STRENGTHS FINDER - Purity & Passion

Today we looked at the heart. The physical heart is the engine that drives the body. It beats approximately 100,000 beats/day; 35 million beats/year; and over 2.5 billion beats in a lifetime. About the size of your fist, a man's heart weighs 11-12 oz. and a woman's heart weighs 9-11 oz.

But more important than your physical heart is your spiritual heart. Today we looked at purity and passion as they relate to your spiritual heart. The main point of the lesson was that the quality of all of our relationships is determined by the spiritual condition of our heart. Is your heart pure or is it filled with sin?

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." (Proverbs 4:23)

God knows the condition of your heart.

"The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7b NIV)

Since all of your talents/strengths/abilities pass through your heart, if you have a pure heart (confessed of all sin), you will be a blessing to others--especially to your spouse, family members, or close friends. If your heart is filled with unconfessed sin, you will be a burden to everyone you come in contact with. The difference is whether your talents/strengths/abilities are focused outward or inward. The variable is sin.

How you communicate with others is a choice. If you get angry at your spouse, you are choosing to get angry. Nobody is forcing you to get angry. People say, "You make me so mad!" But nobody can make you mad without your permission. Anger is a choice, and you must choose to control it if you want to be a loving person. You have far more control over your anger than you may want to admit. Let me give you an example.

Let's say you're at home and you're in an argument with somebody in your family. Your voices are raised, you're getting excited, and you're upset. All of a sudden, the phone rings, and you answer sweetly, "Hello? Oh, yes! It's for you honey!"

What happened? You didn't want to be embarrassed or have to explain, so you flipped your anger off real quick. Anger is highly controllable! Anger is a choice.

"Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back." (Proverbs 29:11 NLT)

Resolve to manage your anger in advance--before you open the door to your house at the end of the day. You manage your anger by first resolving--deciding in advance--that you're going to hold back your anger.

"Whatever is in your heart determines what you say." (Matthew 12:34b NLT)

Just as anger is a choice, love is also a choice. Passion comes from a deep love. The reason we are learning our talents and our spouse's talents is to better understand how God has wired us. With this knowledge, we can better accept our differences. God made us each uniquely for a special purpose. We are wired the way we are to accomplish that purpose. Knowing how to use this tool will allow us to love others more freely.

Our talents are invisible, but they can be seen through the outpouring of our heart and our personality. Sin will determine if our talents are pointed outward (serving others) or inward (serving self).

The easiest way to see what is on the inside of a person is to listen to what comes out of their mouth. Your mouth reveals what is in your heart. A harsh tongue reveals an angry heart. A negative tongue reveals a fearful heart. A boasting tongue reveals an insecure heart. A judgmental tongue exposes a guilty heart. A filthy tongue reveals an impure heart.

There is no better example of passion flowing through the heart than what Jesus did for us when He came to earth, suffered, and died a torturous death. When He questioned what was ahead of Him, he said:

"Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this purpose I have come to this hour." (John 12:27 ESV)

Now THAT is passion!

Jesus cares about your hurting heart. He can replace it with His love. He will help you heal so that your words give life and reveal to others the hope you have in Christ. The passion Christ showed by his coming to earth to suffer and die for our sins is an example that we can look to the next time we are faced with anger.

• The source of Christ's passion was his intense love for mankind.
• The passion of Christ was directed by the Father's will and resulted in a life whose purpose was the cross.
• The passion of Christ originated in love, was directed by the purpose of God, and was lived in dependence on the presence of God.
• The passion of Christ was energized by the power of God.

Today, I mentioned to the class that in the Spring of 1980 (34 years ago; we were 26 and 25), we attended the 1980 production (#38) of the Oberammergau Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany. The play has been performed by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau every 10 years since 1634. The commitment of this small village of approximately 5,000 people is a great illustration of passion and love. The video below is a brief excerpt explaining more about the play.

The Passion Play - Oberammergau, Germany

The PowerPoint slides from today's lesson are below. This lesson was 3 of 5 in our Strengths Finder Series. We will continue next week with more on our talents and how they impact our relationships.

Notice that I made some changes to our class schedule. We added the series The 5 Love Languages (5LL). We all need to take the online test to discover our particular love language before we begin the series. The test takes about 15 minutes. It is free and there is no time limit.

NOTE: My top two love languages were QUALITY TIME (10) and PHYSICAL TOUCH (9). The highest score is 12. Here is the link to the test: DISCOVER YOU LOVE LANGUAGE 

Due to the wedding of Anna Coe and Dan Tankersley on April 12th, I will miss the class on April 13th. We moved our breakfast social to April 13th. This will be an important planning time for the class to discuss topics for future series. Patrick will lead the class and he will have a topic sheet with suggestions for future series.

STRENGTHS FINDER - Spiritual Gifts & Ministry

Today we "Unwrapped The Gifts." The instant a person crosses the line and becomes a believer in Christ, God gives that person 4 gifts: forgiveness, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, and Spiritual Gift(s).

We learned last week that STRENGTHS = Talents + Knowledge + Skills. Discovering what your "top 5" talents are is the first step in the journey to developing your Strengths. Once we know our Spiritual Gifts, we can begin serving the Body of Christ with the unique talents God has given each of us. The end goal is to find the place in the Body of Christ that you have been designed to serve.

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant." 1 Corinthians 12:1-3

How do I discover my SGs?

1. Take a Spiritual Gifts survey.

There are many SG surveys available. Here is a short one (35 questions) that will test for the 7 gifts in Romans 12:6-8. Click here: Short Spiritual Gifts Survey  

I personally like the one by LifeWay Christian Resources (80 questions). Click here: Spiritual Gifts Assessment Tools

NOTE: I have put the LifeWay Spiritual Gifts Survey into a spreadsheet that will calculate all the Gifts and save you some time. Email me and I will send you the Excel spreadsheet. With the spreadsheet, all you have to do is answer the 80 questions and your Spiritual Gifts will be ranked on a nice chart for you to see.

2. LOOK FOR those ministries in which you feel the most fulfilled.

3. LOOK FOR those ministries in which you seem to be the most effective.

4. LOOK FOR those ministries in which others affirm your abilities.

Knowing your talents and Spiritual Gifts is a great start, but to be everything God has designed you to be, you must use them as He intended. The Body of Christ suffers when you do not use the Gifts and talents God has given you.

STRENGTHS FINDER - Introduction

You are marvelously made, yet uniquely flawed. God created you for a very specific purpose that no one else is capable of accomplishing. You are special! You are one-of-a-kind!

"To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away." Matthew 25:15

In the Strengths Finder Series, you will see how your God-given talents can be turned into strengths and used to fulfill God's purpose for your life in the areas of ministry/calling (spiritual gifts), relationships (marriage, family, friends, others), and vocation.

Only by knowing your talents and strengths and by living through them can you be the best you that you can be.

This week I introduced the SF Series. Next week we will look at how our talents/strengths play a vital role in how we implement our spiritual gifts in ministry.

"...to equip the saints (members) for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Ephesians 4:12

This week the spotlight was on Bradley and Jessica Bedwell. Next week I will turn the light on Patrick and Kerrie Reed. Each week, I will draw a name and at the end of the following week's lesson, I will complete an analysis of that person/couple's talents--the good, the bad, and the cautions.

The slides this week were loaded with good info you might want to review. Below the slides is a list of the 34 talents and supporting scriptures that are associated with each talent.

The SIGNATURE THEMES & Supporting Verses

(Talents)

Achiever	1 Thessalonians 5:12-13; Proverbs 18:9; Hebrews 6:11-12
Activator	James 1:22-24; Ecclesiastes 11:4-6; John 13:17
Adaptability	Matthew 6:34; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 19:5-9; Philippians 4:12-13
Analytical	John 20:24-25; Acts 17:11; 1 Kings 3:9-12
Arranger	Proverbs 15:22; Psalm 8:4-6;
Belief	Joshua 24:15; Colossians 3:23-24; John 20:27-29
Command	John 2:15-17; Ephesians 4:25; 1 Samuel 17:32-37
Communication	Matthew 7:28-29; Matthew 13:34; Ecclesiastes 12:9-11; Romans 10:14-15
Competition	1 John 4:4; 1 Corinthians 9:24-26a; 1 Samuel 17:4-10; 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
Connectedness	Romans 8:28; Matthew 7:7-8; 1 Corinthians 12:18-21, 26-27; Ephesians 4:3-6
Consistency / Fairness	James 2:1, 8-9; Matthew 5:45; Romans 12:3
Context	Deuteronomy 4:9-10; Hebrews 1:1-2; Joshua 4:5-7; Ecclesiastes 3:15; Matthew 5:17
Deliberative	Ephesians 5:15-16; James 1:19-20; Luke 14:28-30
Developer	Acts 11:22-26; Philippians 1:3-6; 1 Thessalonians 2:7b-8, 11-12; 2 Timothy 2:2
Discipline	1 Corinthians 14:40; 1 Chronicles 28:19; Proverbs 21:5
Empathy	John 11:33-35; Romans 12:15; Luke 8:43-48
Focus	Luke 9:51; Philippians 3:12-14; Hebrews 12:1-2
Futuristic	Proverbs 29:18a (KJV); Joel 2:28;Genisis 37:5-8; Romans 8:18-21; Jeremiah 29:11
Harmony	Romans 12:16a; Matthew 5:9; 1 Corinthians 1:10; Psalm 133:1; Proverbs 17:14 (NIV)
Ideation	Isaiah 65:17-18; Romans 12:2; Revelation 4:11
Inclusiveness / Includer	Galatians 3:28; John 3:16; Philemon 17; Romans 15:7
Individualization	Luke 12:7; Psalm 139:1-3; 1 Samuel 16:7; Matthew 10:1-4
Input	John 21:25; 2 Timothy 4:13; Proverbs 2:1-5
Intellection	Luke 2:46-47; Acts 17:17-18; Matthew 22:37; 1 Peter 1:13
Learner	Daniel 1:3-4; Luke 10:38-42; Ezra 7:10; 2 Timothy 3:14-17
Maximizer	2 Corinthians 8:7; Numbers 18:29; Isaiah 40:31 (NIV); Matthew 25:19-21; 2 Timothy 1:6
Positivity	Proverbs 17:22; Philippians 4:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Nehemiah 8:10; Luke 15:32
Relator	Proverbs 18:24; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 1 Samuel 19:1-3; 20:16-17
Responsibility	Daniel 6:4; Proverbs 22:1; Matthew 7:21; Matthew 25:34-40
Restorative	Luke 5:29-32; Galatians 6:1; Psalm 23:1-3a
Self-Assurance	Hebrews 11:1; 2 Timothy 1:12b; Genesis 37:9-11
Significance	Matthew 5:14-16; John 10:10b; 1 Corinthians 4:15-16
Strategic	Mark 2:2-4; Psalm 25:4-5; Proverbs 19:2 (NIV); 1 Corinthians 10:13
Woo	Hebrews 13:2; Matthew 9:36-38; Colossians 4:5

Jeopardy Review - "SIN"

Today we had the Jeopardy Review on the SIN series. The three winners were: FIRST PLACE-Lindsay Reese; SECOND PLACE-Sybil McGhee; THIRD PLACE-Holly Rollins.

Congratulations to these three women and to the entire class. The participation was fantastic! I considered everyone to be a winner on this review. The purpose for our reviews are to enhance the retention of the material from the previous five-week series...and have fun doing it. I think we succeeded in doing both!

We begin the STRENGTHS FINDER series next Sunday. We have had almost 100% participation in the completion of the Strengths Finder test--only a few couples left that need to complete the test. The STRENGTHS FINDER Series should prove to be another valuable series aimed at helping us continue to grow personally, as couples, and as a class.

If you were not in class today, be sure to review the Jeopardy Review slides. The questions and answers are listed below the slides.

JEOPARDY REVIEW - SIN

SIN – Intro

1. This separates us from God.

A. What is Sin?

2. Sin is classified in different ways: Original sin, Imputed sin, Inherited sin, Generational sin, Seven Deadly Sins, Sins of the culture, etc. This classification of sin addresses any lack of conformity of an individual to the will of God in word, thought, or deed.

A. What is personal sin or sins of believers?

3. Your identity, your destiny, and your family tree are shaped by making these.

A. What are choices?

4. As referenced in Psalms 128, before this tree dies, new shoots of growth spring from its roots and eventually grow into adult trees.

A. What is an olive tree?

5. This Greek word means “missing the mark” and is used to describe a doctrine in Christian theology.

A. What is Harmartiology?

SIN- Define It

1. Walking in God’s purpose and His will is dependent on how you view this divine Person.

A. Who is the Holy Spirit?

2. In this Book and chapter in the Bible, Paul focused on the “believer’s DEATH to sin.”

A. What is Romans chapter 6?

3. In this Book and chapter in the Bible, Paul focused on the “believer’s STRUGGLE with sin.”

A. What is Romans chapter 7?

4. In this Book and chapter in the Bible, Paul focused on the “believer’s VICTORY over sin.”

A. What is Romans chapter 8?

5. These are the 9 fruit of the Holy Spirit that you can use to test yourself to see if you are walking in your will or God’s will.

A. What are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?

SIN – Dissect It

1. As illustrated by the “sin tree”, all sins are rooted in this.

A. What is ungodliness?

2. Humility is the foundation of all virtue, but this is the essence of all sin.

A. What is pride?

3. As it is recorded in Matthew 5:8, Jesus said this about the condition of our hearts in His Sermon on the Mount.

A. What is “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”?

4. If not confessed quickly, one small “respectable” sin like IMPATIENCE can grow into irritability, anger, resentment, bitterness, enmity, a grudge, and eventually into this.

A. What is hate?

5. This three-word alliteration uses the letter “R” to help us remember the steps to a pure heart.

A. What is Recognize, Repent, Restore?

SIN – Defeat It

1. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses this to help us visualize the six key weapons of spiritual warfare.

A. What is Roman armor?

2. Unlike the Roman soldier who fought his battles in the earthly realm, the Christian’s battle is fought in this realm.

A. What is Heavenly or Heaven?

3. These are the 3 pieces of armor that the Christian must wear at all times.

A. What are the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shoes of the Gospel of peace?

4. These are the 3 pieces of armor that the Christian must keep close at hand.

A. What are the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the Spirit (Word of God)?

5. By doing this, the Christian soldier keeps the line of communication open to his Commander.

A. What is pray or prayer?

SIN - Relating to Others

1. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:8, when relating to someone held captive by Evil, this is the one thing, above all, that we must do.

A. What is love each other deeply?

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8

2. Paul tells us in Romans 12:9 that we are to cling to what is good and do this to evil.

A. What is hate?

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9

“In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.” Psalm 36:1-4

3. When relating to a non-believer who is trapped by Evil, your primary focus should be pointing them to this.

A. What is the Gospel or Jesus or the Cross?

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

“And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:14

“…warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Colossians 1:28

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17

4. In Galatians 6:1, Paul told the Galatians that a person must be doing this before he was qualified to restore a person caught in a sin.

A. What is living by the Spirit?

“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” Galatians 6:1

5. When you do this, your life becomes a mirror of God’s character when you relate to those you hope to help.

A. What is beholding the Glory of the Lord?

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…” 2 Corinthians 3:18