Gifts of the Spirit

"Let me repeat: Christians do not disbelieve in the raculous gifts of the Spirit because the Scriptures teach these gifts have passed away. Rather they disbelieve in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit because they have not experienced them."

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, PG. 55

Gifts of the Spirit

"There is one basic reason why Bible-believing Christians do not believe in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit today. It is simply this: they have not seen them."

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Pg. 55

Gifts

"If you were to lock a brand-new Christian in a room with a Bible and tell him to study what Scripture has to say about healing and miracles, he would never come out of the room a cessationist. "

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Pg. 54

Hermeneutics

"Employing these rules will assist us in determining the true sense of Scripture. If Christians would constantly unite a thorough investigation with these simple rules, differences of interpretation would practically disappear."

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Pg. 54

Hermeneutical

"Next, he cites three hermeneutical rules summarized by Charles Hodge to the effect that Scripture is to be interpreted in its grammatical historical sense, Scripture must interpret Scripture and cannot contradict itself, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit must be sought to interpret Scripture."

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Pg.54

Tradition

"All Christians are at once beneficiaries and victims of tradition-beneficiaries, who receive nurturing truth and wisdom from God's faithfulness in past generations' victims, who now take for granted things that need to be questioned, thus treating as divine absolutes patterns of belief and behavior that should be seen as human, provisional, and relative. We are all beneficiaries of good, wise, and sound tradition and victims of poor, unwise, and unsound traditions."

Jack Deere, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Pg. 53

Tradition & Scriptures

"J.I. Packer writes, "Nobody can claim to be detached from traditions. In fact, one sure way to be swallowed up y traditionalism is to think that one is immune to it... The question, then, is not whether our traditions conflict with only absolute standard in these matters: Holy Scripture."

Jack Deere, Surprised and the Power of the Spirit, Pg. 52-53