He Gave Some as Evangelists

John Farley
Pastor Teacher
Sunday,
December 8, 2024

 

He Gave Some as Evangelists

There are two major categories of spiritual gifts: temporary and permanent.

a. Temporary spiritual gifts only operated in the first generation of the church age.

There were three kinds of temporary spiritual gifts: foundational, sign, and revelatory.

 

Foundation gifts laid the foundation for the church: (1)introducing the Gospel to the Jews and the Gentiles;

(2) establishing the first congregations, and
(3) completing the canon of Scripture.

Foundation:

apostles
prophets

Sign gifts brought attention to the messengers and their new message -

- and confirmed the divine source of their new message.

Sign:

healings
miracles
tongues

Revelatory gifts provided partial revelation to the early church -

while the canon of the New Testament was still being written.

Revelatory:

word of wisdom
word of knowledge
faith

Revelatory:

prophecy
discerning of spirits
interpretation of tongues

 

When Paul speaks of the gifts being curtailed or ceasing,

he mentions one from each of these three groups.

1CO 13:8

Men were eager to give a hearing to what they had to say.

The temporary spiritual gifts were necessary in order for the Christian faith to gain a foothold in the first century.

ACT 1:6-8

b. Permanent spiritual gifts function throughout the Church Age, until the Rapture.

1PE 4:10-11

There are two kinds of permanent spiritual gifts: speaking and serving.

 

Speaking

Pastor-Teacher: EPH 4:11

evangelist: EPH 4:11

teaching: ROM 12:7, 1CO 12:28

Speaking

exhortation: ROM 12:8

prophecy (not prophet): ROM 12:6 .

Serving

helps: 1CO 12:28 .

service: ROM 12:7 .

giving: ROM 12:8 .

Serving

administration (leading): ROM 12:8, 1CO 12:28.

mercy: ROM 12:8.

EPH 4:7-16

We have the handoff from the men who were gifted to build the foundation of the church….

to the men
who are given
for the building up
of the body of Christ.

EPH 4:11-12

The apostles and prophets were succeeded by the evangelists and Pastor-Teachers.

These men have been given to the church by the LORD Jesus Christ.