This blog post has been revised and turned into a chapter in The Rethinking Series.
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Frank Viola | Beyond Evangelical
Official Blog of Author & Speaker Frank Viola. Digging below the surface and moving beyond the shallows in today's Christianity.
Rethinking the Gifts of the Spirit: Part XII
This series was awesome! Thank you so much for sharing these truths with us.
The last post, especially, was amazing!!
Blessings!!!!
Thank you Frank for this excellent series ….particularly this last one. It is so full of light and life and truth…Jesus!!!
Excellent Series Frank and a much needed one! Thanks so much for sharing with us.
Great series! Nothing like balanced theology to provide perspective to an issue that is often misunderstood in the church.
I also think that an inappropriate prominence given to the gifts of the Holy Spirit is really an attempt by man’s flesh to exalt the self rather than the Holy Spirit, for truly there is harmony within the Godhead and that will be reflected in the works of a person who lives in harmony with God.
Can somebody help me, please? I’m really wrestling with the concept that the Holy Spirit only and always reveals Christ.
I understand that much of what passes today for the Holy Spirit is the flesh, or even other spirits. I understand the damage that can be caused by erroneous personal prophecies and the whole culture of seeking the gifts and not the Giver. Got the t-shirt.
But the Holy Spirit is also called the Teacher, the Comforter, and the Spirit of Truth. Jesus told us that He will reveal to us what is to come. (John 16:14) Agabus prophecied that Paul would be bound hand and foot by the Jews and delivered to the Gentiles. (Acts 21:11) Also in Acts, the Holy Spirit provided concrete direction to the disciples multiple times. (10:20; 13:2; 16:6)
I’m sure there are many other examples, but my point is that these things don’t directly point us to Jesus Christ. While revealing our Lord may be the Spirit’s primary role, it’s not His only one – or I’m really missing something here.
Any explanations would be greatly appreciated.
All of those examples have to do with the ministry of Jesus Himself in and through the believers with the end toward glorifying Jesus. Christ is God’s future, so any insight into the future is a revelation of Jesus. He is the Alpha and Omega. All direction given to the apostles and to the church was (and is) designed to display and glorify Christ.
Once again Frank, thank-you for this series. “You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he/she blocks your sight of Jesus Christ”. Oswald Chambers. Keep S.O.S 5v16 always at the forefront of your worship/gathering.
regards David
(N.Ireland)
And, Amen.
Thank you SOOOOOOO much Frank!!!!! You put words to our hearts and we come to see Jesus a little more clearer! It’s exciting to read these things and talk about them and share them with others!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
You do plan to print this in book[let] form, right?
We will all buy it, right?
Frank:
Would be a good idea to put all these posts in booklet form, or eBook, so that we could have them (or purchase) as a single unit.
“The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.” Oswald Chambers
So glad God blessed you with the ability to express what has been rolling around in my heart for many years. Thank you, Frank.
May the Lord continue to bless you Brother Frank. Question, I have been trying to locate one of the strongest books I believe you have every penned. Don’t get me wrong all of your books I was so blessed to read have been great. This book (Who is your covering) minister to me in such a way, that it caused my soul to rejoice. Every word bearded witness with what I had been struggling with. Those that I would share my thought with insisted that I was just hard headed Christian that did not want to be obedience to the leadership. I know now that Jesus was leading me down another path. Thank you so much for ministering to God’s people. With that said, how may I purchase another copy of Who IS Your Covering?
I wrote that book in my youth. It’s been revised, updated, edited, and expanded. It’s more accurate and much more seasoned/maure now. It’s part of “Reimagining Church.” https://www.frankviola.org/books
Thanks again Frank! One question: Why should we be focused solely on Jesus more than the other two members of the trinity? I would love some biblical support for this and am reading “From Eternity to Here”, but I would naturally assume that God deserves equal attention in all three of his persons. Why Christ over the others?
Matt: Len Sweet and I wrote an entire book answering that question. It’s called JESUS MANIFESTO. Get it and you’ll have your answer and more. http://www.theJesusManifesto.com
Excellent series Frank. Thanks for your continued effort to put Jesus at the forefront. Thanks for sharing out of experience, it really means a lot.
I appreciate the insights shared in this series. Christ Jesus is the “main and the plain”…this series came at a time for me when I’ve been travailing over an experience visiting a large local church along with my brothers/sisters of my small home based church. We heard a 1 1/2 “sermon” in which Jesus was never mentioned either directly or obliquely and I was horribly uncomfortable there as was the 17 year old sitting next to me. All the others thought “that’s the sermon that church needed to hear” because it was the first in a long “revival” crafted by a “team of traveling professional revivalists”. My travailing has deepened as I’ve heard more and more credit being given to “Holy Spirit” for the emotional moves described in this ongoing “situation”. My heart reaction has been struggling with not wanting to judge and not wanting to participate in such a travesty. My prayer for my own little church is for discernment of the truth rather than falling into a pit of “false unity”. The dynamic you share in this post is pervasive and must be spoken to. I kept thinking and praying, “Lord compel someone in this “professional revival team” to read “Jesus Manifesto”. ……..or perhaps Colossians or Ephesians “with open eyes”.
Thanks, Frank, for reiterating a teaching that has been part of the holiness/pentecostal movement since the beginning, in spite of the many side trips some have gone on.
Thank you so much for this series. Once again today, there is a lot to think about. Everything in this series has breathed truth within me; we all have been so very blessed by it.
God bless as you continue to lead us.
What a wonderful ending to this series. WOW! I have enjoyed this so much and it was perfectly timed and in sync with a difficult situation. God is good.
Let it go into death and just watch what the Lord will do. Indeed! I’ve had to do this in the past few months and it is amazing how God shines light into the darkness. He handles it all – we can release all anxiety over whatever is troubling us.
There is a great peace that comes from “the knowing” of Who He is and “the trust” found in believing Who we say He is. There is no greater confidence than Christ. Praise Him for how He loves us and His confirming of that in our lives as we surrender.
Hope to someday be part of a fellowship like the one you discussed here. I do believe it is that kind of faith and transparency that allows Him to shine the brightest. Be blessed.
Excellent stuff, Frank. I thank you deeply, and I praise the Lord for the gift of inner clarity that He gave you on the subject!
I think the question is, did the apostles believe in the personhood of the Holy Spirit? When reading the epistles, you see clearly that God the Father and the God the Son are constantly pointed to. Look at every intro of Paul’s letter: where is the Holy Spirit? (Notice he greets his readers in the authority by whom he is sent: the Father and the Son – every single time).
Or when you flip to Rev 21 & 22 for a glimpse of New Jerusalem: God and the Lamb are the light of the city. The Spirit of God is just that – the Spirit that comes from God, and indwells the believer.
That’s why John says, “whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.” Or in John 17: eternal life flows from knowing God and His Son (through the Spirit that now indwells the believer).
Pentecostalism is run amok. Last night we received a message from friends that angels visited their church service on Sunday night and people couldn’t walk home because they were so impacted by the Spirit. Hogwash. While the Spirit is real as ever, this is not the way it works.
This is very eye opening, thanks. We were in the Charismatic movement during the early seventies and in a neo-chrismatic movement in the mid 80’s and I echo what Bartleman wrote. In both situations the focus shifted from Christ as center to Him as a by product. This post along with your others on Rethinking the gifts has been a great help, thank you.
I struggled with this in several churches early in my walk. Everything being exercised around me appeared to have biblical support, but no one could give an answer for this faith they participated in. I was only told, “faith, faith, faith…you just gotta step out in faith!” I did and looked & felt the fool. The red flag was always flying, but I was trying to be obedient to the “elders”, for they were surely more wise than I.
Thank you Frank. Your blogs, podcasts, books, etc. convey a pure answer to a faith that seeks and glorifies Christ alone, and not that of men.
Thank you for an excellent series. Growing up in a pentacostal church, I saw many things that were supposedly of the Spirit, but in hindsight, I see many of those “gifts” were of self. I was very unsettled there. I appreciate your laser-like focus on Jesus Christ and encouragement to your audience to seek Him solely and fully. It has been a great blessing to me.