Does God Still Work “Miraculously” In Today’s Church?

This is the fourth in a series of posts regarding questions I have recently answered for churches searching for a new pastor.  Practically every church has asked this question, or something similar to it.  Essentially, this question (What is your position regarding the sign gifts and their use in churches today?) comes down to asking how God works in the contemporary church today.

Does God still use miraculous spiritual gifts (i.e. speaking in tongues, casting out demons, prophecy, etc.) or have those gifts ceased?

Some months back I was talking to a lady at a bus stop about Jesus Christ.  She was almost bragging to me about her church.  ”Every Sunday demons are cast out of people at my church.  Every Sunday!” she said.  Obviously, that would be a pretty weird church service, to say the least!  I then asked her, “Why do all the demons like going to your church?”  Interestingly, she didn’t have an answer for that one.

Last week my adopted son had heart surgery (he’s doing great, by the way).  My wife and I had a chance to talk about spiritual things with one of the nurses in the recovery room.  The nurse said she had recently been attending a particular church in town, but she wanted to find, as she said it, “another church where they practice the gifts of the Spirit.”  What she meant by “gifts of the Spirit” are the supposed gifts practiced in many charismatic and pentecostal churches today, such as those mentioned above.

I’m always amazed when people are more interested in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit than they are about the other gifts of the Spirt, such as preaching, teaching, and love…to name a few.  Such was the case with the unbelieving people during the time of Christ as well.

Here is the question that was asked on the pastoral application and below that is the answer I gave.  Let me know what you think.  Am I right or am I wrong?  What did I miss or what did I forget to add?  Am I doctrinally sound…or am I a heretic.  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

MY RESPONSE:  I believe in the need of the church to cooperate with God as He accomplishes His purpose in the world.  To that end, God gives the church spiritual gifts.  First, He gives men chosen for the purpose of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry (Ephesians 4:7-12), and He also gives unique and special spiritual abilities (speaking and serving abilities) to each member of the Body of Christ (Romans 12:5-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-31; 1 Peter 4:10-11).

I believe that the moment a believer trusts in Christ with repentant faith, he is baptized with the Holy Spirit and becomes a functioning member of the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13,18; Acts 11:16; Romans 12:4-6).  As a result of this baptism, the Holy Spirit imparts a spiritual gift; the Lord Jesus Christ assigns a ministry for which that gift is to be utilized; and God the Father guarantees supernatural effects as the believer fulfills that ministry (1 Corinthians 12:4-6; Ephesians 4:15-16).

I believe that there were two kinds of gifts given the early church: miraculous gifts of divine revelation and healing, given temporarily in the apostolic era for the purpose of confirming the authenticity of the apostles’ message (Hebrews 2:3, 4; 2 Corinthians 12:12); and ministering gifts, given to equip believers for edifying one another.  With the foundation of the early church having been laid and the New Testament revelation now complete, Scripture becomes the sole test of the authenticity of a man’s message, and confirming gifts of a miraculous nature (such as the gifts of prophecy, tongues, knowledge, and healing) are no longer necessary to validate a man or his message (1 Corinthians 13:8-12).  Miraculous gifts can even be counterfeited by Satan so as to deceive even believers (1 Corinthians 13:13-14:12; Revelation 13:13-14).  The only gifts in operation today are those nonrevelatory equipping gifts given for edification (Romans 12:6-8).

I believe that no one possesses the gift of healing today but that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith and will answer in accordance with His own perfect will for the sick, suffering, and afflicted (Luke 18:1-6; John 5:7-9; 2 Corinthians 12:6-10; James 5:13-16; 1 John 5:14-15).