God is here! How do we know?
Having focused on head coverings and the communion service Paul responds to the next on the list: spiritual gifts. (Now about)
“Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to dumb idols. Therefore I want you to know that no-one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no-one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”
1 Corinthians 12:1-3
In the opening introduction Paul says that they know themselves how their false worship had led them astray previously.
But now as spirit-filled Christians they don’t stray like that. They are now Jesus followers.
However is it possible that those who have spiritual gifts could stray? Is it possible that those who have seen healings, who prophesy and who speak in languages not learnt, stray?
The answer is YES.
So what’s the gauge?
Is Jesus being honoured? Are people’s thoughts centred on Jesus? Is Jesus being taught as Lord of our life? Are lives surrendered to His lordship?
This was the most important and sure evidence that the Spirit was at work. It still is.
Jesus told us that when the Holy Spirit came He would not take the centre of attraction. Jesus would. The Holy Spirit would glorify, testify and take what is hidden in Christ and make it plain to us (John 15 and 16). So in any move of the Spirit that is what He will be doing. Jesus will be the centre and worshipped as King, no other name, this is the hallmark of the Spirit. Anything else isn’t.
Missions Paul 