Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

Life Happenings: General Life Happenings

Bible Study Week 7

 This week in Bible study we talked about spiritual gifts... There are three primary lists of spiritual gifts in the New Testament. 

1) 1st Corinthians 12:7-11; there are 9 examples in this passage. They include wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophesy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. 

2) Romans 12:6-8; there are 7 examples in this passage. They include prophesy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, and mercy. 

3) 1st Peter 4:10-11; there are 2 examples (more like categories) in this passage. They are speaking and serving. 

Something interesting she noted when we looked at these three passages was the fact that in reference to all three lists, within a few verses of either the beginning or end of them there is an exhortation of LOVE. Without love we will never be able to truly use our spiritual gifts for the good of the Body of Christ! 

Some notes she made about our spiritual gifts are that they are not the same as our talents, we may be talented at certain things, but those are not necessarily our spiritual gifts, you may be a wonderful singer, but that is not your gift, its your talent, which you can also use to glorify Christ. Also, your gifts will energize you, not exhaust you... even if you feel exhausted after a day of using one of your spiritual gifts you also feel energized and exhilarated. They build you up, don't tear you down! 

At the end of the lesson she presented Romans 12:6-8 to us out of The Message, and it was interesting to see how the gifts and their use was described, so I'm going to put it here. 

"let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't. If you preach, just preach God's message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if your put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face." 

-Romans 12:6-8 MSG

For those who preach or speak, it is easy sometimes to go off on your own thing and not stick to God's word. One way she said to know if you have the gift of help is if you often want to help people who often don't want help. If you learn something and cant keep it to yourself, you just want to share it, you may have the gift of teaching. Those who have the gift of encouragement need to be careful not to use that gift in such a way that it discourages people, don't use it to tell people where they have fallen short. You may have the gift of leadership if you have a tendency to take over and people are glad that you did, but people with leading gifts can lead many many people astray if they are not intimate with God.

So those are just some things to think about in terms of spiritual gifts. 

God Bless!