Results 1 - 6 of 6
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Holy Spirit operatin our churches today? | Acts | DocTrinsograce | 197911 | ||
Hi, Ex... There is an unwritten convention on the forum to use the "Question" button only when addressing the forum as a whole. Follow-up questions and comments, particularly those addressed to individuals, should be marked with the "Note" button. The individual you're addressing will receive notification. This practice keeps the home page clear. God is sovereign, ruling over all as He pleases (Psalms 115:3). Therefore, He is free to interact with us as He sees fit (Daniel 4:35). However, with the passing of the extraordinary offices it is generally deemed that the extraordinary gifts passed as well -- not that we might not see them again one day. Nevertheless, we do not see these signs in the church -- people being raised from the dead, withered hands restored, etc. But that's all okay, because we live lives by faith not by signs (Galatians 2:20). In Him, Doc |
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2 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | Ex32 | 197915 | ||
Doc, thank you again. I'll be very careful not to violate the "unwritten convention." I still have not been given any biblical texts to show that the Holy Spirit is no longer going to move in the churches as He once did. What you mentioned was, "However, with the passing of the extraordinary offices it is generally deemed that the extraordinary gifts passed as well -- not that we might not see them again one day." Who decided that the extraordinary gifts have passed? Did God? How would He lead us to know this for certain through scripture? |
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3 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | DocTrinsograce | 197927 | ||
Dear Ex, Let me ask a rhetorical question: How do you know that God intended you to be alive this Christmas Day of 2007 AD? Answer: You live. If God had intended otherwise, you wouldn't be alive. So let me repeat from many previous posts: God is sovereign. He brought the church into existence and He chose the apostles -- gifting them and empowering them by the Holy Spirit -- to lay its foundations. Now He providentially guides the church. God chooses those who will comprise His church, the Holy Spirit draws and regenerates the elect, and Christ, the cornerstone, is the head of the church (see Ephesians 2:20-22; cf 1 Corinthians 3:9-11). So who else could have made such a decision? God led us to these conclusions by giving us explicit qualifications for the Apostolate that no one later could meet. Also, the apostles themselves, through their epistles, prepared the church for the day when they would be absent. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit instructs the invisible body of Christ with the consensus of studied godly judgment of the Biblical truth regarding the church. Finally, the church walks out that truth -- in some periods of history better than in other periods -- in a way that allows us to see His clear involvement. Don't you suppose that He who spared not His own Son (Romans 8:32), but gives us all things unto both life and godliness (2 Peter 1:2-3), wouldn't also give us signs if we really needed them? Instead, we are told to live by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Indeed, Christ warns that only the wicked seek for a sign (Matthew 16:4). Aren't the signs that God gave the church in times past sufficient for us today? Or will we insist to God that we have to see with our own eyes? Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29 ESV) In Him, Doc |
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4 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | lionheart | 197929 | ||
Doc, Merry Christmas buddy. God's sovereignty is probably one of the most neglected areas of our walk with God. We as human beings can be arbitrary and sentimental but that isn't God's nature. Never was never will be. When God does things it's always for his greater glory and our ultimate good. It doesn't get much better than that. In Him, lionheart |
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5 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | BMyers | 197931 | ||
I’ve been contemplating rather I should put in my 2 cents on this topic or not. I’ve read the responses and they all appear civil, so I thought I would go ahead and toss in my thoughts/feelings. I feel that the Holy Spirit is still very active today and that the gifts of Spirit are still moving. Do they move the same in every church or person? No. Some churches are more in tuned to the Spirit than others, just like some Christians are more in tune to the Holy Spirit’s moving than other individuals. The statement was made that the Holy Spirit no longer raises people from the dead or heals them. I would disagree. We have prayed for individuals in our church for healings and have had them healed. We have also prayed for people and didn’t see earthly healing we had hoped for, but as it was pointed out, the ultimate healing of joining Christ in heaven occurred. I’ve worked as a paramedic for 16 years. I’ve seen people survive accidents that through all the evidence should have killed them. I’ve seen Christ’s protecting hand in my daughter’s life when her platelet count dropped down to 5,000. I’ve seen the Lord’s blessings poured out not only on my own family’s life, but in my friends and relatives. I watched in their hour of need how the Lord has provided. As a paramedic I have worked on dead people and they have been brought back to life. You may credit this to modern medicine, but I have different thought on this. The Lord is the one who gave us the knowledge to be able to discover, make, and use the modern medicine. I’ve seen people brought back that should have remained dead and those that died, that according to the text book should have lived. I feel that at times in our modern society that we don’t give God the credit He deserves. I feel and see that Holy Spirit is very active in my life and my family’s life. In my quite time of reflection I think how the Holy Spirit has guided, comforted, and protected my family and I know that the Holy Spirit is alive and moving today! |
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6 | Who decided that the extraordinary gifts | Acts | DocTrinsograce | 197937 | ||
Dear Bmyers, I certainly didn't mean to give the impression that I thought the Holy Spirit was inactive. No, indeed! I agree with you that all healing is from the Lord -- whether of miraculous origin or otherwise. Still and all, I can only look askance at ministries like that of Benny Hinn and his ilk. The greatest evidence of the Holy Spirit's activity is nothing so mundane or sensationalistic. Regeneration is the greatest miracle of all, followed closely by the continuous work of progressive sanctification. If you see a person growing in holiness, that is a more sure sign of the Holy Spirit's work than thousands of healings or millions of tongue speakers! Frankly, if you see all of the latter, but none of the former, it isn't the Holy Spirit at all. In Him, Doc |
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