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Discipleship in Community:

Transcript - SF501 Discipleship in Community: © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.

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LESSON 09 of 24SF501

Church: Context for Spiritual Formation – Part IV

Discipleship in Community:

In the previous session, we began talking about the relationship of the church and the Spirit. As we discuss the church as the matrix of the interpersonal and relational dynamics that are so necessary and such a part of the corporate spiritual formation that we are all about, we have been talking about the very integral and significant role that the Holy Spirit plays in this process. And in particular, we’ve been focusing on spiritual gifts and the relationship that they have to this process of spiritual formation, to this process of us growing up together in the Lord. In lecture eight we looked at the spiritual gifts in general seeing their relationship to body life, what they were, their relation to the common good, and the recipients of the gifts.

In this session, we want to turn back to a passage that we’ve been looking at many times, a passage that has provided the basic paradigm or model for spiritual formation about which this course is based and look at it now from the perspective of spiritual gifts. Look at that model of growth that we’ve been talking about, that corporate concept, and see now how spiritual gifts fit in. Look at the divine mechanism that has been instituted to affect this growth. And of course I’m referring to Ephesians 4.

Now we want to look at verses 7 through 16 but again with a different perspective. Looking now at the gifts, the first thing that we want to mention, that we want to talk about, and take note of is the relationship that spiritual gifts have to the incarnation, the necessity of the incarnation for spiritual gifts. For in our prior session, we were talking about how Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 makes very clear that the gifts, of course, come from the Spirit. But there’s a more foundational source of those gifts, a more foundational necessity than just the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. And that foundational necessity is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Looking at Ephesians 4:7, Paul says,

John R. Lillis, Ph.D.Experience: Dean and Executive Officer

at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, CA.



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But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says “when He ascended on high He led captive a host of captives and He gave gifts to men.” Now this expression ‘He ascended” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill all things. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets and some as evangelist, and some as pastors and teachers.

Jesus Christ has provided everything that the church, which is His body, needs to successfully complete the mission He left for it. Now there is, of course, the provision of salvation provided on the cross through which God freely offers eternal life to all who would receive it. But we need to understand as Paul and the other writers of the New Testament make so clear that this salvation is more than just a ticket to heaven, more than just an escape from hell. We have been saved into a body. Notice verse 4 of this chapter, “There is one body and one Spirit just as also you were called in one hope of your calling.” We have been saved into this one body which is unified in purpose yet diversified in content. And we’ve already seen some indication of that diversity, as we discussed, the diversity of the gifts that have been given, different gifts to different individuals, each with different functions to perform, to make possible the integrated functioning of the whole body together. So the provision that Christ has given includes more than just the forgiveness of sin but includes also, as the verses 7 and following make clear, the abilities, the talents, the individual and group virtues necessary for a group of people from different races, from different backgrounds having different likes and dislikes, enabling all of those to function together efficiently, smoothly, and effectively to affect the growth of that diverse, complex body together into Christ.

Now all of this has been provided completely at the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the whole point here in verses 7 through 11 of the ascent, descent motif. It’s referring primarily to the coming to earth of Christ and His subsequent return or ascension. When it talks about Him descending, it’s talking about His descent to the earth in His incarnation, His first coming. And then ascending is returning to heaven. Jesus here is pictured as a conquering king returning to His land and distributing booty to His people. And, of course, it’s referring, as you no doubt have heard many times, to that first century picture of the Roman



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legions returning in victory with the head of the legion, perhaps the Caesar or in other cultures, the king, leading the army, returning with the spoils of victory and distributing, as often was the case, some of those spoils to the people. The people would line the streets of Rome as the conquering legions would return. And they would have vast amounts of treasure and other forms of spoil and booty. And those would be passed out by the king to the grateful people as they passed by.

So in His incarnation, Paul is saying Jesus provided everything that is necessary for this salvation to be accomplished, for all of the purposes of God’s redemptive plan to be realized in His family and His household as Paul describes it earlier. And it’s no accident that he’s talking about this here in verses 7-11 as he’s moving into that picture of the body growing up together. He is saying that Christ has, through His incarnation, provided everything that the body needs to grow up together into unity and maturity.

Well, in addition to the incarnation and the very central role that that plays making it all possible, being the ultimate and final source for all of this provision, for the spiritual gifts, Paul then, in verse 11, talks about some of the gifted individuals themselves. “He gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers.” The specific gifts and offices described in this particular passage here in verse 11 are associated primarily with the ministry of the Word. Apostles and prophets, they’re the so-called higher gifts referred to in 1 Corinthians 12-14. Now earlier in Ephesians 2, Paul has mentioned explicitly the apostles and prophets and the role that these particular gifted individuals play in the development of the church. In Ephesians 2:19-20, he says, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone.” So it’s my belief that the apostles and the prophets as he is describing them here in this particular book, in this particular context had a very limited ministry. They provide the foundation of this household, the foundation of this building which is being constructed as a dwelling place for God, given by God, given as a part of the provision of Jesus Christ, a very necessary and integral part, but a beginning part. And so we don’t look for those particular offices and those particular gifted individuals in that specific sense today.



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Now it’s clear that these gifted individuals are viewed as Christ’s gift to the church. We’ve already mentioned that explicitly here in verses 7-10. Well, that has implications then concerning our attitudes towards them, implications that Paul refers to several times in his writings as he makes reference to these gifted individuals in other contexts. For example in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, Paul 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 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. Esteem them for their work’s sake. Esteem them also because they are gifts of Christ to the church.” Also over in 1 Timothy 5:17, the same idea, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.” The attitude towards them should be one of respect, one of honor. They are Christ’s gift to the church, Christ’s gift to perform certain important ministries and functions. And then over in Hebrews 13, the writer of Hebrews also makes reference to this idea in verse 17. “Obey your leaders and submit to them. For they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” Individuals who watch over, who have to give an account, individuals who have this ministry of the Word in the lives of individuals have been given—as gifts to the church to perform—this very important function.

Well, in addition to the incarnation and the very central role that the incarnation, the Christ event plays in the giving of spiritual gifts and gifted individuals, we also need to talk now about the specific and immediate purpose of these gifted individuals and the gifts that have been provided. We see in verse 12 that these individuals: the evangelists, pastors and teachers, apostles and prophets, have been given “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.” The primary purpose of these particular individuals is to prepare or equip God’s people for service. The word for equip here in the Greek is also used in the secular literature of the time in military context referring to the equipping of the army or its soldiers for battle, issuing equipment, weapon, armor, and so forth. So those who are the pastors and teachers within the church are not really the workers of ministry or service in the church. They are the equippers, the quartermasters. We might even say the support troops, if you would. They’re not even the front line troops. They’re the ones who, in spite of the honor that is due them for



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their very special ministry, their critical ministry, nonetheless are the support types of individuals. They are equipping people to do the frontline types of ministry. Now it is clear that that equipping is to be accomplished through the teaching of the Word of God, as we see these gifts and gifted individuals used in other contexts. It is the Word and that alone which those of us who are equippers have to give people. I can remember being so impressed my first semester in seminary, having only been a Christian a few years myself, and taking a basic course in hermeneutics and the professor of that class looking at us and reminding us that in our ministry, essentially we have nothing else to give people but the Word of God. It is the Word of God that we have to give people, not our opinions, not our thoughts, not our ideas, but the living Word of God as that has been given to us in the Scripture. So often, it is so tempting to stray from that and to give our denomination or our association, our church’s tradition. I believe that’s what’s killing evangelicalism today in many respects: a reliance on tradition over the Word, a reliance on what we believe versus what the Word says. We need to go back to the Word. We need to be willing to adjust our thinking about the Word as we get new information that helps us to gain further insight into the Word.

You will recall the group at Berea that is mentioned in Acts 17:10. It says, “And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. And when they arrived they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the Word with great eagerness examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” Now remember what’s going on here. You have a group of Jews who had the Scripture and had a particular understanding of that Scripture. They had a particular tradition, a particular denominational belief structure, if you would. And the brethren came, Paul and Silas, and they taught them and they challenged them to reexamine their understanding of Scripture, not changing Scripture but reexamining their understanding, so that foundational was the Word, not their understanding of the Word. Foundational was Scripture, not their theology. Now often when this passage is taught and the Bereans are held up as an example, it’s because they went to Scripture. Well, I don’t think that’s the exciting thing about this passage. The exciting thing is what happened after they went to Scripture. Notice in verse 12 “Many of them therefore believed along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.” These Jews changed their understanding of Scripture based upon this new information, based upon this perspective that allowed them to see the Scripture



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in its proper light— not being locked in as the Jews at Thessalonica and other places were in Paul’s travel to their theology, not being locked in to their so-called denominational traditions and belief structure—but putting first the Word and depending upon that. And those that are in these equipping types of ministry, those who have been given to the church as equippers, those who have been given to equip the body itself to perform the works of ministry must realize that that equipping is accomplished, first and foremost, through the teaching of the Word of God. Well, that’s the purpose of the gifts that those who are equippers have.

However, as we go on, we see that there are others for the equipping of the saints, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. The saints that have been equipped are equipped in order that they become able to do the works of the ministry. You see, it’s the people in the pews, to use our 20th century perspective. It’s the people in the pews and not the pastors who are the ministers of the church.

When I visit a new church and preaching out as I commonly do through my ministry at the seminary, I like to ask the people that I’m having lunch with how many ministers they have in their church. And if it’s a large church with a multiple staff, often I will get the answer, “well we have three ministers, four ministers, five ministers.” And what I like to do gently there is to point out that no, they don’t. They have two, three, four, five equippers. But depending upon the size of the church, they have two, three, four, 500 ministers; for it is the saints that are the ministers. The real workers who were meant to accomplish the mission of the church of Jesus Christ are the people, not the pastoral staff, not the equippers. Those that have been given those special gifts—the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers—have been given ultimately that the saints, the members, the individual members might be equipped to do the work of the ministry. As the members of the church do these works of ministry or service, they are then using the gifts that God has given them. And this is where the other types of gifts fit in. The pastors, teachers, and other equippers teach and train the rest of the body of Christ to use the gifts that God has given them for the works of service enabling them to better utilize those particular functions and gifts that God has given them. Well, the incarnation we’ve seen is basic and fundamental to this. Gifted individuals have been given to equip the church, to equip the saints that the saints then might do the work of the ministry. Those latter two, equipping and doing the work of the ministry, represent the



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immediate and specific purpose of the gifts.

What about the ultimate purpose? As we go into verse 13, Paul explicates the ultimate purpose of this provision for the church. He says, “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” And, of course, this is preceded by that phrase there “to the building up of the body of Christ.” Generically we describe it, as we know of course later 15-16, as the body being built up, the body growing. But what’s happening ultimately? First of all unity, until we all attain to the unity of the faith. As the people of God exercise their spiritual gifts, the body of Christ, the church and in particular, local manifestations of that, those local, concrete laboratories, assemblies in which we find ourselves making all of this happen, the body is built up. Now again, notice here the emphasis is that these spiritual gifts and gifted individuals are not intended for individual glory or individual use. It is the body that is to be built up. Remember again the emphasis in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 on the common good that the gifts have been given for the common good.

Recall the imagery again also that we looked at much earlier in Ephesians 2 as we were talking there about the structure, the temple of God that was being built up in verses 19- 22,

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone. In whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord. In whom you all also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

The whole body being built up, the imagery of building coupled with the body image denotes the idea and importance of corporate growth in the church of Jesus Christ, this corporate paradigm that we’ve been talking about over and over again. The spiritual gifts have been given so that the body can be built up. I can’t overemphasize. I can’t mention that enough, because our basic thinking has become so individualistic that when we talk about growth, when we talk about development, when we talk about the use of the spiritual gifts, when we talk about the purpose of the spiritual gifts, invariably the discussion will move to individual growth rather than the growth of the whole body, the growth of



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the church corporately.

And it’s very clearly stated in Ephesians 4:16 that that growth occurs only as each part does its work. We’re not downplaying the importance of the individual. We’re simply saying that the individual’s personal development is a means to another end. It’s not the end as we so often make it in our typical approaches and discussions of spirituality. Each part is what contributes to this growing up of the body together. Notice too that Christ is not only the cause for this growth, in the incarnation having made the provision of spiritual gifts that is so necessary for this, not only is He the cause, the source for this growth, He is also the goal of this growth. Verse 15, “But speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.” And then in verse 13, “We are growing to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

The purpose of this building up, the purpose of this growth is that the church might receive unity. This is the reason that God through Christ has provided these spiritual gifts to the church. Use of a God-given talent, use of a God-given ability or gift to accomplish anything other than unity in the body is not scriptural. In fact, using our gifts, using our abilities, using our talents to cause something other than unity, to cause strife and division is sin. That’s very consistent, this purpose that Paul describes in the first part of verse 13 “Until we all attain to the unity of the faith.” That’s very consistent with the first part of this chapter that we haven’t really looked at as we began at verse 7. The first six verses Paul is talking about unity. He says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called with all humility and gentleness, with patience showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit just as also you were called in one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all,” the idea of unity being one aspect of the ultimate purpose.

Another aspect here is that we are growing into unity to the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. He describes the end product of the growth of the body in terms of maturity, maturity of the organism, maturity of the corporate entity that is known as the body of Christ. And He describes that maturity as being everything that we were corporately intended to be in Christ. He said, “To a mature man to the measure of the stature



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which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” And you’ll recall from an earlier discussion that we related that back, that idea of the fullness concept back to chapter 3 in verse 19, verse 18 to get the context “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” To be everything that we were intended to be in Christ corporately is to love one another, to be filled and to understand together the height, and the breadth and the width of His love, to manifest towards one another His type of love that we as the body of Christ, as we become that mature man, we demonstrate that love to a watching world. Remember again the verse we looked at in John 13 in which Jesus says, “This is the way men will know that you are My disciples, because you love one another.” It seems that we as individuals find our ultimate meaning, our ultimate fulfillment within the body of Christ, within this corporate context, within this interpersonal and relational matrix and not in our individual piety. You see there are problems in the body, problems with unity, problems with stability. And notice those are always defined here in 13 and 14 with respect to the body. Verse 14, “As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.” Paul is concerned with unity in the body. He’s concerned with stability in the body. We are growing up into a mature man. We are growing up into a mature body reflecting the measure of the stature belonging to the fullness of Christ as each individual part does its work, as each individual part contributes through the spiritual gift that each individual has been given.

Well, having looked now at the why of the spiritual gifts, why they have been given, focusing on the incarnation and how that plays into it, the gifted individuals that have been given specific and immediate purpose of the gifts and then the ultimate purpose all coming from Ephesians 4, our paradigm passage as we’ve looked at it from that perspective of the gifts. Let’s now conclude this session by talking briefly concerning some practical “how-tos,” how to use the spiritual gifts, some wrong attitudes, some right attitudes concerning spiritual gifts and their use.

Let’s begin by talking about maybe the wrong way. And I think a chief wrong manner of the use of spiritual gifts that has become prevalent in the church today is to spend an excessive amount of time trying to answer the question “what’s my gift?” People who are not involved in the ministry of the church, people who are



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not involved in this process of growth because they’re spending all of their time trying to determine what their spiritual gift is, all of their time and energy and effort taken up in answering that question. Neither Paul nor any other writer in Scripture describes any method for determining what our spiritual gifts are. What we are generally told is to, for example, in 1 Corinthians 12:31, we’re told to desire the greater gifts. And then over in 1 Corinthians 14:1 again “Pursue love yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts but especially that you may prophesy.” And then in 1 Corinthians 12:7 “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” And then in verses 27 through 30 that we’ve looked at earlier, “Now you are Christ’s body and individually members of it, and Christ has appointed in the church these various offices.” And he says in verse 30 “All do not have these various gifts” and so forth. The Bible clearly states that everyone has a gift and that each gift indeed is important to the function of the body. And if you’ll recall again from Romans chapter 12, the emphasis there as the gifts are listed is not so much on, in fact it’s not at all on determining what your individual gift is. The emphasis is that the gift has been given to be used and every believer should be busy using the gift. And since we have gifts Paul says in Romans 12:6 that “differ according to the grace given to us. Let each exercise them accordingly, if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith, if service in his serving or he who teaches in his teaching” and so forth. Nor do we anywhere find mentioned that we as individuals are to search for or to try to discover our spiritual gifts through some process before we can function in the body of Christ.

The New Testament seems to assume that each believer will be busy in the work of the ministry and will not be spending time trying to discover what their spiritual gift is. An emphasis on each believer’s searching for and trying to develop his or her spiritual gift in order to function in the body of Christ is simply not a biblical emphasis. Our energy is not to be spent discovering our spiritual gifts but rather using them for the common good to build up the church. Rather than wasting time searching for our gifts, we together are to spend our time becoming a mature body. We are to spend our time growing up together in the Lord being equipped to use that which God has given us. Remember the first part of Romans 12 which later deals with spiritual gifts. In the first part Paul says “I urge you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of



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your mind that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” And then as you know, Paul moves right into the discussion of the body functioning together and the spiritual gifts. He’s saying the prerequisite for functioning in the body is not discovering your gift. The prerequisite is developing your spirituality in terms of your relationship to God that you then might function more effectively and function in the body of Christ in the manner in which God would have for you.

Notice when Paul gave Timothy and Titus instructions concerning the appointment of local church leadership. For example, in Titus 1:5 and following, he did not tell them to. In the list that we have for spiritual leadership, the qualification for spiritual leadership in the New Testament in Titus and in 1 Timothy, we don’t see any of those qualifications being a particular spiritual gift. Now once it said that it should be a person able to teach, but that’s not referring to any of the charismata necessarily. He told them rather to look at their character, look at the relationship that the individuals have with others and with God, the type of character that they display in their life. Look at them in terms of their maturity and their sense of responsibility. Don’t wait, the Scripture is saying, until you’re sure what your gift is. Rather get busy where there is a need in the church. Now from a practical standpoint, individuals might find themselves functioning in an area that they’re truly not gifted in, they’re truly not succeeding in, they’re truly not having the impact that God would have in that particular area. Well then, obviously they don’t need to stay in that area. And that’s why we do this corporately. The rest of the body can observe and say well that’s really not the area you belong in. The key is to be active and to be available. After a while, those areas in which you are gifted will become obvious. I know that when I was at seminary, one of my first ministry experiences was with a junior high youth group. And I have friends and colleagues today who are very effective with that age group. I’m not. I lasted about three months, and it became very obvious that that was not the area of ministry that God would have for me in that family. That area of ministry was not congruent with nor consistent with the gifts that God had given me. A few months later I was involved in a very successful adult teaching ministry that went on for several years. Christianity was not designed to be a spectator sport. The intent here is not for us to spend our time and energy and effort trying to discover our gifts and using that as an excuse for not becoming involved. We are to become involved immediately in the functioning of the body.



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Well in addition to that wrong way of approaching the use of spiritual gifts, spending a great deal of time asking the question, “What’s my gift?,” there are also wrong attitudes that we need to be conscious of, attitudes that say I’m not using my gift because God has not led me to do anything yet. There’s no example of any biblical text citing an experience that introduces any of the gifts that are to be used in ministry. God leads us through His Word. We make decisions and choices to become involved in particular ministries based upon our own, as well as the other people’s knowledge, of our gifts and abilities. We don’t wait for some type of experience that says, “Well now, God has led me into this.” We become involved using the reason that God has given us. Another attitude that’s wrong is the idea that my gift is more important or less important than others. In Romans 12, Paul deals with that. Beginning at verse 3 he says, “For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think but to think so as to have sound judgment as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members one of another.” No gift is superior or inferior to another. No ministry is more critical or is superior or inferior to another. All gifts are essential. Each gift complements the others in necessary ways.

Another attitude that is a faulty attitude is the idea that I will only work and serve in the area of my spiritual gift. Consider the case of Timothy. Timothy obviously had a particular gift. He was gifted in the area of pastor-teacher. Yet in 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul tells him also to do the work of an evangelist. Our contribution to the church must go beyond those areas in which we specifically feel gifted or talented in me. And often our own perception of our spiritual gift might be wrong. We might discover that we are better-equipped in another area.

There’s another attitude that’s a wrong attitude. It’s the attitude that people don’t appreciate me. They disagree with me, so I quit. I’m not going to be using my gift anymore. I’m tired of all of the pressure, the stress. I’m tired of the conflict and the opposition. Paul tells us over and over again that there will be disagreement and lack of appreciation in the ministry. For example in 2 Timothy 3:10 Paul says to Timothy,

But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings


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such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra. What persecutions I endured and out of them all, the Lord delivered me. And indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of knowing from whom you have learned them.

You know the context here in 2 Timothy 2, there’s evidently some dissention and opposition that Timothy is facing. Timothy is discouraged. Timothy is wanting to quit. Timothy is wanting to turn his back upon the gift that was given him. And Paul refers to that gift that was given to him to stir up that gift several times in his writings to Timothy. He’s saying remember that. Don’t give up. That’s not an adequate excuse to set aside the exercise of God-given spiritual gifts. And it’s a great temptation in ministry as we become involved in ministering in the body of Christ because the body of Christ is less than perfect. Because it involves people who are redeemed and who are being redeemed, there is going to be opposition. There’s going to be strife. There’s going to be dissention and division. There’s going to be a tax, and there’s going to be that temptation to quit. There’s going to be discouragement. Yet Paul makes very clear in his instruction to Timothy that that’s not a valid and viable excuse for turning our backs upon the exercise of our spiritual gifts. The body needs those gifts, and we need to be using them.

Well, as we’ve looked here at practical suggestions, we’ve looked kind of at the negative aspect. We’ve looked at a wrong method for approaching the whole matter of spending a great deal of time trying to determine what my gift is. And then we’ve talked about some wrong attitudes in the exercise of these gifts, the idea that God has not led me to do anything with my gift. My gift is more important or less important. I will only work in areas of my gift. And people don’t appreciate me. At the beginning of the next session, I want to talk about some of the right attitudes, some of the positive aspects of using spiritual gifts.

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