Warning: Beware of Spiritual Gift Abuse

If you are, indeed, the spiritual paintbrush in God's hand, by your gift, and He wants to dip it into the palette and the colors of His grace, so that your life could literally begin to make imprints of grace, and change another person's life for all eternity – something that powerful usually has a dark side.

In other words, if gifts do that much good, if they're abused, if they're misused, if they're misapplied, they can have a very, very dark side.

Can anybody think of some times, in your experience, of spiritual abuse, in terms of gifts? Now, what are the warning signs?

I'd like you to open your teaching handout, if you will, and I want to go over what I think are the ten most common abuses of spiritual gifts. These certainly aren't the only ones, but I call these “the ten most common abuses of spiritual gifts.” I want you to imagine, you're driving in your spiritual car, and on the dashboard you have ten red lights. And as you're walking with God, and the Spirit of God is filling your life, and you're involved in a local church, and you're asking God to use you – that as you are going through your life, if any one of these red lights begins to flash on the dashboard of your spiritual car, you're going to say, “Wait a second. You know what? I'm not sure, but this could be a sign of spiritual gift abuse.”

Number one: Beware when spiritual gifts are used as a means of manipulation, power, or control in personal and/or church relationships. And notice, they're all going to start with “beware.” That's a warning sign. Beware when spiritual gifts are used as a means of manipulation, power, or control in personal and/or church relationships.

If you have your Bibles, open them, if you will to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, and in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 4 – it's a common thing we've talked about. In fact, keep your finger in 1 Corinthians 12. A lot of the abuses were happening in the Corinthian church, and so a lot of the corrections are going to be there. Pick it up at verse 4. “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of workings, but the same God who works all of them in all men. Now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” “For the common good.” Did you notice the repetition of the word same, same, same? There's unity.

When God is working, and the Lord Jesus is exalted, and the Spirit of God is bestowing gifts and operating in the body of Christ, it’s for the common good. It builds people up. The focus is on the Godhead, not on the gifts. The focus is on what God is doing in the group, not on people's particular passions, or bents. Personal control, manipulation, and use by gifts are always a sign that abuse is occurring.

Any time someone comes to you, or someone you know, and says, “God revealed to me that you're supposed to do this, or do that,” a big, red light ought to flash on the dashboard. I don't care who they are.

Now, it doesn't mean that God never reveals through other people, but I came to the conclusion that on a major life decision about who to marry, where to work, what job to take, what to do with one of your kids, you would just think that God might want to tell you, rather than tell someone else. Right? I mean, I've got a phone.

And that doesn't mean that God might not bring someone into your life to say, “I'm concerned about this, and here are four or five reasons why. I've watched this relationship…” That's a little different story. But this, “Thus says the Lord…” And people end up in real high power, “I'm very important,” and often this happens in the leadership of churches.

The second warning: Beware when anyone claims to have the ability to give, or bestow, any particular gift, if you follow their formula. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 11. He goes on to say, “All these gifts are of the same Spirit, and He gives to each one just as He determines.” He is speaking of the spiritual gifts. He says, “God gives, or bestows, gifts,” literally, it's, “as He wills.” The Greek word is a very interesting one. It means “as He chooses, after careful deliberation.” Remember, we said, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.”

If God has a plan for your life, and He's going to gift you to fulfill the plan for your life, then the gifts that He gives you are not going to be given through some other person, somewhere, sometime, some way. What have we learned? Is that when the ascended Christ – He gave gifts to men, and He chooses to give you the gifts that He wants you to have, so you can fulfill the purpose that you're called to.

And so, when someone comes up and basically says, “Hey, I have the power to distribute the gifts,” he's taking the role of the Holy Spirit, or she's taking the role of the Holy Spirit. Beware whenever anyone claims to have the ability to give, or bestow, any particular gift if you follow their formula. Often, they're using the power of suggestion, manipulation, peer pressure. They tell you this, this, this, this, this. And you've got a whole room full of people. And guess what, if you're one of the persons who doesn't do what they say, guess who feels like they're out of step with God. You. And so, what it is, it's a huge peer pressure, manipulation-type thing. And they can get you to do certain things different places.

Now, this is the wacko element of the body of Christ. Most churches aren't like this, at all.

I can't tell you how many Christians, and even pastors, and people that are running around, that feel like second-class citizens, that went in the back room somewhere, that heard someone guarantee they could have this gift, or that gift.

And if you don't get it, guess who has the problem. No one ever says, “Hey, Pastor, I think you had an off day. You're only ninety-four percent on giving this gift away.” It’s always the person: “You don't have enough faith. There must be sin in your life.” And this whole manipulative…

But you know what? You've got to know the truth. And the truth is, people don't bestow gifts, God does.

The third warning: Beware when any particular gift is made universal evidence of spirituality, salvation, or other spiritual blessing. Skip down to verses 29 and 30, chapter 12. By the way, as I read this, too – in English we can't quite do it. But he's going to ask questions. But, grammatically, you can ask a question, and you can use just one little word that automatically tells you that it's a rhetorical question, and the answer is “no.” And that's this case. So, these are not just questions, “Are all apostles?” It's “Are all apostles?” Emphatically, “No.” Okay?

So, notice what it says – verse 29: “Are all apostles?” No. “Are all prophets?” No. “Are all teachers?” No. “Do all work miracles?” No. “Do all have gifts of healing?” No. “Do all speak in tongues?” No. “Do all interpret?” And he's making the point, in 1 Corinthians 12:29 and 30, that no one has all the gifts.

Now, this is where I'm going to – this is gentle, but let me say this, because I've been through – both my parents came to Christ through the Charismatic Movement, all right? My personal experience – I've been in very, very Word-centered ministries, but I've had the privilege of traveling all around the world, and just teamed up with Pentecostal and Charismatic brothers and sisters. And I'm going to tell you, about ninety percent is very balanced, great teaching.

But there is some teaching, in pockets – especially, I guess, what I'd call some “older school” Pentecostalism or Charismatic groups – that will teach that if you don't speak in tongues, you are not saved, or you don't have salvation. Others will teach, if you don't speak in tongues, you don't have the Holy Spirit. Somehow, you have part of Christ, and the only way you know for sure if you have the Holy Spirit is if you speak in another language.

And here's my point: Study the gifts carefully. Tongues are a – what? We looked at it. It is an ability to speak in another language for the glory of God, for the common good, in a language you haven't learned. Now, what you'll find is, people will go to the book of Acts and say, “Well, look what happened in the early Church.” I would suggest, that is descriptive, not prescriptive.

Yes, that is what happened, and can God give an unknown language to evidence the working? He did. When the Jews came to Christ – unknown language. When the Samaritans, half-breeds, came to Christ – unknown language. When the Gentiles came to Christ – unknown language. But Paul would say it's an outward evidence assigned for unbelievers.

And all I'm saying is, your view on the gift of tongues should have nothing to do with sanctification, or your walk in holiness. Okay, it’s a spiritual gift. But it is not a spiritual gift that needs to be tied with evidence of salvation, or evidence of your spiritual state. There are people – and I've been down this road. There are people that feel like, I don't have all of God, because I don't have this gift. And by the way, in some groups, it's tongues. In other groups, it's other gifts.

And so, any time anyone says there's some universal gift that's assigned that really makes you – salvation, or a spiritual blessing, always have that red light go off and say, Well, wait a second. That's, by the way, what the guy was telling us in the back room, is that if we wanted certain things, and if we wanted to know for sure whether we were a Christian, we would have this experience. It’s spiritual gift abuse.

God gives the gifts, and God can give the gift of speaking in another language that you haven't learned. But the purpose is not for some guy to get in front of a group and manipulate people in a back room.

Spiritual abuse number four: Beware when the focus of a church service ministry or religious event is on spiritual gifts and their manifestation, rather than on the giver of the gifts, and His agenda for the Church. This is where you hear about “the miracle service,” as advertised.

When the focus gets on, “Come see the show. Here's what you can get,” beware. “Miracle service! This is what's going to happen at this service: So-and-so's going to happen.” And this is where they're lining the parking lot – and I've been in places where they charge ten or fifteen dollars for parking.

And by the way, this is not someone throwing stones out there, somewhere. I've been to all this stuff, okay? These are the kinds of places where 20/20 and 48 Hours are doing research, and finding out that the people were walking in, but – “You must be very tired. We'll give you a wheelchair while you wait.” And it's amazing. They didn't come in a wheelchair; they got a wheelchair when they got there. And then, they get up out of the wheelchair, and wow, look what happened.

These are the kinds of places where the guy has the little earpiece, and they interview and screen the people, and people that have clearly non-psychosomatic illnesses, “You get over there. You get over here.” People that have lower back pain, and, “Down deep, I think my gall bladder stones –” Of course they don't have an MRI, and they don't know.

But I'll tell you what, you can get people in a frenzy to believe just about anything. When the focus is on the show, when the focus is on the miracles, when the focus is on the person, when the focus is on what you can get, get, get, you know what? Just read the gospels and ask yourself, Is this how Jesus did ministry?

In fact, look at Ephesians chapter 4, verses 11 and 12. It's very, very clear. Just flip back a couple books, right? He gave gifts. Why did He give spiritual gifts? Did He give spiritual gifts so people could make a lot of money, put on a show, tell people how awesome, miraculous and wonderful their deal is? He gave some as apostles. He gave some as prophets. He gave some as evangelists. He gave some as pastors and teachers. Why? For the work of service to build up the body for the work of service. Spiritually-gifted people are to equip us, regular believers and saints, so that we can do the work of service until every single Christian grows up into maturity, to all the measure of the fullness of Christ.

The goal and the role of gifting men and women is to help other believers mature in Christ. And so, any time the focus is off the giver of the gifts, and onto the show, any time it's about showmanship, instead of Christlikeness, you better have that flashing, red light and say, You know something? It may be electric in the air, and people may make all kinds of claims, but it doesn't pass the test of New Testament, biblical Christianity.

Warning number five: Beware of comparing your gifts with anyone else’s. It always leads to carnality. Do not compare your gifts. And even as I say that, I'd like to say that I never do. See, I'm there. But you will, because you're human, right?

I'm going to read a passage that's a little extended, but it's so important, I think it's worth reading. And have you noticed that we're still in 1 Corinthians 12? Will you go back a couple books?

Some of you may be thinking, I think this Corinthian church had some struggles with gifts. Because all the directives about how to do it right are in 1 Corinthians 12, and part of 13 and 14.

He goes on to say – 1 Corinthians 12, beginning at verse 11, “All these are the work of one and the same Spirit. And he gives them” – the Spirit – “gifts to each one.” How? “Just as He determines. The body is a unit.” He's going to make a metaphor. “Though it is made up of many parts, and though all its parts are many, they form one body” – given the human body – we have a hand. We have a head. We have eyes. We have ears. We have feet. “And so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body, whether Jew or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink. Now the body is made up of not one part, but many.”

And then, here's where He goes through the analogy: “If the foot should say, 'Because I'm not a hand, I don't belong to the body,' would it not for that reason cease to be any part of the body?” I mean, less? No. “And if the ear should say, 'Because I am not an eye, I don't belong to the body,' it would not for that reason cease to be a part of the body,” would it? Well, no. “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? And if the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.” Don't compare your gift to someone else's.

Don't get thinking – and by the way, it's human nature. Certain churches, and certain backgrounds, will gravitate to honor certain gifts more than other gifts. I was in one parachurch organization that, I'll tell you what, if you had the gift of exhortation, man, you were a winner. If you had the gift of service, it was kind of like “Well, someone does need to pick up the chairs, and that would be nice.” If you had the gift of teaching or leadership, actually, it was threatening to the group, because they had a real cookie-cutter formula about how they were going to raise up leaders. What they wanted was facilitators to lead these small groups. And anyone that wanted – “Hey, why are we doing it this way?” “Hey, rebellious Ingram, would you just shut up, and sit over there, and lead your group?”

I had some pretty strong leadership gift, and I was saying, “Hey, basically, this seems kind of dumb. If you want to get this job done, we ought to go this way.” And I was dealing with the pride issues in my life. Now, I had a lot of pride issues in my life so it wasn't wasted.

But I've been in other churches where it's this visible gift. And if you can ever get up in front of the stage, and, so, boy, the little kids, by the time they're seven, eight, nine, ten – or if a kid in junior high or high school has any speaking ability, “He's been called of God!” and they put him out in front of the group, and the poor kids don't know what they're saying.

It all goes back to comparing our gifts, rather than realizing, God has got a perfect plan. And you know something? I don't know that I want to say to my eye, or to my ear, or to my knee that one's more important. They're all important; they're all interdependent.

And I just want to say, I think you'll wrestle with this. There's a passage that's been helpful, 2 Corinthians 10:12 – you might jot that in the corner of your notes – where the apostle Paul will say, “When we compare ourselves with ourselves, and measure ourselves by ourselves, we are without understanding.” And I just want to say, for your encouragement, I think you'll struggle with this your whole life, because I do believe that all of us are desperately insecure, even as believers. I know we're going to grow, but we're desperately insecure.

Moody Bible Institute, one of my sons went there. They have this big conference they've had since the days of D. L. Moody. And you go into this historic church, and it's all wooden, and it's round, and there are thousands of people.

And I got to be one of the speakers. And first night, Joe Stowell speaks, and man, that was good. And then, the next night, Tony Evans, and then Howard Hendricks. “And coming up next –” And it was like…and I'm sitting there, going, This is ridiculous, Ingram. Why are you so unbelievably intimidated? Why are you having these thoughts in your mind? And I just had to go off in a corner and say, “Oh, God, God, what these people think – everything in my flesh wants to compare myself, and every time I do, on my really normal days, I feel like a weenie. And there are these great speakers. And then, on my not-so-normal days, and I get full of myself, and I'm thinking, Well, I think I could hit the ball like that speaker. Maybe if I could go after him, it would be okay.

And then, finally, you just get to the point where you go, “Oh, God, woe is me.

And if You don't speak, I don't have anything to bring. And what I understand is, You've gifted each of these people, and You have a plan in this week, and You want to help the thousands of people in this room, and the tens of thousands listening. And I want to be a part of what You're doing.”

And I had to get before God and literally just cleanse my heart, and just beg Him to help me see, “I'm desperate for You. Will You help me?” And all I want to say is, I don't think anyone gets to the point where you mature your way through that. I think that will be something we'll live with the rest of our days.

But don't compare yourself with other people. Don't compare your gift with other people. God made you unique.
Beware of any extreme position on spiritual gifts, i.e., they do not exist at all, to, a Spirit-filled Christian will have all the gifts. I've heard both. I've been in places where gifts don't exist. “I tell you what, you find gifts, you find disunity and division, and people are arguing about them. There aren't any gifts. All the gifts are gone after the first century.” I've heard people teach that.

And on the other hand, I've heard, “If you're Spirit-filled, I mean, if you're really Spirit-filled” – whatever Spirit-filled means. No one really knows. I think the Bible has a pretty good definition, but depending on what group, what background, that could mean you've been to Mars and back, or it could mean that you're really walking with the Lord in the Spirit. I don't know. But, “If you're Spirit-filled, you'll have all the gifts.” And then, usually, they have someone in the church who's an example of it: “Brother Bob, he's got all the gifts. Go, Bob! Go!” “I can prophesy; I can teach.” You know what I mean? He can do it all.

Any time you feel those extremes – notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1: “Now about spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.” You need to have an understanding.

Everyone has one primary gift. We know that He will give you ministry gifts. We understand they're for the common good. When you know those ten basic principles, it guards against this kind of thing.

Number seven – warning light: Beware of using spiritual gifts and the energy of the flesh to fulfill personal ego needs or impress other people. This is another one that I don't think you grow out of. Beware. Beware. Be on your guard. Watch over your heart with all diligence. When you have a spiritual gift, you can take a gift – it’s like a tool. God doesn't take away the tool. You can be in the flesh. God will honor His Word, and He will honor the tool, or the gift, that He's placed in your hand. But I can use my gift, and you can use your gift, not in submission to the Spirit, but in the energy of the flesh, and it produces not good things.

And, boy, I think this is one of those really gut-check times, where you have to ask, and I have to ask, Is this about me using my gift to get attention, affirmation, strokes from people? Is this about impressing people?

And I think we all struggle with that. Any time you have to do something, and you find yourself – ego needs, then I think that's a warning light, and you need to say, “Wait a second, here.”

Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 13. Sandwiched between chapter 12, “This is how to use the gifts.” And then, chapter 14, “Eagerly desire spiritual gifts.” 12 says, don't be ignorant about them. 14 says, really desire and focus. Right in between is 1 Corinthians 13, and it says, “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels” – there's the spiritual gift – “but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith so that I can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames” – literally, be a martyr – “but have not love, I gain nothing.” “I have nothing.” “I gain nothing.”

If I have this gift of tongues, if I have this gift of prophesy, if I have this gift of faith, if I have this gift of martyrdom and be willing, but you can do – what's that passage say? You can do all those things, and I can do all those things, not about love, which is – what? Focusing on other people, giving other people what they need the most, when they deserve it the least, as your gift to God. I can do my gifts that way, or it can really be a subtle way to set Chip Ingram up, to get Chip Ingram the strokes, and the ego needs, and the unresolved issues in his life taken care of. And so, it's a warning light. Be on your guard. Beware.

Number eight: Beware of confusing spiritual gifts with spiritual fruit as the evidence of spiritual growth and maturity. In some circles, the development and impact in the use of your gifts becomes a test for spiritual maturity. But gifts, remember, are a means, not an end. In other words, when you have these gifts, when God is using you, God's using you, God's using you – “My lands, God's using you!” – that's wonderful; that's great. God is using you. In some circles, what that becomes – that's the goal: God using you. God using you.

I've got news for you: That is not the goal. Gifts are – what? They're a paintbrush. They're a means. The goal is that you are becoming more and more like Christ. Spiritual fruit is about spiritual maturity, Christlikeness. Spiritual gifts are about the means God uses in your life to help others become more like Christ.

Let's look at a couple passages. Ephesians 4:13: “…until we all reach to the unity and the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” The goal is maturity.

Or notice Galatians 5:22 and 23: “But the fruit of the Spirit” – in other words, what is it that God's after? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

In fact, Jesus – John 15. You might just jot it, John 15:8. “By this is my Father glorified, that you have many gifts and are very impressive.” Oh, I think I misquoted that. “By this is my Father glorified” – what? – “that you bear much fruit.” Well, what is “fruit”? “Fruit” is always twofold.

Number one, it's the life of Christ reproduced in your life. The goal of gifts is not that, “You're great. You're used. It's developed. We're impressed.” The goal of the gifts is that, because of how you are living, you are becoming more and more like Jesus, and God is using you for the right reason, in the right ways, with the right motives, to exercise His supernatural ability, in the sphere He's called you to, as an intricate, interdependent part of the body. And as you do that, with an attitude of love and dependency, there are people whose lives, little by little by little, become more and more like Jesus.

And they rub up next to you, and they start loving their mate in a different way. And they rub up next to you, and, pretty soon, they rearrange their priorities, and how they spend their money, because of your gift of exhortation and leadership. And because they rub up next to you, they begin to say “no” to certain things.

And they realize that, You know something? I need to deal with some issues in my home. And I need to have a plan for my kids. And I need to deal with some of the wounds of my past. And because of times of sharing their heart, and your wisdom and discernment and exhortation, pretty soon, they become more and more and more whole.

And then, a different person shows up to the singles group. A different person shows up to work. A different person shows up. See, it's fruit. Any time there's an emphasis on the gifts, as an end in themselves, a little, red, warning light should go off.

Warning number nine: Beware that apparent manifestations of the Spirit can be counterfeited by human schemes, and demonic forces. Beware. This is a big one. This happens not only overseas, but this happens here.

Beware. Any time something is supernatural – “That's amazing!” “I was at this meeting! You can't believe it! I checked, they didn't have an earphone! And he didn't know this, and he didn't know that, and this person they never met, and then they said that, and this lady said, ‘Well, that's really true! And I can't believe it! How could you know that?’ Chip, you can't believe it! This was an amazing meeting! And da-da-da.”

Okay. You went to an amazing meeting. God may be choosing to do miraculous things. There may be manifestations of the Spirit of God in doing things that are very unusual, and we go, “Wow! Wow! Wow!” Or it could be that something supernatural, or perceived as supernatural, is happening, and there's a group of people that are being deceived. Don't necessarily assume, because there are “manifestations of the Spirit,” or apparent miracles, or even real miracles, as far as you can tell, that it is always, necessarily a work of God.

Listen to the very words of Jesus. If you have your Bible, turn to Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7 – this is toward the end of His greatest sermon, and He gives this warning. Verse 22: “Many of you will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord.’”

Now, notice the gifts: “Did we not prophesy in Your name?” There's a spiritual gift. “And in Your name drive out demons?” You probably have some gifts going there. “And perform many miracles?” And He goes, “Yeah.” “Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers.’ Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house upon the rock.”

And I just would say, just because something is supernatural, or perceived as supernatural – we're told to – what? Test the spirits. Examine the fruit. Examine the character. Examine the lifestyle. Examine what the group, what the person, what happens afterwards. Examine – okay –there are these manifestations. It sure was exciting. It's sure perceived, by me, that it was supernatural. I think God is really in this. Okay. Now, is it biblical? Are the goals biblical? Do the people have character?

And if so, you say, “Wow, I think I just got in on a manifestation of God working in a supernatural way that is highly unusual. And thank You, Lord.”

But if you find out that a great percentage of the income is going to the leader, if you find out that there is immorality behind the scenes, if you find out that people are being manipulated, and the orphanage that they're supporting actually is pictures that are shot in Southern California, right across the border, then what you say to yourself, You know what? I don't understand how those things happened in that room, and they sure seem supernatural, but this is not a ministry from God.

And by the way, it's not new. The apostle Paul – 2 Corinthians – you might jot this down – 11, and verses 13 through 15 – in his day. He said, “Everything that appears supernatural, don't buy into thinking it's necessarily from God.” He talks about false prophets in 2 Corinthians 11. He says, “For such men are false prophets, deceitful workers masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Is it not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness, their end will be what their actions deserve?” And what's he's saying is, there are some times where, guess what. Supernatural, apparent manifestations need to be tested. What does 1 John say? “Test the spirits.” Examine them. Is it true, is it not?

The final warning here is, beware of viewing the discovery, development, and deployment of your spiritual gift as either an optional exercise, or interesting but not serious responsibility. Now, I've given you two passages: Ephesians 4:7, and 2 Corinthians 5:9 and 10.

In Ephesians 4:7 to 10 is a very interesting passage about the work of Christ. And it talks about Him dying, going to the lower parts of the earth, and proclaiming victory over sin, victory over Satan, and victory over death. And the evidence of that victory proclaimed is, “…and He gave gifts to men.”

That's the positive reason. The negative reason is in 2 Corinthians 5, verses 9 and 10. And the apostle Paul says, “So we make it our goal to please Him” – Christ – “whether we are at home in the body or away from it. For we all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ” – the Bema Seat – “that each one may receive what is due him for things done in the body, whether good or bad.”

And the Bema Seat, or the Judgment Seat of Christ, is not about a person’s judgment of heaven or hell. That's accomplished at the cross. The moment I receive Jesus as my Savior, my sins are forgiven; my sins are judged. I now get the imputed righteousness of Christ. I have a brand-new relationship with Him. And then, I live out, as a steward, out of gratitude, all that He's done for me, as a believer then I will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ for my works done as a believer. And I will either have rewards, or loss, either gold, silver, previous stones, or wood, hay, stubble – 1 Corinthians 3.

Now, what's your action plan? Okay? We have spent some great time together. And if it's a sober – what's your action plan? Is this going to be where, Okay, we've gone through the session. Wow. I now understand a little bit more about spiritual gifts. I've thought about it, and…What's going to take you from where you are right here, to – if you haven't discovered it, you discovered it. If you pretty well discovered it, you start developing. If you're starting to develop it, you really deploy it. If you've already discovered it, developed it, how are you going to deploy it to the max in the body of Christ?

Can I give you a very quick action plan that I think summarizes: this is how to go about it? Number one – get your pen out; you'll need it. Because I want you to fill these in. Your spiritual gift action plan.

One – write the word: commit to discover, develop, and deploy your spiritual gift in the local body. And when I say “commit,” what I mean is, “God, before You” – this is lordship. I want you to bow your head, and just like – remember the day, some of you that got married, or some of you that signed on and made a commitment, tell God, “Lord, I'm afraid. I don't know. I'm not sure. But I'm telling You, if You'll show me my gift, so help me, I'll do whatever it takes to learn it.” Make a commitment. And then, I'll talk to you about what that commitment's going to look like.

Second, pray seriously, seeking divine guidance. Don't you think God wants to show you? Didn't Jesus say, “Ask, seek, knock”? Doesn't He want to open and – this isn't like, Okay, let's try and make it as hard as possible. Let's move this gift around. The Lord loves you! He died; He gave you a gift. Pray. But if you pray one day, and then you pray next month, you must not really want it. Put it on your list. Write it on a card. “Lord, I'm asking today. You said ‘seek,’ I'm seeking. You said ‘ask,’ I'm asking. You said ‘knock,’ I'm knocking. Will You show me? Make it real.

And you can just do it like this, gradually; you can have it just – bang! I don't care. But I am going to seek Your face. I made a commitment. So, I'm going to pray, every day, that You help me discover, deploy, and develop my gift.”

Third is, study the gift passages in God's Word. And the corresponding handouts, I think, will help you. This isn't just some mystical thing. Get your nose in the Word. I wonder, I’m not sure that Ingram guy, on this one gift. Get out a commentary. Dig in and say, “What are these gifts? How do they really work?” It's not what I think. It's not what your pastor thinks. I hope we can help you, but you get your nose in the Scripture and say, “I want to discover what Your Word says about gifts. I've narrowed it down to here.” And as you get into the Scriptures, God's going to reveal it to you.

Number four, get quality counsel. Quality counsel. Find people who really know you, people who are spiritually mature, and people who will tell you the truth. And, by the way, that's a rare combination. Really. Find people who really know you, love you enough to hurt your feelings: “Look, no. You do not have the gift of mercy, okay?” “What do you mean I don't have the gift of mercy?” “Trust me on this. You don't have the gift of mercy.” They know you, they’re mature, and they'll tell you the truth.

Number five, test the waters. And I just put for six or eight weeks. Maybe it's better for three or four months.

Man, you've got to jump. And just go to some ministry in your local church that you think you might be gifted for, and just say, “I'd like to sign up for three months.” And write it out. At the end of three months I'm done. I'll re-negotiate and re-sign-up – so you don't get on, “Yes, I'd like to discover the gift of teaching the third-grade class,” and eleven years later someone comes back and says, “So, you think you got it, or not?” Right? We all been there?

And then we have a little meeting to say, “Is it a fit, or not a fit?” And if it's not, you step back, and you know what? No guilt, no manipulation – “Well, who's going to teach the third graders if you leave?” And the answer is, “Someone with the gift of teaching. I don't have it.” Okay? Test the waters.

Number six: Examine the fulfillment factor. This is not the easy factor. When you're in your gifts – remember the old Chariots of Fire movie? Remember the guy who was really fast, and he ended up being a missionary? And I love that line in the movie – you know, bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum – if you haven't seen that movie, go rent it – bum-bum-bum-bum-bum. And he goes, “I feel God's pleasure when I run.” What do you do in the body of Christ where you feel God's pleasure? Not just it's fun, but you feel God's pleasure?

And the final one here is, recognize God's evident blessing. When you are in your gifts, it doesn't mean that things are going to change overnight. But God will use your life.

You are His workmanship. He has wonderful works for you to walk in. And those works are going to be highly determined by the supernatural endowments given to you by Jesus.