Dear Brethren, do not neglect the Spirit. In a day when the Holy Spirit is misunderstood and carried from one extreme to the other, we must find a biblical view of the Spirit. Recently, I was reading I Corinthians. I began by reading chapter one which caused me to begin journaling. As I journaled an entry, I was overwhelmed by chapter one. By that I mean as I finished reading chapter one I knew what was lacking in my life over the past several weeks–The Holy Spirit. Before ending my quiet time with the Lord I looked ahead to chapter two. I am sure you know what chapter two is about–yes, the Holy Spirit. So, what caused me to see my need for the Holy Spirit in chapter one? Human wisdom or as Paul says, “the wisdom of the world.” I had been seeking God completely through His Word ALONE. I had become arrogant in my study of God’s Word. I had neglected the Spirit. I had quenched the Spirit of God. By the next morning I could hardly wait for morning to arrive so I could see how Paul was going to instruct me. The next morning came and I read the rest of the letter. For two days I walked in the Holy Spirit. It was amazing! I saw things in God’s Word with new eyes. It was a joy to feast on the Word with the Spirit’s guidance. However, Saturday came and I slept in after a hard week of studying. By the time I awakened from my slumber, the family had awakened as well. As you could guess, I missed spending time with the Lord that morning. By ten o’clock I was more than aware of a quenched Spirit. I rushed to my room and closed the door. I opened the living Word and cried out to God for His mercy. He restored the quenched Spirit within me. Something unique about that day was my awareness. I had been walking for weeks (maybe more) with a quenched Spirit. However, His presence was noticed very quickly that day. Brethren, how long has it been since you were filled with the Spirit? Examine yourselves. BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT!
How should we do Theology?
On Systematic Theology: Reading Scripture Resulting in Biblical Theology Resulting in Systematic Theology
We, the church, have found ourselves, at least some of us, with seemingly strong theological conclusions, however, we have hardly any idea how we developed these conclusions. Like the saying of any good math teacher, “Show your work even though the answer may be in the back of the book. The answer is not the answer unless you show your work.” How do we teach theological conclusions or systematic theology and not teach someone how to unearth that conclusion? Simple, we tend to preach and teach someone else’s conclusions. This has a lasting effect on the church which results in an unequipped body. This must change. There is a way to preach and teach the Bible by which you feed the sheep and delicately show them how to read the Scriptures.
If you pick up any systematic theological textbook it will basically give you the conclusions or answers to the theological questions they have either discovered or taken from someone else. So, you find yourself in this situation: you begin a conversation with someone who is an unbeliever and you are discussing a topic of theology. Furthermore, this person is well educated and directs some logical reasoning back at your conclusion. Then you realize that you have no idea how to explain “your work” on coming to that conclusion. There you stand with no explanation for the hope that is within you.
The church, by that I mean every believer, [should] be brought to a point they can write or explain theological conclusions with their Bible (but not proof-texts). This means that they are being equipped and they are equipping others to continue to study the Bible. This will happen in the home, the office, the grocery store, etc. Moreover, this may be one reason why people are not sharing the gospel or discipling their children because they do not know how. Thus, I think catechisms are the lazy way to teach our children, and we are severing these truths from the word of God. This does not mean that we abandon the confessions and systematic theology books; rather we use them to check our work. If we are way off in our conclusions, we must work harder to find out why—namely, through the study of the Scriptures and prayer.
Therefore, the church needs men and women dads and moms who can rightly divide the WORD, not a catechism or systematic theology book. However, this takes work. Are you willing to work hard to find the treasures found in Scripture? Let me state why this is going to be difficult. First, there are many things you have learned that you will have to unlearn. Next, in a sense you may be working backwards. This becomes very frustrating, but it will pay off as we begin to discover the treasures within God’s word. Lastly, it will be hard because we are lazy (and too busy) and undisciplined in our walk with the Lord. When we discover Jesus, we will be changed. We need to SEE Jesus, so to see him is to find him revealed in written form i.e. the Bible.
The Word Is Not Imprisoned 