Too Late to Apologize?

apol•o•get•ic \ə-pä-lə-ˈje-tik\ adj: offered in defense or vindication〈the apologetic writings of the early Christians〉

"...in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15)

I am not an apologist nor do I want to pretend to be. However, I have had a few opportunities to answer questions and give a defense for the gospel in my evangelistic efforts. Because I have had some experience and have learned a lot from that (as well as from studying the subject) I want to offer you some tips in a new series of posts. I will probably interrupt the series some weeks for other kinds of posts but in an attempt to offer as much help as I can I think it will be good not to limit myself by trying to fit everything into a single post.

Presuppositions exist, don't ignore them.

This is one of the foundational truths of the brand of apologetics known as Presuppositionalism. It isn't important at this level to go into a textbook style summary of what that means. What you should remember is that you cannot prove the existence of the God of the Bible without acknowledging that you are assuming the truth of His Scripture.

This is one of the great problems I have with many respectable men in the field of apologetics. They make great arguments based on real evidence for the existence of God but in order to avoid the charge of assuming the truth of the Bible they have to say things like "the great preponderance of the evidence points to the likelihood of the existence of a god." Which may be convincing enough to bring some people to faith in "a god" but the assumption behind that kind of argument is that we just need to convince people to become theists and hopefully they will throw themselves into the Christian camp as well.

Instead, I suggest that you simply acknowledge that you are entering the debate with a heart and mind that has been changed by God and, therefore, you assume His existence from the beginning.

You also must remember that because all of mankind has been radically affected by the Fall they are doing the same thing. In Romans Paul says, "no one seeks after God" (Romans 3:11) and in Ephesians 2 man is further described as "following the Prince of the power of the air" and described as "the sons of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:2).

So biblically speaking you are entering the "debate" with a bias for the God of the Bible and they enter it with a bias against Him. Ignoring that doesn't make the debate go smoother, but it can lead to arguments that are meant to be for God's existence but end up blasphemous.

More to come...

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

Judging (Part 2)

Dave Swavely writes in Who Are You to Judge? : "In his case of judging in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5, the apostle Paul has called two witnesses so far- The incompleteness of man's judgment (it is seriously limited) and the insubordination of man's judgment (it is a sin of disobedience to God). In verse 5 he call another witness- the inappropriateness of judging."

1 Corinthians 4:5 - "Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God."

Here we see that the Lord is the only qualified Judge. Romans 14:4 - "Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand."

He is also the only capable Judge. Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

How can one judge another if they do not know the motives behind a persons actions? It is wrong to assume that you know their motives and that is exactly what sinful judging is. Too often we as humans jump to conclusions about everything, before we know anything that happened. We assume that we know everything that goes on in someone's head, but in reality all we see is the action.

Paul writes that God will "bring to light the things now hidden in darkness." That is our heart motives for every action we have ever done. He knows why we do what we do. And He says that on the Judgment Day, God will bring them to light. He will make them known and "each one will receive commendation from God." God alone will judge our hearts.

Dave Swavely gives an example of what could happen to someone who judges falsely and then stands before the Lord:

"I don't want to stand under the fiery glare of our holy God, and hear Him say to me, 'Did you think that this child of mine was wrong in what he did, and criticize him to other?'

'Y-y-yes, Lord,' I will have to answer, with a gulp.

'Well, I did not think he was wrong at all! Nothing in My Bible said what he did was wrong, and I happen to know that his heart was right, which makes Me quite pleased with him. So the only person who was wrong in that situation was you!'"

Do you want to be known as a judgmental person? Someone who tries to blame others of false motives? God will judge those who judge. Do you think He will be please that we think that we can accurately do His job? I don't want to be known as someone who thinks that He can take God's place as the true Judge. You may not think you are when you judge, but in your heart you think that you know what only God knows.

Lord, humble us. Put us in our place as servants willingly submitting, and not constantly trying to ineffectively overthrow You. Give us strength to fight against this sin of Judging. Thank you for Christ and His work that has abolished sin for Your glory!

Rolls? wait roles.

I ended last week with Genesis 1:27 " So God created man in His own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" and so questions. The first question that i believe is essential to this whole topic of biblical womanhood and feminism goes back to...(gasp) roles. So why are roles so important, what are roles anyways? Is it simply chores that a man and woman can do best like mowing the grass or doing dishes, or does it go a little further? So 1, 2, 3, go

It doesn't take much to realize that God created two genders...male and female, thus two different roles. With the creation of roles God is able to show his image in three ways 1) the beauty and importance of interpersonal relationships 2) equality in both person hood and importance 3) difference in role and authority. This week Ill discuss the first way God is able to show his image with the importance of interpersonal relationships as it relates to roles.

God didn't create us to be alone. As humans we are best when we are around other humans that we can connect with and grow with. There is something special about interpersonal relationships and we see them everywhere... in families, friends, but this relationship is best expressed in marriage. In marriage you have two coming together as one, it is a unity of body, mind, and soul. It is cool to see how God uses marriage in all its beauty and mystery to show unity between a man and a woman. There is another relationship that somewhat mirrors this unity...the Trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit. This "Trinity" was shown to us in Genesis 1:26 when God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Within the trinity there is love, communication, fellowship, a sharing of glory, and mutual giving of honor. These things, hopefully, also show up in marriage.

Now i have a good group of Godly women friends that i am so extremely thankful for. I can relate to these women, express myself in a way that they understand (which basically means i can ramble and think out loud and they know that im not looking for an answer or trying to make a point), they are tender, and can relate to hardships that i go through. I love my girl friends, but i didn't leave my parents to form a new family with them, nor can i be united body soul and mind to them...but i can to my sweet husband. With Jonathan there is this unique relationship where he is my protector and i am his helper, he has the ultimate decision making power, but he wants to know my thoughts and wisdom. We each bring something different to the table that wouldn't be much fun at all if it was two me's or two Jonathan's. With the creation of male and female, you get these two completely different puzzle pieces that fit together beautifully and work best together, just like the trinity.

To sum up roles are important because they show us that we need each other and are interdependent on each other (its best seen in marriage), just like the Father, Son, and Spirit need each other and are interdependent on each other.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a long topic, but its a good one.
Grace and peace.
sarah b.

Ministry Spot Light

Over the weekend my wife sarah and I got to go to a “Weekend to Remember” conference put on by Family Life(www.familylife.com). Conference was great and very encouraging but it was a very different experience. I have lived in Little Rock Arkansas my whole life and for a good portion of my friends have been children of Family Life Missionaries. Because I've always been around the ministry it has been very easy to over look what God is doing.
At the conference couples of all ages and backgrounds, christians and non christians, all for the sake of strengthening, preparing, or even saving their marriages. Seeing how these couples all had a weekend to simply focus on each other while being saturated by the gospel was a very encouraging thing for me to see since I've known people who run these conferences for years. We happened to know the guy who was the coordinator for the conference, so we heard many great stories from past weekends and how God uses these weekends to save marriages and bring people to Himself. I hope that you don't do what I tend to do and let the work of local missionaries go without being notice, and especially prayed for. Check out your local ministries that you might typically forget to join me in praying for them today.

JB

A Psalm of Praise and Thanksgiving

I give you thanks, O LORD with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.


On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.


All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
for great is the glory of the LORD.


For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.


Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.


The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
-Psalm 138

The Purpose and Centrality of the Local Church Part 6

This is the final part of a series on the centrality of the local church in God's redemptive purposes in the world. It has not been attempt to bring us back to a Rome-like view of the church or salvation but, rather, an attempt to do away with our Western individualism and help you to get a vision of and passion for the local assembly that God has given you. I hope it has been helpful.

The centrality of the church can be seen in that the responsibility for missions is given to the church.

This point is very relevant for me because I have seen first-hand both the lack of passion for missions in the local church and the lack of passion for the church in missions organizations. That is all besides the fact that most churches misapply their mission, turning church services into productions that are meant to draw in lost people with everything but the biblical gospel.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

This is the probably the main text that comes to most Christian minds when thinking about missions. Often called "the great commission" this text makes it clear that the gospel was meant to be effectively preached in all nations.

There is, however, much debate over what Jesus intended to be the eternal result of his words. Was this only a commission for the original disciples to fulfill? Does this obligate every person to serve a term of some length as a missionary?

Without going into a long exegetical study of the passage I will tell you my own conclusions. Just by knowing the rest of the New Testament we can know that this commission is meant to drive Christians during the entire church-age; that is, until Jesus comes back. The grammar of the commission tells us that the emphasis is not on "go" but on "make disciples." Therefore, every Christian is called to be a part of the fulfillment of this commission, but not every Christian is called to go on a "missions term." However, this commission clearly has global aspirations. Therefore, global missions is necessary to obey Jesus' commission.

So what we should really be asking is how Jesus intended this commission to be fulfilled and how the early church obeyed him. So let's see what we can learn from the book of Acts about these two things.

1. How did Jesus intend for this to be done?

In Acts 1 Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit to come upon them and then gives a statement similar to the great commission cited above (Acts 1:8). He wasn't urgent for the disciples to start on a missionary journey as soon as he ascended. Instead, it seems that Jesus wanted the church to officially be started. He wanted things to go in their proper order and the Holy Spirit to empower their evangelism, which would happen in an incredible way in Acts 2.

2. How did the apostles work to fulfill the great commission?

The reason I use the "apostles" rather than "the church" in the title for this point is simply to avoid circular reasoning. The fact is 1st century Christian missions was church-centered to the core. The best example I can give for this is Acts 13-14 where we see how Paul and Barnabas went about their missionary journey.

In Acts 13:1-3 we see Paul (Saul) and Barnabas being set apart as missionaries in the context of the local church at Antioch. The congregation fasted and prayed about it and then layed hands on them and sent them.

The rest of Acts 13 and into 14 describes the missionary journey. To summarize, the fruit of the journey was church plants (Acts 14:21-25). They made many disciples of Christ and encouraged them, appointing elders for the new local churches.

After all this what did they do? Return to Antioch to let their sending church share in the joy of their labors (Acts 14:26-27). They then did something that we don't see much nowadays with missionaries, "And they stayed there a long time with the disciples." (Acts 14:28).

So we see three things: (1) the local church sent the missionaries, (2) the missionaries planted local churches, and (3) the missionaries returned to the local church to report and commit themselves to their own congregation once again.

We could look at a lot more but I think this gets the point across. Love your church, love the gospel, and love the lost enough to preach the gospel to them. I don't think para-church organizations are the God-ordained means for this task, they are only helpful inasmuch as they seek to work alongside God's church. Sending a para-church orginization to fulfill the great commission without the church is like sending the Boy Scouts to war...they may be entheusiastic about it but they lack the power and authority to win.

Grace, Peace, and much love,
Stephen

Judging (Part 1)

I am a very judgmental person. I see things in black and white. My "gray" has been sorted and I know what goes where. As a result, I tend to judge others who either haven't sorted their "grays" out or who disagree with me. Because of this sin, I have started to read "Who Are You to Judge?" by Dave Swavely. I want to share some of his thoughts with you.

1 Corinthians 4:3-7 - But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Dave defines the sin of judging as follows: "negatively evaluating someone's conduct or spiritual state on the basis of non-biblical standards or suspected motives...to 'judge' others is to decide that they are doing wrong because they do something the Bible doesn't talk about or because you think you can guess what is in their heart."

Their are two different applications: 1. Do not judge yourself. This is clear in 1 Corinthians 4 at the end of verse 3; "In fact, I do not even judge myself...It is the Lord who judges me." Why? Because we can't even truly know the depths of our hearts. We can sin and not even know that we have. But God does know we have, so He is the perfect Judge.

2. Do not judge others. Our judgments of others and their judgments of us are very small things as the beginning of verse 3 says. The judgments don't matter because we cannot see the heart of a person. Only God's judgment counts as a perfectly accurate judgment of our actions. Why, if we aren't fit to judge ourselves, would we think we are fit to judge others anyway?

Proverbs 18:2,13,17 speak of the judgmental person who believes that he can know his own heart. I would encourage you to look up these verses to try to see if your life is similar to the man in these verses. Are you a judgmental person? Do you jump to conclusions when you see someone's actions and determine what the motives of their heart are for them? Do you assume that you know the reason for the actions made by others and yourself?

These are questions that I have to ask myself first and foremost. I know I am a judgmental person, and I pray that God would help me fight it. I will write more on what we do now, but the first steps to ridding yourself of a judgmental attitude is to acknowledge that you have one and pray to God that He would, first, forgive you, and, second, show you how to change.

Praise the Lord for His patience and grace! Help us, God, to strive for you!

WOMAN, woman, weeman,w

a few weeks ago i saw the cover of Time magazine..."The State of the American Woman" , i passed it off, but it has come back to me through a brother in law and i think its a good time to talk about womanhood, feminism, and most importantly biblical womanhood. now im no bible scholar or theologian, but i do like (well love) the word of God. im definitely not going to tackle this ginormous topic tonight, but i do hope in the coming weeks to shed some light on this subject.

To start off, the article in Time magazine was specifically about how women are more powerful, yet still unhappy. there was some talk about the feminist movement and how quickly it has progressed.

So what does the bible say about feminism? What is biblical womanhood? Why does it matter? What importance do gender roles have if any at all?

These will be coming up in the following weeks, i am hoping to get some dialogue going, so feel free to comment. In the meantime here is a verse to chew on that will hopefully kick off this topic.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

Glory of Christ in Words

Just to settle the thoughts of all of our readers, the fanny pack from last week is not from my personal collection. Personally it might have been a little controversial to put anything up with the of the princesses. I probably should have simply picked 1.
The subject at hand however is words and their global purpose for the believer.

What should our words be focussed at? Christ's glory. Its amazing how what is being felt comes from inside and works its way out. When your happy, your words are more cheery. When your mad, anger tends to flow. When your thankful to God you praise Colossians 3:17, Psalm 63:5.
Obviously there are times you will be upset, there just isn't a case that I know of that should keep a follower of Jesus Christ fighting for the right to use vulgar terms as a freedom. “Lighter” cussing may not be offensive to pop culture anymore or even terms in texting that abbreviate the same four letter words. But to the believer we shouldn't be as anxious to try converting these words to everyday speech. Instead we should weigh the cost and make sure that the positive glorify aspects of speech far out weigh the negatives. We should be way more focused about correcting our hearts than if its ok to cuss or not. Once both sides hearts are right then we won't even have to worry about whats worse, not cursing or not feeding the hungry. Hopefully at that point we will have both down a little better.

Glory of Christ through words is fixing your heart and mind on things above and putting behind the old self. This will work itself into speech Colossians 5

Thoughts or comments?

Heaven is Filling with Earth's Broken Lives

Here are some helpful and encouraging thoughts from J.R. Miller on these amazing verses and God's amazing love.


"This man welcomes sinners--and eats with them!" -Luke 15:2


"I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you!" - Matthew 21:31


"Christ is building His kingdom with earth's broken things. Men want only the strong, the successful, the victorious, the unbroken--in building their kingdoms. But God is the God of the broken, the unsuccessful, of those who have failed.


Heaven is filling with earth's broken lives, and there is no 'bruised reed' which Christ cannot take and restore to glorious blessedness and beauty.


He can take the life crushed by pain or sorrow--and make it into a harp whose music shall be all praise. He can lift earth's saddest failure--up to heaven's glory!"

The Purpose and Centrality of the Local Church Part 5

The centrality of the church can be seen in that the biblical description of discipleship is centered in the church.

This is perhaps the most important function of the church. It is where we see biblical discipleship carried out. There are two things I want to focus on in this post to show the Bible's picture of church-centered discipleship.

1. The preaching of the Word in the church.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

Does this mean that all a person needs is his Bible and he is all set in the Christian life? That might be the impression we would get if we didn't continue reading the passage.

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word...^AM)"> reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Timothy 4:1-2)

The Word is not only meant to be meditated on in one's personal life but it is also meant to be preached in the church community. We see this happening in the book of Acts' description of the early church, "And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." (Acts 2:42)

2. The living of the Word in the church.

Local churches are not meant to be clubs for people who really like to talk about Jesus. They are about applying the teaching of Scripture to our lives. This is very well described by the author of Hebrews:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

This is why Paul describes the local church as a body in 1 Corinthians 12. We work together for a common goal and we each have certain gifts and functions that add to that common mission.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen

The Wonderful Cross

I've been reading through John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and i love it when i get to the part where Christian is relieved of his burden when he is at the cross. It is so easy as Christian's to get bogged down with everyday life and activities, even church activities that we forget the mighty and awesome power of the cross. Im finding in my walk that can't and very much dislike days when i don't think about the cross and meditate on the work of christ at calvary. It truly does "bid me come and die so that I may live". In Christian's case (in the book) he looks at the cross and is eased of this burden that is on his back and shortly after this Christian sings this song:


Thus far did i come loaden with my sin,
Nor could aught ease the grief that i was in,
Till i came hither, What a place is this!
Must here be the beginning of my bliss?
Must here the burden fall from from off my back?
Must here teh strings that bound it to me, crack?
Blessed Cross! Blessed Sepulchre! Blessed rather be
The man that there was put to shame for me.


What beautiful words that have such great truths: Yes we are loaded with sin that cannot be eased or made to go away until we come to the cross and realize that we have a wonderful savior who has died so that we may live. Please let Christians song be encouraging and enriching, not even the words but the truths they speak, to you today. Be Blessed and Be God's

Grace and Peace

What are words?

Part 1 of the series I am attempting to do was Just a little Babel and at the end I posed a question.
I hope at the end of this one we can get some dialogue because I would like the discussion to help shape part 3.

There are many questions that run through my curious mind about different things, but one in-particular thing lately has nagged at me a bit longer than usual. Where do words get their meaning? How does a culture go from have one very vulgar term one day to 20 years later it is a term flippantly used by children. At what point does the Christ follower have to shut down certain speech even though its widely accepted or un accepted?

Recently I listened to a sermon by Matt Chandler (warning if you are from Australia this next story could be considered offensive) where he spoke about his trip to Australia where he was doing some preaching. He was in the middle of talking at a conference and needed to use the word fanny pack to explain a nerdy type of guy. The crowd immediately gasped and he then was faced with trying to figure out what the problem was. In the process though he continued to say the word that was offending the crowd. So at what point does culture define a word, and yet we are to have Colossians 3:8 in mind.

This question came from a few years of hearing the argument “You can say what ever words you want. Words only have the meaning that you give to them”. This mixed with a Derek Webb song titled “what matters more”, where he cusses. Comments were made about the song such as “I thought with all the controversy that he would have said something a lot worse than that” and “he's trying to make a point and needs the shock value. These blended together with the Tower of Babel and James 3:3-12 in my study.

In James 3 we see that the tongue is a desirable thing to tame and control (I'm not there yet and according to James it itsn't looking great for the future either). This means that the words you speak come with meaning. Jesus unpacks this even further. In Mark 15:17-18 Jesus says that the words that come from our mouth are generated by our hearts. So regardless of the actual words you speak it might not be a bad idea to search the source first and hen the dictionary.

So where does the Christian draw the line? Is it with Derek Webb like soft cussing? Or is it ok to use cussing or foul speech if you don't mean it in anger? Is it ok to use it to get attention? Is it ok to use any words to express anger?

I ask these questions with Colossians 3:17 in mind. Not to hold fast to tradition or relevance. But simply to ask why do we hold so tightly to a “freedom” to use “any” words that we desire if the impact could be someone stumbling. I have seen even pastors fight for their right to use light cussing to be relevant rather than to use another term which has the same meaning (which brings up another point for some. Why is it ok to use one word and not another if they mean the same), and not to be bogged down by legalism. But for what cause do we do this.

I have a few rules for discussion: 1. No cursing, if you feel the need to use inappropriate words then hold off on comments or email me. 2. If you don't want to comment on the blog you can facebook me or twitter. 3. look through the lens of Colossians 3:17.

I pray discussion is productive and glorifying to Christ. Part 3 will be the unpacking of this topic and words for the Glory of Christ.

Love the Lord your God

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

-Mark 12:30

So much could be said concerning this verse and others like it; but a simple question is this: do I love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength? Is my desire that everything I do be done in the name of the Lord Jesus (Colossians 3:12)? This ties in closely with 1 Corinthians 10:31, which says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”.

As children of God, we are a people who have been redeemed. We are not our own, for we have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Our hearts are now God’s. Our souls now belong to the Lord. Our minds are now His possession. Our strength is now for His purposes. All of who we are is now to be used by our Maker for His glory.

We are to present all of our desires, affections, imagination, and might in love to the One who has loved us from eternity past. Our worship is to submit all of who we are to the service of the King to be used for His glory. This is only done through the power and love that He bestows upon us.

If only we could fully understand the beauty of this!

If only we could fully understand the joy and freedom of this!

Praise be to God that He offers forgiveness for when we foolishly lose sight of how worthy and wonderful He is. I am so quick to set my affections and my joy too heavily upon lesser things! I am so quick to lose focus on the highest of joys: our Savior! It is, sadly, too easy to let my mind wander into worthless pursuits. I am so quick to pour my strength and passion into that which is not of the Lord.

God has demonstrated a love beyond measure to us; how could we not strive to give Him all that we are? The Father sent his only Son to die and rise again so that we could be forgiven. How could we not willingly and freely give ourselves to Him in love?

The Purpose and Centrality of the Church Part 4

The Centrality of the Church can be seen in that the Bible gives instructions as to how the church should function.

In systematic theology the doctrine of the church is called "Ecclesiology." Though this seems unimportant to most Christians, the fact that a doctrine of the church exists is extremely relevant to the Christian life. Consider that when the most precise students of theology seek to break down the contents of the bible into branches of theology they spell out doctrines such as:

Theology Proper (the doctrine of God)

Pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit)

Anthropology (the doctrine of man)

Christology (the doctrine of God the Son)

Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation)

and many others...

But we never find a doctrine of the lonely saved individual or a doctrine of parachurch ministry (though there are biblical principles that can apply to such subjects).

My point? The Bible invests a lot of its space prescribing the church's role in the world. This isn't only relevant to the pastor who wants to know how to lead his flock, but also to the Christian who wants to see what God's priorities are in His revelation to man.

Paul described his reason for writing 1 Timothy as "so that... you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth" (3:14-15).

You might say, "isn't the Scripture the pillar and buttress?" And that is a good question to ask. Scripture is the very Word of God by which He sustains His church.

The church is where one goes to hear the Word preach, see the Word lived out in a community, and worship God in a way that is informed by the Word. So the Bible and the church are not at odds as pillars of truth; rather, they work together. The Word creates and sustains the church and the church proclaims the Word. This is the way we find God working in Scripture.

Praise God that He has sustained His church and is purifying her even this day.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

God Incarnate (Part 2)

Last week, I posted some excerpts from J.I. Packer's book "Knowing God." The point that I showed was that "The baby born in Bethlehem was God." J. I. Packer used text from John to back up his statements, giving 7 seven points that the baby was God.

This week I would like to share his second point, which is actually just a more in depth version of the first. Point two is as follows:

2. The baby born in Bethlehem was God made man.

This truth is so important and precious. Have you ever felt that God, though he knows us better than we know ourselves, did not understand you? The fact that Jesus, who is God, came to earth as a man, is very comforting. He suffered the weaknesses of a human body and mind.

J. I. Packer writes:

"He who made man was now learning what it felt like to be man. He who made the angel who became the devil was now in a state in which He could be tempted - could not, indeed, avoid being tempted - by the devil; and the perfection of his human life was achieved only by conflict with the devil."

Hebrews 2:18; 4:15 - "Because He himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted...For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin."

When you feel like sin is pushing in all around you, remember that Jesus has been where we are. He knows what it is like to been tempted; He knows how hard it is. He endured it, then He died so that we might be free of it. Ask Him for strength and praise Him for His gift of killing the sins that are so hard to overcome.

Psalm 32:1 - "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit."

Psalm 32:5 - "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

Psalm 32:8 - "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you."

Everything is perfect in His plan.

Today my assignment at work was to read some scholarly articles about marriage and cohabitation and how children fare between the two. I had to read 10 and i got through about 4. What i loved most as i turned page after page was that each article came to the same conclusion...that children in married couples had fewer problems (emotionally and behavioral), were closer to their parents, were more likely to excel financially, and less likely to have their marriages end in divorce once adults. It was also great to read that married couples fare better as well when it comes to caring for one another, sympathizing with one another, taking responsibility, sharing, and intimacy. The funny thing about the authors of these articles is that they would all most likely argue that cohabitation is ok. Pretty strange when hard evidence points to the contrary.

I didn't want to write about marriage versus cohabitation, but more so on God's created order of things. In Genesis 2:24 we see that "A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh." In our society today there is a widely popular idea that before you get married you should "test the waters" and move in with your boyfriend/girlfriend. The problem with that is that God has ordained this becoming one flesh and living under one roof thing for marriage because that's how it works best and is the most glorify to Him. (I don't feel the need to give examples of why it works best, because of the above mentioned reasons, and there are more beyond those.)

What naturally follows getting married and living under one roof in a new established "one flesh" household?...babies! And once again we see that its perfect this way, just as God designed. Children need to grow up in the security ( and i don't mean financial) of having a mother and father who love each other and who love them, not with mom and mom's new boyfriend who may be around for just a few years at maximum. Where's the stability in that?

God's plan is absolutely perfect and needs no reinvention, even in this post modern age.
Grace and Peace

Just a little Babel

What power do words really hold. I have figured out recently that words have more impact than I ever thought when growing up in a home of 3 boys. In my family words bounced off as though meaningless. But now I'm married for less than a year and realizing that words have impact... sometimes even when I don't mean to put anything behind them.
Recently through some conversations I've had and through blogs that I have read it is very clear that the dialogue of words and their meaning are constantly being challenged. I do not mean the words themselves and definition is being challenged as much as the impact.
The next couple blogs I post will be on words and the impact. I hope to learn through this. Please post opinions if you have any.

In the old testament we see many instances where God does some pretty human life altering things. I wont place this as #1 but very high on the list is the separation of language at the tower of babel. Its very tough to imagine a world where people all had one single dialect and people group. When I first read this it made me think about how cool that would be, mostly because I naturally think positively about it. However then I began to think about the story and what human nature did with it. Sure it might be cool if everyone agreed on wholesome things but I look at the tower and the acts that went on surrounding Genesis 11:1-9 and I realize that once it starts going in a direction it doesn't stop. There are no barriers.

God dispersed these people all over the world into different people groups which actually made the humans do what we were told to do in Genesis 1:28 and fill the earth. He made it so they could not work together for evil. If we look all over the nations today it seems that the closer we get to being unified in dialect the further we seem to be going from the morals of God (not that I think we were ever collectively very close). Even more than that, we seem to have a task on our hands when it comes to the gospel... or do we. The task at hand may seem like a bad thing, but God has a plan. I don't believe there are accidents with God. God will be glorified when all tongues praise God in unison Revelation 5:9-10 and Revelation 7:9-10.

Dialogue is very important, it can destroy a nation when its lost. Think of what it will be like when it is restored. I know I feel a certain distance from people who don't speak english but the second I find a english speaker in a foreign country that I visit then that person is my new best friend. How beautiful is it to hear others praising God in their native tongue. Its the sound of the gospel being bigger than all words.

Has the spreading of the gospel been hindered or spurred on by the dispersing of language?

The Forgiveness of Sins

The reality of forgiveness of sins because of Christ is something that the child of God is affected by every day. There is such wonder in the fact that
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

Our best works on our best days are not enough to earn God's grace for a single day. Salvation is a free gift of God. We are not saved because of our holiness, but rather we are saved for holiness. This passage from the "Valley of Vision" was helpful for me to meditate on these truths.

"Heavenly Father,
Thou hast led me singing to the cross
where I fling down all my burdens and see them vanish,
where my mountains of guilt are levelled to a plain,
where my sins disappear, though they are the greatest that exist,
and are more in number than the grains of fine sand;

For there is power in the blood of Calvary
to destroy sins more than can be counted
even by one from the choir of heaven.
Thou hast given me a hill-side spring
that washes clear and white,
and I go as a sinner to its waters,
bathing without hindrance in its crystal streams.

At the cross there is free forgiveness for poor and meek ones,
and ample blessings that last for ever;
The blood of the Lamb is like a great river of infinite grace
with never any diminshing of its fullness
as thirsty ones without number drink of it.

O Lord, for ever will thy free forgiveness live
that was gained on the mount of blood;

In the midst of a world of pain
it is a subject for praise in every place
a song on earth, an anthem in heaven,
its love and virtue knowing no end.

I have a longing for the world above
where multitudes sing the great song,
for my soul was never created to love the dust of earth.
Though here my spiritual state is frail and poor,
I shall go on singing Calvary's anthem.

May I always know
that a clean heart full of goodness
is more beautiful than the lily,
that only a clean heart can sing by night and by day,
that such a heart is mine when I abide at Calvary."

- "Calvary's Anthem" pg. 173 from "The Valley of Vision"

Creation and the Gospel

This past weekend I was supposed to preach at a local juvenile detention center. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances involving a fire alarm and multiple Sham Wow's our group wasn't able to go inside and talk to the young men and women. However, my preparation left an impression on me that I would like to share with you.

Every time I get the opportunity to preach the gospel I feel the weight of a new truth that I should try to press on the lost person. This time was no different. For the greater part of this year I have been thinking about the importance of God's role as Creator and how that should play a big role in my presentation of the gospel. It flies in the face of the secular worldview to tell a person that they must do anything in order to please someone they have never seen.

My intention last Friday was to go to one of my favorite passages- especially lately- Colossians 1:15-17, 19-20:

[The Son] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together...For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

It is one thing to tell a person that they were created by intelligent design, therefore they should believe in a god, and while they're at it they might as well go for Christianity. It is quite another thing to tell that person that Jesus Christ created them with a purpose for himself. It doesn't matter if you think you are a great person or the lowest of the low, if the rulers and authorities (demons) were created for Christ, you are no worse than they.

This is what is so offensive to a Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. This is the truth they want to suppress. If they were created with a purpose, rather than haphazardly, they have no rights over their own life, whatever they do that is not for Christ is rebellion against him and fully deserving of the appropriate response for cosmic treason.

But this passage doesn't stop there! It doesn't only tell us that we were created for Christ, allowing us to realize how far short we have fallen, it also tells us how this is accomplished despite our rebellion. Verse 20 tells us that Christ reconciled all things through his death on the cross. This is how rebellious sinners become the adopted children of God. This is where all things find their purpose, including those who are infinitely and eternally evil, never to find repentance. They find their purpose in being shamed by the cross (Colossians 2:14-15).

This is a wonderful passage for reflecting on the gospel and sharing it to those who don't know Christ. I encourage you to give it a read today and thank Christ for creating, redeeming, and ultimitely restoring you. If you don't yet believe in him I plead with you to trust in the only Savior of the world.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen