CHURCH:
SPIRITUAL CONDITION; SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT; HOLY SPIRIT: NEED FOR

For our gospel-believing Christian circles in general, I fear there is an alarming lack of spiritual discernment. Because we have shut out the Holy Spirit in so many ways, we are stumbling along as though we are spiritually blindfolded. Ruling out the discernment and leadership of the Holy Spirit is the only possible explanation for the manner in which Christian churches have yielded to the temptation to entertain.

There is no other explanation for the wave of rationalism that now marks the life of many congregations. And what about the increasing compromise with all of the deadening forces of worldliness? The true, humble and uncompromising church of Christ is harder and harder to find. It is not because leaders and the rank and file within the church are bad. It is only because the Holy Spirit of God has been forcibly shut out and the needful gift of discernment about spiritual things is no longer present.

1 Corinthians 12:1–11; 2 Corinthians 1:12; Ephesians 5:15–18; Titus 1:8–9

Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, 19.