1. Intense, all absorbing desire for the work.
2. Apt to teach, possess qualities needful of the office of a public minister.
3. Must see a measure of conversion work going on under his efforts.

1. Do I meet the qualifications of a preacher set forth in the Word of God?
2. Have I the witness of the Spirit in my heart that God has called me?
3. Has the gift of the ministry become evident in my life and service?
4. Has my church recognized and confirmed my ministry gift?
5. Has God used my ministry gift to the salvation of souls or the edification of the saints?

What do you think about these questions? 

When I refer to ministry calling in this blog, I am referring to a call into full-time vocational ministry.  This would be considered making your primary focus ministry rather than ministering as the Spirit leads you in addition to your vocation.  

Calls to ministry in scripture that frequently come to mind include:

• Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3)- God speaks to Moses through a burning bush that is on fire but not consumed.
• Isaiah Sees a Vision of Heaven and Gets Called by God (Isaiah 6)- Isaiah sees this indescribable picture of God on the throne in heaven.  He then responds to God’s call to be the person whom God will send.
• Saul becoming Paul on the Road to Damascus (Acts 9)- Saul is headed down the road to Damascus to kill the Christians, and he is blinded by a great light.  He hears the voice of Jesus asking Saul why he is persecuting Him.

Here are my recommendations for the week:

Out of Ur had two very interesting articles this week:

NOTE: If you do not have an RSS reader to compile your blogs, you need to either get Google Reader or add your blog feeds to Mac’s Mail.  You can then subscribe to blogs and get automatically updated posts to your inbox or reader.  If you have not subscribed to my blog, you can do so by clicking here. ]]> http://www.benbirdsong.com/archives/430/feed http://www.benbirdsong.com/archives/424 http://www.benbirdsong.com/archives/424#comments Fri, 14 Nov 2008 13:00:44 +0000 admin definitive statementDr David Plattpreacherpreaching the word of godscriptural truthscripturetheological discussionswords of godword of god http://www.benbirdsong.com/?p=424 One thing that was really interesting to me at Secret Church was that Dr. David Platt was hesitant to speak where scripture does not.  The issue of the Holy Spirit brings about many questions and heated theological discussions about the role, if any, of miraculous gifts, such as healing, tongues, or prophecy, in the church today.  This is a highly debated issue with people falling on different ends of the spectrum. 

In addressing this issue, Dr. Platt presented both sides of the debate and the corresponding scripture that is used as proofs by the differing sides.  He then left the question open.  The issue remained unresolved.  Dr. Platt was not jumping to resolve the issue because these were not issues to which scripture specifically makes a definitive statement.  As the pastor preaching the Word of God, Dr. Platt does not see it as His role to speak his thoughts and opinions into an issue where scripture does not give a specific view.  

This has great implications on the role of a preacher.  A pastor should not let his opinions be presented as scriptural truth.  The role of the pastor is to study and preach the Word of God.  This includes the hard and unpopular parts of scripture.  This Word should be preached with passion and authority since it is the Word’s of Almighty God.  The preacher, however, should never make a stand where scripture does not make a stand.  The opinions and views of a preacher are irrelevant.  What matters and what gives life to a congregation is not the theories and opinions of a pastor but the authoritative Words of God.

The Spirit has equality with God the Father and God the Son and is clearly deity.  He is not an outpouring of deity but is in fact God just as much as Jesus Christ is God.  This is seen in scripture where the same roles and activities that the Son of God is seen doing the Holy Spirit also does.  This is equating the workings of the Son of God and the Spirit of God to be both very similar.  So by this line of reasoning to accept the Son of God as fully God, you also must scripturally accept the Holy Spirit of God as fully God.

The Holy Spirit, though equal to the Father and the Son, fulfills different functions within His role in the trinity.  Though the Spirit is seen working in different ways than God the Father and God the Son, that does not mean that He is any less than God but is fulfilling a different role in the story of redemption in the plan of the trinitarian God.

• The Holy Spirit Regenerates:
  • The Holy Spirit Is able to Bring New Life to God’s People
  • The Holy Spirit Opens Our Eyes
  • The Holy Spirit Changes Our Hearts
  • The Holy Spirit Enables Our Belief
  • The Holy Spirit Transforms Our Lives
• The Holy Spirit Indwells:
  • The Holy Spirit Unites Our Lives with Christ through His Presence in Us
• The Holy Spirit Sanctifies:
  • The Spirit Transforms Our Lives into the Image of Christ so that We Come to Mirror the Standing We Already Have in God’s Sight
• The Holy Spirit Comforts:
  • The Holy Spirit Comes Alongside Us
  • The Spirit Is Our Sacred Advocate
  • The Spirit Is Our Strong Comforter
• The Holy Spirit Teaches:
  • The Holy Spirit Takes All that Belongs to Christ and Makes It Known to Us
  • We Need the Spirit to Know God
  • We Need the Spirit to Know Ourselves
  • The Spirit Teaches the Word
• The Holy Spirit Guides:
  • The Holy Spirit Leads God’s People to Accomplish God’s Will
  • The Spirit Guides Individuals
  • The Spirit Guides the Church
• The Holy Spirit Intercedes:
  • The Spirit Enables Us to Pray According to the Father’s Will
  • The Son Intercedes for Us
  • The Spirit Intercedes Within Us
  • The Spirit Intercedes for Our Good
• The Holy Spirit Unifies:
  • The Spirit Creates a Profound Oneness in the People of God
• The Holy Spirit Bears Fruit:
  • The Spirit Produces the Life of Christ in Every Facet of Our Character
  • The Fruit of the Spirit Is Supernaturally Produced
  • The Fruit of the Spirit is Extraordinarily Expressed
• The Holy Spirit Gives Gifts:
  • By His Grace, the Holy Spirit Equips Every Christian to Edify the Church for the Glory of Christ
  • Spiritual Gifts Are Given by God’s Spirit
  • Spiritual Gifts Are Given by God’s Sovereignty
• The Holy Spirit Incites Worship:
  • The Spirit Leads the Church to Glorify God through Jesus Christ
• The Holy Spirit Empowers Witness:
  • The Spirit Fills the Church so that the Gospel Will Be Proclaimed to the Ends of the Earth

Mainstream evangelical churches have a tendency to emphasize theology and knowledge and minimize the role of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not taught in the midst of many mainstream evangelical churches as a part of there theology.  The Spirit is frequently seen as an “it” such as presented by Craig Groeschel in his book about the power of the Holy Spirit in churches entitled It (I have not read Groeschel’s book and really respect him and his ministry so I am not equating the theological concerns of viewing the Holy Spirit as an “it” to Craig Groschel or to LifeChurch.tv).  This “it” view presents the Holy Spirit as a guiding force that is not personal rather abstract.  This view presents the Holy Spirit as something that moves and acts in the universe but has no real value to the Christian.

Charismatic churches have a tendency to over emphasize the Holy Spirit and minimize theology and scripture. The gifts of the Spirit can be emphasized to the point that spiritual gifts establish a hierarchy of spirituality upon which believers should be ranked.  Charismatic churches sometimes also allow miraculous gift, such as prophecy and speaking in tongues, to be used to produce divine revelation without keeping them in check with the revelation of God given in scripture.  The focus on new revelation from God devoid of scriptural truth can lead to error in our theology.

Prosperity preachers twist the role for the Holy Spirit by making Him a genie which grants the wishes of the people so that the Holy Spirit does not operate according to the will of God but rather the will of man.  This makes the Holy Spirit not a person who indwells the Christian and leads him or her, but rather a source of divine blessing from a God who exists to cater to man’s wants and desires.

The Holy Spirit is clearly misunderstood.  Tomorrow, I will pass along some bullet points about the role of the Holy Spirit as presented in scripture from Secret Church.

The persecuted church is something that we as American Christians do not think or pray about nearly enough.  In the midst of our comfortable churches and religious freedom, we tend to forget that the way we live is not the standard around the world.  The way we live is the exception.  Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world today.  So, the house churches and Christians facing persecution around the world really need our prayers and support.  Secret Church exists as a way to do this on a small scale by providing money to house churches and persecuted Christians around the globe via offerings taken at Secret Church.  

The teaching at Secret Church is being translated into key languages and will be loaded onto video iPods and sent to Christians around the world that who do not have access to theological training and resources.  The teachings from Secret Church events include (you can click here to download the studies for yourself):

• Survey of the Old Testament
• Survey of the New Testament
• How to Study the Bible
• Who Is God?
• Exploring the Holy Spirit

Here are my recommendations for the week:

Albert Mohler had two very interesting posts in the last two weeks worth exploring:

• England’s Atheist Bus Marketing Campaign- Athiests are putting bus banners to promote their belief that God does not exist.
• Problems at “Hour of Power” Ministries Over Doctrine- The recent separation of the Schuller father and son minister team may be over doctrine and the prosperity gospel.  

NOTE: If you do not have an RSS reader to compile your blogs, you need to either get Google Reader or add your blog feeds to Mac’s Mail.  You can then subscribe to blogs and get automatically updated posts to your inbox or reader.  If you have not subscribed to my blog, you can do so by clicking here.