01/20'11 WEDNESDAY SERVICE... WHY SO MANY SPEAKING GIFTS?
We have all noticed how hard it is reach people with the Gospel these days. Society is less gospel aware and sensitive and is more hostile to Christ, the Bible and Salvation than ever before. I believe God gives gifts to the Church; and the ministries of evangelism and edification are primary.
POINTS AND PASSAGES...
Remember when most people you knew attended Sunday School? Now think about how few of the young people and children in your social world attend. Yet they are becoming more tolerant of paganism, humanism, hedonism, Islam, Mormonism and other vain philosophies. It is almost impossible to persuade people to turn from sin and to turn to Jesus.
So what does this have to do with the topic?
Gifts of the Spirit are not simply natural gifts, talents, skills or abilities, however, like natural gifts, they can be honed and developed or prostituted and hidden. Just as Spiritual gifts should be used in the service of God, our natural gifts should also be used in the service of God. Whatever God gives us is to be set apart to God and set apart from sin. We are not our own, we are bought with a price.
While there may be more gifts of the Spirit than are mentioned in the New Testament, we can only say with authority that the ones referred to in the Bible as “gifts of the Spirit” are actually gifts of the Spirit. Generally people recognize about 19 to 20 of these gifts. I see possibly a few more, though some of these are probably part of the 19-20. Here is a list of the various gifts in the four passages
My point is, at least 10 of the 19 (+-) gifts of the Spirit, are speaking gifts. The gifts that I associate with speaking ministries are Prophecy (speaking forth the word of God), teaching (instructing others in the ways of God), Exhortation (encouraging and challenging others in their service to God), Word of Wisdom (instructing others on how to apply the principles of God to their lives), Word of Knowledge (teaching Bible truths and facts in a clear and meaningful way), Tongues (speaking the word of God in another human language, never learned through human methods), Interpretation of Tongues (interpreting the gospel which is spoken in a foreign language), Evangelist (proclaiming the message of Christ and calling for a repentant response from the hearer), Pastor/Teacher (the leading, feeding, counseling, training and instructing provided to a local church from the pastor), Apostle (sent one, preaching, teaching, exhorting, counseling and other gifts needed for the planting of churches and crossing of cultural barriers.
I believe that a large number of the gifts are “speaking” gifts because there is such a need to proclaim the gospel. Read these verses together.
Ephesians 2:8
(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Hebrews 11:6
(6) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Romans 10:17
(17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:14-15
(14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
(15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
While all of the gifts of the Spirit are important, some are more desirable than others. The gift of prophecy (proclaiming the gospel) is to be desired above all others.
1 Corinthians 14:1
(1) Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
While the gift of prophecy specifically is mentioned as a gift to be highly desired, all of the speaking gifts are of primary importance because they are the gifts that proclaim God's salvation through evangelism to the lost and edification of the church. In fact, there are more speaking gifts than all of the other gifts mentioned in the Bible.
I believe God also uses natural talents, abilities and skills in conjunction with the gift of proclamation. God can use writing of stories, poems, songs, music and even the comic strip format to communicate the gospel. God can use performing arts, like singing, acting, puppetry to proclaim the gospel. The use of the internet an also be joined with proclamation.
Today there is great need for more people to be involved in proclaiming God's word.
Discover your gift; Develop your gift; Deploy your gift. The world is groping in darkness, use your gift to shed the light.
Here is a working list of the gifts found in four New Testament passages and another short explanation of some of the speaking gifts. There are duplicates in these passages.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE MENTIONED IN AT LEAST FOUR PASSAGES:
Romans 12.6-9;
Prophecy
Ministry (service)
Teaching
Exhortation (encouragement to faithfulness)
Giving
Rules (administration)
Mercy
1 Corinthians 12-14;
The Word of Wisdom (notice, The Word of...)
The Word of Knowledge (notice, The Word of...)
Faith
Healings
Miracles
Prophecy
Discerning of Spirits
Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Apostle
Teachers
Martyrdom
Understand Mysteries (possibly Word of Wisdom)
All Knowledge (possibly Word of Knowledge)
Sacrifice (possibly Giving)
Ephesians 4:11;
Apostle
Prophet
Evangelist
Pastor/Teacher
1 Peter 4:9-11.
Hospitality
Speak
Minister (possibly ministry or service)
SPEAKING GIFTS INCLUDE,
Prophecy: the Spirit enabled ability to speak forth the word of God with clarity, conviction and authority.
Pastor/Teacher (1 gift): the Spirit enabled ability to lead and feed believers in the word of God. This is a two part gift, indicating that they belong together in the office of pastor.
Teaching: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate Bible truths (knowledge and wisdom), which enlighten the hearer.
Evangelizing: the Spirit enabled ability to effectively communicate the message of salvation to non-believers. While every Christian should be evangelizing (telling the good news) and he that wins souls is wise, and pastors should do the work of an evangelist, there are some people specially gifted for this work.
Word of Knowledge: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate Bible data, doctrines and truths in a way that makes it easy for the hearer to understand the Bible message.
Word of Wisdom: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate the spiritual meaning of Scripture and the personal application of Biblical truths to people.
Exhortation: the Spirit enabled ability to encourage, excite, challenge and embolden believers in their life of faith and service to God.
Tongues & Interpretation of Tongues (2 gifts): the Spirit enabled ability to speak or interpret foreign languages, which have not been learned. On the day of Pentecost those who spoke in Tongues spoke in foreign languages that they had never studied.
POINTS AND PASSAGES...
Remember when most people you knew attended Sunday School? Now think about how few of the young people and children in your social world attend. Yet they are becoming more tolerant of paganism, humanism, hedonism, Islam, Mormonism and other vain philosophies. It is almost impossible to persuade people to turn from sin and to turn to Jesus.
So what does this have to do with the topic?
Gifts of the Spirit are not simply natural gifts, talents, skills or abilities, however, like natural gifts, they can be honed and developed or prostituted and hidden. Just as Spiritual gifts should be used in the service of God, our natural gifts should also be used in the service of God. Whatever God gives us is to be set apart to God and set apart from sin. We are not our own, we are bought with a price.
While there may be more gifts of the Spirit than are mentioned in the New Testament, we can only say with authority that the ones referred to in the Bible as “gifts of the Spirit” are actually gifts of the Spirit. Generally people recognize about 19 to 20 of these gifts. I see possibly a few more, though some of these are probably part of the 19-20. Here is a list of the various gifts in the four passages
My point is, at least 10 of the 19 (+-) gifts of the Spirit, are speaking gifts. The gifts that I associate with speaking ministries are Prophecy (speaking forth the word of God), teaching (instructing others in the ways of God), Exhortation (encouraging and challenging others in their service to God), Word of Wisdom (instructing others on how to apply the principles of God to their lives), Word of Knowledge (teaching Bible truths and facts in a clear and meaningful way), Tongues (speaking the word of God in another human language, never learned through human methods), Interpretation of Tongues (interpreting the gospel which is spoken in a foreign language), Evangelist (proclaiming the message of Christ and calling for a repentant response from the hearer), Pastor/Teacher (the leading, feeding, counseling, training and instructing provided to a local church from the pastor), Apostle (sent one, preaching, teaching, exhorting, counseling and other gifts needed for the planting of churches and crossing of cultural barriers.
I believe that a large number of the gifts are “speaking” gifts because there is such a need to proclaim the gospel. Read these verses together.
Ephesians 2:8
(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Hebrews 11:6
(6) But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Romans 10:17
(17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 10:14-15
(14) How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
(15) And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
While all of the gifts of the Spirit are important, some are more desirable than others. The gift of prophecy (proclaiming the gospel) is to be desired above all others.
1 Corinthians 14:1
(1) Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
While the gift of prophecy specifically is mentioned as a gift to be highly desired, all of the speaking gifts are of primary importance because they are the gifts that proclaim God's salvation through evangelism to the lost and edification of the church. In fact, there are more speaking gifts than all of the other gifts mentioned in the Bible.
I believe God also uses natural talents, abilities and skills in conjunction with the gift of proclamation. God can use writing of stories, poems, songs, music and even the comic strip format to communicate the gospel. God can use performing arts, like singing, acting, puppetry to proclaim the gospel. The use of the internet an also be joined with proclamation.
Today there is great need for more people to be involved in proclaiming God's word.
Discover your gift; Develop your gift; Deploy your gift. The world is groping in darkness, use your gift to shed the light.
Here is a working list of the gifts found in four New Testament passages and another short explanation of some of the speaking gifts. There are duplicates in these passages.
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT ARE MENTIONED IN AT LEAST FOUR PASSAGES:
Romans 12.6-9;
Prophecy
Ministry (service)
Teaching
Exhortation (encouragement to faithfulness)
Giving
Rules (administration)
Mercy
1 Corinthians 12-14;
The Word of Wisdom (notice, The Word of...)
The Word of Knowledge (notice, The Word of...)
Faith
Healings
Miracles
Prophecy
Discerning of Spirits
Tongues
Interpretation of Tongues
Apostle
Teachers
Martyrdom
Understand Mysteries (possibly Word of Wisdom)
All Knowledge (possibly Word of Knowledge)
Sacrifice (possibly Giving)
Ephesians 4:11;
Apostle
Prophet
Evangelist
Pastor/Teacher
1 Peter 4:9-11.
Hospitality
Speak
Minister (possibly ministry or service)
SPEAKING GIFTS INCLUDE,
Prophecy: the Spirit enabled ability to speak forth the word of God with clarity, conviction and authority.
Pastor/Teacher (1 gift): the Spirit enabled ability to lead and feed believers in the word of God. This is a two part gift, indicating that they belong together in the office of pastor.
Teaching: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate Bible truths (knowledge and wisdom), which enlighten the hearer.
Evangelizing: the Spirit enabled ability to effectively communicate the message of salvation to non-believers. While every Christian should be evangelizing (telling the good news) and he that wins souls is wise, and pastors should do the work of an evangelist, there are some people specially gifted for this work.
Word of Knowledge: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate Bible data, doctrines and truths in a way that makes it easy for the hearer to understand the Bible message.
Word of Wisdom: the Spirit enabled ability to communicate the spiritual meaning of Scripture and the personal application of Biblical truths to people.
Exhortation: the Spirit enabled ability to encourage, excite, challenge and embolden believers in their life of faith and service to God.
Tongues & Interpretation of Tongues (2 gifts): the Spirit enabled ability to speak or interpret foreign languages, which have not been learned. On the day of Pentecost those who spoke in Tongues spoke in foreign languages that they had never studied.
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