In this episode, Chad and Keith discuss the spiritual gifts of evangelism. How do you know if you have that gift? How do you effectively interact with other people with that gift?
If you want to learn more about spiritual gifts or take a spiritual gifts test, click here.
In this episode, Chad and Keith discuss the spiritual gifts of evangelism. How do you know if you have that gift? How do you effectively interact with other people with that gift?
If you want to learn more about spiritual gifts or take a spiritual gifts test, click here.
Intro (Keith): Welcome to the Kanakuk Institute Podcast, where we continue to equip leaders with Biblical Skills for a lifetime of ministry.
Chad (00:13): And welcome back into the Kanakuk Institute Podcast. Keith Chancey and Chad Hampsch with you, again, and we are jumping into this series on spiritual gifts. Keith, just remind us again: why is it so important for us to understand this topic?
Keith (00:30): You know Chad, I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited about when I began to learn this area of life how it transformed my life. Because it seemed like before I understood my own personal gift that I was always comparing myself to others. I was always frustrated because I thought I wasn’t good enough, I wasn’t measuring up. And I thought, “Man, you’ve got the gift of teaching. I’ve got this gift over here. And, if I had that gift of service, I’d be like this.” And I just kind of kept feeling frustrated because I just kept feeling like my gift wasn’t that good of a deal. Because I just didn’t know who I was. And that’s why it’s so important, Chad, if you understand who you are in Christ, and you understand your gift. Man, it just transcends everything, because, no longer am I a product of frustration, but I’m going, “Man, I’m building up the body and people around me are moving and grooving and shaking, and ministries are growing, and I’m like wow, how did that happen?” Everybody understood they were important. And by the way, that’s what Paul said in Philippians 2, that we are to see each other as important. And when we see each other as more important than ourselves, it’s amazing how that works. And so, you know, Chad, real quick, let me just kind of give you just a little text of 1 Corinthians 12. You know, Paul says, “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know when you were pagans, you were lead astray to mute idols however you were led. Therefore, I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Sprit of God says, ‘Jesus is accursed.’ And no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Chad, that’s awesome. So there are two types of people, those that know Christ, those that don’t. Some have been led astray, some have been lied to. But those that truly understand Christ, they are going to get something. And it’s going to be this: verse 4, “Now there are varieties.” Varieties of gifts. Man. God’s people, it is a variety of things and we just talked about nine of them that we’re going to talk about in the next upcoming weeks. “And there are varieties of ministries. But the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God, who works all things to all persons, but to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” Common. That you’ve been gifted different than me, I’ve been gifted different than you, and all of us that go to work, and operate together, we are different but we’re one. That to me is amazing! And if I understand my gift, I will work better, I will be more productive, I will be more happy, I will be more secure, and I’m going to tell you something, we’re going to be building a body of unity like we’ve never dreamed before.
Chad (03:22): Yeah, and it seems like this passage is not really allowing for division. It’s like, “You have this gift, this person has this gift, and it’s saying, ‘How can you be divided if you have the same Spirit? How can you be comparing if you have the same Lord?’” And so it’s really a challenge too.
Keith (03:37): It frees me, right?
Chad (03:39): Yeah, to go, “Let, if that person’s really good at that because God’s gifted them in that, then let them run in that lane,” because you’re actually doing the work of God by allowing them to walk in the Spirit the way…
Keith (03:49): You know, Chad, I’m going to use an illustration that’s really an easy one for everybody to understand. You know, last night I’m watching the Kansas City Chiefs play, and I see the quarterback, and who doesn’t love Patrick Mahomes? You know what I’m saying? I mean everybody says, “Oh he’s the greatest quarterback ever.” But the problem is, he’s only as good as his front line. And if he doesn’t have good receivers, Patrick Mahomes is nobody. It takes everybody on a team understanding their position and playing their position well. Patrick Mahomes can never ever get the ball in his hands if he doesn’t have a good center. And he can never be protected if he doesn’t have a good left guard left tackle. And what we fail to do sometimes is recognize he doesn’t just walk onto that field and perform at that level without everybody around him being unbelievable. And but you know what? The guys in the booth, “Oh, Patrick Mahomes He's awesome.” Be careful. Because he’s only as good as the people around him. And so I think sometimes we don’t think. But I want to be Patrick. But that’s not your gift. But you are just as good as Patrick, in that you’re being used of your gift. A center, a tackle, a guard, a linebacker, a defensive tackle, a cornerback, a free safety. Every position is just as important when they operate within the context of team.
Chad (05:17): Yeah, we spiritual gifts is like football, and we want to treat it like tennis. It’s a one-man sport, and I’m just going to see if I’m better than everybody else. But it’s not, it is everybody in the body using their gifts, and by the way, when somebody is in that body, and compares or feels inadequate, or doesn’t use their gift, we all suffer. It’s not just that that person suffers, it’s actually that the entire body of Christ suffers. And so, we have a responsibility not only to our own gift, but how do I maximize bringing the giftedness of others out, and allowing them to manifest what the Spirit has brought…
Keith (05:56): Well think about that as an athlete, you were a basketball player, soccer player, you’ve played a lot of sports. And if you just run out on that field, and it’s all about you, how good do you do?
Chad (06:07): Yeah, well your team suffers. We’ve all played basketball with a guy that won’t pass. You know, and all of a sudden it’s like, “Ok, it’s one on five.” And it’s just four guys standing and they’re not empowered, so they just give up. And they lose by 30.
Keith (06:17): Yeah, and the next game we don’t want to show up, because that one guy has dominated and we go, “I don’t want to play.” And that’s ministry. That’s the work force, that’s the family. When a dad operates outside of the Spirit, and he begins to say, “I am control. Do it my way or the highway.” The wife, she loses her excitement. The kids lose their excitement. And all of a sudden. And we’re like, “What happened?
Chad (06:42): Yeah, and they lose their voice. They don’t have a voice to feel like, “Oh, I need to talk to my Dad.” It’s, “My Dad’s talking at me.” And you know as a dad, that’s two very different things.
Keith (06:58): Your, our goal to our kids, to our family, to our friends, if I can make you feel better about yourself, man am I doing a good job. And I’m not talking about flattery. There’s a big difference of flattery and exhorting your gifts.
Chad (07:13): Yeah, explain the difference, because I think that’s one, we’ve all heard people to, “Oh man, you’re the best.” Or “That was the best.” What’s the difference between flattery and actual, like, specific encouragement.
Keith (07:24): Well, you know, it’s easy to say to you, “Man, I like your haircut. You really look good today. You’ve got a nice shirt on.” Well all those are exterior. And those can be flattery. Those can begin to tickle an emotion inside of yourself that’s based on the exterior. But what really makes something more effective is when you begin to focus on the interior, that I’m going to look at your heart. You know, Chad, the other day when I saw you serve that person, man I just want you to know how much I appreciate. You know, Chad I watch you, and thank you for the way you in humility teach the word, man, I am so thankful for that. Thank you for coming alongside of me and making me feel loved and cared for because you asked me how I was doing. It’s taking it to a deeper level.
Chad (08:18): And being specific.
Keith (08:19): Oh yeah, my wife will tell you. She doesn’t want our marriage to be roommates. She wants it to be intimate. And intimacy is very different than a roommate. Because my wife wants me to ask her how she’s doing. She does not like me to say, “Sweetie, you look so good, you so fine.” Because all she thinks is I’m just asking about other things, you know what I’m saying? And she goes, “I want you to ask me how I’m doing, and then let me talk.” She wants to connect. And as simple as that sounds, we don’t do it very often. And we miss it because of we fail to recognize their gift. We’re too busy looking at the exterior. Marriages and friendships fail everyday because we look at the external rathe than the internal. I love what James says, our goal is to turn people away from their sin. Help people to stop scoring for the wrong team. Help them to go towards Christ, and if they do it well, people go, “Man that was awesome. Thank you.”
Chad (09:25): Well, let’s jump into, let’s just do one of the spiritual gifts here.
Keith (09:30): Ok, you know, Evangelism. I have a gift of evangelism. I’ve got a couple of gifts that are very strong, but evangelism is one that I have that is very strong. I love to share the gospel. I have another dear friend, named Randy Weeks, and he has that very strong gift also. And what that is is that we love to share the gospel. A couple of things that a person with the gift of evangelism will do. Is they love to proclaim good tidings of the Lord, they just love that, that’s part of them, they want to share the gospel, they believe in what the message of Christ, they believe in the message of the Word of God, they see how the Bible really gives this as the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ alone, they understand that, they believe it, it’s in the DNA of who they are. And they cannot stand for people not to know the truth. And so, when they see people, whether it be a waitress, a waitor, they’re getting a taxi, they’re in an Uber, they’re on an airplane, they’re sitting beside somebody, they have to start a conversation about Jesus. They’re masterful, they’re proclaimers of the gospel. They’re, they preach salvation, they can’t help themselves. And they’re outgoing. They’re personable. They know how to connect, they’ve mastered the technique of striking up a conversation. They know how to talk to somebody. When they’re in coffee shops, wherever they’re at, they know how to begin to talk about somebody’s tattoo. They know how to talk about something written on a shirt. And everything that they talk about leads them to an opportunity to share Christ. It’s an amazing thing. They’re consumed with salvation. But here’s what people don’t really understand sometimes. The negative of a person that has the gift of evangelism is they turn people off.
Chad (11:28): Why is that? Why is that, that they turn people…
Keith (11:30): Well, because they can’t help themselves. They’re going to interrupt you, they’re going to supersede your conversation, because they’re always going to be pushing toward getting someone saved. And sometimes that becomes offensive to people. And they’re not sure sometimes how to really relate. They’re just so pushing toward getting someone saved that they were going to do it because they go, “This person’s eternal destination is in the hands of them knowing Christ.” And so they’re going to share share share. And so people around them go, “Man, you are so pushy, you only had one side of that conversation.” And so sometimes, and not all the time, there’s people that are very gifted that do know how to do that, but a lot of times people with this gift they will railroad people because they believe, I’ve got to get them saved. And it’s not really, Chad, now I’ve got to help us out there in the audience that may have this gift. I have to understand something very important about the gift of evangelism that I needed to know. I don’t win anyone to Christ. The Spirit of God does. It’s my responsibility to share with them, but it’s Christ that does it.
Chad (12:39): Yeah, your theology has to inform your… Because real quick, for that particular gift, you can just feel the weight all the time, and neglect the work of the Spirit. What would be your advice to people that maybe don’t have that gift that are trying to, maybe they have been railroaded, or they have felt, I don’t know what the right word is, overwhelmed by somebody they work with that has that gift. How would you encourage them to help that person or to be on the same page?
Keith (13:11): Well, and I like what you’re asking there because it’s every gift. You’re going to see others and you’re going to go, “Well, I don’t really like that gift.” But if a center on a football team, or a right guard, or a left guard don’t do their job, everybody suffers. And so just because I don’t have the gift of a quarterback doesn’t mean I don’t block well for him. And so I like that that’s pretty easy for me to see that when I’m with you, you have the gift of teaching, maybe I have the gift of leadership or exhortation, I can look at your gift and go, “I want yours more than mine, and so it’s kind of complicated.” The gift of evangelism, people go, “Man, they’re just that way.” Even though we don’t have a certain gift does not eliminate my responsibility to desire it.
Chad (14:07): Yeah, if somebody’s not got the gift of teaching, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be studying their Bible and leading a Bible study.
Keith (14:14): Yeah, that may not come natural to me as it does you, but I’m still responsible to be a teacher.
Chad (14:20): Yeah, and I don’t have the gift of evangelism doesn’t mean that when I’m at Panera, I’m not engaging people in conversations. My approach may be different based on my gifting, but it does not eliminate…
Keith (14:29): And your personality is different than mine. So, you’re going to do it within your personality, and someone’s going to say, “Man, he’s the best ever.” And someone else is going to say to me, “Man, you’re the best ever.” Well, which one’s right? What’s right is, you’re going to connect with different people based on your personality and your giftedness. Don’t eliminate your responsibility to do it, just because you go, “Well, I’m not gifted that way.” Learn how to be better in every area.
Chad (14:55): Yeah, that’s good. And so that’s the gift of evangelism, and again, those people have this deep rooted gift and passion theological passion to see people come to the knowledge of Christ, and again we’re going to continue this conversation, but the goal is to understand the gifts, and to embrace and empower people that are gifted differently than us, so that we’re unified, we have one mind, one body, one spirit, the Lord is glorified, our gifts are maximized, and ultimately people are reached for the knowledge of Christ.
Keith (15:29): And we’re teammates. We’re going to be teammates.
Chad (15:30): Yeah, that’s good. Thank you for joining us, we’ll be back with more spiritual gifts talk here on the Kanakuk Institute Podcast, see you next time.