14 Stages of the Pilgrimage Journey of the Christian

Growing up my mother’s favorite New Year’s Eve tradition was to start and finish a puzzle. The puzzles were big and difficult. We would race against the clock, trying to complete it by midnight. Even though we were all working together, the puzzle would take hours to finish.

We watched the clock turning as we fought against time to get done before midnight. The picture would slowly take form, from appearing as nothing more than a random assortment of colors, to slowly resembling something detailed and real. 

As the clock approached midnight, sometimes we wouldn't get done until minutes before midnight, and we'd all celebrate, and gaze at the beautiful picture that the puzzle created. We couldn't see it at first, but we kept working diligently, and finally near midnight, we saw how it all fit together. 

Similarly, we as Christians slowly study the word of God, the parables of Jesus, the Old Testament heroes, the proverbs, the psalms, the prophets, the four gospels, the I am statements of Jesus, the teachings of the Apostle Paul, Peter, John, and others, and we find ourselves with all sorts of puzzle pieces. 

Over the years we begin to sort these puzzle pieces and bring them together, one by one, and more and more, we begin to see a big picture of how Christianity actually works. 

Over the last three months we’ve gone through a series called "Shapes of Faith" and we’ve looked at different scriptures in a visual format. We’ve learned a lot about the journey of life for a Christian, but now we’re going to put it all together.

We’re going to piece together the different pictures we created into a depiction of the Christian life from the moment we first find salvation in Jesus, to the moment we pass into the next life.

1. The Gray Fish

We start off at the gray fish, unsaved, and headed in the wrong direction.

But at some point in our lives we came to saving faith in Jesus Christ and we repented, we changed directions and began moving in the a new direction.

2. The Blue Fish

This began life in the Spirit, which we talked about from Romans 8:9-11, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”

3. Square Shape

This led us into the square shape, where we as Christians come to be taught in the truth (Ephesians 4:21). We find fellowship with other Christians in faithful churches, we’re taught the truth, and in so doing we learn to put on the new self, and put off the old self.

4. Triangle Shape

As we grow and learn we become more and more in tune with the Holy Spirit within, and we grow into the peace of Christ which guards our hearts and minds.

We change our thought life and make allowance for each other’s faults. We practice self-examination, and in all this we become ambassadors for Christ in the world, spreading the gospel for Him.

5. The Two Towers

As we continue our journey with Christ, we really learn that it’s about sowing. If we sow to the Spirit, we will reap eternal life through the Spirit, if we sow to the flesh, we will reap destruction from the flesh.

If we plant seeds that build a holy life, we’ll walk the path of life, if we plant seeds of sin, we’ll reap disaster.

6. The House Built Up in Fullness

As we grow in Christ more and more, we eventually reach a point where we come into spiritual maturity. We’ve grown into maturity. And we become more and more conformed in the likeness of Jesus Christ.

As it says in Ephesians 4:13, “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”

This is the way of unveiling perfect love.

7. The Heart

So, in maturity in Christ, we come to a place where we can say, "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast."

We’ve seen God clear away negative things from our hearts and make our hearts truly pure and full of the love of God.

The whole process of being led by the Spirit, crucifying the flesh, resisting the flesh, practicing faithful behavior, was all for the purpose of developing a heart of love.

As it says in 1st Cor 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

8. The Road

Yet we know this Christian life is a lifelong journey, a journey down a long road from Earth towards heaven.

As we travel the road, we know we must forget the past, and press on toward the goal, knowing that already today we are citizens of heaven, and we are on a pilgrimage through this world, toward the next.

We set aside everything else and press on toward the goal.

As it says in Philippians 3, verses 8-11, “Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”

And we know the enemy is gunning for us on the journey, so we always remember to put on the armor of God.

9. Star of David

We learned to put on the armor of God daily in our pilgrimage journey toward heaven. We know we have an adversary who is seeking to harm us. But God is with us, and protects us, as we wear His armor.

And as we apply the armor each day, with faith, hope, peace, and discernment, we find ourselves in a spiritual place of readiness called “Strong in the Lord.”

10. The Eagle

We know though, that in the battles of life, the difficulties and problems we face, we go through cycles with the Lord, where we begin to lose hope, and grow weary. Then we start to clutch the branch, and we sometimes forget how to fly. But God comes in those times where we’ve given up and lost hope. He restores our hope, heals us, and helps us to hope again. Then he brings us up and teaches us to soar on the winds again. This cycle occurs many times in life. It’s a process of molding and shaping us as His beloved children.

11. The Butterflies

As we go through the trials and tribulations of life, the low spots and pains, God brings us through transformations in the Christian life.

We learn to surrender to God and His will, we learn to find liberty from sins, we learn humility, we learn spiritual warfare, and we experience encounters with God, mountaintop experiences, and in all this we learn death to self, to really allow God to reign in us.

As it says in 2nd Cor 3:17-18 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

12. Body of Christ

As we grow and learn and develop, we find our place in the body of Christ as a servant, using our spiritual gifts to bless each other, build each other up, and spread the gospel to the unsaved.

We learn that we’re part of a large whole, and that we have a part to play. We learn to use our gifts, we learn to serve, to give, to encourage one another, to show mercy, to prophesy, and to teach.

13. The Hour-Glass

But as the years go by and we get closer to heaven, more and more we begin to focus our attention on heaven. We long to be united with Christ. We long to be with Him in heaven. We long to be free from the flesh.

2nd Cor 5:1-3 says “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked.”

We long for heaven, we long to have our new clothing, the clothing of heaven. We long to no longer be in the flesh, because we fear being found unfaithful, so we long for the time when Jesus returns, so we may be found faithful.

We’re tired of battling the flesh. We’re tired of the struggles of life. More and more we long for the heavenly dwelling.

14. The Sun

Yet always shining above us is the sun in our sky, our great hope, of the return of Jesus Christ, when all things will be made right. We long for that moment. We cry out for that moment. We dream of that moment.

We know Jesus our savior lived a perfect life, that he died a substitutionary death for us on the cross, and that he rose from the grave and is alive right now!

We know Jesus Christ will return to reign on the earth. We know that we must be awake and sober watching for the return of Jesus.

We know that the dead in Christ will rise again from the dead and live forever with Him. We know God will judge the living and the dead, when Jesus returns.

What an amazing adventure! Are you on the journey? What stage are you at? Which area do you need to focus in on? Spend some time in prayer and ask God to speak to you about which phase of the journey you're currently in. 

Let’s Review our Main Points today:

1. The Gray Fish – We lived in the realm of the flesh, until we came into a crisis moment when we encountered the gospel of Jesus Christ (lostness)

2. The Blue Fish - Once we move from the flesh to the Spirit through the salvation in Jesus Christ, we begin a journey of being led by the Spirit of Christ (salvation)

3. The Square – We’ve been taught in the truth and the truth changes us (sanctification)

4. The Triangle – As we grow we become ambassadors for Christ (representatives of God’s kingdom)

5. The Tower Towers – As we sow to the Spirit more and more we reap spiritual growth, but the flesh attempts to pull us back (Fruits of the Spirit develop)

6. The House – the five fold ministry helps build us up into the fullness of Jesus Christ (We find spiritual maturity)

7. The Heart – spiritual maturity manifests as total change in our hearts (We learn to really love people from a pure heart)

8. The Road – we travel day by day through this life pressing on toward the goal (we travel the pilgrim road as citizens of heaven)

9. Star of David – the enemy attacks us on the way, so we put on the armor of God (we learn faithful mindset for spiritual battles)

10. The Eagle – when we face weariness, we wait on God and God restores our hope and causes us to soar (we learn to persevere through dark times)

11. The Butterfly – in our Christian life we experience different transformations, where God changes us through sanctification (Spiritual growth continues from glory to glory)

12. Body of Christ – we serve in the body of Christ as part of a larger whole (We learn to be part of a larger mission and use the gifts God gave us)

13. The Hour Glass – as we travel through this world we long for heaven (Our focus becomes more and more on heaven in this world)

14. The Sun – the final victory comes when Jesus Christ returns to Earth (Our Salvation is made manifest in the return of Jesus)

Being Transformed from Glory to Glory: 7 Transitions in the Christian Life

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” -2nd Cor 3:17-18

We as Christians are being transformed from one degree of glory to another, from glory to glory.

God has given us many things in nature to tell us about himself. Outer space tells us about his infinite power and how deep God truly is. The four seasons tell us about the cycle of fall, sin, rebirth and renewal. The laws of the universe, gravity, time, the golden ratio, tell us we live in a universe of fixed laws and structures. The word even tells us to "look to the ant" for wisdom. 

Similarly, I think God gave us the caterpillar and the butterfly to tell us about ourselves. To tell us that we need a transformation to become all we’re meant to be.

We start off life as a caterpillar. We move close to the ground, like the caterpillar, six legs, six eyes, close to the ground, focused on earthly things.

Many never make it past this point in their lives. They live and die as a caterpillar, having never experienced the amazing transformation that God can do in their lives.

But today I want to talk about the power of God’s transformations in our lives. So we’re going to talk about a series of transformations that take place in the life of the Christian.

The first transformation is the transformation of salvation.

The unsaved person, the caterpillar is faced with a crisis. It’s the chief crisis for every human being on planet Earth.

It’s the crisis around our own sinfulness, our own inability, our own failures, our own inadequacy.

The crisis is brutal when we realize that our sins are leading us to disaster. We get angry. We get sad. We argue with ourselves about it. We try self help books. We try meditation. We try drinking it away. We try acting out. We try therapy or medications. Nothing touches that empty feeling within.

1. The Transformation of Salvation - lost to born again
We go into a cocoon at this point. If we really embrace the struggle, instead of denying it, and hiding from it, and running from it, if we face the question head on, we go into a cocoon.

We wrestle with the God idea. We wrestle with the pain of sin. We wrestle with ourselves. And as we wrestle and wrestle over, weeks, months, years, eventually, in the sorrow and loneliness and pain, we begin to see a light on the horizon, a hope, in one name, the name of Jesus Christ, and at rock bottom in the deep darkness of the cocoon we cry out to the name of Jesus, and suddenly, we burst forth out of that cocoon as a new creation, a beautiful butterfly, made new, transformed, different than we used to be.

As it says in the word, “2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

That is the first transformation, the transformation of salvation. We go from lost, to saved, sinful to pure, broken to made whole. But that isn’t the end. It’s only just the beginning.

2. Transformation of Surrender - letting God control your life
The second transformation, is the transformation of surrender. This is the moment in every Christian’s life usually maybe a year or a few years after they get saved, that they realize, through a crisis, or conviction, or pain, or sin, that they can’t run their own lives anymore.

They’ve got to let God practically guide the course of their life. They can’t be in the drivers seat anymore, the Lord Jesus must be.

In a moment of surrender, the believer submits themselves to God. They turn their will (choices) over to God, and acknowledge God in all their ways. And God makes their paths right.

As it says in Luke 9:23-24 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

It also says in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

We go into another cocoon, as we know something is wrong with our walk with God. We’re still trying to run our own lives. We’re still trying to be in control. We go into that cocoon, we wrestle with God, we wrestle with ourselves, and argue inside, but I want to run my own life, I want to have a say, I don’t want to go some place I don’t want to go, but in the end, we wrestle through, we get on our knees, realizing God is right and will lead us perfectly, and we surrender our will to God. God, run my life from now on, it’s yours.

We come out of the cocoon, an even more beautiful butterfly.

3. Transformation of Liberty – freedom from sins of the flesh
Next, we consider the transformation of liberty.

The word of God says, “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

I saw in my life as a Christian that I was living in active sins. I was living in gossip. I was living in masturbation. I was living in theft. In lust. I was living in different sins of the flesh.

I kept trying to convince myself that it was OK to sin every day. Christians sin all the time, come on it’s ok! But over and over in prayer it was clear, you must repent of these sins. You can have freedom, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

So I went into another cocoon. I wrestled within. It doesn’t matter if I sin I’m already saved. It doesn’t matter. God understands. I kept trying to justify it. But the Lord just kept speaking to me about freedom. Real freedom.

And in that dark cocoon I slowly began to believe that Christian can really be free from sin. They really can repent of sins and live pure as He is pure. Not by our own efforts, but by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit within us.

Where the Spirit of the Lord, there is not slavery to sin, there is freedom.

Galatians 5:24, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Over the next few years began a process of victories over various sins in my life. The Lord would convict me of a sin, I would ask forgiveness, repent, and God would help me to find sustained freedom from it. One by one, he peeled the layers of the onion shell away.

I’m not saying I’m perfect today, there I days I have to go before God and repent, but today I fundamentally live in victory, in liberty from sin, because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

So we come out the cocoon a new and beautiful butterfly.

4. Transformation of Humiliation – humbling experience that keeps us close to the ground
In all this transformation we can soon become prideful at our glory and beauty, as God transforms us from one degree of glory to the next.

So God will give us the gift of humiliation, to keep us humble. We experience painful events, we’re shown that we aren’t super human. We become sick, or deathly ill. We experience mental health problems. We have a friend turn against us. We expect to achieve so much at work, but instead our work is pretty average.

These experiences keep us humble. They strip away pride.

Proverbs 29:23 ESV “One's pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.”

And Jesus said, “Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.” -Matthew 23:12 GNT

So we go into another cocoon, we want to feel great, we don’t want to be humbled, we don’t want to think of others before ourselves. But God is humbling us. God is humiliating us, it seems like. We wrestle with it. We argue against it. We get mad at God because we feel humiliated. But in the end, by God’s grace, we allow God to humble us, and we learn to keep ourselves humble, by the Spirit’s leading.

5. The Transformation of Battle - spiritual warfare
Fifthly, we consider the transformation of battle.

1st Peter 5:8, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

The enemy, demons, Satan, the evil one attacks us. This happens to Christians from time to time. We come under attack. The enemy uses a situation to attack you. The enemy whispers lies to you. The enemy attacks you in your dreams. The enemy messes with your family or friends.

This experience brings us all running to God the Father. It keeps us close to God. We pray through it. We dive into the word of God. We overcome and defeat the enemy by resisting the enemy. We don’t fear the enemy. The enemy learns to fear us. Because we cast him out.

But again, this brings us into a cocoon. Why is God allowing this? Why does the enemy have access to me? He must have God’s permission, just like with Satan with Job. He couldn’t do anything to Job without God’s permission.

But eventually in that cocoon we realize God is allowing these spiritual battles because he loves us and wants to train us to fight and win these battles. And we come out again, having found victory over the enemy, stronger, braver, bolder, and mightier in spiritual combat.

You come out of the battle scarred, wearied, but you can feel your spiritual muscles have grown stronger. I’ve felt it many times.

“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen. -1st Peter 5:10-11

6. Transformation of Transfiguration – an experience with God that changes us (brings us higher up)
You can really never be the same after the transformation of transfiguration. This is one of those experiences that Christians call a mountain top experience, like Elijah at mount Horeb when God showed him his glory. Or when Moses saw the glory of God and his face was shining as he came down from mount Sinai. Or when Peter, James and John saw Jesus transfigured on Mount Tabor.

This kind of experience will bring a new awe for God. We become more amazed at God’s power and infinite nature. We learn a new level of God’s love.

This experience also very often is accompanied by the fear of the Lord. Moses was afraid. Elijah was terrified and covered his face in his cloak. God’s presence brings the fear of God.

And this often brings us into cocoon. We’re so overcome by the fear of the Lord, it changes us. We become much more devoted to God. We become much more amazed at God. But we’re also keenly aware of just how small we are and just how big God is. It can be very unsettling. When you see into the spiritual realm even for a moment it can shock you. There are things at play in the universe, in humanity, in the fall, that simply make you want to sob uncontrollably.

So we wrestle in that cocoon. But as we allow ourselves to embrace this new, higher view of God, this new reverence, this new love, this new fear of the Lord, it changes us.

Of all these experiences I think the change found in transfiguration, the mountain experience is the most intense.

It almost feels as if you’ve been sandblasted, as if God were so close you feel seared on the edges, a bit burnt on the sides by the experience. It’s amazing. And a bit scary.

From Matthew 17, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.

4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”

7. The Transformation of Death (to self) - death to self, and final physical death, which is glorification

Lastly, we consider the transformation of death, or glorification.

The transformation of (Death) Glory is when we die to self in some way. This happens all the time. You could call it the journey of sanctification. Over your life you’re slowly conformed into the same image of Jesus Christ, from one degree of glory to the next, step by step, death to self, death to self, death to self, and these changes, which are sometimes quite difficult, make you more and more like Jesus.

God is constantly chipping away at your character and will and emotions and soul, changing you and building you up in Christ.

This is accomplished through the Holy Spirit at work within you, though I assume the whole Trinity is at work on you in different ways, the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all working on you.

All of this comes to a point of what we Wesleyans call entire sanctification. We come to a state of spiritual maturity. We no longer live in constant sin and selfishness. We still face temptations. We still make mistakes. But we find ourselves mature in Christ. We are no longer swept along by every random thought and idea, we are firm, grounded in Christ, with a heart of love, and able to serve in many blessed ways.

This occurs throughout all the stages of transformation we’ve talked about today, but I saved it for last because the goal is to reach a place of general maturity.

As it says in Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The Greek word there is teleios which implies completeness, maturity, wholeness, perfect, finished.

Colossians 1:28 says, “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”

Additionally, death to self, through this process, finds it’s final completion in physical death itself. This is the final death to self. It’s the final transformation, on this journey of glorious transformations from one degree of glory to the next, the final transformation is physical death itself.

You come to the end of yourself. You come to the end of your ability to live. If you’re lucky and blessed you get to die for Jesus. But, in any case, we all die.

And we go into the final cocoon. This cocoon we wrestle in. I don’t want to die. I’m not ready to die. Yet you can feel death coming. You know it’s here. And I think in the end, we accept our fate, we accept that we will die, and then we simply allow it to happen, at the right moment, by God’s leading.

And the final test of our faith in the cocoon, which we’ve used time and again, in oall our transformations, is to believe and know, that this final cocoon is not fatal, because we will wake up in a new place. And we will be transformed at last, completely, glorification.

We will receive a new body, our sin nature will be gone, and we will be perfect as Christ is perfect. And the ultimate victory is won.

Philippians 3:20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.”

Let’s Review our Main Points:
1. Initially we were all the caterpillar (unsaved)

2. God brought us to a cocoon that brought change (crisis)

3. We emerged as a butterfly (salvation)

4. The first transformation is the moment of salvation (born again experience)

5. Transformation of surrender (Letting God run our lives practically)

6. Transformation of liberty (God delivers us from sins of the flesh)

7. Transformation of humiliation (God brings victory over pride)

8. Transformation of battle (Spiritual warfare makes us stronger)

9. Transformation of transfiguration (Mt top experiences reveal who God is to us)

10. Transformation of death to self (sanctification brings us to spiritual maturity)

11. The ultimate death to self is physical death (the final cocoon)

12. The final crisis of death brings us to glorification (where we receive new bodies from Christ fitted for heaven)

Hope Again: Going from Broken to Soaring in the Storm of Life

My wife and I were traveling to see a musical in Charlotte, Mi Saturday. We’ve often felt a divine connection with the bald eagle. I recall numerous times when God would use the bald eagle to give me a nudge in the Spirit, or give me a sense of hope for the future. I saw eagles talon locking over my car on the highway once and it was right before Chelsey and I would become friends. I have eagle pictures in my house. My step-dad even got me a brass eagle as a gift, because he knows how eagles remind me of God’s promises and hope. It’s the same for Chelsey.

Anyway, we were driving and right over our car we saw a beautiful bald eagle flying. We’ve had some real struggles lately, along with many blessings, so it really spoke to both of us.

I had a period from December through early April where I had constant GI issues, high stress levels, and racing thoughts, ever since going off anti-depressants, after being on them for over ten years. I knew was time to move forward, but the process had left me miserable and struggling. Thankfully, it’s slowly getting better.

Have you experienced a season in your life when you were broken and weary? Did it seem to go on and on? Did it seem to never end? What were you feeling?

I can tell you about numerous experiences in my life when I simply longed for a hard time period, that moment, to be over.

You try to make the best of it. You try to keep a good attitude. But the storm rages. And part of you just wants out.

That brings us to the context of our scripture today. Judah was facing an enemy, Assyria that was threatening to destroy them. But God promises they will be ok.

King Hezekiah leads the nation through this hard time relying on God. But even he becomes deathly sick, but he cries out in prayer to God and God heals him. And Assyria is defeated by God, and driven away.

Yet Isaiah 40, our scripture today, speaks not only of the victories in the past, of Hezekiah and the victory over Assyria, but, it speaks of the future, a time when Judah would be in captivity in Babylon, but would then return home and rebuild the nation.

Have you ever felt like God doesn’t see you? Have you felt that God sees you, but your cause doesn’t seem to matter to Him?

Did you cry out to God? Did you pray? Did you ask God what was going on?

I can think of many circumstances in my life where I cried out to God and said to God, "What are you doing? Where is your help in my time of need?"

We all have to learn something about how God acts in our lives: We can’t predict what he’s going to do. Our moral judgment about God’s actions in the situation are almost always incorrect. Don’t try to say, "Well, here is how and when God is going to help me."

God is very unpredictable, but it’s not random either. What he’s doing is very calculated and intentional. It’s most often intended to teach you something very deep or make an adjustment deep within you.

When you understand that, your trials and problems make a lot more sense.

So it starts out in Isaiah 40:27, with God saying to the nation, “Why do you complain, Jacob?”

You will find yourself in situations where you feel weak. You can’t move. You can’t function right. You are off. Not just for a day, but for a season. For a year. Even longer. You can’t function. You can’t make it.

Your heart grows weary, tired, cold, and you begin to lose hope.

We become like the eagle, sitting on the tree branch, unable to fly, or unwilling to fly.

And we complain, we cry out to God.

And God replies, “Why do you complain?”

The NIV renders it “complain” but it’s actually saying why are you speaking this way?

And it continues, God says..

“Why do you say, Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”?

That is the assumption, when we are going through something hard, and we pray and nothing happens, we think to ourselves, “Where is God?”

It’s at just those times when we need to be reminded who God is.

It’s easy to know “Jesus is my savior” when everything is going great. But it’s when everything is crazy we have to cling to the promise that Jesus is savior.

Let me tell you about the eagle. The eagle during a storm finds a safe place, a nest, a strong branch, and it digs it’s talons in tight.

Eagle talons are extremely powerful. Vets working with eagles have to be very careful because eagle talons can rip through just about any pair of gloves.

The eagle can sense the storm coming.

It may be a beautiful sunny day, but the eagle gets ready, finds a location and locks in. Pretty soon what was once the most beautiful sunny day becomes a bleak, dark, stormy, nightmare.

My dog Sammy, during a storm, he gets terrified. He clings so close to my wife Chelsey that she and him breathe as one. He's part border collie. A border collie can feel the storm in their bones. We Christians can also sense storms coming, in the Spirit. 

As Christians it can be one day everything is going great, and suddenly a storm roles in and we think alright, it’s time to grip on to the cross of Jesus Christ with those talons.

It’s time to cling on to God during the storm. And God will get me through.

We’re all trained to do that. But what do we do when the storm gets worse? Many of you know also, cling on even tighter. Hold fast even longer. Because God trains each of us. 

It's dark as night and the storm lasts so long. It seems like daybreak will never come. 

What happens when you see a light on the horizon, and you get all excited, but then you realize it’s a train light of a 30 car train headed straight for you, during the storm, and you’re standing on the railroad tracks?

What do you do then? Is it time to panic yet?

We each have reached a moment in these storms where we start to lose hope. What is your threshold of sorrow? When do you start to give up?

Isaiah chapter 40 reminds us of the comfort of God in these situations.

It says in Isaiah 40:1-2, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

The trial occurs. The difficulty occurs. The problem plays out. But it also does reach an end, where comfort from God comes.

And we are reminded by God about who He is. Because in the midst of the ongoing difficulty, we start to forget. We start to think, well, it’s just not going to happen. It’s going to fall apart. God has forgotten about me.

We know the scripture. But our emotions go to that place of, “it’s too late.”

But God appears and says to us: (v. 28) "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

God is still God when it seems like it’s over. When it seems like it’s too late, God is still God. 

These are human emotions. It feels real, I get that. It feels so completely real. But it’s not real. It’s not the end. It’s only just the beginning. Or, if it really is the end, it’s still only the beginning, because after even physical death comes new life.

There are different things we go through in life.

The context of Isaiah 40 is a nation, a people, a person even, who has been punished for their sins. They’ve messed up and they are being paid back for it. They are also at the same time receiving forgiveness. You can be forgiven by Jesus, but still have consequences in this world. Sure God forgave you but you can’t change the fact that you hurt that person in your sin. You can’t change the fact of the charges against you. You can’t change the fact that the family is in shambles.

That’s one area where we need to rise up in weakness. After Sin and forgiveness.

A second area is after a trial, God was testing you, it took everything for you to get through it, now you feel broken.

A third area, is spiritual warfare the enemy was attacking you, and you made it through but now you feel weak.

A fourth area, is common sorrow. Life is just tough, it wasn’t God, it wasn’t the enemy it was just bad stuff that happens in life.

Any of these areas can produce a crisis that leads to a spot of brokenness.

Depending on the storm that I go through, it can be one of two things, one, you find me clinging to the tree branch, clinging to Christ, I’m wet, I’m tired, but I made it through.

Scenario two is I’m smeared across the ground over there, in a gutter, drenched, face down in a puddle, in tears, ugly cry, and I’m just not ok. I’ve been in both.

In either of these scenarios, we come out the other side of our struggle, the other side of the storm, and that’s what we’re talking about today: What do you do at the other side of the storm?

The storm is over. But so are you. It didn’t matter that the storm was over because you were done too. As much as the storm disappeared, so has your heart and zest for life.

You have given up. What do you do then?

And why would God wait until you were over to ask you to start again?

Why does it take getting to the point that you give up to reach the goal? Is that some sort of cruel joke? No it is not.

God is bringing you to the end of yourself for the purpose of ending your “self.”

God’s deepest work in us can only occur in the deep valleys of the darkest sorrows of our lives.

It hurts so bad though, it’s so scary, it’s so desperate, that you honestly despair of life itself. I would just say to myself honestly, I hate my life. I wish I was not here. And you really mean it.

Have you been to this floor of the building?

There was an eagle that was raised in captivity, her name was Baekseol. She was a beautiful bald eagle, but she would refuse to fly. She would always walk around on her two legs, but never want to launch off and fly into the sky. What a tragedy! But she had become so accustomed to walking, so trained by life to think she couldn’t fly, that she began to believe it.

It took her courageous trainers to slowly teach her that she could fly and she could learn to love to fly again. And over time she did.

Similarly, in verse 29, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

God gives strength to the weary. Notice who is giving, it’s God. It’s not us producing the strength.

We can’t produce the strength. It’s not there. It’s gone. We’re smeared against a wall somewhere and it hopeless.

God gives the strength. He increases the power level on your battery pack. It’s at zero. Only God can bring extra power.

We start to feel glued to the ground. We start to feel like we can’t dream again, we can’t hope again, but it’s not true.

God give us new strength, out of weariness. What does God have to work with there? Weariness. That’s someone who is fatigued. Exhausted. Tired.

This is a divine recharge, a divine reset. You go from weary to strong and from weak to powerful.

What’s the greatest example of this phenomenon of God bringing sudden change? The disciples from when Jesus was crucified, to the disciples after receiving the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. They went from weak and broken, to powerful and heroic.

Can you dare to dream again? Can you go from clutching the ground, refusing to fly, to jumping off that log, and flapping those wings really hard, to climb back into the sky?

It says in verse 30, “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall...”

This is a very clear acknowledgement and it tells me it’s cyclical, this cycle will occur in your life many times I believe.

You will reach moments when you’re tired and weary, even young men stumble and fall.

I’ve battled health problems the last few years that have kept me down, made me sick, made me fatigued, and after a few years of that you start to wonder, how can I keep going? I’m going to have to quit my job. I’m going to have to go live in a nursing home or something.

You long for the days when you played basketball and went to the gym and felt strong and healthy and able to fight the good fight.

If you’re here, don’t assume it’s abnormal. I thought to myself, “Something is wrong!” But it’s not. "God didn’t notice." Of course he does. He sees all. It’s not some abnormality, it’s part of the plan.

But then in verse 31, “...but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”

Here we find instructions on what to do: Hope in the Lord.

That’s our part in this equation. Do you want renewed strength? Hope in God.

Your instruction is to return to a place of hope in all the weakness and stumbling and falling.

What produces hope? In Romans, suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope.

Even if you’ve lost hope I think you can find it again in God. You dare to believe again. And that’s enough.

About two years ago I had lost hope in life. My heart had become bitter in ministry. It just so happened my then girlfriend and I had gone to a musical called "Pilgrim" based on the Pilgrim's Progress. After the play, one of the actors came and prayed with me, he played "Hopeful" in the production, and after that moment I found a new softness in my heart return. God can bring new hope out of bitterness.

Then we come to the promise, what happens then, God strengthens us, gives us new power, and then…

“They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” -Isaiah 40:31

The goal then is to reach a place where we soar. We’re not sitting on the ground, we’re not flapping like crazy trying to reach the sky, but instead, we’re carried on the wind of God, by faith, we ride on the Holy Spirit wind, and it carries us up into the heavens, so close to God, that we soar on eagles wings.

In conclusion today, where are you at in all this? No matter where you are in this process, you can trust God.

Maybe you’re in a season in life where everything is going pretty awesome. That’s great, but always be ready to hold fast to the Master in a storm. But enjoy the sunlight.

Maybe you’re just going into a storm, if that’s the case, hold fast to the tree which is Jesus, and trust Him through the storm.

Maybe you’ve been in a storm for a while, and you’re waiting for it to pass. Keep trusting Him. But don’t try to predict when it will end. Just say no matter how long it lasts I trust in Jesus.

Maybe you’ve been in a storm for years, and you’re starting to lose hope. Hope again. Hope in the Lord. Don’t give up.

Maybe you’ve been through the storm, the storm is over, but you feel smeared across the ground and unable to move. You feel broken and weak and weary. Believe today, that God will be your trainer, to gently help you to see that you can be strong again and you can learn to fly again.

Maybe you’re just starting to lift off into the light after the storm, you’re believing, you’re seeing your strength grow, and you know that you will soar on wings like eagles.

No matter where you are, believe that God is the one who will restore your strength and give you hope again, so that you can rise up on wings like eagles, to soar in the open sky.

Let’s Review our Main Points:
1. Don’t try to Predict what God is going to do in your situation

2. Difficult circumstances may go on much longer that we hope

3. When you sense the storm coming cling tight to God through Jesus

4. Let God’s word remind you who He is (He is I Am- all power)

5. When it feels like it’s over remember God is greater than emotions

6. Difficulty can be after sin, trials, spiritual warfare or common sorrow

7. After the storm you may feel unable to fly (Hope in God again)

8. God is bringing you to the end of yourself for the purpose of ending your “self.”

9. At the right time God will give renewed strength & recharged power

10. Brokenness becomes hope (flapping) that leads to victory (soaring)

A Fish Out of Water

My wife Chelsey and I went for dinner for my birthday last night, and the restaurant was super noisy. I was already feeling a bit sensitive on my birthday as many of us do, and it got stressful for me. Many of the people were drinking, and carrying on, having a good time, or so it seemed.

And I overheard some of the conversations. They were talking about worldly stuff, parties, drinking, there was some swearing going on, bragging about conquests, drunken stories, and hysterical laughter.

I’m not against anyone having a good time, but I remember when I used to be like that. Rudderless, I didn’t know what life was really about. I basically just lived to have fun and make a living. If I got drunk and crashed down a flight of stairs I laughed about it. If I stole something I bragged about it. If I chased a girl I told everyone about it.

I was a fish out of water, uncertain what to do, or how to live. Today I’d like to talk to you about fish. We human beings exist in a nitrogen, oxygen, argon environment. That is the environment which we thrive in. For fish it’s different, they thrive in an environment made up of water.

A fish can survive out of water, but not for very long. Similarly, a human can survive under water for a certain period, but eventually they’ll need oxygen again.

So we’re going to compare a fish to the life of a human being on planet Earth.

We all start out as the gray fish. The gray fish represents the sinful human being in the world.

Every human being lives life as a fish out of water. We see this fish and he’s not in water, he’s on land and that’s not good. He goes his own way, he doesn’t know where he’s going or why.

We are like this fish as humans without God. We are lost, we need God, but we don’t have God.

So we slowly become more and more spiritually sick. We get worse and worse over time.

We try to be a moral person. We try to act good and be good. But it never quite worked out.

We didn’t have the power needed to live in an ethical way. Instead the scriptures say that we bore fruit for death.

It says in Romans 7:5, “For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.”

We knew the ten commandments, God’s law, and we tried at times to follow those laws, but being a fish out of water, being disconnected from God, we were unable to follow those commands.

Knowing the law, the commandments didn’t seem to help, in fact it even seemed to make it worse, it aroused our passions and we bore fruit for death.

And more and more we lived, but actually inside we were dead. But this produced an opportunity. Because as we found ourselves dead inside, lost in sin, utterly miserable and hopeless, we began to search for something more.

We began to long for something greater.

Then one day we heard about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We learned that humanity was sinful and lost, but that God had opened up a pathway, a road to himself and away from sin through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We learned that our sins could be forgiven not by trying to be better through the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

And something miraculous happened. We called out to Jesus Christ and asked Him to save us and forgive us, and make us new. And at that same moment, we died. Our old selves died. We repented, turned away from our past sins, and began moving in an entirely new direction.

“But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” -Romans 7:6

We find ourselves new creatures. We’ve repented. We’re no longer headed toward destruction, we’re now headed toward eternal life.

Instead of being in the open air, slowly dying, like a fish out of water, desperately trying to follow the ten commandments and always failing, we find ourselves in a new reality, a new system, the system of the leading of the Holy Spirit.

All of humanity finds itself caught up under God’s judgment due to the sinful ways of humanity, under the law, the ten commandments, and condemned to death due to their failure to obey God’s law.

It’s scary stuff.

But does that mean that God’s law is bad?

It says in Romans 7:7, “What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”"

I wouldn’t have even known right and wrong if it wasn’t for God’s law. The law is not bad then, it is good. But my sinful self could not follow God’s law. But this put me into a situation that was actually helpful to me.

I found myself pressured by God’s law to realize my own sinfulness, and also realize my need for a savior. God’s law pushes me toward the realization that of myself I’m not enough. I really do need God in my life, and more, at the center of my life.

I can’t do life without God. God’s law taught me that. God’s law forced me to realize that I need Jesus or I’m doomed.

Remember, God’s law made all this possible by pointing me to my hopeless situation and my need for Jesus. God’s law is holy and good and true.

The Apostle Paul gives a classic explanation of what it felt like for a Jew to live under the law, and fall short of it. The Apostle Paul before becoming a Christian was a Pharisees, a Jew who devoutly followed the old testament law. But he couldn’t.

Paul explains this in verses 14-20, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

A fish out of water can’t swim. And I worry sometimes we as Christians fall into this trap.

We are in the water, we’re Spirit led, we’re learning to love God and others. But pretty soon we jump back out of the water and start trying to use the flesh to obey God. But we can’t obey God by the flesh, or by the law, instead we have to walk in step with the Holy Spirit, and let Him lead us out of sin and toward righteousness.

Don’t jump out of the water and start pushing out with your flesh. That won’t work. Only the Holy Spirit can lead us into pure love and righteousness.

Let the Holy Spirit lead you by praying before you take action. Let the Holy Spirit lead you by digging deep into God’s word, instead of pushing out in your willpower. Let God’s Spirit lead you by acting in repentance, not in self-driven efforts that always fall short.

We often try to strike out to defeat some sin in our lives. And we fail and slip back, don’t we? Instead, begin your battle by admitting defeat. Make your first step surrender. Surrender the issue to God, admit you can’t do it without Him, and begin to believe God can remove the issue. Then after surrendering it to God, let the Holy Spirit lead you in actions of repentance, seeking counseling, reading a Christian book, meeting with your pastor, abstaining from the sin, but surrender it t God first.

Only Jesus can change us. Only Jesus can set us free this cycle of wanting to do good, but falling short. Only Jesus can do it!

Paul concludes his explanation of the sinful nature this way, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” -Romans 7:21-25

So in the end what we have is a state of deliverance by God, who sent Jesus Christ to be our Lord. The King comes in, and rescues us. He saves us from this hopeless situation of knowing sin is bad, but being stuck living in sin. He does this by giving us the Holy Spirit, so that we no longer have to surrender to the flesh, we can surrender it to God.

Do you see that Paul when he talks about not doing what he wants to do is talking about life before Christ? So, when we’re empowered by the Spirit of Christ, we now can have victory in that scenario.

When Paul used to say, “I do not do what I want to do” now in the Spirit he is able to say I now am able to overcome sin in Christ. Victory is found in that battle with the flesh.

That’s why in Romans 8 it says, “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.” –Romans 8:9-11

So today, we are not in the realm of the flesh anymore. We are fish in good water, the water is the water of life, the living water of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit he lives within us and leads our lives.

If we don’t have the Holy Spirit within us, we are not Christians. I’ve met people who have the Spirit, I’ve met people who don’t. You can usually tell a Christian by the Spirit flowing out of them. You can also tell when someone is operating entirely out of the flesh, and the Spirit is not there.

So we are led by the Spirit, but, we are still subject to human death due to the penalty for the fall. But since we have the Spirit of God living within us, and we know that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, then we can know that God will raise us from the dead as well, after we die.

Lastly, I think Romans 8:12-13 will help us tie this all together. It says…

Romans 8:12-13, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Some teach that once we have Jesus Christ as savior we really have no obligations at all, we can just do whatever we want. But that isn’t biblical. We’re to be led by the Spirit, it says we do have an obligation, but not to the flesh, but instead our obligation is to, by the Spirit, put to death the misdeeds of the body.

Notice it says “by the Spirit” not by the flesh. Can you put to death the misdeeds of the body by the fleshly nature? Of course not. But in cooperation with the Holy Spirit we can put to death the misdeeds of the flesh. And that is called sanctification, the process by which God makes us more and more like Jesus, conformed to His image is what the Bible calls it.

So as a Christian, we are born again, by Jesus, led by the Spirit of Jesus, to do the will of Jesus, which is continuing to live in victory over the flesh, by the Spirit. And as we live by the Spirit, we head toward eternal life after death. However, the flesh is always with us until after we die. And the flesh will try to pull us back toward the sinful nature. So we learn to live by the Spirit, and then the flesh is kept in check, until we arrive in paradise, when we’ll be transformed, and we’ll no longer have a sin nature. And we won’t want to sin, or have to sin ever again. Praise the Lord! I look forward to that day.

Review of Main Points:

1. Living life without Christ as Lord is like being a fish out of water

2. The Law of God helps us to realize our sinfulness & need for Jesus

3. When we heard the gospel we repented and asked Jesus to save us

4. Our old self died, and a new self was born (of the Spirit of God)

5. A fish out of water can’t swim (we cant defeat sin through the flesh)

6. Jesus delivers us from a cycle of sin, to being able to have victory

7. Though Jesus has changed us, our flesh will still die (the body)

8. The Spirit that raised Jesus will also raise our bodies after we die

9. By the Spirit, we can put to death the misdeeds of the flesh

10. The flesh attempts to pull us back but by the Spirit we have victory

Seven Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ

When examining the human body, there are numerous systems all working at the same time to regulate, protect, strengthen, and heal the human body. There is the respiratory system which brings oxygen into the body and expels carbon dioxide. The brain communicates instructions to the rest of the body. It is amazing how the entire body works together as one to allow us to live.

Similarly, think of a city. All sorts of systems work together. Massive networks of underground pipes distribute water. Electric lines channel power. Supermarkets bring food. Cell towers communicate telephone signals. And it all works together.

Think of a football team, certain players block. Others run the ball. Others go out for passes. Others are defensive. Others have special functions, like kickers or punters. One player leads on offense, another on defense. It all works together for the team to fulfill it’s function, to win games.

It’s similar in the military, an army has frontline soldiers, it has cavalier units who specialize in speed and firepower. They have artillery units that stay further back. They have air units that fly overhead. They have generals who strategize and lead. They have scouts, they have guards, and all sorts of other roles to make a powerful, mobile force that can fulfill it’s mission, to defeat the enemy.

We as Christians are also part of a whole. We are not lone-wolves prowling about by ourselves looking for prey. Instead, we are part of a vast body of believers, all working together to win the world for Jesus, and disciple one another on the journey home.

Along those lines we’ll be looking at Romans 12 today, starting in verse 3, which says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…”

We’re told very quickly that it’s important that we look at ourselves with very sober judgment. To me that means firm humility. In our service in the body of Christ we will tend to want to think of ourselves as indispensable to the group. As the worker sometimes says to himself, “Without me this place would fall apart.” But it usually isn’t true. View yourself with humility. Your job isn’t the end all be all. I know that. God can easily replace me, if I were to decide to go back to the sin life. I’m just a small part of the whole.

Notice also that we have our place in the body of Christ ‘by grace.’ It’s not that we worked our way in by being awesome or something. No, we were sinners. And Christ saved us, by his death. So have sober judgment about yourself in this equation.

So Paul says to think soberly… second part of verse 3, “in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”

So we have this measure of faith within us, manifested as trust in God, commitment to God, allegiance to God, and this faith is how we’re connected to the whole. It’s through faith in Jesus that we are part of the body.

Next in verses 4-5, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

I have a body with hands, shoulders, feet, knees, eyes, ears, and all sorts of different parts. They do not all have the same function, do they? My feet do very different things from my hands.

Yet they are all part of my body. They work together, not against each other.

And we as Christians form one body, though we’re many different people. Often I’ll meet a Christian, from another church, in another city, and I instantly know they are family. I can sense they are one with me, with all Christians. And we instantly connect. That’s why wherever I go, I meet family in Christ. Because that’s what we are. We are connected.

Each member belongs to all the others.

Then it says in verse 6, “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us.”

We each have giftings, areas that we are passionate about, and get excited about when we help others. These passions, these gifts were given by God through faith to you, to be used to bless the body.

But they are very different from each other. One person has a gifting of exhortation, you see them calling out the sins of the world, calling people to repent. Another person has a gift of showing mercy, and they have great compassion for the lost. The two may sometimes be tempted to argue. The one showing mercy says hey stop calling out all those sins that isn’t nice that isn’t going to win people to Jesus. The one giving exhortation says back, this is my gifting, to call out sin and righteousness boldly, and it is a message that is needed. So the two must understand, don’t fight, understand you have different giftings.

Second portion of verse 6, “If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith”

Notice again it says in accordance with your faith, or the faith. We want to make sure we’re using our giftings in alignment with God’s will and purpose.

What is the gift of prophecy? This is when God gives you a word to share with someone. You may not even realize you’re doing it at the time, but you’ll say something they need to hear. You simply let the Spirit lead. Other times you may know you have a word for someone and it will burn within you, and then you’ll go and give them that word.

Amos 3:7 says, “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”

Some churches say basically the prophet role doesn’t exist anymore. Neither does the apostle, the only problem is it doesn’t say that anywhere in the Bible. So I tend to believe prophets and apostles still exist today.

One example from scripture of a prophet acting was in Acts 21:11, “Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

He gave a prophecy to the Apostle Paul about his arrest.

Do you have a gifting in the prophetic area? This can be a ministry as part of the five-fold ministry. It can also be a gifting for any believer to carry. Paul held a high regard for the gift of prophecy, Paul said desire many spiritual gifts, but most of all ask God to give you the gift of prophecy (1st Cor 14:1).

From the “Outline of Biblical Usage” the Greek word for prophesy means to “speak forth by divine revelation.” So you receive a word from God, something to tell someone that they need to hear, and then you tell them.

You can see how powerful this can be. Someone who doesn’t know God, and you tell them something only God would know, has the power to show them the supernatural is real. Similarly with another Christian, they are greatly edified when they receive a word, they may remember it for years, for the rest of their lives, the word you spoke to them, because it was from God, specifically for them.

Prayer: Lord, we ask for the gift of prophecy, for those of us who should have it, please give abundantly in Jesus name, amen.

Next in Romans 12:7, “if it is serving, then serve…”

Serving is a gifting for various highly valuable activities, preparing food, cleaning a widows house, stacking chairs, holding the hand of someone who has just been injured, getting an event ready, preparing a food box, or numerous other ways of general service.

What would the church do without people gifting in serving? The church wouldn’t do anything. We’d be motionless. They are like the muscles and bones of the body if you ask me!

Prayer: Lord, if you are calling me to serve, please prompt me with opportunities in Jesus name, amen.

Next, in Romans 12:7b, “if it is teaching, then teach.”

Teaching is not just a role in the five-fold ministry, it’s a general spiritual gift for all believers. Is this a gift of yours? Are you talented from God, in explaining the Bible to others? That is a valuable gift. Use it. Mentor someone. Sit down with a friend and go through the Bible together. Write about the word of God. Use your talent, volunteer here for Bible study or Sunday school.

What would we do without our teachers? Teachers in the body help us see the word of God from new angles. They help us to go from hearing to application. They are wonderful.

Prayer: God, if you want me to teach the word, show me how, and I will do so Lord, in Jesus name, amen.

Next in Romans 12:8, “if it is to encourage, then give encouragement…”

The gift of encouragement is a beautiful thing. One of the worst things for a Christian is when they are feeling discouraged. They are exhausted with life. They are frustrated with difficulties. They are tired of being sick, tired of health problems. They can’t stand any more persecution or trauma. They can’t make ends meet. And they face discouragement.

Then it takes a faithful Christian in the body to come along and give them encouragement. They come and give them hope from the word of God. They read them a scripture. They recite a verse. You will rise up on eagles wings. Do not grow weary in doing good. I can do all things through Christ. God works all things together for the good of those who love God. When you are tempted God will provide a way of escape. And this gives us encouragement. We get hopeful once again. We bear up under our problem and remember how much we have to be grateful for.

Is this your gifting? We need encouragers so bad in the body.

Now it’s interesting also to note that the word used here in Greek, paraklēsis, for encouragement is the same as the word for exhortation. So exhortation is calling someone toward good deeds. Calling someone to make a change. Calling someone toward the right. So I think it also implies speaking a hard truth as well, not just a bubbly flowery word of comfort, but also a word of truth.

Prayer: Lord, I desire the gift of encouragement/exhortation. Lord please grant me that gift if it is your will, to build up the body, in Jesus name, amen.

Next, still verse 8, “if it is giving, then give generously…”

The gift of giving is beautiful. I think Jesus said it well, in Luke 3:11, if you have two coats and see someone without a coat, give them a coat.

If you see someone without food, provide food for them, if you can.

The gift of giving is beautiful. It can be giving money as well to worthy causes. Many Americans have a gift for giving, in fact the only reason The Salvation Army exists at all is because so many Americans give weekly, monthly, annually to support our mission.

Do you have a gift for giving? It can be a coat, a meal, a bag of groceries, clothing, gas money, many different things.

Giving could be time as well. Giving could be an act of service, repairing an appliance or replacing a door. These are all acts of giving.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the gift of giving. Grant us opportunities to give. Help us to plan to give, set aside finances and resources for that purpose, and then use them to give, in Jesus name, amen.

Again in Romans 12:8c, “if it is to lead, do it diligently…”

Leading is not simply something done by the five-fold ministry. A leader is someone who others gather around. Someone others trust and look to for support and guidance. Many of you are leaders and you don’t even realize it.

The Greek word used for leader is not the same as used for government leaders. So this is leadership in a different way. I think it can mean leadership in the church as part of the five-fold. But I think it also means leading in the way of being a guardian or protector of others.

Prayer: Lord, if it is your will, give us the gift of leadership. Help us to lead those around us toward the good, toward necessary resources, and most of all toward you God, in Jesus name, amen.

Last but not least, still verse 8, “…if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Often in the ministry of Jesus, someone who was blind, or unable to move their legs, or deaf, would cry out to Jesus and say, “Lord have mercy on me!” It pictures someone in a state in which they are hopeless. They can’t help themselves. They are doomed without help.

Similarly, some of us Christians are gifted in the area of showing mercy to those who are in desperate circumstances.

I think I most often think of someone who ministers to the worst kinds of sinners.

Many Christians would find it uncomfortable or difficult to minister to someone addicted to crack, or someone who is a prostitute, or someone who has had five abortions, or someone who has committed adultery. It’s difficult. They hate those sins, as they should, but it’s then hard for them to minister to that person.

However, many Christians are gifted in showing mercy. They are able to look beyond the horrid sins, and see the person there made in God’s image. That is the gift of showing mercy, a miraculous ability to look past the sins and see the worth of the person.

Do you have that gifting? The body needs heroes like that. They are beautiful in their mercy.

What did God say? I desire mercy rather than sacrifice. Show mercy to your neighbor. Show mercy to someone who has wronged you. It’s a little miracle when it happens.

Desire this gift, if you dare. God will provide.

Prayer: Lord, grant us the gift of showing mercy, for those whom you’ve called to it, to have mercy on those who are in sin and evil, help us to see their worth, in Jesus name, amen.

There are other listings of spiritual gifts in the scriptures, particularly in 1st Corinthians 12, but other areas as well. The scriptures seem to imply that God gives us these gifts, and that we develop these gifts through experience and growth in the Holy Spirit.

All of these gifts together form us into the body of Christ. And as the body we use these heaven-sent gifts to bring forth the kingdom of God on Earth, in the will of Jesus Christ, who is the head of the body. Jesus gives the orders, just as the brain gives the orders to the human body.

Now what happens if we don’t use our gifts? Nothing happens. And that’s not good.

Also understand it is your obligation to use your gifts. That’s why you have them. Remember the parable of the talents, the one who didn’t use his talents, but hid them, was rejected. And Jesus said those who don’t produce fruit are not of Him. They are like branches that wither and fade away, and such branches are gathered up, and burned. They are worthless. Remember the fig tree that was found without fruit for several years. Christians who don’t produce fruit are showing they have no faith, because faith without works is dead. Is your faith living or dead?

I’m trying to impress upon you how important your gift is. But in conclusion let’s put it all together.

I’m a new Christian say, freshly born again. God uses a prophet to speak a word into my life, challenging me to grow and build. What would happen without the prophet? No prophet, then I miss that blessing. I’m now getting complacent.

Next, I go to an evening meal service, a dinner church, but the doors are shut when I get there. People with the gift of serving never stepped up to serve, so the dinner church shut down many months ago.

Next, God calls an older man to mentor me in the Bible, sit down with me once a week or so, and go through the Bible over coffee and donuts in his den. But this man never does so, he's too lazy, decides he’d rather watch the price is right in the mornings. He has a gift of teaching but he doesn’t use it.

This new Christian is really being neglected! He’s starting to get discouraged. So God calls a woman to go and encourage him after church. But she decides not to. She has other things she wants to do, go shopping, get a Starbucks. So this new Christian leaves church discouraged and alone.

Now, we see this Christian is on his way to work, but his car breaks down. God sends a Christian who is driving by to stop and help them. But they just keep going. They have a gift of giving, but they don’t do it. Now this Christian loses his job.

This new Christian is going to a church, but the leader decides he doesn’t want to be a leader anymore, he resigns the ministry, and the church shuts down. Now this new Christian has no church to attend nearby.

He drifts off, and becomes homeless. Yet he still hungers for God. He still has hope that maybe someone will help him. God sends someone with the gift of showing mercy along to minister to him, invite them to their church, to a new church, and to help them find a place to stay, maybe drop them at the local shelter. But instead this person sees him, but just keeps walking, she’s too tired that day.

Then that night he commits suicide.

This is a graphic example of the value of the body of believers. We need each other. Do I believe God could still help someone, even if they miss some of these ministry opportunities? Of course.

In this scenario could God easily bring someone else with that same gifting over to help them? Absolutely.

So I don’t think it necessarily will end that way. But many a time I’ve felt I needed something, but it never came. Can you relate? You matter. Your gifting is not optional. And no, someone else won’t just magically do it for you. I think we get that idea in America, well, there’s another person who will do this for me. Maybe back in the 70s and 80s during the Billy Graham crusades, not anymore. If it’s going to happen it’s got to be you. Take responsibility, and serve in your place. It’s not too much. It’s not overwhelming. It’s quite natural actually. You'll do great! 

Review of Main Points:

1. View yourself with Sober Judgment, as one saved by grace through faith

2. Members of the body have differing functions, but belong to each other

3. The gift of prophesy means to speak word from God

4. The gift of teaching is explaining God’s word

5. Encouragement/exhortation is to help a believer stay strong

6. Giving is meeting someone’s need

7. Leading is being a guide or protector to other Christians

8. Showing mercy is seeing the value in someone caught in sin

9. Other Spiritual gifts exist as well (see 1 Cor 12)

10. Your Gifting is necessary to the body, use your gift faithfully