Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Your Spiritual Gift

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My dear friend Kay sent me this great sermon and I wanted to share it with you...what have you been gifted with?

"I heard a sermon by Calvary Chapel Modesto Pastor, Damian Kyle. He gave a great illustrations I've more or less transcribed to pass on for you. I really like it. I hope you are blessed by it as well!

HOW TO DISCERN YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFT

As born again Christians, we all are given at least one spiritual gift. Do you know what yours is? Here is a remarkable little illustration that will help you in discerning your gifting.

You are invited into a friend’s home for diner. Afterwards you retire to the living room where you are asked if you want any coffee. You say yes. So in the kitchen, the wife pours the coffee into a nice cup with a saucer and gives it to the little 10 year old daughter who brings it out to the living room where you are seated on the sofa.

But the child trips on the place where the linoleum meets the carpet, falls down, spills all the coffee, the cup and saucer break. The scene is natural but also supernaturally natural as your response as a Christian will demonstrate what gifting is already within your heart.

If you are a person with the gift of prophecy, that is, one who speaks or declares the truth, you will jump up and say, “ Honey, you just fell and a person can get hurt falling, and here’s why you fell….” and start to go into all that sort of thing.

The person with the gift of ministry or helps jumps up and looks for a rag,immediately starts to clean up the mess (which would never dawn on the person with the gift of prophecy) but the one with the gift of helps would never consider that to be a scene to speak in; that’s a scene for action!

The one with the gift of teaching will rise up and say, “Listen, let’s go get another cup and saucer. Let me show you how to hold the cup when you’re going over dangerous territory here…”,

while the person with the gift of exhortation will say, “You can do better than that! Listen, don’t give up after one try! You never leave on a ‘miss’. Go get another cup - let’s do this again!”

The one with the gift of leading or administration will say, “Who the heck told her to carry that cup of coffee? Move that table out of the way, tear up that carpet and make it all smooth…” etc.

The one with the gift of giving will say, “How much did that cost?” (Some of you with the gift of giving are like that. Your first thought would not be to clean it up or speak at all. You’d think, That cost money. That needs to be replaced!”) You may think that’s not a spiritual gift but it is! It is the supernatural gift of giving.

Then the person with the gifting of mercy would say, “Oh honey --- I know how you feel! I’ve dropped many a cup in my life…”

It looks natural… but it’s supernaturally natural. It can reveal a gift that’s already in your life, and Jesus said (in the parable of the talents) to use that gift for His glory to bring forth the Gospel.

Keep yourself and that gift in circulation."
Reading over this, I realized I have the gifts of mercy...and helps....what has God given you?

Thanks, Kay....she has been my best friend since 6th grade..do you believe that?

previews of tomorrow....Two Pets of the Week!

3 comments:

  1. That was wonderful, Dani! Thanks for sharing that!

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  2. I love this~~i was able to list in order my gifts so i know where i'm not gifted as well as where i am gifted. I will remember this illustration. Thanks for passing this along!

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  3. What a great lesson, Dani! I really enjoyed that and am going to use that with my sons. Thanks for sharing!

    Smiles,
    Lea

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