Theology for the Rest of Us

We believe that every Christian ought to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit; seeking to engage with the Holy Spirit, His supernatural wisdom, His sanctifying power, and the spiritual gifts that He gives. In this episode, Kenny interviews charismatic church planter Matt van Winkle to discuss engaging with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis. Matt tells us that each believer ought to be look...

In John 16, Jesus tells us that the Holy Spirit would come into the world and “convict” people in the areas of sin, righteousness, and judgement. What does this mean? In this episode, Kenny explains that the term “convict” comes from a Latin origin which means “to know” or “to point towards truth.” That is what the Holy Spirit does in our lives; He p...

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, but why is there confusion around His name? Why do some Christians refer to Him as the “Holy Ghost” instead of calling Him the “Holy Spirit”? In this episode, Kenny answers this question by reminding us that language evolves and transforms over the course of time. The term “ghost” meant something different seve...

As a part of our series on the Holy Spirit, Kenny interviews pastor and podcaster Greg Dutcher about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, specifically talking about the more “ecstatic” gifts of the Spirit, and their uses within contemporary charismatic churches. In this episode, Kenny and Greg dialogue about the modern ongoing “charismatic versus cessationist” debate. Despite his...

There are many spiritual gifts listed in the Scripture; gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit, so that we will have the ability to accomplish certain tasks or take on certain roles, so that we can build up the people within the church. But sometimes we observe people that are seemingly supernaturally gifted in an area that is not mentioned explicitly within the pages of Scripture. What are we to ma...

As a part of the recent mini-series on the Holy Spirit (and the gifts of the Holy Spirit) Kenny has interviewed several pastors about the importance of approaching the Holy Spirit in a Biblical and “non-spooky” manner. The bottom line: Engaging with the Holy Spirit does not have to be weird! But why does He seem so weird to so many? And how do we get past the many weird things that we...

In this episode Kenny explains the difference between prescriptive forms of writing in the Bible and descriptive forms of writing in the Bible. When we misunderstand the style of writing we run the risk of misunderstanding the character and nature of God. Descriptive passages describe what happened; they give us the historical narratives and the stories of the events that took place. Prescriptive...

There is a segment of contemporary Evangelical Christianity that believes that every true Christian has to ability to speaking in tongues. Those Christians typically fall into the Charismatic/Pentecostal camp. Is this true? Does every Christian have the ability to use this spiritual gift? Should every Christian be speaking in tongues? In this episode, Kenny says, “No!” Not all Christia...

There is much controversy around the topic of speaking in tongues within contemporary North American Evangelical churches. In this episode, Kenny clearly explains that speaking in tongues is a supernatural ability, given to believers through the power of the Holy Spirit, to have the ability to speak in a language that they have never learned on their own accord. Kenny outlines the different forms...

There are a variety of views of the Holy Spirit and how He interacts with believers. There are three main perspectives among modern Evangelical Christians, as well as a fourth minority view. In this episode, Kenny unpacks the three main views, explaining their differences and the implications of each. Recommend Books: Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist (by Sam Storms) Are M...

Whenever God gives a person a supernatural ability to do some particular thing or to fulfill some particular role, it can be said that specific person has been gifted by God to do that specific thing. The person of the Godhead who administers these gifts is the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit of God that enables us to use these gifts, that’s why these gifts are often called the “spiritua...

Prophecy is a grossly misunderstood spiritual gift that often gets maligned or abused. In this episode, Kenny explains what the Old Testament office of “prophet” actually consisted of and how that changed in the New Testament, being imputed to every believer because we now all have access to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Kenny highlights spiritual gifts as they are related to prophe...

Whenever a person puts their whole faith in Christ, they are forgiven of their sin and invited into friendship with God. This is the moment when someone becomes a genuine Christian; in our contemporary evangelical circles we often call this “getting saved.” The other major event that takes place is this thing we call the “Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” So, what exactly is thi...

There is much confusion in the modern church about the Holy Spirit. One of the greatest gifts God has given us is His Holy Spirit; it is an absolute privilege to have God with us all the time. In this episode, Kenny kicks off a mini-series to give a clear explanation of the power, work, personage, and role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Recommend Resources: Forgotten God (by Francis Chan) Highli...

In this episode, Kenny responds to a question from a regular listener: “Does God love everyone unconditionally?” First, Kenny notes that God does indeed love every person, but it is actually more than that. Love isn’t just something God does or something God feels, God is love! (1 John 4:8) God passionately loves us, because He is love. However, God’s love for everyone is n...

Many Muslims claim that their religion embraces Jesus as a great prophet and a great teacher, so many of them find it odd (and even offensive) that orthodox Christians do not embrace Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Why is it that Muslims accept and embrace Jesus, but but Christians reject Muhammad and his message? In this episode, Kenny explains the theory of abrogation, upon which Islam is built,...

Over the centuries religious skeptics and critics have claimed that all religions are just different perspectives of the same God. Others have claimed that the world’s three major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) all worship the same God. Is this true? In this episode, Kenny addresses the questions: “Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?” The an...

Jesus is called the Son of God throughout the New Testament. But He is not the only person given the label “son of God.” The term occurs more than 40 times in the Bible, mostly in the New Testament. God is not the “Father” in a biological sense, but the term describes the nature of the relationship between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. In this episode, Kenny expl...

A regular listener of the podcast sent in an email asking, “Can gay people go to heaven?” This is a question often asked when people read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 where it states that a person practicing homosexuality will not “inherit the kingdom of God.” In this episode, Kenny gives a clear answer about all sin, not just homosexuality. If you have a pattern of practicing sin...

In this episode, Kenny interviews author, speaker, and college professor Dr. Preston Sprinkle about homosexuality, but more specifically about how Christians ought to engage with people who identify as gay. Dr. Sprinkle makes it clear: Homosexuality is not about an “issue” to be dealt with, but it is much more about people than need to be loved. Dr. Sprinkle gained national attention s...

In this episode, Kenny clearly explains why God labels homosexuality as a sin. Kenny starts the episode apologizing to any person who identifies as gay who has been mistreated by Christians. Kenny then challenges Christians to be consistent in their evaluation of sins. Kenny then makes the point that the Bible does indeed label homosexual behaviors as sinful (citing 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Genesis 1...

In this episode, Kenny interviews Dr. Corey Allan for a second time. This time they talk about “sex toys” and how married couples can approach the topic of being “diverse” in their quest to enhance their sexual relationship. Dr. Allan is a therapist, author, blogger, speaker, and podcaster. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and a Licensed Professional Counselor...

With the ever changing cultural landscape of North America, many companies are now passing policies that are not in line with a Biblical worldview. This means more and more that Christians will be faced with the predicament of working for a business that promotes something that Christians may morally object to. In this episode, Kenny dives into this topic and gives Christians several things to rem...

There has been a recent debate around the topic of transgender people, specifically their usage of public bathrooms. So, that begs the question, How should we, as Christians, respond to this recent transgender people bathroom usage debate? In this episode, Kenny attacks this recent debate with clarity. First, Kenny reminds Christians that we need to be sensitive to people with emotions we may not...

Many Christians compartmentalize their lives in such a way that their theology never bleeds into certain areas, but our theology should impact every area of our lives. In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor and podcaster Stephen Mackey, for a third straight episode, but this time they dive into a topic that few Christians ever talk about: “How should our theology impact our eating habits a...