​The Trinity
All gifts have their origin in the Trinity.  The Father Appointed his son, Jesus Christ, to be head over the Church.  As Lord and leader of the Church he gives gifts to his people, on the basis of Grace, through the working of the Holy Spirit.
 
Ephesians 4:7:
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Ephesians 4:11-13:
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
 
There are a couple of categories of gifts given to the Church.
1. Foundational ministry gifts (Fivefold ministry gifts- Ephesians 4).
2. Gifts of Grace to each individual (1 Corinthians 12:7-12, Romans 12:3-8).

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Foundational ministry gifts:
These ministries are for the whole Church. They have the ability to serve into the local Church context, bringing encouragement and input, but they also are gifts given to the wider Church to build up, strengthen and equip....

Creational Design
God created Male & Female to display his image and to reflect the Relationship within the Godhead.   They were created equal in status, yet different in role & responsibility.  They both carried out Gods plan together, complimenting each other, yet had clearly defined roles. -Gen 1:26-31Man’s role- God created Adam to work the Ground. He was created to build, to provide, to protect and to bring about order in creation.  He was created to take responsibility and given the role of leadership within the family unit. - Gen 2:15.

Woman’s role- God created Woman as a Helper (Hebrew word ‘Helper’- ‘ezer’- Meaning, strength, power to rescue, save and be strong. Used 21 times throughout OT, and 16 of these times are talking about Yahweh himself).   ‘Ezer’ is a word describing woman and God- Psalm 121.
 
Equality in salvation

• Both male and female, are saved by Grace through faith.
• Men and woman are co-inheritors of Gods Holy Spirit. - Acts 2:17- “Your sons and daughters prophesying”. The Church-made up of Male & female are a prophetic Community.
• Men and woman are recipients of the gifts of the Holy Spirit-   1 Cor:12- To Each is given (Hekasto- to each-) is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the Common good...

Grace Revealed
God’s grace was clearly & frequently at work in the Old Testament times, God described himself to Moses as “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” Ex 34. The world was created by a God of grace.

• At the coming of Jesus, there was an outshining of God’s grace.  The grace revealed in the Old Testament carried a certain glory, but at the coming of Jesus there was an epiphany of grace - a shining out, a brilliance, a dawning of God’s grace, being revealed in Jesus Christ.
• Grace is Jesus’ undeserved generosity, his willingness to save us, cleanse us, renew us, perfect us and adopt us as sons, despite the fact that we are utterly unworthy and deserve only condemnation, punishment and abandonment.