Hosting the Spirit of Gifts

Reference

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 & 12, Matthew 25:14-30

Introduction

The Holy Spirit is just as powerful as God the Father and Jesus
He certainly does not need our help
He can achieve a lot of things on his own.
But yet The Holy Spirit wants to include us in the great plan of God’s salvation plan.
The Holy Spirit gives each of us spiritual gifts so we can strengthen other believers and the church
We can experience and develop a deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit through our service

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts?

Paul uses the example of speaking in tongues and prophecies to illustrate that spiritual gifts are empowered to us by the Holy Spirit for the common benefit of the Church. (1 Corinthians 14:1-5,12)

What are we supposed to do with our spiritual gifts?

Jesus used the parable of the talents to teach us what we ought to do with the spiritual gifts that are entrusted to us. (Matthew 25:14-30)
The first two servants (with 5 and 2 talents) acted responsibly and doubled their money. They were commended for being good and faithful. The master entrusted them with even more, and invited them to enter his “joy.”
The third servant with the one talent played it safe. He was afraid to invest and lose the master's money because he knew that his master was a hard man.
He just buried it in the ground and he didn’t even try to take some risk
The master was furious and took away what the servant had
As Christians, we have already been entrusted with our gifts and our talents, but we still have to act on it.

The Three U

Unwrap - Unwrap the gift by the Holy Spirit and find out what your gifts are
Utilize - Utilize your spiritual gifts to build up the church
Upgrade - Progress and continued development of your spiritual gifts is important. Pray and ask God to help you to develop it and be better with it.

The Challenge

Do you see yourself as a valued partner of the Holy Spirit?
Are you ready and willing to tap into the gifts that have been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit?
Whatever your gift may be, serve and use it to build up the church and to glorify God.