Well, good morning, my friends, and welcome to the Heritage Hour. I’m Mark Gonzales, your pastoral encourager here in Southwest Florida, and I’m so delighted to be with you on air, online, and in media ministry for over 35 years now.

So thank you for sitting with me at the feet of the Lord to listen for His heart to touch our hearts. And if you’ve been with us, you know we just started a brand new series last week. I think it’ll be about an eight-part series, could be more because it’s such a wonderful topic. And the series is what I’m calling Soul Care Portraits of God.

We just finished talking about the Passion Week portraits of God that we saw for about 10 weeks starting in the Easter season. And now the Lord just put it in my heart to really drill deep into what soul care is all about and how He is our soul care shepherd, which was the first thing we covered last time.

But let me just give you a working definition. It’s always a working definition. It’s always in process. We’re always in process.

We’re growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, discovering his ways.

And so far in my journey of really focusing on soul care for many, many years now, as well, according to the Bible, Proverbs 4.23, it says, Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the springs of life. And heart and soul is used interchangeably.

So often he wants us to focus on the matters of the heart, soul care. It’s put this way over in 1 Samuel 16, 7, For God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. There in Jeremiah 17, 9, it says, The heart is more deceitful than anything else and desperately sick. Who can understand it?

I, the Lord. Search, the heart.

So here’s my definition based on these passages.

Soul care is simply about two things. are dramatically different heart wirings and heart wounds, which I’m going to cover today, which the Lord lovingly yearns to gradually reveal and heal to the degree we abide in him to bear much fruit. And of course, that’s John 15, 5.

And so here’s the point. Jesus is always first. Jesus is who we focus on. Jesus is the starting place From there everything unfolds It a matter of the heart It a matter of soul care And so last time just a brief review our first of eight messages maybe ten on soul care is that he is our soul care shepherd That’s the first portrait we covered.

And there are two more specific portraits under that bigger portrait title. and we talked about how he is our restoring shepherd. Psalm 23 puts it so clearly. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not lack.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. Our soul care shepherd is our restoring shepherd.

He is also our rest giving shepherd. We saw this in Matthew 11, 28 and 29 when Jesus himself said, Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls.

So, you can go to my website at markpg.org where I’ve archived all of these 27-minute broadcasts. You can listen to this first one that we did last week if you happen to miss it. It’s at markpg.org. just click on the broadcast box of options for all the different kinds of tools I provide to help you hear God. And then on the second landing page, just click on Portraits of God.

And that’s it. And then you’ll start having a list of all of these things. You can get caught up. You can listen to them again.

You can share them with others. That’s at markpg.org. but today we come to our second portrait key portrait as we talk about soul care the soul care portraits of god we’re going to see how he is our healing creator and then under that two more specific portraits he is our creative designer and he is our creative healer oh i can’t wait to unpack that for you and we’re going to start over in romans chapter 12 today and as you’re making your way there as is our custom oh let’s just go before the lord and ask him to speak shall we lord i love coming into your very presence i love sitting at your feet i love sitting at your feet alone in my own quiet time and with my wife and when we’re having our prayer times and family when they’re together and lord i love sitting with my brothers and sisters at your feet over the airways over the internet as we walk through your scriptures your love letters to us together just to see all these different portraits that the scripture points us to Because it does give us a picture of your heart of your soul of your yearnings for us of your ways of your character and so i pray lord that you help me just do this portrait justice today as we walk through how you are our healing creator just another way to amplify how you are our soul care shepherd as we focus on our hearts such a busy world we live in so many responsibilities so many strategies and so we can get bogged down on those things those those are important of course but lord oh help us to focus on our hearts because from that flow everything thank you lord we love you Lord. And we pray this in the powerful name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his precious cleansing and healing, transforming, empowering, and forgiving blood. Amen.

Amen and amen. All right, my friends. Well, let’s start in Romans chapter 12, verse 6, as we above all else guard our hearts, for from it flow the springs of life. And Jesus is about the heart.

He is our healing creator. And first of all, the two things we’ll cover today, he’s our creative designer. He’s our creative designer. The creator designed us uniquely.

We’re different from one another.

So let’s pick it up in Romans chapter 12, verse 3. And this is a great place to start. And I love how he opens up this discourse about the spiritual gifts, the 12 motivational spiritual gifts or heart wirings. It’s how he’s wired your heart, my heart, and how it differs.

And we have these different combinations and degrees of each of these gifts. And as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, guess what? We start taking on more and more of the spiritual gifts because he had all the spiritual gifts and to the degree we abide in him we become more and more like Jesus. We take on his heart, his characteristics and more the giftings.

But we start off with one or two primary ones with other little sprinkled in kind of like when you get paint at Home Depot or Lowe’s or some paint store. Isn’t it amazing how among the thousands of colors you can choose from, dozens of greens and blues and stuff and on and on. You pick one out. It has a little number by it.

You take it up to the counter. You hand them that little tab and you point to it. They click in that little number on this machine They put a base paint on the machine and they pull a lever with those numbers already programmed into it and a little bit of yellow, a little bit of blue, a little bit of black, whatever they are. Little bits, little drops go into that base paint.

Then they mix it all up, and voila. You got sea mist green, or Columbia blue, or sunrise orange, or there’s so many different variations of all those colors. And it’s just amazing how many thousands and thousands of colors you get from a base paint, but then a few little droplets of the other.

So it is, I believe, with these seven spiritual gifts we have listed in Romans 12, the motivational or heart-wired gifts, as opposed to the manifestation gifts we see in 1 Corinthians 12. And we see some gifted individuals as gifts to the church in Ephesians 4.

But here it’s how God has wired you and your wife or husband and your kids and your pastor and those that are in your family and those in your neighborhood, those at work. We’re all different and unique.

And soul care is about giving attention to discovering by letting Jesus reveal your heart wiring, how he designed you so that you can function in a way that he has designed you and that he’s calling you to serve him and serve others and appreciate those around you who have very different heart wirings or combinations and degrees of these spiritual gifts. All right, so that’s where we’re going. That’s the overall picture. He’s our creative designer and designed us to be so different from one another and they’re all good because he is good.

He knows what he’s doing and that’s why we need to abide in him to bear much fruit. Listen for his whispers because he’s always bringing out what he’s designed into us, each of us, and he loves to use us to help each other see ourselves more clearly and see others more clearly as he creatively designed us all right so there that’s where we’re going that’s the overall picture look how it’s specifically shared uh with us in the scriptures beginning in romans 12 verse 3 for by the grace given to me by the way it’s the grace of god that he gives us these unique gifts that make us who we are and not like anybody else. Hey, by the way, you ever feel like the fifth wheel in a group, the odd man or odd woman out that type of a thing absolutely but don’t call it odd call it unique god made it that way it’s okay you’re okay we’re all okay in the lord now we do have heart wounds and we’re going to talk about those later but let’s just uh focus here on the gifting and the wirings the heart wirings that we have so for by the grace given to me i tell everyone among you do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think.

Okay, that’s straight up. Your wiring is no better than everybody else’s, so don’t be haughty about it or frustrated with others because they’re different. Instead, think sensibly as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one. And now as we have many parts in one body, and all the parts do not have the same function, think the human body.

We We have two eyes, two ears, two hands, hearts, lungs. We need them all, even the little toes. We have those in the body of Christ, metaphorically speaking, of course. And in the same way, we who are many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.

And according to the grace given to us, we have different gifts. And there it is. I mean, it couldn’t be more clear.

Now he lists them. And I actually have given animal metaphors to these seven spiritual gifts and some crisp definitions I’m going to share with you briefly.

Because this is what you want to look out for in your own heart and life, listening for the whispers of God as he reveals more and more to you about how he wired you. And like I said, two of these are probably major in you. And then you have the others kind of in little droplets that make you who you are. but those droplets become more and more significant as we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and take on all the gifts because he had all the gifts. Is that just fascinating or what?

I just absolutely love this.

So let me see if I can make this simple and memorable for us. We have here in the scripture beginning in verse 6 as I just read according to the grace given to us we have different gifts if prophecy according to the standard of faith, If service, in service. If teaching, in teaching. If exhorting, in exhortation.

Giving with generosity. Leading or administrations with diligence. Showing mercy with cheerfulness.

So let’s look at these seven. I’ve arranged them into the three extroverts, which about, I don’t know, five to ten percent or so comprise these. And then the others will be the balance. The first three then is prophecy our prophecy prophecy declares the black and white heart truths of God Prophets they are the ones who are decisive they opinionated they see things very clearly black and white they’re in or you’re out, you’re off or you’re on.

These are the born leader types, the generals, the visionaries, they fly high, see the big picture, speak boldly and intimidate people because they’re so decisive and so strong.

So, eagle is the animal metaphor I’ve given to the gift of prophecy. Are you eagle? Do you know eagles? Dominator room, born leader type, and it scares people because think about the eagle.

Looks like he’s always scowling or she, and they have the beaks, the sharp beaks and the sharp talons, and when they speak, they screech. And that’s about just as, you know, maybe 5% of us are having a big dose of prophecy or eagle in us.

Now, another intimidating gift is the gift of teaching. You might think, why is it intimidating? Well, these are people who are lifelong learners. They’re multi-layered in the way they think.

And rather than just declaring the black and white heart truths of God and making it that simple, they explain the comprehensive biblical insights of God. All the nuances, all the layers. They’re very knowledgeable and that’s intimidating to people. tiger is the animal metaphor because people who love the word they’re not satisfied with just the milk they want the meat hence the tiger metaphor all right so if you’ve got the gift of teaching recognize you may not realize it but you do intimidate people as well and if you’ve got a double dose your profit and teaching well wow that’s very intimidating most often you don’t have both of those but anyway let’s go to the next one because again i have a whole series on this but I’m just giving you the overview.

Okay, the third is exhortation. These are the life of the party people, the encouragers. They motivate the body of Christ to apply God’s truth. It’s one thing to declare God’s truth.

It’s another thing to explain the comprehensive layers of God’s truth, but it’s another thing to motivate the body of Christ to apply God’s truth. These are the encouragers. We can do this. We can take this hill.

Let’s have some fun.

So a dolphin, to me, is a good animal metaphor. A dolphin looks like he or she is always smiling, splashing around in the water having a great time they’re the ones that make people really feel encouraged they’re primary encouragers it’s an amazing thing they are the ones that can really motivate the body of christ to apply god’s truths so those are the three extroverts they’re a small percentage of the population now let look at some of the other ones administration or leading That number four These are the people that just reflect on They look ahead They detailed They organized You look at their closets They’re nicely arranged. They’re color-coded. Same thing with their pantries.

Same thing with the garage. It’s all neatly arranged. They organize and mobilize the body of Christ for ministry. I’m telling you right now, those first three gifted individuals, eagles, tigers, and dolphins, need the gift of leadership or administration through somebody else in the body of Christ.

The ant is the animal metaphor here. The scripture says, consider the ant, O sluggard, who gathers in the harvest that they might have food for the winter and all. They’re the ones who look ahead, plan, prepared, and organized. Nothing more organized than ant colonies.

It’s an incredible thing if you want to do a fascinating study. The ant is highlighted in scripture and I think it’s a great metaphor for those with the gift of administration. By the way, some have a little more extrovert way of doing it.

Some have more of an introvert vaccine way of doing it, but we need those with this particular gift.

Now let’s look at the backstage gifts. The gift of service. The gift of service. Joyful workers.

They love projects. They love doing things privately. Don’t put them on stage. That’s the last place they want to be.

Do not give them a microphone. It freaks them out. these are the people who perform tasks backstage for others and for God’s glory. Isn’t that amazing? Squirrel is a great metaphor.

Cute little squirrels. They are just hard workers gathering those nuts, but you try to pet them, you try to highlight them, they’ll scurry away.

So it is with those with the gift of service. Huge percentage of us, 80% of us tend to be service oriented. Then there’s those with the gift of giving. I use honeybee as the metaphor here, distributing the tangible gifts of God to others in his name.

Honeybees make honey that we can enjoy. It’s tangible. These are the people that are reflexively or wired to be generous, alert, and humble. That doesn’t excuse us from being generous givers, by the way, if we don’t have the gift, so to speak.

But there are those who particularly have it, and God bless them. And then finally, again, as we’re doing this quick overview, we have the gift of mercy. Doves are a great metaphor. Why?

Because those with the gift of mercy, they’re sensitive, they’re compassionate. They’re the ones that see the wallflowers at a party or a fellowship and gravitate to them and say, Hey, how you doing? Comforting and reassuring others of their high value to God. Wow.

When a dove speaks, a dove coos. It’s gentle, it’s quiet. Doves fly close to the ground Quite the opposite of the eagle High flyer Screecher Powerful All those things right And God puts opposites together in marriages doesn He And you know why?

Because He wants us to be able to see life through the lenses of those who are gifted very differently than we are. To give us some balance. to give us a sense of appreciation for those that aren’t like us. Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, my friends. God has given us different heart wiring through these different combinations of spiritual gifts and a great fun exercise.

And you can get this list, by the way, on my website at markpg.org and click on the quick guides on the spiritual gifts one. It’s a one-page document you can look at and just have the talk. with those in your circle, figuring out each other’s gift set. If you want to go even deeper, the business world has come up with a lot of different tools to also describe our differences. The best one to me, by far, and more specific, that stunned me when I was asked to take it and being considered for a particular ministry position years ago, is called Strength Finders.

And they have 34 different, I forgot what they call them, But anyway, different ways of describing your focuses or gifts. You know, you call them that way. And when I saw my five, I went, whoa, that is so ridiculously specific. That is what I’m like.

That does explain why I think the way I think. And I won’t go into those details.

But man, I would encourage you guys. Do the spiritual gift thing here.

But in addition, do that strength finders. And you’ll really get to know how each other is heartwired. as God has created us that way and people can operate in their giftedness. All right, there’s a lot more to say, but again, I’m doing more of an overview because I want to go to the next thing. He not only is our healing creator, our creative designer, but he’s also our creative healer, our creative healer.

We need a creative healer because Jeremiah 17, 9 tells us the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. Who can understand it? And then the Lord says, I, the Lord, search the heart. And then if you go to 1 Peter 2, verse 24, this classic portion of Scripture that says, He Himself brought our sins to His body, in His body up on the cross, so that we might die to sin, live for righteousness, and by His wounds, by His work on the cross, by His blood that atones for all things, you were healed.

He’s our creative human. He wants to heal a spirit, that’s salvation, soul, that’s mind, will, and emotions, and body. We know what that is. We typically think about physical healing when we talk about healing, but in this passage, it’s all three.

And here’s the simplicity of this. God is the creative healer. He doesn’t have healers, men or women who have the gift and they can use at will. No, he’s always the healer, but he does it creatively.

He’s the one who does the triage while we’re still left on earth.

Now, ultimately, we’ll be healed of everything when we get to heaven.

But in the meantime, we’re in these car wrecks on the highways here, and the Lord has to do some triage healing for us. And in any given instance, He picks out the priority of what needs the attention the most, your soul, mind, will, and emotions, or your body. And He does it in different sequences.

So you can’t formulize how the Lord does His divine healing. He’s the one who determines the triage sequence. Primarily, number one, He wants to heal your spirit That salvation That when we dead in our trespasses and sin We destined for hell And until we come into a personal covenant relationship with Christ when we accept his covenant offer to basically marry him or covenant with him that’s when our spirit is healed, is made alive. And there it is.

But there’s a lot more healing to take place on this earth in soul and body or in heart and body. All right. Are you with me?

So there’s another tool I created. In addition to the seven heart-wired spiritual gifts, you can go on my website at markpg.org and find seven hidden things that blind and bind our hearts. Let me just give them to you briefly again. I’ll probably expound on this later, but here it is.

We start with the seven hidden things that blind and bind our hearts. Number one, wounded, broken hearts. we’re going to get our hearts broken due to our own sin, other sins, just life trials in general. We’re going to experience woundedness, neglect, humiliation, rejection, betrayal. And then we’ll respond with hurt and grief and be deeply distressed like Jesus was at Gethsemane.

So that’s not sinful.

But the enemy wants to pervert it with his lies and deception and distrust And then we get sinful reactions of bitterness and unforgiveness and that where we get bound up And God wants to heal you from that Because then that turns into our using reflexive defense mechanisms Number one is wounded, broken hearts. It’s a fact of life. Reflexive defense mechanisms like denial, distortion, projection, rationalization, and others. Again, it’s on this handout so much.

Then we get into personal coping strategies like isolationism, perfectionism, romanticism, materialism, asceticism, all kinds of stuff. And then to cover all that pain and woundedness and baggage, we put on a mask. We get into what number four is, public role playing. All right.

Wounded broken hearts, reflexive defense mechanisms, personal coping strategies, and then public role playing. When we portray being an overachiever or a cool dude or the cheerleader or the sensitive friend or the humble servant. And we take on these roles, but it’s not coming from the inside out. It’s coming from the outside in to kind of cover up our pain.

Now, those can also be fruit of the spirit, fruit of our abiding in him. And we become an overachiever or gracious hostess or a perfect parent and all are seemingly so That a good part that we bear fruit but we don make fruit right so that a whole other thing we cover later again we doing this overview now when we’re spending that much emotional energy portraying that image when so much is going on we then fall to soothing but binding addictions like drugs alcohol sex smoking pornography and anorexia, all kinds of things. And the Lord wants to free us from that.

But what helps us, or what keeps us from seeing it, are cognitive biases. That’s number six. Things like empathy gaps, selection biases, and bandwagon effects, all these things. And then number seven, logical fallacies and the way we view ourselves and others.

The ad hominem argument, the straw man fallacy, the red herring, the false dilemma. The point is, we need to abide in Christ. who wants to reveal and heal us of heart wiring issues and heart wound issues. And I’m grateful. Lord, thank you for that.

We receive that. In Jesus’ name, amen. Well, I’m Mark Gonzales, and I hope you’ll check out my website at markpg.org for more. Until next time, fall in love with Jesus, our healing creator.