There is a fruit in Southeast Asia called Durian and it is, hands down, the nastiest thing I’ve ever eaten.
Before I was a pastor I ran a non-profit where I was something of a photojournalist for God’s kingdom, traveling throughout the developing world to tell stories of the love of Jesus.
Anyway, that’s how I found myself in Cambodia, eating durian.
Some call it the “king of fruits,” but I beg to differ. First of all, it smells like an open dumpster behind a cabbage factory. It’s putrid. Hotels in the region have signs banning durian from even coming onto their property because of the odor.
How about the taste? I describe it this way: 95% delicious, 5% rotting cat carcass. It’s this lovely, creamy, banana-like flavor, followed by just a hint of death and regret, which you burp up for the next 3 hours. The worst thing I have ever eaten.
Here’s why I tell you this: Because a miracle occurred when I first ate durian fruit in Cambodia… I kept it down.
The same was true for so much of the other nasty stuff I ate all over the developing world. Roasted goat intestines and brains, river snails, tarantula legs, handfuls of tiny salted fish you eat whole…
I kept it all down with a smile on my face. I honored my hosts by having seconds. And it’s a miracle, because ask my mom…
Until I started my non-profit and began traveling the world, I was a very picky eater. Brussels sprouts made me literally nauseous. My diet was safe: burgers, pizza, and spaghetti. And that’s it.
So imagine my surprise when I started living in slums and remote villages and finding that out of nowhere I had developed this extremely strong stomach!
To this day I am convinced that this radical change in my life was a gift directly from God. Because there was no way I would be able to do what he had called me to do without it.
And that is our topic for today. Because I’m not the only person receiving gifts from the Holy Spirit. You are too. Spiritual gifts that allow you and me to help Christ heal our world.
SERIES RECAP
This is week 2 of “When God Lives In You,” our 4-week series about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
If you didn’t see it, I encourage you to go back and watch Maron’s sermon from last Sunday. She did an amazing job of introducing the often confusing and mysterious person of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture.
And I love how she framed it. This new year, instead of focusing on self-improvement, we want to focus on Spirit-empowerment.
Maron talked about how the Spirit speaks God’s truth in our world. Next week we’ll explore how the Spirit fosters unity, and the week after that we’ll explore the life that the Holy Spirit brings.
Today, though, we’re talking all about the Spirit’s power. Or, more specifically, the power the Spirit gives us to live out our calling. What are often called “spiritual gifts.”
Before we dive in, let’s pray.
EMPOWERED
Before we talk about the Holy Spirit’s empowerment in our lives, it’s worth remembering the broader story of spiritual gifts.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see God’s Spirit - or
ruach - spirit, breath, wind
moving in powerful ways to accomplish God’s purposes. In Creation, in speaking truth, in bringing life… The Spirit is God’s power and presence moving through our world.
Well, one of the ways God’s Spirit moves in the OT is by empowering individual leaders or prophets. King David, Elijah, Moses… God’s Spirit gave them power - abilities - to do the will of God.
For example, when King David is anointed, 1 Samuel tells us,
1 Samuel 16:13
The Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David from that day on.
In other words, the Holy Spirit helped King David lead. The same would be true for Israel’s future Messiah, according to the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 11:2
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
In other words, this king will have gifts of insight and knowledge and power given to him by the ruach - the Spirit - of God.
So that’s where the story begins. The Holy Spirit empowers a handful of specially chosen individuals.
But by the time the Hebrew Bible ends, we begin to realize that these people are not the end of the story. In Joel 2, for example, God talks about a future time where, he says:
Joel 2:28-29
I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your old men will dream dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants—men and women alike.
Bottom line, when that day comes, God’s people - not just kings but children and the elderly and women and slaves - will all be able to do things they could never do on their own.
And, when we turn to the New Testament, we see this is exactly what happens after the resurrection of Jesus. On the day of Pentecost, God’s Spirit is poured out on Jesus’ followers, and suddenly these low-class, uneducated disciples are empowered with skills and abilities they didn’t have before.
They’re able to speak in different languages.
Peter, who up to this point constantly puts his foot in his mouth, is somehow able to give a speech so powerful that thousands of people are convicted to give their lives to Jesus.
Acts 2:37
Peter’s words pierced their hearts…
Him? Peter? This teenage hothead from rural Galilee? Yes! The Holy Spirit was empowering him to proclaim the truth of God’s Word in ways he could never do on his own. As Joel said, “Your sons and daughters will prophecy.”
Later we read about
Acts 6:5
Stephen (a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit)…
Stephen is equipped as a gifted administrator to help the early Church provide food for impoverished widows. He was uniquely empowered with admin skills. “I will pour out my Spirit upon all people!”
The story goes on. In a very patriarchal world, we meet women like Priscilla and Phoebe and Junia, who are empowered by the Spirit to teach and shepherd the Church. “Men and women alike!”
In a world that valued the wisdom of age and experience, we meet young men like Timothy empowered by the Spirit to lead the Church in Ephesus - one of the biggest Christian communities in the entire world back then. “Your young men will see visions.”
Again and again, we see slaves and widows and peasants and nobodies empowered to change the world. The prophecy of Joel 2 came true. God poured out his Spirit on everyone and the Church spread like wildfire because of it.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Well, as you can imagine, all these new powers and abilities - coming from the last people you’d expect - raised some questions in the Church. People wondered, “What’s going on here?” So the Apostle Paul spells it out in several of his letters.
Let’s look together at 1 Corinthians 12, Page _______, where Paul talks all about spiritual gifts with the Church in Corinth.
Corinth was a big city with huge income inequality. So yeah. They had some questions when a whole bunch of nobodies in their world - slaves, women, barbarians - started developing all this crazy new abilities. Where was this coming from? Well, here’s what Paul says to them:
1 Corinthians 12:1, 7-11
Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us…
A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
Prophecy, wisdom, discernment, healing… According to Paul, each Christ-follower has unique powers that they didn’t have before they believed in Jesus. And these gifts are given to them by the Holy Spirit. The ruach - or in Greek, the pneuma of God.
And again, what is so profound about this, is that this is true for every follower of Jesus. We all have spiritual gifts.
Now, we don’t have time to lay out all the specific gifts Paul mentions here, but I will say that in other places, Paul mentions different spiritual gifts than these, like teaching, serving, leading, and even generosity and faith.
In fact, there’s a lot of debate about whether gifts given by the Holy Spirit are limited to just the ones mentioned in the Bible, or whether Paul is just giving examples of the types of gifts each of us receive.
I’ll show my hand and say that I think it’s the latter. I could totally be wrong about this, but I am of the opinion that the Holy Spirit gives a vast diversity of gifts to the Church. Which is why Paul provides different lists in different letters. I think these gifts are just the tip of the iceberg.
For example, I believe the Holy Spirit gave me the spiritual gift of a strong stomach when I followed God’s call to travel the world. Eating durian fruit in Cambodia or goat intestines in Kenya was not something this picky-eating couch-potato was equipped to do on my own. I was empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Again, I could be totally wrong on this, but here’s why I lean this direction. Because of what Paul says these gifts are for. Their purpose. Why does the Spirit empower us all in the first place? Well, our answer is right here in verse 7.
“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” Literally, “for the common good.”
Paul builds on this idea in his letter to the church in Ephesus.
Ephesians 4:11
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.
A few verses later he says,
Ephesians 4:16
[God] 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.
Are you seeing the common thread here? The Holy Spirit empowers us with spiritual gifts to serve one another, to do God’s work, to help the church grow and become healthy. Put simply,
Every one of us is given a unique mix of gifts by the Holy Spirit because every one of us has a unique role to play in the mission of God.
Stephen was called to serve. Priscilla was called to teach. Timothy was called to lead. Each one of them had a different role to play in ushering in the kingdom of God - in healing the world in Jesus’ name. That’s what these gifts are for.
Back in my non-profit days, God called me to go so he could use me to bring encouragement and resources to Christ-followers around the world. To help the Church grow. I was uniquely equipped to tell stories which would convict and inspire believers back here in the suburbs to get into the game.
I was like a tendon in the body of Christ, helping to connect the different parts of the body.
And unbeknownst to me at the time, the Holy Spirit was also preparing me with new perspectives, and cultural sensitivities, and insights from the global Church which would come to fruition when he later called me to pastor you.
My point is: I had a specific role to play in God’s mission, but I couldn’t do any of that if I was vomiting every time someone put food in front of me that wasn’t a plate of spaghetti.
I fully believe the Spirit gave me the gift of a strong stomach so I could do what he had called me to do. It didn’t come from me.
1 Corinthians 12:11
It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.
NO EXCUSES
So how does the Holy Spirit empower you?
Are you using your spiritual gifts to help the rest of us grow? Are you in touch with how the Spirit has uniquely empowered you to build Christ’s Church?
I know what some of you are thinking right now. You’re thinking, “Barry, I’m not a pastor. Building the Church is what professional Christians do. I’m just hear to learn.”
Wrong! Joel makes it crystal clear. “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Paul makes it crystal clear. “A spiritual gift is given to each of us.”
A quick glance through the New Testament will show you that the people you’d least expect are the ones equipped most powerfully to do the work God cares about. And that includes you and me.
Paul says this just a little bit later in the chapter.
1 Corinthians 12:24-27
God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
The Holy Spirit has unique gifts for you to use for this body to reach its full potential. We all need you to step up and use the gifts the Spirit has entrusted to you.
So no excuses. It’s 2026. Our world’s a mess and we’ve got work to do. We need you, empowered by the Spirit, using your gifts to do what God has created you - and only you - to do.
So where do you begin? Well, I’ve got three steps for you to follow. Remember, we’re starting this year not with self-improvement, but with Spirit-empowerment. So let’s dig in.
First, if you haven’t already, it’s time for you to:
Step #1 - Receive the Holy Spirit.
It sounds super intense. It’s actually quite simple.
All it takes to receive the Spirit is to surrender your life to Christ. Become a part of his body. Turn away from the selfish, sinful path you’re on, and tell God, “I’m done being the master of my own universe. Save me, because I can’t do it on my own.”
Do that, give your life to Christ, and boom. The Spirit of the Living God will take up residence within you.
You want to do that today? Come to the cross after service and members of our prayer team would be honored to help you take that step. Receive the Holy Spirit. Invite God to live within you.
Step #2 - Discover your spiritual gifts.
Find out how the Spirit has empowered you.
Now, sometimes these abilities reveal themselves naturally with time as you follow the call of God on your life. I had to go to Cambodia to realize I could keep durian fruit down.
Sometimes it simply takes paying attention to how the Spirit is transforming you. Asking others to point out what they see in you.
But we want to make getting started really easy for you, so we’ve created a spiritual gifts assessment you can take right now to see what types of gifts are already at work in your life.
If you download the new Grace app, you can scroll right to the bottom to see a link to take the assessment under “announcements.”
Alas, you’re not going to find “strong stomach” on the list of gifts. We just went with the specific gifts mentioned in Paul’s letters. But it’s a perfect place to begin. Take the assessment today and find how God is uniquely empowering you.
So, receive the Holy Spirit, discover your spiritual gifts. Finally,
Step #3 - Get in the game.
This one’s simple. Use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given you to help Christ’s body grow. That’s what they’re for. Serve, teach, lead, give, pray, eat river snails… However you’re gifted, it’s time to get off the bench.
And by the way, when you take the spiritual gifts assessment, we even offer some potential action steps in your own faith and ideas for how you could use your specific gifts here at Grace.
Again, there’s no excuse. We are the body of Christ, and we need every part of our body to do what it was created to do.
I want to end with some encouragement from the Apostle Paul, this time in his letter to the church in Rome (he talks about spiritual gifts a lot!). As I read, listen for the Spirit’s invitation to you.
Romans 12:4-8
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.
The Holy Spirit has empowered you. It’s time to get into the game.