Mortification

CFC: Sunday August 14th Church service

2011-08-14T10:30:00.001-04:00

Today we kicked off the worship time with a kicking drum lead in. The cores "you are ever faithful" other than that most of the words eluded me...

Would You Bow Dow?
Pastor Carl Green
Daniel 3
1) never bow down
going through the text of the three who would not bow down to the idol. There response was twofold, 1st God can deliver us from the fire, but if not we still will not bow down.

Then we looked at the end of Hebrews 11:32ff.

Has the potter no right over the clay? Sovereignty has its privleages

3) God can turn your story into great grace
Three where thrown in yet there was four men in the fire walking around. The king called them out by declaring that they serve the Most High God.

God could of rescued them before the fire but chose not to.

Application question:
What would you have done on the plain of Dura?

Every day we have a chose to stand or bow down for God!

We ended in prayer followed by communion.

Elder Jeff Carmon
New elder
he's over spiritual formation with mike edleman.

pastor Bill Bateman did a great job for our time of communion. Followed by a couple of songs with a rocking drum beat that fit the tone of the service.

The Saga cometh to an end

2010-06-26T08:14:00.002-04:00

Finally the three year saga cometh to an end... over three years ago I purchase the book, "Don't Waste Your Life," by John Piper. I was a proud owner of the book for about a day, when mysteriously it disappeared, vanished and to appease all you dispensationalist is was Raptured! Hence for the last three plus years I've been wasting my life....But now, just today, not even 10 minutes ago, "it" reappeared in my mailbox! Now off to reading and not wasting my life, and may God redeem and forgive me for the last three years...Thanks Phoebe!

Will or no Will-that is mans question

2010-04-20T20:13:00.003-04:00

In the movie Batman:Beginnings, there is phrase that is said, "your training is nothing, the will is everything..." Over-all I think it's a good film, but I take issue with some of the underlining philosophies of the movie. The philosophy is reveled in the phrase above, and that is that man's will is everything. That man move's/creates his own destiny by some unseen force within himself. In this case Brus Wayne's ability to fight and survive.

Yet the Bible doesn't teach that man's will is everything, it is God's will that cannot be thwarted. It is God who works all things according to the counsel of his will...not mans. Mans will is free in one direction, and that direction is to sin. Sin brings the wrath of God. Man left to himself will die under the wrath of God, which plays out in hell for eternity. Unless the Spirit blows in your direction, and unless God opens your heart...you are lost.

Easter Sunday: Well maybe next year...

2010-04-09T13:30:00.004-04:00

We were visiting a Church out of state on Easter morning. It looked like a good size country type church, people were busily coming in and going out, all dressed up for Easter Sunday. The worship service was a little week technical speaking. But people seemed to join in and sing, although it seemed reserved. The message was on a "New Life," yet it failed to mentioned why Christ came, why he did, and what Jesus accomplished on the cross, never mind the reason why this is all important to sinners.

I pray that this was an "off" Sunday and that the Pastor is faithful to the living word of God and not one who just tells stories...

The New calvinist.: From Time.

2009-03-16T06:14:00.001-04:00

Original article can be found here.

If you really want to follow the development of conservative Christianity, track its musical hits. In the early 1900s you might have heard "The Old Rugged Cross," a celebration of the atonement. By the 1980s you could have shared the Jesus-is-my-buddy intimacy of "Shine, Jesus, Shine." And today, more and more top songs feature a God who is very big, while we are...well, hark the David Crowder Band: "I am full of earth/ You are heaven's worth/ I am stained with dirt/ Prone to depravity."

Calvinism is back, and not just musically. John Calvin's 16th century reply to medieval Catholicism's buy-your-way-out-of-purgatory excesses is Evangelicalism's latest success story, complete with an utterly sovereign and micromanaging deity, sinful and puny humanity, and the combination's logical consequence, predestination: the belief that before time's dawn, God decided whom he would save (or not), unaffected by any subsequent human action or decision.

Calvinism, cousin to the Reformation's other pillar, Lutheranism, is a bit less dour than its critics claim: it offers a rock-steady deity who orchestrates absolutely everything, including illness (or home foreclosure!), by a logic we may not understand but don't have to second-guess. Our satisfaction — and our purpose — is fulfilled simply by "glorifying" him. In the 1700s, Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards invested Calvinism with a rapturous near mysticism. Yet it was soon overtaken in the U.S. by movements like Methodism that were more impressed with human will. Calvinist-descended liberal bodies like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) discovered other emphases, while Evangelicalism's loss of appetite for rigid doctrine — and the triumph of that friendly, fuzzy Jesus — seemed to relegate hard-core Reformed preaching (Reformed operates as a loose synonym for Calvinist) to a few crotchety Southern churches.

No more. Neo-Calvinist ministers and authors don't operate quite on a Rick Warren scale. But, notes Ted Olsen, a managing editor at Christianity Today, "everyone knows where the energy and the passion are in the Evangelical world" — with the pioneering new-Calvinist John Piper of Minneapolis, Seattle's pugnacious Mark Driscoll and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the huge Southern Baptist Convention. The Calvinist-flavored ESV Study Bible sold out its first printing, and Reformed blogs like Between Two Worlds are among cyber-Christendom's hottest links.

Like the Calvinists, more moderate Evangelicals are exploring cures for the movement's doctrinal drift, but can't offer the same blanket assurance. "A lot of young people grew up in a culture of brokenness, divorce, drugs or sexual temptation," says Collin Hansen, author of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists. "They have plenty of friends: what they need is a God." Mohler says, "The moment someone begins to define God's [being or actions] biblically, that person is drawn to conclusions that are traditionally classified as Calvinist." Of course, that presumption of inevitability has drawn accusations of arrogance and divisiveness since Calvin's time. Indeed, some of today's enthusiasts imply that non-Calvinists may actually not be Christians. Skirmishes among the Southern Baptists (who have a competing non-Calvinist camp) and online "flame wars" bode badly.

Calvin's 500th birthday will be this July. It will be interesting to see whether Calvin's latest legacy will be classic Protestant backbiting or whether, during these hard times, more Christians searching for security will submit their wills to the austerely demanding God of their country's infancy.

He's talking about us.

2009-01-29T17:43:00.000-05:00

Art Azurdia

2009-01-17T07:13:00.001-05:00

Doctrine.

2009-01-17T06:40:00.002-05:00

"Indifferentism about doctrine makes no heroes of the faith."
-J. Gresham Machen

Don't waist your Holliday.

2008-12-24T13:31:00.003-05:00

For unto us a child is born, and a Son is given...

Did you ever wonder why? Why a baby, why a manger, why then. Why did God become flesh and dwell among us?

Many voices this time of year, at least with the "Church", say it was because of love. For God so loved the world Christ was born. yet Christmas is deeper then that. Christ was born for the glory of God, to show forth his eternal greatness, which played its self out in mercy, and love, and the cross. This season is about God and his glory, it's about us only in light of this fact.

We are a wicked people, God hatters, fallen, broken, and rebellious lot. Its for this reason Christ was born. He was born to show the greatness of God in loving and redeeming a people for himself. In one sense He came because he loved us, yet in another he came because were so wicked. Jesus was born so that he would die, and in dieing would take out our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. He would absorb the wrath of the Father for our sins. An eternal punishment swallowed up by an eternal God.

This season, let us glorify God, and his greatness. May we be lost in him, and not the temporary gifts, food and family. And may we be humbled, that this season wasn't about us. It's about the glory of God. Jesus came to glorify his Father, and by this one act we received mercy upon mercy.

I think my wifes a Calvinist...

2008-12-21T07:45:00.000-05:00

Oneness vs. Trinity

2008-12-06T08:22:00.006-05:00

One could bring you to the baptism of Jesus were you would see Jesus being baptized, the Father Speaking, and the Holy Spirit descending, but for know, I'll steer away from the Gospels.

Instead lets go to Acts. I know a lot of Oneness people like using the book of Acts since it's "historical", and a practical way of walking out the gospel truths.

In Acts 7 we read about the first martyr of the Church. What we know of Stephen is little. He was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, He was of a good repute, and was willing to serve in the daily distributions of the church as was needed.

We also know from Acts 6 the he was full of grace and power, doing great wonders and signs among the people. We also know that his opponents could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Luke gives Stephen a lot of space in Acts, he gives Stephen a chapter and then some. Stephen also gives the longest ‘sermon’ in the book.

Summary: Stephen was a man of God who was able by the Holy Spirit to do great miracles and preach/refute those who apposed the Gospel of Christ.

Now we come to the end of this godly mans life, he just finished a historical overview of Israel history, and then rebukes the Jews, which in a way, sentenced him to death. It is here we pick up.

Acts 7:54-60
54 Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Remember this is a Historical account. Stephen is full of the HOLY SPIRIT, he looks up into heaven and sees the glory of God. JESUS is standing at the right hand of GOD, and then Stephen repeats this SON of MAN standing at the right hand of GOD.

There is three different ‘persons’: The Holy Spirit is in Stephen, Jesus/Son of Man (a term Jesus applied to himself in the Gospels) is Standing. Were is he standing? In heaven next to and at the right hand of God.

Remember this his a historical account of the Gospel being walked out in every day life within the early church. Stephen sees both the Son, and the Father in heaven, and is at the same time filled with the Spirit.

We see all three of the God head. The Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Notice All three are present at the first martyrs death. Stephen doesn’t see just God, or just see Jesus, he sees both.

Also notice the singular usage of the word God “Glory of God” and then the other Nouns used. Either this is a picture of God, filled with the Spirit, Jesus, God the Father, or you left to believe that the Spirit is just a force, Jesus isn’t really God since he only stands next to him in heaven.

Yes I agree that the word Trinity is not used in the bible, but what it represents is. Sometimes one needs to use extra biblical words to help frame a correct meaning of a biblical concept because words can be slippery things. For example: if I asked a Mormon, Catholic, Pentecostal, or a Jehovah witness are you a Christian the all would say yes. It’s only till they say Mormon, Pentecostal, or catholic that I now were their coming from and if they really are “in” the faith.

It's hip is cool and is the new FAD

2008-11-27T07:29:00.002-05:00

Stand.

2008-11-06T20:24:00.000-05:00

James White with some sobering truth.

Faith story: short

2008-10-11T17:16:00.002-04:00

I grew up in the Church, and like so many who do I can’t remember when I was saved. But I remember different points in my walk that I grew in my spiritual life in Christ.

Here is a few monuments in my faith journey:

At a young age I can remember wanting to know Jesus more, and desiring to worship him. When I was 10 (1987) there was a message given at our summer family camp that was titled ‘crossing the blood line.’ I remember the sermon, and also the call to fallow Christ and that night Christ became more real then before. I had a desire to know Christ in a deeper more personal way.

Later on in life I attended Christ for the Nations bible school. I went there for mainly music, since they had a good music program. It was at that school that I received more of a hunger to know him and to started walking towards ministry. I was at a music conference when I felt a call to missions and ministry.

After I was married, my wife and I attended a bible school that taught the Inductive Method on how to study the bible. We used the Inductive Method and made our way through the sixty six books of the Bible. The result was amazing. It was the first time I realized who I was in Christ, and what he’s done for me. Up to that point I felt all I was ever given was baby food, and all of a sudden I found myself in a buffet of grandeur.

I realized what it really meant to be saved by grace, and what my sins really did, and the price Christ paid for me on the cross. I was a sinner, who if given justice would be in hell. God would be an unrighteous judge to just forgive me of my trespass against him. Yet he made a way to forgive me and still be just. Not because I was worthy of his love and mercy but because out of his abounding love he had mercy on me. He sentenced his Son to the cross for my sin, Isaiah tells us, “We esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” again Isaiah tells us, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him”. Christ became the propitiation for my sins. Luther called it the great exchange, I received Christ righteousness and he received the penalty for my sins. Christ boar the wrath of God on the cross that should have been mine!

I John 4:10
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Faith alone, through grace alone, because of Christ alone.

2008-10-10T21:15:00.002-04:00

Mark:

Session One

The opening of Mark start off with “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. Gospel means good news, Mark is letting us know right away that what he is writing about is the good news of Jesus Christ.

It’s interesting that right away Mark ties in the Old Testament with the New in quoting Isaiah. Mark ties in the message of the good news with an older message, a message of promise a message of hope. The prophet Isaiah prophesied of a Messiah who would come forth after Gods messenger crying out in the wilderness “Prepare the way of the Lord, Make his paths straight.”

John was the fulfillment of the prophesy. His ministry was one of repentance, calling on all to repent and confess their sins. Mark doesn’t come right out and say, “Johns the forerunner, but he tells us Johns doing his ministry in the wilderness and that he has proclaimed a "mightier one," who would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. Isaiah words are a summery of the life of John the Baptist.

Notice that Mark emphasis that the ministry of Johns was inferior to Jesus. Mark tells us that Jesus is mightier then John, John is not even worthy of stooping down to untie Jesus sandals. Mark is writing his view of the gospel around 60-64 AD. Mark writes during a time of persecution of the Church under Nero, the Roman Emperor at that time. Mark may have been pointing out Johns lower status then Jesus do to a possible conflict about Johns Message and Jesus Message. We don’t know for sure but there are hints in Acts of John the Baptist teachings spreading as far as Ephesus without the knowledge of the fulfillment of Johns message, that is the good news found in Christ.

Paul in the book of Acts runs into some disciples of John, yet they didn’t know of Jesus (Acts19:1-3). They new only Johns baptism, a baptism that was meant to prepare their hearts to follow Jesus. Mark may of put this reference to John in his letter not only because Johns life intersects with Jesus, but also because he’s pointing out that Jesus was the focus of Johns proclamation. John is inferior to Christ, to the point that John himself even mentions, “after me comes he who is mightier than I…”

There may have been some disciples of John the Baptist, that Mark had in mind when writing similar to those faced by Paul in Ephesus. Mark may be here letting them know, that what they have is inferior to Christ and that even in the mist of persuction, they need to aline themselfs with Jesus, for it's in him that true forgivness is found.

2008-10-05T12:30:00.004-04:00

The Gospel according to Mark:

Up and coming posts will deal with the Smallest of the four gospels. We are studying this book in our small group (which I'm not leading), but I still will be studying it as if I was. Which should be interesting considering my over loaded schedule. But to God be the glory and may we be counted faithful in are pursuit of knowing Him and making Him known.

So once again it's time to take up the sword and sharpen it for battle against my flesh and all of it's desires.

Question

2008-09-19T05:42:00.002-04:00

Without Holliness none shall see the LORD!

Are you Holy?

In Light of today's Dow Jones fall.

2008-09-15T17:26:00.003-04:00

Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3"Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us."

4He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6"As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill."

7I will tell of the decree:The LORD said to me, "You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel."

10Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Purpose Drinven Life...well maybe.

2008-09-06T22:13:00.002-04:00

A Responce to Pyromaniacs blog on "Gifts"

2008-09-06T20:56:00.005-04:00

(This is a response to Pyromaniacs blog which can be found here. The topic is "signs and wonders". This was posted as in the response part of their blog)

DJP

Mark Driscoll considers himself to be a charismatic with a seat belt, I would consider my self a continualist in a straight Jacket.

I can't see in the scriptures were the gifts have been done away with.

Does God still heal? Yes.
Does He still Speak? Yes. (I say yes because the bible still speaks) as far as the usual charismatic usage of prophesy I have serious doubts.

Does God still do wonders. Yes.
What's more wonderful then an unregenerate becoming regenerated? which is harder?

I like the word continualist mainly
because it distances one from Charismatics.

One thing is very clear, and that is that signs and wonders mean nothing in and of themselves. Paul tells us in II Thes. 2:9 that the Man of Lawlessness does SaW, but Paul mentions in II Cor. 12:12 that he did SaW. SaW don't necessarily validate the messenger, but it can.
Jesus himself didn't put any trust in them (John 2:24-24). People don't get saved because of signs and wonders. Its by His calling and electing in love.

Hence I usual sound more like a 'Christian' as Frank turk said in jest.

But in times like these I side with John Piper. (thats called name dropping.) And see no reason for the ceasing of the gifts today.

(35.minute mark for the above DG sermon)

John Piper

2008-08-31T16:42:00.003-04:00

An excerpt from J.P's Desiring God's blog.

"My view of God was too small and my view of myself was too big. I misinterpreted, 1 Corinthians 13:12, "Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known."...What Paul means is not that I will know exhaustively the way God knows me, but rather I will know accurately the way God knows me. The point is not that I won't have limits to what I know, but rather I won't have mistakes in what I know."

I remember studying through 1 Corinthians in school and coming up to 13:12 and not knowing what to do with it. John Piper here i believe hits the nail on the head. When I die, and stand in the presence of God, I'll still have limits to my knowledge, but what I know of him will be right, flawless.

I wish it was so now...come Lord Jesus!

2008-08-30T20:50:00.007-04:00

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

There are times when I think, "Wow, I've really missed something". I ask myself the question, "do you really believe you have a "better possession, and an abiding one"?

To often this world has a foothold in my heart. whether it's money, trinkets, health or whatever...
I look at the early Church, the people Hebrews talks about, and see that they JOYFULLY accepted the plundering of their property, and I ask myself would I? And if not what does that tell me about myself?

It's in times of trials that our faith is really tested. I can say that I believe in the sovereignty of God in the easy times, but what about the hard? difficult times? I pray that God would allow me to stand in the day of trials, and that he would continue to strengthen my faith in his sovereignty before i walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

May Christ instill in us the Joy of that "better possession" the one that abides even in the hard times.

"May God strengthen our brothers and sisters in Orissa, India. May he grant them Joy in the mist of their sufferings and persecution, for they have a better possession and an abiding one."

Paul Washer-God's Love Undeserved

2008-08-30T15:38:00.004-04:00

In Christ

2008-08-29T21:43:00.003-04:00

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches.
Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing.

Theres a couple of thoughts that have been brewing in my head over the last couple of mouths. It has to do with Believers in Christ. That is, every part of who we are is in Him. As I read through the gospels i see this over and over again. And it's the little phrase; in Christ, in him...who we are as Christians is rooted and grounded in Christ and his work, not our own.

In the Gospel of John (the above quote) Jesus himself mentions "in me" and "apart from me".
"In me" refers to those who call on Christ, those who have placed there lives in his hands because they were made alive and responded to Christ. "Apart from me" = nothing. Those who haven't put there trust in Christ, regardless of what they can "do", in reality aren't doing anything.

The main concept I've been pondering over is that every aspect of our life is in Christ. Paul talks about "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..." (Eph 2)
combine this with what Jesus says in John 15 you get a great concept of spiritual regeneration.
The reason one can do nothing apart from Christ is that there "dead", and it's only in Christ that one is made "alive".

John 1:4
"In him was life, and the life was the light of men." Jesus is the only one who in and of himself has life. I as a created being have borrowed life from God, yet Christ didn't have to borrow life since he was life. Jesus life, is the light of men, or another way of saying it is 'the light of the world.'

That's why in the epistles you see the contrast of light and darkness, before Christ came we lived in darkness, but those of us who respond to his grace have been "transfered" into the kingdom of light. And that "light we know have is spiritual "life" because we are in Christ. Apart from Christ there is no life and no light, and you can do nothing...

The Most Important Paragraph in the Bible

2008-08-26T21:22:00.002-04:00

This is a great sermon, one of the best I've ever heard.

Period.

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Lord Lord...

2008-08-21T05:49:00.003-04:00

"Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"-John 7:21-23

The Charismatics today would do well to hear the words of there Commander today, that is if He is there Commander and Lord.

This brings a sobering reminder that one can move in "power" (prophesying, mighty works, casting out demons) and still not be a child of God.

The question that should be asked is not, "Do you know Jesus" but, "Does Jesus know you?"

The Fear of God.

2008-08-17T14:13:00.005-04:00

What is the fear of God? What does it mean, and what doesn't it mean? Thomas Watson in his book "The Great Gain Of Godliness" gives us some clues. The fear of God isn't a sinful fear, it's not a superstitious fear or a carnal fear. This kind of fear produces a positive effect, producing reverence and adoration of Gods holiness. It's a fear produced by seeing the glory of God.

"Fear is the leading grace, the first seed God sows in the heart. When a Christian can say little of faith, and perhaps nothing of assurance, yet he dares not deny that he fears God. God Is so great that the Christian is afraid of displeasing him, and so good he is afraid of losing him." -Watson.

"There is a difference between fearing God, and being afraid of God; the godly fear God as a child does his father, the wicked are afraid of God as the prisoner is of the judge."-Watson.

Today may we who are called the 'Children of God', show a fear of God that's in accordance with who we are in Jesus. That is may we fear him in reverence instead of in wrath.

New Read

2008-08-16T06:21:00.003-04:00

The next couple of days I'm going to be reading
"The Great Gain of Godliness"-Thomas Watson.

So for a while I'll be updating quotes from his book, so far it's a highly recommended book to read. Heres just a tidbit to wet your appetite for this book.

"That the profaneness of the times should not slacken but heighten our zeal. The looser others are, the stricter we should be. In those degenerate times when men were arrived at the acme and height of impudence, and dared to speak treason against heaven, 'then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another' (A quote from Malachi)...Athanasius stood up in the defense of the truth when the world was tuned Arian. The more outrageous others are in sin, the more courageous we should be for truth. When the atheists said, It is vain to serve God, then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another."-Watson

Timeless Truths. Sola Scriptura

2008-08-16T06:17:00.002-04:00

"The Holy Scriptures are
our letters from home."

-Augustine

God is Sovereign

2008-08-15T17:36:00.002-04:00

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Habakkuk: Through the eyes of the N.T.

2008-08-11T18:54:00.003-04:00

1:5 “Look Among the nations, and see;

wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.

Context:

Habakkuk is complaining to God, and is asking why Israel isn’t being punished for her unfaithfulness to His Law. God Response is that he is raising up Babylon/Chaldean's to bring punishment on the nation.

N.T. Acts

13:41 “Look, you scoffers,

be astounded and perish;

for I am doing a work in your days,

a work that you will not believe, even

if one tells you”

Context: summary.

Paul and Barnabas/companions, are in Antioch which is in the providence of Pisidia. On a Sabbath day they went to the synagogue, and while there they were ask if they had a word of exhortation for the people. Paul gives a historical rendition of Israels past, from Egypt to king David, and then proclaims Jesus as the fulfillment of that promise to David. Paul goes on to mention that the People in Jerusalem fulfilled the prophets by condemning Christ and had him crucified, but God raised him up from the dead.

(Acts 13:36-39)

“For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruptions, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be know to you therefore, bothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed form everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about”

Paul goes into the O.T Quote.

Notice that what God said in Habakkuk was able to come about in their day, even though the captivity of the Babylonians was past…by about 500+ years?

What does it mean?

The Context of Habakkuk is one of unfaithfulness to the law of God, because of this God is bringing the fulfillment of the Law which is “the removal of Israel from Canaan.” Unfaithfulness is producing Judgment.

Paul here is using the Habakkuk quote in the same context. The people he his “exhorting” have a choice, believe in the fulfillment of the Law which is Christ, or judgment will fallow. Paul here is alluding to the final judgment which is worse then the physical judgment that Israel received at the hand of the Babylonians.

Paul is telling his Jewish brothers to believe in Jesus. Forgiveness of sins is possible through this man, he’s the fulfillment of the O.T Law. If anyone doesn’t believes he’s bringing upon himself judgment. Which what Paul tells the Jews in Acts 13:46 “…Since you thrust it aside (The Gospel) and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we are turning to the Gentiles.”

So the question for us is,
"what are we going to do with Jesus? are we going to reject him and thus bring judgment on ourself? Our are we going to embrace him, and receive forgiveness of sins that only can be found in Christ Jesus our Lord?"

"As for me and my house we will serve the Lord Jesus."

Credo?

2008-07-28T19:27:00.006-04:00

I was on a friend's blog today where he is doing single paragraph credo's (i believe.) I was reading them one by one, when his entry on July 15th caught my eye, "Credo-on Limited Atonement."

Heres an excerpt of his blog

"Instead of limited atonement,
some have re-labeled it as a definite atonement-
that is that Jesus died for a specific group of people.
These Calvinists point to the elect
as that “definite" group in favor of limiting the atonement.
On this one, I part company with historical Calvinists
and plead for 1 John2 where John writes that
Jesus did not only die for our sins but for the sins of
'the whole world'."

I have two comments to make about the above statement.

1. Definite atonement is a better word, for Christ died for his elect in a very definite way. He went to the cross for his bride, he was crushed by God the Father for their sins. Christ went to the cross to die for his elect. It was their sins that he paid for. Isaiah 53:11 states that Christ, 'will make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities'. Note it is the people whose iniquities are bore that are accounted as righteous. If Christ died for 'the whole world' in the same way, then all would have their sins bore by Christ and hence accounted righteous. Which the Bible clearly teaches otherwise.

2. Calvinists only use the phrase "Limited atonement" because if fits with the TULIP acronym.
Most of the opponents to Reformed Theology try to say that Calvinists limit what Christ did on the cross. We proclaim that Christ really saved sinners, that his work on the cross secured his elect. His sacrifice didn't just make it possible for people to come to him (hence guarantees nobody's salvation), but it made it certain that those he died for... would come.

Beliefs penetrate everthing!

2008-07-27T14:30:00.004-04:00

It's interesting to see how beliefs are played out.

People today like to say beliefs are not important, it's what you do that matters. I remember sitting in a Sunday school class were the speaker was asking what is better; correct beliefs or right action. Then he proceeded to make a straw man against correct beliefs and then knocked it over in favor of right actions. The problem is you can separate them, beliefs and actions are two sides of the same coin.

What I believe comes out in every conversation, every meeting, in all areas of my life.

My point is, that if one has a wrong view of God, Salvation, Justification, the Church, the Bible, then it will become more and more evident the more you know someone. The more they talk the more the reveal what they believe, it doesn't matter the circumstances, place or topic. What they believe at their core will come out.

That's why as Christians we need to know Biblical Truth, we need to study to show our selfs approved of God, that we would not be deceived by false belief systems in the church or the world.

So I invite you to open up your Bible and read it, study it, memorize it. Let us not dumb down doctrine, but lets push on into the deeper truths of God's word. So that in the every day arenas of our life, Biblical Truth comes out.

When Sermon Illustrations Go Bad.

2008-07-24T20:27:00.002-04:00

I have seen a lot of teaching illustrations in my time. Some good some bad, Some biblical and others border on heresy. I heard about one today were a Pastor ended up breaking his wrist! Some times a great idea needs to be run past others to make sure it's not a stupid idea... Story of Pastor and motorcycle illustration found here.

Intolerable.

2008-07-12T22:15:00.004-04:00

''That a man should rob me of the gospel,
is bad enough;
but that he should impregnate me with his poisonous doctrine,
is intolerable.''
-C.H.Spurgeon

It Still Amazes Me.

2008-07-08T22:00:00.002-04:00

He Saved Me...

Lakeland Florida Revival.

2008-07-01T05:53:00.002-04:00

What to wear while attending the UFC "revival".

1.Helmet
2. Chest protector
3. Shinguards
4. Pepper Spray.

Better yet, if you want to be knead in the stomach just join your local Karate place. At lest you'll learn how to defend yourself and return blow for blow.

That's just your opinion.

2008-06-24T21:07:00.002-04:00

Don't you just love that Line? That's your opinion, your way of thinking, well, it's works for you but not for me...

In our post-modern world, to declare that your looking for truth is a praise worthy thing. But to say that you found it, well, how arrogant can you be. Thats so narrow minded.

Yet when someone asked me how I respond to statements above I just say, "It's not my opinion, it's Gods. He's has the only opinion that matters in this world.".

If truth be told there are a lot of things in the Bible that offend me. Yet, they are still true, and by God's grace I believe them and have learned to live with the fact that I'm not sovereign, God is. By God's grace over time, there are doctrines that I now hold dear, that I once was repulsed by. They have become sweater over time as I study more and more who God is, and what his word says.

So yes there is absolute truth, and no, it's not always fun to hear, yet it has the power to make you a child of God.

May Jesus come soon!

Emergent Village.

2008-06-24T21:01:00.005-04:00

Rob Bell, Tony Jones and Brian McLaren new Bible highlighter, at a liberal store new you.
It's only $6.66

Atonement.

2008-06-23T17:59:00.006-04:00

Last night I was reading in Wayne Grudems Systematic Theology and was once again brought to tears when pondering the Atonement. Chapter 27 of his Systematics is all about the Atonement of Christ. The part that I was reading was on the Cross, what happened there. He categorized it in four parts. 1.Physical Pain and Death, 2. The pain of bearing sin, 3. Abandonment, 4. bearing the wrath of God.

Each one worse then the next. As bad as the pain of the cross was Jesus took on our sins. All of his very being must of been repulsed by this, his whole life on earth he detested sin, in the pre-incarnate he hatted sin, and now he became sin. As if becoming sin wasn't bad enough, it caused him to be abandon. The closeness of the Father was was gone, he faced the guilt and punishment of million alone. finally he boar our wrath for us. He faced my eternal punishment and drank it dry, not only for me, but for millions of the elect.

"Then at last Jesus knew his suffering was nearing completion.He knew he had consciously borne all the wrath of the Father against our sins, for God's anger had abated and the awful heaviness of sin was being remove. He knew that all that remained was to yield up his spirit to his heavenly Father and die. With a shout of victory Jesus cried out, "it is finished!". Then with a loud voice he once more cried out, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And then he voluntarily gave up the life that no one could take from him, and he died. As Isaiah had predicted, "he poured out his soul to death" and "Bore the sin of many". God the Father saw "the fruit of the travail of his soul" and was "satisfied"." -W.G Systematic Theology

WOW.

Adam Wasn't Deceived.

2008-06-19T05:22:00.005-04:00

One often hears that mankind was tricked in the garden by the serpent. Yet this doesn't square with the biblical facts. Adam willingly ate of the apple, he knew that the serpent was lieing.

I Timothy 2:14

...Adam was not deceived,
but the woman was deceived
and became a transgressor."

Eve believed the lie that the serpent was feeding her, "You will not die...you will be like God, knowing good from evil.". Adam was right there listening, he new that the snack was full of it. Adam new he would die, he new that this fruit wouldn't make him to be like God knowing good from evil.

So the question remains, "Why Adam!" why would you fall, what made you do it? how could an imperfect thought or actions arise in a perfect world, were sin had no dominion?

The question comes back to who is sovereign. Is God Sovereign or is Man? Did that Cross happen because of the Fall, or did the Fall happen because of the Cross?

"He chose us before the foundations of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him."-Ephesians 1

"and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain." Revelations 13

The ESV Study Bible

2008-06-15T17:06:00.007-04:00

The ESV is a great Bible.

In a time when bible's are readily available, this bible stands out from among many.
It's highly readable, yet stays true to the original text. The ESV is a word for word translation, that's readable.

The new ESV Study Bible is even better. Sadly, biblical illiteracy runs ramped in the church and in its pulpit. The ESV Study bible can help guide the student of the bible into more in depth realities of God's word. Just check out the into to the book of Revelations.

2008-06-09T17:15:00.002-04:00

Just an update on the "Shack", it''s moved down to the 5th, on CBS best sellers list. I'm not convinced this is a good sign, since it's still in the top 10. But I can at least rejoice that it's not the number one book anymore.

WOW

2008-06-01T16:24:00.003-04:00

The Number one selling book at Christian Books is the heretical book called the Shack.

This is a telling indicator of the Church in American.
It's also a shame for Christian books.

I'm thankful for Westminster Bookstore who stays true to their calling of being a light in the mist of a society who will sell anything for greedy gain.

John MacArthur's TFG2008

2008-05-30T21:28:00.002-04:00

MacArthur's message was powerful.
Most Pastors beat around the bush on this topic, but not JM.
This is just one of the many great messages given at the 2008 Together for the Gospel Conference.

T4G

Sam Storms reveiw of "Why Were Not Emergent."

2008-05-30T20:52:00.001-04:00

Sam Storms gives a great overview of the book. I have personally read "Why we're not Emergent", and loved it. Kevin and Ted do a great job in giving an overview of this misguided movement. Click on me and I'll take you to Sam's overview of the book.
One can pick up a copy of this book at Monergism.com. It's a great, fun read.

Sovereignty

2008-05-28T22:19:00.004-04:00

Psalms 115:3
Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.

Notice the personal touch the Psalmist gives, "Our" God. Not some random God, but his God. A God he relates to, a God he believes in and a God who transcends this world, yet is still active in it.

This personal God that the Psalmist writes about is sovereign, "he does ALL that he pleases". That little article"all" has strong overtones with it. It implies nothing hinders this God, nothing can stop this God, nothing is able to withstand Him when he decides to act. This Sovereign God does all that he pleases, and all that he does is pleasing unto him self, none can with stand or with hold from him. Yet he's also personal and relational; the Psalmist cries out our God.

As Followers of Jesus we can take courage that he's sovereign, he's personal, and that he does all that he pleases, and all that he does is pleasing unto himself. This gives us great hope and security in this life, because we are his children.

The voice of truth.

2008-05-27T21:37:00.004-04:00

"If the Lord's bearing our sin for us is not the gospel,
I have no gospel to preach."
(C.H. Spurgeon)

Once again a voice from the past needs to be heard in our day. If the Gospel isn't Christ and him crucified for our sins, then as a generation, were lost. The Gospel isn't about social reform, caring for the poor, or being GREEN. It's about the God-Man (Jesus) who came down in human flesh, who lived a sinless life, yet was crucified in our place. He paid my dept, he removed God's wrath towards me and he imparted his righteousness into my life. That's the Gospel. The social reform, caring for the poor, and even being green should and will come forth out of a life changed, yet it's a result of a life being change by the gospel not the Gospel it's self.

The God who won't die

2008-05-23T05:51:00.002-04:00

Sinners be warned,

Your adversary doesn't sleep.
He doesn't lose heart in pursuit.
He faints not.
None can withhold his hand.
His sword never dulls.
His hatred burns forever.

Were would you run, were would you hide?
Turn, repent, call out for Mercie...before it's to late.

Psams 107:23-29 & Mathew 8:23-27

2008-05-18T07:42:00.007-04:00

"Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
for he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed."

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing." And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"

"they Cried to the Lord in their distress" vs. "They went and woke him, saying 'Save us, Lord; we are perishing'".

"He made the storm be still" vs. "he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, an there was a great calm".

In the Psalms the word for Lord is the supreme title for God (Adonia, which means sovereign one). Hence in the Psalms you have the Sovereign One calming the storm when his people call unto him, and in the N.T you have Jesus calming the storm when his disciples call out to him.

The disciples probably would be at least familiar with the Psalms, especially this one, since it deals with their livelihood (fishing, being in a boat, etc.). What they once memorized and had to recite became a reality in their lives.

No wonder the Disciples were more fearful after the threat of the storm was past, Adonia was in the boat with them...

The Cross of Philemon.

2008-05-11T20:07:00.004-04:00

Philemon our beloved fellow worker.

Philemon isn't just an ordinary Christian, he's active in his faith. Philemons faith isn't just something he did once upon a time, walked an isle, said a quick prayer, winked at the evangelists. Faith was active, it wasn't only vertical minded but also horizontally focused. Philemon loved other believers, he consistently refreshed others. In fact it was what he was known for.

Paul in a letter to Philemon, mentions all of these things. Paul reminds Philemon of what he's done for the Lord, he reminds him of his past faithfulness to Christ by his service towards others.

So far this is great, Philemon is a godly man, people recongnized it. Yet over this seemingly great person of faith and works there is a shadow. Philemon was a slave owner, one of his slaves, Onesimus ran away after possible stealing from Philemon. Onesimus wasn't a follower of Christ, and it bags to reason, why? Philemon who is known for his Christian love for believers some how fell short in is love for slaves? or maybe Philemon would tell his slaves about Jesus and Onesimus just refused to listen, after all he's a slave. Why would he chose to become a slave to another, that is Christ. Maybe he was hoping that one day Philemon would be thrown into prison for his beliefs, after all other Christians were be imprisoned during this time. Philemon wasn't imprisoned for his faith, so Onesimus ran. We don't know.

Yet within the providence of God, this runaway slave made his way up to Rome and some how landed within the circle of Paul's influence. God works in mysterious ways. Onesimus hears the gospel, and God opens up his heart so that he response in faith, and now he's a child of God.

Onesimus is free, both physically and spiritual. He's with Paul, he's a child of God, yet he's wronged a brother in Christ, Philemon his master. Paul breaks Jewish protocol, and sends a runaway slave back to his master, yet in reality he's sending back a brother to be reconciled to a fellow brother. Onesimus agrees and the expression "tack up your cross and follow me" takes on a new meaning for him. Following Christ isn't always easy, it's not about having your best life now, or finding your purpose. It's about following after Christ, no matter the cost.

Philemon has to make a choice. Does he receive Onesimus back or does he do what is culturally acceptable and even expected...capital punishment. He lives in a culture and a way of life that is built upon slavery. If one slave runs away and isn't punished others will follow. He needs to die, or the whole of society could claps. Also not to mention the disgrace he must feel.

Yet know Philemon isn't just dealing with a useless slave, he's dealing with a brother in Christ.
One whom, just like him was saved by grace. Philemon has to chose, extend grace to an undeserving slave, or punish. Philemon, I believe, thinks about a cross, and about the man who hung on it so he didn't have to face the wrath of God. Philemon choses to forgive, after all, Onesimus's offenses were nothing in comparison to what Christ forgave him.

Philemon like Onesimus takes up his cross and follows Christ.

We live in a time were Christianity is cheep. Christianity cost nothing, requires nothing, changes nothing. Yet our modern, or post-modern Christianity doesn't square with biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is costly, it counter culture, it can cost you your life.

I pray that God would raise up a generation of Christians like Onesimus and Philemon. People who will take up their cross and follow their Master. Men and women who are more concerned about living for Jesus and pleasing him, then they are about anything else.

I pray that God would help empower me, that I may also "take up my cross and follow Christ" no matter the situation or cost.

Christ centered Interpretation:

2008-05-07T17:24:00.005-04:00

Interpretations:

The major theme that runs through the whole Bible, is the theme of redemption. when interpreting the scripture one needs to keep this in mined. One may ask, isn't this forcing a pre-condition on every text of the Bible?

Yes, and no.

Jesus when talking to the pharisees said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." (John 5:38-40)
Also another time Jesus talks with some disciples, "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." (Luke 24:27)

So to answer the question, yes it is forcing a pre-condition on a text, but no, one does so with the authority of Jesus. All of scripture testifie to the Son of God, they either look forward to his plan of redemption (the fulfillment of the Promise), or the look back to the Promise fulfilled.

Go Mark Driscoll.

2008-05-05T20:17:00.000-04:00

It's real.

2008-05-01T20:02:00.001-04:00

WHY?

2008-04-30T20:43:00.003-04:00

Why does Paul open up his letter with so many other greetings, when it's a personal letter to Philemon?

Why does Paul close with so many greetings from other brethren, when the letter to the Colossians does the same?

Deuteronomy 23:15-16.
Why does Paul directly break this Old Testament command? Is there possible another command that supersedes it?

Who is Epaphras? Why does Paul mention him?

**If your having trouble with interpretations (the how to), please email me.**

Just a reminder.

2008-04-28T21:04:00.005-04:00

The homework for the next meeting was to bring two observations in each paragraph to interpretation. Each observation needs two interpretations to go with it.

Since verse 8-16 is one of the main paragraphs in this letter you should do at least five observations to interpretations.

Remember this is were your paragraph titles come in handy. A paragraph title is the main point in each paragraph . When doing your interpretations, pick the main observations that would apply to the main point of each paragraph.

Observation:
Interpretation.
Interpretation.

Observation:
Interpretation.
Interpretation.

This is the format for each paragraph, except for the 5th which gets five instead of two.

Who: Paul, a Prisoner

2008-04-28T20:54:00.002-04:00

Observation: "Paul (who), a prisoner (repeated word/theme) for Christ Jesus (who/deity)"

Notice: Paul mentions his name in this letter three times, and refers to being a prisoner five times.

Examine: This is the only letter Paul starts out with mentioning that he's a prisoner. In all the other letters he mainly mentions his apostleship, and sometimes a servant/slave/bond-servant, depending on your translation.

Paul (who):
1st "Paul, a prisoner"
2nd "I, Paul, an old man"
3rd "I, Paul, write this with my own hand"

Prisoner (repeated word/theme):
1st Prisoner for Christ
2nd A prisoner also for Christ
3rd My imprisonment
4th Imprisonment for the gospel
5th Epaphras, my fellow prisoner

Historical Background:
People are being put into prison for the sake of the gospel. Both Paul and Epaphras are in prison.

Interpretation:

Why: Mention prison?
Paul is in prison for the sake of the gospel, which he keeps emphesising. Paul's faithfulness to the gospel led him to lay down his rights of freedom, and in the same way, now he is asking Philemon to lay down his rights and take up forgiveness.

Imply:
Paul is putting a strong but subtle touch in his letter. He wants Philemon to know that the favor he is asking, is not from a place of authority (although he is) but from a place of sincerely living out the gospel, with all of it's implications.

Literary context:
why does Paul mention himself 3 times?
Paul is making sure that Philemon knows that he is the author of this letter, and at crucial times in the letter he invokes his name to reassure Philemon.

***interpretations can build on each other, or they can stand on their own. As in the example above the second interpretation builds off of the first, but the third stands on it's own.***

Interpritation: based on observations.

2008-04-26T08:35:00.005-04:00

Once you've gone through your bible and pulled out all the historical background from the book of Philemon and Colossians, you'll want to start looking into bible dictionaries (historical background info only, sometimes dictionaries are really interpretations).

Look up: Philemon, Onesimus, house church, slaves etc... then once you've gleaned all you can from both the internal (The Bible) and external (Dictionaries and other helps) historical background, you'll begin to bounce all your observations off of the historical info and come up with interpretation: what did it mean to the Original Reader.

Observations: refer to your chart/handout from first week.
Notice: pick an observation
Examine: mention every thing about the observation

Historical Background: The only binding cultural background is the internal background found in the bible.

Interpretation: What did it mean to the original readers.

Historical Background

2008-04-25T05:52:00.003-04:00

BASIC REQUIRED INFORMATION

1. Critical Method:

a) Who wrote the book?

b) To whom was it written?

c) When & were was it written?

2. Historical Method:

a) What is the historical setting of the book? What is the culture of the audience?

b) If it is an epistle, when was the church founded?

c) Who makes up the church?

d) What are their strengths and weaknesses?

3. Literary Method

a) What is the type of literature? (Refer to last page in booklet)

c) If an epistle, what are the parts and references?

. name of writer

. name of recipient

. prayer, wish, or thanksgiving

. body of letter

. final greeting

4. Survey Method (use 2-3 sentences for each of the following)

a) What is the main idea of the book?

b) What is the major reason that the book was written?

Remember, your observations will help you with the historical background.
Review what you observed, then pull out of the text history. I.e "church in your house"-historical we know that the early church to which Paul was writing meat in a house. Another example would be "I Paul a prisoner for Christ" Historicaly people are being put into prison do to their faith in Jesus.

Also refer to Colossians, for further historical background. Philemon is just one member of a church (which meats in his house), he's part of the church of Colossi. Historical things mentioned in the book of Colossians would also apply to the book of Philemon.

Key what???

2008-04-22T19:44:00.005-04:00

In the observations step, one of the last things to look for is the key verse.
The key verse is a verse that summarizes the main idea of the book (it can be more then one verse), it tells why the book was written. This can be done at anytime in the observation method, yet usually it's one of the last things I will look for. By the time you've color coded all your observations, you'll have a good idea what the main point of the book is.

Just a friendly hint, there is one figure of speech in the book of Philemon that is (not the key verse) a very important key to unlocking the reason why the book was written.

2008-04-20T16:24:00.004-04:00

Color Coding is a useful tool in the Inductive Method. Not only does it get you into the text to pick out each observation, it helps you see how the flow of a book is laid out. Remember good observations are key to good interpretations. The more you see, the more you have to build a biblical interpretation.

So color away your text.

Also just as a side note, in the observation process were just looking to see what is there, not to interpret it.

Philemon: Observations Update.

2008-04-20T08:58:00.003-04:00

Observation: "What the Texts Says"

A couple of Key observations for the book of Philemon are:

1. Who
2. Authors Progression.(Follow his logic)
3. Figures of Speech. (F.O.S.)
4. Geographical Locations. (both literally and figuratively: in Christ, in him, in the heavenly places.)

I'll be posting updates all this week.
The homework is to finish your Observations for the book of Philemon and read the book of Colossians before class. It would also be good to do your observations on the last chapter in Colossians.

A.W. Pink

2008-04-11T16:42:00.000-04:00

Here is only one safeguard against error, and that is to be established in the faith; and for that, there has to be prayerful and diligent study, and a receiving with meekness the engrafted Word of God.

literary types

2008-04-08T06:11:00.001-04:00

Types of Literature

In the Bible

Many people don’t realize it, but every time they pick up their bible they’re really picking up 66 separate books, that have main message. They start reading in Genesis and make their way through Revelation and sometimes don’t even realize that the BIBLE has many different authors. People don’ t stop to think about the culture the text/book was written in or that fact that the author had an adjenda when he/she first wrote the book/letter. Another thing they don’t realize is that the Bible is filled not only with different authors but also different styles of literature. Understanding the different types of Literature can help in how one interprets the bible, and a certain type of passage.

I want to give an over view of the types of Literature that are mentioned in the bible and then explain very briefly about them.

1. Historical Narrative.

2. Psalms

3. Wisdom literature

4. Prophets

5. Gospels

6. Epistles

7. Apocalyptic

Historical Narratives: these books (as the name implies) give a historical account of what happened. They tell history. One thing they don’t tell is whether or not what is recorded was right or wrong the author usually leaves that up to the reader to determine.
Psalms: All the other books in the Old Testament talk about what God has done or is going to do. They are God’s words to man, but in the Psalms it mans words to God. The Psalms show a person relation ship to God in very poetic words: their struggles, joy, life etc… They express worship towards God and they also can be prophecies

Psalms will often talk or deal with theological ideas, but in and of themselves one should not get their theology from them alone.

Wisdom literature: These are short sayings that show what should happen do to right living and life style. The problem with these is that many people when they read them look at them as commands and promises.
Prophets: The prophets were God’s covenant police in the Old Testament. When the people of Israel sinned, God would remind them about the curses and judgment coming on them through these servants. They would call Israel back to repentance, tell them what would happen if they didn’t, and they also would predict a time of restoration for God’s people.
Gospels: Are the teachings about Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus. One must keep in mind the historical context of the gospels (e.i. the culture, people, beliefs…). Also one must realize that each of the Gospel writers had a different reason for writing their Gospel. When interpreting them one MUST understand Figures of speech and how to interpret parables.
Epistles: Letters that addressed specific needs of their 1^st readers. Since they are letters one needs to read the whole letter and not just a part, since it is impossible to get the context of a letter if one reads only the beginning or the ending of the letter. One must also remember that the letter was written to a specific people group in a specific culture and time. To understand what the author is telling them it’s necessary to understand the culture. (One can decipher culture from other Epistles and also the book of Acts helps with this. It is profitable but not necessary to have a historical/cultural help out side of the bible)
Apocalyptic: This is a literary type that was popular between 200 BC and 100 AD. It is very symbolic in nature. It was birthed out of times of persecution, and also filled the gap of silent years when God stopped talking to his people thought the prophets. This literature is highly structured.

Cup of the Wrath of God

2008-04-06T06:50:00.007-04:00

Psalms 75:8

"For in the hand of the Lord there
is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed
and pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth
shall drain down to the dregs."

Psalm 11:6

“Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

Isaiah 51:17

“Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering.”

Jeremiah 25:16-17

“Thus the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me; ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stager and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.’”

The cup of the wrath of God is fearful.
Imagine this cup was for you to drink,
imagine there was no escape...

because

the

cup

yours...

Unless you to repent, you will all likewise parish. (Luke 13:1-5)

Doesn't sound very loving...or does it.

It's a warning, unless one turns from there sins, they will drink from the cup of the Wrath of God. So all of a sudden the warning doesn't seem hateful but loving. Truth is being proclaimed. Repent or parish.

One may ask, "If i turn to God, repent, ask for forgiveness, what about the cup He has for me?".
And he (Jesus) said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

Jesus
Drank
your
Cup.

"And you, who were dead in your trespasses...God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of dept that stood against us with its legal demands.
This he set aside,

Nailing
it
to
the
Cross.

1 Corinthians 1:17

2008-04-01T21:46:00.003-04:00

"For Christ did not send me to baptize
but to preach the gospel,
and not with words of eloquent wisdom,
lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

Paul hit's the nail on the head. What he said 2000 years ago is just as relevant today as it was back then. The Corinthians held eloquence in high honor. They had the right programs, the entertainment, they looked to great leaders, great speech givers. They were all about doing it "right". Yet Paul tells them that what they hold dear, what they esteem, is empty. Their wisdom, their eloquence, their programs/entertainment, is empty. He lets them know that the cross is powerful all on it's own. He reminds them that when he came he didn't use the right methods, or the popular way of conversing to convey to them the gospel. He preached the cross, because in it is the power of God, in it and through it, it has the power to transform a person from a child of Wrath to a childed of God.

Today we need to get back to the preaching of the cross. Why are we trying to decorate Jesus up, trying to impress the world, trying to manipulate people. Christ is beautiful all on his own. He needs no help in saving. If we would just preach the Cross, and like Paul proclaim and live, "I know nothing except Christ and him crucified." why? because in that one event is the power of God to save sinners like you and I.

If we are not seeing the power of God in our churches to save sinners, I mean really save sinners, we need to evaluate ourselves and ask if by our "methods" were not in reality emptying the cross of its power, because were putting more faith in our methods then in the Power of preaching the cross.

watch-maker. By A. W. Pink

2008-04-01T05:36:00.003-04:00

Analogy has been drawn between a savage finding a watch upon the sands, and from a close examination of it he infers a watch-maker. So far so good. But attempt to go further: suppose that savage sits down on the sand and endeavors to form to himself a conception of this watch-maker, his personal affections and manners; his disposition, acquirements, and moral character—all that goes to make up a personality; could he ever think or reason out a real man—the man who made the watch, so that he could say, "I am acquainted with him"? It seems trifling to ask such questions, but is the eternal and infinite God so much more within the grasp of human reason? No, indeed. The God of Scripture can only be known by those to whom He makes Himself known.

Life within peace

2008-03-26T05:55:00.001-04:00

In your providence Father, there is great security.

It's all for him.

2008-03-23T09:18:00.006-04:00

Psalms 67:1,2

May God be gracious to us
and bless us
an make his face to shine upon us,
Selah.
That your way may be known on earth,
your saving power among the nations.

Deuteronomy 13:1-5

You shall walk after the Lord your God
and fear him and keep his commandments
and obey his voice, and you shall serve him
and hold fast to him.

Psalms 68:19

Bless the Lord who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation.

Why Memorize Scripture? From Desiring God/John Piper

2008-03-12T20:07:00.001-04:00

Why Memorize Scripture?

By John Piper September 5, 2006

First, a few testimonies: I have it third hand, that Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once made the statement (and I paraphrase) that if it were his decision, every student graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary would be required to learn one thousand verses word perfect before they graduated.

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization” (“Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7).

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

One of the reasons Martin Luther came to his great discovery in the Bible of justification by faith alone was that in his early years in the Augustinian monastery he was influenced to love Scripture by Johann Staupitz. Luther devoured the Bible in a day when people earned doctorates in theology without even reading the Bible. Luther said that his fellow professor, Andreas Karlstadt, did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later (Bucher, Richard. "Martin Luther's Love for the Bible"). Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, “Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory,” in order to confirm what he had found.

So here are a few reasons why so many have viewed Scripture memorization as so essential to the Christian life.

1. Conformity to Christ

Paul wrote that “we all, . . . beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18)) If we would be changed into Christ likeness we must steadily see him. This happens in the word. “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21). Bible memorization has the effect of making our gaze on Jesus steadier and clearer.

2. Daily Triumph over Sin

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. . . . I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9, 11). Paul said that we must “by the Spirit . . . put to death the [sinful] deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). The one piece of armor used to kill is the “sword of the Spirit” which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). As sin lures the body into sinful action, we call to mind a Christ-revealing word of Scripture and slay the temptation with the superior worth and beauty of Christ over what sin offers.

3. Daily Triumph over Satan

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight (Matthew 4:1-11).

4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love

The times when people need you to give them comfort and counsel do not always coincide with the times you have your Bible handy. Not only that, the very word of God spoken spontaneously from your heart has unusual power. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” That is a beautiful way of saying, When the heart full of God’s love can draw on the mind full of God’s word, timely blessings flow from the mouth.

5. Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers

Opportunities to share the gospel come when we do not have the Bible in hand. Actual verses of the Bible have their own penetrating power. And when they come from our heart, as well as from the Book, the witness is given that they are precious enough to learn. We should all be able to sum up the gospel under four main headings (1) God’s holiness/law/glory; 2) man’s sin/rebellion/disobedience; 3) Christ’s death for sinners; 4) the free gift of life by faith. Learn a verse or two relating to each of these, and be ready in season and out of season to share them.

6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways

The way we commune with (that is, fellowship with) God is by meditating on his attributes and expressing to him our thanks and admiration and love, and seeking his help to live a life that reflects the value of these attributes. Therefore, storing texts in our minds about God helps us relate to him as he really is. For example, imagine being able to call this to mind through the day:

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:8-14)

I used the word “enjoyment” intentionally when I said, “communion with God in the enjoyment of his person and ways.” Most of us are emotionally crippled—all of us, really. We do not experience God in the fullness of our emotional potential. How will that change? One way is to memorize the emotional expressions of the Bible and speak them to the Lord and to each other until they become part of who we are. For example, in Psalm 103:1, we say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” That is not a natural expression for many people. But if we memorize this and other emotional expressions from the Bible, and say them often, asking the Lord to make the emotion real in our hearts, we can actually grow into that emotion and expression. It will become part of who we are. We will be less emotionally crippled and more able to render proper praise and thanks to God.

There are other reasons for memorizing Scripture. I hope you find them in the actual practice.

Bull whip guy

2008-03-07T05:47:00.001-05:00

If you've seen Rob Bells blow horn guy, all you need to do is just change the seen use a synonym and, well you'll get the point....

True Prosperity

2008-03-01T20:45:00.000-05:00

come let us reason from the Word.

Sovereignty

2008-02-22T20:48:00.001-05:00

"The only thing of my very own which I contribute to redemption is the sin from which I need to be redeemed."-William Temple

Trinity vs. Oneness

2008-02-07T05:30:00.000-05:00

"In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning
with God."

The Word, the Logos, was in the beginning, yet he was present. John in John 1:14 tells us "and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us... the only Son from the Father." Jesus, son of God, the only Son from the Father. If we just take basic logic... now that we know that Jesus was the Word that was made flesh, we can insert Jesus back into John 1:1.

In the beginning was Jesus
and Jesus was with God
and Jesus was God
Jesus was in the beginning
with God.

Moses says, "in the beginning God created."
John Says, "in the beginning was Jesus"
Moses says, "Let US make man in Our image."
John Says, "Jesus was with God."
Moses says, "I am who I Am"
John says, "Jesus was God"

ME/Church

2008-02-02T14:04:00.000-05:00

As seen in a church near you...

Trinity vs. Oneness

2008-01-29T05:23:00.001-05:00

When it comes to the doctrine of God, That is the doctrine of the trinity, I affirm Deuteronomy 6:4 "hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one." But I also affirm Acts 7:54-60. Stephen is about to be the first martyr of the Church and as he's coming to a close with his rebuke of the religeous of his day he looks upwards and sees an incredible sight.

But he (Stephen)
full of the HOLY SPIRIT, gazed into heaven
and saw the glory of GOD,
and JESUS standing at the right hand of GOD.
and he said,
"Behold, I see the heavens opened,
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of GOD."

Notice Stephen is full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is standing at God's right hand. All three are independently mentioned at the same time... Here you see a clear picture of the three persons of the Trinity, yet brining in Deut. helps to balance this. Three persons who are one, just like the old creeds of the Church confessed. Coming from a oneness background who only believed in different modes of God: Father, Son and H.S. they were all the same just different manifestations of God (like an actor putting on a different costume). Yet this chapter in the book of acts wont allow for it. You see Three at the same time.

A Theologians job isn't to make up ideas, their job is to explain what they read in the scriptures. "I see three persons in the one God." this isn't something man made, and godly men of old grappled with the text to fit the revelation of God in the O.T. with the further revelation of God in the N.T.

What ever happend to Christ in Christianity?

2008-01-22T21:21:00.000-05:00

It's amazing, there's something missing in most of Christiandom...It's Christ.
He's missing from the Sunday-school class room, he's missing from the pulpit, and he's missing from church. It's frustrating being apart of a Mens group that talks about being a real man, being wild at heart, or whatever. Yet they don't bring Christ into the picture, or if they do it's a tag on the end with a lot of pop-physiology attached before it.

X-ianity, is the name of the game in America. I love what Paul Washer requires for missionaries in his ministry, "give me one man with a bible, who will walk into the middle of a town and preach till some one is converted or he's killed." We need Men of God who have that same attitude in our churches. Give me a Pastor, Teacher, Layperson who will take Gods word (the bible), stand up and speak truth till people are converted, confronted, transformed, or till they run him out of church or he's killed...

"God I pray for men of valor to arise. Men who will live holy before you, who will preach an unadulterated word, men who would not back down and who are empowered by your Holy Spirit to the point it consumes them. We are so week without you, help us to arise and by your power working within us fight for the faith once delivered."

Why History?

2008-01-17T20:51:00.001-05:00

One reason I believe history is so important, is the fact it has the ability to help us not fall into theological darkness of our own age. One of the great truths of the Christian faith is that truth has always been truth. What was true 2000 years ago is still true today. History becomes helpful when we look back and see what other men of God have said in the past about God and his revelation of Himself in scriptures. One way it helps is that if church history for the last 2000 years has denied a certain doctrine, then it's a good chance that doctrine is wrong. Or if it has embraced a doctrine for the last 2000 years, it's a good chance that it's Orthodoxie, that is correct teaching. One example of this is the Trinity. For 2000 years is has been fought for and confirmed time and time again. Yet there is still people who deny the Biblical concept. Some on the basis that it doesn't making any sense, yet others on a misconception that the early church didn't believe in the Trinity and that it was a latter concept invented 300 years after the birth of the Church.

This is were history can at least to some extent come into play. It's true that the term Trinity wasn't used by the early Church (The Apostles), but that's not to mean the concept wasn't believed and embraced. The early church was birthed in a time of persecution, both from the Jews and from the Romans. False doctrines came both from outside and from with in the church. False views of Christ arouse, false views of the "God of the Old Testament" arouse, the heretics were undermining the faith by undermining the person and nature of Jesus. It was out of this that the Church Fathers arouse to defend what the scriptures reveled about God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Studying History shows that the early Church Fathers didn't come up with the idea of the Trinity, they just defended what the scriptures had already revealed.

No one is free.

2008-01-16T21:23:00.000-05:00

We are slaves. We serve someone, something or some idea. Paul tells us that we are either slaves to Christ unto righteousness or we are slaves to sin, which leads to death (both physically and spiritually). The Longer I live the more I realize the truth behind Paul's words. In this life we have many things to pick and chose to serve. In the end it all boils down to serving God or the Devil. The pharisees thought they were serving God. They had all the outward manifestations of holiness. The Law, the dress, the honor of men. Yet Jesus tells them their father is the Devil, who was a lier from the beginning. I pray that as I grow in my walk with the Lord, I wouldn't just have the outward appearances of religion. But I would have and indwelling assurance that I'm serving Jesus. My Prayer is to be a slave of Jesus. Slaves only respond to their Master, may I truly by the grace of God be a slave to Righteousness and not sin.

I love the quote by John Owen.
"Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you."

You either obey God, or by default your obeying the Father of Lies. This life is war.

Paul Washer

2008-01-12T16:00:00.001-05:00

This is a great sermon one the Gospel. It was given at a missions confrence to remind us the reason for missions.

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PCA: Sermon

2008-01-12T13:22:00.000-05:00

This is my friends church, I thought I would post one of the sermons off his church.

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It's a war, war to the end...

2008-01-08T21:18:00.000-05:00

"Heaven is ours already, only we strive till we have full possession."- Sibbes

God never promised heaven on earth. We see and can taste a little bit of heaven now, but yet it's still in the future. Were in the kingdom but the kingdom hasn't fully arrived yet. So we fight. By the power of the Holy Spirit within us we fight. Not against others but against ourselves. We make war against our flesh, or sinful desires, anything that would strive for 1st place in our lives other then God, we fight against.

Let the chips lie where they fall.

2008-01-05T21:50:00.001-05:00

May God forgive those of us who so easily loose sight of the truth.
And May God rip out the Heresy of the 'health and wealth
gospel' from withing our American Churches. May we not be called
the American Church, but the redeemed people of God. Those who are bought
with the price, namely, the death of Christ. Those who look for a heavenly
kingdom, not an earthly one. Those who love God more then all the earthly
things that can be extolled on them. And those whom bear the name of Christ
in the hard times, not just in the times of plenty...

"For in whatever state I'm found: rich, poor, healthy, sick, happy or sad...
May I glory in my redeemer. He is enough."

The Words an inn, it's not our home.

2008-01-02T21:16:00.000-05:00

"The world is but a great inn, where we are to stay a night or two, and be gone; what madness is it so to set our heart upon our inn, as to forget our home?"

THOMAS WATSON

Resolved to Resolve: Life in Christ.

2008-01-02T20:58:00.000-05:00

Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.
Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

-Johnathan Edwards.
(These are two of the 70 Resoved's.)

May God so grant this generation to live a life like Edwards. To look into the things of God so deeply and then practically live them out. Not in a legalistic way, but in a God glorifying, God exalting and practical way.

"For to live is Christ and to die is gain." may we never, never for get the deep truths behind this Holy Spirit inspired word. It will help us live a life, like Edwards for the glory of God.

The Bruised Reed

2008-01-01T21:05:00.000-05:00

"there is more mercy in Christ then sin in us."
-Sibbes

As the first day of the new year comes to a close, I pray that God would give me this year one request. That is to know Him more.

I Corinthians 1:1-3 (Part 1)

2007-12-30T20:41:00.000-05:00

"Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,"

Paul in Corinthians, is writing in response to Chloe's people (1.11) who tell Paul of some of their concerns with the church in Corinth and to a letter written to him (7.1) from the Corinth Church.

This is the first part of a three part segment on the grand opening of this book.

As we dive into the text we notice the first word in the letter as being "Paul". To many this isn't strange or even interesting, that is until one look into the history of this "Paul" figure and see that he wasn't always called Paul, but at one time he was known as Saul of Tarsus. The first time he appears in scriptures he's holding the garments of those who dragged Stephen (one of the seven picked in Jerusalem to serve) out of the city and stoned him to death. This Saul went from holding garments and approving of this execution to participation in it. He went house to house dragging people off to prison for their faith in Jesus. This Saul was in the very act of trying to destroy the church when he encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus. This Saul after an encounter with Jesus was forever changed, he started to preach and to build up what he once tried to destroy. After a time Saul was called with a man named Barnabas by the Holy Spirit to do a work for God. It is at this time we are told that his name is no longer Saul But Paul.

Saul is a Hebrew name and it's Greek equivalence is Paul. In the book of Acts once the author mentions that Saul was also called Paul, the author of Acts (Luke) never again refers to his Hebrew name but only his Greek equivalence Paul. This gives us a hint into part of Paul's calling, which was to the Greeks.

"Paul, called by the will of God..."

This statement mirrors the Acts account of Paul's conversion. Jesus calls Paul while Paul is in the very act of persecuting God's people. It's the calling of God that can bring a ville persecutor of the Gospel to saving repentance. The echo of Romans 8.30 is heard here, "...and those whom he called he also justified,...". Without the call of God Paul would have remained Saul, just another one in a long list of men who persecuted the church. Paul wasn't called my mans will, but Paul's calling was by the will of God. This God is the one who "works all things according to the counsel of his will". So we see that it was in God's sovereign will to call Paul, this calling led to Paul's conversion, and not only to his conversion but to his vocational calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ.

The day Paul met Jesus he was forever changed. The prof that Paul met Jesus was the fact that he changed, he went from being Saul the persecutor to Paul the Apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul's life testified to the reality of his encounter with Christ. One of the ways we can know if we really have had an encounter with Jesus is a changed life. Not only a changed life sometime back-when in the good old by and by, but a life that's continually being changed by the ever real presence of the call of God on ones life.

Paul mentions in a later part of this letter as being untimely born, it's in the sense of being spiritually born again. If one is asked how many disciples did Jesus hand chose, one would be wrong if they say 12. Jesus chose Paul on the Road to Damascus, Paul is the 13th hand picked disciple of Jesus. An apostle is a "sent one", one who is sent in the name of another. Paul was called by God to be a sent one, and the Corinthians are a recipient of this calling. Paul's authority behind writing the Corinthians isn't his own, nor is it in some other person, but it's in his calling because it was God who called him, chose him, justified him, and declared him to be an Apostle to the Gentiles, and this is symbolized by the fact we know this man mainly as Paul instead of Saul.

There are a couple of truths we can pull out from this. The first is that salvation is by grace, Paul wasn't looking to be save, yet by Gods grace he came to know Jesus in a saving way. The Second is the sovereignty of God, God is in control. When we look at people and think, "they can never be saved," God says all things are possible through me. God being sovereign over salvation is one of the reasons we can be encourage to pray for the lost. And third, when God calls us to a task, he gives us the abilities to preform it in his strength. Paul wasn't an apostle in his own strength but he relied on Jesus as his source. We are not saved because of what we did, and we cannot stay saved because of what we do, salvation is all of God, from first to end. So in all of this like Paul we can only boast in the cross of Christ.

vigorous meditation

2007-12-27T21:20:00.000-05:00

My little boy is learning to talk and his favorite word is "Ball". Everything is a ball, he has the concept down. He looks at an apple it's a "Ball", or a grape, the list is endless. He's totally infatuated with "balls". When my son wakes up the first word he says is "Ball", it's not the only word he knows but it's his favorite among the 15+ words he knows.

My prayer for him is that one day in God's providence he (that is my son) would have the same infatuation with Jesus. That all he thinks about, talks about, gets excited about is God. My prayer for him lately is "Father I thank you for his passion for balls, and some day may that passion be placed on You, and may he serve you and follow hard after you all his days."

My sons passion is a little convicting. I ask myself, "Do I have that kind of vigorous determination to latch on to something and not let it go?" And to often I have to answer with a resounding No!

John Owen when talking about theology and studying God's word mentioned one of the key elements to his method was a "vigorous meditation" on the words of God. Not just reading a passage a couple of times, but meditating on it, thinking about it, letting the truths of scripture sink deep into your soul, and praying for the Holy Spirit to enlighten His truths to your heart and mind.

This coming year I pray that the Holy Spirit would help me to "Vigorous meditation" on the things of God. To take a passage of scripture and like my son with "balls", think about, talk about and get excited about Gods words. To let it sink deeper and deeper into my heart to the point that it flows out of my life, not only to a lost and dying world, but to my son.

Richard Sibbes: Puritan

2007-12-26T20:54:00.000-05:00

Richard Sibbes was a Puritan pastor in the16th-17th century. Sibbes is known for his extraordinary preaching, and is called the "heavenly Doctor Sibbes." One of the books he wrote is called "The Bruised Read". Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones when referring to this wounder-full little book said, "it, quietened, soothed, comforted, encouraged and healed me." This was a time in Maryn's life when he was in need of Balm for his soul...

In this time of seasonal upheaval do to Christmas, Family, traveling and all the news and political jumble that's going 0n, these words will help bring it all into prospective.

"A Christian is an impregnable person. He is a person that never can be conquered. Emmanuel became man to make the church and every Christian to be one with him. Christ's nature is out of danger of all that is hurtful. The sun shall not shine, the wind shall not blow, to the church's hurt. For the church's Head ruleth over all things and hath all things in subjection. Therefore let all the enemies consult together, this king and that power, there is a counsel in heaven which will disturb and dash all their counsels. Emmanuel in heaven laugheth them to scorn. And as Luther said, 'Shall we weep and cry when God laugheth?'"

Trinity vs. Oneness

2007-12-25T06:44:00.000-05:00

Growing up I heard a lot of the evil trinitarians and how they believe in three Gods. This was only confirmed when I went to Collage down in Dallas, Tx. The class was on the Holy Spirit and yes he, that is, the teacher did border heresy in his theology of the Godhead. So my early childhood convictions stayed in-tacked and unharmed. Later on when I was in YWAM doing a DTS one of my leaders was a oneness (All-thou non pentecostal) none Trinitarian believer. This again seemed to only strengthened my beliefs in the oneness of God. Life seemed to go one just fine. As time went on I was married and together we decided to attend a Inductive Bible Study school out in Mt. The school teaches Inductive Method and then takes you through the whole bible. Imagine studying 66 books of the bible, in depth, six days a week and spending on average 10 hours a day... wow. But one of the problems i faced was one of Beliefs. what I mean is, the bible confronted some of the false beliefs I learned growing up. Some of these beliefs went without a fight, while others seemed to linger long after the school was over... Some of the beliefs like, how is one saved, perseverance of the saints, what it really means to be justified... I latched onto, and threw out the idea that a true believer could lose there salvation or Jesus plus something equaled salvation. One of the beliefs that I held onto the longest was Oneness theology. Over time and with much prayer and studying I have slowly come to believe in the Trinity, not the three separate Gods I heard about growing up, but the three persons within the one Godhead. So once again this is why these articles are being posted, to look into scripture and see what they tell us about this God who created us, came down in the form of flesh to redeem us and by His ever present Spirit reveals Himself to us.

Here are a couple more verses to ponder in our pursuit of the Godhead.

This one is known as the Shema of Israel:

Deut. 6:4
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the Lord Is One."

This one is and interesting couple of verses out of the book of Daniel.

Daniel 7:9-13
As I looked, thrones where placed,
and the Ancient of days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of this head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
its wheels were burning fire....
...and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man.
and he came to the Ancient of days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed...

Paul Washer, are you save?

2007-12-24T17:56:00.000-05:00

God Alone.

2007-12-24T05:40:00.000-05:00

"To suppose that whatever God requireth of us
that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make
the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect."

- John Owen

Westminster bookstore, a place for reformed literature

2007-12-22T12:39:00.000-05:00

I just ordered Calvin's Commentaries for only $100's. I also picked up D.A Carson's New Testiment Survey and another one of his books on 1 Corinthians. Just click on the the heading for this entry and it'll take you to the book store...

Enjoy. Read.. Grow...

Whats your theology?

2007-12-21T05:45:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be fun to post this. Sam is head of Enjoying God ministries, he's a charismatic Calvinist. One reason I want to post this is do to the fact, even thou I don't know Sam or Sam doesn't know me, we have the same theology. There is just a few differences. I'll point out the main difference know then let you read. 1) I do not believe a Christian can be demon-possessed, or demonized. 2) I believe in a young earth, and both of theses points can be backed up from scriptures, but do to time maybe that'll have to wait for a latter date... enjoy.

(By Sam Storms, or click on heading to bring you to his web page)

On numerous occasions I’ve had people ask me about my theological convictions, most likely because I appear to be an odd mix of views that cannot be found in any one confession of faith or reduced to a single label, system, or denomination.

Others have asked the same question when they see the variety of churches in which I’ve either served as senior pastor, associate pastor, board member, or simply member. This would include Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, independent Bible church (with a Plymouth Brethren orientation), Vineyard, Anglican, and charismatic. By now, I suspect many of you might be inclined to say, “Sam, you’re not so much eclectic in your theology as you are confused!”

So, I’ve decided to yield to the pressure of these repeated inquiries and briefly explain what I believe, with only a brief comment on why and a few references to material either in my books or on my website that will provide support. My aim has always been to be biblical. But, of course, everyone would say that about his or her beliefs. So here goes.

I am a Calvinistic, charismatic, complementarian, Christian hedonist. If that weren’t enough to confuse you, I am also amillennial and baptistic, though I believe in rule by a plurality of Elders and maintain a moderately sacramental perspective on the spiritual presence of Christ in the Eucharist (there’s a word that reflects my four years in an Anglican church!).

Please understand that the issues below are not regarded as fundamental in the sense that one must believe them in order to be a Christian. I have not listed such foundational truths as Trinitarianism, the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, the virgin conception, sinless life, penal substitutionary sacrifice, and bodily resurrection of Christ, or the doctrine of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

I’m focusing, rather, on issues that differentiate men and women who are all Christians. In other words, I trust you understand that I believe someone who is an Arminian-cessationist-egalitarian-dispensational-presbyterian (I dare say I’ve never heard of anyone being all those!), or some other odd mixture thereof can also be a Christian. I hope those who regard me as an even odder theological mixture will extend the same generosity.

So, let’s look briefly at each of these and a few related sub-points.

(1) I am a Calvinist (all five points, by the way). I hardly think this needs much explanation, and I refer you to my book, Chosen for Life: The Case for Divine Election (Crossway, 2007). There are several related issues that bear mentioning:

a. On the issue of the order of the divine decrees, I am an Infralapsarian (see Chosen for Life, pp. 213-19).

b. I believe that all those dying in infancy are elect (on my website, http://www.samstorms.com/, a defense can be found in Theological Studies, Controversial Issues).

c. I believe that regeneration, or the new birth, precedes and is the cause/source of saving faith. In other words, we are born again in order that we may believe, not the other way around.

d. In view of the present controversy, it is important that I affirm my belief in the forensic nature of justification in which the righteousness of Christ (often called his active and passive obedience) is imputed to the believer through faith alone.

(2) I am a Charismatic. When asked if I am “charismatic” I typically respond by saying, “Tell me what you mean by the term and I’ll tell you if I’m one.” More times than not, what people have in mind is far and away different from what I believe. So let me simply identify several relevant issues.

a. I believe that all spiritual gifts are valid today and that nothing in Scripture suggests otherwise. My chapter in the book Are Miraculous Gifts for Today? Four Views (Zondervan) is the most extensive answer I’ve given to this question. Also, my book The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts (Regal) provides an answer to the question of how such gifts operate in church life today.

b. I believe that baptism in the Spirit occurs at conversion for all Christians (again, check out the two articles on the website in Theological Studies, Controversial Issues). This sets me apart from classical Pentecostalism and much of the contemporary charismatic movement.

c. Although I do pray in tongues (daily), I do not believe that this or any other spiritual gift is designed by God for all Christians. Every Christian has at least one gift while no Christian (at least, none I know) has every gift (nor should they).

d. I believe healing is in the atonement in the same way I believe all spiritual and physical blessings are in the atonement. Were it not for the death and resurrection of Christ we would have nothing but the eternal damnation that we deserve. But not all such blessings are experienced in their fullness until the consummation of all things in the New Heaven and New Earth. This would certainly be true of the healing of the body.

d. Although I do believe God heals today, I do not believe that the so-called “Health and Wealth and/or Prosperity Gospel” is in any sense a “gospel” and I ask all Christians to cease referring to it in such terms. Call it a “movement” or “philosophy” or even a “theology”, but stop calling it a gospel! The same applies to what typically is called “The Word of Faith” movement, in much of which I struggle to find the presence of true, biblical “faith”.

e. I believe in both (1) the finality, sufficiency, and authority of Scripture, on the one hand, and (2) the validity of revelatory gifts such as prophecy and word of knowledge, on the other. And no, the latter (2) is not a threat to the former (1).

(3) I am a Complementarian. I’ve written briefly on this issue at my website. The relevant material can be found in Theological Studies. A few words of clarification are in order.

a. If I am to err, I choose to err on the side of flexibility and freedom. In other words, I hesitate to restrict women from any form of ministry that does not have explicit biblical sanction.

b. As I read the New Testament, it appears that Paul and others restrict women from serving in what I call senior governmental authority, which would include the office of Senior Pastor (i.e., that individual or pastoral office responsible for the regular, authoritative exposition of Scripture) and Elder (or Bishop, depending on which term you prefer). Therefore, I believe a woman can serve as a deacon or worship leader or counselor or any other expression of Christian ministry that does not violate Paul’s injunction against women exercising authority over men (1 Timothy 2:11-15; 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9).

(4) I am a Christian Hedonist. Simply put, I believe it is impossible for us to desire pleasure too much, and that the pleasure we cannot desire too much is pleasure in God and all that he is for us in Jesus. For more on this, I direct you to my books, Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Enjoying God (NavPress) and One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God (Christian Focus). If you want a shorter explanation, visit my website and you will see a brief article on the Home page titled, “What is Christian Hedonism?”

(5) I am an Amillennialist. This is a huge topic on which I am currently writing a book. So I’ll limit myself here to only a few specifics.

a. One of the primary reasons I am not a Premillennialist (neither Historic nor Dispensational) is because of what I read in the NT concerning the Second Coming of Christ.

To be a Premillennialist of any sort, you must believe that physical death and the curse on the natural creation will continue to exist beyond the time of Christ’s return. You must believe that the New Heavens and New Earth will not be introduced until 1,000 years subsequent to the return of Christ. You must believe that unbelieving men and women will still have the opportunity to come to saving faith in Christ for at least 1,000 years subsequent to his return. To be a Premillennialist, you must believe that unbelievers will not be finally resurrected until at least 1,000 years subsequent to Christ’s return and that unbelievers will not be finally judged and cast into eternal punishment until at least 1,000 years subsequent to Christ’s return.

But my reading of what happens at the Second Coming of Christ indicates that then, and not 1,000 years later, physical death is swallowed up in the victory of Christ, never again to exert its power; the natural creation is delivered fully and finally from its bondage to sin; the New Heavens and New Earth are inaugurated; all opportunity for salvation of the lost comes to an end; and both the final resurrection and final judgment of all mankind occur.

b. I find no biblical support for a pre-tribulation rapture, Christian Zionism, a distinction between Israel and the Church, or a future seven year period known as the Great Tribulation.

c. I believe Matthew 24:1-35; Mark 13:1-31; and Luke 21:5-33 (otherwise known as the Olivet Discourse) refer to events that transpired in the first century, beginning with the exaltation of Christ and consummating with the destruction in 70 a.d. of both the city of Jerusalem and its Temple.

As I said, I hope to finish a book on eschatology sometime in 2008, but in the meantime you may read several articles in defense of these beliefs, available on my website under Theological Studies, Eschatology.

(6) I am a Baptist (or, “baptistic”, as some prefer). If you’ve recovered from (5), and I suspect many of you haven’t, let me turn briefly to another broad subject and focus on several important items (rest assured, of course, that being baptistic would entail far more than simply what I mention below).

a. I believe only those who are able to provide a credible testimony of personal faith in Jesus Christ should be baptized (immersed) in water.

b. I believe that a local church should be governed by a plurality of Elders, of which the Senior Pastor is one. I see no biblical basis for a church being led by a single Elder or Pastor. (No, this does not make me a Presbyterian, although I once served as interim pastor for three years in such a church.)

c. I believe that Jesus Christ is spiritually (and therefore, really, but not physically) present in the elements of the Eucharist and that the elements are more than merely a symbol of his body and blood. They are (one of) the sacramental means by which the sanctifying (but not saving) grace of Christ is mediated to the believer. For more on this, check out the two articles titled, “What Happens in the Eucharist?” on my website, Theological Studies, Miscellaneous Topics.

(7) I am a . . . I needed a seventh point to satisfy those who are obsessed with biblical numerology (“6” will never do, or so they tell me), so here is a brief list of other, often contentious, issues. (You can find articles on each of these issues on my website under Theological Studies, Controversial Issues.)

a. I believe that Open Theism is heretical.

b. I believe that eternal punishment in Hell is conscious and unending.

c. I believe that the NT leaves open the possibility for some form of apostolic ministry today (although without the Scripture-writing authority of the original company).

d. I believe Christians can be demonized (note, I did not say demon-possessed).

e. I do not believe the NT mandates that Christians “tithe” 10% of their income but I do believe in generous, sacrificial, proportionate giving that often times, depending on one’s wealth, ought to exceed 10%.

f. While affirming the historicity of Adam and Eve as the first humans and parents of our race, I tentatively embrace the theory of an old earth and old universe. (I’ve not written anything on this, but may have to.)

I think that’s enough to get myself into trouble with just about everyone! I must confess, however, that I’m not in the least bothered by that. My only concern is that these beliefs be grounded in Scripture and not merely experience or personal preference or an emotional wound or ambition or something that I’m required to believe in order to keep my job or because some hero of mine in centuries past happened to believe it. Isn’t that something for which we all should strive?

Blessings,

Sam

What Is the Hypostatic Union? From Desiring God

2007-12-20T06:03:00.001-05:00

The term hypostatic union is much easier than it sounds, but the concept is as profound as anything in theology.

The English adjective hypostatic comes from the Greek word hupostasis. The word only appears four times in the New Testament—maybe most memorably in Hebrews 1:3, where Jesus is said to be “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” Here the author of Hebrews uses the word in reference to the oneness of God. Both the Father and the Son are of the same “nature.” Jesus is “the exact imprint of his nature.”

However, in early church discussions, as Greek thinkers tried to find agreeable terms with those who spoke in Latin, the word hupostasis came to denote not the sameness in the Godhead (God’s one essence) but the distinctness (the three persons). So it began to be used to refer to something like the English word person.

The Personal Union of Jesus’ Two Natures

So “hypostatic union” may sound fancy in English, but it’s a pretty simple term. Hypostatic means personal. The hypostatic union is the personal union of Jesus’ two natures.

Jesus has two complete natures—one fully human and one fully divine. What the doctrine of the hypostatic union teaches is that these two natures are united in one person in the God-man. Jesus is not two persons. He is one person. The hypostatic union is the joining of the divine and the human in the one person of Jesus.

What Is the Significance?

Why bother with this seemingly fancy term? What good is it to know about this hypostatic union? At the end of the day, the term can go, but the concept behind the term is infinitely precious—and worshipfully mind-stretching.

It is immeasurably sweet—and awe-inspiring—to know that Jesus’ two natures are perfectly united in his one person. Jesus is not divided. He is not two people. He is one person. As the Chalcedonian Creed states, his two natures are without confusion, without change, without division, and without separation. Jesus is one.

This means Jesus is one focal point for our worship. And as Jonathan Edwards preached, in this one-person God-man we find “an admirable conjunction of diverse excellencies.”

Because of this hypostatic, one-person union, Jesus Christ exhibits an unparalleled magnificence. No one person satisfies the complex longings of the human heart like the God-man.

God has made the human heart in such a way that it will never be eternally content with that which is only human. Finitude can’t slake our thirst for the infinite.

And yet, in our finite humanity, we are significantly helped by a point of correspondence with the divine. God was glorious long before he became a man in Jesus. But we are human beings, and unincarnate deity doesn’t connect with us in the same way as the God who became human. The conception of a god who never became man (like Allah) will not satisfy the human soul like the God who did.

One Person, For Us

And beyond just gazing at the spectacular person of Jesus, there is also the amazing gospel-laced revelation that the reason Jesus became the God-man was for us. His fully human nature joined in personal union to his eternally divine nature is permanent proof that Jesus, in perfect harmony with his Father, is undeterrably for us. He has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, he took our nature to his one person and died for us.

Dave Hunt the quoting hating calvinist.

2007-12-19T05:36:00.000-05:00

Dave Hunt is the head of the Berean Call. He's 100% against Calvinistic beliefs, yet it seems he's not against quoting from them and even selling some of their books. Once again the berean call (bc-stand for berean call not before Christ, even thou in this instance the two aren't so far off from eachother) showed up in my mail box. For the last six plus issues or so, it has quoted a Calvinist in it's "Quotable Quotes." Yet all the while bashing those who hold to a Reformed view. This issue was the same as before, he quoted a Puritan Preacher named Samuel Rutherford in his letters from prison in 1637. It seems Dave has a misinformed view of what it means to be Reformed. In his article he sets up a straw man then proceeds to attack it. If anyone has been subdue by his arguments, they should read the book by James White and Dave Hunt as they battle it out page after page. Also in the last in the last page of the BC Dave is selling one of the greats books written in history...Pilgrim's Progress, another Calvinist...? Dave you are confused.

Click on Me, I'll take you to Paul Washers video

2007-12-16T14:31:00.000-05:00

The Reason Missions Exist. Paul Washer gives a great Gospel overview for the reason why we Do missions throughout the world. The link above will take you to sermon Audio and then either click of Video down load or MP3. The choice is yours...

Trinity vs. Oneness

2007-12-16T08:46:00.000-05:00

In the beginning God Created the heavens and the earth... And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters...Then God said, "Let US make man in our image, after our likeness"...So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created Him; male and female He created them.(excepts from Genesis)

Questions to consider:
1) The bible never tries to prove that there is a God, It just assumes that He is. Why?
2) Why is the Hebrew word Elohim, Plural instead of singular?
3) When Moses says the Spirit of God was hovering, what did he mean? Was it God or was it His Spirit, and are these the same or different?
4) Who is the "US & Our" in creating man? Only God creates, not angels. The bible says man was made in the image of God, not in the image of angels?
5) In Hebrew literature if one wants to put emphases on a subject it's mentioned twice. Moses mentions that man was created in God's image twice and three times that man was created...why?

It's helpful to have some kind of grasp on the Godhead in these verses. In the next (Trinity vs. Oneness) post we will look more in-depth into these verse and a hand full of others in the Old Testament before we move of to the New Testament.

Read

2007-12-11T17:38:00.000-05:00

Trinity vs. Oneness

2007-12-11T05:48:00.000-05:00

Up and coming post will deal with the Godhead. Is it three in one or one in three. Many may wounder why even talk about this since the historic confessions confess that there is one God but within the one God there is three "persons". One reason I'm going to post this is that fact that there is a huge following of what some call a heretical movement of "Oneness People", in which most of my Family would consider them selfs to be apart of, and proud to be so called. The second reason is to just once again take a fresh look at scriptures and see what the Bible has to say about the character of God, and who He is.