The FAQ’s of Spiritual Gifts
1. What are spiritual gifts?
They are special abilities, dispositions and or qualities.
2. What are they?
Rom12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
Rom12:7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
Rom12:8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
1Cor12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
1Cor12:9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
1Cor12:10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
1Cor12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
3. Who gives them?
The Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:11; Hebrews 2:4)
4. To whom are they given?
To Christians
5. What are they for?
1Cor12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
1Cor14:12 Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
6. What is the criterion that the Holy Spirit uses give what to whom?
1Cor12:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
Heb2:4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
7. What gifts did Philip have?
The gift of helps, preaching, and teaching.
Comments to the weekly Sabbath School Quarterly
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, August 07, 2008
His Permanent Address
A Synonym is one of two or more words in the same language which have the same or very nearly the same meaning. The meanings are so similar the words are often used interchangeably. The challenge is to know which of these words to use when you are translating. For example, there is no word in Spanish for righteousness. Many use the Spanish word for Justice: Justicia. But, justice and righteousness do not have the same definition, they are not synonyms.
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Christ dwelling with us as the Son of Man was temporary. When Christ was on earth He “pitched His tent” among us. Tents are for temporary dwellings. In contrast, other words are used regarding His dwelling in us. The first one is Enoikeo which means to dwell in; to dwell metaphorically in one and influence him (for good). Because is for good, it gives an impression of permanency. Two verses use this example,
2Ti 1:14 That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the
The second one is Katoikeo, which means to dwell in, inhabit as in, God is said to dwell in the temple, i.e. to be always present for worshippers. Also to dwell, settle; used metaphorically to refer to when divine powers, influences, etc., are said to dwell in his soul, to pervade, prompt, govern it. Examples of this use are found in
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
The word kaitokeo gives an implication of something more lasting than just pitching a tent. The third word is oikeo which simply means to dwell in. However, there is no sign of short term stay or pitching a tent. Again there is a sense of permanence in the use of this verse. Let us read
Rom 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The last word is naos {nah-os'} – (our word for “IN”) which is derived from naio which also means to dwell. It was used when referring to the temple at
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
No reference in this verse of anything temporary. Our bodies are supposed to be Jesus’ permanent address. As we can see all these words were translated as dwelling. However, skenoo is temporary dwelling.
In conclusion, when the Bible talks about Christ dwelling among us as a man, it is temporary living. However, when it talks about Christ dwelling in us it is permanent living. Both dwellings are because God loves us. God wants to permanently dwell in us. He does not want to temporarily dwell among us. His incarnation limited the how and amount of time He could dwell with us. But, through the Holy Spirit he can dwell in us forever. Yes, we can evict Him and foreclose our property, in which case the devil will repurchase it, and it will be destroyed when the devil is destroyed. Or we can let God abide in us, and eventually live eternally with Him.
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
On Being More Deliberate
Years ago I had an encounter with some people that said that our work for the church had to have intentionality. This word, I learned later, was a buzz word used in certain Christian circles that espouse the ideas of the Church Growth Movement. One of their claims is that to reach people where they are, you must become more like them; hence, the intentionality. You choose to make a deliberate effort – you force yourself - to show yourself like them to have something in common. In this way they feel comfortable being around you and they join your church because they seem to like you, not because they love Jesus. When they stop liking you they leave to where they like other people. This style is a backlash of our former style of telling people seemingly irrelevant information about prophecy, theology, or Bible history. Many left our churches with this system, also.
Being more deliberate will not help your witnessing (or discipleship). Only submitting more to the Holy Spirit will. Consider the disciples. It was not until the disciples submitted to the Holy Spirit that they became effective in their ministry. They became bold after receiving the “early rain” (Acts 2). Just before this they confessed their sin and repented, the prayed and studied. If anything they became more deliberate in their submission to Christ.
Before the early rain fell on them the disciples were not quite effective workers. Even when Jesus gave the disciples power they could not free the one demon possessed. Let’s read the story in Matthew 17: 14 – 21,
Mat17:14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
Mat17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatic, and sore vexed: for oft times he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
Mat17:16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
Mat17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.
Mat17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Mat17:19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
Mat17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mat17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Contrast this with the man healed of demon possession at Gadarene. Let’s read in mark 5:18 – 20,
Mark5:18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
Mark5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
Mark5:20 And he departed, and began to publish in
Christ never said to the man “be more deliberate.” He said to him, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.” We also have the story of the woman by the well. Let us read in John 4:28 – 29
John4:28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
John4:29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
He never told her to be more deliberate, in fact she went on her own, to share about Christ. She just went. Her witness was very effective, the whole town converted. The other thing Christ told people was to “Show yourself to the Priests,” as we read in Luke 17:14.
Luke17:14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests.
They were to witness to the priests about their miraculous healing. This would have been a great witness to the priests who were bent on rejecting Christ. Christ knew this, so he sent the people where He would not be effective. Christ instead would go where the Spirit sent Him. Christ was deliberate on following what the Spirit prompted Him to do. And, He wants us to follow His example.
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Jesus was no Hero
A Hero is a mythological, or legendary, figure, of great strength, or ability; the chief male character in a literary or dramatic work; a man admired for his achievements and qualities. In the teachers section of our quarterly an objective is proposed, “To feel an admiration and attachment to Jesus as the only Savior of humanity and as a true Hero to be emulated.” The question to ask is if Jesus is a Hero. If we are to use the above definitions then He was not.
For starters Jesus was neither mythological nor legendary. He was and is real. While Jesus is the chief male character of the story in the Bible, the Bible is not fictional work. The Bible also does not describe Jesus as a man of great strength and ability. This is not to say that He was a weakling, after all He was a carpenter for most of his life, but He was no Samson. The Bible did not talk of Jesus possessing great ability as, for example, David had. David wrote poetry and songs, played the harp, sang, and fought beasts and giants. (Although, it should be said that it was Jesus as God who gave to Samson his strength and to David his ability.) Jesus after all “…hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Isa53:2).
Some will point to the miracles Jesus performed. But remember what He told the disciples when Phillip asked Him to show the Father, let read in John 14:8 12,
John14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
John14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
John14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.
John14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Jesus told His disciples that because He was leaving He would pray to the Father so the Father would send another Comforter (walking partner). This walking partner is the Holy Spirit which dwells in all who believe (John 14: 16 – 17). The Holy Spirit would give us the power to do greater things than even Jesus did.
There is one thing, however, that Jesus did that we will not ever be able to do. That is to die to save the world(John 3:16). Only Jesus could do that. The Law required a “Spotless lamb” and only Jesus can say that He was spotless. Not that His flesh was spotless, He came in the likeness of Sinful flesh, was tempted in all things as we are, but He never sinned (Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:3). This is great distinction between heroes and Jesus: heroes cannot die to save you from the wages of Sin. So, Jesus is our Savior, and He is also our Master and Lord.
No one submits and depends on Superman or Spiderman for all things as we do in Christ. Heroes show up when we need them and after we no longer need them they leave. We always need Jesus and He never leaves us, He is with us always (Matthew 28:20).
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