Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents
Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed – Chapter 12 – Launching the church
The gifts of the faith
[Bible references: Romans 12:1-8, 1 Corinthians 7:7-8; 12; 13:1-3; Ephesians 3:6-8; 4; 1 Peter. 4:7-11]
One way to discover what gifts we may have is by serving in our community. As we serve in various ways, we may discover that God has particularly blessed our service in various ways. Sometimes others may point out those abilities or gifts to us. Another way to discover our gifts is to read about those gifts and certain gifts may become apparent to us that way. Another way is take a questionnaire and the results of that questionnaire may reveal certain gifts to us. It may be helpful to take such a questionnaire with someone else because they may have different insights into the questions.
As we mature and encounter different life experiences, we may discover that different gifts emerge or that God has provided differently for us in our different circumstances. God knows us and our circumstances and may provide differently as we change and our circumstances change.
To strengthen the spiritual gift questionnaires, Saddleback Church has created the SHAPE assessment tool. What this tool does, is combine the spiritual gifts assessment with other things that define us: these factors are Spiritual gifts, Heart (our desires), Abilities (talents we have), Personality (who we are) and Experience (the things we’ve lived through).[1]
Scripture reveals that all who are in Christ are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit has given us various gifts that we can use to help build up other members of the body of Christ. A couple of Bible passages listed in the table below mention some of these gifts (the lists are not exhaustive):
| Romans 12 exhortation giving leadership mercy prophecy service teaching | 1 Corinthians 12 administration apostle discernment faith healing helps knowledge miracles prophecy teaching tongues interpretation wisdom | Ephesians 4 Apostle Evangelist Pastor Prophecy teaching | Misc. Passages celibacy (1 Cor. 7:7-8) hospitality (1 Pet. 4:9-10) martyrdom (1 Cor. 13:1-3) missionary (Eph. 3:6-8) voluntary poverty (1 Cor. 13:1-3) |
[1] Saddleback Church “Shape Guides” Saddleback Church www.ministryideas.com/doc/shape_discovery_tool.pdf; Hill, Kevin M. “S.H.A.P.E. Test” Free Shape Test www.freeshapetest.com;
Reflect
What abilities do you have that benefits other people?
Observe
Read 1 Peter 4:7-11. What is our motivation for exercising our spiritual gifts?
Dancing In The Kingdom 