Sam Hamstra

Thanks, Joe.  You have hit on the tension we face a Christian congregations. When we gather as a congregation, do we so in a way that reflects the present or the future, who were are or who we hope to become?  And to what degree do we, as a gathered community accommodate our guests? Tough decisions.  I am thinking that each congregation will have to determine their answers to those questions.   You?     

David, thanks for your thoughts. Having attended a few Ligonier conferences over the years, I imagine that the event included some outstanding presentations, most-notably that of Ravi Zacharias.

First, I was not at the event in Orlando, but I am wondering if I could push back a little. Do we want to conclude that God's presence was missing from the event? Or, could would we say that the Lord was present but not always acknowledged, particularly as a source of inspiration and the reason for our worship? Or, perhaps, we could say that the event lacked opportunities for the kind of dynamic worship which naturally flows from serious reflection about the Lord? Or, perhaps the event was so structured as to leave one with the impression that the Christ-follower can disengage the heart from the heart?  Or so structured as to leave little room for the Holy Spirit to have its way? Granted, my questions reflect my own experience in conferences much like the one you attended. They also lead me to affirm your suggestion that the study of the Written Word always lead us to the worship of the Incarnate Word. 

Chris, thank you for your word of affirmation. I share your issue. I am not aware of a denomination that is both Reformed and charismatic.  It has been easier to discover congregations with Reformed denominations which lean charismatic or independent congregations with those convictions. 

With you, I appreciate the ministry of Sovereign Grace Ministries and its founder C.J. Mahanay.  They do some good work and also produce some pretty good music for congregational worship.  Now sure I could handle fifty minutes of singing, followed by 50 minute sermon, but it would be fun to try! 

Vincent, thank you for your comment.  

Great to "hear" from you, Duane. Love the quote from Henry Stob.  As a Reformed Christian, I am most comfortable when the Spirit speaks to me through Scripture. It is then that I know, without a doubt, that God is speaking to me (and that I am not just hearing what I want to hear.) Of course, the Scripture can come in several forms, including sermon, song and a variety of art forms. But here is my dilemma: in my lifetime God has spoken to me outside of the written Word or Scriptures: through a dream, through a prophet, through the exhortation of a friend, even through a stranger who once said "I have a word from the Lord for you."  Looking back, in each of those instances the word I received was consistent with the Scriptures, which is to say that they were Scriptural.  (Kind of like a sermon?)  So,  I would like to believe as a Reformed Charismatic that we can expect the Spirit to speak to us through meditation on the Scriptures, through a sermon, through the word of a prophet, through the inner voice, through whatever means the Spirit chooses. Then I would like to think that as Reformed Christians, ever conscious of our limitations, we would test the word to make sure it aligns with Scripture?  That it is Scriptural? Does this make sense?   

James, so good to "hear" from you.  I read and appreciate your article "Teaching a Calvinist to Dance," and will order your "Thinking Tongues."   Fee meets Plantinga sounds like fun. 

Your post speaks to a reason why I am wrestling with this subject: I am part of an effort to plant a Reformed, charismatic and multi-ethnic or multi-cultural church. We hope to be a 21st century church for all tribes and nations.  We have been at it for over three years and have begun to experience what I call a "little bit of heaven on earth" as individuals from several tribes and nations gather weekly as a congregation. But, in the process of planting this congregation, we have learned that the glue that holds a diverse congregation together is the Holy Spirit. The shared experience of the gifts, fruit, work, and presence of the Spirit in our midst seems to trump other forms of congregational unity, such as doctrine, ethnicity and culture. Perhaps this explains why each of the multi-ethnic congregations in my geographical neck of the woods are either Pentecostal or Chariasmatic.

And, yes, may the tribe increase. 

Your comments remind me of something Gordon Fee said during a lecture at Wheaton College a few years ago.  Standing before a large group of which the vast majority were self-identified Evangelicals, Fee boldly claimed that most Evangelicals are "Binitarians" not Trinitarians.  He then proved his point by identifying specific passages in the NIV Bible where the translators chose the translation "spiritual" over "Holy Spirit."   (I am thinking, for example, of the coming together for "psalms, hymns, and Holy Spirit songs.")

His lecture convicted me. As a Reformed Christian I am big on the sovereignty of God and the centrality of Christ - and so are our Reformed confessions.  But I asked myself, "Do I really expect the Holy Spirit to work in the church, in the world, in my life as the Spirit worked in the first century?  If not, why not?

So, makes me wonder what is in American culture that hinders American Christians from embracing the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Maybe it is time to ask brothers and sisters in other parts of the world to help us?.

Thanks for your kind words and for the reference.  I checked it out. Good stuff.    And I affirm your appreciation for Gordon Fee.  I don't know of a better NT theologian in the Pentecostal tradition.  I will have to go back to his work and read up on "subsequentalism."

Melissa, I sure appreciate your response. And as I re-read my blog I cringed a wee bit as well.

I am thinking, so as not to limit the work of the Holy Spirit in my own life, I need to find a way to get beyond the suspicion of the voice within me.  On one hand, I don't want to eliminate the suspicion. I find it healthy to ask myself "Is this hunch coming from the Lord or from something other than the Lord?" Perhaps the answer is through life in community? It is there that I can "test" the voice. It is there that I can share what I have heard with others so that they can confirm or challenge the message I have received. 

Thanks again!