YTH.NYC

Does God still heal physical bodies today? Is the gift of healing for our time or was this just something we observe in the life of Jesus? Shelbi Shutt guides us through this conversation as a person living with an ongoing physical disability, yet has seen healing happen around her. She is a perfect guide to understand the “now and not yet” of God’s Kingdom.

One of the more controversial gifts of the spirit, speaking in tongues, was never meant to be divisive. Paul urges all believers to "eagerly desire the gifts of the spirit" and reports to speak in tongues (or prayer languages) more than anyone. Yet the book of Acts accounts only 3 instances of the 22 moments people are filled with the Holy Spirit, that someone speaks in tongues. This is a gift given from God to fuel the church in intimacy and is not meant to create hierarchy or spiritual strata within the family of God. We want to grow in intimacy with God in every aspect of our lives. Keithen opens this topic for us and invites each of us to be open to greater intimacy with God

One of the least discussed Gifts of the Spirit is the Gift of Discernment. This gift is given to guide the follower of Jesus to know his voice, and to discern his spirit against the spirits of the enemy. In a world of competing voices all vying for our attention, it is crucial for our generation to know the voice of God more than ever. Raegan walks us through simple frameworks to "test the spirits" and walk in truth.

Prophecy is simply passing on a message from God in humility to another person. Keithen teaches that prophecy is accessible to all people, and meant to be a normal part of life in God. May we become a community that eagerly desires the gifts of the spirit, especially prophecy.

This week we hear from a panel of leaders about the concept of "Hearing God". There are so many ways that God speaks through the scriptures, and he is the same in how he speaks today. Keithen gives us some theological framing about "continuationism" vs "cessationism", as we believe that God continues to speak and lead his people today. Raegan then hit us with some guiding principles of discernment to make sure that what you are sensing from God actually is from him.

Are the "Gifts of the Spirit" meant for some people, but not all people? Often we hear the list of the Spiritual Gifts listed off like Super Powers that either you have or you don't. But the text of 1 Corinthians 12 is much more about willingness to be used by God, than it is about specific powers that some have and some don't. Keithen suggests that the power of God is looking for a humble and open spirit to flow through to the world, and that we can be have that spirit.

The natural byproduct of a life lived in connection to God's Spirit are the Fruit of the Spirit. Jonathan Girma explains that the "Fruit reveals the Root" and that our life in God is revealed through the outcomes of our life. Rather than a striving toward virtuous living in the flesh, a life saturated in the spirit will naturally overflow his attributes in our lives.

In our next conversation, we ask the question "What is the role of the Holy Spirit?" Raegan leads us in a conversation about our inability to love God and love others as we were created to without the empowering of the Spirit. His power empowers us to do what we an not do in our own power. The very same presence of God that empowered the ministry of Jesus lives within those who follow after him.

We are kicking off our Holy Spirit Series with a simple question, "Who is the Holy Spirit?" Through the library of scripture and in the life of Jesus, we find that the Holy Spirit is not an abstract force, but a person to know. Keithen guides us in this opening teaching to a definition of the Holy Spirit as "The Empowering Presence of God".