Snapshots and Synapses

Now, I’m not a baker, but I understand that one of the key ingredients is yeast. Just a little bit of yeast can work its way through a large amount of dough. Yeast transforms the dough into something that rises and expands. Jesus understood this and He used yeast to as teaching point to illustrate both healthy and unhealthy activities in our lives. So using stories and analogies, He took the concept of yeast to explain a couple points: 1) He explains that God’s reign in our lives and the resulting expansion of His kingdom through us is like a little yeast added to a lot of flour. (Matthew 13:33) Accepting the Kingdom’s authority in our lives transforms us, and it works through every area of our life, changing us from “glory to glory”. 2) However, He used the concept of yeast working through dough to also explain our need to stay away from bad teaching. When talking to His disciples, He warned them to be on guard against the teachings of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod...

Continued from http://mitchellmalloy.blogspot.com/2012/07/scriptural-perspective-on-spiritual.html Part 3 – New Testament Summary So I entitled this series “The Scriptural Perspective on Spiritual Gifts”, but I feel like I’m barely scratching the surface of all that the Bible has to say about this important subject. I had intended to write about "Applied Love", but I thought it important to actually outline my conclusions. I could probably write a mini-chapter on most of these, so I offer them simply as a starting point for others to explore. It’s my desire and encouragement that anyone reading this go straight to the Bible. Don’t just take someone else’s understanding as the final authority on the subject. Rather, ask the Holy Spirit to instruct you further about this topic. (1 Corinthians 12:1) It’s important for believers to know about spiritual gifts. (Matthew 7:14-16, 21-23, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 4:1-3) The manifestation of spiritual gifts through a person is not...