July 3, 2025
Catch the Wind: Rediscovering Dependence on the Holy Spirit
This year’s Spire Conference hosted at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky on September 23-25 will focus on yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit explores the biblical teaching on the Spirit’s work in salvation, sanctification, worship, and the life of the church. Find Scripture-based articles on the Spirit’s role in new birth, assurance, spiritual gifts, guidance, prayer, and empowering believers for holy living and mission. You’ll also discover clarity on common questions and misunderstandings, with an emphasis on faithful interpretation and practical discipleship. This hub equips Christians and leaders to understand and depend on the Holy Spirit as they follow Jesus.
November 1, 2021
Restoring the Power of Pentecost
By Michael C. Mack Every day you and I face many challenges, and biggest of them all may be how we choose to perceive them. As the apostle Paul put it, we can fix our eyes on what is seen or what is unseen, on what is temporary or what is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). Our perspective makes an incalculable difference in our lives and, by extension, the lives of those around us. How you view the articles in this issue will make a difference, too. A main theme for this issue is missions. One article describes how COVID-19 is
May 17, 2021
Peculiar People
From the first century up through today, many people have watched the church and noticed that something about it is different, unique, or even a little odd.
November 22, 2020
10 Foundation Stones of the Church—No. 8: Spiritual Gifts
A few years ago I had the chance to take my ministry team to the University of Notre Dame. We toured the stadium, but the highlight was going into the locker room, slapping the “PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY” sign, and running out of the tunnel and onto the field. It was all make-believe, but it pointed up man’s desire to be part of the game. Watching from the bleachers can be fun, but it’s nothing like actually playing in the game. Think about it—from the time we were young, we didn’t merely want to attend games or concerts, we
June 6, 2019
Whatever Happened to Pentecost Sunday?
All will agree that Pentecost, as described in Acts 2, is foundational to the church. Now, here is an observation (not an accusation): We don’t write or talk about Pentecost as much we used to. It’s true both for our magazine and our churches. The index for Christian Standard’s first 100 years shows there were well over 200 articles about Pentecost published during that time. W.E. Sweeney’s keynote address at the 1929 North American Christian Convention was “The Challenge of Pentecost.” A dozen articles about Pentecost were published during 1930, a year in which the 1,900th anniversary of the birth
April 8, 2016
WHAT’S NEXT?: Remember the Spirit
We asked several Christian leaders, “What should churches served by CHRISTIAN STANDARD strive to be or do or look like in the next decades?” ____ By Mandy Smith We in the Christian churches have the Cane Ridge Revival in our history, but we”re not comfortable with the Holy Spirit. We”ve seen so many abuses of the Spirit that it”s easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater. So what would it look like to rediscover a scriptural approach to the Spirit”s work in our lives? I”m still learning this, but let me share two ways I”m stepping into it: 1. Guidance “But
July 1, 2015
You Will Receive Power
By Jim Tune Luke ends his Gospel with the promise of power from on high (Luke 24:49)””a promise quickly fulfilled with an exclamation mark in the book of Acts, as the Spirit descends on Jesus” disciples at Pentecost. Mark”s Gospel, at least in its longer form, ends with a dramatic promise of signs, of poison swallowed without harm, of snake handling and tongue speaking. So you could be forgiven for harboring expectations of dramatic spiritual ecstasies when the resurrected Christ, invested with all heavenly and earthly authority, promises his presence to the end of the age. Yet the charge Jesus
March 16, 2015
Lesson for March 22, 2015: The Spirit of Peace (John 20:19-23; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-4)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the March 15 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone This month”s study in the Gospel of John comes full circle today. In the first text we considered, the apostle John introduced John the Baptist to his readers (John 1). Authorities from Jerusalem found him baptizing in the Jordan. He pointed them to the Messiah, Jesus, who would one day baptize people in the Holy Spirit. Today”s text focuses on the
March 9, 2015
Lesson for March 15, 2015: The Spirit of Truth (John 16:4b-15)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the March 8 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone The Holy Spirit”s role was noted on several occasions during Jesus” earthly ministry. When John the Baptist immersed Jesus in the Jordan River, the Spirit descended in the form of a dove (John 1:32). When Jesus was teaching Nicodemus, he emphasized the need for all sinners to be born of water and the Spirit (3:5). Worship of God is to be
March 2, 2015
Lesson for March 8, 2015: Another Comforter/Advocate (John 14:15-26)
This treatment of the International Sunday School Lesson is written by Sam E. Stone, former editor of CHRISTIAN STANDARD. It is published in the March 1 issue of The Lookout magazine, and is also available online at www.lookoutmag.com. ______ By Sam E. Stone In his Gospel, the apostle John often focused on a central theme for an entire chapter (John 14, 15, 16, 17). The predominant note in John 14 is comfort. The setting is the night on which Jesus was betrayed. After instituting the Lord”s Supper in the upper room, Jesus and his disciples (except Judas) set out for the Garden of
July 16, 2012
Let the Dead Bury Their Own Dead
By C. Robert Wetzel I am not dead. At least I wasn”t when I wrote this article. But I have come to see that Jesus was talking about people like me when he said, “Let the dead bury their own dead.” Let me explain. While reflecting on Matthew 8:19-22, which contains that quote, I remembered something that had happened about 30 years ago during our 11-year ministry in England. During that time, I would spend about a month each year visiting churches in the United States that supported or might support our ministry. On one of those trips I was
June 22, 2012
Endless Summer
By Rick Chromey Few seasons, other than Christmas, have more songs dedicated to them than summer. The soundtrack of our youth is loaded with countless odes to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer in the city. Even when the summertime blues proved cruel, most boys of summer still favored hot fun in the summertime. After all, who doesn”t enjoy a summer breeze to make you feel fine? Perhaps the reason summer captures our imagination and inspires our soul is we”d love for it to be, as the Beach Boys” album suggested, “endless.” Summer reminds us of childhood and a
July 22, 2011
Faith, Liberty, and Love in the Holy Spirit
By Gary Holloway “In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.” This is one of the most powerful statements in Christian history. It has been an influential statement for those of us who have a heritage in the American Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement. But in my experience, we have often argued and divided over matters of opinion. One problem is that what some consider opinion, others consider a matter of faith. It must have been the same in Paul”s time. In writing to the Romans, he talks about these disputable matters in Romans 13:8″”15:7. The
July 19, 2011
The Holy Spirit and the First-Century Church
By Jack Cottrell The Holy Spirit, as one of the three persons of the Trinity, has been working alongside the Father and the Son since the world began (Genesis 1:2). He was involved in the life of God”s people, Israel, from the days of Moses onward (Numbers 11:17, 25; Isaiah 63:10-12). When the church took the place of Israel as the people of God, the Spirit continued his work and indeed added a new blessing, as indicated in Acts 2. He will continue to work among God”s people throughout this age and in the age everlasting. This essay focuses upon
July 18, 2011
The Holy Spirit Today
By Chris Seidman Let me begin with some good news. Our imperfect understanding of the work of the Spirit does not serve to limit his actions in our churches. For thousands of years, humans enjoyed the benefits of oxygen without the slightest idea of its chemical properties or how it works in our bodies. When scientists began to better understand oxygen, however, their ability to work in partnership with it also grew. That increased knowledge has improved everything from fighting fires, to saving lives, to optimizing the performance of athletes. Jesus likened the Spirit to wind in John 3, and
February 10, 2011
He”s Taken Up Residence
By Dave Butts I”ll never forget that Thursday night in April 1983. I had been struggling for months to understand what it meant to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That night at a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, I heard Argentinean evangelist Juan Carlos Ortiz speak these simple words, “To be filled with the Spirit is to be continually conscious of Christ in you.” From that point on, I had a life verse that has shaped my life and ministry: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Before that time, I certainly had understood biblically, theologically, and intellectually
December 21, 2008
The Spiritually Dynamic Church
By Ken Idleman Other than the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection, what would you say is the single greatest event in human history? Is it the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492? The emancipation of slaves in 1863? The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, to end World War II? Or is it when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon in 1969? I would reference a more obscure event. My guess is this event would not make anyone”s Top 10 list of greatest happenings in human history. The account is found
May 23, 2007
Of Pentecost and Mission Trips
By Mark A. Taylor We’re indebted to a faithful reader who wrote us last year to ask why Christian Standard included no mention of Pentecost, the birthday of the church. We agree with him that the momentous events recorded in Acts 2 should be remembered and celebrated. The church represents God’s plan for proclaiming Jesus and keeping believers in fellowship with him. We who are the church seek to make it stronger and larger and more influential all in order to partner with God in his plan for our world. Our lives would be hopeless without the church. We should
