The details of the following situation have been changed to protect the anonymity of those involved.Q. A friend of mine has come to me for advice. His girlfriend has told him that one of her close friends told her that God wanted them to hurry up and get married. He is not so sure as they have only been going out for three weeks.A. The first thing to say is that your friend needs to be reminded that modern prophecy is not authoritative. When it comes to affairs of the heart, in my opinion, … [Read more...]
How to Test Prophecy
June 9, 2009 By 1 Comment
In today’s post I continue to share an edited transcript of my sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The following is a list of questions to ask yourself as you test a prophecy: Is it upbuilding and encouraging? Does it leave you feeling positive? Even if there is an element of rebuke in it (sometimes that does happen), there should be a positive feel to it. Does it lift Jesus up? Is it honoring and glorifying to Jesus? Is it consistent … [Read more...]
The Gift of Prophecy — Dangers to Avoid
June 8, 2009 By 4 Comments
This post is a continuation of an edited transcript of my sermon on the gifts of the Spirit. There are many dangers of prophecy. One example of this is foolish prophecy, which is really nothing more than wishful thinking. It might surprise you to hear me say this, but sometimes it can be a bad idea for a small group of friends to gather and try to hear God for each other. Unfortunately, what often happens is what you wish God would say to that person is then what you think you hear God saying … [Read more...]
THE GIFT OF PROPHECY – What It Is NOT
June 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Today, I continue my edited transcript of a sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There are three key things that prophecy is not. You see examples of all of these in Acts 21, which makes that a crucial chapter for understanding New Testament prophecy.Prophecy is NOT infallibleIn 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says, “We know in part and we prophesy in part.” So by definition, prophecy is not without error. If you study Agabus’ prophecy in Acts 21, you’ll see that the general gist of his … [Read more...]
What is prophecy?
June 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment
For the remainder of the sermon I preached on spiritual gifts, I focused on this gift of prophecy. We will be several days in sharing an edited version of a transcript of this section. How do I define prophecy? I believe that prophecy is an impression that God may have something to say specifically to specific people at a specific time. It can be a word for an individual. It can be a word to a group of people, for a church, maybe even for a whole country. But it’s a word from God … [Read more...]
Isn't Tongues Elitist? – Spiritual Gifts Q and A 2
June 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment
I continue to receive some questions arising from my sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I thought I would try and answer a couple more today.Q - I have been told that if I don't pray in tongues there is something wrong with me and I am a second class Christian. I don't know whether to give up or keep asking God for tongues.Nowhere does the Bible say that people who speak in tongues are better than those who don't. It is listed as one of the gifts, and Paul says clearly that prophecy is … [Read more...]
Gifts of The Spirit —Discerning Spirits, Tongues, and Interpretation
June 1, 2009 By 1 Comment
So far I have shared a transciption from my recent sermon of my general thoughts on the gifts, on the word of wisdom and word of knowledge, and on miracles, faith, and healing. Today we move to discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretation.DISCERNING OF SPIRITSThis is a gift of recognizing the work of the enemy, but also recognizing the work of God. Sometimes I think we panic. Could it be the devil? Could it be God? Actually, God gives us this gift so that we can tell where the spirits … [Read more...]
The Gifts Of The Spirit — Faith, Healings, and Miracles
May 31, 2009 By 1 Comment
This is the third part of a transcript of my recent sermon on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. You can see the video or download the audio on the introduction page or read about the word of wisdom and word of knowledge. FAITHThe presence of Faith in this list underlines a point, which is probably true about all of these gifts. In the context of this passage Paul is talking about gifts that are given for the good of the whole church, and that will be exercised, probably in a church meeting, but … [Read more...]
Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge
May 28, 2009 By 3 Comments
This is the second part of an edited transcript of my sermon on The Gifts of the Holy Spirit. The first part includes a video and mp3 of the whole sermon, as well as listing ways you can submit your questions. The sermon is based on 1 Corinthians 12 where Paul lists the gifts, which I define as nine distinct ways in which the Holy Spirit works directly and specifically, and if you like, supernaturally or spiritually, within us. As we go through the list, we should remember that all of … [Read more...]
Q and A – Gifts Of The Holy Spirit
May 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment
To submit more questions see the instructions on the page about my sermon on the Gifts.Adrian, do you think we will have all the gifts of the Spirit in ‘completeness’ in heaven? Did I hear/mishear what you said?Paul says that the gifts will pass away when we see Jesus face-to-face. But that passing away is because they will, in effect, be swallowed up in the perfection that we will receive (see 1 Corinthians 13). So, where there are gifts of healing on earth, we will not need them in heaven … [Read more...]
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