The Gifts
Recommended Resources
By Jack Deere
When Jack Deere turned seventeen, he did not know God or a single verse of Scripture. At twenty-seven, he became a professor of Old Testament Exegesis and Semitic Languages at Dallas Theological Seminary. He started and pastored an influential church in Ft. Worth, Texas. He taught his church and his students that God no longer gave the "miraculous gifts of the Spirit" or spoke outside the pages of Scripture.
After teaching seminary for ten years, a bestselling author shocked Deere when he told him that he not only believed God was regularly healing people today, but that he had seen undeniable miracles in answer to his prayers. For the next four months, Deere studied every healing story in the New Testament. This time he came to those stories with the open mind of a scholar, completely at home in the original languages of the Bible, not as a gullible student swallowing the prejudices of his teachers. At the end of those four months, Deere was convinced, against his will, that God was still healing and speaking just as he had done in the New Testament.
Deere and his wife Leesa began to pray for people in their church and witnessed dramatic, documented healings.
In Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit, Deere demonstrates that the Scriptures teach that God is healing and speaking today just as he did 2000 years ago. He tells documented stories of modern miracles. He explains the nature of spiritual gifts, defines each spiritual gift, offers sound advice on discovering and using the gifts in church today. He shows how all of this part of God's way of deepening our friendship with him.
A modern classic, Surprised by the Power of the Spirit was published twenty-five years ago, and in that book Deere claimed that he would live long enough to see the majority of conservative evangelicals come to believe in all the gifts of the Spirit. That has come true. The theological landscape has changed dramatically. Nearly completely rewritten, this new edition still offers that proof but has about seventy percent new material on the practical matters of experiencing and using spiritual gifts. For example, anyone who prays regularly for the sick will encounter demonic power. Demons pop up all over the Synoptic Gospels. There are two new chapters on ministering to the demonized. There is much confusion on what it means to be filled with the Spirit today. Deere takes three chapters to examine every use of "filled with the Spirit" and "full of the Spirit" in the New Testament to show why and how God still fills his servants with the Holy Spirit. There are many new stories of God's power, even walking on water and multiplying food. Deere also introduces the newest literature defending and explaining the gifts of the Spirit. All this and more continues the book's legacy for a new time.
This contemporary classic by renowned scholar Gordon Fee explores the Spirit's significant role in Pauline life and thought.
After Fee published his magisterial God's Empowering Presence, he was asked to write a more accessible volume that would articulate Paul's priorities for experiencing the life of the Spirit in the church. Fee's bestselling introduction to Paul and the Spirit, Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, went on to sell over 70,000 copies. This book by one of the greatest evangelical and Pentecostal New Testament interpreters of our time argues that the presence of the Spirit is, for Paul and for us, the crucial matter for the Christian life.
This repackaged edition features an updated design and packaging, includes new reflection questions, and adds a foreword by Dean Pinter, who commends the book to a new generation of readers.
Contents
Foreword by Dean Pinter
Overture--An Invitation to Read Paul Anew
1. A "Theology" of the Spirit? The Spirit in Pauline Theology
2. God Revisits His People--The Spirit as the Renewed Presence of God
3. The Holy Who? The Spirit as Person
4. God in Three Persons--The Spirit and the Trinity
5. The Beginning of the End--The Spirit as Evidence of the "Presence of the Future"
6. A People for His Name--The Spirit and the People of God
7. Conversion: Getting In (Part 1)--The Spirit and the Hearing of the Gospel
8. Conversion: Getting In (Part 2)--The Spirit at the Entry Point
9. Conversion: Staying In (Part 1)--The Spirit and Pauline Ethics
10. Conversion: Staying In (Part 2)--The Fruit of the Spirit
11. The Ongoing Warfare--The Spirit against the Flesh
12. Power in Weakness--The Spirit, Present Weakness, and Prayer
13. To the Praise of His Glory--The Spirit and Worship
14. Those Controversial Gifts? The Spirit and the Charismata
15. Where to from Here? The Spirit for Today and Tomorrow
Appendix--Spirit Baptism and Water Baptism in Paul
Index
By Gordon Fee
"In Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, Pentecostal scholar Gordon Fee has redefined the terms of the discussion about the Holy Spirit in a way that transcends today's paradigm of 'charismatic' or 'noncharismatic' orientation. His words are a strong reminder of what God, through his Holy Spirit, intends the church to be. . . . His work is an attempt to point us back to the Bible and reinvigorate our own vision of how the Spirit mobilizes the community of believers in the local church."--Wendy Murray, author; former senior writer, Christianity Today
"Gordon Fee, one of our truly master exegetes, has put steel and sinew into the words Spirit, spirit, and spiritual--words that have become flabby through subjectivizing indulgence and lack of exegetical exercise. His accurate, fresh, and passionate recovery of the place and meaning of Spirit in Paul and for us Christians is a provocative stimulus and reliable guide to the recovery of the experienced presence of God in our lives. For those of us who want to live in continuity with all that has been revealed in Jesus and given in the Spirit, this is an eminently practical book."--Eugene H. Peterson, professor emeritus of spiritual theology, Regent College
"Gordon Fee is one of the finest Bible expositors I have known. Whenever he speaks and writes, I listen, and recommend you do the same."--Chuck Colson, founder, Prison Fellowship Ministries
Bu John Wimber and Kevin Springer
Power Healing by John Wimber, with co-author Kevin Springer, is an illuminating and inspiring look at the power of divine healing. Based on John Wimber’s profound belief that healing is fundamental to the ministry of Jesus Christ, Power Healing explores healing in the Old Testament and in the works of Jesus and his disciples, and offers practical models for today’s healing ministry. One of the founding leaders of the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and author of Power Evangelism , John Wimber has given the world a classic overview of the curative power of faith.
Copyright Date: 1991
Physical Info: 0.77" H x 8.09" L x 5.34" W (0.53 lbs) 320 pages
By Craig S Keener
Christianity Today 2013 Book Award Winner
"This book is a rarity in the scholarly world in that it is both rigorous in its scholarship and speaks with knowledge and passion about an exciting subject that demands our attention. We have here perhaps the best book ever written on miracles in this or any age. Highly recommended."--Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary
Most modern prejudice against biblical miracle reports depends on David Hume's argument that uniform human experience precludes miracles. Yet current research shows that human experience is far from uniform. In fact, hundreds of millions of people today claim to have experienced miracles. Respected New Testament scholar Craig Keener argues that it is time to rethink Hume's argument in light of the contemporary evidence available to us. This wide-ranging and meticulously researched two-volume study presents the most thorough current defense of the credibility of the miracle reports in the Gospels and Acts. Drawing on claims from a range of global cultures and taking a multidisciplinary approach to the topic, Keener suggests that many miracle accounts throughout history and from contemporary times are best explained as genuine divine acts, lending credence to the biblical miracle reports.
By Jordan Seng
We are a supernatural people. Made in the image of God and called to follow a risen Lord through the world God made—we're anything but normal.
Given all that, it should not be surprising to us when miraculous things happen in our midst. Still, many of us are intimidated at the thought of it, and we stop short of trying so we won't disappoint God with our lack of faith, or—if we're being honest—so we won't be disappointed when God fails to deliver.
In Miracle Work Jordan Seng tells remarkable stories of physical healings and prophetic messages. He reflects on the possibility and limitations of a contemporary ministry that believes in the power of God, and helps us train and prepare ourselves for when God works through us in the lives of others. Read Miracle Work for a better understanding of what it means to be agents of grace, healing and even miracles in a world that desperately needs the good news of God’s loving, healing touch.
Pub Date: July 08, 2013
Physical Info: 0.65" H x 8.2" L x 5.59" W (0.64 lbs) 224 pages
By John Wimber
The message of Power Evangelism has been embraced around the world, and the book that started it all has become a classic, with more than one million sold. In 2006, Christianity Today named it one of the fifty most significant Christian books published in the past fifty years. This revised and updated edition describes the releasing of God's power through signs and wonders to refresh, renew, heal, and equip His people. Drawing from the teaching of the New Testament and with illustrations from his own experience, Vineyard leader John Wimber persuades the reader to "yield control of our lives to the Holy Spirit." Though Wimber died in 1997, his teaching continues to spread throughout the Vineyard movement, through the broader renewal movement, and to Christians across the globe, even those who do not consider themselves charismatic. Coauthor Kevin Springer--also a Vineyard pastor--has found that since its first publication, the influence of Power Evangelism has been explosive. This edition includes a chapter-by-chapter study guide and reflects changes Springer and other power evangelism practitioners have made in presentation--not in content--for readers in the new millennium.
Pub Date: May 01, 2009
Physical Info: 0.7" H x 8.4" L x 5.4" W (0.7 lbs) 270 pages
By Dallas Willard
"God spoke to me."
"The Spirit spoke to my heart."
"God revealed the idea to me."
Being close to God means communicating with him--telling him what is on our hearts in prayer and hearing and understanding what he is saying to us. It is this second half of our conversation with God that is so important but that can also be so difficult. How do we hear his voice? How can we be sure that what we think we hear is not our own subconscious? What role does the Bible play? What if what God says to us is not clear?
The key, says best-selling author Dallas Willard, is to focus not so much on individual actions and decisions as on building our personal relationship with our Creator. In this updated and expanded edition of Willard's beloved book, originally published as In Search of Guidance, you'll gain rich spiritual insight into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom. Including new material from Dallas Willard's teaching at the Renovaré Institute and reformatted to be even easier to read, this classic continues to endure as one of today's best resources for learning to listen closely to God.
Pub Date: April 20, 2012
Physical Info: 0.9" H x 8.2" L x 5.5" W (0.88 lbs) 304 pages
by Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson
After years of witnessing the sometimes rancorous controversy between the Evangelical and Pentecostal camps, authors Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson suggest it's way past time to recognize that there's really only one camp. It is unnecessary to choose between the biblical emphasis of the great Evangelical tradition and the spiritual vitality of the Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions.
A new breed of believers called Empowered Evangelicals has arisen to combine the best elements of both traditions. In this revised and updated edition, Empowered Evangelicals examines the teaching and practice of empowered Evangelical churches and shows both Pentecostals and Evangelicals how to combine the best elements of both congregations.
