This blog post is a continuation of a miniseries on the spiritual gifts. If you’ve missed the previous posts, you can begin the miniseries here. We’ve been following Paul’s thought flow about worship, specifically the spiritual gifts within worship. He has already covered preliminary principles for the gifts, the nine…
This is part of a miniseries on the spiritual gifts from 1 Corinthians 12-14 if you have missed the previous discussion on 1 Corinthians 12, you can start here. The last verse of 1 Corinthians 12 transitions from principles on the gifts to the foundation underneath the gifts. Paul uses…
This post is a continuation of tracing Paul’s flow of thought concerning the spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12. If you missed the first half, you can read it here. The second half of 1 Corinthians 12 deals with the operation of the gifts within the body of Christ. Operating…
I get many questions about the spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues, interpretation, and other facets of spirit-filled service. One of the best ways to approach so many questions is to go through Paul’s flow of thought from 1 Corinthians 12-14. As I go through it, I will highlight as many…
Many Christians believe it is acceptable to drink alcohol. Can you provide insight into the Christian landscape regarding alcohol, credible theologies relating to alcohol, and how much those theologies are based in culture vs scripture? America has quite a history when it comes to alcohol. We actually have in our…
How should a Christian balance between focusing on gifts they currently have and eagerly desiring the “greater gifts”? Three times throughout explaining the spiritual gifts, Paul tells Christians to “eagerly desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31; 14:1, 39). Each of the commands to earnestly seek the gifts is slightly…
What are spiritual gifts? Are the lists of spiritual gifts in the Bible complete? Spiritual gifts are a subset of the many gifts the Holy Spirit gives to his Church. The word spiritual, or as Paul puts it, “the spirituals” are the ones people usually focus on a 1 Corinthians…
Why don’t we talk about Hell anymore? It used to be that preachers would regularly preach about Hell and its dangers. Whether there was an unsaved person in the sanctuary or not, everyone knew about it. It seems that trend has been changing for a while in the church. But…
Was Moses talking to Jesus on Mount Sinai? Who was at the burning bush? The most obvious answer to these questions is that Moses was talking to God. But I want to be more specific and say he was talking to the Trinity. All three members of the Trinity would…
In Exodus 33, how can Moses speak with God face-to-face and then only look at his back when he passes by Moses in Exodus 34? “Face-to-face” is translated literally in Exodus 33:11. Very few Hebrew idioms are translated exactly because they would make no sense in English. But most translations…