THE EQUIPPING
MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
One of the more important ministries of the
Holy Spirit is that of preparing the church for ministry. The equipping ministry of the Holy Spirit is
centered in the dimension of spiritual gifts, which defines the service of the
church. Get your Bibles out and let’s
take a closer look at spiritual gifts.
First of all, what they are not.
The gift of the Spirit – The gift of the Spirit is
not a spiritual gift. The believer is
given the Holy Spirit when he/she believes in Jesus Christ as personal
savior. The presence of the Holy Spirit
in the believer is proof of salvation.
(Acts 2:38; John 14:16,17; 7:37-39; Romans 5:5; I John 3:24; Romans 8:9;
Ephesians 1:13) However, when the
Spirit takes up His residence within a believer, He brings His gifts with Him.
The fruit of the Spirit – The fruit of the Spirit
is the full-orbed symmetrical character of Christ as opposed to the character
of Adam; supernatural traits as opposed to natural traits (Galatians 5:19- 24).
Spiritual offices – Spiritual offices
(pastor/teacher, elder, deacon) may be desired and have certain well-defined
qualifications (I Timothy 3:1, 3:2-12).
Spiritual gifts are sovereignly bestowed upon every believer, not just
the leadership (I Corinthians 12:7,11,18, 28).
Places of service - Spiritual gifts are not
places of service such as working with youth, ushering, Sunday school
superintendent, etc. Gifts are used in
these strategic areas but are not synonymous with them.
A natural talent or ability - A natural talent is a
natural endowment, an innate ability to do something well. A spiritual gift is a super natural ability
to accomplish something well. A natural
talent that you may have before salvation does not become your spiritual gift
after salvation, although you still have your natural talent. Spiritual gifts come with the Holy Spirit
and are brand new to the believer. A
natural talent may or may not be the channel through which a spiritual gift is
used.
Then what exactly are spiritual gifts?
• The Holy Spirit manifesting Himself in a unique way through each
believer to accomplish a specific purpose in the Body of Christ.
• The Holy Spirit doing a work through the believer and using the
believer to do it (I Corinthians 12:7).
• A God given ability for spiritual service in the Body of
Christ.
• A spiritual capacity for service.
• The believer’s spiritual function in a spiritual body – his unique
job description in the body. A
spiritual gift enables the believer to perform a particular function in the
body with considerable ease and efficiency.
Consider some distinctions of spiritual
gifts:
• Spiritual gifts = spiritual
abilities
• Spiritual graces = spiritual characteristics
• Spiritual offices = A capacity of leadership in the local church.
Spiritual gifts are distributed to everyone
(I Peter 4:10, 11). In I Corinthians
12:4-6 we see the relationship of the trinity to spiritual gifts.
The purpose of spiritual
gifts is primarily for edification of the Body of Christ (I Cor. 12:7). In Ephesians 4:11-16 we see how beautifully
this works. The end result of spiritual
gifts is seen in I Peter 4:10,11: THE
GLORY OF GOD.
So you see folks, the message of spiritual
gifts has many ramifications which are greatly important as we shall see in the
weeks to come. God bless,
Love to you all