There are two verses in the New Testament-Romans 11:29 and 1 Corinthians 1:7-8, both written by Paul-that indicate the duration of these gifts and the time when they are no longer necessary.
For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
-ROMANS 11:29
ππΎππΎ In the context of Romans 11 Paul was speaking of God’s election and Israel’s unbelief.
β€οΈβ€οΈΒ Some in his day (and our time) believed that God was finished with national Israel and had replaced them with the Gentile church.Β
π₯π₯ Paul made it clear that the gifts and calling cannot be revoked. The calling was His calling on Israel, and the word for “gifts” here is charismata, the same word used for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
ππ Thus God does not give the church any of His spiritual charismata and then do a recall and take back what is so needed to edify the body of Christ.
π₯ The New Testament lists many spiritual blessings and classifies them as gifts.Β
ππ These are available to those who will believe on the Lord and follow Him by faith:
ππ Actsβ¬ 2β¬:37β¬-39β¬ AMPβ¬β¬
βNow when they heard this, they were cut to the heart [with remorse and anxiety], and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, βBrothers, what are we to do?β And Peter said to them, βRepent [change your old way of thinking, turn from your sinful ways, accept and follow Jesus as the Messiah] and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ because of the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise [of the Holy Spirit] is for you and your children and for all who are far away [including the Gentiles], as many as the Lord our God calls to Himself.ββ
The gift of salvation (Eph. 2:8)
The gift of the grace of God (Eph. 3:7)
The Last Days- Between Pentecost and Trumpets
The gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:17)
The gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23)
The gift called the unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9:15, KTv)
The gift of giving finances (Phil. 4:17)
The gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38)
The spiritual gift (Rom. 1:11)
The gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:7-10)
Look at this list and ask yourself, “How many of these gifts have ceased since the time of the New Testament?”Β
Has the grace of God, His righteousness, eternal life, or salvation ceased?Β
Do churches reject your tithe or offering because the gift of giving ceased after the death of Paul?Β
π₯π₯ Then who gave human men the permission to tell the body of Christ that the spiritual gifts or charismata have been removed from the church?
ππΎππΎΒ I think I have discovered over the years that church members should never judge God’s ability based upon the spiritual activity or the lack thereof in their local congregations.Β
ππ Some churches never support missionaries, so based on their inactivity shall we assume that souls no longer need salvation on the mission fields?Β
ππ I have ministered in congregations that are self-centered and have no outreach for feeding the poor in other nations. Should we now suggest that the world must have plenty of food now and feeding the poor is no longer necessary with the invention of the massive combines on farms?
ππ Suppose you have never personally seen a manifestation of the Holy Spirit in your congregation.Β
ππ Would this suggest to you that the gifts have ceased, or otherwise they would be active in your church? Or could it mean that there is little or no interest in spiritual gifts amon the members in your church, and they would not be receptive to thei operation if spiritual manifestations were made visible?Β
πππ The fact i the gifts were never revoked by God but were and still are rejected b unbelieving and uninterested Christians.
β€οΈπ₯β€οΈ Look at this powerful promise recorded in:Β
1 Corinthiansβ¬ 1β¬:3β¬-7β¬ AMPβ¬β¬
βGrace to you and peace [inner calm and spiritual well-being] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always for you because of the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, so that in everything you were [exceedingly] enriched in Him, in all speech [empowered by the spiritual gifts] and in all knowledge [with insight into the faith]. In this way our testimony about Christ was confirmed and established in you, so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift [which comes from the Holy Spirit], as you eagerly wait [with confident trust] for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ [when He returns].β
π₯π₯π₯ The church at Corinth was overloaded with spiritual gifts, and Paul wrote three chaptersβ1 Corinthians 12, 13, and 14-to correct errors and instruct in the operation of vocal gifts within the church.Β
ππΎππΎππΎ Yet he makes it clear that he desires the church to excel (not to come behind) in any gift!
Paul then states that the gifts will “confirm you to the end.” The word confirm here means, to “stabilize and establish” a person. Note that according to Paul, a spiritual gift will continue unto the day of the LordΒ
Jesus, and God wills for you to be stabilized spiritually until the end.
ππ₯β€οΈ REASONS FOR NO GIFTS TODAYΒ
The main reasons why there is a shortage or a drought of spiritual rain and spiritual manifestations in many churches.Β
Any spiritual gift must operate through a human vessel; it does not supernaturally float through the atmosphere in some mystical type of fog.Β
1. The need for a human vessel brings me to the first common reason for lack of gifts:
They have been neglected by the vessels (people) themselves.
ππ Timothy was a young minister whom Paul appointed as pastor over a large congregation in Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3). Some of the elders were upset to have such a young man, whom they considered to be too immature for ministry.Β
Paul instructed his spiritual son not to rebuke an elder (1 Tim. 5:1). He also spoke to Timothy about the gift that had been imparted to him:
πππ Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.
β1 TIMOTHY 4:14
π₯π₯π₯ The gifts can be neglected. In Greek the word for “neglect means to be careless, make light of, or have no regard for. We will neglect what is not important to us.Β
πππ Just as a mussel on the body that is never used will if neglected, eventually cease to do what it was created for, then spiritual gifts can be neglected and thus deactivated.Β
ππΎππΎππΎ The danger is that something can be neglected so long that eventually you will not mis it.Β
β€οΈππΎπ To prevent being neglected, the gifts must be “stirred up”:
* Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
β2 TIMOTHY 1:6-7
No stir up is to rekindle a fire with the remaining embers. All it takes are a few burning embers and some fuel to cause flames to leap again and burn brightly.Β
ππΎππΎ If people neglect spiritual gifts and allow the flames of zeal and desire to die, then there will be a dearth in the operation of gifts. God works though people,Β
2. People Cease to Fow in the Spirit.
ππΎππΎ When the clear voice of the Spirit becomes muffled in the spirit of a person and there is no clarity that the Lord is speaking, then the person says, “Is this the Lord directing me, or is this just me?”Β
πππ The Holy Spirit would never tell you to function outside of the boundaries of the Bible, so judge what you hear by what is revealed in the Word.Β
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ Do you think the adversary would tell you to go witness to a man who was sitting on a park bench about Christ?Β
ππΎ Should you question if it is the Lord or just you to give a poor person a meal to eat or some money? When you have an open door to minister to orphans or widows, why should you think, “The Lord may not want me to do that”?Β
πππΎππΎ The same is true when you have an inner desire to give an offering for ministry.Β
π₯π₯π₯ God’s voice agrees with His Word, and the Holy Spirit always agrees with God.
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ On a more humorous note, a few times when God could not find a person to speak, He used what was available-including animals! The prophet Balaam was stubborn, ignoring God’s will, so God opened the mouth of his donkey to rebuke him. The odd part is that instead of realizing the supernatural element of a talking animal, Balaam began to argue with the dumb beast (Num. 22:25-30). In the New Testament a rooster crowed three times, and Peter came under conviction and repented for denying the Lord (Mark 14:72). God will use whom and what is available to enact His purposes and lay out His will.
3. The third reason gifts can be neglected is that if these manifestations are not permitted by the leadership in the local congregations, then the members are to be under their leaders authority and follow the instruction of those who are over them in the Lord
ππ 1 Thessaloniansβ¬ 5β¬:12β¬-13β¬ AMPβ¬β¬
βNow we ask you, brothers and sisters, to appreciate those who diligently work among you [recognize, acknowledge, and respect your leaders], who are in charge over you in the Lord and who give you instruction, and [we ask that you appreciate them and] hold them in the highest esteem in love because of their work [on your behalf]. Live in peace with one another.β
π₯β€οΈπ₯ A person who believes in the gifts should avoid sitting in a congregation where gifts are publicly discouraged and rejected and then attempt to jump up in the crowd and give a message in tongues or initiate a prayer line to lay hands upon people for prayer. Such action would create confusion and be rejected from the beginning.Β
As another example, I preach on the Hebraic roots of the Christian faith, and often good-hearted and sincere people will bring a ram’s horn (shofar) into the building and begin blowing it without permission from the pastor. For churches unfamiliar with the blowing of a shofar, they have numerous questions that cannot be answered in a single worship gathering. Also, there are some sincere believers who haven’t really learned how to perfect the different sounds emitting from the shofar, and the noise sounds like a factory horn that loses steam in the middle of blowing.
β€οΈπ₯β€οΈ You should know the setting, the belief of the church, and never exercise your own authority over top of the leadership for the congregation.
Even in the New Testament believers were removed from synagogues because their teachings on Christ clashed with the synagogue members’ Jewish traditions and theology on the Messiah. For leadership of a ministry or in a church to maintain a spiritual walk and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, it requires a continual hunger and deter-mination.
It is far easier to have a great worship service, teach for thirty minutes with a feel-good message, and have some exciting basic spiritual programs believed to meet needs in a local congregation. In reality, it is easier to maintain a church through the flesh-appealing routines than through convicting spiritual manifestations.
My father, Fred Stone, was the most spiritually minded man I have ever known. He walked with the Lord every day and maintained a mind of prayer and sensitivity to Christ. He spent hours in prayer and days in fasting, and on a few occasions in local church services I witnessed all nine gifts of the Spirit operate through his ministry.
I was present in the services outiessed this firsthand, including two unforgettable services in Louise, Kentucky, and another in Broomo ville, Florida. I know that hours of prayer and fasting fine turooks human spirit to sharpen the hearing to recognize God’s voice. In our Western culture it is far easier to please the flesh than to discipline the human spirit. Once the spiritual gifts operate, the life of the receiver must be maintained through discipline and prayer. It is easier to have a pizza party than a prayer meeting, and the pizza draws more eaters than the prayer does seekers. But pizza cannot accomplish what one spiritual gift can!
4. The fourth and very common reason that gifts cannot operate is because of the atmosphere of unbelief and skepticism in the church.
ππΎππΎ I remember showing a “Christian” man, a church member for more than fifty years, certain verses in the Bible that crushed his theology of unbelief. He looked at me and said, “I don’t care what the Bible says; I don’t believe it, and I will believe it my way!” I was thinking at that moment that I had officially met a Pharisee of Pharisees, as this was the same attitude among the elite Jewish Pharisees in the time of Christ-“if it doesn’t fit my theology, it’s not of God.”Β
ππΎππΎππΎ In Nazareth Christ could do no mighty miracles because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5-6).Β
πππ Yet He could leave the upper Galilee in Nazareth and descend to the lower Galilee at Capernaum and perform numerous miracles in the cities around the Sea of Galilee, where the Gospels record His exciting ministry being received by the common people.Β
π₯π₯π₯ In Matthew 17 a father brought his epileptic son to the disciples, who, after prayer, were unable to expel a spirit possessing the lad.
Christ appeared on the scene, rebuked the spirit, and delivered the boy.
When the disciples inquired of the reason why they had failed in their prayer, Jesus answered, “Because of your unbelief” (v. 20).Β
πππ Unbelief is such a strong force that the spirit world can sense if a person has faith or a lack thereof.Β
πππ On another occasion, when Christ was preparing to raise a young girl from the dead, He removed everyone out of the room, as their lack of faith was stagnating the atmosphere and could have prevented a miracle from occurring (Mark 5:39-40).
π₯π₯π₯ If you refuse to believe, the Holy Spirit will refuse to operate.
πππAnother important point is that according to the apostle Paul, we are to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31, KTv).Β
ππΎππ₯ It seems odd for Paul to teach that we should “covet” the best gifts, when in Romans 7.7 we read that, “You shall not covet,” which is also one of the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:17).Β
β€οΈβ€οΈβ€οΈ The definition of coveting in Exodus 20:17 and Romans 7:7 is to set your heart upon something that is forbidden.Β
π₯°π₯°π₯° However, the Greek word Paul used in 1 Corinthians 12:31 for
“covet” is a different Greek word that means, “to have a warm feeling for and to have a zeal for.”Β
π₯°π₯°π₯° Thus if we have no strong desire for spiritual gifts, there will be a lack of any spiritual gift in manifestation.
When Paul said, “the best gifts,” the question becomes, what are the best gifts? I believe the best gift is what is needed at that particular moment to meet the spiritual need of a seeker. When I was a young teenager, I was blessed to see a great man of God,Β
As an example, there were believers in Christ who saw the disciples praying and getting results, and they themselves began to minister to others, seeing the same results.Β
The disciples were somewhat concerned that these new believers were not a part of their group and set out to set them down. Jesus, however, stopped this action and said that if they were not working against Him, then they were working for Him and that He had other sheep that were not of the disciples’ flock (John 10:16).
5. The fifth observation is that gifts cannot operate when people have no knowledge of their availability.Β
π In America Christians often assume that about everyone born in America has already heard the gospel at least once, which is a total misconception.Β
π₯π₯π₯ And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus.
And finding some disciples he said to them, “Did you receiveΒ
the Holy Spirit when you believed?” So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”
-ACTs 19:1-2
ππΎππΎππΎ Apollos became one of the main leaders in the early church.Β
ππΎππΎππΎ Paul was in Ephesus and found disciples of John the Baptist, whose emphasis was baptism in water unto repentance. These disciples were followers of John, and even though the Spirit had been poured out, these sincere men had heard nothing about it. In this narrative Paul laid his hands upon these twelve, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with tongues (vv. 3-7).
πππ When desiring a spiritual gift, we must keep in mind that the gift is not given to show we are more superior to others or more spiritual, and certainly must not be operated with pride.Β
πππ The gifts are for the edification, exhortation, and comfort of the church, and to assist in ministering to the unsaved, revealing the living God. We are presently living in the church age, or prophetically the four months from Pentecost to Trumpets. In Israel as one got closer to the fall Feast of Trum-pets, the atmosphere began to change as the rain prepared to fall. As we move closer to the coming of Christ, the world will be engulfed in the latter rain outpouring of the Spirit! The dry spells will be broken.
Frank Appiah