How the Holy Spirit uses the Word, gifts, and the church.

I have almost finished reading Jesus Continued by J.D. Greear. As I have said before, it has become my new favorite book on the Holy Spirit.  He continues in Chapters 8-10 discussing how the Holy Spirit uses the Word, spiritual gifts and the church. Below are some quotes from those chapters:
The most reliable guide to the will of God is the Word of God.
In other words, don't lean on your abilities to figure out the will of God. Lean on his willingness to guide you.
If you have the Spirit of God, you are "anointed."
We don't work for him as much as he works through us.
God gives each of us a major-league role in his kingdom.
So God allows various members of his body to see and experience different dimensions of his beauty, and as we share these things with others in the body, we all end up with a fuller picture of Jesus than any of us could have obtained alone.
Guilt-driven motivation produces frustration and burnout. Being gift-driven produces empowerment, confidence, and joy.
The gift of prophetic speech takes two primary forms: preaching, and words of wisdom and knowledge.
Hearing the Spirit of God speak to us the Word of God through the people of God ought to be our experience every time we gather.
"Words of knowledge" are likely supernatural revelations about situations or people that we have no way of knowing about on our own.
Thus, when we speak words from the Holy Spirit to one another, we understand that we are not speaking on the level of Scripture. . .Scripture is infallible; contemporary believers speaking prophetically are not.
Many Christians have not only thrown out the baby with the bathwater, but have thrown out the institution of bathing altogether. They seem completely unaware, even opposed to, a Spirit alive and at work, dynamically, in his church. But doing so cuts us off from one of the primary sources of our evangelistic power and ministry support!
You see, God intends all of us to be his vessels in the church, not just pastors and leaders. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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