I am a firm believer that we as Christians have been given special gifts from God that we can use to help build up the kingdom and fulfill the great commission. The question for you this morning is what gifts has the Lord given you? It is difficult sometimes to determine the areas in which we are gifted. The truth is many of us may be gifted in more than one way, but we all are gifted differently. I believe that we can determine how we are gifted and we have no excuse for not using our gifts. It is not an excuse to say, “I have no gifts” because God has given each person a gift. It is not an excuse to say, “I don’t know how to use my gifts”, because there are always opportunities to use your gifts. Your gift may not be preaching, but it may be serving. You can not use the excuse “I don’t know how to tell what my gifts are” if it is not clear to us we must make an effort to figure out our areas of giftedness. I have learned that giftedness can be determined by:
1) A desire- If God has given you a gift you will enjoy doing what that gift is. For example I believe that God has given me a gift to preach, because there is nothing I love doing more.
2) A special ability or what you are good at. Sometimes, however, we have to work at something to improve our gifts. We are not all the time miraculously given gifts that we are great at. I have to practice preaching to become better at it.
a. Our Gifts are not our own
It is important to remember that the gifts God ahs given us are not necessarily our gifts; He has given them to us. It is the same in the Parable that we read, the master left and entrusted his servants with talents, and expected them to multiply. Since God has given us talents to use, we do not have the option not to use them. We need to serve the Lord and use those gifts he has given us, because he has given them to us because he trusts each of us to do the work of the kingdom. If we do not do it who will? We must take initiative and use the gifts God has given us. We are not our own even; we were bought at a price. We have a duty to serve the Lord and use what he has given us. When we give someone a gift we usually gift with the expectation that they will us that gift. God has given us gifts with the expectation that we will use them for His work that he has entrusted to men.
b. We all have different gifts
1. Because of Grace—Romans 12:6
God has chosen in some cases to give different gifts to different people. God can choose to give whatever gifts he want to whoever he wants. It is simply by His grace that he gives some people certain gifts, but one thing that can be assured is that we all have gifts.
2. Because of Talents—II Corinthians 8:12, Matt 25:15
It is clear that God distributes certain gifts based on people’s natural talents. The master distributed the talents based on the servant’s talents and God gives us gifts based on our talents. We have no right to sit and complain about what God ahs given us, we simply must put into use what God has given us. God knows us well, He knows us better that we know ourselves, and He knows what gifts we can use well and gives us the gifts accordingly.


II. God will reward those who use them
I love the words of the master to the faithful servants; “you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and