The Deaf and Dumb Church
Why We Cannot Hear, Why We Are Not Heard
Contents
1. Jesus Christ,
Crucified
“We preach Jesus Christ and Him
crucified”
Christ the Nigger
Why do we hate and fear the cross?
Hating the cross: roots in history
Hating the cross: its fruit
today
2. The Long
Decline of Evangelical Faith
A lesson from the past
Wasting away in the Christian ghetto
God frees us from error by means of our opponents
The way of Jeroboam
The failure of evangelical doctrine
The failure of evangelical witness to the world
The failure of evangelical church life
True doctrine - straight thinking from a renewed mind
Arrogance and timidity, the fruit of human tradition
3. Where Do We
Find the Word of God?
To hear God is to hear the cry of the poor and the blood of
the innocent
To find the word of God anywhere, we must receive the
love of the truth
God's first authoritative revelation
God's word has authority because it is under authority
The word of God rests on manifest truth, not on
dogmatic assertions
The six days of creation
4. The Uniqueness
of the Bible
A serious problem - how can we recognize what is
canonical?
Another serious problem - the word of God made into a
lie
The word of God stands out from all else as light
stands apart from darkness
How does the Bible measure up?
A final word about the canon of Holy Scripture
5. How Champions
of the Spirit Resist the Holy Spirit
We fail to answer the valid concerns of others, although we
want God to answer ours
We resist what the Holy Spirit really says
We resist what the Holy Spirit really does
We resist the Spirit of Truth
Some even teach us to believe whatever we please!
Why do Christians everywhere resist the Holy Spirit?
6. How Champions
of the Bible Profane the Word of God
How do critics of charismatic experience often make themselves hard to hear?
What does the Bible say about experience?
What does exalting the Bible over experience mean in
practice?
Peter's vision - how God delivered him from the prison
of his own understanding (Acts 10, 11)
Denying the reality of revelation today - the
unintended consequences
7. How Can We
Understand the Word of God?
What makes people suspicious of careful Bible study?
Listen carefully to what it really says
When perplexed or dissatisfied, ask God questions, instead
of first trying to figure it out
Let perplexity fill you with questions
Honor "little" things and "little"
people, and do not favor the great
To really understand it we must do it
Remember that you are not necessarily brighter than
Jesus and the Prophets!
Search the word to find out how you're wrong, and not
to prove you're right
"However you want people to treat you, so treat
them, for this is the Law and the Prophets"
Finally, make place for the Teacher
8. Receiving the
Holy Spirit
What is "spirit?"
What is "holiness?"
The nature of the Spirit of God
How does the Holy Spirit
bring us to life? The new birth
Baptism into the body of Christ
Being led by the Holy Spirit - the case of Abraham
How can we have the Holy Spirit?
Is the Holy Spirit given only at conversion?
Why do believers need to ask for the Holy Spirit?
The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
Yielding to the Spirit and
being filled with the Spirit
9. Gifts of the
Holy Spirit
First, some simple truth
Speaking in tongues
Prophecy
Gifts of Healings
Miracles
10. The Road to Real
Unity
Why does pleasing myself not
work?
A name for ourselves, or life in the
Name?
Laodicean "life," or friendship with God?
The discipline of God - what's in it for us?
The Lord's reproof delivers us from legalism and self-
condemnation
The Lord's discipline assures us that we're His and
that he won't reject us
Discipline heals us, and those who accept it receive
the Holy Spirit
God's discipline cures the injuries we've received
from abusive authority
By experiencing God's discipline we learn to rule as
He does
Can we really desire to deny ourselves?
The road to unity in truth
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Copyright (C) 2002 by Peter Attwood.
Material from CHARISMATIC CHAOS is taken from the book CHARISMATIC CHAOS by John F. MacArthur, Jr. Copyright (C) 1992 by John F. MacArthur, Jr. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
Except as otherwise noted, Scripture is taken from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation, and is used by permission. "Thou," "Thee," and "Thy" are rendered "You" and "Your" in accordance with modern English usage, and the literal renderings from the marginal notes are used where pertinent. Passages marked NKJV are from the New King James Version, copyright (c) 1979, 1980, Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers.
IRON SHARPENS IRON used by permission of Word, Inc., 5221 N. O'Connor Blvd,
Irving, Texas. Copyright (C) 1980, Myrrh Records, Word, Inc.