God put you on this earth to do something.
Not just to exist, but to actually do something
to make a contribution for the kingdom of God on this earth.
And the more you're in the flow of God's gifting and calling on your life,
the happier you're going to be, the more joyful you're going to be.
So anxiety is an epidemic problem in America today.
I believe it's probably true in other countries,
but all I know is the U.S. has some of the worst anxiety disorders
of any nation in the world.
Over 19 million people struggle with anxiety disorders.
It's causing people to commit suicide.
It's causing drug addiction, alcohol addiction, divorces,
all kinds of issues that are affecting us mentally,
physically, spiritually, and emotionally.
And so what we're talking about here in this final episode
is how to break the power of anxiety, depression, and isolation.
And we're reading from 1 Peter 4, 7 through 11.
But the end of all things is at hand.
Therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayer.
So in Episode 1, we talked about the power of prayer.
And above all things, have fervent love for one another,
for love will cover a multitude of sins.
Secondly, I talked about fervent love.
Verse 9, be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
In the next episode, I talked about the importance of hospitality,
the importance of community.
And then lastly, Verse 10, as each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.
If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies
that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ
to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
So fourthly and lastly, using your spiritual gifts, your talents, and your skills
to bless other people, to minister to every person that you meet.
Let me explain what I mean by three concepts that I'm going to give you.
The first is natural talents.
The second is spiritual gifts.
And the third is acquired skills.
So he says here, each one has received a gift,
minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Men and women, you've been given talents and gifts and skills.
They're from God, and you're required by God to steward that.
And a steward was like a servant in a house in ancient times.
They didn't own the house.
They were not the owner of the house, but they stewarded.
That means that they worked the house.
They protected the house.
They cleaned the house.
It might even have been a steward would be one who was over the finances of the owner.
The point is is that the steward did not own the house,
and the steward's money that he was stewarding was not his own money.
And so it's the same way with each of you.
You've been given sovereignly by God before you were born in the mother's womb certain talents.
I would call them natural talents were given to you sovereignly by God.
Those talents were given by God for you to use to help others, to minister to others,
to make a difference in this world for the glory of God.
Even in my life as a little kid, I remember certain things that I liked to do,
that I wanted to do when I was playing by myself or when I was playing with others
that would be part of the natural talent that God had given me.
Each one of you are that way.
When you look back, as far back as you can remember, remember and look at what were you interested in?
What is it you liked to do?
What did you maybe even naturally have a talent for?
That was from God, and God wants you to develop that.
And so first of all, he's talking about natural talents.
And then when you're physically born, you're given natural talents,
but when you're born spiritually, born again, you're given spiritual gifts.
And so those spiritual gifts are supernaturally given by God into your life when you know him.
So you have talents and gifts.
So gifts that are all through Scripture, probably the two best passages are
1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12, they give a list of gifts.
I don't think any of them are exhaustive.
I think the gift of being an evangelist or a teacher or a pastor or administrator is
just an example of all the different spiritual gifts that God gives us.
So like even right now, we're in this room, we're in this studio filming, and my son Josh
is filming this particular series.
He is the current director of Empower You.
So what are the natural talents and the spiritual gifts that make up what he does?
And one thing I've always noticed with my son is he definitely always had a natural,
sort of a natural talent for what I would consider more sophisticated things.
So he can look at a complex situation and figure it out.
He's a guy that can figure stuff out, and it's a natural talent.
And then when he's born again as a Christian, he's using that with his spiritual gifts that
God's given him, and he's now running Empower You as a leader.
So there's a leadership aspect to that too.
But then the third thing is acquired skills.
So it wasn't good enough for my son just to have natural talents and spiritual gifts.
He also had to work on the skill needed to learn how to run cameras, to learn how to
film, to learn how to video, to learn how to edit what he's doing.
Well, that takes skill learned.
You have to go to school.
He didn't go to school in his case, but he definitely trained himself by being around
well-developed producers and editors, and he learned from them.
So I would call it kind of mentoring.
He was more in mentoring relationships.
Well, God's given every one of you that is listening to this natural talents, spiritual
gifts, and acquired skills.
The natural talents are from God.
The spiritual gifts are from God, but the acquired skills, that's on you.
That's you taking what God sovereignly blessed you with and you develop it.
And so as a missionary, I went on the mission field.
I felt called to go on the mission field.
I was in Asia for almost 10 years, but I had to learn the Japanese language.
I had to go to school to learn the language.
I had to study and read books about missiology and cross-cultural communication.
In other words, God called me to do something, but I also needed the skills to do that.
So the importance it is of being a steward.
So stewardship means that you're taking something that's really not even yours.
It's God's.
Your talents are from God.
Your spiritual gifts are from God.
And you're acquiring and developing the gifts and talents and the skills through
school, education, being mentored, and being in different contexts to grow that
because it's not your gifts.
It's not your talents.
You're doing it for the glory of God.
And so we can break the power of loneliness and break the power of anxiety and break
the power of depression by using our gifts.
I mean, I believe God put you on this earth to do something, not just to exist,
but to actually do something to make a contribution for the kingdom of God on
this earth.
And the more you're in the flow of God's gifting and calling on your life,
the happier you're going to be, the more joyful you're going to be.
So develop yourself, develop your skills and your gifts.
Now, in Mark 4, Jesus says something also very interesting.
He says,
And to you who hear, more will be given, for whoever has, to him more will be
given.
But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
In Luke 6, we read, Jesus says,
Both verses are saying that what you've been given, God wants you to give out to
others.
And if you give it out to others, God's going to bless you with more.
In other words, being the best that you can be with the gifts and talents that
you've been given, there's going to be added measure back to you.
And actually, in the sower and the seeds, Jesus says,
100 times, he talks about 60 times, he talks about 30 times multiplication of your gift
if you give away what you've been given.
So if you hoard, if you just kind of bury your personal treasures that God's placed
into you, that actually makes God very, very angry.
Look at the parable of the sower and the seeds if you have any doubt about that.
But on the other hand, he says for whoever has, who's willing to give it to others,
to him more will be given, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away
from him.
So I like to say this phrase with gifts from God, use it or lose it.
Either use it or lose it.
Use what God's given you or you're going to lose it.
Another way to look at it is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
So the more you give and you use what God's given you, the more he's going to pour it
back into you.
So let me challenge you.
There's no reason for you to continue to live in anxiety, depression, and loneliness.
Let me challenge you from this passage to be a man or a woman of prayer, to have a fervent
love for other people, to be in a community.
And then lastly, use your natural talents, your spiritual gifts, and your acquired skills
to bless others and God's going to bless you back and you're going to get a richer and
richer and richer life.
You're going to experience so much joy because you're going to be changing other people's
lives through the gifting and the talents that God's given you.
So I just challenge you right now, wherever you are, that you do not have to stay in this
place of anxiety.
You don't have to stay in this place of depression and loneliness.
Let me challenge you to proactively and intentionally start to work out these four things in your
life and watch what God will do.
So I just want to pray for you right now.
So God right now, those that are listening, I pray the Lord you would give them the intentionality
and the courage to be serious and watchful in prayer, to have a fervent love, that you
would develop a fervent love in them for other people, that by the God you'd give them a
passion for community with others, and the Lord that the talents that you've given them
and the gifts that you've given them and the acquired skills that you've given them, the
Lord they would use that to minister to others.
We just trust that Lord God, that's going to break the power of shame.
That's going to break the power of isolation.
That's going to break the power of loneliness and depression and anxiety.
In your name we pray, amen.
God bless you.