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Last Updated on :
Saturday, November 22, 2014

 

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The Holy Spirit
And the Holy Spirit Gifts
By
Graham Pearce

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SUMMARY

The Gift of The Spirit


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PAGE 84

The gift of the spirit, could we have it in these days, as was the case with the first-century believers, it would, no doubt, be both a comfort and a help, as it was in their case. But it would not do to assume the possession of the Spirit, in the absence of the "manifestation of the Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:7), by which alone its possession can be known. Nearly every sect in Christendom claims to possess the Holy Spirit in their midst, just upon the principle of assuming things of which there is not a particle of evidence. For how is it possible there can be any evidence of such a thing as the existence of the Spirit, in a community of churches, of such chameleon-hued doctrine and practice as the Christian world. There could be little doubt on the part of any honest seeker of the truth, where the true faith was to be found, if the Spirit co-operated in gift and visible guidance as it did in the first century. In the record of the Spirit's work, in the initial century of the Christian era, we have the mind of the Spirit before us in connection with pretty nearly a whole century's operations on behalf of the truth, both within and without the house of Christ. It is not saying too much to say that these are an all-sufficient guide in respect of what constitutes a "Scriptural attitude" in our day. As a matter of fact, this has been found to be the case. The Spirit will be present again in all its immeasurable gifts and powers (Heb. 6:5; 2 Cor. 1:22), when Christ and his apostles and prophet- associates are upon the scene again (Luke 13:28-29). Meanwhile we have to be content with what guidance and help God may vouchsafe to his people in providential ways in answer to their increasing prayers that His directing hand may be with them in all they seek to do for His name. -- Christadelphian 1888

 


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