The Gifts of the Holy Spirit Part 2

 The Gifts of the Holy Spirit

If you have been around the church at all chances are that you have heard of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. You might not understand exactly what this means. This Blog entry will attempt to teach you what that means as well as what the Spiritual gifts are. There are 16 Spiritual gifts listed in the Scripture, these are not to be confused (but they often are) with the Fruits of the Spirit. Today we continue with our study on these gifts. Also we will include some tools that you can use to do a self assessment of what your active gifts are that you are presently working in as well as where you have gifts that you have, but may not be actively working in at present, but have potential strength to work in. It should be noted that unless noted otherwise, all scripture is in the NKJV version.

Shepherding: Looking out for the spiritual welfare of others.

What is Shepherding? Websters describes shepherding as this: a person who tends and rears sheep. What does this look like in a Biblical context? Well, a person who is appointed and anointed to tend and rears people. Tending to them, meeting their needs, Spiritual first and foremost, but someone who is a Shepherd or Pastor is also usually very gifted in the area of Administration as well, and so, they also oversee other ministries that tend to the other needs of the people such as Christian Education, Helps, Hospitality so that the people's physical and other needs are met as well, when a person's basic needs (Food, Housing, Clothing, etc.) are met, in my experience, they tend to be more receptive to the Gospel message, because those are things that are important and they become distractions when they are not being met. What does it mean to "rear" a person? Well, anyone with children can explain that to you quite handily, but I will cover it here as well. Rear means to raise. From birth to adulthood (and even beyond to some extent) as parents, we rear or raise our children. This doesn't stop at age 18. As parents, we teach our children actively and inactively by the things we say and do. The examples we set throughout our lives as they are growing and even into adulthood teach them how to interact with God and others. So be careful with how you live because you are teaching your children through your words and deeds.

So a Pastor, or Shepherd does all of these things in the lives of the congregation. Another duty that falls under the Shepherding gift is that of a Counselor. Proverbs 15:22 states: "Without counsel, plans go awry. But in the multitude of counselors they are established."

Faith: Trusting God to fulfill His plan. People with this gift are encouragers. 

What is Faith? Our buddies at Websters describe it this way: Complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Strong belief in God or the doctrines of a religion based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof. A system of religious belief. A strongly held belief or theory. 

I don't really care for these definitions so much. They seem to view Faith in a purely secular view, yes looking at religion and such, but from a worldview. I, myself, tend to think of my faith as a relationship, I try not to use the word religion because it puts a bad taste in people's mouths. Biblical Faith is best described in my opinion as it is found in Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." We all have faith, even unbelievers. Faith that we will get in the car and safely get to our destination. Faith that the pilot of the airplane knows how to fly the plan and we won't crash and die in that crash. etc. etc.

In Romans 12:3 Paul teaches this: "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he out to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." So unto EVERYONE is given a measure of faith. What we put that faith into is our choice. To be right with God, we must put that faith into action, firstly, by putting that faith in Jesus and what the scripture teaches about him being the pure and holy Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Then we put that faith in action even further by doing good works, teaching others about Him. As we do this, our measure of faith increases.

Evangelism: The building up of the church so that others will be led to Christ. 

What is Evangelism? Websters says it is this: The spreading of the Christian gospel by public preaching or personal witness. This definition is right on! Also, it further describes it as Zealous advocacy of a cause.

What does this look like from a Biblical perspective? It looks like what Websters says it looks like. We are to with Zeal spread the Good News! With Zeal share our personal testimonies. Sharing the gospel is one of our main charges. We have the Great commandments: Jesus said to him, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great  commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Got that? The Big 10 as I often refer to them, if you fulfill these two Great commandments, You fulfill all of the 10 commandments. But the good news is that you don't have to fulfill the 10 commandments, because Jesus did! You just have to put your faith in Jesus, and love everyone as He loved you. Then we are commanded in Matthew 28:18-20 this way: And Jesus came and spoke to them saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" Amen.

So after that lengthy diatribe, Evangelism is spreading the gospel through sharing your testimony, sharing what you have learned about Jesus, and also by meeting people's needs which helps them to be more receptive to the message that you are sharing. Evangelism grows the Kingdom!

Apostleship: Motivators, church planters, missionaries: people who look beyond the walls. 

What is Apostleship? Websters defines an apostle as the following: Each of the twelve chief disciples of Jesus Christ. Any important early Christian teacher, especially St. Paul. 

What does this look like in a Biblical context? Apostles are actually any follower of Christ. Yes it is the first 12 that followed Him, but it doesn't end there. Every follower of Christ is an Apostle. Apostles GO, they make disciples (often interchanged with the word apostle) They don't just sit behind the walls of their respective churches hoping and praying that God will drop people into their laps, sometimes He does do this, but we are commanded to GO! All of us!

Service/Helps: Heling those in need of practical assistance. This is found in Romans 12:7 

This one is pretty self explanatory I think. Serving others, Helping them, meeting their needs physically, maybe financially. Again, there is often overlap with other spiritual gifts here, it is not uncommon for people to operate in more than one spiritual gift at a time.

Mercy: The person with this gift shows acts of compassion. 

I heard a phrase once that I now use to help when I am teaching the gospel to others. It goes like this: God's grace toward us is getting things that we don't deserve. God's mercy is not getting things that we do deserve. 

Websters says Mercy is this: Compassion or forgiveness shown toward someone whom it is within one's power to punish or harm.

Biblically Mercy looks like this: Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Got that? While we were God's enemies, because God cannot tolerate sin, that make us His enemies because we are sinners. God showed us His love and mercy by sending His son Jesus to take away the penalty for our sin. But again, we have to put our faith in Him and His sacrifice. 

Giving: People with this gift will freely give and with joy to further His kingdom.

This is pretty self explanatory too. Matthew 9:36 Says that God loves a cheerful giver. Every one of us should be doing this. This is a gift we should all practice. There are many, many examples of this, the Widow's mite is probably the first that comes to mind, but it is sprinkled all throughout the Old and New Testaments. 

Hospitality: Making people feel welcome, appreciated, and wanted. 1 Peter 4:9 teaches us about this: Bet hospitable to one another without grumbling.

Websters says it this way: The friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

So Biblically this may look like this: Looking out for new people in church. Going out of your way to welcome them, learn their name, invite them to fellowship luncheons and such. But it doesn't only extend to them, greeting one another in God's love. Learning people's names, giving them a hug. Listening to their story. Asking them how their week went, and really listening. I went through an out patient program several years ago for some health issues, and one of the techniques that I learned about was called Active Listening. Part of this was listening to someone as they say something, and then echoing it back to them without elaborating on it, just repeating back what you heard. This shows them that you are listening to what they are saying and gives them a chance to elaborate on it, you might say something like this, so I heard you say this, how did that make you feel? Or I understand that you experienced this, is that what you are saying?

I promised some tools to assess your spiritual gifts. Here is one. If you are interested in others you can email me at: spiffwiggler@gmail.com and I can direct you towards others. This is a good preliminary test that you can do online.

https://giftstest.com/

As always, you can reach out to me here via the comments or email me at the above email address. I hope that you found this study clear and concise.