Unwrap Your Gifts Series

Unwrap your gifts

1 Corinthians 12:7-14

7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

8 To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit,

9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit,

10 to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.

13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Message:

Today the Lord wants me to share with you the importance of knowing and using your Spiritual Gift(s) for the good of the Body of Christ – the Church. It is for this reason that gifts from the Holy Spirit were imparted to Believers like you and me to build up, encourage and bless the Church – the called out ones. Many people today are unsure about these Spiritual Gifts and some even think it is contrary to think about such things in our day. Some think that these Spiritual Gifts were only for the Early Church and that God no longer works in us the way He worked in people when the Church was first born. But our Bible says that God is the same yesterday today and forever.

Malachi 3:6 For I the Lord do not change,

Hebrews 13:8

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

I can assure you that Jesus promised just such gifts to us in

John 14:15-17

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—

17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Jesus promised that this Spirit of Truth would live with us and live in us.

Pastor Randy Frazee says this….in Believe.

“The One True God has partnered with His people to accomplish His purposes on earth. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is the driver of this initiative. In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit only indwelled select individuals for a period of time to accomplish God's purposes. The Spirit instilled gifts in artisans, architects, builders, priests, and prophets. In the New Testament, Jesus promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for all believers.

That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2. The Spirit deposits gifts in every believer for the express purpose of building God’s Kingdom on earth. We do not all have the same gift(s). In unity we are to celebrate the giftedness of others and work together to accomplish God’s will in our lives and in the world. Source: “Believe” Randy Frazee – Zondervan Publishing 2015 page 288.

Having said this, do you know what your Spiritual Gift is? Can you find it in the list that we read in today’s scripture?

A message of wisdom

A message of knowledge

Faith

Gifts of healing

Miraculous powers

Prophecy

Spiritual discernment

Speaking in tongues

Interpreting tongues

I want to be clear that these are all very real gifts of the Holy Spirit but no one person possess all of them at the same time. They are supernatural gifts of God used by God through people for a specific purpose. These gifts reside within an individual and are demonstrated according to God’s will not the will of the person in whom they dwell.

By that I mean you cannot activate your spiritual gift at will. Only God can turn it on. We see this example whenever we witness someone claiming to be a healer. They invite needy and vulnerable people to come to them for a healing as if the person making the invitation has some special power. Well that’s not exactly how it works.

Only God can activate that gift within such a person and only for God’s glory and purpose not for the purposes of promoting a faith healer.

Jesus wants to heal people from their sin first and foremost as well as their bodies. Just such an example exists for us in Luke 5:17-26