This sermon emphasizes the importance of believers specializing in their spiritual gifts, drawing parallels to becoming specialized doctors in different fields. It discusses the fivefold ministry gifts from Ephesians 4:11, highlighting the roles of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and shepherds. The sermon encourages individuals to identify and upgrade their spiritual gifts, equipping them for effective ministry in their workplaces and beyond, ultimately aiming for the growth and edification of the church.

So, we are believers, we have disciples, make disciples, make sure. Next grade, when they go, is you specialize. When you become a physician, you go and you pass your basic and you are a generic doctor, general doctor. But very quickly, like Abhishek's wife, she is a doctor, but now she is going to specialize. All my children are specialists. You will meet them sometime today, they might come here on their way. One is a plastic surgeon, one is a cancer surgeon, one is a urologist, kidney surgeon and so on. And, so you specialize. So, you have fivefold ministry gifts from Ephesians 4.11. What are those fivefold ministry gifts? First is apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd. Just call it shepherd, otherwise pastor we think, you know, I am a pastor. Because he has got theological tags. Shepherd, shepherd. Anybody can be a shepherd, you can be a shepherd. Most shepherds in the Old Testament were women, girls. Isaac met his wife at the well. Moses met his wife and Jacob met his wife watering the sheep. So, anybody can be a shepherd. Good place to find a husband. Thank you. Fivefold ministry gifts. So, you specialize in that gift. And we need each one of them. I can't say because I am an apostle, I am okay. No, no, no. I need prophets to tell me. Paul was an apostle and Barnabas was a prophet, Salas was a prophet. He always carried a prophet. And so the prophet could say, no, no, no, Paul, we are not going to do this. Because Paul was, you know, all on fire and he wanted to plant a church everywhere. The Holy Spirit could speak to the prophet and the prophet said, hang on, not here. We go to Macedonia. Pardon me? Yes? Just like you want to be a surgeon or a physician or an oncologist or whatever you want to be. You can choose. Take out 1 Corinthians 12, 29 onwards. I can read from 28 onwards to 31. Obviously, no. Whatever desire you desire, you ask. Read the next chapter, verse 1. No, 14.1, 14.1, next chapter. Yes. According to him, prophetic gift is the highest. Because prophet is talking directly to God. God is talking directly to prophet. So you can choose. He says, it is a good thing to choose. And work yourself. You can start as a little evangelist. You can be a little, you know, you can work yourself up. So these fivefold ministry gifts operate in the church. What are these gifts given for? Yes, read Ephesians 4, 11, 12, 13. Ephesians 4, 11, 12, 13. See, the whole is that you prepare saints for the ministry. The business of the church, that every member in the church has to be prepared, equipped for ministry. So that the church is edified, grows and multiplies. That's the purpose. No one man can equip you. No one. If you go to a school with your child and you find there is only one teacher, he is an excellent teacher. But there is only one teacher. You won't admit your child there. Because you say, no, my child needs to learn the language, he wants to learn mathematics or science or biology or history. And one teacher cannot teach all the subjects. He might be very good in science, very good in mathematics. But he might be hopeless in history or language. So you want a balanced approach for your child, that he grows in a balanced way. Then you want several teachers. You go to a hospital, there is one doctor, only one doctor. He is a good doctor, a very good doctor. He is a good surgeon, but you don't need surgery. You know, you say, excuse me, but don't you have somebody else? So you need a surgeon, you need a physician, you need a gynecologist, and your child is sick, you need a pediatrician. So you say, you know, is there a child specialist here or not? No. So I go to another hospital. So you need a balanced approach. So this one-man domination of the church will stunt you. Doesn't matter how anointed he is. He is operating within a limited gift of his own. He can't give you broad-based training, equipping. I'm sorry, I keep forgetting that. He can't give you broad-based training. Five-fold ministry gift is for equipping the saints, all the members of the body, for ministry. So wherever they are working, you are a school teacher, we will equip you to be an apostle or a prophet in the school. You will do your teaching. But apart from that, you will operate within your gifts. You work in the bank, you work in the government, you work in the office, you work in the farm, you work in the factory. Wherever. We equip you to be a minister there. That is the purpose of the church. And this will edify the body. The church will grow and multiply because when you are equipped, you start your ministry in your workplace. That doesn't mean you go there with a guitar and say, now I am minister in this place. Everybody gather together and I am going to sing you a song. You are going to do as Paul was doing while he was still making the tent. And he was discipling. Every now and then he dropped tools. But by the end of the day, he had made his tent and he has made his living. So you are manning your workstation and that is your discipling center, that is your discipling hub. And that is your domain and you got to possess that and you got to subdue it and you are going to have dominion over that. There, not here. But if you are not equipped, you say, now how do I do that? I don't know how to do that. Don't go and ask the pastor because he also doesn't know how to do that. So he will say, I will tell you what, we will call a businessman's meeting here in the church. So he will call everybody to church. But he has his own agenda over there. Unless the church makes you effective, to be an effective disciple maker on site, it is not fulfilling its gifts, Ephesians 4, 11 to 12. So first thing is we have to identify your gift. Where are you operating now? Where you want to get to? And then equip you accordingly so that you can be effective disciple wherever you are, God has placed you, wherever your garden of Eden is. And if you don't make you effective, then you will sell your garden for one fruit, one apple, gone. Whole garden is gone. Grandpa Adam lost the whole garden for one apple. Jacob became an ancestor of Jews because he sold his birthright for one bowl of soup. That lentil weed here, that's the bowl of lentils. Just for that month, he didn't value that. So where God has put you, right there is your domain that you are supposed to subdue and have dominion over and become a shepherd there, a shepherd ruler. So there are two kinds of churches. One is a primary nuclear church and the second is a secondary optional church. Secondary optional church is where you go on Sundays. Hi, hello, see you next week. That's your optional secondary church. If you go there, well and good, if you don't go there, well and good. Your primary nuclear church is where God has stationed you. Understand? Most Christians have abandoned their primary nuclear church to secular forces. And secular means? Godless. And who is godless then? Who is there? Devil is there. He is taken over. Because people are not able to handle him there. In fact, they fall into the trap and start worshipping Mr. Mammon. God Mammon. He rules there. You know God Mammon? So? No? You tell her Mam. Queen of Candice. She doesn't know what's Mammon. She doesn't know what's Mammon. God Mammon. She knows? We all Christians go and worship Lord Mammon in the marketplace. Both the people who buy and the people who sell. It's very nice to see people going shopping and then the market mind immediately takes over. This clothes, that pants, that shirt, that suit, that dress. Where is the mirror? Where is the dressing room? They're completely taken out. Did I say something? Lord Mammon. There are two very powerful gods, three very powerful gods nowadays. Lord Mammon. Lord Google. If you want, he's got all the information you want. And Lord Corruption. He's everywhere. Yeah? So, this is the fourth level. The first is believer. The second is disciple. Third is specialization in your gifting and keep on upgrading it. Have you seen Lucas, the old computer he used to have five years ago? Nobody knows what happened to that. Every six months almost he upgrades himself with a new computer. Every two weeks. Every two weeks. It's a good thing. You upgrade your giftings. Sharpen it. Iron sharpens iron. Diamond cuts diamond. Upgrade your skills. Gifts. You don't stay in the same gifting. Go to the next level. Go to the next level. And the gift is for equipping the saints for the edification of the body. For the growth and multiplication. So, your gifting. You say, okay, I'm a prophet or an apostle or a good teacher. Then we say, okay, we're going to assess you, evaluate you, audit you. And the audit will be by your impact. Outside. Not here what you give. Okay, you gave a lovely sermon. What happened outside? Was there an impact outside? No. As I said, Billy Graham has worked so hard. 200 million people heard the gospel. 2 million people signed. What card do you call them? Commitment card. Some commitment card or something. They got better word than that. And impact is zero. Impact is zero. Paul preaches for two years. All Asia hears the gospel. Antioch sends. And all the way to Europe. Gospel is preached. No more places left. Pentecost takes place. People from every nation under the sun are there. Under the heaven and the earth. And within weeks the gospel has reached the ends of the earth. In their language. Within weeks. Because all these Pentecostal pilgrims who had come, have gone back to their countries, including India. Why? China. Preach the gospel. So the impact of whatever you are doing, has to reach the ends of the earth. And the easiest thing in Melbourne to reach the ends of the earth, is where? Which is the discipling hub. Benchim. What's Benchim? Dining table. You've got people from all countries in Melbourne. You can reach the ends of the earth sitting in your dining table. You just have to pray quietly. You know Tony and Felicity have this thing, where people from all nations keep coming. And the system is so good. They are like Jews. They only work two days a week. People drive into their big house there, rambling house, Friday evening. They start off, and Saturday, Sunday, all he teaches is Luke 10. Luke 10. And people come in, and they stay there, and learn Luke 10. And then they go back on Sunday evening. And they pay him enough, to run the joint, and take care of his living, at that point. Now of course his business, he's got his business, so he's okay. But he was living on Luke 10, for a long time they were living. And people from all nations were coming there, just learning that. So Lucas, specialized in Luke 10, and you got it made. Because it's all about, Luke 10 is all about eating, and gossiping the gospel, and doing a few miracles, and the church will be planted. I think that Luke 10, from Tony and Felicity's, has really done, enormous amount of damage, to the kingdom of the devil. Five million Americans are now, in house churches. Yeah, that's the latest one, that according to Schwartz. But I still instill to five, because you know why? Authenticated ones are five, at 30,000 house churches. But the house churches, as I said, cannot be authenticated, because they're mobile. They're not stable, they're not sustainable. They're moving. So your figure is, closer to the truth. But the ones which can be validated, would be only about five million. So you can take care. As I said, the number of house churches, is just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn't tell you the real figure.