By the Waters of Babylon with Scott Aniol

Worship the Spirit

Worship and the Word

Be Filled with … Emotion?

Decently and in Order: The Spirit’s Work in Corporate Worship

Often when Christians today think of the Holy Spirit’s work in worship, they anticipate that if he is working, then there will be high euphoria, and surprising, spontaneous outbursts of praise. But is that really how we ought to expect the Spirit to work in corporate worship? ★ Support this podcast ★

Gifting for Service: How the Spirit Gifts Today

How does the Holy Spirit gift believers today? ★ Support this podcast ★

How Do You Know the Spirit Is Working in Your Life?

To walk by the Spirit is to let him fill us with his Word, and so we must read his Word. To walk by the Spirit is to pursue those qualities that characterize the Spirit, and so we must meditate upon Scripture and actively work to pursue those things. To walk by the Spirit is to allow the Spirit to lead us through his Word, and so we must meditate upon and memorize Scripture so that when we come to decisions in our lives, we will choose that which aligns with God’s moral will as he h...

What Does Spirit-filling Mean?

Likely the most important truth about the Holy Spirit’s active work that we must remember is that the Holy Spirit always works through his Word. Through his illuminating power, the Spirit opens our minds and hearts to accept and submit to the authority of the Word that he inspired. And thus it is through such submission to the Word that the Spirit sanctifies us. This is critically important to recognize: the Holy Spirit will not sanctify us apart from his Word. In fact, this is exa...

The Indwelling and Illumination of the Holy Spirit

Praise be to God for his Spirit’s supernatural work of illumination in our hearts. Without it, we would not be able to accept the things of the Spirit of God, we would not recognize them as the truthful, authoritative revelation of God that they are, and we would not willingly submit ourselves to them. But because at the moment of our conversion, our hearts were enlightened to the truths of God, we accept his inscripturated Word as God’s revelation, and we work diligently to apply ...

What Is Spirit Baptism?

Through the Spirit, we who believe are united to Christ and to one another in Christ’s body. Through the Spirit, we who believe enjoy a special communion with Christ and with the Father, along with everyone else who believes (2 Cor 13:14). As Paul clearly states, “For through [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father” (Eph 2:18). This is why Jesus had promised that in the day he would send his Spirit, “you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you”...

The Holy Spirit's Most Supernatural Work

Without the work of the Holy Spirit, there would be no salvation. God the Spirit completes and perfects the plan of God the Father and the atonement of God the Son in the lives of God’s elect. The Spirit brings order to disordered souls. And he accomplishes all that he does through his sufficient Word. Don’t ever think that because the Holy Spirit no longer empowers individuals in extraordinary ways or gives direct revelation that he is no longer active in his divine work. No—witho...

Testifying of Christ: The Holy Spirit’s Ordering of God’s People

When we truly understand the Holy Spirit’s purpose in empowering individuals throughout history, it ought to lead us to one unmistakable conclusion: the Holy Spirit of God wants us to trust in Christ. Everything he has done to order God’s plan through special empowerment led to the Anointed One, Jesus the Messiah. The fact that the Holy Spirit empowered certain individuals in history ought not cause us to long for the same kind of empowerment; to do so is evidence that we misunders...

God-Breathed: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Revelation

Spirit-inspired revelation is both for the purpose of order and produced in an orderly fashion. ★ Support this podcast ★

Beauty and Harmony: The Holy Spirit’s Work in Creation

In ordering God’s creation, beautifying Israel’s tabernacle, and bringing life to the First Adam and the Last Adam, the Spirit perfects and completes God’s eternal plan in history. ★ Support this podcast ★

Holy Spirit: God of Order

We should expect the Spirit to normally work today in ways that bring order and completion to the plan and people of God. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Tongues of Angels? The Pentecostalization of Spiritual Gifts in Evangelicalism

Contemporary evangelicalism has been thoroughly Pentecostalized with the expectation that if the Holy Spirit is active and working, then we will witness extraordinary effects ranging from direct revelation, special gifting, and emotional euphoria. In addition to receiving new revelation from the Holy Spirit, many professing Christians today also believe that the Holy Spirit continues to gift believers with special abilities like healing and speaking in tongues. ★ Support this pod...

God Told Me: The Pentecostalization of Evangelical Theology of Revelation

One significant way the Pentecostalization of Evangelicalism reveals itself even among those who would claim to be cessationists is in common evangelical expectations regarding how God speaks to us and how he reveals his will to us. It is very common in modern evangelicalism, for example, to hear Christians talk about how God “spoke” to them, revealing his will in mystical ways outside his Word. Listen as Scott Aniol assesses this trend. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/...

Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here: The Pentecostalization of Evangelical Worship

If you were to ask the average Christian today what our expectation should be regarding how the Holy Spirit works, I believe most Christians would answer something like this: If the Holy Spirit is actively working, his work will be evidenced by some sort of extraordinary experience—intense feelings, inner promptings, miraculous gifts, or even visible manifestations. Listen as Scott Aniol explains where this expectation comes from. You can read an article version of this podcast her...

The Lord Reigns

One key reason Christians shy away from some of the psalms is the sometimes violent imprecatory language found in them. In this article, Scott Aniol explains that psalms like these are deeply rooted in confidence that God is the Sovereign King of Kings, and therefore to sing them helps form within us a hope-filled longing for the Return of the King. ★ Support this podcast ★

Why Christian Faithfulness?

Why is it so important to have our motivation right about how we live in society? Why is it important that we don’t try to motivate ourselves and others with grand ambitions of societal transformation? ★ Support this podcast ★

Creation Is God's Temple

When the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,” what he saw was the reality of God’s heavenly temple: “and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Heaven is a royal palace from which God sovereignly rules, but it is also a holy temple, filled with God’s glory. ★ Support this podcast ★

Decent and Orderly Corporate Worship

“Our church’s worship is pretty formal, but I prefer Holy Spirit-led worship.” Such was the comment I overheard recently by a young evangelical describing his church’s worship service, illustrating a very common perception by many evangelicals today—if the Holy Spirit actively works in worship, the results will be something extraordinary, an experience “quenched” by too much form and order. A common perception, to be sure, but how grounded in Scripture is this expectation concerning...

Worship Regulated by Scripture

In order for worship to properly form God’s people as God has intended, every aspect of our worship—including our worship aesthetics, must be formed and shaped by the Word of God. ★ Support this podcast ★

Baptists and Biblical Authority

In contrast to the Reformed understanding of the regulative principle, Baptists have historically and theologically insisted upon New Testament warrant for both the substance and forms of church practice. ★ Support this podcast ★

The Reformation of Worship

The immediate causes for Reformation in various regions, as well as what caused divisions among various Reformation figures, are diverse. However, much of what lay at the core of what both unified Reformers in their reaction against the Roman Catholic Church and what ended up dividing them in the end, involved theology and practice of worship. Yet what is remarkable is that some of the very same problems with worship that the Reformers criticized with medieval worship have appeared...

A Theology of Christian Worship

Believers from the earliest years of Christianity—especially those coming out of Judaism—struggled with how to understand the relationship between Israel’s worship, Christian worship, and the real worship of heaven. In fact, the confusion escalated to such a point that some apostatized from Christianity in favor of returning to the worship of their Jewish heritage. The book of Hebrews functions as the New Testament’s supreme answer to this fundamental problem, which was written spe...

Foundations of Biblical Worship

"Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” This ancient hymn captures three eras of worship: as it was in the beginning—the worship of Old Testament Israel, as it is now—the worship of New Testament Christianity, and worship in the world without end—the worship of heaven. In one sense separating worship into these three eras emphasizes their discontinuity; yet, while there are certai...

Christ's Commission to His Church

Churches as formal, local institutions have been given a very specific, singular mission in this age, best articulated in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19–20. You can read this article here. ★ Support this podcast ★

Christ's Authority over His Church

It is very important that we carefully consider the central mission that Christ has given through his apostles for gathered New Testament churches. Listen as Scott Aniol discusses this topic. You can read an article version here. ★ Support this podcast ★

Ordaining Female Pastors Harms the Mission: A Response to Rick Warren

Rick Warren is pushing the SBC to stop "bickering about secondary issues" like women pastors and focus on our mission. Is this a fair argument? Listen as Scott Aniol refutes Warren. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https://www.ins...

No, Women Can't Preach

When it comes to the issue of whether or not women may preach and/or hold the office of pastor, it has become common to argue in favor of women preachers or women pastors on the basis of unclear texts of Scripture. However, several texts regarding the nature of pastoral ministry are clear. Listen as Scott Aniol explains. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https:...

All of Christ for All of Life

What does it really mean to serve the Lord? Unfortunately, there is actually a lot of confusion about the proper answer to that question among evangelicals today. Some Christians believe that the only way to really serve the purposes and plans of God is what is sometimes referred to as “full time Christian service.” All other vocations are just “secular” and therefore are of lesser value. If you’re a farmer or a firefighter or a contractor or a computer programmer, those jobs are n...

Christian Faithfulness: The Biblical Alternative to Christian Nationalism

Where in the New Testament do we find anything like building Christendom? Where do we find anything like pursuing full nations explicitly referring to themselves as Christian? Where do we find anything like pursuing a civil order modeled after Old Testament Israel? Where do you see anything like the pursuit of establishing Christianity as the established religion of a nation? Surely if this were God's intent for us, we would see even a hint of it in the New Testament epistles. Put ...

The Mixed Blessings of a Christian Nation

Discussions of "Christian nationalism" are on the rise among evangelicals in recent months. We've seen an uptick of books, podcasts, conferences, and evangelical ministries promoting the idea of a "Christian nation." What would it mean for a nation to be Christian? Would that be a good or bad thing? Listen as Scott Aniol considers this important question. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Chasing Shadows

What is the relationship between this eternal worship of the world without end and the worship taking place here on earth, both as it was in the beginning (OT worship) and as it is now (NT worship)? This is critical for us to understand since throughout church history, many of the errors that have crept into Christian worship resulted from a mistaken understanding of the proper biblical relationship between worship as it was in the beginning, as it is now, and the true worship of th...

Worship on Earth as it Is in Heaven

Christians have long wrestled with the continuities and discontinuities of worship, and confusion in this area has often led to problems with theology and practice of worship. The solution is found in our focus in this essay: worship in the world without end. Understanding properly how worship as it was in the beginning and worship as it is now relate to worship in the world without end helps us to recognize what shall ever be, the center of true worship and, consequently, the purpo...

The Aesthetic Nature of Truth

Listen as Scott Aniol explains why for biblical truth, form and content are not so easily separable. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.c...

Sing a New Song

What do the psalms mean when they say to sing a new song? Listen as Scott Aniol explains. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Suppo...

Christ or Chords? The Manipulated Emotionalism of Hillsong, Asbury, and Pentecostalized Evangelical Worship

True religion does consist in the religious affections, and music is a wonderful gift from God that helps to give expression to the affections created by the Spirit through his Word. But we must be careful to define spiritual affections biblically and put music in its proper place. Otherwise, we risk worshiping chords instead of Christ. Listen as Scott Aniol explains. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinera...

Unbiblical Expectations of Revival

Is what has been happening at Asbury University true revival? Is the kind revival they are claiming even promised in the New Testament? Should we be expecting or seeking a fresh "outpouring of the Spirit" today? Listen as Scott Aniol examines the biblical data. You can read this essay here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Forming Hearts of Praise with the Psalms

Listen as Scott Aniol explains how psalms help to form hearts of praise. You can read this essay here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Christian Nationalism, Instruments in Worship, Lord's Table Frequency, and "White" Music

In this episode, Scott Aniol answers common questions concerning Christian nationalism, what instruments are appropriate for worship, how often we ought to observe the Lord's Table, and whether imposing "white" music is a problem. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagra...

Responding to the Lord's Blessings

Listen as Scott Aniol explains the power of singing to respond to the Lord's blessings. You can read this essay here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Support this podcast ★

If the Foundations are Destroyed

What image of reality does God wants us to have of life under his rule in the midst of a wicked world. What are we to do? How can we praise the Lord when this is the reality? Listen as Scott Aniol explains. You can read this essay here. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ★ Support this podcast ★

Psalm 130: A Gospel Song

When Martin Luther was asked what his favorite psalms were, he answered that his favorite psalms were the “Pauline Psalms.” And when he was asked which psalms those were, he answered Psalm 32, Psalm 51, Psalm 130, and Psalm 143. Four penitential psalms—four songs of repentance. Luther said that he believed that these four penitential psalms contained truths that best reflected the gospel as Paul articulated it in his New Testament epistles. These songs clearly express and form withi...

Does Revelation 5:9 prove that all kinds of cultural expressions will be in heaven?

en cited by evangelicals to prove that every cultural expression is legitimate since people from every nation will be admitted into heaven is Revelation 5:9. Listen as Scott Aniol explains this passage. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instag...

Gospel Formation Through Psalm Singing

As the New Testament’s treatment of the Psalms makes clear, ultimately the Psalms point to the true Blessed Man, the King of Glory who opened the gates of heaven to all who put their trust in him and stands as their mediator and intercessor. In other words, the Psalms encompass the gospel. But the Psalms don’t just describe the gospel, they form the gospel into our hearts, shaping our imagination of what a truly blessed life will be in willing submission to the King of Glory. List...

Forming Hearts of Thanks with the Psalms

Before we can express praise to God, we must express thanks. Listen as Scott Aniol explains. You can read this essay here. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/s...

Song of the Anointed

Central to a proper image of blessedness as expressed in the Psalms is a conception of God’s rule as that which brings flourishing, rather than conceiving it as burdensome. God pronounced a blessing upon Adam in Genesis 1:28 that gave him the right to rule as God’s chosen representative under God’s ultimate authority. God made man “to have dominion over the works of [his] hands;” he “put all things under his feet” (Ps 8:6). Adam, however, failed. He conceived of God’s rule as bonds ...

Is It Wrong to Separate from other Christians?

Agreement on the gospel creates minimal Christian unity, whereas maximal Christian unity happens the more Christians agree on the whole counsel of God. Listen as Scott Aniol explains the biblical doctrine of separation. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https:/...

What should we do when the government tells us to do something that contradicts Scripture?

Listen as Scott Aniol explains what Christians should do when the commands of God and men conflict. Scott Aniol's blog: https://g3min.org/blogs/scott-aniol/ Article, audio, itinerary: https://www.scottaniol.com/ Podcast: https://anchor.fm/scottaniol Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottmaniol Twitter: https://twitter.com/ScottAniol Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottmaniol/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scottaniol/support ...