The Gifts of the Spirit

Here at Brenchley we quite often talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit – God developing his loving character in us – but we don’t talk so often about the gifts of the Holy Spirit – and that is what I’d like to look at today.

These gifts – some of which are mentioned in our reading from 1 Corinthians - are a manifestation of the God’s spirit working in our lives. They are God working in us and through us to bless and encourage and guide us.

And these gifts are for service – ‘for the common good’ as the bible puts it. They are not to glorify us – they are to glorify God and to make him known.

They are to help create a healthier and more effective 'body of Christ' - to strengthen and equip us so that we can be more effective in making Jesus known to a lost world.

In order to manifest these gifts, we need to be clothed with power from on high as Luke puts it. We need to be open to God filling us with his Holy Spirit and empowering us.

This can occur as someone lays hands on us and prays for us – or sometimes God will pour out his Holy Spirit on a group of assembled Christians.

And once we have been filled with the Holy Spirit we need to go on being filled with the Holy Spirit – with God’s life and his love - as we walk through life.

We need to be walking in the spirit and lead by the spirit - with our hearts and minds focused on serving God and seeking to love and bless and encourage other people.

And of course we need to be prepared to step out in faith when we feel God is prompting us to share our faith or to encourage or pray for someone.

God’s spirit is very gentle and unobtrusive and it’s easy to miss what he may be asking us to do.

So, what are the gifts? – well Paul covers some of them in our reading from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. As I’ve said this isn’t an exhaustive list but it covers some of the main areas of gifting.

Paul lists the Utterance or Message of Wisdom – which is God imparting wisdom for the way ahead when a decision needs to be made. Or God giving us wisdom as to what to do or say in a particular situation.

The Utterance or – Word of Knowledge is the Holy Spirit revealing knowledge to us about something that we would otherwise not be able to know.

I remember at a house group I went to, someone talking about how desperately worried they’d been when their little daughter was born very prematurely.

But God gave them a vision of their daughter as a teenager with a cup of tea in her hand – and they knew in their heart that everything was going to be OK.

Faith is the next gift that Paul lists. The bible defines faith as “being sure and certain” that God will do something.

So, the gift of faith is to know for certain that God will do something either in the present or in the future. And this gift enables us to receive something from God by faith either for ourselves or for others.

Years ago at the previous church I went to, I did a Christian basics course with a young couple who wanted their baby baptised.

The wife was much more interested than the husband – and one morning just after the course had finished, while I was at home waiting for the kettle to boil, I suddenly knew in my spirit beyond doubt that this woman was going to become a Christian at some point in the future.

I didn’t know when or how, but I knew for certain that she would be saved and come to know God.

Gifts of healing can be given either to an individual to heal others in Jesus name or to an individual to receive healing from God.

I’ve mentioned before a local lady called Jennifer Rees-Larcombe – who received a gift of complete healing at a church in Pembury, after spending several years in a wheelchair.

Her healing was so complete that even her leg muscles which had wasted away, were completely restored.

And a couple of months ago Anne Wilkinson shared here how her knee had been healed when she went forward for prayer at out 4^th Sunday service.

The working of miracles is the ability to work miracles that bring glory to God. If you read Christian books you’ll come across lots of miracles and broadly they are the same type of miracles that Jesus did.

There are lots of modern day accounts of feeding miracles – where food doesn’t run out and also weather miracles.

I read about a Christian evangelist who was preaching outdoors in Africa when a large dark storm cloud formed and came towards his meeting.

He rebuked the storm in the name of Jesus and the cloud split in two and passed either side of the meeting much to the amazement of his audience.

Sometimes you hear of mechanical miracles – where for instance cars that shouldn’t, keep running, and occasionally the dead are raised.

Just a couple of weeks ago on the Christian TBN channel, I heard a man sharing an account of how Jesus had bought him back to life in the back of an ambulance – after he’d been dead for 45 minutes – much to the amazement of the ambulance crew.

Prophecy is simply the ability to communicate a message from God. This can be a message of encouragement for a church or individuals, and it won’t necessarily relate to the future.

Prophecies can be spoken out or written down and shared later. They are sometimes just simple words of encouragement from God.

For instance, I remember talking to someone in church here and I really felt that God wanted me to tell this person “it’s not your fault” – so I did. And this was something they needed to hear at that time in their life.

My wife Mary received a really lovely and encouraging prophecy for our previous church when we were away at a Christian event.

What was particularly interesting for me, was that as she received the prophecy she saw in her mind’s eye lots of little pictures of life at the church – people and events – and as these passed through her mind she felt God’s great love for the church.

Prophecies should be tested to check they are in line with God’s word and his loving character. And they should be shared in a spirit of humility.

In today’s gospel reading we see Jesus exercising a gift of prophecy as he foretells his death and resurrection and then he demonstrates another spiritual gift – probably a word of knowledge, as he tells Peter to go and catch the fish with the coin in its mouth.

Distinguishing between spirits is the ability to discern the presence or work of evil spirits which is another gift my wife has experienced on a few occasions.

Once we went to a church service where a lady with a persistent alcohol problem was prayed for. The pastor sensed her problem had a demonic element to it and commanded the evil spirit that was driving this lady to drink, to leave her.

As he did this, Mary said she could sense this spirit go up the aisle, past where we were sitting, and then out through the doors and leave the building.

Speaking in various kinds of tongues is the ability to speak in an unlearned human or angelic language.

The gift of tongues is under the control of the person with the gift and we can choose when and where and how often we exercise it.

It’s similar to being able to speak a foreign language - although of course we don’t understand the meaning of the words we’re saying.

Tongues when used personally is particularly helpful if you’re not quite sure how to pray for a particular person or situation. I find that if you pray in tongues first, you’ll often get an insight into how to pray.

God can also use the gift of tongues to encourage or direct people. I heard the story of an English guy who went to a church meeting in India.

During the meeting a man stood up and delivered an encouraging message from God in very good, clear English.

The English guy went up to this man at the end of the meeting to thank him for his encouraging words – but he found that this man clearly didn’t speak English and he realised he had been speaking in tongues.

Interpretation of tongues is the ability to interpret a message given in tongues during a church meeting.

Someone will stand up and deliver a message in tongues. Then immediately afterwards someone else will stand up and give the interpretation of what’s been said.

Now this isn’t an exhaustive list of gifts. God gives all sorts of other gifts as well, for example intercession – the ability to pray for specific things for extended periods.

I found after I was filled with the Holy Spirit that God would occasionally give me little pictures in my mind’s eye to help or encourage people, particularly if I was praying with them.

I remember for instance at a Christian event a few years ago sitting next to a lady who I didn’t know – and seeing a picture of her in my mind’s eye with lots of empty cardboard boxes tied to her back with string.

I then saw a pair of scissors come and cut the string and all the boxes fell off her back.

I gently shared the picture with her and asked if it meant anything. She promptly burst into tears and thanked me profusely, because this picture represented an answer to her prayers.

As well as imparting spiritual gifts to us - the Holy Spirit can also take our natural talents and abilities and enhance them to bless and touch people’s lives. For instance musical talents, or a gift for hospitality.

God of course knows exactly which gifts to impart to us – which gifts will be most useful to us as we seek to serve Him. And any gifts we do receive are always to be exercised lovingly and considerately. I can’t emphasise this too much.

If you read onto 1 Corinthians chapter 13 you’ll see that Paul says that if we try and exercise spiritual gifts without love being our motivation, it is worthless and we gain nothing.

But more than this, the unloving use of spiritual gifts or pride in spiritual gifting can be really harmful to both individuals and churches.

However, when exercised lovingly and humbly and gently, it’s immensely encouraging – and faith building when God works through you in some way to help or encourage or heal others.

I’d like to end my talk by giving those of you who would like to, the opportunity to receive more of God’s spirit – more of his life and love and power in your lives.

Perhaps there are some of you here who feel a bit spiritually dry – and you’d like a top-up - you’d like God to pour out his spirit on you to refresh and revive you – a bit like rain falling on dry ground. If that’s you, we’ll pray in a moment.

But also, perhaps there are some of you here who haven’t yet been filled with the Holy Spirit, who are spiritually thirsty and you’d prefer a glass of clear refreshing water as it were.

You’d like Jesus to fill you with his life-giving spirit, to empower you and impart spiritual gifts to you.

If that’s you, come and see me after the service and we’ll be pleased to pray for you.

So, let’s close with a time of quiet prayer and if you’re comfortable with the idea – as I pray, invite God to refresh and revive you with his life-giving spirit. You might find it helpful to open your arms out slightly in an attitude of receiving. Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus thank you for your great love for us. Thank you that you want to fill us with your love and your life so that we can share it more effectively.

Lord we invite you to come now by your spirit and fall on us like rain. Come Lord Jesus and refresh and revive us…….Amen.