Touré Roberts - The Gift - Part 1

I want to talk tonight about the gift, and this is an interesting passage of Scripture because most people, or oftentimes, as it has been popularly thought, this passage of Scripture talks about the «gifts» of the Spirit. Most people at face value will look at these verses and say these are the nine gifts of the Spirit. When we look at all those things, they are various gifts, and it’s taught in such a way that people think this person gets this particular gift of the Spirit, and that person gets another particular gift of the Spirit. Right? Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings, working of miracles, prophecy, etc. I think that might have been eight, but there’s nine, and we’ll get into it in a second—the gift of faith, and I think that might have been the ninth one. The idea there is that we are somewhat restricted and limited to whatever gift of the Spirit God gives to us. As I began to read this and dive into it, I saw something very different. One of the first things I want to say right from the start is that there is no such thing as «gifts of the Spirit.» The Spirit is the gift; if you do your own study, just looking up «gift» in your own concordance, in particular in the book of Acts, the Spirit is always referred to as the gift. So, if you have the Spirit, you have the gift. You don’t need gifts; all you need is one gift. The Holy Spirit is the gift, and that gift expresses itself in many different ways according to your unique identity in God.

So let’s look at it; we’re going to run through these really quickly. I want you to know you’re gifted. You’re gifted right now. There is something in you; there are things in you that are powerful, unique, and amazing. Alright, let’s dive into it. Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth. The Church of Corinth was a community that was given over to pagan gods. They worshipped everything you could name; they were spiritual but kind of ignorant and blind. They moved according to whatever trend was hot; they went for it as if God changed all the time. So, Paul has begotten them spiritually; he’s preached the gospel to them. They have fallen in love with Jesus. He is their apostle, he is their pastor, and he wants more than anything for them to be built up spiritually, for them to know who they are so they can walk in their unique calling. He breaks something down that I think applies to us tonight. He says, «Now concerning spiritual…» Now you see that phrase «spiritual gifts,» right? If you study that in the Greek or go to the original manuscript, there is a word that will not be there; guess what word is not going to be there? «Gifts» is not there in any manuscript; that word was added by the translator to help get you to understand what was taking place. However, sometimes we can go too far, and that word is not in there. You can ask any theologian; it’s not there. It was a word that was added, so really it better reads, «Now concerning the spiritual,» or «Now concerning your spirituality,» or «Now concerning what you have been endowed with.» «Now concerning spiritual… these spiritual brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant.» You know the Bible says that my people are destroyed by a lack of knowledge. That word literally means no knowledge. Ignorant is not a negative term, so don’t call me ignorant. Well, no; some of us are ignorant in certain things, right? I am ignorant in medicine; I’m not a doctor, right? I lack that knowledge. So basically, he’s saying, «Concerning your spirituality, I don’t want you to be ignorant.» Because if you don’t know what you have, you cannot use it. If you don’t know what you have, you cannot apply it, and there are battles that you have been endowed with the power to win that you’re losing because you don’t know what you possess. Are you tracking with me? My people perish; my people are destroyed not because of a lack of gift but because of a lack of knowledge of the gift. Are we tracking? Alright, so now concerning spiritual, I don’t want you to be ignorant. He goes on—this is personal; you don’t have to take this personally, right? The language is kind of strong. «You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led.» He’s basically talking about their former condition—how they weren’t spiritual or were spiritual without knowledge. They were open—hello, somebody! —open to anything that sounded somewhat like Jesus. You know, wouldn’t really tell me about it, and your spirit is not something that should just be open. I understand about having an open mind, right? I get that; but not an open spirit. I’ve got an open mind, but I don’t have an open spirit. Are you tracking with me? I’m willing to process some things at this level, but you gotta be Jesus Christ to get up in here. Come on, somebody! You’ve got to…