All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
Why did God give gifts to the Church.
I don't like to start discussions but prefer to comment on others. However, I thought I would share this and if you disagree, please just disregard. I spent much of my time in the Charismatic/Pentecostal world and saw a few things out of whack. Here is a little on my take of the true purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I could write a book on this subject and may someday. I do want to share some things and let you all knock me around a little bit. I am not knocking the gifts but believe that sometimes we can get things out of whack a little.
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Permalink Reply by RoyW on
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Why does God give gifts to the church?
He gives the gifts to reveal His Son to His children. In the Gospel there is a righteousness from God hidden from the world. He wants His people to understand this righteousness. There is a verse in Jeremiah that gives us insight:
Jer 33:15-16 NIV
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.' NIV
Paul tells us that this knowledge was given to him to explain this hidden truth. He was given the gift of knowledge. Why did the people speak in tongues on the day of Pentecost? It was an extraordinary event. It was supernatural. It revealed to the people that Jesus was truly God and that His Word was true. But something more was accomplished. The purpose of the supernatural gifts are revealed. What happened? People heard these apostles and probably a few others speaking in their own languages. They knew that these Galileans were not learned in their language and marveled at what they saw. But, what did they hear? They heard them speaking the wonders of God. They heard them speaking of this righteousness that God wanted them to receive. And so it began. The purpose was to reveal God’s love through Jesus.
Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit came on us, we would become witnesses of Him. “Witnesses of what,” you ask. It is the witness of Who Jesus is and what He has done for us. It is the witness of this righteous branch – the new Israel.
The purpose of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is to reveal this message. It is not so we can boast of power or tell secrets of others. It is not a message of how we can be rich in this world. It is not a message of living a life free from any sickness. All of that is a deterrent from the true message. It is the message of how we can be utterly and completely saved from all our sin and be totally reconciled to our Father, the Creator of our beings. That, my friend, is the Good News. And it is the purpose of the Spirit to come and empower us to get this message out to the world. That is why He empowers us. That is why He gifts us. Our riches are not of this world. Some may never get healed from their physical ailments in this world. Satan so wants to distract us from the true message.
The last thing Satan wants people to understand is this righteous branch. When people realize that they are part of a nation Whose King is their righteousness, they will be so free he will never be able to put them into slavery again. He will fight with all his might to hide this truth from us. Once people realize that Jesus is our righteousness, we are free.
Jesus told us that when the Spirit came, He would lead us into all truth. This is the truth Jesus spoke of. That is what Paul is talking about in the Gospels. These gifts empower us to share the truth. There are secondary things like praying for the sick, caring for the needy, etc., etc. I am not diminishing those things. They are very important.
There is a new nation in our world made up of both Jews, Gentiles, free, slaves, men, women, etc., and He wants us to tell the world about this new nation. It is God’s people. Let’s keep our focus. The King is the Lord our Righteousness and there will never be a day when He is not reigning on the throne.
Are you in this Kingdom? Are you a part of this nation? Then, pray for the Spirit to empower you to tell others about Jesus.
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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Roy, I would read your book if you write one. Maybe I could be a contributing author :)
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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
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Could it be that at times people become more enamored with the things of GOd rather than enamored with God? Do we spend too much time seeking His stuff instead of seeking Him? I know my two questions are subjective and my response may even be off topic (not sure), but I believe they deserve an honest inquiry as we look in the mirror each day. I have two major goals in life. 1) To surrender to His will and live for Him. 2) To be satisfied in life to the point that if all I had was Jesus that would be more than enough, in fact, all I need.
Lord Bless,
LT
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LT,
Amen. There is not much to comment about. It is just a viewpoint. We all have one. I certainly do not take the position that mine is perfectly correct when it comes to gifts. Over the years I developed a negative attitude towards much of what I was seeing. That is not good, either. As they spoke in tongues on that Day of Pentecost, they declared the wonders of God. I feel they were saying things like, "The Lord is our righteousness." Or, "Jesus is Lord," or something that was spoken of the wonders of God and our Lord. Whatever it was, people were convicted of their sins and the 3,000 were saved that day. The New Testament is directed at us in a way to get us to understand Who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Of course, there is more, but the main emphasis is upon the work of Christ on our behalf. It speaks of His fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies and culminates with the Revelation. The entire New Testament could be called the Revelation of Jesus Christ revealed to those who would seek after Him. The mysteries of the Kingdom are revealed to us. I have come to believer that this is the main purpose of the gifts - to help us as His body to understand the great love of God and the power to share that with others.
Jesus has come to us. We are restored to God. All our sins are forgiven, washed totally away by His blood. I pray for more of His gifts, especially of knowledge, that I may know and understand more of His love. As I contemplate His love, the Spirit rushes mightily in. I share in my limited way in my limited capacity but I share with my students the great love of God. They leave Bible class knowing that they are special to God.
I so much agree that Jesus is more than enough. He is all I need. No matter what my lot in life, I have Him.
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Journeyman posted this song in the video section, a song we sing at church, and I thought quite applicable here. I also agree that the Bible's primary purpose is to reveal Jesus. I wonder (again) if we often are too busy seeking to figure out things like who the scarlet woman on the beast is (Rev. 17) that we forget to get ready for the revealed Christ in the Book fo Revelation and throughout Scripture. Even Revelation opens with "The revelation of Jesus Christ ..." Are we looking for Jesus in the Scripture or the next "thing"?
Lord bless and enjoy your vacation.
LT
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Amen, amen. I have that CD. It is an old one but really good. I agree, if we can keep our focus on Him, we will be okay. It is so easy for us to get our focus on other things. Thanks for the song. The morning is getting late to you but out here west it is still early and no one is up yet.
My sons pastor a Wesleyan church out here. I am really enjoying being around them as they minister to the people. My younger son was just asked to be the worship leader at the Souix Falls, SD church. John Schlitt is in charge of their music. They have thousands in attendance but I think he is going to stay here in Wyoming with our older son. They are not in a Charismatic or Pentecostal church but they do have the Spirit of God working through them and in them. They both preach Jesus.
I have another son here who is a train master. He is not a preacher. He is a wonderful Christian man married to a wonderful Christian wife. We are here awaiting their newborn baby son. Our focus on Christ starts in our homes. It cannot be legalistic as you often mention. It must be about Him. As you now I was raised in a very legalistic home. Yet, the love of Christ came through and all of my siblings are saved and still serving God. My dad is gone but he (in his very charismatic way) did share Christ's love. I am very grateful to him.
Have a happy Father's day and great day in the Lord, tomorrow.
Roy
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What a blessing God has granted you with such a lovely family who loves Jesus and congrats on the soon to be out of the womb grandchild!!!
Lord BLess,
LT
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1 Cor 12 starts out with these words, "Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant."
It means this is a pretty important subject. It means the possibility exists that people may lack knowledge or awareness in this area, be uneducated about it.
I would like to learn more about the gifts. I will respond more later.
Thank you for starting this discussion.
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Hi Amanda,
It is more of a viewpoint. I won't get to discuss much while on vacation, but felt the need to add this as we discuss the need to understand the purpose of the gifts.
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Maybe the gifts are to help us relate to God, commune with Him, make the relationship deeper. It's a spiritual relationship.
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