What if our modern theology of politics is far too simple—and dangerously wrong? The Bible doesn’t paint a picture where every ruler is handpicked by God in a neat, predictable way. Instead, it reveals a cosmic drama of spiritual powers, human leaders, and seats of authority that can be used for justice—or deeply abused. To…
Right from the get-go of 1 Corinthians 14 we’ve got this understanding of a hierarchy within the gifts: Paul wants us to desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongues. However, it’s important to understand his reasoning for this as he is not actually downplaying the importance of tongues or trying to belittle…
Everyone today loves to fight about the right way to “do church.” Every last variant of a church service seems up for grabs to debate. We argue about, songs, instrumentation, liturgy, communion, traditions, on-stage symbolism, message presentation, lighting, Bible translation, appropriate practice of spiritual gifts, acceptable clothing and the list goes on. Everyone thinks they…
I truly believe that with the Spirit’s gifting and guidance, we can learn and grow in the prophetic (see 1 Corinthians 14). Therefore, I have no problem seeing this kind of learning to be a practice in the “schools of the prophets” at Bethel (2 Ki 2:3), Jericho (2 Ki 2:5), and Gilgal (2 Ki…
What’s intriguing about Daniel is that he didn’t necessarily seem to choose to become a prophet, but rather, was forced into the position by humans and blessed by God along the way. After God had put Israel into exile, King Nebuchadnezzar told his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of…
The Bible presents us with a strange story in which Saul meets a group of prophetic musicians. As he comes in contact with them, the Spirit of the Lord rushes upon Saul and he is turned into another man (1 Sa 10:5-6). Now we have to ask some questions here because the beginning of the…
Growing up, the prophets always came across to me as super-humans. They got all the good experiences of God and everybody else had to receive their Godly experiences vicariously through them. The prophets got to hear God’s voice and everyone else had to use them as a mediator. This saddened me as a child. The…
If you feel like the prophets are hard to relate to, then it’s time to take a look at the prophet Jeremiah, who one commentary calls, “the most ‘human’ of all the prophets” (Huey, F. B. Jeremiah, Lamentations. Vol. 16. Nashville, Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993, p. 23. The New American Commentary). Jeremiah fluctuates with emotion.…
For many of us, the prophets seem like weird people that are impossible to relate to. But when we look close, these strange people begin to look a little more human. Take Amos for example. Amos never seemed to plan on becoming a prophet, but was flung into the role by God. He recounts his own…
The team at Crossroads Community Church has launched a new location and has plans to launch more! How did they do it and how will they continue to do so? I ask these questions and more in today’s episode. You can listen at The SMC Podcast or on iTunes, Spotify, or Google Play.
Jamin Bradley 