Gifted

Gifted

We Christians are a crazy group of people. We do a lot of weird stuff. Over the next few weeks, we are going to talk about some of that crazy, weird stuff. Has anyone ever heard of the “gifts of the Spirit?” We read about these gifts in 1 Cor 12:1-26. They are words of wisdom and knowledge, divine healings, tongues, interpretation of tongues, faith, miracles, discernment and prophecy! All of these are good gifts given by a good God. But before we get into that, let’s set some foundation.

First, we at Journey believe all of these are available to us as believers and active today. In your life you will come across some people that say these gifts died with the apostles. These people are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we should love them. But I believe with all my heart they are wrong, because I have seen these gifts used for the encouraging and correcting of God’s children.

12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. Hebrews 4:12-13

The Word of God. Now the Word is 2 things in Scripture. It’s the Bible and Jesus. They define each other and are so weaved together it is impossible to separate them. Now if Jesus is alive and active, we should be able to interact with Him. That’s where the gifts of the Spirit come in. They help us show Jesus to those around us. They show we serve a supernatural God who is willing to disrupt our natural order to meet us. Here’s an easy way to remember this.

The Spirit of God does the work of God through the Word of God.

Anything that doesn’t line up with Scripture isn’t from God. But if it is in Scripture then it must be from God, right? Let’s go to 1 Thess 5:19-22

Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22Abstain from every form of evil.

Let unpack this real quick.

Do not quench the Holy Spirit- You can quench the Spirit of God by either resisting, neglecting or ignoring Him.

Do not despise prophecy- supernatural word given to a person for someone else. This can be damaging if used immaturely.

JUST BECAUSE A GIFT IS ABUSED/IMMATURE DOESN’T MEAN IT SHOULD BE THROWN OUT!

Test/discern- If it makes much of Jesus and is not in opposition to His Word, you’re good.

Spiritual gifts were given to the body of Christ, the Church, to build it up, encourage and introduce as many people to Jesus as possible. Next week, we will be diving a little deeper into those gifts.

When you hear “the Word of God is active and living,” what does that mean to you?

What is one of the spiritual gifts mentioned that you are most interested in learning about?