What Are The Gifts of The Holy Spirit?

Hey there, thanks for joining us for another A&Q video where we talk through your questions and keep searching for answers along the way. I think we got a fantastic question today. What are the gifts of the Holy Spirit? In multiple places the Bible talks about the Spirit of God giving us supernatural spiritual gifts. So let's start with this. Who is the Holy Spirit? We believe he is the third person of what we call the Trinity. And that's a separate A&Q you might want to check out. But in short, there is one God, one essence, one nature, with three distinct, unspeakably magnificent and powerful and all-knowing beings, as author Dallas Willard puts it, who are mysteriously so connected and united that they are three but somehow one. And Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his followers and that's what you see in the beginning of the church era in the New Testament. The Bible tells us that when we turn to Jesus and receive his grace, the Holy Spirit takes up residence and lives in us. Now this is more mystery, isn't it? It's beyond the natural. We're into the supernatural. We're talking about an eternal being here and what we would call the spiritual aspects of life. Now, if you struggle with the supernatural, well, that's a different question we should discuss later. The apostles Peter and Paul write to these early Christians of how the Spirit equips followers of Jesus and empowers them with gifts like acts of service, teaching, encouragement, prophecy, giving, leadership, healing, speaking in tongues, shepherding, and more. But for the sake of time, let me highlight a couple of points that Scripture makes about these gifts that are given to us by our gracious God. Here's one.

The Sovereign Lord decides how he will distribute these gifts. Same Spirit, different gifts. And they are all important because ultimately these gifts are meant to build up and to edify the church. See, the moment we make these spiritual gifts about us, we are missing the point. These gifts help us live out Jesus' mission in this world and I think that's where life gets exciting. This is a part of the purpose for which you were created, which means that if you are a Christian, God has given you specific gifts and abilities for a specific purpose. Don't fall into the trap of, sometimes we call it gift envy, you know, wishing you had different gifts or you get jealous of someone else's abilities or gifts. Don't give in to that because it begins to rob you of how God wants to use you in this world. Now, sometimes there is a question that comes up about one particular gift that is mentioned in the New Testament. It's called the gift of tongues. In the early days of the church, something is described where people start speaking contemporary human languages that they'd never spoken before. This was a part of what launched the early church. The gospel was being explained to many people groups all at once. Now that is a work of God and only God and I believe such things could absolutely still happen today if the context required it because God can still make it happen. But most scholars think that what was described in other places deeper into the New Testament isn't really that. This gift of tongues appears to be a kind of edifying, mysterious form of prayer. It's real personal. It's between you and God. It's primarily for private use according to the Apostle Paul. And if it is used in public, it's got to be interpreted by someone else. By the way, that too is a mysterious gift given by God.

The reason is so that everyone else can be encouraged and edified. Paul, in one passage, stresses the importance of the worship service being orderly and intelligible. Otherwise, it's going to throw people who are in that service off, people who don't know Jesus yet. It's going to push them off track. Different denominations and Christian traditions talk about and practice this in different ways, which is great as long as we adhere to what we can all read in the scriptures. Unfortunately, even then, this issue, this topic, sometimes divides believers who run to the extremes on this gift. Some single out one of these dramatic manifestations of the Spirit as the proof that one has the Holy Spirit in them. Others reject any use of this gift today and even go so far as to demean those who say that they have experienced the gift of tongues. Now, I'm telling you that scriptures reject these extremes. First of all, let's stay humble. Let's remember that when the Holy Spirit has his way in our lives, the number one ever evidence of this is love. Do such gifts still exist today? I believe they do. Does everyone experience this particular gift? No. That wasn't even the case in the New Testament. Which means, by the way, it can't be some sort of a test that we apply to people to prove that you've got the Spirit of God working in you. When you say yes to Jesus, you receive His grace and forgiveness and the gift of God's presence. His Holy Spirit moves in closer than your next breath. He is the one who breathes life into my journey. He's the one who softens my heart when it gets crusty and cynical. He's the one who renews my tired emotions, draws me close in times of worship, helps me in times of prayer, brings peace and courage and clarity. He's the one who nudges me away from dangerous and destructive choices. And He is the one who keeps pointing me towards the way of Jesus. And now, we're back to the beginning and that whole purpose of these gifts, to build up the church and further God's mission. See, we've been invited to join God in what He is still doing in this world. And we get to do this, well, together. And that brings us back to this powerful and essential word, love. The Apostle Paul can't even talk about

spiritual gifts without talking about love. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 13, he says, If I speak in tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith and can move mountains and do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all that I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but I don't have love, I gain nothing. I think that's where we should end it. Let's remember that the chief evidence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is love. Thanks for jumping into the deep end with me today. I'm sure you have more questions, so leave those below. And let's keep talking.