The Spiritual Gifts - Doctrine of the Week

Good morning.

The doctrine of the week for this Sunday is the spiritual gifts. The scripture says in 1st

Peter chapter 4 verses 10 and 11, 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 or serves, 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 dominion forever and ever.

Amen. So first of all, what is a spiritual gift? A spiritual gift is an ability given by Christ through the

Holy Spirit to the believer at the moment of their salvation. Now it may take some time for a person to recognize what their gift is, but we believe that every true

Christian has at least one spiritual gift. Second, what is the purpose of the spiritual gifts?

As we just read, it is for the glory of God. Also it is for the building up or the edification of the body of Christ.

As the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4, 12 through 14.

So along with 1st Peter 4 and Ephesians 4, the other key passages to consider if you wanted to look on your own are

Romans 12 and 1st Corinthians 12. So this is a very simple way to remember Romans 12, 1st

Corinthians 12, 1st Peter 4, Ephesians 4. And as we saw from the apostle

Peter, the spiritual gifts are broken up generally into two categories.

There are the speaking gifts and then the serving gifts. And many

Bible teachers, I would include myself in this group, would identify a third category of spiritual gifts.

And that is what people would call the sign gifts. So the sign gifts would include the working of miracles, healings, prophecy, and the ability to speak with other tongues.

Now here at Moore's Corner Church and our understanding of the scripture, we believe that the sign gifts were given primarily to validate the authority of the

Savior and his apostles prior to the writing of the

New Testament. And of course they continued through the writing of the New Testament. Afterward, once the canon of scripture was complete, these miraculous proofs, this evidence was no longer necessary since we now have

God's New Testament revelation in Holy Writ. So in conclusion, as the apostle

Peter said, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another.