Guard the Gift Audio

Last night I spoke about guarding the message. Tonight I want to speak about guarding the giftings. I'd like you to read from the scriptures and you can follow with me.

I have a book here that I wrote. In my traveling between 1995 and, or 1900 if you like, and 1990, and COVID, I traveled a lot. I spoke at many conferences, pastors conferences, youth of the mission conferences, and many countries, and I was very often asked, do you have a book about this? Do you have any of this in writing? So I decided to write some books with the sole purpose of giving the material I was teaching because it's available to people.

I never ever like advertising my books from the pulpit. Some of, to me, that feels invidious. I do not believe the pulpit is a place where I should advertise and make money.

But I've been told today my books don't cost anything. To me, on Amazon, they cost you just the cost to make, to print the books. But I've also discovered that now my books are available on a new webpage for download, Ocarus, so I can freely tell you about my book.

Get my book. But I'm making no money from it and I trust you will be blessed. And augments all I want to teach.

It says so much more than what I can present to you in 45 minutes here. Let me read to you from the scriptures, portion of scriptures you know well. This is what the prophet Isaiah writes in chapter 40, starting at verse 28.

Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, he fainteth not, neither is he weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, to them that hath no might, he increases strength.

Even the youth shall faint and be weary, the young men shall surely fail, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not grow weary.

They shall walk and not faint. That word, wait upon the Lord, by the way, has got nothing to do with time. The Hebrew word quava literally means binding strings together as a form of rope.

What he's saying, what the prophet is saying, those whose lives are entwined with the Lord. Jesus said, they who abide in me. It's the same thing.

They shall mount up with wings as eagles. Wouldn't you like to fly like an eagle? Wouldn't you like to fly like an eagle? I was a schoolteacher for 20 odd years. And when I ask a question of my students, I expect to get an answer, at least a nod or a shaken head.

Wouldn't you like to fly like the eagle? Let me read another portion of scripture from Psalm 103, the words of David. He said these words. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget that all his benefits. He forgiveth all thy iniquities. He healeth all thy diseases.

He redeemeth thy soul from destruction. He crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. He satisfies thy youth with good things, so that thy mouth, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles.

I've watched a squadron of Canada geese flying across the sky, and I've been amazed with wonder. I've watched a flock of pelicans rising up from a lake in Africa. I've watched vultures gorging on carrion at the fount of the ground.

One of the greatest days of my life has been on Saterna Island, off the island of Vancouver Island. And on that island, there are many eagles. And I remember being on the high point there, looking down with my friends into the valley beneath.

There were about five eagles, large mature eagles. And they moved upon the breeze while flapping their wings, and they just came just over our heads. And we went off.

As I left the island that day, we were walking along a path, and there's a tree with a branch across the road, barely a meter above my hand. And there was a mother eagle standing there. Watching us.

And the little boy with us threw a little stone, and fortunately missed the mother eagle, and she just looked with scorn. Then she told me this story. I speak a little eagleese.

I understood her. You don't believe me? Well, it's eagleese, okay? She told a story of two eagles who had built their nests short distance apart. And they nodded acquaintance to one another.

One eagle said to the other, any eggs yet? Yes, he said, three. Eagles lay three eggs. Oh, well done.

Have you too? Yes, he said, three eggs. Oh, congratulations. And after a while, he's looking to one another.

Have the eggs hatched yet? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Three healthy young eagles. Oh, wonderful.

We too. Three healthy, wonderful. Good.

And so the eagles are flying out to get food for the young. Both come back. And every so often, they nod acquaintance to one another.

They're very, very busy feeding these young eagles in the nest. One said to the other, boy, this is a hard job. I'm getting tired.

Me too. But it's worth it to see our eagles growing so healthy. Great, wonderful.

And they keep on going back and forth for food for the young. Then one day, the one eagle looks across, and he sees his neighbor and looking very tired, exhausted on the edge of the nest. He said, you look tired.

Yes, he said, this is hard work getting food. Yeah, he said, but we're happy with that. And he said, not only that, he said, my young ones are growing so big, I've now got to build a nest bigger for them.

Oh, he said, why are you doing that? Well, he said, I've got to keep them in the nest, and they could keep them safe. Are you not doing the same? Oh, no, he said, we're breaking up our nest. What are you breaking your nest up for? Well, he said, I want to encourage our eagles to fall out of the nest.

Why do you want them to fall out of the nest? He said, well, that's the only way they learn to fly. Why are you building it bigger? Well, we want to keep them safe in the nest. And do you know that tells me a story of so many churches who are so eager to keep their people in the nest, that they build bigger programs and bigger churches to keep them.

Whereas our calling as pastors, is to equip the saints that they might learn how to fly. Amen. I want to see people fly.

I've had the joy of seeing many people flying. Tonight, I'm going to tell you a couple of stories of people who've learned to fly like eagles. I remember my wife and I were in New Zealand, and we saw a sign that said, Elim Church meets here on Sunday.

Now, we belong to the Elim denomination in Britain. And we said, oh, it's an Elim church. Let's go on Sunday.

So the Sunday we went to this church, it was in the school room. And as we walked through the door, there were about 30, 40 people there, and they're moving the desks, and somebody's cleaning the blackboard, because it was an active school. A young man comes up to us, and he said, welcome.

And we said, well, thank you. He said, are you from here? And I said, we're visiting from Canada. Oh, wonderful, he said.

I'm sorry, the pastor's not here. So you're going to have to put up with me. Well, that's fine, because I led a youth work in Wales, and I have many young people who are very competent at preaching.

And so we were quite content. And I've been with Youth with a Mission, so I was quite content to listen to a young man. And he spoke to us, and we sat there in amazement, as he said, a God who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Young man, hadn't been to a Bible college. He wasn't trained, barely 20 years of age. When he finished, I turned to my wife, and I said, what do you think of that? The most anointed preacher I've heard in years.

I hope she's wrong, because she heard me preach many times in that time. But I agreed it was an outstanding word from a young man who was moving in the spirit of God and was doing all that God had called him to do with anointing. I met a young lady in Hong Kong whose name some of you may know.

And one of you at least spent quite some time with her. Her name was Jackie Pullinger. Have you heard of Jackie Pullinger? Some of you have.

Jackie came from Britain to Hong Kong. She was not well-educated. She was working on the streets in Hong Kong with two friends, giving out tracts to men from Vietnam, American servicemen coming into Hong Kong.

They gave out tracts in the street. But in Hong Kong at that time was an area called the Wall City. It had not been ceded to the British because it was an old police garrison under the Chinese.

So they kept it as a police garrison. And so the police of Hong Kong, the British police, would not go into that garrison place, and it became built up and up and up as the prostitutes, the gang leaders, the criminals all fled there to get away from the Hong Kong police. And it became a filthy, evil place of drugs and crime.

And gang leaders. And Jackie, my friend, wanted to go in there to witness to them. She was told by many, many missionaries, there were many missionaries in Hong Kong, you can't go in there, it's too dangerous.

But she wanted to go, and she came to my home. She cried many times in prayer for this place. And then one day she went into the Wall City with a Mrs. Donathon, an old lady, who used to hold a school in there.

And when Jackie went in, of course, Mrs. Donathon was so happy that somebody had followed her in, and so she retired, and now she allowed Jackie to be the woman going in. I went in with her on two occasions. Jackie was threatened many times.

She was confronted by Tong leaders many times. And today there are thousands of young men in Hong Kong who've been delivered from a life of drugs and crime through the testimony and witness of Jackie Pullinger. If you are interested in going on the internet, there's a program called The Interview, Jackie Pullinger.

Go on your internet and look up The Interview, Jackie Pullinger, and you'll see my face appears on it. It's about an hour-long interview. And the interviewer says to Jackie, but Jackie, you never went to Hong Kong in the normal way.

Jackie said, what do you mean the normal way? Well, you didn't go to seminary, and you didn't go to missionary society. No, she said, I went the Bible way. What do you mean? And if you watch the video, you'll see the interviewer is quite taken back.

She said, what do you mean the Bible way? Well, she said, well, God called me and I obeyed. Isn't that the Bible way? And God put his anointing on her. And today in Hong Kong, where that walled city is, or was, is a beautiful park.

In the middle of the park is a plaque and a presentation of the walled city and the ugliness that it had. And right beside it is a stone about eight feet high. And at the foot of the stone is a plaque.

Dedicated to Jackie Pullinger. For the many lives that she delivered from drugs. And she still was, at that time, living.

She's now retired in Britain. A young woman who trusted God and she learned to fly like the eagle with his anointing. Yori Richards.

I knew Yori as a young thug in Wales. He was illiterate, he could not read or write. His mother was a believer, very simple lady.

And many times I'd go to Maestegis hometown to get Yori out of the pubs for his mother's sake. And Yori would go back to his life. He was arrested on a crime of burglary of liquor from a store.

One month before his conversion, he was gloriously saved. At his trial, the judge, a woman, said, has anybody got a good word to speak for this man? And the pastor stood up and told the judge what had happened to Yori a month before in his church. The wise judge, knowing what God can do, because she knew the stories of the Welsh revival 40 years before the impact of that study, she released Yori to the pastor's care.

Later, Yori married and moved to the town where I was teaching and he and I became very close friends. One day, he says to me, Gareth, I want to go back to Maesteg. I want to tell people what Jesus has done for me.

Will you arrange some meetings in the town hall there? And I said, no, because Yori stammered so badly it would be impossible for him to speak enough clarity. I said, Gareth, I'm not exaggerating. Please, could you? And so he thought.

And I was not prepared to arrange for him to be a fool in front of people. So he went ahead and booked the town hall himself. And the first night we were there, and about 200 people came.

And when it's time for Yori to get up to speak, he started to speak and he started to stammer. And he started to cry. He ran off the stage, embarrassed.

I was there. He's about 22 at this time. The next day, he's walking in his village and he passes Uncle Dai working in his garden.

And Uncle Dai said, how did it go last night, Yori? I'll come back. And Uncle Dai took him into his house. And Uncle Dai fell on the floor and cried to God.

God, this is you, child. He wants to give testimony about you. God, your name's at stake here.

Yori hasn't got a name, but your name's at stake here, God. God, you've got to do something for this young man. And Uncle Dai got up and said, Yori, you've got to go back tonight.

He said, you've got to go back, or you'll miss what God wants to do. So Yori went back. And I was there with him.

200 people again. It's time for Yori to speak. And he stands up and he said, thank you for coming.

I so much want to tell you what Jesus. And he began to speak without stuttering for the first time in his life. And I was there.

He spoke in the ABC of the gospel. All have sinned and come short the glory of God. But God commended his love toward us.

In a while, we had sinners. Christ died for us. Come unto me, all ye who labor under heavy laden.

He spoke for 15 minutes. There was an odd silence in that room. It was a schoolteacher.

I brought a whole class of grade 11 students, the whole row of them. It was her birthday, the teachers. And she asked the students as a birthday gift to come to her church or the town hall that night.

And the Lord spoke to Yori as he's standing there in awe of what God has just done and said, look at the young girl at the end of the row. The young girl got off her chair and knelt in the aisle. And that night and the next night, 200 people came to faith in Christ.

I was there. I later got involved with a man called Greg Gordon, who is the man who organized, who arranged Sherman Index webpages. And we arranged conferences in Canton, Ohio and Florida and Atlanta, Georgia and in Glasgow, Scotland on revival.

With great names come. And Yori Richards was one of the speakers in our conference in Glasgow. A mighty, powerful preacher for God who had nothing to offer, yet he learned to fly.

Like the eagle, the anointing of God. Don't you want the anointing of God in your church? On your life? I hope that what I teach you tonight will give you encouragement in that field. Tell you some of the reasons why many never learn to fly.

Many are born wounded. They come to Christ. Their spirits which are dead are made alive to God.

Hallelujah. They're a new creation in Christ Jesus. I trust all of you here know that truth.

You've come to the cross. You know the sins are forgiven. You're a new creation in Christ Jesus.

When I was 16, I lay up on my bed in Wales and asked him to come into my life. Three days later, I knew that he had entered me. But my body was not a new creation.

I still got a scar on my knee that I had when I was eight and I knelt on a broken bottle. I still got gaps in my teeth. My eyesight is still not wonderful.

My body was not a new creation. My spirit was, but my body wasn't. But I'm not just a body and a spirit.

I'm also a soul. And my soul carried wounds into my Christian life. Scars from abuse, verbal abuse, maybe when I was a child.

Scars from the sins that I'd committed that scarred my soul. And much of my life as a pastor had been dealing with inner wounds that people carry on their souls. There are wounds like scrapes that heal up after a time.

There are wounds like cuts that leave a scar and a tenderness. For example, a child who's been sexually assaulted. You can say to the child, oh, now you're a Christian, a new creation, but that child is still scarred by the wound.

We'll never trust a man as he grows into adulthood. That's a major scar. And we all carry some kind of scars.

But there are scars like broken legs. Which unless they're set properly with good counseling and a good pastor or biblical counseling, that leg is never gonna set properly. So don't tell that Christian to run the race.

They cannot. And there are people who've got broken wings from maybe abuse they found in the church. My daughter's a strong Christian, but she doesn't go to church because of the abuse she felt from a pastor in the church.

The wings are broken. How can you fly when your wings are broken? One of the major reasons Christians, young Christians, never learn to fly is because they're carrying wounds. They've not yet been healed.

I've written another book called The Key in My Hand about healing from broken wounds, from wounds of brokenness. The second reason many never learn to fly is because they never know that they should. Maybe this is the first time you've been taught that you should learn to fly.

We come to the church and we enjoy the programs of the church and we go through all this, the role of the church and forever, but we've never been challenged to soar like the eagle. We never realized that we could. Maybe we've made decisions contrary to God's will.

For example, if you're in debt, you cannot serve God and be in debt to mammon at the same time. I'm talking about debt. I'm not talking about a mortgage.

I'm not talking about a proper financial. I'm talking about something that you did not need and you went and spent money on it. It's now that you're in debt.

God can't liberate you or you're married to an unbeliever. You can't learn to fly and all the fullness of God's purpose is for you when you're married to an unbeliever. You've got a commitment and a yoke.

The third reason, the fourth reason, many have had their wings clipped. I know many young Christians go to the church and they say to their pastor, Pastor, I've got a wonderful idea. Why do we do this? Oh, no, no, not in my church.

Whose church? Whose church? Surely I as a person, Pastor, you're going to receive this, I'm sure, Pastor Greg, might cause a passage to equip the saints to the work of ministry, which means equipping them to learn how to fly. Amen? You see, if Jesus says to me, you know the way the world governs, President, Senate, Cabinet, lawmakers, public officials, people. In Britain, where I come from, Prime Minister, Government.

See, pyramid, power at the top, common people at the bottom. You know the way the world governs, says Jesus to his disciples. I want you to know I do not want you to be like that.

You are not to be like that. You are to govern this way. My calling is not to sit on the top of the pyramid.

My calling is to sit at the bottom of the pyramid, helping people to fly, equipping them for the work of ministry. And I could tell you many more stories like those of Jackie and Yali. There's a story told in the Bible of one in, let me find the reference for you exactly.

You know the story where the children of Israel are fighting the Philistines. Oh, sorry, we got you, I'm not here. In 1 Samuel 5, tells a story the children of Israel fight against the Philistines.

They're sure they're going to win the battle. They're very eager about to fight in the battle, but it comes to the place where they suddenly realize it's not going as well as they hoped it would. The Philistines are prevailing.

And somebody gets a bright idea and says, if God were here, we wouldn't have this problem. But God, you see, was back in a box in the tabernacle or the tent. That's where God resided, in the holy place.

So he sent back to the Shiloh and said, bring God here. So Phileas and Hophi, the sons of Elah, the high priest, corrupt man, took the Ark of the Covenant and carried it up to the battlefield because God had abided in the Ark. And to their horror, the Philistines captured the Ark and conquered the children of Israel.

And when news came back to Israel's, to Shiloh, Hophi's wife, who was expectant, delivered a child and called his child Ichabod. For God has departed as she died. The Ark, God's presence, was out of Israel for the next hundred years, right through the entire reign of Saul.

Through half the reign of King David, it was out of Israel. God was in there. Where was he? Well, the Philistines took him to their city and they set him up in their temple before their god, Dagon.

And in the morning when they came, they described that Dagon had fallen. They thought, well, this is a strange thing. They put him back up and the next thing he came in, he had fallen again and broken his arms.

They said, this Ark shouldn't be here. This Jewish god shouldn't be here. Let's send him back to Israel.

But how should we send him back to Israel? Well, let's get a cart. Let's put a cow here, a cow with calves. And we put the Ark in the back of the cart and we send the cows to go towards Israel.

But if they're trying to turn around to go to their calves, we know that the Ark has got no power at all. But if it goes, we know that it's God. Good plan.

So he put the Ark in the back of the cart, put these cows in front, and the cows headed straight to Israel right across the border. And the Jews at that place saw the Ark coming. They celebrated.

They brought it in. They wanted to send it down to Shiloh. But somebody touched the Ark and he was slain.

The heathen Philistines could manhandle the Ark where God's presence was and escape with it. But once the man of God, once a man of Israel touched God's presence, he was slain. And so the Ark was put under coverage in the barn.

And finally, the news comes to David that the Ark of the Covenant is back in northern Israel. And David said, we need the Ark back here in Shiloh. Let's get it back.

How should we manage it? And so his council, well, the Philistines brought it back on a cart with oxen. Well, we can do the same thing, says David. So he got trained oxen and a cart.

He sends it up to get the Ark of the Covenant. And they put the Ark on the trained oxen. Heads down south to Shiloh.

And the oxen stumble. The man puts out his hand and is instantly slain. And David is angry with God.

He's fuming back home. I'm trying to bring God into his right place. What's wrong with God? Don't you understand? I'm trying my best for him.

And then the next week, he's reading in the scriptures, writings of Moses, that God describes the Ark and the temple that is to be built. And David comes across these words, and the sons of Koah, the Levite, shall bear the Ark. He calls the sons of Koah to come.

He finds them. He prays with them and anoints them, says, go and carry the Ark. And those men go back to the north of the country, and they've been instructed to carry the Ark, not on an ox cart, but on their shoulders.

Can you imagine those men putting the staves through the side of the Ark? Man, I'm sure they were perspiring with fear. They put the staves through, and they put the Ark up on their shoulders. And they walked all the way back to Shiloh.

If you're going to do God's work, do it God's way. He's not interested in ox carts carrying it. He has decreed the ways to be carried on the shoulders of the Koathites.

If you're going to do God's work, carry it on the shoulders of the Koathites. Do it God's way. And church, I challenge you, do it God's way.

So then how do I fly like the eagle? What is God's way? Well, I'd like to take you into 2 Kings chapter 4. Follow with me, please. Now you've turned to scriptures. 2 Kings chapter 4. Forgive me, didn't have a marker in here.

It's in the same place as my Bible as it was later last week. It's in the same place. 2 Kings chapter 4. And I'm looking at verse 1 to 7. There was a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets.

And she cried out to Elisha. Her servant, excuse me. Your servant, my husband, is dead.

And you know that your servant feared the Lord. But the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves. Elisha said to her, what shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house? And she said, your maidservant has nothing in the house except a jar of oil.

Then he said, go borrow vessels, large ones for yourself and from all your neighbors, even empty vessels. Do not get a few. You shall go in and shut the door behind you and your sons and you shall pour out into all those vessels and you shall set aside what is full.

So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They were bringing the vessels to her and she poured. When the vessels were full, she said to herself, my son, bring me another vessel.

And he said, there is no other vessel. Then the oil stopped and she came and told the man of God and he said, go sell the oil and pay your debt and you and your sons shall live on the rest forever. Of this little story, I want to present to you five steps towards soaring like the eagle.

The woman's vision was dark. She saw no way out. Her burden was heavy.

The prophet says to her, what do you have in your hand? And she's just a pot of oil. He gave her a ministry. Go and pour it out into all the vessels that you can obtain.

Now think about it. How foolish, how utterly foolish. Foolish.

She could have listened to the prophet and said, don't be so crazy. I've got a little pot of oil. But I believe this is God's way to fly like the eagle.

I want to ask you tonight, what is your vision? Two men in a prison cell looking through the bars. One only saw the darkness, but the other saw the stars. What do you see? When you look at yourself, what do you see? I was talking to a brother over lunch today, and he said to me, well, I haven't got much education, my background, and I'm not sure if God can use me.

I said, don't you dare say that. You're a rich man with a very poor background. He couldn't even write or read when he married.

And God used him. So what's your vision? What do you envision of yourself? Why am I nobody? I'll tell you why I am. I'm a child of the king.

I'm seated in heavenly places in Jesus. I'm a forgiven saint. I'm a child of God.

That's who I am. Who are you? I'm a nobody. No, you're not.

It's almost blasphemy to say that. You're denying the work that God has done. Who are you? I could spend all evening speaking about who you are in Christ.

Look at the book of Ephesians. In him, in him, in him, I've been adopted as a son of the most holy God. He didn't save me to make me a slave.

He saved me to make me his son. That's who I am in him. That's my vision.

I see the stars. Who are you? What's your vision? The lady's vision was very, very bleak. She said, no hope, no way out.

The second question I'll ask you is this. What's your burden? So let me come back. What's your vision of yourself? What's your vision of the world? When you look out at this lost world, what's your vision? I told you last night about meeting Jimmy and Megan on the streets.

Excuse me. I went to Jimmy, this thug. Everything I'm not, hearings, hearings, hearings, tattoos.

I said, Jimmy, I have some pastor friends who are praying for the street people here in Victoria. And we really don't know how to pray because we believe only Jesus is the answer. The government has got no answer to the street problem.

It builds wet houses. It buys hotels so that the drug addicts can get off the streets and commit suicide inside the drug houses. And they are doing it.

Dying at least one or two a week in Victoria. This world is lost. It's like sheep gone astray.

What's your vision of the world? Does the world have any answers for the needs that you have? No, they do not. Jesus is the answer. Your vision of yourself, your vision of this world around you, the governments of this world.

What about your vision of God, your upward look? Is that good? Is God able? Are you convinced he's able? What's your vision of him? When you lift your eyes to the hill, from whence cometh my strength? Do you know that strength? Second question, what's your burden? Oh, this woman had a burden. She's about to lose her two children. That's a heavy burden.

What's your burden? My burden, I remember when I was a school teacher in Germany. I was in a prayer meeting, just three of us. And I prayed for God to give me a burden for youth.

I was not an evangelist. I was not glib with my tongue in speaking the gospel to my students. They knew I was a Christian, but I was not able to do the evangelist work.

And I thought if I had a burden for youth, I would have this passion to drive me. I didn't find that happen. I did witness a bit more in boldness.

But five years later, I was one of the biggest youth workers in Wales because God, through my wife, had just started this work and just blew it open. And I suddenly realized God had given me exactly what I prayed for. I had a burden for young people, and I still have it.

James could tell you some of my closest friends are university students. I said to you last night, appearance is a deceptive. I look like an 87-year-old man, but my heart is 35.

I don't know what I said last night, 45. My brain is 55. I love being with young people.

And young people apparently love being with me. My burden is young people. My burden is pastor and shepherd and young believers.

You will lead them to Christ, bring them to me to shepherd them. That's my burden. That's my gift, if you like.

So what's your burden? One lady here last night has a burden for the prisons, visits the prisons. Shane has a burden for Haiti and missions and serving people. What's your burden? God gives burdens to people.

What's your burden? Do you have a burden that you think is from God? I have a burden for the homeless, drug addicts. I have a burden for the people on the streets. I have a burden for politics locally.

I have a burden for you name it, what God gives to you. If you haven't got a burden, ask for one. Jackie had a burden for the walled city.

What's your burden? Thinking about Jesus had a burden. Jesus had a burden for you and me. His burden took him to the cross because of the pain upon his heart for the lostness of mankind.

What's your burden? Seek a burden from God. Then the prophet says to the woman, what do you have in your hand? What do you have? She said, I just have a pot of oil. Good.

What do you have in your hand, Peter? I just have my fish in my rod. Good, I'm going to make you a fisher of men. What do you have in your hand, Paul? Oh, I just have my Roman citizenship.

Good, I'm going to send you to Rome as my ambassador. And every one of God's children is given a gift. If you don't believe me, let me take you into the scriptures.

Ephesians. Turn with me. I'd like you to turn your scriptures with me.

Ephesians chapter 4. He ascended into heaven. What does it mean? Accept it as sin. He also descended into the lower parts of the earth.

Then verse 10. He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above the heavens so that he might fill all things. Please listen to these words.

And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers. Jesus gave gifts to his bride. Jesus gave gifts to his bride.

Apostles, evangelists, prophets, pastors, teachers, elders. Elders are not appointed by the church. Pastors are not appointed by the church.

They are recognized because Jesus gave them. Can I repeat that? If your pastor was truly called by God, am I one day with him? I believe that is true. It is Jesus who sent him here.

Amen. Jesus, because he loved his bride so much, gave gifts of ministries to the church. How tragic when we appoint men into eldership whom Jesus did not give to be elders.

Oh, they got business acumen. They got a good degree. They're very prominent.

So we make them elders. Or they go through theological college. They've got all the degrees.

So we make them pastors. Or they graduate from college with top marks. We make them a youth pastor.

From there, he graduates to become an associate pastor. From there, he becomes senior pastor. When Jesus never, ever called him to be a pastor.

And you wonder why our churches are so impotent? When Jesus gave gifts because they're precious gifts. God, the gift that Jesus gave. Amen.

I think you're very strong. Amen. What do you have in your hand, woman? I have just a pot of oil.

Good. I'm going to use that pot of oil for my glory. I'm going to give it to you.

Peter, what do you have? James, what do you have? Paul, what do you have? Brothers and sisters, what do you have in your hand? You have the gift that Christ gave you. And as a church, he gave you pastors, elders, turn with me to Romans chapter 12. I get a bit loud, I know, because I'm passionate about this.

I wish the church would read the Bible and won't find this out. Romans chapter 12. God has allotted to every man a measure of faith.

For just as we have many members in one body, I'm reading verse six to four now. Romans 12. Just as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Who is he talking about? You and me. And since we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually members, since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, please hear these words. Each of us is to exercise that gift accordingly.

Do you believe the Bible? Is this a Bible to believe in church? Let me tell you what the Bible says. To each of us has been given a gift. Let us exercise them accordingly.

If it's prophecy, accord the prophecy. If it's service, serve. If it's teaching, teach.

If it's exhorting, exhort. If it's giving, give with liberality. Heal.

If it's leading, lead with diligence. If it's showing mercy, do so with cheerfulness. Let love be without hypocrisy.

Let your gift be seen and used. Keep your thumb in that page, please, and turn to Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 12.

There are varieties of gifts, verse 4, but the same Spirit. There are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things and all persons.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given a word of wisdom. To another, a word of knowledge.

To another, a word of faith. To another, gifts of healing. To another, effect, and so on.

Let me emphasize. I'm sorry. Let me slow down.

Let me stop shouting. To every one of us. Every one of us.

If he's a child of God, he's given gifts for the common good, for the blessing of the body. It wasn't for you a blessing. He gave you a gift.

He gave it to you for the blessings of the body. God as Christ has already given the gifts of leadership. He's now called every single one of us in the body of Christ to exercise the gift that he has given us.

Your gift may be very different to mine. Exercise your gift. I'll try to exercise mine.

Why? For the common body to the building up of the body of Christ. So, pastor, what do you have in your church? Well, I have this gift in. And I have that gift in.

And we have that gift in. Good. What do you have, woman? I have a pot of oil.

Good. I'm now going to give you a ministry. And this is where it falls down.

Because I know so many people who have a burden on their hearts, a vision for what God can do, and a gift in that is not recognized, sometimes not by themselves even, and often and certainly not by the leadership. I'm going to give you a ministry. Get your boys to pick up all the bottles and pots and pans from all your neighbors.

Oh, come on. I've only got a pot of oil. Go and get them and lock the door behind them and then pour out the oil.

Oh, come on, man. But the woman, in faith, not understanding what she was asked to do, did exactly what the prophet said. And she went and got all the pots and pans from her neighbors and brought them in.

And they closed the door. And she began to pour. What if she said, oh, I don't believe this.

Take them all back. She'd have failed and seen the greatest miracle that she'd ever seen in her life. She began to pour.

Another one. That's called anointing. That's when God steps in.

That's called anointing. She had what she had. She took the gift that she had, how small it was.

And she stepped out in the call of God. And God stepped in. And she began to pour until all the vessels were full.

And she and her sons began to soar like eagles. It has been my privilege to work with people who have had a burden. And because I understood this principle, we walked through this principle together.

And I came to a place of seeing God do mighty, mighty things through them. Tell you some stories. A man came into my church in Kitchener.

He's big. He's dirty. He's uncouth.

His father and brother were in prison. And Roger probably should have been there, too. And Roger comes up to me and gives me a bear hug.

Pastor Gareth, good to see you. Ron Smith led me to the Lord last night in the street. He told me to come here and get disciplined.

I think he meant disciple. But disciplined is what he said. Now, I knew Ron Smith.

Ron Smith attended the local ministry. Once a month, Ron Smith was always there. But Ron Smith was rather strange in that he was not a pastor.

In fact, he didn't even attend the church in Kitchener. But all the pastors in the ministry liked him being there because he was praying on Saturday night, on Friday night with two of his friends. Then all day Saturday, they'd be on the streets of Kitchener, Waterloo, leading people to Christ.

And those people were coming to the churches. The pastor was very grateful for what Ron Smith was doing. But he wasn't attending any church.

So the following week, I went to the ministerium, and I met Ron Smith. And I said, hi, Ron. I see you're in the business now of producing illegitimate children.

He said, what do you mean? Well, I said, well, you fathered this guy on the street, Roger. But you sent him to me to father him. You fathered him, but you want me to bring him up.

Well, obviously, I got under Ron's skin because the following Sunday, he's in my church. He's sitting at the back. The church at this time was about 50, 60 people.

And Ron's sitting at the back. He's there the next week and the next week, five weeks. And on the fifth week, I went to have coffee with him, downtown Waterloo.

I said, hi, Ron. What's the burden on your heart? He said, prayer and intercession, pastor. Is anybody doing that in Kitchener? No, he said, they're all playing games.

He's a bit of a cynic. All the churches are playing games. They don't know how to pray and hear the voice of God.

I said, well, I know a guy in our church who's got the same burden as you. He said, who? I said, well, he sits at the back. He's about six foot two tall.

He's thin in hair, because I'm describing him. He said, well, I sit there. I said, well, he's been coming about five weeks.

Well, he said, of course, his mind is turned over. I said, I tell you what. He's got a business downtown.

He's a commercial artist. Well, he said, I'm a commercial. You're talking about me.

I said, that's right, Ron. You're the guy with a burden for prayer and intercession, aren't you? Now he thinks I'm too lollitoop, you know? Well, I told you that. Well, Ron, tell me this.

Why did God give you that burden, but you want me to carry it? I can't carry that burden, Ron. I've got a different burden that God has called me to carry. He said, well, what should I do? I'm not exaggerating the story.

It's exactly what he said. I said to him, well, you should. What should I do, he said.

Well, I said, well, you tell me what is going to happen. He said, well, people need to be taught how to hear the voice of God. So I said, when are you going to do it? What, me? I said, of course, you.

God gave you the burden. You're supposed to carry it. He said, well, any time.

I said, how about next Wednesday? Yeah, sure, he said. I said, right, next Wednesday, seven o'clock. Teach my people how to hear the voice of God.

Next Wednesday, I went to my church. There were 30 people there. 15 from my congregation and 15 from Walter University, because they put a big poster up in the university about these meetings.

Hearing the voice of God. So we sat in a circle and Ron said to me, Pastor, should we start? I said, Ron, it's your meeting. I'm an attendee here.

So he said to his friend Keith, who was a journalist, keeping a journal of all prayers and answered prayers. He said, OK, why don't you read a scripture to somebody that did? He said, OK, I want you to close your eyes for 20 minutes and just wait upon God. And Peter, why didn't you go downstairs? Take half the group downstairs with you.

So half the group, Peter was his, what did I call him? Ron and Peter. Go downstairs. So 15 of them went down.

We closed the circle. He said, right, let's just spend 20 minutes. I tell you what, 20 minutes is a long time of silence.

For a Welshman who loves talking, it's almost an eternity. Seven minutes. He kept his 20 minutes.

OK, sit up, he said. What did the Lord say to you? Well, I know, Ron, I think about this. This is actually what happened.

I'm thinking about those kids who were three stones at the church door last Sunday during the service. I was looking out the window at the woman across the street, the single mom with the three kids. And he'd gone halfway around this little room and I could tell a pattern was emerging of mothers and children in our area.

Peter came up from downstairs. And Ron said, what did the Lord say downstairs, Peter? Mothers and children in our area. I went, uh-huh.

That's all we prayed for that night. Next week it was something different. And my church took off.

There were 40 there when I went to church. There were 400 there. Sorry, 140 there three years later.

All the denomination talked about the miracle that happened at Hazel Green Fellowship in Kitchener. I went back there many years later and they had a big, big reception from my wife and I at one of the homes. And the phone rang and the hostess came and said, Ron Smith's on the line for you, Pastor.

So I picked up the phone. Ron now lives in Otter with his wife. I said, hi, Ron, so good to hear you.

Yes, Pastor, I heard you were there, blah, blah, blah. I said, Ron, all the world knows your name. He said, what do you mean? I said, everywhere I go, I tell people how you taught us to hear the voice of God and how you built Kitchener Alliance Church.

The person who gets all the acclaim for building the church is me. But I know who built it, it was Ron Smith. Because he taught us to hear the voice of God.

Because I released him into his burden. I gave him a ministry that I could not perform. And God anointed that ministry.

Let me add a little addendum to that. I come to my church in Victoria on the strength of the stories about Kitchener. And I start a school there called Mission Bridge.

And people pay to come to the school. And about 14 people in the school. And every Wednesday, I get a local pastor to come in and teach on some biblical topic.

They are reading assignments. And they have a video that they follow through each week. And then we went down for two weeks to Mexico and outreach.

It starts from September to May, this whole school. And one night, I go into my school and I talk to my students around the table. And I said, tonight, we're going to talk about prayer.

How many of you have ever had an answer to prayer? Oh, yes. I prayed for a car parking space once when I was in a hurry in the car. You've heard that kind of prayer.

I said, well, tonight, we're going to give God opportunity to talk to us. So I read a scripture to them. And then I was much more gentle with them than Ron Smith was.

I only asked them to be silent for 10 minutes. And then they opened their eyes. And I said, I'm only interested in what God said to you in the last 10 minutes.

I'm not at all interested in what you came in here with tonight. For example, I said, I saw myself on top of the Mount Tommy looking down upon Victoria. And it's all dark.

What did you hear from God? I think we should pray for the provincial government. I think we should pray for the national government, federal government. I think we should pray for First Nations.

Yeah, I think First Nations. Well, I think the government, too. Went around the circle and came to my wife, Anne, who was sitting by me.

And she said, well, I had a picture came to my mind. I also saw Victoria and the blackness over Victoria. And there was a sea, and it was black.

And there's a white ship on the sea. I said, well, that's interesting. I'll say it to you.

But as I sat on Mount Tommy looking down, my vision broadened. I also saw a white ship on the sea. If, capital I, if God has spoken to us tonight, it's to do with the federal government, provincial government, First Nations, and the white ship.

I have no idea what the connection is. At that moment, Captain Robin Jones of the ferries and his wife were sitting over on the side of the church. They'd come to visit me that evening.

I wasn't very close to him. So I don't quite know why they'd come that evening. And when I said I had to leave to come to the church for seven o'clock, they said, can we come? I said, well, you can, but it's a school, and people pay to be there.

But you come and sit and watch. They said, we have to be in town till nine o'clock tonight. At this junction, Anne Jones got up.

And she said, Pastor Gareth, I think Robin needs to speak. Now, these are very mature Christians. I can trust them.

They're not flaky people. Robin stood up and said, you have no idea why I'm here tonight. I said, no.

He said, at nine o'clock tonight, Dr. Philip Ney and I will be with two provincial politicians at Sydney Airport to greet two federal politicians who are flying in to discuss the purchase of a ship. Yes, it's a white one. To minister to first-time offenders among Aboriginal young men.

Robin will send them to prison. They'll be committing to this ship for a two-week period. I saw 14 miles go because we had heard from God.

Hallelujah. God was so gracious to my people that we had learned how to hear the voice of God. Because Ron Smith was freed to exercise his gift in my church.

Pour out the water. Pour out the arrow. And let God put his anointing upon what you pour.

Let me draw to a close. No, I've got a couple of stories. Do you like stories? I'm in Australia in Queensland.

I'm talking to a woman. She said, you need to go and see Jim and Kathy. Jim and Kathy were a young couple.

Pastor, you'll like this one. Pastor, you'll like this one. Jim and Kathy were a young couple.

And I introduced myself. And he said, oh, I'm such and such a company. My business is to encourage and to inform and to give wisdom to companies who are hoping to expand.

His training was in business management of some kind. And so if there's a small company and they have to go through different routes with lawyers, he said, I move in and I help them do the arranging to expand. He said, we live quite frugally because many companies, all the small companies come to me.

So I just get small commissions. And because I will not grease the palms of people, I have to do it legally. So I don't get that many jobs.

But about a year ago, I went to Papua New Guinea with my pastor. Church of about 40 people. And he said, I was amazed to see God's anointing on my pastor in Papua New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is just off the coast of Australia. And Jim said, I came back and I said to Kathy, Kathy, you should have seen our pastor when he was in Papua. There was an anointing of God and we saw healings, we saw miracles, we saw souls being saved.

Never seen that in our church. Our pastor, we need to go back. He needs to go back again to Papua New Guinea.

But I know he can't afford it. So can we put aside a little savings every week to build up a fund to send our pastor back to Papua New Guinea? And he said, so our pastor has now been back a couple of times to Papua New Guinea because we have built a fund up. And during this past year, since we started that, my business has increased double.

I'm now getting twice as much commission as I got before. So though I'm spending this money, I've earned twice as much this year. God is so good.

Three years later, I went to Australia. I went to see Jim and Kathy. Same house, same place.

I said, how are things going? He said, Gareth, you'll never believe. My income has doubled every year since you were here. I'm now earning eight times the salary I got five years ago, four years ago.

But I still live in the same house and I still got the same car. But in the last four years, we have sent every member of our church to Papua New Guinea on missions outreach. Why should I have another house and another car when I've been so much fun flying like the eagle? Pastor, don't you want people in your church to fly like the eagle to send you? He's smirking and smiling.

Oh, to see young men and women anointed by God, filled with the spirit of God. I've had the joy of seeing people operating in the anointing of God. I mentioned Jackie Pons or Yogi Rich, as I could mention so many others.

But the secret is doing it God's way. The secret is finding out what your burden is. The secret is having a right vision of yourself as a child of God, of the King of Kings, your Lord and Savior, and the desperate need of this world.

Have the right vision. Know that God has given you a gift. And if you do not know what it is, ask your elders and pastor, please, pastor, help me find my gift.

And then pastor, elders, help that person to know that gift and to be released into a ministry as the young eagle pushed out of the nest. Please, pastor, never build a church to keep your eagles in. They were never meant to be here.

They were meant to fly. God, God, God, the precious gift. There is in every one of you that he might receive glory.

Amen. Sorry, Jay? The what? The... Oh, he's my closest friend. He's always on to me to tell stories.

I'm teaching a men's retreat in Kelowna. About 70 men there from a very large Baptist church in Kelowna. And I'm teaching about releasing your spiritual gifts in this secular marketplace.

I need to go one step further. I'm back in the National Westminster Bank in London, England. They've asked me to come over to speak to the bank employees.

What had happened was that on this one floor in the bank, there were 200 employees very busy at their computers. This is the beehive of the National Westminster Bank. Big, big bank in London.

National Bank. There was a man there called Peter. And Peter went to Martin, whom I knew, who was one of the leaders in the bank.

And he was grumbling a bit because his church would not allow him to preach. The church did not believe in lay preachers. They had an ordained minister preaching.

And Peter felt the need to preach as a pastor. And so Martin said to him, Peter, you see that woman over there? She just lost her child, five years old. You see that man up there? He's just been made redundant after 20 years.

You see that other man over there? He just got divorced a couple of weeks ago. Don't you think they need a pastor? And Peter went to the woman, said, I'm so sorry, dear, about your child. I went, I'm so sorry.

Within one year, everybody on that floor, 300 employees, knew Peter as their pastor. He didn't need to be in a church to be a pastor. He was a pastor here.

Where do we get the idea that a pastor's place is in church? A pastor's place is a lead in the flock, whether it's in a bank or in a church. And Peter was so fulfilled. So I teach a lot about releasing your spiritual gifts in a secular marketplace.

So I'm doing this as this men's retreat. As I'm teaching, a man stands up at the back. We'll call him John.

I don't remember his name now. And he said, may I say something? I said, sure. He said, I've been a car mechanic all my life.

I've been in the church as a Christian from boyhood, but I've never had any ministry. I've never been involved in church ministries at all, but I've been a mechanic. I'm not well-educated, but I know how to deal with cars.

And some months ago, I noticed there was a young lady who was usually in the church a few pews in front of me. She wasn't there this Sunday. But the following Sunday, she happened to be standing right by me as we're leaving the church.

So I said, hi, I missed you last Sunday. Oh yes, she said, my car had broken down and I couldn't get repaired. Oh, he said, what's the matter? She said, there's something wrong with the brakes and I can't afford to have them repaired at the moment.

Oh, he says, look, I know about car brakes and why don't I pick it up and I'll see what I can do. She goes and gets the car and he goes to the garage. He says, John, can I borrow, Mike, whatever his name, can I borrow the hoist for a couple of hours? Yeah, sure, why? Well, there's this woman in church, I wonder, okay, I'll help you.

What's more, he said, you can have the parts for cost. So John did the car, takes it back to the woman. She's so pleased, she starts crying.

John is foolish enough then and says, if any of your friends need help, tell them about me, and he said, so of course then, a couple of women, young women come on, they need some help, and so John is happily doing this. Then he gets a call from the pastor of the church, big, big church, into the thousands. And he goes to see the pastor and he said to me, I've never talked to the pastor before, and the pastor said, John, I've been hearing that you've been doing these jobs for young women in the church.

Yes, pastor. Well, he said, the board and I have been talking about it, and we're not very happy about it. Oh, why, pastor? Well, he said, there are lots of people in the church who need help like this, and there are many men like you in the church who are retired, they've got plenty of time in their hands.

Why are you getting all the blessings? Get a group of men around you together, and they can do this work. There are women that right now, he said, it's spring coming, all our seniors need to have their lawnmowers harvested. Why don't you get some men to service the lawnmowers? So John said, I'm so excited because I got a ministry.

The pastor's giving him a ministry. He was so excited. A year later, a friend of mine comes out from Wales, and I decided to take him to the Rocky Mountains.

On the way back from the Rocky Mountains, we stop off in Kelowna, we stay with my friend overnight, and we go to the church on Sunday. And during the announcements, the announcement man speaks up and he said, thank you for all the men who turned out yesterday for our lawn mowing day. We serviced 80 machines.

And I nudged my wife, I said, that was John, the one I talked about last year at the men's retreat. Then the pastor gets up to preach. And he says, before I preach, I need to explain something in our announcements.

About a year ago, one of my men started a ministry to service in things in the church. And he said, about a year ago, he started and got a group of men to those men who serviced these machines yesterday. But I want you to know this, he said, in the past year, over 100 people have come to Christ because of that ministry.

Did you hear what I just said? Lawn mowing ministry in the church. Lord forbid that we should do that. He said that John had a burden for it.

And the wise pastor nurtured him, equipped him, lifted him up, and God did the rest. Over 100 people came to Christ through that ministry. And I say, hallelujah.

And I long to see men and women in this church. Wouldn't it be lovely? James, I hope by the chain in a year's time, I want you to tell me some stories about what God has done through people in this church. God bless you.

God, God, God, the gift that Christ has given you. Amen.