What Is Your Superpower? (Finding Your Gifts)

What Is Your Superpower? (Finding Your Gifts)
Sunday Morning
Pastor Jim Lowe III
Sunday Morning, 9:30am Stream
5/2/21

{All scriptures are NIV unless stated}

Over the past 10 years or so…we’ve seen a major change in media and brands.

For instance, 30 years ago, Batman, Superman and Spiderman were comic book characters.

Or cartoons of comic book characters.

But today, these same characters are part of companies that bring in billions of dollars from movies alone.

Their popularity is SOARING right now.

There are many things that draw us to these characters.

I know growing up it was cool to imagine what it’d be like to have some of the powers or abilities of some of these characters.

Those powers are what we’ll be talking about today.

Because there are some interesting things about powers and our faith.

Webster defines Superpower:

Superpower (Merriam-Webster)

a power or ability (such as the ability to become invisible or fly) of the kind possessed by superheroes. A superhuman power.

A super power is something we don’t naturally do on our own.

What are some other superpowers?

From an online article of the 20 best superpowers of all time:

X-Ray Vision:

The ability to see through solid objects or people.

Similar to x-ray machines.

Even what they use to check your luggage.

{For those of you who think you can read people…this isn’t the same thing.}

Enhanced Senses:

The ability to have senses that go far beyond what is normal.

Super Hearing

We’d need to amplify to hear.

Some of us may need hearing aids.

{Except moms…they hear everything.}

Super Vision

Eagle vision

Fight:

Considered a typical power. The ability to hover or propel yourself in the air.

We can’t do that.

We’d need some device to help us do that.

planes, gliders, parachute, jet pack

Super Speed:

The ability to move much faster than normal people.

Usain Bolt might be the closest to this, but is far away from it being a “super power.”

{Maybe some of us when we were younger and mom told us to clean up before she got home and we hear her coming in the house}

Super Strength:

The ability to lift and move things normal people cannot.

The ability to receive more than normal damage without problem.

They wouldn’t be super powers without some super hero to wield them.

Superman - had flight and super strength among other stuff.

Hulk - super strength the angrier he got.

Batman/Ironman - had super intellect and a master tactician among other stuff.

Flash - had super speed and super healing among other stuff.

Each of these abilities are considered extra ordinary.

More than ordinary.

More than natural.

This is why they’re considered superheroes!

They had abilities normal people didn’t possess!

But, in comics and movies…the “heroes” weren’t the only ones with powers.

The bad guys had abilities too!

Goes to show that you can have abilities and still be a villain.

An Ability Doesn’t Make You A Hero, What You Do With It Does

The concept of what they had in fiction isn’t too far away from the truth of what we have here.

We don’t call them powers.

We call them gifts.

Are You A Gifted Child?

The bible tells us that each one of us has gifts.

Joel 2:28-29

28 “And afterward,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

your old men will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

The book of Joel is an Old Testament book setting up what God would do at a later date.

We are living in this time now.

There are 2 things we immediately see at the beginning.

God Will Pour His Spirit On All People

In the last days, God will pour out his Spirit on ALL people.

All means all.

If you are listening, God has poured his Spirit out on you.

His Spirit Will Make Gifts Available

Joel 2:28-29

28 “And afterward,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

As his spirit is given…how does it show itself?

Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

It shows itself in different forms.

But EACH form shows itself to be something beyond what we can normally do.

For example:

“Your sons and daughters will prophesy”

One of MANY gifts.

Prophecy - The ability to speak the message of God to others. This sometimes involves foresight or visions of what is to come.

“This is what the Lord is saying.”

God gives gifts like this to you.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

If you have his Spirit,

You have gifts from God.

“I Have Gifts From God”

God has given YOU gifts.

No matter how you might feel about yourself.

God loved you enough to give you something extra ordinary.

God loved you enough to give you gifts that go beyond normal capability.

God loved you enough to give you a super spiritual power.

It’s not a secret…WE just might not know what it is.

God Wants Us To Discover Our Gifts And Purpose

As much as we put other things before God.

Things that really don’t matter…

Things that are only distractions…

Entertainment is a big one!

Do we have a show we will NOT miss?

Do we have an artist we know every song and every lyric?

Do we live lifestyles based on what we see on TV?

But still don’t read our bibles?

But still won’t pray?

We are putting these things before God…and they’re distractions!

God gave us these gifts for a reason…and we should be using them!

1 Corinthians 12:1-11 (NKJV)

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, (stuff that really doesn’t matter…distractions) however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

We aren’t supposed to be ignorant when it comes to our gifts.

There are all types of distractions out there…but real TRUTH is found in God.

What does it say about the gifts of God?

Verse 4 (NKJV)

4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

Diversities of gifts.

There are multiple gifts available…but the same Spirit.

Multiple ministries…but the same Lord.

Multiple activities…but the same God.

All of these gifts come from the same place.

Verse 7-11 (NKJV)

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

Let’s look at the different things we see here.

Different People Have Different Gifts

Verse 7-11 (NKJV)

One is given a word of wisdom.

Another the word of knowledge.

Another faith.

Another gifts of healings.

Another the working of miracles.

Another prophecy.

Another discerning of spirits.

Speaking in tongues.

Interpretations of tongues.

No One Has Everything, But We Each Have Something

“I Have Gifts From God”

Here’s something else 1 Corinthians 12 tells us about our gifts:

Every Spiritual Gift Is Important Because It Comes From God

1 Corinthians 12:11 (NKJV)

11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

All of these came from God.

We should not look at what we have and compare it to what others have.

There are no good gifts and bad gifts.

There are no useless gifts!

In comics, there are plenty of ones that aren’t popular!

Do a search on the worst superpowers.

There are lists out here!

Instead of being gifted with flight and super strength.

You can talk to the squirrels…that’s it. JUST them.

Can you imagine the other heroes flying to fight danger, and all you can do is ask the squirrels if they came this way?

One hero is gifted with being ugly.

He had to cover his whole head because he could destroy anything that looked at his face uncovered.

But there are no unimportant or lesser gifts in God!

The last thing from 1 Corinthians 12:7:

God Gave Us Our Gifts For Others

1 Corinthians 12:7 (NKJV)

7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

1 Corinthians 12:7 (NIV)

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:7 (Message)

Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits.

Your gift is not meant just for you.

What good is the gift of healing if you only pray for yourself?

What good is the gift of healing if you don’t want to pray for others?

What good is hearing the voice of God about the future to only use it for our benefit?

Just like the superheroes…our gifts are to be used for others.

As we’re talking about gifts…they aren’t given to us to just sit on either.

We Should Be Finding Ways To Use Our Gifts

Romans 12:6-8

6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Some of us might know our gifts already.

Are you using them in the church?

Are you using them for others?

God is attempting to rebuild his church now.

We need you more than ever.

Using your gifts!

Going after your purpose!

If You Are Trying To Find Purpose, Look At Your Gifts!

Joseph

Genesis 37:2

2 This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Verse 5 said Joseph, the youngest brother at the time had a dream where the older brothers were bowing down and serving him.

In that culture that didn’t happen because the pecking order started with the oldest.

Just how older siblings are responsible for the younger.

If you were the oldest in your household, you had to watch your younger brother/sister.

If you were the youngest, the oldest wouldn’t listen to you unless you could beat them up.

So Joseph was having a dream his brothers were bowing down to him.

He had another dream in verse 9

Genesis 37:9-11

9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Joseph didn’t know it at the time, but he had the gift of prophecy.

We know he was eventually sold into slavery by his brothers.

Taken to Egypt.

Thrown into prison after he was lied on.

But while in prison he met two people who were part of Pharaoh’s servants.

The cupbearer and the baker.

They had their own dreams, and Joseph had the ability to not only have prophetic dreams of his own,

But he also interpreted the dreams of the other men.

This led him to being able to get in front of Pharaoh to interpret a dream HE had.

Which ultimately saved the country from disaster.

The dream which Joseph had was something that would happen many years later…but it gave Joseph the ability to interpret the dreams for the other man.

Proverbs 18:16 (NKJV)

16 A man’s gift makes room for him,

And brings him before great men.

Joseph’s Gift Made Room For Him, What Will Yours Do For You?

{Recap:}

You Have A Gift From God

He wants you to discover what it is.

There are many gifts given by the spirit.

Different People Have Different Gifts

Because God gives them, every one’s gift is important.

Feel proud of what you have, because it comes from God!

God Gave Us Our Gifts For Others

Our purpose is designed to give God glory, but our gifts are made for others.

We can talk more about that next time.

If you are trying to find God’s purpose for you, look at your gifts.

What are some of the more popular gifts?

Administration

Apostleship

Discernment

Evangelism

Exhortation

Faith

Giving

Healing

Helps/Serving/Ministering

Interpretation of Tongues

Knowledge

Mercy

Miracles

Prophecy

Pastor/Teaching

Teaching

Tongues

Wisdom

All of these are considered Spiritual Gifts.

All of these are what we could say are superpowers available to us.

So with this list, how do we start finding out what they are?

How Do We Determine Our Gifts?

With so many gifts, how do we know what’s what?

Spiritual Gifts Test

We should take a Spiritual Gifts Test.

A Spiritual Gifts Test tells you the strongest gifts you have.

If it has been more than 12 months since you’ve taken one, retake it.

We have physical copies of a test here at GLC.

If you aren’t able to get a physical copy here, you can find them online also.

A good SHORT one is at:

Online Spiritual Gifts Test:

https://giftstest.com/test

This test will tell you the top 5 gifts you have.

The physical copy will rank 12 different gifts for you.

If you haven’t taken a test like this in over a year, you should retake it.

One gift might have gotten stronger than the other.

Because we are working towards purpose and achieving your divine potential here.

We want to know your results so we can help you find a place in ministry to help us.

Many times we want to serve but don’t know where to start.

Knowing your spiritual gifts is a GREAT start!