By Romans 12:6 starts a short list of spiritual gifts and how each is to be used. It begins with an exhortation. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them Romans 12:6a As Romans 12:3-5 already prepares us for, we are again reminded that
The Best Portion For the Lord
The prophet Malachi rebuked the people of his day for giving the left-overs to the LORD God Who saved them, provided for them, and deserved their best (Malachi 1:8). The right way would be to bring the best portion of all to the LORD. This is wonderfully evident in the
Your Purpose at Church: Grow
The Church exists primarily to be a corporate worship-of-God event. But, the church also exists for the edification of the saints. God called each believer in the body of Christ to reflect the image of Christ (Rom 8:29) by being holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4). Each believer in
A Brief Theology of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
The baptism of the Holy Spirit is often thought of as something that is only true of a ‘holier’ subset of believers, but that is not true. The Corinthian believers were still in many ways immature and even sinful and needed strong exhortations on godliness, but they were still considered
A Brief Theology of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit has the same qualities as God the Father and God the Son, including intellect (1 Cor 2:10-13), emotions (Eph 4:30), will (1 Cor 12:11), being everywhere present (Ps 139:7-10), eternal (Heb 9:14), all-knowing (Isa 40:13-14), all-powerful (Rom 15:13), and truthful (Joh 16:13). The Holy Spirit revealed God’s