Spiritual Gifts – Discussion 3
Pray
Pray together for the group meeting, and any pressing needs within the group.
Review
Each week you’ll spend some time reviewing the previous week’s lesson. Did anything happen last week that brought the lesson to mind, and what did you learn from it?
Watch
Watch the following discussion-starter video. It’ll set the topic of discussion for the group.
Read 1 Corinthians 12:3, 12-13
Read, Re-read, Retell
Unpacking Question
How does the new birth experience prepare individuals to enter the body and exercise spiritual gifts?
The new birth experience is necessary to exercise spiritual gifts: We must be born into the body through the new birth experience (Acts 2:38). By the same supernatural experience the same Spirit incorporates us into the body of Christ and also gives us the power to be living witnesses, power to produce spiritual fruit, and power to exercise spiritual gifts (Acts 1:8. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, Galatians 5:22-23)
Discussion Questions
- Describe how your new birth experience impacted you?
- What does it mean to be “baptized into one body” and “all made to drink into one spirit”?
- Is the new birth experience a supernatural experience?
- Why is the new birth experience necessary to exercise spiritual gifts?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 27-30
Read, Re-read, Retell
Unpacking Question
How does the exercise of spiritual gifts benefit the full body?
Spiritual Gifts Benefit the Full Body: Each assembly needs the benefit of the full range of spiritual gifts, and each manager needs to be an active part of the body. A healthy, fully functional church will desire and acquire all of God’s gifts for His body.
Discussion Questions
- Why is it important for the body to pursue the full set of spiritual gifts?
- How can the church work together to pursue spiritual gifts?
- Can you describe an experience of a manifestation of spiritual gift(s) which benefited the body?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:8-11
Read, Re-read, Retell
Unpacking question
God uses different people in different ways to exercise spiritual gifts to benefit the body. Why is this significant?
God uses different people in different ways at different times to exercise spiritual gifts: The Lord works in various ways, bestowing different gifts, ministries, and activities upon different individuals. But it is the same Spirit who grants all of them. We should all desire spiritual gifts, but we should not all expect to be used in the same way.
Discussion questions
- Do gifts belong to the individual or to the church? Discuss the answer.
- Have you been used to exercise different spiritual gifts at different times? Describe that experience and the benefit to the body.
- Talk about an experience where God exercised a spiritual gift through an unexpected source.
- How can an individual become a vessel that God can use to exercise spiritual gifts?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:14-20, 23-24
Read, Re-read, Retell
Unpacking question
Why is it so important to seek and exercise spiritual gifts in unity as the Body of Christ?
It is important to exercise the spiritual gifts in unity as a body:
- The church is united but not uniform. There is unity amid diversity (1 Cor 12:14, 20)
- To function effectively, the members need unity and must acknowledge their role as part of the body
- God is the one who has ordained this unity amid diversity. He has designed our different roles as he sees fit (1 Cor 12:18)
- Every member is needed and valuable, even through some receive less recognition that others (1 Cor 12:21-24)
- The members should strive for unity, prevent divisions, and cultivate mutual care and respect (1 Cor 12:25-26)
Discussion questions
- Do the spiritual gifts exercised by an individual determine the spirituality or importance of that individual in the body? Discuss the answer(s)
- How is the exercise of spiritual gifts impacted by lack of unity or the existence of pride?
- Should individual(s) seek to exercise specific spiritual gifts?
- What is it important to recognize and support the use of different spiritual gifts by different members of the body?
Next Week: Love in the Exercise of the Spiritual Gifts
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