7 18 03

6:40a

What�s this? I�m awake at 6 in the morning? Wow, imagine that. *chuckles* Erm, anyway, on with the study.

I Peter 1:7

First, let me preface this by saying that I was listening to a sermon yesterday during the lunch hour which focused on the Gifts of the Spirit in general and the Gift of Teaching in specific.

Through a little google research, I found the exact sermon I heard. Go to this page if you want to find it. It�s the second half of part 15. It�s a good sermon in entirety but it will take about an hour of your time.

Gift Of Teaching Sermon

In my opinion, the following characteristics, taken from the last half of the above-linked sermon, sound very, very familiar to me. Both the positive and the negative. What do you think?

Characteristics of someone with the gift of teaching.

1 You desire to know and to share God�s truth.

A person who has the gift of teaching, above all others, they love learning. They are people who absolutely love to learn. It isn�t a burden, it�s something they�re naturally drawn to. It doesn�t matter if it�s formal teaching or informal. They�re people who will always want to learn.

Many who have the gift of teaching are also voracious readers; needing to consume more information.

Often that means they�re constant conversationalists. Because they love to learn and part of that process is the dialogue.

The gift of teaching makes you want to learn and then share that.

Being able to communicate God�s truth.

2 They desire to present God�s truth in such a way that it can be understood.

They will work and they will rework and re-rework to communicate something in such a way that people will be able to understand it, relate to it and put it into practice.

3 They are sticklers for Biblical accuracy

They really struggle when people depart from the truth, when they add a little, subtract a little� they detest it. So, they always bring people back to God�s word. Like Jesus talking to satan in the wilderness� it is written�. Don�t give me that� don�t tell me what isn�t true because I know what God says. It is written, don�t give me this nonsense, this is God�s word, this is what God says!

4 They try to present things in an orderly, systematic manner.

They try not to shot gun things� they want to be clear and concise. They want it to be remembered, understood.

5 They tend to see the whole world as a classroom

They see God teaching them through everything. Billboards, TV, reading a book� they connect all that to God�s truth as He speaks everything�. Everything relates to Him. He�s the answer for everything. Bottom line is Jesus is the answer for everything� in every situation, in every circumstance.

6 The person who is a teacher sees God�s truth in everything.

They desire to see people grow in God�s truth. It can be very problematic because when they see that other people aren�t growing they feel it�s their fault cause if people actually understood, then people WOULD change their lives. The teacher tends to take it all on themselves.

7 They�re not hung up on methodologies.

They�ll talk to teachers, students, kids, whatever, in whatever way necessary to get the point across. They don�t get hung up on only one way.

Pitfalls

1 This person can be very inflexible.

Because the truth is the truth and when someone varies from it they find it hard to handle.

2 They become so research oriented that it becomes the end in itself

Sometimes they get so caught up that they never get to the end points

3 Sometimes people just give up because they get demoralized

Because not everyone learns from them

4 They feel like everyone should be like them.

It�s tough because not everyone is like them. But, the Teacher seems to think that everyone should believe the same way they do.

5 They can come across as being too authoritarian.

They seem to be condescending.

6 They can be more consumed by principals than they are by people.

If you sacrifice people for the principals, something is wrong. You don�t ignore the principals, but you do have to love the people.

God uses these people to enhance and grow the body.

Use it wisely in the body of Christ so that all can benefit.

Well� that�s the sermon I heard. Actually, the one I heard yesterday was the second half of that sermon and it covered the attributes of a person with the gift of teaching. If you want to hear the whole sermon, just click on the link and choose part 15. It�s about an hour long but it�s a good sermon. In my opinion anyway.

It came up in Real Player for me and was very clear, a quick load and buffering time (which is virtually unheard of for me) so it should go pretty quickly for most people.

okay, so I didn�t talk about Peter at all� but I�ll post the scripture I read. I Peter 1:7 �These have come so that your faith � of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire � may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.� Sorta works for me.

Also, as I was doing research, I came upon this transcript. I think it�s worth the time to read. The poem at the very end of it really touched me. So much so that I printed out a copy.

Good transcript link