Romans 12:3-8 NKJV For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
I Corinthians 12:1-12 NKJV Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-15 NKJV And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ--
Peter mentions them at;
I Peter 4:10-11 NKJV As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Here are nine principles that relate to God's design for spiritual gifts:
1. Every Christian has one or more spiritual gifts.
To each person the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the benefit of all.
1 Corinthians 12:7-11 ESV To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
2. Some believers have received more than one spiritual gift.
3. Spiritual gifts are given at the salvation, but they may lie undiscovered and dormant for a long period of time.
4. Spiritual gifts can be abused and neglected, but if they are received at salvation, it would appear that they cannot be lost.
The Corinthian church illustrates the fact that believers can be highly gifted but spiritually immature. Read 1 Corinthians 12.
5. Spiritual gifts are not the same as the fruit of the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit, especially love should be the context for their operation.
6. Spiritual gifts are not the same as natural talents.
7. All Christians are called to a ministry, and their gift enables them to perform their ministry.
Ministry is determined by divinely given gifts and opportunities.
8. Gifts are God's spiritual equipment for effective service and edification of the body.
They are not given for the self-promotion of the recipient, but for the profit and edification of the Body of Christ. The possessor is only the instrument and not the receiver of the glory (J. Oswald Sanders).
9 Spiritual Gifts without love do not accomplish God's intended purpose. When Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians he was writing to a church where all the spiritual gifts were in operation. God had given them for the edification of the body and each of them, but they were misusing them, they were abusing each other, they thought one gift was superior to another, they were puffed up with knowledge.
CATAGORIES:
Most Bible scholars classify these gifts into three categories: ministry gifts, manifestation gifts, and motivational gifts.
MINISTRY GIFTS: Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher
The ministry gifts serve to reveal the plan of God. They are characteristic of a full-time office or calling, rather than a gift that can function in and through any believer.
Manifestation Gifts - The manifestation gifts serve to reveal the power of God. These gifts are supernatural or spiritual in nature. They can be further subdivided into three groups: utterance, power, and revelation.
Utterance - These gifts say something: Prophecy, Speaking in Tongues, Interpretation of Tongues
Power - These gifts do something: Faith, Healing, Miracles
Revelation - These gifts reveal something: Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Discerning of Spirits
Motivational Gifts - The motivational gifts serve to reveal the personality of God. These gifts are practical in nature. They describe the inner motivations of the Christian servant.
Prophecy, Ministering/Serving/Helps, Teaching, Giving, Exhortation/Encouragement, Administration/Leadership, Mercy
When we last met, we started on the Ministry Gifts.
MINISTRY GIFTS
Ephesians 4:11-15 NKJV And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ--
The focus is not on these specific spiritual gifted individuals, but instead the focus is what Christ does through them.
According to this passage, when gifted individuals exercise their spiritual gifts, the church is built up to maturity in Christ Jesus.
That maturity is demonstrated when the church is not carried away by false teaching and when the church works together – each person working as Christ gifts them – to build up itself in love.
Again, love is brought into the working of spiritual gifts. This is not an add-on, but an important aspect of working together.
Remember, the focus is not on individuals, but on Jesus working through individuals to mature his church.
Our last session we only got through the Prophet. The Prophet has the divine enablement to proclaim God's truth with power and clarity in a timely and culturally sensitive fashion for correction, repentance, or edification.
The people with this gift are not the same as the Old Testament prophets like Moses, Ezkiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, Hoesa, and the others. These men and there are some women in the Old Testament who were identified as prophets like Moses sister Miriam. These people spoke the authoritative Word of God directly. Their words were recorded as Scripture as they proclaimed, “Thus says The Lord,”
Those with the gift of prophecy are sensitive to both the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the needs of the church body. They should be humble and continually study the Scriptures in order to test these revelations before speaking them. When they do speak, they should allow and even expect others to weigh what is said against the Scriptures and interpret the message accordingly.
There is New Testament evidence which indicates that future foretelling may accompany this gift, although some caution needs to be exercised.
Today we are going to talk about the Ministry Gifts of the Apostle and Evangelist.
Next is the Apostle gift. A true apostle is a minister sent by God to accomplish a specific work. Apostles have the highest level of spiritual authority compared to all other gifts. Apostles are sent forth to establish and build up groups of believers in all areas of the believer's lives.
The apostolic gift includes the ability to do whatever is necessary to accomplish what God has sent the apostle to do. They release blessings through their words, prayers, and the laying on of hands. Apostles also strongly minister in the other four ministry gifts of leadership; Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher.
Under the new covenant the Apostles, not the prophets, took over the role of Scriptural proclamation from the Old Testament Prophets.
Remember I said that the Old Testament Prophets. These people spoke the authoritative Word of God directly. Their words were recorded as Scripture as they proclaimed, “Thus says The Lord,”
Characteristics: Apostles attract leaders in a supernatural way with strong gifts of pastoring, teaching, evangelism, and prophecy. They may remain as heads of ministries they have founded or they may move on leaving the leadership to others. The legacy of a prophet are their words but the legacy of an apostle is his/her works. They see the overall ministry and are burdened for the churches and the people under their care. They know supernaturally when a part of their work needs help or when a minister under them is suffering. Apostles have big hearts and out of their hearts flow spiritual blessings and anointings for those under them. Often apostles are looked up to beyond their local church and they may find themselves connected with others, ministering to a group, association, or denomination.
The Scriptures seem to reveal two categories of people who were called apostles.
First we see what we will call the foundational Apostles who were chosen by Jesus and operated under a specific mandate to build the Church.
These people were;
Luke 6:12-16 ESV In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Acts 9:11-15 ESVAnd the Lord said to him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name." But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
They had a unique purpose and function.
Ephesians 2:19-22 ESV So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
There was also a secondary category of believers who were not chosen by Jesus but are appear to have possessed the gift of apostleship.
This includes:
Matthias
Acts 1:24-26 ESV And they prayed and said, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place." And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.
Barnabas
Acts 14:14 ESV But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out,
Galatians 1:19 ESV James But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.
Philippians 2:25-26 ESV Epaphroditus I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
Apollos
1 Corinthians 4:6-9 ESV I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men.
Timothy and Silas
1 Thessalonians 1:1 ESV Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the The ssalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.
1 Thessalonians 2:1-6 ESV For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.
They do not have the authority to write Scripture as the original Apostles did. They also have a different purpose in the sense of establishing the church – the foundation has already been set.
The mission for those with the gift of apostleship today is to plant new ministries and churches, go into places where the Gospel is not preached, reach across cultures to establish churches in challenging environments, raise up and develop leaders, call out and lead pastors and shepherds, and much more.
They often have many different gifts that allow them to fulfill their ministry. These are leaders of leaders and ministers of ministers. They are influencers. They are typically entrepreneurial and are able to take risks and perform difficult tasks.
Missionaries, church planters, certain Christian scholars and institutional leaders, and those leading multiple ministries or churches often have the gift of apostleship.
When this gift is present:
When the apostolic spiritual gifting is present in a local church, leaders and ministries will function in their proper alignment. Very much like a natural father or mother, those graced with the gift of apostleship bring order, security, affirmation, and empowerment to the household of God. With the presence of an apostle there will be great energy and focus on fulfilling the great commission through empowering others in their gifting to be “sent out” to fulfill what God has called them to do.
Apostles need to remember that most under their care do not have the same spiritual passion and their expectations of others can be very high. For those who see this gift primarily as church planting, they may have the potential of always looking outside and not developing the ministry of their own local church before handing it off to others.
Cautions: Most churches function without an apostle at the head. This seems to be a rare gift and limited to only a few. When an apostle is found, they need to surround themselves with strong leaders who can balance their opinions and strengthen their ministries.
Scripture Example: Paul was an amazing Apostle.
Paul traveled over 10,000 miles proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. His journeys took him primarily through present day Israel, Syria, Turkey, and Greece.
Paul's first missionary journey (Acts 13–14). Paul's second missionary journey (Acts 15:36–18:22). Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 18:23—21:14)
Evangelist
Next the Evangelist has the divine enablement to effectively communicate the message of Christ to unbelievers who respond in faith and discipleship.
Characteristics: This term literally means "messenger of good news". They have a strong desire to communicate the message of salvation to a lost world. A person with this gift often looks and prays for opportunities to work Christ into every conversation.
An evangelist isn't concerned with imparting deep spiritual truths like the teacher is, but they are motivated to help people understand and respond to the basic biblical messages about sin and forgiveness through Jesus. The Holy Spirit flows out of them in a way that convicts people of their sins. Evangelists are active individual's motivating others to act. They are exciting to be around, like quick results, big crowds, fast change and are constantly moving.
Cautions: The evangelist has the tendency to project his gift upon all other Christians and they can see witnessing as the means of measure for everyone's spirituality and godliness. Although we are all called upon to witness, the evangelist may see God's call upon them more often and more dynamically. However, they may also lose sight of the other purposes of the church and see "soul saving" as the end of spiritual growth instead of the beginning of a life with Christ.
Often they may lead people to Christ and then abandon them. Nowhere in Scripture does an evangelist lead a church, because they need to be free to be mobile and somewhat independent, going where God tells them, when He tells them, and not tied down to ruling positions.
Scripture Example: Philip
Acts 8:26-29, 39-40 NIV Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.