Motivational Gifts #1: The River, the Streams and the 21 Gifts of God

The motivational gifts are seven foundational gifts from God that get very little attention in Christendom, yet shape how every believer sees life and serves others. In this first message of the series, the pastor explains why God gives gifts at all, how the Holy Spirit flows like a river divided into streams, and how the 21 gifts named in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 fit together. He ends by introducing the seven motivational gifts of Romans 12 that the rest of the series will teach.

Below you will find the full video, a structured summary of the sermon, the Scripture behind each point (linked to the New King James Version on Bible Gateway), a timestamped outline, and practical steps you can take this week.

Sermon at a Glance

This message was preached on Memorial Day weekend and posted on May 30, 2023. It opens a ten-part series on the motivational gifts. The pastor calls it an introduction: before teaching each gift, he wants the church to see where all of God’s gifts come from, why they are given, and how the different groups of gifts relate to one another. It runs just under an hour and closes with a prayer of salvation.

His concern is practical. Many Christians panic over the corruption they see in the world. God’s answer, he says, is not fear but gifts we can rely on and learn to use.

A Corrupted World and a Gifting God

You do not have to look far to see corruption in the world, the pastor begins, and it is getting worse. He disagrees with a television preacher who said God allows Satan to rule for a time. God gave the works of His hands to Adam, and Adam, by rebellion, handed them to Satan, who has been doing a terrible job ever since. Even many Christians get freaked out over governments and world events. “Peace,” he says. “Just chill out.”

Many people go to church and know stories about Jesus but do not live as part of a kingdom that is advancing against corruption. He is clear that this does not mean violence. Even the beauty of the Northwoods in spring is a corrupted version of what God first made, like a car that looked fine off the assembly line but is a rust bucket twenty years later. God built it, but He did not build the rust.

That is why all creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God (Romans 8:19–21). Salvation is the start, but believers must come into their own. God is a gifter. When everything was given over to Satan, He gave again: God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16). He gifts us with righteousness, faith and grace.

Those gifts are for us personally. But the 21 gifts he surveys in this message are different. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, to help, bless and minister to other people. It is like the power to get wealth, which God gives to establish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:17–18): everything God gives is for His purpose.

Spiritual Weapons, Not Carnal Ones

Imagine a government that recruits soldiers but has no weapons to train them on. The pastor says they could teach only two maneuvers: run fast in the opposite direction, or lie down and play dead. God does not do that. The gifts He gives are weapons against the spiritual forces destroying people’s lives.

In this world, whoever has the greatest weapons has the greatest power. About fifty years ago he served in the Navy aboard a nuclear ballistic missile submarine carrying 16 missiles, and he describes how much destructive power one such submarine held. He also recalls the U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia in 1960, when the United States did not know Russia had a weapon that could reach it.

Some nations trust the size of their armies instead. Christians, he says, sometimes think the same way, as though Satan is too big and demons too many, or as though healing depends on how many people we recruit to pray. But this is not the kingdom of the masses. Jesus said that if two agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done (Matthew 18:19). Why? Because of the weapons God gives His children.

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal: not picket lines and not violence. They are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4). Our heavenly Father is so loving and personal that He wants His children to have the best and be the best, not out of pride, but because in Christ we are a new creation who received His righteousness as a gift.

A River Whose Streams Make Glad

The foundation text for the series is Psalm 46:1–5. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed and the mountains carried into the sea. Selah, the pastor explains, means pause and think about this, especially about what comes next: “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God.”

The river, he teaches, is the Holy Spirit, and the streams are the gifts. He links it to the water from the rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6), which he says broke into streams that connected the tribes. The Holy Spirit wants those streams manifested in our lives.

Crying “help, God” is a fine prayer for a child, but a mature son no longer hollers for his dad every time; he knows what to do. He tells of a pioneer crossing the frozen Missouri River in winter. Gripped by fear, the man went from walking to crawling to lying on his belly, until a farmer passed him whistling, walking beside a horse pulling a sleigh of hay. The farmer knew the ice. Without training in our gifts, fear can still paralyze us.

Psalm 36:7–8 says God’s people are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of His house and drink from the river of His pleasures. The New Living Translation calls it a river of delights. We cannot delight in what we do not understand, which is why this series matters. Not everyone has every gift, he says, but in the house of God every gift should be mobilized.

At the well, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that if she knew the gift of God and who was speaking, she would ask and He would give her living water, a fountain springing up into everlasting life (John 4:6–14). Eternal life, the pastor says, is not just going to heaven one day; it is the very life of God, and He breaks it into these gifts so we can understand it.

Nine Gifts of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God just as much as the Father and the Son, the pastor stresses, and is given to be with us now, pouring out a stream of life. Every believer has gifts; we need to recognize them and learn to use them. Three passages give specific groupings: 1 Corinthians 12:7–12, Ephesians 4:7–16, and Romans 12:3–8, which the series will focus on.

The Father designed a plan so that we can live a fulfilling life on this corrupted earth however bad it gets. Like the hidden weapon that brought down the U-2, believers can tell the world and the devil to take their best shot. Jesus said that in the world we will have tribulation, but to be of good cheer, because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

In 1 Corinthians 12, one Spirit distributes to each one individually as He wills. Here the pastor warns that “Lord, if it’s Your will” is often a prayer of doubt. God’s will is written in His last will and testament, and if we ask anything according to His will, we know we have it (1 John 5:14–15). All nine gifts are ours, distributed as needed, and when the body gathers, all of them should be available through us, not through one person.

He groups the nine into three sets, one for each part of a person:

Everyone should prophesy, he says, recalling Moses’ wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets (Numbers 11:29). To prophesy is to speak out boldly the will of God. Gifts of healings is the only plural gift, because God heals in many different ways. He adds that doctors can have a hand in healing, since God is into helping people and never makes them sick.

The Fivefold Ministry Gifts

The second grouping is the Ascension gifts. When Christ ascended on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men (Ephesians 4:7–16): apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for equipping the saints for the work of ministry, until we all come to the unity of the faith and the fullness of Christ. Since the church has not yet reached that fullness, he argues, these gifts are still needed today.

The whole body, joined together by what every joint supplies, causes growth. “Who builds the church? We do,” he says. Christ is the cornerstone, and the apostles and prophets are the foundation (Ephesians 2:20). He then uses the hand to picture the five:

• Thumb, the apostle: a missionary who establishes churches, and the only finger that touches all the others. He says he functions apostolically, having founded this church and planted many others, including a Hispanic church in Green Bay and a Russian church in Minneapolis.
• Forefinger, the prophet: a seer who points to the past, present and future, showing where your current road leads.
• Middle finger, the evangelist: reaches out farther than anyone, and teaches others to win souls, for he who wins souls is wise (Proverbs 11:30).
• Ring finger, the pastor: married to the congregation.
• Little finger, the teacher: cuts truth into bite-sized pieces.

Any of these can be a woman or a man, he says, since in Christ there is neither male nor female (Galatians 3:28). He points to the Samaritan woman, through whom many believed (John 4:39–42). He says historical writings name her Photini and describe her later planting many churches before being martyred.

The Seven Motivational Gifts of Romans 12

The third grouping is where the series will stay. The motivational gifts are foundational: what motivates us, where we are comfortable, where we “get our groove on.” Romans 12:3–8 tells us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought, because God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. It is up to us to build it. Playing Chopsticks on a new piano is fine at first, the pastor says, but if you are still playing Chopsticks twenty years later, you wasted a lot of time.

We are many members in one body, and not all have the same function. Having gifts differing according to grace, “let us use them.” Prophecy, ministry or serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading and mercy are all to be used to help and bless others. People who refuse to use their gifts, he notes, are often the ones crying about how rotten life is.

Unlike the fivefold gifts, which call a person to forsake all for full-time ministry, the motivational gifts operate in normal life: on the job, at home and at church. You see and understand things through your gift. That can become a downfall if you expect everyone to be like you; someone motivated by mercy may irritate those who do not share it.

Most people have one dominant motivational gift, though some will by necessity use several. The pastor promises that learning these seven, prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, organization and mercy, will help you feel better about yourself and understand why the people around you are the way they are.

Putting Your Gifts to Work This Week

Closing on Memorial Day weekend, the pastor honors those who gave their lives for freedom and points to the ultimate sacrifice: Jesus, who bought our liberty, peace and joy. Believers in prison and martyrs through history still had peace, he says, because the river was in them. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

• Trade panic for peace. When the news unsettles you, pause like the Selah of Psalm 46 and remember the river.
• Look for your gift. Notice what motivates you and what you are naturally drawn to in serving others.
• Use it for someone else. The gifts are given for the profit of all, so put yours to work this week.
• Pray God’s written will. Replace “if it’s Your will” with what His Word already promises.
• Prophesy over hard times. Speak out what God is doing and how He will bring you through.
• Keep practising. Grow your measure of faith rather than staying at Chopsticks.

He ends by inviting anyone who has never given their life to Jesus to confess Him aloud and believe in their heart (Romans 10:9–10).

Timestamped Outline

• 0:00 A new series on seven neglected gifts
• 2:21 A corrupted creation: the rust-bucket car
• 3:27 Romans 8 and God the gifter
• 4:36 Gifts given for the profit of all
• 5:48 An army with no weapons
• 7:05 Navy submarines and the U-2 spy plane
• 12:22 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal
• 13:46 Psalm 46: a river whose streams make glad
• 16:58 Crossing the frozen Missouri River
• 19:55 Psalm 36: the river of His pleasures
• 21:08 Living water at Jacob’s well
• 25:46 Three passages of gifts
• 27:08 The nine gifts of 1 Corinthians 12
• 29:23 Praying God’s written will
• 31:37 Spoken, power and revelation gifts
• 35:11 The Ascension gifts of Ephesians 4
• 40:48 The fivefold ministry on the hand
• 44:55 The woman at the well as evangelist
• 47:13 The motivational gifts: Romans 12
• 50:16 Let us use them
• 52:44 The seven gifts named
• 53:48 Memorial Day and liberty in Christ
• 57:27 Prayer of salvation

Motivational Gifts Series

This is the first message in a ten-part teaching series at NTC Ministries. Continue with the next message:

• You are here: Motivational Gifts #1: The River, the Streams and the 21 Gifts of God
• Next: Motivational Gifts #2: Humility, the River and the Gifts of God

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a person have more than one motivational gift?

Yes. The pastor says one gift will usually be dominant and act as the foundation of your life, but you may see several, and some people will by necessity operate in more than one. He also warns that a strong motivational gift can become a blind spot if you expect everyone else to see life the same way you do. The series is meant to help believers understand both themselves and others.

Are the fivefold ministry gifts still active today?

The pastor teaches that they are. Ephesians 4 says these gifts were given until the whole church comes to the unity of the faith, the knowledge of the Son of God and the full stature of Christ. Since the body has clearly not reached that point yet, he reasons, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are still needed to equip believers for the work of ministry.

Is it wrong to pray “if it’s Your will”?

The pastor calls it, in many cases, a prayer of doubt and unbelief, because God’s will is already written in His Word, His last will and testament. He encourages believers to read Scripture daily to learn what God has promised, and then to pray according to that will with confidence, since 1 John 5 says that if we ask according to His will, He hears us and we have what we asked.

Scripture References

All passages open in the New King James Version on Bible Gateway:

• Romans 12:3–8 — the motivational gifts
• Psalm 46:1–5 — a river whose streams make glad
• 1 Corinthians 12:7–12 — the nine gifts of the Spirit
• Ephesians 4:7–16 — the Ascension gifts
• Psalm 36:7–8 — the river of His pleasures
• John 4:6–14 — living water
• 2 Corinthians 10:4 — weapons mighty in God
• Romans 8:19–21 — creation waits for the sons of God

How this summary was made: written with AI assistance from the sermon’s own transcript and checked against the Scriptures listed above.

Watch More Messages

If this message helped you see your gifts more clearly, there are hundreds more teachings from NTC Ministries waiting for you. Browse the full sermon archive and keep learning how God has equipped you.