People under the influence of religious spirits will usually minimize experiences. Don't get me wrong, I fully know the danger of experiences that are not aligned with the word of God - but don't let that deter you from experiencing Jesus. He desires you to know him personally, not just to read about him in a book.
Example:
What if you had read many guidebooks about DisneyLand, watched some videos about it, heard from others how great it was and what a fine time they had. But, when you got there you found the gates were closed. A person at the gate said: "There are enough things written about DisneyLand so that people don't really need to experience it any more. Go home and read your guidebook some more!" Wouldn't you feel a little ripped off, even cheated? I'll bet your kids would be wailing!
Reading about a beautiful sunset, or the wind blowing through the leaves of the trees is far different than actually being there - seeing it, feeling it, smelling it, savoring it!
That's what the Church of today has done to God - in fact, that's what the church has been doing since the church became institutionalized. The bible was taken out of the hands of the common people and only those who were "qualified" could interpret it for you. A priest had to be a mediator between you and God. No, the Holy Spirit is our teacher and he will use his word to guide you into experiencing God and doing his will.
The bible becomes dry and dull when we don't take it as a guidebook for really experiencing him and obeying him. As Jim Palmer put it in "Wide open spaces", it is a launch-pad, not a landing-strip. The purpose of the bible is to get to know God and have a living relationship with him. Many churches esteem the Bible so highly, they almost believe it is the 3rd person of the Trinity! Father, Son, Bible. We are not to worship the Bible, we are to worship God! I am not minimizing the Bible - I am simply putting it in it's proper place!
I believe those who make a big deal about Sufficiency of Scripture are many times off base because they under-emphasize experiencing God. The scriptures are only sufficient when they lead you into a real relationship with the living and very interactive God - who speaks to us today! Of course, he isn't going to tell us to do something opposite of what he has already spoken through the scriptures, but there are a lot of areas where we will need more specific guidance through the Holy Spirit.(e.g. why are spiritual gifts necessary if the scriptures are sufficient?) Scriptures can become twisted and bizarre when a person doesn't have a real relationship with God and is not taught by the Holy Spirit. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit who is doing the work in Hebrews 8:10,11. He is the one who applies God's word to our heart and teaches us.
Heb 8:10,11
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
The bible in the hands of a person not relying on the Holy Spirit is a very scary thing! Look at what happened to the religious people of Jesus' day. Their over-emphasis on the scriptures, interpreted in the wrong spirit(without love), caused them to miss Jesus!
John 5:37-40
37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
Luke 11:52
“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
The experts in the law knew about God, but they didn't really know God. To really know God comes from personally experiencing him. Experiencing his love, his forgiveness, his truth. When his truth comes into contact with our lives, it changes our hearts and makes us like him. Real knowledge of God comes from an interactive relationship with the living God!
In conclusion:
Reading about something is far different than actually doing it and experiencing it. Let's look at the experiences of the early disciples not as something to be theorized about or doctrinalized as events that only happened in the past. Instead, let's look at them as something to be sought after for our day.
Habakkuk 3:2
2 LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy
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