This week we took a break from our verse-by-verse study of the book of Acts, and instead, we discussed the gift of Tongues. We discussed the various ways we have personally witnessed and/or experienced the gift. We created a safe space for class members to share diverse points of view. The discussion led us to 1 Corinthians 12-14 where some of the “spiritual gifts” are listed. We focused our attention on the clear portions of Scripture which explain the purpose of this gift (as well as ALL the gifts). We looked at the difference between speaking in known languages versus unknown, and public versus private exercise of the gift. It was a very rich discussion. I hope you will take time to listen to it with an open mind and an open Bible.
Be sure scroll down for Additional Resources to enhance your study!
>> Click to read this week’s passage in KJV, HCSB, ESV, NIV: Acts 2:5 <<
The Gift of Tongues ~ Acts 2:5
Glossolalia in Acts and Corinth
* Recorded: LIVE. This audio has been edited for class member privacy, time, and content.
PowerPoint:
Additional Resources:
CORINTH AND THE DIOKLOS
Here is a brief article (with pictures) about the Diolkos in Greece near Corinth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diolkos
SPIRITUAL GIFTS INVENTORY
Here is a FREE “Spiritual Gifts Inventory” (PDF download) from Lifeway, in case you’re unsure what your gifting is. This will not tell you who you are, but it will highlight some areas where the Lord has gifted you. I have found tests like this to be enlightening and helpful as I make decisions where/when/how to serve.
http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_MYCS_030526_Spiritual_Gifts_Survey.pdf
LISTS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS
Here are a few lists of Spiritual Gifts for your review:
(1) Romans 12:1-8
(2) Ephesians 4:11-16
(3) 1 Corinthians 12:4-14
(4) 1 Peter 4:11
BEFORE you read these passages, keep this in mind from Ephesians 4:4-6:
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
** Romans 12:11-8 **
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”
** Ephesians 4:11-16 **
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
** 1 Corinthians 12:4-14 **
“4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.”
** 1 Peter 4:10-11 **
“10 As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Photo Resource and Credit:
Florin Ianovici – Foc sfant!
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