THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
Mark 16:16, He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
John 14:12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Acts 10:38. How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Jesus was God. He was also a man. God became a human being who possessed all the Gifts of the Spirit. He came to destroy the works of the devil. His mission is our mission.
Peter said, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
We are living in a devil afflicted world. Everywhere we look, we see lives suffering the consequences of sin. Depression is at an all-time high. Mental illness is rampant. Drug addiction is epidemic. Broken homes are the norm in our society. Then there are the physical problems in the world, broken bodies, diseases, afflictions brought upon mankind because sin came into the world.
We are living in a world that cannot be saved with enticing words of mens’ wisdom. The world needs more than kindness and goodwill. What good is compassion without power to help? What good is it to care for the hungry if you have no food to give them? What good are kind words to a drug addict, or to the man possessed by the devil? No good at all.
Compassion for the lost is not enough. A nice church building, a nice song service, a well-spoken minister is not enough! The church must have the power of God, the authority of God, to destroy the works of the devil!
Acts 1:8, But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Jesus said, Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. He ascended into Heaven, and the disciples went into an upper room. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing might wind, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance. It is the infilling of the Holy Ghost that gives power to the church.
If you have received the Holy Ghost, you have been filled with power. You have the authority of the name of Jesus. Jesus said we would do the works he did, and greater.
The church needs power!
So what are the Gifts of the Spirit?
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant.
1 Cor. 12:4, Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
The Church needs to use the Gifts of the Spirit. The Holy Ghost gives the church power. The gifts are the tools we use. There are more gifts than are mentioned here, gifts of ministry, gifts of administration, the five-fold ministry is a gift of God to the church. But for the sake of time, we will concentrate tonight on the nine gifts mentioned here by Paul to the Corinthians.
Now, let me point out, Paul was writing to the Corinthians, one of the most immature, carnal churches in the New Testament. He likened them to babies. But they had the Gifts of the Spirit. You do not have to be super spiritual to be used in the Gifts. You have to be spirit-filled. Paul wrote to the Corinthians because they were misusing the Gifts of the Spirit, or using them in a way that was not helpful, or even harmful to the work of God. God intended the Gifts of the Spirit to accomplish a definite purpose. They are not to be exhibited out of character or out of place. They must be used for the right motives, or reproach may come upon Christ, and the work of God hindered. That’s why we’re here tonight. To teach not only what the Gifts of the Spirit are, but how they must be properly used.
1 Cor. 13 says, Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing.
Charity, or love is always the proper motive. When the Gifts of the Spirit are used out of a love for God, a love for the church, or a love of the lost, we cannot go wrong.
Let us look at the individual gifts. For the sake of study, we can divide the nine gifts into three categories, Revelation Gifts, Power Gifts and Inspiration Gifts.
Revelation Gifts are the Word of Knowledge, the Word of Wisdom, and the Discerning of spirits.
Let us look at the Word of Knowledge:
Notice it is not called the gift of knowledge, but the Word of knowledge. The Word of knowledge is a gift where the user receives a special knowledge, or a word, directly from the Spirit of God. This is a Gift I am used in, and can speak personally about how it works.
Remember, I said Jesus was a man who possessed all nine Gifts of the Spirit? The Bible tells of the time when Philip brought Nathaniel to Jesus.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.
The knowledge Jesus had of Nathaniel is given by the word of knowledge. Another example is the woman at the well. Jesus told her to bring her husband. She said she had no husband. He said, That’s true. But you have had five husbands, and the one you are with is not your husband. The Word of Knowledge gives knowledge to the user that he or she could not have otherwise known.
In my own experience with this gift, not only will God impart knowledge to me, but will let me know how he feels about a certain situation.
The Word of Wisdom: The Word of Wisdom is like the Word of Knowledge, like knowledge is to wisdom.
Knowledge is knowing something. Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know.
The enemies of Jesus tried often to trip Him up. One of the things they tried was to ask Him if they should pay tribute to Rome. It was a trap. If He said to pay tribute to Rome, the people would turn against Him. If He said not to pay tribute to Rome, the Roman authorities would turn against Him. He asked for a coin. When they gave Him one, he asked, Whose image is on this coin? They told Him, Caesar’s. He said, Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
Jesus was using the Word of Wisdom. There are times we need wisdom beyond our own human wisdom, wisdom that comes directly from God. In the Old Testament, Joseph was given special knowledge to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. When the dreams showed a terrible famine was coming, God gave Joseph wisdom about what to do to save lives from the famine.
The last of the Revelation Gifts is the Discerning of Spirits.
Notice it is not called “Discernment.” This is a gift that is often misunderstood. The capacity to discern, distinguish, or to discriminate the source of a spiritual manifestation—whether it emanates from a good or evil spirit. Sometimes it is impossible to tell the motivation behind what a person does or says, whether a sickness is caused by physical problems, or by an affliction of the devil. This is a revelation directly from the spirit to the user showing if a spirit is influencing someone or something. Several times, Jesus healed people. Some were born blind or lame, others had physical ailments, some were suffering from demonic possession or affliction. He was able to distinguish the difference by the discerning of spirits.
Mt. 16: “From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”
Then we have the Power Gifts, which are the Gift of Faith, Workings of Miracles, and Working of Miracles.
The Gift of Faith: This refers to a strong or special faith that comes directly from the Spirit of God. It is faith beyond the normal faith all believers possess. The disciples could not cast the spirit out of a demon possessed young man, who was deaf and mute:
Mark 9: Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”
I believe the Gift of Faith helps our own faith. It is faith that comes from God both to and through the user. God can give great faith to a person. He also allows faith to flow from a person to help the faith of others. A minister, for example, who uses the Gift of Faith, will often experience miracles in his meetings, because the Gift of Faith in Him helps the faith of others, and miracles happen among the church. People can be healed without the laying on of hands. People can be filled with the Holy Ghost while the preacher is preaching.
Gifts of Healing: The ability to supernaturally minister healing to others. The plural indicates the variety of sickness healed and the many forms the gift takes. This is self-explanatory. God gives gifts of healing to members of the church. Healing is real, scriptural and for today. Jesus healed many people. He used the Gifts of Healing perfectly, and should be our example. Even he could not heal those who refused to believe, however. When he came to his own city, among his own people, he could not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
The Working of Miracles: The performance of deeds beyond ordinary human ability by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus worked many miracles. He turned water into wine, fed the multitudes by multiplying loaves and fishes. There are many different kinds of miracles. Healing is a type of miracle. But this gift speaks to miracles beyond healing. Jesus walked on the water. Paul was bitten by a poisonous viper and unharmed. Philip was lifted up by the spirit and carried to another part of the country. When I came to God, he used a miracle to show me He is a real and living God.
Finally, we come to the Inspiration Gifts, Divers kinds of tongues, the Interpretation of Tongues, and Prophecy.
Tongues: The supernatural ability of speaking an unlearned language. Paul distinguished between the public use of the gift (which must always be interpreted) and the private use which was for the spiritual strengthening of oneself, or the Spirit praying through you, intercession. This is the Gift of tongues, and there are divers kinds of tongues. When a believer is filled with the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the initial sign is speaking in tongues. But this is a special gift. It is possible, though extremely rare, that a person will receive the Holy Ghost, speak in tongues, and never speak in tongues again.
Tongues are helpful to the believer in his personal prayer: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Then there are tongues given openly, in the church assembly, to the congregation. These tongues should be interpreted. They can be given two to three times, then, if no interpretation is given, the person giving forth tongues should stop.
1 Cor. 14:2, For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. 3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.4 Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified.
Which brings us to the Interpretation of Tongues: This gift always follows the public exercise of the gift of tongues. In 1 Corinthians 14, the Apostle Paul required that all speech in the assembly of the church should be intelligible. This required that speech given in an unknown tongue be interpreted in the common language of the gathered Christians.
I have never interpreted tongues, but know several who have. Some say they hear the tongues as though the person is speaking in English. Others say they are given an understanding of what is being said, they then tell, in their own words, the interpretation. Remember, languages are different. You can say in a few seconds in some languages what takes half a minute to say in another. It is an interpretation, not a translation.
Prophecy: This is a gift I have been used in, and can speak to. It is often confused with the Word of Knowledge, because Prophets often use the two gifts in conjunction with each other. But, unlike the Word of Knowledge, it is always spoken. It is an utterance, much like tongues, only in the language of the hearers. When the Spirit of Prophecy moves on me, it feels like the Holy Ghost feeling me, and instead of tongues, I speak in English. This happens often, but not always, in conjunction with the Word of Knowledge, where, while I am speaking, I can feel the heart, the emotions, of The Lord. Speaking in tongues, properly, in private prayer and worship, or in tongues for interpretation, is wonderful. But Paul said he would rather the church prophesy. He said of the public came in and saw us all speaking in tongues, they might think we’re mad. But if we all prophesied, they would know God is in the midst of us.
All Gifts of the Spirit are for the edification of the church; to build up, to minister to the needs of the world, for the furtherance of the gospel. They should be sought after, and, once given, used in wisdom, appropriately. Paul likened us to several members of one body. Not all can be an eye, or an ear, or a mouth. We are all members, place strategically by God into the church. As a body works, all members working together in unison, we must use the Gifts of the Spirit in harmony with each other.
Let me give a hypothetical example:
A minister with the gift of Prophecy utters a word from the Lord to the congregation, which says, Come and be healed. He may not know who needs healing, but a saint in the congregation knows through the Word of Knowledge that it is a visitor, a woman sitting in the back of the church. He goes to her and tells her God can heal her. She believes, and comes forward for prayer. The church begins to pray for her healing. But she is not healed. The Lord speaks through the Discerning of Spirits, to the minister, that this is a spiritual affliction. So he prays for deliverance. A man with the Gift of Faith, just by being there, increases the faith of those around him in the altar service. The woman is delivered from her spiritual affliction, and her body is healed. And it has all been done by the Holy Spirit using the Gifts of the Spirit in the church.
We must believe in, seek and obtain the Gifts of the Spirit.
