Sermon Sunday--Spiritual Gifts

Does your pastor ever ask for more volunteers at your church, while you squirm in your seat, thinking uncomfortably about the last time you answered a call for help and were completely our of your element (and not particularly useful)? Did you know that God gave each of us special gifts to use to help the body of Christ function at its maximum efficiency for achieving the good things He would have us do to further His kingdom? Did you know that if YOU are aware of what you are good at and others know what they are good at, then things work better than if you simply volunteer for everything? Well, if you aren't sure what your spiritual gifts are, then check out this free spiritual gifts analysis from Team Ministry.

Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Analysis

"The Team Ministry Spiritual Gifts Inventory is a discovery tool that provides you with a personalized analysis. Not a test, but a simple questionnaire giving you a profile of your God given spiritual gifts." (from their website)

I took this test this morning to see how it would come out and I was somewhat surprised by the results. I was much stronger in some areas than I used to be, so I guess that means I am growing!! The quiz is about 100 questions long and is very straightforward. I think I will have each of my older sons complete it this week so we can talk about it. It will also be interesting to see what hubby turns out to have as his strengths. I have a pretty good idea, but what I thought would be my strongest trait was not (though it was high), so who knows if I will be right about his results.

Here's a link to the sermon notes from a Baptist church that includes a written version of the Spiritual Gifts test and some discussion questions you might use as a Bible study, just in case you prefer not to take an online quiz.

I think it will help us as a family to not only know what our personality types are, but also where our gifts lie. As a teacher, it will help me to help them develop what is stong and build up what is not as strong.

Just in case you are curious, my highest score was for Mercy (that's a good one!). My next highest score is the one I was surprised by. I thought it would be Teaching (which was high, but not in the highest two), but it was Exhortation instead. I don't see myself as an Exhorter, but I guess this fits with being a Mom and having to teach little ones about living out God's Word, and helping them shape and mold their character.

My lowest score was Evangelism, which is logical since I can never see myself being like Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort on Way of the Master...talk about uncomfortable for me! I prefer reaching people by helping and comforting them (Mercy). I already knew I could use a bit of work on the Evangelism front, which is why I chose to read Kirk Cameron's book this month to see what I can get out of his story. So far it is very interesting. Did you know he was named for his father's favorite TV character? You got it, Captain Kirk! His mother let that one slide by because she knew "kirk" also means "of the church" and she liked that. It turns out that even though he was an atheist, he turned back to God as a young man, and now is part of that amazing evangelical ministry. He has six kids, just like me!

In any case, I believe we should never stop growing, so why not use a quiz like this to find out where we might want to focus our growth next? Plus, it can help you put your best talents to good use in the meantime.

Here is a link to a sermon series on Unwrapping Your Spiritual Gifts that you can use to study this topic this week, if it interests you. This is a written series, though there are hyperlinks to scriptures and more information scattered throughout the lecture. I only read the first half so far, so if you see something you disagreee with, let me know.

Here's an audio sermon for this week about this topic from Mountain Springs Church in Colorado. I listened to it this morning since I was feeling very poorly and couldn't make it to church. There is an outline you can scroll through on the sermon page if you are a visual learner and want to follow along. You might check out some of their other sermons, if you have time. It seems like they have quite a few available for listening.

Let me know if you know of any good free ones on Spiritual Gifts I can add here, or if you find any you think are particularly good from MSC. I enjoyed this one. I hope you do, too.

I wish for you a blessed Sunday with your families.