Sermon Tone Analysis

The bible doesn’t lock us into tight restrictions as to the number of gifts or even their definitions.

There are four major lists...

How to discover your spiritual gifts?

START

S - Study

T - Trial and Error

Serve in different areas and your gifts will become evident.

A - Analyze

R - Request responses for others

T - Training

Take any training that you can.

There are three ways God wants you to use your gifts.

1.

Through ongoing ministry on a weekly basis.

2. Through short term projects

3. Through Spontaneous situations.

God will use your gifts in these situations.

List of Spiritual Gifts

Administration (1 CO 12:28)

Administration or organization is the ability to recognize the gifts of others and recruit them to a ministry.

It’s the ability to organize & manage people, resources, and time for effective ministry.

The greek word for Administration - to steer a ship.

It’s to guide or to steer a ship.

Administration is the gift of management.

Leadership is the gift of influencing.

How do you know you have this gift?

One way is that you have the ability to balance several balls in the air at the same time.

You can juggle several things at once and you are always looking for better ways to do something.

People with this gift can owrk out the details without losing the big picture.

Arts & Crafts (Ex 31:3-11)

Some people are gifted to work with their hands.

Others are gifted by God to teach other people how to do it.

The ability to build, maintain, or beautify the place of worship for God's glory.

Drama… painters… construction and renovation…

Apostle (1 CO 12:28)

This is the ability to start and build new churches and over see their development.

Paul said his ambition was to not build on another man's foundation.

Today most of the time we don't call these people apostles.

We call them church planters.

Discernment (1 CO 12:10)

Discernment is the ability to distinguish right from wrong, truth from error, and to give an immediate evaluation based on God's Word.

The ability to discern whether the source of an experience is Satan, self, or God's Spirit.

We need this gift badly today because there are so many crazy extremes people drift toward.

This gift protects people & the Church from extremes.

Encouragement (Rom 12:8)

This is sometimes called exhortation.

The ability to motivate God's people to apply and act on Biblical principles, especially when they are discouraged or wavering in their faith.

The ability to bring out the best in others and challenge them to develop their potential.

The difference between somebody who has the gift of encouragement and somebody who has the gift of teaching -- teachers typically focus on the content of the text -- the story itself -- and people with the gift of exhortation or encouragement focus on the principles of the text.

They say, "These are the principles I see that can change your life."

Evangelism (Acts 8:26-40)

Evangelism is the ability to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to unbelievers in a positive, non threatening way.

The ability to sense opportunities to share Christ and lead people to respond with faith.

People who have this gift are very sensitive about how the unchurched feel.

They notice things.

They notice how people feel at church -- unbelievers.

They rarely overlook opportunities to share Christ.

They have a knack for turning conversation to a spiritual side.

They have a love for lost people and a desire to see them saved.

This gift an be used in many, many different ways.

You may have the gift of evangelism and be introverted.

It may scare you to death.

It doesn't mean you'd go door to door or buttonholing people in the airport.

You may have the gift of evangelism but your personality is introverted and so it's going to show up in different ways.

Many of you have this gift you just don't know it.

You have a real heart to share Christ with other people but you haven't learned to share in ways that are consistent with your personality.

Faith (1 CO 12:9)

The ability to trust God for what cannot be seen and to act on God’s promise, regardless of what the circumstances indicate.

The willingness to risk failure in pursuit of a God-given vision, expecting God to handle the obstacles.

How do you know if you've got the gift of faith?

You love to take risks.

It doesn't threaten you to go out on a limb because you realize that’s where the fruit is.

Another thing about the gift of faith is you have the ability to persevere.

God calls us all to have faith but some people have the gift of faith.

We're all to have faith, but some people have the gift of faith to believe God in greater amounts than others.

Giving (Romans 12:8)

The ability to generously contribute material resources and/or money beyond the 10% tithe so that the body may grow and be strengthened.

The ability to earn and manage money so that it may be given to support the ministries of others.

Have you ever been around a person with the gift of giving?

You never have to tell them that giving is a part of the Christian life.

It's automatic.

Typically, people with the gift of giving are the happiest people around.

I love to be around them.

They're happy, joyful, cheerful.

Often they're very successful in business.

Some people have the ability that everything they touch turns to gold.

And then they just give it away.

They make a lot of money, and they give a lot of money.

(ILL - Bob)

Healing (1 CO 12:9, 28)

The unique God Given gift that certain members of the body of Christ possess which enables them to serve as intermediaries used by God to bring healing and restore health in people.

Not everyone gets healed on this side of heaven, but these people haver the ability to pray intently for people to be healed.

Hospitality (Romans 12:13)

The ability to make others, especially strangers, feel warmly welcomed, accepted, and comfortable in the church family.

The ability to coordinate factors that promote fellowship.

You feel comfortable around these people.

If you've got the gift of hospitality, you ought to immediately sign up to be a greeter.

That's one thing you could do immediately.

Intercession

The ability to pray for the needs of others in the church family over extended periods of time on a regular basis.

The ability to persist in prayer and not be discouraged until the answer arrives.