Design points to Destiny: Spiritual Gifts | Pastor Colton Coffey

Message Date: March 19, 2025
Bible

Design points to Destiny: Spiritual Gifts

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Main idea: God has given every believer spiritual gifts as part of their divine design pointing them toward their destiny in His Kingdom

  • 1st Corinthians 12:1-31 (ESV)
  • The goal of tonight would be for us to not be ignorant on these things. I pray that we would study this out for ourselves.

Intro: Why do we need Spiritual gifts?:

  1. Spiritual Gifts Reveal God’s Design for the Church
  • 1st Corinthians:12:7 (ESV) – To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
  • God has designed the church to be a living body, not just an organization or business…Each believer has a role to play, just as each body has a function.

2. Spiritual Gifts are Gifts to be used for the Work of the Ministry

  • Acts1:8 (ESV) – But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

– Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV) – 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[a] and teachers,[b] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

  • The Gifts of the Spirit empower us to fulfill the Kingdom mission, equipping us to be effective in building up the Church and reaching people.

3. Spiritual Gifts Strengthen the Unity of the Church

  • 1st Corinthians 12:12 (ESV) – For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
  • Gifts are given to bring the church together, not divide. Every believer has a role to play and when used correctly, the body grows stronger.

Body

  1. God’s Design: Spiritual Gifts are given by The Holy Spirit
  • 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (ESV) – 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
  • Point: They are given by God, not earned. They are diverse but unified in purpose
  • 1 Corinthians 12:14-19 (ESV) – 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts,[b] yet one body.

2. Purpose: Spiritual Gifts are given to build up the church.

  • Unity and Maturity: Ephesians 4:11-14 (ESV) – 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[a] and teachers,[b] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[c] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
  • To Serve: 1st Peter 4:10-11(ESV) – 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
  • Grace and humility: Romans 12:3-8 (ESV) – 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members,[a] and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,[b] with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
  • Point: We must view spiritual gifts as gifts or tools for service, not for status or superiority.

3. The Foundation of Spiritual Gifts: LOVE

  • 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV) –  If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

  • Ephesians 4:15-16 (ESV) – 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
  • Romans 12: 9-13 (ESV) – Marks of the True Christian

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit,[a] serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

  • 1 Peter 4:7-9 (ESV) – 7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
  • Point: love must be the motivation for using our gifts.

Closing:

2 Timothy 1:6 (ESV) – 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,

We must encourage one another in our gifts.