In this episode of the Everyday Jesus podcast, we are going to continue our discussion on the Holy Spirit by talking about spiritual gifts, then in our Good News segment, we will discuss how Doctors in Ireland are responding to the new abortion laws, our Unreached People Group is the Bhil of India and then finally Today’s Word, we will pick up where we left off last week in John 4:1-26.
This week we are going to look at the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are not going to look at individual gifts this week, we are going to have an overview on the topic. Why is this important? Why should we spend time on this? Well, the mission of this podcast is to empower you to follow Jesus daily, not just on Sunday. One of the ways that we follow Jesus is by using the gifts that he has given us. Let’s read a quick story to understand why this is important.
Matthew 25:14-30
14 “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
In this story we see that God expects us to use the gifts that he has given us. And if you are faithful in this arena, he’s going to bless you even more by giving your more. This isn’t some magic formula, this is a pattern in all of life.
If you’ve ever worked a job and you were good at it, before you know it, you are being given all types of other responsibilities at work, why? Because your boss saw that he could trust you. You were faithful with the little responsibility that you had, and you were given more because of it.
God works in a similar way. God gives unique talents and abilities to all Christians. These talents are called spiritual gifts. They are sometimes an enhancement of your natural abilities and sometimes they are an enhancement of your natural weaknesses (because remember, Jesus said in your weakness, I am strong).
Wayne Grudem, author of Systematic Theology, defines a spiritual gift as “any ability that is empowered by the Holy Spirit and used in any ministry of the church.” So this gives us an idea of what the gifts are, but why do we have them?
Paul in Ephesians chapter 4 explains why we have them. He says it’s “to equip His people for works of service.” Paul elaborates that this is so the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. It’s to make us mature as well, so that we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves. God desires for a spiritually mature body.
As Grudem points out “The Holy Spirit himself is in this age a ‘down payment’ of the fuller work of the Holy Spirit within us in the age to come, so the gifts the Holy Spirit gives us are partial foretastes of the fuller working of the Holy Spirit that will be our in the age to come.”
So as you read through 1st Corinthians about the gifts of the Spirit, you can start to understand Paul a little better when you see how these gifts are imperfect, but that’s because The Perfect has not yet come, meaning Christ. Right now we are only looking through a hazy mirror, but when Christ comes and we are face to face with his majesty and we will know him more intimately and the gifts will pass away, because they won’t be needed. We will have Him with us.
So over the next couple of months, we are going to take a harder look at the individual gifts of the Spirit and I want to try to touch on every single one of them, so this may be a while, but I think there is a large lack of knowledge in this area in the church. So we are going to look at the gifts and try to understand what they look like and how the operate in the church today. If you have questions about any of the upcoming gifts ahead of time, shoot me an email at feedback@everydayjesus.net and I will try to address these concerns on the show, whether it be the gift of tongues or discernment, please send me your questions.
Good News –
95% of Doctors in Ireland Are Refusing to do Abortions
Unreached People Group –
Today’s Word – John 4:31-42
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.
42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”
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