House Church Talk - Re: cessation of spiritual gifts

[Ross J Purdy]

Hi Adam, Jim, Phillip and All,

What I shared does not deny present day miracles or God's providential care.
Nor does it deny the supernatural.

Jim writes:
> Remembering, "these signs shall follow them that believe" - and when the
> "signs stop", it does not remain void for long...rushing in to readily
fill
> that occupancy was and remains, any manner of human cerebral creativity...
> and while the good of debate and stimulation towards Christ may have some
> merit, I am always disturbed in spirit, when the needy (that's us all) are
> left in the wake of those waves and stripped of any "expectant hope"...
>
> Teachings that lead us away from total dependence on Christ Jesus, is not
> maturity...
>
> Remembering when Jesus himself, returning to his own hometown,  Matt 13:58
> did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
>
> For the one that believes gifts of God have ceased, I suspect they have...

and Phillip wrote:
> I cast my vote for present day miracles and gifts of the Spirit.

I was specific in saying which gifts have ceased, nothing I said denies ALL
gifts of the Spirit, nor does it deny our complete dependence on our Lord.
(Must we exhibit the supernatural gifts or know someone who does to prove
our dependence on God? Are performing tricks our "expectant hope"?)

I fully endorse thanking the Father of Lights for every good gift we receive
(we just are not receiving the edification gifts listed in Rom 12, 1 Cor
12-14, or Eph 4). The edification gifts served their limited and temporary
purpose until we were provided by God with superior gifts, no less
spiritual, less flashy, but effective none the less and exactly what we now
need.

My intent is to lead away from delusions that cause us to lose our focus of
Christ Jesus (Mat 24:24). Miracles are a dime a dozen and no guarantee of
spirituality, just ask the Corinthians. Maturity is spirituality even
without the glitter. That is the point of Paul's teaching: Grow up! and in
order to do so, we must leave the childish things behind. I don't see any
profit in wanting to get out our infant play things when God expects us to
be adults and move on to BIGGER and BETTER things. Anything that we may
perceive to be a gift of the HS must certainly grieve the HS when it serves
only to cause us to focus on it rather than Christ Himself.

In Christ,
Ross Purdy