandemic, and a lot more people are watching church online. I have mixed feelings about that. In one sense, if watching church online is something you're going to do over nothing at all, then it beats that. Also, watching online is great if you're sick, or if you're out of town or something, but I think there's something better. One of the reasons why God wants you in church in person is because you can't encourage and be encouraged unless you're with people. There's a reason why solitary confinement is one of the worst things you could do to a human being. We need each other. But the other reason it's better to be in church in person is because you can't use your gifts in your pajamas. Or, you can't use your gifts just watching online. You have to be with people to help people. There's no impact without contact. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts to use in the church.

You know, in this church, we have about 25 ministries. When we're at full strength, we have over half of our average attendance involved in serving somewhere. It's a beautiful thing to see. And you love it when you find the right place to serve. I wish 100% of our attenders served, but it isn't always 100%. Here's the thing, you can't be fulfilled unless you're using your gifts in the church. Now, the Bible does not exclusively say that spiritual gifts are used in the church. Although they are used in the church more often than not, the second place you use them is in the world. I get that from Matthew 28:19. "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations." In other words, go out into the world. Go to different parts of our city, different parts of our state, different parts of our country, different parts of our world, and find people to serve with your gifts. You do this mainly to bring glory to God and bring attention to the good news of Jesus Christ. That's the second place. But even then, you use your gifts in the world, usually through the church. As a church, we've sent people to Ukraine, to Mozambique, to Nicaragua, other parts of our country, New York City, and to other places in our own city. You go to different places to serve and minister, and that's where use your gifts. But the church is often the vehicle in which you accomplish that. So here's my point: God has given you gifts to use in the church and in the world. Are you using them in the church? If not, you're being disobedient to what the Scriptures say. Are you using them in the world? I encourage you to do that as well. But gifts are given to you, not to be admired, but to be administered in the world. And we need them here at Lakeshore Community Church. If you don't attend this church, your church needs them too. Will you use them?

Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for giving us gifts. Help us to use them in the church, and to help the church. Help us know where we should use the gifts, the unique gifts you've given us. And help us to use them in the world to make disciples. Help us not forsake them, take them for granted, or underappreciate them, for we only appreciate them when we apply them. I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 13 8:56 AM

Spiritual Gifts | Part 3 | When Do We Get Spiritual Gifts?

Jan 13 8:56 AM

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

The third key question I want to answer today is this: When do we get the spiritual gifts?

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:13-14

Hey everybody, thanks for joining me for this Wednesday edition of Life Lifters. This week, we've been talking about the interesting subject of spiritual gifts. Each day we're answering a different important question about spiritual gifts. The first question we answered was, What are they? Spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities to perform specific tasks. Yesterday, we answered the second question, Who gives these gifts to us? The answer is the Holy Spirit. This all comes from 1 Corinthians 12. The third key question I want to answer today is this: When do we get the spiritual gifts? I've basically given you the answer in the first two days, but I want to be really, really clear. The Bible says you get spiritual gifts the moment you become a Christian.

Some people think that they have spiritual gifts before they become a Christian, but that clearly isn't true. Look at 1 Corinthians 12:13-14. Speaking to Christians in the Corinthian church, Paul says, "For we were baptized by one Spirit into one body ... and we were all given the one spirit to drink. Now the body is not made up of one part, but many." I want to emphasize the line "we were all given the one spirit to drink." One view, which I would call the hyper-charismatic view, teaches that you do not receive the Holy Spirit the moment you believe. Not that all charismatics believe this, but some do, and it's preposterous and thoroughly unbiblical. The Bible teaches on this in John 14:16 and Acts 1. Jesus said, "When I leave, I'm going to send you another Comforter." In other words, when Jesus leaves as the Comforter for all believers, he will send the Holy Spirit, who is also God like Jesus is God, to comfort us. This text in 1 Corinthians says that you are baptized by one Spirit into one body the moment you believe. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a very misunderstood event. It has nothing to do with supernatural gifts or speaking in tongues. It has everything to do with receiving the Holy Spirit.

To be baptized means to be immersed, or to be a recipient of something. But then Paul says we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Drinking of the Spirit means enjoying or engaging in the Holy Spirit's power in your life. One of those things is spiritual gifts. You get spiritual gifts the moment you believe. Even if you don't know what they are, that doesn't mean you don't have them, it just means you don't know how to unlock them or use them. Or, you might be using them and not even realize it. Either way, it's important to know that once you become a Christian, you have spiritual gifts that God has specifically given you. You don't have to pray for them, wait for them, hope for them, or choose them. In fact, you don't even get to choose them. The Holy Spirit chooses them for you.

So, you receive spiritual gifts the moment you believe, but the problem is that some people have no clue what they're about, sometimes for years after receiving them. You have to use your gifts to know what they are. We have a class called Discover Your Purpose in which we'll teach you all the gifts, and we'll help you start the journey of finding which gifts are yours. But you'll never fully know what gifts you have until you use them. Something that might help you is what I call the E Test. The E Test means that when you use your gifts you use them with ease, effectiveness, efficiency, enthusiasm, elation, energy, etc. When you do that time and time again with a certain gift, you know you've got it. So that's what I want you to know about gifts of the Holy Spirit. They come the moment you believe, because we have a great God.

Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you so much that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us spiritual gifts the moment we believe. Thank you so much for that amazing promise that when we believe, not only do we have heaven, we have gifts to live out until we get there. Thank you, Lord. Help us to understand, know, and use our gifts wisely and effectively. We praise you for this in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 12 8:49 AM

Spiritual Gifts | Part 2 | Who Gives Us Spiritual Gifts

Jan 12 8:49 AM

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Today, I want to ask a second question to help you understand spiritual gifts. Who gives spritiual gifts to us?

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:4, 11

Hi everybody. Thanks for joining me for this Tuesday edition of Life Lifters. This week we're on a fascinating subject: spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul states that he doesn't want the Corinthians to be ignorant of spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians are very ignorant of spiritual gifts. They can't tell you three cogent ideas about what a spiritual gift is, or how it works. So, I want to try to answer five of the most important questions about spiritual gifts to help you understand them, if you're a Christian. Or, to help you understand what will happen to you when you do become a Christian. The first question I answered was this: What are spiritual gifts? I wrote yesterday that spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities to do specific tasks. God puts a super on your natural. He has given every one of us unique gifts. You can read about them in four places in the Bible: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.

Today, I want to ask a second question. Who gives spritiual gifts to us? You say, Vince, you just already gave us the answer. God! And that would be correct. But I want to get a little more specific. Who actually gives us spiritual gifts? I'll give you a hint. Who actually gives us Spirit-ual gifts? I think you know the answer. The answer is the Holy Spirit. While the entirety of the Trinity is involved in every area of our life, it seems like one person of the Trinity kind of runs point, not that the others aren't involved. And in the case of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit seems to run point on giving those to us. I get that from 1 Corinthians 12:4, 11. It says, "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them... It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have." Isn't that interesting? You don't get to pick or choose your spiritual gifts. You don't get all the spiritual gifts, but you get some of them, and you get them by the Holy Spirit. Isn't it amazing that the Holy Spirit gives you a custom set of gifts, based on his knowing you, his knowing what needs to be accomplished in the world, his knowing where you are? He is putting all of that together and saying, "Here are the gifts. Use them."

I thank God that the Holy Spirit does so many good things in our lives. And one of the great things he does is assign us and give us these amazing, unique gifts. Gifts of teaching, gifts of evangelism, of helps, administration, knowledge, etc. God gives us gifts to open and use. He doesn't give us gifts to admire. But isn't it amazing that God gives us the gift of eternal life when we put our faith in Christ, and then he gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do you know your spiritual gifts? We have a class called Discover Your Purpose that will help you. But the only way you're really going to know your gifts is when you first acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has decisively, definitively, and certainly given you the gifts you have right now. If you've never become a Christian, these are things you can look forward to. But if you are a Christian, these are the gifts you already have. And you can thank the Holy Spirit for them. So let's do that right now.

Holy Spirit, thank you so much that you decided the specific gifts that we have the moment we became Christians. We thank you for it. Thank you that you have entrusted us with these gifts, and want us to open up and use these gifts. We thank you that you have given us supernatural abilities to accomplish specific tasks in the church, everywhere we go. I praise you and thank you for that. Help everybody listening be encouraged that you love us enough to do more than just give us eternal life, but to give us power between now and when we enter eternity in heaven with you through these gifts. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

Jan 11 8:36 AM

Spiritual Gifts | Part 1 | What Are Spiritual Gifts?

Jan 11 8:36 AM

Monday, January 11, 2021

I want to spend each day this week answering one of the five biggest questions that people ask about spiritual gifts. Today, I will start with the first question: What are they? What are spiritual gifts?

Monday, January 11, 2021

1 Corinthians 12:1

Hey everybody, Pastor Vince here. Thanks for joining me for another week of Life Lifters. This week, I want to talk about a lighthearted, fun, interesting subject. I want to talk to you about spiritual gifts. Throughout the week I want to spend each day answering one of the five biggest questions that people ask about spiritual gifts. Whether it's in church or outside of church, people say, "I've heard about these things called spiritual gifts, and I don't really know what they are." So, I want to talk to you about these five different questions and answer them biblically to help you understand spiritual gifts. Today, I will start with the first question: What are they? What are spiritual gifts?

In 1 Corinthians 12:1 Paul says, "Now about spiritual gifts, I do not want you to be ignorant." And I have to tell you, most Christians are absolutely clueless about spiritual gifts. They don't know what they are. They don't know how they work. They don't know which ones they have. Here at Lakeshore Community Church, we have a whole class called Discover Your Purpose. You take this class after you take Discover Lakeshore, which is the first class to understand the vision and values of Lakeshore. In Discover Your Purpose, we will help you find your spiritual gifts. But when Paul says, "I don't want you to be ignorant," I wish Paul would say that again to a lot of Christians today, because many are very ignorant. People don't know about spiritual gifts.

I want to start right at the top. What is a spiritual gift? I would define a spiritual gift as a supernatural ability to accomplish specific tasks in the world. So let's break that down. First, let's talk about supernatural ability. Don't confuse spiritual gifts with natural gifts. A natural gift would be like if you're a natural extrovert, or are naturally organized. Those are things that you have from birth. But a supernatural gift is, if I could put it this way, it's when God puts his super on your natural. And what I mean by that is that God can sometimes take what you're already good at and put supernatural ability on top. And sometimes he gives you a supernatural gift that has nothing to do with what you're good at naturally. It's a mystery. Sometimes that happens. Sometimes it doesn't. But here's the point. It's a supernatural ability. God gives you a unique supernatural ability to do specific tasks.

Now, unless you're the Apostle Paul, you don't have all the spiritual gifts, you only have some gifts. There are several different gifts throughout the Bible, and not everybody has all the gifts. There are teaching gifts, administration gifts, the gift of helps, the gift of the Spirit, gifts of wisdom and knowledge, etc. If you want to study the Bible on the spiritual gifts, you could find those gifts listed in four places. The way I remember how to find them is this: twelve, twelve, four, four. You can find the four spiritual gift lists in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4. Twelve, twelve, four, four. If you look at those, you'll find all the different spiritual gifts, and some of them are yours. How many gifts do Christians have? The Bible never says. My sense in talking to people is that someone typically has two to three spiritual gifts. These are specific tasks that God will equip you with. But here's the question: Now that you know what a spiritual gift is, will you use it? It's important to know that God does not give you gifts just to fascinate you. He gives you gifts to use them. Those supernatural abilities help you do specific tasks that you are uniquely equipped to do. I hope you'll use your spiritual gifts. We're going to talk about how you can do that throughout the rest of the series, but I hope this helps whet your appetite for the week.

Father, thank you so much for the unique thing you do for us when we follow you, and that's you give us spiritual gifts. Thank you that you know us. You know the gifts you've given us, and we appreciate them. We thank you for the unique ones you've entrusted to us. Help us to use them wisely and effectively, and help us to not be ignorant about what spiritual gifts are any longer. Please use this week to accomplish that in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, if spiritual gifts are an intriguing topic to you, I hope to see you tomorrow.

By Pastor Vince DiPaola

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