Many Christians have been taught that spiritual maturity means becoming less and less ourselves. But Scripture paints a different picture. God isn’t trying to erase your humanity—he’s restoring it. The goal isn’t none of you; it’s all of you, renewed in Christ.
It seems to many of us that if prophecy is real, it is all about the future. This misunderstanding comes to us in a few different ways: (1) When we typically hear about prophecy, we hear about it being fulfilled; (2) the only unfulfilled prophecies many Christians consider legitimate are the ones the Bible says…
Thanks to Scott Smith for the Audible review on my book, The Rise of the Water Kingdom! The author paints a vivid story that’s both entertaining and thought-provoking. Even though I knew the basic storyline well, I was inspired and encouraged with a fresh wonderment to plunge deeper into the Water Kingdom! I feel this…
It ends up that a seeker-sensitive model of the church has been practiced since the very beginning of the church, even though it looked nothing like our seeker-sensitive models today. Paul’s idea of being seeker-sensitive was that we don’t come across as raving mad in our supernatural practices at church and also that we prophesy…
In 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 Paul tells us that speaking in tongues in our church services will confuse unbelievers, but that prophecy can minister to them. If a new person enters the church and everyone is speaking in unknown tongues (as the Corinthian church is pictured doing), that new person is going to leave as soon…
While comparing tongues and prophecy in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul shows us that while tongues need interpretation to be beneficial to the body of Christ, prophecy is naturally beneficial to the body because it builds up the church (1 Cor 14:3-4, 17), encourages (1 Cor 14:3, 31) and consoles (1 Cor 14:3). This is all important…
Many thanks to Derek Jordan for the generous review on Goodreads of my book Kaiju of Biblical Proportions! A serious look at the Leviathan and Behemoth mentioned in the Bible. It may sound like an odd choice for a book, I found this very insightful and incredibly well thought out. Jamin does a great job both…
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…
Jamin Bradley 