Zeal – Part 7 – Spiritual Gifts

By way of a quick review, we’ve said that “zeal” defined is “Wholehearted surrender and fierce devotion to God rooted in the Gospel.” This has been our focus throughout the past 6 weeks. We believe that zeal is necessary for us to understand what it means to chase after God, what it means to live a life of surrender to Him, and what it means to be devoted to the sharing of our faith with those around us.

 

We have further discussed the barriers to true zeal, mainly the pitfalls of sin, legalism, and apathy. We have talked about how repentance is the key in each of these situations, and how we can confess, renounce and repent of them.

 

And last week, we talked about the truth of how we handle the desert times when God seems far away from us. Whether those deserts are from our own doing (like apathy, legalism, or sin) or just a season where God is teaching us something, we know that those deserts are temporary and that God is not silent, and He is not far from us.

 

But today, we get to talk about gifting. And as we go through these passages today, my hope is that you will begin to see where your gifts lie.

 

I. What is a spiritual gift?

A. A special ability given to believers in Christ

B. A divinely attributed gift given to build the church

C. Given to edify the church

D. Given to perform the work of the church

II. What are the spiritual gifts?

  1. Prophecy
    1. The ability to speak God’s message to others
    2. This is often done with a focus on encouragement or edification
  2. Service
    1. Willingness to serve others in practical ways
    2. Those with the gift of service tend to be humble and dedicated to those around them
  3. Teaching
    1. Being able to effectively communicate God’s truth and principles to others
    2. These people tend to foster a growth and understanding of spiritual things
  4. Exhortation
    1. The ability to encourage and motivate others
    2. The ability to draw people closer to God
    3. The ability to inspire people to live a life of faith
  5. Giving
    1. Generosity
    2. Giving with a desire to support the needs of others
    3. These people tend to show more compassion than most
  6. Leadership
    1. The ability to guide and direct others
    2. These people tend to foster a sense of unitl
    3. These people tend to help people work more effectively with each other
  7. Mercy
    1. The capacity to demonstrate compassion
    2. The ability to see the need of another and meet it
    3. The ability to see those who are struggling and help
  8. Faith
    1. Those who have a strong belief in God and His promises
    2. These people enable others to trust in God’s promises, power, and provision
  9. Healing
    1. Those who are able through prayer to bring physical and spiritual well-being.
  10. Miracles
    1. The ability to perform supernatural acts
    2. Often given as a sign of God’s approval on the individual for the purpose of sharing God’s message
  11. Discernment
    1. The ability to determine truth vs. falsehood
    2. The ability to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit spiritual experiences
  12. Tongues
    1. The ability to speak in languages unknown to the speaker
    2. Often these are used in prayer, but not exclusively
  13. Interpretation of Tongues
    1. The ability to understand and interpret messages delivered in a “tongue”
    2. This is a sign, once again, of the validity of the speaker’s message.
  14. Administration
    1. This is the ability to organize and manage resources and activities.
    2. This gift manifests itself in the ability to be efficient and effective.
  15. Apostleship
    1. This is the gift of being a foundational leader
    2. Today, this gift is seen in those who establish churches and/or are involved in missionary and/or evangelistic endeavors
  16. Evangelism
    1. This is the gift of effectively sharing the gospel message with others
    2. A key component is the fruitfulness of seeing people come to Christ as a result

III. How can I find my spiritual gift?

A. Ask these three questions
1. Where am I currently serving?
2. What am I good at doing?
3. What do I want to do?

B. Take a spiritual gifts test
1. Online Spiritual Gifts Assessment
a. www.giftstest.com
b. www.gifts.churchgrowth.org
2. Use an assessment tool from Lifeway.com

C. Try ’em out!
1. Look for a ministry that needs help, and help.
2. Get involved with a ministry that is seeing results.
3. Find out where God is at work, and get involved.

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