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The Gifts of the Spirit, October 13
Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant.... The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man
to profit withal.
1 Corinthians 12:1, 7
.
Paul declares that the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were set
in the church ... “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:13
.
All men do not receive the same gifts, but to every servant of the
Master some gift of the Spirit is promised.
The Lord has need of all kinds of skillful workmen. “He gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors
and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11, 12
.
In immediate connection with the scenes of the great day of God,
the Lord by the prophet Joel has promised a special manifestation of
His Spirit.
Joel 2:28
. This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in the
outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; but it will reach its full
accomplishment in the manifestation of divine grace which will attend
the closing work of the gospel....
At this time the special endowment of divine grace and power is not
less needful to the church than in apostolic days.
God will today endow men and women with power from above,
as He endowed those who on the day of Pentecost heard the word of
salvation. At this very hour His Spirit and His grace are for all who
need them and will take Him at His word.
The gifts are already ours in Christ, but their actual possession
depends upon our reception of the Spirit of God....
If they are connected with Christ, if the gifts of the Spirit are theirs,
the poorest and most ignorant of His disciples will have a power that
will tell upon hearts. God makes them the channel for the outworking
of the highest influence in the universe.
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