1 Corinthians 12:7-11 gives us a list of spiritual gifts for the lives of believers. The gifts are not narrowly defined, and we want to take a couple days and highlight a couple of them. The first, we will examine in the gift of knowledge (v8). This gift logically precedes the gift of wisdom, because knowledge comes before wisdom, and it is a broad term which refers to perceiving and understanding the truths of God’s Word. God gives certain of His saints a special ability to study His Word and discover the full meaning of the text and context, of individual words and phrases, and of related passages and truths, and thereby help provide understanding for others. The gifted person is supernaturally enabled not only to discover truths from the facts of Scripture but to explain and interpret those truths in order to help others to understand them. We must understand that any word of divine knowledge or wisdom MUST BE BASED ON THE WORD OF GOD! Anything that is contrary to the Bible, or contradicts its truths is spurious, and must not be trusted. It has nothing to do with future events, or predictions, and has only to do … READ MORE

It is hard for us to do the work of the Lord in our own strength, but we are reminded in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 that the Holy Spirit enables us to do the Work that God has called us to do. The gifts that are outlined here are general gifts to help the church at Corinth understand that there were many things that the Lord does to provide unity within His body. What the Spirit of God gives to us is not for our benefit exclusively, but for the benefit of the body. Just as our body has many parts, and they all have to work together in harmony, so to does the local church need to participate together to make the ministry effective for the whole. When we sit by passively in our church we do not enhance the work going one. We can even become a drain on the body if we refuse to serve. At the same time, we need to understand that if we are busy and involved, we must not become proud of “our” work, or “our” service. The work being done is a work of God within the body. A key element in the … READ MORE