Gifted to Serve

Theme: Spiritual Gifts

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 12

Objectives: (From the D6 Fusion Sunday School Lesson book)

Know: Paul instructed the Corinthians that the Spirit gives each believer spiritual gifts to be used for God’s glory and the building of His kingdom.

Think: I have the great privilege of using the spiritual gifts God has given me to help build His kingdom.

Do: Use my spiritual gifts to serve the Lord and His church.

Notes and questions:

B1 Introductory questions

C1 What is the difference between a natural talent (gift) and a spiritual one?

C2 If someone has a natural talent, can that be used by God as a spiritual gift?

C3 Have you thought about what spiritual gift God has given you?

B2 1 Corinthians 12:1-11,

C1 What are spiritual things? The word gifts is added by the translators. Since the topic is gifts (verse 4), it is reasonable to consider gifts is the noun for the adjective.

C2 The gift is not what is important. What is important is the giver, the servant, the servant’s faith, and the servant’s fruit.

D1 The giver is the Holy Spirit.

D2 The servant is the church, that is, believers. We serve God. The gift is to serve the church (believers). Our gift is not for our benefit, for it is for the church.

D3 Faith is very important to God. We must believe. We must use the gift. God expects us to be good stewards.

D4 The fruit is the using, and whatever results come from it.

C3 The gifts themselves are broad categories. Under teaching, for example, this could happen in many different settings, countries, and topics.

C4 Are the gifts something we deserve, something we earn, or God’s grace?

C5 1 Corinthians 12:2-3 shows a contrast between false gods (idols) and the Spirit of God. They have left those false things and now they are new. Before conversion, they may have been in a trance and said and done things under the influence of a demon. Now, they are new. They are no longer in passivity but actively serving God.

C5 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 is best understood by various translations. Consider:

D1 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 GW  There are different spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.  5  There are different ways of serving, and yet the same Lord is served.  6  There are different types of work to do, but the same God produces every gift in every person.

D2 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 GNB  There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.  5  There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served.  6  There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.

D3 1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NLT There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. 5 There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. 6 God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us.

D4 Who is the giver? Whom do we serve? Who is the one who produces the results?

C6 1 Corinthians 12:7,

D1 For whom do we use these gifts?

D2 Who has these gifts?

D3 So, do you have a gift?

C7 1 Corinthians 12:8-10,

D1 Wisdom

E1 Acts 6:10 NKJV And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

E2 Acts 7:10 NKJV And delivered him (Joseph) out of all his troubles, and gave him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

E3 Discuss wisdom

D2 Knowledge

E1 Ephesians 3:3-4 NKJV  How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,  4  by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ).

E2 1 Corinthians 13:8 NKJV  Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

E3 Discuss knowledge

D3 Faith

E1 Hebrews 11:11 NKJV  By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

E2 Hebrews 11:29 NKJV  By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.

E3 Discuss faith

D4 Gifts of healing

E1 Acts 19:11-12 NKJV  Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul,  12  so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

E2 Matthew 10:1 NKJV  And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.

E3 Discuss gifts of healing

D5 Working of miracles

E1 Galatians 3:5 NKJV  Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

E2 Hebrews 2:4 NKJV  God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

E3 Discuss working of miracles

D6 Prophecy

E1 Acts 11:28 NKJV  Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.

E2 Acts 21:10-11 NKJV  And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.  11  When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

E3 Ephesians 3:3-5 NKJV  How that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,  4  by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),  5  which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets.

E4 1 Corinthians 12:29 NKJV  Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?

E5 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 GW  Now suppose you speak what God has revealed. When unbelievers or outsiders come in you will show them where they are wrong and convince them that they are sinners.  25  The secrets in their hearts will become known, and in this way they will quickly bow with their faces touching the ground, worship God, and confess that God is truly among you.

E6 Discuss prophecy

D7 Discerning of spirits

E1 1 John 4:1 NKJV  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

E2 1 Timothy 4:1 NKJV  Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons.

E3 Discuss discerning of spirits

D8 Languages (tongues)

E1 Acts 2:4-6 GNB  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.  5  There were Jews living in Jerusalem, religious people who had come from every country in the world.  6  When they heard this noise, a large crowd gathered. They were all excited, because all of them heard the believers talking in their own languages.

E2 1 Corinthians 14:22-23 GW  So the gift of speaking in other languages is a sign for unbelievers, not for believers. The gift of speaking what God had revealed is a sign for believers, not for unbelievers.  23  Suppose the whole congregation gathers in the same place and you speak in other languages. When outsiders or unbelievers come in, won't they say that you're out of your mind?

E3 Discuss (unknown) languages

C8 1 Corinthians 12:11 GNB  But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.

B3 1 Corinthians 12:12-31,

C1 1 Corinthians 12:12-13: Does God give these gifts based on a person’s status in society?

C2 1 Corinthians 12:14-27,

D1 Which is more important—the heart or the eye?

D2 Which is more important—the nose or the kidneys?

D3 Are all our body parts important?

D4 Are any not needed?

D5 If I smash my finger with a hammer, is that less pain than a migraine?

D6 Do all have importance?

D7 Do all Christians have importance?

D8 Someone with the gift of teaching may be world renown, while another may be known only to a few. Which one is more important to God?

D9 All of us have a gift from the Holy Spirit to serve the church (believers). Each of us is needed.

D10 You are important to the church.

C3 1 Corinthians 12:28-31,

D1 1 Corinthians 12:28-31 GNB  In the church God has put all in place: in the first place apostles, in the second place prophets, and in the third place teachers; then those who perform miracles, followed by those who are given the power to heal or to help others or to direct them or to speak in strange tongues.  29  They are not all apostles or prophets or teachers. Not everyone has the power to work miracles  30  or to heal diseases or to speak in strange tongues or to explain what is said.  31  Set your hearts, then, on the more important gifts. Best of all, however, is the following way.

D2 Who has more authority in the church?

D3 Who is more important to God?

B4 What happens to the church, if you do not use your gift?

B5 How can we glorify God this week?

B6 Next week:

C1 Love: The Greatest of All

C2 Theme: The excellence of love

C3 Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 13