Bible Study

Title: Spiritual Gifts
Date: Sep 15, 2005
Topic(s): Holy Spirit
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

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Green grass, blue sky, black dirt, red clay, yellow sun. All of creation declares that God loves variety. No two snowflakes, no two people, no two blades of grass are exactly alike. Is it any wonder, then, that when we become a part of His family through Jesus Christ, that we also receive a variety of spiritual gifts?

Let's learn more about these gifts from God's Word.

What Does God Say?

The apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11:
"Now there are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service in the church, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are different ways God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work through all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.

"To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; to another he gives the gift of special knowledge. The Spirit gives special faith to another, and to someone else he gives the power to heal the sick. He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and to another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to know whether it is really the Spirit of God or another spirit that is speaking. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, and another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. It is the one and only Holy Spirit who distributes these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have" (NLT).

• Who is the source of these different gifts?
• Why does God give you a spiritual gift?
• List below the gifts mentioned in the second paragraph that were present in the New Testament church. (Hint: There are nine listed but this is not necessarily an exhaustive inventory.)
• Who determines which gift or gifts you receive?

My Thoughts

Which spiritual gift or gifts do you believe you possess? If you don't know, ask your pastor or another Christian who knows you well what he or she sees as your gift.

My Part

Once you have identified your spiritual gift, consider how you are using it. Look again at your answer to question number two above. Are you fulfilling God's purpose for your gift?

Keep in mind that some of the gifts in the New Testament church were given to accomplish a special purpose--to validate the message being proclaimed by these early Christians. For a further discussion of this topic, read an article by Woodrow Kroll entitled Spiritual Gifts.

Additional Scripture to read: Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3

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