Spiritual Gifts part 149: Those who serve must first be full of wisdom
Pastor-Teacher
John Farley
Thursday,
July 28, 2011
Spiritual Gifts Part 149: Those who serve must first be full of wisdom, which comes from knowing and doing God’s will.
The Doctrine of Spiritual Gifts
Point 3: What is a “Spiritual Gift”?
A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability graciously given by God the Holy Spirit to each believer ( without regard to merit) at the moment of salvation …
…so that the Holy Spirit might manifest Himself in effective service for the benefit of the Royal Family, ending up with God the Father being glorified through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Each spiritual gift mentioned here in Romans 12 has a corresponding quality or capacity that needs to be in place so the believer can draw from it when operating in the gift.
We develop capacity to function in our spiritual gifts by having our minds renewed.
And our minds are renewed by consistently learning the word of God through the teaching ministry of the pastor- teacher that God has provided for us.
δοκιμάζω
dokimazo
to test (literally or figuratively); by implication, to approve:
to test, examine, prove, scrutinize (to see whether a thing be genuine or not), as metals:
to scrutinize so as to decide, to test with the expectation of approving; to approve of, accept as trustworthy; to discern.
“to try to learn the genuineness of something by examination and testing, often through actual use”
(Louw & Nida)
We learn the word of God. We are then transformed by the renewing of our mind.
This prepares us to able to scrutinize and examine the plan of God for our lives.
We learn the genuine goodness and perfection of God’s will and plan for our lives by examination and actually using it!
This is Angelic Conflict language. It shows the advancing believer as that witness for the prosecution.
Your spiritual gift becomes operational through normal spiritual growth.
a. Spiritual growth. Some believers use their equal privilege and equal opportunity and achieve phenomenal growth.
b. Spiritual gifts. The distinction among believers in spiritual gifts has its source in the sovereign wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
1. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the absolute concept of experiential Christianity.
2. The degree of spiritual growth is the relative concept of experiential Christianity.
As you have momentum from doctrine, your spiritual gift will function, even without your awareness.
Why is it absolutely necessary to grow spiritually and have a soul full of doctrine in order to function effectively in your spiritual gift?
This is the intersection of the two power sources in the Christian way of life: Bible doctrine and the filling of the Spirit.
the sovereignty of God and the free will of man co-exist….operate together… in human history by the divine decree.
How does the body grow? When the TRUTH is spoken, in love.
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