Spiritual Gifts And Their Operation
By: Pastor James Groce

Introduction:

The nine spiritual gifts can be grouped into four categories;

a. Gifts of Revelation. (wisdom & knowledge).

b. Gifts of Power. (miracles).

c. Gifts of Inspiration. (speaking).

d. Gift of Confidence. (Trust).

1. The church needs the operation of the spiritual gifts but it also requires the wisdom of the Word in order to use them correctly. We must avoid all that is not edifying to the church.

2. I Corinthians 12:1-11.

3. “I would not have you ignorant concerning spiritual gifts.” Sad but most churches are ignorant concerning the gifts.

4. The spiritual gifts are just that–GIFTS!
   b. Ignorance can rob us.

   4. The first test of a gift is doctrinal. “And that no man can say that Jesus is Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.”

   a. “Lord” is kurios in the Greek. It is the New Testament word for stament name for God –Yahweh.

   b. The test of anyone’s gift is an accurate doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   c. The Holy Ghost always leads men to ascribe deity, lordship, and all-sufficiency to Jesus Christ.

   5. People don’t counterfeit what isn’t valuable, and neither does the devil.

   6. The purpose of a gift is SERVICE. “For even the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto but to minister [Greek, diakonos, “to serve.”]” (Mark 10:45).

   7. “Seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church” (ICor.14:12).

   8. Manifestation of the Body.

   a. Jesus Christ revealed Himself in a human body. God was made manifest through that body.

   b. God now reveals Himself through the body of the church.

   c. It is the business of the church to manifest God in the flesh.

   9. There are diversities of operations, but the same Spirit.

   a. Water can be: ice, clouds, hail, snow, frost, steam–very diverse, yet all water.

   b. Must not limit God to only one function.

   10. The groups:

   a. Revelation: Word of wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Discerning of Spirits.

   b. Power: Gifts of healings, Working of Miracles.

   c. Inspiration: Divers kinds of tongues Interpretation of tongues, Prophecy.

   d. Confidence: Faith.

   Spiritual Gifts And Their Operation
   Part Ii

   Introduction: I Cor. 12:1-11

   “There are diversities of operations”–the gifts are different in their
   function.
   a. For example: The gift of working of miracles.

   (1) Moses’ rod. (Plagues, Red Sea, Smiting of the rock).

   (2) Elijah had no rod but a mantle.

   (3) Samson–not a rod or mantle–but in his physique.

   One man finds the working of miracles functioning through his being, another through a mantle, another through a rod, and so the gift can function in different ways, and yet it is the same gift in operation and performed by the same Spirit.

   1. Now the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, which means that the manifestation is given for the general good of everybody. The Spirit of God is not given for personal glory. It is given that the man might be a blessing to the general good of the Church.

   2. We need to be sanctified if we are to be used of God. The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. (Isaiah 10-12)

   3. THE WORD OF WISDOM: “For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom…”

   a. The word of wisdom has nothing to do with our wisdom.

   (1) Speaking in tongues vs. our speaking ability.

   (2) Gifts of healing vs. the medical profession.

   b. There are natural abilities and there are supernatural gifts.

   c. There is natural wisdom and there is wisdom that is divine which comes from God alone.

   d. This gift is listed first. (Because the Word is always preeminent).

   e. It is the word of God’s wisdom imparted to us by the Spirit of God.

   f. Example: Documents composed by lawyers are difficult for the average man to understand. But when presented to a lawyer he can impart to me “a word of wisdom.”

   g. Not the gift of wisdom but a WORD of wisdom.

   h. It is not our wisdom at all. Therefore even a child can be used.

   i. Word of Wisdom: Supernatural revelation of the purpose of God. That which exists only in the mind of God.

   4. THE WORD OF KNOWLEDGE: “to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit.”

   a. The word of knowledge has nothing to do with human knowledge.

   b. It is a manifestation of the Spirit and not of our intellect.

   c.God is all knowing. (Omniscience).

   d. Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

   e. Psalms 139:1-3 O lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.

   f. Samuel & Saul: 1 Samuel 10:22 Therefore they enquired of the LORD further, if the man should yet come thither. And the LORD answered, Behold he hath hid himself among the stuff.

   g. 1 Kings 14:2 And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself, that thou be not known to be the wife of Jeroboam; and get thee to Shiloh: behold, there is Ahijah the prophet, which told me that I should be king over this people. 1 Kings 14:4 And Jeroboam’s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. But Ahijah could not see; for his eyes were set by reason of his age. 1 Kings 14:5 And the LORD said unto Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam cometh to ask a thing of thee for her son; for he is sick: thus and thus shalt thou say unto her: for it shall be, when she cometh in, that she shall feign herself to be another woman. 1 Kings 14:6 And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam; why feignest thou thyself to be another? for I am sent to thee with heavy tidings.

   h. The word of knowledge can expose sin. (Gehazi).

   i. Word of Knowledge is a partial supernatural revelation of the knowledge of God.

   This information was supplied by a subscriber to the Apostolic Information Service.