Spiritual Gifts
Do you all have a Spiritual Gift? The answer to that is yes if you have accepted Christ as your Savior and you are a born- again believer. But, do you know what your gifts are?
First off, we need to find where the spiritual gifts can be found. Pastor taught me an easy way to find them. The four books all mention the gifts in either chapters 4 or 12. So, Romans 12: 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Ephesians 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Here is a list of the spiritual gifts mentioned in those four books:
-Prophecy
-Service
-Teaching
-Exhortation (Encouragement)
-Giving
-Leading
-Mercy
-Wisdom
-Knowledge
-Faith
-Healing
-Miracles
-Distinguishing Spirits
-Speaking in Tounges
-Interpreting Tounges
-Apostles
-Evangelists
-Pastor-Teachers
-Speakers
The ones in bold are not present in the Church today, and they were only meant for the New Testament church. I could explain more about that if you want me to. Let me know in the comments.
Also, there are many gifts on this list that are repeated between the four books. As I go on, I want you all to also understand that the verses surrounding these passages are important. We are to use these gifts within the church. The local church, as well as the Church (believers of all ages), need to be unified and diverse. We need to work together as a team even if the gifts are different (which is a good thing) and the people may disagree on some smaller areas. We are told earlier in 1 Corinthians that sometimes you have to sacrifice one person (someone has to be kicked out of the church or asked to leave because they are the source of conflict and disunity in the church) to keep the church together. (I also could go more in-depth in this area too if you are interested).
These are my personal notes/re-wordings of a document that my Pastor made about the spiritual gifts. All quotations are direct quotes from Pastor, and I will enter my notes in parenthesis or after the end quote:
Apostleship: -Ephesians 4:11
"The Apostles served as a link between the prophets of the OT and the establishment of the NT church. The word apostle means 'sent one' (so in a sense all Christians are Apostles), but the 12 disciples all saw the risen Lord (which is one of the speculations they had that meant you were really an apostle. You had to like see Jesus before and after His resurrection and have listened to his teaching or something like that.) There are no 'real' apostles today." For most of what my Pastor says, there is not really much to add. Ephesians 2:20 also explains more about this gift. This gift is not really seen as a gift in the local church today.
Prophecy: -Ephesians 4:11
The gift of prophecy is when you have received a direct revelation from God to communicate to His people. This gift does not really exist anymore. These gifts were key to the start of the Church, though.
Service: -1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:7
"In an army, for every one solider on the front lines, numerous people are serving in various capacities in supporting the solider." These people are like supporting people for this solider. This gift of service is just as important as any of the other ones, though it does not get as much attention as the others often. This gift I also think is the easiest to use, though. For example, if you tell someone that your gift is serving, most people have a list of activities that they have for you to do. This is not the case for all the other gifts. In Acts 6, the leaders of the church had a group of men to do the 'serving'- the helping of the widows and people in need so the disciples and other men could focus on witnessing. This is the first time we see service seen in the new Church. This gift can be considered the backbone of the church.
Teaching: -Romans 12:7
"The person with this gift is enabled by the Holy Spirit to study, understand, and teach God's Word." Pastor tells us that if you have the gift of teaching, you have the gift of studying God's Word. You can't teach God's Word without studying it.
Encouragement: -Romans 12:8
"The one with this gift is enabled to urge people to pursue a course of action. This person also counsels, encourages, consoles, and admonishes. Barnabas is a good example of someone with this gift." I think this is an easy gift to recognize. If you go to any kind of game (probably not professional;) and you hear someone only throwing positive feedback out, or encouraging a team to do their best, this could be a gift of theirs (again, only if they are saved). You can encourage others without it being your gift, though. We are all supposed to demonstrate some part of each of these gifts in our lives even if we do not 'specialize' in that area.
Giving: -Romans 12:8
"This person gives liberally, sacrificially, and joyfully beyond what the average believer does. This gift is not limited to the wealthy, but sometimes God also gives this person the "gift" of making money because God can trust him with large sums of money." Oftentimes there is no need for me to add to what Pastor said. This is one of those cases.
Administration: -1 Corinthians 12:28
"The word for this gift is also used to describe a helmsman who pilots a ship safely past the rocks into the harbor. This person with this git is able to organize and administrate efficiently and spiritually. This person is good at delegation and decentralization."
Leadership: -Romans 12:8
"This person motivated people to work together toward a common goal. Joseph, David, and Nehemiah are good examples."
Mercy: -Romans 12:8
"Mercy is undeserved favor or help. Believers with this gift show acts of mercy to the underserved, to those unable to repay, to the poor, to aged, the underprivileged, or simply to those who have fallen into a great trial of affliction. We are called to be Good Samaritans, but this person has an extra measure of compassion and serves in this capacity cheerfully."
Evangelism: -Ephesians 4:11
"This person has the ability to communicate the gospel with clarity, has a passion for the lost, see opportunities to share Christ that others do not, and has joy in seeing others come to Christ."
Pastor-Teacher: -Ephesians 4:11
"This is the only dual gift in the NT. This gift has two distinct dimensions: to pastor or shepherd God's people primarily through teaching and nourishing them from God's Word. One can be a teacher without being a pastor, be he cannot be a pastor without a teacher."
Knowledge: -1 Corinthians 12:8
"This gift enables a believer to research, systemize, and summarize with deep spiritual insight the truths of God's Word. This gift of knowledge is a good example of how spiritual gifts need to be developed. Knowledge is acquired through diligent study."
Wisdom: -1 Corinthians 12:8
"This gift gives a person the ability to interpret spiritual truth producing solutions to problems and applying knowledge to the situations of life. With this wisdom, a person is able to see beyond the secular, humanistic, and materialistic culture of fallen and discern between good and evil."
Faith: -1 Corinthians 12:9
"This person has the capacity to trust God and to be in utter dependence upon Him. The one with this gift has the ability to trust God when there seems to be no human solution to the situations of life. This is a great person to lead to a prayer meeting of the church."
Healing: -1 Corinthians 12:9
Miracles: -1 Corinthians 12:10
Distinguishing Spirits: -1 Corinthians 12:10
"Discerning of spirits was especially helpful in the early church before they had the NT. This enables believers to determine whether a teacher, prophet, pr preacher was speaking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, his own human spirit, or an evil spirit. Today, the completed Scriptures which we have to enable us to do this."
Tounges: - 1 Corinthians 12:10
"With this gift, the believer is enabled to relieve and communicate a message from God in a language he has never learned. In the book of Acts and on the day of the Pentecost, this was always down in known languages. There is a debate as we whether this also included speaking in an unknown, ecstatic language. Scripture forbids speaking in tounges when no one with the girts of interpretation in present or someone who is hearing that message in his own language though unknown to the speaker."
Now I am aware I did not talk about all of those in the list above, but I can if you want me to. Just let me know in the comments. Also let me know if there is one gift you want me to go more into depth with- whether that be that you want to know if it is your gift, or if you want to know how to use it.
I want to let you know that my Pastor keeps on explaining that the best way for you to know what your gift is is to try them. Oftentimes you would not have thought that you enjoying giving, or that you are good at witnessing. Just go out and try it! And some of these you can just think about how you are using your life. Do you teach a Sunday School class or a Bible Study? Do you enjoy it? Then you MIGHT be a teacher. Do you clean up the church? Do you enjoy it? Then your gift MIGHT be serving. Do you see what I mean? I will show you an example: me!
Ever since I was little I was raised in a Christian home. About the year after I remember committing (or recommitting, I'm not sure) my life to Christ, I wanted to know what gift I had- and I was sure I only had one (because I did not know what any of mine were so surely only one was hiding from me, right?). I found a book and the main character went through the same struggle and discovered hers was teaching. I know that most would assume I thought mine was teaching as well because that was what this character found out, but I thought about it and it made sense. My spiritual gift was teaching and I was sure of it! To this day, I still enjoy teaching (in fact, I am going to college for teaching) and I am using my gift at a local AWANA program. It does not come naturally and it takes work- the studying that Pastor mentioned above, but I enjoy it and others seem to be thankful that I am part of the teaching team. I am enjoying friendships and connections I have made through joining this program where I can use my gift as well as just feeling complete knowing I am using my gift for the Lord!
But, could there be more? Years after that experience, my siblings (of all people) pointed out (or helped me figure out) that my love language is giving. So, if it is my love language, it should be my spiritual gift as well, right? I believe that this could be my spiritual gift, but I am often stingy as well. I mean, I think that also proves that gifts are a work-in-progress, right?
Again, is that it though? First off I want to point out that these may be my gifts. I may just really enjoy doing them but they are not gifts as well. As I began thinking about this, I began realizing (again, along with my mom) that another gift I may have is serving. I enjoy serving other people in areas that I am good at. For example, I could serve meals, or clean, but I am not good at building a house or lifting heavy things. Those all involve serving.
Leading might be another gift of mine, or it could be something that is clearly not my spiritual gift. I used to be bossy- really bossy. If you knew me just a few years back you would probably not want to be my friend. I wanted to control almost anything, and if it did not go my way, I would run away mad. Leading, if you read above, is different than bossing people around. Leading means you have to consider what everyone wants and help the right conclusion be made. I think I could do this. TEAM is a bible group that I have led (now pretty much I am co-leading) for years. Our group has stayed together and with all reality very little squabbles and pretty small ones if any. This does not mean I am a perfect leader.
-Mary
On top of reading this blog (and thank you for that), you can check out my Pastor's website (it is really his church's website) where you can listen to his sermons that touched on this from winter of 2019. You can find him at tenthstreet.church
First off, we need to find where the spiritual gifts can be found. Pastor taught me an easy way to find them. The four books all mention the gifts in either chapters 4 or 12. So, Romans 12: 6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Ephesians 4:11, and 1 Peter 4:10-11.
Here is a list of the spiritual gifts mentioned in those four books:
-Prophecy
-Service
-Teaching
-Exhortation (Encouragement)
-Giving
-Leading
-Mercy
-Wisdom
-Knowledge
-Faith
-Healing
-Miracles
-Distinguishing Spirits
-Speaking in Tounges
-Interpreting Tounges
-Apostles
-Evangelists
-Pastor-Teachers
-Speakers
The ones in bold are not present in the Church today, and they were only meant for the New Testament church. I could explain more about that if you want me to. Let me know in the comments.
Also, there are many gifts on this list that are repeated between the four books. As I go on, I want you all to also understand that the verses surrounding these passages are important. We are to use these gifts within the church. The local church, as well as the Church (believers of all ages), need to be unified and diverse. We need to work together as a team even if the gifts are different (which is a good thing) and the people may disagree on some smaller areas. We are told earlier in 1 Corinthians that sometimes you have to sacrifice one person (someone has to be kicked out of the church or asked to leave because they are the source of conflict and disunity in the church) to keep the church together. (I also could go more in-depth in this area too if you are interested).
These are my personal notes/re-wordings of a document that my Pastor made about the spiritual gifts. All quotations are direct quotes from Pastor, and I will enter my notes in parenthesis or after the end quote:
Apostleship: -Ephesians 4:11
"The Apostles served as a link between the prophets of the OT and the establishment of the NT church. The word apostle means 'sent one' (so in a sense all Christians are Apostles), but the 12 disciples all saw the risen Lord (which is one of the speculations they had that meant you were really an apostle. You had to like see Jesus before and after His resurrection and have listened to his teaching or something like that.) There are no 'real' apostles today." For most of what my Pastor says, there is not really much to add. Ephesians 2:20 also explains more about this gift. This gift is not really seen as a gift in the local church today.
Prophecy: -Ephesians 4:11
The gift of prophecy is when you have received a direct revelation from God to communicate to His people. This gift does not really exist anymore. These gifts were key to the start of the Church, though.
Service: -1 Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:7
"In an army, for every one solider on the front lines, numerous people are serving in various capacities in supporting the solider." These people are like supporting people for this solider. This gift of service is just as important as any of the other ones, though it does not get as much attention as the others often. This gift I also think is the easiest to use, though. For example, if you tell someone that your gift is serving, most people have a list of activities that they have for you to do. This is not the case for all the other gifts. In Acts 6, the leaders of the church had a group of men to do the 'serving'- the helping of the widows and people in need so the disciples and other men could focus on witnessing. This is the first time we see service seen in the new Church. This gift can be considered the backbone of the church.
Teaching: -Romans 12:7
"The person with this gift is enabled by the Holy Spirit to study, understand, and teach God's Word." Pastor tells us that if you have the gift of teaching, you have the gift of studying God's Word. You can't teach God's Word without studying it.
Encouragement: -Romans 12:8
"The one with this gift is enabled to urge people to pursue a course of action. This person also counsels, encourages, consoles, and admonishes. Barnabas is a good example of someone with this gift." I think this is an easy gift to recognize. If you go to any kind of game (probably not professional;) and you hear someone only throwing positive feedback out, or encouraging a team to do their best, this could be a gift of theirs (again, only if they are saved). You can encourage others without it being your gift, though. We are all supposed to demonstrate some part of each of these gifts in our lives even if we do not 'specialize' in that area.
Giving: -Romans 12:8
"This person gives liberally, sacrificially, and joyfully beyond what the average believer does. This gift is not limited to the wealthy, but sometimes God also gives this person the "gift" of making money because God can trust him with large sums of money." Oftentimes there is no need for me to add to what Pastor said. This is one of those cases.
Administration: -1 Corinthians 12:28
"The word for this gift is also used to describe a helmsman who pilots a ship safely past the rocks into the harbor. This person with this git is able to organize and administrate efficiently and spiritually. This person is good at delegation and decentralization."
Leadership: -Romans 12:8
"This person motivated people to work together toward a common goal. Joseph, David, and Nehemiah are good examples."
Mercy: -Romans 12:8
"Mercy is undeserved favor or help. Believers with this gift show acts of mercy to the underserved, to those unable to repay, to the poor, to aged, the underprivileged, or simply to those who have fallen into a great trial of affliction. We are called to be Good Samaritans, but this person has an extra measure of compassion and serves in this capacity cheerfully."
Evangelism: -Ephesians 4:11
"This person has the ability to communicate the gospel with clarity, has a passion for the lost, see opportunities to share Christ that others do not, and has joy in seeing others come to Christ."
Pastor-Teacher: -Ephesians 4:11
"This is the only dual gift in the NT. This gift has two distinct dimensions: to pastor or shepherd God's people primarily through teaching and nourishing them from God's Word. One can be a teacher without being a pastor, be he cannot be a pastor without a teacher."
Knowledge: -1 Corinthians 12:8
"This gift enables a believer to research, systemize, and summarize with deep spiritual insight the truths of God's Word. This gift of knowledge is a good example of how spiritual gifts need to be developed. Knowledge is acquired through diligent study."
Wisdom: -1 Corinthians 12:8
"This gift gives a person the ability to interpret spiritual truth producing solutions to problems and applying knowledge to the situations of life. With this wisdom, a person is able to see beyond the secular, humanistic, and materialistic culture of fallen and discern between good and evil."
Faith: -1 Corinthians 12:9
"This person has the capacity to trust God and to be in utter dependence upon Him. The one with this gift has the ability to trust God when there seems to be no human solution to the situations of life. This is a great person to lead to a prayer meeting of the church."
Healing: -1 Corinthians 12:9
Miracles: -1 Corinthians 12:10
Distinguishing Spirits: -1 Corinthians 12:10
"Discerning of spirits was especially helpful in the early church before they had the NT. This enables believers to determine whether a teacher, prophet, pr preacher was speaking under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, his own human spirit, or an evil spirit. Today, the completed Scriptures which we have to enable us to do this."
Tounges: - 1 Corinthians 12:10
"With this gift, the believer is enabled to relieve and communicate a message from God in a language he has never learned. In the book of Acts and on the day of the Pentecost, this was always down in known languages. There is a debate as we whether this also included speaking in an unknown, ecstatic language. Scripture forbids speaking in tounges when no one with the girts of interpretation in present or someone who is hearing that message in his own language though unknown to the speaker."
Now I am aware I did not talk about all of those in the list above, but I can if you want me to. Just let me know in the comments. Also let me know if there is one gift you want me to go more into depth with- whether that be that you want to know if it is your gift, or if you want to know how to use it.
I want to let you know that my Pastor keeps on explaining that the best way for you to know what your gift is is to try them. Oftentimes you would not have thought that you enjoying giving, or that you are good at witnessing. Just go out and try it! And some of these you can just think about how you are using your life. Do you teach a Sunday School class or a Bible Study? Do you enjoy it? Then you MIGHT be a teacher. Do you clean up the church? Do you enjoy it? Then your gift MIGHT be serving. Do you see what I mean? I will show you an example: me!
Ever since I was little I was raised in a Christian home. About the year after I remember committing (or recommitting, I'm not sure) my life to Christ, I wanted to know what gift I had- and I was sure I only had one (because I did not know what any of mine were so surely only one was hiding from me, right?). I found a book and the main character went through the same struggle and discovered hers was teaching. I know that most would assume I thought mine was teaching as well because that was what this character found out, but I thought about it and it made sense. My spiritual gift was teaching and I was sure of it! To this day, I still enjoy teaching (in fact, I am going to college for teaching) and I am using my gift at a local AWANA program. It does not come naturally and it takes work- the studying that Pastor mentioned above, but I enjoy it and others seem to be thankful that I am part of the teaching team. I am enjoying friendships and connections I have made through joining this program where I can use my gift as well as just feeling complete knowing I am using my gift for the Lord!
But, could there be more? Years after that experience, my siblings (of all people) pointed out (or helped me figure out) that my love language is giving. So, if it is my love language, it should be my spiritual gift as well, right? I believe that this could be my spiritual gift, but I am often stingy as well. I mean, I think that also proves that gifts are a work-in-progress, right?
Again, is that it though? First off I want to point out that these may be my gifts. I may just really enjoy doing them but they are not gifts as well. As I began thinking about this, I began realizing (again, along with my mom) that another gift I may have is serving. I enjoy serving other people in areas that I am good at. For example, I could serve meals, or clean, but I am not good at building a house or lifting heavy things. Those all involve serving.
Leading might be another gift of mine, or it could be something that is clearly not my spiritual gift. I used to be bossy- really bossy. If you knew me just a few years back you would probably not want to be my friend. I wanted to control almost anything, and if it did not go my way, I would run away mad. Leading, if you read above, is different than bossing people around. Leading means you have to consider what everyone wants and help the right conclusion be made. I think I could do this. TEAM is a bible group that I have led (now pretty much I am co-leading) for years. Our group has stayed together and with all reality very little squabbles and pretty small ones if any. This does not mean I am a perfect leader.
-Mary
On top of reading this blog (and thank you for that), you can check out my Pastor's website (it is really his church's website) where you can listen to his sermons that touched on this from winter of 2019. You can find him at tenthstreet.church
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