What are your spiritual gifts? How are you using them? What are the barriers that most often get in the way of using your spiritual gifts?

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1 May 21/22, 2016: Fan into Flame 2 Timothy 1:6 Bill Hybels Quick-Connect Guide Use the questions in this section if your group is already studying something else and won t be using the full discussion guide. What are your spiritual gifts? How are you using them? What are the barriers that most often get in the way of using your spiritual gifts? Discussion Guide In this section, you will find an opening prayer, discussion questions, next steps, and a closing prayer. The discussion questions are separated into three categories Getting Started, The Basics, and A Little Deeper and are designed to allow the group discussion to deepen as you move through them. Use the prayers, questions, and next steps in whatever manner you find helpful based on your group s needs. The Message Recap might help you and the group to prepare or to remember key points. Opening Prayer Father in heaven, thank You that we are able to gather and thank You for each person here. Open our hearts and minds to You as we listen to one another and study Your Word. Help us now to know Your presence among us. Amen. Leading a New Group? Ask this question in order for your group members to get to know each other better: What was your favorite thing to do as a kid? Why? Allow for five minutes maximum for each person. Ask the other members of the group to listen and invite them to ask questions and affirm the person who is sharing.

2 2 Getting Started Ice Breaker: When did you feel most fulfilled and alive this last week? Introducing the Discussion: Of all the things you do on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, which make you feel most fruitful and fulfilled? The Basics Read these Scripture passages aloud as a group: There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. (1 Cor 12:4 11) For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:3 8) Why do spiritual gifts matter? What are you spiritual gifts? (If this is your first time learning about spiritual gifts, what do you think yours might be?) How are you currently using these gifts? What do you do to develop your spiritual gifts? What could you do? A Little Deeper What are the barriers that most often get in the way of using your spiritual gifts? Examples: Busyness, fear, insecurity, distraction, a childhood message about what is valuable and what is not, a desire for different gifts.

3 3 Read Matthew 25:14 30 aloud as a group and then sit silently for 2 minutes and have each person simply listen for what the Holy Spirit stirs and speaks. What did the Holy Spirit stir in you through Jesus words in this passage? What do you sense God s invitation is to you out of this passage? Next Steps Review the next steps below and consider which one or ones each member of the group would like to commit to for the upcoming week (and beyond). Pray and Journal. Where do you need help when it comes to the subject of spiritual gifts? Identifying them? Using them? Learning more about them? Ask God for guidance in whatever area you need. Journal about the things that keep you stuck, where you feel fear, or what gets in the way of you fully leaning into the way God has gifted you. Discover Your Spiritual Gifts. This Wednesday night, May 25, from 7:30-8:30 p.m., Discipleship Director Rick Shurtz will be teaching Discover Your Spiritual Gifts in the Atrium. Gain an understanding of spiritual gifts and how to discover yours. Also, do some reading about spiritual gifts and ask a trusted friend or two what they see in you. Continue your Paul/Timothy relationship. Did you reach out to a Paul or a Timothy after last week s message? Remember, the book of 2 Timothy is about the art of mentoring and your faith will grow through mentoring and receiving mentoring. Here are questions to use during your mentoring time this week. o If you are the Paul : What are your spiritual gifts? How are you using them? Where do you feel stuck? How can I help? o If you are the Timothy : What are your spiritual gifts? Can you share with me a time you struggled to embrace them or got stuck in whether or how to use them? Closing Prayer Pray for whatever difficulties or needs were shared during your time together and have someone close that time by reading the prayer below. Father in heaven, thank You for the ways You have gifted each person in this circle, whether we are clear about what those gifts are yet or not. What a wondrous thing it is to be given a divine empowerment. Help us to embrace the gifts You ve given us; to overcome any fear or insecurity about using them; to learn more about them; and to deploy them for Your purposes in this world. Use us, we are Your servants and want to be a part of extending Your kingdom here on earth. In Jesus name, amen.

4 4 Message Recap Bill Hybels Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:6 As Steve Carter taught last week, 2 Timothy was Paul s last letter. Some scholars say it reads like a last will and testament. In the first few lines of his letter, Paul affirms Timothy for his sincere faith and for his refusal to wear masks that cover who God made him to be. But for the rest of the letter, Paul puts on his coaching cap, encouraging Timothy to add some discipline to his life. Paul sees that Timothy was made for more and he begins with this instruction: For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. (2 Timothy 1:6) In the Middle East during Paul s life, people had to build fires for every meal and they tried to keep the embers burning all day so that they wouldn t have to light the fire each time. It was someone s job in the family to fan the embers into flame at mealtime. So, Paul used the common imagery to help Timothy understand. Paul effectively said, Timothy, you have spiritual gifts and I commissioned you to use them; but now it s your responsibility to heat up those gifts so you will be a useful tool in God s hands. In other words, smoldering embers don t accomplish much; you need a roaring bonfire to step into all God has made you to do and to be. If Paul were in our church today, he would have commended us for gathering together, for our generosity in the Celebration of Hope giving (the total for that special offering for our church partners around the world exceeded $2.6 million), and for our sincere faith. But Paul would have challenged us about the use of our spiritual gifts. He would say to us: What good are your gifts if you are not using them to forward God s purposes in this world? A short tutorial on spiritual gifts: What is a spiritual gift? A divine enablement, endowment, or capability that God places in you so you are good at something by God s power and for His purposes and glory. Spiritual gifts are different than talents or skills because they are God-empowered. Who receives spiritual gifts? According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:7, Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Thus, if you are a Christ follower, you have at least one spiritual gift. Who assigns spiritual gifts?

5 5 Again, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians, [A]ll these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines (12:11). The Holy Spirit decides what gifts each person receives and distributes the exact ones in the exact order based on His sovereignty. How many spiritual gifts are there? Twenty spiritual gifts are identified in the New Testament, but scholars do not believe these were meant to represent an exhaustive list. How do I determine what gifts I have been given? Read everything you can about spiritual gifts in the New Testament, books, and articles you find on the Internet. Go to classes where spiritual gifts are taught. (On May 25, come to Discover Your Spiritual Gifts in the Atrium from 7:30-8:30 p.m.) Discuss spiritual gifts with your friends and seek feedback about what yours might be. Jump into some area of serving based on what you believe your gifts to be and see whether it is a good fit. Bill used the analogy of a pool and diving board. Once you have a sense of what your gifts are, the best way to really discover if you re right is to jump into the pool. The first time you try something, it may not be the exact right fit, but don t get out of the pool and sit on a lawn chair for the rest of your life! Swim to a different part of the pool and try that. Usually after five or six moves, you find your sweet spot and there, you ll pass the FF test fruitfulness and fulfillment. Plus, other people will give you feedback and attest to your gifting. If the Holy Spirit has graced every Christ follower with an astonishing supernatural ability and divine endowment that could fulfill them and forward God s purposes in this world, why do only 25% of people identify and use their spiritual gifts? o People say they just haven t taken the time to discover their gifts. o People say they are too busy. o People say they don t think they received any spiritual gifts and/or that God probably wouldn t use them even if they had. In Matthew 25, we read of the parable Jesus told about the foolish man who didn t do anything with the resources he had been given by his master. He simply buried them and returned them to his master unused. The master called the foolish man wicked and slothful because of his failure to do anything with what he d been given. We will all stand before God one day and give an accounting of our lives. Don t we want to fan into flame the gifts we ve been given and use them for God s glory and work in the world? The Holy Spirit gave each of us a gift because He knows exactly what will thrill us and bring us alive. So He asks us to fan into flame these gifts. This material is protected by U.S. Copyright Law and is for your own personal use. Any further use requires permission. Contact Kellye Fabian at Willow Creek Community Church with your request.