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Article Title:	Lessons From Lakeland
Author of reported comment:	Steve Parsons
Comment Date:	13:51 on Sep 17 2008
Comment:	Tom seems to be saying that it's wrong to have structure in the Church. That all we need to do is "wait on the Lord" and give him time. With respect to Tom, whilst this sounds great it's not entirely Biblical. There seems to be a lot of people in the Church these days that want to do away with all forms of structure, believing them to hinder the Holy Spirit. The early Church actually spent time putting structures into place and bringing some sense of order to the wonderful way the Spirit was moving. It's true that in Acts ch 2 the disciples waited in the upper room for the Spirit to be poured out. But it's also true that later in the same chapter they started to build 'practices' into their lives. The teaching of the Apostles Doctrine, Fellowship, The Breaking of Bread, Prayer, Giving to the poor, Worshiping God all became regular activities - as well as signs and wonders! Then Paul proceeds to write half the New Testament to address issues of Leadership, How to behave in public gatherings, Developing personal Character and so on. I fear that we live in a time where some Charismatics want all the thrills and spills - but aren't so keen on being taught the Word, learning to live holy lives and developing Christ-like Character. 'Study time' sounds more boring than 'Carpet time'. Planned services sound less spiritual than unplanned times. Perhaps too often we want our services to be ‘other worldly’ instead of inviting the Holy Spirit to meet us in our humanness. I am Charismatic believer and am passionately committed to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But let's not fall for the idea that you can only have the Holy Spirit by getting rid of all structure. That idea is both un-scriptural and dangerous.

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