Podcast Summary: The Power Gifts Of The Spirit Pt. 2

Promise of Life Church Podcasts
Speaker: Pastor Craig Field
Date: Wed, Feb 5, 2025

Episode Overview

In this in-depth teaching, Pastor Craig Field continues his exploration of the "power gifts" of the Holy Spirit, focusing on their biblical definitions, purpose, and distinctions. The episode covers the three categories of spiritual gifts (utterance, revelation, and power), key principles regarding their function, and practical application—especially within the context of evangelism and church life. Pastor Craig draws from both scripture and personal/ministerial experiences, highlighting the roles these gifts play in empowering believers and reaching the lost.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding Spiritual “Gifts”: Language and Meaning

(00:00 – 06:00)

• The term "gifts" in 1 Corinthians 12 (esp. verses 4 and 7) refers to "special endowments" or “special abilities” from God.
• Different Bible translations refer to them as manifestations, spiritual things, or spiritual matters.
• “The gifts are supposed to be a reality in our lives” (00:04).

Notable Quote:
“The gifts are special abilities ... You want special abilities? Are you dead? … If you’d operate in the gifts, more people would want to get saved more, because they’d notice these things happening.” – Pastor Craig Field (00:05)

2. Purpose and Profit of the Gifts

(06:00 – 14:00)

• Gifts are given “to every man to profit withal” (1 Cor 12:7)—not just pastors, but all believers.
• “Profit” means being able to bear life’s trials with God’s help, to have an advantage, or to be expedient.
• The gifts are demonstrations of the believer’s covenant advantage.
• Jesus’ departure triggered this advantage via the Holy Spirit and His gifts (John 16:7).

Notable Quote:
“I should have an advantage. It’s not an equal stack; it’s a stacked deck. Because you’re in a covenant with God Almighty and they are not.” – Pastor Craig Field (00:09)

3. Categories of Spiritual Gifts Defined

(14:00 – 23:00)

• Utterance Gifts: What you say (prophecy, tongues, interpretation)
• Revelation Gifts: What you know (word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits)
• Power Gifts: What you do (gift of faith, working of miracles, gifts of healings)

Memorable Moment:
Pastor Craig humorously addresses the variety in interpreting tongues:
“If their natural tendency is short, to the point, and succinct, you’ll see the interpretation will be shorter … God does not mind that because he’s working through a vessel … but the core is what God is after.” (00:19)

• Breaks down the nuances between spiritual “pictures,” open/closed visions, and how different gifts operate and are sometimes confused.

4. Which Gifts Are ‘Best’?

(23:00 – 30:00)

• Cites Kenneth Hagin: prophecy is the best utterance gift because it does not require two people (tongues + interpretation), just one.
• The word of wisdom is the greatest revelation gift because it reveals the future.
• The gift of faith is called the greatest of all nine gifts because, “We can get anything done with that gift.”
• Gift of faith and working of miracles are “twin brothers”—miracles require the supernatural faith that gift brings.

Notable Quote:
“The best gift that we could ever operate in is the gift of faith. Because we can get anything done with that gift.” – Pastor Craig Field (00:30)

5. Faith vs. Gifts: Distinguishing the Operations

(30:00 – 38:00)

• There’s a crucial difference between the gifts of the Spirit and operations of faith.
• Gifts operate independently of the recipient’s faith, often for unsaved or spiritually immature people.
• The power or “healing anointing” is accessed by the individual believer’s faith—this is the intended norm for mature Christians.

Memorable Illustration:
Pastor Craig uses the metaphor of a baby being spoon-fed (gifts operating) versus an older child feeding themselves (using faith to access God's power).

Notable Quote:
“If you’re going to grow and mature in God, you’re going to have to get to the power level. You cannot stay on mommy and daddy feeding you with a spoon. That’s the gifts level.” (00:36)

6. The Distinction in Acts 10:38: “With the Holy Ghost and with Power”

(38:00 – 51:00)

• Teaches the grammatical and experiential distinction: being “anointed with the Holy Ghost” refers to manifestations/gifts; “with power” refers to the tangible healing anointing (often administered via laying on of hands).
• Describes Kenneth Hagin’s 1950 heavenly vision, where Jesus instructed him on these distinctions.

Notable Quote:
“When you think of it as a manifestation of the Spirit … you connect the gifts with the Spirit or the giver: that he’s actually pouring it through you … He’s a part of this thing.” (00:42)

7. Special Anointings and Ministerial Experiences (Kenneth Hagin’s Vision)

(51:00 – 1:14:00)

• Jesus tells Hagin He’s given him a “special anointing to minister to the sick.”
• Emphasizes not every minister or believer receives such special anointings—God sovereignly chooses.
• Stresses the importance of correct doctrine to maximize anointing (“You can receive lots of things, but if your thinking is not right, it can mess things up.” – 01:03:00).

Notable Quote (Jesus to Hagin):
“Some people say that when I was on the earth … I healed to prove my deity … but I didn’t. If that had been the case, then I certainly did not prove my deity in my own hometown of Nazareth.” (01:06:00)

• Explains why even Jesus didn’t always have 100% success: faith and expectation matter.

8. Public vs. Private Operation of Tongues & Interpretation

(1:14:00 – 1:35:00)

• Explains Jesus’ revelation that tongues and interpretation are the most characteristic gifts of the Church Age, unique to this dispensation.
• Every believer is told to ask for these gifts in private prayer (“If you ask, I’ll give it…He wouldn’t tell you to ask if he wasn’t going to give it.” – 01:25:00).
• These gifts are not primarily for public services but for personal, private regular operation.
• Encourages listeners to grow skillful privately—so they can be used publicly when the Spirit wills.

Memorable Moment:
Pastor Craig challenges why more people aren’t bringing messages in tongues or interpretations: “It’s not that you should do it more in service … it’s happening more in the distinctive church age because there are billions of Christians around the world and everybody in their personal homes should be having this operate.” (01:30:00)

9. Practical Application and Evangelism

(1:35:00 – End)

• The gifts most frequently operate for unsaved people and new believers; mature believers are expected to draw on God’s power by faith.
• Tells of Dr. Dufresne’s conversion—he was saved through tongues and interpretation given by a Filipino couple in church (01:43:00).
• Recounts stories where practical application of tongues and interpretation brought job promotions, solutions to problems, etc.

Notable Quotes:

• “Tongues and interpretation can help you at work. It can give you knowledge about the job interview that’s about to come. It can teach you what your company needs.” (01:48:00)
• “These two gifts can change everything.” (01:48:30)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You’re just the hose. The water is what we’re talking about. … You don’t own that.” – Pastor Craig Field (01:39:00)
• “Every believer should be having the gift of tongues and interpretation of tongues operating in their private life on a regular basis.” (01:32:00)
• “You have an advantage. If you use what you've got and get to the end of it, the gift will start popping.” (00:32:00)
• Story: Interpreting tongues helped a church member diagnose a machinery problem at work and led to job promotion (01:47:00).

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:00–06:00 | The meaning of “gifts” and why they matter | | 06:00–14:00 | To profit withal: The believer’s advantage | | 14:00–23:00 | Three categories & definitions of spiritual gifts; nuances of operation | | 23:00–30:00 | Ranking the gifts: which are the “best” according to function and impact | | 30:00–38:00 | The difference between gifts and faith operation; why mature Christians must graduate to the latter | | 38:00–51:00 | Acts 10:38: “With the Holy Ghost and with power” – theological and practical distinctions | | 51:00–1:14:00 | Kenneth Hagin’s vision: special anointing, correcting thinking, Jesus’ strategy for healing ministry | | 1:14:00–1:35:00 | How and why tongues/interpretation should operate in your private and church life | | 1:35:00–End | Evangelism, testimonies, practical applications, and closing exhortations |

Conclusion

Pastor Craig urges every listener to recognize and desire both a lifestyle of faith and the operation of the Holy Spirit’s gifts—particularly tongues and interpretation, which are uniquely available to every believer in this Church Age. He presses for personal practice at home so that public operation becomes natural and effective, ultimately resulting in spiritual profit, advancing evangelism, and the edification of the church.

Action Points

• Ask God regularly for tongues and interpretation in your private prayer time—be expectant, not striving.
• Practice sensitivity to the Spirit in personal spaces, so you’ll recognize His leading in public settings.
• Engage in sharing faith—the gifts are “power tools” for both personal advantage and effective evangelism.
• Study and renew your mind: Don’t let wrong thinking block the flow of God’s power or anointing in your life.

“Let this light a little fire in every heart, that they have not tapped into the power of these gifts, and that it can bring them great advantage in life.” – Pastor Craig Field (End prayer)