Pastor Johnson focuses on clarifying the difference between spiritual gifts and natural talents, a topic he feels he needs to revisit. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing your God-given gift to serve in the body of Christ.
Key Points:
Time is Short: Pastor Johnson notes that time seems to be speeding up, and God may be shortening it for the elect to better endure.
Gifts are from Conversion: Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit upon conversion to Christianity.
Talents are from Birth: Talents are natural abilities given at birth, while not necessarily spiritually aligned.
Singing Example: Anyone can be taught to sing in key but some have a natural gift that elevates it to a different level.
Secular Music and Church: The pastor wrestles with artists who sing secular music but profess faith, and whether God is glorified or the devil is.
Double Standard: Pastor Johnson notes the hypocrisy of Christians engaging in activities that don't glorify God and whether those jobs are befitting.
Gift List: He goes over a list of seven motivational spiritual gifts from Romans 12:5-8
Prophecy
Ministry
Teaching
Exhortation
Giving
Ruling
Mercy
Prophecy: He distinguishes that prophecy as given by God, and often tells what to change and what's coming rather than a blessing.
Ministry: He says ministry is about serving, not being served, and is a gift for anyone.
Teaching: Teachers of the word are defenders and researchers of the scripture.
Exhortation: Exhorters encourage people through the spirit.
Giving: Giving to the ministry is a spiritual gift of being a blessing.
Ruling: A ruling gift means the ability to lead within a church and its administration.
Mercy: The gift of mercy is compassionate and patient with others.
Ephesians 4:7 The pastor references Ephesians 4, stating that Jesus himself gives gifts to men.
Five-Fold Ministry: He mentions that Jesus gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
Talents on the Other Hand: He defines a talent as something you're born with that gives you unique skill or ability. Talents are not given, but learned and perfected through practice.
Matthew 25: Using the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, he explains that God gives people various natural abilities and expects them to utilize and increase it.
Talent vs. Gift: Pastor Johnson ends by saying that while talents can be impressive, they are not to be confused with spiritual gifts, and the spiritual realm outweighs what talent does in the natural.
Call to Action:
He encourages listeners to discover their own spiritual gifts from God and use it.
He says that "when you are converted you get at least one spiritual gift."
He encourages Christians to see their talents as skills and learn them, and remember that God gives it all.
