Christians need to seek the baptism and supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit
By Julio Severo
Seek the baptism in the Holy Spirit. After
salvation, this is the most important spiritual experience.
“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the
spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (1 Corinthians 14:1 ESV)
When the Apostle Paul dealt with the
church in Corinth, there was an abundance of dysfunction and misuse of the
gifts there. Instead of forbidding the gifts, he gave biblical instructions on
how to use them.
The Corinthian church was full of supernatural
gifts, sins, and scandals.
Not only did Paul not forbid the gifts in
a church where they were abused, but he encouraged them to seek more gifts.
He dealt with sins, abuses and scandals
without extinguishing the flame of the Spirit.
It is a stark contrast to modern Pharisaical
theologians who use (real or imagined) misuse of gifts in some churches as an
example that Christians should avoid such gifts, when Paul did just the
opposite.
Paul’s biblical example is:
* Where there are no supernatural gifts of
the Holy Spirit, Christians need to study God’s Word and earnestly seek them.
* Where the gifts are abused, Christians
need to study and practice the Word even more and seek the gifts much more,
especially the gift of prophecy — following the path of love.
Churches that reject the gifts need Paul’s
instruction.
Portuguese version of this article: Os
cristãos precisam buscar o batismo e os dons sobrenaturais do Espírito Santo
Recommended
Reading:
Posts
No comments :
Post a Comment