Releasing Your Gifts in Work
EPHESIANS 4:11-16 NLT
Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the
prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their
responsibility is to EQUIP GOD’S PEOPLE TO DO HIS WORK AND
BUILD UP THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST. This will
continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of
God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full
and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature
like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of
new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us
with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the
truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is
the head of his body, the church. He makes the WHOLE BODY FIT
TOGETHER PERFECTLY. As each part does its OWN SPECIAL
WORK, it HELPS THE OTHER PARTS grow, so that the WHOLE
BODY is healthy and growing and full of love.
• Of Jesus’s 312 public appearances in the Bible, 122 were in the
marketplace.
• Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context.
• Of 40 divine interventions in the book of Acts, 39 occurred in
the marketplace.
• Jesus spent the majority of His life working as a carpenter.
• When Jesus started His ministry, He called 12 men from the
marketplace to build His church around.
• 99% of the church spends half of its waking hours working in
the marketplace.
“I believe the next great move of God is going to be through believers
in the marketplace.” — Billy Graham
MATTHEW 5:13-16 NKJV
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall
it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that
is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it
under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in
the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
3 Types of People Who Work:
- PROFIT DRIVEN workers: Bottom line is, “How much money am I
going to make? What’s in it for me?” Consumed with materialism and
the high life. - PLEASURE DRIVEN workers: Working to make just enough
money to enjoy life. Live for the weekends. Work is a necessary evil
to enjoy the other parts of life. - PURPOSE DRIVEN workers: Understand that work is a part of
their ministry in life. Live with a higher vision than profit or pleasure.
View work as an opportunity to excel, influence and have an effect on
the world.
Principles to Release Your Gifts in Work:
- Make your work an offering of worship to God.
COLOSSIANS 3:23 NIV
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the
Lord, not for human masters …
ROMANS 12:1 MSG
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your
everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-WORK, and
walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering … - Approach your work with the heart of a servant.
MATTHEW 20:25-28 NLT
But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers in
this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority
over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever
wants to be a leader among you must BE YOUR SERVANT, and
whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and
to give his life as a ransom for many.” - Work your job with the character of Jesus.
PROVERBS 11:3 NIV
The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are
destroyed by their duplicity.
People with Character:
• Are faithful to work hard on their jobs
• Watch over their attitudes and words
• Are honest with money, time and people
• Are people of their word - Always work to improve your skills.
Skills: unique abilities to excel in your work
PROVERBS 22:29 NIV
Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before
kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank.
PROVERBS 18:16 NKJV
A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.