Wild & Free (Part 2): Spiritual Gifts 101

June 16th, 2024/Casey Middle School

Father’s Day:

A Father's Love
Author unknown

In the quiet strength of a father's hand,
Lies the wisdom of ages, firm and grand.
Through trials faced and victories won,
He guides with love, like the morning sun.

His laughter, a balm, his voice, a guide,
In his embrace, we find our pride.
A father's love, both strong and tender,
In his heart, our dreams he’ll always render.

With every lesson, both gentle and stern,
In his eyes, life's truths we discern.
On Father's Day, we honor his role,
The anchor, the hero, the heart, and the soul.

Intro: If you have grown up in the church world or have attended many different types of churches over the years, you’ve probably experienced extremes as it relates to how they view and practice the gifts of the Spirit.

I grew up in a church that did not believe in miraculous gifts, so in that regard, you could say I had a pretty tamed experience for the majority of my young life. It wasn’t until my later years that I attended some pentecostal churches and my mind was blown. To say that I was a bit shocked, would be an understatement.

As I’ve continued to grow and mature in my faith, I’ve sought to understand more what I believe and where I land in terms of spiritual gifts. So if you’re new to church or maybe have been around for a while, but this conversation is still new for you, then you came on the right Sunday! Over the next few hours, we’re going to do an overview of the history, terminology, and then end with some practical application for how we can move forward in discovering, developing, and deploying our spiritual gifts!

John 4:24 says “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth.”

And 2nd Corinthians 3:17 says “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” We believe that as we step into the wild, unknown, and supernatural, there is freedom on the other side. We want to walk in the Spirit, be guided and led by the Spirit, so that we can experience Freedom in our lives!

Passage: 1 Peter 4:10 CSB

“Just as each one has received a gift, use it to serve others, as good stewards of the varied grace of God.”

Pray:

Title: Spiritual Gifts 101

Main Points:

1. Who is the Holy Spirit?

   1. The Holy Spirit is the third PERSON of the trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
   2. The only trinitarian benediction in Paul's letters says “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” 2 Corinthians 13:13

   3. The Holy Spirit is Personal and you can have a relationship with Him.

      1. He possesses emotions, intellect, and will.
      2. He spoke to Philip and gave counsel to the church at Jerusalem. He was sinned against and lied to.
      3. He creates and makes creative
      4. He comforts and carries us in our weakness
      5. He guides and leads
      6. He regenerates and brings about rebirth
      7. He sanctifies through conviction of our sins

      8. He is in tune with every detail of our lives! He sealed our salvation, he fills us to serve and carry out the mission of God, and He empowers us to live a Spirit filled life!

         4. The Holy Spirit in Greek is Pneuma - air, breath, or wind

      9. It’s where we get the word pneumatic.

         5. The term “charismatic” is derived from the Greek word “χάρισμα” (charisma) It comes from the root word “χάρις” (charis), which means “grace.”

      10. It’s where we get our English word charisma which means “compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.” Oxford Languages

          6. The term “spiritual gifts” in Greek is “χαρίσματα πνευματικά” (charismata pneumatiká).

      11. χάρισμα (charisma) - Gift, favor, grace

      12. πνευματικός (pneumatikos) - Spiritual
          7. The Holy Spirit distributes spiritual gifts.
          8. The Holy Spirit illuminates the truth of God.
          9. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live supernatural lives.
          10. “Without the Spirit of God, we can do nothing. We are as ships without wind. We are useless.” - Charles Spurgeon

2. What are Spiritual Gifts?

   1. Spiritual Gifts mentioned in the Bible:
   2. Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, and 1 Peter 4:10
   3. 1 Corinthians 12:1-12 (Variety of gifts, empowered by the Spirit)
   4. Definition: A spiritual gift is a Spirit-given and empowered ability to serve Him in ways that benefit others, promote unity, and equip believers for the building up of the body of Christ and for the advancement of His Kingdom.

   5. The source of the gifts is the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:11, Ephesians 4:7, Romans 12:3)

      1. He decides who gets what and when. Therefore, our posture is simply to desire and pursue the gifts with humility, receive the gifts with gratefulness, and activate the gifts through service in the church.

         6. The foundation of the gifts is love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 & 1 Corinthians 14:1)

      2. It doesn’t matter what gift you have, without love, it is not going to work and it will quite possibly be annoying. Aka noisy gong or clanging cymbal. Illustration: crash the cymbals while singing.

         7. The primary purposes of the gifts are to build up the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 14:26)

      3. Benefit others, promote unity in the body, equip believers for service, and to point others to Jesus.

         8. Perspectives on the miraculous gifts:
      4. Cessationism - believe that the miraculous gifts ceased with the 12 apostles. The apostles of the New Testament replaced the prophets of the Old Testament. The purpose of the gifts was to authenticate the authority of those 12 apostles. Cessationists have concluded the gift of prophecy ended in the early church era, and now that we have the Bible we don’t need these gifts anymore. Their concern is that the miracle gifts lead to emotionalism and experiences placed over Scripture in terms of their authority. They also have issues with prophecies that have been abused, prophets that have condemned people in a hateful manner, or they have predicted things in the future and they’ve been wrong.
      5. Continuationist/3rd Wave Charismatics - This phrase was coined by the late Peter Wagner, who was a professor at Fuller Seminary. And then John Wimber, who also was a professor at Fuller Seminary who had significant prophetic, deliverance, and healing in the 80’s, he launched the movement known as the Vineyard Movement. That movement is now led by Jay Pathak here in Colorado. The best way to understand 3rd wave charismatics is pentecostals with a seatbelt. They have a real high view of Scripture and a high view of the power of the Holy Spirit to do whatever He wants to do.

      6. Pentecostalism - The Azusa Street Revival took place in 1906 in Los Angeles and it was led by William J. Seymour. It lasted for 9 years and the Holy Spirit came upon this group of people and the movement became known as Pentecostalism. Because the Holy Spirit came on the early church during the festival of Pentecost. And now Pentecostalism is one of the largest growing traditions within Christianity in the world today. Primary critique of this movement is its belief that the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens subsequently to salvation vs. the moment of our salvation. The other critique is the tendency to put the authority of their experiences over the authority of the Bible when the two are not in agreement.

      7. Pinewood lands in that middle category. We hold a high view of Scripture and a high view of the Holy Spirit’s miraculous work in the church and the world.

         10. In each of these camps there are prominent Theologians that I hold in high regard:
         11. Cessationist Camp:

      8. J. I. Packer

      9. Norman Geisler
      10. Dan Wallace

      11. B. B. Warfield

          12. Continuationist Camp:

      12. D. A. Carson

      13. John Piper
      14. Wayne Grudem
      15. Sam Storms
          13. I also have close friends and pastoral mentors that vary on this subject of pneumatology.
          14. The point is that wherever you land, there should be a generous measure of grace and generosity.
          15. As the old saying goes, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

3. How many gifts are there?

   1. 19-25 gifts, depending on how you interpret certain passages. We’ve landed on 24. To know which gift we didn’t include, you can ask me later.
   2. Maturing Gifts (Teaching, Exhortation/Encouraging, Prophecy, Knowledge, and Wisdom)
   3. Ministry Gifts (Pastor/Shepherding, Mercy, Leadership, Helps/Serving, Admin, Giving)
   4. Miraculous Gifts (Tongues, Interpretation, Discernment of Spirits, Healing, Miracles)
   5. Missional Gifts (Apostle, Evangelist, Faith, Intercession)

4. Who has these gifts?

   1. Followers of Jesus.
   2. “A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:” - 1 Corinthians 12:7
   3. “For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. 19 And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” - 1 Corinthians 12:12-21
   4. Unity and Diversity - The reality is that the Holy Spirit empowers us for unity, diversity, and ministry in the body of Christ.

   5. Paul is using the human body as an analogy to describe the church. Here we see the Apostle Paul emphasize unity in diversity. For those that feel inferior he reminds us that there is no part that isn’t of significant value. And to those that feel superior in their gifts, he reminds us that we would not be complete apart from being wholly together.

      2. All gifts are represented, not one is the same. All make up the uniqueness that is called Pinewood. With each gift activated the church is being built up!
         7. Illustration: Don’t be a lonely big toe, don’t be eye-solated, or a creepy wandering hand. *pic of Addams Family Hand

   6. Application: We are called to accept our gifts in humility, exercise our gifts in harmony, and celebrate our gifts in diversity.

5. How to discover and claim your gifts?

   1. Pastor John Finochio focuses on the discovery of Spiritual Gifts through a number of thoughts and questions:
   2. Spiritual gifts questionnaire
   3. Where do I sense the joy of Christ?
   4. Where have others seen effectiveness?
   5. What do you uniquely carry a burden/passion for?
   6. What has been prophesied over you?
   7. What do you believe the Holy Spirit has spoken to you about personally in this regard?
   8. Discover - through intentional questions and in community
   9. Develop - over time and with people further down the road than you
   10. Deploy - faithfully and in all humility

Closing:

Invitation:

If you want to make a decision to follow Jesus. Then join me and everyone else in the building as we pray out loud together. It’s not the prayer that saves you, but your faith, making Jesus Lord of your life. We don’t let anyone go on the journey alone. If you have faith in Jesus, then let’s join together as we pray…

Prayer of Salvation:

Jesus, I acknowledge that I need you

I confess that I have sinned against you

I believe that God raised you from the dead

And right now, by faith, I say “Jesus is Lord”

Thank you for forgiving me

By your grace I am saved

And by your power I am set free

Conclusion:

If you prayed that prayer for the first time then Scripture says “anyone who acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge them before my Father”. I’m going to ask that if you prayed that prayer for the first time would you lift your hand and let me know so that I can celebrate with you.

1. God is so proud of you.

2. The angels are rejoicing.

3. And we believe God has a purpose for your life.

Would you let us know that you made a decision so that we can follow up with you and help you on your next steps?