How To Interpret Spiritual Gifts

I was asked this question on Twitter today:

It is a great question and this is how I would simply answer it.

There is a difference between calling and gifts.

Think of the Ephesian 4 “callings” as vehicles and the “gifts” of the Spirit in Corinthians as accessories that trick up the car. 

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Jesus the Refugee: Advent Day 1

As I started my devotional reading and reflection on Advent today, I couldn’t help but stop and pray for the refugees around the world and especially those in Syria. (Here is my devotional)

Advent is about waiting and preparing our hearts to receive the savior of the world – the one who is coming to us to restore and make things new.

You cannot read today’s reading and not face the reality that Jesus was a refugee. And this reality must shape the way we think, pray, talk and act right now.

Today, I can’t help but meditate on how we must wait, weep, and ask God to make things new for the refugees around the world. We are waiting, Jesus, for you to show up!

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Toward A Prophetic Youth Ministry

“Why is that Christianity seems so impotent to deal radically, and therefore effectively, with issues of discrimination and injustice on the basis of race, religion and national origin?” 

Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 1949

2014 and 2015 will easily go down in history as two of the most shocking years of the decade. Immigration to Black Lives Matter, legalization of gay marriage and its ramifications on college campuses around the country and it places of faith, we have seen a lot. Do we respond to these issues? How do we respond to these issues? How are they to be included in how we disciple students and the people we lead? These issues are a part of and influence our lives, whether directly and indirectly. To ignore them, is to ignore context in which students live, and our words can quite easily become “word sown along the path” as it doesn’t translate to the practical life.

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Are Supernatural Gifts For Today?

In my book, Beyond Awkward, I spend three chapters on the role of the Holy Spirit in evangelism. Some people have written me, and reviewed, saying it was the most helpful part of the book for them. Others have written wondering when it was I fell off the cart!

[5 ways that help me hear God on the move]

With further reflection this summer, and a great conversation with both my brother in law and Tim Catchim, I have come to realize how to talk about the way I see the role of God speaking and the gifts of the Spirit for today. 

This post is thinking I am taking further and is not found in my book.

I think a continuum is helpful here.

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Blessings of a Post-Christian Culture

This is a great article on living the Christian faith out in a Post Christian society. Written by Tony Kriz.

The article focuses on the church in Portland and how they are partnering to transform the city. One man who was visiting the discussion was from South Carolina and he was baffled about how the city and the church could partner so well in such a non-Christian environment like Portland.

So the man asked in the forum,

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