Today, we’re going to continue our talk that we started last week called Accept or Decline. It was my intention last week was for this to be a one hit wonder. Just hit it one week and move on. I don’t know if you were here last week but if you weren’t, you missed it. You didn’t miss it because of me. You missed it because Jesus showed up and I’m expecting him to show up in great ways again today as well. So if you’ve got your sermon notes in your worship guide, you can pull those out. If you’re using the YouVersion Bible app, the notes are available on there for you as well. Here at The Road’s Church, we get excited about the Bible and God’s inspired word because we expect that every time we open it up that God wants to speak to us. So let’s get it open this morning. If you have those, open them up to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Accept or decline, are you ready this morning, Mt. Carmel Church?
All right, I’m going to start reading it. I will start reading in verse three. We’ll save time by skipping one and two. I think God whom I serve with a pure conscience, says my forefathers did as without ceasing. I remember you in my prayers night and day greatly desiring to see you being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy when I called remembrance, the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice, and I’m persuaded is in you also. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you. The laying on of my hands for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power and a glove and of sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord nor me, of his prisoner, but share with me and the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God who saved us and called us with a Holy calling.
Not according to our works, but according to his purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason, I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I’m not ashamed for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he can keep what I have committed to him. Until that day, let’s just pray. Father, I thank you for your goodness and I thank you that you are a good, good father.
Lord, we are here for you. We’re here for your presence. So Holy Spirit, I make room for you. I invite you, Jesus is lifted in this place. Come, Lord. Yeah, bring life to this word. I pray that you truly walk in, and through every row, every seat today, that they will experience your presence right now where they are. There’ll be something different in the overflow room right here in the auditorium. You just walk amongst us, Lord, speaking to our hearts. I pray that fear is abolished right now in the name of Jesus. I pray that all anxiety runs into your presence. God, we give you praise for healings today, for salvation today, for deliverance today that we desire you. So I just say, come to us Lord, you’re the one we’re here for. You’re the one that it’s about Jesus. More and more of you. Lord, we love you. We’re grateful for you. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray. Somebody say amen. Yeah.
Ooh, thank you, Lord. Thank you. Look, have you ever needed to be reminded about something? Why are we all laughing already in the message? That wasn’t even the funny part. Why? Why do we need to be reminded about things? The word ‘remind’ according to Webster means to put in mind, cause to remember, to remind, and put back in the mind again.
Let me see, have you ever had this happen? You’re thinking about something and then lose it. Like, it was there you lost it. Do you know that name that you’re trying to remember, Mt. Carmel Church? Like you run into them and you’re like, “Hey…” You know their name. I’m not talking about someone you just ran into and met. I’m talking about that person you know well. It’s one thing when you forget the persons you shook hands with for the first time this morning said “Hi, my name is Gary. “And they’re like, “Yeah, my name’s Joe. Nice to meet you.” And then, later on, you see him after church. You’re like, “Hey see you, buddy.” But I’m not, I’m not talking about that.
There’s Value in Reminders
I’m talking about the person you went to school with for 12 years. You run into them and you’re like, “Hey, how are you doing?” I may at times have walked away and somebody is with me like, “Who is that?” I’m like, “I have no idea.” Sometimes we need reminders. There’s a value in reminders. Has anybody ever needed to be reminded about a birthday or an anniversary? Husbands look straight ahead. I got a reminder. You know, technology is great. We get reminded if you if we forget things nowadays, it’s our fault. We have more apps, and more things to remind us. I have something that reminds me when to take out the trash. It pops up, “Hey, take out the trash.” “Hey, thank you.” You know, some things I we don’t need to be reminded about, though.
I got, this new watch for Christmas and I was shocked one day when it pops up I felt it start to vibrate and looked at it. Do you know what it said? “Breathe.” Then it just comes up random times. It’s like during worship a while ago I felt invited, right? I have to look down and it said, “Breathe.” I thought I was, I didn’t know why it stopped. Thank you, Apple. Where would I be if it wasn’t for my watch? I’m surprised. I’m still alive
So reminders can be good, but some reminders just don’t make sense. But, here’s what Paul’s doing in this scripture. He’s telling Timothy in verse 6, I want to remind you to stir up the gift of God. That word reminds, there is a Greek word that comes from two words. The first word means bring up or repetition and intensity. The second word means to recall to the mind. So if you put them together. When do we say this Greek word remind? Have you ever had somebody say, “Why do you just keep bringing that up? You just bring that up all the time.” It can be either a positive or a negative. We can bring things up and it can be good for us and we can bring things up to could be negative for us. There are some things we need to stop bringing up. There are some things you need to stop bringing up to yourself, Mt. Carmel Church.
Paul’s Reminders
- Stir up the Gift of God
Sometimes it’s not just us. Sometimes the enemy can bring something up. This bringing up, notice when I’ve said it means there are repetition and intensity. It’s like something can keep coming up. Repetition over and over and over and the intensity to remind. We can be reminded of who we’ve been. We can be reminded of our past. We can be reminded of failures. The enemy can bring them up over and over and over and over, or we can be reminded of the good things that God has done in our life. He says I remind you. So, there are three things that I want to get to this morning. Three things that he reminded him of that we found in these passages. Number 1 in verse 6, he reminds you to stir up the gift of God. We have a gift of God. It reminds you that you have a gift of God.
- You have a Calling by God
- You have a Purpose for God
I remind you this morning, you have a gift of God. Number two reminds you that you have a calling by God. Number three, you have a purpose for God. These are the three things. We’re going to touch on them again this week in more detail, and I believe the Holy Spirit has something at the end I want you to prepare yourself for. I want you to prepare yourself to say yes to Jesus today. I want you to get a yes on the tip of your tongue, and be ready to give it to God. You’re going to give it to him today. All right, a gift of God. Let’s look at the first one. You have something to offer. You have a gift. You have stirred up the gift of God. That word gift means a divine gratuity, spiritual endowment given graciously and generously by God.
The original word in this, in the Greek language, was called a gift of grace, and here’s what it means. Check this out. I thought this was interesting. It is the ability to leave people feeling whole and not full of holes after you speak with them. This Greek word was used this way, a gift of grace, so it’s the ability to make people feel whole and not full of holes. You know what that means to me in practical terms? You have a gift that fills a hole. You fill a hole with your words. You can fill a hole with your actions. You can fill a hole with your deeds that God has given you. It fills in the gap in somebody else’s life. You’re a hole filler so that when people get around you and men talk to you, you should fill holes in them with your gift, Mt. Carmel Church.
Our Gift is Multifaceted
You should fill in gaps in them. You should fill in vacancies in them by using the gift God has given you. You have a gift of God. Somebody say, “Amen” this morning. So here’s the second thing about this gift of God. It’s not just a talent or an ability, it’s multifaceted. A gift of God is multifaceted. In other words, it’s not just a talent. Here’s an important thing we have to understand about the gift that you have. I think this is important. The gift that we have is multifaceted. It’s not just about I have a gift of singing. No, that’s part of the gift of God. Or I have a gift of whatever you want to call it. I have a gift of giving. I have a gift of motivation. I have a gift of working with my hands. All of the things are a part of it, but your gift is multifaceted. Why say it’s multifaceted? Because here’s what happens. The gift that God’s given you, we only see it in part. As we’re faithful with the part that we know about, it brings exposure to the part we don’t know about. There is more to your gift than you know about. There’s more that you have to offer. You have something to offer the world and it’s more than you know. But the key is we have to be faithful in the part that we know before we’ll get to know the things that we don’t know.
Just letting it sink in because you know the look on your face. That tells me you don’t know. You don’t think you have that much. You don’t think you have that much gift. Here’s what I wrote down. If we are faithful in their parts we aware of, we’ll be made aware of the potential we didn’t know was possible. Matthew chapter 25 says it this way. Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Everybody wants to be a ruler over many things. We struggle to be faithful over a few things. If we’re going to be ruler over more, if we’re going to be ruler over more of the gifts that God has given you, then be faithful over the little parts that God has revealed to you. In other words, God can reveal a little part of your gift and you can think that’s no big deal and not be faithful to it.
Give it when you want to. Give it how you want to give it, and where you want to. You can not be faithful to it and sit and wonder why you’re not progressing. God’s wanting to show you much more that he has for you, but it’s going to require you to be faithful when no one’s watching, when there are no accolades, and when there’s no applause. When you’re doing something, when you’re praying, when you’re seeking God, when you’re doing this and no one knows what you’re going through. When you’re faithful in that, then God says, now I can trust you with the more. We’re wanting in our society and it’s, again, I’m not trying to be a hater, but sometimes in our society we just want to be famous and we don’t necessarily want to do anything.
Life is not always about what we want and do not have but what we have and Overlook
You can be famous in our society today and not accomplish anything. You just are famous because you post videos. I’m not hating on that. I’m just saying our desire has to become something and so this is what God’s growing into done. I’m getting ahead of myself. Just stay focused. Many times our problem in life is not about the things we want but do not have, but the things we have and we have overlooked. I said that too fast for some of you. H dropped this in my heart this week. He said many times in our life, our problem is not what we want and we do not have. Our problem is the things that we already have and we have overlooked. We’re looking faithful in small ruler, over many faithful and no one’s watching. God brings people that are watching.
Our Gifts are Internal and External
You know why? Because God’s always watching you. There are two parts to the gift. Two types of benefits to the gift that God has given you. I want to give you these two. Number one, it’s internal or personal. You have a personal benefit to your gift given to you. It’s an internal or personal benefit. Here’s what that means. It benefits and adds value to you. The gift that God’s given you, whether it’s intellectual, physical gift, financial gift, whatever the gift of God in you, it has been given it to you to benefit you. We love this type of benefit. Everybody wants this one. It’s going to promote. It’s going to bring attention. It’s going to bring an increase in the game. Yes. That’s the type of benefit, the gift that God has given you. He’s given it to you for interpreting. In other words, God’s given you a gift to help you in life and if you find it the best place you can live in life, it’s when you find a career using your gift.
We call it your green, but here’s the second internal benefit. Absolutely. We love that one. Number two, it’s an external benefit, so this benefit adds value to others. One adds value to my life. Number two, it adds values to others. Now this part, there’s a cost. There’s an expense, there’s a sacrifice, there’s a service, there’s paying a price. We got quiet in this church today. We have a gift and it’s going to benefit my life. It’s going to bring an increase in my life, but my gift is also for an external benefit that comes with a price and a cost, a sacrifice. I have to preach this a little bit more because we don’t have it yet. We want to use our gifts so everybody can see me, feel me, give me attention, and give me a promotion. This is what I’m good at. Somebody better recognize.
Yeah, that’s great. That’s a part of your gift. No doubt about it. God has no problem in promoting you and bringing increase into your life, but the second part to your gift is an external benefit and that external benefit is not increased to you. It’s decreased from you. Yeah. Part of my gift brings things to me. Part of my gift takes things away from me. Yes. I’m looking for somebody to connect with this morning. I know not everybody’s going to grasp it and it’s the first thing, but I’m telling you, your gift is going to cost you something. Yeah, Mt. Carmel Church.
Your gift, part of the benefit of your gifts gift is a sacrifice. We don’t want to see that part. We only want to see the increased park. We all just only want to see the blessing part, but when God says, “Hey, I need to use your gift.” You’re like, “Hey, I’ll ride. I’m ready to use it.” We’re thinking about our benefit, but God says, “Hey, I’m ready to use your gift.” It’s going to be a cost to sacrifice and a price you have to pay. Well, what am I getting out of it? You’re getting a benefit. It’s an external benefit, not internal. Here’s the tricky part. Are you ready for this internal benefit, external benefit? The one that we get fulfillment from is the external, right?
True Fulfillment Only Comes when you use your Gift to Bless others
We have to grasp this because of the gift that God’s given me, it does give internal benefit to me. There’s no doubt about it. He’s given it to me and for me to use it. Encourage me and blah, blah, blah, all that, but I don’t get fulfillment from the internal benefit. I get fulfillment from the external and the enemy wants to trick you and me into focusing on the internal. So we keep thinking our fulfillment is attached to the internal benefit. So we keep trying to increase into ourselves and serving ourselves and gain and promotion thinking that’s going to bring fulfillment. But true fulfillment only comes when you use your gift to bless others.
Your Bible says it’s better to give than to receive. So you feel like you’re not getting enough out of life. You feel like you’re not experiencing fulfillment. Look for more ways to give. Look at Romans chapter 12. Having then gifted differing according to the grace has given to us. Let us use them. We’ve got different grace. We are graced to do what we need to do. Every one of you has a different grace to do what God has called you to do. We have to use them. You weren’t paying attention. Pay attention. Now you are graced by God having then gifted differing according to the grace given to us. You have a different grace than I do. Do you know what that means? You have different divine enablement on your life to do things that other people cannot do. They have a different grace than you. Here let me help you. Let me teach it. You’re graced to endure things that other people can’t endure, Mt. Carmel Church.
Yup. This is why you have to be careful about who you talk to. Because when you talk to some people that aren’t graced to do what your grace to do. Yeah, if we’re not careful, we will let them talk us out. Yeah. We will let them talk us out of our assignment because they aren’t graced to do it. So they say things like you like, “Oh my Lord, I can’t imagine doing that. That’s awful. That’s terrible. Oh, that must be so hard for you. I don’t know how you do that. The hours at a time and come out. Oh man, there’s no way.” You’re like, “You know what? That’s right. It is hard. I don’t know how I do it. You know what? Nobody does appreciate me.” You know you’re graced to do some things. It’s the grace of God on you. So be careful about letting other people tell you where your boundaries should be. Don’t let other people put boundaries on our grace-giving. See God may call you out to give sacrificially in an area that other people won’t give and you’ll be like, “Well, is anybody else giving that much? I anybody else giving that way?” I don’t. He bailed, sacrificing that kind of time. Well, I don’t see anybody else doing it, so I’m not going to. Hey, you’re graced to do it.
Yes, they’re graced to do something. They may not be stepping into themselves, so you’ve have to be careful. Whatever you’re graced to do, don’t be afraid to do it all the time. Oh, Jesus. How much time do I have? Here’s another thing, there’s a reason God made this a series. Can’t throw your pulpit on the first day in the new auditorium, but I felt like some things. It’s your grace to do. Be careful that you don’t try and do something else for the sake of variety and get outside of your grace.
I hear this sometimes when people come to serve, they say, “Well, that’s kind of my natural thing. I do that all the time. I want to try and do something else on the weekend.” I understand that. I understand that. And I’m not throwing shade, I’m just saying be careful because what I’ve seen is people have, I’m going to use an example, it may not be you, but I’ve seen people have a gift for working with children because they do it a lot. I have tried to not do it. Oh, Jesus. Help me try to not do it for the kingdom. And so they try and get it in another area that they’re not graced to do for the sake of variety. And they get discouraged in that area because they’re not the graced to do it. So they end up unplugging and not serving at all when they’ll step into what their grace to do. Well, you mean I won’t do that seven days. If you’re a graced to do it, do it 24/7 365 it’s not about me setting boundaries. It’s about the gift of God in my life. This is just food for thought.
So we get to use our gifts. When we use our gifts, though, we’ve got the potential of being damaged. Did you ever have anything that you set aside and you don’t use it? Like it’s created for a purpose but you don’t use it? Like that good china. Now I have to be careful here too against um, nostalgia stuff, right? Tiptoe, right through here. Just tiptoe you’re next Mt. Carmel Church.
I’m not against, but there are certain things you know, like, like that toy that was created to be played with and we put it in a box and it’s never played with because if somebody plays with it it is ruined. I remember when I was a little kid, me and my brother would go to my cousin’s house and he had cars. He was an older cousin and he had cars that we could play with. We couldn’t play with the cars that were in a box. They were expensive cars and he wanted to keep them. He’s probably still got them 40 years later, and they’re probably still in the box. Here’s my question. My thought, I’m not against that and please take this right away. I’m just saying how many things that are created to be used. We don’t use for fear that something bad might happen. So, therefore, that object never fulfills its purpose. So we box up the plates and we give them to our children and they take them and they put them somewhere and then they box them up and giving them their kids and give them to their kids and give that and the plate never gets used.
You have to Sharpen your Gift
This is my Stihl MS291 and I made a promise that I wasn’t going to fire it up because I didn’t want, you know, oil to leak everywhere on the new carpet. I already got some grease on my hands and I didn’t want. I wanted to bring a log up here and literally I wanted to saw it in half. But we would have wood chips everywhere on the new carpet. It didn’t go over well, but this thing was created to be used. It was created to cut wood. But the problem is when I use it these little blades get dull. Therefore I have to take this sharpener and I have to sharpen every tooth. It’s tedious. It takes time. I just want to saw. That’s what I want to do. Give me something and cut it. Come on, I would just put it down there if I think I can cut through it. I’ll put cutthroat, but you have to add. When I first got to a chainsaw, I was cutting and all of a sudden on the side of the wood, I saw these black marks. I thought, well, why is the wood turning black? Whoa. Well as soon as I sawed smoke started coming up. I thought, “What’s going on Mt. Carmel Church?” I looked, and I forgot to put oil.
This is created for it to be used. It’s going to wear out, but that’s what it’s created to do. So if I didn’t like sharpening them, if I didn’t like taking care of it, I could say, you know what? I don’t want to go through all that, so I’m just going to put it up and I’m going to put it in the garage. I’ll never have to sharpen it again. You know what? I will never have to have to sharpen that bad boy ever again. It could just say they’re in the garage. I’ll never have to use this thing. Oh, what a glorious day, but it will also never be used for its purpose. I think that’s what happens in our life with the gifting that we have. We’re afraid that we’re going to have to sharpen it. It’s going to get worn out. It’s going to get used, so we don’t use what God has given us. It’s created to be used. It’s supposed to be used. You’re supposed to be used. You’re supposed to be worn out. I said, “Listen, I don’t want to go to heaven with a lot of energy.” Amen. You know, I was just talking to somebody about that. The third campus location and I’m believing in for 10 and they’re like, “What are you doing? How are you?” I said, “I want to go to heaven wore out. I don’t want to go to heaven sitting on my couch watching my favorite program.” When we use the gifts we make, we’ve got to go here real quickly. First Timothy chapter 4, oh Jesus. Say hurry, Chad, hurry. Thank you.
Then now I’ve got all of my Bible. It’s anointed. Thank you, Jesus. Put some on my head. First Timothy chapter 4. Steel chain oil is anointed. It’s from Israel in verse 4 chapter 4 except your book, you don’t know how they sell you that oil straight from Israel. They got a 10W30 but anyway, chapter 4 verse 12 stay focused. Verse 14, Pennzoil, do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy. With the laying on of hands of the eldership.
- D not Neglect your Gift Give yourself Entirely to your Gift
Meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all, oh Jesus. Do not neglect the gift that is in you. Do not neglect what God has given you. No. So he says in verse 15 meditate on these things. Give yourself entirely to them. What are we meditating on? We’re meditating on the gift that God has given us and what are we giving ourselves entirely to? We’re giving ourselves entirely to what God has created us to do. Give yourself entirely, if the Bible tells you to give yourself entirely, is there an opportunity or an option to not give yourself entirely we could give ourselves, partially we should give, we could give ourselves occasionally. There’s a difference in giving myself entirely to the purpose of God, to the gift of God or there’s a difference in me giving it to when it’s convenient. I want to give myself to God once a month.
I want to give my gift to God when it’s convenient for me and I have nothing else going on. So give yourself entirely to that. Look what happens. Take head or sorry, give yourself entirely to them. That’s your progress. Everybody says progress to things that your progress needs. I’ve got to stop here in a second, so yeah, we’ve got to do go here. Two things, if you want to make progress in life. Number 1, you’ve got to not neglect your gift. Number two, you got to give yourself entirely to it. That word make progress means moving forward to advance or grow. Here’s something I know. I don’t know a lot of things, but here’s something I do know. If you’re not making progress in your relationship with God, check your gift because if you’re neglecting your gift and you’re not giving yourself entirely to it, your progress will not keep going forward.
Here’s what we do. If we get in a tough time in our life, we pull back and we start focusing more on ourselves and we think that’s going to help us. You know what? I’m going to pull back this season. I’m going through a tough time. I need to focus on me. I understand that in certain situations, so I’m not, again, don’t say it. I’m just saying, be careful that we don’t move too long. We start neglecting our gift and we’re not giving ourselves entirely for and we wonder why we’re not making progress. You were created to give. You were created to help others and your progress depends on it when it comes to you, Mt. Carmel Church.
If you’re not giving yourself entirely to what God created you to do, you are limiting your progress. I didn’t say that. Paul said it. Your progress, if you’re neglecting the gift of God in your life, is going to be limited. Nobody’s hating on you. Someone’s trying to encourage you. They are saying to you “Hey, let’s move forward and make progress, so don’t neglect the gift that is in you.” We’re not using our gifts to do something where we’re using our gifts to become something. Come on. We’re not using our gifts to do something. We’re using our gifts to become something, Mt. Carmel Church.
We’re trying to become someone, not do some things
Being a pastor is not who I am. It’s something I do. It’s not who I am. What you do is not who you are. It doesn’t matter what your title is. What you do is not who you are. I said this to someone. We were having lunch this weekend. This came up and I knew it was the Holy Spirit. He said, “In your becoming who you are, you will do things, but be careful that you don’t try and do things to become.” Did you catch that? It was too good. I knew it wasn’t from me. I’m not that smart. Then while you’re becoming who you are, you’re going to do a lot of things, but just be careful that you don’t try and do things to become. We’re trying to become someone, not do some things. We have a calling by God. We have a calling of God. Romans chapter 11 verse 29 says this, for the gifts of calling gifts and calling of God, are irrevocable. All right, we have to go. I’ve got to unplug right now. Thank you, Jesus. We’ll get back to this later. Here’s what I felt like the Lord wanted me to do today.
I came to sharpen some gifts. I felt like God had a word for The Roads Church. There are some tools, some gifts, and they’re not being used because you’re not giving yourself entirely to them. And I’m in prayer the other day, just in my quiet time, my prayer time with God and this son, it was on his side just playing like just prayer, instrumental music. And this song came up and I heard God speaking to my heart and I felt like this was where the anointing was for today. And this song just says it came up. I give myself away. Give me again, myself, that you can use me. And I just began to pray that say, “God, I give myself away.” Notice what? Send the scripture, giving yourself entirely to it. So I’m here to encourage somebody that needs to give yourself away. God’s not stealing anyone’s gifts. He’s not taking it from you. You have to give it. Will you accept or will you decline?
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