Spiritual Gifts -- Page 2

More of what we believe

We believe that people were baptized in the Spirit when they originally came to Christ and the Holy Spirit took up residence in their heart. As the Scripture says, "We were all baptized by the one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink" (1 Cor 12:13). This is the Baptism that was referred to in the gospels when it was said of Jesus that He would baptize people in the Holy Spirit. Rather than speak about a "second baptism" we encourage followers of Jesus to be constantly filled by the Holy Spirit on an ongoing basis (Eph 5:18). That means we are always listening to the Spirit so that we can obey Him and be led by Him. It also means we seek His Filling so that we can be empowered to do His work. There is no one "sign" of a person being filled by the Spirit. Scriptural examples of people being filled by the Spirit included some of the following signs: being bold in their proclamation, exercising great authority in power encounters, preaching the gospel, speaking in tongues, praying with great authority, and demonstrating great faith and joy. This is a partial list.

We recognize that people have experienced some wonderful encounters with the Holy Spirit and we validate those experiences. Rather than say that was a "second baptism" that everyone needs to seek, we encourage people to have multiple experiences with God. We say receive anything that God wants to give you! However, we don't try to push people to a second baptism where they speak in tongues as evidence. We encourage followers of Jesus to be filled with the Holy Spirit and if he wants to give you one, two, three, or thirty awesome experiences including speaking in tongues, Praise God!

Finally, we do believe in the gift of "apostle" for today. In the New Testament, we see three types of apostles. It is only the third type of apostle that we see still in evidence today. The first type that is most evident is the TWELVE apostles. Jesus picked twelve men that they might be with him and that He might send them out (Mark 3:16). Clearly the TWELVE no longer exist and it was for a season of Jesus ministry.

The second type of apostle is mentioned in 1 Cor 15:3-8. There Paul is referring to the appearances of Jesus to people. He mentions that Jesus first appeared to the TWELVE and later to "all the apostles." There appears to be another distinct group of followers other than the TWELVE that saw the resurrected Christ and were sent out by Him to give testimony to their witness. This group was also referred to as apostles. The name TWELVE was probably given to Jesus' original group to distinguish them from the subsequent apostles. Paul refers to himself that way in 1 Cor 9:1 when he says, "Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?" In that fashion, probably Adronicas and Junias referred to as apostles in Rom 16:7 fit that category. These would be eyewitnesses of the Resurrection sent out to give witness to Jesus being raised from the dead.

There is a third type of apostle mentioned in the scripture however that seems to reflect church planters. Barnabas was such an apostle. We see in Acts 14:3-5, "So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to do miraculous signs and wonders. The people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles." That Barnabas was sent out by the Holy Spirit is recorded in Acts 13:2 where the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." We believe the Lord still raises up church planters today who would plant many churches and raise up and mentor other church planters. This is an apostolic gifting and calling and is as needed today as it was in the first century.

Summary:

We recognize that the Body of Christ differs in beliefs about spiritual gifts. We want to be gracious and loving towards all. Within the Gathering, we do not allow people to teach that the gifts are not for today, nor will we tolerate a person pushing one particular gift above the rest. For those individuals we would see that the Gathering would not be a good fit.

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