Class Outline:
Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Thursday,
June 23, 2011
Spiritual Gifts Part 135: Spiritual gifts are God’s secret weapon to foster unity in the church.
At the moment of salvation, God the Holy Spirit, in one of His seven ministries to the new believer at salvation, bestowed on you a spiritual gift.
But one purpose God has for your life after salvation is for you to discover your spot on the team and then make the most of it.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, then you have a spiritual gift.
Spiritual gifts are the sovereign decision of God the Holy Spirit, , 11.
The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts
Point 1: Setting the scene for Paul’s teaching on the Spiritual Gifts.
The most extensive treatment of the subject of spiritual gifts is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14.
The first letter of Paul to the Corinthians can be seen as an appeal to unity in the face of some shocking examples of disunity.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians sometime in AD 53 or 54 when he was in Ephesus.
1. Paul had received an oral report from a woman by the name of Chloe with some alarming information, ; 5:1.
2. He received a disturbing letter directly from the church at Corinth, a letter displayed an appalling lack of understanding about what Paul was teaching them, .
This problem was festering in the church of Corinth, and Paul addressed the problem head on with his teaching on the spiritual gifts.
This problem was disunity. Division.
The problem is that various factions were making an issue of who was better and who was worse and who belonged to this faction versus that faction. There was bickering and arguing and dissension in the ranks.
