3) The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.

I am “for” the ministry of the Holy Spirit. I’ve written a lot about the Holy Spirit in the past, so I won’t waste typing time, you can read all about it here in my “Holy Spirit” blog category.

One new point I would like to bring up: The Holy Spirit doesn’t always make sense. I’ve heard about certain “works of the Holy Spirit” that sound outrageous to me — people barking like dogs, cavity fillings turning to gold, gold dust or oil appearing on hands, etc. etc.

THOSE THINGS DON’T MAKE SENSE TO ME! Unfortunately, I think many of those outrageous-sounding “works of the Holy Spirit” are, well, outrageous. Sometimes there are counterfeits, but if you find counterfeit money — you don’t stop using money. Even the cow knows when to spit out the briers.

In Acts 3 there is an account of Peter and John healing a crippled beggar. The crippled man stood up and ran around telling everyone how he was healed. The people recognized him as the crippled man — “and they were filled with wonder and amazement” (verse 10).

That phrase jumped out at me — they were filled with wonder. To me, that says that not everything the Holy Spirit does is going to make sense. And if there is scripture to show that not everything the Holy Spirit does is going to make sense — then I will not condemn someone else’s outrageous spiritual encounter simply because it doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not supposed to make sense — that’s kind of the whole point.

So many people are defined by what they are against, declaring how they are against this type of stuff. I don’t want to be defined by what I’m against — I am “for” the full ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6 Replies to “3) The Ministry of the Holy Spirit.”

  1. I agree with your take that not everything the Holy Spirit does makes “sense” but I would also venture that the Holy Spirit also doesn’t do things lightly- He always has a purpose.

  2. Yes, Todd. Thanks for bringing that up. In the scripture I referenced in Acts 3 — the people were filled with wonder — but right after that Peter preached to all those people and a bunch of them got saved (can anyone say PURPOSE!). The Holy Spirit’s gifts are for service, not show — and He doesn’t do things lightly. Right on.

  3. … aaand I will never judge whether or not something was done with purpose or not if I wasn’t there. Why would I condemn another church’s God encounter if I wasn’t there to experience it myself? Even if I was there to experience it myself – I won’t condemn it unless it is Biblically unsound. Anything else is hearsay.

    For example, I will gladly condemn some of the “God Encounters” at Covenant Bible Church Tulsa, Oklahoma. At this church I was told that if I don’t feel the presence of God where I was standing, I should move to the other side of the room because the presence of God might not be where I am — but it might be on the other side of the room. What happened to omnipresence?! I was there — I heard it with my own ears, and I heard it in context and according to the Bible I should judge it.

    However when Christians start such bickering between each other — often based on hearsay, out-of-context statements, and not-the-whole-story stories — it causes great damage to the Church.

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