Introduction To Spiritual Gifts

Raul Ries: You may have the gift of serving, and I may have the gift of government. You may have the gift of discernment, I may have the gift of healing. It's like a puzzle. Everybody needs everybody in the body of Christ to fulfill the puzzle. The problem is when the hand is trying to go this opposite direction and the head is going this way.
Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Well as we continue our series focused on the power of a spirit led life, it is great to have you along today. Raul will challenge us to work in harmony with our fellow believers. We've all been given unique spiritual gifts, so there's no need for us to be territorial or competitive. As we come together to build God's kingdom, our giftings will complement and enhance each other. Here is Raul Ries in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 with the lesson, Introduction to Spiritual Gifts.
Raul Ries: Well the apostle now begins in a very tough issue in the word of God. And one of the things that now he's going to begin to do is he's going to begin to teach us concerning the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ. Now what is interesting is that there has been so much abuse of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that many times people become afraid even to study what God declares in His word. And yet when you look at the scriptures, there's approximately 100 New Testament references concerning spiritual gifts in the Bible. And when it comes to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and you begin to study through the scriptures what God declares, it's amazing how much God wants you and I to have of His grace, of His love, His mercies. And when you study the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there is a classification and distribution of the gifts. We call them the gifts of revelation, the gifts of power, and the gifts of inspiration. When we talk about the gifts of revelation, we're talking about vocal gifts or what we call the gift of wisdom, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, or the discerning of spirits. And when we speak of the gifts of power, we're speaking of the gift of faith, the gift of working of miracles, and the gift of healings. And when we talk about the gifts of inspiration, these are the vocal gifts and that is the gift of prophecy, the gift of different kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. And these are found here in the 12th chapter of the book of 1st Corinthians. Look how Paul begins chapter 12 beginning with verse 1 as he begins to describe the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He begins with an admonition to the church, verses 1 to 3, look what he says. "And now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant." Now the first thing that Paul is doing is he's beginning to establish doctrinally what we should not be doing concerning spiritual gifts. And the reason that they're doing it is because they are ignorant of the word of God. They don't have the understanding. And that's usually the case. It's not that people are mean or they're bad, it's just that they don't know. And once they find out and they're corrected and you share with them in love, then it solves the problem. But again, when Paul is writing, he says, "Now concerning spiritual gifts," in the literal writing, spiritual gifts is not in its context. The word gifts, charismas, has been added by the translators. It's italicized if you see it, it's not in the original writing. Literally in the Greek, it should read "now concerning spirituals," speaking of the gifts. "Now concerning spirituals or literally things of the spirit," he says "brethren, Christians, I do not want you to be ignorant, so I am going to teach you," he says, "I'm going to explain it to you." Verse 2 again, "You know that you were heathens carried away by those dumb idols, idols however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one can speak by the Holy Spirit of God and call Jesus anathema or accursed. Secondly, no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." And when does that happen? It happens at conversion. As you and I are praying for our loved ones, our friends, our enemies, and as God begins to work in a person's life, the Holy Spirit now is with them. They're not Christians yet, He's with them convicting them of sin. That's what He's doing. And once God has been working over a period of days or weeks or months or years and that person comes to a full conviction and wants to repent of their sins and wants to be converted and wants to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit now within, now the in experience comes upon his life and that is when Jesus Christ becomes Lord of his life when they become Christians, being born again of the Holy Spirit. And then Paul says the "upon" or the "epi" experience in the Greek. And that is the fullness of the Holy Spirit, which we need the power to witness, so that we can be witnesses. And that is the Holy Spirit coming upon my life and baptizing me with the Holy Spirit and that's not a once and for all experience, that can happen over and over and over. That's what Jesus taught and that's what Paul will teach. It's a constant filling of the Holy Spirit in my life where my cup runs over, over and over and over. And that is what the church needs today more than anything else, power, dunamis power through the Holy Spirit of God. And so Paul wants us to understand that once we come to Christ then we can confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord. Why? Because we possess the Holy Spirit of God in our lives. Then watch what he says in verse 4, now he's going to begin to deal with the unity of these gifts in the body of Jesus Christ, all these gifts that are given to us. He says "now there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit." Now if we look around, there's a diversity of people here. Think about it. There are no two people alike here, different nationalities, different backgrounds. And it's amazing because as he's talking, he's saying that as the Holy Spirit is wanting to bless and wanting to use my life, He has diversity in the body of Christ. Not everybody will be the same. Not everybody will receive the same gifts. Diversity in the body of Christ is very important. And the word diversity here, it conveys the idea of distribution, appointment, or division concerning the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not oppose Himself. Thus, any gift which spirit bestows on one person would not stand in opposition to a gift that is given to another person. Why? Because we need one another, you see. You may have the gift of serving and I may have the gift of government. You may have the gift of discernment, I may have the gift of healing. It's like a puzzle. Everybody needs everybody in the body of Christ to fulfill the puzzle. The problem is when the hand is trying to go this opposite direction and the head is going this way. And that's many times the problem in the body of Christ where we do not want to be obedient to what God has given to us and the way He wants us to operate in the body of Christ because we're not willing to submit ourselves to the head. And that creates a massive problem in the church of Jesus Christ because God has given to us diversity here. Another thing that I see is not only diversity but in verse 5 a variety of services. Look what he says. "And there are differences of ministries but the same Lord." Not every one of us are called to be teachers or preachers. So God is speaking and what Paul is declaring here is that the way gifts are used is by call and services and administrations by the Holy Spirit. He's the one that calls and appoints and leads and guides. The Greek word here that is used, it denotes every service to the good of the church. Notice, it's not for your own good that God gives you the gift, it's for the church. It's for the body of Christ. Then in verse 6 we have the varieties of activities that are given to us. Look what he says. "And there are diversities of activities but the same God that works all in all." So it doesn't matter how many activities are going on, notice, God sets up as He wills. He's the one that does all the work as He calls each one of us to be placed in the body of Jesus Christ and to use the gifts and the talents given to each one of us. Then in verses 7 through 11, now he's going to give you a list of all the gifts. There's only nine here. There's five in Ephesians 4:11 and then there's seven in Romans chapter 12 verses 6 through 8. You can read that later on. So there's a total of 21 gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us.
Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. Visit us at somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of Bible filled resources to direct and strengthen you in your daily walk with God. You can also download our free app for digital Bible studies and live streamed Bible teaching. Now let's rejoin Raul for more of today's lesson.
Raul Ries: Look what he says beginning with verse 7. He says "but the manifestation of the spirit is given to each one for the profit of all." You see, no one here is an island. We need you, you need me, we all need each other. You see, that's the body of Christ. You need me and I need you and we all need Jesus Christ for full affection in harmony, in unity, in the work that He wants to accomplish through you and through me in the body of Christ. Then he says this, verse 8, "for to one is given the word of wisdom." Did you notice that? To one, not to everybody. Everybody doesn't have the word of wisdom. Now, the three key gifts that are used in pastor teaching from the pulpit is the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, and prophecy. Those are usually the three gifts that are used with a pastor teacher. Now, when he speaks about the word of wisdom, he's literally talking about this wisdom that is given to us supernaturally that is given to a proper situation for the proper problem to be solved. For example, in the book of Acts chapter 6, there arose a problem among the Grecian women that were being neglected by the disciples. Peter was in charge. And so when they came to Peter because they were discontented, Peter received a word of wisdom from the Lord supernaturally on how to take care of the problem from these widows being neglected. How was the problem solved? The Lord shared with him to choose seven men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom and to appoint them to take care of the problems in the church but for them to give themselves to the word of God, to the study of the word of God, and to prayer and that brought the solution to the problem in the early church. That's the word of wisdom where God will give you insight to the problem and it's not this world's wisdom but it's heavenly divine wisdom to solve the problem. That's the word of wisdom. Now secondly, the word of knowledge, that's an interesting word. Because there have been times where I've been teaching the word of God from here and after I finish and I go back here to meet people, people will come up to me and say "hey, did my wife talk to you?" I go "no, what do you mean?" "Well you spoke about my problem today." I said "what problem?" and they'll begin to describe the problem but what happened is that the word of knowledge was being exercised in the teaching of the word of God and God was revealing to that person supernaturally what his problem is. That's the word of knowledge. Where God, not all the time, so when you look at a person and say "do they have the word of knowledge?" you think they're looking right through you and saying "they know my problem," it doesn't work like that. Somebody could get rich on that one. But literally there have been times and I've had the privilege where God has spoken to me a situation where there was a guy that I saw walking down the hall and I felt this evil of him. I mean I looked at him and I knew him and the Lord told me that he was having an adulterous relationship. I said "Lord no way, not this guy, no possible way." I let it go. Two weeks later the guy came and confessed that he had been a whole year under this adulterous relationship. That was the word of knowledge that I was not obedient to God when He revealed it. When God reveals to you something in the word of knowledge, you need to pray for discernment and then to act upon it because God is showing you how and what to do. Why? Because He loves people, not because He wants to destroy people. And so the word of knowledge usually is used in the teaching of the word of God in instruction as God would speak to your own heart, speak to my own heart because God knows our needs and He knows what we're doing. That's the word of knowledge. Then he says this again, he says in verse 8 not only the word of knowledge but now he says in verse 9 "and to another is given faith by the same spirit." What do you mean faith? Not faith to trust in God. Literally here he's talking about a special faith to a special situation. For example, we have a reference to the book of Acts when Peter and John were going at 9 o'clock in the morning to the temple to pray. And there was a lame man there and the Holy Spirit spoke to Peter and gave him the faith to say "silver and gold have I none, but in the name of Jesus Christ get up and walk." That's faith. And the guy stood to his feet and he walked and he leaped and God healed him. That's the supernatural faith God can give to each one of us individually as a gift of God, not all the time. There are times that He does that. That's the faith that he's talking about here. And then how about the next gift, the gifts of healings? Notice what it says there, it's in the plural, the gifts of healings. Well wait a minute, doesn't one person have the gift of healing? That means that he can heal every disease and any disease? No. Literally what he's saying here in its context is that God gives the gifts of healings to certain people to do what? To heal certain diseases, you cannot heal every disease. That's what he's talking about. Yet how many times we've heard people that have the gift of healing say that they can heal anything and anybody? Now my question is, why aren't they going down to the hospitals and raising up everybody if they have the gift of healing? You see what I'm saying? The gift of healings at the proper time with the proper problem. God will speak to your heart. Like for example I was in Mexico one time and there was a lame man there and God spoke to me as my wife and my kids were going into the restaurant and God told me to go up and grab his hand and lift him up like Peter and I did not do it. You know why? I said "Lord what about if I pick him up and he falls back down?" That's unbelief. I wasn't there in to do that. But I felt later on the Holy Spirit spoke to me that God wanted to heal that person. So God will use you, God will use me with the gifts of healings. You see, not everybody possesses the same gift in healing, gifts of healings, different situations God will use different people to heal people supernaturally. Then how about the next one? The gifts "and to another the working of miracles." What does that mean? Well, the example is given to us signs, miracles, and wonders in the New Testament when Jesus actually healed the blind, cleansed the leper, raised someone from the dead. This is the kind of miracles that he's talking about where God will speak to your heart and God will use you to bring a miracle through your life to touch someone else and that's what he's talking about here, operations of supernatural powers called signs, wonders, and miracles. And then he says the gift of prophecy. And what is the gift of prophecy? It is not speaking of future things to come. Most people think that that's what it is, it's not. The gift of prophecy is speaking forth the word of God. Like this morning we're sitting here, you're being taught the word of God and many times in the teaching of the word of God God is speaking prophetically to us. You see, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the gift of prophecy. And there is also the gift of prophecy where God may give us a prophecy. Thus saith the Lord "I'm going to bless you, I'm going to bring forth blessing upon you and I'm going to use you and I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that" and when that comes forth we need to write it down, we need to wait on the Lord until it comes to pass biblically. We don't just move when people speak, but we need to judge the prophet, the Bible says, and see if he's truly a prophet if it comes to pass just like in the old and the New Testament times. Then the gift that is very important in the body of Christ also is discerning of spirits. That is having discernment over demonology or demons, or having discernment between good and evil. And then the gift of speaking in tongues, which we are going to discuss later on, and that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 we see it when God baptized His 120 and they spoke with other tongues and they spoke what? The wonderful works of God. It wasn't a message, but again like a Psalm they were blessing the Lord.
Guest (Male): As you honor the Lord in the building of His kingdom, we encourage you to remember that you're not working alone but in the strength of the entire body of Christ. You're listening to Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled Introduction to Spiritual Gifts. To get an unedited version just call us at 800-634-9165 and just include a gift of $5 or more to offset expenses. Now for more insight into how you can maximize your God given gifts, we'd like to tell you more about Raul's seven part series Filled, Empowered, and Equipped. Featuring today's message as well as six others, this resource is available on both CD and USB. In each lesson you'll find out more about how the Holy Spirit can uniquely work in your life to guide your steps, fill you with purpose, and embolden you for service. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's seven message study. We'll send you the Filled, Empowered, and Equipped CD set for $23 or if you'd like, the flash drive for just $11. The number again is 800-634-9165 or write to Somebody Loves You radio PO Box 4440 Diamond Bar, California 91765. The Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel is a great go to for Bible based teaching. You'll find podcasts of all of these programs along with live streamed messages including Raul's Straight Talk on Tuesdays at 10:00 a.m. West Coast time. Somebody Loves You radio with Raul Ries is fully listener supported. We are grateful for the tax deductible gifts that help us keep sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And thanks for including us in your day today. It's always a blessing to study the word of God with you and we hope you'll join us next time for more clarity about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, what they are, why they're given to us, and how to operate in them according to God's will. Now with a closing comment, here is Raul once again.
Raul Ries: And then finally the gift of interpretation of tongues. And that is the utterance that are bringing forth and to have the ability through God to interpret what is being said in a prayer meeting or in a small group setting where people can speak in tongues and they're praying and it's able to bring the true interpretation like a Psalm, praising, worshipping the Lord. God gives all these gifts and watch this, verse 11, the key verse. "But one of the same spirit works all these things out, distributing to each one individually as He wills." Notice you cannot choose, He's the one that gives to us the gifts. He's the one that baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. He's the one that gives to us the gift of discernment or the gifts of healing. It is not what you want to choose, it's what He wants to give to you through His love and through His mercy and through His great love that He has for the church.