What are the spiritual disciplines in this great religion of ours? Prayer is usually the first to come to mind. To watch God work through the vehicle of answered prayer is one of the great experiences of a believer. We should cling to it like a butterfly to a flower in the wind. Martin Luther said, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” E.M. Bounds said, “Prayer should not be regarded as a duty which must be performed, but rather as a privilege to be enjoyed, a rare delight that is always revealing some new beauty.” Which is why the consistent charge here at Christ Church Troy has been to be spiritually disciplined about prayer. What about Bible reading? Like the Jews who gathered their manna from off the ground, we turn to the pages of scripture to have our portion for the day. And what the Lord has for us will vary: sometimes conviction, sometimes a proverb. There is chastisement and warnings. There is comfort and blessing. There is cloak and dagger, characters who prefer the shadows. And there is Jesus who teaches the inverse, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men.” John Wesley said this about daily Bible reading, “I want to know one thing—the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He has written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God!”
The Personality of the Holy Spirit
June 16, 2024 • Daniel Namahoe • Titus 3:4–7
When I was young, listening to music was a big part of our family dynamic. I have very vivid memories of seeing my parents’ CD collection neatly lined up on the shelf. Mom and Dad liked to listen to a lot of things, but smooth jazz was a staple genre in the house. So Dad would push the button on the Sony, the tray would extend, and the five-cd-carousel would spin as it jutted out, revealing which discs were currently in rotation. He would take a disc out, replace it with something, push the button again to retract the tray, push play, and the dulcet tones of Geoge Benson would fill the family room over the hi-fi speakers. If they wanted to discover music they would listen to 94.7 The Wave, and I would sit there on the couch and listen to Kenny G, Lee Ritenour, Candy Dulfer, Earl Klugh, and Larry Carlton. And so my love for music began at a very young age. When I was in college I played bass for the gospel choir, and I fell in love with the genre. So now that’s in rotation at our home. One of my favorite albums is called The Rebirth of Kirk Franklin, a live gospel album recorded in the year 2000.