The Journey 2023

WELCOME

It’s good to be with all of you. I hope you’re excited and eager to learn more about what it means to live by the power of the Spirit of God. But — before we go any further — and in case you haven’t heard it lately — know that God loves you and that I love you too.

And — before we go any further — let’s pray asking for God to lead us as we study this topic together.

PRAYER

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we praise you for you are holy, majestic, good, sovereign, unchanging, all-powerful, kind, loving, and gracious. You call your people out of spiritual darkness and death — and raise us into new life of living in your light. Jesus, you promised that you would send the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and teach us and we’re trusting you — Spirit of God — to do just that today. Guide us by your Word as we seek to better understand who you are, who we are, and what it means to live empowered by you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US LIVE NATURALLY SUPERNATURAL LIVES

So my goal is that we’d all better understand the third person of the Trinity and his work in and through the lives of the people of God — so that you’d leave here understanding that the Spirit of God — just like the Father and the Son — desires to have an intimate relationship with you.

I came across a video on YouTube where pastor Sam Storms covers fifty ways the Spirit of God empowers the people of God. Think about that. Fifty different ways the Spirit’s power is seen in God’s people on the pages of Scripture.

So — before we go any further — some interaction time — what are some ways the Holy Spirit empowers us to live supernaturally as we see in the Bible?

Here are some that Sam mentioned.

1. The Holy Spirit empowers us so others are healed.

Luke 5:17 (ESV)

17 On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.

2. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live sexually pure lives.

1 Thessalonians 4:3–8 (ESV)

3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

3. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love God’s Word.

1 Thessalonians 1:4–5 (ESV)

4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.

4. The Holy Spirit empowers us to passionately worship Christ.

Philippians 3:3 (ESV)

3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

Some of us try to worship God without the enabling power of the Spirit of God. Worshiping Christ is not — and never should be — natural. Worship is supernatural.

5. The Holy Spirit empowers us to love other Christians.

Colossians 1:7–8 (ESV)

7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

6. The Holy Spirit empowers us to pray.

Ephesians 6:18 (ESV)

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Jude 20 (ESV)

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,

7. The Holy Spirit empowers us to endure persecution.

Philippians 1:18–19 (ESV)

18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance,

8. The Holy Spirit empowers us to rejoice in the midst of suffering.

1 Peter 4:14 (ESV)

14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

9. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be bold for Christ.

Acts 4:8–12 (ESV)

8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 4:31 (ESV)

31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Matthew 10:16–20 (ESV)

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

10. The Holy Spirit empowers us to serve as leaders in the local church.

Acts 20:28 (ESV)

28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

Now — I’ve barely touched Sam’s list — you’ll have to go watch the video for yourself to hear the other forty ways the Spirit of God empowers the people of God to live naturally supernatural lives — the video is listed under the resources in your handout. But I do now want to turn to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But — again — please know that when you hear the phrase “we live empowered by the Spirit of God” at Gateway — know that this phrase means so much more than the gifts of the Spirit. But my hope is to help you all grow in your understanding of how God’s Spirit has gifted you for the benefit of Gateway Church.

WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL GIFTS?

First, what are spiritual gifts? One Bible dictionary I have says this:

Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. - Lexham Survey of Theology

So that’s what the gifts are — collectively — and their purpose. But — specifically — what are the gifts?

Paul begins his lengthiest teaching on the spiritual gifts with these words.

1 Corinthians 12:1 (ESV)

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.

So let’s allow the Bible to inform us as to what the gifts of the Spirit are.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (ESV)

28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

From this verse, the following gifts of the Spirit are mentioned — we’ll define these later on:

Apostleship

Prophecy

Teaching

Miracles

Gifts of healing

Helps

Administration

Tongues

1 Corinthians 12:8–10 (ESV)

8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

In these verses there are some new gifts and some repeats.

9. Utterance (word) of wisdom

10. Utterance (word) of knowledge

11. Faith

(5.) Gifts of healing

(4.) Miracles

(2.) Prophecy

12. Distinguishing between spirits

(8.) Tongues

13. Interpretation of tongues

Ephesians 4:11 (ESV)

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

(1.) Apostleship

(2.) Prophecy

14. Evangelism

15. Pastor (shepherding)

(3.) Teaching

Romans 12:6–8 (ESV)

6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

(2.) Prophecy

16. Serving

(3.) Teaching

17. Exhortation (encouragement)

18. Contributing (giving generously)

19. Leadership

20. Mercy

1 Corinthians 7:7 (ESV)

7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

The context of this verse is Paul’s discussion about singleness and marriage. And Paul uses the same word — translated elsewhere to mean a spiritual gift — to describe...

21. Singleness/Celibacy

22. Marriage

1 Peter 4:10–11 (ESV)

10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Peter — instead of listing specific gifts — does something different. He categorizes the gifts into two groups.

Speaking gifts

Serving gifts

Now — I won’t categorize all of the gifts — but you can imagine gifts like teaching, encouragement, tongues, and prophecy would be speaking gifts — while helping and administration would be serving gifts. But — if you were keeping count — we just listed twenty-two distinct gifts that can be put into two categories. Some folks have lists with more gifts on them — some less — it’s not an exact science — but our list is at least a good starting point for our discussion.

Now — you may have thought something like — “If I don’t have the gift of mercy, does that mean I don’t have to be merciful?” And the answer is no. Same would be true for evangelism, giving, and many other gifts. There are commands in Scripture that all Christians are to obey regardless of your specific gifting. However, there will be some Christians who — because of their gifting — will see greater effectiveness — due to the Spirit empowering them with the gift of mercy, or evangelism, or giving, and so on. So don’t let not having a spiritual gift be an excuse for disobeying clear commands in Scripture.

But let’s define the gifts. In the handout are definitions of the gifts that can be found at giftstest.com — the website is listed under the resource section of your handout. I’d encourage you to go to giftstest.com and take the spiritual gifts test. Do so without putting all of your eggs in the spiritual gift’s test basket — but allow the results to be a starting point in either confirming what you believe to be the gifts you have or to start your journey of exploring which gifts the Spirit of God has given you.

But — before we get to the definitions — does anyone know what your spiritual gifts are and are willing to share what they are with us?

We’re not going to go through all of the gifts and their definitions that are in the handout. Some folks would define gifts slightly differently but — overall — the list of definitions in the handout is a good starting point. There are five gifts that I want to cover. (GO TO PASTOR JOSH SECTION)

Administration

The gift of administration is the divine strength or ability to organize multiple tasks and groups of people to accomplish these tasks.

Apostleship

The gift of apostleship is the divine strength or ability to pioneer new churches and ministries through planting, overseeing, and training.

Craftsmanship

The gift of craftsmanship is the divine strength or ability to plan, build, and work with your hands in construction environments to accomplish multiple ministry applications.

Evangelism

The gift of evangelism is the divine strength or ability to help non-Christians take the necessary steps to becoming a born-again Christian.

Exhortation

The gift of exhortation is the divine strength or ability to strengthen, comfort or urge others to action through the written or spoken word and Biblical truth.

Healing

The gift of healing is the divine strength or ability to act as an intermediary in faith, prayer, and by the laying-on of hands for the healing of physical, mental and spiritual sickness.

Helps

The gift of helps is the divine strength or ability to work in a supportive role for the accomplishment of tasks in Christian ministry with the ability to often see the need before others do.

Hospitality

The gift of hospitality is the divine strength or ability to create warm, welcoming environments for others in places such as your home, office, or church.

Intercession

The gift of intercession is the divine strength or ability to stand in the gap in prayer for someone, something, or someplace, believing for profound results.

Word of Knowledge

The gift of knowledge is the divine strength or ability to bring truth to a situation by supernatural revelation. This is often accompanied by a word from God.

Leadership

The gift of leadership is the divine strength or ability to influence people at their level while directing and focusing them on the big picture, vision, or idea.

Mercy

The gift of mercy is the divine strength or ability to feel empathy and to care for those who are hurting in any way.

Miracles

The gift of miracles is the divine strength or ability to alter the natural outcomes of life in a supernatural way through prayer, faith, and divine direction.

Pastor/Shepherd

The gift of pastor/shepherd is the divine strength or ability to care for the personal needs of others by nurturing and mending life issues.

Service

The gift of serving is the divine strength or ability to do small or great tasks in working for the overall good of the body of Christ.

Tongues (and Interpretation)

The gift of tongues is the divine strength or ability to pray in a heavenly language to encourage your spirit and to commune with God. The gift of tongues is often accompanied by interpretation and should be used appropriately.

Word of Wisdom

The gift of wisdom is the divine strength or ability to understand and to bring clarity to situations and circumstances often through applying the truths of Scripture in a practical way.

Pastor Josh’s Top 5 Gifts

Let’s look at my top five results from taking the spiritual gifts test. I don’t think these are my only gifts, but I thought it’d be helpful for you all to know what my top gifts are according to the test.

Here are my results.

Teaching

The gift of teaching is the divine strength or ability to study and learn from the Scriptures primarily to bring understanding and depth to other Christians.

Faith

The gift of faith is the divine strength or ability to believe in God for unseen supernatural results in every arena of life.

Giving

The gift of giving is the divine strength or ability to produce wealth and to give by tithes and offerings for the purpose of advancing the Kingdom of God on earth.

Prophecy

The gift of prophecy is the divine strength or ability to communicate God's truth and heart in a way that calls people to a right relationship with God.

Discernment

The gift of discernment is the divine strength or ability to spiritually identify falsehood, to distinguish between right and wrong motives and the spiritual forces at work in situations.

Conclusion

Now — I know that for some of us — this may have been all new territory. And you may be wondering, “Why in the world would the Holy Spirit have given me a gift?” So I want to remind us of the definition of spiritual gifts that we looked at earlier.

Spiritual gifts are abilities given to individual believers by the Holy Spirit in order to equip God’s people for ministry, both for the edification of the church and for God’s salvific mission to the world. - Lexham Survey of Theology

If you believe in Jesus — the Spirit of God gave you at least one spiritual gift so that the church you’re part of — in most of your cases, that’s Gateway — would be stronger — that’s what edification means — that we’d be stronger and a more spiritually mature church because you are using your Spirit given gift — and — so another reason why the Spirit has given you one of his gifts — is so that God’s saving work in the world — God’s rescue plan — the reason why Jesus came to earth and died on a cross — that God’s goal in all of that would be accomplished.

And that means — there are not little gifts of the Spirit given. And there are no insignificant Christians in a local church. And you may be in middle or high school — but if you believe in Jesus — you’ve been given a great responsibility — a gift of the Spirit that your church needs — that I need — in order for us to reach our full potential and for more people to come to faith in Jesus. And that’s why knowing what spiritual gift you’ve been given is so important — but even more important — is for you to use the gift — or gifts — that you’ve been given.

QUESTIONS

Now let’s do a Q&A.

RESOURCES

Sam Storms video: Growing in the Gifts | Night 1 (Bridgeway Church)

Website: giftstest.com

On the Holy Spirit and His Gifts

Are Miraculous Gifts for Today: 4 Views by Gundry

Continuationist View

Understanding the Spiritual Gifts by Sam Storms

Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit In Your Life by Sam Storms

The Language of Heaven: Critical Questions About Speaking in Tongues by Sam Storms

The Beginner’s Guide to the Spiritual Gifts by Sam Storms

God’s Empowering Presence by Gordon Fee

Who on earth is the Holy Spirit? by Tim Chester and Christopher de la Hoyde

Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit by Francis Chan

The Gift of Prophecy in the New Testament and Today by Wayne Grudem

Surprised by the Power of the Holy Spirit by Jack Deere

Surprised by the Voice of God by Jack Deere

Power Evangelism by John Wimber

Cessationist View

Charismatic Chaos by John MacArthur

Strange Fire: The Danger of Offending the Holy Spirit with Counterfeit Worship by John MacArthur

The Charismatic Gift of Prophecy by Kenneth Gentry