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Back in the Saddle

2009-12-29T15:33:57-05:00

I looked up the meaning for the idiom “back in the saddle.” It means doing something you stopped doing for a period of time. Therefore I am happy to announce that the Pastor B. blog is officially back in the saddle after a short break and ready to move into the 2010 year.

A funny thing happened on the way back from church on December 13, as the following week progressed I ran headlong right into the flu. It was quite the battle that has lasted for two weeks and culminated with a trip to doctors office this morning for more medication. Sorry that I have been out of touch, but if you came to our house you would see that the couch and I have become one. Yes, those merry sounds of hacking, coughing, sneezing, and blowing have been a constant during this Christmas season. Nancy has remained healthy but probably needs some time just to recover from taking care of me. I am not a good sick person and at one point I asked Nancy if we could get a bell so I could just ring it. I will leave you to the imagination as to how that little suggestion went over. Just to give you a visual I have included a photo that gives a summary of my past few weeks here at the house. Simply click on this LINK.

Pat, Kay, Nancy and I along with the entire leadership team are very excited about our Bible reading, study and devotion time for 2010. Pat and I are already talking about some new things to introduce our class to on Sunday that can help our progress as we learn Bible doctrine together. I want to thank the staff at Carmel for working with us so closely to make all the little things come together each Sunday. Also to a huge thanks to Rob Kelly and the young adult ministry for the smooth transition as we have been both utilizing the uptown auditorium.

Helpful tools for Website

2009-12-15T12:44:06-05:00

Here are two software application tools that you will need to load on your computers as we continue into 2010. Most of you probably have them already installed but this is for those who do not.
Both of these downloads are FREE and can be used on both Windows and Mac based computers.

For a video tutorial on what is needed and how to download simply click on this LINK

Review for December 13

2009-12-13T19:23:55-05:00

Sbs Class December 13 2009a

View more presentations from BertBrim.

If you want to print out the notes from a pdf file then simply click on this LINK

Coming this Sunday

2009-12-11T22:09:43-05:00

On Sunday we are going to finish our look at transcendence and immanence. Then I am planning to teach two more important words that will help give categories in relation to “Doctrine of God.”
In this short video I have included FOUR WORDS that we need to have a working relationship with in our study. In addition I have given the meaning and a challenge for us as a class in regard to how we should study.

PREVIEW
JUST CLICK ON THE WORD ABOVE

Shoe Boxes and the Gospel

2009-12-11T13:27:49-05:00

We had a great participation last night at Operation Christmas Child. This is a “shout out” to our wonderful missions leader JEANETTE BICKET! Everything was so well planned and organized that all we had to do was show up and follow the bouncing ball.

If you stop by the “LEARNING” section of our website you can check out the pictures from last night. Also your roving reporter Pastor B. was able to get some interviews with folks on the floor. You can check out the interviews by simply clicking on:
Don Lane

Steve Brown

Ann Roberts

For those that didn’t get a chance to go last night I hope at some point you can participate in this worldwide ministry. Each year there seems to be a unique story told about how a shoe box was instrumental in bringing a child or a family to Christ. Isn’t it good to know that the God we love and serve uses us in these types of ways in order that we might participate in His kingdom work.

Blessings

Word studies in the Bible

2009-12-11T10:03:32-05:00

One of the exciting things about Bible study is to look at various words or phrases that may catch your attention while reading. This month I have been looking at 3 specific words/phrase and want to share this with you in this email. Sometimes it is a bit like being a detective in which you are given clues and then you see where it leads. Often I find these are the kinds of things that bring me to even a greater appreciation of God and His word.

Here are the three word searches I have been working on:
1. WORSHIP - the main word that we have in the New Testament is the Greek word "proskuneo" Here is the definition according to Strong's - from 4314 and a probable derivative of 2965 (meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand); to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (literally or figuratively) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): — worship.

As you look in the New Testament this word appears 44 times in Matthew-Acts and in Revelation 25 times. Here is what I find interesting the apostle Paul only uses this word 1 time in his epistles. And the word is never mentioned by Peter or James. Why would the New Testament writers who are writing to help the church be all that it can be from a Christ-centered perspective be devoid of the teaching of this word? There is a good reason but it would take up more of your reading than you may have time for at the moment. My point is that in researching words there are spiritual nuggets that God is waiting to give that often manifest in "glory bumps."

2. DISCIPLE - OK, now here is an important word for the 21st Century church right? How many books, tapes, conferences and sermons have been as to the importance of the why and how of being a disciple of Christ. Well then let's do a little research on this word and see what we can discover.
The Greek word for disciple is mathetes, math-ay-tes´; from 3129; a learner, i.e. pupil: — disciple.
This word occurs 261 times in the New Testament but all of those occurrences are in Matthew-Acts. Never one time does this word appear in the 21 epistles that we have in the New Testament.
You might know that I have an opinion on this but I will leave you to the question "why do you suppose after Acts we hear no more about this word?"

Devotion time in 1 Samuel

2009-12-10T13:44:38-05:00

Devotion time is so precious in that God may focus you on the whole chapter, a paragraph, a sentence or maybe even one word! In my reading this week in 1 Samuel I was drawn to a phrase that appears throughout the entire Old Testament. It reads in a number of different ways but carries the same meaning. The phrase is "I brought them up from Egypt or I brought Israel up from Egypt." (1 Samuel 8:8, 1 Samuel 10:18) Why is this so important to the nation of Israel and why is God repeating it so often? In order to understand this we need to travel back in our Bibles to Genesis 12 where God gives Abram the following promise. It reads as follows;

Gen. 12:1 ¶ Now the LORD said to Abram,
“Go forth from your country,
And from your relatives
And from your father’s house,
To the land which I will show you;
Gen. 12:2 And I will make you a great nation,
And I will bless you,
And make your name great;
And so you shall be a blessing;
Gen. 12:3 And I will bless those who bless you,
And the one who curses you I will curse.
And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

And then we see this promise made to Abraham being ratified by God in Genesis 15. When you read Genesis 15 notice the following; the promise God makes, the response that Abraham has, and then how Abraham knows God is going to do what He says. Allow me to draw you attention to two things; Genesis 15:17 as to how God sealed His promise. Second, Genesis 15:13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. It is critical for us to understand that when God brings His people out of Egypt, which He tells to Abraham even before it happened, this is the sign that God is faithful to His covenant with Abraham.

At some point we will discuss in full the meaning of this covenant with Abraham and what it has to do with us as Gentiles. But for this devotion just keep in mind that whenever and wherever you find the phrase "brought them out of Egypt" I want you to think back to Genesis 12 and 15 and God's covenant with Abraham. This is not a covenant that God was obligated to make with Abraham. But as we will see later in our study of the attributes of God, once God says and commits then He is bound by the very essence of His character to do it. We serve a God that always does what He says! Even though we may be faithless at times He is always faithful. So as you read through the Old Testament historical narratives that cover from Genesis-Esther. You should continue to marvel at the fact that even though the people are rebellious, and often turn their backs on God that He remains faithful to not only bring them out from Egypt but into the land of Canaan. And why? just travel back again to the covenant with Abraham and be encouraged, for what God promises He always delivers!

Operation Christmas Child

2009-12-09T15:28:40-05:00

This coming Thursday night the “Living and Learning” class will be going to Operation Christmas Child to sort, assemble and help with distribution of shoe boxes worldwide. This is part of Samaritan’s Purse, which is a ministry headed by Franklin Graham. Thanks to Jeanette Bicket for her excellent leadership with all the details and the overall organization of this event for our class. For more information on this wonderful ministry that was birthed right here in Charlotte, NC simply click on this LINK. (Takes a minute or two to load)

Devotion in Genesis

2009-12-08T09:29:20-05:00

Our Bible reading this week includes Genesis 44-47. This incorporates the story of Joseph but there is much for us to learn about God and us. In this section of Scripture we see one of the clearest teachings in the Bible when it comes to the harmony of God's divine sovereignty over all things and man's responsibility from his freedom of the will.

So here is how one can understand this from the story of Joseph and what happens to him via his brothers.

These are what are known as “Compatibilist” Texts
This means two things that need to be brought together in convergence.

One is the sovereign control of God, He is ordaining, He is determining, He is causing to bring about certain things but that sovereign ordination of God doesn’t cancel out human free action and responsibility.

Instead that sovereign action of God is compatible with and doesn’t happen separate from responsible human action.

So these two things are compatible – Divine Sovereignty and Free Human Responsibility

Genesis 45:4-8
You remember the story, there was seven years of plenty and seven years of famine.
So when the brothers went down to Egypt to buy food the one that they appeared before was in fact there brother Joseph.
The brothers sold Joseph as a slave hoping that he would have a painful death.
They had no idea that he was promoted, God had given him those dreams, and now he was second in command in all of Egypt.

Then in Genesis 45 Joseph decides to reveal his true identity to his brothers.
“Then Joseph said to his brothers, . . . ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

Question – is this true?
Did his brothers sell him into Egypt?

Yes indeed they did, they plotted it and carried it out and did exactly what they wanted to do.

Quote for the day

2009-12-08T08:42:57-05:00

Michael Horton writes in his book Christless Christianity the following;
My concern is that we are getting dangerously close to the place in everyday American church life where the Bible is mined for “relevant” quotes but is largely irrelevant on its own terms; God is used as a personal resource rather than known, worshiped, and trusted; Jesus Christ is a coach with a good game plan for our victory rather than a Savior who has already achieved it for us; salvation is more a matter of having our best life now than being saved from God’s judgment by God himself; and the Holy Spirit is an electrical outlet we can plug into for the power we need to be all that we can be.

Review for December 6

2009-12-06T18:51:16-05:00

The Transcendence and Immanence of God

View more presentations from BertBrim.

If you want to print out the notes from a pdf file then simply click on this LINK

A Christmas Moment

2009-12-05T12:34:16-05:00

Keeping in context with some fun during the Christmas season here is one of my favorite video’s. Simply click on this LINK. Just an observation but the guy in this video reminds me of Pat Jones. His humor seems very consistent with what I see when I talk with our class leader. And I can hear Pat laughing as he watches this short video clip. Isn’t good when you can know the talents, gifts and abilities of those that you minister with especially during this time of the year?

Christmas Party 2009

2009-12-05T07:33:45-05:00

Last night we had our class Christmas party. The room, decorations, ambiance all made for an evening that was elegant and restful at the most hectic time of the year. Again I want to thank Karen Sheats and the team with her that put together all the details and work for last night. The main meal consisted of lasagna, salad and rolls. And then desserts such as cheesecake, pecan pie, chocolate cake with coffee, tea and water to drink. There was great fellowship and after the meal we gathered around the piano, to sing Christmas Carols. Thanks to Nancy Brown for providing our music last night. There was only one small incident from our wonderful Christmas celebration last night. It seems that a PARTY CRASHER was spotted by our class security. This person was quickly assisted from the room and the building for further questioning. We then concluded the evening with a Christmas devotion. Last night I suggested three words to consider during this Christmas season as they relate to the most important Christmas story of all time.

The verses and devotion tonight will be summarized in the following way;

PERSON
PURPOSE
PLAN

Dr. Luke writes two books of the Bible for us, the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. His goal is to build a bridge between the Old and New Testament.

And the way he does it as follows:
In the gospel of Luke he builds the bridge from the OT to Jesus, this is bridge building phase 1. Whereas in the book of Acts he builds the bridge from Jesus to the apostle Paul, which is phase 2 and in doing so launches us into Romans to Revelation. But the key to understand the bridge is the PLAN, which make up our third word for this devotion. The plan Luke will teach to us in this phase 1 plan from the OT to Jesus will be “the kingdom of God.” So now lets see in our devotion how Person and Purpose fit into this plan that Luke teaches.

Read Luke 1:30-33
Luke 1:30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
Luke 1:31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
Luke 1:32 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
Luke 1:33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Luke is teaching us right here that Jesus is the King

Chuch tolerance or Church discipline

2009-11-30T08:16:02-05:00

This comes as a response to the reading at the beginning of the week in 1 Corinthians 5-6

One of the buzz words in the culture we live in today is that of tolerance. This teaches that everyone has the right to their own view of the truth. As long as their view doesn't violate or impose on me then we should all be able to CO-EXIST (the sign you see on the back of many cars.) Though this may be the theme of the day in our society, the apostle Paul has a bit different take when it comes to tolerance in the church. At the beginning of this week the reading assignment was 1 Corinthian 5 and 6. Every time I read Corinthians I think about the modern day church.

In 1 Corinthians 5 the apostle Paul is dealing with a situation involving a sexual relationship between a man and his stepmother. It is the church's tolerance of this sin in which they have a mock humility that has the apostle Paul so upset. Paul says though I am not with you physically I am with you in the Spirit. And then goes on to say that church discipline must be invoked and this man is to be cast out of the church. He even goes further, the apostle Paul says that they are to turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. Why does the apostle Paul deal so strongly with this kind of sin issue? And then he tells us in 1 Corinthians 5:6. I like the way my New Living Translation reads on this "Don't you realize that if even one person is allowed to go on sinning, soon all will be affected? You might say this about 1 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul is not tolerant of sin that isn't dealt with in the body of Christ. As a matter of fact he goes on to say what I think may surprise many Christians today. Paul tells us not to judge those outside the church because God will judge them. However, please read carefully, keep this in context but do not be ignorant of this next statement, Bert paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 5:12 "WE ARE TO JUDGE THOSE WITHIN THE CHURCH." By the way the word judge in this sentence is a verb and is the Greek word "krino."

The meaning of this word is as follows. The verb is written in the present tense which means continually and ongoing.
1) to separate, put asunder, to pick out, select, choose
2) to approve, esteem, to prefer
3) to be of opinion, deem, think, to be of opinion
4) to determine, resolve, decree
5) to judge
a) to pronounce an opinion concerning right and wrong
1) to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one's case may be examined and judgment passed upon it
b) to pronounce judgment, to subject to censure
1) of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others
6) to rule, govern
a) to preside over with the power of giving judicial decisions, because it was the prerogative of kings and rulers to pass judgment
7) to contend together, of warriors and combatants
a) to dispute
b) in a forensic sense
1) to go to law, have suit at law

Do you know what this was called in the early days of our church history? This is known as church discipline! And unfortunately it ranks in at least the top 3 problems today that the evangelical church faces and it may be in the top 2. I was part of an intense discussion in a seminary class in which the subject came to church discipline. The professor who was a wonderful and godly man and said that we in the American evangelical church have lost this Biblical mandate. And what he meant was we apparently have lost the ability as a church to enforce it within the evangelical culture in which we live.

"smoking" Church

2009-11-27T13:55:52-05:00

In an effort to include the “Seeker-Friendly” approach to church we present the newest in the corporate strategy. This may seem a bit unconventional but just wrap your mind around how many more people can be drawn into the building. In other words growth is possible when you give people exactly what they want - right? So if you would like to view what one church is doing to bring and keep people then check out this video. Simply click on this LINK.

The Turkey call works!

2009-11-26T10:13:15-05:00

Normally at the beginning of each class our leader Pat Jones calls us together with his famous turkey call, well folks the proof is in the pudding as they say.

And just for fun “A Thanksgiving Moment”, simply click on this LINK.

Thankful on Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T08:53:48-05:00

When the word thanksgiving comes to mind I am reminded of Psalm 100. Since today is Thanksgiving I turned to Psalm 100 for a time of reading and devotion. Hebrew poetry contains much parallelism and though I don’t know the technical terms I sometimes recognize it when I see it.

Psa. 100:1 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth.
Psa. 100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.

Psa. 100:3 Know that the LORD Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Psa. 100:4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.

Psa. 100:5 For the LORD is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.

Do you see how verse 1, 2 and 4 are about joy and gladness?
And verses 3 and 5 talk about what we need to know.

Or could we say that our response of joy should be in direct relation to our knowledge of God. What do we need to know about the God of our salvation? And I would contend that we need to know of His grace. Should you ask the question how can gain knowledge about this kind of grace, the answer is just read God’s word. The Bible is a story about the grace of God as He redeems mankind from the sin that has separated him from God. By His grace we are able to become more and more knowledge of Him which results in great joy and thanksgiving to Him!

Are you joyful and thankful? If you are it is because of the grace of God that has intersected your life in such a way that you are His sheep and He is your Shepherd!

Defining the terms

2009-11-25T11:10:29-05:00

This is a short audio clip of Dr. Michael Wittmer author of the book “Don’t stop believing” has with Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn radio program. We have been talking since the beginning of our class about defining the terms. Just to list some important terms we have talked about in the past would be things like, justification, sanctification, propitiation, redemption, and ransom to name a few. It seems today that we need to define properly the terms before we enter into dialogue regarding these things.

This clip is an excellent review of the terms:
Liberal
Conservative
Modern
Postmodern

It last less than 3 minutes but will start to help all of us get a good grasp on how these terms are defining the way we do church in America. Also as a teacher let me add that these terms have much to do with how we interpret the Scriptures.

To listen simply click on this LINK.

Application from Sunday's class

2009-11-23T21:38:17-05:00

Yesterday was the conclusion in our teaching on "the Trinity." This obviously was our first major section of teaching regarding the doctrine of God. Here are the points of application that need to be emphasized in this area of our doctrinal study.

#1 - Marvel at the submission of the incarnate Christ to the leading and direction of the Spirit

Look closely at the humility of Christ in not only becoming one of us but also His submission to follow the leading of the Spirit
And this is the Spirit to whom Jesus has authority in the Trinity

Marvel at the ability of the Spirit to serve unnoticed as it were, without overt recognition of the honor and glory that is reserved for the Father and the Son.

#2 - Marvel at the humility of the Spirit
Preachers say we want God to be glorified and Jesus to be honored but you don't hear about the Spirit being glorified and you shouldn't hear that because the Spirit doesn't want to be glorified Himself.

If we are Spirit filled then we are a people who are longing to see Christ glorified and honored in the power of the Spirit
This is what the Spirit wants and He does not put Himself forward. And understand that the Spirit has the very same essence as the Father and the Son, He is God. The Spirit has no resentment that the Father shines the spot light on Jesus and that the ultimate glory goes to God the Father, while the Spirit is in the background.

We need to marvel at the humility of God the Spirit. If the Holy Spirit can accept joyfully, willingly and gladly an eternity of not receiving front and center recognition…then do we think it is possible that we who are filled with the Spirit, might be able to perform good works that no one notices. Might we as the people of God do helpful things that are honoring to God that we know will receive no recognition and can we be happy and joyful that Christ is honored!

Review for November 22

2009-11-22T17:46:29-05:00

The first thing I wanted to accomplish this morning is to encourage and remind about our Bible reading plan for this year. As we approach the Thanksgiving and Christmas season schedules and activities get very hectic. So it becomes important for us to stay focused on our reading and study during these holiday months.

I took the first part of our class to review Matthew 24 that was part of our reading assignment for this past Saturday. This is the Mount Olivet discourse and contains some critical information for us today in the church. Jesus is asked by His disciples what will be the sign of His return. Jesus says be aware of those who will mislead you. Folks the danger today in the evangelical church are those being mislead by false teaching and bad doctrine When you have the basic essentials like the Trinity, substitutionary atonement of Christ for our sins and the virgin birth that are being disregarded, then you know we live in dangerous days. One of the key goals of this class is to learn the basic Bible doctrines so you can protect yourself and family from what is incorrect. If you want to see the importance of this from the perspective of Christ Himself then read Matthew 24:1-14.

During the past week I came across a couple of audio surveys that I want to share with you in this blog article. I have posted these earlier blog posts during the week. But in case you are behind in reading and study I will re-post in this class review. These were interviews done on two subjects, first the ten commandments and the other was the gospel. By the way the gospel interview was conducted at a Christian Booksellers Convention. The point is for you to listen to the questions and see how other Christians responded to some of these basics of the faith. And the further point I want to make is this, if we are negligent about the ten commandments and the gospel then how about the other essentials in the Bible. The bottom line is that we for the most part in the evangelical church have become apathetic and ignorant toward God’s word.

For example:
The Ten Commandments audio interview; LINK

Today was the conclusion of our teaching on the Trinity. Even though I only covered 8 of the 20 slides you can review all of the notes by clicking on this
LINK.

This document is a pdf that can be downloaded or printed out for your convenience.

Also the audio for today’s lesson can be listened to at this LINK.

Manna from Heaven

2009-11-21T15:31:03-05:00

The leadership team has concluded that we need have a mission focus for each month. This can be a wonderful time to pray for the various mission projects that we support. Our focus for the month of November will be “Manna from Heaven.” Here is a brief bio on this particular mission ministry.

MANNA FROM HEAVEN MINISTRIES, INC. began seven years ago when Robert Johnson cooked one plate of hot dogs and beans for a hungry neighbor. The next week, this same neighbor came back only this time with a friend. The next week there were eight hungry people; then 16 and then 35. Today, Johnson feeds 100 hungry people, primarily from two streets in the Villa Heights and Belmont neighborhoods, every Sunday. People walk for blocks and blocks to receive what is possibly the only meal they might have that week.

“we aren’t just feeding the soul of the man but the whole of the man”

Manna desires to go beyond just filling stomachs. You can’t witness to a hungry man! We desire to meet their needs, physically, and spiritually by being the hands and feet of Jesus and sharing with them the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

In addition to a weekly meal, Manna seeks to meet the additional needs of the Community. In late summer, school supplies and school clothes are collected. Clothing is always needed. Warm coats, hats, socks, boots and gloves for the homeless. Providing food for Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ensuring every child gets a gift on Christmas morning along with the true meaning of Christmas! Often times, Manna also offers financial assistance to those who cannot pay their bills.

How we do what we do….Manna from Heaven relies solely on the support of individuals and corporations who give of their time, money and supplies to meet the needs of the less fortunate.
What can I do? In addition to cash donations, Manna needs WalMart gift cards and gas cards to help the people in the community. We also need a larger building with a commercial kitchen. We are currently working on our 501(c)3 which will be filed in 2010, so your gifts will be tax deductible and is retroactive 18 months.
THE FUTURE: It is the desire of Robert, the Board and his team of volunteers that one day Manna from Heaven, Inc. will operate independently in its own structure. A building with a kitchen, a place for people needing shelter, a clothes closet and more is the dream of many who share the vision of Manna from Heaven Ministries, Inc.

Manna from Heaven Ministries, Inc.
P.O. Box 78332
Charlotte, NC 28271-7030

Robert Johnson (704) 609-7399
Lynn Wooten (704) 582-1450

The Gospel

2009-11-20T10:37:20-05:00

I have gotten a bit exercised during this past week of study regarding the basics of the Christian faith. And the reason for my concern is what I hear from those within the evangelical church. Therefore I am going to start posting some of the basic things that we should know as Christians and let you grade yourself. A number of these things you will recognize from our previous classes but I am curious about your retention and application for these things. The other day I put something up concerning the 10 Commandments.

My subject for today is “the gospel.” If a non-believer were to come up to you today and ask for a clear explanation of the gospel, that you could support Biblically, would you be able to do it? Not long ago a Christian radio program put this question to over 60 different people at a Christian Booksellers Convention. In order to hear their responses when asked about the gospel simply click on this LINK.

When one prominent pastor and theologian heard this particular show he was driving in his car. After hearing the responses of those asked about the gospel he became so distraught that he pulled his car off the side of the road and wept. Do you understand the gospel, and can you articulate it in such a way that others can understand it?

Preview for Sunday, November 22

2009-11-20T10:00:40-05:00

We should conclude on Sunday this section of teaching regarding Jesus and His relationship with the Spirit. As a matter of fact this brings us to the conclusion of the teaching on the doctrine of the Trinity which of course falls under the Doctrine of God.

I hope and pray that as we have been discussing the Trinity starting in May of 2009, that you are seeing this doctrine in your Bible reading. Also on Sunday I will do a quick review of the categories to once again establish in your mind in the relationship between Jesus and God the Father and Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

Here are an initial preview of the notes for the class on Sunday

THIRD MAJOR THEME - The Spirit's uniform purpose to put forward Jesus (extends the last point)

When the Spirit does His work then Jesus gets top billing,
Jesus gets displayed
Jesus gets glorified

The text though inspired by the Spirit is focused on the Son

You might think that the Author would write about Himself but in fact the Spirit writes about Jesus

Scriptural Support - Go to 2 Timothy 3:16-17
2Tim. 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2Tim. 3:17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

How does this God breathed Scripture come about?

Go to 2 Peter 1:20-21
2Pet. 1:20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,
2Pet. 1:21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The whole of Scripture is God-breathed as the Spirit worked in the life of human authors to write exactly what the Spirit directs them to write as they write freely from their human wills.

This is an excellent example of compatabalism, which is the sovereignty of God working in perfect conjunction with the free will of man, to accomplish all that God purposes and desires.
The Spirit inspires them to write but what do they write about?

Go to Luke 24:24-27, 44

Luke 24:24 “Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women also had said; but Him they did not see.”
Luke 24:25 And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!
Luke 24:26 “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
Luke 24:27 Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.
Luke 24:44 - Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

Who inspired these writings, the Spirit and what were they written about, they were written about Jesus

The Ten Commandments

2009-11-18T14:12:20-05:00

If someone were to approach you with this one question how would you do? Can you name the ten commandments off the top of your head? Now before you go and look up the answer just give it a try. How did you do? And if someone were to ask you where the ten commandments are located in the Bible would you know?

My point is not to scold or belittle but to make you aware of a serious problem in the evangelical church today. There is a tremendous lack of basic Bible knowledge. We have given up the learning of God’s word for other things that have taken priority in our lives. May this 2009 and 2010 be the time that we say as a collective group of saints “Finally This Year!”

Here is a short audio clip of some people that were interviewed on the street and asked if they could name the ten commandments. Just click on this LINK.

Devotion in Judges 17-21

2009-11-18T07:53:40-05:00

Good morning, it's great to be back in Charlotte and had a wonderful anniversary week. Pat informed me last night that he told the group on Sunday that since I couldn't remember the day of my anniversary that I just took the week. Let me just go on the record and say this, every day with my Nancy B. is like an anniversary! I can see Pat rolling his eyes right now.

The book of Judges is hard to read after the great victory that Joshua had in bringing God's people into the land. Again I am reminded that in the days of the Judges and today we are only one generation away from apostasy. The two verses that have caught my attention over the years and still grab me in the reading of Judges are Judges 17:6 and Judges 21:25.

Judg. 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.
Judg. 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

I am going to connect these two verses to what I see happening to a large degree in the American Evangelical Church. This to me is the very definition of the post modern generation especially as it regards their view of Scripture. In a nutshell post-modernism doesn't believe in absolutes but is defined by relativism. When a true post-modern reads the Bible they say things like "this is what it means to me, or this is what I feel this means or this is how the Bible is speaking to me." What? Don't hear this wrong my post-modern friends, but who cares what it means to you? The real question that should be before us is what does the Bible mean! The cardinal rule for proper Bible study is as follows: The interpretation of any Scripture is equal to what the author meant at the time he wrote it. Therefore it becomes our job through prayer and the Holy Spirit to use good Bible study methods in order to arrive at the author's intended meaning.

When the post modern church says that it is OK for someone to decide what the Scriptures mean to them then the consequence will be straight from Judges 21:25 everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

You are hard wired for God's glory

2009-11-10T17:28:10-05:00

A couple of years ago my daughter, Anna got me into photography. I happened to go out and buy a point and click camera. But when I brought it home Anna said to me “Dad you don’t know what you are holding in your hand.” She went on to give me a small lecture, allow me to paraphrase, she said the world is a canvas and the camera is the brush. Dad, go out there and learn to paint because in everything you see there is a picture.

So while Nancy and I have been away for a few days I got out the camera. These pictures are echoes, shadows and pointers toward the great God of this universe.

Fall pictures; click on this LINK
Butterfly pictures; click on this LINK

Psalms 1 says that the "heavens declare the glory of God."

Well how about the sunsets, waterfalls and nightfalls in the desert?
Have you ever experienced a great basketball game where your team wins in the last second on a game winning field goal?
Have you ever been to a movie in which the images, sounds and script seemed to mesmerize you for a 2 hour period of time?
Have you ever been on top of an 11,000 foot snow covered mountain and looked across the horizon of the earth?

What is so incredible about these views and experiences? I will tell you, for a brief moment in time you are occupied and amazed with something much greater than yourself. As a matter of fact you entirely forget about yourself altogether. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to improve their self esteem as one pastor once said. We are all hard wired for glory. What a privilege that every day we have a chance to experience the glory of fellowship with the Lord Jesus, through His living word. There is no satisfaction greater for the human soul. Christ in you the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27).

Preview for Sunday, November 8

2009-11-06T15:33:59-05:00

As we conclude Theme #1 in regard to Jesus and the Spirit, here are our summary points.

Overall Point #1
Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit as a man by what God provided Him

Overall Point #2
Jesus life of submission to the direction of the Spirit

This is remarkable that the Son of the Father, the second person of the Trinity in His humanity, and His incarnational mission submits fully to the direction and empowerment of the Spirit

The humility of the Son is not only taking on human flesh to be our substitute and become one of us, but also His humility is express in the way the Son accepts the leadership and direction of the Spirit, over whom in the Trinity the Son has rights and authority

Go to Luke 4:1-2

Luke 4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness
Luke 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.
Jesus was lead or impelled by the Spirit (Mark 1:12) the Greek word "ekballo"
Luke 4:14 - And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district.

Jesus lives His life in the power of the Spirit and follows the direction of the Spirit
This is one of the major themes we see in the life and ministry of Jesus as He relates to the Holy Spirit

Jesus and His relationship to the Spirit

Theme #1 - Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit
Scriptures we have considered so far in this study:
Isaiah 11:1-5
Matthew 26:39
Galatians 5:22-23
Philippians 2:6-8
Isaiah 61:1-3
Hebrews 5:8-9
Luke 4:18-19
Mark 13:32
Matthew 12:28
Acts 10:38
Acts 1:8
Luke 2:40, 52

SECOND MAJOR THEME - THE AUTHORITY AND PRIMACY OF JESUS OVER THE SPIRIT
While Jesus submitted to the Spirit for the sake of His incarnational mission, the Scripture makes clear that the fundamental role of the Spirit is to extol, elevate, to honor, to glorify Jesus. Therefore we see the Spirit putting Jesus forward and not the Spirit Himself The goal and mission of the Spirit is to always put Jesus in front of people

Christ Centered Worship

2009-11-04T09:53:08-05:00

As I put in an earlier blog, we have been discussing “the gospel” from the very beginning of our class back in August 2008. Therefore when I see books about the gospel I am drawn to them. The next book I am planning to read is by Bryan Chapell called “Christ-centered Worship.” Here is a short description of what he considers to be Christ-centered worship.

“Christ-centered worship is not just talking or singing about Jesus a lot. Christ-centered worship reflects the contours of the gospel. In the individual life of a believer, the gospel progresses through recognition of the greatness and goodness of God, the acknowledgment of our sin and need of grace, assurance of God's forgiveness through Christ, thankful acknowledgment of God's blessing, desire for greater knowledge of him through his Word, grateful obedience in response to his grace, and a life devoted to his purposes with assurance of his blessing.

In the corporate life of the church this same gospel pattern is reflected in worship. Opening moments offer recognition of the greatness and goodness of God that naturally folds into confession, assurance of pardon, thanksgiving, instruction, and a charge to serve God in response to his grace in Christ. This is not a novel idea but, in fact, is the way most churches have organized their worship across the centuries. Only in recent times have we lost sight of these gospel contours and substituted pragmatic preferences for Christ-centered worship. My goal is to re-acquaint the church with the gospel-shape of its worship so that we are united around Christ's purposes rather than arguing about stylistic preferences.”

Review for November 1

2009-11-02T17:21:59-05:00

We are continuing with our teaching of Jesus and His relationship to the Holy Spirit. And the emphasis for yesterday was yes Jesus is fully God and He is also fully man. So we arrive at a number of verses that in order to understand them we need a category of Jesus as man. For example and these were covered yesterday;
Luke 2:40 and Luke 2:52 in which the text says that Jesus grew in understanding and wisdom. And we know from previous discussion and text that Jesus is God and we know that God is omniscient which means “all knowing.” So when we come to this verse then our conclusion is that we learn this is not Jesus as God but rather Jesus as man. The further point being that while on planet earth Jesus lived in the power of the Spirit. This means as Jesus lived then so we can and should live now and that is in the power of the Spirit. The more we come to these verses and meditate on these things it should give us great encouragement and hope.

However I do want to discuss how we ended the class yesterday. I had us go to Hebrews 5:8-9
Heb. 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Heb. 5:9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

What does it mean that Jesus learned obedience?

Well here is what it CAN NOT mean
It doesn't mean that He learned to obey having first disobeyed because we know that Jesus was without sin (Hebrews 4:15)

But rather He was learning to obey, by His suffering, in a progressive way, more and more difficult things in order that God could prepare Him for the most difficult thing, which was the cross.
The Father was preparing Him for the hardest thing which was obedience to the point of death, yes even death on the cross. And how does Christ go to the cross? Answer, in the power of the Spirit.

And if you remember I said I sensed it was necessary for us to stop and look at the application. This is sometimes the struggle in teaching and that is when to complete the material at hand and when to stop for sake of application. As most of you know by now I am very bothered by how much culture has invaded the evangelical church. If you look at many television broadcasts, go into the section of the bookstore with Christian material there is a large dose of “health, wealth and prosperity.” My problem is that we are selling the benefits of the gospel but often leave out the Benefactor. We seem to be all about the gifts even though we give only a casual mention regarding the Giver. And if you were to ask many in the church if they would want to go to heaven and get perfect health, all the pleasures they can imagine, and have friendships and family for eternity and yet no Jesus they would still want to go? We might be shocked how many would answer yes to that question. In other words they don’t want Jesus but everything that Jesus can provide for them.

And this year's Heisman winner is...

2009-11-02T11:58:01-05:00

Known as “Heisman B”, rumors are he may opt for the draft this year.

George Mueller

2009-11-02T07:18:14-05:00

Here is a short bio of George Mueller that I pulled off the DesiringGod website.

Pastor George Mueller was born in Germany in 1805, spent most of his life in Bristol , England , preached nine times in Minneapolis in 1880, traveled to 42 countries between the ages of 70 and 87, and died at the age of 92, the most famous orphanage founder in the world. He built 5 orphan houses, cared for 10,024 orphans in his lifetime, pastored the same church for 66 years, never incurred debt, never asked anyone for money, didn't take a salary for 68 years, and never went hungry. He lost three children in infancy, his first wife Mary after 39 years, his second wife Susannah after 23 years, and his daughter Lydia when she was 58. In response to the new teaching that Christ snatches the church out of the world before the Tribulation, Mueller reportedly said, “If you can show me a trumpet after the last and a resurrection before the first, then I can believe this new doctrine.” He was a Baptist who admitted people to his church as members who had only been sprinkled as infants. He served the Lord's Supper weekly. He rejected life insurance and retirement accounts, preached for Charles Spurgeon, inspired Hudson Taylor, and did follow up for D. L. Moody.

Since we have been teaching on the importance of God’s word from day one in our class, I thought it might be helpful to share the following audio. Here is a short audio of what George Mueller learned and shared about prayer and devotion time in God’s word.

To listen click on this LINK.

Behind the Scenes

2009-10-31T08:00:27-04:00

Pat Jones is a great friend and a dear brother in Christ. I had run across Pat a few times over the years in Charlotte, but our first real conversation was dinner with the wives in May 2009. Before we went to dinner that night Nancy warned me to stay calm. However during the dinner that night Pat asked me about my passion in ministry. It was at that point I felt free to unleash and by the grace of God, I did. Over the last year Pat and I have had many good and intense phone calls about God’s word and ministry.

A couple of months ago I got fired up about something going on in the church nationwide. I follow lots of different pastors, teachers and theologians to see what they are teaching and I try to keep up with current Christian topics. Apparently one of my emails prompted a call from Pat to which he left a voice mail. When I heard the voice mail it was classic Pat. Therefore I asked him if I could share publicly and he consented. So here is a short voice mail that gives you a behind the scenes look as Pat and I wrestle through “Learning and Living the God-centered Life.”

Simply click on this LINK.

What is Christless Christianity?

2009-10-30T16:32:29-04:00

First of all this is the title of a fairly new book by Dr. Michael Horton. But if you were to summarize it might be said this is a religion that focuses more on “what would Jesus do” than “what has Jesus done.” People in both conservative and liberal churches are basically being given something to do instead of something to believe. As one prominent pastor said the first Reformation was all about getting the creeds right and now we need to get the deeds right. Horton stresses and he backs this up with the stats, that we are the center of our universe, God exists to make us happy, and the Bible has good guidelines in order to enable us to have our best live now. It is not that American Christianity is heretical although we must stay alert to those signs. But rather we are distracted with all kinds of programs, events and strategies that are taking us away from a Christ-centered gospel.

Here is a brief video clip on the dangers today of a Christless Christianity. Click on this LINK.

The "dangerous" prosperity gospel

2009-10-30T13:01:48-04:00

We started over a year ago in our class on the basic doctrines of the Bible. And one thing that has been consistent over this past year is an understanding of the gospel.

We even had “The Gospel” as the theme of our first retreat back in May 2009. There seems to be two distinct extremes when it comes to the gospel today in America. The one extreme you will hear most about on this video clip is that God wants to make everyone rich and successful. But the other extreme never mentions pain, suffering, tribulation, take up your cross daily, wrath of God, the blood of Christ, sin, judgment and condemnation.

Our goal it seems is to have a comfortable God and a comfortable gospel that will allow us to be healthy, wealthy and wise. For this reason I have decided to include this video by Dr. John Piper on the the dangers of the prosperity gospel. If you have fallen into this trap or know someone that has please send them to our site.

Put on your seat belts and watch this video. Just click on this LINK. (may take a minute or so to load)

A discussion regarding Job

2009-10-30T07:28:20-04:00

Our reading this week is Job 11-12 but I want to discuss something in Job 1 and 2. A couple of weeks ago I made a statement during the introduction, that one of the goals of Biblical preaching and teaching is when the calamity and adversity hits, that you are the type of person who does not blame God but instead blesses God. And then I used as an example Job, and what he said at the end of Chapter 1 after losing all his wealth and children. Job said “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”

Once I taught on the sovereignty of God in suffering using Job Chapter 1 and I was approached by a young man at the end of the class. He said to me “did I hear you right?” It seems he was a bit irritated and defensive in his verbal tone and body language. So I backed up and said “tell me what you are referring to specifically.”
He then said “I heard you say that the LORD takes away and that is not right.” Then he went on to explain that in the story of Job it was not the LORD who took anything away but it was Satan. As he kept talking it was apparent his theology was that the LORD can only give and Satan is the only one who can take away.
It was at this point that I asked if we could read the text together when he gave me a look and said “I know what the text says” in a rather irritated way. So I just picked up my Bible turned to Job 1:21 and read the exact wording that came from the writer of Job which says “...The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD.” Then I turned to the young man and said “this is what the Bible says.” The conversation got a bit more intense as he said “if you read the whole story, you would know that Satan is the one who did this to Job.” I then asked “do you think that God is sovereign over Satan?” In other words yes I would agree that Satan was a secondary agent in the adversity with Job, but it could not have occurred outside the sovereign will of God Himself.

In the story of Job, and we really aren’t sure who wrote the book of Job, but the writer must have known this would be an argument. He must have known that as we read chapters 1 and 2 that someone would say if Job had known what was going on up in heaven he would have blamed Satan and not God. But pay careful attention to the text and read carefully what is written in Job 1:22 “Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” It was not wrong or sinful for Job to contribute the loss of wealth and children to the LORD. As a matter of fact you see almost the same scene play itself out in Chapter 2 when finally now Job has lost his health. His wife comes and says “curse God and die.” And the response of Job is as follows “Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity.”

Again Job looks to the primary cause and the writer of Job again lets us know “Job did not sin with his lips.”(Job 2:10)

Being in community

2009-10-29T11:14:26-04:00

When we have community activities I am going to put under the “Living” section of our website. As time allows check out the pictures from our Fall Picnic. Just to whet your appetite, we have two of the participants in the horse shoe championships of Charlotte, NC.

Denny “the dangerous” Crowder and Bruce “the leaner” Blackmon

Reading through the book of Judges

2009-10-28T09:01:16-04:00

This week we started into the book of Judges. After the book of Joshua in which we saw great victory, we now enter the time of the judges in which we will see great defeat.
If you were to summarize the book of Judges from a big picture perspective, how would you describe it? Well at least one way would be as follows:

- The people of God fall into sin
- God disciplines them with foreign nations who come in and oppress them
- The people of God cry out in repentance
- God raises up a deliverer for His people
- Peace once again is restored into the land

What should the book of Judges teach us about mankind?
What should the book of Judges teach us about God?

A couple of other things to consider as your read through Judges:
How many generations passed before the people started to exhibit this kind of behavior toward the LORD?
Look closely at Chapter 1:19-36, what consistent problem do we notice with the tribes of Israel?

Application time:
How would you teach this particular book to a class of 10 year olds?
How do you apply this in your daily walk with the Lord Jesus?

blessings,

Understanding "how" to read the Bible

2009-10-27T13:03:23-04:00

You have heard me say over the last year that all of us tend to read the Bible too fast. Yes, I am all about reading through the Bible each year and every year. But I also about stopping for devotion time to think deeply about what we read. Jesus says throughout the gospel accounts of His life “have you not read but then He goes on to say do you understand what you are reading. There are many passages that require other passages understood in context to reveal what the author intended when he wrote it. In terms of Bible hermeneutics we call this principle the unity of Scripture.

Recently I found a short article by Dr. John Piper on “how to” properly read God’s word. Hopefully this will sharpen you Bible reading and devotion skills as we continue in our Bible reading, study and devotions.

Sometimes readers of the Bible see the conditions that God lays down for his blessing and they conclude from these conditions that our action is first and decisive, then God responds to bless us.

That is not right.

There are indeed real conditions that God often commands. We must meet them for the promised blessing to come. But that does not mean that we are left to ourselves to meet the conditions or that our action is first and decisive.

Here is one example to show what I mean.

In Jeremiah 29:13 God says to the exiles in Babylon, "You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart." So there is a condition: When you seek me with all your heart, then you will find me. So we must seek the Lord. That is the condition of finding him.

True.

But does that mean that we are left to ourselves to seek the Lord? Does it mean that our action of seeking him is first and decisive? Does it mean that God only acts after our seeking?

No.

Listen to what God says in Jeremiah 24:7 to those same exiles in Babylon: "I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart."

Quote for the day

2009-10-27T11:54:46-04:00

Normally when I share a quote for the day it relates to an area of Bible study and prayer. Our class is about teaching essential doctrines of the Christian faith that are found in Scripture, and then living them out in such a way that Christ is demonstrated as great! I have lots of teaching projects and this fall some of you know that I am teaching Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Therefore lots of reading, preparation, prayer and power point. When my schedule is not as intense I am able to focus on other projects and those things frequently involve books I would like to read. In the first 5-7 years of full time ministry the only thing I read was the Bible. It was my dear friend and fellow pastor Jason McKnight that really introduced me to reading outside the Bible. At the retreat last May I introduced some basic reading materials that I found very helpful as it relates to the gospel. It seems that in the last 4 years the Lord has drawn me into a deeper understanding, appreciation and proclamation in the teaching of the gospel. The cross-centered life, or the gospel-centered life or the Christ-crucified life is where a lot of my study and reading has been focused in my discretionary time.
At the present time I am reading a book by Michael Horton called “The gospel driven life.” This is a follow us book to “Christless Christianity” the basic problem of what is happening today in the evangelical church.

So the quote for today comes from Horton’s book “The gospel driven life” and reads as follows:

“In the 1950’s, Yale’s H. Richard Niebuhr described the so-called “gospel” of Protestant liberalism poignantly:
“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.” Each clause is telling. First, more like Mr. Rogers than the judge of all the earth, the sentimental deity of many Americans is incapable of wrath. Since He exists for us and our happiness this heavenly friend may be disappointed and sad when we hurt ourselves, but He never sees sin as an offense primarily against Himself and His perfect justice. Second, we may make mistakes-pretty bad ones, from time to time-but it would be wrong to call ourselves sinners, much less to imagine that we were captive to sin, helpless to do anything to will or work our way out of the mess. So, third, God brings us basically good people into a kingdom without judgment, since there is no law that could condemn and no gospel that could justify. And finally, for this sort of religious therapy you don’t need a vicarious, atoning sacrifice if you are basically a nice person; what you really need is a good example.”

Review for October 25 and preview for next week

2009-10-26T05:56:26-04:00

The reason Jesus had the wisdom that He had, the reason Jesus had the knowledge that he had, the fear of the Lord and the compassion that He had was because He lived in the power of the Spirit. Jesus is God and in the first four centuries of our church history this was the primary question to be answered which was who is Jesus? When that problem was concluded I think there became a tendency to allow this part of the doctrine to collapse on top of the second truth which is Jesus is also full man.
And as man how does Jesus live out His 33 years on planet earth and the answer from Scripture is in the power of the Spirit. This is the same Jesus who says when He goes away He will send the Holy Spirit whose primary responsibility will be to glorify the Son.

As we have seen in the past two weeks when the Lord Jesus comes to announce His public ministry(Luke 4) He reads from Isaiah 61:1-2a. He is the Spirit anointed Messiah. In our Bible reading this past week we read in Matthew 11. Do you remember the problem that John the Baptist was having in jail? He send his disciples to Jesus with the following question "are you the Expected One or should we look for someone else?" Of all the answers Jesus could have given the disciples of John look at what He told them. If you look at the cross reference in Matthew 11:5 you will notice that it is Isaiah 61:1. Jesus is telling John the Baptist that yes I am the Spirit anointed Messiah. Well, how important is it for us to understand that Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit, check out the following verses. These are the notes that I am planning to use a the basis for next week's teaching on Jesus and His relationship with the Spirit. May I encourage you to combine these with what we have looked at so far as we come to a Biblical understanding of the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

GO TO Matthew 12:28
The context is that Jesus had just cast out a demon and the Pharisees can not deny the fact that a miracle has taken place.

The only thing the Pharisees could appeal to was another supernatural power other than God which was the devil. So their strategy was to pin on Jesus that His supernatural power was from the devil and not from God. But Jesus says to them...“But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Notice that Jesus does not say that He casts them out by His own power, but rather this is the power of the Spirit working in and through Christ
The Pharisees should recognize that when the real Messiah came He would have the Spirit of God upon Him.

Quote for the day

2009-10-24T17:59:53-04:00

Mark what I say. You may know a good deal about Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was, where He was born, and what He did. You may know His miracles, His sayings, His prophecies, and His ordinances. You may know how He lived, how He suffered, and how He died. But unless you know the power of Christ’s cross by experience–unless you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has washed away your own particular sins–unless you are willing to confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work Christ did on the cross–unless this be the case, Christ will profit you nothing. The mere knowing Christ’s name will never save you. You must know His cross and His blood…or you will die in your sins. Beware, I say again, of a religion without a cross. - J.C. Ryle (from his sermon entitled ‘The cross of Christ) 1816 – 1900

The Bible and the prophets

2009-10-24T10:19:13-04:00

When we read through the Old Testament we encounter a number of prophets. As a matter of fact one of the primary genre's in the Bible is that of prophecy. And at the present we are reading through the book of Isaiah. For your additional study on the prophets as we read through the Bible this year I have included at this LINK. Please note that this is a pdf file which means that you can print out.

I am continuing to make the appeal for "Finally This Year!" On Wednesday night I did a quick review of the last 100 years in the church and our move from what was called modernity to today's culture which is called "post-modernity." Even though this term has been around for years it basically deals with a culture who has given up on the fact that there is absolute truth. The terms you will here today are relevance and tolerance especially when it comes to views on religion. Be aware as you read through the prophets at how often they spoke these words from God "I am the LORD your God." It seems that God was not willing to tolerate a worship of any other gods but Himself. However the disturbing new trend even in the church is to agree that there is more than one way to God. Here is the LINK to that particular article from the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Vance Havner a famous Southern Baptist preacher of his day once wrote an article called "America needs a prophet." The basic jest of the article had to do with the prophets in America are ask to sit down and shut up because they are seen as harsh. How do you suppose an Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea or Amos would be received today in the church especially behind the pulpit?

Lord willing, we someday will be on our last section of doctrinal study which is called soteriology or "the doctrine of salvation." In that section the main text to deal with comes from the book of Romans which is the main epistle we have dealing with salvation. You will notice in the first three chapters that Paul is delivering the bad news to all mankind. There is none one who is good, no one seeks for God there is no one that is righteous. It reminds me of the reading in the Old Testament from the prophets as they talk about sin, judgment and condemnation. But as you read there starts to be a wonderful discovery in this type of Biblical truth. One must come to embrace and understand the bad news in order that they can receive and live out the good news. So may I encourage you as your read through the prophets to allow the bad news, the sin, evil and wickedness of man to be seen, in order to point you to the one solution for this terminal problem and that is Christ Jesus Himself!

God is holy and righteous and our sin is evil, wicked and a horrible offense to God. There is no way that we could ever stand before the righteousness of God in our sinful condition. However once we fall on the mercy of the cross and cast ourselves onto Christ and receive Him as Lord and Savior, sins are made white as snow and His garment of righteousness covers us from head to toe. And now only now can we be "declared righteous" in the public courtroom of God. So that on that day when we come face to face with Him we may enter into the joy of our master and eternal life with Him forever!

Blessings,

Basics for Bible Study

2009-10-23T09:36:52-04:00

10 Questions to ask when studying the Bible

1. Who wrote/spoke the passage and to whom was it addressed?

2. What kind of genre is involved? (law, historical narrative, poetical, prophecy, epistle and etc.)

3. Are there any words or phrases in the passage that need to be examined?

4. What is the immediate context?

5. What is the broader context in the chapter and book?

6. What are the related verses to the passage’s subject and how do they affect the understanding of this passage?

7. What is the historical and cultural background?

8. What does the author mean by what he wrote?

9. Do my conclusions agree or disagree with related areas of Scripture and others who have studied the passage?

10. What implications does this have for my life?

Devotion in Genesis

2009-10-20T07:37:27-04:00

This week our reading in Genesis covers chapters 16-19. What I am immediately drawn to notice is the plan devised by Sarai and Abram to help God out. Remember God had come to Abram in Genesis 12 with those 5 “I Will’s” recorded for us in Genesis 12:1-3. And in one of those the LORD said to Abram I will make you a great nation. In Genesis 13:16 the LORD says again to Abram “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered.” Keep in mind that Sarai is barren and they have no children. So God approaches Abram at age 75 with this news and by age 85 there are still no little ones on the scene. However instead of continuing to wait on the LORD, pray and trust in His promise, Abram and Sarai decide to go to work. So we see Sarai give Abram her handmaid Hagar and from that relationship a child is produced. However this child is not of the promise that God spoke of back in Genesis 12 or 13 but rather this is a child of the flesh or you could say of works. (Side note: Can you see the consequences of that disobedience that remains until this day in the middle east?)

Stop right here in Chapter 16 and just think about how this relates to our own Christian walk and even our church methodologies. Instead of us full depending, relying and trusting in God’s word we are determined to do something and make it happen in our flesh. And we move into a 21st Century American mindset that goes something like this: “if it’s to be then it’s up to me.” So instead of a church filled with people waiting and trusting the very word of God we train up Ishmael’s as we plan and accomplish from our human perspectives. Wasn’t that part of the point when Bill Hybels ,at Willow Creek, said in his statement about their methods for the last 30 years, “we made a mistake.” Whenever we devise our plans, and our strategies, and our methods instead of trusting the word of God the story can only have one ending which will be “we made a mistake.”

Do you remember the story of Nehemiah? He is told by Hannani who comes all the way to Susa from Judah to give Nehemiah the following news. The remnant who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire. And notice what Nehemiah DOES NOT do when he hears the news. He doesn’t call a committee together to brainstorm the issue, he doesn’t find the latest book on how to rebuild a wall that is destroyed, and he doesn’t even call a friend for advice. The first response for this man is to weep, mourn, fast and pray in order to call out to this great God! And even the first words of his prayer we read “I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven.” When is the last time over some huge decision

Quote for the day

2009-10-19T20:56:00-04:00

The Bible is not a collection of timeless principles offering a gentle thought for the day. It is not a resource for our self-improvement. Rather, it is a dramatic story that unfolds from promise to fulfillment, with Christ at the center. Its focus is God and his action. God is not a supporting actor in our drama; it is the other way around. God does not exist to make sure that we are happy and fulfilled. Rather, we exist to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. God is not a facilitator of our ‘life transformation’ projects. He is not a life coach. Rather, he is our Creator, Lawgiver, Judge, and Covenant Lord. - (Michael Horton, The Gospel Driven Life), p. 26

Food, Fun and Fellowship

2009-10-19T17:58:16-04:00

On Saturday we met over at Betty Park/Shelter #2 for a fall picnic. It was a bit chilly but that did not deter the throwing of football, game of horseshoes and the proverbial strapping on of the food bag. In other words there was plenty to eat. As you heard on Sunday the new reigning horseshoe champions are Jim Duckworth and Bruce Blackmon. And just to set the records straight, I had to provide paper towels, because some of the guys at the horseshoe court got dirt under their finger nails.

Thanks much to Jennifer Krueger and those that helped with preparation and all the details. These are opportunities that we need to take advantage of as we build community in our class. It is wonderful to see one another on Sunday but the times when we are away from church are great to develop other friendships in the body of Christ.

Here is a short collection of photos and if others have some pictures from our Saturday picnic then just send them to me and I will post.

Just click on this LINK.

Review for October 18

2009-10-19T08:15:30-04:00

Jesus Christ lived His life on planet earth in the power of the Spirit. And yesterday the focus was on the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As I opened one of my points was regarding the church and how in the first 4 centuries it sought to establish that Jesus was God. And I pointed to the fact that maybe in some degree that part of our doctrine has overshadowed our teaching on Jesus as man. Allow me to mention that we in the 21st Century Church are going to need to do a better job of holding Biblical truth in tension. For example as I alluded to yesterday, we have no problem in the church preaching and teaching that God loves us. But we are less likely to hear the same amount of preaching and teaching that God’s wrath is presently on those who aren’t in Christ, and that is a wrath that is being stored up and one day will be released in its full fury. We want a God that is very near to us but we don’t hear as much about the God was is far from us and that we also need to fear.

As we continue in our study of the “doctrine of God” I will first be presenting those attributes that deal with the transcendence of God. The term refers to far off or way above us in every respect. And then I will follow with the attributes of immanence, which will show God to be very near to us. My point is that we should not present just one Biblical truth about God that is so dominant that it overshadows or blots out other equally important truths about God. This means at times that we simply must hold Biblical truths in tension even though we don’t understand them in full. Maybe the best example I can give in this particular area is our recognition that God is sovereign and yet we at the same time have human responsibility. And though we may not understand how God can be sovereign over all things and at the same time never invade our human responsibility of choice, it nevertheless is still true. Most of us have heard of our lives I must understand it in order to believe it. However in the Christian life one must first believe and then understanding starts to come.

As I post the notes though they may be brief I am going to recommend that you study and digest on a week to week basis. In other words as we start to teach and discuss that Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit, being able to support that with the Bible. Each of the verses listed in the study notes are to support this point as it relates to the overall category which is Jesus and His relationship with the Holy Spirit. Then as you continue on in your Bible reading this year, highlight, underline and make notes in the margins when you see these truths in Scripture.

Study notes from yesterday’s class begins here:
First Theme - Jesus submitting to the Spirit, yielding to the Spirit, living His life in the power of the Spirit and Jesus following the leading of the Spirit

Keeping the main thing the main thing!

2009-10-17T10:21:18-04:00

On Sunday our teaching will focus on how Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit. As you may remember from our history lesson on the Trinity, it took the church four centuries to finally come to the agreement that Jesus is God. This was an important victory for the church, and it may be that we have put so much emphasis on Jesus being God, that we have provided less teaching on the fact that Jesus was also man. Therefore this next section of teaching on Jesus and His relationship with the Holy Spirit is vital to our daily walk in Christ. The main point for the teaching on Sunday will be "Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit." It is from the teaching of Scripture that we see two main themes start to arise as it relates to Jesus and His relationship with the Spirit.
Theme #1 - Jesus submits to, yields to, and follows the lead of the Spirit during His years on planet earth.
Theme #2 - Jesus clearly teaches that when He leaves the Spirit will come in order to glorify the Son.

So the question comes up does Jesus submit to the Spirit or does the Spirit come to glorify the Son? And the correct answer is yes, it is both. Other questions that have come up over the years are what can the Spirit add to the deity of Christ? And since Jesus lived in a way that He was perfect and never committed any sin, how can that be held up as a model to us when He was God and we are not?

This is a category of Christian living that we need to study, understand and embrace. What is more practical than learning how to live out the Christian life in such a way that Christ is demonstrated as great. Of course the only way we can know these things is to go to the word of God. We will be looking at a number of Scriptures and I believe, by the grace of God, some hard ones that have been confusing to Christians over the years. Once we have our Bible doctrine in its proper place, then it is amazing how much clarity it provides for verses that once were difficult to understand.

"Houston, we have a problem"

2009-10-16T12:36:08-04:00

Here is a blog post that I came across today. Do you see the incredible irony that is presented within our culture? Social networking is at an all time high and yet most people have lost a sense of intimacy and one on one friendships. We have become a society in which the virtual has replaced the personal. This articles comes from Ingrid Schlueter who writes on a Christian blog site.

“A few days ago, a Christian blog site featured an article by a theology professor who felt that Starbucks had the right model for church these days. He claimed that Starbucks is, in fact, the replacement for church in American society. Now comes a news story that reports on Facebook serving as an alternative location to churches, mosques, etc. Reportedly, young people who grieve and are needing support are ditching church and turning to Facebook instead. There are lessons for churches in this, supposedly. Just what those lessons are, I am not sure. Can you just join a Facebook group instead of an actual church in a building? Can they serve virtual communion as a Facebook application? Will the women of the churches now send out virtual meals instead of bringing casseroles to your door when you have a loss or an illness? What about Baptism?

The whole trend seems hollow and depressing. Real relationships are hard to establish these days, and when Christian young people find that Facebook is more of a support than their local churches, there is something seriously wrong—either with the churches or the young people.”

Video preview for Sunday

2009-10-15T16:16:59-04:00

On Sunday we will continue in our teaching on Jesus and His relationship to the Holy Spirit. As we left on Sunday our main point was “Jesus lived His life on planet earth in the power of the Spirit.”

Here is a short video that will give a brief preview of what we will be covering on Sunday.

Just for your information we should finish our teaching on the Trinity this month. In November we will be looking at the Doctrine of God as it relates to the incommunicable attributes. These are the attributes of God that are privileged to God alone. We will be discussing attributes like self-sufficiency, immutability, eternality, omniscience to name a few of them.

SS Community I can’t stress enough the importance of us getting a solid Biblical view of God. One of my chief concerns is that we have collapsed the God who is near us and loves us on top of the God who is transcendent, far from us and needs to be feared. These attributes must be kept in tension and never one that collapses on the top of the other.

Hope to see you on Sunday in our continuing desire to learn and live the God-centered life.

In case you are interested...

2009-10-15T10:16:37-04:00

From Wired Magazine:
We’re gluttons for infographics, and a team at Kansas State just served up a feast: maps of sin created by plotting per-captia stats on things like theft (envy) and STD’s (lust)

If you would like more information and stats just click on this LINK.

Quote for the day

2009-10-14T16:48:34-04:00

"I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished...I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it." - George Mueller

Devotion in Psalm 9

2009-10-14T16:37:54-04:00

After the reading this morning I went back and just prayed and thought about Psalm 9 verse 1 "I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. As you are reading through the Old Testament notice how many times God reminds the Israelites that He brought them out of Egypt. In some way, shape or form that expression is used hundreds of times in the Old Testament. So what is the purpose of reminding the people about this event? In order that the people will live before Him by giving thanks for who He is and what He has done! Why? Because God must be seen as Giver and the people must understand their role as receiver. They didn't deserve to be rescued, nor did they do anything that merited their rescue but God did it so that His name might be known as great.

What if one day I came over to your home and you had a 7 year old child that was playing outside. Unfortunately he wanders away from you and heads right into the street. I happen to notice and start into a full run then tackle your son away from a speeding car that would have hit and run over him. Do you suppose you might remember that event for some period of time and thank me?

You can't make this stuff up

2009-10-13T14:48:54-04:00

Learning and Living the God-centered community I want to share with you some of the latest Christian research from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. If you think we have solid Biblical underpinnings in the American evangelical church then you might want to re-evaluate. Just read the first two paragraphs of a recent article.

A majority of all American Christians (52%) think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. Indeed, among Christians who believe many religions can lead to eternal life, 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so. These are among the key findings of a national survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life from July 31-Aug. 10, 2008, among 2,905 adults.

The survey is designed as a follow-up to the Pew Forum’s U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007, which reported that most Americans who claim a religious affiliation take a non-exclusivist view of salvation, with seven-in-ten saying that many religions can lead to eternal life while less than one-quarter say theirs is the one, true faith leading to eternal life. But what exactly do these respondents have in mind when they agree that “many religions can lead to eternal life?” Is this primarily an example of most Christians (who account for nearly 80% of the U.S. adult population) acknowledging that some Christian denominations and churches besides their own can lead to eternal life? Or are most people interpreting “many religions” more broadly, to include non-Christian faiths?

Let me go back to the words of the apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
2Tim. 4:4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

We have become pluralistic in our culture and it has invaded the evangelical church in a major way. Keep in mind the orthodox church believes what the Bible says about saving faith, in that Jesus declares in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man may come to the Father except through Me.” There is no way to God the Father except through Jesus Christ His Son. This means we are exclusive in this regard and therefore are not inclusive of other religions and other ways to get to God.

Should you want to see the entire article from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life then click on this LINK. But you may need a strap or reinforced rubber band to keep you jaw from hitting the floor when you read the results of these surveys.

Quote for the day

2009-10-13T08:01:24-04:00

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for moment, I will speak to you.” - D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, pp. 20-21:

How faith glorifies God

2009-10-13T07:12:09-04:00

Over the last year we have been learning Bible doctrine. Doctrine simply means what the Bible has to say about a particular topic or subject. A few weeks ago in the men’s Bible study I discussed the theme of all the Scriptures which I believe to be “the glory of God.”
And Lord willing, in our last segment of teaching we are going to study the doctrine of salvation. Obviously that will bring us to one of the most important doctrines in the Bible which is known as justification. I have encouraged those in our community from day one to learn the definition as best you can and then see if you can explain it to a 10 year old. If you can’t explain it then it is because you probably don’t know it. Then I have found over the years it is helpful to be able to give an illustration of the doctrine. And finally you need to be able to support it with Scripture.

Last week in class I mentioned the five sola’s that came from the Reformation. Do you remember what they were?

Faith alone
Grace alone
In Christ alone
Scripture alone
To the glory of God alone

We have touched a bit on faith alone as we discussed the doctrine of justification briefly during the past year. This came up as we were studying the Trinity in regard to salvation. This morning I happened upon an excellent illustration for you when it comes to “how faith glorifies God.” Remember that we are justified by faith alone and according to Luther the church either stands or falls upon this doctrine.

Review for October 11

2009-10-12T15:21:12-04:00

We are launching into the last part of our discussion on the Trinity. In this teaching session we began to look at the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit. Yesterday I started us with “what you may have missed” from last week’s blog site. I find that this is good way to review the week’s activities. This led me into a discussion about the essentials and non-essentials within the evangelical orthodox church. We briefly looked at 7 non-essentials and then talked about why these doctrines have been so important to the church in our history. The main reason is because they are declared to be true by the very word of God. I took some time talk about these essentials because of a Saturday newspaper article written in the Charlotte Observer regarding John Spong. Spong is an opponent of these essential Christian doctrines. I am also wanting to point out that we as mainstream evangelical Christians are under fire from other evangelicals in regard to these essentials. It seems that now especially from the neo-orthodox or the post modern venues within church that it is quite popular to oppose these essentials. The teaching in this class is commited to protecting those in our community from the drinking in of incorrect or false doctrine. While at the same time ingesting and digesting healthy and sound Biblical doctrine.

After that I immediately took us back to our extended definition of the Trinity.
The Trinity - extended definition

The Christian faith affirms that there is one and only one true God eternally existing while fully and simultaneously expressed in three persons the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Each member of the Godhead is equally God and each is eternally God and each is fully God, not three gods but three persons of the one God head.

Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same and eternal divine nature yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of that one undivided divine nature.

Because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each possesses fully the identically same divine nature, therefore what distinguishes the Persons of the Godhead from each other is not and can not be the divine nature of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.
This the one undivided and divine nature is possessed equally, eternally, simultaneously and fully by each of the three Persons of the Godhead.
Therefore what distinguishes each person of the Godhead from the other persons is His particular role, in relation to the other persons and the relationships that each has with each of the other persons.
In light of both the equality of essence and differentiation in role and responsibility it behooves us then to look carefully at each member of the Trinity in relation to the other and this effects the relationship of each member of the Trinity to us.

We then reviewed briefly the reason that the Trinity is essential for Christian salvation. I started with Jesus the God-man an argued that we must have One that comes to pay the penalty for our sins. He needs to be human, one of us that can be our substitute. But He also needs to be One that can have infinite value that will be able to satisfy God’s infinite price for offending His righteousness. In Jesus Christ who comes as One who is fully God and fully man that requirement is met in full.

Devotion time in Genesis 12

2009-10-12T10:56:50-04:00

This morning our Bible reading was in Genesis 12-15. After reading I came back for a time of devotion and thought about Genesis 12:2 "...And I will bless you, And make your name great;..." Now look with me back at Genesis 11 and the account of the people at the Tower of Babel. We read the following in Genesis 11:4 "They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

Doesn't this give us some great insight into the heart of man? He is constantly wanting to accomplish and achieve so that his name can be recognized as great. But now contrast Genesis 11:4 with Genesis 12:2 in which God says to Abram, "I will make your name great." God is saying the only One that is capable of making your name great is Me!!! And the very reason Abram's name will be great is because when they see Abram they will see the great God that he worships and serves.

How easy is it for us to want our names to be great? It can range from me at home when I clean out the dishwasher and expect Nancy to have a ticker tape parade. Well, not literally but you see my point. We can crave for it in our daily tasks as we look for recognition and honor that points directly to ourselves. However as Jesus said in John 15:5 "apart from Me you can do nothing." There is only one way for our name to be great and that is in all that we think, say and do it needs to reflect the very greatness of our God. For we are the ambassadors and representatives of the greatest name that anyone can ever know or call on and His name is Jesus!

Blessings,

So what are the essentials?

2009-10-08T13:14:35-04:00

If you were to name the essential doctrines within the evangelical orthodox church, would these make the list?

1. The authority of the Bible from the standpoint that we believe it to be inspired, inerrant and infallible

2. The virgin birth of Jesus

3. The Substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross for our sins

4. Salvation by grace alone through faith alone by Christ's work alone.

5. Christ's Physical Return in Chronos Time to Judge the Living and the Dead

6. God's Eternal and Conscious Punishment of the Wicked (Hell)

7. The Trinity (God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit)

Did you know that those that have postmodernism as they’re underlying theology question each of these doctrines? And this according to many of those who keep stats are the fastest growing segment of the evangelical church. Now here is my question “how did they get the label evangelical?”

Please don’t forget Paul’s admonition to young Timothy in 2Tim. 4:3 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 2Tim. 4:4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

In order to more familiarize yourself with a definition and the dangers of postmodernism within the evangelical church just click on this LINK.

God centered vs. man centered

2009-10-08T12:30:08-04:00

While skimming through various blog and twitter sites this morning I came upon this new book “In the beginning God” by Marva J. Dawn. As with many books today you can preview the first chapter via a pdf file. So when I came to the first paragraph and read it, I said Amen and decided to bring it to our blog site.

The Bible is all about God That might seem an overly obvious point
with which to begin a book on character formation, but, if we consider
the matter seriously, we discover that we often read the Bible
imagining it is about ourselves

One way to ponder this is to contemplate the underlying question
we usually bring to the Bible Often we ask ourselves as we read,
“How does this apply to me?” or “How will I live out this text?” Less
nobly, we might be subconsciously asking, “How can this text make
me feel good?” or “How can I use this passage to support my own
ideas?” (since we sometimes read other books or journals that way)

Notice that the focus has shifted away from God to us
What would happen if instead we first asked such questions as
these: “What is God doing in this text?” or “What is God revealing
about one or all of the Triune Persons in this passage?” It might seem
like a small matter, but it is actually an enormous shift in perspective
It is the move from self-improvement to adoration.

Folks we need to pay attention to this kind of advice and wise counsel. Are we reading in order that we can improve our moral condition such as better husbands, dads and employees? Or are we reading from this perspective “I come to the Bible today heavenly Father humbly asking that you extend to me a measure of faith in order that I might see Christ as wonderfully glorious! If you say what is the difference it is between a man centered approach and a God-centered approach to your Bible reading.

Bible reading vs. Bible study

2009-10-08T11:58:46-04:00

One of the goals in developing this website was to provide you with a variety of resources that can help in regard to your Bible reading, study and devotion. Over the years I have been asked what is the difference for example between Bible reading and Bible study. This morning I came across a very helpful article in this particular area. Also you get some very good information on how to dig more deeply and effectively as you come to the Bible. However this kind of article needs the proper time to digest. So grab your favorite beverage, put on those fuzzy bunny slippers, along with notebook and Bible. Simply click on this LINK.

Quote for the day

2009-10-08T10:44:05-04:00

“I sometimes feel as if what we need most is a sense of proportion in our presentation of the truth; a new sense of where the center of gravity in the gospel lies; a return to the ideal of Paul who determined not to know anything among the Corinthians save Jesus Christ and him crucified. This does not mean that every sermon which we preach must necessarily be what is technically called an evangelistic sermon. There may be frequent occasions when to do that would be out of place and when a discourse on some ethical or apologetic or social topic is distinctly called for. But whatever topic you preach on and whatever text you choose, there ought not to be in your whole repertoire a single sermon in which from beginning to end you do not convey to your hearers the impression that what you want to impart to them, you do not think it possible to impart to them in any other way than as a correlate and consequence of the eternal salvation of their souls through the blood of Christ, because in your own conviction that alone is the remedy which you can honestly offer to a sinful world.” — Geerhardus Vos, “A Sermon on 1 Corinthians 5:7” (October 1, 1902; Princeton Theological Seminary).

Job and suffering

2009-10-08T09:51:45-04:00

This morning I as read through Job 5 and 6 and an actual story came into my mind about sin and suffering. As you can see what starts to develop quickly in the dialogue between Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar and Job is that Job's suffering must be related to the sinfulness in his life. Even though in Job's argument back to his friends in these subsequent chapters has much that is wrong, Job understands at some level that this suffering is not because he has sinned. I have made mention of this story in the past, but years ago I ran into a group of people in the church not unlike Job's friends. They had come under the influence of a "false" teacher who had used "proof texting" in the Bible to show those under his influence, that all suffering and I mean all suffering is due to sin in the person's life. This particular group even unknown by a husband at the time, got into the hospital room of a dying woman and told her see needed to find the core sin or the root sin in her life in order for healing to occur. Another couple, the husband who I had the privilege of discipling for a period of time, lost a child due to a miscarriage. I found out later that this same group had approached them with this same kind of "you need to find the root sin" in your life. SS community, I reject that kind of teaching with ever fiber of my being! Why do I share this with you? Because this kind of "false" doctrine goes on in much larger measures than many of you may want to believe. And by that I mean within the walls of our evangelical what we would call orthodox churches.

When Jesus told Peter in John Chapter 21 three times "Feed My Sheep" it was given in the imperative mood from a nourishing and protecting of those within the fold of His church. Then we come to the apostle Paul in Acts 20:28-29 “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Go back when you get time to check out the context of exactly who Paul is talking to, but notice where these false teachers will arise in verse 30 "from among your own selves." Folks I have personally seen what I would have called strong orthodox evangelicals make shipwreck of their faith as they moved into and under false teaching. And what is both sad and dangerous are the numbers of people that are in their sphere of influence.

Quote for the day

2009-10-06T09:01:49-04:00

A theology which does not want to speak out of the mouth of the Lord and have as its direct aim eternal salvation has no place in the Christian Church and has forfeited its right to be heard. It is an exotic plant, not one which the heavenly Father has planted (Matt. 15:13). In the Church only God’s Word (λόγια θεοῦ) should be heard, and that for the purpose of saving men (John 20:31,1 Pet. 4:11; 1 Tim. 1:4; 6:3). - Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics Vol 1, page 104

Reflecting on Sunday's message

2009-10-06T07:48:20-04:00

I was so encouraged by Dr. Poplin's message this past Sunday in regard to communion. If you missed the worship service may I recommend that you listen to the message online this week. He taught us about the taking of the Lord's supper from 1 Corinthians 11:27-29. When Dr. Poplin was through with the message it put me in the proper frame of heart and mind before I took communion. As I listened to Dr. Poplin's teaching there were two things that I became consciously aware of regarding our God, and that was a fear of Him and a reverence for Him! This is not a God who wants me to be casual or luke warm when I come to the Lord's table. Also this is not a God who wants me to be negligent or tolerant of the sin that is presently in my life. There was someone on our row weeping, and though I do not know why I sensed a time of deep confession in this person before the Lord.

As we continue in our study of the doctrine of God the two things that naturally flow from this are His transcendence and His immanence. But the order here is so important and these categories are essential when it come to learning and living the God-centered life. And yesterday, if you were in the worship service, both of these things were exhibited wonderfully in message and practice. We first got the picture of a God whose holiness and righteousness require that our attitudes and coming before Him be in a proper way. But then when that is communicated we recognize that God Himself lives within each of us who have received Him as Lord and Savior. The church must proclaim both because both are shown clearly to us and revealed for us in His word.

Oh by the way...for those in the Corinthian church who took the Lord's supper in a way that was inappropriate the apostle Paul wrote about those people in 1 Corinthians 11:30 "For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep." At the end of the sentence you could paraphrase by saying they died!
When I read these sections of Scripture it is as if I hear God shouting from the top of the mountain "Do I now have you full and undivided attention?"

Devotion time in Romans 5

2009-10-05T14:23:23-04:00

In Romans 5:1 the apostle Paul writes, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Paul is getting ready to tell us about the benefit package that comes as a result of our justification. But that is not the point of this particular email. My hope and prayer is that when you come across a word like justification there will be three things that you think about from a practical
perspective.
1. Do I have a Biblical understanding of this word?
2. Could I use an illustration in order to explain it to an 8 year old?
3. Am I able to support with Scripture?

First justification is an instantaneous act of God in which He thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us. In doing so God declares us to be righteous in His sight.

Second, an illustration you could use might involve that of a basic ticket or a violation of the law in some way. I was on my boat in the Charleston Harbor one day when the DMV boat pulled up beside mine and made an inspection. The officer got my name and checked through his computer to find that I had a fishing license, but it wasn't in my wallet. Therefore he wrote me a ticket. At that point I was not right in the eyes of the law. The fine was $35 and I had no cash on me at the time. However my fishing buddy Mike pulled out his wallet and paid for my ticket on the spot. The officer at that point and time declared me innocent or right in the eyes of the law because the ticket was now paid in full. I went from guilty to innocent as soon as my debt was fulfilled. In the very same way my sin caused me to be guilty in the eyes of a holy and righteous God. The only way for me to be declared "NOT GUILTY" was the payment of my debt by someone else. In this case the only One who could make the payment for my sins and then credit me with His righteousness is Christ Himself.

Third, there are lots of good verses to support the doctrine of justification by faith. The very one we are looking at right now Romans 5:1 or how about Romans 1:17 which is the verse that God used in Martin Luther's life for his conversion.

And last, the word justified appears in the passive voice which means the subject of the sentence is the one who receives the action done. I have used this illustration a number of times, the boy hits the ball. In this case the subject "boy" is providing the action as he hits the ball. But in the next sentence "the ball hits the boy." In this case the subject "boy" is the one who receives the action by being hit.

In Romans 5:1 we have the verb being justified in the passive voice and then we see how that is accomplished "by faith." Upon further study we see that the very faith that I need in order to be declared right in God's sight is a gift. Therefore I in no way, shape or form can take any credit for my justification for this is all of God. The only thing I can do is bow before this sovereign God and offer my thanksgiving!

blessings,

Review for October 4

2009-10-05T14:03:00-04:00

We have made it through all 4 categories in the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Since I included these notes in an earlier post I will simply LINK you to them for your review. Yes, these are doctrines but they are very practical for our day to day living. And also it causes one to stop and consider during devotion time these precious truths about our God.

For example this week I was reading Romans 5 and observed in verse 1 “therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” As I was reading I just stopped and asked a basic question; how am I able to have peace with God? And in this verse it says that is possible when I am justified by faith in Christ. In other words God’s peace come to me NOT apart from Christ but through Christ! Isn’t that exactly what we talked about yesterday in God the Father summing all things up in His Son? You will find these same kind of things happening all through the Scriptures as you read, devote and study.

If you would like to listen to audio from yesterday’s teaching just click on the October 4 date in the sidebar section of this blog.

NEXT WEEK; Jesus and His relationship with the Spirit

We now return to our regularly scheduled curriculum

2009-10-03T17:32:27-04:00

Two weeks ago we officially launched into our 2009-2010 Bible Reading Plan. Then last week I read Romans 1-2 and made some brief comments along the way. My point last week was let’s lock arms and read through the Bible. It will be a challenge some days you will miss but don’t get discouraged, keep moving!

I was hoping to post this weeks notes before today, but more on that later. Anyway tomorrow we take a final look at the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. This is point #4; God the Father sums all things up in Jesus His Son. We should complete this final category and then we will start into the relationship between Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Here are the notes for the first part of this teaching.

Jesus lived His life in the power of the Spirit

When we see the teaching in the Bible between Christ and the Spirit, we have two themes that do not come together easily and may on the surface even appear to conflict.

First Theme - Jesus submitting to the Spirit, yielding to the Spirit, living His life in the power of the Spirit and Jesus following the leading of the Spirit

Second Theme - Jesus clearly announces in the NT that it is the Spirit who will come to glorify Christ

The ministry of being...

2009-10-01T10:52:47-04:00

Each Thursday for the next number of weeks our Bible reading plan has us in the book of Job. As I was entering into my reading this morning of Chapters 3 and 4 I reviewed the following verses from the end of Chapter 2.

Job 2:11 ¶ Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.
Job 2:12 When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.
Job 2:13 Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Years ago when I entered full time ministry Pastor Russ pulled me aside and gave me some wonderful Biblical counsel. I was dealing with a very difficult ministry situation in which one of the members of the church had a family member die suddenly. Russ said "Bert, now is the time for the ministry of being." It was the model of ministry from Job 2:13 in which you are simply with the person. At times there is nothing to say, but your presence in a time of great crisis can provide so much comfort and support. There is a time to teach doctrine and to have a solid foundation of Scripture. But at the time of tragedy hopefully the theology is grounded and the ministry becomes one of being with them.

In the book of Job for the chapters that follow the friends start to open their mouths and dispense with some really faulty theology. We know that to be the case because of what God says to them at the end of Job in Chapter 42. Here is for us, a good lesson in the book of Job when dealing with others in crisis, we need to learn the value in the ministry of being.

blessings,

Devotion in Joshua

2009-09-29T12:17:19-04:00

As you come to Joshua Chapter 6 read slowly, carefully and prayerfully. I got so excited this morning that I stopped at verse 2 and called Pat. If you think that I have sent you a good number of emails over the last year then you need to check Pat's cell phone bill. Since he has gotten to know me via our class he has revised his cell phone plan at least 3 times :). Anyway check out Joshua 6:2 The LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. Here is my paraphrase for this verse "So now I want you to go an possess that which is already yours!"

SS community for every person who is in Christ this is the message from the LORD Himself to us. At the cross of Christ pays in full the penalty of sin and has defeated the power of sin, death and the devil. So relate this truth back to Joshua 6:2 - go and occupy that which you already possess!

We need to shout this with a mega phone from the top of the Bank of America building "All Christians, All Christians, Here this now, Here this now. BE THE CHRISTIAN THAT YOU SAY YOU HAVE BECOME! Or we could say it this way "Occupy, live in, and enjoy the land in Christ which you have already been given!" So if your mind now flows to the next logical question it might be "how" am I to do that? Here is the answer, hear God's word, rest in God's word and keep God's word! Just like Joshua does in Chapter 6. Isn't it amazing that we always in some way, shape or form come back to the importance of our obedience to His word. Can you imagine a fighting warrior, who is the Rambo of the Old Testament hearing these instructions from God as to how they are going to capture Jericho. I want you to march around the city and then blow the trumpets. You might have expected Joshua to say "do what LORD?" Which begs the question, how are we responding daily to the revealed word of God in our lives?

Keep reading, studying and praying, don't leave your Bibles until you get glory bumps,

An education in "Postmodernism"

2009-09-29T10:52:18-04:00

Over the 2009-2010 teaching year we as you know will continue to study basic Bible doctrine. However, I am also going to be introducing you to those things to watch out for that are harmful in the evangelical church. On Sunday I ended with the dangers of legalism, and how we as Americans are hard wired to be legalists.

However on the other side of the pendulum something much larger and more dangerous looms for the 21 century church and that is postmodernism. At the end of the teaching on Sunday I gave an overall definition. The plan next was to show the following video but all the technology just locked up. So here is the video that I intended to show on Sunday. In this first part of the video Dr. John MacArthur gives a very good and succinct definition of postmodernism that I suggest you write down and study. Simply click on this LINK.

On the heels of that video is an article that I read this morning from Pastor Gary Gilley (one of the good guys). If you want to read the whole article then click on this LINK. But this is the section of the article that really caught my attention as to what the disease of “POSTMODERNISM” has produced in the church and right under our noses.

The Product of Uncertainty - by Gary Gilley

A medical physician friend of mine compares this postmodern/mystical approach to the AIDS virus. He told me, “Postmodernism attacks true Christianity’s defense system, the truth (including God’s Word), denying it exists or at least that it can be known with any degree of certainty. Like the AIDS virus, which leaves the body subject to all manner of infections and malignancies, postmodernism leaves Christianity with all manner of heresies if not apostasy.”[10]

This disease of uncertainty has produced a very ill patient. A recent report entitled, “Crisis in America ’s Churches: Bible Knowledge at All-Time Low”reveals a startling picture of the evangelical church. Below are some of the findings by George Barna and other researchers as documented in this report:

The most widely known Bible verse among adult and teen believers is “God helps those who help themselves” – which is not in the Bible.
Less than one out of every ten believers possesses a biblical worldview as the basis for his or her decision-making or behavior.
When given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embrace all thirteen as being biblical perspectives.
Of Baptists (of all kinds) only 34% believe Satan is real, 57% believe that good works earn heaven, 45% do not believe that Jesus was sinless and 34% do not believe the Bible is totally accurate.

Only 32% of “born-again” Christians believes in the existence of absolute moral truth.

Commenting on such beliefs Professor Gary Burge of Wheaton College believes such theological and biblical illiteracy is the result of:

The failure of the church to transmit what it believes to the next generation. One of the reasons for this is an overemphasis on personal experience to the exclusion of serious Christian education.
Many churches have abandoned serious Bible exposition and theological teaching. Exegesis is becoming a “lost art” in the pulpit.

Devotion time

2009-09-28T08:56:30-04:00

Yesterday in SS we read together Romans 1-2 and I made some brief comments on the text as we read. The point from yesterday is how important it is for us to read the Bible.
I actually know a friend of mine who pastors in Kinston, NC. There are times when for his message he reads the Bible to his congregation. He will read large sections of Scripture for 30-40 minutes so the people will just be soaked and saturated under the word of God. So as I prayed, studied and thought about Sunday I sensed the need to just read a larger section of Scripture. As a matter of fact I am thinking about having one Sunday of the month committed to reading large sections and then again making brief comments as we read. This, I believe, helps us to put rubber to the road so to speak when it comes to the practical reading through the Bible.

This morning I am reading through Genesis 4-7 and also thinking about what I read in Romans 3-4. It is so amazing to me how it all dove tails into one incredible story. I have heard the Bible summed up in the following: Creation, Fall, Redemption and Restoration.

Check out these verses which give us great Biblical insight into our condition before God as result of the fall in Genesis 3. And what happened in the fall? It was the first time recorded in the Bible that God's word was broken. God gave a specific and clear command to Adam and he disobeyed. In Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And then in Rom. 3:10-12 we read:
Rom. 3:10 “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
Rom. 3:11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
Rom. 3:12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Finally in Romans 3:23 my favorite definition in regard to sin: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." At a later time we will go back and look at Romans 3:23 in relation to Romans 1:21-23 and how man exchanges the very glory of God for the glory of man.

Think of the implication of these verses for you and me as it relates to the prospect of our eternal future. We show up on that day and here is the record of our lives read in the public courtroom in the heavenly realms:
"Thoughts of the heart evil on a continuous basis"
"Unrighteous in thoughts, words and actions"
"Never seeking for God"
"No good done at all"
"Falling short of God's glory"

If Romans 3:21-26 doesn't come into the picture for us then the verdict will be judgment, condemnation and hell. Because our sin however much or however little has resulted in an infinite offense before the infinite holiness and righteousness of God Himself. And it will take an eternity in hell to pay for that violation against God. This is not just bad news but the worst news that anyone could ever possibly hear on that day. As Jesus Himself reads the sentence before God's public courtroom and declares a person to an eternal damnation.

So what hope is there for you or for me? An unrighteous man or woman to be able to stand in the very presence of a righteous God and spend eternity with Him. This is only possible by way of the cross of Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that in your reading of Genesis and the account of the fall and in Romans 1-3 you can clearly see that your sinful condition is terminal. As we will read later in Ephesian 2 you are dead in your trespasses and sins which means a miracle must take place to raise you from the dead.

Week #2

2009-09-28T05:11:29-04:00

Bible Reading for the Week

Sunday Romans 3-4

Monday Genesis 4-7

Tuesday Joshua 6-10

Wednesday Psalm 3-5

Thursday Job 3-4

Friday Isaiah 7-11

Saturday Matthew 3-4

Review for September 27

2009-09-27T20:25:14-04:00

You have heard the expression the best laid plans of mice and men. The plan for this week was to complete our study in the relationship with Jesus and the Father. And then move into our next teaching which is Jesus and His relationship with the Holy Spirit. However after study and pray on Saturday and early this morning I sensed a need to go in another direction. Building from our 52 week Bible reading plan launch from last week I read and made some comments on Romans 1 and 2.
Folks, we need as a community to be nourished by the word of God on a daily basis. Sometimes instead of just encouraging people to get in the word I think it is important to do it together.

I started with the words that Jesus gave to the apostle Peter in John Chapter 21:15-17

15So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

17He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

The Greek word for feed is the same in verse 15 and 17. It is the word bosko and shows the duty of the Christian teacher to promote the spiritual welfare of the members of the church. Also to note it is written in the present tense which means ongoing, constant and habitual and in the imperative mood which means a command.

The word Greek word for feed in verse 16 is the word poimainō. This means to tend to and care for or you might say shepherd the members of the church. Also this word is a verb and written in the present tense and the imperative mood.

Here we have the resurrected Christ prior to His ascension giving the apostle Peter some final instructions. And what are the mandatory instructions that He leaves with Peter?
FEED MY SHEEP
FEED MY SHEEP
FEED MY SHEEP

Quote for the day

2009-09-26T09:26:07-04:00

“Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more of my sin. And because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we need not fear seeing God as he really is or admitting how broken we really are. Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation that God will compromise his standards and ‘grade on a curve.’ Rather, we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer — the One who is ‘our righteousness, holiness and redemption’ (1 Cor. 1:30).”

- Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel-Centered Life (World Harvest Mission, 2009), 6.

Preview for this Sunday

2009-09-25T15:51:10-04:00

The plan is to first finish up with point #4 in regard to Jesus and His relationship with God the Father.
Here is a preview of those notes that I am going to start with in the first part of our class.

FOURTH - THE FATHER'S PURPOSE THAT ALL THINGS BE SUBJECTED TO AND SUMMED UP IN THE SON

It is as if the Father says I chose to fulfill My will and to carry out My plan and My purposes, only as they are fulfilled in My Son

The Father chooses to implement His purposes and to carry out His wise plan and design through the Son and not apart from the Son

Do we recognize the generous nature and the sharing nature of the Father in this regard?

God the Father does not say "Son and Spirit stand aside and I will do My work and you watch."

No but in fact He says to the Son "I want you to be honored in the work that I do and accomplish" this is what the Father has accomplished right?

Colossians 1:13 - It is the Father who has transfered us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son
So the Father does this through the Son and not apart from the Son

The Father generously not only makes a way for the Son to participate and carry out His work but His does so in a way in which the Son receives the glory and honor.
The Father says "Look at My Son, what a glorious Son He is!"
Love Him, follow Him, treasure Him, adore Him and worship Him

The Father chooses to implement His good and wise plan not apart from but through His Son

The Father shares with the Son the work that is His to accomplish and in doing so the Father honors the Son

READ Psalm 2:7-9
Psa. 2:7 ¶ “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.
Psa. 2:8 ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.
Psa. 2:9 ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”

The Father is the one who bestows this honor on the Son

A Cardinal Rule of Bible Study

2009-09-25T09:32:55-04:00

On Tuesday nights the men in our community are meeting for a 10 week series on “How to Study the Bible.”

In my early years of Bible reading and study I was taught by a man I never met whose name is Buck Hatch. He was a Bible teacher for over 50 years and spent the majority of his time at Columbia Bible College in Columbia, SC. Buck taught a class called “Biblical Hermeneutics.” It means a system of Bible study in order to understand what the Bible means. If you study under or with Buck Hatch then you will hear the cardinal rule of Bible study which is as follows:

There is only one correct interpretation of any one Scripture and that is what the author meant by what he wrote. The correct interpretation of any Scripture is the Author's meaning.

As we study doctrine together, we must be very careful with those that minimize or try to distort solid Biblical interpretation. Again it is not what you think or what I think that counts, it is what God thinks and says that counts!

Quote for the day

2009-09-25T08:29:43-04:00

“What we have created in America is false Christianity based on the premise that God exists to help us be more successful as we seek these things. He is here to help us get what we want, do what we please and achieve our own goals and ambitions. God is here to help us find happiness and fulfillment in life....Nothing could be further from the biblical truth. God does not offer to come and help us be more successful in our lives. He calls us to die! We are to die to self, to sin, to the lives we lived without him. We turn aside from the purposes of our lives and yield to his purposes. We are to “deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow him.” We must present our bodies as living sacrifices. We must be buried with Christ by baptism into death so that we may be raised to walk a new life in him." - Dave Miller

Devotion and The Doctrine of God

2009-09-25T06:55:52-04:00

months we have been taking a close look at the Trinity. As I have said more than once, to know God is to know that God is Triune. Therefore as we read, study and have devotions our goal is NOT to know about God but to know Him. It is NOT to know Him based on what the culture is telling us about Him but in fact what the Bible is telling us about Him.

I have accumulated lots of study notes over the years and as we hit upon the different topics in the Bible I plan to use them in our blog site. The problem is that all the notes are not properly footnoted, so just know that I stand on the shoulders of many wonderful and godly Bible teachers, pastors and theologians.

In our study of the doctrine of God consider the following questions:

What is at stake in pursuing a knowledge of God?
Does it matter if we know God rightly?
Does it matter if we grow in the knowledge of God?

Illustration - Knowledge of the Holy - AW Tozer
The thoughts that we think about God are the most important thoughts that we will ever have
We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God
God has so made us that we instinctively and naturally seek to become like that which we esteem most highly

Now the commandment in Deuteronomy 6:5 takes on a fresh meaning doesn't it?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Of course because God deserves that kind of love and also because He commands it. However there is another reason and here it is, we become like what we love.

Biblical truth for our consideration?
We are hardwired to take on the characteristics of what we adore

Bible Reading Plan

2009-09-24T10:24:07-04:00

In case you missed our kickoff for the Bible Reading Plan on Sunday you can find it in the sidebar of this blog site -

Thanks for your response and please understand from past experience there is no perfect plan for everyone in a class or the church. However I have found this plan to bring a balanced reading in both Old and New Testament as you go through the year.

Someone talked to me the other day and shared the following observation “hey Bert check out what God says about His word in Joshua and Psalms 1 from our Bible Reading this week.

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

Psa. 1:1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
Psa. 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Well, needless to say, as that was being pointed out to me I had somewhat of a mini glory fit. Because this is exactly what happens when a group of believers commit to getting back to the word together. They share observations and in doing so we encourage one another to know Him by knowing His word.

Remember this is a marathon and not a sprint. The key is to finish well not just to start well. So be prepared for some leg cramps, maybe I should say some brain cramps along the way. But through all of the ups and downs keep moving and keep reading.

Blessings

Question for consideration

2009-09-24T07:20:04-04:00

Do you obey God in order to get things from God or do you obey God in order to get God?

Your answer will give insight as to whether you stand on a foundation of religion or the gospel.

When legalism runs amok

2009-09-22T11:19:24-04:00

The "almost" gospel

2009-09-22T10:41:07-04:00

I was thinking about our ongoing discussion regarding Bible doctrine. There are at least two things that Biblical teaching should provide:
1. It should guard us from Bible error
2. The other is to move us into the truth of God's word for our daily living
The reason I am hyped about “false teaching" in the evangelical church is because there is much of it today and the people who sit under it are being deceived. This year when we read through the book of Job here is a heads up for you to notice. Job has three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar who provide what they think is Biblical counsel for Job in his time of need. I challenge you to read their advice and try to separate out the good theology from the bad. The reason it will be difficult is because there is the good mixed with the bad but it is so hard to distinguish. But when you arrive at the last chapter Job 42 here is what the writer of Job informs us in regard to these three friends of Job.

Job 42:7 ¶ It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.

On that day God's wrath will be kindled against those who have not spoken the true gospel. We may think that a church is preaching Christ, forgiveness and sin so this means that the gospel is being preached. However when one starts to pull back the onion it is a gospel of moral improvement and what you get when Jesus comes into your heart. By the way as you have heard me say Jesus doesn't come to earth to fix our self image and no where is Scripture will you find the expression to ask Jesus in your heart. The expression you will find is Jesus Himself replaces your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.

7 marks of genuine salvation

2009-09-22T08:26:53-04:00

A.W. Pink addresses in this quote seven marks as a litmus test for salvation.

First, by the Word of God having come in divine power to the soul so that my self-complacency is shattered and my self-righteousness is renounced.

Second, by the Holy Spirit convicting me of my woeful, guilty, and lost condition.

Third, by having had revealed to me the suitability and sufficiency of Christ to meet my desperate case and by a divinely given faith causing me to lay hold of and rest upon Him as my only hope.

Fourth, by the marks of the new nature within me - a love for God; an appetite for spiritual things; a longing for holiness; a seeking after conformity to Christ.

Fifth, by the resistance which the new nature makes to the old, causing me to hate sin and loathe myself for it.

Sixth, by avoiding everything which is condemned by God's Word and by sincerely repenting of and humbly confessing every transgression. Failure at this point will surely bring a dark cloud over our assurance causing the Spirit to withhold His witness.

Seventh, by giving all diligence to cultivate the Christian graces and using all diligence to this end.

Devotion in Genesis

2009-09-21T11:53:12-04:00

In my devotion in Genesis 1 and 2, I was drawn to the command that God gave to Adam in Gen. 2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; Gen. 2:17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
I started to think, what about this command was unclear or hard to understand. The fact is the command was very clear. Then I remember some study I have done in the doctrine of perspicuity. I know that isn't a word that we use often but the early church did and it basically means the clarity of Scripture.

Kevin Vanhoozer writes:
"The idea that the Bible is clear does not obviate the need for interpretation but, on the contrary, makes the work of interpretation even more important. The clarity of Scripture means that understanding is possible, not that it is easy. Redeeming the text does not mean reconciling all interpretive conflicts. The clarity of Scripture is neither an absolute value nor an abstract property, but a specific function relative to its particular aim: to witness to Christ. The clarity of Scripture, in other words, does not mean that we will know everything there is to know about the text, but that we will know enough to be able, and responsible, to respond to its subject matter. The clarity of Scripture is not a matter of its obviousness so much as its efficacy; the Bible is clear enough to render its communicative action effective."

Again the command God gave to Adam was very clear and Adam understood it. However as we will see in Genesis Chapter 3 a key strategy that Satan had then, and one that he has today is to attack the "meaning" of God's word as to make it unclear.

Often in my times of devotion (I learned this from George Mueller), to take what I am learning from God’s word and turn it into a prayer. Therefore my time is both reading, learning, devoting and prayer all wrapped up together.

Father in heaven thank you for making your word clear to me. May I have eyes to see, ears to hear and a mind to understand the very things that you have given me in the Bible. Extend to me by your grace, the faith I need to be obedient so that I may know you much richly and more fully and that I may make you known.

blessings,

We have lift off, I repeat, we have lift off!

2009-09-21T07:42:36-04:00

This will serve as the review for September 20.

Yesterday we officially launched into the 2009-2010 Bible reading plan. We handed out cards yesterday that can be placed in your Bible in order to keep us at the same place at the same time in our reading this year. Can you imagine a community of people committed to reading through the word of God so that Christ may be demonstrated as great? Well, that is our goal as we move into year two of our “learning and living the God-centered life” community.

I was hoping to launch our Bible reading plan on September 13. But after going into the worship service at 11 AM it quickly became obvious why it was not able to happen until this week. For those of you who missed it Dr. Poplin preached on “the importance of God’s word.”

As usual I did not get through the teaching in Power Point. But I have included the notes and the links that you might find challenging and somewhat fun. There were two short videos that I had planned to show this past Sunday but didn’t get to them.

We again went over the challenge that I am laying before this community for the 2009-2010 year. And the reason for my ongoing emphasis is the testimony given yesterday by Patti Duckworth. I wanted to go up front and just conclude by saying “folks I hope your ears were attentive to all that Patti said this morning because that is the lesson.” It has been a blessing and joy for Nancy and I to start getting to know people like the Duckworth’s. Over the years the Lord has called to a ministry of challenging people back to His word. As Rodney and Cynthia Young have been called to those in China and go overseas, so Nancy and I sense God’s calling to those in Southeast Charlotte who need to know Him by knowing His word.

The challenge for the 2009-2010 year

"FINALLY THIS YEAR" Lord you have my full and undivided attention. There will be, by Your grace, no competition between recreation, entertainment, business, kids activities or anything else that can so easily distract and entangle me. Though I recognize all these activities will be part of my life, I maintain and cling to the truth that you are my life.

"FINALLY THIS YEAR" I first of all will prepare my heart to hear from God as never before. I will recognize that God is sovereign, and may do with me whatever He pleases. But heavenly Father my prayer will be for You to extend to me a measure of faith as never before, with regards to the reading, devotion and study of Your word.

"FINALLY THIS YEAR" I am praying to trust,depend, rely on Christ as neverbefore. And I am longing to be desperate for You Lord and You alone!!!

I think I could give you a Bible verse to support each sentence but for now I pray that the challenge will be part of your 2009-2010 years.

How do you pray?

2009-09-17T07:55:46-04:00

Listen to part of this prayer from King David in Psalm 143. Then step back, be still and do what the Puritan's used to call "Biblical logic" in regard to the text.

"Teach me to do your will
for you are my God
May your gracious Spirit lead me forward
on a firm footing
For the glory of your name, O LORD, save me."

David recognizes that God Himself must show up and reveals the truth NOT ONLY to know His will, but also for him to do the will that he knows. There is a humble recognition from King David as one described as a man after God's own heart. King David is praying "Teach me because God I understand that if You don't unveil it I will not do it."

Did you ever play hide and seek during your childhood? Do you think if God hides His word from you that you could ever find it? 2 Chronicles 16:9 says "the eyes of the LORD roam to and fro throughout the earth to find those whose heart is completely His..." Are you the type of Christian that falls before Him and prays "LORD I am desperate for You to show up and teach me!

Check out these next two verses in lieu of this kind of attitude in prayer.
Psa. 42:1 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.

1Pet. 2:2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,

In Psalm 42:1 there is the referring of a need for God to quench your thirst spiritually, in the same manner as a deer in the forest needs water to quench its thirst physically. But do you see the main point. By the way for those who are coming to "How to study the Bible" this is figurative language and technically is called a simile. That aside, the deer must get the water to survive, so my question is that the kind of dependence and reliance that you have before the sovereign God of this universe. In other words if you don't quench my spiritual thirst LORD I will not make it so please know that I am desperate for you.

Legalism, the deadly disease

2009-09-16T11:18:07-04:00

Since we are preparing to launch the reading of the Bible during the next year, I sensed a need to post something about legalism. One thing I have noticed about American Christians, if you give them a challenge they will respond with in most cases “I can do it!” And what follows can be a duty based mentality instead of one that is motivated by delight. Over the years I have written and read lots of different blogs. Tony Reinke is a blog writer who I credit in this short article regarding “Legalism.” So as we approach the reading of the Bible this year please don’t think that in doing so you are winning the approval of God. If you are in Christ then you already have the 100% approval of God and your obedience to things like reading the Bible should flow out of that truth. So without further ado legalism the deadly disease.

Rules are not the problem

Almost 900 passages in the Bible contain the phrase “do not.” Which is to say that the Bible contains quite a lot of prohibitions. Jesus condensed some chief prohibitions for us: “You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother’” There are a lot of rules in the Bible.

Which is to say that if you apply the entire Bible to the Christian life, you can end up with a long list of helpful rules and reminders (i.e. the “one anothers”).

See the fundamental danger of legalism is not living with rules or not living by rules—whether you attend church every week or not, whether you drink wine or not. Legalism points to a much deeper heart issue.

A false gospel

At its most dangerous level, legalism is a soteriological problem. That is, legalism is a false gospel and a false hope.

Legalism is the lie that says God's pleasure and joy in me is dependent upon my performance rather than the finished work of Christ.

It is legalism that causes the Pharisee to look proudly into the sky in the presence of a tax collector. It is legalism that causes a poor missionary in Africa to think God is more pleased with him than an American Christian businessman driving a Mercedes. It is legalism that causes the preacher behind the pulpit to think God is more pleased with him than the tatooed Christian teenager sitting in the back row.

Understanding Bible translations

2009-09-15T10:51:12-04:00

Since we are preparing to launch into our Bible reading plan for the year, I am often asked about Bible translations. It may help for you to understand some of the basics of a Bible translation. And for that I will allow both Michael Patton and Douglas Stuart along with Gordon Fee to give you some sound instruction.

* Formal Equivalence: Translations that seek to translate word for word (although this is really impossible). Examples: NAS, KJV, ASV, ESV. Less readable, but better for study in contemporary languages. Why? Because they will usually attempt to make fewer interpretive decisions on any text that can be understood in many ways. This allows the reader to struggle through the options.
Literal The attempt to translate by keeping as close as possible to the exact words and phrasing in the original language, yet still make sense of the receptor language. A literal translation will keep the historical distance intact at all points.

* Dynamic Equivalence: Translations that seek to translate thought for thought. Examples: NIV, TNIV, NRSV, etc. Not quite as good for deep study, but usually better for reading and memorization. Dynamic equivalence translations make good pulpit or teaching Bibles.
Dynamic Equivalent The attempt to translate words, idioms, and grammatical constructions of the original language into precise equivalents in the receptor language. Such a translation keeps historical distance on all historical and most factual matters, but "updates" matters of language, grammar and style.

* Paraphrase: Translations that seek to use common language and idioms to get the basic point across in a very readable way. Examples: Message, Philip’s Translation, NLT, GNB, etc. While paraphrases are not good for study or memorization, they are very readable and cause you to read the text differently than you normally would. In this respect, they have great value.

Launching our Bible reading plan

2009-09-14T14:03:52-04:00

On Sunday we will officially launch our Bible Reading Plan for this 2009-2010 year. I am going give a brief description as it relates to Bible translations. For your information the Bible I use for study is an NASB and the one I use for reading is NLT. Maybe this chart can be helpful as you decide on a translation that you want to use this year.

Is your obedience to Christ motivated by love?

2009-09-14T10:20:38-04:00

One of the key points in studying the love relationship between God the Father and Jesus is as follows: It is just as God-like to exert proper and rightful authority as it is God-like to yield, submit to and obey that authority. And the reason for this is because both actions are motivated by love! Think about it, the very frame work of love that we can see in the Trinity is based on authority and submission.

Again look John 14:31 and the words from Christ Himself when he says "but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me..." There is obedience by Jesus to the will of His Father 24/7 and it stems from His love for the Father. So when His disciples bring food to Him in John 4 and say in essence we got the food for you now eat, Jesus says "my food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." The desire to accomplish the work of the Father stems from His love for the Father.

Do you see the relationship between the Father and the Son which is motivated by love? Then bring this into your own daily Christian walk. We have far too many people actively participating in church ministry that have this part of their doctrine upside down. They go to Bible study, pray, give and serve thinking that in doing so they are receiving the approval of God. It basically looks like this: if I obey God then He will approve of me. However the gospel brings us to this understanding, as a believer in Christ I am already approved of 100% and because of this approval I delight in obeying what Christ commands. The first is based on works to receive merit and approval and the second is motivated by love.

Illustration:
For our 31st wedding anniversary I decided to get Nancy 31 roses. Pretend with me for a minute that I go out that morning and get the 31 roses and come back to the front of the house and ring the door bell. First of all that will strike Nancy as strange because I normally come into the house through the garage. But this time I am outside ringing the door bell and she comes to and opens the door. Now remember behind my back are 31 fresh and beautiful red roses. I bring the roses from behind my back and present them to her and I say "Nancy these roses are for you." And she takes them and says "Brim" (my nickname when she is touched by my sweetness), she says "Brim, why did you do this?" Now listen real carefully to my answer and see what you think. I say "because Nancy I have been reading books about couple married for an extended period of time and they say this is what I ought to do." For the ladies that are reading this "how would you react to that statement?"
Rewind the tape, Nancy says "Brim why did you do this." And this time I say "because my love, nothing makes me happier in my life than when I can honor and be with you!"

What is the difference between scene 1 and scene 2 in the illustration above? In scene 1 the motive is duty and in scene 2 the motive is love. Which scene is playing out in your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? Keep studying and being aware this year as we read through the Bible this love relationship between Jesus and His Father. Because it is the very relationship that we should have with Him and with others.

for His glory,

Beginning this Tuesday night...

2009-09-14T09:12:02-04:00

We begin our men’s Bible study on Tuesday night at the home of Pat and Kay Jones. Should you want to come and need directions to their home just click on this LINK. Our study will begin promptly at 7 and will end at 8:30 pm. In this 10 week study, which is composed of two 5 week studies with a break of two weeks in between, the subject is “How to study the Bible.” Did you know there is a system for understanding how to study the Bible? The word is hermeneutics and yes it is in the Bible!

So may I encourage the men in our class to come in order that as brothers in Christ we may learn “how” to approach study and understand the Bible. I cannot over emphasize the importance especially in this culture the need today for an accurate interpretation of God’s word. The goal of this 10 week session will be to give you the tools to help you become good Bible readers so that you can live out properly what you learn.

I look forward to seeing you this coming Tuesday night.

Review for September 13

2009-09-13T20:45:49-04:00

Today we studied point #3 in the relationship of Jesus to God the Father. Specifically we looked at the love relationship between the Father and the Son. There is so much here and yet it feels like when we are in class so little time. Therefore may I encourage you to read the notes and look up the Scripture references. Here is one of the key points that I hope you picked up from our study this morning.

It is just as God-like to submit to rightful authority as it is God-like to exert wise, proper and rightful authority as both are motivated by love.

As one studies the relationship between God the Father and Jesus we can see that God commands what is good and right, this is done in love. Jesus obeys, yields and submits to the will of the Father, this is motivated by His love for the Father. In studying this relationship from a Trinitarian perspective there is much we can learn and live in our own personal relationships.

If you would like to review the audio and notes for our class today. If you would like to read the note then CLICK ON THIS LINK.
Should you want to hear the audio CLICK ON THIS LINK.

Next week we conclude in our relationship between Jesus and God the Father with point #4 which say that “God the Father sums all things up in Jesus the Son.” What does this mean and how does it impact us in our day to day Christian lives?

I recommend you come back frequently to our website to check for homework assignments and to watch for the number of opportunities we have for fellowship. Today was a transition day for us as this was our first time in the uptown auditorium. As we get more familiar with the room, set up, and technical equipment it will start to feel like our home.

Doctrine and Devotions

2009-09-12T08:31:40-04:00

Last Sunday I suggested that as you read through the Bible that you note in the margin when you come across Bible doctrine that we have studied or are studying. The word doctrine simply means what the whole Bible has to say about any particular subject or topic. In our class curriculum we are going to learn what the Bible has to say about the word of God, God Himself, Christ, Spirit, mankind and salvation. All that being said this week my devotions took me to Psalm 139. Nancy B. and I went through this together and thought it might be helpful for me to share with you. In this note what I will do is list the verses then give the doctrine along with a definition of that doctrine. Then a further look at the verses. My goal is that you become readers, thinkers and the type of Bible students that pray over God's word asking for illumination from the Holy Spirit. In doing so the revelation of His word attaches to you and transforms you from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). If that doesn't get you excited at some level then call 911 as you may not have a pulse.

First of all I recommend that you with prepared hearts read Psalm 139.
1 O Lord, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2 You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3 You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4 You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, Lord.
5 You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand!

In the first 6 verses you can see the sovereignty of God and the omniscience of God. Do you remember the definition of sovereignty from our retreat in May?
"God plans and carries out His perfect will as He alone knows is best, and He does so without failure or defeat."

Homework and Preview for Sunday-Part 2

2009-09-10T10:16:24-04:00

The following notes should consist of the second half of our class on Sunday. However the way things are going we might not even make it through Point #3. But just in case, you can read, review and study what is coming either on Sunday or at some point in time down the road.

FOURTH - THE FATHER'S PURPOSE THAT ALL THINGS BE SUBJECTED TO AND SUMMED UP IN THE SON

It is as if the Father says I chose to fulfill My will and to carry out My plan and My purposes, only as they are fulfilled in My Son

The Father chooses to implement His purposes and to carry out His wise plan and design through the Son and not apart from the Son

Do we recognize the generous nature and the sharing nature of the Father in this regard?
God the Father does not say "Son and Spirit stand aside and I will do My work and you watch."
No but in fact He says to the Son "I want you to be honored in the work that I do and accomplish" this is what the Father has accomplished right?

READ Colossians 1:13
Col. 1:13 For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,
It is the Father who has transfered us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His beloved Son

So the Father does this through the Son and not apart from the Son
The Father generously not only makes a way for the Son to participate and carry out His work but His does so in a way in which the Son receives the glory and honor.
The Father says "Look at My Son, what a glorious Son He is!"
Love Him, follow Him, treasure Him, adore Him and worship Him
The Father chooses to implement His good and wise plan not apart from but through His Son
The Father shares with the Son the work that is His to accomplish and in doing so the Father honors the Son

A Trinitarian Examination

2009-09-09T12:44:54-04:00

Do you like to take tests? Well, here is one but don’t worry no grades are going to be given out.

Here are some questions to see how you are coming along in our study of the Trinity.

1. Can you give a brief or extended definition of the Trinity?

2. Why is it important to study the Trinity?

3. Is the Trinity essential to salvation? If so, then explain and support with Scripture.

4. What are the 4 main categories we are studying regarding the relationship that Jesus has with God the Father?

5. Explain as best you can the categories listed above and support with Bible verses.

6. Can you go through a review of the Trinity and our church history?

7. List for me some of the Triadic passages in the New Testament.

8. Is there a single verse that can support the doctrine of the Trinity? If so, then list it.

9. Does the orthodox church consider the doctrine of the Trinity to be an essential?

10. If we were to have a friendly competition with the church in America 100 years ago regarding the questions above who do you think would win?

11. When is the last time you studied the Trinity?

12. How would your saved family members do on this test regarding the Trinity?

13. Should I come over the with the chocolate chips and milk?

Homework and Preview for Sunday

2009-09-09T11:58:33-04:00

We are presently studying with the Trinity the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. There are four categories that I would encourage you to look at in the Scriptures.

The Father is supreme among the Persons of the Godhead
Jesus in under the authority or headship of the Father
The love relationship between Jesus and God the Father
God the Father sums all things up in Jesus the Son

So here are the homework notes and what I am planning to cover this coming Sunday. I said this past Sunday that one of the benefits of studying doctrine is being able to recognize it when you are having devotion time. Therefore as you go through and learn these categories, you also are going to find much practical application. However let me just say a quick word about Americans, church and application. We are far too quick to want to know how this applies and specifically applies to me. When you come to the doctrine of God first and foremost you are seeing Him as being maximized, that automatically means you become minimized. I think today we need more John 3:30 type of Christians, which says we need to decrease and He needs to increase. So with that being said move with me to category number three in our study of Jesus and His relationship with God the Father.

Don't forget...

2009-09-08T12:29:53-04:00

We’re Moving - This Sunday to the Uptown Auditorium

Click on this LINK

Jesus lived to please God, how about you?

2009-09-08T09:33:13-04:00

Last Sunday we studied about Jesus and His relationship with God the Father. In point #2 the emphasis was that Jesus is under the headship or authority of the Father.
Again read and think deeply on the following verses:
John 8:28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
John 8:29 “And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”

There is too much here for one blog article but a few points for our learning and living the God-centered life.

Look at these words from the Lord Jesus Himself:
1. Jesus does nothing on His own initiative...and yet would you agree with me that Jesus is God
2. Jesus speak only that which the Father teaches Him...and yet as God there is nothing that Jesus doesn't know right?
3. Jesus always does those things that please the Father...and yet in the Trinity there is an ongoing pleasing taking place between each of the Persons of the God-head

Here is my point, this verse is like a neon sign to show us that this is not Jesus as God though He is God in every way but rather to show us Jesus as man. The early church worked for the first 4 centuries to secure the doctrine that Jesus is God, remember the word "homousious" from our friend Athanasius. This is the word the early church stood on which said that Jesus is the same nature as the Father. However it seems that we have done much of our teaching on the deity of Jesus but we are not as adept when in comes to the humanity of Jesus. (Sidenote: that is why the gospels are so very critical for each of us to read through each and every year! Because it answers the question how can an unrighteous human being every stand before a glorious and holy God. We can see and come to understand that only are we able to do that in Christ because of the life we see Him live out before us in the gospels. And what kind of life was that? Jesus during His 33 years on planet earth perfectly fulfilled the law of God in every way and was without sin. The only way to understand this is read, read, read the gospel accounts which is the story of the life of Jesus. My old seminary professor said it this way "the gospels are passion narratives about Jesus on the way to the cross.") Is that the longest sidenote in history or what?

Review for September 6

2009-09-07T05:25:01-04:00

The apostle Paul writes to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 the following:
2Tim. 3:1 ¶ But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2Tim. 3:2 For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
2Tim. 3:3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
2Tim. 3:4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2Tim. 3:5 holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.

And he continues the admonishment in Chapter 4:
2Tim. 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,
2Tim. 4:4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

Therefore our class is about getting back to sound Biblical doctrine. And the plan is to do that one doctrine at a time. We are presently studying the doctrine of God and more specifically the Trinity. It bothers me when people think that doctrine is just about getting more information in our already overloaded brains. Folks, we are hardwired in such a way that we all behave consistently those things that we behold in our hearts and minds. Doctrine means what the Bible says about any particular subject. We are looking at six specific subjects that include:

The doctrine of God's word
The doctrine of God
The doctrine of man
The doctrine of Christ
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit
The doctrine of salvation

Also I have heard from opponents of in depth Bible doctrine study statements like "doctrine divides." And to that I say of course it does, doctrine divides the truth from error, the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and the light from the darkness. Instead of running from doctrine we need to run toward an understanding of it as we learn and live the God-centered life.

We are all getting back to our regular routines after the summer and now our fall launch begins. In these first two weeks I have tried to lay some ground work as to the mission and goal of our class for this year. Since we have new members this has been a good time for all of us to cover some familiar ground as it relates to our community. Allow me to keep before each of us the following challenge during the 2009-2010 time frame which I am calling "Finally This Year."

ATTENTION-ATTENTION "We're Moving"

2009-09-06T14:24:17-04:00

Our SS Community will begin meeting in the Uptown Auditorium next Sunday, September 13. The set up will allow us to have some tables for those who like to spread out and take notes. Thanks to Russ Rosser, and all of the staff who have worked so closely with us during this past year. It has been a real privilege and joy to teach God’s word in a community where there is such a desire to learn and live the God-centered life.

Quote for the day

2009-09-03T08:40:43-04:00

The gospel is not simply the story of “Christ, and Him crucified” it is also a story of my own crucifixion. For the Bible tells me that I , too, was crucified on Christ’s cross (Galatians 2:20).
My old self was slain there, and my love affair with the world was crucified there too. The cross is also the place where I crucify my flesh and all its sinful desires. Truly, Christ’s death and my death are so intertwined as to be inseparable.

God is committed to my dying every day, and He calls me to that same commitment. He insists that every hour be my dying hour, and He wants my death on the cross to be as central to my own life story as is Christ’s death to the gospel story. “Let this same attitude by in you,” He says, “which was also in Christ Jesus”...who became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”

Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching brutality can numb the senses. It is a gasping and bloody affair, and there is nothing nice, pretty, or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death.

Nevertheless, I must set my face like a flint toward the cross and embrace this crucifixion in everything that I do. I should expect every day to encounter circumstantial evidence of God’s commitment to my dying; and I must seize upon every God-given opportunity to be conformed more fully to Christ’s death, no matter the pain involved.

When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die. When called to do something I don’t want to do, I must die. When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die. When shattered by hardships that I despise, I must die. When I want to cling to wrongs done against me, I must die. When enticed by allurements of the world, I must die. When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die. When wants that are borderline needs are left unmet, I must die. When dreams that are good seem shoved aside, I must die.

“Not My will, but Yours be done,” Christ trustingly prayed on the eve of His crucifixion; and preaching His story to myself each day puts me in a frame of mind to trust God and embrace the cross of my own dying also. - Milton Vincent, “A Gospel Primer for Christians” pp. 41-43

Men's Bible study for the fall

2009-09-01T11:51:00-04:00

We will start our fall men’s Bible study on September 15 at 7:00 PM at the home of Pat and Kay Jones. As Pat mentioned on Sunday the study will be broken up into two 5 week formats with a two week break in between. Last year we studied the “importance” of the Bible and in this 10 week session we are going to learn “HOW” to study the Bible. As part of this study we will look at the various Bible translations and I will cover the best Bible study softwares that you can utilize. (Both free and one you may want to purchase)

September 15 - 7 PM

September 22 - 7 PM

September 29 - 7 PM

October 6 - 7 PM

October 13 - 7 PM

Break (two weeks)

November 3 - 7 PM

November 10 - 7 PM

November 17 - 7 PM

November 24 - 7 PM

December 1 - 7 PM

For directions to the home of Pat Jones simply click on this LINK

The Buzz

2009-08-31T17:49:45-04:00

Since my nickname is Pastor B. I thought it might be appropriate to call my podcasts “The Buzz.” Well, today I have a bone to pick with some in the evangelical church. It is in regard to what does the Bible mean. How are we supposed to understand the difference between meaning and interpretation? I give some insight into this problem in this short podcast.

To listen just click on this LINK.

Review for August 30

2009-08-31T09:46:14-04:00

Yesterday was an effort to launch us into year two in "learning and living the God-centered life." I wanted to cover some of the basics from our mission statement to the "Finally This Year" challenge. As all of you know that two primary launches for SS community are fall and first of the year. Therefore it takes a few weeks to settle in, assimilate those who are going to attend and participate and then get back to our curriculum.

In a couple of weeks I will be introducing the specifics of the Bible reading plan for this year. If you remember last year I presented those in our class with 10+ options and encouraged them to pick one. However this year I will select the plan, encourage us to start and finish together. During the year I will provide devotions to encourage those in our class as they come to and meditate on the Scriptures. I have seen this done before and is quite exciting when a group of people are all reading the same thing and the same time.

Also I will try and use all different types of media this year in order to appeal to the various learning styles within our class. There are those who are primarily visual and therefore videos and power point are helpful tools for them. We have those who learn more effectively with audio and so mp3's are available for them. Then we have those, even though they seem to be fewer and fewer over the years that prefer detailed reading.

In my devotion time this morning I was reading the following:
Deut. 11:18 ¶ “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
Deut. 11:19 “You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up.
Deut. 11:20 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates

This sounds a lot like Deuteronomy 6:4-9 doesn't it? Why do you think God found it necessary to repeat this to the people of Israel and why for us? Because God knows something about us that at times we don't even know about ourselves. And it is this..."we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our image of God." The problem today in the American church is that God is portrayed mainly as a God of love. We have rushed to the attributes of immanence even though I am convinced in reading of Scripture that we must first come to study God as transcendent. Check out Isaiah 57:15!

Even though God is love we must never collapse one attribute onto the top of all the other attributes. In our curriculum this year we will learn that God is self-sufficient, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable along with love, justice and mercy, grace just to name some of the attributes we will be studying. It has and continues to concern me that much in the evangelical church today rushes initially to the God of immanence to the point they never get to the God that is transcendent. Therefore by His grace, we will start with His transcendence and then move to His immanence. Remember the beginning of wisdom is fear of the LORD.

I will conclude this email with the words of John the Baptist (John 3:30) that I think are very applicable for all of us especially in these days "I must decrease and He must increase."

If you want to review the notes or listen to the audio from yesterday class simply click on this LINK. The title for yesterday’s class was “Introduction and Fall 2009 Launch.”

Indicatives vs. Imperatives

2009-08-31T09:35:37-04:00

Here is a short video on the indicative mood versus the imperative mood as it relates to a Greek verbs. Hey before you get intimidated and think this is too complicated, just take a few minutes to watch. This is a short breakdown as it relates to Romans 6:17-19. I think you will understand from this why we need to learn our Bible, in order to correctly do what the Bible teaches. And that is why we are called the “learning and living the God-centered life” community.
Are you having fun yet?

The Greek language is fascinating and so exact. In this brief audio Pastor Ken Jones gives a clear understanding between the INDICATIVE and IMPERATIVE moods with regard to Greek verbs. As we continue to “chase the Greek verbs” in the New Testament, these types of sound bites will add much to our study.

The INDICATIVE and the IMPERATIVE - Pastor Ken Jones

The Gospel is about God!

2009-08-28T08:35:15-04:00

Do you think that is obvious to most evangelical Christians today in the church? Well, let me assure you based on what I am hearing it is not! OK, now it’s time to call me old fashioned, narrow minded, rigid, caught up in his old ways - hey, I resemble that remark! So are you ready to be really offended? I don’t want to hear about your story primarily... instead I want to hear Christ’s story. Please LISTEN-LISTEN-LISTEN brothers and sisters, the gospel is not about YOU, the gospel is about CHRIST!

The gospel is good news because it is about Jesus Christ, God's Son who assumed our flesh, lived a perfect life in our place, under the law and fulfilled it perfectly, bore our debt because we had broken the law, and was raised on the third day for our justification. However, today it has become more popular to share our testimonies as to what Jesus has done for me especially as it relates to moral transformation. It seems we want to lead and have primary in our gospel conversations the experience or story of our lives. However your experience and my experience is subjective but the life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus isobjective.
I am saved by something external to me and something that is objective. I am not saved by my feelings nor even by my experiences. Do you see why it is so important to keep Jesus at the centerpiece of the gospel and not you??

Personal testimonies are important but only in the sense that they lead us to and point to Christ. Often times a personal testimony comes across as, I was a bum, cussing all the time and on drugs. But since I asked Jesus in my heart my life has turned around, I go to church, help old ladies across the street and sing in the choir. Do you see why non-believers and babes in Christ are more concerned about the gifts than the Giver? We are so interested in selling the benefits, such as escape from hell, no more guilt for sinful acts, eternal life, that we have forgotten to mention that the gospel is... you get God!

I am on a crusade to put God back where He belongs when it comes to the gospel and that is at the heart and center of it! The gospel is not about my story, it is about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which is an objective truth that is external to anything in me. Because of that objective truth then something subjective has happened which is manifested in my life as transformation into Christ-likeness.

But once again I start with Christ and what He has done that is the basis of the gospel and not with Bert and what he is or has experienced. We don’t want someone to believe or trust in an experience or a moral transformation in us. The difference is between the gospel of God and the gospel of self, let’s be careful what we share, and how we share it!

Here is a short audio clip from the National Christian Broadcasters convention and how many responded to the question which should take precedence the gospel of Christ or personal testimony. To listen just click on to this LINK.

Review and Homework for coming week

2009-08-24T20:20:04-04:00

This is a review of our class on August 16. The homework assignment for this week is to go through this video in preparation for our class this coming Sunday. You can click on this LINK or watch the video embedded below.

Quote for the day

2009-08-24T08:17:43-04:00

“On the cross the wrath and love of God are both vindicated, they are both demonstrated, they are both expressed completely, and they both shine out and are utterly fulfilled.”
- Dr. Tim Keller

A preview for this coming Sunday

2009-08-22T07:59:03-04:00

This coming Sunday we continue in our understanding of the Trinity and the relationship between Jesus and His Father. I also want to start with a brief introduction regarding the importance of knowing God by knowing His word. This will serve to help those that are new and coming to our class with the background they need to understand our curriculum. I want to thank Dr. Bruce Ware who is a friend and great scholar for his teaching in this area of doctrine. In this article I borrow liberally from some of his lecture notes.

There is a big difference between knowing about God and knowing God. One of my favorite illustrations regarding this subject is Tiger Woods. I have followed his golfing career almost since day one. I know that he has 70 PGA victories and is third on the all time list behind Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead. I also know that Tiger has won 14 majors, his caddie is Stevie Williams and his swing coach is Hank Haney. In other words I know many facts about Tiger Woods but I do not know him at all. I think there is a correlation between this illustration and many today in the evangelical church. They know facts about God that they have accumulated over the years but do they know the God of the Bible.

As you know our class is titled “learning and living the God-centered life.” And that infers that we want to come to a real and genuine understanding so that we can know the God of Scripture. So we might ask the following questions on this subject.
What is at stake in pursuing a knowledge of God?
Does it matter if we know God rightly?
Does it matter if we grow in the knowledge of God?
AW Tozer who wrote Knowledge of the Holy said “The thoughts that we think about God are the most important thoughts that we will ever have. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.”
In other words, God has so made us that we instinctively and naturally seek to become like that which we esteem most highly.

Do you remember the key verse that Dr. Poplin preached on Sunday a week ago?
Deut. 6:4 ¶ “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
Deut. 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

So when you come to these verses what do you think? Of course we are to love God this way because He deserves that kind of love and also because He commands it However there is another reason and here it is, we become like what we love We are hardwired to take on the characteristics of what we adore. Again in the paraphrased words of A.W. Tozer “God has so made us in such a way that we instinctively and naturally seek to become like that which we esteem most highly.”

Quote for the day

2009-08-21T08:22:03-04:00

“The point I am making is quite offensive to us today. It is that God hides himself from us that he cannot be had on our terms, and that he cannot be accessed from “below” through natural revelation. In the malls, and in much of life, we encounter nothing like this. We expect access. We expect to be able to get what we want, when we want it, and on our terms.

Here this is not the case. Here we have to be admitted to God’s presence, on his terms, in his way … or not at all. We cannot simply walk into his presence. Here nature does not itself yield grace. God’s grace comes from the outside, not the inside, from above and not from within. It is not natural to fallen human life. We enter the presence of God as those who have been estranged, not as those who have been in continuity with the sacred simply because we are human. We are brought into a saving relationship through Christ; we do not put this together from within ourselves.”

—David F. Wells, The Courage to be Protestant (Grand Rapids, Mi.: Eerdmans, 2008), 190

The theology of "I, ME and MY"

2009-08-19T12:50:43-04:00

ATTENTION - HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR THIS WEEK
We live in a day and time of consumer mentality. This means I want what I want, where I want it, and how I want it. Unfortunately we see a dangerous trend that has taken us in the church away from a God-centered theology that has moved to a man-centered theology. This basically says “find out what the people want and need and give it to them.”

For those in our class participating in homework, here is your homework assignment for the week. Listen to the following interview, and see if you can bring Scriptural support to the truth in the dangers of narcissism referred to in this interview and that we see today in our culture.

The Narcissism Epidemic
Is Narcissism on the rise? And if so, has it affected American Christianity? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton talks with Dr. Jean Twenge, author of Generation Me, and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement.

This interview is very eye opening when it comes to the “WHY” there is such an emphasis today in pleasing ourselves instead of pleasing God!

Approximate length is about 35 minutes, so grab a favorite beverage, get your Bible, notebook and pen and prepare to better understand what and why this is such a dangerous epidemic in culture and the church.

Just click on this LINK

Psalm 119 a devotion on display

2009-08-17T11:59:49-04:00

There have been a number of visitors in our class during the summer months. So I thought it might be helpful to include a short podcast that gives a brief description of our class and then a devotion in Psalm 119. Hopefully this year these type of podcasts can become a regular part of our growing deeper in God’s word.

As I discussed yesterday at our leadership planning session many of our audio and videos will be in a LINK format. For example as in this podcast for today which I am calling Psalm 119 “devotion on display. Just click on this LINK.

Hope you enjoy!

Review for August 16

2009-08-17T08:15:38-04:00

Yesterday started out a bit academic as I read the extended definition for the Trinity. This is the kind of definition that takes time to work through and you must put on the thinking cap for this one. But there is rich truth in our understanding the God who is triune, and the God that we worship and desire to know even better.

Again I am including this definition for your reading and meditation as we continue in looking at the relationship between Jesus and God the Father.

The Trinity - extended definition

The Christian faith affirms that there is one and only one true God eternally existing while fully and simultaneously expressed in three persons the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

Each member of the Godhead is equally God and each is eternally God and each is fully God, not three gods but three persons of the one God head.

Each person is equal in essence as each possesses fully the identically same and eternal divine nature yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of that one undivided divine nature.

Because the Father, Son and Holy Spirit each possesses fully the identically same divine nature, therefore what distinguishes the Persons of the Godhead from each other is not and can not be the divine nature of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

This the one undivided and divine nature is possessed equally, eternally, simultaneously and fully by each of the three Persons of the Godhead.
Therefore what distinguishes each person of the Godhead from the other persons is His particular role, in relation to the other persons and the relationships that each has with each of the other persons.

In light of both the equality of essence and differentiation in role and responsibility it behooves us then to look carefully at each member of the Trinity in relation to the other as this effects the relationship of each member of the Trinity to us.

Due to technical difficulties there is no audio available for yesterday’s lesson but the notes are provided for you at this LINK. Also you can go to Sermon.net and look for the August 16 date which is titled “The Trinity an extended definition.”

Quote for the day

2009-08-13T08:53:52-04:00

“Let us be very careful that we never exalt any minister, or sermon, or book, or tract, or friend above the Word. Cursed be that book, or tract, or human counsel, which creeps in between us and the Bible, and hides the Bible from our eyes!”

~ J.C. Ryle

Practical Religion, p. 137

Devotion time in 2 Chronicles 14

2009-08-13T07:49:39-04:00

In my morning devotion I read the prayer of King Asa in 2 Chronicles 14. As I read my thoughts turned to our class and the upcoming year. Let me give some context in order to explain. In this particular section of Scripture we read that King Asa had approximately 500,000 courageous warriors but came up against an army of 1,000,000. I want you to read the prayer of King Asa to this situation in his life that seemed impossible.

2 Chronicles 14:11-13
11 Then Asa cried out to the Lord his God, “O Lord, no one but you can help the powerless against the mighty! Help us, O Lord our God, for we trust in you alone. It is in your name that we have come against this vast horde. O Lord, you are our God; do not let mere men prevail against you!”
12 So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians[a] in the presence of Asa and the army of Judah, and the enemy fled. 13 Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar, and so many Ethiopians fell that they were unable to rally. They were destroyed by the Lord and his army, and the army of Judah carried off a vast amount of plunder.

So what is the lesson for us as a community this year? What is the lesson for us individually as we live our lives out before the Lord?

God often puts us in situations that seem impossible. He places us exactly in life where there is no way that our human effort can bring a victory. Are some of you reading this in one of those life situations right now? So let's take God's word and learn from what He has written in order that we may live it in a way that glorifies Him!

Observation #1
King Asa recognizes that he is helpless and powerless against an army twice his size. Can we admit before the Lord that we are powerless to solve this particular life situation? Are we able to swallow our pride and totally fall before Him in a state of helplessness?

Observation #2
King Asa displays genuine faith in that he is depending and relying only on the Lord. He didn't order the latest book on how defeat a larger enemy, he didn't place a call to other kings in the area that could befriend him, he trusted in the Lord.

Observation #3
King Asa doesn't pray that this larger army has come against his own army, but he prays that they have come against the Lord Himself. It shows me that King Asa is absolutely God-centered in his thinking and praying. And he concludes by saying "do not let mere men prevail against you."

How many of us handle our day to day lives with this kind of prayer?
#1 - Lord there is no way that I can do it!
#2 - Lord help me, help me, help me to trust you, to rely on you and to depend only on you!
#3 - Lord would you show yourself powerful and your name as great in this particular situation.

And how does the Lord respond to this prayer of King Asa?
It specifically tells us that the Lord defeated the Ethiopians!

It reminds me of what we need to hear often "the eyes of the Lord look to and fro throughout the earth to strongly support those whose hearts are completely His." (2 Chronicles 16:9)

What are the Ethiopians in your life?
How are you praying?

Blessings,

Why don't people read the Bible

2009-08-12T13:13:59-04:00

The Trinity an extended definition

2009-08-11T08:25:08-04:00

The plan this Sunday is to start with the following extended definition for the Trinity. Here is your homework assignment...should you decide to accept it.

Go through this video at least three times and write out the things that standout or the the Lord is impressing upon your heart in relationship to the study of the Trinity.

Remember the purpose of the Bible reading, devotion and study is to glorify God!

Review for August 9

2009-08-09T21:53:42-04:00

We are back to our teaching on the “Doctrine of God.” This morning the focus was to look at the Trinity and why it is essential to our salvation.

If you want to review the audio or notes from our class today then click on this LINK. It will be titled under “The Trinity is essential for salvation.”

Next week we will cover the extended definition for the Trinity and then look specifically at the four main areas in the relationship between Jesus and God the Father.

Women's Social

2009-08-08T18:57:06-04:00

This photo and note from Christa Moose who has been busy organizing activities for our community this summer.

Our ladies in SS met this morning for brunch and a time of sharing testimonies. It was a very powerful time. About 10 ladies attended.

Quote for the day

2009-08-08T08:05:31-04:00

Cheap grace is the enemy of the church. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth . . . an intellectual assent to that idea is held to be sufficient to secure remission of sins. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without repentance. . . grace without discipleship, grace without a cross . . . Costly grace is the gospel [of the church] . . . It is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son . . . it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God . . . When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (New York, NY: MacMillan, 1959), 45-48.

Postmodern Twister

2009-08-07T18:24:55-04:00

The Trinity is essential to salvation

2009-08-07T17:13:01-04:00

Great White Shark and the Glory of God

2009-08-06T07:12:52-04:00

Nancy and I have been watching “Shark Week” on the Discovery Channel. And during one of the commercial breaks I thought why do we love to watch a program about the great white shark. This fish can attain to lengths over 20 feet and can weigh up to 5000 pounds. Last night we watched a segment in which one great white shark at over 20% of its body weight in blue fin tuna. They just kept throwing these large tunas over the boat and the shark was a perpetual eating machine. It seems each year I am captivated by another version of “Shark Week.”

Why do we sit memorized by a great white shark leaping 15 feet out of the water with the prey in its mouth? It is because we are all hard wired to get near bigness, power and magnificence! After the show was over I noticed that my thoughts had not been on myself at all. There was no attention regarding my self image in any way. When we see great power displayed, like the force of a great white going through the water we are amazed.

Learning and Living Community this is a pointer for us to the supremacy and greatness of our God. He made the great white shark so that as we observe its power it can remind us of God’s power and awesomeness! Think of the things in your life that you have experienced that take your mind completely off of yourself and place it on the object you are enjoying.

For example:
Have you ever seen a sunset over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean when the sunlight streams through the clouds to bring out shades of red, yellow and violet?
Have you ever been to a movie that kept you captivated for two hours?
Have you ever been a the top of a 10,000 foot mountain and seen a pan aroma of the city below?
Have you ever been to the Indianapolis 500 or the Coca Cola 600 and heard the sound and seen the speed of those race cars?
Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?
Have you ever seen Michael Jordan play basketball or Tiger Woods play golf?
Have you ever heard Pavarotti sing Nessun Dorma?
Have you ever watched the "Blue Angels" do an air show?

Did you notice that during that time you we focused on the object of your enjoyment and not at all on yourself. When you see excellence, power and greatness demonstrated you are entirely captivated because this is how you were wired and what you were wired for.

We are spring loaded to see, proclaim and enjoy the greatness of God! The Bible reminds us almost at every turn that He is worthy of all praise and exaltation. When we are having the very thoughts of God revealed to us by His Spirit in the Bible, we sit completed amazed and awed by His truth.

So the next time you are being enthralled by the power of a great white shark just know that is but a shadow of the power of the God that we worship and adore.

The truth of Scripture

2009-08-05T08:08:48-04:00

In my devotion time this week I read the following section of Scripture. Before you read it would you take some time to prepare your heart before the Lord. And now your assignment, interpret this passage from the standpoint of "what did the author intend for us to understand when he wrote it."

Revelation 20:11-15
Rev. 20:11 ¶ Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
Rev. 20:12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev. 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.
Rev. 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Rev. 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

One day all people will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ to receive either a judgment of hell or a reward of heaven. When it comes to the gospel of Christ there will be no fence sitters.
For those of you in our "Learning and Living the God-centered LIfe" community I want you to hear me clearly "correct Bible doctrine saves no one." The only one capable of saving you is Jesus Christ Himself. I am asking you this question "Do you know about Jesus or do you know Jesus?" John 17:3 - This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom "You have sent."

Here is the best Bible doctrine I can teach you. Cast yourself upon the mercy and grace of Christ at the cross. Pray, seek and be desperate as you call on Christ as the only One who can save you from sin, death and hell. Confess whole heartedly your sins, agree with God that they have been and are offensive to a holy God. And then receive Christ as Lord and Savior! Now read John 1:12 - But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

A prayer of praise!

2009-08-03T12:51:39-04:00

In my devotion time this morning I was struck by this prayer of praise from king David at the end of his life. There is wonderful doctrine in this prayer that leads to faithful living before our great God!

1 Chronicles 29:10-22
“O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things.
Community members, may we as the people of God recognize that He and He alone is sovereign over all things and in knowing this wonderful truth let us bring praise and honor to His name!

12 Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.
Community members, anything that we have it comes directly from God. We can not boast, for it comes via His grace. Again God is sovereign over all wealth, all honor and all of life. There is such rich and wonderful theology in this prayer of praise!

13 “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! 14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! 15 We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

Community members, again and I point this out as to the purpose for the whole Bible. The purpose is that God's name would be demonstrated as great. The purpose is that God would be seen as supreme and glorious! And read how King David prays at the end of his life before the people in terms of his relationship with God. Next notice how king David compares himself. There is no comparison for everything that king David has accomplished has been as the result of God working in and through his life. And then look at his theology on the time we spend here on planet earth. Oh dear brothers and sisters, we have so little time, our days here are like a passing shadow!

Review for August 2

2009-08-02T14:08:29-04:00

This morning I provided a quick review of the three areas of focus that continue to be a vital part of our class. They are as follows:
Bible reading
Bible devotions
Bible study

And today I gave an extended teaching that came from a devotion time that I had several weeks ago in Luke 9:23. I had planned to launch back into the doctrine of God in our teaching of the Trinity. But as the week continued I sensed the Lord revealing through His word a need to continue in the costs of becoming a Christian. We looked at a number of different Scriptures from Luke 9:23, to Matthew 10:32-36, along with Luke 14:33 and the other verses that you will find in the notes from today’s class at the link below.

Simply click on this LINK (notes) and you can go this LINK for the audio for today’s class along with the notes.

We talked a lot about the treasuring, delighting and being passionate for Christ. Wasn’t that the point of the parable of the hidden treasure (Matthew 13:44) and the parable of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46)? So here is one of the questions to consider as we come from our teaching this past Sunday - Do you have a passion for God?

Trip to Billy Graham Library

2009-07-29T12:47:02-04:00

This summer has been full of activity for our class thanks to the planning and leadership efforts of Christa Moose. She would not want me to thank her publicly but please allow me to do just that...THANK YOU CHRISTA!!!

Last week some in our class took a trip to the Billy Graham Library. If you want to see some more of the photos simply click on this LINK.

Review and Return to the Trinity

2009-07-29T07:26:08-04:00

This Sunday we are back to the "Doctrine of God" as we continue to understand six essential doctrines of our Christian faith. And specifically I will give a short review on the Trinity to date. After that we will look at the relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Before I go further allow me to ask you the following question. Let's say you were at Starbucks meeting with a Christian friend and the subject of the Trinity came up. Your friend looks at you and says "why is the Trinity an essential when it comes to our salvation?" How would you answer that question?

First we need to understand that should we want atonement for sin then we must have the Trinity. Well, because you have to have One that is paying the penalty for our sins who is both God and man. In more technical theological terms this is called the hypo-static union or the two natures of Christ which is God and man. Man as the one who substitutes for us, so it has to be one of us in order to take our place in His death on the cross but if just one of us that will not accomplish the atonement.

A friend of my was discussing the Bible with his 15 year old daughter one night when she asked “how come God sent His Son to pay for sins, in other words after Adam committed sin why didn’t God just make another man who would be perfect and not sin and would not that have done it? Just as a side note how would you have answered that question?

And the answer to that question is not that would not do it. Because if you pay for your own sin then how long will you have to pay for it? Answer-eternally! This is why hell never ends, because the payment never ends. The reason is because your sin has infinitely offended an infinite and holy God. So if another human being took your sin and paid it on your behalf, then how long would he or she have to pay? Answer -eternally!
So at what point and time would you ever be delivered to the point that God could finally look on you and say JUSTIFIED, RIGHTEOUS IN MY SIGHT.
So you would be in a holding zone so to speak and waiting forever for your sin to be paid for. Therefore it must be Jesus the God-man.

The main problem...

2009-07-28T08:28:23-04:00

Tim Keller writes an excellent article on the “Centrality of the Gospel.” This was really the theme of our retreat back in May, and I want you to know that we never get away from our need for the gospel each day.

Review for July 26

2009-07-25T16:00:32-04:00

This morning was the third in a series titled “Back to the Bible a Summer Exhortation.” Over the years I have noticed that when summer comes into full swing, people travel and Bible study fades into the background. Well I want to encourage us as a community to keep the main thing the main thing in our lives. Therefore please know my admonition is this short series is for us to keep our eye on Christ through His word.

Howard Hendricks, who taught at Dallas Theological for many years lists the following as to why people don’t read and study the Bible.
1. The Bible was written so long ago that it doesn't seem relevant to me.
2. The Bible is so hard to understand.
3. I usually end up just feeling guilty when I read the Bible.
4. I am the type of person who relies on the pastor, elder or Sunday School teacher to explain the Bible to me.
5. I have some real doubts about the reliability of the Bible because it's full of contradictions, at least that's what I heard.
6. The Bible seems boring to me.
7. I have a time consuming job, family and lifestyle and honestly just don't have time for the Bible.
8. I have other things that if I am going to read I prefer instead of the Bible.

But as I said this morning Vance Havner the fiery prophet and evangelist once said that an excuse is the skin of a lie stuffed with a reason.

So far in this 3 part series I have covered the following as it relates to getting back to the Bible:
1. Mission
2. Challenge

3. Authority
4. Importance

5. Accomplishment or Achievement

And this morning we focused on number 5, the accomplishment or achievements of God’s word. In particular we looked closely at how the word gives us a litmus test as to our own salvation. May I ask you what could be more relevant than that question? It is not is there an eternity, but rather where are you going to spend eternity? The Bible is very bottom line and the answer is either in heaven or in hell.

In order to hear the audio for today’s lesson and get the notes simply click on this LINK. If you want to refer to this at a later date you can look up by July 26 date or the title “a litmus test for salvation.”

I have missed being with you and good to be back into the normal swing of things, so to speak. Really am looking forward to this fall and our being absorbed together in the “Doctrine of God.” Thanks again to Andy Collins, Pastor Russ, Rodney Young and Jeff Gaskins for teaching while I have been away.

If you should have trouble playing the audio from the Sermon.net then you can play it directly from here.

Coming in August

2009-07-24T12:14:40-04:00

In August we will be back into our study of the Trinity. We will start with a review of the definition and then look at the relationship between Jesus and His Father.

That's Entertainment

2009-07-23T13:37:41-04:00

Thousands showed up this past Sunday at some church locations to be entertained not unlike at the Barnum and Bailey Circus. The people commented upon leaving how grateful they were to be entertained and made to feel good. Another person when questioned said yeah "we don't want to think about eternity and things like heaven or hell until we get there." And a young man was quoted as saying the only difference between the circus and his church was that the pastor at his church was much funnier and overall a better comedian.

In this short audio clip Professor Michael Horton gives a brief history of how we came to these days of much church entertainment.

Simply click on this LINK.

Rightly handling the Bible

2009-07-23T10:25:31-04:00

Over the years I have had the privilege of writing and evangelical blogs. There are many solid, orthodox and God-honoring blog writers, and I came across one today from a guy named Puritan Lad. After reading and because of our class, subject, and the focus of our study I decided to copy and post. Hope you enjoy!

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15)

What sort of book is the Bible? The answer to that question has great ramifications in how it is preached. Too often, the Bible is misused even by those who believe it's truths, but miss the ultimate story.

First, there are the therapeutics, who treat the Bible as a therapy manual. They are convinced that, whatever problem they may face, there is a specific answer to that problem if they can just find the right passage. If you are lonely, hurt, or depressed, the correct verse will fix your problem and help you "fulfill your purpose".

There are the enchanters, who use the Bible as a magic spell to encounter whatever issues they face. Just observe the popularity that surrounded the mysticism of the "Jabez Prayer" chants and the "Meal that Heals" potions from a few years ago.

Then there are the pragmatics. For these, the Bible is a how-to manual. They believe that. if you want to make more money, become more healthy, find the right diet, improve your relationships, or have better sex, there is a specific Scripture passage for each of these areas. (Note for modern evangelicals: The Bible does NOT teach us "how to have great sex").

Along these same lines are the legalists and the moralists, who hold that the Bible teaches us ways to please God by our works. Just "do good", and if you struggle, it is the job of the church to help you do better, usually resorting to pop-psychology and behavioral modification techniques.

However, while there are certainly practical teachings and wisdom that we can (and should) apply to our lives, the Bible is not a magic book, a therapy manual, a how-to instuction guide, or a book on ethics. The Bible, from beginning to end, is a story of redemption. It is how a Just and Holy God took His wrath, which was deserved to be poured out upon wicked and abominable men clothed in sin and deformity, and instead poured it upon His only Son. It is about God's love, not man's importance; God's grace, not man's worthiness. The Bible's main character is Christ, not the idols of "Me" and "purpose".

Let us not only live as those who believe the Word, but as workers who have "no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15).

Coming Home

2009-07-22T07:49:41-04:00

Nancy and I plan to be back, Lord willing, this Sunday. First of all I want to thank Andy Collins, Pastor Russ Rosser, Rodney Young and Jeff Gaskins for their excellent teaching while I have been away. This has been a time of study, planning and getting organized for the 2009 and 2010 year. My burden and ministry call it seems from day one has been to exhort people back into the word of God so the word of God can get back into them. In Southeast Charlotte the biggest ministry dilemma I have faced over the past 11 years has been an overall apathy and ignorance regarding God's word. Jesus says in John 8:32 "and you will know the truth (learn), and the truth will make you free (live). In that one verse you can see the very title of our class "learning and living the God-centered life." Because what is the ultimate truth if not Jesus Christ and how has God ordained that we might know Him through His word. Allow me to point you to John 1:14 - And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. We as Christians see the glory of God as the Holy Spirit reveals to us the Lord Jesus through the word. Therefore our class is Bible centered or God-centered so that ultimately as we behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, we will behave in a like manner.

When we return, the challenge that I am going to present before our community is going to be "FINALLY THIS YEAR." And my goal is to encourage each of you, to fill in the blank as it relates to your life and the glory of God. This challenge is primarily directed toward the goal of our class, which is to learn and live out God-centered lives. So in this email may I ask each of you to be praying consistently about your personal reading, devotion and study of God's word.

This is NOT the year for you to put it on a "to-do" list, and pull yourself up by the boot straps, and get it done yourself! No, No, No, but rather this is a year for humble submission before the Father as a living sacrifice, and ask if He would be pleased to extend a measure of faith, so that you might have a passionate desire for His word. This is a year of diligent seeking, again through prayer, that by grace the Spirit would reveal, teach and disclose your known and tolerated sin and that you would hate it! May you hate it and see how utterly sinful it is so that you will REPENT and BELIEVE! And may this be the year that God reveal to in its full intensity the grace of the cross, in which Jesus Christ absorbed the wrath of God for you. All your sin - past, present and future was placed on Him and now your sins have been paid for in FULL and in the courtroom of heaven God has declared you for an eternity to be "NOT GUILTY." Hear these words from Romans 8:1 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And in this amazing grace Christ has reckoned, credited or the Bible says imputed to your account His righteousness so that you today are as righteous as Christ Himself! "FINALLY THIS YEAR" would you preach the gospel to yourself multiple times a day since the Scripture teaches us that in the gospel resides the "POWER OF GOD" for each person who continues believing. (Romans 1:16)

Our study in the doctrine of God will get back in full swing in the month of August. The curriculum for this class in what remains to be taught and studied is as follows:

Being Saved...

2009-07-17T08:51:04-04:00

In my morning devotion I meditated on Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
Awhile later I picked up this audio clip by Dr. John MacArthur who taught on this very passage.

This audio clip begins with Dr. MacArthur reading a quote from Dr. Robert Schuller “once a person believes he is an unworthy sinner, it is doubtful if he can honestly receive the saving grace God offers in Christ.”

So the question that is important to ask is what does the gospel look like in the life of a Christian. I think Luke 9:23 is clear especially when we see the word “follow” from Jesus in the present tense and imperative, which is the mood of command.

Here is a short segment of the audio from Dr. MacArthur that I think will help give us a good picture as to what it means when it comes to genuine salvation.

Click here to play

Overview and Outline

2009-07-16T13:11:38-04:00

Sometimes it is helpful to study like a helicopter flies over a city. You need to be able to get a good overview before you land and start walking through the streets and the neighborhoods. In this blog article I want to give you several snapshots. These snapshots will relate to our teaching on the relationship between Jesus and His Father. I

If you remember based on previous notes that we are going to be looking at 4 essential truths.

Truth #1 - The Father is supreme among Persons of the Godhead. In order to see the outline for this teaching simply click on this LINK.

Truth #2 - Jesus is under the headship or authority of the Father. Click on this LINK.

Truth #3 - The love relationship between the Father and the Son. Click on this LINK.

Truth #4 - The Father’s purpose that all things be summed up in the Son. Click on this LINK.

I scream, you scream...

2009-07-14T10:51:56-04:00

And to complete the phrase “we all scream for ice cream.” Well, that is exactly what happened on Sunday night with our Learning and Living community. Thanks to Christa Moose once again for her wonderful organizational skills and to the Staff’s who graciously open their home for an ice cream social.

Christa sent some photos of the group, so when you get a chance click on this LINK and check them out!
You will need Quicktime in order to download slideshow movie. If you don’t have Quicktime then go to this LINK. But if you don’t have Quicktime and don’t feel comfortable with downloading and installing, then no problem simply go to this LINK.

Jesus and the Spirit-Application

2009-07-13T10:14:48-04:00

This is the last part of the teaching on Jesus and the Spirit in regard to the Trinity. Here we focus on the application.

Devotion time in Job Chapter 42

2009-07-13T09:57:16-04:00

This morning I was having part of my devotion time in Job Chapter 42. Now after 41 chapters of his pain and suffering, the chiding of his own wife, the bad theology given to him by his friends, Job comes to this conclusion. Check out and let it hit you with its full intensity this revelation that Job speaks to God, "I know that You can do all things and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted."

Just take a minute to think about that statement, again in the context of Job's life that we see here in the book of Job.
1. All his wealth has been taken away
2. All his children have been killed
3. His health has been destroyed to the point that Job wants to die
4. His friends have counseled him with bad theology

Conclusion:
Job replies in the following way: Behold I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.
And then we read - "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things to wonderful for me to know..." Therefore I retract and repent in dust and ashes."

Now Job sees with spiritual eyes that this God of the universe is sovereign over all things. And He can do whatever He pleases in the counsel of His will. No man has the right to ask God to give an account of anything but it is God who will ask every man to give an account of their life.

Application for me this morning:
Submit, yield and humble myself under the sovereign hand of my God who is just, righteous, wise and merciful and can do whatever He wants and nothing on heaven or earth can stop it. There are things in my life, the church and the world that I simply can't grasp nor understand. It is not for me to fuss with God, complain or challenge, but rather to shut my mouth and repent. He is God and I am to know that the beginning of all wisdom is a fear of the LORD.

humbled by His grace,

Clarifying the Bible

2009-07-12T14:41:46-04:00

Mitch Maher (Lead Pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Jonesboro, AR) has a new website featuring an important resource I would warmly recommend. Here's the description:

You have probably been told at some point in your life, “You just need to read the Bible,” or “You just need to study the Scriptures.” But, if you are like most people, nobody has ever taken you by the hand and said, “Before you jump into the Bible, let me introduce you to it first. Let me walk you through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, show you the lay of the land, and give you a bit of confidence as you read and study for yourself.” That is just what Clarifying The Bible does.

Born from the passion of those who heard this material taught in Memphis, TN, Clarifying The Bible is a helpful workbook and one hour forty-five minute DVD presentation that promises to open your eyes to the Scriptures as never before.

If you would like to feel more comfortable as you dive into the greatest Book ever written, then Clarifying The Bible is for you!
The teaching material is clear and helpful; I hope many churches and small groups go through this. It should prove to be a helpful tool to help everyday folks "put the pieces together."

In this short segment I have included part of the video in which Mitch gives an overview from Matthew to John.
Again this is an excellent series for those who want to get a good basic overview of the Bible.

To see a short excerpt from this video series check out the teaching on Matthew-John - LINK.

And also Mitch’s brief summary of Acts - LINK

Jesus and the Spirit (part 2 and 3)

2009-07-12T12:00:11-04:00

In August we will come back to finish up on the teaching of the Trinity. We will be looking at the relationship between Jesus and God the Father along with Jesus and the Spirit. These notes represent the second and third part of the teaching in regard to Jesus and the Spirit.

Sin and the glory of God

2009-07-11T08:48:57-04:00

In phrase 3 of our Bible doctrine curriculum we will cover the doctrine of man which will focus on his sinfulness. As we have already seen in our study of the Trinity our church fathers took a very strong stand on these critical doctrines. The same is true when it comes to what the Bible says about sin. Often times we hear a word so often that it tends to become common place. I think we as Christians need to have a good definition of sin that can constantly be recalled in our minds.

In this short audio clip Dr. John Piper gives an excellent definition as it relates to the glory of God. Simply click on this LINK.

Jesus and the Spirit

2009-07-09T12:08:52-04:00

One of the benefits of being away for a few weeks is not only do I finally catch up but even a little ahead of the game so to speak. Here is the teaching regarding the Trinity and specifically the relationship between Jesus and the Spirit. This will come after we cover the relationship between Jesus and the Father. Hopefully we will get to this in the last week of August. But I am posting this now so that you can preview the Scriptures and what is coming regarding this subject. Again the teaching schedule will be as follows:
July 12 - Rodney Young
July 19 - Jeff Gaskins
July 26 - Bert Brimberry - part 3 of “Back to the Bible”
Month of August - Bert Brimberry - The Trinity
Review of the Trinity
Jesus and the Father
Jesus and the Spirit

Below is the first section of teaching on Jesus and the Spirit. This theme involves how the Lord Jesus lived His life on planet earth in the power of the Spirit.
Again my thanks to Dr. Bruce Ware in his book and lectures on this subject.

Quote for the day

2009-07-09T08:01:21-04:00

A. W. Tozer once wrote, ‘We of the nervous West are victims of the philosophy of activism… if we are not making plans or working to carry out plans already made we feel that we are failures, that we are sterile, unfruitful, eunuchs, parasites on the body of society. The gospel of work has crowded out the gospel of Christ in many Christian churches... (but) the centre of attraction in a true church is the Lord Jesus Christ.’

Question for us to think about in the American church:
Is it possible to be more devoted to the work of God than to the God for whom we are
working?

Review of July 5

2009-07-07T08:08:54-04:00

We are taking a short break from our teaching in the Trinity in lieu of a short 3 week series on “Back to the Bible.” Since summer time is very transitional as people continue to travel I have opted to continue our “Doctrine of God” in August when most will be back. I encourage all in our community to review these notes on “Back to the Bible” as you progress through the summer months.

Back to the Bible

View more documents from BertBrim.

The teaching audio is located at Sermon.net and it titled and dated July 5, 2009. Keep in mind that you can download and also burn any of these teaching classes to a CD. Also I am including the notes on this audio site for your convenience. When we make the switchover to new website then all notes will be located on the Sermon.net site along with all the audio teaching. This will make it very easy for you to review either the audio or notes or both as time allows.

The Challenge

2009-06-30T21:11:12-04:00

Here is the second video that summarizes the mission statement in our class. This covers the challenge for the coming year. Hopefully this will be a useful tool as you we all seek to learn and live the God-centered life.

Click on this LINK.

The Mission

2009-06-29T12:40:46-04:00

Here is a video that summarizes the mission statement in our class. The goal this week is to provide each day a brief overview of the five points that I covered this past Sunday. Hopefully this will be a useful tool as you we all seek to learn and live the God-centered life.

Pat knows Red Fish

2009-06-25T09:37:21-04:00

Somebody may be asking is Pat Jones really an outdoor kind of guy? He can make “turkey calls” in SS class but does he know how to bring home the bacon so to speak. Well for the second year in a row (a picture is worth a thousand words), I have documented Pat hammering the red fish in Charleston. It’s just a fact when Pat shows up the fish start to tremble.

So without further ado I bring you the Roland Martin of the inter-coastal... (if you happen to hear a comment about lunch at the Palm, that was a side agreement regarding lunch for most fish caught and put in the boat.)

Power of the Parables

2009-06-22T12:15:44-04:00

My devotion in the past week had me in Mark 4. As you may remember we spent much time in the early stages of our class talking about the importance of the heart. And one of the main section that I taught on was the "Parable of the Sower" that is located in Mark 4. This is called the parable of all parables and the Lord Jesus told His disciples, if you don't understand this parable you will not understand any of the parables. The main point of the parable of the sower was "the success of the seed is in direct proportion to the condition of the soil." And we can learn that the elements within the parable had to be explained by Jesus to His disciples.

So when you read Mark 4:21-23 how are you going to handle or interpret this parable? May I suggest that first you read it and try to come up with a main point. It can sometimes help to just try and retell the parable out loud to someone else to see if you understand the basic story. Let's do so for this parable in the following way (go back to the first century with me). A woman who is a widow comes home at night after a full day of work to a one room home, with possibly just one window and not much else. Since oil is expensive and she is quite poor there is only one lamp for her to light as she comes into the home that night. As she enters and finds the lamp she must decide where to place it.

Check out the choices:
1. How about under a basket? Well that doesn't make sense because if the light stays under the basket she will not be able to negotiate around the home.
2. How about under the bed? Well that presents the same problem as with the basket and limiting the light that she needs in her home
3. How about on a lamp stand? Well that makes the most sense because as the light is on the lampstand it will allow her to most effectively see and walk in her home

Jesus and the Father

2009-06-19T11:08:27-04:00

In our next teaching session on the Trinity we will be specifically be examining the relationship between Jesus and the Father. As we have talked about briefly but will see now in more detail is the ranking of these members of the Trinity. Here is a brief outline of what we will cover together on this subject. And later today I will post the notes in detail for you to study as time allows. Keep running the race, fighting the good fight, and keeping the faith!

OVERVIEW

STUDY NOTES

A Blast from the Past

2009-06-17T09:07:32-04:00

Keep in mind that we are learning and living, as we build one doctrine upon the other, walking together through the Scripture. As we move forward I will strive to be diligent in not letting us wander from the truth we have already learned. Here is an important article from Dr. MacArthur on the meaning of Scripture and the importance of doctrine. During the first 10 months of our class we focused mainly upon the word of God and these we two critical components that we studied. I hope you enjoy!

What Does This Verse Mean "to Me"?

That's a fashionable concern, judging from the trends in devotional booklets, home Bible study discussions, Sunday-school literature, and most popular preaching.

The question of what Scripture means has taken a back seat to the issue of what it means "to me."

The difference may seem insignificant at first. Nevertheless, our obsession with the Scripture's applicability reflects a fundamental weakness. We have adopted practicality as the ultimate judge of the worth of God's Word. We bury ourselves in passages that overtly relate to daily living, and ignore those that don't.

Early in my ministry, I made a conscious commitment to biblical preaching. My first priority has always been to answer the question, "What does this passage mean?" After I've explained as clearly and accurately as possible the meaning of God's Word, then I exhort people to obey and apply it to their own lives.

The Bible speaks for itself to the human heart; it is not my role as a preacher to try to tailor the message. That's why I preach my way through entire books of the Bible, dealing carefully with each verse and phrase-even though that occasionally means spending time in passages that don't readily lend themselves to anecdotal or motivational messages.

I am grateful to the Lord for the way He has used this expository approach in our church and in the lives of our radio listeners.

But now and then someone tells me frankly that my preaching needs to be less doctrinal and more practical.

Practical application is vital. I don't want to minimize its importance. But the distinction between doctrinal and practical truth is artificial; doctrine is practical! In fact, nothing is more practical than sound doctrine.

Too many Christians view doctrine as heady and theoretical. They have dismissed doctrinal passages as unimportant, divisive, threatening, or simply impractical. A best-selling Christian book I just read warns readers to be on guard against preachers whose emphasis is on interpreting Scripture rather than applying it.

Wait a minute. Is that wise counsel? No it is not.

Quote for the day

2009-06-13T15:09:46-04:00

“By Justification we mean – man’s acceptance with God, or his being treated as righteous in His sight – as the object of His favor, and not of His wrath; of His blessing, and not of His curse. The breach of the Law in its covenant form by the sin of our first parents, rendered it for ever impossible that either they, or any of their descendants, should be justified on the ground of their personal righteousness.” - J.I. Packer

The glory of God

2009-06-13T14:32:32-04:00

Psalm 119 states “The heavens declare the glory of God...” and the beach does also with everything that you are able to see. When you look at the vastness of the ocean and the intricate detail of a small sea shell, one can see both the transcendence and the immanence of our God.

Devotion time

2009-06-13T08:24:32-04:00

The purpose of our community is very simple and basic. To spread a passion for Christ in such a way that His word becomes the food and daily nourishment for learning and living the God-centered life. A life in which we are transformed by the power of the Spirit by seeing the face of God in the Lord Jesus Christ!

In my devotion this morning I spent some time in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. This may be the most concise description of the gospel in the entire Bible. However I would like you to consider with me for a few minutes verses 1 and 2.
1Cor. 15:1 ¶ Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand,
1Cor. 15:2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

I have highlighted the verbs in red.

Here are some general observations:

Notice what Paul is preaching - THE GOSPEL, and what the saints in Corinth are receiving - THE GOSPEL
Each of the verbs in the above two verses are in the indicative mood, which simply means the mood of reality. This is a fact or the way things really are.
Notice in 1 Corinthians 15:2 the word "SAVED", this verb is in the present tense which means habitual or continual and is in the passive voice, which means that which happens to you.
Finally observe the biggest little word in the Bible, which is the word "IF". If you hold fast to the gospel, unless you believed in vain.

At our Ridgecrest retreat on Friday night the teaching was on "holding fast to the gospel." And way is that so important? Because it is the very litmus test for a person to have the assurance they have truly been justified by faith.

So SS community may I ask you this question? Are you holding fast to the gospel? Are you continuing to be saved? Remember salvation has a three-fold meaning:
1. Past tense - justified
2. Present tense - sanctified
3. Future tense - glorified

The present tense sanctification (being saved) is the very evidence that you at some point in time were saved (justification). And what should the sanctification process look like in my life as a "born again" Christian? You and I need to be preaching the gospel to ourselves and we need to hold fast to this word of truth.

Oh, by the way, I almost forgot:
In the context stated above what might Paul mean in the phrase “to believe in vain”?

holding fast to the truth of the gospel (daily) with you,

Bert

Combined teaching of Trinity in church history

2009-06-12T11:11:56-04:00

For your convenience I have combined the teaching for the last two weeks on the Trinity in church history. Hopefully these notes will give you a good overview as you dig into this essential doctrine for the church.

A trip down memory lane

2009-06-11T09:25:59-04:00

The Learning and Living God-centered Life Community is coming up on its first year anniversary in August. As I was reviewing some of the photos from the first year it was reminding me of the leadership planning, community outreach, women’s ministry, monthly luncheons, care groups, missions and the joy of being the one another’s of the New Testament church.

As we head into the summer may I encourage each of you to be faithful in your Bible reading, devotion and study. This year we have talked a good bit about the difference in a heart that delights in the word of God and one that sees it as a duty.

I will be praying for you specifically that God will give you the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. Also praying that you will walk in a manner to please Him as the Spirit empowers you and in all things, yes even the hard things that you will give Him thanks.

Nancy and I are enjoying a bit of vacation time but still studying,praying, planning and preparing for teaching the “DOCTRINE OF GOD” for the remainder of the 2009 year. Even though communication will be limited on the website until we are back, I will be twittering away while in Charleston. Have you had your tweet today?

Video Clip of the Week

2009-06-11T07:49:27-04:00

Where are we headed?

Megachurch, the latest stats...

2009-06-11T05:52:21-04:00

This article from the associated press this week I have posted for your consideration.

Despite their reputation as symbols of baby-boomer America, Protestant megachurches attract a younger crowd and more singles than the average Protestant church, according to large-scale study released Tuesday. The survey also found distressing news for a movement that took off in the 1980s and remains influential in evangelical Christianity: megachurch-goers volunteer less and give less money than other churchgoers.

Conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary and Leadership Network, the survey of nearly 25,000 people who attend 12 U.S. megachurches was conducted from January through August 2008. It is billed as the largest representative national study of that religious demographic to date.

An estimated 5 million Americans a week attend roughly 1,300 U.S. megachurches, defined in the study as Protestant churches with attendance of 2,000 or more. To compare the megachurch data to Protestant churches of all sizes, the study relied on the U.S. Congregational Life Study of 2001.

Among the megachurch report's highlights:

- The average age of megachurch attenders is 40, compared to nearly 53 at a typical Protestant church. Nearly two-thirds of megachurch attenders are under 45, double the numbers in Protestant congregations of all sizes. The vast majority are between 18 and 44.

- Nearly a third of megachurch attenders are single, compared to 10 percent in a typical Protestant church. They also tend to be wealthier and better educated.

- Nearly all those surveyed -- 98 percent, including visitors -- described themselves as a "committed follower of Jesus Christ." Nearly a quarter hadn't been in any church for a long time before coming to the megachurch.

- Sixty-two percent of megachurch attendees said they had experienced much spiritual growth in the past year. But that does not always translate to behavior churches expect of members: nearly 45 percent of megachurch attenders never volunteer at the church and 32 percent give little or no money to the congregation.

"The ethos of the megachurch is to say 'You can't just sit there and spectate, that's not enough, you've got to do this or do that,'" said study co-director Scott Thumma, a sociologist at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. "But a lot of people said 'I'm perfectly happy coming here and doing that.'"

Divided loyalties also might play a role: just three-quarters described the megachurch they were attending as their "home" church, and many said they were attending more than one church.

Thumma said the findings don't necessarily mean that megachurches fail to foster involvement. The study found that significant numbers of even the least involved participants still give generously, have invited others to church and attend services weekly.

Pastor B.’s Editorial Response to the article above on the “Stats in the Megachurch”

This morning I posted an interesting article on our website regarding the latest mega church statistics. Here is a section of the article that I would like to comment on in this weekly update.

Review of June 7

2009-06-08T06:56:44-04:00

In the lower right hand corner of the screen you can click and go to a full screen that will help to see the notes much better.

The audio for today’s class can be listened to directly or downloaded at SERMON.NET. It will be the first entry that appears and the title is “The Trinity in church history_part2.”

Planning is hard work

2009-06-06T10:30:03-04:00

Nancy and I went over to Pat and Kay’s for some SS community planning for the fall. If you see some smoke in the pictures it is not from the burgers but from all the brainstorming last night. Of course the burgers were cooked with Pat’s special recipe and they were sooooooooo good! This coming year, by the grace of God things are going to be intentional, exciting and challenging. May I ask each of you to keep praying as we continue to learn and live the God-centered life.

Continued study of the Trinity

2009-06-05T08:49:48-04:00

A special thanks to Dr. Wayne Grudem for his excellent teaching on this subject of the Trinity

Definition of the Trinity - God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.

We see verses in which they say that the Father is God, the Son is God and the Spirit is God
Then we find verses that say that God is one

In the Old Testament we see and have hints of the Trinity
This doctrine of the Trinity is progressively revealed in the Scripture

Several passages in the OT suggest that God exists as more than one Person
• Genesis 1:26 - "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;"
This comes across as it could be Inter-Trintitarian conversation

• Genesis 3:22 - Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us...
• Isaiah 6:8 - Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
• Psalm 45 - Psa. 45:6 ¶Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
• Psa. 45:7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
• Psalm 110:1 - The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right handUntil I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Father is saying to the Son, sit at my right hand
• Isaiah 63:10 - But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy,He fought against them.
The Holy Spirit here is seen as distinct from the Father and the grieving is a personal feeling
• Hosea 1:7 - “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.”
• Isaiah 48 - Is. 48:16 “Come near to Me, listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, From the time it took place, I was there. And now the Lord GOD has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

Nancy and 4 Theologians

2009-06-04T12:04:04-04:00

Can you name all four? And no smart comments like “I only see 3 theologians in that picture.”

Launch into the Summer series

2009-06-03T09:01:24-04:00

On Tuesday night we completed our men’s Bible study which we titled “Launch into the summer.” In this 4 week series we looked at Romans 6:15-23 and last night concluded with Romans 8:1-13. I am often amazed how much we hear in our culture today about pragmatism and relevance. However when you read Romans 8:13 you don’t find something that tries to be relevant but rather that which is absolute. Last night we talked about “launching into the summer” as men who live out the Christian life by putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit. As a matter of fact Paul says if we aren’t living that way then we live according to the flesh and we are headed straight for hell. Let me say that again, if you are living according to the flesh then you will die (eternal death) but if you are putting to death the deeds of the body, by the Spirit then you will live. So last night I asked myself and the men at the study “how are you living?”

Below are my study notes on some of Romans 8:1-13. I will be praying for the men in our class that this summer will be a continual receiving of grace through God’s word, in such a way that lives will be demonstrating the very glory of God. This time of teaching has been a wonderful opportunity to get to know better the guys in our SS community. Men, if you were not able to participate in this study then may I appeal for you to set time aside, to dive into the word of God with us this fall.

Victorious living in Christ

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Overview and Outline of May 31

2009-06-01T06:11:06-04:00

Here is a brief outline of today’s teaching on the Trinity and church history. This may help in getting an overview of our lesson before you dive into the notes.

Review of May 31

2009-05-31T17:38:30-04:00

So much to cover but so little time! Wow, it seems like we only got started this morning in the Trinity and church history and class was over.

Hey, no worries, by the grace of God, we will review quickly next week and make it through the rest of the Trinity and church history. Again, I am not so concerned with us going through the material but rather the material going through us. This subject is very important and we need to be well informed in the areas of our church history. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of those essentials. Therefore the history of how we got this doctrine, who were some of the heroes and how does it apply to our Christian living is all very relevant for us today. I need to apologize for trying to cover to much too quickly and I did a poor job of managing the time today. So in honor of that confession I am giving my self the weekly “FIRE HOSE” award. Normally my good friend Steve Brown pulls me aside when the teaching gets too fast and furious.

Below are all the notes that I would ask you to review prior to next weeks class. Also remember that the audio for today’s class can be listened to directly or downloaded at SERMON.NET. It will be the first entry that appears and the title is “The Trinity in church history.”

The Trinity and Church History

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Heroes of the faith

2009-05-31T16:28:32-04:00

This morning in SS class our discussion will be on the Trinity in church history. One of the heroes of the faith is a man named “Athanasius.” Here is a paper that I wrote which will give those of you especially interested in church history, a good overview of this man’s life and contribution to the church.

Athanasius Final

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Ridgecrest Retreat 2009

2009-05-29T15:32:20-04:00

This is a complete summary of the teaching and notes from our Ridgecrest Retreat on May 1-3, 2009. Carmel Church has graciously agreed to provide audio CD’s from each of the teaching sessions. I will make these available hopefully with the next couple of weeks.

Friday night: May 1
Hold fast to your faith_Part 1 (audio)
Notes

Hold fast to your faith_Part 2 (audio)
Notes

Saturday night: May 2
The Sovereignty of God_Part 1 (audio)
Notes

The Sovereignty of God_Part 2 (audio)
Notes

Sunday morning: May 3
The Doctrine of Sin (audio)
Notes

The Doctrine of Justification (audio)
Notes

Audio Clip of the Week

2009-05-29T11:40:16-04:00

The Christian Life is War!

The Trinity in church history

2009-05-29T06:31:19-04:00

Again, my thanks to Dr. Bruce Ware for his writing and lecturing in regard to the Trinity. As we move into the relationships between the persons of the Trinity I will be borrowing liberally from Dr. Wares book “Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

Overview of the Trinity in church history

Short definition for the Trinity:
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is
fully God, and there is one God.

We begin with the early Christian conviction that there is only one God.
A scriptural monotheism.

An Old Testament Israel and in the New Testament church we have in Judaism and early Christianity a wholehearted commitment to believe that there is only one and only one God.

Why is that so remarkable, because that sounds right to us?

The reason is true for ancient Israel and today for early Christians because they were surrounded by polytheistic cultures.

Everyone around them believed in a multitude of deities

Think of the apostle Paul when he entered Athens, the Greco-Roman world in acts 17 “beholding a city full of idols”
Cultures that are deeply polytheistic
And we have is the faith of Israel and the early Christians affirming there is one God. This was in the face of enormous opposition.

Point #1
So is it clear that the Old Testament teaches one God?
Answer - Absolutely!

Genesis 1:1 - “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth
Is this a monotheistic text?
Answer - it sure is, if we understand what Moses the writer is doing, his main purpose is to establish their uniqueness, the oneness of the one true and living God of Israel.
In contrast to the polytheistic views of the nations that surround Israel.

And these religions they held the different gods help territorial jurisdictions over different portions of the created order. And therefore they had lordship over various parts of creation.

And in contrast to that Moses writes Genesis 1:1 and explains that there is one God who made all of it which means that he alone has rights of rulership, over every one and everything.

In Biblical theology there is a close connection between creation and lordship.

Think of Acts 17:24
God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth

Do you hear the connection between Creator and Lord?

And this is exactly what Moses is saying from verse one of the Bible:
There is one God who made it all
This God rules over all he made
God rules over the nations like Assyrians, Babylonians, Philistines and Egyptians - why, because He created and has the right
Deuteronomy 4:35 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)
Deuteronomy 6:4 - (READ THIS SCRIPTURE) the famous “shama” text of Israel
There is one God and He is our God (meditate on this fact!)

And friends by his grace he has brought us to worship him, the one true living God. What mercy has been extended to us who are of the faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus.

1 King 8:59-60 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)
This comes at the end of the address that Solomon gives regarding building the temple

Yes in the age of pluralism in which we live now, these words are enormously relevant whether others out there acknowledged this or not, there is one God and He reigns over all people and they must bow the knee to him or they perish.

May we see the truth of His word, and how contemporary these verses are for us today.

Isaiah 45:5-7 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)
“I am the LORD and there is no other”
This is about Cyrus who was born over 200 years before this was written

Isaiah 46:9 (READ THIS SCRIPTURE)
The Old Testament concludes there is one true God

But now when we moved to the New Testament, in which we clearly can see God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, it would have been easy to affirm three instead of one true God the calls of the polytheistic cultures

But no the New Testament is insistent that there is one true God
(READ THES SCRIPTURES)

John 17:3
1 Corinthians 8:6
1 Timothy 2:5
Romans 3:30
James 2:19

Wayne Grudem on the Trinity

2009-05-28T12:36:16-04:00

This is from Dr. Grudem’s book on Systematic Theology. Take your time to review the outline. But I have included these notes so you can see the amount of Scripture references that we have in studying the Trinity.

Chapter 14: God in Three Persons: The Trinity

How can God be three persons, yet one God?
Explanation and Scriptural Basis (226)

God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is
fully God, and there is one God.

A) The doctrine of the Trinity is progressively revealed in Scripture. (226-231)
1) Partial Revelation in the Old Testament
a) Although the doctrine of the Trinity is not explicitly found in the OT, several
passages suggest or even imply that God exists as more than one person. (Gen. 1:26,
3:22; Isa. 6:8; Ps. 45:6-7; Heb. 1:8; Ps. 110:1; Matt. 22:41-46; Isa. 63:10; Mal. 3:1-2;
Hosea 1:7; Isa. 48:16; Prov. 8:22-31)

2) More Complete Revelation of the Trinity in the NT(Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6;
2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 4:4-6; Jude 20-21)

B) Three statements summarize the biblical teaching. (231-241)
1) God is three persons.
a) The fact that God is three persons means that each person of the Trinity is distinct
from the other two persons. (John 1:1-2, 17:24; 1 John 2:1; Heb. 7:25; John 14:26;
Rom. 8:27; Matt. 28:19; John 16:7; 1 Cor. 12:4-6)
i) The Holy Spirit is a distinct person not just the power of God. (Eph. 4:4-6; John
14:26, 15:26; Rom. 8:26-27; 1 Cor. 2:10; Acts 16:6-7; Acts 8:29; Eph. 4:30)
(a) Passages that would not make sense if the Holy Spirit is just the “power of
God.” (Luke 4:14; Acts 10:38)
(b) What about 2 Cor. 3:17?

2) Each person is fully God.
a) God the Father is clearly God.
b) The Son is fully God. (John 1:1-4, 20:28, 30-31; Titus 2:13; Rom. 9:5; Isa. 9:6; Col.
2:9)
c) The Holy Spirit is also fully God. (Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 12:4-6; 2 Cor. 13:14; Acts 5:3-
4; 1Cor. 3:16)

3) There is one God. (Deut. 6:4-5; 1 Kings 8:60; Isa. 45:5-6, 21-22; 1 Tim. 2:5, Rom. 3:30;
1 Cor. 8:6; James 2:19)

4) Simplistic solutions must all deny one strand of biblical teaching.

5) All analogies have shortcomings. Ultimately no analogy adequately teaches about the
Trinity, and all are misleading in significant ways.

6) God eternally and necessarily exists as the Trinity. (John 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Gen.
1:2; John 17:5, 24)

Streamlined and Organized

2009-05-27T08:50:11-04:00

As we move forward I continue to learn the finer points of website development. This has been a huge learning curve for me, as I attempt to place training aids from notes to audio to video in the area of Bible doctrine. My goal is simple: To spread a passion for Christ in such a way that His word becomes the food and daily nourishment for learning and living the God-centered life. A life in which we are transformed by the power of the Spirit by seeing the face of God in the Lord Jesus Christ!

In the past week I have come across a great website called SERMON.NET that is still in the developmental stages. But even so I have decided to use this as the primary place for all of our class teaching audio files. So far I have been able to upload all the classes in which we have audio for the 2009 year. And these audio files are now available for you to listen, download, or embed any that you like on social network sites like Twitter, Facebook and etc.
You can even sign up for these as podcast and they will directly import to itunes.

Over the 10 months of our class a number of people have said to me that when they tried to listen to a teaching session but the audio play did not work. This is not unusual because the audio player that I use is developed with my Mac. Therefore sometimes other browsers will simply not work or respond. However in using this new website the problem should be solved. You can search for messages by topic or date and provides a very easy way to get around and find exactly what you want. Also each of the notes for all the classed can be found at SLIDESHARE.NET. Therefore you have both written notes and audio and depending on learning style can be tailored to fit your needs.

For those of you who are regular visitors of this site I would appreciate your feedback. Therefore if you would go to this WEBSITE and try to listen to several different messages.
Obviously you can just listen to the first few seconds to hear if this works properly with your computer. Anyway, if you would leave some comments to let me know how it does, this will be extremely helpful to me.

Also know that I am taking on a redesign of the entire website with a new look and easier tabs to get along with extended information for study tools. This means that I will need some time away in order to do the work necessary for this kind of task. I would covet your prayers as I start on this particular project.

Below is a short training video for those who want to learn more about the options available on the SERMON.NET website.

Click on the word Vimeo in the bottom right hand part of the screen and will take you directly to site where you can view in full screen.

Review of May 24

2009-05-24T12:52:19-04:00

This includes the notes from today’s class in which we covered three aspects of the Trinity in Ephesians 1:1-14:
Distinction
Equality
Centrality

Also in these power point slides are the notes regarding the Trinity and church history which we should cover next week.

Hopefully I will post the audio for today’s class sometime this evening.

The Trinity and Worship

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Evangelical Malpractice

2009-05-23T10:46:31-04:00

I spent the majority of my years in the business world in sales and sales consulting. My boss used to say regarding salespeople “a prognosis without a proper diagnosis is malpractice.”

As you read this article written by William MacDonald, one can see that many times as evangelicals we have been guilty of spiritual malpractice.

There is a curious problem today in the evangelical [and fundamental] world — one that poses sobering questions for the church and for the individual believer. The problem in brief is this: a great army of personal soul-winners has been mobilized to reach the populace for Christ. They are earnest, zealous, enthusiastic, and persuasive. To their credit it must be said that they are on the job. And it is one of the phenomena of our times that they rack up an astounding number of conversions. Everything so far seems to be on the plus side.

But the problem is this: The conversions do not stick. The fruit does not remain. Six months later there is nothing to be seen for all the aggressive evangelism. The capsule technique of soul winning has produced stillbirths.

What lies at the back of all this malpractice in bringing souls to the birth? Strangely enough it begins with the valid determination to preach the pure gospel of the grace of God. We want to keep the message simple — uncluttered by any suggestion that man can ever earn or deserve eternal life. Justification is by faith alone, apart from the deeds of the law. Therefore, the message is “only believe.”

From there the message is reduced to a concise formula. For instance, the evangelistic process is cut down to a few basic questions and answers, as follows:

“Do you believe you are a sinner?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe Christ died for sinners?”
“Yes.”
“Will you receive Him as your Savior?”
“Yes.”
“Then you are saved!”
“I am?”
“Yes, the Bible says you are saved.”

At first blush the method and the message might seem above criticism. But on closer study we are forced to have second thoughts and to conclude that the gospel has been over-simplified.

The Trinity in Ephesians 1:1-14

2009-05-23T08:40:23-04:00

First of all I want to thank my good friend and theologian Dr. Bruce Ware for his relentless and untiring work regarding the doctrine of the Trinity. In tomorrow’s class I will be teaching from his lecture notes (listed below) and from time to time will bring some of my own comments to bear on this subject. But I give Dr. Ware the credit for his outstanding writing and orthodox perspectives as we continue to learn and live the God-centered life in this critical area of our doctrine.

Turn to Ephesians 1:1-14 - and notice 3 things about the text

The clear delineation in the Trinity as Paul distinguishes the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
So we have to ask is this Paul just ad hoc, or is it purposeful in order to teach us

Notice the implicit ranking of the members of the Trinity, and early church Fathers used the word taxis, which indicates the ordering found in the Trinity

Also notice the centrality of the Son when it comes to salvation. The Father has chosen to make the Son the center piece of His cosmic work in salvation and accomplishing it to His glory.

Ephesians 1:1-2 (READ THE TEXT)
Stop and think about what the apostle Paul is writing in these verses

Notice he writes “Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, which means the Father.” Paul uses theos when talking about God the Father in Trinitarian context.
2 Corinthians 13:14
Paul’s shorthand for the The Father is when he writes God
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Point #1 - Isn’t there a distinction here that Paul is making between the Father and the Son. They are two different Persons of the One true and Living God. Two different expressions of the Father and Son and yet they are distinct

Paul is an apostle of Christ “by the will of God”

Point #2 - Doesn’t this also imply a ranking with the Trinity?

Paul is an apostle of Christ sent by Christ one who is sent to carry out the mission of Christ but he does this ultimately not because Christ has said so but in fact because the Father has said so.

The Father has willed that Paul be an apostle of Christ.

There is primacy that is given to the Father.

The saints are to be faithful in Christ, and Paul is an apostle of Christ, while understanding that they do so under the authority of the Father.

The Father whom we will see receives the ultimate glory in this work of salvation, done in His Son.

So in verse 1 we can see the following:

Distinction
Ranking
Centrality

Followers not of God or the Spirit but of Christ

Ephesians 1:2
God the Father “AND” (kai in the Greek) think of the significance of this one word in the Greek that links together God our Father AND the Lord Jesus Christ

If verse 1 shows us the distinction between the Father and Son then verse 2 shows us the identity and unity of the two.

So Grace and Peace flow from whom?
Answer- the Father and the Son.
They are both identified as givers of grace to their people.

The "CONSUMER" gospel

2009-05-21T08:12:23-04:00

At our men's Bible study the other night I opened with some comments about the consumer mentality that exists in America. How easily that has invaded the church today and we have in essence a "Burger King" (have it your way) Jesus. In this sense we market the gospel to be a self help program, a gospel that can develop better leaders, fix a bad marriage, keep our children from rebelling, give better health, and even secure our 401 K plans via divine guidance and protection. So think about this for a minute, if Jesus can do all of that, plus I don't have to go to hell where I suffer for an eternity, and my sins can be forgiven so I don't go to bed with a guilty conscience, and you can convince me that God does have a wonderful plan for my life, then sure I will take Jesus - do you have more than one?

We have created in our consumerism a gospel of felt needs and we sell Jesus as the One who can fill the need. The Christian life becomes in essence an off shoot of going to the local Jiffy Lube where they roll out the red carpet and give you service in 15 minutes and you are on your way. I go into Christian book stores and see devotion books that are labeled a "5 minute time with God daily." And in my mind I am thinking "love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength." Folks there are 1,440 minutes in every day which means 1% of our day would be 14 minutes with God in the morning or evening for prayer and Bible. And yet for the American consumer who has little time for Christ other than Sunday, holidays and emergencies, we market a 5 minute devotion book. This is the day of "fast food" religious activity but it is not the gospel spoken of in the Bible. Something is wrong, desperately wrong and every fiber of my being wants to cry out REPENT AND BELIEVE!

I am drawn to the language in the Bible that the Lord Jesus Himself spoke when it comes to being a "genuine" Christian. Look closely at these words and compare them to the consumeristic gospel that exists for us so that we can have our "BEST LIFE NOW!"

Mark 8:34 And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. The context of these words are when Jesus first tells His disciples in plain language that He must go to cross and die and then 3 days later be raised from the dead.

The Christian life is about:
1. Denying self - in the day and time in which we live this is something I rarely hear talked about or preached. This is about us denying everything in our lives that could be a distraction from the real treasure and prize which is Christ Himself. As C.S. Lewis once stated "we have been so happy for years playing with mud pies in the streets and we have no idea what it would be like to enjoy a day on the shores of the Mediterranean.
Do you see how this statement of "deny yourself" plays out in a day of consumerism? Tell the people in church, it is not about what you can get from Jesus but what you are willing to give up in order to follow Jesus. Let me ask you a question - what are the things in your life right now that take your time and attention away from Christ? Is there something or are there things that you value here on planet earth that you value more than Him?

Truth Wars

2009-05-20T08:31:15-04:00

This is our “AUDIO CLIP OF THE WEEK.” In this brief audio segment Dr. John MacArthur gives an excellent examination of Joel Osteen’s book and philosophy about this being “YOUR BEST LIFE NOW.”

Truth Wars-Is this your best life now?

Why "Bible doctrine" is so critical!

2009-05-20T05:40:40-04:00

This comes from free online outline by Curt Daniel looks like a really helpful site as it relates to the Basics in Christian Doctrine.

Doctrine” Means Teaching

In the Greek New Testament, there are 2 words for doctrine: DIDACHE and DIDASKALIA. Both mean teaching, instruction, education, and explanation. Pro. 4:1-2 equates doctrine with “instruction and understanding”. A doctrine is a statement about a specific truth. It is a statement, not a command or a question. “Doctrinal” means “having to do with doctrine”. Jesus taught doctrine (Matt. 7:28, 22:33; Mk. 1:22, 4:2, 11:18, 12:38; Luke 4:32, etc.). One of the main characteristics of early New Testament Christians was that they followed “the Apostles’ doctrine” (Acts 2:42).

Doctrine Must Be True and Sound

God says, “I give you good doctrine” (Pro. 4:2). Acts 13:12 calls it “the doctrine of the Lord.” True doctrine must come from God, not from mere men. Even the Lord Jesus said, “My doctrine if not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16). Paul placed a very high value on doctrine which is true and must be sound (I Tim. 1:3, 10, 4:6, 13, 16, 5:17, 6:1, 3; 2 Tim. 1:3, 3:10, 16, 4:2-3; Titus 1:9, 2:1, 7, 10). 2 John 9-10 says that we are to ignore any so-called Christian who believes or teaches anything other than “the doctrine of Christ” (the doctrine from and about Christ).

Sound Doctrine is an Anchor Against the Danger of False Doctrine

You can’t fight something with nothing. We need true doctrine to fight and be defended against false doctrine. False doctrine is not only useless; it is dangerous. Eph. 4:14 warns us against the winds if false doctrine. Heb. 13:9, “Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines.” Jesus warned of “the doctrine of Balaam” and “the doctrine of the Nicolaitans” (Rev. 2:14-14. Cf. vs. 24), “the doctrines of men” (Matt. 15:9; Mk. 7:7; Col. 2:22) and “the doctrines of demons” (I Tim. 4:1). Truth sets us free (John 8:32). God urges us to note those who cause divisions contrary to “the doctrine which you learned” (Rom. 16:17).

There is No Substitute for the Good Knowledge of Bible Doctrine

God desires to feed us to His Word, and we become spiritually malnourished when we do not graze in the pastures of His Word. We become imbalanced, anemic, confused, easily led astray, prone to doubt and backsliding. Some Christians do not recognize the hunger pangs they are suffering because they are not studying the Bible. Doctrine alone does not produce spiritual maturity, but there is no maturity without it. It is erroneous to say “I just want Christ, not doctrine.” Christology is the doctrine of Christ. Nor is it true that “Doctrine divides”. False doctrine divides; truth unites.

Being the Christian...

2009-05-18T17:14:06-04:00

Last night was the third of four session in the men’s Bible study of “Being the Christian you say you’ve become.” We have been looking closely at Romans Chapter 6 and in the last 3 weeks Romans 6:15-23.

Here is a brief overview of SEVEN general observations we discussed last night to get a better handle on this section of Scripture:

#1 - The word for slave in the Greek (doulos)
This word doulos occurs 10 times in Romans and 9 times in Romans 6:15-23

#2 - The use of indicative verbs in Romans 6:16, 17, 18 and 19

THE INDICATIVE VERBS
Romans 6:16	Romans 6:17	Romans 6:18	Romans 6:19
KNOW, PRESENT, YOU ARE, OBEY	YOU WERE, YOU BECAME OBEDIENT, YOU WERE COMMITTED	YOU BECAME SLAVES	I AM SPEAKING, PRESENTED YOUR MEMBERS

And now in the last half of Romans 6:19 the apostle Paul switches from an indicative verb to an IMPERATIVE verb (verb of command)
“so now PRESENT your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification”

Men's Bible Study

2009-05-18T11:45:11-04:00

Tomorrow night in our men’s Bible study we will continue to understand “how to be the Christian that we say we have become.” And specifically our study will cover Romans 6:15-23. In the book of Romans the word “slave” or “doulos” in the Greek appears 10 times. In 9 of those 10 times it occurs in Romans 6:15-23. Therefore we will spend some time tomorrow night unpacking and comprehending the word for slave in Romans 6.

Below is a video in which Dr. John MacArthur gives an excellent teaching on what it means for one to be a slave of Christ.

Now Available!

2009-05-18T11:06:12-04:00

Back to the Basics

2009-05-18T10:25:28-04:00

As I come across sound articles of Bible doctrine and I will continue to share on this blog site. Michael Patton over at the Parchment and Pen is a theologian who teaches Bible hermeneutics. Hermeneutics means a system by which we come to study the Scriptures. If you want to read his full article then click on this LINK. Here is what really caught my attention that I want to share especially with our community.

Today, I believe that we (evangelicals included) are dangerously close to Gnosticism with regards to our Bible study. We have lost the spirit of Reformation hermeneutics, especially in the pews. We sit around in Bible study circles and ask “What does this passage mean to you?” We applaud as someone gives their answer and then move on to the next and ask the same question. “What does it mean to you Billy?… And what does it mean to you Sal?… What does it mean to you Kevin?” We affirm each person’s response even if it means something different to each person. Can the text have different meanings? Only if you are practicing a Gnostic hermeneutic where the Bible becomes a magic book with a secret spiritual meaning that transcends the literal.

While the Bible can have different and subjective applications, it cannot have different and subjective meanings. It means what it meant. Nothing more, nothing less. There is no person, group, denomination, tradition, or magisterial authority who has a magic decoder ring. There is no secret hidden meaning. The only meaning that we can discover is what the original author meant.

While this does produce fear of the Scriptures, I believe that this is a healthy fear. After all, the Bible is God’s word, isn’t it? We can’t take it lightly.

The absolutes of Scripture

2009-05-18T08:06:41-04:00

I am continuing in my study of Romans 6:15-23 for our men's group on Tuesday night. This morning I noticed once again how the Scripture deals with and in absolutes. Did you know that our cultural platform in America is one of tolerance? However isn't it ironic that orthodox evangelicals seem to be the group that no one will tolerate. And the reason is because we stand on the absolutes of God's word and we will not tolerate a deviance from this truth. In learning these doctrines and living out these truths you and I are always going to be branded as intolerant.

Back to my study time this morning in Rom. 6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? When I read this verse my mind immediately went back to our study of Matthew 7 and the following verse.
Matt. 7:13 ¶ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
Matt. 7:14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Do you see the clear absolutes in both of these verses? In Matthew the Lord Jesus says there are only 2 gates, one is a broad gate that leads to a broad way that concludes with destruction. And the other gate is narrow and lead to a narrow way that concludes with life. Leadership team the question is which road are we on?
Then Paul writing through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit captures the absolute of being a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. He writes that if you are a slave to sin that will conclude in death but if you are a slave to righteousness that will conclude in life.

Now just make a comparison between the two verses:
There is one ABSOLUTE way of life that leads to death
There is another ABSOLUTE way that leads to life

No one can be kinda or sorta on both roads at the same time. A person is on one road or the other road. They are a slave to one thing or slaves to the other. There may be more than one way for you to get home from Carmel Church but you can only travel one road at a time to get you home. And the Bible is teaching us that we must embrace and live by these biblical absolutes.

This is really a wonderful litmus test for those in your sphere of influence as to their Christian lives. When you have the right time take them to Matthew 7:13-27 and ask, by the way "which road are you on?" You can also go to Romans 6:16 and ask, "are you a slave to sin or are you a slave to righteousness?"

Allow me to ask you
Which road are you on?
What are you a slave to?

The answer to these questions is a matter of life or death!

Blessings,

Review of May 17

2009-05-17T18:16:53-04:00

Today was our part 2 teaching on the doctrine of REDEMPTION. OK, let me give a quick review on where I hope you are on what we have been studying.

ATONEMENT
PROPITIATION
JUSTIFICATION
REDEMPTION

Are you able to define these words in easy to use and understandable language?
Can you give a clear illustration that would help someone understand the term?
Would you be able to support the definition and illustration with Scripture?

Again, this isn’t Bible jeopardy and it’s not who knows the most Bible wins the prize. This is about knowing, loving and serving Christ in such a way that He is demonstrated as great!
We started this morning in Romans 3:24-25. I reiterated that Romans 3:21-26 is probably the most important paragraph in the Bible. Do you see the four words mentioned above in this section of Romans? Even though the word ATONEMENT is not used it is implied by the death of Christ on the cross as payment for our sins.

Below are the notes from class today and we didn’t cover everything that I had planned. There are approximately 58 Bible verses in these study notes. I hope this will encourage you in study time, to use the cross references located in the margins, in order to better understand these doctrines in the Bible.

As we move to the summer people will be on vacation therefore may I encourage you not to coast, relax or move into a luke warm season. The apostle Paul uses metaphors that include an athlete, farmer, solider, and builder. Why? Because this is not easy, the Christian life is about running, planting, war and building. Does any of that sound like it could mean we are to continue laboring and striving in Christ? So my point is don’t let up, take what we have learned over the past 10 months and continue to TRUST and OBEY. I know many of you are so, so busy but please I appeal to you keep the main thing the main thing. Don’t move away from God’s word and as you are learning and living the God-centered life.

Blessings

Redemption Part 2

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Audio for today’s lesson included in Slidecast

Sent and Went

2009-05-16T09:37:15-04:00

Yesterday a number of us had the privilege and blessing of praying with Nancy Brown and her son Ben as they leave for Russia. This is so encouraging to see how God works in the lives of His people in order that His name be known and glorified! As I watch Nancy and Ben go I am reminded of three specific illustrations starting in Acts 8, then Acts 9 and finally Acts 10.
In Acts 8 you have Philip who was a big city evangelist and then God called him to take a donkey ride in the desert. Do you suppose Philip said “hey Lord, don’t you see how many people I am preaching to and the large crowds?” No, in Acts 8:27 we read that this big city evangelist got sent and he went!

Travel over to Acts 9 and meet Ananias who the Lord sent to lay hands on the great persecutor of the church a man named Saul. But we read in Acts 9:17 that Ananias was sent and he went.

And finally check out the story of Cornelius in Acts Chapter 10. Well the Lord brought three men to the house of Peter to tell him of a mission journey. It was to the home of this man Cornelius and we read in Acts 10:23 that Peter was sent and he went.

Isn’t that a wonderful look at what it means to be a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Whenever, whatever and to whomever He says to go, it is a story of sent and went. Therefore I am rejoicing with my sister Nancy and brother Ben as they are part of the sent and went story that is being recorded in the heavenly records. And there is a good chance that this side of heaven they will never know the seeds planted and the fruit that is borne from this trip. However they go not for themselves but out of obedience. That reminds me of a song, tell me have you heard it? Trust and Obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey!

Nancy and Ben; “the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the “Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.”

Missions Trip 1

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It's Greek to me!

2009-05-13T16:11:56-04:00

Being the Christian...

2009-05-12T14:04:21-04:00

For the additional notes and audio of our teaching session on Tuesday, May 12 just click on this LINK.

The name of our men’s Bible study for May is “Being the Christian that you say you have become.” This is our attempt to launch the men in our class into the summer by studying Romans Chapter 6.

Basically Romans 6 can be broken down into two main sections:

Romans 6:1-14 Dead to sin and alive to Christ
Romans 6:15-23 Slaves to sin or slaves to righteousness

Last week we reviewed in depth Romans 6:1-14 and tonight the plan is to take on the second half of Romans 6. You can see from the outline above that one of the key words in understanding Romans 6:15-23 is the word slave. This word is doulos in the Greek and the word occurs 10 times in Romans and 9 times in verses 6:16-23. Therefore tonight we are going to take a close look at this word in order to better appreciate why Paul uses it so much in this context.

Here are some of the preliminary notes that I am planning to cover at Pat’s home tonight.

OK, let's look at the word bond-servant in some detail. The word itself is doulos in the Greek. In the 13 epistles of the apostle Paul he uses this word a total of 38 times. Here is what it means:
One who give himself or herself up another's will, those whose service is used by Christ to advance His kingdom or one devoted to another to the disregard of their own interest.
Some other words that you see associated with bond-servant are:

ownership
possession
allegiance
subjection
dependence

Review of May 10

2009-05-11T15:08:34-04:00

Redemption_Part 1

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Bible Doctrine...don't leave home without it!

2009-05-11T11:19:01-04:00

From time to time I come across blog articles that I know must be posted to our site. The following is such an article from CamponThis which is called “weekly dose of the gospel.” I appeal to each member of our community to read this carefully as an excellent review of what we have been covering the last 6 weeks.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. -Romans 5:1-2

ATONEMENT

"therefore having been justified by faith"

Justification is the heart and soul of the gospel. It is the Atlas, as Packer says, which bears on its shoulders the weight of all other Christian doctrines. To be justified means to be declared righteous by God. That the judge of the entire universe declares a man or a woman has right standing before Him. He is no longer under the judgment of God, no longer under the wrath of God, he is now the friend of God; more that that, he is the child of God; he is the son of God. God has fully and completely accepted him as righteous. That only happens by faith and faith alone. And that’s, of course, the great reformation truth. That God declares the sinner righteous on the basis of faith and faith alone.

Indicatives and Imperatives

2009-05-08T15:56:31-04:00

The Greek language is fascinating and so exact. In this brief audio Pastor Ken Jones gives a clear understanding between the INDICATIVE and IMPERATIVE moods with regard to Greek verbs. As we continue to “chase the Greek verbs” in the New Testament, these types of sound bites will add much to our study.

The INDICATIVE and the IMPERATIVE - Pastor Ken Jones

God is the good in redemption

2009-05-08T09:01:55-04:00

Since our subject will be REDEMPTION this week, here is a quote to help us put the word into its proper category. Folks again we need to stay God-centered in our focus as we read, devote and study these great doctrines of the Bible.

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good, and the sum of all that good which Christ has purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem, and their everlasting honor and glory. They have none in heaven but God; he is the great good which the redeemed are received to at death, and which they are to rise to at the end of the world.

The Lord God, he is the light of the heavenly Jerusalem; and is the ‘the river of the water of life’ that runs, and the tree of life that grows, ‘in the midst of the paradise of God.’ The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will forever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another: but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in anything else whatsoever, that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what will be seen of God in them.”

—Jonathan Edwards, “God Glorified in the Work of Redemption,” in The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards: A Reader, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach, et al (1999): 74-75

Retreat 2009_Sunday morning_parts 1&2

2009-05-07T11:10:43-04:00

We concluded our time together at Ridgecrest by discussing two important doctrines that relate to the gospel. The first session was on the doctrine of sin and the second session covered the doctrine of justification. The audio is included as an option within each of the Slide Shows.

The Doctrine of Sin

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Justified by faith alone, through grace alone in Christ alone

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Audio clip of the week

2009-05-07T10:46:41-04:00

Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God’s Word, John MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker, and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.

John’s pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur. In thirty-six years of ministry, Grace to You has distributed more than thirteen million CDs and audiotapes.

John is the president of The Master's College and The Master's Seminary, and he has written hundreds of books and study guides (see below), each one thoroughly biblical and practical. Best-selling titles include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Coming, Ashamed of the Gospel, Twelve Ordinary Men, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.

John MacArthur on “What is the emerging church?”

Retreat 2009_Friday night session

2009-05-06T15:55:40-04:00

We started the retreat on Friday night, with an exhortation to remain faithful and steadfast, as we hold fast to the assurance of the gospel. The audio is included with the Power Point Presentation.

The Gospel_Friday night

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Illustration for Justification

2009-05-06T14:25:03-04:00

There's your picture on a baseball card. Turn it over, and whose stats, season by season, do you find there? Not yours, but Jesus'. A great career.

Thanks to Ray Ortlund

Redemption

2009-05-06T11:09:37-04:00

As we come to the doctrine of redemption we are talking about the back view of the cross.

When we are talking about God’s saving work we are talking about the problem with sin and how that needs to be remedied if we are going to have a happy forever.

This is a problem that outstrips our resources so this means if this problem gets solved it means that God will have to step in and do something in order to overcome that.

There are two sides to this problem:
We can understand that we are perpetrators, the Scriptures tell us that while we were enemies that Christ died for us. The Scriptures are telling us of the guilt that we have as humans due our rebellion against God’s holy and just will for our lives. And therefore that puts us under God’s wrath and condemnation. The words atonement, propitiation and justification focus on the significance of what Jesus has done to overcome our problem of guilt in order that we would be able to regain God’s favor. And through His atonement He has satisfied the penalty that was against us and now God declares us as righteous in His sight. In this view Jesus comes in as the substitute who makes satisfaction through His atonement for the guilt of our sin, that we might regain favor for God because He has paid the penalty and the price.

But there is another side to the cross because there is another problem with sin. We are not only perpetrators but we are also victims. This means that we are brought into this world in bondage to the forces of sin, death and the devil. We do not have the personal resources to rescue us from this bondage in order to live as God intended us to live in a fellowship relationship with Him. So the back view of the cross looks at the cross with the terms that the NT provides to show what Jesus has done to deliver us from the evil forces and powers. And in this sense His work on the cross redeems or buys us back a kind of deliverance by achieving a victory over those forces through redemptive work.

The cross might be analogous to a diamond in that there are many facets that one can look at to see the whole. And in the NT there is no one word or facet in which we can see the entire picture of the cross. Because there is no one term to describe for us the devastating effects of sin. As the sinful condition of the human being is multi-faceted we shouldn’t be surprised to notice that the saving work of Christ is also multi-faceted.

Front view of the cross
We have looked at some of the terms or categories in which Jesus deals with our guilt in order that we can regain the favor of God.

Back view of the cross
This relates to terms and concepts where the NT describes the cross as to how the forces of evil have been overcome and we have now been delivered from their power and dominion.

The Trinity

2009-05-05T09:10:58-04:00

We are back from our retreat at Ridgecrest in Asheville and I am excited about continuing in our study of the Trinity. During the first 8 months of our class we focused mainly on “back to the Bible.” My encouragement was for each of us to consider a Bible reading plan, time of devotion and study in order to get us back to the word so the word can get back into us! This consisted of three main sections of teaching:

Preparation of the heart
Explanation to the head
Application for the feet

Now we are on a pursuit of the doctrine of God and our first stop is to look at the Trinity. Since we came to this teaching during the Easter season, I thought it might be beneficial to specifically look at the Trinity and salvation. And over the last number of weeks the subjects have been atonement, propitiation and justification which all deal the front view of the cross. This view of the cross focuses upon the significance of what Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we stand before God. We are perpetrators, or you might say fugitives from justice, who have a bad record because we have broken God’s laws.
Therefore the cross solves this first problem which is our legal standing before God in which the death of His Son causes God to look at us as not guilty. In these past weeks hopefully we have seen how atonement, propitiation and justification are critical for us to understand this front view of the cross.

This week, Lord willing, we take a look at the back view of the cross. This focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished in relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the devil have over us. The fact is we come into this world enslaved to sin and here the cross presents to us the important work of Christ’s death. It is His death on the cross which has redeemed and delivered us from these evil powers. Therefore the emphasis this week will be on the words redemption and ransom. As always I want to exhort you to as we study together have a working knowledge of these particular words. Also I think it will be helpful to have working illustrations that a 10 year old can understand. And finally be able to support your conclusions with Scripture.

Leadership Team Meeting

2009-04-27T14:09:35-04:00

Pat and Kay called a leadership team meeting on Sunday night. We had a great time of planning and fellowship. While everyone else was busy brainstorming and working, I was getting pictures for the blog site.

Quote for the day

2009-04-27T08:02:08-04:00

“The Bible’s purpose is not so much to show you how to live a good life. The Bible’s purpose is to show you how God’s grace breaks into your life against your will and saves you from the sin and brokenness otherwise you would never be able to overcome… religion is ‘if you obey, then you will be accepted’. But the Gospel is, ‘if you are absolutely accepted, and sure you’re accepted, only then will you ever begin to obey’. Those are two utterly different things. Every page of the Bible shows the difference.”

- Timothy Keller

Bible Reading

2009-04-27T07:44:32-04:00

Do you read the Bible from a God-centered perspective? This morning during my Bible reading I came across these verses in Joshua 4:23 “For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God had done to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed;
Josh. 4:24 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, so that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”

Now just think about this for a minute and be amazed with your God.

Here is how my mind works, (scary I know) when I come to these type of verses:
The reasons God DID NOT bring them into the land in order to:
1. Give them better marriages
2. To help them find more secure and exciting jobs
3. In order that they could raise children that would no longer rebel but would go to good schools and be successful
4. Allow them to have more social contacts and increase networking opportunities
5. To develop their leadership skills

The list above all focus on man-centered reasons and much today in the evangelical church is concentrated on these things. However according to these verses God brought them into the land for the following reason:

SO THAT ALL THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT THE HAND OF THE LORD IS MIGHTY
and
THAT YOU MAY FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD

Sounds to me like God is most interested and concerned about His name, and His honor, and His glory rather than their comfort and convenience!

Let's put our lives under the plumb line of God's glory, and His desire that His name be honored throughout the earth.

Is this the one overriding main priority to our lives as Christians?
Is the Christian life for us about the gifts we receive or the Giver?
Is this life about the blessings we can have or the Blessor?

just some thoughts as we head into this week - blessings,

Bert

Review of April 26

2009-04-26T21:22:20-04:00

Justification Part 2

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Community Update

2009-04-25T11:27:55-04:00

A good Bible translation

2009-04-25T06:49:46-04:00

One of the questions that I am most often asked is about Bible translations. It may help for you to understand some of the basics of a Bible translation. And for that I will allow both Michael Patton and Douglas Stuart along with Gordon Fee to give you some sound instruction.

* Formal Equivalence: Translations that seek to translate word for word (although this is really impossible). Examples: NAS, KJV, ASV, ESV. Less readable, but better for study in contemporary languages. Why? Because they will usually attempt to make fewer interpretive decisions on any text that can be understood in many ways. This allows the reader to struggle through the options.
Literal The attempt to translate by keeping as close as possible to the exact words and phrasing in the original language, yet still make sense of the receptor language. A literal translation will keep the historical distance intact at all points.

* Dynamic Equivalence: Translations that seek to translate thought for thought. Examples: NIV, TNIV, NRSV, etc. Not quite as good for deep study, but usually better for reading and memorization. Dynamic equivalence translations make good pulpit or teaching Bibles.
Dynamic Equivalent The attempt to translate words, idioms, and grammatical constructions of the original language into precise equivalents in the receptor language. Such a translation keeps historical distance on all historical and most factual matters, but "updates" matters of language, grammar and style.

* Paraphrase: Translations that seek to use common language and idioms to get the basic point across in a very readable way. Examples: Message, Philip’s Translation, NLT, GNB, etc. While paraphrases are not good for study or memorization, they are very readable and cause you to read the text differently than you normally would. In this respect, they have great value.

Homework anyone?

2009-04-23T16:20:52-04:00

OK, we have invested the last several weeks looking at the Trinity and salvation. When we come to the cross we can see that it provides a solution for two basic problems. We can understand that we are perpetrators, and the Scriptures tell us that while we were enemies that Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) The Scriptures are telling us of the guilt that we have as humans due our rebellion against God’s holy and just will for our lives. And therefore that puts us under God’s wrath and condemnation. The words we have been studying are atonement, propitiation and justification. Each of these words focus on the significance of what Jesus has done to overcome our problem of guilt in order that we would be able to regain God’s favor. And through His atonement He has satisfied the penalty that was against us and now God declares us as righteous in His sight. I am calling this the “front view” of the cross. The second problem that the cross solves we will study in two weeks. But as we have studied recently, my goal has been for us to understand the relationship between the Trinity and our salvation. As a matter of fact if we in the evangelical church ever do away with the doctrine of the Trinity then we will do away with the doctrine of salvation.

The following is a homework assignment that can act as a litmus test to date, to check out in the understanding you have of these words. Please be patient with yourselves and our curriculum at this point. I know that some of the words and definitions are a bit weighty. But these are Biblical words that need to be understood, articulated and applied to our Christian lives. For the most part these doctrines take time to learn, in order for one to feel comfortable with what they mean. Remember 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.”

The Prince of Preachers

2009-04-23T12:37:37-04:00

For a downloadable sketch of Charles Haddon Spurgeon simply click on this LINK

A Bible Reading System

2009-04-23T09:15:10-04:00

* PROFESSOR GRANT HORNER'S 'TEN LISTS BIBLE READING SYSTEM'*

Each day you will read one chapter from each list, in order. THAT'S RIGHT -- *TEN CHAPTERS PER DAY*!!! Use ten bookmarks or sticky notes with the individual lists on them to keep track of your locations. On day one, you read Matthew 1, Genesis 1, Romans 1, and so forth. On day 2, read Matthew 2, Genesis 2, etc. On day 29, you will have just finished Matthew, so go to Mark 1 on the Gospel list; you’ll also be almost to the end of 2nd Corinthians and Proverbs, you’ll be reading Psalm 29 and Genesis 29, and so forth. When you reach the last chapter of the last book in a list – start over again. Rotate all the way through all the Scriptures constantly. Since the lists vary in length, the readings begin interweaving in constantly changing ways. You will NEVER read the same set of ten chapters together again! Every year you’ll read through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the OT wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the OT History and prophetic books about 1 ½ times. Since the interweaving is constantly changing, you will experience the Bible commenting *on itself* in constantly changing ways -- the Reformer's principle of 'scriptura interpretans scripturam' -- 'scripture interpreting scripture' IN ACTION!

Audio Clip of the Week

2009-04-22T19:36:42-04:00

This is going to be a “NEW ADDITION” to this blog which I am calling audio clip of the week. These will vary between short and regular length, past and present theologians, pastors and teachers. Please take some time to listen as we continue to learn and live the God-centered life.

We start this week with a man that some are calling a modern day young Charles Spurgeon. His name is Paul Washer and he preaches and teaches in a prophetic exhortative style. Before you listen to this audio clip, grab your hard hats and seat belts because Paul will not and does not compromise the truth.

Speaking the truth-Washer

Preview for Sunday - Justification Part 2

2009-04-22T18:52:34-04:00

This Sunday we continue in our study of justification as it relates to the Trinity. Martin Luther said that upon the doctrine of justification the church either stands or falls. In the ScreenFlow video below I cover seven general observations regarding justification. Hopefully this review will spur you on to a greater appreciation and study of this great doctrine.

"BUT NOW"

2009-04-22T11:46:10-04:00

Here are some of the "but now's" that the apostle Paul writes about in his 13 epistles. This could be a start up Sunday School class and would take someone an entire year to go through each of these verses. The class could be called "The But Now's," kind of catchy don't you think?

For example look at Ephesians 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light. In this verse alone you have the implication of two important doctrines that we have been studying this year.
It refers to the person you once were, unregenerate, rebellious, someone who lived in darkness. Sounds to me like this particular person has a heart of stone. And here is where the BUT NOW comes into play. But now you are light in the Lord, the heart of stone has now become a heart of flesh and you have officially been "born again."
This is the doctrine of regeneration.
But also those who have been regenerated have also been justified. Which means as children of Light the penalty of all your sins has been paid in full and you now are clothed with the righteousness of Christ Himself.
The But Now is a small phrase in Ephesians 5:8 BUT it has some very significant consequences.

How about our friend John Newton who wrote "Amazing Grace." Think about the words to that great hymn, "I once was lost BUT NOW I am found, was blind BUT NOW I see."

I hope you will enjoy reading and having some devotion time in the "But now's" of the New Testament.

Rom. 3:20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Rom. 3:21 ¶ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

Rom. 6:21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.
Rom. 6:22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.

Rom. 7:5 For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.
Rom. 7:6 But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.

A sign of the times

2009-04-21T14:49:39-04:00

Yes, I know it is a sad day when I launch Twitter on the sidebar of this website. Just so you know, I am committing some Twitter time between now and the retreat. Again I want to give you as much current information regarding Bible study, important church doctrine, current issues as I possible can.

This can be a good resource but we will decide in a few weeks if this has been helpful for your growth in Christ. I will also post some of the websites that I visit that provide good material in hopes that it will be something you might want to check out. Blessings on you as we all lock arms and use tools available to build the kingdom of God for His glory!

Just travel down the right hand side of this site till you see Pastor B. twitter updates and please no laughing.

ScreenFlow begins!

2009-04-21T10:14:14-04:00

Learning and Living the God-centered community, in an effort to bring you teaching on a continual and as you need it basis I am introducing something called ScreenFlow.
These will be short movie tutorials covering a variety of subjects of interest to those in our class.
This week my goal is to provide a preview of our class Sunday on justification. As a sample here is my initial ScreenFlow production and I hope this will encourage you in the study of God’s word.

Great Christian Minds

2009-04-20T15:21:04-04:00

Spiegel: Ten Lessons from Great Christian Minds
2 comments | Permalink
From philosophy professor James Spiegel:

1. Augustine (5th century): Remember that you are a citizen of another kingdom.
2. Martin Luther (16th century): Expect politicians to be corrupt.
3. Thomas Aquinas (13th century): God has made himself known in nature.
4. John Calvin (16th century): God is sovereign over all, including our suffering.
5. Jonathan Edwards (18th century): God is beautiful, and all beauty is divine.
6. Thomas a’Kempis (15th century): Practice self-denial with a passion.
7. John Wesley (18th century): Be disciplined and make the best use of your time.
8. Fyodor Dostoevsky (19th century): God’s grace can reach anyone.
9. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (20th century): Beware of cheap grace.
10. Alvin Plantinga (21st century): Moral virtue is crucial for intellectual health.

Preview of April 19

2009-04-19T18:43:56-04:00

Below are the notes for today’s teaching on justification and the Trinity. Should you want to review a previous post that might be good to read in conjunction with these notes then click on this LINK.
Again I want to thank those who I have studied with through classroom, audio, video, workbooks, books and other resource articles. Dr. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology. Dr. Larry Dixon, Columbia International University, Dr. Bruce Ware, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Pastor Charles Leiter, Justification and Regeneration, Dr. Stephen Hein, Concordia Institute for Christian Studies, Paul Washer, The One True God

Justification

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Audio for today’s class
Justification and the Trinity-April 19, 2009

It is God who justifies

2009-04-19T18:33:19-04:00

Since our subject this morning was justification here is a related quote from Octavius Winslow

“It is God who justifies.”
(Romans 8:33)

Behold the eternal security of the weakest believer in Jesus. The act of justification, once passed under the great seal of the resurrection of Christ, God can never revoke without denying Himself. Here is our safety. Here is the ground of our dauntless challenge, ‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies.’ What can I need more? What more can I ask?

If God, the God of spotless purity, the God of inflexible righteousness, justifies me, ‘who is he that condemns?’ Sin may condemn, but it is God that justifies! The law may alarm, but it is God that justifies! Satan may accuse, but it is God that justifies! Death may terrify, but it is God that justifies! ‘If GOD is for us, who can be against us?’ Who will dare condemn the soul whom He justifies?

How gloriously will this truth shine forth in the great day of judgment! Every accuser will then be dumb. Every tongue will then be silent. Nothing shall be laid to the charge of God’s elect. GOD Himself shall pronounce them fully, and forever justified: ‘And those He justifies, He also glorifies.’”

A matter of interpretation

2009-04-18T18:23:31-04:00

Retreat Logo

2009-04-18T16:37:15-04:00

A special thanks to Anna B. who while working with Kay Jones has come up with our retreat logo.
Notice the words and how they contribute to the theme of our time away in a couple of weeks.
Digging deeper in His word and growing gloriously in His grace. As we digger into the truths of the gospel we establish a strong vertical relationship with our heavenly Father. As we continue to read and study Scripture, grace continues to grow which manifests in our joy in God, that overflows in love for others.

The Ultimate Guide to Debt Management

2009-04-18T11:56:29-04:00

Normally this site just deals with issues of doctrine. But due to the economic conditions I sense there is a need to put up vital “financial management” strategies. So for those who are still looking for a program, strategy and principles to manage your money, check out the video below.

Justification and the Trinity

2009-04-18T09:48:04-04:00

The subject for tomorrow's class is justification. Justification is an instantaneous act of God in which He thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us. In so doing He declares us to be righteous in His sight. This doctrine answers the most pressing question in all of human history. How can a man or woman that are in and of themselves rebellious and sinful ever stand before a just and holy God and be acceptable in His sight? Take a look with me for a minute at Titus 3:4-7.
Titus 3:4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Titus 3:7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Notice the connection between "the kindness of God, His love, His mercy as the reason given that He saved us." The Scripture doesn't go beyond this answer as to WHY you were saved by God Himself. But there are some things that He wants us to know. He did it, and He did it alone! This is made clear for us in Titus 3:5, when it says specifically that God saved us, and He goes on to point out that it was not done on the basis of our righteous deeds. There is nothing in you or me that is deserving of or meriting of our salvation. As a matter of fact if you go back to Titus 3:3 you will see our natural state prior to our regeneration. According to the Scripture we were (past tense) foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lust and pleasures, malice, envy, hateful and hating one another. Again the key question is "how" will a person like this ever be able to stand before a holy God and be freely received into heaven? But now that we have the "WHY", God reveals to us the "HOW" part of the salvation equation. It happens as a two fold process, the first is the doctrine of regeneration which can be seen in the last part of Titus 3:5. The Holy Spirit causes us to be "born again, experience new birth or regenerates us by replacing our heart of stone with a heart of flesh!" The next part of the process is we are then justified through grace alone, by faith alone in Christ alone. And we find this to be true as we read Titus 3:6-7. (Side note the word "justified" in Titus 3:7 is a verb that is written in the passive voice. If you remember from prior examples the passive voice is when the subject is acted upon by the verb. We as believers have been acted upon by God in that He alone is the One who justifies us.)

The Pursuit of God

2009-04-17T15:15:14-04:00

In his book “The Pursuit of God” A.W. Tozer has the following quotation:

Sound Bible exposition is an imperative must in the Church of the living God. Without it no church can be a New Testament church in any strict meaning of that term. But exposition may be carried on in such way as to leave the hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience, they are not the better for having heard the truth. The Bible is not an end in itself, but a means to bring men to an intimate and satisfying knowledge of God, that they may enter into Him, that they may delight in His Presence, may taste and know the inner sweetness of the very God Himself in the core and center of their hearts.

The Christians Bill of Rights

2009-04-16T19:27:10-04:00

From the Camponthis blog site, for the entire article click on this LINK

1. As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we have only one right: and that is to give up all rights to ourselves (2 Cor. 5:14-16; Romans 14:7-9).

2. We have the right to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him (Mt. 16:24-26).

3. We have the right to esteem others more highly than ourselves; and love our neighbor as ourselves (Mt. 22:39; Phil. 2:1-5).

4. We have the right to fulfill the law of Christ in bearing one another's burdens of sin (Gal. 6:1-3).

5. We have the right to be wronged and to maintain a faithful testimony (1 Cor. 6:1-8).

6. We have the right to live in unreciprocated, self-sacrificial love (Eph. 5:1-2).

7. We have the right to forgive others the smaller debt, as God in Christ has forgiven us the larger
debt (Eph. 4:31-32; Matthew 18:12-35).

8. We have the right to suffer for the gospel and to take the blows for the One who took the blows for us (1 Peter 2:21-24)

9. We have the right to be "subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle, showing every consideration for all men" (Titus 3:1-2).

10. We have the right to not be political agitators trading the truth of His Word to play politics with men's souls; thinking that true spiritual change occurs through legislation rather than the transforming power of the gospel of grace. (1 Peter 4:10-16).

Quote for the day

2009-04-16T08:15:00-04:00

“Suppose a man should come to his dinner table, and there should be a knife laid down, and it should be told him, ‘This is the very knife that cut the throat of your child!’ If the man would use this knife as a common knife, would not everyone say, ‘Surely this man had but very little love to his child, who can use this bloody knife as a common knife!’

Look upon the cross on which Christ was crucified, and the pains He suffered thereon—and the seeming sweetness which is in sin, will quickly vanish. When you are solicited to sin, cast your eye upon Christ’s cross; remember His astonishing sufferings for your sin, and sin will soon grow distasteful to your soul. How can sin not be hateful to us—if we seriously consider how hurtful it was to Jesus Christ?”

—Thomas Brooks, “The Golden Key to Open Hidden Treasures”

Survey Time

2009-04-16T06:54:54-04:00

The primary reason for the death of Jesus was... ( surveys)

Roger Nicole on the gospel

2009-04-15T18:34:52-04:00

Since we have been studying the word ATONEMENT I thought this article would be good for us to read as a class. It is by Roger Nicole, from his seminar on the atonement, I hope you enjoy!

Moved by His incomprehensible love for mankind, the Triune God was pleased not to abandon our rebellious and corrupt race to the misery and hell that it justly deserved, but to undertake to save a great multitude of human beings who had absolutely no claim on His mercy.

In order to bring this plan into execution, the second Person of the Godhead, the Son, took unto himself a full human nature, becoming in all things like his brethren and sisters, sin excepted. Thus he became the Second Adam, the head of a new covenant, and he lived a life of perfect obedience to the Divine Law.

Identifying with his own, he bore the penalty of human sin on the cross of Calvary, suffering in the place of the sinner, the just for the unjust, the holy Son of God for the guilty and corrupt children of man.

By his death and resurrection he has provided the basis

* for the reconciliation of God to humans and of humans to God;
* for the propitiation of a righteous Trinity, justly angry at our sins;
* for the redemption of a multitude of captives of sin whose liberty was secured at the great price of His own blood.

He offered himself as an expiatory sacrifice sufficient to blot out the sins of the whole world and secured the utmost triumph over the enemies of our soul: sin, death, and Satan.

Those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus Christ are thus to be absolved from the guilt of all their sins and are adorned with the perfect righteousness of Christ himself. In gratitude to him they are to live lives of obedience and service to their Savior and are increasingly renewed into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This good news of salvation by grace through faith is to be proclaimed indiscriminately to mankind, that is to every man, woman, and child whom we can possibly reach.

Most U.S. Christians don't think Satan and Holy Spirit exist

2009-04-15T09:17:54-04:00

ATTENTION-ATTENTION-ATTENTION Learning and Living the God-centered Life Community!

This article came out on April 13, 2009 in the Christian Post. If you want to see the original article just click on this LINK.

However I have copied and put as a blog article in order for you all to see why it is so important that we understand sound Biblical doctrine. If you read this article and digest the stats you will quickly learn that many Christians are living in Biblical ignorance. Folks if we are ignorant of the basic truths in God’s word how are we ever going to live out the Christian life in a way that pleases God?

Is doctrine important? Absolutely, and after reading this article I rest my case.

The majority of American Christians do not believe that Satan is a real being or that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, the latest Barna survey found.

Nearly six out of ten Christians either strongly agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement that Satan "is not a living being but is a symbol of evil," the survey found.

Forty percent strongly agreed with the statement while 19 percent of American Christians somewhat agreed.

In contrast, about 35 percent of American Christians believe Satan is real. Twenty-six percent strongly disagreed with the statement that Satan is merely symbolic and about one-tenth (9 percent) somewhat disagreed.

The remaining eight percent of American Christians responded they were unsure what to believe about the existence of Satan.

Interestingly, the majority of Christians believe a person can be under the influence of spiritual forces, such as demons or evil spirits, even though many of these same people believe Satan is merely a symbol of evil. Two out of three Christians agreed that such forces are real (39 percent agreed strongly, 25 percent agreed somewhat).

Likewise, most Christians in the United States do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force. Fifty-eight percent strongly or somewhat agreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is "a symbol of God's power or presence but is not a living entity."

Only one-third of Christians disagreed with the statement that the Holy Spirit is not just symbolic (9 percent disagreed somewhat, 25 percent disagreed strongly). Nine percent expressed they were unsure.

Interestingly, about half (49 percent) of those who agreed that the Holy Spirit is only a symbol but not a living entity, agreed that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches. The Bible states that the Holy Spirit is God's power or presence, not just symbolic.

"Most Americans, even those who say they are Christian, have doubts about the intrusion of the supernatural into the natural world," commented George Barna, founder of The Barna Group and author of books analyzing research concerning America's faith.

"Hollywood has made evil accessible and tame, making Satan and demons less worrisome than the Bible suggests they really are," he said. "It's hard for achievement-driven, self-reliant, independent people to believe that their lives can be impacted by unseen forces."

But a large majority of American Christians agree that a person must choose to side with either good or evil. More than six out of ten American Christians strongly agreed (61 percent) with the idea that a person must either side with God or with the devil - that there is no in-between position. Another 15 percent somewhat agreed.

Just one out of ten adults disagreed somewhat (10 percent) and a similar proportion (11 percent) strongly disagreed. Only a few adults (3 percent) did not have an opinion on the issue.

Mark 6:31 and our Retreat

2009-04-15T07:54:46-04:00

Mark 6:31 And He *said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.

We live in the most hectic and technologically advanced time in human history. The stress levels that most Americans live under are huge and they continue to rise in lieu of our present economy. I have watched and been amazed that when Americans get in crisis they tend to isolate instead of congregate. It is as if we have a built in program that reads “if its to be then it is up to me.” Because of this mentality the average Christian experiences very little of Acts 2:42, in which believers were constantly coming together for teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer.

Therefore I ask that you who are going to the retreat or may still be considering it look with me at Mark 6:31. The context of this verse is the disciples have just finished their first missionary journey and have picked up the body of John the Baptist. This was a very stressful time in their lives and also the life of Christ. But this is how Jesus teaches them and us to handle the stress and the overwhelming challenges that pound on us in this life.

Whenever you say to a typical American that you are stressed out they almost immediately respond with “you need to get away.”
But notice that the Lord Jesus say we need to “come away.” Do you realize that when He says “come away” it is in the form of an invitation? When you come to Jesus then you must leave where you are, and go to where He is. I am so excited to know that the Lord Jesus is already at Ridgecrest and as He has gone before us He is giving us the invitation to come.

Preview of Justification

2009-04-14T10:00:30-04:00

This coming Sunday, Lord willing, I am going to start with JUSTIFICATION and there will be no review of the previous two weeks. For those who have been traveling or haven’t gone to the blog notes, I will have audio CD’s available if that is your primary learning style.
Keep in mind we are still talking about the Trinity and Salvation as we finish up on what I am calling the front view of the cross. This is the view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of what Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before God. Since we are in the Easter season I decided to highlight these important Biblical words as they relate to the Trinity and our salvation. The past two weeks I have emphasized both ATONEMENT and PROPITIATION.

Allow me to encourage you to read through these notes and as time permits to review the associated Bible passages. We are going to pick up the pace a bit this week as we have the final word REDEMPTION on our teaching agenda for April 26.

Martin Luther referred to the doctrine of justification as the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls. Because it is upon this that all sinful human beings stand or fall.
In the Apostles Creed we confess that the church is holy and yet the church is holy in so far as it embraces and is covered with the righteousness of Christ. And that occurs when the church proclaims such a true gospel as the New Testament presents and lives by it. This means the holiness and righteousness of the church is fully dependent upon the righteousness and holiness of Christ and in that alone.
It further means that each individual is unto themselves sinful and we may only reckon ourselves as holy and righteous in our standing before God solely on the basis of the justifying work and the atonement that is ours in Christ Jesus.

So here will be our working definition for justification. Justification is an instantaneous act of God in which He thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us. In so doing He declares us to be righteous in His sight.

But we naturally want to ask, how can God say that we are righteous and declare that to be so when in fact we are not righteous?

Justification is forensic, meaning that it has to do with the legal proceedings in a court of law. What God does in justification after we have believed in Christ, which means we have trusted in Christ for forgiveness of sins, then God declares that we have no penalty for our sins or we are now right in His sight.

Scriptural support
Romans 8:1
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 4:6-8
Rom. 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
Rom. 4:7 “BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN,
AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED.
Rom. 4:8 “BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.”

Retreat Agenda for May 1-3

2009-04-13T13:45:21-04:00

Brimberry/Jones Class Retreat

Friday, May 1st to Sunday, May 3rd

Digging Deeper… In His Word…Growing Stronger… In His Grace

Friday, May 1

Check-In Begins 3:30 p.m. Main Desk

Dinner 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. (meet in hotel lobby @ 5:15)

Opening Session 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.

Saturday, May 2

Breakfast 7:15 – 8:15 a.m.

Session 8:30 – 9:45 a.m.

Break 9:45 – 10:00 a.m.

Session 10:00 – 11:45 a.m.

Women’s Session 11:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Men’s Free Time 11:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Lunch 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Free Time Various Group Activities Available

Dinner 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Session 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

Sunday, May 3

Breakfast 7:15 – 8:15 a.m.

Sunday Celebration 8:30 – 9:45 a.m.

Break 9:45 – 10:00 a.m.

(Time to remove luggage from room and return keys to Kay Jones)

Session 10:00 – 11:45 a.m.

Lunch 12:00

Back to Charlotte After lunch

Doctrine is Practical

2009-04-13T09:02:07-04:00

This is an article from Pulpit Magazine. If you want to review the entire article then click on this LINK.

People often ask why I emphasize doctrine so much. Now and then someone tells me frankly that my preaching needs to be less doctrinal and more practical.

Of course, practical application is vital. I don’t want to minimize its importance. But if there is a deficiency in preaching today, it is that there’s too much relational, pseudopsychological, and thinly life-related content, and not enough emphasis on sound doctrine.

The distinction between doctrinal and practical truth is artificial; doctrine is practical! In fact, nothing is more practical than sound doctrine.

The pastor who turns away from preaching sound doctrine abdicates the primary responsibility of an elder: “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). We teach truth, we teach error, or we teach nothing at all.

Building on the Truth

Practical insights, gimmicks, and illustrations mean little if they’re not attached to divine principle. There’s no basis for godly behavior apart from the truth of God’s Word. Before the preacher asks anyone to perform a certain duty, he must first deal with doctrine. He must develop his message around theological themes and draw out the principles of the texts. Then the truth can be applied.

Romans provides the clearest example. Paul doesn’t give any exhortation until he has given eleven chapters of theology.

He scales incredible heights of truth, culminating in 11:33-36, where he says, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

Then in chapter 12, he turns immediately to the practical consequences of the doctrine of the first 11 chapters. No passage in Scripture captures the Christian’s responsibility in the face of truth more clearly than Romans 12:1-2.

Resting on eleven chapters of profound doctrine, Paul calls each believer to a supreme act of spiritual worship — giving oneself as a living sacrifice. Doctrine gives rise to dedication to Christ, the greatest practical act. And the remainder of the book of Romans goes on to explain the many practical outworkings of one’s dedication to Christ.

Review for April 12

2009-04-13T04:47:55-04:00

We are all familiar with the expression “your eyes were bigger than your stomach.” In a sense that is what happens each week as I prepare and study these truths from God’s word. I finish my notes and then transfer them to Power Point with the expectation that it can be covered in class. However each week it seems that I always have almost twice as much as I actually can cover on any given Sunday.

In class yesterday I fully expected to cover “JUSTIFICATION” as it relates to the Trinity and salvation but I never got to those notes. In the economy of teaching it is my conclusion that the Lord had other plans and wanted us again to focus on “ATONEMENT AND PROPITIATION.” As we have now moved into the Doctrine of God and specifically the Trinity, here are some of the test questions to date:

Do you understand why the Trinity is essential for us to study?
Can you start to articulate a Biblical definition of the Trinity?
How is the Trinity important as it relates to our salvation? In your answer list each Person of the Trinity and their role and relationship to the process of salvation.
What do we mean when we talk about the “front view” of the cross?
And what Biblical words do we associate with a front view of the cross?
Can you define each of these words, provide an illustration and then give some Scriptural support for your answer?
What do we mean when we talk about a “back view” of the cross?
Can you define each of these words, provide an illustration and then give some Scriptural support for your answer?

The notes included in this section cover what we went over in class yesterday and also will give a preview for next weeks class. At this time my plan is to briefly cover the doctrine of justification as it relates to the Trinity. Just so you can know the importance of justification, Martin Luther said that on this very doctrine the church either stands or falls.

Allow me to encourage you to take some time this week to review these notes. We are building a foundation of Bible basics that will be there for years to come as you read and study the Scriptures. This is not like fast food service where you show up get you food, eat it and go home. This is going to require patience, diligence and prayer as you process through these essential doctrines in God’s word. It is better to review for 30 minutes each day than to try and absorb 2 hours on one specific day. Again I thank you for the faithfulness and attentiveness that I see in class from week to week. These are not easy things but it is my prayer that as you read, study and have your devotions they will be life transforming things.

Blessings

Atonement, Propitiation and Justification

View more presentations from BertBrim.

Audio for Sunday’s class on Atonement and Propitiation

Pre-retreat planning team

2009-04-10T10:27:34-04:00

This retreat planning is tough work but someone has to do it. On Thursday we took a day trip up to Ridgecrest to check out the facilities again and to finalize some of the last minute details. On the way back we stopped by Lake James so that we could finish debriefing all the details. It was very intense and hard but we were able to manage.

Quote for the day

2009-04-07T11:59:44-04:00

Let the old saints be our example. They came to the Word of God and meditated. They laid the Bible on the old-fashioned, handmade chair, got down on the old, scrubbed, board floor and meditated on the Word. As they waited, faith mounted. The Spirit and faith illuminated.

They had only a Bible with fine print, narrow margins and poor paper, but they knew their Bible better than some of us do with all of our helps. Let’s practice the art of Bible meditation… Let us open our Bibles, spread them out on a chair and meditate on the Word of God. It will open itself to us, and the Spirit of God will come and brood over it. - A.W. Tozer

Review of April 5

2009-04-06T10:21:13-04:00

The subject that we are discussing and teaching on right now is the Trinity. Therefore yesterday we focused on two important words as they relate to the Trinity. The first word we covered was ATONEMENT. Who is the Person of the Trinity that makes atonement for our sin? And as you know the answer is God the Son, Jesus Christ. The next word we discussed in greater detail was PROPITIATION.
One of my goals is to re-introduce to us in the church important Biblical words that have for the most part be neglected over the past 3 decades. Also to show how the Old Testament relates to the New Testament in the meaning of these words. This is why brothers and sisters in Christ that it is important to read through the whole Bible in order to digest the unity of Scripture. Even though I will only be able to briefly cover these different aspects I am hoping it will motivate you to greater study in these areas.

Also please note that today I will include the class review in this article instead of inserting the typical power point notes. Just so you know these words will be coming back into play when we get to the “DOCTRINE OF SALVATION.” But at this point I am introducing them since we are coming upon Easter Sunday and also because we are looking at the Trinity and our salvation.

ATONEMENT

Can you think of the last time you used the word atonement in a conversation? In general it is not a word that we use often nor are we that familiar with or so it seems.

In general the word ATONEMENT is the reparation or price that is paid for wrong doing.

Below is a simple but I think helpful illustration to get the term and concept in your mind.
If you park in a restricted zone down town to go into a store and you get a ticket, that would be considered a wrong doing before the law and you now must pay $35. This is considered to be the price for your atonement. And when you pay the $35 your status moves from guilt to innocent through the atonement made via the payment.

Well, what about the term “vicarious atonement” or “substitutionary atonement,” what does this mean?

Go back to the parking ticket illustration:
You are the guilty party and you owe the $35, but someone else steps in and pays the $35 for you. As long as they are innocent and don’t owe for any outstanding parking tickets, then the clerk will take their $35 and apply it to your account. And though you were guilty you are not innocent but this time through a vicarious atonement, which means one in the stead of another.

In the New Testament we learn from our reading and study that Jesus Christ, the innocent One has made atonement for our sins at the cross. There is much to say on this subject but let’s look at some verses that can support this doctrine of “vicarious or substitutionary atonement.”

Romans 3:24-27
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Be aware of good Bible interpretation

2009-04-03T19:31:17-04:00

Pastor Bob DeWaay will help you understand what this means as he says:

The meaning of the Scripture is determined by the Holy Spirit inspired author. In other words, these writers were inspired by the Spirit, and so [what they wrote] didn’t come from their will, it came from the Holy Spirit Who spoke from God. So therefore the interpretation of the Scripture is to determine the meaning of the Holy Spirit inspired author.

Now your own interpretation would be the postmodern idea that reader determines the meaning. A private interpretation is “this means this to me.” Have you ever been to a Bible study where they do that? Everybody gets their Bible. “Read a verse.” And you read a verse. [Then someone asks], “What’s that mean to you?” [Looking around the room], “What’s that mean to you? What’s that mean to you?” [And so on]. “Okay, next verse.”

Well, what do you have but private interpretation? Somebody’s saying I’m going to infuse my meaning into the Scripture rather than finding out what the Holy Spirit said to me through the Holy Spirit-inspired author.

Nothing more practical than SOUND DOCTRINE

2009-04-02T12:29:47-04:00

The article below is important for our Sunday School Community to read and to study. This morning I came across an article from Dr. John MacArthur and am in total agreement with his thoughts on the importance of doctrine. Our curriculum this year is focused on first learning doctrine before we discuss application of doctrine. Recently I had an extended conversation with a Christian regarding the practical application of the Bible. The person has a hyper-focus on wanting everything to be applied immediately while spending no time on the foundational components of doctrine. When one is intent on studying application instead of the doctrine then you are working on the wrong end of the problem. May I encourage you to grab a pen and highlighter and study this article.

But now and then someone tells me frankly that my preaching needs to be less doctrinal and more practical.

Practical application is vital. I don’t want to minimize its importance. But the distinction between doctrinal and practical truth is artificial; doctrine is practical! In fact, nothing is more practical than sound doctrine.

Too many Christians view doctrine as heady and theoretical. They have dismissed doctrinal passages as unimportant, divisive, threatening, or simply impractical. A best-selling Christian book I just read warns readers to be on guard against preachers whose emphasis is on interpreting Scripture rather than applying it.

Wait a minute. Is that wise counsel? No it is not.

There is no danger of irrelevant doctrine; the real threat is an undoctrinal attempt at relevance. Application not based on solid interpretation has led Christians into all kinds of confusion.

No discipline is more sorely needed in the contemporary church than expositional biblical teaching. Too many have bought the lie that doctrine is something abstract and threatening, unrelated to daily life.

It is in vogue to substitute psychology and spoon-fed application for doctrinal substance, while demeaning theological and expositional ministry.

But the pastor who turns away from preaching sound doctrine abdicates the primary responsibility of an elder: “holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9).

Practical insights, gimmicks, and illustrations mean little if they’re not attached to divine principles. There’s no basis for godly behavior apart from the truth of God’s Word.

The glory of God

2009-03-31T21:01:15-04:00

I really enjoy taking photos when we come to the beach. As you view the pictures above mediate on the glory of God.

Have you ever seen a sunset over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean when the sunlight streams through the clouds to bring out shades of red, yellow and violet?

Have you ever been to a movie that kept you captivated for two hours?

Have you ever been a the top of a 10,000 foot mountain and seen a panoroma of the city below?

Have you ever been to the Indianapolis 500 or the Coca Cola 600 and heard the sound and seen the speed of those race cars?

Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?

Have you ever seen Tiger Wood’s make the last putt of the day to win a golf tournament?

Have you ever heard Pavarotti sing Nessun Dorma?

Have you ever seen a great white shark attack a sea lion?

Have you ever been inside St. Peter's cathedral?

Have you ever watched the "Blue Angels" do an air show?

Folks, we are hard wired or you might even say "spring loaded" from birth to be amazed and awed by splendor, greatness, power, and majesty! Just think of the times in your own life when, like the examples listed above, something or someone has caused you to be mesmerized in the moment so to speak. Do you know what happens when you are in that moment? You totally forget or have any awareness of self and you are totally captivated by the richness, power and glory of the thing on which you are focused.

Now just take that thought process and move it over onto God Himself. This is the very reason you and I were made to enjoy and display the glory of God!

Preview for Sunday - April 5

2009-03-31T19:18:32-04:00

This coming Sunday the plan is for us to look at what I will call the front view of the cross. In doing so we will talk about in more detail the words atonement, propitiation and justification. As I have had the privilege to teach over the years I want to tell you what has been criticized the most. It has been those who equate the learning of Bible doctrine, to a person who is a spiritual egghead who ends up knowing all the facts but does nothing about what he knows.

However when one comes to a healthy understanding of the Bible it clearly says learn correctly in order to live correctly. My point here is don’t discount or underestimate the power of learning God’s word. We are not people who are worshipping the word, but rather we look to and rely on Christ in all things through His revealed word. I hope you see the difference. Regardless, we are not learning doctrine to be contestants on Bible jeopardy but in order that we may be transformed into the likeness of Christ. In most cases the biggest critics of intense study in Bible doctrine comes from those who have little passion or desire for the word of God. Allow me to challenge you as I was challenged during the early years of Bible study. My former Bible teacher used to make the following statement with piercing eyes and much passion “you can be no closer to the Lord Jesus Christ that you are to His word!” When ever he would make that statement the room would almost always be left in an eerie silence. He would not leave it, but would stay there long enough to come eye to eye with what seemed to be every person in the class. I fully expect and welcome criticism that scours at an intense study of doctrine and words like atonement, propitiation and justification. But these critics whether they be in or outside the church must stand accountable to Christ on that day. And I say if we are ashamed of the digging into and understanding of His word, then that translates into being ashamed of Him. How might we claim that we love Christ and yet we have no love for His word? OK, time for me to get off my soapbox before I fall off and hurt myself.

When we come to the cross we can see that it provides a solution for two basic problems.
We can understand that we are perpetrators, and the Scriptures tell us that while we were enemies that Christ died for us. The Scriptures are telling us of the guilt that we have as humans due our rebellion against God’s holy and just will for our lives. And therefore that puts us under God’s wrath and condemnation. The words atonement, propitiation and justification focus on the significance of what Jesus has done to overcome our problem of guilt in order that we would be able to regain God’s favor. And through His this atonement He has satisfied the penalty that was against us and now God declares us as righteous in His sight. I am calling this the “front view” of the cross.

But there is another side to the cross because there is another problem with sin. We are not only perpetrators but we are also victims. This means that we are brought into this world in bondage to the forces of sin, death and the devil. We do not have the personal resources to rescue us from this bondage in order to live as God intended us to live in a fellowship relationship with Him.

So what I am calling the “back view” of the cross looks at the cross with the terms in the New Testament.
We also come to understand what Jesus has done to deliver us from the evil forces and powers. And in this sense His work on the cross redeems or buys us back, a kind of deliverance by achieving a victory over those forces through redemptive work. We looked at this is some detail during the 5 weeks in our study of Romans 6 which was titled “Be who you are in Christ.” The words that we are going to focus on in regard to the back view of the cross are REDEMPTION and RANSOM.

But for now and the next two weeks we are concerned with a “front view” of the cross as it relates to the Trinity. I want to encourage all of you studying along with us to re-read the notes that I posted this past Sunday. These notes are not exhaustive but enough to get us started as we come to grips with these key Bible doctrines. Within these notes are the subjects of atonement and propitiation and now we need to deal with the last subject which is justification.

Review of March 29

2009-03-30T12:59:21-04:00

We live in a world that is about pragmatism and relativism. Today as people look at their spiritual lives there are fewer and fewer absolutes that they are willing to accept. In 2008 Granger Community Church (10,000 member plus mega-church), whose senior pastor is Mark Beeson, reported that 60% of those attending don't believe the Bible is the authoritative word of God. I remind you that Granger is a non denominational evangelical church. Please understand I am not picking on Granger but hopefully you can see where a mission field exists today in America. The key mission field, in my opinion, exists within the walls of the church. I stand with and proclaim with the apostle Paul "that I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power unto salvation for all who believe..."

Therefore this past Sunday, and for the next two Sundays we will be focused on the Trinity and salvation. I am purposesly taking the time to emphasize the different aspects of the gospel as Easter Sunday approaches. Next Sunday I plan to cover three words that are critical to learning and living a cross-centered life.
1. Atonement
2. Propitiation
3. Justification

Romans 3:21-26 are the verses I am asking you to meditate on for this week. Even though the word atonement is not used per say, we can see these Biblical truth vividly displayed in this great text. Atonement means the price that is paid for wrong doing. Therefore since we could not pay for our own wrong doing against God, we in fact needed a substitute. And of course that substitute was Christ Himself. This particular doctrine so essential to the orthodox church is called "substitutionary atonement or vicarious atonement." This means that the Lord Jesus, the one who was tempted as we were and yet was without sin, He is the one who actually makes the payment for our sin. Remember the wages of sin is death and so He in fact atones for sin via His death on the cross, so that we who are guilty before a righteous and holy God may be declared innocent. This isn’t just a show or a nice object lesson to show us the value of sacrifice as an example, but Christ enters into the Holy of Holies before God the Father and makes the payment for our sins. Jesus sacrifices His life through the shedding of His blood and death in our stead and thereby making an atonement for our sins.

Ministry at Habitat

2009-03-28T16:58:02-04:00

Carl Barthelson has been involved with the Habitat Restore Ministry for the last 2 years. Thanks to Carl for heading this up in our class and to those who came out and served. Hopefully this will be the start of another opportunity for our SS community to be involved in kingdom building in Charlotte.

New Community Member

2009-03-27T16:55:35-04:00

We were not able to get his name last week. He came in to the class fast, listened fast, and left so fast that no one saw him, spoke to him or even knew he was there. But I did received an email this week. He has read through the Bible three times this past week, has attended all Bible studies at Carmel, and is presently serving on each committee and is involved in every activity within the church. He officially joined our class and every other community class that meets on Sunday.
Who is this masked man?

Women's Ministry

2009-03-26T21:28:22-04:00

Foundations for our study of the Trinity

2009-03-26T20:04:09-04:00

In the following weeks I am going to be laying out some basic foundations for our study of the Trinity. The first four I am teaching will be as follows:

The Trinity and salvation - the doctrine of the Trinity is both central and necessary for our salvation. If we should remove the Trinity then the whole Christian faith would disintegrate.

The Trinity and prayer - The Christian’s life of prayer must rightly acknowledge the roles of Father, son and Spirit as we pray to the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Sprit.

The Trinity and worship - If we are going to worship Biblically then worship of the true and living God consciously acknowledges the relationship and roles of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit.

The Trinity and what makes it distinct from other religions and it’s place in church history - The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith and therefore is deserving of our careful study, passionate embrace and thoughtful application.

May I encourage those who are actively involved in this study of doctrine to read again the following blog article? This will set in motion some thought processes as we come this week to the Trinity as it regards our salvation. I start out the blog article with the following statement “First of all in regard to our salvation we must have One that is paying the penalty for our sins.” Another name for this is atonement.

Since this is a term Christians have heard but may not have studied we will take a few minutes in our class to define and discuss ATONEMENT. Here are some introductory notes that you can review for homework prior to class on Sunday.

THE SUBJECT OF ATONEMENT
What is vicarious atonement?
We are more familiar with the word atonement, which means a price to be paid for wrong doing.

Illustration:
If you park in a restricted zone down town to go into a store and you get a ticket, that would be considered a wrong doing before the law and you now must pay $35. This is now considered to be the price for your atonement. And should you pay the $35 your status moves from guilt to innocent through the atonement made via the payment.

But now we bring into the picture a phrase called vicarious atonement.

The Power of the Gospel

2009-03-26T19:46:49-04:00

Our community retreat is May 1-3 at Ridgecrest in Asheville. The topic is going to be “The Gospel.” Therefore over the next couple of months I will include various gospel encouragements on our blog site.

This is a great story regarding the power of the gospel.

Quote for the day

2009-03-26T18:20:24-04:00

See to it that you fasten your attention on God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason." ~ Martin Luther

Beware of your background

2009-03-26T12:23:49-04:00

Several weeks ago while teaching I warned those in the class of my past activities. In particular I mentioned a video that I hoped would never surface regarding my background and former business involvement. However in these days of instant information, headline news, internet and you tube the inevitable has happened. Just remember before you watch and make any judgments this was life prior to involvement in full time ministry. Here is the video, again please don't be too critical. Click on this LINK.

ESV Study Bible - 2009 Book of the Year

2009-03-25T11:44:04-04:00

On Thursday, March 19, 2009, The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced the winners of the 2009 Christian Book Awards during the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

The ESV Study Bible, which has sold more than 180,000 units within five months of release, won both its category for best Bible as well as the overall Christian Book of the Year award. This is the first time in the award's 30-year history that a study Bible was named Christian Book of the Year.

Crossway President Lane Dennis called the recognition "stunning." He said the reaction to the Bible had been remarkable, and he credited the "tremendous" team at Crossway for its development. "It's amazing to think about the impact it's having worldwide, that especially during challenging times, people are turning to God's Word," he told Christian Retailing. "It's his gift--what an honor it is to publish it."

The Christian Book Awards winners were selected from 218 products submitted by ECPA member publishers in 2008.

In celebration of winning the Book of the Year award, we are pleased to provide a 35% discount on all print editions of the ESV Study Bible thru April 8, 2009. Just click on this LINK.

Happiness of the soul

2009-03-25T08:30:11-04:00

During the first 8 months we have been focusing on the importance of Bible reading, devotion and study. One of my goals as we continue, is to introduce our community to heroes of the Christian faith down through the church history. Over my years in full time ministry I have noticed much attention that is paid to contemporary writers of Christian material. Record sales have been recorded with books such as “The Prayer of Jabez”, “The Purpose Driven Life” and even more recently “Your Best Life Now.”
However I remember years ago a pastor/theologian said that the first thing after the Bible he recommended were the autobiographies of great Christian men and women throughout church history.

The following is quoted from the autobiography of George Mueller. Please pay close attention to what George Mueller discovered about the word of God and its application for his own life. This article is lengthy but well worth the time and underlining different sections as we continue on in our “learning and living the God-centered life.”

It has recently pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now, while preparing the fifth edition for the press, more than fourteen years have since passed away. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.
How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!
- George Mueller

The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.

For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing to give myself to prayer, after having dressed myself in the morning. Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.
I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning.

Heroes of the faith - A.W. Tozer

2009-03-24T06:52:50-04:00

This past Sunday morning I included a quote from A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) in our teaching lesson. I am particularly fond of his best selling book “The Knowledge of the Holy.” In these days of trendy Christian books and self help messages may I recommend to you A.W. Tozer.

Putting on Trinitarian Eyeglasses

2009-03-24T05:27:46-04:00

Have you ever looked at Romans 3:21-26 from a Trinitarian perspective? Allow me to go through this with you for a minute in this blog article. The objective is to show why the Trinity is essential for us in our own salvation and in the church.
Rom. 3:21 ¶ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom. 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom. 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
Rom. 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

First of all in regard to our salvation we must have One that is paying the penalty for our sins. In Romans 3:21-26 we can see that person is in fact God the Son. Please keep in mind, and we will study this later, God the Son is both fully God and fully man. He is not part God and part man but is all of each. Therefore as man, Christ is the one who make the substitute for us. The Lord Jesus has to be one of us, in order to take our place by His death on the cross. But if He is just one of us that will not accomplish the atonement. Therefore He must be 100% man in order to take our place, and 100% God in order to make an acceptable sacrifice.

Review of March 22

2009-03-22T17:02:52-04:00

In class this morning the outline was as follows:
Part 1 - A word about DOCTRINE
Part 2 - Why do we need to study the DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
Part 3 - A.W. Tozer’s evaluation of the modern churches view of God
Part 4 - Foundations of the Trinity - Reason #1 The Trinity and Salvation

In class next week, Lord willing, we will begin with The Trinity and Salvation. During these coming months I will be pulling notes, audio, video and resource materials from many different authors, pastors, theologians and teachers. The list will include people like John Frame, Stephen Charnock, Wayne Grudem, Paul Washer, Mark Kielar and Dr. Bruce Ware just to name a few. In many cases this information comes to you straight from notes I have gathered through my own personal study over the years and does not alway have the footnotes available. In the next few weeks I will lean heavily on Dr. Bruce Ware and his tremendous insight in regard to the Trinity. For those of you who are interested in more study on this topic may I highly recommend his book THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.

The notes from today that you can view below will give you a review and preview of next week’s class. Please be patient as we move into the DOCTRINE OF GOD. Some of these things will require some time and meditation but I promise you it will be worth it.
Allow me to continue to exhort you to know these basic doctrines of the Bible. Again I point us all to 2 Timothy 2:15 - “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
I am so excited to be on this journey with you as we together are learning and living the God-centered life. May the notes serve to encourage you in personal study as you get in the word so the word can get into you!

Introduction to the Trinity_Part 2

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Also note that audio CD’s are available each week at the table as you come into our class . These are free resources and we encourage you to take them, to listen, and share with others.

The Gospel

2009-03-18T22:19:18-04:00

Never let the Gospel get smaller

2009-03-17T17:39:55-04:00

This article from Dr. John Piper at Desiring God ministries.

Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

* grace gets bigger;
* Christ gets greater;
* his death gets more wonderful;
* his resurrection gets more astonishing;
* the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
* the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
* its global extent gets wider;
* your own sin gets uglier;
* the devil gets more evil;
* the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper;
* its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
* and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.

Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel.... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Doctrine Divides

2009-03-16T19:42:50-04:00

From the Contending and Defending Blog Site:

Whenever you hear this it’s usually followed up with “we all worship the same God” and “can’t we all get along?”

Whenever the mantra “doctrine divides” is employed, it’s always with a negative connotation. But have you stopped to ponder why?

Allow me to submit for your consideration, that “doctrine divides” is actually a good thing–a positive thing. It’s true that “doctrine divides,” and here’s what it divides:

The ones just wanting to be fed from the ones willing to take up their cross.

The false conversions from the true conversions.

The ones under law from the ones under grace.

The swine from the pearls.

The profane from the holy.

The tares from the wheat.

The goats from the sheep.

The wolves from the flock.

The hirelings from the shepherds.

The “other gospels” from the one true Gospel.

The false christs from the one true Christ.

The darkness from the Light.

The lies from the Truth.

The errors from the facts.

The wicked from the righteous.

The wide gate from the narrow gate.

The broad road from the narrow road.

and

The many paths from the only Way.

Doctrine divides; doctrine divides; thank God Almighty, doctrine divides!

Review of March 15

2009-03-16T09:19:53-04:00

Sunday was moving day for our community called “Learning and Living the God-centered life.” We moved from an 8 month study of the importance of Bible reading, study and devotion and now we are transitioning into the DOCTRINE OF GOD.
The first task for us to undertake in this doctrinal area is that of the TRINITY. So in our class on Sunday my objective was three-fold.
Objective #1 - to help us as a community look toward the future which is our upcoming retreat May 1-3 which we are calling “The Gospel.” I also gave a short bio on myself for those new to the class who are wondering about my background, and how Nancy and I came to teach at Carmel.

Objective #2 - to be sure we understand the past by challenging the community with 5 questions to consider from Romans 6:1-14. I called this section during our time together yesterday “A Blast from the Past.”

Objective #3 - to move us into our study of the Trinity. How many of us have studied the Trinity in the last year, 3 years, 5 years or at all in our Christian lives? Well, I am so excited about us studying this aspect of the Doctrine of God. Here is the format for our study of the Trinity during the weeks to come:

Introduction to the Trinity
Foundation as to why we need to study the Trinity
Historical look at the Trinity in the church
Theological definition and relationships of each member of the Trinity

The Trilogy of Ricky the Raccoon

2009-03-13T20:00:42-04:00

It was just a normal Friday afternoon or so we thought. The dogs started to bark and when we looked out into the backyard there was “Ricky the Raccoon.” At first I thought no big deal he is just passing through and then he started to climb the back steps. And here is the rest of the story.

Join us for the trilogy of Ricky the Raccoon.
Part 1 - Ricky gets on the porch
Part 2 - Ricky gets away from the house
Part 3 - Ricky gets caught by animal control

Coming to a theatre near you...
THE ENTRY

THE ESCAPE

THE END OF THE LINE

Beware of "application only" approach to Scripture

2009-03-13T06:43:35-04:00

This is an excellent article to help those in our class understand the importance and distinction between doctrine and application. We have become a culture that focuses on the results. Therefore when you get into the American church things can be driven by application instead of doctrine. And as my old boss used to say that means you are simply working on the wrong end of the problem. The following article is written by Michael C. Patton who has a blog called Parchment and Pen. I hope you will take time to read and process in light of our class that is both about learning and living the God-centered life. Our curriculum is first and foremost about learning sound Biblical doctrine and this article explains why that is a good thing.

Belief is no good without practice is a stupid statement. Yes, I have read James (once or twice).

My argument has been pretty simple so far. God is glorified when he is known truly. God is glorified by our trust in what he says. It is God’s great pleasure to reveal himself to his children. God is glorified when he is known and understood. God desires orthodoxy and right belief.

But some of my comments have made some people very uncomfortable, especially this one (emphasized in italics):

I was in a small group venting about my expository preaching class ten years ago. I said, “They are trying to get me to pull out direct immediate application—something for the people to do—out of every sermon.” I complained about this. My group of young seminarians were divided. I told them that not only were some passages of Scripture not able to produce direct immediate application without sinful manipulation, but sometimes, I told them, “God simply wants us to believe what he said. This is application enough!”

In our Evangelical/emerging climate, we have those who seem to have come to some sort of personal epiphany about the problem with the church. “Doctrine divides and causes problems.” Fair enough. “Christians have the tendency to have an arrogant attitude about doctrine, systematically condemning those who don’t agree with them on everything and, in doing so, fail to express love. They elevate correct doctrine above love.” Agreed. “Therefore, we should quit talking about doctrine and just love each other.” Time out! Love without truth is not Christian.

“But what does being doctrinally correct actually do? How can it help the world today? How does it alleviate oppression? How does it feed the hungry? How does it promote equality? And what about the environment?”

You see? There you go again. You think that this life is about you. You think it is about man. You think that if it does not effect the world within the next hour or day or week, according to your standards, it is a bad stewardship of your time.

“Belief is no good without practice.” Translation in our generation: “Since right belief (doctrine, systematic theology, understanding, etc) does not evidence itself in practical matters immediately and causes people to be arrogant, we should not even worry about belief at all and just get out there and “do” what we know is right. Orthodoxy is bad. Orthopraxy is good.”

This fails to understand that right belief itself is the application—the ultimate application. How so? Because belief will always produce of itself. This belief will sometimes evidence itself in ways that are immediate and sometimes in ways that become an integral part of a persons life and personality. (Hang with me).

How to Read the Bible

2009-03-12T14:35:16-04:00

Pastor Ray Ortlund writes from his blog site Christ is Deeper Still

There are two ways to read the Bible.

We can read it as law or as promise.

If we read the Bible as law, we will find on every page what God is telling us we should do. Even the promises will be conditioned by demand. But if we read the Bible as promise, we will find on every page what God is telling us he will do. Even the commands are conditioned by provision.

In Galatians 3 Paul explains which hermeneutic is the correct one. "This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise" (Galatians 3:17-18).

So, if we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or promise, demand or provision, burden or gift, command or grace, we can just start reading on page one and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first, in God's word to Abram in Genesis 12. Then the law is added later, in Exodus 20. The category "promise" establishes the larger, wraparound framework for everything else added in along the way.

The deepest message of the Bible is the promises of God through grace. The Bible presents itself to us this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there. We must revere them. But they do not provide the hermeneutic with which we make sense of the whole. We can and should understand them as qualified by God's gracious promise in Christ. Should you want to read the entire article click on this LINK.

Bible Interpretation

2009-03-11T17:04:04-04:00

This is from the Theology Today blog site:

Here are 10 simple rules in order to help with proper Bible Interpretation:

Pray! Pray! Pray! The Holy Spirit knows better then you do!
Always know what the verse actually says, not what you think you remember it saying
Take the verse in literary context, don’t just read what you want to read to prove your point and don’t forget the Bible is a mosaic of different kinds of literature meant to be read different ways.
Take the verse in cultural context, just like you saying “it’s raining cats and dogs” is not what you literally meant
Remember the Bible is a whole 66 books! Interpret all verses in relation the other 1000’s of verses
Check the other translations, The variations are complimentary and show the whole picture
The Bible was not originally written in English, go back to the sources
Theological presuppositions are bad, scripture determines doctrine, not the other way around
Check the Theologians’ opinions, (check out the ESV Study Bible) The Ph.D, professor of heart surgery of Harvard is better then your uncle Ted’s heart removal service. Professional opinions matter! (but don’t assume they’re always right)
Assume nothing, be ready to learn, don’t give up. Remember, only God knows everything.

Foundation and Application

2009-03-11T04:46:38-04:00

The evangelical church today must recommit herself to strong Bible based foundations in the lives of those that attend in order that the results will be God honoring application for life. These foundations include but are not limited to the Bible itself, God, man, Christ, the Spirit, and salvation. Can you imagine building a home in which the foundation was suspect? You go into the kitchen one morning and feel the house start to shift and then back to the bedroom and it shifts again. Wouldn’t this impact your attitude and confidence of living in this home? Of course these kinds of examples we know and understand completely in everyday life, but for some reason we seem less inclined to know and understand them when it comes to our spiritual life.

The Lord Jesus says in John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Have we thought much about these kind of statements that Jesus made while He lived on planet earth? Just for a moment let’s look at the opposite of that statement. If a person doesn’t know the truth then the lack of truth will be the very thing that keeps them from getting free or keeps them enslaved. I maintain that the truth here is the truth of His word. And it will be the knowing of His word that frees you from the world, flesh and the devil and frees you to live in and for Christ. This is a very basic example but should teach us that the foundation of truth must be in place before there is an application of that same truth. As a side note just go back one verse and read carefully what Jesus says to those around Him “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” The Greek word for continue is “meno” and it means to abide in, to stay in or to remain in. This is the same word as “abide” that we read in
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
The foundation is abiding in Christ through His word and the application is the bearing of fruit that results from a word transformed life!

Review of March 8

2009-03-08T18:19:16-04:00

BE WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST! In the last month we have been looking this as the theme of Romans 6:1-14. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and it is rich with doctrine and application. Today I gave a 5 question test to check out the understanding of Romans 6:1-14. A good friend and dear brother in the Lord approached me after class and said that this was like trying to take a sip from a fire hose.

So if that was the case for you today may I encourage you to take some time in order to review the study notes. These notes are given to prompt you to further study, prayer and meditation in regard to what we are learning as to Romans 6.

This concludes PHASE #1 of the “Learning and Living the God-centered life” community. We have spent that last 8 months looking at the doctrine of the Bible. And it has been exciting to observe people getting into a consistent reading, studying and devotion time with the word of God. In next week’s class we will begin our study into the DOCTRINE OF GOD.

Sbs Class March 8 2009

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Review of March 1_part 5

2009-03-07T15:14:51-05:00

This will conclude our overview in Romans 6:1-14 that I have titled “Be Who You Are In Christ.” In this last article I want us to look at these 4 imperatives in Romans 6:11-13, and then take a brief look at the summary verse that closes the first half of Romans 6 which is verse 14.
Have you noticed in our thumbnail sketch of Romans 1-6 how the apostle Paul has just given us one truth after the other? He starts out with the truth of the gospel, the truth of righteousness, the truth of God's wrath, the truth of man's sin, the truth of being justified by faith, and in Chapter 6 the truth of grace and regneration. Then in Romans 6:11-13 the apostle Paul actually gives us for the first time a list of 4 imperatives that he exhorts us to do!
1. consider yourselves to be dead to sin
2. do not let sin reign in your mortal body
3. do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin
4. but present yourselves to God

Observe carefully the pattern and structure of the inspired word of God written through the apostle Paul. As you look take note of the way Paul writes in Romans. It should become obvious to you that God first gives the foundation of doctrine before He gives us the application for living!

Also notice that we are not to just be passive in the process of our spiritual growth in Christ. This is not a religion of “let go and let God.” And yet you will notice that Romans 6:10 is something that we must first believe before we take the actions Paul exhorts us to in Romans 6:11-13. This means that our behaviors are preceded by our faith and that without faith the actions that we take will not be glorifying nor pleasing to God. Faith is the seeing, realizing, depending, relying and counting on the facts which are already true. Isn’t it amazing that we can read in Genesis 1 that God speaks the universe into existence with a single word and yet we have trouble believing that He can take care of a particular problem in our lives. It is also good to remember that as Christians this is not a fight of faith in which we are trying to secure a victory. Christ has already been victorious and won the battle and we now are seated with Him in the heavenly realms. Therefore we fight from a position of victory and not for a position of victory.

Here is an overview of Romans 6:11-14
Romans 6:11-13 (exhortation)
Paul’s exhortation that in light of these facts realize what is true of you and act accordingly.

Romans 6:14 (assurance)
True of all Christians having passed from the old realm into the new realm.

So let’s breakdown these verses in order to understand the practical application for our Christian lives.
In Romans 6:11 check out the first imperative which is the word consider:
Consider - reckon, conclude or count upon the fact that you are dead to sin and live unto God. This is absolutely true whether you feel it or not. Grace is now reigning and sin no longer fits into your life because you are a new person.

5 trends in the church today

2009-03-07T07:24:35-05:00

We are a community that is committed to “learning and living” the God centered-life. Therefore from time to time I will post current articles regarding various subjects as to the Christian life. Obviously the church is very important to all of us who are in Christ. The following is article written on a lecture by D.A. Carson as it relates to the church in America. Dr. Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the author of more than 35 books.

D A Carson, September 26, 2008

1. It is important to observe contradictory trends.

Interestingly, Dr. Carson encouraged us to recognize the good things in our current culture. He said we have a lot more good commentaries available to us than we did fifty years ago. Yet, mainline churches have fewer conversions than ever before. This is a contradictory trend, according to Carson.

I understand this to mean that we know more and have access to more information, but it is not resulting in more conversions. We apparently know more about God, but less about His mission to seek and to save those who are lost. Our mainline churches are focusing on the minutia difference between supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism, for example, but are ignoring the call to both know God and to follow his sending us to our neighbor's house. There should be a constant tension between group Bible studies and sharing of one's faith. Otherwise we end up in a holy huddle somewhere arguing about non-essentials.

2. Current evangelical fragments are moving into a new phase -- into polarized "clumps."

Don said evangelicals are identifying themselves in clump-like expressions of evangelicalism (Health/Wealth clump, Openness clump, Arminian clump, etc.). Carson said the National Pastor's Conference (NPC) is as inclusive as possible -- some speakers are stellar while others are simply heretical -- but they include as many unique tribal representatives as possible. "Even Reformed circles are clumping," said Carson, "and the center is emptying out in favor of vague, dilute evangelicalism."

Carson astutely said that old-time gospel would be around until Jesus comes while he believes (as Don humorously put it, "not as a prophet or the son of a prophet, but one who works for a non-profit") that in 25 years nobody will be calling themselves "emergent" but many will still be centralized in the gospel.

I wonder what will replace the center as the varied subcultures of evangelicalism move to the fringes. For orthodox confessionalists, the center is the perfect place for the gospel. We need pastors who call their people "back" to the inner city of the gospel without relenting to the flight to the suburbs of dilute evangelicalism, as Carson put it.

Review of March 1_part 4

2009-03-06T05:31:12-05:00

In our part 3 review we discussed the importance of the word picture that Paul gives regarding baptism in order that we see how this relates to our union in Christ. It not only shows our death with Christ but also the fact that we are now alive with Him.

Romans 6:6 starts with the words “knowing this” and maybe we should ask the question what is it that we need to know? I think the knowing this is referring to the 4 steps that Paul lays out in Romans 6:6
Step #1 that our old self was crucified with Him,
Step #2 that our body of sin might be done away with,
Step #3 that we should no longer be slaves to sin; And finally the goal
Step #4 for he who has died is freed from sin.

I took time in our part 2 review to cover in depth, what I think Paul means when he says we have died to sin which is Step #4. Since that has already been discussed I will simply refer you to those notes and should you want to study this again just click on this LINK.

In this blog I would like to discuss more fully the first 3 points that are listed above in reference to Romans 6:6 so let’s take them one at a time.

Step #1- our old self was crucified with Him
This is your old man (who you were in Adam) that was crucified and this is the tie in that Paul wants us to get when he talks about baptism as a picture in the death and burial of the old man. According to Paul, if you are a Christian then your old man has been crucified, dead and buried. The old man is not still wiggling on the cross and he is not still hiding inside of you. And you are not fighting against the old man because he really is dead.

This may invoke a question from the reader such as the why did God put to death my old man? And from Romans 6:6 we could determine the following:
Reason #1 - so the flesh would no longer rule over me
Reason #2 - so that I am no longer a slave to sin

It is also important to remember that as we read and study Romans 6 we are actually learning what God does when a person is “born again” or they experience the “new birth” or we could say what happens when they are “regenerated.” If you remember in a previous review Romans 6:1 and Romans 6:15 answer questions about grace whereas Romans 6:2-10 and Romans 6:16-23 answer questions regarding regeneration.

Review of March 1_part 3

2009-03-04T07:34:07-05:00

We left off in yesterday’s review discussing what it means to be dead to sin. And we can see that in Romans 6:3-5 the apostle Paul gives us a word picture of what this is like in the ordinance of Baptism.

So when did this happen in which I was crucified with Christ?
It happened when He was crucified.
Well it was purchased for us 2000 years ago when Christ took us with Him to the cross and rose again on our behalf.

Well then when do I actually enter into to this life and experience it?
And that is the day when you are justified by faith through grace in Christ

This is when your old man was crucified and you were risen to walk in newness of life. And that is why Paul refers to baptism in this next verses.
Therefore baptism is the initiation of the Christian life and the testimony to the reality of what has happened in regeneration. It is a picture of the death and burial of the old man and the resurrection of our new man in Christ.
We don’t get the full import of this picture because most people can’t hold their breath that long. But if they could go down in the water for 10 minutes and we could see this represents their death and then when they come up they are rising as a new person into a new life.

Colossians 2:11-12
Col. 2:11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
Col. 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

What did circumcision symbolize? It is just like that of baptism.
It never saved or regenerated anyone to get circumcised just like it never saves or regenerates anyone to get baptized.

Review of March 1_Part 2

2009-03-03T08:00:28-05:00

In our Part 1 review of Romans 6:1-14 we left off with the phrase in Romans 6:2 “died to sin.” And at the conclusion of yesterday’s notes my point was the importance of this phrase in understanding what this means as it relates to our regeneration. Well, maybe the best way to understand this is to first of all try to explain what it DOES NOT mean. I find this to be a very helpful way to study Scripture. Sometimes if you look at the opposite of what is not said or what isn’t said it can help one to understand the truth that is being stated.

First let’s look at what “died to sin” DOES NOT mean
#1 Paul doesn’t say that we are dying to sin, so he is not talking about a process here

#2 Paul doesn’t say we have finally died to sin, which would indicate that we have been dying and now are dead to sin

#3 Paul doesn’t say how shall we who “ought” to die to sin, still live in it

#4 We who determined to die to sin, Because we died based on what happened to us

#5 That the Christian no longer is having a problem with or isn’t affected by sin any longer

WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be dead to sin?
Well we can best understand what Paul means by keeping this in context with what he has been saying. And for that we need to go back to Chapter 5:12-21.

Realm #1 - where there is sin, condemnation and death, and it was in that realm that sin reigns and death reigns

Realm #2 - there is righteousness, life, and justification and where grace reigns and we reign in life because we are in Christ

We have been moved out of the realm in which sin reigns and now have moved into the realm where grace reigns.

Become a legalist in 20 easy to follow steps

2009-03-02T09:27:16-05:00

1. Stay totally away from the local church and the fellowship of believers.

2. Get isolated from others except close family and do nothing but study, remember you are trying to obtain more information NOT transformation.

3. Always demand either orally or silently that you are right no matter what you say or do.

4. Learn to be critical of everyone else and their puny theological takes on the Scripture.

5. Tell others that church history for 2000 years is virtually unimportant and you have some new and very unique takes on God's word.

6. Talk about yourself at every opportunity, your favorite words are I, me and my.

7. Write letters to constantly correct leadership in the church in order to get those dummies back on track, remember you are right!

8. Never submit to anyone, especially pastors or elders even if it is Biblical.

9. Constantly talk about those around you in a way that is condescending and negative way.

10. Learn the best way to twist Scripture so that when you are confronted with sin you can justify it in your own mind.

There's SNOW place like home!

2009-03-02T08:52:05-05:00

After the snow last night I went out this morning and took a short video of this winter blast. Our dogs love the snow and of course I feel it necessary to do a running commentary. Hope you enjoy the snow day!

Review of March 1_Part 1

2009-03-02T05:25:09-05:00

This Sunday we continued on in our “application for the feet” by looking at Romans 6. Since I was gone last week this was a heavy review from our class together on February 15. Before launching into Romans 6 it is helpful to pick up the context that the apostle Paul sets up in Chapters 1-5.

As we move into Romans 6 I want us as a class to understand that Paul is exhorting Christians in this Chapter to “Be Who You Are in Christ!” Even though that may sound a bit strange to us, I have found over the years that far to few Christians have a solid Biblical understanding of who they are in Christ. If you ask the average Christian on the street the following question “are you dead to sin?” they will typically answer no. But Scripture is clear in Romans 6:2 that Christians have died to sin.

Therefore in the very APPLICATION of our Christian lives we should know:
Point #1 - What it means to be dead to sin and alive to Christ?
Point #2 - How did it happen that we are now dead to sin?
Point #3 - How are we now to live on a daily basis in lieu of this fact?
Point #4 - What assurance do I have that I can do so?

My bottom line point for us as a “learning and living the God-centered life” community is that Romans 6 is such an important chapter in understanding “how to” live the Christian life.

Therefore this week my goal will be to do a 5 PART SERIES that will cover the basics of Romans 6:1-14. Please know that this is in no way an exhaustive study but I hope these notes will encourage you to dig in and grasp these nuggets and apply them to your life. I stand on the shoulders of many teachers, pastors and scholars who have gone before me in Romans 6.

In Romans 1:16 the apostle Paul starts to expound of the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Even though Paul had been shamed for the gospel he was not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.

Well, how can the gospel be so powerful?
The way the gospel is so powerful is because it offers us righteousness from God.
Why do I need this righteousness?
Because all men are under the wrath of God.
Do you remember what we discussed is the most right thing that God can do?
The most right thing that God does is to uphold the glory of His name. And the reason that unbelieving men are under the wrath of God is that they have exchanged the glory of God for their own glory.

Review of February 22

2009-02-27T12:35:40-05:00

Thanks again to Pastor Russ Rosser for teaching our class last Sunday morning. Below are the notes from his teaching from the book of Acts. I would like to say publicly what a blessing it is to have both Pastor Russ and Carol at Carmel Baptist Church. And over the years I have affectionally tagged him with the nickname “Papa Russ.”

SBS Class Feb 22 2009 Pastor Acts)

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Essays Christian

Quote for the day

2009-02-25T08:04:17-05:00

“The doctrines of the gospel are meant to mould us so that our lives begin to ’set’ in the likeness of Christ. We have made little or no impression upon the world, for the very reason that the gospel doctrine has made a correspondingly slight impression upon us. It cannot be overemphasized that men and women who have accomplished anything in God’s strength have always done so on the basis of their grasp of truth.”

- Sincalir Ferguson, The Christian Life (Carlisle, Pa.: Banner of Truth Trust, 1981), 8-9.

We're moving March 8

2009-02-23T18:19:28-05:00

Please make a note on your calendars that our community is moving on March 8th to the choir room.
Thanks again to the leadership team that met last night and their ongoing service in our class to be sure all that is done is to the glory of God!

Bible Doctrine

2009-02-16T11:41:58-05:00

Doctrine always precedes application. Doctrine is simply what the Bible has to say about any particular subject. So we must have truth about things before we go into the application for life.

The apostle Paul gives us the first 6 chapters in Romans to tell us what has happened in Christ before his first exhortation in Romans 6:11. Victory in the Christian life comes first from comprehending the truth. Jesus said in John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Jesus also said in John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. sanctify them by the truth, your word is truth.

Good Bible doctrine leads to good Bible application. The place for doctrine is that if rightly understood will come out in our day to day living. The purpose of knowing doctrines is not so that we can be smarter than other people when it comes to the Bible. Many times the people that have no understanding of doctrine are more pleasing to God because they are walking closer to Him.

In the last few weeks our discussion has been on justification and regeneration: A special thanks to Pastor Charles Leiter on his excellent book and teaching on this subject.

Justification takes place in the courtroom of God where He pronounces me right in the sight of His law or we could say declares me righteous.

Regeneration takes place down here on earth within the heart of a man. It is a supernatural act of God that happens to bring life where there once was death.

Justification a declaration on the part of a righteous judge. When God says that your sins have been paid for they really have been paid for! The sins committed the most vile and wicked thoughts, words and acts that you have ever done are not floating in space that actually came down on and were absorbed by the Lord Jesus Christ and paid in full. Therefore when God looks in the book and sees paid in full that is actual and real.

Regeneration is not a declaration from a righteous judge but a supernatural creation done by the Creator on the heart of a man. It is solely from God as an act of creative power.

Justification takes care of my condemnation in the eyes of the law.

Regeneration takes care of my perversity and wretchedness in the inner core of my being.

God's protection of His word

2009-02-16T10:07:49-05:00

This is a blog article I recently read from pastor-teacher Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

We live in a time of a growing Christian agnosticism within evangelicalism currently being advanced by leaders within the postliberal Emergence against Sola Scriptura. It seems good right now to think a bit about God’s protection, as well as about His Word, in the Bible, as it applies to the remnant the Great Shepherd is calling out as this apostasy rapidly accelerates throughout the visible church. We go now to verse 17 above as Jesus says — “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (KJV) We know here that Jesus is teaching that He is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures concerning Himself.

But in our time marked by relativism and skepticism masquerading as so-called postmodernism, and those outside the Church are even worse, there is another question we need to address: Did Jesus teach that the texts of God’s Word would be preserved? Yes, He did; and right in the next verse of our text. Verse 18 — “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (KJV). Now, at last check—as near as I can tell—this would not appear to have happened yet. So the Master is telling us that until everything in Scripture comes to pass mankind is accountable for everything that is written in God’s Word.

As a matter of fact we’ve all heard someone say something along the lines of: “It doesn’t make one iota of difference to me.” Matthew 5:18 is where this type of statement originates. Jesus has just said to us — “I tell you the truth, until Heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” Not the smallest letter is the word iota in the original Greek. Dr. Louis Barbieri’s comment is helpful here:

Jesus’ fulfillment [of New Testament Scripture] - would extend to the smallest Hebrew letter, the ‘jot’ (lit. yod), and even to the smallest stroke of a Hebrew letter, the ‘tittle’ (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, NT, 30).

The reference to the “jot” and the “tittle,” as you saw above is from the way verse 18 reads in the King James Version of the Bible. Dr. Barbieri further points out that in our English language “a jot would further correspond to the dot above the letter ‘i’ (and would look like an apostrophe),…” (ibid.). As far as the “tittle,” Dr. Barbieri tells us that the “small angled line that completes the ‘R’ is like a ‘tittle’ ’’ (ibid.). The point should now become clear. Our faithful Shepherd wants us to know that we can be eternally sure we will have every Word that comes from the mouth of God. And not only that but we can also be sure He will watch over His Word so intently that not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Quote for the day

2009-02-15T19:43:06-05:00

“Life can only be received. Life is offered as sheer gift. In new birth from above, there is no way for those already dead in their sins even to ask for new life, which being dead in sin they cannot even conceive (Rom. 8:10, 11; Eph 2:1-5).

Apart from grace one cannot even pray for or hope for a reborn relationship to God. No one can simply grasp, claim, or seize the new birth of faith, hope, and love. They are gifts of the Spirit which until given, the unawakened sinner cannot manipulate into conception, birth, or growth. Like Incarnation and Resurrection, the new birth comes on God’s own initiative.” — Thomas Oden, The Justification Reader (Grand Rapids: Eeerdmans, 2002), 85

Review of February 15

2009-02-15T18:47:05-05:00

We are continuing down the category of application for the feet as it relates to the Bible. One of the most exciting and challenging chapters for me over the years has been Romans 6. During the past week I decided to take us through a verse by verse look at Romans 6:1-14. There are two Bible doctrines that are important which we need to learn and apply. They are justification (Romans 3:20-4:25) and regeneration which we see in Romans 6:1-14. As each of these categories is learned, formed and lived the Spirit will build in us these foundational truths so important in our walk with Christ.

The audio is embedded within the power point notes. It may be that the file will need to buffer all the way before it can be played.

Blessings

Sbs Class February 15 2009 (Romans 6 Part2)

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Be who you are_Part 2 (preview)

2009-02-11T11:11:21-05:00

Lord willing, this coming Sunday we are going to continue in Romans 6 with our application for the feet teaching. I am titling the two Sunday classes in Romans 6 as “Be Who You Are.” What a concept for those who are in Christ, don’t you think? So maybe we should ask that all important question “who are you?” Well, according to the apostle Paul via regeneration, which is a secret act of God whereby He imparts spiritual life, you are dead to sin and alive to Christ. As 21st Century evangelicals are we reminding ourselves and others of this truth on a regular basis? When I use the term “dead to sin” I don’t mean removed from the presence of sin. But this means according to the New Testament that sin no longer has dominion or control over the Christian. In other words we no longer are slaves to sin. And the term alive to Christ means that now I have a desire, treasuring and passion to present myself and the members of my body to God. Before I was “born again”, regenerated or experienced the new birth my modus operandi was completely ME centered. I didn’t want anything to do with Christ, the Bible. a local church community or any kind of service in which God could be demonstrated as great. Instead I was in the mind set of doing all that I did ultimately for the glory of my self.

Romans 6 is one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. And though I would like to stay here for the next several months, this coming week will conclude our 2009 launch via application of the feet. Well, at least that is the plan as of this blog entry.

So may I ask each of you to read through Romans 6 this week. I will continue to teach it by dividing this chapter into two major sections based on the questions that Paul is asking.

Romans 6:1 and Romans 6:15 tests our understanding of grace
Romans 6:2-11 and Romans 6:16-23 tests our understanding of regeneration

My goal on Sunday will be for us to build an application category from the three imperatives in Romans 6:11-13. I have found that in the past and even in
these last two weeks the study of these doctrinal truths from Romans 6 are life transforming!

Care Group 2009

2009-02-09T10:55:41-05:00

As Care Groups start to meet and fellowship please feel free to send any pictures or video clips. Here is a sample for our get together last night at Tom and Terri’s house. The food was good and the our time of prayer and fellowship was equally nourishing. Blessings

Care Group 2009 from Pastor B. on Vimeo.

Review of February 8

2009-02-08T13:20:42-05:00

Who are you in Christ? No, wait a minute, don’t read past that last question to fast, who are you in Christ? Then as we did today in class, read Romans 6 and hear the apostle Paul telling us “Be who you are!” Therefore the teaching for our class today could have been titled “Be who you are in Christ.”

Before you go to the notes or the audio may I suggest that you again read through Romans 6. At some point in time, probably the last phase of our teaching curriculum I am going to suggest that we memorize this chapter. Even though we are months and months away, this is a good time to get familiar with this chapter in Romans.

I am going to do a brief outline and make some points from this mornings class that will help as we continue in Romans 6. First of all I would like to suggest that we break up Romans 6 into two basic sections based on Paul’s two questions. The first question comes to us in Romans 6:1 and then the second question in Romans 6:15. At this point it may be helpful to write a theme or topic sentence for these two sections of Scripture. For example:

Romans 6:1-14 - the new person you are In Christ
Romans 6:15-23 - free from sin and enslaved to righteousness

Next I would you to observe the pattern of writing with the apostle Paul in these two sections of Scripture. It is as follows:

Question
Response
Reason with a detailed explanation that follows

Now follow me with this next line of thinking as you read through Romans 6.
The two questions that Paul asks in Romans 6:1 and 6:15 test our understanding of grace. The concluding answers that he gives in Romans 6:2-11 and Romans 6:16-23 test our understanding of regeneration. Again the quick definition for regeneration is a secret act of God in which He imparts to us spiritual life.

And this is why I wanted to take the next couple of weeks to simply touch on Romans Chapter 6. It will better help in our understanding of grace and regeneration. For those of you who have been following our launch into 2009 the initial question asked was “which road are you on?” from Matthew 7:13-27?”
And we have worked ourselves back to the fact that if a man, woman, boy or girl is going to be able to enter the kingdom of God then they will have to be born again. In our two weeks on the subject of born again we determined from Scripture that being born again is what God does to us out of His mercy and grace. There is no way we can demand it, inherit it, earn nor even deserve it because this is from Him and Him alone.

The different hats of Pat Jones

2009-02-05T10:44:11-05:00

Why learning then living?

2009-02-05T08:08:53-05:00

I had some devotion time this morning in Romans. In thinking about the structure and flow of Romans it reminded me about the ways of God. The practical application of Romans really begins after the “therefore” in Romans 12:1. And as most scholars agree the “therefore” is looking back to the first eleven chapters in the book. So obviously since Paul writes under the inspiration of the Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16) we are studying the mind of God. As we study the mind of God we then start to understand the ways of God. And even though we can only know in part, that part is still valuable in our overall Christian development.

In other words, according to the Bible the learning precedes the living when it comes to doctrine. Some in the evangelical churches today are saying that doctrine divides, so we don’t teach it. But the Lord Jesus Himself said “if you know the truth, the truth will set you free.” It is the truth of Bible doctrine that allows a person to be free in the Christian life. For example there are Christians who think that God is holding them daily to a certain level of performance. And if they don’t jump the bar so to speak they will not meet with God’s approval. This translates into the love of God being either given or with held based on what I do for Him. If a person lives this way they are not free in Christ but are in bondage to the law of performance. So if we continue to be ignorant of doctrines like justification and regeneration, and have no solid Biblical theology for what Christ has done for us and how He now lives in us, then we are going to be miserable. Because God is not withholding His love from us due to how we perform. Since we have been reconciled in Christ, God is 100% on our side all the time no matter what happens in our life! Therefore being in Christ, we have a new heart (born again) and we are a new person, and no longer have any of our sins upon us, because they have been absorbed by Christ at the cross.

These are basics but they must be learned and embraced in order that we can live in the fullness of these Biblical truths. Now please don’t misunderstand my initial point or take it to an extreme. Obviously we are applying truth along the way even before we learn all these doctrines in detail. But again the principle applies and you will see this especially with the epistles of Paul, there is truth that must be learned in order that the truth can be properly lived.

Review of February 1

2009-02-04T20:40:47-05:00

This past Sunday was the conclusion of our 5 week launch into 2009 titled “which road are you on?” Since our January 4 class we have looked briefly but distinctly at 3 critical Bible doctrines in regard to application for our lives. They are as follows:

Regeneration
Justification
Sanctification

The teaching today covered 5 basic points regarding the doctrine of regeneration and how we apply this to the glory of God! Each week I have posted the notes along with the verses in Scripture covered in class. As time allows would you take some time to read over and allow these foundational categories to become grounded in your hearts and minds. These doctrines will continue to surface during the year so l encourage you to learn them well.

Next week it is back on our tour Bus of the Bible which should take us till the end of February.

keep running the race, fighting the good fight and keeping the faith

Sbs Class February 1 2009(Combined)

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The audio for Sunday’s class is contained within the power point notes.

APPLICATION FOR UNDERSTANDING THE “HEART OF FLESH”

Lava Lamp from Pastor B. on Vimeo.

Devotion Time

2009-02-04T17:39:59-05:00

One of the key focus areas during the teaching this year will be in the area of Bible devotions. I will post devotion times in order to encourage and challenge you to stay consistent. A devotion normally provides me with a theme or main thought that I can chew on during the day. This is one of the reasons I am so excited about Carmel’s commitment as a church in spading through the gospel of John and now Acts. Because as you read there will be certain sections of Scripture that you want to go back to in order to have your devotion time.

May I appeal to you in starting devotion time with concentrated prayer, asking God to open your eyes in order that you might behold wonderful things from His law? (Psalm 119:18)

I spent some time this week thinking through the implications of the following text in the gospel of Luke 7. In my study Bible it is titled "Parable of Two Debtors."

Luke 7:40 And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he replied, "Say it, Teacher."
Luke 7:41 "A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
Luke 7:42 "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?"
Luke 7:43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have judged correctly."
Luke 7:44 Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
Luke 7:45 "You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet.
Luke 7:46 "You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.
Luke 7:47 "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little."
Luke 7:48 Then He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven."
Luke 7:49 Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?"
Luke 7:50 And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

What would you say the main point of the parable is in Luke 7:41-42?
Here is my shot at it - "love for Christ is directly proportional to our recognition of debt that has been forgiven us." Now keep that in your mind and drop your eyes down to Luke 7:47 and see if the dots connect.

Why does this woman love so much and why does this Pharisee love so little?
The woman recognizes her debt (sinful condition) and it is so great that only a great Savior could pay for it in full. She can't demand it, nor does she deserve it, and her love is proportional to the greatness of her sin debt that only Christ can forgive.
On the other hand the Pharisee, who is self-righteous, as he attempts to keep the law doesn't think there is much if any sin that needs to be forgiven. And therefore the love he is able to express for Christ is little because he sees little that needs to be forgiven.

Oh brothers and sisters in Christ if we could see the utter sinfulness of sin and how it impacts the very glory of God! The reason for a small love for Christ is a direct result of our small understanding of what has been forgiven us! This means that we need a healthy grasp of the cross so our love for Christ will continue to grow. As we come to the recognition of our sin and what has been forgiven, then we will love much, knowing that Christ has forgiven much!

May I encourage you to praise Him today for the very sins that were as scarlet are now as white as snow, by faith in Christ. (Isaiah 1:18)

Blessings,

Men's Bible study - February 10

2009-02-03T07:09:56-05:00

I am very excited about our men’s study that will start on February 10 and last for six weeks. This starts next Tuesday night and I appeal to the men in our class, put this on your calendar. The start time will be prompt at 7 PM and will conclude at 8:30 PM. The purpose of our men’s study will be consistent with the purpose of the Bible and that is to glorify God! The how to that statement is found in the study and living out of His word.

If you have some time to look at our class blog site, you will quickly notice the amount of Biblical material we have covered to date. It is not the plan nor curriculum of this study to give more truth but to help and process the truth we have already covered. Therefore the study will be divided initially into 3 two week components:
Week #1 and 2 - study of the heart (why preparation is a non-negotiable)
Week #3 and 4 - study of the glory of God (why Bible reading, study and devotion must be God-centered)
Week #5 and 6 - study of salvation (regeneration, justification and sanctification)

These represent the 3 main components that we have been studying since August and some of the basic Biblical categories we need to understand, embrace and learn how to practically live out.

Please come prepared for questions and discussion. The apostle Paul instructs in Philippians Chapter 2 that we are to “work out our salvation.” As you know from previous classes this is a three fold word that includes our justification (past), sanctification (present) and glorification (future). It will be my desire during the next six weeks to post something prior to our study that can direct our questions for that particular night.

In summary for the guys who are reading this blog article allow me to take you back to Genesis 2:15. Keep in mind that this is the instruction of God Himself to Adam prior to the fall. Look with me at this verse and as always be sure to read in context. But for the sake of this exhortation I will just stay with Genesis 2:15 “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.”
When you start to look more carefully at this text then you see God’s responsibility and man’s responsibility.

God is the one who takes and puts
Man is the one who cultivates and keeps

Guys each of us has been taken and put in a spiritual garden (immediate family and church) in which we are commanded to work and protect. It becomes obvious to us reading in Genesis 3 that Adam does not follow this command from the LORD. How does the serpent end up in the garden walking and talking with Eve if Adam was doing his God given assignment of protecting his wife? Men, I think we need to band together and come back under the authority of God word so that we can protect our wives and children especially in this increasingly dangerous culture. And that includes our knowing, embracing and living out the Bible before our families. Again the goal of this study is to provide some foundational components that can be learned and taught as essential to our Christian walk.

May I encourage you to come for 6 weeks each Tuesday night, and together let’s get back into the word of God so that the word of God can get back into us!

Blessings

A God-centered life

2009-02-02T07:46:01-05:00

How would the people who are close to you and those in your sphere of influence speak about you on the day of your funeral? In this 21st Century American culture of affluence and diversity there could be any number of answers that those described above might give about you. Some might conclude that you were devoted to the family, community, career or even a favorite cause. Those speaking could say you were a zealous member of your church and then bring out the list of all activities, service projects, Bible studies and various committee meetings. But would it be said or could it be said that you loved God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Jesus said in the gospels “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” If we think about that statement and apply it to life it could sound as follows: “out of the abundance of my heart I am constantly thinking, speaking and doing.” My question is do you think about God correctly and live in such a way that He is demonstrated as great? The God-centered life that we are studying in this class has two basic but critical components. We are learning to discern what the Bible means and then applying the meaning to our daily living. This curriculum starts with a very simple approach, let’s get back to the reading, devotion and study of God’s word. It is quite a radical approach to an environment and society dedicated to the unholy trinity of I, me and my. We have seminars for self-esteem and self-development. And even in the book stores we see a huge section of material called self-help. When we come to the Bible it doesn’t take long to understand that the subject that God is most interested in, is God Himself. It is grasping this important Biblical principle that can be the most important shift in our Bible reading and devotion time. God has created us in such a way that our souls have an itch that can only be scratched with His glory. Therefore God via His mercy and kindness gives to us the best thing that we could ever have and that is God!

May I encourage you to pray in this regard on a daily basis? Pray that the God who created you would give you a desperate passion for His word! As you read, devote and study God will transform you by His Spirit as His word is revealed unto you. Do you remember the lava jar in class from yesterday? The process is often slow and happens from one degree of glory to the next (2 Corinthians 3:18). But as we are being challenged to live the God-centered life this year please know it is about “direction of life” and not “perfection in life.” There will be times of failure, sin, and falling down but the Bible tells us that God is faithful to complete the work that He starts (Philippians 1:9).

Ridgecrest Retreat - May 1-3

2009-01-31T16:41:03-05:00

On May 1-3 we will have our initial class retreat in Asheville, NC at the Ridgecrest Conference Center. In the above picture Pat Jones meets with our representative at Ridgecrest who has reserved our rooms and meeting space.

The subject and title of the retreat will be “The Gospel, the power of God.” This of course comes from Romans 1:16 in which the apostle Paul is exhorting the Christians in Rome to continue believing the gospel. Many times in our Christian walk we can think that the gospel is something I heard and have done (past tense) but we need to understand, embrace and live out the gospel daily. Therefore I am excited about our time away where we can discuss the most important things in life as we seek to be transformed into the likeness of Christ. Over the next few months I will be posting a number of blog articles regarding our time together. There will be passages to read and meditate on and questions that will help us start to prepare for our time studying the gospel.

Below is a short video on the Ridgecrest Conference Center

Ridgecrest Conference Center from Pastor B. on Vimeo.

Preview of February 1

2009-01-31T12:04:04-05:00

Here is a preview of our class for tomorrow. There are two basic slide share presentations. The first will be my introductory notes and then the second represents what I hope to cover regarding the doctrine of regeneration.

Blessings

Sbs Class February 1 2009 (Intro Notes)

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Sbs Class February 1 2009

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New Birth

2009-01-27T10:22:24-05:00

The primary subject this coming Sunday will be on the “new birth.” In the church we also refer to this as being born again and to be more technical it is called the doctrine of regeneration. At the present I am only introducing us as a community to these terms and later on down the road we will study in more detail.

As a quick refresher for the month of January we have talked about a continuing obedience to the word of God (sanctification process). We a couple of weeks ago emphasized the need for a person to REPENT and BELIEVE (justification process). And last Sunday we asked how does a person come to the place where they have the desire to REPENT and BELIEVE. And from John 3 we learned in the talk that Jesus had with Nicodemus a person must be born again (regeneration process).

So now you see that we are touching on and establishing Biblical categories that I will be teaching on as it relates to the practical daily living out the Christian life. Again these three categories in January have been:
Sanctification
Justification
Regeneration

Based on the class teaching and the notes provided on this blog site, could you discuss these basics with a family member or friend and give Biblical support? The leadership team in our class is sensitive to this not being about more information for your brain but rather Christ-like transformation of the heart. And the way this happens is through God’s word. So we can’t separate or we shouldn’t separate growth into Christ-likeness and the Bible. But as we are learning this means hearts prepared, texts that are understood based on what the author intended them to mean when he wrote them, and lives in submission and obedience to His word.

Here is some of what I plan to cover on Sunday. If you will grab your Bibles and turn to John Chapter 2:23 - 3:14. I think that John 2:23-25 gives us a good set up for the problem we are going to deal with and the discussion that Jesus has with Nicodemus. As discussed on Sunday it becomes obvious that Jesus is giving to Nicodemus a spiritual category that Nicodemus doesn’t have nor understand. Jesus is quick to point out that Nicodemus needs “new life.” This must have been shocking to Nicodemus who was the teacher in all of Israel and as Jesus indicates he doesn’t understand these things. The question is do we as 21st Century evangelical Christians understand these things? Did you know that a living person can be spiritually dead? Even if we were all to say “Amen” to that question are we able to support it with Scripture? So before moving on let’s establish that prior to our “new birth” we are in the category Biblically know as the living dead.

Preview of January 25

2009-01-23T15:46:26-05:00

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus says that everyone on planet earth is on either of one or two roads. One road leads to destruction and the other road leads to life. In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus talks about the building of two houses. After a bad storm the one house stands while the other house collapses. As we concluded this teaching the point we came to was as follows:
The validation that a believers salvation is genuine is dependent upon their ongoing obedience to the word of God.

Last week we took a step back to ask “how does a person get on the road that leads to life?” We then looked at the words of Christ in Mark 1:15 - “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” In the notes from the past week I have given you a brief word study on repent. There is an implication in the New Testament that repent and believe go together even when both words are not used. I have also included in the notes some verses that have repent only, others that have believe only and one that contains both repent and believe.

In summary to date:
A person on the road that leads to life is obedient to the word of God on an ongoing basis. In order to get on this road there must be a time where they repented and believed, but it doesn’t end there. Now that they have been justified (see notes) it means that as part of their sanctification (see notes) they will continue to repent and believe.

Now this week we are going to go back yet another step and ask this very important question - “How does a person REPENT and BELIEVE?” The answer to that question we will explore through the study of John 3. We as a church are presently reading through the gospel of John. And I want to conclude this launch into 2009 by helping us to understand what it means to be “born again.” Did you know that the words “born again” only occur 4 times in the New Testament?

Review of January 18 (Part 4)

2009-01-22T08:33:29-05:00

In yesterday’s review we left off with the three essential categories for our understanding of the word “salvation.” If you remember they were:

Justification (something that has happened in the past)
Sanctification (something that is happening in the present)
Glorification (something that will happen in the future)

I want to spend some time with the terms justification and sanctification as they relate to our
salvation.

Justification refers to my status (righteousness)
Sanctification refers to my state (becoming what I already am)

Justification is about God's attitude toward me changing
Sanctification is about God changing me

Justification is about how God looks on me
Sanctification is about what He does in me

Justification is about Christ dying for my sins on the cross;
Sanctification is about Christ at work in me by the Holy Spirit transforming my life

In the coming months we will talk about these words more and also give Scriptural support for them as we study. However right now I want you to be aware of what they mean and start to form a sound Biblical category as they relate to our salvation.

Now allow me to go back to the summary statement that was made at the conclusion of Matthew 7:24-27.

The validation of one’s salvation or the validation one is on the road that leads to life (entering narrow gate and on narrow way) and building a house that stands depends on one’s obedience to the word of God!

What every Christian ought to know

2009-01-22T04:06:50-05:00

These are class notes and audio for those who are taking the “What every Christian ought to know” class at Carmel on Wednesday nights. Last week we covered the importance of the Bible and this week the subject was “how do we study the Bible.” I started the class with a simple graph of the Christian life. Each item on the chart can be supported by Scripture but I think it is a good visual representation of how we are to live.

The first thing I normally point out is the bigness and magnificence of God. And I contrast that with the smallness and insignificance of man. By this I mean we are insignificant in that we add nothing to the greatness or to the glory of God. Unfortunately in the evangelical church throughout America we have at times had much man-centeredness and far too little God-centeredness. Messages that are consumed with having a better marriage, better relationships, and a better way to handle your finances. We want to be the center of the universe because as Americans the culture is constantly convincing us that it’s all about me. So it is natural for me to want to hear motivational and positive preaching and teaching that is about me. I remember double dating with a guy years ago and after two straight hours of talking about himself he said something like this “hey that is enough of me talking about me tell me what do you think of me.” Folks one of the how to categories we need to get firmly implanted in our minds is as follows; the primary subject of the Bible is God and not us!

So if we are going to start with good “how to” study, then our categories must understood and not too tainted by our strong cultural influences. After I mention the greatness of God and the littleness of man I then proceed to GRACE. It basic terms this is the unmerited favor of God towards the believer. Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones said that the problems with most Americans is that they think too much. Instead of thinking they should be preaching the gospel to themselves on a regular basis. The finite mind obviously cannot handle this infinite thought but we still need to meditate on the grace that came to us at the cross. There is only one thing that we can do with grace and that is to receive it. There is no way to earn it, deserve it, demand it, inherit it, or merit it and therefore we receive grace by faith. In the next part of the chart I show the word JOY as rising from the person who receives and understands grace. The wider the gap between God and man the greater the grace. As grace increases then joy and satisfaction in God rises up. This is consistent with brothers and sisters in Christ that I have walked with and observed, with amazing grace comes amazing joy!

Review of January 18 (Part3)

2009-01-21T07:17:28-05:00

The question we began with several weeks ago as we launched into 2009 was simply this:
What road are you on? According to Christ everyone is either on a road that leads to destruction or a road that leads to life. So how does a person get on the road that leads to life? Turn with me if you will to Mark 1:15 and let’s examine these words from the Lord Jesus Himself. In this verse He says “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” In this summary review of our lesson on Sunday I would like for us to look more closely at the meaning of these words. First let’s do some study of the word repent. But before we do, may I just say this is not an exhaustive study but brief review of these words so as to encourage your own personal study. The first word we will consider is what does it means to REPENT.

The word REPENT in Mark 1:15 is a verb that is in the present tense which means habitually, continuously and as a constant way of life. So first of all when reading the word repent don’t just think in terms of a past tense action but something that you are continuing to do each and every day. (A quick side note of application. When is the last time you repented over sin in your life?) Many times when I hear someone give a personal testimony the majority of the language is in the past tense. Even though the past action is important, I am also listening for not just what happened, but what is happening in the life of the person walking with Christ.

Second the word repent is in the imperative which means the mood of command. This is said by Jesus NOT in the form of an invitation but rather as something He commands! And we in the church today need to be sure that we understand He commands not only that we repent at a point and time but that we continue to repent. Folks we say we are orthodox Christians which means that we believe the Bible is the word of God. And in saying that we affirm that the Scripture is inspired, infallible and inerrant. Therefore we submit and yield to the authority of God’s word for faith and practice in life. These words mean not what I think, feel or even experience but they mean what the author intended at the time in which he wrote them. And to put it very clearly the verb form of REPENT means a continuous process that is commanded by Christ Himself. It may help at this point to get a clearer understanding of this word REPENT.

A basic word study on REPENT:
The Greek word for repent (verb form) is Strong’s number 3340. metanoeo; from 3326 and 3539; which means to change one’s mind or purpose: repent(26), repented(5), repents(3). This word (in the verb form) occurs in the New Testament 34 times but only once in the epistles and that is in 2 Corinthians 12:21.
The Greek word for repentance (noun form) is 3341. 3341. metanoia; from 3340; change of mind, repentance: repentance(22). This word occurs 22 times in the New Testament
Strong’s definition - to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction): repent.
Thayer’s definition - to change one’s mind, i.e. to repent (to feel sorry that one has done this or that, Jonah 3:9), of having offended someone, of (on account of) something 2 Cor. 12:21; used especially of those who, conscious of their sins and with manifest tokens of sorrow, are intent; on obtaining God’s pardon; to repent clothed in sackcloth and besprinkled with ashes, Matt. 11:21; Luke 10:13. to change one’s mind for the better, heartily to amend with abhorrence of one’s past sins. The following is a user friendly laymen’s definition of the word repent from Josh Harris who is the senior pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

True repentance is a change of direction. It involves turning away from sin and toward God---replacing sinful actions with righteous ones. Genuine repentance springs from heartfelt sorrow over sin because it is against God and then leads to real change in the way a person thinks and lives.

I understand that we all learn in different ways. Some learn best through reading, while others are visual, and still other folks are very auditory. Therefore I have an audio clip (a little over 2 minutes) that gives how we have come to a basic misunderstanding of the words repent and believe.
Repent and Believe - Pastor Paul Washer

Snow Day and Isaiah 1:18

2009-01-20T10:57:13-05:00

What a glorious sight when I woke up early this morning and looked outside. I am reminded of the following verse in Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, and let us reason together,”Says the LORD, “Though your sins are as scarlet,They will be as white as snow;
When you see the snow today and look upon its whiteness may it remind you brothers and sisters in Christ that you sins, past-present-future, look to your heavenly Father as if they are white as snow. Why is that? Because at the cross Christ absorbed the full wrath of God that you and I deserved and paid via His death the full price for our sins. Today in Charlotte as the snow falls remember that that all your sin, which Christ died for, is now as white as the snow in your front yard! Did I hear someone singing “Amazing Grace?”

Here are some photo reminders-- hope you enjoy!

Review of January 18 (Part2)

2009-01-20T07:51:18-05:00

As we come to part 2 let me start with the concluding verses that Jesus taught in Matthew 7:24-27. You may remember and it will be part of the power point notes on this section that there is one distinguishing difference between the wise man and the foolish man. But please keep this in mind, it is such an important difference that it parallels with the difference between being on the narrow way leading to life and the broad way leading to destruction in Matthew 7:13-14. Therefore the IMPORTANT difference that Jesus points out in the story is this, the wise man hears the word and acts on what he hears whereas the foolish man hears the word but he does not act. Hmmm....Both men were hearers of the word so the problem was not hearing the word but it was acting on the word that was heard. Let’s travel over to the book of James and pick up a passage in context to review, that I think will also reinforce the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27.

One of the goals in our study this year is to also learn how to study as we read and have devotions. If there is one most important “how to” in the system of studying the Scriptures it would probably be context. We need to learn how to read the Scriptures in context. Therefore even though our passage will be James 1:22, I think it will be helpful for us to look at it within the context of the paragraphs. Turn in your Bibles to James 1:19-25. Again as a good study exercise it may be good to start without a study Bible and see if you can come up with a topic sentence or theme to these verses. Just so you know in the ESV Study Bible these verses are titled as “Hearing and Doing the Word.” Does that sound similar to the verses we are studying in Matthew 7:24-27? Keeping context in mind let’s read and study James 1:22 which says: But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. Here are some study notes on the words doers and delude;

The word for doers (4163) is the Greek word poietes. This is from the Greek word poieo (4160).
This is the same word we find in Matthew 7:24:
Matt. 7:24 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and ACTS on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Let’s put it in a James 1:22 translation:
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and IS A DOER of them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Delude is the Greek word paralogizomai which means to miscalculate or falsely reason.
Thayers dictionary - a. to reckon wrong, miscount: Demosthenes, p. 822, 25; 1037, 15. b. to cheat by false reckoning (Aeschines, Aristotle); to deceive by false reasoning; hence, c. universally, to deceive, delude, circumvent: tina, Col. 2:4; James
Strongs dictionary - misreckon, i.e. delude: beguile, deceive.

Isn’t the meaning clear in James 1:22 when it comes to the problem of not acting on the word that one hears? The result according to this verse will be a person or a people who are deluded. And now we are back to the very basics of why the “Learning and Living the God-Centered Life” community exists for 2009 at Carmel Baptist Church. It is designed so that as we all learn healthy and sound Bible doctrine and then live out these truths, we will in fact glorify Christ in us who is called the “hope of glory.”

The warning is this; WARNING-WARNING-WARINING Will Robinson (that is from a show long ago called “Lost in Space”) be obedient to the truth of the word that you are hearing lest you be deceived!

Review of January 18 (Part1)

2009-01-19T10:32:58-05:00

This review will encompass our last two weeks of teaching through Matthew 7:13-27. I will write several blog articles this week and also give you some verses to consider for the upcoming teaching this Sunday. Later on in the week I will post the most recent power point notes and the audio but for now read through and study, as you can, these notes. Some of the terms I plan on covering with you in these articles are a bit technical and may seem unfamiliar to you. However the more we study, discuss and learn they will become part of our dialogue in which you will get quite comfortable. Please know these are the basics of the Christian faith but unfortunately there has been somewhat of a drift from them within the last 100 years. I am committed to taking whatever time is necessary to work with you through these precious doctrines that we hold as valuable when it comes to our Christian faith. It will take some time for you to study, read and think through these Biblical truths. But know that as that happens, you are building a solid foundation that will support the living out your life in Christ in a way that demonstrates His glory!

Just today I had a call from a former ministry partner who is now living in Raleigh. He was asking about our class and it gave me a chance to boast about all of you in Christ. Please know what an encouragement and delight it is to teach, discuss, answer emails and meet with you on these things concerning the word of God. Let’s lock arms together as we run the race, fight the good fight and continue keeping the faith to build the kingdom of God for the glory of God.

REVIEW_PART 1
What road are you on in regard to your spiritual life? Jesus Himself gives us only two options in Matthew 7:13-14. There is a road that leads to destruction and there is a road that leads to life. As we launch into the 2009 teaching of “learning and living the God-centered life” this is the question that is before us as a community. When we started the class back in August the teaching focused on the preparation of the heart. And now as we begin our curriculum in January we deal with the most important area in application of the feet. What road are your feet on and where is that road leading? As our class concluded on Sunday January 11 we finished looking at Matthew 7:24-27:
Matt. 7:24 ¶ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Matt. 7:25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
Matt. 7:26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
Matt. 7:27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Here was my concluding summary for the two houses, one built on rock the other built on sand, the two men, one wise and one foolish and the two results, one house that stood strong and the other house that was destroyed. The conclusion was as follows:
The validation of your salvation or the validation you are on the road that leads to life (entering narrow gate and on narrow way) and building a house that will always stand depends on your obedience to the word of God!

In addition here are some verses for you to consider in light of the statement made above. I will include some brief comments

Why memorize Scripture?

2009-01-13T11:21:38-05:00

Listen carefully to Dr. John Piper on the importance of hiding God’s word into your heart!

Review Sunday January 11

2009-01-12T18:44:15-05:00

When we started our class back in August our first teaching session dealt with the preparation of the heart. As we continue getting back to God’s word we have been studying explanation to the head and this past Sunday application for the feet. In Matthew 7:13-27 we have a wonderful section of Scripture that is the conclusion of the sermon on the mount. In the reading and studying of these Scriptures there is a profound question that each of us needs to ask. And that question is which road are you on? Are you on the road that leads to destruction or are you on the road that leads to life?

The power point presentation below is called a “Slide Cast.” These are the slides that I went over yesterday in our study but the audio has been done so as to match up with the slides. The first 8-10 minutes I spend with introduction so you will stay on slide #1 and then as I instruct keep following through the slide presentation of Matthew 7:13-27. This will take some time for you to go through but I hope that it helps to encourage you as we “learn and live” the God-centered life.

Sbs Class January 11 2009

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Review Sunday January 4

2009-01-08T11:04:40-05:00

The posting has been slow this week due to a coughing virus I received from my daughter or son over the holidays. It was yesterday that I started to make a comeback and today I am almost back to normal, well normal for me at least.

This class could be called back to the basics of the Bible. Over the course of the next year it is my goal to touch on critical doctrines such as:
• God
• Man
• Christ
• Holy Spirit
• Salvation

Doctrine simply means what does all of Scripture say about any particular subject. The Greek word for doctrine in the New Testament is didaskalia. If one does a word search for the various words in the New Testament related to doctrine (Strong’s numbers 1319-1322) it reveals that they occur over 200 times. For example as it relates to doctrine reflect on the epistles of the apostle Paul. One can see how he often starts by addressing the doctrine and then moves to the application. In the book of Ephesians the first three chapters describes the doctrine of who we are in Christ. In the last three chapters we are then exhorted to act in a way consistent with who we are in Christ. The book of Romans gives us eleven chapters on the doctrine of salvation. And then starting with chapter 12 we enter into application of the very doctrine that Paul has been teaching in the first eleven chapters. My point and the focus of our class is this, if we don’t learn Biblical truth correctly then how can we expect to live it our correctly. The answer to that question is we won’t and we can’t.

So our class is a roll up your sleeves, grab up your Bibles and let’s get back to the basics. This is just good old fashion Bible reading, study and devotion with no short cuts or quick fix solutions. The one requirement that is non-negotiable is a heart prepared to hear, receive and be obedient to God’s word. We studied Mark 4 and the parable of the sower in our first month. Do you remember the main point of that parable? The success of the seed is dependent upon the condition of the soil. And when king Solomon was given that one request by God we determined that in looking at Scripture he actually asked for a hearing heart. I often wonder about those I have taught as to whether or not this principle has made a significant impact in their Bible study. My recommendation and this is something that I have been consistent with over the years, is to never start Bible reading, study and devotion without a prepared heart.

Take some time to look through the power point notes from our class last Sunday. I have listed the first 12 principles in our tour of the Bible which takes us through the Old Testament. The purpose of taking this tour of the Bible is to give you an overall view of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Even though it is a thumb nail sketch it should provide a good structure in order to help you work you way through the Bible. I suggest that as a homework assignment you try and go through the first seventeen books of the Old Testament. Can you follow the flow of the Old Testament from Genesis through Esther? The next assignment then is to place the poetical books (Job-Song of Solomon) and prophetical books (Hosea-Malachi) along the timeline with a brief description of each. You should have everything in the past notes I have provided in order to accomplish this task.

Sbs Class Jan 4 2009

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Due to technical problems (Bert’s fault) we have no audio for this week’s lesson.

Bible tour principle #12

2009-01-02T15:38:43-05:00

Principle #12 - The period between the end of the Old Testament (approximately 400 BC) and the beginning of the New Testament (the ministry of John the Baptist around AD 30) is often referred to as the Silence Period, though God was at work providentially preparing the way for His Son.

Remember the southern kingdom of Judah returned from Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple (the book of Ezra) and the Walls (the book of Nehemiah) in Jerusalem. The prophets Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi ministered during this time.

After Malachi prophesied around 425 BC, there were no other voices to be heard for the next four hundred years until the voice of John the Baptist was heard crying out in the wilderness, “Make ready the way of the Lord” (Matthew 3:3)

That four hundred period is often referred to as the Silence Period, simply because there were no inspired prophets ministering during the time. However, it must be noted that God was at work preparing the way for the Gospel of His son.

- God was at work through the influence of the Greeks as the entire region felt the unifying presence of the Greek culture and language.

- God was at work though the influence of the Romans as they brought military peace to the region, built extensive roads, and provided a more stable government.

-God was at work among His people, the Jews, as their oppression under the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans had sparked in them a great hope for the coming of Messiah.

Again, thanks to Mitch Mayer for given me permission to take this from his Clarifying the Bible.