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There were 13 of them, and it was clear it had been quite a journey. You could see their their shoulders slumped and hanging. Their feet were almost dragging. Their faces covered with dust and dirt. Their feet completely covered with mud. One of the men would become
perhaps the most famous and well known men who have ever walked this earth. We know him today as Jesus. Two thousand years ago, his friends called him Yeshua. The other 12 were some of his closest disciples. But where they are is what is significant.
You see, if you've read the bible before, especially the part that tells the story of Jesus, the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, you know that Jesus spent most of his time around the Galilee region to where he grew up in Nazareth. He spent a lot of time in Capernaum, the Sea Of Galilee.
A lot of his time was down in Jerusalem and Judea or Bethlehem or Jericho. Jericho. But on this occasion, he takes these 12 men to a location that few Jews would venture in those days. He's actually gone almost 25 miles north of the Sea Of Galilee. It was about a 2,000 foot ascent,
and so you can imagine them weary and tired from their their journey that probably took them at least a day, maybe two days, all uphill to a place that few Jews would go.
And what Jesus is about to do is ask them maybe the most important question that they would ever be asked. He was going to have maybe the most important discussion with them than he would ever have. And the question becomes why would he take them here? I mean, why not to Jerusalem? I mean, you have the temple
or or Capernaum, the synagogue where he did so many of his miracles. Why here? You see, they're in a place called Caesarea Philippi. It was a place that two thousand years ago, a ruler, a leader called Philip would actually build a temple. And in a moment, you're gonna see a picture of this on the screen.
This is what it looks like today. And so you can see this massive cave. I want you to embed that in your mind. You can say that you see these little crevices in the rock wall, and that's where they would have a lot of idols.
But but I told you to embed that cave like scene in your mind, and I want you to picture two thousand years ago of Philip building this massive temple that that came out of that crevice, that big cave. That cave, by the way, was called the Gates Of Hades. Hold on to that. The Gates Of Hades, the Gates Of Hell.
And this temple that that protruded out of that cave was where they would worship the the false god Pan. You've probably seen a a depiction of this false god. He was half goat and half man, and people would come into that temple and sometimes go over to the gates of Hades and throw their live children child sacrifice.
This is why few Jews would venture there because it was a pagan place.
And Jesus takes these 12 men there and he has this discussion with them. He asked them this question, one of the most important questions, and we're not even gonna look at that question today. That's another message for another time. But then Peter answers the question in such a powerful way that Jesus makes this statement.
Matthew 16 verse 18. Jesus says this, and I tell you that you are Peter. Listen. And on this rock, I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. Now leave that verse up on the screen because I I I want you to see this. Imagine this, that Jesus is saying, and on this rock, I will build my church. And maybe he points to that that big cave behind him that was known as the Gates Of Hades, he said, and not even the gates Of Hades, not even the gates of hell will overcome it.
Now that verse is still on the screen, Matthew sixteen eighteen. And I wanna tell you what Jesus did not say. Jesus did not say, and on this rock, I will build my church.
Now now you're probably looking at the bottom of the screen going, hold on. Matthew sixteen eighteen says it says it right there. That Jesus said, and on this rock, will build my church. Let me say it again. Jesus did not say, on this rock, I will build my church. But wait. It says it right there.
Remember, this was two thousand years ago, and Jesus was speaking in a in a different language, and that word church was not used for almost a thousand years.
What Jesus actually said was he took two Greek words. They that that's the language they spoke at that time. He took two Greek words and put them together, ecclesia. So Jesus literally said, and on this rock, I will build my ecclesia. Literally, those two words put together
mean a gathering of people who have been called out. So here's what Jesus literally said. And on this rock, I will build my gathering of people who have been called out. And every other time that word church is used in the New Testament, that by the way, Matthew sixteen eighteen is the very first time it's used.
Every other time it's used in the New Testament, we translate it in the English church.
But I hope it changes your view of that word or the meaning of that for the rest of your life. You see, if you were to read Ephesians or Galatians or Philippians, the book would actually start with this phrase. And Paul would say, and to the church of Galatia, and to the church of Ephesus, and to the church of Philippi. But here's what he's actually saying, And to the ecclesia of, Ephesus and to the ecclesia of of Galatia, to the ecclesia of Philippi,
to the gathering of people in Philippi, to the gathering of people in Ephesus, to the gathering of people in Corinth.
Last week, Bill launched this series about the Holy Spirit. And you should be scratching your head right now going, well, wait. If Bill launched a series about the Holy Spirit, so far, you haven't mentioned the Holy Spirit. You're just talking about the church.
Do you keep talking about the church if the series is about the Holy Spirit?
Because today, we're gonna talk about the gift of the spirit, the gifts of the spirit. And you and I cannot understand what Paul talks about when he speaks about the gifts of the spirit. We will not understand it if we don't understand the church.
That two thousand years ago, Jesus said, on this rock, I will build my gathering of people who have been called out, and not even the gates of hell will overcome it. You see, the the the the danger for you and I is after two thousand years,
and especially in the culture and society that we live in, that the church has so often become just another place that we become consumers.
See, when you and I go to a game, we're consumers. We're just watching. We're watching. When we watch a movie, we're just consumers. When we sit on our couch and watch TV, we're just consumers. When we go to a restaurant, we're just consumers.
And the danger is that sometimes that's all that church has turned in for us is that we're just consumers. We show up, we watch a show, and then we leave. But Jesus, two thousand years ago, said, on this rock, I will build my gathering of people who have been called out, and not even the gates of hell will stop it.
See, you're not a consumer. I'm not a consumer. If you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, you're part of this gathering of people. You're part of this movement that not even the gates of hell can stop. And what we're gonna see is this incredible truth that God has actually given you by the Holy Spirit a gift
for that movement. See, here's the big idea. The big idea is that spiritual gifts are God given abilities gifted to us, not for us. Let me say that again. Spiritual gifts are God given abilities gifted to us, not for us.
The Bible actually has several places where it talks about spiritual gifts, Roman chapter 12, Ephesians chapter four, first Corinthians chapter 12. But we're not gonna look at all of those today. We're gonna focus on first Corinthians 12. So if you have your Bibles, if you have a Bible app on on your smart device, open up to first Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 12. I want you to see this as we wade through this. And and and here's what I'm not gonna do. I'm not gonna do a typical message on spiritual gifts where I'm gonna unpack what all the different gifts are and what they mean.
Because I grew up in the church, and I've heard numerous messages about that. And not that it's bad. I'm gonna actually steer you to something that will help you discover that at the end of the message. But these were some of the most boring weekends for me growing up in the church.
But I realized the reason they were boring is I didn't understand the enormity of what we were talking about. God help us get this.
My friend, if you if you will get what we're gonna look at today, Bill introduced it last week that if you've put your faith and trust in Jesus, the spirit of God indwells you. Romans eight nine tells us that.
Do you realize how enormous that is that this God that yet cannot be contained by this universe, this God that is bigger than we can imagine, this God that we will spend all eternity worshiping and studying and learning about, and we will never in eternity,
and that's a long time, we will never fully discover who this God is and how big and enormous this God is. That God, the moment you put your faith and trust in him and dwelt you with his spirit. And then what we're gonna see is that then when the spirit of God came into you and me, he gifted us. Oh, that we would get that.
See, if that doesn't overwhelm you, if that doesn't just make you go, wow, then then the rest of what we talk about today is is meh. That's what it'll be. So
once again, God, I pray, would you help us get the spirit of God? Would you help us get this? Would you help us get the enormity of this, the magnificence of this truth that your spirit indwells us? And when you came to indwell us as your followers, you brought a gift or gifts
that aren't for us, but for this gathering of people who have been called out. Help us get this Jesus. First Corinthians 12. Let me give you a little background because it's important for you to get this background. Corinthians
or or, first and second Corinthians was written to the Jesus followers in Corinth. And if you know anything about it, that church was a mess. Years ago, I actually preached a series on Corinthians and I called it first and second America
because the issues that they were dealing with in Corinth two thousand years ago are very similar to the issues that you and I deal with
in the church in America. Let me give you a couple examples. One of the things that Paul is gonna deal with is is that the the Jesus followers in Corinth, they were fighting amongst their cell amongst themselves over who their favorite preacher was.
You know, someone would go, my but Paulus, now Paulus can bring it, man. Now he drops the hammer when he starts preaching. No. No. No. Paul's my favorite. And they were fighting over who their their favorite preacher is. Aren't you glad we've matured in two thousand years and we don't do that anymore?
They were they they were dragging each other into court and suing each other. Christians suing Christians, and Paul is writing to them saying, you know what this you know what this does to the name of Jesus? We don't deal with that, do we? The the sexual immorality that was going on in this church.
One guy's sleeping with his stepmom, and some of the people in the church are are like, you go, man. Paul is writing them and going, what? And so this church was a mess. This gathering of people who have been called out and not even the gates of hell can overcome it. They were a mess.
And so Paul was writing to them and he's primarily dealing with their disunity and fighting. And then he gets to chapter 12 and he starts to talk about these spiritual gifts. And remember, he's talking to a group that's fighting and there's disunity and they don't get it.
And this so this this idea about spiritual gifts should should start to bring them together. It should start to connect them to this truth that Jesus spoke two thousand years ago that they and us all these years later are a gathering of people who've been called out and not even the gates of hell can overcome it. Why? Well, part of it is because these gifts
that the power of spirit brings us. So first Corinthians 12 verse one, this is how Paul starts the chapter. Now about the gifts of the spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. Here's what he's saying. I don't want you to be ignorant.
You need to know that you have the spirit of God as Jesus followers, and the spirit of God has brought gifts, and these gifts are supposed to bring you together in unity. They're supposed to bring power to you so that we can live out this promise that we are a gathering of people called out,
that not even the gates of hell can overcome. So that's why Paul writes this, skip down to verse four, one Corinthians twelve:four. Paul says, there are circle this word in your Bible. There are different
you're gonna see him use this word a bunch. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same circle that word. The same spirit is the source of them all. Now I'm gonna come back to that, so hang on to that principle. But do you see he's saying there's different gifts, but one spirit.
Okay. Skip down to or I mean, jump down to the next verse, verse five. There are there's that word again, different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. You see it? He's saying there's one spirit, there's one God, there's one Lord, but how many different gifts?
There's many. There's different ones, but one God. Okay. Verse seven. Okay. If I was in the room, if you were in the room with me, we were out in the auditorium, and I said this next verse, I would tell you when I finished reading this verse, I want all of you to go, oh. Because watch what he says next.
Verse seven, a spiritual gift is given to each of us so that we can help each other. Now hang on to that principle. I'm gonna come back to that in a little bit. I hope you just sat up on your couch a little bit. If you're catching what he just said, we should be going, woah. Oh. The God who we can't contain,
who we can't understand, who indwells us as his Jesus followers, he's saying, I have brought to every single one of you that would claim to be my followers, I've given each of you a gift.
Well, in the next few verses, he's actually gonna unpack what those different gifts look like. I'm gonna skip over that. I want you to jump down to verse 11. Watch this, here he goes again. Watch these words. It is the one and only spirit who distributes all these gifts, plural. He alone decides,
he decides, another principle I'm gonna come back to in a moment, he decides which gift each person should have. Now years ago when I taught speech class, I was a teacher and a coach for ten years, and I and I taught a speech class, and I would tell the students, if you want to get your point across, one of the ways you do that as a speaker is you repeat, you repeat,
you repeat, you repeat. You say the same thing again and again and again, or you have one point and you just keep coming back to it, that after talking for thirty minutes, everybody may leave, they get in their cars, they're driving away, and they don't remember most of what you said, but they cannot help forget
what you repeated over and over and over again. And that's exactly what Paul is doing in this chapter. He has said it in so many different ways already. There are different gifts, multiple gifts, but it comes from one God.
And then what Paul does in the next few verses is he actually uses this illustration or example of the human body. And so it's a beautiful illustration, because again, tie it to the church. If you and I grasp the enormity of what you and I are part of,
that two thousand years ago, Jesus said, on this rock, I will build my gathering of people who have been called out, and that gathering of people are black and white and every shade in between. That gathering of people is men and women. That gathering of people is young and old. Gathering of people is rich and poor,
that gathering of people for two thousand years that not even the gates of hell can overcome. It's this mixed group. And then within that group, God is giving each of them gifts, different gifts, so that like a human body,
they are dependent on each other. It's a beautiful illustration. We're gonna look at it because Paul keeps talking about it, but Paul is connecting this idea of different gifts to the different parts of the human body. Jump down to verse 13 and look what he says. But we, he's talking to Jesus followers, you and me today, but we have all been baptized into how many bodies?
One body by how many spirits? One spirit, and we all share the same spirit. And again, now Paul is gonna jump right after that verse. He's gonna go back to this idea of the human body.
And he's going to say how silly it would be if there were parts of the human body that said I don't really need
you to another part of the human body. I mean, what if your hand, for example, said, you know what? There's five digits, we don't need the thumb. I mean, seriously, like what's, it's an extra digit. We still got four, we don't need you thumb. And actually, you probably didn't even wake up this morning and your first thought was, God, thank you for my thumbs,
But go without a thumb for a while.
In fact, for me, this thumb actually doesn't work very well anymore. Doesn't bend. About fifteen years ago, I damaged it in a basketball game and I thought I just jammed it. And after the game, I thought maybe it was dislocated because I couldn't bend it. So I asked a buddy of mine, said, Hey, can you just pull on my thumb a little bit? And he pulled on it, I almost passed out. I actually found out it was broken and the ligament was torn, and so I had to get all this surgery on it, but now this is it. It doesn't bend, it doesn't open all the way, I can't grip things very well, And my wife always makes fun of me because this is my thumbs up like that. I mean, it just looks dorky, doesn't it? I mean, I can move it there. That's what a thumbs up should look like. But whenever I do a thumbs up, naturally my thumb does this. So my wife always comes up to me now and she's like, hey Pat, and she does this, making fun of my thumbs that are this thumb that doesn't work anymore. And what Paul is saying in this passage is he's using an illustration like this saying, you know how silly it would be if the hand said to the thumb, we really don't need you, we got four other fingers.
Just like this gathering of people who've been called out. God has gifted different ones with different gifts,
and we need all of those gifts. How silly it would be if we looked at someone with one of those gifts and said, We don't really need your gift. And in fact, if you took that gift away from the church, away from this gathering of people who've been called out, you would find out how much you need it.
Jump down to verse 18. Paul continues with this thought. He says, But our bodies, remember he's using the illustration of the human body, But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it. Another principle I'm gonna come back to in a moment.
And God has put each part just where he wants it. Why is it important to get this? Why is it that Paul keeps coming back to this same idea? Because two thousand years ago, he was writing a church that just couldn't seem to get the importance of unity and the importance
that we're not just consumers as parts of this gathering of people who have been called out, that were fighting amongst themselves and talking about which gift was greater. In fact, if you read the next verses right after verse 18, Paul returns again to this illustration of the body.
And he's basically saying, you know how silly it would be if the body was just one big eye? I mean, we've actually seen that, right? If you saw the Pixar film Monsters Inc, remember one of the main characters, it was just a big eyeball, had some little arms that came off of it and some little feet.
What did we call that movie? What was the name of the movie? Monsters Inc. Because if there was a person that was one massive eyeball with some little arms and little feet, it's a monster. It's not normal. And Paul is actually saying the same thing here is he's saying, listen,
you talking to Corinthians, you're arguing about which gifts are more important. Some of you are saying, well, eye is more important than you name the other one. And Paul is saying, you you don't do that with the human body, but we kind of do.
You see, I hear people all the time talk about how beautiful someone someone's eyes are. You hear it. Oh, their their eyes are like the color of the ocean,
or their eyes, there's such a this deep penetrating look from their eyes, and it looks like they can look into my very soul. We talk about people's eyes all the time. We talk about how someone has beautiful eyes. I've never actually heard anybody talk about how beautiful someone's intestines are,
or how beautiful her colon is. So we may go, well, eyes are more important. Well, you may say that until your intestines and colon don't work properly.
And actually, I have a few illustrations that I could use of when my intestines and colon didn't work properly. They're really embarrassing illustrations, and I'm not gonna tell you right now because you'll never invite me to speak again. But you know that to be true.
We look at someone's eyes and we talk about how beautiful they are, but we never talk about someone's intestines or colon. But you take the intestines or colon in a human body and have them not function properly, and you'll understand how important they are.
And Paul is saying some of these gifts that I've given the church, this gathering of people who've been called out that not even the gates of hell can overcome, some of these gifts, people see, they talk about.
Everybody talks about what a great gift, and there's these others that are behind the scenes that no one really talks about. They're the intestines, they're the colon of the human body. But oh, oh, are they important.
Paul lands the plane in verse 27, jumped down there. First Corinthians 12 verse 27, he says, all of you together are Christ's body, and each of you is a part of it.
All of you together are Christ's body and each of you is a part of it. See, what Paul is basically saying is he's going, you all have different gifts for this
body, this gathering of people who've been called out. So let me just give you those four principles. I kept mentioning it while we were going through it. I kept saying, I'm gonna come back to that, I'm gonna come back to that, I'm gonna come back to that. Here we're coming back. Four principles that Paul speaks about to spiritual gifts. And remember, a spiritual gift, spiritual gifts are God given abilities
gifted to us, not for us. So four principles. Principle number one, God decides. See, everyone has one. We're told that very clearly. Everyone has one. First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 11 says that each of you was given one. You ever gone to a birthday celebration or a Christmas celebration
where a child started acting like a spoiled brat. I mean, it it can happen to any child. That's why they have parents. But one of those where maybe the grandparents got the kid a gift, and the kid takes it and he starts opening it and he's so excited and he rips it, and when he gets it open, he's like, not
really what I wanted.
My dad was a strict disciplinarian. Trust me, my brother and sister and I only did that once. We call that child a spoiled brat that would act like that. We correct a child that would act like that. But it's similar when you and I look at someone with a different gift
and say to God, I don't want the one you gave me. I want that one. God decides. You have a gift. I have a gift. We probably have different gifts.
God decides. Principle number two about spiritual gifts. Gifts are given to be given. Gifts are given to be given. Verse seven speaks about that. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. Your gift is not about you, it's about me. My gift is not about me, it's about you.
Gifts were given to help the corporate body of Christ. Two thousand years ago, Jesus said, And on this rock, I will build my gathering of people that not even the gates of hell can overcome. And the spirit of God comes into every single one of us that are part of that movement. And he gives us a gift, not for us,
but to be used for this movement, for this gathering.
Think think about it if someone came to me and gave me a Benjamin, a $100 bill, and said, hey, Pat. I'm giving you this, and I want you to go bless someone else with it.
They did not give that $100 bill to me to spend on myself. Right? They said it very clearly. I'm gifting you with this $100. I want you to go bless someone else. So imagine if a week later, they found out that actually I took that $100 bill dollar bill, and I went to my favorite steak
place all by myself, no one else with me, and I bought the best sirloin that you could possibly buy. They would be a little disappointed, right? Because they told me very clearly, I'm giving you this $100 not for you, but so that you can go bless others. It's the same thing that God tells you and me with this gift,
the spiritual gift that his spirit has given us. He's saying, I'm not giving this for you, I'm giving it for this gathering of people who have been called out that not even the gates of hell can overcome. The gift I'm giving you is to serve them. Principle number three is we need each other. We need each other.
Do you realize it's not an accident that God didn't give any of us all the gifts? It's not an accident. He gave you some. He gave me some, but he didn't give any of us all of them. Why? Because we need each other. This gathering of people that have been called out that not even the gates of hell can overcome
to have these different gifts and we are interdependent. The finger needs the hand. The hand needs the finger. Principle number four, this is a divine design with a purpose. These spiritual gifts are a divine
design with a purpose. I like to say it this way, you have a spiritual gift fingerprint, or you are a spiritual gift fingerprint. What I mean by that is you are unique. Let's say you have the spiritual gift of service, but you have the spiritual gift of service fingerprint.
The way you will live that out is different than anybody else with the spiritual gift of service. Why? Because you have a different personality, because you have a different story, because your past is different, because you you look through a different lens.
There's a spiritual gift fingerprint. But here's what I don't want us to miss is that, again, it was a divine design. God decided
which gift you would get and which gift I would get. It wasn't like God took a a deck of cards, and these are all spiritual gifts, and he came up to you and me, and he said, go ahead and pick. Pick any spiritual gift you want, and you chose and you chose this spiritual gift, and then and then God was like, oh, that's not really one I wanted, but okay. No. That's silly.
Again, think about this. This should this should just put you in awe of God. God knew
exactly where you would be in history. God knew exactly what community you would live in. God knew exactly what family you would be in. God knew exactly what local church, what local gathering of people who have been called out that not even the gates of hell can overcome. God knew all of that. And so when he, by his power, by this power of the spirit of God, when he indwelt you at the moment you became a believer and he gave you that spiritual gift, He gave you the specific spiritual gift
that that body, that local body of believers, that local church that you would attend needed. He gave you the gift that he knew your family would need. He gave you the spiritual gift that he knew your workplace would need. It was no accident what you got. It was no accident what I got. Here's my challenge for you.
You're probably wondering why I haven't given the list of spiritual gifts. First Corinthians 12 gives some, Ephesians four gives some, Romans 12 gives some, but not really my point today to give you the list. What I want you to do is, is I want you to go discover what your gift is. If right now you can't, you've never in your life actually wrestled with this and you can't sit down right now and go, well, the gift that God gave me to serve others is,
you can't fill in that blank, I wanna challenge you to go find out what this gift is. In fact, on the screen right now, you're gonna see a link
that you can go and you can take a free spiritual assessment. It will have the list of all the different spiritual gifts that the Bible talks about and it'll be a questionnaire and it'll help you discover what your spiritual gift is. You need to know because we need you. We need you.
And so I challenge you, would you take this this assessment and discover what gift did God give you? Two thousand years ago, Jesus stood in Caesarea Philippi and he said, on this rock, I will build my gathering of people and not even the gates of hell will overcome it.
And then he gave us this promised spirit, the holy spirit that indwells us, and that spirit gave each of us a gift. In two thousand years of history, we see how true Jesus' words were. Not even the gates of hell could overcome it. Governments have tried to destroy the gathering of people.
Dictators have tried to destroy this gathering of people who have been called out to church.
Two thousand years, no one's been able to do it. And in two thousand years, this gathering of people who have been called out moved from Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and up to the Roman Empire and across the oceans, and now they're in every part of the world. And today, this gathering of people have been called out,
are bringing peace and love and hope and joy to our communities and to our world. We're feeding hungry people. We're we're battling injustices. We're expanding the kingdom of God. And this gathering of people who've been called out, we gather together
to grow and worship, and we scatter into every sector of society every week. But you, you are such an important piece to this, that he gave you a gift that he knew this local church called Rock Point needed. Don't waste that gift. Oh God, that we would get this that we would get this enormous truth,
that we would get this enormous truth that the spirit, your spirit that can't be contained to this universe that it indwells me now as your child, as your son or daughter, but not only did you did you come into me and live within me as as your temple, but you gave me this gift. God,
help us over the next couple of days and weeks, all of us that are gonna wrestle with what what is this gift that you gave us? God, would you help us understand it? And most importantly, God, would you lead us to use this gift in a powerful way so that we can see right here in our own community
how true those words were two thousand years ago when you said on this rock, I will build my gathering of people and not even the gates of hell will overcome it. We love you, Jesus.