Spiritual Gifts

Chapter 2
The Fivefold Ministry Gifts
(Ephesians 4:11–12 KJV)

As mentioned previously, when we are born, God gives us a natural talent. Some can sing like a bird, and others can play instruments with or without taking lessons. Some people are natural-born speakers, while some are able to grasp and understand a subject such as physics with ease. Some people are natural leaders, while others need practice to be good leaders. These are just a few of the talents we can be born with. We just need to discover what that talent is.
As in the natural, so in the spiritual. When people are born again, when they accept Jesus into their lives, God gives each of them at least one gift. It is left to us to find out what that gift is. Your spiritual man, who was lying dormant in your belly, came alive, and you put on the new man of Christ Jesus. For the Word states in John 7:37–38, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 3:16 says, “You must be born again.” What does this mean because here I am, walking about, eating, sleeping, and doing ordinary everyday things? I am alive. Your soul man is alive, but your spirit man is dead. He needs to be resurrected, and the only way that can happen is to be born again from above, not from below.
A spiritual gift is different from a natural talent. According to God, you can have more than one gift because it comes from God and not a human. A spiritual gift is a God-given special ability given to every believer at conversion, or the moment you acknowledge the Lord Jesus as your Savior. The Holy Spirit gives you your gifts to share his love, and compassion and to strengthen the body of Christ. Your gift is to be used to serve the body of Christ and to glorify God.
Unfortunately, most of these God-given gifts are rarely used in most church settings because people are not taught about the gifts. And should they inquire about them, the most frequent answer is often that they are not for today, that they died with the apostles, or I don’t know. So the gifts that God has given us lie dormant because either the leader doesn’t know the gifts exist, knows the gifts exists but doesn’t want to share the information with you, or we as a body refuse to accept the gifts God has to offer. Hosea 4:6 (KJV) states, “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.”
We read the Word of God, but we do not become inquisitive enough to find out for ourselves what the Word of God means. The Holy Spirit, or Comforter, lies waiting to be activated in the saved individual. But most of us are oblivious to the fact that the Holy Spirit even exists within us. Therefore, in most churches, we find spirit-filled individuals just sitting in the pew doing nothing, believing that the gifts and calling are only for the pastor or leader. But we find these words in Mark 16:17–18 (KJV):

And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

This scripture tells us if you have been born again, believe in Jesus, you should be doing the same things Jesus did because the power and gifts have been given to you.
When you do see individuals working in the local church, most are not taking full advantage of their spiritual gifts. This could be why some people have no joy in these positions; they are serving in the wrong office. It is important that we have a proper understanding of these spiritual gifts. We need to unfold what the gifts are and learn a little about each one.
So how do you know what gift, or gifts, you have of the Spirit? Why should someone be concerned about having a spiritual gift? The gifts are given by the Spirit of God, whereby he can be glorified, and the believer as well as the unbeliever will come to an understanding that God exists.
When you think of spiritual gifts, we automatically think of Ephesians 4:11, which tells of the fivefold ministry gifts—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. The purpose of the fivefold ministry gifts, as stated in Ephesians 4:11–16, is to help the ministry flow together in the body with love. Another purpose of the fivefold ministry gifts is to train other believers to discover and use the gifts given to them by the Holy Spirit. Let’s take a brief look at each of the fivefold ministry gifts.