Sharing Grace Together

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter 6 "The Power of God Unto Salvation"

2012-01-26T14:53:00.001-08:00

Romans 1:16 (NASB95)

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

MacArthur begins this chapter discussing how those in the seeker movement believe that we live in different times and therefore we need a different message. The argument goes like this: people don't have the stomach to listen to strong bible teaching today. They want a message that is only encouraging and positive. He talks about how pastors are encouraged to survey their congregations and communities to find out what people's felt needs are and then shape their sermons positively around these things. They are encouraged to keep their messages short (20 minutes) and full of anecdotes and light. MacArthur rightly points out that no message like that will have much biblical power! I love the way he sums up the futility of market driven preaching:

The simple reality is that one cannot follow a market-driven strategy and remain faithful to Scripture. Preachers who concern themselves with user-friendliness cannot fearlessly proclaim the whole counsel of God. Those who aspire to preach a timely message will find themselves at odds with the timeless truth of the Bible. Ministers who take their cues from USA Today rather than from God’s Word will quickly discover the message that seemed so relevant last week is now yesterday’s news. Preaching that conceals the unchanging gospel behind the fleeting issues of our time cloaks the very force that makes good preaching truly powerful. After all, it is not our anecdotes, applications, how-tos, jokes, catchy titles, clever outlines, or other contrivances—but the gospel that is “the power of God for salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

MacArthur goes on to show how in the book of Romans it is clear that Paul's whole life and minister is committed to the preaching of the gospel. He considers Himself a debtor to every person (Jew and Gentile) because he has been given grace as the greatest debtor (in his mind). His debt owed was to preach the gospel to everyone. MacArthur points out that the gospel is not just the "ABC's" of the gospel, but the whole message of Christ in scripture. Paul saw it not only as his obligation, but also as his joy to preach this gospel. He was "eager to preach the gospel." Why was he so eager to preach the gospel. Because he believed that is was the "power of God unto salvation for those who believe." The problem with shaping out sermons around felt needs is that people really don't know what they need, and added to that they don't want the treatment they need for the problem they have. God does know what we need and He is generous in His prescription for us! We need the gospel!

MacArthur goes on to show that many have subverted the message of the gospel by making it a man centered gospel. The seeker driven gospel is this "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." It is as if God is just hoping that you will consider him because you are so special and he can't live without you. When in actual fact God does not need us, but we need Him! The problem that we have is that we were created by God to serve Him and bring Him glory and we have turned our back on Him and gone our own way. Because of this we deserve His wrath forever (Romans 1:18ff). There is nothing that we can do to save ourselves from this wrath. God's righteousness must be honored. Because of this the guilty must be judged. But there is good news (gospel), God has chosen to provide righteousness for us in His Son. This is why Paul says that in the gospel "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." Jesus is the perfectly righteous Son of God and the Son of Man. He died in the place of sinners, was buried, and rose again. In doing so He satisfied the righteous demands of a Holy God by taking sin's curse upon Himself. He offers all of His righteousness in exchange for all of our sin if we will turn to Him. This way God can be "just and the justifier of sinners." Then the just shall live by faith! God desire us to be righteous as His children. We are given that righteousness through Christ through His righteous life and His sacrifice, and then we are given the power as Christians to daily put off unrighteousness and put on His righteousness. This is why we need the gospel to be preached to us every day in its full orbed explanation throughout scripture.

Because of this we cannot have a steady stream of man centered "self-help" messages from the pulpit. We need the gospel of God unfolded throughout scripture in full strength. The seeker driven church does not want a steady stream of messages that point out our sin and our need for a Savior, but this is what we need! We need the gospel! MacArthur reminds us that we don't need a different message today:

If church history teaches us anything, it is that different times and different societies do not require different messages. Those who preach anything other than the unadulterated gospel forfeit the power of God in their ministries.

Charles Spurgeon said the modernists of his day were trying to devise “a faith fashioned for the present century—perhaps we ought rather to say, for the present month.” He wrote,

The idea of a progressive gospel seems to have fascinated many. To us that notion is a sort of cross-breed between nonsense and blasphemy. After the gospel has been found effectual in the eternal salvation of untold multitudes, it seems rather late in the day to alter it; and, since it is the revelation of the all-wise and unchanging God, it appears somewhat audacious to attempt its improvement. When we call up before our mind’s eye the gentlemen who have set themselves this presumptuous task, we feel half inclined to laugh; the case is so much like the proposal of moles to improve the light of the sun.…

Do men really believe that there is a gospel for each century? Or a religion for each fifty years?

Spurgeon clearly understood that those who desired to be embraced as “relevant” by a changing world could not and would not long remain faithful to the unchanging Word of God. He quoted approvingly from a letter written by Henry Varley to the editor of a periodical titled Word and Work. Varley wrote, “Revelation, which is unchanging, is not fast enough for an age of which it may be said, ‘Change is its fashion.’ All the more necessary, therefore, does it become to ‘hold fast the form of sound words,’ and contend earnestly … ‘for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.’”

May we be faithful to only preach the only message that has the power of God unto salvation today: the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Jesus: Love Embodied!

2011-12-29T09:54:00.001-08:00

In meditating on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, I thought of how perfectly Christ demonstrates love embodied for us: 1.) He is patient with us: How often has he and does he put up with our sin and pour out love grace and mercy to us? 2.) He is kind: think about His kindness in taking in human flesh, in humbling himself as the servant of all, in going to the cross for us, in sending the Spirit, in restoring us to the Father, in filling us with innumerable gifts and joy and grace upon grace, in giving us His word and...3.) He is not jealous concerning us in the sense of not wanting us to have all goodness. He wants to shower goodness upon us, He wants us to be satisfied, He wants us to be filled with joy, he gives us richly all things to enjoy, even the trials he brings are for our good! 4.) He did not come to the earth bragging with arrogance, He came in the lowliest way, he made himself the servant of all, He poured himself out and completely submitted Himself to the Father's will! 5.) He does not act unbecomingly: He always acts in a way that accords with righteousness and truth, He always does the will of the Father, He is always good, and just and gracious! 6.) He did not come seek his own, but the Father's will and redemption and blessing for others. He laid His life down! 7.) He was not provoked: think of the Jewish leaders railing against Him, falsely accusing him, abusing him; think of Herod's mockery of him, think of the Romans cruelty to him. As they spat in his face, whipped Him, beat Him and crucified Him, He was never once provoked to anger or hate, or bitterness, instead He said "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!", He entrusted Himself to His faithful Father and finished the work of offering Himself for our sin as our Savior! 8.) He did not keep an account of wrong's suffered. Remember how all of his discipled abandoned Him at his moment of greatest need. He did not hold that against them, but instead he restored them in Galilee. What grace and mercy to give Peter the opportunity to profess love 3x to Him to erase his 3 fold denial of Christ. What grace to send these men out to represent Him fully restored after they had forsaken them. What grace that He does not hold our sin against us if we are trusting in Him and embracing His forgiveness! 9.) He never rejoices in unrighteousness, but always rejoices in the truth. He loves us to much to allow us to remain in our sin--He wants to redeem us from every lawless deed. He has given his Word and His Spirit turn us from sin and turn us to truth and righteousness. 10.) He always bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things with us. Again think of his dealing with the disciples. He could have focused a lot on their weakness and sin, but instead He encouraged them and gently brought them along! He bears with us and our weakness and warts, and sin as well. He sees the good that he is working in us through His Spirit and forgives and forgets the bad, He knows that he will fully conform us to His image of perfection, He endures all that we do and remains faithful to us to the end! What a challenge to love in this way with a love that never fails! Lord, give us this love!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter 5 "The Foolishness of God"

2011-12-01T13:07:00.001-08:00

Over a century ago, John MacArthur reminds us, there was a movement that came about in Christianity called fundamentalism. This movement was a reaction against the downgrade toward liberalism that was taking place in Europe and America. Christian leaders from a number of different denominations were intent on reestablishing what were the fundamental truths of the Christian faith and recommitting themselves to defending these at all costs. Fuller seminary was original established under this greater movement. George Marsden wrote a book called Reforming Fundamentalsim: Fuller Seminary and the New Evangelicalism. The book shows how gradually Fuller Seminary abandoned it's fundamentalist evangelical roots and entered into an evangelicalism that questioned the full inerrancy of the scripture. MacArthur reminds us that this happened because a desire rose up from that seminary to be academically credible and acceptable to the world.

We Christians sometimes chafe at the idea that the world thinks that we are idiots. We are tempted to want to show them that we are not stupid and that our ideas are academically viable. What we forget is the principle that comes from 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NASB95) "18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

MacArthur unpacks this and the verses that follow and challenges us to remember that the wisdom that should captivate our thinking is not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of Christ. Only those who have trusted Christ as Savior and Lord can understand that "In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:6). We look at the world entirely through the lens of Christ. How can we expect the world to understand or appreciate our wisdom unless they turn from their sins to Him. How can we expect to incorporate a philosophy from the world back into our institutions or churches that is not subject to the wisdom of Christ?

MacArthur makes these profound statements derived form 1 Cor. 1. HUMAN WISDOM IS TEMPORARY; DIVINE WISDOM IS ETERNAL; HUMAN WISDOM IS IMPOTENT; DIVINE WISDOM IS POWERFUL; HUMAN WISDOM IS FOR THE ELITE; DIVINE WISDOM IS FOR ALL.

One of the greatest things that stood out to me was the fact that human wisdom has never solved the ultimate issues of life, but the wisdom of Christ gets to the heart of man's problems and provides a solution to everything. In Him we have salvation from our sin, the understanding from His word of how we got here, what our problem is, how God redeems us, what we are supposed to be doing, where we are going, and all of the other moral and practical issues of life! If we have all of the at from Christ, why do we we go back to the world for wisdom of acceptance?

The allurement of seeking to become more acceptable to the world always causes Christians to abandon Christian wisdom and replaces it with the worlds wisdom. This actually causes the world to evangelize the church instead of the church evangelizing the world!

MaCarthur closes with some quotes from Spurgeon. I share a brief one here:

Jesus Christ is made of God unto us wisdom. We look no more for wisdom from the thoughts that spring of human mind, but to Christ himself; we do not expect wisdom to come to us through the culture that is of man, but we expect to be made wise through sitting at our Master’s feet and accepting him as wisdom from God himself.

Let us always embrace the wisdom of Christ no matter what the world thinks of us, for it is the power of God unto salvation!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter 4: "All things to all men"

2011-11-09T08:54:00.001-08:00

Over the course of my ministry I have heard many people justify many programs and methods in the name of being "All things to all men." There is usually something worldly that is going on in the church to attract people, or something worldly in that persons life that they are saying is just a tool to reach more people for Christ. MacArthur takes this idea on and completely dismantles it.

He walks through the context of 1Corinthians 9:22-23

“I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. And I do all things for the sake of the gospel, that I may become a fellow partaker of it” (1 Cor. 9:22, 23).
He also highlights features of Paul's ministry and his methodology. What he shows is that Paul never adopted or adapted methods of the world to attract people or please people. Instead what he did was deny himself certain rights and work within various religious expectations in order not to be an offense so that he could have the opportunity to clearly present the gospel in word and deed to the lost. If you have every debated what it means to be "all things to all men" or every used that phrase to justify worldliness in your life or in the church, you should read this chapter. It is spot on!

We should never sacrifice godliness or the clear teaching of scripture to try to reach more people. Instead, we should sacrifice our own preferences, without sacrificing truth, to humble ourselves to reach everyone we can reach with the gospel without compromise.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter 3 "Give Me That Showtime Religion"

2011-10-25T13:52:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while we wake from a slumber to see things the way that they actually are. This chapter certainly helped to reawaken me as to how much the entertainment industry has affected the culture, my life, and the church.

MacArthur quotes Neil Postman who speaks of the end of the "exposition era". People used to spend much more time in intellectual and philosophical debates. There was a genuine interest in truth, content and meaning. Postman says that we are now in the "entertainment era." This is so true! What do people want to do with their free time in our day: be entertained: watch TV; watch a movie; go to a show; listen to music; play games; go online; read light, entertaining books, magazines, etc; play sports; go outdoors; go out to a bar; socialize in many ways; gamble; and on and on it goes. Many of these things can have their place in measure, but our culture worships these things and lives for these things. It is never enough.

In C. H. Spurgeon's day back at the end of the 19th century he say that the church was no longer taking a stand against the god of entertainment. Instead, they invited her in to the church to see if they could increase their numbers. He was very concerned about were this was leading. In the middle of the 20th century A.W. Tozer sounded the same alarm as the churches at that time were using films, up tempo music, and humorous speakers as a main way of attracting people in. Churches in our time have thrown out all the stops when it comes to the use of entertainment to draw people in and keep them in. MacArthur mentions a church that staged it own full scale wrestling match WWF style. Many churches look for a pastor who can be a master of organizing entertainment. Churches research all of the methods of the entertainment industry and employ them even as far as having pyrotechnic shows in the service and hiring 100 clowns to give away gifts!

MacArthur points out that all of this comes from a Philosophy called pragmatism that says that the end justifies the means. In other words if we have thousands of people gathered who will hear the gospel then what does it matter how we got them there. He shows the link between pragmatism and the church growth movement. Churches and movements are studied and the most effective means are deduced and employed with out any thought of how biblical and Christ honoring they are and who is using them and why.

MacArthur questions the whole approach of focusing on numerical growth. he speaks of Jeremiah the prophet who ministered for his whole career without seeing a convert and was a faithful servant of the God. He quotes 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 which indicates that growth is the work of God and not ours.

“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6, 7, emphasis added).

MacArthur says that it is the pastors job to be concerned with the depth of the ministry and we should let God take care of the breadth. In other words pastors and church leaders need to seek to help people have a deep understanding of God from a deep understanding of His word and focus on discipleship and spiritual growth and not numbers. He points out that numbers are not wrong and shares that his own church has 10,000 regular attenders. However, he has always said that all they ever tried to do was to remain faithful to God's word and God has chosen to bring numerical growth. I have also heard him say recently that a pastor may be faithfully preaching the word and ministering well and yet the church may not grow. It is entirely up to the Lord. When God grows a church through His word He grows in deep and wide. It has been said that the modern church is an inch deep and a mile wide.

Evangelical churches today pride themselves on being clever and slick in their presentation to the world. MacArthur explains that this is the opposite of what the apostle Paul did:

On the contrary, the apostle Paul shunned clever methods and gimmicks that might proselyte people to false conversions through fleshly persuasion. Paul himself wrote,

When I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God (1 Cor. 2:1–5).

He reminded the church at Thessalonica,

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God, who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness—nor did we seek glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as apostles of Christ we might have asserted our authority (1 Thess. 2:3–6).

Biblical correctness is the only framework by which we must evaluate all ministry methods.

One of the most important things that MacArthur points out is that pragmatism is a bankrupt philosophy. The church has jettisoned the preaching of God's word because it is not "relevant" and has replaced it with entertainment. But as MacArthur says "What could be more relevant than God's word!"

He draw an interesting parallel between modern churches and a pub mentality. Many pastors want people to feel just as comfortable sitting in a pew (or chair) at church as they do bellying up to the bar! The problem is that God's message is not a comfortable message to a sinful heart, and why should it be? Should people who are on their way to hell feel comfortable about it? No! People need to feel uncomfortable about their sin, so that they will realize their need for a Savior and turn to Him!

Acts 17:30–31 (NASB95)

30 “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent,

31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.”

MacArthur also asserts that the problem with the modern church is not that they have bad Theology it is that they have no Theology. Many churches have fine looking doctrinal statements, but you will never hear these expressed or explained in a service. Instead you will be entertained to your hearts delight while theology is completely avoided.

In the down grade controversy in Spurgeon's time Spurgeon equated the entertainment inroads into the church as leprosy. That leprosy has surely spread and whole pieces of the evangelical landscape have no completely fallen off. It begs the question: what's next?

Will we wake up?

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter 2: "The User Friendly Church"--The Steve Jobs Method Doesn't transfer

2011-10-06T14:39:00.001-07:00

Let's face it, what Steve Jobs did with computers in nothing short of amazing. He didn't invent the technology, but he made it user friendly. Why did I buy a Macbook Pro? Because I wanted a laptop that would be user friendly and work the way I wanted it to. Guess what, it has not disappointed! Music player: Ipod touch. Next phone: hopefully Iphone (I currently have an android phone, but it just isn't, well, all that user friendly). He made it work and he made it cool. I am saddened by his death and I am praying for his family and friends.

The Steve Jobs method fits very well in the corporate world, but not so much in the church.

The church "gurus" of our day are trying to make the church work for the world and make the church cool to the world. I have no doubt that there are some sincere desires in this: to reach more to do more. The problem is that Christ's idea of the church does not fit with the world and will never be cool to the world.

MacArthur describes this attempt by church leaders to make the church more appealing to unbelievers:

The experts are now telling us that pastors and church leaders who want to be successful must concentrate their energies in this new direction. Provide non-Christians with an agreeable, inoffensive environment. Give them freedom, tolerance, and anonymity. Always be positive and benevolent. If you must have a sermon, keep it brief and amusing. Don’t be preachy or authoritative. Above all, keep everyone entertained. Churches following this pattern will see numerical growth, we’re assured; those that ignore it are doomed to decline.

Almost nothing is out of bounds for those who are absolutely committed to wooing the world: from cage fighting to sex education. One thing that is out of bounds for the "Steve Jobs" church is preaching on hell or sin. These things are to be avoided if you want to draw a crowd.

MacArthur talks about how many mega churches were born through surveying the community to find out what they want and then giving it to them. The result, MacArthur says, is the at the customer becomes sovereign over the church rather than God. This is "turning the church growth theory upside down."

Scripture says the early Christians “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6, kjv). In our generation the world is turning the church upside down. Biblically, God is sovereign, not “unchurched Harry.” The Bible, not a marketing

plan, is supposed to be the sole blueprint and final authority for all church ministry. Ministry should meet people’s real needs, not salve their selfishness. And the Lord of the church is Christ, not some couch potato with the remote control in his hand.

MacArthur goes on to show that in the explosion of the early church in the book of Acts they were not preaching a user friendly message and God did not use user friendly means. Acts 2:42 tells us that they were "devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer."

What was the apostles teaching? Well the center of it was that "Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the scriptures" (1 Cor. 15). Peter told the Jews that they had killed their Messiah and that they needed to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.

Once they responded to the gospel the people were wholly committed not to serving themselves but to serving their Savior and serving others. They commemorated His death on their behalf regularly and spend great amounts of time in prayer. They did not try to imitate the world around them, but instead they wanted to imitate Christ. People even sold their land to meet the needs of others.

MacArthur points out that some prideful hypocrisy arose in the church. Ananias and Sapphira sold their land but kept back part of the proceeds, and they acted like they were giving all of the money (Acts 5). They were not interested in the glory of Christ in this, but their own glory. The Lord struck them down and they died as an example of how serious Christ is about sincere worship. MacArthur points out that this is not "user friendly" to the world. Great fear came over not only the church, but the community around them and yet their were people being added to the church daily. How can we explain that: God's word accomplishes His work!

MacArthur points out that God wants us to deal with sin seriously:

Matthew 18:15–20 (NASB95)

15 “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

16 “But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

17 “If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

19 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

20 “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”

He also points out the Christ had more to say about eternal hell for sinners than any other person in scripture (Mt. 25:46; Luke 16:23.24).

In fact the certain reality of hell should motivate us to see sinners saved:

“Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Cor. 5:11).

We are not so much concerned with what the world wants, but what the world needs! What they need is to be forgiven of their sins through Christ so that they can be restored to their creator and their purpose to bring Him glory and rejoice in Him and His gifts.

MacArthur concludes the chapter with these words:

Too many who have embraced the user-friendly trend have not carefully pondered how user-friendliness is incompatible with true biblical theology. It is, at its heart, a pragmatic, not a biblical, outlook. It is based on precisely the kind of thinking that is eating away at the heart of orthodox doctrine. It is leading evangelicalism into neo-modernism and putting churches in the fast lane on the down-grade.

The answer, of course, is not an unfriendly church, but a vibrant, loving, honest, committed, worshiping fellowship of believers who minister to one another like the church in Acts chapter 4—but who eschew sin, keep one another accountable, and boldly proclaim the full truth of Scripture. People who have no love for the things of God may not find such a place very user-friendly. But God’s blessing will be on the fellowship of true believers,

because that is what He ordained the church to be like. And He will add to the church, as He promised.

Steve Jobs was a technological and marketing genius, but let's not try to go "Steve Jobs" on the church. Let us trust Christ do what he promised to do: build His church (Mt.16:18). he does this as we stay faithful to his message (Romans 10:16).

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Ashamed of the Gospel Chapter One: "Christianity on the Down-Grade"

2011-09-29T14:41:00.001-07:00

In this chapter MacArthur compares the market driven approach to ministry in our time to the modernist approach to ministry during the down grade controversy of Charles H. Spurgeon's time. Spurgeon withdrew from the baptist union because they were adopting a worldly methodology that he felt would soon be followed by false teaching. He compared introducing worldly philosophy in to the church to some step of the peak of a mountain (the peak representing faithfulness to God's word). Once you step off it is a slippery slope and you are on the downgrade heading towards apostasy. 100 years later, MacArthur points out, his concerns are validated. The mainline denominations have rejected the authority of scripture.

In our day the worldly philosophy that has bled into many churches is the idea that we package and market Christianity to the unchurched in such a way that we will reach more for Christ. We can simply down play the not so palatable parts of scripture and focus on the things people want. MacArthur shows us that this is the opposite of what Paul the apostle instructed Timothy in his letter (1 Tim.) to do when the people of his church were crying out to have their ears tickled with what they wanted. He gives an extensive summary of Paul's challenge to Timothy and then boils it dow to this:

To sum it all up in five categories, Paul commanded Timothy: 1) to be faithful in his preaching of biblical truth; 2) to be bold in exposing and refuting error; 3) to be an example of godliness to the flock; 4) to be diligent and work

hard in the ministry; and 5) to be willing to suffer hardship and persecution in his service for the Lord.

This is the same calling that any pastor has today or in any day no matter what people want from the church.

MacArthur points out that most books on philosophy of ministry today having nothing to do with these things. When he wrote this book preaching was out of vogue and it is even more so now. Some postmodernist think that preaching is an act of violence against people because you are forcing your opinion on another.

As he summarizes the message that Paul gave to Timothy at the end of his second letter to Timothy ( 2 Timothy), MacArthur reminds us that we really have one job to do: "Preach the Word" (2 Tim. 4:2). We are to do this because God has called us to do this and we report to Him. We must rebuke, reprove and exhort with great patience. We are to do this when it is in style and when it is out of style. We are to be willing to suffer for this and not be ashamed because we represent Christ. It will take self control and steadiness of mind because we will be tempted to please men and not God. We are not only to proclaim Christ's word to the church, but also to the world: we are to "do the work of an evangelist."

MacArthur points out that though Timothy had been wavering, due to heeding Paul's challenged, he did stand unashamed of the gospel and preached the word. It landed him in prison (Heb. 13:23).

He ends the chapter with an excerpt from a sermon that Surgeon preached in the middle of the controversy entiled "Holding Fast the Faith." Spurgeon reminds his people that all of God's faithful messengers have had to suffer and encourages them not to expect anything different. Her are some of my favorite quotes:

Brethren, we must be willing to bear ridicule for Christ’s sake, even that peculiarly envenomed ridicule which “the cultured” are so apt to pour upon us. We must be willing to be thought great fools for Jesus’ sake.… For my part, I am willing to be ten thousand fools in one for my dear Lord and Master, and count it to be the highest honour that can be put upon me to be stripped of every honour, and loaded with every censure for the sake of the grand old truth which is written on my very heart.…

Before I could quit my faith … I should have to be ground to powder, and every separate atom transformed.

It is to-day as it was in the Reformers’ days. Decision is needed. Here is the day for the man, where is the man for the day? We who have had the gospel passed to us by martyr hands dare not trifle with it, nor sit by and hear it denied by traitors, who pretend to love it, but inwardly abhor every line of it. The faith I hold bears upon it marks of the blood of my ancestors. Shall I deny their faith, for which they left their native land to sojourn here? Shall we cast away the treasure which was handed to us through the bars of prisons, or came to us charred with the flames of Smithfield?

Stand fast, my beloved, in the name of God! I, your brother in Christ, entreat You to abide in the truth. Quit yourselves like men, be strong. The Lord sustain you for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

MacArhur challenges us: Spurgeon handed down the baton--what will we do with it?

I am duly challenged. Are you?

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Reading "Ashamed of the Gospel" 3rd ed. by John MacArthur

2011-09-26T10:00:00.001-07:00

A while ago I had intended to read and critique Love Wins by Rob Bell, but a very basic understanding of the premise of the book refutes itself when compared to scripture. Also, reading it made me nauseous. Thus, as I prepare for ministry as pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Martinez, CA, I want to read and blog about John MacArthur's classic book "Ashamed of the Gospel." I read the prefaces to the book the other day and I am excited to read it and be challenged again to remain faithful to the preaching of the word! MacArthur reread the book recently and was struck by how relevant the message remains after nearly 20 years. 100 years ago Charles H. Spurgeon and those who were preaching the word fell on hard times with "the down grade controversy." The people then were clamoring for a message and a methodology that was more in step with the culture of modernism. The church today is being tempted by this same clamoring for relevance, only now the prevailing philosophy is postmodernism. MacArthur challenges us to remain true to our mission: Make disciples by preaching the Word (Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Tim. 4:2)! True Christianity in this century and beyond, should the Lord tarry, will not be marked by innovation and riding the waves of the culture, but by dedication to the clear preaching of God's word!

Looking forward to it!

Sola Dei Gloria!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Rob Bell--Love Wins ch. 1- initial impression

2011-03-24T14:12:00.001-07:00

Just finished reading chapter 1. For now I will just say this, Bell asks several questions about heaven hell and assurance of salvation and makes it look as if Scripture is fuzzy concerning these things. Just because some who have said they are Christians don't act like Christians and often are not Christians does not mean that the Gospel needs to be altered.

The truth is if each of the examples given from scripture are looked at in the light of the context of the passages as well as the context of the Bible as a whole, the answers are very straightforward.

Since that doesn't seem compelling to a world that doesn't want absolute truth, Bell offers murky options.

That is not what Christ offers:

John 14:6. "I am the way the truth and life, no man comes to the Father but by me"

I will refute Bells murky picture with the clarity of Biblical truth next post.

Bell makes a few good points in the chapter, but most of it is utter nonsense.

Sent from my U.S. CellularÂ® Android phone

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Notes on "Love Wins" by Rob Bell

2011-03-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

Well, I am not sure I want to, but I need to read and respond to Rob Bell's book Love Wins.

Here are my thoughts from just reading the preface so far:

Bell believe's that he is rescuing Christianity from a narrow message that is turning off millions of people from considering it.

He says that one of the "hijacked stories" from what is the real story is that "A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better."

I would say, Rob, if that is a "hijacked" version of Christianity, then why does it come from Christ Himself?

Matthew 7:13 (NASB95)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.

Also. once again Rob Bell takes a "Pirates of the Caribbean" approach to the scripture and acts like they "are more guidelines" than anything.

He acts as if the biblical heroes of the faith felt justified in questioning God's word. He says that people who have a narrow view are subverting the faith. Well, speaking of subverting--think about what He has done to Christ's actual statement above.

I'm not looking forward to this...

Jn. 17:17; Rom. 10:17

Christ wins and those who trust Him in truth!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

For those who thought he was solid: Rob Bell, as promised, is a Universalist

2011-03-01T12:29:00.001-08:00

A while back I did a review on the book Velvet Elvis (or at least part of it) on my blog. Sadly, my concerns about Rob Bell were well founded.
See article by Albert Mohler.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Preaching from the Soul!

2011-02-16T09:47:00.001-08:00

I was challenged as I read this from Erwin Lutzer's Book Pastor to Pastor this week.

May my preaching be from the soul!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Trouble in Rome--What Happens When "the church" ignores the Bible

2011-01-04T08:36:00.001-08:00

USA Today reports "Fla. ex-Catholic priest writes of his romance".
This priest wrongly went against his vows, but he rightly points out that the Catholic priesthood is plagued by sexual sin as a direct result of forbidding marriage!
If the Catholic church paid attention to the Bible (the Word of God), then they wouldn't have this problem.
1 Timothy 3:2 (NASB95)
2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
1 Timothy 4:1–5 (NASB95)
1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;
5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.
Marriage is to be honored and exemplified by church leaders, not forbidden. The results are of doing so are devastating as we are seeing in the Catholic church.
May the Lord help us to uphold Holy Matrimony!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Did Mary the mother of our Lord appear near Green Bay, WI?

2010-12-08T10:02:00.001-08:00

The Green Bay Press Gazette Reports Virgin Mary apparitions at Green Bay-area shrine recognized as first in U.S.
I used to live just down the road from the spot in Champion, WI where the apparition of Mary was said to appear back in 1859 to Adele Brise three times. Since then countless miracles are said to have occurred there.

This is big news for Catholics because this is the first place in the US where it is said officially that Mary appeared. She is said to have appeared and given Adele a mission. She is said to have announced herself as "The Queen of Heaven who intercedes for the saints." Adele was told to intercede for the saints and make converts. She based her life on this appearance.
The question I have is this: Why would Mary the mother of Jesus appear in Champion, WI to tell a woman to do these things?
What does the Bible tell us about Mary?
1. Mary was a virgin betrothed (engaged) to Joseph a, descendent of David, when she was told by an angel that she was with child by the Holy Spirit. The text in Luke tells us that she found favor with the Lord. Favor has to do with grace or God's undeserved blessing on one unworthy. She is not to be afraid of the angel because God has granted her grace. She gave birth to the Savior in Bethlehem. (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:27-38; Luke 2)
2. Mary had 4 other sons and at least 2 daughters. (Matt. 13:55; Mk. 6:3)
3. Mary saw herself as a sinner in need of a Savior and she rejoiced in the Lord and Savior whom she would give birth to. She is not blessed because of her own intrinsic goodness, but because God chose her to give birth to the only good one and the only Savior of sinners. (Luke 1:46-48)
4. Mary was a good mother and cared for Jesus well. She became His follower and was there when he died and rejoiced when He rose. She is an example to women in her devotion to the Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ. However, she was not sinless. She spoke out of place to Christ at Cana. She questioned some of the things Jesus did, and she too needed a Savior. (John 2:4; Luke 2:48; Mk. 3:31-35; Luke 1:46-48)
5. The Bible does not record any "immaculate conception" of Mary. She is assumed to have born of natural birth.
6. The Bible does not speak of Mary as a "co-redemptrix". The bible never speaks of Mary as the "Queen of Heaven". Instead Jesus is said to be the one way of Salvation. He is the one Savior and Lord. No one is ever told to pray to Mary or worship Mary. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Ex. 20:3; Eph 4:4-6; 1 Tim 2:5).
In view of these things I see no reason why God would send Mary to appear in Champion WI and to have so many people look to her and this appearance for there hope.
Instead, God wants us to pay attention to the revelation of His Son: the one true Lord and Savior and to trust in Him and Him alone for our salvation and hope! (Eph. 2:8-9; Acts 16:31; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9-13)
Anything less or more is against God and the message of the Bible.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

The Pilgrim Teenager: Salt and Light

2010-12-01T08:31:00.001-08:00

At our Youth Ministry meetings on Wednesday night we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount. The last few weeks we talked about being salt and light. We are not encouraged to be salt and light by Christ we are pronounced to be salt and light by Him! We are here for the express purpose of bringing a savory, purifying, and winsome message of the light of the gospel to a lost world. If we say that we are Christians and we are not doing this than we deny the essence of who we are.
I am reading The Pilgrims of New England by Annie Webb-Peploe. It is a very interesting book and fills in many of the gaps that I had about understanding the pilgrims.
I am particularly struck by young Henrich Maitland and how he became salt and light. His father had killed an Indian Chief's son in an early skirmish in which the pilgrims were attacked. Henrich himself was shot in the leg in the skirmish and almost died. While he recovered he was discipled by Brewster and elder of the pilgrims. Later her learned Indian ways and the local dialect from another friendly tribe. The chief sent a party that was finally able to kidnap Henrich. He was spirited far away from his family and friends and they thought he had died. His life was spared, but he was all alone among a heathen nation. Here instead of becoming despondent or amalgamating to the new culture, he evangelized his young companion: the chief's daughter who had begged for his life.
As he spoke with her day after day about the one true supreme being and His Son, Jesus Christ the savior, she came to know the love and joy of Christ! In the chapter I am reading now he is evangelizing a new friend!
All of this for Henrich at the age of maybe 13 or 14 years old!
While I don't agree with everything in this book, I would highly recommend it from what I have read so far. These simple pilgrims were faithful people who lived the truth and trained their children to truly walk with God and understand the gospel! What a missionary adventure!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

"I Praise You 24/7...and this is how you do me"--Steve Johnson

2010-11-29T09:56:00.001-08:00

Th NY Daily News reports "Steve Johnson, Buffalo Bills wideout, blames God on Twitter after dropping game-winning pass"
News flash Steve: You are getting way better than you deserve. That breath you are breathing--on loan from God. That incredible physical talent: a gift from Christ. Lack of hell fire surrounding you: mercy and grace.
I know it was a hard day, but don't blame God for your dropped pass. He allowed it to happen. If you are his then you should realize that he might have much to teach you through this. (James 1:2-5) You say that you praise Him--do you praise Him in good and bad? See Job.
Let us not as sinful creatures who have rebelled against our creator blame God for anything bad that happens. No, instead let us recognize that He is the all wise, all gracious, all merciful, all just one who chooses to provide salvation in Christ and hope to the sinner who will trust in His Savior as their master. These slaves of Christ do embrace what their master gives--joyfully!
1 Timothy 1:15–16 (ESV)
¹⁵ The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. ¹⁶ But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

John Robinson's Charge to the Pilgrims

2010-11-24T08:42:00.001-08:00

As I think about Thanksgiving and the pilgrims, I came across this quote from John Robinson who was the pastor of the separatist/puritan group that chose to send pilgrims to the New World. He was giving the group who was to embark upon the great voyage in the Mayflower and the Speedwell I final charge before they left.
His words are very poignant even now:
“I charge you before God…that you follow me no further than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus Christ. If God reveals anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you were to receive any truth by my ministry, for I am verily persuaded the Lord hath more truth yet to break forth out of His Holy Word. For my part, I cannot sufficiently bewail the condition of those reformed churches which…will go, at present, no further than the instruments of their reformation. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; whatever part of His will our God had revealed to Calvin, they will rather die than embrace it; and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they were left by that great man of God, who yet saw not all things. This is a misery much to be lamented…I beseech you, remember it, tis an article of your church covenant--that you shall be ready to receive what ever truth shall be made known to you from the word of God."

May we go wherever the Word of God leads us!
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

How to Defeat Satan!

2010-11-10T09:57:00.001-08:00

Reading "Pilgrims Progress" I came across the fight of Pilgrim and Appolyon (satan). Pilgrim was almost killed by the terrible creature but prevailed by quoting scripture and believing scripture!
"The valiant man by handling sword and shield, doth make him tho' a dragon quit the field"
What encouragement in times of trial and temptation!
God has given us all we need!
Ps. 119:11 Your word have I treasured in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Do you delight in Christ?

2010-10-28T12:28:00.001-07:00

God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and the heart. God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart.- Jonathan Edwards
Let us rejoice in God and His Works today!
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Unity: Tune to Christ!

2010-10-25T08:15:00.001-07:00

This is a great quote on how to be unified in Christ!
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.
- A.W. Tozer
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Walking Worthy

2010-10-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

I was challenged this morning as I read from Ephesians 4 to "walk worthy of the calling by which (I) have been called." That calling is the divine call of God in someone's life to salvation. I am humbled that God has been planning my salvation in Christ since before the foundation of the world, that He has chosen to adopt me, to buy me back to Himself through the cross of Christ, to bless me with a full inheritance as His Son, to reveal to me the mystery of His will in His Word, to seal me to Himself with His Spirit, He has brought me from death to life, He has graced me with eternal lovingkindness through no works of my own, He has granted me the faith to believe and the grace to be saved, He has made me to be a creature for good works which has has been planning for me from before time, He has joined me together with His church worldwide to be a temple for His Spirit--Christ's body on earth--displaying His glory, He has made His church the display of His manifold wisdom, as I submit to Christ's life displayed in me I become a part of His overflowing love poured out on earth! (Eph 1-3)
This is the great calling that compels me and all believers to "walk worthy"!
The first few verses that follow frame up what it means to walk worthy.
Ephesians 4:1–6 (NASB95
1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Our calling should humble us because we can take no credit for who we have become in Christ. Our calling should soften us toward one another because who are we to think that our rights are any more important than anyone else's. Our calling should unify us because we are one in Christ and together are to display God's glory to the world as Christ fills us with Himself.
Let us walk worthy!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Bless the Lord O my soul!

2010-10-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

Encouraging word from C.H. Spurgeon
What multitudes of prayers we have put up from the first moment when we learned to pray. Our first prayer was a prayer for ourselves; we asked that God would have mercy upon us, and blot out our sin. He heard us. But when He had blotted out our sins like a cloud, then we had more prayers for ourselves. We have had to pray for sanctifying grace, for constraining and restraining grace; we have been led to crave for a fresh assurance of faith, for the comfortable application of the promise, for deliverance in the hour of temptation, for help in the time of duty, and for succour in the day of trial. We have been compelled to go to God for our souls, as constant beggars asking for everything. Bear witness, children of God, you have never been able to get anything for your souls elsewhere. All the bread your soul has eaten has come down from heaven, and all the water of which it has drank has flowed from the living rock--Christ Jesus the Lord. Your soul has never grown rich in itself; it has always been a pensioner upon the daily bounty of God; and hence your prayers have ascended to heaven for a range of spiritual mercies all but infinite. Your wants were innumerable, and therefore the supplies have been infinitely great, and your prayers have been as varied as the mercies have been countless. Then have you not cause to say, "I love the Lord, because He hath heard the voice of my supplication"? For as your prayers have been many, so also have been God's answers to them. He has heard you in the day of trouble, has strengthened you, and helped you, even when you dishonoured Him by trembling and doubting at the mercy-seat. Remember this, and let it fill your heart with gratitude to God, who has thus graciously heard your poor weak prayers. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits."- Charles Spurgeon
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Another Gospel

2010-09-30T12:52:00.001-07:00

Pew Forum recently came out with the finding of a new survey. The results are very interesting. The greatest finding was that most people in general in the USA do not know very much about religion. The finding that most intrigued me is that, according to their report, most evangelicals do not understand the gospel.
Fewer than one-in-five people (16%) correctly identify Protestantism as the faith that traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone. Most people get this question wrong: 9% say this teaching is traditionally associated with Catholicism, 38% say it is traditionally associated with both Protestantism and Catholicism, 10% say it is not normally associated with either faith and more than a quarter (27%) say they do not know the answer. White evangelicals (28% correct), Mormons (22%) and atheists/agnostics (22%) perform better than other groups on this question. However, even among these groups, many more people get the answer wrong than get it right.⁶
Now this is very ironic because the word evangelical is built from the word evangel which is the greek root word that we often translate "gospel" in the Bible. If anyone should understand the gospel it should be evangelicals. Without an understanding that we are saved or justified (made righteous) by faith alone in Christ alone one cannot be a true Christian.
It makes me think of what Paul said to the Galatians:
Galatians 1 (NASB95)
1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),
2 and all the brethren who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
If you are confused about this issue and wondering how a person can be saved, please visit the Crossroads Bible Church website and click on "Why Am I Here?".

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

A Scientific Explanation for the Parting of the Red Sea?

2010-09-21T11:41:00.001-07:00

USA Today reports, "Study seeks to explain the parting of the Red Sea."
The study, published today in the online journal PLoS ONE, finds that strong, persistent winds could offer a physical explanation for the event, which was made eternally famous by Charlton Heston in the epic film The Ten Commandments.

The article goes on to explain that scientists have used a computer model to test the theory that a 63 mph east wind sustained for 12 hours could have created a land bridge across the Red Sea. Also, there have been reports of winds doing similar things for a short time in the past.
I am fascinated that scientist today are looking for ways to explain the inexplicable. The Red Sea parting is compelling because it was such a significant historical event that it is hard to deny. What these scientist miss is that a miracle is a miracle precisely because it cannot be explained away in scientific terms. God accomplished miracles in the Bible so that people would see that He was and is the only true God. The parting of the Red sea was such a significant event for Israel because it was the capstone of God showing His power over Egypt, the most powerful kingdom on earth at the time. The Israelites would "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." as the Egyptian army bore down on them to destroy them. God would provide a way of escape and crush their enemy without them having to lift a finger! God was fulfilling His promise to Abraham to make him a great nation, to bless those that bless him and curse those that curse him. He was going to give Abraham's family the promised land. More importantly he was going to bring about through Abraham's seed the child of promise: Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. The passing through the Red Sea signifies for Israel the start to their journey to the promised land. For those who believe on Christ the miraculous new birth is the start to our journey to God's promised land. This too cannot be explained scientifically!
Ken Ham's response given at the end of the article is very appropriate.
Ken Ham, president and CEO of the Creation Museum, in Petersburg, Ky., needs no scientific explanation: "The parting of the Red Sea was a miracle," he wrote in an e-mail. "It was an extraordinary act of God. Yet, God used a
force of nature — wind — to bring about this miracle. But there is no need to come up with a naturalistic explanation of a supernatural event."
Let us stand still and see the Salvation of the Lord in our lives. Let His miraculous power and not inept scientific explanations thrill our hearts!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Burning a Quran is Burning a Bridge for the Gospel

2010-09-09T11:24:00.001-07:00

USA Today reports Terry Jones "Pastor" of the Dove Center in Gainesville, FL wants to begin an annual burn a Quaran day on the anniversary of 9/11.   What should Christians think about this? Since the basic mission of all Christians is to make followers of Christ (Matt. 28:18-20), we need to ask the question: Does this help us to make more followers of Christ? Another way of looking at this is to ask "Would the apostle Paul have used this strategy to advance the gospel?"  Dr. Albert Mohler posses this very question.    In this case the muslims are asking us to follow what Christ said "Love Your enemies." On that point I think that they are right. Is it loving for individual Christians to publicly burn Qurans in a publicity stunt like this? Or does it provide an offense that will put up more walls for the gospel and jeopardize humans lives around the world. I hope that muslims worldwide will be able to tell the difference between Christian behavior and non-Christian behavior. Don't get me wrong, I am against the teachings of the Quran and I do not believe that it is a Holy book. The Bible is the one true Holy book given by God that provides the way of salvation and the truth that we need to know for life (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16). However, our mission as Pastors is to proclaim the Word of God, not to go out an burn what other people consider to be Holy books! Let us be about the work of the gospel and not be distracted by non-Christian work.
1 Corinthians 1:23–25 (NASB95)
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness,
24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

The Grand Design

2010-09-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

Stephen Hawking is out with his latest book The Grand Design with Leonard Mlodinow. He summarizes their thinking in an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled "Why God Did Not Create the Universe."
Here is a pertinent excerpt of that article:
The emergence of the complex structures capable of supporting intelligent observers seems to be very fragile. The laws of nature form a system that is extremely fine-tuned. What can we make of these coincidences? Luck in the precise form and nature of fundamental physical law is a different kind of luck from the luck we find in environmental factors. It raises the natural question of why it is that way.
Many people would like us to use these coincidences as evidence of the work of God. The idea that the universe was designed to accommodate mankind appears in theologies and mythologies dating from thousands of years ago. In Western culture the Old Testament contains the idea of providential design, but the traditional Christian viewpoint was also greatly influenced by Aristotle, who believed "in an intelligent natural world that functions according to some deliberate design."
That is not the answer of modern science. As recent advances in cosmology suggest, the laws of gravity and quantum theory allow universes to appear spontaneously from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the universe going.
Our universe seems to be one of many, each with different laws. That multiverse idea is not a notion invented to account for the miracle of fine tuning. It is a consequence predicted by many theories in modern cosmology. If it is true it reduces the strong anthropic principle to the weak one, putting the fine tunings of physical law on the same footing as the environmental factors, for it means that our cosmic habitat—now the entire observable universe—is just one of many.
Each universe has many possible histories and many possible states. Only a very few would allow creatures like us to exist. Although we are puny and insignificant on the scale of the cosmos, this makes us in a sense the lords of creation.
Hawking and Mlodinow refuse to accept what is patently obvious: the complex and intricate design of the universe demands that their was (and is) an intelligent designer. Their answer--it spontaneously came into being by the genius of nature! Wow! Not long ago Hawking was unwilling to acknowledge to talk about a beginning to the universe, but now he is caving to the pressure of explaining how everything could be "fine tuned" for human life the way that it is.
The Bible tells us why smart men like Hawking and Mlodinow can be so foolish.
Romans 1:18–23 (NASB95)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
19 because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
21 For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
God is not happy with this rebellion against Him. men like Hawking are heaping wrath upon themselves as they suppress the obvious truth in unrighteousness. They know in their hearts that this is a God and nature itself is constantly testifying to this fact, yet they refuse to acknowledge Him. As they suppress truth their brilliant minds become foolish and they end up worshipping man rather than God! Notice the last phrase of the quote above: "this makes us in a sense the lords of creation."
Their is only one Lord of creation: the designer of the Grand Design: Jesus Christ!
John 1:3 (NASB95)
3 All things came into being through Him (Jesus Christ) , and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Outreach Week

2010-08-24T13:22:00.001-07:00

We had a great outreach week in Green Bay and in Howard. I was very encouraged to see the enthusiasm of the teens who came out and served tirelessly, shared there testimonies, and proclaimed the gospel through puppets and song!
  Romans 10:14–15 (NASB95)
14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

Thanks to all of you who were involved!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Idlewild Movie in Park

2010-08-20T16:45:00.001-07:00

The movie night is on at Idlewild Park in Suamico. We will be showing "Fireproof" at 8:30pm in the enclosed pavilion. Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device from U.S. Cellular
Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Acts 8

2010-07-28T14:35:00.001-07:00

I am studying Acts 8 and enjoying watching Acts 1:8 happen! Believers are witnesses in Jerusalem-Judea-and-Samaria-then later comes the utter most part of the world. Those of us who embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior know the joy of what it means for the witness of Him to reach us!
What is this witness:
1. God is Holy and righteous and created us for His glory to shine with His righteousness. (Genesis 1)
2. Man has rejected their creator and has become sinful by nature. We are in rebellion against God. We deserve His punishment. (Genesis 3; Rom. 3:10-17;23; Romans 6:23)
3. God has provided Salvation from sin and God's punishment for sin is in Christ alone.
a. Jesus is God (John 1:1)
b. He became a man (John 1:14; Luke 2)
c. He is sinless (2 Cor. 5:21)
d. He died to pay for our sin. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Titus 3:5-6)
e. He rose from the dead and returned to the Father. God accepted His righteous life and His sacrificial death as a substitute for those who turn to Him. (Romans 1:4)
4. If we turn away from our sin and turn in faith to trust in Him (His person and work on the cross) God forgives us and covers us with the righteousness of His Son. We become His true children. (John 1:12; Romans 10:9-10;13; Acts 16:31). We recognize that we could never be good enough for God, but Christ is good enough for Him and we become good in Christ. (Eph. 2:8-9)
5. Those who turn to Him embrace a knew master and have a new heart to live for Him. We look forward to eternal life with Him in the new heavens and earth. We are witnesses of Him. (1 John 2:3-6; 2 Cor. 5:17; Acts 1:8; Revelation 21)
Have you responded to the good news of Christ in faith?
Acts 16:31 “...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (NASB)

Acts 8:12 But when they believed Philip
preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike.

(NASB)

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Literally Critical

2010-07-14T09:23:00.001-07:00

I have been preparing for a teaching on taking scripture literally and the importance of the words of scripture having a single meaning. I am reminded again how important it is for us to take God's word in its plain and literal sense. God wants to communicate with us and it is our job to understand what He says through the power of the illumination of the Spirit of God. (2 Tim 2:15)
God does not like to be misquoted!
Jeremiah 23:31–39 (NASB95)
31 “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’
32 “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.
33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The Lord declares, ‘I will abandon you.’
34 “Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household.
35 “Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’
36 “For you will no longer remember the oracle of the Lord, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lord of hosts, our God.
37 “Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’
38 “For if you say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ surely thus says the Lord, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the Lord!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the Lord!’ ” ’
39 “Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers.
If churches today pervert His word God's also loathes their claim to be proclaiming His word!
May we seek to understand His Word and act upon it! And may we not twist His word to our own ends.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Thoughts for the Lawn Mower

2010-07-02T08:06:00.001-07:00

Well, today is my day off and it always goes fast spending time with the family and just getting things done around the house. The grass is about 6 inches long, so I will soon be on the mower. This morning I read from 2 Corinthians 3. Paul was talking about the glory of the new covenant. I was struck again by the amazing privilege that it is to have the veil of the old testament removed through Christ. To see the brightness of Christ's glory as the one who fulfilled all of God's promises as Savior and Lord! When we minister in the confidence of the Spirit of Christ through the word of Christ, the people whose lives are transformed through this ministry are our letter of commendation from the Lord! As we see Christ face to face in His word we are being transformed to be more like Him, so that we can shine His glory to the world! Awesome!
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB95)
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Christian Fellowship and Integrity

2010-06-29T13:29:00.001-07:00

Had a great meeting with a brother in Christ today. We talked about Integrity. It was great to be accountable to one another and encourage one another.
It has been said that integrity is doing exactly what you say you will do. R. Kent Hughes defines it this way in his book Disciplines of a Godly Man: being "righteous and honest through and through." What a challenge!
When we are people of integrity we shine through with the righteousness that only comes by being filled with the righteousness of Christ Jesus through the Spirit! This can only happen when we realize that all of our human righteousness amounts to filthiness to God (Is. 64:6), and we embrace Christ who died for us and rose again and has become our righteousness! (2 Cor. 5:21)
May this be our song regarding integrity:
Psalm 15 (NASB95) A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, who may abide in Your tent?
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
2 He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
3 He does not slander with his tongue,
Nor does evil to his neighbor,
Nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4 In whose eyes a reprobate is despised,
But who honors those who fear the Lord;
He swears to his own hurt and does not change;
5 He does not put out his money at interest,
Nor does he take a bribe against the innocent.
He who does these things will never be shaken.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Thank God for Vacations!

2010-06-23T09:51:00.001-07:00

I am still rejoicing in the great vacation that we had together as a family in Florida. We saw many sights and caught up with relatives there. The greatest blessing was just to slow down and celebrate the wonderful marriage and family that God has given to Chrissy and myself. Something about taking some time off allows us to take stock of what God has given to us. Hours of unhurried time with my wife and with my kids reminds me of just how precious they are to me. Chrissy and I celebrated our nine year anniversary and reflected on God blessings in bringing us together. Micah, Josiah, and Samantha enjoyed many vacation activities, but the highlight was just being together. What a joy to be able to say yes and yes and yes to swimming and fun together!
We were also able to take stock of the grace and salvation that we have been given in Christ. What a great Savior!
Psalm 103 (NASB95)
Psalm 103
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies.
A Psalm of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The Lord performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
19 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
22 Bless the Lord, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Caleb Azure
Pastor of Student Ministries
Bethel Baptist Church
920-360-4071

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Love Them Well

2010-06-03T19:43:00.001-07:00

I am praying for a family in our church who lost a son today--cut down in the prime of life. My God grant them His all sufficient grace and comfort during this time. Praying also for a man who lost His brother later in life.
May we love our loved ones well as they did with gospel love!
Psalm 42:1–11 (NASB95)
1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
3 My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
4 These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.
5 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
6 O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
8 The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.
9 I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
10 As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
11 Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Thank God for Servants!

2010-06-01T13:09:00.001-07:00

I am studying Acts 6 in which the Hellenistic Widows were being ignored in the daily serving of meals. I am struck by the opportunity to reach out to those of all different culture background, and yet to do this we need an army of servants so that the leaders may devote themselves to the ministry of prayer and the word. Every believer has gifts that are integral to the body! The servants must be respectable and led by the spirit. When it goes well by God's grace look what can happen!
Acts 6:7 (NASB95)
7 The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Worship

2010-05-25T09:41:00.001-07:00

Just read a great chapter in Disciplines of a Godly Man by R. Kent Hughes on Worship. Reminded that "worship doesn't just happen". We must have a heart to be expectant and prepared to worship when we come together. We must prepare our families for the corporate praise of God and we must thoughtful engage in worship in each aspect of the service.
John 4:24!

Posted via email from Caleb's posterous

Christ Centered Worship

2010-04-14T09:15:00.000-07:00
I'm reading Bryan Chapell's book Christ Centered Worship. I am only a few chapters in right now, but I am finding the book very helpful and stimulating. How does the entirety of our worship service thoughtfully proclaim the gospel? Churches of the past have spent much time and thought on this. Chapell brings us up to speed!

One thought that jumped out at me in the last chapter is how Luther changed the Liturgy of the Roman church to take the focus off of the Roman priesthood and to include all of the people highlighting the priesthood of all of the believers. For this reason the Pastor did not dismiss the people with the benediction---instead the people sang it together pronouncing a blessing on each other! I like it!

Contemplations From Isaiah

2010-04-13T13:30:00.000-07:00
In the book of Isaiah, God was fed up with false religiosity of Israel. They went through the motions of worship, but in their hearts they worshipped idols. They did not truly love God and therefore they did not truly love there neighbors. Instead of being a light to the world, they were a blight to the Lord.

To preserve His glory and their good God had to completely uproot Israel and replant them. They had completely lost sight of His holiness! This is what He reminds them of in Isaiah 6.

Have we lost sight of this exalted view of God? Is God small to us? Are we trying to manipulate Him to achieve our ends, or are we being humbled by His glory and presenting ourselves to Him for His ends?

Is. 6:1-8

1 In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
3 And one called out to another and said,
“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts,
The whole earth is full of His glory.”
4 And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
5 Then I said,
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Is 6:1–8). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

2010-04-06T13:01:00.000-07:00
I have been reflecting on these wonderful words of our Lord from Matt. 5:6 for the past couple of hours. What a delight to know that when we realize that we are spiritually bankrupt, and we weep over our condition, and we realize that we must turn away from our own way and embrace God's way, and we truly hunger and thirst for a righteousness that is beyond us (God's righteousness), that He will fill us with His righteousness through Christ!

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him to be sin for us Who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Thank you Jesus for dying for my sin on the cross and for rising up from the grave, so that you could forgive my sin and give me your perfect righteousness! May your righteousness be formed in me and flow out of me! (Phil. 1:9-11)

Rob Bell Not So Bad

2010-04-01T08:35:00.000-07:00
You know as I think back and reflect on Velvet Elvis, I guess it wasn't so bad after all.

APRIL FOOLS!

Quick thoughts on a Wednesday Morning

2010-03-24T09:45:00.000-07:00
1. Healthcare: Saddened by the thought that this healthcare bill will likely bring about more abortions in America and this time may implicate unwilling Americans in the process. May the Lord give us a way our of this implication. Glad that God is still on the throne and that His way is perfect. He is the great Physician! Looking forward to His health care plan when He brings His kingdom to earth!

2. March madness: My bracket is broke, but Michigan State holds hope for a reason to pay attention to this great spectacle!

3. Snow Storm in the east: better them than us! Nice and 50's here today!

4. More healthcare: Going to play some lunch b-ball at the YMCA. Sharing the rock and sharing the ROCK!

Have a great Wednesday!

Why Mark Time?

2009-12-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking about goals for the next year. Why do we do this? Why do we make new years resolutions? Why do we look back at the past year or the past decade? We are creatures who desire to see progress and be productive. Why is that? it is because God made us to be productive. The question is: what are we producing?

Here are some verse that I want to be thinking about in this process:

Psalm 90:10-12 10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. 11 Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? 12 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Philippians 1:20-21 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

Philippians 1:9-11 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Colossians 3:1-4 1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

1 Cor. 9:23-27 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. 24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. 25 Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

1 Tim 1:5 But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

May Christ's goals for us be our goals for ourselves!

The Profound Simplicity of Christmas

2009-12-03T10:20:00.000-08:00

In the midst of all the ridiculous commercialization of Christmas, may the true message of Christmas not be missed!

Behind the simple decree from Caesar Augustus that sent Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem was the profound sovereign decree of God that moved him to do this so that Jesus Christ the Son of God, the eternal King would be born in the city of David as prophesied in Micah 5:2!

The simple couple took a simple Journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, but their were profound kingdom implication because these two were descendants of David and the virgin born Savior would be the biological child of Mary and the child of God through the Holy Spirit, but would also have the legal right to the throne of David through Joseph who would adopt him! He fulfilled the prophecy of the King who would reign forever! (Lk. 1:32-33; 2 Sam. 7:12-13; 16)

The simple birth of Christ in Bethlehem in a shelter for animals near a simple inn was the humblest birth imaginable. He was laid in a manger: a feeding trough for animals. But this was nor ordinary baby! This was a profound babe! He was the son of God, the Savior of the world, the King of the ages, God Himself come in human flesh to rescue us! (Lk. 1:30-32; Is. 9:6)

The simple shepherds out in the field were the first to hear of the good news! The lowliest of all of the people of the Jews and yet they heard the most profound birth announcement. Suddenly their simple sheep pasture was filled with profound glory as an angel of the Lord appeared in brilliant light. The angels says, …, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12 NASB95
A multitude of angels appear and sing praise to God for His wonderful work of bringing salvation to helpless mankind.

The shepherds exercise simple faith and go to see the babe in a manger: Christ the Lord! As they see Him they give a profound testimony about Him as they relate the pronouncement of what they had seen and heard. The simple people around the simple inn reel in profound wonder as the consider that this baby may be the Savior of the world! Mary treasures these things in her heart believing that her Son will be her Savior and the Savior of all of those who would believe on Him.

Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Have you considered the profound simplicity of Christmas?

Abraham's Plight

2009-10-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

How delightful was the newborn babe,
the child of promise had arrived,
the cherished birth of their old age,
the hope of all mankind survived.

He grew in strength and became a lad,
the apple of his parents eyes,
the first full son they'd ever had,
no good to him would be denied.

But then an awful command was given,
the word from up above,
offer him up to God in heaven,
your son the one you love!

Why would God take our son?
why must he now die?
Why would he take the one we love?
Why? was their heart's cry.

How could he be the hope for all,
How could God's word come true,
Abraham believed God the LORD,
and He knew just what he had to do.

The knife raised high into the air,
the lad with fear filled eyes,
the Voice from heaven stopped his hand,
God would provide the sacrifice!

Joyful tears flowed full and fell,
the boy would keep his life,
and so the hope remained alive,
the hope that points to Christ!

Crossroads Bible Studies Underway!

2009-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Four lovely couples are gathering together with us to study The Stranger , an overview of the message of the Bible. We are having a wonderful time and learning much together. So far we have covered an overview of who God is according to the Bible, Creation, and the Fall of Mankind. At this point the picture looks pretty dark. The all powerful, all knowing, everywhere present, infinite, eternal God has created the heavens and the earth and has set mankind into the Garden to know Him and to love Him and to serve Him and to represent Him on earth, but mankind has rebelled against their all good creator following Lucifer in their pride. God will bring about the sentence of death for man--but there is hope--the seed of the Woman... Stay tuned!

Come and join us at 6pm on Sunday nights in Suamico! Email me if you wish to be a part of this. caleb@bethelgb.org

Exciting New Bible Study In Howard-Suamico!

2009-08-10T12:50:00.000-07:00

You’re Invited!

If you live in the Howard-Suamico area of Wisconsin, please consider joining us for a Dessert Fellowship in Howard on Sunday, September 13th at
6:00 O’clock in the evening.

The purpose of this gathering is to tell you about a Bible study that will be held weekly in the coming months. Bible teacher Caleb Azure is looking forward to meeting you and will explain the details concerning the study as well as
answer questions that you may have.

The future Bible study will be based on the book The Stranger On The Road To Emmaus by John R. Cross. The book is about the “big picture” message of the Bible.

We are tenatively planning to hold Bible studies every Sunday at 6:00pm in the Howard-Suamico area beggining on September 20th.

For more information contact Caleb: caleb@bethelgb.org

Velvet Elvis Chapter 6 "New": Nauseating Evil Words

2009-06-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but I have to call it how it is. As a preacher of the pure word of God and as a defender of sound doctrine, I was truly nauseated as I read chapter 6. Bell starts out with recalling how frustrated he was as he spoke to someone who was trying to deal with their sin. After that he presented what seemed to be on the surface a presentation of the Christian's Holy position in Christ. The doctrines of substitutionary atonement, imputed righteousness, and positional sanctification in Christ are surely worth rejoicing about. However, Bell subverts these doctrines and makes them something far less than biblical.

First off, essentially what Bell advocates is that because we have died with Christ and the old man has been destroyed we should be overly concerned with getting rid of sin. Instead we should try to live in the light of who were are in Christ. The only trouble with this is that it goes against about 50% of the NT teaching. Christ did teach in the Sermon on the mountain that human righteousness is useless. However, he one must see himself as poor in spirit or devoid of spiritual good, one must mourn over their sin, one must have a meek attitude about themselves, one must hunger for righteousness, these are the ones who enter heaven, find comfort, inherit the earth, ans find satisfaction. The writers of scripture certainly want us to consider our position in Christ: If we have repented (turned from rebellion against God) and trusted Christ (put our whole faith and trust in His person and work for our salvation)then we are righteous in Christ and acceptable before God. But it is this very teaching that causes the writers of the New Testament to encourage believers again and against to walk worthy of this, to be Holy, to put off sin and put on righteousness. God wants us to root out sin in our lives. He wants us to do it in the power of His word and His Spirit and not in a fleshly legalistic way. 1 John 1:9 tells us that believers as a habit of life confess their sin and find forgiveness.

Second, and even more dangerously Bell advocates universalism: the view that all are saved because of the death of Christ on the cross because of sinners. This is "another gospel". This is very serious indeed (Gal. 1:6-8). Bell misinterprets Christ's statement "If I am lifted up I will draw all men to myself." He says that this means that "All People. Everywhere. Everybodies' sins on the cross with Jesus." He says that, "...this reality of forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody." He goes on to say that all people need to do is realize that Christ has already forgiven them and just let God write their story instead of writing it themselves. This sounds good on the surface, but what is left out here is a clear understanding of God's holiness, man's sinfulness, the response of repentance and faith, and genuine followhship of Christ: constantly putting of sin and putting on righteousness through the grace of Christ. Paul said in Acts 16:31 "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved." Peter called the people to repent at Pentecost. John says in 1 John 5:1 that those who are born of God confess that Jesus is the Christ! Christ's sacrifice is only applied to those who turn from their sin and begin actively trusting in Christ and His finished work for their salvation. Anything less is a false gospel.
Third Bell replaces that Biblical idea of a real heaven and Hell with an idea of only heaven and hell on earth. No time to even go here--but this is obviously wrong. Here are some texts to look at (Matt. 5:22-30; Mt. 10:28;2 Pet. 2:1-17; Rev. 21:8)
In the end Bell reverts to the old liberal social gospel. There is nothing new here. He equates the true gospel with social reform. We do certainly want to care for the poor and needy, but the best way to do that is to give them the true gospel not a false one. Then we also want to provide physical care as well. We cannot replace true Christianity and the true gospel with a false gospel of simple social action.

Jude 17-25 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, “In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some, who are doubting; save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.NASB95

Rob Bell is a Master Deceiver: Yes a Wolf

2009-05-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

I have taken a long break from reading Velvet Elvis , but now I am back in it again. As I read "movement" five: "Dust." I was struck by the fact that Rob Bell is a false teacher and as such must be clearly named as one. Jesus promised that there would be wolves (Matt. 7:15), Paul and Peter affirmed it (Acts 20:29; 2 Pet. 2:1)and they were there in the early church and they are here now. Rob Bell is one of them. How can I say that? Well in this movement Rob Bell very cleverly draws a person in by wowing them with Rabbinical backgrounds and then takes these thoughts and makes Jesus say exactly the opposite of what He actually says in scripture which is our only absolutely true source of information! Essentially he lays out the basics of how Jewish education works and how ones graduates to become a student of a Rabbi and then a Rabbi. He talks about how most Jews didn't make the cut. He says that because the Galilean disciples, Peter, Andrew, James and John, were fisherman that it shows that they didn't make the cut. According to Bell, the way that a Rabbi would tell you that you had made the cut was to say "Follow Me." So he says that when Jesus said follow me to the disciples what he was saying was that they were good enough to make the cut. Bell says that Jesus believed that they could be like Him. He ends the chapter by saying this: "God has an incredibly high view of people. God believes that people are capable of doing amazing things. I have been told that I need to believe in Jesus. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that Jesus believes in me. I have been told that I need to have faith in God. Which is a good thing. But what I am learning is that God has faith in me." What Bell has done here is to absolutely pervert the message of scripture. He forces his interpretation of Rabbinical backgrounds into the New Testament scripture and comes up with a fanciful interpretation of what Jesus is trying to do. Why not just let scripture speak for itself by dealing with Jesus' words in their context. Then the message of scripture would not be perverted. Jesus did not believe in the goodness of man, he believed in the goodness of God. He did not put His trust in men, He put His Spirit in them to turn them away from self trust and to trust in God. In the context of Christ's calling of the fishermen in Luke 5, Peter had to realize that He was unworthy to be in the presence of Christ because of his sinfulness(Luke 5:8). Self confidence was not what he needed to become a follower of Christ. He needed Christ confidence. This is why Christ had showed him by controlling the catch of fish that He was God and had power over all the universe. This is what we need today: God confidence and not self confidence. Here are some verses in the Bible that show that what we need is not to believe in ourselves but to believe in God.

John 15:5“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.NASB95

Philippians 3:2-3Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh,NASB95

2 Corinthians 12:9-10And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.NASB95

Proverbs 3:5-6Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.NASB95

Proverbs 28:26He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered.NASB95

They Finally Found the Missing Link.....Not:)

2009-05-19T13:49:00.001-07:00

Sky News Reports "Scientists Reveal The Missing Link in Evolution".

What a colossal coincidence that they "found" this missing link in the year of Darwin's 200th birthday. Well I guess that makes sense. If the universe could just randomly be in the perfect order to support life on earth and if something could just randomly come out of nothing and if processes so complex that we can't fully understand them are constantly going on to continue life on earth, and if we just randomly have the wisdom and intelligence to talk about these things, then it makes sense that this find of the missing link could just randomly happen on the anniversary of Darwin's 200th birthday!

Well obviously all of this is extreme foolishness. Genesis 1 clears things up nicely. As long as people reject the plain sense of God's word foolishness will prevail. This is what Christ said through Paul:

1 Corinthians 1:18-25 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.NASB95

Blame it on the Credit Card Companies!

2009-04-23T07:43:00.000-07:00
USA Today has an article today called "White House and Congress Target Credit Card Rates". The article talks about how President Obama and congress are going to go after the Credit Card companies to force them to stop raising their rates. I have to admit that I was not pleased when my credit card rate recently went from 12% to 18%. However, I knew that could happen when I got the credit card. America's financial system is built on credit. There are always risks involved in borrowing money or launching business ventures. Pure capitalism rewards hard work and sound investment over the long run. When our government bails out people who have made poor choices the system fails to work. Now credit card companies and banks are trying to save there own bacon by probing ways of increasing income. I understand why they would do that. Our goverenment wants to hyper regulate all of this to make sure that everyone can get out of whatever jam that they are in.

I have to ask a question at this point, wouldn't it be better to let people suffer from poor decisions and hopefully learn their lesson? If someone runs up $50,000 worth of credit that they can not afford and begins missing payments shouldn't they be penalized. We are quickly becoming an absolutely "no fault" society. People want to live however they want and then have no responsibilty for their actions. Our government now seems to want to facilitate this. When we ask for government to do this we better be ready for where that will take us.

The real problem is as always a spirtual problem. We are all sinners and left to our own devices we will make poor choices. If we make poor choices and we have no consequences we will make worse choices. This is why God has given us government: to reward good and punish evil. It is time for us as Americans and as people in general to realize that we are responsible for our own actions, not somone else.

Look at this text and see what God says about responsibility:

Romans 6:23 The wages (just due) of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (NASB)

We all deserve eternal punishment because of our rebellion aginst God, but God freely chooses to give us eternal life in Christ. We have to own up to the fact that we deserve God's punishment because of our sin. Then and only then can we turn to Christ to save us from our sin through His death on the cross in our place, and His ressurection which made the way for life for us!

Take responsibility and then receive grace: then be a responsbile Christian!

Rant #4: Rob Bell not a Super Pastor

2009-03-12T13:40:00.001-07:00
In movement 4 of Velvet Elvis. Rob talks about how when he was training for ministry and thinking of what kind of a church he wanted to be a part of and eventually plant, he wasn't seeing any where people were really connecting and having a real experience with God. So he wanted to do something totally diffrent. He talks about the plant coming together in a strange way. It seems that they didn't do anything on purpose, but his thought is that God was just putting it together. Somehow tons of people showed up on the first Sunday. He was excited but didn't know what to do. He began a talk on the book of Leviticus. He speaks of it in a bit of a strage way how all of the sacrificial and social terms drew attention. He doesn't talk about the main points of the book: God's holiness and how Israel was to come to Him and walk with Him. The church was grwoing by leaps and bounds. One day he realized that he couldn't be super pastor and had a breakdown. This led to him seeking counseling and ultimately psycho analysis. He discovered that he was embracing the salvation of Christ but not the healing of Christ. He found that he had suppressed experiences from his childhood that had to be dealt with. He began to be "healed" and returned with joy to his ministry this timing understanding that he couldn't do it all and wasn't super pastor and it was ok for him to be growing and being healed with his people.

Well, there is some good in this. It is good for us to realize that we are not super pastors and that we need to be sanctified daily just like our people. It is also good for us to realize that we can't do it all and we need the help of others and most of all the power of the Holy Spirit. However, there are some major problems in this movement as welll. First, Rob doesn't seem to understand that throwing a church together with out a biblically driven plan isn't a good thing. We need to have a biblical philosphy of ministry to keep us centered on the kind of church that Christ would have as plant instead of the kind of church the culture would have us plant. A biblically driven church plant begins with the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God and protects us from exalting ourselves. (1 Cor. 1-2) A Biblical philosophy of ministry also calls us to shared leadership. (1 Tim./Titus) Third, when we "hit the wall" in ministry the answer is not in psycho therapy and self actulization. The answer is what Paul tells us in 2 Cor. 4:

2 Corinthians 4 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed, therefore I spoke," we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.NASB95

Christ does have the healing that the world needs, but we need to do His work His way. Then He will be pleased with us and He will bless His word!

When is Murder Murder?

2009-03-04T07:35:00.000-08:00
The Associated Press reports:

Belkis Gonzalez, 42, was arrested Tuesday and charged with practicing medicine without a license and tampering with evidence, both felonies, said Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office. If found guilty, Gonzalez would face at least a year in prison and up to 15 years.

For a while it seemed that this abortion clinic owner might get away with this atrocity, but now it seems he will be charged. The AP report goes on to say.

The teenage mother, Sycloria Williams, has filed a lawsuit alleging that Gonzalez knocked the infant off the chair where she had given birth, and then scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic biohazard bag, and threw it out.

The clinic's doctor, Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique, had been scheduled to perform the procedure, but Williams went into labor after being given drugs to dilate her cervix and waiting for hours for Renelique to arrive, the suit said. The doctor has said he had been on his way to the Hialeah clinic when he was called to treat another patient who was bleeding.

People are outraged when they here about this, and rightly so, but strangely people would not have been outraged if this baby would have been murdered around the same time, only in the usual way that babies are aborted.

When is Murder Murder? Is a baby a baby, or is it something else? evidently this baby was a baby, and so are the rest who are aborted.

Jeremiah 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, ...NASB95

Congratulations Kirk!

2009-01-04T12:24:00.000-08:00

A Critique of Rob Bell's "Velvet Elvis" in the light of scripture

2008-09-11T12:12:00.000-07:00

Rant #1: Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis seems somewhat plastic.

I am in the middle of reading Rob Bell's book Velvet Elvis. It is an interesting read. As I began reading I realized that there was no way I was going to able to read this book without responding to it in some way. Having heard of Rob Bell's ideas and having even listened to other people critique the book, I thought I understood where he was coming from. However, nothing prepared me for what I am reading.

First of all I want to say that if Rob Bell is responding to rigid and legalistic Christianity that has a veneer of orthodoxy, but lacks authentic faith, and hope and love in Christ, then I completely understand and I protest this kind of Christianity as well. Unfortunately as I read what Rob has to say I find that He is advocating something that goes outside of Christian orthodoxy (the teachings that have been affirmed by true believers from the early church on). He sees Christianity as a Velvet Elvis that must be repainted by every new Christian generation. In other words the faith is moldable and shapeable and can be reformed to fit our cultural context. When it comes to extra biblical things (things that that Bible does not speak to by direct command or principle) there is certainly room for flexibility, but when it comes to scriptural truth there is no room for flexibility. It seems to me that Bell wants to make the Bible plastic and moldable to our cultural context. But notice the words of Jude on this issue: Jude 3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.NASB95 The Bible often speaks of "the faith" or "the Gospel" or "the word" or "the scripture" or "the truth." There is clearly a body of teaching that comes down from God to his people to be passed down to all future generations. This body of truth is to be contended for earnestly! This body of truth is the Bible; it is the word of God. 2 Tim 3:16 & 2 Pet. 1:18-21 make it very clear that "all scripture is God-breathed" and that the human writers of the Bible were "moved by the Holy Spirit." God has spoken and he did not stutter. God has spoken and he does not appreciate being corrected or misrepresented. Just ask the prophet Hananiah from Jeremiah's day.

Jeremiah 28:12-17The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made instead of them yokes of iron.” ‘For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they will serve him. And I have also given him the beasts of the field.” ’ ” Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. “Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This year you are going to die, because you have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’ ” So Hananiah the prophet died in the same year in the seventh month.NASB95

Rant#2:Rob Bell is either confused about Bible interpretation or he is intentionally confusing people about Bible interpretation.

As I continue to read Velvet Elvis things are going from bad to worse. Initially Rob wanted us to think about Christianity as a trampoline with springs rather than a wall with solid bricks. He suggested that his faith could weather the crumbling of a brick such as the doctrine of the virgin birth. This is enough to show me that Rob Bell does not understand the Christian faith. The fact is that the Christian faith cannot stand without the virgin birth. It is crucial to the atonement and the redemption of mankind of which the whole scripture is about. Now, after reading "movement two", I understand why Rob Bell is so far off about Christianity. It is either because he does not know how to interpret scripture or because he refuses to interpret scripture correctly. He brings up a number of texts that he implies are impossible to understand. The reality is that all of the texts he brings up can be understood if they are interpreted properly in their context. It is true that there are difficult texts in the bible that good men disagree about. However, the meaning of the scripture is generally plain (Psalm 19:7-9), and if one will do the hard work of interpreting text in its context using the tools of exegesis available he may understand the big picture of every text of scripture and can offer plausible suggestions for even the most difficult verse or phrase. If however, you want to make room for whatever opinions you or others have that go against the scripture you can use difficult texts as an excuse to say the scripture is not clear and can be interpreted a number of ways. There are many fallacies in this "movement", but I can only take time to point out a few. First, Bell brings up the destruction of people such as the Amalakites where God commanded that they be wiped out. He evidently attributes these acts to men instead of God. He is trying to absolve the God of the Bible from any such acts. However, a basic truth of the Bible is that God has compassion on whom he will and punishes those who continue in rebellion against Him (Exodus 34:6-7). The Bible teaches that all the world is guilty before God. (Romans 3:10ff). We all deserve His punishment because the race of man has rebelled against His creator. The flood showed that God has the right to judge the whole world even the "innocent" because all are worthy of His judgment. The amazing thing is that God chooses to save some of us. God did use Israel His instrument of judgment on the wicked surrounding nations. The lesson is that God hates sin and will pour out His anger on it. What about the children who were killed though? God spared them from being raised up to shake their fist at Him. They were spared through their death in their innocence. Perhaps God granted them salvation (2 Sam 12:23). Second, Bell brings up the fact that scripture writers had agendas and used events and teachings of their day to make their points. They certainly did. The bible is both a human book and a divine book. But Bell wants to say that these people had experiences with God and were just writing stories that are not necessarily meant to be taken as fact, but as the product of an experience. This is just Neo-orthodoxy repackaged. This is dishonest with the way that the scripture writers themselves presented what they wrote and what they said about the scripture itself. (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:18-20; "thus saith the LORD" throughout the OT). Also, the believing Jews and the church have always been able to recognize scripture as being from God. The dates of the official recognition of the Canon of scripture and the church embracing the scripture are not the same dates. The Holy Spirit has always worked in the hearts of believers to help them recognize scripture as they read it. The councils merely ratified what was already believed. A careful look at church history makes this clear. Third, Bell wants to go back to "context" to get the scripture right, but what he appeals to is the understanding of the ancient Jewish Rabbis and a few illustrations from background and history. These things can be helpful, but they can also be misleading if taken too far. The Rabbis, for instance, are often not a good source for biblical interpretation because they were prone to allegory and bending scripture to their bent. Culture and background can be helpful but they are subject to the near context of scripture. The most important context is the context of scripture itself. This is the context that Bell seems to largely ignore. I will give some examples of this in my next Rant.

Christianity is not plastic or velvet it is not meant to be reshaped. Christianity is about the Rock of Christ and is rock solid teachings (the Bible). See Matthew 7:24-27.

Rant #3: Rob Bell overplays natural revelation (The World of experience) and far underplays special revelation (The Word of God).

Before I talk about chapter, uh er--I mean, movement three (chapter is far too absolute) of Rob Bell's Velvet Elvis, I want to circle back to movement two and give another illustration of a text that Rob sees as impossible to defend and explain that is actually easily explained by interpreting it in the context of scripture. Bell sees the Bible as being "the most amazing, beautiful, deep, inspired collection of writings ever", but he does not see the Bible as the inspired, infallible, inerrant word of God. One text that he cites to proof his point that scripture does not claim to be from God, but claims to be the word of men is 2 Cor. 11:23. Here is what it says in the NASB: 2 Corinthians 11:23Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.NASB95 Bell translates the phrase "I speak as if insane" as "am I out of my mind?". A literal translation from the Greek would read: "I am speaking as if out of my mind." The questions Bell asks are these: "Is God out of His mind", "Is Paul out of His mind", "Is Paul out of God's mind?". I would find this line of questioning amusing if it were not so contrived. Even a cursory reading of 2 Corinthians 11 would explain what Paul is doing here. His opposition in Corinth was making him out to be a money grubbing false teacher. He was put in the awkward place of defending Himself. He would rather not speak of his credentials as an apostle, but he is forced to. His mindset is like the mindset of Christ found in Philippians 2:5-11: he would rather be humble and serve than to exalt himself. But he has to engage in a "foolish" line of reasoning so they can see how foolish these false allegations are about him. Under normal circumstances it would be insane for him to tout his qualifications, but he has to now. He brings up this idea of foolishness and insanity often in this chapter. This is why Paul also says in verse 17: 2 Corinthians 11:17What I am saying, I am not saying as the Lord would, but as in foolishness, in this confidence of boasting.NASB95 If he was speaking in the usual way that the Lord speaks through Him he would not do this. There is no problem with taking this as the inspired word of God is it is understood properly. However, Rob Bell acts as if this destroys they idea of inspired scripture. An honest look at the Christian or biblical view of the inspiration of scripture does not say that God spoke through people as if they were robots. The amazing thing is that God spoke through people's personality and style to say what He wanted to say to the original readers and by principle to us without error! Bell rips these texts out of context not to prove God's point but to prove his point. He says he doesn't like it when people use scripture to back up their point, but that is exactly what he is doing. We should get our point from scripture and then show where we got it from. Bell should pay attention to what the apostle Peter said about Paul's writings.

2 Peter 3:15-16and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.NASB95

On to movement three. I can agree with some of what Bell says in this "movement", but I disagree with his main point. He tells a lot of stories to show that their is a sense of the divine built in to all of and that God's presence is evident all over the earth. This is true. However, he wants to make the job of a Christian to be a tour guide to point to natural revelation (truth revealed in nature, history, and the human experience). He basically intimates that the writers of scripture were spiritual guides who just observed the divine all around them and journaled it. The problem is that this is not what the writers of scripture claimed to be doing. They claim to have been directly spoken to by God and they claim to be delivering His message to men! There is a big difference between a human being who is noticing the divine around them and a human being that is spoken to directly by God Himself. We can definitely use natural revelation as a bridge to introduce people to the truths of God's word, but we should not act as if natural revelation is the primary source of our truth base. However, Romans 1 makes it very clear that men will suppress natural revelation and worship the creature rather than the creator unless God does something to open their eyes through the gospel. The only way we can understand the good news of Jesus Christ as the son of God the Savior and Lord, the one who can rescue us from sin, is to take God's word as absolute truth and to allow His word to work faith in us (Romans 10:17). If Bell wants to introduce people to the wonder of God all around them than he should stop attacking scripture and start defending it because only scripture has the power to pierce the human heart and open our eyes to the truth around us!

Hebrews 4:12For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.NASB95

Romans 10:17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.NASB95

Dissappointed in Favre

2008-08-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of mistakes made by both the Packers and Brett Favre over the past few months. However, at the end of the day I put much of the blame on Brett. The Packers have tried to make the best out of a difficult situation. With Brett's lack of complete commitment until just a few days ago, they had to move on. All it would have taken from Brett at any point was a clear and unwavering commitment to be a Packer this year. I loved watching Brett while he was here, but I am glad he is not here now with the attitude that he has had this summer. I am ready to get behind the Pack, Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy, and Mark Murphy included. Let's see what Rodgers can do. He has a great team around him. I will be watching to see how Brett does, but it certainly won't be the same. There is only one reason why Brett is not playing for us this year: He couldn't get over himself. May we learn to be humble and follow humble heroes such as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and not heroes who remind us that they are never too far from falling.

Online Anonymity and the Real You

2008-04-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

We live in a brave new world. In the "old days" (Just saying that makes you sound like an old fuddy-duddy:)) to have a secret life you had to be a secret agent or at least be a very sneaky type of a person. Now with the age of the internet practically every other person is living a secret life online. There are secret chats, secret blogs, secret "face book" or "MySpace" pages, secret visits to secret websites. Most people would be appalled if every one who knew them in the "real world" also new all about them in the "cyber world." The question I want to bring up is: Which person is the real you: the online version or the “real world” version. What I have noticed is that people seem to be much more free and unencumbered online. The internet has become a place to express yourself. I would argue that the online version of your self is more accurate reflection of your true self. Some would say that it is just a chance to act out a different personality, but, if you think about it, people often do online what they wish they could do in real life. In other words if people could act a certain way and not be held responsible for it, then they would. Internet has given just such an opportunity.

The Word of God anticipates this struggle when it says in Proverbs:

Proverbs 23:7For as he thinks within himself, so he is. He says to you, “Eat and drink!” But his heart is not with you.NASB95

The expression of yourself online is a product of the expression of yourself in your mind: and that is the real you!

So who are you, really?

We need to come to grips with who we really are, so that we can understand what we really need. This is every man’s true need:

Acts 26:20 … repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.NASB95

Acts 4:12“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”NASB95

John 14:6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.NASB95

Is Christmas in Your Heart?

2007-12-06T11:23:00.001-08:00
This time of year almost everyone greets each other with “merry Christmas.” Lots of people set out little nativity sets in their yard or in their house. People recount the story of the Christ child and sings songs about Jesus’ birth. But as you take part in this, is Christmas in your heart? What do we mean by that?

What we mean is this? Is Christ in you? There are only 3 kinds of people in the world, those who can count and those who can’t. But seriously –there really are only 2 kinds of people in the world: those who have Jesus in them and those who don’t.

Colossians 1:25-27 Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is, the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.NASB95

When Paul says that Christ in them is the hope of glory. What he means is that Christ in them is their hope of sharing in the glories of God for all eternity in heaven.

You see you can get to heaven unless Christ is in you and you are in Christ. You must be joined together spiritually with Christ to enter heaven.

Why is that? No one can enter heaven on their own. Why not? Because we are sinful.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,NASB95

Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve (look upon) evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?NASB95

Because of this we deserve God’s punishment, not heaven:

Romans 6:23a For the wages of sin is death,

But I am glad that this is not the end of the story:

Romans 6:23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.NASB95

This is the message of Christmas: God offers you the gift of eternal life and this life is in His Son.

You see Jesus not only was born as the baby who was God in human flesh—but the God-Man died on the cross for our sin and rose again making a way of eternal life.

Colossians 2:13-14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision (or unholiness) of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.NASB95

But in order receive this gift you must turn away from your sin and turned to Christ Jesus as your God, your Savior, and your Lord.

Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;NASB95

Romans 10:13 for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”NASB95

When you call on the Lord and believe on Him. God grants you be joined as one with His Son so that he takes away all of your sin and gives you all of His righteousness. (Romans 6:2-7; 2 Cor 5:21)

The baby in the manger is the Son of God (God in human flesh), He is the Christ on the cross, He is the risen Lord of all the earth, He is the judge who will judge all of the earth.

Is Christmas in your heart—that is to say is Christ in your heart.

How does Christ get into your heart:

Acts 16:31 … “Believe in (into) the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, …”NASB95

Turn away from all else and put your trust in Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord.

I hope that if you have not put your trust in Christ already that you will do so this Christmas season. Then you can truly celebrate Christmas because Christmas will be in you! Christ will be in you: the hope of glory!

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.NASB95

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth Pt. 9 (Conclusion)

2007-09-27T10:05:00.000-07:00
Me Church

It is amazing how far some churches are willing to go to fill the pews with people. A common practice for churches today is to try to determine the "felt needs" of the community and build the church around these things. Naturally if you offer people what they are looking for then they will come. What is often forgotten is that it is Christ who builds the church. He also builds the church His way. Paul tells Timothy that the church is the "pillar and ground of the truth." As Jesus said "Thy Word is truth" (Jn. 17:17). So the church must be the place where the truth of God's word is central. The reason for this is that God and not man knows what people actually need. Because of sin man's mind is tainted. He thinks he needs certain things, but many times these things are substitutes for what He really needs. What He really needs can be summed up in one word: Christ! This brings us to the final principle for that any ministry must embrace to glorify God.

7. Every person’s one true need is Christ Himself.

Colossians 1:28-29 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.NASB95

In this passage Paul is giving as a glimpse at the heart of his ministry. Under the inspiration of the Spirit of God Paul tells us that the central feature of his ministry is the proclamation of Christ. Whatever Paul and his team were doing they were constantly proclaiming, preaching, declaring Christ. Now, if there is anything that we do in any Christian ministry that doesn't have something directly to do with proclaming Christ--then we shouldn't be doing it. Paul and his team labored to instruct and encourage people in the wisdom of God's word with the goal of seeing everyone become mature in Christ Jesus. Maturity in Christ Jesus has to do with becoming like Him. We become like Him when we see Him in His Word and Christ is revealed to us through the Spirit and transforms us by His power. Paul knew that God's power would be working in him if he was faithful to preach Christ in the power of the Spirit of Christ.

When one sees Christ in the Word of Christ energized by the Spirit of Christ it transforms Him to be like Christ. This is the glory of the ministry! This is what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.NASB95

Jesus said Himself that when someone builds their life on Him and His word that they will be prepared for anything that life brings.

Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”NASB95

In this we see that a person's ultimate need, no matter what they think it is, is to be exposed to the teachings of Christ: the Bible. Christ's word actually promises blessing in all things for those who read and obey His word.

James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.NASB95

Now these blessing go far bayond what we think we need. Naturally we want everything in our lives to be smooth and comfortable, but that's not actually what is best for us. If we give people what they want we will forfiet for them what they really need. The spiritual blessings of Christ are primary:

Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,NASB95

Authentic Christianity is a life that is hidden in Christ.

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.NASB95

This applies to youth ministry as well. It would be very easy to design a youth ministry around what teenagers want. Doubtless we can fill our facilities with this approach, but will we be giving them what they really need?

We must give them Christ. This is what we are called to do. As we are faithful to proclaim Christ we can know that God will build His church in His way and we will be blessed and those who we minister to will be blessed.

I close with another description of Paul's ministry and how it works:

1 Corinthians 2:1-14 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.NASB95

"Help, I'm Addicted to My Anti-Addiction Pill!"

2007-07-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

I find it absolutely amazing in our medicate happy, responsibility free, therapeutic culture, that there is now a new pill that promises freedom from addiction. The Associated Press report includes these interesting statements about the new drug.

A single pill appears to hold promise in curbing the urges to both smoke and drink, according to researchers trying to help people overcome addiction by targeting a pleasure center in the brain.

"Is this going to be a cure-all? No, not for smoking or alcoholism because both diseases are more complicated than a single target or single genetic issue," said Allan Collins, a professor of pharmacology at the University of Colorado who was not connected to the study.

Notice that drug addiction and alcoholism are described as diseases. But how can you quit a disease. Many people have quit using drugs or alcohol. They made a conscious choice to abuse these and they made a conscious choice to stop abusing these. Now I bet a lot of cancer patients would love to just quit their cancer, but they can't because it is a real disease.

I just wonder if people will get addicted to their anti-addiction pill. The only true cure to "addiction" (which is actually just sinful indulgence) is found in the Bible.

Ephesians 4:17-24 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.NASB95

LP Missions Trip 07 Day 4-5

2007-06-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that the camp down here is almost over! Time flies when you're having fun! Wednesday was a great day with the Momentum in full swing. The Bethel team continues their labor of love in shining fashion. Despite weariness and lack of sleep the teens continue to serve faithfully with a joyful spirit. Parents you should be proud! Our group is also looking for ways to interject the gospel of our Lord at every opportunity. It is during the small group time that our teens have been prepared to boldly proclaim Christ. Yesterday was college game day. It was a ball (no pun intended)! The heat and humidity were high, but the spirit of encouragement and service was the cool part (in a good way). Today was international day. Lots of festive food parties. More pics from today later. We thought Elle had come down with strep throat, but she seems to be alright after a check up. She was exposed to lots of germs because her campers love her some much that they were hanging on her. Then 2 of her cabin kids came down with strep. It appears that the Lord has answered our prayers by giving her a negative on the test, or he is giving her a few more days of health before it hits (we hope the former). She never once complained and was ready to get back and serve. Tomorrow is the last day with the kids. It has been a great week. We appreciate your prayers. Pray especially that many children respond to the gospel in these last 2 days. Pray that seeds will be planted for a bountiful harvest. Pray that God will continue to teach us in many ways. We will have a lot to debrief on in terms of what we have learned and I know it will promote healthy discussion.

Rejoicing in Christ,
Caleb

LP Missions Trip Days 2-3

2007-06-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

I couldn't be more proud of the group that we have down here at King's Domain! Everyone if serving faithfully, despite challenging circumstances, in the pattern that our Lord gave us with joyful hearts! Monday was a training day our crew got to experience meal prep and cleanup for the first time. They had workshops for the students to learn how to be a part of their drama presentations and their worship sets. In the afternoon some of the people went to the high ropes course and some went to play paintball. I was told that our students were very brave on the high ropes course and that Paul Hartman swung like a monkey from tree to tree! Monday night we were treated to a trial run of the Drama: Rhythm Town. Tuesday we prepared with great expectation for the arrival of the "City Cure" kids from Cinci. Bob Badeau left at 7am to take the bus with some counselors to pick the kids up. Despite getting lost, they arrived back at camp at 11am with a bus load of kids! I believe that there are about 80 inner-city kids here for the week! We formed a massive gauntlet line to receive them and they came running through to high energy music. In the afternoon they played in the pool and went rafting. Our crew was busy cleaning and prepping for the western dinner party. The dinner party went from 5-7pm and was filled with fun carnival games. The kids had a great time and it was a good relationship building experience. Then in the late evening they were treated to the first act of Rhythm town. In this act the main character was waiting for his dancing shoes that the mayor of rhythm town would give him, but he got impatient and stole some money to get some shoes. It is a picture of someone not wanting to wait for what God has for them and trying to be happy in other things--going their own way. The leaders went back and had small group time and talked about sin and our bent to go away form God. The video that you will see at the end of the show goes back to Sunday night. The student were coming up with skits to demonstrate the rules. I hope to have a better system soon of uploading more video of the week’s events. Please pray that God will open the hearts of the dear inner-city children we have for the week. Also, pray for strength for our group--they are tired but they have not lost heart!

2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.NASB95

LP Missions Trip 07 Day 1: The Trip and Opening Night

2007-06-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your prayers!
The Lord gave us a wonderfully uneventful trip down! We had a blast fellowshipping, singing, hearing a devotion from Don on the last words of Christ on the earth, watching Swiss family Robinson, and just enjoying each others company. The first night and all of today (Monday) is training time. Our team is learning how to hype the week for the campers, and learning the proper procedure for things. Last night we had a great time of worship in song together. Today they had a session on understanding Urban people and now everyone is out on the ropes course or paintballing. I would have had some pics form that, but I got rained out. Hopefully more pics of this stuf later. We continue to prepare our hearts to reach out the Cinci youth who will becoming tomorrow! Keep us in your prayers! More later.

Caleb

LP Summer Missions Trip 07

2007-06-23T19:35:00.000-07:00
Tommorow we will embark upon a most excellent adventure. Our destination: King’s Domain--a camp designed to reach out to inner-city Cincinnati Youth. We plan also to help a church do some canvassing in Cinci and to visit the AIG Museum. Today we polished our bus as it has never been polished before. All our bags are packed and we are not leaving on a jet plane. Our coach bus, however we trust by God's grace, will carry us safely and comfortably to our destination. We are bringing 4 teens, 11 adults and 3 kids. We hope to keep this blog updated with pictures and notes from the trip. Please be in pray for us that God will open a door for the gospel for us and that we will be bold to speak the truth in love and clarity. Pray that our team will grow in unity, harmony and Christian fellowship. Pray that the God will give us a new passion to make disciples around the globe. Pray for our safety and enjoyment. We carry with us the heart of Bethel Baptist Church and we hope the heart of Christ Jesus! May God be glorified, saints be sanctified and satisfied, and unbelievers be converted!

Is Evil a Problem?

2007-05-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

There is an old syllogism that says:

If God is all powerful
And God is good
And there is evil in the world
Then God must not exist.

Or some would say:

If God is all powerful
And Evil is in the world
Then God is not good

Or some would say:

If God is good
and evil is in the world
then God is not all powerful

Or some would say:

If God is all powerful
and God is good
then there is no such thing as evil

The Bible says:

God is all powerful
and God is good
and evil is real and God has allowed it

So how can we reconcile these things? The syllogisms that deny God or His goodness or His power or the concept of evil fail to realize that there is a biblical justification for all three. When we make the mistake of denying one of the 3 we make the mistake of acting as if we are God. Human beings have a hard time understanding how an all good and all powerful God can allow evil, but God is not perplexed by this problem. This is because God is God.

A simple illustration will help us understand the solution to all of this. If I as a father allow my son to crash his bike as he learns to ride, am I a bad father? The answer is "no." I am letting him crash so that he we learn and gain the ability to ride his bike without crashing. Will I limit the danger for him? Yes. Will the hurt that he feels in crashing ultimately accomplish his good and enjoyment--Yes. In a very simplistic way this helps us understand God's allowance of evil.

As human beings we tend to pass judgment in the present. We have a hard time reconciling the goodness of God and the present evil of the world. But the Bible teaches us that God allows evil for His purposes. Ultimately God's allowance of evil will bring about the perfect and good plan of God. Those who are trusting in Jesus Christ (God the Son) for their life and salvation will ultimately be benefited by God's allowance of evil.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.NASB95

But what is more important is that God will bring about His glory and the exaltation of Jesus Christ in the end by allowing the existence of evil.

Ephesians 1:9-12 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.NASB95

When we question God for His allowance of evil, what we are really doing is acting as if we are god. Let us embrace the world that He has given us knowing that it and we are in the hands of an all wise, all powerful, good God, who will accomplish all of His desires. If we are His children, through the grace of Christ, this should bring us great joy!

USA Today Article Claims "Sex Does not Harm Older Teens"

2007-05-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

Even in the culture that we live in today I was a bit shocked by the superficiality and naivety of the content of the article that ran in today's copy of the USA TODAY: "Report: Sex Doesn't Harm Older Teens." The basic premise of the findings of a recent survey suggest that, since when teens older than 15 have sex they don't often get depressed or have lower self esteem because of it, then there is no harm done! Wow! I had no idea that "self esteem" and "depression" were the only dangers in the sexual arena. I was under the impression that morality, real love, faithfulness, health, marriage, and a meaningful future were important factors. When our culture only judges the damage of teen sex by the criterion of depression and self esteem--we know we are in deep trouble! Biblical truth breaks through the fog of the irrational landscape and shines the light of truth in the dark abyss of futility:

1 Thessalonians 4:4-8 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. So, he who rejects this is not rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.NASB95

Must Read Article By Al Mohler

2007-05-24T11:33:00.000-07:00
Al Mohler has posted an article on his website called "The Revenge of Conscience." He speaks of a horrifice tragedy in the US that is going unoticed. As I considered the culture of death that is growing in our society I was sickened as I identified with the heart of God and how He feels about this. You won't want to read this--but you must.

There's A Little Bit of Cho Seung Hui In All Of Us

2007-04-19T11:35:00.000-07:00
As I nation responds to the tragedy of the VA Tech shooting this past Monday, people are asking the question "how could someone do this?" I am certainly horrified, as everyone else is, by what Cho Seung Hui did on Monday in killing 33 people in cold blood. However, I don’t think I am as shocked about this as others are. Frankly, I am amazed that this stuff doesn't happen more. You see, unlike many others, I believe that human beings are essentially evil, not essentially good. Criminal profiler Pat Brown said in an interview with the Associated Press that Cho was a "psychopath." She said that because he was a psychopath he would not have responded to counseling and he was essentially destined to be a psychopath from the ages of 8-10 years old. This is the way our world including the "experts" respond to this kind of thing. Most assume that Cho is an anomaly. They believe that we are all essentially good, and yet once in a while a person gets his wires crossed and is capable of something awful like this. We want to believe that this is isolated rage and that not many could be capable of this. However, from a Christian perspective--a biblical perspective it is clear that we all have a little bit of Cho in us. In other words we are all evil at our core and capable of horrific things.

Jesus Christ Himself gave an indictment on the entire human race when he said in Matthew 5:21-22 "You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.NASB95 In other words, if you hate someone, or hold bitterness in your heart against someone, or rashly insult someone you are just as much a murderer as someone who takes away life in cold blood! Now if what Christ said is true, and it is, then we are all just as bad as Mr. Hui.

So how is it that we all don't act out our hatred and bitterness as Mr. Cho did? It is only because of God's restraining grace. God has instituted families and human government and the church to restrain sin. He has given us a moral conscience that teaches us basic right and wrong. He has revealed Himself in His creation so that we know that there is a God to be accountable to. He has revealed Himself in the person of Christ and in His Word--the Bible, so that we know His truth. God does not allow us to be as bad as we could be. Even such a horrific thing as this VA Tech shooting can be a means of God's mercy and grace if the world will stop for a moment and realize the awfulness of human sin.

Everyday we as human being don't live up to the knowledge we have. Everyday our conscience convicts us that we are not what we should be. The Bible tells us we were created to reflect the glory of God. We were made to obey Him, to please, Him and to live for Him. Sadly, most people do not live to please God for His glory. The fact is that we would all pursue a life of wickedness if it were not for the grace of God. It is the grace of God that sent Jesus, the Son of God, into the world to save the wicked human race. Jesus was born sinless and lived as we all should live. He lived to please God the Father. He fulfilled all righteousness. Then in the ultimate act of love He laid down His life for us on the cross. He took the sin of the world upon Him. We all deserve death and hell, but Christ took our punishment. He did not stay in the tomb that they laid Him in. Instead He rose from the dead just as the scriptures promised, and just as He had promised. He sent His disciples into the world to proclaim the good news that we can be forgiven of our sin and restored to God through Him and His work of righteousness and payment for our sin on the cross. The Bible tells us that if we turn away from our sin (rebellion against God) and turn to Christ as our Master and Savior we will be forgiven of our sin and be granted the very righteousness of God. We can be acceptable to God.

There is hope for the human race, but this hope is in Christ alone. There is even hope for those who the world would brand as psychopaths. God can break through to anyone with the good news of Christ and make them new persons --fit for heaven. This is the only real message of comfort for a world that asks why. The answer is because God is a God of grace who takes even the most horrific tragedy and turns it in to an opportunity for many to be saved. I am praying for comfort for all of the victims of this tragedy, and I know that true comfort will only come through Christ Jesus the Lord of all the earth. He is coming back one day and all will be made right on earth. In that day every deed and every thought will be judged. Only those who have been made righteous through Christ will avoid the wrath of God in that day. Justice will be served. Grace is being served today. Are you falling on the grace and mercy of Christ?

"Minister" Preaches Easter Sermon That Denies That Christ Died For Sin!

2007-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00
The British paper The Sunday Telegraph reports that "The Very Rev Jeffrey John" is preaching against the traditional Christian view of the death of Christ this Easter. He calls the traditional view "repulsive" and "insane." He claims that to say that Jesus died to atone for the sins of mankind is to make God out to be a "psychopath." He doesn't like the idea of the Father pouring His wrath out on His Son. He thinks that this makes God out to be vindictive and cruel instead of loving. He reinterprets the death of Christ by saying that Christ died to "share in the worst of grief and suffering that life can throw at us."

My question to Jeffrey John is, why even call yourself a Christian? The penal substitutionary atonement of Christ is the center of the Christian faith. In other words the truth that Jesus Christ the Son of God laid down His life to pay for the sins of mankind is essential to Christianity. Without this there is no reasonable explanation for why Christ came, died, rose, ascended and is now Lord of His church. This is what happens when a pagan takes the prevailing wisdom of the world and analyzes Christianity. To say that Christ came to merely experience the worst of humanity is absurd. This would give us a picture of a weak god who feels bad for the world of humans. This kind of god has no power to save men from their sins, so he merely joins in the sorrow with them. This kind of god can offer no hope to the world. What joy would Christ have to look forward to if he is just another victim of sin? This is a cruel picture of God sending his son to the world to die!

Jesus has made it very clear why He came to earth to die. He has communicated this through His true followers through His word. The Bible is Christ's explanation for why He came to die. Perhaps if Jeffrey John would crack it open, read it, believe it, and be saved by it, he would then be able to do what a Christian minister is supposed to do: preach the gospel, instead of attacking it!

Here are a few quotes from Christ Himself that make it very clear what he was doing when He died on the cross.

Luke 24:46-47 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.NASB95

Mark 10:45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."NASB95

Matthew 26:27-28 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.NASB95

When we understand that Jesus freely gave Himself to die for our sins in accordance with the Father's will and we understand that the Father raised Him from the dead and has exalted Him above all tings and made Him head of the church then we can understand that Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before Him" (Heb. 12:2).

It is only when we understand this that we can begin to understand the future joy of heaven spoken of in the book of Revelation:

Revelation 5:1-10 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”NASB95

Don't feel bad for Christ! He doesn't! Rejoice with Him and embrace His salvation!

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth (Pt. 8)

2007-04-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine visited a church the other day and heard a sermon that was 12 minutes in length! I am told that this is fairly common in churches these days. We are constantly reminded by psychologists and other experts that people cannot sit still and listen for more then 20 minutes in our culture. Nowhere is this drum beat on more than in the area of youth ministry. Well, there are some people who aren't listening to the short attention span theory. video game makers are not listening, Hollywood is not listening, cell phone companies are not listening, professional sports organizations are not listening, coaches are not listening. But for some odd reason churches are listening. Churches are listening despite the fact that Christianity has a long tradition of long winded teachers. Moses taught the entire law to the Children of Israel on the plains of Moab! (The book of Deuteronomy) The prophets preached extended messages of repentance to wayward Israel. Ezra taught the law again to the returned exiles in Jerusalem for half a day while they stood and listened! Jesus taught the sermon on the mount and other extended discourses to multitudes of people when he was on earth. (Matthew 5-7; John 6) The book of Hebrews is one sermon! The epistles of the New Testament where read and discussed by churches in one sitting. This brings us to our 6th biblical principle that every discipleship oriented Christian ministry should follow.

6. Making disciples and instructing believers involves intensive teaching over long periods of time.

Acts 20:18-21 And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.NASB95

When Paul was in Ephesus he took every opportunity he could to teach the whole counsel of God to the believers whether in public with a large group or in houses with small groups. He didn't hold back anything that was profitable. The central feature of his teaching was repentance and faith in Christ.

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.NASB95

This text clearly tells us that the word of Christ should be so central to our lives that we constantly think about it, teach it to each other, and sing it to each other!

1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.NASB95

This text implies that there was a sustained stream of teaching while Paul was with the Thessalonians.

1 Timothy 4:13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.NASB95

It was really clear what Paul, and thus Christ, wanted Timothy to do in church: read the word of God, exhort people to obey the word of God and teach people the word of God. Frankly, that takes time. 12 minutes doesn't cut it. Add to that that we are removed from the language, context and culture of scripture by thousands of years, so it takes more time now than it did then.

The good news is that people can handle it. In fact when committed believers are exposed to serious bible teaching they can’t get enough of it. We are experiencing this in our own church. The more we preach the word the more our core group of believers wants more. This includes our core group of believing teens. In fact my friend’s son who is 16 went with his dad to the service with the 12 minute sermon, and after hearing the sermon he responded to his dad by saying "is that it?"

I think a lot of teens are quietly saying the same thing in their hearts about the pop culture teen sermon devoid of substantive teaching from God's word: "Is that it?"

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus of Our Youth? (Pt. 7)

2007-03-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Al Mohler has a posted an article on his website about a new book, that is a NY Times Best seller, called The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. He are some are some of the excerpts that he includes from the book.

According to Byrne, every object and mind in the universe operates on its own frequency, and minds can attract matter. "Thoughts are magnetic," she argues, "and thoughts have a frequency. As you think, those thoughts are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to its source. And the source is you." Yep. You are the center of the universe.

"You are God in a physical body," she writes. "You are spirit in the flesh. You are Eternal Life expressing itself as You. You are a cosmic being. You are all power. You are all wisdom. You are all intelligence. You are perfection. You are magnificence. You are the creator, and you are creating the creation of You on this planet."

Now this is a classic example of the wisdom of the world. As bizarre as Rhonda's thoughts are, they are being accepted by the general populace as wonderful ideas. I think a lot of people sort of believe that they are the center of the universe, but they are not quite brash enough to say so. Since Byrne is able to say it in such esoteric language she gets away with it. What if the esoteric language was removed and we just went with the basic idea. Here is what it would look like:

Basically I am God. I control the universe. I can do whatever I want.
My guess is that if she would have put something like this as the subtitle she would have sold a few less books. Well what's the problem with Rhonda's ideas? Well, in a nutshell they are absurd. What exactly did Rhonda have to do with maintaining the precise spin or orbit of the earth while she was sleeping last night? What exactly does Rhonda have to do with ensuring her next breath? What exactly does Rhonda have to with engineering the entire universe to work in harmony? The answer is nothing. We could all ask ourselves the same question and the answer will still be nothing. The answer to why all of this happens is very simply given in the Bible:
Colossians 1:16-17 For by Him [Jesus Christ] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.NASB95
This is true wisdom. Christians do not need to go to the world for wisdom. We simply need to go to God's word. Our youth are in desperate need of true wisdom in a world of absurdity. Sadly, many churches offer them tiny tidbits of truth packaged worldly wisdom and trappings.
Last post we said that the 4th biblical principle that every discipleship ministry, including any youth ministry, must operate under is that the Bible is supremely relevant for every human need. Here is the fifth:

5. The Bible teaches that we do not go to the world to find out how we need to relate to people. Instead the Bible tells us to bring the wisdom of God to the world.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.NASB95
In Paul's day the rhetoric and sophistry was huge. "Wisdom teachers" used to go from town to town impressing people with their eloquence. They were not all that concerned as to if they were right, but they were very concerned about persuading people that they were right. They wanted to win arguments and gain a following. Paul was the polar opposite of this. He was unwilling to use popular tactics of persuasion to accomplish even a good thing! He relied completely on the simple message of the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and the power of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to be absolutely sure that is was the power of God at work and not the manipulation of men.

2 Corinthians 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,NASB95
It is hard to use the methodology and wisdom of the world to attract people and then turn on your own methods and destroy them and cast them down. However, this is exactly what we would have to do if we let the world tell us how to run our youth groups. The idea is to "take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." This means that we don't think like the world to reach the world. Instead we proclaim Christ and His truth to the world and call the world to repent and think the thoughts of Christ after Him!
Can we say that our ministries are all about simply proclaiming the gospel and relying on the Holy Spirit, or are we trying to manipulate something through worldly sophistication that only God can accomplish?

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth (Part 6)

2007-03-20T08:02:00.000-07:00

Time magazine featured an article last October entitled "In Touch with Jesus" about modern trends in youth ministry. Interestingly the article focused on a shift from entertainment oriented youth groups to substance oriented ones. Here are a few excerpts:

Youth ministers have been on a long and frustrating quest of their own over the past two decades or so. Believing that a message wrapped in pop-culture packaging was the way to attract teens to their flocks, pastors watered down the religious content and boosted the entertainment. But in recent years churches have begun offering their young people a style of religious instruction grounded in Bible study and teachings about the doctrines of their denomination. Their conversion has been sparked by the recognition that sugarcoated Christianity, popular in the 1980s and early '90s, has caused growing numbers of kids to turn away not just from attending youth-fellowship activities but also from practicing their faith at all.

...teens at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., are embracing the big doses of Bible study youth pastors now recommend. Teen ranks have tripled, to nearly 600, since the mid-1990s.

The Calvary kids say they too are happy with the more traditional approach. Priscilla Balcaceres, 16, believes she would still be holding grudges and feuding with friends and family were it not for Bible lessons and sermons on forgiveness. "Before attending Calvary, I believed in God and prayed at night, but I was still very bitter and unhappy about many things in my life," she says. "I've learned what it really means to be a Christian, and now I wake up smiling every morning." Meanwhile, Amanda Sinks, 16, spouts verses from Timothy, Corinthians and James the way other teens recite rap lyrics. "There's nothing boring to me about reading the Bible every day," says Sinks, who became a Christian 17 months ago and counts a heightened ability to withstand peer pressure as one of the benefits. If things keep up this way, hanging out with God might even become cool.

Do teens actually want more Bible teaching and less entertainment? Are they bored with the hysteria that youth ministry has offered for the past few decades. Do they want something more? Having been a youth pastor for the past 6 years, I have found that teens do in fact want substance. I have found that teens embrace being treated as young adults and rise to the challenge when asked to truly think about deep spiritual truth from God's Word. If a youth group is used to an entertainment based program it does take some time for them to become accustomed to serious Biblical teaching, but I have found that, when they are under this kind of teaching for a while, most do not want to go back. Recently I spoke to a student in our group whose parents attend another church in town that has a very entertainment oriented youth group. I encouraged the student to try to be a part of her parent’s church's youth ministry, but the student adamantly insisted on being a part of our group because we were challenging our students through serious biblical teaching.

Often youth pastors try to be sure that each of their talks are on "relevant" pop culture issues. If they refer to the scripture it is just by grabbing a verse or two out of context and using it as a spring board into a "relevant" discussion. This, they might say, is the only way the teens will listen. It is true that teens have unique issues they are facing and unique needs to be met, but I believe that these issues and needs are best addressed through the straightforward teaching of God's Word: the Bible. So that brings us to the fourth biblical principle that applies to every discipleship ministry including youth ministry,

4. The Bible is supremely relevant and addresses every genuine need.

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.NASB95

In short, this text tells us that God has supernatural provided in advance for all the issues and needs we will face a human beings. How has he done this? He has provided everything through the true knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord! Christ is the answer to everything! It doesn't matter what the issue or problem is: the answer or solution is knowing Christ and all that we have in Him more! When we know Him more we trust Him more and we believe His promises and we obey His word and he solves our issues and problems by His word!
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;NASB95

We know Christ through the Word of Christ: the Bible. Every word of the Bible is sourced in God and breathed out through His Spirit. Because He is God He is able to reveal to us all that we need to know, all that we need to change, all that we need to grow, and all that we need to live as God intends us to live!

Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.NASB95

God promised Joshua success if he would live by His word. God promises the same thing for us today (see 2 Pet. 1:2-4 above & Psalm 1:2-5). This isn't a big "easy" button, but instead it is a prescription to true eternal success in the eyes of God.

Psalm 19:7-19 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.NASB95

This text tells us that God's word is the means of our salvation, wisdom for living, happiness & clarity. It is never outdated it is never false and it value is incalculable. it warns us away from sin and brings us reward. We can please our creator if we think about it, speak it and live it!
If the Bible can do all of this, perhaps we should make it central to all we do? Absolutely we should!

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth? Pt. 5

2007-03-01T13:32:00.000-08:00
I read an article today in the L. A. times about a man who repossesses ocean going ships! In places like Haiti, due to corruption, it is not uncommon for vessels to be seized for a price and sold cheaply in an auction to the highest bidder. F. Max Hardberger bravely rushes into the frey to repo these ships for their rightful owners. Now repossessing a car can be tricky and dangerous, but repossessing a 700 ft ship is nearly impossible. However, Hardberger is a resourceful man and has repossessed quite a few large ships!

I feel like in youth ministry we are repossessing something that has been taken away: "the faith once for all delivered to the saints" that Jude spoke of. This faith has been passed down to us in a book: the Bible. What is really sad is that we actually have to argue as to why the Bible and Bible teaching should be central to what we do. Like Hardberger's work, ours is a dangerous one. As we try to reclaim the centrality of the Christian faith found in the Word of God we find ourselves attacked on every side. Friendly fire is the most deadly kind. However, we must "contend for the faith." That means we must fight against attacks on God's word no matter how innocent they appear. Sadly the Word of God has fallen on hard times. I think what we as youth pastors today need to remember is that without the centrality of the word we can have no hope for any true success. That brings us to the third biblical principle of the eight that we mentioned in Pt. 2, which is applicable to any ministry including any youth ministry.

3. The great commission tells us to make disciples. The only way to make disciples is to faithfully teach God’s word.

How does someone become a follower of Christ? The Bible makes it very clear that this only happens when the word of God transforms someone through the Spirit of God and makes them into a brand new person: a Christian. Let’s look at a few texts:

Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.NASB95

If one is to turn away from a life of sin and idolatry and embrace Jesus as their Lord and Savior they must hear the word of God. If it is the word that produces faith, shouldn't our ministry focus on the faithful teaching of the word?

1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,NASB95

Notice that the word does the work. The result is imitation of faithful churches. In other words discipleship happened as a result of the faithful teaching of God's word.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.NASB95

How are we going to see people saved? Through the preaching of the gospel. What is the gospel? Simply stated, it is the good news of Jesus Christ. But how do we understand this gospel? Christ is revealed on every page of scripture. How will we share Christ without constantly presenting the same monotonous "plan of salvation?" We can do this if we faithfully preach Christ from every page of scripture.

James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.NASB95

The word produces new birth. New birth is not produced by nifty programs and hype that is devoid of clear biblical preaching.

Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.NASB95

So what were the essentials of the ministry for the early church? 1. "the apostles teaching" (now we have this in the NT) 2. "fellowship": sharing in common with each other in their relationship with God in Christ and in the grace of God as well as tangible things. 3. "the breaking of bread": probably the Lord's Supper and perhaps agape feasts as well. 4. "prayer": they spent time praying together. These should be the essentials of any church.

What is essential in your church? What is essential in your youth group? Is it time to repo the faith?

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth? Part 4

2007-02-26T11:04:00.000-08:00

What's On The Menu?

Have you heard any of these things lately: "Teens have a short attention span and can only listen for 15 minutes"; "Teens need discussion groups not sermons"; "We have to make the Bible relevant to our teens"; "We must used modern media to connect with youth"; "teens can't sit through plenary church services"; "we have to find out what teens are thinking about and teach on those topics."
In just 6 years of youth ministry I have heard all of these things and many other things like these. So how do these things impact my ministry? They don't! Why not? Am I just a maverick who won't listen to anyone and things he has it all figured out? I hope not. I believe that I am only doing what I have been called to do. I am called to "preach the word" (2 Tim 4:2). There is nothing wrong with using modern technology and using appropriate language that communicates with youth, but none of these should replace the straightforward teaching of God's word. Right now preaching the word happens to be out of season, particularly in youth ministry, but that does not change my calling. Last post we looked at the first biblical principle that guides any discipleship ministry:
1. The church should be God centered and not man centered.

Here is a second biblical principle to guide us:

2. God has not commanded us to preach to felt needs. He has commanded us to preach His Word.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.NASB95
We don't have to go looking for new material because we have been given the material already. We, like Paul, have been entrusted with the gospel.
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.NASB95
How does a pastor know that he is a a workman that doesn't need to be ashamed? If he accurately handles the word of truth.
2 Timothy 4:2-5 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.NASB95
No matter if people want us to preach the word or not is the only thing that we should be doing! In other words we should ignore requests for something else.
1 Timothy 4:11-16 Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.NASB95
Now what is important in these verses? The teaching of God's word. It is pretty simple really: read it, teach it, live it, read it, teach it, live it!
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—NASB95
How much would be left in our evangelical youth ministries if we cut out "worldly and empty chatter"?
The ironic thing about all of this is that I have found that just teaching the Bible in a straightforward way is not only the right thing to do biblically but it is also effective. God generally blesses a ministry centered on His word. I am not a mega youth ministry pastor. I have never seen explosive numerical growth. However, by God's grace, as much as I have endeavored to faithfully preach the word we have seen steady spiritually growth amongst our teens. God's word has produced true conversion in a number of teens, and God's word has produced spiritual growth in number of teens. One of the most encouraging things so far is that those who are genuinely impacted by the word are not flash in the pan Christians. Instead they continue to grow and stay with the church! Praise the Lord! May He continue to add His blessing to His word!

How Should The Church Respond To The Exodus Of Our Youth? Part 3

2007-02-20T12:19:00.000-08:00

The Conservative Voice Online recently posted and article about Britney Spears entitled "Britney Spears Backslid." In the article Grant Swank chronicles Britney's journey from Southern Baptist to Kabala to nothing to Judaism. Look at how he describes her church experience and her exit:

Britney Spears was reared in the Kentwood, LA Southern Baptist Church where "Jesus saves" is preached weekly. Her parents are James Parnell Spears, a building contractor, and Lynne Irene Bridges, a former grade school teacher.
Brought up Southern Baptist means Britney was reared in a fundamentalist environment — biblical morality, Scripture memorization, Sunday school. More: weekly attendance at worship, chaperoned youth activities, public services closing with invitations to accept Jesus as Savior. And still more: prayer meetings, Bible-carrying worshipers, plainly understood evangelistic preaching, and expectations that members live "separate from the world. "But Britney backslid.

I am not going to question Britney's former church and evaluate whether they could have done more or not. Britney made her choice to leave the church. However, I will question the terminology that Swank uses. He says that Britney backslid. Backsliding is a term that is often used in Christian circles of a Christian turning away from Christ and sliding back in to sin and worldliness. The problem is that there is no such thing, biblically speaking, as a backslidden Christian. There are just Christians and non-Christians. It is clear from looking and Britney's life that she is a non-Christian. How can I say that? Because I believe Jesus when he said:

John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.NASB95

If Britney was ever a true Christian then she would be bearing fruit because Christ would be living in her through the Holy Spirit, but she does not bear the fruit of a Christian. At one time Britney made a big deal about being a virgin and being moral, but evidently it was only external and did not come form her heart.

This is a huge issue that we need to deal with in our churches and youth groups. It is easy to manipulate teens and see them get caught up in the excitement of events or the groups or all sorts of things, but do they really have a heart for God? What is it that produces a heart for God? Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.NASB95 This is why it is the word and not the world that needs to be central in our youth ministries.

Let's go back and look again at #1 in the list of biblical principles that we looked at last post.
1. The church should be God centered and not man centered. Even youth groups should be God centered and not youth centered. This is why we call our youth group a youth ministry. Human need is not the central purpose of the church. The central purpose is God’s glory.
I have found that in youth ministry I have often been encouraged to focus on the particular issues that our teens are facing. I don't have a problem with addressing key topics from time to time. However, I do feel that a steady stream of topical messages focusing on teen issues encourages teens to become myopic or self focused. The real question for both older adults and young adults (teenagers) is what God wants to say to me, not what do I think I need from God. The Bible is unmistakably God centered and not man centered. Notice what Paul says in Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1:5-6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.NASB95

This text tells us that God's sovereign work of salvation has a purpose: the praise of the glory of His grace. In other words our salvation is to cause us to focus on God and His grace and not on ourselves. It couldn't be clearer then Paul puts it in 1 Cor. 10:31:

1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.NASB95

Even in the minutest details of life the glory of God is to drive what we do. When we are structuring our youth ministries are we concerned with doing the things that bring the most glory to God, or are we more concerned with what will please our youth and attract more to come? We can sure impress teens by wowing them with our programs, but only God and His God-centered word can awaken with in them a true heart of worship through the gift of faith.

If the glory of God is to be central to and permeate all that we do then the Word of God must be central to and permeate all that we do because God reveals His glory through His word.

How Should the Church Respond to the Exodus of Our Youth (Part 2)

2007-01-26T19:22:00.000-08:00

The video above was produced by Teen Mania which is headed up Ron Luce.
Last post I surfaced the issue of young people leaving the church by providing excerpts form a NY Times article. Someone pointed out that the poll from Denis Rainey used by Ron Luce and others and cited in the article is somewhat suspect. I am still tracking that down, but I did find a more trustworthy poll done by the Barna group that indicates a similar trend. Below are some excerpts from a Barna Group report entitled "Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years."

A new study by The Barna Group (Ventura, California) shows that despite strong levels of spiritual activity during the teen years, most twentysomethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years - and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twentysomethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood.
the most potent data regarding disengagement is that a majority of twentysomethings - 61% of today’s young adults - had been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying). Only one-fifth of twentysomethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences. Another one-fifth of teens (19%) were never significantly reached by a Christian community of faith during their teens and have remained disconnected from the Christian faith.
"When and if young adults do return to churches, it is difficult to convince them that a passionate pursuit of Christ is anything more than a nice add-on to their cluttered lifestyle."
Loyalty to congregations is one of the casualties of young adulthood: twentysomethings were nearly 70% more likely than older adults to strongly assert that if they "cannot find a local church that will help them become more like Christ, then they will find people and groups that will, and connect with them instead of a local church." They are also significantly less likely to believe that "a person’s faith in God is meant to be developed by involvement in a local church."
This survey might be skewed a bit as well because it represents and examination of "churched" or "unchurched" people and did not necessarily focus on evangelicals. However, as we look around and ask where are the youth that were active in our youth groups 5 & 10 years ago, we are likely to find that many have left the church. The questions is what, if anything, we should do about it? Ron Luce and Teen Mania have responded to the statistics in the video above by launching a nation wide campaign focused on empowering Christian youth to take a stand in their culture. As I mentioned last time, though I feel that Ron Luce's efforts are valiant, I question the big teen rally approach. However, I am more concerned with how we should handle this in the local church.

Since the industrial revolution father's have by enlarge worked away from their homes. With the influence of feminism now many mothers are also out of the homes. This has left children to be raised in great part by schools and day care institutions and extra curricular school programs. In the last 100 years many well meaning folks have reached out to teens whose parents left them behind. In doing so they created a whole new teen culture. The result is that we have a large segment of the adult population (teenagers) segregated from the rest of the adults. Hence the youth culture of our day. In our society adolescence has been embraced as an age between childhood and adulthood. For this time period not much is expected out of these young adults. Rick Holland of Grace community Church in Sun Valley, CA has written a great article on this called "The Myth of Adolescence."

I think that when we treat teenagers as neither children or adults we do them a great disservice. In other words when we ask ourselves how we should reach teens, we should be asking how do we reach young adults. If we think of them as adolescents then we will always be trying to figure out what adolescents need, what they want, what they are in to and we will be trying to structure our youth groups around them. However, if we think of them as young adults we will evangelize them, disciple them, instruct them, equip them for service, and engage them in service. They will become and important part of the adult congregation. Then when they graduate from HS the adult services and the older adults will not be foreign to them.

As we search the scriptures we find nothing that looks anything like the youth ministries that are prevalent in our day (we don't even find the title "youth pastor!"), but we do find a clear picture of how we should reach adults. As I have been thinking about this I believe that their are some key biblical principles that will guide us as we minister to any adult group. All of these principles indicate that the simple, straightforward, systematic teaching of God's word should be central to all that we do. This is the only means of discipleship that we have been given. This teaching is done through instruction and example.

The church should be God centered and not man centered. Even youth groups should be God centered and not youth centered. This is why we call our youth group a youth ministry. Human need is not the central purpose of the church. The central purpose is God’s glory.
Ephesians 1:5-6 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.NASB95
1 Corinthians 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.NASB95
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.NASB95
2. God has not commanded us to preach to felt needs. He has commanded us to preach His Word.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts.NASB95
2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.NASB95
2 Timothy 4:2-5 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.NASB95
2 Corinthians 4:1-2 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.NASB95
Ephesians 4:11-13 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.NASB95
1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.NASB95
1 Timothy 4:11-16 Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.NASB95
1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.NASB95
1 Timothy 6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”—NASB95
Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.NASB95
3. The great commission tells us to make disciples. The only way to make disciples is to faithfully teach God’s word.
Romans 10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.NASB95
1 Thessalonians 2:13-14 For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews,NASB95
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.NASB95
2 Timothy 2:2 The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.NASB95
James 1:18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.NASB95
1 Peter 1:2-3 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be yours in the fullest measure. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,NASB95
Acts 2:42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.NASB95

4. The Bible is supremely relevant and addresses every genuine need.
2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.NASB95
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;NASB95
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.NASB95
Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.NASB95
Psalm 19:7-19 The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.NASB95
Psalm 1:2-5 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.NASB95
1 John 2:14 I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.NASB95
John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.NASB95
5. The Bible teaches that we don’t go to the world to find out how we need to relate to people. Instead the Bible tells us to bring the wisdom of God to the world.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.NASB95
2 Corinthians 10:5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,NASB95
6. Making disciples and instructing believers involves intensive teaching over long periods of time.
Acts 20:18-21 And when they had come to him, he said to them, “You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house, solemnly testifying to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.NASB95
Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.NASB95
1 Thessalonians 2:9-12 For you recall, brethren, our labor and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behaved toward you believers; just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.NASB95
Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.NASB95
Hebrews 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.NASB95
7. Every person’s one true need is Christ Himself.
Colossians 1:28-29 We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.NASB95
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”NASB95
2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.NASB95
Colossians 3:1-4 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.NASB95
James 1:25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.NASB95
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,NASB95
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.NASB95
Philippians 1:19-21 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.NASB95

In Part 3 we will begin to flesh out each of these principles as they pertain to young adults and we will begin looking at the role of the family in these things.

Please share your thoughts.

How Should the Church Respond to the Exodus of Our Youth (Part 1)

2007-01-23T09:16:00.000-08:00
There is an alarming trend in the evangelical church that has been going on for over 25 years, but has sharply increased of late: many of our teens are graduating from their youth groups and leaving the church never to return. I would like to host an online discussion about how we should respond to this. Here are some of the statistics and comments that have come out about this.

Last October the NY times published an article called "Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers". Here are some excerpts from the article.

Despite their packed megachurches, their political clout and their increasing visibility on the national stage, evangelical Christian leaders are warning one another that their teenagers are abandoning the faith in droves.

Their alarm has been stoked by a highly suspect claim that if current trends continue, only 4 percent of teenagers will be “Bible-believing Christians” as adults. That would be a sharp decline compared with 35 percent of the current generation of baby boomers, and before that, 65 percent of the World War II generation.

“I’m looking at the data,” said Ron Luce, who organized the meetings and founded Teen Mania, a 20-year-old youth ministry, “and we’ve become post-Christian America, like post-Christian Europe. We’ve been working as hard as we know how to work — everyone in youth ministry is working hard — but we’re losing.”

To break the isolation and bolster the teenagers’ commitment to a conservative lifestyle, Mr. Luce has been organizing these stadium extravaganzas for 15 years. The event in Amherst was the first of 40 that Teen Mania is putting on between now and May, on a breakneck schedule that resembles a road trip for a major touring band. The “roadies” are 700 teenagers who have interned for a year at Teen Mania’s “Honor Academy” in Garden Valley, Tex.

More than two million teenagers have attended in the last 15 years, said Mr. Luce, a 45-year-old, mop-headed father of three with a master’s degree from the Graduate School of Business Administration at Harvard and the star power of an aging rock guitarist.

“That’s more than Paul McCartney has pulled in,” Mr. Luce asserted, before bounding onstage for the opening pyrotechnics and a prayer.

For the next two days, the teenagers in the arena pogoed to Christian bands, pledged to lead their friends to Christ and sang an anthem with the chorus, “We won’t be silent.” Hundreds streamed down the aisles for the altar call and knelt in front of the stage, some weeping openly as they prayed to give their lives to God.

The 4 percent is cited in the book “The Bridger Generation” by Thom S. Rainer, a Southern Baptist and a former professor of ministry. Mr. Rainer said in an interview that it came from a poll he had commissioned, and that while he thought the methodology was reliable, the poll was 10 years old.

“I would have to, with integrity, say there has been no significant follow-up to see if the numbers are still valid,” Mr. Rainer said.

Mr. Luce seems weary of criticism that his message is overly alarmist. He said that a current poll by the well-known evangelical pollster George Barna found that 5 percent of teenagers were Bible-believing Christians. Some criticize Mr. Barna’s methodology, however, for defining “Bible-believing” so narrowly that it excludes most people who consider themselves Christians.

Since the 4-5% figure maybe off a little bit off let's grant that up to 10% of evangelical teens might stay with their evangelical churches. This is still very alarming, but what I find just as alarming is that it seems that most evangelicals who are pointing this out are advocating the same tactics that have been used for the past 20-25 years only repackaged with an alarmist tone.

The big teen rally is not new! Youth for Christ has been doing this for well over 50 years. But don't get me wrong I am not really for something new. I am for something very old. I am for returning to simply focusing on the preaching of the word and discipleship. I don't think that youth ministry should look much different than adult ministry. After all teens are really just young adults. I think that the reason that teens often leave the church is because they have never been to church. Instead they have always been a part of a program that was something less than church. They have often been entertained, often had their felt needs massaged, often been encouraged to do radical things, often even loved, but seldom have they been exposed to straightforward teaching from God's word. In other words there has been alot of buzz , but not a lot of Bible. I do apreciate Ron Luce's desire to move towards something more substantive for teens, but are we doing them a favor by packaging it in hip teen culture? The old saying that "what it takes to get them there is what it takes to keep them there applies." If we are going to package youth ministry in pop teen culture then we will also have to package every other ministry in the pop culture of its age group. This means that corporate services will also have to look more and more like prime time TV and less and less like simple Christianity. This does not seem to fit Paul's admonition to Timothy in 2 Tim. 4.

2 Timothy 4:1-5 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.NASB95

What principles from scripture will guide the evangelical church through this dilemna. More later.

Mohler "Lessons Learned in a Crisis of Life"

2007-01-23T08:26:00.000-08:00
Check out Al Mohler's commentary on his recent illness and hospital bout. He has been teaching us how to view the culture through the lens of scripture, and now he teaches us to view our own trials through the lens of scripture.

The Exit Sign For The Episcopal Church

2007-01-08T10:43:00.000-08:00
The Washington Post has published an article by Rev. John Yates and Os Guinness about why they left the Episcopal church of America. In it we find a fully justifiable reason for leaving any denomination.

Caribou Coffe--mmmmmmmmmmmm

2006-12-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

On this the morning after Christmas Day there is but one thing on my mind at the moment--Spicy, Heavy Caribou Coffee (Thanks to whoever bequeathed it to me anonymously this Christmas). If it were not for this coffee on my desk I would be sleeping right now. Christmas celebrations were grand, but they have taken a toll as I'm sure your celebrations have. Saturday we enjoyed Christmas celebrations with extended family in Madison. Sunday we worshipped together with our church and then visited with family in town. Yesterday we had a wonderful time retelling our Savior's birth, singing hymns and opening presents with our little family at home. Then it was on to the Christmas dinner at our church where we were able to share both physical food and spiritual food with folks in need. Finally we celebrated with my wife's family last night. Much eggnog, turkey, cookies and other goodies have been consumed. Many presents have been opened.
So now what? As we catch our breath and prepare for the New Year I have one thought on my mind-- clarity of focus. May God give us all clear thinking to pause for a moment and consider what God has given to us and consider how we might offer it back to Him as a sweet smelling sacrifice of service. Moses' reflections are helpful at this point:

Psalm 90 A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man back into dust And say, "Return, O children of men." For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away. For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh. As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away. Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You? So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom. Do return, O Lord; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants. O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, That we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, And the years we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants And Your majesty to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands.NASB95

"The Mystery of Christmas" 48 hours

2006-12-18T09:29:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday night 48 hours aired a show called "The Mystery of Christmas." While watching the first half I became sick to my stomach as "Christian Scholars" did their best destroy the record of the New Testament. What was so amazing, and I should expect this by now, is that they never once considered the possibility that the New Testament could have accurately recorded the birth of Christ. Their presupposition was all too obvious. They had decided at the outset that the witness of scripture could not be true because it deals with the supernatural and miraculous. It was almost hilarious to see them try to reconstruct the story of Christ without the text of scripture. It was pure guess work. The amazing thing is how arrogant they were as they touted their own opinions as real history and ignored the text of scripture which was completely written within 100 years of Christ's birth. John Dominic Crossan makes some amazing statements:

“We would like there to be records of all of this. And instead, what we have is Gospels...The interesting thing is, of the four gospels, Mark and John of course have no nativity story. Only Matthew and Luke...They agree that Mary and Joseph are the parents. They agree about a virgin birth. They agree about a birth in Bethlehem. But pretty much apart from that, the stories go completely their own way.”

Crossan mentions that the gospel writers had specific purposes in writing, but he claims that because of their purposes they created their stories to prove their points. However, there is no thought of the idea that the gospel writers might selectively choose what details of actual history to include based on what they were trying to teach. For example Luke sets out to give and orderly account of the things that took place. He is the historian (Luke 1:1-4). So we would expect that Luke would have the fullest account of the birth of Christ. Crossan also does not mention that nothing in the gospel accounts is contradictory. Any differences can easily be explained by considering that the writers selected details for a reason and that they represented different witnesses to the same events. If there were a car accident there would be various accounts as to what happened. The accounts would be different, but not neccasarily wrong. Each person would be able to share from their perspective what happened. The difference is that scripture claims to be sourced in God Himself (2 Tim. 3:16). So when we read scripture we find absolute coherence and absolute accuracy. We find absolute truth.

Crossan, Michael White and Elaine Pagels don't belive the testimony of scripture. The Jesus of the Bible is to them an invention of the writers of scripture, and yet they try to say that the metaphor of Chirst still has significant meaning and value for Christians. However, as C. S. Lewis said, "He is either liar or lunatic or Lord." Their is no middle ground. If the message of the Bible is false then their is no use in anyone being a Christian.

Thankfully, Ben Witherington from Asbury Theological Seminary was featured in the last part of the show. He simply took the witness of the 4 gospels as being absolutely true and then toured around the Holy land showing that everything that was said fits with what we can see. He shows that there are no huge dilemmas to overcome.

However, there is one huge dilemma. One must embrace scripture by faith. It is not blind faith because scripture is very reasonable. In fact, scripture if perfect reason, but because of sin people will not except the wisdom of God unless God opens their eyes. But when one with eyes wide open reads scripture and looks at the world things begin to come into focus. With focused eyes one can then look at the simple beauty of the birth of Christ and see the profound reality that He was in fact conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, the promised Messiah, the descendant of David, the eternal King, Yahweh Himself, the Son of the Most High, the Savior of the world! And what's more we can fall on our faces and worship our risen Lord and Savior today!

An Unfortunate Burn Out

2006-11-28T12:49:00.000-08:00
The London Times reports that on November 3rd a man named Michael Ritscher burned himself to death in Chicago in protest of the War on terror in Iraq. He meant it to be a public protest, but ironically people thought he was just a burning statue and took little notice of him at the time. Here is what he said in a suicide note:

"If I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country...Maybe some will be scared enough to wake from their walking dream state am I therefore a martyr or a terrorist? I would prefer to be thought of as a spiritual warrior."

Death is always tragic, but when someone takes their own life it is incredibly tragic. Death is always a product of sin (Romans 5:12). It is not that death is a direct cause of a particular sin that brings about the demise of the deceased. Instead because man sinned against God and because men are sinners the penalty of this is death (Romans 3:23). This death is physical, spiritual and eternal. However, when one commits suicide he brings about his own death by his own direct sin. There is nothing bold, brave or heroic about self murder. Let's just call it what it is: a violation of the 6th commandment. It is rebellion against God. We are made in the image of God for His glory. Everywhere in scripture the sanctity and preciousnessnes of life is upheld. When God says "you shall not murder" He is telling us that the taking of life without due cause is against His law and against His holiness.

Sadly this man who made himself a human torch does not offer any true light to the world, but only hopelessness. Not only was his opportunity for public protest wasted, but his suicide is an incredible waste of life. We find hope and light in Christ alone. There is something worth living for! We proclaim faith in Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of sins and the redemptionion of mankind!

1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially believersB95

Kramer's Racist Tirade

2006-11-21T08:16:00.000-08:00

USA TODAY Reports:

Comedian Michael Richards, better known as the character Kramer from TV's Seinfeld, apologized Monday night for a racist tirade at a West Los Angeles comedy club that was
captured in a grainy cellphone video and seen by millions of people on the Internet Monday.

"I lost my temper on stage," Richards, 57, said on Late Night With David Letterman. Excerpts
were shown on CBS Evening News.

"I was at a comedy club trying to do my act, and I got heckled and I took it badly and went
into a rage," Richards said. "For me to be at a comedy club and flip out and say this crap —
you know, I'm deeply, deeply sorry. I'm not a racist. That's what is so insane about this."

Does the "I lost my temper...I was in a rage" excuse really cut it? Someone has said what comes out of you when you are shoved is what was inside of you all along. But Jesus said it better:

Mark 7:14-23 After He called the crowd to Him again, He began saying to them, “Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which can defile him if it goes into him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. [“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”] When he had left the crowd and entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, “Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?” (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, “That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. “All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.”NASB95

So what we have in all of this is a window into Michael Richards' heart. What comes out of our heart when we are bumped? We all have the same fundamental problem. Our hearts are wicked. The only solution is that God gives us new hearts. Thankfully God is in the business of doing just that!

Ezekiel 36:25-27 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.NASB95

This is called the New Covenant and it is only possible for those who turn away from their sin and turn to Christ as their Savior and Lord.

"On Faith" Online Discussion

2006-11-20T13:05:00.000-08:00
The Washington post is hosting a discussion amongst religious panelests about faith called "On Faith". The first question is this: "If some religious people believe they have a monopoly on truth, then are conversation and common ground possible? If so, what would be the difficulties and benefits of such a conversation?"

Al Mohler has given a response that is worth checking out. It is also very interesting to follow the discussion and see what kinf od responses Mohler gets.

Here is the comment that I left on Mohler's response page:

You hit the nail right on the head Dr. Mohler. There is no point in having a discussion about what we believe unless we really believe it. The best thing to do is just be honest about what you believe. Why must everyone become offended when one says that he simply believes the Bible? Everyone, no matter what they say, has a standard of truth. That standard may simply be their own opinion, or it may be the consensus of scholarship, or it may be the holy book of their religion, or it may be an institution. But the fact remains that everyone appeals to something to define their reality. The question is what truth is really true? A good discussion, then, cannot take place on a superficial level. Instead it must begin with ones standard of truth. The question then is: Does your standard of truth give you the capability of understand life as it really is. I am a born again Christian. I only understand myself, the world, God, others, the future because God's word defines reality. It is only because of this that I can make sense of anything. These are the questions that need to be asked: How do you make sense of everything? Does it really make sense? Do you have answers to ultimate questions?

The Apple Has Rolled Down The Hill

2006-11-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

Tony Campolo has grown more liberal over the years. He has joined in with the emergent church crowd which claims that the message of scripture is often fuzzy so we need to give much latitude for various doctrines. Well, the apple has not fallen far from the tree, but it has rolled down the hill a ways. His son Bart has popped off recently. He has decided that he doesn't want any God except one he can fashion for himself. As Justin Taylor says, this would make him an idolater. If we hold the truth loosely our children may just let it go altogether.

Hmmmmm Do You Think He Did It?

2006-11-15T12:39:00.000-08:00
Well, if there was every any question as to if O. J. did it, those questions must now be answered. Simpson is to do an interview with FOX called "If I did it." This is to be followed by a book by the same title. Let's just be honest here. If somone were to murder a loved one of yours and you were to be wrongly accused of the murder, would you ever, ever, ever consider writing a book discussing how you would have committed the murder even though you didn't? Come on now. This is too much! I hope that Simpson some how perjures himself and he is brought to justice.

But do be sure that you know that a day of justice is coming.

Ecclesiastes 3:16-17 Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness. I said to myself, “God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,” for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.NASB95

Changing Your Sex Is Getting Easier

2006-11-15T09:20:00.000-08:00
In NY City at least it is going to be as simple as having a note from your doctor. Once you have that all important note, your birth certificate can be altered to identify you as the opposite sex. This is such a testimony to the confusion of our times. If you an one specialist think that you are a man instead of a woman or vice versa then it is so. What if I think I am a lion and one specialist agrees, can I change my birth record to read "lion."

Isn't it a bit more simple to just accept ourselves the way that God has made us?

Genesis 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.NASB95

Anything less is really just rebellion aginst the creator. Christians call that sin, but there is an answer to the problem: Christ.

Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.NASB95

Are Disabled Babies Worth Saving?

2006-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00
Al Mohler has posted a blog today entitled "Overriding the Protection of Life? A Shocking Development in England."

The Church of England is now suggesting that their are some babies whose lives are not worth saving! Perhaps they should have consulted Jesus first.

Luke 18:15-17 And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.”NASB95

Not a Lone Wolf

2006-11-13T12:27:00.000-08:00

Al Mohler posted a blog last Friday about the new presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, who just happens to be a woman! Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori exemplifies the utter lack integrity that has plagued pulpits around our country under the name of "Christianity." When you read Mohler's blog you will see that she is clearly preaching another gospel (Gal. 1:8-9). What is more is that in doing so she is dishonest because the contradicts her own church's Articles of Faith:

Article XVIII:

They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For Holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.

This would then make Schori a wolf in sheep’s clothing, would it not? She runs with quite a pack.

These are interesting times that we live in today. We have a woman pastor leading a Christian denomination violating (1 Tim. 2:12) who is accursed because she is preaching another gospel (Gal. 1:8-9) and who is lying to the whole world by serving a church whose confession she does not agree with.

I wish she would just have enough honesty to go and start a new religion.

The Key Of Knowledge

2006-11-09T08:45:00.000-08:00

As I was thinking about the results of the elections I was reminded again that our hope is not in government. Some will see the loss to so many conservatives as a crushing blow. What is so ironic is that people place there hope and trust in government and yet again and again government lets people down. Historically in America whatever party has been leading the nation is ousted the very next term in favor of the other party who people think will fix everything.

Look at what our Lord Jesus said in Luke 11:52

Luke 11:52 "Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were entering."NASB95

The experts in the Law of God had failed to understand and apply the true meaning of God's Word. They held people in bondage to their sin rather than teach the life giving truth of the Messiah. Now they were rejecting Christ and carrying on the awful legacy of their wicked fathers who killed the prophets from Abel to Zechariah. Notice that when the did not teach the truth of God's word they took away the key of knowledge.

Well God has committed the key of knowledge to His church today: His Word! The answer to all of the problems in our country will not be found in government. It is found only when Christ's church clearly teaches His Word: the Gospel! May we not fall under the condemnation of Christ as the scribes did.

May we take the key of knowledge and unlock the door to paradise through His Spirit for the lost world around us!

Happy Reformation Day!

2006-10-31T18:45:00.000-08:00
Go to the Ligonier Ministry Website to celebrate reformation day by enjoying a soul stiring audio rendition of Martin Luther's great reformation stand!

Hey Man Check Out Naaman

2006-10-26T11:18:00.000-07:00
So I was reading a Bible story about Naaman with my boys this morning and I was just struck by Naaman in a way I had never been before. If you know the story Naaman is a Syrian captain who has leprosy. One of the servant girls of the king of Syria is an Israelite. She tells the king about a prophet who can heal leprosy and so the king sends Naaman down to look for him. He comes to the King of Israel, Joram, who has no clue what to do and thinks it's a trap. Elisha the prophet of God sends word for Naaman to come to him. Now Naaman is a great captain so he expects a warm and fitting reception from the prophet for his entourage, but instead Elisha sends his servant to tell Naaman to go dip in the Jordan river 7 times and he will be cleansed. Naaman gets mad because he was thinking their would be some great ceremony where the prophet waves his hands over the great Naaman to take his leprosy away. Because of his pride Naaman heads for home where he says he could take a dip in a river quite easily. Finally his servants talk him into obeying the prophet. Since he would have done a great task if the prophet had asked, why not this? Naaman realizes that his pride has gotten the better of him and remembers his need for healing and his hopeless situation. He goes and dips in the Jordan seven times and on the seventh time his leprous white skin turns to normal healthy skin! He is healed. he realizes that the God of Israel has saved him. he goes back to Elisha and promises to worship the God of Israel and even takes dirt from Israel to Syria to build and altar unto this God!
But as I though about this I couldn't help but see the parallel to present the present day. There are people all over the world who need healing from a horrible disease. The disease is sin and it goes down to the soul. Mankind has no cure and people look for answers. Sometimes they come to church for the answers, but when they see the simple message of the gospel (turn from your sin and trust in Christ Jesus as Lord because of what He has done for you) they get angry and prideful and think that this is below them. They would gladly rise to a challenge of works, but simply to plunge into the life giving fountain that Christ offers--to fall upon His grace--this they will not do. But let us be like Naaman's servants who say why not take the plunge? And let us pray that the Spirit of God would open their eyes!

2006-09-14T14:44:00.000-07:00

USA Today Reports that Claudia Mitchell ("The Four Million Dollar Woman") is the first woman to have a truly bionic arm!

This is amazing. Every kid probably thinks of how cool it would be to have bionic parts. Of course they don't think of the cost of losing the real ones! Now the idea of replacing Luke Skywalker's hand slashed off by Darth Vader is a real one. This is going to be wonderful for many amputees in the future. Hopefully they can bring the cost down just a little.

It will be interesting to see what stories come out of this. Will the next Professional Baseball dilemna be that Jim Abbott has returned with a 150 mph bionic fastball with his opposite hand?

This little article also made me think of the real flesh and blood arms that we have been given. We marvel at this bionic wonder, and yet the technology that most of us all walk and wave with everyday will never be duplicated!

Psalm 139:13-14 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.NASB95

Topics We are Studying

2006-08-31T13:45:00.000-07:00
During our teaching times at Living Proof, the Junior High-High School ministry at Bethel Baptist Church, we will devoting on Wednesday Session a month to a key topic in addition to our exposition of the book of Philippians. Here are some topic ideas I am thinking of: The value of godly friends, Being a Witness in Your School and Community, Relativism, Spiritual Gifts. For my students, what are some other topics you would like to have me speak on from a biblical perspective? For other, what are some topics you would recommend for teens today?

God's Sovereignty & Man's Responsibility

2006-07-31T10:53:00.000-07:00
Yesterday I taught a JH/HS SS class on Phil. 2:12-13.

The Main Point: Believers must strive to work out their salvation because the same God who worked in Christ Jesus is working in them! The specific application to the Philippians is to take on the mindset of Christ in pouring themselves out for others knowing that God was working in it to bring them to final glory. This is the obedience—Phil. 2:8. The trouble was that they were seeking their own interest to the exclusion of others. This was not in concert with them being citizens fitting to the gospel they proclaimed. They should be obeying reverently, fearfully, quakingly knowing that they are citizens of heaven whom God pleases to dwell in work in cooperate with for His pleasure and glory.

Here are some illustrations of God's Soveriegnty working with man's responsibility in scripture:

God told Adam & Eve to have dominion over all the earth, to be fruitful and multiply, to name all of the animals, and to tend the garden, but they wouldn’t be able to do these things unless, God subjected the earth to him, gave them children, gave them wisdom, and gave them increase in their garden.
--why didn’t God just run the earth, name the animals, make the garden maintenance free, and create a world full of people?

God told Noah to build a gigantic boat and put all the animals on it, but God would have had to send him all of the animals.
--why didn’t God just supernaturally protect the animals w/out Noah?

God told Abraham to have a child with Sarah, but unless God worked a special miracle that would never happen.
--why didn’t God just send a baby down or give them a child naturally when they were younger.

God told Moses to stretch his rod over the red sea to part it, to hit the rock, to raise the serpent, to talk to the rock etc.
--why didn’t he just part the sea, make water flow automatically, make a serpent in the sky?

God told the children of Israel to take the promised land, but they weren’t strong enough to do it. So God gave them miraculous victories as they fought.
--why didn’t God just drive the wicked people out w/out Israel?

= God did all of these things because He delights in working out His soveriegn will by granting faith and ability to people who will then respond and accomplish His desires!
Application:
God wants you to evangelize your friends and yet they won’t believe unless God opens their hearts:

Romans 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?NIV
Acts 16:14 One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.NIV
God wants you to grow spiritually.
1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,NIV
2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.NIV
2 Peter 1:4-10 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,NIV

God wants you to serve in the church.
Galatians 5:13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. NASB95
Romans 12:6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; NASB95
God’s wants you to be pure and unspotted with sin.
Colossians 3:5-11 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him— a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all. NASB95
Jude 24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.NASB95

Answers In Genesis Museum

2006-07-27T14:39:00.000-07:00
Well it's been a long time since I posted, but I am going to try to keep up with this now.

A group from our church recently went on a missions trip to help with the construction of the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum. We took a great group of adults and teens down, and we had a blast working down there. Our team grew tremendously together and in our walk with God. Before we went we had a great apreciation for AIG and there stand on a literal interpretation of Genesis and the days of creation, but now having experience the ministry first hand we feel even more confident and committed to this great group. The museum is going to be absolutely world class! Imagine a state of the art Museum/Theme Park only this time committed to the truth of scripture and the exaltation of Jesus Christ! We found Ken Ham and the whole staff at AIG to be delightful and wonderfully approachable and exemplary of Christian virtue. On the way home I heard a bit of a radio broadcast from Ken Ham, and I was pleased to here that he will not go anywhere to speak on creation if he cannot also freely proclaim the gospel of Christ!

The museum is set to open in May of next year. Make your plans to go and see this great edifice of truth to the glory of God!

The Upside of Liberalism

2006-03-02T14:40:00.000-08:00

Al Mohler has an article on his website called The Return of Patriarchy? Fatherhood and the Future of Civilization. He comments on Phillip Longman's article in the current issue of Foreign Policy. Longman has pursued a very interesting line of thought. Basically what he is saying is that feminists and liberals will eventually wipe out their chances of promoting their view because they do not procreate. Conservatives on the other hand are populating the world. To me it is just another clear indication of the wisdom of God. We are to be fruitful and multiply and the man is to be the head of his home (Gen 1:28; Eph 5:22ff). When we don't live by God's Word our lives are reduced to absurdity and oblivion.

Favre Makes His Players Better to the End

2006-01-03T19:50:00.000-08:00
Disappointing as the Packers season was this year, cheeseheads never tired of watching 15 year vetran Brett Favre passionatetly leading his team to be better. Despite injuries and heartbreaking losses, Favre always played every game as if it was the superbowl. In the packer's final game of the season, late in the game, Antonio Chatman missed a pass that could have led to a touchdown because he ran the wrong route. Favre got right in his face about it and told him what he should have done, but the very next play he went to Chatman on a slant and got the first down with a nice gain. I have to admit that I got a little choked up when I saw that play. Here was Favre in possibly the last game of the season still making the players around him better. You have to admire a quarterback like Favre who leaves nothing on the field, who plays every game body & soul, and who inspires others to be better.

May we leave nothing on the field!

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. NASB95

Fellowship

2005-12-29T20:22:00.000-08:00

κοινωνία (Koinonia) is a word in the bible often translated fellowship. The basic idea of the word is "sharing in common." Those who are true followers of Christ (Christians) all share something in common (1 John 1:3). We share Christ in common, and because we share Christ in common we share together in the divine nature and can have a relationship with God our Father(1 Pet. 1:4; 1 Jn. 1:3). Through Christ we have been given the very righteousness of God (1 Cor. 5:21). Because we share in His righteousness we have the unique opportunity to share together in something else: the gospel work. Paul called the Philippians "fellow partakers of grace" (Phil. 1:7), but he wasn't just referring to a shared conversion. He was ultimately refferring to grace which flows through us as we share together in being vessels of grace as we defend the faith and establish the gospel on earth through the power of God. This is why I have chosen the name "Sharing Grace Together" for my blog. I hope that this will be a means of stirring us all up to greater gospel work as we rejoice in sharing this great grace of God through Christ together.

To God Be the Glory!