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Leadership

Leadership is the gifting I have had the greatest struggle to describe.  Two reasons account for this difficulty. First, leadership comes in different varieties.  A church planter and a pastor are both leaders, but they are quite different beasts.  Paul is not John.  Both have leadership giftings, but they have very different strengths and weaknesses. Second, Paul mentions the gift of leadership in Romans 12, but in Eph 4, he mentions as leaders the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers.  So is Paul using different terms to refer to the same thing?  And if so, which term in Ephesians…

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Giving

“. . . it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). God so loved the world that He gave.  Giving is God’s nature.  He loves to give.  People with the spiritual gift of giving have discovered how much God loves to give, and they show the rest of the church what that looks like.  Givers have learned the secret of letting go of material goods.  Their money and possessions do not have a stronghold over their hearts, and they willingly and sacrificially give to meet the needs of others and to advance the kingdom of God.  They…

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Exhortation/Encouragement

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (I Thes 5:11) The Greek word translated “exhortation” in the list of spiritual gifts can mean encouragement, comfort, or consolation.  It is the same word Jesus uses when He calls the Holy Spirit the comforter.  People with this gift lift you up when you feel down.  People with this gift spur you on to love and good deeds.  Everyone likes to be around them because they make you feel as if you matter and as if God will use you.  These people are encouragers and are…

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Teaching

“We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we might present everyone perfect in Christ.” (Col 1:28) The spiritual gift of teaching involves communicating Biblical truth in a way that brings about healthy spiritual growth and life change.  The gift is more than being a good teacher generically.  Someone can be a good biology or literature teacher without having the spiritual gift of teaching.  People with this gift focus on Jesus and on Scripture.  When these people teach, it’s not just that you learn something.  It’s that they take you to God and help you spiritually understand…

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Service

“. . . whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  (Matt 20:26-8) Greatness in the kingdom of God is backwards from greatness in the world.  Jesus came to serve. He came to give His life a ransom for many.  To Jesus, the great ones are the servants.  Therefore, the spiritual gift of service is Christ-like and makes men and women great in…

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