Temporary & Permanent Spiritual Gifts

 

    God is good.  He gives us what we need, when we need it.  Security and stability are two of those gifts.  The Holy Spirit works alongside us to give us abilities in the moment and abilities that become a part of us.  

    The temporary spiritual gifts are gifts that come as we need them.  They include miracles, healing, tongues, and interpretations.  They are given to confirm the testimony of Jesus.  They were prevalent in the early church, but ceased to be evident in the established church.  

    Miracles are the gift to have the ability to do "wonders" and "signs".  Christ performed miracles and it was an affirmation of the apostles.  Today, we still have miracles, but not in such a big way.  Healing worked along side miracles.  It is the gift to affirm Jesus' message and help establish the foundation of the church faith.  The healed were a walking testimony.  Tongues and interpretations are gifts that manifested by speaking unknown languages.  Speaking in tongues is only relevant if there is someone to interpret what was being said.  

    Permanent gifts are the gifts that become a part of you and need to be developed as you mature as a Christian.  These are gifts that the Holy Spirit gave to build up the church and need to be used to bring unity and strength.

    Prophecy is the gift to preach or inform the truth of scripture.  It is not necessarily tell what will happen in the future like it prominently was in the old testament.  Teaching is the gift that gives the ability to teach God's Word and help the hearers to understand God's Word as it was intended.

    Faith is a consistent gift that help Christians to face overwhelming obstacles and human impossibilities to achieve great things.   This gift is more than the faith that brought your salvation.  It is can be tied to the gift of prayer because it is normally expressed to God through prayer.  This is powerful prayer because you know God will show up.

    Wisdom is the gift that gives you the ability to gain spiritual insight.  It helps you see right from wrong and how to apply it.  It goes along with discernment and knowledge.  The spiritual gift of knowledge is being able to understand God's Word factually.  It makes you a scholar of the truth in scripture both broadly and the depth.  Discernment is the spiritual gift of being able to tell what is from God and what is evil.  It enables you to distinguish truth from error.  It help protect the church.

    Mercy is the gift that enables a person to display deep compassion to anyone in need: spiritual, physical, or emotional.  Exhortation is the gift of encouraging and motivating.  It can be used to comfort through love, help people to commit spiritually, help spiritual growth, or get people into action.  People with this gift tend to go into counseling.

    The gift of giving is a material ministry.  These people give what they have and encourage others to give: food, clothing, money, property, and more.  They meet the needs of the church.  The gift of helpers is to be present in the time of need.  They help bear each other's burdens as a situation arises.  The gift of service is the calling to work for the church in the physical areas of ministry.  They typically serve food or perform behind the scenes duties that make the church look nice or function.

    The gift of administration or leadership has the ability to oversee the church/  This is the gift of pastors, elders, and missionaries.  This gift contributes to a lot of aspects to the overall church.  These people are called to be the face of the church as they lead people into their growth, maturity, and movement into the community or world.

Acts 2:1-13, 3:4-8, 5:12-16, 1 Corinthians 14:27-28, & 2 Corinthians 12:11-13