Well, it has been good to be with you, and I appreciate your friendship and hospitality and Christian love as I've been here. I think I might have seen a good bunch of the restaurants that you have in town. Now, I know you have more than the ones I visited, but we've seen a few. So I just appreciate the fellowship and the hospitality. It's been a real pleasure and blessing. I'm going to ask you to turn your Bibles to Ephesians. We want to look at the subject of spiritual gifts tonight. But as you turn there, I want to mention on the back table for some that are visiting in the foyer to write as you're exiting. There's a table of some literature I produced with my wife a newsletter called Bible and Life, also some booklets. And they take up very, very doctrinal subjects and practical subjects. And they are sent out, we send them out five times a year. Now, I know our brother Larry has been saying every month, But they're so good. It seems like it comes every month. But they only come five times, five times a year every two months. And in any event, they're free. We send them out. The Lord's people have provided. And graciously, we've never, I don't think there's ever been a month or a mailing where the Lord didn't provide for the cost of it. And so we've been blessed by that. I get sent to about a thousand addresses in North America and some overseas. We've also put together a book, and we're just there for sale. I only have two of them, and it takes up the area, I think, a balanced approach to some of the questions of Calvinism and Reformed theology. And if you're interested in that, I have two copies with me. We just photocopy them and bind them, and we just ask for the cost of it. If that's something that can help you, And it's for the serious student. It's for theology and a serious study. If you're interested in that kind of thing and that might help you in your service to the Lord, feel free to see me. And I have two copies here. I'd be happy to show them to you. And they're ten dollars just because there's a hundred and twenty pages. And if you're interested, be happy to make it available. Chapter four of Ephesians and verse Chapter four of Ephesians and verse seven. But unto every one of us is given grace. And that word grace is the Greek word charis, which is a grace gift, a free gift. The word free is also sometimes the English word is translated from the Greek word charis. According to the measure of the gift of Christ, wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but, that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He also, He that descended is also the same, that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave some to be apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That we be henceforth, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness by which they lie in waste to deceive tonight we want to take up the subject of spiritual gifts and recently I read a book called if there be no vision and this book tells the story of a man named Clyde Dennis I don't know if anyone here if that name means anything to you but Clyde Dennis was an unbelieving man in nineteen thirty one and he had the great desire to be a printer a printer of literature and books, and he was unschooled, uneducated, and you heard he could get an apprenticeship with a man named Lloyd Waltrick. He was a founder with his brother of Waltrick Publisher. So as an unbeliever, he went and applied for a job, and Lloyd Waltrick accepted him and trained him to be a printer. This is back in the nineteen thirties. On one occasion, He said, we're going to Centerville, Iowa to bring some books and literature over there. I want you to come. So they piled in a station wagon with their literature and they hurried off to this location. He thought he would be there just to drop the literature off and they would head on home. Well, as they were nearing to Centerville, Iowa, where there was a Bible conference for the long weekend, there was a hitchhiker. And they stopped and picked up the hitchhiker. And he said, where are you heading? He said, we're going to the Bible conference at Centerville. He said, well, that's where we're going for the weekend. So you can hop in. So he went there and to his dismay, he had to stay at this Bible conference all week long every day. After breakfast, he hitchhiked to the train station and tried to beg money to get on the train to head back to Dodge City. Couldn't find the money. And every night after... All day trying to get some money, he would head back to the supper at the Bible conference. Well, one night, Oliver Green was preaching with A.P. Gibbs. And he began to preach the gospel. And he told this story. He said there was a father who was working on a house, and he was in the basement in the cellar. And there was a kitchen up above. And the girl would look down in the basement, the little daughter. and want to see her father. She could see, she could hear him working in the darkness of the basement, but she couldn't see him. And she said one time, she said, Daddy, I want to come down where you are. And she said, well, jump. Jump. I'm here. I'll catch you. Just jump. And she said, but how do I know you'll catch me? I said, I'm here. I'll catch you. Just jump. She said, but Daddy, I can't see you. I can hear you, but I can't see you. How do I know you'll catch me? He said, I'm your father. He said, just trust me, I'll catch you. So she jumped. And sure enough, she was caught by her father. And that illustration led Clyde Dennis to salvation. He was baptized at that Bible conference, went back to save men, went to save men, went to unsaved men to the conference, came back to save men, and continued, went on to street corners, preached the gospel. He wasn't really a preacher, but he did all he could to win souls. His great passion was to win souls for Christ. But one thing he noticed as they printed hundreds and thousands of gospel tracks, they printed these tracks in either red or black or blue ink on white paper. And as they were preaching the gospel in these three corners and handed out hundreds of tracks to people in Kansas City and Dodge City, he noticed after the gospel meeting, and as they were going home, they noticed a lot of tracks, fifty, sixty, a hundred tracks, laying in the gutter on the street, on the sidewalk. And he said, that's what I'm going to do. He said, I don't want to see that again. He said, that's what we have to do. We have to print literature that people will keep attractive, colorful, full-color literature that people will read, put in their pocket, go home, and read. Something special, something unique. So they left Lloyd Waltrick. He went to the most sophisticated printing company, and that day, lunged the printing in Minneapolis, and he said, I want to work for you. Can you hire me? and he hired him he worked there for a period of time and then he went to the owner repeatedly and he said can I use the printing presses at night to print Bible tracks gospel tracks he said no you can't use my printing press at night to print gospel tracks and he went another time he said can I use your print use my own paper I'll pay for the ink I'll do everything I'll pay for the labor can I use your machinery at night he said no he asked again He said, no. He asked again, and he said, no. And after repeatedly asking, he said, okay, you can use it. He said, you can use our ink even, and you can use our electricity. All you have to do is supply your paper. And back in those days, when it was nineteen thirty eight, he bought twenty dollars worth of paper and printed, I think it was forty thousand full color tracks. He sent out order forms to all the assemblies in North America. and received hundreds of orders back. And he was in business. He began to print tracks, print them colorfully, and pretty soon he began his own track company. It's called Good News Publishers. Today, Good News Publishers, in his lifetime, in his lifetime, he printed, this is an amazing thing, one billion, one billion tracks. In thirty-five languages today, Good News Tracks publishes fifty thousand tracks every year. They've also spun off and have a very successful book company called Crossway Books. Lane Dennis is his son. He's taken over the business. But you know, Clyde Dennis died at forty-eight years old. He died of cancer, I believe it was, but it's believed that as he worked for years, hovering over these printing machines, all the fumes and the chemicals that they used, that he inhaled all of that over the years, and that eventually killed him. But his great passion, it wasn't gifted to be a preacher. It wasn't gifted to be an evangelist. It wasn't gifted in a lot of different ways that we think. He wasn't a pulpit person. Don't think he ever preached from the pulpit. But he was gifted to be an administrator. He was gifted with a heart to reach out with the gospel to those that were lost. And I think the number would be untold, untold the number of people that were saved through his gospel track. When I was first saved, I used to go out to a place called Holmdale Park on a Sunday afternoon. And a few of us from the assembly would go over a handout track. And one time we spoke to a man, a young kid. He was obviously drunk at the time that we were talking to him. He was a drug addict as well. We started talking about the gospel. He said, just wait a minute. And he pulled out of his back pocket a good news track. He said, you know, I've been reading this. And he said, I'm interested. And we talked to him. And he was eventually saved and he came to that little assembly in New Jersey. But I think the number is untold. How many people Clyde Dennis led to the Lord Jesus Christ through his gift, administration, cranking tracks. And so tonight we want to think about spiritual gifts. You may not be a preacher. You may not be an evangelist. But tonight I want to exhort you and encourage you and just charge you and charge myself to use the gifts or the gift that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us. Use it for his glory. Use it for the fervence of his kingdom. Use it to win souls in different ways. Here in chapter four and verse seven, we're told a little bit initially of what a spiritual gift is. He says, but to every one of us is given grace. are a great gift according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Allow me to give you a definition of what a spiritual gift is based partly upon verse seven. A spiritual gift, I think we could say, based upon scripture is a supernatural endowment of a special ability upon a member of the body of Christ for service. Supernatural. If you're naturally endowed to be a speaker or you've got the gift of gab, I know people who are school teachers and professors and public speakers, their occupation is to speak, but you know they're not very good preachers or they're not very good evangelists. They're not very good senate school teachers. They have other gifts. But it's a supernatural endowment. I know people that have never been trained to speak in their life. In Belgium, I knew coal miners who were tremendously gifted as evangelists and eloquent Bible teachers. The supernatural endowment of a special ability on a member of the body of Christ, a believer, a Christian, not for the unbeliever, it's for the Christian, for service to reach out to others or to the body of Christ or to the unsaved. But it's for service, it's for outreach work, it's for building up his body. And here in verse seven it says, but unto every one of us. As you sit here in the audience, as I stand here, I have a spiritual gift. You have a spiritual gift, at least one spiritual gift. In verse twelve of chapter four, it says there are apostles and prophets and pastors and teachers. There there are five different gifts mentioned or four. And probably the apostle Paul had each one of those gifts. Probably the apostle Peter. had each one of those gifts. Some have more than one gift. But we all, based on verse seven, we all have at least one spiritual gift. And tonight, as we go through this passage, I hope to show, and I hope the Spirit of God might speak to your heart and say, are you using, are you developing, are you putting into practice your spiritual gift? Are you developing that potential that you have within you? I know certain believers, you can think of one or two right now, that I believe are gifted. in certain areas, but they're not using their gift. They're not developing their gift. They're not maturing their gift. They're not exercising their gift. And it's a shame. It affects the body of Christ. It affects the outreach and it affects the maturity and the edifying of the body of Christ. And one day I think will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and He'll say to me or He'll say to you, I gave you a gift. I gave you an ability. I gave you a supernatural ability to use in my kingdom for the lost and for the body of Christ to equip them so they can reach those thousands and hundreds of thousands that are lost. But you never used it. You never used it. You never used it very much. You never held it as special. You never valued it. You never thought it was important. Yes, you went along in your Christian life. You may have given to the church. You may have attended meetings. But I gave you a gift to use, but you really never used it very much in your life. It was dormant. It was unused. You know, I don't want to hear those words in my life. And I've tried, and maybe not fully, but I've tried to develop. I've tried to use what God has given to me. And so I hope tonight you can think and examine your own heart. Are you using what God has given to us? You know, in verses seven and eight, there are three different words for gift. And I think those three words, to a large degree, say a lot about what a spiritual gift is and how God sees the gifts that He has given to us. And I think that's what's really important. Not so much how I see someone else's gift or I see my gift. But if I see my gift through the eyes of Christ, If I see my gift as Christ sees it, as Christ sees it as He gave it to me, how does He value His gifts, these spiritual gifts? The first word is in verse seven. Unto every one of us is given grace, a grace gift. And the emphasis behind that word is something that is freely given. Spiritual gifts are freely given without regard to merit. We don't earn them. He doesn't look down on us and say, well, David Dunlap, he's a hard worker, or he has some natural abilities, or he came from a Christian family and probably he'll use that gift a little bit better than someone else. So I'll give him this gift. It doesn't do it that way. He gives it in not regard to merit. It's a freely given gift, sovereignly given to whosoever he will. He places those people within the body of Christ. He gifts them in that way. I don't know why you received your gift. I could never think of it. Why God is given a coal miner in Belgium, a unique gift to teach the word of God. And he may give someone who is a professor of biochemistry in Clearwater, Florida, the gift of labor as a deacon within a local assembly. I think it would be the other way around. The coal miner would be the deacon and the professor would be the Bible teacher. But it's not always that way. It's a freely given gift not based upon merit. Also it says in verse seven, it's given to us according to the gift of Christ. And that Greek word is the Greek word duria, which emphasizes not regard to conditions, not based upon how we use it even. There's no strings attached to those gifts. The Corinthian church didn't use their gifts. They abused their gifts. They were not living as God would have them to live. They're living carnally. And yet those gifts were not taken away. We read in the Word of God that they came behind in no spiritual gift, not based upon conditions. A man may fall into sin. A man may be a preacher, a Bible teacher, an evangelist, and he might fall into adultery or other kinds of sins. And that gift is not removed from him. A spiritual gift is not based upon a condition. But then there's a last word, and that's in verse eight. It says, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men. And that last word for gifts is a different Greek word yet. It's the Greek word doma, D-O-M-A. And W. E. Vine says that word doma emphasizes the importance of the gift. It's of great value. of great value to the one who gave the gift and should be of great value to us. Spiritual gifts are freely given. There's no conditions on the possession of those gifts. But from God's perspective and should be from our perspective, those gifts are valuable. Those gifts are unique. Those gifts were given from God himself, from Christ himself. And if we go down to verse eight and nine and ten, there's two things that strike me so powerfully as I think about spiritual gifts. First of all, the cost of the gift, and we could say the dignity of the gift. Let's look at that for a moment in verse nine. It says, but now that he ascended, that is our Lord Jesus, in Ephesians chapter four, these gifts are given from the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse nine, it says, now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. Turn with me, if you would, keep your finger there in Ephesians to Psalm one thirty nine. Psalm one thirty nine. What does that phrase mean? Lower parts of the earth. Does that mean, is some, that he went into hell, went into Hades and spoke to the captives that were in Hades? They're unbelievers and some even say preached and gave them a second chance to believe. Lutheran church believes that. No, I don't think at all. I think it's so important to compare scriptural phrases, Jewish idioms with other parts of Scripture. Chapter thirty-nine and verse fifteen. Speaking with verse fourteen. Here in this psalm, David is speaking about the intricate and marvelous A way God brings life, brings a child, brings an infant into the world. He says, I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvelous are thy works that my soul knoweth right well. Now in verse fifteen, my substance was not hidden from thee. When I was made in secret and intricately formed or wrought in the lowest part of the earth. What is that? That's the womb. That is how we all have come into the world through a Jewish idiom or phrase, the lowest part of the earth. I'm not sure what the basis or the underlying idea behind that phrase is, but that's what verse nine is talking about. The Lord Jesus Christ, to give us that gift, he had to descend first, leave the glorious of heaven, leave the fellowship he had with the Father. leave the sovereign relationship he had over those ten thousand and thousands of angels that were there. He came into this world. He came to his own, scripture says, and his own received him not. He was stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He went to the cross. He was born of a virgin, was born and raised and went through all the kinds of experiences we go through apart from sin. And then when he was thirty years old, he began his earthly ministry. And he was rejected by the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And he went on that earthly path, eventually culminating in Calvary's cross. And the Lord Jesus Christ had to do all of those things. The idea in verse nine is he that ascended, he that descended, is first that one that descended. Before he was raised, he came down to earth as a man. He suffered. He labored. He gave his life on Calvary's cross. And then he is resurrected. And part of the truth of our spiritual gifts is the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ went through great costs. Tremendous costs to enable himself to give us those gifts. But then he says also in verse ten, he that descended is the same that ascended up far above all heavens. that he might fill all things. Where is our Lord Jesus Christ now after his ascension? He's on the right hand of the Father in heaven. And from that place of dignity or that place of glory, that place of exaltation, our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the gift that you have, the spiritual gift that you have. It makes me stop and think of the cost of what the Lord Jesus went through here on his earthly ministry. how he was rejected, how he was scorned, how he was mocked, how he was crucified, and then how he's ascended. And now how he is exalted into the highest place of the universe. And from that place, he is given to me a spiritual gift. If the Lord Jesus went through all of that, and if the Lord Jesus now from that highest place in the universe has given that gift to me, How much more should I value that gift? How much more should I give all that I have, my energy, my time, my thinking, the application of that all that I have in my life and give it to develop that gift and use that gift and exercise that gift and practice that gift? I wonder about you tonight. What gift do you have? What gift do you have and are you using that gift? Maybe you're a teacher. Maybe you're given to hospitality or administration or giving or helps or some other gift. You know, we all need, the body of Christ needs every gift, working together, working in concert, working as a glove in a hand, working together to build up the body of Christ. And as we do that, we reach out with the gospel. But you know, only a five. or ten or a core of people in assembly are using their gifts, and the others aren't. The way the design of God for an assembly is not being achieved. And I don't know how many people in the evangelical church, but I fear there are so many. There are so many that neglect that high and holy gifts that Christ from that exalted place has given to them. And they go on in their Christian lives, They read their Bibles and they come and attend church and maybe give financially, but they neglect that gift, that Christ has given to them to use in the design of his church. And I just trust tonight, maybe there's someone here that says, I want to use my gift. I've been neglecting it. I haven't been using it. I haven't been thinking about it. I haven't been examining my heart. I haven't been saying, what has God given to me? What gift do I have? And how can I develop it? How can I use it within the local church? Or how can I use it out in the world to serve Christ? Just turn back with me to one chapter. It's interesting. Scripture tells us two areas that are very important in the use of at least the speaking gifts. And I want to spend a little bit of time thinking about this. Because this is an area I think that is a neglected area. the speaking gifts. Chapter three and verse seven. What was essential for someone who's a minister, who's a servant of Christ, a preacher? Paul says, I'm a preacher. I'm a minister. Verse seven, of which I was made a minister. What's essential for someone who is a called out minister, called by God to be a full-time minister? It says he should have a gift. of which I was made a minister according to the gifts of the grace of God, given unto me by the essential working of His power. You know, sometimes I've seen young people who felt called to go to the foreign mission field or go here or there and you ask them what their gift is. What area are you going to labor in? I said, I don't know. I don't know what my spiritual gift is. I'm going to do different things. I think it's all right to do different things to discover your gift. But once you go out as someone who's called to the mission field, I think it's so important to major in certain areas. The Apostle Paul, if he had said, well, you know, I'm going to work in all the areas at the same time, he wouldn't have achieved the things that God wanted him to do primarily. I think he did everything, all those eighteen or nineteen spiritual gifts. I think he worked in all those areas, but he labored specifically in a number of areas. We need to do that as well. He says he was a minister. that he has a spiritual gift and he labored in that spiritual gift. But then in eight and nine, he says, and ten, there are two specific areas that those who are engaged in the speaking gifts should labor in. In verse eight, he says, unto me that I am less than the least of the saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'm going to suggest to you tonight that that phrase speaks of the gospel. Preaching the gospel to a lost world, the unsearchable riches of Christ. That was one of the areas within the speaking gifts. And if you don't even have the gift of an evangelist or the gift of a teacher, Paul says to Timothy, do the work of an evangelist. We share the gospel and we witness. But it says this is one of the areas that we should labor in, that we can make all men safe. We preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. But then a second area to labor in. And this is an area I think that is neglected. The gospel is going forth in many, many places. It could go more places. It could go more effectively to certain places. But it is going out. But in verse nine, this is a very neglected area. It says another area that is important. is then to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages had been hidden in God who created all things in Christ to the intent that now and to the principalities and powers and heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord in whom we now have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. This last area that he might make all men see what the fellowship of the mystery is, that's the church, the doctrines concerning the local church and the universal church. These are the two primary areas to make, to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to those that are lost, and then to teach all men, to make all men see The importance of God's design for the church. The local church is something very important. The blueprint and the right functioning of a local church. The worship within the local church. The Lord's Supper. Baptism. Elders. Deacons. All of these various areas. These are important. Today, some will say there is no blueprint. There is no design. If one church functions this way and one church functions that way, it really makes no difference. as long as we preach the scriptures. And it does make a difference. It's a blueprint. It's a design. How can it be that a hundred churches could have a hundred different designs and all accomplish what Christ wants to be accomplished? He says there are two great areas to preach the gospel and to follow the divine design of the church. I don't think the Lord Jesus has left us to our own design. He's given us an incomparable design of the church, and he wants us to labor in that. And think carefully about the church. There's a design for the tabernacle. There's a design for Noah's Ark. There's a design for the family. I believe there's a design, incomparable design, for the local church. But let's go back for a moment over to chapter four and look at verse eleven and verse twelve. This is a much neglected area, I think, and an important area. In verse eleven, he says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists, some pastors and some teachers. Why did he give those gifts to the church? He says, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. We could say a lot about verse eleven. I'm not going to do that tonight. can go through and speak about what an apostle is or what a prophet is and what gifts are for today and what gifts are not. But I want to go down to verse twelve. What was the reason he gave these gifts to local churches? I'm going to read you a paraphrase or a translation by Charles Hodge. Charles Hodge was a professor at Princeton Seminary. He's written commentaries. Over the years, denominations and groups of Christians have really overlooked verse twelve. You can't imagine a church without one leader doing everything. And so when he writes, Charles Hodge says in his translation of this verse, it should read this way according to his thinking. Verse twelve should read, for the sake of perfecting the saints, Christ appointed these officers to do the work of the ministry for the edification of the body. Now that really is taking what the verse says and changing it completely. It doesn't say that at all, does it? He says here in verse twelve, these gifts were given for the perfecting or the equipping of the saints to do the work of the ministry. What if we only had the officers of the church to do the work of the ministry? They're the only ones that do the work. Only the pastor, only the deacon, only the ordained men of this, of the church, the universal church. Only them, only they did the preaching and the teaching and labored. No one else did. What would happen? We wouldn't get very far in the church, would we? It can't be that. It can't mean that. What the apostle is saying through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is saying this. God wants us all to go out. to take our gifts equipped by gifted men and to develop those gifts so we can spread and go everywhere and use our gifts in every possible place to further the kingdom of God, to further the gospel, to further Christ's teaching wherever we go. And so he says these gifts, an apostle when he came into a local church, one of the things he would do was he would train and equip and build up the saints. not just the elders and not just the teachers. They made labor primarily, but he would build up all of the believers. What would the teacher do besides teaching? He would teach others how to teach. What would the evangelist do besides preaching the gospel? He would teach others how to evangelize. And when we have gospel meetings, I really think one of the things we should do is that evangelist should come in and he should teach the saints how to evangelize. And the teacher, when he comes in, he should... teach a little bit of how those who are gifted teachers in the local church, how they should teach. What would happen if we did that? It could be two illustrations, one from John Calvin. Many, many years ago in the fifteen hundred, the believers in France were being persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church, put to death if they were Protestants, if they were not following the Roman Catholic Church. They were fine believers, sugar no believers, And many of them went to Geneva and trained for one year in Geneva with some of the leaders there. And a hundred and twenty-one Frenchmen went to Geneva and they were trained for a year. They went back to France and in eleven years, eleven years, a hundred and twenty-one teachers, workers, evangelists started over two thousand churches. Could that have happened if they didn't teach others, who would teach others, who would teach others? How can a hundred and twenty-one preachers start two thousand churches without training and equipping others and they equip others and they equip others? It's a wonderful series of books that is put out by CMML. I think it may be out of print now. It was called That the World May Know. And in the book they have on France, they tell a story about a man named Ralph Shalas. And I was privileged to hear Ralph Schallis when I was with Operation Mobilization for a summer. It was an older man, maybe in his eighties or eighty-five at that time. He labored in North Africa. So he came to France for a time. He was in an assembly. And there were three men that were especially, had special gifts, had real devotion to the Lord. And one was called Atlant Chauquier. One was called Marcel Tabayou. And one was called Gerald Spanchez. Three men. And he spent years training those three men, investing his life into those men. Marcel Tabayou went to Grenoble, started numerous churches, numerous assemblies, started one in Grenoble that is over two hundred believers. Two hundred believers in France, it would be like two thousand believers in North America, one of the largest churches in all of France. Alan Shockier went into Paris, started churches twelve assemblies there. Gerald Sanchez went in there to help him. These men went out, had to be entrained by one person, went out and served and labored and God blessed in a tremendous way. I think we should see what our spiritual gift is. As believers come and are saved, we train and equip them to know their spiritual gifts and we go out and we labor for the Lord. Your gift may be in hospitality. Your gift may be in home Bible studies or some other area. As I was thinking tonight, I jot it down, a number of things that people are doing and using their spiritual gifts. I know that dear sister in New York State, she has the tremendous gift, I think, of hospitality. She always invites someone. There's always someone in her home. She gets out her Bible and she has one-to-one Bible studies with people she meets. She invites them to her home. She shows them how to arrange flowers and she shows them how to do this and something else. And she has five or six home Bibles. It's one to one or one to two because of her gift of hospitality. There's so many different things we can do. There's a gifted lady in Clearwater, Florida. She was newly saved, went to a home Bible study, and she grew and learned how to study her Bible. It taught her how to do personal Bible study. And pretty soon she thought to herself, I can lead Bible studies for women. And she started. She started very small. And over twenty years, her Bible study, she has two Bible studies in Clearwater with two hundred women in two different places. There's an assembly about five years old in Clearwater basically that have come out of women and men that have been saved through the outreach of those Bible studies. There's so many different things we can do when we train and equip other people to discover their spiritual gifts. I think back in my home assembly, an old retired man named Bernard Williams retired from an insurance company and he thought how can I use the rest of my life how can I use the energies I have and the gifts I have and he decided to just invite young men college students serious Christians into his home just to mentor young single men and he knows you look back on some of those men there are a number of those men that are full-time workers today There are a number of those men who are elders today. When he saw young men, he brought them into his home, provided meals with his wife, read the scriptures, taught the scriptures, talked about work and talked about needs, and just invested his life into their lives. And God has used him and blessed his energies. Are you using your spiritual gift? What is your spiritual gift? And then we as leaders and teachers and elders, are we taken to heart The principle we have in Scripture is to train others, equip others so they can go in turn serve and they can equip others. Verse twelve, these gifts were given for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. Close in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that you've given each one of us a gift, a spiritual gift. You've trained us, Father. You've asked us to use that gift. You want us to develop that gift and mature in that gift. and then train others and equip others to do the same. This world can never be reached, Father, with just a few. We want us all to be involved in these areas. So we pray that you would help us to this end, Father. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.