In February 2011 I began an interesting journey. Through an odd series of twists and turns, I began teaching the information you hold in your hands.

At the time I was working at a nonprofit in my hometown. We provided housing for men, women, and families who came to us from prison, human...

One summer I read Michael Ondaatje’s book The English Patient for a literature class I took at Baylor. Fittingly enough, I took this class as an elective during my first semester at seminary— when I began my journey of learning how to be an “equipper of the saints for the work...

One day the Pharisees and scribes found themselves frustrated with Jesus. Again. 

“This man receives sinners and eats with them,” they said (see Luke 15:2 ESV, emphasis added). 

They were infuriated. Disgusted. Appalled. 

Now, pause right here. Let me give you some...

In every church there are at least three groups of people. I mean, yes, you could potentially categorize people an indefinite number of ways, but there are three subsets I want to review. In every church you’ll find: 

• Workers = people who get things done
• Watchers = people who are...

I’ve thrown a lot of information your way during this series of talks. After writing about the gifts and after teaching about them in several environments for the past twenty years, I’ve noticed the same questions tend to surface. 

Some of the most common questions are—...

I remember going to see Nana and Pop when I was a kid. Seems like every time we visited their home, Pop was sitting in his den watching NASCAR when we arrived. 

I couldn’t ever get into it.  He tried to get me to appreciate the sport, but the notion of cars simply circling the...

We’ve covered a lot of ground— far more than I imagined we’d cover when I first envisioned this book project. In the previous talk I offered you six reasons why we have supernatural gifts. But, I didn’t tell you how to discover what your gifts are.

In this talk, we'll do...

Now that we have solid understanding of what the gifts are (and even what they’re not), let’s talk about why we have them. In this chapter I’ll outline six reasons I believe Jesus showers us with the “spirituals.” 

1. Empower believers 
2. Edify the body
3. ...

To understand the gifts more, it’s helpful to outline what they are— like we’ve done in the previous two talks (here and here). By now, you probably recognize where you’ve seen them in action.

It’s also helpful to articulate what these supernatural manifestations...

In the previous talk we referenced 1 Corinthians 12:1-7. That passage helped inform our definition of the gifts. 

In his next few lines, Paul provides us with a short list of some of the  ways in which the Spirit expresses Himself through us. That is, after defining the gifts, he...