The Gifts of the Spirit: Cessationism, Prophecy, and Apostles

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The New Testament writers spoke extensively about the gifts of the Spirit. How should the instructions about these gifts be applied today? What do the gifts of the Spirit mean for churches today? This week, Dr. Sam Storms joins Gary Wilkerson to talk about his transition from cessationism to understanding and embracing the gifts of the Spirit.

Key Points from the Podcast

  • Sam Storms shares how his upbringing and education led him into believing that the gifts of the Spirit had ceased and were not for today, but through the exhortation of a friend and examination of the Bible has come to see that the gifts are still active in the church today.

  • The gifts of the Spirit will continue until Christ, the perfect, comes back for his church and establishes the new heaven and the new earth.

  • Some claim that the gifts of the spirit ceased when the apostles died, but that is an incorrect understanding of scripture.

  • Many cessationists base their arguments not on actual scripture but on a worry that revelatory gifts, like prophecy and words of knowledge, undermine and compromise the integrity, finality, authority, and sufficiency of the Bible.

  • Every prophetic utterance should be taken back to the written word of God, and either be received or rejected.

  • All through the New Testament we see average, every day, ordinary believers young and old who were given the gift of prophecy.

  • Is apostleship a gift, an office, or both? In the Bible, we see that apostleship went beyond the original twelve who had seen the resurrected Christ.

Bible Verses Referenced in the Podcast

1 Corinthians 13:8–10; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Hebrews 2:3–4; 1 Corinthians 14:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:19–21; Acts 2:17–18; Acts 21:9; Acts 13:1; Acts 19:6; Romans 12:6–8; Ephesians 4:7–11; 1 Timothy 1:18

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast

Understanding Spiritual Gifts by Sam Storms

Podcast Episodes Featuring Sam Storms:

About Sam Storms

Sam is Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bridgeway Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He serves as a member of the Council of The Gospel Coalition. Sam is a past President of the Evangelical Theological Society, and currently serves on its Executive Committee.

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About Gary Wilkerson

Gary Wilkerson is the President of World Challenge, an international mission organization that was founded by his father, David Wilkerson. He is also the Founding Pastor of The Springs Church, which he launched in 2009 with a handful of people. He has traveled nationally and internationally at conferences and conducted mission ventures such as church planting, starting orphanages, clinics, feeding programs among the poorest of the poor and the most unreached people of the earth. Gary and his wife Kelly have four children and live in Colorado Springs, CO.

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