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Learning My Gift
not always worshippers of God. Sometimes to help people appreciate where they are they need to be re- minded of where they come from. In the past people worshipped gods that could not help them or hear them.
Paul teaches the church about the gifts of the Spirit. There are a variety of gifts, but they come from the same Spirit (vs. 4). God has given gifts to His children for the use in ministry. The gift that one person has may not be the same gift of another. Al- though the gifts differ, it must be understood that they come from the same Spirit. Imagine a church if everybody had the same gift. How much growth will the church experience?
Paul takes his claim even further, he says, there are different services, but the same Lord (vs. 5).
Everybody in the church does not have the same min- istry. There are some peo- ple who sing in the choir
that will make terrible ush- ers. Because a person works in the school does not mean his/her ministry should be the children’s ministry. There is a difference be- tween occupation and gift!
Nonetheless, whatever a person’s ministry is, it is given for the glory and edifi- cation of God and not for the individual. Your gift and ministry should point peo- ple to Christ not to you.
Look closer to the next statement he makes; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone (vs. 6).
He restates the same idea he just uses a different word; “activities.” In this verse he speaks to the source of the power given to the ministry or gift. He teaches the church that God gives power or activates the gift. Your gift or ministry must be activated or pow- ered by God for it to make the difference it is designed
to make.
God powers each and
every person’s gift. God gives the power to the pastor who has twenty members as well as the one with two- thousand. God anoints the choir who sings with a full orchestra as well as the one singing with audio tracks.
What the people of God must learn and accept is that God is giving to the church, the body of Christ, the gifts and ministries that are needed to do the work of the Kingdom. The Holy Ghost gives the gift for the work and service of Christ and God gives it power.
Having the gift means nothing to the Kingdom of God, if you are not using it to point people to Christ. Use the gift and ministry you have been blessed with to the glory of God. Do not look down on somebody else’s gift or exalt yours above others. They all come from the same Spirit, to serve the same Lord, anointed by the same God!
There are many gifts working in the church today. People spend a lot of time trying to identify their gifts so they do not feel left out. There are some who have gifts, but are ignorant to the workings of the gifts. This is the situation Paul ad- dresses to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 12:1-11).
While people are happy they have a gift or are trying to discover their gift, they need to understand some- thing important about the gift.
Verse 1 - Now con- cerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.
Paul shifts the focus of his letter to the church to address spiritual gifts. Many people are not knowl- edgeable about the gifts of the spirit. The gifts come from the Holy Ghost and are given for use in building God’s kingdom.
These gifts are given, controlled, and powered by the spirit of God. The peo- ple of the Body of Christ must learn as much as they can about the gifts of the Spirit.
Verse 2 - You know that when you were pa- gans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.
Paul here reminds them of their past life. They were
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