What Are Spiritual Gifts — James Jennings

Romans 12 and the Corporate Life of the Church

This is going to be part three of a series I started looking at Romans 12, specifically doing so so we can consider this topic of the spiritual gifts. So we're going to make it to an overview today of different spiritual gifts.

That's my hope, my desire, but before we consider that, I want to just give a couple reminders and a recap, especially for those who maybe missed some of the previous sermons, but let's read Romans 12, 1, down to verse 8.

Paul says here, I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.

Prophecy in proportion to our faith. If service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy with cheerfulness, and then we should just read v. 9, let love be genuine, abhor what is evil, hold fast to what is good.

And he goes on to talk about loving one another. So, just a quick recap. One of the first things I sought to emphasize in the first sermon from Romans 12, I wanted you to recognize that in Paul's thinking leading up to this chapter that's dealing with very practical realities in the life of the church, Paul is not approaching this with an individualistic mindset.

He's thinking about us as a body corporately. And you see that two clear places here. It's really clear when he talks about us being one body and having many members, right? Verse 4. It's pretty clear.

You see, Paul's thinking corporately here. He's thinking about how we all affect one another together. And the other place that is often not emphasized that I sought to show you is in verse 1. And I asked the question, how many sacrifices does Paul describe us offering as a church?

And the answer is, he talks about one sacrifice. And you see that in the Greek word. He says, A, living sacrifice. And so Paul, after all this theology for 11 chapters, he's coming to this church and he's looking at our church.

He's looking at us as a group of believers that we're all together, seeking to work together as one another to offer pleasing sacrifices to the Lord as a church body. And that's how Paul thinks. Paul is not primarily thinking about your own personal sanctification here.

He's thinking about all of us together, arm in arm for the Gospel. And you see this all over the Bible. This is the emphasis of the Scriptures. And this is a reminder to you and me that your ability to worship the Lord, you can't just go and detach that and say, I don't need a local church.

I don't need a body of Christ. Our worship of the Lord is inescapably bound to the church and to the brethren. Paul does not want you saying, well, I'm a healthy ear, so it doesn't matter if my leg is rotting out or my hand is just falling off.

That absolutely will affect you in how you worship the Lord in your life. And so that was one of the first things I wanted really to emphasize here because Romans 12 is so often emphasized as a chapter on personal sanctification, and you miss the whole corporate reality of Jews and Gentiles like us all coming together to offer a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord.

Humility, Faith, and God’s Assignment of Spiritual Gifts

And this is something that's ongoing. It's an ongoing living sacrifice. Second thing is a recap. We learned this last time that believers need to be transformed in how they think about themselves. And we saw from what Paul is saying here, right there, he mentions this danger.

And it's not that we all might have a possibility of heart disease, but he says in v. 3, our danger is to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. Paul recognizes in the life of the church, there is the danger of manifestations of pride in our own perspective of how God has designed us where we can exalt ourselves over against other members in the body.

And Paul, he wants us to think with a sober judgment. And then a third thing that we saw last time, we saw right here in v. 6, he talks about God has assigned to us the very spiritual gifts that you and I possess.

And Paul defines that as grace being given. And I looked at that as one of the gauges on the dashboard. And then I described a second gauge that you see is the measure of faith in v. 3. He says we ought to think about ourselves according to what measure?

And he says the measure of faith that God has designed. And I tried to describe that to you all as not being synonymous with the gifts that we're given, but it's a faith and a confidence and a trust in the Lord by which to operate and use one's spiritual gifts.

All of us have to embrace not only the gifts that God has given us, but the measure of confidence and trust by which to use those very gifts that God has given us. And Paul wants us to think about that.

So that's kind of a recap. Now, I wanted to share a quick thought here before we dive in that really encouraged me. Look at v. 3. Notice this language. Each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Think of that phrase, God has assigned. Where else does the Bible speak of God assigning something to you and me? What are some other places in Scripture? Can anyone think of one? Yeah, a salvation. There's verses that talk about a salvation being appointed.

Appointed being a synonym of assigned. Listen to these verses. 2 Corinthians 10. When you think about the area you have a spiritual influence on, listen to this. The area of influence that God assigned to us.

Notice how Paul looks at the area that had an impact and why did that even happen? God assigned it. Think of you going to the post office. You're looking for something that's earmarked with your name on it.

Well, Paul had an area that was earmarked with his name on it to have an impact on those people. What did the Corinthians? They had a problem of boasting in who the Lord used to bring them to salvation and look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3 .5.

He says, what then is Apollos? What then is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. Wait a minute, the Lord knew who He would use in my life to lead me to salvation? God's assigned that?

Wait, you mean then the Lord has assigned me a measure of faith? Wait, you mean the Lord's assigned me an area of influence? I mean, He's assigned all of this? That shouldn't surprise us when we're talking about a Lord who has predestined us before the foundation of the world that we should be in Christ.

But we want to remember this, brethren. This is so important. And even for you who are single. 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says the same language. Only let each lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him and to which God has called him.

Right? I mean, the Lord has assigned some of you. You're in a season of singleness right now because that's God's exact assignment for you and you want to be faithful in the midst of that trusting the Lord.

So why do we have what we have? God has distributed. God has assigned. This should make you think of Ephesians 2 .10. What's Ephesians 2 .10 say? You hear that? Good works that God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

All the assignments are already there in the stack of papers and God has given those to us. It's just hard to discern at times. What's the next assignment, Lord? So even taken into the gifts, this is important to remember this reality in every area of your Christian life.

But Hebrews 2 .4 says, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. You hear that? So, brethren, look at every area of your life.

Where is God not involved in your life, Christian? Can you find one area that He's not involved? You're not going to find it. He's not involved in you sinning. That is you going and sinning. But everything good is ultimately a gift from the Lord.

His Son was assigned to come and to pay for our sins. God has predestined us to eternal life. He's caused us to be born again. He's freely given us gifts of the Spirit. He's working in us to manifest fruits of the Spirit.

He's given us gifts to use to have unity in the Spirit in the church. That our church might together offer spiritual sacrifices that give a pleasing aroma to the Lord. That we might all be spiritually conformed more to the image of Christ.

And that we might even take the Gospel forth that more people might experience the spiritual birth and come to know the Lord. And so, one of the things you're going to see as I'm speaking right now is brethren, I'm freshly reminded of how spiritual of creatures we are.

You're a spiritual creature. Your body is what does Paul call it? He says it's what? A temple of the Holy Spirit. I mean, the Spirit of God living in the Christian. You're a spiritual creature. A spiritual member in a spiritual body bearing spiritual fruits, given gifts of the Spirit to spiritually edify other people in order to not be spiritually deceived, in order to offer spiritual worship to the Lord, in order to see spiritual children brought into the kingdom.

Are we thinking that way right now? Do you see how spiritual your life is? There's a lot of opposition in our lives to get us to forget this reality of the spiritual nature of our lives and what really, really matters.

So desiring to know what God's assignment is for your life, that is a right desire. You and I should want to know the works He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And as you see in Romans 12, verse 6, Paul says here, the grace given, He wants you to use them.

Paul wants us to be concentrated in doing what God has designed us to do and pour ourselves into that and be faithful to Him. You know, some people, they start a garden. And they just want to plant everything.

But what tends to happen with the garden? Eventually, they find a couple things that they really can get to survive and they pour their energy into that. And the same thing can happen in the Christian life.

You get saved, you spread yourself so thin. But as you grow, there's specific plants that you're really investing in and you're able to turn over a really good crop. And obviously, as one of your shepherds, I want to help you identify that which God has assigned for you to do.

Right? That's one of the ways we're going to find that out in the abundance of counselors. There's guidance. There's safety. The Lord uses all of us in one another's lives to help us discern different things.

The Meaning and Purpose of Spiritual Gifts

So, what are the spiritual gifts? Spiritual gifts. Where do you even find the phrase spiritual gifts? You don't find it right here in Romans 12, but you do in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14. It actually uses this phrase, spiritual gifts, and we're going to turn to that chapter, but not yet.

But it's spiritual because it's from who? From the Holy Spirit. Not just from the Spirit, but what is the Spirit also doing? Empowering the gift. Right? It's from the Spirit and the power to even be active in that specific spiritual way is from the Holy Spirit.

And then the word gift. Why spiritual gift? Because it's given. Are these spiritual badges? Are they certain things that someone has earned because they've put their years in? No, it's a gift. God has graciously given us what Paul even calls spiritual gifts.

He's given to spiritual people. Because you're a spiritual person. And he says in 1 Corinthians 12, there are a variety of gifts, the same Spirit, there are varieties of service, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all and everyone.

And then listen to verse 7. We really want to get this established in our mind. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Why are gifts even given? For the common good. For others.

Is it given primarily for yourself? No, not at all. And how does Paul describe the spiritual gifts are what? A manifestation of who? The Spirit. What's a manifestation? Yeah, to make known. To clearly reveal in detail.

And so the Spirit of God is at work in the Christian's life and something happens. And people look. Something spiritual happened through that person's conduct, through their life. It's interesting to me, Craig in his series, what's he looking at every Sunday?

He's looking at one of the fruits of the Spirit. So you and I are a spiritual person. We're all seeking to bear all the fruits of the Spirit. At the same time, there's different manifestations of the Spirit that God has given us in this area of gifts.

And so, according to Paul, a spiritual gift is from and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It's something that clearly expresses the Spirit's gracious activity in God's people. It happens and you have a sense of the Spirit's presence working through that person.

And Paul uses the word, a manifestation of the Spirit. Something happens there that is entirely spiritual that the Spirit of God worked. That's a spiritual gift. Right? Rather than just thinking about it as someone has a specific gift and it just happens whenever they want it to happen.

Paul looks at this and says there are manifestations of the Spirit. Something happens where the Spirit of God displays His power through a believer in a specific way, and the fruits and what happens is ultimately something the Spirit of God has brought about for the edification of the body.

The person can't take credit. The Spirit of God worked through them and manifested Himself in a specific way for the common good of the body and for someone else. And you guys, you know that. That happens, right?

There's certain times you're talking to someone or someone's in the pulpit and there might be some natural ability there. There might be something, but there's times something unique happens. The Spirit of God has manifested Himself in that conversation and ministering to you in a specific way through that person.

And you look and they had a gift in a specific way at that moment that God worked in them for your own good because the Lord, He cares about you. He cares about His body. And so, when you think about spiritual gifts, let's think about a manifestation of the power of the Spirit of God on display through a Christian, through a believer.

That's what we're talking about according to how Paul speaks in 1 Corinthians 12. And so Paul's saying the Holy Spirit gives believers abilities for the common good of other believers. And this display of the Spirit's power is to strengthen other believers.

And in certain believers, specific manifestations are more frequent and effective. I think those are safe words to use. Paul talks in a way even about people having specific gifts. Well, the implication seems to be that more frequently happens in their life.

Where the Spirit of God works in a unique way in that person, it's just a frequent manifestation, a revealing, a clear detail of a characteristic of the Godhead or something that He wants His people to have that's coming through that specific individual.

And it might be more frequent and it's clearly effective and it's the work of God in their life. And obviously, these spiritual gifts, these things that Paul talks about is something separate from natural ability.

This is God the Spirit at work in the life of the Christian. It's rather remarkable, brethren, that the Lord would be delighted in any way to use us to have any type of impact on anyone in a way that the Lord gets all of the credit.

So, I hope that was clear. Just to restate it, let me read the statement again. A spiritual gift is from and empowered by the Holy Spirit. You saw that in 1 Corinthians 12. Meaning the gift is a clear expression of the Spirit's gracious activity in God's people.

That's how I want you to think about spiritual gifts. It's not just some specific gift a specific person has and at any moment they go and they use that gift whenever they so determine. It's the Spirit of God working in that Christian something very specific, very unique for the edification of the common good of the body.

And so I want to give basically a broad overview of these different activities or these different gifts, because Paul mentioned spiritual activities. And each one of these items deserves an entire full sermon in itself.

And so some of you, there's going to be certain items I'm going to mention and you're going to wish I would have said far more than I did from this pulpit right now. But each one of these deserves, maybe prophecy probably deserves five sermons in and of itself.

But I wanted to throw all of these out with a brief definition. Whether you disagree with my definition, whether I can hone it some more, I would agree I probably can. Just like there's a variety of gifts, there's a variety of perspectives on the gifts.

Continuationism, Cessationism, and the Scope of the Gifts

And you've heard the technical terms continuationism and cessationism. Continuation meaning continue. Cessation meaning ceased or eliminated. So you've got different people out there with different views on that.

Even in our own church, different people have different views on that topic. Has something been eliminated from still being given? I'm not seeking to deal with that right now here today. Another perspective is people believing these sayings have not ceased, but that they are not normative.

That we shouldn't expect all of these sayings to be happening as frequently as they did when the Gospel was advancing right there at Pentecost. And so that's a whole other topic that I'm not going to seek to dive into this morning.

So, the Spirit can be active in a believer's life in a unique way by which they are effective in a unique, specific way. And Paul lists some of those ways right here. Look at v. 6. Let's just go through all of these briefly, and then we'll go to 1 Corinthians 12 and go through what he says there.

This will at least give you an idea as a Christian of specific ways that the Spirit of God might be manifesting Himself in your own life for you to be able to build up the body. That's what he gives these abilities for in these manifestations.

It's for the common good. It's not about you. It's about Christ's church. He's very concerned and jealous for His church. And lo and behold, what's the first one Paul mentions right here? His prophecy.

Prophecy for Upbuilding, Encouragement, and Consolation

I wish that wasn't the first thing Paul mentions, but it is. You know, again, so much could be said. But it's interesting here. What's something Paul seems to always bring up when he talks about this topic?

It's the gift of prophecy. What's something Paul even says to those Thessalonians? Do not what? Yeah, do not despise prophecy. Look, there's a lot of definitions. There could be five sermons on this. But the first manifestation of the Spirit of God in His people for the edification of the body that Paul puts right here, he says, prophecy.

And this is something he brings up often. And maybe if you do keep your hand in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, that will help. You will flip back and forth. But 1 Corinthians 14, Paul even, I'm not going to go wrong by reading a verse from the Bible where Paul describes this, right?

This is safe ground. Verse three. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. Okay, I mean, there you have Paul saying however you define prophecy, notice even the purpose of it happening.

It upbuilds people. It encourages people. And it consoles them. God's given certain people something where that happens. There's an encouragement from something that they say to you. And obviously it's called prophecy, so people would say, well, there's some spontaneous reality that the Spirit of God puts on some person's mind in a specific situation.

And you find this even in Acts with Agabus who predicted a famine would occur during the reign of Claudius. You find in 1 Thessalonians not despising these things. You find verses talking about weighing these things after they are said.

And so you get into arguments as New Testament prophecy the same as Old Testament prophecy. There's so many debates here. But, Paul unashamedly puts right here in 1 Corinthians 14 that there are people who are prophesying and it was used to upbuild, encourage, and console other people.

Maybe even give practical guidance in specific situations like it seems happened in Acts. In prophecy, depending on your definition, it's obviously not something that trumps Scripture. It's obviously not something that we believe would be added to the Bible.

Some do go believe that. There's a whole lot of charismany out there. It causes people to even hear the word prophecy and they right away just want to run away from even discussing it. And so I hope in the future we can discuss this more.

But that's the first thing Paul puts here. He puts prophecy. And like I even mentioned in my last message, he says in proportion to our faith. Meaning, you better be very careful here to go and not have trust in the Lord and say something to some individual and say it in too strong of a way where you're missing the will of God in whatever it is that you're communicating to that person.

It's not for their upbuilding. It's for their binding and bondage. So that's all I'm going to say on prophecy. So much more could be said. What's the second thing Paul mentions here? That this grace given that he wants believers using, he says, if service in our serving.

Service as a Spirit-Enabled Ministry

What's Paul talking about here? You guys know this is the most sought-after gift in all the Bible, right? We have people come all the time. Brother, why didn't God give me the gift to serve? I want to have a unique ability.

Look, you're going to see with a lot of these things, are all of us called to serve? Yes. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. We're called to imitate Christ. Don't look at this and say, I'm not good at serving.

I shouldn't try harder. But clearly what he means, there's a unique manifestation of the Spirit of God in certain people's lives where it's a unique serving of someone else and their need, and even being sensitive to the reality of those needs, that the Spirit of God, He's at work doing that.

I mean, there's others serving, but when that person served in that specific situation, God brought it about. And He used it to build you up in your own life. Paul talks in 1 Corinthians 12 about gifts of helping.

These would seem to be a similar reality. The Spirit of God working to allow you to be a help to someone or to serve them. A lexicon, it puts an ability to render assistance or help by performing certain duties, often of a humble nature.

And you know what? Some would rightly say a lot of times those who are really gifted in this way, they become the deacons in the church. I mean, there's just an awareness there to serve the body and the church in a unique way, and it's because the Spirit of God has worked that in them.

Maybe even Stephanas was gifted in this way. 1 Corinthians 16, it says that they were devoted to the service of the saints. I mean, why does Paul call that one man out and his family? It's like there was some devotion there that they had to the body in a unique way.

Teaching the Word and Giving Sound Doctrine

That's the second thing we have here. If you're in service and are serving, and the third thing, the one who teaches and is teaching. What does it mean to teach? We tend to think rightly about the Nehemiah text.

Nehemiah 8 .8, it says they gave the saints so the people understood the reading. There's ability to unpack the Word of God that people come away understanding the Scriptures. Everyone has the same ingredients right before them, but when some people cook it, it tastes really good and they use specific amounts of ingredients in a specific way.

And another person, they come to the same table and there's a struggle there. Well, that's a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good of the body. Paul even says in 1 Corinthians 14, how will I benefit you unless I bring a revelation or knowledge?

And then he goes again and says prophecy, meaning revelation, and then he says teaching. So meaning teaching and knowledge. There's bringing of knowledge of who the Lord is and unpacking it from the Word of God where it helps saints.

Titus 1 .9, give instruction in sound doctrine. So there's an ability to give instruction in the sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it. And obviously within this gift, there are different degrees of it.

1 Timothy 5, it talks about those who labor in preaching and teaching, implying some don't labor in it. There's a different degree of faith there given to that person. You know what? There's a lot of people who have a natural ability to teach and they end up teaching heresy because there isn't a Spirit-given discernment and ability to unpack the Word of God.

I'm amazed with all the people popping up on YouTube who are heretics where they have a great ability to speak, a natural ability there, but they're lacking the spiritual discernment to go to the Word of God and understand these things.

Paul says people twist things to their own destruction. Repeat it. So that's a third thing. Teaching. A fourth thing. What's the fourth thing Paul puts here? Manifestation of the Spirit for the common good of the body.

Exhortation, Counseling, and Calling Believers to Action

It says the one who exhorts The one who exhorts in his exhortation. So the Spirit expresses Himself through some believers who have an ability to urge you to live out specific content in your life, to call you to action in a powerful way.

You talk to ten people about the same thing, but one of those people, you talk to them and you just feel exhorted. You feel called to go and to do something. They had a way through the Spirit of God manifesting Himself in their life to just put some fire under your feet, to make you feel like I've got to go.

I've got to go do this. This is right. This is honoring to the Lord. What letter in the Bible is an exhortation? Specifically states it is Hebrews. Yeah, and if you know Hebrews, it's pretty clear it's an exhortation.

He says in Hebrews 13, 22, I appeal to you brothers, bear with My word of exhortation. So imagine after the service, someone exhorts you and they basically quote the whole book of Hebrews. How long does it take to read Hebrews?

Is it like 30 minutes? That's a long exhortation. But what did that writer do? He had an ability to show people that Christ was better, to call them out of their idolatry, to call them out of going back to Judaism.

He had all these illustrations. He talks about your drooping hands. God just gave him an ability to help those Hebrews with what he wrote. And you just see that in the whole letter. He's calling people to not abandon the truth.

He's calling them to abandon certain errors. And they're exhorted. They're challenged. So obviously, some teachers, they also have this manifestation in their life where they have an ability to exhort.

Another thing when you think about exhortation is the idea of what's also happening in the book of Hebrews. What's also happening when you exhort, there's counseling. There's a manifestation of the Spirit of God to offer counsel and call someone in a certain direction that has an impact on their life that God has given you at certain points.

It points you in a path, a clear path ahead. And so exhortation, counseling, there's some mix there. That's the Spirit of God does that. Manifests Himself in a unique way for the common good of other Christians.

Giving Generously and Cheerfully

Alright, fifth thing here. Verse 8, the one who contributes in generosity. So another manifestation of the Spirit of God in certain believers' life in a unique way that they are effective in is giving.

Isn't that interesting? All are called to give, but there's again, something unique about certain individuals. What is unique about it? It's not like the Bible goes really in depth, but you know, what does Paul call, he says, in contributing, and then he says what?

In generosity. What's generosity make it sound like Paul's thinking about? Yeah, even just the amount is part of it. Meaning, there is a willingness there that the Spirit of God puts in their heart. They give you something that you leave, you know, you get the little thing and you open it up, you go home and you see the check and you're thinking it's going to be a $100 check.

And it's $2 ,000. Something unique happened there where the Spirit of God is burdening them not only to recognize your need and to see your need, to see the timing of it, but then to give in such a generous way to that need.

I mean, some of you, you've experienced that. There's just a remarkable and unusual ways by which the Spirit of God works in others' lives for them to find out about a need in your life and God sends a person around to generously give to help you in that financial situation.

Don't look at that and praise the person. That was God at work in their life for the edification of you being part of this body. And so that's part of the Spirit's activity. And they're able to do this in a cheerful way, in a remarkable way.

Isn't that what Paul said? Even to the rich, let them be rich in good works. So, sixth thing here, after contributing in generosity, the one who leads with zeal. The one who leads with zeal. And you find in 1 Corinthians 12, he mentions a gift of administrating.

Leadership, Administration, and Direction in the Church

And so there could definitely be some overlap here in what he's talking about in 1 Corinthians 12 .28, what he's speaking about here. God has given some people the grace to be a rudder in the ship. When we're in the steering wheel, they've got a call to put their hands on that wheel and help direct the ship in the right direction and the church in the right way.

There's a sense that God has given them a vision, a sense of where we're going. They have a unique ability to help call people not only to action to exhort them, but to call them together, to work together for this great cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And without leadership, you know, church, they could just float around rudderless, not end up going in any direction. And obviously you have leaders who, Peter says, they're domineering over the flock.

Right? So you've got people who, so many people want to domineer over the believers' consciences and they think that's leading with zeal and that's actually being a Pharisee. But then you've got the others where there's two passives.

So there's certain people, God's manifested an ability to lead where they're not micromanaging the body and choking out certain people's spirit-given activities that God's burdening them to do. But at the same time, they're seeking to manage it and encourage everyone in a specific direction.

And that's a work of the Spirit of God. I mean, there's certain times you don't even, it's like, where are we going? What should we be doing in a specific situation? And the Spirit of God might manifest Himself in a certain person at that exact moment and give clear clarity, put all the thoughts in their mind and line it up straight.

And they express that to the others and everyone's like, that sounds exactly like what we should be doing. Spirit of God doing that. And he says here, with zeal. That's with diligence. There's a diligent management that happens.

And so that's another thing he mentions here. That's number six. Number seven. The seventh thing Paul says here, the one who does acts of mercy, they are to do those acts with cheerfulness. Okay, Paul's already talked about contributing with generosity.

Mercy, Sympathy, and Care for the Suffering

So if he's already brought in this issue of finances, and he's already talked about if service and are serving, what's he mean by an act of mercy? What's Paul thinking of here? I think what he's saying is for some, the Spirit of God displays Himself in a unique way for them having an ability and a desire to show mercy and sympathy to people who are suffering.

That's a common way that people define this. And you kind of think of the child. When the child is hurt, who do they run to? When they're a little child. They go to their mother. There's a specific sympathy.

Not all mothers have it, but most mothers show a specific sympathy to their own children. Well, God's designed some people in the church like that. I mean, they have an ability to show you sympathy and compassion and to show mercy towards you and to be an encouragement to you, to be just a soothing balm that soothes the pain and the distress that you're going through.