Jan 12
8:49 AM
Spiritual Gifts | Part 2 | Who Gives Us Spiritual Gifts
Jan 12
8:49 AM
Jan 12
8:49 AM
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
1 Corinthians 12:4, 11
Hi everybody. Thanks for joining me for this Tuesday edition of Life Lifters. This week we're on a fascinating subject: spiritual gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12:1, Paul states that he doesn't want the Corinthians to be ignorant of spiritual gifts. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians are very ignorant of spiritual gifts. They can't tell you three cogent ideas about what a spiritual gift is, or how it works. So, I want to try to answer five of the most important questions about spiritual gifts to help you understand them, if you're a Christian. Or, to help you understand what will happen to you when you do become a Christian. The first question I answered was this: What are spiritual gifts? I wrote yesterday that spiritual gifts are supernatural abilities to do specific tasks. God puts a super on your natural. He has given every one of us unique gifts. You can read about them in four places in the Bible: Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and 1 Peter 4.
Today, I want to ask a second question. Who gives spritiual gifts to us? You say, Vince, you just already gave us the answer. God! And that would be correct. But I want to get a little more specific. Who actually gives us spiritual gifts? I'll give you a hint. Who actually gives us Spirit-ual gifts? I think you know the answer. The answer is the Holy Spirit. While the entirety of the Trinity is involved in every area of our life, it seems like one person of the Trinity kind of runs point, not that the others aren't involved. And in the case of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit seems to run point on giving those to us. I get that from 1 Corinthians 12:4, 11. It says, "There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them... It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have." Isn't that interesting? You don't get to pick or choose your spiritual gifts. You don't get all the spiritual gifts, but you get some of them, and you get them by the Holy Spirit. Isn't it amazing that the Holy Spirit gives you a custom set of gifts, based on his knowing you, his knowing what needs to be accomplished in the world, his knowing where you are? He is putting all of that together and saying, "Here are the gifts. Use them."
I thank God that the Holy Spirit does so many good things in our lives. And one of the great things he does is assign us and give us these amazing, unique gifts. Gifts of teaching, gifts of evangelism, of helps, administration, knowledge, etc. God gives us gifts to open and use. He doesn't give us gifts to admire. But isn't it amazing that God gives us the gift of eternal life when we put our faith in Christ, and then he gives us the gifts of the Holy Spirit? Do you know your spiritual gifts? We have a class called Discover Your Purpose that will help you. But the only way you're really going to know your gifts is when you first acknowledge that the Holy Spirit has decisively, definitively, and certainly given you the gifts you have right now. If you've never become a Christian, these are things you can look forward to. But if you are a Christian, these are the gifts you already have. And you can thank the Holy Spirit for them. So let's do that right now.
Holy Spirit, thank you so much that you decided the specific gifts that we have the moment we became Christians. We thank you for it. Thank you that you have entrusted us with these gifts, and want us to open up and use these gifts. We thank you that you have given us supernatural abilities to accomplish specific tasks in the church, everywhere we go. I praise you and thank you for that. Help everybody listening be encouraged that you love us enough to do more than just give us eternal life, but to give us power between now and when we enter eternity in heaven with you through these gifts. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen.