Monthly Archives: September 2011

These days, when people tell me they are spiritual,  I usually ask, “do you mean the Holy Spirit?”  Just trying to be clear.  While the Bible allows that all men may have an awareness  and appreciation for God and the supernatural realm, it reserves the words spirit or spiritual for the work of the Holy Spirit.  He [...]

“And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles. . .” (1 Corinthians 12:28)  “But eagerly desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:31)  It is confusing to consider how we are to be  individually content with the gifts the Spirit gives us (ears are to be glad to be ears–see [...]

When God is at work in the church, it often seems disorganized, inefficient by human standards.  There will be no uniformity.  We will not all be in the same room singing the same song–at least not always.  The tubas will not have the same notes to play as the flutes.  “There are different works of [...]

“There are different gifts, but the same Spirit.”  (1 Corinthians 12:4)  You have to wonder.  Why does the Creator make us all so different?  Wouldn’t unity (His plan and prayer) be easier to acheive and maintain without so much built-in diversity?  We are different in so many ways–gender, ethnicity, opinions, spiritual gifting, even language!  “Those French,” [...]

“No one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3)  It is more than words.  Saying that Jesus is Lord (and meaning it) is a supernatural act  made possible by the Holy Spirit.  Beginning in 1 Corinthins 12, Paul discusses spiritual gifts with the Corinthians.  He admits (vs 2) the difficulty we have [...]

I have a question for you.  Please ask yourself as you leave church in a few hours. 
“Did I love anyone?”  It is a higher question than the one we often ask, “Did I learn anything?”  (Itself, higher than the most common question of all, “Did I enjoy myself?”) Christians all over the world tend to substitute knowledge for love.  We have Bible [...]

There is a movement these days toward Simple Church.  There is even a book.  While I admit the need, I wonder if it is possible.  I am all for adjusting schedule or order of worship.  What I don’t expect is that relationships will ever be simple.  There are whiners and grumps and “high maintenance saints” in every church. [...]

“But if anyone should say, ‘This is meat sacrificed to idols’ do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake” (the other man’s)– 1 Corinthians 10:28.  Paul has clearly declared the freedom that comes from knowledge. (cf chapter 8)  Now he declares the limitations that come from love.  [...]

Paul is very wise in dealing with the Corinthians.  He knows that people are not the same–not by creation or experience.  He knows that “one size fits all” is a lie.  So, he teaches them the principle of love ( vs 1)  and then simply declares his own decision.  “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, [...]

In 1 Corinthians 8:1 the Bible marks a contrast between knowledge and love.  Knowledge puffs up. It makes a person seem bigger than they really are, gives an apperance of spiritual life without the reality.  “Where’s the BEEF?” said the Wendy’s commercial in the 70′s.  Love, on the other hand, builds up.  It edifys. (notice the word “edifice”, [...]