The Ministering Gifts of the Holy Spirit to the Church # 3

1 Cor 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant;

:2 you know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols however you were led.

:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

:4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.

:5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.

:6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

Lk 12:44 Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.

:45 But if that servant says in his heart, “My master is delaying his coming,” “and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk,

:46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.
:47 And that servant who knew his master's will, and did not prepare himself of do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.

:48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of strips, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is give, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.

Ex 28:30 And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummin, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually.

The Urim and the Thummin were 2 stones with matching markings on both stones. The priest would see the Lord and throw the stones for the yes or no answers. If one set of matching signs came up the answer was yes, if the other side of matching stones came up it was no. if the signs didn't match God hadn't answered.

1 Cor 12:28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

Not all have the same gifts.

Gifts of leadership include the five fold ministry.

Eph 4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

:8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.”

:9 (Now this, “He ascended” - what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?

:10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

:11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,

:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,

:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head- Christ

1. apostles
2. prophets
3. evangelists
4. pastors
5. teachers

It takes all five of these to produce 1 Christian.

Is 61:1”The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

:3 to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

One of my pastors told us about being called at 4 am and given these verses.

Lk 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed;

:19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”

God had another minister give my pastor the above scripture as confirmation. The same pastor had the following vision and told him about it. My pastor was sweeping a sidewalk with Jesus walking behind him. When he got to some water, the pastor walked on it.

His first vision was a face rolling like a tv screen. The face was in pain and agony. It would get dark then bright. Beacon then bible with pages turning then bright light that stayed. The face was my pastor's. He told him there would be things he would have to go through to reach the total light.

My pastor is gone to be with Jesus now and all of the visions came about before he died.

Deut 13:1 “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you , saying, “Let us go after other gods' – which you have not known - ' and let us serve them,

:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Watch the persons life – are they trying to lead you to a different God?

Apostles – one sent forth by God with a a special message and commission to fulfill.

2 Cor 11:12 But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast.

:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ.

Heb 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus.

Jesus was called Apostle. His commission was to die for us.

1 Cor 12:28 And God has appointed these in the church; first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.

First apostles because they have a message and commission.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

:11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh – who are called uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands -

:12 that at that time you were without Christ, being, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ,

:14 for He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,

:15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
:16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

:17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.

:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

:20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

:21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,

Apostles are part of the foundation you are built upon. Jesus picked the first apostles one by one.

Lk 6:13 And when it was day, He called His disciples to Himself; and from them He chose twelve whom He also named apostles:

:14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;

:15 Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot;

:16 Judas Iscariot who also became a traitor.

He chose them to train and become the apostles to build His church upon. The 12 began the church age.

1 Cor 9:1 Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?

:2 If I am not an apostle to others, yet doubtless I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

That was Paul speaking.

1 Cor 15:8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.

:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Paul was humble and knew that he was an apostle because of the grace of God.

Gal 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),

:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,

:16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,

:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned to Damascus.

It was Jesus who called Paul.

Apostles established churches. They were also teachers. They were shown by God who to appoint as elders in churches they started. They would keep in touch with the churches to guide the pastors.

Apostles were leaders of leaders under the guidance of Jesus.

1 Cor 12:22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.