"Why I Don't Drink" and Spiritual Gifts

We shared a handout regarding "Why I Don't Drink!". If you did not receive one and would like it, please send an e-mail request and we'll put it in the mail to you.

Regarding Spiritual Gifts: The study that I am about to share with you brought joy and freedom to me. I had studied and read several approaches to the study of gifts and most often these studies led to confusion. Knowing that the Lord is in the clarification business with His beloved, I received this teaching as a blessing from Him alone.

What are Spiritual gifts anyway? … the drives, opportunities, and results given by the Holy Spirit to achieve God's supernatural goals.

Each Christian has a gift and is told to concentrate on it. How many of you know what your spiritual gift is?

One of the basic keys to harmony in marriage and the church is understanding each others' spiritual gift. How many of you think you know what your spouse's spiritual gift is?

What would you think of a person who received a very special gift but never opened it up? (Christmas gift left under the tree.) Each Christian has been given a spiritual gift from God, but how many of us have discovered what it is and have begun to use it?

Paul said in I Cor. 12:1 "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant."

How do we discover our gift?
Accept Christ for salvation.
Enter into Christ victory over sin
Concentrate on the needs of others
Discern our real motive in helping others
Identify what Christians do which bless or irritate you
Understand the categories of gifts and understand the root of each gift.

Each person who is born again takes on a "debt of love" Romans 13:8 The Lord gives us spiritual gifts so that we are able to pay our debt of love. "gave gifts unto men…For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the Body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith…Eph.4:8, 12-13

God channels His love to others through us as we exercise our spiritual gift. (Gal. 6, I Peter 4:8-11)

BUT there are hindrances which must be removed before we can discover and use our gift as a channel of His love toward others. Why do you think that gifts are not discussed until the 12th chapters of Romans and the 12th chapter of I Cor.?

HINDRANCES TO DISCOVERING YOUR GIFT:
1. Unresolved root problems in personal living -- studying the first 11
chapters of Romans and I Cor. would prove to be very helpful. Chapers 1-11 were designed to resolve moral conflicts and create a genuine desire for God's best. UNRESOLVED MORAL CONFLICTS will not only hinder a person from discovering and properly using his spiritual gift, but may also result in confusion when investigating the teaching.

2. Lack of involvement with the needs of others can hinder you from discovering your gift. When we work with and for others, our gifts are stirred up and discovered as we focus on the needs of others rather than what our ministry is to be. A servant heart is essential to discover your spiritual gift.

3. Attempting to imitate motivations or actions of others can be a hindrance. If a Christian is caught up in trying to imitate the ministry of other Christians, they will not be free to discover their own motivation.

4. Failure to analyze WHY certain activities appeal to us. Many activities will be the means of fulfilling our basic motivation.

5. Confusion between motivational gift and ministry gift.

Important distinction between our spiritual gift and natural talents:
You are born with natural talent, natural talents are gifted to the lost and the saved
Operates on the physical and social level, but not on the spiritual
One could have the talent of teaching but not have the spiritual gift of teaching…would lack power to bless and to advance the students spiritually.
Spiritual Gift:
Given at Second birth!
By the Holy Spirit
For the profit of the entire Body
Our ministry will likely be guided by our spiritual gift.
Can exercise your spiritual gift through your natural talent…great spiritual power to impart spiritual enrichment.
We are not to use our natural talents to accomplish the work of God, but we are to use them as channels or vehicles--they can work beautifully together with our spiritual gift being the leader since they both came from God. [CAUTION: Do not be dependent on your natural talents…It is God Who works in us and through us with the power to achieve spiritual growth and honor to Him!]

If each Christian properly understood his spiritual gift, it would not only motivate him to greater commitment and service, but would also bring a whole new excitement to the Body of Christ.

1. Every Christian has a spiritual gift. When we were born physically, we possessed certain natural abilities. When we were born again we received certain spiritual abilities as a member of the Body of Christ. "So we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ, the Messiah, and individually we are parts one of another--mutually dependent on one another." Romans 12:5

2. Joy comes in exercising our gift
The root word for gift is CHARISMA. This comes from the word CHAR which means joy. CHARIS is the word for grace which involves God giving us the desire and power to accomplish God's will. Phil. 2:13 "[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you--energizing and creating in you the power and desire--both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."

3. Finding personal fulfillment is only possible by developing our spiritual gift.
Each of us has a desire for meaningful achievement. The ultimate of this is having a significant part in a divine program. As we exercise our gifts, it is working out the Lord's divine program.

4. Each Gift is designed to perfect the Body of Christ. Each Christian has a particular and necessary function in the Body of Christ. Failure to exercise our gift weakens the ministry of the Body. It helps bring fuller purpose to your live. It demonstrates the unique and necessary function within the Body of Christ. Romans 12…the body parts are all needed…I Cor.12:12

5. God wants each of us to understand our gift.
To concentrate on our gift, we must first discover our gift. We need to have harmony with others within the Body and understanding the gifts will help us to understand others and their particular functions. In the Body, the Lord did not design that we have all the gifts, or we would be self-sufficient and would not need others. Knowing that we have a gift that is valuable to the Body, we are able to achieve a deeper level of self-acceptance and purpose in life. As we exercise our gifts, we experience personal fulfillment and a deep sense of joy. By concentrating on our gifts, we achieve maximum fruitfulness with minimum weariness. It helps us understand ourselves and others better.
We understand better why we respond the way that we do. Your spiritual gift colors the way you look at life. We see things differently than others because we view people and their needs through our "Why" - our gift!

READ: I Peter 4:10-11 (Highlight central thoughts)
Every believer has received A gift:
…to Serve one another
…received by the grace of God…no effort on our part
…in receiving we become stewards of God's grace--a steward is one who is responsible for another's property.
…so that our ultimate purpose in life may be fulfilled…to Glorify God.

Grace is God's unmerited favor. You can't earn it…it is a gift. It is the instantaneous enablement of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer to exercise a gift for the "building up" of others.

READ: I Corinthians 12:4-7
There are numerous gifts and they are divided into THREE distinct categories (varieties). [Looking at handout #1] The Trinity is involved by name in the categories. God - it is permanent … you have absolutely nothing to do with it, but to discover. LORD…no matter where the opportunity to serve comes from, if we view Him as Lord and He is Lord of our life…He brings the opportunity we cannot afford to pass up without being disobedient. Holy Spirit…does all the work in others' lives--manifestation, the result that happens in others' lives. We have absolutely nothing to do with the results, but must do our part in delivering, opening the ministry call and He does the work. OR the use of all three aspects of God simply shows once again that He is "three in ONE" and "ONE in Three"…always bringing everything into unity!

v.4 Charismaton - Gift; Charis- Grace; Char - Joy List-Rom.12:6-8
MOTIVATION…is simply a definition of the work of God's grace: "the desire and power which He puts within us to accomplish His will." It is what drives you to do what you what you do! The basic inward drive which God places in each Christian to express His love.

v. 5 MINISTRY category/…Diakanion … deacon came from this word. It relates to the ministries and outreach of the local church. List-I Cor.12:28, Eph. 4:11 "…God hath set some in the church…" I Cor.12:28
Paul said to Timothy, "Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you…" The opportunities of Christian service which are open to us for the exercise of our basic motivation.

v. 6 OPERATIONS Energema - "Effect" I Cor 12:8-10
The manifestation given"…to profit withal… v.7 It is our responsibility to use our motivational gift. It is the Church's responsibility to confirm our ministry gifts, and it is the Holy Spirit's function to reward the use of the gifts for the profit of all. The actual result in the lives of those to whom we minister.

We are not to seek after manifestations, but to concentrate on our Motivation. I Cor. 14 is speaking not of gifts, but simply "that you may prophesy--that is, interpret the divine will and purpose in inspired preaching and teaching." In other words: no matter what your motivation gift or ministry gifts, eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love--make it your aim, your great quest (the love of Chp.13) AND to earnestly desire and cultivate the spiritual endowments, especially that you prophesy! [always proclaiming the truth no matter what your circumstances.]

We have ONE motivational gift, but the possibility of MANY ministry gifts and many manifestation gifts! Many gifts, one GIVER.

In realizing that we have ONE motivational gift, we are acknowledging and embracing the need of each other as a unique part of God's Body.

CAUTIONS: Do not guide another toward a particular gift! Instead ask them questions to help them clarify their own gifts. Discovering your gift is not limitation, but liberation.

Ask yourself: What drives me to do what I do? What do I enjoy? What brings me joy?

As you answer questions about WHY you do something, you must open the outside curtain of your life - that area where you have been trained and taught the proper, appropriate, correct response and be introspective. Answer the question deep inside, "What would I REALLY like to say or what reaction would I REALLY like to express?"

Romans 12: Basic definition of each of the SEVEN motivational gifts. Explain the structure and the Scriptural definitions. Handout #4…diagram of three lists explains how motivation can be used through any and all three of the ministry gifts with any and all of the manifestation gifts.

When we exercise our motivation (7 in Romans 12) through our ministry (I Cor 12, Eph 4) the Holy Spirit determines what manifestations (Icor. 12:7-11) will benefit the receiver the most.