Holy Spirit
239 conversations where the hosts get into holy spirit.
239 conversations
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'When God is silent': what counts as hearing from the Lord?
- What does it mean to 'hear from the Lord,' and how often should we expect it?
Mike brings a question from his Bible study, whose paragraph heading was 'when God is silent': the author wrote that he experienced God's silence for a couple of weeks and freaked out, and Ben expected a relatable years-long drought story — 'Oh, two weeks.
From No. 603 · Found Out
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Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
- Should following Jesus feel more comfortable as time goes on?
A host asks whether following Jesus should feel more comfortable as time goes on — noting the low-level tension many feel around am-I-doing-enough and the stigma that contentment equals laziness.
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Do accountability partners actually work?
- Do accountability partners actually do anything?
Mike raises his accountability-partners question: the standard dude-circle advice to get a buddy to hold you accountable for Bible reading, porn, church attendance, and drinking.
From No. 598 · Emphasis | Accountability, Worship and Praying with Strangers
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Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?
- Does it seem like more and more people are hearing from God — and is that real or a lie and a huge distraction?
Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim.
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Does God speak more now? Indwelling Spirit versus prophets
- Does God talk to people as much now as he did in the Old Testament or New Testament?
A host asks whether God talks to people as much now as in the Old and New Testaments. Ben's key distinction: the indwelling Holy Spirit means more people can have the experience…
From No. 597 · Maybe A Word From God
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Holy Spirit experience: healing, cessationism, and testing the spirits
- Is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today?
The central hard question: is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and what does it mean for a follower of Jesus?
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
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Discerning impressions: the exact phrase, obedience, and daily decisions
- Did God give you the exact phrase?
Mike shares a fifteen-year-old unresolved memory of someone saying "God told me," then frames the practical question: "did God give you the exact phrase?"
From No. 593 · Do You Hear What I Hear
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"Fall like rain": does inviting the Spirit imply he is absent?
- Does asking the Holy Spirit to "come" into an event misunderstand our relationship to the Spirit?
Ben raises his second question: prayers and worship songs that ask the Holy Spirit to "fall like rain" and "come into this place" sound like an invitation to someone not yet there, when the Spirit is indwelt the moment you acknowledge Jesus as king.
From No. 580 · Not Sure | Old Testament Law, Holy Spirit Guidance, Christian Discernment
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Mike's Berean pushback: can you check your way out of the Spirit?
- Can you "Berean" your way out of the Holy Spirit — canceling genuine direction because the scripture cited for it was wrong?
Ben turns it on Mike: can you "Berean" yourself out of the Holy Spirit — take genuine direction and cancel it because the scripture cited was wrong?
From No. 580 · Not Sure | Old Testament Law, Holy Spirit Guidance, Christian Discernment
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Restitution after conversion: the Walmart shoplifter
- Do you owe restitution for sins committed before your conversion?
From Paul's unpunished past the hosts pivot to earthly consequences after repentance. Mike tells of a man converted fifteen years ago who had been shoplifting from Walmart; Mike told him to go confess to the store, and now isn't sure that was the best advice.
From No. 579 · Wanted: Paul and Hope | Paul’s Persecution of Christians and Radical Redemption
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Telling your spouse about past sin: pornography, the granola bar, and the Holy Spirit
- If you have repented of a sin your spouse never knew about, do you have to tell them?
The hosts work through whether a repented-of sin a spouse never knew about must be confessed: a pornography habit versus a stolen granola bar from fifteen years ago.
From No. 579 · Wanted: Paul and Hope | Paul’s Persecution of Christians and Radical Redemption
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Helping vs enabling: three things that must be in place
- How do I know whether I'm helping or enabling someone making destructive decisions?
Asked how to tell helping from enabling, Jared gives three keys: (1) a real personal relationship — not a drive-by; (2) 'be prayerful... and be in step with the holy spirit,' not just the person; (3) know whether it's a heart issue or a wisdom issue.
From No. 569 · Up Late
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Feeling spiritually meh: causes, experiences, and ways through
- Have you ever felt spiritually meh, what does it feel like, and how do you get out of it?
The main discussion: what it means to feel "spiritually meh" — not rebelling against God, but not wanting to do the prayer, Bible reading, and other connecting practices you know are good.
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Recovery ministries, charismatic experience, and sustainable faith
- Can recovery ministries replace a chemical high with a spiritual high, and is that sustainable?
A long pastoral discussion starting from recovery ministries, which tend to come from charismatic backgrounds: the risk of trading a chemical high for event-driven spiritual highs.
From No. 555 · The Aslan Wears Prada
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What does it mean to make disciples
- What does it mean to make disciples — is it just giving information, or does it involve accountability and structure?
The hosts take up the third topic: two extremes of disciple-making. On one side, being only an information provider and leaving everything to the Spirit; on the other, running…
From No. 545 · By Invitation Only
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How do you know what's trustworthy? Dan, Mike, and Boova answer
- How do you know which supplemental Bible resources are trustworthy?
Ben asks each host in turn — 'Dan, Mike, Boova in that order' — how they vet supplemental material. Dan describes a 'sniff test' built on forty years of reading: checking a teacher's kingdom view, past errors like his early enthusiasm for Rob Bell, and the publisher.
From No. 541 · Why Not The Second Heaven
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Christian Post 'Missing Heaven': what would it take to become a Christian
- What would it take for you to become a Christian?
- What would it take for you to give up on Christianity?
A host reads from a Christian Post article titled 'Missing Heaven' about the opener 'what would it take for you to become a Christian?' and argues the most interesting question…
From No. 531 · Just For The Taste Of It
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Is it wrong to keep a potty mouth and chew tobacco?
- Is it wrong to love and follow Jesus while keeping a slight potty mouth and continuing to chew tobacco?
- Does the Bible call gambling a sin?
Third 'is this wrong?' case: can a host love and follow Jesus all his days while keeping a slight potty mouth and chewing tobacco?
From No. 524 · Handshakes and Wrongness
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Is Job literal or a parable? Prophecy discussion
- Is the book of Job a literal story or a parable?
- What is prophecy, and can it be infectious or physical?
The hosts dig into the hard question of whether the book of Job is a true story or a parable-style teaching, noting it may be the oldest written book of the Bible.
From No. 504 · Saul, Naturally
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Sidebar: spiritual gifts you would not want
- Is there a spiritual gift you would not want to have?
- What is the difference between preaching and teaching?
The second sidebar: which spiritual gifts would you refuse? Tongues and prophecy top the list, with Ezekiel's watchman ('his blood is on you') terrifying one host; Boova says he…
From No. 494 · 500-ish
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Is it more holy to sing only the Psalms or only scripture?
- Is it more holy or valuable for a church to sing only the Psalms or only scripture in worship?
The hosts take up the man whose church sings only Psalms (and a harder variant: only exact scripture, citing Ephesians' "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs").
From No. 487 · Sing What You Want
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Church image problem, point one: politics
- Does the church have an image problem, and are the article's six fixes good?
- Should Christians and churches stay out of partisan politics to witness better?
The Carey Nieuwhof article walkthrough begins: 'The church has an image problem — six ways to fix it.'
From No. 477 · Shofar, Shogood
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Should churches count? Data, demographics, and ministry
- Should churches survey, count, and steer ministry by data?
The survey sparks a long reflection on whether churches should spend resources surveying, counting, and marketing.
From No. 464 · Buying International Locusts
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Twelve stumbling blocks, part eight: triumphalism and authenticity
- In the New Testament do we see triumphant, conquest-style posturing in the spreading of the good news?
Numbers eleven and twelve: triumphalism — prayers about 'taking cities back for God' sound like conquest, and the hosts contrast 'we're gonna tear this town up for Jesus' with…
From No. 444 · Fake Persecution and Tripping Millennials