The Power Gifts – Part 1

                             

Bible Passage:  Hebr. 11:1-12.

Memory Verse: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe He exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” (Heb.11:6.  NIV.)

 

Lesson’s Aim and Objective

We want to learn what the Scriptures teach on faith as a gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

Background 

At the commencement of this series, we said the 

q       9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit that are listed in 1 Cor. 12:8-10 can be categorized into

o        Revelation Gifts: word of wisdom; word of knowledge; distinguishing between spirits.

o        Inspirational Gifts: prophecy; speaking in different kinds of tongues; interpretation of tongues.

o        Power Gifts: faith; gifts of healing; miraculous powers.

We are now about to commence looking at the third and last group, the Power Gifts.

 

Lesson Introduction

Contrary to what we may otherwise think, faith is in fact a gift of the Holy Spirit. This starts right back at “saving faith”, Eph. 2:8. It is not an act of willful determination on our part. Otherwise there will be room for us to boast, but God has left no such room in our relationship with Him. Eph. 2:9; 1 Cor.1:27-29. But just in the same way the gift of faith made such a radical difference in the lives of the individuals listed in Hebr. 11, we shall also be seeing what a great change the Holy Spirit will make in our lives through the gift of faith.

 

Lesson Outline 1: What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 defines it as

q       Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.                                                            Hebr 11 gives us so many illustrations of what faith is. They all operate on the basis of,                  “God said it; therefore it is settled and I believe Him.”

• None of us has seen God with our eyes. Yet we believe He is, and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. V.6.  That is faith.
• We were not there when He created the universe, yet we believe He spoke and what we see around us came from His command, and not from anything that was there previously. V.2.  That is faith.
• As at when Noah commenced building the ark on dry ground and which he continued for 120 years, the earth had never experienced rainfall, and knew nothing about floods. But floods did eventually come and everything was destroyed apart from Noah and those in the ark with him. V.7. Noah displayed faith in God’s word.
• Abraham left his home (in modern Iraq) to follow God to a place he did not know. Isaac his son, and Jacob his grandson, were also “wanderers” as they believed and acted on God’s word. V.8-10. They demonstrated faith in God’s word by their action.
• The children of Israel have been numbered in their millions even from the days of the Exodus some 3400 years ago. But think of their beginning. They came from a man 100 years old with a wife who had been barren all her life only to have Isaac at the age of 90. Faith in God’s promise lay behind this miracle. Vs 11-12.  Gen 15:1-6; 18:9-10.                                                                                                                                      These are all demonstrations of what faith is. Though we skipped Abel and Enoch in the above examples, they also demonstrated faith in God by their lives and action.

 

Lesson Outline 2: What are the characteristics of  the gift of faith?

q       It makes the believer to declare, “It is well”, irrespective of the circumstances around him.                   Think of the Shunamite woman and her son/Elijah. 2 Kings 4:8-37; Rom. 8:28.

q       It produces a strong confidence within the believer, so that Peter who was to be killed in the morning was sound asleep in the jail the night before, Acts 12:5-11; and Daniel still prayed to God even though it was declared illegal with being thrown into the den lions as the penalty, Dan 6.

q       It accomplishes the humanly impossible, such as

• People received their dead back to life, Heb 11:17-19; 35a.
• Believing God for a better “tomorrow” even when one’s “today“ is pretty hopeless, Heb 11:22; 23-28.
• Those with faith in God crossed the Red Sea, but not those who did not believe in Him, Heb 11:29.
• Faith in, & therefore obedience to, God’s word brought down the massive walls of Jericho, Heb 11:30.
• The salvation of a harlot, Rahab, whom God placed in the lineage of the Lord Jesus, Josh 2:1-14; Matt.1:5.
• Conquering kingdoms; administering justice; gaining what God promised them; shutting the mouth of lions; quenching the fury of flames, etc, etc. The gift of faith enables us to accomplish all these and more. Heb 11:32-39. 

q       Sometimes it pleases God to use angelic intervention to make this gift effectual.

§          God used His angel so that Daniel’s faith in Him will be upheld, and God’s Name honored.          Dan.6: 16-23;24-28.

• God used an angel to upset the plans of the High Priest and his group so the gospel could move forward, Acts 5:17-20.
• God used His angel to thwart Herod’s plans and to prosper the preaching of the Gospel, Acts 12:6-11.

 

Summary: We sure do need this gift of the Spirit so we can be strong in Him and do mighty exploits.