The Gifts of the Holy Spirit: - Vital Christianity

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PREFACE
In any typical congregation, the gift of procrastination is far more prevalent than spiritual
gifts such as prophecy and preaching. Boards of trustees manage to postpone repairing church
roofs for years. The gift of hindsight is also found at every church. With 20/20 rear vision,
virtually every member of any congregation can tell you what should have been done five or ten
years ago. Evident, too, among church memberships is the gift of passing the buck. Why didn’t so
and so get the customary flowers when she was hospitalized? Excuses come flooding such as: the
pastor forgot to notify the deaconesses, the church secretary didn’t order the flowers, or the line
was always busy when she tried to call. All are phrases which can be heard from any church.
The gift of criticism is probably the most prominent gift of all. Critics always know what’s
wrong and why. The problem is they don’t know what’s right or how wrongs can be fixed. And
certainly, they’re not willing to expend their time and energy . . . that’s for someone else.
When it comes to criticism, I am reminded of the pastor who had just finished a sermon on
The Parable of the Talents. After the service as he was greeting people, an older lady greeted him
with the comment, “Pastor, I believe I have the gift of criticism.” The pastor responded, “Do you
remember what the person with the one talent did?” She responded, “Of course, pastor, he went
and buried it.” The pastor quipped, “Go thou and do likewise!”
True spiritual gifts, however, should not be buried. They need to be discovered and used!
The Bible stresses their importance. Paul, in writing to the church at Corinth, said:
“Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant” (I Cor. 12:1).
When it comes to spiritual gifts ignorance is not bliss! Ignorance causes misunderstanding,
fear, false guilt, untapped resources and unreleased power.
Many have yet to discover spiritual gifts and others need to nourish their gifts, that is, to put
them into practice and thus develop them. This book seeks to assist those who want such help.
Why another study on spiritual gifts?
Although there were many books on spiritual gifts twenty to thirty years ago, in recent
years the issue has remained relatively quiet. Not much has been written on this subject in the last
twenty years.
It is time to take a fresh look at the subject. In this book there will be features that have
often been missing in books on the subject.