Expected End

Spiritual Gifts

“And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:11-16

Take the Spiritual Gifts Test Now!

For each of us, God has a purpose and a plan. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are born again – we become new creatures in Christ. While God refines us and clears away all the dross, we gradually become the men and women we God always intended for us to be. Each of us is a unique creation, but only through the NEW BIRTH can we fully realize our full potential.

We all have talents and spiritual gifts. A talent is a natural ability each of us has. Example: Michael Jordan is a very talented basketball player but he stinks at baseball. One person may be gifted to sing-another to create sculpture or design skyscrapers. Talents may be natural or developed through practice/repetition.

Spiritual gifts however are talents and abilities harnessed and channeled for the purpose of bringing glory to God the Father by building up and strengthening the body of Christ. This is an extension of the ministry of Jesus.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18,19

As reported in Acts 10:38: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him ”

We can participate in the ministry of Jesus in several ways. First, we can proclaim the Gospel of God to a world that is spiritually dead and headed for everlasting ruin. Second, we can be a blessing to those suffering from sickness, poverty, and ignorance. Finally, the spiritual gifts are intended for the sake of our brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ.

Most Spiritual gifts assessment surveys list twenty-two (22) gifts given by God to the church. These gifts are gleaned from the following scripture:

• Ephesians 4:11-16
• Romans 12:3-8
• 1 Corinthians 12,13, 14
• 1 Peter 4:7-11

For more details on a specific gift, just point to or click on the gift you are interested in.

I acknowledge that my list of Spiritual gifts perhaps leaves much to be desired. I regret if I included some gifts I should not have included or omitted some gifts I should not have omitted. Consider the gift listed as “Apostle.” Some would argue that there are no apostles today. There were only the 14 men (I am including Judas Iscariot, Matthias, and Paul) fulfilling the requirements outlined by Peter in Acts 1:15-26. I agree, but scripture also refers to Barnabas, Andronicus, and Junia were also called apostles (Acts 14:14), (Romans 16:7). The Greek work for Apostle is Apostolos (Strong’s 652) when can mean “messenger”, “envoy”, and “emissary.” No one living today can meet Peter’s conditions for the office of Apostle. Indeed, the absence today of Holy Spirit baptized, miracle-working Apostles after the pattern of the original 14 is obvious. It is equally obvious however, that there are men and women who function as “messengers” to day. These modern-day apostles build and strengthen churches. They pioneer the preaching of the gospel in foreign lands. Irrefutably, there are men and women who can say with Paul:

“Yet when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast, for I am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” 1 Corinthians 9:16 NIV

Spiritual Gifts Assessment

Now an example of a Spiritual gift I chose not to include: Tongues. I found four reasons not to include tongues on my list of spiritual gifts for Christians today.

Paul clearly defined the role of tongues to be as a witness to unbelievers. (1 Corinthians 14: 22). Tongues is not included in other lists of gifts meant for the edification of the church (Ephesians 4:11-16 Romans 12:3-81, 1 Peter 4:7-11) Paul says that this gift should not to be exercised without the accompanying gift of interpretation of tongues.

Likewise, the gift of interpretation is useless if there is no one with the gift of speaking in tongues. (1 Corinthians 14:13-39)

Finally, for the church (and for unbelievers!), tongues must yield to a greater gift, prophecy. (1 Corinthians 14:22-23)

Take my Spiritual Gifts Test!

This test will present you with 110 statements to which you must give an honest response. If you agree with the statement press the “I completely agree” button. If you disagree thoroughly, click the “I disagree completely”  button.

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