Sermon: God Expects a Return on His Investment (Part Six)

Epistles in the Making
#1678
David F. Maas
Given 29-Oct-22; 65 minutes

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Psalm 37:4-5 Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.

We are picking up in the set of scriptures where Richard left off in his sermon last week, “Those Who are Persecuted.” In an earlier message, I mentioned that since the tyrannical, leftist, collectivist woke regimes came into ascendency in the fall of 2020 in virtually every country inhabited by the offspring of Jacob (United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the postage stamp domicile of brother Judah in the state of Israel), Psalm 37 has been a daily staple incorporated into my daily prayers and Psalm 37:4 has emerged as my third favorite verse in the Bible. Along with this verse, I like to combine a couple of passages from the book of Proverbs, beginning with Proverbs 3:5-6, which I will read to you from the NASB version.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB) Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Scrolling ahead to Proverbs 16, we read:

Proverbs 16:3 (NASB) Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.

Now scrolling down to verse 9, we learn:

Proverbs 16:9 (NASB) The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

Over the past 51 years, beginning on October 13, 1971, I have been keeping a daily journal, about five years less than I have been in God’s church. My baptism was April 4, 1966, a highly memorable occasion in which Donald Prunkard dunked me in what seemed to be an ice-cold stock tank in Dalton Howard’s basement in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after which Charles Sherwin McMichael laid hands on me to receive the earnest payment of God’s Holy Spirit (referencing Ephesians 1:13-14; II Corinthians 1:22-23; 5: 5) implanting the tiny genotype of spiritual DNA which has gone through a rather rigorous, often turbulent, but nevertheless exciting and adventurous sanctification process which is still underway as I speak to you today.

My SPS, as I told all of you at the end of my October 14, 2022, Feast of Tabernacles message, will be to focus on strategies for discovering our spiritual gifts, strategies for sharpening our spiritual gifts, and strategies to avoid pitfalls that could sabotage our spiritual gifts. This message, because of using examples from my own personal life, following the cue of Mark Schindler in his Feast sermon, “Where Do We Go From Here?” will take on a little of the flavor of a #10 Heart-to-Heart Spokesman Club speech which those in the Fort Mill Speech Club will eventually encounter if they have not already.

Because of the entries made in my journal over the past 51 years, Dave Maas, still looking through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13:12), does not claim to have the keenest foresight, but my hindsight has improved to almost 20/20 and the once-confusing patterns of the past are becoming clearer and more distinct as the years continue to unfold (just as my cataract surgery at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, restored my vision to 20/20 and enabling me to see three dimensional again since sixth grade when I was hit in the right eye by hard rubber ball in the gym). For example, it has become crystal clear that the desires of the Jeremiah 17:9 heart (with its carnal “way of get” mentality) have led to profound sorrow and regret, while the desires of the Hebrews 8:10, 10:16, Jeremiah 31:31-34, and Ezekiel 36:26 (exercising the agape “way of give” mentality) have brought immense pleasure, joy, and happiness (Psalm 16:11), and has never brought even a hint of sorrow or regret with it (Proverbs 10:22).

I have learned the simple, but often elusive fact, that when I keep God’s laws, good things happen, and when I do not keep God’s laws, bad things happen. As Kim Myers warned us at the Feast, there are only two ways, not the right way, the wrong way, and Dave Maas’ way.

God has given all of us minds to think and to plan, but He does not always give us charge over the outcome of our plans. Proverbs 16:9 has informed us (at least those He has called for His purpose) that though our hearts or minds plans our way, the Lord carefully directs our steps. Sometimes those steps move sideways, backwards, or perhaps over a circuitous detour. Sometimes God steers us away from horrendous unseen obstacles while we mistakenly think that He is thwarting us or not answering our prayers.

Proverbs 14:12 has clearly warned us that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Is it possible that if we always received what we prayed for and set our minds upon, it would also lead to death? Jeremiah 10:23 affirms, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps,” implying that without God, man’s plans always end in failure and ruin. That includes using our natural talents and gifts for endeavors other than what Almighty God had intended them. In my September-October 2000 Forerunner article, “The Spiritual Hard Hat Zone,” I pointed out that many individuals (not only those who have received the John 6:44 calling) have come to realize this important lesson.

For example, Swedish composer Hilding Rosenberg once told conductor Herbert Blomstedt, “I have learned over the years sometimes to have more gratitude for the things that did not come my way. Often the reason they did not come my way is because something better is around the corner.” In a conversation I had with the Dean of Faculty, Dr. Anthony Forbes, at the University of Wisconsin-Superior back in the winter of 1970, the year my right leg was in a full-length cast, he emphatically asserted that “every experience, good or bad, when properly evaluated, can become the starting point for greater growth.”

Sadly, for most of us, while we are undergoing the sanctification experience, we look through a glass darkly and do not have the foresight to see the outcome. But having kept a daily journal for 51 plus years I can see how God has nudged me away from various pursuits that could have ended disastrously. Like our forebears on the Sinai, Dave Maas has done his share of kvetching, complaining, murmuring, and bellyaching stating frequently the old Yiddish maxim, “Lord, I know You will provide, but will You provide until You provide.” Throughout the pages of my journal, on multiple occasions I repeatedly appropriated the lyrics of Elvis Presley’s ballad, “You Gave me a Mountain,” complaining, “Ooh, this time, Lord, you gave me a mountain, a mountain I may never climb; it isn’t a hill any longer, You gave me a mountain this time.” But miraculously, several pages later, I was compelled to record that Almighty God pulled me over the precipitous summit, en route to some higher more adventurous mountain ranges with more exciting challenges and vistas.

As I stated in my February 15, 2020 article on cultivating kindness, since my baptism on April 4, 1966, I have never met anyone in God’s church who has led a charmed life. Furthermore, in the past 56 years since my baptism, including the 23 years I served at Ambassador College or the 10 years I served at Living University, I have never met a converted person. To be sure, I have met scores of spiritual siblings in various stages of the conversion process, converting yes, but not yet converted, as the apostle Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:12-13, which I will read to you from the Berean Standard Bible.

Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

In one way or another, we are all damaged goods, having endured afflictions such as divorce, premature death of a spouse or offspring, car accidents, legal problems, illness, maladies such as diabetes, cancer, mental breakdowns, being unjustly accused by a hopelessly corrupt legal system, vexation from an unconverted mate, being unjustly fired, being lied about, and making foolish financial decisions.

In his sermon “What Is Real Conversion? (Part Five)” Richard Ritenbaugh examines the tremendous repair and refurbishing process Almighty God has undertaken, comparing the “renewing of our minds” in the conversion process to the repairing of an old broken tool (which describes all of us at the time of our calling). Richard states:

This renewing is not making the mind new in the sense of time. The renewal of Romans 12:2, however, speaks to quality. We might understand it better by using the terms “refresh,” “revive, “or “rejuvenate.” When a tool—say, a chisel—is old and dull, a craftsman will renew it by cleaning off the rust, sharpening the edge, and perhaps putting on a new handle. Essentially, this is what God is doing in renewing our minds. He is taking an old, ill-used mind, cleaning it, and putting it to use in His work.

Ephesians 1:4 (AMP) Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in sight, even above reproach, before Him in love.

Before the foundation of the world, God already knew our proclivities to sin and make foolish mistakes well before He called us. Personally, I regret to say that my biggest blunders and colossal mistakes occurred after my calling than before, sorely grieving God’s Holy Spirit, with which I had been sealed (referencing Ephesians 4:30). Several of you in this room have concurred with me that your biggest blunders and missteps also happened after your baptism rather than before.

God chose the weak and the base, realizing that we needed lots of work to repair the damage.

It reminds me of a dialogue in the movie Rio Bravo where an impatient rancher (played by John Russell) asks the sheriff (played by John Wayne), “All you got is a gimpy old man and a drunk to help you?” To which the sheriff replied, “That’s what I’ve got.” But just as the sheriff used a gimp and a recovering drunk against tremendous odds to take care of the bad guys, Almighty God can and will make spiritual heroes of all of us, eventually confounding the pomposity of the worldly leaders who have botched things up for nearly 6,000 years. Almighty God has called us into His Family in order that we may develop compassion for others and reciprocally receive compassion for others.

One reason I believe God scattered the megachurch known as the Worldwide Church of God into thousands of pieces was to rebuild the intimate family structure, the only venue from which spiritual growth can take place. Once we develop that kind of camaraderie and sensitivity, we will be able to “pass” compassion along to our spiritual siblings and the rest of humankind, ultimately including our enemies (as had the martyr Stephen in Acts 6:8 through Acts 7:60 and our Lord and Savior in Luke 23: 34), both realizing that even their worst enemies were all potential offspring of God. To develop compassion (which means, “to suffer with”) we must welcome our tests and trials, making them sympathetic, empathetic, and compassionate.

The merciful scattering of our previous fellowship into tiny, intimate flocks such as Colton, Phoenix, Round Rock, Louisburg, and Fort Mill appears to be God’s plan for rekindling our first love and emphasizing the family. Because kindness is love in action, we must galvanize our thoughts into concrete behaviors, including offering encouraging words and performing uplifting deeds, alleviating one another’s suffering as well as becoming helpers of their joy (referencing II Corinthians 1: 24).

The apostle Paul reminds us that the same temptations and trials we endure are common to the whole human race (referencing I Corinthians 10:13), while the apostle Peter cautions us that we should not regard fiery trials, pain, and suffering as strange, unusual, or alien to us (referencing I Peter 10:13). We can and should harvest these painful afflictions into our experience repertoire in order not to be a stranger to someone else’s need for kindness and compassion. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ learned obedience from what He suffered and once made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him and was designated by God to be High Priest in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:8-10). We are similarly qualifying to be kings and priests in the wonderful World Tomorrow by enduring suffering, tests, and trials in our current sanctification process.

The popular Lakota proverb says, “Never criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins,” a metaphorical aphorism stressing the vital importance of empathy and shared experience in all human relationships. Dr. Kristin Neff, in her book, Self-Compassion, enlarges on this concept of kindness and empathy, insisting that “Although compassion involves feelings of care and concern for others, it also involves taking the perspective of those who are suffering—walking a mile in their shoes, so to speak.”

Theologian Charles Seet, in his article/sermon “Cultivating Brotherly Kindness,” asserts that,

One who has suffered loss can better understand the pain of others who are suffering loss. One who has gone through failure can better understand the disappointment of others who are going through failure. One who has been sick can better understand the predicament of others who are sick. One who has been stressed with tremendous work pressures can better understand the feelings of others who were similarly stressed. When the words of comfort are given by a fellow sufferer, they can mean so much more than words given by anyone else.

For example, when I lost my precious son Michael to a premature death, my turbulent, grief-saturated emotions were buoyed up by e-mails and letters from sympathetic brethren, including one from the late Allyn Aldridge, who described in some detail the feelings he experienced when his son died prematurely. Those of us who may at times feel shortchanged on God’s dispersal of spiritual gifts, might want to look at our immense treasure troves of life experiences—bad, good, and other—potentially providing value resources for comforting and encouraging others. No stranger may share our grief (referencing Proverbs 14:10), but a spiritual sibling who has successfully processed a similar painful or sorrowful experience may provide encouragement and comfort for bereaved brethren, preventing them from falling into a downward spiral of bitterness or abject depression.

As Kristin Neff, in her book Self-Compassion, suggests “Rather than condemning yourself for your mistakes and failures (which many of us have routinely done) you need to look upon these experiences as resources, using these valuable painful memories to soften your heart, thereby inspiring compassion and kindness to others.” As the old Yiddish proverb, more recently attributed to Rabbi David Wolpe teaches us, “The only whole heart is a broken heart.”

Similarly, in a Midrash, Rabbi Alexandri declared “If a person uses broken vessels, it is considered an embarrassment. But God seeks out broken vessels for His use, as it says, ‘God is the Healer of shattered hearts.’”

Admittedly, sharing with others embarrassing experiences from our past makes us feel vulnerable and exposed. My late mentor, Bob Hoops, used to say, “True humility feels like grubby rags to those wearing the garment, but looks like a magnificently tailored suit to those looking on.” Craig Sablich, in his February 12, 2022, message “Writing Your Own Stories” suggests that all of us, if we combine our own life narrative of life experiences with a thorough grounding in the Scriptures, we have something valuable to share with our spiritual siblings.

In his Harvard Divinity School address, essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, describing the value of a minister undergoing life’s trials preparing him to teach more effectively, describes one who has had extremely sheltered or shallow life experiences:

He had lived in vain. He had not one word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended, or cheated, or chagrined. If he had ever lived and acted, we were none the wiser for it. The capital secret of the profession (that is the ministry), to convert life not truth, he had not learned.

The mottos of both Ambassador College and Living University read, “The Bible is the foundation of all knowledge.” Almighty God insists that we build on that foundation, combining life experiences with His Word, using His precious Holy Spirit. At one point, the apostle Paul compared the members of the Corinthian congregation to epistles, declaring:

II Corinthians 3:2-3 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets, that is, of the heart.”

We also are epistles in the making, derived from our life experiences, good and bad, shaped by the Word of God, as we exercise the little dab of Holy Spirit implanted at our baptism (Ephesians 1:13-14). Yesterday, while I was in the middle of preparing this message, Debbie Clinton texted me that her health had vastly improved, thanking God for her miraculous improvement. Every other Sabbath I witness epistles in the making, realizing that they are all burdened with problems just as complicated as mine. I have become acquainted with spiritual siblings (such as Debbie) who battle the same health problems as I do, thankful for the opportunity to compare notes and strategize for solutions. No one in our congregation has led a problem free charmed life. I would not want to exchange life experiences with anyone in the congregation, and I do not believe anyone would want to exchange life experiences with me.

Like several in this room and some within the sound of my voice, I have been through a painful divorce, which I would not wish on my worst enemy. But then 36 years ago, God blessed me with a loving, loyal, and compatible spouse, and we work together as a unified team. Like several of you in this room and some within the sound of my voice, I have lost several custody battles, having to see my sons only on the weekends, but thankfully all summer long. When my oldest son Michael turned 18, he immediately moved in with me, causing my second son Eric to kick up such a ruckus that his mom and stepdad allowed both to join Julie and me, eventually providing siblings for our youngest son Aaron.

Like several in this room and some within the sound of my voice, I have been fired from academic institutions for keeping the Feast of Tabernacles and refusing to work on the Sabbath. When I worked for Ambassador College and Living University, I did not have to worry about those things, but had a whole different set of problems. Thankfully, I was forewarned by my mentor Bob Hoops to expect to see plenty of carnal nature at work as well as unsavory church politics, creating a modicum of disillusionment, reminding me that the institution was not exactly the Kingdom of God on earth.

Like some within the sound of my voice, I have as a pedestrian been struck by a vehicle—as a matter of fact, twice—once right before the Feast of Tabernacles in Superior, Wisconsin by a drunk driver while I was standing by my stalled car. That year I spent the Feast of Tabernacles in Saint Mary’s Hospital in Superior in traction, after which I had a lotus nail shish kabobbed into my right tibia several weeks later. And in the winter of 1990, while attending the Modern Language Association Convention in Chicago, I was, again as a pedestrian, stuck by a taxi two days before I was scheduled to give a sermon to the Hammond congregation. One of the local deacons, Dr. Dwight Haas, came to pick me up from Northwestern Hospital Sabbath morning. Dwight asked me how I felt, to which I replied, “I feel as though I have been in a boxing match with Ingemar Johansen.” To which Dwight replied, “If indeed you had been in a boxing match with Ingemar Johansen , you probably would have said “I feel as though I was hit by a taxi in Chicago.”

Like some of you within the sound of my voice, I have suffered a massive adrenal collapse in which during that time my daily journal is blank for half the year. During this terrible ordeal, my supervisor, Dr. Sally Malone Hawkins, the Academic Dean at Wiley College looked at me intently, saying, “I do not know why you are going through this, but I am sure God is allowing it, and allowing it for a reason.”

This horrible episode provided the inspiration for my November-December 2008 Forerunner article “From Sheriff to Shepherd: Are we Willing to be Defrauded?” in which the contrast between the easy-going Type B personality Sheriff Andy Taylor is contrasted with the high-strung Type A personality Barney Fife (which my students up in Barnum, Minnesota used to call me), demonstrating the contrast between the servant leadership practiced by Jesus Christ and the tyrannical Gentile leadership practiced by too many dictators around the world, especially in the Muslim world, but increasingly so in the governments occupied by Jacob’s offspring (the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia) since the fateful Covid plandemic, resulting from military gain of function research carried out by your tax dollars and approved by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

I have just declassified a few embarrassing things from my past to let you know that Dave Maas has certainly not led a charmed life, but on the other hand, has not given up on God’s ability to repair and refashion this broken tool, relying on the apostle Paul’s assurances in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” And Romans 8:28, “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

Discovering what God has given to us as a talent, ability, or gift can be easy, especially if one has an interest in a variety of pursuits. When my sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Saint John, administered the Kuder Preference Test, she expressed extreme frustration that after three attempts, she could not find a clear profile except perhaps for clerical skills. The late Rush Limbaugh claimed that he knew as a child he wanted to be a radio announcer. So did I, but I also wanted to be private detective, a counter spy, a cantor, an orchestra conductor, a cowboy, a truck driver, a university professor, a librarian, an archivist, a forest ranger, a tour guide, a psychologist, a band leader, a piano bar entertainer, a radio and TV personality, a rancher, and an avocado farmer, to name a few. I always agreed with Rush that whatever I decided to major in, I would like to have more fun than a human being ought to have.

My first undergraduate major was political science which I quickly abandoned after locking horns with several leftist Marxist professors. I changed my major to psychology, partly to learn about what makes me tick. When Sherwin McMichael invited me to services in the December of 1965, he expressed his concern that God would probably not help me much in that field. I promptly changed my major to English because it gave me the opportunity to generalize rather than specialize, allowing me to have my cake and eat it too, allowing me to explore philosophy, history, psychology, theology, political science, sociology, economics, and linguistics, adding German as my second major.

In 1967, I acquired an MA specializing in Modern British Literature. From 1967 to 1969 I taught high school English, grades 8-12 in a small northern Minnesota town, Barnum, promising the principal I would go back and get the educational courses during the summer. But in 1969, I joined the English Department at Wisconsin State University—now the University of Minnesota, where I taught two years before returning to Mankato State in 1971 where I acquired the very first Ed. Specialist degree in Curriculum and Instruction, enabling me to be hired as an Assistant Professor at the National College of Business in Rapid City, South Dakota locating me in one of my favorite venues—the beautiful Black Hills, the paha sapa and the Badlands, the maco sica.

In the fall of 1974, receiving recommendations from both Bob Hoops and Sherwin McMichael, I was hired at Ambassador College in Big Sandy, Texas. Because they were seeking accreditation, they sent me back to graduate school to receive a doctorate, paying all my tuition expenses. It was at this point I could see that God was changing my orientation from generalization to specialization, nudging me to major in linguistics-dialectology, phonetics, syntax—and semantics, a brand-new skill which I had to learn at age 33, my son Aaron’s current age.

Over and over for the past 56 years, I have witnessed the profound truth of Proverbs 16:9, which I will read to you from the Amplified Bible: “A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], but the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.”

One of the most grueling but rewarding projects I took under Dr. Hackenberg, was a comparative phoneme inventory of three Indo-European languages—English/German/Spanish/ and one non-Indo-European language, Lakota, which provided a master template for my Ambassador Linguistics students over the next 16 years to expand this inventory to 52 languages, a work found in several major university libraries across the country.

Another major work which my linguistics students help me put together was an Exhaustive Inventory of New Testament Imagery, compiled over a span of 10 years. The Linguistics class aided our overseas programs in Sri Lanka by providing phonological and grammatical skills to the many students serving in our ESL teaching program. Finally, over a span 20 years, the students at Ambassador College and Wiley College compiled a 30 volume Interlinear Bible converting the Hebrew and Greek language into IPA (the International Phonetic Alphabet), 100 times easier to master than learning Hebrew or Greek letters, and in my humble opinion far easier to use than the Strong’s Transliterations which some of our speakers have difficulty negotiating. When I entered the linguistics specialization in the winter of 1975, I had no idea how productive it would turn out to be, but I express gratitude to Almighty God for nudging me in a direction which initially threw me totally out of my comfort zone, but later turned out to be more fun than a human ought to have.

Over the next 19 years, one piece at a time, I earned my baccalaureate in theology from Ambassador College and Ambassador University, beginning with Dean Blackwell’s class Comparative Religion and ending with Russell Duke’s Systematic Theology class—having the whole stable full of luminaries in between: Raymond McNair, Rod Meredith, Ron Kelly, David Albert, Mark Kaplan, Ralph Levy, Dexter Faulkner, and Donald Ward. I might mention that though many of these men were powerful teachers, in my humble opinion, John Ritenbaugh was tops, whom Evelyn Ritenbaugh would often call “a teacher’s teacher,” just as I often regarded Charles Whittaker as an English teacher’s teacher.

We have already learned the answer to the deceptively simple question as to when God first endowed His called-out ones with spiritual gifts. It was before the foundation of the earth. When we carefully examine the assertion made by charismatics and other protestant evangelicals that the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit are different from the natural abilities God gives to all human beings at the moment of birth, we would either have to rule that presumptuous assertion as patently false, or at least qualified by a number of commonsensical comparisons between the concrete physical, apprehended by the senses, and the spiritual, apprehended through the lens of faith. But the necessary bridge connecting the physical and the spiritual, is the analogy, the literary figures of speech—metaphor and simile, encompassing parables and allegories—Jesus Christ’s chief teaching vehicles.

Consequently, we must realize that the talents and abilities we were all blessed with at birth are indeed the raw materials from which Almighty God fashions, amplifies, and redirects the focus away from carnal self-centered impulses (the way of get) toward other-centered agape motivated impulses (the way of give). In I Corinthians 12:31, the apostle Paul stipulates that the only reason to desire the spiritual motivational gifts described earlier was so that they (and we) can use them for the greater good of the body of Christ, firmly punctuating that thought by the love chapter which follows, indicating that without agape, every such gift is meaningless and worthless.

For example, every time we drive the 210 Freeway into Colton, our family is always amazed at the artistic ability of the graffiti specialists who display their handiwork on the hundreds of boxcars and tank cars along the track. But I am also aware that their motivation to create does not stem from the same pure impulse of love that drove Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, or Claude Monet to offer sublime beauty to the public.

All human beings have been given abilities and gifts, but only as these gifts, talents, and abilities are redirected by Almighty God to serve mankind, glorifying God’s creation, making others happy, does the talent, ability, or gift really count. In his insightful article “Discovering and Using Your Gift,” published January 1, 1995, Ray Stedman insisted that desire or passion leads individuals to discover their spiritual gift, asking,

How did you find out that you were musically talented? Or artistically endowed? Or able to lead, to organize, or to compete athletically? It probably first began with some kind of desire. You simply liked whatever it is you are talented [in] and found yourself drawn toward those who were already doing it. You enjoyed watching those who were good at it and came to appreciate something of the fine points of the activity. That is the way spiritual gifts make themselves known at first too. If done with selfless agape love, the exercise of a spiritual gift is always a satisfying, enjoyable experience. If we feel frustrated or upended, we have not yet found our niche and might want to look for more satisfying ways to serve.

Our Lord and Savior declared that it was His constant delight to do the will of the One who sent Him, stating that “The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him” (referencing John 8:29). The Father’s gift awakened His own desire, and He went about doing what He intensely enjoyed doing. Earlier in John 4:34, Jesus told His disciples, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” If we could match our Savior’s desire to finish God the Father’s work, our happiness quotient would skyrocket into the stratosphere.

In Part Three of this series, I described my brother Ed’s regret that Mom did not beat him into practicing his piano lessons. Well, I had the opposite problem. Starting at the age of four, I started experimenting on my own on the keyboard, playing rudimentary harmonies and chords. When I started taking piano lessons, I would sometimes lose myself in reveries, experimenting with various chord combinations and melodies for hours at a time, causing Mom to ask me to please stop playing. I never wanted to consider music a vocation because I wanted it to remain fun and not work. Since both Mom and Dad were musical, I had plenty of opportunities to perform. Because Dad was the treasurer of the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, I got to play clarinet in the orchestra when I was in the seventh grade, later taking it for college credit when I started college. I paid for part of my tuition for graduate school playing piano bar in several supper clubs and bars, but always considered it fun rather than work, even when I was coerced to join the Musicians Union in Minnesota.

My first experience using music to serve the church was in the winter of 1965, when the regular pianist Betty Randle failed to show up for services. The song leader, Don Prunkard, with a bewildered look said, “I think we are going to have to do this a cappella.” Though I was not familiar yet with the Dwight Armstrong hymns I walked quickly up to the piano, saying “If you pick something familiar, I can accompany you.” The first hymn, which I will never forget, from the old gray hymnal was “Standing on the Promises,” which I devoured with relish, leading to a permanent assignment as pianist for the next several years in Minneapolis and in practically every other local where I attended services. Other doors which God opened for me were to serve as choir director and even leading the Ambassador Orchestra under John Schroeder’s supervision leading selections from Brahms’s Requiem, scheduling special music every Sabbath in Glendale and North Hollywood.

In Rapid City in the winter of 1973, the host of the World Classics Program quit. I persuaded Bob Hoops to step in as replacement, writing the scripts for him for the next two years until he was transferred to Minneapolis, at which time I asked Richard Ames to take over because we now had a tiny network of stations in Rapid City, Commerce, and Big Sandy. When I moved to Pasadena, I took over the announcing responsibility on KBAC, using the same studio Herbert W. Armstrong and Garner Ted had previously broadcast the World Tomorrow. When we moved back to Texas, I continued broadcasting on KBAU, and when I was hired at Wiley on KBWC until my departure in 2013, putting in nearly 15 years of doing something I considered more fun than a human ought to have-all without pay, as a labor of love.

When I find something I really like to do, I can apply Solomon’s injunction in Ecclesiastes 9:10, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might.” Almighty God has planted in every human being a need to be needed (as Becky Carlson said, a need to be cuddled) and has filled that need with an opportunity to serve someone else, helping their joy and making them happy. When people in the piano bar would show appreciation, I would literally play until my thumbs would bleed.

At the Feast of Tabernacles, I mentioned I had taken five separate tests which determined one’s spiritual gift. When I first began to investigate these testing instruments, I had great skepticism because they seemed to contain a lot of charismatic church-speak for which I had to make mental adjustments, but when I saw the care at which the matrixes were computed, I methodically went through each test carefully calculating the results. Typically, the questions would be packaged like the following: “Building something with my hands is very rewarding to me. With five choices on a scale of 1 to 5, with never and always occupying the polar positions.”

• I can pinpoint issues or problems before others

• I enjoy sharing the gospel with a total stranger

• I look for ways to be an encouragement to other people

• I trust that God has my back in every situation

• Making more money means I can give more

Four out of five tests were free having between 20 and 100 questions apiece. In the placement test designed by Katie and Don Fortune, the following seven categories were identified:

(1) The perceiver, the eye of the body

(2) The server, the hands of the body

(3) The teacher, the mind of the body

(4) The exhorter, the mouth of the body

(5) The giver, the arms of the body

(6) The administrator, the shoulders of the body

(7) The compassion person, the heart of the body

Twenty questions were devised for each group with 5 choices for each:

0 Never

1 Seldom

2 Sometimes

3 Usually

4 Mostly

5 Always

Teacher:

1. Presents truth in a logical, systematic way.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 154). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

2. Validates truth by checking out the facts.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 155). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

3. Loves to study and do research.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 156). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

4. Enjoys word studies. Fortune, Katie.

Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 157). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

5. Prefers to use biblical illustrations rather than life illustrations.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 158). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

Perceivers:

1. Quickly and accurately identifies good and evil and hates evil.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 74). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

2. Sees everything as either black or white; no gray or indefinite areas.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 75). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

The Giver ranked high with the following questions:

1. Gives freely of money, possessions, time, energy, and love.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 218). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

2. Loves to give without others knowing about it.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 220). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

Compassion Person makes high marks with these:

1. Has tremendous capacity to show love.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 285). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

2. Always looks for good in people.

Fortune, Katie. Discover Your God Given Gifts (p. 286). Chosen. Kindle Edition.

Now all 5 of these tests identified my skills as a teacher. One Baptist minister criticized the whole procedure, stating that worldly men such as Bezos, Zucker, and Gates, could rank high on these placement tests, with which I firmly agree. God gives talents and abilities to all people. But I would ask, why would Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos want to involve themselves in church related functions? Personally, I am not recommending any of you to take or not to take these tests—but if you are curious or interested, I would be happy to share with you the resources that I have used.

On December 31^st, I plan to draw this series to a conclusion. This time, God willing, focusing on strategies to sharpen our spiritual gifts and strategies to avoid the pitfalls that could sabotage our spiritual gifts.

DFM/jjm/drm