There are few things more encouraging than hearing a brother or sister say, “I think the Lord has given me the gift of teaching, and I want to use it for the good of the church.” That desire, in and of itself, is not something to be suspicious of. In fact, it’s something we should thank God for. The church is built up when God supplies gifts to His people (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11–16), and teaching is one of those gifts that can be a great blessing. At the same time, many of you have felt a real tension: “If I have this gift, why don’t I have a formal opportunity to teach in the church?” That’s a fair question, and it deserves a thoughtful answer, not a hasty response.

Why young adults (and grown adults) are flooding “revival” gatherings, and how to test the movement using John 6.

There is a kind of spiritual excitement that feels like oxygen. You walk into a room packed wall-to-wall, voices lifted, hands raised, tears flowing, stories spreading, and you can almost taste the momentum. Someone says, “God is doing something.” Another says, “This is revival.” And if you hesitate, you risk being labeled quenching, skeptical, or dead inside. This happened to me when I raised a few concerns during the Asbury “revival” in 2023, which immediately met with retaliatory criticism of “quenching the Spirit” and other spiritual slogans turned into bullets for anyone who exercised caution.

I want to be careful here. I am not writing to sneer at what others love. I am not denying that definitive truth may be taught in some of these settings, nor am I denying that some may genuinely be converted in the gathering spaces. God saves whom He wills, when He wills, through His Word. He can draw a sinner to Christ in a living room, a stadium, a prison, or a loud and chaotic gathering.

I am sure many of you have seen what occurred inside Cities Church in St. Paul yesterday, and it should grieve us, but it should not shock us.

1. Expect Opposition, Yet Shepherd with Courageous Wisdom

The New Testament never conditions Christians to expect uninterrupted peace, cultural respectability, or protected religious space. It prepares us for resistance. Christ was unambiguous regarding this topic:

In all three scenes, heaven is not making a suggestion. God sovereignly comes down to tell His creatures what they will name their child.

If we’re honest, we often shrug at this because, well… Christmas. Of course, the angel shows up. Of course, it’s dramatic. Of course, God’s involved. But that’s exactly the problem: we can become so familiar with the glow of the story that we miss the gravity of what’s happening. Naming, from Genesis onward, was a sign of entrusted creaturely authority. So, when God directly assigns these names, it isn’t a random flourish. It’s a theological statement: redemption is not authored by parents, families, or human momentum. Redemption is authored by God.