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Filled with the Spirit and Speaking in Tongues
I speak in tongues, but I know when I’m not full of the Spirit. We have to keep those two things separated. The realization hits me as I read through Acts again, preparing for my fall class. The Church knew the fullness of the Spirit. What I realized is this: I know I’m not filled with the Spirit when the miraculous is…
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Am I Joining What God is Doing?
The growth and expansion of the Church is never tied to our comfort. The first expansion of the church in Acts came in a time of persecution. Philip found himself in Samaria (Acts 8) as a result of the persecution in Jerusalem. But persecution wasn’t a reason to quit. They kept proclaiming. Philip was one of the “minor” characters of…
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The Care of the WHOLE
I am continuing a series on Acts and the Holy Spirit this Sunday. As I reflect on Acts 4:32 to Acts 6:8 as a unit, I think to how we have made Christianity such a dichotomy in the western Church. For Pentecostals, I’ve grown up with everything about Christianity being about “soul winning.” It’s about saving souls. When other “liberal”…
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Catching the Wind of the Spirit
I am praying for a new dependence on the Holy Spirit in my own life. As I walk through the Acts story again in a sermon series for my church, I am disappointed in my own life. How many times I miss the wind of the Spirit! How many times I could have listened… stopped… then moved in a new…
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The Work of the Spirit
A thought from one of my lectures on Acts: You may not call yourself a Pentecostal or Charismatic. You may not believe in manifestation gifts. But you need to understand the TRINITY. There is a Holy Spirit and his activity is not a nice and neat package you can put together out of a few Scripture verses.
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Ground Shifts
As we move through our journey in the New Testament, we are reading the Book of Acts this week. Acts 10 is always a significant place for me. Several years ago the Lord exploded this text into my life as I asked about ground shaking experiences I needed to understand in our own setting. As you move through the Book…
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The Double-Edge of the Good News
Reading through Acts this week as a church, I am still struck by the boldness of proclamation. Filled with the power of the Spirit, these are people who are unafraid. They don’t have the luxury of public proclamation as we do today. They had to risk. Even knowing their proclamation could land them in trouble, they proclaimed good news anyway.…
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Reading Acts
In our journey through the New Testament, this next week is to be spent reading the Book of Acts. Some thoughts as you move through the Book of Acts: 1. What emphasis does Luke put on the Holy Spirit and prayer? 2. What would you find to be a key theme or themes in the Book? 3. What patterns do…
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Love for the Church
I am working through Acts 20 for the class I am teaching. As usual, I am so humbled by Paul’s incredible heart for the church. He pours out his heart to the Ephesian elders and lets them know the high price of pastoring. My question is this: In today’s church environment are we training church leaders or pastors? Have we…
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Developing Thoughts
Following up on my earlier thoughts about Acts 19, I have some other thoughts I want to put down and see if they can be developed. I would LOVE a conversation developed as well. My thoughts come from Acts 19 and then Ephesians 3:2-13. Both deal with the Ephesian church, ironically. In Ephesians 3 there is the powerful knowledge that…
Tag: Acts
