Using Our Spiritual Gifts

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This is our Wednesday evening service for May 13th

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Tonight message will be from the book of Romans

The title is, “Using our spiritual gifts”

Everyone who has the Spirit of God has been given a spiritual gift

When we get saved, God gives us a spiritual gift

It is through that spiritual gift that we are to serve the church

The American philosophy is this: We should all strive to be equal

Try to be good at everything

The Bible teaches we are all different and God made us that way

God has also gifted everyone with a spiritual gift

That is your gift that you will excel at spiritually

And for us to make the greatest impact for the kingdom of God we need to know our spiritual gift

Your spiritual gift is not to be confused with a natural talent

What we can do naturally is different from what we can do spiritually

Your spiritual gift arrived when you were saved

It is spiritual in nature

It is used to build up and serve others

It is a gift from God

We are going to learn tonight what to do with our spiritual gift and how to use it

AND if you don’t know yours then we are going to go over the major ones and maybe one will identify with you

Rom 12:3-5

Our Spiritual Gifts should Never Lead us to pride

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly that he ought to think”

Knowing what our spiritual gift is should never lead to pride

The preacher must not see himself as more important than the one who exhorts

The teacher must not think he is more important that the one gifted in giving

The leader must not look down on others and esteem himself more highly

All gifts are important

All gifts contribute to the whole

All gifts are from God

“as God has dealt to each a measure of faith”

The reason we must not let our gifting lead to pride is because we did absolutely nothing to receive them

The fountain of all gifts is the Lord

He has dealt to each a measure of faith

He has dealt to each a spiritual gift

The purpose of the gift is to serve others

When humility is gone and pride comes we no longer use our spiritual gifts the way we should

They become for us and not for others

The Gifts are meant to bring unity to the church not diversity

“We who are many members”

The church is compared to a body

A body has two arms

A body has two legs

A body has 10 fingers

A body has all these different members but they all work towards one common goal

“but all the members do not have the same function”

Do you know God strategically places believers in certain churches to fit the need of that specific body?

There is not one member in the church who has all the gifts

One member should not be doing all the work of the ministry

Each should contribute in the area of his giftedness

It should never be our choice of where we want to go to church

It’s a calling of where God needs our gift to serve others

I think we would have a lot stronger churches if people did not hop around so much

“so we being many are one body in Christ”

The key to smooth operating machine in that all parts are working together

Think about an engine

It has pistons

Its has valves

It has a carburetor

It has a fan

IF one of those parts breaks the whole thing loses power, efficiency, and could even stop running

The engine is only an engine because everything works together

Each member of the church is connected through Christ

We all should have one common purpose

We all have different gifts that contribute to that purpose

Though we are all different, we all contribute according to the will of God

Application:

We must learn what our spiritual gift is and serve in that area

Many of us have a great deal to bring to the table but are afraid to step out in faith

Some try to have a hand in everything which take away those opportunities for others to serve according to their gift

The church is designed to be a spiritual body

It will only be that when we operate out of our spiritual gifts

Verse 6

Spiritual Gifts are distributed by God

“Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us”

Your spiritual gift is determined by the Lord

The reason we can have unity through diversity is because God is the gift giver

We do not get to decide what gift we want

I did not choose to be a preacher

An evangelist did not wake up and decide to be an evangelist

Spiritual gifts are given according to the will of God

1 Cor 12:7-11

The New King James Version Chapter 12

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given ithe word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another jthe word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 kto another faith by the same Spirit, to another lgifts of healings by 6the same Spirit, 10 mto another the working of miracles, to another nprophecy, to another odiscerning of spirits, to another pdifferent kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, qdistributing to each one individually ras He wills

God through the Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts as He wills

No one chooses their gift

They are given according to the will of God

The spiritual gift you possess was given to you by the Lord according to His perfect purpose

Can you imagine if everyone in the church got what they wanted?

You would have a church full of preachers

Or a church full of people with the gift of tongues

Or a church full of givers

But if all are givers who would preach?

Or if all are evangelists who will teach?

Or if all speak in tongues who would minister?

Application:

To be most effective in our Christian life we must figure out what is our spiritual gift and build in that!

We are made differently for a reason

If I ditch preaching and start trying to speak in tongues I am going to be of very little use of God

If my gift is faith and I spend my life trying to discern spirits i am going to waste my gift!

If my gift is ministry and I try to teach I am wasting my gift and will not be as effective as God has designed me to be!

Find out what is your gift and develop that gift!

“Let us use them!”

Verses 6-8

We are going to cover the there main lists of spiritual gifts and see if you can identify your gift

prophecy

to prophesy means to speak forth or forth telling

It is to declare the divine purposes of God

This gift of often exercised in the pulpit

Not everyone in the pulpit has the gift of prophecy, but those who discover it as their gift serve God best from the pulpit

ministry or serving

This is the same word used for deacon

It means one who is gifted in the area of service

Someone who has a heart to serve

There are people who have a natural gift to serve others

teaching

Many teachers but not all are teachers

Teachers are gifted in the area of teaching

Ive got some professors that have a gift to teach

They have this gift and those in their classes are blessed by them

exhortation (encouragement)

These are those who are gifted in building up others

There are some in our church who consistently encourage others

generosity

These people are those who joyfully give to others

They love to share what they have with others

It may be the giving of money or material possessions

It may be giving of their time

It may be the giving of their attention

Leadership

The word literally means to guide

There are people who are gifted in leading people in the way God would have them go

One with the gift of leadership leads with wisdom and grace

He also leads as Jesus led by example with the fruits of the Spirit

mercy

Some people have supernatural compassion and mercy towards others

These people have the gift of showing sympathy and sensitivity

They have a desire to ease the suffering of others

Empathy may be a word to describe them

word of wisdom (1 Cor 12:4 list)

This is a speaking gift ‘word of wisdom’

The Bible says true wisdom comes form God

This is not worldly wisdom but wisdom from above

These are often great bible teachers who can apply the Word of God through practical truth

They bring the wisdom of the Bible and teach it

word of knowledge

This is another speaking gift

This has to do with understanding truth

faith

All believers possess some faith or we would not be believers

But some possess the gift of faith or mountain moving faith

This gift is the one who has an unshakable confidence in God

His faith is evident to those on the outside

gifts of healing

This is a very debated topic

Some believe this gift has ceased and some claim to have it

This was clearly evident in the apostles but I believe it has ceased today

Does God still heal? Absolutely

But if there was some who had the ability to heal why in the world would these people not go to St Jude and heal the sick children?

A second interpretation is found in the word ‘gifts’

I have heard this interpreted as God gives gifts of healing

That means sometimes God may heal someone through the prayer of one of these who possess these gifts

working of miracles (miraculous powers) 1 Cor 12:28

This is also a gift I believe has ceased with the apostles

Paul had this gift

Peter had this gift

Stephen had this gift

discerning of spirits

this is a gift to discern an evil spirit from a good spirit

This does not mean one can tell who is saved and who is not

It is the ability to be able to discern the spirit

tongues

This is also a gift that is highly debated

It was given in the early church as a sing to those who had recieved the Spirit of God

Some believe it is a sign today for someone to be born again

That is false

It was only used as a sign then because the Jews believed on Jews could be saved

When it fell upon the gentiles, they spoke in tongues as a sign to the Jews that God had saved them

This gift was an actual language spoke at Pentecost

It is the divine ability to speak in other languages

interpretation of tongues

This gift must accompany the gift of tongues

This gift gave someone the ability to interpret the one speaking in tongues

helps

This one is spiritually gifted in helping others

It is the divine ability to discern those who are struggling

They can almost see the inner emotions of one hurting and render aid

administrations

This is closely related to the gift of leadership

Administrators are those who feel comfortable in charge

They know how to put a plan on paper

They delegate people effectively and use the resources

They have the ability to oversee the entire operation

THE WORD OF WISDOM

This is not worldly wisdom or being smart

It is having a unique insight into the ways and will of God

These are not people who have figured it out, but God has supernaturally gifted them with wisdom

What is wisdom?

It is the ability to see life the way God sees it

A WORD OF KNOWLEDGE

This is not worldly knowledge or the ability to accumulate and know a lot of things

This is knowing things that God has revealed to you

It is receiving a revelation from God

I do not have this gift

Peter when he confronted Ananias and Sapphira

He knew they were lying about giving all the money from selling their property

FAITH

All believers have faith, or they’re are not believers

For by brace You have been saved through faith

But this is supernatural faith

Supernatural faith, Mountain moving faith

Faith to believe God and take Him t His Word despite the way things my seem to our eyes

One way this manifests is in patience

The ability to wait on God

GIFTS OF HEALING

Do you think supernatural “healings” take place today?

I absolutely do!

Notice this is plural “gifts”

I think God gives gifts of healings through these individuals who have his gift

I do not think it happens my time they ask, that is why it is called “gifts” not “The Gift”

This is often a gift that is emphasized in money schemes and fakes

Benny Hinn

Kenneth Copeland

All healing is temporary

Everyone is healed will die

Supernatural healing therefore is the greater good

Jesus and the paralytic

MIRACLES

Do miracles happen?

YES

They happened in the Bible (OT and NT) and they certainly can happen today

Paul saw miracles

Peter raised the dead

John saw the manifested Jesus Christ on the Island of Patmos

What is miracle?

It is the supernatural moving into the natural

This happens when God answer prayer

This happens when someone gets saved

But to some God has given this gift

I have never met someone with this gift

But I dare not say it does not exist

PROPHECY

Prophecy is the ability to speak for God

Prophets foretold the future

They spoke things that had not happened but would happen

Prophecy also involves forth-telling

This is speaking the things of God with power and conviction

1 cor 14:3 “But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.”

Notice the ministry of a prophet

edifies: to build up and strengthen

exhort: strongly encourage someone to do something

Consolation: to comfort

DISTINGUISHING OF SPIRITS

This so the ability to distinguish between a spirit that is from God and a spirit that is from the evil one

1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

This I not the spirit of judgement

Or the ability to tell who is good and bad

It is the ability to distinguish

This is I,poet at to the church because they give insight in new people

VARIOUS KINDS OF TONGUES

Tougues means a language

It is language never learned but one can speak

We will learn more about this in the following chapters

INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES

This is the ability to interpret the spoken tongues

One cannot be done without the other in a church service