Tag Archive: gifts of the Holy Spirit

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 6B: Spiritual Gifts: God Works through us for His Purpose

The modern emphasis on first identifying my “gift” so that I may then “help” God develop it gets the matter exactly backwards. The important thing isn’t identifying my gift, it is offering my body as a living sacrifice so that the Spirit may exercise any gift He chooses through me. Then any gift I am observed to be actually exercising can be identified as my gift, and its exercise will be genuine and have God’s power.

Teachers

Teachers are given to the Church to teach and explain the Word of God and to model and transmit the relationship with God they are teaching. Teaching as a gift of the Holy Spirit may also be given to people who are not permanently given to the Church as teachers, and may be given to people on specific occasions. Ephesians 4:11 “teachers” are not the same thing as “pastors.”

Evangelists

Evangelists, as people given by Christ to the Church, are primarily trainers in evangelism, sent to show the rest of us how to introduce others to a friendship with Jesus. They are not sent to do the work by themselves! But, because of our Western focus on paid “ministers” and on attendance at church “events,” true evangelists tend to be unrecognized and unappreciated.

We Are Called to Live Out the Truth of Our Oneness

We are called to live out the unity of the Body of Christ. The Body is already one, but we have a role in making that oneness effective in the world.