Tag: gifts of the Spirit
The Manifestation (Charismata) Gift of Prophecy
THE PROPHETIC GIFTS ARE THE GREATER GIFTS
1 Cor. 12:31 “But earnestly desire the greater gifts.”
Among the manifestation gifts of the Spirit, there are “GREATER” gifts, that is to say, some gifts have a greater spiritual impact and require a greater anointing to operate than others. The term “greater gifts” also indicates there is an order of ascendency among the three categories of manifestation gifts as well as within each category. In other words, of the three categories of manifestation gifts, some are greater than the others, and each category has an order of importance as well. For example—
1 Cor. 14:5 “and GREATER is one who PROPHESIES than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets….”
This verse presents an example of “greater gifts” within a category of manifestation gifts. According to this verse, among the Vocal Gifts, prophecy is the greatest, interpretation of tongues is next, then tongues. Not only is the gift greater, but the “one who prophesies”, according to this verse, is operating in a greater level of the anointing than the “one who speaks in tongues.” The exception to this is—”unless he interprets,” meaning that if the person who speaks the message in tongues also interprets, then he is operating equally in anointing, gifting, and equipping as the “one who prophesies.”
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ALL Scripture is God-Breathed and MUST be Believed!
I consistently meet Christians who challenge parts of the Bible solely because they do not fit their denominational standard. Pastors are especially guilty. Calvinists reject “Arminian” teachings and Arminian believers reject Paul’s writings about election, predestination, and the sovereignty of God. What is our obligation? We are to believe all of the Bible regardless of our being able to reconcile it. It is in the theological challenge that we learn. Our first responsibility is to God–not our local church. Mental stretching does for our spirit what physical exercise does for the body. Such work-outs may be painful and tiring–but, they produce strength.
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Understanding the Charismata Gifts of Tongues & Interpretation of Tongues
Nowhere does Scripture inform us that God has rescinded the appointment of the gift of various forms of tongues in the Church, though many have sought to have them “impeached” or “abrogated” from the Church without any Biblical justification for doing so. Cessationists must resort to extra-biblical theorization to support their unproven assertions, which are based virtually exclusively and entirely upon past Church history, which is the record of what the Church did vis-à-vis what God ordained and prescribed in His Word for the Church to do. The chasm between the two is vast!
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Top AG Leader George O. Wood Speaks Out On Tongues
We believe the baptism in the Spirit brings the delight of initially speaking with other tongues, but if we stop there, this Pentecostal experience will have no ongoing fruitfulness. I grew up in the Assemblies of God when it was preached that the baptism of the Spirit is for the empowerment of believers for life and service.
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Dunamis! Power From On High!
The matter of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is without question, the most controversial matter in the annals of Church history. And for centuries the deceiver (Satan) has deceived people into thinking that the matter of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a denominational or sectarian issue, and thereby has kept multitudes of believers from receiving the supernatural power of God in their lives that the Baptism in the Holy Spirit brings into believers’ lives, because the last thing on earth that Satan wants more believers to be empowered with the POWER OF GOD in the manner that Jesus was, lest they perform the works that Jesus did and even greater works to “destroy the works of the Devil” as Jesus did in His appearance!
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Why The Baptism In The Holy Spirit
How desperately we need the help of the Holy Spirit to minister to others! Without His help, we can never hope to make disciples of all nations. That is, in fact, the very reason Jesus promised to baptize believers in the Holy Spirit—so the world would hear the gospel.
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STRANGE Fire or HOLY Fire?
You will soon be hearing about two books: Strange Fire by Dr. John MacArthur and Holy Fire by Dr. R.T. Kendall. Dr. Kendall has written only in the emergency to defend Scripture and Charismatic Christians from Dr. MacArthur’s attack. John MacArthur is a man of significant Christian stature. He is the author of more than 150 books, a study Bible, other best-selling material, and a college president. R.T. Kendall is equally a man of great achievement. He holds a PhD from Oxford University, authored more than 60 books, for twenty-five years was pastor of London’s Westminster Chapel near Buckingham Palace, and a leading voice in Reformed theological circles around the world. More recently he has become an outspoken defender of the plenary inspiration of the New Testament, including spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12,13,14). Unlike Dr. MacArthur, Dr. Kendall does not believe that portions of the New Testament or miraculous gifts of the Spirit have passed away.
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Rutland Repudiates MacArthur’s Attack of Charismatic Theology
Cessation theology, so-called, is, astonishingly enough, exactly what it denounces: completely nonbiblical. There is absolutely no clear biblical statement that the gifts of the Spirit have gone anywhere, especially away. How could they go away? What could that possibly even mean? The Holy Spirit has not taken the last train for the coast. The gifts are His gifts. They were not the possession of the apostles nor of the church in any time or location. Where the Spirit is, the gifts are.
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REPROOF: Tozer to John MacArthur & 21st Century Fundamentalist Cessationists
It is no use to deny that Christ was crucified by persons who would today be called fundamentalists. This should prove to be disquieting if not downright distressing to us who pride ourselves on our orthodoxy. An unblessed soul filled with the letter of truth may actually be worse off than a pagan kneeling before a fetish. We are saved only when our intellects are indwelt by the loving fire that came at Pentecost. For the Holy Spirit is not a luxury, not something added now and again to produce a deluxe type of Christian once in a generation. No. He is for every child of God a vital necessity, and that He fill and indwell His people is more than a languid hope. It is rather an inescapable imperative.
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Power For Preaching Through the Spirit’s Anointing
My 60+ years of ministry can be divided into two equal parts. For the first 27 years of pastoral work I was a hardline nonbeliever in the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. My denomination insisted that miraculous works of the Spirit vanished when the Apostle John died and I wrongly carried that error to my congregation. During that period I never saw an alcoholic, drug addict, suicidal person, or someone with similar problems, be miraculously delivered by the power of God. It did not happen nor did I expect it. My ignorance of Scripture was very costly to me and my flock.
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