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“I Believe in the Holy Spirit”
| The ministry of the Holy Spirit in Christ's Church is NOT governed by its leaders whatever they may be called: |
The responsibility of leaders is to spiritually feed, and protect, including from restrictive control by themselves.
To 'believe in' means to trust in. It does not mean to believe things about the Spirit, for He is lord IN the Church as much as Jesus is lord OF the Church. |
early 15th century England, most bishop's palaces of the English Church had a 'lollard tower' attached –
for the imprisonment of unlicensed preachers. |
"lollards' (derogatory term derived from the Middle Dutch lollaert, 'to mumble') were generally unordained gospel preachers moved by spiritual renewal of the Church in the time of English reformer John Wycliffe and they suffered at the hands of the organised Christian Church in ways hard for us to understand today with our presumption of human rights, democratic process, and separation of church and state in many countries.
today, Church leaders understand more easily the error of this bitter fruit of past attempts to control Christian ministry, the spiritual root which produced this error in the past is still generally widespread in the Christian Church today across all of its denominations, for the sense of responsibility in Church leaders for the protection of the Church is so easily seduced into –
structures or procedures-of-control to govern the Christian ministry. |
| Too often this "protection" has become a euphemism for 'control'. |
of the reason for this, is the loss of status among the believers of the presence of the Holy Spirit, a status which was exemplified for us in the record of Acts Five by the disciplining of the financial ministry of Ananias and his wife in their public termination in that regard for
their lying "to the Holy Spirit" by misrepresenting their action to their fellow believers (Ac.5:3,9). Unlike Simon Peter then, in the perception of Church leaders in Christian Church history the Holy Spirit's direct presence among the believers lost its authoritative status to become no more than an assumed supportive influence of church programs and private devotion.
— BUT NO ONE 'GOVERNS' THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CHRIST'S CHURCH EVER —
For better understanding, there are two specific statements given in Holy Scripture which should be key to our understanding in this regard:
• The first is by the Lord Jesus in reply to Nicodemus of the Jewish Great Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the supreme regulatory body of the Jewish faith.
• The second is by the Apostle Paul specifically concerning the proper procedure in public ministry within a Christian Church meeting.
• The second is by the Apostle Paul specifically concerning the proper procedure in public ministry within a Christian Church meeting.
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" |
| 1. | John 3:8. |
The use of the 'wind' metaphor is very apt in this situation for the Hebrew word for wind and for Spirit were both the same word (rûach).
Acts makes plain the extent to which the ministry of the Christian Church is an action of the Holy Spirit from the Day of Pentecost onward, and that the greatest turning point in the spread of Christianity was not by a decision of any mission board or council of leaders. It was simply through an inspired prophetic statement by a nameless individual to set free Barnabas and Saul (Paul's Jewish name) from their leadership responsibilities/duties – "for the work to which I have called them" (Ac.13:2), while the local church leadership were together in a prayer and fasting devotion.
Many years later, having founded Christian congregations across Anatolia and Greece, and now widely recognised as bearing the Holy Spirit gift of apostle to the Christian Church,
this Paul states to the Christian Church in Corinth concerning orderliness in the public ministry –
this Paul states to the Christian Church in Corinth concerning orderliness in the public ministry –
| "If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent" |
| 2. | 1 Corinthians 14:30. |
not a revelation previously received, screened by the elders, and approved for ministry to the local church. The Word of God speaks here of an immediate unanticipated event during the course of a local church meeting!
Lest it be thought that this statement was simply an accommodation for that time, it should be noted that this Scripture also states that any ministry which does not recognise this is not to be recognised for "the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 14:37-38). |
we would naturally say that the first speaker should not be interrupted and must first finish speaking before the revelation received by "another sitting there" is then brought to that congregation, but this is not what the Word of God says!
The right of precedence is here not the issue.
It is the authority of the Holy Spirit to do whatever He chooses and the clarity of His ministry to that particular congregation, through whomsoever He chooses, that is the issue –
the only issue.
many years ago, I sat in a congregation where, totally unknown to the congregation, the local pastor was in conflict with his church elders concerning the practical nature of his ministry, and during his preaching that particular Sunday morning, via a 'tongue' and its interpretation, the Holy Spirit interrupted the sermon of the pastor with a public correction, in which in effect the Lord said to the pastor 'I called you to the ministry and therefore it is I who will determine the nature of your ministry, not you or your elders'.
Example
pastor in the pulpit was momentarily taken aback, and then recommenced his sermon, but immediately after the church service a local elder confronted the young man (who was new to the church) who had brought the 'tongue' and its interpretation with 'who has been speaking to you about church council matters' of which of course the young man concerned knew absolutely nothing.
the pastor concerned (Vincent O'Kelly) in humility visited the young man the following evening to ask how he understood what had been said, but the young man knew nothing other than what the Holy Spirit had said before the congregation that previous morning. The corrective word of the Spirit brought healing to the unity of the leadership. Could it not have been done another way?
Only the Holy Spirit knows the whole circumstance and all the factors involved, so only the Holy Spirit chooses.
The Holy Spirit has the right to do whatever He chooses without any prior approval of any oversight,
for Jesus made it plain that we "do not know"... in the first navigation principle above.
for Jesus made it plain that we "do not know"... in the first navigation principle above.
spiritually sensitive at the time
to know what is from God
these two truths of Holy Scripture quoted above must, each within their given context, rule our thinking today, for, if anything is true, it is that the Spirit of God, who inspired these Holy Scriptures given to us, is always consistent!
then, the revealed history of our planet, which began
in Genesis with the Spirit of God hovering in anticipation over a dark (chôshek), empty (bôhû), unstructured (tôhû) world (Gen.1:2), before the Seven Days of Creation in which God set Himself as our role-model,
must eventually come to its appropriate historical completion for those who hear Him, in the fulfilment of the Lord's instruction in the completing book of Holy Scripture, for us to –
| From Genesis – : : : |
| : : : – To Revelation |
