1 Corinthians 12:8-11 says...

Today's verses are 1 Corinthians 12:8-11, which read, 

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.  But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

Paul now gives us a list of some of the spiritual gifts.  The spiritual gifts are given to the believer by the Spirit with the indication over and over of the phrase, "by the same Spirit."  The Spirit gives the gifts of the spirit and also does the work of the spiritual gifts.  The believer is just a channel of the work of the Spirit through the gift of that spiritual gift to him or her.  The decision of who has what spiritual gift is not the believer's decision but that of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit distributes those spiritual gifts to each believer as He sees fit.  

Another red flag would be someone who would stress that they had anything to do with the spiritual gift that they have.  "Because I am such and such or so and so, therefore I have this spiritual gift."  This would be a red flag to this increasing definition of a spiritual gift given by only the Holy Spirit with His total control of who gets what for His purpose.

Let's give a short definition to this list.  I am going to lean on study notes from John MacArthur for these explanations.

• word of wisdom - word indicates a speaking gift and wisdom is most often used of the ability to understand God's Word and His will, and to skillfully apply that understanding to life
• word of knowledge - word indicates another speaking gift and knowledge is most often used of the ability to understand and speak God's truth, with insight into the mysteries of His Word, that cannot be known apart from God's revelation, knowledge majors on the grasping the meaning of the truth; wisdom emphasizes the practical conviction and conduct that applies it
• faith - all true believers have saving faith but this gift is exercised in persistent prayer and endurance in intercession, along with a strong trust in God in the midst of difficult circumstances
• healing - some call this a sign gift because it was to not be just for the sake of physical healing but to point as a sign to Jesus, this gift under that distinction would be to used by the Holy Spirit to directly direct people to Jesus as performed by the apostles in the first century, some believe this gift was just for then and some believe it continues on
• effecting of miracles - this is another sign gift that some believe was for the first century and some believe it continues on, it is a gift again that is not for the purpose of the miracle but to point people to Christ as performed by the apostles in the first century, it is the working of divine acts contrary to nature, so that there was no explanation for the action except that it was by the power of God
• prophecy - this word simply means the speaking forth or proclaiming publicly, with the completion of the Scripture, this gift is not a means of new revelation, but it limited to proclaiming what has already been revealed to us in the written Word
• distinguishing of spirits - sometimes called the gift of discernment is the ability given by God to recognize lying spirits and to identify deceptive and erroneous doctrine, the gifts of knowledge, wisdom, prophecy, and distinguishing of spirits requires diligent study of the Word
• tongues - this is described by many as another sign gift used to point people to Jesus as performed by those in the first century church and some believe that it was just for that time, this gift is the ability to use normal words of a foreign language unknown to the speaker to share the message of Christ
• interpretation of tongues - this is described by many as another sign gift used to point people to Jesus as performed by those in the first century church and some believe that it was just for that time, this gift is the ability to interpret normal words of a foreign language unknown to the hearer to share the message of Christ

 Of course we will talk about those last two in more detail in the future but for now here is the list that Paul has given to the Christians in Corinth and to us to distinguish between something that is of the Spirit and something that is not of the Spirit. 

"Lord, we are going into ground that has many interpretations across the scope of churches in our time.  Help us to raise what Your word says and understand it in light of these spiritual gifts given by Your Spirit.  Your control over these things are what will keep the church on track with the Great Commission to the world.  Amen."

Pastor Adam