He Gave Gifts To Men | Dr. Matthew Stevenson | Difference

but it we have been as a culture inundated with supernatural power for generations and unfortunately the church traditionally is more afraid of the powers of Hell and stuff like that and even apprehensive about God's power we want to change that dynamic and we want to raise the people that are not ashamed to flow in power amen and not ashamed to be powerful that is necessary turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 12 we're concluding our series today the next service I'm going to do a different installment of this this is going to be very important for you and I want you to realize some important issues about the gifts of the Spirit how many of you have learned a lot throughout this series it's teaching on the gifts it really takes a whole year to make adequate leeway into these teachings for you to get them but I've done what I need to do to prepare you for where we're going in January we're going to do a series call home training and what we're talking about is all of the value systems of all nations worship assembling everything that makes us a people we're going to do home training so we're gonna be talking about mercy we're gonna be talking about prayer and intercession we're gonna be talking about teams wouldn't be talking about counseling we're gonna be talking about restoration we don't talk about deliverance we're gonna bout all of that stuff we don't about money amen cuz money matters here I don't know around the corner but over here it matters to make money praise the Lord we're going to talk about culture and being anointed to culture and being called to culture so that is important that we prepare for that but I do want you to be aware that God is watching your attitude with your gifts and he is watching your behavior with what he put in you and before I give you the scriptures for today I want you to consider the parable of the talents remember when Jesus Christ gave the parable of how he deposited abilities and invested is the right word abilities to several servants to one he gave one to one he gave three to another he gave several and the one who he gave several went out and made more the one who he gave three went out and made more but the one who had one were so insecure about the one that he the Bible says in fear literally he hid it and when the master came to see how profitable those people had been with their abilities the one who got judged was the one who did nothing with his ability Jesus called him a slothful and a wicked servant so not using what God gave you makes you register in heaven as slothful that's just a biblical term for lazy unapplied if the world I'm so convinced that the world would be a better place if every Christian took their gift seriously and took their ability seriously how many of you understand that that is very important today this morning I'm gonna give you a different element of this and then 10:30 I'm gonna talk to you about something in January we're gonna be doing a lot of ordinations I'm gonna be laying hands and a lot of leaders and I'm gonna do it in front of you to show our five-o unity we really do have representation of each of the five ministry gifts in this church we have apostles we have prophets we have evangelists we have pastors we have teachers and we're going to be laying hands on them some of them in January to further establish and reinforce our leadership culture that is very important this morning I'm going to go to first Corinthians 12 and we're gonna look at something that we have kind of skimmed over in Paul's treatise about the gifts of the Spirit and it's going to be first Corinthians chapter 12 verses 4 & 5 and then I'm going to go down to verse 12 so verses 4 & 5 and then verse 12 verse 4 first Corinthians 12 reads this now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit look at me one of the common discussions of all cultures in America right now is diversity they have diversity coaches diversity agendas diversity propaganda it is considered criminal in a lot of fields to not have diversity it's interesting that the world is courageous enough to explore diversity and the church is still struggling to handle it it's so interesting you know if you go one of the hardest things it is to do in the inner city is build a multicultural Church now matured light link cuz I know y'all don't like that stuff but it's very very very hard to do people buying a large are very much loyal to personal preference so they won't go to places if it doesn't register with their past or their background or if they feel like they don't fit cuz they don't know the songs they use a lot of tradition and personal history to determine where they shouldn't should not be but Paul said there are diversity say diversities diversities of gifts but the same spirit now look at verse five and there are differences differences of administration's or ways that gives function but the same Lord now traditionally in a Pentecostal charismatic spirit-filled context if something becomes too different we have to call it demonic we have to assign a devil to whatever is not like me if you find division in most places it's probably really the root of it is a mismanaged difference if you find schism if you find strife at the base of that maybe that many people have not matured enough to be able to healthily engage difference difference difference I'm talking to you this morning from the subject I'm different if that doesn't excite you is because you're so committed to being the same dear friends and I'm gonna read why this is significant but difference is where God is taking you you get absolutely nowhere in life by measuring yourself by the standards of the person next to you I'm going to lay an effective foundation for this but devil is a smart dummy an intelligent idiot part of what that means is he often utilizes the same strategy but his genius is to spend time making sure Christians despise their difference are ashamed of their difference embarrassed about their difference and so when you spend your life hiding difference trying to attack difference convincing yourself out of difference I'm going to tell you the most powerful thing you lose his prosperity because you don't prosper with the parts of you that are similar to another person distinction is how everybody makes money now that's not going to mean nothing to you today tomorrow you get what I just said if there are 20 chicken shacks or one block which is the one that makes the most money the one that is unlike the rest if your sauce my god tastes just like the sauce of the shack next to you you use the same grease the same or similar stuff you see how a rejected abandoned culture is afraid of uniqueness why cuz we crave acceptance we crave acceptance more than advancement you you you people are willing to risk progress to be accepted by people or a culture or a place now we all want validation and validation is very important but the problem is if you are affirmed in sameness and if you are not nurtured in uniqueness you live every area of your life and gifting in standard common mediocre why does everybody write books that go nowhere because we've heard it before why do certain TV shows not make the ratings that they have because we've seen it before you see I'm trying to create a new a value system that before you cross over into the new year what you need to first repent of is being ashamed of difference and then what you need to commit to is cultivating personal difference I am different we we all have access to the same gifts of the Spirit but in God's genius he deposits them in us to function differently so the way the gift of prophecy the way the word of wisdom or the way the working of miracles works in me is not going to be how it works in you and that doesn't make you worth more than me now I'm explaining this to you so that I can unbraid how many of you think about yourself if I don't pray like that I should not pray if I don't hear God that strongly then I shouldn't act like I hear God if my my the way I work the altar doesn't get a response then maybe I'm not anointed but look at how the devil has set you up the ruler that you are using for your effectiveness for your necessity and for your value to the kingdom is a person who believe like you come on look at the person actually say I'm not your ruler my strength listen because this is a foundation you have to have my personal strengths do not determine your weaknesses if you would get that you would never Envy anything else in anybody else ever again what you do right does not determine what I do wrong and what I don't have is not there because of what you do have you are not my ruler my ruler is the sixty-six books that reveals a 33 year old man who is without spot or blemish if you measure yourself against somebody equally as imperfect then you're going to be running in place but once you measure yourself against Jesus Christ you you have real maturity come on look at somebody say I'm just different I'm just different I want to get to the rest of my scriptures but some of your families are afraid of difference they're nervous about it we go to this type of church I raised you this type of way we marry this type of people we live in this type of city we we we we we we I mean like they're from France France oui oui oui no no no now the reason this is significant and even you parents need to get this anybody that is a people cultivator will make a mess out of the people entrusted to them by not understanding the law of difference you don't raise two kids to say and when you do one of them is gonna be jacked up there are no same parental standards for individualism you can be the same quality of parent but invest it differently according to the purpose of each child now you see how shallow those a man's are because you live in a culture that breeds sameness what makes you cool is that you're like what is what makes you normal is that you like what is what makes you acceptable is what is that you're like what is but that's not in the Word of God God is a diversity specialist if you don't believe me look at the trees and the plants and look at the different bugs and look at the different fish and look at I mean you don't even have two stars the same look look at the different types of trees I mean look at look at the different bushes God gives us diversity specialty in the book of Genesis his creative nature is revealed by diversity now the reason why this is strong is because as difference expands in you you become a greater threat to the power hill the devil does not want you to be different he wants you to be divergent but you can be different and still have good doctrine you can be different and still hold fast to the Word of God you can be different and not live in sin [Applause] but the way the religious spirit works is to make sure nobody is different you're not a robot you're not a zombie you don't have to be like the person next to you look at your company you could have more clients if you would do something differently look at look at your I mean if you take a different approach you make room for the anointing this is why we don't see very much of it in the body I'm going to give you the rest of these scriptures because many preachers aspire to be somebody we've already seen and I work this right and I understand why being you is scary because you've never seen one before being me or being somebody else it's more safe because we've seen how to do it but journeying into uniqueness will immediately confront your personal fears I'm about to hit you upside your head you're not afraid of nothing more than being yourself I know that's uncomfortable you're not just afraid of failure you afraid to fail in distinction you're not afraid of the future you afraid of what the future looks like as you become who God made you difference uniqueness difference uniqueness my god difference is so important to God that in the book of Exodus chapters 8 & 9 the book of deliverance a bloodshed of of war of the journey of God bringing a people out to cross him over God said something so amazing through Moses to Pharaoh I love that whole story by the way and you know you know the story of the burning uh Pharaoh is I'm not letting him go I let him go I own him I control him I'm the god of this culture ain't nobody more powerful to me and most like I'm telling you bro it's not to get back you better start this guy burns up bushes you know you better leave Malone he talked about sending frogs and toads and it's about the get you know but one of the final judgments that God said through Moses to Pharaoh was tell Pharaoh this I'm going to send another series of plagues upon you and your jurisdiction and your people but for my people this is the exact language I will put a difference upon them and it will be so everywhere except for Goshen in other words there were people that were played cursed disease but this one the segment was literally protected by difference somebody should have preached this to Hollywood and blockbuster somebody should be preaching this to all these somebody should appreciate it to the livery cab companies why in their inability to embrace difference they have been replaced by something more unique if I asked you how many of you took a yellow livery cab here probably two or three you raise your hand if I ask how many of you either took an uber or work for uber here probably 80% of you something that was willing to be undifferenced got replaced by something that courageously embraced different I'm trying to point to how you're going to make more money how your marriage is going to survive how your friendships are going to last you must create a value system for difference I want to prophesy because some of your destinies are screaming out of me but I want you to go down to verse 12 have to give you this for as the body is one we can be one and still not the same I said we can be won and still not be the same whereas the body is one and hath what many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ I don't believe Jesus is glorified in the place where there is no difference Babu says as we are many members in one body so is Christ so if a person reveals Christ there should be difference young Oh men women married single black white asian Chinese there should be different look at how far the church look does not look like heaven heaven is multicultural I'm working it here international you're going to see Allah yeah I'll do you one better hell is multicultural my god you you think they got prejudiced in hell hell is an equal opportunity employer every kind of people is going there you're laughing but but think about how sad it is for the devil to be more innovative than the church they're demons who have whole expansion plans and we expand on accident the Bible says therefore hell hath enlarged herself hell stretches out in that crazy one of it is because of their appreciation for diversity the devil ain't picking he won't you're young you're old he was couple he wants all kinds of stuff and I don't believe a place resembles the kingdom of heaven until you see everything in it the people of the Lord said I want you to go down to verse 15 if the foot shall say because I am NOT of the eye I am NOT of the body there's a lot of people then leave and get disgruntled in many churches because they want to be eyes and they really feed I said that they desire to be eyes and hate the fact that they are afoot and they try to make that toe wink and blink put eyeshadow on the big toe to recognize you glory to God as something that God did not call you is sin for me oh you know I understand Paul says don't be a partaker in another man's sin you know what was before that lay hands suddenly on no man now that wasn't dumped out for healing for you people who don't read the Bible that's talking about ordination don't ordain anybody suddenly next verse and do not partake and another man said I don't have to see you the way you see you that's why I'm an overseer we don't have to see it the same way you are more acquainted with your strengths than I am my job is to make you better so I have to preach at the parts of you that are not yet developed I'd only have to embrace your championship belt I'm trying to work on what may make you lose [Applause] look at how juvenile it is for a person to be offended because they want to be an eye and they're really a foot don't get opportunity to preach we can barely hear you when you talk your introvert you like being by yourself what you mean you want to microphone sit down be a foot you know like this if the butcher's say because I am NOT of the hand I am NOT of the body is it therefore not of the body and if the ear shall say because I'm not of the eye I am NOT of the body is it therefore not of the body if the whole body were an eye then where is the hearing if the hole were the hearing where's the smelling but now God had set the members every one of them in the body as please and if they were all one member where is the body but now are they many members but one body not this is where I love this and if the I says to the hand I don't need you know again to the feet I have no need of you nay much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary do you not many churches don't really have evangelists here's the funny part and then we'll go to a church grove conference I think that's hilarious how you got a church growth strategy that excludes Souls you know many people especially in word of faith circles they will heal the sick all night I mean just heal let's heal let's heal heal heal don't nobody ever prophesy at all unless it's tongues interpretation once a year and it's so chaotic that I gotta listen to whoever's back there talking in tongues and try to hear what they got to say and didn't interpret and most times it'd be about the coming of the Lord I guess the only thing is on God's mind tell him I'm hurry up and coming come on man but you see this range of diversity is abused a lot of your in securities in adequacies in theory or --'tis in consistencies are because of what you have mastered knowing about somebody else's story and what I see and acknowledge and value as a strength of yours intimidates me about mine so you don't realize how expert you are in other people's lives and it's it's important to admire it's important to aspire but you become idolatrous at the point where somebody's gift and somebody's journey and somebody's marriage and somebody's career become the basis of what you think is success or not success is being in the will of God success is being in the will of God in every season if you miss define success you're gonna abuse all of your energies a lot of people around you are in a race for personal success without a value for personal uniqueness you will never be successful being the same come on say I will never be successful being the same can I just I'm about to prophesy but let me tell you this the devil wants you to be afraid of your difference he is nervous right now about the layers of sameness coming off of you from this word because if you go into 2018 with a curvature my god maybe learning what God made me isn't that bad Menten maybe being like I am as I am is not that bad at all maybe my prosperity is attached to how different I am and maybe I've lost money by trying to be like you do you imagine what kind of stuff they call Michael Jackson now what's funny if people call him crazy and then bleached your skin and broke his nose off and can I tell you in debt he still make more money than you alright y'all don't like that got this book can I tell you that Prince he'll look better than all y'all well I know not one of y'all have a better feather that Prince come on there many brothers who were suggesting his cosmetology today while they look at him we're strange no no no no difference and society's ridiculed him because it was just too different but raise your hand if you know a print song Oh raise your hand if you know a Michael Jackson [Music] what did you just tell me you took notice the difference now I could name some people who were not so different and some of you might know it some of you might not the point is is that impact is an issue of difference how many of you studied this civil rights movement there were two figureheads there were nothing alike and had the same degree of impact because they were both different they had a different approach from each other a different strategy and sometimes people who are dedicated to their difference are going to clash it took for Malcolm X to go all the way to Mecca to let that hotheadedness come down huh Oh bless his name dr. King was screaming nonviolent nonviolent and now conventions like a blow to you that's my boy I'm glad I wasn't alive or I probably would have been a Muslim I've been a lot of the tape but they both had thousands of people media attention oh they could make a call and the world would listen were they the only civil rights activist no but they were different and that DIF wrote their name in history let me give you all the word in that I'm gonna give some of you a word you have God's permission to master your difference you have God's confirmation to explore your difference you have God's backing to deepen your difference in purpose and watch you prosper and watch you have enough stuff to break yokes and reverse patterns it never amazes me how many people become discouraged because a bunch of people who are the same are talking about them it's just so frustrating a bottle every time I go to my auntie's house they sit up and talk about me all 12 of them is sitting up chewing tobacco and frying Tomatoes bullying you about an achievement none of them could do if they were paying come on release yourself he meant to pet yourself be delivered from the pressure of having to be like what is and what was your future is in your difference [Applause] if you are a man and the only male figure in your life is your granddaddy and you tell them I'm retiring at 45 they're going to laugh at you why in that generation you worked until you was dead you died on the job I mean he was on a railroad and just went home somebody just came in got you I mean you grew up in a church like that the oldest ascension plan just one day that pastor just in the middle of screaming just went on out it's gone we got to yank the baton from them but the Kingdom Germany has been operating like a relay race where a lot of the forerunners died with batons because they'd have nobody to pass it back to now in fairness some people want to and can look back and find somebody disciplined enough to give it to so they take Manto's to the grave say different Alijah mantled elijah elijah used the mantle worth the mantle and died sick in grief the Bible says Elijah failed dead by illness how does somebody who did double miracles of Elijah died of illness ever thought about that I'm a kid I'm gonna tell you what happened I believe he hated his difference he was in grief he left his family left his mother daddy all he had was Elijah he lied to come take the mr. haire come get him take him right on out to glory now he has nothing left but people mocking him do you think it was good for him to call him she-bears on them babies no that was a sign of emotional issues if i sat here and said all one of you kids come get you know and call some zebras on y'all y'all would have all kinds of articles on me videos on me so we read the Bible I hear he called them she-bears not that many had problems emotional problems he grieved his difference so bad amber that when he went to the grave he took something with him that he shouldn't have that mantle and it fell upon dead men and the Bible says the bones of that man got up you're not supposed to take your difference to the grave you're supposed to deposit it upon the earth and allow somebody else to become double the different that you were being different be different [Music] I know my hell hates this touch this tude are different are you feeling free this guy rubbing your hand stand up bring me a minstrel I say I want you to scream the word different real loud that's a part of your goal look at how you're different if you want to find it if you're struggling to find it look under things that seem like common sense to you that other people struggle to figure out common sense is not common I don't know where y'all got that from when you when you have a native ability and you like what Steve Jobs thought was common stick with not coming sense to me amen

Channel: All Nations Chicago

Views: 28,182

Rating: 4.8866143 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: e2JZ7qYN81o

Length: 34min 24sec (2064 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 17 2018