Exeter Seventh-day Adventist Church

Although we each have different spiritual gifts, they are all useful and work together to serve God and each other. It’s in the Bible, Romans 12:4-5, NKJV. “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. "

The gifts of the Spirit are different individually, but they always serve to benefit everyone. It’s in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, NKJV. “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:

What are some of the gifts of the Spirit? It’s in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, TLB. “To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice; someone else may be especially good at studying and teaching, and this is his gift from the same Spirit. He gives special faith to another, and to someone else the power to heal the sick. He gives power for doing miracles to some, and to others power to prophesy and preach. He gives someone else the power to know whether evil spirits are speaking through those who claim to be giving God’s messages—or whether it is really the Spirit of God who is speaking. Still another person is able to speak in languages he never learned; and others, who do not know the language either, are given power to understand what he is saying.

It's in the Bible, Romans 12:6-8, NKJV. "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."

Why does God give spiritual gifts? Spiritual gifts are for ministry, edifying (or building up) His church, and unifying the church until Christ is reflected in the church. It's in the Bible, Ephesians 4:11-13, 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"

Does everyone receive all the gifts of the Spirit? No, the Holy Spirit decides who receives which gifts of the Spirit. It's in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:11, TLB. "It is the same and only Holy Spirit who gives all these gifts and powers, deciding which each one of us should have."

The greatest spiritual gift of all is love. It’s in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:3, NKJV. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

The greater our gifts from the Spirit, the greater our responsibility to use them diligently to build up God’s work. It’s in the Bible, Luke 12:48, NIV. “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”

God gives more gifts to those who faithfully use the ones they have. It’s in the Bible, Matthew 25:28-29, NKJV. “So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away."

For more information see:

• Holy Spirit
• Love