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21 " As Elijah’s mantle fell on Elisha and as other prophetic disciples sought to emulate their mentors, so the ascending Jesus empowered his church with the Spirit to carry on his mission to the ends of the earth (1:9–11). "
― Craig S. Keener , Gift & Giver: The Holy Spirit for Today
22 " An important step in getting to know God is to realize how available he is to us. In learning to hear God, it helps us to take on faith the fact that we are already in his presence. If we must make ourselves worthy of his presence first, we will never get there. "
23 " Western theology invariably asks the question: Are miracles possible? This of course addresses the Enlightenment problem of a closed universe. In much of Asia that is a non-question because the miraculous is assumed and fairly regularly experienced.—Hwa Yung "
― Craig S. Keener , Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts
24 " Some persons whom I had interviewed had instantaneous “spontaneous recoveries during prayer, including one case in which other cases of such spontaneous recoveries were not known, but their doctors classified the recoveries as anomalies and refused to admit that a miracle had occurred. One doctor also told me of a dramatic, medically inexplicable healing that occurred after prayer, in which case he was an eyewitness, but the surgeon was content to label it a “spontaneous healing.”[151] This approach to classifying data to fit existing naturalistic paradigms inevitably obscures all potential evidence in conflict with the paradigm. "
25 " Revelation addresses many issues that have not changed because human nature and God’s character have remained constant. It "
― Craig S. Keener , Revelation
26 " What the radical Enlightenment excluded as implausible based on the principle of analogy, much of today’s world can accept on the same principle of analogy. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide claim to have experienced or witnessed what they believe are miracles. Eyewitness claims to dramatic recoveries appear in a wide variety of cultures, among Christians often successfully emulating models of healings found in the Gospels and Acts. Granted, such healings do not occur on every occasion and are fairly unpredictable in their occurrence; yet they seem to appear with special frequency in cultures and circles that welcome them. "
27 " Only by depending on God’s power can we offer worship truly worthy of his honor. "
28 " The book of Revelation is a book of worship that summons us to recognize the awesome majesty of our Lord. "
29 " If the early Christian accounts of dramatic signs make these works seem foreign and foreboding to segments of modern Western academia,[85] they are nevertheless welcome in many of the dynamic churches of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, which believe that they share their experiences. "
30 " God alone is God, and he alone merits first place—beyond every other love, every other anxiety, every other fear that consumes us. "
31 " No one who beats his wife or children, spreads slander in a congregation, or harbors perpetual unforgiveness in his or her heart is full of the Spirit, no matter how many supernatural gifts he or she claims to have. "
32 " Sure, sir, I will,” I promised, “but I just want to tell you first that Jesus loves you.” While "
― Craig S. Keener , Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles and Hope Against All Odds
33 " 6:9-10. Greek sources often called the supreme deity “father,” including in prayers, but this practice is pervasive in Jewish sources as well, even as early as the *Old Testament (Deut 32:6; Ps 68:5; Is 63:16; 64:8; Jer 3:4, 19; 31:9; Mal 1:6; 2:10) and other very early Jewish works (e.g., Tobit 13:4; *3 Maccabees 5:7; 7:6). "
― Craig S. Keener , The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
34 " Jewish people commonly addressed God as “our heavenly Father” when they prayed, although such intimate titles as “Abba” (Papa) were rare (see comment on Mk 14:36). "
35 " One standard Jewish prayer of the day (the Kaddish) proclaimed, “Exalted and hallowed be his . . . name . . . and may his kingdom come speedily and soon.” Because God was Father, his children could depend on him (cf. 18:3). "
36 " Respect for one’s government and the expected obligations of citizenship have limits (though as a modern Western reader I am probably overly inclined to emphasize this qualification). Paul cooperated with the Jerusalem church’s identification with their culture (which was also his culture, Acts 21:20–26), but not to the extent of honoring such nationalism above his commitment to the Gentile mission (Acts 22:21–22). When Christians are more loyal to our ethnicity or nation than to Christ’s body, when nationalism or racism corrupts our love for fellow believers, we have gone beyond giving Caesar what is Caesar’s to giving Caesar what is God’s. On "
― Craig S. Keener , Romans: A New Covenant Commentary (NCCS/ New Covenant Commentary)
37 " Revelation announces that God is still in control and that he will conclude this stage of history the way he has promised. He "
38 " All Christian churches in China practice some form of healing, including Three-Self churches. In fact, according to some surveys, 90% of new believers cite healing as a reason for their conversion. This is especially true in the countryside where medical facilities are often inadequate or non-existent. —Edmond Tang "
39 " Oral Roberts’s informal estimate of 10 percent healed (Stewart, Only Believe, 58); in the modern faith movement, see Barron, Gospel, 125–36. Van Brenk, “Wagner,” 257, cites 29 percent completely healed for Wagner (which would be quite high). "
40 " Every Christian generation learns equally the lessons of Revelation—that God is in control, that the powers of the world are minuscule when compared with God, that God is as likely to work through apparent weakness and failure as through strength and success, and that in the end God’s people will prevail. "