Spirit-inspired revelation is both for the purpose of order and produced in an orderly fashion.

In ordering God’s creation, beautifying Israel’s tabernacle, and bringing life to the First Adam and the Last Adam, the Spirit perfects and completes God’s eternal plan in history.

We should expect the Spirit to normally work today in ways that bring order and completion to the plan and people of God.

Contemporary evangelicalism has been thoroughly Pentecostalized with the expectation that if the Holy Spirit is active and working, then we will witness extraordinary effects ranging from direct revelation, special gifting, and emotional euphoria. In addition to receiving new revelation from the Holy Spirit, many professing Christians today also believe that the Holy Spirit continues to gift believers with special abilities like healing and speaking in tongues.

One significant way the Pentecostalization of Evangelicalism reveals itself even among those who would claim to be cessationists is in common evangelical expectations regarding how God speaks to us and how he reveals his will to us. It is very common in modern evangelicalism, for example, to hear Christians talk about how God “spoke” to them, revealing his will in mystical ways outside his Word. Listen as Scott Aniol assesses this trend.

Scott Aniol's blog:
https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/

Article, audio, itinerary:
https://www.scottaniol.com/

Podcast:
https://anchor.fm/scottaniol

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ScottAniol

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/

If you were to ask the average Christian today what our expectation should be regarding how the Holy Spirit works, I believe most Christians would answer something like this: If the Holy Spirit is actively working, his work will be evidenced by some sort of extraordinary experience—intense feelings, inner promptings, miraculous gifts, or even visible manifestations. Listen as Scott Aniol explains where this expectation comes from.

You can read an article version of this podcast here: https://g3min.org/holy-spirit-you-are-welcome-here-the-pentecostalization-of-evangelical-worship/

Scott Aniol's blog:
https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/

Article, audio, itinerary:
https://www.scottaniol.com/

Podcast:
https://anchor.fm/scottaniol

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/ScottAniol

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/

One key reason Christians shy away from some of the psalms is the sometimes violent imprecatory language found in them. In this article, Scott Aniol explains that psalms like these are deeply rooted in confidence that God is the Sovereign King of Kings, and therefore to sing them helps form within us a hope-filled longing for the Return of the King.

Why is it so important to have our motivation right about how we live in society? Why is it important that we don’t try to motivate ourselves and others with grand ambitions of societal transformation?

When the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” what he saw was the reality of God’s heavenly temple: “and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Heaven is a royal palace from which God sovereignly rules, but it is also a holy temple, filled with God’s glory.

“Our church’s worship is pretty formal, but I prefer Holy Spirit-led worship.” Such was the comment I overheard recently by a young evangelical describing his church’s worship service, illustrating a very common perception by many evangelicals today—if the Holy Spirit actively works in worship, the results will be something extraordinary, an experience “quenched” by too much form and order. A common perception, to be sure, but how grounded in Scripture is this expectation concerning the nature and purpose of corporate worship?

My goal in this presentation is to assess this common expectation, measuring it against what is perhaps the single most important text in the New Testament regarding the nature and purpose of corporate worship. In fact, 1 Corinthians 14 is really the only chapter in the New Testament that gives direct and specific focus to the subject of corporate worship.

However, Paul addresses the subject of corporate worship not exactly directly, but rather indirectly by addressing a problem within the Corinthian church. But in addressing that problem, Paul highlights the central nature and purpose of corporate worship in cultivating our relationship with God.