Yes, the Scriptures clearly say that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as He will, to include the gifts of preaching and teaching, but remember the Bereans, even after they heard first century preaching, they went home and searched the Scriptures to see if the things they were being taught were true! We need to lean on the Lord, ask Him to search us and try us to see if there be any wicked way in us and to lead us in the way everlasting. We need to have the same mind in us as was in Christ Jesus, who did not have His own agenda, but clearly stated that "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things," (John 8:28).
Paul was God's chosen vessel to reveal the Mystery of God that had been hidden until then. He clearly states in Galatians that, "...though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed". If perversions started already in the first century, how much more now? We must not be afraid to trust the Lord Himself to lead us and to guide us into all truth! Yes, all of these deviations came from some who believed they were hearing from God, so it is imperative that we beseech the Lord to reveal to us whether we have another agenda than to simply know what He is actually saying. This is a lifetime endeavor.
Again, the Scriptures say in 1 Tim 3:1-6, "This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless...Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil". NOT a NOVICE.
Going to Bible school, does not, and can not, prepare one for the ministry. Being drenched in the Word of God, seeking His face, longing for Him, and most of all, WAITING for Him is how we grow in grace, how we learn of Him, how we hear Him, and finally, have something to say. People want to hear from God, and those standing in the pulpit are supposed to be speaking for Him. We have had too much doctrine, and too little revelation. When an individual hears from God, there is power. Not for a show, but for the ability to mount up with wings as of eagles, above the world, the flesh, and the devil. That is when fruit is produced, Galatians 5:22-23, " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law". People love a show, they think that power from God must produce one. But, Jesus, God Himself, did not put on a show! He often told those that received His touch not to tell anyone. He wasn't attempting to wow anyone, or to convince His sceptics. He did what He was told to do. First, until the wedding at Cana, He was completely hidden, and He obeyed His mother, and after His ministry began, He obeyed His Father. Praise His holy Name. If anyone could've put on a show, it would have been Him, but He did not do that. And, He wasn't looking for popularity, or money. He was meek and lowly in heart, and we need to be like Him. Obedient, whether or not ANYONE else knows, cares, listens, or believes what we say. Let's read what Jeremiah has to say again...17:5-9, "Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?", and, Jeremiah 23:16-27, "Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you. For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD. I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal".
The Lord speaks again to the last church in Revelation 3:14-22, " And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches".
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