We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the blessed Trinity, though omnipresent from all eternity, took up His abode in the world in a unique sense on the day of Pentecost according to the divine promise, and now dwells in every believer in Christ. By His baptism, the Holy Spirit unites all believers to Christ in one body, and He, as the Indwelling One, is the source of all power and all acceptable worship and service. We believe that He never takes His departure from the church, nor from the feeblest of the saints, but is ever present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy believers with Him and not with themselves nor with their experiences. We believe that His abode in the world in this special way will cease when Christ comes to receive His own at the completion of the Church (John 14:1-17, 16:7-15; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 12:12-13; Ephesians 2:22; 2 Thessalonians 2:7).
We believe that, in this age, certain well-defined ministries are committed to the Holy Spirit, and that it is the duty of every Christian to understand them and to be adjusted to them in his own life and experience. These ministries are: the restraining of evil in the world to the measure of the divine will; the convicting of the world respecting sin, righteousness, and judgment; the regenerating of all believers upon faith in Christ; the indwelling and anointing of all who are saved, thereby sealing them unto the day of redemption; the baptizing into the one body of Christ of all who are saved; and the continued enablement for growth, teaching, and service of all those among the saved who are yielded to and dependent on Jesus Christ and who are subject to His will (John 3:6, 16:7-11; Romans 6:11-13, 8:1-9; 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 12:13; Ephesians 1:13, 4:30, 5:18; 2 Thessalonians 2:7; 1 John 2:20-27).
We believe that some gifts given to the Church during the ministry of the Apostles were directly related to the founding of the Church and the completion of the New Testament, and are thus no longer given – such as, the gift of apostle, the gift of prophesy, the gift of tongues, the gift of knowledge, the gift of healing, etc. We believe that speaking in tongues was never the common or necessary sign of the baptism or the filling of the Holy Spirit, and that the complete deliverance of the body from sickness or death awaits the consummation of our salvation in the future resurrection of the body. We believe, however, that God continues to work supernaturally among His people according to His will (Acts 4:8,31; Romans 8:23; 1 Corinthians 13:8).
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