The gift of tongues, or (as I prefer to call it) the gift of languages, is the most controversial of the all the spiritual gifts we find in the New Testament, and that's saying something. It attracts more extreme comments than any other gift, from both sides of the aisle. Many Pentecostals regard it as the sine qua non of Spirit baptism, and many conservatives regard those who use it (or claim to) as emotionally suggestible, unbiblical, or perhaps even demonic; damned if you do, damned if you don't. In between, a huge number of Christians—especially, it seems to me, in North America—are open to the gift of tongues in theory, but extremely cautious (or even frightened) in practice, not least because it is so often practised in sub-biblical or even downright bizarre ways. As someone who writes a lot about theology and prays in languages most days, I have a few thoughts about that.

Here are ten points that need to be borne in mind when developing a theology, and practice, of the gift of languages:

How gracious and creative is our God to make us one and also give each of us different gifts and roles and services and activities. Below is a list of definitions and explanations from Sunday’s sermon. Because the Spirit gives gifts, our prayer is that we would gain a better understanding of them and be excited to use them for the common good (1 Cor 12:7). The Spirit is empowering us to serve one another for our joint maturation. Thank you Lord!

God’s power, the sort of power that dwells within every born-again believer and energizes his/her life and ministry is not the sort of “thing” that you can touch or contain in a bottle. It is the very energy of the life of God himself. It is the supernatural energy that emanates from God’s being.

Deacons are vital servants in the life of any biblical, gospel-centered, missional church. They aren’t grunt workers; they are mobilizers and servants in the advancement of the gospel ministry, like we see in the prototype of Acts 6.

And that’s why we decided to walk through Jonah this month. That’s why on the Sunday before Christmas we aren’t looking at Luke 1 but Jonah 4. Anger is all around us in this age and if we’d be honest this morning so often it’s in us. 

Where does it come from? How will we address it? How is a baby 2,000 years ago better than anger management? We start off with Jonah being angry at God for God being God. Let’s look at Jonah 4

In the first two stages we looked at conviction and confession.* We have felt the weight of our sin by seeing it as God does and confessed it to Him and others. Before we move to next stage I want to warn you of turning these stages into a checklist. Anytime there is a numbered list I am uneasy because I know our hearts tend towards trusting in religious acts. The purpose can quickly become doing this list trying to keep God pleased so he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers.

The Bible tells us that human families are reflective of an eternal fatherhood (Eph. 3:14–15). We know, then, what human fatherhood ought to look like on the basis of how our Father God behaves toward us. But the reverse is also true. We see something of the way our God is fatherly toward us through our relationships with human fathers. And so Jesus tells us that in our human father’s provision and discipline we get a glimpse of God’s active love for us (Matt. 7:9–11; cf. Heb. 12:5–17). The same truth is at work in adoption.

In August, Grace Church celebrated her 1st birthday and it was a beautiful celebration of all God has done in our church family. Many folks wrote down what they were thankful for. Take a look at how awesome our God is and let us read these thank you notes with a grateful heart to our great God:

Starting this Sunday, November 4th, 2018 we are excited to announce the launch of a new prayer ministry at Grace. Our prayer team will joyfully be ready to receive anyone who feels in need of prayer immediately following our gathering.

The Prayer Team will expectantly intercede on the behalf of the discouraged, weak, weary, suffering, and sick. They will respond to what you might bring forward to be prayed for and they will seek to be led by the Holy Spirit in the moment.

I have parents who talk to me all the time about their struggle with the question, "When should I enforce law and when should I give grace?" The problem with the question is that it treats God’s law and God’s grace as two opposing forces.