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Spiritual Gifts


Watered Garden
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Last night at Ladies Bible Study, the subject came up of spiritual gifts. I am now rather confused.

According to popular belief in this group, when one is saved one receives a spiritual gift. Now I always thought that gift was holy spirit, lower case. However, they seem to think it is one of what TWI taught was the 5 gift ministries, i.e. apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor or teacher. They also talk about other kinds of gifts, which seem to be the things you excel at doing in the body of Christ, such as teaching, or in my case, baking stuff for Sunday morning coffee between church school and worship service. Or whatever.

The teacher of this class, titled "A Woman After God's Own Heart" talked about developing your ministry. The women present talked about figuring out what your ministry is and doing that to the best of your ability, whether it is taking care of babies, baking cookies, visiting the sick, prayer, or teaching groups.

So how does one know whether one's "ministry" is being fulfilled? What if my "ministry" is something I don't like or want to do? Will God tell me what it is?

WG

PS - moderators, if this develops to be better placed in "Doctrinal" please feel free to move it. Thanks.

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i thank you for starting this thread WG.

I wonder the same thing. KG says we should bloom where we are planted.. meaning ???

and look at her result, I do not know WG.

Will God show me my minsistry? my gift? my life is almost half over at least and I have no outstanding call to DO any particular thing.

I think if it feels good to bake then bake.. but what happens when the oven breaks down or you run out of sugar does the "gift" go away?

we are all to give.. and recieve is that a gift?

i do not think and this im sure of that God assigns "gifts" so we can be compared to one another.. she got the gift of which may be better than the gift of.. type of thing.

i do even think the ministries of prophet or apostle is something people should "want", they lived most miserable lifes if you go by what the bible testimony is of how they played their minsitries out.

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AFAIK, We are all called to help one another, give, and serve.. And since the word "ministry" just means a way to serve. Heck, I think that's up to each individual how they want to give in the body. And as long as you look for ways to help and serve, then you're fulfilling what God has called you to do.

I would certainly stay away from anyone that wants to TELL me how I ought to be serving, as if they have a better connection to God, some self made MOGFODAT. God gives us of HIS spirit, that's the gift, and via that spirit, God's spirit, he is capable of making it known to us what His will is HIMSELF!

It's all part of that relationship, between us and God as well as us and Christ.

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I think that if someones house burns down and your driving down the road and see it do you stop and help,if you are physcially able too,do you call 9ll, do you pray,what can you do,in dc i was walking around just finshed my lunch i had no money byr i had some leftover too share with this man i told him that is all i have i wish i had more,he was grateful,i was just passing thru dc that day,i think i also have the gift of taking care of my grandson...i don't cook so i think it is great that other people do!

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I don't recall which class this was in.

The subject of the teaching was the difference between the gift of holy spirit, a singular entity which had multiple characteristics(ie: manifestations), and gift ministries, which are plural.

This was taught by VPW.

He said that gift ministries are plural because they are a gift to the church, not to the individual who is entrusted with them.

This is how he explained that God only gives one gift to us as individuals(ie: holy spirit) and thus is not a respecter of persons because he did not give a gift(ministry) to one person and withhold a gift(ministry) from another.

Is this an accurate interpretation?

Heck if I know.

It kinda sounds like an exercise in rationalization to me, like an effort to prove "there are no contradictions in the scriptures."

That way, God can't be seen as a "respecter of persons".

But, I could be wrong.

What might be worth looking into is whether or not he got this concept from Stiles or Bullinger or one of the others he borrowed from, and then looking at how that conclusion was reached.

That's my 2 cents(adjusted for inflation)

Edited by waysider
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God first

Beloved Watered Garden

God loves you my dear friend

Let me begin with we all have the gift of God's love for and the great gift Christ gave to us to be joint heirs

you have read about spiritual gifts in the bible

so think about this verse

1 Corinthians 12:31 "But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet show I unto you a more excellent way."

then we begin with chapter 13 on the love of God

the gift to love one another

today you share this gift by baking and being a friend to them while you might not all ways share your gift of love the same way you will find a way to touch their hearts

now what your ministry is might just be one of support with love - a member of God's love

Ephesians 4:11-12 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:

these are the ones who were called to point to the love of God in the open but you do not need a gift ministry or calling to point to God because we were all called to live love

I would not worry about it because its more about walking in love then a special job like being a apostle

and if you been called to rise up in one of these ministries you would of begin it at age 30

but the ministry of love begins at any age

we all do our part in the body of Christ and you my friend rise up tall with a smiling love for us and God

thank you

with love and a holy kiss blowing your way Roy

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Why do you believe age thirty Roy?

plenty of bible sotries about gifts beginning even in the womb for people children young men why do you say thirty?

I know vpw says an adult is happening till the age of thirty because that is when Jesus began his PUBLIC ministry.. but way before that he had the spirit within and spoke as God asked to many.

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If I recall correctly, I think 30 was the age at which a man was considered an "adult".

Thus, he was given the official "go ahead" at that point.

Kinda like having to wait until legal voting age to cast a ballot in the elections.

You might be a legal citizen because of your birth place, but you have to wait until you are "of age".

Don't know if that is Biblically accurate.

Just saying that's how I remember it being taught.

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God first

Beloved waysider and pond

God loves you my two dear friends

waysider - thank you for the holy hug and the insight

pond - yes what waysidersaid plus "Numbers in Scripture by E. W. Bullinger" Joseph was 30 Gen 12:46 when he begin his ministry, King David was 30 when he began King 2 Sam 5:4 but in Luke 3:23 Christ begin to openly begin his ministry of Christ and we know it lasted less than a year

Christ has to make a open degree that he was the son of God

3x10 denotes a higher degree of perfection of divine order

Adam begin the ministry of sin at age 30

thank you

with love and a holy kiss blowing your way Roy

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Good morning, and thanks for your replies.

Yesterday, I googled "spiritual gifts" and found several tests on line to determine my spiritual gifts. I took one. It was Lutheran, and from my point of view, pretty funny. Several statements about oneself and one had to answer always, usually, sometimes, never, that sort of thing. Then at the end it was tallied. I got a 90% on "exhortation" whatever that is, and 10% on wisdom, and there were a bunch of others in between. I think about 60% on hospitality.

I think as y'all have pointed out, the spiritual gifts and gift ministry stuff is in the Bible, and I don't see "comforter of babies" or "baker of scones" in any list.

I honestly don't think God has given me the desire to help in a specific area as a spiritual gift, but that my inclinations and desire to help in a certain area by using an ability that I have developed, the kernel of which God may well have put there (all the women on my mother's side could bake/cook like fiends) are my part in the body of Christ.

My husband is a teacher. He was a good teacher of the Bible when we were in TWI and he is a good teacher of business now that he is a professional full time, degree-holding teacher. He has assisted with teaching Sunday school classes and we are now leaders of a small group in our home. However, I don't think this means he has the gift ministry of a teacher. He's got some clear logical thinking abilities, a good vocabulary, and a great, great heart. So he can put those abilities to use to serve God and God's people.

It just seems a little weird to me that this ministry business is something that can be tested for. The ladies group leader wants to get this wonderful older minister to come over and give the ladies a test to determine their spiritual gifts, similar to the one I mentioned above. I don't think I"m gonna be there that night, because I think this whole thing is pretty stupid. I mean, what if your test results show that you should be a missionary in wildest Borneo? And you are an 80-year-old great-grandmother?

Looks like the test thing is more likely to reflect interests, aptitudes, and whether one is an extrovert or an introvert. There were several questions about praising God and blessing God's people through one's musical or artistic talents, so I guess Waysider at least is gonna rate high on that one. But see, you would have to BE musical or artistic to begin with. Someone who can't carry a tune in a 5-gallon bucket is not going to have a spiritual gift of singing solos in the choir!

Anyways, thanks for the replies. Have a great morning and I hope you had a good breakfast (the scones were chocolate chip, by the way).

WG

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