Spiritual Gifts: 1 Corinthians 12

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that

provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters.

I believe that one of the most empowering things you can do as a church

planter is to help your people discover and use their spiritual gifts. God has

given every believer one or more spiritual gifts to empower us to serve the

body of Christ and reach out in love to the world.

I Corinthians 12 teaches us that God gives many different gifts, but that all

gifts are given by the one and only Holy Spirit of God. These different gifts

result in different kinds of service, but every gifted Christian is serving the one

God who gives the gifts.

This is why it is so important for us to use our gifts in harmony with others in

the body of Christ. In fact we are not only serving God with our gifts, we are

working for the common good of the church.

The spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 are word of wisdom, word of

knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, discernment

of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues. God gives these

gifts to his children for two reasons: 

1) to powerfully communicate his word,

his will, and his ways, and 

2) to empower our deeds of service. 

He does not give these gifts to make us proud or famous. He does not give these gifts so

that we can boast or so that we can think we are important. He gives these

gifts, like all other gifts, so we can serve the body of Christ.

Our God is a God who speaks. He spoke to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses,

Joshua, David and others. He reveals himself to his people through his word.

So it is not surprising that he would gift his children to communicate his will

and his ways through prophecy, speaking in tongues and interpretation of

tongues. If you have one of these speaking gifts, exercise it in faith. Let your

church practice Paul’s teaching found in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21. “Do not

quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test them

all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” When God sees that

you humbly serve as channel for his messages and that you humbly submit them

to testing by others, he will delight in giving you more messages to share.

Remember, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Likewise if you have been given a gift from God to empower your service, use it

humbly. If God has chosen to bring healing though your prayers for others, pray

frequently for the sick. Rejoice when the sick are healed. If God has given you

 strong faith to do his work of church planting, disciple making, or some other

work, do not be surprised if the faith of others is not so strong. Thank God for

your faith; walk in faith. But be patient with those who struggle to trust God in

areas that are easy for you. We need each other. So let everyone humbly use

his or her gift for the common good.

This has been “Multiply,” and I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this

encouraging word with today?

#EncouragementForVillageChurchPlanters #SpiritualGifts