Ex 36:1+2, "Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded." Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. 
	We have been dealing with the fact that God gives us His gifts for our use in order to bring glory to His name. All that is needed within the calling that He puts upon our hearts is met by His gracious and wondrous and loving giving of skill and understanding and ability and wisdom. As He puts a task or a responsibility upon our hearts, He also makes the every manner of meeting the requirements to accomplish that task through His Holy Spirit’s guidance and empowerment. Please keep at the forefront of every discussion on this matter, the truth that God does this for the sole purpose of bringing to our hearts and minds the reality that He is our all-sufficiency in every aspect of our lives. All that we have and every ability that we practice and every skill that proceeds forth from our minds and hearts and hands are all for the purpose of showing just how awesome is The Lord God Almighty in His sustaining and providing power!
	This, then leads into the manner in which God supplies all that is needed within His Church on this earth. As is so evident, the Apostle Paul had to bring to the forefront of the Corinthian Church, in 1 Cor 12:1-11, that which is always an issue in the attitudes and the demeanor and the conscious awareness of all humanity. That church had divisions and attitudinal issues that are common to many of us. The Apostle had to address them in order to focus their attention on the fact that every gift of God is for the edification of the whole church. Some individuals may have a blessing in a form or fashion which allows them to honor the Lord in specific service to the church, which is the focal point of each such bestowed gift. It is never for the sake of the individual to hoard or to elevate oneself over others as being more blessed by God. Rather, all is given by God to bless and to provide for the church as a whole at all times.
	Please open in your Bibles to the 12th Chapter of the First letter to the Corinthian Church, verses 1-11, and read along with me. 1 Cor 12:1-11, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. 
	Notice several aspects to these gifts that are given by God to those who are part of the church. First is that there is a unity in place. It is the unity of Jesus Christ. There is no division. There is no aspect of separation or of the elevation of one gift over another gift. Everything proceeds in order to show that Jesus is Lord and that He is ruling and overruling in the matters concerning His Body, the Church on this earth. As there is a need in evidence, so is there a meeting of that need by the Holy Spirit. Everything shows the unity of the Triune Godhead in the provision and the supply of all that will allow the church to honor and to worship and to praise Him for what He has given.
	Second, because it is the provision of the Omniscient and Omnipresent and Omnipotent Lord God Almighty, it is the perfect provision of what is needed at the time that it is required. When there is a need for wisdom, it is manifestly provided. When there is a need for healing, that is accomplished. When there is knowledge necessary, it is given in abundance, and so forth. As the requirements become known, the gifts are supplied. Nothing of it is for the purpose of the individual elevation of any member as more important or more loved or more spiritually inclined. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 
	The Apostle continues, if you would now please refer to verses 27-31 of this 12th Chapter, with the listing of the manner in which God has gifted those within the church for the sake of the whole body of believers. There are certain aspects in which the individual members are so blessed by God with those skills and abilities which allow them to serve in key positions within the church, but that is the point here. They are of service to the church. What the Lord provides, through those so gifted, is for the sake of the whole church and all the members of the church benefit accordingly.
	1 Cor 12:27-31, Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. 
	So often, in today’s me, myself, and I society, we are bombarded with the idea that everything revolves around me and my place within the social structures, including the church. We try to find our place within our social relationships, seeking to make a name for ourselves. We want to be recognized for who we are and what we contribute to the whole. In line with that, there has been so much teaching abounding about finding our spiritual gift and the place of our spiritual abilities in order to have our place of recognition among the saints. There is a constant looking for those means by which I can be seen as important and receive the acclamation of my fellow believers. But God’s gifts are never to build up a person for that person’s superiority. God is always gifting what will be abounding and upbuilding to His people as a whole. As the Apostle further encourages in 1 Cor 14:12, So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. 
	We can and should ask the Lord to do whatever He so chooses in our lives with the heart that whatever course He determines for us, it will always be to His glory and none of our own. We are to be the servants of all and willing to do anything and everything that the Lord determines will be of benefit and of use to the testimony of His Only Begotten Son in the Body of His Believers. That alone is the course after which we seek Him to do what He will in our lives on this earth with the gifts that He bestows.
	The Apostle Paul so instructed those believers in Ephesus in this reality as recorded in Eph 5:15-21. Eph 5:15-21, Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. 
	Notice how the entire emphasis is focused on the wisdom of being united into the Body of Believers as we face these evil days. It is not a matter of single-handedly taking on the forces of wickedness through some mystical gift given by God. Rather, there is that reality of being together in the midst of the fray. We need to  understand that the will of God is centered in the manifestation of His Church as the witness and the testimony and the evidence of the truth of Who Jesus is and what He has done. As such, we will find that every gift of God given to the various members of the church elicits praise and honor and adoration unto God in worship and in thanksgiving for the splendor of His Being. 
Our very valuation of each gift rests in the manner in which it is used to the glory of God in His church. That is so different from the way that we often look at the gifts of God in our lives. We place our estimation of these gifts in terms of our benefit, even financially at times. Everything is calculated as to what we get from it rather than what others will receive to cause them to give God thanksgiving and honor and adoration. 
	The Church is to be characterized by being …filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father… That is so dissimilar to what is being taught within the organized community of the earthly church. So much of philosophy and psychology and self-manifestation and self-realization has infested the pulpits of the church and the counseling sessions of those who are in need of Jesus Christ and His wisdom and His understanding and His forgiveness and His power to live a life that is honoring and pleasing to God. That is the antithesis of modern cultural thinking and teaching because it means that we lay down our lives for others rather than seeking for them to lift us up in some form or fashion. 
	But the truth of our life as a Christian is that we are to serve others and not be the ones seeking to be served. We encourage and we lift up others and we bless them through the manifested gift of God’s love. All His gifts in our lives are focused on the needs of others with thanksgiving and joy unto God that we can be a support to them in their time of need and despair and desperation to know the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Our focus, in dealing with others, is to show them that the God Who has blessed us with all the manifested provisions necessary to live life on this earth is The God Who will meet their every need if they call upon Him. It will be in the way that elicits joy and thanksgiving no matter what circumstances and dilemmas are surrounding us. They will see that He is the same God Who will carry them through every trial and tribulation unto the victory of Jesus Christ. Together, we will humbly and eternally offer up the deepest gratitude of our hearts and minds and beings. 
	Again hear this reinforcement from the Apostle Paul, in Col 3:16, with reference to the way that the members of the church are to support and to hearten one another in this gratitude for all that the Lord provides in ministry and in fellowship and in all the other gifts bestowed by the manifold wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Col 3:16, Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 
	This can only be as we count everything as given by the Lord Jesus unto His Church. It is nothing of ourselves or our efforts or our endeavors after making something glorious that will bring any estimation of our worthiness or our strength or our capability or our capacity to deal with life on our own in any measure. There is nothing that we bring to the table in our natural state that can serve to honor God! It all must be from Him and returned unto Him in the full humility and honest appraisal that the Apostle Paul voiced in Rom 7:18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 
	This fully includes any skills or understanding or wisdom unto ability that we might possess. All is unto the Lord and for His glory and for the service of others in the course of the life that we live on this earth. 
	Here again, even with regard to being the servant to the church in ministry, there has to be the recognition that it is a calling that is from God and to be returned to God as detailed in meeting the needs of the members of the church. I highlight this because too often ministers are placed on a pedestal of our own making, either we put ourselves there or others put us there. Ministry is a gift, as we read earlier, and as such needs to be properly viewed in respect to the fact that its obligation is unto God for the sake of complete and humble service in its designated fulfillment. 
This, too, is highlighted by the Apostle Paul as recounted in Col 4:17, And say to Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it." A minster is a gift to those whom that pastor serves in the execution and implantation of the duties and the responsibilities and the obligations that are part of such ministry. In return, that minister receives the gift of the grace of God in order to serve and to share the Word and to offer unto the church a benefit worthy of the call that must be fulfilled in joy and thanksgiving and reverence and honor unto God as with every gift that The Lord bestows upon His people. We will conclude next time, Lord willing, as we draw this study of the gifts that God gives to His people to a close. So be it. 
"Now Bezalel and Oholiab, and every skillful person in whom the Lord has put skill and understanding to know how to perform all the work in the construction of the sanctuary, shall perform in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded." Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful person in whom the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him, to come to the work to perform it. Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is 2 Cor 3:17. Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Amen.