Prologue 

Page 2 

     So, Jim.    What do you want us to do?     Speak in tongues?    Understand all knowledge?                       Give our possessions to the poor?      Heal the sick? 

Our priority

     If and when I receive any of those gifts, I'll let you know. Paul wrote to the Corinthians about spiritual gifts, which he acknowledged. But he called them "imperfect," and that they "would cease, be stilled, pass away." Perfection is yet to come. 

     He ended chapter 13 listing the ways of love, which never fail. There is faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.

     God so loved ... that he gave his one and only Son (God in one body). Then he sent the Spirit (God the world over) to help us, beginning in Jerusalem, to go (in love) and make disciples of all nations... The book of Acts is the first 30 years of this mission ... now our mission. 

     The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).      Is that scary?

Unpardonable sin

     This is scary. Jesus said, blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven (Matt. 12:31). 

     Commentary: Blasphemy is the continual and deliberate rejection of the Holy Spirit's witness to Christ, his Word and his conviction of sin. Those who reject the voice of the Spirit remove themselves... (see Acts 7:51; Heb. 3:7-15). 

In the beginning, God created...

Tomorrow: the new beginning