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Shepherds and Sheepdogs

| June 25, 2010 | 1 comment

 

Before you answer, let me explain that “discerning of spirits” is only part of the Holy Spirit’s package (Acts 1:4-8; 1 Corinthians 12-14). There are other endowments which come with it. All are wonderful, good, precious blessings from Heaven. Even so, some well intended, but wrongly motivated Christians scorn them. Not every church or denomination believes in the “package”—the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Many churches have been victimized by deception, stripped of power, left in a spiritually inert state but still adamantly insist nothing is wrong. Year after year, they continue their downward slide. Seemingly, they can see everything except the presence of this crippling attitude in themselves.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Without a sheepdog to sniff out and expose the wolf, the church suffers. In rejecting sheepdogs and spiritual gifts, we Christians merely deprive ourselves. God says these Caleb-gifts are real. More importantly, the Holy Spirit wants us to have them. They are part of Jesus’ provision for the Church. In our denial, we leave ourselves wide open for more destruction by the wolf. Acts 20:29. If you want God’s provision of spiritual gifts, they are yours for the asking—provided you will love them, treasure them, nourish, and encourage them. That requires submission to the total New Testament message. It requires time in prayer, fasting, communion with the Holy Spirit. Pride, ego, self-seeking, carnal ambition must go. If you are a pastor, I pray God will bless your ministry with wonderful sheepdogs. If you are not a pastor, my prayer is that God will make you into the best sheepdog any pastor ever had. Either way, you are a winner. Satan is a loser. The Kingdom is advanced through Calebs. Long after Moses was dead and gone, Caleb carried on the work of the one who mentored him. Thank God for spiritual-sheepdogs and pastors whose Kingdom-work outlives them! Amen!

 

PR

 

 

Adapted from the Charles Carrin Ministries monthly newsletter, Gentle Conquest (October 2009). www.charlescarrinministries.com Used with permission.

 

 

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Category: Ministry, Spring 2010

About the Author: Charles Carrin, D.D., has served the body of Christ for over 65 years. Educated at University of Georgia and Columbia Theological Seminary, he denied, in belief and practice, the contemporary ministry of the Holy Spirit until a personal crisis opened his eyes to what he had been missing. He is the author of Spirit-Empowered Theology (Chosen, 2017), The Edge Of Glory: Receiving the Power of the Holy Spirit (Creation House, 2002), Sunrise of David Sunset of Saul: A Message to the Church in the End-time (1985, 2014), On Whose Authority?: The Removal of Unwanted Scriptures (Burkhart Books, 2014), a revival novel with Dorothy Easley: Island in the Sun (Xulon, 2010), and a contributor to Word Spirit Power: What Happens When You Seek All God Has to Offer (Chosen, 2012) with R.T. Kendall and Jack Taylor. Today his ministry centers upon the visible demonstration of the Spirit and imparting of His gifts. Read his biography at www.charlescarrinministries.com/about-charles.php.

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