Recognizing Spiritual Gifts

Not every believer should feel guilted into preaching the gospel because they read in the Bible that Jesus said GO! Jesus knows whom he has equipped to go. Preaching belongs to evangelists, who have the guidance and power of God behind them because of the gift of evangelism imparted to them. The Word of God goes forth in power to those whom God has previously prepared, to speak and to hear what the Spirit has to say. Non evangelists have been equipped for the building up of the body and other such areas of service that will certainly have the testimony of the presence of God within them by their obedience to their own gifting, to be witnessed in the church as well as out in the world.

"Go and preach the good news" is so much more than preaching! It is living the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit in us and our submission to the gifts God has exclusively equipped us with as individuals, collectively functioning as the body of Christ. Gifts other than evangelism will certainly possess the witness of God that will also proclaim the gospel to the lost without the guilt and pressure of going outside your own gifting.

I am extremely impressed, humbled, and in awe of each gift when it works according to the purpose and power it has been assigned. I feel one of the main reasons for spiritual lethargy, confusion, and disagreements in the local church, as well as between different denominations, is due to those who have not been properly instructed to realize and to mind their own gift. There is an obvious failure to recognize, understand, and utilize other gifts within the body due to the current structure and format the present church is bound and oppressed by.

"Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, 'It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.' And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith." (Acts 6:1-7)

PJR

"For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship." (1 Corithians 9:16-17)