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Be filled with the Spirit

Here’s a transcript of a sermon I gave a few years ago.

I’m going to talk about a special day today. Besides being Mother’s Day, it’s Pentecost in the Christian calendar. Pentecost is a Greek word that means “fiftieth day.” It’s the fiftieth day after Easter, which begins a new season in the Christian calendar, and it lines up with the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. There are three big Jewish pilgrimage festivals in the Old Testament, and they are times when all the Jews who can come to Jerusalem and have a big party.

Rethinking Spiritual Gifts

I’ve been thinking about spiritual gifts recently. I have been through several spiritual gifts courses and listened to a lot of teachings on it, and now I’m beginning to wonder about what I’ve been taught.

I have two questions which haven’t been answered:

Some “spiritual gifts” are present in those who are not Christians, ex. teaching. Are we to say that a Christian has the spiritual gift of teaching, and a non-christian has….what? also a spiritual gift? Or some other kind of gift? Or maybe the non-christian is just good at teaching. Does that mean the Christian wasn’t good at teaching, but only became good when he or she converted? How is it that this is a spiritual gift for Christians, but just a skill or talent for non-Christians?
Some “spiritual gifts” are (or should be) present in all Christians, ex. faith. The teaching I’ve received is that Christians with the “spiritual gift of faith” have what amounts to a lot of faith; they can trust God for big things. So is a spiritual gift just more of what we should all have? At what point does it morph from a characteristic of a mature Christian (see Gal 5.22) and become a gift?

Ok, that’s way more than two questions.

The power of sanctification

If you have already read my first post on sanctification, you’ll know that I think the term has been unfortunately misdefined as a process in which we become more like Jesus. It’s not that I don’t think we should become more like Jesus; far from it. It’s just that we are missing out on so much more.

Just what is sanctification?

Ask any 21st century Christian the above question and you’ll no doubt hear that it’s the process of becoming more like Jesus. You’ll hear verses like these:

Romans 8.29: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Romans 12.1: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.
2 Corinthians 3.18: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Did you notice anything about these verses? None of them use the word sanctification. Now, I’m all for Christians becoming more like Jesus, but I think that using the word sanctification to describe this process robs the word of its most common biblical meaning, and does us a disservice.

Divorce and Remarriage in the Bible, Part 10 – Even More Questions & Answers

This post will address a question I’ve heard recently:

Shouldn’t we follow the example of Hosea who didn’t divorce his wife even though she was unfaithful?