Subscribe to Every Post:Are Miraculous Gifts for Today?
On Sunday we hit chapters 12, 13, and 14 of I Corinthians head on. As we read these three chapters and then as we look at the contemporary church today, there seems to be a stark disparity. I mentioned on Sunday that I have never been a part of a church that lives out all the spiritual gifts in a healthy and balanced way. I know there are many churches out there that do practice them in a biblical way, but I have never experienced it.
Why does this seem to be true for most of us as well? Why does the expression and fulfillment of what these three chapters teach seem to be so hard to find? I gave a very in-depth answer on Sunday: “I don’t know why.”
This is something I have wondered my entire Christian life. I have heard and studied all the supposed “biblical” arguments as to why we don’t see all the gifts of the Spirit manifested today, but the arguments have never seemed biblically convincing to me.
When Scott Jester and I were in England 7 weeks ago, we witnessed the expression of the gifts in the most balanced way I had ever seen. It was a powerful expression of the church.
This Sunday I am going to address the three most controversial gifts: healing, speaking in tongues, and prophecy. Should be scary - I mean interesting.
I presented a lot of information this past Sunday to lay a foundation for the issues. There are four views within the Christian church that people have with regard to the spiritual gifts. This is taken from Wayne Grudem’s book called, “Are Miraculous Gifts for Today.” Grace Gathering does not have an official position on any of the four views but allows people to believe any of the four.
Our predominant desire is that people base their beliefs and practices based on their study of Scripture. Therefore, we put the onus of responsibility on the people to form their view; rather, than simply telling them what view they should have. We do this with most secondary doctrines of Scripture (issues of which solid believers differ).
As promised, I am including the PowerPoint slides used during the message here as I went through this material too quickly for everyone to write their own notes.
Hope this is helpful as you study Scripture and seek God’s will for your life.
