Church in the Wild
Week 11: Spiritual Gift
Pastor Rick Henderson March 14-15, 2026
Note: This manuscript isn’t a transcript of the sermon, but a planning guide showing what the speaker intends to say.
04/23/1978 - MM/DD/YYYY
This is my birth date. If you have a similar start date to mine, congratulations on your childhood. Being an 80s kid was pretty rad.
Like every one of you, I know my start date. I don’t know my end date. I hope it’s not soon, but you never really know. Do you have an age that you want to hit? I don’t have a number. I just want to be old enough that I can shoplift but get away with it by pretending I didn’t know what I was doing.
If you could know your end date, would you want to know? Some people say yes. Some people say no. Ironically, those who want to know and those who don’t are motivated by the same reason. Knowing would dramatically impact how they experience this (the dash). Whatever this date is and whatever this date it is, neither are what’s most important. It’s the dash that’s most important. The dash represents the full allotment time we get, and it represents what we do with it. It’s the dash that’s most important.
Here’s my real question. How are you stewarding your dash? How do you make the most of your dash? How do you keep from wasting your dash?
OBJECT LESSON: Time Jar
About 15 years ago I started a practice of counting my time. The first thing I did was to calculate how many Saturdays I had left if I lived until my 75th birthday. Next, I counted exactly that many beads and put them in this jar. I keep this on the nightstand, next to my bed. Every Saturday morning, I take out one of the beads out and throw it in the trash. Over the past 15 years, I’ve thrown away almost 800 beads. 800 weeks—gone.
I do this as a reminder of 2 things:
Whatever the amount of time I have allotted to me, it’s limited. Time is the one resource we can’t increase. Remembering that helps me remember the second thing. I want to steward my time well.
Everybody SPENDS time. The wise INVEST it.
You don’t have to be religious to recognize that. It’s true for everyone.
When I throw away a bead, I think about what I did that week and I ask myself, if it was time well spent. Sometime the answer is yes and sometime the answer is no. But each time as I look into the trash can I feel a renewed desire to invest my time well.
04/23/1978 - MM/DD/YYYY
I know what I want out of my dash. Do you know what you want out of yours? Do you know what we’re talking about? We’re talking about purpose. What are you living for? Every week we end our services by reciting a verse that says, “we don’t live for ourselves, but for him who died for us and was raised again.” If you are a follower of Jesus, and you want to live for that purpose, eventually you’re going to have to come to an understanding of how to do that. And if you’re going to talk about how, you’re eventually going to have to talk about spiritual gifts.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
All throughout this letter, he’s referenced their gifts, their spiritual gifts. In verse 7 of chapter 1, he wrote, “You do not lack any spiritual gift.” Having spiritual gifts, using spiritual gifts, talking about spiritual gifts—that’s not new to them. And we’re now in chapter 12, and he’s just beginning to explain exactly what they are because he doesn’t want them to be ignorant or confused. I think that leads us to an important realization.
Experiencing how God WORKS is not the same as understanding his WAYS.
If I had to pick between experiencing how God works vs. understanding his ways—I’d pick the experience every time. I’d rather have an encounter with something good than simply understand it in my head. I’d rather eat a good meal and have no clue how it was made than to be the most knowledgeable chef on the planet, but with an empty belly. If I had to pick, I’m picking experience.
The good news is that we don’t have to pick. We get to experience and understand. Like with all good things, understanding requires intentional, sustained effort on our part. Let’s do that together. Let’s do our best to ask good questions and dig for answers. We’ll start here.
QUESTION: What are spiritual gifts?
It’s not like being Harry Potter, discovering one day that you’re a wizard with special powers. It’s far more ordinary andmore extraordinary than that.
Spiritual gifts are ANYTHING the Holy Spirit EMPOWERS to serve his purposes and his people.
So far, in our trek through 1 Corinthians, we’ve seen that collectively we are the temple of God. If you have trusted in Jesus, together we are the temple of God. By the time we’re done, we’ll also see that individually we are the temple of God. This may sound weird to you, it may be new to you—what you need to know if you are a follower of Jesus is that you are a walking, talking, living temple of God wherever you go. That means your life is an intersection of the natural and supernatural.
Spiritual gifts are an intersection of the supernatural and the natural. The Holy Spirit of God is with you and in you. He has already empowered you with the ability to serve his purposes and his people. It’s supernatural—he is the source. It’s natural—it’s working through you.
1CORINTHIANS 12:4-7 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
There are different gifts that the Holy Spirit gives. The way that he empowers you to do something, might be different from you, and from you, and from me. There are different gifts, but one purpose. What are they for [Pointing to screen]?
Whatever gift the Holy Spirit gives TO you is not FOR you.
Birthday gifts are for us. The Christmas gifts we get are for us. The gifts that come from the Spirit of God, they’re not for us. They’re for the common good. They’re for his purposes and his people. They are not for us, and yet they are good for us.
Spiritual gifts are means by which we EXPERIENCE and EXPRESS God’s love.
I want you to think back to when we were kids. Think about that moment on the playground where we picked teams for dodgeball, kickball, or whatever. We never wanted to be picked, what? Last! And if you got picked first, didn’t that feel great? How are spiritual gifts an experience of his love? God picked you to be on his team. He doesn’t want you on the bench. He wants you in the game. Don’t speed past that.
SLIDE: EARTH
This is where God defies my comprehension. He hears and responds to billions of prayers. He is working his plan for the advancement of the gospel and the salvation of people across the planet. Amid all of this, you are on his mind because he wants you on his team. The Holy Spirit of God has empowered you for action. I think you should experience that as being loved.
Spiritual gifts are means by which we EXPERIENCE and EXPRESS God’s love.
The gifts we are given are intended to be used as an expression of God’s love through us, so that other people experience God’s love. I had a professor in college who used to say, “God’s love often has human fingerprints.” When you use whatever spiritual gift you have, other people are experiencing God’s love with your fingerprints.
QUESTION: How many gifts can a person get, and do they ever change?
At least one. And probably. We’re defining spiritual gifts as anything the Holy Spirit empowers in you, through you, by you, to serve his purposes and his people. It would probably help to have some examples.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:8-11 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, r and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
QUESTION: Is this list of gifts exhaustive?
No. Paul lists out more gifts later in the passage. Will get to that in a couple of minutes. There are other places in the New Testament where Paul lists out spiritual gifts.
- Romans 12:6–8
- 1 Corinthians 12:8–10
- 1 Corinthians 12:28–30)
- Ephesians 4:11
While these lists are similar, they are not identical. So, whenever Paul specifically lists spiritual gifts, they must be representative or common examples. I don’t think he’s ever trying to say, " This is all there is.” Rather, the emphasis is that if you are in Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God is with you and in you, and he will empower you with the ability to serve the common good. You can bank on it.
It’s not just possible, but it’s likely that the Holy Spirit has empowered you to do something that serves the common good, but it’s not specifically listed anywhere in the Bible.
There isn’t a place in the New Testament that says the ability to make money is a spiritual gift. And yet, I’ve come to believe that it is a spiritual gift. I’ve met just enough folks who are more than simply talented at making money; they can’t help but make money. And the folks I’m thinking of are generous and find real joy in funding the ministry. I’m talking about something that is a corollary of generosity, but distinct from it. It’s the ability to pile up more money than you need, maybe even the ability to pile up more money than you enjoy spending—so that you can fund things of lasting significance, fund the common good. Maybe God’s given you that gift.
If God’s given you that gift—uncork it. And if it sounds to you like I’m being self-serving, I don’t personally benefit when people give generously to Autumn Ridge. We collectively benefit, and ministry efforts get a needed boost, which serves the common good.
But, if you are the kind of person that God has gifted to make money, and you're suspicious that I’m being self-serving, deploy those funds to other churches and to other ministries. I don’t care. If God has given you that gift, unleash it. Whatever gift God has given you, put it into practice.
- If your gift is to encourage and resource foster parents—put it into practice.
- If your gift is feeding people so that they feel loved, connected, and at ease—put it into practice.
- If your gift is that when you pray, God responds—put it into practice.
- If your gift is gathering people together and bringing them with you—put it into practice.
- If your gift is helping kids believe they are loved by God because you leave no room for doubt that they are loved by you—put it into practice.
Whatever ability the Holy Spirit empowers in you—put it into practice. Naturally, we’re going to ask.
QUESTION: What’s the difference between a spiritual gift and natural talent/ability?
The Holy Spirit may, he just may empower you to do something that an atheist could do without any help. One of my favorite anti-religious figures, who loved to debate Christians, was Christopher Hitchens.
SLIDE: Christopher Hitchens
He was smart, witty, and he made me laugh. I wish I could have known him.
He used to ask a question that seemed to stump most of his opponents. “Name one thing that a religious person can do that I, as an atheist, can’t do.” Man, I wish he would have asked me that. I think there’s only one answer—worship. That’s it. You cannot enjoy, appreciate, delight in, and express love for someone you don’t believe exists.
Let me say it another way, an atheist can do anything a Christian can do, except they can’t do those things as an expression of love and gratitude for the one who is the source of truth, goodness, and beauty. So, what’s our answer to this?
QUESTION: What’s the difference between a spiritual gift and natural talent/ability?
A spiritual gift may look exactly like a natural talent or ability. The difference is that it’s supernaturally empowered for a particular purpose and outcome. And then sometimes, it is something wholly other than a natural talent or ability.
My wife used to have a friend named Danyella. She had an uncanny ability to call Heather at the precise moment of a crisis, a problem, or a moment of anxiety. In a way that neither Heather nor I can explain naturally, Heather always popped into Danyella’s mind in the moments that Heather needed encouragement most. She would call, pray for, and encourage her. That’s not an ability you can choose or develop. That’s something that’s supernaturally empowered by the Holy Spirit to express the love of God to someone else.
Whenever spiritual gifts come up, there are always questions about one on the list.
QUESTION: What is the gift of tongues?
What’s translated into English is the Greek word for languages. What is this about? There is a big debate about this. We know for sure it’s one thing. It’s maybe a second thing.
ANSWER 1: The ability to be understood in a foreign language for the rapid transmission of the gospel (no debate).
If you read Acts 2, you’ll find that there was only a small group of followers of Jesus left. It’s been just over a month since the crucifixion and resurrection. This small group started preaching on the streets in Jerusalem. And boom---thousands of people joined that first church. About a thousand joined every day following. What was wild was that, even though the preachers were speaking Aramaic, everyone heard the message in their own languages. Tongues is speaking in one language, but being understood in another, no translator needed, for the rapid transmission of the gospel.
It can also be the ability to quickly communicate in a language that’s not your own. If you can rapidly learn a language and communicate through it, that can be a spiritual gift.
ANSWER 2: The ability to communicate in a divine/spiritual language (debated).
There are smart, good hearted, folks who are convinced that the gift of tongues also means the ability to communicate in a heavenly language. I just don’t have time to address that today. If you’ll be patient with me, I will give much more attention to it 2 weeks. Stay tuned for that.
The main thing I want us to get is the main thing Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand. Spiritual gifts are abilities that the Holy Spirit empowers in you for others. And if you’ve been tracking with us through this series, you know the people in that church had problems. It appears that they were trying to use spiritual gifts as a measuring stick to figure out who was more important. They used them to get attention, applause, and approval.
So, Paul wrote a long section about us each being different parts of one body. We all need each other and we should honor each other. There are no fences and no ladders in the church. There are no hierarchy of people in the church. We’re going to skip that section and jump to the end.
1 CORINTHIANS 12:27-30 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.
Here’s a question that stumped me for a long time.
QUESTION: How can there be a hierarchy of gifts without a hierarchy of gifted people?
I’ve come to a place where I think I understand. I’ll leave it to you to decide if this makes sense. The greater gifts are those in which expressing the love of God for the benefit of others is primary over experiencing the love of God for myself.
Like I said a minute ago, I can’t engage the debated idea about speaking in tongues right now. But it appears that people in Corinth were presenting themselves as being able to speak a heavenly language. Is that real or not real. We’ll talk about it in 2 weeks. Whatever you believe about that, it appears that people in the Corinthian church were trying to leverage that for self-promotion, prestige, and attention.
Their mindset was: Speaking in a divine or spiritual language is great. I have that gift. So, I must be great. Whatever was going on, it was performative and self-serving. There’s nothing great about that. The greatest gifts are the ones that benefit others. In the Kingdom of Jesus, in his church, greatness is climbing to the top; it’s placing yourself at the bottom so that you can serve the good of someone else.
QUESTION: How do I discover my spiritual gifts?
I’m not going to suggest test or a survey. Let’s resist the urge to reduce this work of the Spirit to an algorithm. Instead, I’m going to give you a prayer to pray and 3 questions to ask.
- Pray: “God, will you make clear to me how you want to use me and give me opportunities to do it?
- Ask: What do I enjoy doing that benefits others and causes me to sense God’s pleasure?
- Ask: Where do other people affirm and celebrate my impact on others?
- Ask: Where do I experience positive impact on others that I don’t know how to explain?
Gary Scheckel was an intimidating man. I was about 30 when I met him and he was about 70. In a fight, no doubt he would win. The man had seen things in life and done things in life. And his eyes made me feel like he could see into my thoughts. The man was intimidating. Cops call it command presence.
For many years, he worked hard, played hard, and drank hard. During the Vietnam War, he was in the Navy. He once got so drunk that he boarded the wrong ship and fell asleep in someone’s bunk. Once discovered by the owner of the bunk, he got into a fight and was kicked off the ship. The way he tells it, that’s just how his life was.
After the Navy, he became a police officer in Southern California. There’s nothing about this story that’s politically correct or even admirable, but this is my most memorable Gary Sheckel story. He responded to a disturbance call at a bar. Whenever people got up to dance or go to the bathroom, an intoxicated woman would finish their drinks. The patrons got mad. She refused to leave, so they called the cops.
When Gary got there, the woman started to fight him. Everyone in the bar quickly switched sides, and they started to cheer for the woman. Gary Scheckel was no-nonsense and mean. He punched her in the face, knocked her out, dragged her out by her heel, and put her in the squad car. He was a hard man.
When I met Gary, that was all in the past. After decades of angry, hard living, Jesus changed his life. I was a youth pastor at the time. And I was gearing up to take kids on a mission trip to Mexico. Now retired, Gary was a handyman and wanted to know if I could use his help. He was willing, but reluctant. He was not the stereotypical volunteer. I quickly said yes, and he came on the trip.
Gary was changed by Jesus, but he did not lose his tough guy, commanding presence. That did not intimidate the students. They viewed him as a surrogate grandpa. The ironic thing about taking teenagers on a mission trip with construction projects is that most of them have no experience with tools. I saw something profound unfold.
Everybody has insecurities, and that’s certainly true in the teen years. It was amazing to watch him patiently teach teenage guys and girls how to use power tools. Their confidence and self-worth shot through the roof. They were so proud of themselves, and they fell in love with Gary.
After that trip, maybe against his better judgment, he agreed to be a co-leader for a high school small group. He never imagined himself in that role, but he showed up, and he kept showing up. One week, a high school senior, named Hannah, asked if she could share something.
One of her class assignments was to write a paper about the most impactful person in her life. She wrote her paper about Gary Sheckel and she read it to him in front of the group.
When Gary joined me on that trip to Mexico, he probably thought, I’ve got construction skills. God probably wants to use me to build things. He had no idea that he had been given the gift of building people.
SLIDE: dash
At the beginning I asked you about what you want to do with your dash. Here’s a great place to start.
- Pray: “God, will you make clear to me how you want to use me and give me opportunities to do it?
- Ask: What do I enjoy doing that benefits others and causes me to sense God’s pleasure?
- Ask: Where do other people affirm and celebrate my impact on others?
- Ask: Where do I experience positive impact on others that I don’t know how to explain?