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Why Some Christians Are Not Open to the Holy Spirit: Scot McKnight
A New Testament scholar is tackling a subject that has confounded sincere Christians across the ages: the identity and function of the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit.
Scot McKnight, 64, who’s a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lisle, Illinois, maintains that many Christians in the West remain closed to the Spirit and are hampered by fear when it comes to relating to Him and tapping into His power.
In an interview with The Christian Post, McKnight offered three reasons why many American believers in Jesus miss it regarding the Holy Spirit: a lack of education, lack of experience, and fear. His latest book, Open to The Spirit: God in Us, God With Us, God Transforming Us, which was released last month, explores over a dozen scriptural themes pertaining to the Holy Spirit, particularly how He is at work in the world today.
“In the Church there is a broad ignorance, a lack of knowledge about what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit or the importance of the Holy Spirit,” McKnight said when asked to comment on the joke some make when they refer to their church as being a “Father, Son, and Holy Bible”…
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Pray for First Baptist Church of Alamogordo
Location: Alamogordo, New Mexico
Pastor: Kyle Bueermann
Weekly Worship: 9:30 AM, Mountain
Fast Facts: FBC Alamogordo and Pastor Bueermann are two years into a long-term revitalization. For the past ten years, the church has been struggling to pay off debt from a land purchase (originally $1.1 million). After coming very close to closing the doors earlier this decade, they have seen God do some amazing things. Alamogordo is a military community with Holloman Air Force base just outside of town. As a result, the majority of the church’s growth has come from couples who are 30 & under.
Pleas pray for the church’s upcoming Vacation Bible School this summer. Last year, the Sunday after VBS was their highest attendance of the year, so it is a major outreach component of the church. Also, please pray for the church’s ongoing discussions with another church in town about a potential facility swap. This swap would allow FBC to move into a right-sized facility and if all goes to plan, the churches hope to complete the swap by the end of July/first part of August. This would also help FBC pay down a substantial amount of their debt. The relocation would move the church to a residential neighborhood with a lot of middle-income families and a large number of children. The church is confident this is a good move, but there will be a great deal of changes coming in the next few months.
Website: www.fbcalamo.com
“Pray for . . .” is the Sunday blog series at ThomRainer.com. We encourage you to pray for…
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What Is Pentecost Sunday and What Does It Mean for Christians?
Pentecost Sunday is an annual holy day that falls on May 20 of this year. While denominations like the Roman Catholic Church and the United Methodist Church officially celebrate it, large numbers of Christians who do not follow a liturgical calendar might not be familiar with the observance.
Taking place 50 days after Easter, Pentecost commemorates the events of Acts 2:1–13, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles and the early Church.
For many churches, Pentecost is celebrated with sanctuary decorations featuring the color red, young people undergoing confirmation, and in some traditions, the dropping of rose petals from church ceilings.
In contrast to special dates like Christmas and Easter, Pentecost has yet to have a large presence in secular culture; it is not a federal holiday and few movies are made with it as a premise.
Many evangelical congregations do not observe the occasion, not out of theological disagreement but for other issues.
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.
Bishops Michael’s wedding sermon ‘blew the place open’
Speaking to Sky News, as he stood next to Most Rev Michael Curry, Justin Welby said: “The use of language to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ just blew the place open.”
Both clergymen acknowledged that the preaching style hadn’t been seen on the grounds of Windsor castle or at a Royal wedding.
Explaining why he chose to deliver an emotional sermon, Bishop Michael, primate of the Episcopal Church in the US (TEC) said: “Well it really was, to be honest, the good news of Jesus Christ.”
“Well it really was, to be honest, the good news of Jesus Christ” – @PB_Curry pic.twitter.com/0Xry26aMAc #RoyalWedding
— Archbishop of Canterbury (@JustinWelby) May 19, 2018
Meanwhile, newlyweds Harry and Meghan begin their first day as a married couple on Sunday after tying the knot during the emotional wedding ceremony bishop Michael described as “tear-jerking and really beautiful”.
After a day that saw the couple seal their union with a kiss, process through Windsor in a carriage and experience a moving wedding reception speech in their honour from the Prince of Wales, they are expected to travel home to take up royal duties.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will carry out their first public engagement as a married couple at Prince Charles’ birthday celebration on Tuesday.
However, it’s still not been revealed where the newlyweds will be going on their honeymoon or when…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Thousands watch royal wedding at Salisbury Cathedral
The BBC Wiltshire Royal Wedding Party on the West lawn at the Cathedral also saw picnics being enjoyed, games played and live music.
Speaking ahead of the event, Canon Robert Titley from Salisbury Cathedral told Premier News Hour what he hoped attendees would get out of the big day.
“It will be a really enjoyable and potentially profound day for people all across the country. Church of England weddings are public events and we thought what better thing to do than to make this a very, very public event so people can watch it together,” he said.
He added that the day would demonstrate that locals are moving on from the Russia ex-spy poisoning attack that dominated the news recently.
Meanwhile, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have thanked everyone who went to Windsor for their wedding yesterday.
Harry and Meghan are beginning their first day together as a married couple – but the timing and destination of their honeymoon is not known.
It won’t be until after Tuesday at the earliest as they will be attending Prince Charles’ 70th birthday party then.
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
Church of Scotland moves step closer to conducting same-sex marriages
The Rev Bryan Kerr’s motion called for a draft of new laws to give ministers the option, nearly a year after the Scottish Episcopal Church voted to let gay couples get married in church.
The motion as amended was passed 345 to 170 at the general assembly in Edinburgh on Saturday.
Speaking ahead of the vote, the Rev Tom Gordon said: “I have two daughters, both of whom are married. I have one gay daughter in a same-sex marriage. When my older daughter got married she had a choice – to ask me to conduct her service as a minister or for me to walk her down the aisle as her dad. But when my younger daughter got married, she had no such choice.
“Give people a choice – allow their marriage to be conducted by a minister. With God’s blessing.”
It was amended to ensure the committee had the power to recommend withdrawal following a call from Rev Peter White of Sandyford Henderson Memorial Church in Glasgow.
A committee has been tasked with drafting a ruling and will report back by 2020.
Speaking after the vote, Rev Kerr said: “I am delighted that that the General Assembly continues on a road where we are able to say to people in same-sex relationships that the Church has a place for you.
“I am pleased we have reached this point and I have already had reaction from parents of people in same-sex relationships who are overwhelmed…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
20 priests among 100 killed in Cuba plane crash
The Boeing 737 came down into a field in Havana on Friday, before flames were seen coming from the aircraft.
Three women who were pulled from the wreckage are thought to be the only survivors.
Carlos Alberto Martinez, director of the Calixto Garcia Hospital in capital city Havana, said doctors are always hopeful that their patients will recover but he acknowledged that the three Cuban women are in an extremely grave condition.
“We must be conscious that they present severe injuries,” Mr Martinez said. “They are in a critical state.”
The Cuban Council of Churches announced that 20 clergy members of an evangelical church were among the dead.
“On that plane were 10 couples of pastors, 20 people. All of the Nazarene Church in the eastern region,” said Maite Quesada, a member of the council.
The pastors had spent several days at a meeting in the capital and were returning to their homes and places of worship in the province of Holguin.
Relatives of those who died gathered at a morgue in the capital, weeping and embracing each other, as investigators tried to piece together why the ageing Boeing 737 carrying 113 people went down and erupted in flames shortly after take-off on Friday afternoon.
It was Cuba’s worst aviation disaster in three decades and its third major air accident since 2010.
Skies were overcast and rainy at the airport at the time of Friday’s disaster and…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Premier Christianity News.
US bishop’s dramatic wedding address prompts mixed reactions
At the service in St George’s Chapel, the bishop opened his emotional 14-minute speech entitled The Power of Love with the words of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The bishop, the first African-American presiding bishop and primate of the Episcopal Church, said: “We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.”
He told the service: “There’s power in love. Love can help and heal when nothing else can. There’s power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will.”
The passionate speech had many people reaching for their handkerchiefs, however for some it highlighted the slight culture gap between Americans and Brits.
With Brits having a reputation for a stiff upper lip, some online commentators joked that the royal family were somewhat blindsided by the emotional address.
American actor Josh Gad tweeted: “Watching the Brits watch an American Preacher do his thing in Windsor is giving me life right now. It’s like watching Metallica do a concert at the Old Globe.”
Commentator Hugo Rifkind tweeted: “I love how the entire British royal family is visibly dying of embarrassment because somebody is shouting openly about love at a wedding.”
Jeremy Clarkson was unenthusiastic about the length of…
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Joyce Meyer’s Daily 20 May 2018 Devotional — God Changes People Through Prayer
Topic: God Changes People Through Prayer [Joyce Meyer’s Devotional Sunday May 20, 2018]
Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.] — 1 Peter 5:8-9
In Exodus 32, Moses interceded for the children of Israel so that the wrath of God would not destroy them. It’s a stirring example that depicts how sincere prayer can change situations.
There are times when I find myself being led to pray for God to be merciful to a person, or to continue working with them and making the changes in them that are needed.
As Jesus told His disciples at Gethsemane, we can “watch and pray” (Matthew 26:41 KJV). We have the opportunity to pray for one another, not judge and criticize each other. God allows us to discern people’s needs in order to be part of the answer, not part of the problem. Remember we are not the potter. God is, and we certainly don’t know how to “fix” people. We cannot change people, but we can pray and watch Him work.
When people are hurting, even from their own poor choices, they often are blinded to the truth. We can pray for their eyes to be opened and for them to truly see the truth so it will set them free. People who are hurting need God to intervene in their lives, but if they don’t know how to call on Him, we can stand in the gap between them and God as intercessors and see breakthrough as we pray. We can do the praying and let God do the work.
Prayer Starter: Thank You, Lord, that You hear our prayers. Please help me to be sensitive to the needs of others and faithful to pray on their behalf. Use me as a tool help others grow and change. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Joyce Meyer Daily Devotional HERE’’
From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.
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