Sunday, February 28, 2010

Spiritual Gifts Series ~ The Teacher ~ Lesson Four

Romans 12:6-8
We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
if it is encouraging, let him encourage;
if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously;
if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;
if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully

Charles Stanley has written a powerful book entitled, Ministering Through Spiritual Gifts published by Nelson Impact. If you have not yet deciphered your own personal motivational gift, I would exhort you to follow my posts as I summarize Dr. Stanley's study from the In Touch Series. Dr. Stanley says, "I believe two things will happen as you truly understand who you are in Christ Jesus - and what your identity is within the Body of Christ. First, I believe you are going to be excited about your identity and the ways in which God desires to use you. Second, I believe you are going to be challenged to develop your gift and employ it to the best of your ability."


The person with this gift is motivated to have others understand the truth and the word of the Lord.  At the time the Bible was being written, there were few with the ministry of teaching. Those that were in this field were highly respected. Their skills were called upon to present the truth in an accurate and dilligent manner.

The following notes apply to the individual who has the motivational gift of teaching. The reason for finding oneself in one of the seven motivational gifts is for self reflection on what motivates one to be intentional and purposeful in the Christian community. M

Motivational Gift of Teaching
Luke had the motivational gift of teaching
The person with the motivational gift of ministry should remember that Godly wisdom is the result of obedience to the Word of God. This person should read the book of Proverbs (one proverb per day).

General Characteristics
1. Has strong desire to present truth in orderly and organized fashion;
2. Wants everything in its place all the time;
3. Always goes back (and takes others back) to the foundation;
4. Is very thorough; wants details; loves information;
5. Needs to validate information; ;is an investigator; loves knowledge, knowledge, knowledge—then loves to teach the knowledge; does a lot of reading; needs to learn how to listen;
6. Checks out the teacher—“Why should I trust this person?”—and thinks everyone else feels the same way; needs to validate the teacher to accept the knowledge;
7. Has great delight in studying and gaining information; has no problem updating opinion as new information is available; proclaims something to see others (or a situation) be transformed; has to be willing to be open—heart needs to be open to make people feel comfortable to come ask questions
8. Tries to make the information practical—tells not just what they read, but how this has applied to them; they personalize the information to the person they are teaching;
9. Can clarify misunderstandings—goes all the way back to the beginning to see where you went awry.


Ways people with motivational gift of teaching are misunderstood:
1. In giving facts all the time, may appear to disregard human-being aspects;
2. Sometimes appears to have a lot of pride in his/her learning; people may think they have even more pride than they do;
3. May be boring;
4. Because of quantity of research and study, may overwhelm others with information;
5. Appear to reject wisdom because they have so much information


Walking in the Spirit
Self controlled, Reverent, Diligent
Very thorough—get information, process it, come to conclusion
Dependable, Secure , Patient

Walking in the Flesh
Self-indulgent
Total disrespect; absolutely no sense of what is holy
Very slothful
Vacillate; cannot reach a decision
Inconsistent, Frustrated, Anxious
Impatient and very restless