Gifted and Led

Led Astray

Pagans = Gentiles = Heathen, but no longer

astray from? Truth, Righteousness, Christ, God’s gifts

However you were led, you were led/influenced

Accursed or Lord?

Led by God

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

1 Corinthians 12:11 ESV

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

The leadership of God is always unified, unlike demonic leading astray

God leads His people

Romans 8:14 ESV

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:16 ESV

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

We are led by The Word

John 17:25 ESV

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me.

John 15:25 ESV

But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’

John 14:25–26 ESV

“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

jn 14:

The leadership of God is NEVER contrary to the Word

The leadership of God is NEVER in place of the Word

The leadership of God is NEVER in addition to the Word

The Word is for everyone

Specific leading is for you

We are led in our minds

James 2:5–8 ESV

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

James 1:5–8 ESV

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

We should ask for wisdom

We should ask in faith

We should RECEIVE in faith too

This calls for discernment and balance!

We are led in the moment

Acts 16:6–7 ESV

And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

act 16:

This is often the only intended meaning of “led by the Spirit” today

Our Spiritual “ears” should always remain open

If this is your primary means of leadership, then you are ignoring and rejecting God’s leadership

This is the most prone to error (even figuring in disagreement on interpretation of texts)

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

1 Corinthians 14:32 ESV

and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.

1 Corinthians 14:32–33 ESV

and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,

Paul draws a SHARP contrast between demonic leading astray from God and the unified purpose for God’s granting gifts because even good gifts can be misused and abused, which is a big reason this letter was written.

While Paul is speaking here about miraculous gifts that we may never see or experience in our age, the same holds true for the gifts that God has given and is giving today:

Gifts

1cor 12:6

1 Corinthians 12:6–7 ESV

and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

All believers are gifted in some way

The best way to discover these is to apply what you know and be active in the life of the church

All believers are gifted individually

Because God values and desires diversity for His glory and health of the church

Because God is bigger than any box we could try to draw around Him

1 Corinthians 12:8–11 ESV

For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 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. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

God’s purpose in your gifts is to help and bless others, especially in the local church

1 Corinthians 12:7 ESV

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

To use your gifts selfishly is sin

To use your gifts selfishly is sin

To hide and not use your gifts is sin

To use your gifts in line with God’s leading is the most blessed thing for everyone

No one can use their gifts in the local church if they are absent from it

This principle applies across the board: Spiritual gifts, natural talents, time, presence, effort, giving

Praise be to God for providing for the needs of His children and His churches through His children and His churches. May God help us to rightly follow His leadership in blessing others with what God has given and is giving us.