07.Mar.2010 Gifts of the Spirit
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John 16:5-8 (NLT): But now I am going away to the One who sent me, and not one of you is asking where I am going. Instead, you grieve because of what I’ve told you. But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.
1 Corinthians 12: 1-10 (NLT): Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said.
There are three things the Holy Spirit came to do: convict the world of its sin, God’s righteousness, and the coming judgment. Don’t try to do the Holy Spirit’s job- that is worldly, man-made religion. When we convict the world of its sins, we live in that man-made religion, and we have no time for love. If all we do is convict, look down on people believing that we are better because we are saved, we will save no one. We must move over and let the Holy Spirit do his work. When the Holy Spirit is free to move, he does os powerfully, in freedom.
The Holy Spirit moves through us, in our gifts and our fruits. Fruits are grown, and gifts are given. We are all given gifts; we all have them, but we must grow the character to contain the gifts. We should let the Holy Spirit do his work, but we should keep order in the meeting, which we do.
The 9 gifts of the Spirit are: great wisdom to make good decisions, special knowledge, great faith, the gift of healing, the power to work miracles, prophecy, discernment, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues. We should let the Holy Spirit work through us with the gifts we are given, and help the others in our worlds.
The book of 1 Corinthians is a great book. Chapter 12 is about the gifts of the Spirit, and chapter 14 refers to the fruits of the Spirit. Chapter 13 is about love. Love is the motivation for walking in the gifts. Everything comes together in unity. Something interesting- a dove has 9 bones in each wing, and there are 9 fruits and 9 gifts. They go together.
