Listen to last week’s sermon Exploring the Gifts of the Holy Spirit — The Gift of Faith 1 Corinthians 12:9

Pastor Eric’s sermon, delivered as part of the ongoing series “Empowered for Impact,” continues an exploration of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that began on Pentecost Sunday two weeks prior. The series is built upon a foundational conviction: God’s design for the church is to be one of impact, not merely one that stays intact. The church is called to make a difference in the world — to be the light and salt, and to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus in every context and environment.

Central to this calling is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. As Jesus declared in

Acts 1:8,

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you”.

With the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes spiritual gifts — supernatural endowments designed to build up, edify, and strengthen the body of Christ for its mission in the world.

Addressing Ignorance About Spiritual Gifts

Pastor Eric revisits a critical theme from earlier in the series: the problem of ignorance regarding spiritual gifts. He acknowledges that many believers have never heard about the gifts, never paid attention to them, grew up in churches that didn’t teach them, or witnessed misuse and abuse that made them want nothing to do with them.

Yet the Apostle Paul’s very first statement to the Corinthian church about spiritual gifts is a call away from ignorance:

“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed.” — 1 Corinthians 12:1

The remedy for ignorance is simple: research, learn, and ask.

How Spiritual Gifts Are Received

Pastor Eric outlines several biblical methods through which spiritual gifts are imparted:

1. The Laying On of Hands

Paul reminded Timothy in

2 Timothy 1:6: “Stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands”.

Similarly, Romans 1:11 reveals Paul’s longing to visit the Roman believers specifically to “impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong”.

The Greek word for “impart” means to give or to share, indicating a tangible transfer of spiritual endowment through physical ministry.

2. Through Prophecy and Church Leadership

In 1 Timothy 4:14, Paul writes: “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you”. This establishes a biblical precedent for gifts being activated through prophetic declaration combined with the ministry of appointed church leaders.

3. Through Prayer and Earnest Seeking

Believers are also encouraged to earnestly desire spiritual gifts through personal prayer and seeking God.

However gifts are received, Pastor Eric emphasizes they must be used and kept active. The Greek word anazōpureō in 2 Timothy 1:6 means to fan into flame, to rekindle, to keep the fire burning. This is a personal responsibility — no one else will do it for you.

Pastor Eric addresses common excuses for leaving gifts dormant:
“I saw too much abuse” — The very awareness of abuse means you won’t repeat it, but it’s no excuse for inactivity.
“I don’t feel qualified” — Neither did the twelve disciples. “God doesn’t choose those who are qualified; He qualifies those He chooses”.
“I tried once and it didn’t go well” — Mistakes are part of the learning process and shouldn’t become permanent barriers.

“My leadership won’t give me a platform” — This excuse receives an extended response.

Pastor Eric offers two crucial principles for those who feel their gifts are being restricted:

1. Submission to Leadership Does Not Cancel Your Gift

If a pastor or service leader says “not right now,” it doesn’t invalidate your gift. It may simply mean the timing, context, or format isn’t appropriate. Paul taught that “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Corinthians 14:32), meaning genuine gifts still operate under authority.

As Sam Storms stated:

A true spiritual gift will always submit to spiritual authority. If it refuses to be tested, corrected, or timed — it’s not maturity, it’s pride.

2. If the Microphone Isn’t Available, the Marketplace Is

Spiritual gifts are not confined to Sunday morning services. They can be exercised in connection groups, workplaces, hospital visits, prayer meetings, phone calls, text messages, parking lots, and homes. Jack Hayford wisely said:

The gifts of the Spirit were never meant to be stage performances. They were meant to be lifestyle realities.

The early church had no stages, microphones, or production teams — they had homes, streets, and marketplaces where the Spirit flowed freely. The church gathered on Sunday is not the only arena for spiritual gifts; it’s the launching pad. Spiritual gifts are meant to be used seven days a week, not just 90 minutes on Sunday.

Paul wrote to the most charismatic church in the New Testament:

“Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40)

The Greek word for “order” is taxis, meaning arrangement, sequence, and structure — things happening in their proper place and time by the right people.

Pastor Eric uses the analogy of an orchestra: it’s loud, full of sound and movement, but there’s a conductor and a score. The trumpets don’t play during the violin solo. Everyone plays — but in their turn, under direction, in harmony.

Importantly, Paul’s call for order regarding tongues was never about stopping tongues — he explicitly said “do not forbid speaking in tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39). His regulation of prophecy came with the instruction “don’t despise prophecy”.

Gordon Fee wrote:

Paul’s concern is not to eliminate the gifts but to regulate their use so that the whole body is edified.

Unfortunately, many churches today interpret “order” as Judge Judy “order” in a court room. This is “order” is not about silence or suppression but rather sequence and flow.

Now for the gift of Faith, one of tree gifts called Power Gifts.

3. The Gift of Faith

Pastor Eric distinguishes between different kinds of faith:
Saving faith — the faith by which we receive Christ and are born again (Ephesians 2:8).
General faith — the daily decision to believe God’s Word over circumstances, feelings, and what others say. This faith is something believers are responsible to cultivate and grow. Jesus rebuked His disciples for lacking it: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matthew 14:31) and “How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).
The Gift of Faith — something entirely different from the above.

The gift of faith is not faith you work up through self-talk or determination. It is a sudden, supernatural impartation of divine confidence for a specific moment or situation. It’s when God drops into your spirit an unshakeable, immovable certainty that something will happen — and you couldn’t doubt it if you tried. You didn’t manufacture it or talk yourself into it.

As one commentator expressed:

The gift of faith is God lending you His faith for a moment — His certainty, His confidence, His unshakeable assurance — so that you can stand in a situation that would otherwise overwhelm you.

This gift often works alongside the other power gifts. Before a miracle happens, the gift of faith rises. Before a healing is released, the gift of faith settles on the one praying. It is the atmosphere in which the other power gifts operate.

Pastor Eric illustrates this with the story of a woman with cancer who received such supernatural peace and certainty of her healing that she continued living in joy despite her diagnosis — and is now cancer-free. He also shares the account of a church staff who, while praying for a sick little girl, had one member suddenly overcome with bold confidence to declare healing with absolute assurance — and the child improved dramatically.

Listen to sermon here: