Pouring Holy Water on Strange Fire by Frank Viola – What Is Your Take on the Charismatic Movement?
In case you missed it there was a book written by John MacArthur and a conference that followed it that was highly critical of the charismatic movement. In response to MacArthur’s statements Frank Viola came out with an ebook where he questions MacArthur’s approach and makes his own case for the continuation of spiritual gifts […]
Spiritual Transformation: More Information is Not the Answer
The Jews had the Law for 1300 years before Christ came. There were all kinds of details in the Law about how to live, what to do in various situations, and how to maintain holiness and deal with sin. As we know today, the Law was not sufficient. What did God do in its place? […]
1 Corinthians 13…the Best Chapter on Spiritual Gifts in the Bible
Whenever I do a wedding there is this feeling that somehow you have to fit in 1 Corinthians 13 because the word “love” is mentioned so many times. Love have made this chapter one of the best known in the whole Bible. Really, I do my best to avoid that chapter at weddings. When you […]
How to Determine Spiritual Gifts
So how do you determine what your spiritual gifts are? I don’t think there is one thing that will tell you or confirm it. I believe you need multiple converging reference points that point you toward a particular gift or set of gifts. Here several of those reference points. I am sure there are more: […]
Five Flaws With Some Spiritual Gifts Inventories
The classic way to determine spiritual gifts is to take a spiritual gifts inventory. Now, a few posts back I hammered spiritual gifts inventories pretty hard. It is not that I don’t like them, would never use them, or think they are pointless. I think they have a place, which I will get to in […]
Spiritual Gifts: Dependence and Trust
What is one thing you can do that would require God’s involvement for it to be successful? There are two ways of looking at that question. One way is to say that really everything depends on God, without God allowing me to live, breathe, move, etc I can’t really do anything. The more helpful direction […]
Spiritual Gifts: General Spiritual Gifts vs. Individual Spiritual Gifts
Spiritual gifts are not about seeking new gifts from God. Spiritual gifts are about recognizing and using the gifts God has already given (2 Tim 1:6-7). The New Testament teaches us that God has given all Christians some very specific gifts. These include: The gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) Salvation (Rom 5:15 & […]