Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 02020 Should Christians direct their prayers to the Father, to Jesus, or to the Holy Spirit? The question is not trivial, because it touches on the doctrine of the Trinity and the practical outworking of that doctrine in the believer’s devotional life. Getting the answer wrong does not invalidate prayer, but understanding the biblical…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11093 The question of how Christians should give to the church touches on stewardship, worship, gratitude, and the practical reality that local churches need financial resources to carry out their mission. It is also a question where popular teaching has often imported assumptions, whether from the Old Testament tithing system or from the prosperity…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04123 Few topics in modern church life generate as much confusion, controversy, and pastoral difficulty as the question of speaking in tongues. For some believers, tongues is the defining mark of spiritual vitality, the indispensable evidence of the Spirit’s fullness. For others, it belongs entirely to the apostolic era and has no place in…
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Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8028 The idea that angels might be present when God’s people gather for worship sounds either startling or sentimental depending on one’s assumptions. Scripture is less ambiguous than either reaction might suggest. Several biblical texts indicate that the gathered church exists in a context that is far more populated than what is visible to…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8014 The phrase “host of heaven” appears throughout the Old Testament and is sometimes used to warn against the worship of stars and planets, while at other times it clearly refers to the angelic company surrounding God’s throne. Understanding how the phrase works in its different contexts prevents both confusion and a flattened reading…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 8019 Among the most striking descriptions in all of prophetic Scripture are the living creatures of Ezekiel’s inaugural vision and John’s throne-room vision in Revelation 4. They defy easy description, they surround the immediate presence of God, and they have provoked more theological reflection than almost any other category of angelic being. Mercifully, the…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04050 Of all the gifts Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12, the gift of interpretation of tongues is perhaps the one most easily misunderstood, partly because it sounds technical, and partly because it is so closely tied to tongues itself. Yet Paul treats it as a distinct and necessary gift, not an add-on, and…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04029 Worship is one of the most debated practices in the contemporary church, with strong feelings on all sides about style, content, and what makes worship authentic. But the New Testament’s definition of true worship is not primarily about music or liturgy. It is about the Spirit. Understanding the Spirit’s role in worship reshapes…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 04037 Being ‘slain in the Spirit’ is one of the most recognisable and controversial phenomena in contemporary charismatic Christianity. The scene is familiar: a preacher lays hands on someone, or simply gestures toward them, and the person falls backward, apparently overcome by the Spirit’s power, often caught by designated catchers positioned behind them. This…