word | spirit | world | church
I believe in Baptism in the Spirit. Admittedly, no one doesn’t, we just debate what we mean by that. But I believe in receiving the Holy Spirit as an experiential reality that (ideally) happens at conversion, though it can happen later. You can read my brief summary of how to approach this question, and my… Continue reading On Receiving the Spirit
Last week I outlined what I called a 'taxonomy' of Baptism in the Spirit. In essence I broke down the various questions we need to ask in order to clarity the terrain of the debate. I originally came up with this a few years back when I was trying to figure out exactly what I… Continue reading Receiving the Spirit
I’m a charismatic, one of the perennial questions in charismatic theology is ‘what is the Baptism in the Holy Spirit?’ Other Christians who know and interact with charismatics and Pentecostals may well have answers to the same question, but its less likely to be a matter of debate. Among charismatics, it’s one of the fault… Continue reading Baptism in the Holy Spirit: a taxonomy
There I was, stood shifting from foot to foot on a sodden football field, the cold air biting at my bare knees. Dreaming, but not hoping, that this week I would be picked to play up front, imagining that winning goal. In all honesty I only dreamed of a well-placed kick that added something to… Continue reading Outsiders
When Aesop, busy imagining tortoises volunteering for foot races, said “in union there is strength” he was acknowledging a truth that we all recognise. Like O2 used to tell us when trying to flog phone contracts, we’re better connected. That’s easy enough to say, but when it comes to doing something about it we swiftly… Continue reading United
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a really posh restaurant—Michelin star posh—but they often start the meal with what they call an Amuse Bouche. It’s French for ‘mouth amuser’, which is a strange phrase when you think about it. It’s a small bite-sized something that is supposed to taste good, show off the… Continue reading A Backwards Economy
How do we know we’re in? How do we know that God loves us and will preserve us to the end? It's got nothing to do with Bourbon, before you get too excited. There are three ways that we know that we know him. I’m talking about what we commonly call assurance, the certainty that… Continue reading Maker’s Mark
How does someone know that you love them? My wife knows that I love her. She can remember that I swore vows to do so, she can remember all the times that I’ve said so before, she can watch my behaviour both past and present and see that it must be true. She knows that… Continue reading From Knowing to Knowing
There are times in your life when someone asks you a question, the world narrows and the answer changes everything: Why should I give you this job? What do you want to do with your life? Will you marry me? In Acts 19 we read about Paul travelling to Ephesus and encountering a strange little… Continue reading The Ephesian Question
Jesus had left the disciples. They’d seen him ascend into heaven. He’d given them a mission, his mission. He’d told them to wait. So, that’s what they did. They waited. For ten whole days. It must have been absolutely excruciating. Most of us find it hard enough to wait for a bus, let alone anything… Continue reading Fire at Harvest Time
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