Recap of 10/10/2011:
We started unpacking the definition and examples of "tantrum" by starting with a video of "Lily's Disneyland Surprise". I requested that we consider loosening the traditional definition that we think we know (as well as any 'official' definition) in order obtain the broadest exposure to what a tantrum might be. By what we think and what our experiences have been, impediments effect the necessary vision or sight to do something critically important. We introduced the 'tantrum spectrum' and briefly touched upon some biblical examples of people who have evidenced tantrums.
For 10/17/2011:
Prepare To Share:
Consider your own life experience and where you've demonstrated a fit or outburst (aka tantrum) and what the process and outcome was.
Brief: We’ll be talking about the hinderances of tantrums and dig deeper in a few biblical examples. Again, I ask that you be willing to expand your definition of 'tantrum'. Remember, the scripture we've covered before about the power of thoughts. The mind, as the very core of our person, influences our words and actions. When the Bible talks about “heart” we need to consider if the reference is really the “mind”. For example, Proverbs 23:7 (AMP) says “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” ... it's our mind in which the tantrum begins.
"We used to say that he who threw the biggest tantrum won the day."
-- Neil Finn --
Monday, October 17, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tantrums, Tests, Truth: Introduction
Once again, I am humbled and thrilled at what and how God includes me in! He chooses to reveal little bits of His purpose to me and that is thrilling. He chooses to show me how to do something and that is empowering. He chooses to call me His son and I am humbled.
This season, Bible: Out Of The Box will be covering elements of the topic "Tantrums, Tests, Truth". This is an exploration of what happens when God calls us to move in areas in which we have little experience or which goes against our current comfort state.
We will be exploring what might be considered a "tantrum" as we approach, navigate, and conclude a "test" which ultimately leads us to His "truth". I ask that you join us in the exploration not only of His word, but of ourselves in response to His word. Blessings!!
"We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."
-- Professor Dumbledor (Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire) --
This season, Bible: Out Of The Box will be covering elements of the topic "Tantrums, Tests, Truth". This is an exploration of what happens when God calls us to move in areas in which we have little experience or which goes against our current comfort state.
We will be exploring what might be considered a "tantrum" as we approach, navigate, and conclude a "test" which ultimately leads us to His "truth". I ask that you join us in the exploration not only of His word, but of ourselves in response to His word. Blessings!!
"We must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy."
-- Professor Dumbledor (Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire) --
Monday, May 16, 2011
The God Of Possibilities: “Baptisms - Earth: Water, Wind and Fire” - Part 3a
Recap of 5/9/2011:
I cannot fully express my appreciation of how our God guides us to where He wants us to be - if we are willing to be led. I couldn't have imagined this course of study we've traversed during the last few months. My hat goes off to y'all as we've walked together in discovering even more of what He has in store for us.
We started our final segment of this study, “Baptism In Fire”, and what a start it was! In recap:
For 5/16/2011 (Our last meeting for this season!):
Brief: For our last meeting we will finish off “Baptism In Fire” along with discussing summer activities. Please put your minds to the task of the homework below and, additionally, what activity you'd like to have considered for group multi-voting and what you'd be willing to coordinate once we vote on the top activities!
Homework
Over the next several days, I ask that you consider the following points, see what scripture says about them, and come prepared to share your findings during our discussion. The points to muse are:
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
I cannot fully express my appreciation of how our God guides us to where He wants us to be - if we are willing to be led. I couldn't have imagined this course of study we've traversed during the last few months. My hat goes off to y'all as we've walked together in discovering even more of what He has in store for us.
We started our final segment of this study, “Baptism In Fire”, and what a start it was! In recap:
- We discussed the difference in our thinking, according to Romans 12:2 (NLT), when we view the “little red spot” on the larger white board. God is challenging us to “change the way we think” about us, our world, His engagement with us, etc.
- From there we covered a number of scriptures which talk about “fire”. Many were offered by members of our group and we concluded with several more grouped into the following “unofficial” categories (as mentioned, some of these scriptures can be in a few of the categories):
God's Appearances (Exodus 3:2, Deuteronomy 4:24, Daniel 7:9-11)
God Leads and Protects (Exodus 13:21-22, Exodus 40:38, Numbers 9:15-16, Exodus 19:18, Exodus 24:17, Deuteronomy 5:4-6, Deuteronomy 5, Daniel 3:19-27, Zechariah 2:5)
Judgment/Cleansing by Fire (Numbers 11:1-3, Leviticus 10:1, 2, 6)
Purification by Fire (Leviticus 6:12-13, Numbers 31:22-23, Zechariah 13:9, Malachi 3:2, Mark 9:49, 1 Corinthians 3:13)
Dedication by Fire (2 Chronicles 7, Isaiah 43:1-3)
Word of the Lord = Fire (Jeremiah 20:9, Jeremiah 23:29)
- The last thing we discussed at length was a proposed concept of “opposites”. We first played with a list of words and “popcorn” responded with the opposite (words such as after, black, good, kids, man, run, true, etc.). Some of the responses demonstrated that we have a variety of perspectives - which is a GOOD thing in my opinion, otherwise, we end up with a bunch of boringly-similar, mundane people trying to influence a VERY diverse world. Remember, the Apostle Paul states that “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22 NIV) … can we expect anything less of the church today?
For 5/16/2011 (Our last meeting for this season!):
Brief: For our last meeting we will finish off “Baptism In Fire” along with discussing summer activities. Please put your minds to the task of the homework below and, additionally, what activity you'd like to have considered for group multi-voting and what you'd be willing to coordinate once we vote on the top activities!
Homework
Over the next several days, I ask that you consider the following points, see what scripture says about them, and come prepared to share your findings during our discussion. The points to muse are:
- In Hebrews 5:8 (NLT) it says “Even though Jesus was God’s Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (thank you Bryan!) Consider what is meant here by suffering (when thinking of obedience and suffering, keep in mind that this is talking about the sinless Son of God).
- Formulate your thoughts (jot them down even) about what it takes to become child-like in your response to God as it's recorded in Matthew 18:3 (MSG) “… return to square one and start over like children …” and Matthew 11:25 (NIV) “you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”
- Finally, what is your reaction to God's call to be holy as recorded in 1 Peter 1:13-16 (MSG, my version preference)?
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
Monday, May 9, 2011
The God Of Possibilities: “Baptisms - Earth: Water, Wind and Fire” - Part 2e
Recap of 5/2/2011:
We concluded with the remaining gifts of the Spirit. As a reminder, the purposes of spiritual gifts are:
Listing of spiritual gifts (Part 2 for this week):
1 Corinthians 12:27-29
Romans 12:
Do only select people receive spiritual gifts?
Are spiritual gifts given to an elite group of people? NO!! They can be given to anybody, anywhere, at any time of the Holy Spirit’s choosing. “Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.” (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 MSG) A major factor that plays into “who” gets “what” and “when” is, as Paul says: “earnestly desire the most helpful gifts” that would be appropriate for the circumstances at hand, again, motivated by love.
The use of all spiritual gifts is motivated by Love:
A tree is identified by its fruit (Luke 6:44 NLT). In other words, it's who you are, not what you say and do, that matters. When we have a desire to operate in the spiritual gifts, the spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-24) must first motivate us. There is a difference between spiritual gifts and fruit. Gifts are the Spirit’s manifestation through a person, but Fruit is the result of spiritual character. The Holy Spirit gives gifts as He desires; the Fruit is a by-product of the Holy Spirit’s influence and effect in our lives. In the natural, fruit is produced when a tree is fertilized, watered, and given sunshine. In the spiritual, Fruit is produced supernaturally when we are fed by the Word of God (having our mind changed and re-educated), watered by the Spirit (washed clean and our thirst quenched), and living in the Light (the illumination of God’s Word working with the power of the Holy Spirit showing us sin in our lives, leading us to repentance, and being renewed).
The Fruit of the Spirit is the display of the character of Christ. It has several attributes and, as Christians, we possess them all. We each can yield to the growth of the Fruit of the Spirit at varying rates. Spirituality isn’t measured by gifts, but by the evidence of Fruit. Though all of the Fruit of the Spirit is important – even critical to successful Christian living – we will focus primarily on the highest attribute of a spiritual person … love.
1 Corinthians 13 (often referred to as “The Love Chapter”) describes the action of love:
When love motivates us as described in 1 Corinthians 13 in being available to the Holy Spirit’s use of spiritual gifts, it removes the concern and fear of this topic entirely and the end result is exactly what God intended and desires for His church.
For 5/9/2011:
Brief: We will move forward to our last segment: “Baptism In Fire”. Though this was a topic of concern for me as we started this journey, I've come to appreciate what the scripture has to say about this topic and welcome with an open mind, open heart, and open life. I trust you will find the same attraction to have and be ALL that God wants for you.
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
We concluded with the remaining gifts of the Spirit. As a reminder, the purposes of spiritual gifts are:
- Equipping believers to share the Good News – Matthew 10:19-20; Luke 4:18; 1 Corinthians 2:13
- God confirmed the message of the Good News – Hebrews 2:3-4
- Strengthening the church to serve – 1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:26
Listing of spiritual gifts (Part 2 for this week):
1 Corinthians 12:27-29
- gifts of administration (organizers) – able to keep things organized and in accordance with God's principles.
- able to help others – always having the desire and ability to help others, to do whatever it takes to get a task accomplished.
- apostles – one sent by God with a holy mission to fulfill; and the supernatural power and spiritual gifts to fulfill the mission.
- prophets – one that speaks with divine authority, what God has made clear. Supernatural power and events to verify God has given the message.
- evangelists – one with the heart of God that all should come to the knowledge of the truth that God loves everyone.
- pastors – one with supernatural ability to love and care for the body, soul and spirit of many people at the same time.
- teachers – one with the divine mind of Christ to make the things of God easy to understand and live by in daily life.
Romans 12:
- prophesying – supernatural ability to receive a message from God to strengthen, encourage, and comforts the body of Christ or a believer. Supernatural ability to know the heart of God through a dream, vision or any divine encounter God would use to manifest Jesus Christ.
- serving - supernatural ability to do for others whatever needs to be done. Divine ability to carry another burden or task without notice or earthly reward.
- teaching
- encouraging – supernatural ability to motivate members in the body of Christ to do the works of Christ.
- giving – supernatural ability to give money or time where and when needed with a cheerful heart.
- leadership – supernatural ability to know when something needs to be accomplished, who can accomplish it and how it can be accomplished.
- showing mercy/kindness – supernatural ability to love and care for those who are not able to care for themselves. Divine knowing of who to help and when to help. Divine ability to care for those who no one else would care for.
Do only select people receive spiritual gifts?
Are spiritual gifts given to an elite group of people? NO!! They can be given to anybody, anywhere, at any time of the Holy Spirit’s choosing. “Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.” (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11 MSG) A major factor that plays into “who” gets “what” and “when” is, as Paul says: “earnestly desire the most helpful gifts” that would be appropriate for the circumstances at hand, again, motivated by love.
The use of all spiritual gifts is motivated by Love:
A tree is identified by its fruit (Luke 6:44 NLT). In other words, it's who you are, not what you say and do, that matters. When we have a desire to operate in the spiritual gifts, the spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-24) must first motivate us. There is a difference between spiritual gifts and fruit. Gifts are the Spirit’s manifestation through a person, but Fruit is the result of spiritual character. The Holy Spirit gives gifts as He desires; the Fruit is a by-product of the Holy Spirit’s influence and effect in our lives. In the natural, fruit is produced when a tree is fertilized, watered, and given sunshine. In the spiritual, Fruit is produced supernaturally when we are fed by the Word of God (having our mind changed and re-educated), watered by the Spirit (washed clean and our thirst quenched), and living in the Light (the illumination of God’s Word working with the power of the Holy Spirit showing us sin in our lives, leading us to repentance, and being renewed).
The Fruit of the Spirit is the display of the character of Christ. It has several attributes and, as Christians, we possess them all. We each can yield to the growth of the Fruit of the Spirit at varying rates. Spirituality isn’t measured by gifts, but by the evidence of Fruit. Though all of the Fruit of the Spirit is important – even critical to successful Christian living – we will focus primarily on the highest attribute of a spiritual person … love.
1 Corinthians 13 (often referred to as “The Love Chapter”) describes the action of love:
patient, kind, not jealous or boastful or proud, not rude, does not demand its own way, not irritable, keeps no record of wrongs, does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and endures through every circumstance.Love is the greatest evidence of spirituality (1 Corinthians 13:13), without which, spiritual gifts cannot function effectively (1 Corinthians 13:1-2). Paul said we should have a desire for spiritual gifts, but it should follow the greater goal of love. “Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives,” (1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT).
When love motivates us as described in 1 Corinthians 13 in being available to the Holy Spirit’s use of spiritual gifts, it removes the concern and fear of this topic entirely and the end result is exactly what God intended and desires for His church.
For 5/9/2011:
Brief: We will move forward to our last segment: “Baptism In Fire”. Though this was a topic of concern for me as we started this journey, I've come to appreciate what the scripture has to say about this topic and welcome with an open mind, open heart, and open life. I trust you will find the same attraction to have and be ALL that God wants for you.
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
Monday, May 2, 2011
The God Of Possibilities: “Baptisms - Earth: Water, Wind and Fire” - Part 2d
Recap of 4/25/2011:
We did a side-by-side comparison of tongues "the sign" and "the gift" and also a comparison of prophecy "the gift" and prophetic "the function/office". This comparison is not to say that one is better than the other, but, rather, to show when, where, how, and why they are different. Here is a summary of the information we covered:
Tongues: The Sign
Prophecy: The Gift (1 Corinthians 14:3)
For 5/2/2011:
Brief: We will conclude with the remaining gifts of the Spirit - hopefully - and then move to the Baptism In Fire. Once again, I count it a privilege to be working with you during this time of discovery and am VERY excited for what God has in store for you as a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!!
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
We did a side-by-side comparison of tongues "the sign" and "the gift" and also a comparison of prophecy "the gift" and prophetic "the function/office". This comparison is not to say that one is better than the other, but, rather, to show when, where, how, and why they are different. Here is a summary of the information we covered:
Tongues: The Sign
- All may speak at one time (Mark 16:17)
- All may speak at one meeting (Acts 2:4, 33)
- No interpretation (Acts 19:6; Acts 10)
- Only one speaker at a time (1 Corinthians 12:10)
- At the most, three may speak (1 Corinthians 14:26-28)
- Must be interpreted (1 Corinthians 14:5)
- we have reached unity in the faith
- we have unity in the knowledge of the Son of God
- we have become mature
- and have attained the whole measure of the fullness of Christ
Prophecy: The Gift (1 Corinthians 14:3)
- Strengthens
- Encourages
- Comforts
- Predictive (Acts 11:27-28; 21:10-11)
- Rebuke
- Directive
For 5/2/2011:
Brief: We will conclude with the remaining gifts of the Spirit - hopefully - and then move to the Baptism In Fire. Once again, I count it a privilege to be working with you during this time of discovery and am VERY excited for what God has in store for you as a minister of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!!
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
Monday, April 25, 2011
The God Of Possibilities: “Baptisms - Earth: Water, Wind and Fire” - Part 2c
Recap of 4/18/2011:
Once again, I stand amazed as God takes us where He wants us to grow. I am truly humbled to be serving you all and to have the opportunity to grow with you during this time. Blessings upon each of you and your family!!
When conversations about “spiritual” gifts take place, it can conjure up a wide variety of thoughts, definitions, concerns, and fears. The gifts of the Spirit are simply God enabling believers to do what He has called us to do. There is no need for fear, when the source of the gift is from the Holy Spirit and is motivated by love. The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts as He sees fit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). God calls us to be obedient servants to whatever is given to us as an opportunity. When He calls, He equips. So, whatever task or tasks He calls us to, He has obligated Himself to provide us “everything we need” to accomplish those tasks (2 Peter 1:3). For example, God may call one to be a teacher and gives that person the gift of teaching, but that does not excuse the person from serving God in other ways as well. We shouldn’t focus so much on one (or a few) spiritual gift(s) that we miss other opportunities to serve God and people. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering (Romans 12:1 MSG).
Paul teaches the gifts of the Spirit are useful and beneficial, but not necessarily equal in their use or benefit. There is a use for the gift of prophecy, but may not be the most beneficial in the hospital when visiting the sick. The gift’s benefit is determined by its worth at the time. To help describe this, Paul uses the analogy of the human body (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). Members of the body have differing functions, Paul says, but the different parts are arranged and function together. The service of each Christian should be in proportion to the gifts that he or she possesses (1 Corinthians 12-14). All believers, as members of the body of Christ, must be serving together in order for the body to be fully functional. We need pastors, teachers, helpers, servants, administrators, those with great faith, etc. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church. Since the gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace, their use must be motivated by love – the highest goal of all the Fruit of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13). The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church.
Purposes of spiritual gifts are:
Listing of spiritual gifts (Part 1 for this week):
There are many gifts listed in scripture. The list below may represent a majority, but, is by no means, an exclusive list.
1 Corinthians 12:8-11:
For 4/25/2011:
Brief: We covered a lot of ground last week … needless to say, there will be much more ground to cover this week. But, in addition to covering more gifts, we'll also compare a couple of giftings. We'll do a side-by-side comparison of tongues "the sign" and "the gift" and also a comparison of prophecy "the gift" and prophetic "the function/office". This comparison is not to say that one is better than the other, but, rather, to show when, where, how, and why they are different. ALL of the giftings of the Holy Spirit are good and necessary. Let's not fear them … let's embrace them for the purpose God has for His church!!!!
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far (above listing) and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
Once again, I stand amazed as God takes us where He wants us to grow. I am truly humbled to be serving you all and to have the opportunity to grow with you during this time. Blessings upon each of you and your family!!
When conversations about “spiritual” gifts take place, it can conjure up a wide variety of thoughts, definitions, concerns, and fears. The gifts of the Spirit are simply God enabling believers to do what He has called us to do. There is no need for fear, when the source of the gift is from the Holy Spirit and is motivated by love. The Holy Spirit distributes the gifts as He sees fit (1 Corinthians 12:7-11). God calls us to be obedient servants to whatever is given to us as an opportunity. When He calls, He equips. So, whatever task or tasks He calls us to, He has obligated Himself to provide us “everything we need” to accomplish those tasks (2 Peter 1:3). For example, God may call one to be a teacher and gives that person the gift of teaching, but that does not excuse the person from serving God in other ways as well. We shouldn’t focus so much on one (or a few) spiritual gift(s) that we miss other opportunities to serve God and people. Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering (Romans 12:1 MSG).
Paul teaches the gifts of the Spirit are useful and beneficial, but not necessarily equal in their use or benefit. There is a use for the gift of prophecy, but may not be the most beneficial in the hospital when visiting the sick. The gift’s benefit is determined by its worth at the time. To help describe this, Paul uses the analogy of the human body (1 Corinthians 12:12-26). Members of the body have differing functions, Paul says, but the different parts are arranged and function together. The service of each Christian should be in proportion to the gifts that he or she possesses (1 Corinthians 12-14). All believers, as members of the body of Christ, must be serving together in order for the body to be fully functional. We need pastors, teachers, helpers, servants, administrators, those with great faith, etc. All of the gifts of the Holy Spirit working together are needed to produce the full potential of the church. Since the gifts of the Spirit are gifts of grace, their use must be motivated by love – the highest goal of all the Fruit of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 13). The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church.
Purposes of spiritual gifts are:
- Equipping believers to share the Good News – Matthew 10:19-20; Luke 4:18; 1 Corinthians 2:13
- God confirmed the message of the Good News – Hebrews 2:3-4
- Strengthening the church to serve – 1 Corinthians 12:7; 14:26
Listing of spiritual gifts (Part 1 for this week):
There are many gifts listed in scripture. The list below may represent a majority, but, is by no means, an exclusive list.
1 Corinthians 12:8-11:
- message of wisdom – the ability to make decisions and give guidance that is according to God's will. It is the wisdom of God – the supernatural impartation of facts; it is not natural.
- message of knowledge – the ability to have an in-depth understanding of a spiritual issue or situation. It is supernatural insight or understanding of circumstances, situations, problems, or a body of facts by revelation; that is, without assistance by any human resource but solely by divine aid.
- faith – A supernatural ability to meet adverse circumstances with trust in God's words and messages and encourage others to trust God, no matter the circumstances.
- gifts of healing – the miraculous ability to use God's healing power to restore a person who is sick, injured, or suffering.
- miraculous powers – the performance of something which is against the laws of nature; it is a supernatural power to intervene and counteract earthly and evil forces. However, the greatest miracle (and often least talked about) is the miracle of salvation … taking spiritually dead people and transforming them into something new (a new creation) and giving them a fresh start in Jesus.
- prophecy – being able to proclaim a message from God which strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them. It is divinely inspired (not of intellect) and a supernatural proclamation in a known language.
- distinguishing between spirits (God, man, demonic) – the ability to determine whether or not a message, person, or event is truly from God. It is the supernatural power to detect the realm of the spirits and their activities.
- speaking in different kinds of tongues (languages) – supernaturally enabled speaking in languages not known to the speaker. These languages may be a current world language, some past culture, or “unknown” in the sense that they are a means of communication inspired by the Holy Spirit (Mark 16:17; Acts 2:4, 10:44-48, 19:1-7; 1 Corinthians 12:10, 13:1-3, 14:2-22, 26-32).
- interpretation of tongues (languages) – the ability to interpret the tongues being spoken and communicate it back to others in your own language. Supernaturally speaking an interpretation to reveal the meaning of a different tongue. This gift comes from the mind of the Spirit rather than out of the mind of man.
For 4/25/2011:
Brief: We covered a lot of ground last week … needless to say, there will be much more ground to cover this week. But, in addition to covering more gifts, we'll also compare a couple of giftings. We'll do a side-by-side comparison of tongues "the sign" and "the gift" and also a comparison of prophecy "the gift" and prophetic "the function/office". This comparison is not to say that one is better than the other, but, rather, to show when, where, how, and why they are different. ALL of the giftings of the Holy Spirit are good and necessary. Let's not fear them … let's embrace them for the purpose God has for His church!!!!
Homework
As part of our response to this learning, consider the gifts we've covered thus far (above listing) and spend time with the Lord asking which of them are areas He wants to begin moving you into. If we have time, we'll spend some of it talking about this … don't worry, we have a few weeks to cover this part of the homework. So, we'll give it the time and space needed - as He leads.
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
Monday, April 18, 2011
The God Of Possibilities: “Baptisms - Earth: Water, Wind and Fire” - Part 2b
Recap of 4/11/2011:
WOW! Talk about "whirlwind" … we barely got through the topic of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once again, I underestimated what God wants to do with this topic and our group. Have Your way done, Lord! We will continue by looking more deeply into the gifts of the Holy Spirit (see more below). As we discussed this, we realized that there are at least two primary reasons that God wants us to walk in the baptism of the Holy Spirit: to have power and to be His witness (Acts 1:8). I believe it's critically important that we understand that God's desire is for us to be successful in being the kind of witness He needs on this earth and that He has promised to give us all that we need to be that witness. So, "we receive" the power and "we are" the witness!
For 4/18/2011:
Brief: There are many giftings that come with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This week we'll plunge into those gifts to better understand what power God is willing to give us to be His witness. The question is: Am I willing to be a power-filled witness for God in this life? Here is the informational sheet we've covered before in brief. Feel free to download and print out for use in our next session.
Homework
As part of our coverage, we provided a number of scriptures in Acts to review during the week. Remember to look at these in context by reading the surrounding scriptures to the references:
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
WOW! Talk about "whirlwind" … we barely got through the topic of baptism in the Holy Spirit. Once again, I underestimated what God wants to do with this topic and our group. Have Your way done, Lord! We will continue by looking more deeply into the gifts of the Holy Spirit (see more below). As we discussed this, we realized that there are at least two primary reasons that God wants us to walk in the baptism of the Holy Spirit: to have power and to be His witness (Acts 1:8). I believe it's critically important that we understand that God's desire is for us to be successful in being the kind of witness He needs on this earth and that He has promised to give us all that we need to be that witness. So, "we receive" the power and "we are" the witness!
For 4/18/2011:
Brief: There are many giftings that come with receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This week we'll plunge into those gifts to better understand what power God is willing to give us to be His witness. The question is: Am I willing to be a power-filled witness for God in this life? Here is the informational sheet we've covered before in brief. Feel free to download and print out for use in our next session.
Homework
As part of our coverage, we provided a number of scriptures in Acts to review during the week. Remember to look at these in context by reading the surrounding scriptures to the references:
“God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!”
-- Genesis 2:7 (MSG) --
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