Faithful in Ministry

Sermon OverviewScripture Passage: Ephesians 4:7When God saved us by His grace, He gave each of us spiritual gifts. However, many of us do not understand how to use them. In order to be faithful in ministry, we must identify and develop our spiritual gifts.Ephesians 4:7 says, “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”Spiritual gifts are God-given abilities for service and ministry. We do not choose our spiritual gifts; as our natural talents are embedded in us at birth, our spiritual gifts come at our new birth.There are several spiritual gifts identified in the New Testament, such as wisdom, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, and discerning of spirits. Other gifts include speaking in tongues, acts of service, ministry, exhortation, teaching, giving, ruling, and mercy.Ephesians 4:11-12 says, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…”There are five ways we can know our individual spiritual gifts:-Desire: We consider what we enjoy doing—what do we feel we naturally do well?-Discovery: We discover our gift as we endeavor to do it.-Development: Though they come naturally, our gifts must be crafted and studied.-Dependence: Our gifts must operate in the power of the Holy Spirit.-Deployment: We understand how our gifts operate as we work alongside other believers.Finally, our gifts are displayed as we mature in our ministry.Ephesians 4:13 says, “...till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”Adrian Rogers says, “You can tell when the gifts are working in a church when the church becomes like the Lord Jesus Christ.”When the gifts are working, we will not be blown about by every wind of doctrine. Instead, we will learn how to speak truth in love and find that all of our gifts work together in flexible harmony.Apply it to your lifeIt’s important to know our spiritual gifts and to discover and develop them, so that God may be glorified as we serve the Church.