Throughout4-5sessions, your Home Group can discover the gifts and passions that God has placed in your hearts; and discover why each person is so very important in their community. This is designed as a group experience as it calls for group affirmation, brainstorm- ing, and accountability.
STEP ONE: WELCOME TO THE SPIRITUAL GIFTS PROJECT! Throughout 4-5 sessions,
your Home Group can discover the gifts and passions that God has placed in your hearts; and discover why each person is so very important in their community. This is designed as a group experience as it calls for group affirmation, brainstorm-ing, and accountability. This Leader’s Guide is written with intent to give you di-rection and some amount of background information, but leaves plenty of room for you to lead! There are a few items to note that will help you best use this guide. First, make sure you orient yourself with: The Topic, The Trigger, and The Takeaway (*see definitions below). Second, each step is highlighted with a color to reflect the purpose of the step (*see key below). Third, the Right-Margin is loaded with helpful notes, quotes, and questions that can help you navigate through each step. Lastly, relax and stay flexible. Discovering and discussing your gifts can be messy and fun, and there is a major payoff in the end as people begin to better understand themselves, their value, and God’s design for their life!
Take the mystery out of understanding spiritual gifts!
STEP TWO: Please get familiar with all four sessions before you start this project
with your group. It is important to know where you are going before you get started! You may make a list of materials you need and want to use to help in teaching each week and make sure that you have handouts printed for each par-ticipant. Encourage all members of your group to participate in the process of af-firming individual’s gifts and in the brainstorming process when determining how to best use those gifts. Good luck and Blessings!
The Topic: Refers to the broad-stroke subject that your group will discuss
The Trigger: Refers to a key question that will be answered by “The Takeaway”
The Takeaway: Refers to the main point that you want everyone to walk away with
Key:
Introduction Text Study Activity Application
Every person in your group is valuable to the group!
The Topic: The Indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of every Believer
The Trigger: What is it to walk in the “newness of life” ?
The Takeaway: The Holy Spirit enables and empowers us so that the
ministry of Christ would happen through the Body of Christ
STEP ONE: As we begin this spiritual gifts study/project, let’s not miss The Spirit in
Spiritual Gifts. The Holy Spirit has everything to do with our gifting and our devel-opment as Christ-followers. So, let’s create a good foundation for understanding His role as the base of our doctrinal structure for understanding and engaging our spiritual gifting. Explain Doctrinal Structure (below), we’ll use this as an outline for the next few sessions.
We must recognize and agree that spiritual gifts are not an addition to the spiritual life...not a reward to be earned...not just for the worthy or the vocationally called...or leaders...BUT they are a very real part of the newness of life for every believer!!
STEP THREE: LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A SHORT DISCUSSION ABOUT WHEN A PERSON
RECEIVES THE HOLY SPIRIT. You may: Ask, when did the Holy Spirit first come on the scene in the Bible (Genesis 1). Ask, when did Christ-followers first encounter an indwelling of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1). Ask, when does a person receive the Holy Spirit.
Paul, the Apostle, viewed posses-sion of the Spirit (you have Him/He has you) as going hand-in-hand with being a Christian (Romans 8:9-11)...however we must grow in our relationship to the Spirit. Jesus said...
STEP TWO: USE John 14:16-17; 25-26 TO LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A SHORT DISCUS-
SION ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. Elaborate on these points: 1) The Holy Spirit Is a Person, and 2) The Holy Spirit is God. Consider this statement: He is the Holy Spirit, the intercessor for God and humanity, the breath and power of God; the very spirit of Jesus Christ.
Jesus relates the HS to Himself as He calls Him “another coun-selor” (14:16); He says that the HS will be “with” them (14:17; 25); and that the HS will teach them (14:26).
STEP SIX: Over the next few weeks, we will look at scriptures that reveal how we
are to use our gifts and how we can sharpen our gifts. We will also spend time brainstorming and planning ways that each of you can use your spiritual gifts right now…to serve Pantego and our community; and your family, friends, and co-workers. The Holy Spirit is the imparter and developer of these gifts in individuals - and scripture makes clear that God’s intent is for us to join our gifts and our lives. In community, our gifts will reveal God’s greatness, as He uses us to meet all needs. SO basically, the Holy Spirit enables and empowers us, so that the minis-try of Christ would happen through the Body of Christ.
The Holy Spirit enables and em-powers us, so that the ministry of Christ would happen through the Body of Christ
STEP FIVE: HAVE GROUP MEMBERS TAKE SPIRITUAL GIFTS INVENTORY. Encourage
them to answer according to how they actually are, rather than how they wish they were. Don’t get discouraged or feel bad if you score 0-1 on some or many!! You may want to have some soft music playing in the background while they take the test.
Don’t get discouraged or feel bad if you score 0-1 on some or many!!
STEP FOUR: LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A SHORT DISCUSSION ABOUT THE WORK OF
THE HOLY SPIRIT. Consider the common phrase said during baptisms: “Buried in death with Christ, and raised to walk in the newness of life”. This phrase is found in Paul’s description of the transforming work of Christ in Romans 6. Paul contin-ues this line of thought through the next couple of chapters. In Romans 8, he de-scribes the newness of life as life led by the Holy Spirit. There are many Bible pas-sages that describe the HS’s work. For example, Eph 1:17-23 (HS is God’s presence and power in believers), Rom 8:25-27 (HS prays for us/helps us know the will of God), Isaiah 43:28-44:5 (HS satisfies us in God’s Word), Acts 10:36-48 (HS magni-fies Christ), Romans 8:3-12 (HS gives us life as He sanctifies us). In regards to the HS and spiritual gifting: LUKE writes in Acts, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” PAUL writes to the Corinthian Church (1 C 12) “There are varieties of gifts, but they come from the same Spirit.” *The Reason is: “There are varieties of ministries, all by the same Lord” **And: “There are varieties of effects of these ministries, but its all the same God who works all things in all persons” ***For that reason: Every believer “is given the manifestation of the spirit for the common good” -it goes on to describe many ways the Spirit shapes people for ministry.
“Buried in death with Christ, and raised to walk in the newness of life”
To walk in the newness of life is to be led by the Holy Spirit.
The HS transforms us into the image of God...the way we were intended to think, act, and live!
A part of this transformation includes power and tools for joining in God’s mission.
The Trigger: Why did God provide diverse gifts within the Body?
The Takeaway: God created diversity in the body to increase unity
STEP ONE: Read and review the following notes. Use them to guide your introduc-
tion to this week’s session. Everyone is divinely designed! The Bible tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). We agreed last week that the HS is a real part of every Christian conversion (Romans 8:9-11; John 7:37-39)...And Spiritual Gifts are a part of receiving the Holy Spirit. Often we seem to separate them, as if these spiritual gifts are given to some; or come later if you earn them. This is not true (USE VERSE). What we see in spiritual gifts, is God’s creativity in individuality, and His design for community. Several images are used throughout the NT to describe the Church (family, army, temple, bride, etc…) In 3 of Paul’s letters he uses the metaphor of The Body. And in each of these passages, he brought out the same three important truths: unity, diversity, and maturity. Take a look at the chart below.
Everyone is divinely designed! The Bible tells us that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14).
STEP THREE: Introduce this session’s main text. Remind your group of the doctrinal
structure that you outlined last week. In this session, you will focus on the first pil-lar (1 Cor 12). Provide your group with background on Paul’s letter to the Corin-thian Christians. Here’s some basic info: In the Corinthian church, unfortunately, the members were grieving the HS by selfish attitudes, even in regards to their gifting. It’s a sad situation that Paul is writing to. Instead of embracing and en-couraging each others gifts…and coming together to make a whole body, there was division in the Corinthian church…who was more important…groups formed. They postured themselves according to their view of the importance of their own gifting.
Paul wrote in order to address a variety of *issues that the early Corinthian church was experienc-ing. His desire was for the church to change what needed changing and be encouraged in the right things. His resolutions usually focused around the church experiencing a greater sense of submission to Christ and love towards each other.
STEP TWO: Comment on the giftedness of people in your group. Point out the diver-
sity within your group. (i.e. “He gave some of you in this room gifts of… and oth-ers…God was so attentive in giving _________ the gift of ________.”) Unfortu-nately, as your test results will surely show, no one person has all 18 gifts on this test rated at the top. But, this is one way God reveal how much we are to rely on each other…we need each other’s giftedness...we need each other.
The diversity found in community is one way God reveals how we are to rely on each other.
Intended Interdependence of the Whole Body
Unity Diversity Maturity
1 Corinthians 12:1-13 12:14-31 13:1-13
Romans 12:1-5 12:6-8 12:9-21
Ephesians 4:1-6 4:7-12 4:13-16
What we see in spiritual gifts, is God’s creativity in individuality, and His design for community.
STEP FOUR: LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A DISCUSSION THROUGH 1 COR 12. In response
to the Corinthian infighting and posturing, he began with an emphasis on the one-ness of the church. We read last week of the unity found in gifting (1 Cor. 12:1-13). They “confessed the same Lord, depended on the same God, ministered to the same body, experienced the same baptism. And then in vv. 14-20, he focuses on diversity, and in grasping this, they should begin to experience the maturity that he goes on to write about. HAVE YOUR GROUP READ 1 COR 12:14-20 BY PAIRING (these pairing are included on the handouts). Use the following notes to aid your discussion. Ask partici-pants to respond to the pairings. *See a few sample questions included in the right margin. V14 connects to V12 -many implications on unity and diversity -the church itself is the body of Christ so that what applies to a body also applies to the church V14-17 14-16 indicate diversity and reference the division happening amongst the Corinthian Christians V17 while 14-16 was based on the existence of a difference between members…17 lends to the opposite idea, as it considers the members only in their connected state…as the whole V18 connects to V11…and helps to interpret V11 -God, with intention, placed the different members together to make a whole…and it says specifically that this was for His own pleasure…and I think the reason that it pleases Him is that their interdependence would reflect His creative wisdom and glory V19 connects to V17 -Consider, in regard to the nature of a member and of a body: *“Suppose there were unity of all the members but that unity were “one member” – then the whole could not be distinguished from its parts, but all the members would be one homogeneous mass. That would mean that the unity, the organism of the body, would not exist. The body is not just the total of the members, it is something to be considered as different from the members.” V20 describes the actual situation: one body, many members. This connects back to V12. Unity due to diversity. V21 draws a conclusion from the fact that the body is one. If the body is a unity then the members are related just because they are the members of one organ-ism. He almost makes it seem ridiculous to have division as he writes: READ V21. The body needs different functions if it is to live, grow, and serve (14-20). No member should compare or contrast itself with any other member, because each one is different and each one is important. There is a tendency to magnify the limelight gifts…Paul refutes this in this para-graph. Each organ has an important ministry! Diversity in the body is an evidence of the wisdom of God. Each member needs the other members, and no member can afford to become independent.
All of this should point to a unified community.
how does v14 connect to v12?
what does this pairing reveal?
The body is not just the total of the members, it is something to be considered as different from the members
How does v18 help to interpret v11?
It’s pretty tough to walk on your hands...to type or to eat with your feet. Your ear cannot see…and your eye cannot hear. No one has ever been able to smell through their ears. Each organ has an important ministry!
STEP FIVE: HAVE GROUP MEMBERS DRAW/DESCRIBE THEMSELVES AS A “PART” OF
THE BODY OF CHRIST (AN EYE, HAND, ETC). Encourage them to have fun with this. No artistic ability is necessary. The point to describe how each see them-selves. Ask, why did you select that part? Ask, how connected are you to your church body?
Share your description first. “I’m a mouth (b/c I love to talk and teach or encourage people)...and maybe a nose (because I can usu-ally smell which way the wind is blowing).” I use these in my com-munity in this way __________.
STEP SIX: There is great diversity amongst the body in regards to our spiritual gift-
ing. This is no accident. What we see in spiritual gifts, is God’s creativity in indi-viduality, and His design for community. God created diversity in the body to increase
unity as we depend on Him together and serve one another in His strength. Consider over the next week these questions: 1) How do I (or could I) use my gifts and abilities within the church? 2) What could I do to help the body function better? 3) What holds you back from using your gifts more fully?
God created diversity in the body to increase unity as we depend on Him together and serve one an-other in His strength.
The Trigger: Is there a purpose to my spiritual gifting?
The Takeaway: Your DNA is specific and fitted to build up the church
STEP ONE: Read and review the following notes. Use them to guide your introduc-
tion to this week’s session. God gifted you to glorify Himself. He will also bless you for honoring Him. The Greek word for “gift” that we’ve been dealing with is “charis” and it relates to the emotion of “unspeakable joy”. In other words, God’s plan was to bless you with “joy unspeakable” through your natural and spiritual motivations. God created you to experience joy in your life. Many Christians are miserable because they don’t understand how God wants to exercise His gifts through them. You may: Ask, what is our traditional definition of “grace”? Let’s add this to your definitions: Grace is also the “ability and power to do God’s will”. God has given each of us a measure of grace to glorify Him. The Spiritual enjoy-ment that God intends for us only comes when we exercise God’s grace in our lives. And this points to the passage that we will focus on in this session. Ephe-sians 4 is the next pillar in our doctrinal structure. Verse 1 says “I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called”. In your spiritual gifting, you will find how you can better live in your potential in relation-ship with Christ. This is because we glorify Him best when He uses our giftedness in ministry.
Many Christians are miserable because they don’t understand how God wants to exercise His gifts through them.
STEP THREE: LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A SHORT DISCUSSION ABOUT THE 5 GIFTS TO
THE CHURCH THAT ARE MENTIONED IN Ephesians 4:11. Note that these are not gifts made to people, but rather gifts made of people. Also, these are not officers/offices, but rather, descriptive of some of the active roles that help move the church to it’s purpose of serving and building up the body. You may: Ask, The Bi-ble refers to 3 kinds of apostle...what are these (Acts 1:21-22; 1 Cor 15:8-9; Eph 4:11)? Ask, What is the common/main function of apostles?
These are not offices held by indi-viduals, but the activity of indi-viduals.
STEP TWO: USE Ephesians 4:1-12 AND THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS TO LEAD YOUR
GROUP IN A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE POTENTIAL AND PURPOSE OF SPIRITUAL GIFTING. Discussion Questions:
From vv.1-6, what does it mean “to live a life worthy of the calling you have received”? What does it take to accomplish this? What does v.7 mean “according to the measure of Christ”? What is different in the emphasis from v.7 to v.11? Is the list in v.11 meant to be exhaustive? Why does the Lord want to equip all the people in the church? What is to be the activity of the saints?
For answers to these questions and more info, visit: http://www.kevinboyd.com/2011/01/my-hope-for-you-as-community-part-3.html
Designated & Natural Abilities Understanding and Valuing Your
We glorify Him best when He uses our giftedness in ministry.
“I implore you to walk in a man-ner worthy of the calling with which you have been called”.
To expand the Kingdom by estab. Churches & moving the message into new areas
You may: Ask, Describe the task of the OT Prophet. Ask, What is different about the NT prophet? Ask, What is the main function of the prophet? You may: Ask, What is the main function of the evangelist? (Acts 21:8-Philip; 2 Tim 4:5-Timothy) You may: Ask, What is the main function of the shepherd? You may: Ask, What is the main function of the teacher? You may: Ask, Was Jesus APEST (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Shepherd, Teacher) in His ministry? Eugene Petersen wrote in his commentary on Ephesians that our engaging of these gifts in community is “an expression of the ministry of Christ through the body of Christ”! If you are looking back to your gifts test and wondering why you don’t see any of these 5 listed in your tops list…then let me recommend this: You may look to your list and see that some combination = similar activity to an APEST role. What I mean is that if you have high discernment and wisdom, then you may fall under-neath the activity/role of propheting. HEAR THIS CAUTION: Remember, in Eph 4, these are not talking about offices/positional leaders. Rather, these are the roles that we may fall into due to our cre-ated and redeemed wiring. Just because you see that you have the gifting of propheting, doesn’t mean that you are the official group prophet…and that all oth-ers must at all times submit to you because you are wired to better discern God’s leading!! This does mean that this is the way that you should focus much of your serving
your community. And all of these gifting must be sharpened by deeper under-
standing of the gift, God, and yourself.
To fill in needed revelation by edification, comforting, commu-nicating
Have you ever considered your personality a gift from God?
To win converts to the faith
To care for the flock
To instruct in facts, skills, & ethics based on the scriptures
STEP FOUR: God typically uses people in specific areas based upon their giftedness.
However, God uses all personalities and spiritual gifts in great ways. No personal-ity or spiritual gift is better than the others. You may: Ask, Have you ever consid-ered your personality a gift from God? Everyone has a personality…there are no “bad” personalities (THOUGH, you may be able to suggest someone who you think has ‘a bad personality’). It is what people do with their personality that’s good or bad. Our personalities are given to us, in part at conception…God divinely and ge-netically designed each of us for a purpose. He also allowed our families, experi-ences and our environment to influence us into the person we are today. ASK: 1) Why did God create us with different personalities? 2) How would you de-scribe your personality? Have each person write their personality and gifts. If you have time, have some share what they wrote.
STEP FOUR: Check out these 4 personality-types found in the Bible. I bet that you
resonate with one of the groupings. Read the descriptions with your group. Read-
up this week on the grouping that you best fit with. Notice the strengths and
weaknesses that may stem from their personality-type.
The Driven, Determined, Strong-Willed Type: PAUL Left for dead, imprisoned, stoned, forsaken, forgotten…pressed on….didn’t worry about what anyone thought about him, except for God. He also learned obedi-ence and submission @ Damascus. SARAH Grew tired of waiting for God to give her the child He promised. SO she “dominated” and devised her own way. She ordered Hagar to have a child. Sarah then raised the child as her own. When Sarah didn’t like how it was turning out…she blamed Abraham. She was dominate; however WHAT GOOD DID THAT NA-TURE PROVIDE HER WITH? Her self assurance enabled her to leave her home for an undetermined destination. She knew it was right. The Passionate, Ardent-Enthusiast Type: PETER Was often dramatic. Spoke great things…sometimes did not follow through him-self. God used this in Peter to make him a great preacher of God’s word @ Pente-cost and beyond. RUTH Shared with Peter a fierce loyalty. She enticed Naomi to let her travel with her. She was creative and industrious…this gained the attention of Boaz. The Faithful and Willing Type: MOSES Moses was unsure of himself. He tried to avoid being up front and speaking…with this man, God called him to do something even outside of his natural personality. His “slow-to-speak and sometimes sheepish” demeanor helped him trust in God, rather than in himself throughout the wilderness journey. HANNAH Was submissive and remained faithful, even though her dreams were not fulfilled. She begged God for a child…she was able to react, still confident in God, even when her wishes were not fulfilled. Incredible example for us all . The Logical, Thoughtful, Organized-Mind Type: THOMAS Needed proof and answers to questions. Jesus didn’t belittle Thomas, but gave him the evidence needed to serve the Lord in a great way. Thomas went on to be an extremely effective missionary to India. ESTHER As the Queen, she was willing to comply with the rules and requirements of her position. Yet, when it became necessary to “bend” the rules, she wanted to make sure that it was done correctly. Esther prayed for reassurance and wisdom to pro-ceed cautiously.
Compare and contrast yourself with the Bible-person with your personality-type.
The Trigger: So what do I do with my spiritual gifting?
The Takeaway: My Job in Community is:
STEP ONE: The focus of this session is based on the stewardship call of our last two
pillars in our doctrinal structure. You may notice that *The Takeaway for this ses-sion seems unfinished. That is because this week session relies heavily upon the creativity and brainstorming of your group in helping to determine each individ-ual’s personal mission statement, or job in community. The Takeaway for each person will be specific to their gifting and personality. This is the payoff for this whole experience; and it can be an exciting time as people begin connect to the practical ways that they bring value to the group. Read and review the following notes. Use them to guide your introduction to this week’s session. Ask, Did you find yourself similar in reactions and decision-making to the personality of the Bible-person you studied this week? Ask, Do you find your personality traits and spiritual gifting aligning, or do they seem in contrast to one another? (Give them time to think and respond to these 2 questions—their re-sponses are a great building block for later discussion in this session.) Most people have spiritual gifts Ask, why does God give some people spiritual gifts that seem to not match their personality? In answer, consider the story of Moses in Exodus 4:10-15. Ask, What lesson did God want Moses to learn? Regardless of whether your spiritual gifts and personality type relate to each other, God has a purpose for gifting you the way He has. Be open to the unique way God wants to use you. Ask, What do you think? How well does your combina-tion personality and spiritual gift describe you? Recognizing your uniqueness can help you find your place of service. Everybody is somebody in the Body of Christ. Discovering your giftedness helps you understand how God has designed you to glorify Himself. We glorify Him best when He uses our giftedness in ministry.
There are plenty of times that God calls us to a task or a work that we do not feel qualified or gifted to do. Moses felt this way…
We glorify Him best when He uses our giftedness in ministry.
How well does your combination personality and spiritual gift de-scribe you?
STEP TWO: LEAD YOUR GROUP IN COMPARISON BETWEEN 1 PETER 4 AND RO-
MANS 12. We have focused on the foundation of spiritual gifts (The Holy Spirit) and a couple of key pillars in spiritual gift doctrine. As we approach these last pil-lars, you’ll see that Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4:10-11 have a lot in common. We’ll focus on the Peter passage. Use the following notes to help answer the question: How are Romans 12:1-8 and 1 Peter 4:7-11 alike? 1P 4:10-11 are part of a para-graph that begins in verse 7: READ v.7-8. In context, and like Paul, Peter combines the concepts of sober thought and love with spiritual gifts. In Romans 12, Paul teaches about spiritual gifts following the exhortation to have a renewed mind and not to think too highly of oneself. Peter uses a similar verb in V. 7 to tell his read-ers to think soberly.
The use of spiritual gifts should extend from the right purpose and attitude
to achieve MY PURPOSE Using my Gifting & Personality
The other similarity is that each insists that believers must demonstrate love. In fact, it is possible that spiritual gifts in verses 10-11 are actually there to help ex-plain love in verse 8 (along with hospitality in verse 9). What’s for sure from Ro-mans 12 and 1 Peter 4 is the close connection between love and spiritual gifts.
You will determine each individ-ual’s personal mission statement, or job in community.
STEP FOUR: Here’s the payoff! Spend the rest of your time brainstorming as a group
to help them understand what to do with their gifting. Use the participant hand-out to guide this experience. You will probably want to use a whiteboard or poster-sized post-its to help the group see the task. 1) On the left column, write a person’s gifting. 2) On the right column write their personality traits. 3) Then, ask the group to point out the natural connections between their two columns. Draw lines between those connections. 4) After you have made several natural connections, ask the group to tell you what those connections indicate that the person should be good at. 5) Lastly, based on your brainstorming, write a one-sentence job descrip-tion for the person. *See my example for help in this (next page).
So this should be seen not just as reaching towards our potential…but as fulfilling our purpose.
In this passage, Peter combines all spiritual gifts into two catego-ries: speaking and serving. Peter does not help us identifying which specific gifts belong to which category. In fact, Peter does not say that each spiritual gift easily fits within one of these two cate-gories, or that these are the only two categories. The emphasis is not on defining the individuals gifts.
STEP THREE: USE 1 Peter 4:8-11 LEAD YOUR GROUP IN A BRIEF DISCUSSION ABOUT
STEWARDSHIP OF YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTING. V.8 describes that our love should be fervent and forgiving… Fervent love of 1 Pe-ter 4. This is driven, passionate sounding phrase. What it actually means is to stretch out the hand, striving with all of one’s energy. And this part of the defini-tion teaches us that this love is not a feeling; it is a matter of will. and in v.9 that it should be hospitable…READ v.9. In v.10, Peter directly connects
the “how” of Christian love with the stewardship of spiritual gifting. READ v.10.
Christian love must result in service. God has entrusted to each of us these gifts
that we might use them for the good of His church. He even gives us the spiritual
ability to develop our gifts and be faithful servants of the church. Note this pic-
ture we have in verse 10 is of a house with variously talented stewards who are
given the owner's funds to administer. (The next sentence is on the participant
handout as fill-in-the-blank). The house is the church, the stewards are all of us,
the various talents are all our varied gifts, the funds are God's grace and the ad-
ministration is the exercise of our gifts. The most striking part of this comparison
is the analogy between the owner's funds and God's grace. Grace is the currency
in the household of God. We are called to be stewards of grace. Finally, in v.11,
we see that all giftings are important to the church, and all are connected to a
phrase that I mentioned in week 1: The ministry of Christ through the body of
Christ. READ v.11.
The emphasis is not on defining or describing the individual gifts.
This passage also links exercising spiritual gifts to worship READ v.11 – "that in everything God might be glorified through Jesus Christ" (v. 11). This means that God's aim in giving us gifts, and in giving us the faith to exercise them, is that his glory might be displayed. He wants us and the world to marvel at him and think he is fantastic. We bring glory to God when we speak the words of God and serve in the strength that God provides. This is worship, and exercising spiritual gifts en-courages others toward worship.
“Helping people to understand and move towards their potential in God, and their place in community.” (Look for teaching and training opportunities.)
Picture in V. 10: The house is _the church__, the stewards are _all of us_, the various talents are _our varied gifts__, the funds are _God’s grace__, and the administration is _exercising our gifts_ .
My Giftings Describes My Personality
Teaching
Leading
Evangelism
Wisdom
Administration
Driven
Extrovert
Casual/informal
Thinker/Over-thinker
Optimistic
Kevin Boyd
The APOSTLE PAUL had to wait 3 years before God began to use him in a great way!
STEP FIVE: Once you identify your giftedness, getting involved can be extremely en-
joyable. Experiment and you will feel comfortable and confident when you serve where you fit best. You will also be more effective since you will operate our of your strengths. Also recognize that just identifying your gifts and personality does-n’t necessarily mean that you are ready to roll. IT DOES give you guidance into the directions that you will serve most efficiently and most joyfully!
What I should be good at:
-Leading from the front -Teaching classes -Motivating and training -Helping people find their right place in an organization (administration) -Giving direction, explaining direction
