UNDERSTANDING SPIRITUAL GIFTS – PART 2

 

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

The difference between disciples of Christ and unbelievers is the supernatural. As Christians, operating in the realm of the supernatural is our spiritual heritage (1 Cor. 2:6-16). It’s impossible to have a grasp on the supernatural without the Holy Spirit (John 6:63; 2 Cor. 3:6).

Personal relationship (fellowship) with the Holy Spirit is what guarantees a true and lasting success in life (Heb. 3:4).

Concerning spiritual gifts, there are about 4 categories of people in the church (body of Christ):

-      People who have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are not hungry for God.

-      People who have once received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but have become spiritually stagnant/stationary; they have lost their hunger.

-      People who have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit but are hungry for God. They sincerely long for such life-transforming encounter.

-      People who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and are still hungry and thirsty for more of His presence in their lives (Matt. 5:6).

There are diversities of gifts, differences of administrations, diversities of operations – all by the Holy Spirit.

Spiritual gifts are given to each person for the profiting of the church.

Now let’s look at the spiritual gifts. There are about 9 spiritual mentioned here, and they fall under 3 different categories:

Revelation Gifts
Power Gifts
Utterance Gifts

Revelation Gifts
Word of wisdom: It entails the unveiling of things to happen in the future. God reveals them to you and this gives you the opportunity to prepare for, or possibly influence what will happen (Gen. 6:13; Acts 11:28).

Word of knowledge: God reveals something that is happening (or past occurrence) to you. Through the enabling of the Spirit, you hear even what men are not saying… (John 2:23-25; 2 Kings 5:25-26).

Discerning of spirits: Through this gift, you can size up the spirit in operation, in a person or in any given situation, to know whether it’s the Spirit of God or a strange spirit (1 John 4:1-3; Acts 16:16-18). 

Power Gifts
Gift of faith: absolute conviction (persuasion) in the power of God, and in the integrity of God’s Word. It involves ‘declaring those things that be not as though they were…’ (Romans 4:17; 2 Cor. 4:13).

Working of miracles: Through this gift, you can perform miracles (signs and wonders) beyond human reasoning. This also involves proffering solution to seemingly impossible problems through the help of the Holy Spirit (Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Kings 2:19-22; Matt. 14:14-21).

Gift of healing: Through gift, the Holy Spirit enables you to minister healing to people, in different areas of their lives (John 9:1-41; Acts 5:15-16; 19:12).

Utterance Gifts
Gift of prophecy: Through this gift, you proclaim the message of God to others. God uses prophecy to edify, exhort, empower and comfort His church. Every prophecy must be firmly rooted in the scriptures (2 Peter 1:20-21).

Divers kinds of tongues: This gift enables you to communicate or deliver a message from God to the church, in a language which you don’t even understand (in many cases) – Acts 2:4; 10:44-48; 19:1-7.

Interpretation of tongues: This gift enables you to interpret a message received from God in a clear, simple and understandable language. 

The truth is that, these gifts have been given to the members of the body of Christ, for the common good of the church. 

Above all, seek the Giver of the gifts, not just the gifts…

PASTOR NATHANIEL SADELA

        Resident  Pastor

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