Spiritual Gifts — Brandon Doll

The Call to Discover and Exercise Spiritual Gifts

We're going to go to the book of Romans this afternoon. Romans, and we're going to go to chapter 12. And as you're going there, I'll just thank the Saints at Garneville here for hosting this conference and all the hard work and labor that goes into such a weekend as this, the time, the expense, the spiritual exercise.

It's been a privilege to be here in labor with my brother Brody and my brother Stephen. We're going to look this afternoon on the same topic of spiritual things. We're going to look today at spiritual gifts.

Spiritual gifts. We looked at spiritual preparation and spiritual discernment and spiritual work. And our brother Stephen touched on spiritual growth yesterday. We're going to look here at spiritual gift.

And I guess the burden of this afternoon is this is primarily for the young people who are saved, who are indwelt with the Spirit of God, who have a gift, who may not know what it might be. And some older ones might say, well, I already know what that is, and I already know what mine is, and that's wonderful.

But the question is, are you using it today? Is it stirred up? Is it active in you today? So we're going to look with spiritual gift. Romans chapter 12 will begin here at verse number one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, and not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one member is one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophesy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation.

He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave to that which is good.

Be kindly affectioned one toward another with brotherly love and honor, preferring one another. Now to the book of 1 Corinthians, please. We'll stop at chapter 4. 1 Corinthians in chapter 4. And we'll read together at verse number 6.

And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself into Apollos for your sakes, that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hast not received it? Now chapter 12, please. Chapter 12, verse number 1.

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that ye were Gentiles, carried away into these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaketh by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administration, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is in the same God, which worketh all in all.

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another discerning of spirits, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another interpretation of tongues.

But all these worketh that one and the self, same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one and hath many members, and all members of that one body being many, are one body also in Christ.

Drop down to verse number 28. Verse 27, now ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondary prophets, thirdly teachers. After that miracles and gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Are all apostles, are all prophets, are all teachers, are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts. And yet show I unto you a more excellent way.

Lord, bless to us the reading of his precious word. When it comes to spiritual gifts, they are oftentimes confusing for those of us when we're first saved. I would say probably almost all the time it is confusing to us when we're newly saved.

Do I have a specific thing that the Lord wants me to do? Do I have a special gift that God has given me? The short answer to that is yes. If you are saved today, when you received the Spirit of God at salvation, you received a spiritual gift, without exception, male and female here.

Each and every one that is saved by God's grace has a spiritual gift. Some may have more than one. There are many, many Christians that have more than one gift. And so it is important to us as we consider the future of assembly testimony, when we consider the future of the witness of men for the Lord Jesus Christ, that we be exercised, that we be interested in what God has me to do as one of his children.

And what that will be will be according to your spiritual gift. We read in Romans, and we read also in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, in both passages we read there about being puffed up. And before we even consider what these gifts might be or what you might have, we have to understand that the idea of being puffed up to being prideful of what I am in Christ, what my job is to do for the Lord, is absolutely wrong.

Be not puffed up. Pride is a sin that crushes most of us. At least it will sometime in our lifetime, when something happens and we think that we are better than another brother, than another Christian.

And pride is a terrible thing. It is love that seems to grow within us. And you'll find yourself having a high thought, or maybe a high look, and you'll look down at that Christian and you'll say, now there's a man who might have the gift of helps, because he certainly doesn't have the gift of public speaking.

Pride is an awful thing in the house of God. Pride is an awful thing in the heart of the believer. And I just want to say this. If you think in your mind just right now that there is a gift that you are above, that that is for someone else that may not be as knowledgeable as you, that may not have the understanding as you, and you look down at that gift, you're starting off on the wrong foot.

You're starting off on the wrong foot. We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, for this only reason, that we might not be puffed up, and that we might be reminded that what we have, we have been given by God, despite our failures.

Spiritual Pride and the Discouragement of Young Workers

Yesterday, I mentioned spiritual pride. And I mentioned sometimes when young people are discovering their gift and they're starting to work for the Lord, and sometimes older men might feel threatened by them or might feel envious of them.

I didn't give you two examples, but I want to give you two, or one example. I was with a young brother on the mission field. He was 18 years old. Had a tremendous understanding of the scriptures for his age.

And I'm not going to tell you where it is or who it is. That young brother today is now an overseer in an assembly, and he contributes to truth and tidings. And what the missionary that we were with felt threatened by him, and he said, it's a good thing that the Lord loves you calling him by name because we don't.

And that dear brother, in his youth, I was impressed. He said, that's all right, calling the missionary by name. I'm sure you're helping me earn some sort of reward in heaven. Maybe you've counted recently, but in the United States of America with 350 million, do you know how many men are commended from gospel hall assemblies under the age of 70?

I know there's men that are commended to mission field that are under the age of 70. But in this mission field of the United States of America, it'll be likely under a dozen. Under the age of 70. Now, we value and we love our older brethren.

This isn't to slight them at all. But the reality is this. There are young people here likely with a spiritual gift. And you have not yet begun to exercise it. Maybe you're not exercising your own soul, wondering what it is that you're to do for the Lord.

But there is a reason that the Lord said, pray the Lord of the harvest to send labors into the harvest. What is your gift? And if you say, I don't know, that's an OK answer. But it's not OK to leave it there.

God’s Gift Is Not Limited by Early Failure

And I'll give you another story. This is about a young man. This is about me. When I was 19 years old, I was saved when I was 17. And the reason I'm telling you this is because this is what happens. And two brethren, and they're both alive today, and I'm not going to say their names.

They're having meetings in our area. And one of them had to go home. And I was asked to fill in and preach the gospel for one night in the series. And it was awful. And I knew it was awful. And the brother that I was helping, he'd come up to me and he said, do you like to encourage the Lord's people?

I said, I do. He said, well, stick with that because the gospel is not your thing. That's what he said. Now, it didn't hurt because it was obvious that it was awful. But what it did to me was this. All right, I don't have to worry about public speaking.

And I'm never even going to consider it again because I know I was awful. It's been confirmed by a preacher that I was awful. And I am done. I am done. But God wasn't done. And so maybe there's one here and you've been discouraged.

And as far as you're concerned, you're done. But God might not be done with you. I'll just give you the rest of the story. My wife says I take too long telling the story, so I'll just shorten it up. Would have been six years later, a brother asked me to find a place to pitch a tent.

And I said, no, I have no exercise to preach the gospel publicly. And he wouldn't take no for an answer. He said, I'm coming to Wisconsin in the month of June and you're going to find a place to pitch the tent.

And I'm going to come and I'll help you for three weeks. And basically, he said, that's the way it's going to be. And I kept saying, no, I don't want to. I have no exercise. And so I started to pray about it in a city in northern Wisconsin where I was working.

It was on my heart. And so I went to the mayor's office to find out what I had to do to have a tent in this town. And he told me what I had to do. Well, I fulfilled all that. But then I had to find a place.

And I went east and west in every street of that city of 50 ,000, then north and south, and every door shut. And finally, I found a place on the outskirts of town. And I called a man and he asked what we wanted it for.

I said, to have gospel tent meetings. He said, what are you going to do when people come to your meetings to get saved? And I said, are you a believer? He said, I am. He said, you can use the lot. And I said, well, sir, if the Lord works and souls are saved, we might have to buy the lot and build a building and see a church planted.

But I went to zoning. The man said, no. Can't put it there. And I said, sir, why? I respect your authority, but why? And he said, because I don't want you to have it there. And that was the end of story.

And the next week, I went back and I was at that lot and I was praying about it. Now, keep in mind, just a little farm boy from Wisconsin who doesn't want to be there in the first place. And I'm praying to the Lord.

And my heart was this, Lord, if I misunderstood that this is the place, it's my fault. But if you want the gospel to come to Wausau, you're going to have to do it. And it come to my mind that the only holdup was that man in zoning.

And I didn't want to call that man. That was back in the bag phone, cell phone days. And I called him. And you know what he was saying? Do you appreciate what he said? He said, yeah, I remember you. And you're not going to believe this, but in the last five minutes, I've been thinking about you.

And there's no reason I can stop you from putting the tent there. Go ahead. And so as I was praying to the Lord, the Lord was speaking to him. And I got off that phone and I cried like a baby, because God showed me this.

It's not about me. It's about God. And it's about God's work. The rest of the story is this. In three weeks' time, we knew no one in that city. In three weeks' time, 171 people were in that tent. That just doesn't happen.

There was a young woman saved in that series. I had no desire to be there. But I can tell you right now, it was the best thing for me. What's your gift? Do you have a desire to do something for God? We didn't read it, but in Philippians 2, we read yesterday, it is God that worketh both to will and to do his good pleasure.

What is it that's on your heart to do for the Lord? It is God. Now, just remember what I said, though. If you think God has got you to do some great thing and you're despising a little thing, you're on the wrong track.

And you obey God in the very smallest thing that you know, and you start there. And you start with sweeping the floor. And you start with taking out the garbage. And you start with handing out the hymn books.

Whatever it is that you can do and it's before you, you do it. And you do it with all your heart. And you don't worry about the big things that are in your mind, the big things. Or in your mind, they're the goal.

And you do what's before you with all your heart. And God will show you. He will show others before he shows you what your gift is. What is your spiritual gift? And for you older ones now, maybe you've never taken it seriously.

You've been in assembly fellowship for 40 years. You still have a gift. God hasn't rescinded that gift. And maybe you've never been exercised about it. But it is still there. And we're going to read in Timothy about stirring up those gifts.

And so not to be puffed up, but just to work. You want to know what your gift is? I'm going to talk like a farmer. Get to work. Get to work. Don't give up. Keep going. Do something, whatever is before you, for the Lord.

Presenting the Body as a Living Sacrifice

And so we come then to Romans in chapter 12, where we started. And it seemed as though years ago, these verses were preached on maybe more than they are nowadays, where we read that it is our reasonable service to present our bodies a living sacrifice.

Now, when I was first saved, I wondered, why, Lord, does it have to be living? Why can't it just be once and done? It would sure be simpler if it was just a sacrifice and it was over. But a living sacrifice, over and over and over.

And day in and day out. That is our reasonable service. And not to be conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind. And to be entirely focused upon the work and the service for the Lord.

Now, no one is perfect. And there's not one of us that every day we have to reset our mind. Every one of us has to do that. Every one of us has to renew our mind every single day. Because every single day, this world is trying to conform our thinking, conform us into its ways, and into its image, and into its likeness.

And we are to have our mind renewed day by day. That phone that you carry with you is a tool. You will either use it for good or you'll use it for evil. But I can tell you this, the wicked one wants to use it for evil.

I spend too much time on my phone. It is a waste of time. It is corrupting to the mind. Even the news that you look at, that we're so curious, what crazy thing is going to happen next in this world? We don't look at the news for good news.

We look at the news because how much more insanity is there today than there was yesterday? But we need to transform our minds. And now listen, if you spent as much time on your phone in the Word of God, how much time would you spend in your Bible?

The time I spend on my phone, the time I spend in my Bible is disproportionate in the wrong way. The wrong way. And so we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice and not to be conformed to this world.

Spiritual Gifts Are Given for God’s Glory

And we have to now think about our gifts. So yes, you have a gift. Yes, it is unique to you. Yes, it is not a natural ability that you might have. Some of you have tremendous natural abilities. In physical things, maybe even in intellectual things.

That doesn't necessarily mean that that's your gift. Your gift is a spiritual gift. And God will take the weak and the beggarly elements of this world, and I'm thankful for that verse. And He will use even what we would consider, that you might consider yourself, the weakest Christian.

God will enable you to do what He wants you to do. He has given you a gift. That should be thrilling to us. That God wants to use little old me for His glory. That God who has spent a great price and has redeemed us and bought us, and our spirit and our bodies are His, and that's not the end, but He wants to use us for His glory.

And not for our glory. That's the puffed up again. That's the puffed up. But for His glory. And so as we go down some of these gifts, we're going to see that some of these gifts have ceased. They are temporary gifts.

They are the signed gifts. And you come to Acts chapter 2 at the day of Pentecost, and that is where the Jews received the Spirit of God, those that were saved. And the church was formed that day. And immediately they had gift, didn't they?

They spoke with tongues. And we wonder now, are tongues alive today? And the Bible says to forbid not to speak with tongues. But if they're going to speak with tongues, they need to do it God's way. Tongues are a real language.

A real language. It isn't a gibberish. And they were a real language. And there was the gift of interpreting of tongues. And the tongues were given for the edifying of the church. And the tongues were given to prove that the Spirit of God was among them.

And now that we have the written Word of God and its completion, we do not need the signed gifts anymore. We do not need them anymore. They have ceased. There are the gifts of healings, the miracles that were done to prove that the message was real.

And so there are these different signed gifts that are no longer. So if you think you have the gift of tongues, you probably don't, because they've ceased. They've ceased. There's one man that I thought might have the gift of tongues, and that's our brother Isaiah Frazier, because he picked up Spanish so fast.

It was amazing. But he doesn't have the gift of tongues. Tongues are a real language. And if tongues are spoken, there needs to be an interpreter for the edifying of the church. And so if you come to Ephesians, and I don't want to labor this, but I want to mention it so that some aren't confused.

They're the men that are the actual men are the gifts to the church. And we're not talking about that just now. We're talking about the gifts that you might have. We start with helps. Helps, not because it is on the bottom of the list, because it is of great need.

Helps means to bring relief, to bring relief. Is there anything that you can see in your little realm that someone might need some relief? And you go there to help in that, whatever it might be. Certainly, we can see something, can't we?

But there are people, and you know who they are. They always seem to be there at the time of need. Think in your own assembly. Someone where there's a difficulty over here, whether it's physical, spiritual, whatever it might be.

They're always there, but they're behind the scenes. And they're there to help, and they're there to bring relief. That's a spiritual gift, because there are people that see their need for relief, and they don't go.

But there are those, and they're always going, and they're always working. And they are tremendous assets to the assembly, are they not? Maybe there's a young baby in a family. Maybe there's a mother, and she's laid up, and there's food that needs to be brought.

Maybe there's an older person, and they can't get out to mow the lawn. Maybe there's groceries to be gotten. Has it ever been in your heart just to bring someone a little relief? You know how it is when you're stressed, and you need some relief?

What's the first thing that goes? Time in the scriptures, isn't it? And you might think it'd just be a small thing to bring a little relief to that brother or to that sister, just to be a little help.

But what a spiritual blessing it is that they might have a little time, a few moments, to get alone with God, because the overwhelming circumstances of the day, the gift of helps, the discerning spirits.

Discerning Spirits

I'm kind of going backwards here on this list. I kind of tried to combine all the passages and get the list. John tells us to try the spirits, whether they be of God. Now, this is an interesting gift, to try the spirits, a discerning spirit.

What is a spirit of truth, and what is a spirit of Antichrist? And maybe you've noticed men and women, and things are taking place, maybe in the assembly, maybe in the world, and they can pick up right away.

This isn't right. There's something insidious here. There's some undertow here. There's some undercurrent here. There's something developing here. And it's just not right. And they have a gift to discern the spirits.

And everything that takes place is either evil, or it is basically evil or good, just to keep it simple. It is either Christ-honoring, or it is against the Lord. There's really no neutral ground in it, is there?

And there are Christians that have that gift. And maybe they come up to you in your life, and they say, listen, there's something dark about this. I don't know what it is. But there's something that's just not right, and what's going on here, and maybe in your life, and something specific.

What are they doing? They would have the gift of deciphering the darkness behind the teaching, the darkness behind the experience, whatever it might be. There are men with a gift for that, and likely sisters, too.

Remember, these gifts are given. They're not necessarily only restricted to men. I have a dear Christian friend from far away. And from time to time, she emails me. It just started more recently. And I can pick her brain about anything.

And she will teach me. She loves her Bible, but she would never find herself on a public platform. And some of you sisters here, I know you. You would just like to get a hold of some of these young preachers and teach us a thing or three.

And don't be afraid to take us aside, and correct us, and help us. And a dear sister back home, she's in heaven now. She come up to me when I was just a young man, and she said, you did a pretty good job, but you did one thing wrong.

I said, please tell me what was it? She said, you ended a sentence with a preposition. I said, Naomi, I don't even know what a preposition is. That's not what I'm talking about. Not what I'm talking about.

Sometimes when we're trying to share the Word of God, and we're taking an application, and maybe we misunderstand the interpretation, come and help us. Come and help us. So on. Don't help me on grammar, you'll get an endless job.

The Gift of Faith

But you see what I'm saying. There are the discerning spirits. There are those with the gift of faith. The gift of faith. How can a person have more faith than another person? We're saved by faith. Oh, there are absolutely differences, and there's gift of faith.

You've heard of George Mueller. George Mueller had a gift of faith. An exceeding strong faith. An exceptional strong faith. An unshakable strong faith. An unshakable confidence in his God. We're not all like that, are we?

If we're honest. Some of us, our faith is wavering, even though it's likely wavering because we don't understand the object that it's in. And we're looking at our own believing as something with strength, and that has nothing to do with it.

The strength is the object that it is in. And there are Christians today, and there are some here, and you have the gift of faith. And you have no trouble at all laying your head on your pillow, understanding that tomorrow the Lord will provide.

Just like George Mueller and those hundreds of orphans that he fed. And he fed them by faith. And the works of the missionaries in the foreign lands, where no one would even know that they're there. And they're out of sight, and they're out of mind.

And God takes care of them. And they're not checking truth and tidings to see if some donation came in, some gift came in. They're out there alone. And they're with God, and they have the gift of faith.

If you know those dear Christians, hang around those Christians. They're a treasure to the church. Because there's not one of us here that doesn't get thrilled when we hear the stories of how God met the need of one of our brothers and sisters, whether it's 100 years ago, or 300 years ago, or yesterday.

Wisdom, Mercy, Leadership, and Giving

The gift of faith, the gift of the word of wisdom, to skillfully apply the word of God to real life situations. Some of you have the gift of the word of wisdom. The scripture is in you. And when you see a life situation, a scripture comes to mind.

It applies to that immediately. It's also part of a spiritual maturity, in a sense. But there's those that have this extra gift. And that you can ask them a question about something in life, and they can take you to the word of God.

And it will meet your need. It'll be a perfect application to your situation. Not everybody has the ability to do that. But there are those. And again, it could be a sister. So it is a word of wisdom, mercy, sympathetic.

Empathetic, merciful, pitiful. A gift to be merciful. Some of us are pretty crusty. We have, some would say, no feelings. I grew up on the farm with one brother. And I guess, just to be honest, the Lord gave me two daughters first so that I would know what feelings are.

It's good to have daughters, little girls. That's something that you say and don't mean to hurt their feelings or hurt their feelings. But there are some Christians. And they have the gift. Where some of us, I don't know what, I want to say hardened criminals.

We have no heart. We don't get it. We don't see it. But there are those in the church that see that. And you just know it when they come beside you and they put their hand on your shoulder and they don't say a word.

You know those Christians. And you know that they can sense what you're going through, even though you haven't said a word. Even though you've told no one. But the Lord has laid it on their heart. And they know, they can sense that there's something wrong with you.

There's something that is bothering you. And they come by and they lay their hand on your shoulder. And it's almost like you know that they know. And there's gifts of mercy. And there's a gift to lead.

And those that have a gift to lead, they're leading with the fruit of the Spirit. And those attributes that come with that, they're leading with the fruit of the Spirit. And they're guiding with wisdom.

And they're guiding with grace. And they're leading and they have that gift. And they're guiding. And they 're shepherding and they 're moving. And they have a gift to lead. And some have a gift of giving.

Of giving. They're given all the time. And you wonder, how do they have the resources to give all the time? And they're giving of their time and they're giving of their substance. And they're giving of their energy and they're giving of their life.

And they're giving and they're giving and they're giving. And we should all be that way, because that That is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was always giving. But there is a gift of giving. There's a gift of giving.

And some Christians have that, the gift of giving encouragement. Similar to mercy, they strengthen the weak in faith and they comfort those that are in trials. The gift of teaching to explain the scriptures, the doctrines, to explain them in their context.

To give the meaning, the interpretation of the text. Boy, do we need teachers. Those that can take the Word of God and just can lay it out for us. And it's like, why didn't I see it that way before? That's a teacher.

In its context. In its interpretation. To give it to us. One verse at a time oftentimes. One section at a time. And to feed our souls and to encourage us. The gift of teaching. The gift of service. The gift of service.

Christ’s Example and the Purpose of the Gifts

Kind of started here. Just to serve. When you consider the Lord Jesus and you take this list, I'll just give that to you for your homework. And you go through the Gospels and you apply this list to His life.

It's tremendous. Go through and find Him there. And the way that He handles the people. How He discerned the spirits of those that were trying to trap Him. How that in the help and the relief, He was there.

And the faith that it wasn't a gift for the Lord Jesus, it was part of Him. It was who He was. But you see, we've been given this gift to perfect the body of Christ. So that in His absence, the body of Christ, the church, as we move and as we function, as we give testimony in this world, that this world can see the person of Christ through us.

And there will be not, there'll never be one person with all these gifts, but you have a gift. And we're going to read, let's read quickly in Timothy. Timothy, 1 Timothy chapter four, verse number 12.

Stirring Up the Gift in Timothy

Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers. Did you get that young people? Let no man despise thy youth, but be an example, even as a young person, be an example of the believers.

In word, in conversation, in manner of life, in charity, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Verse 14, neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.

I know there was no power in the laying on of their hands. I would take it that they were recognizing that which was there, that the spirit of God had already given this person. But the idea, the point I'm trying to make is this, don't neglect it.

Your life is flying by, don't neglect it. Focus. We're going to read in the, in 2 Timothy, we'll add to not neglect, 2 Timothy chapter one, verse number six. Wherefore, I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee, by the putting on of my hands.

God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind. Stir it up, stir it up. Exercise it. Try something. If it's on your heart, try it. As God prompts you, do it. Do we exercise our gift oftentimes in fear and trembling?

We do. This conference for me is an example of that. But you have a gift is the point. You have the spirit of God within you. And with him comes a gift or more than one gift. And it is your responsibility to stir it up, as Paul would remind Timothy.

It is your responsibility and mine not to neglect it, that which is in us. You see, when God saved you, he didn't expect you, he didn't expect you, and I don't know what word to use. He didn't expect you to put the transmission in neutral and never move.

Exercising the Gift in Ordinary Service

He didn't expect you to come and to be a wheelbarrow Christian or a bushel basket Christian. A wheelbarrow Christian is one of those that you have to come and if you're gonna get in a move, you gotta move them.