God created you and He has plans and a purpose for you to fulfil in this life.
When you were born, God gave you natural talents and abilities for you to use during your life on this earth!
And when you born again God gave you spiritual gifts ?
Did you know that ?
Today I want to talk about gifts and talents.
By the biblical dictionary the definition of gifts are :
Gifts denoting extraordinary powers, distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ, the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating on their souls by the Holy Spirit.
Talents: A person (regardless of his belief in God or in Christ) is given a natural talent as a result of a combination of genetics (some have natural ability in music, art, or mathematics) and surroundings (growing up in a musical family will aid one in developing a talent for music), or because God desired to endow certain individuals with certain talents (for example, Bezalel in Exodus 31:1-6 .
Spiritual gifts are given to all believers by the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:3 ) at the time they place their faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. At that moment, the Holy Spirit gives to the new believer the spiritual gift(s) He desires the believer to have (1 Corinthians 12:11).
We all have gifts and talents that were given by God.
What are the gifts and talents you have? What are you good at?
Maybe you have ability with music, sports, arts, writing, cooking.
Some people are good at teaching, others are good in given words of comfort, others are very good at administration and earning money and others are good at organising and coordinating.
Let’s have a look on spiritual gifts:
Let’s read Romans 12. These verses explain some of the gifts that God gave us.
Rm 12 v 4-8 “4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
Romans 12:4-8 NIV
We need to understand one thing: These gifts are not for you, they are to be used through you. All the gifts that God gave us is to serve and benefit others.
We are one body, verse 5 says. Use your gifts to serve. If we were to draw parallels, the church as a body and the gifts as parts of this body, we would have something like this:
Prophecy and teachings – are like the nerve system, it carries signals from the head to the whole body. It keeps us moving, it gives us direction.
Encouragement is like the respiratory system that keeps us alive and gives energy. The gift of giving, like the digestion system, helps the body to keep on moving. Givers provide energy for preachers to keep moving.
We need to understand one thing, the church is a body, and if all the ministries of the church is made by few, it means the body is not going to grow. We need to restructure it.
I do believe that all of us were born with some talents. They were given to us by God. Some have known it since there were children others are still trying to figure out it.
But we all have gifts and talents. And to know what those are we need to look at things that we enjoy doing.
Once I heard this testimony. This girl named Lara Silva she was studying to be a nurse but after a while she started feeling frustrated and out of her place so she dropped out of college. Later one of her friends invited her to church, she was born again but still she wasn’t happy in her professional life. Her friend then asked her a question that changed her life. And the question was: What were you doing when you last felt truly happy? And she said that it was probably when she was in drama class at secondary school. She realised that she had a passion for that and a natural gift, a talent given by God, she said it was dormant until she allowed God to really step into her life and allowed Him to guide her and help her.
She decided to be an actor. Today she is one of the actresses in the show Chosen. She feels happy and fulfilled. Why? Because she is using the gifts and talents that God gave to her and she is blessing many people.
All of us were created by God and given gifts and talents. Those are the abilities you have and things that you are good at and things that you do easily.
We need to understand we are here in this earth to bless others. To bring the Kingdom of God, wherever we go.
In our work place, among our family members, neighbours and also in the church.
As I was studying the bible I found that the entire chapter 25 of Mathews talks about receiving our reward and it’s linked with how we serve and use our talents and gifts.
We can’t hide or ignore the things that God has given us , one day He is going to ask us about it .
In the parable of the talents that starts in verse 14 this man gives bags of talents to 3 servants. Two of them multiple theirs talents and one don’t. Who do these guys represent? They are you and me, servants of the Lord.
““Matheus 25:24-30. 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?
27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Matthew 25:24-30 ESV
Our talents need to multiply. How do you multiply them? When you put them to use. Don’t hide them.
He gave us all so many gifts.
And we were called to use those gifts and talents to his kingdom’s glory.
What you have is not for you, or just for your family but it is to bless people around you. To help them know Jesus.
Let’s read now
Matheus 25. 31- 36 , 40
““31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”
Matthew 25:31-36 NIV
“40 The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Matthew 25:40 NIV
Every time we help someone in need we are not doing for anyone, we are doing it for Jesus.
And we benefit as well . The book “The perfect you” by Dr. Caroline Leaf, mentions a study that states that people who served or helped others when they were going through something experienced a 68% increase in healing compared to those who only got treatment for themselves and didn’t get involve in social work. And other studies show that isolation has negative impact in mental and physical health.
Name of the studies : “ Giving to others and the association between stress and mortality”
“ Volunteering predicts health among those who value others”
“Loneliness affects how the brain operates”
We are made to interact to each other and help each other. This is what neuroscience is saying now but the bible has been teaching us this truth for thousands of years. Ephesians 4:16 “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Ephesians 4:16 NLT
Volunteer work or bean part of a team is an opportunity to help our neighbours, people that are close to us.
Remember, as body members we need to function well together in order to have a healthy body. You need to find your place in the kingdom of God. You can’t be an atrophied member.
You can help in different areas. Let me explain to you how can you help in our local church.
Link from our website. https://shalomfortheworld.com/join-a-team/
We have the Children’s Ministry you can be a teacher or a helper. If you have a musical talent you can help in the Worship Team . Or if you are good with computers, cameras we have the A.V. Team ( audio and video), we have the Welcome Team in the church that are made up of the people that help us at the doors and with tea and coffee.
Also we have events like women’s meetings, Shalom Total, or youth parties, and we need people that like decorating, cleaning, organising.
We also have the Ministry of Intercession, and Leaders of Cell meetings that lead our small groups in the houses.
Our church has a Cafe, Hope Cafe, this place opens only twice a week at the moment and we want to open more days but we need volunteers to serve tea, coffee and food and above all to sit and talk to those to come to our cafe.
Hope is a place that God gave us to reach out the lost and preach the gospel.
We could use this place a lot more, if only we had more people willing to use their gifts and talents.
We do have some criteria for every area of the church, of course, for those who want to help, they have to be baptised and having started or completed conqueror school.
1 Corinthians 12 speaks of spiritual gifts and compares the church with a body; we are this body. Each one of us has a part to play. We are a beautiful body, multicultural, multilingual but we are one.
If you don’t do your part then others will feel overwhelmed. For example. If you hurt your right elbow, what is going to happen to your arm? It will stop moving and your left arm will have to do all the work of your right arm.
Every time you fail to help in something that you’ve signed up to do, you are overwhelming someone else. If every one helps and does their part, it won’t be heavy. I have to confess: the work is often heavy, because few want to work in the Kingdom of God!
We can grow more and more as a church, as body. But only if the whole body decided to move in the same direction. Imagine a body that only has a hand and a foot that works. What will happen to the other parts? They will shrivel up!
My beloved brothers and sisters, don’t hide your talents. I know you have some. If you look deep in your heart, you will find things that you are good at, things you can do to serve the church. At the end you will feel glad and happy.
When we serve, we grow and we feel complete. Because we are fulfilling God’s calling. Every one of us has received at least one talent. Maybe more than one.
In the past have helped with the kids ministry, the sound system, worship team, but I see that now I’ve reached the place where I feel that I am really fulfilling my calling. Being a counsellor. I work in this area but I use my talent to bless the body of Christ as well.
What about you?
Remember, your gifts and talents are not for you, they are to be used through you.